3rd of July 2017 Central City Hospital 03:41
I opened my eyes to blurs and an annoying repetitive beep. I tried to move my arms but they felt heavy. So did my legs. As I kept blinking, the blurs evolved into blobs then into recognizable objects. There was blonde hair on my right hand. It looked pretty. I twitched my fingers and felt the smoothness of it. I wonder if it's mine. The hair falls off my hand and the bed then I saw 2 things: 1, the hair isn't mine and 2, the owner was very pretty. She looked grumpy though until she saw my face. I blink again and try to put a name to her face.
"Wally!" She says and carefully hugs me.
I'm confused. Who is she? When she pulled back, she noticed my expression.
"Don't you recognize your girlfriend, Wally? It's me, Artemis!"
She asked as a man with a white coat came in and told her to wait outside. She grudgingly complied.
03:56
Artemis Crock stood outside her boyfriend's room and pulled out her mobile. She pressed 3 on her speed dial and waited.
"What?" A gruff and tired voice said in her ear.
"Roy Harper." She responded with the same amount of annoyance in her voice. "Is that anyway to greet your favorite sister-in-law? Besides, he woke up!"
Roy's tone changed immediately. "When?" he asked as it sounded like he was pulling on a pair of pants one-handed.
"10 minutes ago. Can you call the others for me? The doctor's back." She asked, worry laced in her voice.
The older man's demeanor softened immensely. "Sure." He said before she hung up.
Artemis turned her attention to the slightly worried medical expert in front of her. "H-he's ok, right?" She asked, feeling like she did when Jade left her to face their dad alone.
"He's fine." The doctor said. "He just has acute amnesia." He said raising his clipboard like a shield for a punch that never came.
"How acute?" Artemis asked with icy in her voice.
"Uh… mildly. We're 80% sure it shouldn't last longer than a year. 2 tops." He said raising his clipboard again. This time Artemis punched it, breaking it into 2 clean pieces. The doctor walked off, complaining about women.
Someone coughed behind her and Artemis turned to see her second, and bigger, family looking tired and relieved.
Jade, with the newest Harper inside her, waddled over to her sister and enveloped Artemis in a hug.
Artemis stopped being strong for a minute and cried.
04:04
I, Wally according to that Artemis girl, was listening to the silence in the room I was in after the doctor left. I thought I heard crying. My gut told me to follow the sound. I did when I saw the IV line, that my brain said was vital, was on a wheelie thing. I pulled it with me as I followed the sound. As I followed the crying sound, I began to hear murmurs of familiar people. Maybe they could tell me why I'm here. I opened the door to see a big group of people had gathered in the hall. The youngest looked about 13 or 14 and the oldest was around their 20s. They paused in their conversations when they noticed me.
Tim noticed him first and subtly indicated to the door. Then I noticed. I got Roy to bring the 2 sisters into the family room behind us, to save Wally.
I walked to him in the "I'm innocent" position (hands out front, palms showing, finger spread.) "Wally," I started, "Do you know any of us?"
He studied each of our faces for a moment. "I'm sorry dude, but if it helps you all look really familiar. Have any of you seen the blonde shouting girl?" He asked. "My room is too quiet."
I smirked. "How about my friend, Megan, goes with you for now and Artemis will go in again when she's good. Ok?" I asked.
Both red heads nodded their approval.
"My bed's in here." Wally said, stepping further into the doorway to allow the girl to pass through the door as well.
When the door closed behind them, I deflated. Roy and I thought of Wally as a brother we never had. Though Conner and Kal have earned the title as well, the connection isn't as deep yet.
Kaldur put a hand on my shoulder and I smiled weakly at him.
I was talking to the Megan girl…well she was talking, I was listening. She was telling me how she met Dick, Kal, Conner and I don't know why, but it felt like she was keeping something from me, something important. I guess I can't hide my emotions well as her voice became that bit more cheerful.
04:20
"Who was crying?" I asked.
Megan froze for a second. "Uh…no one, Wally."
I raised an eyebrow. "I might have memory loss but I'm not dumb. Who was crying?"
