Part 2: Unnatural Disaster

by Sagga Bott

While struggling through his recovery Wally West gets an offer he doesn’t dare refuse? What will it mean for him, for the world and for his future with the League?

10. Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori

Part 2: Unnatural Disaster

Chapter Rating: PG-13

Summary: Wally West struggles through his recovery but what happens when he gets an offer he can't refuse? What will it mean for him, for the world and for his future with the League?

Disclaimer: The DC characters are not mine. I'm just playing with them. They'll be returned eventually, not in good condition but that can hardly be blamed on me!

Author's Note: Here's Chapter 10…several months later….don't hurt me!!

Warning: Language (couldn't be helped).

Chapter 10 – Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori

Decisions were made –nothing spectacular really.

Lines were drawn –not the ones many had hoped for.

He stood alone. It was surprisingly warm.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, J'onn." He sighed. "As much as I don't want you to go, you've got to get out of my head. Vril has…y'know mind powers. He'll know if you're around."

Wally felt J'onn's nod, which, needless to say, was weird. "We are near."

The young man swallowed with difficulty. "I know." He'd briefed the League on what the Coluans had told him and they'd come to this arrangement. Actually Dick had snitched on him. Wally had intended to do this by himself, which in hindsight was pretty dumb. So they'd cornered him before he could dash off and came up with the hastily concocted plan they were currently implementing.

Wally wondered if the others expected this strategy to work. He did but he also expected the price to be high. There wasn't really a way around it.

The quiet and calm of his surroundings didn't rub off on him. If anything it made him more nervous. Each whisper of the wind had him turning expecting to find someone. Each rustle in the brush drew his eyes there. So far there was nothing. Maybe he wasn't coming, part of him hoped. But he knew. Vril was coming. He suppressed a shiver, held back the nausea, took a deep breath and shook out his arms trying to quell the urge to move.

"I'm okay…I'm okay…I'm okay…" he repeated his mantra, bouncing on balls of his feet. He could really do with a distraction right now. Hey, a blue flower! "What's a pretty thing like you doing in a place like this?" he asked quietly and glanced around the barren landscape he'd chosen for the meeting. It was far from major cities, away from minor cities, in the middle of nowhere. The great American Midwest. There might be some environmentalists with a bone or two to pick with him later, but better scorched weeds than scorched people.

A spec in the sky caught his eye. At first he thought it was just a bird but the speck got bigger, until it was no longer a speck. And birds don't glow like that. Wally took a deep breath as the three newcomers landed before him. Brainiac had created one of his usual energy spheres and flown Luthor and Dox to the meeting place. The sphere winked out of existence and nothing but air stood between them and him.

Wally waited for one of them to do or say something. He wasn't quite sure who was in charge. He'd expected Vril to say something immediately, but both he and Luthor kept glancing to Brainiac. Was he the one in charge?

"Wallace Rudolph West, also known as the Flash," Brainiac decreed in his hollow, mechanical voice. It was the same as Wally remembered it from the battle months ago, except the echo of Luthor's voice was absent. "You've been a great inconvenience to me."

"I do what I can."

"You will not stand in my way again."

"I beat you once before, and you were twice the…cyborg?…" he couldn't help a quick glance to Luthor, "…that you are now."

"Dumb luck," Luthor replied. "I emphasize the 'dumb' part."

Wally glared at him then turned his gaze back to Brainiac. He was ignoring Vril because he couldn't afford to be distracted. "I know what you want. I know what you all want. Power," he said to Luthor, "knowledge," to Brainiac. He didn't have to say what Vril wanted, that's what had brought them here in the first place. Now he had something for the other two. "There's a certain something that will get you that." Knowing he had their attention he pulled from his pocket the small object that Amanda Waller had graciously donated to the cause.

Brainiac, Luthor and Dox immediately recognized the object. Luthor was practically drooling. Brainiac was as excited as a cold, heartless machine could get.

Wally waved the piece of technology back and forth like a he was teasing a dog with a treat. "That last piece of the Dark Heart you were looking for. I got it."

"You want to make a deal," Luthor assumed. "You're not as dumb as you look."

"Apparently you are; because the deal I'm offering is…" he paused for the sake of suspense, "…I do this." Wally closed his fist around the white and black object, breaking it to pieces with a crunching sound. There might still have been some salvageable pieces but he wasn't done yet. He brought his hands together, palm to palm and by rubbing them against each other at an outstanding speed, he incinerated the remnants of the most advanced piece of nanotechnology to black dust. "And you can go to hell."

With a pleased smile on his face Wally dusted off his hands, first together, then on his uniform when his hands were still grey with ash.

"You…you idiot!" Luthor went to one knee and touched the small patch of ash. He rolled the fine particles between his forefinger and thumb, lamenting the loss of the greatest piece of work ever produced. Lex glared up at the red-head with the short cut and told him, "You are as dumb as you look."

Wally tilted his head to the left, unimpressed, and flipped him off.

"Your back up is on its way," Brainiac suddenly announced and Wally didn't bother wondering how he knew. It didn't matter. Brainiac, this Brainiac, was beatable. It wouldn't require him having another close call with the speed force. "It's a pity for you that they will be too late."

He didn't waste time. Wally knew a threat when he heard one. He tried to strike first, swung a fist at Brainiac's face. Either he'd telegraphed his punch or Brainiac had gotten faster. Brainiac caught the flying fist.

"You're getting slow."

