November 13th, 2011. 19:36
"They said the building was clear, signals show no more Dominions" One of the creatures on Thanar spoke, glancing at us for a good 10 seconds before slowly leaving.
"Ready to go kiddo?" Clark asks and I nod numbly, accepting Robin's helping hand and standing up.
"Don't let me hold you back, but be careful" He whispers in my ear and I nod again, knowing full well what he meant. We'd zeta to the location, or at least as close as we could get. For safety reason the zeta wasn't that close to the base, it was still a good 5 minute walk, or at least for someone without superspeed.
And Robin had basically just urged me to just go and run, run over to the base without waiting for them. Because he knew how anxious I was right now, heck, I could barely keep myself from vibrating through the ground.
Superman eyed at me warily, obviously having heard the remark Dick had made. And I already knew what he was thinking, he would be prepared to follow me, and keep me safe.
I tried to ignore the rest of league as we walked over to the nearest zeta tube. Or at least this planet's version of the zeta tube. We all stepped onto the plate, before a mechanic of some sorts, from Thanar, flicked the switch. Above us a light charged, before it wrapped us up, transporting us.
We arrived seconds later, but I didn't wait long. It took me two seconds to take in the environment, and see that it was safe. I quickly put on my goggles and ran off. Everything shot past me and I could hear Superman take off as well, but he never caught up to me during the short run towards the base.
Which in itself almost made me stop. I was faster than Superman. I had never been before.. before Barry disappeared. But I just continued running, running into the building and zipping through the whole compound. Nothing. I didn't see anything that even remotely resembled Barry, or the Flash.
There were numerous cells, some filled and some not. But I just made a mental note to come back for them later, right now I didn't have time to save everyone.
"Wally, come to the basement" I suddenly heard in my ear. I didn't answer, I just took a sharp turn, running straight back towards the staircase again.
"What?" I ask the moment I came to a stop, seeing Superman, Batman and Robin already there. Superman doesn't turn, pointing at the hall. The hall was filled with several steel doors. And only one thought filled my head, one of them could hold Barry. I didn't wait, not this time as I zipped over to the door.
The first two doors didn't hold anyone but the third one…
I easily fazed through the door, not even thinking about it for a moment, not bothered by the fact that I couldn't faze to save my life just a day ago. But all that mattered was the figure laying on the table in the middle of the room. I freeze, numbness spreading through my entire body.
"No.." I whisper, taking a hesitant step forwards. No no no. There was an inhibitor collar around his neck and restraints around his wrists and ankles, but they didn't even need it. His eyes were closed, not moving at all. "NOOO!" I could hear myself cry, zipping over to Barry's lifeless body.
I couldn't even get myself to touch him, too afraid of the coldness I would surely feel. I lean forwards, big tears streaming down my face. No, he couldn't be dead. Not now, not when I just found him. Not after they gave me hope, not after I was so sure. You can't leave me Uncle Barry… dad.
The door behind me opened with a protesting sound and numerous gasps were heard.
"Is he…?" I could hear Clark whisper behind me and I just cried harder.
"No" I mumble, screaming again before choking on my own sob. "NO! Uncle Barry please! You can't leave me, I can't be alone.. not again, please not again. Don't be dead please. Dad, I need you" I reach out but before I could touch him I felt two arms wrap around me, and pulling me back.
"Shhhhh" Roy shushed in my ear, as he slowly lowered me to the ground. I kept crying, Roy turning me forcefully until my face was buried in his chest. I screamed loudly again. I wailed, trashing and hitting Roy with all my might until I slumped into his hold.
"Let me go please" I whisper, barely audible. "I need to.. he can't d-.. I can't lose my dad.. please tell me-" My breath hitches again and I whimper, falling silent. Roy tightens his hold gently and I take a shuddering breath, opening my eyes again.
"He's dead" I whisper and Roy looks down at me, nodding painfully. I look down, nodding numbly before wiping away my tears, but more kept coming down my face.
"C'mon" He says, helping me up. Yet, he keeps me crushed to his chest as we stand up. I turn my face, Uncle Barry's lifeless face, eyes closed as if he was peaceful. But his death could've been anything but peaceful. He was still injured, cuts all over his bare chest and legs, only his underwear remaining.
His chest was discoloured, and his arm obviously broken. I didn't even want to think about other injuries right now.
