Disclaimer: I don't own Justice League Unlimited.
Send Me on My Way
Chapter Two: Preparations
Wally poked his head out from behind the sunglasses rack, the pink frame of his sunglasses peppered with glitter.
"What do you think?" he asked, grinning.
Shayera looked up at him idly from her magazine. "I think you look like an idiot," she said, before going back to the fine piece of literature before her. Although what she was reading, she had no clue. She was just looking for some excuse to ignore her hyperactive friend, and to blend in, which was a rare occurrence for her.
Thanks to Zatanna's handy skills, Shayera's wings were now invisible, and her hair a lighter shade of brown. Hell, she had even got some interested looks from men as she walked down the street with Wally. That was something she had missed, though she would never admit it.
Wally sighed. "Ah, c'mon… you're not getting into the spirit of things. You're supposed to be having fun! The holiday hasn't even started and you're scowling."
"I am not scowling," she warned, bringing the magazine down quickly as she glared at him. It was only then that she really took in what Wally was wearing on his face. She smiled. "Yom Shigureth," she chuckled, "you really do look like an idiot…"
"No. I look classy."
"They're pink."
"Pink's in at the moment."
Shayera cocked an eyebrow. "For men?"
"Yes, for men."
"Have you got any pink clothes?"
"I may have one or two items," he replied, checking his reflection in the mirror on the sunglasses rack. "I dunno…" he said, considering himself. "I think I might look like a cheap date." He looked over at her, putting on a pouty expression. "What do you think? How much trouble would you go to for a guy wearing these?"
"A bucket of buffalo wings."
Flash mock gasped. "I am insulted. Back you go," he said, putting the sunglasses back on the rack. "Ooo. Now here we go…"
Shayera looked at the sunglasses he brought up. "You're kidding."
"Hey, I could pull off the 'Will Smith from Men in Black' look."
"Right."
"Hey! You should have seen me at my Uncle Barry's wedding. I looked pretty damn dashing in my tuxedo."
"You've worn a tuxedo? Without ruining it?"
"Now I didn't say that," he said, winking at her as he tried on a different pair of glasses. "You sure you don't want to try some on? It can get pretty sunny."
"Where're we going, anyway?"
Wally shrugged. "I dunno. I've thought about it, but I can't really think of anything good enough. Meh. I'll think of something."
"Wait. Isn't this supposed to be my vacation?"
"Yes, but you asked me for help because you, by your own admission, have no idea what you're doing."
Shayera paused.
"I-"
Wally perked up his eyebrows in a smug 'well?' expression.
She sighed. "All right… but if you're done preening, can we go somewhere else now?"
"Fine, fine."
He picked up the pink glasses as well the small, thin and sleek ones. Shayera shook her head as she followed Wally to the counter and slapped the magazine back on its rack.
"Wally. Please. Do not buy those. I'm begging you."
"Why not? They're pink, they're pretty… what more could a girl ask for?"
"Look, it's- wait… girl?"
"Well, yeah. You didn't think that I was gonna wear them, did you?"
The Thanagarian growled, and the teenager behind the checkout looked at her in alarm. He glanced over at Wally.
"Dude, stop now. Just let your girlfriend buy what she wants."
The two looked at him, equally horrified looks on their faces. "Oh, we're not-" they said simultaneously, pointing at each other.
They looked over at one another. "He thinks we're-" they said, once again in unison. Laughter quickly ensued, and continued as Wally paid for the glasses and the two left the shop, leaving one very confused shopping assistant.
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John squirmed uncomfortably in his bed. His ass was beginning to ache. Not a painful ache, but more the kind of ache that really starts to grate one after awhile. The kind that creeps up the lower back until one really, really wants to stand up, or at least lie on the ground to straighten it out.
He sighed as fond memories of his Marine days came flooding back to him.
Funny the things one would think about when they were stuck looking at blank white ceiling tiles. The door to the med bay slid open, and Wally sidled through, a pizza box in one hand and two cans in the other.
