whatifwallywas

[whatifwallywas]

I know, I know You belong to somebody new But tonight you belong to me Although, although we're apart You're a part of my heart But tonight you belong to me Way down by the stream How sweet it will seem Once more just to dream In the moonlight My honey, I know With the dawn that you will be gone But tonight you belong to me But tonight you belong to me

[whatifwallywas]

Two updates in the same week??? Please don’t get used to this, because I will break your hearts immediately. Thank you everyone who reblogged, you’re making me very happy <3  This is a part 2 of my Ghost AU! Part 1 is here This...became a wild ride for some reason. warning:  ghosts, death, abuse and murder, corpses, horror.

051B A Ghost? “Are you alright?” He sat in the passenger seat, his bag clutched tightly to his chest and his head so low it was practically touching his shoulders. The concerned voice brought him back to the present and he let up the deathgrip he had over his bag, forcing himself to relax just the smallest bit, wincing at the cramp in his neck.  Barry couldn’t remember the last time he felt this uncomfortable. 

“I hate cars.” He definitely didn’t whine which caused his companion to snort in laughter.

“How else did you plan to get all the way to Blue Valley?” Iris asked from the driver’s seat, sending him an amused glance. “Uh…” superspeed, he DEFINITELY didn’t say. “I think I don’t get as carsick if I’m the one driving.” He explained instead and she hummed in understanding. “Well, you’ll have to forgive me for not trusting a stranger with my car.” She joked and he cracked a smile. They have known each other for maybe 4 hours now, 1.5 of which they spent in the car together. Barry’s plan was to find Wally’s favourite aunt, speak with her and maybe try and convince her to meet him at Wally’s house the following week. He did not account for her to be just as bullheaded as her nephew, sit him down right then and there in the cafe, interrogate the hell out of him before stating she’s going to the house right away. He was more than a little intimidated by this fierce woman who was bold enough to invite a stranger into her car and take a two hour drive into an abandoned house in the middle of a tiny town on a Tuesday evening.

He had Hal on speed dial in case he needed to and he did see her send plenty of messages to someone, making sure people knew where she was going and when she should be back. Regardless of the weird circumstances, they were getting along surprisingly well and Barry would lie if he said he didn’t absolutely enjoy her company. She was funny and determined and she was willing to listen even though his story sounded very improbable. He assumed it meant she was good at her job as a journalist. Believing someone when they say they met your nephew’s ghost deserves a medal. Their conversation has slowly lulled into a comfortable silence a short while ago. Well, comfortable for her. It made Barry realise he was locked inside a tiny metal cage of death that he had no control over and why did people have cars anyways if trains were so much bigger anyway and better for the environment, what was America thinking and-

“Have you ever managed to contact Wally’s parents?” He asked out loud before he could stop himself. Iris glanced at him in surprise at the out-of-the-blue question before focusing on the road once more. She carefully considered the answer. “Rudolph has called me a little while after Wally went...missing.” She hesitated. “He said they are moving houses and changing their phone numbers. I had to really fight for any information concerning Wally but I assumed that was grief talking. I have not heard from my brother since though I did manage to contact Mary once. She seemed absolutely distressed after hearing my voice and hung up.” Iris has single handedly tried to find her little nephew for over a year now with no success. Rudolph and Mary disappeared and Wally’s case seemed to be swept under the rug. “I always knew there was something more to what happened, but...Wally was my nephew and after learning he’s gone I…” She tightened her grip on the steering wheel, taking a deep breath. Barry looked at her for a long moment. “I know it won’t change anything but...I’m sorry for what happened.” He said finally. She nodded.

___

The street looked deserted, which was terribly weird for a suburban neighbourhood around 3 o’clock in the evening. The air was heavy and the only sound he could hear other than the sharp crack of the car doors being closed by Iris was the howl of the nearby forest and the distant call of a crow.

There wasn’t a single living soul around, Barry thought in bemusement.

The house was just as big and intimidating as when he has left it two weeks ago after finally moving back to his apartment in Central. Yet, when he saw the curtain in the living room rustle he felt a rush of affection as he remembered why he was here. He wanted Wally free from the house.

Iris stood by him, taking in property with a frown on her face. Glanced at Barry and gestured for him to open the door. He walked the three creaky porch steps and slowly turned the key in the lock. They opened with a whine right into a dim hallway.

Inside was empty. Inside was still. Inside was dead.

He slowly walked in and heard his new companion follow. She looked devastated. “This used to be such a warm place.” She murmured, standing in the middle of the corridor and glancing first through the entrance to the kitchen, then towards the living room. She frowned in confusion at the color of the walls in the kitchen “They used to be blue.” she commented but didn’t elaborate further. Then, she looked at him expectantly and he cleared his throat.

“Okay, buddy.” Barry called into the house. “It’s safe to come out.” He promised.

And at first nothing changed. Everything was quiet except for the sound of an old house shifting. And then he heard Iris’s sharp inhale. He wasn’t sure she was breathing beforehand. There was a shimmer at the top of the stairs. It was like looking at the gas escaping from the stove, the air just slightly distorted but the longer he focused on the spot, the more detailed the shape became. Wally was keeping a firm hold on the banister, his wide, scared eyes focused solely on his aunt as he took a hesitant step forward.

Iris wasn’t blinking. After a second or two, her mouth formed a shaky smile as she slowly got to one knee and opened up her arms. “Hi, kiddo.” She called out gently, her eyes suspiciously wet. Wally took one shaky step, then another, and then there was a gust of wind coming from upstairs as he swept down right into her waiting arms. She held him close and let a couple of tears escape as she ran her fingers through his nearly tangible hair.

A noise sounded through the house, as if the entire place was whispering in a thousand voices and Barry recognised it as Wally’s attempt to speak. “...I missed you to.” Iris answered and the blonde found himself smiling as well.

It was a good family reunion.

___

Wally pointed them towards the basement. The dark void at the bottom of the stairs seemed stifling, its black maw ready to swallow them whole and it made both of them hesitate. The kid was clearly terrified because he disappeared as soon as the doors were opened. Barry could hear his sobs coming from inside. He glanced at Iris out of the corner of his eye and saw her bracing herself before she took a deep breath and took the first step forward.

Barry was glad he wasn’t counting the steps down because he could have sworn it took three times longer to get to the bottom than it should have.

It was just as he remembered it. It was stifling and dim, the single light bulb not providing enough light to chase the shadows in the corners away. He brought the flashlight up only to come face-to-face with Wally’s blank, terrified gaze and almost dropped it in fright.

“Wally?” Iris asked while he tried to get his frantic heart to slow down at least a little bit, but her question fell to deaf ears as the panicking kid dissolved into smoke. Then she furrowed her brows and looked deeply into the darkness of the basement. She walked over to him and reached her hand out for the flashlight, which he handed over without question. Shining around the basement her frown only deepend.

“It used to be bigger.” She said finally and Barry couldn’t help but blink. “Wh-” But she ignored him, walking around, looking at walls.

He remembered the first time he was here and thinking that the bricks looked off somehow. Now he understood. “This wall is a different color from the rest.” He murmured, causing her to first focus on him and then on the wall he was gesturing at. She let out a breath and it came out foggy. The room was cold.

As they neared the wall, the lightbulb began flickering, covering the room in total darkness every couple of seconds. The temperature dropped even more. Barry felt the hair at the back of his neck stand on ends as if they were being watched. He heard a sniffle, then a whine. Out of the corner of his eye he could see him. Wally stood right under the flickering light, eyes big, shoulders shaking. Bugs seemed to crawl from under him and away, as far away as they could, some trying their luck by going up the stairs and towards the kitchen. Wally was scared. Wally was crying. He pointed a shaky finger at them, past them, at the wall. Barry turned his back towards the bricks again.

“Here.” ___

They found an old toolbox on one of the shelves and got to work. They grabbed a screwdriver each and started chipping away at the mortar around one of the bricks, hoping to get it loose. If Iris wasn’t there, Barry would have done a quick job of it, using his super speed to crumble the wall in a couple of punches, but for now he was fine taking it slow. He was honestly dreading what they will find on the other side of the wall.

The basement was icy cold and he found himself fighting off attacks of anxiety that didn’t feel like his own but were overtaking his mind at times. He could hear something scratching on walls, something banging on the doors to the basement, he could hear Wally crying at the bottom of the stairs, sometimes comprehensible enough that it almost sounded like words and pleas of let me out please i will be good please it’s so dark, let. me. out!

They suddenly broke through the layer of mortar, making a tiny hole through the wall. That’s when the smell escaped through it. The stench hitting them like a freight train had Iris immediately covering her mouth and retching and Barry recoiling back. After working in forensic science for as long as he had, there was no doubt in his mind as of what it was. The smell of death was defeating.

He grimaced, pullet his t-shirt over his nose and continued on, breaking away the first brick and Iris joined him soon after, hiding the lower part of her face behind her jacket, her eyes watering from the reek. He didn’t know how much time they spent there, but they eventually managed to get two bricks out and after that, he tore a bigger piece of wall with his hands. They waited in silence for the dust to settle.

“Oh.” Iris whispered at the sight. “Oh, Wally.”

Curled up inside an indentation in the wall was a small, broken body of a child. Arms and legs were pushed in at unnatural angles, the hole too small to fit the body properly. Its skin was almost grey, stretched thin over the broken bones. It had a faded, red Flash shirt, light blue jeans stained with dried blood, and small white shoes.

In moments like these, Barry wished he never became a forensic scientist.

Because the bricks had scratch marks on them from the inside and the kid’s...Wally’s...fingers were bloody and the nails were broken. He had been walled in alive. “Let’s call the police.” Was what he said instead before taking three big steps away from the wall. He saw Wally looking past them at the hole before the boy disappeared upstairs. ___

The Police remembered him from when he went asking about Wally a few months back and were honestly confused about how to proceed with this. The house was still technically his - for another two weeks- and he had every right to go digging in the walls. They let them go after taking their statements and contact information.

The search for Rudolph and Mary West began anew and Barry and Iris came back to Central City before going their separate ways. Using his super speed after an entire day of holding back let him feel like he had at least some control as he quickly showered, went on patrol, showered again, and sat in his living room to eat. He leant back heavily against his sofa cushions and pondered calling Hal, when his entire coffee table rattled. He frowned in worry. “You alright, kiddo?” He asked gently, and winced when a lamp was suddenly swept from the cabinet. The only reason it didn’t smash into a million pieces was because it was stopped by the too short cable and instead was left hanging a few inches away from the ground. After the outburst everything suddenly quieted down and the room dropped a few degrees. “I’m not mad about the lamp.” The blonde was quick to reassure. “And you have every right to be upset right now.” He shifted from the couch to the carpet, pulled one leg to his chest and rested both his arms on his knee. He sighed into the crook of his elbow. “I’m sorry you had to see it today. It couldn’t have been easy. Iris and I thought you were very brave.” The stifling air didn’t let up and he nodded his head. “You can stay here as long as you’d like.”

After what felt like hours, he felt Wally move closer. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the lense that Hal left him a long while ago. It was a piece of the kitchen window he took when Barry had been kidnapped. The speedster had taken the tape off once he was out of the hospital and smoothed the sharp edges out before putting new tape on it. It was now more round and safe to touch and it allowed him to see Wally even outside the kid’s old house. Said kid was laying on the other side of the coffee table, curled up on the carpet and facing away from him. He was trembling. “Aw, kid.” He murmured before moving closer. It seemed like being away from his house was causing him physical pain, but the small redhead really didn’t want to be locked inside it alone and sometimes followed Barry to his apartment. It was one of the reasons Barry wanted to solve the case. He was hoping Wally would find some peace in justice and maybe be able to move on, or at least be free from the house he was tormented by and move in with the speedster permanently, but for months the kid refused to help him find any clues concerning his disappearance. Until a couple of day ago when he desperately led Barry to his aunt Iris and then the two of them to his corpse. However, instead of finding peace like Barry had hoped, it seemed to cause him even more distress.

