Chapter Text
xxx Earth 16 xxx
When you’re one of the fastest men alive, there’s no time to think.
“I wouldn’t call it simple- you’ll be attempting to siphon it’s power with your own speed trails, it’ll take a massive amount of kinetic energy!”
The world slows, Wally West takes in the soft inhale and thrum of Artemis’ voice, but he doesn’t stay long enough to hear the words formed.
He’s already leaving through a zeta tube, The Atom’s warning ringing in his head.
Wally returned to hero duty just in time to save the world- almost. One chrysalis bomb left; one weapon strong enough on its own to destabilize and destroy the world if they can’t stop it.
But they can- if Wally gets there in time.
Flash, Impulse- they need him in order to neutralize this threat. Wally has spent his entire degree studying physics that heroes implement every day. He may be out of the game, but if he didn’t step up now, they wouldn’t be able to pull this off.
He super speeds without hesitation the moment the teleporter clears, catching Barry’s words as he runs up behind.
“-ur top speed I’m not certain the two of us can generate enough kinetic energy.”
“Then how about the three of us!” He calls out, grinning at their looks of surprise and relief. Already Wally can feel the familiar strain of pushing his muscles beyond what he has in years. “I may not be as fast as you two, but I can add my fair share of kinetic energy. Besides, I can’t let the new kid take all the credit for saving the world!”
He jokes- because that’s what heroes do in times of crisis; they find a reason to stay light.
It works, and Barry and Bart rush ahead, motivated and determined. It hurts being slow, but now wasn’t the time to feel left behind. “C’mon Wall-man,” The speedster grits his teeth, fighting through the ache in his body. “You can do better than that!”
The years Kaldur had to be a spy, Dick keeping secrets that tore their friendship apart, faking Artemis’ death; it would all have been for nothing if they can’t stop this weapon.
Wally pushes himself faster than he’s ever managed before. The other two are lapping him, but he doesn’t give up- there’s no time to worry about the physical toll and recovery. That will come later.
Except the energy strikes start.
The first few are nothing more than static shocks, and he barely registers them. But each little hit of the Chrysalis energy seems to draw in more, building and building till they’re becoming as strong as lightning.
Wally’s smart- he knows that this is dangerous, and that each gradually growing hit is cooking his cells in dangerous alien radiations.
A particularly large one hits him right in the back. He cries out while barely staying on his feet- limbs he can hardly feel anymore.
When he opens his eyes, it’s to see through his own hand.
I’m… disappearing?! Already he can feel his heart beating erratically, his breath shortening. He can’t think- he’s a speedster and there’s no time to think.
His mentor has caught on to the danger- of course he has; Uncle Barry has always looked out for him. Wally hears him call to Bart to slow down, but if they do that they risk destabilizing the earth’s magnetic field again. Barry reaches for him, to try and pull the energy into himself-
Only Wally’s body has become intangible.
“It’s no good Barry.” Realizing the truth of what’s happening to him, he only has a second to be afraid.
He can’t dwell on it, though. Wally’s a hero through and through, and he knows what a hero has to do.
“Ohhh man, Artemis is so going to kill me for this-” He groans as a sharp stab of pain ignites through his body, molecules disappearing into nothing. Turning him into nothing. What is this going to do to the woman he wanted to marry? To Dick? To his family? Don’t think about it- notimetothinkaboutit- “- and don’t even get me started on mom and dad!”
“Kid?” Barry sounds panicked- but there’s nothing he can do.
Wally thought after leaving the hero life, he’d avoid doing this to his loved ones.
Guess fate had other plans. Wally hoped they would forgive him. Man, he really should have thought this through.
“Just tell them, okay?”
He hears his uncle call out, but then the world disappears in a burst of light-
And him with it.
xxx Earth 12 xxx
When you’re the fastest man alive, there’s too much time to think.
Green Lantern would argue vehemently that he doesn’t think enough, but Wally West’s penchant for impulsive behavior comes from everything else going sooo slow. He can take the time and smell the roses, but some things are genuinely worth speeding through.
Like this moment, for instance. Luthor- Superman’s biggest problem with too much money- merged with Brainiac to make a mega villain, and the team has been running ragged all day trying to pin down the melded criminals. And of course they upped the ante by incorporating the dark heart into the technology as well, becoming ten times harder to beat.
