This chapter contains:
Spoilers: Season 1 plus Season 2
Random Lyrics from: My Heart is a Fist by Papa Roach
Pairings: Angst-filled Spitfire, Angst-filled Chalant, along with Dick and Wally brotherly friendship
Extra Notes: We learn some more about Aeron Hyades in this chapter, though the next will show what exactly he turned into. This is one heck of a chapter so just a warning, your emotions may run high. As for the cliffhanger ending—just remember that all is not what it seems. This is going to be a ten chapter story. Thank you for all of the favorites, follows and reviews and I hope you all enjoy! :D
This chapter is rated teen for some sexual situations, romance pieces, a good amount of coarse language, hints towards torture, violence and creepy moments (from who else but Mister Hyades).
i surrender
"Be careful this is the first time you've stood on your own in months."
"I'm okay,"
"Here just let me—"
"Impulse."
Wally cuts the younger boy off with a curt voice, using his superhero atlas because he knows he won't be taunted in ignoring it. Bart gains a sheepish smile on his face as he releases the hold he had on Wally's forearm, taking a step back. Wally exhales and looks around, hearing an owl hoot from somewhere inside of the forest.
The creamy white moon was full in the distant sky, millions of little balls of gas seemingly watching the two speedsters below with all knowing eyes. There's a small breeze floating through the cool evening air and it causes leaves to crackle and the trees to howl as it swims through their hallow pieces of cracked bark and broken branches.
Wally is standing on his own, only wobbling for a short couple of moments before steading himself, Bart is by his side. The two are in the spooky forests outlying Mount Justice all around and Wally had successfully scared Bart at least twenty times by now.
"Wally? You good?"
Wally exhaled and nodded once before staring ahead of him, taking in the roots and tunnels and the feel of dirt with pebbles intertwined below his feet. He felt his body take off, and seemed to be outside of the event as he ran circles around the forest, zipping and zooming through every little nook and cranny he could find. Bart watched happily from his spot, cheering when the man would run past him and tap him on the shoulder.
He was laughing giddily when Wally stopped next to him, breathing heavily and a large grin slapped over his lips. He high fived Bart, feeling like he was on top of the world. "How are you feeling Wally?" The man in question shook his head, reaching for the candy bar Bart had stored in his pocket.
"I feel great."
He did his best to ignore the nagging in the back of his mind, the voice that was telling him that it wasn't right that Dick and Artemis weren't there. Not like they would've been awake, Wally thought feebly, it was close to three in the morning.
Over the course of two months, different members of the team would stay overnight with Wally—excluding Dick, Artemis and Bruce—to keep an eye on him while he recovered. It took a while but Wally did slowly get better and his attitude had nearly gotten back to the standpoint it was at back before he had gotten captured (he had successfully flirted with Barbara, M'gann and Cassie) but he hadn't seen Dick or Artemis since that first day.
Barry had kept his distance too, he had only stayed with Wally for about a week in total over the course of two months. He downed the candy bar and tugged Bart into a side hug, laughing loudly. "Thanks for coming out here with me little bro," Bart struggled to shove Wally's grip off him but he did it in a playful matter as Wally in turn ruffled his hair.
"Wally," he lamented in discrepancy, the older man in turn laughing even more gleefully. He was already starting to miss the bedridden, quiet Wally that had been around for the past few weeks. But at the same time he was glad his brother was back to normal. "Let's just go back inside before Uncle Barry finds out I let you out of the cave." Bart grumbled as he turned towards the open hangar door.
"Race ya!" Wally shouted before taking off, Bart yelling in protest before speeding after him.
Wally's sped up healing at caused his recovery to be faster than Dick's had been; but mental wise—Dick was probably more stable at the moment. Wally felt his mind was spilt in two most of the time; one side yearning to run to his girlfriend (was she even his girlfriend anymore?) and best friend (did Dick even remember him?) and beg for forgiveness while another part of him still didn't care.
Both made it back into the main center of the cave, closing up the hangar door before heading back to Wally's old room (newly refurbished by the speedsters being bored around midnight two weeks ago) and returning to lounging around.
Wally's mind shot to Artemis. Did she hate him? He would guess so, after all that he had said. How could she not? And Dick, he probably despised Wally after everything the man had shouted. After mentioning the word carved in his arm for life.
He looked up and saw Bart messing with one of his old souvenirs, grinning. "If you think that stuff is cool, I've got a badass militia helmet back at Dick's apartment. It looks like it came directly out of one of the Star Wars movies."
Bart's eyes lit up, "Can I see it?"
Wally nodded soundlessly, "Yeah I can go stop by there tomorrow morning before Bats gets here for my routine checkup in the afternoon."
"Awesome! How did you end up getting the helmet in the first place?" He acted like as if he was thinking of the answer for a moment, seeing the excitement rise on Bart's face as the seconds passed by.
God, he did love this kid like his own; not like he would ever have his own, he was too immature still (Artemis had scared the shit out of him at least four times with faking pregnancy scares—apparently the horrified face he gets is hilarious).
"Artemis, Kaldur and I were out on an undercover mission back three years ago. We were supposed to just do recon because the Justice League got an anonymous hint about a drug deal going down between Two Face's gang and the Penguin's in the outskirts of Gotham City. Batman and Robin, Dick at the time, were out with Uncle Barry on a mission in Florida. We got there and there were three thugs on lookout with snipers so we took them out and the one I knocked out had a pretty badass helmet so I hid the body and then when the mission was over I went back and got the helmet. I still remember clear as day the look Artemis had on her face. You could just tell how bad she wanted to slap me."
"Why don't we ever get to go on fun missions like that?"
