The plane landed and Dick was standing before the pilot even managed to be on his feet.
He and Alex gave the necessary orders to the small patrol of assassins they'd brought with them, they dispersed to the necessary places to check for snipers and any other possible attackers. Slade took his place at Ra's side, hair plaited and pooling over the dropped hood of his uniform. Alex stood beside Thalia and Dick stood between, a small three-rowed parade that marched down the stairs of the plane. He noticed the shadow of Isa against the sky as she fluttered out a different entrance of the plane. Dick wasn't sure why, but he didn't want The Light knowing about her, it was a gut instinct that he was stubbornly choosing to follow.
The three guards filed behind Ra's and Thalia as they were greeted by the Light's welcoming party. Luthor smiled and over-dramatic-ised his splendour, Mercy at his side. Queen Bee levelled a cunning stare on them all.
They swept into Bee's headquarters, an extravagant mansion nestled into the growth atop a mountain. Isa sat on a tree branch in the corner of Dick's eye and he gave her a small smile as he passed- she'd fly past if anything was looking to go south. The entire front of the building flashed with tinted windows that gazed down on the scenery below. Queen Bee escorted them through elaborately decorated halls, lined with guards, wrists clanging with jewellery that draped fabric from her hands to her shoulders, as she strutted through her corridors a silk and chiffon trail fluttered from her waist.
"I'll give you a tour afterwards, Thalia, I understand you also have an appreciation for post-renaissance oil painting," Bee drawled, her voice somewhere between camaraderie and competition.
Thalia hummed as she gazed distastefully at a piece of chrome crockery displayed on a mahogany sideboard.
This all reminded Dick far too much of Bruce's manor. He fought off a sneer as he stared at it all.
Luthor leaned over to Slade and made some comment with a smile, Slade's face stayed impassive and Luthor cleared his throat as he rushed back to the front of the group to instead talk to Bee.
Slade missed a step so he could trail next to Dick, he murmured, "careful, they're practically courtiers."
Dick eyed a Persian rug strung up on a wall, immaculately cared for, "evidently."
Eventually they came to a hall with several archways, silk curtains drawn on their sides, the arches opened to a long room with a table stretched across it, chairs pushed in and several people floating around. the arches perfectly framed the wall of windows that opened up on the scenery below. Table settings had been perfectly organised across the pearly white table cloths. Waiters stood between the arches, dressed well and holding jugs of drinks or plates of finger food.
Dick almost shuddered, this physically couldn't be worse. Of all the places a meeting could be held it had to be at Queen Bee's home, she didn't know the meaning of ordinary or unobtrusive.
"ah, good to see everyone is here," Savage said. He seemed to be enjoying himself, likely a man that enjoyed higher living. But Dick figured he still found something to be distasteful about in Bee's manor.
The waiters drifted from their places and showed everyone their seats. Dick's escort was about to seat him when Luthor drifted over.
"now whoever could this new visitor be?" he glanced to Thalia.
Dick made sure he was standing straight, his hands turned tight around themselves behind his back.
"Richard, I was recently appointed a guard."
His last name had no meaning here. His last name was not important here. His mother's history did not matter, and his father had no name. he was just Richard here. He could not let that slip.
Luthor smiled and offered him his hand, "brilliant, new blood!"
Richard shook his hand.
Luthor turned to Ra's and let his hand drift behind Richard's back, Dick fought the urge to slap it away, "could I steal him from you for tonight?"
Dick's face remained impassive, he looked at Ra's in a way he hoped communicated how much he did not want to sit next to Luthor, but without slipping the deadpan mask off it was difficult.
Ra's raised an eyebrow, "losing faith in your mechanical masterpiece, Luthor?"
"I just want to truly welcome our new member, instead of leaving him silent at your side," he smiled.
Ra's let a flash of pity and apology break through as he glanced at Dick, it was his only warning, "of course, I'm sure he won't mind."
"of course you have to mess with my perfectly curtailed sitting," Bee sighed as she took her place at the head of one end of the table. Savage sat down on the other end.
Luthor gave her a winning smile and guided Dick to the other side of the table, the windows at his back, he pulled out one chair for Dick and sat on his right, Mercy stood on his right and Luthor gestured for her to sit.
