Disclaimer: I do not own any DC characters or 'Young Justice'
Warning: Un-beta'd
'Wonderstruck'
Chapter Three: Part III
by Songsix
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When you mix sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate, you can create a potentially dangerous chemical. It is actually a powdery mixture only dangerous when confined. The reasoning for this comes from the reaction when packed into a tightly packed container. You see, when out in the open, the mixture will simply burn out quickly as it releases its gas into the air, which is produced from the sulfur and charcoal. Since there is no pressure, there is no danger. All this mixture really does when heated to its flashpoint is burn. What creates the potential for disaster is when packed into a small container the gases cannot escape, the chemical will continue to burn, the pressure builds up, and…
"The Rig! It's filled with gun powder! Tons of barrels of gun powder!" Yelled Flash, at the top of his lungs as he sped out of the rig realizing their fatal mistake, any millisecond now this whole thing was going to blow. He was going to have to race his way out. It was all about timing if he wanted to live. Actually, he had control over every single molecule in his body, so really it wasn't even a question of if he was going to make it.
It was a question of whether or not Kaldur would be able to save the city.
"I hear you." Aqualad called back, bringing his attention back to the Flash as soon as he realized Kid Flash had sped off. He took a deep breath, calming his mind, before whipping his bearers forward creating a thin stream that soon turned into a great wall of dripping water. A great dome began to form; as quickly as a burst of smoke and fire came did the walls rise.
It was just like slow motion, as droplets of the clear liquid slid down were splashing down on the ground, and the explosion pushed against the dome creating vibrating ripples. One droplet, and Flash was lunging his body forward with each swift leap of his feet, arms swinging at his side, and mouth open in a blood curdling scream. Fifty Droplets and Kaldur had his webbed feet planted firmly into the ground, the force shoving his body back as he pushed forward. Two hundred droplets, and Flash launched his body away as his arms reached out stretching to escape before the walls closed around him. A thousand droplets, and tears formed in icy green eyes that were shut closed and muscles rippled up and down Kaldur's body. Five thousand droplets and Flash was landing on the ground face first with his chin scraping harshly against the concrete, ripping through his costume and digging into his flesh. Ten thousand droplets and the ball of fire was reaching higher and higher into the blue sky along with the walls of the dome. Fifty thousand droplets and Flash made it out in a narrow escape by the tips of his toes. A hundred thousand droplets, and the walls pushed out as soon as Kaldur used all of his might to close the gap at the top sealing in the explosion. Blood dribbled from his nose in concentration, he grunted heavily using all of his strength as muscles tightened and glistened in sweat. No one was going to die today, not on his watch.
The ball of fire pushed, shoved, and shook the walls, but then a cascading waterfall crashed down into the streets as soon as the explosion disappeared into black smoke finally subsiding. It was pushing and destroying the dome with a great boom shaking the streets sending the two heroes flying across above a rushing river of water. A burst of hot air blew into their faces, in contrast to the cool moisture surrounding their bodies.
Kaldur had to smile. Not because he just saved the city, but when he looked up while the water pushed him further down the roads, he could make out a blur of yellow dashing up the side of the collapsing city bank capturing Robin in his arms.
Black and Red hair were in a flurry around their heads.
Wally had Robin tucked safely against his body.
Hands, legs, and fingers still tangled together awkwardly and perfectly.
Green eyes glittering looking straight into white lenses.
Hearts beating faster than the speedster could run.
Together they continued to fall endlessly and hopelessly into an unavoidable fate–
"Kid Flash, Robin!"
–that was not death.
Aqualad gathered the water around him, and created a bubble of water for the two boys to land in, in which they did with their bodies crashing into the liquid, heads first, yanking them a part floating away. There was an immediate sensation of simple and complete nakedness. All Wally wanted to do was reach out and pull Robin towards him once more, but he knew he couldn't. There was technically no reason for him to. It was strange feeling both relief and disappointment when Kaldur saved them.