"What is it J'onn?" Diana whispers softly, unable to hide her own tears. I glance around quickly. Robin was in Batman's arms, I couldn't see the tears behind his mask but I could see him shaking gently, looking at me and Barry with worry and sadness on his features, as much as we could see it.
"I can hear something" He says and I could feel my heart jump. Roy loosens his hold slightly, a confused look spreading on his face before he looks at me with a worried expression. I glance at J'onn, who slowly approached Barry's body before placing a hand on his chest, before frowning.
"His temperature is high… normal for a speedster" He deducts, looking around to face me. "He is still alive"
"Alive?" I croak, taking a step forwards but Roy gently pulls me back. I frown, shaking my arm out of his hold to walk over to the table. Diana seems hesitant but does allow me to pass. She puts a hesitant hand on my shoulder and I let it stay there.
"I think they put him in a comatose state, his thoughts are weak." The martian continued.
"Link me up" I croak but he shakes his head.
"They are too weak" He states but I frown, yet don't complain. I was the only one who would be able to understand his thoughts right now. Speedster minds were the only minds Martians couldn't read voluntarily when we weren't interacting because our thoughts were too fast to comprehend.
When we were asleep, or just not speaking or bothering to pay attention to the slow world, they couldn't understand what we were saying, it was like talking to them at superspeed.
"Superman?" Martian Manhunter asks, gesturing to Barry's body. The Kryptonian understands, taking a step forwards before activating his X-ray eyes.
Almost seconds later he stops. "There's a strange fluid filling up his entire lungs, it's… it seems like.."
"Like what Superman?" Batman inquires and Superman turns around.
"It seems to be alive"
"There's living fluid in his lungs?" Hal questions, voice rising significantly. "I've heard of that, they use it to put patients under on Dominion." He continues and I hesitantly reach out for Barry's hand, much to my surprise, despite the previous statement of his temperature being normal, I was surprised by his temperature.
"Is he going to be alright?" I whisper, not daring myself to have too much hope right now.
"The fluid isn't harmful in a permanent way"
"Permanent?" I squeak and Hal turns around, looking at me with pity in his eyes, and yet there was relief.
"The longer someone uses it, the longer the body isn't used to surviving on its own, and the longer he will need to regain his strength." Hal explains, a slight worry seeping into his voice. "Dominion is advanced with surgeries, they usually don't last longer than 12 hours, I have no clue what happens when he wakes up.. how long he's been.."
When. When he wakes up. There was no hesitance in his voice at all, he was fully confident that he'd wake up. That makes one of us.
"We have to get him back to the watchtower, Lantern do you know how to extract this?" Batman spoke up and Hal nods, albeit hesitantly.
"I know how they do it, I've just never seen it be done" Hal answers honestly and I can feel tears jump in my eyes again. Wonder Woman tightens her hold on me, instead wrapping her arm around me and bringing me closer.
"Let's get him to the watchtower first" Batman spoke, nodding towards Superman. The alien seemed to understand, walking over to the table and snapping his restraints before carefully picking him up.
November 13th, 2011. 21:56
"Wally?" A female voice entered the room and I look up with tears still dried to my skin. It had been 2 hours since we got back already, and all this time I had been denied access to the operating room where they tried to save Barry's life. Even though Hal had assured me numerous times that he would wake up again.
I was still scared out of my mind for him.
"Aunt Iris" I whisper, sitting up a bit straighter. "Did something happen?" I ask. Iris looks around the living room of the watch tower, quickly gazing at Roy and Dick before looking at me again.
"He's awake" She says, a smile tugging at her lips. I immediately stand up, ignoring the surprised shout of Roy and zipping over to my aunt.
"How is he?" I speak, barely able to contain myself from speeding up my speech as well. Iris keeps smiling gently, no sadness in her eyes.
"He woke up 10 minutes ago, he's still very weak but he's okay" Iris says quickly and I felt something drop off my shoulders, a weight I had been carrying for so long. Uncle Barry was going to be alright. Iris wrapped one arm around my shoulder, tugging me along through the halls.
I almost smiled at the irony of a non-superhero carrying me around the watchtower but I didn't know to which room they had taken Uncle Barry. So I allowed Iris to direct me towards one of the medical wings in the spaceship, before stopping in front of one of the rooms. I took a breath as the door opened.
"Uncle Barry!" I cried out suddenly, zipping over to the medical bed that was in the middle of the room, my uncle laying on it and looking at me with weak but happy eyes.
