Here's my first (published) BirdFlash fanfiction! Hope you enjoy! 3
DISCLAIMER: Nothing belongs to me except the plot. Not sure if you actually have to put this in on fanfiction, 'cause it's kinda in the name, but I don't want to be copywrited, so here ya go.
-LINEBREAK-
"Kid! KF! Dude, wake up! It's important!"
Wally shifted, unhappy at being awoken so rudely. Blearily, he fluttered his eyelids and found himself tied to a chair rather uncomfortably.
"KF, are you there?"
He knew that voice well and yet he couldn't place it. In fact, he couldn't really piece together anything that was going on right now. Last thing he knew, the team had gone out on a mission and-
"Rob?!" Wally's eyes shot wide open as he strained against his bonds. He panicked for a moment when he still couldn't see, before realizing he was wearing a blindfold.
"Geez, finally! I was beginning to think you were just ignoring me."
"Where are we?" He heard Robin inhale sharply.
"...I'm not sure."
"What about the rest of the team? What if they're trapped too and ohnonononononono… what if they're not okay? What if they need us and we can't get to them? What if-"
"KF!" Robin's voice was firm and commanding, grounding Wally. "Don't think about that right now. Worrying isn't going to help them; thinking is. Let's pool together what we know so we can get out of here and save them." Wally took deep breaths to calm himself.
"Right, you're right."
"I'm pretty sure they took my belt, though, strangely enough, I can still feel my mask under the blindfold. I guess that means they're not interested in knowing my identity, which rules out most of the criminals in Gotham."
"My cowl is still on, too. Goggles are missing, though. Are you tied to a chair as well?"
"Yeah, and not a comfortable one at that. They know we're gonna be here a while, they could at least put some consideration into the seating."
Kid Flash felt the pit in his stomach as he made a horrible realization. "You think they want to kill us?" He heard Robin suck in a breath and immediately felt guilty.
"No, if they wanted us dead, they would have done it by now. They certainly had the chance to" Wally breathed a sigh of relief. It was short-lived, however, when Wally heard the door creak open, accompanied by a pair of footsteps. Heart thumping in his chest, Wally tried his best to regulate his breathing to appear as though he was sleeping.
"No use pretending. I know you're awake."
"What do you want?" Wally spat, trying his best to hide the tremble in his voice.
"Now, come on, be civil. We can be friends. This can all go smoothly, so long as you do what I say. Do you understand?"
Gritting his teeth, he nodded, assuming Robin did so as well. He knew there was no reason to appear uncooperative right now, but he felt weak verbalizing his consent. Swallowing his pride, he lowered his head and resolved to stay quiet. That resolve was broken when he heard the footsteps get closer to Robin.
"Don't you dare touch him!" He yelled, struggling against his bonds. For a moment the footsteps stopped and Wally let out a breath of relief. He held back a yelp as a foot collided with his jaw.
-LINEBREAK-
"KF?! KF, I heard something, are you okay?"
There was a pause and Robin felt his heart sink. Finally, after what felt like years but was probably only a few seconds, he got a response.
"Yeah, fine." Before Robin could respond, his blindfold was pulled off. He blinked rapidly, adjusting to the light. Looking around, he took note of the barren room he was in. He clenched his teeth as he saw Wally tied to a chair in front of him. He didn't seem to be injured, save for a few nicks and scratches, along with a large gash on his jaw. Looking to his left, he saw a man he didn't recognize but assumed he was one of the kidnappers. He felt his heart sink as a computer was placed in front of him.
"You are going to hack into the Justice League database and steal the zeta codes, blueprints, and security codes to the Watchtower, Mount Justice, and any other headquarters they have."
Okay, so there's the motive. But why was Wally here? What purpose did he serve? Suddenly, it felt like all the air had been forced from his lungs as it dawned on him.
"Otherwise," the man continued, making his way to Wally. "Your friend is in for some very… unpleasant surprises." Without hesitation, the man clocked Wally and his nose began to bleed. Robin swallowed, feeling his throat grow dry.
