Hi guys!
I'm happy to present the next chapter in Nightmares! While I'm not sure if my wrist is fully healed I am now able to type! Enjoy!
Wally couldn't breathe. His heart was pounding, he was sure he was bleeding from somewhere, and he couldn't breathe. He knew he couldn't stop running. If he stopped running more people would die, and every one of his failures added to the pile of corpses left behind him.
Everything was on fire and he could hear people screaming, babies crying, car tires squealing as they all tried to escape the madness with their lives. But no matter how hard he ran or how desperately he searched, he couldn't find them. He couldn't find a single person.
He ran into a building, trying to follow the screaming, but the smoke and heat overwhelmed his senses until everything was a blur. The building creaked dangerously, and he tried to run faster, tried to find one person, but his efforts were in vain. He wasn't fast enough, and the building crumbled around him.
As he stared at the wreckage that was once an apartment building, part of his brain tried to figure out how this had all happened, but it was overwhelmed by his grief and the consuming feeling of failure. He hadn't saved a single person. There were who knows how many people lying inside the rubble of the building, dead because he wasn't fast enough. He wasn't ever fast enough.
He heard more screaming and pulled himself to his feet, running in the direction of the cries, trying to get to them before it was once again too late. He stumbled over wreckage, and was knocked off his feet by a corpse. He had no time to stop, no time to mourn for them, no time to even think that his failure had led to there being so many bodies that he was tripping over them.
He had to run, to try and be fast enough. Even though he was never fast enough.
YJYJYJYJYJYJYJ
Barry soothingly ran his hands through his nephew's hair, trying to calm him, but it was no use. Wally was trapped in a nightmare of Dr. Destiny's invention with no obvious way out.
Barry looked up as Black Canary as she came back from trying to contact J'ohn.
"He's off world and won't be back anytime soon."
Batman hadn't moved when Black Canary entered, but his faster typing indicated that he had heard her and didn't like the news any more than Barry did. Without J'ohn the boys would be forced to fight through the nightmares on their own, unless they could convince Dr. Destiny to let them go. As much as Barry hated violence he might just have to allow Batman to convince Dr. Destiny to let the boys go.
Dick was silent next to them and for that Barry was grateful. It was hard enough to see Wally in this position and adding Dick to it would only make it worse. He also had a slightly more selfish reason to be grateful, no matter how uncaring Batman could pretend to be there was no way Bruce could ignore Dick crying out in fear.
Barry anxiously ran his hand through his own hair before returning it to Wally's. He couldn't believe this was happening. Of all the misfortunes that could have befallen Wally, this hadn't even been a possibility before today. Barry hadn't thought about Dr. Destiny for years, and he was sure that the rest of the League hadn't either. He couldn't believe that of every threat and villains they knew Dr. Destiny was the one to hurt their sidekicks.
The Flash took a deep breath, shoving his anger out of his mind. Anger didn't solve anything, he told himself, anger didn't solve anything. He had to continually remind himself that; despite the fact Dr. Destiny had gone after Wally, he had to control himself. He knew that vengeance was a terrible thing that destroyed lives.
The ding of the computer was deafening, and the Flash quickly moved to Batman's side. He memorized the coordinates displayed and was off, pulling his cowl on his head as he ran.
He had tried to keep his anger in check, but with every step he took it rose out of the box he had shoved it into. Dr. Destiny had dared to go after Wally. Every one of the Flash's villains knew Wally was off limits. Only those with a death wish dared to even considered trying to use his nephew against him. Dr. Destiny was quickly going to learn exactly why that was so.
What he was about to do wasn't vengeance, though he would certainly enjoy it; what he was about to do was a carefully calculated act of Bat-justice. He would use just the amount of force needed to encourage Dr. Destiny to release the boys and then he would stop.
Once he was at the coordinates it wasn't difficult to find Dr. Destiny. He obviously thought that the League had remained at the same level they had been at when they fought him last. Unfortunately for him, they had only improved.
The building shook as the Flash slammed Dr. Destiny into the wall of the warehouse, Dr. Destiny's face shifting into an expression of pain and shock.
"How-"
"Let them go." The Flash ordered, his voice scarily similar to Batman's.
"Let who go?" Dr. Destiny asked lazily.
The Flash shoved Dr. Destiny higher against the wall, "You know exactly who I'm talking about."
Dr. Destiny shrugged, "You'll have to be more specific."
The Flash roared and hurled Dr. Destiny across the room, barely giving him time to crash into some crates before he was on him again, throwing him to the other side of the room. In the back of his mind the Flash heard the quiet hum that signaled the arrival of the Batmobile, but his anger quickly pushed the fact aside as he continued to convince Dr. Destiny.
It didn't take Batman long to find them and he quickly took in the situation. Dr. Destiny looked tiny under the Flash's angry form. Every pore of the Flash's body vibrated with pure rage, and the bruises decorated Dr. Destiny's face proved that the Flash's anger had consumed him.
It was rare for the Flash to become angry, let alone reach this level of rage, but all bets were off when it came to Kid Flash. The Flash was extremely protective his protege and didn't allow anyone to lay a hand on him. The villain who was unfortunate enough to land a decent hit on Kid Flash always learned to regret it. His revenge was always quick and merciless, and was the reason every member of the league knew how blessed they were to have the Flash on their side.
"Let them go!" The Flash ordered, and though Dr. Destiny flinched, he tried to hold his ground.
"Or what? You'll-"
He never got to finish as the Flash grabbed him by the collar and took off. Batman's cape hardly having time to stop swaying before they were back again, Dr. Destiny vomiting onto the warehouse floor.
Batman knew they were approaching dangerous territory. While he approved of the Flash's interrogation techniques, he knew that the speeds the Flash was putting Dr. Destiny through could be deadly to humans. They needed to end this now, or Dr. Destiny might not live to regret his actions.
"Let. Them. Go." The Flash growled, and Dr. Destiny looked to Batman for help.
For the first time in existence, Batman found himself playing Good Cop, "I'd do as he says. Lightspeed can be deadly."
"You can't kill me!" Dr. Destiny shouted.
"We shouldn't, but we can."
Dr. Destiny looked between the two superheroes and tried to find a way out of his current situation, "Let me go or I'll kill them!" He finally threatened and immediately found his airway cut off.
The Flash's arm dug deeper into Dr. Destiny's throat as he spoke, "If you kill them I'll make sure you live just long enough to regret it." Releasing the pressure on Dr. Destiny's through the Flash growled, "This is your last chance. Let. Them. Go."
When there was no immediate answer the Flash lunged forward and Dr. Destiny flinched back, "Ok! Ok! I'll let them go!"
He closed his eyes, mentally released the boys from their anguish, and hid behind Batman, "I let them go! Now keep this Madman away from me!"
YJYJYJYJYJYJYJ
The fires were out, and the city had turned cold. Cold ash blew through the streets, turning everything grey. Wally hadn't saved anyone, he wasn't able to save a single person, and now the city was silent. In a way, it was worse than the screaming. The silence allowed the echo of his failure to ring throughout the city.
He wasn't running anymore, there was no point. He sat in the ashes of City Hall shivering in the cold the fire had left behind. He could see bodies, but he didn't look too closely; he could hear his failure, he didn't need to see it as well. They were all dead because he wasn't fast enough.
He was never fast enough.
Don't worry folks, that isn't the end :) I will try to update as soon as possible, but in the meantime please leave a review and tell me what you think of the story!