Dick paid attention to the conversations that were had. They were important and were good for him to be aware of. He, Slade and Thalia were not, however, there for input.
Eventually the conversation lulled, the official meeting had drawn to a close and now it was just conversation. People split themselves up along the table into their own talks.
At Dick's left was Black manta and his chosen guard, then it was Bee at the head. across from them was Thalia and Ra's, Slade on Ra's left and Alex on Thalia's right. Bee was wrapped up with charming Manta- who was somewhat new to the cause.
Luthor turned to Dick, twirling his wine inside his glass, "so, where did Ra's find you from?"
"my father was in the league," he answered smoothly, eying his own glass. He had decided he did not trust it.
"was?"
"he died quite a few years ago," he said.
"and what brought you to such a prestigious position?"
Thalia took the chance to swoop in, "he is skilled and experienced," she said evenly, cutting something on her plate, "in fact, he was the one who got me out alive when the league attacked our operations in France."
Luthor looked on with a raised eyebrow, "impressive, I heard that was quite the..." he looked for a word, "tight situation."
They'd had to run out through the labyrinth of thin tunnels in the mountain, the Justice League had come from the opening of the cave where they were working, the only back way out were tunnels cut years ago and never used. Dick had guided Thalia through the gap, knowing it could trap them, knowing it could lead to nothing, knowing that they could die down there. He'd fought people off four times, heroes and non-heroes, Thalia limping on a broken leg and nursing a dislocated shoulder.
They'd almost put him in the pits after that, he barely pulled through without it but he was adamant that he not be put in there. Not when he had to help his sister deal with the aftereffects so often.
It was the main thing, other than the usual, that he could use to fuel a hatred of the league. Thalia was his family, and their attack had almost killed her and several other people. It had not been a Light-related operation. In fact they'd been bringing supplies into the country for Arab and Middle-Eastern minority communities in France.
Unfortunately, the team had not been there, he couldn't use it against them. Just the league. Although Batman had been strangely absent, as well.
Thalia's hand tightened on her cutlery. She raised the food to her mouth as if Luthor had said nothing.
Dick and Alex exchanged a secret look, Dick thought that by the time this was over his jaw would be aching from how long it was spending clenched.
"it could have been much worse," Dick said evenly, "the caves could have flooded."
Luthor laughed and Thalia smiled.
"an optimist?" he asked Thalia.
She smiled, "no, a strategist. It's good to know all the ways something can be worse."
Luthor raised an eyebrow, "I prefer to look at the best possible outcomes."
"well, I'm sure that's all you've been given all your life," Thalia said evenly. Luthor acted like it wasn't a well disguised insult.
Dick saw a flash in the corner of his eye, just barely. He glanced out the window as nonchalantly as possible. Luthor still noticed.
"a beautiful view, isn't it?" he turned in his seat to look, "you know, the rock this manor is cut into allowed Bee to discover many beautiful gems, rumour has it she hid them in the walls, hence the sunstone being used to build the structure."
Dick raised an eyebrow and pretended to be interested, he used the chance to look out the window longer, trying to find the light he'd seen.
"sun stone?"
"one of those magic things that she and the wizards are always on about," Luthor flicked a hand, "apparently it has protective properties. I myself think it looks quite spectacular."
Dick tried to remember how the manor had looked when they'd arrived, he couldn't think of anything particularly interesting.
"not during the night, of course," Luthor said, seeming to gather that Dick was dubious about the rock's apparent spectacle.
"how so?"
"the sunlight makes it..." he shrugged, "well, glow. It's like it is constantly reflecting the rays of late afternoon sunsets."
"and at night it looks like rocks," Dick said, "I didn't realise stone could be so temperamental."
Luthor laughed and stood, gesturing for Dick to follow. Dick shot Thalia a glance and she jerked her head minutely, telling him to follow along for now.
"look at this, boy, look," he showed Dick over to the window. Several other members had stood before and were leaning against the windows, but at their end of the table the windows were empty of onlookers.