Wally was leverage.
Robin tried doing the breathing exercises Batman had taught him, but found himself frozen, unable to stop the thoughts occupying his head. They're going to hurt Wally. They have no reason not to and I can't stop them. He's going to die. My best friend is going to die and I can't do anything.
"So, what's it gonna be?"
"...I can't…" The moment the words escaped Robin's mouth, the man pulled a baseball bat from behind Wally's chair and swung. All Robin could hear was screaming and the horrible crunch as each blow landed and there was so much blood and the screams were so loud and he wanted it to stop more than anything and he wasn't sure who was screaming until he realized it was him.
"STOP! STOP, PLEASE, I'LL DO IT!" In an instant, the noise was gone, though Wally was much worse for wear. He was covered in blood and he looked terrified.
"Kid Flash! Talk to me, tell me you're okay!" Robin bit his lip hard as he watched Wally cough up blood.
"M'fine. Don't do it, Rob. It's not worth it. Don't give him what he-" Wally was cut off by a swift kick to the stomach.
"...I'm sorry, Wally." Robin began to type on the computer, hating himself more and more with every letter.
"ROB!"
Feeling the bile rise in his throat, he pressed enter and watched. He regretted it immediately after and it took everything he had to not start trying frantically to undo the code.
He knew, sooner or later, if the man continued to hurt Wally, Robin would cave. He would give up every secret, every shred of his dignity, all for a chance at saving his friend. Thus, he had to throw away any chance he had of saving Wally before he could take it.
Taking a deep breath, he spoke, "I deleted it. The computer, the hard drive, everything. I corrupted all of the backups, too. You're never getting anything from me." He watched as a bittersweet and terrified smile made its way onto Wally's face and as the kidnapper's expression turned into one of pure fury.
"Furthermore," he continued, forcing the words out of his mouth. "I found the self-destruct feature this facility has. It's voice-activated and I've set it to go off and kill us all at my command. If you hurt him, I swear to god, I'll do it. I'm not bluffing."
"You're gonna regret that, boy."
Strangely, as the crowbar made contact with his ribcage, Robin smiled. Wally was safe now. He could take the punishment himself and Wally would be safe. He tried his best to hold back his screams, but to no avail. Even through the kevlar, he could feel everything. It hurt so much. Every strike tore deeper into his flesh, seeming to shatter every bone in its path. His body was on fire and words and screams fell out of his mouth before he could stop them. His begs and cries seemed almost foreign to him as he felt another crack in his ribs.
-LINEBREAK-
Wally's voice was hoarse from screaming. It seemed to last hours and at some point, his blindfold had fallen off. He nearly puked at the sight in front of him. Robin was bloodied and his skin was torn open in several places. Every horrible crack of the crowbar colliding with his ribs was met with a blood-curdling scream and Wally wanted to feel angry at the man doing this but all he could feel was terrified. Robin could die.
The thought had occurred to him before, but never seriously. Of course, he had worried about him, especially with Robin being so young and fighting crime in Gotham, but he was Robin, the Boy Wonder. Robin doesn't die. And, yet, the sight in front of him told a different story, one that made him want to puke and cry and kill and run and beg and most of all wake up. This had to be a dream, some horrible nightmare. And yet, when he closed his eyes, all he saw was the corpse of his best friend, laying next to a bloody crowbar.
After what felt like years, the kidnapper's phone rang and the bludgeoning stopped. Exchanging some words Wally didn't listen to, the man hung up the phone and turned to Robin.
"I'll be back and, when I am, I hope you've thought long and hard about what you're going to do with the last chance I give you." With that, he left the room and Wally cried out to Robin.