Wally laughed, "Well for one thing, you guys actually obey the rules. Let's just say the old team wasn't too keen on listening to everything Batman assigned us." As Bart started talking a mile per minute about how 'awesome his big bro was', Wally thought otherwise.
He wasn't ready to face Artemis or Dick. But how could he avoid it? Unless he could get over there around five, that's when Dick would still be gone on his night patrol (he would go out around midnight and then get back around seven in the morning, sleeping until whatever time someone would wake him up). He would just have to sneak past Artemis and then get to their closet; pull out the helmet and that would be that.
Easy enough right?
i know i've been a pretender
Easy did mean easy after all.
Wally had left Mount Justice at quarter to six and he had just gotten into Dick's apartment, so extremely grateful that had had ignored Dick's nagging and hadn't gotten around to fixing the medium sized hole in the kitchen window that allowed easy access into the house by someone jimmying it open from the outside.
Wally wanted to leave at the strike of four thirty but Bart hadn't gotten settled into sleep until 5:29 exactly so it pushed back the amount of time he had at finding the helmet but he was a speedster—in and out was his middle name.
He closed the window behind him quietly, turning and standing still for a minute so his eyes could adjust to the pitch black of the kitchen. One his eyes had adjusted, he turned his head to the soft sound of snorting to the right of him and saw the outline of Brucely's sleeping form on the couch; his snores like an earthquake in the otherwise silent apartment.
Wally rolled his eyes, he knew the damn dog was stubborn but he was pit bill for crying out loud, weren't they supposed to be amazing guard dogs? Leave it to Artemis and him to pick out the one dog that had deceptively missed the gene that every other dog had; to hear and bark at intruders.
He took gentle steps as he headed towards the hallway, making sure he sidestepped the trap Dick had attached to his door (ironically put there for trespassers) as he opened it and peaked in; breathing an inaudible sigh of relief when he saw the man was still out patrolling the Blüdhaven alleyways. He backed out of Dick's room, sucking in a breath as he entered his room.
He could see his girlfriend sound asleep in their bed, the blanket wrapped around her tightly like a snake, stopping just above her chest. She was one of his shirts, he could tell by the frayed edges at the shoulders and the boyish color of the material; just from the velvety colors of the moon seeping in through the closed curtains of the window. Her hair was like a halo framing her face, eyelashes flinching every here and there from whatever thing she was dreaming off. Wally felt at peace watching Artemis sleep, as he had done it countless times before ("Stay awake until I fall asleep?" she would mutter and he would throw his arms around her and peck her lightly on the forehead before whispering an "Always babe,").
Everything was fine, until a sudden scream tore from her throat and Wally froze in shock, thinking she had saw him standing over her like a stalker and was about to kill him—until he noticed her eyes still closed and her body thrashing around in the confinements of the blanket around her.
He doesn't know what causes him to do it but he jumps into action, smoothing her hair down and brushing his thumbs against her cheekbones softly. "Babe, babe it's alright. It's just a dream baby, you're okay."
He knows he doesn't need to fear about her waking up, as she is one of those people that when she has a nightmare a few calming words will somehow break through to her within her dream and calm her down; no waking up necessary unless he coaxes her awake somehow.
"No! Wally! Dad how could you?" It's in a sort of waver when she speaks but it's like a deafening shout in his ears. She was dreaming about her father hurting him? After all he had said to her? He shakes off the thoughts circling him and moves even closer to her so he can press his lips to multiple sections of her face.
"Come back to me Artemis. It's just a dream, your fine. You're okay. Kid Flash is always gonna be here to protect you. I'm always going to be here to protect you baby."
He doesn't know where his voice is coming from but it's coming from him and in a matter of seconds she stops struggling and her body relaxes and he knows she's out of her nightmare. He stares at her for another moment until her remembers why he is there and backs up, about to head towards the closet until he sees something that catches his eye.
On the right side of the bed, the empty side of the bed as Artemis was always a lefty bed type, on the nightstand that was his—sat a family picture of Dick and his parents. It feels like someone has just punched him in the gut as his eyes dart over to the empty side of the bed, seeing the indent of a person's body still there. He wonders just how bad his girlfriend's nightmares truly are as he pieces everything together.
Dick had temporary 'moved' himself into Artemis' room, sitting next to her as her anchor (what Wally was supposed to be) until she fell asleep, and then being there to help her through her (surprisingly frequent) nightmares because Wally. Wasn't. There.
It broke his heart and he felt one of his own tears leak from his eye and dampen his ski mask.
He was such a shitty person.
Artemis didn't deserve him.
He didn't deserve her.
Wally's heart started to race as the emotions suddenly clouded around him and he shook his head. What was he here for again? The helmet! Without another thought he turned towards the closet and soundlessly opened it, straining his eyes to see in the darkness. Where in the hell did he stick that damn helmet anyway? Wally didn't have much time to ponder the answer as a sudden sharpness was shoved starkly into his back as a short warning.
"Freeze."
He let out a low curse, which in turn only caused Artemis to thrust the arrow more harshly into his spinal cord. Okay so in hindsight it probably wasn't smart to wear a black ski mask with a black sweatshirt and black sweatpants but at the time he thought it was the best way to not be seen by anyone as he ran through a few cities. He couldn't find his Kid Flash outfit anywhere in the cave, Barry had probably hid it knowing that Wally would attempt to sneak out and run once he felt better, so his next best choice was something unnoticeable.
What he didn't add into his plan was Artemis' somehow super hearing . . . and the sharpened end of one of her arrows jammed into his spine.
