The Watchtower
July 18, 2016 - Team Year 6 15:43 EDT
"Kid Flash. B-2-3." The sound of the computer calling him Kid Flash was still jarring to Bart Allen. It had taken him days to stop looking over his shoulder for Wally West, the real Kid Flash, to come out of the zeta tube behind him. The original members of the Justice League, his grandfather included, had wanted the designation switch made as soon as possible to preserve continuity.
Bart wasn't sure if he agreed with them, or if he felt that it robbed the team of time for grief.
Bart had been dealing with guilt for most of his life. He hadn't been good enough, fast enough to stop events in his time period. He hadn't been able to stop Blue Beetle from killing... Bart shook his head. Being born into a world of destruction and chaos, he knew there was little he could have done to stop events already in motion. But coming back to the past, he thought he could stop everything. He thought he could save them all. The thought had never even crossed his mind that by saving his grandfather, saving the world, he would have to sacrifice his cousin, albeit once removed, to do so.
In the weeks since Wally had "ceased" Artemis had barely been seen. She had gone on one mission with the new team, but then she'd disappeared. Bart didn't blame her. He wouldn't have wanted to be around him either, running around in her dead boyfriend's old costume. There had been some general angst among the team over her departure: M'gann missed her friend, Beast Boy's mood had fallen, and there were a few quiet mutterings about whether they could trust Artemis to remain on the side of the angels. Kaldur and Barbara had both quickly shot down any notion that Artemis was going to become a villain. She just needed her space, they said. She had, after all, just lost the only stable relationship she'd ever had in her life.
But Dick Grayson hadn't even lasted one mission. The former leader of the team, the one who had held the young heroes together through only the sheer force of his will during the darkest hours of the invasion, had disappeared into the night. No one, not Kaldur, not Batgirl, not even Batman knew where he had gone. Bart had offered to help in the search for their former leader, but was rebuffed. The original members of the team, the half that were left of it anyway, along with the Batman's litter had fanned out across the country to search for the former Boy Wonder. They found evidence of him being places, but never the man himself. It had hit all of them hard, especially Batgirl.
Bart's eyes locked on Barbara Gordon. He knew her name... he knew all their names. It was a blessing and a curse. While he didn't have to spend the time meeting everyone, knowing everything about a person through stories and holovids was awkward. But with Barbara, it was different. Although she didn't know it, Bart practically looked at her like a second mother. In fact, for most of his life, she had basically been his mother, while his biological mother had been out in the field, trying to keep the world somewhat functioning. Most of what he knew about the team, the League, the world before he was born in general had come from her.
Barbara was hard at work on a computer, typing away. Bart was pretty sure she hadn't heard him come in, and as he got closer to the computer, he could see why. His eyes could track every single piece of information scrolling across her screen, even if she couldn't. The redhead was using facial recognition software to scan through thousands, hundreds of thousands of people passing through airports all around the world. Bart's eyes fell.
She was still looking for Dick.
Bart felt his heart drop through his stomach. He knew how much she cared for Dick Grayson... and how much he cared for her. After spending his entire life learning about the relationships and people he was now surrounded by, it was awkward for Bart to be in such uncharted territory. Nothing like this had ever happened in his timeline, and he didn't know when Dick would be back. Or if he would ever be back at all.
He took a few more steps forward, but before Bart could open up his mouth, his stomach growled. Loudly. His forward motion froze, a wince crossing Bart's face as he hoped Barbara hadn't heard that. After a lifetime of learning to be hungry, he was still getting used to exactly how much food he was allowed to, and could, eat.
Any hope of his stomach's announcement going unnoticed was dashed as he watched the muscles in Barbara's back tighten, her hands flying over the keyboard and typing in a few commands, forcing the facial recognition software to vanish. The redhead's eyes flashed over to him, and widened.
He knew that she knew he'd seen the computer screen.
XXXXX
Of course he had. Of course he had seen. And now the little motor mouth was going to let everyone know that she was still desperately searching for Dick, even though Bruce had told her to let him be. That he would be back, on his own time.
