[Undisclosed Location
Unknown Date, Unknown Time]
It felt nothing like trying to vibrate through the thin zip ties. The glass was at least five inches thick, and trying to phase through it was more like trying to impale himself on a wall made of a billion needles. But it didn't hurt anywhere near as badly as when Professor Zoom had vibrated a hand into his chest.
Wally watched as his hands slid through the glass and came out undamaged on the other side. He pushed more, and his arms went through to his elbow, and then he was pressing his face and torso right into the glass. It wasn't solid anymore, and Wally could feel the molecules of the glass passing between his own as his head and shoulders pushed free. Gritting his teeth and deciding not to prolong it any more than he had to, he stepped the rest of the way out of the cell and hit the ground on the other side on his hands and knees.
He stayed there for a few seconds, shaking off the pain and gasping for air. He rushed to take stock of the injuries…and found nothing. All four limbs, all fingers and toes seemed to be accounted for. He wasn't coughing up blood. He seemed okay.
Wally slowly got to his feet and pressed one hand to his chest, feeling his heartbeat. He gave a relieved laugh and turned around to look at the cell he'd been trapped in.
The glass rippled dangerously, and Wally had a split second to move out of the way before it exploded in a deafening crash. He zipped around a tall stack of crates as shards of shattered, glass shrapnel pelted the warehouse in all directions. Wally waited until it was over, and all he could hear was a faint tinkling sound of glass tumbling along the ground. He cautiously peeked around the boxes at the cell.
"Holy crap…" he breathed, straightening up and stumbling back towards the cell. It was completely destroyed. The only parts of it that remained were the metal top and bottom cylinders. A few slivers of the cell walls still clung to the top, but the surrounding area was absolutely littered with powdered and pulverized glass bits.
Okay, yeah, that had definitely never happened before. What the hell had he done to make it explode?! Wally stood rooted to the spot, still frozen in shock. Another sliver of glass dropped loose from the cell and shattered once it hit the floor. The sound shook Wally from his stupor, and he jolted back. Zoom or one of the three speedsters could literally come sprinting in any second. What if they had sensors on that cell or something that just tipped them off that he'd escaped?
Wally zipped straight to the roll down door and looked all the way up to where the door's tracks curved up along the ceiling. He looked around and spotted a large red button welded to the side of the door. He pressed it without a second thought, and the whole door jolted with a loud metallic clang before slowly lifting up along the tracks.
Wally ducked down and peeked underneath the door before it had even risen two feet off the ground. There was another, longer room beyond the partition full of parked convoy vehicles and a driving strip that led to another lift up door with windows.
Actual windows.
He was so close.
Wally slid under the door and sprinted the whole length of the driving strip. The room was completely empty of Manhunter personnel, so Wally paused for a second to press one hand against the small rectangular window. He could see blue sky and snow. Lots and lots of snow. The cold from the glass shot up into Wally's arm, and he had to back away from the door. Okay, so he'd be freezing, but the heat he generated from using his powers would protect him from hypothermia. And at the speed he felt like he was capable of right now, he'd be free of the harsh weather in minutes.
God, and then he'd be home. Wally couldn't wait to zip straight into Central City and – well, no. He'd have to go to a zeta location and beam up to the Watchtower, because Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris were still living up there. Okay, so he'd get up to the Watchtower and then hug his aunt and uncle until…
Until the Manhunters came and murdered them.
Wally's giddiness vanished instantly. He took a few startled steps away from the door separating him from his freedom and frowned at the floor. Even if he escaped today, it wouldn't change a single thing. Velocity was still completed and about to be released, and the Manhunter army was still going to destroy everything Wally held dear.
He couldn't run away. He couldn't let any of that happen. Wally refused to let his blood be used to kill countless people. He wouldn't be truly free until any and all traces of Velocity 9 were eliminated. Wally's mind started pulling together a plan – and while he was here, he might as well do something about all those thousands of Manhunters just standing around waiting to be deployed. When was anyone ever going to get this close to a Manhunter base again and be tossed this kind of opportunity?
