I know you guys have been waiting for so long to see an update of this story. Trust me, I wanna update this and my other stories ASAP. However, it might take awhile before I update this story, or any of my other stories.
I thank you for your time and patience. So, without any further ado, enjoy!
At Central City...
Once the blinding lights were out of his vision, Wally found himself in the basement of Central City's greatest Research Labs: S.T.A.R Lab. In confusion, the redhead turned his gaze to his uncle, who simply smiled down at him.
"While you were gone, your aunt and I both took second jobs at S.T.A.R. Lab to earn some extra money when we needed to get our house a bit remodeled in order to get a few rooms to be installed. Even when we had the money to get those extra rooms and because more than half the cases at my old-job doesn't need me that much, I actually quit being a detective scientist and switched jobs to work full-time at S.T.A.R. Lab."
Wally cocked his head to the side, as they both quietly made their ways up the stairs and went into finding the exit.
"Why did you needed more rooms at the house? Ran out of space for food because the fridge and pantry are too stuff to hold anymore when your Metabolism demands more food than usual?"
Flash chuckled at his nephew's answer, reminding him the days when the Ginger would make up a reason why their enemies would strike whenever they're facing a villain or had defeated their opponents and are either taking them to prison or giving them to the police.
"Nice one, Kid, but no." Flash replied, as they turned the corner of the hallway they're in and made a straight walk towards the exit. "We needed more space, because we had a few people living with us, about five years ago." Wally's green-eyes narrowed from being called by his old nickname and if he were to be an animal, the Second Flash would've thought he was suddenly placed in a cage with a pissed-off cheetah.
"Barry, would you please call me either by my name or the hero-name I go by now? I'm no longer Kid Flash, nor do I plan to take the mantle of Kid Flash again." 'Since it seems to me that you have a replacement Kid Flash, according to what the Watchtower has called me when she scanned us and brought us to the Hall of Justice.'
A struck of pain coursed through the Second Flash's body from his nephew's words, which was like a sort of venom rushing through his blood and attacking his heart in mere seconds, causing him to stop in his footsteps and ceased his pushing on the door towards the outside of the lab.
"Um, sure, Ki- Uh, Wally." He replied, though he didn't seem to like the sudden change and demand to what Wally wanted his uncle to address him to by. However, Barry was mostly struck when Wally didn't call him 'Uncle' Barry and that his nephew didn't want to be called by the nickname he given to the redhead long before he became Flash's partner.
"How were you and Aunt Iris, while I was gone?"
The question was a good distraction for the older Speedster and, wanting to forget the sudden demand that his nephew has told him, though he was a bit more upset that the Ginger still calls his wife 'Aunt' Iris, Barry accepted the distraction.
"We're doing fine," he said. "In fact... Well, there's another reason to why we had more rooms added to the house, Wally: Five years ago, we had a little run-in from a relative of ours from the future. His name is Bart and, according from his DNA, he's my grandson and you're his first cousin once removed. Not only that, we recently found out that Iris was pregnant."
Once they were both outside of S.T.A.R. Lab and after walking down the stone-steps, did they ceased their walking and turned to stare face-to-face with each other.
"Really? Man, and I thought you two were never going to have kids anytime soon, at least not until when I would graduate from hi-" Wally then stopped himself in his sentence and lowered his gaze towards the concrete sidewalk both he and his uncle stood on. "My high school graduation..." He murmured, knowing and recalling on what Nightwing has told him that they'll never age anymore, which means that he'll never be allow to graduate when he's to remain in his teen-body for the rest of his life, let alone be able to apply for a job he'd wish to do since he learned of his love for science, until the day he dies from either a terrible illness or a villain that gets lucky. He then shook his head when he noticed that his uncle has been staring at him for a whole minute, which he hadn't even uttered a word or a single sound during that small period of time.
"You alright, Wally?" Despite the both of them in their hero-suits, there was nobody to hear them or anybody in sight to be concern about.