He led them back to the ground safely, gently letting their feet touch the ground. When the Boy Wonder managed to get his body settled and balanced, he fell over as his injuries finally took hold. Both Aqualad and Flash's first reaction was to rush Robin's side to tend for all his wounds. His skin was swarmed with shades of red and purple blooming all over his body. Torn clothing, ripped skin, and dribbling thick blood seeped out of his cuts. His breaths were short and small.
But with what energy he had left, he had managed to whisper, "I-I k-knew…I could trust you," before falling into darkness.
Kid Flash fell to his knees besides his friend, speechless as to what to say. He felt a mix of hot fury and scorching pain looking at his best friend. He never wanted to see Robin like this, even when he was just that really cool sidekick on the television screen. Robin was proof you could do anything if you just put your mind, body, and soul into it. For someone without superpowers, Robin was sure as hell invincible in Wally's eyes. He needed him to be, because if he didn't have Robin in his life he would be lost. The moment he met this boy, he knew he'd need him in his life. He was enchanted, and he never wanted the magic to end.
He knew what had to be done.
"What do we do if this all backfires on us?"
She landed effortlessly on the ground, her violet hair flowing softly in the wind amongst the smoke and destruction. Her eyes immediately landed on the bright spot of yellow she had been waiting for this whole time. Meeting her glare, Kid Flash stood up gesturing to his mentor to let him handle this. Flash gave him an unsure nod, but he trusted his partner. He knew the boy wouldn't do anything too stupid.
"Magenta, why are you doing this?" He cried out, guilt forming in his stomach as those old, tired, feelings came back with one look into her eyes. He could see anger, he could see conviction, he could see hurt. All feelings he had been responsible for. He almost wanted to fall back down to his knees and to beg for forgiveness for everything he had done. However, from the corner of his eye, he could see Kaldur gingerly laying out Robin's unconscious body, and all those feelings disappeared.
"Robin's right, we need a back-up plan."
"I wanted to get your attention!" Magenta screamed out, hands glowing their violent color of plum and silver. Kid Flash swallowed hard, doing his best to fight any form of hesitation. With heavy shoulders and a heart to match, he dug his heel into the asphalt.
"Kid, do you have any ideas?"
"You have my attention, now stop this!" He propelled his body forward, goggles on, tearing into the wind. Seeing that he wasn't afraid to fight, Magenta lifted her hands into the air and had begun to rip various light posts from the sidewalk and flinging them towards him. As they came at him, he managed to dodge a few of them. But even with his speed and agility, he couldn't avoid all of them. Luckily, he pushed himself off the ground, landed with slightly clumsy footing on the flying post, and ran across with light feet.
"Remember when I said we could do one of two things?"
"Fine! Now that you're here I can do what I wanted to do from the very beginning!" Magenta screeched, red in the face with clenched fists. He searched into blue for something familiar, but it was all gone. It wasn't Frankie, at least the Frankie he knew. A quick shock of pain struck Wally's chest as he wondered if she even cared as much as he did.
"Yeah, what was the other way again?"
"What's that?" He challenged, as he attempted to shove her to the ground, but when he saw something he thought he never would in her eyes. It was wild and frightening and different. It was hate.
"I said we could calm her down."
"Kill you!" Before he could even blink an eye, he could feel every muscle tighten, the rushing blood, the strain in his eyes. She had him in her hold. From Afar, Aqualad jumped to his feet keeping in mind what Kid Flash had instructed him in case of an emergency. Flash had already made his way towards the two teens, but with one sweep of the hand, Magenta knocked the older speedster to the side slamming his body against a building.
"So you're gonna try to talk to her?"
Kid Flash's pupils darted towards his mentor in worry, before choking out in fear, "Why Magenta?"
"No. I already know that won't bring her out of her state."