Wally had a snappy response for him but before he could get it past his lips the grip on his fist became inhumanly tight. The pain coursing up his arm, brought him to his knees but Brainiac decided he wasn't causing enough. With his free arm he punched the young man. It was an awkward looking movement, his arm moving so quickly but the rest of his body motionless. The movement was just as graceless when he brought that same fist across Wally's face, backhanding him, knocking him off his feet, yet not relinquishing the grip on his hand.

"That's enough!"

Wally thought he'd heard somebody on his side but that had to be an illusion. His friends weren't here yet. They'd remained far enough away to stay off Brainiac's radar and draw the three suspects out into the open. The problem was that Brainiac's radar was advanced and the only want to keep him from being aware of their presence was to be far enough away that they couldn't be detected and than meant that help was not very prompt.

"Let him go."

"Your emotions cloud your judgement." That was definitely Brainiac, no mistaking that voice. "We must annihilate him in order to secure our ascension. We can not make the same mistake again."

"What does he matter?" Luthor asked dismissively. "Even that degenerate, Superman, can beat you the way you are now."

"This being will still be in our way when we merge with the last remnants of the Dark Heart."

"There's more? He just destroyed…"

"He destroyed what he believed to be the last of what we wanted. But just like the rest of his species there is much he doesn't know."

The daze of the two blows to his body was beginning to wear off. The barren stretch of earth, the dry, prickly shrubs at his feet were beginning to come into focus. The vice around his hand released and Wally felt himself falling. He would have moved in time to catch himself but something caught him around the neck first.

He couldn't breath!

Eyes wide, he clawed at the cold appendage tightening around his trachea, depriving him of oxygen.

"Stop it!"

This time Wally saw who was coming to his aid. It was Vril. Not the most comforting of rescuers. The choke constricted further and Wally decided that now wasn't the time to be picky.

From beyond Brainiac's right shoulder Vril approached with the intention of stopping this before Brainiac killed his prize.

"It must be done."

"You always were too inflexible," Vril admonished and raised his right arm, taking aim of Brainiac. A large beam of bright energy discharged from his limb. The pattern of biometal pulsed brightly before fading back to its silvery colour. The beam of energy caught Brainiac directly in its path launching him several meters away and leaving his mechanical arm still gripping the throat of his target.

Wally fell from the air but faster than gravity could pull him Vril caught him.

"Are you alright?"

The voice was too close and his hands where on him. If it weren't for his desperate need for air, Wally would have been out of his reach in a fraction of a second. As it was he barely had the strength to pry the locked artificial fingers from his neck.

He gasped when it fell away, stirring the dusty earth and disturbing his blue flower. The unwanted hand running over his head might have been making him dizzier than the suffocation. All Wally knew was that he wanted to get away. But he couldn't. When he tried to pull away Vril held on.

"Please, just let me go," he begged through the gasps and the watering eyes.

Vril shook his head and gently touched the human man's face. "I can't."

"We can take care of them later," they both heard Luthor yell at Brainiac who was being given back the arm he'd lost. "We have to get out of here before the rest of the Justice League shows up." Brainiac reattached the arm Luthor had picked up.

"Agreed."

The bright bubble of energy formed again this time only around Luthor. Brainiac didn't spare Vril and West a look prior to taking to the sky and flying them both away.

"Wally!" someone in the distance called out to him.

It was time for Vril to make his escape.

"I'll find you again," he whispered and then vanished.

Wally shivered. Sounded like a threat to him.

"Wally are you okay?"

He looked up to find Shayera and the Green Lantern at his side. They helped him up.

"Yeah, mostly." He cleared his throat. "Luthor and Brainiac-"

"We heard. Don't worry Superman and the others are on them," Green Lantern informed. He didn't mention what they'd heard of his conversation with Vril.

"It figures Waller would keep a piece of the most advanced nanotech in the galaxy for later study. I told you we couldn't trust her," Shayera said

"What choice did we have? At least we know where he's going."

+JLU+

Elsewhere…

"Are you sure about this?" Bruce asked.

"Aren't I always?"

A sigh drifted through the air. Batman gave him a look wondering when and where that habit had been acquired.

"You'd be sighing a lot too, if you were me."

"I am you," Batman mumbled but went back to his work.

"Why are you doing this? Why now?"

"Because I don't think we'll get another chance. We've already had too many."

Bruce continued to lean against the massive computer, almost identical to his own. Something had changed in his alternate universe twin. He wasn't quite sure yet but given his double's actions it seemed like he had learnt from a mistake he hadn't even made yet. It was a mistake Bruce had made and lived to regret daily.

"I guess you learnt my lesson."

"You knew he probably wasn't going to make it. You knew Luthor would kill him. And you didn't do anything," Batman both recounted and accused.

Bruce raised his head a little in defiance but didn't totally contradict it. "I wasn't sure. I had a hunch."

"You always listen to your hunches. Why not this time when it was important?"

Bruce sighed, again Batman's lips pressed into a thinner line at the annoying sound. He hoped he never became this melodramatic.

"I was…afraid, I suppose –didn't want to tip my hand."

"You chose your pride over his life," Batman indicted harshly. He had less sympathy for himself than he did for the crooks he put away, because he knew what he was capable of. The downside of having a mind like his was the pressure to use it and the sense of failure when he didn't. "And almost as stupidly you confessed to Superman. It explains why you two were so frosty to each other, why you avoided the Justice Lords as much as you did. The others forgave you or simply didn't realize how close you were to saving him. But Superman, you must have seen the accusation in his eyes every time he looked at you."

"You presume a great deal."

"I don't presume anything. I've seen it in the faces of the others after Superman told them what he knew. But only Superman still looks at me with suspicion."

"Is that why you're going behind his back?"

