It was by the next morning when the Injustice Gang made a move. Wally's group had woken up and were getting breakfast when the alarm sounded. All those who were picked for the fight arrived quickly at the main control room to get the news.
"They've stolen a truck." J'ohn told them from his workstation. "It contains explosives."
"And you have to meet our demands." They all turned to see Luthor sitting in the truck as his team loaded the back of it. "We'll plough this into the city, if you don't get us the orb of Floren." He said, cutting connection.
"Well?" Wally asked Superman.
"We don't negotiate with terrorists." He stated simply. "We can stop them."
"There are a lot of them." J'ohn pointed out.
"There are a lot of us too." Superman came back with.
There was a scramble of arms as the chosen heroes moved to the teleporter. Wally and his team took one to themselves with Superman, Shayera, Green lantern and Diana.
Batman went to another transporter to lead the other teams.
The groups were teleported to the middle of the area just in time to see the last loading of the truck. The villains there were expecting them and charged straight into the thicket of the heroes.
The truck started off while the distraction happened. Wally shouted over to Anyanka who swept several villains out of Wally's way, giving him a clear path to run through. He shot away as the heroes took the upper hand and the villains began to fall one by one.
Wally caught up with the truck easily, but the problem came when they turned onto the main roads, it mean he had little room to dodge about as the guns were fired out of the windows. He was forced to wait for a gap when he could safely charge at the side door. He knew however that he would have to charge to the passenger's side door, or else risk the truck crashing.
'What made them think they could escape the explosion?' Wally asked Superman in his head.
'Teleportation' Superman answered back.
'Makes sense I suppose. I'm a little stuck here with the firing.' Wally told him.
'We're on our way.' Carlen suddenly butted in, turning from her fight, which Fulton finished.
Wally's team turned and followed her, each changing to their best transport. Carlen to a large wolf, Anyanka to a black shadow and flew through the air, The Sergeant 'borrowed' a motorbike and took off after them with Fulton behind as a gas ball.
Superman watched them go, finished his fight and flew after them.
As he caught up he spotted the Truck with Wally dodging back and forward behind, narrowly avoiding being shot and run down.
Anyanka couldn't take the gun away with her powers for risk of it causing injury and no one else could get closer for risk of getting shot.
It was with a risky move, but Wally found the gap in the firing and charged to the passenger's side door. He punched the man several times and tried to keep running.
With a yell he leapt at the door and hung on with one arm and fought with the other, trying to get the gun away.
Carlen took this as her break and raced forward, dodging the gun fire from the roof of the truck and became a cheetah till she got just out of the way of the gun fire and then, choosing her moment she turned into a hawk and swiftly flew up catching the villain under the chin with her claws and sent him off the side of the truck.
It was at this moment that the driver took a sharp bend and allowed for Luthor, who was in between the passenger side door (where Wally was still fighting) and the driver, to throw a timed blast bomb out of the window. It hit The Sergeant's bike and blew him and anyone near him out of the chase. Diana dropped down and caught the man; keeping up just after the truck. Fulton and Anyanka however, were knocked out of the way and caught up together in a tangle.
Carlen almost slide off the top but clung on with her sharp claws digging in deep. Wally however was finding it even harder and ended up gripping the now open door for all he was worth with both arms wrapped through the window. The door crashed into the wall, clipping him on the shoulder, but with a hiss he clung on.
Carlen ran along the truck top until she reached the drivers side. She then took the moment to surprise the driver and pull him out into the road where Superman was ready to catch him.
Luthor looked at both doors, spun the wheel toward a shopping center and then he jammed the accelerator and teleported out. Wally finally got the upper hand of his fight and the passenger was dropped out of his door.
Wally and Carlen both slide into the carriage and both tried to un-jam the accelerator. When neither could Carlen pointed out the flood river by the side of the road. Wally simply nodded and turned the wheel; no heroes were close enough to the truck to stop it on time or safely.
The truck rode to the edge of the dipped wall, crashing through the wire gate and skidded the tip. Wally took this moment to turn the wheel more sharply, and just as it was going over, riding the edge, riding on its side wheels, Wally kicked Carlen out of the driver's door and the truck rolled down the embankment; tumbling and rolling till it smashed at the bottom.
Carlen shrieked as she hit the ground rolling. She felt battered and bruised but know that the truck was gone; she raised herself up and glanced over the edge where she lay, just in time to see the truck explode in a ball of fire, throwing her back even further.
"Wally!" she screamed, scrambling to her feet.
Superman appeared over her and blew out the flames. He then descended upon the wreckage as Carlen jumped after him as a dog. She slipped and slid down and landed on her side with the impact of hitting the bottom.
She leapt over the hot wreckage and began turning metal with her paws, ignoring the fact of it burning her.
Superman also moved wreckage around, frantically trying to find his friend. Diana and the Sergeant appeared first, followed by Anyanka, Fulton, Elongated man, Green Lantern and then Shayera.
They all descended upon the truck and searched one end to the next. It was Superman with his x-ray vision that spotted Wally, trapped in a flattened part of the drivers door. He shouted Elongated Man over and asked if he could slide Wally out without moving him too much.
"I can move him, but I would need this raised." He told Superman.
"I can lift it steadily." Anyanka told them, placing a hand on the metal and caused it to vibrate slightly. She removed her hand but held it out, with a squint of her eyes it began to rise, slowly and level.
Elongated Man flattened and stretched himself till he could crawl under and slide under Wally. He then gently pulled himself and his new weight out from under the smoking door.
He laid Wally flat once more before he moved out from under him. As he stretched back to his normal size the crowd gathered.
"Is he breathing?" Fulton asked.
