Kid Flash sped out of Beast Boy's room, vibrating his molecules right through the door.
I always wondered how you did that. You just start contracting your ab muscles and let the vibration spread through you, huh?
"Yeah," said Kid Flash with no enthusiasm. He didn't like Red X knowing anything about him. When he stopped to consider his next move, his stomache rumbled.
When's the last time we ate?
"We? We?! It's me. It's my body, not yours, mine!" he said glancing quickly down the hall to see if any other Titans were coming or had heard him apparently talking to himself. Thank god. No one. "Almost three hours ago," he added in a mutter then zipped down the hall, up the stairs to the 14th floor and to the kitchen in a half second. He strode casually across the tile floor and opened the giant, stainless steel front refrigerator.
Hmm. Hmm. As always, it all looked so good to the speedster. He wasn't very picky about food. But Jinx had said something about some new items, a meat loaf and a french beef thing, what was it? The one where it cooked in wine? Ah, yes, beef bourguignon. He bent over to inspect the lower shelves of food, pushing one of Gar's tofu things out of the way, when suddenly he felt a hand.
"Ahh!" He jumped just as he heard Starfire's giggle.
"Hello friend Wally!"
Haha. So . . does she goose you often?
Kid Flash turned half angrily to the tamaranian. Did she have to do that now, of all times, with him . . watching?! But his demeanor made no impression on her and she giggled again as she ran her hand through his orange hair.
"Not now, Star!" he moaned as he heard a snickering super thief in his head.
Ha. She totally wants you, Zippy.
"I am sorry, friend Wally. But you know how much we tamaraneans adore orange hair."
Kid Flash sighed. It was hard to stay mad at Starfire.
"And also-"
This time he swatted her hand away before it got near his hips.
"Star! I'm hungry! Let me-"
"You are always hungry, friend Wally," she smiled.
Totally.
Kid Flash sighed and, thankfully, the situation defused itself he retrieved the casserole dish with the meatloaf and another with some vegetables and microwaved the whole thing up, easily enough food for two. He brought it over to one of the tables and glanced around. Star had gotten something to drink and gone back to her room. He glanced around one more time then ate ravenously at super speed. He licked the plate and then let out a resounding burp when Red X spoke again.
Damn. That feels good. I noticed you didn't want the others to see you eat like that. You . . you feel like a freak, don't you?
"A bit."
Even more than just being called 'Wally'? Hahahahahahahahahaha! Oh man, that kills me. No wonder you wear a mask. You're hiding because your name is Wally.
"It's not that bad!"
Wally . . West in fact. Holy shit, cutesy alliteration too.
"How do you . . "
I'm looking at your driver's license photo right now Zippy.
"How . . ?" Kid Flash could see it in his thoughts now, too.
Damn, what a picture. That DMV really fucked you over. If you ever get pulled over, try to make a face like a retard so that they think you look the same as always.
Kid Flash gritted his teeth and sprinted back to his room and vibrated through the door. How the hell did Red X call up one of my memories, he wondered.
I don't know, Zippy. I don't do this thing all the time, you know.
Kid Flash sighed. All his thoughts were audible too. This was terrible. He felt almost weak in the knees with distress about being so exposed to him so it was just as well that he sat down at the desk in his and Jinx's room and turned on the computer resolving to try to take logical action. He was trying search terms in the case files directory to see if any mission had involved a situation like this. Maybe one of the other Titans had gotten out of something like this!
"Villain in my body" . . . No search results.
"Transporter mishap" . . . No search results.
"Master thief sharing my brain" . . . No search results.
"Villain's consciousness transfered into me" . . . No search results.
"Villain inside my head" . . .
At last! 37 results!
But then he checked them out. All 37 results were instances of the other Titans wondering if Slade had gotten inside Robin's head in a metaphorical sense.
Yeah. Robin. Let's see, what happens if I wonder about Robin's secret identity.
"No! Don't!"
But despite Kid Flash's shout, he heard Robin's voice the time that he first told him his real name. " . .Dick Grayson . .". Red X started laughing.
Ahahahaha! Dick Grayson? DICK Grayson?! Oh god. How perfect is that, that the little dick's name is actually Dick! Ahahahahaha! And let's see, what else do you know about him . . ?
"No! Please! He's a terrific guy underneath it all. He's . . emotionally limited . . because he's had a really hard life and-"
Ha! A circus acrobat?! A freaking boy circus acrobat? Jesus, that's just a clown up on a rope instead of down in the sawdust. A circus acrobat?! No wonder I never lose to him. Our training's a thousand times better than that repetitive, limited crap. Oh god, maybe this wasn't so bad after all.
