Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews guys. Always appreciated. I mean it. So a real new episode tomorrow huh, not a Cartoon Network false start. Could use a little Spitfire, but not counting on it. I hope the writers have something special planned for making us wait so much. I like Blue Beetle, but damn get him his own show if he is the only one they are going to feature. Ok so I digress. Enjoy the chapter hopefully, write a review to make my day , and have a great weekend. GD
Chapter Three
Wally and Tim watched the screen, marveling at the program that mutated in front of them. It was like watching a life form adapt to whatever environment it found itself placed in. This was the most sophisticated program Tim had ever seen. Despite his age, he was an expert at this kind of stuff, maybe even better than Dick. Wally was amazed as he watched the numbers spin around and change every few seconds. Predicting what it would morph into next was exciting and frustrating at the same time, but Wally was a master at numbers theory, and with the speed his mind worked, he was betting after observing this program for a few days, he might be able to predict its changes before it did. That was the plan at least.
Wally and Tim began picking away at the code, with old R.E.M. blasting in the background when Artemis barged in slamming her fist on the iPod, shutting off the music.
"Drake. Leave, Now!"
Tim didn't have to be asked twice. When the door shut Artemis sprung at him.
"What in the hell Wally? You don't freaking bother to tell me you died?" WTF? That's not something you keep to yourself asshole. God what in the fuck is wrong with you?"
Wally was not surprised she would eventually find out or her reaction to it. He had seen this side of her several times. She may be hard to read to others, but not to him. When she was pissed she was silent. When she hated you, you didn't exist. When she yelled and cursed at you she was hurt. At the volume and intensity scathing him at the moment, she was really hurt.
"Calm down ok. Not here." He looked around and took her to the stairwell. Usually she would not allow someone to guide her by the arm, but she never removed Wally's grip.
They arrived on the rooftop and Wally let go.
"Did Dick tell you? He swore to me that he'd keep it to himself. Why does he do shit like this?"
"Dick didn't say anything. Canary did, but she thought for some reason I knew. You shouldn't use words like epiphany around me. I memorized the freaking definition so I could throw it back at you."
Wally sighed. He closed his eyes and looked at the ground.
"Look I'm sorry. I…I wouldn't have known what to say. It had been too long and … there was so much bad blood between us. It's just too hard to talk about and even harder to understand."
Artemis lowered her tone and tried to be calm. "Try me."
Minutes passed and the speedster realized the archer was not going to let him leave until he came clean. She'd been like that as long as he could remember. Wally walked to the air conditioning unit and sat down, gesturing for Artemis to join her.
"You know what I was doing in Switzerland right?"
She nodded.
"Artemis it was amazing. I think I'm a pretty smart guy, but the people I was working with were absolute geniuses. Like Steven Hawking –Alfred Einstein type folks. I was nervous to even raise my hand to ask questions sometimes. I don't want to make it sound like I was a part of this brain trust. I was about as low on the totem pole as you could get.
"The collider is like 16 miles long, deep underground. They had fired it off a few times before I ever got there, but the electromagnetic fields were never sustainable."
Wally knew he was beginning to go over Artemis's head, and it always pissed her off when he talked down to her, so he strived for some middle ground.
"I'd been there a couple of months and they finally decided to make another attempt, so they fired it off and it lasted for almost two minutes. They literally created, for a few minutes, the building blocks to why we exist. This energy actually existed in out plane of existence. You could physically see its structure, I can't tell you how amazing it was to be there when it happened, it was a true once in a lifetime experience, but something went wrong. You never hear about stuff like this on the news, it's all real top secret until all data can be analyzed, but the collider started to crack near a junction point around 10 miles from the control room. The place started to shake like a freaking earthquake hit. They tried to shut the collider down, but nothing happened. I knew no one would notice me if I was there or not, I was kind of a glorified gopher. You know, go for this go for that."
Artemis was growing impatient and she took Wally's hand. "Tell me the part I want to know about…please."
Wally frowned. "I sped down the tunnel. I didn't care about witnessing the particle anymore; I just needed to get those scientists out of there near the crack. Not that it mattered, but a couple of them had become friends of mine. I reached them just as the walls started coming down. They were unconscious already, so I wasn't afraid of them seeing me do my thing. Things started coming down to quickly so I had to kind of…vibrate them through the rubble wall. It was dangerous I know, but I actually have gotten pretty good at it. Barry would be proud, but if do it wrong, things have a tendency to…. explode. You can guess what happened next. The scientists made it through, I didn't. The shockwave slammed me against the collider and the rest of the walls came down. I couldn't see anything, I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe."
Artemis saw Wally begin shaking at the memory. Her heart suddenly hurt so badly. The speedster was one of the bravest men she had ever known, and knowing the severe claustrophobia he suffered form, this must have been his own personal hell.