But Barbara knew Dick Grayson, probably even better than Bruce did at this point. She had watched, unable to offer anything more than a shoulder to cry on or physical comfort, as Dick slowly detached himself from the League, the rest of the team, from her. Every mission took a toll on the Boy Wonder, every day removed him farther from the boyish laugh she had grown so accustomed to hearing. The success of their mission to divide the Reach and the Light, getting Kaldur and Artemis back, she thought that it would have been the beginning of his road to recovery. And for a few days, it seemed like it was. But then Wally had died, and in a matter of hours she watched Dick spiral back down even deeper than he had before. In a matter of hours, without saying a word, he was gone.
Barbara had staked out Dick's apartment in Blüdhaven for days on end. She'd called his cell phone more times than she could count before finding it, abandoned in Gotham Park. Even secret numbers, dead drop landline phones that only a handful of people in the entire world knew about, went unanswered. All activity on his credit cards, his bank accounts, everything had gone dark. It was as if Dick Grayson had ceased to exist from the world.
The use of the word, even in her own head, caused her to wince. Wally... they were all still in mourning over his death. Artemis was taking some time for herself, but at least she'd had the good manners to come and say goodbye before doing so. Barbara couldn't blame the blonde for wanting to lock herself in a dark room, fall asleep, and hope that when she woke up everything would be revealed as one long, horrible nightmare. She wanted to do the same. But the team needed her now, and as much as she hated to admit it, she needed to be here with them. Barbara needed to keep working. And so she was forced into a leadership role with Kaldur, desperately trying to keep up the spirits of a young team that had just lost a trio of their idols.
Barbara turned her attention back to the more immediate problem. The last thing she needed was Bart telling everyone, let alone Batman, that she was still continuing to look for Dick on team time. Not that she was neglecting her duties as second-in-command. A computer algorithm she and Timmy had put together was searching for other examples of Apokoliptian technology throughout the world. But computer algorithms needed time to work, and her staring at a computer screen and drumming her fingers wouldn't make it work any faster. She had to keep doing something, something that would keep her mind occupied and focused on the here and now. If she was doing something, her photographic memory, that blessing and curse, couldn't bring up other images... images of Dick.
Barbara narrowed her eyes at Bart, giving her best impersonation of Bruce's standard expression. Slowly, she raised a single finger to her lips. The brunette nodded his head in agreement, placing a hand on her shoulder and offering up what she could only describe as the saddest smile she'd ever seen cross his face. She offered up a sad smile in return.
"Hey Bart."
"Hey Barbara. How's the algorithm coming?" She knew that he was just trying to make small-talk, trying to shift around what he'd just seen. Barbara knew he had questions for her.
"It's running," she answered with a smile. But she had questions for him too. So many questions that she had stopped herself from asking the boy from the future over the past few months. Dick had warned her against doing so, and she knew that he had been right. Then. He had been right then, it would have been bad to know too much about how things could turn out when events that were going on could still affect them. But none of that mattered now. Bart came from a future of the Reach, of chaos, of destruction. Nothing of that world had any bearing on this one anymore.
Finally, she decided that she wouldn't, couldn't wait any longer. "Bart, what happened before you came back?" Okay, that had sounded a lot more subtle in her head, but the question was out there now. Barbara wanted to know about the future, Bart's past, about what happened to her, to all of them.
She watched pain cross the boy's face as his mind moved back to images that he hoped he'd prevented. Barbara felt terrible about forcing him to relive those memories. She could guess how it went: death and destruction, Reach take over, scrappy group of insurgent humans keep hope for the race alive, pick... him to go back and save the world? Even with his super-speed, Barbara could think of many other, more logical candidates to send back. But maybe they weren't able? Maybe they'd died? She wouldn't lie, she was curious about the tale as well.
But more than anything, Barbara needed to know that what had happened over the past few months was the better outcome. She had to know that everything they'd sacrificed, everything they'd lost, was the best possible ending.
"Bart... please. I need to know."
He really didn't want to tell this story. Bart didn't want to tell it for a number of reasons, the biggest one being he knew how much it was going to hurt her. What she'd gone through, what she had dealt with. Bart didn't want to put his adopted mother through that.
But the pleading in her eyes made the decision for him. She may be thirty years younger than the first time he could remember her, but her eyes were the same. And he couldn't say no to them.
