This was written for the Young Justice Big Bang over on tumblr.
I started writing this back in December, before the second half of season 2 had aired. You'll quickly see it no longer lines up with the canon, so it's more of an alternate future than a potential season 3. It's been my baby for so long now, and I'm glad I finally get to publish it!
Palo Alto, California
December 24 20:11 PST
He misses the snow.
He remembers past Christmases in Nebraska. Every year there would be this thick blanket of white powder covering the ground. Some of his earliest memories are looking out his bedroom window Christmas morning to scour the snow for reindeer footprints, and sledding down that huge hill in the park on Christmas day. They were almost more exciting than opening up presents. But it never snowed in Palo Alto, and tonight the sky was clear.
Though he knew the lack of snow wasn't the real reason he was unhappy.
He hears a knock on the door, and wonders who it could be. Most of the school had gone home for the holidays. From what he understood, he was the only one on his block still here. The empty campus had felt like a ghost town for the past couple days.
He opens the door and sees it's Dick Grayson, one of his oldest friends, "Hey, Merry Christmas." He says, standing outside his apartment holding a small, wrapped box. He's dressed in a thick winter coat, with earmuffs, gloves, and boots, very inappropriate for 40 degree Palo Alto weather. He thought he heard something about a huge winter storm in Gotham, but he'd been a bit busy freaking out over his quantum physics final to pay much attention to the news.
"Thanks." He says, taking the box, "I'll put it with the others. Do you want to come in?"
"Sure." He takes his winter wear and throws it over the sofa. He looks around the small living room. Wally hadn't exactly had time to spruce the place up, so books, papers, empty take out boxes, and cans of Red Bull are strewn over the coffee table, and the whole room smelled like a combination of pizza and Mongolian beef, aka his dinners for the past three days.
"I see you didn't put the tree up." Dick says, side eyeing the pile of presents in the corner where his tree stood last year. Artemis had insisted on going all out for Christmas last year, buying a seven foot tall tree dusted with fake snow, a nativity set, three long strands of icicle lights, and a bunch of snowman and Santa Claus themed knickknacks. 'It's our first Christmas together.' She said hanging the huge, fresh wreath she bought earlier on the wall 'I want it to be special.'
He didn't really feel like decorating this year.
"Yeah, I just didn't get around to it. You know, finals and all."
"Oh." He says plainly.
"Look, I know you didn't come all this way to give me a present and eat the food in my fridge, what are you here for?"
"No reason. I just heard you weren't going home for Christmas. I thought I'd stop by and see how you were."
He chuckles, "Oh, that's it. Well, finals didn't end until the 22nd, and my Fraternity leaves for our trip to Mexico on the 26th, I just figured it'd be easier if I stayed here for the holidays. It'd be a hassle to go home for only a few days."
"Are you sure that's it?" Dick asks.
"Yeah, of course that's it. Have you been talking to my parents, because you sound just like them? I'm fine, really. I'm not depressed or lonely or whatever it is you're thinking."
"No Wally, I haven't been talking to your parents, but it doesn't take a detective to know you miss her."
His statement hits a nerve, and Wally looks away, speaking softly, "I guess, well, I was hoping Artemis would be back by Christmas. It was her favorite holiday, you know. I know it's completely out of her control, and I don't blame her, or you, or anyone really. It's just not fair that she has to spend Christmas on Black Manta's ship, pretending to be someone she's not."
"You're right, it isn't, but there's nothing we can do about it."
"Yeah, but I wish there was." He says heavily.
"Hey." Dick says brightly, trying his best to lighten up the mood. "Why don't you open up the present I got you?"
"Well, I don't normally open up gifts on Christmas Eve, but since you're here, what the heck." He struggles with the bow for a minute, then rips off the paper and opens up the box, "A watch." He says, a pretty typical gift from rich kid Grayson. He slips it on his wrist and gives it a good look. It was made from a sleek, black metal, very stylish. But it also seemed sturdy, like if he dropped it from up high or into water it wouldn't break. The watch face was very modern. Digital, with the numbers illuminated in large print.
"Press the big button on the side." Dick says, and he does. The large screen with the time was now displaying Dick's face. "Hey." He says, there's a second delay from when he says it and when Wally hears it on the watch.