"I'm fine," the redhead answered. Wally then turned his gaze towards the horizon of Central City, not wanting his uncle to see the sad expression on his face. Again, he chose to change the topic. "So, how many cousins do I have?" Flash chuckled at his question.
"Well, besides Bart being your future first cousin once removed, you have two cousins, who are twins: A boy and a girl. They're names are Don and Dawn."
Wally whistled from the information.
"Damn... Twins. You both must've had your hands full raising them, especially if they're both Speedsters."
"Heh, tell me about it. Not only are they Speedsters, but they're trouble-making buddies, too. Even Bart has to suffer the wrath of his father and aunt using him as a human-life play toy."
Wally smirked at his words.
"Bet he was the one who spilled the beans about Aunt Iris having twins," he said.
"Yep, he did. Apparently, he became too much of a spoiler by revealing too much about what's going to happen and had to keep some stuff from us to prevent on 'Crashing the Mode'." He then lightly tapped his head against the side of his head, which reminded Wally all the time M'gann would do that gesture and go 'Hello, Megan!' when she just remembered something when they were still of the Team. "What are we doing out here?! We should be heading home!" He cried, grabbing for Wally's left-arm. "Iris doesn't even know you're back, and Bart never told us about you guys at his time from the future. We have to head home." Before his feet could even start running, Wally vibrated himself out of his uncle's hold without Barry noticing and then took off ahead of his uncle. Flash stared utterly shock at the blurry red that went on ahead of him. "What the...?"
It took him six seconds for him to snap out of it and to take off after his nephew. Eight seconds later, he was running beside the red-headed Speedster.
"So, you finally decided to catch up!" Wally called out, keeping his eyes in front of him in case a car was in the way or is coming at them. "Even though you haven't change in the last seven years, is old-age still catching up to you?"
Flash snickered at the redhead's words.
"Nice try, Kid, but I'm afraid old-age isn't in me anymore!" He hollered back, forgetting what his nephew had told him about not wanting to be refer to by his old nickname again. Wally sent a hidden glance to his uncle.
'I told you to not call me 'Kid'!' He thought in anger, but held it in and turned his green-eyes back to the road. With no cars out in front of them and not hearing any coming towards them anytime soon, did the Ginger lifted his gaze towards the sky to look at the Sea of Stars. 'Man, how I miss gazing at them... Back when I didn't have to worry or keep watch for any ambush to come upon me, Artemis and the guys.'
As they continued on running, Barry turned his gaze to his nephew, who was staring up at the sky to gaze at the stars and moon while running, and noticed a couple of looks that the redhead has on his face that painfully struck the older-speedster's heart.
'Kid, I can't believe how much you've changed and yet you haven't even aged for the last seven years, even though you've gotten nearly a foot taller than the last time I'd seen you.' He thought to himself, imagining the good old days when they would both run together while catching a crook or to see how long and far Wally could keep running until he needed to stop and take a breather. As the older Speedster compared to his past nephew with the redhead today, he could tell how much he really changed and deep down, Barry wasn't sure if he was going to like this new Wally Rudolph West, but he knows it wasn't the teen's decision to change into this. 'Why have you and your friends become like this, Wally? You were all so happy and cheerful when you guys were here with us. Damn it, even Conner was just as happy and perfect like you guys after Clark finally accepted him into his family! Even if you were gone for so long, you all should've stayed the same as you all did when you started this team. So, why have you all changed so much?'
"Is my room still there?" Wally's question brought the blonde out of his thought and back to focusing to what's in front of him, mostly glancing back to his nephew on his left-side. The redhead still has his gaze towards what's in front of them, which is basically the neighborhood and hardly any cars coming on the road at all. "My room. Is it still there, or did the twins or Bart claimed it to keep more space in the house?"
Barry simply sighed deeply from the question, his mind wishing to have his old nephew be with him at this very moment and that this whole seven years without having his young Speedster by his side was nothing more than a bad dream.
"Nope," he replied back. "It's still there, and it's still your room." They begin to slow down when they neared the cul-de-sac of the neighborhood, where at the center of the end of the circular-road, was a Jackson house.