Sighing, he offered a resigned nod. In a blur, he grabbed a chair to sit down next to her at the computer. "There's really no easy way to start this story. I mean, I know most of it from you..."
The surprise clearly registered on her face, which then softened to understanding. She was already starting to put some of the pieces together. "Start with the day you came back," she said, her voice low. "Start with what changed that day."
Bart took a deep breath, nodding. And he started his story.
XXXXX
Central City
February 28th, 2016 - Team Year 6 (Bart's Timeline) 12:02 CDT
Barry Allen pulled his wife closer to him as they sat on the couch in their living room. It was the first night in weeks that he and Iris had been able to spend together. Her reporting duties and his superhero duties - not to mention his day job as a crime scene investigator - made getting time alone together difficult. There was something different about Iris, and though he'd asked her about it twice already, she had just laughed it off and said he was imagining things. Normally, this would have meant constant needling from him, guessing, and general light-hearted "torture" - see: tickling at super speed - to get the information. He would have loved to spend the night together, just the two of them, to get that information, but it was a special occasion, one that required company.
There was a knock at their front door, and with a speed only he and two other people in the world could muster, Barry was there and opened it, smiling at the older man and woman on the other side. Jay and Joan Garrick, two who had become a second set of parents to him, stood on the other side.
"Happy Anniversary!" Iris was at his side, welcoming the Garricks as well. Barry reached out a hand to take their coats.
"Barry, you and Iris never forget."
"Are you kidding, Jay? We idolize you two." Jay handed over the coats as he led Joan into the living room by the sign celebrating their wedding anniversary. "70 years of marriage is quite the achievement." Barry slung the coats over two hangers as he turned back to them.
"The achievement is how Joan's put up with me for that long." As Jay leaned down and kissed Joan on the cheek, Barry caught Iris looking at him. She smiled and turned away when she saw him catch her eye, a slight blush stinging her cheeks. There was something important to tell him, he was sure of it, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it.
A few minutes later, they were all sitting down, talking and laughing with each other. "Heard you nabbed Captain Boomerang again, Barry," said Jay with a chuckle, taking a sip of his drink. "What's that, the second time in the last six months?"
Barry sighed, leaning back. "Last eight months, but it's getting ridiculous. Every time the extradition process happens, he escapes. It's getting a little old. Just the same guys over and over. And Belle Reve always seems to be full. Ever since the ice villains took over five years ago things have been..." He was interrupted by a cell phone ringing. Barry reached for his pocket, but saw Iris retrieve her cell phone first.
"What's up, Pete?" Ah, her boss from GBS. Barry watched Iris' brow furrow, and then the color leave her face. She brought the phone down from her ear to her chest. "They're evacuating downtown. There's a new super powered lunatic calling for blood." She paused, lowering her voice. "Your blood."
Barry stood, already fiddling with his ring. Jay chuckled. "You said things were getting old, Barry. Maybe this will add some spice." The younger man winked as he opened the ring, and in a blur of motion, Barry Allen was The Flash.
"Are they calling you in?" Iris nodded at his question and he smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "Don't even worry about it. I'll take care of it." Barry zipped over to the door and shot a look back over his shoulder to the three people sitting in his living room.
"Don't you all go anywhere, now. I'll be back in a flash." Their groans chased him out the door and into the Central City air.
Within a minute, Barry was approaching downtown Central City. He could already see the new super villain, standing in the middle of the city, right under its famous arch. Red rings, Barry couldn't tell what they consisted of, expanded from the his burgundy and yellow suit. And before his eyes, Barry saw the super villain turn and blast dual bolts of energy from his hands, vaporizing the statue of him that stood in the plaza.
Oh, he did not just blow up my statue, Barry thought. "One Flash down, one to go!" Lightbulb's voice sounded mechanical, almost as if it was coming through some sort of filter. Robot? Barry wasn't going to wait around to find out.
"Yeah, but this one moves a little bit faster!" Warning the bad guy he was coming probably wasn't the best plan, but Barry was mad. He had a nice, relaxing evening to get back to. "And you're going to reimburse the city for my statue!"
