Disclaimer: The Flash and all other DC stuff not mine.

Legacies

Chapter Two: Call Him Bart

Wally shot down the street, being careful to keep his speed low enough so as not to create a gale force wind behind him. The mayor had talked to him about his speeding before, and had finally come up with the resolution that, unless there was an emergency, Wally would keep to the speed limit. Wally's response to this had been 'That's no fun', but the mayor hadn't been particularly interested in Wally's definition of fun. Of course, Wally being Wally, he wasn't sure how fast he was going at any given time. So he was given a specially made speedometer watch that measured his speed. Unfortunately, Wally had to adhere to the rules of the road as well, which usually meant having to stop at traffic lights, which he thought was supremely stupid.

Not today, though, since Wally was on his way to a rather heated car chase on the other side of town. Wally sped across the junction, prompting several enraged yells and horns to be sounded, which Wally ignored. He had gotten used to ignoring people when they yelled at him, which was probably why he could pull pranks and such so easily; when people shouted at him it didn't really bother him. Wally took a sharp left down an alleyway, leaving a billowing cloud of dust behind him. He heard the sound of sirens, and was greeted by a police car flying by the foot of the alleyway. Wally turned as he left the alley, turning and quickly overtaking the police car, closing in on their quarry; a rather immaculate brown car. Wally didn't know what make the car was; not that he knew anything about cars in the first place. It seemed kind of pointless to become interested in them since he was the Fastest Man Alive.

Wally overtook the police car and ran up alongside the pursued, adjusting his speed so that he was running next to the drivers' window. He knocked and waited for a response. The window didn't lower, but the driver had obviously seen him, judging by how the car was now careening towards him, attempting to ram him into the wall. Wally increased his speed and hopped up onto the front of the car, deftly landing on the other side. The car quickly swerved away from the wall, and turned left suddenly to go down another road. Wally followed, catching up to the car and yet again running alongside the drivers' window. Wally brought back his fist and brought it forward, putting his speed behind it, smashing it through the window. He grabbed onto the drivers' collar, and, hoping he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, yanked him out of the seat, throwing him onto the road. Wally opened the door to the car and put his foot on the brake pedals steadily, bringing the car to a slow stop.

He let out a breath he wasn't even aware he was holding, and looked in the cars' mirrors to see the driver attempting to limp away. Wally whizzed after him, coming to a halt directly in front of him, a grin on his face.

"Do you really want to do this, buddy?"

As if in response, the driver pulled out a gun. Wally whipped out his hand, quickly grabbing the gun and tossing it over his shoulder. He promptly landed a fist on the drivers face, and Wally winced as he heard what he was sure was his nose breaking. He turned to see the police arriving on the scene, and he gave them a quick salute and a smile before shooting off again, heading back to his apartment. Wally had been in the middle of a pizza feast when he saw the news report, and hoped it hadn't become too cold in his absence.

Wally tried his best to ignore his stomach's grumbling as he made his way to his apartment building. He scaled the building with ease, landing on the roof. He checked around to see that no one was looking and lifted the grating leading into the ventilation duct, pulling out a bag containing his clothes. He ran to the door leading to the stairs, quickly getting changed as he descended. By the time he reached his floor, he was fully dressed. He entered his apartment and sighed contentedly, smelling the rich aroma of ten pizzas. He walked over to the answering machine, munching on a lukewarm slice of pizza as he pushed the playback button.

"You have no new messages."

Wally sighed and resumed eating his pizza. He had been trying for the past week to contact Hunter, but to no avail. No matter when he called, Hunter never picked up, and never responded to his messages. Wally wished that he knew where Ashley was, so he could ask what had happened between them. Wally didn't like his friends being angry with him, especially when he didn't know why. He had played the conversation in his head over and over again, attempting to find out why Hunter snapped at him. It was just the usual banter, so why did he suddenly just…?

Wally shook his head. If something were wrong with Hunter, Wally should have noticed straight away. There was the obvious sign that Hunter was drunk by the time Wally had caught up with him, but Hunter had done that before even when there wasn't anything wrong. The only sign that told Wally that anything was seriously wrong was when he exploded at him, with that look in his eyes. The look in his eyes that Wally had only seen once before, in that alleyway, as Kid Flash. He remembered how frightened he had been. Since he was relatively new to the solo hero thing, Wally had never seen anything that brutal. It certainly wasn't the last time, but the first time is always the one that imprints it on the memory.

Wally considered how strange it was that the one responsible for such brutality had ended up becoming his best friend. Initially, when he had first started talking to Hunter as Wally, it was to keep an eye on him. But gradually, he came to become the best of friends with him. Wally wasn't sure when exactly it happened, but it did. He was such a good friend that Wally had told Hunter that he was the Flash, but that was only after he made the leap from Kid Flash to grown up, adult Flash.

