Iris, Wally, and Dawn: 1

As the trio stepped out of the Zeta-Platform, Wally wondered why there was a Zeta-Platform here in the first place. Usually, they were just placed in big cities, or in the hometowns of Leaguers, but as far as he knew, there were no heroes stationed here, which again begged the question of: why?

A dark little voice in the back of his head suggested that Batman had known all along what was going to happen to them, and he had prepared for this moment in advance, but he quickly squashed the thought. Even Bats couldn't have seen something as horrible as this coming and done nothing… right?

Shaking off the thought, he turned to look at his Aunt and little cousin. Iris still had red rims around her eyes, and her hair was a little messed up. For anyone else, that wouldn't be such a big tell, but Aunt Iris was a reporter. When she looked anything less than perfect, you knew something was wrong.

Dawn had a small frown on her face, furrowing her brow into this little v-shape that made Wally want to go "Awww" but he knew better; Dawn had grown out of the 'I want to be cute' phase much earlier than most toddlers. Barry theorized that it was because her brain was as fast as his was, and that her mental capabilities were beyond that of her three year old body. How far beyond, though, they could only guess.

Dawn pouted a little. "Where's Don? I want Don! Where is he? Where is he? Where is heeeeeeee?"

Unfortunately for his ears, she had not yet outgrown the whining phase. Iris looked like she was about to cry again at the question, so Wally jumped in.

"Don is staying with Daddy for a while. Don't worry, you'll see him again… soon."

Dawn crossed her arms. "How long is soon?"

Wally opted to ignore her in lieu of figuring out where they were in the extremely small town. Looking around, he didn't think they were in town at all, but had in fact landed in an abandoned factory just outside of town. He had noticed it on the map earlier.

Iris sucked in a deep breath, and then leaned down and grabbed her daughter's hand. "Okay. Let's go."

Wally went out first, and immediately saw a silver SUV waiting outside. It looked like the equinox, but he couldn't be sure. When he jogged over to the car, he found the door unlocked. After rummaging around, he managed to find two burner cell phones, an address written on a note card, the papers putting the car in their name, and the keys.

Jingling them triumphantly, he hopped into the driver seat and started the vehicle. Iris moved and opened the side door and, sure enough, there was a car seat exactly Dawn's size strapped in. Bruce really did think of everything.

Iris walked to the other side of the car and got into the passenger side. Looking down at the card, Wally felt a kind of weight settle down on his chest. They were really doing this; they were moving away from everything they knew and everyone they loved for the sake of some crazy rouge division of the government. And now he didn't even know how to get to the address on the card. As reality really set in, he felt the urge to either laugh hysterically or cry for a really, really long time; neither of which were appropriate right now.

Iris rummaged around in between the seats and the center console, and shouted "Aha! I knew he would have put this in the car!" She pulled an atlas out and flipped to Montana, tracing the roads and trying to find out which direction they should go.

Wally tried to cover up his desolation about the whole situation by asking the obvious question. "Do I even want to know how Bruce got this here? Or how it didn't get stolen even though the thing was unlocked?"

Iris smiled. "Well, I think the answer to the second question would be, this is Montana. Not really anyone out here to steal it."

Wally shrugged. "It could have gotten hijacked by some bears or something, I don't know."

Dawn leaned foreword. "Why would the bears want a car? Can't they just walk? Can they even drive the car? Was this a bear car? Did you steal it from the bears, Wally?"

It was amazing she got all of that out without having to take a breath. Or, maybe not, considering who her Dad was. And her Mom. And her favorite cousin. And her… nephew? Okay, so maybe not so amazing after all.

Iris answered without looking up from the map. "No, sweetie, they can't drive cars."

"Oh." She was quiet for a beat, then asked, "Can I drive the car? I want to drive the car!"

"No, Dawn."

"Please?"

"I said no."

"But I said please! You always says it's the magic word, but if I say please and I can't drive the car, how's it magic? If it was really a magic word, you would let me drive the car."