A dark smile found its way onto Wally's face, and he turned his back on the door to the outside world. It wasn't time to escape just yet. But, first thing was first. Wally needed to know where the hell he was, and he needed to find a way to contact the Justice League. He spotted a lone corner office against the wall closest to the room where his wrecked cell was and zipped through the open door, tearing the tiny room apart at super speed until he found what he wanted.
One of the drawers had contained a folded up map, which Wally promptly spread out on the cluttered desk. He scanned over the detailed drawings and stabbed a finger on one of the dots that was circled. Base 226. That's where he was – smack dab in the middle of Siberia. He saw other dots as he looked over the rest of the world map, located on every continent and labeled with the same kind of numbers. They were probably other Manhunter bases.
Wally memorized his position on the map and figured up his escape route before folding it up again to cram it into the pocket of his pants. The Justice League would probably find it very interesting when he got back. He started looking around the office again and found a compact, hand-held radio. Turning it on briefly to make sure it was charged, Wally jammed it into the same pocket as the map and zipped back out of the office. He'd need to rewire it later for his own use, but it seemed capable of reaching one of his allies.
Alright, now for the hard part. Wally needed to somehow destroy two hundred thousand Manhunters, Professor Zoom and his mad scientist lab, three other speedsters, and an entire base of Manhunter acolytes – all before they caught on that he was running around free.
He took a deep breath and zipped into the room that he'd been held in the last few days. When he came through the doorway, two tall white and blue clad men were standing in front of his cell. Wally stopped dead and grabbed the door frame with one hand, flinging himself back into the garage. He pressed his back against the wall and covered his mouth with one hand to smother the sound of his breathing. Crap. He hadn't expected a fight right off the bat. Maybe he could sneak past them.
Wally peered around the corner cautiously. Both speedsters were still there, just staring at the shattered cell with their arms hanging at their sides like they couldn't comprehend what they were looking at. Wally would've bet anything that they were V9 addicts – probably some of Professor Zoom's first test subjects that got a dose that went horribly wrong. He almost felt sorry for them.
But, they'd electrocuted the hell out of him and Wally wasn't in a particularly forgiving mood right now.
What had Zoom called them? Gregor and Boleslaw?
They'd been too fast for Jay and Max to handle though, so he didn't know how he was supposed to…
Wally's eyes narrowed at the speedsters' backs angrily. These two had killed Max and Jay. He stepped further back into the garage and snatched a set of keys from the hook beside his head, silently creeping to the nearest covered truck. He spotted a heavy lead pipe propped up against a wall along the way and hefted it over his shoulder in one smooth motion.
Wally ripped open the truck's driver side door and started the engine, which roared to life immediately. He zipped back to the doorway and hung just out of sight, cupping a hand around his mouth, "Hey, Cole slaw!"
The air rippled unsteadily as Wally heard both speedsters take off in the adjacent room. He gripped the pipe firmly like a baseball bat, timed it perfectly, and swung it as hard as he could using every ounce of his speed. What happened next reminded Wally very vividly of a bullet train crashing into a car. One speedster blew right past him to investigate the truck while the other caught the pipe full in the face.
Wally felt the impact all the way in his shoulders and watched as the speedster's head caved in around the pipe, which bent as well from the force of the blow. Boleslaw's feet went out from under him, and he hit the ground flat on his back as the crack of metal hitting bone echoed around the room. Wally quickly regained his balance and looked down at the immobilized speedster. He crouched down and tapped the crooked pipe against his shoulder idly, nodding with satisfaction as he scrutinized his handiwork.
He was out cold, if not in a coma, and wouldn't be getting up any time soon. Wally stood and deftly twirled the pipe in one hand, shooting a grin over at Gregor, who was watching him from beside the truck's cab. Wally laughed and brought the pipe up to eye level to examine the damage to it, tossing Gregor a wink, "Home run!"
Gregor let out a great cry of rage and lunged at him. Wally ducked out of the way in a roll, and Gregor's fist slammed into the wall instead. Wally used his momentum to swing back around and crack Gregor across the back with the pipe before tossing it aside completely, "Don't get mad! I couldn't think of anything witty to make fun of your name with, I'm sorry. Look, I'll make up for it by handing you your own teeth one by one. How's that sound?"
