Disclaimer: I don't own Justice League Unlimited.

Complicated Simplicity

Chapter Seven: Falling Behind

Clark Kent tapped out the final word of his article with a slightly more grandiose gesture than usual, a content smile on his face. Mostly because he had been working on this article for the past week or so, and his various interviewees had been, to put it lightly, difficult.

Lois had once told him that she didn't understand how he could be a good reporter. He was simply too polite and courteous to get into all those hard to reach places and get those hard to hear answers.

And yet, here he was, yet again beating Lois Lane to the by-line.

"Hey Clark. You almost done?"

Jimmy sat on the edge of his desk nonchalantly, fiddling with the lens of his camera.

"Just about. I need to look it over for typos, but that can wait."

Just a formality, really. His brain moved at such a pace, he rarely made spelling errors. Except when he was writing. His handwriting was atrocious, and everybody told him so.

"Great. And… thanks again for letting me tag along."

"It's not like it's a chore, Jimmy. You're quickly becoming the best photographer we've got."

"I dunno. The Metropolis Watcher's got this girl who's…" Jimmy trailed off as he saw Clark looking across the room, frowning. "Clark?"

"Hm? Oh, sorry Jimmy. I just noticed someone I know."

"Yeah?" Jimmy turned around. "Who?"

"Someone from Central City."

Jimmy peered through the crowd of bustling reporters to see a young, parka wearing red haired man waving enthusiastically to Clark.

"What's his name?"

"Wally West."

"Wally?"

Clark waved his Central City friend over. Jimmy was rather surprised with how fast Wally got over to them.

"Hey… Clark," he said, sounding uncomfortable using the name.

"Wally. What brings you by? I wasn't expecting to see you here."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, it's uh… I kinda wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh. Of course, of course. Uh, Jimmy, I'll have to take a rain check. Ask Lois, I'm sure she'd like to cover the opening ceremony."

The photographer snorted. "Yeah, right…" He extended his hand to Wally. "Hi. I'm Jimmy Olsen."

Wally shook it. "Wally West. Nice to meet you."

Wally had never gotten the hang of the 'pretending to meet someone for the first time when you've actually met them in your other identity' thing. He always felt like such an ass.

Jimmy nodded. "Yeah… well, I'll see you guys later." He turned and left. "Maybe they'll let me in by myself. Peter Parker gets into all these places, and that's without changing into Spider-Man…"

A 'what are you going to do?' smile spread across Clark's face, and Wally returned it uncomfortably.

"Wally? Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I just…" He glanced around the room. "Look, can we talk about this… somewhere else?" he hinted.

Clark nodded. "Right. Just let me save this and we'll get going."

"Thanks."

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Elongated Man winced at the display on the wall in front of him.

"Lovely," he grumbled.

"Yeah, it's a real mess."

Ralph turned to face Detective Morillo. His hands firmly in his pockets, he was casting an almost disinterested gaze on the proceedings around him.

"What happened?"

The police officer shrugged. "We're not sure. Coroner said he was thrown into the wall."

Ralph turned his head around, but not his body. The wall was cracked, as though something had impacted with it at high speed. The only time Ralph had seen anything like it was when Flash accidentally ran into a wall. One mocha later, he'd been fine.

Judging by the blood that was pasted on the wall, this guy hadn't been.

"That's one heck of a throw."

"No kidding."

"And what about the other three?" he asked, turning back.

"Same thing, but they were lucky. Some concussions and broken bones, but they're alive."

"Did they say who did it?"

Morillo nodded. "Said he was wearing a purple and black uniform."

Ralph cocked an eyebrow. "Purple and black?"

"Sounds like something one of your Watchtower workers would wear."

He nodded.

"Want to hear something interesting?"

"There's more?"

"A janitor found a black and purple uniform in the Flash Museum this morning."

"The Flash Museum?"

"Said it was torn up to hell, but it had a name tag. Richards. Does that mean anything to you?"

Ralph nodded thoughtfully. "Richards' uniform was stolen yesterday."

"You have any suspects?"

"Not yet. It was stolen while he was wearing it."

"And he didn't see who did it?"

"Nope. He said that it was there one second, gone the next."

"Any other strange occurrences I should know about?"

"You know that Hunter Zolomon was in the Metro Tower, right?"

"After Murmur attacked him."

"Yeah. Well… he disappeared too, and just before Richards' uniform disappeared."

