Not All who Wander are Lost
Watchtower: Orbiting Earth. One week after Kid Flash's death.
The Watchtower is floating in the starry night. At some points the bright stars seem almost quenched by the unrelenting black abyss. As the floating space station slowly rotates around the Earth, a swath of sunlight pierces an observation deck.
The observation deck has been abandoned for some time. Dust motes float in sharp relief from the sunlight.
A grunt is heard as the light falls across the body slumped in the rafters.
Dick Grayson, also known as Nightwing, groaned as he swiped his hand through sweaty bangs.
He slowly flexed his body to relieve the stiffness from being cramped in the rafters. Dick is tired, more tired than he has been in his whole life, even though he just woke up from a nap. It feels like there is an elephant sitting on his chest and a bottomless hole in his stomach. He straightened slowly and squints into the light as he remembered the funeral of his best friend.
It had been two days ago, a mercilessly sunny and mild day. It was a complete antithesis of his mood. The looks on everyone's faces, on the team's faces seemed like they were accusing him. He wanted them to accuse him. Wally's family was there, his mother weeping into the arms of his stoic father. Dick avoided them, just like he had avoided everybody else. Just like he had always avoided everybody, putting up a mask and playing off that everything was ok.
It was different from Artemis' funeral, when they buried a fake body. There he had the comfort that she was still out there somewhere. Now he watched as they buried an empty coffin, devoid of the body of his best friend, who was never coming back.
Dick's best friend was dead. Dead.
He reflected on the day he met the young gangly Wally, who tripped over everything from his words to his feet. He missed the days where they could hang out and just be bros.
And then life got hard, Dick mused. They both had to make some hard choices and drifted apart.
As the League of Shadows gained the upper hand, a timetraveler had appeared at Mount Justice. Wally was jealous of his speedster cousin, of Impulse. Wally constantly felt inadequate as a speedster: Barry was faster than Wally, and now Bart was too. Ultimately, that was why his best friend was gone: he was the speedster that couldn't run fast enough.
He had died saving the world, being the hero that he had tried to give up being.
What was hard though was Dick didn't even know if Wally had truly forgiven him for the stunt he had pulled with Kaldur, Artemis, and the Cave.
A loud banging noise startled him out thoughts. You would think with the Watchtower being all Startrek-y they could make some quieter doors!
Glancing down, Dick saw Cassie and Karen come striding in, their strident voices carrying up to his space in the rafters.
They were discussing how Artemis was coping with losing Wally.
His silent abode intruded upon, Nightwing stood up in one fluid movement. He didn't need to hear it all again, how it was so sad that the couple had been split up and that they didn't get to spend enough time together before tragedy had torn them apart.
Dick just wanted to turn back the clock five years to when the team was just starting out, when he got to be the mischievous troll and no one was dead.
Nightwing silently slipped off to the gym to train. Pounding out a routine and pushing his body to its limits might distract him from his turmoiled mind. His routines always required a focused mind.
The Arctic, the spot where Kid Flash disappeared
The frigid wind howled through the tundra, whipping the cargo pants of the boy who stood unmoving in the onslaught.
This was the first time he had returned to this spot, the spot where he had lost a teammate forever.
Superboy glared absently at the location where the cyclone had whirled, thoughts churning behind blue eyes. Somehow the death of Kid Flash hit him harder than Artemis' "death." Wally was always more energetic and lively. He was so vibrant and his moods were contagious. Kid Flash was one the reasons he, Superboy, was here and free today. Wally was one of the original three that had freed him from Cadmus and had shown him the moon. He was one of the first members on the team, and the one that had taught him humor. Connor had a strong relationship with Wally, once he stopped hitting on his girlfriend, and Connor began to disregard the nonsensical words that occasionally spilled from his mouth.
Connor wished desperately that he could fix the problem. He was Superboy, the clone of Superman. Even with all his power, he couldn't save Nightwing and Artemis, two of his closest friends, from devastating heartbreak.
