Part 0: Shadow of Youth
PG-13
Summary: Post DWF. As an accident saves Flash from his own metabolism (but not without leaving some changes of its own) an unknown benefactor is gathering information on the League's greatest weakness.
Disclaimer: The DC characters are not mine. I'm just playing with them. They'll be returned…eventually, not in good condition but that can hardly be blamed on me!
Author's Note: Back for more are you? Mwa ha ha ha haaa.
PLEASE READ THE A/N IN CHAPTER 1 SO YOU ARE NOT CONFUSED LATER!
Chapter 3 - Omne Initium Est Difficile
The agile craft hit a sudden patch of turbulence. No doubt it had something to do with the bright explosion he'd just witnessed. The sensors had also picked up an earlier explosion but he could not ascertain the cause of either.
He was just at the outskirts of Central city when he heard Green Lantern's voice coming through the communications unit. He was calling for Flash, roving through the different frequencies hoping for a response. Batman opened his comm unit to all channels also listening for a response that wouldn't come.
"Batman to Green Lantern. What's going on?"
"Some strange weapon detonated. Flash got it away from the city in time but he's not responding."
Batman altered the course of his plane. "I'm heading to the site of the explosion." At the speed he was going, he was nearly there before the end of his sentence.
The mighty Missouri River flowed calmly through a thin stretch of green but around a bend the ground and vegetation on either river bank were disturbed by the blast. Some trees and parts of the earth were still smoking. The river carried bits of debris downstream washing away valuable evidence. More importantly and fortunately the Bat-Wing's scanners didn't detect any people in the area.
Flash had picked a good spot to take the bomb. The river separated the twin cities of Central and Keystone and there were no residences nearby. There were some industrial plants but those were far enough away to avoid damage and keep the workers safe. It was mostly land that was undeveloped due to the zoning by-laws present in both cities in order to keep the small patch of pristine green clean. Some of it was charred now but more troubling was the radiation.
From the decay rate the radioactive isotope responsible for the readings had a short half-life and already it did not pose a great risk but the radiation was unusual. He'd study the scans in more detail later.
Landing the plane in the brush wasn't difficult, skilled pilot that he was. Gathering burnt pieces of a red costume from the river bank, that was difficult.
"Batman to Flash." It was useless he knew but that didn't dissuade him. "Batman to Flash. Respond." Batman continued to look around mentally making a map of where there were important pieces of debris to be collected later. "Batman to Flash." Still nothing so he opted for the low tech method.
"Flash!"
Some ways down the river a small form lay on the riverbank just starting to regain consciousness. The ground was wet and the cold of it was seeping through his shirt.
Dazed and confused he crawled away from the rushing water –he was pretty sure he couldn't swim. Climbing to his feet was simple enough but staying up proved difficult. He only took a few steps before he fell. Luckily he was fairly close to the ground to begin with.
Small hands wiped at his muddied face transferring the dirt to the sleeves of the too-big red shirt he was wearing. He didn't know where it came from but he didn't have anything else to wear.
The sound of cars was in the distance. Maybe he could find someone to take him to his home. Just as he was reaching the tree-line a call was carried by the wind to his ears. He paused and looked back but he couldn't see anyone and he didn't recognize the name the person was calling. He walked on.
Who was 'Flash'?
+JLU+
"Have they found him?"
"Not yet. They're still searching. There are many possibilities to be considered."
"There's one obvious possibility." The comm link between the two aliens was quiet for several seconds. "I'm going to go help. Superman out." J'onn would do what he could from the tower.
+JLU+
"-so of course the detectives have us rooting through the dumpsters looking for god-knows-what. Heaven forbid they should get mouldy food on their Gucci loafers."
The police officer took a sip of his coffee. This hands free headset in the patrol car was great. He could talk on the phone, drink coffee and drive. Now if only the other drivers on the road would stop slowing down whenever he was near. At this rate he'd never make it back to the station and he wanted to get some sleep. It had been a long shift –graveyard always was.
"I don't think they get paid that much more than us," the other party responded.
There was a flash of colour just next to the road and some instinct told the cop to investigate.
"Cam, I gotta go."
"What's up, Mike?"
He parked the car along the shoulder. "I don't know but something doesn't seem quite right. I'll call you later."
"If it's more about your adventures in dumpster-diving I think I've heard enough. See ya."
"Wise ass," the cop muttered as he stepped out of his cruiser and into the refreshing morning air. He hoped it wasn't something weird from that explosion. He'd listened to the reports on the police scanner, seen the bright explosion and heard it too. All he needed now was to encounter some weird mutant or alien or something freaky.
"That would just make my morning-" he stopped.
This wasn't a mutant or an alien as far as he could tell. It was a kid; bright red hair, fair skin, bright eyes and a little muddy. The child stared at him and then looked at the passing cars. He seemed more than a little confused.
"Hey there, little guy. You okay?" He approached slowly and crouched down.