The house's architecture style is ranch, the walls having stones as walls instead of concrete and the roof being made of asphalt. There are five windows in front, two garage stalls that has a concrete driveway in front of the large-white door that blocks the inside of the garage, and a white-door that shows to be the entrance of the house, with a small trail of concrete leading to the small porch-steps coming from the top corner of the driveway. Fresh green-grass circled around the house, trees standing tall and healthy on both side of the house and behind it. There was even a small garden on the right-side of the house, giving it a friendly and calming environment to make it a very comforting home for a happy family, even if that family is a family of Speedsters.
Once the two ceased their running, they stood in the center of the cul-de-sac and stared at the house: One staring at the house with satisfaction and pride, while the other in confusion and a little bit of shock of the changes of the house he once recognized as his aunt and uncle's house.
"Well, here we are... Home sweet home." Flash announced to his old-protégé, placing his right-arm over and around Speed's shoulders, pulling him in to see the wonderful view of the house in front of them. 'The house is finally a home sweet home, now that you're back, Wally.'
"Uh... Yeah... You sure that you didn't do anything to my room, while I was gone?" 'My room is... Or possibly, was, the room next to the garage the last time I've been here. Either he and Aunt Iris had Clark move my room to the next floor up without damaging the house, or they'd kept my room in its place and somehow were able to add more room above what used to be the full rooms of the house.'
"Sure, I'm sure, Wally. Everything's still there: Your stuff, your furniture. Heck, even your homework assignments are still left on top of your desk, just the way you left it... Before you left." 'We didn't want anything to change until you get back. We didn't want anything, or anybody, to erase or rewrite the life we had with you the moment you came to live with us, before the court allowed us to gain custody over you after your father sent you to the hospital for the seventh time in one year when you were ten years old.'
"If you say so," the redhead said. 'If I were anything like my old-self when I still lived on Earth with you and Iris, I would've taken your words... Thank god I'm not what I used to be back then, even though I'm stuck being a sixteen year-old for who knows how long it would take for me and my team to be killed in battle.'
"Well, you ready?"
Wally can tell from the excitement tone of his uncle's voice and the way he seems to be trying to keep his body from vibrating, gave away on how he wanted to finally have his nephew return home and have their life go back as it used to be seven years ago.
'If by ready, you mean ready to head back to the Bio-Ship with my team and go off into space to never comeback, then yes.' Instead of saying that, he simply shrugged and then, looking around their surrounding, he spun himself to create a mini-red twister. The twister lasted for at least five seconds before it finally died down, now revealing the young Speedster as his civilian-self: Wally Rudolph West, sixteen year-old nephew of Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen, son of Rudolph Comet West and Mary Rose West. Replacing his Speed uniform is a yellow long-sleeve, a maroon-sweater over the shirt, light-blue jeans and black and white sneakers... The exact same clothes that the redhead would wear whenever he goes over at Mount Justice to be with the Team.
Barry stared completely startled from watching the twister that came without warning, even though that it didn't yank or pull away any houses, trees, cars or fences from their spots. Heck, it didn't even create any kind of wind that would have the neighborhood to come out of their homes and witness the arrival of the Flash and his long-lost protégé. It was a surprise that nobody heard the twister being made and had brought up any attention to any out-door pets or people who would do late out activities at this time of hour. Wally gave his uncle an confused, yet annoyed look from Flash staring at him, as if he just turned into a giant monster that's going to devour him and destroy Central City.
"What?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest and lightly tapping his left-foot on the ground. "You expect me to just go into the house while in my hero-suit, when somebody will be able to see us as Flash and an unknown hero entering a house that isn't theirs, which nobody knows where we actually live and who we really are when not in uniform?"
The shock look on Flash's face immediately vanished from the teen's explanation and, also making sure nobody is around, he also made a red-twister and in just four and a half seconds, Barry Allen took the Flash's place when the twister died down. His choice of clothing is a dark-red sweater-vest, an olive-green long-sleeve with a black-tie underneath the sweater-vest, Khaki pants and, to Wally's annoyance and shock, red-and-yellow sneakers, that has the design signature of Flash on them.
