Author's Note: Here I am with another chapter! Forewarning: I will NOT be able post next weekend. Not only is it finals, but I will also be moving out of my school apartment, so I'll be a little busy. Just so you know! Read, review, and enjoy!

WWWWWW

Wally grabbed his food mulishly, flying across the prison space so he could sit outside Ben's cell. Ben had already been given his food and was eating away at it. Wally envied his calm a little bit. Wally himself certainly wasn't very calm. He was going stir crazy. Sure, the inhibitor collar was off which was he intensely grateful for, especially when people told him about the last year and a half or so that he'd been wearing an inhibitor collar. That didn't make this tiny little prison block with only one other person in it any more interesting, unfortunately.

What made it even worse was that his memories were coming back in fits and spurts. And, sure, that would normally sound like a good thing. It wasn't a good thing in this case. His memories were coming back mostly chronologically with a hint of trigger-based memories, but that didn't help him very much. From what he got so far, his early years of life sucked. He felt like he was just waiting for the next nightmare to strike. He really, really wanted to get to the part of his life that he actually enjoyed. He hadn't been expecting it to be this long in coming. Maybe he really did have a reason to be a villain, yikes.

Ben glanced up, jumping when he saw Wally on the other side of his clear door, "Hey, man! You scared me!"

Wally smirked, "I was trying to do that."

Ben rolled his eyes, "Absolutely not. You just wanted a friend and happened to scare me in the process. Don't worry, it's not your fault you're so bad at making friends."

"Apparently I made friends with you while you were experimenting on me," Wally commented dryly, "Those are skills."

Ben winced, laughing awkwardly, "Please don't bring that up. I already feel awful enough for it. And I've been arrested for it."

"As someone who's been experimented on, I think I get permission to bring that up whenever I want to," Wally pointed out.

Ben winced again, "Well, yes, but… please don't."

Wally laughed, "Yeah, sure, whatever." The two sat in silence for a moment, working their way through their food. Wally groaned and threw his head back, "I can't even make small talk because I'm stuck in this stupid prison block where nothing happens, and I don't have enough memories to reminisce about or something. This is stupid!"

Laughing nervously again, Ben said, "I mean, you seem to have a pretty good grasp on science when we talk about it. We can small talk science if you want."

"No, no, it's fine. It's whatever," Wally said. He sped through the rest of his food before standing up, pacing up and down the hallway slightly. He was so bored. He was also starting to get mad. The heroes had said that now that he was imprisoned, he could get supervised visits with the Rogues.

He hadn't. He'd been there for almost a week and he hadn't gotten any visit from the Rogues. Not even a sign of interest or something. He'd barely even gotten a chance to see the people he actually knew. No one would answer any of his questions. Most of the time, he only saw Ben and Dick when he would come visit in the evenings. And, sure, Dick was super cute and funny and nice and Wally could definitely see himself falling for him, but Wally had also spent the last two months stuck in a room with Wyynde and Jason and he'd like confirmation that they were alive or something. Plus, he wanted to see Tara again. She felt like a little sister to him even though his memories were making it seem like he was an only child.

But he wasn't allowed to see anyone he asked for. Especially the Rogues. Did they not want to see him or were the heroes blocking his access? Wally didn't remember the Rogues yet, but he was hoping that they would at least care about him enough to come check on him, even if they did trust the heroes to help Wally heal. But if they did care, then why weren't they visiting? What would the heroes possibly get out of stopping him from seeing the people who are supposed to be his family?

Wally narrowed his eyes. Maybe they did have a reason. They'd put him in a prison block, and he'd agreed because it was one step up from the inhibitor collar. He'd willingly let them put him in prison. Was this their way of arresting him? Had they just manipulated him into situation? Had he just allowed it?

No, that was stupid. Well, potentially. It didn't make sense for them to let Dick in there to see him if they really wanted him arrested. Sure, Wally believed that Dick genuinely cared about him (just like he believed the part of him that longed to remember their history together, longed to remember every moment, every embrace), but that didn't mean anything. From what he'd heard about him from Jason, Wyynde, and Dick, it sounded like Batman was the kind of guy who would definitely stop anyone from seeing Wally if he felt like it.

