Sleep Running Chapter Two:
Batman was unpleased.
The early morning sun had barely begun to scrape across the sky, and he'd decided to slip into the BatCave to check on the current state of Gotham through his computer. However, he'd been momentarily detoured as soon as he'd entered the cave.
His gaze was locked on the young speedster who was snoring away peacefully, sprawled out comfortably across the hood of the Batmobile. He was dressed in his civilian clothes, and his fiery red hair was a mess, untidily swept across his eyes and sticking up everywhere else. Batman's eyes narrowed instantly when he saw a small trickle of drool starting to slide onto the sleek black exterior of the car.
"Wally," Batman growled, standing stock still.
In his sleep, Wally mumbled something unintelligible before responding with more ear-splitting snores.
"Kid Flash!" Batman rumbled again, his voice stern and loud but not quite a yell.
Wally's eyes flung open, wide but not fully alert.
"Wha-? I'm awake!" The redhead slurred out, his voice still thick with sleep as his body moved with surprising speed, rolling across the hood of the car hurriedly… and onto the floor. His body made a flat thud on the floor of the Batcave. Then Wally's senses flooded him, and he blinked in surprise as he recognized the distinct glossy metal surface of the Batcave's floor.
"Oh, crud." Wally choked out, turning himself over with one hand and rubbing his aching forehead with the other.
Batman looked unimpressed, "What are you doing here, Wally?" he asked the speedster. He watched the redhead push himself to his feet. Bruce was starting to question his decision to allow Robin to permit the speedster the knowledge of their identities. This was the sole reason – Flashes tended to be unpredictable, which Bruce wasn't a fan of. However, he did admit that when they stopped and actually thought before they acted, they were actually intelligent and responsible. Some of the time.
Wally looked embarrassed, and scratched the back of his neck nervously.
"Um, nothing." He answered weakly.
Batman rewarded the feeble answer with his signature scowl, and Wally could almost feel the eyes narrowing from behind the cowl.
"Kid Flash, why are you here?"
"I…Uh, really wanted to sleep on the Batmobile." Wally stammered, cringing at his own scrawny excuse.
Batman said nothing, waiting for a real answer.
"What? It's comfy." Wally defended, though he felt ridiculous trying to fool the Batman. At least he wasn't in his pajamas while trying to do so.
"Does Barry know you're here?" Batman asked, his voice still gruff.
Wally's eyes widened, and he almost face-palmed.
"Oh, crud! I totally forgot about him! He's going to be so upset this happened again!" Wally worried before he noticed his slip of the tongue. He quickly shot a glance at the older hero to see if the great detective had spotted the blunder. He had.
"What has happened again?" Bruce inquired, his voice still rough as he crossed his arms over his chest.
The speedster went pale, and began fidgeting – a sign Bruce immediately associated with nervousness.
"I um, kinda, sorta, maybe…Ah, never mind, it's nothing." Wally assured, stumbling over his words frantically, his eyes shifting towards the exit. If it had been anyone else, except maybe Barry, he would have bolted.
"As the leader of young Justice, it is my responsibility to know about everything going on with the members. Now tell me." Batman ordered, his eyes becoming slits - an obvious glare.
The speedster paled before color returned to his face and he happily replied, "-"
"Nice try," Batman interrupted, "Now again, slowly, or I will launch a full investigation on your suspicious behavior."
Wally sighed, knowing the threat was not an idle one. In fact, it wasn't a threat at all. It was more of a promise.
"I…um, sleepwalk." Wally admitted uncomfortably, shifting his gaze down while his cheeks flooded with burning embarrassment.
"You sleepwalk." Batman stated bluntly, "How did you manage to get from Central to Gotham walking?"
"Um, I'm a speedster…I kinda ran." The redhead grumbled, still somewhat mortified to be admitting this. Once again, he considered turning and dashing off for the exit. However, he remained in his current position. Ticking off the Bat wasn't advisable.
"So you ran here. Asleep." Batman's voice brought Wally back to the conversation.
"Don't tell anyone!" Wally said in a pleading voice, nodding as he did so to affirm the Dark Knight's statement.
"How long has this been going on? You said 'again'." Batman recalled.
"Almost a week. I've been in a four continents." Wally answered, his eyes on the ground, wishing he were anywhere but there.
