A/N: I do not own Justice League or Justice League Unlimited. Please review.
Limits of Love
Chapter Nine
It All Comes Out
Linda sat at the small desk afforded to her in the guest room that was now a cell for all intents and purposes. Sitting in front of her was a manila folder, open, displaying several pages of notes and research diagnostics, all displaying the LuthorCorp logo.
"You do know that Bats has about five cameras in this room, and right now, they're probably all focused on you." Wally's voice said from the doorway behind Linda. "And last time I looked, Luthor didn't like sharing ideas, especially with the Justice League."
"He'll just have to learn that I really don't care." Linda responded, flipping to another page. There was a tense silence between the two, each of them wondering how to broach the topic that hung in the air.
"So how's the weather in California?" Wally finally asked with a grin. Linda laughed and faced Wally finally.
"Quite nice, actually. You would love it, and Iris and Jai already do."
"Iris and Jai?"
"Our kids. Iris's a carbon copy of you, the same energy, and the same personality, while Jai's more like me, right down to the black hair." Linda explained with a fond smile.
"Are they speeders?" Linda nodded.
"I don't know yet they're full potential, but they sure are fast."
"Where are they now?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know? How is that possible?"
"Pretty possible seeing as I haven't seen them in three months." Linda replied angrily, turning away from Wally and staring down at Earth. "When Lex Luthor found out what I was working on, he kidnapped my kids, saying he'd kill them if I didn't give you the formula. I didn't know why he was adamant about it, and I really didn't care. I just wanted my children back." Linda began to cry and Wally sped over, holding her as she cried.
"He wants me," Wally told her. "He's using you, and our kids to get to me."
"But why would he do this? Couldn't he just attack you directly?" Linda retorted, pushing Wally away.
"Because he needs your formula." Wally explained.
"And how do you know that?" Linda questioned, staring at him.
"Because you told me." Wally explained, launching into the story of the other universe. By the end of the talk, Linda was shaking and sitting down on the bed.
"Luthor killed you, only to prove a point?" The shaken woman asked in disbelief. Wally sat down next to her.
"Yeah, that's why I was in Central for the first place, laying low, keeping my face out of the media.
"Until I came along." Linda replied bitterly.
"If you hadn't come along, my atoms and molecules would be scattered by now."
"But now, Luthor has a reason to have you arrested!"
"Good thing we have a geneticist here then." Wally grinned as an idea formed in his head.
"What are you thinking?" Linda eyed the speeder beside her suspiciously. Wally leaned over and explained his plan in Linda's ear, making her grin as well before launching herself into Wally's arms, nearly knocking him over.
"You want to what?" Superman asked as the duo in front of him outlined their plan.
"We want to remove all traces of LuthorCorp from Wally's genes, from the formula I administered." Linda explained.
"Is that even possible?" Wonder Woman asked, skeptical of all the science. Linda nodded.
"So is it another shot? A different formula?" Green Lantern asked.
"No, I'd have to manually go in and zap out those parts of his bloodstream, while at the same time coming in right behind with a replacement gene otherwise Wally's problem won't be solved."
"He'll start disappearing again." Superman clarified, receiving a nod. "Where will you get these replacements?"
"They can be made synthetically in our lab." Batman explained.
"We also possess the means by which to perform the operation." J'onn added. "I believe this is the reason she didn't offer it up as a solution before. She had to make sure Wally received the LuthorCorp genes." Linda nodded again.
"I say we go for it." John said. Shyera wasn't convinced.
"We can't trust anything she says," Shyera declared, standing up gesturing at the woman. "She didn't even tell Wally about his own kids."
"I didn't tell Wally because I didn't want him to choose between family and duty. I kept them hidden because I didn't want them in the middle of your ongoing war with Lex Luthor." Linda retorted back at the Thangarian.
"And yet they were involved." Diana concluded softly, Shyera backed off and silence descended upon the group as they all deliberated.
"The first thing we have to do is save our kids." Wally stated, breaking the silence.
"I've already called Josiah and Joseph and they think they've found a lead." The speeder explained.
"Then we'll go." Batman said as he stood up. "You'll stay here and have the procedure done. As soon as we have the kids, Luthor'll be out for blood."