He carefully put his hand on the other’s shoulder and winced at the sensation. It was like holding an icicle in his hand, thousand tiny needles biting into the skin, but considerably more painful. Then he felt the kid relax and the pain melted away into a regular chill. “It’s all going to work out soon.” He reassured, hoping he was right. ___ Finding Rudolph was surprisingly easy once the Police had a reason to go looking. Apparently, once questioned he quickly confessed to the murder of his 8 year old son and stuffing his still-breathing body in the wall. Seeing the man in detention however...did not go as planned. Iris was allowed one visit and she asked Barry if he would be willing to join her to which he agreed. Rudolph was a big man with brown hair and dark eyes. He looked...troubled. There were bags under his eyes and every couple of seconds he would glance this way and that in paranoia. When he finally focused on his sister and her companion, he scowled. Then his gaze went past Barry, right where the speedster knew Wally was standing. The man’s wild, bloodshot eyes widened. Then he started yelling. “Why the hell are you here, haven’t I told you to leave!!!” He demanded, slamming his hands on the table he was cuffed to. “Haven’t you done enough!!!” He spat.

Barry could feel Wally taking a couple of steps back. “It’s all your fault! Everything that happened! All your fault! They won’t leave us alone!” The light above his head started flickering and Iris turned her head questionably towards Barry. He in turn glanced back even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to see the kid without his glass lense. This didn’t feel right. This didn’t feel like Wally’s doing. His breath came out in a puff. The temperature dropped as Rudolph rage and fear grew. He sounded manic, as he rambled looking from side to side. “They found me again. There is no escape.” He mumbled, grabbing at his hair and pulling painfully. “Rudolph, who found you?” Iris probbed and he focused on her. He clenched his hands into fists, ripping tuffs from his scalp in the process. “Ever since I put that brat in his place. Finally shut him up. They showed up. They don’t want to leave. Moving houses didn’t work, they always follow. Stupid, useless brat, goddamn-” He bit back and Iris had trouble recognising him anymore. She wasn’t sure how much of her brother was left. “Who are they?” She asked and he focused on a point right above her head and started shaking even more. The coffee cup on the table across the room smashed against the wall and the radio went crazy. One of the lights burst plunging the room in grotesque shadows. The darkness seemed to be moving. The two officers present attempted to calm Rudolph down to no avail and they soon removed him from the room, the shadows calming but following after. Like a pack of wolfs after a wounded deer. “This keeps happening every so often.” Another officer explained later. “Mr. West’s lawyer tried to pledge insanity but the man immediately confessed to the murder. He didn’t seem that much bothered by it but the guilt must be eating him alive seeing the way he’s behaving.” She mused, and Barry felt his stomach twist at the words. He didn’t think it was guilt that was eating Rudolph alive.

___

His concerns only grew when him and Hal finally managed to hunt down Zatara and invite him over.

The magician had walked in the apartment and immediately zeroed in on the place on the carpet that Wally liked to sit in most. “Would the two of you mind giving us some privacy?” He asked and the two superheroes found themselves waiting in the bedroom, drinking coffee, Hal on the bed and Barry on the windowsill, looking at the building across the street. They didn’t comment when all lights suddenly went out or when the slight wind picked up even though all windows were closed. Barry strained his ears to listen to the conversation on the other side of the doors but other than Zatara’s gentle tones and Wally changing the radio stations there was nothing to pick up. When the magician finally called them back in, they could see him sitting on the couch with a deep frown on his face, next to the most tangible Wally they have ever seen.

The kid was fully visible but still pretty see-through and was sitting on the couch with his legs drawn up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them for comfort. He glanced up when he saw them enter and wiped his face with a sleeve of his shirt.

“A little spell to help us communicate better.” Zatara explained before sighing deeply. “We...might be in a predicament.” He said finally.

Barry sat down right next to the small redhead and put his arm around him. He could feel the smallest amount of pressure and did not phase all the way through. He felt the kid lean a bit closer and he smiled gently, before focusing on Zatara once more. He nodded his head. “Fill us in.” ___ “...That’s a pickle.” “...Thank you Hal for summing it up so well.” Barry rolled his eyes at his friend’s shrug before rubbing his hand through his hair. Rudolph West was a cruel cruel man. After years of neglecting and abusing his son, he has walked past the point of no return. His 8 year old son died alone, forgotten and broken in a basement with no one there to hear his cries.

Zatara said that some humans who are willing to terrible things with no remorse open doors that should never be opened.

The moment a terryffied, hurt, 8 year old let out his last dying breath, his soul left his body and got stuck on earth as a spirit. At the same moment, something else has also crawled out from a little hole in the wall in Blue Valley’s basement. And latched itself onto the nastiest thing it could find and fed from it.

Rudolph West was haunted not by the tormented ghost of his son, but by the evil spirits that came crawling after they smelled how rotten the man’s soul was.

“Karma is a bitch.” Hal shrugged, before finishing his coffee. “Wanna grab lunch?” The unimpressed glances he got from all 3 of the people present had him rolling his eyes. “An asshole got what was coming for him.” He glanced at the unhappy translucent child in the room. “Wally’s ‘tormented soul’ is saved, good job us.”

“Young Wallace has done all he could for you to contact his aunt and find his body because he felt the spirits tormenting Mr West growing stronger.” Zatara explained with a frown, turning towards Barry again. “Having those creatures running free is dangerous.” Barry sighed, rubbing his hand soothingly on the kid’s back. “You were just trying to be a good person and help. Even if that person deserves it the least.” He saw Hal blink in surprise before crossing his arms but Barry just smiled. “I’m proud of you kiddo, you’re thinking like a real hero.” Wally ducked his head and shrugged. He sent a discreet worried glance at Hal and frowned. The man didn’t stand a chance. “...Okay, fine. Let’s save the asshole” The brunette whined, before putting his hands on his hips. “So, what magical ingredients, sacred weapons and/or mystical books do we need to find to get this done?” Zatara blinked at the hero before standing up and re-adjusting his bowtie. “I believe I already have all we will need.” ___ “This was anticlimactic.” Zatara indeed had all of the ingredients needed for the exorcism. They all went to Wally’s old house, past the police tape down to the basement and stood by and watched while the magician drew circles on the floor. Then it was a matter of a spell, many flashing lights and breaking glass, watching the horrifying demons with blood for eyes get sucked into a giant gaping chasm in the ground before it was sealed forever and that was that. Rudolph West should be safe and sound inside his cell, rotting away in prison this time without spirits sucking away at his soul. Cool.

Hal kicked a rock and it bounced a couple of times before rolling to a stop in front of a wall with...a hole in it...He found himself remembering what Barry told him about finding Wally’s corpse and swallowed a bile in his throat. Then he furrowed his brows in thought and turned towards the still very present redhead. The kid looked...relieved. He stood there besides Barry, staring at the place where his body has been and it seemed the weight has been lifted off his shoulders. Hal also couldn’t help but notice he was still...there. Didn’t seem too keen on moving towards other, better things. Like...the afterlife or whatever. He must have noticed the man staring, because he glanced toward him questioningly. Before being distracted by a hand falling on his head and ruffling his hair. Or, as much as one could try ruffling something nearly intangible. “Good job, kid.” Barry praised and the boy grinned at him. The bulb above their heads shone brighter for a couple of seconds before dimming again. The basement didn’t seem nearly so stifling and dead anymore. It felt like a regular, dusty, forgotten pantry. They all slowly walked up the steps, and left the place behind. Wally’s form didn’t waver as he stepped through the threshold. He was free. ___

“Hi, bud, whatcha doing here?” Green Lantern asked with a laugh as something white and blue zipped around him on the rooftop. Then he grinned at the red blur that followed. “For what do I owe the pleasure?” He clapped his best friend’s shoulder once he finally stopped beside him. “We decided to go for a run.” The Flash explained, taking in the night view of Coast City. “Also wanted to stop by and see you before you go to with Supes for the space mission.” Wally finally zipped back and stood on his other side, looking around with a wide smile on his face. He turned to Hal questioningly. “Shouldn’t take longer than two weeks.” The other replied, knowing the kid well enough by now to know his little non-verbal tells. He ruffled the boy’s hair and even almost felt it. “Don’t get in too much trouble when I’m gone. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” He said after a second and the kid smiled even wider, nodding towards Barry. “Of course I was talking to him, I know you can behave yourself.” He laughed and then yelped when he was smacked upside the head by the speedster. “Not fair.” “Dork” the blonde replied, before shaking his head. “Alright, the break is over. I promised Iris to have Wally back by 10 and we still have 4 states to see on the way.”

They bid their goodbyes, promised to look over his city while he was gone, and then they were off again. Hal couldn’t help but grin after them.

What a crazy year it has been.

[whatifwallywas]

Hi kids! If tumblr closes down the only other platform I’m on is deviantart and nothing else because I’ve been here for 6 years and I don’t really care about this site burning down or not. I post no nipples.  (I’m bringing 2001 back, baby! With a sweet sweet High School AU)  (tw in the tags!) 

109 Himself? “New theatre room looking good, dude!” The cheerful, light but highly sarcastic voice echoing through the auditorium caused Dick to snort in laughter as he turned away from the prop he was painting and towards his best friend. “Shut up.” He replied with a grin as he put the brush away and closed the paint tin. This was the first day the theatre club has been allowed back into the room in a month, after a piece of the ceiling along with two lamps smashed on the ground during rehearsal. This part of the school was slowly crumbling apart while the sports team had just recently gotten another equipment upgrade.

Wasn’t that stupid.

Luckily for them, because of the accident, the entire ceiling had to be repaired and now they had two brand new lamps that will not randomly turn off in the middle of the show, like they used to do. Unluckily, everything else was still old and on the verge of breaking at all times. Dick straightened his back and rolled his shoulder hearing it pop just as Wally threw his bag on one of the seats in the front row. He saw his best friend grimace at the sound and couldn’t help but cackle.

“You should get used to this by now.” He chided as he watched the red head look around the place. “How was your day?” He asked, turning around, ready to start putting the things away. “Same old.” Wally replied with a tired huff before casually throwing himself on the seat next to his backpack. “The piano is new.” He commented flippantly, picking a dirt from under his nail. Dick blinked before turning to the aforementioned instrument. It was old and dusty but has been tuned and seemed to be working alright. “Yeah, we found it in the prop closet today. Figured it would be cool to play it during a performance instead of using the DVD player.” He commented lightly but only got a humm in reply. “I’m almost done, I’m just gonna put the stuff away.” He added picking the cans of paint up. “Need any help?” Wally asked with a grin but Dick just shook his head. He got it. “I’m good, thanks. Be back in a few.”

There weren’t many people left backstage at this hour. There were three people in the corner, still trying to figure out the new lights’ controls, and he could hear some rustling in the wardrobe so someone was probably trying to fruitlessly rearrange the costumes and make sense of the creative mess years of people showing random items in there had caused. He walked inside the storage to put the paint away but was stopped by the sight inside. “Holy organisation, Artemis!” He exclaimed in appreciation at the absolutely spotless storage room. The shelves have been wiped, the boxes clearly labeled and the useless things and trinkets that used to cover every surface in the room were put in a big crate of “stuff that might be useful one day” that they were probably never going to use. Artemis was in the middle of the room, with a perfectly and carefully rolled string of lights in her hands and a proud look on her face. “Anyone who tries to make a mess of this place again will have to answer to me.” The blonde said seriously and narrowed her eyes at him in challenge, seeing the paint tins in his place. He only grinned and placed them on the correct shelf, right next to other cans. “Want me to put them in alphabetically or sorted by color?” He replied cheekily and was jokingly showed aside as she walked past. “But seriously, Arty, this is incredible. Great job.”

They started chatting about the stuff that still needed doing backstage and onstage, the auditions they would soon need to hold and the upcoming show. The theatre department was dealt a serious hit last year, when Roy finished high school and moved to bigger, greater things, leaving the club lacking one dramatic but well-organised member. There weren’t that many of them now, and they could definitely use some fresh talents.

“Can you hear that?” Artemis suddenly interrupted and he fell silent. There was a pretty intense piano song playing from the stage. “You think it’s one of our members? Or a very movie-like discovery of some random kid’s that no one knows hidden talent?” He whispered jokingly as the two of them moved towards the curtain, the blonde only rolling her eyes at him. Then she tripped on a cable that was not supposed to be there and she cursed loudly. The music abruptly stopped.

When they got to the stage 4 seconds later, the auditorium was completely empty, sans one chair in the front row. Wally was still there, spread over his seat, legs over the armrest and head leaning back, snoring.

“Oi, Dick’s nerdy friend!” Artemis'es loud voice caused the red head to shoot awake startled and tumble to the ground. “Did you see who played the piano?”

