Thanks for the support last chapter. Enjoy! And thank you XRedVengance for your continued help in all my stories.
Disclaimer: I only own Diana in this chapter. Everyone else is a DC character.
Keystone City
June 2 15: 39 CDT
In the outskirts of the city, a forest lay beyond, practically untouched except for the wildlife and the occasional explorer. Birds sang a sweet harmony bringing in the late afternoon. A blue jay flapped across to reach another tree when he was startled by a passing blur. Jai West let the breeze turn to wind through his dark hair as he glided through the forest floor. He kept his gaze to the front of him, his eyes protected by the goggles custom made for speedsters. Instead of his Kid Flash costume, Jai wore a dark green tee, dark shorts, and nearly speedster-proofed sneakers. Keeping a steady pace and breathing pattern, Jai skitted around, scarcely missing a large oak tree in his path. Without looking back, he leapt over a root and sprinted forward.
Jai continued through the forest, moving around natural obstacles with the occasional markers spotted on trees placed there himself to use as a common course. This was his personal training ground. The ending nearly straight and in sight, Jai pushed himself to go his top speed. Once passing the two trees tied with thin neon green ropes, the speedster finally decelerated to a stop. Jai calmly panted for a moment before turning to a blonde seventeen year old sitting on a log.
"How-*pant—How was that, Cody?"
Cody looked down at the timer in his hand. "2 minutes and 49 seconds. A few seconds slower than fifteen minutes ago."
Jai shook his head as he let out a deep breath and stood up straight, combing a hand once through his wind-swept hair. He looked back to give a quick glance around the nearly quiet forest. "Still not fast enough,"
Cody sat the timer in his lap as he mused aloud to his friend, "Maybe you need to take an actual break now and learn to lighten up, Jai. You are really fast. I wish I could have even an ounce of your super-speed." The teenager with blonde hair down to the top of his ears and bluish-green eyes stretched his arms above his head in boredom. With a pointed look, Cody added knowingly, "I'm sure whoever was the chick that iced you, will show up again sometime. People don't just disappear in thin air, right?"
Jai outright ignored that comment, regretting having told him about the mysterious thief that got away the week before. Yet, Cody Driscoll, his best friend for the past six years, managed to catch the speedster in a perplexed state and spill what happened. Jai always enjoyed having a friend outside of the Team and hero community that he could hang out with and fully be himself with no secrets attached. Cody learned four years ago of his speed and of his family when Jai first started the hardcore hero gig.
"Whatever," Jai stared ahead at a large plank of wood stationed a short distance away as he prepared himself to sprint again. Without giving much as a glance at his friend, Jai told him, "Time how fast I can get through the wall."
Cody frowned at the request. "Jai, I know you speedsters can do that vibrate your molecules through solid objects thing, but don't you remember one time you tried that, you ended up with a large bruise burn on your forehead when it didn't work."
"Yeah," Jai grumbled back, "I remember that. Luckily it quickly healed mostly before anyone could ask about it. Now let's go!" Silence answered the dark-haired speedster. Jai slumped his shoulders and sighed before turning to face Cody.
"Look, sorry for snapping at you."
The blonde brushed it off as nothing. "No problem, man." Cody reset the timer. "Now you ready?"
Jai eventually gave a nod as he turned his focus back to the wooden board ahead. He steadied his breathing and clenched his fists as he prepared his stance once again. Once the word go was announced, Jai took off. This time instead of running faster, he focused on moving his entire body faster. He bit his lip as the board was suddenly at his face. Narrowing his eyes, he continued to move at a rapid pace, hardly noticing the numbness of his body as he vibrated through the large piece of wood. In no time, Jai cleanly found himself on the other side. After whipping his head around to the wood now a short distance behind him, Jai couldn't resist the urge to pump his fists in the air to victory.
"Yes!"
Cody shared a similar cheer. "Not bad!" Jai continued to grin at the accomplished feat until Cody cleared his throat. "Um, Jai…" The blonde motioned to wipe the bottom of his nose.
Jai did the same. He frowned when his hand had little blood gently trickling down from his nose. "Seriously?!" Jai swore under his breath at the minor situation.
Cody lightly laughed in attempts to stay positive. "Hey, at least it wasn't as bad of a bloody nose as last time. I think you're improving."