"Look," Kid Flash nearly growled pushing the chair back from the desk. "He's my best friend. And he went through hell, losing his parents and then dealing with Batman. Sure, he's a little compulsive, but-"
A little?! At the OCD conventions he's the one who goes back to check that everyone else's stoves and irons were turned off.
"He'd give his life for any of us."
Yeah, right after he made yours miserable. God, a circus acrobat, a freakin' carnie. He teach you guys how to run rigged games on the midway as part of your training?
"Shut up, you asshole! He's a better man than you!"
Maybe per inch of height. Now let's see, Zippy, what else do you know about your team. Starfire?
"No. Come on, don't do that!"
But Kid Flash didn't seem to have any way to stop him. However it was that the transporter had somehow wired their minds together inside his head, it had left Red X with just as much ability to recall his memories as he had. Words and images pertaining to Starfire cascaded through his thoughts.
"No!" he moaned as he staggered over to their bed and fell back on it. Red X was methodically going through all of his memories, all of his knowledge of his fellow Titans. For Red X, it was a bit like using a search engine hooked up to a single data base, all the recollections of Wally West.
Beast Boy is . . Garfield Logan . . . Cyborg is . . Victor Stone . . . Raven is . . Rachel Roth . . . Starfire is . . Koriandr' from Tamaran . . . Jinx is . . Virginia Murphy
"No! Leave her alone!"
Haha! Your concern is touching, carrot top. Speedy is . . Roy Harper . . . Aqualad is . . Garth Poseidon, prince of Atlantis . . . Bumblebee is . . hey, you really don't know her full name, only Karen.
"Some of the others might now her full name. I don't," Kid Flash said listlessly.
And you know that Mas and Menos are . . Manuel and Miguel Sanchez from Guatemala, hmmph. Probably only thousands of those. And-
"Why are you doing this?!"
Put yourself in my shoes, Zippy. All this information just sitting here in your head. Should I just ignore it?
"What are you gonna do with it?" muttered Kid Flash sighing limply, not sure what the answer would be but knowing that no good could come of the super thief knowing all about his friends and teammates.
I honestly don't know yet, speedster. But it's certainly a valuable commodity, don't you agree?
Kid Flash sighed limply. "Please don't hurt my friends. Please."
Christ. I'm just a voice in your head, Zippy. You talk like I'm the one with all the leverage. I'm the one whose body is missing and who's relying on fricking Beast Boy . . Garfield Logan to you and me, haha, to find it and get me back to it. I'm just getting myself a little insurance.
Kid Flash sat up with an angry expression. "Oh yeah? Oh yeah! Well . . well-"
I know where you're going with this, Zippy. I'm in your head, remember? Don't even try.
"What if we just get rid of you, zap you out of my head into nothing?"
Are you threatening to kill me, Zippy?
"Well . . "
Hahaha. You can't even say it. I'd take the threat half seriously coming from Dick the little dick, but everyone knows about you, Zippy. Do you think I don't watch the news or even check out youtube clips? All those times trying to let crooks avoid the ass kicking they deserved. Everybody knows you're too nice a guy for that.
"I killed Slade," said Kid Flash, some actual steel in his voice this time.
Uh, wait, let me recall that one . . . yeah, I see it now . . . Slade threatening Jinx's life for the dozenth time before you could make yourself do anything like that. So, spare me the fake threats. That's not you and I know it. I'm inside your fucking head fer chrissakes. But how 'bout this? I'll ignore your friends and concentrate on you. Hmmm?
Kid Flash could only sigh helplessly. He couldn't stop him anyway. But Red X seemed to be rubbing his nose in it, recalling all Wally's worst humiliations.
Times I was humiliated . .
And with the thought came memories of such times. And Red X would have some sort of related thought. And the next year? In school? At home? Etc. . . bringing forth other recollections at which he'd laugh. There was the time in third grade when some bullies had grabbed Wally at recess and wouldn't let him go when he needed to use the bathroom till he'd pissed his pants in front of most of his class. There were all the instances of his mother punishing him, mostly undeservedly, bending him over her knee and taking a hairbrush to his backside. There was the girl he was supposed to take on a date in 7th grade whom he'd stood up to answer a call and who had walked over to him in the cafeteria and poured a pint of milk over his head. There was the time his sister had caught him masturbating. There were multiple times being stuffed in a tall trash can. There was the time, up in the Justice League satellite, when Speedy had snuck a shot of espresso into his soda and several young heroes were meeting with Batman right after that but Kid Flash couldn't stop his body from vibrating because of the caffeine. There was the time Trickster had waited right out in the open for him and Flash, only he'd set up some sort of barrier of almost invisible metallic dust that they hadn't expected and somehow instantly magnetized it on them with opposite polarities causing him and Flash to stick together as if Krazy Glued that way. There was the night of his bachelor party where they'd listened to Speedy and had ended up working as exotic dancers to avoid having their civilian selves reported to the police. There was the time in sixth grade, already Kid Flash, when he'd gotten an atomic wedgie from some 8th graders. The super thief thought that was really funny, accepting humiliation that could have been avoided to protect a secret identity. Well, a not so secret any more identity.