"A communicator watch, how thoughtful. Because, you know, we can't just call each other." Wally says back sarcastically.
"It's not just between you and me you dork." He says, rolling his eyes, "I'm working on making watches for Kaldur and Artemis too. I just need to find the right frequency so our conversations can't be intercepted."
"So you're saying with this watch, I can talk to Artemis, or you or Kaldur, whenever I want?"
"Well, not whenever you want. The small white button turns off the communicator mode, so they can't get calls when they're with Manta, or Deathstroke, or any other time it might hurt their cover. But otherwise, yeah, you can talk to them whenever you want."
"Well, thanks." He says brightly. "I have something for you too. But I err... wasn't expecting to see you so soon, and I haven't gotten around to wrapping it yet. I could do that quickly, or I could just give you the gift, or maybe when I see you-"
"I'll take it now, without wrapping paper."
"Okay, give me a sec." He dashes off to his bedroom, and returns a minute later holding a DVD case, "Hey, did you hear about that big meteor shower that's supposed to hit tonight?" He asks.
Dick laughs, "I'm pretty sure that was last week."
"Was it?" He ponders, he's honestly not sure.
"Yeah, I remember hearing about the great view people in Washington DC had of it."
"You know maybe it was last week, I haven't exactly been kept up with the news, finals and all, you know?" He says sheepishly, "But when I looked out my bedroom window I saw this huge meteor falling from the sky."
"Really?" Dick asks, curious.
"Yeah, maybe we can see it from the living room." Wally draws back the curtains from the window, and they both look out at the night sky. Sure enough there's a very large object hurling towards the ground, probably somewhere close.
"Not really much of a shower." Dick laughs, "But I was a little busy capturing Riddler during the last one, so I guess this will have to do."
"Yeah, same here. Well, in my case I was studying thermodynamics, not fighting crime. Hey, is that a Green Lantern?" He asks, pointing at a small green dot next to the meteor.
"Yeah, looks like it. Hmm… I doubt he can keep it from crashing, so I think he's trying to keep it from hitting the ground hard, or hitting a heavily populated area. I don't get it though, why doesn't he just smash the thing?"
"Maybe he's concerned about debris, or." He squints harder at the meteor, now surrounded in a green, translucent bubble, then his eyes widen, and he looks shocked, "Oh my God."
"What?" Dick asks, and looks at him with a puzzled expression as he runs top speed to his bedroom. Something must have startled his badly if he's using his powers. He returns within seconds, holding the goggles from his old Kid Flash uniform. He presses them to his eyes.
"No! It can't be!" He shouts.
"Wally, what is it?"
"Dick," He starts, shaking as he takes the goggles off his face, "that's the Watchtower."
He just looks at him for a moment, hoping he's not serious, that he's made some sort of mistake. He grabs the goggles out of his hands. He can make out the silvery building embedded into the rock, it's the Watchtower, and from the billowing smoke coming from a bit of the charred rock, it became clear that the Watchtower didn't fall, it had been shot clean out of the sky.
He furrows his brow and balls his hands into fists tightly against the goggles, "Whoever did this is gonna pay."
-o-
"Yes, it must have been a wonderful Christmas surprise for the Justice League to see that their previously secret headquarters had crashed into the Sierra Nevada Mountains, but I suppose that's what happens when you take a structurally unsound building and make it float around the Earth. Do you know how long the League kept this 'Watchtower' as they call it hidden from the public? Nearly ten years. And were they planning to tell us about it? Never. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if it wasn't for our friends the Reach, the League would still be operating there in secret. Though I suppose they still are operating in secret, it's not like they ever let anyone see the inside like they did the Hall of Justice. I and several other news reporters like Cat Grant, tried to get a tour. They declined. Suspicious? I certainly think so. They don't like working out in the open. Who knows, maybe this destruction of their headquarters was deliberate. Maybe they wanted to get rid of their old no longer secret base, and build a new one. But this time, they'd make sure it stayed out of the public eye. Doesn't sound too farfetched, does it? I'll leave you to mull that over some eggnog and Christmas ham. This has been G. Gordon Godfrey, good night."