Wally's P.O.V.

"I'm telling you Artemis, ever since my fight with Klarion as Dr. Fate he's been acting all weird whenever we fight. Sometimes I feel as though he goes easy on me and it's starting to weird me out," I started telling Artemis as I speed around the kitchen to prepare myself a sandwich.

"Even if what you're saying is true it doesn't erase every other bad thing that he's done," she tries to explain to me while putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. I stopped and looked into her eyes and I felt as though my problems all melted away.

"Have I ever told you how glad I am to have you here with me?" I asked her, placing my forehead against hers.

"I know, just take your time. I know it's hard to deal with it but if you ever need to talk to someone about that then I'll be here to listen to you. Whatever you need," she whispered to me.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but are you Wally West?"

I turned around and saw a young teenager looking like someone on their way to dance practice, wearing spandex covered with a wrap in music note design patterns. He was leaning against the door with a large war hammer in his left hand. His black t-shirt did very little to hide the muscle underneath that made me feel all tingly in the wrong places.

"Who are you and how did you get into the Cave?!" Artemis demanded with her bow drawn and arrows at the ready. The teenager just looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Artemis I presume? Listen, we just wanna have a word will Kid Dork over there," he said, "Oh but where are my manners? I'm Kit, an elite member of Nico's Guard and assassin specialist."

"Sorry, but you'd have to schedule an interview first," Artemis fired her arrows at the teen, he easily batted them away with his hammer. Slamming the hammer on the ground a couple of big rocks rose from the ground. He spun as if dancing with the rocks, using his hammer to smash the ground to raise more rocks to shield himself as Artemis continued to rain fire with her arrows. He must've raised 15 large chunks of the earth when he hit the hilt of his hammer on the ground, the rocks spun in a circular motion almost hitting Artemis. I speed my way to her, dodging the rocks to carry Artemis bridal style to avoid the attacks.

"We need to warn everyone else in the Cave," I told Artemis. She nodded and fired a smoke arrow at Kit to give them cover to retreat. I ran to the other exit of the kitchen only to smack face-first at the entryway. I rubbed my head feeling as though I ran straight into a steel wall, I looked up to see symbols light up in the entryway.

"Eihwaz, reverse Teiwaz, reverse Isa, and Nauthiz," I muttered to Artemis the runes and their names, "It's a binding spell that uses the four runes as the main command, and the other symbols empower and sophisticate the spell. How do I know this?"

"I want to know that as well," said a shirtless teen, he had dark skin, a whole upper body littered with tattoos of runes. He walked in from the doorway carrying a metal whip in hand, his jeans had glowing symbols on them, "We were informed that you had zero affinity for the mystic arts, yet you seem to know more than you should. Please explain."

I shook my head, "I don't know, I just saw the symbols and it was like the info was just downloaded into my brain. This doesn't make sense, magic doesn't exist so why…" Oh, but it does exist, my little runner. You will believe it soon enough. "What was that?!" I looked around but everyone was just staring at me. Artemis was up with a hunting knife she usually keeps.

"KF now is not the time to spiral! If I have to save you and fight both of these guys off no matter how hot they look, I will personally kill you afterwards," Artemis hissed at me, ducking as rocks flew towards her head.

"Alex, you handle Wally, there's someone else influencing his emotions right now. I'll handle Artemis," Kit said as he swung his hammer at the archer. Artemis backflipped away from him and took out her crossbow to fire rapid arrows at Kit. Alex started approaching me and flung his whip at me in an attempt to wrap me in it.

Dodging the metal, I looked at him and taunted, "Sorry, but you're not my type," I charged at him ready to punch his head to knock him out. He ducked and used the handle of the whip to hit me in the gut. I was tossed back by the force of the blow, feeling something cold wrap around my stomach made a chill run down my spine. Looking down I see his whip glowing with runes, "Algiz, Berkana, Teiwaz, and Mannaz. What are you doing to me?" I asked him with panic in my voice.

The intruder looked at me with wide eyes, he raised his left palm at Kit and a rune appeared underneath him, Uruz. "Enough, we need to get him out of here before what's done becomes permanent. Finish your dance with her so we can go!" Kit gave a silent nod and faced Artemis with his hammer, throwing it at her to block the arrows she fired his way. She wasn't able to dodge the hammer as it broke her bow and sent her flying to the wall.

"ARTEMIS! What have you done to her?!" I demanded, trying to get out of his whip as I watched Kit walk up to her body. He started singing words in a foreign language that I couldn't understand but somehow knew it's intent. "You're healing her?" I was stunned.

"Of course I'm healing her, despite the difference in our skill she fought bravely. Plus, I loved the way she was able to dodge my attacks with grace. She'll wake up feeling good as new, just like you."

"Wait what?" I asked, then I saw darkness.