Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.

20 seconds to go…

"How often am I going to have to do this?" Wally wondered to himself as he stood over the unconscious body of the time-travelling supervillain Zoom, otherwise known as Eobard Thawne.

To the average person, teleporting in just as Zoom was about to kill Linda, saving her life, and then beating him in a fight in less than a minute, must have seemed like a quick open-and-shut-case.

"How quickly people forget that I'm the Fastest Man Alive" Wally said out loud, spitting up blood and shaking his head - the reality being that it took an eternity before Zoom finally went down – that minute being extended to hours as they fought across Central City. A broken arm, dislocated knee, swollen left eye, and missing a few teeth, Wally was surprised he was able to stand after it all was done.

But Linda was worth it, and Wally knew that was all that mattered as he turned around to see her smile up at him, beaming next to him. That look from her was all he needed to stop focusing on the unbelievable pain he was in.

"Thanks for saving me love, and just so you know, you're still gorgeous with the missing teeth" Linda Park-West said, leaning up to kiss him.

"That's the beauty of super-speed-healing" Wally said, smiling with a huge gap where his front teeth used to be. "I'll have all my pearly whites back to normal within the day."

"Good, because I didn't agree to marry someone with no teeth, I was worried there for a second" Linda laughed, a musical sound to Wally's ears that he never tired of, even when she was poking fun at him.

Wally paused and thought of the situation he'd left at the Watchtower, having stumbled upon the beautiful moment between Clark, Diana, Bruce, and Selina.

"Come to think of it, I should probably check-in with Watchtower – that being said I can't wait to tell Iris about Superman and Wonder Woman, she's going to lose it" Wally couldn't help but laugh, remembering the look on Batman's face when he saw that Wally had managed to get a shot off with his smartphone, forever capturing him smiling and hugging it out with Superman.

"Not to mention that gorgeous shot with Wonder Woman hugging Catwoman…that one I may keep to myself though" Wally chuckled as he pressed his commlink.

"J'onn, it's Flash, can you beam me back up? I'm not up to my daily quota of harassing Batman yet" Wally winked at Linda, who could only roll her eyes – having long ago gotten used to her husband's quirky behaviour.

For the first time since he had joined the Justice League, Wally didn't hear the voice of J'onn or whoever else happened to be on Monitor Duty at that time. His battle-honed instincts told him immediately that something was wrong.

He heard a groan behind him as Zoom stirred momentarily into consciousness, forcing his blood red eyes open to focus on Wally. He looked upon him with all the hatred he could muster, the anger of hundreds of years of displaced time.

"You're too late Flash. This was all part of the plan…we just needed you out of the way. I've played my part. See you in hell" Zoom leaned up and smiled at Flash, just before vanishing in a flash of white light.

"What the he…?" Wally's heart raced like never before, knowing immediately that something terrible was happening aboard the Watchtower.

No time left…

Wally didn't hear the explosion but he saw it clear as if it was a second sun in the sky, painstakingly and brutally slowed down – an eternity of pain that he was forced to endure as watched the beginnings of the giant fireball begin to engulf the Watchtower.

His friends…his family, and there was nothing he could do. For the first time in years, Wally West wasn't fast enough. The Fastest Man Alive was suddenly the slowest creature on the planet, and had never felt so helpless or such pain, not since he had seen his mother murdered in his youth.

Only…it had suddenly stopped. The first explosion seemed to be frozen in his field of vision, an angry and harsh orange and red light stretching out to him.

"Is my body torturing me?" Wally wondered to himself, immediately thinking his adrenaline-spiked sped-up vision had moved so quickly that this moment would now last even longer for him.

Suddenly Wally heard a voice behind him, an otherworldly melody that immediately gave him a surprising amount of warmth and comfort, which was unbelievable considering the circumstances of that moment.

But most of Wally's disbelief relied on the fact that this was a voice that was managing to keep up with him, a voice that…if he could believe it…was coming from someone much faster than he was.

"Don't worry Flash, you're not going crazy…well no more than usual."

Wally whipped his head around, only to have his breath caught in his throat as he beheld the celestial figure of blinding white light that had appeared behind him.

"Hermes…" Wally couldn't believe what he was seeing as the Olympian God strolled towards him, hands clasped behind him and swaying from side-to-side, as if he was out for a stroll in the park.

Clad in a flowing white Grecian toga, clipped with a short bright blue cape behind him, Hermes would have looked as just a well-dressed and handsome young man, with his shiny golden locks of hair and his cerulean blue eyes. But it was the sandals that gave his divine presence away…specially created from a custom Olympian alloy by Hephaestus and literal living works of art, each one of them was outfitted with a tiny pair of snow-white wings.

Every god and goddess in the world was gifted with inhuman speed, and Flash had met more than a few throughout his life as the Scarlet Speedster…several of which he had even managed to best with his speed.

Hermes had been chosen as the Messenger of the Gods because he had proven himself the fastest of all the immortals, among both Old Gods and New.

