Author's Note: I..didn't make you wait a month?
Summary: His father is back and everything around him seems to be crumbling right before his eyes. Sequel to Things Fall Apart.
Disclaimer: Um..I have apple cider, not Young Justice or DC comics.
The Center Cannot Hold
Part Five
He stayed at Roy's for the remainder of the day, if Wally had to guess, the archer only obliged to housing the speedster because it was an excuse for him to skip the rest of his classes. Of course, Wally didn't get to stay without having to do Roy a favor, which was finishing the physics homework the archer had started, that is if putting his name on the paper qualified as 'starting'. Every now and again, Roy would offer to chase Wally's dad out of Central, which was starting to become irksome. However, Wally understood Roy's intention or at least liked to think he did.
Wally easily caught the snack pack that Roy tossed to him before answering the phone. He made his greeting then looked over at Wally, "Yeah, he's here Barry." Wally smiled sheepishly then focused on his pudding cup, "No, he's fine." a pause, "I will, bye."
"Guess it's time to go." Wally stated, though he showed no signs of getting up. Roy leaned against the counter he set the phone on top of.
"Yeah, hope you have an excuse for skipping class made up."
Crap. "Uh." Wally stammered, even with accelerated thinking he hadn't thought that far ahead, "I should think of one."
Roy ran a hand through his hair causing some of it to stick up at odd angles, "Here's something you could try, just tell him what you told me."
Wally snorted, "You threatened to get my father, but I think Uncle Barry would actually do it."
"Hey, I would do it too." the speedster almost laughed at Roy's offended tone.
"No, you wouldn't because I don't want you to and we all know that underneath all that anger is a soft teddy bear." Wally grinned widely at the older red head. Roy just grumbled again, averting his gaze.
"Look Kid, I know you think you can do this on your own, but there are people who want to help and it doesn't hurt to accept that help."
"Says the guy who's been kicking it in sololand?" Wally said flatly.
"Don't be like Roy, there's your lesson of the day."
"That must of hurt you to say."
"Maybe just a little bit."
"Do you need a hug?"
"...Get out of my apartment."
.:...:.
"Did something happen? Were those kids bothering you again? Did you not feel well? You did your homework didn't you? Did you have a quiz today that you forgot to study for? Did you forget to eat breakfast? What happened?" Barry asked his voice rushed. Iris rolled her eyes cutting him off before he could go on.
"Why were you at Roy's, Wally?" she asked calmly.
He had been less than truthful with his Aunt and Uncle for the past two days, something he was not accustomed to. Wally was sorely tempted to continue it but, "I uh, thought I saw my dad at school today." he said in a rush of words, his Aunt blinked in confusion, unable to decipher what her nephew had just said while Barry's face was slowly turning red.
"What? Why didn't you call me?" his Uncle asked, the older man's knuckles turning white as his grip on the chair tightened. The teen squirmed in his chair, no sense in stopping now.
"Because I didn't want to, plus he might of talked to me a few days ago too." he finished quietly, careful to avoid eye contact with his Uncle, who was having a difficult time trying to remain collected.
"What did Rudolph say to you?" Barry sighed as Iris laid a hand on his arm, silently telling him to calm down.
Wally did not like telling this story, for all the guff Uncle Barry gave about Roy striking out on his own and reacting irresponsibly, the two shared plenty of similarities, meaning Wally had a pretty good idea how his Uncle was going to react, "He wants to talk to me this Saturday about us being a 'family' again."
The chair's material groaned as Barry's grip tightened, Wally wondered if his Uncle could actually cause the piece of furniture to snap. His Aunt was probably worried that it was possible, "Barry." Wally nearly forgot in all this, that next to him, his Aunt was the closest family that his father had left and seeing her husband reacting in this way could not be easy for her.
Barry released the chair taking a steady breath and a step back, "Why didn't you tell us sooner, Wally." he asked.
"He's my dad and I guess, I thought, I know I didn't want you to know, it's my dad, my problem." he said gripping the fabric of his jeans.
Iris took the seat next to him, resting her hand on his knee, "Wally, I know you don't like it, but you are still a child and this isn't something you should face by yourself."
"Where did he tell you to meet him?" Barry cut it, squashing any possible sentimentalism. Wally kept his mouth shut tight, frowning Barry pressed, "Wally."
The ginger teen shook his head, "No, if I tell you, you're just going to throw him head first into a garbage can."
"No, I won't. Though that is tempting." he whispered the last part to himself. "Kid, you're not going to meet him."
"Do you trust me?" Wally asked suddenly.
"Of course I do Wally, you know that." Barry replied, his voice softer now.
"Then trust me to handle this on my own." Wally said sounding a lot braver than he felt, never really one to go against what his Uncle said. After all, one of the conditions for becoming Kid Flash was promising to do what his Uncle said, when he said it. Wally kept his gaze steady, not daring to look away from his Uncle.
