DON'T READ UNLESS YOU'VE READ RETURN OF THE LOST HERO!
I don't own Young Justice, if I did then Wally certainly wouldn't have disappeared.
This story is also up on my tumblr, wallmans-spitfire, so no one try to say I stole this because I certainly did not. Feel free to also message me reviews of the fic on there as well.
Wally hasn't been home a whole twenty-four hours, but Artemis was already making arrangements with Kaldur about getting all of the Team and the League on the Watchtower for when she takes him there after seeing the family. To say he was freaking out would be an understatement. After the way Artemis reacted to his return he couldn't imagine how his family was going to react. Artemis had arranged to have lunch at the West household with everyone invited. Barry was supposed to get Paula from Gotham City, even Roy, Lian, and Jade were going to be there.
He was currently standing in their bedroom in only his boxers as he was trying to find something decent to wear out of what was left of his cloths in the closet. So far he only had jeans and his jersey that Artemis usually wears as sleepwear. He felt his girlfriend's presence behind him before her arms wrapped round him.
"Babe, you didn't leave me much to work with," he said. He felt her laugh as she pressed against his back. Her fingers traced the faint line of his abs and circled his belly button. "I mean, I could go in my boxers, but I'm not sure how much our families would appreciate that and you might start getting a little jealous."
"I don't know, I'm probably the only person in the word that can stand to see you shirtless, Wallman," Artemis teased.
"That hurts, babe," he said with a pout. He looked over his shoulder at her. She smirked up at him and kissed his shoulder.
"Get dressed; we need to be at your parents' place by eleven thirty." She leaned up to peck him on the cheek before walking out of the room. He sighed and got dressed in the jeans and jersey. The shirt smelled strongly like the blonde archer, not that he minded too much.
He walked out into the living room and found Artemis pulling in her boots. She looked up at him, looking him over like she has done every time she has seen him after his return. She has this certain loving look in her eyes every time she looks at him along with something he can't quite read.
"I think that jersey looks better on me," she retorted.
"It looks even better on the floor," he said seductively with a wink. She rolled her eyes at him, but she smiled as well.
"I thought I was the half of this relationship that was supposed to make the sexual innuendos," she retorted as he sat down beside her on the couch.
"Aw, come on," he whined. "Can't I makes some too?" She rolled her eyes again and kissed him softly.
"Only when you earn the right to," she murmured against his lips. He smirk and pulled her into his lap so she was straddling him. His hands cupped her ass and gave it a squeeze, causing the blonde to let out a small squeak. She glared at him and smirked. Her fingers went up to tangle in his hair, tugging his head toward her. When their lips met they were filled with hunger for the other. Wally moaned when she tugged on his hair, her nails scraping against his scalp. They were making out for almost five minutes before Artemis pulled away to look at the time.
"We need to get to Keystone," she said. Wally ignored her and kissed her neck . "Baywatch," Artemis said sternly, pushing his back into the couch. He pouted in disappointment. He didn't get to leave his mark on her yet!
"Come on, babe," he whined. "We still have another half hour." He leaned forward to kiss her again, but her hands kept him firmly in place.
"You are running us there," she told him. "Which means if we don't leave now we'll be late." He groaned as she climbed off his lap. She went to stand by the front door with her hands on her hips as he put on his running shoes that were specially made to endure his high speeds.
A half an hour later Wally was setting her down on the sidewalk a block away from his parent's house. Artemis gave him a hug before she headed down the street toward the house on the corner. The plan was that he was supposed to wait there until she texted him to let him know that everyone was at the house.
He waited a good ten minutes or so before she finally texted him saying that they were set up in the backyard. He took a deep breath before making his way down the street to the house slowly. He stopped and stared at the gate to the backyard, completely blocking his view of his family in the backyard and their view of him.
Some last minute fears ran through his mind. What if they don't accept his return like the others? What if they disown him for leaving them so abruptly? What if they think he's somebody else or just a figment of their imagination and grief? He shook the thoughts out of his mind and pushed open the gate.
The strong smell of barbecue washed over him along with a several pairs of eyes falling on him as he stepped into the yard and closed the gate behind him.
