[The Watchtower
March 26, 22:00 EST]
Wally was heavily using Dick's presence as a way to keep the hysteria over his father's sudden death lying dormant. He could tell that Dick was just itching to ask him what had happened down in the detention level. Any idiot would be able to see that he was hiding something, and Dick Grayson was not an idiot. Despite how badly he wanted to know, however, Dick hadn't said a word about it, and Wally was unspeakably grateful. He couldn't deal with it right now – maybe later when he knew everyone he cared about was safe and the Manhunter threat was confirmed to be over, but not now.
They sped through the Watchtower as fast as Wally dared with his incorrectly healed injuries and made it to the med bay in less than a minute. He jogged to a stop just inside the doorway, and Dick slid off his back quickly, bracing himself against Wally for a second while he undoubtedly recovered from being carried at superspeed. Honestly, it was a little impressive how quickly he'd adapted to it lately. All joking aside, most people really did throw up moving that fast, but Dick already seemed to be getting as used to it as Aunt Iris and Grandma Joan were. Wally would have to remember to ask Uncle Barry about that later.
The med bay was full of heroes when they arrived. Everyone seemed to be in the same state: burnt costumes, busted lips and black eyes, bruises all over the size of apples, and identical looks of relief on their faces. They'd all kind of started pulling together in smaller groups, too, performing emergency triage out in the halls on the ones who weren't able to even stand.
Dick had filled him in on what happened to their team after he'd fallen through the ceiling, and Wally really wanted to know if everyone was alright or not. The first thing his eyes were drawn to was the giant, green tank sitting off to the side surrounded by a handful of heroes. Wally recognized Guy Gardner in his personalized Lantern uniform standing in the center of it all and saw the beam of light connecting the tank construct to his ring.
"Llif htiw tlas retaw! Llif htiw tlas retaw! Llif htiw tlas retaw!" Zatanna had both hands on the tank and was shouting the same spell over and over as magically conjured water poured into the already mostly filled ring construct.
Wally focused on the tank itself and peered through the gaps in the people crowded around it. Kaldur was inside it floating upright and motionless, his skin and costume tinted green by Guy's construct and looking eerily wrong. The water he was submerged in swirled around him as Zatanna's spells churned it, pulling threads of blood off him that dispersed almost instantly in the liquid. Wally wanted to zip over to it and demand to know if his friend was alright, but Aquaman was standing right beside the tank with his fists clenched at his sides and a grim look on his face as he stared at his injured protégé. He kind of got the message that Aquaman didn't want anyone else near unless they were capable of helping Kaldur.
Almost on cue, the dark-skinned Atlantean cracked open his eyes and began stirring in the water. Aquaman immediately moved closer and put a hand on the tank, his expression turning into concerned relief. Kaldur didn't try to escape the water. He just brought one arm up and formed a weak thumbs up with his webbed fingers.
Wally didn't know if Kaldur could even tell that he was there or not, but he smiled nonetheless.
Dick tugged on his arm, and Wally looked over at him questioningly, "Yeah?"
"Come on," the boy wonder grinned at him helplessly. "We might as well get our punches in the face from Red Arrow sooner rather than later."
Wally didn't understand for a moment until he saw that Dick was pulling him closer to where the Arrow family was clustered in one of the hospital rooms. Black Canary was sitting upright on the edge of an operating table looking down fondly and tiredly at the three heroes fussing over her. Oliver was the worst. He was kneeling in front of her and trying to clean a deep cut on her leg one-handedly because he had his other arm curled around Artemis and was refusing to let go. For once, Artemis didn't look annoyed with Oliver's displays of affection.
She'd explained to them once that it was because she didn't really know how to respond to her mentor being fatherly. Her own dad, Sportsmaster, had never even showed that he liked her, much less loved her, so she didn't have any experience with a father figure actually caring about her. Wally could relate. The first few times he'd been around Uncle Barry and Jay, he'd been unable to keep himself from internally flinching whenever they reached towards him to tousle his hair or give him a pat on the back.