"I'm lost."
"Well I'm here to help you. Can you tell me what your name is?"
The child eyed him for a long moment. "Wally."
"It's nice to meet you Wally. My name is Michael. How did you get out here?"
The little shoulders move up in a shrug drawing attention to the red shirt, several sizes too big for him. Mike recognized the logo on the front. "Are you a fan of the Flash?" What kid wasn't? Every Halloween in the twin cities most kids dressed up as the scarlet speedster.
"Who's that?" To say the officer was surprised would be an understatement. The kid honestly didn't seem to know who the city's hero was. "I want to go home," he announced suddenly.
"How about I tell you all about the Flash on the way?"
Mike waited for the response but he could tell that the child had already moved on to a different topic. "I'm hungry."
Mike smiled. "Okay. We'll get some food too."
After stopping at a fast food restaurant, they made it to the downtown police station in Keystone. Wally got a change of clothes but wouldn't give up his ripped Flash shirt. They decided to let him wear it like a cape rather than risk upsetting him.
"How is he?"
Michael and the inquiring officer looked over at the child playing with some toys at one of the desks in the crowded squad room. He was garnering a lot of attention from the female officers. Who could resist a child with big green eyes, red hair and a sweet smile?
"He's fine," Michael replied sourly.
"You're just sore because Carrie is giving him more attention than she gives to you in a month."
Michael ignored him. "Social Service is sending someone over. He doesn't know his address and he doesn't know how he got out by the river. Or he won't tell us. No cuts, injuries or signs of abuse. Nothing we can do for him here."
"What kind of parent lets their five year old outside on their own?"
"Not everybody gets the white picket fence." Mike glanced at the slightly older patrolman, "You know that."
+JLU+
The other League members, excluding J'onn and including Nightwing, had converged on the river to see the devastation first hand before splitting up to search for their missing friend. They weren't going to believe the Flash was dead until they had proof or all other possibilities had proven incorrect.
Shayera flew over the forested area and quickly came to a small highway that followed the river on the Keystone side. Maybe Wally got ride home. John had volunteered to check out Wally's apartment to see if he had gone back there. Batman was going to check through the computer systems of the hospitals to see if Flash or anyone matching Wally's description had been admitted. But out of all of them Dick was the closest to Wally and knew him best.
Shayera changed course to find the former Batman apprentice. He was on a rooftop not too far away. She landed behind him.
"Lost?" His tone was polite but he was clearly not interested in helping her. Wally always spoke highly of her to Dick. And Wally was a surprisingly good judge of character but everyone knew of the time she'd turned traitor.
"You know him best…"
He checked the screen of a small gadget before putting away. "Your point is…"
"You know where he would go if he was in trouble."
"Maybe I do." He took out a grappler and launched it. Shayera was very quickly alone on the rooftop.
"Definitely Batman's kid." She took flight, intent on following the young man rather than flying in circles like a demented bird.
+JLU+
"Cops are this close to criminals," Rudolph West snarled bitterly as he worked at his small desk. Behind him in the dingy sparsely furnished apartment his young son sat listening. "Cops, crooks, if you're one you've got what it takes to be the other."
"I thought police were the good guys," the child commented innocently. That's what they'd said in school. Police helped people, caught bad guys. It was a simple distinction to Wally, uneducated about the complications of people and the world. Yet in some ways he would never change. His eyes saw the simplicity that often was overlooked in times of crisis and in some ways those eyes would never change.
Rudolph turned to look at the child, his child, though some days he was in denial. His expression must have been harsh because Wally scooted further away from him, fear written clearly in his eyes. Had he said the wrong thing again? Wally wondered nervously. Was his Daddy going to get mad like he always did?
Wally shivered in relief when his father turned back to what he'd been doing ignoring the kid like he usually did. With nothing else to do, no toys, no TV, nobody else to take care of him, Wally sat silentl,y arms hugging his knees. It was just him and his father, Rudolph. They were all each other had, a team of two, or so Wally had thought.
+JLU+
Wally looked over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed. His Daddy had been right. You can't trust the police. He'd heard them talking. They said they would find his home but they had called the kid-police. They'd visited his house before and he didn't like them –weird people in ugly suits threatening to take him from his father –no he didn't like them at all. He was not going to let them separate him from is father, so he'd escaped when they weren't looking. He was surprised that they didn't catch him but he'd run as fast as he could and made it outside really quickly. Those big fat grown-ups were too slow to keep up.
He headed in the general direction of where he thought home was. He was soon in an area of the city called 'Crossed Tracks'. The neighbourhood derived its name from the 'wrong side of the tracks' idiom.
To Wally though, it was beginning to feel more familiar. He was almost home. He remembered these buildings but it looked like something had happened to them. Where the variety store had been yesterday was now a boarded up building. Exposed windows had been shattered and stained with dirt and grime. Everything looked older.
