Author's note: HI GUYS! So I decided to go back through and edit a few of my stories. You know edit plot and grammar, etc. I has hit a touch of a writer's block. Any suggestion would be awesome! Thank you! Review, favorite, etc.
Six months. That's how long wally's been gone. Six long, miserable months without him. they had all suffered, but none as much as Artemis. She sits by the zeta tubes with m'gann, who tries once again to comfort her. Her grey eyes are tinted red from crying. Wally, the wallman, baywatch. the sheer memory of her lover hurts. At times it feels likes she's drowning and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't breathe. Sitting here with m'gann...a thousand things to say pass through her mind, but not a single word passes her lips.
"-la" a girl yells. A swirling red portal opens parallel to the floor. A girl yells in pain when she slams into the concrete. M'gann and Artemis are frozen, their eyes wide open. The girl sits up as the portal disappears. She jumps to her feet, long blonde braid swinging around, shouting," When I find out where I am, I'm going to kick your ass!"
She does a fast 360 and starts babbling to herself at top speed," in space, probably the watchtower. funny alarms should have gone of- ah there they go… let's see should take them less than two minutes depending on where they are and if they can teleport… where-or more accurately when am I? The stars are different than when i looked last night, maybe late 2010's. Wait! There were two people by the zeta tubes, i think it was m'gann and … cassie maybe."
She turns to them. they haven't seen much except for her hair and the quiver of arrows strapped to her back. Aqualad, Superboy, and Nightwing run into the room, followed by Robin, Wonder Girl, and Blue Beetle. They zero in on the bow in the girl's hand and attack.
"Whoa," The blonde yelps as a golden rope tries to ensnare her. She hits the ground and rolls. Nightwing punches downward at her. The girl kicks him in the chest, hard. He goes flying across the room. The girl gets to her knees and fires arrows six at a time. Three pin robin to the wall and two more pin wondergirl. Smoke escapes from the shafts knocking the two unconscious. Superboy charges. She fires a green arrow with such accuracy that Artemis isn't sure she could have. Connor falls the the ground with the arrow embedded in his shoulder. Half an inch lower and he would be dead. Two fire arrows erupt at M'gann and Aqualad's feet. Blue beetle disintegrates the floor beneath her shoes. That doesn't slow her down at all. She flips forward, firing an arrow so charged with electricity they can hear the charge from the other side of the room. Two minutes. That's how long it took this girl to take down seven of the most powerful (or well known) superheroes. She pulls one more arrow and aims at the last target. Instead of firing, she freezes. Artemis has her sword drawn and the two stare down.
She's young- 16, 17 at most. her blonde hair is pulled back with a red headband. Her olive skin scarred up and down her arms and her eyes are a fiery green. She radiates power, as if she has it all at her fingertips. Her shoulders moves up and down as she catches her breath, eyes wide with horror.
"oh shit…" she murmurs under her breath. she blinks and looks around," OH FUCK!"
She races around the room, grabbing arrows and stomping out fires. Her arrows that hold Robin and Wondergirl to the wall are six inches in solid stone. She pulls them out like butter. She's in her original spot less than a minute later. The heroes slowly rise to their feet. Her eyes have changed somehow, less ferocious and more kind. They seem familiar. She could be any other teenager. black jeans covered in paint splatters, a plain black jacket, a red t-shirt, and black low tops. She has minimal jewelry, just a pair of earrings shaped like lightning bolts. She holds her bow out to them, a sign of a truce.
"Who are you?" Artemis asks. She hasn't lowered her sword. The girl sighs irritably and sets her bow down. She hold her hands over her head.
"I don't want to hurt you," she says, her voice warm and bright, shocking considering the solemn look on her face," My name is Jania."
"Jania?" Artemis raises an eyebrow. Jania sounded like a horrible fake name.
"My parents are weird," she explains, with a small grin on her face," Sorry about…well the arrows. but in my defense, it was self defense."
She has that crappy smile on her face, that rubs Artemis the wrong way. She recognizes it somehow, but can't place it. Jamie groans. Cassie, wonder girl, holds her head like she has a headache. Robin keeps blinking like he has no idea where he is. Jania says they may want to lay down, the effects will go away after a few hours. The three stumble out of the room. Jania looks sheepishly at the five remaining heros," Sorry, Conner. Sorry, sorry, Kaldur and M'gann."
