Thanks for reading Book 1! Hope you enjoy this one! This is 10 years after Book 1.

[Chapter name and ideas for book name provided by my BFF from RL, shawty_2014 and ideas for names are also from my RL friend Nicole (rest in peace, dove). Also, DiamondClark helped a lot with Dallan and the names of the kids, along with powers and stuff. Thanks, buddies!]

Arianna West: (Goes by Arianna) Older twin; 8, long pink hair (usually kept up in a bun with bangs on either side) with blue cat-like eyes; most like her Mom; has jinxing powers, but is faster than her mother; flexible and fast, tall; like Jinx, she didn't bother with a hero name.

Jocelynn Bay West: (Hero name: Bay Flash; Nickname: Jo) Younger twin; 8, most like her dad, with a little bit of jinxing powers; has shoulder-length ginger hair; pink eyes; faster than her father due to superspeed being genetic; carries the confident grin of Kid; cheerful

Dallan West: (called Kid Flash, 2.0 jokingly tacked on occasionally) little brother by 3 years; 5; looks like Kid, but has a lot of Jinx's habits; shows some signs of powers from both parents, but they happen in random bursts and are nearly uncontrollable

Jinx's POV

     I caught Dallan before he could run into the training area Wally and I had set up in the living room. We had basically just put a special thick and springy mat down to cover the unused side of the living room (a few feet behind the couch and on the other side of the door, as in the opposite of Loli's cage), and put up a ring to hold a punching bag. The punching bag is down at the moment, as Arianna and Jocelynn are sparring.

     Wally stands on the other side of the mat watching them carefully. My old room is now their room. The former guest bedroom is Dallan's. They had all customized their rooms. Or at least, picked out all the decor and so on.

     "Can I spar now, Mom? Please?" Dallan begs.

     "Not yet, dear, you can take the winner of this round." I tell him gently. Dallan's powers are unstable. Meaning he can't control them. They don't come when called on, but randomly and uncontrollably. So, while the girls are trained with their powers, Dallan works on his hand-to-hand, sword-fighting, or archery with the parent who isn't with the twins. Yes, I picked up sword-fighting at the H.I.V.E. Academy. Wally knows archery from some friends. We both know hand-to-hand. We usually teach combat to all of them at the same time, however.

     "Ooh, will you teach me flips in combat?" Dallan asks in awe as Arianna leaps up and performs a spin-kick while Jocelynn backflips away. They have been training for three years now. We taught them all the basics in the years leading up to age five, then we began training them in earnest. So, of course, Arianna and Bay are much more advanced. But Dallan is a quick, eager learner, and wants to be in the same league as his older sisters. He would catch up in no time, but we try to keep the training fit for their age, size, and performance level, but their ages are different. At least, Dallan's is, as the other two are twins.

     "Okay, you two can use powers now," Wally announces. This puts Arianna at a disadvantage. She was naturally skilled in combat, but her powers are considered offensive, and Bay's lean defensive. Arianna's are classified as aggressive and destructive. Bay has Wally's speed (and more) with a little jinxing power. She has "a bit of sorcery flowing through her," as Wally puts it. Bay doesn't use it much, though. The speed Arianna recieved from Wally is built into her more like natural speed than a power, so she's faster than I am. She also inherited my reflexes, but she can't flash like Wally and Bay. Arianna jinxes the floor under Jocelynn when she moves too close, causing Jo to slip. Arianna leaps back, avoiding being floored by Jo's sweeping undercut.

     "Up, up, Jocelynn!" I encourage as Jocelynn stands a little shakily. She flashes a confident smile at me, and runs circles (literally) around her sister in a blur. Arianna stands completely still, then trips Bay. "Whoa!" I pull Dallan away as they clash, yelling insults at each other.

     "Okay, show's over! Dallan will warm up with the punching bag. Jocelynn Bay, Arianna come over here-" he flashes over to stand by me "-with your mother dear and I." Wally slips his arm around me almost automatically. He frequently refers to me as "mother dear." I think it's sweet. Consequentially, the kids have picked up the habit.

     "Aw, who's going to spar with me?" Dallan asks with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

     "I will," I answer. I'm tired of watching and I would rather not talk to the agitated girls.

