{?-Earth-128}

{?}

Alarms kept blaring. Wally could hear distant shouting, but none of it was coming anywhere near him. He couldn't see very much of the room that he was confined in-he was facing the wall, the way he was strapped to the table. It wasn't even an interesting wall, just roughly-hewn rock. Probably underground, then... Has nobody warned the people of this universe that strapping people to tables in underground bases is what bad guys do?

He held his breath, listening. He couldn't hear any breathing. Definitely no silent guards in the room, then, unless they were robots. He was willing to risk robots.

He started twisting his hands, trying to work them out of his restraints, but they were on too tightly. Damn… how the hell does Dick get out of shit like this? he thought, staring at the metal straps. Okay, he has millions of lockpicks in his belt and gloves and shoes and probably in his hair somewhere… if I could just vibrate out of this like Uncle Barry…

He stared thoughtfully at his wrists. He hadn't tried vibrating out of anything since before he'd retired as Kid Flash. He'd never succeeded, except at giving himself a nosebleed. But he was older now, so even if he still wasn't as fast as Bart or Uncle Barry…

But what if he disappeared again?

Well, I could wind up back home, he reasoned, closing his eyes and trying to vibrate. He remembered the skin-buzzing feeling from when he'd arrived in this world and tried to get it back, feel the molecules of the restraints and move through-

He gasped as he slid through the table, winding up rolling across the rough stone floor. He got up, staring in shock at the table. I did it! he thought in exhilaration. I actually-

The table rippled in a way that metal absolutely should not be able to, then shattered.

Wally dove to the floor with a yelp as shrapnel shot over his head, some of it clanging off something behind him. He rolled over, gaping at the bars set into a gap in the rock behind him. "A prison cell?" he muttered. "For real?"

He looked back at the table. Stuff never explodes when Uncle Barry vibrates through it, he thought, staring at the twisted, shattered remains of the table. Did I do it wrong?

He rolled to his feet, staring at the bars that were standing between him and… whatever the hell was causing all those booms further away. Well… scientific principle, right? Keep testing to see if you get the same result…

He pressed his hands against the bars, closing his eyes again-he was afraid that if he saw his hands slipping through the bars, it would be too much like disappearing again, and he'd freak out and wind up with his hands stuck through some bars.

He stepped forwards as easily as if he was stepping through nothing.

He opened his eyes, checking that he was free and clear before stepping aside and turning to watch the bars explode. Shards shot into a cell across the hall, clanging off the bars on the way, some hitting the rock or bars with enough force to embed themselves. He frantically ran over to check the cell, but it seemed completely empty, though he heard swearing behind him. He turned and trotted a few feet down the hall, staring into the next cell.

There was a man in there, not strapped to a table but sitting on a low mattress. He was wearing a black tanktop and shorts, but no shoes or socks. He glared angrily at Wally.

"Lord Superman is going to punish you, Flash," he spat out. "It doesn't matter if you change your costume. He will make you pay for your insolence!"

"Uh, I'm not Flash," Wally said, startled by the absolute venom in the man's voice. "Who are you?"

The man sneered, standing up. "Lying Rebel," he snarled, walking up to the bars. "You can't pretend ignorance. I know Lord Superman is here to punish all of you!"

"Ummm.. okay, maybe I'll come back later," Wally said uncertainly, turning and speeding down the hallway. There was an open doorway at the end and he zipped through it, promptly crashing into somebody running down the perpendicular corridor. "Shit, sor-AAAH!" Wally yelled as whoever he'd run into grabbed him by the arm, flipped him and pinned him to the ground. Whoever it was was big, heavy and strong.

"What the hell?" the other person grunted. "You're that weird Flash they brought in, aren't you? How the hell did you get out of your cell?"

