[Mount Justice

March 23, 09:00]

It shouldn't have been so surprising. It wasn't surprising. They'd known that Wally's father was in league with the Manhunters to some extent at least. Wally had thought that they'd just needed him for one specific reason – not that he was some kind of Manhunter agent. He didn't know what he'd been expecting Batman to find, honestly.

He supposed that he and Artemis would have something to bond over now – both of their fathers were just complete crap.

Wally drummed his red gloved fingers along the top of the kitchen island. He'd been suited up in his Kid Flash costume for the last three hours, waiting for Jay and Max to get there. Uncle Barry had given it back to him just for today, and Wally had put it on almost the second he woke up that morning. Having it on…made him feel stronger somehow, and he'd really needed it after finding out the definite truth about his dad.

He felt more like himself when he was Kid Flash, partner to the greatest hero on the planet, instead of Wally West - victim.

He groaned miserably and continued to insatiably wolf down the remnants of last night's leftovers. He didn't know what was up with his metabolism anymore. One day, he would burn up anything he ate the second it hit his stomach, and the next his metabolism was just like a regular human's. He'd be able to go eight or nine hours without eating and not have to worry about slipping into a diabetic coma.

Wally didn't understand it, but it was pretty clear that whatever was wrong with his metabolism was directly related to his shifts in speed. On the days where he had to eat eight times his body weight, he was slower. When his metabolism was normal, his speed was significantly increased.

But, he had no way to predict the fluctuations or figure out a cause for them. He could only track them and write down everything he did that day in hopes of finding a pattern. So far, there was nothing. It was maddening.

Wally just sat in the empty cave, trying to fill his black hole of a stomach for his run, because the last thing he wanted to do was waste even a single second having to stop and refuel later. He didn't really think it would matter much, though. He felt slow today.

At least Max and Jay were both a little slower than Uncle Barry. It wouldn't be as bad running with them, knowing that he wasn't holding them back. Wally dropped his head onto the kitchen counter; his goggles hit the tile with a clunk instead of his forehead. He just sat there slumped over, feeling his skin crawling with anticipation. Whenever he'd snuck out to run this past week, he'd kept himself restricted to the continental US out of an uneasy combination of guilt and respect for his uncle's wishes. But, today, they were going west to the Pacific Ocean – and there was nothing better than running across an ocean. It was practically speedster nirvana. The immense bodies of water were completely open and clear of obstacles, save for the occasional island, and the surface was perfect. It was mostly flat but just choppy enough to present him with a challenge in the ever perilous game of 'Don't Break the Surface Tension'.

"Recog-"

A rush of wind blew into the room, and Wally could sense another speedster zipping to a halt beside him before the computer could even finish announcing his arrival, "Hope you're ready for a dull run, son. Max is being a grumpy old man today."

"-nize: Authorized guests – A012; A07"

Wally felt a second gust tear through the room but refused to lift his head from the counter. Despite that, just the presence of the two older speedsters lifted Wally's mood a little.

"I am not," he heard Max say half in irritation. "And if I'm being grumpy, you're being cantankerous. All I suggested was that we take a shorter trip to make it easier on Wally, and you call me a dinosaur!"

Wally couldn't help it. He tilted his head to the side and peeked at Jay and Max out of the corner of his eye. Both elderly speedsters were in full uniform and mock glaring at each other with their arms crossed. Max's costume was surprisingly pristine despite the fact that Wally hadn't seen him in it in a long time. It consisted of navy blue pants, boots, and pointed gloves, a long sleeved white shirt with an open collar and ridiculously long lapels. His mask was a navy blue cowl that covered his whole head with a red visor. Jay was in the original Flash costume: red, long-sleeved shirt with a lightning bolt in the middle tucked into blue pants, red boots with wings on the ankles, and his trademark World War II helmet.

Jay grinned at Max and placed his hands on his hips, "You wanted to take the kid up through Canada! He doesn't want to go there."

"What's wrong with Canada?" Max threw his arms out in exasperation. "It's beautiful this time of year."

Jay held up a hand at Max with a skeptical smile. He zipped closer to Wally and nudged him with his elbow playfully, "Don't worry, son. We're going to the tropics. I'm hip; I know what the kids like."

Wally smiled up at the man who was essentially like his grandfather. He certainly thought Jay was the coolest, but he wouldn't exactly describe him as 'hip'. Max didn't miss the smile for one second, and he pointed right at Wally, giving Jay a superior looking grin, "Quit embarrassing yourself. Wally's only humoring you. Maybe you'd actually be hip if you threw out that old Flash uniform and came up with an amazing one like mine."