     "She tripped me!" Jocelynn says to Wally.

     "She was the one who was running around me," Arianna reminds him.

     "Neither of you should fight over that," Wally tries to reason. "Both of you used your powers, and you were allowed to, but you shouldn't react like this."

     "She started it! She jinxed me!"

     "Actually, I jinxed the floor!"

     "Well, you tripped me."

     "You gave me a headache."

     "You-"

     "Stop it!" Wally orders. I choose the moment to go over to Dallan. I kneel on my knees beside him.

     "Rather silly, I know. But it won't always be like this." I whisper loudly to Dallan. "Perhaps we should work on this beautiful thing called teamwork, hmm?"

     "How would we do that, mother dear?" Dallan asks. I look thoughtful and stand.

     "Well," I say slowly, drawing out the "e" and putting a hand on my hip. "For starters, we should quit fighting, and your sweet father should be getting the casserole out of the oven. It's about to burn..." Wally flashes off for a moment and comes back, beaming at me. I smirk. "Next, I can think of two eight-year-old girls who should be doing their routines. Lastly, we'll change your training methods."

     "I'll work with Jo Bay here, and Arianna..." Wally looks to Arianna for her verdict. She waves him off. "Okay then. Come along, Jo."

     "Now, Dallan, we'll start with this pose."

Wally's POV

    I'm helping Jo practice avoiding obstacles. She tends to crash into things a little. Okay. A lot. She has no problem with traffic, buildings, and signs, but she needs to be able to avoid people and trash cans. People do not need to be run into at extremely high speeds. And trash cans are preffered standing upright containing the garbage. Plus, Bay comes away from runs with bruises and the occasional cut.

     "Ooh, ooh, can we go to the park tomorrow, Daddy? Or go swimming? Hey, what are we going to do? I'm kinda bored. I found a four-leafed clover yesterday! I brought it to Mommy. She liked it; it made her smile," Jocelynn chatters happily.

     "We'll see about tomorrow when we get there. Or when your dear mother mentions it," Jo giggles at my offhand comment. "And we're going to do some running. And yes, she loves clovers."

     "Mother dear, mother dear, wherefore art thou, mother dear?" Bay recites, replacing several words and adding others. [Can you guess where the quote inspiration came from?] She probably picked the quote up from her "mother dear." It's what I call Jinx, especially when referencing to her around the kids. Jocelynn Bay has more nicknames than Luckster, though. Her name has so many possibilities. We also call her Bay Flash, but that's her hero name. "Daddy!" Bay hugs me tightly.

     "What is it, Jo?" I ask her, drawing her close protectively.

     "I love you, Daddy."

     "I love you, too, sweetie." I hug her and pick her up. "We should probably practice running before mother dear checks up on us, huh?"

     "Yay!" I smile at her enthusiasm and laugh. She shoots off when I put her down.

     "Hey! Jo, get back here, you escapee!" I sigh. "I'm gonna tickle you!"

     "You'll have to find me first!"

     "Alright, I'll take you up on that!" I shoot off to check her usual hiding spots.

     Nope. This might take awhile.

Arianna West's POV

     I perform my routine while Mom works with Dallan. My routine is a series of complicated exercises meant as warm-ups. Dallan suddenly runs over to me and starts copying me. Mother dear, as Daddy calls her, comes over to help Dallan with his backbend. He's doing it, but he'll need help flipping out of the bend. I swing my legs over and land neatly in attack position.

     "Very good, Arianna. There you go, Dallan. I think it's time for all of you to learn to work together. Teaching you to fight each other is only going to increase sibling rivalry. I think your father will agree," Mom says, her hands on her hips and head cocked to the side. Dad always tells us how highly trained she is because of an organization she was a member of in the past. We always ask him about it, but he answers that it doesn't matter; she isn't a member anymore. When we ask Mom, she says it isn't important.

     Obviously, it's a touchy subject. But Mom does tell us how Dad saved her and took her here. She explains why, on birthdays and anniversaries, we have ice cream for breakfast. It's a sweet story [pun intended], and just the thing Dad would do. He always seems to be nearby, especially when we need him. He's a real hero. But sometimes he and Mom have to call someone over to watch us while they go out on a mission. We aren't old enough to go yet, but Mom tells us it won't be long; even though not even Silverfire, Robin and Starfire's daughter, has been on one, and she's ten.