"You are going to turn around slowly and not make a sound while I pull off your mask. If you move to attack or speak this arrow is piercing your skull. Nod if you understand." On second thought, Wally thought glumly, if he hadn't worn all black and Artemis had saw it was him she possibly would've impaled him by now. He nodded once and felt her remove the arrow from his back, her hand grabbing ahold of his left bicep and spinning him around so his front faced her.
He felt as if the breath had been knocked out of him after seeing her fully for the first time in the light and he didn't know if it was wrong that he was turned on or not. She had flicked on the nightlight by the bed, the dim light causing everything in the room to gain a yellowish tint to it. The light flickered every few seconds, probably from the bulb about to go out, and it caused Artemis to look like an angel in Wally's eyes.
Her hair was slightly frizzy, silver eyes ablaze with a fire that burned brightly, lips pursed and a red mark smeared from the way she slept on the mattress present on the corner of her chin. She had the green arrow clutched tightly in her right hand with the point aimed at Wally's neck and he gulped loudly once he saw what she was wearing or, really, wasn't wearing. He could tell he she had on a bra and underwear, just from the curves of her body through his sole tee shirt (he had been with her for five years of course) but she wasn't wearing any bottom half to her clothing getup and he was glad his old tee shirt stretched down to the tip of her knees because he knew that if it would've been any shorter he would've been at her mercy; fight or no fight.
She lifted her empty hand and moved it slowly towards his face, terrified of something he couldn't see, and her fingers trailed up to the top of his ski mask and waited there for a moment. His heart thudded heavily in his ears and it seemed like hours passed before she finally pulled. Wally's mask came off in one quick yank and she gasped once she saw his red hair and undeniable freckles.
The arrow slipped from her finger tips and hit the carpeted floor below them with a soft clang.
Wally scoffed mentally at the fact that through all of this Brucely was still dead asleep on the couch in the living room. His tongue seemed to turn to sand and his throat encased with cement. Artemis got over her shock fast, as it didn't seem like Wally would be able to say anything soon from the stone-like posture he had taken.
"W-What are you doing here?" He didn't seem to hear her and any other time Artemis would've felt good about how she seemed to render him speechless with her apparel, the way his eyes kept scurrying from the bottom of her shirt to the specks of her irises. She crossed her arms, trying to cover herself because for some odd reason she felt bare even if this was the same man she had fallen deeply in love with. "What in the hell are you doing here Wally?"
The use of his name seemed to snap him out of his mind's musings, even if it was for a second. "I um," he cleared his throat, "the helmet. I told Bart about that badass helmet I stole from one of Two Face's men and he wanted to see it. Said I would get it."
She hated how his rough voice sent chills down her spine. Damn it she hated it.
She was supposed to be mad at him. She was supposed to hate him. Artemis found herself nodding, rubbing her arms from the unexpected nippy chill that swept through the room. Wally without second thought started to move towards her, ready to pull her into his arms because he knew how much she loved the 'constant warmth she always found from his body'.
"What are you doing?" He froze, dropping his lifted hand back down to his side. She had that defensive wall around her, the same one he had spent years trying to break down.
"Your cold." He said it as a statement and Artemis glanced into his green eyes, trying to read him.
"So?" She questioned bullheadedly, Wally gaining a trace of a smirk on his face before it disappeared again.
"So we can't have you being cold when you got a speedster around."
Artemis shook her head, "Wally." It was a warning, he knew it was. It was her way of saying that it was his last chance. Either he crossed the line or turned around and hopped the fence.
Wally took a step forwards, reaching for one of her hands. "Art," he grabbed her hand and rubbed it between his, trying to rid it of the coldness consuming her; "babe."
"Wally, please. You can't break my heart again. I can't do that again." Her tone was low and in a hushed whisper, so discreet that he strained his ears to hear it. He let go of her hand, moving his up to cup her face.
"I'm sorry babe. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry." Artemis tried to pull her head out of Wally's grip but he wouldn't let her, determined on not losing her again. "Look at me Artemis."
"If I do that there's no going back." He moved forwards and his lips brushed against hers, pulling back and leaving her wanting more. Her eyes locked with his. "Wally."
He smiled.
"I love you."
Artemis cussed shortly before crashing her lips against his, her arms snaking around his neck. He kissed back with just as much lust, his hands tracing over her waist and lower back. He missed the feel of her skin on his. They took a break for air and Wally lifted her up, Artemis hanging onto his shoulders as he lead them to the bed; both falling onto the ruffled sheets in a mess of limbs. They stared at each other, breathing heavily and trying to control the heat around them but to no success.
"I love you Artemis." He mumbled before pressing a kiss to her neck, lifting his head back up as Artemis cussed again.
"Goddamn it Baywatch." Wally laughed for a good minute before silencing any more comments by pressing his lips to hers once again.
you can have this guilt this misery i wear so well
"Thanks for all of your help Alfred, I'm sorry everything ran later than usual."
"It's no problem Master Dick," He sighed and he closed the window to the living room of his apartment, lifting his hand up and tossing his domino mask onto the couch next to wear Brucely slept. The dog simply grunted in his sleep.
"Goodnight Al," Alfred yawned before sending the young man a final smile.
"Goodnight sir."
Dick didn't waste time in closing out his communicator, starting to pull his Nightwing suit off as he headed to the bathroom. It had been a long night. He stretched after stripping and entering the running shower, wincing as the lukewarm water hit one of the new scrapes on his back.
At first it had mostly been petty criminals flaunting their 'so called power' throughout the late nighttime hours and that had evolved into stopping a robbery at the fancy necklace store down on Drayton Street near four in the morning. The real hiccup came around five thirty as he was on his way grappling back to the apartment; a drowsy looking Alfred had called him on his communicator.
