Warning: Mentions of child abuse ahead.
One of the first memories Wally could recall was running. He was around 2 years old, on wobbly feet and rushing towards a wall. He remembered being picked up by his farther and squirming in the hold, but his father just laughed and teased him,
"Someone's a little antsy, huh, Wally?"
Dad used to talk about that day, how his little boy had taken his first steps running as if he had been doing it for years. Wally would blush and go "Daaaad" in a desperate attempt to end the discussion, because he didn't always like being cooed at like a baby.
But, despite all of that, Wally didn't really mind it as much as he should. Because his Dad was always proud of him, always encouraging him to forge his own path. One time, he did mention that he had hoped Wally would become an athlete star like he was at his son's age, but you couldn't always get what you want.
"In my day, all I had to do to impress a girl was get a winning touchdown," Dad chortled as he sipped his once a week beer at last night's dinner, "Now you just need to know how to create a mini volcano and beat supervillains with science."
Wally admittedly wanted to sink into the ground while everyone laughed, because the Crocks were currently dining with them and the last thing he needed was Artemis to hear more embarrassing things about himself. A peck on the cheek by his girlfriend did perk him up and carry him through dessert though, while Dad and Mom continued to share more embarrassing stories about the Science Fair or his early years as Kid Flash.
Kid Flash was something that his parents always had an issue with, even if they hid it spectacularly well. They never liked the idea of their only son going out and fighting criminals on a daily basis, even with adult supervision. And Dad's early relationship with Uncle Barry hadn't helped matters, either.
He wasn't sure what the exact reasons were, but Wally was certain it had something to do with their contrasting personalities. His father had a tendency to look menacing while Uncle Barry managed to look harmless and downright ditzy – his father's words, not Wally's. It was because of his imposing character that people tended to jump to the wrong conclusion about him. For example, if Wally hadn't stressed the part that his former bloody nose was a result of him trying to phase through a wall and not because someone had him, then he was certain that Artemis wouldn't have given his dad much of a chance.
But she did and they spent most of the night talking to each other like old friends. After all of the months they spent getting to know one another – along with meeting Sportsmaster – Wally knew that his earlier intuition regarding why Artemis reacted the way she did when she saw his bloody nose was correct. It made him wonder what would have happened if he had actually talked to her about it sooner, rather than letting Artemis hide her family history from the Team for such a long time. Would she still have felt threatened by Red Arrow joining the Team and go out of her way to keep her family ties to Sportsmaster and Cheshire a secret? During their last encounter with that guy, Wally was able to catch glimpses of what constituted as "father-daughter" talk in their fight and silently cheered when Artemis kicked him in the face at the end. Hewas afraid she would have bolted out the door when his own dad greeted her and Paula...
To make it short, the segment of "Meet the Parents" went excellently. When the night was done and everyone bade each other well, his mom leaned in and whispered, "She's a keeper."
Wally smiled bashfully at that.
The next day went by as usual; wake up, eat breakfast, watch some TV, see something on the news that required the need for the Speed Force duo, save the day. Same old stuff. The Weather Wizard managed to get a hit in during their fight, but that lightning bolt barely phased Wally. He dismissed it as a result of his powers growing – though he secretly hoped it didn't mean that his appetite was growing too – and dashed home.
Funnily enough, he did feel like he was going faster. Everything was moving in such a blur; streaks of gray and red and blue and yellow. Was this what Uncle Barry felt everything he went fast or was it just disorienting the first time?
And then it stopped, Wally's feet just touching the driveway pavement in his house.
He stared. Something didn't seem right, he just couldn't put his finger on it. As Wally walked into the house, he could have sworn that the garden looked a bit wilted, as if someone hadn't watered them in a while.
The moment he entered into the house; Wally was hit by the pungent stench of stale alcohol. Yep. Something was definitely wrong. Silence greeted him in the dark house. Wally's ears prick at the distance sound of static further inside. He walked through the hallway when his foot kicked up an empty can, sending it flying into a nearby wall. There's the sound of something crashing in the other end of the house – Wally knew how hard it was for his mom to get glass out of the carpet, she was always afraid it would break the vacuum – and footsteps pounding against the floor.
Wally doesn't expect to see his father red-faced and near-frothing at the mouth, his eyes bloodshot.