Flash is tired, he’s very hungry, and now the monster has him restrained and doing what West hates most- villain monologuing.
Sure, probably something important being said here; but West been through this countless times. The combined version of Brainiac and Luthor had to have one of the worst gloating tones he’d ever been forced to sit through. And the fact that Wonderwoman had inadvertently brought the building down on all of them, and the lunatic survives with barely a scratch, made West feel a bit bitter about the whole thing.
Should he have aggravated the villain? Mocked him while he was still laid out on the ground? No, probably not. If he hadn’t, maybe Braniac/Luthor (Bruthor? Luthaniac?) wouldn’t have caught him and started the whole ridiculous dialogue.
“For all your efforts-” The villain was still going. Clark was less long-winded on his lectures about being a good example to the new League members. “-ave but inconvenienced me, speck.”
Ooo, ‘speck’.
How insulting- perhaps next he’ll be a ‘pebble’ in this robot’s shoe, a ‘fly’ swatted away by his large ugly hands. It reminded West of the early years with the Rogues; everyone had to have a good catch phrase, a good doom pun. You couldn’t just threaten death, it had to fit the aesthetic. Snart still held the best catchphrase with ‘Hate is cold… Hell is cold… and sucker, I am Captain Cold’.
Those were the days.
God, could his speed healing factor work any slower?
“-ust human enough, to enjoy taking my revenge.” Luthor leers down, the manifested gun primed and ready to shoot.
The gesture centers Wally’s focus back to where it should be: because the monologuing villain is still a terrifying villain.
“Looks like the Question was right all along.” The merged being reflected airily, raising his weapon (or is it they? Two hes? Hees?). “I kill you, and then Armageddon, right on schedule.”
… Maybe West got too cocky.
Because the others are still down, and that gun is very real, and Flash can see it- can see the world where the Justice Lords took over becoming his world’s reality in their rage and grief. He remembers the apathy of their counterparts, how the whole League had become a shadow of what it was meant to be, the world left afraid of the power meant to protect it-
“No!”
Flash can’t let that happen- not to his friends, and not to this world.
(Not because of him.)
Already exhausted, he draws on what energy he has left and vibrates against the hold of the faux soldiers, destroying them in a cloud of dust and electricity.
He manages to stand, but Luthor only looks at him with the amusement of a pet doing a dumb trick. “Are you going to fight me, boy?”
Wally thinks about it- or rather, he’s already thought about it. For the briefest impulse of a second, he’s imagined twelve different ways to throw a punch (for the satisfaction of cracking that arrogant jaw, if nothing else).
Instead, West staggers back one step, two, before running.
Superman has strength, Batman has brains- but Flash? He has speed. And while he may use it to run most of the time, it can be applied in other ways.
For example- connecting a hit so fast that nanite technology from the morphed dark heart is forced to defuse it’s coating from the human host.
C’mon, Wall-man. You can do this! He grits his teeth and pushes himself as fast as he can go, making a wide circle around the city to pick up speed before he’s back in front of Luthor, the man too slow to stop his strike. As the hit lands, the metal from the arm that took the brunt of his hit fell off.
Not enough. Flash widens his circle before returning, pushing himself even faster for the next pass. Not until Brainiac releases Luthor entirely!
His next punch takes off a little more.
Then more.
And more.
Each time, he’s pushing his speed, widening his lap to gather more power behind the hits. It feels like it’s taking forever, and all he can think about is what happens if while he’s running one of his friends takes a blow, or a civilian is hit. How many more people were going to be sacrificed to this billionaire with a narcissism complex?
The kinetic energy is dancing along his form like lightning, and still he presses on, his form morphing and compressing beyond human ability. His steps leave the world cut open, tearing into roads and through oceans.
He circles the world in less than three seconds.
Two.
And when he finally stalls before Luthor, he’s vibrating with more energy than he’s ever contained within his body.