"You said your name was Janis?" Conner asks.
"Jania," she pronounces it slowly and clearly. JAN-e-AH.
"Do you have a last name?"
She sighs," you won't believe me. i know you won't."
"Why?" M'gann asks. Jania looks at them and, in three strides, is standing right in front of them. She has a small shower of freckles and an old scar under her left eye. Her smile has faded into a very solemn, slightly angry look. It slowly dawns on the why she seems so familiar.
"If you wanted to know my last name, you would have recognized me by now," she closes her eyes. They all turn to artemis. With her eyes closed, Jania is a spitting image of artemis. The green eyes are now familiar because they are Wally's eyes.
"You're-"
"Not pos-"
"Wally's-"
"My name is Jania West, and i think i'm here to save my dad."
/Line Break/
They handcuffed her. well, she insisted that they did. She handed over her arrows and bow and jacket for some reason. She explains her parents taught her to use what ever she had on hand for emergency. They didn't believe her. She doesn't expect them to believe her. She sits in front of the zeta tube and answer their questions.
How did you get here?
"No idea. Magic portal maybe. I was fighting Klarion and my douche of a grandfather."
Who created you?
"Surely you know how babies are made." Insert evil smile and blush on Artemis's face.
Are there more of you?
"I have a big brother, who in my opinion is not as amazing."
Where's wally?
this question makes her look up. She doesn't look sad or angry, just curious," you don't know about the speedforce"
Know? Know what?
"About the speed force. God, Uncle Barry and Dad must have told me and matt about it a billion and seven times," she deepens her voice into a decent imitation of Wally's,"'Jania, did i ever tell you about the speed force?'" Her voice brightens to an imitation of a little kid,"'yes, daddy.' 'What is the speed force then?' 'The speed force is a world within our own. when you, uncle Barry, and matty flash, you move briefly travel through the speed force.' 'How is it you are so smart?' 'Daddy, i'm five. i'm not smart, I'm clever.'"
She hums quietly to herself while they talk a good distance away. Artemis keeps looking over at her. She can feel her throat closing up, making it impossible to breathe.
"I don't trust her." Kaldur says," there is something about her that is unsettling."
"I can't get a read on her," M'gann says.
"You mean… there is nothing going on in her head," Nightwing asks. They look at Jania. She scratches her head and catches them staring. Jania rolls her eyes, like she can tell what they're talking about.
"No, it's like there's something blocking me from reading her mind," M'gann explains," the more indepth things like feelings, memories, fears, i can't access those. However i can tell you, she is unimaginably intelligent."
"So why can't you read her?" Artemis chokes a bit on the words, but passes it off as a cough.
"You know," Jania calls," there's this weird thing called acoustics and thanks to those i can hear exactly what you're saying. So how about instead standing there, you talk to me like the big, good super heroes my mommy and daddy told me about? One of you being biologically my parent at least should grant me some leeway."
"How do we know you aren't lying?"
Jania looks genuinely offended by this question. She stands up and marches toward them, tossing the handcuffs at Nightwing," First, you should never put me in standard handcuffs. It is an insult to yourself, the handcuffs, and my skill level. simple hair pin trick. I did warn you that my parents taught me to use what what's on hand. Now whoever has my jacket please hand it to me," the jacket is handed to her with some hesitancy. She snatches it and beginning digging through one of the top pockets," Now i always have pictures on hand for, well, for whatever. To remember, for luck, in case i'm ever accused of being a weirdo psycho clone."
She pulls five pictures from the left top breast pocket. She smiles at the top one. Her eyes soften, a smile playing on her lips, and for just a moment they can see the Wally in her. She scowls and hands them the pictures,"here. My parents wrote on a few of these. so...yeah."
The first is a family portrait. Jania is younger, thirteen. Her hair is curled and she has her arm around a boy. He looks like Wally, windblown red hair with silver eyes. He's a few inches taller than Jania, and lean. They both smile into the camera, carefree and happy. Wally and Artemis, now in their mid thirties, smile with pride at the two teens. There is no writing on the back so they go to the next one. Jania's older, the picture more recent. She stands to one side smiling despite the fact she has a split lip and black eye. The boy from the first picture has his arm around a laughing girl with long black hair, the other arm is in a splint, kissing her temple. Black hair girl has a bandage poking out from under her tank top. A girl with short red-and-green hair and wild green eyes seems to be supported between two boys, one with a purple mohawk and identical green eyes and a boy with straight black hair and electric blue eyes. Three kids, two little girls with bright red hair and a little boy with black hair, look at the older kids, eyes wide with wonder. They flip it on the back. Jania's 17th/ Matt's 18th Birthday. Artemis shows Jania the picture," What happened here?"
