Author's Note: Here I am with another chapter! I'm running on a minimal amount of sleep after six hours of Smash Bros that ended up ending at 3 in the morning, haha. Here's to hoping I can still grammar correctly :P Read, review, and enjoy!

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Wally slunk into his room, eyeing the space cautiously. He noted idly that Sam and James left the door cracked just slightly open behind him, but they both left. It gave him privacy without making him feel trapped. Was that something they knew would make him feel more comfortable from when he lived with them or was it just an understanding of how criminals think?

Wally shook his head; it didn't really matter. He ran a more careful eye over his bedroom, drifting from item to item. He got a little flash of something here or there – a memory of James singing a Pokémon theme song in a mall, a memory of opening presents for the first time in a long time, a memory of James, Hartley, and Cameron crowded on his bed while he put on a nice outfit. It was nothing substantial, but the memories were being brought back at a more rapid pace than he'd experienced insofar.

His lips curled down slightly when he saw the number of Flash-themed items in his room. Were they practical jokes? Had the Rogues replaced his stuff with Flash merchandise? No, that wouldn't make sense. Based on the wear and tear of some of the items, he definitely used them regularly for a long time. When he looked closer, he found that there was a lot of superhero merchandise. There was some villainous merch, too, but nothing like the sheer number of superhero stuff. Was he really into stuff like this? Did he enjoy dressing up in the colors of his enemies? It didn't make sense.

And yet, when Wally's fingers drifted over the clearly worn Robin wallet, all he felt was a sense of warmth and pride. He had clearly loved these things. Had he somehow been a superhero fan? It might make sense with the number of superheroes he apparently had a connection with, but still… He was a supervillain. Wally carefully picked the wallet up, opening it. There was a good bit of cash in there still, lending credence to the fact that the Rogues really hadn't messed with his stuff while he was gone. Well, it was clear that they'd dusted and vacuumed, but they hadn't moved anything from what Wally could tell.

Wally looked through the rest of the wallet. There were receipts behind the money, detailing his last purchases before his 'death.' He had his coins in a back pocket and a bunch of membership cards in a different one. His driver's license was there. He was softly grinning, expression bright and open, face a lot more filled out than it was currently. Wally put it back in before going further. When he opened the last little pocket, he found a small cache of pictures. He pulled them out, heart going soft at what he saw.

Most of them were of him and Dick in increasingly ridiculous scenarios. There was one where Wally had evidently leaned over right as the camera was going off, lips just barely touching Dick's cheekbone. There was another one where their fingers were linked together, and Dick was giving him this look filled with adoration and trust and more love than Wally was sure what to do with. In the picture, Wally was giving him the same look in return. Looking at it like this, caught in snapshots where neither had been aware of being photographed, Wally could start to believe Dick's love a little more. He hadn't been sure of it, honestly, back at the Watchtower. He hadn't been sure that Dick ever felt something so strongly for him. He'd been a little bit convinced that the majority of Dick's love came from the fact that he just got Wally back. After all, what could stupid Wally West ever do to attract a super beautiful, super nice, super rich superhero?

Carefully, Wally set those pictures down, carding through the rest of the stack. These depicted him with various superheroes and supervillains in their civvies. He saw Cheshire and Red Arrow draping themselves over his shoulders as he gave them a harassed look. He saw Flash animatedly describing something while Wally and Iris laughed. He saw a group of men and one woman gathered together in front of a dirt path, all wearing workout clothing. He didn't recognize anyone but Barry and himself in that picture. He saw himself with the Rogues, too. There was one for each Rogue. Wally and Mick cooking. Wally and Len fiddling with some sort of device. Wally and Sam sitting comfortably on the front porch of a different house. Wally and Digger absent-mindedly reaching out to fist bump each other while they kept their gaze glued to the TV. Wally and Mark playing some sort of card game where Mark had his head in his hands and Wally was up in the air, cheering. Wally and Hartley relaxing on the couch. Wally and James laughing over what looked to be a small vat of chemicals. Wally and Cameron proudly each holding a document. If Wally squinted a little closer, it looked like they were adoption papers.

At the very bottom of the stack, there was a small cutout of an ultrasound. The back of the page said that it was the ultrasound for Lian Harper. It took Wally a little bit of digging, but he realized that this was his goddaughter. There were no pictures of a baby, so he must not have had a chance to really get to see her before he 'died.' Was he even alive when she was born?

His heart ached at the idea that he missed two years of her life. This was his goddaughter. He'd agreed to protect and love her. He'd agreed to raise her if needed. He didn't even know her. What color was her hair? Her eyes? What did she like to do? What was her favorite color?

Idly, he remembered Barry saying that Iris had given birth to twins while he'd been gone. Those were his biological cousins, then, weren't they? He'd missed almost two years of their lives as well. His own cousins, who he was sure he would have spoiled and corrupted in equal measure, had gone two years without him in it. How much else did he miss out on? How many obligations did he fail? How many people did he hurt? How much did he lose?

