Author's Note: So, just letting everyone know right away that this story will be a once a week, maybe more, maybe less kind of update thing. Junior year is kicking my butt (STEM and a bunch of AP classes and a bunch of clubs don't mix well), but I will do my absolute best to update once a week. Thank you so much to all of you who went from my last story to this one! And thank you to every new reader. Alright, read, review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DCU, YOUNG JUSTICE, FLASH, ARROW, OR MARVEL UNIVERSE
Responses to Guest Reviews:
Flashgirl – I'm pretty excited too. I really hope this entire story lives up to your expectations. Thanks for the review!
Guestz – Wally will probably take this dimension with a storm, making everyone love him just like he does every place he's ever been. Thanks for the review!
Retro – I'll do my best not to give too many spoilers for the show, but we'll see. Again, I haven't even seen season two yet, so this should be interesting. Thanks for the review!
Guest – Yep, he can see. You'll see (hehe, pun) how he deals with that this chapter. Thanks for the review!
Zatannagurl – This story is definitely going to include scenes from the Avengers/his family. I'm going to try to put them in during every chapter even if it's just a little paragraph here and there. I'm truthfully trying not to laugh (even though I feel bad) at the fact that you didn't know that he could see until the second time around. I will do my absolute best to make this a happy ending, but sometimes the angst just sneaks up on me. Thanks for the continuing reviews!
Guest – Thanks for reviewing!
Guest – I'm glad you like it! Thanks for taking the time to review!
Cheesy cheese – His life does admittedly kind of suck. The universe has it out for him. Thanks for reviewing!
Guest – I will definitely keep going! Thanks for the review!
Guest – The name Vibe isn't really clicking, so I'll look it up and decide. I mean, I'll do my best to add in whatever my readers want, so if you want it, then I'll definitely put it in there. Thanks for the review!
Anonymous – I'm really glad that my stories can help you out. All I want is to make people happy when they read my stuff and it always makes me feel great when I hear that I'm succeeding. I hope everything gets better and thank you so much for taking the time to review!
Joe – Here it is! Took a while, but it's here. Thanks for the review!
Guest – Yeah, my update schedule is pretty much once a week now. I'm glad you like it so much! Thanks so much for the review!
Bear – Thanks for the amazing review!
TTTTTT
The lab had broke out into cheering when Wally had disappeared in that flash of light. After a few moments of breathless laughs and man hugs, the group quieted down, stopping to listen to the cheering on the other side of the dimensional portal. Only, there wasn't any cheering. Tony, not caring if he broke up some sappy, girly moment, asked drolly, "A little quiet, aren't you? Or, are you the kind of people who celebrate with focused silences and intense stares?"
The voice that came back was easily recognizable as Batman, that low growl rather distinctive, "What are you talking about? Are you almost ready to send Wally?" For once, it wasn't the emotionless threat that hung on Batman's every word that caused Tony's stomach to plummet and a clammy sweat to hang on his brow. This time it was something much more serious. If Wally wasn't back in his home dimension and he wasn't here in this dimension, then where the heck was he?
Steve's voice was pale with shock as he asked, "He's not with you?"
Superman's voice started to hold the tremors of terror that were currently racking Tony's body as he responded, "No… he's not… he's not here. What happened to him? Where is he?"
An unfamiliar voice added in, "What have you done with him?"
Daredevil's voice was hard when he growled back, "What makes you think it was something we did? We were just giving him the push to your dimension. You were the ones who were supposed to be pulling him in!" After all the time Tony had spent with the horned hero recently, he could read the tense set of his shoulders and the clench of his jaw as worry and fear and anger. It was kind of actually terrifying.
The voice that had been identified as Impulse a while ago said, carefully cheerful, "Come on Green Lantern and, uh, Daredevil. Why don't we all just calm down? Flash is running a quick check around the world to see if he can find Wally. I'm going to go join him. We should be done soon. Just, calm down. It'll all work out." Tony had the strangest feeling that the hero was wearing a blinding smile that would be eerily reminiscent of Wally's. He kind of got that same impression whenever that Flash person talked too. Maybe it was just a speedster thing.
