Author's Note: Here we are with another chapter! This one is dedicated to AVeryPassionatePerson for the best penname. Read, review, and enjoy!

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HI – Yay! You've certainly been gone for a while. Thanks for the wonderful review!

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Wally wasn't proud of his reaction, but he figured that the near future was going to be full of a lot of moments that he wasn't entirely proud of. His eyes landed on his father and he tried to backpedal so fast that he tripped himself, slamming onto the carpet, arms braced behind him to catch his weight. Wally's eyes were big and wide and terrified as he stared at his father. This couldn't be real. It couldn'tthiswasanightmareitcouldn'tbe –

Wait. No, no, no. That meant… Breath rasping and pulse fluttering erratically, Wally just managed to turn to accuse Luthor, "It was you. The first time I was experimented on. My father sold me to you."

Luthor's smile was entirely predatory as he leaned forward, "While you were in the hospital after the lightning strike, your father realized that there was something… off about you. He immediately started looking around for a place to put you. He found my Everyman Project in its beginning phases. I want to be able to give normal, everyday people metahuman powers. Everyman should get that ability. Unfortunately, I did not have enough information about actual metahumans to start this process. I had to use actual metahumans as test subjects. He thought that my program would be a great place for you. Your two years of being experimented on and tortured greatly increased our scope of knowledge. When I saw you again with the Rogues, I had to have you. All of our other original subjects were dead. We have developed the process to turn someone into a metahuman, but I wanted an off switch. In case the person decided they didn't want the powers after all. So, we needed someone who's data we already had to get this last bit of information. You were the only one. I made sure you ended up joining the Light and allowing yourself to be experimented on again. It was rather unfortunate that Plastic Man ended up being such a good double agent, but that could not be helped. You are back now. And you won't be leaving again."

Cameron was staring at Wally in abject horror and Wally realized that he'd never actually told Cameron about his past. It just wasn't something that he brought up regularly. There weren't a lot of people who would know. Based on the reactions of the rest of the people in the room, though, Cameron was the only one who didn't know.

Luthor was still looking at him with that predatory gleam. Savage was watching Wally with undisguised delight, as if he were amused by the thought of Wally suffering. He probably was.

Ra's al Ghul's voice was sickly sweet and concerned like someone's old grandfather, "Did you not want to go with him? You can always choose to die instead."

Wally felt trapped, walls constricting around him. He truly was in the middle of an enemy stronghold, completely at their mercy. His only connection was Icicle Jr. and he couldn't do a thing without getting himself killed as well, and neither of them wanted that.

Without any other options, without any chance of escape or bargaining, Wally caught his breath and carefully stood up. His lessened headache had racketed up about ten notches with his sudden movement and fall and he was more exhausted than when he'd woken up the first time in the car. Still, though, he clenched his fists and slowed his trembling. Head held high and limbs stable and firm – no shaking even though he was terrified and exhausted – Wally walked forward.

He wasn't going to say any sort of trash about not being afraid anymore because he'd seen true evil and his past didn't touch that. He wasn't going to pretend to be brave and unable to feel pain because he was being self-sacrificing. That was for heroes and he never once claimed to be a hero.

Wally was, however, going to say that he wasn't going to let his father see his fear anymore. He was a Rogue and Rogues were prouder than that. They didn't let two-bit thugs like his father get a reaction out of them. They were better than that. Wally was better than that.

Slowly, Wally reached his father. He clenched his fists and stared straight into his father's eyes (it was something he'd never really been allowed to do, and it was strange doing it now, glancing into those pools of madness that had ruined his life). For a moment, his father stared back, nothing but madness gleaming in his eyes.

And then he punched Wally.

Honestly, Wally should have moved out of the way. It was a fist moving about as fast as a medium speed human could move it. He saw it coming. He recognized what was going on. He could have been on the other side of the state before his father made contact. But this was his father. For years, so many early years, it was habit to just let his father do this, to just let him punch Wally. It honestly didn't even occur to Wally to duck out of the way. There was no warning system, no concern. It was just… normal.

It terrified Wally that it was still normal.