Was it… was it possible that they were trying to convert him? Wally certainly had enough connections in the hero world that they probably thought they had a chance. Which was crazy because they didn't have a chance. The more of his memories he got, the more of the heroes he met and interacted with, the less he wanted to be a hero. If they thought he was going to become a hero, they were crazy. That's probably why they put him with Ben – he was someone who had experimented on Wally. They were probably trying to poison him to his cell neighbor so he'd want to go with them instead.

Jokes on them because Wally and Ben actually got along!

With a huff, Wally plopped onto the floor in front of Ben. He was going to show that they got along! Except, Ben was eying him warily, "You doing okay there?"

"I'm going crazy," Wally sighed, "I'm creating conspiracy theories about the very limited amount of people I know. I'm making this situation worse than it has to be just through sheer power of paranoia."

Ben made a sympathetic noise, "That sucks, man. They should give us entertainment. TV! Dude, they should give us Netflix!"

Wally peered over at him, "Looping a TV and Netflix program into our cells sounds like a great way to hack into the rest of the system and get ourselves free."

Ben snorted, "Get yourself free. I want to be here. If I go out there, someone's going to kill me, man. That is not ideal for me."

"Have you even gotten a trial or been formally sentenced?" Wally asked, "Because this situation seems really illegal to me. Don't you find it suspicious how they only follow the laws when it seems convenient to them?"

Raising his eyebrows, Ben stared Wally down, "Why don't we flashback to just a minute or so ago when you were saying that you were driving yourself crazy through sheer force of paranoia? Take a chill pill."

"You're not allowed to tell me that," Wally grumbled, "And apparently that's a token protest from me. I evidently say something to that effect fairly regularly."

"Still working on getting your memories back?" Ben asked curiously. He'd been keeping up to date with Wally's progress, scribbling in a notebook he'd been granted permission to have.

Wally scowled, "I don't think I want them back, half the time. They suck."

"Do you think that might be part of the problem?" Ben pointed out, "I mean, you might be subconsciously suppressing your memories since that ones you've gotten are so bad?"

Wally shrugged uncomfortably, "I mean, I've gotten some good memories, too. Nightwing and I are bonding. Re-bonding, I guess. I get flashbacks of time we've spent together. I think I might have gotten our first meeting. I'm not super sure. I think we met outside of the hero and villain stuff? I don't know. It's kind of confusing out of context. But that's nice."

"Are you getting other nice memories?" Ben asked, writing away in his notebook.

Wally sighed, flopping back onto the floor, "I mean, a couple. My childhood wasn't just abject misery. There were good moments. Not enough to make up for the rest, but whatever. I just want to skip to the part of my life where I end up happy."

"Do you know when that would be? Maybe we could purposefully trigger that and remove whatever potential block you might have on your memories," Ben said excitedly.

"And that," Wally sighed, "Brings me back to my conspiracy theories. I'm almost certain that the time I was happiest was when I was with the Rogues. If I could just see them, I'm sure I'd get all sorts of lovely triggers. But they won't let me see the Rogues. I even mentioned the possibility of, like, calling them or something, not even visiting, but I was turned down. I don't think they want the Rogues anywhere near me."

"That sucks, man," Ben offered. He looked like he was going to say something else, but he was interrupted by the sound of a crash from somewhere outside the prison block. Seconds later, there was a loud, blaring alarm.

Ben and Wally both got to their feet, glancing at the entrance and exit of the prison block. Ben laughed nervously, "They'd come get us if there was an attack on the building and they needed to escape, right?"

"They're heroes," Wally said, not noticing the dawning hope on Ben's face until he said, "I really doubt it." Ben sighed, defeated.

Wally smirked, "Don't worry, I'll get you out. We've been able to hear when some of the bigger spaceships leave this place, right? If you start to hear the bay doors opening, let me know, and I'll run us out of here and onto that ship so fast they won't know what hit them. I won't let them leave you behind."

Ben gave him a pointed look, "How heroic of you."

Wally scowled, "No need to insult me."

Ben rolled his eyes, tensing again at the sound of another large crash, "Hey, how about you go ahead and get me out of the cell right away? Just in case?" Wally rolled his eyes, but complied, leaving the two of them standing in the middle of the prison block. Ben glanced around nervously, "Who would possibly attack the Watchtower?"

