The next time Wally West opened his eyes he almost didn't think he was in a better place. The sky was gray and ash colored snow was falling from it. The usually fruitful land of Happy Harbor, as he would recognize it anywhere, was barren and dark. The ripped figure of Mount Justice stood in the distance. On instinct he stood up and a ran a few paces to the familiar landmark, until he realized that even in the last time he remembered no one would be there. There were no lights on in the town.
Every building had been torn to pieces. But it wasn't just by age; he knew the markings of a battle against Superman. Two holes side by side advertized his laser vision. Wally also realized that it had been a long time since the battle, but not that long, maybe a few years. How odd, why hadn't it been rebuilt. A lot of times cities use the excuse of a super villain attack for renovations. Something wasn't right, and not the obvious things.
Everything looked so different. He set his eyes on the grease spot of a high school, the place he once attended a party at that got way too out of hand, the place they had taken kids after the hole parents disappearing diabolic that ended in losing one of their own, and the place he had watched M'Gann cheer and Conner play football {A/N: Can't you just imagine that?} and Zatanna and Dick compete in gymnastic competitions. How long was he in that damned speedforce?
:::
Barry almost didn't wanted to open his eyes. Wally had been in there five years and didn't realized it, he and Bart could have been in there for a hundred years for all he knew. His dear Iris was most likely dead, his babies old by now. But he opened them anyway. The moment he did he regretted it. He was in the middle of Central City, just outside the Flash museum. The huge statue of The Flash had fallen on its side. It was Central City, but it wasn't. His home was in ruins. He stood up and turned around, but his knees gave way in pain when he saw what his beloved city had become. He slipped onto the incredibly cold ground in agony. The sky was gray and he couldn't even see the outline of the moon or the sun.
Barry's mind drifted to Bart. There was no way that his grandson had come to the future for "fun". He had done something to Neutron to stop him from blowing up the city. He knew the paths they were going to take. Maybe he was born into a hell like this. Bart had taken Blue Beetle under his swing and had guided him. Without Bart, Jamie would have been lost to the Reach forever. Maybe in his childhood Blue Beetle was the bad guy. And maybe now that had come to pass.
But he couldn't know for sure. Maybe he didn't want to know for sure.
:::
The smoke was building around them; every now and then someone would pop out of the darkness. Gran would sing her song. Dad would punch and dodge blows using his speed. Aunt Irey would shoot an arrow, then speed around and kick the bad guys.
Emily was crying about wanting to help, yelling about leaving them to die, how horrible a person Bart was. He realized this was how he sounded to his father the night Momma and Jordan died.
The girl who was more than his sister buried her face in his chest, her small body racked with sobs. It killed him to see his angel like this, but what had to be done had to be done.
Suddenly a towering blue figure stepped out the smoke like and action star from the old movies Jordan had loved as a kid.
"You're Blue Beetle; you've come to take us away, haven't you?" Bart tried bravely. When he was younger and he played with Jordan, his brother was the hero, The Flash, Green Arrow, Superman, and Bart was just the reporter interviewing him, the scared bystander, and, on occasion, the wise cracking protégé. Jordan was big and mighty, while Bart was the sidekick, it worked for them. Now he had to be brave.
"Yes, meat." His voice sounded nothing like he had pieced together from old Team stories involving Jamie Reyes. Wait a second… maybe that was what they needed.
"But you're not just Blue Beetle, are you? You were once a boy, just like me. You had friends, a team. I've heard about you having a sister, too, wasn't she a Green Lantern {AN: Not sure if that is canon exactly, but I've seen way too many fics for that not to be.}. I used to think maybe you could be that man again—"
"Bart, what are you doing?"
"Improvising, and then I saw you push aside my Aunt Lian, quite literally, the daughter and niece of some people you trusted like family, and one of the few people who still believed in you. When my dad had to tell her and Uncle Damien's family that you killed them or took them or whatever you did to them, no one was surprised.
"Your actions just justified what they had already suspected; you were too far gone for redemption. Prove them wrong, let us go. Let me, Bart, Donnie and Anna's kid, Grandson of The Flash, Green Arrow, and Black Canary, and my friend, Emily, Irey and Johnny's kid, Granddaughter of Wally, Artemis, Nightwing, and Zatanna, Great Granddaughter of a whole lot of League powerhouses (not to mention big bads), go, and show them all they were wrong, eh, Jamie?"
The monster stood very still, he didn't move his weapon hand.
"Nice speech. Got anymore tricks?" She might be a quiet kid, but the girl certainly had her "Wally" moments, as Aunt Artemis called them.
But it worked; Blue Beetle lowered his stun gun. "I never thought anyone could believe in me again, but…you know you remind me a whole damn lot of Barry, kid, Wally, too. They both tried to see the best in others."
Just when the kids thought they'd won, Black Beetle came up behind the newly reformed villain. He muttered something in Jaime's ear. The tip of Blue's gun was the last thing Bart saw before darkness.
:::
Bart awoke to one of the Reach's minions slapping him across the face.