'And still, after seven years, you still wear those ridiculous shoes that you've worn since you were twenty, long before you found out about the chemical explosion that gave Gramps his Flash Powers? Should've known.' Wally also noticed that only a few of Barry's appearance has changed: His body seemed a bit more muscular and has grown at least three inches taller, but he still appears to be skinnier than most of the Justice League and though he has gotten a bit buff, so have the rest of the heroes of the League. And thanks to the Freeze-Aging spell, his body will eventually stop getting any bigger or taller by the time it reaches its max height from the age Barry will forever be in. Other than that, nothing about his uncle has truly changed. In fact, his blonde-hair doesn't show the slightest change over the years, besides the fact that Barry has been cutting it to have it stay the same hair-style ever since he was eighteen.
"Well, what do you think?" Barry asked his nephew, posing to show his whole front to the redhead to judge him for his appearance. Wally's response, was a simple raise of his right-eyebrow and then letting out a big sigh of breath.
"You look the same, as usual... Which doesn't seem to be very surprising." He replied, sounding rather tired and wishing that the day will finally go by to draw himself another day or two closer on being with his teammates and Artemis, again. With the redhead still being the impatient Speedster that the blonde came to know and love about him, along with not having to be insulted by his childish question, Barry brought his right-arm to once again go around Wally's shoulders and pulled him up against his side.
"Come on, Wally. Let's go inside." With that said, he lead the both of them towards the walk-path towards the steps and towards the door, where the blonde opened the door with his left-hand and the moment he pushed the door open, the two entered the house.
The inside of the house felt so warm and welcoming, that Wally wondered if he just step into a stranger's house, rather than his aunt and uncle's. The floor underneath his shoes are wood, but only to the front of the door, while the rest of the floor, of the house, including the staircase, is covered in an Ocean Wave-Mitchells Glen(s) carpet. The walls and ceiling are painted in pine-green, and from as far as his sight can see, the walls hold up pictures of photographs of friends and family of Barry and Iris, along with drawings and paint pictures of arts and craft made by children.
'Odd... I hardly recognize the place,' he thought to himself. 'Either it's from having to be away for so long, or maybe it could be that I no longer view this as a home, anymore... It could possibly be from the fact that there are other people living here besides my aunt and uncle.'
"Well... Welcome home, Wally." Barry announced, his smile seeming to have grown on having his long-lost nephew finally home and his family whole once more. 'I've waited so long to say those words, and for that, I thank God for finally letting me say those three words that I long to say to Wally.'
"Barry, is that you?" A voice called out, a female to be precise, which sounded to be coming from the room next to the living room. The voice made Barry's heart flutter in joy and excitement, while the voice caused Wally to feel nervous and anxious from the sound of the voice belonging to the one person who's been more like a mother to him than his actual birth-mother.
"I'm back, Iris." Barry answered to his wife's question, which made the redhead feel a bit scared and more nervous on what's going to happen next. "I also brought somebody home with me."
Wally gave his uncle a glare, which the blonde has completely ignored, and was slowly lead towards the hallway at the right, where the redhead could see to be the kitchen of the house.
'I hate it when he does this,' he thought to himself. 'This house may have changed and gotten a bit bigger, but the direction to the bottom floor of the house are still the same.'
"A visitor?" Iris' voice called out, which sounded a bit surprised to hear that there's somebody else in the house besides her husband, though it also sounded like she was expecting company to come by. "Who is it this time, Dear? Another friend of yours?"
Wally turned his gaze to his uncle, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.
"He's more of a surprise guest, Iris." The blonde answered back, who placed a hand over his mouth to keep his laugh
"Well, both you and your 'surprise guest' come to the kitchen and wash up; dinner's almost ready."
"Alright, Honey." Barry turned to stare back at the redhead, who's expression stayed the same when Iris asked if his uncle brought another friend home. "What?"
"Been inviting friends over for poker, while I was gone?"
The adult had to laugh out loud at that question.
