Ch 15: Hesitation
AN: Dang it guys! Quit picking up on foreshadowing that seemed really subtle when I decided to throw those lines in in the middle of the night.
But really, yay! Finally done with the hard stuff after this…
XxXxX
"M'fine, John!" Wally makes the obligatory effort to shoo John away from checking his leg wound again, though he really doesn't mind his friend's mother-henning. He's too happy to find much of anything annoying right now.
The League took down most of the Legion of Doom, despite the unexpected interruption. Only a few relatively low-level villains escaped in the chaos, and no civilians were killed. Plus, he and the team just performed the greatest take-down ever (in his most humble opinion) during their own battle in Paris. Those victories alone would be cause for celebration in Wally's book. The silencing of the small voice in the back of his head – the suppressed fears and agony of a young man who suffered under those monsters hands for a fortnight – was simply a bonus.
The real cause for his joy though, is the arrival of the Team. His family is here – well, most of them anyways – and they've missed him and they're all going to be okay. Yeah, Kaldur got injured (stupid, self-sacrificing je- no, Kaldur's too nice to be called a jerk even jokingly in his own mind), but he's going to be fine. Everyone's going to be fine.
So Wally can just sit back and enjoy having them here. Once John stops poking at the wound on his leg (and Shayera gives him a piece of her mind, if her irritated stance is anything to go by), he'll have to introduce everyone of course. He knows they're going to love each other as much as he loves them. Clark will probably make Conner play ball with him and J'onn'll have M'gann to be all mind-meldy with and Bruce will… well. He'll probably be his grumpy self for a while, but if anyone can make Bats smile, it's Dick.
Everything's just… perfect.
"If you would hold still, Hotshot, we could be done with this already." John chastises him.
"Bribe him with this. It's ridiculously effective."
Wally suddenly notices the snack Dick is offering to GL. "Chicken Whizzies! Gimme!"
They're yanked back out of his reach. "Not until you let Lantern check your leg. Your super-healing does weird things sometimes." Wally grumbles, but accedes.
"How did you know that would work?"
"A better question," Artemis cuts in, "is where was he keeping them?"
"A Bat never reveals its secrets." How the Nightwing mask is flexible enough to let Dick wiggle his eyebrows at them, Wally may never know.
"Everyone good now? Great. Get out of the way." Shayera pushes John and Dick away from Wally so she can crouch right in front of where he's sprawled on the floor. She grabs his shoulders and shakes them. "Don't you dare pull a stunt like that again!Do you know how worried I was about you? I'm pinned down fighting these stupid robot monkeys – who the hell thinks Monkey anything a good idea by the way-"
"Here here!" Conner throws in.
"-and all of a sudden I hear you're fighting Amazo-"
"You could hear that? I deliberately turned my comm off so you guys wouldn't be distracted by my fight!"
"-and then you're hurt and then you stop talking! I have never heard you not talk before! It was unnatural! So just… just don't do it again." Wally returns her hug as her anger runs out, finally allowing her worry and relief to bleed through.
"I'm so sorry, Sis. I'm okay though. It's okay," he soothes her. "No seriously. Getting dressed down is killing my happy-buzz." She chuckles against him, but doesn't let go for another moment. "Thanks, Shay. I'm feeling the love."
Kaldur nudges sleepily at the back of his mind. "It is polite to introduce people who are meeting for the first time."
"Ah! Right, I forgot." He turns shifts out of Shayera's hug to address more of the Leaguers. "Guys, this was my team growing up." He points his thumb back over his shoulder to where they're still leaning against the wall to Kaldur's room. "You all know Artemis already. Kaldur, aka Aqualad, is the too-kind-for-his-own-good idiot that's in the OR. That's Conner, aka Superboy; and Dick, aka Nightwing." He leans towards Shayera and cups his hand at the side of his mouth, like he's telling a secret. "It's okay if you forget their names."
Conner sighs and mutters, "Every single time," but Wally ignores him.
"Finally, may I introduce you to the ever-lovely M'gann M'orzz, aka Miss Martian, aka the finest Martian babe this side of the Milky Way." Wally gestures dramatically to M'gann, as if presenting her as a Victorian Ball. "By the way, I'm the only one allowed to hit on her like that, because I was grandfathered in before she left bachelorette-hood behind, so back off if you know what's good for you. Especially you, Boy Scout Senior." He points two fingers at his own eyes, then at Clark's. Poor Clark is so flustered that he backs right up into a wall.
