The Future is X-rated

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Chapter Three

Photographic Ignorance

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It was a hard thing to process to say the least of it. The Watchtower, the indestructible beacon of…justice and goodness (not to mention Wally's part-time home) a marvel of technology by any races' standards, dreamed up by Bruce, Richie, and J'onn (all geniuses in their own right) and completely infallible…was gone.

It didn't make any sense.

How could it…how could they just be gone like that? He could he still he here? He should have died thirty-five years ago, not be staring at Richie and Virgil twice his age, or Bruce like this, or have the children of his closest friends be older than he was.

And holy shit, kids…it was just so hard to believe.

John and Shayera had a kid and he'd been frozen and just…missed it. The two people who had stuck by him no matter what, right up to the seeming end had…lived a life and had a son and died all in what felt like a blink of a eye to him. What was a blink of an eye. He'd closed his eyes and opened them thirty-five years later.

Who knew what else had happened?

He'd closed his eyes only to open them decades later. Even now, sitting the Batcave with three people he knew he was feeling horrible out of place. How the hell was he supposed to live here? He didn't know what was going on here, in this time.

He didn't now who he was supposed to be anymore.

Wallace West was nearly sixty now or had died a very long time ago and couldn't very well just reappear exactly the same as when he left. Not that it mattered really, since almost everyone who had known him was dead or had moved on with their lives.

He couldn't really wrap his mind around it.

To make matters worse he was currently playing human pincushion to Bruce and Richie while Virgil sat by and watched, looking almost amused. Stupid bastard. He couldn't believe the kid who'd once cracked annoying one-liners even worse than his own was…not anymore.

"Hey. You okay?" He turned to look at Richie then returned his gaze back to his hands with a sigh. He remembered a slightly awkward teenager who he'd taken a personal delight in making uncomfortable as often as he could. Now he was faced with a man with graying blond hair and wrinkles around his eyes. He was built solidly and it was clear that age hadn't made him stop taking care of himself.

In fact, if Wally was to be honest, he'd bet that Richie would he harder to take down now then he'd been when he was younger.

"Yeah, why?"

Richie shrugged. "You looked a little out of it."

Wally snorted. "Only a little?"

Richie smiled faintly. "Or a lot. If it helps you any we're almost done with all of this poking and prodding."

"Joy." It came out with more venom that Wally intended but he found he wasn't really inclined to apologize. Richie just blinked at him mildly then, with a glance towards where Bruce was hunched over his computer, sat down in the chair next to the table Wally was sitting on.

Wally stared at him for a moment then looked away again, finding he didn't particularly care for the almost…fatherly gaze Richie had fixed on him. There was wisdom in those pale blue eyes and it was really unnerving. In fact this entire situation was kind of making his skin crawl.

So he decided to go for something that wouldn't involve someone who should be younger than him looking at him like he wanted to hear all of his problems and make it better. Besides, that had always been J'onn and Diana's thing. He didn't really want someone else taking over.

"So. What've you been up to?"

Richie's lips twitched. "Are you serious?"

"Completely. Wow me with tales of what I've missed while frozen."

Richie was silent for a moment then shrugged. "Okay. Well…I've lived in Gotham since I graduated and I went to Gotham U for all of five weeks then dropped out."

Wally arched an eyebrow. "You dropped out?"

"They couldn't really teach me anything I didn't already know and Bruce had offered me a position at Wayne Tech when I was ready. He probably expected me to finish first, in hindsight." Bruce chose that moment to snort. Richie ignored him. "My parents were furious. A few years later V married Daisy, an old friend of ours, so I went back to Dakota for a while. It was pretty much dead then, but things are getting better now."

Wally blinked. He'd always thought that Virgil and Richie had a…'thing' but somehow blurting that out after hearing that Virgil was married didn't seem like the best way to bring up something like that.

"When I was around twenty-six I got this weird idea to go into law enforcement so I did. I think I wanted to try saving people in a more normal fashion. John and Shayera had Rex-"

"You didn't miss much." Virgil broke in. "Shayera was pretty lethal around that time. Very cranky pregnant lady." Wally almost smiled. It was pretty obvious Virgil was trying to help, but it wasn't exactly working.

He'd take an angry Shayera over no Shayera every time.

"Things were pretty quiet after that. Dakota hit bottom and even the gangs moved out which gave everyone a chance to rebuild the city. V moved to Gotham part time to start his practice. He's under the illusion that he's the best Civil Rights attorney ever. A woman I worked with at Wayne Tech died and I ended up investigating her murder and taking in her son, Mikhail."

"Your definition of quiet is complex, isn't it?"

