M O U N T J U S T I C E
August 19, 19:39 EDT

It had been about ten days since Artemis had joined the Team. Ten days since Reese had asked Dick to run a background check on her. Ten days since Silverbird had found out who she really was.

At first, she was angry. Angry and scared. Seriously, how could Oliver not have told her about this?

But, then, Reese began to feel bad. It wasn't like it was Artemis's fault her dad was...who he was. At the time, she had been angry, angry at Oliver for the fact that he hadn't told her he was taking on a new protege.

And, if Reese was being completely honest, she was maybe even a bit angry at herself.

Dinah--Black Canary--had told her before that nobody thought she was inferior, that she was a valuable member of the Team, but that didn't stop the twelve-year-old brunette from thinking that maybe if she were better, then Oliver wouldn't have needed to take on another protege, so soon after Roy had left.

The voice of the cave's computer-AI jerked Reese from her thoughts, and she looked up in time to see Kaldur and Superboy initiate some combat training.

Superboy threw the first punch, but Kaldur managed to block, and for the next couple of minutes, they seemed to be evenly matched.

As they were sparring, Artemis turned to M'gann, and Reese figured she was still bent on somehow dating Superboy.

Why she was doing that, Reese had no sane clue.

"Kaldur's, uh, nice, don't you think?" the blonde archer began, causing Reese to raise an eyebrow. Subtle, she thought to herself. "Handsome, commanding," Artemis turned to M'gann, crossing her arms over her chest. "You should totally ask him out,"

Reese didn't mean to laugh. Truly, she didn't. But it was just so funny.

To think, that M'gann of all people would be attracted to Aqualad. Anyone with eyes could see that Miss Martian and Superboy had feelings for each other.

Artemis, it seemed, didn't have eyes.

"What's so funny?" Artemis spoke up, her voice sharp, and Reese snapped her jaw shut, still giggling as she placed her hands over her mouth.

"Nothing," she managed to gasp out. "Nothing at all,"

"Kaldur's like a big brother to me," M'gann told Artemis. "But, you know who would make the cutest couple? Reese and Robin,"

This time, it was like Reese's brain had short-circuited. She blinked for several seconds, before shaking her head and crossing her arms, tilting her head to look at both Artemis and M'gann, who were staring down at her, smirks on both of their faces.

"Okay, first of all," Reese began, popping up from where she had been sitting on the floor between M'gann and Artemis to begin counting on her fingers. "That is so not true. Second of all, Green Arrow would never let me date anyone before I turned thirteen. And third of all, why are we even talking about me, when we really should be talking about, oh I don't know, Artemis and Wally?"

"Me," Artemis pointed to herself. "And Wally?" The three of them turned to the red-haired speedster, who was currently mouthing through a burrito a few yards away.

M'gann, thank God, was distracted easily, and seamlessly diverted her attention from Reese and Robin to Artemis and Kid Flash.

"Reese is right," the martian agreed, gesturing between Artemis and the speedster. "You're so full of passion, and he's so full of..."

"It?" Artemis asked, and all three of them laughed. After a moment, Reese looked down at her feet again, scuffing the toe of her heeled boot against the floor.

Why would both Artemis and M'gann think she and Robin were dating? Sure, Reese hung out with Dick every free chance she got, and she trusted him with her life, even with her trust issues.

Did it really look like they were dating?

A thump from the training circle jerked Reese from her thoughts, and the brunette turned in time to see Superboy kick the back of Kaldur's back and flip Aqualad over his shoulder, the Atlantean's back thudding into the ground.

Fail Aqualad, the computer's voice called out mechanically, and Superboy straightened up, rubbing his hands together.

"Black Canary taught me that," the Cadmus clone said, and Reese grinned at the thought of Dinah making progress with Superboy's potential anger issues, just as the top of the mountain opened up, and Red Tornado flew down, beginning to walk slowly towards the Zeta tube.