This time, Artemis didn't look uncomfortable at all with Oliver being overprotective and showing how relieved he was that she was okay. She just dabbed at one of Dinah's bloodier burns with a clean cloth and patiently answered Oliver's inquiries as to whether she was positive she was okay or not. All the while, Oliver switched back and forth between tending to Black Canary's wounds and Artemis'.
Roy was standing beside the bed and carefully removing Dinah's jacket so that he could work on getting little slivers of metal out of her shoulder. He was so focused on his task that he didn't even notice Wally or Dick until Artemis glanced over her shoulder at them and exploded.
"What is wrong with you?!" She threw down the bloody cloth and whirled on them both furiously, the dark red staining her face and hair made her look absolutely terrifying. Before Wally could even think about dodging, Artemis was slugging him in the gut. He doubled over in surprise more than pain and heard Dick's cry of shock as Artemis whacked her bow over his head. "If either of you ever pull such a stupid stunt like that again, I'm going to kill you!"
Wally rubbed his stomach where she'd hit him and shuffled away from her warily. He'd been expecting Roy to be the one to hit him, not Artemis. She reeled back with her fist again, and Wally flinched back, covering his face, "We're sorry!"
Roy caught her arm and gave her a mildly irritated look before stepping between them all and staring down at Wally and Dick with an unreadable expression. He folded his arms across his chest and took in a deep breath through his nose, "I really want to smack the stupid out of both of you right now. Really badly. Like, it's hard to stop myself right now. But I'm going to hug you instead, and you aren't going to ruin it, or I might hit you anyway. Got it?"
Wally and Dick both nodded wordlessly, sparing each other nervous glances out of the corners of their eyes. They stood very still as Roy hooked an arm around each of their necks and pulled them close. He could see Oliver and Dinah watching them happily over Roy's shoulder, and he didn't move until his big brother was done – partly out of the fear of getting smacked but mostly because Roy was shaking, and Wally knew he'd been the reason for it.
When Roy let go, he flicked Wally in the ear and poked Dick in the forehead. Wally just beamed at him as brightly as he could, "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."
"Shut up," Roy grunted moodily and turned his back on them to go finishing picking shrapnel out of Dinah's shoulder. Anyone else who didn't know him as well might have thought he was being a jerk, but Wally knew that Roy was just emotionally frigid. This was him doing his best. Apparently, Dinah thought so too, because she bumped him with her elbow and gave him a proud smile.
Roy scowled at her too.
"So, where's everyone else?" Dick asked quietly. "Did anyone…?"
Die.
Wally turned around and looked out the door at the rest of the medical bay. Some of the rooms were full with Leaguers patching themselves and each other up temporarily, but everyone else was in the halls. Even then, a lot of them were missing. He could see handfuls of Green Lanterns standing around, but aside from Guy and John, Wally didn't recognize any of them. Where were Hal and Kilowog?
"We lost a few Lanterns," Oliver told them solemnly. "They were in the worst part of the fight. It's amazing that there weren't more casualties. I don't think we lost any Leaguers, but I know at least three of them are pretty bad. Hawkwoman, Blue Devil, and Vixen are in surgery right now. They were the worst off, so Terrific, Mid-Nite, and Doctor Light are trying to fix them up first. I saw Martian Manhunter towing in a big group of unconscious Lanterns but couldn't tell for sure who any of them were. They were too far out for me to see."
Wally twisted his fingers together anxiously and ducked back out into the hallway to stare at the doors to the operating rooms. The other heroes were all staying a little bit away and helping each other recover from the fight – all except for Hawkman. He had his back to them all and was standing right in front of the doors with his arms crossed tightly and his wings twitching restlessly every few seconds. Wally guessed he was waiting to hear about his wife's condition and ignoring everything else not related to it.
A few instants later, Wonder Woman opened the doors and came walking out with her head held high and posture rigid like she was a queen. Her costume was torn and her skin blackened in places, but it did nothing to detract from her presence. Superman and Hal followed her out, speaking to each other in low voices with serious looks on their faces. Wally felt his insides loosen from the knots they'd been all tangled up in when he saw Hal alive and well.
