Flash landed in the bat cave with a thud.
Wow. That was easy. Flash thought. He climbed down off the Javelin- 7 and then looked up at the ceiling door he had fallen through.
"Robin must have left the door open again." Flash muttered to himself. At least I've found what I'm looking for. He thought as he put his hand on the side of the ship.
"Flash? What are you doing here?" He turned around to see Robin standing in the doorway of the room.
"Oh, uh, I was just looking for Wonder woman."
"She's in the other room with Batman." Robin nodded to the closed door behind him. "They're doing some sort of experiment."
"Do you think she would mind if...." Flash paused mid-sentence. "How long do you think they'll be in there?"
"Have it back by four-thirty and you should be fine."
Flash smiled. "Thanks, Robin! Oh, by the way, remember to close the ceiling door after I leave."
"Oh, thanks, Flash. I'd be in trouble if Batman found out I left it open again."
Flash entered the Javelin-7 and flew off to the Watchtower. He glanced at his watch. It was one o'clock now.
Once Flash arrived at the Lookout, he immediately made his way to the kitchen; the somewhat heavenly aroma of chocolate chip cookies telling him he would find Nichole there.
"Hey Wally." Nichole said as she took the cookies out the oven.
"How'd you know it was me?"
She turned around and put the tray of cookies on a pot holder, which was on the table. She then looked up at Flash.
"No matter what time it is or where I think you are; you're always right behind me whenever I take cookies out of the oven."
Wally laughed. "Well, actually, today it wasn't planned." Nichole looked unconvinced. "Honest. I came here to ask you something."
"Oh." She sat down and motioned for him to do the same. "Go ahead."
"Remember when we talked about what you'd want to do if you could go down to earth for a day?"
"Yeah."
Flash pulled out of his pocket two tickets and placed them on the table. Nichole picked them up; her eyes widened. They were tickets to an amusement park in Ohio.
"How did you...?"
Wally smiled. "I've got connections. So, you wanna go?"
"When?"
"Now."
"Now?! You know I'd go with you after all this is over but..."
"Why can't we go now?"
"Well, first of all, those creatures could still be looking for me and I don't want to find out what'll happen if they do find me. Not to mention all the yelling that will happen if we got caught."
"For your first point, no problem. I'm a superhero; I'll protect you."
"What if you aren't enough? After all, last time it took Batman, Wonder woman, and Robin to defeat those things but they didn't even do that."
"Do you honestly think those creatures are still after you?"
"It's a very strong possibility. I would just like to stay away from the danger of being killed."
"The only danger you'd be in is if the rest of the Justice League found out."
"How do you figure?"
"Well, that night, you said the man in the car told you something important, right?"
"Yes."
"Then you were taken to some hotel where the first creature showed up."
"Your point is?"
"That man told you something about those creatures, something you weren't supposed to know; maybe even he wasn't supposed to know. It might have been something like what they are or why they're here. He told you for one reason or another and dropped you off at the hotel. Those things found out and went after you; to make sure you wouldn't leak any information. It's been two months. Don't you think they would have given up by now? Don't you think they would have thought you'd already given the info away?"
"Wow. That seems to fit nicely...but why don't you just tell that to the rest of the Justice League? Then we could go another day, when we'd have more time. Heck, why don't I just move down there till the rest of my memory returns?"
"You believe me, don't you?"
"Well, it fits better then any of my ideas..."
"Then it doesn't matter what they would think. Besides, if you even have a feeling that danger's near, we'll be out of there in a second."
"Oh, I don't know..."
"Oh, come on. You know you want to see the earth again. Wouldn't it be nice to feel the warmth of the sun again and the wind on your face? Don't you wanna see the deep blue sky and..."
"Ok! I'll go."
"Great! I've got everything ready."
"Oh, wait."
"What?"
"We've got a problem."
"No, I already told you. I know how to fly the Javelin-7. Wonder woman's been teaching me for the past month, remember?"
"No, different problem." Nichole pointed behind Wally. Flash turned around to see J'onn in the doorway of the kitchen.
"How long were you standing there?" Flash asked.