"Do you have a mission for us?" Wally asked, speeding in front of the android, who paused and turned to glance at him.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility," Red Tornado said stoically, his words eerily similar, almost identical, to what he had told them when they asked about their first mission before the Team had gone up against Mister Twister.

"Yeah," Wally admitted reluctantly. "But, well, the Batman's with the Robin doing the Dynamic Duo in Gotham--"

"Cape Canaveral," Reese cut Wally off, and when everyone turned to look at her, varying degrees of confusion on their faces, the brunette shrugged. "What?" she asked. "Before he left, Robin told me he and Batman had to deal with some sort of League of Shadows crap down at Cape Canaveral," Reese noticed the way M'gann and Artemis were staring at her, and the twelve-year-old glared at the other two girls. "We're not dating!"

"Anyway," Wally continued, glancing suspiciously over at Reese for a moment before turning back to Red Tornado. "You're headed somewhere, right? Hot date, or a mission?"

"If we can be of help..." Aqualad supplied, holding out a hand.

Seemingly giving in, Red Tornado turned around, pulling up a few holo-screens, the main of which showed a picture of an elderly man dressed in a suit, holding a cane. When Reese recognized him, her eyes widened.

"This is Kent Nelson," Red Tornado began. "A friend. He is 106 years old--"

"Guy doesn't look a day over ninety," Wally hissed to Artemis, and Reese rolled her eyes as Red Tornado continued his explanation.

"--and he has been missing for twenty-three days. Kent was a charter member of the Justice Society, the precursor to your mentors' Justice League," the holo-screen of Kent changed to one of a male figure, dressed in blue and gold garb, a featureless golden helmet adorning his head.

"Of course," Kaldur spoke up in realization, arms crossed over his chest as he stared at the holo-screens. "Nelson was Earth's Sorcerer Supreme," the Atlantean said, his voice said. "He was Doctor Fate!"

Again, Wally tilted his head towards Artemis, and Reese gritted her teeth at the words that came out of the speedster's mouth.

"Ngh, more like Doctor Fake. Guy knows a little advanced science and 'Dumbledores' it up to scare the bad guys and impress the babes," Reese was literally this close to turning around and snapping at the redhead, but Red Tornado spoke again before she was able to act on anything.

"Kent may simply be on one of his walkabouts. But, he is caretaker to the Helmet of Fate, the source of the Doctor's mystic might, and it would be unwise to leave such power unguarded,"

Next, M'gann stepped forward, looking a bit awed. "He is like the great sorcerer priests and priestesses of Mars. I would be honored to help find him,"

"Me too!" Wally's hand shot up into the air before Reese was able to say anything, and she slammed a hand against her forehead.

Seriously, didn't he ever give up?

The speedster walked forward, and to Reese, it looked like it physically pained Wally to admit that he "believed" in magic.

"So honored I can barely stand it. Magic...rocks," Reese rolled her eyes, wishing Dick would somehow be able to make Wally a better liar before Red Tornado suddenly held up an intricate-looking key.

"Take this," the android said as Aqualad picked up the key. "It is the key to the Tower of Fate,"

Behind her, Reese heard Wally speak again, presumably to M'gann, and once again, Reese wished immensely that she could've gone to Florida with Robin and Batman.

"What are the chances," the speedster began. "That we both so admire the mystic arts?"

This time, Reese actually groaned out loud, throwing her head into her hands and pressing her palms into her eyes. Sometimes she seriously wished that she worked with Batman and Robin more.

➴➴➴➴➴➴

The Bioship was flying towards Salem, Massachusetts, where the Tower of Fate was located when Artemis spoke up from her spot at the front.

"So, Wally," the blonde began, glancing across her right shoulder to the speedster, who was sitting just past Reese, who sat between them. "When did you first realize your honest affinity for sorcery?"

"Well," Wally began, stuttering a bit. "I-I don't like to brag--"

"Yes you do," Reese cut the older boy off, but she only smirked when he turned to glare at her before continuing.

