A/U: So sorry for the wait. School's started up again, so you'll have to wait at least two-three weeks between chapters… I'm really sorry, and on top of that, I'm finishing up the Hogwarts Story and working on a new one… Anyway, this one's short…
19:52 March 10, 2012 El Cerrito, California
Klarion waited impatiently, tapping his foot. He had better things to do than wait for mysterious, "Mime." He spotted a hooded man coming toward him, the poor lighting obscuring the man's face. The man walked up to him, and Klarion smelled the scent of foreign cigars on his clothes.
"I am ze Mime," the man whispered.
Klarion rolled his eyes, "Finally, you took forever!"
Klarion had a high, nasally voice that made him sound much like a teenager.
The man snorted condescendingly, and handed Klarion a package wrapped in brown paper, "Does Meester… Burt Villers… know how to use ze weapon?"
Klarion nodded, "Yes sirree!"
The man nodded, "Ze manual is inside."
Klarion nodded again, and they parted. Klarion began walking in a series of complicated zigs and zags, turning sharply around corners. Finally reaching a deserted alleyway, he got out his disposable phone.
"The package has arrived, Master."
"Perfect."
13:17 March 11, 2012 FBI Headquarters Washington D.C.
"The Savage case is now an ongoing investigation," Bruce said, his facial expression not changing.
Kaldur nodded, and the rest of the team followed suit, accepting it, "Yes, sir."
"In the meantime, I would like you to guard Kent Nelson," Bruce said, and with a few clicks of his mouse, a image on the wide computer screen appeared.
It was a slim, pale man with grey-white hair, wearing a trim suit and faded green eyes.
"Why does he need our protection?" Wally asked, perplexed.
"Mr. Nelson is a retired C.I.A. agent, and he possesses a solid gold helmet that can power a super-computer. As you may know, Mr. Nelson has not been of good health lately, and therefore, I'm sending you in to protect both of them, at least until… Mr. Nelson… passes on."
Wally groaned, "Why are we given the rookie mission!"
Bruce glared at Wally, "This is not a rookie mission."
Kaldur pushed Wally out the door, and turned to Bruce in the doorway before leaving, "Coordinates will be sent?"
Bruce nodded, and Kaldur walked out the door.
18:32 March 11, 2012 Salem, Oregon
"So we have to go protect some old fart and his toy?" Artemis asked, breaking the silence in the large, black van.
Megan nodded from the driver's seat, "It's not our main assignment, but someone's got to do it."
Connor grunted from the passenger seat, and nodded toward the large, colonial brick building outside the window.
It was impressive, with wide windows and a pair of large front doors. Red and dark orange bricks made up the sides of the house, and big black tiles covered the roof.
They tumbled out of the car awkwardly, each suiting up, putting on a vests and strapping guns and rifles to their waists.
Wally knocked on the door smartly, "We're from the F.B.I.!"
The door creaked open, and Wally stepped inside, Artemis following close behind him.
They stood for a few seconds, examining the inside of the dark house, when the floor fell in.
Dropping Wally and Artemis into darkness.
oOoOoOo
"Do you think they're alright?" Megan asked, worriedly looking at the now solid hardwood floor.
Dick nodded, "I'm sure they'll be fine. Bruce said that Kent kept a lot of secret passageways, and Wally must've activated it."
"I am sure that they are fine," Kaldur said reassuringly.
"Besides, they need some… closure," Dick said, a grin spreading across his face.
Connor shrugged, "Let's move out, they're both armed anyways."
Megan nodded, accepting it, and they walked off.
oOoOoOo
Artemis groaned, and the body beneath her groaned as well. She rolled over, revealing Wally's pale face, his vest coming off on one end.
Her gun had slid three feet away from both of, and she crawled carefully toward it.
Wally stirred, and he blinked , "What happened?"
Artemis glared at him, "You activated one of the trapdoors, Baywatch!"
Wally scowled at her, and got up, adjusting his vest and fixing his holster, "Let's go."
Artemis rolled her eyes, "Who put who in charge?"
Wally ignored her, walking forward.
It was a man-made cave, with earthen walls and dim electric light bulbs lining the ceiling. Every so often along the cave, against the walls were various packs of supplies, canned food, freeze-dried fruit, and bottles of water.
As they walked deeper into the cave, Artemis discovered a glittering, glass case.
Inside of it was a long, brown staff, the top part curved and painted black.
Artemis went to grab it, "I got it!"
However, at that moment, Wally also grabbed onto it, and they glared at each other for a moment when there was a bright flash of light.
oOoOoOo
Wally let go of the staff quickly, his hand burning, and glared at Artemis, "What did you do!"
Artemis raised an eyebrow, "I didn't do anything! You were the one who grabbed the cane!"
"Well excuse me for being curious! And you grabbed it too!" Wally growled.
"Thanks for bringing my cane back," a male voice said behind them.
The pair turned, and was faced by none other than Mr. Kent Nelson himself.
Kent extended a hand, "Kent Nelson."
Artemis pushed Wally out of the way, "Artemis Crock, consultant for the F.B.I."
Wally rolled his eyes, "Wally West, F.B.I. Bruce Wayne sent us."
Kent nodded, and he took the cane from the ground.
He flicked the top off, revealing thin, tube with many buttons along it. Nelson pressed numerous of them, in a strange combination, and soon, the walls of the room slid down.
Nelson flicked a hand toward them, and they got up, obediently following him.
A cackling was heard in the distance, and Artemis looked behind her, looking for the search.