Just as Wally was about to pick up the phone and try again, a rapid knocking came on the door. The knock was familiar, and that was because no one could knock that fast – except for him. Wally made his way to the door, pizza slice in hand, and opened it. Wally looked down to see a wiry boy with equally wiry brown hair staring up at him. Wally raised an eyebrow.

"Uh… can I help you?"

The boy nodded. "Uh huh. I'm here to see you."

"Me?"

Another nod. "Yeah. You're Wally West, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Great! Then I'm at the right place! Is that pizza?" he walked in past Wally and straight to the pizza, taking a slice and biting into it. His face changed from one of curiosity to one of disgust. "Bleh, cold. You have anything to wash it down?"

"Hey, I-"

The boy opened the fridge, and pulled out a beer. "Ooo, beer. Haven't tried this yet."

Wally shot over to him, being careful not to give away his super speed, and grabbed the beer from the boy. "Look kid, just who are you?"

The boy looked to the ceiling in thought. "Um… I dunno… uh… it begins with B… uh, Bert… no, that's not it… Brad? No…"

"Come on kid, this isn't funny. Just tell me your name so I can take you back to your parents."

"You can't do that yet; you've gotta fix me."

"Fix you?"

He nodded. "Yeah, at least that's what I remember. Bart! That's it! My name's Bart."

"Bart… right… Bart what?"

"Huh?"

"You have a second name, right?"

"Yeah, it's Al something… like, Alien, or…"

Wally froze. "…Allen?"

"Yeah, that's it! How did you know?"

"Look, kid, just who the… what the hell are you doing here?"

"I told you; you're gonna fix me."

"'Fix you'? What do you mean, 'fix you'?"

"I mean, there's something wrong with me, and only you can fix it."

"Well, what is it?"

"Huh?"

"What's wrong with you?"

He shrugged. "Dunno."

"Look, kid, this is really starting to-" Wally stopped himself, forcing a deep breath before continuing. "Okay. Is there a reason that you can't remember?"

"Yeah. Time travel can do that."

Wally's eyes narrowed to slits. "Time… travel…?"

"Yeah, I used the Cosmic Treadmill."

"The… the what?"

Bart looked up at him with questioning eyes. "Wait… shouldn't you know? You built it."

"I… what? Built what? What the hell are you talking about?"

"You are the Flash, right?"

Wally ducked his head and instinctively checked around the room. He put a finger to his lips and leaned closer to Bart. "What makes you think I'm the Flash?"

He shrugged. "It's in all the history books."

"History books?"

"Yeah. Where I come from, you're a legend."

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Where do you come from?"

"Central City."

Wally grabbed his face in sheer frustration. He paused, and straightened up, crossing his arms. "Okay then… when do you come from?"

"I can't remember a specific date, but somewhere around the twenty second century."

"The… twenty second… century," Wally said dumbly, stumbling backwards and falling into a chair by the kitchen table. Bart snapped his fingers, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small circular object and handed it to Wally. He took it, staring at it. It looked like a CD, but it was about five times smaller.

"Sorry, I almost forgot about that. That has all the info you need."

"Does it…?" Wally said, his eyes fixed on the disk, his mind busy trying to take in the sudden influx of information, and deciding whether to trust the boy or not.

Bart nodded. "Yeah. I remember my mom saying something about them downgrading it as much as they could… y'know, so it would work with your primitive computers and stuff."

Wally nodded back, only very slowly. "Right… just have a seat for a minute, okay?" He wasn't sure what to make of all this. He stood, and was about to make his way to his room when he heard a swooshing sound. He turned to see Bart sat on the sofa.

"How did you…?"

Bart stared at him blankly before realisation struck. "Oh… yeah, I have super speed."

"Oh. Okay," he said dumbly, not being too bothered by the fact after everything else. He made his way into his room, reaching for his Justice League communicator, and put it in his ear. He pressed the button and began to speak.

"Hey, J'onn?"

There was a long silence where Wally could only hear static before the Martian responded.

"Yes, Flash?"

"I was wondering if I could ask a favour?"

Wally was sure that J'onn sighed, but he could never tell what the Martian was feeling, even when he was face to face with him. "We are very busy right now, Flash. Unless it's something important, it will have to wait."

"Well, it is kind of important. I think. Well, it could be important, and-"

"Flash…"

"Yeah?"

Wally heard some sort of alarm in the background.

"Sorry Flash, an emergency. Watchtower out."

And with that, the line went dead. Wally removed the earpiece and put it in the drawer. He mulled over his options. He could go to the police, but he didn't want him blabbing to them about the legendary Wally West and how he was the Flash. And anyway, he didn't want the kid locked up in a loony bin, because, after all, he could be telling the truth. Wally had seen and heard stranger things that were true. So, whoever he went to would have to know that Wally West and the Flash were one and the same, but also not dismiss him outright, thank you very much Martian Manhunter. Wally's eyes lit up as inspiration struck. He dashed back into the living room, and grabbed the phone, doing his best to ignore Bart. He dialled the number, and waited for an answer.