Richie shrugged. "It's a comparison thing. After that the 'Tower, then Wayne Tech merging with Powers, Virgil moving here full time, and me stopping work for Bruce… Plus Gotham has pretty much gone to hell over the years. We've been voted Scariest City five years running. I think the whole Wayne-Powers being used for illegal purposes and being run by a radioactive CEO has something to do with it."

That gave Wally a moment's pause. He couldn't see Bruce allowing his company to merge with anyone else's. He's always been so…well, so much of a hard-ass about what was his and allowing someone else to take control, even partial control, was just unheard of.

Like with the League. Clark may have been the official leader but Wally had always gotten the feeling that very little actually happened without Bruce's say-so.

He glanced over at Bruce, realizing the typing had stopped. The older man's back was rigid, giving Wally the impression that all of things Richie had listed were extremely sore topics. Instead he looked over at Virgil, who was still watching them though he looked a good deal less amused than before.

"Sooo…you live in Gotham?"

Virgil nodded, eyes darting to the side towards Richie. "Yeah. I moved out here with Richie, after Daisy had the twins."

Never let it be said Wally was truly unobservant. He caught the meaning under Virgil's words; he didn't mean 'with Richie' in a friendly way.

"Twins? You? And Dakota is still standing?"

Virgil smiled. "For the most part. You don't want to know how hard it was convincing them they couldn't use their powers in public when they were younger."

"It wasn't that hard. Aaron was easy and bribery was always an option with Bobbie."

"Bribery is still an option with Bobbie." Virgil rolled his eyes. "It's the only thing that's keeping her from killing Terry."

"If you're done with your trip down memory lane," Bruce said, voice taking on a kind of edge. "I'm done. You're exactly the way you were before you were infected."

"Exactly?"

He was skeptical. He didn't feel the same…constant energy he'd always felt before, the need to just move least he lose his mind. In fact he felt almost calm, something he didn't think he'd ever felt. Not that he could recall anyway.

"Is something wrong?" Bruce sounded almost worried, but for the sake of his own (questionable at this point) sanity Wally choose to just ignore it. Bruce being all concerned was just something he couldn't make himself think about at the moment.

Instead he considered Bruce's question for a moment. There were two perfectly reasonably answers to that question, but one would make him look he was borderline hysterical and lead to ranting on the evils of freezing people without permission, where as the other one would help him continue to just look bewildered.

Not to create the illusion that he wasn't completely bewildered, because he was.

"I'm fine." He said finally with a shrug. "Just making sure."

Bruce arched an eyebrow at him before nodding. "One last test then. I assume you recall the way to the kitchen."

Wally had a flash of Bruce's butler, Alfred. He'd met the man on a few occasions and somehow they had all ended with him being feed, which was always a good thing in Wally's book.

Alfred was probably dead now. Probably had been for a while; he hadn't exactly been a young guy before Wally had been poisoned after all.

"I do."

"There's a bowl of fruit on the table. Go get an apple."

Wally blinked. "Now?"

"Assuming you don't have something more important to do."

"Well…right now?" He couldn't explain it except to maybe call it…fear. He didn't hear the millions of stray thoughts that his brain had always supplied him with, didn't feel the maniac energy inside of him…he didn't want to try to run and find out he couldn't.

Sure, Bruce said he was exactly the same but Wally had never been one to test medical crap over his own assessment of his body. Something was different.

"Is something wrong?" Richie asked.

Wally shook his head. "No. I just…maybe we should wait a day or two before-"

"Would you just-"

Wally went, knowing when it was time to avoid getting on Bruce's nerves.

Up the steps, through the office, to the right and into the kitchen. He grabbed an orange, since he had always preferred green apples to red ones. Peeled it, threw away the skin, and headed back down to the cave. Took a second to notice that the only thing in the office that had changed was a framed picture of Diana, not much different than Wally remembered.

He wondered if she had died as well. That would explain why Bruce seemed to be even crankier than he'd been before.

"-Go."

Bruce had just finished his exasperated command when Wally hopped back onto the examination table, fruit in hand. Bruce blinked, startled. Wally sighed and looked around the large dank cave. He could still hear the faint rush of water from somewhere down below and the flap of wings from the bats. Stones still hung down from the ceiling and Bruce's collection of various villain memorabilia was more or less the same, though Wally noted the Robin and Nightwing suits had joined.

Nightwing. Dick. His best friend. Where was he? He couldn't imagine 'Wing had been on the Watchtower; none of the 'original' Titans had ever really cared for the League, with the obvious exception of himself.

The younger Titans had seemed a little less 'rebellion happy' than they had been, in a sense anyway, but if Bruce had survived it was likely that Robin had as well. But what about the other Titans…actually Wally had to admit he didn't care much about all of them. Dick and Roy mostly. It wasn't that he didn't like the rest, but they hadn't been the major figures in his life that those two had been.