"Hey guys," he said with a grin plastered on his face. His eyes locked with Artemis's for a moment. She had a small smile on her face and she gave him a small nod of encouragement. His eyes went to his parents, who both looking at him the wide, shock filled eyes. The first person the come out of their shock was Bart, who immediately ran across the yard and hugged him tightly, just like he did when Wally first met him.
"Iknewyouweren'tdead," he said so quickly that the redhead barely understood him. "I just knew it!"
"Nice to know someone had faith in me," he chuckled. He pulled his arms out of the kid's grip so he could hug him back. He looked back up at the other people in the yard, who were still staring at him.
"Why am I not surprised," Jade said as she recovered. "After Artemis came back from the 'dead' I've lost all reason to think any of you little heroes could actually be dead."
"I missed you too," Wally said, rolling his eyes at her. She sent him a smirk and adjusted Lian in her arms.
"I'm sure Dad will be thrilled to know his punching bag is back too," she mused. Artemis sent her sister a glare. Wally knew that the blonde hated it when her dad and him got at it, but in his defense and the older man was usually the one who started it.
"Jade, you will not tell your father anything," Paula said pointedly. "Let the boy have a few days of peace before the horrible man starts to hunt him down." Artemis pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a groan.
"Thanks Mom," she sighed, shaking her head.
"Now, Wally, are you just going to stand there or are you going to explain yourself," the paralyzed woman asked.
"First his pregnant aunt would like a hug and the privilege to beat him for putting her and her husband through so much stress," Iris piped up. He looked over at the pregnant woman, who was smiling at him with tears in her eyes
"I'm sorry, Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry," he apologized as he walked toward the married couple.
"Wally, there is nothing for you to be sorry about," his uncle corrected him, resting a hand on his shoulder as Iris hugged him. "There was nothing you could have done to change what happened."
"You died saving the world, what better way for a hero to die than that," Roy pointed out.
"That," Bart exclaimed, pointing at the red haired archer.
"Now, why don't you go hug your parents, I think Mary might faint if you don't," Iris whispered in his ear before letting him go. He looked over at his parents. His mother had tears in her eyes as Rudy was holding onto her shoulders. He walked over to them and gave them his signature smile.
"I'm home," he said he said like he used to when he came home after a mission or an outing with Barry. That seemed to be the final straw for his mother as she threw her arms around him in a tight, motherly hug, crying into her jersey.
"My baby boy," she cried. "Oh my baby." He held on to her as she cried, holding back his own urge to cry as well. He looked up at his father as he wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
"Welcome home, son," he said with a proud smile.
"Thanks Dad," he said in return, mirroring the smile. He was holding onto his mother for another minute before she was done crying.
"Who's ready to eat," Jay called from the grill.
"I vote that Wally gets his food last," Roy proclaimed. "Otherwise there won't be any food for the rest of us."
"We could always make him get his own take out," Artemis suggested with an amused smile.
"Aw come on, babe," the speedster protested.
"I have more food in the kitchen so there's no need to send my son off the get his own food," Mary said. "Artemis, would you come help me?" Wally held back a groan. He hated it when his mother and his five year girlfriend were alone because Artemis would usually come back with more blackmail material, which she really didn't need. Joan walked over to him and wrapped an arm around him.
"Wallace gets first pick of the food," she announced as she stirred toward the porch where a table of food and the grill was set up. Everyone behind him groaned and he grinned widely.
"Oh, you know you all missed my metabolism," he retorted with a chuckle. Everyone protested and all he could do was laugh as Jay handed him a plate with a pile of stakes and cheeseburgers on it.
Lunch went on like that, teasing Wally, loving on him, and him wolfing down food. When they were all done eating Wally, Barry, and Bart took up throwing a football around, Bart having little to no idea what he was doing. Roy and Artemis chased Lian around the yard until Artemis decided to sit down with her mother and watch the boys play. At one point when Bart dropped the ball Lian grabbed it and tried to run away with it. Needless to say, they ended up playing 'Chase The Assassin's Daughter Around The Yard' for an hour. Barry and Wally ended up teaming up, Wally distracting her with goofy faces and monkey noises as his uncle came up behind her and snatched her up.
