Chaos was everywhere as Wally came to the crash site. People were screaming or crying and there were these...strange things walking around. Long metallic legs and what seemed to be a cockpit - body? - on top of them. They - it? - walked around and seemed to attack everything that moved with a weird energy beam.

"Supes?" Flash called out and looked around as the other had to be here somewhere. Maybe if he went on a roof again? Of course he would be busy but he still needed to find him.

Zipping around, Wally pulled one pedestrian out of the danger zone before he went to the nearest roof. Up here he could see the damaged buildings. Even the meteorite! It seemed to have crashed through a park before coming to a rest in the middle of a street. The smell of burning wood and rubble was in the air.

"Superman!" He called louder than before, turning in a circle to see if anyone was flying toward him.

He was about to call once more when he saw Superman heading to his roof. The other turned around, shooting his own laser beam towards the attackers. After that he turned back to Wally and landed before him.

"I know, just take this," said Wally before the other could even complain. He handed the communicator over and pointed to his own ear. "Put it in. That way you can hear us all. Perfect! Alright. Where can I help the best."

Superman had been here from the beginning. He knew what was going on since the meteor came down.

"People are still trapped around the crash zone," Superman said and tilted his head to the side as if he was listening to something. He started to float too. "Over there," Supes pointed out. "I'll see about the people trapped under the heavier things."

"Got it!" About to step away, Wally startled when Superman grabbed his wrist.

"Watch out for these things. I tried drawing their attention before but they either don't care or have a backup plan. I destroyed a few but it was difficult"

Wally nodded as Supes let go of his arm and gave a mock salute before heading to the people he had mentioned.

He spotted them quickly and helped to remove the debris though his mind was on these creatures. If Superman had troubles dealing with them then what could they do? If the strongest being on the planet couldn't destroy them then...what was their plan?

Helping the civilians out of the building, Wally picked one of them up and brought them farther away. When he was done repeating this twice, he kept his eyes open for others.

Though...maybe he could be the distraction for now. He couldn't damage or hurt them but he was still the fastest man alive. If he couldn't pose an annoying distraction, then who could?

So he grabbed a stone and threw it at them while tapping his communicator. "Hey Bats," he called while changing his position while flinging stones or other things at those beings. It worked after the fifth throw and they turned to him.

Not that Wally worried much.

"Listening."

"Metropolis looks bad. There's chaos and even Supes has problems with those attackers. Oh yeah. Sorry. It seems to be an attack and not an unlucky meteor shower." Wally was quite aware that the others, even Supes, could hear him but Bruce needed an update. And they needed a plan.

"It's the same in Paris," said Wonder Woman all of the sudden. Which meant this was some kind of invasion. Aliens were attacking them?

"I know. The other places look the same. I'm currently en route to you- to Metropolis. We need to regroup." Tense silence followed after that, Wally easily dodging the attack of these things. But he couldn't do that forever.

"We're not leaving," Hawkgirl seethed as if Bruce had personally attacked her.

"I'm not asking you to. I'll meet with Flash and Superman. We will tell you if we find anything that can help. Batman out." Bruce replied as neutral as ever.

Alright. So Bruce was on his way. Great.

Skidding behind a collapsed wall, Wally took the chance to catch his breath. He was far from being tired but even with keeping safely away from these laser beams, he could still feel the scorching heat. Heck, he even broke out into a faint sheen of sweat.

And there was this pressure behind his eyes. Which was weird. This couldn't be one of his headaches. They never started this slowly. They rather showed up and were gone again before Wally even knew he had fallen over.

But the pressure was here and so were his enemies. He'd deal.

He massaged the space between his eyes and groaned before looking determined around the corner of his little hideout. There were two of these things but he wasn't sure if they were searching for him or just shooting things because it was fun.

Had they chased him even to begin with or just tried to swat him away?

In the end it didn't matter. What mattered was that he needed an idea to stop or at least hinder these things.

Well...they did have long weird legs. Maybe if he got some rope? Grinning somewhat, which turned into a grimace due to the pressure in his head, Wally speeded away to get the required rope.

Seconds later he was back, zipping in between the legs of one of the invaders and made sure to tangle and tie the rope around the three legs. And then he pulled.

The invader fell down after Wally threw his entire weight against the pull of the rope. It had tied up more and more, which had resulted in the fall.