The butler debriefed him on a high end deal going down between the Joker and the Blaze—one of Blüdhaven's notorious illegal drug dealing kings who was also in cahoots with Scarecrow on working on some type of fear toxin spinoff with more deadly results.
It took Dick a good hour to scope out the deal and eliminate any men on lookout stealthily and then the real challenge came when he had to face Blaze and the Joker. It was a bloody fight and he nearly gave Alfred a heart attack at some times from close calls but Dick was able to knock out Blaze with good hit to the forehead and then corner Joker and grill him from some answer before grabbing an assault rifle off the ground and using the butt of it to effectively knock him out.
It had taken another two hours to do battle with the two and get some actual answers out of Joker but found that the long night was worth it.
He found out the reason why the Joker was working with Blaze (to try and grab some samples of the fear toxin spinoff and add his own laughing gas into it and see what exactly it did to the human mind) how close Blaze and Scarecrow were to finishing a solid copy of the fear toxin spinoff, nicknamed FTO2 (a finished sample would be in the works on no name thugs in Gotham within two weeks) and which labs of Scarecrow's they were working on the toxin in (1603 Micah Boulevard, New York).
The next few nights would be long ones so he could keep a lookout on everything, unless a mission came up from the League; then he would have to put some of his patrolling on hold and possibly tell Bruce about everything so he could keep half an eye on everything too.
Dick exhaled as he checked and made sure he got all of the blood off his face before tossing on his clothes, boxers and some shorts with his torso bare, and exiting the bathroom. He felt bad about leaving his suit in there because he knew it pissed off Artemis any morning she got up and nearly fell in the bathroom from stepping on the slippery material but he was too exhausted to care at the moment.
He stumbled towards his room but then cussed silently to himself for forgetting to check up on Artemis. He saw the time, 8:13 in the morning, from the digital alarm clock in his room and let out a grunt of disapproval.
Did crime never sleep?
He quietly pushed open Artemis' door and his stomach did a flip at the sight before him, from relief or hate he didn't know.
Wally and Artemis were buried underneath the blanket, Wally's arms wrapped around his girlfriend tightly and his head resting on top of hers. She was snuggled into Wally's bare chest, like as if he was her own personal safe haven. Which, Dick figured, he basically was. He smiled softly at the scene before him, feeling the inner battle rise within him as he gently backed out of the room and closed the door behind him, letting go once he heard the clank of the doorknob.
Dick headed back to his room, too tired to even bother shutting his door, and climbed into bed—mind juggling a million different scenarios. He was happy that Wally was there to prevent Artemis' nightmares; they had been getting worse and worse since that day with the shouting match. So it was great that she had her anchor back, the one guy who could calm her better than Dick ever could.
On the other hand, he knew Wally too well. He could've snuck in to just have sex with her and then be back to ignoring her at the first strike of morning or semi-consciousness. But he was Wally, would he really do that?
Dick had a foolproof plan for when he slept with random girls and he felt like a different person when he would take off his shirt in a heated moment and they would comment on 'how strong he must've been with all of his scars'. Then he would have sex with them and either leave them or be gone by the next day. No emotions met no issues.
But Wally wasn't him.
Dick knew how much the two loved each other, it was sickening sweet. It was their type of love, their world. He shook the thought out of his head, that Wally would sleep with Artemis and then leave her again, because as much as he scorned him still—he knew Wally was still a good man on the inside.
Or at least he hoped. Dick still hurt from Wally's words and he knew they were far from making up but all be cared about was Artemis being safe.
Even if it was from her own nightmares.
i wave my flag i sound the alarm
"Wally. Wally, come on you have to get up." There was a light prodding in his side and then a flick on his cheek. Wally groaned, swatting his hands and flipping over so he was laying on his side.
"Go away Bart and let me sleep you little asshole." He muttered, exhaling through his nose.
Someone scoffed next to him, "Well you would just be fantastic with a kid jumping all over you wouldn't you Baywatch?"
Kids? Why in the hell would Bart be talking about kids? Wally's eyes snapped open as he turned so that he was laying on his back again, seeing Artemis leaning on her elbows next to him with an amused smile highlighting her features. "A-Artemis?" He mumbled in an incoherent drawl, rubbing at his eyes and trying to clear up his sleepy, still sluggish, thought process.
She rested a hand on his exposed bicep, "Hey Baywatch, I know it's early and you aren't used to that but you gotta go so that you can be out of here before Dick wakes up." Wally haphazardly placed his one hand over top of Artemis', rubbing delicately.
"W-What . . . what time is it?"
"Around ten but the times Dick gets up in the morning varies so he could either be up in five seconds or five hours."
Wally laughs half-heartily, groaning in gripe. "Long nights out patrolling?" He bit, Artemis smiling.
"Yeah he's been working himself ragged since that fight you two had." Wally feels a pain in his heart that is much like getting stabbed all over again and he slowly sits up, the blanket covering him falling down to reveal his naked upper half.
Artemis hid her blush as Wally started to move out of the bed and searching for his clothes that were thrown all across the floor in a careless matter. She couldn't help but stare at his butt for a moment before snapping herself out of it and calling out to him.
"Baywatch?"
She wanted to laugh at the way he acted like a lost child, hopelessly moving around the room in search for his tee shirt as that now was the only thing missing from his apparel. He barely glanced in her direction, "Yeah babe?"
She didn't know how to word it and the question tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop it in such a sloppy matter she wanted to slap herself. "Wally, this wasn't just a onetime thing right? You aren't gonna avoid me or—"
"Babe." He cut her off gently, lost tee shirt balled up in his hands, as he approached her. His lips attached to hers for a delightful few moments, her lips moving hungrily against his, before he pulled away. There was genuine look upon his face. "I'm not going to leave you again alright? These past two weeks were the worse in my life and it was all my fault. I'm sorry for what I said to you I didn't mean any of it. I love you and only you. You wanted me to wake up and say it back remember?"