Irey never had issues with a bloody nose since she was eight, Jai bitterly thought to himself while cleaning the remaining droplets of blood as it quickly cleared up.
Cody stood up to stretch as he looked at his watch for the time. "Not that this wasn't an eventful afternoon, but it's probably best to start heading home." With a nudge, he added, "Mr. Speedy should do the same for his little family get together."
"Don't remind me," Jai mumbled.
Cody shrugged, "You're the one who brought it up earlier." Cody moved around the log to retrieve his bike. As he prepared to get on his bike, he gave a sly grin. "Oh, and tell Rey I said hi and that she should swing by sometime."
Jai rolled his eyes and chuckled some as he sarcastically replied, "I'm sure Irey would be thrilled to hear that."
Cody's grin brightened as he stood taller. "What can I say, the babes can't resist me."
Jai put a hand to his forehead, shaking in disbelief. "I'm going to pretend you didn't just reference my sister like that."
He laughs in response, getting on his bike to head off. "Catch ya later man,"
"As if," Jai grinned at the reference before taking off in the opposite direction.
The speedster is careful about returning home, slowing down to a walk once he reached a more populated area. Passing by a small strip of stores, he heard a tisking sound nearby.
"Speeding in broad daylight?" Jai hardly glanced at the familiar stranger from the corner of his eye. The young woman with thick dark auburn hair right past her shoulders wore a dark maroon top with a black jacket covering, complete with black jeans and combat boots. She leaned against her parked red and black '14 Harley Davidson, giving him a pointed look through her sunglasses.
She feigned a shocked gasp and sarcastically added, "Oh my. What happened to the no breaking the "no powers while in civvies" rule?" She folded her arms as he continued on, deliberately ignoring her. "What, no hello to your favorite cousin either?"
Jai stopped, refraining from rolling his eyes as he turned around to face her. "Lian, you're technically my only cousin."
Lian Harper stepped away from her motorcycle with a smirk. "You mean you don't include Ollie's darling daughter in the family? How is the squirt anyway?"
"Olivia's fine, though I thought you were coming over with the rest of them anyway."
She shrugged. "How was I supposed to get out of Dinah's request to come to the little shindig for Aunt Artemis." It was more of a statement. "I merely stopped by to pick up something when I noticed a familiar face lurking about when I could have sworn he would be home by now for his mother's birthday."
Jai deliberately ignored her last comment. From the rare moments Jade came around for quick visits, he could definitely tell that Lian gained the cunning personality from his aunt. "Diana would be glad to see you." He submissively added, changing the topic.
"That too," Lian gave a small smile at the mention of her youngest cousin. "It's about time to check on my little apprentice."
"Don't let mom hear you say that," Jai replied as he started walking off. He considered taking off once he was out of view from both his cousin and other possible passerbyers.
"Hey," She called, gaining back his attention, "Wouldn't you rather have a ride?" Lian asked, motioning over to her cycle. With a knowing smirk, she slyly added, "Unless you would rather me mention something about you speeding out in public out of costume and doing who knows whatever else?" Jai groaned in frustration before he reluctantly gave in to her offer.
Kansas City
17:34 CDT
A rumble shook the street as an explosion blasted open the doors of a jewelry store. A man in an armored bright red suit stepped out with bags in hand, alarms blaring in his wake. With a click in his armor, the suited man sent back a missile, directly silencing the alarm. The man grinned at his destruction and walked confidently on, his heavy metallic footsteps easily heard on the pavement.
"Two in a row," He gleamed to himself. "Now that was easy. Adonis, you are one brilliant man."
A gust of wind in the form of a red streak zoomed directly past the armored man. "I beg to differ," A voice replied. Adonis narrowed his eyes as the streak fully materialized into a man in a red spandex suit, grinning as he held a bag in his hand and leaned casually against a nearby wall. That was when Adonis looked down to realize one of his bags of loot was missing.
"Adonis," The scarlet speedster mock bowed at the villain. "It's been a while,"
"Flash," Adonis glared, keeping the other bag close to his side, "This isn't your territory."
Flash shrugged. "But when someone gives a special call for fun, I come running."
