Disclaimer: I do not own…any proper noun in this story. The Question, The Flash, Hub City, Central City, Vic Sage, Wally West…none of it. These are all the property of DC. Anywho…I made no money, please don't sue.

A/N: If you've seen the JLU episode "Fearful Symmetry" (the one with the Galatea), then you know everything you need to to start this story. Also, I have to say I'm surprised at how well this story has been received.

In response to a few of the reviews left, I'll post a warning in any chapters containing any involved slash. But if you noticed the rating, then you know that this story contains nothing graphic.

Wally West stared at the telephone in his hand and began to dial. He lay stretched out on the couch in his apartment in Central City, looking like he hadn't a care in the world. He had no idea what would happen when the ringing stopped, but he was prepared to give the performance of his life for anyone who might be listening.

He'd felt paranoid and strange for the last two weeks, and he had finally found someone who believed him. And it hadn't made him feel anything but worse. The idea that there was someone out there watching his every move, following his every step, it bothered him on so many levels, not the least of which that level where he was the Flash.

He found himself reviewing the last few weeks in his head. Had he gotten careless and left his apartment in his costume? If someone had just been watching Wally, what would they have seen? Was it all that suspicious for him to disappear inside a building, sometimes for days on end? Would they have seen the Flash running out the back? After exactly three rings, the phone was answered.

"Vic Sage," breathed a comfortably familiar, gravelly voice.

"Hey, Vic? It's Wally." After a short silence on the other end, he began to hope like mad that he didn't have the wrong number. Was he supposed to dial one first? What about an area code? Maybe this was the Question's way of giving someone a brush off. What was he supposed to do then? He clamped down on the uncertainty and the panic. He'd had more than enough of that lately.

"Wally…Wally West? I haven't heard from you in ages." The voice on the other end of the line was almost charmingly friendly. "How've you been, kid?"

Wally found himself wondering just how much stood between this Vic Sage and the Question, how much of Vic's apparent joy was for show. "I'm good. You know, I was thinking about you the other day. It's been way too long, man."

"No arguments here," Vic replied wryly.

"I thought maybe you'd wanna come out to Central City. We can hang out, I'll show you the sights, just like old times." Under the circumstances, he thought he managed to project just enough light cheerfulness to make this believable. If his tone was any indication, Vic agreed.

"Love to," Vic declared, just a bit too loudly. Maybe Vic was just as bad at being happy as the Question. "Just give me the when."

"I've got some time free now, the next few days, I mean…" Wally led, waiting to see where Vic would take it.

"Hub City to Central, I can be there inside two hours. Just have to call the station, tell them I'm taking some time."

"Right, yeah. Hey, you need the address?" Wally's voice began to sound dull in his ears as he wondered how far to take the act.

"Hasn't been that long, Wally boy. I'll find it." Vic's voice rang with a finality that said "Let it die".

There was a dull click, and Wally got the feeling he was on the line with dead air. Hub City, Vic Sage; Wally got the feeling he'd just learned more about this man than anyone else in the League. He felt trusted, and it was a feeling he definitely liked.

A little over an hour and a half had passed, and Wally was watching TV when a sharp knock on his door brought his pulse up. He hated being this nervous, and it wasn't something he wanted to get used to. He walked over to the door and looked through the hole. All he saw was the door to the apartment across the hall. Curious, he opened the door.

As he looked left down the hallway, he sensed movement behind him. Someone clapped him on the shoulder, and he whirled around to face a red haired man with a rusty smile. He was taller than Wally by just over an inch, and grinning like his face didn't quite remember how.

"Wally West," the man said slowly, and it dawned on him who this strange person was. "It really has been too long." He closed the distance between them and gave Wally a quick, almost fraternal hug.

Startled, but recovering, Wally managed to keep up the act. "Well, you know how it is, Vic, time gets away from ya. Well, not you I guess. You got out here pretty quick. Have any trouble finding the place?" Wally enjoyed being able to fall so easily into conversation with this man he'd never seen before.

"Nah. I got directions from one of those internet sites. Still have your address. Now grab your coat," he said, nodding through the door. "Dinner's on you tonight."

Wally settled into a booth at his favorite diner, Vic already in the opposite seat. He had his arms around the back of the booth and a small, easy smile hung on his lips. It struck him just how odd it was that this man could be the League's resident whack job in his down time. This was the man considered an oddball and a crackpot among the tights-and-cape types they both spent so much time with. But this was also a man that Wally felt he could have known outside the League, a man Wally could hang out with even without the Flash.

Wally looked across the table at Vic, making his way through a plate of food at a speed even Wally had to admit was impressive. Vic sort of reminded him of Clark, but in reverse. Mild mannered Clark Kent became this awesome, imposing superhero at the drop of a hat. And here was Vic Sage, a man who looked like he could take on a biker bar full of angry, leather-clad men single-handed, who became a quiet, faceless everyman to fight crime.

"You know," Vic said thoughtfully, around mouthfuls of food, "A picture would actually last longer."

Wally realized that he had been staring and actually blushed. "Sorry, it's just…so weird to see you here." He floundered, trying to find the right words to describe what he'd been thinking without blowing their shared cover.

"I can understand that," Vic said amiably, with just the slightest undercurrent of the deepness usually present in his voice. His eyebrows inched slightly closer as his eyes shifted almost imperceptibly. "It's a little weird to be here."

In that moment, Wally saw another mask he hadn't even realized he was looking at slip away, and he wondered just who the Question really was. This might be his real face, and Vic might even be his real name, though Wally was far from sure on either count, but whoever Question was under his mask, this wasn't it. He felt a flood of disappointment, though admittedly not surprise. A man so…Wally decided on "security conscious", just showing up, saying "here I am, this is me"? He wasn't quite sure why he had expected it.

His thoughts must have shown on his face, because Vic gave him a measuring stare, the mask once again gone, and said in the low, familiar tone that Wally had only heard in space, "Wally, we should talk. Not now, but soon." Then the Vic mask was tugged smoothly back into place and the man smiled.

Wally grinned, trying to play it all off, telling himself that he was doing it for the sake of his cover, but knowing deep down that something more was going on here. He shuddered suddenly, feeling eyes on him, watching him.

"Something wrong, Wally?" Vic asked, a little concern seeping into his voice.

"Yeah, I just got this…I dunno, this creepy feeling…."

Vic quickly scanned the area around them, even while keeping his easy tone. "One of those 'walking over your grave' things?"

Wally nodded, desperately fighting the urge to look over his shoulder. "Yeah, something like that." There was a tremor in his voice that he could hardly believe. He once again told himself that it was all part of the act. He was the Flash, after all. He sped around bullets and ended world-domination plots for a living. No way he was scared by this…whatever it was. But he wasn't the Flash, not now, and that was what made this situation awful. Wally had never been anywhere near any of this. He thought for a moment about the identity issues being a superhero could bring up.

Vic reached across the table and put a genuinely reassuring hand on Wally's shoulder, eyes all the while darting around the room. "Shake it off kid. You'll be fine." Wally nodded absently as he finished off his third and final cheeseburger. Something about the familiar gruffness of his voice somehow managed to calm Wally. That was what Wally finally decided was wrong with this latest mask. The voice was almost unsettlingly noncommittal, especially for Vic's intense eyes.

Vic removed his hand and gave Wally a significant look. "Feel like catching a movie?"

Special thanks to Kyer, and Zolarix Aster for the support. More to come next week.