Alright y'all, a fat month and no update. WHACK! I know so. No real excuse other than I wasn't satisfied with the original chapter, so this is like the 3rd rewrite I did. Still not fully satisfied, but I think it's better than the previous versions.

Also, at the end, there's a little bit of an explanation for the way somethings are going for those of you that are curious. If not don't even mind the A/n at the bottom!

So here you go, the 6th chapter may begin!

Key:

"Regular speaking"

"Thinking" - Will also double as telepathic convos

"Comms or automated speech"

CHAPTER 6

The night sat drearily upon him. The resident boy genius couped in his lab as the team was out on a mission. At the moment he was undergoing a series of self administered tests. He still hadn't recovered from whatever Dr. Fate had done to his body while he'd been under his control. His arms had never returned to normal.

There were numerous numb spots, places he couldn't feel a single thing. Other times he felt agonizing pain in the form of sharp stinging sensations, but those came and went. Physically, he'd learned that some of his nerves had been completely destroyed. Like they'd been attacked from the inside and a simply burned up.

Kent, who had taken up quarters at the cave from time to time, came clean with the young man. Luckily he'd survived their little run in with Klarion, Max's isolation chamber working wonders on the man's aged body. But that was beside the point.

Nelson had taken the opportunity to tell the young man exactly what Nabu had done.

Creating artificial pathways for magic he otherwise couldn't have held through the cannibalization of his nerves, Max had learned. But to what extent?

The explanation only brought more questions. If that was true, did he still have those artificial pathways? And if he did, was there still magic in them?

Kent had let him know that surely that wouldn't be the case. The magic that was in him was not his own and came from an outside source. Once Nabu left his body, his mystic energy followed.

Words did not satisfy Max though. While he did trust Kent Nelson, he simply desired the proof that only his own eyes and intellect could provide. Perhaps it was the scientist within him, perhaps it was the lust for power that Nabu used to manipulate him…

The tests revealed nothing even remotely mystical about his average human body. It was disappointing to say the least…

Though not entirely unfounded.

Having scanned and examined the helmet of fate thoroughly, he did find traces of foreign energy. Mystic energy. Through several runs of trial and error (hundreds and hundreds) he'd found a way to both measure and trace said energy.

The latent power that the helmet held was insurmountable. It baffled the young West. As it stood, Fate could power a small town for maybe a year on energy with no known pollutants. It could be revolutionary in the race for clean energy.

When he'd reported his findings to Batman and the League, the Dark Knight had almost immediately given the objective of programming the Watchtower with the means to detect magic energy.

Zatara, the league's leading expert in all things mystic, was in shock at the discovery. He knew that magic was an energy, those so inclined could sense it, pinpoint it even. But to think that someone would find a way to measure it, trace it even (through technology), was awe inspiring. Let alone a mere boy.

The wizard didn't truly realize the genius behind this young man until that moment. He was even more shocked meeting Kent Nelson, earth's sorcerer supreme!

"Damn it! Still nothing!" He slammed his fist down on the metal desk he had. A dull tingling sensation rising from the point of impact, he could hardly feel it. Max lifted his hand up to face level. He twitched his fingers, flexing and clenching them. Something was clearly off, they moved slowly like they were strained and didn't have their full range of motion.

He clicked his tongue and sighed in defeat. He'd kept this little consequence silent from the rest of the team and the league, especially from Wally. Following the mission to retrieve Kent, Max's relationship with his brother had taken a rocky road.

The elder West was vehemently against his adamance in tagging along in missions. Sighting that he would only hurt himself, or worse, get someone else hurt. He even went to the team, presenting a rather solid case, he'd admit. Max had no prior training like they all had. He had no special attributes, like they all had. He just wasn't as special as they were.

Well, Wally didn't say those exact words, but he may as well have. Kid Flash had managed to sway the team over to his side, quite handily. Even Artemis, who had thus far been on his side didn't refute the logic. It was unanimous that, unless absolutely necessary, Max had nothing to do with team missions. At least not in a direct way.

During that time, Max had grown a small bit of resistance in him. He'd argued and fought back, shared counter points to his brothers arguments that would ultimately fail. But the point was he didn't sit there and take it.

The young man had taken Artemis' advice to heart. He loved his brother with all his heart, but who was he to tell him he was essentially unworthy, not ready, or not special enough. He brought his own cards to the table and they were valuable. One way or another, he contributed and Wally would have to accept that.

As such, it was understandable that they were on edge around each other. Max could tell that Artemis had some kind of guilt weighing on her. It was obvious by her clear attempts at damage control and always trying to play mediator when both siblings were in the room.

Max was confused at why she may feel guilty for anything. His actions were entirely his own. Sure her words woke him up a bit, but he wouldn't have said something he didn't mean.