"I'm doing what you were condemned for not doing."

"The Flash is that important to you." Bruce was relieved that his counterpart understood. When Batman glared at him through the white eyes of his cowl Bruce began to rethink how enlightened his double might be.

"Important to everyone." Batman handed Bruce back his device. He'd modified it and they were good to go. "We need him."

+JLU+

Brainiac knew Superman was coming. He'd linked himself to the satellites orbiting the globe. Nothing could sneak up on him. It was also through the satellites that he'd patched into the US governments system and found evidence of one more piece of his nanotech target.

Superman became visible over the horizon the moment Brainiac expected him to. His augmented vision allowed him to see the expression on the sole living Kryptonian's face. There was anger but it was still controlled. Brainiac estimated that he could win against him.

Despite the long distance Superman covered it quickly and attacked Brainiac without so much as a word of spite. Brainiac dodged both the punch and the red laser beams. He lowered Luthor to the ground and turned to face his nemesis. He'd miscalculated, an error due to his primitive and imperfect state. It would take more effort than he'd originally estimated to defeat Superman, who was upon him again.

Two hard punches caved in each side of the metal head but they rebounded to their original state in a few seconds.

"We meet again, Kal-el."

"I'm going to have to cut his reunion short," Superman said before flying at Brainiac with another flurry of lethal blows. Brainiac caught one fist and then the other and blasted the alien hero with three bolts from the symbol on his chest.

Brainiac barely had time to charge for another one shot when something collided with his back. He rotated his head around and looked down to find an arrow sticking out of his back. "Your primitive weapons can not harm me," he announced.

In the distance Green Arrow pressed a button on a remote and watched with satisfaction as Brainiac crumpled releasing Superman who was quickly caught in mid-air by Steel.

"Primitive delivery system maybe, but the virus downloaded to you definitely isn't."

Next to him Elongated man twisted himself around. "Where is Batman anyway? You'd think he'd want to see his creation in action?"

Green Arrow just shrugged. Batman was too strange to figure out and thus couldn't be predicted. More importantly at the moment, Brainiac was taking a pummelling from Red Tornado and Fire. They combined their abilities to create swirling maelstrom around the downed mechanical being. Together they had enough power to melt the metal of which Brainiac was composed. Unfortunately, before they could finish, Luthor attacked Fire and Superman attacked Red Tornado.

Wait, what? What was going on?

Superman was on the good-guy side. At least he was supposed to be. Several heroes glanced at each other wondering what had occurred.

Nearby J'onn illuminated the situation. "Brainiac is controlling him with a psionic crystal. He must have acquired it during his regeneration in the Coluan Mothership." J'onn as a telepathic being, could feel the faint but familiar waves of psionic energy originating from Brainiac.

"The same way Supergirl was affected in Cleveland," Elongated man commented. Everyone had heard about that particular incident. Their fear of a repeat performance was not something they spoke of but the worry had been in everyone's eye. Because who among them could take on Superman and win?

"Their neural physiology makes Superman and Supergirl the most susceptible."

"Well how do we stop it?" Elongated man asked.

"We must destroy the source."

"And keep Superman from killing anyone," Green Arrow added unsure which task would be harder.

Overhead, and on the ground, all the assembled heroes attacked at once. The broad, gently rolling plains of Illinois suddenly became a loud and hectic battlefield.

"Superman! Snap out of it!" Vixen yelled in his ear, her arms wrapped tightly around him and the power of the boa reinforcing her own formidable strength. It wasn't enough. Superman elbowed her in the gut and then threw her into Captain Atom who had been approaching. A blast of white energy caught Superman in the back but didn't do more than annoy him. Eyes furious, he tuned to S.T.R.I.P.E. who continued to fire even if only to keep Superman's attention on him giving the others time to regroup.

Superman flew at S.T.R.I.P.E. but was deflected by a punch before he made it. Wonder Woman grabbed the temporarily downed hero by his collar. "Superman, you have to fight it!" Behind her the sounds of the others taking on Brainiac and Luthor reached her ear but she didn't turn to help. "Superman!" She shook him and his eyes flew open. The wild fury was still there but for this brief moment it was contained. He pushed away from her and clutched his head, stumbling in the dry remains of a lost crop. "Superman?"

He didn't look at her. He looked at Brainiac who was throwing heroes left and right, the virus having worn off. He looked through Brainic's metal skin to his innards, among which was the faint pink glow of a psionic crystal. With a quick, barely perceptible motion twin red lasers streaked across the field and carved into Brainiac's chest a small, double-lined 'X'. It marked the spot they had to hit.

Wonder Woman watched Superman shake his head as though shaking something off. She though perhaps he was himself again. The sudden attack on her proved he wasn't and she defended herself.

"What's going on?" Green Lantern asked as he arrived with Shayera and Wally. Green Lantern had purposely taken his time getting to the battle. Shayera had held back too. They weren't slacking off. It wasn't a Green Lantern or Hawkgirl type of thing to do, staying away from a fight. This was actually a little known part of the plan. They wanted to keep Wally away from the fight. They were betting big on not needing him in the battle. With the whole League taking them one and with Brainiac in a less advanced form, victory would still be hard, but achievable.

Shayera, for the first time that she could recall, had actually hoped the fighting was over when they arrived. What they found was Superman and Wonder Woman trying to beat each other into a pulp, while Brainiac, slightly deformed but still whole, fought along side a well-armed Luthor.

J'onn brought the three newcomers up to speed. "He's under Brainiac's control."

"How do we get him out of Brainiac's control?" Wally asked as he was deposited on the ground, out of the green orb that had carried him.

