Wally liked Sue Dibney well enough, she actually liked her a ton, but she wasn't Berry, and Berry was the one that had promised to spend the whole day with her. But, of course, Justice League business had come up, and Berry was needed. So, Wally was sent up to the Watchtower, since Iris was in Hollywood for a story right now, and she was left with Sue for however long it was going to take for the league to deal with whatever was going on. Being left alone on the Watchtower the first fives times had been awesome and amazing, but not being a member of the league made it so she couldn't read anything in their library, look through their trophy room, or have fun in the training room without supervision. She was stuck playing game after game of checkers with Sue, which was not fun, even if they did call it space checkers.

"Are you sure we can't listen in on what they're doing?"

"No matter how hard I try, I can't figure out how to patch myself in," Sue sighed, triple jumping and crowning her piece, "They are all really touchy about non-members messing with their stuff. I haven't been able to convince Ralph to let me since I started waiting up here. I think they just don't want me to worry."

"But it's so boring!"

"I know, but they say they don't want to run the risk of anyone that isn't them messing up their frequencies, or something like that."

Wally slumped down and intentionally moved her last piece into a place where she would lose it, not wanting to go through the motions of playing anymore. She looked toward the door to the monitor room, where she knew Aquaman was monitoring the current mission. The door was locked, but that didn't seem like it would be too much of a problem. Not since she'd overheard Berry and Green Lantern talking about override codes to that door specifically. The problem would be keeping Aquaman from noticing and kicking them out right away.

Maybe the mission was intense, and he wouldn't be paying attention to them at all. If he wasn't, though, Wally knew that there was a serious lecture and disappointed frown waiting for her from Berry. It wouldn't be fun. But it couldn't be any worse than playing the thousand-and-first game of space chess for another three hours. At least getting in trouble would be something to do.

Inwardly talking herself into it, Wally started opening the door before she could talk herself out of it, and Sue was right behind her.

Aquaman was by the console, engrossed in listening to the information coming in over the comms, and he either didn't notice them coming in, or didn't care at this moment. Wally and Sue hurried behind one of the massive computer consoles, that just so happened to be right across from the zeta tube, and listened in.

"They're down," it sounded like most of the action was over, so that was a little disappointing. On the bright side, that meant that Berry would be back soon, and their day would get back on track! She might even dodge trouble if she and Sue made it back into their little, boring room before the league got back.

"Zeta tubes are clear!"

"Then get her up to medical, now!"

Medical? Who was hurt? What if it was Berry? What had they been fighting? What if it was really bad? Wally strained her ears to hear someone say who was being brought to medical, but things were mostly quiet now.

The tube glowed and the image of three figures appeared, on slumped between the others, and, in a second, they fully materialized. Wally felt her heart jump into the back of her throat when she recognized her mentor's bright, red suit on the slumped figure.

"Almost there, Berry," Hawkman assured the speedster, moving in a carefully smooth and synchronized with Batman as they stepped onto the floor.

"Wally can't see this! Wally can't see this!" Berry's voice sounded thick and strained.

"She won't, Berry. She's with Sue in the conference room," Batman assured her, "She won't see this."

"You have to call Iris! Wally needs-"

"Berry, we'll take care of it. Right now, you need to concentrate on yourself. Wally will be all right, you are the one that's doing bad."

"But I'm responsi-"

"What happened?" Aquaman hurried up to them.

"She got caught in some crossfire," Batman and Hawkman didn't pause in moving across the room, "Get Dr. Midnite up here!"

Aquaman returned to the console to do as told, and the trio continued on. Sue suddenly yanked Wally back so she couldn't see them all anymore. Wally opened her mouth to protest, then realized that it was a bad idea to do so, and went back to look again, her curiosity to see what was wrong with her mentor overriding any thought to how bad it might be.

"Wally, don't!" Sue hissed.

Wally ignored Sue's order and looked around the tube again, and loudly choked on air. The three heads snapping in her direction barely registered, and what everyone was saying was muffled and distant. Wally's full attention was on the slashes and thick spines all over Berry's back, the blood staining the tops of her bright, yellow boots. It was gruesome, it burned into her mind, and it made her sick.