Wally rubbed his eyes with his hands before staring at her in distrust. “Is that a set up for a bad joke or something?” He asked before standing up, yawning and dusting off his pants. “Because I think you should leave jokes to someone who’s...you know...funny.” She flipped him off and he blew a raspberry at her as a reply. “You haven’t seen anyone play the piano?” Dick asked, looking around the scene but his best friend just shrugged. “Sorry, dude, I was sleeping. Why? Maybe your theatre is haunted by the ghost of the ceiling now.” He joked before picking up his bag. “You ready to go?” The brunette kept looking around the auditorium for a few seconds longer, glancing at the still open cover of the piano, the song still on his mind, before he shrugged and went to grab his bag from the side of the stage. “Yeah, let’s go.” They bid their goodbyes to Artemis - Wally and her flipping each other off with no real malice behind the action, they just had the frienemies thing down pat- before they headed home for a night of video games and junk food, the mystery piano player forgotten for now. ___

Wally and Dick have known each other for a bit over 5 years now and while Dick excelled in extra activities, like the math club and the theatre, Wally was known for not joining any club ever. Not for the lack of trying on Dick’s part, of course. His grades were very good, he was incredible at science and chemistry - he has never heard it from the red head, of course, but he did see his grades on accident while flipping through his friend’s book and stumbling upon a couple of old tests. He was awesome at track, always had good time, and he was generally really likeable by both the students and the teachers. And he refused to join any team. Ever. Even though he would very clearly -secretly- love to.

Dick could recall countless instances where Wally would stay after school to help him set up something for the theatre, or help clean up after a sport event, or prepare the younger students for the science fair. The countless baking sales he came to help out in but never bringing anything on his own. He spent an awful lot of free time at school for someone who claimed he couldn’t to commit to a club. The brunette frowned and kicked a rock as they walked down the road towards school. He hummed a song that has been stuck in his head for a bit over a week now and he could hear his companion sigh heavily. “I can see smoke coming out of your ears, dude. You alright?” Wally asked, hands in his pockets as they continued their trek. “Would you like to join the theatre club?” Dick suddenly asked and Wally didn’t miss a beat. “No, but thanks.” He replied promptly before noting his friend’s unhappy expression. “I know you’re having a rough time with getting enough members but you can’t just try to get every sucker you see.” He joked. The brunette rolled his eyes. “You know that’s not why I’m asking. You’d be so good at the club, Walls, why not just give it a try-” “No, Dick.” Wally interrupted, looking away from him. He didn’t look mad, or even annoyed. He just looked tired. He never saw his best friend react like this to anything else other than when refusing to join clubs. And that’s why he wanted to keep trying. He wanted to understand why Wally refused even though saying “no” was obviously making him unhappy. At the same time seeing his best friend distressed was not something he wanted to do. So he dropped it. Again. They continued on their way and Dick started humming the same song again. It didn’t last 10 seconds before Wally changed the topic and they were laughing again. ___

“I don’t think I have ever been in this one.” Wally admitted, looking inside and whistling appreciatively. He came over every Wednesday after school and stayed the night. Dick wasn’t sure how it started or why was it Wednesdays but he wasn’t complaining. He never needed an excuse to spend some quality time with his best bro. Right now they were inside one of the less frequently used rooms in the Wayne mansion. It was a big, brightly lit room with huge glass windows. There wasn’t much there, except for a couple instruments and an old record player, and of course the huge grand piano near the window.

He noted Wally staring at the piano for exactly 2 seconds before nonchalantly turning his gaze away to look at the columns. Unluckily for him, Dick made a beeline for the instrument and sat at the bench. He cracked his knuckles - to his best friend’s dismay- and started playing the tune he had in his head for about 2 weeks now. And he butchered it horribly. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the redhead bite the inside of his cheek and his hands twitch just before he hid them deep inside his pockets as we wandered closer to the piano. He leant on the side of the instrument, staring right at the doors as if waiting for someone to burst in and yell at them any minute now, but otherwise didn’t comment. He glanced at his friend when Dick stumbled through a particularly difficult fragment before commenting. “Maybe you should try something easier for the beginning?” He proposed but the brunette shook his head. “I want to learn this one.” He replied and Wally hummed, still not looking at him. “Why this one in particular?”

“It was the one you played in the auditorium and I thought it was neat.” He replied carefully, before looking up from the notes and at his best friend who fell completely still.

Wally was not looking at him. He was leaning against the piano, still keeping watch on the door and being far enough away from the keys that if someone walked in they couldn’t possibly think that he was the one responsible for playing, hands still deep inside his pockets.

He opened his mouth to say something, hesitated, then shut it again. Nodded his head. He didn’t look too surprised by the revelation. He seemed more taken aback by the fact that Dick actually openly called him out.

“You’re a very light sleeper, Walls.” Dick began. “When you stay over even Alfred’s footsteps wake you up, and you think I’d believe you when you said you slept through Liszt’s Etude number 6?” When Wally didn’t answer he continued. “One time after school when I came to pick you up from track, I finished my class a bit early and saw you running alone. I saw how fast you can get when you’re giving it your all and are not trying to underplay your skills to the teachers. Back at the theatre you could have easily ran across the stage and got back in your seat in those couple of seconds it took for Artemis and I to get to-” “What do you want me to say, Dick?” Wally interrupted him, turning to look him in the eye for the first time and he blinked surprised. “What’s the point in all of this?” “Wally.” He scooted a bit on the bench and patted the seat next to him. The redhead didn’t budge. Dick rolled his eyes and closed the piano, before patting the bench again. The saw his friend sigh through his nose before he finally moved closer. He sat with his back to the piano and stared at his shoes. “I know you’re good at science.” The brunette said causing the other to frown. “And chemistry. And geography. You enjoy track team and team sports and helping freshmen with their homework and charity work and cooking and cleaning and theatre and music and comic books. And you can play the piano like a pro and you can juggle - pretty badly- but it brings you joy to do it and that’s what’s important and-” he turns in his seat so he’s on the same side as the redhead. “And you downplay all of it, Wally. You pretend you don’t care, that you can’t be bothered to do half of that stuff or that you’re too stupid or too slow but you’re not and I- I don’t understand why.” He scooted even closer and tried to get Wally’s right hand out of the pocket to hold it firmy. It was shaking. “I just want to know why-” “Master Richard, Master Wallace, dinner is served.” Wally jumped away from the piano- from Dick- so quickly the brunette was afraid he sprained something. He had his hands in his pockets in an instant and he laughed in what Dick could only assume was absolute panic. “Hi Mr. Alfred, yeah actually I think I’ll be going now. It was nice to see you though and the dinner smells great. Bye!” He rambled out as he walked past the butler - giving him a wide berth- and towards the exit. “Wally wait! Talk to me!” Dick called after him but go no reply. He saw his best friend’s back as he closed the door behind him. Leaving his house on an early afternoon on a Wednesday instead of staying the night for the first time in over a year and a half.

Dick was left eating dinner alone and then staring at the start menu of a movie they were planning to watch that day. ___ Wally didn’t come to school on Thursday. ___ Wally wasn’t replying to his messages. ___ Wally didn’t come to school on Friday. ___ Wally didn’t reply to his messages all Saturday and didn’t show up for the movie night. ___ Sunday night Wally sent him a message. “Sorry for going AWOL, I had an accident.”

___ When Wally showed up at school on a monday morning, he had a brace on his right wrist and a black eye. His movements were a little stiff and he tried not to move around too much due to bruised ribs and a sprained knee. He said he crashed his bike on his way home on Wednesday.

And Dick would have believed him. If it wasn’t for the hand shaped bruise he saw when the redhead’s sleeve rolled up over the brace on accident. ___

“Dude, slow down or I’m not going with you.” His best friend wheezed in warning as he limped a couple paces behind him and Dick had to sigh through his nose and stop his determined stride.

“Sorry, I’m just feeling anxious.” He admitted, waiting for the redhead to catch up. “You feeling okay?” Wally nodded, even though he looked absolutely exhausted. His first day of school after being being away for 4 days took away all of his energy.

“You should’ve stayed at home.” Dick muttered but Wally just shook his head, staring determinedly ahead. “Pretty sure I would’ve died of boredom.” He said before hesitating. “Dude, did something happen while I was gone?” The careful question caused him to blink and focus on his friend once more. “You’re not...mad at me, are you?” The brunette stopped and considered the question. “-I’m sorry I left on Wednesday.” Wally blurted out. “I really didn’t mean to make you mad and-” “Why didn’t you write me?” Dick interrupted instead, making the other fall silent. “On wednesday evening or even Thursday morning. You could’ve said why you’re not coming to school.” I worried about you he didn’t say, but then again he didn’t need to. “I got grounded on Wednesday and didn’t have my phone.” Wally replied truthfully with a wince. “I’m sorry dude but I only got it back on Sunday evening and I saw your texts-” “You got grounded.” He deadpanned and Wally rolled his eyes. “Yeah, apparently I was giving my parents attitude when I came back. Them god dang teenagers, am I right.” He joked but Dick only shook his head. “You said...You had your accident on the way home...And you want me to believe you came home all banged up and got grounded for your attitude.?” He saw Wally bite the inside of his cheek. The one hand that wasn’t in a brace went deep inside his pocket again while the right one went behind his back and he fidgeted on the spot. Looked around them on the courtyard, making sure they were alone. Then he grabbed him by the shoulders and gently steered him a few paces to the side, closer to the wall. “Okay.” He said finally, looking around again before focusing his bright green eyes right on Dick. “Okay.” He repeated. He looked exhausted and twitchy. And a bit scared. “The reason I’m not showing anyone my grades.” Dick blinked in surprise. “And not joining clubs. And trying not to stand out.” He heaved a deep sigh. “Is because this is what I want.” What “-What-” “I don’t want people to know anything specific about me. I want to go through high school as a regular kid, get to a good college and move out of Gotham.” He admitted, looking over his shoulder before focusing on Dick. “Can you promise me something?” “Why-” “Can you promise me something?” He repeated and Dick doesn’t remember the last time he heard his friend truly desperate. He nodded his head. “Drop it.” what “Don’t ask me about stuff again. Don’t dig into my life. Please. I’m getting it sorted out and it will be fine soon. I just. I need you to stop. I can’t handle everything alone. Please.”

And Dick had to make one of the most difficult decisions of his life. He looked his best friend in the eye, silently considering him for a very drawn out moment. Then he nodded his head, took a step forward and carefully wrapped his arms around Wally’s bruised torso. He could feel the redhead’s breath hitch but he ignored it and buried his head in the crook of the other’s neck. “I’m not going to dig.” He swore. “I’m not going to dig but Wally you shouldn’t protect whoever is hurting and controlling you” “You don’t deserve any of this. You deserve to be yourself and not be afraid.” He has never heard his friend sigh so heavily before. Like the 16 year old had the weight of the world on his shoulders and didn’t have any energy left in him to go on. “It’s going to be okay.” The redhead promised, finally wrapping his arms around Dick and he nodded trying to convince himself just as hard as Wally tried to convince them both. “It’s going to be okay.” He repeated, hoping saying it enough will make it true. ___ Wally came with him to the theatre club like he promised but after tiredly limping halfway down the steps he decided he was good where he was. He sat down with a sigh and leant his head back to rest. After making sure he was comfortable, Dick walked all the way down and helped the others with finishing the stage decorations. He glanced towards his friends a couple of times, seeing him catching up on last week’s homework and determinedly ignored the fact that Wally had no troubles writing immaculately with his left hand, even though he always wrote with his right hand before - and his chicken scrawl was hard to decipher on a good day. ___ The next week everything continued as normal. Even though he couldn’t contribute much, Wally continued to stay at school after classes, hanging out with different clubs. He managed to work out the new light control panel in the auditorium and helped them by playing musical cues on the club’s old laptop when needed. Him and Dick went home together after school and finally watched the movie they planned to watch the week prior. Everything was fine. Dick was not. He aggressively supported his best friend though and even more aggressively kept his promise not to dig. Almost as determinedly as Wally was focused to ignore the issue. And they were both sitting next to each other, both ignoring the elephant in the room. And it was fine. ___ And it was 4 months later, when Wally didn’t show up at school again.    ___ Wally was not answering his ph- “Hello?” “Wally!” He cringed after shouting right into the receiver. “Sorry, I’m sorry. Dude, where the heck have you been-” “Oh! You must be Dick, Wally always speaks of you fondly.” what. He didn’t recognise the voice. Maybe it was Wally’s mom? Now that he thought about it, he has never met Wally’s parents before. “-This is Wally’s aunt, Iris. Wally is resting right now, but I’ll make sure he calls you back as soon as he’s able, alright?” He blinked confused, and he felt like the ground was getting further and further away from him with each passing second.