"Uh...Dad, what's wron –"
"WHAT'S WITH THAT RACKET?!"
Wally blinked. "Okay, am I missing something here –"
"DON'T TALK BACK TO ME, BOY! THIS IS MY HOUSE! MY PROPERTY!"
"I have a feeling I'm supposed to be intimidated by this, yet strangely I'm not," Wally frowned. His father looked at him gobsmacked. What? Was he expecting a superhero like himself to be cowed by someone who was clearly drunk despite having several years of fighting villains under his belt? Why did he have a sense of de ja vu just thinking about all this?
And where the heck was his mother?
Just as he thought of this, Wally saw movement in the kitchen, slow and lethargic. There she was, but – and maybe it was a trick of the light – she looked thinner and less lively than usual.
"Mom, are you okay?" Wally started moving towards the kitchen when his father blocked his line of vision, looking ready to burst open a blood vessel. Jeez, what was this, 'scripted family drama night with your host, Rudolph West'?
"Don't try and change the sub - !" But before his dad could finish, Wally zipped past him, his feet already in the kitchen by the time his father had realized that Wally wasn't standing right in front of him. His mom – oh dear God, his poor mother! - she looked haggard and worn. Worse than that, she looked like she lost a fight with a grizzly bear. And then there was that look in her eyes...flitting between Wally and the floor fearfully when he tried getting her attention. But...that didn't make sense, she might get a little harried when it came to Wally and his large appetite, along with his heroics leaving his parents to stay up until he came through the door. But there was no logical explanation for why his mother could look so defeated and beaten like -
And suddenly, he couldn't hear his father screaming about what a disrespectful pile of shit he was, and what an embarrassment he was to his parents, and what an ungrateful brat he was that should have been aborted. In fact, he was pretty sure that his father had stopped screaming altogether when he saw the look on Wally's face as he swiveled to face him. Wally's chest constricted as he looked at Rudolph straight ahead, making sure to block the entrance into the kitchen.
"Dad," he fought to keep his voice level, "what. The fuck. Did you do. To mom."
And then he gave Rudolph a nasty smile that the Joker would have been proud of and added, "Because I'm sure that it's going to be nothing compared to the ass-whooping I'm about to give you."
It was almost hilarious seeing the blood drain from Rudolph's face. He took a step backwards and fell to the floor with a thud! still scrambling away from Wally as he advanced towards him with intent. It didn't matter that none of this made sense and that his parents were acting way out of character. At this moment, all Wally cared about was instilling the sense of fear that Rudolph had instilled in his mother and was trying to instill in Wally not even five minutes ago.
"W-wait!" Rudolph raised a hand defensively as he crab-walked away from Wally. He squeaked when Wally grabbed the front of his shirt and – with great effort – pulled him up.
"What happened to her?" Wally glowered at Rudolph. He didn't notice the fist until it connected with his nose.
Or at least, that would have happened against someone that didn't get training from the likes of Black Canary or Batman, both who were trained in martial arts and have had experience dealing with metahumans before. Wally would never consider himself a detective, but he was far from an idiot. Rudolph may look intimidating in size, but that was as far as the threat went. He was not athletic, he didn't actively go to the gym, and from the awful smell Wally's nose was whiffing, it was clear he was also intoxicated.
How the hell was someone with years of fighting crime supposed to be caught flat-foot against a drunkard?
Wally leaned back away from the punch and gave back what Rudolph was trying to dish out. Fist met Rudolph and Rudolph met the floor. And fist met Rudolph's mouth. And nose. And eyes. And nose again, for a good measure.
"Who the hell are you?!" Wally demanded the man he thought was his father.
"Mommy…" the man he thought was his father mumbled feebly.
Wally gestured back to the kitchen with his thumb, "I'm pretty sure she's Mommy in this house."
Rudolph was groaning on the floor, curling into himself like a hedgehog. Wally shook his head in disbelief; he couldn't understand where the hell this behavior came from. He hated having to attack his father, but there was no way he was going to let the man get away with his actions after seeing the state that Mom was in. Wally immediately began to make a mental list of things to do; first off was getting his mother out of the house and convincing Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris to let them stay over for a few days. Second was getting Jay and Uncle Barry to hold an intervention on Rudolph's drinking...even though he never...had more than...one...beer a week...