He didn't even really understand how Wally had died. He was a speedster right? Where did he go? He had heard seasoned members of the League muttering about the Speed Force. Apparently it was a type of energy that the speedsters interacted with when running at superspeed. Not much is known about it, but once the Flash was almost sucked into it and had to be saved by the other Justice Leaguers forming a chain to pull him out.
Suddenly his anger at the situation hit him in waves, and Connor roared at the spot where his friend had vanished, a primal howl that unleashed the loss and frustration he felt. As he turned away, he looked back at the spot one more time and saw something glint out of the corner of his eye, a flash of yellow.
Wheeling back around, Connor turned, tracking the glint of yellow with his eyes, noticing that there were spots of red as well.
"Who's there?" The glint of color disappeared in response. Connor harrumphed, supposing that he was seeing things.
As he turned away again, the tiniest hint of noise reached his superhuman ears "-nor…. elp".
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Superboy called, turning back towards the spot he had seen the flash of yellow.
As he squinted his eyes, a flash of yellow crossed his vision, and then he heard a faint "Superboy"
Connor steadily approached the flash. "Kid Flash. Wally?" believing that he was hallucinating.
He reached his hand out as the blur sped by, trying to grasp hold. As the blur passed through his hand, it felt weird, almost like it was resisting.
The blur faded from sight again, with a last distant cry of "Help" traveling on the wind.
Staring at his hand, Connor thought furiously. Was it possible or was he imagining things? Was Kid Flash still alive, trapped in this mysterious Speed Force?
Who could he trust to tell about this? It had to be someone that trusted him, that would take him seriously. That would do anything to have Wally back and have the technical know-how to make it happen.
His mind made up, he sprinted back to where he left Sphere parked in the snow. He had an elusive bird to find and convince.
Watchtower, 30 minutes later, Secluded Gym
Nightwing was deep in his zone. He lost himself in the rhythm of his body, the give and take of the uneven bar routine. His body fluidly moved from one motion into another, sweat pouring off every pore in his body as he pushed himself to go harder, to go faster. The motions were almost automatic, and his mind was sharply focused on the bars flying in front of his vision.
A stray thought crossed his mind: the last time he had done this routine, Wally had been there. Wally had chucked a banana at his head, demanding that he needed to eat.
The next rotation Dick had was sloppy, he was distracted by the memory of Wally flashing before his eyes. He flew up to the top bar, his fingers barely grasping the bar before they slipped off. The unforgivingly hard ground rushed up to meet him. Nightwing closed his eyes, waiting for the pain of his body to match the pain in his soul.
A few seconds later, he squinted his eyes open slightly. Did he actually hit the ground? What happened?
Dick glanced up and sighed. Great, Connor had caught him, literally, in his moment of weakness. Dick hated to be seen as weak and stripped away of his assuredness in front of his teammates.
Without speaking, Connor placed him upright by the scruff of his neck, and then left a hand grasping his upper arm, like he was afraid that Dick would disappear.
"'Wing, I need to tell you something important. I saw something really strange today, and I didn't know who else to come to." Connor took a deep breath and blurted out "I saw Wally today, he's trapped and we need to save him." He paused briefly, then said "I know that you can save him."
Nightwing stood stock still for a moment, and then laughed blatantly in Connor's face. He laughed so hard he brought tears to his eyes and continued until his knees buckled beneath him, huge racking sobs shaking his body.
Worry etched on his face, Connor grasped Nightwing by the upper arms. "'Wing, I'm completely serious. I came to you because you would be the only one to believe me. You would do anything to save Wally, even though there is only a small sliver of hope." He shook Nightwing slightly, then continued "I was there today, outside where the cyclone happened. I didn't just see him 'Wing, I heard him as well. He asked for help. What more have we got to lose?"
Shaking his head slightly, Nightwing glanced up into Superboy's eyes and stared. Superboy stared back with utmost seriousness. Connor was right, what had he got to lose? He would never forgive himself if he didn't follow up on this chance to possibly save Wally.
A bud of hope grew inside of him.
"Ok, Connor, I need you to tell me exactly what happened. Wait, not now… We are heading to the Batcave to draw up all the information on speedsters and how they manage their powers."
