(Author's Note: This introduction is meant to be an aside from Wally/Kid Flash, not as the first part of the story. It does, however, establish the basic setting for the story. Consider this section his way of telling the story to others, should they ever be bored enough to ask him.)

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So, you might be wondering who I am. Yeah, you, sitting there in the dark on the other side of the computer screen.

How could you not know who I am?

I'm Wally West, a regular ol' teenager. I go to school when I feel like it, I keep myself fit, and I'm a sucker for a pretty girl. I'm also kind of funny, but I've been told that that's just my opinion.

Oh yeah, and I'm also Kid Flash.

Who's Kid Flash, you're asking now? Oh ho, now you're just jerking me around.

Alright then, I'll break it down for you. But only because I feel like humoring you.

When I feel bored or I have a lot of excess time to waste, I don this costume, see? Red and yellow, contrasting colors. They help bring out my blue eyes. And a mask, but that's a given, since I don't want a lot of people knowing my identity, what with it being a secret and all.

So my power is that I'm fast. Really, really fast.

How fast, you ask?

I'm so fast, people only see a blur of red and yellow unless I deign to show myself before them. I'm so fast, I can break the sound barrier…although I need a running start for that one, truthfully. I can vibrate my molecules to generate massive amounts of friction, and I can just plain vibrate myself through solid objects. I can also make them explode behind me, but I tend to keep that trump card in the deck. I can generate whirlwinds and just by moving in a circle.

I'm a very special guy. In fact, a lot of my colleagues agree that under certain circumstances, I just very well could be the most powerful meta-human in existence.

Of course, despite my potential, I have a couple of drawbacks. I take too much joy from coming up with little quips and witty one-liners, but that's just the dot on the 'i' in "idiot". See, I have a problem where I can be a bit cocky.

…

Alright, don't look at me like that. I can be really cocky. But hey, when you have the skills that pay the proverbial bills, you've gotta have confidence in yourself, right?

I take solace in the fact that I'm the fastest kid alive, and if I play my cards right, I just might be the fastest person ever. Like, in all of existence. Kind of like being the heavyweight champion of the world, except I'm a lightweight at best, and the world is suddenly everything.

But, as godly as I seem to be, there are times when I feel like Lady Luck is leaving me tied up on the train tracks, with one of those big black steam-driven locomotives barreling down at me.

One particular event comes to mind. It didn't happen too long ago; in fact, it started less than a month after I helped the Titans take down the Brotherhood. With all the villains flash-frozen (save for Dr. Light, but really, who cares about him?), crime in Jump City was practically non-existent. I mean sure, you got the occasional small-time criminal and some weird guys in spandex costumes that looked like really poor papier-mâché , but for the most part, there was a blanket of peace draped comfortably around Jump and its inhabitants.

I was in the middle of fighting this one fat balding guy in a t-bone steak costume, wondering what the guy was on whilst smacking around the little meat puppets he had for minions, when it happened. One of the worst things that could ever possibly happen to me, save for dying or switching to a low-carb diet.

I lost my speed.