"What I was going to say..." Wally started again. "Was that, before I became Kid Flash, I seriously considered becoming a wizard myself," the redhead folded his arms behind his head, leaning back in his chair, and Reese snickered.

"What?" the brunette grinned. "Were you thinking about going to Scotland and joining Hogwarts as well?"

Wally glared at her again, but before he could say anything, Miss Martian spoke up.

"We've reached Tornado's coordinates," the martian said simply. "But--"

"Nothing's there," Superboy added, and Reese found herself narrowing her eyes as she stared at the empty field.

She assumed that the 'Tower of Fate' would be a massive structure, but if Dr. Fate was really as powerful as Tornado said, there was undoubtedly some sort of magic at play.

"Take us down," Aqualad said firmly, and M'gann landed the Bioship softly on the grass at the edge of the small field where the tower was supposed to be.

As they all got out, there was a rustle at the edge of Reese's hearing, but when the brunette turned her head, all she saw was a boarded-up theater, the establishment worn and broken-down with age.

It was probably just some sort of debris falling over, Reese decided. Nothing to worry about.

With the next few minutes they had, Wally sped around in a wide loop, but, obviously, he didn't find anything. Finally, the speedster stopped in front of Reese and Artemis, looking a bit discouraged and skeptical.

"Nothing," he wheezed, a bit out-of-breath. "This isn't simple camouflage,"

Artemis and Reese exchanged a dubious glance, both of their arms crossed over their chests in skepticism before the blonde turned to the redhead.

"So, what do you think?" Artemis asked. "Adaptive micro-optical electronics combined with...phase shifting?"

"Absolutely," Wally agreed, but then abruptly changed his answer when M'gann walked up next to him. "Not. Clearly, mystic powers are at work here,"

Reese rolled her eyes, fed up with Wally's 'attempts' at getting M'gann to like him, and she turned around, walking to the back of their little group where Kaldur was standing. Aqualad then reached into his pocket, pulling out the key they had received from Red Tornado.

"A test of faith..." the Atlantean mused quietly, and he tilted the key to the side, and Reese's eyes widened as she saw the word 'insert' inscribed on the side. Carefully, she reached out a hand before glancing up at Aqualad.

"May I?" Reese asked, and Kaldur gently placed the key in her waiting palm. Walking forward, the brunette inserted the key into a spot about three feet up from the ground, and half of the key disappeared.

Reese twisted it, and a large oak door appeared out of thin air, connected to a massive brick tower that extended high up into the air.

The Tower of Fate.

Though she wasn't able to see her teammates' faces, Reese was able to assume she knew what they looked like, and she pushed the door open, the old wood creaking with the movement.

They all walked inside, and the door closed behind them. But, when Reese glanced over her shoulder, the door was gone, and they were essentially trapped within a brick room, torches flickering high up the walls.

"Uh...where'd the door go?" Superboy asked, just as a hologram of Kent Nelson appeared in front of Reese and Kaldur, causing both of them to glance at it.

"Greetings," the hologram began. "You have entered with a key, but the Tower does not recognize you. Please state your purpose and intent,"

Reese opened her mouth to speak, but Wally cut her off. And what the speedster said was most definitely not the truth. For Wally, anyway.

"We are true believers," he began. "Here to find Doctor Fate,"

Reese's heart sunk to her feet as Kent's face turned almost disappointed before the hologram wavered and disappeared. She twisted her head to glare at Wally over her shoulder, but before she could snap at him, there was the sound of cracking, before the ground essentially crumbled beneath their feet, and the six of them began to fall down a deep pit, at the bottom of which Reese was able to see the faint orange glow of molten magma.

Quickly, Reese drew back her bowstring and shot an arrow at the wall of the pit, and the arrowhead lodged deep into the rock, the grappling line attached to it pulling taut and yanking the brunette to a stop, almost dislocating her shoulder in the process.

Glancing around, Reese realized that the others were alright as well. Artemis had shot her crossbow at the wall, and grabbed Aqualad, while M'gann was hovering in the air with Wally.