"Perhaps some sort of prosthetic is the way to go, maybe I could give stem-cells a shot before that though… I'm sure we could whip something up." He spoke to himself. The reason he chose to keep his plight to himself was because he didn't want to give Wally any extra ammo. It seemed petty and unnecessary.

It was. It was just Max being a stubborn kid.

"Of course Mr. West, should I contact The Batman? He's got plenty of experience regarding physical damage. It's almost guaranteed that he has something we can work off of."

"No, don't call any one. I wanna get this done myself."

"Hmm, are you sure? It would prove efficient-"

"No. Calls." He said tiredly, "It shouldn't be too much of a workload. There's plenty of research to draw from anyway."

"... As you wish."

"Thank you, Aiva."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Max worked diligently on placing the finishing touches on his isolation chamber. Finally, it was done. It was not only safer to use than his prototype, but cheaper to make. He'd gone ahead and used aluminum for most of the body instead of solid steel. Though this machine couldn't fight disease, it was decades (centuries dare he say?) ahead of any medical technology they had now.

He considered briefly about going public with it. Who knew the kind of lives he could save or could help with this? He immediately thought again though. Last thing he wanted was for his designs to be stolen by someone like Lex Luthor and use it for more nefarious purposes.

Now that he was thinking of people that could possibly replicate the device, Max couldn't help but wonder what kind of tech Atlantis had. They'd made it clear that they were quite technologically advanced. But how advanced were they truly? We're his discoveries secondhand, his inventions primitive compared to their own? Perhaps he could ask Kaldur for his opinion, the team's leader having recently taken a trip to his own world would have a proper insight into how advanced his home made technology was. At least, compared to Atlantis that is.

Max tightened a last bolt and smiled to himself. "Congratulations Mr. West."

"Thank you Aiva! I couldn't have done this without you! But now that this is done, I have something a bit more personal I wanna work on."

"The secret armor, codenamed Metal?"

Max sighed at the AI's cluelessness, "Not very secret when you announce it like that, but yes."

"Apologies. Is there still not the problem of a sufficient power source?"

"That's correct. Why do you think I've been looking back on our scans of the helmet of fate? I've proven that mystic energy can be quantified and even traced. But I've yet to find a way to store it. If I can somehow find the proper housing and transfer that power to my blueprint, I can provide the power needed for initial activation and even continued use."

"Would it not be easier to finish the project with the nanites we've made? Each individual nanomachine runs on its own power, thus eliminating the need for the power source. Not to mention, the versatility nanobots offer is vastly superior to any singular form design."

"A valid point. However, there are still vital flaws in a design made up purely of nanites. Both structurally and mechanically. Not to mention the mental toll it'd take on me to control that much at once. I still need to figure out a way to use them that doesn't split my focus between the situation at hand and keeping form." By this point Max had gotten over to his computer and pulled up a few hidden files.

The first was eye catching. It was a highly detailed blueprint for a mechanical suit of armor. It wasn't bulky, far from it in fact. It was small, streamlined, and nimble looking. It was colored a deep dark red and looked to cover everything up to the neck. (A/N: imagine the anti-ock suit from Spider-Man PS4. Except obviously no spider symbol, and it's in red.)

With a couple of button presses, Max turned around and walked to a table that had a life sized holographic projection of his suit. The design was basically complete, all of the simulations he put it through came out perfectly. No problems other than minor movement hindrances, which was to be expected. No matter how sleek and thin he made it, there was bound to be limitations.

Idly, if only just for the sake of daydreaming he decided to make a helmet. It looked plain by default, smooth facial features that only contoured with his facial structure. On the back is where all the mechanics went into play. Plates that slide and locked closed once fastened upon the wearer, and reversed when they wished to take it off.

It was quick to put together holographically and Max imagined it'd be just as easy to make. He couldn't help but feel something was missing though, it just looked so… Bland.

In an act of pure fantasy, Max constructed golden protrusions on the side of the head. Not unlike the extra pieces Flash had on his mask, or even Wally. He smiled to himself as the gold and red projection loaded completely. He turned the hologram in his palms and looked into the socket where the head would go.

Realistically, projections were just that. Projections. They were not matter and thus held no weight. Yet, Max could feel this helmet as if it were the very clothing he wore. His hands shook momentarily and he lifted the helmet up to his head.

He didn't hesitate in placing it down, it felt so real! He could hear the locking mechanisms, he could feel the coolness of metal. And then, like a burning candle, it vanished.

"Max! I'm glad I found you here, I think I need some help!"

That's right. He'd programmed Aiva with an emergency fail safe to close out all files related to his secret project the moment someone entered.

Max opened his eyes, "Barry-?" He questioned before correcting himself, "I mean Flash! What's up?"