"Sorry, Nichole but I can't let you go. It's much too dangerous."
"Oh, please! You've got to let me go." Nichole was about to beg when she noticed something. "Where's Wally?"
Flash popped up behind her. "Right here." He walked over to J'onn and put his arm over J'onn's shoulder. "J'onn, buddy."
"No."
"You wouldn't want me to show this to everybody?" Flash took his other arm from behind his back. In his hand he held a cassette tape. J'onn became alarmed.
"What's on that tape?"
Flash leaned over and whispered in the Martian's ear. J'onn's eyes widened.
"Fine. I'll let you go. Just give me that tape!"
"I'll give it when we come back." Flash quickly held the tape out of J'onn's reach.
"Thank you, J'onn. Oh, and if it makes you feel better, you don't have to cover for us." Nichole said sympathetically.
"Thank you." J'onn glared at Flash. "But I think I'll pass. You two go and have a good time. Keep her away from danger."
After getting some stuff together, they were off. Flash sat at the controls and Nichole at the seat next to him.
"So, you're going to the park in that?" Flash looked down at his regular superhero attire.
"No. After we land I'll change." Wally caught her dirty glare. "Don't worry. The ship has a separator. You can stay here and I'll change in the back."
"Oh. Sounds good to me. By the way, what was on that tape anyway?"
"For the sake of my friend's reputation and honor, I can not answer that question."
"That's ok. I'm sure I don't want to know anyway."
A few minutes later Flash landed the ship in the middle of a forest.
"Why are we landing here?" Nichole asked.
"Well, we can't land the ship in the parking lot. My car is parked not to far from here. We can walk over to it. Now, if you'll excuse me." Flash pressed the button to put up the separator and quickly ran to the other end of the ship before it closed.
After Wally changed out of his Flash costume they made their way out into the forest to find Wally's car.
"How far did you park your car again?" They had stopped in a clearing in the woods; Wally was staring at the woods, a confused look on his face.
"I'm sure I parked it right over there."
"Well, it couldn't have just driven away and I'm sure no one would..." Nichole stopped, put her hand to her head and sat down with her back against a tree.
"Nicky! Are you alright?"
"We've got to get out of here." she said through clenched teeth.
"What's wrong?" Wally helped her up slowly.
She looked up at him, her eyes full of fear. "They're here."
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wisp of black swept down, grabbing Nichole. It landed, with Nichole in its grasp, a few feet in front of Flash.
"Give her back!" He screamed, making a mad dash towards the creature.
The monster, anticipating his move, leaped up onto the lowest branch on the tree behind it.
"Come down here and face me like a man!" Wally screamed up at it.
The creature just stared at him with fiery red eyes. It made a high, screeching noise before it leapt out of the tree. It turned to leave. Out of nowhere, a mace came flying through the air, hitting the creature unaware. It fell over, dropping Nichole. Flash ran over and caught Nichole before she fell.
"Are you ok?" Flash looked desperately into the girl's blank eyes as he held her limp body. "Are you ok?" he repeated franticly. He shook her hard, breaking her from her trance. She looked at him, her eyes seemingly adjusting to the world around her. Once again, Wally repeated his desperate question.
"I...I'm fine. You have bigger problems right now."
It was then that Wally glanced around, only to see himself surrounded by dark, evil-looking creatures but also, by friends. Batman, Wonder woman, Hawk Girl and, Robin were fighting off the evil before them.
Hawk Girl, who had recovered her mace, fought her way over to where Flash was standing.
"Take Nichole to the ship and come back. Superman's waiting for her there." She screamed above the noise.
Flash nodded in response. "Come on, Nicky." he whispered. "We've got to get you to safety."
He ran all the way to the ship in a matter of seconds. There, he dropped off Nichole into the arms of Superman, and ran off to rejoin the battle.
"How'd you guys get here so fast?" Flash asked as he dodged the powerful blow of the monster in front of him.
"Now's not exactly a good time." Wonder woman yelled back at him.