She scowled when he brought up the tearful whirlwind he had put her in as he laid on the ground with one foot begging life and one foot teasing death. "You did. That's all that matters." She murmurs, twirling a strain of his red hair in her finger. He chuckles before giving her a light kiss on the forehead and pulling away so he can toss his shirt over his body.
"I don't know if I told you this yet or not Art but last night was amazing."
She flushes heavily and a part of her thinks he said those words on purpose just to see the dark red framing her cheeks. "It was."
Why did she love him so damn much? How was it possible for her to love this damn man so much it hurt to breathe if he wasn't in the same room as her?
"Alright I'm gonna go—"
"When are you going to say sorry to Dick, Wally?" He freezes in place and his heart is trying to escape through his mouth. He might've loved Artemis but Dick was a whole different story. He was still pissed at him and he knew he said a lot of horrible things. But all Dick wanted to do was poke and make jokes after the things Wally had been through—knowing the things he had been through. "Wally he's so lost. You hurt him babe. You need to fix it." Artemis' words are too true . . . but too fake for Wally to understand.
somebody stop me before i do any harm
"Hey Robin, what did you end up finding out?" Wally catches Tim two days after his reunion with Artemis chilling in the cave's kitchen munching on one of M'gann's chocolate chips cookies. He jumps out of the seat happily at the mention of his research, moving close to where Wally stands propped up on the counter—trying to break the record for most pizza eaten in a day.
He brings up a holographic screen showing a bunch of digital papers with black lines heavily outlining the entire pages to their full extent.
"With Batgirl's help I was able to hack into international name databases and we literally searched every little thing there was but nothing came up."
Wally nearly choked on the slice of pizza lodged in his mouth but he was able to swallow and then speak, "What do you mean when you say nothing? There has to be something, you can't just hide from NASA or the CIA or whoever had the tabs on everyone." He deadpanned, Tim nodding and tapping a few buttons on his communicator to bring up a new screen that showed a news article dating back to the 1900's.
"So today is March 10th, 2015 right?" Wally nodded, confused as to what the young teenager was hinting at. "Well I found an old news article from November 2nd, 1988 that talks about an accidental gas leak that caused a house fire and killed multiple people. So I dug into the people who died and also of who lived there at the time and everyone checks out, either they are dead or have no access to the materials needed to hold you or Nightwing or too old now to be able to um do what uh—"
"I get it."
"—so anyway, one of the families doesn't check out."
Wally grew intrigued, "How so?" Tim brought up a picture of a smiling family that included one mom, one dad and one son weathered and printed in black and white.
"Eva and Raphael with their son Aeron Victor Hyades."
Wally's stomach rolled but he powered through, Tim was onto something. They needed to find this guy and arrest him. "That's him. So how did he go off the grid? Special Ops military?" Tim pressed a few more buttons, bringing up an awfully gory picture of a mangled body on the side of a street.
Blood was spattered across the ground, smeared in a handprint across the dismembered body's head or what Wally thought was the head to the body. It was so destroyed he couldn't even tell. "If we go back to the fire Aeron would've been nine at the time and what happened was that his mother died, leaving just him and his father. There was speculation that the fire was being covered up, that it wasn't a gas leak and that someone had started it on purpose. Now we go to fifteen years later, where Aeron would be sixteen, to this unsolved murder case. This is from November 3rd, 1995."
Wally put down the pizza in his hand, finding that he wasn't too hungry anymore. "I don't think that isn't coincidence."
Tim shook his head, "This mess is the body of crime boss Marcus Sandon who had been known to use fire as one of his ways to get rid of a potential problem in not giving him the money he asked for. Now the person behind the death of Marcus was never found but there were fingerprints of Aeron's all over his body. Though the police never connected it, they didn't have the technology back in the day and no one has gone back to the case because in almost every nation it doesn't exist. The body's remains disappeared and there's no grave and no case file on record expect for this which was buried in Italy's deep servers. The weird thing is the day before, on November 2nd, all traces of Aeron—literally anything—was completely erased from the system. He's like a ghost Flash."
Wally didn't bother in correcting Tim's usage of his name, embracing it instead and rubbing his eyes.
"So we still don't know who he is or what his goal is? Besides creating a damn cure or whatever?"
Tim nodded wearily, "Wally this seems really serious maybe we should tell the League what we've found."
"No I don't want them—"
Wally cut himself off at the sound of someone running into the kitchen, turning and seeing Gar advancing towards them. "We got a mission! Batman wants us to meet in the main room!"
Wally gave Tim a stern look before they followed Gar out of the room.
i'm living a dead life i'm staring into the headlights
Tim, Wally and Gar entered the room to see Dick, Artemis and Bart already standing there; eyes alert and ready. Wally moves over to where Artemis is standing, making sure to stay clear of being anywhere near Dick as he grabbed ahold of his girlfriend's hand and squeezed soothingly. Bruce stood at the cave computer, busying typing something into the system. He didn't turn around as he spoke.
"Superboy, Aqualad and Miss Martian are busy with a mission revolving around Mirror Man and the rest of the new team is busying hunting down the works of Blaze and Scarecrow—as the two are trying to create a new fear toxin which was discovered by Nightwing two nights ago." Dick nodded curtly, Wally rolling his eyes only to receive a pinch on the back of his hand from Artemis.
Bruce turned so that the team could see the seriousness shown through his eyes in the white slots of his cowl and Wally nearly shivered from the hard look he was portraying towards the six of them.