"You know how terrible I am at poker, Wally." The redhead shrugged his shoulders from his uncle's answer.
"Yeah, but that doesn't seem to stop you from playing it."
In an act of wanting to rough house with his nephew, Barry had his right-arm go from the teen's shoulders to his neck to lock him in a chokehold and gave him a playful noogie.
"You know me too much, Kid."
'Yeah, right.' Wally thought to himself. 'I thought I've known you all my life but being back here, I guess I was wrong. And I told you to call me by my actual name, not that stupid old nickname that you used to call me as Kid Flash!' When the two suddenly smelt food in the air, which smells like Iris' making homemade hamburgers and fries, did the blonde released Wally from their playful noogie moment.
"Well, you ready for some Earth dinner, for the first time in seven years?"
The redhead can tell how stoked his uncle is about having his nephew eating dinner with him and his wife once again, that he wasn't sure if he wants to eat with them or to not eat at all during his time in Central City.
'He's almost hyper as a Çนืнñġë.' He thought to himself, as he watches the blonde immediately make his way into the kitchen and talking too fast for Iris to understand what got her husband super excited about. 'Well, better go break the ice, before Iris gets a headache on figuring out what Barry's trying to tell her.'
"Barry, slow down. You know how fast words give me headaches." Wally smirked at his aunt's words that he was just thinking, as he quietly made his way into the kitchen and finally get to see how much his aunt changed for seven years... Which, honestly, wasn't really much. Besides her hair has gotten a bit longer, looks to have grown a few inches taller and, surprisingly, appeared to have been working out, she hasn't really changed much at all. She looks to be setting the table for dinner, putting out condiments and a plate that held slices of tomatoes, onions, lettuce and cheese in the center of the round dark-brown wooden dining table for those who want to add anything to their food, while keeping her focus on her overly excited husband.
'Well, it's now or never.' "Well, that's no surprise there, especially if he still likes to run his mouth without thinking to slow down."
Iris gasped from being startled, nearly jumped where she stood and almost dropped the remaining dishes she held in her hands, when she heard a voice that she never thought she would be hearing for a long time. Barry seemed a bit stunned when his wife jumped from their nephew's voice that came without warning, though he smiled very brightly as he watches his wife slowly turning to her left and staring completely shocked and stunned when her Harlequin*-green eyes made eye-concact with the redhead Ginger on the other side of the table.
"W... Wally?" She whispered, slowly putting the few plates on the table and cautiously made her way towards her long-lost nephew that she had viewed as a son from the moment he was born. She held out a trembling hand, placing it on the right-side of the Ginger's face to be sure she isn't imagining him before her eyes and is actually losing her mind. "Is... Is it really you?"
In response, Wally put up a smirk that both she and Barry are all too familiar with.
"The one and only," he stated in his old casual-self.
Her lips quivered and tears formed in her eyes, and that's when she allowed a smile to spread on her face and loop her arms around the redhead, pulling her long-lost nephew into one of the biggest bear hugs he ever gotten from her. He felt, more than heard, tears on his left-shoulder, making his heart shatter from aunt crying when he knew she's crying tears of joy and not sadness. In response, he wrapped his arms around her and returned the hug, a sad smile spilled on his face.
"Oh, Wally. I missed you so much!" Iris sobbed, showing no sign on letting go her nephew anytime sooner. Beside the two, Barry could feel his own eyes beginning to leak tears of their own. Seeing this touchy moment between his wife and nephew gave him a feeling of hope that the boy he knew and love as his own son is still in there, somewhere deep inside this over-mature, less opened teenager. All he needs to do is get him to open up and make him feel like at home again.
"Mom"
"Dad!"
Two sets of small-feet running in the house caught the three's attention, along with a sudden red-blur that appeared before them and Wally soon found himself being hugged by his aunt and a teenage-boy.
"Oh my God, Wally! My first cousin once removed! This is totally crash!" Immediately, the ginger figured out that the younger teenager is the relative from the future Barry had told him about. His and Aunt Iris' grandson, Bart Allen... His replacement, Kid Flash II.