"In what looked like moment of clarity, Superman told us were we had to strike but we've been unable to—"

A resounding crash and then an explosion cut J'onn off. John created a shield to protect them from flying debris. When the smoke cleared Brainic and Luthor were gone but Superman was still not himself.

The comm. units in the League members' ears beeped to life and Mr. Terrific imparted much needed information on them.

'We're tracking Luthor and Brainiac heading east. Looks like he's still going to D.C.'

"We need to intercept him," John muttered ready to take flight.

"Got it," Wally said and then took off going west.

"That's the wrong way," Shayera said out loud.

J'onn understood the young man's thinking. "Not if he goes all the way around."

+JLU+

It turned out that Brainiac could still be snuck up on if the thing doing the sneaking was fast enough. Even with all his advanced sensory technology and his link to the satellite he'd pointed at the Earth, Brainiac didn't see the Flash coming until it was too late.

Jumping just at the last moment, Wally rocketed through the air at a phenomenal speed and swung the fist he'd pulled back, hitting dead on the mark that Superman had made. Wally's momentum carried both him and Brainiac a little westward but both were still in the vicinity of Brainiac's target. It was the high security government lab, the same one Vril and Yall had broken into searching for the remnants of the Darkheart. They hadn't found it the last time. So, where better to hide the Darkheart than a place the enemy already knew it wasn't? Only, with his uplinks in the computer networks, Brainiac cheated and knew exactly where to go.

Wally landed a second after he pulled his arm out of the mechanical man. A few shards of crystal were stuck in his flesh but he quickly pulled them all out and felt much calmer once he had. The familiar greenery surrounding the government complex was quiet and peaceful, a startling counterpoint to the rage and mounting panic that Wally felt as this situation progressed.

Brainiac stood slowly, off balance due to the damage. There was a gaping hole in his chest and each movement he made caused pieces of the crystal Wally had shattered to fall from the opening.

"I will no be beaten by you again."

"I don't think you really have a choice." Wally was going to strike but a third voice entered the conversation from above.

"Brainiac, leave him alone. Or I'll kill your partner," Vril threatened and landed nearby with a weapon trained on the man he'd caught in mid-air when Wally had attacked Brainiac.

Brainiac took half a second to think but eventually agreed. "I will not harm him." Brainiac retreated. Some things could be left for later. He immediately took off, to the surprise of Luthor and Vril.

"What are you doing? Get back here!" Luthor yelled.

Wally pulled a small communications device from a pocket and spoke into it. "He's coming your way, fast."

"Copy that. We'll get him."

Wally sighed and shook his head at their overestimation of themselves and their underestimation of Brainiac. He glanced at Vril who still had Luthor in an uncomfortable grip but his eyes didn't make it past the alien's knees. He couldn't look at him. He ran to the battle without acknowledgement of the man who wouldn't leave him be.

"I don't think he likes you," Luthor mocked.

Vril glared and tightened the arm around his captive's neck. "Shut the hell up." A quick and hard knock to the conniving human's head brought unconsciousness quickly over him.

"We're only slowing him down!" Lorelli looked to Nightwing but the grimfaced hero didn't respond. He knew they were screwed.

"Well, I guess I wanted action," Booster Gold mumbled to himself, while he cradled his left arm. He was pretty sure it was broken. Stupid robot. He'd wanted to be in on the main fight, tired of crowd control and courier missions. He'd been assigned to back up the Strike Force Alpha Team and hadn't been happy. He was pretty sure that Nightwing had been just steps from clocking him after listening to him do nothing but complain, when the fight finally came to them, and Booster Gold now wished it hadn't.

He'd tried to take down Brainiac, but even in his damaged and imperfect state Booster Gold had lost to him, a defeat both embarrassing and painful. Now the SFA was blasting Brainiac with the combined forces of their powerful CS-9 rifles. The torrent of bright blue-white energy was hitting Brianiac dead on but he continued to walk forward, leaning into the force of the blast to keep his momentum going.

"Where the hell are your friends?" One large man from the military team asked in a yell over the whine of the weapon on his shoulder.

"They're on their way," Nightwing responded, his eyes still on Brainiac. He whipped and snapped open his own version of a batarang and hurled it the approaching enemy. The wind created by the blast of the rifles threw the trajectory off for a tense second but the small weapon overcame and plunged into Brainiac's head. Through the bright glare of energy it was hard to see the small red light blinking but the explosion that followed couldn't be missed. The small but powerful charge created a shockwave that sent two of the SFA members flat on their ass while the others managed to brace in time.

"Did you get him?" a dark skinned woman in the SFA uniform asked.

The rifles were quiet, the whine of their exertions quickly fading to nothing. All eyes were on the cloud of smoke and dust a hundred feet away.

"Keep your weapons ready. I don't think it did more than slow him down," Nightwing warned. He didn't usually wish he had superpowers. Batman had taught him that a keen mind was just as dangerous as superhuman strength but there were times when brute strength was a definite advantage that brains couldn't be.

"Break. Two by four," Lorelli ordered. The words meant nothing to Booster and Nightwing but the SFA team quickly reorganized themselves. Two went slowly ahead to where Brainiac had been. Another four remained a few strides behind. The rest held position at the front of the complex.

"Can't see anything through the smoke," Marks mumbled. The man next to him agreed. They were just disappearing into the haze when they were struck down. Their team-mates were quick to attack but Brainiac was too fast and too strong. He broke their ranks, flung them aside, wholly decimating the human defence force.

Finally there was nothing in his way except a few measly walls. He struck them, blasted them, but they continued to stand.

