A/N: Man, it feels good to be back! Hello again, dear Diamond Earth readers, and welcome to the fourth installment of this epic new readers, welcome as well, and here's a quick intro for your understanding.

Diamond Earth is the DC universe I've built for a whole range of stories. Legacy is the fourth such story. At this point, it isn't really necessary for you to have read the preceding three fics to understand what's going on here, but there are allusions to the previous stories, and it might be more fun if you have prior knowledge of the plots beforehand that enable you to spot the little clues here that build on those plotlines. I am Peonywinx, the author, and for this fic I will be guiding you through the backstory of the Flash family.

So, let us begin...

TALES OF DIAMOND EARTH

Legacy

Chapter One: Scarlet Speedster

The freezing blast of liquid nitrogen shot past Flash and turned the display case behind him into a block of solid ice. Flash threw a glance backwards.

"Aw, jeez, Cold – you just froze eighty thousand dollars' worth of diamonds."

Leonard Snart, a.k.a. Captain Cold, supervillain and Central City Rogue, scowled at his resident hero's customarily flippant tone as he readjusted the settings on his cold gun.

"Just keep talking, Flash – it's gonna be you on the ice soon." He took aim and squeezed the trigger, sending another icy stream at the Scarlet Speedster.

Flash zipped away from the line of danger and reappeared a few feet to Captain Cold's right. "You know that's not gonna hit me, right?"

"True," Cold conceded. He shot at Flash again and then, quick as thought, pointed his gun at the floor and fired.

Flash, as he ran to avoid the first blast, slipped on the layer of ice that formed on the floor and went skidding into a wall. While he was occupied, Cold wasted no time filling his pockets with valuable diamonds. However, he was not able to get out the door before Flash recovered.

"All right, I'll give it to you – that's a good trick," the speedster said graciously as he appeared in front of the door, blocking Cold's way. "Still, didn't keep me down for long."

Captain Cold moved his hand, but Flash was faster; he'd whipped the villain's cold gun out of his hand before he could blink. Seconds later, he followed up with a right cross to Cold's jaw.

"For Pete's sake, Cold, what the blazes is taking you so long?" Captain Boomerang grumbled as he approached the jewelry store from the side entrance. His eyes widened slightly as he saw the Flash smirking at him. "Aw, crud…"

"If you're looking for Len, he's out cold." Flash pointed to the unconscious Captain Cold, grinning at his own joke. Within the blink of an eye, he was next to Captain Boomerang, and a second later, after a well-placed blow to the head, the Australian rogue was down for the count too. "And now, so are you."

It wasn't long before the Central City police came to take custody of the two Rogues.

"Thanks again, Flash," Officer Fred Chyre said as his colleagues hauled the unconscious villains away.

"Don't mention it," Flash replied easily. "I couldn't let Dee Dee's go out of business – where else would people get their engagement rings?"

Chyre snorted. He handed Flash three small, round, white capsules. "We took these from Captain Cold's pocket."

Flash peered at the little tablets. "What are they?"

"Morillo thinks they're freeze pellets. Throw 'em at a target and they ice it up instantly. We're taking most of them back to HQ to analyze, but I figured you might want to hang on to a few, just in case."

"Thanks." Flash pocketed the pellets, then checked his watch. "Oh, man."

"Got somewhere to be?" Chyre queried.

"Uh-huh. I gotta go. See you around, Chyre – say hi to Morrillo for me." The next instant, Flash was gone.

Chyre walked back to his squad car, where Captains Cold and Boomerang were being guarded in the backseat by Jared Morillo, who acknowledged Chyre's arrival with a nod. Chyre gave the backseat a once-over to make sure everything was as it should be before starting the car.

"Next stop: Iron Heights Penitentiary."

"Crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap." Flash zoomed across Central City, wondering how ironic it would be for the Fastest Man Alive to be late for work…again.

Wally had only been working as a forensic scientist with the CCPD for a little over a year now, but his quick work, keen eye, and high intelligence had made him a fairly well-respected figure in the lab. He also had plenty of friends – his cheerfulness, good humor, and friendliness endeared him to all his colleagues. Unfortunately, Wally also had a reputation for tardiness – a side-effect of his obligations within the Justice League.