"Kid Flash, we found an odd trace of zeta beam type energy the day after you were recused that came from the place we can assume was where you were held. Does any of this look familiar?" Bruce clicked a few buttons and brought up some different clips from security cameras and Wally watched each feed confidently until one caught his eye.
"That last camera, number twenty three, that's where I was held. That damn room."
Bruce nodded, setting a mark on the feed and picking at a few more buttons. "I'm going to spilt you six into three teams to go three different things and figure out what caused that energy spike."
"But it happened over two months ago why are we investigating it now?" Artemis questioned, glancing from Wally to Bruce. The latter brought up an energy readings chart and everyone's eyes widened at the sight of the spiked readings.
"Constant spiked energy readings every three hours interlacing since the day after Wally was saved."
Dick got a scary thought and tried to look at Wally to question it but Wally was ignoring him. So Dick grabbed Wally by the shoulder and pulled him aside as Bruce started talking again. "Wally are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"That you're an ass—"
"The cure. The cure the man was talking about. Do you think that spike in energy is his cure?" Wally didn't want to talk to Dick but the man had a point.
Wally sighed, "But to create something like that he would've had to been a genius. And I don't think he was anywhere close to genius from the way he was talking." Wally turned back to standing next to Artemis before Dick had time to respond and the man exhaled heavily. It just didn't go together, didn't feel right.
He walked back over to join the rest of the group just as Bruce started splitting them into teams.
"Robin and Beast Boy, you two will head to the building overlooking the lab and only advance if help is needed at any time. Artemis and Impulse, you two will check out the front and back of the building, clearing out anyone that could cause a problem." Artemis groaned and Bart laughed, Wally and Dick even smirking to themselves as they already had a good idea of what she was going to say.
"I'm stuck with Mister Hyperactive over here? You've got to be kidding—isn't it torture enough that I already deal with Kid Annoyance back at home?"
Bruce choose not to answer Artemis, turning to the final two unpaired teammates. "Nightwing and Kid Flash, you two will be entering the lab and scoping out the area—"
"Bats c'mon,"
"Batman he's—"
"—the reason I am pairing you two together is because you both should know the place, considering I have a right to believe he held you both there. End of conversation."
Bart looked at his teammates, "Time to suit up?"
Wally smiled, "Time to suit up bud."
Everyone headed out excluding Artemis and Wally. "Are you going to be okay working with Dick?" She whispered, Wally moving close to her and wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug.
"I don't know babe, I don't know."
of a getaway car that'll take me out of my mind tonight
Dick groaned as he came to and tried to move his arms, only to find he couldn't. His mind was foggy, his head throbbing. Why did he feel so weird? He struggled with collecting his thoughts and trying to wrench open his eyes, finding both to be way too difficult for him. Why was it so hard to move?
He tried to remember what he was doing before the haze clouded his mind . . . he knew he was on a mission someplace and had been on a team with the one and only Wally. Suddenly everything was clear again and the memories rammed into him like a Mack truck on steroids.
Bruce had sent the team on a mission to find the man who did all of the crap to Wally and him and as soon as they entered the building and were out of sight of the rest of the team Dick had decked Wally in the cheek, leaving a nasty looking bruise behind. They got into another shouting match minutes later that had Bart and Artemis yelling through the ear com to get the two to quiet down and remember they were on an undercover mission.
Their words went unheard and Dick barely remembered Tim, Bart and Artemis saying they were coming in to get them before everything had gone black. A bad feeling eloped his gut and his heart felt like a boulder in his chest.
No, this couldn't be happening again.
He didn't get kidnapped again, this wasn't real.
He opened his eyes with a heavy gasp and saw nothing but grey cement walls and a limp Wally hanging next to him, ankles shackled to the wall in a similar as Dick guessed he was propped up. "No," it left Dick's lips in a hoarse whisper and hadn't wanted to die more than in that moment. He couldn't live through the pain again. He couldn't live through it. He would kill himself before having to have a knife carving into his chest. He wouldn't be able to say it.
"Artemis!"
Wally awoke with a start next to Dick and promptly gone into panic mode, his body trying to vibrate its way out from being connected to the chains. Dick stayed quiet, his mind still trying to wrap around the fact that he allowed himself to get kidnapped again. He had gone all of the extra measures to make sure something like this wouldn't happen. He had trained under the Batman for Christ's sake and he couldn't go another year without being kidnapped?
The single steel crusted door in front of them opened and Dick felt his throat go dry at the sight of the man or thing before him. The thing let a wicked smile slip onto his features, "Welcome back boys. I've missed you and I've got a new thing to show you both. Oh and by the way—Wallace, thank you for your help in tracking down where your hideout is located. I knew you would be far too stupid to remember the trace I myself put on my own name."
Wally growled threateningly, "You aren't going to get away with this Hyades."
Dick was glad to be able to finally put a name with the face . . . if that could even be counted as a face at this rate. Aeron was in Wally's face faster than either could blink as he took Wally's face in his hands, roughly pushing his chin so Wally could look him in the eye.
"I go by a new name now Kid, call me anything other and you will be sure to pay for it."
Within a millisecond he was back to standing by the door and Dick's mind grasped the realization quickly, "You're a speedster now."
Aeron turned towards Dick with a bitter grin, "Yes dear boy, I am. You may call me Victory. Fitting isn't it?"
Wally snorted, "For a dumbass maybe."
Dick tried not to flinch as Aeron started throwing punches Wally's way.
crash and burn s.o.s somebody help me get out of this mess of a dead life
"How could this have happened? They're gone, again! This is bullshit Bruce and you know it!" An enraged Barry was angrily shouting at Bruce in the near empty meeting room of the Watchtower; excluding Oliver, Dinah and Clark watching the situation unfold helplessly from the sidelines. Bruce had his cowl resting on the table he was seated at as Barry paced from one end of the room to the other.
