"What now? What fucking now?" Wally muttered to himself before he started back to his home, Titans Tower. I must've missed the after school special on this particular situation. He wasn't sure how much of a wreck had just been made of his life or what he would do about it. The only thing he was sure of was that he he needed to know. He need to have that vial of blood analyzed even though he suspected it would do more damage to him. He was committed to finding out. He had to have that sample analyzed. He thought of The Matrix. "I just picked the red pill" he muttered.
So, he stepped behind a failing, half abandoned looking strip mall festooned with 'for lease' signs and changed into his Kid Flash uniform. He tucked the vial of Professor Zoom's blood under the tight wrist of his uniform and zipped threw the streets of Jump City then across the bay to the tower. He dropped his JCA clothes in his room and went up to the communications room looking for Robin. No one was there. He ran back down to the 13th floor, all the private quarters, and heard some voices coming from Beast Boy's room. But Dick's wasn't among them. He knocked on the door to his room. Robin answered, in full uniform, opening the door only a slit. He saw the tired and anxious expression on his pal's face.
"You okay, Wally?"
Wally tried to formulate a reasonable response but only opened his mouth without forming a single word. "I'm going to Steel City to the S.T.A.R. Labs headquarters," he finally blurted out. "I just wanted to tell someone. I'll be back ASAP."
"You sure you're okay?"
Wally nodded, what a lie he sniffed to himself, then sped back up to the communications center. Let's see if I remember his instructions. Party to be called . . search category . . intended mode of transmission is full media. He saw the light blink red next to the camera facing him. Then, the audio feed played two rings and the line was picked up and the screen filled with the image of S.T.A.R. Labs's Dr. Clyburn.
"Dr. Clyburn! I'm glad you're still there. I want to drop something off at your lab for analysis."
"Well, I was almost out the door."She looked at her watch. "It's already almost 7 o'clock here, Kid Flash. What is it?"
"A blood sample. I-I want to have the most complete possible analysis of it done and before my physical on Wednesday, if possible. I . . I am doing you a favor agreeing to that."
She nodded slightly at the quid pro quo being offered. "Alright," she sighed, "but I won't be here. I'm leaving now. Just check in at the front desk and ask for Simon Averill."
Kid Flash nodded, hung up the phone and sped out of the Tower, heading east on the interstates. He vibrated his molecules as he approached the sound barrier to avoid a sonic boom and then just kept sprinting faster and faster, tearing across the country at his best possible speed. At this speed, sounds from the outside world couldn't reach him, only the friction of the air in front of him being split by his tremendous running. Even his own feet striking pavement couldn't reach him as he moved away from each spot his foot had struck faster than the sound moved toward his ears. Electromagnetic waves could reach him and he could listen to a Titans communicator. Those sounds issued from an object moving as fast as he was. Kid Flash sprinted across the country to the S.T.A.R. Labs headquarters in Steel City in a cocoon penetrated only by the slight hissing sound of the air splitting in front of him. In this privacy, he asked himself if he should do this? Was it necessary to know? But he quickly dismissed this question. He had to know for sure. He'd always suspect anyway. A blissful ignorance was no longer possible. The only options were tormenting suspicion or knowledge and whatever came with it.
Wally slowed his pace approaching Steel City and ramped down from there to mach 10 to a careful, molecules vibrating transition under the sound barrier, avoiding a boom and then a couple hundred miles per hour down local roads into the S.T.A.R. Labs parking lot. He finished by steaming right up to Dr. Clyburn in the parking lot as she was walking to her car at her reserved space near the front door.
"Oh! Kid Flash! You startled me!"
"Sorry, Dr. Clyburn. I know, see Simon Averill inside. I just . . well, I've met you and I saw you there. I didn't want to just run right by you."
"Wait. Were you at Titans Tower in Jump City when you called me?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Then you ran . . ," she eyed him skeptically. "Well, I'm going to do the math tomorrow but, that's amazing."
"Um, thank you. It's-it's my thing." he shrugged.
"So, you're really anxious to have some . . something analyzed?"
"This," said Kid Flash taking off one glove and removing the vial of blood from under the wrist of his uniform. She took it in her hand and held it up to the parking lot lights.
"Whose blood is this?"
"I-I can't say ma'am. But I need to have it analyzed including making a determination of any relation to me. Please."
