"I'm almost there, KF!" came Robin's shout in Kid Flash's left ear, the one where the uniform "wing" on the side of his head had a tiny speaker to play audio from Titan's communicator messages.
"What's going on Robin? Tell me now! I heard what Star said," demanded Kid Flash pressing on this right ear "wing" to talk.
"Shit. Frigging open line. Just-just hang in there, pal, I'm almost to a spot where I can take off with the T-car."
"Robin! Tell me now! Star said something about someone-someone . . passing away. Tell me now!"
"Just hang in there, pal!"
Kid Flash fumed. He almost clapped his hands together but, at the last moment realized he had the tube with the stolen painting in his left hand. How bad is it if Robin won't tell me? Can't wait. Can't wait. Alright. You won't tell me. Starfire will
Kid Flash pressed his right side ear "wing" three times to reset it to transmit globally, meaning, to all Titans communicators within receiving distance.
"Starfire! This is Kid Flash. What's happened? Please tell me what's happened."
"I'm so sorry, friend KF. But-"
BEEPBEEPBEEP! BEEPBEEPBEEP! One passing driver tried to get the attention of teen hero Kid Flash for a picture as he was moving and another driver tried to ward off the first driver from veering into his lane. Kid Flash zipped across the street to the alleyway.
"Star! I couldn't hear! Say that again!" Kid Flash pleaded.
"Ohhhh, KF! I'm sorry! But-"
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH.
It was Robin in the T-car landing it vertically in the alleyway behind him, jet air blasting down around it. He jumped out in a second.
"KF! Are you okay? Where's Red X?"
"I kicked his ass. He's um, over there on the fence. But tell me what's . . " he said pointing with a thumb to the fence. Only when he and Robin glanced there, the black clad thief was no longer draped, butt up, over the fence. He wasn't there. "Hey!" Robin ran out into the street looking frantically all around. But there was no sight of Red X. Robin loped back to Kid Flash a bit angry.
"Sorry," said Kid Flash. He handed the tube with the painting to Robin and picked up the utility belt he'd taken from Red X off the pavement and handed Robin that as well. "I . .. tell me what the hell's going on."
Robin tossed those things in the T-car window. He put his gloved hand on Kid Flash's shoulder.
"Wally. I'm sorry. They took the call at the tower after you and I left. Flash couldn't reach you because his ring was damaged in the fight afterwards. Your Aunt Iris . . . she-she was killed."
"WHAT!"
"I'm sorry, Wally."
"No." Wally shook his head dismissively. "It's not true. It can't be true. That's not Aunt Iris. Uh uh. Not her."
"W-wally. I wish I were lying but I'm not. They took the call at the Tower and-"
Robin was left mouthing his words to empty air as Kid Flash shot off toward the Tower leaving him there alone. Robin pulled out his communicator. "He's going back, guys."
Kid Flash heard "guys" from beside them, startling Beast Boy, Starfire, Cyborg and Raven with his presence.
"Holy shit! KF!" Beast Boy chirped. Can he really run that fast?
"Robin said my aunt is hurt. But where is she. Is she in Central City with my Uncle Barry?"
"Ohhh! Friend KF!" Starfire wrapped her arms around him. "I'm so sorry. I know that you loved her." She rubbed his yellow clad back with affection.
He gently separated from her. "Love. Present tense. I love my aunt. She can't be . . . Someone like her? Someone who means what she does? I-I would feel it. I would know it. I would know it. That hasn't happened. Now tell me where she is. I have to be with her if she's hurt."
"KF," interrupted Raven. "She dead. Your uncle called to say so."
He shook his head first slightly then emphatically, tilting his head to one side. "No. That's not Aunt Iris. She's not a go early type. She'll live to be a hundred and pass along all she knows to generations of people that love her."
Raven stared. He would not accept their word.
"Fine. I'll get it myself," said Kid Flash. He went to the keyboard at the communications center and typed away at a speed that amazed Cyborg beside him. The monitor now showed the number from which the call had come in to the Tower. Kid Flash recognized it right away. It was the number at Flash's house outside Central City.
"I'm gonna tell Jinx and then head to Central City. I-"
Starfire grabbed his arm. "KF. Please. At least take this," she said pulling off his glove and wrapping an elastic through two holes in the back of the communicator then around his slender wrist before pulling his glove back on.
"Thanks." he said then sped down to his quarters on 13 and vibrated through the door. Jinx was asleep on her side holding a pillow to her looking so incredible. He approached and nudged her.
"Jinx babe?" he whispered.
"W-wally?" She yawned and smiled. "What're you doing here?"
"Aunt Iris is hurt. I'm going to Central City. I'll be back when I can," he said and kissed her softly on the lips. Then he was gone. Cyborg watched him out the window from the great room as he sprinted a cross the bay leaving two small waves heading out from the path he'd run across the water. He stepped quickly to the keyboard at the communications center. With a few keystrokes, the giant screen on the wall lit up showing a map of the western U.S. A red dot flashed on the map. It was now a third of the way to Nevada.
"That is our friend, KF?" asked Starfire over Cyborg's shoulder. Cyborg nodded. This was GPS tracking of his Titans communicator.