Wonder Woman put a hand on Hawkman's shoulder and said something to him. Wally was too far away to hear the words, but the smile on her face and the way Hawkman's wings dropped a little in relief told him that everything was okay. He disappeared into the ward to be with his wife, and Wonder Woman continued on her way, quickly seeking out her younger sister and wrapping an arm around Donna's head carefully. Wonder Girl hugged her tightly around the middle, drawing a laugh from both Amazons and making Wally smile as well.
"Kilowog says they're trying to make a break for the next sector," Hal was saying as he and Superman drew near, still deeply engrossed in their conversation. Wally hung back in the doorway and waited for them to get closer. "He took thirty Lanterns with him, and he's due to report back in another ten minutes."
"Good," Superman nodded. His cape was completely shredded, and he looked like someone had tossed him into a hurricane. "It looks like we won this round. I don't think they'll be coming back any time soon."
"They're not coming back at all," Hal grinned. He, too, looked terrible. His hair was all messed up, and there was a really bad looking burn spanning his entire back. "The Guardians aren't going to let them go this time. Batman and Question's virus didn't just shut them down for a few minutes; it uploaded a homing beacon into every single one of them. Now, we can track them down wherever they are in the universe. We're hunting these Manhunters down until there aren't any left."
Superman patted him on the back amiably and smiled in relief, "Good. We'll deal with getting your cities looked after while you're gone once we know everyone's status. A lot of Leaguers are going to be down for awhile, and we're probably going to be pulling triple shifts for a few months."
"Fine with me," Hal stopped and waved him off. Superman went over to where Conner was holding an ice pack to M'gann's forehead. She was sprawled out in a hospital bed and it looked like she was speaking with Conner telepathically. Superman knocked on the door for permission to enter and immediately picked up more ice to pile on M'gann's burns. Both she and Conner smiled gratefully at him and welcomed him into their conversation.
Hal was standing with his hands on his hips when he turned around to scan the area and spotted Wally. His smile quickly disappeared, overshadowed by the huge grin that replaced it as he used his ring to fly over.
"You're alright!" he trapped Wally in a huge bear hug, and Wally couldn't help but return it, laughing out loud and trying to avoid touching his burns. "I didn't know what happened to you all after I sealed you in with all those Manhunters."
"We kicked their butts," Wally answered with a sly grin, earning a laugh from Hal and another hug.
"As if I expected anything else," Hal rolled his eyes. Then he froze and really looked at Wally intensely. "You're smiling! Does that mean your uncle's okay?"
Wally's smile faded as flashes of his dad's face and images of him getting sucked out into space returned all at once. He shook them off and nodded, "Yeah, he's okay. His leg is…really bad, but he's gonna make it."
Hal let out a huge sigh and smiled again, arm still hooked over Wally's shoulders when he noticed who all was in the hospital room behind them. He strolled over to the bed where Ollie was still working and yanked the hood back over his head teasingly, "Ugh, you mean you made it out alive, too? That's off-putting."
"Will you get out of here, Green Bean?" Ollie pulled his hood back again to see better and smacked Hal's hand away. "I'm trying to have a moment with my family."
"If you're going to stay, then make up some tweezer constructs and help me get all of this shrapnel out of her shoulder," Roy agreed with Oliver, not taking his eyes off his task.
Hal looked at Roy, then at Dinah, and then backed out of the room with a nervous chuckle, "No, no. The last time I touched Black Canary with anything, she gave me a bloody nose."
Dinah glared at him balefully, not budging from her perch even an inch, "You know what you did."
Oliver chuckled quietly, "That's how you got yourself banned from the road trip last year."
Hal made a face at him and flinched when Artemis turned and raised an eyebrow at him. Wally laughed openly at his uncle's best friend as he sulked. It looked like Artemis was totally fitting in with her new family now.
There was a sudden commotion outside, and Hal leaned his head out to see what was going on. The blood drained from his face, and Wally knew something was wrong. He was zipping out into the hallway before anyone could react and dodging through the Leaguers standing around.
