Disclaimer: Flash and all other DC stuff isn't mine

Legacies

Chapter Four: First Contact

As they walked into the park, Wally couldn't help but marvel at how much the simple things amazed Bart. As soon as he'd seen a child flying a kite, he had bombarded Wally with questions as to what it was and what it did. Wally wondered what apocalyptic event could have resulted in all knowledge of kites being removed from the minds of the general public. It then occurred to Wally that perhaps Bart just wasn't the kind of person that goes outside a lot, but Wally found that assumption hard to believe. Wally absolutely detested being inside all the time – an obvious side effect of his speed. And since Bart was born that way, Wally thought that he would be even worse. But, much to his surprise, he was remarkably calm. That was, calm for Bart. Wally had to constantly tell him to mind his speed, and to not get too far ahead.

Bart had looked at him with a smirk on his face.

"Thanks, Mom," he had said, the tone of his voice reminding Wally of how he spoke to John Stewart when he was being scolded by him for some immature prank he had pulled. Of course, John would only scold him if the prank was on him, but if it was on, say, Batman… that was a different story. Sometimes he would even help, but in a subtle way, so that he would get none of the blame. Wally smiled at Bart's response, his happy demeanour betraying none of the fear that Wally felt on Bart's behalf. He had toyed with the idea of telling him what was wrong with him, but Vic's advice about trying not to panic him kept on ringing in his ears. Another side of Wally's mind protested, asking the question that Wally had kept on pushing aside.

If it was you, would you want to know?

Of course, Bart wasn't him, but he was so similar even Wally couldn't deny that if they were the same age they would be able to pass as brothers, or even twins, if the hair was ignored. Wally's smile faded as Bart darted to a hot dog stand. Wally was dangerously low on money since Bart and his appetite arrived on his doorstep. Bart looked over at Wally and smiled.

"Hot dog?"

Wally sighed and leaned over to whisper in Bart's ear. "Just one, okay?" he said, doing his best not to sound like some crotchety old guy.

Bart's face fell slightly. "How come?"

"Because I'm not in costume and people will start wondering where I put it all."

"Hey, I only asked if I could have a hot dog, I didn't say anything about you."

Wally smiled. "Yeah, but if you have some hot dogs, I'll be forced to have some. It's a Flash rule."

Bart shrugged. "Yeah, okay. But we can get some takeaway when we get back, right?"

"Right," Wally said, nodding.

After buying one hot dog each, they walked over to a park bench and sat down. They both finished their hot dogs frustratingly quick, the taste barely registering. Wally tried to hide his annoyed frown. Bart looked over at him.

"Hey, Wally?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you got a girlfriend?"

"Uh… why?"

Bart shrugged. "I just have this feeling that you should by now."

"What, is that written in one of your history books or something?"

"Could be. I dunno. It's just a feeling."

"And would this feeling have a name?" Wally asked, leaning closer in interest.

"It begins with L… Lois, or something."

"Lois? Are you sure you're not thinking about Superman?"

Bart pondered for a moment, casting his eyes skyward in thought. "Actually, it might be… but it's definitely an 'L' name for you as well."

Wally smiled, and Bart raised an eyebrow. "Well? Do you have a girlfriend?"

Wally scratched his cheek. "Well, it's not exactly… I mean it's kinda…"

"Does she live in Central City?"

"Should she?"

Bart shrugged, relaxing back into the bench. "Dunno. I was just wondering if I could meet her."

"She's out of town at the moment."

"So she does live here?"

Wally remained silent and just smiled at Bart, before standing and stretching. "Come on."

Bart brought his legs up and threw himself up off the bench, stretching in the same way Wally had just done, though Wally couldn't tell if it was a conscious imitation or not. They began walking out of the park.

"Where're we going?"

"To visit someone."

"Your cop friend? The one who was stabbed?"

Wally winced at the thought, and his face fell into sadness at the memory of the look of unbridled anger that Hunter had given him. He hoped that they could reconcile their differences, because he truly did value their friendship, and would do anything to stop that friendship from slipping away. He didn't look at Bart, but simply stared straight ahead.