Wally winced as a memory scrapped at the edge of his consciousness. There was something… he had been here, in the Watchtower. Wally murmured out loud, "The Light."

Ben sent him a panicked look, "The Light is here? The Light can't be here! They're going to kill me!"

Wally scowled at him, "No, the Light has previously attacked the Watchtower. I had a memory of that… Besides, didn't I just tell you that I was going to make sure we both got out? The lack of trust hurts."

Sending him a scathing look, Ben hissed, "I am understandably nervous about this situation. How about we just bail now? I think the heroes like both of us. They'd understand if we left the prison block for something like this." They both winced when a particularly loud explosion went off. Ben turned an imploring look onto Wally, "C'mon, man. I don't think the heroes are coming back for us."

"Typical," Wally muttered, mostly by rote. He was too busy thinking about the situation. On the one hand, it totally made sense to bail like Ben was saying. They wouldn't get in too much trouble because it was extenuating circumstances and, honestly, it would be the Justice League's fault that they felt threatened in the first place. On the other hand, though, Ben and Wally might just get in the heroes' way if they went out there. He wasn't hearing any panicked screaming or attempts to leave the base, so the heroes couldn't be losing too badly. Would Wally and Ben just be a distraction that ended up leading to the defeat of the heroes?

Before Wally could decide one way or another, the door came flying open. Wally tensed when he didn't recognize the person in front of him. He leaned over to Ben, "Is that a hero? I don't think I know that one."

Ben, however, had paled dramatically, mouth gaping open, "No, that's… that's Deathstroke." He made a squeaking noise when some bald guy in a suit came out after this Deathstroke person, "That's Lex Luthor!" Hm… those names did actually sound familiar. Did Wally know them? Ben seemed upset, so they were likely villains. Were they there to rescue Wally? Were they members of the Rogues? Ben slapped Wally's arm, "They're the ones who kidnapped you and experimented on you!"

Wally's head snapped up. These guys were the ones who took a year and half of his life and put him into the situation where he lost his memories in the first place? It was their fault that he was like this? Wally felt rage fly through his system, igniting every nerve and sending lightning crackling over his skin, tinting his gaze with speed and energy. Carefully, Wally reigned in his rage, focusing on escape instead. With his current memory, he had no knowledge of how these two fought or how good they were. He didn't even know if they had powers. Wally would take himself and Ben and get out of there before they could do anything. He'd let the heroes deal with cleanup.

With that thought in mind, Wally prepped himself to turn and grab Ben. His knees bent and he was just starting to grab the other prisoner when, suddenly, abruptly, his powers disappeared. It was like being in an inhibitor collar but ten times worse. Wally's connection to the Speed Force (to the… what? Wally didn't even know what that term meant. Why would he suddenly think about it?) cut out and he tripped slightly, so off-balance from the lack of powers that he almost nose-dived into the floor.

When he whipped his head around, he caught sight of Luthor smirking at him, a remote with a cartoonish, large red button on it. Did that… did that shut off his powers? How was this possible? Against his will, another memory pushed through, almost dropping Wally again. He remembered… he remembered a warehouse. He remembered Cheshire and a guy in a hockey mask and some dude made of ice. He remembered running and running and running and then not. He remembered dropping the ice guy, remembered being taken. Had this… happened before? What was going on?

Ben looked over at him, eyes wide, "We, uh, we going to blow this popsicle stand or what?"

"My powers aren't working," Wally said, more expressing his general disbelief than answering Ben's question.

The slow hope in Ben's eyes disappeared, shoulders slumping as he glanced desperately between Wally and the two villains. Luthor smirked. He and Deathstroke were still approaching, slow and easy. Unhurried. Their confidence made Wally feel sick. Why did they think they had so much time to do this? What was happening to the superheroes? Suspicions and villain tendencies aside, Wally didn't actually want them to be killed or something. Especially Dick. If Dick was hurt, Wally was going to lose it, lost powers or not. He had overridden an inhibitor collar. He could do this too.

Luthor started talking, drawing Wally's attention, "Do you like this? I kept the programming required to turn your powers off even after your supposed death. I suppose I'm sentimental like that." Wally felt sick again.

