Chapter 19
The League was still in a meeting and most of the team had gone to their homes. Only those that were living with their mentors, or had stuff to do on the Watchtower stayed. Like Superboy, who was staying with Clark that week because Ma and Pa were at a Farmer's convention. Ms. Martian and Beast Boy had issues because the former was green and couldn't disguise himself. Batman had recently built him a device to hide his green appearance. So Garfield and M'gann were living in Chicago with J'onn. Bart was staying with the Garricks but was in the League meeting. These four had been left homeless when the mountain exploded but they had adapted as always.
Batgirl had taken Robin with her when she left. Conner narrowed his eyes because they hadn't seen the bird since Nightwing finished his meeting with Batgirl, Aqualad and Impulse. If his hunch was correct then Robin knew what was going on. Conner knew he shouldn't be surprised by that but he mentally shouted out to M'gann to let her know.
"Robin knows," Conner thought to his girlfriend once she had set up a mindlink.
"You heard him say something?" She asked.
"No, but he wouldn't have left the watchtower before he figured it out unless Batman himself dragged him out of here, but Batman is with Aqualad, Nightwing, Impulse and the League in that meeting."
"Want me to phase through the walls and listen in?" M'gann offered.
"Yeah, just make sure you're uncle doesn't realize. What about Gar? He's gonna realize we're sneaking around eventually. Should we tell him?"
"Just distract him. I'm going in."
M'gann turned invisible and phased through the wall connecting the team's rec room to the League's main meeting room. She shielded her mind from her uncle and tried to listen in.
"We should be ready on this side in two days," a hero Ms. Martian had never met was briefing the League. He wore funky sunglasses and red leather. The question was who was he that the whole League needed to listen to him? What were they getting ready for?
"Bart and I will start practicing so we can tweak any minor details," Flash said, "Do Wally and your Flash understand how critical it is to match the exact speeds? This is our last chance to bring him home."
Ms. Martian gasped. Wally was alive! Superman heard her and spun toward her but didn't see anything. He probably was over listening again.
"Flash is right," Nightwing stood up commanding the attention of the league. At times like this M'gann couldn't believe this was the Robin she had met all those years ago. It seemed the Leaguers had similar thoughts.
"Wally is missed. He was the heart of the original team and we'd never forgive ourselves if he wasn't returned home. Isn't that right Zatanna? Aqualad and Rocket probably agree," he started naming those first year members in the room. "I know Ms. Martian does. Right?" Nightwing smirked in her direction. She smiled sheepishly as turned visible and flew down to the floor.
"How'd you know?" she asked, slightly abashed under the eyes of her superiors and friends.
"You're never completely invisible. You made a noise alerting Superman. I saw him turn and he brushed it off but when I looked I saw a slight shimmer in the air. You aren't see through, just camoflauge. So when you move it creates a slight ripple," he told her. Batman's mouth twitched in a proud, barely visible, smile.
"M'gann. Why are you eavesdropping?" her uncle asked with a stern look. Now she definitely felt like a teenager again.
"Conner and I thought something was up. Nightwing came to visit for no reason. He was at the Watchtower two weeks ago and his visits are usually planned. He also asked to talk to Impulse. Blue Beetle and Robin seemed suspicious as well so Conner and I decided to investigate."
"Robin, I'm not concerned about. What I want to know is how Blue Beetle knew something was up," Batman's harsh gaze turned on Impulse. Flash frowned back at his friend.
"B-man," Impulse raised his hands in surrender, "I didn't say anything. Blue's smart. Usually I would tell him all about secret missions. He probably thought something was up because I didn't say anything. Or it could've just been his scarab."
"Scarab?" asked Wonder Woman who had been pretty quiet. Most of the League was still absorbing this. "What does his Scarab have to do with this?"
"Everything, I should have thought of that. Blue said his scarab said something when Wally disappeared. The Scarab was the one lead I didn't cover," Nightwing groaned.
"I don't think most people would have thought of it. You did a good job Nightwing," Superman comforted the younger hero.
"I'll find Blue later and talk to him about this, another person who needs to be told. Cisco can you tell Wally we're telling Blue?"