Before Adonis could respond a comeback, another gust of wind distracted him once again, leaving him completely empty-handed. Impulse appeared next to her father, giving a matching grin as she held up the bag to show.
"And who am I to miss out." She paused, raising an eyebrow and taunting, "You really shouldn't let things slip out of your hands so easily."
Adonis growled at his nuisances, his fists clenched. Police sirens were soon closing in. Adonis hardly took notice to the black and white cars hastily coming closer. He grinned as he extended his arms out. "We'll see about that,"
Adonis pulled out a light pole and swung it towards the police cars. In an instant, Impulse dropped the bag and ran towards the cops standing with their guns extended towards the foe. She grabbed hold of the backs of their collars and pulled back, barely moving them out of the way of the oncoming projectile. With a crash, the pole directly made contact with the windshield.
Impulse gave a light chuckle to the bewildered policeman staring at the damage of their squad car. "Watch out for flying lights," She jokingly advised. Once she was certain that the cops were out of harm's way, Impulse zoomed back to meet up with her father who was currently catching the armored man's attention.
Flash moved out of the way as a stop sign plummeted towards him. "What is it baddies intent on destroying public property?" Impulse asked after sidestepping another sign.
Flash purged his lips in concentration as he pulled them out of the way of another projectile. "I don't think we'll ever know… I'll be right back," Flash zoomed over to pick up the bags of stolen goods to drop off in the hands of the police. After a mere salute, the elder speedster went back to his daughter's side.
"He's getting a little rusty," Flash commented smoothly to his partner as Adonis clumsily threw two parking meters as spears, easily missing them as they didn't even move.
"And desperate," Impulse added. She adjusted the lens on her goggles to focused on the foe ahead of them as she searched for some kind of possible weakness in the armor. "And not directly touchable as he appears to not be physically there."
"A hologram or technological being controlling the suit? Great."
The two split for a moment to avoid a blast from his armor headed in their direction before attempting to go at the villain from both sides. Impulse distracted and dodged as Flash made a lunge in the back, vibrating his molecules through to create a hole and hopefully find some kind of wire or switch to shut down. Instead, he gets shocked and thrown back a few feet. Impulse zoomed over to help her dad get back up as they noticed sparks from inside a seemingly empty suit as the head of the man inside the suit fizzled out briefly and reappeared
"That confirms the holographic and tech theory," Impulse pointed out as she and Flash get up again and move a short distance away to plan. "Figures he wouldn't be physically present."
Flash is quick to analyze the situation. "Although he would most likely be somewhere nearby."
"So look for traces of a major power source." Impulse concluded, catching on. "Got it," She adjusted her goggles and took off on her search.
Flash watched the blur of his daughter go out of sight from the corner of his eye before he fully faced the foe. "Now to keep you busy," He mumbled to himself as he took off.
Flash was doing fairly well, running around the robot to create a mini tornado containment. Noticing the red armored foe struggling to stand and tiny pieces of his armors starting to come off in the man-made storm funnel, he decreased his speed. Flash was too soon to stop and believe all was clear when he was suddenly hit by an energy beam from the side. This caused the speedster to fall over in a roll, clutching his side from the stinging pain.
"What now?" Flash groaned. He took a moment to regain his quickly returning energy. Once he stood up, he cursed incoherently when he noticed a second robotic Adonis join the first tattered one. "And now they multiply," He mumbled to himself, hoping that Adonis hadn't contacted help from other known major inventor foes.
In a secluded dark room, the real Adonis cackled as he stared through the various monitors in front of him, using his armor turned bots as visuals from different angles, both directed at Flash. His voice carried through his creations in an echoing manner. The scarlet speedster glanced at both, watching for the next move.
"You will never be able to stop me and have no idea how many of me are out there!"
Flash submissively turned his head away while keeping an eye on the machines. He pressed the communicator over his ear inside his cowl. "Irey," He whispered in ushering, "Hurry up,"
His daughter responded back in a hushed tone, "I know—found it!"
Flash grinned as he faced both armors. He called out, "It's an obvious bluff, Adonis! You and I both know that you're not smart enough to have multiple machines running around. You're lucky enough to be controlling two." Flash's grin widened considerably as the pathetic villain growled in response. "Maybe it's time to put away the life sized dolls!"
