Author's Note: Wow, this has been a long week. Like, not a bad one, but it just feels like it's been forever since I last wrote for you guys. Weird. Anywho, read, review, and enjoy!

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WWWWWW

For all that Wally loved running with every fiber of his being, there were moments like this where he was a little bitter about his ability.

By necessity, Wally was the last one to really arrive at their new home. He'd brought Garfield and Dinah over at the same time, dropping them off together so no one had to wait with the heroes alone. Kelvin had been next just because he was such a pain to carry around and Wally wanted to get him over with. Kelvin thought it was hilarious. Cameron had gone next after whining Wally into letting him go after Kelvin instead of leaving him for last like usual. Jinx and Lorraine – both of them being rather slim – were easy to carry at the same time. Lorraine, being slightly larger than Jinx, climbed on Wally's back and held on while Jinx was carried bridal style. After that, Wally had had to make several trips between his main headquarters and the new headquarters to bring all the luggage.

By the end, he was starting to feel tired, a slight burn starting in his lungs and his thighs. The Team and the Circus were mingled together for once, instead of being clumped into their own groups. Both teams were smirking at him as he took in a rugged breath of air. The way they were intermingled, making them seem like one force, was the only reason Wally felt comfortable enough to snap, "What?"

He regretted it immediately; he'd wanted to portray some sort of a cool, calm, collected nature. He didn't want them to underestimate any member of his team and that meant keeping control around them, showing nothing but a leader. Other than Artemis's scowl deepening, no one commented on his slip in control. He wasn't sure if they even noticed. There probably wasn't all that much of a reason for them to notice. Red Arrow's smirk deepened, "Out of shape much?"

Cameron snorted, "The day fearless leader gets out of shape is the day I celebrate a life that's finally worth living without all of his merciless training exercises." Wally glared with a particular vindictive fondness that seemed to be just for Cameron and somehow recognizable even through shaded goggles. Cameron smirked at him. Wally wanted to throw something at him.

Miss Martian states sympathetically, "I am sure it is very difficult to carry all of his team members and their gears here. We do not even know how far he needed to run." Finally, someone who appreciates him a little bit.

Wally made to milk the most out of the green teenager's sympathies, but Harold completely ruined it by cocking his head to the side and asking, "Do you not do the same thing with your bioship?"

Attention of the Team and the Circus officially diverted to the science behind the mind link between Miss Martian and her ship, Wally slumped. So much for some far overdue sympathy. Honestly, life just wasn't fair to him. Still, it did give him a moment to get his bearings back. As much as he was used to running around and carrying his team members as a form of transport, he didn't usually have to run as far as he did. He also didn't usually need to carry luggage too. He was pretty sure that Jinx packed extra just to screw with him, too. Garfield, Wally believed honestly just packing a lot of stuff. Personally, Wally believed that a lot of Gar's animal instincts transferred over to his human form, including the need to nest which Wally attributed Garfield's almost obsessive collection of weird trash. Whatever. One man's trash was another man's treasure or something like that.

Jinx, however? Definitely doing it just to be rude.

Kelvin's possessions always made him seem like a sad, old bachelor who just wants to find a nice girl. Which basically translated to: he had practically nothing of substance to move into a new home. Dinah had a weird obsession with growing plants and fixing up old bikes, so that made up the majority of her possessions. Not a lot of those were transferrable (Wally and Harold had worked together to set up a system to water and take care of the plants for times like this where they weren't able to be in HQ for long periods of time), although Wally knew that there would be plants mysteriously coming out of nowhere to populate her new room that Wally would have to cart back to HQ when the time came. In the end, Dinah mainly just had a lot of clothes and a lot of makeup for someone that didn't actually switch outfits often nor wear makeup often. Wally didn't bother questioning it.

Lorraine's stuff was simple and practical, but bulky. She was a little too practical sometimes. He was pretty sure that he'd seen her pack an entire heavy duty first aid kit into one of her suitcases. He really wouldn't have been surprised.

Cameron and Wally, however, always traveled light. In their eyes, they didn't need a lot to live off of. That didn't mean that they had no attachment to the material world or whatever. It was almost the opposite for Wally, actually. His collection of souvenirs from missions and different countries he'd gone to would attest to that. Still, he didn't need to bring them with him. They were displayed proudly in the place he'd like to think of as home. That was all he needed.