The new super villain turned and raised his arms. Moving at his speed, it all looked like slow motion to Barry. Three shots of energy blasted from both arms, zipping towards him. Reducing his speed ever so slightly, Barry watched the energy slam into the pavement, ripping up chunks of road. Perfect, he thought. I'll use those chunks to leap over whatever those rings are and take him down.
Jumping into the air, he felt his feet plant on one of the chunks, before leaping to another, and another. A smile creased his face as his legs coiled and he launched himself over the approaching red wave.
Except that's not what happened. The cascading wave, Barry could only surmise it was pure energy, like what had been shot out of the villain's hands, slammed into him like a moving brick wall. Flipping back end over end, Barry sincerely wished that he had the power of flight. He'd be able to right himself, fly over the wave, and attack the villain head...
A flailing leg struck the ground, a sharp jolt of pain flying up his right leg as a shout of pain covered the sound of a bone breaking. Tumbling over his back, Barry put out his hands to stop his backward motion. He ended sitting on his bottom, staring at his throbbing leg. Barry watched the super villain start walking closer, and he could swear he almost saw a smile cross the man's face from inside his helmet.
Another solid wave of energy hit him, blasting him back again. It hurt, but was nothing compared to the fire shooting up his leg as he ricocheted off the ground. He wound up on his stomach this time, facing some police cars a short distance away that had just pulled up.
"Get back!" His voice was hoarse from pain, his hand extending out to them. They hesitated for a moment, not sure whether to help the city's hero or follow his commands. "Get back, and get everyone out of here! Now!" After a moment, the men in blue nodded, pulling their cars away. Barry tapped his ear as he turned over onto his back.
"Flash to Justice League. There's a new super-powered villain attacking downtown Central City. Emitting cascading waves of energy and also shooting energy bolts from his hands. Requesting assistance on the double. I am injured." He began pushing himself back with his hands, scooting away as fast as he could over the pavement. The realization of how ridiculous it must look for the Flash to be practically crawling backward entered his mind. The irony was not lost upon him.
"Sensors are detecting low levels of nuclear radiation in downtown Central City." It was the Atom's voice. The scientist must have been observing from the Watchtower.
"Get Captain Atom to Central City, now." That voice was instantly recognizable. Hal Jordan. "This is a priority alert for all Leaguers. Converge on downtown Central City with extreme prejudice." There was a pause and Barry heard wind whipping around the comm link. "I'm ten minutes out."
Ten minutes... Barry looked up to see Lightbulb raise his arms, and he knew no one was going to get there fast enough. Not fast enough for him anyway. If Atom was right, and Barry assumed he was, they were going to be lucky if the League could get there in time to save his city.
He lowered his eyes. "GL..." A shout from the villain drew his gaze back up. The man inside the suit seemed to be struggling with... something.
"No. No I won't!" The voice emitting from the villain was higher pitched now, and he seemed to be fighting something. Barry couldn't see what, but continued to try pushing himself away.
"No." The voice was deeper again. "This interference will not stand." Barry saw the man in the metal suit kneel to the ground, hands still clutching at the outside of his helmet. His eyes looked up at Barry and, for the first time, he thought he saw emotion in the man's orange gaze. A high pitched whine started to fill the air. Barry didn't mind his last words being spoken to his best friend, though there was one other person he would have preferred.
"GL... just tell Iris, okay?"
"Flash?" Barry never had time to respond as a piercing white light emitted from the man kneeling in the middle of the plaza, and then quickly overtook him. He just hoped Iris would be okay.
XXXXX
Over Springfield, IL
February 28th, 2016 - Team Year 6 (Bart's Timeline) 12:15 CDT
"Flash? Flash!" There was nothing but silence on the other end of the comm link, and Hal Jordan knew that the Flash, that Barry Allen, his best friend, was dead. Who was going to tell Ir-
"Sensors detect a large nuclear explosion in the middle of Central City. Downtown... downtown has been destroyed." Atom's voice held an unusually high level of emotion. The scientist was normally a "just the facts, ma'am" kind of guy.
"Are there residual readings?"
