A/N: Eheheh…I live?I'm really sorry for the delay…I've been somewhat busy and found myself really not in the mood to type anything for a long period of time. Plus I have a mini-writer's block…I know basically what I want to write for this, but not exactly how to deliver it. So please be patient with me, I do plan on continuing this! dodges tomatoes But, at long last, here is the next chapter! I hope you all enjoy it. :)

The chapter title is a lyric from the song 'All the Small Things' by Blink 182...I seriously could not think of a good song to name this chapter. :P

Doc-trigger: Glad you like it! And don't worry, Wally will get his paid due as well…(mwahaha).

Sarkywoman: shifty eye Hmmm…that's not a bad idea…;)

Girl-intrruptd: I'm glad you like this so far:) Well, Joker can fighta little bit, which was shown in The Batman Beyond movie…but you're right, he's not very strong. Batman could easily kick his ass, but keep in mind it was dark, plus Joker cheated. ;)

Go-Colts: Erm, can you agree I have creative license as a writer? ; Ya, Joker can be a push-over in a fight, but this is my first time trying to write him, so I may make some mistakes along the way. However, I did have Joker use a 'surprise' to help him fight- the electrical buzzer. Otherwise, Batman could have overpowered him easily. (And you're right, Flash could destroy Joker. ;))

Also, thank you Ashley, Lady of Faerie, someone, Tomboy13, wickedomen1, Taichi Prime, Dee, backupsystem, sokerfreek922, Chezza, and booboaba for reviewing! Your comments make me feel all warm n' fuzzy inside. ;)

Clouded Dawn

Chapter 4:

Carry Me Home

Wally West could feel his senses begin to return as his cloudy brain slowly woke up. The young superhero rolled his eyes open as he let out a low moan. Shapes drifted across his vision, and they sluggishly began to make sense.

He was faced towards a mountain of rubble, crumpled on his side like a rag-doll. The rubble was piled up high and flared out in all directions like flower petals, cupping the fastest man alive on his side so that he couldn't get back through the way he came. He could see a small ray of light coming from the very high ceiling above, shining on him and the rocks gently.

Flash shakily sat up and rubbed a sore spot on his head tenderly. Visions on the last things he remembered before blacking out invaded his thoughts- trying to make an exit in the cave, Joker setting off a bomb, a sharp pain in his head from being hit with a rather large rock…

The Scarlet Speedster tensed up fearfully. How long had he been out? Where was the Joker? Where was-?

"Bruce!" Wally gasped out, staggering to his booted feet. At first he felt dizzy, like he had been on the Tilt-A-Whirl for a whole day straight, but the determination to find his teammate steadied his sights. He desperately searched with his eyes for Batman.

He eventually traced Bruce, who was at the bottom of the rock pile, sprawled out on his stomach and obviously unconscious. Wally, eyes round as a Frisbee, dashed to Batman's side and knelt next to the fallen superhero. He frantically began to shake the dark knight in hopes to revive him.

"Bruce! Come on, wake up, man," Flashed pleaded.

Eventually, a groan was issued from the older man's mouth and his eyes fluttered open from beneath his cowl. "…Wally?" he murmured distantly.

The Scarlet Speedster smiled in relief. "Here, let me help you up," he offered. Batman, still a bit dazed, didn't object.

However, his leg did. When Flash started to pull Batman to a standing position, Bruce felt a sharp pain through his knee, and he crumpled back to Earth. The dark knight hissed in agony.

"Crap," Flash stated bluntly, then slowly turned Bruce onto his back. "Let's try this again," he was about to try to help Batman up again, when the older man swatted his gloved hand away.

"I can stand up on my own," the dark knight growled out, now completely awake.

Wally blinked, somewhat hurt, but muttered after backing out of the way, "Sure, go ahead, but don't blame me if you fall on your head again…"

The dark knight, ignoring his teammate's comment, slowly staggered up, gritting his teeth to hold back the yelps of pain in the back of his throat, which were replaced by more hisses. Somehow, Bruce Wayne was able to stand up on his own, albeit shakily.

Only for a second, though, since he began to teeter on spot from the pain in his leg, threatening to make him collapse. Wally, however, noticed the older man's struggle and impulsively zoomed back over to his side and wrapped the dark knight's arm around his neck to support him.

"Easy, man, don't break your hip now," Flash joked loosely.