"Please tell me those drinks have alcohol in them."
The speedster grinned. "Sorry dude; Doctor's orders. You get coke," he said, tossing over the can. "And cherry coke, at that."
John's favourite, though few knew it. Even Mari didn't know about it. It seemed mysterious to John that Wally would know this, considering the ex-Marine didn't recall telling him. It was just one of those things that had gone over his head.
"So," the Flash said, putting the pizza and the coke onto the desk beside John's bed. "What's new?"
"That isn't funny. At all."
"Sorry, sorry," Wally replied, moving over to the observation window. He pushed one of the buttons beside it, and the glass changed molecular cohesiveness, becoming a blank slate. It was mostly used by those wanting privacy, but Wally just wanted to take off his Flash cowl while he ate with his friend. The speedster zoomed back over to the chair beside John's bed and flopped into it, snapping open his can of coke and handing over the pizza box so fast the Lantern almost missed it.
"I would've thought you'd learnt to like it by now."
John paused to look at Wally. "What's there to like?"
The speedster looked around the room, and John patiently waited for an answer as he munched away on a slice of pizza.
Wally turned back to John. "Touché."
The two ate in silence.
"I hear you and Shayera are going on vacation."
"Yup."
"Do you know where you're going?"
"Nope."
"So… you're going on vacation, but you don't know where?"
Wally put on a mock serious face. "Or when. I'm very concerned." He considered John's expression for a moment. Not quite displeased, but certainly not happy either. "Why? Is there a problem with that?"
"What? No, I'm used to the way you organise yourself by now-"
"No, I mean… about me and Shayera going together."
"No, no problem." John cocked an eyebrow. "Why? Should I be worried?"
The redhead frowned. "'Course not, dude. Just, y'know… I wouldn't go if you… weren't okay with it."
The Lantern shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be okay with it? Two of my friends going on a break together… it's fine Wally, really."
"You're sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"…okay then."
"Okay."
Silence descended upon them as they ate their way through the pizza, Wally predictably eating half of it before John had even picked up his third slice.
"You hear the rumours yet?"
John looked over at him. "Is she dating someone else now?"
"I-" Wally smiled. "No, it's nothing to do with Shayera."
"I, uh…" he picked up another slice of pizza. "I wasn't talking about Shayera," he said, his voice taking on a defensive tone he instantly regretted.
"Oh yeah. Uh huh. You weren't. Right."
The Lantern gave him a warning glare. "Wally…"
"So anyway, there're rumours flying about that the other guys are gonna bring in replacements for us while we're away."
"Like who?"
Wally shrugged. "I dunno. I asked Supes about it, and he just said 'wait until the next meeting'."
"And when's that?"
"This is me you're talking to, dude. Either you or Shayera have to call me to remind me of meetings half the time. The other half I just forget to show up or I'm busy."
John nodded. "Right, right…"
The speedster's communicator beeped. He pulled on his cowl and put two greasy digits to the earpiece. "Flash here," he said, still eating a slice of pizza.
"We're having a meeting."
Wally stood. "Huh? We are?"
He could practically hear Shayera's shrug on the other end. "Don't ask me; Superman just said it was impromptu for a reason, and to get over to the meeting room."
"Okay," Flash sighed. "Save me my seat, okay?"
"I don't think anyone could miss your chair, Wally. You've painted your logo on it."
"Yeah… that is cool…" He shook his head from his fond reverie. "Anyway, I'll see you there."
"Right."
Shayera terminated the connection, and Wally looked over at John. "Sorry dude. Duty calls."
"I wish it did."
Flash frowned. "How long have you got left in rehab?"
"The Doctor's say it should take about another week or so before I'm on my feet again." He let out a heavy sigh. "And even longer before I'm in the field..."
"…sorry."
"It's not your fault, Wally. It's just getting me antsy, looking at the same four walls all day, every day."