"Oh! Well, this was taken the morning of our last birthday. Matt, the guy that looks like our dad, and I are an exact year a part, which when we're little and I want a pretty princess tea party and he wanted a superhero themed party, it was hard," She talks unnaturally fast. Like each word can't wait for its turn," Anyway there was a big mission the night before this was taken and Luke and Parker," She points to the two boys holding the girl up," were stuck with babysitting. Not an easy task when they're watching half aliens. Anyway, long story short we nearly died but didn't."
She smiles sadly and they move on. In the next picture Jania is a toddler, no more than two years old, her short hair tossed over her face. She's asleep, curled up with Matt, their hands clasped tightly together. Artemis recognizes the blanket tossed on top of them, the same blanket is on her and Wally's bed back home. She turns it over and nearly cries at the sight of Wally's hand writing. They didn't fall asleep until we got home and they did a thorough checking, making sure all our limbs were there and no poison tracks on our arms. I hate that they worry about it. Jania gives them a stern look, maybe because she knew exactly which picture they were looking at, maybe to intimidate them with her insane death glare. They move to the next picture. All their throats close. There, fast asleep with a baby on his chest and a toddler curled in his arm, is Wally West. He's a few years older, a five o'clock shadow on his jaw. Artemis feels a few tears roll down her cheeks. He looks so at peace. She turns the picture over and finds her own hand writing. Daddy doesn't stand a chance against the dynamic duo. She flips it over and looks at Wally for just a moment longer. She barely glances at the next picture. Suddenly she's holding Jania against the wall by her throat.
"Problem?" Jania asks calmly. Artemis holds up the picture.
"What. The. HELL. Is. This?" Jania gives the picture as quick glance.
"That's you and my dad on your wedding day." Jania smiles softly at the picture. Artemis' gold hair had been curled and pulled up halfway. The dress was simple ,not extravagant in any way of the word. Wally held her in his arms, kissing her. Both of them radiating joy.
"Why do you have this?" Artemis' voice broke. She didn't even try to hide it.
"I have it because you gave it to me, saying that aside from the days my brother and I were born, it was the happiest day of your life." Jania doesn't meet Artemis's eyes for the first time, instead she taps her wrist," Can you put me down now?"
Artemis sets the girl down," Who are you?"
"I'm your daughter." Jania's voice breaks," I was born December 31st 2020, in Palo Alto. I grew up listening to you and Dad talking about missions. I stayed up late with my brother when you had to go on a mission together. I had-have an aunt named Jade, and a cousin named Lian. I have a horde of other Aunts and uncles that are really just other heroes. I have never gotten below an A in science, I stopped believing in the tooth fairy and santa and the easter bunny when i was four, but I've always believe in magic. My father is Wallace Rudolph West. He disappeared into the speedforce almost twenty two years ago, and you told us that an angel got him out." She closes her eyes, taking a deep breath through her nose," I sure as hell am no angel, but I want my dad back."
The way she said that last part sounded desperate, like she had been holding it back for years. She nervously taps on her watch. It looks like a standard black wrist watch, slim face with a multitude of buttons on the side.
"M'gann, will you stop trying to read my mind!" Jania snaps," You put the goddamn wall in for me, and you are more powerful when you did. Trust me it's better for it to stay up."
"What?" Everyone stares at Jania. She crosses her arms.
"There was an incident years ago," She waves her hand, showing that it wasn't a big deal. But her voice and eyes betray her. Her eyes darts around the room in a quick, panicked way. Her voice shakes the tiniest bit," Psymon got into my head and- and I don't want it to happen again."
"There's a wall in your head?" Nightwing asks. Jania rolls her eyes.
"Seriously? It is a fucking metaphor. It blocks emotions, well not exactly, but it would take too long for me to fully explain."
"Take it down." Artemis is more surprised at her voice than the others. it's uncharacteristically harsh," You want us to trust you. Take it down."