Brainiac is still in control, still melded enough to Luthor that he’ll recover if West doesn’t act fast. He remembers how he ended the Reverse Flash only minutes before all of this happened, and thinks ‘So much for never doing that again.’ and instead of ripping off the armor, Flash vibrates his molecules into Luthor’s, disrupting the nanite connection till it disintegrates off the flesh. Brainiac can’t fight against that level of power, and frankly, neither can Wally. It condenses in a ball of wild electric energy before bursting out- and when the smoke clears, Luthor is himself once more.
Good guys win, bad guys lose.
Finally. West thinks, glad it was over. He’s ready to quip at John before running to the WatchTower and emptying it of every cheeseburger and lasagna special they had, and then some.
Except… he’s still vibrating. Still has the weird electric currents dancing around his shaking form.
… And he can’t turn it off.
Oh man… Around him, debris rises as if he’s forming his own anti-gravity field from the power. Is that a thing? He’s never done something like this before, he doesn’t even remember his uncle doing something like this before!
Suddenly there’s not enough time to think, to slow down and figure this out.
Because he can feel the power still building, with nowhere to go.
Shayera is gonna chew me out for this. He looks down to his hands and back at his surroundings- the League are finally there, and he turns to his friends, trying to focus on breathing air that seems to go right through him. “I feel kinda…” He tries to stagger over to them, to reach for help. “Funny…?”
He hears Wonderwoman call out to him, sees Clark coming to his aide- but West’s world goes dark before he knows if the Man of Steel reaches him.
xxx Earth 16 xxx
Artemis had only a moment between asking “Do you think it will be enough?”, to hearing the zeta tube go off and realizing that her partner was running straight into the eye of the storm.
She’d turned, heading for the same zeta to follow Wally, but Nightwing cut her off.
“They’re going to need support and medical after this.” Through their telepathic link, she hears him call. Miss M! Ready your ship!
M’gann nods, flying off with Superboy and Jaime following.
Kaldur was heading over, bright eyes tight with concern. “I will join you.” He rested a hand on her shoulder, much like she had for him when undercover. Kid Flash knows what he’s doing.
Right. She agrees as Kaldur and Dick flank her to the Bio-Ship in the watch tower landing space. Always thinking with his feet.
(But he’s always been reckless when it comes to keeping those he cares about safe.)
They leave for earth only a minute or so after Wally had run out, Dick and Artemis leaping out before the Bio-Ship can fully settle.
They see the familiar blurs racing, doing exactly what speedsters do.
And yet her heart can’t settle.
Nightwing points up at the energy column. “Look, it’s working. They’re shutting it down!” And he’s right, the chrysalis is already at half it’s previous power.
Jaime cheers- and Artmeis wonders how long it’s been since she felt like cheering during a mission. ‘Don’t celebrate before it’s over’, hadn’t that been what they were taught? Dick would have said it jinxed the mission, back when he was Robin.
They jumped as a burst of chrysalis energy broke free, sparking down a few feet ahead.
“We need to keep our distance till it’s cleared.” Kaldur called out, eyeing the situation critically. “I can shield with my water bearers, but they may overload from that amount of energy.”
“Cease?” Artemis looked up to Jaime at his outburst, his gaze towards the column. “Cease what?”
Look out!
Artemis heard Nightwing through the mental link right as he grabbed her, throwing them both to the side where a giant burst of energy struck.
Stay down! Kaldur ordered, maneuvering in front of them, weapons up. Another bolt broke off and burst fantastically over his water bearers shield, dispersing the energy. Kaldur grit his teeth, holding his ground against the blow.
I can feel the shift in the magnetic atmosphere. M’gann called from above, hovering protectively near Conner. It shouldn’t be much longer!
And she was right- they heard Flash yell something right as the vortex began to waver, destabilizing with a final burst from the energy build up, before dispersing across the tundra entirely.
“They did it!” M’gann cheered, hurrying forward. Artemis followed instinctively, but her heart continued to pound. The snow settled once more, the slumped speedsters heaving for breath. M’gann and Kaldur reached Barry and Bart, helping them to stand.
Dick and Conner had stopped next to her, just as frozen as she was. They look over the barren tundra, her heart sinking when she couldn’t see her partner’s familiar yellow suit. He was there just moments ago- she knows he was here!