"Yes." Superman sighed, kneeling down next to his friend with Diana. They studied the extent of the damage.
"Server burn." Diana muttered, cradling Wally's head. His clothing was tattered and burnt away, he had several large gashes down his arms where he had shielded his eyes, but one eye appeared to be badly cut.
"Watch Tower?" Superman asked into his comm. Link.
"This is Watch Tower." Came a voice.
"Beam us back and order the medical team."
"Right away Sir." The voice said back.
Carlen changed to her human form, which by now had her cuts bleeding freely; her face a mask of blood. She stepped forward and glanced up at Superman.
"He'll be fine." The Sergeant told her.
"Yeah." She agreed, as the beam took them back.
Wally was whisked off in an instant, his daggers left behind. Anyanka picked them up and held them in both hands, looking around at the team and the League.
"Let's see how he is." She said, her voice distant once more.
The team seemed to flow out of the room; the Leaguers followed close behind and pointed them to the medical bay.
When they got there, there was already a doctor waiting. He sighed as the group approached and appeared hassled.
"Perhaps you can calm my patient." The Leaguers frowned; the team sniggered.
"He's awake?" Shayera asked, stunned.
"The second we brought him in." the doctor explained holding the door open for them. He glanced at Carlen's face and motioned for her to clean it. She flashed him a smile and wiped hastily at the mask.
As they approached the bed they found Wally sat up, coat off and covering his own burns in plain bandages.
"We need to clean them, or else they won't heal." One of the nurses insisted.
"Oh trust me, they'll in the next week or so." He said, getting her to cut the bandage and help him pin it.
"They should really treat you Wally." Superman said.
"I can heal faster this way, without the fuss." Wally said.
"And the eye?" Fulton asked, his face straight but his voice wavering slightly.
"That…may take a while." He blushed, causing the team to fall about laughing.
His eye was badly burnt and already scarring. The Leaguers looked horrified, even more so when the team fell about laughing, but soon Wally was joining them.
The doctor sighed and passed him an eye patch, breaking the team further into laughter as Wally slipped it on after cleaning it.
"But she has to have stitches." The doctor ordered, pointing to Carlen and the gashes on her face.
"Good." Wally agreed, shaking the doctors hand and pulling himself off the bed, only to find himself swaying slightly. The Sergeant stood beside him and helped him sit back down.
"Once she's sorted, we'll let you lie down." He laughed.
Wally just nodded and looked out with one eye. Carlen sat on the bed and, holding back winces allowed the doctor to clean and stitch the wounds, finally wrapping them once done.
Once she stepped from the bed they helped Wally up and walked him together to the door. He stopped briefly to thank Elongated man for the help before they left.
Once they were gone the main League members were left feeling very left out. Superman realized why they didn't work as a team that well anymore, because the younger member was no longer a member and could not point out their mistakes to them, or talk them out of a temper.
They didn't have the child of the group to weave them together, and without him, their tapestry was pulling apart, and they just couldn't hold it together much longer.
Although no one voiced this realized fact, they knew it was there, and they simply avoided it; turning from each other and walking away.
The doctors and other leaguers stood and watched, and those smart enough, saw the doubt and weakness, but still nothing was said.
The team set Wally on one of the camp beds; he sat, still dazed slightly and shook his head. Carlen, bandaged and stitched sat next to him and felt his forehead.
"Your warm." She stated.
"I'm just healing" his said, look at her through one eye.
She raised an eyebrow, but lowered it with a grimace of pain. "How long will that take to heal?" she asked, pointing to his patched eye.
"A week I would guess, I can still see through it." He said, holding his hand over it.
She nodded, and then pushed him back on the bed.
"At least get some sleep." She said, slipping off the bed.
"Fine." He muttered around a yawn, and quickly sank into slumber.
The team settled themselves around the room, Fulton dozing, the Sergeant patching Wally's coat and Anyanka and Carlen lounging on the sofa talking quietly.
Green Lantern quietly slipped into the room and watched the sleeping figure, his friend, burnt and patched, but alive.
"He'll be fine." Anyanka told him. The others raised their heads in his direction, Carlen flashing him a smile and motioning for him to sit with them. He hesitated for a moment before approaching them.
He sat down on the arm of the sofa but kept his eyes on Wally. Anyanka smiled sadly.
"He will heal, he's been through worse." Green Lantern eyed the girl warily. "I won't bite." She said.
"How old are you exactly?"
"Hard to tell, a few hundred years I would guess." She said. There was silence for a minute. "Don't let the young body put you off." She smiled; he smiled back.
"So how much trouble has he put himself in before then?" He asked; his smiled lined with a laugh.
"Well he got his eye blown off once before." The Sergeant told him, throwing Wally's coat down on his chair and rubbing his hands together.
"How'd the kid manage that one?" he asked.
"Walked onto a land mine." Fulton yawned, turning slightly on his bed, peering through tired eyes.
"Was not…my fault." Wally muttered, making more than one of the group jump. He cracked open his eye and smiled slightly.
"What happened?" Green lantern asked, suddenly feeling light hearted by the atmosphere.
"Well…" Carlen laughed. And the group sat together for well over two hours, just talking about each other, what each have done, what each will do. And, if only for a few short hours, everyone was happy. Free of pain and worry, free of difference between them. Free of themselves.
Superman found Batman over the control panel. He stopped and studied the map.
"They got away." Batman said.
"Yes." Superman sighed.
"Wally and his team shouldn't be involved." Batman stated, still not looking back.
"But they worked better now than we have in months." Superman said, glancing down.
"They just cause a distraction." Batman answered back.
"They were the ones who stopped the truck, and they were the first to start looking for him." Batman just nodded and continued his searching; Superman just shook his head and left.
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