"Way to use your primal instincts to distract her, Speedy," Jade teased. Wally made a face at her as Artemis laughed beside her. Lian was squealing in Barry's arms as Iris tickled the girl's belly. Artemis had told Wally about how the little family would sometimes join the weekly family dinners and Jade would actually be nice enough to let the soon to be parents handle her daughter, just to get experience.
"I'm going to take a guess and say that the meeting at the Watchtower is about Wally," Bart suddenly asked, appearing beside said speedster.
"We wanted to reveal his return to the League and The Team as a whole at once," Artemis explained.
"I want to get all of the hugs, and tackles, whatever people want to throw at me out of the way at once," he added. "I think we all know Barbara and Zatanna are going to kill me and Raquel will probably seal me in one of her whatever balls for a good hour or so."
"How many people know about his return already," Barry asked.
"Dick, Kaldur, Megan, and Connor," Artemis replied. "It would be nice if you two kept your mouths shut about him being alive until after the fact." They all pointedly looked at Bart, who grinned innocently.
"I'll keep an eye on him," Barry said. "The meeting is supposed to start at four, but know Captain Marvel and Rocket, it would probably be safer to wait until four fifteen to zeta in, that is, if his zeta number is still set up."
"Kaldur said he would set it back up when he got in."
"Great," Barry said with a nod. "Wally can I talk to you inside for a minute?" The redhead gave the blond a strange look, but nodded and followed him into his childhood home. His former mentor led him all the way up to his old bedroom. He was silent for a while, going around the room, looking at all of Wally's Flash and Kid Flash collectables that littered his shelves. He picked up an old action figure of Jay when he was the Flash. "You know, whenever I come over here I come in here and remember to good times when you ran and fought along side me. When we would fight Mirror Master, Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, the Rogues. It's just not the same with Bart. The kid is great and I don't have to slow down for him, but he's not you." The blond looked over at the twenty one year old. "Bart and I- We don't have the same connection that you and I did."
"Barry, if you're asking me to take the mantle back, I'm not going to," Wally cut him off. "The kid has earned it, I'm not about to just take if from him."
"I'm- I'm not asking you to take the Kid Flash mantle back," Barry said. He paused and took a deep breath, spinning the Flash ring on his finger. "I'm asking you to take up mine." Wally stared at him in completely shocking. This was one day he had hoped would never come. Barry was a great Flash, one he has always looked up to. Him take up the Flash mantle so Barry could retire? It was something he just couldn't comprehend.
"Wha- Barry, I can't-" he started before his uncle cut him off.
"Hear me out, Wally. I love being the Flash, saving people, being part of the League, but family always comes first. Iris is approaching her due date and I want to be there when she does, not off stopping a bank robbery. I want to home while my kids are growing up, I don't them growing up and hardly seeing me. Sure, they would probably think it was cool that their dad was a superhero, but I also don't want being a superhero being what took me away from them.
"When you disappeared I started thinking. What if that was me? What if I didn't make it out alive the next time I have a run in with an assassin that isn't Jade? I can't live with the possibilities that something would take me away from my family.
"I know, I'm asking you to step into my shoes, meaning you're stepping into the same dangers, but you have the team, Artemis, Bart, even the whole League ready to back up whenever you need them. You've been through so many more dangerous situation with the team than anyone should go through in their life. You have the experience, courage, hope, will, and responsibility to take on the Flash mantle." The older man took off the Flash ring and put it in Wally's hand. "I'm trusting you to keep our city and the world safe from anything and everything that wants to ruin we are here to protect." Wally stared at the ring in his hand before curling his fingers around it and looking back up at his uncle with an understanding look on his face.
"I accept the mantle, Barry," he finally said. He reached the ring back into his uncle's hand. "But I'm not putting the suit on for another week. You need to let everyone know what's going down and I need time to settle back into routine with Artemis before I can jump back into the hero game."
"Alright," Barry said with a nod. "I'll give you a week, after that I'm running over to your apartment and throwing this ring at you." Wally chuckled.
"Sounds like a plan, Uncle Barry."
"Now that that's cleared, what's going on with you and Artemis?"
"Well, you see-" the redhead started but he cut himself off when Bart showed up in the doorway, clad in yellow and red. Artemis was right, the suit did look good on him.
"I knew you two were up here," the kid said. "Gramps, we need to get going, plus Artemis wants a ride to the Zeta Tube since Wally's mom want him to stay a bit longer."