When she finished spilling her guts all over the floor, an angry sea king escorted her and Sue back into the conference room and barked at them to stay there as he left. He didn't say anything about what was going on, he didn't give any assurances, and he made sure that Wally couldn't get through the door.

An hour went by, then two, and Wally spent it all crying, before the door opened and Batman and Sue's husband, Elongated Man, came through. Elongated Man went directly to his wife and they moved off to the side, talking in quiet tones, while Batman came and sat down in the chair beside Wally.

"Berry is going to be okay," Batman started calmly, "Surgery went well and she's going to be fine. She's resting right now, so we've called your aunt, and she's coming as soon as she can. Until then, I think it is pretty clear that there is something else that we need to talk about."

Wally swallowed and stared down at her fidgeting hands. She knew she was in trouble, big trouble, and she wondered if she was spending her last few moments of being allowed on the Watchtower. She'd broken rules before, and Berry always gave her a serious scolding, but this wasn't like those other times.

"What happened today, a member of the league getting hurt so bad, is not the norm. But when it does happen, it's not any better than what you saw. You shouldn't have seen that, no one wanted you to see that, no matter who it was. That's why we, that's why Berry, wanted you to stay in here while we handled the mission. Because it happens just often enough, we wanted to protect you from having to live with that kind of image in your mind while you are still so young."

"I'm sorry," Wally whispered, feeling her face heat up as scalding tears flooded from her eyes.

"I'm sorry too," Batman put a comforting hand on her shoulder and silently let her cry. People could say what they wanted about Gotham's dark knight, Wally had heard Green Lantern complaining to Berry often enough, but he was patient and unobtrusive.

"Batman?" Superman appeared in the door way.

"What?"

"Flash is awake, and she's asking for Kid Flash."

"Alright, thank you," Batman stood up and looked down at her, "Are you ready to go see her?"

Wally nodded furiously and resisted using her superspeed to run to the medical bay. She knew where it was, she knew she could get there in just two seconds, but she didn't want to press her luck after earlier. So, she followed Batman through the halls of the space station until the stinging scent of antiseptic filled her nose and she was standing in the doorway of the recovery room.

Berry was laying on her stomach, face colourless and looking so exhausted, Wally hesitated going in. Resting after injuries was important to a speedster, and Wally didn't want to get in the way of that. And Wally's mind couldn't help but superimpose the sight of Berry's bloody back over the blue blanket hiding the wounds away. It would just be better if she just left. "Wally?" Berry's tired eyes had flicked over to the doorway and caught sight of her. There was no going back. Wally walked over beside the bed, and stood there, unsure of what she should say.

Berry smiled a little sadly and patted the space on the bed beside her. Wally looked back at the door and found that it was closed, they were alone. She carefully moved onto the bed, and moved as close as she could to her mentor, beginning to tremble when she felt Berry put an arm around her.

"It's okay," Berry placed a kiss into Wally's hair, "Everything's all right now. It's okay."

"I'm sorry!" Wally couldn't hold it back. She needed to apologize and have Berry forgive her! "I'm sorry! I know I shouldn't have done it! I'm sorry!"

"Don't worry, kiddo," Berry's voice was thick and sleepy, "Everyone makes mistakes, and I'm going to be right here to help you through this one. Alright?"

"Please!"

"Please what?"

"Please, don't get hurt like that again!"

"I can't promise that, Wally," Berry now looked apologetic, "I would if I could, but I can't. I can only promise that I'll do my very best to make sure that you are safe."

That wasn't what Wally wanted to hear, but she knew it was the truth. It was coming from the most honest person Wally had ever known, so it was as good as gospel. She didn't want Berry to keep her safe, she wanted Berry to keep herself safe! She'd once thought that The Flash was too fast for anyone to hurt, and now that she knew otherwise, she was scared. Berry was the best thing that had ever happened to Wally, and she would do anything to keep from losing her.