"Rob! Say something!" When he got no response, Wally's panic rose. Biting down hard on his lip, he forced himself to focus, to think. Steeling himself, despite his injuries, he screamed as he vibrated his molecules through the chair in an attempt to density shift. He felt as though he were on fire, every bruise stinging tenfold. After what felt like the billionth attempt, he managed to burn through the ropes enough to free himself. Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay He ran to Dick and pushed two fingers to his neck. He nearly cried tears of relief when he felt a rapid pulse.
"You're gonna be okay, buddy," he soothed as he untied the ropes.
"Walls? 'S that you?"
"It's me, Rob."
"...'m sorry." Wally held back his anger.
"No, Rob, it's me who should be sorry. I should have done something. I should have been there."
"You did... everythin' you could, Walls. 'f you hadn't-" Robin paused to cough up blood. "If you hadn't told me not to, 'm not sure I could have stopped myself from doing what he wanted, prolly killing the entire Justice League." Wally opened his mouth, but closed it when he remembered the psychotic kidnapper that was coming back any second.
"How bad is it?"
"Definitely broke a couple o'ribs. Might 'ave a concussion, too."
"Can you walk?" Robin tried to push himself up from the chair but hissed in pain as he fell, holding his chest.
"I've got you," Wally soothed, slugging one of Robin's arm's over his shoulder, careful not to touch his ribs. Making their way to the door, Wally found it was unlocked. Pushing it open as silently as he could, he whispered in Robin's ear.
"I'm gonna pick you up now, okay? Try not to make any noise." Robin nodded and stifled a whimper that made Wally's heart break as he lifted him bridal style. Peeking around the corner, he saw a long corridor with many doors. He blanched, realizing he had no clue where to go.
"Eighth door 'n the left." Wally looked down to see Robin on his wrist-computer, smirking weakly. "Downloaded the blueprints earlier before I deleted his harddrive."
Kid Flash smiled as they made their way out with Dick's instructions. Wally sped past any guards before they could do anything and winced every time he did so. He knew speeding up was not good for Robin right now, but neither was letting him go any longer without a hospital. Wally had used pieces of his uniform as crude bandages for the worst of Robin's wounds, but that was nowhere near enough to help him. Finally, they made it out of the facility. Wally had never been more relieved to see Mount Justice.
(Author's note: Yeah, I know this doesn't really make sense, but this part would be boring to write and read and there are a lot of questions I don't really want to answer. Consider this a sloppy time skip, I guess? Sorry.)
-TIMESKIP-
Robin awoke in a white room with people around him. He didn't really care to observe more so he went back to sleep.
Robin woke up again in the same place, but this time, someone was upset about… something. Robin vaguely cared, but couldn't bring himself to do anything so he ignored it and slept again.
The third time Robin woke up, he immediately regretted it. His entire body burned and his skull threatened to split in two. He watched his vision go black and felt his mind go blank.
Robin's eyelids fluttered and he awoke to a noise. Rather, a voice, one he couldn't quite place. It sounded familiar and filled him with a sense of warmth. His head hurt when he tried to remember who it was, so he decided to focus on just making out the words. Slowly, they faded in.
"Your school… midterms… don't worry… Bru- Batman… all worked out. Artemis… won't admit… best ice cream. Hey, ya think...Kid Flash and Robin ice cream somewhere?" Wally! That was Wally's voice! Wait, Wally asked him a question. How did he speak again?
"I mean, I know you probably can't hear me, but… it's been a week, ya know? I'm really worried about you. The doctor said you lost a lot of blood and it's statistically unlikely you'll survive. I know she's wrong, but, just… please be okay, Rob. For me?"
He opened his eyes and found Wally by his side in a chair holding his hand. Robin smiled weakly and managed to squeeze it. Wally immediately shot up and their eyes met.
"Rob! You're awake!" Wally beamed and Robin swore there were tears in his eyes. He winced as Wally pulled him in for a hug.
"Right, sorry." Wally pulled away, looking sheepish and clearly trying not to smile. Robin struggled to speak, realizing there was a tube down his throat. A really uncomfortable one, at that. Who made these things?