Wally grunted, trying to look over his shoulder at the guy who had his arm twisted at a painful angle. He looked like a teenager, with short dark hair, dark blue eyes and a dark scowl-

"Jason?!" Wally yelped, feeling like the rug had been jerked out from under him for probably the twelfth time in the last hour. It was Jason-or an older teen who looked just like Jason Todd but with most of the baby fat burned out of his cheeks, not that the kid had ever had much fat on his bones to begin with. He was taller, more muscular, a couple of extra scars on his face, but he still looked just like Jason Todd-or at least, how he would've looked if he'd lived. He's alive here!

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Jesus, you just went sheet-white," he chuckled. "What, you scared of me or something?" He frowned again. "Hey, how do you know my name?" he asked.

"I know you," Wally said quickly. "Or I know you in my world, anyway. I'm not The Flash, I'm Kid Flash, I'm from another universe and can I get my arm back soon, please?"

There was another boom, causing the ground to shake and loose stone to fall from the ceiling. "Looks like I don't have much of a choice," Jason muttered, getting up and pulling Wally to his feet. "Cap and Lantern aren't gonna be able to hold the big guy off forever and, fuck it, you're a speedster. C'mon, we've gotta get people out of here."

"Lead the way," Wally said, letting Jason drag him painfully slowly down the hallway. He couldn't stop staring at the boy whose funeral had been the first hero's funeral that Wally had ever attended-in fact, he'd attended it twice, going to Robin's at Mt Justice as Kid Flash and Jason's in Gotham as Wally West. When Jason had been alive, he'd been almost as tall as Dick despite being younger, and Dick had always complained that his little brother was going to end up as big and tall as Bruce. It looked like Dick's predictions had been right on the mark, not that they'd ever gotten to see it back home. Jason was maskless too, wearing a bulky black combat suit like Dick's but with a blue and white bird insignia that Wally hadn't seen before. "What the hell's going on?"

"Lord Superman found us," Jason said grimly. "We can't fight him, just hold him off while we evacuate everybody."

"Lord… Superman?" Wally said. His head was starting to spin again. "Wait, why're we holding him off? Why's Superman attacking us?"

"Christ, you really are from another world," Jason muttered. "Questions later. Right now, there's a Kryptonian up there who will kill everybody in the Rebellion if he gets the chance, so we're not giving him the chance. OI! REDBIRD!"

Wally stared as Jason dragged him into some kind of hangar. People were running into a pair of planes, one of which looked like it might have been the Batplane once. Dick was standing next to a bank of computers with Tim, who was likewise maskless and this time wearing a dark brown costume with a white bird emblem.

"Bluejay, what the hell are you doing?" Dick yelled. "Why'd you let him out?"

"I didn't, he got himself out, and does it fucking matter?" Jason responded, dragging Wally over. "The more the merrier when we're running for our lives, right?"

"For what it's worth, we haven't found any of the obvious markers of Cadmus cloning," Tim put in, looking at Wally with a calculating expression that was somehow actually worse when it was coming from steel-blue eyes rather than a pair of blank white lenses. "We could use his help."

Dick nodded, stepping aside to reveal that he was standing in front of a computer chair, occupied by a redhead that Wally recognized as Barbara Gordon, dressed in grey with no visible insignia and scrolling rapidly between camera feeds. Somewhere, from the looks of it, Superman-dressed in black and white, no blue to be found, only really recognizable to Wally on the small screens by the big red S on his chest-was fighting Captain Marvel and a Green Lantern. The fights moved close enough to the camera feed for a minute to show John Stewart trying to construct shackles that could hold Superman, succeeding only for seconds before the Kryptonian broke out and punched Captain Marvel into a building.

"Have you downloaded all you need?" Dick asked Barbara, somehow able to look away from the incredibly wrong sight of three prominent members of the Justice League duking it out full-force. Wally was pretty sure his jaw had dropped and couldn't find it in him to close it.

"Got it," Barbara said, tossing a removable hard drive to Tim, who slipped it into one of the pouches on his utility belt. She turned to peer over her glasses-since when did she wear glasses? Wally wondered-at Wally, giving him the Bat-family's patented Calculating Look™. "So this is him, huh?"