"That would be Klarion. He broke into my house, trying to steal my Helmet of Fate!" Nelson said in a jovial, but annoyed tone.
Wally nodded, "Do you have the helmet?"
Nelson nodded, and continued walking.
They were led into a long, wide room with high, arching ceilings and shiny marble floors.
"What's this room for?" Artemis said, marveling at the sheer size of the room.
"This was my ballroom," Nelson said, looking around the ballroom fondly. He reached in his pocket, rummaging around in it, and he pulled out a pocket watch. He flicked it open, and looked fondly at the image on the top lid. He showed it to Wally, grinning, "This is my wife, Inza. She's gone on already, but, she'll always be my Spitfire."
Artemis smiled awkwardly, never one able to deal with grievances.
Wally nodded, about to say something, when the wall crumbled.
There was a cackle of laughter again, and Wally gaped at the huge, vaguely humanoid machine currently ripping apart the wall.
Nelson gave a sigh, and lifted his cane, pressing a couple buttons on his cane.
The floor shifted, revealing a staircase.
A stray group of debris flew at Kent, and Wally reacted, pushing Nelson into the passageway, and both of them tumbled into darkness.
The staircase closed, and Wally heard the hum of computer screen coming to life.
There were three screens, and they surrounded a keyboard that looked like one you would use to control a video game.
A large panel of buttons, complete with a joystick and a computer keyboard.
Wally glanced down at the old man beneath him, and gasped.
A large gash had appeared on the man's forward, blood trickling down it. A bruise was forming on the man's face, surrounding his eye and cheekbone.
Kent got up, despite the major injury, and hurried to the computer, "If we want to save the girl who we just locked out up there with Klarion, we're gonna have to do this quick."
Wally nodded, and stared at the screen, where they could see Klarion's machine taking swipes at Artemis.
Artemis was holding her gun aloft, firing bullet after bullet, to no avail.
Kent rummaged in the back of the dark room, and emerged with the solid gold helmet. Wally watched in fascination as he hooked up a bunch of wires to the helmet.
"I'm not strong enough to control it," Nelson said, a slight gasp of pain escaping him, "But, I'll warn you. It's hard trying to get the helmet off. It… changes you."
Wally nodded his head again, but ignored Nelson's words. His team mate was in danger.
He placed the helmet atop his head, and suddenly, he was in the ball room again.
He towered over Artemis, and was about the same height as Klarion's machine. He took a practice swipe with his arm, and the machine's body he was occupying swiped at Klarion's.
He then threw a punch, knocking over Klarion's machine, and he heard in the distance, Kent Nelson's low grunt of approval.
He looked down, and saw Artemis' confused face.
Soon, Megan, Connor, Kaldur, and Dick ran in, alerted by the noise, and they help keep the machine down, putting cuffs around Klarion's wrists.
Wally grinned, and lifted his hands, ready to take the helmet off.
Instead, he was met by air.
He tried to take it off again, and his heart nearly stopped.
What if he was stuck like this? In control of a huge, vaguely humanoid machine.
No more ice-cream, or all-you-can-eat buffets.
Suddenly, he felt a whoosh of air, and Kent was grinning at him, despite one side of Nelson's face being all bloodly.
The helmet clattered to the ground, and Wally rushed forward as Nelson fell.
"I'm proud of you kid. You did good with the Helmet of Fate," Kent said, smiling.
Wally was silent as he watched Kent's eyes glaze over.
"By the way, I'm glad I got to see you fight. I'll finally be with Inza now, and I'll thank you for that," Nelson grinned, this time, however, in a more tired fashion, like a person who'd seen the world and wasn't satisfied by it, "Find your own little spitfire, one that won't let you get away with anything… Like that…"
He wasn't able to finish his sentence.
Wally felt tears brimming, and he wiped them away rebelliously.
He heard the door creak open, and he felt numb as Kaldur gently pulled him away from Kent's cold body.
Artemis was quiet in the van on the way back to hotel, and he sensed that she felt his loss as much as he did.
And earlier, as he had tucked the gleaming, golden helmet underneath his arm, he could've sworn Artemis had tucked Kent's pocket watch into her own jeans pocket, the chain glittering at him mysteriously.
12:12 March 13, 2012 FBI Headquarters Washington D.C.
"Due to recent… events… We have decided that you are do for more training," Bruce said, his eyes flickering to the stoic Wally.
Wally had been unusually quiet the day after Kent's death, Artemis also silent during meals with the team.
Kaldur nodded, "Who is to be training us?"
"I'm Dinah Lance," a female voice said from the corner, and the voice stepped forward.
She was a pretty woman, with high cheekbones and thin red lips. She had medium-length blond hair that tumbled down her shoulders, and she was wearing a black tube top and dark grey pants with combat boots.
"Field agent, Dinah Lance," she corrected herself, extending a hand, and smiling warmly, "Code name's Black Canary."
Artemis nodded, "Aren't you Oliver's lover?"
Dinah grinned, and nodded, "Yes ma'am, and I'll assume you're Artemis?"
Artemis nodded again.
"Oliver's told me a lot about you," Dinah said.
Wally looked up, "What are you going to teach us?"
Dinah shrugged, "The usual, combat, strategies, stealth."
Kaldur nodded, "It would be a good experience for all of us to have a refresher course."
Wally snorted, "Yeah… Refresher course."
Artemis smacked him.
"Ow!"
Dick leaned over and whispered to Connor, "Wally's back to normal!"