It was very quickly apparent what the fuss was over. Batman had just entered the med bay and was mostly carrying Uncle Barry, who was almost completely limp and unable to walk. Wally dashed over breathlessly and tried to lift his uncle's head, "Flash?"
Uncle Barry stirred a little, and his eyelids fluttered but stayed shut.
"Flash!" Wally shouted frantically, feeling his heart start hammering in his chest. He looked up at Batman with wide eyes. "What happened to him?! He was okay just a few minutes ago!"
"He'll be fine," Batman assured him briskly, handing Uncle Barry over to Hal, who had flown over immediately. "But he needs medical attention now before he loses that leg. Can you take him to a STAR labs facility? He can't wait for the others to finish up in the operating rooms."
Hal already had Uncle Barry securely in a ring construct and was flying towards the hangar, "I'm on it. Radio to STAR labs that we're on our way."
Wally took off after him without waiting for permission or taking a moment to say what he was doing. Dick and Artemis were trying to say something to him, but Wally just blew right by them. He wasn't about to leave his uncle's side again, and he couldn't risk slowing down Hal.
They made it to the hangar in a matter of seconds, and Wally almost couldn't believe the destruction he saw. Blood and Manhunter parts were everywhere. Off in one corner, Huntress and Ice were cuffing Manhunter acolytes that were in varying states of unconsciousness and lining them up against the wall.
Wally activated the airlock gate and waited for Hal to catch up. He was vibrating impatiently and very rapidly starting to lose his cool. Everything was moving too slowly. The airlock doors were too slow. Hal was too slow. They had to hurry!
"You're going to slip into relative time if you don't calm down," Hal warned him with an unsure sort of frown as he landed and stepped into the personnel airlock. Wally closed the inner doors and triggered the outer doors to open. The air pressure alarm went off, and Hal expanded his construct to include Wally. "Look, Barry's gonna be fine. He looks a lot worse than he is."
"You look…a lot worse…than…" Uncle Barry mumbled weakly, trailing off before he could finish his juvenile insult. Wally looked over at him in surprise, and Hal just rolled his eyes.
"See? He's already awake and trying to verbally abuse me," Hal shifted Uncle Barry more securely onto his shoulder, making sure his feet weren't touching the construct. "Alright, Wally, you know the drill. Make sure the yellow on your costume doesn't touch the green."
"Right…" Wally said distractedly, bending down and tugging off his boots in a second. He touched the hard light construct with one hand to keep his balance and held the boots in his other.
"You know…" Hal was frowning at Wally's uniform boots. His eyes darted down to Uncle Barry suspiciously. "By the time Wally got his powers, you'd known me for years. You made his shoes yellow on purpose, didn't you?"
Uncle Barry made a noise that sounded very close to a laugh, and Wally relaxed just a little. If he was able to laugh, then he probably wasn't as close to dying as Wally had feared.
The airlock doors opened, and Hal flew them both out. At first, Wally thought they were flying through an asteroid belt until he remembered that the area around the Watchtower was supposed to be open space. He squinted and pressed closer to the walls of Hal's bubble, his eyes going wide when he realized that the 'asteroid belt' was actually a massive field of disassembled Manhunter parts. Hundreds of thousands of pieces floated aimlessly in a sloppy orbit around the Watchtower with Green Lanterns scooping them up with giant green nets and depositing them together. To the right, a colossal spaceship was docked at the bigger airlock and anchored by ten Lanterns. Two more GLs were scanning the entire length of the ship with their rings. Hal passed all of his comrades and made a beeline for Earth, his ring rocketing them down fast enough to mildly impress a speedster.
"Where are you going?" Uncle Barry asked weakly, lifting his head enough to look at the planet.
"San Francisco," Hal replied. "You need a surgeon that understands how to operate on a speedster and respect secret identities. Plus, the STAR labs facility there specializes in studying metahumans. They'll be our best bet."
Uncle Barry shook his head and made a face, "No. Go to Alaska first. The Watchtower's communications are down, and I want to check on my family."
