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Post by Nomz on Aug 27, 2024 19:25:19 GMT
"...-other attack by the-"
The announcer's voice drones on in the background, the TV hanging above the register by an old school mount. The picture flickers, bars of static rolling through it for a moment.
"Damn shame," mumbles a man further up the counter Wally West is sitting at, a mug of coffee resting between his palms. "It looks like they got Wonder Woman out there on her own."
The waiter makes a disapproving sound in the back of his throat, running a ratty rag over a mug. "Kyle, it's Wonder Woman. She's got this."
Kyle holds up his hands in mock surrender. "I knows, I knows, Charlie. It's just, hell, everyone could use a helping hand now and then."
"Right, but you ain't Superman or Flash or Iron Man. You can't help her, so there's no pointing in mentioning it." Kyle's brow furrows as his mouth opens, obviously ready to continue a time honored argument, but he is silenced by the dinner door slamming open.
Wally rubs a hand over his face as he runs, uncertain of what exactly he is doing, but knowing why. Talking to all of the people he's met the last week has returned to him a strength he had not realized he had lost. A strength to finally do the right thing and also the will to involve himself further in the hero community with a versions of people he knew once.
Out of all of the old Justice League members, there isn't anyone he can imagine approaching easier than Wonder Woman. It is this thought that drives him to skid to a stop in the middle of a quiet battle field, eyes scanning for any sign of enemy or ally alike. His heart falls as he notices that he's pulled a Barry. Those bright green eyes find Wonder Woman, close but not too close, and they are full of sheepish apology.
"Guess I'm a bit too late to help then," he asks, running a hand through his wind swept hair. Peeking out from under his worn LSU hoodie is the collar of his super suit, faded crimson in color. It matches the boots that he's unsuccessfully hiding under faded, dirty jeans. Wally is riding the line between civilian wear and hero wear and is missing his mask. "Unless you got more villains hiding in your shadow?"
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Post by Countess on Aug 28, 2024 0:59:27 GMT
The Graboid lays on the ground in pieces, Diana panting in her own exertion. This had been a fight, a hard one, with a mix of cunning, brute strength, and cunning. This hadn't been the first time a couple of these had shown up, and everyone the world over is lucky these sand worms could be tracked by their seismic activity. Her heart pounds in her ears- this had been so much more than she expected. Two in the same area? They were usually much more territorial. If this meant-
A voice-
Diana turns, quickly, much too quickly for the normal eye to track, but for someone like Wally... Well, she's always been someone to keep up with him a little. She looks around, floating above the sand, then immediately goes to him. He can see her in all of this, moving so quickly through the air, only to pick him up off the ground into a bridal carry.
"Forgive me- I had not seen your approach! There are sandworms in the area, they track movement on the sand, how are you...?" she asks, looking at him with that intense worry and scrutiny she could have sometimes. She's looking at him like she always does. Always... had done...
"How are you here? I evacuated the area," Diana says, and she doesn't sound accusatory, but worried. Had she missed others?
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Post by Nomz on Aug 28, 2024 1:21:30 GMT
Wally freezes as he notes the speed at which Diana looks at him and then flies to him. He is not unused to that look of concern, though it strikes him in the chest as soundly as if she had punched him and he finds breath hard to capture. There is no resistance as one of her hands tucks under his knees and another supports his back.
He instinctively reaches out to lay an arm across her shoulders, holding on out of habit as she lifts off the ground again. His eyes are locked on hers and, if eyes are windows to the soul, he is laid bare. She is so familiar, so similar. A woman of care even during the heat of battle. The same woman he's seen put up with the antics of even the Titans. Wally swallows hard around the memories flooding him, the feelings he possessed for a different Diana.
"Sandworms," he asks, breathless despite the run not having taken anything from him. Wally clears his throat. "I ran here? Heard a news report of you out here fighting on your own-"
He pauses with a shy chuckle, a red flush highlighting his freckles. "I should introduce myself. My Aunt Dinah always told me manners were important. I'm Wally West and I'm the fastest man alive. I came to help if you needed it."
