AN: I know, I barely kept my promise, but I'm excited for the next chapter! which will be up within a day or two.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Justice League.
...
By this time, the league had noticed that the only battles fought with the league that Wally considered important were ones where he had either met another hero or where he had grown in some way. Therefore, it came to no one's surprise that the day everything changed for Flash and the League was finally shown.
All seven of the founding members were watching Lex Luthor be led away after a battle, and Flash started to pick up the place. Then, from behind J'onn, a glowing yellow and green portal appeared, and the Justice Lord's Martian Manhunter stepped out.
"Who-Who are you?" J'onn asked.
The other looked at him in that blank way only J'onn could do and said, "I'm you."
He proceeded to tell a big fat lie about how the dimensions are becoming unstable and collapsing. The league decided to help though, and walked right through the portal into a white-walled room.
"Hey," said Flash. "Don't you guys believe in doors and windows?"
They all looked at Lord Manhunter.
"I'm sorry," he said before phasing out of the room.
An electrical charge knocked the founders to the ground. Flash held on to consciousness long enough to see Hawkgirl almost break out before being knocked out by Lord Lantern. Then darkness took over.
A new scene formed on the monitors when Wally woke. His hands and feet were completely covered in metal cuffs, and a band wrapped around his waist, holding him against a giant X-shaped post. After taking note of his surroundings for a minute, Flash started struggling, trying to break his bonds.
He stopped after a couple of minutes when he realized Lord Batman was on the other side of his glass prison watching him.
"What're you looking at! Huh?!" Flash yelled at him. Lord Batman didn't blink.
"Calm down," he said in a calm yet authoritative voice. "You'll appreciate this someday."
"Yeah?" Flash challenged. "I don't think Hawkgirl's going to appreciate it too much."
"That was an accident. She's in our best hospital now and-"
"I don't want to hear it," Flash said lowly and pointedly looked away from Lord Batman.
"Believe me." Batman's voice actually had a bit of…caring in it. "The last thing we want is to lose another…"
"Another what?" Flash prompted, still scowling.
Lord Batman didn't answer, just turned and walked away.
The real Batman talked to Flash from the cell next to his. Batman had deduced that whatever happened to the Lord's Flash was what set the others off on their crazy mission.
Flash asked Bats if he'd figured out a way to escape, but Batman said that he hadn't and wouldn't.
Flash tried once again to vibrate his arm out, but it was no use. Then he looked down to the wires attached to him. He frowned in thought, and then he smiled deviously.
He closed his eyes in concentration. After a minute or two, his body started jerking, spazzing in his bonds. He gritted his teeth in what looked like pain, and then his body went limp, the heart monitor on his room's keypad flat lining.
Lord Batman ran to his cell. "Flash!" he called with slight panic. "FLASH!"
When Flash remained unresponsive, Lord Batman typed in the code and ran into the room. He unlocked Flash's right hand and it immediately formed a fist. Flash punched Lord Batman's face a few times until he knocked him to the ground. He quickly undid the rest of the metal holds and strapped Batman in his place.
"You'll appreciate this someday," Flash said mockingly.
Flash sped over to Batman's door and started pressing the buttons so fast it was just a blur.
Batman looked at him in his binds. "What are you doing?"
Flash didn't look up. "Trying every possible combination."
There was a second of silence until Batman said, "9-1-9-3-9."
Flash pressed in the buttons and the door unlocked. "How'd you know?" Flash asked him.
"They're the numbers I use," Batman answered, and Flash started to unlock his cuffs. "How'd you get out?"
Flash smirked. "I sped up my heartbeat till it looked like it flat-lined."
"I didn't know you could do that," Batman said plainly.
"Neither could I, but I had to come with something if you weren't going to."
"I couldn't," Batman said as the last of his restraints were pulled away. "Not with him anticipating everything I could ever think of. But who could anticipate you?"
As Batman watched that memory play out, he couldn't help but think of how true that statement was. Who in the league - in the world - would have suspected who the real Flash was? Even seeing his memories, Batman still wasn't sure if he really knew.
Together, Flash and Batman freed the other founders and then Batman left to go find their ticket home. The others went to find Hawkgirl, since she was injured and put into a much more cheerful Arkham Asylum. Flash had to wait while the others went in, but he met a lobotomized Poison Ivy and they started chatting. Then a large boom echoed from the building and a mechanical Superman head came to rest at their feet.
"Will you excuse me?" Flash asked as he turned to Ivy.
"Okay," she said serenely.
Flash ran off, but glanced back behind him. "Pity she's evil," he muttered. "She could actually be quite nice. And pretty."
Flash helped in fighting the robot Supermen until a very angry looking John came out carrying an unconscious Hawkgirl. When they busted out of the front door, military forces were already lined up to stop them.
