Fastest update I've put out so far, wow.
Reviews;
Counting Sinful Stars: Gonna be honest here, Wally is definitely one of my favorite DC heroes. It's just so easy to love him. He's super smart, super-fast, and a super dork.
As for his friends that was Hartley Rathaway and James Jesse are two members of the Flash's Rogue Gallery, being the Pied Piper and the Trickster respectively.
Hartley never got animated except for a second long cameo in the Justice League Unlimited episode 'Flash and Substance'. He is scheduled to appear in the new Flash show, and the Pied Piper once appeared in an episode of the Wonder Woman TV show from the 70s, but that wasn't Hartley. He was mostly in the comic books. I'm not going to go strictly by those though, fair warning to anyone who reads those avidly.
For those that he don't Hartley can do crazy things with music, everything from brain washing to blowing up entire planets. He was born deaf, his family was rich and paid for research into sound, expensive doctors gave him hearing and he's been obsessed with music since. He's really only a Rogue because his life was boring and he liked them.
James is different. He's been in quite a few shows, including the 90s Flash TV series having (I think) two episodes all to himself. In the same JLU episode I mentioned earlier James is one of the four main antagonists, teaming up with three other rogues (Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, and Mirror Master) to try and take down the Flash.
He makes gag weapons, like flying shoes, explosive teddy bears and elaborate death traps based off of normally harmless practical jokes. He was born to a family of tightrope walkers (if my memory is correct) but was scared of heights (hence the flying shoes). He's also technically insane, though what his exact diagnosis is I can't remember.
If you ever surf around FF or the internet in general a lot of people (myself included) portray the Rogues as being more friendly-rivals than I-will-kill-you-and-your-children towards the Flash's, which is actually not very out there. Flash gets along well with his Rogue's in general, and their attempts to kill him are usually more comical than serious. These two especially are, even in the comics, usually seen as being close friends (Hartley) or friendly (James) with Wally.
These two I'm making younger, around the Teams age, James as sixteen and Hartley as nineteen.
Fun fact, Hartley is one of the first DC characters to be canonly gay.
"We're gonna get in trouble," Cathy hissed. Her companion, a neighbor boy by the name of Mark, ignored her, his bright red Flash T-shirt hanging off his shoulders. He wore is almost every day.
"We will if you don't be quiet," Mark grumbled, creeping along the shrubbery as they kept low to the ground.
"We should just leave her alone," the girl insisted, "She's scary!''
"There's nothin to be afraid of of that old witch!" Mark declared.
"Then go up and ring the doorbell," Cathy challeneged.
Mark paused, looking up at the oldest house on their street, the window's cracked and the door always shut.
"Maybe next year…"
"A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you."
― Elbert Hubbard
"I'm sorry."
"You left me hanging!"
"I'm sorry!"
"From a ceiling!"
"I'm sorry!"
"James almost bisected me!"
Dick Grayson looked up from where he's been typing away at his laptop, watching his two friends walk in, arguing about something. Catherine was trailing behind Wally, the older girl trying to apologize but looking anything but sincere. In fact she looked about ready to start laughing at whatever was going on. The acrobat perked up, the thought of black mail appealing greatly to him.
"What's going on?" he asked.
The two looked over at him, apparently unaware that he was there. Cath grinned, opening her mouth to answer before Wally's hand clapped across her mouth.
"Nothing!" he shouted.
That was apparently Caths limits as she hand to pull away, laughter pouring out of her as she stumbled to the couch, falling onto it and hiding her face in Dick's knees.
"It was! He!" she couldn't even get it out.
By the amount of red that was on Wally's cheeks Dick knew that it was something good, something he just had to know.
"You can't tell!" Wally demanded, stalking over and hauling Cath up, one arm looped around her middle.
"Why not?" she asked, face twitching into some semblance of innocence. The Boy Wonder wasn't fooled. When they were off the job she was far less serious than when they were on, something he was sure was from her brother.
"Because- Because-" Wally groaned, flopping into one of the chairs with Cath still on him. "Because I don't want you to!" he finished lamely.
Catherine snickered, pushing herself up and using Wally as a substitute for the actual chair.
"But James and Hartley already know, isn't it only fair to tell Rob?" she asked, doing a much better job of feigning innocence.
Dick was already pulling up security footage from the Central-Keystone area. If Hartley and James were involved then he knew from experience that it was going to be funny.
"What's going on?" Artemis asked, drawing three sets of eyes to her. Technically there were only two and half, seeing as one of Catherine's now appeared to be swollen shut. If it bothered her she wasn't acting like it.
"Wally is a dork," Catherine reported, kicking her legs her legs over the arm of the chair and draping herself casually over Wally's lap. Dick snickered at the look on Artemis' face, something between incredulousness, entertainment and jealousy.
"I thought we already knew that," she commented and Wally groaned.
"Why me?" he asked, looking to the sky.
"Because you told a five year old Santa Claus was fake," Catherine offered.