“Congratulations.” Kaldur was looking in relief at Flash, he didn’t realize- “You have saved-”
“Wait!” Artemis shouted, stumbling forward. Wally? She called through the link, scanning, watching as the original team stilled.
No response.
Artemis felt her throat tighten, turning wide eyed back to Flash- to the man who was practically her honorary father-in-law. “… Where’s Wally?”
Barry- slumped and exhausted, didn’t look happy at their victory, that they saved the world.
No.
“Artemis…”
No. She thinks again, voice trapped in her throat as she stares wide-eyed, afraid to blink, to bring those words any closer to being uttered. Behind her, she feels Nightwing tense as well. Wally! She calls once more.
No, no, no-
Barry is walking over to her now, hands reaching out in case she collapses. “He wanted me to tell you-”
“He’s here!”
“He is?!” Bart blurts, cutting Barry off. Everyone turns to M’gann, who’s raised her hand to her brow, face scrunched in concentration. I- I can feel Wally! He sounds a bit strange, but I sense him!
“You’re sure?” Nightwing demands, moving to where Miss Martian is hovering. Artemis still can’t find her voice, lodged in her throat now with hope and fear.
H-he’s getting weaker, and his mental signature feels off, but it’s definitely him!
Nightwing turns towards Jaime, voice cutting through the arctic wind. “Blue Beetle- can your sonic blast create a frequency to stabilize ions in the area Miss Martian senses him?”
The kid barely gives time to think, nodding his head eagerly enough that Artemis could hug him. “Si, jefe. Scarab says he can make it, but you’ll have to grab him fast; if he disperses too much, we won’t be able to keep him stabilized.”
“Do it.” Grayson ordered, looking back to his teammate. “Miss Martian, direct us.”
She hovered, precious seconds going by as Artemis felt the martian’s presence brush past and around them before she jerked up, pointing. “There! I feel him there!”
Blue Beetle moved fast, the alien tech shifting and forming into a sonic pulse ray that began to send waves out. The air started to shimmer, sparking with energy as the frequency pulsed.
xxx Earth 12 xxx
Clark stared at the spot where his friend had stood only moments ago.
He had just regained consciousness, in time to see Flash had tackled Luthor, was separating him from Brainiac in a way that took a massive amount of energy. The burst from it set off an explosion, and when the dust cleared Wally had been there, haggard and tired, but a defused Luthor at his feet.
Flash turned to them, to him, afraid and uncertain. Superman had hurried forward too late- the sound of Wally’s rapid heartbeat, his heat signature, it had all just… disappeared.
It had looked like he’d been ripped apart.
From the crater, a tired but familiar loathsome laugh came out. Still in shock, Superman looked down to see his nemesis’ satisfied smile.
“What do you know? I did kill him.”
I did kill him, I did kill him… The words rang through Clark’s head, drowning out the world around him.
His friend, the one who kept them unified, focused on the core of their mission; Wally was gone. Wally was gone because-
I did kill him.
Slowly, the grin fell from Luthor’s face. He stared at Superman, and something in his expression seemed to sober the villain. “I was mistaken earlier… I think this is the part where you kill me.”
Clark wanted to- he reached out and gripped that fragile human neck between his hand, raising the fallen billionaire so he clung desperately to his arm, unable to touch the ground and reduce the pressure against his windpipe.
“Power corrupts after all.” The imitation of the Justice Lord sneered at him. “And who has more power than Superman?”
Clark’s eyes warming with the familiar power of his laser vision. The world would understand. After all the wrong Luthor’s committed, no one will argue for his worthless life.
He hears Diana try to rush forward, and then Batman stop her. It’s the sound of his friends that brings him back into focus-
Bruce is leaving the decision to him, he trusts Clark to do the right thing, always.
Painfully slow, the red of his eyes drains away.
“I’m not the man who killed president Luthor.” He manages the grit out, barely recognizing his own voice. “Right now, I wish to heaven that I were, but I’m not.”
That gives the villain pause, slumping with a mix of shock and begrudging relief. Clark hates him for it, almost wishes he’d goad him over the edge.
“Superman, everyone!”
He turns, Luthor’s neck still held in his barely restrained grip, to see J’onn with a hand to his temple.