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Post by Countess on Aug 28, 2024 1:55:53 GMT
"....?" Diana has some unspoken question. She can feel his emotions, like a blow to her own chest. Love- of course, something she understands, and she understands his nuances. There is more than mere knowing, but understanding. He knows her- or- she reminds him of someone? Who else is there like Diana?
His feelings- there is such a depth to them. In ways that there shouldn't be, more than a fan, someone she would call a friend if she knew him. But she doesn't. Parasocial relationship? No, there is... again, that depth. Diana thinks this all, the calculation of her empathy, incredibly quickly. Not as quickly as Wally, of course. "Do you know me?" she asks, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion.
"Fast?" Diana asks, then grins. The action itself is quick, and she continues the trend in her speaking, going faster and faster to gauge his speed. "Nice to meet you, Wally. Call me Diana," she says, and he would recall from his Diana- she had only offered that to friends or civilians.
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Post by Nomz on Aug 28, 2024 2:14:31 GMT
"Who doesn't know of you," Wally tries with a happy little smile and she can hear the edges of a midwestern accent starting to slip into his words. It isn't an answer to her question. It is just a mere phrase, hollow and without meaning.
When she starts to speak faster, however, his smile eases into something more natural. There is the curve of competitiveness and the familiarity of a familiar game. It is effortless, the way he tracks her words and keeps up with their meanings.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Diana. I'm sorry if this is all a bit odd and sudden. I had meant to keep out of the whole big hero business, but there are some choices that bear repeating." Wally looks out around them, checking in on the situation again and basking in not being on the ground and caught up in conversation. He is so relaxed in her arms, trusting that she won't hurt him to the point that it never crosses his mind.
"I've told you before, but I'll say it again. I absolutely love flying. Wish my abilities let me fly," he says, staying at the speed level that he knows his Diana could keep up with without too much trouble. It's something they've used to speak when other people were within earshot. "So, you took care of everything? I'm sorry for just being a bother at this point. Am I bothering you?"
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Post by Countess on Aug 28, 2024 2:48:37 GMT
“Of me?” Diana asks, pushing a little bit more. He’s avoiding the question, and now she wants to know why. Surely, if he were a telepath, he would have guarded his emotions much better. Wally would have to be very powerful, too, but he could at least keep up with her thoughts if he’s as fast as he claims. While she’s naturally resistant- it’s her speed that takes out the most that can get through to her inner most self.
Even so. He doesn’t strike her as a telepath.
Then… had she forgotten him? Why hide it? Or- is he a relative, playing coy to get closer? She would say he is Hermes- but her “cousin” doesn’t really play too many games like this. He’s usually a straight shooter, honorable to boot. It would still fit the “Fastest Man Alive” shtick. Makes her wonder who died to give him such a throne.
“Why stay out?” Diana asks, her words incomprehensible now to the average listener. She wants to dig deeper- he’s already given so much away. “You’re not a bother- I’m just so curious. Did I forget you?” Diana asks, aiming for blunt.
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Post by Nomz on Aug 28, 2024 3:23:43 GMT
He falls back on an old skill, pretending point blank that he doesn't understand Diana's question when she pushes a little more. His shoulders lift in a helpless shrug, a clear sign of 'what can you so.'
"Everyone knows Wonder Woman," he says too easily, too casually. It sounds like a line he's rehearsed in the mirror a few times too many. "There are so many big-time heroes in this world. I just figured that maybe the little guy needed me more. Kinda like that Spider guy."
The expression on his face freezes as her last words hit him and it's that gut-wrenching moment when someone says a trigger word. Tears gather in the corners of his eyes as he watches her and his lips twist into a trembling frown. That endless maw in his chest opens up, swallowing the world around him.
He had fought for so long. He had fought so hard to come back and only Uncle Barry remembered him. He couldn't make anyone remember him. Not his wife or his team or Dick. So many lives he touched and he was still as good as dead. Worse than dead. He didn't exist.
"This was a mistake," Wally chokes out, trying to blink away his tears and tipping his head to look away from Diana. His voice is raw, an new wound, not-yet scarred, picked until it bled. "You didn't forget me. My Diana did. My everything did. I thought I could do this. I don't think I can do this."
