The great thing about being on salary is that as long as he gets all his work done no one complains about Barry taking off early, or stepping out for long breaks to deal with some crisis or another. And he does have to deal with crises more often than your average Joe. But of all the ways he can get called away from work, an alert about a Rogue, a call on his communicator from the League, Barry always finds a regular telephone call to be the most worrying. A million calls about someone trying to end the world are less stressful than just one about a loved one that's been hurt, or is in danger.
Barry picks up the phone in his lab, and presses the little red button to pick up the line on hold. "Hello?"
"Wally's gone." Rudolph's voice is brittle as he relays the news. "I woke up, and when I looked for him he wasn't here. He's not out as Kid Flash, nothing is missing, but," he stops, and for a while all Barry hears is his ragged breathing, as though his brother in law has to stop and catch his breath to continue on. "Barry, he left a note."
"I'm leaving right now."
Most of the time being the fastest man alive means that Barry is quick enough. Means getting wherever he needs to go in time to save the day.
But sometimes it doesn't.
Kaldur always looks forward to Fridays. Even this week, knowing ahead of time that no mission will be given while Robin still recovers from his broken arm, Kaldur cannot help anticipating practice and training with his team.
Everyone else has school, and so Kaldur arrives at the mountain to find it empty. He pulls out several snacks from the kitchen for his friends to consume upon their arrival, and sits down with the book he has been reading at Robin's suggestion, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, beginning to read where he last left off. (Aside from the random act of violence perpetrated against a whale, he is rather enjoying the story, and finds that the dolphins are in character.)
It is some time later when Kaldur hears the first of his friends beginning to arrive. He marks his place in the book, and prepares for the usual rush that accompanies Wally's entrance, and subsequent search for food. His brow furrows slightly when instead he is greeted by Conner and M'gann. A glance at the clock shows that they have not been let out early.
Conner begins to tell him about a creative writing assignment they were given during English, an infectious smile on his face, and he pushes his worry to the side. It is possible that Wally had something after school that needed his attention.
Robin, Artemis, and Black Canary arrive in close succession a few minutes later, and Canary gathers them in the training room.
"Wait," says M'gann, "shouldn't we wait for Wally to get here?"
"He was in a fight at school earlier this week." Black Canary informs them. "He won't be joining us this weekend."
The news is…surprising. Although Wally could at times act childishly, and did have something of a temper, Kaldur has never seen him resort to violence for either reason. It holds troubling implications for Kaldur. Either something happened at Wally's school to change the behavior he normally exhibits, or for some reason Wally felt that violence was necessary, even knowing that such actions would most likely lead to just such an absence from the team. A glance with Robin shows that the news concerns him as well. Whatever has happened at Wally's school Kaldur knows they will get to the bottom of it.
As soon as they finish training with Black Canary.
Training doesn't take as long as it usually does, and not because of Robin's cast and Wally's absence. It is interrupted by a gust of wind that solidifies into the Flash. Or at least almost solidifies. He's shaking in place to point of blurring, but just in focus enough for Robin to see that his cowl is on wrong, one side caught behind his ear letting out a tuff of blond hair.
His words do little to calm the uneasiness that takes hold of Robin's stomach at the hurried appearance. (When does the Flash ever appear hurried? Robin has seen him look calm and at ease with less than five minutes left in a countdown to earth destruction. The Flash just doesn't do rushed.) "Have any of you seen Wally today?"
Kaldur answers for them all. "N-" The Flash disappears, running through the mountain. "-o."
"Wait!" M'gann flies forward, hand outreached as though to bring him back and hold him in place. "What's wrong with Wally?" Her hand fallss slowly, and she turns back to look at the rest of them with wide eyes.
Robin activats his wrist computer and, slower than usual with the added interference from his cast, pulls up the signal from the Flash's communicator. "It looks like he stopped in Wally's room. Come on."
The Flash is sitting on Wally's bed when they arrive, back bent over and broken like an old man. The contents of the room are scrambled - closet door thrown open, dresser draws pulled completely out and tossed aside, books in various heaps on the floor. The only piece of clothing in the entire room is the uniform that Wally uses for missions. It's in stealth mode as the Flash runs it through his hands, the deep red of the lightning bolt slashing through the black fabric like a wound.
Conner speaks, his fists clenching tightly at his side, his whole body coiled as though prepared to take a blow. "What's going on with Wally?" His voice is low and almost threatening, until it breaks on the last word.
The Flash doesn't respond. He doesn't seem to even notice the presence of six other people in the room with him.
Black Canary steps forward, and grips Conner's shoulder tight enough for him to feel it press into his muscles. "Flash. Flash!" she says, and still he doesn't respond. "Barry! You need to tell us what happened."
The Flash looks up at the sound of his name, and Robin is certain that his face wouldn't look any different in this moment if he could see his eyes instead of blank, empty lenses. "He's gone."
Robin's mind is whirling, trying to put everything together so that they can work on fixing things, saving Wally from whatever has happened in the last week. "How?" he asks. "Did someone take him? Is he under some kind of mind control? You need to tell us what happened. We need more information."
"It's not that. He just…left. He ran away."
Robin can feel himself starting to get mad. "Wally wouldn't run away. So stop, stop whatever this is, and help us figure out what's going on!"
The Flash just shakes his head, running a hand up through his hair dislodging his cowl. His eyes are blood shot, tear streaks pooled awkwardly in an outline of his mask. "He left a note, saying goodbye."
"If he did run away," asks Artemis, "than what exactly is he running away from?"
Barry tells them.
And Robin, Robin doesn't know what they're supposed to do. Because everything he thought he knew about his best friend is wrong. Robin can feel his hands shaking, emotion bubbling up in his chest, squeezing his lungs tight against his rib cage. Because nothing is as wrong as Wally's absence.
What Robin does know is that this is Barry's fault. Barry, and Wally's parents. "None of this would have happened if you would have just adopted him!"
"We wanted to. We really did. But after he got his powers it was a lot riskier. They do an inspection before an adoption is processed, and we had a few close calls with someone finding out about Wally's powers before, on visits that were a lot less thorough than the inspection would be. If the wrong people figured out Wally was a metahuman and knew that he's a ward of the state." Barry cuts himself off, apparently unable to finish the thought. He takes a big, shaky breath. "So far no one has tried to take Conner back, but if they do, if they attack here at the base, everyone here would be able to put up a fight." He locks eyes with Conner. "It's part of the reason we decided to place you here instead of having someone take you home with them. It would be safer for you, and safer for the people you're living with. If someone decide to take Wally from his house he might be able to defend himself, but his parents could be used as leverage. We thought - we thought it would be safer."
"We can't do anything about the past." Black Canary says. "What we need to do is find Wally so that we can work this out. Robin, look at the security tapes, find out when Wally left the mountain. Kaldur, see if there are any League members available to help us. The rest of you, come with me."