The only one who was having any sort of trouble was Superboy, seeing as how he had grabbed onto the wall with his bare hands, and his fingers were digging divets into the rock as he slid down the cliff-face.

"Superboy!" Reese cried out, eyes widening as the genomorph's feet hit the lava, causing Superboy to let out a pained cry, but he managed to take them out unharmed.

His boots, on the other hand, were completely destroyed, and Superboy was most definitely not happy about it.

"Those," he grumbled, eyebrow twitching. "Were my favorite boots," then, the clone tilted his head up, shouting up towards the others. "This Nelson guy better be worth it!"

"Tell me about it," Reese called down to him, both of her hands gripping the handle of her bow like a vice. Meanwhile, Wally and M'gann were beginning to lose altitude, and that was when Reese remembered that Martians weren't the best equipped to combat high temperatures, as were Atlanteans.

"Having trouble..." M'gann gasped out as she and Wally made a particularly low drop. "...maintaining altitude," the green-skinned girl lightly wiped her forehead. "I'm so hot,"

"You certainly are," Wally agreed, looking at her dreamily, and Reese rolled her eyes.

"Wally!" Artemis reprimanded him from where she and Aqualad were clinging to the cliff-face, and the redhead glared at her.

"Hey!" he shot back, jerking a thumb towards himself. "Inches above sizzling death, I'm entitled to speak my mind!"

Kaldur also wiped the back of his hand against his forehead, glancing at Artemis as Reese slowly began to descend down the cliff.

"My physiology--" the Atlantean began as the brunette paused next to them. "--and M'gann's are susceptible to extreme heat. We must climb out quickly,"

"That's it!" Reese exclaimed, as a thought suddenly shot through her head, while Artemis and Kaldur glanced over at her, looking confused. "Earlier, when that Kent hologram was here, we never actually answered his question!" She tilted her head backward, and projected her voice so it was loud, but not too loud that she let out a Canary Cry. "Red Tornado sent us to see if Kent Nelson and the helmet were safe!"

Then, undoubtedly using some sort of magic, a stone floor suddenly closed, cutting off the six young heroes from the bubbling lava.

Superboy jumped down to the ground as Wally and M'gann fell, while Aqualad, Artemis, and Reese landed lightly on their feet.

"This platform," Kaldur began, crouching down and running his fingers over the stone. "It should be red-hot. But, it is cool to the touch,"

Reese narrowed her eyes, crouching down next to Aqualad and placing her own, smaller hand against the floor, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath as she realized that: yes, Aqualad was right, this platform was cool, colder than it should be, considering they were hovering above lava mere seconds before.

She turned her head over her shoulder to say something to Kaldur, but before Reese was able to speak, there was the sound of Artemis' enraged voice as she walked forward, grabbing onto Wally's shoulder and pushing him away from M'gann.

Reese could only assume that the speedster said something idiotic again.

"Enough!" the blonde was yelling. "Your little 'Impress Megan At All Costs' nearly got us all barbecued!"

"When did this become my fault?" Wally retorted, and Reese sighed as she and Kaldur stayed crouching on the ground, inspecting the platform they were currently standing on.

"When you lied to that--whatever it was, and called yourself a true believer!"

"Wally..." M'gann's voice sounded equal parts disappointed and shocked. "You don't believe?"

For a second, Wally frowned, before the speedster suddenly threw his hands up in the air, looking fed up with everything.

"Fine!" he shouted. "Fine! I lied about believing in magic. But magic is the real lie. A major load,"

"Wally," Kaldur cut in, not looking up from where he ran his webbed fingers against the stone. "I studied for a year at the conservatory of sorcery in Atlantis," Aqualad glanced towards Kid Flash. "The mystic arts created the skin icons that power my water-bearers,"

"Dude," Wally retorted, still not giving up. "You ever hear of bio-electricity? Hey, in primitive cultures, fire was one considered magical too. Today it's all just a bunch of tricks,"

"You're pretty close-minded for a guy who can break the sound barrier in his sneakers," Artemis mused, and Wally held his hands up.