"Yeah, that's him," he breathed, not sure if Bart heard him or not. Either way, Bart let the subject drop and walked alongside him in silence, settling for simply looking at the scenery. The journey to the hospital would have been relatively quick for any normal person, but for Wally it was agonisingly slow. He ached to remove his civilian clothes for his Flash costume and run all of these emotions out of his system, the wind washing through him, cleansing his mind as he simply ran wherever his legs took him. Wally had found himself doing that more and more recently, especially since the incident with Luthor and Brainiac. Just running for running's sake. They walked through the doors and walked to the reception. The receptionist finished whatever work she was doing on the computer and walked over to him, a professional smile on her face.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm here to visit Hunter Zolomon; he's a friend of mine."

The receptionist's face became one of shock and then sadness. "Wait here, please," she said, before quickly shuffling over to the phone and dialling a number with some urgency. Wally turned to look at Bart and was surprised instantly by the look of horror on his face. He frowned in concern.

"What's up?"

"Who… are you… here to visit?"

"I already told you; the guy who… got stabbed," Wally said quietly, not wanting to talk about it as if it was nothing.

Bart shook his head. "No. What's his name? Please Wally; it's important."

Wally paused before answering. "Hunter Zolomon." Bart's eyes widened.

"Wally, listen; we have to go right now. Forget about him, we have to go."

"What? Why?"

"Because-"

"Wally West?" a low voice interrupted the conversation, and Wally turned to see a police officer stood next to him.

"Uh… yes?"

"Would you mind coming upstairs with me?"

"Uh… sure."

The policeman led the way, and Wally and Bart followed, stepping into the elevator. The cop pushed the button for the roof. Wally was still being given chills by the look of horror that had made itself at home on Bart's face. He would have to ask him about it when they got home. Wally turned towards the cop.

"Is there a problem?"

The cop sighed. "There's been an… incident with Zolomon."

"An 'incident'? What'd' you mean, an 'incident'? What kind of 'incident'?"

As if in answer, the elevator doors opened and Wally saw the charred remains of a wheelchair in front of him, a police line erected around it. There was a police photographer talking with the cop in charge. Wally recognised him as Sam Reynolds, the source of many angry complaints from Hunter. The cop who had escorted them signalled to him.

"Hey Reynolds. Got a friend of Hunter's here."

He nodded and said something quickly to the photographer, who nodded and got back to work. Reynolds walked over and nodded at the other cop, who left to do whatever it was that he was doing. He turned his attention to Wally.

"You Wally West?"

Wally nodded, his attention glued to the wrecked pile of metal and leather laid out before him. "What happened?"

Reynolds shrugged. "We're still trying to figure that out. One of the nurses found that he wasn't in his bed in the middle of the night. There was a pretty long search before they thought to look on the roof. And then… they found that," he said, pointing to the blackened mess.

"What about Hunter? Is he… I mean, have you found anything?"

"Nothing."

Wally remained silent and walked as close to the scorched remains as the police line would allow, crouching on one knee as he inspected it as best he could. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"There's nothing else you can do here. Go home, get some rest."

Wally looked up at Reynolds then back at the destroyed wheelchair. He nodded and stood. He and Bart walked over to the open elevator doors. Before stepping inside, he turned back towards Reynolds. "Thanks."

Reynolds took a deep breath, looking extremely troubled. "No problem."

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Wally and Bart walked out of the hospital, and Bart turned to look at him. "Look, Wally, I've really got to tell you something about Hunter. He-"

"Bart, I want you to go back to my apartment as fast as you can and stay there. I'm gonna look into this."

"But Wally-"

Wally knelt in front of Bart and put both hands on his shoulders. "Bart, please. I need to look into this; Hunter's my best friend. He might need my help. And I need to be The Flash to do that. Okay?"

Before Bart could respond, Wally had checked quickly for anyone looking and sped away. He shot down an alleyway and quickly got changed, leaving his clothes haphazardly behind a trash can. Usually he was much more careful about where he left his civilian clothes when he changed, but that was the last thing on his mind as he pulled on the hood of his Flash costume and sped away. He headed straight for Central City prison. As he reached the front gate, he realised that something was wrong, judging from the ambulance parked outside the front entrance. Wally realised that someone was being loaded into it.

In a body bag.

He ran up and over the gate and to the parked ambulance. The warden spotted him and walked over to him. Wally gestured to the bag.

"Who-"

"Klann."

Wally's eyes widened underneath his mask and he looked back at the bag before turning back to the warden. "But how did he… A hidden knife or something?"