“Is. Is he okay?” He asked and left weirdly detached from his own. “Yes. He’s going to be fine.” He blinked. “He’s safe now.” Before his legs gave out under him in pure relief and he fell back onto bench he was standing by. Wally’s safe now. ___ Wally called him back the next day during lunch. Dick didn’t remember if he excused himself from the table or not, he just remembers running out of the cafeteria, the phone clutched to his ear. “Dude.” He heard the tired chuckle on the other side. “Are you sprinting right now?” “Shut up.” He gasped out, finally running outside where it was quieter. “What happened? Are you alright??” “First you want me to shut up, then you ask questions. Someone’s being bossy.” He joked and it made Dick pause. Wally sounded..light. Happy. Relieved. “Walls?” He asked and heard the other chuckle again. His friend sounded almost giddy over the phone. “I’m good, dude.” He said and for the first time in months it sounded like he meant it as well. Silence fell between them. Dick was at a loss. “Hey bro.” Wally suddenly spoke again. “I’ll be moving to my aunts and uncle next week, wanna help me unpack and stay for dinner? Aunt I already said it’s okay.” An olive branch and an invitation into his private life for the first time since they’ve met each other. “Also.” He added before the other could answer anything. “...I’d like to try out for the theatre club next week.” Dick felt his eyes watering as he shakily sat on the stone steps of the school entrance. A grin split his face in two as he replied. “There isn’t anything I’d love more.” ___ When Wally showed up at school on a monday morning, he had his left leg in a cast and a black eye again. His movements were a little stiff and he tried not to move around too much due to his bruised back. He said he fell down the stairs at home. His uncle Barry drove him to school and went to speak with Wally’s teachers, but not before softly running his hand through his nephew’s hair and wishing him a good day. Wally said he wasn’t fine but he will be eventually.

And Dick believed him. And Wally went with him to the auditorium after classes. And he played the full Liszt’s Etude 6 just for him and Artemis. And it was glorious. The end.

[whatifwallywas]

* whispers * (tomorrow) 

[whatifwallywas]

Hey, y’all. I’m back. And gone again. See you next year- knowing me - and thanks for reading! <3 

062 Catwoman's sidekick?

Selina wasn't sure where did he come from or for how long he's been out on the streets. He was just another stray that followed the others in search for a dry place to hide.

She's seen him regularly over the past couple of months, often scavenging for food in the nearby dumpsters and sharing it with the rest of the strays or just walking around and gathering empty cans, probably to sell later.

Today he was doing neither, it seemed.

When she walked into the alley, her high heels echoing loudly throughout the damp street, a dozen pairs of eyes turned towards her, tails going up and happy meowing starting in earnest at the sight of her.

Her little strays.

And him.

The kid was a young, scrawny looking thing. He sat, crouched with his back against the wall, huddled on himself with three of her kitty-cats in his lap. Another, smaller one slept peacefully, hidden from the wind and cold inside his pulled-up hood.

The kid glanced up at her as she was walking by, offering her a smile but not moving any further than that, conserving energy and warmth offered by the cats.

Her strays followed diligently after her and soon enough the alley was filled with the loud mewls and demands of food and attention.

She turned towards him once she had her hand closed around the railing of the fire escape.

"My offer still stands." She ensured him, her small grin widening when a surprised grin found its way onto his face. She inclined her head up, towards her flat. "Come on, kitty-cat." She teased gently, before scaling the stairs in a couple fluid moves.

She heard her strays running after her, letting out delighted meows as they followed.

He didn't always follow her up, but he seemed to be more and more at ease with her every time they ran into each other.  He actually had a hidden sassy side that she loved to bring out in him, and was a very sweet and happy, albeit a hesitant kid.

Today, the streets were damp and the wind was cold and biting. When she reached her balcony and glanced down, he was slowly moving towards the ladder, his moves stiff from sitting still in the cold for too long.

Her other strays had no qualms of this sort and were right behind her when she finally stepped inside her apartment.

One flick of the switch and the whole space was filled with warm light, the cats happily following her into the kitchen where they impatiently demanded to be fed.

By the time she grabbed all the cans and brought them over to the living room, the kid was up there with her.

He carefully took his dirty shoes off and set them by the entrance to the balcony. His dirty socks were full of holes but at least mostly dry so he wasn’t leaving any prints on the floor.

She never really cared about the mess - the other strays made a whole new mess all on their own -but he seemed pretty adamant about taking his shoes off while inside.

She guessed that whoever he was with before made sure he did that.

"Hi Selina." His voice was a bit scratchy from the lack of use but he still sounded cheerful when he went over to her and helped her put the cat food into bowls. "How are you?"

"Hello kitten." She greeted back, blowing a stray hair away from her face as they worked, her voice calm as she started telling him about her day.

They were done in no time and the apartment soon was filled with the soothing sound of purring cats.

"I'll order us some food while you take a bath." She told him and his brows furrowed with uncertainty once more.

"Are you sure it's okay?" When she first met him, she wasn't sure what he meant by that. Later he apologised for using her water, her soap, towels and then on top of that eating her food.

She gave him an encouraging little grin.

"I'm sure, kitten." She reassured, before picking up her phone. "You can put everything in the washing machine. There is a shirt for you next to it."

She waved off his uncertain murmurs of 'are you sure' and 'you didn't have to' and smiled at his stuttered thank yous as the kid finally walked into the bathroom.

She could hear the sound of the shower being turned on soon after.

By the time the take out was delivered the kid emerged from the bathroom, freckled face clean and red hair damp.

He was barefoot, his nails cut short and wearing a clean pair of sweatpants that he left here last time and which were just a smidge too big on him. He had two sets of clothes that he owned and usually left one of them here to wash while he wore the other.

The new sweatshirt she got him was light grey and a bit too big, but it was warm and she didn't miss his delighted smile at the baby pink color of the cute cat printed in front.

They sat on the couch, laughing and eating, exchanging stories and talking about the time they spent apart. Wally was a very humorous individual and even her worst day didn’t seem so bleak with his infectious smile. They could effortlessly talk for hours, and soon enough it was getting very late, and it was clear that the kid’s head was getting heavier and heavier. When he finally rested it on the back of the couch and his eyes slipped shut, Selina stood up, draped a blanket over his slumbering form and after making sure all of her other strays were alright, turned off the light and whispered “Goodnight kittens. Goodnight Wally.”  before retreating to her bedroom.

By the time she woke up the next morning he was long gone, her flat tidied up to the best of his ability with all of the kitty bowls put back in the kitchen and the blanket carefully folded on the arm of the couch. Her flat was mostly empty now, save for some cats that preferred to get some more sleep- most of them usually left with Wally, to begin their day early.

Unlike the cats, he won’t return for another few days, when she’ll find him crouched in that alley again and invite him in. And again, he will stay the night before leaving in the morning. He was acting like some of her other strays- hurt by humans one too many times to trust fully, but Selina was nothing if not patient. If she managed to tame all her other strays, this one will not be an exception.

__

It was a couple months later when he agreed to stay over for breakfast. He very hesitantly sat at the kitchen counter with her, eating blueberry pancakes that she prepared for them, and Selina couldn’t have been prouder of his progress. He must have noticed her good mood, because soon enough he started to relax and laugh with her again, probably not realising that her smile and pride was reserved for him only.

He helped her load up the dishwasher and walked her all the way down when she was leaving for work using the proper staircase for the first time instead of the usual route through the fire escape. They bid goodbyes and went their separate ways, but she maintained the good humor well into the night. Her job consisted mostly of pointing out security flaws to big corporations- that she had previously broken into, but her employers didn’t need to know that- and the work was not hard but long and tedious when it came to writing the reports. That day, however, even that seemed bearable. If Batman noticed her wider than usual grin when she punched him in the gut during their fight that night, he did not comment on it. He let her ‘slip away’, after making sure he had the goods she tried to steal secured and back in their rightful place.  

__

“Sit down, kitten” She told him, the moment he stepped out of the shower shaking her head at his weak protests about his hair still being wet and not wanting to soak the couch, and made sure he was comfortable before draping the blanket over his shivering form. The moment she did he was surrounded with cats, all wanting to get as close as possible to the new heat source and sprawling in his lap and next to his head. He carefully petted the calico who laid down closest to his hand and the purring that resounded helped him relax and ease into the pillows.   The weather has been terrible the last couple of days and it was obvious that the kid finally came down with a cold. She knew he’d been pushing his luck for months now, staying long hours on the streets during winter, when the weather in Gotham was bad all year around, and refusing to stay over at her place for longer than a day at a time.

She brought him a towel and had him wrap his hair, so he wouldn’t make his cold even worse and sat down next to him, making sure not to get too much into his personal space.

“I’m going to put my hand on your forehead to check for temperature, alright?” She informed him calmly and waited a few seconds before he hesitantly nodded his head, before carefully reaching out towards him. He looked terrible with his feverish skin, eyes bruised from the lack of sleep and body still shaking, even after the hot shower he took. From time to time he let out a pretty bad, wet cough, that he tried to muffle behind his too-long sleve.

He twitched when her hand made contact with his forehead and somewhere in the back of her head she realised this was probably the first time they consciously, purposefully touched, and how careful Wally always was about personal space and boundaries.

Having confirmed his raised temperature, she turned the tv on, volume low- Wally loved sci-fi, action movies, news and documentaries. He didn’t really enjoy supernatural movies- for now opting for the news channel before she left to make some tea with honey and order food.

Her fridge had some food in it, but it definitely didn’t have enough vegetables to make a soup so she ordered congee from the chinese restaurant down the street. She brought him some cold medicine, along with a roll of toilet paper- she would buy a few boxes of tissues tomorrow-  and a trashcan.

The food arrived soon after and they both sat on the couch watching the tv when the story about the museum’s new temporary exhibit came on. The priceless bracelet with an enormous alexandrite was in Gotham for one week only, and soon enough will be shipped off to another continent to continue its tour around the world. It would be a pity if something were to...happen to it. Selina bit the inside of her cheek and glanced sideways at her company only to realise he was already looking at her, eyes tired but a knowing grin present on his face.

“Are you going today?” He inclined his head towards the tv, as the cameras showed a close up of the gem.

She followed his gaze, then looked back at him, before considering for a moment, noting how exhausted and sick he looked. What if he wanted a glass of water in the middle of the night? Or started coughing and couldn’t stop? Or decided to leave in the middle of the night even though he’s sick? “No.” She looked at the tv and stretched her legs, putting them on the coffee table in front of her “Too much competition.” She glanced back his way after hearing his bewildered huff, and then a short round of coughing.

“That never stopped you before.” He rasped staring at her, before his brows furrowed in worry. “Is it because of me?” He asked concerned, before trying to get up from under the blanket, careful not to disturb any of the sleeping cats. “I’m sorry, I can go -”

A hand on his shoulder caused him to flinch slightly, before she gently pushed him back on the pillows.

“Slow down, kitty-cat” She chided gently, before regarding him seriously “I do want to go. And I will only if you promise you’ll stay put in the flat.” At his guilty expression she rolled her eyes with a smile “You’re not on house arrest or anything. But I want you to stay home and recover.”

She immediately noticed how his entire body froze at her words and for a moment she was worried she said something wrong. Then, he carefully picked up the closest cat - a fat, black and white boy named Pineapple who lived next door but loved hanging out at her place- and hugged him, burying his face in his fur.

“Home” She heard him whisper as Pineapple let out a dissatisfied noise and her eyes softened. “Thanks Selina” If his words sounded a bit choked up, she pretended not to notice.

“No problem, Wally”.

Later that night she donned her Catwoman suit and left to...retrieve...the bracelet.

She was almost out the door -window- of the museum, when everything became more complicated - to her great advantage. She knew Batman was going to be at the scene- how could he not be? It came as a surprise that Gotham’s Museum still tried to hold exhibitions after the constant break-ins it suffered at the hands of villains.

Speaking of. It was a child’s play to slip in and out unnoticed, once Batman had his hands full with Penguin and his henchmen and two other, smaller criminal groups which wanted to use the gem in order to make a quick buck. Just as she predicted.

Her buyer was ready to pick the package up almost immediately after she got it and paid in cash. When she received the suitcase with the money - oh my, how old-school- the ship with the buyer and the bracelet left Gotham. Selina might have failed to mention that the bracelet probably had a tracking device- if she knew Batman well enough. Which she did- and that the Dark Knight will probably come for it soon enough. It was a good thing that she didn’t care.