Jay pulled up a seat next to Wally and clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder, speaking to the younger speedster in a solemn voice, "It's so sad to watch a man's mind start to go when he gets old. He starts saying things that don't make any sense, and the next thing you know, he's dressing up in a disco suit and fighting crime."

Wally started laughing uncontrollably then as Max and Jay went back and forth, playfully insulting each other's costumes. He pushed away from the counter with a genuine smile and swung his legs over to stand up, "I thought we were running today, not making fun of each other's outfits like a bunch of little girls."

Both Jay and Max gave him indignant looks, and Wally just grinned back at them. He was determined to push his father from his mind today, and that's exactly what Jay and Max were trying to help him do.

"Alright," Jay held up one finger, glancing sideways at Max with a mischievous smirk. "We'll get going. But, first, you have to settle this for us: Who's uniform would you want more? Mine or Max's?"

Wally cocked an eyebrow at them and looked back and forth like he was really thinking about it. Then, he shoved his dishes into the sink and sped off before either hero could react, "Uncle Barry's!"

He heard them both laughing behind him, and he continued on to the nearest exit in the cave. Wally wasn't alone for long. Instants later, he felt the telltale ripple in the air around him that heralded other speedsters. He darted to the cave's hangar and pressed the button that dropped the ramp to the outside world.

Max zoomed past him a few yards out and scanned the area while Jay stopped beside Wally, giving him a bright smile, "You ready to cut loose finally?"

Wally almost pointed out that he had cut loose before today, about four times in secret, and also that he couldn't really cut loose in front of Jay and Max without giving away his speed fluctuations. Not that it really mattered today, though. Wally had barely jogged through the cave, and he could already tell that his earlier prediction was right: high metabolism, seeming sluggish to the world around him… He would be slower than usual today. It was a complete bummer, but it would lend to him seeming normal at least.

So, Wally sucked it up and put on his brightest, most excited grin and gave a laugh, "So ready! And, thanks for not letting Max pick Canada."

He said that last part in a low, conspiratorial voice, but Max still looked back at them suspiciously before declaring it safe for them to move out. Jay hunched over and gave him a high five with an equally sneaky grin, "No worries. I know you like to run on the ocean. Plus, the arctic is hell on my joints. And, who knows; it's getting warmer. We may even come across some girls on the beach."

Wally knew Jay was teasing him, and it was deserved. He'd been girl crazy pretty much from the second he'd turned fourteen, and he was a colossal flirt. Normally at a comment like that, Wally would've started imagining something like M'gann or Artemis in their bikinis.

Instead, he thought of the last time he and Dick had visited Roy in Star City. It had been the middle of August, and they'd gone to help the archer move into his tiny little apartment. They'd both said that the visit was to help, but really they'd just wanted to go swimming afterwards – after all, the Pacific Ocean was a lot different from the Missouri River and Gotham Harbor.

And so they'd dragged a scowling Roy all the way to the coast, and they'd stayed at the beach the whole rest of the day. Roy had been stubborn and protested the archer-napping by remaining in his clothes and staying out of the water. Wally and Dick, however, had been fully planning on swimming, and so they'd both worn their swim trunks underneath their jeans.

That's what Wally saw now.

He saw Dick wearing nothing but his swim trunks, completely drenched from swimming in the ocean, stretched out on the sand and soaking up the sun like a cat. He thought about how they were pretty much the same height now and how much older Dick looked since he'd hit his growth spurt. They were both far from finished growing, but Dick no longer seemed like a child. Their two year age gap had never bothered Wally – actually, he frequently forgot that they weren't the same age. That's what he blamed his blindness on. There was no other explanation for how he hadn't noticed Dick's face sculpting, his shoulders broadening and chest filling out, and his legs getting longer.

Jay touched his shoulder suddenly to get his attention, and Wally was pulled out of his musings with a jolt, "Are you alright, son? You looked a little lost there."

"Nope!" Wally straightened up quickly and darted out of the cave towards Max. "I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Someone's anxious to run," Max smiled over at Jay, who was beside them both in a second. "Okay, I want to go over our route before we start."

Wally deflated a little, and he tossed the older speedster an exasperated look, "Did you make an itinerary or something?"

"Yes," Max said seriously, giving him a blank stare. "We're going west."

Wally half smiled at that. His favorite direction.

"I want to run straight across the continent," Max continued. "Once we reach California, we're hooking down the coast to San Diego, and then it'll be a straight shot to Hawaii. I want to fuel up before we hit the ocean. And we'll be stopping every half hour before that too, to be safe."