"Because you blew up a science lab?"
"Because you-"
"I get it, I get it!" Wally cried, cutting them both off. Dick grinned at Catherine and she returned it.
Artemis rolled her eyes. "I don't even want to know," she decided, taking a seat next to Dick and grabbing the TV remote. "What are we doing?"
Dick lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "With Miss M, Conner and Kaldur on a mission we don't have a lot we can do."
"There's a new episode of Celebrity Hockey on tonight," Wally offered, trying and failing to shove C.G. off of him.
"That show?" Artemis crinkles her nose in distaste and Dick exchanges a glance with Catherine Grace. Wally always watches Celebrity Hockey in the Cave, every Wednesday when the new episodes come out, and every Wednesday Artemis somehow ends up in the living room, watching it from the corner of her eye or from inside the kitchen, where Wally couldn't see her.
"Let's watch," Wally demanded, trying to grab the remote from Artemis and only succeeding in dumping Cath onto the floor. The girl squawked indignantly, sitting up and rubbing her back while giving Wally an insulted look.
"You dropped me!"
"You left me!"
"It's on!"
The two looked over at Dick, who had ninja'd the remote from Artemis when she wasn't looking. He pointed to the TV and turned to watch himself, quietly dreading this episode. He knew who was playing on it.
"Holy shit."
"Is that Bruce Wayne?"
"Dude!"
Dick ignored the looks Wally and Catherine were sending his way, staring at the TV.
The credits finished rolling across the screen and game started, with Bruce slipping and sliding across the Ice. At one point just coming out to try and shoot he almost did the splits. Artemis is looking at the three around her, as if unable to comprehend why they're laughing so hard.
"Oh god," Siege gasps, "Tell me it's fake!"
Dick snorts and shakes his head, his cheeks starting to hurt. "No, I watched them film this one, it's real!"
Wally choked and Dick had to turn away as Bruce did a face plant into the ice, tripping up three other players he'd been put in there with.
"Why is this so funny?" Artemis asks at last, head snapping between the three of them.
Cath shakes her head, standing and stumbling out of the room. "Sorry, sorry, I've gotta go see a friend."
"What?" Wally asks, watching her go.
"Who?" Dick questions.
The Lantern pauses at the edge of the room, looking back at her and Dick frowns. He knows that face. He'd seen it as the team was leaving Bialya, seen it when Roy had mentioned the Watch Tower.
"Just a friend," she tried to dismiss, but Dick wasn't buying it. She was keeping a secret.
"I'll be around tomorrow," she promised, fleeing before anyone could question her again.
Wally looked at him and Dick looked back, frowning.
"Where do you think she's going?" he asked.
Wally shrugged, eyes wide. "I don't know."
The Boy Wonder paused, looking over at the zeta bay. "We could find out…" he didn't like secrets, for all the ones he had to keep. He also didn't like invading his friend's privacy, but with the way C.G. was acting now, it might be important. And Bruce's paranoia may or may not have had him on edge lately.
"Shouldn't you guys, I don't know, trust her?" Artemis asked from beside them.
"We do," Wally insisted.
"We just want to know what she's doing that she won't tell us about it," Dick explained, as if it were the most innocent thing in the world.
"Yeah, what you're talking about? Huge invasion of privacy, and pretty creepy too!" Artemis stood up as well.
"I'm going to get some training done, when she drops you out in the Atlantic don't come crying to me."
Dick looked at Wally who met his gaze. The redhead smiled innocently.
"I do owe her for the, er, help she gave me last night," Wally drawled.
Dick laughed, standing up and leading the way to the Zeta Tubes. He would figure out what had happened while he'd been watching the filming of Celebrity Hockey, even if he had to ask the Piper himself.
Metropolis was accurately named, I thought, walking out of the telephone booth and into the bright sun. I glowered at the brilliant light, pushing my sunglasses higher up the bridge of my nose. You would think that living in California I would be used to it. Unfortunately all doctors agreed, my eyes were never going back to normal without surgery, which I would not be getting.
Ever.
"Catherine Grace!" Kara called, waving at me from where she stood next to her cousin at the end of the block. I grinned and raised my hand in return, taking off as a jog towards the two.
Kara looked nice, much more at ease than she had upon our first meeting. Her hair was cleaner now, her skin wasn't as pale. In fact she was developing quite the tan. She stood next to Clark, her arm looped with his as the bulky reported kept them out of the way of others, dressed up in a dark blue suite and his classes.
Don't ask me how he got away with keeping his secret ID, none of us are quite sure.
Kara herself had her hair falling loose, the edges resting on the short sleeves of a purple crop top, a pair of my own jeans tight on her legs and my boots peeking out from under the hems.
When I got next to her she held out her other arm and I looped mine in it, not really caring that we would be those annoying people that took up the whole sidewalk as we set off, on a mission to get Kara clothes of her own.
Almost immediately she started talking, this time in English.
