Lost My Heart in Gotham City part 3
January 19th, 2011 Gotham
Sometimes Wally believed that under his uncle's jolly, easy going persona there was an evil disturbed man who hated the world. There were moments that Barry acted like a complete asshole, one such moment was today.
Wally had been up all night texting on his phone and had fallen asleep in an awkward position; but, the strangest thing was Barry had called out, quite loudly, that it was time for breakfast and the red head had not budged or muttered something in his sleep. The blond paused, looking at his sleeping nephew and came up with a sinister plan. Creeping over to his own bed he picked up a pillow and plucked a feather from the case. He smiled triumphantly when he got a long one. Creeping back over to the red head, he used the feather to tease the younger male's nose. Wally fidgeted and mumbled something in his sleep. Barry stifled his laughter and went in again, teasing the red hears freckled nose—this time with eliciting the reaction he hoped for.
Wally, attempting to remove the annoyance from his face, swatted his nose with his hand. What his sleep addled mind didn't comprehend however was that he had fallen asleep with the phone in said hand and promptly crashed the device into his face causing him to jump, shout in pain, then groan at the soreness of his nose.
All the while Barry was laughing hysterically, holding his sides and tearing up slightly. The red head glared bloody murder at his uncle who knew very well he was not a morning person. Grumbling to himself he got up from the bed and wobbled over to the bathroom to prepare for what was to be sure an odd day.
When Barry finally calmed down enough to speak he walked over to the bathroom door and called to Wally on the other side. "Sorry sport, I couldn't help myself." He leaned on the door frame, "Who we're you texting till 2 AM anyway?" The door opened and Wally stepped out after having brushing his teeth and washing his face. He gave his uncle another dirty look before getting dressed. Barry chuckled.
It wasn't till halfway through breakfast that Wally got over his uncle's little prank and seemed to revert back to his old very talkative self. He told the blond about his new friend Richard and how they met by chance, twice this week, and about how comfortable he felt around the younger teen.
"Sounds like my nephew has a crush." Barry chided, Wally flushed slightly before shoveling more eggs into his mouth, Barry did the same.
"Sho…" Wally said with his mouth full, "How wash patrol wiff Batman." Barry snickered at his nephew's terrible eating habits.
"What has Iris told you about talking with your mouth full young man?" Barry said in his stern "I'm your uncle" voice. The red head swallowed the food in his mouth immediately. "Didn't see the news last night? Or we're you too busy texting your new boyfriend?" Wally didn't know why his uncle found so much pleasure in teasing him.
The red head huffed, "He's not my boyfriend." He muttered then pouted in a very childish manner.
"Whatever you say kiddo," Barry joked. "As for last night's mission it went…well we had some unexpected conflicts. An entire building was encased in ice thanks to Freeze's new cryo-bombs. Me and Bats got all the civilians to safety, we did manage to catch Captain Cold though. Freeze kind left him out in the cold!" Barry snorted at his own play on words, Wally sighed, embarrassed for him. "Batman doesn't think Freeze will come back out of hiding anytime soon but, as far as he's concerned "Your services are no longer needed"." The older blond imitated Batman's gruff voice which made Wally smirk.
"Did you finish all your business with, err—Wayne Tech…or whatever it's called." Wally pushed the remainder of his food around in the plate with his fork, appetite suddenly lost; which should be alarming but doesn't quite either speedster's attention.
"Just about. I was actually thinking of having dinner, you and me, Bruce and his son Dick. He invited us to a Wayne charity banquette." Wally snorted.
"Dick?" The older blond rolled his eyes.
"Maturity, Wally."
"Yeah, Yeah…Do I have to? I mean if we're leaving soon I'd rather hang out with—" The redhead's complaint was cut off by the ringing of his uncle's phone. Fishing the device from his pocket he answered quickly, "Barry here."
Wally tuned out his uncle's, usually boring, conversation over the phone and pulled out his own. Unlocking the screen he went to his messages and saw that he had actually received on from Richard when he was asleep. He idly wondered of that kid ever slept with how much coffee he drinks; was he aware that junk would stunt his growth?
'You passed out, didn't you?' is what the text said. Noticing it was from 2:16 AM, The redhead quickly replied 'It was almost half past 2, how were you still up?'
When he didn't get an immediate reply, which he usually did from Richard, he guessed the younger boy was asleep. Stuffing the phone back into his pocket he looked back up to his uncle, who had just finished his phone call and was looking back at him.
"Something important?" Asked Wally.
"No, not really." Barry dismissed. "So, what should we do for the rest of the day? It's only eleven o' clock. Wanna see the sights?"
