Chapter 3
Recognize it: Not mine. Don't recognize it and it's not explained: Ask me and I'll explain, I'm sure I changed canon at some point and didn't realize it. Happy reading!
"What happened?" Jay said the second he opened the door.
"We'll explain on the bio ship." Artemis said. "We're going to have a long night."
"I kind of figured that, considering that I have seven retired heros standing outside my door, in the cold, at one in the morning." he said stepping outside. "One sec." he sped in then back out. "I had to leave a note for Jonah to explain why I'm not here."
"Can we wake up Bart and go to the ship?" Artemis asked.
"Where are we going?" Jay asked.
"We're using the ship because Dinah's kitchen is too small." Roy said.
"The bio ship is not the most comfortable place to hang out. Jonah and I won't mind if we use the kitchen." Jay offered.
"If you're ok with it." Conner said.
"We have more important things to worry about." Dick said.
"Which leads back to my original question - what happened?" Jay asked.
"We'll explain when everybody's in the same place." Artemis said.
~xXx~xXx~xXx~
"So, why did you wake me up way too early." Bart asked, still sleepy.
"About an hour ago, I had an amazing discovery." Artemis said, not sure how to explain what happened.
"Wally's alive." Dick said. He was met with silence from the other two speedsters.
"What?" Bart asked. He looked wide awake now.
"I saw him." Artemis said quietly. "It was him."
"How?" Jay asked, also shocked.
"We have no clue." Dick said.
"Because you're here too, can I assume there is actual proof?" he asked Dinah.
"He saw moving fast enough that Artemis felt electricity in the air before he arrived, there was a clear, melted path in the snow, and both Roy and Artemis felt the lingering electricity in the air once he had passed." she told them.
"And you contacted us because…" Jay asked. "I mean, can I safely assume that you didn't just come here to tell us this?"
"We have come up with a theory that Wally was trapped somewhere, and got out. We also think that he is moving so fast that he can't slow down. Why else would he have seemingly just ran by Artemis. Yes, there were others there. But would that really stop Wally?" Dick asked.
"And because we're speedsters, you're hoping for our opinion on what could have happened." Jay said.
"I think I know." Bart said. Everybody looked at him. "In the future, we've discovered the source of a speedsters speed - we call is the speed force. When a speedster runs too fast, like, pushes past what they would be able to and aren't ready for it fast, there is a chance you could get sucked into it."
"How do you get out?" Artemis asked.
"Somebody who you have a really strong connection with has to be thinking about you, and you of them, and you can use them as a, umm, lightning rod basically, to get you out."
"And Artemis was Wally's lightning rod?" Dick asked.
"Probably. They have to basically be thinking of them in a scenario in which they're still there." Bart explained.
"I was thinking back to me and Wally's first kiss a minute or two before it happened." Artemis said.
"The only other way is for a person, usually the person who would be their lightning rod, to reach in and pull them out. But that's only happened once that I know of." Bart said, and automatically clamped his hand over his mouth. "Oops." his muffled voice said.
"What happened then?" Artemis asked.
"My great grandfather discovered the speed force and had to use that method too get himself out." he muttered while looking at his feet.
"So you got your speed from your family?" Artemis inquired. "You never told us anything about how you became a speedster. Should you explain now?"
"It wouldn't help much." he said. "It'll happen in a few months. He'd be useless."
"How do you go into the speed force?" Dick asked.
"You need someone who can travel between dimensions, they can get into the speed force. They take the person in, they call out to the person, the person finds them, they drag them back out." Bart said. "Are we done here?"
"So, your great grandfather is going to be sucked into the speed force in a few months. Which means they're already a speedster?" Artemis said, ignoring the last question. "I mean, if you get in by pushing your limits, they have to of been a speedster long enough to be able to get to that point."
"Yeah." Bart said in a small voice.
"Created in a particle accelerator explosion?"
"Maybe."
"Like the Flash?"
"Yes they were created like the current Flash."
"Are they the current Flash?" Dick asked.
"Bart what's your full name?" Artemis asked.
"Why does it matter?" Bart said.
"Isn't this off topic?" Dinah asked.
"If Wally's not back in a few months, I want to be able to know who to go too." Artemis said. "And that is also why it matters Bart."
"Bart Allen." he muttered.
Artemis frowned. "Who does Barry know with abilities like that?"
"I am going to stop revealing the future now." Bart said. "You can find out on your own."
"You bet I will." she muttered. "Once a speedster escapes, of there any after affects?"
"Anybody sucked into the speed force comes out with super speed, even if they weren't a speedster in the first place. The longer you're inside, the more of a boost you get."
"If our theory is right, Wally's been stuck in there for over four years." Artemis said.
"Maybe he has so much speed now, he can't stop." Dick suggested. "He needs to gain control over it."
"That would make sense." Bart said. "Think of the speed force as a battery of infinite energy. When a person is first connected, they are charged up. If they get fully immersed in it, they start absorbing it, like a sponge. The longer they are in it, the more they absorb. When you first get speed powers, you don't have control at first. It takes time and training to get faster, and you adjust to faster paces as you go. Wally wouldn't have had time to adjust, so it's like when you first get super speed, but a hundred times worse."
"He needs to be slowed down." Dick said.
"You can't really do that without taking their speed." Bart said. "He just needs to adjust, and figure out how to turn it off."
"So we can do nothing but wait." Artemis stated.
"Basically."
"Can they learn how to slow down while inside the speedforce?"
"Possibly."
"Well, I'm going to head back to Starling then. I'll need a good night sleep to explain to Oliver the snow trail and my sudden disappearance into a dead end alleyway."
"Good luck." Roy muttered.
"You have to explain too." she reminded him.
"And we can't tell him the truth because…"
"Because my parents are criminals, you're a clone, and we've been hiding our past lives for three to four years now."
"Someday I'm going to have to meet Oliver." Dick said. "Someone who makes the tough vigilante Artemis, who also is the fierce and merciless Tigress, get this worried must be pretty impressive."
Artemis elbowed him in the side.
So, this is the end of chapter three. I've been trying to post in chapters of just above one thousand words, is that working?
-LeiaKasta