The battle continued on, each of them fighting to their full potential. It wasn't long into the battle when one of the creatures stood in the middle of the clearing and screamed in an unintelligible language. Just as suddenly as they came, they all seemed to disappear into the trees.
The group looked around. Robin was the first to ask the question on everyone's minds. "Where did they go?"
"They ran away.....again." Wonder woman murmured as she gazed at where she had last seen the creatures.
"We'd better head back to the Javelin-7." Hawk Girl finally said. She turned to Flash. "I'm sure Superman will want a word with you."
When they arrived at the Javelin-7 they found Nichole sitting quietly in the ship, while Superman paced outside. Upon seeing his friends, Superman's expression changed from worry to relief.
"Did you get them?" Superman asked to the group in general.
"No." Hawk Girl answered. "They ran away again."
Superman pounded his fist into a nearby tree, using it as an outlet for his frustration.
"We'd better get out of here before they decided to come back with more of their friends." Wonder woman said.
The ride back was quiet; dangerously quiet. Wally knew he was in trouble. This was probably going to be the biggest lecture of his life. He looked over at Nichole. Ever since he had come back, she hadn't said more then one word at a time. She just stared blankly at the floor. Any attempts to talk to her had failed; he was beginning to become concerned. Maybe he could get it out of her......but that would have to wait. They were about to land and the lecture wasn't very far away.
Sure enough, once they had landed, Flash and Nichole were led to the meeting room, where they both took a seat at the long table. Superman stood across from them, while Batman lurked in the corner.
"Do you have any idea how much danger you put yourselves in today?" Superman began, his temper rising with each word.
"Superman." Nichole whispered under her breath.
"How irresponsible can two people be?"
"Superman." Nichole whispered, a little louder this time.
"You both could have been killed!"
"Clark!" Her voice rose.
"Didn't you stop to think of the consequences? What would have happened if you were caught by them?"
Nichole stood up, her emotions overwhelming her. "Clark Kent, will you listen to me!?" She screamed in his face.
He froze. The three superheroes stared at Nichole, neither one of them had seen her like this before.
She sunk back down into her chair. "I've remembered." she cried. "I've remembered what he told me."
Wow. That was easy. Flash thought. He climbed down off the Javelin- 7 and then looked up at the ceiling door he had fallen through.
"Robin must have left the door open again." Flash muttered to himself. At least I've found what I'm looking for. He thought as he put his hand on the side of the ship.
"Flash? What are you doing here?" He turned around to see Robin standing in the doorway of the room.
"Oh, uh, I was just looking for Wonder woman."
"She's in the other room with Batman." Robin nodded to the closed door behind him. "They're doing some sort of experiment."
"Do you think she would mind if...." Flash paused mid-sentence. "How long do you think they'll be in there?"
"Have it back by four-thirty and you should be fine."
Flash smiled. "Thanks, Robin! Oh, by the way, remember to close the ceiling door after I leave."
"Oh, thanks, Flash. I'd be in trouble if Batman found out I left it open again."
Flash entered the Javelin-7 and flew off to the Watchtower. He glanced at his watch. It was one o'clock now.
Once Flash arrived at the Lookout, he immediately made his way to the kitchen; the somewhat heavenly aroma of chocolate chip cookies telling him he would find Nichole there.
"Hey Wally." Nichole said as she took the cookies out the oven.
"How'd you know it was me?"
She turned around and put the tray of cookies on a pot holder, which was on the table. She then looked up at Flash.
"No matter what time it is or where I think you are; you're always right behind me whenever I take cookies out of the oven."
Wally laughed. "Well, actually, today it wasn't planned." Nichole looked unconvinced. "Honest. I came here to ask you something."
"Oh." She sat down and motioned for him to do the same. "Go ahead."
"Remember when we talked about what you'd want to do if you could go down to earth for a day?"
"Yeah."
Flash pulled out of his pocket two tickets and placed them on the table. Nichole picked them up; her eyes widened. They were tickets to an amusement park in Ohio.
"How did you...?"
Wally smiled. "I've got connections. So, you wanna go?"
"When?"
"Now."
"Now?! You know I'd go with you after all this is over but..."
"Why can't we go now?"