"If you need to stop at any time other than that, let us know," Jay told him very seriously. "I am not letting you hurt yourself by pushing too hard."

"How am I going to get better if I don't try?" Wally countered slyly, fidgeting in place anxiously.

"You can try on someone else's time," Max grumbled. "Allen has threatened us with bodily harm if anything happens to you."

"Ugh…" Wally rolled his eyes and crossed his arms unhappily. "Uncle Barry…"

Jay started laughing, "Hear that, Wally? No getting so much as a muscle cramp, alright?"

"You know I've managed to trip on air before, right?" Wally chuckled. He'd be the first one to admit that he wasn't the most graceful of beings, but he was getting a little better. Being best friends with an acrobat and sparring with him regularly was helping with that.

Max was still grumbling to himself, "I remember when Allen was so in awe of us that he was speechless. Now, he just treats us like we're his personal babysitters."

Wally tried to imagine Uncle Barry ten years younger and fanboying over Jay and Max as hard as Wally had over him.

"He treats us like family," Jay elbowed him with a mild grin.

"I miss the respect…" Max grumbled but tossed Wally a wink to let him know he wasn't serious. All the speedsters were on uncommonly good terms with each other.

"I miss running…" Wally mumbled with a smile and a sideways look at both retired heroes.

"Kid's impatient," Max shot Jay a look, but Jay was already launching himself forwards in a sprint.

"Last one to Pennsylvania's not a metahuman!" the grey-haired speedster shouted.

Wally felt a huge spike of elation rip through him, and he tore off after Jay immediately, slicing through the air like a knife. His senses sped up to match his gait, and he experienced the world rushing past him with sharpened clarity. There was no blurring of the landscape or struggle to keep up with the various obstacles in the way. Wally burned across Happy Harbor, easily dodging trees and circumventing buildings. He sidestepped people and cars that moved so slowly to him that they almost seemed to be standing still.

This was the best feeling in the world. Wally felt his heart hammering wildly in his chest, and the wind buffeting him with the force of a tornado, and the power in his legs as he raced after Jay, who was only a couple hundred feet in front of him. Wally bridged the gap in a second and zipped right by the older speedster, lightly slapping him on the back, "Tag! You're it!"

Jay took a swipe at him, but Wally ducked under his arm and pulled ahead out of his reach. He zeroed Happy Harbor First National Bank in his sights and ran straight up the side of the three story building. Jay chased him across the roof and down the other side. Wally felt the other speedster closing in on him, so he sprang off the wall at the last few feet, landed in a roll, and was back on his feet with a lead of several meters. He could hear Jay laughing appreciatively behind him.

"Good moves, Kid!"

Wally just grinned at him over his shoulder and pumped his legs faster against the pavement. An exhilarated laugh bubbled up in his chest, and he just couldn't keep the stupid grin off his face. His mood skyrocketed, and all worries and thoughts of his dad were left behind in the dust. This was what he needed.

They sprinted full out, getting faster and faster as the miles piled up behind them. Rhode Island turned into Connecticut, and Connecticut turned into New York. Wally and Jay spent the first fifteen minutes horsing around and playing a game of high-speed tag over three states. Jay even managed to drag Max in once by tagging him in the face. After that, Wally had trouble breathing from laughing so hard at Jay and Max's running wrestling war. They decided to kick up the pace a few hundred miles an hour, and Wally began to feel the strain much sooner than usual.

His eyebrows turned downwards in concentration, and he grit his teeth, pushing through the mild burning in his muscles and the hollow feeling in his stomach. A few seconds later, he started to lose the lead as his companions continued to increase the speed and Wally was unable to run any faster.

He'd hit the wall on his powers.

Much sooner than ever before.

Wally lost his concentration for half an instant as a terrifying thought slammed into him. When his speed fluctuations first started, he was only getting faster. He'd almost allowed himself to believe that he would be on Uncle Barry's level if it continued, but now he was getting the flipside. What if he was going to continue to get slower until his speed was gone entirely?

Just like his nightmare.

Wally's foot hit a raised tree root sticking out of the ground, and he went stumbling forward, almost smacking face first into a towering Pine before he caught himself and slowed enough to regain his footing. Both Jay and Max saw the slip up and zipped over to him immediately. Jay grabbed Wally's arm and pulled him to a stop right in the middle of the forest preserve they were cutting through.

"Whoa there, Roadrunner," Jay took Wally's shoulders and turned him to see his face better. The older speedster's blue eyes were full of concern. "What happened? Is it your powers? – Or something you saw?"