"So… whoever took the uniform and did this," he said, gesturing to the remains of the gang member plastered behind Ralph, "took Hunter as well?"

Ralph frowned. "Maybe. Or…" His nose began to shake.

"Are… you okay?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. It does that when there's a mystery."

"You're kidding."

"Is this the face of a kidder?" he asked with a straight face, his nose continuing to shake.

"I… guess not." Morillo shook himself from staring. "So you think that… this could be Zolomon?"

"Maybe. I'm just considering the possibilities." He cocked an eyebrow. "'Zolomon'? Are you two not on good terms?"

He shrugged. "He didn't get close to anyone. He's got some issues, that guy."

Ralph 'hmm'ed again, and looked back to the wall.

"But he wouldn't do this. He's a good cop, Dibny."

"Oh, no doubt. I read up on some of his work." He looked back to Morillo. "But even the best of us have dark sides." Two fingers stretched to his communicator. "Elongated Man, ready for pickup."

Morillo cocked an eyebrow. "Aren't you just going to teleport?"

Ralph shook his head. "They were busted when we-" Something occurred to him. "…tried to teleport Hunter."

"What? You got something?"

"Maybe… was anything stolen or vandalised at the Flash Museum?"

"A costume was stolen, but that's it."

"Which one?"

"Uh… a robot Flash, I think."

Ralph frowned. "Robot Flash?"

"Something like that. I'd have to call in and check."

"No, it's okay. I'll do it." He put his fingers to his ear. "Reign check on the pick up." He ripped the earpiece from his head in response to the yelling that ensued. He looked back to Morillo. "Never jerk about a flaming Brazilian."

"Noted."

Ralph turned and stretched his leg down the street.

"Before you go…"

He turned his head around.

"…where's Flash? No offence to you, but I was expecting him to check in on this."

"He's… working through some things."

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"So why'd you come to me?"

"Just… a feeling, I guess."

"Wally."

"Yeah?"

"Why?"

Wally was silent for a moment.

"Ultra Humanite told me to."

"Ultra Humanite… told you to."

"Yeah."

"The Ultra Humanite."

"Yeah."

"And you… didn't know why?"

"Uh, no."

Clark sighed. "It's because of what happened with Cadmus, Wally."

"It… is?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the road as he and Clark sped along to the Metro Tower.

"Yes. You remember? Justice Lord Superman killed his Lex Luthor, and everyone else was worried I might do the same."

"Oh, yeah. That."

He sighed again. "The point is, I know what you're going through." They skidded to a halt at the entrance to the Metro Tower.

Clark turned to face him. "Personally? I don't think you've got anything to worry about."

"How'd you figure?"

The Man of Steel thought for a moment. He smiled. "Let's go the Flash Museum."

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One of the many patrons of the Flash Museum reeled in shock as they saw Elongated Man's head peer over the top of the Gorilla Grodd display.

He smiled nervously. "Oh. Sorry, ma'am."

She didn't seem too settled by the apology, so she settled for scowling and unsurely going off to the Turtle Man display.

Ralph sighed and got back to work. At least, he would have done if he knew where the hell he was going in the Flash Museum. He had only been here once at Wally's urging, and despite his keen detective mind, he had gotten lost within five minutes of being left alone there.

"Uh, excuse me," he said, tapping another customer on the shoulder. "Do you know where the Justice Lord Flash exhibit is?"

"Da what?"

"The… Justice Lord Flash exhibit."

"Boy, you just said a whole bunch a' words I don't understand."

"Oh. Well, thank you for your help."

"Ralph?"

He turned his head around to see Wally West and Clark Kent stood behind him in their civilian apparel. He cleared his throat heroically.

"Oh, I, uh… It's… only Ralph to my friends and colleagues, sir, and I'm afraid I have no idea who you are, so you'll have to call me Elongated Man. Or Mr Dibny."

Wally smiled. "Okay, okay. Why're you here?"

"I'm looking into a crime committed earlier today. I was looking for the Justice Lord Flash exhibit. Would you be able to direct me?"

"Uh… this way."

Wally led his two companions through a veritable maze of corridors, all of them adorned with pictures and photos of the Flash's exploits.

"This is all you?" Clark whispered.

Wally shook his head. "Nah, the other Flashes are in here too."

They turned a corner and entered the Justice Lord Flash exhibit room. Except where the costume would be merely stood a bare mannequin.

