19

It had taken him an embarrasingly long time to remember that Megan Morse was M'Gann's alternate identity. It wasn't even particularly clever, literally just 'M'gann of Mars' written to English phonetics.

She'd called because Kid Flash had suggested going camping, and she wanted to invite everyone. She'd already called and gotten Player One to join them.

Leslie had no idea how long it'd been since he'd been invited to go camping.

Or, more realistically since this involved a bunch of teens who've never set up a tent or dug a proper pit, a cookout in the woods.

He made two stops before heading to the cookout. Once at a sporting store, where he picked up a proper camp stove (His hot plate was wonderful, but it still required electricity) and again at a grocery store.

Hot dogs and hamburgers may be traditional, but bratwurst and actual seasonings would be amazing. Graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate bars were a no-brainer.

Having no idea what any of this realities cola would taste like, he bought some lemonade and called it a day.

-----

M'gann really had gotten everybody. Even Power Girl was here. Still dull and listless, but here none the less.

Leslie didn't know what exactly had happened to her, but he wasn't in the business of asking uncomfortable questions.

Questions that made -him- uncomfortable, at least.

Still, this camping trip had gone on in unexpected ways. The kids had actually set up some very basic pole tents, had a handful of logs around a fire and were eating s'mores.

It was nice.

"I think-" Aqualad took charge, amid M'gann's sugar-filled giggles. "-that everything really began not long after I enlisted in the military when I was twelve."

Leslie would've had some very pointed questions about that, but he held his tongue. Different cultures, different norms, different rules. It might have even been compulsory to teach the kids how to use magic in safe ways and was just structured odd.

"I completed my basic training at the same time as my age-mates before choosing to pursue a different specialty. My gift for Atlantean magic is not phenomenal, but it is still greater than many. So I went to the conservatory to learn how to do more with it." Kaldur'Ahm pulled one of the metal sticks, his water bearer, off of his back. The tattoos on the hand and arm holding it lit up, before water condensed out of the air into a roughly ovoid shape before the lightshow stopped and it dropped to the ground with a splash.

"That was two years ago. I've met some of my best friends at the conservatory, Tui and Garth. And y'know, they're both better sorcerors than me. I think Garth was almost ready to stop using water bearers back before I left, and I'm nowhere near that good." Kaldur put his artifact back on his back and stared dramatically into the fire for a few moments before continuing.

"And then one day, just like any other day, a supervillain attacked. Down in Atlantis we don't have too many, not like you guys up here do. They tend to... Not survive. Not when everyone has basic military training. So when Ocean Master, Black Manta or Squid Lord turn up, it's kind of a big deal." Aqualad took a few moments to drink his lemonade as he gathered his thoughts on how to continue.

"It was Ocean Master, that day. I don't know what he was planning, but he'd attacked the king. Worse, he beat him. Garth and I weren't the only two planning to do something, but it felt like it. So we attacked him. I was better at hand to hand, and Garth is just better with magic. So I tried to fight him while Garth was backing me up."

"...Did you win?" It took a moment for Leslie to place who'd spoken. Half because he hadn't expected it to be Player One.

"No. Gods no. He didn't even see us as a threat." Kaldur took another long sip of his lemonade. "But while he was toying with us, the king got back up, attacked Ocean Master from behind. It must've done something, since he chose to run instead of finishing what he started. Right then and there, King Orin offered Garth and I chance to be his apprentices. I said yes! It was everything I dreamed of. Garth... Said no."

"That's rough buddy." Leslie finally said from where he sat nearby on a different log.

"It is. I miss my friends and family every day, but I couldn't pass on this opportunity."

Everyone sat there, drinking or staring into the fire as they thought about the story they'd heard.

"I guess... My story is a little different." Kid Flash started after a few moments of contemplation. "You all know how there's two other Flashes who came before me right?"

There was a general murmur of yesses and yeahs from around the circle.

"The first one got his powers from a lab accident. At the time nobody really understood what happened. But he was one of the first superheroes to show up after the end of World War Two, after the end of the All-Star League. His name back then was Jay Garrick." Leslie noticed Kid Flash, Wally was tapping his foot. Sharing this left him... Agitated.

"Well, eventually the Flash got to know him. He was a huge fan, back when Garrick was active. So the two met, y'know, and got to talking. Garrick told the Flash how he got his powers, what he was doing when the accident happened. And unc- The Flash recreated the accident, except he did it under proper lab conditions. The results were stronger... A lot stronger. The original Flash could outrun an early jet. The new Flash could outrun the Blackbird." That, especially on land, was incredibly fast. Leslie wasn't sure the exact speed, but then the SR-71 had -still- been classified in his reality and time.