Wally was about to open his mouth to tell him that he'd just tripped, but then he realized that he was shaking like mad and sweat was pouring off of him in buckets. Jay wasn't asking about his clumsiness.

Max put a hand on his back and placed two fingers at Wally's jugular to find his pulse, "Breathe first."

Wally sucked in a huge lungful of air and tried to hold it in as long as he could before exhaling in a shuddering sob. Max patted him roughly on the back a few times, "Good. Is it your powers? Does anything hurt?"

Jay watched him intently when he shook his head, still unable to speak. He squeezed Wally's shoulder for support and made him sit down on the forest floor, "You're okay, Kid. Tell us what happened."

The words still wouldn't come out, so Wally just focused on breathing steadily while Max continued to feel for his heartbeat.

"I think you're having a panic attack," he concluded grimly. "It'll pass. You're fine. Just keep breathing, and stop thinking about whatever set you off. Focus on something happy."

How the hell was he supposed to do that?! His entire world was crumbling around him. If he lost his speed… He-he'd lose part of himself – a huge part of himself. Wally needed his powers. It had been the only thing he could take comfort in when his life was spiraling massively out of control. Oh God – he'd have to quit being a superhero! He'd –

"I said think something happy," Max gave him a small shake when it became apparent that Wally hadn't heeded him at all.

"Think about Iris and Joan," Jay offered him a reassuring grin. "We're all meeting up with them tonight for dinner, and you know they can't wait to see you. Think about how much they love you."

Wally closed his eyes and imagined his aunt Iris and his surrogate grandmother. He thought about his aunt's pretty smile and the way she would laugh whenever he and Uncle Barry had some ridiculous story to tell her about their encounters with Central City's Rogues. He thought about how encouraging Joan always was whenever Wally told her how he'd screwed up his part in a mission or had gotten into a petty little fight with Dick that would be over in a matter of hours once one of them caved and called the other to apologize.

Oh, Wally thought suddenly. He just needed to think about Dick. His heart rate calmed somewhat, and the rising hysteria seemed to slow a bit. Jay and Max watched him warily while he collected himself.

But then he went and blurted out, "I think I'm losing my powers!"

Jay's eyes went wide and Max looked gobsmacked for an instant. Wally just sat there, chest heaving like crazy and staring up at the older speedsters in terror.

Until Max frowned at him in confusion, "You can't lose your powers, Wally. They're written into your DNA."

"But I'm getting slower!" Wally insisted, still in the throes of panic. "I can feel it!"

Jay tried to calm Wally down with a relaxed smile, "Your powers are fine."

As if to contest that statement, Wally's stomach throbbed with hunger pains.

"I've been telling you for years that it's all in your head," he continued. "You just need to stop obsessing over being slower than Barry."

Wally threw him a miserable, defeated sort of look, and his stomach growled furiously.

"Why don't we go ahead and stop off for something to eat while we're here," Max stood up straight and pulled Wally to his feet. "You and Jay figure out where you want to go, and I'll check in with Barry."

"Check in?" Wally groaned quietly. He was still trying to recover from his mini meltdown.

"He's been a nervous wreck about today," Jay leaned in to whisper confidentially. "Don't tell him we told you. He's upset that he couldn't come with you on the run, so we told him we'd check in with him every hour or so and give him a status update."

"He's such a mother hen," Wally kept breathing in deeply.

"Yeah," Jay laughed, slinging an arm around Wally's shoulders. "It's just because he cares. Now, let's think of where to grab some grub. I'm thinking Philly. Hands down."

Wally perked up a little at that, "Cheese steaks?"

"Now you're thinkin," Jay winked at him.

Max zipped back over to them a second later, turning off the communicator that Uncle Barry must have lent him. He'd clearly overheard their short conversation, "We are not running to Philadelphia. It's all the way down state, and Johnny is going to think we're encroaching on his turf."

"Oh, Johnny's not territorial," Jay waved off Max's concern. "And we can't come through Pennsylvania without getting some Philly cheese steaks. It's just not done!"

"It's done every day," Max said dryly, giving Jay a withering look.

Jay elbowed Wally lightly, and he got the hint. Wally looked up at Max with big eyes and a silent smile. Jay joined him in giving Max the puppy dog look, and they both sidled closer to the reluctant speedster. Max held up pretty well against them for a few seconds, and then he caved.

"Fine," Max sighed unhappily, turning south. "But, just know that you are both too old for the puppy dog face. You look ridiculous."