"The… what?" Wally asked, desperately trying to buy time. Maybe the heroes would come and save them. Maybe… maybe Wally could trust them to rescue him this one time.

Luthor smirked, "You still don't remember? Hm… that has potential. When you were younger, you submitted to be tested by my labs and we were able to apply a shut-off mechanism to your powers. Isn't that fascinating? Of course, there is more research required for your particular abilities. You know, I learned the most interesting thing about you, Wally West." Wally flinched at the name. He wasn't sure if anyone had even told him his full name by that point. Luthor's smirk widened, "Are you aware that there is a roughly six-month period where your whereabouts are completely uncounted for? Many have looked, but not a single person has been able to find out where you went. Well, until now. Would you like to know where you went? I can tell you."

Wally faltered. He had wondered, of course. Even without knowing a thing about his life other than what people had told him, he had wondered. How could he not? He had been virtually invisible, so hidden that people who owned their own satellite base couldn't find him for six months. Why had he been gone so long? Where had he went? Was he with someone? Was there someone out there, waiting for him? Was he waiting for someone else? Where had he been?

But how could he trust anything that Luthor said? Of course, Wally only had the opinions of people who weren't Luthor to base his opinion on, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. The superheroes had plenty of proof for their claims. Luthor was a bad guy who had a weird obsession with Wally. Listening to anything he had to say was dangerous. Trusting anything he had to say was dangerous. The way Ben bunched his fist in a handful of Wally's shirt told him that more than anything.

Wally scowled at Luthor, "Yeah, not interested. Thanks for trying. Now, how about you and your buddy there go ahead and leave. Unless you wanted to find yourself a cell and go ahead and move in, of course. Ben and I already have dibs on two of them, but you're welcome to any of the rest."

The guy called Deathstroke or whatever growled at Wally, "You're coming with us, brat, whether you want to or not. You've caused too much trouble this time. Now you're going to do something for us."

"Jeez, you're confusing me. Are you offering me something or are you making me offer you something? Make up your minds," Wally commented with a smirk, ignoring the way Ben hissed his name from behind him. He leaned his head back and whispered, "I can't get us out of here. All I can do is stall for time."

"Do you really think that they would risk coming here and talking if the heroes weren't currently occupied?" Ben whispered frantically back.

Wally frowned, "Look, I'm trying to trust the superheroes like you keep telling me to do. There's nothing we can do here, alright? We just need to stall."

"There's something else we can do," Ben whispered, but he didn't explain. Wally wanted to turn around and ask him what stupid thing he was planning, but he didn't want to risk turning his back on the approaching enemies. All he could do was face down the villains in front of him and hope that whatever Ben was planning would actually work.

"Wally," Luthor said, almost kindly, "I know that you don't like us at the moment. I would even say you have never liked us. I can't change that. I can, however, ensure that this situation turns into something that is mutually beneficial to the two of us. Wally, the place you were at during your missing six months… I can guarantee that you would rather be there than here. And even if, somehow, you disagree, at least I will have given you a choice."

"And what do you get out of it?" Wally asked, nervous at the way Ben was tensing behind him.

Luthor gave him a shark's grin, "Once I tell you where you were, I can tell you what that does for us."

"Then tell me," Wally said flatly.

Luthor sighed, "Come now, Wally. Don't insult either of our intelligences. You and I both know that the moment I tell you, I lose leverage over you. How would that make any sense?"

Wally opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by Ben's furious whisper of, "You get Deathstroke!" And then Ben was pushing him forward. Ben himself rushed at Luthor.

Wally didn't give himself a moment to be shocked at the action, instead immediately springing into action, landing a double-footed kick on Deathstroke's midriff before the man even realized that Wally was attacking. Sure, Wally didn't have his speed. But he hadn't had his speed when Ra's al Ghul, Ubu, and Sensei trained him to have an assassin's skill set. Deathstroke might be good or he might not, but Wally knew that he was good. Well, he had spent a little over a week just languishing around and not training and he'd started to lose some of the weight he'd put on – probably a mix of stress and the amount of times he blanked out – but that was okay. He was still somewhat of a good fighter without his speed. At the very least, he would be able to distract Deathstroke long enough for Ben's plan to come to fruition. Or for the superheroes to rescue them.