"I cannot tell you how good it is to be out of quarantine," she told us, "Don't get me wrong, the Fortress of Solitude is great but, you have to admit it is a little boring," she watched the windows around us, eyes on the fashion covered mannequins.
"Metropolis is much more my style."
I nodded. "I can tell. You look right at home."
Kara dropped my arm and got in front of Clark, stopping our walk.
"This is the life I want, Kal," she told him, before correcting herself, "uh, I mean Clark," she smiled sheepishly up at him, her hands clasping in front of her.
Clark smiled down at her warmly and I couldn't help but want to hit him.
"You'll have plenty of time to decide," he assured her. That was seven words. Probably more than he'd ever said to Conner.
"I want to know everything about being an earth girl," Kara told her, and I smiled again, draping an arm across her shoulders.
"And that's why I'm here," I assured her. I had had to relearn just about everything when I'd first got back to my home planet five years ago, which would probably make it easier to teach someone else all of the ins and outs of 'life as an earth girl'.
Kara's eyes glowed with excitement. "Where do we start?"
"I think I've got a pretty good idea," Clark said, looking at a couple of nearby women. I followed his gaze and almost laughed before looking back at the blonde.
"Kara, allow me to teach you the delicate art, of clothes."
"Is she shopping with Superman?" Wally asked in disbelief, staring down at the ground through his goggles.
Robin sat next to him, hacked security footage playing on his phone as he leaned on the roof ledge, sunglasses perched on his nose.
"Looks like the Big Guy and… I have no idea who that is. She'd not in any database, not even the Leagues," he reported, looking up at his redheaded friend. Wally stared down at him for a moment before looking back.
"That's weird…"
Shopping was fun, honestly, I loved it. I really loved that Bruce had equipped me with a credit card when Clark mentioned wanting to take Kara around the city for some fresh air.
Clark was lucky he had super strength with all the shirts, pants, skirts, dressed and shoes he was being forced to juggle as Kara and I dragged him around, picking out and trying on clothes.
We had spent more money than I ever had on her things, including a pair of heels she was still working on staying upright in and a professional manicure. While we were doing teenage girl things Clark stayed behind us, scaring off several fairly cute boys.
I was glad for it. I wasn't currently the world's biggest fan of dating, or even flirting.
Not after my last boyfriend had tried to kill me.
Kara got make up, jewelry, and a black outfit that Clark had completely vetoed.
By the end of it all the Man of Steel looked ready to sleep for a week.
We left the last store, the sun starting to set and the city starting to wind down as people got off the road before rush hour started.
"That was great!" Kara cheered, "I'm going to love being an earth girl."
I laughed, pushing my hands into the pockets of my jacket. "You say that now, but your attitude is going to change once you start school."
Clark tensed and I frowned.
"That is, assuming you do. You're old enough we could fake records," I backtracked. "Which, actually, reminds me of something."
Clark gave me a weary look and Kara looked curious, bags swinging from her hands.
"Bru-atman mentioned you to Diana and we were thinking that maybe it might be a good idea for you to spend some time on Themyscara, just until you've got all of your powers under control and have more of an idea of what you want to do with your life."
"No," Clark cut in, "Absolutely not. I can train her just fine, she's got complete control."
"Tell that to the dressing room door," I said dryly.
Kara was frowning. "Don't I get a say in this?" she asked, "It is my life."
"Of course you do," I turned to her again, "It's just an idea, nothings concrete, but it might be a good idea for you to be in a place where you don't have to worry about anyone else being around or accidentally loosing control, and the Amazons would love having you, I'm sure. It's not like you'd be in quarantine again."
I took a few steps away, pulling out my ring as it started to glow. "I've got to go, duty calls."
The cousins watched as I took off, running into an alley and suiting up before flying out and up into the troposphere. Something was apparently happening on Venus.
"So you are here."
I looked away from where I'd been talking to Carol, smiling a bit when I saw Dick walking through the crowds towards me. The thirteen(almost fourteen) year old slipped through adults, suite covering his small body.
"Yeah, couldn't get out of it. One of things when your brother is not-quite-dating his boss," I joked.
"Are they ever going to actually get together?" the Boy Wonder asked, looking over to where Carol had wandered off, pulling Hal with her to chat with one Bruce Wayne.
I could only shrug. "Hell if I know."
"Anyone we know here?" he wondered, and I looked around.
"No, I don't think so. Ollie opted out of this one and Roy wouldn't have come even if he'd been invited. The Rathaway's aren't coming either so Hartley's out."
"What about Cara?" Dick asked.
I faltered. "Cara?" I asked, looking down at him. Bright blue yes met my own brown and he nodded.
"Yeah, Cara. The girl you spent yesterday shopping with. With Clark," there was the barest note of accusation in his tone.
"Well," I drawled, "Looks like omission is out," Dick gave me a look and I backed a few feet further from Bruce. "Okay, so I was flying over Maine just before we went to Bialya…."