Disclaimer: NEW chapter and I'm still not the owner.

This has been betaed by the lovely FATEISoverrated!

Part Two: Ticking

To Be A Hero

It was amazing how quickly a fight could go from bad to worse. One moment, Wally was trying to out-run a robot, hot on his heels, while avoiding any further damage to the city. The next three of the damned robots had him cornered; and he was forced to do a weird sort of dance, rummaging in and out of shots as they fired at him with their bullets and energy beam. This was crazy!

As the third robot of the hour finally managed to clip his side with a bullet, the impact grazing his side and finally breaking skin, Wally decided to admit that maybe, just maybe, this wasn't quite the way he had imagined it would be.

What was worse was that he couldn't get in touch with Jay or Ralph. His comm stopped working after he'd broken the sound barrier, and gee, wasn't that just a fantastic thing to happen on what had to be the crappiest day of the year?

The first thing Wally was doing when he got back was figuring out how his comm, of all the Flash comms, had to be the one to break. Right now, however, he needed to get the robots down.

And he had no idea how.

He couldn't think, it was all just instinct and blur and then the skin on his side wasn't bleeding any more.

Wait- what?!

He almost got flattened by another beam of white light that exploded a poor stop-sign in the background as he paused to take inventory of the newly healed patch of skin. That was- very very fast. Did Uncle B and Jay heal that fast?!

And then Wally remembered- He was speed.

He could do this.

The bullets ricocheted off the ground beside him, clanging like thunder on a warm summer day, imposing and threatening that moment of peace and serenity.

Well, he could maybe do this.

Iris was not focused. She had no idea where Wally was, and the news of some sort of power hub wasn't helping matters. On one end, Iris knew that her position up on the helicopter gave her ample space to scout, something that neither Ralph nor Jay would do as well from the ground. On the other hand- Wally was out there, and she needed to get to him.

"Dammit," she muttered to herself, "Paul, turn the copter, I think I saw an explosion on that side of the town."

"Got it Iris- but I ain't getting any closer than thirty feet. Ryan's going to have to zoom!" replied the ageing helicopter pilot, as he grimaced and turned the copter in the opposite direction of where Iris had last heard Wally was.

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

It was with trepidation that Jay searched the ground. The comm-link that Wally should have been able to listen to, if not respond to, and receive orders was either failing, or Wally was in trouble. Jay highly doubted that the kid would be stupid enough to go out on his own and try and make things work. The kid knew he had to stay close by, and if Wally wasn't coming where Jay was ordering, well-

"You better be alright kid," muttered Jay quietly, "Or god help us all."

With that draining sentiment, Jay shuffled through the streets, searching for what could possibly resemble the giant battery powering these freaky robots.

"Yes! Come to papa!" crowed the Green Lantern, grinning wildly at the new jackpot. "In your face Superman!"

Hal was practically ready to dance in the air as he stared at the beauty that was his find. The power-source was in an abandoned warehouse, which was the least of Hal's worries and the first of his suspicions. Construction had been going on around the area, and sure enough, lead piles were scattered.

Minutes after the discovery, Superman was beside him, flying with the speed of God to see their discovery. He gazed down at the source, and his eyes glowed red.

The source itself was a large, egg-shapes dome, buried under the warehouse with at least another fifteen bots ready to strike. It resembled a dark black incubator in the earth, pulsing with a bright blue light as it was active. And it was easy. No protective mechanisms. Just a device prepared to ruin the Justice League anniversary and make them pay for taking the spotlight.

It was fried within seconds, the bots torn asunder by Superman's glowing red eyes.

"So, who runs this shit?" asked Hal, flying down beside Clark to assess the mostly gooey metallic situation.

Superman didn't even flinch as he plucked up one of the fried metallic pieces, with the neat little LexCorp logo plastered to the side.

"Surprised?" asked Superman dryly, "Lois is already investigating to see if she can make it the feature for tomorrow's paper. She let me know that this warehouse is one of his places too. He 'sold' it, but Lex never really sells things to anyone, now does he?"

Hal snorted at that, shaking his head, "Think we'll nail him this time?"

Superman was flying into the air, taking inventory of the entire situation as he responded with a murmur, "Probably not."

"So, Big S, handle the clean up?" called Hal, as Superman pressed on his comm, alerting Batman and the rest of the League to Metropolis' safety.