"That's science," the speedster retorted. "I recreated Flash's laboratory experiment and here I am. Everything can be explained with science,"

Reese's eyes landed on a trapdoor that was just in front of her, and when she glanced up at Aqualad, the Atlantean gave a solid nod.

"Hey, Wally?" Reese called over her shoulder, and when he glanced over at her, the twelve-year-old pointed to the trapdoor. "How much are you willing to bet on your theory?"

Before Wally was able to say anything in response, Reese had already tugged on the handle, and instead of all of them getting roasted by the lava's backdraft, snowflakes and a winter wind blew up into where the team was standing, the wind making Reese's hair fly in front of her face.

"It's snow!" M'gann exclaimed, and Artemis glanced over her shoulder at the speedster.

"Do you ever get tired of being wrong?" she asked, smirking as she gave Wally an expectant look once they had all jumped through the trapdoor and landed within an arctic-like landscape, the trapdoor disappearing behind them in a flash of golden light. "Well?"

Wally, despite all of the evidence pointing towards obvious magical work at play, wasn't convinced, and Reese swore she was about to hit him.

"Ever hear of String Theory?" the redhead began. "We're in a pocket dimension," Artemis groaned, and Reese rolled her eyes, turning her head to the side, only to see a cane hovering in the air.

If she hadn't already experienced what she had, the brunette would have thought that strange. As M'gann pointed to the cane, asking what it was, Reese had already reached it, gently wrapping her hand around the cane.

But, when she went to pull it out of the air, her hand was stuck. She couldn't move. Reese pulled harder, tried to pull her hand off the cane, but nothing was working.

"Uh, guys?" she called over her shoulder. "A little help?" Artemis started to walk over, just as Wally muttered something about 'Nelson's magic wand'.

The two older teens reached Reese, and the three easily lifted the cane from the snow, but when they tried to let go, none of them were able to.

Reese's eyes widened as the cane began to glow before it flew suddenly up in the air, taking her, Artemis, and Wally with it.

The three of them landed on what Reese could only assume was a staircase, it was really one of those optical illusion ones, where they twist and turn all over, upside down and backward.

Blinking her eyes open, the brunette was shocked when she saw an alive-and-well Kent Nelson, only it looked like he was being held hostage by some kid with horned hair, a cat, and--

"Abra Kadabra!" Wally exclaimed, and Kent glanced over at them.

"Well, would you look at that?" Reese heard the old man say before both he and the cane glowed gold. Kent then flew over to the platform where Reese, Wally, and Artemis were trapped.

As soon as the man grabbed onto the cane, the three young heroes were able to let go. The ropes that were bound around Kent's wrists disappeared and they all stood to their feet.

"In here!" the older man called, waving the cane around, and a pair of doors appeared within the wall. An elevator.

The kid with the weird hair shot bolts of red lightning towards them, but the doors closed just before they were hit.

Now, Reese wasn't normally one bothered by silence. Most of the time, she adored it. But, right now, as elevator music poured in through speakers that she wasn't able to see, she found the quiet a bit awkward, but Reese was never one to initiate a conversation, whether it was with someone she knew or not.

Finally, Kent Nelson glanced over his shoulder at them.

"Oh, uh, I'm Kent Nelson, by the way," he introduced himself, and Wally frowned.

"No duh," the redhead muttered, but then winced as both Reese and Artemis sent jabs into both sides of his ribs.

"I'm Reese," the brunette answered. "That's Artemis, and Miss Manners over here is Wally,"

"Well, Reese, Artemis" Kent chuckled, nodding towards the both of them. "We're up against an opponent with tremendous mystic power,"

"Abra Kadabra?" Wally asked, scoffing. "Tch, Flash proved he uses futuristic technology to simulate magic. The guy's all show and no biz,"

"He's not talking about Kadabra, KF," Reese muttered, crossing her arms as Kent glanced over at her approvingly.