The now revealed Flash looked a bit put off by the boys lack of enthusiasm. Typically whenever they saw each other, the small genius couldn't help but be overloaded with questions about his powers. About his villains powers and tech. Even, with inventions he thought may help him in the future.

So this was very different than the Max he was accustomed to seeing. Although, it was also true he'd never seen Max when he was working on something. "It's fine, we're in a safe house right now! Call me whatever you want. I was hoping you could take a look at something for me?"

Max perked up a bit, Flash wanted his help? Not Batman's, not Superman's, and not Wally's. HIS! "U-Um Yea! I can, what is it?"

Flash smiled, that was a bit more normal. "Well ya see," he pulled out a small vial of red fluid. "I've had a recent increase in speed based villains, luckily I was able to stop a rebellion before anything got too out of hand. Weird thing is they showed no prior latent abilities."

Max rose an eyebrow as Flash handed him the vial. "Well that doesn't really mean anything… You and Wally weren't born with your powers either it was a freak accident."

Flash nodded in confirmation, "That's right, but that's exactly why it's weird. These people had no freak accidents. Nothing abnormal at all. Even stranger, it's only temporary. After a couple hours in containment the suspects showed no signs of any kind of superpower."

"Ok, strange... And you think the reason for this sudden increase in speedsters is this thing here?" He shook the vial to see how the fluid would react, it seemed unstable. It bubbled and he could feel the vial itself heat up.

"I don't think, I know. Every one I've caught had a small stash of this stuff, they called it Velocity-9. Luckily I've found the source and destroyed every known concoction, putting the distributor behind bars. He unfortunately refused to give up his chemist though."

Max stared at the fluid in wonder, a drug that could grant the user temporary super speed? This was everything he'd dreamed of since he and Wally knew their uncle was The Flash. This-This little vial of big red could give him the superpowers he dreamed of…

Flash could see the awe on Max's face and momentarily regretted coming here. It was too late for that now though. "It's proven to be highly addictive… Its- Its caused a lot of problems for those who abused it. I brought it here cause I want to know it's contents and how it's giving people powers. If we can isolate the ingredients, we can find a chemist. And if we know exactly what's causing the superpowers, we may be able to counter a future emergence. I need your help Max."

Any fascination he had with the vial was lost at Barry's words. Warmth filled his chest in a way he hadn't felt in a long time. Barry needed him, needed.

What a great feeling. "I'll do my best!"

"That's all I can ask, Max." With that Flash left, he still had a city to look protect after all.

The teen grabbed a small eye dropper and took the smallest drop of the serum before placing the vial in a small chamber next to his computer. "Aiva analyze contents while I test the reactive nature."

"Of course Mr. West."

Let the work begin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Many, many, many Hours had passed since Barry dropped the substance he called 'Velocity-9'. He'd learned quite a bit about the drug since then, but he'd also found something that was completely mind boggling. Or to he more precise, Aiva found something completely mind boggling.

She scanned and analyzed the components of the serum. At first nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary. Sure the ingredients were a bit unorthodox, but nonetheless still not hard to obtain if one had the right connections.

What was truly puzzling is this unknown component that had been found when scanning on random spectrums. Max had deduced this unknown was the reason it was also so unstable, so reactive. And most importantly, what gave the users super speed.

He couldn't explain it yet, but he knew it fit together some way and if he could deconstruct and figure out the exact order everything was put together, he was positive that it'd become clear.

He scribbled the equations and theories on his whiteboard, and then on the back of it. Once he'd ran out of room, he'd gone to the next, until finally he ran out of room and fell onto writing frantically in his notebook.

He muttered like a mad man, and clicked his tongue when he came to the same result he'd had few times before. A dead end, but there were still plenty of other paths he could try.

Max flipped the page and began again, repeating the process over and over again.

"Perhaps a break would be beneficial, Mr. West. We are still only at the beginning of our research and there is no time limit."

Max paused his pencil, "I guess it can't hurt, but I really want to figure this out… I'll take my notebook with me and go get something to eat. Maybe Megan made something!"

Max walked down the familiar halls of the cave, he was still buried in his notebook even as he maintained his leisurely pace. He glanced up for a moment when he found that no one was there, not a soul in sight.

"Must be on a mission. They didn't even tell me…" Max frowned, he understood their reasoning for not wanting him to tag along on missions. Even agreed depending on the parameters. But the want to even keep him out of the loop made him feel unwanted and troublesome. How could he fulfill his purpose as support when the team refused fill him in on even minor details?

He did his best to shrug off the disappointment he held within him. There was something else that needed his attention.

Max dug through the freezer for a microwaveable dinner. Finding something satisfactory he made the necessary prep and stuck it in the microwave for some odd minutes. Amidst the droning of the tool, Max reopened his notebook and begun to scratch pencil lead into it once more.