"Yeah, well… it just seems right to say sorry. For… y'know, everything."
John was about to protest, but he saw that Wally was going to blame himself no matter what he said. "Thanks," he said, smiling and nodding. "Now go on. I can finish up here."
Wally smiled back and gave a small salute. "See ya," he said, before opening the door and zipping away.
After waiting for the door to slide shut, John got back to his pizza and cherry coke.
His ass wasn't aching half as much anymore.
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"So what's the problem?" Flash asked, leaning forward and resting his head on his hand.
Clark smiled in his understanding 'Superman' way. "Sorry for the short notice, but we had to discuss this before you left."
"Discuss what?" Shayera asked, looking around the table.
"Your replacements while you're away," J'onn said matter-of-factly.
Wally slapped his hand down on the table, grinning. "I knew it! Who's it gonna be? Aquaman? Captain Atom?"
Superman smiled again. "Not quite." He walked over to the door of the conference room and pushed the 'open' button. Through the open doorway stepped Green Arrow, Black Canary and 'Green-Lantern-replacement-the-Corp-had-sent-but-whose-name-Wally-couldn't-remember-at-that-moment'. He hadn't really gotten to know John's replacement that well, because he thought that John's recovery wouldn't take as long as it had.
Also, there was something about him that just grated on Wally's nerves.
He raised a cautious hand. "Uh, not that I'm not flattered, but there're only two of us going. I don't think you need to bring in three guys to replace us."
Canary cleared her throat.
"Uh, that is, two guys and one gal."
She nodded in approval, and Arrow smiled.
Superman, who had since made his way around the table, sat down in his chair. "Well, when John was put out of action, we thought we could fill the gap ourselves, and we did pretty well. But with you two both leaving, I thought it was the right time to bring in a replacement for John as well. So. Kyle, you'll be filling in for Flash, and Ollie will be filling in for John. Dinah, you'll be filling in for Shayera on Earth."
Arrow raised a hand. "Wait… does that mean I get all the intergalactic missions?"
"No," Diana said, smiling. "We'll assign you missions more…down to Earth."
"Damn…" Ollie said, snapping his fingers. "And I had a space suit lined up too."
Wally's eyes lit up beneath his mask. "You did?"
Arrow nodded, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. "Oh yeah, it's even got this laser-"
Clark cleared his throat. "In any case…" Wally and Ollie, noticing his tone of voice, put their excited discussion on hold.
Superman continued. "…You three will have your hands full. Do you think you can handle it?"
"Just call me Captain America," Arrow replied, giving a loose salute.
Kyle allowed a small smile. "Ditto."
"No problem," Canary said, a smirk on her lips.
Clark nodded. "All right then; it's settled. You all start as soon as Flash and Shayera leave."
"And when will that be?" Ollie asked, his gloved hand raised.
"I'm not sure. Flash? Shayera?"
Wally and Shayera looked at each other. Flash smiled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Uh… soon?"
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Wally and Shayera sat next to each other at the foot of his messy bed, having once again convened in his Metro Tower quarters.
While Wally had taken to lying on his back and allowing his legs to dangle off the bottom, Shayera had hunched forward, rubbing her temples.
"Okay. We seriously need to think of somewhere to go," Wally said, staring up at the ceiling.
"It's your planet. Don't you know any good places to go?"
"Well yeah, but everywhere just seems so… blah, y'know? I want this to be something to remember."
"'Blah'?"
"Yes, 'blah'."
"What the hell does that mean? 'Blah'?"
"Like… y'know… cliché… boring… stupid…"
"Did you just say 'cliché'?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"I don't know. It just seems like such an… un-Flash-like word to say, is all."
"Why? Because it's got a fancy little 'ay' noise at the end?"
"Pretty much."
Wally shrugged. "Eh. That's fair."
Shayera heard her speedster friend gasp from behind her.