Gregor spun around and took a swipe at him at superspeed. Wally dropped into a crouch just as quickly and delivered a flurry of punches to his solar plexus. Gregor fell back onto his side and kicked a foot out to sweep Wally's legs out from under him. Wally flipped over the attack and landed on his hands, using his arms to spring back upright. This was too easy. Gregor was much slower than before – or at least it seemed that way. Wally was keeping pace with him effortlessly. On top of that, Gregor appeared to have the martial skill of a sandwich.
He darted back in at Gregor, blocking a sloppy but strong punch with his forearm and grabbing his wrist. He twisted it behind Gregor's back in a blur of motion and drove him to the ground. Gregor caught Wally in the side with a jab of his elbow and threw him off. He rolled on top of Wally and pressed an arm into his throat. Wally gasped in surprise and punched Gregor right in the eye. The arm just pressed down harder on his trachea.
Wally grabbed the arm Gregor was using to support himself and slammed the heel of his palm into the elbow, forcing it to bend the opposite direction. Gregor didn't seem to react to the pain at all, but the jolt was enough to loosen the hold he had on Wally's neck. Wally worked one leg up to his chest and kicked Gregor off him with a grunt. He rolled over and scrambled to his feet, rubbing tenderly at his throat as he put some distance between himself and Gregor.
Okay, so maybe he was a little better than Wally had originally thought. He really couldn't afford to waste the time fighting him. Wally smiled suddenly as an idea struck him, and he ran straight for the convoy truck with Gregor hot on his heels. Instead of slowing down, Wally aimed for the engine and started vibrating. He sank his whole arm right into the side of the truck above the front wheel and scrambled as much as he could before rolling under the carriage and taking shelter beneath the truck parked next to it. Wally covered his head and the back of his neck with his hands, curling up into a ball right as the truck exploded with a fiery boom.
Above him, Wally could hear huge pieces of metal showering the truck he was under and the loud rush of fire consuming the tarp-covered back of the vehicle. He pulled himself out to the safe side of the truck and stood upright to watch the blaze.
Alright, well, at least it wasn't a fluke. Wally inspected his arms with a sigh and looked at the twisted and rent cab of the truck. So…vibrating through things caused them to explode. He tossed the idea around in his head for a split second and found himself nodding approvingly. Wally could make things explode now. He could roll with that...
He darted around the burning truck and the larger pieces of debris surrounding it to see what had happened to Gregor. The other speedster was pinned beneath one of the truck's heavy doors that had been blown off in the blast. Parts of his suit were charred or torn away completely, and blood was oozing out of several places where jagged bits of shrapnel had dug into his body. Wally hung back for a second and determined that Gregor was unconscious. Then, he gripped the frame of the door with both hands and hefted it off him. The door crashed to the ground, and Wally moved in to check Gregor's pulse.
It was there and steady, but a little slow for a speedster. Too slow. That was…weird, but he didn't have time to worry about it. Wally abandoned both knocked out speedsters and sprinted back into the warehouse. Excitement and adrenaline rushed through him as he ran, and Wally couldn't help laughing. He'd spent so long feeling weak and useless that power like this was intoxicating. Oh, and he planned on using it well…
Wally blew through the doors to the rest of the compound and easily navigated along the hallways, recalling his mental map from before. For once, he was glad that they'd taken his costume because it would've made him stick out like a sore thumb while he was trying to sneak through the base. As it was, Wally had next to no trouble as he searched the rooms at blinding speed. The good thing about being trapped in a Manhunter base with four other speedsters and countless test subjects trying out a superspeed drug was that none of the acolytes even flinched when he rocketed by them without any explanation. They probably just saw him as another V9 junkie, and since Boleslaw and Gregor hadn't had the time to raise an alarm, they had no reason to suspect otherwise. He just had to pray that he didn't run into Zoom. Wally wasn't quite ready for that fight just yet.
He searched every level of the compound for almost five minutes until he finally found the cavernous hangar that housed the idle Manhunter battalions and spacecraft. When he came zooming onto the ground floor, he saw several dozen acolytes moving around between the various ships and stations. Wally ducked behind a bulky repair terminal and looked around for something to hide his face with. No one had really seemed to know who he was the other day – he guessed that what Zoom had been doing to him was 'need to know' – but they'd definitely recognize him as the boy Zoom had tortured half to death. At least one of the acolytes would question why he was walking free, and Wally wouldn't be able to use superspeed very much in here.