"Max, I didn't realize you were still awake!"

The boy jumped, why did people always come up behind him?! "Black Canary, I didn't hear you come in."

"I've been here since about 4, right before the team deployed. Red had watch duty, so it's up to me to watch the playground." She pulled up a chair as the microwaved beeped insistently, telling all it finished its job.

Max got up and pulled the plastic tray from the hatch and sat back down at the table, "Care for some? The meatloaf is actually really good, don't care for the potatoes though…"

Canary wrinkled her nose in disgust, just thinking about all the preservatives and chemicals in that small dinner made her nauseous. Of course she'd indulged in her share of processed meats, but she firmly believed in limiting such unhealthy habits. "I'm alright, my body is my temple. The amount of chemicals in there might give me another super power. It's too late to be eating anyway."

Max rolled his eyes, "Another super power wouldn't be such a bad thing would it? And what do you mean late, it's dinner time isn't it?"

Canary snorted, "If dinner time is at-" she flipped her wrist and checked the time on her watch, "3 Am then sure. Well, I guess it's dinner time somewhere right?"

The brown haired boy nearly choked on his food, "It's 3?! Wow, time really flies when you're working." He put down his pencil, maybe he should commit to a proper break instead. He'd been on this nonstop since before Canary got to the cave if her time table was accurate. That would be about 12 full hours…

"If I've got you here, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

Max rose his eyebrow, "Do you want a set of flash armor too? I've actually got the specs already drawn up, you walk around waaay too exposed for the kind of fighting you do. I'm amazed you don't end up with more injuries. Stockings and a leotard can only provide so much protection. I mean you totally pull it off, like really pull it off. I can't think of another heroine who coul- actually by comparison- I guess yours is rather conservative. Wonder Woman doesn't even wear stockings, neither does Power Girl! But they're invulnerable, so it doesn't really matter if they have the extra protection. It's quite daring of them to go out with such a lack of modesty… anyway-!" The boy stopped his ramblings as he caught sight of Canary's bland expression that basically said, 'keep speaking and see what happens.'

"If you're about done now. No I don't need any 'flash armor'-"

"Are you sure, I've got a couple of things laying around that would be just perfect!" This was a nice conversation. It was light hearted, relaxing to have an interaction that wasn't based on his powerlessness. It let him finally feel like himself again.

"No Max, what I have to talk to you about is more serious." She took a moment to let him understand that she wasn't joking around, "I heard you had a confrontation with the team, I was just wondering how you were feeling about it."

And there goes that relaxing conversation, "Well, i think I'm ganna go finish up this work. Thanks for keeping me company, it was nice while it lasted." Max stood to trash the rest of his uneaten food, his appetite spoiled.

"Sit." Canary commanded, Max didn't have the courage to refuse. Rather, he had the common sense to listen. "You've been missing out on team training, I recall telling you that those lessons were mandatory. Is this argument the reason?"

The brown haired boy sighed, "No, it isn't the reason. I've just been preoccupied with other things. I do get my trainings in though, just not with everyone."

"I've seen your sparring footage with Superboy, Aqualad, and Robin. You've made a bad habit of brawling when the circumstances turn against you."

"Only against Robin and Aqualad. I can't win an exchange with Superboy, he's too strong."

"And you can against Kaldur and Robin? They are both very skilled too."

"They're just so predictable. It's easy to draw them into a fight like that. It's the only time I can really get my hits in with them." Max may not have been so physically inclined in his 13 years of life, but his eyes were no doubt excellent and his brain processing power, superior. If you paired amazing eyesight with unparalleled analytical skills it wasn't hard to predict an opponent's next move.

Especially someone with Max's particular set of gifts, even more so now that he had experience against said opponents. "Predictable? Those two are hardly predictable."

"And yet I know their moves before they know them themselves. My eyes and brain have not fooled me yet."

"... Even so, I think it would be beneficial for you to show up to the team sessions. It's good to spend time with others. And actual technique will only improve you."

"Why are you actually asking these things? I bet you already know everything about the little meeting we all had. There's no way you don't, so why don't you just tell me the truth?" Leave it to the genius to see through her subtleties, though she wasn't trying all that hard to hide it.

It was Canary's turn to sigh this time, "No point in beating around the bush I guess, forgive me. We're worried about you… I just wanted to see how you felt about the whole situation."

Max scoffed, "We? Hah… I…" The boy paused, carefully picking his words, "I understand the teams and Wally's reasoning. Logically, it makes a lot of sense and I can't fault them for that." He frowned.

Canary smiled at the boy and leaned forward, "Max I didn't ask if you understood the situation, I asked how you felt about it."