"Oh… hey, hey hey hey… now that's an idea…"
"What is?"
The redhead sat up and leapt to his feet. "Road trip!"
"What?"
"Road trip. As in… getting in a car and…"
"Going for a trip on the road?"
"Well put."
A thoughtful look crossed Shayera's face. "But… I don't know… really? A road trip? Is that a good idea?"
"Are you kidding? The sun on your shoulders, the wind breezing through your hair... nothing but two buddies and the open road," he said, pointing to the horizon. "It'll be great! We can stop over and say hi to my buddies… maybe even stay at their places…"
"Wait… road trip… are we going to need a car?"
"I… yes."
"Do you even know how to drive a car?"
"Yes…" Wally said. "Well, kinda."
"'Kinda'? What's 'kinda'?"
"Well, I haven't driven for like…" Flash trailed off as he began counting the years on his fingers. He shook his head and waved his hands about. "I forget. But I know how they work, and I know all the rules of the road from running around on patrols and stuff." He grinned at Shayera's sceptical expression. "Don't worry, it'll be great! In fact, I'm gonna go and book us a rental car right now. And tell Supes when we're going."
He whirled on his heel and made a bee line for the door.
"Wally?"
The speedster turned to look at her.
"When are we going?"
"How about tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow."
"Yeah! Why not? You can stay at my place tonight – kinda get you warmed up for the rest of the trip."
Shayera gave him a warning glare at the suggestiveness of that statement.
"No, no, I mean… as in… getting practice…" Flash slapped his head. "I mean… y'know, uh… getting… ready… to… do it… I mean-"
Shayera's mock glare broke, and she smiled. "Just go," she said, laughing as she waved him away.
He let out a relieved breath before grinning and shooting out the door. The door slid shut, and Shayera looked at the devastation that was The Flash's room.
And you're going to be travelling with this guy.
Shayera sighed.
Happy day.
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Shayera let her bag flump to the ground unceremoniously.
"I see you've cleaned up since the last time I was here."
Wally looked around the room nonchalantly as he picked up her bag and took it into his room. "Not by choice, believe me. I thought it was fine the way it was, but hey… whatever."
Shayera made her way to the TV and squatted in front of the cabinet where the DVD player and sound system were kept. She frowned in confusion.
"Where're all the DVDs?"
"Oh. Someone had the great idea of putting them in one place. Pffft. Like that would work." Wally emerged from his room, heading for the kitchen counter in the corner. "I told her, I said, 'Linda'-"
He stopped as Shayera stared at him.
"What?"
"Why did you put my luggage in your room?"
"Because that's where you're sleeping."
Shayera paused. "Come again?"
"You're sleeping in my room, and I'm sleeping out here on the couch."
"Oh…" She let out a sigh of relief, smiling. "Right…"
"What, you didn't think that-" he was silent as he saw Shayera's expression. "Oh. You did. That's just… ew. On so many levels." He continued on his way to the kitchen.
Shayera watched the speedster quickly and efficiently pull out different ingredients from the cupboard. He began sawing up a loaf of bread at super speed.
"You can cook?"
Wally froze in mid slice to look up at her. "Huh?"
"I… never mind. Where're the DVDs?"
"Second drawer down on the dresser," Wally said, pointing to it with his knife. "What," he said, returning to his preparations, "you don't feel like seeing what's on TV?"
"I just feel like a movie or something… unreal. I don't want to watch the news, because half the time I'm involved in it somehow, I don't like gardening and documentaries because they're… well…"
"Boring?"
"…Yes… and as for sports… they're a bit tame compared to what I'm used to. The closest is ice hockey, but even that is pretty low-key."
"Really?"
"Uh huh."
Wally paused. "Cool."
"What are you making, anyway?"
"Just a little something I call 'Pasta and Garlic Bread'."
Shayera looked up from her DVD rummaging. Right now, she had 'Forrest Gump' (too sappy) in one hand and 'The Mighty Ducks' (which she had no desire to watch) in the other.