Eventually he came to his building, or what he thought was his building. It too was falling apart. It hadn't been the Ritz to begin with but it had not been this dilapidated either. Windows were missing. The barely standing brick walls had been tagged with graffiti and even the graffiti was looking old and faded.
A sound down the road caught his attention. A group of men were coming down the street, talking and cursing loudly. He'd seen guys like this before. He'd been told to stay away from them. He didn't think now was the time to disobey. He dashed into the old four-story apartment building, managing to slip through a gap in the decaying wood boards over the entrance, hopefully before he was spotted.
Inside it smelt funny and the dust made him cough but there was enough light making it through the gaps in the boarded windows for his eyes to adjust. The stairs were right where they were supposed to be but the debris on them made the ascent to the second floor treacherous. When he finally made it he found the door to his home was missing. The old dusty furniture inside wasn't familiar and his Daddy was nowhere in sight.
He'd tried not to be scared but it was hard. Nothing was the same and there was nobody to ask for help. Even his neighbours were gone. He began to cry. Tears marked the dusty face even as he tried to wipe them away while sobs filled that small corner of the empty building. He sat down on the dirty floor and pulled the red shirt draped over his back around to form a crude blanket. Someone will come for me, he thought to himself but he was still scared and the tears still came.
"…Daddy…"
+JLU+
"This place is a dump."
Nightwing didn't turn to face her. "Nobody asked you to come."
"This is where he would go?"
Grayson said nothing. He was trying to figure out exactly where Wally's place had been. Wally had told him a bit about it but Dick had never been there himself so he had to work with the description Wally had given him. Unfortunately the landmarks Wally had used in his description had changed.
It was some faint yelling from a block away that compelled him to pick that direction. He would be glad he did.
Just as they landed on a less sturdy rooftop a child slipped out of a small opening in a boarded-up building. Before he could dash away a hand slipped thought the boards and grabbed the red shirt that had been trailing behind.
"Where the hell you think you're going?" The man asked with menace. He forced the opening larger and he and three others came out.
"Let me go!"
A flash of silver and a switchblade was pointed at him. "Not likely kid. This is our turf and we don't take kindly to trespass-" Suddenly the man was flat on his back and a beautiful but angry-looking angel was glaring down at him.
"I don't take kindly to bullies and scum."
The other punks didn't waste a second before jumping to action. One ran, recognizing the Justice League member. The other two charged pulling out their own weapons. Shayera had them disarmed and in enough pain to make them reconsider in ten seconds flat.
"Round two?" She unclipped her mace from her belt. They beat a hasty retreat even if they limped.
"Where's the kid?" Nightwing asked looking around. He'd seen him take off during the fight but he'd moved so quickly.
"Probably blocks away." She put her mace away. "Let's go, we need to find Flash."
Now Dick did look at her. "Didn't you recognize him?"
"Who?"
"The child."
"Last time I checked the Flash was a little taller than that."
"I know it was him."
Shayera wondered silently if he was suffering from dementia. Maybe the explosion had given him a concussion or something. A small movement a few yards beyond Nightwing caught her eye. She approached cautiously and a small face peaked out –red hair and green eyes that she knew.
She didn't have time to say anything before he was gone only a trail of dust left behind.
"Now do you believe me?"
Shayera was on the comm to the others immediately trying to explain the strange situation and calling for Superman get there now. He was the only one fast enough to have a chance of catching Wally.
+JLU+
He was lost again. This place wasn't at all familiar. He felt the despair and tears creeping up on him when suddenly there was a shadow over him, a big shadow.
"Wally?"
He turned around to find a giant man with a big 'S' on his chest. He didn't even give the guy a chance. He just ran.
"Have you found him?" a voice in his ear asked.
"I'm working on it." He took off, flying at full speed. He suddenly passed Wally and had to back track. The child had tripped but his high-speed fall didn't faze him. As soon as he saw the guy in the red cape coming again he took off.
His feet were beginning to feel hot and he was starting to tire when without warning his feet weren't touching the ground anymore. The flying guy had caught up and picked him up mid-stride.
"Let me go!" he screeched but when he looked down he was high above the ground an instinct took over. He grabbed on to the flying man and closed his eyes.
"It's okay, Wally. I won't drop you."
Wally chanced a look at the man and was greeted with a soft sincere smile.
"Who are you?"
The smile became sad. "A friend."
"Can you take me to my Daddy?"
How was he supposed to respond to that? As far as he knew Wally was an orphan.
"I'll see what I can do."
End Chapter 3 – Every Beginning is Difficult
I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed the story so far. I really appreciate the responses and it's good to know people are enjoying the story. Now I must apologize for taking so long to up date. Life keeps getting in my way. Hopefully the next chapter will be out sooner.
Sagga Bott…
P.S. It was recently brought to my attention that I wasn't accepting anonymous reviews. Sorry about that. I've fixed it. :)