Batman swiftly gave the Fastest Man Alive his trademark glare, which made Wally shut up automatically, fearing he would turn to stone under Bruce's medusa-like glare. Even when injured, the threat of the dark knight maiming someone was quite frightening.

When Batman had stood up fully, he looked down at his leg. It felt as if someone had stabbed him in the kneecap with a hot pitchfork, but look more like someone had twisted it out of place, as it was starting to swell slightly.

"I think your leg's broken, Bats," Flash peeped, working up some bravery after receiving the dreaded Bat-glare a few moments earlier.

"Is that so?" the dark knight replied dryly.

Flash then looked back at the mountain of rocks behind them; he could see a light from the now broken-up ceiling, but it was too low to climb up, and too high to climb over. "We're going to have to find a new way out of here,"

"This day is just full of surprises," Batman remarked sarcastically, who was especially cranky due to the pain that bit relentlessly at his leg as he leaned against Wally West. He hated having to rely on others for help, and the fact that it had to come from the loud-mouthed Flash, of all people, positively grated at his normally well-maintained temper.

Wally glanced at Bruce, perplexed by the older man's reaction. "Quite the cranky old fart, aren't ya?" he inquired bluntly.

Big mistake; The next thing the Scarlet Speedster knew, he had been pinned to the ground, arms behind his back as if he were being arrested and his face buried in the dirt.

Bruce had momentarily forgotten the pain in his leg and had flipped Flash over his head, and sat relatively comfortably on Wally's legs, his own injured leg spread out as to not hurt it further. He held the Fastest Man Alive's arms in a grip that if the superhero tried moving them too much they would break.

"Never. Call. Me. That," Batman snarled, his tone of voice deceiving his mask of calm on his face.

It took Wally a second to register what was happening, his eyes scanning ahead of himself blankly, confounded. Then, Flash burst out, "Okay, okay, I give! Yeesh, it was just a joke, no need to get all wound up…"

"Good." Batman slid off of Flash, letting his teammate stand up again. Then, Bruce attempted to get himself back up, but his leg reminded him of why he needed help walking in the first place. The dark knight cursed himself for not holding in his emotions.

"Don't expect me to help you after that stunt you pulled," Wally West pouted, his arms crossed stubbornly and turned away from the dark knight.

Bruce Wayne didn't even bother answering. Instead, he inched his way over to a wall, and using it as a support, he unsteadily stood up once more. Batman could feel sweat trickling down his cowl and he was panting in pain and exhaustion.

Flash suddenly recognized Bruce's struggles and, forgetting his indignation, zipped over beside Batman and let him lean on his shoulder again.

"Hey, we're supposed to be fighting the Joker, not each other," the Fastest Man Alive stated softly, afraid that a louder voice would break the normally strong Batman like glass.

"…Yes, you're right," Batman sighed; He felt too tired now to be unreasonable and snarky.

A beat skipped.

"Sooo, aren't you going to apologize?"

"Don't push it, Wally."

444444444444444

Flashlight in one hand, injured superhero leaning across his other shoulder, Wally West slowly paced through the dark halls of the cave. Well, it was slow to him, the fastest man alive, but it was actually a rather brisk walk to 'normal' people. Even with the flashlight on, which was needed since the light in the ceiling was far behind the two superheroes, the cave seemed to be haunted, with shadows dancing across Flash's vision and eerie sounds teasing his eardrums.

But the Scarlet Speedster couldn't let fear get in the way, not now. Not when he had something important to do.

Of course, he'd rather have rushed to do this than walk at a leisurely pace. But since his 'task' was to help Bruce get around and to just plain get the hell out of there, he feared that if he went too fast he'd injure Batman further.

Plus he didn't want to piss Bats off even more and end up having the Dark Knight pull more freaky karate crap on him.

"Sooo…do you think Joker got caught in that rock slide?" Flash asked, attempting to strike up a conversation.

"Even if he did, he's probably elsewhere by now," Bruce replied bitterly, "He's probably hiding, waiting for the right moment to strike."

"Well that's something to look forward to…in a way, I'd prefer to have those damn bats swoop on me again."

"Why is that?"

"Because at least they're not off their rocker and fallin' down the porch steps--" Suddenly, as if on cue, Wally stepped on an old, frail twig, which made an echoing 'SNAP!' throughout the cave. At that, what must have been a million flying rodents erupted from the ceiling, screeching and attacking the Fastest Man Alive's head relentlessly as they glided by.