There was ten minutes of painfully tense, awkward, charged silence that even Tony didn't dare break. He took the time to check over all the machines, searching through all of the calculations and calibrations, the other scientists performing the same ministrations next to him. Finding nothing, he turned to his ultimate science buddy – Bruce – who gave him a worried shrug in return. That meant that either the mess up wasn't on their end, or there was something about these dimensional holes that was unprecedented even with all of their research. But what could it be? They determined that only speedsters could do it. And they determined that there had to be a massive energy source to cause the hole to be blown open. One had to aim the person too. The only reason Wally ended up landing in their dimension was the portal Loki had opened causing their dimension's hole to be blown wide enough for him to fit through. And – wait… no way. There was no way. Tony started doing the calculations, thinking over his idea further and hoping he was wrong. Maybe that Flash person and Impulse would get back and prove him wrong. He certainly hoped so.
But when the ten minutes were up and the people in the helicarrier heard the two speedsters skid to a stop in the other dimension (a person called Blue Beetle awkwardly trying to break the silence, "What took you guys so long?"), they regretfully informed the gathered groups that Wally wasn't anywhere they could find. Well, Impulse regretfully informed them of that. Flash didn't say anything. Until he did. His voice was tight with anger and sounded kind of… wobbly (Tony could only assume that he was vibrating so much that it affected his voice), "What went wrong? I want someone to tell me what went wrong right now!" That was actually kind of terrifying.
What was worse was when, a few moments later, Batman's low voice deepened with anger and the kind of terrifying-fear-inspiring-makes-villains-pee-their-pants voice that Wally had always told them about, "We're waiting." It was said in such a monotonous voice that Tony was seriously starting to wonder if the man was at all capable of emotions. Then he realized that this was probably not what he was supposed to be thinking about when Wally was missing and not in either dimension he's supposed to be in.
Bruce's voice was apologetic when he said, "We're doing our best to find what went wrong. We've checked over our machinery and calculations several times and can't find anything wrong. Steve is sending people out to search our world, but we don't really have speedsters on call to search it fast. It might take a while."
"It might also be a waste of time." Tony announced flippantly, trying to hide his worry behind an uncaring attitude like he always did. Hey, it worked for him, alright?
Flash's voice was suddenly kind again, imploring, "What do you mean? Did you find him? Did you find out what went wrong?" His words were almost blurring together they were going so fast.
Clearing his throat in the face of such honest emotion (seriously, he thought only Wally could do that), Tony's flippant attitude faltered a little bit and his voice was a little bit too serious when he responded, "I think… well, there's a chance that… I think he was sent to a different dimension. Not this one, not yours, but a third dimension. If they were having some sort of event like the portal Loki opened in our dimension, there's a chance that Wally was pulled into their dimension instead. Okay, I'm being completely serious here: we need to start calling our dimensions different things. This is getting confusing with all this your dimension, my dimension garbage."
Apparently no one was going to get onto that for a while because there was an open-mouthed, shocked silence permeating both dimensions instead. All the scientists and heroes in the room were standing there, shocked to their core at the idea. It wasn't the strangest reaction. What did this poor kid do in a past life that he deserved this? Seriously?
Suddenly Johnny spoke up, "We should name this dimension Marvel because we've got Miss Marvel and Captain Marvel. There's got to be something there. Plus, they're both awesome. Well, they're my friends, so of course they're awesome."
A new voice from the other dimension said excitedly, "Hey, I'm called Captain Marvel too!" His voice was deep like an adult's, but he spoke like an excited kid. Weird.
Then another voice from the other dimension spoke up, "I call this dimension being called DC!" It was the kid called Robin.
There was another silence, this time shocked for a different reason and more than a little bit confused. Tony had to laugh. Roy from the other (apparently DC) dimension asked, "Why?" He sounded so confused; that voice that said that the speaker was questioning someone's mental state.
Robin responded primly, "It means Damian and Colin are the cutest couple of course."