Suddenly, Wally felt the urge to make a quick call to his Aunt and Uncle to get a better picture of what he was seeing...
000
"I never even knew…" Batman slumped in his chair after Wally told him and Uncle Barry what had just happened. Well, the Batman and Uncle Barry from this Earth. Weather Wizard's attack altered Wally's powers so that he began to vibrate at a different frequency and was transported to another Earth as consequence.
"You're from another Earth?!" Wally couldn't get why Uncle Barry was surprised by this news. Didn't he once go to another Earth once that lost their heroes in a nuclear war?
"Well yeah, unless I somehow rewrote history and made my parents complete polar opposites of themselves like something out of the 5th Dimension," Wally's eyebrow was twitching. Apparently, his typical snark was treated as though he hadn't acted like that in a long while. When he got to the part about Rudolph trying to strike him, it was both a relief and a further testament to his patience that Uncle Barry actually acted like the Uncle he was used to seeing. Pissed off and muttering death threats towards the perpetrator for threatening his family. That didn't make much sense, though. If Wally hadn't been acting like himself lately, then shouldn't someone have connected the dots that something wasn't really peachy in his home life?
"And you're certain that he has been doing this for –"
"I don't know what I should be certain of right now, Uncle Barry!" Wally snapped, already getting sick and tired of the reactions he was witnessing, "You're a forensics officer, shouldn't you be able to pick up that something wasn't right in my own house?!"
This proved to be the wrong thing to say, as Uncle Barry's face whitened.
"Wally," he said slowly, like he was expecting his nephew to suddenly burst into tears at someone raising their voice a decibel higher than they should, "I investigate crime scenes."
"And?"
"And there wasn't a crime scene," Uncle Barry continued in that same – and quite possibly unintentionally – patronizing tone.
"And?"
"And no one ever reported abuse until today."
There was a long pause as Wally took this in…
"And?"
"BEING A FORENSIC OFFICER DOESN'T AUTOMATICALLY MAKE ME A FREAKING DETECTIVE ON CHILD ABUSE!" Uncle Barry stiffened when he realized how loudly he said this.
"Okay, okay, I got the job description wrong," Wally placated him, "won't do it again." He whirled at Batman, "Speaking of detective…how the hell did you not notice anything off?! I mean, there's got to be have been some injury that was noticeable, right? A black eye, maybe?"
Batman began muttering something about healing factors before Wally interrupted him with a punch to the face. His own face, to be precise.
"Look at the black eye I just gave myself," Wally said calmly, fighting the urge to scream in pain and why did he punch himself, this was a stupid idea! Batman and Uncle Barry looked – well, Batman looked. Uncle Barry looked like he was going to have a panic attack and Wally was torn between wanting him to calm down and pulling the man into a hug. "Notice anything?"
"It's still there…?" Batman was uncertain in his answer.
"Good," Wally nodded stiffly, "Second question: if the black eye is still there, what does that tell you?"
"You punched yourself really hard…?"
"True and – OH MY GOD, IT FEELS LIKE SOMETHING'S PRESSED AGAINST MY SKULL! WHY DID I DO THIS, THIS WAS REALLY STUPID!" Wally took a moment to collect himself and continued, "Yes, the black eye is still there. And yes, I punched myself really hard. But that's not the point. If I have a healing factor – and I do – wouldn't it be gone in a few seconds?"
"Yes…?" Batman – okay scratch that, Batman In Name Only – nodded.
"I'm starting to think that I'm the only detective right now…"
This earned him a Bat-glare. And Wally had to admit, it looked pretty intimidating.
"My point is that my healing factor isn't that incredible," Wally explained, "I had broken arm for while after fighting the Injustice League."
"I remember that!" Uncle Barry cried out, "you had to wear a cast for almost two weeks…" His voice trailed off and Wally could see the gears in his uncle's brain working. He came to the conclusion that Wally was trying to educate them on, "Your healing factor wouldn't have been that fast…I've been seeing signs and ignoring them…oh God…"
He slumped to the floor in a horrified heap.
"So…I think we should…arrest him for child abuse and domestic violence…" Batman In Name Only shuffled his feet awkwardly.