The League had come a long way since that fateful day at the Metropolis baseball stadium. Despite being only a year old, the team was already a household name – perhaps not without reason, as they had averted many crises both on Earth and in space. It seemed as though the universe had just been waiting for a group of superheroes to come together to solve its problems, because Wally had lost count of how many missions they'd run in the past year – from fighting numerous supervillains in various cities, to aiding disaster relief efforts, to maintaining the protection they each gave their individual home cities, their job was never done.

Hence why Wally, despite being able to travel at and above the speed of sound, tended to be late for work on a fairly regular basis.

Today, however, he was lucky enough to reach the lab just half a minute before his clock-in time. Ten seconds later, he had changed from his Flash costume into a light green shirt and jeans. Swiping his ID card along the scanner, he grabbed his lab coat from its hook and shrugged it on as he made his way into the lab proper.

"Perfect timing, West," Anna Smith told him when he walked through the door. "The evidence from the Henderson crime scene just arrived." She jerked her head towards the box sitting on the table before turning back to the microscope she'd been staring into.

"Morning to you too, Anna." Wally pulled on a pair of sterile white surgical gloves and immediately got to work. He was in the middle of examining a hair fiber he'd pulled off a shirt when his boss entered the room.

"Made it on time today, then, Wally?" Barry Allen asked with a wink.

Grinning, Wally turned to face his uncle. "Only just," he admitted.

Barry chuckled knowingly. "Well, keep that up, and we might make an investigator out of you yet. Anna, have the results come back on that powder?"

"See for yourself," Anna said, gesturing towards the microscope.

As Barry obliged her, Wally turned back to his own forensics. Wally considered himself extremely fortunate that his supervisor was his uncle. Barry knew full well why he was so often late, so any awkward questions were avoided. Nevertheless, Barry had a duty as a boss, and despite the fact that he had helped Wally get his job at the station, he was not one to show favoritism simply because Wally was his nephew – so he made sure Wally's lateness was sufficiently dealt with, within reasonable bounds. Wally didn't mind – he knew Barry had a job to do, and so did he – thus, he never complained if he received a telling-off or was assigned extra shifts to make up for missed work time; the case of the former was rare and usually for show, not only because Barry knew of Wally's activities as the Flash, but also because Wally was a genuinely good worker and everyone in the lab knew he wasn't late on purpose.

Wally tried to keep his grin under control as he thought about the surprise that was waiting in store for Barry tonight. Wally and Iris had planned it together, and it simply wouldn't do for his uncle to find out before time – which he certainly would if he saw his nephew grinning like a maniac while examining fibers.

Iris West Allen hummed merrily to herself as she drove her car into her designated spot in the Picture News station's parking lot, wondering what stories she would be sent out to cover today. As she got out of her car, she felt a rush of wind pass her by. Normally, the average person would have dismissed this as a freak of nature, but the citizens of Central and Keystone had long since learned that such a precise path of air was the trail caused by their resident Scarlet Speedster – and Iris, as the wife of one Flash and the aunt of another, knew it well enough to smile and shake her head fondly at her nephew's antics.

Probably forgot the candles for tonight, she mused to herself, walking into her workplace.

If she had bothered to call Wally – or Barry, for that matter – she would have known that he was, at that very moment, mixing a chemical solution in the Central City Crime Lab, and therefore could not possibly have run past her on an errand to the supermarket.

But Iris West Allen didn't even think to question that quick draft, and so she remained blissfully unaware that her entire world was about to be turned upside down.

Fred Chyre and Jared Morillo are actual characters from the comics. They were partners and detectives with the Keystone City Department of Metahuman Hostility – Chyre was a 50-something cop with anger issues and Morillo was a younger detective with an extremely caustic tongue. Both have worked with the Flash (Wally West) on occasion. Their incarnations in Diamond Earth are regular police officers; they have somewhat toned down personalities, but there are still certain similarities they share with their comic counterparts.

A/N: And that is chapter one. This story is fifteen chapters long, so you'll be having updates everyday for just over two weeks. Are you excited yet? ;)