The Kryptonian gave Hal a sympathetic look, as he said, "No Hal, you're on clean-up. I'm needed in other parts of the country. John and Zatara have Coast secured, and Diana finally managed to get out from Coast and head she's flying to Central as we speak. But I need to head to Hub City. The Question, Huntress and Captain Atom need a little bit more help, and-"

And he was the better resource. Hal could move a lot faster with clean-up, while Superman and Atom intimidated the majority of the robots and got civilians to safety. Not to mention, until Ray got the zetas back up, nobody would be able to travel as fast as Superman. He could see the plan, but he couldn't make sense of it. If anything, Hal should be in Central, doing what Barry needed him to do.

But he was a hero.

And fucking Christ.

"I'm here," said Hal pathetically, "Go on Big Blue, I'll take care of Metropolis until you can get back."

Moments after Superman was gone, flying like a blue star into the sky, sailing over the country to get to Hub, Hal blasted the entire machine with another stock of green energy, squeezing the metal together and checking for any sign of activity.

There was none.

They found the Washington power source, hidden in a god-damned apartment building for the security guards assigned to protecting the civilians on the day of the anniversary. Boy was Bruce going to be pissed about that security breach.

The Flash and Katar were dismantling the entire system, trying to protect as much data as they could for Batman and the CIA. Shayera was on back-up and cleaning duty. She was getting civilians to safety and taking out any approaching threats. For the most part, the situation was resolved here.

The next step was to get the Hall of Justice, the newly gifted headquarters of the League, into order to deliver aid to any injured heroes and civilians. Barry was itching to get back to Central, but in order to prevent any major damage tomorrow, the clean-up had to be done today. So far, the Central City heroes were mostly quiet. There had been no upcoming threats or trouble.

Barry grimaced at the thought.

Clean-up was one of the less glamorous aspects of being a hero, and the least reported. On a slow news day, they'd bring up an image of a hero cleaning up after a fight, securing rubble, rebuilding the main infrastructure and helping construction workers deal with the more toxic after effects of a fight. It wasn't a job most heroes even liked. On a regular day, Barry was usually the one encouraging the heroes to take part. He even managed to talk Batman into helping out once (it might have had to do with the orphans; q Bruce had a weakness for kids), but for the most part, heroes like Barry, Superman and the Green Lanterns were the fastest at cleaning up.

"Well," said Shayera, as the system was finally down, and each robot fractured and weaponless, "I had a kill count of eighty-four."

Katar grimaced, "Eighty-two."

Shayera was beaming as her husband muttered about the unfairness of not counting the nest. Barry didn't even add his own two cents to the conversation. His hand was on his comm, trying to get news from Jay or Ralph or Iris about Wally. He had to know.

The pungent smell of molten copper and iron filled the air. Gun smoke sizzled in the corner of his eyes, and his very bones were sore. He definitely had a few bruises and scrapes from this one. But for the most part, this had been a relatively minor skirmish, more interested in creating damage than death. A grand show.

A dangerous show.

"Jay, Ralph, Iris- anyone- come in!" called Barry over the comm.

The flapping of wings, beating the air back as two Thanagerians landed beside him caught Barry's attention. They were giving him inquisitive, concerned looks. Shayera wasn't afraid to remove her mask, though Katar kept his on. He could see the worry in Shayera's fiery glance, particularly because she could hear the entire conversation in her comm.

Or at least, the lack of conversation.

"Barry?" crackled the system. It was Ralph, his voice, sounding somewhat stuffy, as though he'd broken his nose, came over the system.

"What's going on? Has Wonder Woman arrived?" asked Barry, intent and determined.

"Iris found the mother-cell, and Diana and I are taking it out. The old Flash hash gone on MIA, but I think he'sh on the other side of town," replied Ralph, and there was so much in that sentence that Barry wanted to take apart and he just didn't know where to start.

"Iris what?!"

"She's fine. The Atom got the zetas working again. Batman's shummoning all heroes and affiliates to the Hall of Jushtish. Kids with the older Flash, the old man'sh been shending him ordersh all day," continued Ralph easily, "Diana and I are going to wrap up here and get the cleanup going. The ladiesh are heading to the Hall of Justish, ASAP."

"The reporter- Iris- what happened to her- How-

"She took a helicopter into the fray. Look- we'll get there. I got to go, Flash," said Ralph, sounding as sympathetic as possible.

And then the line was cut.

A heavy hand lay on Barry's shoulder, but Barry didn't say much to that. He was after all, a hero.

The plan Wally devised was incredibly dangerous. It was a terrible idea. In fact, it wasn't even scientifically sound. If anything, Wally should just turn around and run with his tail between his legs.

But the Flash wouldn't do that. And he was the Kid. The Kid Flash.