Jania sets her jaw. The two archers glare at each other, each equally matched. She says in a low, cracking voice," When I was three years old, my grandfather, Sportsmaster, tried to drown me. I was scared and would have died if my dad and Uncle Barry hadn't arrived when they did. M'gann, go."
Silence fills the room. Jania winches as M'gann enters her mind. Artemis lets what she said sit in her stomach. If this was her daughter...why did Sportsmaster try to kill her. M'gann clears her throat.
"She's telling the truth. She's your daughter. Wally is her father."
Jania holds her hands out in a tada way," Congrats, it's a girl."
/ Line Break/
Jania told them everything about the speedforce. Everything. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she recited stories and statistics and old reports. From what they could tell she had a photographic memory.
"Wait," Kaldur says, breaking her performance," As interesting as this is, how do we bring back wally?"
"That's the thing. I have this invention that Dad and I made when I was like ten for a science fair. It's suppose to find lost things, but it kinda almost blew up my elementary school." She sighs," I could rebuild it in a few minutes, but it's been years since I looked at the blueprints."
"I thought you remembered everything." Conner says
"Words. I remember every story I've ever read, but pictures are fuzzy." Jania sighs," It's on the mainframe of the titan's computer but that's twenty years in the future."
"What can we do?" Artemis has begun to hope that this girl can bring back wally.
Jania pauses, biting her lip. She looks at the ceiling, like she's counting something," Oh, they are so going to kill me."
From her jacket pocket, she pulls out a small silver bag. It's two inches wide and five inches long. You couldn't fit a tube of lipstick in there, let alone a communicator. She opens it, slipping her arm up to the elbow into the bag. They hear bottles clink together and jump back when an air horn goes off-"Sorry, subtle distractions aren't exactly my forte."- before she pulls out a small bottle. Cramming the bag back into her jacket, she holds it up to the light. the liquid is a translucent blue. Jaina pulls the rubber band from her hair, shaking out the long locks as she begins speaking in the same rapid fire way wally once had," Ok, so my friend lila is a witch. Well, elementalist to be technical. She and her twin brother, Luke, were working on this potion that took like three months to make, which allows you one wish. It isn't a free wish because nothing is really free. 'All magic comes with a price' and all that shit, but you get to choose what you pay. The higher you pay, the better quality of the wish you get. Kind of like a tv, the better stations cost more."
Now her hair falls to her waist, in a thick curtain of gold. She uncorks the bottle, pulling a strand of her hair from the top of her head. With the cork wedged in her teeth, she carefully drops the hair into the bottle. She shakes it around, her finger over the top. The potion turns from blue to a thick, deep red, like blood. For the first time since they met her, Jania looks queasy. She slips the cork into her pocket.
"To your health," she toasts them, then in a mumbled under breath," And my existence."
She chugs the potion, gagging as it passes over her tongue. Jania shudders, swallowing twice so it stays down," That is disgusting and I'll eat anything. Ok wish time. I wish to have the ability to contact my team from any point in time. In exchange, for every time i call, when I get to my own time I will lose my voice for one day."
Nothing. No glowing or explosions. Jania taps her watch.
"Aren't you going to get out your communicator?" Artemis asks.
"It's right here," She presses a button on the side of her watch. Speaking slowly and clearly, Jania says," Call Matthew West.'
The face of the watch splits in half as a tiny camera displays a screen. After a second of static, a man answers. He has dark red hair and stormy gray eyes, which were glued to something off screen,"-phie, Parker, Luke! Get your asses in here! hello?"
"Hello, big brother," Jania gives him a hard glare that Artemis had given wally a number of times during a fight. The boy, Matthew, gasps.
"Jani! Oh, my god you're ok!"
"Aww now you care."
"Jania, for the ten billionth time, it was a simu-"
"Doesn't matter. Besides I didn't call you to scream or swear at you. You know I prefer to do that in person. no, I- wait where's everyone else? I don't want to have to repeat this."
"Here. I can't figure out how to send this to everyone else. Soph, a little help?"
From off the screen, the group hears a girl snort," you're hopeless, Matt, you know that right?"
There is a flurry of keys being tapped on. The screen splits five ways. A pretty girl with shoulder length black hair and odd green eyes stares from one. From another there is a boy with black hair and very bright blue eyes. There's a girl with red and green hair and a boy with shaggy purple, their eyes identically wild green.