His punch didn't do much, though. It couldn't. Wally's father might be strong for a regular human, but he was just a guard for a human experimentation facility. He wasn't a desperate meta looking for food on the street. He wasn't a disgusted meta-hating human in an alleyway. He wasn't Cheshire. He wasn't the Team. He was just a regular human that would never amount to anything.

It was that thought that allowed Wally to lift his head after his father punched him. His eye was rapidly swelling, and Wally knew that it would only be a moment before the bruise started fading again. Wally wanted his father to see that. He wanted his father to see that he was a meta and he was proud. His father might be disgusted by the thought of metas, might enjoy what was about to happen to Wally, but that would never affect Wally again. The speedster wasn't going to let anyone make him hate his powers again. They were the best thing that had ever happened to him and he never wanted them gone. And his father was going to see that in Wally's eyes and in his fading bruise and he was just going to have to deal. No matter what he did to Wally, the speedster wasn't going to change his mind.

That evidently got across to his father because the man's face twisted in displeasure and disgust. Grabbing Wally's shoulder with one firm hand, he shoved Wally up against a wall, putting a knee in the middle of Wally's back and holding him there as he cinched an inhibitor collar around Wally's neck.

Wally felt a little bit of himself die at the feeling. He was spending way too much time in these things. He hated these things. His father then took a cord and wrapped it around Wally's hands several times before adding a zip-tie. His father then pulled him away from the Wally and shoved him forward, towards the door. Wally tried to look behind him (whether to give comfort to Cameron, or to get it from him, he didn't know), but his father slapped the back of his head, getting him to look forward again and keep moving. This really was it. No backing out. No escaping.

His father was silent as they walked, moving towards the wing of the building that housed the room where Wally had allowed himself to be experimented on. It still sickened him to think that he'd walked himself into this situation. It was all his fault. He'd allowed them to manipulate and push him around until he did exactly what they wanted.

What Wally hadn't expected, hadn't even thought about, was the other members of the Light. He was always closest to Cameron and the back to back training, lab sessions, and missions didn't really allow for him to be all that social within the organization, but he'd still made some acquaintances. He'd always been pretty good at making friends with villains; it was one of the things that he did the best at with the Rogues. They'd actually started letting him completely take over negotiations with other criminals.

Now, they stared at him with horror written across their faces as he was marched down the hallways, wrists tied behind his back and dark inhibitor collar standing out against his pale skin and bright red hair. There were shouts and jeers and, for a moment, Wally flushed with shame, embarrassed by the whole situation. Then, he realized that they were jeering at his father. All of their comments were against him, telling him to let Wally go and get those restraints off. They were calling him a coward and a cheat and far worse things. They were defending Wally against his own father even though they barely knew him. There were a couple of them who didn't even know Wally, just knew of him. And yet, they all fought for him.

This was the honor amongst thieves that is rumored throughout the world. This is what worked to first convince Wally that being a criminal was actually pretty fun. Bolstered by their support and unwavering faith and their assumptions that of course it was Wally's father that did something wrong, Wally lifted his head again, flush disappearing and mischievous light entering his eyes. He wasn't some broken kid. He'd promised himself that he was going to keep his head on straight, that he was going to live for himself and himself only, that he was going to keep everything together.

This was his life.

Eventually, they made it to the room where Wally had gone countless times before to go through his checkups and get experimented on. The room was empty when they reached it. Wally slowed as he saw the door on the other side of the room that lead to a blank white hallway. A memory scratched its way to the surface of his mind, dropping him back into that same hallway, years ago.

Wally heaved desperately. It was like some sort of horror movie. His hospital slacks were covered in dried blood. His hands were covered in blood – some of it his own from his many wounds, and some of it from the guard who he'd attacked to get out of this godforsaken place.

His cut up bare feet were leaving gory footprints behind him, drops of blood spattering on the ground intermittently, bloody smears of handprints on the walls from when he'd needed to pause a take a breather. If someone had wanted to follow him, they'd have no problem. The hope was, though, that they wouldn't try to follow him. Normally, there was an airtight system in place to keep the metas from escaping. There was never a time when there was only one person with him, or at least watching him. But Wally had graduated high school today (and shouldn't that have been a whole lot more exciting) and the scientists made some sort of breakthrough at the same time. It meant a lab-wide celebration.