"Stare all you want while he's taking the two of you to the backup," Dick said, pointing at Barbara and Tim. "You up for carrying two people?" he asked Wally.

"Um, yeah, if they're not huge, though I can't run too fast, but where am I going?" Wally asked, looking at Barbara and Tim.

"Wait!" Tim protested. "I can stay and help fight!"

"Nobody here is fighting except for the Marvels and Green Lantern!" Dick objected sharply. "None of the rest of us can even hold our own in a fight without kryptonite, which we don't have anymore, remember? But the two of you are the best brains we have, so we need you operating out of our new HQ as soon as possible." He turned back to Wally. "Flash should be back any second, he'll show you the way," he said shortly. "You'll be taking Owl and Oracle, because we really do need to move them and because they're eminently capable of taking you out if you are some kind of rogue or plant. Got it?"

"Loud and clear," Wally said, holding up his hands defensively. "If I do this, will it convince you that I'm not an evil clone and get you to tell me what the hell is going on?"

"If we all live, sure thing," Dick said, looking at Jason. "Bluejay, go rev up the second jet. The second it's at capacity, go." He glanced at the screens. "We need to get out while he's distracted. I'll go keep an eye out for Flash."

"See you on the other side," Jason-Bluejay, here, apparently-said, saluting as he ran off with Dick.

"Are you sure we have everything?" Tim said, looking fretfully at the computer. Wally realized that Owl had to be his codename-it explained the brown-and-white bird insignia, anyway-and that meant that Barbara was Oracle. Thinking of them by new codenames was odd, but it helped him remind himself that they weren't the Tim and Barbara that he knew. Dick-Redbird, did Jason say?-definitely wasn't the Dick Grayson that Wally knew.

"Everything we need," Oracle assured him, straightening her glasses. "Right, Mustard Flash, if you carry me in your arms, Owl can piggyback. He's strong enough to hang on, you just need to not trip and go rolling, okay?"

"It's Kid Flash," Wally grumbled, "and yeah, I can do that." He glanced down and started as he realized that Oracle wasn't sitting in a computer chair. "A wheelchair?!" he blurted out.

"I can get a new chair on the other end," Oracle said dismissively. "Getting there alive is the first priority. For a speedster, you're moving a little slowly, aren't you?"

"Yeah, yeah-uh, are your legs-? I mean, I don't wanna hurt you," Wally said uncertainly.

"Don't worry, Kid, all feeling's gone and you can't exactly make it worse, so c'mon," Oracle said impatiently, pulling a couple of escrima sticks out of holsters on her wheelchair. Wally put one arm around her shoulders and slipped the other under her knees.

"Got her?" Owl asked, putting his bo staff away and walking around behind Wally. "Alright, watch out-"

Wally braced his knees as the skinny teenager hopped onto his back, wrapping his legs around Wally's waist and gripping Wally's shoulders tightly. "Okay, I'm secure," Owl reported.

"For such a skinny little punk, you sure weigh, you know that?" Wally grumbled, jogging in the direction he'd seen Redbird go. "Or is that just the requisite bodyweight in concealed weapons?"

"Who's calling who a skinny punk here?" Oracle said, poking Wally in the chest with an escrima stick.

"I have a good metabolism," Wally said, spotting Redbird and the Wally-Flash. He nearly tripped over his own feet in shock when he saw who Flash was carrying. "Holy-Aunt Iris?!"

The woman in his doppelganger's arms stared at him, bright green eyes widening in surprise. "Honey?" she said, looking at Wally-Flash-the only Flash here, Wally thought, remembering with a jolt of pain that his aunt was a widow in this world. "What's going on?" Iris asked, staring at Wally in confusion.

"He's me from another reality," Flash replied. "We'll figure it out later. I've just gotta grab two more passengers and then we're good to go. Where is-"

"Flash!" Rocket called, flying up with her son in her arms. She looked at Wally in surprise. "You know what, I don't even wanna know," she decided, handing Amistad to Iris. "Thanks for taking him. You be good for Iris, okay?" she said, kissing Amistad's forehead. "It's new home time again."

