Five years later ...

Infantino Apartments were burning.

Cameron Mahkent clutched his backpack and looked at the burning building. Where's Caitie or the Flashes? Why aren't they stopping this?

There were police barricades up. Fire trucks and EMT vehicles were gathered close to the building. He stared in horror at the rooftop as he saw people screaming for help.

"Cam! Over here, son!"

Joe West. Police Captain Joe West. One of the few people who knew the true identities of the Flash, Kid Flash, and Frost. "Cam!"

"Uncle Joe!" Cam ran up to him. "Where are they?"

Joe West lowered his voice. "League business."

Cam had seen on the news that the Flashes had stopped Captain Cold earlier in the day. Frost had gone to Pearl Harbor to help Aquaman and Aqualad with Killer Frost. (Cam would never understand how Caitie and Crystal could fight each other by day and then have family dinner at night. He hated it, in fact. But no one ever listened to him.) "They're still not back?"

Joe cocked an eyebrow. "That's what I just said."

Great. Here I am being an idiot again. "Sorry. What are they going to do to get the people down?"

"They're doing their best. It's too far to have them jump down into a net …"

There was a look on Joe West's face. A look that said there was no real hope for these people if the Flashes or Frost didn't come back soon.

I can't let those people die! "Here, Uncle Joe." He handed over his backpack. He looked around for someplace to ice up.

"Cam … whatever you're thinking the answer is no! You're not trained for this!"

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to just stand by either!" He ran into an alley and iced up. It would help disguise his features and provide some protection from the heat.

Don't be stupid, Cam. Don't be stupid! He formed an ice ramp and skated towards Infantino Apartments. I can't just use ice to put the fire out. The weight of the ice would just bring the building down. I'm going to have to set up a slide or ice bridge so the people can get off that roof! Time to see if all that training with Wally will finally pay off!

He had never planned on heroics. Caitie didn't want that for him. Crystal didn't want it for him.

They thought he wasn't bright enough, he knew. Dad always said that he was an idiot …

No.

He wouldn't think of Dad now. He didn't have time for that. He wasn't much, but he was all those people had!

He wasn't like Caitie and Crystal. The heat would only have made their powers stronger. He had some resistance thanks to his ice armor, but the heat was bad. He would have to make the slide heavier to compensate.

I can't use the building to support it either. That could bring it down too. Have to balance it on pillars.

It seemed to take an eternity. He had done similar things on a smaller scale, but this was different. Harder.

Finally he connected the slide to the rooftop.

"It's safe! Just get on the slide and you'll safely get down!"

"Who are you? You're not Frost! Are you her son?"

For people on a burning rooftop they had a lot of questions, Cam reflected wryly. "No. I'm … Kid Frost! Now go! This place could come crashing down at any moment! Go!"

Some people were old and fragile. Others were young … too young to understand the danger.

They were all frightened.

So was Cam.

But they were finally all off the roof.

And the building was starting to crumble.

Great!

Cam was about to hit the slide himself when he heard a scream …

A n old woman. She had just gotten to the roof.

He raced towards her. We'll never get off the roof in time.

"Go, boy!" she screamed. "Get off here!"

He grabbed the woman and held her tightly to himself and formed an ice sphere around them. Got to cushion her as much as possible. She doesn't have a meta gene!

And then the building fell.

"Cameron … can you hear me?"

It was Caitie's voice.

He opened his eyes.

He was in S.T.A.R. Labs. The infirmary.

"She's fine!" Wally West said with a grin on his face. "Good job, Cam! Great hero work!"

Caitie glared at him.

"Wally and I got there in time to get the two of you out of the rubble," the Flash said with a smile. "That was a very brave thing you did, Cam."

"Thanks," Cam said. He cautiously felt his body. No broken bones that he could tell. "How long was I out?"

"Just overnight," Caitie's face was calm, but he could see anger in her eyes. Anger and worry. "If you didn't have the family healing you wouldn't be so lucky."