"Wally! Be nice!" The subject of his flattery demands. Shayera is more than willing to swat the back of his head in her place.
"Yes Ma'am." He salutes them. "You guys are mostly familiar with my fellow Leaguers here, of course. This feisty lady here is my big sister Shayera Hol, A.K.A. Hawkgirl. Am I the only one that thinks it's weird that she's Shiera and Hawkwoman in our universe? Like, that's a weird thing to change between universes? It would be interesting to look into what caused that change when the rest of our names are the same. I wonder if-"
"Wally, we got it," Artemis cuts him off.
"Very smooth with the rambling, Kid Mouth."
"Shut it, Boy Blunder. I will sic GL on you. You'd back me up, right John?"
"I am not getting involved with this." John pointedly denies, despite Wally's pout.
"Fine. See if I back you up next time Shayera and/or Mari tear you a new one."
"That is completely-!"
"So I call this flustered guy here GL, because it's a good way to differentiate him from Uncle John, and you guys of course know Supes, J'onn, Bats and Diana."
"It is never not going to be strange hearing you call Auntie Di by her first name." Dick grumbles. The Leaguers raise their eyebrows at that statement, but nobody asks, and Dick doesn't bother expanding upon that little fact.
Once it's clear Wally's done M'gann is the first one to speak up. "It's so nice to meet you guys," she says, moving to hug the League founders, beginning with a very surprised Shayera and ending with a very welcoming J'onn. Only Batman keeps her at arms length. "I love making new friends!"
J'onn inclines his head towards the younger heroes. "It is an honor to meet you all as well. Wally has spoken of you often in the past few days."
"It's totally whelming to be here." Dick agrees with a cheery wave. He moves to shake John's hand, spurring the others to make polite motions of conciliation. Wally grins like an idiot all the while.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but can someone ask if there's anything of immediate importance to be discussed? The surgeons are going to put me back under since I am responding well to their anesthetics. I'm not sure I can contribute much longer."
Artemis relays Kaldur's message, much to the League's surprise.
J'onn in particular is astounded. "You all remain linked enough for him to be that… present?"
Batman cuts in before anyone can answer him.
"The Anomaly. It was able to delay the entire League and send an Amazo from another dimension after the Flash. I was given no previous indication that it was that powerful." Clark and Diana try to step in.
"C'mon Bruce, is this really the time?"
"Bruce! They've just been through an ordeal. Leave them be!"
Batman isn't willing to back down though. "No. This… thing nearly killed Flash. It could come after him again at any time, and in case you haven't realized, there may be nothing we can do to stop it. I need as much information as I can get. Now."
Dick sighs; the rest of the Team is more than willing to let Nightwing face off against the Big Bad Bat-face Bruce is making. "We didn't know it was that powerful either. Usually if we show up and start winning, it's more than willing to back down. This time it's like… it's like it was playing with us, like it's not on any kind of schedule, just trying to stir up as much trouble as possible. That it stopped you all from helping – even having that MONQI go through the effort of playing dead – it doesn't match its usual M.O."
"Maybe it realized I'm from another dimension and it's mad that it didn't get me the first time. Like – I'm the one that got away!" Wally posits.
John scoffs and Clark rolls his eyes good-humoredly, but the Team seems to take this suggestion in all seriousness, much to the John's chagrin. How often do we dismiss him out of hand with not reason other than simple habit? He can't help but ask himself.
"I suppose it's possible. It's not like we know what its motivations are, anyways, or if it even has enough of a conscience to have motivation." Dick is silent for a moment; Wally can feel his teammates pondering the possibility in the back of the mindlink. "Deviations from the pattern aside, what we can take out of this is that we can't count on getting the help we need. This time, we're going to have to fight smarter, not harder." Here, Dick hesitates, and turns directly to Batman. "I'll give you everything we have, but this really isn't the place to go over it."
"…Very well. You can debrief in the 'Cave." His cape sweeps out a dark arc as he turns and begins walking away from the group. Even Dick is surprised but the man's abruptness.
"Uh, wait, now?"
"Is that a problem?"
"Go do you Bat thing. Use Blue's clues to find Carmen Sandiego, save the world, all that jazz." Wally encourages at his best friend's hesitance to leave his side.