Magenta only glared up at him for a full second as if she wanted to say something, but instead she stuffed it back and responded with something else. "It's your fault I'm like this! It's your fault I'm all alone all over again!" There was desperation in her voice, and Wally was fully aware of how confused and disoriented she was feeling at the moment, but all of this wasn't going to stop him from being a hero fighting her.
"Then what will?"
"You know I didn't mean for this to happen to you!" He insisted, struggling to try and, at least, move his fingers. But it was no use. He was trapped. In the air, she held a sheet of metal that she had tightly wound into a cone. The point shined and laughed at him, smiling and ready to take him from the world.
"I don't know if I want to tell you guys…I don't want to hurt her. Not again."
Magenta bit down on her lip in frustration before crying out with large salty tears pouring down her cheeks. A flicker of who Frankie was came into his vision, but it quickly faded back into Magenta, "Well it's too late! How long did you try to push me into using my stupid powers? How long did it take to find out you didn't want me? How long did it take to even know who my own boyfriend was?" At the moment, Kid Flash knew he was about to regret everything.
"Kiddo, if it's the only other way you have to tell us, before she hurts someone else."
"Magenta, there's nothing I can do to change all of that! I know I hurt you when I kept secrets from you, but–"
"Ok….Aqualad, you said you could generate electricity, right?"
"But nothing Kid Flash! It's over!" Just as she was about to stab the sheet right into his body, Aqualad ran into the scene grabbing at his bearers preparing to strike…
"Yes, I can. What do you need me to do?"
"Aqualad! Plan B!"…sparks of blue and white flew from his bearers. Determined icy green eyes, careful and ready to aim.
"If it comes down to it in the end…"
"Are you sure?" Kaldur questioned, knowing either way he was going to stop her with or without the boy's permission. But it was always courteous to ask. For the sake of Wally's trust.
"You will have to change her polarity by reversing the flow of her current."
For the umpteenth time that day, time froze. Wally took one look at Magenta, and he knew none of this who this was, was Frankie. If he wanted her to come back, there was only one way to do it. Even if he didn't like it. He almost wanted to tell Kaldur to call it all off, to let him try to talk her back into reality again. But with Flash hurt, the city destroyed, and Robin unconscious, he was left with no choice. It made him feel selfish."…Yes, I'm sure."
"How shall I do that?"
"I'll–" Before Magenta could utter another word, Aqualad slammed his bearers into the sides of her body giving her his most powerful jolt of electricity. The sparks bounced off of her body, and her shriek disappeared into a gasp. The veins on her body pulsated and pushed at her skin, blue and clear as the sky. She fell to her knees, and dropped Kid Flash in the process before completely collapsing to the ground. Wally couldn't bear to look. The electricity is supposed to reverse the direction of her polarity. It was the quickest way to bring her back, but it was dangerous. Despite her affinity to magnetism, she was still just as defenseless as any other human.
"Shock her. As strong as you can."
As soon as Kid Flash signaled for him to stop, Aqualad backed away. Wally rushed to cradle her head in his arms. He ran fingers through strands of bright blonde peaking through lilac and deep purple trying to gently wake her. Hope and blame filled him when her lids finally opened, "W-Wally?" She coughed, before apologizing in a small whimper, "I'm sorry."
A droplet fell from his eye, and soon more came… "No Frankie, I'm sorry."…it was a waterfall.
.*.*.*.*.*.*.
There were bright white lights shining down. Piles of colored rags across the table tops. There was only the sound of buzzing, and a few coughs or sneezes here and there. It smelled…like nothing. The whole place was sterile, but of course, it was a hospital.
Kaldur and Wally waited patiently in the lobby. Flash was with the boy wonder checking out the damage. For about an hour, Wally had paced back and forth across the linoleum floor, while icy green studied him. There was no mistake that Wally cared about Robin a lot with his antsy behavior, but it was strange to Kaldur that the boy had spent the whole ride over speaking not a single word. He had known the boy for only a little while, but he could easily see he was just like his mentor. Chatter box and all. But from what he had seen, beforehand he had no clue their relationship was at a level that of–
"So Kal my man, when was the first time you've been on land?" Wally asked, finally settling down in a chair next to him. The other teen appeared exhausted, but Kaldur knew nothing he would say would convince the boy to close his eyes and take a break. He was much too easy to read.
