I do not own the Justice League, though Cassie is my OC, and there may be future OC's as well. Rated T for future scenes that younger readers may find disturbing.

"Mommy look, the Flash!"

Cassie stared out the car window and tried desperately to roll it down, pressing on the button and thoroughly angry when it wouldn't slide open so she could reach out and wave at the speedster, but her mother always had it locked. Eight year olds could get annoying with the windows sometimes. The crimson blur was weaving between vehicles, acting casual and occasionally conversing with any driver that bothered to roll down their windows and shout a greeting. Cassie frowned, her shiny black pig tails bouncing on her head as she reached up and tapped on the glass as hard as she could. Her mother didn't seem to mind as she looked through the rear view mirror and flashed a brief smile. Cassie nearly leapt with glee as the hero swerved towards her, but her stupid seatbelt kept her from rising more than a few inches. Finally, it seemed her mother had gotten the idea, and the window slowly began to slide down to emit powerful winds into the blue Impala.

"Hey kid, whatchu up too?" He questioned brightly as he ran level with her door, grinning broadly. Flash enjoyed interacting with kids, particularly the young ones. They made him hopeful for the future, and their innocent, childish tones voices sent his head spinning with pleasant, and usually amused thoughts. He couldn't imagine why someone wouldn't like kids, they truly brought joy to the heart. As he waited for an answer, Flash took the time to hastily look at the girl. She wore the usual, common jeans and a loose-fitting wool shirt that was pink in color. Her face was clean and had not a single scar, and her eyes shone a bright blue, glittering with an excitement she didn't even try to contain. It was clear in her voice as she spoke, reaching toward the window with a giggle. He brushed her fingertips ever so tenderly, insisting that she keep the fragile limb inside the vehicle, and so she promptly pulled it back.

"My name is Cassie, and me and my mommy are going to the mall for shopping! I like shopping! Do you like shopping? We should shop together! ooh can we, please? Pretty please? Mommy, can Flash come to the mall with us?" Her gaze momentarily flickered to the long, dark-haired woman steering the low riding car, stretching forward in her seat and waving her hands all about. The Flash chuckled at how quickly she had reacted, and just how cute it was as she flailed around with delight. He figured he could spare some shopping time, at the moment, no one was stirring up trouble. In fact, the only thing he had gotten in the past few days were your normal robbers and such. Central City had been unusually silent. Perhaps, if he were more paranoid, Wally would have suspected that some mastermind in a cape was plotting against him with an evil smile and a black cat that really enjoyed being stroked in a sinister fashion.

"Cassie? That's a sweet name, what about Cas, can I call you Cas?" He asked lightly. They were turning into the mall now, as the car slowed, so did he. Cassie looked at him curiously, as if he had said something a weirdo would or something. "Of course!" She practically squealed. "That's my nickname!" Alright, so he would call her Cas now. That was cool. "As a matter of fact, I do like to shop, and if it's okay with your mommy, then sure, I'll go to the mall with you." He answered, and she repeated the question to her mother, who hadn't yet had any chance at all to speak. "Of course, Flash can go shopping with us." She agreed. She didn't worry much about him being a perv or anything around her daughter. Everyone knew Flash, he would never do such a terrible thing, although the tight suite could go, it either made girls really uneasy, or really eager to ditch their boyfriends. Of course, she for one, would do no such thing to her husband, who was now at work in Keystone city as a detective. Cassie giggled at her luck, she was going to go shopping with Flash! The Flash!

They rode around the lot until Flash pointed out a decent spot to park ahead, and she pulled in to bring the Impala to a stop. As soon as the doors unlocked, Cassie was unbuckling herself, clumsy with excitement, and struggled to push open the door. "Careful, you might hit the other car." Flash advised, and he swung the car door open himself, putting himself between it and the gleaming black truck they had parked beside, reaching over to take up Cassie's hand and help her from the car, waiting until she moved out of the way before closing the door, careful not to slam it. Cassie's mother was waiting close by, and her daughter skipped close, but ignored the outstretched hand. "I wanna hold Flash's hand!" She declared loudly. A few people in the lot looked, waved, and continued on their way, chattering to whoever they were with. Flash was a popular site in the city, and he often spent his time with its citizens. Seeing him out shopping or eating lunch with people who wanted to spend time with him was not a rare sight at all. Flash chuckled and took hold of Cassie's hand, and she clasped his tightly as they walked on. Her mother had taught her the dangers of the street, and though she wasn't particularly worried with Flash at her side, she had been taught not to be reckless.

