-Requested by WallyandDick -
-TW for domestic Abuse (off screen) and suicidal thoughts-
Ages:
Damian - 23
Tim - 21
Jason - 19
Wally - 16
Dick - 14
Wally dragged himself across the kitchen floor. The combination of swollen black eyes, and the dark kitchen made it impossible to see where he was headed. Just sliding across the kitchen's cold tile floor made his muscles ache. He wasn't even sure where he was going, besides the fact that he needed to go away.
Whether that meant hiding, tying to run, or killing himself, he wasn't sure yet.
The skin on his neck was burning red in a ring either side of the collar. It hurt less when he was actually being shocked. His nose had long stopped bleeding, but dried blood was still cascaded down his face.
He wanted to puke, but he already had. He'd vomited around the sixteenth shock, not that he'd been counting.
But now the West house was dead silent, apart from the heavy swish of Wally's shirt as he dragged himself across the kitchen floor. He wanted to die.
The way that Rudolf West could just change his shirt and go out drinking, returning to society, was terrifying. It was like he could turn off the anger, and violence, and just become a normal man. Of course, until he got home again.
Wally tried to avoid this, of course, he spent the occasional night at the mountain, or at Dick's, and he was at his uncle's as much as he could. But he had to come home occasionally, three nights a week per the social worker's orders. and if he didn't obey, there was a lot more leverage than a counselling session at stake.
When Wally had become Kid Flash, he thought it was a strength. He thought it could protect him from harm, and sometimes it did. But there were somethings about becoming Kid Flash that could only hurt him. He was stupid when he was younger, he'd casually mentioned the identity's of Leaguers, and he fellow sidekicks, hoping it would show his parents that he had an in, and should be considered untouchable.
But it hadn't worked out like that.
After what seemed like hours, Wally felt the floor beneath him turn to wood, he was in the livingroom. This wasn't good either, the front door opened into the livingroom. He needed somewhere else. somewhere safe.
Rudolf West knew his identity, and those of probably half the Justice League, so Wally Had to come home for three nights a week.
He dragged himself to his backpack, which he'd kicked under the couch to keep it safe. He began blindly feeling through the pockets.
What could Wally do? If he told anyone, the secrets would be out. If he asked the Justice League, well, many things, but mainly: He'd have to tell them that his father knew their identities. He couldn't even bring himself to ask his fellow heroes for help. It was too much.
Sometimes he would lie to himself, tell himself that whatever he was doing was heroic, because he didn't ask for help. But really, not asking for help was what made him a coward.
Wally needed to get to the bathroom. It was the only room downstairs with a locking door. He tried to army crawl for it, but his legs were to beaten they could barely bend.
The collar was new. The belt and fist and kitchen cutlery and dishes were all familiar, but the collar was new. Partially chosen for it's brutal, muscle spasming, shock; partially for the humiliation of one of earth's young heroes being defeated in a dog collar.
He could barely breath, but hurt too much to determine whether his throat or lungs were the problem.
Wally dragged himself onto the cold bathroom floor. He inched in and slowly, quietly, closed the door behind him. he locked it.
His phone was almost dead, and he could barely see in the pitch dark room anyways. Wally blindly fumbled with the screen, clicking on his first emergency contact. He just prayed Dick was home to answer it.
There was a click at the other end as the dialtone stopped.
"Wayne Manor."
Wally felt a surge of emotion so strong he could've fainted. He took a deep, shaky breath, and prepared to try talking. "tim?" He managed to croak. His throat burned from both the collar, and the screaming it had brought.
There was a pause, presumably as Tim checked the caller id. "Wally?" He asked.
Wally suddenly realized he hadn't checked the time. The past however long it took him to get here, not counting however long he'd been lying on the floor... He didn't know what time it was. He didn't know when Rudolf would be getting home from his dinner out.
"Help." He grunted, not sure how long he had before footsteps would return, and the door knob would start to rattle.