Luthor crept up to the window, glass in his left hand, he gestured to the clasp and Dick opened the window for him. he used the chance to gaze out, looking for-
There. Isa glided down and settled on a branch. Dick turned his guard up.
Luthor leaned out slightly and pointed down at the ground to the side, a spot you couldn't see well without leaning out the window. Something about watching Luthor dangle himself over the drop gave Dick anxiety. He wasn't sure why. He couldn't find another flash in the distance, it was just Isa's wide gaze staring at him, but he thought he heard something. And he'd learned very quickly to trust Isa.
"you see over there?"
Dick tore his eyes from the dark shadows and looked down at the mountain side that stretched below then followed the direction of Luthor's pointed finger, it landed his gaze on a small town tucked into the forest at the foot of the mountain.
"that's a town, down there, of locals. They believe in magic and gods and all that hoo-doo nonsense, tonight they're celebrating some pagan festival, I honestly don't much care what, but you see those fires?"
Dick eyed the bonfires, they were just small specks of light, but as he looked longer they seemed to glow past the orange blaze. Suddenly the light burst up in bright flames that reached the sky, rays of gold reached up and the crowd screamed in delight.
"that's the sun stone's effect. lovely, isn't it?"
"quite an explosion."
"mmm," Luthor hummed, "the one thing I appreciate these low-lives for is their ability to find beauty in destruction. It is, after all, what they're most good at."
Dick felt his blood boiling at that. He didn't know what kind of society was below, but he knew Luthor was being extremely prejudiced. Luthor looked on smugly like he was waiting for Dick to explode. He did not.
"I'm sure this building is extravagant during the day, then," Dick said instead.
Luthor nodded, still leaning out the window.
Dick saw the flash again and his head screamed. Distantly he heard Isa hoot. He grabbed Luthor's tux lapels and pushed him down to the ground, the glass of the open window shattered and cascaded around them.
"guards!" Queen Bee shrieked and there was a cacophony as people rushed from the building. Dick saw in the undergrowth a shadow as it moved, the guards wouldn't get there in time. Isa took flight, marking the attacker and tailing them.
"Mercy!" Luthor called out to his droid, a small cut from broken glass above his brow.
Dick made sure his murder bot had him then turned to Ra's.
"shall I follow, sir?"
"go!"
Dick ran and jumped out the window, landing and rolling through a hedge of some kind. He sped after the shadow he'd seen, finding Isa in the sky and following her trail.
He chased them through the undergrowth, the area unfamiliar other than topography. He'd studied the surrounding area of the meeting through images and contour maps, but there was nothing compared to actually running through it.
Lucky for him, it seemed the wannabe assassin was also unfamiliar. An amateur then. No one tries to shoot someone without a well-planned escape route.
Dick jumped onto a log and used it to climb up into the lower tree line, he jumped along, gaining speed. Soon the attacker was under him and he pulled out a dagger and jumped. The blade sunk deep into their shoulder and they screamed as they fell, Dick's feet landing in the centre of their back.
Dick wrenched the blade from their shoulder and placed it under their throat.
"hello there," he grinned, "what brings you here?"
Bee fussed about Luthor, pretending that she cared. Alex and Slade stuck themselves to Ra's and Thalia's sides and stayed there. People were beginning to organise their ways home, deciding to leave early.
Dick dragged the wannabe assassin in through one of the arches. Isa settled on the open window's edge, blending into the background of the chaos, Dick wasn't too worried about anyone noticing her.
He'd cuffed the assassins arms behind their back and confiscated any weapons and gear, which he'd handed to Bee's guards once he crossed the threshold. He left the manic mask on them- a face twisted in some attempt at euphoria that just looked like insanity- and brought them through the halls.
He dropped the attacker at Luthor's feet, letting Mercy train her firearm- firearm arm?- at him.
Luthor scowled down at them, his tie undone around his neck and collar askew.
"good job, Richard, thank you," he cleared his throat as he looked down on the assassin before him, "I think we'll take our surprise guest home, and find out what brought them here."
"nonsense," Savage said, "this was Light proceedings, we'll deal with all this for you. Best for you to head home, get some rest."