The boy was silent for a moment, his frown deepening. His eyes bounced left and then down to his hands, "I-It sucks…" he said truthfully. "I only want to help, I want to be their ally. Not from back here, but out there. I know I'm a burden on the field, but I can help! In some way, I know I can help…!"

"Nobody thinks you're a burden here Max, we all appreciate the stuff you do around here. They were only worried about your safety."

"Hmph. My safety, or theirs?" He almost growled that. It hurt that they didn't trust him, "Artemis had told me that I should stick up for myself, pursue what I want to. She told me that I had something to offer too, and that made me happy. Hopeful even. But the second she had the choice, she agreed with the rest of them. This-This whole situation, it makes me question my role here. They didn't even tell me they were leaving on a mission today… I'm supposed to be their support aren't I? Then why do I feel like such an outsider…"

Canary's brow furrowed at the words, "Artemis is your friend, don't mistake that. It was her who came to me out of concern for you. And I don't think you're an outsider at all. You've got a home here Max, there's more to this team than just the hero work. You've helped out everyone in more ways than you know." The female hero admitted.

Max didn't look convinced, "And how's that?"

Canary saw he only took her words at face value, so she indulged the kids request at elaboration, "You made M'gann feel like she had a home here on earth, on a planet filled with strange places and people. You gave her the courage to be among you all. When you tease Superboy and help him with his bike, you ease him. I know he cherishes that time. You are the closest thing he has to family here. Artemis, you've made her feel welcome since her first day here. You were the single person that welcomed her with open arms and made her feel like she always had a spot here. You helped blend her seamlessly into the team. Robin needs the presence of someone near his age and relishes in the fact that someone can rival him intellectually. He thrives off the sense of challenge. Kaldur finds comfort in the fact that he can little brother you. And Wally, well you're his brother. You may not have a place on the field as an operative, but you certainly have a place in here as our friend. Sometimes, we need a friend more than we need a hero Max. God knows there aren't enough good ones."

Max was speechless. He didn't know if Canary was just spouting shit. He didn't know if she was trying to manipulate him with those words. And truthfully he didn't care. He felt so damn warm. His eyes watered a little bit and he inhaled sharply, "I just- I wanted to be useful."

Black Canary gave him a calming smile and stood up. She walked to the other side of the table and give the teen a hug, "Useful? You're irreplaceable, no one could take your spot here."

The two chatted for close to an hour and Max had finally retreated to his room after a long winded session with Canary. The blonde woman was great to talk to, she made it easy to open up and provided wise insight that he couldn't hope to possess in his inexperienced lifetime. Maybe she was a therapist in her real life?

She'd helped him come to terms with the team's general consensus, and accept it. Not just the fact that it had happened and he had to get over it. But truly understanding it and accepting it in his heart for what it was. Concerned friends worried about his safety.

And while initially he'd resented the fact that they'd all teamed up against him the way they had, Max became grateful that they cared enough to even gather the way they did. At first he questioned his bonds and friendships, but Canary has helped him realize that this was only possible because they were friends.

"I guess I owe Wally an apology… I've been hard to deal with as of late."

After he'd left Canary he was filled with new energy. Energy that he wanted to commit wholly to supporting this team in the way he was supposed to.

But that would have to wait until he could crack this velocity-9 puzzle. It was no doubt his most troublesome challenge to date. Not even hacking through the Justice Leagues security systems was this hard.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Max had lost all sense of time in his lab. He was stuck. But he could feel it, he was right on the edge. All he had to do was tough it out and he'd reach the conclusion he was looking for. He find the answer to the super empowered serum that Barry left him.

He'd erased all of the previous equations from his whiteboard, they'd all been wrong. He had to start directly from scratch once more. Again, he was quick to run out of space, so he went digging and found some old chalk boards in storage. He wheeled a few of them over to his lab, so that he could extend his work onto them.

While the sound of chalk scratching the the black board had annoyed him at first, Max had learned to tune it out. He'd nearly filled up and then erased the contents several times over the extended time period he worked on this. Aiva providing helpful tidbits of info as he worked.

He was so caught up in his work that he nearly didn't know someone entered his lab. Not until Aiva announced their presence.

"Artemis, welcome back from your mission. I assume that it went well given your return." The AI stated.

"As well as it could've gone I guess. Well, minus Psimon erasing everyone's memories…" She muttered that last part to herself and Max turned around to greet the archer themed hero, "I just wanted to stop by and- Oh my god!" The girl flinched back when she caught sight of the boy genius.

To say he looked a bit worn out would be an understatement. His eyes were horribly bloodshot, his hair was greasy and matted, and now that she had been in the room for a couple of minutes she realized that it didn't smell all that good either.

"Hey Artemis, welcome back!"

"You look terrible!"