"No. San Francisco first," Hal said slowly like he was speaking to a stubborn toddler. "I'm not going to let you lose your leg. I'll drop you off and go to Alaska for you if you want, but you and Wally are getting medical attention. He's hurt too, in case you didn't notice."
Wally had been all for ignoring what Uncle Barry wanted at first until he was the one being denied the chance to check on Aunt Iris and the others as well. He bristled, "Uh, no. You can drop Uncle Barry off at STAR labs, but I'm running up to Alaska to the safe house."
"You're both going to STAR labs!" Hal shot him an irritated look too. "Iris and Jay can survive another few minutes of not knowing whether you two are okay or not. Trust me. They'd rather you two get medical attention first."
"Then go to the STAR labs in Seattle."
"Yeah, it's closer."
"The facility there specializes in psionics and psychology! They don't have any surgeons!"
"Isn't there one in Canada?"
"I think so, but it's in Toronto. We may as well go to San Francisco if we do that."
"Oh my God! What's wrong with you two?!"
"Just fly to Alaska, Hal. Quit being difficult about this."
"I'm being difficult?!" Hal burst out incredulously, glancing between Wally and Uncle Barry with a disbelieving expression. "You two are so – Fine! I'll take you to Alaska. But we're staying for one minute, just long enough for you to see everyone, and then you're both going to shut up while we go to San Francisco. And, if Iris wants to punch you for being stupid, I'm gonna let her!"
Wally just fought down a smile at Hal's tirade and discreetly fist bumped Uncle Barry when the older speedster held out his hand behind Hal's back.
Hal grumbled the entire way there until they entered Earth's atmosphere and he ran out of complaints. Wally watched the planet grow larger and larger, able to clearly make out North America beneath the clouds and storm systems traveling across it. They descended straight down, and Hal kept them above the coastline, touching down in Cordova at a small house on the outskirts of the town.
Wally looked on at the modest yellow house nestled against the thick, green forest and mountainside. He pulled on his boots and sped across the front lawn as soon as his feet hit the ground, not waiting for Hal or Uncle Barry. He was only a few feet from the door when he noticed the blown out windows and the way the front door was bent outwards like something had been thrown against it from the inside.
He paused in place, staring uncomprehendingly at the mild damage and stumbling up to the door while a tingling numbness spread out from his chest. Behind him, Hal and Uncle Barry were slowly making their way up the driveway.
"Kid, what is it?" he heard Uncle Barry call to him.
Wally didn't answer. He lunged forward and shouldered the door open with a loud crash, darting into a completely destroyed living room, "Jay! Max!"
He heard the distant sound of Hal's ring activating outside and a louder shuffle of movement further into the house. Wally sped around the overturned couch and into the kitchen, almost running headlong into Joan as she hurried out to meet him.
"Wally!" she put both hands on his shoulders, and Wally could see a bruise flowering above her left eye. Her normally perfectly curled hair was sticking up in a messy tangle, and her clothes were rumpled. "You're alright."
"What happened?!" Wally side-stepped her and saw a wheelchair lying on its side by the shattered sliding glass doors leading to the backyard.
"Professor Zoom," Joan told him quickly.
Wally's heart dropped into his feet, and he turned back to face her in horror, "What…?"
"He found us," she said shakily as Uncle Barry and Hal were just now coming into the house. "Max and Jay tried to fight him, but you know neither of them are at their full strength right now. The best they could do was try and lead him away, but all he wanted was Iris."
"Where are they?" Uncle Barry asked with a choked voice, his eyes angry and terrified at the same time.
"Jay and Max were losing, and it didn't take Iris long to figure out that she was the reason why Zoom was here. She ran into the woods to draw him away and keep him from the rest of us," Joan was shaking now, leaning heavily on the counter to keep herself upright.
"Oh my God," Wally breathed, pivoting on his heel and running through the broken doors immediately.
"Wally!" Hal shouted after him and set Uncle Barry down so he could give chase.
But Wally didn't slow down to let him catch up. He quickly located his aunt's footprints in the light snow covering the ground and followed them as fast as he could push himself. In three seconds, he passed Jay. The elder speedster was panting and leaning against a tree as he clutched his legs, face twisted up in pain. He was fine – just feeling the repercussions of trying to run before he was fully healed. Wally didn't stop to help him.