She gave him a look of scrutiny that he couldn't decipher and told him to go inside and ask for Simon Averill. She waved goodbye and said she'd see him Wednesday.
Kid flash did as instructed and went to the front desk. The woman there told him to go up to room 612. She started to buzz him through the security door but Kid Flash just sprinted and vibrated right through it. In 612, he handed the vial of blood to Dr. Averill, a dark haired guy in his mid thirties in a lab coat who asked him a few questions while three other technicians/researchers circled around him gawking and hmmmphing at him standing there in his Kid Flash uniform.
He got out of there with minimal conversation and just enough courtesy then sprinted back for Titans Tower. He suspected Jinx might already be there. So, he gave it his all, but it took him almost twice as long due to fatigue and he went straight to the kitchen on entering the Tower. He had some juice and ate astray baguette from end to end then started looking around for Jinx. He didn't find her and decided to wait by the great room. Standing there with nothing to do, his uncertainty about everything, himself, his origins, how he'd handled things with Professor Zoom came flooding back at him. What's it mean to be the son of a villain? Am I . . are his traits genetic? Am I-am I inclined to be evil? What problems did he bequeath to me. What'll Uncle Barry say when he finds out? Oh god. A-a freaking Thawne.
"Hey Wally," said Jinx interrupting his reveries with a pat of his backside.
"Hey," he sighed.
She glanced sideways at him. "Yeah?"
"Oh, just a-a lot on my mind."
"Well, you know what I had on my mind all weekend? You. And this is what I wanted to do," she said and squeezed his rear.
"Hey!"
"Oh yeah, like you don't want to do the same just as much," she said moving to stand so that their noses almost touched. She chuckled and pulled off one red glove then the other. She guided one hand under the black lace to soft skin and a taut round shape and then his other hand to the other side. Wally could not resist. He squeezed. He pulled her closer to him and she did the same. He kissed her and looked into those gorgeous pink eyes.
"A lot on your mind, speedster?" she whispered mockingly.
"Just one thing," he replied and picked her up and sped into his room.
If she could make him forget even that, for a time! Well, he didn't need more proof that he was in love with her, but the way that being with her wiped even those anxieties from his thoughts amazed him when he considered it afterward. But he wasn't considering that, not that evening. He gave her all the pleasure he could and got back all the pleasure she could give him.
The idea that he could think of anything else, luxuriating in the perfect pale skin of her slender hourglass figure would've seemed nuts to him leaning over her in his bed. He looked down at her smiling up at him amid the sheets of his bed and was pleased that he knew that those beautiful eyes, so perfectly set, somehow bizarre or frightening to the rest of the world weren't anything of the sort. They were wonderful and funny and intelligent. Everyone else sees her and sees scary, powerful Jinx, angry Jinx, fearsome Jinx. And while those things may be true at times, I know another Jinx, a Jinx with a body like a model that she chooses not to show all the fearful idiots, a brilliant, witty Jinx the others never get to meet, a Jinx who likes to be held in a warm embrace, a Jinx full ofdesireswho surrenders to pleasure, a Jinx I'd fight to the death to protect and the one I love.
Sometime still in the early evening, they lay on their sides in a tight embrace and Wally heard a beeping sound. Titans communicator! Oh god, Robin! The double date! He separated from Jinx and found the thing under a comforter thrown aside early on in their lovemaking. He ran through his head the way to do it, made the small screen show a keyboard then typed in "Dick, Apologies! Uninterr". He got no further as Jinx yanked him back onto the bed.
Starfire looked over Robin's shoulder by the windows of the great room. "What does uninterr mean?" she asked. Robin looked her in the eyes. "Come on. I'll show you," he said then took her hand and started toward his quarters.
Wally resumed his position holding Jinx to him head to toe. She let out a short, sigh of great satisfaction. Then she zapped the left side of his hip with a hex.
"Ow!"
She grinned watching over her side as his skin healed to flawless perfection in just a moment.
"You would be like a hundred forty three pound piece of candy to a sadist if you were ever captured, Wally. A living breathing renewable torture resource."
"Good thing there aren't any sadists around, huh?"
She could feel his smile. But her grin was much bigger as she let her fingertips dance along his gluteal muscles. "Yup, really lucky," she chuckled.