"Kay," Amistad said solemnly, hanging onto Iris. "We gonna go fast?" the toddler asked Flash.

"Sure thing, buddy," Flash promised. "See you at the other end, Rocket. Be safe. Have you seen Voice?"

"I'm here!" another woman called, running up and hopping up to hang onto Flash's back the way Owl was hanging onto Wally's. She'd cut her jet-black hair short, but Wally still recognized Lois Lane. "Let's get out of here," Lois said grimly, eyes fixed on the screen of a tablet that she was holding in one hand, the other arm wound around Flash's shoulders.

"Keep up, Kid Flash," Flash said, grinning at Wally before shooting off.

"Thank you!" Wally said, running after him. "At least he gets it right!"

{Watchtower-Earth-16}

{July 26, 09:34 UTC}

Kaldur kept his eyes closed as he floated in the warm water. The swim tank had to have either been set up by King Orin or with Atlanteans in mind, because the salinity of the water was a perfect match for the ocean and artificial currents ran through the tank to keep it from feeling still and stale. Nevertheless, it wasn't exactly like being in the real ocean. Kaldur never thought he'd be grateful for that.

He opened his eyes at the sound of a light tapping on the tank, then relaxed at the sight of Red Arrow standing outside, one hand pressed to the glass. Kaldur swam over to the underwater comms, unwilling to leave the soothing water for the dry air of the rest of the Watchtower's interior.

"I was not expecting to see you up here, my friend," Kaldur said with a smile. "It is good to see you."

"Good to see you too," Roy said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I'm not here for long. The League's offering to make me a member again."

"Congratulations," Kaldur said in surprise. "I did not think you wished to return."

"I… don't, really," Roy sighed, running a hand through his hair. "That was something Cadmus programmed into me, and I don't know if I could ever come back without feeling like I'm doing what they want instead of what I want. Besides, for now, I'd rather focus on Jade and Lian. They're mine, you know?"

Kaldur nodded. "They are a part of your life that came neither from Cadmus nor Speedy," he said. "I understand, and I am happy for you and your family." He smiled. "There is always the Team, of course, should you ever wish it."

"Yeah, you've got Watchtower space and everything now," Roy said with a smirk. "I'm actually kinda surprised to hear that you came back right away. Thought you'd be taking a break, like Nightwing. After all that time undercover, it's gotta be weird coming back, especially without…" He trailed off uncomfortably.

"I worry that Nightwing is not so much taking a break as failing to deal with Wally's loss," Kaldur sighed. "As for myself, leading the Team makes me feel more like myself again, not the part I played to infiltrate the Light." He chuckled. "Life does take us in unexpected directions. When my King chose me to be Aqualad, I took to it as a soldier, proud to fight alongside my King on the surface world. I never expected to become a leader myself. Nor did I expect to be accepted back so easily. The Team is remarkably light on grudges."

"Speaking of grudges," Roy said, looking even more uncomfortable. "Seeing as you're leader again, not Nightwing, I wondered…"

"You worry about Arsenal," Kaldur guessed. "I have spoken to him to offer him another chance on the Team, if he wishes. He does not, but I have left the door open. I worry for him too, and Nightwing should not have taken his stress out on him." He shook his head. "When I first became Leader, it was in full expectation that it would be temporary, until our young Robin was ready for the leadership that he was surely destined to carry. But…"

"Best place to put power is with somebody who doesn't want it, in my experience," Roy said with a shrug, "and as for Nightwing… well, he never was quite the same after the second Robin died. His first shot at leadership was overseeing one of his best friends on a major infiltration, too, and that dick didn't tell anybody about it except Artemis and Wally until the end of the game. Secrecy I get, being scared of losing somebody else I get, but dammit, if he keeps everything this secret, he really is gonna turn into Batman."