"We will get them back Barry."
Barry was in Bruce's face within a second, "We found them once. That was by friggin' luck and there is a god chance we'll never get to see them again. So don't tell me that everything will be alright because I know for a fact it won't be."
Bruce shoved Barry out of his face, standing up, "My son is missing. I'll be damned if I lose him to something as stupid as this—to a mental case. I won't allow it to happen."
Barry laughed humorlessly, "Wake up and smell the death Bruce! That lunatic, who'd Tim say it was—Hyades, that man has our lives in his hold. He has my son and he has yours and you're still holding onto a petty hope that they are still alive?"
"Barry—"
He waved his arms as he talked, body vibrating forlornly. "Hyades wants something from them. That's why he can't just let them roam free. He's going to get what he wants and then leave them like fucking roadkill on the side of the street!"
Bruce grabbed one of Barry's hands in a tight grip. In a warning.
"I will get my son back if it's the last damned thing I do. Don't doubt that I won't take care of anything in my way."
Clark stepped in between them, Oliver grabbing Bruce's shoulder while Dinah grabbed Barry's forearm. "That's enough you two. We can't get them back if we are all at each other's throats." Clark reasoned uneasily, Oliver backing him up.
"If we want to find Richard and Wally we need to be at our best. Not our worse."
Bruce shoved off Oliver's touch, "I'm at my worse all of the time."
i'm burning under the spotlight
"Artemis?" Zatanna treads uncertainly into the cave's kitchen looking for her best friend, only to breathe a sigh of relief after seeing her curled into herself on the couch. She takes a seat next to her friend on the couch, the two sitting in decent silence for a few minutes.
my heart is a fist drenched in blood,my soul will fight again
"Wallace my dear boy, I think I need to check on a few things."
Dick could see Wally pale from where he was hanging and his body twitched in fear as Aeron moved closer to him and unhooked the chains holding him (both had tried to fight back numerous times and it had only resulted in more cuts and burns so they didn't really try anymore) slinging the boy over his shoulder and heading towards the door. Dick forced himself to ignore the lump in his throat and ask the question that had been nagging at him the entire time.
"Why are you doing this? You became a super, you have inhuman powers. What's your ending goal?" Aeron paused in the doorway but didn't turn to answer Dick.
"I may be powerful but I need to make sure I always have you two fighting for me. I'm just engineering a way to make sure that happens."
Wally coughed up some blood, spitting a wad on Aeron's exposed shoulder blade. "Go to hell, our friends will find us."
Aeron allowed a chilling laugh to escape him before exiting the room and leaving Dick all alone. But not without leaving Dick with some final horrid words. "Oh they won't find you this time Kid. I've made sure of it. The last thing you did with everyone you knew, that is what you left with them. You aren't going to see them for a long while."
When the door slammed shut behind Aeron Dick felt like the world was closing in around him at the villain's words. He chuckled to himself, it was mangled and broken and hateful but Dick held onto the one sane thing he could think of.
At least Wally got to be with Artemis one last time, whereas Dick didn't get to hold Zatanna as close as he wanted to in their last hug . . . which was months ago.
take a look at these hollow eyes—one last look before I say goodbye
"What if we don't get them back this time Zee?" Artemis speaks of the thought Zatanna didn't want to think about because she hadn't gotten to kiss every part of Dick as much as she wanted to in her lifetime. She wanted him to come back to her with his bright eyes and cocky attitude and pinch her side subtly when she wasn't paying attention. To kiss her.
"They have to come back Artemis. We aren't done with them yet."
Artemis chuckles but it isn't her. It's filled with lost hope and dread and a tint of hate. "Wally and I slept together two days ago. But that isn't enough right now. All I want is a damn hug from that dumbass, just one last fucking hug."
Zatanna chuckles and the two move close so that they are in a side hug for comfort.
But neither think that'll ever be enough to heal them properly if they end up not being able to find Kid Idiot and Boy Wonder.
to this candle-lit nightmare I feel like can never escape
Dick's mind shoots to Zatanna after he sits in the terrifying silence of the room for about an hour, Wally still missing. He remembers their short make out session back on New Year's when they were young, and then their first official time hooking up when he was sixteen and three weeks before her sixteenth birthday. He can still remember what she was wearing; a black button down with some sweats and her white gloves discarded in his room as they got deeper and deeper in each other.
They didn't go all of the way (he made it to first base according to Wally) because of Red Tornado calling everyone to the meeting room for a mission (as soon as Artemis saw Zatanna's swollen lips along with Dick's red cheeks she dragged her away to hear the entire story she wouldn't let her live it down for weeks).
Both had started up a relationship a few days after that but it had ended less than a month later because as much as they liked each other it seemed like Bats was just about ready to murder Dick if he caught them making out in the closet one more time. It also didn't help that Dick was a natural flirt and he ended up sweet talking more girls than Zatanna had liked—even as loyal and trustworthy as she knew he was.
They stayed close, becoming pretty good friends with their past. When they were both eighteen their next hookup happened and they went all of the way in Dick's old room at the cave and he told her his name after they had done it for the first time.
He knew the moment so clearly still because of the way she had nuzzled her face into his neck after he told her and the whispered 'thank you' that had found it's way sneaking past her lips.
Their most recent hookup, besides the chaste kiss they shared before he had confronted Wally, was a few months after he had turned nineteen. They had gone out to with some fake IDs to get drinks and got a little too intoxicated and ended up back at Dick's apartment; clothes thrown anywhere and everywhere.