A frown crossed the speedster's face. "What the-? Where is it?" He looked at Ralph. "Is that why you're here?"

Elongated Man looked from side to side uncomfortably. "Partly… listen, um, sir, I can't very well discuss this Justice League business with you." He leant in closer. "I'll tell you back at the Metro Tower." With a wink and an official looking wave, he left the two superheroes alone in the room.

Wally looked at Clark. "So, uh… why'd you want to bring me here?"

"Funnily enough, to look at that," he said, nodding to the mannequin.

"Uh… why?"

"Just hear me out. The Justice Lords were just like us, except they were…"

"Evil."

"…misguided."

"Evil sounds better."

"Wally…"

"Sorry, go on."

"Anyway. They were misguided. And, if you think about it, that would mean that the Justice Lord Flash would have been like that as well."

"Okay, I'm with you."

"Right. And why did the Justice Lords go rogue?"

"Because… their Flash died. And some other stuff, apparently."

"Okay then. So the Justice Lord Flash was the conscience of their group."

"Okay."

"And he wouldn't kill. Just like you won't."

"Right…" He frowned. "I'm not seeing you point."

"My point is, if the Justice Lord Flash, who is, uh…"

"Evil."

Clark sighed. "If an evil version of you can't kill, then what hope do you have?"

Wally nodded, scrutinising Clark. "You do know that theory has about a hundred holes in it."

The Man of Steel shrugged, just smiling. "Did you it make you feel better?"

"…kinda."

"Then it's a good theory."

The familiar Flash grin returned, and Wally shook his head. "You're a real goofball when it comes down to it, aren't you?"

"Found me out."

Wally frowned. "But… what if you don't have a choice?"

"You always have a choice, Wally."

"That's a real nice thing to say, Clark, but… when it comes down to it I might… have to."

A heavy sigh escaped Clark's lips. "Wally…" he put a hand on his shoulder. "It's not easy. It wasn't easy for me when I thought you'd died because of Luthor."

This stopped the speedster from replying. He looked over at the mannequin. "You know… I was so scared back then."

"Scared? Of what?"

"That I was that important. I mean, I may have joked around about it, but… geez, was I scared after that whole Justice Lords thing." He smiled. "Y'know… some lobotomised lady bad guy of Batman's told me to look out for you. How crazy is that?"

Clark wasn't sure which part Wally thought was crazy; the fact that someone had to look out for Superman, or the fact that one of Batman's rogues was the one to tell him to do so.

"Come on," the Man of Steel said, smiling, "I'll buy you a coffee."

"From the Flash Museum café?"

"Whatever you like."

They turned and made their way out of the exhibit. "Thanks, Clark."

He shrugged. "What kind of Superman would I be if I couldn't cheer up my friends?"

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Ralph tapped away on the computer console, using special clearance he had… acquired from the Question to gain access to the Central City Police Department computer system.

He hid his face as a particularly irritated Fire stormed past the corridor behind him. The computer bleeped, and Ralph returned to his work.

Hunter Zolomon. Ralph wasn't sure what it was about the man that was making his nose twitch, but if he had learned anything during his career as a super powered detective, it was to follow his nose. And when he looked at that blank mannequin in the Flash Museum, his nose was pointing straight at Rogue profiler Hunter Zolomon.

A Rogue profiler who used to work with the FBI, according to police records.

"Found something?"

The stretchy detective almost bounced out of his seat at the sudden interruption. Scowling, he whipped his head around to look at Nightwing.

"Got your dad's ability to walk through walls, I see."

"He's not my dad."

"Fair enough."

Nightwing came forward in his wheelchair, seeming to begrudge the device for even existing.

"So what are we looking at here?"

Ralph stayed silent.

"I'm a friend of Wally's. I just want to help."

At the use of the Flash's real name, Ralph loosened up slightly. "His name's Hunter Zolomon."

"Flash's profiler friend?"

"Mmm-hmm. There was a series of crimes in Central City yesterday a few seconds after Zolomon disappeared from the Metro Tower."

"Whoa, whoa. A few seconds? And you think he's a suspect?"

He shrugged. "I've just got a feeling. The nose knows," he said, pointing to the relevant growth on his face.

"Right…"

He sighed. "Look, I haven't got anything concrete. That's why I'm looking up his file."

"All right, all right. So what have you found?"