"Sophie," Jania says quickly," Names off!"
None of the adults noticed the thin black letters at the bottom of the screen. the girl with black hair, sophie, types furiously. Artemis gets two words imprinted on her eyelids, Matt West. The girl with christmas colored hair starts crying.
"Jania! i'm so sorry," She sobs.
Jania's expression changes somehow. It becomes calmer, almost kind. But nothing takes the edge away in her eyes, no matter how soft her voice is," It's ok, Lila. It's actually kind of important that I ended up here."
In about thirty seconds, she has told them everything that has happened in the last hour. Her words are a confusing slur of ups and downs. The five teens nod in comprehension and wait until she's done before they ask her a question.
"Jania," Lila asks," How did you make this call?"
"Hehe, well funny story. ummm I used the potion," Five eyes snap toward her.
"Damn it, Jania," they say at the same time.
"Does this make her more of an idiot than me?" the boy with purple hair asks.
"Shut it, Luke," Jania places her hands on her hips, in a 'listen to me or i'll kick your ass' way," I know it was a stupid decision but it was the only decision. Besides you'll notice not one person here stopped me."
"That's because we have no idea what it was," M'gann points out.
"Oh crap, who all is there with you?" Luke asks.
"Uhhhhh, Aunt m'gann, Uncle Connor, Uncle Kaldur, Dick, and my- and Artemis." Matt seems confused at her stumbled statement.
"Damn," Sophie chuckles, her face looking eerily familiar," Talk about awkward."
"Wait," Artemis looks at the kids," Aunt M'gann? Uncle Connor and Uncle kaldur? I'm confused."
"That's what we've always called them. well, Luke and Lila call Dick uncle Dick and Sophie-"
"Shut up, Jania," The girl warns her.
"What does she call me?" Dick asks.
"He'll figure out or I'll tell him," Jania gives Sophie a goofy grin that Wally gave Dick all the time.
"I hate you, you know that, right?"
"I'm your best friend, you can't hate me," Jania smiles. Sophie sighs, muttering about idiots and what sounds like murder threats.
"Daddy," she says after a second, looking at Nightwing," I call you Daddy."
"Wait, what?"
"Ok, you two have like years to talk and i can assure you that, now down to business. Matt, er actually, Soph, can you hack into my laptop and send me a file dated May fifth seven years ago."
Her best friend snorts," Can I hack into your laptop? you know I do that as a warm up on sick days right?"
"And you know I can throw your ass off the tower in a heartbeat." The teasing between the two is so warm and familiar that the adults actually smile a bit.
"There you go," a file pops up on the screen," Hey Jani, what did you end up paying for these calls."
"One day without my voice for everytime I call." she scowls when they roar with laughter.
"Jania," Matt struggles to keep a straight face," you need to call us every hour on the hour-"
"Wait," the dark haired boy, Parker, gets a weird look that instantly makes his friends lean away,"Jania, can we test the hologram program."
Jania slaps her forehead," oh i am such an idiot! i forgot about that."
Jania presses a button on her watch, then lowers her arm. the camera adjusts and the room has five more people in the room. It's extremely odd. The boy with black hair and Luke are by conner, both average height though Luke is lean and the other boy is stockier. Lila is small, not much taller than five two or five three, and looks more like a gymnast. She and Luke have similar nervous energy, tapping their feet and running a hand through their oddly colored hair. Sophie stands up. She is balanced on her toes, her arms crossed and a killer poker face. Yep, she is Dick Grayson's daughter. Artemis takes a second to study Matt. He's tall and muscular, like a runner. Like wally. No, bad Artemis. Don't think like that. Matt catches her staring and smiles, like he's legitimately happy to see her. Wally…
"Everyone, these are my friends. Oh and the useless redhead is my big brother," Jania looks at ease for the first time since she's been here," have any of you heard from Collin?"
"No. sorry, Jani," Now she looks distressed.
"So where is your dad? I don't understand the whole speedforce thing exactly," Luke asks. Jania smirks.
"It's like another plane of existence. My dad, Matt, and Uncle Barry travel through it when they flash. The world slows down as they speed up, but what happened to Dad is his powers have been, er-"
"Power boosted?" Matt suggests. Jania looks genuinely impressed.
