Sorry, there went something wrong with the formating and while it looks fine in the manager it doesn't in the ff itself. I tried to fix it and I hope it will soon return to how it should look (at the most I'll be able to correct it on the weekend as I don't have my PC)
Bruce was...was dead? He was...he did…
Wally hadn't even said goodbye. There had been no grand speech as to why he would die. He was just...gone. Like that.
Just like that.
He knew he was staring at J'onn, his eyes were, but he wasn't really seeing. There was no air in his lungs and he felt cold all over and Bruce was gone.
Swallowing thickly, his mind raced and felt sluggish at the same time. It caused a headache while his heart hurt in a different manner. Was his stomach cramping?
He vaguely registered the others but couldn't tell what they were doing or saying. They could have left him behind for all he cared.
Bruce had been left behind too, hadn't he?
There was a bitter taste in his mouth and he...what should he do?
"Flash."
He needed to tell Alfred. God.. Alfred.
"Flash!"
Alfred would be devastated. Gotham would be devastated. What would they tell the city? Would he be allowed at the funeral? They hadn't made it offi-
"Flash!" Green Lanterns voice finally catched his attention and he stared at the mocking green mask. Why wasn't Hal here?
Everyone left…
"You need to get it together." Lantern sounded like a general. Wally wished he had looked at the others secret identity when Bruce had found out about it. But he had wanted to be respectful.
Supes stepped closer to Wally but looked at Lantern. "Hey," he simply said, his tone conveying something to Lantern. Did he encourage the space policeman or did he come to Wally's aid?
"We don't have the time," hissed Lantern and glanced in the direction of where they knew the meteorite facility was working away.
Bruce had died in one of those…
"Just-" Supes started but Wally didn't give him the time to finish the sentence.
"I'm fine," he butted in. "It's not the first time." Would the bitter taste ever leave his mouth? "It only took me a year last time. I can do it in...in seconds." Air left him with his last word. His shoulders felt heavy. Burdened somehow.
He'd have to take Gotham now too. For Bruce.
Where his hands shaking or vibrating?
Feeling the concerned eyes of the others on him, Wally closed his eyes and tried to just..be. People needed them. Earth did. Bruce had died for this.
One giant vibration moved through his body and Wally imagined that he was rearranging his molecules. That he was leaving the grief and sadness right in these ruins. Just for a little while.
It didn't work but he could pretend.
He opened his eyes and glanced from one hero to the other, the last one being Lantern.
It seemed to signal something because they were all standing in a circle now, looking at Wonder Woman and J'onn.
The Martian looked through the group as well before starting to speak. "Before Batman…saved us we discovered that these facilities have one energy source and the lesser ones are linked to the main one." He looked briefly over their heads, to were the Metropolis meteorite was. It had to be the main one then.
"It stands to reason that if we were to shut down the main one, that it will all shut down," J'onn continued.
Wonder Woman nodded, as if to tell them that it was the truth. "I believe together we can do it," she added in a strong voice. She wasn't just saying that because she needed to. She really seemed to believe they had a chance.
And really, what else could they do but try? The world would go down without them trying anyway.
Wally was the first to speak up and if his voice was a little bit rough, then no one commented on it. "How do we do it? Just..charge?"
"Right now!" Hawkgirl demanded, maze in hand and blazing eyes. She truly was an avenging angel wasn't she?
Superman drew in air but...deflated and looked at J'onn again. Waiting for his opinion like all of them.
"Right now'" he confirmed with a nod and turned to Wally. "Would you provide a distraction and join us as soon as we're inside?"
Of course he could. His speed meant he was the ultimate distraction and yet…Bruce had never put him on the sidelines so much. Well..he usually didn't have bruised ribs either, he shouldn't be this harsh.
A hand was placed on his shoulder and he looked at Supes. "I can help you if you want. I'm fast too."
No. They'd need Supes' strength to make it easier inside. The others efforts would be meaningless, even after they made it inside it wouldn't be fast enough, without the aided strength.
"Nah," Wally smiled crooked. "I'm faster. I got this," he promised with a nod and turned back to the group. "Now?"
A simple nod from J'onn was enough and Wally was gone, attacking the facility with words rather than fists. The enemy immediately zeroed in on him and he made sure to gently, slowly draw them away.