     Dad says that's because Starfire is really protective of Silverfire. But she'll be able to go with them soon. After all, Richard is her father. Silverfire seems unaffected, but my mother is the opposite about us. It's easy to tell by watching her expressionless face whenever Dad brings it up, when she leaves, or when we get dropped off. Dad thinks it's a good thing and it protects us, but Mom tells him she'd learned "it's best to start them early." I had overheard them talking about it once.

     Daddy told Mum that he had been taught to train kids without taking them on missions until maybe around eleven or twelve, maybe ten. Mom stated that she'd been on missions since she was a little girl. She had been trained and taken out. Dad's voice had softened as he told her, "it's different, though. That's how your life was. You have the chance to raise children differently. I know it's hard to change what was- well..." Dad had coughed and I knew he had shifted nervously. "-taught to you by harsh measure, but-" Mom interrupted him with a gentle, "I know," and it had ended.

     Even so, mother insisted on having us "highly trained, but in a different profession." Maybe Mom had been a spy or something cool like that. Either way, we were trained constantly. We, when we trained with Mom, had schedules and routines. Jocelynn usually didn't have a schedule, since she worked more with Daddy.

     "Arianna!"

     "Yes, mother?"

     "Your turn to help Dallan," Mom says, her eyes sparkling with amusement. She smiles and goes to the kitchen to get dinner on the table. The dining table, not the little end table against the wall. That was where Mom and Dad sat sometimes, like the time they had talked about missions. At mealtimes, they sat with us at the much larger dining table.

     "So, what are we doing?" I ask Dallan.

     "Well, we were looking at techniques and so on. We're working on drop-kicks."

     "That's not too hard. So you stand like this, and balance on your other leg, not this one, and then you kick, high enough to knock someone in the stomach, which should make them drop. And that's why it's called a drop-kick."

      "Ohhh. Okay, now it's my turn."

Jocelynn Bay West's POV

     I hid very carefully in Mom's cleaning closet, which is probably the best place to hide. Daddy would never suspect it... I hope. But it makes me want to sneeze because of the chemicals. So now I'm sitting here on an almost freakishly clean floor, thinking about how much Mom likes to clean. As long as nothing gets moved, she won't mind my being here. I hear Mom setting the table and then Dad's voice.

     "Hey, Luckster, have you seen Jocelynn?" I'm surprised he asked Mom. That means he has no idea whatsoever where I am.

     "No, I'm afraid I haven't. Aren't you supposed to be training her, darling?"

     "We were training! Sort of... And she shot off somewhere. I'm supposed to find her."

     "Oh, I see," Mom says teasingly. "She beat you, so what happens if you find her?"

     "She has to run an obstacle course. After I tickle her for running away," he adds laughing.

     "Heehee, I assume she'll be practicing either escaping you or avoiding trash cans. I don't think Mr. Carl was too happy about the lobby." Mom laughs her pretty laugh, the one that Dad says she picked up here. That statement always makes her laugh again, and sometimes she jinxes him playfully, causing him to trip over everything for about half an hour. Oh, and Mr. Carl is the guy in charge of the apartments.

     "Exactly. Oh, is that lunch?"

     "Yes it is. Why? Hungry again?"

     "I'm always hungry."

     "I know that, silly. Go find Jocelynn. I haven't seen her, sorry. She probably escaped when I was with Arianna and Dallan."

     "She did."

     "Ah. Well, I have to clean the counter now."

     "Why?"

     "You just knocked over a plate."

     "Oh! Oops! I'm sorry! I'll clean it up!"

     "Hmm, nice job, Wal," Mom giggles.

     "It's my pleasure, Luckster." Daddy opens the cleaning closet door and jumps back. "Whoa!" I let out my pent-up laughter as he brushes himself off coolly. "I found Jo, Jinx."

     "I should have guessed. I thought there was a mouse or something, by the way you jumped back."

     "Heyyy, I just wasn't expecting her!"

     "Always expect the unexpected, remember?"

     "Yeah. I remember that. But I think I temporarily forgot. I have it now, don't worry." Dad smiles at Mum.