That was sort of sweet.

If he survived this, maybe he'd take up the moniker.

"Hey- big fat and ugly!" chimed Wally, "Over here!"

The egg-shaped domes turned to face him, their orange, glowing eyes narrowing. It was intensely creepy, like they were angry, when, in reality, they were just focusing their scope. Wally was standing on the edge of the road, cornered and still for the first time since he'd entered this fight. His heart was pounding incredibly fast, and he wasn't sure how to handle this.

But he did have a plan.

The rays fired towards him, and Wally moved, this time, towards the rays instead of away.

"Kid!" yelled a voice, as Wally sped up, running straight at the white ray of death.

Wally didn't falter, he couldn't even hear it as he was directly absorbed by the white light. He was speed.

Jay couldn't move fast enough. His heart nearly gave out as he rounded the corner, to find three bots, all cornered in one area, their blasts of energy narrowed and angled together at Wally. Wally, the little boy with a big heart.

The rays were large, larger than any living man. As the energy rays collided to make one giant death ray, Wally West was running straight towards them, foolishly. For what purpose? Jay wasn't even sure. The boy was a red and yellow blur, his hair flying behind him before he was engulfed, and then, just like that he was gone. Disappearing into oblivion as though he'd never existed.

Jay's eyes widened, his heart nearly stopped. Maybe it did stop. Maybe Jay's time had come and this was all a hallucination of white light going for the wrong person. The white light should have been for him, he was the old timer, he was the one who should have gone. Not the kid. Never the kid.

And then he fell to his knees.

Wally West was gone.

Barry was at the Hall of Justice. He was forced to race around Washington, checking on all the Senators, the Parliamentary men, and the elite officials who called it home. In the midst of the chaos, it would be no surprise if one of them went missing. Batman was already checking all servers for a breach. As Barry checked each man off his list, he cautiously awaited the news from Central City. News that Wally was okay, news that was important dammit.

And where was Iris in all this mess? What exactly had his wife been doing, if not staying safe? Why was it so hard for the Wests to just stay safe, for crying out loud! It wasn't even that hard. Just take care of yourself. Don't go head first into danger. Just stay out of the way!

"Is Mr. Walters in?" asked Barry numbly to the lobby-boy, crouched behind his desk and looking weathered and frightened. "Hey, it's alright kid, the danger's over. We're fine."

He leaned down, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, and the boy reached out, warbled and with an accent familiar to South-East Asians, began to reply his thank-yous.

Barry let the kid blubber, barely more than seventeen. He shouldn't have to be so terrified, and this made the entire thing worth it. He waited patiently for the kid to calm down, and once he knew that Senator Walters was safe (and he made sure to double-check with his own eyes), tucked away with his wife and kids as well as Senator Mackie, Barry headed off.

Around him, the city was still stagnant. Still waiting for that moment of confirmation, that everything was actually okay. Washington was dark, bleak and crumbly around him. The city had taken a beating today. Tomorrow it would be pristine, clean and ready to face the world. But for today, it needed to rest.

Jay was gasping for air, clutching his chest as he stood, staring at the place that Wally had disappeared. The air itself was vibrating, and he just couldn't understand. There was no blood, there was no sign of damage. No crispy tarmac indicating that a life had once stood there. Wally was just gone.

Vanished.

The air itself was empty. There was no little boy, too eager to face the world. It was just resoundingly, heart-crushingly empty. Jay tipped his metal hat up, trying and failing to make sense of what was going on. Even the robots seemed confused.

Ralph voice came over the comm, "We found the mothership, Flash. Wonder-Woman has my back as I upload the virus, shutting them down!"

But Jay couldn't find a reply.

Where the hell had the Kid gone?

Wally was immersed, bathed in white light that was just pure energy, humming around him as he reached out, touched it. Each stream of atomic energy hummed under his fingers, crackling like coals would on a campfire, burning, a little too intense, a little too much. It was scalding and hot and for a moment, Wally couldn't breathe, he was gasping for air as the white beams of energy coursed through his veins.

He didn't know how long it lasted, being bathed like this.

Days maybe.

Months even.

He was stuck in the scorching savanna heat of the fire, letting the speed use him as a grounding tool, collecting the energy, but unlike a lightning rod, he had no place to send it. His very body was blurring, moving so fast that his atoms were coming apart at the seams, and he felt a bit like those cartoons, with the dog coming apart in ribbons, which was ridiculous and funny but not-funny, and he was the dog, unravelling like a ribbon in the night.