"Correct, Miss Michaels," he answered, and all three of them stared at the older man.

"How'd you know my last name?" Reese asked, but Kent only gave an enigmatic smile, before completely changing the subject back to Kadabra.

"Abra is a charlatan. But, Klarion the Witch-Boy, the kid with the cat, he's an actual Lord of Chaos. The ultimate enemy of a Lord of Order like Doctor Fate,"

"I've heard of him," Reese realized, and as Artemis and Wally both turned to stare at her, their faces undeniably confused, the brunette shrugged. "Robin and I look over old case files sometimes,"

Artemis' face suddenly turned undeniably smug, and Reese glowered. She lurched forward and pointed one finger in Artemis' face, making sure that the blonde archer kept her mouth shut.

"You say anything," Reese growled, her voice too low for Wally or Kent to hear. "I will make sure that everyone finds out who you are, got it?"

Artemis' eyes widened. "You know?" she whispered, and Reese narrowed her eyes.

"I won't say anything now," she relented. "Everyone deserves their privacy. If you stop bugging me about my non-existent love life, then I won't say anything,"

With that, the two of them turned back to Wally and Kent, just as Kent was explaining the difference between an actual Lord of Order...and him.

"Oh, no," the old man was saying, one hand braced against his suit jacket. "Not me. I'm just an old coat Fate used to put on. Until my wife, Inza convinced me there could be more to life," Kent took out a small pocket watch from his, uh, pocket, and clicked it open, revealing an aged photo of a beautiful woman. Inza, presumably. "Ah, she was a real pistol, that Inza. Anywho, Klarion's after the Helmet. If he gets his sticky little mitts on it, he'll turn the planet into his own personal playground of pandemonium,"

"That sounds wonderful," Reese muttered sarcastically in response, just before the elevator doors dinged, and they slid open, revealing a room with more twisting staircases, and a bell.

Like, this bell was huge. Easily fifty feet across, and taller than probably four Batman's. When they reached the top of the staircase, above which the bell hung, another doorway of light opened up, just before Kaldur and Superboy fell through. M'gann, on the other hand, hovered down lightly before landing on her feet.

"Friends of yours?" Nelson spoke up, as Artemis and Wally ran over to the others. Reese moved to follow them, but Kent Nelson reaching out and gently grabbing her wrist stopped the brunette in her tracks.

The twelve-year-old girl, who was just naturally suspicious of people, stared warily up at the man before Kent reached down and turned her hand so it was palm-up.

Then, he reached into another pocket of his suit pants, grabbing something from there and pressing his closed fist into Reese's hand. For about two seconds, he kept it like that, before opening his hands, and Reese felt two similarly-shaped objects fall into her hand.

Glancing down at her palm, Reese raised an eyebrow when she saw what Kent had given her. A pair of flat golden arrowheads lay against each other in her hand, the metallic surface glittering in whatever light the Tower of Fate possessed. Reese glanced up at Kent, confused, but the man only gave her a small smile.

"Your friend over there," the man began, jerking his head towards Wally. "The redhead? He's not a believer, is he?"

Reese, despite the fact that Kadabra and Klarion were bound to show up any second, found herself laughing.

"No," she answered, giving a small smile. "He's a man of science. Not magic,"

"But, you, my dear," Kent continued. "You believe, don't you?"

"Yes," Reese answered simply, giving a small nod of her head. "I do,"

"Then, that is why I am giving you these," Kent continued, pointing one gnarled finger towards the arrowheads that lay in Reese's palm. "They are an ancient artifact that has been used between a pair of individuals for thousands of years, to send secret messages across great distances and enemy lines,"

Reese became even more confused as Nelson continued to explain the use of these arrowheads, and she stared up at the man.

"Why are you giving me these?" she asked but closed her fist around the arrowheads anyway. "How do they work?"