"Oh, sorry, I'll get that for you! Oh my god wait I'm supposed to do something aren't I? Do you need water? Areyouhungry? ShouldImakeyousomething? 'CauselikeIdon'tusuallycookforpeoplebutItotallycanifyouwant." Wally pulled the tube out of his mouth and helped him into a sitting position as he had a coughing fit. He pushed a cup of water to Robin's lips that he accepted gratefully.
"M'fine, Walls, really. What happened?"
"The doctor said your injuries left your body prone to disease, but you should recover so long as you woke up and don't do any superheroing for a while. You've got a high fever, but you're on some painkillers, so it shouldn't be too bad I hope?"
"M'head hurts a bit, but I've definitely had worse. Are you okay?"
"Dude, I'm fine! It's you you should be worried about!"
"But the baseball bat… and he kicked you really hard… he probably dislocated your jaw, right?"
"I actually got really lucky. It was only bruised. It hurt to talk for a while, which sucked, but I'm pretty much fine now. You, on the other hand… There was so much blood, Rob. I thought you were dead. I thought I killed you." Robin drew in a breath.
"Come on, KF, I'm fine!" The look Wally gave him dried up any words left in his throat. Wally took a deep breath.
"...The doctor said you had broken ribs and lots of blunt force trauma. You had to get a blood transfusion and a ton of surgery. No one would tell me anything, so I had to listen at the door… I was terrified, dude." Wally squeezed his hand tighter as he spoke and Robin felt his heart clench.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. Wally looked him straight in the eye.
"What were you thinking, Rob? You had two options. I don't even know how you added a third!"
"What are you talking about?"
"A bomb, Rob, really?! Why didn't you threaten to set it off if they didn't let us go? Or if they hurt you? Why me?"
"The threat's more effective if I don't ask for too much, so I couldn't ask for both of our release. It would seem like a bluff." Plus, I'm not losing you, no matter what it takes, he thought. Judging by Wally's face, though, he guessed he'd said it out loud. His face slowly turned red and he looked away.
"You're… delirious from the drugs, right? And the fever?"
Still blushing, Robin shook his head. "I'm not. I'm not losing you, Walls. Not now, not ever."
"Well, how do you think I felt?! I had to watch my best friend get tortured and possibly die. I couldn't do anything. I felt so… useless." A moment passed and Robin did his best to swallow his guilt.
"Wally, look at me." When he continued to stare at the floor, Robin reached out the best he could with his injuries and tilted Wally's face to meet his. "I don't blame you. No one does because it wasn't your fault. In fact, you can't even really call it mine. Neither of us asked to be kidnapped, but it comes with the job. Not exactly whelming, but we deal with it and, hey, look, we're alive. And we're going to stay that way. I'll make sure of it." Wally simply nodded and squeezed Robin's hand again.
-TIMESKIP-
"Alright, Robin needs his rest and so do you, Wally. You can see him in the morning." The doctor ushered a very reluctant Wally off and went to check Robin's vitals. As Wally begrudgingly shut the door behind him, she let out a quiet giggle that confused Robin more than anything.
"What's so funny?" To his surprise, the doctor smiled warmly at him.
"You have a very devoted friend. Or… boyfriend?" Robin's face turned red. Normally, he would have found it funny, but if the doctor was under the impression he and Wally were dating, it wasn't unlikely she'd mentioned it to Bruce and...
"Where'd you get that?!"
"I mean, you were just holding hands a second ago."
"I was dying!"
"Either way, you guys really are something. We made him go to school and sleep at home, but he spent all the time he could here with you. He talked to you about his day and joked as if you could hear him. He even yelled at me when I said you might not survive, insisting I was wrong. You're really lucky to have him."
Robin smiled, eyeing the candy bar Wally had left for him.
"Yeah, I am."
-BREAKLINE-
Hope you enjoyed! I'd really appreciate it if you left a review so I can hear what you think. Thanks for reading! 3