Max came into view in twelve seconds. He was going significantly slower and clutching his side that was stained red with blood. Max sensed Wally approaching and glanced back only to wave him off, "Go back! He's too-"
Wally outstripped him and was out of earshot before Max could finish the sentence. The heart-pounding fear gripping him was mutating into a burning fury with every step he took. Wally remembered every word Professor Zoom had said to him in the Manhunter compound. He'd planned on killing Uncle Barry and then taking his place as Aunt Iris' husband. As if she wouldn't notice! As if she'd ever let him touch her!
Now it seemed, since the plan had failed, Zoom was just going to kidnap Aunt Iris.
Wally clenched his jaw so tightly that he felt his teeth threatening to crack. He pushed himself faster, following the two sets of footprints in the snow at just under the speed of sound. He'd tear out Professor Zoom's throat before he ever let him hurt his aunt!
Seconds later, a bone-chilling scream nearly brought him to his knees.
It wasn't…
He kept running, following the screams until he reached a gap in the forest and saw two figures a few yards away. Wally slowed to a lazy jog and stopped right beside a thick tree, his brain struggling to comprehend what his eyes were seeing.
All the while, the raw screaming pierced his ears.
Only…it wasn't Aunt Iris' scream.
Both Professor Zoom and Aunt Iris were in the clearing, but it wasn't what Wally had expected to find. Zoom was on the ground, writhing and thrashing rigidly like his muscles were in full seizure. A strangled shriek of pure agony was gargling from his mouth like he was choking on his tongue.
Aunt Iris stood above him, angry tears streaming down her face and sobs tearing from her throat. She was clutching something in both trembling hands and pointing it at Zoom. After a moment, the screaming stopped, and Professor Zoom went limp on his side, panting and gasping for air. He clawed at something around his neck and jerked a little like he was trying to stand up. Aunt Iris just took in a shuddering breath of air and aimed a sharp kick at his head. Her green eyes narrowed in hatred, and she pressed the device in her hands again.
Immediately, Professor Zoom started seizing again. His mismatched blue eyes bugged out in shock, and his head slammed into the ground repeatedly. Aunt Iris never took her eyes off him. She just kept pressing the button again and again, watching Zoom writhe uncontrollably in pain.
She was electrocuting him with an inhibitor collar. Wally knew without a shadow of a doubt. He'd never forget the feeling as long as he lived, and the thick, black band around Zoom's neck was more than telling.
Wally ran to his aunt's side and couldn't help but stare at Zoom in blank confusion.
Aunt Iris' head turned the second she spotted him, and she nearly dropped the inhibitor collar's remote in her rush to throw both arms around him, "Wally, honey, you're okay!"
Likewise, Wally locked his arms around her too. He tried to be relieved that whatever was happening wasn't reversed, with Aunt Iris in trouble, but he couldn't really feel anything beyond the monumental bewilderment. When she finally let him go, still smoothing his hair back and kissing the side of his face repeatedly, Wally found his voice, "What…how did you…?"
"You!" Zoom snarled, catching sight of him when he heard Wally's voice. He moved to get up again, and Aunt Iris mercilessly electrocuted him. Professor Zoom collapsed into a convulsing heap on the freezing ground.
"Try to hurt my nephew one more time, and I'll keep this up until your heart explodes!" Aunt Iris screamed at him, her knuckles white from gripping the collar's remote so tightly. A shiver went up Wally's spine, and he was reminded of all the documentaries he'd ever seen of mama bears going berserk while protecting their young.
Then Wally really focused on the collar. He remembered Uncle Barry saying that he'd given her something capable of taking down a speedster. Was this what he'd meant? An inhibitor collar? It wasn't a foolproof thing, but it was still a staggering show of trust that he'd give her the means to disable him so effectively.
"What did you do? How…How did you get that collar on him?" he breathed curiously. A part of him was horrified at what he was seeing, but it was being buried beneath a sense of morbid satisfaction.