This wasn't too different to the way he had worked with Bruce. But he could still feel the difference. The way he always used to work in a two man team. Barry. Hal. Bruce. All gone..
And now there was a whole group of them and no one knew who was in charge. Who to follow. He would have followed Bruce everywhere.
Blinking, he shouted a few more insults - not that the enemy understood them? - and was just annoying enough not to be ignored.
A few of the energy beams came dangerously close and warmed his skin but it wasn't enough to actually burn. His body worked overtime in healing whatever heat damage he had received.
God he was hungry. And sad. Devastated, really.
For just a mere fraction of a second, something only he as a speedster experienced, Wally considered letting himself get hit. But it wouldn't be fair. There was still a chance. Still some tiny sliver of hope they could hold onto. Had to.
Dodging again, he wondered how the others were doing when his communicator beeped.
"Now Flash," said Lantern in a hushed voice, probably trying not to give away what they were doing.
Saluting the enemy - those things still didn't have eyes or a reaction or anything - Wally left them there and went back to the facility.
Finding the hole wasn't difficult and he slipped inside, coming to a slow jog as he joined the others. He nodded at them and they at him and everyone started to move, following their Martian.
They were quiet as they moved deeper into the facility. A low rumbling over their heads was an ever present noise. The wall a strangely fleshy color, interloped with red and orange.
In all honesty, it looked like someone was high when creating this.
The wall started out smooth when they went into this thing but after a while and a few corners in there were bumps appearing on it. Like oversized air pockets. At first Wally didn't think anything of it but the farther they came the more see through they became. Soon enough, he could make out people in them.
He meant to inform the others but Wonder Woman beat him to it. "People!" She exclaimed and moved closer to one of them. She was about to open it up when J'onn stopped her by touching her wrist.
"If you do this now, then they will know we're here." He sounded sorry about it. A small solace.
"What...what's happening to them? " Wally asked as he looked at another bubble with a woman inside.
"They assimilate them," J'onn explained as he too looked at one of them. "If they are useful enough. And if not…"
"What then?" Lantern demanded.
"Fuel."
Grave silence followed and no one really looked at anyone. At least not that Wally could tell.
"Come," J'onn turned away and started walking again. "We must go if we want to free them. But not now."
Wally's feet were heavy as he followed the other's. It hurt, knowing they could free them but weren't allowed to. Some of them were going to die while they tried their best to stop this thing.
No one spoke, just like before, but this time it was different. There was a different energy among them. Tense and thick. And what would they do once they reached their target?
They turned a corner and walked through something that could only be a doorway as said doorway suddenly vanished behind them. Startled, Wally stared at it before turning to the others. They too had noticed it and meant to press forward when there too the path vanished.
"A trap!" J'onn and Superman said at the same time as a faint hissing noise appeared. Soon enough Wally could see that there was yellow gas being let into the room as Superman geared back to force their way out. Stepping back, Wally thought about vibrating through the wall as sharp, electric energy traveled from the ground into his body.
He was faintly aware that he and the others were screaming and dropping one after the other. There, on the floor, Wally registered that moving was getting difficult. Everything felt sluggish and weird.
"Supes," he called out uselessly but received no answer. The others were already out cold or paralyzed.
For some reason the idea that J'onn could have led them there into a trap crossed his mind. But the world turned black before he could focus on it.
.
.
Sharp pain raced through his veins as awareness returned. His muscles were cramping and tensing, trying to curl up in a certain way they weren't allowed to due to the constraints on his wrists and ankles. The pressure on his wrists was enormous and it felt like hanging somewhere even when he could feel something in his back.
Gritting his teeth, another shout was torn from him when the pain finally stopped. Exhausted, he let his weight fall into the wrist restraints and just hung there. His eyes felt heavy and it took way too much effort to open them.
"Sorry, sorry," he could hear a muffled voice say and tried to focus on that. "Don't try to free yourself."
Confused, he finally made his eyes focus enough and took everything in. He really was lying on some kind of platform but it was propped up vertical enough to let his wrists take the brunt of his weight.
To his right the others were bound the same way, all of them already awake. Had he been the last one? Strange. He usually worked through any drugs faster than anyone else. Was his body that tired?
His erratic heartbeat normalizing somewhat, Wally didn't even try to pull at the restraints.