"I'll tell him that Ms. Martian (that's your name Right?) and Conner (?) know too. See you in two days." Vibe then fell over as Cisco left his body. Martian Manhunter used telepathy to float him onto a couch they kept in the room just in case.
"Nightwing what's going on? Who is Cisco? Is Wally really alive? If so why weren't we told? We're Wally's friends! What about Artemis? You can't keep this from her."
"Let's go find Superboy. Then I'll explain everything. You kind of disrupted a meeting which they need to finish," Nightwing ushered Ms. Martian out but turned around once to say, "Fill me in on the rest later."
FlashKidFlash FlashKidFlash FlashKidFlashFlashKidFlash
"Hey! Wally!" Cisco called. He had woken up from another vision to find himself on the couch they had set up for when Cisco vibed all of a sudden. It was happening quite a lot.
"Cisco! You're up!" Wally said as he sped into the room.
"Yeah. Just met your cousin," Cisco was about to continue but he was interrupted by Wally.
"You met Bart? How was he? Is he in on the plan? What did Uncle B think? Is the league in?"
"Okay, I only understood about half of that," Cisco said, "You hit hyperspeed after Bart's name. So I'm just gonna assume that you wanna know everything."
"Cisco!" Caitlyn, Ronnie, Iris, and Barry had walked in while Cisco was talking. Caitlyn immediately rushed over to check on Cisco.
"Caitlyn, calm down. It was just a vibe."
"Cisco's right Cait. Let him continue telling Wally what he needed to say."
"Thank you Ronnie. All of you should hear this though."
"I talked to the League. They've agreed to help. Their scientists have already started planning. Bart and Barry have started talking the science of the speed force. Actually lets just call him Flash. So the gist of it is that Flash estimated the amount you'll all need to run, in what direction and in what area of the world. Barry instead of crashing into an unstable particle then you're gonna run with Wally. There is still a dimensional breach of sorts there. You're speed together should open it up. Then on the other side Bart and Flash are gonna run back in the Artic. Apparently the Atom has an idea on how to create a machine to recreate the Reaches wormhole without the devastating side effects. It should be ready the day after tomorrow."
"So this is it. Our last chance," Wally took a seat near Cisco to absorb this information.
"Bart wanted you to know that everyone misses you. Aqualad and Batgirl are keeping the team in the dark. Artemis has no suspicions. Apparently Robin found out within 2 hours. A Conner and Ms. Martian were suspicious. They spied on the meeting, so Nightwing has decided to tell them. Blue Beetle too, he think's the Scarab, whatever that is, would have useful information," Cisco continued.
"I can't say I'm surprised by that. The team has never liked secrets. This is happening though. I think I'm going home."
"We made a promise and I plan to keep it," Barry said.
"We all know Barry never breaks a promise. You're gonna get home if it's the last thing he does," Iris laughed.
"That's true," laughed Caitlyn who was finally getting Cisco to the medbay for a post-vibe checkup.
"Enough already! If we're gonna get Wally home we're going to need to practice. Join me for a lap around the particle accelerator? We should practice my exit so I don't get sucked into another world and start this mess all over again," Barry sped into the cortex and came back in his Flash suit.
"I agree. If I want to get home we need to do this right," Wally copied Barry and sped to find his Kid Flash suit which Cisco had repaired when he had time.
"I'm gonna help Cisco make sure the set up is right. If something goes wrong we don't want it affecting the city. Again," Ronnie got up and started towards Cisco's workshop.
The man himself followed shouting to the other Meta, "I feel like there's something wrong with this arrangement. Shouldn't I be leading the way?"
Iris caught Caitlyn's eye and the two women erupted in giggles. It took a while but they sobered up eventually.
"Why do I have the feeling this is going to change everything? Again?" Iris's eyes refused to meet Caitlyn's. They both knew the former's reporter's intuition was usually right. They were just scared what that meant for the team this time.
AN: After this Story is over starts season 2 AU. They already know about the Multiverse and some other stuff. Example: Iris having a mom and brother or Oliver's son and that West-Allen is together. But the basis of the season is pretty much the same. It's all about fighting Zoom. Ronnie will die. Caitlyn and Jay will happen. Patty will not.