"This is a serious problem." Batman commented out loud, though he was speaking mostly to himself.
"Why? I always get home." Wally tried to downplay it, but Batman was already silencing him with another glare.
"You are dressed in your civilian outfit. If anyone saw you, they would know who you were. Even if they couldn't see you, you've probably been caught on camera. Not to mention your destinations. You came here, the secret headquarters of Batman directly beneath Wayne Manor. If you would have been followed, it wouldn't take a detective to figure out who the Batman was, and by extension Robin."
"Oh…" Wally cleared his throat, "Sorry."
"Have you tried anything to stop sleepwalking?" Batman asked, raising an eyebrow, though Wally couldn't tell because of his dark cowl.
"Yeah."
"What did you try?"
"I tied myself to the bed." Wally replied, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips.
"What happened?"
"I, uh, woke up on the Batmobile…and then I hit the floor of the Batcave."
Batman sighed, "I see. What material were you restraints made from?"
"Rope." Wally answered, though he was suddenly worried about what Bruce was leading up too.
"Hmm," Bruce trailed. Though he had done light readings on sleepwalking, it hadn't ranked very high on his list of priorities. If it didn't directly involve him, Robin, Gotham, or crime fighting, he usually hadn't readied a plan of action. This meant sleepwalking had escaped any amount of careful examination. However, apparently, that would have to change.
Wally watched and waited for a full seventy-seven seconds before he shifted his weight and acciedently yawned. Batman caught the action and nodded towards the teen.
"Go home, and tell Barry where you've been. Then, if you can, take a nap. A nap, no sleep. From what little I have read on the subject, sleepwalking occurs within thirty to forty minutes of sleep. You can nap in twenty minute intervals if you need."
Wally nodded, and Bruce could see tiredness was already seeping back into the speedster's expression. It didn't surprise him in the least. Apparently he'd covered a large portion of the world in the last week in his sleep, while also contending with energy spent awake. The teenager would have had very little rest.
"Okay," Wally began, but was intercepted by a yawn, "Twenty minutes, right?"
Batman nodded, "And come back tonight."
"Gotcha." Wally replied, filing away the request to be thought about later, after a few good minutes of sleep, "Well, bye, Bats."
Batman blinked, and when he reopened his eyes, only a blur already disappearing from sight was all that remained where the speedster had been standing.
"Hey, Bruce!" A chipper voice called from somewhere above him, and he found Robin had landed lightly beside him. The Boy Wonder was still dressed in his uniform, apparently just waking up from last night, though he sounded fully awake, "What was that?" he asked, indicating where Wally had disappeared down the exit ramp.
Bruce glanced down at the teen aside him, a half-smile tilting his lips.
"That," he said, "was the reason you'll be waxing the Batmobile."
Robin looked confused and then frowned dejectedly before mumbling, "Okay."
"Good. I have research to do." Batman replied, before turning towards the BatComputer, "And remember, Robin, today's a school day."
][][][][
Wally stifled a yawn as he stepped into his house, glad to be home from school. He was exhausted.
He could hear Aunt Iris cooking in the kitchen, and he knew Barry would be at the kitchen table, talking about his day or reading about the paper.
When Wally had come home that morning, he'd gotten exactly nineteen minutes of sleep before Barry had woken him for the bus. He had actually fallen asleep in the lunch room, but one of his friends had shaken him awake.
Wally shrugged it off easily, trudging his way into the kitchen.
Barry saw him and shook his head, "You look exhausted, Kiddo." He noted. Iris nodded her agreement, shooting him a worried look.
"I'm fine" Wally assured lightly, "Can you wake me up in twenty minutes?"
Barry nodded, "But remember; Bats wants you in Gotham tonight."
Wally groaned, "Aw man, I completely forgot about that!"
"That's why I'm reminding you." Barry laughed, "Now, you have twenty minutes before I wake you up. Then, I'm taking you over to Gotham."
][][][][
Batman had been doing extensive research on the study of sleepwalking since the speedster had left the cave.
From what he'd read, there were five stages of sleep that cycled on through the night. Stages one through four were labeled as non-rapid eye movement, or NREM, stages of sleep. The last stage was called the rapid eye movement, or REM stage. In stage five is where dreaming occurred, as well as rushes of hormones essential for proper growth and metabolism (Batman was going to look into metabolism part at length.). Each cycle of sleep lasted about ninety minutes, and repeated on through the night.