Instead he looked around. There was a giant plateau in front of him. Maybe five to ten meters away. On it were some strange people. White and almost translucent with dark spots in them. Their humanoid form close enough but also…wobbling. That's how Wally would describe it. Were those the invaders? He somehow pictured them closer to J'onn's appearance.
Why would they call them White Martians if they didn't look similar?
"J'onn J'onzz," echoed a voice in the giant room and in his head. His headache returned immediately.
A giant…white Martian walked up to them. On the plateau, only that it didn't look like the others at all. It was more like a ball of fluid, walking on four sticks that it used as feet. This was truly alien.
"Our eternal guardian and keeper. Look at you." Wally and the others did look from that thing to J'onn and back again and he felt bad for suspecting J'onn of treason for even a millisecond. "It's time that you joined your people."
J'onn wore a stoic face through the little speech, apparently not reacting at all as some kind of force lifted him up and away from their platform and closer to that thing.
"No last words?" J'onn was now hovering right in front of what might have posed as a face of that thing.
"No. Not for you," J'onn snapped back in calm anger. The dangerous kind.
So this is how they would go down. With brave expressions on their faces, Wally could see it with the others as well. They had tried. And they had lost.
"Very well," agreed the giant thing and J'onn floated closer to it. And closer. Until he got pushed into the giant bubble that was its body and Wally could still see him. J'onn was in there, twitching and curling up. Only to stretch out again.
"Cease resisting. It will do nothing for you."
"Never!" Came the Martians shout, as telepathic as the giants voice was.
If J'onn could…could do what? Overpower the giant? Yes, if he could do that, maybe then..then they could be freed and fight back. But restraint like this?
Wally had never felt so useless before. All he could do was grit his teeth at seeing his newest ally get practically digested.
J'onn screamed in pain at some point, the building shaking along and Wally wondered if it was him or the giant who was doing this. Who could shake a whole building telepathically? It must be the giant.
The shaking continued and…cracks started to appear on the walls while the White Martians were looking kind of anxious. It was difficult to tell without any real faces but their energy was nervous to Wally's eyes.
"NOW!" Shouted J'onn at..who exactly? Had one of them made a backup plan with him?
The shaking turned to a deep vibration and Wally could feel the structure getting weak. And yet…one of the other's had yet to do something. So J'onn couldn't have meant one of them.
Was he supposed to do something? Because no one had told him anything. He was sure he hadn't zoned out during any important plan meeting.
The giant with J'onn in him started to convulse and tense as if J'onn was a particularly difficult meal to digest (and that thing was digesting him right? What else could it have been?). It must have wanted to say more but an explosion somewhere off behind them caused everything to shake very differently.
This building was coming down.
Maybe they should attempt freeing themselves again. This whole building was obviously malfunctioning and it might play into their hands and-
Three black things flew through the air, creating a soft swirling noise Wally was all too familiar with, and lodged itselves into the giant. "Wha-"
Their restraints opened, causing the five of them to slide down their platform. Well, Wally was the one sliding down and rolling away as the other's took to flight immediately.
But Wally didn't mind. His thoughts circled around the Batarangs which meant either Alfred had come to their aid (unlikely) or someone was very alive despite all odds (likely). He could feel his heartbeat in his throat as he zipped away from where he was and up the platform where he just arrived to see the Batarangs explode and free J'onn.
The giant screamed and stumbled to the side, White Martians coming to its aid but not attacking them.
"What's happening?" Shouted Lantern over all the noise when all of them were close enough, no Batman in sight.
Wally wanted to tear the place down to see for himself.
"We manipulated the energy core," coughed J'onn as he slowly stood up, Supes helping him remain upright. No one asked who we was. "It is now doing the opposite to its intent. This facility will crumble and the people will get rejected."
Supes nodded and immediately looked at all of them. "Move. Get as many out as you can. I'll provide cover should they attack."
It was the best plan Wally had heard today and he got right down to it. Zipping through the building and gently getting people out. At first out of their bubbles, where he helped them sit down. After he had done so to a whole row of it he started to get them out of there.
The people were disoriented and easily got sick but Wally couldn't really go slower. He already had had to dodge rubble coming down. An upset stomach was probably better than dying anyway.
Hawkgirl flew beside him at his third row, getting the people out while he evacuated them which moved things along faster than before as well.
They did that without having talked about it once too. That was kinda cool. If things wouldn't have sucked so much.