Wally blinked when he heard his codename being called. Looking up from where he'd leaned against the luggage, he saw that Aqualad was standing in front of him, polite expression seemingly plastered onto his face. Maybe that saying about how keeping your face in one expression for too long would freeze your face like that forever had some merit to it after all.

Glancing around carefully, Wally ascertained that the rest of his team were harmlessly talking with the Team. Turning his attention back to his current co-leader, Wally nodded to him, "Aqualad."

Aqualad gazed at him with a frank expression, "We find ourselves with quite the task ahead of us. It will not be easy to combine our teams. There will be many difficulties waiting for us in the future."

"From what I know of my own team and what I've seen of your own, I think I can say that we both kind of excel in dealing with difficulties." Wally responded, the same amount of frankness in his voice. He actually liked Aqualad quite a bit.

Something approaching a smile touched the corners of Aqualad's lips as he inclined his head to Wally, "That is true. And yet, there will be many difficulties of our own making. There are those on our team who are hesitant to rely on your kind for any type of assistance. The Light would cause tension among even the strongest and most bonded groups. They already cause tension among my own team with rumors and hints towards a spy in our ranks."

Trying to prevent his gaze from becoming sharp and knowing that he'd failed, Wally spoke cautiously, "Interesting of you to reveal so much about a potential spy." He hesitated for the briefest of seconds before pushing, "Do you believe that there is a spy?"

Aqualad sent Wally a considering look of his own. Wally had the sudden, depressing realization that there was a good chance that Aqualad was a whole lot better at subtle manipulation and intensive political maneuvering than Wally would ever be. Aqualad gave that almost smile again, something sharper and slightly approving in it, "I believe in my team."

That honestly startled a quiet, single breath of laughter from Wally. His lips curved up a little bit at the corners in a quasi-smirk and he raised an eyebrow, "I think that was possibly the best answer I could have gotten there."

There was a softer look in Aqualad's eyes as he kept that same smile, "I have come to realize through this interaction that we will work well together."

Still slightly amused under it all, Wally's smirk faded, but his sincerity didn't, "I have come to realize through this interaction that you are actually terrifying." There was definitely something really sharp in Aqualad's returning smile. Wally got the sudden feeling that Aqualad was born with this evil streak in him, a terrifying master piece that would have made an awesome supervillain. He wasn't sure if he was sad that it had been trained out of him (Aqualad might have been the first villain to actually take over the world and that would have been so amusing to watch) or glad (see reason for being sad).

Tilting his head towards their waiting teams – or, rather, team now, - Aqualad said, "Shall we?"

Wally nodded and the two walked towards their team.

This seemed to be impeccable timing because both Robin and Cameron spoke at the same time, "We have a mission."

Both teens gave each other suspicious looks before Cameron waved a hand, "You first."

The whites of Robin's mask narrowed (and how did that work?), but he didn't comment on it, instead saying, "We've got a mission. Batman sent it to me through my communicator. There's a major shipment of the Venom drug coming into America through New Orleans, which luckily isn't that far away" Wally resisted the urge to sneer. Batman sent it to them? They can't even pick their own missions? He resisted, though. He knew that it wasn't their fault, and this was likely as much as they had been able to push. It was disappointing, though, and Wally found himself irrationally upset about placing his trust in the Team. How could he truly trust them if they couldn't even run their own team? But that wasn't fair to anyone and he couldn't change it now. The League wouldn't have worked with a bunch of teenagers either. This was their only chance.

Robin paused and sent a nod to Cameron, who then spoke, "We've got a fight too. The Light is recruiting. They're going to do a test run, ambush a group of metas who were trying to join up. If the metas can at least hold their ground, then they'll be allowed to join up."

Wally scowled darkly, "Don't they have enough metas? Don't they have enough people? What are they planning that requires this many underlings? The more people they add, the more obvious they're going to get."

Red Arrow sent Wally a considering look, but didn't say anything before Aqualad was speaking, "It might be prudent to split each of our teams into two. Each of us can then send members on both missions. It would allow us to practice fighting together in the interim. I would lead the team in New Orleans and you would lead the team where the metahuman fight is."