Wally didn't want to ask Tim for help, they'd never been that close, but right now... now he'd take anything but another beating.
"Where are you?" Tim asked quickly. Wally tried to force an answer, but was met only with an attack of heavy, sore coughs. "Sit tight. I'm tracking your call." Tim told him. "Are you in or out of costume?"
"Out." Wally groaned.
The other end went quiet, say for the faint sound of typing, which was barely audible over the blood rushing though Wally's head.
"Alright, sit tight, Wally. We're on route."
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Tim slid his the emergency key back into the mail box, and slowly opened the front door. "Wally?" He called, nervously. A short pause, and footsteps. "You in here?"
The three softly padded inside, not sure if the imidiate threat had been neutralized. "Wally...?" Jason called into the dead air.
Damian looked to his brother. "Where did he say he was?"
"No where, he just said he needed help, and I tracked his cell here." Tim replied.
They cautiously strode around the first floor, looking for any sign of danger. In the kitche, Damian stooded to the floor. "blood" He reported.
There was indeed a small speckling of blood on the tile, next to what could be vomit.
Jason tried the bathroom door, it opened inwards, almost hitting the body on the floor.
"West?" Damian
"Wally? Oh fuck!" Jason cried, leaping forwards to check his vitals.
Wally fought to lift his head off the bathroom floor, but the throbbing and the temptation to put it back down and try to sleep was incredible.
"What happened?" Tim began pulling him off the floor. Wally was a mess and barely lucid, he had dried blood all dow his cheek and chin, countless forming bruises, a blosoming black eye, and... I could go on, but basically, it was surprising that he was alive and awake.
"Dude! what's this?" Jason made a grab for what looked like a collar, wrapped around his neck. As soon as he moveed, Wally started violently, dropping to the floor again, shaking violently.
"Slow down!" Damian told the youngest of the trio, trying to help Wally to his feet again. "How did this happen?"
"You're freakig him out!" Tim shouted, lacing his arm under Wally's to help him stand.
Jason looked over the entire scene. "Did your dad do this." He asked vacantly.
Wally's legs gave out underhim. Damian swore and helped Tim catch him, the two were now almost fully supporting the redhead's weight, as he was starting to look faint again.
"Get him to the car." Damian ordered. He and Tim began carrying Wally back through the livingroom. Jason ran ahead to open the door for them.
"Do we go to the hospital?" Tim asked, leaning the boy on his shoulder.
"We wouldn't be able to explain the superspeed." Damian said, unlocking the car. "We'll take him to the batcave."
They piled Wally into the back of the car, and found their seats. They didn't know where Rudolf West was, but they didn't need him finding out where his son was.
They got about half a block before Damian, the driver, even put his seatbelt on. Tim ad Jason were in the back, they'd laid Wally on the floor, since he got too faint sitting up.
Tim had rolled Wally into recovery postion when they entered. "Emergency kit?" Damian flipped opened the glove box and passed the first aid kit back. Tim returned to Wally to check his breathing.
Luckily, Wally was breathing, but his breaths were short, and Tim could feel that his heartbeat was faster than normal. Tim began checking him for other injuries. Wally must have really gone through it, because he was showing major signs of shock, and physical trauma. Checking the boy over, he could see that there were not only countless bruises, and dried blood from his nose, but there was also vomit on the shirt, and it seemed he had peed himself.
"What the fuck is this?" Jason asked, he now knew better that to try and touch the collar, he just pointed to the little black box on the side. "that looks like a shock collar!"
Both brothers leapt back. Tim watched the redheaded boy with wide eyes, refusing to blink No wonder Wally had vomited and pissed himself, he was being literally electrocuted! "Okay... first we need to neutralize it."
Jason reached into the first aid kit and grabbed sheers, meant for cutting bandages. He gingerly grabbed the little slack of the collar, and used all his strength to cut through the synthetic leather. He grabbed the collar with his fingertips and flung it across the car.
"Okay, clear."