Just then a red-haired boy walked in. "Uh…Megs, Dick said maybe I should try as the 2 of us are kinda similar." He said nervously.
"Sure Gar." She said before exiting.
There was a slightly awkward silence until I broke it. "So, how are we alike?"
Gar's face lit up as he animatedly told me about all the video games we've both played and how he still hasn't beaten my high score or Dick's.
"How do I know you?" I asked when he finished his story of how he almost got onto the scoreboard.
"You stayed at my house 6 years ago." He said. "You, Dick, Kal, Conner and Megan. I also found out Megan was like a hero when she gave blood when I needed a blood transfusion." He must have noticed my confused expression as he elaborated. "I had a small run in with a herd of stampeding wildebeests. My mom knew I wouldn't survive the ride to the hospital and Megan volunteered as she had the same blood type." Gar concluded.
"So you 2 are related?" I asked.
"Not really but to me we are." He said. "Plus I'm living with her and her boyfriend, Conner, who's teaching me some wicked crash moves."
"Wait." I said. "What's crash?"
Gar paused for a second. "It's just some slang your cousin brought with-"
There was a crash outside in the hall and muffled yelling. I don't know why but I started to curl into a ball as the voice got louder and closer.
"Stay away from me you filthy metas!" Was yelled by a very familiar voice, but not for any good reasons. The door flew open and a buff, angry blonde man stood in the doorway.
He walked up as I took a defensive stance in front of Wally.
"Is that any way to treat your father, Wally?" The man, his dad I guess, said with a smug grin on his face. He turned to me and said. "I don't know who you are kid, but you better move aside." My only response was to strengthen my stance and tense my arms by borrowing some of the strength of a gorilla, like Vixen showed my one day. I turned to check Wally, still curled into a ball. I turned in time to see Wally's dad aiming a punch at my head. I grabbed it just before it collided.
"I know a woman who would kill you for doing that." I said while simultaneously using the mind link to hopefully reach one of the older members, Tim or Bart.
"For what, leveling out the playing field?" Wally's dad retorted.
"No. She would kill you for trying to fight dirty with a 15-year-old." I said smirking at the thought of Black Canary fighting him as she's about to pop.
"Hermano?" I heard via the mind link as I ducked under Mr. West's left hook.
"Help!" I yelled back.
Jaime flew into the room as Blue Beetle. I also heard the Scarab, over the mind link, telling me to go check on M'gann. I ran out of the room to help my sister.
The red-haired ran out of the room when Blue Beetle entered. The little coward. And so is my son that disappeared last year. Now people are saying this is him. Insolent pest.
"Señor West, I don't want to fight you. How about we talk about this. You seem to be scaring my friend here." The bug said.
I smirked. "There's nothing new there, bug. He's always been like that."
His hands changed into a vacuum shape. "What are you going to do? Suck me into a big vacuum?" I said.
"No, I'm not going to suck you into a big vacuum." I said.
"Besides, there's not enough room in there since you cleaned your rooms." Scarab said.
I rolled my eyes and fired 3 giant staples at Señor West, securing him to the wall behind him.
Señor West, you are under arrest under suspicion of child abuse. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…" I said, continuing to read the man his rights.
When the Policía came and took him away, the armor peeled away and I heard a "thump" behind me. ¡Jesu Christo! I forgot about Wally! I pressed the nurse button above his bed. 2 nurses and a doctor came in. One of the nurses ushered me out the door and rushed back to Wally. What have I done?!
While the doctor and nurses were checking Wally's vital signs, only one person could tell what was going on inside his head. Unfortunately, she was rather distracted by Jaime spilling out his fear at causing Wally to black out in the first place. But the fact that Wally saw the armor peel off Jaime in the first place, actually helped to kick-start the long-term storage in his cerebrum. He started remembering. The day he got his powers, the days he met Roy, Dick and Kal, summer 6 years ago when they rescued Conner and formed the team, meeting M'gann, Zatanna, Raquel and Artemis. He remembers last year as well. Trapped in an alternate universe where Uncle B and Aunt Iris were dead, there was no team or sidekicks, Aquaman was an arrogant ass and there was a crazy reporter that had a crush on him. He doesn't know how he did it but he's glad he's home.