For the first time since he could remember, Wally laid down and cried a pure, gentle crying.

NNNNNN

Natasha took a deep breath before walking into the café where she'd agreed to meet with Eliza and Albert in case a situation like this ever happened. Lex Luthor had been hurt assisting the Justice League and was currently recuperating at their headquarters. At least, that's what the papers were reporting. Natasha didn't know if the Justice League had reporters on their side or even if some of the members actually were reporters. It was possible. Either way, she'd been approached by Cyborg and told that it was a ruse to cover the fact that the Justice League was detaining Luthor.

It was the perfect opportunity for the Infinity, Inc. kids to go through his stuff and get dirt on him. They needed to be out from under his control. They couldn't continue to live in a world where he was forcing them to do evil without their knowledge, where he had the power to shut off their abilities and get them killed. They needed to get out.

He was so powerful, though, that the only way they could think of doing it was to go through his stuff while he wasn't there. They needed to get information that showed, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was evil and had been evil and would continue to be evil. It had to be more powerful than the time he saved the world with his anti-MFD devices. It had to be more powerful than his Infinity, Inc. It had to be more powerful than all the donations and speeches and 'gifts to humanity' that he threw out like they were candy.

Upon further research, Natasha had learned that the Justice League had accused Luthor of villainy so many times that it wasn't even funny. He managed to get out of it every. Single. Time. He had more connections than they could possibly fight, especially with limited access to proof. Most of the time, it was only their claims that they fought him that they had. Luthor had no problem producing fake alibis and he always made sure that the cameras in the area were down and the papers and research used for his evil deeds were hidden so completely that police and military couldn't find them. Even though the Justice League was a trustworthy source, no jury could reasonably find Luthor guilty only on hearsay. It wouldn't be fair, even if it would be right. Natasha had no doubt that Luthor bought the jury out either way.

So, at this point, it was paperwork that they needed. They needed hard, concrete proof. Of course, the Justice League and the Outsiders had a ton of information all gathered up, but they were worried that it wouldn't make an impact if they presented it. The Justice League and Luthor were seen as enemies at the moment. Having them make this attack against him could easily be spun as a publicity stunt or a last-ditch attempt to stop the new anti-hero laws from being passed.

Finally pulling herself out of her head, Natasha realized she'd ordered herself some coffee and a muffin mostly by rote. She shook her head to clear it before looking over the café to find her friends and teammates. She found them quickly but was surprised to see another face there.

Cautiously, Natasha approached the table, eyes narrowing at the stranger. Her jaw clenched and her fingers threatened to squeeze the cup of coffee in her hands to the point of breaking. Her voice was dangerous when she asked, "And who are you?"

It wasn't the stranger who answered. Eliza looked up, eyes wide at Natasha's tone, before frantically waving her arms around, "No, no, no. It's cool, Nat! Promise! This is Bart. Why don't you sit down, okay?"

"Okay," Natasha said reluctantly, resisting the urge to sigh and ask Eliza to stop calling her Nat. Once she was sitting, she directed her question to the overall group, "What's going on?"

This time, it was the stranger – Bart – who answered, "Hey! So, I figured that you guys were going to be doing something totally crash but totally dangerous now that Luthor's put away. And, well, we were able to figure out your names, so I figured it would be polite – and helpful! – for us to give you one of our names. So, my name is Bart and I am at your service. You would probably know me better as Kid Flash, though." He said the whole thing in an even, quiet tone that wouldn't carry around the room. It was clear he'd had secret conversations in public like this before.

Natasha couldn't keep her jaw from dropping, though. Had one of the Outsiders really just given up their identity? Of course, Beast Boy's identity as Garfield Logan was impossibly obvious. He couldn't have hidden that if he'd tried. Being green and able to turn into different animals wasn't exactly a subtle ability. Natasha had always felt a little heartbroken for him, honestly. As much as he was super cool, he had also had a lot of options taken away from him in this whole superhero business. But here was someone who had nothing giving them away. And they'd just decided to give them their identity as some sort of fair play or easy communication. It was unthinkable to her.

Trying to recover from that embarrassing display, Natasha gave Kid Fl- Bart a tight smile, "Right. Sorry for snapping at you."

"It's totally cool! I get it," Bart responded, giving her a dopey grin.

"You seem a lot more relaxed than you were at the meeting, even though you're outnumbered this time instead of the other way around," Albert pointed out hesitantly.

Bart rolled his eyes, "Please, we're all heroes here. Why would you attack me? Besides, you've gotta be really fast to catch me. Only a handful of people in the world that I know of who could catch me."

Eliza looked up briefly at that. Natasha knew that her and Albert had taken the news of the mysterious person who'd submitted that frankly horrifying testimony pretty hard. It was one thing to read all the facts and science that the Outsiders had given them. It was something different to read the actual experiences of someone who'd been tortured for years. Especially when the torture was the only reason that the three of them even had powers now. In Natasha's mind, that made her want to never meet that person. She would feel too guilty. She would be too afraid that he would blame them for his predicament. Especially since he'd been recently in Luthor's grasp, being experimented on.