The warden nodded. "That would make things a lot simpler, but no. Somehow someone got into his cell, killed him, and left with nary a peep. We only just found out this morning."

"How was he…?"

The warden took a deep breath. "We don't know. There are some strange markings all over his body; like it's been warped and stretched out of shape. Damndest thing I've ever seen."

Wally nodded and looked back once more at the body bag before gulping. He turned back to the warden. "Any suspects?"

"Anyone who can do this… I would think they would be more in your area of expertise than mine."

Wally nodded gravely. "Well… I'll see what I can turn up."

"I just hope you can, because there's pretty much nothing we can do against something like this."

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As Wally sped back to his apartment, he pondered the strange sequence of events that were unfolding recently. He had gone to the prison in hopes of finding that Klann had escaped and had gone after Hunter, perhaps kidnapping him out of revenge, but that wouldn't have explained why Hunter's wheelchair was on the roof, or why it was burned beyond all recognition. Klann's death was yet another mystery to Wally. He had never come across anyone who could do that to his enemies.

What had the warden said? 'Warped and stretched'?

Wally wondered who or what could do that, and considered calling Batman for some assistance in looking into it. Mysteries were more his area than Wally's; he was the World's Greatest Detective, after all. He came to his apartment building and scaled the wall effortlessly. He made his way swiftly to his apartment, being careful to dodge around windows and corridors that were occupied. He opened the door to his apartment and almost fainted in shock.

The whole apartment was a wreck. The sofa was torn to shreds, there were dents in the walls, and the TV had been somehow ripped in half and lay on separate sides of the room.

"Bart?" Wally called, closing the door behind him as he walked around the room. He checked the bathroom and winced at the shattered glass and tiles scattered around the room. He checked his own room and saw little signs of struggle. He looked at the closet and his heart skipped a beat. The secret compartment for his Flash costumes was open. And one of the costumes was missing. Wally paced around the apartment, massaging his temples as he went.

"Okay, okay, calm down Wally, I'm sure he's okay…"

Wally cursed his own stupidity. If he had given Bart the Kid Flash costume in the first place, he would have been out with him. Wally banished the thought from his mind and shot out his apartment, slamming the door quickly behind him as he went. He ran to the roof and down the side of the building, the only thought occupying his mind being Bart's safety. He didn't even know how long ago the attack in the apartment took place, or where he was going start looking for him, but he would find him. He reached street level and shot down the road.

"West…"

The voice crackled in his ear and Wally turned his head to his right in time to see a yellow blur, which collided with his jaw, hard. Wally lost his balance and fell, his momentum causing him to bounce along the road. He turned the painful bouncing into a roll, pushing himself up off the road with his hand and slowly sliding to a halt, a small trail of dust behind him. He pushed himself up onto his feet and turned around to look down the road. Stood in almost a mirror image of his stance was the same Justice Lord Flash that Wally had fought when the League battled Luthor and Brainiac. Except for the reversed colours, it was Wally's costume. Before Wally could banish the confusion and shock from his mind and decide on what to do, the yellow Flash had already shot to Wally's left and rammed into him with force only a speedster could create, sending him into a parked car on Wally's right.

The car crumpled slightly on the impact, knocking the wind out of Wally. He looked up in time to see the yellow Flash coming in for another strike, this time his fist brought back to punch a hole in Wally's head. Wally darted to his left quickly, his opponent's fist crashing through the side of the already crumpled car, his arm becoming momentarily stuck inside. Wally took advantage of the momentary lapse and grabbed the yellow Flash's red boots, pulling him as hard and fast as he could. With his opponent off balance, Wally began to spin with all the speed he could muster, his feet thundering on the ground as they struggled to keep up with the speed being demanded of them. A small miniature cyclone started to form around the spinning Flashes, the air slowly being pulled from Wally's lungs. He waited for as long as he dared before letting go of his enemy, sending him careening across the street and through the wall of the building opposite, the bricks collapsing in on the yellow Flash.

Wally fell to his knees and attempted to catch his breath. Between the wind being knocked out of him and his cyclone sucking all the remaining air from his lungs, Wally was struggling to remove the spots from his eyes, blinking furiously in an attempt to make them go away. He cautiously stood and put his hand on the crumpled car behind him to steady himself. He heard the faint noise of brick clinking against brick coming from the hole in the wall across the street from him. Wally strained to see the yellow Flash, and his eyes widened in surprise as a brick with superspeed force behind it shot towards him. Wally ducked the chunk and heard it collide with the building behind him. Wally was then bombarded by chunks of brick and cement, managing to avoid most of them before he was clipped in the left shoulder by a particularly large piece of rock. He faltered slightly, receiving another brick in his right thigh for his hesitation.