“Flash is still alive!”
And just like that, Superman dumps Luthor back in the crater. Villain forgotten, he hurries to J’onn, hope beating hard in his chest.
“I’m in telepathic contact with him.” J’onn moved around, trying to get a better sense of his location. “His spirit is weak, and growing weaker, but he’s still here.”
Where? Clark wants to shout, wondering how someone with super hearing, heat and x-ray vision can be so useless at times.
Hawkgirl feels around the air where J’onn gestured, feathers tucked tightly in worry. They all startle when a burst of light appears, drawing Shayera’s hand in. She gasps, but doesn’t pull away, knowing what it means.
“Flash!” She calls into the portal, hopeful and scared. Superman thinks he can hear a response, but the energy distorts it and he can’t make it out.
xxx Earth 16 xxx
The moment the air alters into a portal, Nightwing leaps forward, fearlessly plunging his hand against the chaotic energy. The vibrations from the sonic blast are doing his eardrums no favors, but he doesn’t care.
Wally- his best friend who had left the life behind. Who he had been so bitter about leaving Dick behind and moving on from being a sidekick, a hero.
Dick had felt relieved, getting Artemis back in the game, managing to have his friend reunited for one more big move. It had felt right; vindicating.
If they lost Wally today, it would be on his shoulders, his fault.
“Wally!” Artemis yells, but stayed frozen; afraid to interfere.
Dick feels his heart jump when he brushes something- a hand, wrapped in latex material. “I found him!” Nightwing shouts. “Wally, take my hand!” The hand doesn’t grip him, nor does it pull away- Dick catches the wrist in a death grip, leaning back to pull his friend further into the frequency and out of the energy field-
But he’s being dragged in instead.
“Hang on!” His other hand is grasped by Barry, digging his exhausted legs into the snow. “I’m here too Wally, we got you!” His voice is determined- and Dick knows he won’t let go. The others catch on and join in- Artemis, Kaldur, Superboy, M’gann. They call through the portal, urging Wally to follow their voices, to come back.
Nightwing hears Wally say something, sounding confused, but its drowned out by the tundra wind and energy pulses.
I can’t lose you! He thinks about Jason, about Tula, about everything he’d put his friend through for the mission. Please, I can’t lose you Wally!
He will be torn in two before he lets go, and this energy field is fighting to do just that. Dick lets out an aborted shout when the energy dissipates, and the heavy form stumbles into him. The others immediately hurry forward, shouting in relief.
“Wally!” Barry reaches down, but freezes then he takes in the battered and bleeding form.
“Uh, guys?” Wally sounds exhausted, blinking blearily behind white lenses. “I don’t think I can ever go that fast again. If I do, I don’t think I’m coming back…”
xxx Earth 12 xxx
John grabs Shayera before she can be sucked in, the others joining. The portal is now pulling at the debris around them, threatening to take them with, but they won’t give up. Shayera feels her grip slip, just slightly, and doubles down in fury.
Not him! She remembers that bashful kid brother who trusted her even after the betrayal, who supported and teased and loved her like family when she’d had no one. The memories spike her wrath, her determination not to fail this battle. I won’t lose him!
Hawkgirl pulls with all her worth, anchored by the others holding her steady. It’s excruciating, but after a moment, a red gloved hand is visibly coming through. She wrenches harder, clenching her eyes shut and focusing all of her energy into keeping a steady pull-
Then the energy dissipates, and a too-light form falls into her arms.
Shayera holds him tightly, protectively, but grows confused as she takes in his body, feeling alarmed as orange hair and green eyes lift in exhaustion to meet her gaze. His breathing is weak, exhausted from running so much. Behind her, the others have frozen. John takes a step forward, arm stretched out uncertainly. “Is that…?”
“Wh’rs Uncle B’ry…?” Wally looks around- she can hear Batman and Superman tensing behind her. “I-I think I’m still alive, I made it… So did we save the world?”
In two universes, the veil falls closed, separating them once more. But in each, a group of heroes look down on the person before them, the one meant to be their friend.
One who is, and yet isn’t.
As Nightwing and Shayera stare down at the mysteriously familiar stranger before them, their voices sync across the divided worlds.
“Wally?”