And then he saw the robots, saw them from a distance. They were so unbelievably slow. Useless. He could sense their speeds, and he zoomed, faster than he ever had, faster than he had ever seen, just touching each one, feeling their energy, a mild barely registered hulk of- of false speed. The robots came apart, each atom losing it's energy, and the robots cooling under his fingers, slowly and slowly coming apart, until it crumbled to the ground.

He had just won his first major fight in mere minutes.

And he was vibrating, glowing.

He laughed, but it barely registered.

And then he turned to see Jay.

The older Flash was staring, boggle-eyed at the scene, trying to process what just occurred. He looked so shocked, stunned as metal collapsed, coming apart at their seams like patchy old quicks that Joan had sewn up rather than thrown out. Dead to the world, and the air seemed to be living, thriving.

"Uncle Jay!" called Wally, "It's me! I did it!"

Jay didn't hear him.

Well, that's not going to work.

Wally raced over, reaching just beside Uncle Jay, and Jay suddenly jumped at the rush of hot air. The man seemed to stare, trying and failing to see Wally. Wally frowned. That wasn't supposed to happen- was it?

"Uncle Jay!" called Wally again, failing to understand why his Uncle seemed unable to see him, "I'm right here! Can't you-

And then he realized it.

He was thrumming, humming with energy and singing an entire song that Jay would never ever hear. And in comparison, Jay was merely one whole note, being held throughout the entire performance. He was much softer to Wally's loud cacophony of music, unable to process the white noise in the background.

But the heat was a guess.

"Wa- Kid?" called the old man, staring wildly around him, "Kid- are you-

"I'm right here," called Wally, pressing a hand desperately into Jay's, and the man hissed as though burned, staring at his suddenly warm hand.

"Am I dreaming- Are you a ghost?" muttered the older man, but he was focused on the heat in his hand, trying to process what had just happened. Wally couldn't grasp such slow words, barely able to understand as Jay continued, "Oh boy kid, what the heck did you just do?"

Wally gaped, trying to understand, trying to fathom what the problem was.

"Match your kinetic energy kid, slow down," murmured Jay, looking concentrated and fascinated, "Come on kid, sss-lll-oooooooo-oowwww duhhhh-owwww-innnnnnn."

Slow down? No- Why? Wally couldn't fathom a reason to slow down. This was what was natural. This was the way it should be. Jay needed to speed up.

"You have to slow down kid," replied Jay to the unspoken thoughts, almost pleading, "Just slow it all down. Drop the energy, let it go."

And Wally did, uneasily, he did. He let the energy free from his hand, and felt Jay shudder as the speed charged through Jay's body. Jay was his lightning rod, collecting the energy, thriving under it. Jay reached out, vaguely, grabbing a turned over car, stabilizing himself as Wally slowed his heart rate, sought to match the slow, even pace Jay was setting for him.

The energy escaped outwards, seeking something to attach to. Jay placed the warm hand on the car engine, flung out of the car itself, and despite the damage the lack of battery, it revved, pumping and flowing as Jay held Wally's wrist, murmuring rubbish words that made no sense to Wally, but meant something as he continued to breathe.

Around them, heat flowed outwards, a warm wave of energy moving through the rather warm summer day, a sudden flash of heat that attracted one reporter to the scene, searching for her nephew in a dingy helicopter that was missing a window from a rather unfortunate burst of shrapnel.

And Wally slowed, breathing in and out, and this was exhausting in a way Wally couldn't explain. He was famished, and tired, and all but beaten up.

And then he heard Jay, properly heard him, calling out, "I got you kiddo. Right here."

And so he shut his eyes, and laid himself to rest.

Iris West-Allen was playing with the ring around her finger, as the helicopter moved towards the sudden hot wind that flowed, flapping the air lazily. A wave so characteristic of a Flash. And she arrived, cameraman Ryan zooming straight into the black, barely put together stack of rubble.

And in the old Flash's arms lay Wally, her baby, lying so still and oh no- no no no.

"Is he alright?" muttered Paul the pilot, and Iris couldn't focus.

"Iris," hissed the cameraman, "We're live!"

Iris gasped out into the headset, trying and failing to find her breath, and Jay looked up, hearing the copter soar as he picked Wally up, slinging him gently with a small smile up at the camera and a cheeky, and her heartbeat returned with a sudden bang, picking up speed and she was laughing brightly. Her eyes were a little wet, and thank god Ryan wasn't focusing on her, because Jay was taking the edge off, letting them glimpse Wally's face, masked as it was, and his red hair, far too tousled and looking a bit like her father Ira's, mad and wild and standing out all over the place.