"Hello, Titans Tower, how may I help you?" a cheery voice replied.

Wally smiled. "I'd like to speak to Victor Stone, please."

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Wally walked into the medical room of Titans' Tower, amazed by how much the room hadn't changed since he was here as Kid Flash, with the exception of more advanced medical equipment. He walked to Bart's bed and looked at the readouts on the monitor above the boys head, acting as if he knew what they meant. He looked at Bart.

"How are you feeling, kid?"

Bart shrugged. "I'm okay, I guess. I just wish you'd believe me rather than getting your robot friend to check me out."

Wally felt slightly guilty, and he wasn't sure why. He had never met the kid before, and yet he wanted to talk to him like he was his little brother. While Vic was running his tests, Wally had spent most of his time wandering aimlessly around the Tower, absorbed in his own thoughts, namely the fact that Bart's last name was Allen. That was his Aunt Iris' last name, and he wondered how it was at all possible, even if he was from the future, that he could have descended from the Allen line. On top of that, there seemed to be no explanation as to where he got his powers. Did he have the same accident as Wally, just at a younger age? Was he born with them? He was so absorbed in these thoughts, he didn't even notice the awed looks he was getting from some of the younger Titans, which usually would have fuelled his ego for at least six months.

Vic appeared at the window of the medical room, and waved for Wally to join him. Wally nodded to him, and then turned his attention back to Bart. "I'll be back soon, okay?"

Bart gave him a half smile. "Yeah, okay."

Wally left the room and joined Vic. "Well?"

Vic took a deep breath. "You might want to sit down for this. You want to join me for a cup of coffee?"

"Yeah, sure."

They walked to the old common room area and Vic leisurely poured two cups of coffee as Wally sat on the sofa. Wally tapped his foot impatiently. After what seemed an eternity, Vic sat down. Wally gratefully took his cup, and took a sip. He laughed at the sugary taste. "You remembered how many sugars, huh?"

Vic smiled. "Still got your name on the coffee synthesizer."

"So… what's the deal?"

"Well, first of all…" Vic opened a compartment on his body and pulled out the disk that Bart had given to Wally earlier. "This thing is more advanced than even the most cutting edge storage devices. I'll have to analyse it for about a month before I can even figure out how to build some kind of machine capable of reading it."

Wally frowned. "But he said that they degraded it as much as they could so it would work with our computers. Have you tried to use it?"

"On about five different computers."

"And?"

"Boom, every time. Don't worry, man, I'll figure it out, I just need some time."

"Okay, okay. And what about the kid?"

"Well, wherever or whenever he came from, he does have super speed. But by comparing his DNA with yours, it looks like he was born with them."

"Born with them? How can that be, unless…?" Wally's eyes widened. "No way," he said, the words coming out as little more than a whisper.

Vic nodded. "Yes way. He's got West blood running through those veins."

"But… how can that be? I haven't… I mean… I don't think I have…"

"The West DNA was mixed with other DNA patterns, Wally. It looks like a few generations worth."

"The twenty second century…" Wally said, the words hardly registering as noise. He cleared his throat and spoke at normal volume. "He said that something was wrong with him. Did you find anything?"

Vic nodded slowly and gravely. "Yeah… I did."

"Well?"

"It's… kind of complicated."

"So uncomplicate it."

"I'll try. You see… because you were given your powers, something happened that allowed your body to adapt to the chemicals and increase your metabolism. Well, Bart's body has done the same thing, but as far as I can tell, his metabolism is… messed up, for lack of a better term, since he was born that way. At least, that's what I think… you speedsters are very complicated physically; technically, you shouldn't even work."

Wally nodded slowly. "So, what does a 'messed up' metabolism mean?"

Vic sighed. "It means that he's ageing, and fast."

"How fast?"

"Well, let's put it this way; right now, he's about thirteen. In a months' time, he'll be as old as my dad."

Wally's entire face changed from horrified to confused. "But… I haven't noticed him looking any older."

Vic nodded, a frown wrinkling the half of his face covered with flesh. "I know… it's something I didn't notice until you came to visit him just now."

"What?"

"As soon as you were in close proximity to him, his metabolism slowed down, at least to the point where it was like yours."

Wally looked down in thought as he remembered Bart's words to him. "Fix him… no way. That couldn't have been what he meant. Besides, what about all that time he spent in the future? And all that time I was away while you were running the tests?"

"There's some kind of device that's been implanted into his body that slows the ageing process, at least a little bit. Didn't he tell you?"

Wally shook his head. "No. Apparently, time travel on the Cosmic Treadmill messes with your memory."