"Boy can seriously run, can't he?"
"What's with the denial?" snickered Raven. "Does going nuts help you deal with death? I thought he was smart, not adumbell."
A watery eyed Starfire turned angrily to her teammate and spoke through gritted teeth. "He loves his aunt very deeply andregards her as the only real parent he had, as the person who made his present life possible. You want him to just immediately throw aside his love, to just immediately regard that love as a thing of the past. But he can't. It's very strong in him. Perhaps someday a love of someone or something will be strong in you," said Starfire and she walked off as Cyborg and Beast Boy both stepped back from them.
Cyborg watched the screen again as the red light that was the position of his teammate progressed across Nevada, to Salt Lake City, then south, then east to Denver then on to Central City covering more than a thousand miles in less than a minute.
A winded Kid Flash ran down the street where Flash lived and vibrated in through the front door of the expensive home set back from the road that Uncle Barryand Aunt Iris shared.
"Uncle Barry!" she shouted from the living room. "Uncle Barry!"
"In here, " came the limp response from the kitchen. Kid Flash walked in to see Uncle Barry, the Flash, in civilian clothes, dress pants and shoes and a white shirt, leaning, as if injured, perhaps shot or stabbed in the gut, leaning on the counter barely able to stay upright. Kid Flash pulled his mask down from his face.
"Uncle Barry!" he whispered, hoping that Flash would tell him about Aunt Iris's injury. Flash wrapped his arms around his fire haired nephew and Wally immediately knew that the worst was true. Because Flash couldn't stand without his help. His six foot tall perfectly toned uncle couldn't stand without Wally's help. And he felt his mentor's tears on his neck as they hugged.
"She was all I ever wanted, Wally," he sobbed. "The most wonderful woman . . . Oh god!" He sobbed some more onto his nephew and the reality of it suddenly struck Wally with his uncle's use of the past tense to describe her. Despite trying not to, Wally couldn't help but sob as well. "Aunt Iris . . is . . "
Flash hugged with all his might and gave Kid Flash a slap on the back before stepping back and forcing a breath to try and compose himself.
"How could it . . . Why didn't I . . ?" Wally stammered of his surprise at not feeling, not sensing her passing.
"Please Wally. There was nothing you could do," said Flash misinterpreting. "Officially, she had a brain aneurysm. That's what the papers will say. But . . ," he shook his head. "Professor Zoom. He killed her. Murdered her. I chased him but he got away somewhere in the time stream."
Wally recalled what he knew about Professor Zoom. Villain from the future, time traveler jealous of Flash, speedster with almost the same abilities as Flash, who wore a uniform the exact opposite of Flash, yellow where Flash's was red, Red where Flash's was yellow. Whack job.
"Why . . why would . . ." a tear rolled down Wally's cheek. "Why would anyone hurt her?" he asked as he felt himself crumbling.
"I think he wanted to get it on with her and she wouldn't touch that 29th century psycho."
Flash saw that Wally was on the verge of breaking down and hugged him again. He half carried him to a chair and gently put his sobbing nephew down. The doorbell rang. A tall man in a black suit came in. Kid Flash recognized him. It was Green Lantern. Minutes later, Batman arrived. Superman followed shortly after that and then Wonder Woman and Aquaman all in civilian garb. Still, they were easily recognizable to Wally. So was the sobbing boy in the chair who had his face in his hands. All of them worked their way around to him and placed a consoling hand on his shoulder.
Wally cried. He cried quiet tears. He cried full throated sobs. He cried tears with his whole body seeming to shudder along with the falling of the tears. He didn't care who saw him this way or what they thought of it. The best woman he'd ever known was dead and he'd never had the chance to say goodbye or to say thank you to her, to really thank her for being so wonderful to him when no one else cared. Wally called out curses between his tears. He rained expletives on Flash's envious rival from the future, Professor Zoom, almost as much as he rained his tears on Uncle Barry's kitchen floor. He cried between gasping breaths, unable to speak the words of his sorrow. When he finally stood up, there were more heroes there and he faced them, not sobbing but still crying a steady flow of tears.
He tried to focus on all of them, to think of something else to some degree. They were the legends of the hero business. And there was an easily recognizable comraderie of long standing among them so Wally stayed out of the way, stayed off to the side. There were all very kind to both Uncle Barry and him. But he couldn't stop crying. He wanted to be brave in front of all these legendary heroes but he couldn't be. He felt weaker and weaker, a willowy boy compared to his uncle's fantastically broad shouldered teammates. He had to get out of there. He had to get away from the feeling of mourning. He couldn't bear it. It was too much. She had made everything in his life possible. She couldn't be gone now that he was just starting to become what he'd hoped to be. And she couldn't be gone without a goodbye. It-it seemed to diminish their connection. She could go without a word. He didn't stop her from going. His love for her didn't stop her from going. It didn't matter.
Kid Flash pulled up his mask and ran out of there at super speed. He ran to the Central City morgue. It scared him but he had to. There, in a basement room, was Aunt Iris. There were no coroners or other personnel in the room at the moment. Only it wasn't Aunt Iris any more. Aunt Iris had a fire. She was joy and strength. She was so much energy and personality and courage toward anything that life could throw at her. Aunt Iris was always more about human qualities and attributes than simple appearances, even though she was a very pretty woman.