Beyond that his thoughts centered on Bart and his aunt Iris. Where were they? How were they? Were they even still alive? How could he find out? …He felt a serious headache coming on. He had to get back to his original train of thought, at least to center himself.

Okay, so he was still 'Flash', as fast as he ever was.

Well, not really. He probably could have gone a little faster but he hadn't moved in thirty-five years, a little lag was to be expected. Still, something was wrong. Not to complain, since he was feel pretty damn relieved at the moment, but he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling of something being off.

Maybe it was all this 'introspective' shit he was doing. He couldn't recall ever thinking with this much focus for this long…ever. It really wasn't in his nature. Or at least it hadn't been before.

"Wally." Bruce's voice cut through his thoughts like a knife. "Are you listening?"

"…No." He shrugged. He expected Bruce to glare but, to his surprise, the other man smiled faintly.

"Of course not. I was saying you should go with Richie and Virgil for the time being."

"Trying to get rid of me?" Wally asked, trying to force cheerfulness into his tone. Even as he did it he couldn't help but think how unlike him it was. He didn't fake his moods. He hadn't used to anyway. Honesty was one of his 'things', no matter whose nerves it got on.

And if that person was Bruce then all the more fun for him. But…he found he didn't want Bruce to catch on to how out of sorts he was feeling. Not until he could figure it out at least.

"Partly. I doubt I have the patience to deal with you anymore."

"Like you ever did." Wally muttered.

Bruce snorted but other than that gave no indication that he heard what he had said. Age hadn't made him any less observant at least. "More than that you can't get a feel for New Gotham if you're miles outside of the city. I need some time to construct a new identity for you and, in the mean time, you should try to…acclimate."

"Catch up on the past thirty-five years you mean."

Wally tried not to focus on the knot that formed in his stomach at the prospect of having Bruce build him a new life but…well, it made sense didn't it? He couldn't be him anymore; he already knew that much. But at the same time there was something very disturbing about just…becoming someone else just like that.

He didn't want to be someone else. He wanted to be Wally. Someone else meant re-living things in a whole new way. He was going to be starting over in a completely different world, in a manner of speaking at least.

He didn't want to. He just…he didn't want to. He'd had his life figured out already, he didn't like the idea of starting over. Sure, he'd lived before but how much of that was valid anymore? Bruce was about to wipe it all away and give him a more or less blank slate.

He had to learn to be someone else when he'd finally accepted what his own fate was to be. Or…had accepted thirty-five years ago. He'd really been okay with the dying thing. That was life. You lived, tried to make an impact, and then you died. That was okay with him.

Had been at least.

Bruce nodded. "Things are very different now. It will take some time to get used to things."

Wally wanted to scream that he didn't want to get used to things. He wanted to know about his family, his friends, the Watchtower, Cadmus, Luthor, what in the living hell was wrong with him…anything at all except a new life in a new time. He wanted to be angry. Wanted to just run, from ocean to ocean and maybe across the fucking Pacific until he was too tired to do anything except breathe. Too tired to even think anymore, because even his thoughts weren't the way they used to be.

But…he didn't.

He just nodded and picked up the t-shirt he'd been given when he'd woken up earlier. Something inside of him felt cold, like tiny ice crystals were forming in his blood. He pulled on his shirt, noting almost distractedly that this really wasn't like him.

He should really be working his way into angry ranting/babble right about now and maybe pacing fast enough to wear a grove into the smooth rock that made up the floor of the 'Cave. This calm and collected thing was disturbing, on a personal level.

But…well, he wasn't really overly worried.

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"You don't need me at all today?" Rex couldn't keep the disbelief from his voice. "Are you sure? …Oh. The entire level? …the entire building. I see. At least no one was hurt. Let me know when everything's back to normal then, okay? Right. You have a good day too."

Rex sighed and made a gesture for the phone to disconnect. Mikhail smirked at him over his cup of tea, gray eyes blatantly amused.

"I take it you have some time off."

"Yeah. Someone blew up one of the dorms during my little vacation; drug runners most likely. Looks like I'll be around a bit longer. No need to cross the river if I'm out of work for the next week."

"How is it you know if the Joker's sneeze funny but you can't keep tabs on your own research facilities these days?"

"Because being a glorified rehab counselor isn't nearly as interesting as being Warhawk."

Mikhail frowned at him before replying. "You aren't a rehab counselor, you're a psychoanalyst who is trying to find out why causes so many people to resort to those DNA altering drugs floating around. And you love your job."

"Not lately. It just feels pointless." He glanced down at his ruined breakfast and then stood up, trusting the computer would take care of it later.

It wasn't that Virgil and Richie were rich and could afford one of those fully automated houses that were so popular at the moment. It was that Richie as a super genius and most of the ideas for the automated houses were based on his old work at Wayne-Powers.