"No shit, Sherlock…" Wally grumbled under his breath. Then, he frowned, "What do you think happened to the Wally in THIS Earth?"
00000
"Thank God you came when you did," Barry sighed in relief when Wally and the other Uncle Barry returned from Earth 17. Behind him, Dad was sitting in a chair and mumbling incoherently under his breath. "I was just about to throttle him when I got a good look at the other Wally."
"What stopped you?"
"The other Wally said his Dad had to sell his car after he lost his job."
The other Wally reunited with the other Uncle Barry and both were on their way shortly afterwards – not without tears or disbelief that there was a Rudolph West in the multiverse that was a good father.
"How bad was it?" Wally asked, forcing himself to cram another helping of chicken down when he sat down for a late dinner. Even if he had no appetite to eat, he still had to cope with his metabolism burning through almost everything he ate and knew putting it off would have been detrimental later.
"Bruised ribs, probably cracked judging from when he had trouble breathing," Barry listed off coolly, "his back was covered with scars – I'd say that other bastard belted him. The other Wally said it started recently and he was trying to get help when you and him swapped places."
"My own son…" Rudolph wasn't touching his food, "he was afraid of me…"
"Dad…" Wally moved to wrap an arm around his father's shoulders, "That wasn't you. You know that."
"But it could have been me…" his father's voice was tight, like he was starting to choke on something.
"It wasn't you," Wally repeated.
"Maybe if I took you getting into science harder than I should have, I could have been like that." This made Wally look closer at his father for an explanation. "Before you were born, a group of people – Manhunters, they said they were – they said you were destined for greatness. And I was so proud to know that I was going to play a small part in your history. And when you were born, I was the happiest man in the world. I knew that there was no one else I wanted to be other than your father. Every time you struggled, I reminded myself that you were meant for something great and those were just hurdles. And your first steps – oh God, I can still hear your mother screaming in delight – and me running to chase after you.
"I thought sports would be a way to help you in your future, but you never took to them. But science…I still remember how your eyes lit up when you showed me the first model you built. And your first science fair. And for one moment, I couldn't help but think why weren't you the person I thought you were supposed to be."
Wally stiffened.
"But all I had to do was look into your eyes and know that this was right. I decided that I didn't give a damn about what some people said about your future; you were my son and your happiness mattered too. But if I knew you were going to replicate the accident…"
Wally remembered that day too well and how it almost cost him the chance to be Uncle Barry's sidekick and how it almost destroyed the frail relationship he shared with his brother-in-law.
"And every time you got hurt, all I could think of was how the Manhunters must have seen it happen. And all I wanted to do was take the pain away and protect you like I was supposed to."
His father's voice cracked and he shook in his seat. His shoulders heaved with emotion, like an unwanted burden he wanted to remove.
"That could have been me," Rudolph's voice was thick and wet and Wally pulled him into a tight hug. Uncle Barry, Aunt Iris and his mother surrounded the two of them a moment later, "That could have been me! Hurting my wife, the woman I love! My son!"
"It wasn't you," Wally repeated again, "and it never will be."
Rudolph looked up at him with red-brimmed eyes and damp cheeks, like Wally had just informed him that he won the lottery. And that was all the warning he got before his father pulled him tight against his chest and held him there, protecting his son from the world around them.
And that was all that mattered.
Author's Note: I am so sorry again for the long absence. I've been struggling to write for months, I've felt burnt out with my stories and wanting them to sound good. I promise you that the next chapter will be coming in the next week or so and will feature Wally again in a light-hearted manner.
I must confess that I hate whump!Wally fics with a passion for many reasons. In the comics, Rudolph West was indeed abusive, but that is not true here. No hero noticing the signs of child abuse in one of their sidekicks would require a massive brain tampering device to be in place for proper justification. Wally has spent several years crimefighting and even learned stuff from Black Canary. It would have been different if this had been occurring for several years of carefully hidden bruises and psychological abuse, but that would imply that Miss Martian or her uncle wouldn't notice something off with their mind-reading. And Batman and Robin being detectives. Or how Wally's healing factor isn't basically "break an arm and it heals within the hour" like fanfics like portraying it as.
So sorry again for the horribly long delay. Please review…