"As I last remembered, I had to come to Gotham for Batman to–"
"Study you like an amoeba?" The other teen finished, with a goofy smirk. He returned it with a smile of his own, amused at the statement.
"Yes, actually."
The speedster nodded his head, leaning back in his chair with hands behind his neck looking up towards the ceiling. "That's how you met Rob?" He questioned with a soft voice, pupils tracing the lines of the tiles above. Kaldur could see he wasn't really paying attention too intently. He was just trying to keep his mind busy he guessed. It was alright, he understood. If Tula were ever hurt, he'd never be able to rest either.
"Yes, he was at the Cave working with his, I believe, holo-computer he was building." He replied, recalling the memories of meeting the Dark Knight up close and in person. He had many fond memories of the King telling of his heroic feats with the Justice League to the Prince, Garth, and him. Meeting another Leaguer was pretty darn humbling.
Wally quickly sat up in surprise actually listening now. "So he didn't go with Batman to meet you on some random dark roof top?" He exclaimed, jaw dropped.
"It was a 'random dark' alleyway to be more precise, but no. Robin did not. Why do you ask?" Kaldur scratched the back of his neck, not so sure of what the boy was implying.
"Did he know a bunch of weird stuff about you?"
He shook his head, extremely confused, "I do not understand."
Wally looked away pausing for a moment, than he continued to interrogate him. "He didn't say he knew anything about you?" He exasperated, his voice hurried and impatient for answers.
Kaldur cocked an eyebrow replying, "We had just met, why would he?"
Before Wally had a chance to say anything more, Flash had come through the doors stealing away his full attention, causing them both to forget everything else. "Robin's going to be alright."
"Thank god." Wally sighed, wiping his forehead in relief. Kaldur could see dark and heavy bags, the red in his eyes, and his languid movements. However, there was not a thing in the world that could shield the brilliant white smile that could not hide at the sight of their friend walking in on both legs. He still had bruises and bandages, but he would be O.K. Wally truly did care a lot; there was no masking any of it. Every time Robin was around, his walls of insincerity fell and he was at ease.
The two stood there whispering through their eyes sharing a moment, like passing notes in secrecy. He wondered if the Flash saw it as well. How could anyone miss it. But as quick as their moment came, it left and they laughed it off. So that's why…
"What's up, Dude? Feeling better?"
"Totally. Nothing I can't handle."
…they don't see it yet.
"Robin, do you feel well?" Kaldur asked, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Robin grinned and gave a thumbs-up. He was amazed of how unbreakable this breakable boy behaved.
"Nothing a few bandages couldn't fix and being back in my uniform-" He started, until he fist pounded with Kid Flash, "Ow!"
Flash pulled the two boys a part shaking his head. "Hey, take it easy. You need to take time off to heal, is that clear?" Flash scolded. He knew as soon as Batman saw him he was going to have his butt, so the least he could do was make sure the man's ward didn't do any more damage to himself.
"I know…" Robin whined, rubbing his hand affectionately, green eyes sending a sheepish apologetic look. With just one grin, it was all O.K.
Kaldur smiled warmly at this sight, "I am glad you are fine. Do you require anything else?"
Robin cackled lightly, "don't worry about me Kaldur. Thanks back there, by the way." He thanked sincerely.
He shook his head gesturing to the red head of the group, "You must thank Wally, he had been the one who had saved you."
The young speedster waved his arms frantically. "Dude, you saved both our butts. You deserve all the credit. You freaking stopped Keystone from becoming obliterated!" He insisted, with action noises and hand signs for affect. The other boys laughed, and Flash was simply relieved to see everything worked out – for the most part. No one died, that's a plus!
