A/N: I do not own Justice League or Justice League Unlimited. I own none of these characters, except for Josiah and Joseph.

Reviews are greatly appreciated!


Limits of Love

Chapter Three

Catching Up

"The army, you were in the army for three years?" Josiah Bennett asked incredulously as he sat across from his old friend, Wally West. "Come on Wally, we've been friends since the third grade. Just tell us the truth already, the real truth this time."

"Yeah man, what have you really been doing for the past three years?" Another man, Joseph Forge, African-American, asked as he sat down next to the two men, coffee in hand.

"I'm telling you guys the truth." Wally argued, already frustrated with his two friends, and cover story. "I really was in the army, special forces."

"Yeah, whatever dude," Josiah took a sip of his drink "I really don't care if you tell us the truth anyway. All I care about is why you've suddenly decided that it's time to come home."

"I just wanted to come home. Last time I checked, that wasn't a crime."

"It is when you don't call ahead." Joseph challenged. "After you got that job in Metropolis and started spending five out of seven days of the week up there, and we finally got you to buy an apartment there, you've always called when you planned to come back to Central. This time though, all we got was a call from you saying you were already at the airport and needed a pick-up."

"I didn't have any time to call ahead. The decision was made rather suddenly, without my input."Wally sighed as he remembered the events back on the Watchtower. "Hey, do we really have to discuss this? I just wanted to hang out with you guys, and try to forget for a while what happened….at work."

"Alright, I guess we can lay off the third degree for a while." Josiah relented, taking a drink of coffee, before suddenly snapping his fingers. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Linda's back in town." Wally chocked on his espresso.

"Linda?" He asked, wide-eyed and stunned.

"Yeah, Linda, my sister, you remember her right? Your high-school sweetheart and almost wife" Josiah teased.

"Of course I remember her, but why is she back in town? I thought she had some fancy job back in Nevada?"

"She does, but she's back in town for some science convention." Josiah explained. "She got in late last night; I had to pick her up from the airport."

"Oh, what a good big brother you are." Wally replied sarcastically, as he took another sip of his coffee.

"Hey, we never did find out why you two broke up." Joseph stated, as he leaned back in his seat.

"Our careers just got in the way." Wally shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it.

"Yeah right, like a geneticist and a police lab technician couldn't be in a relationship. Nice try, now try again." Wally sighed as Josiah shot down his excuse.

"Alright then, how about the fact that life just got in the way, and we couldn't make it work." Wally stated, intentionally vague. His two friends shared a look before shrugging.

"Alright, I'll take that for now. Now answer this question. Why did you join the army? Last I checked you were having a blast working down in those labs." Josiah asked. Wally's mood immediately went somber.

"After the accident I didn't have the dexterity or patience needed to be a lab technician anymore. I was too wired and I just couldn't seem to sit still. The doctors think it's because of the chemicals I was exposed to during the accident." Wally admitted, telling the truth for the first time that day.

"I can see that." Joseph commented, as he leaned forward on his elbows as he gave out a big sigh. "Man, the day of your accident was one of the scariest days of my entire life."

"You got that right; we all got quite a scare, especially Linda. I mean, here we were watching the news on the TV covering some explosion at your lab, and they'll all talking about one scientist, who was still unknown, still being in the building."

"We're all hoping that it wasn't you they were talking about, and then the firefighters come out carrying you." Josiah said, "Linda went nuts, beside herself with worry the whole time you were unconscious."

"Yeah, it wasn't fun for me either." Wally glanced at the clock and stood up. "I got to go guys. Catch you later?"

"Sure, maybe we can get together for dinner sometime? And by 'we' I mean all of us and Linda." Josiah looked pointedly at his friend.

"Sure, maybe." Wally shrugged and left. As he walked down the street, his mind turned to the accident that had recently been discussed.

He'd been working at the lab after hours, making sure that a key piece of evidence was ready for the next day's trial. As he had poured chemicals into a beaker, he'd heard the thunder outside as the storm had raged on. He'd walked over to the other side of the room, to a metal chemical cabinet. As he opened the door and searched for the needed chemical compound, lightning hit the fuse box on top of the building. The electrified energy traveled down into the building, overloading light bulbs and causing them to explode. Wally had heard the loud pops; it was what had caused him to spend longer than needed standing in front of the cabinet, hand on the metal handle.

In the lab, the energy traveled down the power line running behind the cabinet. The power charged over the cabinet, superheating the chemicals inside, and severely burning Wally's hand. The superheated chemicals began to explode, drenching him as the light bulbs started fires throughout the building. It wasn't long before the whole building had been engulfed in flames. Wally had fallen unconscious due to smoke inhalation long before the firefighters even reached the building.

His next memory was of waking up in the hospital. His entire body was swathed in bandages, and his entire being hurt. No matter how many painkillers were stuffed into his system, the pain never went away. Linda had been by his side the entire time, even after he left the hospital.

Two days after he left the hospital, he started to develop his powers. First it was things like running faster than usual and eating more food. After Wally had accidentally ended up in Metropolis while out on a five-minute jog though, they knew something was seriously wrong.

Linda, then a student in advanced microbiology, took a sample of his blood, and saw what was happening to him on the molecular level. She found ways to help him control his speed, and regulate his appetite, to an extent.

As Wally finally reached his apartment and unlocked his door, his cell phone rang out with Ozzy.

"Hello?"

"Wally? It's John. I just wanted to see how you're doing."

"I'm doing fine, thanks for asking."

"Good, so what excuse did you give your friends then?"

"Army, special forces."

John laughed. "Superman will be happy."

"It's not a lie. With what we do, we are a special forces unit."

"Guess you're right about that." John paused for a moment. "Hey, a bunch of us were wondering if we could come and visit. Personally I've never been to Central City before." Wally grinned.

"Sure, so exactly how many is a few?"

"Oh, just Oliver, Shyera, Diana, Jo'on, Bruce, Clark, and myself." John replied. "What do you say?"

"We must have different definitions of a few, but alright. Just give me a call when."

"Cool, then we'll see you tonight around 6:30."

"Wait, what?" Wally's question went unanswered as the Green Lantern hung up. Wally sighed, locked his door again, and left for the store to buy ingredients needed to feed a super powered army.