"huh, not so useless. yes, power boosted. right now he's trapped in the Speedforce, because he can't figure out how to stop his powers. it's like the transformation This one," She motions to Sophie, who flips off her bestie," and the starbolts everywhere."
All the teens visibly shudder. Luke and Lila both cock their heads to the side at the same time. Lila sighs," Shit, they're up."
"Fuck," Sophie nervously tugs on a strand of her hair," Matt, can you get them and-"
"On it," he flashes. In less than six seconds three little kids are in his arms. Two girls with long red hair and a little boy with spiky black hair. One of the girls looks angrier than the other but each was smiling to some extent.
"Jani!" a little girl with the same odd green eyes as Sophie runs at Jania. she jumps up, but phases through Jania. She hovers behind Jania, with a confused look on her.
"Is she-flying?" Dick asks.
"Yeah," Jania looks at the little girl," sorry, Emmy. I'm on an unexpected mission."
The other little girl drops from matt's arms. She rolls before standing up and stubbornly putting her hands on her hips," It's a hologram, Emerald. Can't you tell by the pixels and the fact our daddy is in the room?"
the flying girl scowls at her sister," I understand that, Sapphire. but i was very excited to see Jania is ok because she didn't read to us last night and i was worried."
"Sapphire, Emerald, stop arguing. Wait where's Richie?" the little boy had disappeared.
"Probably reading." Sophie shrugs," Girls, why don't you two go find richie and play ok? the big kids need to talk. We'll explain everything later."
"Promise?" Sapphire looks at Sophie as if this was a empty sentence.
"Cross my heart and hope to zorka berries." the two girls look at Dick one last time before running out. Sophie sighs," Sorry about that. My little sisters and brother."
"You have three younger siblings?" Dick asks. Sophie laughs. Jesus christ her laugh is exactly like his.
"Triplets. Now back to business. Jania, how do you plan on getting back?"
"To be honest, I thought that Parker would randomly just happen to have a time machine on hand." the teens look at the boy with dark hair.
"What's going to happen when I don't have an invention? What will you do then?" He gives them a small side ways smile before sighing," I have been working on the technology but it's not finished. I need at least two days, if I stop to eat and sleep."
"Parker," Jania has a very conflicted look on her face," Normally I would say 'yes! Eat! sleep!' but with everything that's happened in the last six months I honestly think that's the least of our worries. obviously like eat something, because if I find out you decide to stop eating completely because of this I will murder you. but please hurry."
"I'll go get started." He disappears. Lila's eyes suddenly get really wide and her body begins shaking.
"Shit!" Jania exclaims.
"I'm sorry!" Lila starts crying again. it might just be a trick of the light but it looks like her fingernails are growing into claws and her teeth are straightening into fangs.
"It's ok, Li, I got you." Matt picks her up, bridal style," Come on. Don't worry, I got you. be back."
He flashes again. Jania and Sophie begin conversing quickly.
"They're getting closer between."
"Think he'll make it? Remember what happened last time."
"That was a fluke. I'm pretty sure he'll be fine."
Luke adds his two cents," if they're getting closer between that probably means he's going to show up sooner or later."
"Luke, just hold on, ok? hold on until I get back and I promise we'll figure something out." There is a howl from their end. Not a howl of pain. Like a wolf howl. The three close their eyes, as if they are waiting for something bad to happen. Matt comes back on screen, holding the side of his neck. Blood trickles between his fingers," Matt!"
"I'm fine." Sophie is already beside him, pulling his hand from the wound,"it's not that deep."
"Not that deep my ass," Sophie says. She looks at Jania," Jania, I'm sorry. this needs stitches. Please call whenever you can."
"I will. Please make sure my brother doesn't die." Jania presses a button on her watch and the holograms vanish. Jania closes her eyes, takes a deep breath through her nose, and pulls up the blueprints.
"What the hell was going in there?" Artemis asks.
"It's not important. they'll be fine… I hope. we have more pressing matters." she studies the diagram," That explains it!"
"What? This looks like random words and numbers." Conner says aggravatedly. It was very angering that Jania didn't feel like it was worth a moment to worry about her friends. She looks up and meets their glares with one of her own.
"Ok, before you look at me like that, consider the fact that I was raised by two heroes. Consider how many times I watched my parents sew each other up and helped them out," She looks back at the blue print. Her words don't sit well in their stomachs.
"What did you find?" Artemis asks.