He may be his relative from the future, but Wally didn't like being hugged by someone he doesn't exactly know in his own point of view or embraced him first without his permission. It took all he has to not strike Bart off of him, as if he were some pest, but did gently removed himself from his aunt and rest his hands on both of the younger-teen's shoulders.
"The operative word, being removed." He calmly removed his first cousin off of him, which Bart didn't take as offensive but looked a bit disappointed.
"Mom, Dad, who's that?" A small-voice caught everyone's attention, staring down at a redhead girl with long-hair, dark-green eyes and freckles covering over her face like a mask standing beside Barry. Beside her, a bit with short-red hair, light-blue eyes and no freckles stood beside his sister, not certain if the stranger before him is a friend or some sort of relative.
Getting down on one knee and facing his two kids, Barry pulled them up against his chest and got back to his full height.
"Don, Dawn, this here is somebody we've been waiting for to come back from his adventure in space." It's taking all of Barry's strength to not cry tears of his before his five year-old twins.
By his words, Dawn gasped lightly and Don stared awestruck at Wally.
"Is that him, Dad?" Don questioned, pointing a finger at his cousin. "Is that Cousin Wally?"
A blush ran over the ginger's face, not out of embarrassment but from how adorable the two kids are, especially when they called him their cousin... And in his heart, he felt extremely happy to at least be told by the newest member of his family and instantly knew he loves his two cousins. He slowly walk to the two kids being held in Barry's arms, giving them a kind smile.
"Hi there," he lightly greeted. "It's so great to finally meet you two." Dawn, obviously the shy one, buried her face into Barry's neck but Wally can tell she's smiling. Don simply stared at him. "You guessed right, I'm your cousin Wally." In the back of his mind, he always wanted siblings to play with, or even Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry to have a kid or two to interact with when he was younger. He never thought that wish would ever come true and now that it has, his priority for protecting the innocent grew more serious, now that he has two cousins and a futuristic relative to protect. A smile grew a bit sad. "I'm sorry that I've hadn't been around; my team and I went on a very long trip that prevented us from coming back very soon. But, I promise you two, that I'll try my very best to be here for you, whenever you shall need me. What do you say?"
Dawn stared in awe by his words, not certain what to say or do. Don, while seemed a bit hesitate at first, felt like he can trust him to keep his word and, as family, reached out for his cousin to give him a hug. Stunned for a moment by the boy's intention to hug him, despite being a complete stranger to the two toddlers and after making sure he had a strong enough hold, Wally embraced one of his cousins he finally gained from his aunt and uncle.
Iris and Barry couldn't help but smile at the sweet scene before them, a tear or two escaping from their eyes. They'd been hoping for this moment to happen, where their nephew returns and make their family whole. It's pretty clear that he would make a great big brother for their kids, on how well he takes care and bonded with Dick... Though, for some reason, Wally embracing Don would've had them believe he's embracing his own child.
There's no doubt in the adults' minds that he would make a great parent and his appearance, though young enough to be a senior in high school, would make a believable near twenty year-old to be a parent right about now. Although, that day may not happen for quite some time until he and Artemis gets married. Hopefully, there may be a wedding happening very soon, once the team resettles on Earth.
~Grrrrroooowwwwllllll~
All eyes went to Don, who's stomach decided to remind them all of their dinner they haven't eaten and still sitting on the table for them to eat. The small-boy blushed slightly from the added attention and buried his face into Wally's neck. The redhead can relate how his cousin felt when he first went through having his Speedster powers, even though there's a high possibility it's different than how Barry and he went through for not having the power since birth.
Iris decided to break the silence.
"Well, let's not keep standing here and let the food get cold!" Immediately, Bart and Barry finished setting the table for her and getting into their seats, helping themselves to the many burgers that's been prepared to hold them out for the whole night. Don still kept a firm grip onto Wally, who silently signaled to his aunt he'll take care of the boy when she offered to take him to sit next to Dawn.
