Disclaimer: The usual.

First Steps

Chapter Six: Confrontation

Wally didn't like being by himself. At least, not for long periods of time. All it did was give him time to think, and if the events of the past few weeks had taught him anything, it would be that thinking isn't exactly productive most of the time. It reminded him of a conversation he once had with John Stewart when the Justice League consisted of a mere seven members, during a quiet day on the Watchtower.

"I try not to think during a fight."

Wally looked over at him, turning away from the canvas of the planet Earth floating beneath them.

"You? Not think? Mister Military?"

John nodded, not taking his eyes off the stars laid out in front of him.

"If you think too much before you act, you can start thinking about all the things that could go wrong, and then-"

"Not act."

John took his eyes off the earth and turned his head towards with Wally. Then, with a completely straight face, he pointed his finger at Wally, mimicking a gun as he made a light clicking noise to show that the 'gun' had gone off.

Wally had never laughed so hard in his life.

It was one of those conversations that Wally missed having. And not just with John. It seemed the only founding member he talked to all that much was Shayera, and while he enjoyed her company, he did miss having the occasional beer with John while they watched a movie, or playing 'find the Oreo' with J'onn. He would even admit to feeling nostalgic about his fishing expeditions with Clark, as boring as they were. Wally shook his head, and smacked the side of his head, as if attempting to knock the thoughts and feelings out the other side.

He looked over at the machine monitoring his vitals, and wondered why he was even hooked up to the thing. Were they all so paranoid to think that a few broken ribs might make him disappear again? Wally shuddered at the memory. Wally got up out of the bed, standing on unused legs, unknowingly interrupting the sensors that were monitoring his vitals, causing them to register a flat line. Wally's eyes widened at the high pitched noise, and he looked back at the machine, his teeth clenched anxiousness over being caught trying to leave.

Again.

He put his fingers to his lips. "Ssssh!"

Wally got down on his hands and knees and tried to find the socket the thing was plugged into. And then the doors opened. Wally silently cursed the thought of his butt being up in the air to greet whoever had just entered.

"Flash… what are you doing?"

Sounds like… Clark, Wally decided, before getting up and dusting himself off. He turned around, revealing a puzzled but slightly amused Man of Steel.

"Just trying to keep myself entertained, Supes. Not a lot to do around here." Wally always called Clark by his superhero name, which had always puzzled him slightly, since he was always so informal with everyone else. Except for Bats.

Clark smiled slightly. "And crawling on the floor was entertaining because…?"

Wally grumbled a string of words he didn't want Clark to hear (though he probably did), and then sat on his bed.

"So what's up? Can I go now?"

Clark sighed. "Well, first of all, I got a visit from a friend of yours earlier today."

Wally looked up, interested. "Really? Who?"

"Nightwing."

Wally swung his legs back onto his bed, and rested his head on the pillow.

"Oh. What did he want?" he said, trying to sound relaxed about the whole thing.

Clark took a deep breath. "He's worried about you, Flash. To be honest, we all are. Ever since what happened with Luthor and Brainiac, you've been-"

"What?" Wally snapped viciously, obviously shocking Clark. Usually, Wally would feel guilty about the sad look crossing over the Big Blue Boy Scout's face, but he was too angry.

I'll regret it later, he thought, making a note in his mental diary.

"I've talked about it with the others, and we all agree that you should be taken off the active roster. At least for a few weeks."

Wally sat up in his bed fast enough to give any normal man whiplash. "A few weeks? You've gotta be kidding me!"

"I'm sorry Wally, but it was a unanimous decision. As of right now, you're on leave."

"Does that at least mean I can get out of here?"

"Yes, but-"

He didn't even get a chance to finish. Wally shot out of the medical bay, leaving Clark's cape flapping in the resulting breeze. If Wally hadn't left so soon, he would have seen the look of sadness on Clark's face deepen, before he sighed and left the room himself.

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Wally stepped into the mess hall, and quickly looked around. He was hungry, but that could wait. He spotted Supergirl eating with Booster Gold, and shot over to their table.

"Have you seen Nightwing?" he said to Supergirl, not even looking at Booster.

"Well, good morning to you too, sunshine," he grumbled. Wally paid him no mind, finding it hard to care. Supergirl munched her food thoughtfully, and then swallowed.

"I think he went to the gym. But don't quote me on that."

The gym. That definitely sounded like Dick. Wally nodded and forced a smile.

"Thanks. See you guys later," he said, heading off to the gym faster than he probably should indoors. He was sure he heard some people shouting at him to slow down, but he ignored them. He quickly reached the gym, and stepped inside, revealing its sole occupant, one Richard Grayson. He was pounding away half heartedly (for him) on a punching bag that was suspended from the ceiling. He saw Wally and stopped, a half smile on his face.

"Hey, Wally, how-"

"What the hell did you think you were doing?"

Dick recoiled slightly, clearly surprised by the sudden outburst. "What?"

"Heading off to Supes and telling him I needed some time off!"

Dick put his hands up in front of him in surrender. "Woah, Woah, back up, Wally. I didn't tell him to give you time off, I just told him that they needed to talk to you about the whole Luthor and Brainiac thing."

Wally was silent. He narrowed his eyes.

"Who told you about that?" he said quietly. Dangerously quiet.

Dick held Wally's gaze, and answered slowly. "I-"

"John? Bats? Shayera?"