Not for what he had planned.
Wally spotted a welding station close by and quickly crept over to it. He lifted a welder's mask from the high-tech workbench and fixed it over his face. Next, he pulled on a pair of thick leather gloves that went up to his elbows and slipped a protective, fireproof full apron that went down to his shins over his head and tied it around his waist. He picked up a bulky panel for one of the ships with minor difficulty – man, he really missed his old muscle tone – and stepped out into the middle of the hangar with his heartbeat racing nervously in his chest.
Okay, calm down. Look like you belong, and no one will even pay you any attention. There were a few acolytes walking around out of the red and blue uniform, so that made him feel a little less conspicuous, but he'd never get by intense scrutiny. For one thing, he still had dried blood all over his neck and clothes. The black material of his shirt masked the stains well enough, but they weren't completely gone. He just hoped the long welder's mask would cover most of his neck.
Wally tried to walk with purpose and look casual at the same time like he did this every day. He passed by another work table covered with C4, blasting caps, several lengths of wire, antennae, and various other bits of explosives. Before anyone could even blink, Wally had stuffed a handful of everything into the apron's pockets. He skirted a little too close to one of the Manhunter acolytes and lifted the walkie-talkie from his belt, concealing it in the side pockets of his pants. Another table held a closed, military-grade laptop, which he promptly swiped as well, swinging the strap over his shoulder.
He managed to keep his composure as he made his way over to the nearest ship. No one was working on it, so Wally was able to circle around to the back, which was mostly shielded from the rest of the hangar. He looked up at the rear loading hatch and then down at a simple control panel off to the side. Wally peered at the faceplate through the narrow slit in his mask. Okay, great. How did he get into this thing? At least it didn't need an access card or anything. It looked like a key code lock, which was…surprisingly low security for Manhunters.
He glanced around carefully and lifted the mask for a second to examine the number pad. The screen looked like it had enough room for five numbers, and only three buttons on the number pad were worn down any. Three, six, and two – so it had to be some combination of those three. Wally used his powers and tried every possibly arrangement within sixty seconds.
The door finally accepted one of the combinations and opened down into a ramp with a hiss. Wally memorized the number that had worked, and quickly climbed up into the ship, shutting the hatch behind him. Immediately, the ship's interior lit up, revealing an open center, two pilot's seats, and about a hundred ports on either side for Manhunters. He zipped over to the flight controls and whistled softly. This ship was advanced. Hal would be drooling if he could get his hands on it. He was a test pilot at his day job, and he was always getting into trouble for tinkering with the JLA's Javelins.
Hal had actually offered to teach Wally how to fly a jet, but Uncle Barry had flat out refused to let him – something about Hal being notoriously reckless and crashing planes because he'd try daring maneuvers that the machines just couldn't handle. It had neither surprised nor scared Wally off. So, the last time Wally had needed to stay with Hal in Coast City while Uncle Barry handled some disaster on the other side of the world, Hal went ahead and gave him a flying lesson anyway.
It had been cool but not even a tenth as thrilling as superspeed. Although, Wally had learned a lot from it – like how the fuel cells were always located in the wings of most planes and at the back of most spacecraft. He zipped back towards the rear hatch again and looked around the floor for any kind of seam, or hidden compartment, or…
There.
Wally hooked his fingers underneath a thin handle and pulled up an entire hidden panel of the flooring, revealing a tangled mess of circuitry, wires, and thick hoses. Beneath it all, he could see the far edges of the nuclear fuel cells. He grinned and slung the laptop onto the ground beside him, starting it up and emptying his pockets so he could take stock of what he had to work with.
A long time ago, while fanboying over some of Roy and Oliver's heavy explosive trick arrows, Oliver had shown him how to create a bomb. It had been a terrible decision, but in Oliver's defense, he probably hadn't thought an eleven-year-old could make sense of what he was doing, remember it, and later do some research of his own to teach himself how to convert almost anything into one.