"Hey, buddy, it's alright." He gently comforted, heading for one of the chairs and taking a seat right in front of the sliding door, with the child in his lap. "It's normal to be hungry very quickly, which includes when you have Speedster metabolism." With one hand, he easily put together a normal burger with cheese, lettuce and ketchup, which every member of the family always favored to add onto their meal. "Here, eat up."
Throughout dinner, the twins took turns getting their cousins attention, telling them the best of their vocabulary as they could about the life they so far remember, all the while getting him to tell them about his days on Earth as Kid Flash before Bart. All that time, Barry, Iris and Bart took notice that he hasn't eaten as much as the two speedsters had. Normally, it takes about five burgers at minimum for a Speedster to begin to feel full and around ten to be satisfied enough for the night. Iris had made extras in case Bart or Barry gets hungry than they normally do from fighting or training, and even seeing there's still more for Wally to help himself to, he didn't take anymore than that one burger he made for himself after getting their son to eat his own.
"Wally, are you alright?" Iris asked in concern, gaining his attention after telling the twins when he, Dick, Kaldur and Conner took on Blockbuster nearly eight years ago. "You've only eaten one hamburger, and two small servings of fries. Is something wrong?" It took a few seconds for Wally to respond, by lightly slapping himself on the forehead.
"Oh, right. I forgot," he said. "You don't know. Well, you see, while we were off in space, there were times where we had to either ration are food supplies or go without food for a certain amount of time. During that time, I learned how to control my metabolism and not have to consume as much as I used to."
All three Allens stared wide-eyed at him.
"You can control your metabolism?" Barry didn't think it would be possible to do, since Jay has been around for a hundred years and throughout his youth before giving the mantle of Flash to Barry, he never taught or even told the blonde if there was a way to control a person's own metabolism without concern for possible permanent damage to their own organs or system to the body.
"Totally Crash, Cuz!" Bart blurted out and leaned over the table, excited to learn something his grandfather and honorary great-grandfather may never know they can do with their powers. "Think you can teach me?"
Wally only glared at Bart for a moment, before answering his uncle's question.
"I figured it out almost after our first year in space," he said. "On one of our adventures, we got separated on a desert planet, Êgāếrîìåē. It's mostly dark, but very hot and when in the daytime, there's always clouds spraying mist-like substance and the day only lasts about a few hours. After I used one of my emergency rations and flung myself off a hill to get in the air, I vibrated my feet to gather the molecules of the crystal to harden in order to keep myself afloat on the clouds and the moment I finished observing my surroundings, I took notice that my metabolism wasn't digesting the ration as fast as it normally would take to completely consume it. I believe that using my speed to vibrate a certain part of my body is the key to the secret."
"Really?" Iris asked, as Barry helped clear the table off while she washes the dishes. "But I thought just by tapping into your powers in any way to make your body go faster than it's supposed to by human-level, would result your metabolism to increase."
She may not have the power of a Speedster, but she certainly knows what goes on with a Speedster when tapping into their powers.
"That would be correct, Aunt Iris... However, I wasn't trying to use my powers to go fast in order to slow my metabolism down when it'll only do the opposite."
Bart sat up in his chair, which hit the wall and stayed in it's legs.
"Did you tap into your speed to slow time of your surroundings?" Again, Wally glared at his future cousin, before answering.
"Doing so would also force your metabolism to speed up more than vibrating molecules, along with making your body sluggish for a few minutes to recharge the amount of energy you used to slow time surrounding you." His glare could very well make Batman proud, but nowhere threatening as the Dark Knight's own Bat-Glare. No doubt, Dick taught him to perfect his own glare in order to get Bart to stay quiet and sit back down onto his seat.
A tugging on his shirt caught his attention and saw his two cousins gazing up on him.
"Come watch TV with us, Wally!" Not much of a shock, the two five year-olds most likely gotten bored of the grown-ups conversation and now are to watch television before going off to bed. The children's distraction did broke the uncomfortable tension that's been building up, and Wally silently chose to take the moment to spend some time with the twins.