"Not a lecture on how I shouldn't going dying on her, again," he groaned. Barry chuckled and rested a hand on Wally's shoulder.
"She only gives you those lectures because she loves you and doesn't want to lose you… Again."
"See you at the Watchtower in twenty, Wally," Bart said before disappearing. A thought popped into Wally's head.
"How are we going to tell him," he asked as Barry changed into his Flash suit.
"You leave him to me, you just worry about telling your parents and Artemis," he told his touching his shoulder before running out. The redhead made his way downstairs to find that everyone had left except the Garricks and Iris. They were all outside cleaning up. When he stepped outside his mother enveloped him into another hug.
"It's so good to have you back," she told him.
"It's good to be back," he agreed. "Now where are the leftovers?" Everyone laughed and Iris handed him a plate with a few extra cheeseburgers on it and a half finished bowl of mash potatoes.
"The rest is in the kitchen," she told him. He grinned and went back into the house. His mother didn't end up giving him a lecture after all, show just want to make sure she didn't have a bunch of food she would have to throw out later.
At ten after four he gave everyone one last hug before heading out to the nearest Zeta Tube. He waited until it was exactly fifteen after before he stepped into the old phone booth. With a bright flash of light he felt himself disappear from the phone booth and into the Justice League's satellite that was revolving around the Earth.
Recognized: Kid Flash B03. The computer's announcement was still echoing around the room when he fully materialized. He was met by several wide, shock filled eyes. He was glad he had already braced himself for someone to attack him because barely a second later someone's fist connected with his jaw, hard. The speedster managed to stay on his feet, though he staggered a bit. He wiped her chin with the back of his hand and looked up at his attacker.
"Geeze, Mal, quite the right hook you've got there," he remarked. "Have you been training with Supeh while I was floating around at the Arctic Circle?" The newest hero just stared at him in amazement, mouth hanging open. Wally looked around at the costumed heroes, waiting for someone to make the next move. When no one moved or spoke he looked over at Nightwing and the others. Artemis and Dick stepped forward.
"If no one else is going to say anything or take a swing at our friend that just returned from the dead," the acrobat said as he pulled up some screens showing the tests he took a silent video of what happened at Arctic the day before.
"We'll explain how Wally is back," Artemis finished for him. She motioned him over so he could help explain some of the science that she neither her or Dick fully understood.
"With the way Wally disappeared I knew something was up, so I took a break from the team to figure it out," Nightwing started to explain. "There was no remains at all, which was strange since matter can't be destroyed, it can only change form, so I went up to the site and started a few tests. I found molecules in the air that wouldn't be there normally, when I looked closer I found that they were molecules that you could put together to form a human body."
"Because of my slower speed I become an exit valve for the chrysalis' energy," Wally continued. "When I absorbed the energy it acted against the energy that formed the electric bonds between my molecules. My fading in and out was my molecules trying to stick together, but in the end the chrysalis' energy was too much and they fell apart. Somehow they managed to contain enough energy to keep a magnetic like pull between them all so they couldn't be separated. With all the chrysalis' energy in the air they weren't able to pull themselves together like with Zeta Tube Transportation."
"So, Nightwing and I worked together to put more energy into the air for his molecules to use to reform their electric bonds and form back into our annoying red haired speedster," Artemis concluded.
"Love you too, babe," Wally deadpanned. A few people sniffled back a laugh, though Dick and Barbara both let out full out laughs at his expense.
"Wally, you'll need to go through some tests," Atom said. "We have to make sure this process hasn't left any unwanted side effects and your molecules are permanently put back into place."
"As long as you don't spend the whole time poking me with needles or dissect me I'm game," he agreed.
"Just make sure he comes home in one piece," Artemis told the scientist. "He promised me we'd go back to Paris and I'm holding him to that."
"Before I leave for testing," Wally said as he opened his arms out toward everyone. "Who wants hugs?" The next thing he knew he was getting dog piled, except he was still standing surprisingly. Garfield even turned into a dog and jumped into his arms before Zatanna and Rocket jumped on him, with Barbara close behind. In the end he didn't get to leave for another half hour. 'Nice to know I was missed.'
NEXT UP: RETURN TO PARIS!