They entered the mall, and were immediately assailed by the delicious smells of the nearby food court, the sound of a hundred conversations and the splashing of a large fountain in the center of the massive building they had entered. The lighting was relaxingly dark, the floors painted a calm blue and gray color, the ceiling stretching high above their heads and supporting sun lights, that let the warmth stream down into the structure. "I wanna cookie!" Cassie announced, unable to resist the delicious scents that danced all around her, making her mouth water. "Okay, then let's go there first." Her mother answered, and they made their way towards the food court with happy expressions. The number one word they heard on their way there was "Flash", but that was expected. A few people walked close to try to strike up a conversation with the hero, and most of those people were young woman, who always seemed so awkward, and children, who were too delighted to be shy. They reached the food court and stared out at the masses until they found their shop, Great American Cookies, the number one store you could ever dream of in the mall, if you were a cookie lover, of course. "Smells delicious." Flash was practically licking his lips. If Bats had been around, he'd probably be begging the older man for a big wad of cash right now to practically buy out the entire place, and there was no doubt he would, but unfortunately, Wally wasn't rich. At all.

There was a line, but it was short, and within a few minutes they were standing at the counter and staring down at the baked treats with eager smiles. "I'll pay for yours, Flash, just tell them what you want." Cassie's mother offered, but Flash shook his head. "Oh, I've got cash, I'll pay fo-" She interrupted him, pulling out some money from her purse. "To late, I've already got out the green, and I don't want to have to put it back." She said. Cassie harshly poked the glass with a finger. "I want chocolate chip!" She decided. Flash frowned. He didn't like the idea of someone else paying for his food, it made him feel guilty, but the expression on the woman's face told him that, no matter what, she wouldn't change her mind. "At least let me pay you back." He finally agreed, but she shook her head. "You already have." She replied, pointing at Cassie. "You've given her such a great day, she'll remember this forever." Wow, she was really persistent. "Alright, well, I'll take a small chocolate chip cookie as well." He sighed. At least he could keep her from spending too much money on him. "By the way, I never got your name." He didn't want to have to refer to her as mom anymore, that was rather weird.

"Sabrina, call me Sabrina, and just so you know, hot-shot, you're not tricking me like that." She turned back to the man at the register and gestured toward the cookies. "Two small chocolate chip cookies and four large." She handed him the cash and looked back at a very surprised Flash. "That's not what I wanted! I mean, I, uh, I'm glad but, that was totally not necessary!" He complained. Cassie looked up at him with a frown. "You don't like cookies?" She asked as her mother grabbed the bags and headed for an empty table. "Oh please, don't play that with me." Sabrina replied, taking a seat in one of the hard chairs the mall offered and placing the bags of cookies on the gray flecked table top. Flash and Cassie took a seat beside each other, and Sabrina handed the two bags of large cookies to Flash while she pulled out the two smaller chocolate chip from the third bag, keeping one for herself and handing one to Cassie, who devoured it eagerly. "Well, thanks." Flash removed the four cookies from the bags and tried to maintain his manners around the two girls, but it was clear he was hungry. Really hungry. If no one else had been around, he would have stuffed himself, literally.

"No problem, I enjoy seeing my girl have such a good time. Your one in a million, Flash, not many guys are like you." Sabrina complimented with a smile. Wally blushed behind his mask. Sweet. He had heard those same words from more than one person, though Superman was the first man who came to mind. It was true, there weren't many men out there that shared such qualities as those he possessed, but that didn't mean there still wasn't a pretty fair number out there. "Thanks, you two are great. I'm glad I chose to come with you guys. What should we do next, Cas?" He looked toward her, chomping into his second cookie and savoring the flavor, of course, Cassie had already eaten hers, and now she swiped away clingy brown crumbs with a hand. "How about the toy store? I need new toys!" She offered, and Flash looked toward Sabrina questioningly. "Alright." She agreed. "Flash, finish your cookies, we don't have all day." Teasing. She was definitely teasing, he could see it in her sly smirk. Wally felt a poke in his ribs and looked down to see Cassie beaming up at him. "Slow poke!" She laughed.