Just when he lifted the second to last person up, Hawkgirl showed up beside him. "We need to get out," she barked in a manner that seemed entirely being her. "J'onn said the White Martians are retreating and Superman and Wonder Woman are pursuing them. This building is done," she informed him as she picked the last person up and flew beside Wally as he hadn't speed up. She was talking after all.
Once outside, Wally placed his charge on the ground and turned to watch the building emit a different kind of smoke.
The sky above it slowly cleared up and he could see a giant alien ship flying away with Superman and Wonder Woman behind it. He didn't know what they were going to do to it but he hoped it would make the White Martians think twice about returning.
Hawkgirl stood beside him, wings tucked in close as she watched as well. She probably wanted to be up there as well.
"Come," she suddenly said to him and jumped into the air. Wally glanced at the civilians behind him before he reluctantly followed. Maybe they were regrouping?
He followed her around the destroyed alien facility, a little through the city towards an almost intact building. There was a hole spanning over four floors on one side. But the roof was still there so…
God, there was so much cleaning up to do.
Up on the roof Hawkgirl landed beside J'onn and Lantern, both nodding at them. There they continued to watch Superman and Wonder Woman far far up in the sky. Wally could barely make them out anymore.
Smoke was billowing out of the alien ship as it drew further away and when he had trouble making that out as well both of their pursuing heroes came back to them. They found them easily and landed on the roof as well, tired expressions on their faces as everyone stood there.
They had done it.
"We did it," Wally echoed his thoughts. Well, the other's had.
What had he done besides running around?
Superman and Hawkgirl were the first to smile and Wally instinctively held out a hand for a high five. And Lantern actually high fived him.
He grinned like an idiot, anxious energy in his muscles as he slowly realized everything was over. It was over. They had saved everything.
The delightful smile on Superman's face fell however as he glanced over Wally's and Lantern's shoulders. J'onn too, turned in that direction.
Of course Wally would turn around as well.
His arms were around Bruce before he had actually realized that the other was standing a few steps behind him. To Wally's utter surprise Bruce hugged him too. There. In public. In front of everyone. And all he could do was just squeeze tighter, soft vibrations traveling through his muscles.
"J'onn masked my presence," Bruce explained exhausted. "We had to fool them."
"You're an asshole," Wally sobbed in relief and he could feel Bruce grunt.
"I know."
"You owe me ice cream."
"Of course." Bruce slightly pulled away and gave Wally's head a tiny kiss. "Anything."
"A whole room of it. One of your rooms, not mine."
"Yes," he agreed once more and placed his forehead against Wally's head.
Wally murmured asshole again, just to make sure that Bruce knew. Thought Bruce had to know that he felt bad about it as soon as the word left him. Cursing sucked.
"I knew it!"
Confused and curious, Wally barely pulled away from Bruce and glanced over his shoulder at Supes. Who looked like a deer caught in headlights.
"I ah..sorry," continued Supes. "It's just..you're obvious. I suspected it but…yeah."
Wally flushed red as he let go of Bruce but the other held into his wrist and kept him close. To think Bruce was usually the one to stay away during the job.
Neither of them replied to Supes and awkward silence stretched between the seven of them. Their team. If they were going to stay like this.
There was only one way to find out.
"We need a name."
Bruce's grip on his arm tightened but…he also didn't say no to it. "No suggestions from you," he demanded.
The silence changed then and Wally was uncertain if the other's just didn't want to be part of this or if they were thinking about a name. This time however he wouldn't say anything. Apparently his name giving skills weren't good enough.
"How about..," began Supes and everyone looked at him. Eagerly. Except Bruce. "The Justice League. It has a nice ring to it?"
Wally's face lit up like a Christmas tree while Bruce's face darkened. Within a second Wally stood beside Supes patting him enthusiastically on the shoulder. "You and I are going to be such good friends!" It was clear that no one understood their reactions but the others accepted the name as well and Wally grinned from one ear to the other as he joined Bruce once more.
"I knew it's a great name!"
"I'm going back to Gotham."
"Oh no," Wally latched onto Bruce's arm as the others came to stand beside them to look at the city. There was still much to do but until then... "You're part of the Justice League now!"
That's it, we did it! The sequel is done and I had such a blast writing this last chapter!
I'd like to apologize that the story itself started kinda shitty in quality but once I figured out what my problem was, the quality rose once more.