AN: Hi all! I have an important update! I went back to chapter 1 and re-wrote Wally's excuse. I just wasn't happy with the unicycle story. I initially wanted to use it to set the scene for his poor-excuse making skills (he is left-brained, after all) but I don't think it works well with the rest of the story, so I've scratched the idea and adjusted following chapters accordingly. So if you're up for it, check back to chapter 1 and let me know what you think! I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING.

Season 1, Episode 13: "Alpha Male"

Robin
Northern India
September 23, 21:45 IST

Robin carefully stalked his way through the lush undergrowth of the jungle, Kid Flash in his wake. He still couldn't believe he was actually in India investigating wild gorilla attacks, but he also knew that Batman would never send the team on a wild goose chase – or, in this case, a wild ape chase.

He heard a sudden screech and looked turned around in unison with Kid Flash. Three gargantuan vultures, silhouetted by the moon, were descending upon them. Robin watched in disbelief as they approached with their claws bared. He put up his arm to protect his face, but still felt one vulture sink its talons into the exposed skin above his elbow.

It quickly flew off again, leaving four deep puncture wounds in his arm. Robin grit his teeth and reached in his belt for a birdarang,

"Thought vultures only ate dead meat!"

Dick Grayson
Gotham City
September 24, 16:14 EST

"Come on, come on, come on, come – YES!" Barbara Gordon took a step back from the foosball table in Wayne Manor and punched the air triumphantly, "And that is how it's done!"

Dick Grayson scowled at her,

"How do you do that?"

"Practice," Barbara responded proudly.

"You don't even have a foosball table!"

"There's one at the police station. I used to play when I was younger and my dad took me to work with him."

"Oh…"

"Play again?" Barbra asked.

"No way! I've lost to you five times in a row – that's more than enough hits to my pride for one day."

"Then how about a round of pool?" She suggested, walking over to his side of the table.

Dick hesitated,

"I don't think so. Why don't we –"

"Come on!" Barbara interrupted, "This is your chance to redeem yourself!"

She playfully punched him in the shoulder and Dick flinched,

"OW!"

Barbara recoiled her fist and raised an eyebrow,

"I'm not that strong… What's wrong with your arm?"

Dick mumbled unintelligibly under his breath, his face flushing.

"What? I can't hear you."

"I said," Dick shouted, "I had a doctor appointment the other day and I got a flu shot."

Barbara grinned wickedly,

"Aww, poor baby!"

Dick glared at her,

"It hurts! My whole arm is sore."

Barbara rolled her eyes,

"Come on, don't be such a wimp!" She glanced around the basement, "How about darts? You can use your other arm."

Dick face split into a devious grin. If he can hit a mugger with a birdarang from several yards away, he can definitely hit the center of a plastic target,

"Okay, but fair warning: I'm a pretty good shot!"

"We'll see about that," Barbara grinned.

She grabbed a dart from the board and took a few steps back. Closing one eye she took her aim and sent the dart flying.

With a muffled thud it landed smack in the middle of the bullseye. Dick gaped at her and she smiled back innocently,

"Did I forget to mention there's a dart board in the station, too?"

Artemis
Northern India
September 23, 21:45 IST

Something in the water behind her suddenly splashed, and Artemis whirled around as an enormous crocodile jumped from the river. With a throaty growl, it lunged at M'Gann. She just managed to brace its jaw open with her hands and foot before it could clamp shut on her. Artemis reflexively notched an arrow in her bow and sent it flying to M'Gann's aid.

Before she could lower her weapon, she was abruptly catapulted into the air. As she began to fall, another crocodile grabbed ahold of her quiver and whipped her to the side.

"AAH!"

Her neck exploded with pain as she and her assailant broke the surface of the water. Submerged in the river, Artemis fought to remove the strap that was trapping her to the massive reptile. It began to roll around in circles, roughly dragging Artemis along. Her head was spinning from the motion and a lack of oxygen, and sharp pains were shooting up and down her neck.

The monster momentarily ceased its spiraling, and Artemis saw M'Gann torpedoing through the water towards her. They clasped hands, and M'Gann ripped Artemis's quiver strap before psychically propelling her away. Artemis fought to remain conscious as she desperately kicked towards the surface, but she was disoriented from the spinning, and her lungs were searing painfully. She started to panic as water filled her nose and mouth and she began to sink.

But then, the water suddenly parted and Artemis found herself on the bottom of the river, surrounded by a circular wall of water. She coughed violently and took deep gasping breaths as she stared up at M'Gann,

"Okay! Nearly drowning two nights in a row, is way less fun than it sounds!"

Artemis Crock
Gotham City
September 24, 07:52 EST

Artemis Crock pushed her way through a crowded hallway in Gotham Academy. It was like swimming in a sea of clones – everyone was wearing the same uptight uniform and entitled-rich-kid smirk on their face.

"Artemis! Hey, Artemis!"

She turned around at the sound of someone calling her name. A sudden, excruciating pain sparked through her neck and she winced as Bette Kane, her student liaison, fell into step beside her.

"OW! Oh. Hey, Bette."

"You'll never believe what I just heard! Do you remember the freshman who took your picture on the first day of school? Do you know who he is?!" Better asked, oblivious to her discomfort.

"No," Artemis responded shortly, preoccupied with trying to massage the ache out of her neck.

"Dick Grayson!"

"Who?"