Barry's shoulders sagged, "Alright kid, alright."
A small sigh of relief left Wally, a quick smile spreading across his face, that's all he needed.
.:...:.
Friday passed faster than Wally liked and usually days went by slower for him because compared to what he was and what he did, nothing could catch up to him. It was the world playing against him, he just knew it. Though he would have loved to missed another day of classes, apparently, missing two days in a row was not a good idea because of all the homework and lessons that he would miss. Of course, that was ridiculous, he could easily finish the homework in a few minutes with enough time to spare for him to make a plate of nachos. Still, he went and wished that the day would drag on like it usually did, but it didn't. Wally felt like he barely had the chance to blink before the final bell rang signalling that the students could head home. The rest of the day continued the same way, one moment he was stepping inside kicking his shoes off, the next he was waking up to the sun rising. Now, he was walking through the park, his mind spewing out random facts to keep himself calm.
6,783,665,034,756,288,456,012,645
That was how many move possibilities there were in a game of chess. If Wally had to guess he probably used nearly everyone of those moves at least once. He would never admit it to anyone if he was asked, but whenever he visited the park as Wally West, it wasn't to go walking, the joggers were taking up the sidewalk all the time anyways or to enjoy the peace cause really, there was no peace when there were little kids screaming their lungs out. Wally enjoyed playing chess and the chess boards that were available for patrons to play the game when they wanted to. Personally, Wally was always entertained when he beat one of the older men who automatically assumed that a kid wouldn't know the first thing about chess.
Wally could only wish that this moment was like a game of chess, so that he would have a skew of options available to him instead of the fair few. Logging those thoughts away to the back of his mind, Wally continued searching the park, his head continuing to fire off fact after fact; whenever someone sneezed, how fast the germs would spread, how many grains were in an average sandbox, just small facts, he was thinking about how many beats a hummingbird's did in a minute when he saw a man with brown hair sitting on the bench up ahead.
"Dad?" Wally said. Rudolph looked up from his newspaper, his mustache twitched in what Wally could only assume was a smile.
"Wallace! For a minute, I didn't think you were going to come, sit." he asked waving towards the empty spot next to him. Wally only glanced before returning to meet his father's brown eyes, he shoved his hands into his coat pockets.
"I can't stay. I only came to say I'm staying with Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry." He stopped himself before he could say 'I'm sorry', Wally had nothing to be sorry for. Rudolph set his newspaper down to stand in front of his son.
"Wallace, you don't belong with them, you belong with me." Rudolph said keeping his voice low as a jogger passed by them, not that it mattered the earphones probably muted any outside noise.
"Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry have treated me better than you did, I'm not leaving them." Wally stated firmly, standing just the slightest bit straighter. "My friends and family are here, I'm not giving that up for you."
Rudolph's hand found Wally's arm easily, yanking it so Wally's hand was pulled out of his coat pocket, "I'm your father, I'm your family, not them."
In the pit of his stomach a bubbling feeling began to surge upward, that statement sounded wrong, felt wrong. Glaring at Rudolph, Wally pulled his arm free, "No, you're not. You haven't been my father for a long time." he said, his voice nearly as cold as the wind that blew through his hair. "You lost your chance at having a family, don't ruin mine." he ended, turning away from Rudolph, Wally head back to the only place that he had ever considered his home.
Watching his son's retreating form, Rudolph knew that everything was about to get far more complicated than he wanted it to be. Never the less, when the first plan of action did not work out, there was always Plan B.
.:...:.
"Sorry about ditching you with Artemis the other day." Robin apologized to Kid Flash, brushing the dust out of his hair. Kid Flash shifted his feet, trying to find a more comfortable way to crouch, he seriously had no idea how both Robin and Batman managed to do this on a daily basis. The speedster peeked out from behind the car the two were taking cover behind, trying to get a better view of the scene that was occurring in the center of Happy Harbor.
"No problem, I left almost right after anyways." he responded. Robin moved beside Kid Flash trying to look as well, so far they hadn't appeared again though they both knew they probably would, they only had to wait. Robin nudged Kid Flash in the side causing the speedster to look at the acrobat oddly.
"You were acting funny the other day, more so than usual, what was going on?"
Kid Flash felt a twinge of guilt, Robin was his best friend and trusted the speedster enough to reveal his secret identity to him. The least he could have done is repay the trust in kind and come clean about the 'odd' behavior he displayed the other day. Except, the whole thing was behind him now, right? That meant that he didn't actually have to tell Rob if it was no longer relevant, "A few personal things, it's all cleared up now though, so no worries."
Knowing the Boy Wonder, Robin was probably unconvinced, "KF-"
'Kid Flash and Robin, targets are twenty degrees east of the central clock tower. Surround and contain them before they are able to escape again.'