Luthor looked torn. The request was clearly more of an order, Savage didn't take no for an answer. However, Luthor seemed very much inclined to keep the assassin.
"of course, thank you," he said, a drop of sweat ran from his brow down his jaw and Dick noted how he fixed his cuffs as he looked at the assassin. He seemed to be forcing his discomfort, Dick could just see the quirk of his lips as he fought a smile.
He filed that information away as he glued himself to Thalia and Ra's sides, sharing a look with his sister and Slade.
"well, this certainly proved our new member's abilities," Manta said, giving Dick an appraising look, "quite the guard you've found, Al Ghul. It barely took five minutes."
Dick remained impassive in the face of the compliment, something about Manta seemed familiar and he decided he'd do some research once he was home.
"yes," Savage said, giving Ra's a look and then turning it to Dick, "Welcome to The Light."
Kaldur eyed the test results sitting in his hands. The paper was stark against the ink, as his eyes roamed the page they caught on every fifth word. He had to tear them on, force them to keep reading. The longer he put this off the more likely he'd rip it up and dump it in the bin, never to be seen again.
He got half way, past all the medical jargon, to the part of the text that actually held the answer to his question. Once again he set the paper down on his table and took a deep breath. He walked to his kitchen, poured himself a glass of the first bottle of alcohol in his cabinet his hand landed on. He downed it, poured another and relocated back to his table. He breathed in, out, in again and took a sip of his drink.
He picked up the paper and his head disassociated on the first line. The words were going in and nothing was registering. All he could think of was the cold glass of the syringe in his hand as the mercenary had handed it to him, the pit in his stomach as he paid him and moved off, the guilt as he'd lied to Bumblebee when he'd gone to get it tested.
He rushed back to himself as his eyes crossed the most important sentence on the page.
Relation of blood; paternal, 95% chance.
He dropped the page and pressed his forehead into his fists, eyes scrunched as he breathed out through his teeth. He held back a sob, picked up his glass and downed the rest, then walked back into the kitchen to refill it.
21 was far too young to be guessing everything in his life. 21 was far too old to find out who his father was.
Is. Who his father is.
Manta was still alive.
Black Manta was his father and he was finding out now.
The glass in his hand was empty again and he considered refilling it, but the bottle itself was almost empty. In a split second decision he threw the glass at his wall instead.
Did Aquaman know? Had his king kept this from him?
He didn't want to ask and he didn't know how.
Not bothering with the middle-man of a glass he settled instead for finishing the bottle. With shaking hands he then cleaned up the broken glass on his floor, using the distraction as best he could.
He drew a bath, dunked some salt in it and lay inside for several hours, hand on his forehead.
Poseidon help him.
Wally was about to die.
Zoom was back and with a vengeance, they'd chased each other through the streets till eventually they came crashing down around them. His vision warped, time messed itself up, the ground disappeared and within a moment Wally was chasing Zoom through the speed force.
Which he'd thought would work in his favour, he could be faster in there, surrounded by the energy that gave him his powers. But Zoom knew the terrain.
This was where he'd been for two years.
Wally was slammed from the side, legs slamming into nothing yet still hurting as if they had. Everything around him looked the same, felt the same. There was no ground and yet he was running.
Except not now, now he was skidding, losing control of his movement, the longer he stilled the further he fell out of the speed force. He forced himself up and after Zoom once more, gaining speed.
"This is where I've been QuickStart," Zoom said, his voice distorted. It sounded almost like when Barry used to vibrate his vocal chords to change his voice so no one recognised it, except almost like the vibration was tearing apart the skin and sinew.
Wally ducked under a hit, landed his own and then was sent hurtling backwards. As he slowed he saw the real universe in flashes, his arm was in Rome, his leg blurred through Chicago, his chest crashed through Kabul.
He landed and sped up again, everything stinging. It didn't seem that running parts of you through the barrier into the real world while the rest remained in the speed force was a bad idea.
"I've been growing stronger in here," Zoom sneered, "and I've been dying."
Wally's heart stopped in his chest as he saw Zoom in his peripheral, he ducked but the hit still came. His head snapped backwards and his neck ached, he was once again slowing, starting to move through the gap, he sped up again.