Considering the proposition at lightning speed, Wally nodded, "Works for me. Let me run our things outside while you split your team and I'll try to split my team to compliment yours. Sound good?" He barely waited for Aqualad to nod before he raced off, luggage dragging behind him. This was going to suck. He just finished lugging people around and now he got to go drag more people around. This time strangers, too. It was always awkward for him to carry people for the first time. There was generally puking, and angry mumblings involved. Fantastic. Maybe, if he was lucky, they had another bioship around there somewhere. Maybe the bioship could split into two bioships. There had to be someone else who could drive the ship. It wouldn't make sense to have only one person able to use the transportation (Wally firmly ignored the voice in his head that told him that was what he did). They had to have something else to transport the Team when they split up, right?

When he returned, the Team was split into two vaguely uncomfortable groups. Neither group looked exactly thrilled to be running off with metas into a fight without even practicing with them before. Wally couldn't say he was all too thrilled either, but he also knew better than anyone that bonding over battle could be quite effective.

Aqualad's group contained Artemis, Superboy, and Rocket. The other group (Wally's group, technically) had Robin, Red Arrow, Zatanna, and Miss Martian. It was nice of Aqualad to put the most openly hostile team member in the group that would not be dealing with metas.

Now, how could Wally split up his own team to match that. Both of the teams so far had fliers. Aqualad's group was a little muscle heavy, so Kelvin could come with Wally. Wally's group had a lot of the long range attackers, so Wally put Jinx and Lorraine with Aqualad. Aqualad's team would probably need a hacker, so Harold went with them. Wally would take Dinah and Garfield. He'd leave Cameron with the other group. Typically, Wally tried to keep Cameron on his own team because they worked so well together, but he knew that it was better to put the leader and the second-in-command in different groups so the chain of command could remain intact if someone took out an entire team.

Decisions made, Wally started motioning people towards whichever team he wanted them in. In the end, Aqualad was leading Artemis, Superboy, Rocket, Jinx, Lorraine, Harold, and Cameron. Wally was leading Robin, Red Arrow, Zatanna, Miss Martian (he wondered if she would change her name to Mrs. Martian if she got married. He promptly ignored the thought because it was useless and stupid), Kelvin, Dinah, and Garfield. There, the groups were split evenly and Wally thought that there was a pretty even distribution of talents in each group. Neither one should be going into this completely unprepared.

Aqualad nodded towards him and made to leave. It was Harold who noticed the problem, "How are we going to get to the places we need to go? Miss Martian is with Supersonic, who'll run them where they need to go, so she won't be able to pilot you guys around."

Miss Martian smiled easily, not concerned, "The bioship can be altered for manual flight as well. Robin's the best at flying it, but Artemis and Aqualad are really good as well. We're working on teaching the rest of them how to fly it. But either Artemis or Aqualad will work for this mission."

Wally sighed out a breath of relief. That was good. That could have gotten really complicated otherwise. Finally, Aqualad and Wally nodded towards each other again and Aqualad actually left, his team trailing along behind him. Wally could see the nerves in each of his team member's shoulders. It hurt him to see them so anxious, so nervous, but there was little he could do. At this point, he'd take what he could get. This was a lot friendlier than they had been prepared for when they'd prepped for the initial meeting. The Team held a lot of pleasant surprises and Wally was content to just be thankful for that.

Turning back to face his own team, Wally was almost nailed in the head with something. Only reflexes and speedster abilities allowed him to catch the item. He squinted down at it and saw that it was one of his protein bars. Oh. That was probably a good idea. He flashed (pun totally intended. See? Wally still had a sense of humor) Dinah a quick grin before stuffing the bar into his mouth. Not wanting to waste time, he did his best to chew and talk at the same time, "Alright, I'm going to run Zatanna and Miss Martian there first. Then I'll grab Black Canary and Changeling. I'll probably grab Robin next. Then Ballistic and then Red Arrow. We'll be a little distance away from the possible attack. We'll make our plan there. Everyone got that?" It was his way of asking for comprehension and agreement at the same time. Everyone nodded.

Alright, then. Off they went. Wally toted them over exactly as he'd explained he would, careful about how tight he was holding the Team members, careful about how fast he ran on their first time. Luckily, no one seemed too affected by it. Red Arrow had to lean up against a wall for a long moment, holding his stomach with one hand. Miss Martian blinked a lot and her steps were more than a little shaky when she was first put down. Robin and Zatanna seemed to adore it, however. Robin was doing this strange (read: terrifying) cackle thing that honestly sent chills down Wally's spine. Zatanna's eyes had gone bright and excited, and she was wearing a huge grin. Wally felt the urge to preen. Someone who appreciates his speed was always like a breath of fresh air.