He had his back to the wall of the room and he stared.It was terrifying. A wonderful human being with all her human qualities now gone. Thank god the sheet was up by her shoulders. He didn't need to see more to have her dignity trampled, as if she didn't matter.
There was still color in her lips. Her eyes were still blue. But they stared upward at nothing. They didn't move. Wally remembered how shocking that first dead body he'd seen had been, as he'd told Jinx. But this was much worse. He could only guess at the life and vitality and human qualities of that poor first dead guy he'd ever seen. But, he knew all the funny, challenging words that had passed those lips on the gurney. And he knew the way those eyes sparkled when making a funny joke or when she was happy. He remembered making her happy the night of his 15th birthday party. There was that certain quality, almost like a smile that you could see in just her eyes. He wanted to make her smile again. He desperately wanted to make her smile. He'd have given anything.
But she was dead and her eyes just stared at the white ceiling. Wally started to sob. He cried without reserve, dropping to one knee for feeling weak, no longer whole without Aunt Iris in the world. Finally, with all his will, he got to his feet and moved slowly to the gurney. "I love you," he whispered, not able to manage anything more. He stared a few moments more, feeling the loss of her like a weight on his shoulders. The stillness was so horrible. It was death.
He took a breath and tried to speak the word but couldn't. He took some more quick gasping breaths. He realized that there was a little piece of finality if he said it. But he had to say it.
"G- . . "
He had to take another breath. He forced the simple physical process. Inhale . . exhale.
"G-good . . bye . . Aunt Iris"
He sped angrily out of there sprinting back to Uncle Barry's barely noticing anything on the way through teary eyes.
He vibrated through the wall of Uncle Barry's home so as to not attract any attention. He returned to the same simple wooden chair. That's where he was when Black Canary, Green Arrow's beautiful blond girlfriend went to get something to drink. He was leaning back with the high chair back wedged under one arm, his mouth open, eyes occasionally moving and gasping for air.
"Oh, Wally honey!" She rushed over and hugged him about his shoulders and smoothed his hair back from his forehead over and over. "You poor guy. This must be terrible for you."
He looked her in the eye and slowly nodded.
"Your Aunt Iris and I talked all the time. You were very special to her."
Oh god. That was too much. Wally tried not to bawl. He succeeded in that but he couldn't staunch the tremendous flow of tears those words started. "She was very special to me," he said then lost composure and had to lean forward and put his face in his hands. She just rubbed his shoulders over and over whispering consoling words.
Finally, Green Arrow in a sharp looking tan, civilian suit, came into the kitchen. "Did you hear that, Dinah? Calling hours tomorrow, wake tomorrow ni- . . oh, Kid Flash. How're you holding up, Kid?"
Wally looked up at him and shook his head slightly, tears still running down his cheeks.
"It's okay, Kid. There's no shame in strong feelings for a woman like Iris West."
"Maybe you should call back to Titans Tower and tell them about the arrangements?" suggested Black Canary and then Green Arrow repeated them to him. Wally nodded. Something to do. That was good. Anything to do was good. He started to press at the wing by his right ear to speak then vaguely recalled that he had a communicator with him. He puzzled at where and then remembered Starfire putting it on his wrist. Of course! He pulled off his glove and there it was tied to his wrist with an elastic. He took a long slow breath to compose himself then pressed the sequence of buttons for visual and audio communication. He held it out at arm's length from his face.
At Titans Tower, Jinx and Starfire were standing at the communications center desk. They had been for most of an hour. Jinx had gotten up and been told what had happened. She was hurt, too. She knew how much Aunt Iris meant to him and anything that hurt him hurt her. Plus, the woman had found her mother. She'd done that for her. She really liked the woman. And now she was gone. Beast Boy had told her of the words between Raven and Starfire just wanting to be sure that Jinx didn't do anything to help spark a fight between them. But it only inspired anger toward Raven from Jinx herself. He's stupid, is he? Wally's stupid, huh? Knew enough to leave you alone, bitch, didn't he!
Jinx and Starfire both eyed her warily sitting in the lotus position on the couch opposite video game playing Beast Boy and Cyborg. Robin was at the communications desk too, when the big screen flickered on. It filled with the face of Kid Flash. His mouth hung open and his eyes moved slowly. There was very little life in them.
"Aunt Iris was killed," he said after a long pause. "There are going to be calling hours tomorrow and a wake tomorrow night, funeral the day after."
"Well be there, KF!" declared Robin. "We want to be there for you."
"That'd be . . that'd be . . good," he said. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn't. He tried a second time. On the third attempt, he read off the address of Flash's home and added a limp "bye"before turning off the communicator.
Author's note:
Yeah, I know. Professor Zoom is from the 25th century in the comics. But the 25th century seemed more futuristic in the 20th than it does in the 21st. And in response to a question, Wally and Dick take two courses each at Jump City Academy just because they want to, auditing the classes. JCA is part of Wally's cover story, too. The other Titans weren't interested in taking any classes there.