"Well, first of all, those creatures could still be looking for me and I don't want to find out what'll happen if they do find me. Not to mention all the yelling that will happen if we got caught."
"For your first point, no problem. I'm a superhero; I'll protect you."
"What if you aren't enough? After all, last time it took Batman, Wonder woman, and Robin to defeat those things but they didn't even do that."
"Do you honestly think those creatures are still after you?"
"It's a very strong possibility. I would just like to stay away from the danger of being killed."
"The only danger you'd be in is if the rest of the Justice League found out."
"How do you figure?"
"Well, that night, you said the man in the car told you something important, right?"
"Yes."
"Then you were taken to some hotel where the first creature showed up."
"Your point is?"
"That man told you something about those creatures, something you weren't supposed to know; maybe even he wasn't supposed to know. It might have been something like what they are or why they're here. He told you for one reason or another and dropped you off at the hotel. Those things found out and went after you; to make sure you wouldn't leak any information. It's been two months. Don't you think they would have given up by now? Don't you think they would have thought you'd already given the info away?"
"Wow. That seems to fit nicely...but why don't you just tell that to the rest of the Justice League? Then we could go another day, when we'd have more time. Heck, why don't I just move down there till the rest of my memory returns?"
"You believe me, don't you?"
"Well, it fits better then any of my ideas..."
"Then it doesn't matter what they would think. Besides, if you even have a feeling that danger's near, we'll be out of there in a second."
"Oh, I don't know..."
"Oh, come on. You know you want to see the earth again. Wouldn't it be nice to feel the warmth of the sun again and the wind on your face? Don't you wanna see the deep blue sky and..."
"Ok! I'll go."
"Great! I've got everything ready."
"Oh, wait."
"What?"
"We've got a problem."
"No, I already told you. I know how to fly the Javelin-7. Wonder woman's been teaching me for the past month, remember?"
"No, different problem." Nichole pointed behind Wally. Flash turned around to see J'onn in the doorway of the kitchen.
"How long were you standing there?" Flash asked.
"Sorry, Nichole but I can't let you go. It's much too dangerous."
"Oh, please! You've got to let me go." Nichole was about to beg when she noticed something. "Where's Wally?"
Flash popped up behind her. "Right here." He walked over to J'onn and put his arm over J'onn's shoulder. "J'onn, buddy."
"No."
"You wouldn't want me to show this to everybody?" Flash took his other arm from behind his back. In his hand he held a cassette tape. J'onn became alarmed.
"What's on that tape?"
Flash leaned over and whispered in the Martian's ear. J'onn's eyes widened.
"Fine. I'll let you go. Just give me that tape!"
"I'll give it when we come back." Flash quickly held the tape out of J'onn's reach.
"Thank you, J'onn. Oh, and if it makes you feel better, you don't have to cover for us." Nichole said sympathetically.
"Thank you." J'onn glared at Flash. "But I think I'll pass. You two go and have a good time. Keep her away from danger."
After getting some stuff together, they were off. Flash sat at the controls and Nichole at the seat next to him.
"So, you're going to the park in that?" Flash looked down at his regular superhero attire.
"No. After we land I'll change." Wally caught her dirty glare. "Don't worry. The ship has a separator. You can stay here and I'll change in the back."
"Oh. Sounds good to me. By the way, what was on that tape anyway?"
"For the sake of my friend's reputation and honor, I can not answer that question."
"That's ok. I'm sure I don't want to know anyway."
A few minutes later Flash landed the ship in the middle of a forest.
"Why are we landing here?" Nichole asked.
"Well, we can't land the ship in the parking lot. My car is parked not to far from here. We can walk over to it. Now, if you'll excuse me." Flash pressed the button to put up the separator and quickly ran to the other end of the ship before it closed.
After Wally changed out of his Flash costume they made their way out into the forest to find Wally's car.
"How far did you park your car again?" They had stopped in a clearing in the woods; Wally was staring at the woods, a confused look on his face.
"I'm sure I parked it right over there."
"Well, it couldn't have just driven away and I'm sure no one would..." Nichole stopped, put her hand to her head and sat down with her back against a tree.