Coming back home after depositing the money, to see Wally sleeping peacefully on her couch surrounded by cats made her feel just as good as stealing the gem did. It was nice to have someone home to come back to.

___

Wally stayed over for an entire week until she donned him well enough to leave the house. She - as always- invited him to stay over for as long as he wanted. He- as always- left the first chance he got.

She didn’t see him for a long while after that- she knew him well enough to figure out he thought he overused his stay and wanted to stay away in case she was tired of him. She did come back home one day to find a box of chocolates- her favourite, expensive kind- laying on the balcony, along with a dead bird and a bottle cap, the latter two being a common occurrence since two of her strays loved to bring her gifts. She picked up the box, his own gift for her. Whether he used up all his savings to buy it for her or simply stole it, she had no idea, nonetheless, she appreciated the sentiment.

She glanced at a pretty big box, leaning against the wall in the hall, first of many to arrive and hoped he would enjoy the gift she had for him as well.

__

When he finally arrived at her place, two and a half weeks after he left, a “new”,old, brown coat that he found somewhere, resting on his back, he blinked confused at the mess that became of her living room.

He gently knocked on the glass of the balcony doors and she beckoned him in. He slid it open and took off his shoes, leaving them on the doormat just inside the flat so they wouldn’t get soaked by the snow and rain outside.

“Are you redecorating?” He asked with a grin seeing the opened up box and scattered pieces of some ready to be assembled shelf? Cupboard? On the floor. Selina stood up from the floor, re-adjusting her headband and using the extra seconds to discreetly look him over- he looked cold and tired, as always when he slept away from her place, and he seemed to have lost the little weight he managed to gain while staying over last time. She covered her worried frown with a smile.

“It’s actually the last of the boxes” The question in his eyes -but what are they for?- Was clear, and she cheekily ignored it as she turned towards the kitchen. “I’ll make us food while you shower”.

Her grin widened hearing his amused huff, as he mumbled “Alright...Thank you” as he shuffled towards the bathroom and she quickly made some spaghetti.

By the time he was done, the food was ready and they ate together, before Wally helped her assemble the piece of furniture- it turned out to be a bedside table- Selina still refusing to address his inquiries and smoothly changing the subject every time he asked.

“Alright. We’re done.” She finally said, after it was complete and the pieces of cardboard were moved to the hall where the cats were having the time of their life, jumping on them and sitting in the smaller boxes. There were a lot of boxes, Wally noted. “Help me move it to the right room.”

Selina’s flat was big, with a very spacious living room connected by an archway to the hall and kitchen, with a smaller corridor leading to the bathroom, her bedroom and a spare room she used as her study. Or rather, didn’t use since she always sat in the living room anyway.

It was that particular room that she started pulling the bedside table to. It was pretty light, and she was strong as heck, so he was convinced that she asked for his help in moving it only to humor him. When they entered, he couldn’t help but whistle in appreciation. What was previously a pretty sparsely decorated room was now looking cozy and homely. The walls were still the same dark forest green color, but the big desk that used to be in the middle, was pushed against the wall. The bookcase stayed in its place against the other wall, but next to it stood a brand new wardrobe. There was also a comfortable looking single bed without covers and a cat house in the corner - Selina had at least six of them around the house, four of which were in the living room. He looked around curiously, wondering why would she need another bedroom anyway, when his gaze fell on the corkboard above the desk. There was nothing on it, except a couple of colorful, glittery letters strung together.

W A L L Y ‘ S    R O O M

He stopped dead in his tracks. Selina must have noticed his shock, because she easily pushed the bedside table to it’s place next to the bed and took the lamp that was on the windowsill and put on top of it. She turned to him with a smile, but it quickly disappeared when she saw tears in his eyes.

He sniffled and quickly covered his face with his sleeve. It was the same light grey sweatshirt with a baby pink cat on it that she’d given to him months before, looking worse to wear and almost fitting him perfectly now that he’s grown a bit.

“Kitten-” She started gently but he cut her off.

“I don’t deserve this.” He mumbled into his arm, standing in the middle of the room, entire body shaking, trying not to sob too loud. She sat down on the floor and pulled him to her, carefully embracing him and letting him hide his head in the crook of her neck. After a short moment he hugged back, clinging to her desperately while he hiccuped. “I don’t-” “You do.” She murmured back. “You do. You will always have a place here, kitten. Stay.” She told him seriously, rubbing circles into his skinny back. “Stay.”

___

He stayed. ___

“Catwoman” The deep, gravely voice caused her to stop in her tracks and grin.

“Batman” She purred happily, turning on her heels, a small satchel filled with jewelry on her back. “Long time no see.” She said, tilting her head at the third person present. “Your little friend is adorable.”

The dark haired boy behind Batman huffed as he stood straighter.

“I’m not that little. And thank you.” He answered with a grin, his tone friendly and cocky but his stance showing he’s ready to fight. Catwoman didn’t miss the subtle click of a batarang being freed from the gauntlet and couldn’t help but shake her head. The moment it was let loose, she ducked and the projectile flew right past her head but straight toward the shop’s alarm button. However, the alarm never rang. Catwoman tutted.

“How rude of you, Batman. Can’t you see we were having a conversation?” She grinned, when something moved behind her, swiftly and soundlessly.

The batarang was lodged into a piece of plywood, held securely in the hands of her new acquaintance.

Wally nonchalantly set the piece of wood on the ground, before cocking a hip and looking the other kid over.

“Hi.” He said finally, with a cheshire-cat-like grin. “Nice to finally meet you, Robin.”

The younger boy blinked confused at the redhead, before a matching, delighted grin found its way on his face.

“Likewise, Kid-Cat” __

Don’t fight them don’t fight them don’t fight them

“Get out the way, nerd!”

“Didn’t you hear him?” “What’s wrong? Are you going to cry?”

Dick grit his teeth as he was pushed around a couple of times before a particularly strong shove sent him tumbling to the floor along with his backpack. He sighed through his nose in agitation, quietly enough so the bullies wouldn’t hear it. Gosh was it frustrating not to fight back.

The bigger kids finally seemed to be getting bored by his lack of response, so they shouted a couple more insults before going their own way and the 10 year old was left alone to pick up his belongings. He noticed a kid rounding the corner just as he was reaching for the last book. “Hey, you alright?” The redhead asked, walking over quickly and offering him a hand up, which he gladly accepted.

“Yeah, thanks” He quickly patted down his pants, to get the dirt off his knees. He shouldered his bag and turned towards the other kid.

A very familiar looking kid. A very familiar looking kid that may or may not be linked to crime and also cats. He tried his best not to show his surprise but the redhead must have noticed the slight twitch of his shoulders because he paused and considered the brunette for a moment. Dick felt sweat gathering on his brow the moment he saw the other kid’s eyes light up in recognition. Bruce said that Catwoman knew Batman’s secret identity, so it would make sense that her sidekick was in on the secret.

He didn’t expect the readhead to beam happily and stick his hand out to shake, no trace of hostility in his stance.

“Hi” For a second the grin became cheshire-like and very very familiar “Nice to finally meet you, I’m Wally Kyle”.

The younger boy blinked, before returning the grin. He had the feeling that they were going to make very good frenemies. He just couldn’t wait.

“Likewise, I’m Dick Grayson.”

[whatifwallywas]

ye.

I am alive, but can only come and post things during full moon because of an acient curse of being busy.  I don’t want to promise you things because I honestly don’t know when will I post anything again, I just know that I will, because I still really really like this blog and enjoy writing things :) I also want to edit some post and make them more readable, because the older stuff is horrendous!  To the person who asked about my trip. It went really well! We traveled for a month with the budget of 1 euro a day per person, and it was magnificent~ The two guys I went with have a blog where they talk about it (I edit their posts...that’s one of the reasons I don’t have much time here. That, and also my BA paper, and my 2 other jobs. haaa)  If you’re interested go to Poor Gays On Holidays.

[whatifwallywas]

058.A A Computer Virus? (I’ll add an actual picture later. This is just an old sketch)

requested by Anonymous (around October 17 2014 xD)

warning: mention of death. grief

This is part 1 because it turned out to be way too long. Part two won't be here any time soon, though :P (There will be nothing else till September, since I’m on holidays. take care) 

___ Hydrangea Plant- Sending a seasonal spring plant is a nice and appropriate gesture to send to a grieving family.

___

He's gone. 

She's sitting at her desk, staring at her computer, but not really seeing anything. He's gone. A glance around the room. Her study. With books, documents, furniture. He's gone. How can everything be the same, when her world is crumbling around her. He's gone. How can the books, the documents, the furniture, still just...be there, while she feels like she's stuck inside a hurricane and everything is breaking apart and she is broken. She's so broken. He's still gone. Warm arms circle around her and break her out from her trance and she finally notices she's crying. She's crying and the tears are falling down and smearing the ink of the documents on her desk. The moment she looks down, the tears obscure her vision. The arms around her tighten. "He's gone." She stutters out, saying the one thought that has been whirling around her head ever since she heard the news and the denial passed. "I know." Her husband mutters back, gently running his hand through her hair. He swallows tears on his own. "He's gone." She repeats. Her sunshine, her best friend, her partner in crime, her kid. She can't bring herself to say anything else, even though she wants to scream, to yell, to break something. How can she be so numb, and hurt so much at the same time.   Her husband takes a deep breath that hitches about halfway in. "I know." He answers, unmoving. She rests her head on his stomach and her tears create wet spots on his shirt. He could've been anything he wanted. He was so smart, so kind, so brave, so beautifull, so funny, so perfect. He was so perfect and he was hers. And now he's gone. Her shoulders start shaking. "He's gone." She tries in vain to swallow the bile in her throat. "Barry. He's gone." Her husband just holds her tighter. "I know, Iris. I know."

Wally's gone.

___

A lightning bolt hit the shed where Wally was playing around with his science kit. Everything - every...one - found inside has been burned beyond recognition.

___

Wally's parents decided to clear out his room. And Iris was angry - of course she was angry - that they did not care about their son anymore, and how could they just give away their son's possesions, like they meant nothing. Barry quietly reminded her, that it's been four months, and it's good that Rudolph and Mary are moving on. But Barry didn't understand. Barry didn't really get to know Wally. Didn't have the chance to. They only met a handful of times, when Iris first introduced them, the few times Wally was over, and during the wedding, when Wally held their rings with an excited smile on his face, happy for them. She had to blink away tears, her throat closing up again the moment she started thinking about him. How could she just move on when Wally was gone.

They let her go to his room and take whatever she wanted. She passed them on her way upstairs, barely saying anything. Rudolph seemed angry; That's how he coped with grief, and she understood - she could sometimes be like that too.

Everything looked exactly the same as he left it four months ago. She forced herself not to break down again. Taking a deep breath, she took a look around. The same light blue walls, full of posters of superheroes, famous sciencists, and family photos. The bookshelf full of action figures and his favourite books. She gave a watery smile at the messily made bed, knowing that Wally always loved to have everything tidied up except his bed and his desk - they were always in a complete disarray. An "organised chaos" he called it.

In the mess of papers, notebooks and writting supplies, she found the book she was looking for. One of his favourites, that Iris got him on his seventh birthday. 'Flowers and their meanings' was written on the well used cover and inside she knew she'll find her own birthday wishes. She didn't dare opening the book.

Iris put it close to her chest, as she looked around once more and after a second of hesitation, took Wally's photos with her off the walls. She had her own copies at home, but the thought of Rudolph and Mary throwing these ones away made her cringe.

When she was at the door, she remebered about the last item she wanted but was not able to find. Downstairs, Mary, Rudolph, and Barry were waiting for her. Mary refusing to meet her eyes, Rudolph staring at the stuff in her hands with distaste, as if the thought of a flower book in his son's room was unthinkable.

Barry smiled at her encouragingly. "You ready to go?" He asked her softly, and she tried not to grimace. The atmosphere in the house making everyone act as if they were walking on glass. "There's one more thing." She turned toward her brother, noting how guarded he suddenly became. Even more so than normal. He always hated sharing. "Wal-" It was too painful. "Um. There was a computer? H-he had a notebook." She swallowed nervously. "I can pay you for it, don't worry-" "It got destroyed." Rudolph grunted, crossing his arms over his chest. "In the explosion. It melted." Barry couldn't hide the wince as well as Iris did. Mary excused herself and left the room. "O-oh." She cleared her throat. "Could I at least get what was left of it? Maybe we could get some of it's memory back-" "No." She took a deep breath. "Alright." They left after that. Iris wasn't sure if they would ever talk again.