Tim winced at the heinous electrical burns around Wally's throat. He reached out gingerly and touched them. Tim jerked his hand back. "Gauze?"
"Gauze!" Jason took them from the kit and tossed them across to Tim, who got ready to bind.
"Should I sanitize?" Tim asked.
"Uh, yeah! Sanitizer!" Jason tossed him sanitizer.
Tim sanitized. They wouldn't be able to remove Wally's shirt, but it was a little high-cut. He ripped the collar to make more room. He propped up Wally's neck to bind, and felt the boy's muscles clench.
"Relax your neck, Wally, we're going to bandage your neck, and then we can put your head down." He began binding the burns as gently as possible, but it was clearly still causing the boy pain.
If the patient might be going into shock, keep them warm." Damian told them, pulling onto the highway.
Jason looked crawled to the backseat and reached down into the trunk, grabbing the blanket they kept in there. He returned and began covering Wally.
Wally's eyelids fluttered a little, and lolled a quarter open. "jay?" He hissed from his sore throat, barely audible.
The brothers locked eyes, and looked back down at him. "Uh yeah." Jason confirmed.
"On sec, we're heading home, we're going to patch you up properly there." Tim assured him. "Try to rest."
"Keep him awake." Damian called.
"Try to stay awake." Tim corrected. "Can you tell us what happened?"
"Don't, you're going to overwhelm him." Damian corrected him.
"Well I'm tired, Damian." Tim snapped. He turned away from Wally, who was looking distressed and confused.
"Hey, we're heading back to the manor." Jason told the kid quietly. "You're not a burden, we'll bandage you up, you can stay if you like, or we can drop you at your uncle's when you're better."
"I can't-" Wally croaked. "My things..."
"Oh, your things?" Jason asked, Wally tried to nod. "They're back at your parent's place?" He tried to nod again. "Don't worry, I'll Call Roy, he can sneak in and get your stuff for us."
"Kay." Wally stared blankly at the ceiling of the car, his eyes were still pretty glazed as he teetered on the edge of consciousness.
"You're not a burden, okay?" Jason repeated, brushing ginger hair from Wally's freckled face. Jason knew the speedster, he loved him, and he wanted to keep him safe. Wally might be Dick's best friend or Dick's partner, but he was as much part of the batfamily as Barbara, or Alfred, or any of them!
Tim, who'd ben busy bickering with Damian, turned back to see that Jason of all people was soothing their flash. "Hey Wally, we're on our way back now. I think Dick's gone out on patrol with Bruce, but we've got a room for you, and you can get some rest."
"But first, medical care." Damian told them, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Duh, I'm calling Leslie." Tim flipped out his phone. He had Dr. Thompkins on speed dial.
Jason looked back down at Wally and smiled a little. "Don't worry, you're going to be okay."
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The dynamic duo was out when they arrived, which was good, Wally probably didn't want either of them to see him like that. But Alfred was there, and Dr. Thompkins had arrived before them, so they got Wally inside quickly.
They got Wally cleaned up, and gave him some of Jason's sweats, and sat him down on his bed ("His bed" being the one in the most-frequented spare room, since Wally stayed over a lot.)
He was left with Leslie Thompkins, and occasionally Alfred and Damian, for a proper medical inspection.
About two hours arrived, around ten pm, Tim decided they needed to tell Bruce that wally was over; that meant telling Dick too. Less than half an hour later, the two had returned: Dick needed to see if his partner was okay, and Bruce had to find out what had happened to the child he'd let into the family.
Wally had been encouraged to sleep by Leslie, and when Dick got in there, he was fast asleep. Dick sat on the bed next to him, watching his best friend intently. He loved Wally, he wanted to protect Wally, and he would do anything to make sure they would make it to each other's graduations.
"I'm going to keep you safe." He whispered, leaning forwards over his partner. He felt himself choke up a little. "We're going to do great things..." He slipped his hand into Wally's and squeezed it. "...Together." He watched Wally's still face. "I promise, Wally."