A girl's voice (Oracle if Tony remembered correctly from the small bout of introductions) spoke amusedly, "You are so lucky that everyone here knows our identities and that the people in the other dimension can't use it. Otherwise Batman would have had you cleaning the Batmobile for months."
"I'm doing it anyways." Batman growled.
"You can't do that!" Robin cried, "I'm a grown man! I don't even live in the manor anymore!"
"Oh, he can do that. Actually, I approve." Another voice growled (this was Nightwing most likely), sounding suspiciously similar to Batman.
A lighter voice laughed and said, "I think Robin was being sweet. Do you not think we're the cutest couple?" The voice had turned slightly pouting at the end. This one was definitely Abuse. Tony remembered him because his name did not match his voice.
Nightwing's voice was softer when he responded, "Of course we're the cutest beloved. Anything to make you happy."
The voice that had been formerly identified as Red Robin snorted, "You are so whipped."
Nightwing growled in response, "Say that to me again when my husband isn't around."
"You are such morons." The voice introduced as Spoiler snorted.
Red Hood responded sarcastically, "You're one to talk."
"Hey! Don't insult my girlfriend!" Red Robin responded.
"See Nightwing? Abuse thinks it's sweet. I'm sweet." Robin announced smugly.
"Of course you're sweet, cutie." Zatanna's voice said.
"Ew! PDA! I'm scarred!" Beast Boy and Impulse announced at the same time.
"You're girlfriend asks to be insulted. I mean, fatty can't even properly insult people back. The perfect victim." Red Hood said, seemingly bored. Tony was imagining a shrug going along with that statement.
Flash's voice cut through the mayhem of what Wally called the Bat Family, "Is everyone here forgetting the fact that my nephew is most likely stuck in a different dimension with no way of getting home?"
Everyone immediately shut up, eyes going wide. Tony grimaced to himself. Oh yeah. That. They should probably deal with that. The only problem was… how?
WWWWWW
Smell was, like always, the thing that came back to Wally first when he woke up. He was never sure why that was the first one that came back, but it was so familiar that he found comfort in it. So he let the scent of wherever he was wash over him. There was an overwhelming hospital scent surrounding him, maybe laboratory actually. Either way it smelled clean and filled with chemicals. He could smell people in the room nearby, his room blessedly empty. He could smell sweet, freshly cleaned linens on whatever bed he was on and he could smell the curious odor of generic shampoo coming from his hair. There was the cloying, musky, awful smell of blood coming from a corner of the room, but he ignored that. It was a scent that he'd gotten used to during his years as a superhero.
Touch came back next, his fingers bunching in the fabric that was probably meant to be soft but still felt like sandpaper against his skin. He ignored that too because everything was easy to get used to when it's been experienced for years. His fingers quested over his ribs, feeling the bandaging there and the bruised skin peeking out of the edges of the bandage. His hair was soft and still clinging to the last vestiges of dampness where it rested against his forehead and tickled his ears. His leg, sprawled slightly off to the side, shivered when it met cold metal, probably steel from the feel of it. It reminded him of a cuff and he determined with another shift of his leg that it was, indeed, cuffed to the bed he was laying on. Fantastic. Wally made sure to wiggle each of his fingers and toes and appendages just to make sure that everything was working fine. He could feel all of them move, so that was a good sign.
Hearing came roaring in next, hospital or lab machines beeping loudly (at least, to him) and making great whooshing sounds. The rustle of his bed sheets seemed like a huge waterfall to his ears, but he was used to that too. Not even straining his ears, he latched onto the heartbeats in the other room and heard one, three, five, six, seven heartbeats in the other room, people walking around and talking in low voices. He blocked out their voices for the moment, ignoring his inner Bat. There would be plenty of that later.
Taste came back after that, sending a burst of dry, sterile air through his mouth and down his throat. He tried to hold in the inevitable cough, but it came out anyways, pulling at his throat and tearing at his air. He pulled it in, trying to keep himself from coughing again. It seemed to work and his breath slowly came back to him. He hoped that no one in the other room heard him coughing. He wasn't quite sure he wanted them to know he was awake yet. He licked his lips, trying to give them some moisture, tasting diet coke – Peter's favorite soda. He remembered filching some of his drink when Johnny distracted him and then letting Johnny take the rest while he distracted Peter.