Out of fatherly pride Zeus had given his son the winged sandals as an eternal mark of his achievement…with one very specific perk…it made the God even faster. Hermes was the fastest before, but his sandals meant he would hold that title forever, or at least until someone was fast enough to take them from him (just as unlikely).

"The Original Speedster himself" Hermes chucked, stretching out both hands and bending in an overexaggerated bow.

"What's going on? How are we stopped like this?" Wally asked, still in disbelief at everything that had managed to happen in between the ticks of the clock, from the Watchtower explosion to Hermes' speedy arrival.

"We are frozen in a moment of time – my godly power gives us only a second before the other Olympians may start to notice what I'm up to, but to you and I, that's all we've ever needed" Hermes said, reaching out and grasping Flash strongly by the shoulder.

"The Watchtower! What's happening up there?!" Wally immediately went on the offensive, attempting to use as much of the short time he had been given to speak to the Olympian.

Hermes' casual and amused expression immediately turned to anger, and Wally swore that he felt the air get hotter around him, as if the emotion couldn't be contained within the god himself.

"Ares" Hermes spat with all the bitterness of a thousand years. "Ares forced Hephaestus to make explosives that couldn't be detected by metahumans, gods, or otherworldly beings, then he had them secretly planted in several places aboard the Watchtower."

"But Superman, Wonder Woman, and the others are up there! I mean they aren't as fast as I am, but with speedsters like them, surely Clark, Diana, and the others should be able to save everyone?" Wally couldn't believe what he was hearing, but it aligned with what he had already been briefed on at the Watchtower.

"Magic Flash. Olympian-crafted destruction designed with all your friends in mind. Your friends up there may be able to save a few of them, but they won't be fast enough…nowhere near. That's why Zoom was here, as a distraction to ensure you weren't there…you would have been able to help save a few more just by yourself" Hermes gritted his teeth in frustration, furious that he had not known.

"Gods. Greek Gods, Egyptian Gods, what's next?" Wally shook his head, in disbelief that once again he and his friends…his family, had been caught up in another divine dispute.

"I didn't find out about it until the explosion started, just like everyone else will in just a few seconds…we're out of time Wally West" Hermes looked on grimly, as Wally looked downward, now knowing that many of his friends were dead, just like that.

"Zeus told all of the Olympians to stay out of this but it seems that Ares is breaking that rule, although I shouldn't be surprised" Hermes was mentally kicking himself for having missed such an obvious betrayal. "You would think a few millennia of him doing this exact thing would make me wise up" he thought to himself.

"So, what now? You came down just to tell me that Ares killed my family and then you peace out?" Wally could barely get the words out, his entire body starting to involuntarily vibrate and crackle with lightning, the Speed Force begging to be unleashed.

"We exist here invisible to the eye of Zeus and all others for just another moment here. I can't save your friends…but I can give you a chance to be who you are" Hermes smiled, warmth returning to his features as he looked down on Wally as if he was a proud father looking upon his son.

"I've always been proud of your exploits Wally. You took a terrible accident and turned it into something amazing. You helped people believe in the impossible again, so I'm going to use this moment to return that favour" Hermes winked and snapped his fingers in a flash of blinding light.

"What the…?" Wally didn't even have time to finish his sentence before the light had vanished and he suddenly felt different…good different. He felt…fast. Faster than he had ever felt in his life, and that was certainly saying something.

Wally looked down and, to his surprise, Hermes' sandals were now on his feet, their silver glint shining of his red and yellow tights. His eyes widened as he noticed the little white wings beginning to move faster and faster, like a hummingbird on overdrive.

"Why did you…?" Wally choked but once again Hermes beat him to it.

"That's my gift to you, I'm letting you borrow my sandals. For one second, just one moment, you will be the fastest being in the universe. Anymore time than that and the others will notice what I've done, which I cannot allow. You will be faster than light…but more importantly, just slightly faster than an Olympian-created explosion" Hermes beamed at him, already beginning to fade as time slowly began to restart.

"But how did I get up there? I'm fast but I can't fly?!" Wally was caught completely off-guard but he had been given a chance to save his friends, and he would find a way to do it.

"You'll see in a moment. You thought you were fast before? You ain't seen nothing yet. People think those winged sandals let me fly, they're wrong…they let me run on the air" Hermes said as he disappeared from view.

"Be who you were meant to be…be a hero Flash" Hermes voice echoed around Wally as he began to feel the sandals vibrate on his feet, feeling the celestial speed building within him, like nothing else he had ever felt before.

Wally West…the Flash…now not just the Fastest Man Alive but the Fastest Being in Existence, had been given a moment, just one heartbeat to be his best self, and he wasn't going to let his friends down.

He would save the day or die trying, all in the blink of an eye.

One second and counting…starting now.

Some Author's Notes:

Yes! The story is back! It will be finished! Thank you all for sticking by the story and continuing to poke at me over the last few years with your reviews and requests for this to continue. I finally found what I needed to start writing again, so here we go again.