Wally had been there for two years. Any and all escape attempts had been easily thwarted and, after a while, beaten out of him. He was exhausted from an intense experimentation session and he'd been eating significantly less food than he needed as part of another experiment. Theoretically, they should have been able to relax. In their minds, there was nothing left of him that was willing to take punishment or incite wrath. In their minds, they had already molded the perfect test subject.

So, understandably, security was lax that day. What they didn't know, though, was that Wally hadn't given up. He'd just stopped being so naïve. He'd realized that he needed to wait for a moment like this to strike. He couldn't just run when a window showed itself. He needed to run when a whole night opened up. Even if he was caught, there was a good chance that the rest of the guards were drunk enough that he could disorient and disable them before they could catch him again.

And, honestly, as much as it turned his stomach and made his skin crawl, Wally was willing to kill the guards to get out. He wouldn't survive in this much longer. He just wouldn't. There was no chance.

So, he beat the single guard that had been escorting him to the washing room and ripped his inhibitor collar off. And then he ran. He ran and ran and ran until he could barely see straight, white walls blending into white walls blending into white walls. The place was a circular labyrinth. Wally was pretty sure that there actually wasn't any exit. That's certainly the way it felt to the scared thirteen-year-old dripping blood through each hallway.

His head pounded, and his legs were already weaving. He hadn't even started really running, determined to wait to start that until he was outside and could run wherever in the world he wanted to. He knew enough languages that there were plenty of options.

Still, that didn't really help him when he was still trying to get out of the stupid building.

Wally didn't know how long he wandered through those hallways. All he knew was that at some point, he stopped really processing things. The white walls didn't register. The warm blood and sweat didn't register. The sounds of the alarm finally going off didn't register. The coppery smell of blood and the sharp scent of antiseptics didn't register.

The next thing he knew, Wally was standing outside, blinking into the sunlight for the first time in two years. Hissing sharply, he threw up a hand to protect himself from the light. It hurt! Had sunlight always been that painful? Wally felt like his skin was already burning.

He tilted slightly to the side, vision wavering and legs buckling. Gasping, Wally righted himself against a tree and then prepared to run. Behind him, he heard the sounds of men pouring out of the building. He didn't look back. He didn't dare. The sounds of pursuit being the final push, Wally shot off, racing through the land at superspeed. He was free.

He was finally free…

Wally came back to himself with the feel of the back of his head getting slapped again. It wasn't the same as when Len did it. This head slap was entirely malicious. Hunching his shoulders slightly, Wally started walking again, not even aware that he'd stopped. The shaking that he'd tried so desperately to hide was trying to come back again. Wally was determined that it wasn't going to happen. His father and all those scientists and the guards weren't going to see him shake, even if it felt like he was going to fly apart with how much he shook inside.

Finally, the two of them reached another set of doors. Wally's father pushed him through, almost causing Wally to trip.Blinking into the harsh light of the room, Wally tried to move a hand to block it, momentarily forgetting that his hands were tied together. All that did was cause the cords to dig into his skin, the sharp feeling so painfully reminiscent of Cheshire's actions earlier in the day that Wally felt his stomach clench painfully. Was that really just this morning? Had he only escaped from the Team this morning? How was it that everything was blurring together so firmly, that it was going so quickly when all he knew was the painfully slow passage of time.

As Wally twisted his head and squinted his eyes in the bright, sharp light that bounced off pure white walls, he caught glimpses of the scientists. White lab coats and brown clipboards and hungry faces made Wally try to shift back, running into hard muscle that clenched his wrists in one strong hand, causing Wally to gasp and twist in his father's grasp.

That insufferably bright white light was still stabbing into Wally's eyes and he kept shifting his head, trying to protect his eyes from that light. There were figures advancing from all sides. There were guards mixed in with the scientists. They all wore hungry expressions. There was a metallic clang in the background. The sound rung and rung and rung in the looping hallways until Wally couldn't tell if the metal thing had been dropped three hallways away or directly next to him. A hot breath panted in his ears, hands like a vice around his wrists. The scientists kept getting closer. Wally couldn't escape. He wasn't going to let them touch him again. They were going to hurt him. They were getting closer. He couldn't get out. There was a sharp prick just below the inhibitor collar. Something flushed through his veins and the world morphed around him, bright shocking sounds and lights fading into dark horror. Scientist faces merging to become one terrible beast bent on his destruction. The black shadow of his future swallowed him whole.