"Call it intuition," Kent supplied, giving another one of his enigmatic looks before he tapped his finger against her hand again, and Reese opened her palm again. "These will only work with you, and one other. This person needs to be someone you trust whole-heartedly, the person you trust with your life. Unless you fully trust the recipient of the other arrowhead, the messaging system will not work,"

Despite it, the first person that Reese thought of...the only person that Reese fully and whole-heartedly trusted with her life...was Dick.

Now, the brunette figured that she probably should've thought of Roy, or maybe even Oliver, but she didn't. Oddly enough, the first person she thought of was Robin.

What did that say about her priorities?

Before she, or Kent, for that matter, could say anything more, about the arrowheads or otherwise, a bolt of lightning was suddenly flying towards them, and both Reese and Kent were knocked to the side, as Wally tackled them both.

Quickly, Reese slipped the two arrowheads into the pocket of her faux-leather jacket and zipped it up so they wouldn't fall out. She did not want to lose these.

"Friends of yours?" Wally asked Kent, reiterating the comment from earlier.

Reese then rolled backward, towards Artemis, M'gann, Superboy, and Kaldur, before having to scatter again as the five of them needed to dodge a lightning bolt.

Kent and Wally, on the other hand, stood to their feet, and Kent walked right up to the massive bell, took his cane, and whacked it against the side, a 'gong' sound resonating through the entire room and making Reese's ears ring.

The two of them walked inside the bell, and Klarion flew up into the air, following them. Reese shot an arrow straight to the Lord of Chaos, hoping to knock him out of the air, but the Witch-Boy only waved a hand, and arrow exploded into a cloud of red sparks.

Reese wasn't entirely sure what was going on with Wally and Kent inside the bell, but Kadabra, despite the fact that he possessed no real magical abilities, was still putting up one hell of a fight, and Reese's arrow supply was dwindling.

'Wally!' M'gann called to the speedster over the psychic link. 'We're in trouble!'

'KF!' Reese shouted herself, while also letting loose a Canary Cry, but the sonic scream barely deterred the futuristic villain. 'Tell Kent that we need Doctor Fate!'

Suddenly, Kadabra shot a bolt of lightning towards her, and the brunette was engulfed in a net of flickering blue electricity, and the shock that came with it brought back unwanted memories of Cadmus.

She dropped her bow, giving a human scream, rather than a sonic one, as she felt the electricity running through her body, amping everything up to 100, though her senses were so overwhelmed with the stimuli that Reese found herself unable to focus on anything.

Reese was able to feel herself weakening and fell onto her hands and knees, the electrical net conforming with her so there was no room for her to move.

Suddenly, through the sparking weave of the net, Reese saw a golden ankh made of light appear behind Kadabra before suddenly the villain was standing there in only his underwear.

The net around her disappeared, and as Reese struggled to catch her breath, and for her senses to dial back down to normal, she saw Superboy stand to his feet in front of Kadabra.

"Show's over," the genomorph grumbled, before throwing his fist right into Kadabra's face, knocking the villain onto his back, where Kadabra then lay, knocked out cold.

M O U N T J U S T I C E

August 20, 03:48 EDT

When Wally had come back alone from...wherever he had gone, Reese had already begun to prepare for the worst.

The redhead hadn't specifically said what happened to him when he had to put on the helmet, but Reese had a feeling that, despite the ample evidence pointing to magic's existence, the red-haired speedster still didn't believe in it.

The Helmet of Fate, considering its previous owner was now dead, and could no longer look after it, was now in the Team's possession, and Wally had just gone to put it in his 'souvenir room'.

Reese, on the other hand, was inside her room in Mount Justice, far too tired to walk into the Zeta tube and go home. She had already called Ollie, so this time, he knew where she was, rather than her running away to Gotham like she had when he had introduced her to Artemis for the first time.

Speaking of Artemis, Reese felt terrible for what she had said to the blonde in the elevator. She hadn't meant it, not really, she had just been really wound up at the time.

Why did people always think she and Robin were dating? It wasn't like they spent that much time together, was it?