"It's been reinforced. It might not be impenetrable but the way you are now, you aren't much."

Brainac turned his head to Nightwing and told him, "Your efforts only inconvenience me." The machine turned back to the wall and from the increasing glow in the empty eyes Nightwing new Brainiac was up to something. He couldn't let whatever he was about to do happen. But before he could react a flash of dark colour struck. Brianiac crumpled forward, then another blow force him back. Brainiac struck out and his one shot hit the Flash dead on to send him careening into the foliage.

Nightwing didn't hesitate. With Brianiac distracted and weakened further he had to make use of the opportunity. He landed a few good blows but not even the explosive he detonated inside the hole in Brainiac's chest did more than rattle the artificial intelligence. Before he knew it Nightwing was pinned against the outer wall taking a beating. Brainiac flung him aside when he was done and Nightwing would have collided head-first into a tree if not for some speedy intervention.

"Nightwing? Nightwing!" Wally called not seeing any response from his battered friend. "Oh God, Dick, say something," Wally pleaded. He watched the laboured breathes push a bloody cough to stain the paling lips. For a moment Wally saw Axel. The young criminal he'd nearly pummelled to death in a fit or rage.

"Wal…Wal…" a raspy voice pulled West from his shocked stupor.

"You're gonna be okay," Wally assured simply because Dick had to be okay. "Medic!" he yelled and though Hill had minor injuries and had yet to shake off his daze he responded to the call and made his way over. "Please, help him."

Hill didn't respond. He went to work doing what he could to help the hero who had no more special abilities than anyone else on the SFA team excluding Wally.

"Go…" Nightwing rasped. "…stop…"

"No talking," Hill ordered absently as he took vitals. Dick glared at the officer and that more than anything Hill might have said allowed Wally to believe Dick would be okay.

"Play nice guys." He gave one smile then headed back to the fight.

The SFA team had Brainiac cornered against the outer wall. With no way for him to get in they had focussed their weapons on him. Wally accelerated as much as he could in the short distance and let loose a punch that when it struck, shook the ground. Unfortunately it was a wasted shot. Brainiac was gone and Wally's punch had hit nothing but the wall. He pulled his arm out of the huge dent and looked around.

"Where the hell did he go?"

As if in response muted sirens began to sound from within the building.

"Let me guess, that's something along the lines of 'intruder alert'," Wally grumbled and struck the wall again just because he needed to hit something.

Nobody on the SFA commented on the anger and frustration they could nearly see rolling of West in waves. "How did he manage that? This place is supposed to be in penetrable," Marks asked.

Lorelli and the others didn't know. All they knew was that under maximum lock down, they had no way of getting in and nothing short of the Secretary of Defence's word would get the doors unlocked.

"The Coluans have teleportation technology. My guess would be that he put it to use…stupid prick," Wally grumbled, glaring at the wall that kept him from his target. He'd been so close to ending it, so close to being able to take a break. After this the Navy, the Military, the US government could take a flying leap for all he cared. He was done when this was done.

"There are no security deployments or personnel inside," a team member announced hopelessly.

"We couldn't take Brainiac down. Do you think they would have been able to?" Lorelli asked rhetorically. He was now fighting his own urge to hit the wall.

It was fortunate that Superman and the speedier of the Justice League members chose that moment to arrive. If anyone could break in, it was Superman.

"Stand back," Superman instructed after they told him of their dilemma. He punched the wall and felt the outer barriers give. He pulled back and punched again. The ground shook and from the greenery a flock of bird took to the sky. Superman pulled back and struck a third time. That time something went wrong. His fist barely made a scratch and when he pulled back, feeling dizzy and weak, his fist was bleeding.

"What the hell…?"

"…kryptonite." Superman mumbled. Wonder Woman supported her friend as he stepped back from the wall. The others crowded in to look. In the crack Superman had made they could see a crackling green force-field.

"Was that in the specs?" Onade asked. They'd been given a cursory run through of the security system before it had been activated but there were dozens of barriers and some of them had unusual names or acronyms they hadn't had the time to uncover before they'd gone into battle.

"That's probably the K-type electro-static barrier," Lorelli interjected. He couldn't be sure but its name didn't matter. All that mattered was that they had no way to get in and Brainiac was probably only inches from the Dark Heart, if he hadn't gotten to it already.

"How deep does the barrier go?" Wonder Woman asked.

"It's all the way around, under and over. They did major renovations on security after the last incident."

A few more heroes had arrived and though they tried they couldn't break through.

"Get the president or someone on the line and tell them to turn this thing off and let us in," Green Lantern demanded.

"We're on it but it might take a couple of minutes." Which was usually considered exceptionally quick when trying to get authorization from high levels in government. In this case it was much too slow.

"I've got an uplink to the inside," the SFA computer tech informed. The laptop, now open on the ground, had been strapped to his back as part of his standard equipment should some on site computer work be required.

"Can you bring down the security system?"

The officer shook his head at West's inquiry and ignored the imprecation that followed. "I can tap us in but we're only observing. We can't actually do anything without the master access key." The screen changed from the black background with white numbers and letters to show interior surveillance cameras. As the tech clicked through the views they could see the path of destructions Brainiac had cut.

"We need to get in there!" Supergirl cried in supreme frustration.

"There isn't any way to do that unless you can walk through walls!" Lorelli was just as annoyed. They'd been trying to defend themselves against their allies, putting up a barrier that even the most powerful meta-human or alien couldn't penetrate. And now their distrust might prove to be the armour that brought them all down.

"How thick is the wall?" Wally asked suddenly.