"Hey guys, I gotta get Aqualad back to his King now. Wrap it up, and we'll head out." Flash told them, placing an arm around Aqualad's shoulders, jabbing one thumb towards the sliding doors.
"It was really cool meeting you Kaldur. You're a chill guy." Wally bid, but not without a high-five and a one armed 'bro hug'.
Kaldur nodded happily, "It was nice to have met you as well. You are…an interesting fellow to say the least." He meant it with good humor; it was truly a good feeling to have friends in a place so different from his home. Especially ones he could be himself around, and you know, not have to hide his Atlantean markings.
"I'll assume you mean that in a good way," Wally chuckled"think you wanna hang with us surface dwellers more often?"
"I believe I will." Kaldur bowed
"Sounds like a plan."
Robin tsked, tired of not having any of the attention as he forced himself back into the conversation. "So, we'll see you later, Kaldur?"
"Indeed."
Flash led him out, but not without calling behind him, "alright you two, behave until I get back." He warned, making it a point to look at Wally.
Wally rolled his eyes dramatically, and folded his arms scoffing. "Uncle Barry, we aren't five." He groaned with insult. Flash only shrugged his shoulders as he left.
Robin cackled while adjusting his holo-computer, "Funny bro, you sure act like it." He half joked, playfully elbowing him in the side sending tickles up and down.
"DUDE!" Wally complained, but he smiled as he brushed his fingers across the spot. He couldn't deny he enjoyed the sensation. Robin could have a tickle fight with him any day. With that in mind, a spot of pink bloomed on his cheeks slightly decorating his freckles. Luckily, Robin was too busy playing with his holo-comptuer to see. Blue covered his face.
"Now what?" Robin asked, implying he was expecting the other teen to come up with a good idea. He kept his eyes on the screen before him, never looking up.
Wally was lost in thought for the longest time simply staring at the bright, blue, light reflected off the whites of his mask. "Wanna see something cool?" He suggested, still holding his stare. His voice was soft and wondering. Robin didn't seem to notice, he was too preoccupied keeping his face planted on his holo-computer's screen.
"We can't go anywhere too far, I hope you know that."The Boy Wonder pointed out.
"Don't worry, its close by." Wally reassured, before scooping the younger boy up from behind. Robin flailed his arms and legs, struggling to escape his hold.
"What do you think you're doing?" He demanded to know, doing his best to keep his head down. The pink on Wally's cheeks darkened, but he didn't really care. He could say he was allergic to bird brains or something.
"Dude, no way you can piggyback right now." Wally explained, referring to the blossoms of purple, blue, and red up and down Robin's legs and arms. Alongside the bandages across his chest were also a bit of a setback.
"Fine." As soon as he stopped trying to escape, he gripped his hands behind Wally's neck. The feeling was different from piggybacking. It wasn't as awkward as that position was…actually…it felt pretty comfortable – natural even.
Wally grinned in accomplishment, pulling down his goggles and making a light jog out of the hospital. It didn't go without notice, however, that the boy trained to escape any trap, set of ropes, or cage by the master himself couldn't even leave his arms.
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Author's Note: Thankyou for reading! Review and let me know what you thought. If you have any comments or questions I will do my best to always reply! My boyfriend broke his Lent once, so he's letting break one for one day. Really though, let me know you still read if you do. It's my only encouragement to keep posting. Only the ending left. Wonder what will happen?
P.S. The battle scene was loosely based on the issue of Flash where Magenta steered a dangerous rig through Keystone because of Wally. Thanks for reading!
P.P.S. (heh, peepee) Special thanks firstly to my friend TheWickedWizardofOz being one of the most amusing reviewers on this site and great to talk with alongside MistressofRobins who writes 'Step by Step' and is super sweet. Also, special thanks to Konyi who left inspiring words in their reviews, and I am honored to hear such great things from!