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Post by Countess on Aug 28, 2024 21:13:11 GMT
Diana lets him talk for a time, knowing that he is close to the point of spilling over. Every moment in her arms is another that his heart continues to swell. Try as he might to smother it, she knows there is a breaking point soon. Instead, she starts to move up a little more, getting them further and further away from the ground.
"Oh, Wally," Diana says once her patience is rewarded. She holds him a little tighter, unmistakably hugging him. "I'm your Diana, too, if you let me," she says, trying to reassure him. "Fastest Man Alive, I think you can do anything if you put your mind to it. We may not know each other the way your Diana does... but hopefully we can work towards that again. No mountain is impassable, not for us," she says, still hugging him.
"Where am I flying you, Wally?"
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Post by Nomz on Aug 28, 2024 22:21:19 GMT
Born and raised in the Midwestern USA, Wally was raised to embrace certain less-than-stellar standards. It had been a long and difficult process to break most of those down and it was only through the love of certain individuals that made it possible. One of them had very much been Diana.
"Hope hurts," Wally says, voice ragged. He tucks his face into her shoulder, linking his arm around the other side so he can properly hug back. "I just want to be known. I want to be loved. I can be good, Diana. I can be so, so good. I'm great even. I want people to see that."
She would feel tears on her skin and his shoulders trembling, but he doesn't sob. Not here. Not now. This close to him, she can smell his shampoo. It is something cheap and more chemical than anything else. His hoodie is old, worn, and held together in places by hand-made stitches.
He mumbles his next reply. "If you saw it, you wouldn't let me go back. I don't- I had to break federal laws. I was never born here. I don't have the best place to stay. It's so bad I think Bruce wouldn't think twice about adding me to his horde of children."
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Post by Countess on Aug 29, 2024 21:26:58 GMT
"It can, yes, but it heals, too," Diana says, patting his back. "When Pandora released all evil into the world, the last thing in the box was Hope, Wally," she says, squeezing him briefly as they continue to fly upwards. She wants well away from any Graboids. She, and he, can return if need be. "We need it, to face all the evils we have in this world, even if it is a little evil itself," she tells him, putting her own spin on it. Her heart pangs a little- she misses Pandora, the first woman. Of all the people that deserved a place in Themyscira... Diana believes Prandora should have been there. Not punished.
The Gods are fickle. Even Atlas still holds up the world. Eternity means eternity.
"I can see it already. That's at least one, but I find it hard to believe you haven't convinced others of this during your stay here already," Diana says, as positive as she always in, gentle and not overbearing.
"If you know I won't let you go back, then you know I would offer you a place to stay while you get on your feet," Diana says. Of course he knows this- she's done it for so many others, so many times before. But- but-
"You know Bruce?" Diana asks, carefully. "You must have been close to all of us, indeed."
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Post by Nomz on Aug 29, 2024 22:38:19 GMT
Hope had always been such a key point in his life. He hoped he could be good and learned to have hope that people could learn to make the right choices. Love, hope, and faith had been the only things that got him through every minute of his near-decade-long sentence in the Speedforce.
The tips of his ears burn at her comment and he huffs a breath that can't quite be considered laughter. "I've met some people while I've been here. Many under the oddest circumstances. I think they like me. One helped me when I was lost and I helped another when her car broke down." He sounds like a lost man looking for further approval and validation.
"I know you would," Wally pulls back now to look at her, eyes red like his hair. He struggles past his shame and guilt to ask for help. It is just one more skill he learned in his own time. "I was a mechanical engineer. I can hack and lie my way into an American ID, but lying about a degree is only going to come back and bite me. I don't have the connections here to get around that. I need help."
"And, yeah. I- My Justice League looked different, but some members are still the same. We were a family and they had come together when I was still a child. We had a younger team for those of us who didn't want to be just sidekicks any longer." A proud smile pulls at his lips as he continues. "Young Justice. That was mine. We had Dickie and he was my best friend. In a very real way, many of you were my aunts and uncles."