"I will die soon, in fact," Zoom said, and Wally couldn't find him, he'd disappeared. He turned, whipped his head around, running, running, running, never stopping.
"but I will make you feel what I have felt all these years, parts of me trapped here..."
As he trailed Wally felt something grab his leg, he fell. His chest landed on something, his eyes got a glimpse of Moscow, then Zoom was dragging him, full speed.
Wally's leg ached, it felt torn raw, he shrieked as he tried to pull it free, lightning and spark coalesced around Zoom as he yanked Wally closer by his ankle and grabbed the front of his shirt.
"part of me in the real world," Zoom continued his speech, and suddenly part of him was moving but the rest had sectioned. His body was falling apart, held together by seams of lightning and flesh of energy, eyes burning black and blue.
Part of Wally was still in the speed force, but without warning his arm went numb and his head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. The bottom of his body was falling apart just like Zoom's, turning to light and energy.
Zoom leaned forward, "and part of me not even existing."
He grabbed hold of Wally's head, fingers sparking and running energy through Wally's brain. The world seemed to split apart, everything turned to explosions of light. His lungs weren't working, nothing was working, his mind screamed, he couldn't feel his legs. lightning was arcing through him, and all he could see was Zoom falling apart. His black figure turning into arcs of lightning, eyes burning, skin translucent and revealing no bones, no organs, no insides, just burning speed force energy. As Zoom exploded Wally felt electricity running through him, his tongue tasted battery acid and he smelled fire, his skin crawled and all over burned, he was being destroyed too. Just like Zoom, acidic energy eating away at him, lightning zapping through him, everything hurt.
And the last of Zoom disappeared, the speed force tore itself apart, the gaps between worlds were closing now that Zoom wasn't holding them open, the energy exploded through him and he wasn't moving. He dropped out of the speed force like a knife through water.
And he was falling. Places drifting past as he crashed through the speed force, through the remaining gaps, through his world, through the fibre of existence. Barry had done this before but he'd known how.
And he'd been moving.
Wally couldn't move.
So he fell, eyes catching glimpses of Moscow, Rome, Berlin, Kabul, Rio, Sydney, Beijing.
And then Jump City.
He barely noticed the football field, the grand stands, the grass as he crashed into them all.
He blacked out with one thought.
Zoom was dead.
Joe West had seen Zoom and QuickStart disappear, he was running around the town with the rest of the police officers.
But he was the only lucky one to be close enough to the stadium when QuickStart crashed.
He ran in, calling it in quickly, words leaving his mouth before he could register them.
QuickStart was steaming, the ground around him ripped up, his suit torn in some places.
And bleeding. Bleeding a lot.
Joe didn't even think, he jumped into the small indent made from the impact, he grabbed hold of his shoulder and lifted him up. He pulled out his phone to call the ambulance.
"don't."
The word was soft, he barely heard it. afterwards was the distinct sound of someone shoving air into their lungs. QuickStart shuddered, coughed, heaved, breathed deep, "don't... call."
Joe fixed his weight so he had a good hold of the hero. He was still way too light for a grown man of his height, he almost laughed at how that was the first thing he worried about, not the massive bleeding gash along the man's face and side.
"you need help." He said, clicking the three numbers, his thumb hovered over the call button, then QuickStart said.
"Barry."
Joe blinked, turned his head, "what?"
"call Barry," he said, chest rattling as he stumbled, Joe helped him out of the indent, up onto the flat ground.
"my..." Joe trailed, "Barry Allen?"
"call him."
"how did you-?"
"do it."
He then collapsed, unconscious once more. Joe looked at his phone.
He scrolled through his contacts, hit his son-in-law's number and waited for him to pick up.
"Joe? What-"
"QuickStart said to call you."
"WHAT!"
"I'm confused too but he was adam-"
"I'll be there in a sec."
Joe frowned, "what?"
It was more like three seconds, but suddenly Barry Allen was in front of him. his slippers were smouldering and the plastic sole had melted entirely, his bathrobe was askew and his eyes wild.
"Oh my god," Barry said, voice hysterical, "oh my god, no, no, no, what happened?"
