I: Insignia

Criminals alike had been gathered efficiently since the start of the new year, with cases that appeared less severe than others. Enough time to conspire, was the worry of Aqualad. Prison breaks from Belle Reve were rare—but not uncommon. Amanda Waller recently retook the chair as head of the department, knocking Hugo Strange off his pedestal to lick his wounds. One week ago, a truck transporting villains was mysteriously knocked over into the nearby swamp and robbed of their villains.

Beta's job was to formally escort another truck holding Cameron Makhent ("Icicle Jr."), Laura De Mille ("Madame Rouge"), Tommy and Tuppence Terror ("The Terror Twins") and a girl named Jinx. The previous robbery resulted in only two of the villains captured: Mammoth and Glimmer; two ex-operatives of the Light. Others were left either to escape or be rounded up by the guards. Once Beta peacefully (warily) escorted the truck of criminals to Belle Reve, they were to give the swamp a proper inspection.

As of at the moment, their team consisted of Tigress, Robin, Miss Martian, Superboy, Static, and Bart himself—Kid Flash. Aqualad wanted as many experienced powerhouses on the team he could have—the senior members, Robin for tracking, Kid Flash for rounding, and Static to reinforce the shocks of the inhibitor collars as needed. Superboy, Robin, and Kid Flash surrounded the truck on bikes. Miss Martian flew camo-mode, and Tigress and Static monitored from inside.

'What happened?' Bart asked through the mind link, head cocking up as he heard a painful grunt. He arched an eyebrow beneath his helmet and looked over to Robin, who smirked. There was a surge of irritation that flew through the link, definitely from Tigress.

'Punched Icicle Jr. in the gut,' Artemis grumbled. 'I swear if he hits on me again, he's losing an arm.'

Bart frowned protectively, hands gripping the handle bars with nervousness. 'I'll make sure of it then.'

In the corner of his mind, there was a definitive laugh that teemed from Static. Virgil's amusement flowed through the link, followed by a solid 'ow' that probably meant Tigress elbowed him. 'I'm just saying—that was pretty cool, man.'

From above, there was a positive giggle that came from Miss Martian. She wasn't easily seen—not when it was already this dark outside. There was still thirty minutes of travelling on rickety roads before they would reach their destination. Once that had been explained, Bart tried his best not to die of boredom. Their starting point had been specifically two hours ago—with no attack, no ambitious. The path they had turned away from industrialized roads into a gravel one that went across forest land and water. Far away, so Belle Reve was not touchable by stragglers.

Kid Flash broke out of his ministrations and looked away when the engine of another bike spike toward him. Robin smiled at the corner of his eye.

Even under the visor and his mask, Tim managed to arch an eyebrow of concern. He drove close enough that they were in hearing distance. "You okay?"

"Yeah? Fine." Bart frowned. "Why?"

Quickly the Boy Wonder looked over his shoulder, where Superboy had been designated to watch the truck from the back. He managed to steer perfectly without bumping into anything—then looked over again. "You haven't complained once about having to take this long to get somewhere. And…that crack with Artemis?"

Blink. "I…needed the thinking room." The younger teen shrugged jerkily and bit the inside of his mouth. He squeezed the handle bars tightly and felt the machine hum beneath him. "Artemis…told me that tonight, after the mission's over, she's…uh. She's going on a date with Kaldur."

"Oh," was Tim's immediate reply. His tone dropped in surprise, then looked back up. "To see if you were okay with it?"

"Yeah. Well—I mean, it's just a date. Why wouldn't I be?" Kid Flash averted his eyes and looked at the statistics on his machine. He swallowed hard, bit the inside of his mouth, and hiked on his seat, even if it was dangerous. "It's…been a year already." Since Wally died. "I don't have jurisdiction on whom she can and can't date."

"Jurisdiction?"

"Noun. The official power to make legal decisions and judgments."

"I know that."

"'Course you do." Bart cocked his head hesitantly and scanned the wary teenager. His eyebrows furrowed together and he reached to brush the hair out of his face—before remembering he was wearing a helmet.

Robin's smile softened. "For what it's worth, you've made a good Kid Flash."

"Thanks." Twitch. The speedster pivoted on his seat and dug his feet into the pedals. Robin gave him a look—one that managed to calm him down since before. "And I mean—you're right. Like, sheesh, we've been driving for two freaking hours now—and you'd think that we'd run into a fast food restaurant somewhere in the middle of the swamp-lake thing, because those things chain. And like, chain a lot, man. Did you know they make McDonalds on cliffs now? Because that has to violate at least four safety codes, y'know?"

"I know," Robin responded. His demeanor remained placid before he turned his head back to watch their route.

Bart did the same, silently watching the other teen from the corner of his eye. After that, the mood of the mission seemed to shift back to the mission at hand.

'How are the villains reacting? Static? Tigress?' Miss Martian's voice went through all of them.

'No one is acknowledging one another. Other than Junior, who is seriously about to lose an arm.' Artemis's scowl could be felt through all of them. 'We're arriving at Belle Reve soon. So far no activity.'

'The swamp sight where the last transportation vehicle toppled over is coming up. Looks like no one bothered to go fishing and pull it out.' Robin cocked his head. In the grassy marshes, bits and pieces of metal floated across the swamp like an odd pathway. The broken down truck had clearly been forced open, with its door tossed at the other end of the swamp. Their current mode load of villains passed over a cement bridge, which linked their road to Belle Reve. The Boy Wonder steered left, then halted at the edge of the marsh. 'Permission to stop and inspect?'