___

The first time she opened the book after his death, was on his birthday.

She bought him his favourites- irises- and put them on his grave next to the regular, market bought, red roses that his parents brought. She remembered the first time he learned about them, and how excited he was, in his 6 year old glory. 'Flowers named after my aunt!' He used to say, immediately interested in learning the flowers' meaning, and promised her to give her at least one of those for her every birthday. She took it all with good humor, feeling charmed by the little, lively redhead, and his big promises. Imagine her surprise when he appeared on her doorstep on her 24th birthday, holding a bouquette with a single iris in the middle- obviously bought at some small florist shop- and a bunch of tiny daisies that he probably picked himself from his own lawn. "Best birthday wishes for the best aunt ever!" He said. She loved it, picking both him and the flowers up, and spinning around with a delighted laugh. Then he brought over his book, and watched as she checked for the flowers' meaning. Daisies symbolised cheerfulness and loyal love. Each birthday after that she could count on him being there on her doorstep with a new bouquette, same birthday wishes, and a wide grin. She remembered the way he used to laugh, all giddy and cheerful.

Barry told her that it was a good thing that she started reffering to Wally in past tense. To her there was nothing more tragic. ___

They were in the middle of watching a movie when the doorbell rang. She moved to sit up but Barry stopped her immediately, planting a kiss on her temple before standing himself. "I'll take it. It's your special day." He told her with a grin before moving toward the door. She couldn't help but smile. Her 30th birthday was today and they were taking a break before the 'surprise' party over at the Garrick's house later that afternoon. Wally would've loved it. Her smile wavered a bit at the thought. She let her head drop back onto the couch, the space previously occupied by Barry now empty. She felt uneasy.

She heard Barry open the doors. "Best birthday wishes for the best aunt ever!" Came the cheerful voice and Iris didn't remember standing up but she was suddenly there, right next to Barry and staring at the young man holding a bouquette with an iris in it. The man smiled up at her presenting the flowers, before bringing out his tablet. "I'll just need your signature here and-" "What's this." Her tone almost made the poor man drop what he was holding. He blinked at her. "Um. A special delivery for Iris West-Allen, um." He checked and repeated the adress out loud, along with the note. "To be delivered today with the message 'Best birthday wishes for the best aunt ever'. " He blinked at the two of them, furrowing his dark brows. "Is this not the right adress?" "It's the right adress." "Who is this from?!" Barry reassured at the same time Iris demanded an answer. The man looked really nervous. He took a glance into his tablet again. "Um. Wally West." He read out loud, before glancing up at the two of them, nervously. "Pre-paid for the next five years."

Iris felt her throat clench up. She didn't notice she was trembling until Barry put his hand on her shoulder trying to console her. He signed the tablet for her, before taking the flowers from the delivery man. He carefully helped her back into the living room, before placing the flowers in the vase in front of her. "I didn't think he'd do it." Barry finally said, causing her to look at him. She frowned, confused. "Do what?" Her husband gave a small laugh, but it was a small, hopeless sound. He ran a hand through his hair. "He came up to me, a little bit before your 29th birthday." He explained. "Asked if I could help him make a membership card at the flower shop near our place, because they said he needed to be with an adult to make it." He swallowed. "We never finished that talk, because I had an emergency as the Flash. He never brought it up again and I honestly forgot about it."He winced a little. "I kind of just left him hanging, giving him some hasty excuse. Do you think he though I was trying to ditch him?" Iris walked over to him, and grabbed his face in her hands, before resting her forehead on his. "I'm sure he knew that you didn't mean to just /run off/ like that." He smiled at her weak attempt of a joke. "And you are sweet for worrying." She closed her eyes for a moment, trying not to think about the bouquette behind her. Barry hummed, before carefully wrapping his arms around her, and sitting her in his lap. They sat like that, in comfortable silence for a while before Barry chimmed in. "Looks like he managed to get the membership anyway." He smiled with his eyes closed. "Maybe he convinced Mary to take him." She hummed in reply, but didn't say anything else. She wrapped his arms around him and just held him close.

The lone iris stood proudly in the middle of the bouquette, surrounded from every side by blue and purple Hydrangea plants.

___

She was sitting at her work station in the CCPN, just about to finish writing the article. It was nothing too interesting, the past week seemed to pass by pretty calmly, with no major happenings. She furrowed her brows at the thought. Well, there was one thing. A small illegal meeting that apparently ended with a brawl, which resulted in a hospitalisation of a not well-known politican from Central City- who actually tried to buy drugs on a street corner. No matter how much she wanted though, she could not write the article about it. Why?

There was no actual proof. The politican did not agree to an interview, denying buying drugs and all. According to his official claims he had been robbed. The dealer who stabbed him is nowhere to be found. And, curiously, no security camera on the entire street has the recording of that exact moment. Well, that's not exactly true. All recordings from that hour are suddenly missing. It's disgusting what policians can do just to save their face.

She sighed, saved her finished article, and moved to send it to the editor. But the moment she wrote her name and logged in, something happened.

The screen blacked out for a second, before coming back. Then the entire thing started glitching. A window popped up and walls of text started appearing.

01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000 01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000 01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000

01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000 01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000 01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000 01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000 01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000

01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000 01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000 01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000

She frowned, trying to close the window. It opened again, on it's own.

01001001 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 01101111 01101011 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100001 01100111 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100110 01101001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101   01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000

She tried reseting the whole thing, holding the power button for a solid minute, with no results.

01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000 01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000 01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000 01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000

She decided to just leave it alone and called the IT technician.

01010111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110111 01110010 01101111 01101110 01100111 00111111 01010111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110111 01110010 01101111 01101110 01100111 00111111 01010111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110111 01110010 01101111 01101110 01100111 00111111 01010111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110111 01110010 01101111 01101110 01100111 00111111

The guy took one look at the screen and blinked confused at the apparent chaos that her computer had become. Asked her if she downloaded anything recently.

She did not. He obviously didn't believe her, rolling his eyes and muttering under his nose, as he went about resetting the entire thing. The computer finally turned off. And whirred back to life a second later.

01010111 01101000 01111001 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011

The IT technician -with a very confused look on his face - said that it was probably unsavagable. Iris asked about her articles and drafts - she did not have the second copy of some of them. She will lose 60% of her work, if the computer was broken.

The man said it's probably all gone now, as he reached for the power cable. Then, the screen suddenly switched back to normal.

Everything was just like she left it. The screen was not glitching anymore. It all seemed fine.

Then, the window appeared again, and left one final message, before disappearing.

01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110011 01110100 00101100 00100000 01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011

___

The IT technician was just as perturbed as she was. The computer was working perfectly well now. He took it with him anyway, and she got a replacement. He managed to save all her files on an external drive, thankfully. She didn't lose any of her drafts.

The man said that it might just be some sort of a computer virus. Or maybe some kid hacker, playing pranks.

She decided to double check all her files, in case any of them were corrupted. The only difference she found, was in one of her newest drafts. The one about the politican and the drug deal, that was in her 'on hold' folder.

Inside it, words she herself wrote were bolded. PROOF NEEDED

She frowned, confused, but left the file as it was, and just went back to what she was doing before all this chaos began. She logged in to sent her other article to the editor.

The moment her screen loaded, a '1 new message' window popped up. She did not recognize the sender. The name had more numbers in it than actual letters.

The message itself consisted of nothing but a single video file. It's name consisted only of a date. The date that Iris recognized as the day of the drug deal that she wanted to write about.

And inside was exactly what she needed. The screen dividing into four smaller ones, each with a recording from a different point of view. All zoomed in on the alley. In the first video the politican could be seen glancing around 'nonchalantly' before entering the alley. The view on the second screen- from a different shop - showed it from a different angle. Another, showing the politican exchanging money for drugs, and the argument that broke off soon after when the dealer finished counting the cash. The last shop and the last camera angle showed the scuffle and the moment the dealer ran from the alley. Her face could be seen quite clearly.

This was it.

How, or why someone sent this to Iris, she had no idea. But she had a proof. She called her boss.

___

The story made the news very quickly. It was too big to just be left as an article, and soon enough she was reporting the discovery, along with showing the video to the world.

Turned out the adress she got the video from belongs to a hacker that took it away in the first place. They were payed by the politican to get rid of the evidence, and they had an email cofirming that. The video was taken away from their file and sent to her, through their own email, without the hacker knowing.

Her friends at the station congratulated her, but among the pats on the back and congratulations, there was also confusion. Who sent her the file, if it wasn't the hacker? Someone /hacked/ the hacker and sent the needed information to Iris.

Why to her? And how did they know? ___ Over the course of the next weeks, videos and photos started appearing on her email. Mysterious emails and cryptic messages composed mostly from numbers, coming from various senders.

She started getting suspicious immediately. She showed her laptop to Barry, but he was not that good with computers either so he couldn't really offer any helpful advice. Iris dismissed the idea of getting a new computer. The messages seemed to follow after her, wherever she was, paying no attention if it was the computer at work, her personal laptop or even her phone. Changing her email adress didn't help either.

The whole situation worried her. If she got emails with threats, it would've been better. Well, not /better/. But at least she'd have known what to expect. Whoever sent these new messages didn't seem to mean her any harm. At least for now.

She was not happy about the situation and neither was Barry. He would've loved to just ask his friend from the League for advice. But Bruce would probably mop the floor with him. Treating Batman as an IT guy could only end one way - badly.

____

It was a few days later, when she was sitting at home tired after a hard day of work, simply waiting for Barry to come back from patrol. Iris was just checking her email when something new happened. She had logged in on her private computer, once again writing her name down to access it when the screen glitched. She blinked surprised, then narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Except for the tiny glitch at the begining, nothing seemed to be out of order. Then, a chat window popped up again.

01010111 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001: 01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000

She blinked at it, surprised. She quickly sent a reply.

Iris: Who is this?

01010111 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001: 01001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01101101 01100101 00101100 00100000 01010111 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001 00100001 01001001 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 01101111 01101011 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100001 01100111 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100110 01101001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101

She just frowned. Iris: What does it mean?

No reply. She did not understand a word. She checked her antivirus, just to be safe, and to her surprise it was turned off. She quickly switched it back on, and soon a warning poped up about a dangerous problem that the computer encountered. The virus' name was '01010111 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001' - the same name as the one in her chat window. The window that poped up started glitching for a second, before the antivirus turned off again, on it's own.

01010111 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001: 01001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01101110 01101111 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101111 01100100 00101110 00100000 01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01110100 01101111 01101111 00100000 01110011 01110100 01110010 01101111 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00101110 00100000

01010111 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001: 01010111 01101000 01111001 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110100 01110010 01111001 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100111 01100101 01110100 00100000 01110010 01101001 01100100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01101101 01100101 00111111

She felt uneasy, but decided not to answer

01010111 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001: 01000100 01101001 01100100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110111 01110010 01101111 01101110 01100111 00111111

the text stated appearing over and over.

01010111 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001: 01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01110011 01101111 01110010 01110010 01111001

01001001 00100111 01101100 01101100 00100000 01100111 01101111

01010111 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001: 01010011 01101111 01110010 01110010 01111001

Then the window just disappeared. Everything went back to normal. Iris was worried.

___

Next time the message popped up, Barry was sitting next to her. They were both looking over the bills, when the laptop screen glitched.

01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000

Barry skimmed over the numbers in confusion. "That's binary." He said finally, glancing at his wife for confirmation. Iris nodded. "I wanted to try using some online translator on it." She said, glancing at the growing wall of text. "But it doesn't allow me to copy the messages. And then, they disappear without a trace. I can't find them on the computer again." Her husband zipped away for a second, before returning with a notebook and a pencil. He used his speed to quickly write down the numbers. It wasn't long before the window disappeared from view again, leaving the computer just as it was mere minutes before. Iris found out that if she ignored the messages, they would stop quicker. Barry had two pages worth of notes on it. "I would've used my laptop to write them down." He commented, as he looked over the numbers. "-But it's too slow and I wouldn't've been able to write as quickly." Iris nodded in understanding. The paper itself had a few tears in it and the pencil was broken from the speed that her husband was writting at. "Can you translate this?" He nodded again, this time zipping away for his laptop, not trusting the computer Iris was holding. The search for binary code soon followed, and Barry had the key for translating the script opened in front of him. He ripped the page from the notebook, and set it next to the computer, so he could switch between the two easier. He started translating. He didn't even finish the first sentence, when he suddenly stopped, whole body tensing.