"Kid" He croaked but didn't move. I don't hesitate, wrapping my arms around him as much as I could, burying my face into his chest. Before I knew it, tears were streaming down my face in big rivers, soaking up the blanket that was keeping Uncle Barry warm. I just cried, allowing every agonising moment of pressure to wash away.
Tears poured out of my eyes, pain and all the agonising responsibility I had taken upon myself over the last month.. all gone. But most importantly, I cried because Barry was back, my mentor, my uncle… my dad.
"Kid" Barry tried again and I whimper, shaking my head and refusing to let him go. "Wally" Barry said, a hint of laughter in his voice and after a few moments I reluctantly nodded, slowly raising myself again to look at him. He seemed.. tired, but despite everything also okay.
He had some cuts and bruises, and his arm was in a cast. I frown, looking at the material. Shouldn't he have healed by now?
"It's the fluid, they're stalling his metabolism" Iris says gently, gesturing to the arm. I look at Uncle Barry again, who nods slightly. I look at Iris again, who was looking at me with nothing but joy and I sigh, dragging a seat towards the bed and sitting down.
"How are you?" I ask in a whisper, not trusting my voice right now. Barry smiles again, shakily reaching for my hand. I grasp it immediately, squeezing the hand softly.
"I'm okay kid, really" He assures me but my expression doesn't change. "Hal said the fluids essentially stopped my body from doing anything, including healing. This is all from the day I was captured" He spoke in a weak voice, lifting his arm.
"What happened?" I whisper, glancing at Aunt Iris for a moment. She seemed to be just as curious as I was, sitting down on another chair, staring at her husband.
"They attacked me, targeted me when I was away from the team. They shot me with a beam and before I knew it I was in a cell." Barry continues in a whisper, voice and body still weak. "The beam .. weakened me and before I knew it I had a collar around my neck. I tried to fight them, but they broke my arm and knocked me out" He told me and I nod painfully.
Just the thought of anyone hurting Uncle Barry was unbearable, especially after the last few weeks of him being gone, presumed dead.
"When I woke up they had me chained to a table and they were inserting some kind of liquid. I don't remember much after that, just growing really tired and then nothing"
"They injected you with a special life liquid, you were essentially put in a coma" Iris explains and Barry nods slowly, probably already knowing this because Hal told him. "I'll let you two talk for a moment" Iris continues after a moment, looking at the both of us before standing up and walking out of the room.
Neither of us say anything, merely watching Iris as she walked out of the room before I turn my gaze to the ground again. There was a silence, that could almost be defined as awkward. But silences had rarely been awkward around us, not even when I was mad at him in the last few years that I had known him.
"Iris told me what you've done" Barry eventually breaks the silence and I frown, looking up. "You taking over the mantle of the Flash" He clarifies, but instead of taking the compliment as.. a compliment, I took it as a harsh blow to the face, reminding me of the past few weeks of torture.
"I tried Uncle Barry, I just… I couldn't do it" This time it was Barry's turn to frown.
"Wally what are you talking about?" He asks and I look up in surprise. "I'm proud of you for doing it, I'm glad you did. You put yourself last and protected the city when I couldn't"
"I got people hurt" I whisper and Barry smiled weakly.
"That's only part of the job kid" He whispers. "People will always get hurt… or killed" He adds and I wince, knowing that he was talking about the accident with the school. How he knew about that was beyond me though.
"But the people liked you, respected you" I retort, continuing before Barry could. "And don't say they did the same with me, they hated me." Barry's smile fades slightly and he looks at me with a slight sense of pity.
"Believe it or not Kid, they didn't like me at first either. They were hesitant, didn't trust a meta. And Iris told me about the backlash you received from the media" He stopped for a moment, regaining his breath. "But there are two major differences. The media is.. so different now than it used to be, everyone has camera's so they record every little mistake"
I don't say anything, just watching my Uncle.
"And you shouldn't forget that you just started as the Flash. Doesn't matter if you had experience as Kid. You put on the mantle of a founding member of the league, so shortly after I disappeared. You were bound to make mistakes, I did so as well when I started out, countless mistakes. But right now they are used to having the Flash around, they are used to him not screwing up-"
"Most of the time" I intercept and a smile appears on Barry's face again.
"Alright, most of the time I don't" He admits with a smile. "But kid, you're already so much better than I was when I started out, you've done a great job."
"Thanks Uncle B" I whisper, not stopping the tears from falling down my face.