She spared him further hexes and, thankfully, she never whispered or grinned softly and spoke the word "freak" at any time that evening because he felt extremely freakish as a result of his possible origins. But, he knew that she would accept him. She loved him. She'd been considered a freak her whole life and she'd actually been on the villain side. She'd accept it. But how would he ever look Flash in the eye? Even Robin with his strong sense of justice and moral judgements.
When she woke in the morning, he was sitting up on the edge of the bed beside her. He bent down and kissed her cheek. "I have to tell you about this," he whispered. And he did. He told her everything, not only who did what and said what but how it had scrambled his head. "I-I feel . . dirty," he admitted with his face in his hands. I-I feel like there's something wrong with me and I just realized it. I spent my life being poor and-and unwanted but I was sort of cool with that. I didn't fucking like it but I'd adjusted to it. And now . . this. Your life's not that wall over there," he said pointing to one side of the room. "Oh no. It's that one," he said pointing to the opposite side. "This guy's a psycho. He-he killed Aunt Iris and I'm-I'm him. I'm from him."
"You don't know that. When will you get the results from S.T.A.R. Labs?"
"Tomorrow. They promised me they'd run the tests as fast as possible and get me info tomorrow when Robin and I get examined again."
"Why're you getting a physical again, so soon?"
He chuckled bitterly. "Remember? I'm the freak who never had an appendix."
She covered her mouth with one hand. That's why. An uneasy silence fell over them. Only broken when she muttered, "You should've killed him."
"Believe me. I've reproached myself enough times already. It's just . . . he didn't act aggressive or psycho or anything. He never even really defended himself and he said that he hadn't done it, hadn't done it yet."
"But you said Flash was sure it was him."
"He is. He saw him afterward. It was him."
"Sooooo . . ?"
"So, what if the guy left 2872 and-and . . . created me . . . with-with my mother-"
"As a joke!"
Wally nodded. "Yeah. Some sense of humor. Created me, in 1990. Then he goes back to his own time and then has a pang of conscience in 2873 and decides to check on things in 2005."
"I'm with you. So, this guy only aged a year while you went from fetus to fifteen?"
"Yeah, basically. I'd put him at late twenties, I guess. But here's the thing. He says he didn't do it or hasn't done it. And it could be true. What if he goes back to futureville and then in 2875 he's gone totally psycho with jealousy for Flash and dissatisfaction at how his-his joke went and-and whatever and comes back to 2005 and kills Aunt Iris? The one who's here from 2873 wouldn't know anything about it. He actually would be innocent even though it's fucking him who did it!"
"That's so weird. So that's why you didn't kill him?"
"I hadn't thought it all the way through right there on the spot. But, well, he-he didn't seem like it. I'd never met him before or fought him, but he-he didn't seem like a killer. I-I don't know how I face Flash knowing what I may be and that I didn't take revenge. I just . . "
"What did he seem like?"
"He seemed like he sort of regretted what he did to me."
Jinx rubbed his muscled back.
"No matter where this goes, Wally, I'm with you. I didn't ask for a pedigree or a report on the family tree or anything before I decided. I'm with you. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. A Wally West by any other name I'd love just as much."
He leaned over and kissed her. They emerged from his room very late that morning.
Kid Flash thought he might hear something from Robin about keeping up with training and whatnot but a yawning Robin said nothing to him. When he saw Robin in the kitchen, as he was piling muffins onto his plate, Robin just approached and hugged him about the shoulders and kept walking with a grin on his face. A few seconds later, Starfire hugged him, too and ran her hand back and forth through his hair before going over to Robin's side. There was no one else in the kitchen to see them, sitting there on barstools against the counter smiling at each other like that, only Kid Flash. Or to hear Starfire whisper "We should have uninterr'ed long before this, Robin.". Kid Flash smiled. He immediately knew and also knew that everyone elsewould figure it out pretty quickly.
The next day, Wednesday morning, Wally and Dick went to their Jump City Academy classes, as usual, got stuck waiting outside in the cold between classes, as usual, and sat tight beside each other overlooking the quadrangle, as usual. Wally's thoughts were a mix of mordant speculation about his own origins and thankful musings about Jinx. He glanced at Dick beside him. Dick stared out at the sun splashed quadrangle but his slightly curled lips betrayed that his thoughts were elsewhere. The two of them didn't say a word to each other the entire hour they were sitting there pressed against each other till it was almost time to go to Biochemistry class and Dick chuckled.