JJJJJJ

Jade sat unmoving on her bed. After a few more seconds of practiced stillness, her hands started to shake. She wanted to hit herself. She wanted to scream. Wally had gone all the way to the scientists without shaking and he had signed himself back into a life of agony that he'd worked so incredibly hard to escape. And Jade couldn't stop herself from shaking? Pitiful.

Then again, when was she anything but? She was just… pitiful. Why was this affecting her so much? What did she care that Wally was doing this to himself? It was his own fault for being so naïve and so willing to do whatever to please people! It was his own fault for being stupid enough to fall into this life. None of this was on her. None of this was her fault.

So, if it wasn't her fault, then why did she feel like it was? Why did she feel like she had lost the last good part of her? Honestly, she hadn't even thought that there was anything good or pure left in her damaged, fire tested soul. Then she had met Wally.

He was just so… pure and innocent weren't the right words. Neither was good. He was a villain just like her. He didn't care who he stole from or who's financial life he ruined. Wally wasn't a good person. He'd left pure behind with every crime he'd committed and every time he fought against superheroes and came out in one piece. Jade wasn't sure if he'd ever really had innocence to begin with. If he had, then it had been wiped out pretty quickly. There was just something else about him that just clicked with her. It made her feel better, lighter, happier. Those weren't things she felt very often.

And then, she'd started to feel protective of him. Wally was her mark, the person she was supposed to manipulate into going with the Light's plans. And she felt protective of him. Pitiful, a voice sneered in her mind. It sounded suspiciously like her father.

Burying her face in her shaking hands, Jade willed herself to calm down. She'd seen people forced into bad situations before. That was basically par for course in the League of Assassins. She'd seen it plenty of times as a child when her father forced her and Artemis into countless situations that were horrible for two little girls to go through. The idea that people oftentimes didn't get a choice on their life situations was something that Jade had accepted early in life.

Still, it wasn't fair. Every single day, she thought about how unfair it was. The amount of teen villains in the Light was sickening. Wally. Cameron. Shimmer. There were more. Far too many more. And they were so desperate. Every single one pushed themselves far past their limits just to please. It was wrong. It was so wrong.

And not a single one of them saw that. Not a single one realized that they were throwing their lives away. Why couldn't they be better than her? Why couldn't they have given up this life before they became this deeply entrenched in it? God knows that she could never have given this life up, but surely, they could have managed it. Surely, they could have been better than her.

But they weren't. Instead, they were bargaining their lives for each other, for themselves. They had to choose between experimentation and death. They had to choose between working for an organization that was willing to eliminate you because of a grudge and death. It was cruel. This world wasn't meant for children. And yet, suddenly, it seemed like there were only children making up the world.

The worst part was, Jade couldn't do a thing about it. She would be throwing away her entire career, her entire lifestyle if she tried to stop it. She probably wouldn't even succeed. She just had to watch these children crumble under the pressure.

Bitterly, Jade thought about how easy it would be for Artemis to do something about this. The blonde archer wouldn't even stop for a moment to think about it before she would be rushing in to save those children. She would never deliberate on how it would affect her, only immediately moving to put everything on the line for others. That was what was always different between the two sisters. Artemis was always a hero at heart and Jade was always a villain. It was just how things were.

Jade entertained thoughts about what the heroes would do if they knew about what was going on in the Light. How would they react? What would they do to save those kids?

Shaking her head, black hair tumbling around her shoulders, Jade blinked back tears. No. What was she thinking? That was treason. She absolutely could not think about informing the heroes. There had been enough double agents in this entire colossal mess. She was not going to add to that.

But… those kids would go to a better place. Wally wouldn't be stuck in that lab, being experimented on and tortured for the rest of his probably short life. Cameron wouldn't sit silently through his dinner, shoulders slumped and food mostly untouched. They might actually have a chance at happiness, if not a good life. Jade could get them out of this soiled world. It was far too late for her, but these kids deserved it.