Wally disassembled the walkie-talkie and pried off the bottom of the laptop to expose its insides. Dick had taught him how to hack, create code, and most importantly how to build a remote detonator. Within the span of four minutes, Wally had his C4 and blasting caps fixed on the fuel cells, wired to the laptop – which he'd jerry-rigged into a transmitter, and was just carefully sliding the unrecognizable walkie-talkie – now wireless detonator – into his pocket. He stood upright, idly tossing the remaining C4 up and down in one hand while he thought about what to do with it.
He had a pretty good idea.
Wally stuffed the remaining supplies back in his pockets and pulled the mask down over his face. He snuck back out of the spacecraft and calmly made his way across the busy hangar and back to the exit he'd come in through. No one stopped him, but a few nodded at him in greeting. Wally was too jittery to risk nodding back and accidentally spasming or something equally dumb. He just kept walking and ducked into a shadowy corner to ditch his disguise the second he was out of sight.
He took off again, now being significantly more careful as he traversed the halls in case Professor Zoom knew that he'd escaped from his cell and was on the hunt for him. Normal humans could never be able to tell what Wally was as he zipped by, but Zoom's hyper-accelerated perceptions would have no trouble following his movements.
He sped through the grid-like maze and quickly found himself at the hallway that led to the laboratory where Zoom had shown him Velocity suddenly reeled back and jerked to a stop right before he reached the corner. Dammit. There were two Manhunters guarding the door to the lab; he'd forgotten about them. Well, there was no way he was going to be able to sneak by them, and he was not abandoning his mission. He was going to have to fight them both, but maybe not at the same time if he was smart about it. If he could destroy one immediately, then he'd be able to do it. He'd sat in on Kilowog's training; he knew how to fight them.
Wally sped around the corner before he could chicken out, already vibrating at the perfect frequency. He targeted the towering Manhunter on the left side of the door and hit him at a running jump. Heart pounding and his entire body shaking like mad, Wally latched onto the Manhunter's shoulder with one hand and vibrated the other right into its torso, hooking his arm upwards. He seemed to be getting better at this, because it felt less and less like sticking his hand into a box of knives each time. Wally didn't know exactly where the core was, so he just waved his hand around frantically in an upwards motion as long as he dared before bracing himself and launching away from the doomed android.
Or, he tried to. An energy blast caught him in the ribs and slammed him into the wall instead. Wally got the wind violently knocked out of him and hit the ground on his back not two feet from the Manhunter about to go critical.
Oh crap! No no no no no no no no!
Wally rolled backwards right onto his feet and made it four steps in the opposite direction before having to dodge another blast from the second Manhunter. He looked over his shoulder and saw the one he'd attacked power down and combust from the inside out. Wally raced the explosion around the corner but caught a long piece of shrapnel right in the thigh. He cried out in pain and lunged to safety at the last second, his leg giving out and sending him to the ground again. Wally clutched his bleeding leg and dragged himself away with one arm.
He couldn't believe he'd been so careless! With his leg injured, he was as good as dead when the second Manhunter came around the corner looking for him. Wally shifted onto his back and lifted up the leg to inspect it. A four inch long sliver as thick as his finger was sticking out of the skin right above his knee. He knew that you weren't supposed to remove objects from stab wounds, otherwise you risk increasing the blood flow, but Wally didn't have a choice. He'd never be able to defend himself with it still in there, and if he left it in, it might get pushed in deeper and sever something vital.
Wally made a choice and ripped the shrapnel out of his leg with a silent cry. Only about two inches of the sliver had gone into his leg, but the wound immediately started steadily oozing blood. Wally had just torn off his right sleeve to use as a makeshift tourniquet when he felt an odd tingling sensation at the wound. He set down the strip of cloth and curiously pulled apart the tear in his pant leg to look at the gash.
It was almost too bloody for him to tell what he was looking at, but as Wally felt the pain begin to subside, he realized that the wound was closing. Completely dumbfounded, Wally was still sitting there on the floor holding his leg when a Manhunter with half its face and right side severely scraped off came around the corner and fixed its eerie, green eye sockets on him. It lifted its energy baton and leveled it right at Wally.