"Wally's blood." Shyera clarified.
"Fine, just get them back safely." Wally asked.
"Of course we will, this is our job, and we're pretty good at it." Superman replied as he and the other heroes stood and left the room.
"Boy Scout, this is Bro, do you read?" Josiah's voice called through the intercom into Superman's ear.
"I hear you, and how did you find out about that nickname?" Superman asked in a low voice, receiving chuckles in response.
"I can't reveal my sources."
"Can we just get on with the mission?" Batman interrupted, making Josiah and Superman cringe.
"I've got five bodies inside." Diana announced from her post near the small bungalow. "Three adults and two children."
"I've got the security alarm disabled, but there's a security protocol I can't get past." Josiah's voice called. "The moment we cross the threshold, the alarms will sound."
"That'll have to do. Everyone get ready to invade." Batman commanded. The five heroes got in position and waited, "Go!"
"Keep that anesthesia running wide open" Linda ordered as Green Arrow helped her into a surgery smock. Black Canary nodded and followed the instruction.
"Give me the syringe." Oliver handed the instrument to Linda.
"How do you plan on working on a molecular level?" The green nurse asked. Linda grinned and held up the syringe.
"Nanobots. One set designed to eliminate anything LutherCorp, and a second to come right behind it and replace the parts."
"If it's that easy, then why did we restrain him?" Black Canary asked, tightening the strap around the Speeder's legs.
"We're removing the only thing holding his molecular structure together. We don't know what the effect will be." Linda answered seriously. Positioning the syringe, the nanobots were injected into Wally's arm.
"Lasers, why do they always have to be lasers?" Shyera griped as she tried to dodge the multiple lasers coming at her from a variety of sources.
"At least all you have to do is dodge." Green Lantern grumbled over the radio trying to fight back a metahuman body guard. A little ways away, Superman was battling his own juiced up foe.
"Trust Luther to never do anything simple." The man of steel grumbled before being backhanded into a wall. "Do you guys have the kids yet?"
"I think way may have a problem." J'onn announced, as Diana's cry could be heard in the background.
"Is Diana down?" Batman asked, struggling like Shyera to reach the house.
"No, it's the children. If I'm reading this readings correctly, they are also afflicted with the same problem as their father." J'onn informed everyone gravely as he gazed down at the two unconscious forms in their own capsules.
"What's happening?" Canary asked over the roar of alarms from various monitors around the room.
"Luther put a kill switch in his formula!" Linda answered tersely. "He must have done it right before I left, and I never thought to look."
"So, what's happening?" Canary asked again as Wally began to thrash.
"The Luther formula is being killed faster than it can be replaced." Linda answered as she typed furiously on the keyboard. "The nanobots aren't receiving any of my signals either."
"That's not our only problem." Green Arrow stated, "He's starting to disappear again."
"There's one more." Canary added in an awed voice. Linda turned to look at her.
"What do you mean?" Canary didn't answer, only pointed upwards to the ceiling. There a spiral of light was forming above Wally.
"What is that?"
"Trouble."
"It started about the same time Wally started getting sick." Batman announced as he read over the data on the twins. Everyone had gathered with J'onn after their battles with their own personal demons, so to speak.
"But I don't understand. I thought this was caused because Wally used his powers too much." Shyera questioned.
"Bad news, guys." Joseph said as he walked into the room. "I just got a call from Iris, Wally's aunt, and Barry's wife, Barry's disappearing, and there's white spiral on the ceiling."
"A what?" Shyera asked concern for the older man shown in her features.
"A white spiral, like that one." Josiah pointed above his niece's and nephews head where there was indeed a spiral.
"They're also disappearing." Batman announced solemnly as alarms began to ring from the capsules. As the group watched, the twins became pin pricks of light and floated towards the spiral, disappearing into it.
"No!" Linda cried, throwing herself at Wally as he became light particles and floated towards the spiral. As soon as her hand touched the pinpricks, she too became particles and disappeared into the spiral.
Green Arrow and Black Canary watched in morbid fascination as the spiral faded away, taking Wally and Linda with it.
A/N: One more chapter.
