After his mentor dismisses them all to "hit the showers", Dick and the team head to the locker room where he pulls his phone out of his bag. He feels his heart sink when the homepage shows no new notifications. At this point, he couldn't tell if Wally was just too busy to answer him back, or if he was ignoring him altogether.
The only reason he wasn't going all detective mode and worrying about Wally's state of health was because Bruce had already indirectly confirmed he was okay, simply stating that "Kid Flash is not available today" when Dick questioned his absence at the briefing.
Bruce obviously knew more than he led on, but Dick wasn't going to ask again. The last thing he needs is Bruce thinking he can't go on with his own responsibilities as a vigilante without consistently asking for his BFF. He's not a child.
He takes a quick shower and pulls on his favorite green hoodie and black jacket. He says goodbye to the few members of the team who are still around before heading to the zeta tube and punching the code that changes the destination to the tube in the Batcave rather than the telephone booth where he knows Artemis will be going.
Once he dumps his duffle bag in the Batcave, he sluggishly makes his way upstairs. The Manor was so quiet, it's almost eerie. Dick knew Bruce was in his study since he already came home while Dick was showering in the cave and Alfred was probably busy in the kitchen.
The mission really took all the energy out of him, and even imagining himself doing some homework made him want to bang his head against a wall. His undying curiosity made him pull out his computer and open up skype. Maybe Wally lack of communication because he didn't have his phone on him?
The status next to his name states he hadn't been active for a few days, but Dick clicks the call button anyway, rolling his eyes when it was clear no one was going to be answering. Whatever. Wally's probably busy with Barry or something school related.
Out of boredom, Dick starts scrolling through GBS's website to skim through the news reports he missed the day before. There wasn't anything too interesting. An alleged Harley Quinn sighting near Burnley, Killer croc almost escaped Belle Reve, Keystone High got destroyed-
Dick felt his blood go cold. Suppressing any panic that was about to come, he calmy clicks on the article and starts promptly reading. There was a fight between Flash and the rogues at the school and the collateral damage was pretty much the entirety of the school grounds.
There is a video linked at the end of the article: "Flash goes overprotective daddy mode after Kid Flash is blasted unconscious!"
Dick couldn't help cringing. What is wrong with people these days?
The quality of the video was horrendous, meaning it was probably filmed by a civilian who was present during the fight by chance. Kid flash is standing in front of the damaged school as the rogues begin to crowd over to him. Dick wasn't worried, this definitely wasn't something he hadn't dealt with before. "You guys are so lame!," he yells out to them. "Seriously, who goes to school on a Saturday?"
The fight was very basic. Captain cold trying to freeze Wally with his freeze gun, Captain Boomerang was throwing his Boomerangs, Kadabra was shooting spell after spell with his wand and Pied piper was . . .flirting?
"You know," he drawls from behind Wally as he's dodging attacks, "I still think we'd make an awesome power couple" he smirks.
Dick instantly recognizes this as a distractive tactic, which wasn't really working as Wally purposely misdirected a boomerang flying his way in Pipers direction.
The villain wasn't fazed at all. He easily evaded the weapon and kept on chatting. "Come on, you know that we're the most popular ship in the city's fandom. Why not just give the people what they want?"
Wally managed to answer after knocking Cold out with a punch. "The only chance of a dalliance between you and me would be if one of us was a girl" he snarls.
For some reason, his response made every conscious rogue burst into cachinnation. "Funny you said that" Abra Kadabra snarks before successfully striking Wally with a spell. Dick is unable to hold back his wince as he watches his best friend smash through the glass of a window behind him.
He can hear the person holding the camera gasp at the sound of glass shattering before a red blur comes into view to speed punch Kadabra in the face. The video ends abruptly as Barry zooms into the building his nephew was thrown in.
Dick all but abandons his computer. Wally was probably hurt and since he's never allowed to go to a normal hospital and Doctor Light was off world, he must be at home. By himself.
Without thinking, Dick found himself storming over to Bruce's study. Honesty, the audacity of the man to think it wasn't important to tell him that a member of his team had been hurt. It was things like this he did that drove the wedge in their relationship even further between them.
He slows once he's face to face with the door, carefully placing his hand on the door knob. He freezes when he hears his adopted father's voice speaking to someone on the phone.
". . .all attempts of contact have failed. Right now, the best thing to do is keep him at home at all times until Zatarra gets back. Is his school aware of the cover story?. . . yes, I'll tell them the same thing the next meeting . . .has he experienced any other side effects? . . . . . alright. No, he doesn't know, but he has attempted to contact him numerous times. . . Yes, he is very stubborn. He knows not to tell anyone? . . . . . alright. Just focus on keeping your nephew calm, we'll sort this mess out. Keep me posted."
Dick's hand silently slides off the door knob as his brain digests everything he just heard. Bruce was trying to contact Zatarra, and he would never do that unless. . . unless he needed Zatarra for something he couldn't do alone. Something like a magic related problem. The brief image of Wally being hit by Abra Kadabra's spell flashes in his mind.
He doesn't even consider going in there and asking Bruce about Wally's status again, instead he continues down the hall and heads straight down to the Batcave. He wasn't going to allow anyone to keep him in the dark. Something was obviously up, and he was going to find out what right now.
He zetas to the tube in Central and rushes to Wally's house without drawing any attention to himself. The short walk is more than enough time for his brain to start bombarding him with questions.
What was wrong with Wally? How bad must his condition be for Bruce to keep it from him? How bad must it be for Bruce to be calling Barry and telling him Wally is not allowed to leave the house?
Whatever has been done to him, Dick knows Wally is at home. He must be in his room. Dick reaches the house and notices Wally's bedroom light are on, encouraging him to climb the tree on the right side of the house and flip onto the garage roof with a thud.
Suspiciously, the bedroom light abruptly turns off.
Having been doing this already for years, he carefully slips the window open and slips into the room silently. The only source of light that kept him from complete blindness was the small ray of moonlight coming in from the window.
The bedroom's darkness failed to hide an infinitesimal movement in the corner of the room, opposite to where Dick was standing. His eyes were immediately trained on the dark silhouette, making him tense up. This silhouette didn't belong to anyone that actually lived in this house. It was too small and much too feminine to be Wally or Barry and too short to be iris
He could see the outline of the silhouette's arm was sliding down from where it was pressed until it rested its's palm on the door handle. They were trying to escape.
Without a second thought, Dick flipped over to the outline, grabbed the intruder's arm and roughly shoved them to the floor to disgruntle them. Once they hit the ground, Dick flicks the light switch on so he can actually see who he is about to fight. But once he sees who he just threw to the floor, his mind blanks.
Dick is involuntarily frozen as he takes in the flow of waist-length red hair, the gentle curve of luscious lips and the brush of little freckles adorning the tops of blushed cheeks and little button nose.
But what really takes his breath away are the two terrified emerald green orbs staring up at him.
She was the most beautiful girl Dick had ever seen.
The longer he stared at her beautiful features in his traced state, the more familiar they became. The way her little nose was slightly upturned at the tip, the way her dark red bangs fell over her vibrant green eyes . . .
Those eyes they were what was keeping Dick frozen in place. They were so big and bright and pure –
Then it all clicked. His location, the unexplained absence, everyone's secrecy, Abra Kadabra's spell, those eyes. He would recognize those irises anywhere.
"…Wally?!"