Wally wiped his eyes, clearly traumatized still by the memory. "I don't know how long I was there. I don't know how long it took to dig me out, but the oxygen in that cave could have only lasted a few hours tops. I tried to vibrate my way out, but nothing happened. I was spent."
Wally sniffled and wiped his eyes again." This is the hard I'm sorry…so bear with me ok? I had no idea how big the space I was in was. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, it was that dark. I remember getting lightheaded and was pretty sure Hypoxia was stating to set in when I saw the light. It was escaping the crack in the conductor's skin. It…it was beautiful, and then there was the blinding flash and…."
He paused.
"This is going to sound stupid, but I saw myself in like this mirror. They say when you die your see your life flash before your eyes. It's not quite like that; at least it wasn't for me. I saw scenes of my life play out in this mirror, but then it just cracked into huge chunks….and in each one of them I saw….I don't how to say it…I saw like alternate lives I might have led."
Artemis just stared in disbelief.
"I know how dumb it sounds," He said when Artemis took his hands in hers. 'No it doesn't," she said softly. "Go on."
Wally breathed deep. "I saw these scenes and it was like part of me could feel what that life was like. Some I remembered some I had never seen before. I saw my birth, I saw playing in my backyard with my dad. I saw my parents crying while I was in the emergency room after my experiment blew up. I saw Dick, Roy and I doing our first mission together."
Then he hesitated. "I saw Flash dying. I saw me in his uniform. I …remember getting married, having kids. I even remember their names, Iris and Jai and they were beautiful. I think one of them even had my speed. I remember Bart taking the mantle.
"Was I in there?" Artemis carefully asked.
"Yeah…" he hesitated. " I saw images of you fighting on the same side as Deathstroke and your dad. …I think you might have become like a new Huntress or something. Maybe you were still undercover I'm not sure."
Artemis's never flinched, never took offense. She knew Wally was trying to protect her, but criminal DNA would always flow through her, in one future who knows what she could have become.
One question still nagged at her and she hated herself for asking. "Who was she…your wife I mean."
Her name was Linda. I'm not sure when we met, but it was like I had known her my entire life." he cleared his throat begging to feel slightly uncomfortable. "Sorry it's kind of hard to talk about," he whispered feeling guilty for some reason.
"What was she like?" she asked carefully not trying at all to hide her envy.
Wally smiled. "She was beautiful like you. Part Asian too, except dark hair. She was funny, I remember laughing a lot, but she was strong, determined. She was a great mom I think."
"All of these lives felt real Artemis. I can still feel, smell, and taste each of them. They're more than memories. I'm sorry, there's just no way to really describe it. Anyway finally the light faded and then that was it. The next thing I know they have the paddles on me and doctors are telling me I was gone for like 20 or 30 minutes. No one could explain it, least of all me. That always pisses of scientists when they can't figure out stuff. I never told them about the light, about the energy I saw. There would have been too many examinations, too much scrutiny. You can probably guess they would have found out who I really was so I kept my mouth shut."
"I told Dick because I had to get it out, it was freaking me out to keep it inside. He made me talk to Canary, and up until a few minutes ago I'm glad I did."
"Wally it was an accident. She thought I knew. I guess I made it sound like I did, but didn't mean to I promise. I just...I wish you had called me."
"What was I supposed to do, call you two years out of the blue and drop this on you after the way things ended, after all the shitty things I said. I disappointed so many people Artemis, I never even told Barry or my folks. Trust me I really wanted to talk to you about it, but Dick told me you were with someone now and I just didn't fell I had the right."
"Wally we were friends, we are friends."
"Are we?" He asked in with disbelief in his voice.
"Yes," she assured him. "You know how I am, how I work. Probably better than anyone does. It just takes me awhile to come around sometimes when I'm pissed, but a jolt like this usually does the trick. You were always really good at the jolts," she smiled.
"Part of my charm," he quipped. "Look whatever happened I got a second chance. I saw my own ghost of Christmas past and future. I'm going to make the most of it. Please...please believe me when I tell you I am not here to screw up yours or anyone else's lives. I just want to fit in and be around the people who I always felt the happiest around, and getting to do the hero gig again with you guys and lab work is not a bad deal either, but if we could be friends or just friendly would really make this a lot easier."
"Yeah it would wouldn't it?" She politely agreed.
"I promise you I'll give you a lot of space, and not make it weird."
"Wally, weird is like your middle name," she snickered, "but I know what you're saying. Me too, but don't be offended if a couple of bay watches or kid 'insert you insult here' pops out from time to time. It's just my way of being nice."
"Just no arm punches ok? I really don't miss those."
"Weenie."