"One hot spot from Flash's last known location." Hal tried to add a little more juice, get to the site even faster. "There's a pulsing nuclear energy signature from ground zero. And it's getting stronger again." Hal pressed his communicator.
"Captain Marvel?"
"Already on the way, Lantern. What's the plan?" Hal was about to answer, but the words caught in his throat as he flew over the outer edge of the blast radius. Downtown Central City was vaporized, there was no other word for it. He could see ground zero, a charred, smoking crater where a plaza used to be. There was no trace of Barry Allen. There was nothing, except what looked like a human man, naked, lying on the ground. He could still feel the heat rising from the site.
"Lantern?"
"Whoever this villain is survived the blast. The whole place is hot. We need to get him out of Central City, somehow shut down his powers."
"What about..." A more feminine voice cut in, demanding answers.
"We worry about him later." Hal didn't like the edge to his voice. He sounded way too much like Bats. Hal knew Black Canary was just trying to get more information, but there was nothing that could be done at the moment. He couldn't think about Barry, couldn't think about that grief right now. This situation had to be taken care of. They owed Barry Allen that much, more really, but for now...
A squawking alarm could be heard over Hal's comm link again, coming from the Watchtower. The air around him seemed to crackle with energy, and the man on the ground, still kneeling, threw his arms back in a scream.
"Radiation levels are going off the charts." The Atom was struggling to keep his voice calm, an urgency creeping in, even through Hal's earpiece. "Captain Atom is already on his way."
"He's going to blow!" There were times Captain Marvel betrayed his true age. The panic in his voice now was one of those times. Billy must have just arrived at the scene, but he was right. Beams of light emitted from the naked man's mouth and ears as another, bigger, explosion rocked downtown Central City.
"Inhibitor collar programmed. I am inbound."
"Get here as quick as you can, Red Tornado." Hal didn't know how much help the android would be against this type of threat, but the League needed all of its heavy hitters on the scene, especially with its heaviest hitters off world.
"Canary, begin coordinating relief efforts with the locals. All other Leaguers, try and get as many survivors away from the blast radius as possible." Hal flew over towards Billy, hovering next to the kid in a man's body.
"Captain, we need to get him out of the city. He keeps putting himself back together again after every explosion. If they keep getting bigger..."
"Got it. Where can we take him though? We can't go to space."
"Monsenthein Island. Due north of your location." The Atom's voice broke into their communicators. "Sorry, couldn't help overhearing. You only have a few minutes at the most. Go."
"Roger that." Hal swooped down through the remains of a destroyed downtown Central City. The rubble was like an open wound, exposed and bare to the world. To see his best friend's city, the city he loved so dearly, destroyed like this was like having his own chest ripped open.
Hal knew the League had prepared for something like this, but they all thought it would be Metropolis that would bite it. Maybe Gotham City, if the Joker ever got everything to work perfectly. Central City... Flash's rogues didn't really pack this kind of firepower.
A bright beam of light shot from his power ring, scooping the still-reforming naked man up off the ground. Encasing him in a bubble, Hal raced north. Even holding the man at a distance, sweat began pouring down his face. He could physically feel the heat rolling off the man.
"Am I going to sprout a third arm carrying this guy?"
"The good news for you, Lantern, is the radiation he's giving off is very clean." It was the Atom again. Hal could hear him still typing away from his post on the Watchtower. "Very hot, very destructive when he explodes, but very clean. I don't predict any adverse health effects."
"I'm holding you to that, doc." Hal watched as the city passed away below him. They were over the Mississippi River now.
"What's going on? What's happening to me?" The higher, plaintive voice coming from his bubble caught Hal by surprise. What also caught him by surprise was the man's face. He was much younger than Hal expected, and his voice certainly didn't sound like someone who had just killed a founding member of the Justice League. Who had just killed his brother.
"I don't know, son." The words came through clenched teeth. Hal wanted nothing more than to read this kid the riot act, to beat him senseless, to hurt him as much as he was hurting right now. Maybe when he first started he would have. But not anymore. Barry... Barry had taught him to be better than that. "But rest assured, we're going to find out."
Hal continued heading towards the deserted island in the middle of the Mississippi. As he got closer, the man inside the bubble began getting brighter.