Where were the superheroes? Why were they taking so long? If Luthor and Deathstroke were the ones leading this charge, then the superheroes must have known that they were coming after either Wally or Ben. They should have sent someone to protect them. That's why there were in this prison after all. Their protection. So, the heroes should be there.

Wally swallowed down the distraction, choosing to focus back in on Deathstroke. He was a little disappointed to realize that the man was definitely a better fighter than him. That was… not great. At all. But that didn't matter. All Wally had to do was distract him long enough for Ben's plan to work. That was it. He could do that.

For a while, he ducked and weaved and blocked, acting mostly on the defensive. He managed to send out a few shots of his own, but most of them were blocked. Then, finally, he managed to knee Deathstroke in the balls. Wally allowed himself a moment of celebration and then…

Deathstroke punched Wally, sending his head cracking against the wall. With another well-placed punch, Wally was down, gasping around the pain emanating from his stomach. Ow, ow, ow. It had been almost twenty minutes, though. The heroes hadn't come and there were still sounds of a scuffle from the other side of the hallway, indicating that Ben was still trying to do whatever he'd been trying to do.

Wally's head lolled, a concussion giving everything a watery, fluid tint. He tried to push himself to his feet, but his limbs were tired and sore, and his stomach cramped at the very thought. He could do nothing but watch as Deathstroke stalked over to where Ben and Luthor were scuffling. With a scowl, Deathstroke grabbed Ben around the neck, squeezing just enough to get him to stop struggling.

Ben and Wally made eye contact, both of them trying desperately to make their bodies work. Wally stuttered, "Ben. Ben, kick 'im in th-the balls." Ben choked at him in response as Deathstroke tightened his grip threateningly. Wally obligingly fell quiet.

Luthor straightened out his jacket, huffing irritably, "Well, that was unpleasant. We tried to convince you to come with us. Clearly we will have to force you. Deathstroke, bring that one closer. Thank you. Ah, now I know where I recognized you from. You were one of my scientists, weren't you? I thought the contract said that you weren't to speak to anyone, especially the Justice League about what you saw or heard during your employment, correct?" He waited for a moment before rolling his eyes and directing his command to Deathstroke, "Let him speak."

Ben didn't speak to Luthor, though. He turned his head and looked right at Wally when he said, "Destroy the remote and you'll get your powers back." He rushed it out so quickly that Deathstroke wasn't able to cut off his airway fast enough to stop him. Both of them glanced over to Wally in alarm. Then Luthor scowled and made a slicing motion across his neck.

Before Wally could do anything – speak, move, blink, - Deathstroke had snapped Ben's neck, dropping his lifeless body like it was a sack of trash.

Wally whimpered at the sight, feeling the rage race through his limbs again. They… they killed Ben. They killed him. Because he was trying to help Wally. No. No, that was not okay. Wally was going to kill them.

Staggering to his feet, Wally forced himself to look away from Ben's body, to the innocent caught in this crossfire. Taking a deep breath and swallowing, Wally forced strength into all of his limbs and ran.

It wasn't at superspeed. It wasn't even at a very impressive speed. It was, however, not what the two in front of him expected. He was able to tackle Luthor before either man realized that he was across the hallway. As much as Wally wanted to wring Luthor's neck like Deathstroke wrung Ben's, he knew that would just be wasting Ben's death. Growling, Wally grabbed Luthor's hand and broke the wrist, reveling just a little bit in the man's bit-off groan. Wally pried Luthor's fingers open and grabbed the remote.

Anger lining his every moment, Wally crushed it.

His speed came racing back into his body, embracing every cell with a sort of longing that he wasn't in the right headspace to interpret at the moment.

Despite how much he still wanted to bash Luthor and Deathstroke's faces in, Wally knew that he couldn't at the moment. He would kill them if he started and… and Wally didn't want to do that. He didn't want their blood to be the blood that stained his hands. So, Wally grabbed them and phased them each into their own cells. He pressed the buttons that would send the cells into extra-secure lockdown and then he ignored them. If he didn't, he'd go in and kill them, he just knew it.