"Does Gotham even have sights? Y'know, besides old ladies getting mugged—then those same old ladies pulling out guns and shooting the muggers?" Wally paused for a moment. "That actually would be an interesting sight." Barry rolled his eyes.
"You know, I'm sure the Bat wouldn't take kindly to how you're talking about his city. You know he hears everything and see's all."
Wally laughed. "Yeah, he probably would have a small diner bugged, you know, in case some master plot was thought up here." Barry shrugged.
"Never know."
Both speedsters finished their food and the older paid for both meals. They spent the rest of the day traversing the city of Gotham, stopping petty crimes and muggings faster than anyone could see or cameras could catch. They toured the infamous lower east Gotham where crime happened most to the posh, wealthier side of Gotham where Wally spotted and a huge house—a castle, as Wally put it, at the end of a long winding road and the top of a hill. A large "W" engraved on the entrance gates.
"I bet it's haunted." The blond joked.
"Ghost's don't exist, Uncle Barry." Wally deadpanned. Barry muttered something about 'little imagination'.
"C'mon Kiddo. It's getting about the time." The younger speedster huffed and followed the older one.
"You know, Gotham isn't that scary when the sun's out." Barry chuckled.
"That's why the bats only come out at night."
Currently, in the supposed haunted mansion on top of the hill which was also known as Wayne Manor, Richard Grayson followed his adoptive father and caped crusader Bruce Wayne around the old well-kept building.
"Do I have to go?" The young brunette half whined.
Bruce sighed, stopping in his musings. He looked to his adoptive son who was pouting like a child.
"You may not have to." He said solemnly.
"Oh?" The pout melted into something more like curiosity.
"Something occurred to me a few minutes ago—with the case. I have a sneaking suspicion we're going to show up late to the banquet."
"If at all." Dick shrugged but couldn't contain his smirk. "So that means I'm not benched anymore?"
"It's going to be the four of us tonight." Bruce walked away, into the shadows of the manor.
"Yes!" Richard cheered. "Wait," he paused. "Four of us?" His shoulder slumped. "Damn it."
"Language Master Richard." Alfred scolded as he walked past.
The clock struck nine and just as Bruce had predicted, a building in the middle of town had suddenly frozen solid like the night before. Thanks to an "anonymous" tip to the cops the building, a chemistry off branch lab of Wayne Biotech, had been evacuated earlier for a suspected "bomb threat".
Batman and Robin were perched on an adjacent building waiting for their speedster partners. With a mighty "fwoosh" of wind the scarlet speedster, The Flash and his sidekick Kid Flash appeared next to them.
"You're late." Robin grumbled. He looked at the speedsters who wore similar costumes. Both their heads covered completely by their cowls. Ears protected by lightning bolt muffs. He remembered The Flash explaining their costume choice once. The muffs kept the wind from rushing past their ears, messing with their balance and the cowls to protect from flowing debris and bugs.
Apparently when Kid Flash had first started off he didn't wear the same type of cowl and spend endless night getting bugs out of his hair.
"Nice to see you too." Kid Flash deadpanned and crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Batman's sidekick, he wasn't his favorite person in the world. With his stupid smug attitude and that egotistical smirk, his stupid overly gelled hair and that creepy ass laugh.
"You know, I believe there as a "no metas in Gotham" rule Batman had set up." He glared at the younger speedster. The older one had settled by Batman as they both watched their sidekicks' spat.
"Hey, I got invited here by Batman himself. Maybe he's looking for a better sidekick." The speedster shrugged. "I guess he just needs someone who can keep up with him."
Robin frowned at the comment. "Please, you're always tripping over yourself. If anything you can be my sidekick."
"Boys." Batman's gravelly voice snapped them out of their argument. "If you're done, we have a madman to capture." The caped crusader gave his sidekick a long stare before leaping off the building and grappling to the next. Robin frowned and looked to his fellow sidekick.
"Make sure you laces are ties this time; don't want you tripping over yourself again." Robin chided and followed Batman's lead.
"Ugh, that little twerp!" Kid flash raced down the side of the building.
"Good grief…" Flash sighed and followed his nephew.
The fight between the heroes and Freeze lasted longer than Batman had expected. His new cryo-suit was nearly indestructible, releasing waves of freezing energy every few seconds, as well as equipped with his deadly freeze cannon. In the basement of the Wayne Biotech lab the temperature was dropping dramatically, Robin had started to shiver.
"You cannot stop me this time Batman." The villain's almost mechanical voice sounded though the frigid air. "I am so close to getting my Nora back, I won't let you or your friends stand in my way."