Haha! I didn't think tighty whities could stretch that far!
"Neither did I," Kid Flash grumbled out loud. "Look, where is this getting you?"
Getting me? It doesn't have to get me anywhere. This is amazing. When I recall something that happened to you, I feel exactly like you did. I feel like I'm you, like it's happening to me. I could feel my pants getting wet when those kids wouldn't let you take a piss. I could feel the squeeze on my balls when they gave you that atomic wedgie. This is like the best virtual reality game ever and it's called Wally West.
"Come on!"
Okay, now let's try . . times I was criticized, taunted or made fun of!
Kid Flash groaned.
He could do nothing as minute after minute Red X called up a cascade of bad memories through his ability to remember everything Kid Flash remembered. There were scores of memories of other kids making fun of him for being poor. There was another legion of memories of kids making fun of him for being a nerd. There was his mother calling him lazy, calling him a slob, saying he was eating them out of house and home. There was his father, just before he left home and moved to Titans Tower, accusing him of being on drugs. There was Speedy, the first time he met him up in the Justic League satellite, relentlessly mocking his uniform and calling him gay. There were teachers exasperated by suddenly withdrawn, spacy Wally West, secretly Kid Flash, making fun of him in front of all his classmates. And there were his friends, once his only lifeline to normal life, Aaron and Stevie and Jeff bitterly calling him out for not showing up at study sessions and birthday parties, for abandoning them.
It all tumbled forth into his thoughts, depressing Kid Flash anew at all the bad feelings he'd endured, some of which he felt he genuinely deserved. But, after it was all done, he suddenly noticed something. The quiet. He thought of saying something to Red X. Well?! But he decided not to. Of course, he realized looking up at the ceiling over his and Jinx's bed, that Red X could hear those thoughts, too. But still there was more quiet finally broken.
Things haven't always been that easy for you, have they?
"No," whispered Kid Flash half intending to explain the biggest cause of all his problems but then not wanting to admit it, and belatedly realizing that thinking of it at all had put that same thought into Red X's mind.
Your real father's a villain? Professor fricking Zoom? Holy shit.
Slowly getting the hang of this shared consciousness thing, he just thought of the facts. He pictured his dark haired, brown eyed, medium complected parents then fair skinned, blue eyed strawberry blond Professor Zoom. He recalled images of his father staring at him across the room in a way that he'd never understood till he was 16 and Zoom had revealed his paternity. It was a look totally devoid of affection. It said that little Wally was alien, that he didn't belong, that it would be just as well if he wasn't around. And it was a feeling that little Wally had internalized.
Again, Red X was quiet.
"They didn't love me. They never really did," said Kid Flash. "But . . "
He let his thoughts fill with recollections of Aunt Iris and how she had given him her time and paid attention to him, encouraged him and treated him as important, long before he became Kid Flash. He remembered what a dynamic and funny personality she was and thinking of her his eyes watered a bit. Aunt Iris, killed by Professor Zoom, my real father.
Again, Red X was quiet, almost shockingly respectful. Only quietly did he announce what sifting through these same recollections had revealed to him.
Your Aunt Iris was your Uncle Barry's wife . . . and your Uncle Barry is . . . the Flash.
And just then, a little short of three hours after the transporter accident, as they seemed to have reached some sort of quiet truce, they were overwhelmed by opposite feelings.
Kid Flash felt a bit like a jet fighter pilot ejecting out of the cockpit. All of a sudden, his connection to his own body seemed different, diminished and he almost felt like he was parachuting down to earth, constantly floating but never reaching ground. But there wasn't any parachute strapped to him. He just felt like he was suspended in mid air. He still felt everything but he no longer controlled his body.
If there was such a process as leaping into the cockpit of a streaking jet, that was what things felt like to Red X. Suddenly, he not only perceived every sensation but somehow had control of this body as well. The teen speedster had momentarily gone limp. Now, the slender speedster sprang to his feet and went over to the three sided mirror in the corner of the room. With a smirk on his face he turned his gloved hands this way and that.
"Oh. Yeah."