Two days later, the Arctic, the spot where Kid Flash disappeared
Superboy stared at the hulking behemoth of machinery that was so out of touch with the rest of the landscape, its stainless steel breaking up the monotony of the glistening white snow. Nightwing had worked at a feverous pace the last couple of days, educating himself on all the material describing and analyzing this "Speed Force". Last night had seen the two of them breaking in and "borrowing" parts Nightwing needed to modify the cosmic treadmill to manipulate the Speed Force in a minute area.
Basically, the simplified version of the process as Nightwing had explained it, they were slowing down the energy the Speed Force generated in a small area, and so every time Kid Flash passed through, his speed would automatically be gradually reduced. Much of the problem with the Speed Force was that once a speedster was stuck in it, they could not slow down. They would literally run until they became part of the energy of the Force.
That was the reason for such a feverish pace. They didn't know how long Wally would last. They also didn't want anyone else to catch wind of what they were doing and try to stop them.
Ultimately, the hulking cobbled together archway of machinery was acting as a "speedbump" or a roadblock in the Speed Force.
Nightwing popped up from his hidey-hole in the bowels of the machine, a black smudge running from the corner of his mask to the tip of his chin and his eyes glinting in excitement.
"We should be ready to go in about 5 minutes."
Feeling a last second moment of trepidation, Connor replied, "Are you sure we can do this?"
Nightwing straightened, and strode toward Connor, his form tense and coiled. "You cannot dangle this hope in front of me and whisk it away. Can you tell me honestly, with 100% certainty, that you heard and saw nothing at this spot?"
Connor remained silent.
"You see? This is my last chance to make things right. To make everything right. To bring my best friend back and reunite the team." Turning away, he mutters under his breath, "To protect the things I most care about, just like the plan was supposed to."
Connor glanced sadly at the form of his friend. Now more than ever he regretted the harsh words he had said to Nightwing when the plan involving Kaldur had come to light. Most of all, he regretted that the weight of the world and the survival of his friends was placed on this young man's shoulders. Dick was always the youngest, the one everyone wanted to protect. While the team wasn't looking, Dick grew up too fast, and it was revealed that he was the one protecting them all along.
"Let's do it" Connor said firmly, stopping Dick in his tracks.
The look on Dick's face is a mixture of relief and nervousness. Nightwing nodded sharply and strode towards the control panel, flipping the switch to start the machine as he called out "Wally West, if you can hear me, M'gann's made cookies again and Artemis said that she'll throw out all of your comic books if you don't come back."
With a large grinding noise the mechanical archway jittered to life. The area under the archway start to develop a hazy, indistinct glow. The pair of superheroes held their breath, waiting for something to happen as the wind whistled around them.
Seconds, even minutes tick by and nothing discernable seems to change.
Full of sorrow and frustration, Dick called out "Wally you can't leave me too!"
After a brief pause, with shoulders slumped, Dick moved towards the control panel.
Just as he is about to hit the switch, Connor grabbed his arm.
"Look!" Connor's other hand was tracking a faint blur with his finger.
A shimmering yellow outline of a person traveled in circles, circles, circles across the tundra. Its path of travel always passed under the archway.
5 revolutions, 10 revolutions, 20...The yellow blur grew more distinct every time it passed through the archway.
Nightwing wildly lunged for the shimmering outline of his best friend's forearm. His fingers closed around something solid. With a grunt of effort, he tried to pull Wally from the Speed Force, but was quickly whisked off his feet
Superboy, with his lightning reflexes, lunged and hugged Nightwing around the waist, halting him from flying off into the distance.
Even with Superboy's weight, the sheer forward momentum caused the entire group to be dragged off into the snow.
They tumbled across the tundra in a tangle of limbs, cutting a huge swath and melted a path in the snow from the giant release of energy.
"Ow," a voice groaned. "Anyone get the number on that truck?"
Nightwing glanced down and stared dumbstruck into the bruised, bloody, solid and alive, face of Wally West.