Coming out victorious, he grinned. And blinked.

Weird.

His vision was getting all wonky and-

The pain was back, his head was splitting apart again. For real this time. Taking a step forward, Wally didn't see the other invader swinging the front leg towards him until it collided with his chest.

The force threw him back against and through a wall. There he came to lie on the ground. His chest and back aching. The headache slowly stopped then and he could start to take stock of his injuries. That is if he could breathe.

There was a sharp pain and an uncomfortable feeling. Wally wasn't too familiar with it but he was pretty sure one or two of his ribs were broken. What he couldn't tell was if his lungs got pierced too.

"Bats," Wally wheezed into the comm. "Got hurt," he breathed through the pain.

"Don't move. I'm already in Metropolis." Gone was the neutral voice of the other, urgency clearly in it.

'Ugh…," Wally meant to reply but a man was kneeling down next to him. He was black. No hair. A kind of handsome face.

"I apologize. This wasn't my intention," said the man and placed a hand on Wally's chest, to which Wally replied in trying to scoot away.

Pain immediately flared up in his chest and he gurgled a wet cough.

"Don't be afraid," the man said and stared at Wally's face. "I can help you. After that I'll explain everything."

Then the man's hand turned see through to the point of where Wally couldn't see it anymore. And then he moved it into Wally's chest.

All he could do was stare at the hand. He barely registered Batman coming to kneel beside him and talking. The ringing in his head the only thing he heard as he could feel the fingers on his bones.

A weird feeling went through his chest, one he vaguely registered as pain, and then he could breathe easier. The man, he had..he had corrected his ribs?!

The hand was removed and became seeable again. Thought Wally kept staring at it, his face having gone paler each second.

Someone else placed a hand on Wally's cheek and turned his head. "Breathe Flash. In and out. Slowly, it's going to start healing now," Batman said as a weak shiver started to take a hold of him. His lips felt dry.

"His..his hand," Wally stammered out, staring at the blank lenses of Bruce's cowl.

"I know-"

"His hand was in my chest."

"I saw."

"I…," the small circles Bruce's thumb drew did nothing to elevate the new feeling in his chest and stomach. He meant to open his mouth again when he swallowed heavily. The pressure was rising and breathing was strange. Different than before. The pressure strayed from his stomach upwards. Into his throat and-

Wally made a soft noise between a gurgle and a whine as Bruce expertly turned him to the side while supporting his torso.

Suddenly heaving, Wally threw up some bloody slime, which soon turned into a wet cough as his lungs got rid of anything that had gotten in there.

"A pierced lung," Bruce provided as he gently rubbed the place between Wally's shoulders.

Wally only continued to cough, without anything coming up. His chest still hurt but at least the pressure was gone.

Taking big breaths Bruce slowly lied him on his back again, actually stroking his head over the cowl.

Wally weakly glanced at Bruce before looking at the man. "Sorry," he murmured after that embarrassing episode of a...well..it probably was some kind of emotional attack.

"No apologies needed. It is I who needs to apologize," the man replied and nodded at Wally. "I am the cause of your..headaches. But I promise I did not mean it."

"Explain," snapped Bruce, his hand still providing support to Wally.

The man looked at Bruce far longer than necessary before nodding once more. "Of course. I am not from here," he said as his form suddenly seemed to shift and change. His skin turning green as the shape of his head became longer, his clothes vanishing except for some kind of dark suit and a cape. "I am J'onn J'onnz. I came to Earth to warn the humans about the incoming attack but no one would listen."

Of course. A human rambling about aliens? As if it hadn't been done before. As if Superman wasn't Earth's champion.

But Wally just blinked as he waited for the real explanation.

"In my desperation I tried to call out to an open mind," J'onn said as he placed a hand on Wally's shoulder. To show that he meant him.

Not that Bruce seemed to appreciate it much, if his frown was anything to go by.

"My mind sought out yours and I tried to contact you."

"Once a day," Wally added as things started to make a bit more sense.

"Yes," the other agreed. "However I didn't notice that your mind is different. It is...faster. All I did was brush against it and my attempt to communicate with you must have translated as an attack. Once more I want to apologize."

"It's okay, you didn't mean to."

"What did you want to tell him?"

