It's Wally-centric with plenty of angst. Mild romances include mostly Lantern/Shayera, but also Green Arrow/Black Canary and implied Batman/Wonder Woman.
WARNING: This story is post 'Divided We Fall', and there are plenty of references made to it. As well, it is rated for suicide.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except Grimm, this plot and my socks…Hey-Wait a minute…These aren't my socks…
CHAPTER ONE: INITIATION
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Elongated Man whispered as he and Flash approached what appeared to be an abandoned temple.
"That's what J'onn said," Flash replied edgily. The place had a very creepy vibe to it. Not that he would ever admit he was scared.
Wally West had jumped at the chance of a mission. Ever since the Brainiac/Luthor attack two weeks ago, he had noticed a steady decline in his assignments. He had been worried that his almost dying had convinced the team of his inexperience and inability to control his powers. When J'onn mentioned a mission to track Volcana, Flash had seen it as a chance to prove himself to them.
Volcana, for her part, had chosen a rather eerie place for a showdown. According to J'onn, she was attempting to steal an enormous sacred ruby from a temple in the outskirts of a remote African village. The entire place looked like it hadn't been visited in decades.
Flash led the way as the two men cautiously entered the abandoned temple. The walls were lined with vines and spider webs, and the floor, which had once been stone, was covered with dust and dirt. Perhaps the creepiest elements were the skeletons that littered the hall, each having apparently died a gruesome death within the walls.
It was so dark that Flash failed to see the crack in the floor. He tripped and fell forward, grabbing the wall for support.
"Watch it, Flash!" Elongated Man reprimanded, helping his friend to regain his balance. "There are probably booby-traps all over the place!"
Flash snorted, and was about to reply that Ralph was sounding like a character in an Indiana Jones movie, but he never got the chance. At that moment, they spotted Volcana heading towards them, ruby in hand.
Flash was immediately on his guard. "You distract her, and I'll grab the ruby," he said just loudly enough for his friend to hear.
Elongated Man just barely managed to dodge a flame blast from the villainess.
"Easier said than done," He muttered under his breath.
"You did what?"
J'onn Jonzz stared calmly into the angry face of Superman. When he replied, there was no trace of hurt or anger in his voice.
"I sent Flash on a mission to capture Volcana" He repeated, his eyes never wavering. This seemed to upset Superman even more.
"How could you send him on such a dangerous mission alone?"
J'onn raised an eyebrow. "Elongated Man is with him. I did not feel they required further assistance. Flash is a founding member, after all."
Superman's eyebrows snapped together in an angry line. "A founding member who almost died less than two weeks ago. What if he tries to go that fast again? You should have sent another founding member with them."
"Flash volunteered for the assignment. He knows where his limits are. And he has seen far more danger on previous missions."
Superman knew he was beaten. There were no logical reasons to keep Wally from fighting. But he and some of the others were still worried about Flash. They had almost lost him, and they weren't eager to risk that again.
J'onn knew Superman's intentions were good. He offered him a small smile before turning back to his controls. He too was worried about the Scarlet Speedster, but he realised that keeping Flash off of missions would only result in angering him. Wally would just accuse the League of babying him. It was far better to let him go-with the proper supervision of course.
He pressed the button to open com-link with Flash.
"Flash? Have you located Volcana?"
Flash was busy dodging fire blasts when he heard J'onn in his earpiece.
"Ten-four, buddy!" He quipped happily. Even in the most serious of times, he never lost his sense of humour. "We're fighting with ol' flame-hair now. Don't worry, we'll get the ruby back!"
Seemingly satisfied with the answer, J'onn replied, "Understood. Watchtower, out."
Wally surveyed the scene around him. Elongated Man was busy evading Volcana's blasts in an attempt to distract her from Flash's movements.
"It's worthless to try and stop me," she gloated, smiling cruelly. "I've got the two of you beat. It's sad that the League sent its two most pathetic members to take me down."