"He used to work with the FBI. He graduated top of his class in Metahuman Criminal Psychology. Met his wife there too. They got hitched pretty shortly after they graduated."

"What'd they do in the FBI?"

"Rogue profiling."

"Mr Zolomon's had a wide and varied career, I see."

"Don't judge him too harshly. His father murdered his mother."

"Why?"

"Because the mother was about to blow the whistle on his father."

"What was he doing?"

"Killing schoolgirls."

"Oh."

"Yeah, so… you can't blame him for being a little screwed up. It's not a whole lot different to some of the stories some of our guys have."

"Tell me about it." Nightwing shook himself out of it. "So. Working as a Rogue profiler."

Ralph nodded. "Right. Real close to Ashley's father too."

"Ashley?"

"His wife."

"Oh, right."

"Well, they eventually went after some crazy guy called Lyle Corley, AKA 'The Clown'."

"Never heard of him."

"Yeah, says here he's kinda dead."

"Because of Zolomon?"

Ralph nodded. "You called it. Apparently, Hunter was pretty sure that Corley wouldn't be armed with a gun. Thought he'd use exploding whoopee cushions and stuff like that."

"Bad call?"

"Yeah. Corley blasted off Zolomon's kneecap, and then killed his father in law."

"God…"

"His wife killed the Clown, but it was pretty much a downward slide after that. The FBI let him go, his wife filed for divorce…" He let out a breath through his nose. "Pretty nasty stuff."

"And you think he's responsible for… what?"

"Well, first, a Metro Tower worker's uniform was stolen, while the guy was wearing it. One second he was wearing his uniform, the next it was gone. Then, literally a few seconds later, a gang of hoods in Central City are splattered all over road. It looked like they'd been slammed into the walls faster than Superman. And then, Richards' uniform – nametag included - shows up in the Flash Museum torn up to hell, and one of the costumes from the Museum goes missing."

"Which one?"

"The Justice Lord Flash."

"But there wasn't a Justice Lord Flash. Wally told me so."

Ralph nodded. "Yeah, but when the League went up against Brainiac and Lex Luthor, they fought some robots that were made up to look like the Justice Lords. And Luthor being the considerate fella he is, made one for Flash. The costume looked pretty much the same as Flash's, except the colours were reversed. Yellow where the red should be and vice versa."

"And you think Hunter stole it?"

"I have a hunch." He frowned at the haunted face staring back at him from the console. "I just hope this one isn't right."

"How often does that happen?"

The Elongated Man didn't look at him. "If we count this time? Once."

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"So, how's Linda?"

The two had taken their coffee to go, considering it was such a fresh, Central City day.

"She's great, last time I checked. I, uh… haven't really talked to her much since the prison breakout."

"That's not good."

"No. I will now, though. Everything seems pretty okay right now."

Clark frowned. "When was the last time you checked in to the Metro Tower, Wally?"

"Um… just after Hunter was admitted. Why?"

The Man of Steel looked him in the eye. "Hunter's missing, Wally. He disappeared yesterday."

"He what?"

"I thought you knew."

"If I knew, I wouldn't be here! I'd be- do we know who did it?"

"No. Mr Terrific's got people looking into it, th-"

A sudden boom interrupted him, making him yell out in pain and grasp his ears. He put a hand on Wally's shoulder to steady himself.

"You okay?"

He nodded, breathless. "Yeah. I just-"

Another boom filled the air, and he shouted out once again, this time falling to one knee.

"Clark, what is it?"

He grunted with effort as he got to his feet. "Sonic… boom…"

"Huh?"

"Something moving past-"

"The speed of sound, I know, but you and I are here, so-"

Another boom sounded, this one closer. Clark winced and once again fell to his knee.

"Do you... do you know anyone who could do this?"

"Uh… a few, but they're either dead or retired. Or…" He frowned. "Bart?"

"Kid Flash? You think he would-" he stopped and covered his ears to protect his sensitive ear drums from the new boom.

"I don't think so. But there's only one way to find out."

Clark nodded to him, and the two ducked into a nearby alleyway.

Wally West pressed his Flash ring, and his costume sprang out. Within an instant, he was ready.

Clark Kent whirled at super speed, sending his clothes to all corners of the alleyway. When he stopped, only the invincible visage of Superman remained.

The two shot out of the alleyway and headed for the source of the booms, guided by Superman's pained ears.