"And there he is," she suddenly stated, "The Kid Flash- I mean, the Kid of Flash."

And Iris dabbed at her eyes with her blouse sleeve, steadying herself as she stared at Jay, putting Wally on his back and getting ready to run, "A mythic figure? A real hero? We'll never know, but whatever he is, he looks a bit tired out tonight. Will we see more of him?"

And then Jay sped away, gone with the wind.

"Who knows?"

Diana wasn't a regular visitor to Central City. In fact, most of the time, she was never scheduled to visit Central. Why would she? Unlike her fellow male counterparts of the League founders, Diana had no main city to call home. J'onn understood that, but then, J'onn was so fascinated with Earth that he had no desire to claim just one city. Nor did he really understand why heroes claimed a city.

Diana supposed she had ownership of Themscyira, but the Amazon maidens of home were more than adept at protecting themselves. They were warriors, and though they accepted Diana and Hippolyta's protection, they didn't quite need it in the same way that those of man's world did.

But Central was a surprisingly tenacious city.

It was often easy to see the city in the hero. Gotham was Batman, or perhaps, Batman was Gotham, rising out of the depths of Park Row's tragedy and the upper-crust manors, made to serve. Superman was Smallville, and then he was Metropolis. His heart was molded by the soft, rolling hills of a countryside that Diana didn't quite understand, but his exterior was the metal, the heart, the strength of Metropolis.

And Central, beloved little Central. Somehow important in the South, but a rather soft, simply city. They had a gentle, fiercely loyal personality, and some of the bravest men she had met. It was with trepidation that Diana allowed the police of CPCD and their SWAT team onto the mothership, allowing them to secure and detain, as their fire department kicked into work, securing civilians and aiding with the clean up.

"I told you- I'm made of rubber! Your medical care won't work the same- I just need some rest, but thank you," called out The Elongated Man, a curious man with a close friendship to the Flash and a body that even Diana couldn't quite fathom.

The purple-suited man was waving off the first aid, as his nose twisted on it's own, still somewhat bruised, but like Barry's body, perfectly capable of healing himself.

"The majority of the country is secure Elongated Man," replied Diana crisply to the unasked question, "I believe that the threat has ended. Batman is calling all heroes to the Hall of Justice to deliver their reports and receive first aid. Do you need to go?"

"Just my nose," said the man flippantly, elongated his arm to wave it about as though the matter was hardly important. It was highly ridiculous, considering his arm was longer than his body, but it was somewhat amusing nonetheless, "I'll repair it while we work. Might need some food though."

"Your metabolism is like the Flash's?" asked Diana, as she began to fly around, lifting the larger pieces of rubble.

"Hardly," choked Elongated Man, sounding amused at the very idea, "Similar, but I don't need to eat a truck-load per day. Just after a fight to get the energy to rebuild my body. I'm like a hydra, cut one arm off-"

And voila, his arm split, two arms sprouting from his shoulder. And then they snapped back almost immediately into one arm. .

"Can't alter my bone structure," replied the Elongated Man with a shrug, "It's one of those anomalies. Can we hurry up on the cleanup? I need to find Jay and - the Kid."

Diana was impressed, and she nodded subtly, "I'll fly ahead and clear the majority of the damage."

And then she was in the air. As she flew away, she heard Ralph wolf-whistling at her form with some of the firemen. They all seemed a little amused, and while she was a little annoyed, she was also a little amused. Ralph was already barking orders and putting the cheer back into the day, even if it wasn't the way she entirely approved of. Any other day she might have been suitably upset.

But maybe, just today, in Central City, it was okay to be a little amused after all.

And done the action scenes. One more chapter to go, or two, depending on how much I write, but I may or may not end this off before the awful-ish confrontation with the Wests that's coming up, dun dun dun. On another note, I'm entering my exams in like, literally two weeks. Terrifying, I know. So that means that I've got to keep myself busy doing that (not looking forward to it).

And has anyone seen Captain America 2? Was it not amazing?! And the ending bit where they previewed Avengers 2- OMG. I cannot wait to see how they play out the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in this.

Also, I had to reload my computer, losing some various files (including parts of Cracked Product, which was mainly what I lost anyways), so I'm very sorry if those updates delay. Expect little to no updates between May 4th-21st.

Review Replies:

Guest: Thank you so much!

Blue: That's a really interesting trick, I'll save it in my repertoire for now, and credit you for the idea! Thank you!

Guest 2: Thank you as well!