Aqualad's voice buzzed in their comms, Kid Flash was thankful for the distraction. Having nothing better else to do on a Sunday, Kid Flash headed off to the Cave for the day with the consent of his Aunt, his Uncle was still wary of letting him out unsupervised. The speedster thought that he could waste the day his his butt handed to him by Robin playing video games while M'gann produced a seemingly unlimited supply of baked goods. He almost got that wish when Batman called them up to send them to investigate a disturbance in Happy Harbor and seeing as how that was where they were situated, there was no need for League involvement yet and he trusted that the Team could handle the matter on their own.
They figured the same, figuring it was just a small matter, like someone trying to be original and rob a bank. However, that wasn't what was going on, there was confusion when they jumped out of the bioship. There was no one there, just plenty of dust and overturned cars. They assumed that whoever it was must have left, Miss Martian was about to call the bioship back when their assumption was proved wrong when a blue and white streak impacted the Martian and sent her skidding across the pavement. Seeing her attacked, Superboy reacted on instinct going to return the assault but the attacker was already gone. Artemis' bow was taken from her in one second while in the next Superboy hit the dirt. Kid Flash was the one to point out that they were dealing with another speedster or as Miss Martian was able to tell, three speedsters. Pushed up against a metaphorical wall, Aqualad told them to take cover.
Kid Flash knew the others had to be nearby him and Robin, but there was something that he didn't get. Speedsters could have easily found them with ease and beat them as well, but they weren't and looking again towards Aqualad's coordinates, they looked like they were waiting. He couldn't decide if it was a good thing that Miss Martian was right about there being three of them, two of them were male and the third was obviously female with a mane of red hair. The trio wore what looked like blue and white jumpsuits, all of them wore cowls. Maybe it was just him, but it looked like they were waiting for something, did they want the team to attack.
Robin elbowed him in the side, "Come on Kid Daydream, lets go." the raven teen said before pulling a ninja and disappearing. Having no other choice, Kid Flash followed suit and went in skidding to a stop just to the trio's left. Aqualad and Artemis stood together opposite of him, the archer aiming her crossbow at them, while Aqualad had his water bearers ready, Miss Martian was with just above Superboy.
"We will give you a chance to give up peacefully." Aqualad said calmly, shifting his stance. Kid Flash watched apprehensively as the female nodded to the other two and then they all fell like dominoes. Aqualad and Artemis went down first, struck by a force in blue and white. Discs that could only belong to Robin hit the ground where the three speedsters were previously, exploding a second later. Kid Flash had to guess Miss Martian was attempting to stop them in their tracks. It took seeing the Martian impacting Superboy for him to break out of his trance and take action.
"You're not the only speedster." he called out chasing after one of them, had to be one of the dudes, seeing as how there was blur of red signalling that it was the chick. He expected a good race of who was faster, not for the chased to stop in their tracks and have the chasee hit him right in the back. The material of his suit scrapped against the rock, he mumbled under his breath as he went to push himself back up. When three shadows fell over him, he knew he was in deep dog doo. "Hey guys." he greeted, voice wavering just slightly.
The female looked to the other two, "Этот?" Wait. These guys were...Russian?
The tallest male nodded, "Да."
"Looks, guys I forgot my Russian to English dictionary at home, so could you help a fellow speedster out and speak English? Do you know any? We could get a trans..la..tor." A hand touched the pressure point near his neck and the next thing he knew, he fell into oblivion.
Robin ran forward once he saw one of the jumpsuits pick up Kid Flash and toss the speedster unceremoniously over their shoulder, "Hey! Let him go!" he shouted after them, drawing a birdarang disc from his belt ready to throw it at the free, but not wanting to hit his friend. They only looked at him for a second and then they were gone. They were gone, they had Wally. "KF!" he shouted to the empty air.
l-l
He slowly slipped back to consciousness, his senses coming back to him one by one. Jade eyes opened fractionally, Kid Flash tried to move his arms but found that he was unable to, "What?" he said groggily.
"Good, you're awake." His head snapped up at the familiarity of the voice that spoke, it couldn't be. "We need to talk, Wallace."
To be Continued.
Final Thought: I was going to say something, but I can't remember what it was, hope it wasn't important. I think it was that I'm probably going to do monthly updates if my update trends are anything to go by. There should be about two or three parts left. I won't say anything and just let you guys form your own opinion on this chapter. And why didn't anyone tell me I've been spelling Rudolph wrong all this time? Heh, oh well. Alrighty, I'm working on some other things, but Center is always in my foremost thoughts. If you guys want to know what I'm working on, I have a to do list on my profile, you can look at it and call me crazy. I think that's all I have to say, til the next, this is Fallen saying, stay classy readers.
Этот? -This one?
Да. - Yes