Both knew they were treading on uncharted waters every time they hooked up, purely from the amount of different girls Dick had slept and flirted with in the in between of each hookup, but they found each other intoxicating—they just couldn't get enough of each other.
Dick had a foolproof plan when it came to girls; be the nice guy, offer them a drink and then bring them back to his apartment or some motel down the street if he felt that they would become too clingy or asked too many questions (couldn't have anyone stopping by his apartment with three superheroes living there). But with Zatanna, everything was different.
They were such close friends that she could see through any lie he would try to tell, she could see through his careless façade easily. The same went for Barbara, who he had tried toying with on many occasions only to get shot down each time, because they were like close siblings and she could just tell when he wasn't himself. It went against his plan on getting through life without getting close to anyone, because he didn't want to care for someone for them to just get killed like his parents, but Zatanna just happened.
The people learning from Bruce at Wayne Manor just happened.
And Dick would be damned if he couldn't admit it but he loved Zatanna, as much as it hurt him too because he didn't want to throw her into the line of fire.
But he couldn't stop it and it just had happened that way.
Suddenly the door in front of his hanging form opened to reveal a beaten up Wally getting dragged back into the room by the scientist, who as per usual, had a sickening smile on his face.
"Now it's your turn Richard. Then I'll leave you two alone for a while."
so watch me fall from grace—watch me carve my hate
"This is so fucked up," Barry mumbles to himself as Bruce's hand comes to fall on his shoulder.
"We . . . they are still out there. I can feel it." Barry shakes his head, far too lost to even have any hope left.
"It's been a month Bruce. An entire goddamn month with no sightings and no Wally or Dick."
The two spoke quietly to each other as Artemis headed towards the zeta beam, eyes still puffy with her earlier hissy fit. Zee had just calmed her down in time for Artemis to head back to Dick's apartment and feed Brucely dinner and as the light engulfed her she felt another tear slip out of her eye. She missed the two dumbasses more than anything.
But there was a large possibly that they were dead and she knew she should stop living in the past but as long as Barry and Bruce didn't give up then she wouldn't.
But as she entered Dick's apartment and was met by a slimy dog nose instead of the loud trash talk of the two boys playing Call of Duty on their Xbox One, she couldn't help but feel too alone. She called Zatanna later on and she slept over, the two still on edge but calmed enough to fall into their separate emotionless dreams.
Zatanna slept next to the family picture of Dick and Artemis' fell asleep to reruns of old Baywatch episodes on the television.
i'm screaming while i pray
There was a knife in Dick's barely moving chest. There was a knife sticking out of Wally's broken hip. Aeron had made sure they would both bleed out at the same time so that he could eject the cure (nicknamed FTO2-CO2-B) into both of their bloodstreams.
He left them withering in pain to allow them some time. There was a possibly their cells would reject the antibiotic and they would die but Aeron was sure that wouldn't happen.
He had crossed every t and dotted every i.
They didn't do anything to you Ron and yet you do this to them, why my dear?
He growled at his mother's voice, smashing his palm against his head. "Get out Mother."
Torturing innocent souls won't bring me back Aeron, my sweetheart.
"This isn't for your benefit Mother, this is for me. They are my key to competing my plans. I'll break them down and then build them back up, making sure they only answer to me." He snarled, shaking his head.
Sometimes I wonder dear, why I had to die in the fire instead of you.
Aeron felt the sting in his arms, the pinch of a million different insect legs crawling through him.
Was there someone standing in the corner giggling at him?
What was that red stuff in his vision?
"Be gone Mother!"
His scream caused laughing to go off like the clang of bells in his head and he shouted at the empty space around him for a while.
i am on my knees today but you don't notice me
"D-Dickie," Wally's wheezed words caused Dick to open his eyes to the best of his ability. He could feel the life draining out of him.
"Y-Yeah Wall-Man?"
Wally coughed, nearly gagging at the blood pooling on the ground underneath of him so instead he choose not to look. "I-I'm sorry Dickie, f-for everything I said. I-I just wanted y-you to hurt as much as m-me." Dick laughed, as much as the action hurt him, and his blood stained lips formed a half awake smile.
"I figured as much KF, y-you are one hot tempered s-son of a bitch." Wally was thrown into another couching fit before he could answer his best friend and Dick shushed him sensibly. Comfortingly. "It's alright to go to s-sleep Wally. I'm right h-here buddy."
Wally's gazed eyes slid over to look at Dick as best as he could? "Y-Yeah?" He whispered, his lids falling down seconds later.
Dick smiled softly, "Yeah bud, we are gonna be alright. I'll be right with you through it all a-alright?"
"Dickie," He wished he had the strength to banter with Wally about the annoying nickname but it peculiarly allowed him to feel at peace. Dick believed Wally knew that too.
"Yeah man?"
Wally's chains creaked with the man's movements of trying to move his hands in one last feeble attempt. "If y-you make it through, i-if you survive . . . tell A-Artemis I'll a-always love her okay?"
Dick knew Wally was dying faster than he was, though it felt like hours were passing before them. The man didn't have enough willpower to tell Wally that it highly unlikely he would get out of this to tell Artemis what Wally wanted to but Dick just gulped and nodded gasping when some air got clogged in his throat. He coughed it out and then answered, "I-I will buddy. I will."
Wally's voice got lower, all too fast. "I-I love you Dick. B-Brothers always." He muttered, Dick closing his eyes.
"Brothers always KF. I love you too. Always."
Both entered the darkness at the same time and both felt at ease with that, because their brother was right there next to them.
How could you be scared of the unknown with your best friend at your side?