"Without Wally to talk to, he seems to have retreated entirely," Kaldur said, shaking his head. "And I worry that Artemis is faring little better. She has not cut herself off, but on missions she is… reckless, careless with her own safety, and perhaps excessively violent, especially when it comes to protecting the new Kid Flash. I have considered not sending them on missions together at all, but I am concerned that it would hurt more than it helps. She has become quite fond of Bart, and I feel that it can only help for her to get used to somebody new being Kid Flash. She insists that she is doing fine, but I fear she is hiding too much behind the Tigress persona that she cultivated for the mission to avoid dealing with Artemis' pain."

"Yeah, getting violent was pretty much Jade's response to loss, too," Roy said, rubbing the back of his neck again. "She snapped out of it when she found out Artemis was alive, though, so I dunno how I could've helped her deal with it in the long term. Dinah says she's offered to speak to Artemis, but she hasn't taken her up on it."

"I have to say, my friend, of all the unexpected things in this world, you becoming the calm voice of reason certainly stands out," Kaldur chuckled.

"Yeah, well, that's all mine, too, so I guess I'll run with it," Roy said, rolling his eyes. "I'll see if it works on Artemis, too, because Wally isn't coming back to snap her out of it."

{}

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Fun fact: before I first saw Young Justice two years ago, I didn't even know that there was ever more than one Robin, let alone that any of them had died. First I knew of Jason Todd was when I googled "what happened to the second Robin in Young Justice?" because the show refers to Tula's death and explains the second Blue Beetle's, but never says a word about what's up with that holo-Robin that the third Robin keeps looking at in the memorial grotto. So that's how new I was to DC before I watched Young Justice. This cartoon is a very effective gateway drug.

Anyway, a friend of mine told me to watch Batman: Under the Red Hood to know more and I went from zero to being immensely emotionally invested in Jason Todd in less than two hours. I really hope there's a Red Hood plot in season 3-one that, in tune with the premise of Young Justice, is primarily about Jason's relationship with Dick rather than Bruce. Weismann, I think, did say that in the timeline of the Young Justice cartoon, Dick and Jason were very close. What if it was Dick, instead of Bruce, that Jason held responsible for replacing him and not avenging him?

Some of these chapters will be longer than others because each one's going to have one scene in the Justice Lords timeline and one in the main Young Justice cartoon timeline. According to the Young Justice cartoon wiki, the Young Justice cartoon takes place in Earth-16, whereas the Justice League cartoon takes place in Earth-12 and their Justice Lords story on Earth-50… I think? The wikipedia page on the subject is incredibly confusing and there seem to be six or seven Earth-16s XD Anyway, there didn't seem to be any Earth-128s listed, so that's what I'm designating this Justice Lords timeline to differentiate it from the one in the Justice League cartoon.

About codenames: I figured Earth-128 Dick probably wouldn't wind up going by Nightwing, since he got the name from a Kryptonian story in most continuities, I think, and he's got pretty good reasons not to be a big Superman fan in this world. Also, referring to different versions of characters by different codenames as much as possible helps differentiate the different versions of them, I feel. I went with "Redbird" since it is a codename that's associated with Robin and it seemed like a decent choice for somebody who didn't want to go by Robin anymore but couldn't bring himself to completely disassociate himself from that identity either. I couldn't find many alternate superhero names for Jason and Tim besides Red Hood for the former-and the reasons he chose Red Hood don't exactly apply to Earth-128 Jason-and, of course, Red Robin for Tim, who was never Robin on Earth-128. So I ended up picking other bird codenames XD Barbara, meanwhile, wound up losing the use of her legs and using the name Oracle-how that happened will come up in future chapters. Not all characters have different codenames-it depends how mixed up with the Justice Lords they are.

All that aside… I only realized about ten chapters into writing this fic that there is in fact a Justice Lords reference in Young Justice-the six League members who disappeared for sixteen hours were Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern John Stewart and Hawkwoman. I would mark that down as just an Easter Egg, but Lex Luthor being elected to a position of significant political power at the end of Season 2 has me suspicious, to say the least...