Dick crossed his arms. "I'm not at liberty to say."

"Well, whoever it was, they had no right to tell you about it."

"No right… I had every right, Wally!"

"How'd you figure?"

"Because I'm one of your oldest friends! Doesn't that count for something in your book?"

Wally felt shame creeping up on him, quelling his anger. The more he thought about it, the more he realised he should have told Dick. In fact, he was one of the few people he could talk to about it without his job in the League coming under threat. Wally sat on a nearby bench, and looked up at Dick.

"I see you're still a strong believer in that friendship stuff you spouted as Robin, huh?"

"Damn right."

"Dick… I'm sorry. I was just angry, I guess."

Dick's face softened slightly as he shrugged.

"I think I can understand that," he said, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Understatement of the year," Wally said, suddenly feeling a calmness washing over him. Dick sat down next to him, resting his back on the wall.

"So," he said cautiously, "how long are you on leave?"

"A few weeks."

Dick nodded slowly. "What are you planning to do with it?"

"That's the thing. I don't know. Ever since the whole Luthor/Brainiac thing, I've been trying to bury myself in… Flash stuff, I guess. I mean, I haven't given up on being Wally West, but…"

"You need the work to distract you. So you don't think about it too much."

Wally turned to look at him. "How'd you-"

"Because I used to do the same thing. I remember once, years ago, when me and Bruce were caught in the middle of a pretty nasty gang war, and I got shot in the arm. Nothing serious, but enough to put the fear of God into me, you know? For weeks afterwards I would constantly try to keep busy, and try not to think about it, but when the time came to take down another hood with a gun, I froze. I just… stood there. All I could think about was the pain I felt on that night when I got shot."

"What happened?"

"Bruce took him down, and then we talked about it back at the cave."

"Bats talked? In a consoling, caring way?"

"He wasn't always the serious hardass he is now, you know."

"Huh. Didn't know he had it in him."

"Anyway, we talked about it, and he gave me some advice that night that I just can't seem to forget."

"And what was that?"

Dick paused.

"'Deal with it'."

Wally chuckled lightly, and before long, he was laughing like he had at John on the old Watchtower. Before long, Dick was laughing with him. Wally looked over at Dick, and for the first time since he was pulled out of the Speed Force, he was at ease.

"Hey Dick?" he said between laughs, attempting to catch his breath.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Dick smiled, that same quirky smile he only used for his friends. "Anytime."

Before anything else could be said, Green Lantern's voice came over the intercom.

"Nightwing, Plastic Man, Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E, report to the teleportation chamber, on the double."

"Duty calls."

Wally smiled. "Lucky."

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Wally stepped out of the elevator and onto the rooftop, and looked out onto the city, finally understanding why Dick used to do this so much when he was younger. Wally made a note to make sure he got up to see it at least once a week. It was invigorating to see. But that wasn't the reason Wally had forced himself up so early in the morning. The real reason was sat cross legged near the edge of the building, watching the sun rise over the towering skyscrapers of Metropolis. He made his way over and sat down on her left.

"Hey."

She looked over and seemed quite shocked. To her credit, she recovered quickly.

"Morning. Why are you up so early?" She paused in thought. "Come to think of it, aren't you supposed to be on leave?"

Wally shrugged and smiled. "As long as I'm not on missions, I'm welcome to stick around. Not that I'm planning to."

"Of course."

They shared a silence as they both looked at the rising sun. Shayera turned her head towards him.

"Look, Wally, I just wanted to say-"

Wally put a hand up mid sentence to stop her. "It's okay. You were just doing what you thought was right. I should've told him anyway."

Shayera nodded her head, and again looked out to the sun.

"It's just…"

She turned to look at him. He continued to stare out onto the horizon.

"He's pretty much the only person around here who doesn't see me as some kid, y'know? He…" Wally smiled, well aware of how childish he sounded, "respected me. I always get the feeling that the rest of you look down on me."

Shayera put a hand on her shoulder. Wally waited for the kind words of consolation. "Wally… wake up."

"What?"

"I can't believe you actually believed we thought you were useless. Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? You do know you have the potential to be one of the most powerful members of the League, right?"

"I do?"

"Yeah. Just stop goofing around all the time."

Wally frowned thoughtfully.

"I suppose… but then where would we be? Would you have half as much fun with me as you would if I acted like, say, " Wally smiled, and put his fingers on either side of his head, imitating a certain Dark Knight, "Bats?"

Shayera laughed. "I guess not."

But Wally was lost in his impression. He stood and put on his best Batman voice. "I am the night! I am Justice! I wear ladies undergarments in secret!"

Shayera pulled him down to the ground. "You do realise the cameras up here pick up sound too?"

Wally gulped, not looking forward to Bats' retaliation. He had a pretty nasty mind when it came to pranks.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Well, I'd better shut up then."

"Probably best."

The silence that followed was born out of such trust and friendship that no words were needed. As the sun began to lose its peaceful orange hue and the city of Metropolis gradually came alive, Wally realised that there were very few people he could sit in silence with like this, and how lucky he was that he was surrounded by these people. Wally grimaced as he remembered how badly he had treated Clark in the medical bay the previous day, and decided he would have to do something to make it up to him. But right now, nothing was more important to him than simply enjoying a quiet moment with another old friend.

"Wally?"

"Yeah?"

"Kid Flash?"

Wally sighed.

Old friends suck.

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