Lord Batman swung down between the two groups and got the soldiers to stand down. He led the other leaguers out the back door, Flash and Superman exchanging confused looks when they realized it really was Lord Batman and not their Batman in the other's suit.
The scene quickly morphed to when they were all back in the Batcave and Wally was studying Lord Batman.
"So," Flash began. "Why are you helping us?"
Lord Batman paused his typing on the Batcomputer. "Grammy Flash said that doing the wrong thing for the right reasons doesn't make it right." He looked at Flash. "You used to tell us things like that all the time, but it's been so long. I guess we forgot."
"So without your Flash, the Justice Lords went rogue?" Flash asked, with a smile creeping on his face.
"It wasn't quite that simple," Batman said.
"Hey! He was the conscience of your group, and that means I must be," Flash said in a self-satisfied voice.
Then the leaguers had to leave. When they got back, Batman and Superman concocted a plan to get the Lords out of their dimension. Superman went ahead to get everything settled with the government and negotiate with Lex Luthor. Batman and the others went to Black Gate Prison to set up their trap.
Their plan went off without a hitch, Flash even taking on Lord Superman and winning…sort of. He'd thrown the Lord into an outbuilding where an office was. When Flash found him, he let out one of his snarky comments and Lord Superman shot right up. He grabbed Flash by the front of his costume and pulled back his fist.
"Can't do it, can you?" Flash whispered. "I'm the last piece of your conscience, and this is the one thing you'll never do."
The league members in the main deck thought for sure that Lord Superman would put Flash down. After all, this was the bottom line of why the Lords came over to this dimension. In their sick, twisted way, they were protecting people; protecting Flash.
They never thought that Lord Superman would narrow his eyes and tell Flash that there really wasn't anything he wouldn't do.
The real Superman stopped him in time, and Lex Luthor came and shot every Lord with a power disruptor. The League led the Lords away, but not before Superman told of how Luthor was pardoned in return for his help.
Lord Superman said that everything that Luthor did from then on would be Superman's fault, but Supes said he could live with it.
The memory ended when Superman told Flash that he's felt the same temptation as Lord Superman.
"So you're not such a boy scout after all," Flash teased.
The scene of the two heroes morphed into another memory. Wally was now dressed in normal civvies and was reclining on his couch with Dick and Roy.
"So," Dick said, "your counterpart dying made the league go crazy and put the world under Marshall Law?"
Wally sighed. "Yeah, and we couldn't even stay long enough to find out the exact events that led up to it." Flash huffed in frustration. "Do you want to know the worst part?"
"Let me guess," Roy said. "Is it you dying, the league losing their minds, or the fact that Luthor's free?"
Wally shook his head and stood up. "None, and yet, all of the above. The worst part is that the Justice Lords got involved in our universe."
"I guess I can understand that," Dick nodded. "They've put doubts into everyone's minds."
"They did more than that," Wally stated. "It doesn't matter what happened in that world because the people in this world are inherently different. Subtle changes make enormous differences in the grand scheme of things. Events play out differently or don't occur at all, but the Lords coming here changed that," Wally said, his voice growing stronger. "You've seen the news. Luthor plans on getting into politics, and he's determined enough to get what he wants. If the Lords had just stayed out, Luthor never would have been pardoned and would've kept his criminal status! By trying to keep events from repeating themselves, the Lords inadvertently put into action the very events necessary for it to occur!"
Dick and Roy looked shocked at this. Roy whistled low, shaking his head. "Damn. You're right," he mumbled.
Dick groaned. "Self-fulfilling prophecy is a bitch." He looked Wally straight in the eye. "You know Bruce is never going to let you out of his sight."
Wally slumped back onto the couch beside Roy. "Yeah, speaking of which. How goes his search of the Flash?"
Dick grinned a little. "He's close, but he hasn't figured it out yet. You want my advice?"
Wally nodded.
"Let him see you."
"What?!" Wally shrieked.
Dick grinned even wider. "Let him see you. Let him find out your identity on your terms before he finds something that will lead him to the truth. Your Flash persona is irresponsible enough that he'd believe it was an accident. The rest will fall into place," Dick said confidently.
Wally nodded thoughtfully and stood up.
"You guys hungry? I'm going to order pizza," Wally stood up and walked into the kitchen to riffle through a drawer for a menu. Dick and Roy had followed him and when Wally turned around, they were both looking intently at a letter that was sitting on a pile of papers on the table.
"Wally," Dick said seriously, looking at the redhead. "What's this?"
…
AN: Two things: 1) Do you guys know why 9-1-9-3-9 is the code? There is a reason. 2) I'm so cruel leaving you guys on a cliffhanger like that! :D