Joe blinked, "what?"
Barry took QuickStart's other arm, "okay, I'm guessing your car is here? Let's get him there, I'll explain later."
Joe blinked but he dragged his city's hero along, his son-in-law helping.
"it's okay, Wally, you're gonna be fine," he was mumbling, and Joe took a double take.
"Wally?!"
"I'll explain later!" Barry said again, voice definitely hysterical. He was crying.
Joe looked at QuickStart once more, his face pouring out blood like it had a surplus of the stuff.
Oh there was a lot to explain.
Dick moved his plate to the side, cutlery placed on top, he looked at Thalia, across the table.
"it was a test."
She rose an eyebrow, "what makes you say that?" she raised a fork-full of eggs and toast to her mouth.
"I can't find the assassin anywhere in our files, and I searched all of them. Manta seemed to be analysing it enough to roughly keep track of time. Luthor was easily relaxed, in fact he'd been leaning out the window, practically asking to be shot. He deliberately had me by his side," Dick said, leaning back in his seat, "the only way it all lines up is that it was a set up."
"why would they test you?" Thalia asked, frowning.
Alex said, "making sure you deserve the position, checking to see how you'd handle the situation, I'm not surprised, I wouldn't put it past them."
"Savage didn't seem aware," Slade said evenly, finishing off his drink.
"no," Ra's said, sitting at the head of the table, "they never make him aware of their..." his fork moved in the air as he found a word, "shenanigans."
Dick almost laughed at the way the word sounded coming from Ra's, he wished he got a recording.
"I doubt he'll remain unaware." Dick analysed the grain of the table's wood.
"of course," Thalia sighed, "it's nothing to worry on, if anything it'll keep their eyes off your back."
"mmm," Dick hummed, but his mind was far away.
Slade had a mission, and Dick figured he'd annoy him afterwards. Luckily, Slade had called ahead as he started home and asked Dick to meet him at the Heli-pad. Dick figured it had to do with training, he and Slade hadn't had a proper session for a week. Either way, he was already in his training gear when he met his teacher at the pad.
"how was it?" he asked as a courtesy, he honestly didn't care and he knew the answer already.
"not abnormal, annoyingly quick," he grunted, "but the end was interesting."
Dick raised an eyebrow, Slade fished around in his gear, took out a small black box.
"Luthor was on the roof when we were leaving, he asked me to give this to you, compensation for the trouble, apparently."
"he realises it's my job, right?"
"I'm sure there's some plotting behind it," Slade rolled his eyes, "I'd be wary."
Dick took the box. It was heavy, but he guessed it was due to what was inside not the material of the box itself. It didn't have a clasp or a lock or anything, just a cover.
"I'll run some tests on it before I open it."
He sat on his bed, the box in front of him.
No energy readings, no heat readings, no radiation, no signal. An X-Ray revealed no weird metal things or bones, just a circle.
He groaned, sighed and rolled his eyes. It wouldn't kill him, so he may as well open it.
He took the lid off and it revealed... a stone.
Polished stone.
A small, polished orange stone about the size of the tip of his thumb, set into a silver oval.
Dick blinked.
He picked it up, it revealed a silver chain.
A necklace. Lex Luthor had sent him... a necklace.
As he moved the light from his window hit the stone and rays of light flashed brilliantly off the surface. Flecks of reflections danced across his walls and belongings.
A sun stone.
A pit in Dick's stomach started to be dug. A sun stone. Luthor had gifted him a sun stone necklace.
'I'm sure there's some plotting behind it.' Slade had said and once he remembered those words Dick remembered Luthor's.
'The one thing I appreciate these low-lives for is their ability to find beauty in destruction.'
His fingers tightened on the surface of the oval of stone.
'After all it is what they're most good at.'
He scowled, threw the necklace against his wall. He felt the need to grab his sword and storm to the training room.
A bad idea, it only served to prove true what Luther's gift was insinuating.
So instead he walked down the hall to the gift his sister had given him, the trapeze.
He was already tired of The Light's internal politicking. He didn't know how he'd deal with it for the foreseeable future.
But for now, the trapeze was a good enough distraction.