With that, memory came back, machines, counting, a bright white light, tearing winds, a black hole, Uncle Barry who wasn't really Uncle Barry but still seemed to be the Flash, and then – sight. He'd been able to see. There'd been buildings and faces. At least, Wally was pretty sure that's what they were. He hadn't seen those things in a long time in anything other than his memory and even though his memory was good, it wasn't that good. He was forgetting what things looked like more and more every day.
Curiosity flooded through Wally, urging him to just open his eyes and find out if his memory served him right and he could really see. Fear held him back. What if he couldn't see after all this build-up? He'd be devastated. So he kept his eyelids firmly closed. Wait. Eyelids. According to the doctors, his eyelids hadn't survived being stabbed. But he could feel his eyelids right now. If he had eyelids then surely, surely, that must mean that he can see. So he cracked one eye open ever so slowly, lashes catching together before letting go. He pulled the eyelids apart with the difficulty of someone who hadn't needed to perform such an action in years.
Bright white light flooded his vision, fading out with a few firm blinks. Now that the light wasn't taking up all of his attention, there were other things he could see. Machines stood in proud rows along the wall, standing to attention next to a counter that held more machines, scattered in some form of efficiency like every lab. The scientists knew where they wanted their things to go and woe to the one who decides to move it around. The room itself wasn't all that fancy, taking in a plain, clinical look with a few touches of personality that made it seem lived in all the same. Shifting his head the tiniest bit, a white sheet with small, faded blue flowers came into view, something underneath it preventing it from laying flat. Wally, with a growing excitement, shifted his legs. His excitement only grew as he saw the sheet undulate as he moved. This sheet was over his legs! He could see his legs! With a wry smile, Wally thought that he really shouldn't have to be so excited about that.
He put aside the bitter thoughts in favor of taking in more with his miraculously restored eyes. Wally lifted his hand up, seeing a pale shape that he recognized from his echolocation devices. There were five long, thin fingers that held only a couple of nicks here and there. His nails were short and clean, if a little ragged around the cuticles. Yeah he bit his fingernails, so what? Still, it was a whole different experience from biting fingernails to seeing the results. He hadn't seen his fingernails in… eleven years. Almost twelve with his little stint in the Avenger's dimension. Wow… he'd been blind for longer than he'd been able to see. As his eyes raked over his arms and the room, Wally thought about the situation. He couldn't be in his dimension. Uncle B would have recognized him. Unless he was in the wrong time? No, he didn't ever remember any black hole. Unless no one decided to tell him about it, but he doubted it. From his lectures via Uncle Barry, Aunt Iris, Grandma and Grandpa Garrick, and the Rogues, he was pretty sure he had the entire history of Central City memorized. So… he was in the wrong dimension. Again.
Wally let his head rest back against the pillow underneath it, closing his eyes for a moment before missing the experience of seeing and opening them again. His gaze continued to rove around the room as he inwardly cursed his luck. What could have gone wrong? Everyone had checked their calculations over and over and over and over again, making sure that all of the machines were right. But he obviously wasn't in the right dimension. No, no, no! What went wrong?! Forcing himself to calm down and go over it more calmly, Wally thought. What pulled him into the Avenger's universe the first time? The portal. Loki's portal. Wally had theorized that the energy from that mixed with the energy of the MFD and the two combined to pull him into a different dimension as opposed to him simply being vaporized by the MFD. And in this dimension there was… a black hole. That stupid black hole was what probably pulled him into this dimension. Talk about bad timing. This was ridiculous! Why did this always happen to him? Not that he'd ever wish it on someone else, but it was still annoying as all get out. Sighing deeply, Wally decided that he was going to be more forthright about his situation with this dimension. His research had certainly increased in pace once he'd had the Avengers and Fantastic Four researching alongside him instead of trying to do it in secret under SHIELD's nose.