"It's so freaking great, Wally," he said and broke into an ear to ear grin. Wally never asked a question. Dick didn't say another word. They went to Biochemistry class. Wally could tell Dick's mind was elsewhere. He poked his thigh and pointed to the chalkboard. Dick nodded. Yup. I know. Twenty minutes later Wally had to give him another prod. Luckily he wasn't called on. When they got to the T-car, Dick asked, "Um, do you have real good notes of that lecture?"
Wally chuckled. "I thought you might ask that. I took down every word."
Dick patted his shoulder.
Back at the tower, they had a half hour to fritter away and then they went down to the infirmary. Cyborg had buzzed in the five doctors from S.T.A.R. Labs while they were still at JCA. They took Robin first. Wally almost chuckled. Not knowing Dick, they'd have no idea how goofily distracted he was right now compared to his normal super focused presence. When Robin finally emerged, he looked a bit annoyed. "Didn't do all that last time!" he muttered angrily under his breath adjusting the seat of his pants and added, "Your turn," to Wally before going back up to 14.
Kid Flash stepped inside and was met by the sight of five lab coat wearing doctors all staring at him.
"Take everything off." ordered Dr. Clyburn. Kid Flash sighed. He gave her a "do I have to?" look. Her look said that, yes, he did. With another sigh, he complied.
"You met Dr. Averill at our headquarters," she said pointing to the dark haired guy he'd spoken to two days ago and then the others in turn. "And next to him is Dr. Trosky from our DNA Lab and he's Dr. Zezel from the MIT evolutionary genetics research lab and finally, Dr. Rutherford from the human genome project."
They all nodded or muttered "good morning, Kid Flash."
"Good morning," said Kid Flash looking past all of them to the wall behind them. "Could we, uh, turn up the heat in here. It's a bit cold from my perspective."
"Should be kicking in soon. Robin complained about it, too. We'll have it up to 80 here in a minute."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome," she said as the other doctors began to circle around him. Kid Flash sighed with irritation but didn't move and continued to make no eye contact.
"We understand your unease, Kid Flash. But this won't be the sort of physical that we just gave your teammate. You had a lesser version of that just four months ago. We're here because of the intriguing results of your first physical which were only compounded by our analysis of that blood sample you gave us. Where did you get that blood?"
"I . . I can't tell you."
"It's the wrong question anyway. I know where you got it. You got it from your father," she declared and looked for his reaction to her mastery of the situation. He was still so calm, even naked in front of them all. These metahuman types could be so intimidating, even the teen types like him. They were so used to dominating normal people. He wasn't hugely muscular, he was slender but he was a stylized perfect. The glutes, lats and delts were amazing. And that face! If he weren't so young.
But feelings of attraction to the boy made her even more determined to control things. She watched his reaction to her stating matter of factly her knowledge of where he'd gotten the blood. His posture shifted slightly but his expression was hard to read. His eyes moved back and forth crazily fast as he considered it. Maybe not surprising given who he was.
"The guys in the DNA Lab pulled all nighters without being asked to look at that blood and yours. I've never seen 'em so excited," she told him.
"It's true," attested Dr. Averill.
"Do-do you know what mitochondrial DNA is, Kid Flash?"asked Dr. Clyburn.
He refocused on the wall behind her. "Um, yeah. It's a uh minor part of the DNA strand and it's passed only from the mother, not the father."
"That's right. And that sample you gave us had mitochondrial DNA like nobody's ever seen before. Ever. What can you tell us about the person from whom you got that?"
"I can't tell you anything," he answered limply.
"This might sound sort of . . science fictionish, but it's almost like that's the DNA of a man from the future and yet, we're positive that it's your father. Still, he doesn't have some very odd quirks to his DNA that you and Flash have. Do you know what adenosine triphosphate is?"
Kid Flash nodded with no enthusiasm. He remembered from the biochemistry textbook. ATP, the energy currency of the body.
"You and Flash have this whole series of mechanisms for use of adenosine triphosphate printed in your DNA unlike anything we've ever seen. It has the lab guys completely stumped but they think it's the basis for your super speed or at leastpart of it. "
Kid Flash recalled something that Flash had said. Professor Zoom isn't a natural speedster like him and Flash. His speed somehow comes from a property of that stupid yellow uniform. He said that Zoom found a tattered remnant of a Flash uniform, who knows whose, and somehow extracted something from it and amplified it worked it into that yellow uniform but it's not in him. He's-he's just a 29th century man but not a true speedster like Flash and me.