"I'm reading a radiation spike, Lantern. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Atom. It's just getting... a lot hotter up here."
"Lantern?" Billy's voice, coated with concern. Hal looked down, seeing the kid flying below and behind him.
"Stay clear, kid. I've got him. We're almost..." A blinding flash erupted in front of him. Hal barely had time to throw his arms up in protection, a wall of green energy that lasted a millisecond before he was thrown back end over end. Hal felt like he was a spectator, like he wasn't in control of his own body as his arms flailed. A glimpse of one of those arms showed his uniform scorched, exposed skin blistered underneath. He could feel the wind whipping around his body as he fell, unable to form a cohesive enough thought to use his ring.
And just as suddenly, Hal felt two arms grab him with a strong grip. A grunt of pain escaped his lips, seeing a flash of red and white above him. Captain Marvel.
"I've got him." Hal cracked a small smile. The kid had come through.
"Where's the..."
"I see him. Stay back, both of you. The whole area's hot." The other captain, and the other Atom, Captain Atom, zipped past them both. "He's putting himself back together again. What's the ETA on that inhibitor collar?"
"I should be over your location in approximately three minutes." Red Tornado's mechanical voice was somehow soothing at a time like this. Hal wished he didn't have to worry about feelings right now... or pain.
"He's going to blow before that, Red." There were probably less blunt ways Hal could have phrased that, but another wave of pain wracking his body let him know he had bigger things to worry about. A muttered word, probably a curse, escaped Captain Atom's lips.
"We can't take him into space, he doesn't have my pressurized suit. We'd kill him. That inhibitor collar isn't going to get here fast enough. Unless..." Hal watched Captain Atom spiral down towards the island.
"Captain, what are you doing?"
"Don't worry, Lantern. I've got it. I'm with him now." Hal could see Captain Atom place a hand on the rapidly-reforming super-villain's shoulder. "The good news is, radiation levels are already dropping significantly in the area, including downtown Central City. But you can't take another hit like that."
"Cap... what are you going to do?"
"What I have to." The former military man paused. "Make sure to have that inhibitor collar ready, Tornado. I'm not sure how much time this is going to buy us."
Hal wanted to say something, but he knew that there were no words that would convince the man formally known as Captain Nathaniel Adams to change his mind. That didn't mean others weren't going to try.
"Captain, just leave him there. We'll get everyone away from him and Tornado can come in after the blast and..."
"None of us would clear the blast radius at this point, Canary. And Lantern can't take another hit like that. Every time he goes off, the explosion gets bigger. This needs to end now."
"But..."
"I'm doing what needs to be done. Captain Atom out." Hal watched as the good captain physically took his comm link out, dropped it to the ground, and stepped on it. There would be no reaching him anymore. He looked up one last time and motioned for them both to leave. Hal felt himself being lifted up and away by Billy, but watched as the man of silver placed both of his crimson-clad hands on the villain's shoulders. The boy's head shot back again, light beginning to show from his face and hands. But Hal noticed a difference this time.
Captain Atom's hands began to glow as well. Hal watched the grimace of exertion cross his face, his teeth clenched, his jaw set. If the man of silver could sweat, Hal was sure that rivers would be pouring down his face right now. The light began to fade, but the super-villain, the boy, continued to scream. Captain Atom threw his head back, a yell escaping from his lips as well.
Then there was a flash of light, one even brighter than before. Hal's eyes took a few moments to adjust.
When they did, the man was left kneeling on the ground, naked. Captain Atom was nowhere to be seen.
No, Hal thought. "Tornado, move!" Once again, it was like he was watching someone else operate his body. Like this was all a dream he desperately wanted to wake up from.
The android descended from the sky behind the man, slapping the inhibitor collar around his neck. The boy's eyes went wide for a moment before he slumped to the ground, exhausted. "I am reading no further radiation spikes. Levels on the island are already dropping."
Hal nodded, even that simple act causing excruciating pain. "Captain Marvel, get me to a zeta tube. I need the medical bay on the Watchtower."
"Where's..." Black Canary again. She didn't even have to finish her thought. Hal knew what she wanted to know.
"I don't know." He paused, looking up towards space. "He's gone."