He sped off, taking the lead, and Wally and Jay high-fived before following after him.

They made it to Philadelphia in good time and took a brief, ten minute rest in the middle of the city. The three costumed heroes very quickly attracted a small crowd that gathered around the small sub shop that Johnny had told them was the best in the city, right after he gave them a quick hello and goodbye on the radio. Fifty cheese steaks later, and a few autographs, and they were back on route thanks to Max's insistence that they needed to keep to the loose schedule he'd given to Uncle Barry.

The food helped refuel Wally enough that he was able to make up the lost time in Max's plan and run the entire way nonstop to Chicago. They gave Barry another check in – Wally got to talk to him for a minute and reassure his uncle that he really was alright and that he totally understood that he had important League business that he couldn't get out of, scarfed down a few pizzas, and headed out further west. The trip got easier as they got away from the densely populated cities of the eastern US.

Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska were great - nothing but cornfields and prairie land for miles. They hit a few late winter/early spring storms along the way that got pretty nasty, but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. If Wally could run on ice with little difficulty, he could handle severe weather just fine. Central and Keystone Cities were smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley, after all. He and Uncle Barry had to fight the rogues in the rain and lightning all the time. Captain Cold and Heatwave rarely canceled their schemes on account of a little drizzle, and Weather Wizard was never more tenacious than when it was storming.

They made another pit stop in western Nebraska to check in again, and Wally spoke to Joan when Jay called her to let her know how they were doing. She congratulated him on being able to run so far so soon and dropped in an innocent little comment about how it would impress a certain young hero. Max and Jay hadn't understood it, because they hadn't been there, but Wally remembered very well. He went red and fell silent the rest of the break and most of the run that followed, spending the long stretch to California in deep thought. The morning he'd found out that his dad had escaped the Watchtower, Joan had walked in on him and Dick talking, or rather hugging. She'd gotten the wrong idea – the completely wrong idea – and then she'd sat Wally down and given him the talk.

Wally just kept running across the Great Basin Desert in Nevada, trying not to think about what Joan had said and yet unable to keep it out of his mind. She'd thought that he and Dick were together, which was ridiculous. They were just bros…right? Dick was his best friend…whom he happened to be having weird thoughts about lately.

Like that whole half-naked on the beach thing. And the massage…God, why had he lied about it to the Team? Now, Dick probably thought there was something weird about it, even though Wally totally hadn't meant there to be at the time.

Wally chewed at his lip absently, staring straight ahead at Max and Jay, who were setting the pace so that he wouldn't feel bad about being slower. When he'd tried to deny it, Joan had just smiled at him and said that it was completely okay for them to have feelings for each other. Wally didn't remember word for word what he said in response to that, but it hadn't been anything coherent. Joan just gave him a tight hug and told him that he didn't have to tell her right away. He could take his time.

Take his time with what?! They weren't like that with each other! Dick liked girls – probably Zatanna. Ugh. And Wally liked girls. End of story.

But, Wally was still having weird thoughts about Dick.

Maybe it was the fact that he and Dick were so close. Or maybe it was the hormones. This was the age that they went crazy, wasn't it? Maybe all of Dick's qualities just happened to be what he'd want in a girlfriend. And maybe that's what was tricking his hormones into making him think Dick was attractive.

It certainly wasn't the sapphire blue eyes that he only got a glimpse of if they were holed up in his room at Mt. Justice or if Wally was allowed to stay the night at Wayne Manor. It wasn't Dick's ink black hair, which made him look dark and gave him a mysterious air. It wasn't his mischievous nature or the fact that he had so much fun fighting criminals that he couldn't help laughing during missions. And Wally definitely wasn't attracted to how graceful the young acrobat was or how his lithe body could be both quick and powerful at the same time.

But, man, it was his mind that Wally loved the most. Dick's intelligence and his razor sharp wit were Wally's favorite things about the younger hero. He was only fourteen and already a better tactician than most of the Leaguers twice his age. He was loyal to a fault and had somehow managed to keep his spirit burning bright even after all the horrible things he'd seen. Wally knew that Dick was there for him whenever he needed him and always had his back. It sounded a little dramatic, but Wally knew that they'd give their lives for each other in a heartbeat.

Wally couldn't ask for a better best friend. He couldn't imagine a better person. Dick was just…perfect. He always knew what to say and what to do, and he never lost his cool.

Without warning, a hand suddenly grabbed Wally's arm and pulled him to a quick stop, "Jeez, Kid! Slow down!"