Then it happened, the explosion shook the building, flames rising into the air as concrete crumbled and metal creaked. In less than a second Flash was on his feet, the chair falling with a crash to the floor behind him. "Get Cassie out of here!" He ordered. Now he was serious, whatever had caused that explosion was a definite threat, and the fire was spreading. He rushed towards it, swerving around fleeing civilians and encouraging them as he went, approaching the roaring flames and immediately thrusting out his hands, rotating them at an immense speed to create two large vortexes that attacked the blaze, blowing it into a few small tongues of hot orange. Nearby, he spotted a fire extinguisher, and sprinted toward it, snatching it up and returning to the shrunken fire to try to drown out whatever was left. Lucky that he had gotten to it in time, or things could have gotten horribly out of control. But it wasn't over yet, there were people injured by the fire, some crying out, some eerily silent. He heard approaching sirens, and knew they would be rescued, but he wanted to get the most critically injured out as quickly as possible.

Three of the victims were dead, their bodies scorched and unrecognizable. Flash felt a great sadness, but he knew he had to stay focused, and find the cause of their deaths. The other five people were injured, two so badly that they could hardly move, the others limping around, disoriented, and trying to find their way through the thick black smoke. He coughed as he approached the fallen two and nearly slipped in a puddle of still warm blood. The man he had approached was in shock, and lucky for him. His right leg was gone, blown off from the explosion, and splintered bone protruded from mangled flesh. Wally wanted to puke, but he managed not to, looking up in relief as he heard voices. "Anyone over there?" It was the call of a firefighter through the smoke. "Over here!" Flash called, and the medical teams made their way to his position. Flash looked at the crippled man again and realized just how lucky he was that he was even alive, but he hardly had time to consider it as he heard more screams on the complete opposite side of the mall. Confident the firefighters and medics could handle the current situation, he rushed off to investigate, and wished he hadn't.

Apparently, he had been right about a criminal mastermind plotting his demise, or everyone's, to be exact. Another explosion shook the structure, and he now had the nagging suspicion that the place might be rigged with explosives. He had to get everyone out. By the time he reached the location of the new fire, most of it had died down, thanks to the teams of firefighters that flooded the mall. But there were no survivors here, six people, dead, and with no way to help them. That's when he noticed the pair of familiar frames standing through the plumes of suffocating grey, they staggered around as if confused, the smaller body tugged around by the larger. Flash rushed toward them and dragged the two over his shoulder as he swept past, clearing them of the building in a matter of seconds and depositing the two in the parking lot. "We were trying to get out, when that happened. The flames never reached us, but we were so scared." Sabrina was sobbing, and Cassie, at her side, was wide-eyed, but oddly calm. Flash kneeled down in front of her to study her face. "Hey Cas, you okay?" He asked softly. A tear slid onto her cheek, and Flash wrapped her in a sympathetic hug before rising to face her mother.

"I'm so sorry, I put everyone in there in danger. It's my fault they died, I have to find out who did this." Wally avoided her gaze in shame, expecting to be yelled at for putting her and Cas in so much danger, but she didn't blame him. "It could have happened anywhere, just because you were at the mall didn't mean it was targeted because of you. Whoever did this probably didn't even know you were in there, it was probably just one of their targets. Don't blame yourself." Sabrina smiled grimly before turning away, her eyes dark. "I'm taking Cassie home." She informed, and they walked off with Cassie turning to wave in a silent goodbye. Flash tried to smile as he waved back at her, wanting to reassure the girl, and she smiled back, more successfully then she had. Cassie was to young to understand exactly what had happened, but she did know that whatever it was, it hadn't been good. "I'm sorry." Flash murmured again before turning back to the grief and fear-stricken scene. As much as he hated to admit it, there were more important things to do. People needed his help, and if there were more fires, they needed to be put out. With his fake smile twisting into another frown, he whirled to zip off, back into the mall.