"Wake up." After being around the invaders for so long Bart had learned the basics of their language.
The creature pulled him out of the back of a transport by his hands tied behind back. Around his neck was one of those metagene inhibitor collars he had heard about.
"Move." The Reach croaked. In fear of being electrocute, he did.
He led him down the hall past experiments. Some of them he recognized. Bart swore he saw Captain Marvel strapped to a table.
"Where are you taking me? Where's Emily? Where's Dad and Aunt Irey and Uncle Johnny and—"
"You Earthlings ask too many questions." He sighed "The Leader finds special interest in your friend. It is not every day we discover a child with two inherited active metagenes.
"She, and you, for that matter, are also very high in value to many of our…more troublesome inmates."He smiled, as if formulating a horrific scene. "I expect your family, and about a twenty other projects to stop wrestling their inspectors if they knew your life was at stake.
"As to where you are going, well you'll just have to find out."
He led Bart down a hall into a sort of observation area. Out the window was a horrifying sight, his family, his heroes, shacked to tables in some sort of mess hall. He could pick out a few, his father, Aunt Irey, and Uncle Johnny were present, but there were scores of others. Even Superman was there. It looked like almost all of his grandfather's generation was there and a good number from Uncle Dick's, but also his parents'. He scanned the…there they were, Momma and Jordan, shackled and collared like the rest of them, at table with Aunt Lian and Uncle Damien.
The strangest thing was they were completely motionless, like they were in a daze.
As if reading his thoughts the attendant announced, "They are under a serum that keeps them half awake. We can wake them up when we want to, if we want to." His smile gave Bart the shivers. "Bring in the girl." He said.
His Emily stumbled in. She took in her surroundings like he had. But her eyes found someone different in the crowd. He followed her gaze to a woman in the back with ebony hair and a man with raven black, Bart knew who they were, Zatanna and Batman.
"Any idea on getting out of here?" She whispered to Bart.
"Nope, not a clue."
The attendant stood up to a microphone on a table. "Hello heroes," He said greasily, and on cue all of the jolted awake, chattering, yelling across the room, just how books describe cafeterias to be.
"I have brought you out of your pods for a very special occasion. You might have noticed my guests up here today."
Bart watched as his father tried to stand up and yelled, "Bartimaeus Allen, you are grounded!"
"What does grounded mean?" Emily asked. She didn't realize the heroes could hear what the kids were saying.
"You're lucky you don't know," Uncle Damien muttered. "Ow." Aunt Lian had kicked him under the table.
"Oops."
"Geez, I never expected that many people to be alive." Bart muttered.
"Why kill when you could study?" Reach Ambassador smiled manically. Emily spit at him.
Bart swore he heard Uncle Wally mutter "Good aim."
The Ambassador scowled at her. "You'll pay for that girl." He said as he nodded to the control's operator. The operation pressed a button and Uncle Johnny's inhibitor collar went off.
"Daddy!"Emily shrieked. Bart felt his insides go into mush. Hearing his baby girl sound like that killed him. "Stop it, please! PLEASE!" The control operator jumped and quickly shut it off. Now that was a tone you don't want to hear her. She might be a tiny, malnourished, seven-year-old girl, but she could pack a punch, literally. If there was one thing sweet little innocent Emily inherited from Great Grandpa Batman, it was that ability to scare the shit out of bad guys.
The Ambassador turned to the other worker. "Did I tell you to stop?" He sighed "Anyway every time any of you act out we will torture someone you love. Do you understand?"
All of Bart's great "heroes" had tears in their eyes. It was way different than the stories he had been told. The Reach had broken them. Now Bart was going to break the Reach.
:::
Bart was jolted awake by what felt like electricity surging through his body.
"Oi! Virgil!" He yelled at the older boy. "Knock it off, I'm awake, I'm awake."
"Who are you?" A woman in front to him asked. Was that Batgirl? Why didn't they know who he was?
"Wait, but— I'm Bart!" They both looked confused. "You, that time traveler you found. Bart Allen, Kid Flash, Impulse, geez you'd think a kid from the future would make a bigger impression."
"No, it-it's not that." Static stuttered. "You're supposed to be dead."
"Sorry to disappoint." He said sarcastically.
Barbra and Virgil turned around. "I-I know. Yeah, okay." The muttered into their comm. links. "Sorry Allen." Virgil's hand went down hard on Bart's head, knocking him unconscious.
"It can't be him." Timothy Drake A.K.A. Robin (until further notice) came out of the shadows.
"It sure looks like him." Cassie Sandsmark A.K.A. Wondergirl who just arrived at the scene nodded at Static's proclamation.
"But what about what he was muttering about." Batgirl noted. "Does anyone know an Emily?" Everyone present shook their heads.
Cassie frowned. "But he's from the future. Maybe she's from there. I mean does anyone really know him that well?" Again no one knew. "I would be more worried about "The Reach, The Reach, Uncle Johnny, stop it Beetle."" She mimicked.