Startled, Wally almost lost his balance again. He tripped over his own feet and would have eaten dirt hard if Max hadn't kept him from falling. He let Max pull him upright and then pushed his goggles up onto his forehead, "What's up?"

Jay blurred to a halt beside them, and both older heroes looked at him with wide, shocked eyes. Wally stared back just as surprised.

"What?" he repeated.

Jay recovered first, "Getting slower my hindquarters! Kid, you were bookin' it!"

"Do you have any idea how fast you were going?" Max still gripped his arm like he thought Wally would take off again. "You passed Jay and I like we were crawling, and then you were just gone. We almost couldn't catch up to you."

Wally didn't say anything. He just looked at both speedsters in confusion and listened to the waves rushing up onto the beach behind him.

"We thought maybe something had spooked you and made you take off like that, but you wouldn't answer us when we kept calling after you. It was like you couldn't hear us," Jay said with a worried smile. "But, when we did catch up, you just had this goofy-looking grin on your face. So, we let you run until we figured you had to be running low on fuel."

Wally put a hand on his stomach experimentally. Not even a rumble.

Uh oh.

"How long did you let me run?" he asked nervously.

"Almost an hour," Max's face was grim. "We thought you were just going to run right into the water, but you turned on down the coast. We're almost to San Diego. You were going twice as fast as your normal top speed."

Oh, geez. They'd burned right through the entire desert and almost completely down the coast of California, and Wally hadn't even noticed.

"What were you thinking about?" Jay ventured curiously. "You looked like you were completely lost in thought."

Wally frowned. He'd been thinking about Dick. What would that have to do with-? Oh.

Ho…ly…

Wally had been thinking about Dick! Thinking about his best friend had made him faster! That…That was the variable he'd been missing all this time!

Dick had been with him that first day that he was allowed to use his powers again – when he'd gone eight hundred miles in a matter of minutes! And, he'd been missing most of the nights that Wally had gone on midnight runs to clear his head of nightmares!

Wally actually laughed out loud. Dick was the key to unlocking his full speed.

"He was thinking about a girl," Jay said suddenly, guessing wrongly after seeing Wally smile. He elbowed Max to get him to relax a little. "Look at that face. I bet she's your secret girlfriend, huh?"

The smile disappeared from Wally's face, and he felt his insides turn to jelly. Jay thought he was lovestruck over a girl. But he was actually thinking about his best friend. Suddenly, Wally imagined what it would be like if Dick was his girlfriend – er… significant other. His face heated up unbidden, and his heart ached in a very weird way.

Then, it hit him. Wally had it bad for his best friend. He totally was attracted to him for all those reasons!

Crap.

He could never tell Dick. They'd slept in the same bed before. A lot. Like practically every night when he was on the Watchtower recovering in the med bay. And, oh God, they'd cuddled! How had he been so blind the last few months?! Oh, man, they'd changed in the locker room together before! Ahh! And Wally had practically forced Dick into that massage! Dick was going to think he was some dirty, best friend molesting perv!

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.

Why was this happening to him?! What the hell kind of person turned gay overnight and then got the hots for their best friend in the middle of an alien robot invasion?! Well, not completely gay…he certainly didn't think Conner was good looking. Well, he could see how someone else could see that Conner was handsome. He just wasn't to Wally.

He tried thinking about Kaldur. Nope. Then Roy. Oh, ew, no! Roy was like his big brother. Too weird. Okay, who else? Uh… Hal maybe? Ugh! Weirder! Someone he didn't know personally then…. Wally thought about some of his male classmates. Nothing. He imagined several famous actors widely reported to be hot. Not even a little…

What the hell? Wally tried thinking about Artemis and M'gann, both of whom he had wanted at some point. Badly. He floundered to feel something for either of them and came up empty once more. They were both gorgeous but held no appeal to him anymore beyond that.

So…what did that make him if he was only interested in Dick? Dick-sexual? That sounded super gay.

"I think you broke him," Wally heard Max mutter, and he realized that he'd been just standing there staring into space with a horrified look on his face.

He shook himself mentally and looked right at Max and Jay with as normal an expression as he could muster. He could deal with the fact that he was in love with his best friend later – when he was not with his two speedster grandparents. Wally cringed. Not love. It was way too soon for that, speedster or not. He only lo-liked….later. He'd deal with it later.

"No, he's just embarrassed," Jay hooked an arm around Wally's shoulders.

Wally shrugged him off, face flaming red, "Can we just go?"

Jay laughed, and Max seemed to relax at his evasiveness, "Alright. We'll go the rest of the way to San Diego, and then we're stopping for a few minutes. I want you to eat as much as you can before we head out on the water, okay? There are a few small islands that we can stop at along the way if there's an emergency, but I want to play it safe."