Bette gaped at her,

"Are you kidding? Dick Grayson, Artemis! The richest kid in Gotham!"

"Cool," Artemis said indifferently, kneading the back of her neck with her knuckles.

Bette, who was obviously expecting a different reaction, huffed incredulously,

"Did you even hear me?! Dick Grayson took your picture on the first day of school! Dick Grayson – the richest kid in Gotham!"

"Yeah, so?" Artemis asked exasperatedly, "What's your point?"

Bette groaned in frustration,

"Come on, Artemis! Don't be so naïve!" She paused, "what's wrong with your neck? Are you okay?"

Artemis, who was still kneading the back of her neck, dropped her hand immediately,

"Yeah, I just have a crick in my neck."

Bette raised an eyebrow,

"What? Why?"

Artemis shrugged, pushing her way past a gaggle of girls,

"The bus driver stopped short yesterday and I got major whiplash. But I should be fine in a couple of –"

Bette suddenly grasped Artemis's arm and dragged her back behind the huddled group of girls,

"There he is!" She hissed under her breath.

Artemis followed her gaze, and sure enough, the raven-haired boy who had taken her picture on the first day of school was standing at a locker, piling books inside. She rolled her eyes and pulled her arm out of Bette's grasp,

"He's a freshman, Bette. What happened to ignoring him?"

"Aren't you curious?"

A locker door slammed shut and Artemis and Bette both turned as Dick Grayson swung his backpack over his shoulder. His eyes fell on the pair and the corner of his lips twitched.

Something stirred in the back of Artemis's mind – there was something familiar about that smirk…

The late bell suddenly rang, and Artemis jumped,

"Come on, let's get to class!"

Kid Flash
Northern India
September 23, 23:39 IST

Kid Flash burst through the brush, past the trees and shrubbery, sprinting towards the gorilla aiming a Gatling gun at an unconscious M'Gann,

"Get your paws off her, you darn-dirty ape!"

Monsieur Mallah turned around and Kid Flash's shoulder collided with his abdomen. He instantly rebounded off the gorilla's tough skin and landed on his back at an awkward angle. As he slid away, Kid Flash felt the muscles in his back protest violently as they were stretched to uncomfortable limits – speed was his forte, not flexibility.

He grimaced in pain as the ground shook with the force of Mallah's impending footsteps. He looked up and found himself staring down the barrel of the gorilla's Gatling gun.

"Uh – oh…"

The gun began to hum and a harsh light gradually illuminated the inside of the barrel, blanching Kid Flash's face. As Mallah fingered the trigger, the barrel suddenly lurched upwards, seemingly of its own accord. It fired harmlessly into the sky above and Mallah growled as he turned around – M'Gann had regained consciousness.

Her eyes blazing green, the Martian had telepathically redirected Mallah's weapon away from him. The gorilla snarled, aiming the barrel in her direction, but before he could fire she psychically lifted him into the air and hurled him into the concrete wall of the compound.

Chunks of cement flew through the air, and when the dust settled Kid Flash saw that she had busted a hole right into the laboratory where they were holding Captain Marvel. Dashing inside, he stopped short as he came face-to-face with the mastermind behind the experimentations –

"It's The Brain!"

Wally West
Central City
September 24, 10:10 CDT

Wally West smirked as he read the final question on his exam:

QUESTION 30: will an atom with more protons than electrons have a positive or negative charge? Explain. (5 pts.)

A sophomore chemistry class was no place for a science prodigy who had successfully re-created the experiment that caused the Flash's powers.

He quickly filled in the correct answer and glanced around at his classmates. They were all still working, some of them anxiously tapping their feet or risking glances at their neighbor's paper. To his left, Wally's lab partner was anxiously biting the end of his pencil as he stared at an uncompleted diagram of an atom.

Suppressing another smirk, Wally folded his test and made his way to the front of the room. His teacher eyed him uncertainly as he approached her desk,

"Do you have question?" she asked quietly.

"No, I finished my exam," Wally whispered back.

His teacher's eyebrows shot up,

"Already?"

Wally nodded and went to hand her his paper, but it slipped through his fingers and floated to the floor.

"Oh, sorry –"

He bent down to grab the exam, but an intense spasm of pain suddenly assaulted his back. He grunted in discomfort, his hand instinctively going to rub his lower back.

"Keep your eyes on your own papers, everyone!"

Wally glanced up. Half of the class was watching him uneasily while the other half was using the opportunity to sneak a peek at their neighbor's answers.

"Are you alright, Wallace?" His teacher asked softly.

Wally nodded, his hand still massaging his aching muscles,

"I'm fine… I helped my mom clean out the attic yesterday and I think I pulled a muscle lifting all the heavy boxes."

His teacher pursed her lip,

"If you've finished your exam you may go to the nurse."

Wally placed the paper firmly on her desk and turned back to his table to gather his belongings. His lab partner watched him incredulously, mouthing "you're done?"

Wally ignored him, zipping up his book bag and carefully slinging it over his shoulder. As he walked out of the room, he heard his teacher's voice call out to the rest of the class,

"Half an hour left to finish your exam, class!"

AN: Special shout out to Moonlight0007 and ilovemanicures for finding a typo in the last chapter! Thank you for pointing it out! :) As for this chapter – it also gave me a lot of trouble. I had to use my imagination to expand a bit upon Kid Flash's blurb, as there wasn't much to go on – I hope you don't mind! Let me know what you think :)