Wally fought the urge to bang his head against the steering wheel, knowing that he would have to get used to it if he was going to be living with Dawn for…

Dang it! Now he was thinking about it again. Okay, that's fine, just don't think about—God, now he was thinking about Artemis! Whatever you do, just don't cry. Don't cry, it will upset your Aunt and then Dawn will start crying, and then you'll be in a car full of crying women and no one wants that, so please, just don't—

"Wally, are you okay?"

Dangit! Wally wiped the offending tear from his cheek. "Yeah. Have you found out which way we're going yet?"

Iris gave him a look that said she knew what he was trying to do, and it wasn't working, but she was giving him a free pass just this once. "I think so. Just pull out here and go left."

Wally followed her instructions, and soon they were miles into the woods and mountains that seemed to go on forever. It was beautiful out here; the mountains and the cloudy skies. The winding road was a little harder to navigate, but he had a handle on it pretty quickly.

Dawn started yawning after about five minutes. She had missed her nap earlier, and hadn't slept well the night before. If they were lucky, she would be asleep by the time they got there, and they could avoid Dawn being just old enough to have information to give them away to the locals, but not enough to stop her from telling said locals.

The rhythmic motion of the car lulled her to sleep soon after that, leaving the car blissfully silent. Aunt Iris fiddled with the radio for a moment before finding the one station that wasn't a weird mix of country and Christian rock.

They drove along peacefully for a while, at least until the song was interrupted.

"We interrupt this broadcast with some breaking news. I have just received word that the fugitive known as "Static Shock" has just been apprehended. Amanda Waller confirmed this in her statement just a few minutes ago, but was still unable to confirm the whereabouts of the two groups known as-"

Iris leaned over and turned it off, leaving the car deathly silent as they both thought about the implications of that. Wally hadn't known that Virgil was still out there; maybe if he had just been captured, it meant that the other Runaways were still out there. He stopped himself before he could go any further along that line of thinking. His job now was to keep his head down and his family safe; what was left of it, at least.

Aunt Iris covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stifle the sobs that were coming over her like waves because she knew it would wake up Dawn, and she needed her sleep.

Wally took one hand off the wheel and placed it on his aunt's shoulder. "It'll be okay, Aunt Iris. We'll be fine."

She waved off his concern. "I know, I know. I'm fine."

Wally gave her the same look she had given him earlier, letting the issue go. She attempted to smile at him, but it looked more like she was pressing her lips together in an attempt to stop crying.

The car once again descended into stillness as Wally intensely focused on the road, and Iris on the landscape around them.

After a while, though, he got a little concerned. He knew Montana was big, but was it really this big? Bruce probably wouldn't have put them this far outside of town, in case they needed to make a quick get away.

He shook his head. It was probably fine. It just seemed long because they were separated from all of the people in life that made them happy and safe, and Artemis was with the Shadows and they were going to turn her into a freaky ninja assassin and—

Why does his mind hate him so much? Can't he just go five minutes with some peace of mind? Apparently not, because Aunt Iris chose that moment to gasp and look down at the map.

"Oh, no!"

Wally braked hard, sending them all jerking foreword in their seats. "What? What is it?!"

Dawn started wailing in the back, mad at being woken up from her nap. Wally furtively glanced in the mirrors, making sure that there was no one else around. Man, being on the run had made him as paranoid as a Bat already. Hmm… if this makes him paranoid as a Bat, what does it make the Bats?

Aunt Iris smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, hon. I just realized that we were going the wrong way."

Wally gave her a deadpan look, then lowered his head and bang it on the steering wheel a few times for good measure. When he was done giving himself a headache, he looked over at her and said, "You know we're on the run, right? You can't go freaking me out like that, Aunt Iris!"

"Hey! You watch your tone, young man. You may be twenty three, but that doesn't mean that I'm not your Aunt anymore, and you'd better act like it!"

It was Wally's turn to smile sheepishly. "Sorry, Aunt Iris."

She gave him a hard look that softened into a smile. "I know we're all a little on edge about…this, but that doesn't mean we can act like-"

"Mommy, why are we on the run?"

Wally and his Aunt looked back at Dawn in horror, knowing that she would never let this go.

"Ummmmmm…."