He dove out of the way to avoid a volley of energy blasts and ran around the Manhunter at normal speed, finding that his leg was already able to support his weight. He ran for the lab doors and started frantically searching through the Manhunter pieces for a weapon. Hopefully, the explosion hadn't destroyed the baton thingy. His leg was still tingling like mad, but Wally was too afraid to check it again. The Manhunter's loud, stomping footsteps echoed around the corner right as Wally moved a huge chunk of robot leg with circuits sticking out of it and found an energy pistol. He snatched it up and whirled around on one knee, firing at the android as it came running into view. Wally aimed for center mass and just kept squeezing the trigger over and over, fighting to control the discharge's kickback and trying to buy as much time as he could for his leg to heal.
When he dared to pause in his frantic barrage, he found that he'd way more than over-killed the Manhunter. It was still standing, but its whole head had been melted off, and about ninety percent of the thick chest plate was sloughing off in red hot molten globs. The core was still intact and glowing bright green. Wally raised the pistol and fired at the core again until he heard the Manhunter fall over.
He craned his neck to try and see if it was moving and only discarded the pistol when he saw the steam rising from the heap of scrap metal. A half-hysterical laugh tore from Wally's throat, and he shakily got to his feet, surveying the damage he'd wrought.
He'd killed two Manhunters – single-handedly – and taken down two mutant speedsters before that. Wally pulled apart the hole in his pants again and ran a thumb along the spot where the stab wound had been. It was a little tender but completely closed up. He stared at it in awe for a few more seconds before remembering what he was doing. Wally rushed to the emergency lever locked up beside the doors and broke the glass encasing it. He pulled the alarm and heard panic sirens start going off all throughout the base. Red lights started flashing over all the doors, and Wally quickly pressed himself to one wall to stay out of sight as the doors to the lab opened suddenly to let out all the acolytes and technicians.
Wally waited until they all stopped panicking at the sight of the demolished Manhunter pair and cleared off before snagging the slowly closing door and slipping inside. He may have signed his own death warrant just now triggering that alarm, because now someone would know he was out of his cell, but the bomb he'd made was going to take out the entire base. And, evil as they were, Wally wouldn't kill all the humans inside. He needed them to evacuate and fast.
And while they were all running for their lives…
Wally was going to eliminate any and all traces of Velocity 9. He would not allow Zoom and Savage to use him like that. He sped over to the tanks full of V9 and wired smaller charges of plastic explosives. He connected the blasting caps, wired it all together, and blew the tanks. They shattered with a thunderous crash and flooded the room with rapidly evaporating V9. Wally darted to the work stations and dragged his vibrating arms through every single beaker, book, countertop, computer, and machine in sight.
When he'd completely destroyed the room, Wally turned to the section in the corner that was closed off with two glass walls. He ignored the protective suits hanging on the wall beside it and kicked the glass in. There was a sterile work table against one wall, a sink, a wide refrigerator looking thing against the other, and a rack of carefully organized and labeled chemicals. Wally zipped to the shelves and scanned the bottles for anything he recognized, but it was all in Russian. He made a mental note to learn Russian if he ever got out of here.
When he got out.
Wally went to the cooler next and pulled open the door. Every shelf in the fridge had hermetically sealed containers and vials stored inside, and each shelf seemed to be dedicated to a version of Velocity from the prototype down to the newly finished V9. And right there at the bottom shelf, labeled like everything else, was the very last sample of his blood. Wally bent down in a daze and closed his fingers around the little tube. He held it up to his eyes, tilting it and watching the dark liquid rush from end to end in detached fascination. This simple thing had caused so much trouble. He clutched the vial to his chest and looked around at the room, imagining the rest of the Manhunter base he was stuck in the middle of. This whole Manhunter plot had destroyed his family.
His fingers clenched the vial convulsively, and he looked over at the sink sitting innocently beside the fridge. Wally's body seemed to operate on its own as he moved to the sink, grabbed the vial with both hands, and broke it in half over the drain. He calmly dropped both pieces of broken glass into the basin and turned on the faucet. Wally didn't stick around to watch his own blood trickle down the drain. Instead, he went back to the open fridge and grabbed as many containers and glass vials as he could carry, and then he broke every single one of them open over the sink. He was just emptying the very last shelf housing V9 when he felt the air behind him ripple – the telltale herald of an approaching speedster.