"I'm not as fast as either of them. I managed to get ahold of the current Flashes notes and rereate the experiment, but I did it at home, in my bedroom. With a normal chemistry kit." Robin looked visibly stunned at that one, and Leslie felt the same. It was easy, sometimes, to forget that the redheaded speedster was brilliant in his own right.

"It knocked me out. I don't know how long, but I woke up in the hospital. I didn't have superspeed then, y'know? It took a few weeks before we started to notice something was wrong. Funny thing is, the first sign was the food. I was eating more and more, my parents just thought it was puberty at first. Then here and there were just... Bursts, I guess. Where I was moving too fast, or the world wasn't moving fast enough." He stopped talking to drink his lemonade. Draining almost half the can as he got his thoughts in order.

"Have you ever tried to redo the experiment? With better equipment and materials?" Leslie asked. He'd never thought much about Kid Flash, but even he considered it wrong to let the kids body eat itself alive.

"Parents and Flash won't let me. They're afraid it could make it worse. They hope maybe I'll grow into it or something." Kid Flash threw his empty can into the fire.

"...Gimme a list of what you need and -I'll- buy it for you." Robin turned to glare at him, but Alchemist didn't really care about their 'Conservation of Superpowers' garbage.

"What, you just gonna magic it up, that it wizard boy?"

"I was thinking Amazon, actually. Or finding out whichever vendor schools use to get stuff." Kid Flash was angry, Leslie understood that. He didn't enjoy being talked down to, but being an ass back wouldn't make anything better.

"And let me guess, you won't use it for yourself, right?" And now into sarcasm! Ah, the teenage years.

"I'm working on a spell that'll let me do the whole superspeed thing, but temporary." Superspeed like the Flash had -would- be handy, but it also invited time travel shenanigans. And reality breaking. Leslie didn't know how insulated he was from those, and didn't feel like finding out.

"A spell. From a wizard. Of course you are." Kid Flash inhaled heavily for a moment before exhaling and slumping forward on his log. "You're serious, aren't you?"

Leslie nodded. He remembered a world where this same boy died a hero because he wasn't fast enough. If money could solve the problem, why shouldn't it?

"...Thanks man."

"Geeze." M'gann said from where she sat next to Power Girl. "This all got real serious, really fast. What about you, Alchemist? How'd you get into the superpowers and hero thing?"

"Well, since you asked, I died." She wanted things to be more lighthearted? He could do that. "But then I got better. An extradimensional entity, one of the decent ones instead of the multidimensional worms, decided I'd be a fantastic person to alpha test their new video game system."

Half the team was looking at him like he was crazy.

Except for Player One. The intensity of their stare had gotten to the point they could challenge Superman in a glaring contest.

"Alpha test being the key word here. I've got access to maybe half of the System and I've got to use in-game currency to purchase things. So I've been buying spellbooks from videogames I was familiar with before the whole dying dealy. First thing I picked up was a healing spell, and then I realized 'Y'know Alchemist, with all the crazy supervillains and evil rich people, maybe you should find a team to protect you!'. Unfortunately the Metropolis Meteors were only accepting positions for a pitcher instead of an umpire, so I had to go with Plan B and sent a letter to Batman."

Mentioning Metropolis had gotten both Superboy and Power Girl's attention.

"So I offered to heal him pro-bono if he'd put in a good word for me with the League. Well, that sort of worked out. I did get attacked by some supervillains ninja kid after that, but it was toad-ally a non-issue. Anyway, the league said I was too young, didn't want to hire me. Batman must've figured it was either them or the league of extraordinary evil old people and reached out to hire me for this team instead. Which has kinda worked out, except when I accidentally do something stupid to myself. Like the last week and a half, I got trapped inside of a literal book and had to fight other, evil books and living potion vials before the spirit of the book decided he was sick of dealing with me, and gave me what I wanted to make me leave."

Robin looked down at the can he'd been drinking from, checking the back where the ingredients were listed.

So far, it looked like there were only two people who believed him. M'gann, who was probably hearing his thoughts while he'd been mis-representing himself.

And Player One.

"If you weren't going to take this seriously, you could've just passed like Robin did." Kaldur looked and sounded disgruntled.

"Dude, seriously. We're all sharing our tragic backstories here and you go and do that? Not cool, man." Kid Flash sounded equally unhappy.

Which was really too bad.

"A wizard has his secrets, KF." Leslie stood up and stretched, joints popping. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take a wiz."