I don't own Young Justice

The ice cream was delicious. Cool and sweet, he savored the soft treat melting against the warmth of his tongue, the bitter dark chocolate countered by sweet chewy brownie chunks that stuck to his teeth in a not entirely unpleasant way. He ran his tongue over his lips, careful not to miss any. He didn't want Barry to know he hadn't waited for him. It was just Wally needed something sweet, to get the toothpaste-minty taste of Artemis out of his mind. The way her lips turned down when she got angry in that amusing way. Sometimes it was hard to hide a smile.

Shaking his head, Wally sighed in frustration and stomped out of the door, the tinkling of the bell signaling his departure as he left the small ice cream shop, the scent of caramel blasting out of the door with him on the cool air that streamed continuously from the air conditioner inside.

Outside in the sudden presence of the sun's heat, Wally felt himself relax, letting the warmth sink into his skin and rolling his shoulders back, he shut his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the sun s rays against his face. Feeling a drop of melting ice cream from the almost totally consumed cone in his hand, Wally opened one irritated eye. His peripheral vision caught a flash of all-too-familiar green as someone darted around the corner.

Wally peered around the corner.

"Artemis?" She was gone. He felt weird. And not just I-just-kissed-Artemis-and-now-she-might-be-stalkin g-me weird, more like that hollow feeling in his stomach that either meant his metabolism had burned up all three gallons of ice cream he had eaten or the feeling that something, he didn't know what, but something was very, very wrong. He took one step forward, his stomach churning. Something was wrong. That's when the screaming started. Wally faltered and took a step back.

It took Wally a minute to realize the screaming was in his head. Then, had anyone been watching him, and indeed, someone was, they would have seen the blood drain from his already pale face, his freckles becoming even more prominent as he remembered the others at the warehouse. He had just left them there. Sure, he had been pissed, and rightly so. Sure, it had just been a simple mission

Yet, since when was anything ever simple around them?

"Shit!" Wally slipped farther into the ally beside the ice cream shop and yanked off his shirt, slipping it over his head and tossing it to the side where it landed, discarded, on a garbage bag buzzing with flies. Reaching down, he grabbed the edge of his suit from where he had folded it down and yanked the tight fabric up over his abs and onto his arms, fumbling as he slipped it back over his shoulders and cursing his clumsiness. He was the fastest kid alive, you'd think he could put on his own damn clothes. Once he had something on, he reached down and simply snatched off the loose jeans he wore to cover his costume. He was running before he had even pulled on his cowl, slipping his goggles over his eyes that were already smarting in the wind as he accelerated, feet digging into the pavement for traction.

When a car suddenly loomed in front of him, he simply leaped up, clambering over it without pausing or hesitating. His team was in trouble. Yeah, they were jerks sometimes, but dammit, they were his team. He didn't even notice the crack of pavement or the echoing boom as he reached sonic speed, something he usually avoided. He was still accelerating, so fast that the sound never reached him. The friction from his feet was burning through the rubber of the civilian shoes he had never bothered to get rid of and eating into the fabric of his own specially designed boots. He didn't wince as it finally tore, the gravel digging into his soles as he reached an impossible speed. All he could think of was the screaming in his head.

Nonononononononononononono...

The city was a blur, even with his brain s incredible processing speed, his feet were moving so fast that he was gone before the images of what surrounded him could even reach him. He was faster than light. He only prayed it was fast enough.

His molecules were vibrating so fast he no longer dodged obstacles, he ran through them. Blood was dripping from his nose and his shredded feet were leaving a bloody trail through the city.

Nonononononononononononono...

The screaming continued, haunting and horrible. The warehouse loomed in front of him just as black pots began to fill his vision. He couldn't get any oxygen. His body was burning through his reserves at an insane rate at this speed.

Just another minute. Almost there...

The speed was tearing him apart.

But there was a warehouse. That was it. And there were many men around it, armed to the teeth. Wally had no time to stop. No time to dodge as bullets rained towards him. He held out a hand and winced...

Nothing happened. Like running through the buildings before, the bullets were passing right through him. Wally was fascinated by how slow they were going, grabbing one out of the air only to have it fall through his hand that didn't seem to be there . It took his befuddled brain a moment to realize that he was moving faster than light. He was invisible, and the men were just shooting at thin air. He smiled and went right through two of them, passing behind the herd of men who were unaware they were shooting at no one. With a conscious effort, he slowed his vibrating slightly and touched the neck of one of the men. The force of his speed knocked the man's head to the side, the spinal cord entirely severed, crushed by his two finger blow. The fingers of course, were in the same condition, crushed, but as Wally watched amazed, the skin writhed as the fingers knit themselves back together. A wave of lightheadedness hit him and he almost stumbled, his body deprived of food to break down. Wally grinned ferally, he could take them all down. These men who had taken his team, who were breaking them... He kept going.

To an observer it would look like all of the men were toppling spontaneously in groups, dead before they hit the ground. The man observing smiled.

"Impressive, of them all, this one is the most dangerous..." he smiled. "...but he can't maintain these speeds forever." He watched as another wave of men marched out of the warehouse to their deaths. "I will just keep throwing them at him and he'll do the hard part. He'll stop himself. A speedster is his own worst enemy."