Wally's gut clenched in abrupt fear, and his mind whirled through the possibilities as he turned around. Professor Zoom or the redheaded woman, Christina. Or had Boleslaw and Gregor woken up and come after him?
He looked over his shoulder, one hand still poised to drop the last vial into the sink, and saw a yellow and red blur dart into the lab.
Zoom.
God, of course it was him.
Professor Zoom came to a stop in the middle of the lab, a look of absolute horror on his face. He looked all around in open-mouthed shock at the demolished equipment and the pulverized glass strewn about the floor where the tanks of Velocity 9 had been. Wally just stared at him, frozen in place and waiting to be noticed. Mismatched blue eyes traveled over to the smashed partition, the open refrigerator, and then they fixed themselves right on Wally's face.
Wally just shrugged and dropped the very last sample of V9 into the sink, giving Zoom what he hoped was a cocky, sarcastic expression that said 'Whoops'. The vial hit the titanium and broke open with a loud crack. Zoom lunged forward with a deep bellow of rage the second he realized what Wally had done.
There was no doubt in Wally's mind that Zoom would kill him if he got close enough. So, when Zoom dove through the hole in the glass after him, Wally darted to the side and vibrated through the other glass wall, sprinting for the exit. He was out the door and past the dismantled Manhunters when he heard the glass wall explode and Zoom's roar as he gave chase. Wally ran through the halls as fast as his legs could carry him, trying to weave through as many turns and doors as he could in an effort to lose Zoom. He blew through another door and spotted an elevator at the end of the hall. It was the only one on this side of the level that would take him up to the top floors where both his cell and the only route to his freedom were.
He hit the elevator doors and jammed his fingers into the crack between them, prying them apart with a strained grunt of effort. They budged just enough for him to slip through, and Wally swung into the empty elevator shaft, clinging to the metal framework. Zoom ran through the gap in the doors a split second after Wally, his momentum slamming him into the opposite side of the chasm. Wally didn't wait to see how close Zoom was. He started climbing up the framework as fast as he could, only glancing down once to see that the elevator car was far below them.
Zoom was snarling up at him, scaling the beams as well. Wally kicked it up a little. He pulled the detonator from his pocket and held onto the support beam he was gripping with both arms and legs, dialing the code he'd programmed in.
It took a second, in which time Wally began to worry that his plan was about to go horribly wrong, but then he heard a deafening, not too distant boom, and the entire elevator shaft shook violently as the whole base felt the shocks from the explosion. Wally almost lost his grip as his side of the framework actually pulled away from the wall. Several stories below them, the elevator doors to the bottom few levels blew inwards, and Wally could see the distant glow of fire reflecting off the metal beams all around him.
Professor Zoom lost his grip completely and fell about two stories before catching himself and staring down at the fire below in bewildered shock. Wally didn't waste any time and quickly put eight more levels between them. He reached the top of the elevator shaft and shifted onto the narrow ledge, prying open the doors to the surface level and squeezing through them before Zoom caught up to him again.
He made it down two hallways before something snagged his arm and violently hurled him sideways into the wall. Wally bounced off and hit the floor hard, rolling aside on pure instinct. Zoom's fist rocketed into the tiles where his head had been moments before, and Wally scrambled to his feet. Zoom swiped at him with one hand, fingers just brushing the back of Wally's shirt, and gave a great scream of rage that curdled the blood in Wally's veins. He heard Zoom chasing after him once again and frantically started vibrating his arms to the correct frequency.
Wally veered closer to the wall and plunged his fist right into it, dragging his arm through the concrete as he ran with Zoom hot on his heels. This time, he was too scared to focus properly, and he could feel his molecules scraping through the concrete; it felt like his skin was being sheared off. He grit his teeth and kept running, exciting the molecules in the wall and creating an unstable resonance before pulling his arm back out and putting on an extra burst of speed to get clear of the blast radius.
An instant later, the whole hallway blew apart.
Wally looked over his shoulder and saw a massive chunk of concrete slam right into Zoom's shoulder, knocking him off his feet and sending him to the floor with a cry of agony. Wally turned his head back to look forward and kept on running, listening to the sounds of Zoom being buried alive. He veered down another hallway and didn't stop once or dare to look back as the detonation he'd set off on the bottom floor started a chain reaction. He'd been counting on the blast to spread because of the close grouping of the spaceship fleet, and it looked like he hadn't been disappointed.
