I can't breath.
Open your eyes.
Why?
Because it is time we meet again.
But who are you?
In another time you called me Artemis.
"Hey guys what are you all looking at?" Speedy jumped in, finally arriving near his fellow teamates after having hitched a ride with Scarrab (who had felt bad for being the cause of his fellow speedster's problem).
The team shifted slightly, Batgirl was in the midst of a heated discussion with Atlanta, who was calmly answering and uttering more words then Speedy had ever heard her say at once.
"What are you guys seeing?" Lorena said, sounding frustrated at being unable to see what the Team was seeing.
"That heat signal." Dawn buzzed in, "Did you guys find someone? Speedy what do you see!?" his sister pleaded, her curiosity getting the best of her.
But for once, Speedy was speachless.
"Joe?' She prompeted knocking him out of the daze he had fallen into as he looked down at the young man in the snow.
"It's a guy." He vaguely answered. "And he's wearing dad's symbol?"
Atlanta took a step towards the unconcious man, kneeling beside him and, with an air of calm (ignoring the cold that as seeping through her trousers) she put two fingers on the unknown man's neck, checking for a pulse.
"He's alive." Mouthed Atlanta to Batgirl, which in the storm, would have made it very difficult for Speedy to see if it werem't for his googles.
He ran past Scarrab and Hawkboy, causing the two of them to stumble sideways in surprise..
"Guys, why does he have dad's symbol on his chest?" Speedy repeated, addressing the two girls who seemed to be the only people who had the slightst clue of what was going on
"Because he's a speedster." Batgril carefully said against the force of the snow so that everyoone listening to her over the com links could hear her, rememebring the image she had seen on the screen that very morning. The workds 'Presumed Desceased' echoed around her head rather unpleasantly.
"I figured" said Speedy stubornly. "I raced agaisnt him so I kind-of figured that part out. But, why does' he have the Flash's symbol on his suit?"
Batgirl made as if to speaks but, much to everyone's surpise, it was Atlanta who answered.
"It's because he's the Kid Flash that vanished fifteen years agoe." The said quietly, but the com-links picked up every word. "This is Wally West."
"What!" Atlanta heard everyone (except Batgirl who had figured it out as well) say at once, eaither physically or through the com-links. They all knew about Wally West, the hero who had saved the world from being distroyed. Most of them hadn't even been born yet when the accident happened but they all knew the story. The League had made sure that his sacrifice would never forgotten, even in this crumbled world. It was only thanks to him that they were still alive today, fighting for the freedom that had been stolen from them.
"Are you sure?" Scarrab said, over the howling wind.
"Well it looks like him, anyway." Admitted Batgirl.
"Could be a trick fo the Light." Lorena piped in, eager to find fault with Batgirl's words. " Another way of infiltrating the Leauge most probably. We all know how well the last one turned out."
The jibe was meant for Atlanta, everyone knew that, but the girl just ignored it. Instead the latter was busy removing one of her many layers of clothing and pulling it over the man, who had started to shiver and his lips and face were turning an unpleasent shade of blue.
"We can run DNA tests when you get to the Bioship." Suggested Dawn. "We can compare it with Atlanta's, if he's the real Kid Flash they should be a partial match."
"Yes, let's get him out of here. He won't survive to be tested if he stays in this cold for much longer." Hawk boy added.
"But until we can comfirm his identiy he stays away from Headquaters." Finalised Cassie.
The others agreed as Atlanta continued with her silent work, pulling the slightly heavy man's arm over her shoulders and with a sharp thrust of her knees helped him to his feet. She's let her taem-mates bicker among themselves, she knew that this man really was Wally West, whether for better or for worse. Afterall if she couldn't identify her 'dad' who could?
Half an hour later the Team had stripped from their layers of winter gear and were attempting to regain their normal body temperatures back in the bioship. Now reuinited with Lorena, the Team had come togather in the small back room of the ship which served as a medical room and where a makeship bed stood with a still sleeping Wally under its sheets.
"How much horse tranquilizer did you use?" commented Scarreb as he wiped condensation from his helmit.
"Enough to shut Speedy up probably." Loughed Hawk Boy nudging the speedster more roughly then he probabaly intended.
Atlanta didn't comment (altough Hawk Boy's observation was right) she was more interested in what Cassie was doing to their captive patient. Cassie was bent over the man's bare chest, having previosly unzipped the top half of his suit, to make it possible for her to take the required blood sample. Throughout the whole procedure Cassie could feel her cheeks burning as her eyes accidently fell on the mans muscled and toned chest, cursing herself for being so silly and for emebrassing herself infront of her team. Using a clean syring Cassie took a simialar blood sample from Atlanta.
"Dawn I'm sending you a scan of the sampels now." Ordered Cassie as she carefully placed a few drops of each individual's blood on their respective scanners.
"Understood, if his DNA matches half of Atlanta's we can at least comfrim that he's Wally. Though we still won't know if he's the real thing or just a clone." Dawn stated, her face suddenly filling the screen of the the sole moniter that hung in the room.
"Dawn also check the junk DNA for the same growth enhancement gene I have, if he's a clone that should be there too." Atlanta added, nodding at the screen
"You know, he does look abit like you Atlanta." Prompted Lorena as she looked between the sleeping man and Atlanta. "You two share that same traterous clone vibe."
"Aquagirl!" snapped Cassie, not expecting such an obovious attack. "That's enough!"
"Not nice, A girl." Agreed Speedy, shaking his head.
"Oh, don't pretend to be on her side Speedy. Isn't it because of her that you and your sister don't have a dad?" she snapped again.
"She's also the reason you survived that earthquake." Countered Speedy.
Lorena seemed ready with a retort but Scarrab intervened. "Bickering is useless , she is under the protection of Nightwing and Oracle and she has proven herself to this Team and the Leage enoguh times."
"If you lot would stop talking about me like I'm not here," Atlanta calmly said. "You might have realised that Dawn got us a couple of answers."
Dawn cleared her traoth for dramatic effect. "If my system's calculations are correct the DNA tested from patient X here does match half of Atlanta's"
"Meaning, unless Tigress had a massive makeover this must be Wally." Finished off Scarreb.
"Okay so this is a Wally, but is this the Wally?" Hawkboy asked, turning to Dawn who was eager to answer.
"Scans found no signs of the growth accelration genes identical or remotely similar to the ones found in Atlanta's." finished Dawn
"So we have a verdict." Cassie said, finally pulling off her mask. "We must tell the others. Kid Flash is back."
Atlanta walked away form the screen turning her back on the Team's excited chatter until she was standing besides wally's bed, looking down into his sleeping face. It looked so tired and young but she could also see faint scars crossing his bare flesh, souvineers of his battles most probably. This was the man who had both saved the world and destoryed it. A sour taste filled her mouth. No, that last part wasn't his fault, it was hers.
Suddently his peaceful face contorted as if in pain. She continued to look down at him, unable to bring herself to inform the others, he uttered a single word as he slowly opened his eyes. She was right, they were the same as hers, like they were still young but had seen way too much
"Artemis."
And there's another chapter! sorry i'm align so long but hope you guys are liking he story so far :) Please feel free to leave a comment and i'll try update as soon as possible. Till next time!-LunaPendragon.