His fingers clasped tighter around the pen, as he stared at the lone sentence he wrote down, then at the screen. Confirming multiple times during a single second, that he was not wrong. "Barry?" He twitched in surprise at his wife's voice. She hasn't seen the translation yet. "Iris." He swallowed nervously, glancing at the note again. Then shook his head. Went over the sentence again. Stared at the rest of the text. Started translating again. Next sentence made him pause again. "Barry." Not a question this time. Iris carefully reached out for the notebook, but he didn't let her. "Don't-" He spoke up suddenly, glancing over at her. She was worried. "Let me-" He swallowed. "-I think it's some sort of prank." She blinked at him, before slowly nodding her head. "What does it say?" Barry didn't know what to say. "Let me finish the rest, first." He said finally. He glanced at the translated text and took a shaky breath, before going back to it. It didn't take long. Even, with the constant pauses he took, it didn't take nearly long enough. Soon it was finished. But all he wanted to do is just to take the paper, run off with it, and destroy it until nothing was left. Until there was no trace of the message.   But Iris was waiting for answers. And he could not keep them away from her. No one ever could. "It must be a prank." He repeated, as he sat back in the sofa, running a hand through his hair. He glanced at her. "A cruel prank. I think we should inform someone." "But what does it say?" She pressed on, holding her hand out for the notebook. And Barry, with a heavy heart, handed it over.

Iris read the first sentence. /'Aunt Iris'/ The notebook slipped from her fingers and fell on the floor with a dull thud. She stared ahead for a second, before turing to look at Barry. Before the blond could get a word in, she swiftly bent down and picked the notes up again. /'Aunt Iris

Aunt Iris

Aunt Iris

Aunt Iris

Aunt Iris

Aunt Iris

Aunt Iris

Aunt Iris

Aunt Iris

Aunt Iris'/ It went on and on and on for the first half of the page. /'Aunt Iris Why do you keep ignoring me? Was it something I did? I need help, Aunt Iris. I'm lost.'/ She swallowed the bile in her throat. /'I'm lost

I'm lost

I'm lost

I'm lost

I'm lost

I'm lost

I'm lost'/

It took her a while to notice that the notebook was not in front of her anymore. It was placed safely on the table, as Barry put his arm around her. "Iris-" She shook her head. She grabbed her laptop again, and opened the browser. 'who are you?' She typed in quickly, before pressing enter. Google results for: who are you? popped up. And that was it. Nothing glitched, no messages appeared. Iris grit her teeth. "Iris-" Barry began, but she was already typing something else.

Google results for: Wally West She was breathing a bit heavier than normal, her eyes searching for that glitch that she grew familiar with. And after what felt like enternity, here it was again. A chat window popped up.

01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000

"Aunt Iris." Barry muttered, from next to her, still having the binary code in front of him and being able to translate on the spot. She swallowed, before turning back to the screen.

'Who are you?' She wrote again,  hands shaking a little, but she wasn't  sure if it was from anger or something else.

01010111 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001

"Wally." Barry muttered again, grimacing. She grit her teeth angrily.

'How dare you?!' She couldn't bring herself to write anything else. She rarely was at loss of words like this.

01010111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110111 01110010 01101111 01101110 01100111 01000001 01110101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01001001 01110010 01101001 01110011 00100001 00100000 00111111

It took Barry a second. "What's wrong Aunt Iris?' he translated finally.

She did not answer.

The question 'what's wrong?' popped up again. a few second later an 'are you ok?' followed.

Iris just shook her head, before typing in "Why are you doing this?"

There was no reply.

Then, a wall of text appeared again. Judging by Barry's confused expression, it was something new. He grabbed the notepad again, and started writing. When he was done, he seemed just as confused as when he started. "I don't understand." He said finally, glancing at the translation. She took the notebook from him.

" Flowers and their meanings. Page: 34 The flower symbolism associated with the iris is faith, cherished friendship, hope, valor, my compliments, promise in love, wisdom. Iris symbolizes eloquence."

Her eyes widdened in recognition. She glanced at the bookshelf, quickly locating Wally's favourite. Laying untouched, ever since she put it there a few months ago.

There was only one person she knew who would have that book memorised. She broke off into a sob.

"Where are you??" Her fingers shook. There was silence on the other end. A few numbers appeared and Barry started writting them down, before they suddenly halted and deleted themselves. A few broken sentences later, there still was no clear reply. "Here." Barry read the options he translated. "Right her-" "I don't know" "I'm lost-" "RIGHT HERE I'M RIGHT HERE-" "the web?" "Computer-" "I'm inside-" "I'm here" "I'm lost in-" "I'm lost."

"I'm lost" ___

After a while the messages stopped, after the lack of answers from Iris and Barry. But the window remained open, and she knew the person on the other side was still there. Waiting.

After her barrage of questions, and the entire notebook covered in numbers, she wasn't sure if she had too many questions to ask, or if she had none. One thing they didn't have for sure, were answers.

But this was Wally and Wally was here but he wasn't and he was lost and there was a body, she remembers a body that she saw at the morgue and the closed coffin at the funeral several months ago and her Wally was dead, he was dead and the person here couldn't possibly be Wally. But it was. This sounded like her Wally. Exactly like her Wally. With his concern for her, with his knowledge, with his wit, with his need to help, help people, help her, help everyone. Wally was dead but he wasn't. Wally was here but he wasn't.

Wally was here.

___

It took them a while to invent a good system. Convince Wally to leave for a couple of seconds while she turned on the binary code translator.

They could make this work for now. They could make this work for now, while they searched for a solution. There was no way to bring Wally's body back. Wally was stuck as a computer virus.

But Wally was here and that's what mattered.

Wally was here.

[whatifwallywas]

Christmas BONUS 2 SANTA'S HELPER 2

........It was supposed to be written and posted on christmas.......... i mean. I am almost on time?? kinda?? Wesołych Świąt you crazy people, you.

Mentions of them Batkids and also appearance of Bart and also one more redhead that you might know who is friends with Damian ; ) (But the last two are here not in a way you might expect.) ___

Dick couldn't believe his own eyes. His face immediately broke out into a surprised smile, as he dug his hands deeper into his pockets and crossed the street swiftly. 

There was no snow this year - they could thank global warming for that- or rather, they should thank ourselves for causing it in the first place - and all that fell from the sky was the unpleasant kind of rain. The cold, heavy, gloomy kind. He carefully sidestepped a puddle, glacing down only for a second but quickly looking back up again, afraid that the sight before him might disappear. To be honest he wouldn't even be surprised if it did.

"Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Here you go, sir! Merry Christmas!" He couldn't help the chuckle that broke out of him at the familiar sight. The rain seemed to lessen the closer he got, and stopped completely as he arrived at his destination. For a second he wanted to pretend that if wasn't because of the roof above his head. For a second he allowed himself to pretended that it was magic.

"Merry Christmas, Wally." He said with a grin, causing the other person under the roof to jump in surprise. He whirled around and Dick's blue eyes met the familiar green again. "Oh my gosh!" The person exclaimed, before his face broke out into an even wider grin. "Merry Christmas, Dick~!" "Long time no see." He started with a smile, burrowing his face deeper into the blue scarf. "You are still immune to the cold, I see." The elf laughed happily, before pausing and taking out a small package out of his bucket - He had a new bucket, Dick noted; And a new outfit, now that he could take a closer look. The redhead took the yo-yo with a red bow on it, and presented it to a teenager walking past. First, he got a weirded out look, before the kid's gaze landed on the gift. "Oh, dude! Thanks!" They exclaimed, before walking off. "Merry Christmas~" The elf yelled after them and got a "merry christmas!" back, much to his glee. He turned toward Dick again. "You grew a lot!" He exclaimed suddenly, quickly doing a circle around him before poking at his scarf. "Still keeping the same color scheme, I see." He teased. The brunette rolled his eyes. "Look who's talking." He gestured at Wally's red and green attire with a smile. A group of kindergardeners led by two teachers walked past and the elf dutifully lowered himself to be on eye level with them, reaching into the bucket with incredible speed and making sure that every person left with a gift in their hand - teachers included.

The 17 year old huffed a laugh as a couple of kids hugged the elf and asked if santa got their letter; Wally - without missing a beat- reassured them that Santa had all letters saved up in his office. Then they were gone, and the redhead turned toward the brunette once more. "So, what's new?" Dick asked suddenly, causing the other to pause and then laugh.

"Got promoted." He told the other proudly, "I'm looking after two cities now." He told him with a wink. Dick huffed another laugh. "What city are you looking after?" "Star City." The younger man furrowed his brows at that. "That's kind of far away from here." He commented lightly and the other laughed before waving him off. "With getting promoted comes the benefit of getting a new 'ride'." He told him with a grin. "His name is Bart, and he should be here any minute now, actually. When he focuses enough to remember he was supposed to be standing here with me in the first place." He grumbled the last part out, but didn't do anything more than an exasperated headshake. Dick grinned at that. "You got a chauffeur?" He asked, but the other just shook his head. There was a brief pause in the conversation, so the elf could /present/ a passing couple a gift. Dick snorted at the unintended pun.

And then out of an alleyway behind the elf a reindeer walked out... ...Well, more like ran out. Dick rubbed at his eyes a few times, but no. It was still there. A reindeer. It jumped around a few times happily, and shook snow - snow? Where did it get snow from?? - out of it's fur, before prancing over to Wally, poking him in the ribs with it's horns playfully. "You're late." The elf complained, before turning to Dick. "Dick, meet my ride." He introduced and the reindeer huffed. "...Bart I pressume?" He was talking to a reindeer. In the middle of Gotham... ... "Oh, don't look so weirded out. You said yourself that Gotham is full of weirdos." Wally teased him with a smile, unknowingly bringing up exactly what Dick was thinking. Or was it knowlingly?? "What are you doing out in the rain anyway?" "Buying presents for my siblings." He replied after a while and Wally perked up. "Oh! What are you buying them?" Dick expected more of a 'I didn't know you had siblings' or even 'what are their names' question, but he guessed Wally just had different priorities in life. "Well...I wanted to buy a new detective mystery book for Tim..." He glanced at the reindeer still walking around Wally; It was hard not to stare to be honest; "Maybe another book on matrial arts for Cas as well. Jason would probably like a cool motorcycle jacket and Steph wanted a new make up kit." Both for undercover missions and casual use but he wasn't about to mention that."No idea what to give Damian, yet." Wally hummed. "Sounds like you've got a lot of shopping to do." He commented lightly, before walking forward for a second to give out two more presents and picking a tiny girl up - after making sure her parent was okay with that- so she could pet Bart on the snout. "What do you think would make Damian happy?" He asked and Dick snorted, quietly impressed that the red head could divide his attention to not only give away gifts and look after a reindeer but also to listen to him and memorise his sibling's names. "A machine gun, probably." He joked, before focusing on two people in blue approaching. The police officers walked up, staring at the reindeer with distaste. Wally- without missing a beat - produced two lollipops from the bucket, along with a piece of paper wrapped with a red ribbon. The policemen took it from him, read through the permit - permit to have a reindeer in the middle of the city, Dick presumed - and reluctantly took the lollipops before heading away - but not before Wally wished them Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah respectively. "I'll actually go now and try to find something." Dick didn't really want to leave, but he didn't really have a choice at the moment. He should've started shopping way earlier. Or bought gifts through the internet, like everyone else. "Well, before you go, let me give you some stuff first." He chuckled before reaching into the bucket. Two bookmarks - one with sherlock holmes, the other handmade with beautiful traditional chinesse lettering, one lipstick in an eggplant shade, one bad-ass sticker with flames and a 'Heck Yeah!' written on it, and one tiny red collar, along with three small packages made their way into his hands. He blinked at all of them in shock. "What-" He furrowed his brows. "...A collar?" "Oh, you'll thank me later, trust me~" The redhead reassured. "The other three are for you, Mr Wayne, and Mr Pennyworth. Be carefull with them." He warned, warmly. Dick put everything in his bag, shaking his head with a smile. He then produced an energy bar from his pocket. "I know it's not much, but I really didn't know we would meet again." He apologised but Wally seemed elated by the gift. "Thank you!!" He laughed, before pulling the other into a quick hug. "Now go on! Go and spread some holiday cheer for me!" Dick couldn't help the laugh. Wally's good mood was infectious. "Merry Christmas, Wally." He petted the reindeer gently on the snout and went his own way.