Still, Wally thought sleepily, he didn't have to tell them right now and he was pretty sure he could trust them since, well, his aunt and uncle were with them. Technically they weren't really his aunt and uncle, but he was too tired to care at the moment. So he let his eyes (reluctantly) flutter shut and let sleep engulf him. He had a moment to realize that the talking in the other room had stopped, but it didn't really matter at the moment. He was too comfortable.
BBBBBB
Barry was more than a little freaked out. He was having some serious difficulties coming to terms with all that just happened. Thank goodness for speedster thinking allowing him to get over all the freaking out before anyone really noticed. His friends were all freaking out too and he didn't want them to be even more freaked out by his freaking out. So he took a deep breath and started thinking. Fast. He didn't save his mother. He knew that he technically told himself not to (which was weird enough in itself that he wasn't even going to try to deal with that little issue at the moment) and he knew that he was glad that at least some of this wasn't going to change. But then Eddie had… had… Barry couldn't even say the word. He couldn't imagine how Iris was feeling. That whole Iris Allen-West issue was another can of worms that he was going to open at a later date. He'd gone into it a little bit, but he was not in the right frame of mind to deal with it at the moment. Then there was the worm hole. The worm hole. In the Central City. What on earth had his life come to when he's run inside a worm hole? Except, he wasn't the only one running inside that worm hole. Falcon was too. Whoever Falcon was. And he'd called him Uncle Barry. Barry wasn't even married yet and as far as he knew Iris didn't have any kids who could be calling him uncle. Although, he didn't seem like a kid. Late teens, maybe an adult. It was hard to tell with the costume.
The other speedster had taken his cowl and goggles off, revealing a joyful face twisted with worry. He had bright red hair and pale skin, freckles dotting across his nose and cheeks. His eyes were a bright, earnest green that captured attention. There were scars running over the edges of the speedster's eyelids, but his eyes had looked fine, which was weird. But then he'd fainted. He'd keeled over right there in front of them. The group had looked to each other for a moment before Caitlin started instructing people on what to do and getting him on the hospital bed in the lab. They'd patched him up as much as they'd needed to (which wasn't a lot since it seemed like he shared Barry's quick healing along with the super speed) and then left him cuffed to the bed, hoping that he wasn't able to vibrate through things like Barry was. It would be great if he just stayed there until they could question him.
Sighing, Barry brushed back his cowl, running his fingers through his hair and glancing up. No one had really moved during the time he'd been thinking. He hadn't been thinking long. The scarlet speedster saw that Iris was crying, tears splashing down her cheeks in slow motion. Joe was wearing a comforting expression that did nothing to hide the mournful feeling in his eyes. Caitlin and Ronnie were staring into each other's eyes, arms wrapped around their middles and feet practically entangled with each other. As Barry watched, Caitlin slowly laid her head down on Ronnie's chest as he stroked her hair. Cisco was bracing himself against the computer desk, hand warily passing over his eyes. Doctor Stein was behind Caitlin and Ronnie, calling his wife to make sure she was okay and to tell her that he was okay as well. They were all moving so slow. It was like he was on an entirely different plane of existence from them. He was moving normal speed, everything happening like it was supposed to, but they were all moving at a way slower speed. He could slow down of course, but it was an effort, a conscious decision to slow down to be able to function with the rest of them. Maybe this mystery speedster could understand that. Or maybe he was another Harrison Wells or Eobard Thawne or Reverse Flash or whatever he wanted to be called just waiting to happen.
They'd checked up on the ginger speedster earlier when they'd thought they'd heard him cough and move around a little bit, but he'd been sleeping. There was a chance that he'd woken up, but it hadn't been for long enough. Now they were just waiting for their chance again, resting while they were waiting, while they were safe for this brief moment.
But then there was the sound of movement again and a small little gasp, probably at the sensation of a cuff around an ankle because his injuries were healed so he wouldn't be in pain. Barry's head whipped up and towards the sound and he watched as the younger speedster tried to orient himself, scooting back up the bed a little bit before realizing that the cuff wouldn't let him. The speedster wrinkled his nose before kind of settling in again, before jerking upright. He felt over his arms and torso and just then seemed to realize that he wasn't in his suit anymore. Barry felt like this was the appropriate time to intercede, but Caitlin had beat him to it, rushing to his side and asking questions, "How are you feeling? Are you still injured anywhere? I need you to tell me if something hurts."