Max sweat dropped, "Gee, thanks…"

"Sorry, but when's the last time you went to sleep?" She looked the boy up and down, he looked pretty ragged.

Max shrugged, "I took a nap before you guys went on your mission. If your back, I guess I can assume I pulled an all nighter, I haven't had to pull one of those in a while."

"Before we deployed? Max, we were gone for a couple of days!"

The boy genius' eyebrows jumped, "Aiva, what's the date?"

"September 5th sir."

He blinked owlishly and scratched his cheek, "Doesn't feel like it's been that long…"

Artemis would've been impressed if she didn't know how bad it was to go several nights without sleep. "What are you doing in here that's so important?" She asked incredulously.

The boy smiled and turned around, "I'm glad you asked!" Now that she wasn't looking at just him, Artemis could see the countless sequence of numbers that spanned across three white boards and then another three black boards. The writing began neat, but slowly got messier and messier as she went down each board.

Artemis couldn't make heads or tails of the clustering of numbers and variables before her, she couldn't without any form of context. And even if she had the context, the girl didn't know if she'd be able to follow the complex structure of equations before her.

"Right after you guys left, Flash came to me with a drug," he flashed the vial of red fluid to her, "Apparently it's been giving normal people the power to run fast, and I mean super fast. I've found a foreign energy in the mixture that I've concluded is the cause of the empowered side effect. Only problem is, I don't know what it is or what it's made of. I've been trying to decipher its chemical makeup for a while now, but I haven't had a breakthrough in a while…" He seemed downtrodden at that.

"That sounds like a variant of Kobra Venom Maybe... Imagine that though, a drug that can give people superpowers? I hope that that's the last of it…"

Max nodded, "Flash said he destroyed all the other cartridges… Anyway, you've probably come here because you needed something right?" It sounded kind of messed up, but the team didn't normally come down to the lab for social time, "What's up?"

Artemis looked a bit sheepish and nodded, "Well, my bow kinda got a bit damaged in Bialya… I was hoping you could take a look at it?"

She placed her bow on a nearby table and Max looked it over. It certainly looked a bit rough, but it wasn't anything he couldn't fix. "Sure thing! Shouldn't be too hard to fix up, and I can even show you those curving arrows for you too! Just let me do another scan on the V-9 real quick and I could start right away, your bow shouldn't take that much time."

Artemis looked pleased with his words and smiled in gratitude as Max walked away. She was a bit nervous coming down here at first, given that she'd never had anyone else handle her equipment before, but everyone vouched for Max and his technical skills.

Well, that wasn't the whole truth, she was also nervous because she didn't know if he'd reject her for the whole (anti-Max as she dramatically called) meeting they had.

She watched Max pull a tablet from his main desktop and walk around the vial he'd placed safely onto an observational clamp. He scanned every direction, hoping to get as much information out of the test as possible. Once done he peered at the tablet screen and perked up in interest.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Artemis felt awkward just standing around, and she didn't want to just leave her precious bow here alone.

Max looked up to her and then back to his tablet, and then finally back to her again.

"Actually, could you take your shirt off?"

Artemis blinked owlishly and picked up her bow, "I think I'm just ganna go ahead and fix this myself. Later Max." She turned and made to quickly leave the lab. "Does he really think I'll let him peek at my boobs just cause he said he'd fix my bow?! UGH! Boys are so stupid!" She thought in anger.

Max looked confused at her sudden shift, before he realized exactly what he said and how he said it. He blushed bright red and waved his hands, "Waitwaitwait! That's not what I meant! Well it is, but not like that!"

Artemis rolled her eyes, "Yea, Whatever creeper."

"Seriously, hold on! I didn't ask because I wanna see your boobs- not that you don't have a nice boobs! As a matter of fact, think you've got great-!" He stopped himself as could see he was only digging himself down into a deeper hole. He figured that he should probably just properly explain himself, "The foreign energy signature that I found in the V-9, my scanners picked up faint traces of it on you!" He ran in front of the girl and held his hands out to stop her.

Artemis didn't look like she believed him, "Move."

"I'm serious, look!" He fumbled with the tablet in hand and flipped it around to show her. His scans of the serum had conveniently picked her up in the background, what was strange however is that she was alight with the same radiation of energy that the V-9 was. "See!"

Artemis stared at the screen in confusion, she certainly didn't take any drugs, she didn't need to. She beat superpowered ass as a regular human. No enhanced abilities that she didn't earn through hard work. So why was this energy on her person?

"Alright fine, I believe you. But did you really need my shirt?" She asked accusingly.

Max laughed awkwardly and averted his gaze, "Well I was ganna ask for your pants, but I thought that might be inappropriate…"

"Fair enough. I guess I can help you out, since you're helping me out. Do you have a spare shirt around here or something?" Max looked at her like she was crazy. This was a lab, not a Macy's. "Luckily I've got an undershirt on underneath this…"

"Thank you!" Max exclaimed excitedly and ran over to his computer. "Aiva, prepare for a thorough scan and deep analysis!"