Both spoke at the same time, Bruce less forgiving than Wally.

J'onn looked between the both of them before focusing on Bruce. "I meant to warn him of the oncoming attack. Provide information on what I know about these..creatures."

"How do we know you're not one of them?" Of course. What else would Bruce accuse the nice alien off? After said alien had kind of fixed Wally's ribs.

In an attempt to keep the other calm Wally placed the hand closest to Bruce on the gauntlet of the arm that was still placed on his head. But he didn't say anything in case Bruce was right.

And then a loud, whirring whine sounded over the entire area and J'onn' head snapped towards the hole Wally had made with his impact. "It begins."

The growl Bruce emitted was almost drowned out due to the climbing intensity of the noise. "What begins?!"

Just when Wally thought he wouldn't be able to handle the noise anymore, when he couldn't hear his own voice in his head, a loud clunk traveled through the air and the noise became bearable. Mechanical.

Something was happening.

J'onn turned back to both but spoke to Wally. "If you let me in then I can explain everything better. I can show you. Prove that I am trustworthy." He almost sounded desperate. And he probably was, whatever his story was.

Nodding, Wally could do that. Listen and watch. He could slow his thoughts down if that had been the problem.

"No," Bruce said in a cold voice. "You will show me."

The next few seconds felt intense and Wally was glad that his ribs still felt tender and unstable and that he was allowed to look uncomfortable. There was no way that he could've remained silent otherwise. He couldn't even think of a fitting joke to elevate the tension.

Until J'onn tipped his head and angled his body toward Bruce. "Do not be alarmed, I promise not to hurt you," he said as his eyes started to glow. Which looked rather cool.

Almost like Superman, when he used his eye laser. Only less intense.

A quick glance showed that Bruce was just...staring ahead. Seeing things Wally couldn't. He was kind of curious how that felt. Without a head splitting headache to go with that.

The glow in J'onn's eyes soon vanished and Bruce blinked a few times, looking kind of more at ease and yet more tense.

How was that possible?

Bruce activates the communicator before Wally could ask what he had seen.

"Batman here. We need to regroup. I have new information and..a new ally. We meet outside of Metropolis. To the North."

It was strange hearing Bruce in his ear and beside him at once since they had never used the comms so close to each other.

"We're on our way. Green Lantern is here too. We also have new information," Wonder Woman responded seriously. Whatever they had found - probably not another friendly alien that fixed ribs - must've been important as well.

"Good," was all Bruce said and closed the communication looking at J'onn and then at Wally.

"You're flying with me and you-"

"Will follow," agreed J'onn as if they were suddenly bffs that finished each other sentences. Weird. If Bruce looked at his best friend like that...then Wally didn't want to know how he looked at his enemies.

Maybe it was time to butt in.

"I can run," he said from the floor, attempting to lift himself up on one elbow. If he went slow enough then-

"Stand up," Bruce commanded and offered the hand that had previously comforted him.

He took it without hesitation and, with some help from his boyfriend, stood up. Only to have to brace himself on his knees. His ribs were still kind of bitchy and would remain that way for a few hours.

God, he was basically the weak link.

"You're flying with me," Bruce repeated and gently grabbed Wally's wrist. At least he didn't whisk him off like a victim he had saved.

"Fine," Wally said and let Bruce lead him out of the rubble, to where the Batwing was most likely parked.

The first thing he noticed when he stepped out from the hole he had made was that the air felt oppressive. His lungs ached just from feeling it against his skin. And he would breath that in?! Confused he looked up and saw that the sky was blocked out by what seemed to be heavy smoke.

No wonder it felt that heavy.

"What..," he began but Bruce gently dragged him along.

"That's what J'onn meant," Bruce explained. "They're blocking out the sun. They start like this everywhere they go."

That...that couldn't be a good thing. Everywhere they went? Had no one ever stopped them? Where they doomed?

Almost tripping over a stone, Bruce easily kept Wally upright and simply lifted him up and placed him in the backseat of the Batwing, standing over him. "Everything alright?"

"I...do we..do we have a plan?" Bruce always had one. He had plans in case a plan failed. He had to.

But Bruce just leaned down and kissed Wally before turning around and sitting down as well, closing the cockpit above them. "We'll be alright," he murmured towards the back as Wally could feel the jet starting to take off.