5th of July 2017 Central City Hospital 04:44
I hear this annoying beep, right next to my head and it won't stop. I open my eyes and see multicolored blobs which turn into blurs and into people and a green cat sleeping by my feet. I smiled. The others were sleeping too. Bart and Jaime had commandeered one of the spare beds in the room, Roy and a very large Jade, didn't they have a kid already? I thought, had taken another. Babs and Dick have taken over a pair of chairs and a table but, as the screen was blank, they had fallen asleep a while ago. They're gonna be crabby tomorrow But as I looked around the beds and cots my friends and cousin were sleeping in, I couldn't find Artemis. Then I felt a grip on my hand tighten. I turn to see the silver eyes of Artemis Lian Crock. She had silent tears running down her face. I scooted over in the hospital bed and Artemis climbed on. I held her close until she stopped crying.
"I'm sorry Artemis. I didn't mean to make you cry. I didn't mean to get put in a backwards universe-" He didn't get to finish as I punched him. "OW!" Wally whisper-yelled making Dick, Babs, Conner and Tim shift slightly in their sleep. Damn Super and Bat hearing.
"That was for disappearing and making me and your parents think you were dead. But this is for coming back." I said, finishing my sentence with a kiss. I pulled away after a few minutes and rested her head on my shoulder.
"What happened while I was away?" Wally asked, sounding like he'd only been gone a couple of days.
I smiled. "The day you left, Tim and Cassie started dating and their still going strong. Kaldur is Aqualad again…" And I continued telling him various things that happened until he fell asleep again. I stretched and curled into him before following him to dreamland. That was how everyone else found in the morning.
SEVERAL YEARS LATER
I felt a tug on my pants leg. I looked down to see Diane.
"Mommy?" She asked. "Can you tell me a story please?"
I smiled at my little girl and lifted her into my arms. "Of course. But first." I turned to the door as Diane covered her ears giggling. "If any Birds, Bats, Archers, Atlantians, Martian, Kryptonian, Amazon, Changeling, Flash or Human wants to hear a story and/or give their knowledge on the story, you have 5 minutes. 6 for speedsters." Little Diane was giggling away in my arms as I said all that. But, as it was said, various team members, old and new, my sister and husband entered the room. I gave Wally a quick peck before beginning the tale:
"This story begins with 4 not-yet princes called Richard, Roy, Wallace and Kaldur'ahm." She said pulling each man up in turn. "Each prince had a nickname given to the by their people. In the kingdom of Bat, Richard was known as Robin because he never sat still. In the kingdom of Arrow, Roy was known as Speedy for whatever reason. In Flash, Wallace was known as Kid Flash. And in Aqua, Kaldur'ahm was known as Aqualad ..."
I continued telling the story of what happened to all 8 of us in 2011 and then how everyone else fit in until 2016. Then, on Independence Day, how one of our own got taken. And how he reappeared almost a full year later. Roy and Dick were complaining about the fairytale versions of them seemed horrible in comparison to the real deals but their wives shut them up.
About 2 hours in I was coming near the end.
"And the king of Arrow's niece, Artemis, told Kid Flash what happened in the year he was gone until he fell asleep. Then she fell asleep with an arm around him to keep him there. When everyone else woke up later, with 2 stiff Batclan members, a troll took out a camera to 'prolong the moment' forgot to turn off the flash and woke up the slumbering people." I said glaring at Dick. "But even after all that, with a clean archer, an undead speedster, an ex-bird troll and 2 double agents, they all lived happily ever after." I concluded.
The older members of the team had far off looks in their eyes, remembering the details of various missions. The younger members looked like they'd wanted to be there with us.
"Does Kid Flash get "the king of Arrow's niece"?" Wally said, trying to wrap his arms around my waist.
"He does." I said, feeling a kick in my swollen abdomen as the twins recognized their dad.
A/N: Hey people who follow me! I'm on holidays for a bit and have currently misplaced the memory chip that houses my stories: "Mini X-Men" and "DTNCIS". When I find them I will work on them and see if I can give all you lovely people an update