"This is meant for something ten times the size of the little bubble I was using. infact," she looks to the zeta tubes with a bit of an evil gleam in her eyes," I might be able to reroute the wires in the Zeta Tubes and that should have just enough power to bring him back. this is going to work. It has to."
She got a look on her face that made all of their hearts ache. It was a bright smile that showed all her teeth, her eyes were shining with intelligence and hope. With her hair in her face, she look younger and more like Wally than Artemis. Dick last saw that smile during the failsafe stimulation over five years ago. How could any of them say no to that face?
/Line Break/
Jania was fast, they'll give her that. She opens a panel in the last zeta tube and started pulling out wires, cutting with a knife and fusing wires together with a lighter. Artemis stays close by, just to listen to Jania mumble as she works. At times it was a random thought that crossed her mind, but mostly it was swears. Wally often swore when he worked on homework, especially on vietnamese lit. She laughs quietly remembering last valentine's day.
"I hope that laugh isn't directed at me," Jania smiles at Artemis," It's nice to hear you laugh, artemis. huh."
"What? And what do you mean?"
"It's just, i've always called you Mom, or Mommy when I was little, and I'm not use to calling you Artemis. Hell, Dad usually called you ,like, my love or honey or babe or his spitfire. And I mean it's nice to hear you laugh. It's just been a long time since I heard you laugh."
Artemis shakes her head," Did something happen in the future to me? And what the hell is a spitfire?"
"A spitfire is a woman with a swift temper. Dad use to say that Kent Nelson told him to find his 'own little spitfire, one who won't let him get away with nothing.'" Jania sighs," and you have been on a- a mission for the last year or so. It's been awhile since you last called."
"Oh." that was the only thing she could think to say. Even though she was fully aware that this girl was biologically her daughter, Artemis knew what it was like to have parents that left and never talked to you, and how horrible that was. Jania gives her a reassuring smile.
"Artemis, don't worry about it. You and Wally are really great parents. or you will be. Dammit, I hate time travel." Jania ties two wires together. There is a spark and an explosion. Jania flies out of the Zeta tube, slamming into a rock pillar. She holds her side in pain," Shit that hurt."
"Are you ok?" M'gann asks, flying over. Jania stands up a little too quickly.
"Yeah, just a broken rib. give me a sec to catch my breath." She leans against the pillar, breathing heavily.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah give me a week and the rib will be right as rain," Jania walks back to the tube, carefully hiding her pain. something about what she said doesn't sound right. They've all broken ribs and it takes about a month to and a month and a half for them to heal properly," I know what you're thinking. Yes, in normal cases a broken rib takes longer to heal, but I am not normal."
"Said the daughter of Wally West," Dick murmurs.
"Actually you're right. We aren't sure how, but my body moves about 9 times faster than a normal human's. That means I need about 45 minutes of sleep a night. Rocks for me, sucks for you," She bends down, checking the wires," Good news. It's ready."
Artemis feels a tremendous amount of hope rise in her body. This is actually happening. this girl, her daughter, is going to bring Wally back. What would Artemis even say to Wally? Would she yell at him for going? Would she kiss him until neither of them could feel their lips? Would she break down in tears? Panic begins to rise. What if it didn't work? What if it did, but it wasn't her Wally? What if he didn't recognize her? what if he didn't know anything about her? the only thing that could be worse than losing Wally is to get him back, but him no know who she was and not know how much she loved him.
"Ok, I need you all to turn around." Jania says.
"What?"
"Why?"
Jania bites her lip in frustration," It's just something my family did, ok? Whenever we tried to make something for the first time, our parents had us close our eyes. If it worked, it was like seeing the best surprise ever or something like that. If it didn't than at least we had a second to believe it did. Trust me, it takes the sting out of the failures."
M'gann, conner, Kaldur, and Dick look at artemis. She shrugs and closes her eyes. Jania murmurs quietly to herself for a second before the whirling of the zeta tube deafens artemis. Artemis prays to anyone that this works. Please, please, just this one time. I need him. I need Wally. the machine whirls for two minutes before stopping completely. Jania sounds defeated," Artemis, I am so sorry-"
"No," she whispers. everything inside her begins to crash. Then Jania continues.
"-But you are going to be stuck with him for the rest of your life." her eyes flew open. Leaning against the zeta tube, his red locks messier than ever, his costume a little looser than it had been six months before, is Wally West. He slowly lifts his head, green eyes meeting her gray.