"Viktor, we can help you but this madness needs to stop!" Batman yelled back. "People's lives are in danger and that chemical compound you're stealing is dangerous and highly volatile! It could kill her!"
"What would you know Batman?" Mr. Freeze pointed his freeze cannon and fired. Batman dodged the ray but Robin's reflexes had dulled in the cold: he hadn't noticed his boots were frozen to the floor.
"Robin!" Batman called out.
"Got you!" Kid Flash ran in at super speed and grabbed Robin, skidding into a wall as there was no traction to stop. They crashed and tumbled on to the floor.
"Good job Kid Clumsy." Robin mumbled.
"You're welcome." Kid Flash grumbled.
"Get off of me!" Mr. Freeze's panicked voice caught their attention. Batman had slipped back around the villain, using Flash as a distraction. Using his batarangs he dug the sharp tips into the suit, cutting off its main power source, deactivating the freezing pulses.
"Going down!" The Flash yelled as he ran at full speed into the now lumbering and mostly immobile suit. Batman jumped away as the speedster tackled the thing to the ground.
"It's over Viktor." Batman loomed over the scientist.
"No, Nora…I'm so close….so close."
"Wow…kind of feel sorry for the guy."
"He wasn't always like this." Robin grumbled from beside him. "Gotham does this to people." He said bitterly as he walked toward his mentor. Kid Flash stared hard at Robin's retreating form before joining his own mentor.
"You okay?" The younger speedster asked Robin.
The brunette shrugged. "Little banged up, nothing a little hot chocolate can't fix."
"Is that a date?"
Robin scoffed at the idea. "As if! I didn't know you swung that way."
"I don't "swing" any way, bird brain. Like I'd go on a date with you anyway! Probably annoy the hell out of me anyway."
"Don't swing anyway? As long as it walks on two legs and has a hole eh?" Robin teased.
"Boys.." The Flash called them in exasperation. "We're getting out of here."
It was at 1AM that Wally found himself sitting in the very same swing that he had first seen Richard at two nights ago. He was beginning to get restless. Richard had texted him when he and Barry had gotten to their hotel. He wanted to meet up tonight, but needed to wait till his father left. He told the brunette he needed to wait till his uncle fell asleep.
Now that he was here, and getting later he hopped off the swing. Looking at his phone in hopes that he had somehow missed a text from Richard, which he hadn't, he started making his way back to the hotel. That is until Richard's voice cut through the silent night.
"Wally!" The red head stopped abruptly and looked around but saw no one. Brow knit in frustration, Wally looked around, peering into the darkness knowing that he wasn't going crazy. "Boo!" Hands were suddenly on his shoulders, causing Wally to jump at least two feet in the air. He turned around and met Richard's grinning face.
"Dude! Not cool!"
"Sorry, I couldn't help myself."
"What took you so long?" Wally's hands flailed in the air.
"Sorry, I had to make sure I could get out without getting caught…" He ran a hand through his now washed hair and looked at Wally. "What's with the hat hair?"
"Uh," He stammered. "I wear hats every now and then." He made up an excuse. Wally's green eyes peered at Dick and noticed his hand was in a brace.
"What happened to you happened to your hand?"
"Fell down the stairs." The brunette said a little too quickly.
"Okay Richie, where to?" Wally said, letting the subject drop.
"Dude, if you're going to give me a nickname, call me Dick." Wally snorted, Dick frowned.
"Okay, sorry. Alright Dick, where to? Honestly I'm starving." He rubbed his rumbling tummy.
"Are you ever not hungry?"
"Nope!" They both smirked. "We can go back to that diner from last time. Their pancakes were awesome!"
"Fine, fine. Let's go."
Okay so, this chapter as some of you will notice, is not Beta's since she is on vacation for a while but I'm still going to update. Ill replace this chapter with the Beta's version when she gets back.
ANYWAYS! This is not the conclusion of "Lost My Heart in Gotham City" there is one more, the tearful good bye when Wally finally leaves Gotham but don't worry, things only get more interesting from there I promise! Also more the of the young Justice crew will be in the next chapter.
Important note! I have slightly altered Robin and Kid Flashes costumes/appearances. Robin now has his hair gelled which Richard doesn't, just a reversal of the show. Kid Flash is sporting a cowl like his uncle to hide his red hair. So, nothing major.
As always please, please, please review and offer your opinions and criticisms as they are always welcome and appreciated.
Final Note: To the anon reviewer that said Bruce and Richard have black hair and are not brunets you are technically right but brunet can be used to describe anyone with very dark hair. I guess the correct term would be to call them "Ravens" but that just reads awkwardly to me especially since he's, y'know, Robin.