"Seriously, Boy Wonder. Go. We'll sit on Wally 'till you get back." Artemis adds. Wordless affirmation from Conner and M'gann warms the link. Kaldur, too, seems to agree, but his side of their mental comm is growing fuzzy on narcotic pain meds. He's gone entirely only a few moments later.
"Uh, no." The acrobat suddenly recovers at a mental suggestion from M'gann. "Actually, I'm totally looking forward to having a sleepover with you!" The Dark Knight's face twitches at the younger Bat's newfound enthusiasm. He's not used to losing control of the situation like that, and he's just beginning to realize how guarded he will have to be around this boy.
For his own defense, Batman resumes stalking off. A new, bouncy shadow follows after him. Wally stifles a laugh at the look on Diana's face when Dick's parting comment echoes down the hall to them. "If we tell him we're going to have to pull an all-nighter, do you think Agent A will make us cookies and hot chocolate?"
"…Did that really just happen?" Clark asks as he struggles to shake the dumfounded look off his face.
"Yeah, we don't get how he does it either." Conner offers the older Kryptonian.
Clark suddenly looks nervous; He scuffs his boots and rubs the back of his neck. "I guess if Batman gets to take his counterpart's partner home, maybe I could do the same? Ma and Pa'd be more than happy to have you, and I know Kara's dying to me you…"
"Kara?"
"Your smoking hot cousin." Wally offers, helpfully. "Not in my opinion, of course. Just sayin' what I've heard." He adds at Clark's glare and Artemis' mental projection of her irritation.
"I... I would like to me them. I just... Megs?" Conner turns to his girlfriend, hesitant to abandon her just to meet his parent's counterparts.
"Don't worry about me, Conner. If worse come to worse, Artemis and I can just kick Wally out of his quarters and have a girls' night."
"Wait, what?"
"Of course, I won't leave my girl hanging!" Artemis assures Conner over Wally's protests. M'gann grins at the prospect of some much-needed girl time, and hugs her sister for going along with it.
"It doesn't have to come to that." They turn to J'onn in surprise when he finally speaks up. "I, uh… It was probably mentally taxing to perform both a Sheleara Oo'mse and a six-way Shabtl-cur** in one night. If you require meditation, my quarters have an annex for such things; the room is well-shielded from mental intrusions." Wally does a mental victory dance. Three for three and he didn't even have to do anything.
"I would love to meditate with you, Uncl- I mean, J'onn." M'gann smiles and projects some of her appreciation of the offer. "Uncle J'onn – my J'onn, that is – always chastises me for not properly clearing my mind after such exertions."
"Excellent. Everyone's taken care of, then." John crosses his arms. "Are we done here? Mari's going to be furious we took this long." Shayera scoffs her derision, but John ignores her. It's been a trying day – days? John isn't sure what the count is, anymore – and John isn't ready to deal with all of this. He doesn't have some alternate-dimension protégé to focus on, so he's taking the first escape route he sees.
"Yeah. I guess we're all good here." Wally moves to hug the four aliens before they go. "I didn't realize how tired I was until you said something." He takes Artemis' stifled yawn as agreement.
"See everyone in the morning then?" He gives one final round of hugs to Shayera and Diana at their assent, before whisking Artemis off to his room. Who knew life-and-death battles, long-lost reunions, and mental side-quests were so exhausting? The others keep up a mental dialogue for a few more moments as they head their separate ways.
"E.T. phone home tomorrow? Or are you gonna chicken out on us again, Kid Smooth? 'Cause there's no other excuse not to call everyone up now that these miscreants know." Artemis teases him.
"What? I can't just pop home and say 'Hi! I'm not dead!' to them in person?"
"Well, theoretically you could, if one of us lent you our remote." M'gann chimes in, oblivious to his joking tone. He's completely caught off guard by that response.
"What?!" Because that are two completely shocking, left field bit of information. "What do you mean?"
They hesitate, but finally Conner speaks up. "It's... not that hard to jump that 'far' if you have a remote and both a sending and receiving platform. Or even just a remote, if you're only jumping one or two dimensions over. Regardless, Artemis should have that stuff set up in her bunker."
"I could… go home? Like, anytime? Is there a reason no one mentioned that before?"
The inquiry is mostly aimed at Artemis, and she's the one that offers an explanation. "I didn't want to say anything because it's… not really on the table. We try not to go home much, in case it the narrowing of the space-time gap between our dimensions allows the Anomaly to follow us. We don't need it to go after Bart again."