"Pasta and Garlic Bread?"
"Yeah. The title kind of takes away from it's epic-ness, I think. I mean, there's sauce on the pasta and everything. There're hidden meanings to these things."
Smiling and shaking her head, the Thanagarian returned to her search.
"Find anything you like?"
"Not really. And just what the hell is this?" she said, holding up a box-set.
"What?"
"Oh come on. 'Transformers: Season One'? Who buys this?"
"They were a vital part of my childhood!"
"Right." She looked back at the drawer. "Have you got anything… exciting?"
"If you want exciting, you should try some Gamestation 3 stuff. Or better yet…" He zipped over to the cabinet. "Try some retro 16-bit goodness."
Shayera squinted at the worn away writing on the machines. "Super Nintendo… Sega Genesis…" she looked up at her friend. "Do I really want to play on these? I mean, how exciting could they be?"
Wally grinned. "Let me introduce you to a little friend of mine called Sonic the Hedgehog."
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The TV emitted another noise, and Shayera growled in frustration. "What in-! I was nowhere near that red ball!"
Wally's grin from earlier was only growing bigger with every exclamation. He lay on the couch behind Shayera, who was sat cross legged in front of the TV, tapping away furiously at the controller. He was getting flashbacks to Titans Tower without even trying.
"Y'know, I could take care of those Special Stages for you…" he said, picking at his teeth smugly.
"Don't. You. Dare."
The speedster put up his hands in a 'whatever' manner, and took to watching his friend curse the blue hedgehog as he raced across the screen.
"What the hell is Tails doing? Can't you control him or something?"
"Well, yeah, but it gets kind of annoying."
"I want to get up there," Shayera said, pointing at the screen. "Grab a controller and give me a lift."
"Ah c'mon, I-"
"Now."
"All right, all right," Wally said, slightly alarmed by the low growl in her voice. He zipped over and plugged in his own controller. As he pulled Sonic up to the higher level, Wally glanced at Shayera out of the corner of his eye.
"Y'know… there's a competitive two player mode in this game."
Shayera opened her mouth, but then paused. "Wait… will I lose this game if we restart it?"
"Nope. This is Sonic 3 – it saves the game for you. Revolutionary technology."
After another agonised look at the screen, Shayera relented. "Okay. Let's do it."
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"Another match."
"Ah, c'mon… I'm sleepy. I wanna go to bed…"
"We're not leaving until I beat you."
"Whu- you beat me that time!"
"You weren't trying. You let me win."
"No I didn't!"
Shayera looked over at him.
"Okay, maybe I did. But can you blame me? It's-" Wally's entire face contorted in shock. "-4:30 in the morning! That's it, I'm going to bed." He rose from his place next to Shayera, only for a rock hard Thanagarian hand to grip his wrist and yank him back down to ground level.
"SIT."
"Can't you just go back to playing your one player game? We can get back to this tomorrow."
Shayera stared at him long and hard. She released her grip on his arm. "All right. You go to bed and rest. Because tomorrow I'm going to kick your ass."
"No doubt…" he said, heading towards his room. He paused. "Hey, Shayera?"
"Mmm?"
"I'll just leave your stuff and the bed sheets next to the sofa. It doesn't fold out, so don't force it, okay?"
Shayera stared at the screen.
"Okay?"
"Yes, yes, okay! Goodnight!" she snapped, engulfed in the action onscreen.
Taken aback by the sudden outburst, Wally watched his friend intently play the game before smiling, shaking his head, and making his way into his room.
It's always the rookies that get hooked…
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(A/N: Let's see, anything I want to add…
John's condition is a result of something that happened in another of my stories, 'Gut Feeling', but all that you really need to know is that he was injured, and is going to be out of action for a while. So the Lantern Corp sent Rayner to fill in.
Nothing much else to say, except the usual: review!)