"You got it," Wally said without hesitation, eager to get going again.

Max ran off, taking the lead without another word, but Jay leaned in to Wally with a devious sort of grin. "You can tell me all about her when we get to Hawaii."

Wally didn't answer. He just gave Jay a horrified sort of look as a response and took off after Max.

No. He really couldn't.

The three of them reached San Diego in minutes. They looked around a little for a place to grab some food before the locals directed them to a small Mexican place that looked like it was family owned. Within seconds, the place was swamped with people taking pictures and videos of them, and asking for autographs and telling them that they absolutely had to try something called a California burrito. This turned out to be extremely true. It was freakin amazing – they put French fries in it! Wally had to bring one back for Dick to try.

Whoa. No thinking about Dick. Not right now.

They ate quickly and talked with the other diners in the restaurant, who absolutely refused to let the trio pay for their own meals, and made promises to stop by again on their trip back home. Then, they were off, running southwest for the coast.

And Wally was free. He flew over the water as fast as he could, only needing a few seconds to adjust to the unusual terrain. The surface was solid because of the speed he was going, but not as solid as the ground. It was constantly moving and cresting into waves and only got more uneven as he ran further out into the ocean.

But, it was fun. The waves seemed to be frozen in time as Wally swerved around them, ran up the taller ones like he would a building, and leapt over the shortest ones. He and Jay started their game of tag up again, only this time it was a bit more precarious. One wrong move would send them skidding across the surface and into the water. If that happened, it was extremely tricky to get back onto the surface again. Wally hadn't mastered it yet. Heck, Uncle Barry couldn't even do it.

So, they were a little careful. Wally smacked Max on the arm, still trying to get him to join in even though the old man was being stubborn about it, and looked over his shoulder to grin tauntingly at him. He saw their wakes crashing into one another as they sped along, leaving long trails in the water.

Now in the lead, Wally abandoned the game for a few minutes and sprinted flat out as fast as he could. He lifted his head to the wind and closed his eyes behind his goggles, reveling in the feeling. His hair whipped around wildly, slightly damp from the ocean's spray. Wally couldn't stop the huge grin from spreading across his face, and he took in a deep whiff of the briny air. This was perfect. The sky above them was crystal clear, they'd long since passed any ships lingering in the water, and they weren't even halfway there yet. Wally felt like he could run forever.

Jay charged up behind him when he was least expecting it and tagged him right on the back. Wally heard Max laughing at him for being caught, and shot him a half-hearted glare before giving chase. Jay circled around in a wide arc and snuck up behind Max again, tagging him with a laugh before joining Wally in running away.

It was a testament to how strange Wally's life was that he didn't think anything about two ninety-year-old, retired heroes being better than him at tag.

And, Max was fast. When he finally snapped and came after them, it took everything Wally had to stay out of his reach. Max eventually got him though, and Wally passed it onto Jay, who went right after Max again. Wally grinned and watched both older speedsters running in front of him, laughing like kids. He hung back a bit to stay off their radar.

That's when he felt it.

The air around him rippled suddenly, and Wally frowned as a shiver worked its way up his spine. Weird… That usually only happened when other speedsters were around. Wally looked side to side in confusion, but there was nothing there. Just open ocean.

It happened again.

Wally turned to glance back at the open expanse of water behind him and almost jumped out of his skin when two white and blue streaks flew right past him not five feet away. He blinked frantically to try and see what they were, but they were moving too fast. Then, he felt his heart seize up when he saw that they were heading straight for Max and Jay.

"Look ou-!" he tried to shout.

One of the blurs collided with Max and sent the older speedster crashing into the water. Jay dodged just in time and switched direction on a dime to avoid the attack. Wally saw both blurs come to a stop on top of the water right where Max had disappeared beneath the waves.

The blurs had come from two massive, heavily muscled men dressed head to toe in matching blue costumes with a wide, white stripe running down the middle. They were both wearing strange metal boots that glowed at the soles.

Wally watched them in alarmed disbelief for almost an entire second before gritting his teeth in anger and charging right at them.

"Kid!" Jay called, looping back around to retaliate. "Get out of here!"

Both newcomers whipped their heads over to Jay and blurred as one as they leapt after him with amazing speed.

Wally groped for his goggles and quickly pressed the emergency S.O.S. signal that Uncle Barry had installed in them. It would send an alarm right to him and to the Watchtower, transmitting his immediate location every few seconds, essentially turning the goggles into a homing beacon. He pressed the communicator in his ear.