"Ten feet."

"I can get through that." He'd never gone through anything thicker than a regular wall but he was confident, or desperate. "I can vibrate fast enough to—"

"No," Marks interrupted. "There's some sort of super electromagnetic barrier in the wall as well. Even if you get through the ten feet of reinforced super-alloys the field would scramble your electrical signals so that even if you put yourself back together there's no guarantee your body will still work.

West looked over at Hill who was helping Nightwing sit up. If he didn't try this they'd all be worse off that Nightwing was now. "What other option do we have?"

+JLU+

"Are you ready to go home now?"

Vril whirled around to find his long time subordinate standing a few feet away.

"Come to take me in?" Vril asked dismissively and turned back to his partially obscured view of what was happening at the government building.

"I'm supposed to," Yall said casually and Vril pretended not to listen. "But I know that they just don't understand. We've been at this for so long. Our loyalty goes beyond a cause, beyond a duty…beyond family or honour."

"You're right. They won't understand. They'll take me to Kontak and I'll be executed or imprisoned in an inter-dimensional purgatory," Vril said grimly.

"I won't allow that to happen. But we have to go. You have to give up on Brainiac." She didn't state what else he had to give up on, fearing what his response might be.

"This is my life's work. My greatest…my greatest creation."

"This is the end. The journey is over!"

"Then where is my prize? What is my reward?" He'd lost his ship, he was steps away from losing his creation and all the knowledge and data he'd collected over the decades. If this was the end what was the point in reaching it?

"Your reward is the journey, and your life, so that you can look back and remember."

Vrill shook his head.

"And you're reward is what you shared with the people around you. Even if the numbers have dwindled." Yall saw his shoulders tense and she held her breath, her blue skin slowly becoming shades closer to purple.

"You're right."

She exhaled silently but had trouble breathing again when Vril faced and stepped close to her. She saw in his eyes his acknowledgement of her loyalty and everything else that he'd ignored and that she'd tried to hide. There was no derision or mockery and his eyes, his human-looking brown eyes, were soft and welcoming.

"I'm fortunate to have you, always have been. I wish I had seen it earlier."

Yall took a deep breath and felt as if she was feeling for the first time in years. "I knew you would, eventually. But even if you hadn't, my loyalty to you would never falter."

Vril smiled charmingly. "I suppose we should go then."

"We have to make sure Brainiac does not pose a threat," Yall added reluctantly. "Without you to suitably guide it, it's too dangerous."

"You're right," Vril nodded. "We'll make sure the Justice League puts an end to Brainiac, then we'll slip away."

Yall nodded and they both turned to watch the events unfold, their thoughts and intentions not as in sync as Yall believed.

Vril's lips twitched to a smirk for a moment before he forced the expression away.

+JLU+

They'd stepped back, giving him room. Wally flashed them one of his trademark cocky grins before he focused and began vibrating so fast that he blurred and the air around him crackle with a blue energy. It was strange how Wally felt at that moment –disconnected from his life but closer to the invisible forces in the universe that they explain in science class. He was relaxed, as though everything made sense and there was nothing to worry about, because what they knew and felt and experienced was so small but so special. The only other time he had felt like this was when he'd been in the Speed Force. It was probably as close to a religious experience as he would ever get. Maybe it was but he couldn't be distracted.

Wally took one glance back at his friends, his colleagues and knew that no matter how small or insignificant, they were important, they meant something. If not to the universe then, at least to him.

"What's going on?" Batman's voice sudden came to him, like a gentle wave of sound. He saw bright eyes turn to him and he smiled and stepped into the wall.

"Wally!"

"Batman!" Wonder Woman didn't reach him before he made it to the wall, but Batman didn't reach the wall before Wally disappeared through it, leaving only a patch of faint warmth in the hard material.

"What's he doing?" Batman's voice was tense and hard, barely different than usual but those that knew him could hear his worry. They were worried to.

"We need to get through the wall. We can't break it and there's kryptonite," Wonder Woman explained. Batman could hear her worry. Looking into the eyes of the others he could see it on their faces too.

He'd only just arrived, just made it to the scene after making the necessary arrangements. J'onn informed him over the comm. what had happened out in the mid-west but even he was still making his way to D.C. and hadn't known all the details. The first thing Bruce had seen when the arrived was Wally vibrating, glowing and then looking at him with what he thought was a smile. Then he vanished into the wall. Batman's heart had plunged and he thought his nightmare was coming true. It hadn't. Not yet.

"I see him! He's on the other side!" the computer expert said excitedly. They all crowded around the small screen and watched in hope, then in fear as Wally became solid again and dropped to the floor, unmoving.

"Oh, no…Oh God, no," Marks mumbled to himself, mumbled the words they were all thinking, voiced the sentiments they all were feeling.

"West!" Lorelli yelled, one hand to the device at his ear sending the signal that a similar device on Wally's suit would transform back into sound. "Wally, get up! Move! Say something!"

There was no response. Wally just laid there, ten feet away. He may as well have been on the other side of the world.

"J'onn can you sense anything from him?" the Green Lantern asked.

J'onn closed his eyes, concentrating for a few seconds before responding. "His presence is still there but it is fading, quickly."

"We knew this could happen. He knew the risks," Lorelli stated, eyes cast slightly down.

"The risks? That's it? Acceptable collateral? Is that how you're going to write this up? Just another day on the job!" Shayera screamed.

"That's not what I meant!"

"Both of you enough!" Superman interjected. Still weakened from the kryptonite, his words were soft but no less angry and frustrated. "There has to be something we can do…"

"The neural probes."