"Artemis," He says softly, then louder," Artemis. Artemis!"
She runs straight toward him. They meet in the middle. His lips fit perfectly against hers, like they were made for her. Artemis had tears falling freely down her face. It wasn't the first time that week she had cried, it wasn't even the fiftieth time, but it was the first time in a long time that the tears were happy. When they finally broke apart, Wally wipes the tears away from her eyes," there's my beautiful Artemis. I'm sorry I had to leave, babe, but I promise I am never leaving you again."
"DUDE!" They are attacked by their friends. bear hugs, death threats, another kiss, it's the best reunion that artemis could have ever imagined. There is a small crash. They turn and see a red faced Jania looking at the panel she removed to get at the wires clatter on the floor.
"Sorry, I- I didn't mean- I- I have to call my team." She hurries out of the room.
"Who was that?" Wally asks. His hand hold Artemis's tightly, with no intention of ever letting go.
"That would be our daughter," She says it so easily. Our daughter no longer leaves a bitter after taste in her mouth.
Wally's eyes grow wide," How long was I gone!?"
"She's from the future," Artemis explains everything. Wally seems to process one thing.
"We have kids?" the smile on his face was so wide that Artemis wanted to kiss him again.
Jania comes back into the room," I talked to my brother. He actually wants to talk to all of you, now that the 'Where's Wally?' game is done."
She presses a button on her watch and the hologram of her brother appears. he has a thick white bandage around his neck, but looks just like he did an hour before. He's wearing what they assume are his pajamas. An green t-shirt over flash pajama pants.
"Hi again," He smiles at each of them," thanks for not killing my sister."
"Matt, tell them what you told me," Jania looks different. hair falls in front of her face, hiding her eyes. her voice sounds thicker than before.
"Um, Parker is finishing up the time watches. they should be done in a few hours. I talked to Lila after she calmed down-"
"What happened to her?" M'gann asks.
"She has anger problems and her powers kind of suck at this point. Anyway, Lila was with Jania when she got sent to you all. Klarion and Sportsmaster attacked them on the last leg of patrol and Lila was trying really hard not to hurt jania. Sportsmaster kicked jania into a portal klarion opened. basically, this was a planned attack."
"But why send her back here?" Wally asks," not that i'm not grateful."
"Portals are very sensitive. When you pass through them, you have to be very careful not to be suppressing strong emotions." Matt explains," This might be the time they meant to send her to, she might have had -"
"It's probably the first one," Jania interrupts. She shoves her hands into her pockets. she quickly draws her left hand out," Ow! sonofa-"
"Didn't they check your pockets?" Matt asks.
"No," carefully she reaches into her pocket and withdraws a dart. She meets her brother's horrified eyes," Matt?"
"Jani, it's ok." His voice is shaking too much for anyone to believe that," you'll be ok."
"It's in my bloodstream." Her voice breaks," Matt, I'm scared."
"I know, sissy. It's ok," He notices the confused adults," Our psychopath of a grandfather- that was rude. Sorry, mom-er Artemis."
"Don't be. It's an accurate description." Artemis is more concerned for Jania. The girl had gone sheet white and was beginning to shake.
"There is a serum that is worse than the scarecrow's fear gas, but it has to be injected into the bloodstream. It cause horrible hallucinations and panic and anxiety levels rise to dangerous levels." Matt stands in front of her," Jania, Jani, it's me. you'll be ok."
"You betrayed me," She whispers, backing away from Matt," you left me to die."
"No, no, Jani. it wasn't like that." she tears the watch off her wrist and throws it across the room. M'gann stops it from being destroyed, so matt's hologram is still pleading with his sister," Jania. it's not real."
"you're lying," she covers her ears," you're lying. leave me alone."
"Jani." Matt looks at the adults and mouths grab her," whatever you're thinking it isn't real."
Jania looks up, catching sight of Wally and Artemis. She stumble backwards," no. No, No, NO!"
"JANI!" Matt's hands pass through her skin as he tries to force her to look at him.
"I'm sorry!" She starts crying," I wanted to help! I'm sorry!"
"Jania!" She runs out of the room, crying. Matt turns to them," Please get her, and whatever you do, do not-"
The image cuts out. They run, hoping to find her before something went wrong.