"Kid Flash to anyone! I need help like right now!" he shouted furiously, still heading for the disturbed surface where Max had gone down. "We're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and-"

The air rippled again and Wally ducked instinctively. He missed whatever had gone for his head, but it clipped his goggles and ripped them from his face. Wally cried out and darted to the side, looking behind him to see a third newcomer chasing him. This one was female with thick, wild red hair and the same costume as the other two. She wasn't even a foot away.

Wally dodged again when she rocketed a fist at his spine. He feigned a dash to the left and pulled back for an instant when she fell for it. Wally grabbed her arm and jerked it violently behind him, still running as fast as he could. She gave a harsh scream of pain when she hit the surface, and Wally could see her tumbling across it out of the corner of his eye.

He heard Jay yelling again for him to run and ignored him. There was no way he was leaving Max and Jay to save his own skin. Not ever. Especially not when they were fighting three speedsters they'd never seen before. And they had to be speedsters. They moved too insanely fast to be anything else.

When he reached the spot that Max had disappeared, he slowed down enough to prevent a very painful clash with the surface, and then he dove into the water. His momentum carried him down like a torpedo, and he plunged into the depths, scanning the dark water frantically for Max. He couldn't see him anywhere. Wally swam down deeper, trying to feel around for movement.

There!

Wally saw a trail of bubbles floating to the surface. Max was struggling to propel himself up with just his arms. Something was wrong. He swam closer and saw the faint outline of Max through thin clouds of blood in the water. Wally grabbed Max's arm and immediately started kicking his legs rapidly to bring them back up to the surface. His stomach clenched suddenly when he saw Max's right leg bent at an odd angle below the knee. Wally just focused his gaze up at the bright light above them and kept swimming as fast as he could.

This was really bad. Water was not Wally's best element. He was about to be a sitting duck once they broke the surface. He had no way to get running again, and even if he did, he still had Max to defend. The older speedster couldn't run with a broken leg.

No way was this a coincidence. These three speedsters had been hunting them. They were somehow able to stand on top of the water, and they'd waited to strike until Wally, Max, and Jay were at a disadvantage.

Wally heard a splash and turned to look to the side in time to see one of the blue and white men come crashing into the water with a mass of bubbles and trailing clouds of blood.

A large shadow fell across the water above them and Wally looked back to see the bottom of two glowing feet standing on the surface directly above him. He reeled back in alarm, but it was too late. An arm plunged into the water, grabbed Wally around the neck, and yanked him out of the water. Wally lost his hold on Max when he broke the surface, coughing violently and trying to see through the stinging salt water still burning his eyes.

A fist like iron slammed right into Wally's face, snapping his head back with a loud crack. He grabbed at the wrist and hand holding him up as pain exploded throughout his skull. Wally forced his eyes open, and the first thing he saw was Jay trying to fight his way free of the second male speedster while the female hit him repeatedly – so fast that Wally couldn't even make out her arms. He saw the first speedster climb out of the water, blood streaming down his white cowl from a gash on his forehead that Jay must've given him. He ran to his comrades to help, and Wally watched in stunned horror as the three of them tore at his grandfather viciously.

Three of them…

"Hello, Wally."

Wally felt his insides freeze, and he looked down at the hand closed around his throat. It was encased in a bright yellow costume. His eyes traveled up the arm and saw a jagged red band stylized to look like a lightning bolt wrapped around the forearm. Wally felt the air in his lungs rush out in a strangled spasm of fear. The arm led to a yellow clothed shoulder and then a chest with a logo splashed across the center.

A red lightning bolt over a black circle.

Wally looked into the face of a fourth speedster and saw what looked like the exact reverse of the Flash. Evil red eyes stared back at him through a yellow cowl, and a manic grin stretched across his captor's face.

Professor Zoom.

Uncle Barry's greatest enemy.

Wally felt a sharp prick at the side of his neck and tried to jerk away. The female speedster walked back into view, holding an empty syringe. She smiled darkly behind her mask and stood beside Zoom, twirling the needle between her fingers casually.

Wally immediately felt whatever she'd just injected him with rushing through his veins. His vision swam, and Wally felt himself losing consciousness. He tried to fight back, swinging his numb legs forward to kick at Zoom futilely and slamming the heel of his palm into Zoom's elbow to try and break it. He vibrated his entire body frantically, hoping the friction would burn the Reverse-Flash.

Zoom squeezed his throat and sank a fist into his gut. Wally gasped in pain and blacked out as the drug took over.