"No one has heard from Dick or his kids in almost a year. It couldn't be that Johnny, little Johnny Grayson, could it?" Tim asked anxiously.
"Again, the future." Wondergirl reminded them.
Barbra thought for a moment. Then she nodded. "Do you're thing, Virgil." He shocked Bart back into reality.
"Hey! Oww." He cradles his head. "Thanks a lot, team mate." Bart scoffed.
"I said sorry." Static mumbled.
"Does want to tell me what is going on!" He yelled.
Cassie stepped forward. "Who's Emily?"
Bart froze. "H-how did you learn that name?" Their former friend looked stricken.
"You were mumbling it in your sleep." Tim recalled.
"She…" What the hell was the best way to put it? She's you Great niece? Yeah, no. My best friend? That's not even true. Nobody? He couldn't help but laugh at that one…
"I'll tell you once you tell me what's going on. How long have I been 'dead.'"
Barbra, who was obviously the leader of this strange array of heroes, pursed her lips. "You want the long version or the short version?"
"Just tell me the damn story!" Bart cried.
"It only took five years for the world to go to hell. It all started just after you and Flash supposedly died. The League was in complete disarray. No one wanted to work with anyone. The entire system was falling apart. It was kind of like Flash had been the glue that kept us together. Everyone blamed each other for your "deaths." Then the big, big guys started acting really weird. Wonder Women went back to Themyscira. Superman left Earth and we haven't from his since. Aquaman closed down Atlantis' access to the outside world. Both Green Lanterns left Earth behind. Even Red Tornado went off the grid.
"With the League divided The Light attacked and took over the world. It was theirs in less than a week. I-I've seen an attack so fast." Barbra looked down.
"Why didn't we detect them on the Watchtower? I mean you've faced worse threats, even divided." he asked.
Cassie looked at him. "Bart, did you ever wonder why, when you radioed for help that day no one came. They hacked the Watchtower, took it over, set off poisons that killed anyone there. We lost a lot of good men that day." She glanced down.
"Are you the only ones left?" He asked worriedly.
They all exchanged looks. "As far we know." Robin started. "But don't worry, you're still here, so you're parents must be alive. Last we heard of your dad and aunt was Iris and Paula were taking a lot of kids down into hiding. There are tunnels that lead under cities, a literal 'underground' for refugees. The light did away with any type of order, so the world is a war with its self. I don't think Alaska exists anymore due to some idiot inventing some idiotic invention."
"So the bottom line is, people now suck at being people." Everyone laughed. This was the kind of thing the world lacked terribly of. Bart sighed. "I guess it's now time for my explanation. The source of a speedster's power is called the speedforce. It is a pocket dimension filed with pure energy, kind of like where speed goes to die. When you go too fast you cross over into that dimension and it's impossible to get out. You have to run for all eternity and never stop. It is the worst place. There is nothing to look at and nothing to do and nothing to see. You just run straight forward. You slip in and out of consciousness and after a while you forget who you are. But you have one tether to this world, and you repeat its name automatically.
"Barry and I were sent there when we were fighting that thing that attacked Central. I was strange now that I think about it. We weren't going incredibly fast. Anyway when we got there we weren't alone. Someone else was there as well. The thing that flashed me back to reality was his eyes. Very vivid, bloodshot emerald eyes. Wally. Somehow he broke free of the bonds of the speedforce and with all our strength we turned back in our world."
Bart looked up at all of their blank faces. "What?" he asked.
"Sorry, we didn't catch any of that."
"Oh." He repeated it, careful to be slower this time.
"Wally…is alive?" Barbra asked slowly.
"Last time I checked."
"And we were in a pocket dimension for five years?" Robin clarified.
"Uh huh."
"The pocket dimension filed with pure speed energy?" Cassie asked
"That's correct."
"And you survived?" Virgil asked.
"I think so." Bart said sarcastically. None of them took any noticed
"But Blue's scarab said he ceased." Bart could tell that level-headed, logical, brilliant Barbra was trying so hard to wrap her head around this.
He scratched his head. "I'm still trying to figure that one out myself. But I think scarab meant his physical form would ceased to exist in this plain." They all looked at him in wonder.
"How did you escape?" Robin questioned.
"We all tried at once, we all weren't doing it for ourselves, we had a big enough reason, the world needed us. There are a number of reasons that it could be. Honestly, I have no idea. You can never be sure with the speedforce. It's a divine force of nature, it does what it wants…" he trailed off.
Cassie went bug eyed. "We need to find the others before The Light does!"
Author's Note: They're back! Well sort of. I hope that answered your question, PainInSilence. I have noticed that by writing this and giving Bart the backstory that I did now I LOVE him. He is my favorite plot to write. Sorry to anyone that wanted more Barry or Wally. But don't worry there will be Spitfire in the near future. And you will see what kind of people the kids turned into.
Thank you all of you who favorited, followed, or reviewed this story or followed or favorite me in general, it is an honor. And hey, this one was longer. School starts in a few days so I won't be able to update as much. Sorry for the grammar mistakes in any of the chapters. I HATE GRAMMAR!