She knew that it was different for Albert and Eliza. Albert figured that some of the guilt would go away if he could just meet the person and ensure that they were fine, now, that they had a happy life that they could live. It was an unlikely goal, but an admirable one. Eliza, though, had taken it the hardest. That was understandable since she was a speedster just like this mysterious person was. Natasha knew that Eliza had pictured herself in their place and had been more horrified than the other two. Natasha knew that Eliza had wondered how much of her specific powers had come from researching that specific person.

Still, Eliza and Albert clearly weren't going to say anything about it. Natasha steeled herself before asking, "Is there any news of the person we read about? It would mean a lot to know if they have been found."

Bart gave them a smile. It was a little sad, but mostly happy, so Natasha allowed herself to hope. That allowance was rewarded when Bart answered, "We found him! He's doing… alright, now. There are some medical complications that we're working through right now. Some just require healing, but some are, we think, speedster specific, so that's what I'm working on. But he's with his family, now. We were actually just given the all-clear that he's made it home and is resting there maybe a half an hour ago. It might make you happy to know that he was actually the reason that we've got Luthor in custody right now."

"Really?" Eliza asked, expression lighter than it had been since they'd met with the Outsiders a week or two ago. She swallowed before asking, "Does he… does he know about us?"

Bart grimaced, "No, not yet. He's facing enough of his own problems. We don't want to throw him into ours as well. I'm not sure how he'd feel about the Everyman Project being completed after all he went through, you know? We're not going to keep secrets from him because we've seen how that works out, but we're definitely going to try to ease him into it a little bit. Hopefully. We might not have a choice."

"What does that mean?" Natasha asked sharply.

Bart laughed, "No, no, that's not what I meant, I swear. I just meant that he's not really the kind to sit back and let others do things for him. He's very much the kind of person who wants to insert himself into what's going on. I mean, I think even he will take some time to heal, but it wouldn't surprise me if he threw himself into research and stuff pretty soon."

Mollified and once again embarrassed at her immediate suspiciousness (it had been strong even before she'd found out about Luthor's manipulations), Natasha settled back into her seat, "Alright. Is that all you were here for? Or did you want to help with something more specific, something closer to what we're about to go do?"

Smiling quietly, Bart answered, "I'd like to help with everything, honestly. But, yeah, I wanted to give some advice for what you're about to do. I don't know what you've come up with so far and you don't have to tell me, obviously. But in case you haven't thought of it yet, I wanted to suggest a few things. First, be very, very wary of his robot secretary, Mercy. She's incredibly dangerous. I know you guys can fight, but I would try to avoid it with her, if possible. Second, I don't recommend discovering everything. I know you'll want to and it all should be discovered, but if people completely unrelated to all this anti-superhero laws, Light mess find evidence, it will help convince the people even more of Luthor's deceit and villainy. Third, don't disrupt the evidence chain. If things are moved in the process of your investigation, move them back or memorize where they were. Take pictures if that helps. Make sure that the investigation – yours and the police's – is rock solid. This is your chance to take him down. A slip up at this stage could make it all fall apart. Got it?"

"Got it," Natasha affirmed. Those were all very good points and Natasha hadn't even thought of the second two. She'd definitely made plans to deal with Mercy since, with Luthor gone, Mercy was their greatest threat.

Bart looked the three of them over for a second, eyes suddenly more tired and dark than they'd been earlier. They were the eyes of someone who had lost everything at some point or another. Natasha abruptly remembered Beast Boy saying that everyone on the Outsiders had lost something to the Light. She remembered him saying that they'd killed his mother. She remembered Terra's heartbreaking confession of what they made her into before she was able to break free. Natasha wondered, just for a moment, what horrible thing the Light did to him.

Before she could think on it for long, though, that sunny expression overtook his countenance again and he gave them a cheeky grin, "Well, that's all I've got for your guys. You're going to do great! We believe in you! Remember, if you need us at any point, we will be there, no matter what it does to the investigation. Alright, go kick some butt and take some names!" And then he was gone, swiftly weaving his way through the evening café crowd and letting the door shut behind him. They saw him pause, once, the world weighing down his shoulders, before he moved off and quickly disappeared.

Eliza was the first to speak into the silence that had been left behind, "I'm scared."

Natasha sighed, "I know, Eliza, but we have to do this. This is what we swore to do when we joined this program. Luthor has been stopping us from doing it, but we don't have that excuse any more. We are superheroes, no matter what Luthor has made us do. We have done wrong, but we have the chance to fix it."

"Well," Albert said, quiet and emphatic and passionate, "Let's get started, then."

Author's Note: Super short filler chapter, I'm so sorry. Like I said, I'm working on minimal sleep and don't have the brain cells left to actually bring in the plot I was planning on implementing. So, there's this. It introduces the plot points that I'm going to bring up, haha. I will try to make next week's chapter much better than this :P Thanks for reading!