"What does that mean?" He could go home, see his family… but he can't. Because this, this thing that's trying to end him might go after his baby cousin instead.
"…The Anomaly's not as omnipotent as it seems. When we first started out Bart volunteered to be a part of this mission. I mean, it's not like we could tell him 'no.' It was a disaster. The Anomaly seemingly couldn't distinguish between the two Kid Flashes and went after both with a vengeance. If Oracle hadn't been able to set up an emergency override on his TD mark and get him out of there... We would have lost him. As it were, The Anomaly took that Wally down and was... I guess cruel is the best word to use, in the next few dimensions."
At the reminder of the Anomaly's track record, Batman's words come rushing back to him. There may be nothing we can do to stop it. He'd been so focused, in that one moment of home, on seeing his family again that he let himself get a little bit selfish.
A near-omnipotent adversary has been travelling the universe just to kill him. His team has failed dozens of times before, and the Anomaly has only gotten meaner since. It's even willing to go after other speedsters, just in case. Would it go after Bart if he tried to go home? Or maybe Barry, since he's the Flash instead of Kid Flash now? Wally's already tried to die to protect them once. How could he put them in danger like that, just because he wanted to see them? Following that logic… a lump forms in Wally's throat.
"Guys. We… we can't tell anyone I'm alive. Not yet." Shock and confusion echoes through the mind link, but they allow him to explain. "I can't… do that to them. I'm just… If we fail, if the Anomaly gets me… It wouldn't be fair, to call them up and tell them I'm alive only for me to die without even getting to see them." He can see his family, in their minds. Bart's guilt, his parent's sorrow… he shouldn't be alive to know how much he hurt his family. To do it twice…
"Wow, Wally, I'm really feeling the confidence you place in us." Conner's trying to be accusatory, but the joke falls flat. Each and every one of them is carrying the guilt of more the one failure. The stakes are so much higher this time, though, and it's hard to make jokes when they know the consequences of failing again.
"Wally…" M'gann tries to think of something comforting to say. There is nothing. Artemis halts their progress to pull him into a hug.
"We understand. We… we'll keep it a secret."
"We're going to win this time, though. Promise."
XxXxX
Later that night, Wally lays curled around Artemis, still awake. He just can't stop thinking about that what if… because the more he thinks about it, the more likely it seems that they really might lose this time. If he pays the price for that failure…
He wants everyone to know how much he loves them. The Team, the League, his parents, his aunt and uncle, Bart… They deserve to know how much they mean to him. He won't leave them like he did last time, silently ducking out of the Watchtower without a word. They deserve that much, at least.
Perhaps more than that, though, he doesn't want to be the reason they go rogue. He knows them all well, if there were some way for him to soothe their rage from beyond the grave…
He doesn't get out of bed immediately when the idea comes to him. He lies there, listening to Artemis breathe and feeling her warmth in his arms as he thinks. He thinks about who he absolutely has to say something to, and whom he can leave with only a few lines, or even nothing at all. He thinks about how they might feel, what he needs to say. He thinks about how to apologize to them all.
Only once he has it all planned out in his head can he bear to extricate himself from Artemis' arms. With his speed, it only takes him a few minutes to write his letters, pull on some real clothes, and be out the door. An instant later he's standing in front of Question's door, silently praying Huntress isn't here tonight and that he's not at her place instead.
Luckily, the man in question answers the door on the third knock, looking only slightly sleep-rumpled and irritated.
"Flash. To what do I owe this surprise?"
"Vic. I need you to do something really important for me. How determined are you to stop the Lords from happening?"
"You know the answer to that."
"I just wanted to make sure. If things… go wrong for me, can you get these to the people on the front of the envelope? If you don't know who someone is, give it to Artemis. She'll get it to the right person. I just… I think this may help them cool down enough not to go Lord or anything, y'know?"
"This is oddly well thought out for you, Flash. What is the League at large not being told?"
"It's not important."
The faceless man is silent for a moment. "Very well. I'm sure I will stumble upon the information myself, since you've given me such a good hint at the right questions. I will ensure your friends get these."
"Thanks, Q. You're a good friend." The detective inclines his head at the compliment.
"Sleep well."
"I think I will, now."
XxXxX
**I totally made these Matian words up.