Who was she to think of herself at a time like this? She didn't even necessarily have to give herself away. It'd be difficult to get information to the heroes, but she could manage it. A comment here, a hint there. Heat of the battle stuff. If she could help…

No, she didn't dare. The Light would kill her. They would actually kill her. She wasn't willing to risk that. She didn't even really know these kids! She didn't owe them anything! Just because her life sucked, and she doesn't want there's too as well didn't mean anything. It was their own fault for getting pulled into this world.

A voice that sounded suspiciously like Artemis whispered in the back of her mind that it really wasn't their fault. Cameron was turned into a metahuman by his father's villain tools and then used by his father as another villain because of his abilities. Wally was turned into a metahuman by chance and immediately thrown into a world of meta experimentation because of that little chance. Their lives really weren't their choices. It wasn't their fault that they were thrown into this life head first. Honestly, they've done remarkably well for their situation.

Jade wanted to say that it was just Wally that had gotten to her. At least that was easier to admit to. Just one kid making her go kind of soft on him? That wasn't bad. But Cameron made her just as soft. She didn't know him as well, and her interactions were limited, but that didn't really mean much. She saw him every time she looked in a mirror. Dad trained him his entire life to become a villain? Same with her. Dad's work came home and hurt him? Same with her. Developed an eager need to impress someone with his skills? Same with her. At some point, he'd make his first kill if he hadn't already. He'd make his first kill and it'd tear him apart and then they'd force him to make his second kill before he was ready and then his third and then he'd be just like her, cold and bitter and broken and wrong and evil and irredeemable and…

Jade was out of her depth here. She couldn't do this on her own. The only problem was, she didn't have anyone to turn to. There was no way she could tell her father about this. Artemis was out of the question because the Light would kill Jade if she tried to contact a hero, especially with all the upheaval going on. She couldn't go to Wally and Cameron for so many reasons. They were younger than her; they couldn't take on her problems. They were part of the problem. Both of them were going to be watched so closely that they won't be able to breath without it being noted down somewhere.

After all that, what did she have left?

Expression slackening and eyes itching with tears, Jade thought of her mother. Would her mom be willing to see her? Would her mom be willing to help? Jade had watched her mom after she came back from prison. Apparently, becoming paralyzed was good for her mother. Her mom seemed happier, readier for life. She was finally moving on, getting out of the world that she had given herself to when she was younger.

Would she even want to see Jade? Or would she be disgusted by the monster that Jade had become? Chest heaving with the attempt to keep her tears in, Jade decided that she didn't care. She needed her mother like she'd never needed her before. Maybe now her mom could be there for her, could be there for the family.

Almost without thinking, Jade made the trip over to Gotham, leaving the car several streets away from her mother. Jade carefully picked her way across the rooftops of Gotham, moving towards her mother and sister's apartment.

Easily, Jade moved up the stairs, silent footsteps barely making an indent on the stairs. Subconsciously, she blended into the shadows, melding with the walls and making her presence practically undetectable.

She stopped in front of her mother's door, hand raised to knock. For a long moment, she stared at the door. She stared, and she thought, and she stared. Jade couldn't do this. She just… she couldn't do this. It was wrong. She couldn't put this on her mother. This was wrong. She needed to go back to the Light.

Turning around, Jade nearly jumped out of her skin. It was a testament to how out of sorts she was that her mother was able to get out of the elevator and come almost up to Jade without the assassin noticing. Trying to hide the fact that she had been startled, Jade attempted something close to a smile and said, "Hey Mom. Long time, no see?"

Quickly regaining her composure, her mom sent her a tight smile and rolled past Jade, "Yes, it has been a long time. Perhaps we could get reacquainted over a cup of tea?" Jade nodded wordlessly as her mom worked the key into the door and opened in. After rolling inside, her mom smiled in a much more relaxed manner, and asked, "Won't you come in, dear?" Jade was helpless to do anything but go into her mother's home.

Author's Note: There's been significantly less dialogue and action than I wanted the last couple chapters. I'll try to fix that next chapter. Alrighty, that's that. Thanks for reading!