"Alright," he said. "But first, wash your hands and put on your pajamas. Then, we'll watch some TV until it's almost bedtime. Alright?" In seconds, the two kids ran off in swift blurs, the sound of water from upstairs indicated they're doing as he asked, and both returned in front of him, Don wearing a Flash pajamas and Dawn a onesie of Wonder Woman.
While the two kids took each of their older-cousin's hand and pulled him to the living room to watch some cartoons, Barry, Iris and Bart decided to talk some more.
"That was… A bit intense." Bart calmly stated, still a bit nervous from the glares he received from his relative and idol to his current hero persona, Kid Flash.
"Don't worry, Bart." Barry reassured, resting a hand on his grandson's shoulder and giving him a sincere smile. "Wally has always been a serious person, wasn't always one to joke around much or to be interrupted. He just needs some time to get to know you some more and once he and the others finally settle down, he'll be able to open up some more."
While it may seem very promising, there was still a major issue that's been bothering Iris throughout dinner.
"Barry," she said. "We need to tell him of the incident." Both Allens stared at her with worry and misgivings.
"Honey, I'm not sure if it's a good idea to tell him about-"
"I know, Barry, but he has a right to know what happened while he was gone." Bart and Barry knows she has a point and, as always, is right.
"...I'll tell him," her husband offered. "Not right now, but when we meet up at Mount Justice."
Iris agreed to his terms. While the three Allens talked on what to do with their returned family member, none of them were aware that someone had been listening in on their conversation this whole time.
An Hour Later...
After watching some cartoon, helping the two brush their teeth, reading them a bedtime story and saying goodnight to his aunt, uncle and Bart, Wally made his way to where he knew his old bedroom has remained as his, even after not having to be used for almost eight years.
Iris had made certain that it remains clean, but not to move or throw away anything, which Wally is very grateful she left his stuff alone for him to decide what to do with... Although, he wouldn't have minded if she gave his old clothes to Bart or even give them to the homeless shelter, now that he'll be needing new Earth clothes that'll fit his taller and lean body.
Being back in his old room definitely helps him deal with stress, but not as well as being with his teammates. When they told them about them panicking in just an hour or two of not even hearing their voices, they weren't kidding and all have developed extreme separation anxiety... Caused by their mentors and Justice League, when they left Earth all those years ago, and all those time they've been captured and tormented by common enemies in space.
Nightwing may had suggested they do this, but it was pretty clear the young leader was trying to put up a brave face for them and trying to get them over the ones who caused their separation anxiety in the first place.
Well, if this is how Wally's feeling right now, then there's a chance the others are feeling this terrible feeling as well. After making sure his door and window is locked, he made his way to the center of his bedroom and got to a meditation position.
He closed his eyes... And his body began to glow certain markings on his body. The markings were mixture of smooth-curves with bent sharped edged lines, with the smooth markings representing wind flashed greyish-white and the sharped edged lines took form of lightning glowing golden-silver.
His hair, covered with the lightning markings, slowly swayed in the air as if there was a breeze brushing against him and when he opened his eyes, they shined completely white.
"Guys, can you hear me?"
He didn't have to wait long for a response. The moment he felt their presence within his mind, the redhead found himself in a dark-vast area, knowing his spirit and conscious has traveled into the depths of his mind and now stands within the darkness with his teammates, all also glowing flashing markings and had entered the depths of their own minds for their souls to connect with each other.
TBC
First up to learn some of his old life being changed, is Wally! Yeah, I originally was going to have them all experience the changes of their lives in this chapter, but sort of changed my mind and decided they can each have their own chapters on their sort-of first day of seeing how their old life has changed while they were gone.
As for starting out as Wally... If he were the same Happy-go-lucky Speedster Barry and Iris (Soon, we'll see Jay [the First Flash] and Joan [His wife] in the story) has come to know and love, he would've been alright with the new changes and go along with it. However, since he's changed, he'll only act as if he's alright with it, when he really isn't okay with it and prefer to be with his teammates (Including Artemis).
*: Yes, people, Harlequin is a green color, and almost matches to Iris' actual color-eyes.