VAGARY (A Flinx Story)

Episode 20

Irey twisted her body, trying to release the grip of Slade's hand on her neck. She would've tried to vibrate her way through it if she had been positive she wouldn't make him explode. That, she couldn't do.

She looked down at her father in a mixture of embarrassment and sorrow. He, on her other hand, was unreadable. She couldn't pin down the emotions that were going through his mind, something she had always been able to do. Maybe going back in time had been a mistake. Maybe they could've figured it out all by themselves.

"Release her", said Dick, his voice pounding inside her head. She was losing it. She closed her eyes.

The next thing she felt was an explosion. The wall she was pressed against blew up, and she suddenly felt a pair of arms wrapping around her waist and carrying her somewhere away from Slade's claws. She released an interrupted sigh as she opened her eyes again, the yellow glass on her googles preventing from getting dust on them.

Her pupils met Wally's, between electricity and chaos. She didn't need to say that she was sorry, or that she was scared. Because with only one look at his father's eyes, the ones she was so used to see everyday, she knew she'd be okay.

"Are you hurt?", he asked her once her feet were on the ground again. She dusted her uniform off.

"No", she said, smiling up at him. Before they had any time to move, before the world collapsed around them, Irey quickly wrapped her shaky arms around her very much younger father, hiding her face on the crook of his neck.

Wally wasn't shocked anymore. When Irey wrapped her arms around him, he understood he had made the right choices, whatever they might have been. He had always been scared of being a father, despite his 'natural charm with kids', as his Aunt had put it. Yes, he was good with other people's kids. But, his own?

He thought it was because he grew up with a rather questionable father figure. To him, Barry was his only father. The time spent with him, in and out of uniform, was what had given him the strength and the hope to someday become half the respected man he was. Yet he couldn't deny that his demons still haunted him.

Seeing Irey had been a breaking point. He did have a kid, a beautiful speedster daughter. He resisted the urge to bomb her with questions: was he a good father? Was she a happy girl?

Who was her mother?

But, instead, he decided to wrap his arms around her and pull her close into a hug. An embrace he inexplicably had missed, somehow.

"Hey", he murmured. "It's fine, Irey", he squeezed her, "We're okay".

Wally instantly regretted his words. Still surrounded by dust and fumes, the speedsters heard a loud nearby noise. Then, Nightwing screamed.

They sped towards the direction of his voice, only for Wally's heart to stop momentarily. Standing in front of them, eyes glowing and controlling the high power running through the former Robin's veins, was Jinx. 

Irey looked between them for a second, her mind racing. Could that be...? No, she thought. There is no way. She would never do something like that.

Jinx lowered her hand, making Dick fall to the ground with a loud thud. Wally was immediately kneeling next to him, "Are you okay?", he asked in a rushed voice.

"Been better", Dick groaned as the speedster wrapped his arms around him and helped him back on his feet. "Get her", the black-haired man hissed.

He looked up, glancing at who had once been a villain then turned hero. But, no. He remembered her words: she had never been a hero. Yet she wasn't this, either. He carefully released his friend from his grip only to walk slowly towards her.