An irrational and uncontrollable fear took over Flash as it crawled up his spine, figuratively in the sense of fright, and literally in which one of the bats landed on the square of his back. It didn't help that he was already startled by the flying rodents' sudden appearance, but at that point he just flat out tweaked.

"GAH!" Wally gasped, dropping everything, including Batman, and in a panic he began running at top speed in an attempt to get the rodent off of him; Very quickly, the bat flopped off, too dizzy to hold on any longer.

Flash skidded to a halt, his heart pumping with adrenaline out his fear. Thinking of the bats led him to think of the other bat—Batman, to be exact.

Wally suddenly felt really foolish for his anxiety and what it had led him to- leaving Bruce alone and getting lost in the dark, his other fear. It wasn't that he was really scared of the dark, or even bats for that matter- but bats plus creepy cave plus utter darkness equaled total mental meltdown on Wally West's creep-out scale.

Flash rushed back in the general direction of the Dark Knight, and picked up the flashlight, which was still on. "Bruce?" he called out, scanning the area with the beam of light. Eventually it came upon Batman's figure, which was trying to get up again with difficulty.

Flash walked up to the Dark Knight, a sheepish grin on his face. "Eheh, sorry, Bats…sometimes my legs have a mind of their own," Wally stretched out his gloved hand to offer Batman some help, but the superhero of the night simply glared at his teammate yet again.

"I don't need your help, not when it's going to be so unreliable," spat Bruce Wayne.

"Aw, come on, I said I was sorry!"

"'Sorry' isn't always good enough, Wally…not coming from you, anyway,"

The Scarlet Speedster regarded Batman in disbelief. "H-hey, you don't really mean that, do you?"

The billionaire remained silent, as he started limping heavily ahead; he would leave that to Wally's imagination.

Flash, fully flabbergast, found that he couldn't move forward an inch; he was frozen with shock. Did people really find him that untrustworthy? Could people not take his word for anything, even when he really meant it…?

He didn't want others to think of him that way. He was quick to act and a bit accident-prone, but under no circumstances did he want the title 'unreliable', especially in the eyes of his teammates.

Batman's voice knocked Wally out of his musings. "Why don't you run ahead and see if you can find an exit?" he requested gruffly, using the cave walls for support to make sure he didn't collapse.

"I can't just leave you here!" the Fastest Man Alive reasoned, hurt evident in his tone, "Besides, there's only one flashlight…either way, someone's going to end up stumbling around in the dark,"

Bruce breathed out heavily in aggravation and shook his head wearily. "Whatever," he muttered, "Just stay out of my way." He then began to slowly step forward, strain evident on his face. The Dark Knight swore to himself; he hated feeling so vulnerable, especially with the Joker on the loose. Who knew what the supervillain would do in Bruce's moment of weakness…

Flash timidly followed Batman, feeling like a scolded child. He guided the light in front of his teammate so that the pair could see where they were going. For once, Wally wasn't rushing, nor was he strident. How can I prove I'm not 'just some kid' to Bruce? Surely if I show I can be mature, he'll take me seriously…

While the Scarlet Speedster mused ideas to prove his worth, the pair eventually reached a crossroads in the cave. One way had a sign scrawled in childish handwriting, "Wrong Way", the other in equally juvenile penmanship, "Even Wronger Way".

"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" Flash inquired, scratching the back of his head with his free hand.

Batman was silent, he eyes narrowed into slits. This was without a doubt a trick created by the Joker to throw them off. If I were the Joker, thank god I'm not, which way would I go…?

The fact that both of the signs illustrated that both ways were wrong didn't help much. Of course, Joker would probably say that the right way was the 'wronger' way to try to throw them off, but then he could have known they would think that and the right way was simply the 'wrong' way…or he could have known that as well and…

"I think the 'wrong' way's the right way…that would be better than 'wronger', right?" Flash thought out loud, looking at Batman expectantly.

At Flash's comment, the Dark Knight proceded down the 'wronger' way. With a confused look and a shrug, the Scarlet Speedster followed him down the corridor, the beam of light in his hand flickering in time with his steps.

A gust of wind blew by the pair, and the rush of air sounded strikingly like an insane cackle that sent chills down Wally's spine…

To Be Continued…

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