When he was walking back home, hours later and with all of the right gifts purchased - except for Damian's still. Damn. - he heard a tiny noise from the dark alleyway to his right. He was surprised to find a tiny orange kitten, all alone, hidden behind a dumpster. It was small and scrawny, and he refused to leave it to die. He picked the tiny thing up and started heading home again. Later, after giving the little guy a bath and some food he glanced at his bag, where the presents from Wally were hidden. He was not surprised at all that the red collar fit the kitten perfectly.

There was a nametag already on it, and Dick huffed a laugh. "Welcome to your new home, Collin."

[whatifwallywas]

061 in danger?  

I might be dead? Dunno about them updates.

This is a dream I had a while back. warning: Joker being his absolutely murderous self. death. blood. losing body parts. horror. description of death and other really bad stuff.

* EDIT: (edited the part with the blood to make it clear that everyone here is bleeding out pretty quickly) have a nice read. ___

Only after the fifth member of their team lost her life, had they realised just how out of control they were. 

All doors were rigged with nail bombs - they found out soon enough; They lost another two people when they decided to backtrack and were ripped to shreds. They haven't heard from teams Alpha or Delta for the past 30 minutes. No one was answering the radio anymore. They didn't know if it was because of rigged signal, or maybe there was no one left to pick up. Maybe all other teams were already dead.

There were only three members of the Beta squad left.

West was about to call out on the radio again, when the blades came out. Actual saws - the metal so hot that it appeared white- shot out of the walls of a narrow corridor, taking the head - and life- of the agent up front. It came off effortlessly and rolled towards the remaining two agents, the face - frozen in a surprised expression- hidden away behind the mask and googles. Unfortunately it was far from over; The next second twin blades came from high left and low right respectively. West and Harper only had enough time to grab each other and pull themselves to the middle, before saws cut into flesh. Barely avoiding being cut in half they were left far from unscated, both falling down in agony as the blades retreated.   The saws- with a terrifying effortlessness- rid West of his right leg, right in the middle of the thigh. The same fate met Harper's arm, now laying uselessly next to him, twitching.

There was blood everywhere.

They sat there, Harper on his knees, West on his back, panting in utter disbelief, staring at their missing limbs. The saws were hot - they cut through flesh like through warm butter, at the same time cauterizing the wound so it wouldn't bleed too heavily, prolonging their agony for the extra couple of minutes. They did not have a lot of time left and they both knew it.  They would die here, laying in the narrow corridor surrounded by limbs and the dead body of their partner. Alone. 

Fate - and Joker-  had other ideas. ___

Soon enough, the humming reached their ears. 

And their blood ran cold. 

"Hide little children, hide under your beds..." a low chuckle echoed  "Sweet Uncle Joker will cut off your heads..."

The man was carefully moving through the corridor, his step slow but steady as he crept forward, singing under his nose, the eery song bouncing off the walls and traveling through the entire facility. He held a knife in his hand, and he slowly swung it from side to side in front of his face, his wrist moving with practiced ease, as if the deadly weapon was an extension of his arm. The narrow sliver of light reflected off the smooth blade, creating addictional shadows on his face, perfectly showing off his smile and his dead, murky eyes.

West was leaning almost all his weight on Harper as they huddled against the wall. They only barely managed to drag themselves away into the previous hallway. They hid behind the corner just as the Joker arrived at the other end. "You'd better believe this sweet little song..." The wide grin could be felt in his merry tone. "...He'll cut up your livers and rip out your tongues." They could hear him walk past their colleague's body, the tip of the polished shoe bumping into the head laying right next to it. A chuckle suddenly broke out of him and echoed around. Then another as he found their cut off limbs. They held their breaths and moved back so the blind man would not be alerted of their presence.

"Poor little children, stumbling in the dark." He was getting closer - as if he had caught their scent, following after the smell of blood. Following after his prey.   His voice became hard for a moment, just as he was walking past them. "...I will leave your gutted bodies, in the city park."  Harper used all the self control he had not to reach for his gun. They had no chance of capturing him. No chance of killing him. If they moved they were dead.

He could barely see anything in the darkness, his head was spinning, his arm was flaring up in agony, and the pain was pulsing along with his racing heartbeat. West seemed to be doing just as bad as he was, forcing himself to stay still, but loosing the fight agains the blood loss. Any kind of movement or noise heard by the Joker would be fatal to them.

The clown was moving away now, still on high alert as he sang quietly with a permament smile on his face.

Both men allowed themselves to breathe as he stepped further down the corridor. A deadly mistake. Their last one.  Suddenly he stopped. 

"Oh, little children, you fill me with glee..." He sang, as he slowly turned around so he was facing them directly, his yellowish grin widening and blank eyes standing out against the darkness. "Did you really think you could hide from me~?"

[whatifwallywas]

#101?

101 Being human?

(have you guys seen that tv show? The first season was awesome, but I stopped watching in the middle of season 2. Too much drama.)

“Are you sure that’s the last box?” Wally groaned before streching and popping his spine with a sigh. Dick glanced around at the sea of carboard“Yeah. That’s all of them.” He glanced around the room. “We need to go furniture shopping, though.” he added, eyeing the empty spot in the living room where a couch should be. “On the bright side, there is a forest nearby, perfect for your…time of the month.” He grinned at Wally’s groan.“We’re not calling it that!” He warned with a embarrased glare and the brunette laughed showing of his perfect sharp teeth. “Whatever!” He called as he turned around, only to stand face to face with a blonde, fierce looking woman.“Hi, I’m Artemis.” “What the shit?”

(Basically Werewolf!Wally, Vampire!Dick and Ghost!Artemis, because why not?)

[whatifwallywas]

67, please?

067 A Master of Escaping?

“We should’ve expected that to be honest.” Barry commented while searching the room for the second time. “A kid that’s good at escaping, escaped.” He deadpanned. “This cell was designed by Batman.” Hal reminded him, scanning the walls and the ceiling with his ring. “There.” He paused. “Are you kidding me?” Barry looked over. Hal’s ring was shining on the tiny vent opening near the ceiling. Way  too small for any adult to squeeze through- Batman made sure of that. …But it was just small enough for a short, thin 10 year old, apparently, even though it was placed very high on the wall. “How the hell did he get up there?” Hal questioned, quickly pulling up the map of the building and searching for the most probable paths that the kid could’ve taken. The vent cover looked untouched, but when prodded fell away easily - the kid had taken out the screws. Behind it, a small trail of blood leading away from them. “His fingers were broken.” Barry remembered, wincing at the smears. “What now?” The blonde reached his hand towards his communicator. “We’re calling for help.” He replied. “Flash to the Watchtower. We need Mister Miracle’s assistance.”

[whatifwallywas]

64

064 An Actor/Actress?

“You look awesome” He complimented from his spot on the bed and Wally grinned. “Thank you~ Dude, you’re going to wrinkle your suit…Alfred will be sooo disappointed.” Dick groaned exasperatedly.“The gala hasn’t started yet, and I already want it to be over.” He complained, and Wally huffed a laugh. ���At least you’re not wearing high heels.” The red head still stopped to admire in the mirror how good those legs looked in them. “…Still worth it, tho.” Wally muttered with a grin after a second. The brunette snorted. before standing up with a huff, stretching his back and straightening his suit. Wally looked him over.“We match! Score! ” The red head teased, gesturing at Dick’s tie and the green dress,  and the brunette grinned before proudly showing off his nails, also painted a matching shade of green.“The ride is here!” Came the sudden yell from downstairs.“We’ll be right down, Jason!” Dick yelled back before turning to his companion. “Ready?”“Ready.” The redhead replied, walking over to the doors. “But we’re having a movie night after everything is over.” Wally warned, before exiting. “Definitely.” The brunette agreed wholeheartedly.

[whatifwallywas]

65

065 From Gatsby’s Era?

Richard paid no mind to the gossip surrounding him; He was not interested in Mr Gatsby’s past doings at all. What held his attention at the moment was one particaular member of the staff on the other end of the ballroom, weaving through the crowd with a tray filled with champain glasses.The mask hid his features, but the vibrant green of his eyes was unmistakable.The question stood - how could he reach to the other end of the crowded residence before the red head disappeared out of his sight for good?

[whatifwallywas]

93

093 A Rogue?

The bar fell eerily silent three seconds after the Flash walked through the door. He paid no mind to the scrambling and hurried footsteps that followed, his arrival having caused the departure of almost everyone inside. Everyone, except a very distinctive group of individuals in the back. “Flash.” Greeted the leader of the band, coldly. “Captain Cold.” He replied in kind, before greeting everyone else and allowing the tiniest bit of his uneasiness slip as he grimaced. “Isn’t this place a little…inappropriate for minors?”“It’s not like they allow us to drink actual alcohol here.” Chimed in Hartley from his spot on the other end of the table, holding up his root beer. James- The trickster- agreed by blowing bubbles into his cherry cola. “You didn’t come here to give us a lecture about taking kids to the bar, did ya’?” Heat Wave groaned and the Flash rolled his eyes with a grin.“Not today.” He sighed, before crossing his arms over his chest. “I actually need to borrow Kid for a moment.” The teen in question took a long sip of his orange juice, before turning to the hero with a grin. “Whatcha need~?”

[whatifwallywas]

90

090 Death?

There was that one old man in Gotham whom Dick walked past every day on his way through the park.He always sat on the exact same bench and threw seeds and breadcrumbs for the birds.He sat, he fed the birds, and he watched people around him. He had always been alone for as long as Dick could remember. Until one day he wasn’t. One day Dick saw him sitting in his usual spot accompanied by a boy.The redhead spoke to the old man quietly, looking at the birds. They were surrounded by a murder of crows.

Murder of crows.

The man sat on that park bench every day.Until one day he wasn’t.

The birds continued to gather in front of it, waiting for him to come back. But Dick never saw the old man again. The same couldn’t be said about him seeing the red head, though. 

[whatifwallywas]

73. I wonder what miracle hides behind this magical number?

it hides drama. mostly.073 A good friend? (part 1)He fell fast and hard when the ice beam caught him in the legs. He barely had time to twist to the side and not land on his nose, as he skidded several feet forward, easily bruising his ribs - he’ll be feeling that one in a few hours. “Game over, Flash.” Said his enemy in a cold voice, and Wally couldn’t help but grin at his pun. His legs were frozen together, stuck behind a fairly thick layer of ice and there was no chance that he will be able to free himself in the next 60 seconds or so. That was awfully long for a speedster. He was already vibrating his feet, trying to melt his new prison quicker, but Cold has already walked up to him and pointed his gun straight at his head. “I guess you weren’t fast enough this time, Flash” He mocked, and Wally wrecked his brain for a witty remark.“Yeah? Well…at least I don’t wear a parka in the middle of June! ha!” ..close enough. Captain Cold raised an unimpressed eyebrow over his googles. “Shut up! I tried.” He was quick to defend himself. Only a few more seconds and he would be free. How he loved stalling. “Goodbye, Flash.” Cold said, squeezing the trigger. And then everything went to shit. He even saw the bullet coming.“Len, look out!” Flash dove forward, but stood no chance against the ice. A gunshot went off and Cold’s eyes widened in shock as he went down, clutching at his bloodied stomach. 

[whatifwallywas]

68?

068 An Alien?

Dick was going to get trampled. He was going to get trampled and die and hurt and where was Bruce they had to get away.The alarm was blaring overhead, a combnation of red lights and loud noise and the countdown has started and there was no time. The ground shook from the feet/limbs of hundrends of creatures running in one direction; Running towards the exit; Running away from their captors. And he, a single human in the entire corridor, was going to get trampled. He was pushed this side and that, unable to keep up the pace with the creatures so focused on getting away. He understood their panic and haste perfectly - he had seen what had been done to them-  but it was getting hard to breathe and difficult to keep running and then suddenly he tripped and there was a giant of an alien, heading straight at him in their haste to get toward the exit, and he will be crushed and there will be nothing left of him and-The sudden spark of electricity, the loud hum of static in his ear, the thin arms around him and he was suddenly above the creature, above the whole commotion, zipping, bouncing off the walls, bouncing off the /cables/ and then he was set down, just a few meters away in a corridor connecting the two hallways- the chaos raging on on both sides but here being quiet and still for the moment. A breather. He glanced up into the electrifying gaze of the alien standing before him. His form was hardly human anymore - all the inhibitor collars have been turned off - and the lightning coming from his core bounced this way and that, before being grounded by the floor. “…?” The hum of static started again, and only then Dick connected the noise to the alien. Speech. That was speech. He was being asked a question.“Wally, I need to find Bruce.” he blurted instead.