"Nicky! Are you alright?"
"We've got to get out of here." she said through clenched teeth.
"What's wrong?" Wally helped her up slowly.
She looked up at him, her eyes full of fear. "They're here."
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wisp of black swept down, grabbing Nichole. It landed, with Nichole in its grasp, a few feet in front of Flash.
"Give her back!" He screamed, making a mad dash towards the creature.
The monster, anticipating his move, leaped up onto the lowest branch on the tree behind it.
"Come down here and face me like a man!" Wally screamed up at it.
The creature just stared at him with fiery red eyes. It made a high, screeching noise before it leapt out of the tree. It turned to leave. Out of nowhere, a mace came flying through the air, hitting the creature unaware. It fell over, dropping Nichole. Flash ran over and caught Nichole before she fell.
"Are you ok?" Flash looked desperately into the girl's blank eyes as he held her limp body. "Are you ok?" he repeated franticly. He shook her hard, breaking her from her trance. She looked at him, her eyes seemingly adjusting to the world around her. Once again, Wally repeated his desperate question.
"I...I'm fine. You have bigger problems right now."
It was then that Wally glanced around, only to see himself surrounded by dark, evil-looking creatures but also, by friends. Batman, Wonder woman, Hawk Girl and, Robin were fighting off the evil before them.
Hawk Girl, who had recovered her mace, fought her way over to where Flash was standing.
"Take Nichole to the ship and come back. Superman's waiting for her there." She screamed above the noise.
Flash nodded in response. "Come on, Nicky." he whispered. "We've got to get you to safety."
He ran all the way to the ship in a matter of seconds. There, he dropped off Nichole into the arms of Superman, and ran off to rejoin the battle.
"How'd you guys get here so fast?" Flash asked as he dodged the powerful blow of the monster in front of him.
"Now's not exactly a good time." Wonder woman yelled back at him.
The battle continued on, each of them fighting to their full potential. It wasn't long into the battle when one of the creatures stood in the middle of the clearing and screamed in an unintelligible language. Just as suddenly as they came, they all seemed to disappear into the trees.
The group looked around. Robin was the first to ask the question on everyone's minds. "Where did they go?"
"They ran away.....again." Wonder woman murmured as she gazed at where she had last seen the creatures.
"We'd better head back to the Javelin-7." Hawk Girl finally said. She turned to Flash. "I'm sure Superman will want a word with you."
When they arrived at the Javelin-7 they found Nichole sitting quietly in the ship, while Superman paced outside. Upon seeing his friends, Superman's expression changed from worry to relief.
"Did you get them?" Superman asked to the group in general.
"No." Hawk Girl answered. "They ran away again."
Superman pounded his fist into a nearby tree, using it as an outlet for his frustration.
"We'd better get out of here before they decided to come back with more of their friends." Wonder woman said.
The ride back was quiet; dangerously quiet. Wally knew he was in trouble. This was probably going to be the biggest lecture of his life. He looked over at Nichole. Ever since he had come back, she hadn't said more then one word at a time. She just stared blankly at the floor. Any attempts to talk to her had failed; he was beginning to become concerned. Maybe he could get it out of her......but that would have to wait. They were about to land and the lecture wasn't very far away.
Sure enough, once they had landed, Flash and Nichole were led to the meeting room, where they both took a seat at the long table. Superman stood across from them, while Batman lurked in the corner.
"Do you have any idea how much danger you put yourselves in today?" Superman began, his temper rising with each word.
"Superman." Nichole whispered under her breath.
"How irresponsible can two people be?"
"Superman." Nichole whispered, a little louder this time.
"You both could have been killed!"
"Clark!" Her voice rose.
"Didn't you stop to think of the consequences? What would have happened if you were caught by them?"
Nichole stood up, her emotions overwhelming her. "Clark Kent, will you listen to me!?" She screamed in his face.
He froze. The three superheroes stared at Nichole, neither one of them had seen her like this before.
She sunk back down into her chair. "I've remembered." she cried. "I've remembered what he told me."