"Yes sir." Aiva began to run the necessary software for the procedure, while Max gathered all the proper equipment. Once finished he turned back to Artemis and nearly fainted from embarrassment.

She wasn't wearing so much of an undershirt as she was a sports bra. It wasn't really all that revealing, but it accentuated her growing attributes more than enough. For Max, this was the closest he'd been to seeing a naked girl in the flesh.

"What are you embarrassed for? I'm the one that's losing a shirt." Artemis teased a little bit, if only to make herself feel more comfortable with the situation. It was times like this that reminded her that while she was part of a team of super teens, this particular teen in front of her was fairly normal all things considered.

"R-Right, sorry."

A few awkward minutes passed by while Max and Aiva observed the energy readings they got from the shirt and compared them to the reading from the V-9.

"It's noticeably weaker… Like it's second hand." He mumbled. His head felt like it was ganna explode from the dead end thoughts he had. He was beginning to get frustrated.

What could Artemis have been exposed to way out in Bialya? And if the sample of V-9 he had was the last of it, then that must mean that she was exposed to the energy by different means.

So, if he concluded that this unknown element was the cause of the speedster side effects, then that must mean she was moving with someone that had super speed.

-!

Max felt a giddy feeling rise in his chest before he turned to Artemis, "Did you partner up with Wally for this mission by chance?"

Artemis looked surprised and blushed at the sudden words, "W-What? That loud mouth? Nothing happened with that twerp!"

That was obviously a lie. She was too embarrassed to say so, but when she'd lost her memories of the last six months she'd briefly found herself attracted to Kid Mouth. Thus, when she regained all her memories of his annoying ways, she found herself with conflicting feelings.

"Umm… Ok?"

Artemis coughed into her hand and recomposed herself, "Well… there was one time he picked me up and we ran from some tanks. It was freaky to move at super speed, I could barely take anything in."

"That's it, Hahaha!" He ran over to his black board and flipped it to its empty backside. That was it! There was a connection between those who already had super speed powers and whatever this mysterious force was.

If that was the case then did that mean that Barry and Wally got their own speed from this energy? He'd been looking at the equation he kept finding all wrong!

"What, I guess you found something?" Artemis asked, slightly excited too. She'd never discovered something, and if the reaction Max had was anything to go by, he'd just struck gold, "Hey, you wanna fill me in? I don't have a clue what you're doing right now!"

Max turned back to her and grinned widely, "I've been looking at this equation wrong, I'm an idiot!" He spoke with excitement, before he wrote a single equation in the black board with white chalk.

3X2(9YZ)4A=?

Artemis looked confused, "Am I supposed to know what that is?"

Max shook his head, "I barely know what it is. I had been looking at this from a chemistry perspective, but that was utterly wrong! Thanks to you, I realized that!"

"Are you ganna tell me what it means now?" She was beginning to get impatient.

"If you look at this from a physics standpoint; where X=width, Y=height, Z=depth, and A=area. This is not the equation to a substance, but to a place!" He enlightened.

Artemis looked surprised, but still confused. "I don't really understand how that helps you here."

"This energy, I believe is what causes users of V-9 to achieve their super speed. If the energy is nearly identical to Wally's, and if I'm right Flash's, then this suggests that their powers are beyond individual capability. There's a source to their powers, not unlike the Green Lantern Corps!" The blonde heroine looked absolutely shocked at the revelation. "And if the chemist somehow got this energy into the V-9 drug, then that must mean that it can be contained or replicated through artificial or temporary means…" He could've just found the power source for his suit, "It's-!"

"-Fascinating…" Artemis finished as she strode towards the black board Max had finished writing on. He wrote everything he said onto said board for memories sake. Even writing a key for the equation he drew up. "You're amazing Max…"

The boy suddenly found butterflies in his stomach and turned to the girl in his lab, "N-No, I really couldn't have done it unless you showed up with this. I'd have been stuck for who knows how much longer. I probably wouldn't have been able to solve it."

"You think too little of yourself…" They lulled into a silence that grew slightly uncomfortable, "I actually wanted to apologize."

Max tilted his head. He was pretty sure he knew what she was ganna apologize for, and he'd already gotten over it. His talk with Canary assured that, but he decided to indulge the young woman, "Apologize? What for?"

"For the whole, no missions thing. I said all that stuff to you but turned around and agreed with the rest of the team on not including you. It's just that- Well, it's not really easy for me to make friends, real ones anyway… My dad made sure of that." She spoke about her father with resentment, "And you guys here, even Wally, are the first people I've really been able to bond with on a personal level. When I agreed to not allowing you on missions I meant it in a good way, we all did. But I know it wasn't the right way to go about that, so I'm sorry."