Many heads turned to Batman.

"The probes that were put in to his back, they're in direct contact with his nervous system."

"So?" Shayera didn't understand.

"Holy shit!" the computer tech exclaimed and began working furiously on the keyboard. "He's right. We can send a signal to the probes get them to shock West back to life!"

Green Lantern glanced back and forth between the computer and the man, hopeful. "Are you sure? Will that work?"

The man shrugged. "Technically, he's in perfect working order. There's nothing physically wrong with him. Hopefully all he needs is a jump start." The man's index finger lingered over the ENTER key for a fraction of a second before coming down harder than was necessary. The message was sent.

They watched as nothing happened.

"Damn it!" He typed some more and sent the message again. This time the message got through and on the screen the image of Wally showed the body convulse as the electrical shock jolted his body into an uncoordinated flail. But once it was over, he was perfectly still again.

"Again!" Lorelli ordered though the other officer was doing so already.

The body jerked. Again he went still after the shock passed.

"Again!" Spasm and then stillness. "Again!"

"Wait!" Batman grabbed the hand that was about to press on the keyboard once more. "Wait." He swore he'd seen something. A second later his suspicion was confirmed. Wally's left hand moved. A second after that his breathing became apparent. In the moments that followed Wally turned himself onto his back, eased the burn and the ache throughout his whole body with deep breaths, and pulled what little strength he could find back into him.

"West?" Lorelli said again, his hand activating the communications device.

Wally didn't have a voice to respond with. He managed a thumbs-up and a weak smile and began slowly to where he knew Brainiac was.

"He's okay." Lorelli stated to sighs of relief. Though knowing to whom he was heading and seeing his weakened state, all of them silently added 'for now' to the end of the statement.

+JLU+

"He's okay…" Vril closed his eyes. "He's okay."

Next to him, Yall was dumbstruck. More than dumbstruck, she was shocked, she was numb, she was dead. She averted her eyes. A minute ago as the tears of grief had pooled in his eyes. She could not bring herself to watch those same tears, now turned to tears of relief, slip down his face.

"He's okay."

+JLU+

"You again."

"Yeah…me again."

Brainiac continued with his assimilation of the most advanced piece of technology in the known universe. "No matter. In approximately twelve seconds the process will be complete, and I will put you out of both of our misery."

"Twelve seconds, huh?" Wally staggered over and stood at the bionic man's side. "Eleven…ten…nine…"

He tilted his head and watched as the last little robot seemed to liquefy and crawl up Brainiac's arm.

"…eight….seven…"

Brainiac's eyes changed from yellow to white. The liquid metal seeped into his metallic body, merging with him.

"…six…five…"

Wally held up his right hand, put it in front of Brainiac's face and folded his fingers in, counting off the last seconds as he spoke.

"…I'm so tired."

Four.

"I'm so fucking sick of you!"

Three.

"Allow me to end the torment for you," Brainiac offered, his voice more empty that ever.

Two.

"No…"

One.

"Allow me."

Zero.

A flash of white and time stopped, or so it seemed. The word lost some of its colour. Wally closed his tired eyes to the frozen mechanical face. He stepped forward, his solid-looking body slipping between the molecules and atoms of Brainiac.

The world's colour came back. Time started up with a bang!

The ominous rumble through the ground faded. It seemed to take with it the tension and unease that had been plaguing all those assembled outside the building. At Superman's behest, Lorelli's agreement and under Batman's glare, they had all moved what was considered a safe distance away from the complex unsure how explosive the battle between Wally and Brainiac would be.

"Was that it?" Onade asked to no one in particular.

"I can sense Wally again!" J'onn announced. "He got Brainiac." A rare smile turned his lips and many cheers went up. The anxiety had increased ten-fold when J'onn had announced that Wally had fallen off his psychic grid. His return to it was very good news.

"Hey…the security system is being disengaged," Marks announced while he continued to look over the other officer's shoulder at the computer screen.

"That has to be West," Lorelli confirmed.

Orders went out and the heroes and military personnel were beginning back to the building when a short warning crackled over the Justice League radios. "Incoming!" Mr. Terrific cautioned only a second before the whine of powerful engines was heard above them and just a few seconds before the vehicles themselves swooped overhead. Before anyone had a chance to ask the crafts began their assault on the government complex.

"What are you doing?" Green Lantern asked into his radio, knowing the Coluan's had a patch into their system so that they could coordinate the offensive.

"We've been advised to take all necessary action to ensure the destruction of the program." A disembodied voice responded.

"Stand down! The Flash already got him!"

"We have our orders." The link cut out. Green Lantern glanced at Lorelli who was looking as unhappy as he was. He took one aggravated breath then joined the fight to defend the building and the occupant from the Coluan offensive.

Marks hefted his rifle and ran with the rest of Strike Force Alpha to join the fight. He couldn't help but wonder aloud: "Who's advising them?"

+JLU+

"What are you doing?" Vril turned murderous eyes to his subordinate.

She wiped the blood from her split lip, marvelling at the fact that both humans and Coluans spilled the same coloured blood. "Your obsession has to end."

"Brainiac is gone!" He advanced on her again, ready to strike her as he had when she'd first informed the commanders on the mothership to order the scout teams still on the planet to attack the building not far from them. "His threat is gone."

"But West's threat isn't," she said.

"He's not a threat."

"He is. He is to you. You just can't see it. He's clouded your judgement, twisted your mind around him."

"He's done nothing to me…except be everything that I would never want or even allow you to be," Vril spat.