The whole structure trembled unsteadily, and Wally flat out sprinted the rest of the way to the warehouse where he'd been kept. Well, he'd run into everyone so far. All that was left was his father, although Wally almost wished he did find his dad blocking his path. He blew right past his destroyed cell, sending glass shards flying in his wake, and ran right into the garage, which was still burning. The office and all of the vehicles on the side closest to the warehouse were in flames, but Wally paid it no heed. He was focused on the garage door.
It had been rolled up, allowing a freezing cold draft into the garage.
Wally paused suddenly, eyes glued to the white, open expanse of snowy plains at the end of the driving strip. He hadn't lifted open the door earlier; someone else had to have done it. He turned around and saw that both Gregor and Boleslaw's unconscious bodies were gone.
Another explosion from deep beneath him rocked the base again, and Wally looked around the room in paranoia, expecting an attack. He zipped out of the open door, every cell in his body on high alert and practically humming with nervous tension. The second his foot crunched into the snow though, Wally found himself slowing down and coming to a stop entirely. He stood in the middle of what looked like endless tundra, icy wind cutting right through his clothes and freezing the sweat clinging to his skin. Wally looked out at the blinding snow in wide-eyed disbelief, arms falling to his sides and shoulders drooping tiredly.
Wally lifted his face to the frigid air and closed his eyes as the chill seeped into his bones. It was cold – not arctic temperatures, but more like the Midwest in December – and Wally hardly noticed it. He took in a deep breath of air through his nose and exhaled slowly.
He was free. Wally let out a short laugh and looked up at the sun, shielding his eyes with the arm that he'd ripped the sleeve off of. It was a few hours away from the middle of the sky, which meant that – Wally pointed at the sun – that was east. He put the Manhunter base at his back and faced east instead, pulling out the radio he'd swiped earlier. He quickly took it apart and re-calibrated it to the Justice League's frequencies before putting it back together again. The signal would never be able to reach the Watchtower, but hopefully it would find a communicator to one of the heroes planetside. Wally knew his best bet was California. If he ran southeast across the Pacific, he'd hit California first and hopefully get close enough to contact Coast or Star City. Then, he'd –
A shrill, animalistic scream of pure, shuddering fury jolted Wally from his thoughts. He almost dropped the radio and fumbled to catch it before it hit the ground.
Wally clutched the radio to his chest and turned in a circle, dropping into a defensive crouch and frantically scanning the area for the source of the noise. His eyes immediately landed on a shock of long, wild red hair, and he was suddenly looking right at Christina.
She was in her white and blue uniform, which was why he'd missed her before, and was kneeling down beside two other bodies. All three were perfectly camouflaged amongst the snow. The two bodies were Gregor and Boleslaw; Christina must've found them in the garage and carried them out here to safety. She was pulling the shrapnel out of Gregor's chest and binding his wounds with strips of fabric from her own costume, glaring at Wally with angry tears streaming down her face. She rose to her feet slowly, fists clenched and mouth twisted into a feral grimace.
Wally bolted.
He'd completely forgotten about her. Christina abandoned her companions and chased after him, shrieking wildly. Wally raced across the uneven tundra, heart thudding in his chest from panic. He heard the top floor of the base explode behind him, but five seconds later, it wasn't even in the horizon anymore. Wally drew from whatever energy he could muster and pushed himself faster than ever before, leaving behind a sonic boom as he broke the sound barrier. He kept running faster and faster, frantically looking over his shoulder and seeing Christina not fifty feet away. She was still snarling furiously, running him down single-mindedly.
Wally almost turned back around to look forwards, but something caught his eye, and he did a double take back at Christina. She was glowing like her skin was lighting up from the inside. Her head and both arms where she'd ripped the sleeves off her costume were getting brighter and brighter. Wally watched in silent horror as her whole body started to burn. Christina's war cries turned into screams of pain, and she tripped, skidding and tumbling along the ground with her momentum before she burst into flames completely.
Her body fell out of sight as Wally left her behind. He fought down his paralyzing fear and confusion, not risking compromising his lead even a few meters to correct his course until he hit the ocean.