Wally shot diagonally to the left side of the building in which the yellow Flash was hidden. He brought back his fist, intending to use it as a jackhammer to smash through the wall and surprise the yellow Flash. To his own surprise, the yellow Flash seemed to blur through the wall, his fist quickly colliding with Wally's jaw and sending him into the wall behind him. Before he could even fall to the floor, his opponent's hand was around his neck, pinning him to the wall. Wally grabbed the arm with both hands, struggling to remove the arm that was steadily choking him. The yellow Flash grinned, and Wally gritted his teeth.

"Who are you?" he managed, his voice struggling to find a way around the yellow hand clamped around Wally's throat. The yellow Flash leaned close to Wally's ear and spoke.

"If you want your boy, then follow me."

Wally's eyes widened and the yellow Flash suddenly let go of him, letting Wally collapse, gasping for air. He looked up hatefully at the yellow Flash, who simply gave him a mock salute and sped away. Wally wiped the blood trickling from his mouth with his arm and ran after him, ignoring the pain in his shoulder and thigh, his only thoughts on bringing Bart home safely.

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Wally had followed the yellow Flash halfway across town before he had decided to stop at a construction site, the builders there quickly evacuating the area, but staying close enough to see the titanic battle that they assumed was about to unfold. Wally saw a yellow blur ascend the skeleton of the skyscraper, and Wally gave chase. His opponent stopped on the top of the building and Wally saw an unconscious Bart hanging by his feet from a rope that was tied to a girder. He stopped, landing a few floors below the yellow Flash, and looked up at his enemy.

"Let him go!"

He shrugged and walked over to the rope, untying it in a split second. He waved as Bart began to fall.

"No!" Wally yelled, putting as much speed as he could into reaching the ground before Bart. Once there, he looked up to see Bart still falling. Wally extended his arms upward and used them both as miniature cyclones to slow Bart's fall, eventually landing in Wally's arms. Wally smiled in relief and Bart looked back at him, having regained some semblance of consciousness. Although still groggy, Bart's face still had that same fear that it had had before when Wally had mentioned Hunter's name. Bart was looking up at where the yellow Flash was, and Wally followed his gaze to find that he had disappeared. Wally quickly looked around, preparing himself for an attack, when Bart groaned in protest at his sudden movements. Wally looked down at him, concern knotting his features.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Did he say anything?"

Bart shook his head and began to murmur something. Wally couldn't tell what he was saying, and so leaned closer to hear.

"He said… that he could find you… no matter where you went…"

Wally considered this and was slowly looking up in thought when Bart started to say something else.

"I told you… to forget…"

"Forget? Forget what?"

Bart scrunched up his face. "Forget about…"

Wally leaned closer.

"…Hunter Zolomon."

Wally's eyes widened and he looked back at where the yellow Flash had been. He looked back down at the semi-conscious boy in his arms. "That guy… was Hunter?"

Bart shook his head. "Not… anymore. Now he's…" he said, fading quickly back into unconsciousness.

"Now he's… Zoom…" he murmured groggily, his eyes closing. Wally checked his pulse and breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the steady rise and fall of Bart's breathing chest. Bart needed medical attention, but Wally couldn't take him to the hospital. Wally set Bart down gently on the floor and put two fingers to his ear to call the Watchtower, but was greeted by a crackling noise. He slipped his hand beneath his cowl to pull out the earpiece, and found that it had been completely wrecked; most likely in his fight with... the man Bart had called Zoom. Wally didn't want to think of him as Hunter just yet. He wasn't ready to accept that his friend would try to kill him and a teenage boy. He didn't accept that it was in him. Maybe Zoom had kidnapped Hunter, and had just told Bart that he was Hunter so that Wally wouldn't fight him at full strength for fear of hurting his friend. It was unlikely to be true, but Wally clung to the possibility with all his heart and soul.

Wally knelt and scooped the boy up in his arms, and began running towards Jump City. If anyone could help Bart, Vic could.

He only hoped that Zoom wasn't following.

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(A/N: Good? Bad? Just review, 'kay?)