AN: Hello again! Thank you for all the reviews! Unfortunately, throughout this episode "The Robin" was with "The Batman" doing "The Dynamic Duo" thing, so this chapter will focus once again on solely Kid Flash and Artemis. I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING.

Season 1, Episode 7: "Denial"

Artemis
Salem
August 19, 22:42

"Wally, we're in trouble!" Artemis heard M'Gann shout over the mind link, "Tell Kent we need Dr. Fate!"

Artemis shot her last arrow at Abra Kadabra, but he deflected it with ease. She watched helplessly as he flicked his wand, sending a stream of lightning rushing towards her. She fell to her knees and the lightning formed a net, trapping her on the floor.

It felt like every nerve in her body was on fire. Artemis balled her hands into her fists and screamed. As she lay on the floor with nothing to do but writhe in agony, she suddenly became hyperaware of all of her senses. She could feel the cold floor beneath her, and hear the screams of teammates resonating in the empty chamber. She could smell the heat radiating off the shock waves – her tongue tasted like copper, and even through her closed eyelids she could see the blinding light from the electric cords holding her down.

The seconds ticked by, but they felt like minutes, and the minutes felt like hours. Artemis had no idea how long she laid there, analyzing her every sense in agony – but then, all at once, it stopped. She got to her feet as soon as the cords disappeared, but her heart was racing and the movement made her head spin. She stood back as Superboy approached Kadabra, and from the sidelines she watched with satisfaction as he landed a punch right in his face,

"Show's over."

Artemis Crock
Mount Justice
August 20, 03:11 EDT

Artemis Crock sat on the edge of a bed in the med lab of the cave. An IV was stuck in the crease of her elbow and she watched the medicine drip, impassively counting the seconds between each drop. She heard footsteps approaching and turned expectantly as Robin appeared in the threshold of the doorway, grinning,

"Electric shocks, huh? I always miss all the fun."

Artemis snorted,

"I'd hardly call it fun, but whatever you say, Boy Wonder."

Robin laughed and took a seat in one of the chairs next to the bed,

"How do you feel?"

"My heartbeat's finally back to normal, but I still feel like I have pins and needles all over my body and every once in a while my muscles will spaz," Artemis shrugged, "but I've felt worse."

Robin grinned,

"At least you didn't get any burns. By tomorrow you'll be good as new, and you won't have to come up with some crazy excuse!"

The corners of Artemis's mouth twitched,

"That's true, I guess… how was patrol in Gotham?"

"The usual – stopped a couple robberies, beat up a few bad guys. Nothing that can compare to a trip to the Tower of Fate," Robin hesitated, "I heard about Kent."

Artemis hung her head,

"There was nothing we could do. Wally tried giving him CPR but he was already gone, Klarion's spell hit him right over his heart."

Robin shook his head sadly,

"Have you talked to Wally?"

"No," Artemis said sharply, "why?"

Robin shrugged,

"I heard he put on the Helmet of Fate. I wanted to know what happened in there."

Artemis paused, thinking,

"He didn't say."

Robin got up from the chair and stretched,

"I'm going to see if he's still around. You sure you're feeling okay?"

Artemis nodded and watched Robin disappear out the door.

A while later, when the IV bag was finally empty, Artemis removed the needle from her arm and set off down the hallway. She paused outside Wally's souvenir room and leaned on the doorframe, watching the speedster carefully place the Helmet of Fate on a shelf. Her arrow was among his souvenirs, as was her mask… Artemis shook her head and cleared her throat,

"You never said what happened to you – when you put on the helmet."

"Energy from the thing rewrote my brain's beta waves. I was bio scripted into becoming Dr. Fate for a few minutes. No big," Wally said nonchalantly.

"Wait – you're still claiming there's no such thing as magic?" she gave a humorless laugh, "If that's how you feel, why keep it at all?"

Wally glanced at the helmet before answering,

"Souvenir."

"Geek!"

Kid Flash
Salem
August 19, 22:47 EDT

"Brat!"

From within the helmet, Kid Flash watched in a mixture of awe and disbelief as Dr. Fate shot a spell at Klarion, forcing him to teleport himself out of the line of fire. He reappeared suddenly behind the Lord of Order and retaliated with his own spell. Kid Flash saw the curse strike Dr. Fate's back, and not a second later his knees gave out as he felt the force of the spell hit his own back. It was like he was being stabbed with spears of fire, and he could feel his skin start to blister.

"AAH! What gives?!" Kid Flash asked angrily.

"Well… it is your body," Kent Nelson said simply.

"Then let me control it!" he insisted, "With Fate's power and my speed –"

"Sorry, kid," Nelson interrupted, "Doesn't work that way. But you can see why I haven't put on the helmet in 65 years."

"And if Fate… loses this fight?" Kid Flash asked hesitantly.

Nelson's expression darkened,

"You see Inza before I do."

Wally West
Central City
August 20, 11:55 CDT

"OW! That hurts!"

"Oh, quit whining – I'm almost done!"

Wally West grumbled into a pillow as he lay on a couch in the living room of his house. His mom kneeled beside him, rubbing antibiotic cream onto his raw and blistered back.

"You try getting second degree burns and having someone smack some smelly ointment on it," Wally mumbled under his breath.

"I heard that," his mother said irritably.

Wally sighed,

"I wish this whole super-speed thing came with super-high-pain-tolerance."

His mom chuckled softly,

"Take what you can get… and with the amount of food you eat, you should be grateful you got a super metabolism."

Wally rolled his eyes as the doorbell rang.

"Coming!" his mother yelled, "Hurry up and get your shirt on, we don't want anyone to see –"

The door opened suddenly and a blonde woman from Wally's mom's book club walked inside,

"Hi Mary!" Her eyes scanned the room and they landed on Wally's scorched back. Her face dropped, "Oh, I'm sorry – I thought you said come in, and the door was open –"

Wally dove for his shirt as his mom hitched on a smile,

"Oh, hi Leanne! How are you?"

The woman's eyes flickered from Wally's back to his mom,

"I'm – I'm fine… Wallace, what happened to your back?"

Wally exchanged a look with his mom before shrugging,

"I, um, I took a shower the other night and I – well, there was a problem with our water heater, and the water was super-hot and – and when I got in the shower it burned my back."

Leanne put a hand over her heart,

"How dreadful! You poor dear!"

Wally looked towards his mom for assistance. She got the hint and took a step forward,

"Our meeting isn't until tomorrow, Leanne. We had to reschedule because of Patty's trip, remember?"

The woman nodded,

"I do, I just wanted to return this to you," She rummaged through her bag before procuring a dog-eared copy of a novel, "I can't make it tomorrow and I didn't want to forget."

Wally's mom took it and smiled,

"Thank you, that was very kind."

"Oh, it's not a problem. I'm sorry for… interrupting," her eyes flickered back to Wally, "Wallace, dear, I hope you feel better soon."

"Thanks," Wally said awkwardly, rocking on his heels.

"I'll show you out," Wally's mom said as she led Leanne to the door.

When she was gone Wally rushed to his mom, holding out a roll of gauze,

"Quick, patch me up before anyone else sees!"

AN: The next episode ("Downtime") features Aqualad's trip to Atlantas and (aside from a brief altercation with Clayface at the beginning) it doesn't include a mission with the rest of the team. So the next chapter will skip right to episode 9 ("Bereft"). Don't forget to review! :)