Before Reese could overthink it anymore, there was a soft knock on the door, and when she strained her ears to listen for the person's heartbeat, Reese recognized it as Artemis'.

Each member of the Team had their own unique heartbeat rhythm, and Reese had been around them for a long enough period of time to differentiate between each of them.

Walking over, Reese pressed the button that opened her door, and the slab of metal slid open, revealing a tired-looking Artemis standing just beyond it.

Before the blonde could speak, since Reese already knew why she was here, the twelve-year-old cut the older girl off by holding up a hand.

"I know what you're going to say," she began. "But, first, I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I had no right to threaten you like I did. I was just--just so mad about you and M'gann teasing me about Robin, that I didn't think. I don't do that when I'm angry. Robin says it makes me reckless,"

"Look," Artemis began, running one hand through her hair. "I'm not...very good at this. At apologizing, but I also wanted to say that I'm sorry. You were right earlier, we're each entitled to our own private lives, and if you don't dig into mine, I won't dig into yours,"

Despite herself, Reese winced. "Yeah," she said slowly, wringing her hands together and staring at her feet. "About that...I kinda, maybe, sorta already did a background check on you after the whole Roquette situation,"

Artemis' eyes widened, and Reese quickly waved her hands around.

"I won't tell anyone!" she exclaimed quickly, deciding at the last second to not tell Artemis that Robin was the one she asked for a background check. "I promise,"

Artemis still looked immensely wary, but finally gave a solid nod, before walking away again. As soon as she was gone, Reese slammed her hand down on the button, and her door slid closed.

Reese leaned her back against it and heaved a deep breath before she opened her eyes again, and the brown pools landed on the nightstand that was next to her bed, on top of which lay the two golden arrowheads she received from Kent Nelson.

Sure, the man had told her how they worked, but Reese wasn't really sure how you got them to work, Kent hadn't gotten that far in the explanation.

He had told her that one would work with her, the other with the person she trusted whole-heartedly. Not the other way around. So, Reese had a 50/50 chance of picking the one that worked with her.

She reached out and straightened the two arrowheads, staring down at the golden objects, biting her lip as she struggled to figure out which one was hers, so to speak.

Reese hovered her hand over one of them, reaching down to grab it before changing her mind at the last second and switching to the other one.

Nothing exploded when she grabbed it, so Reese counted that as a plus.

Immediately, the arrowhead warmed in her palm, and for some reason, Reese didn't think it had anything to do with natural body heat.

There was a tingle, and Reese opened her palm, staring down at the glittering bladed object, a split second before the base of the arrowhead popped open, revealing a small rolled-up piece of paper.

Using her fingernails, Reese pulled it out, and she unfurled it, revealing...nothing.

The paper was empty. Reese even climbed up onto her bed and held it up to the ceiling light in case there was somehow invisible ink, but the paper stayed white and empty.

Reese slipped the paper back into the arrowhead before she slid the other one into the corner o her nightstand, just so didn't actually grab the wrong one.

She wasn't entirely sure yet what they did, but what Reese did know was that it seemed like, if they were really as valuable as Kent had said, she knew that she couldn't let him down.

Kent Nelson had trusted her with these, and as soon as she had given the other one to Dick, Reese intended to not break that trust.

-----

The golden arrowheads will play a MAJOR part in the Invasion arc of this, which I'm super excited about. Like honestly, you have NO IDEA how exciting I am to write the second part of this book. SO!!! FRIGGIN'!!! EXCITED!!!

I gotta write the rest of the first season first, but I'm getting a laptop for my 16th birthday, so that should make things much easier to write over the summer.

Also, if you want to, #shameless-self-promo, if you're a fan of Criminal Minds, check out my Derek Morgan story Complicated. Cassidy Quinn is such a freaking badass I love her.

Next up: Downtime
(You finally find out what's in the letter that Jim Harper gave to Reese in Cadmus; also, angst alert, because...well, you'll see.)

~matia~