This angered Adonis again as he used both to simultaneously fire limited energy blasts, easily missing the hero. After another failed strike the foe asked, "Where did your little sidekick run off to anyway?"
Flash gave a huge grin as he extended his hands from his sides in gesture. "Like what you have here, I am only the decoy."
Behind the computer, the real slightly aging Adonis widened his eyes in realization as he felt a gust of wind directly behind him. He turned around to face a grinning red- haired pigtailed speedster.
"Hi," She gave a small wave before tightening her hand into a swift fist.
Keystone
18:13 CDT
"Not bad," Lian commented, "Not bad at all,"
The twenty year old looked brightly at Diana who smiled at the praise. After arriving at the West residence, Lian had found her thirteen year old cousin relaxing out in the backyard, stuck in her own thoughts. Tactically sneaking near in attempts to scare her, Diana suddenly turned around and caught her older cousin's arm in a twist as she turned around. Once Diana realized who she grabbed, she immediately let go and apologized profusely. Lian wouldn't have it, nor could she hold back her sly smile.
"With a reaction time like that, you should be able to take down just about anyone who crosses your path." Lian wrapped her arm around the younger in a playful tug that Diana knew was secretly a hug. Soon, Lian let go and stepped back.
Jai sat down and watched the experienced archer trade off some tactics and secrets to use during training to his baby sister. He was genuinely happy how quickly Diana had picked up on the similar skills of his mother's side of the family, especially with Lian more than happy to give her the training. Jai glanced over as he spotted his mother in the doorway, watching. Artemis had an unreadable expression as she watched as the two conversed.
Artemis remembered the times when her children were younger and just having fun, enjoying their young lives. Now they were growing up and saving the world. It was inevitable to avoid, she knew. That didn't stop her from worrying though. Especially about her baby girl. Diana was the age when Jai and Irey first started as Kid Flash and Impulse as Wally's cousins, Dawn and Don Allen, had no big desire to join the hero force. The Allen twins were currently out in some European country, studying abroad. Artemis would never want to hold any of her kids back from their potentials, she just secretly hoped that Diana could at least steer clear for a while longer. Maybe after she was entirely trained and not to be in any sort of danger.
"Once you get all that down and with some more practice, you should soon be allowed to become a hero and take your own name in no time." Diana gave a small smile at that compliment. By this point, Artemis cleared her throat to purposely interrupt.
"Oliver, Dinah, and Olivia just got here. Barry and Iris are supposedly on their way."
Lian nudged Diana forward. "Probably should say hi before we get our space invaded by an overly excited twelve year old."
Diana grinned and added, "Don't you mean trapped by a retiree intent on going over the grand old days?"
Lian ruffled her long dark hair. "You are most certainly right, người"*(Cousin)
Diana walked ahead to greet the others. Oliver's booming voice could be heard across the house as he must have embraced her. Before Lian entered, she stopped next to her aunt. Without looking at Artemis, Lian mentioned in a low voice that instantly reminded the mother of Jade.
"You can't hold her talents back forever. She's good and you know it." Lian moved on without waiting for a response. Artemis carefully watched after her niece until she noticed her son still sitting outside.
"You coming in, Jai?" She asked. He continued to sit there, avoiding her gaze while tapping his foot in boredom.
He eventually answered brusquely, "Maybe as soon as Irey and dad get back from their little pair-up."
Artemis lingered a moment longer, watching after her only son with some concern. She would have to be blind not to see that he was beginning to seem distant lately. There had to be some way to cheer him up. Sensing that now would not be the best time to disturb him, Artemis turned to head back inside. As she reached for the door, she paused, feeling a strange prickle on the back of her neck as if someone was watching. After straining her dark gray eyes of looking warily around outside, the blonde found nothing. She slowly headed back inside. A street over, a dark figure watched the house for a moment before receding back into the shadows between the buildings.
Sorry about the delay. Had to deal with being sick a few days then mostly babysitting for others along with a tiny writer's block. No team for this chapter. Since this story will be mainly surrounding the West kids, I of course had to focus on them for a bit.
As I mentioned before, Diana is the only character that is mine. Everyone else in this chapter has a place in the DC world, even if they are not known much. Questions, comments, suggestions… feel free to message me. I like to respond.
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