Shaking his head, Wally staggered back over to Ben. Wally fell to his knees next to the man, shaking fingers reaching out to Ben's face. His fingers hovered over the pulse point for a moment, horrified at the clear dislocation and break of the spine in Ben's neck. Steeling himself, Wally pushed his fingers into Ben's pulse point, hoping beyond hope that he would feel anything.

He didn't.

With a rough cry, Wally bowed his head. He squeezed his eyes shut before opening them again, taking in ragged breath after ragged breath. He swallowed hard before reaching over and shutting Ben's eyes. Wally's breath caught in his throat again, coming out on the hard edge of a jagged sob.

He wasn't sure why he was even crying. He didn't know this guy that well. He didn't have some intense connection with him. Ben had experimented on Wally. And yet… and yet… it was because Ben was dead because of Wally. Ben had been trying to get Wally's powers back. He'd only even been in this place at the same time as Wally because he'd felt so strongly about Wally's case that he'd decided to go to the Justice League in order to help Wally get out of there. This was all Wally's fault. It was his fault that this innocent man was dead.

Wally didn't know how long he cried before the door to the prison block opened. All he knew was that he was still kneeling next to Ben's body when the superheroes finally showed up. Wally dragged red-rimmed eyes up to face the people who came in. Flash was the first one in, breathing hard. His eyes widened when they landed on the scene. Wally swallowed roughly and croaked, "Lex Luthor and Deathstroke are in cells back there. Ben's dead."

With the knowledge that the enemies were apprehended, the mad rush of superheroes into the hallway slowed down. They started approaching him gently, clearly unsure what to do at this point. It was Dick who spoke next, "Wally, can I see you? I know you've got your accelerated healing, but I want to make sure everything is set correctly, okay? The others will… will make sure that Ben is taken care of."

"There's nothing to take care of," Wally said, finally standing. He resisted the urge to look back down at Ben, "Because he's dead."

"I know," Dick soothed, "I am so sorry that this all happened."

"You should be," Wally said harshly, ignoring the way Dick flinched, "You all should be. For the first time I remember, for the first time probably ever, I put my faith in superheroes. I told Ben that you would come save us, that we would get out of here together. But you didn't come. You left us here with Luthor and Deathstroke. It's your fault he died! I should never have trusted in you!"

Wally… Wally couldn't stay there. He couldn't. He – he had to get out of there. Breathing hard, Wally rushed forward, grabbing the nearest hapless bystander. He rushed with them (Green Arrow, it looked like) through the doors of the prison block, through the Watchtower. Some part of him remembered zeta beams, remembered somewhat how they worked. He threw Green Arrow at the machine, stalking forward and grabbing him again. He allowed his arm to speed up and shoved it straight through Green Arrow's shoulder, holding it there, keeping it as a threat inside Green Arrow's body. Wally growled, "Get me out. Set it up so I can leave. Or I will rip something out. If you're lucky, it'll be your heart and you won't hurt for too long."

A voice from behind them, causing Wally to whip his head around, "Do it, Green Arrow. He's not thinking straight right now." It was Batman. Wally bared his teeth at him. What would Batman know about what Wally was thinking?

Not that it mattered. Green Arrow did whatever he needed to do to the zeta beam and then stepped slightly back, wincing as the movement surprised Wally and caused his hand to slow down the slightest bit. Wally kept it up, leaning towards the zeta beam and looking at how it was configured, trying to see if he could ensure it would actually let him through. Then, before anyone else could do anything, he stepped through, disappearing in a bolt of light.

Wally didn't know where he came out. He just knew that he needed to be somewhere else. There was no way they couldn't track that. He needed to get out of this city and go somewhere else.

As for where that somewhere else was? Wally thought back to what he and Ben had been discussing (he ignored the burst of pain and guilt at the thought). The Rogues. Wally needed to see the Rogues to get the rest of his memories back.

And once he did? He was going to raze whoever had taken him and worked with Luthor and Deathstroke to the ground. He was done being used. He was doing fighting with these people. He was done being people's amusement, their little toy.

Luthor and everyone associated with the man were going to regret the day they laid eyes on Wally West.

Author's Note: In my defense! I wrote Ben's character with the sole intention of having him die later on in the story. I hadn't decided when, but I had decided that he was going to die while trying to protect/save Wally. I wasn't expecting people to like him so much, haha. Sorry about that :P Thanks for reading!