Vic raised an eyebrow. "Cosmic Treadmill?"

Wally shrugged. "Don't ask me, Bart told me about it. So… what can we do?"

"I have all the scans I need. I'll analyse this," he held up the disk before continuing, "and the scans I got of that device inside him, and you need to stay with him as much as possible. All the time, if you can."

Wally's head dropped in disbelief. "All the time? What about Flash stuff?"

"What about it? He's got super speed, hasn't he? I'm sure you can dig up the old Kid Flash costume. You could use a sidekick," he said, a wry smile on his face.

"Oh, har, har. This is so unfair," he said crossing his arms.

Vic put a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, man. I'll find a way to help him. In the meantime, he doesn't seem too stressed about the whole thing, so he may not know. He may have just been told that you have to fix him, and not been told how serious it is. Just… try not to panic him."

"Thanks, Ma Cyborg."

Vic pinched his cheek. "You're welcome, sweetness."

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Wally opened the door to his apartment, Bart shooting past him to land on the sofa. He put his feet up and rested his head on his hands, a large grin on his face.

"Man, am I glad to get out of there! I got enough of that stuff in the future."

Wally threw his keys on the kitchen table and took off his jacket. "Enough of what?"

"People prodding and scanning me over and over again. What was that place, anyway?"

"Titans Tower."

"Titans Tower! You're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding. You mean that robot guy was Cyborg?"

Wally opened the fridge and began rummaging for food. He wasn't sure he had enough for one speedster, let alone two. "Why? What's the problem?"

"Are you kidding? The Titans are only like… the best superhero group ever!"

Wally smiled as he brought his head up to peer over the fridge door. "What about the Justice League?"

Bart shrugged. "They're okay. Just a bit… boring, y'know? Just a bunch of old farts saving the world. No offence or anything."

"None taken," Wally said, wondering whether the translucent green goo at the back of the fridge was edible.

"So… can you fix me?"

Wally turned around and dumped the collection of food on the table, and closed the fridge door. He pushed Bart's feet off the sofa, and sat down. "Um, yeah… from what Cyborg told me, it looks like the best way for me to fix you is to spend as much time, uh… together… as possible. Something about my body… uh… fixes you, at least while you're around me. Cyborg's working on something more permanent."

"Okay… but what am I gonna do when you do Flash stuff?"

Wally felt uncomfortable: he didn't want a sidekick. He'd heard Bats and Supes talking about how much trouble young protégés could be, and he vowed to himself that he didn't want any part of it. He sighed. "Yeah, well… just a sec."

Wally ran to his closet, and opened the door. He rummaged through the pile of clothes and shoes piled up on the floor before finding a white box with a fine layer of dust covering it. He blew the dust away, and opened the box. It looked exactly as he remembered. He looked back at Bart and sighed. He couldn't. What if he got hurt? What if Vic found some way to cure him and Wally had managed to get him killed foiling something stupid like a bank robbery? Wally shook his head, and he put the box back, covering it back up under the pile of clothes. He closed the closet door and walked back to the sofa. "I'll just have to be quick when I do Flash stuff."

The two ate in silence, although it lacked any awkwardness, considering that it took them a total of five minutes to finish their meal. Wally shot into his room, and returned a second later with some blankets and a few pillows. In the space of five seconds, he had rearranged the sofa into a makeshift bed. "Voila," he said, smiling as he took a bow. "You should get some sleep. It's been a… weird day. And Grammy Flash always used to say that you need the most sleep after a weird day – that's scientific fact."

Bart smiled and Wally went to the bathroom and came out with a spare toothbrush. He tossed it to Bart, who gave it a strange look. Wally raised an eyebrow, smiling. "You have toothbrushes in the twenty second century, don't you?"

"I've heard of 'em," Bart said defensively, shooting into the bathroom.

"Okay," Wally said, guiding him to the sink, "It's time for the Wally West crash course in dental hygiene. Now just watch me, and copy, okay?"

Bart nodded, and in about ten seconds, Wally had finished. Wally nodded at the boy, and he attempted to copy Wally. Unfortunately, he did it at the same speed as Wally, sending toothpaste flying to every corner of the room. Wally snatched the brush away from him. "Maybe we'll cover that tomorrow morning." He yawned. "I think it's time we hit the hay."

Bart zoomed over the sofa, leaving a trail of clothes in his wake.

"At least they know how to sleep in the twenty second century," Wally mumbled, and turned off the lights. He went to the door to his room and opened it. "G'night, Bart."

"G'night, Wally. And Wally?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Wally smiled. "Anything for my great great great great… whatever you are." He closed the door and got into bed. He turned off the lamp by his bed, and looked up at the ceiling, thinking about the events of the past day. He smiled.

I'm gonna be a cool big brother.

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(A/N: Love? Hate? Like? Dislike? Review, dammit!)