And it is always a remarkable thing to see someone come alive with a topic they treasure. There are many things that he holds close to his heart and his extended family is one of the closest.
"You know me as Wally West and I call myself the fastest man alive because I was. I may still be. But," he hesitates just for a split second, unintentionally still speaking in that almost too fast pace. "No one knows that, once upon a time and far from here, I was the Flash, too. Uncle Barry made the sacrificial play and someone needed to fill those boots. So I did. I just didn't know that it would end up costing me everything."
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Post by Countess on Aug 29, 2024 23:23:00 GMT
Diana just listens to Wally, letting him get out everything he needs to get out. It sounds like a hell of a story, one that weighs on him heavily. There is a stone in his heart called grief, and it rattles against his chest with every beat and breath. Not for a moment does he doubt him- but she is wise, too, and knows that enemies come in the most perfect of guises. He has peppered in the perfect little tidbits to convince anyone else, save for perhaps Batman. Diana isn't him, though. Never will be. Her heart is open to people like Wally, and she will bear the burden if she is wrong.
"The Flash?" she asks, nodding in understanding. Yes- there is a Flash here, too. But she does not think Bartholomew has a nephew named Wally... "Have you considered speaking to this world's Barry?" she asks. "He may be able to help you," she offers.
"Not everything. You are here, you are well, and you will have a family once more. Sacrifice is... what we do, as heroes. It wouldn't mean anything if it didn't hurt, Wally."
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Post by Nomz on Aug 29, 2024 23:51:22 GMT
She would be able to see the realization sweep across his expression, brows pulling together. His mouth opens before closing again. Diana has managed to stun the Speedster into silence. A proper silence that lasts several seconds.
"What if he- He was...He was a father to me. Your Barry isn't him. What kind of person is he? Do you think he would turn me away," he asks, anxiety bleeding through his words like water through cloth. Years seem to fall off of him and it is easy to see where he had been a boy that put all his faith in her.
"I lost my-" 'kids, my little twins.' "-partner. There are some things I can't do again but...a life sounds good." Wally leans his head on her shoulder again, closing his eyes and taking a shuddering breath. That box is too new, too sharp. He closes the flaps and puts it back down. "How hard is it to join the Justice League here?"
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Post by Countess on Aug 30, 2024 0:28:14 GMT
"I don't rightfully know, Wally," Diana says, and they start to gain some speed as she chooses a direction and flies. She is taking him to one of her homes, the one in DC. "I have faith in him being a good man, because that is how I see him. He has a wife, kids, open to found family," she says, trying to shed light for him. "I have fought along side him. He is a scientist at heart," she says, letting that be what it is. She has a high opinion of him, he has saved her life and she his, but she doesn't want to give hope where there might be none. Her Barry... he would do what she is doing now. But to have a person thrust upon you- not everyone rises to the occasion. Her thoughts move to Superman, his initial reaction to Superboy...
The greatest among us can surprise.
"..... I am sorry for that, Wally," Diana says, honest. "I have lost partners, too," she empathizes. She won't push on that one, but she knows that love happens. It blossoms. Should the time come that he have the guilt of moving on- she will reassure him it isn't moving on. Love is not a finite resource. It doesn't really ever go away.
"Very easy. The Human Torch just joined."
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Post by Nomz on Aug 30, 2024 1:15:58 GMT
Diana's honesty is something that he is relieved to see remains with her even in this world. Her assessment of Barry sounds so much just like his Barry and there is a little kernel of hope blossoming in his chest. There is so little room under his ribs for this little flower, but he does not dare to crush it.
It will hurt no matter which way this goes.
"Thank you, Diana. Before, I couldn't bear to come to you, but here...it was easier and I am glad for your heart. I feel so heavy. It's nice to be carried a little." His sincerity is so still and seemingly endless like a lake on the highest mountain top.
"Who's the Human Torch? There are so many more heroes here than there were at home. Is there like a signup sheet I have to sign or do I need my parent's signature?" Wally shifts in her arms, trying his best to lighten the mood with a grin and a joke. "Think Bruce will sign my form for me?"
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