"Yeah probably," he chuckled.
Artemis and Wally walked to the stairwell door.
"Thanks Artemis, thanks for...listening."
"I'm glad you're ok kid..."
"Kid crash, kid clumsy, kid mouth ..." He smiled.
"See, we're getting along better already," she laughed ponytail bouncing in the air down
the stair well.
The attacks were getting more frequent. Conner and Megan had thwarted a similar attack in Philadelphia, and after intense interrogation and even a mind scan from the Martian, no new clues were discovered. Each man was a low level criminal with no knowledge of the higher ups who hired him. It was a classic pyramid structure ensuring anonymity to the masterminds. So far the attacks had focused on the cities of the eastern seaboard where Wayne Tech's main clientele were located, but slowly they were spreading and it wouldn't be long before government agencies, and department of defense mainframes might become a too tempting target.
Wally and Tim were making progress, but it was excruciatingly slow, and Nightwing was under pressure not just from Bruce Wayne, but Batman as well. This meant long hours for his staff, and double shifts of senior staff and covert team members.
"Come on baby, you need a break," Doug insisted. "Blow it off for the weekend. We'll take a quick flight to The Rockies and do some climbing, clear your head, maybe give you a different perspective."
"Babe, I'd love to, but with all this stuff going down, I have to stay here. It sucks I know, but they need me."
"I need you," Doug snapped and then quickly dropped his aggression. "You have not had time for me in weeks. We never do anything anymore, it's all work work work. You need a break, need to be a little irresponsible. The dangerous naughty girl needs to see the light of day."
"Doug, not all of us are lawyers who can pick and choose their schedules. I swear to god between you trying to get me to play hooky and Dick adding more stuff to my plate I feel freaking smothered, you're going to have to let up and give me some space or I am going to snap."
Artemis had not intended to be so harsh with him, but she was under a lot of pressure, and he was not being particularly understanding. In the past, he laid several hints at her feet that she should quit and come work at his firm, but anytime she felt it coming, she changed the subject as fast as she could.
Artemis sat on the bed and kissed her boyfriend's head. "Soon babe I promise. As soon as things calm down at work, we'll try to do that climb, or something ...dangerous. Ok?" she grinned, batting her eyes in just the right way.
Doug had tried to find her lips, but she was off the bed before he could make his move.
"Alright babe, I've got to go."
"Artemis it's almost midnight. You're kidding right?"
"No rest for the weary, "she shrugged. "Call me tomorrow. You can crash here if you want, but I probably won't be back till tomorrow afternoon."
"Really burning the candle at both ends aren't ya?"
"You have no idea," blew him a kiss and was out the door
Wally did not want to be out on patrol, but Dick had ordered him. Ordered was probably a too strong a word, but he needed the speedster out of the lab before he cracked. Wally and Tim and been in there almost 48 hours straight and had hit the wall. He knew neither one would go back to their respective apartments, so they only way to keep them out of the office was to put them on the streets, possibly burn off some of the stress they had been under.
Wally had Zeta'd to Chicago, to watch over the firms Wayne Tech protected. He wondered why the company had become the main target for whoever was behind the attacks. There were plenty of businesses out there nearly as profitable, but with a lot less security to fight through. Bruce Wayne was a pretty powerful man, and even outside of the cape cowl he had powerful enemies.
Wally had been patrolling for hours when finally his stomach couldn't take it anymore. A quick trip to an all-night McDonalds seemed like the perfect answer. It was unseasonably warm in the Windy City and Wally made his way to the top of a nearby building to take a break and eat.
He had only been to Chicago a handful of times, but had never been still long enough to notice its beauty. He missed Central City, but the work he was doing, and they people he was working with filled a void he had not known existed.
He finished his third Big Mac when the wrapper blew out of the bag and scurried across the rooftop. Before the speedster could get up to retrieve his mess, an arrow shot through the silence and pinned the garbage to the ground.
Wally wheeled around at blinding speed to see Artemis perched on an adjoining rooftop. She didn't address him, but jumped from the building onto the one Wally was on. She approached him without speaking until they were inches from each other. Wally was about to say something when the archer tackled him to the ground and mashed her lips with his. It was savage, animalistic. The passion dripped off both of them in pools. Wally's hungry mouth explored hers, while her fingers dug into his back. Artemis pulled off Wally's top, and he did the same. Before long their uniforms lay to the side and their bodies joined together in perfect synch with each other. Hands and mouths explored every inch of the other's bodies they both knew so well. The never moaned, never made a sound, their eyes spoke for them. Their expressions gave way to euphoria as every nerve fired off at once and the climax of their particular dance ended. She lay in his arms for minutes until finally getting up, redressing, and disappearing into the night. She had found what she came for.
