"No Dick, I'm not going to be a part of your little scheme. You say you want to be different than Batman? Well congratulations, Batman would never do this. He'd find another way." Wally was fuming. His best friend had asked him to come to this warehouse saying that he thought he had found a way to figure out who was behind everything. Wally had no idea that the plan was to put their friend, Kaldur'ahm, behind enemy lines, to have him become a traitor.
"Wally, I…" Grabbing his best friend, Wally pushes him against one of the nearby crates, stopping him midsentence.
"Enough Dick! I don't care what you have to say. People will get hurt Dick, you can't ask me to be a part of that."
Putting his hand on Wally's shoulder, with a gentle yet powerful grip, Kaldur tried to calm his friend "I am sure we can handle whatever comes our way, Wally."
"What happens when you get asked to kill someone, in cold blood?" Wally, clearly distraught, was fighting tears.
"I do not think…"
"It doesn't matter what you think! They're the bad guys. It's what they do, and it'll be what you end up being forced to do if you actually do this. Do you think they won't notice if you don't actually kill someone? What if it's one of us? What will you do then?"
"I do not know…"
"Exactly, you don't know. There're too many variables." Wally, finally relaxing his grip on Dick, lets him go.
They stand in silence for what feels like hours, before Dick finally breaks the silence, "You know me Wally, I think things through. I'm not going to let anyone get hurt."
Wally lowers his head and in a surprisingly soft tone mutters "I'm not willing to take that chance. Do what you want, but I'm not going to be a part of it. I'll keep your secret, but that's it. I'm done."
"Done?" Dick was clearly confused.
"I mean I quit Dick. I'm done. I'm hanging up the suit."
"Wally, why are you doing this?"
"Because you don't know when you've gone too far Dick! You're not afraid to hurt the people close to you, and that's not okay. I don't want to fight alongside someone who is willing to deceive all of his friends, while pretending to fight another. That's not something I can do."
Dick starts to say something, but stops himself, leaving Kaldur to respond. "Wally, I understand your concerns, but please understand that we know…"
"You know what Kal? What you're doing? How could you?" Wally pauses for a fraction of a second, "You know what, don't bother answering, I'm leaving." Wally speeds to the door, stopping just to look back at his friends and slam the door.
"What do you mean you can't be Kid Flash anymore?" Wally's uncle Barry, known to the world as The Flash, looks on in bewilderment, while Wally refuses to look his uncle in the eyes.
"I'm sorry Uncle Barry, but I need to focus on school, I want to go to a good college and being a hero just takes up too much of my time."
"If it's what you think is best, then I support you Wally."
Wally opened his closet, intending to grab a tank top to relax in, but he instead found himself reaching for his old costume. The memories of him telling Barry that he was leaving the game, and more painful still, of the night he walked out on his best friends, came flooding back as he withdrew his hand. Looking around he remembered that Artemis was out with friends tonight, so he was all alone for the rest of the night.
He tried to keep busy, but his thoughts kept going back to his old costume. Truth be told, as much as he loved his new life, he missed being in the game. Swooping in at the last minute to save the day, the look on someone's face when you stop the bad guy from mugging them, the look of gratitude when you save their baby from an out of control car going way too fast, but most of all, he missed the adrenaline rush. He hadn't gone running, actually running, in months.
"Who could it hurt?" Wally, thinking out loud, decided he was going to go out. He was at his closet in seconds, throwing clothes left and right. He knew he couldn't wear the costume again, people would ask questions, and Dick would inevitably find out. He had to figure out something different. In the end, he threw on sweatpants, a black hoodie, an old ski mask, goggles and gloves. In the blink of an eye, he was gone, running the streets, being a hero again for one last time.