"When he's gone you'll–"

The punch to her face pre-empted her plans for the future. Before she had a chance to recover Vril was heading to the building, to the main doors where Wally West was slowly making his way out.

Yall felt something else warm and wet slip down her face. She blinked several times then contacted her people once more.

"It's worse than expected," she lied. "Brainiac is still in tact."

"What do you suggest?" The faint voice sought her judgement.

"Use the canon. That will ensure his end."

"Acknowledged. Get away from there."

+JLU+

John Stewart was conflicted. He was elated that Wally had won against Brainiac again, but he was supremely pissed at these Coluans, who saw fit to intervene when it wasn't necessary. He punched one cruiser with a massive green fist form his ring and watched with satisfaction as it flew away leaking dark grey smoke.

"Wally!" Wonder Woman's happy exclamation turned him to face the building and the sight of their friend stumbling from the exit. Wonder Woman didn't have a chance to get to Wally and envelope him in the hug that she wanted to as another craft took aim and fired upon her. Green Lantern didn't even see the bolt of blue energy that struck him in the back coming. He fell heavily to the ground and had to make a shield to protect himself from further attacks.

The battle raged on despite his triumphant return. Wally leaned heavily against the wall and watched, eyes glassy and mind sluggish. He felt the need to help but his feet dragged and the commands to his limbs resulted in painful responses back to his brain. He managed two steps from the wall towards fight. It was as close as he would get.

"You ruined everything!"

Wally didn't have time to turn. The hard handle of a pistol struck him across his head. He staggered but managed to stay upright.

"How does such a mediocre freak turn out to be such a pain in the ass?"

Slowly, carefully Wally raised his eyes to the angry man. He gave Luthor a weak grin.

Luthor grinned back, but there was only malice behind the expression. He raised the snub-nose revolver, the antiquated piece of killing technology. He took aim and squeezed the trigger.

Pop.

It was a quiet sound in such a large and raging battle. Yet, it seemed everyone heard it. They also heard the dull crack as Wally fell to his knees, arms hanging limply at his side, eyes open, and expression frozen in that of moderate surprise.

Now time moved slowly, exceedingly so, and he moved with it. His left hand went to the wound in his chest and was quickly stained red. A sound that was half a laugh half a cough pushed forth from his lips, bringing up a trickle of blood to trail down his paling chin. A person appeared next to him suddenly and their arms went gently around him, keeping him upright.

"…hu-…g-…" his words, whatever they were, Wally wasn't sure, came out as gurgles.

"Wally…"

Wally shifted his eyes towards the person at his side. His eyes first fell across Luthor who had a hand to his jaw and was looking more than a little dazed. Somebody had hit him hard.

"Wally…"

Finally his eye rested on the man who held him.

"You'll be okay," Vril assured.

Wally wanted to laugh. He hadn't been okay for a long time. He was never going to be okay again.

"Get away from him!" Batman yelled trying to make his way through the chaos to Wally. It seemed all of the Earth's forces were trying to do the same. It was the Coluan ships that kept them away.

A bright white beam suddenly crashed down from beyond the sky onto the building. It did no damage but promised much to come. Just as suddenly the Coluan ships gave up. They ended their fight, turned away and took off so quickly it left everyone reeling.

Batman felt his heart hammering as he traversed the pitted field to get to Wally. Vril was still holding him and the bright beam was still striking the building.

"What the hell is that?" someone asked. Batman didn't care. Wally was over there. Wally was in danger. He had to get there. Even when he saw the ominous pulse of blue energy slide quickly down the column of white energy he didn't stop, didn't slow. Others were trying to get to Wally too, their hearts beating so quickly it almost hurt. Batman was the closest but he was still too far away.

The entire earth shook in its axis when the pulse finally hit. It was followed quickly by a larger beam of energy that blinded everyone and did the real damage.

"Wally!" Someone cried, Batman thought it might have been him. Wally locked his dreary, dying eyes to the stark white ones on Batman's mask. Get up! Run! Batman thought mentally and he thought he might have seen Wally starting to stand.

Vril realised too late what Yall had done –too late to save himself anyway. "Wally," he whispered then used his mind's unnaturally acquired manipulation technique to move a body that wasn't his.

Wally felt his body moving. The burn, the searing ached, tore at his mind and he would have done anything to stop the pain but he wasn't in control. His body seemed to move of its own accord. When it finally came, he welcomed the searing white heat that over came his world and promised the sweet relief of death.

There was no sound, so sight, no time. The attack on the building attacked their senses as well. The expanding dome of white energy engulfed the structure and part of its surroundings. The massive onslaught of energy pulverised whatever it touched, until finally, the beam from high above their heads vanished and the explosion dwindled to nothing.

The smoke began to clear, varying states of consciousness began to return. Where there had a moment ago been a high-tech government research facility there was only a charred, smoking crater. The extra-terrestrial blast had created a shockwave too powerful for any of the heroes to prevail against. It had sent anyone and anything not securely tied down hurtling away. Anything in its path, it had vaporized.

The head count was quick, everyone already knowing who hadn't escaped that final wrath. Luthor was gone. Vril was gone.

"Wally!" Green Lantern stood at the edge of the cavern. His ring was powerless and he could go no further to investigate the still white and red hot, molten crater. "Wally!" He called again and received no response.

Wally West was gone.

"Wally!"

End Chapter 10 - It is Sweet and Glorious to Die for One's Country

OMG! I've done it I've finished writing this part! I thought I would never get here! sobs but I made it! And so did you! (sorry about that). Only the epilogue left in this part. It's written just needs to be revised. I'll have it posted during the week (hand to God).

Sagga…