From what he had learned, sleepwalking usually takes place between stages one or three. And as he'd already experienced, the sleepwalker usually doesn't remember his or her behaviors while they were sleepwalking. He'd also read that sleepwalkers were very hard to awaken once they had started sleepwalking, and that even though most sleepwalkers tended to have their eyes open, they weren't seeing what was actually in front of them – and that made them a danger to themselves and others, especially in Wally's case.
He'd heard conflicting theories on whether or not to wake a sleepwalker, but he the doctors that advised not waking one suggested calmly leading them back to their bed. That wouldn't work in Wally's case. Maybe Barry, but honestly it'd be far easier to just wake the teen up.
He leaned back in his chair, reviewing in his head what he had planned. He had decided that he would restrain the speedster in stronger bindings, maybe metal straps of some kind. If the teen did manage to break through, which was unlikely considering that though Wally was a speedster he still had human strength and had never fully phased through a solid object, Batman had set up the bed in a fully locked room, only a solid steel door providing an entrance and exit. Bruce had set up a live feed to film any happenings in the room. For even further precaution, though it was extremely unlikely and was done more out of paranoia, he had set several nets outside the door to capture the speedster.
Suddenly Bruce was greeted by a rush of wind, and he found Barry leaning over his shoulder.
"Reading anything helpful, Bats?" Barry asked, and when Bruce shot a look at him he was momentarily shocked to see Barry's crystal blue eyes moving left to right so fast it was hard to track them as he read across one of the various articles pulled up on Batman's compuer.
Barry caught Batman's gave and smiled, "Sorry, Bats," the Flash said happily, "I'm a bit of a speed reader."
"Flash, do you have Wally with you?" Batman asked, ignoring the speedster's pun.
Barry nodded, "Yeah, he'd be here right now…if he weren't currently raiding you're fridge."
Batman sighed for the second time that day, figuring he'd have to restock the entire pantry before the night was through.
"Fine. He's spending the night here so I can study his sleep pattern." Batman informed the elder speedster.
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Author's Note: I would have updated sooner, but I've been so busy. That, and I have actually had to do a TON of research on sleepwalking so I could write this fairly accurate while also trying to apply this to how it would affect Wally's system. Aside from that, thank you all for the reviews! Also, I would like to send a special thanks to GhostDog401, who encouraged me to write this.
Author's Mailbag:
Anonymous: All I can say is LOL, and I think you'll be a fan of the next chapter.
Music Lover BWG: I am so glad! I saw this as a prompt, and I just COULDN'T leave it unwritten.
XxTheUnspokenTruthxX: I am so glad you think it's funny! This is my first humor fiction! :)
Kandy Kaylor: Thanks! I am a little sideways about this chapter, but if I keep reading over this, it'll NEVER be posted.
RobXKF4eve: *Laughing and then glares kiddingly* Don't encourage them! The plot bunnies are relentless.
RowanFall: You said "By-the-By" twice, so I can only assume this will be another story where every review has THAT statement, LOL. I will have you know I find myself saying that more and more often now. *smiles* I am so excited that people are actually finding this funny! And, unlike every other story I've ever written, I'm not planning on a whole lot of angst. O_o It's so strange, LOL
Bat-Dove: I am so glad you think so! Also, I found you're fic, My Pet Brother, and I LOVE IT. I'll start reviewing every chapter, I promise. I'll have to do it when I have more time, hopefully by the end of this week!
KaliAnn: I know right? :)
Chocolatpen: …The plan didn't work. Hmm…let's cross our fingers for Batman. LOL
LyndseyRyder12: Whoa! I always love you're compliments! Thank you!
DayDreamingofYou: *grins evily* Hmm…I wonder what will happen now. Oh, and I don't know how he kicked the habit earlier. He won't tell me. Though I really don't blame him with all the stuff I've out him through. LOL, I have no intention of stopping though.
Asdf: I will! And thank you! I'm trying hard to make this enjoyable.
FallenHope-Angel: …I feel bad too. That'd be a pretty bad way to wake up. Still, the thought makes me giggle. LOL
LillMissF: I CAN TOO! It's just so Wally to me! I'm glad you think so too!