The red head blinked up at her, an expression of wonder crossing his face. Barry frowned; it was like the dude hadn't ever seen a person before. Caitlin pursed her lips, seemingly in concern. She probably thought that he had a concussion or something that she'd missed earlier. With the way he was acting, it wouldn't be that much of a surprise. But then the kid spoke up, voice hoarse, "I'm fine, thanks. I don't think I'm still injured anywhere. My throat's a little sore though."
Caitlin nodded, relieved that there didn't seem to be any lasting damage and that she'd done her assessment correctly. She was about to turn to grab a glass of water, but Ronnie was there first, the cup in hand and a smile on his lips. Barry had to grin as the couple shared a romantic look before Caitlin passed the cup to the smiling speedster in the hospital bed. By then, all of the others had gathered into the room, trying to stay as far back as possible so they didn't crowd the new guy. The ginger speedster, for his part, didn't seem to mind, just glancing over each of them with the same kind of wonder that he'd afforded Caitlin. Joe's voice was gruff, but purposefully calm as he asked, "We gotta know, kid, what's your name?"
The person frowned playfully, "I'm not a kid! I'm eighteen years old, thank you very much. And my name's Wally. I didn't quite catch all of yours before I passed out." He granted them a sheepish look, rubbing the back of his neck absentmindedly the same way Barry did when he was embarrassed.
Joe had looked amused as the kid (and Barry really shouldn't call him that because he wasn't that much older, but everyone called him a kid, so he felt justified in calling the only slightly younger person a kid as well) tried to deny being a kid, but the amused smile fell when he mentioned not catching their names. Was he lying? He'd known who Barry was. Why wouldn't he know who the rest are?
Barry decided to introduce them anyways, "You already seem to know that I'm Barry. The one you were just talking to is Joe. The nice lady who gave you the water is Caitlin and the one gazing at her with puppy love is Ronnie. This is Iris and next to her is Dr. Stein. And last but not least is Cisco over here."
The person nodded at each one, his eyes trained on every person named as if he were trying to memorize every single little detail about them. It was a little disconcerting to be honest. Cisco ended up speaking first, asking, "Dude, what's up with your eyes?" Barry gave him a strange look because, seriously? That was the question he went with?
The other speedster – Wally – frowned and touched his eyelids gently. It was obvious when he ended up reaching the scars because his eyes flew open and he sucked in a deep breath. He shook his head in apparently bewilderment and said carefully, "When I came here, it appeared to have pretty much healed my eyes, but it left the scars." It almost sounded like he was talking to himself.
Caitlin tilted her head to the side a little bit, "Something that would leave scars like that would blind you. Unless you healed fast enough that it didn't…"
"No," Wally started, the tiniest amount of bitterness seeping through, "It certainly blinded me. I was one hundred percent blind until I ended up here."
Joe's voice was confused, but still attempting to be tough when he asked, "What do you mean by 'here'? You keep saying that."
"Oh yeah, I meant to tell you that, like, right away, but I got distracted. So,I'mactuallyfromadifferentdimensionandthengotsuckedintoanotherdimensionandthengotsuckedintothisonewhenIwastryingtogethome." Wally let out in a rush, speed talking like only a speedster could.
And Barry was a speedster. Which meant he could understand him. Which meant that he now knew that Wally was from a different dimension and then went to another dimension and then got stuck in this dimension. Which meant that Barry was a little bit freaking out again because what? Different dimensions? This really wasn't his day…
Author's Note: There we go. It's kind of not a cliff hanger, so I was kind of nice. So, seriously guys, please let me know if there's something you want to see happen because this is the last installment in the series and I won't know you want it unless you tell me. Also, mini voting thing – let me know if you want Wally to keep his eyesight, or go blind again when he goes home (if he goes home :P). I have a feeling I know the answer, but I wanted to ask anyways. Six more reviews for another chapter! By the way, thanks so much for the ridiculously awesome amount of support for the first chapter!