"I knew he'd follow me, so I snuck out and ran as far as I could while he was fighting Max and Jay," Aunt Iris said quietly. "Then, when he came after me pretending to be Barry, I went along with it until he let his guard down."
Wally's jaw hung open a little in shock, "Seriously?! He could have killed you! Or worse!"
"I didn't have a choice," Aunt Iris curled an arm around him affectionately, giving him a small smile. "Barry isn't the only one who can protect his family."
Professor Zoom tried to get to his feet, and Aunt Iris zapped him again, this time keeping the current on until he passed out. Wally just looked down at the man who had tortured him and carefully took the remote from his aunt. She understood without him having to say a word and handed it over silently.
Wally turned the small remote over in his hands, running his thumb over the button lightly. It would be so easy to push it, and he really wanted that power. He wanted to know what it felt like to cause Professor Zoom the same kind of pain he'd been dealt in the Manhunter base – to get revenge. No one would criticize him – not after what he'd gone through.
Aunt Iris had done it. But, she'd been using the collar in self-defense. Wally poised his thumb right on the button and held it still. If he electrocuted him now, when Professor Zoom was already down and the danger had been neutralized, it would bring Wally down to his level.
And Wally would rather die than risk that.
He opened the compartment in his glove and locked the remote inside. Aunt Iris smiled at him with pride, and Wally finally felt closure. It was all over. The Manhunters, Professor Zoom, his father…
He sighed and plopped down in the snow, still holding onto his aunt's hand. She sat down beside him and lay down wearily, closing her eyes and draping her free arm over her face.
"…Is Barry alive?"
"Yeah," Wally looked at her, laughing a little to himself. "He's hurt, but Hal thinks he'll be fine. We almost didn't come here first. Hal wanted to take us to a STAR labs hospital right away."
He couldn't even think about what Zoom would've done to Aunt Iris if they'd been even ten minutes late. She might have had everything under control, but you never knew anything for sure with Zoom.
"I'm grateful right now that you didn't," Aunt Iris squeezed his hand and then tried to look stern. "But don't do it again. Get yourselves looked after first."
"This is like the worst time to present your case for that," Wally laughed. "You know we're not going to listen to that, right?"
"Shush," she smacked him playfully. "I'm your aunt. You listen to me, not your meathead uncle."
"I'm gonna tell him you said that," Wally teased.
"Go ahead."
They stayed there for a few seconds, periodically double checking that Professor Zoom was still out cold, until Hal came soaring overhead with his ring blazing hot. He landed beside Professor Zoom and strategically trapped him in glowing green shackles by his red boots, dangling him upside down.
"Are you okay?!" Hal shouted over worriedly, and it occurred to Wally how it must look with him and his aunt both lying down for no reason.
Aunt Iris held up her arm without moving from her spot and flashed him a thumbs up. Wally just grinned. Hal came over to make sure neither of them were lying and crossed his arms above them, "Iris, you need to be a Green Lantern. You're hardcore."
"No, thanks." Aunt Iris smiled serenely. "I think I'll stick with my speedsters."
Wally exchanged a grin with her and shrugged at Hal.
"Fair enough," Hal chuckled. "You want a ride back, or-"
"Go get him locked up," Aunt Iris shook her head and nodded pointedly at Professor Zoom. "And take Barry to STAR labs. Don't let him bully you. Just tell him we're all fine and that I refuse to see him until he's had medical attention. That'll give him some incentive. Go with him, Wally. I'll go find Max and Jay myself."
"Yes, ma'am," Wally got to his feet and held out a hand to help her up as well.
"I'll meet you both in Central. And, Wally?" she pulled him into another hug. "I'm glad you're okay."
"Me too," Wally held her right back. "I can't wait to tell everyone that my aunt took down Professor Zoom all by herself."
She just pushed him towards Hal gently and shook her head like he was being silly. Wally saw her eyes flicker over to Zoom for a moment and darken considerably in anger.
Hal started to take off back towards the house, and Wally followed him at a steady pace, trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened since this morning and having a hard time believing that it was all real.