     "That's good. Oh, and Jocelynn? Set the plates on the table while your darling father cleans up the counter." She winks at me as Dad leans over to pick a sponge off a shelf. I smile, set a plate down, and sneak up behind him.

     "Boo!" I flash away and hide behind Mom.

     "Hey! Aw, man! You had to hide behind your mother. How am I supposed to tickle you now? No horseplay in the kitchen, lest someone knocks something over."

     "Like the plate you tipped over?" Mom giggles, cocking her head to the side as she looks at him.

     "Yeah, the plate. Sure, it was because of horseplay, not because I was mesmerized by a sorceress." He gestures at Mother (because pointing is rude). "She has that ability, you know."

     "I do not! Go, sit down, Wally, you're in trouble." She hides a smile while Daddy sits in his spot and pretends to look scared. I giggle and finish setting the table. "Alright, Jo, go get Arianna and Dallan, please, so that we can begin."

     "Yes, Mom!" I flash into the living room. "Mom wants you to report to dinner!"

Dallan's POV

     "Mom wants you to report to dinner!" Jocelynn announces and flashes back to the kitchen. I can't do that at will. I can't jinx whenever I want to, either. But I can learn hand-to-hand. Mother and Father teach me and sometimes Richard comes over to help. I get to help teach new stuff to my big sisters. It's not that bad to not be able to use your powers. Really.

     "Come on, Dallan," Arianna says to me, walking towards the kitchen archway. She spends a lot of time with me, but she and Jocelynn are both nice. Arianna is most like Mom, and Jocelynn is most like Dad. I'm a little of both, plus some of Mom's "old personality," as my Dad once said. I don't think he knew I was there, but then again, he could have been talking directly to me. It's hard to tell with him. I asked him how Mom used to be, and he had replied that she had been the most intelligent, clever, cunning, quick, witty, and dangerous adversary anyone could ever face, and still is to this day. I asked him if he had ever faced her, and he suddenly remembered something he was supposed to be doing.

     "I hope the casserole wasn't left too long," Mom says as I walk in.

     "I'm sure it'll be fine, dear." Dad replies.

     "Tastes fine to me!" Jocelynn says, her mouth full.

     "Jocelynn!"

     "Sorry, Mom." Jocelynn swallows. "It's great!"

     "That's the spirit, Jo," Dad says, smiling. I sit beside Arianna. She leans over slightly.

     "Don't bite into the beans," she whispers.

     "Why?" I whisper back.

     "Jocelynn put pepper on them."

     "Oh. Great."

     "And salt."

     "Aw, man!"

     "Yeah."

     "What's up with the secret conversation?" Dad looks at us suspiciously and then nervously eyes his food. So does Mom. I don't understand.

     "Did you guys put an explosive in someone's food?" Mom asks.

     "Uh, Mom, we don't exactly have any of those," Arianna responds.

     "Taste the beans," I suggest.

      "I seasoned those!" Jocelynn says, beaming. "At least, I seasoned Arianna's and Dallan's."

     "Well, they can't be that-" Dad coughs after trying some of my beans, since I'm the closest. "-bad. Okay, let's lay off the seasonings, alright, everyone? But that would have been a pretty good prank."

     "It wasn't a prank," Jocelynn says innocently.

     "You and your father," Mom exclaims, shaking her head and tut-tutting.

     "What about us?"

     "Always pulling some prank on someone. I should tell you about the time he hid all the brooms, so I made him clean the floors with a little brush and a dust pan until he gave back the brooms."

     "Ooh, tell us!"

     "I really shouldn't..."

     "Pleeeaaase!" We beg.

     "Oh, alright. So it was when Jocelynn and Arianna were about 6 months old or so. Kid decided he wanted to curb my cleaning habits. Again. So he went about it his way. And we all know about that." She winks at us. "So he took all the brooms out of the closet, and I still don't know where he put them. Well, I wanted to sweep, so then he told me they were gone. I was suspicious anyway, so I decided..."

     TA-DAH! Sorry, it took ages to type and then copy into a notebook and then type them again on the computer with Internet. Sorry, guys. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! VCF! And questions welcome, of course! ^-^

     Ideas are important! ;)

     And confusion is unacceptable! We must clear that up immediately! So voice your concerns in the comment thing below this story! :D