Still, he couldn't afford to bask in this at the moment. There were more serious things to talk about. Then again, there never really was a moment to bask in anything. Busy didn't even come close to describing the hectic nature of Wally's life. And most things he had to attend to were vitally important, too. There was never really a moment to relax and be a kid and feel special.

He faced his temporary team, "This is the info I've got so far. There are seven of them and they call themselves the Blood Pack." Kelvin gave him a narrow-eyed look and Wally nodded to him. These were the people who had offered for Kelvin to join them while they were on the run. He'd refused and turned himself into the Collection Agency on some sort of principal, determined to keep up the law. Wally continued, "They've been on our radar for a while, but never in a bad way. They're typically pretty vigilante-based – saving metas and all that jazz. The Light has apparently convinced them that they're the new safe haven for metas and, having a meta on the main council and that many metas already in their employ, they've got a lot to back them up. We're fuzzier on their exact powers. The leader is Jade, who's basically got powers similar to a Green Lantern. Then there's the Geist, who can turn invisible in bright light. Therefore, avoid bright light around him – and Jade too. Rumors are that she can photosynthesize or something ridiculous like that? Geist, however, can be blinded by really bright light. I'm a little unclear on how that works. Hacker's name is Razorblade and she turns her arms into, well, razor blades. Sparx can turn into electricity and knows enough about electromagnetism to be pretty dangerous with that. Mongrel can fly and shook energy. We're not sure what kind or how to counteract it or whatever. Loria can turn into metal? What metal, I don't know. How long is lasts, I don't know. How far it goes, I don't know. No one really knows a thing about her. Then there's Nightblade. Meta powers aren't all that offensive, but he's got regenerative abilities, so be careful of that."

Wally had been flashing (pun totally intended) pictures of each person as he spoke about them, more than slightly anxious about letting the heroes know this much about these metas. After all, they were going to brought back to the metahuman city to be processed and rehabilitated. He didn't like the heroes knowing this much about possible allies. He couldn't be helped, though.

Voice stern, Wally said, "Our objective is not to take out the Blood Pack. Our objective is to thwart the Light's attempt to get the Blood Pack to join them."

"If we stop them from joining now and don't take them out, then what's to stop them from trying again later?" Zatanna asked fiercely. Wally bristled slightly before he realized that she wasn't accusing, just being realistic.

Still, Wallly wasn't about to explain the city they'd made either, "Let us worry about that. For right now, we've got to avoid being attacked by the Blood Back and, hopefully, we can nab a few Light goons while we're at it."

Robin was frowning, "Your information is kinda sparse."

"Well, there's only so much we can do about that. We've only been a team for about a year and there are a lot of underground metahuman groups. We don't have the same access and history as you guys do. We're trying to identify all possible threats and allies before we start digging in deep." Wally answered, trying to not be offended. Honestly, it wasn't his fault that none of them really knew how to run a vigilante team fresh out of one of those metahuman camps. Dinah's mother had trained Dinah in this weird, almost vigilante way which was a large portion of why Dinah was an awesome fighter, so she knew some stuff. Kelvin had been a part of the Gotham police force, so they had that knowledge. Garfield had been tricked into stealing stuff and Cameron had been trained since birth to be a career criminal, so they knew how criminals thought. Harold was a genius with computers. Beyond that? Nothing. Not even the slightest thing to help them.

Apparently, that was all Robin needed to hear because he nodded in understanding and went silent. Wally glanced around, "Any questions about the information you've been given?" Everyone shook their heads.

Wally nodded back to them, "Alright, let's get to making a game plan, then."

Author's Note: So, I was trying to think of the term 'game plan.' For some reason, the term was not coming to me. I'm like, I know what I'm trying to say here, and I know there's a word for it, but I can't think of it. And then, bam! Song I was listening to said game plan. Glorious timing. Also, why did I decide to not have OC's? Because then I research metas and stuff and they're super interesting. And now I'm in love with the Blood Pack, but I can't see a reason for them to be important beyond this battle scene, which sucks. DC Comics are super interesting to read about, though. And all the research I'm doing for this fic? I'm falling into a hole, over here. Please help me. Anyways, Jinx is at 71 votes, Cameron is at 50 votes, Lorraine is at 20 votes, Zatanna is at 17 votes, the spy is at 3 votes, Roy, Conner, and Barbara are at 1 vote each. That's where the numbers are at. Two more chapters to vote and I'm going to ask for five more reviews for another chapter. Thanks for reading!