Max smiled at the apology, it was a bit long winded. But, nonetheless he appreciated it. "I've already gotten over that! You don't have to apologize! Actually, I was thinking I should be the one to say sorry for acting so childish afterwards."

"You-You're not mad?"

Max pursed his lips, "Weeell, I was at first. But after thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense. I even agree with it, if I'm honest. I'm not scared of death, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to die. And if I go out on a mission as I am now, I will most likely die."

Artemis giggles, "You're a lot different than most boys."

"Most boys aren't genius'. But enough of that, how about we start on your bow? I can't really progress more on this V-9 until I talk with Flash about the other details, so I'm free to work on that for now." He offered.

Artemis would've accepted if she hadn't found something more important for the boy to do, "Actually, that can wait. Why don't you go have a shower first? You smell." She was brutally honest with the boy.

He looked surprised and lifted the collar of his shirt up to smell, "I don't smell anything…" he then lifted the shirt up so that his head fell into the circular hole, "Oh yea, now I smell it."

It was at that particular time that Miss. Martian decided to storm into his lab. "Max, I can wait anymore! I'm sorry! I'm sorry for how we treated you, and for how I said-!" The Martian blinked in surprise and then blushed madly at the scene before her.

Artemis who had her shirt off, and was only in her sports bra standing next to Max who had his head halfway disappeared into his shirt. Although he only went in to get a whiff of himself, to an outsider it looked as though he was in the middle of taking his clothes off.

"You- You two? I'm sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt!"

Artemis blushed at the implications and waved her hands frantically, "NO! That is NOT what is happening here!" She shouted.

"I-It's ok, I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to!" The green girl slowly backed out of the laboratory, her eyes darting anywhere but them and then scurrying away in a frenzied flight.

"Wait, M'gann she's telling the truth! It's not like that!" Max also tried to explain but was unable to catch up to speeding Martian. He stopped himself from chasing her as he held a hand to his head, "Oh man. I'm tired, and hungry… And I need a shower."

Artemis sighed as she placed her green arrow shirt back on, "Don't worry about that, I'll straighten things out with Megan. Go shower and sleep, we can work on my bow tomorrow, deal?"

"Deal."

Done!

Shorter than I originally wanted but anything more would've been way too forced. I already felt like I had too much going on in here anyways, so I wanted to end it before it turned into a muddled mess.

In response to a few reviews, (which I'm always thankful for!) totally understand the concern on the character treatment. Notice though, that all of these words and actions are being written through Max's perspective.

And as readers I'm trying to have you view this from the MC'a general perspective, even though it's not direct. A person can only interpret an individual's actions. There's no true way to know someone's intentions, unless the explicitly spell it out. So what you read is Max's interpretation of the words or events that took place.

From his parents point of view, they love him just as much as Wally. It's just that as a superhero, they naturally have more to worry about with him, than the other one that is relatively safe at home or in a lab. From Wally's perspective, he wants to keep everyone safe, and no one more than his own little brother. His words sound harsh, but at the end of the day are rooted from a protective intention.

As for the magic stuff, I thought real hard about it. And I mean REAL hard. But I just don't understand DC magic enough to really take it anywhere. It's so vague to me. I thought that much was pretty obvious when I borrowed the concept of sacrificing nerves from the fate series.

The way I see it, there's a specific aptitude for magic and natural comparability that must be met to utilize it properly. Otherwise, there'd be sorcerers and wizards everywhere. A bit simplistic and convenient maybe, but fitting for me. As far as I know, all the magic users in the DC universe all come from magic wielding ancestry (Zatanna, Zatara, Atlanteans). They only one that doesn't, is John Constantine who is known to be particularly gifted in the art.

With all that in mind I formed my own set of guidelines and base preliminaries for magic in this universe. Doing it this way just helps me push the character in the direction I've been planning for.

I hope those explanations made sense and were satisfactory. I can see it all in my head and it sounds like it fits together like a fine puzzle up there, but it's hard for me to really give you the exact picture I have in my mind. I don't think any writer has been able to do that. It's both a pro and a con to reading I guess. You as the reader can form your own images and pictures, giving it a sense of satisfaction (for me at least). But at the same time, you'll never know how these sequences play out in my head. I think you guys really miss out on that due to my poor writing sometimes.

Unfortunate, but I can only try and get better!

Plan is to start the next chapter and have it out within the next week or two, so be on the lookout! If you've got more questions, don't be afraid to leave them in a review or a PM! Don't check my PMs very often though, for whatever reason I don't get any notifications for that.

Anyhow, thanks for dropping by and I can't wait till next time!

Peace!