Mikhail stared at him, eyes narrowing. The air seemed to shift around Rex and something like fingers felt as if they were brushing against the inside of his skull. He glared.

"Stop it. My mind is not the place for you to try out your telepathy. Just ask what you want to know."

"But you lie. Which is stupid by the way. Sure, I can't read your mind yet, but who lies to a precog? It's not like I won't know eventually, probably before you do. We could save so much time if you'd just be honest and let me take a peak into the future."

Before Rex could give that question the answer it deserved, which usually revolved around not wanting to know his future, Mikhail's eyes slide to the side, growing unfocused. "Pops and Dad are home. They've got someone with them."

"Who?"

"Dunno. Their mind has one of those annoying natural shield things, like yours." Mikhail said blinking back to attention. "So what's with you?"

Rex rolled his eyes and headed out of the kitchen, ignoring Mikhail's shout for him to come back, followed by a muttered curse. The front door was open by the time he got to the front hall. He stopped and watched as the man he'd been keeping watch over walked in after Richie and Virgil, hands shoved deep into his pockets and blue-green eyes darting around nervously from beneath red bangs.

The eyes went wide when they landed on Rex. The other man took him in, gaze darting down, up, and back again before meeting Rex's. He swallowed. It was just too…strange to see this man, who'd been his father and mother's closest friend and was supposedly part of the reason the League had been going south before it's ultimate destruction.

The humanity of the Justice League, in the pale fidgety flesh. Not too impressive, a bit on the tall side, kind of skinny, freckled… Still. There was something to it all. Something that made Rex's heart skip a beat, not a typical reaction from him. Bruce had told him more than once that he'd inherited his father's unflappable disposition.

Rex looked away, realizing he was staring, and closed his eyes briefly. God, he wished his parents could have seen this. They deserved to see it. They had cared so much.

"Hey." He managed to get out finally, wincing at how strange his voice sounded. This was just getting annoying now.

"Um. Hi. Rex right?" Rex nodded. "Yeah. You…look like John. A lot." Eyes darted away from Rex and focused on some spot above his head.

Right. Well. It was completely true. He looked a lot like his father. And, considering Wally had been unfrozen all of a day and had just found out that his father was dead, it probably was a good idea to hang around. He nodded again then, suddenly nervous, took a step backwards.

"I'm on my way out. Someone blew up the dorm so I'm not working or anything, so call if you need anything. I'll be back to patrol with Terry later."

Before anyone could comment he darted back into the kitchen, opting to take the back door. He called a quick farewell to Mikhail who just blinked at him, clearly bewildered.

The last thing he heard before the door slid shut behind him was Mikhail's distant: "Okay then."

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1) We're going to play a game! I don't believe in just having a story centered around one plot, but rather to have a main plot and then a bunch of smaller plots and background stuff going on. It's a quirk. Anyway, the game is 'Guess the Mini-Plots'. Trust me, it's fun. …Plus it helps me know what's getting across and what isn't.

Cherre: Yeah, my ego is a hard thing to beat down…besides, admit it, you love me:P

Mechante: It is dark and they do need Wally to brighten things. They're all entirely too serious and cynical where as Wally is brightly sarcastic. Or something along those lines… As for character death and loopholes…um…the voices in my head made me do it? …no? Oh well…I know, I know, I'm bad and need to learn to stop writing stuff but the ideas…they just don't stop.

HAP: Actually the confusion is Rex's fault. He already knows everyone and so he isn't inclined to tell you anything about them and so you're left clueless as to who these people actually are. I did this on purpose because I want you to learn things as Wally learns them. My plotlines tend to take…time, because I believe in acknowledging the world beyond the central conflict and…Rumors. Yes. I'm working on limited time. I'm working two jobs. (Trying to move out of my sister's house and pay for college…)

Saturn: Ah, you win the prize! I was going to fully explain it later, but you already guessed: Bobbie and Aaron are the product of Virgil's marriage to Daisy but the marriage dissolved and now V is where he should have been all along. Mikkie was adopted by both shortly there after, but he'd been in Richie's custody for a while. I like Terry actually (and he is hot. They should bring Beyond back…) and so does Rex. I think. In one of the episodes Terry joined the 'New' Justice League, as ran by a slightly insane Superman and stuff went down. I'm just…extending on the idea of Clark losing his mind. Bruce denies having anything to do with the craziness but…I don't believe him.

Lady: You will see Wally rant on the evil of electronics because that's just…well, one of his running quirks. He's just so adorably paranoid about things like that.

Taichi: I actually don't know. One could assume it's Flash that dies and drives Clark to do something less than 'Boyscout' like, but I can't say for sure.

Moon: It was fun wasn't it…