They came to a stop in front of a building site, the bare, precarious looking skeleton of the building giving both of the heroes a bad feeling in their guts. Opposite the site stood a building scheduled for demolition. It was a strange sight, like seeing a baby boy and an old man stood next to each other. Like a comparison of old and new. If Flash was in a contemplative mood (which he rarely was, admittedly), he probably would have thought more of it.

Flash looked over to Superman.

"You sure it was over here?"

He didn't respond. "Supes?"

Still no response.

"Supes!"

The Man of Steel turned to face him. "Sorry. My ears are ringing. What were you saying?"

"I said, are you sure this is the place?"

He nodded. "Positive."

"Well, the booms have stopped… but I can't see what-"

The middle of the old building beside them exploded with a mighty roar, sending chunks of debris of varying sizes out in all directions. Superman and Flash got to work, the speedster clearing people out of the way as the Man of Steel did his best to make the larger pieces of debris more manageable.

The top half of the weakened building began to give way, toppling towards a busy road on the other side.

"Supes!" Flash yelled, pointing, but Superman was already on it.

Clark positioned himself below the building, holding his hands up in preparation for the weight. Wally zoomed out into the road, pulling people from the street and stopping cars in their paths.

A flash of yellow caught Wally's attention, and his eyes followed it to the construction site.

Mr Sonic Boom, I presume?

After making sure all civilians were safely out of the way of the building that was now Superman's wrestling partner, Flash took off into the construction site.

Nothing.

He looked around, and saw no-one. All of the construction equipment had been left idle.

"Flash."

He whipped around, looking for the source of the whispering voice. Finding nothing, he turned back.

And came face to face with himself.

He backed up, surprised, but quickly adopted a fighting stance.

"Nice costume, sunshine."

"WllyWstwillfltrgdy."

"Say what?"

A sudden blow to the chin was his answer, knocking him onto his back and along the sandy ground. Flash shook his head and rubbed his sore chin. He hadn't even seen that coming. His eyes widened beneath his mask.

The reverse Flash was gone.

"What the-?"

He leapt to his feet and yelled out in pain as his elusive opponent struck him in the small of his back. Wally stumbled forward and turned around.

He was just standing there, staring at him.

"Who are you?" he shouted.

For a moment, he was silent.

"Zoom."

Then he was gone.

Something slammed into Wally hard, shooting him back and into a girder. Groaning, Wally struggled to get back up to his feet, desperately trying to blink the stars out of his eyes.

As his vision cleared, he once again saw his opponent standing in front of him.

"So… you're the guy who stole the costume from the Museum, huh?"

"Trgdy. Ywllknwtrgdy."

"Yeah, fleebeefleebeeflob to you too."

Zoom brought his fist back.

And then disappeared as Superman shot right through him.

The Man of Steel came to a halt and turned back to look down at Wally from where he floated above him.

"I can't see him," he shouted far too loudly. His ears were obviously still ringing. "He must be a teleporter."

Flash hissed through his teeth as he felt his broken ribs knitting together in the wrong configuration inside him.

"Maybe…" he gasped. "I dunno, though."

"What?" Clark asked, landing beside him.

"Uh, nothing."

"I think we should-"

A blur of yellow appeared around the Man of Steel, and suddenly he was gone.

"Supes?" Flash put his hand to his ear. "Supes, can you hear me?"

Zoom reappeared in front of him.

"What have you done with him?"

"Heneedstostyaway. Onlyou."

"Uh… that's flattering, but I'd really like to have him here."

His opponent smiled. It was a crooked, haunting smile. "Jokes. Alwysjkes. I'llchngetht."

Zoom buried his fist in Wally's gut more times than the speedster could see. Flash doubled over and fell to his knees, coughing and retching.

"Iwllteachyou, Flash."

Wally looked up. Zoom was gone.

"I'llmakeyoubetter."

Flash's communicator beeped. Wally ignored it, intent on first catching his breath. It continued to beep as he controlled his breathing and got to his feet, gingerly holding his ribcage with his left arm.

He reached up and answered the call. "Yeah?"

"Flash, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, T. Do you know where Supes is?"

"Alaska."

Wally blanched. "What?"

"He's in Alaska. Your new playmate relocated him across the world in less than a second."

Still out of breath, Wally looked around the construction site.

"I'll make you better…" he said to himself.

Wally prayed Zoom was talking about group therapy.

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