Artemis stood outside the door to the infirmary, chewing at her cuticles. Kaldur was driving a rut into the floor as he paced.
"he's gotta be okay," she said after a while. It was weird hearing something other than Kaldur's footsteps after such a long time.
"I know."
"he has to be."
They lapsed back into their silence.
"did you see him?" Kaldur said, sparing her a glance before his eyes were forced forwards again. Back to pacing. Eight steps, swivel, eight steps, swivel.
"yes. I saw Barry and Superman carry him in."
"what-" Kaldur seemed to change his mind about asking the question, "who's the person with them?"
"dunno, think it's a relative of Barry's."
Kaldur nodded, running his thumbnail against his bottom lip, elbow resting against his hand.
Artemis let out a deep breath, "he looked..."
Kaldur glanced at her again, then back forwards, his steps quickened slightly.
"it's like half his body was slammed into a meat grinder or-"
Kaldur winced.
"it was just..." there was still blood on the tip of her boot where she'd stepped in a puddle, she stared at it, trying to come to terms with the fact that it was Wally's, "How?"
"I talked to Canary, they think it's something to do with the speed force, or dimensional shit."
Artemis almost choked on air as she heard the curse come out of Kaldur's mouth. Three years she'd known him and he was never one to swear.
"dimensional?" she got out.
"something like..." he took two steps and turned, "getting caught between." Four steps, his toes caught slightly on his ankle so there was a sound of fabric brushing and Artemis cringed at it, "something about threads of existence, string theory, I don't know." He finished his next four steps and turned again. As he turned his hand went to his head, he took a deep breath as he ran his hand along the shaved white strands.
"nothing I understand then," Artemis said, her voice was hollow. Assassins she could understand. Witches, crazy scientists, psychopaths and superpowered maniacs, sure. Universes and splits and the difference between reality and non-existence she could never understand or comprehend.
And yet she was still affected by it, her friend had fallen prey to what she could never understand.
"he has to be okay," Kaldur said, voice a shadow of its usual volume, of its usual strength.
Artemis nodded mutely, staring at the smudged dot of blood on her boot.
After a while the door to the infirmary creaked and Barry walked out. He heaved out a huge breath, torso curling with the weight of it. he dropped his head against the door behind him and slid, dropping with very little grace to the ground.
Artemis stood and Kaldur stopped pacing, they looked at Barry expectantly.
The speedster didn't seem to have noticed they were there, instead running his hands along his face and breathing deeply in the way people did when it was a struggle. Each ragged piece of air shoved into his lungs sounded like its own battle.
Artemis and Kaldur shared a look. Eventually they broke the expectant silence.
"Is..." Artemis swallowed, "is he gonna be okay."
Barry made no move to look at them, didn't seem willing to even speak, but eventually he opened his mouth and made a pained sound. As if he'd been trying to say a word but it got caught up in his attempts to keep breathing and to hold the sobs at bay. Barry cleared his throat and tried again.
"he's... gonna live, he's gonna heal up," he said, his hands dropped from his face, he'd lost any energy capable of holding them up. His head was still dropped against the door, "okay is another question."
"can we see him?" Kaldur asked immediately.
"he's not awake," Barry said, "J'onn is trying to delve in and find out if he's okay in his head, the medical equipment will keep him going..."
Artemis realised exactly what he was saying, his words were trailing but she had all the information she needed.
She opened the door, Barry shot out of the way once it started dropping out from behind him, and stormed in, Kaldur quick at her heals.
She had thought maybe she could interrogate whoever was in the room, but once she saw Wally on the bed and hooked to the machines and so covered in bandages they seemed to be all that was keeping him together she lost any of that strength. She merely stumbled to his bedside and collapsed to her knees next to it, cupping her mouth with a hand as she grabbed at his arm and found his pulse. Still there, faint but still there.
Kaldur grabbed hold of the foot of the bed to steady himself, staring empty-eyed and slack-jawed at the unconscious form of his friend.
Alive. Only just.
A/N woooooo
I just realised I need to finish this by October first and YIKES.
guess that's gonna be a challenge, I might want to post more of what I've already written, lmao.