Flash narrowed his eyes. He was not pathetic! He gallantly rushed forward through the narrow hall. Unbeknownst to him, he triggered one of the booby-traps Elongated Man had warned him about. Immediately, holes in the walls opened up and arrows began shooting at the three super powered humans.
Volcana retreated out of range of the arrows. The heroes were not as lucky. As Elongated Man stretched his body to its limit to avoid the seemingly endless attack of arrows, Flash dodged for all he was worth. Ralph soon made it safely across, and resumed his fight with Volcana.
Flash was within inches of safety when a lone fireball came hurtling towards his head. Ducking it with ease, he did not notice an arrow headed directly for his chest until it was mere inches away. He threw his upper body to the side, allowing the arrow to pass him, but not before it grazed his right upper-arm.
Wally stopped and grabbed his arm, which was now bleeding lightly through the cut in his uniform. It stung, but he told himself to suck it up. He was a superhero after all.
"If you're done messing around, Flash?" Elongated Man's voice shook Flash out of his reverie. He looked up to where his friend was and saw that Ralph had beaten Volcana and stretched his body around her to keep her from escaping. He was smiling smugly, and holding the ruby in his hands.
"Why don't you put this back where it belongs, and I'll take her outside," suggested Elongated Man, stretching himself further to hand the ruby to Wally. Wally nodded glumly and raced off to put the ruby in its rightful place.
"I heard you took down Volcana all by yourself, Ralphie," Kara smiled as she greeted the two heroes. They had just arrived back at the Watchtower and had been greeted by many of their impressed friends.
Ralph smiled at Supergirl, walking next to her as Wally trailed behind them.
"Not all by myself," He replied happily. "Wally was there, too. Weren't you, Wally?"
Both he and Supergirl turned to face their friend who was looking very peeved with himself and absently nursing his right arm.
Kara frowned in confusion. "Are you okay, Flash?" She asked, moving closer to inspect the arm he was rubbing.
Flash pulled away from her and immediately flashed his trademark grin.
"I'm fine. You shoulda seen Dibny here go after Volcana. It was awesome!" He praised, willing to give credit where credit was due. He backed away from his friends, hiding his arm from view. "I'm gonna go wash all the gunk off my costume. Catch you guys later!"
With that, he zoomed off to his quarters. He had not been lying. His costume, like Elongated Man's, was a mess. It was covered in dirt, grime and the occasional scorch mark. But that wasn't his main concern.
Once inside, he immediately removed his uniform in order to get a better look at his arm. The wound was not very deep, but it stretched across his bicep to form what he was certain would be one heck of a scar.
It had all but stopped bleeding now, and stung very little. He had been lucky. As he treated the wound, he silently berated himself for being so slow.
The Watchtower was now equipped with a state-of-the-art Med bay, complete with highly trained doctors and medics. But Flash would certainly not resort to having them patch up his wound, no matter what the protocol was. It was bad enough that he had failed to capture Volcana himself and thus restore the League's confidence in him, but he had also managed to put himself and his teammate in danger.
"What kind of idiot sets off a booby-trap?" He wondered angrily. On top of it all, he had managed to hurt himself, something that would never have happened to the others. What good was being the fastest man alive if you couldn't even dodge arrows properly?
Flash winced slightly as he wrapped a bandage around his arm. As soon as it was tight enough, he set to work on mending the tear in his gear.
A minute later, he was dressed in his sparkling clean costume. He adjusted it in the mirror until he was certain the bandages could not be seen under the skin-tight uniform.
He then plastered a smile on his face and left his room. The day was still young, and there was plenty of time to beat Green Arrow in a game of Brawlin'-Bots.
Okay, hope you liked the first chap! The story really starts in chapter two. I'll post it in a few days. If I get a lot of response, I may post it sooner. Who knows?
Anyway, read and REVIEW!
Keep Smiling! ;)
rogueandkurt