When Batman reached out to the Flash using their communicators, he wasn't all too surprised by Flash ignoring the call. Flash often forgot his JL communicator or simply didn't answer until a minute or two after the call. But from what the monitors showed, Flash was in the middle of a battle with two other villains and this assured Batman and his worries.
So he wasn't surprised when Flash didn't respond.
He leaped to his feet when the building exploded; was already calling the other JL Founder's and on his way to Central City. They responded immediately and would likely reach Central before him.
The trip to Central took ten minutes. Ten minutes wherein Flash could've been dead or dying and he and the others wouldn't know until it was too late because he had to drive to Central City instead of having Superman grab him and fly them both over. Batman had to calm down. Panicking would do nothing but make the situation worse.
Besides, Flash was the Fastest Man Alive, so a little explosion should be nothing for him.
But he'd been fighting two villains right before the explosion. If he'd been injured, then he would have trouble with running, especially with two people still in the blast zone.
He was just overthinking things, like always.
Flash was fine. Probably already doing damage control with the media. Yes.
Flash was fine.
...
Martian Manhunter was off-planet on a mission with Supergirl and Hawkwoman. Aquaman was stuck in Atlantis, but had promised to arrive as quickly as he could when he found a moments rest.
Batman arrived after Wonder Woman, Superman, and Green Lantern. Normally, he would growl over how quickly they had all arrived, but this was not a normal night.
"Batman?" Superman was waiting for him to debrief them on what they were doing in Flash's city. He, and the others, were staring intently at him, and Batman felt a shift in his control; Bruce Wayne was making speech and other Batman-noises difficult around the unexpected lump in his throat.
Wordlessly, Bruce held up his wrist computer, which showed the locations of all other communicators and waited for understanding to dawn on them.
For once, Batman didn't want to be the bearer of bad news. And this was the worst news of them all.
To tell them that Flash was dead, that what was left of him was likely hidden beneath the smoking rubble of the Flash Museum?
He couldn't tell them that. He could barely tell himself the same thing.
They needed the Flash. Everyone knew what they'd become if he died; full of grief, one of them would propose a harsher sentence for their enemies, and then it would end with the world living in fear of the once-heroes. Batman held himself back, tried to stop from feeling anything about the situation other than clinical detachment.
Green Lantern was faster than the others. His head snapped up from where it had been looking over the device and his voice was wobbling, revealing his weakness beneath the mask. "No." GL shook his head weakly and repeated himself, "No, Batman, please, tell me this is a joke. Flash can't be-!" He choked on the last word and began to crumble.
Bruce opened his mouth, Batman's voice ready with a command for GL to keep it together when Wonder Woman intervened.
"Green Lantern, now is not the time. We must go and search the wreckage for survivors." Her voice was strong and revealed nothing of her inner pain. Steel blue eyes gazed at Batman's own and he nodded sharply.
The two leaguers left for the once-museum with the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel behind.
When Superman finally looked up from the communicator, Batman thought it fitting for him to appear furious on the outside while Batman simmered in rage on the inside.
"Who. Did. This." The words were spat out through gritted teeth and Superman would have been terrifying had Batman not faced off with the worst of the worst on a near daily basis.
Batman shook his head and began walking towards the ruined museum where Flash laid.
Flash is in there. All over the place most likely; he was too close to the bomb when it had gone off, and we'll be lucky if we can find enough to piece together his secret identity.
Those were morbid thoughts but no less true.
Upon arriving at the scene, all four founders began working to uncover their fifth member. It was grueling work and they had yet to find anything.
That was, until Wonder Woman lifted a piece of marble splattered with blood. Green Lantern flew over, already scrutinizing the blood and marble while Batman swabbed and tested the blood.
They waited in tense silence for the next two minutes, hidden by the smoke and avoiding reporters and other emergency personnel.
Upon the two minute mark, Green Lantern hovered over Batman's head and waited for him to reveal his findings. Wonder Woman and Superman waited tensely. Batman's shoulders slumped, just a bit, and they knew.
...
Wonder Woman crossed her arms tightly and struggled with the urge to cry out; to release all of her pent up rage and anguish.
Looking over at Superman, Diana saw his fists clench, his eyes beginning to glow red, and his mouth twisting into a hateful grimace. Batman was calm, collected, and detached.
Green Lantern was the worst. Out of all of them, GL was the closest to Flash and they had often hung out in the Watch Tower, playing stupid games and pranks with one another. It wasn't difficult to imagine what it was like for GL; she felt a stabbing pain in her heart and knew it was from Flash's death and wished for it to end.
She was a warrior for Hera's sake!
But it was painful for her to attempt to cast him out of her mind. Flash had been annoying and was likely the most foolish of the Founders, but he was family, almost.
Even though no one, not even Batman, knew his identity, Flash had claimed a small place in her heart; Diana knew it was the same for most everyone who met him. It was impossible to hate him.
He was the little brother Diana never realized she wanted.
And now he was gone.
...
ohmygod an update? from me? astonishing really.
i'd really like to thank everyone who reviewed and favorited/followed this story because ya'll are all amazing and beautiful and just thanks again.
ANYWAY so yeah this was just the league's solo chapter, i focused more on batman for this one because he's the first one i thought of being the most affected by flash "dying". cuz yeah wally and hal are close and all but they don't know each other under their masks but bruce views himself as flash's handler like keeping him in line, making sure he does everything right.
idk i just like to imagine bruce as having this fatherly exasperation for flash and later on wally because honestly thats cute as fuck