"The kid kept his head and got the people out. Lighten up, Caitie."

Crystal!

She was wearing a power nullifying collar.

"We have to take her back to prison in a few minutes." The Flash looked uncomfortable as he said it. "But she wanted to see you."

"Crystal, you're okay?"

"That's the question I was going to ask you, Cam." Crystal had told him the collars were not comfortable. The fact she was willing to wear one just to make sure that he was okay warmed his heart. "Next time you decide to be hero work on your timing."

Cam shrugged. "I didn't plan on it. It just kind of happened."

"It didn't happen. You chose to do it, Cam." Caitie glared at him. "Don't you realize that you could have died? You could have suffocated in that sphere. It's just a miracle that you weren't crushed by the debris! What were you thinking about?"

"I couldn't let them die," Cam whispered. "I know I'm not much, but I'm all they had."

Caitie gasped. "Cam! Oh God, Cam!" She hugged him. "Don't you ever say that again! Don't you ever think that!"

"What Caitie said," Crystal growled.

"The boy is fine," a voice that Cam had never heard before said.

A man walked out of the shadows.

"Batman," Cam whispered.

"The boy has good instincts," Batman said. "He needs to be trained."

"The boy has a name," Cam protested.

Batman looked at him.

"Maybe I'll just keep my mouth shut," Cam decided.

"Do you mean what I think you mean?" Wally asked the Batman excitedly. "Cam's going to join the Team?"

The Team?

"No," Caitie glared at the Batman.

(Cam was impressed. He couldn't imagine glaring at The Bat himself.)

"No he's not going to join your 'Team!' He's just a child!"

"I'm sixteen!" Cam protested.

" They're all children! You can't be serious with this 'Team' idea of yours! You're going to get them killed! I won't let you do that to Cam! He's not going to be one of your child soldiers!"

"The Team isn't about that," Batman said gently. "You saw what Cameron could do. Yes, he's green but he succeeded at his mission. He saved those people. Men and women are alive because Cameron was there to save them. You're a doctor, Caitlin. Are you going to tell me that's not a good thing?"

"Of course not," Caitie admitted. "But he's too young to make this decision."

"He hit the national news, Caitie," Crystal said softly. "The whole damn world knows he exists and where he is. Dad isn't an idiot. How long do you think it will take him to guess that this new 'Kid Frost' is Cam? And what do you think he'll try to do?"

"I'll protect him!"

"You can't protect him forever, Caitie. Sooner or later, something could happen when neither you or I are around to protect him. Cam can't hide forever. He needs to know how to take care of himself." She lowered her voice. "And you know Cam as well as I do. If he sees someone in danger again, he'll try to help them whether or not he knows what to do or not."

Caitie glared at her … and then sighed. "You're right." She turned to Batman. "Don't you dare get him killed."

"Getting him killed- getting any of them killed- is the last thing I want, Caitlin. We'll do our best to protect him … and if he's not ready for a mission than he won't go on one."

"Want to bet on that?" Crystal murmured.

Caitie scowled. "You're not helping, Crys."

Crystal shrugged. She looked at Cam. "Be careful, Cam."

"I will," he promised.

She hugged him. "Okay, Flash. Let's go. I'll see you soon, Cam."

Flash touched her shoulder … and they were gone.

Cam sighed. He had never seen Crystal like that. Never seen her in a prison uniform. He knew that she had done bad things … but he still didn't feel right about just watching her be taken to prison.

"Get your rest," the Batman told him. "Tomorrow you meet the rest of the team."

Wally smiled at him. "Just wait, Cam! You can finally meet my other friends! It's going to be so awesome that we're going to get to work together."

"Yes." Cam smiled at him. "I'm looking forward to it."

But he felt a chill inside.

Wally's a hero. They're all heroes! I'm just … me. There's no way I'll fit in with them.

No way at all.