"I could spend my whole career just figuring out a fraction of what's happening in your cellular energy conversion process," said one of the three other doctors besides Clyburn and Averill. Kid Flash had forgotten their names.
"You remember I told you about your lack of an appendix?" asked Dr. Clyburn reasserting control of the conversation.
"Yeah, but it's-it's useless anyway. So . . "
"Well, that sample from your father. We-we don't know all that much about how certain DNA gets expressed as the creation of an appendix. We think we know the rough location on which chromosome and you and he simply don't have that set of instructions, that set of protein guidelines."
"You don't have all sorts of things," Dr. Averill jumped in excitedly. "All sorts of bad things. The average person is a combination of his mother's and father's genes, good and bad in about equal measure. You're almost entirely this father of yours. You-"
"That's not true. We look a lot alike but I'm not a copy of him. For instance, his hair's not orange, just sort of strawberry blond."
"Well, people don't put out DNA to make direct copies of themselves. Even if you had all his DNA and none of your mother's, he might have produced sperm that would result in your having blond hair or orange hair or a few different options, not just an exact copy of him. That's a clone, the exact same DNA. The DNA in a man's sperm aren't all exactly the same. But the point is that you're something like 90 his."
"Ninety percent? Really?"
"We're not completely sure why but almost everything from him is dominant. Nothing seems to be recessive, and there was about ten percent of your makeup that seems to have been equally decided. And the other thing that jumps out is that there don't seem to be any-any stray junk, any hidden but unexpressed propensities for any diseases. It's like his DNA, and yours was scrubbed clean of any genetic predispositions to possible problems."
Dr. Averill said this to Kid Flash as though he was giving him some sort of gift or at the very least a great compliment. Kid Flash just sighed and kept staring passed him to the wall behind him.
"Is there a-is there a reason I had to be naked to hear this?" he asked.
Dr. Clyburnchuckled. "Dr. Zezel, especially, wants to examine you and see how the expression of certain traits shows up in you."
Kid Flash sighed. "Go ahead."
Go ahead they did. It was like a weird relative of the first examine he'd gotten. They poked and prodded him, especially that Dr. Zezel, the evolutionary genetics guy, all over, fixating on the oddest things, the shape of his face, especially his eyes and orbital bones, his hands, his lack of body hair, his fingernails and toenails,his penis and his ass. "No tail bone." pronounced Dr. Zezel. "Really?" said another. "Check for your self. You can see its absence on their MRI of him. " Wally felt a latex gloved hand pressed humiliatingly into the top of the crack of his ass. "My! He's awfully muscular. Well I'll be ..! You're right". Wally sighed angrily. He tried to think of how Jinx would laugh at this to calm himself. When it was finally done, he pulled on hisdance belt and Kid Flash uniform at super speed.
"Ohh! One more thing," asked Dr. Zezel. "Your immune system. The DNA seemed quite . . impressive. Tell us about your history of illnesses."
Clothed again, Kid Flash looked him in the eye. "The truth is I don't have any history of illness. I've never been sick. I don't get colds or upset stomachs or headaches or anything. Nothing. I never have."
"Hmmm. Fascinating. And your healing ability from cuts and whatnot? They told me about the syringe mark healing."
Kid Flash chuckled slightly. He pulled the red glove off his left hand and pulled back the tight sleeve of his uniform. He looked on the table to his side for a tray with an appropriate instrument. Ah. He picked up a scalpel. He held it up to show them then ran it down his forearm creating a 6 inch long cut, not deep but a clear open wound. A couple of them leaned away squeamishly. In seconds, something was starting to happen at the sight of the crimson line. After a few seconds more it was visibly closing. By the passage of 30 seconds, no one who hadn't seen him apply the scalpel would have known there'd ever been a cut.
"Holy shit! That's amazing."
Kid Flash said nothing. It occurred to him that he should be asking a question. It was there on the tip of his tongue but somehow he couldn't ask. I'm 90 my father and he appears to have gone insane. So . . .
They thanked Kid Flash for his time and he even saw them down the elevator and out the door to the boat launch. The retinal scanner and hand print analyzers recognized him and let him back inside. He went to the stairwell intending to super speed back up to the top but stopped and sat down on the very first step. He felt weak and let his head drop into his gloved hands.
"Great. I'm villain spawn."