'Permission granted. Robin, Superboy, and Kid Flash stop at the bridge to retrieve the automobile. Megan, keep flight above. Virgil and I will escort the criminals personally to the authorities.'

'Roger.'

All three boys spared a look before stopping at the edge of the swamp. Finally, Kid Flash dismounted from the bike and drew pleasure from finally being able to stretch his legs. He pulled the helmet off his head and joined the pair at the edge.

Superboy splashed into the marsh in order to retrieve the vehicle. Robin ducked down to examine the coastline. The speedster ducked down with him, if only to be helpful. "What's the verdict?"

The Boy Wonder shook his head thoughtfully, eyebrows wrinkling together. "No memorable footsteps, no dropped item as a lead. It's been a week since the last attack—a lot of evidence may have been lost since Aqualad was waiting for this mission to go under cover."

"Most of the vehicle is basically covered in moss now." Superboy hauled the truck onto land, wrinkling is nose as he was covered in green vegetation from the feet up to his stomach. "But you can tell the door was forced open. By an explosion, from the looks of it."

"Can't be." Tim frowned, looking over to the remnants of a metal death trap. He ran his fingers along the crooked lines at the end of the truck. "Explosions would imply gunpowder. Nitric oxide—something."

"Uh…dude?" Both Superboy and Kid Flash blinked.

Robin propped himself into the inside of the truck, the holocomp appearing in front of him. "The direction of the dent of the door would also imply an external force."

"So…?" Conner frowned, picking up the said door lithely in one hand.

The dark haired teen popped his head out and shook his head. "No man-made bomb. No tools. Not an explosion I know about."

'M'gann. Anything on your end?' The senior member crossed his arms and looked between both boys doubtfully.

'Nothing. No attempt at kidnapping the villains.' Miss Martian's voice echoed in their heads. 'We're at check out. The guards described the miscreant as…a yellow blur?'

'Yellow blur?'

'Looking at security footage now. The guy's hard to catch on camera.' Virgil spoke next. 'So…yeah. Yellow blur. Kind of freaky, too.'

"So the mission's a bust." Kid Flash cut all of them off and crossed his arms in frustration. Both Superboy and Robin looked to him in surprise, and the brunet could only shrug. "We get here, got rid of the villains, and can't even find evidence for who stole the previous set last time. No information to bring in."

"We'll bring the vehicle in for further investigation by Batman and the League." Superboy curled his hands into fists and shook his head. "Breaking out of Belle Reve is a serious problem. Breaking in—even more. And people intercepting—"

"Is bad," both Robin and Kid Flash said in unison. The pair looked at each other, expressions mimicked. No doubt Tim was feeling the mode from not being able to figure out the case, too. This only added to Bart's frustration with Artemis's plans after the mission.

'If that's all we're here for,' their leader announced quietly in their heads, 'then we can still consider the mission a success. Safely transporting villains to Belle Reve without—'

A humming of energy suddenly caught Bart's attention. He cocked his head to the side—suddenly feeling the hairs on his arms stand erect. Which—it shouldn't have, given he was mostly covered from head to toe. Green eyes darted back and forth—and the heavy rise-and-fall of a pair of feet struck his ears.

"You guys feel that?" Bart swallowed hard.

"Feel it?" Superboy frowned. The senior member of their trio's eyes darted to the left, and he grimaced. "I can hear it—"

WOOSH

Yellow Blur was right.

Bart felt the air disappear from his lungs instantaneously. Through the trees burst another figure too fast for any of them to see—who sliced through the grass and marshes, knocked them to the ground, and circled the swamp. In a matter of seconds, a cyclone of muddied water surrounded the holding facility until it was forty feet high—and shot through the air.

"Look out!" Superboy shouted over the whir of energy, just as Kid Flash hollered, "TIDAL WAVE!"

Water exploded above and collapsed above them. The tall meta grabbed both teens and torpedoed out of the area, ducking under one of the trees. Water splashed onto the ground like giant fireworks—and all Bart and Tim could do was hide under Superboy's arms as shallower water splashed them head to toe until they were sopping wet.

The brunet gasped for air and scaled up the bigger hero until he could reach a branch, then pulled Robin and Superboy up with him. They climbed the tree until the water receded back into the swamp—then watched the yellow blur shoot into Belle Reve.

No way. Bart choked on swamp water.

Robin twitched, arms tight over the tree trunk. "Was that a—"

"Speedster," Conner completed, shaking the water out of his hair with a grimace.

"Looks like my time to shine then." Zip! Bart pulled the goggles over his head, staring off at the trail the yellow blur had made in shock, and squeezed the mud out of his hair. He jumped onto the ground and landed on his feet, then sprinted across the length of the cement bridge, his mind whirling in disbelief. Behind him, both Superboy and Robin demanded that he stopped—something he was actually really bad at.

'Robin to Tigress: looks like we've found the source to that Yellow Blur.'

"What the—"

Bart was in the room in a matter of seconds. He may have been caught off guard by the sudden attack from Mister Yelow Blur guy, but following the path behind him was no problem. Wind whistled at his ears and his eyes darted around in surprise. The yellow blur knocked Miss Martian over—a kick to the stomach and then a knee to the jaw. The security guard was lifted up in the air—and thrown into the ground.

'Tigress to Robin, it's—speedster?'

'TIGRESS!'

Nousenousegottathinkfaster. Bart's throat dried. He saw the quick hits to trip Artemis. She drew a sword in order to combat the Blur—and was lifted up into the air. Static picked up a nearby metal object and flung it at the blur—and for a moment, Bart could actually see him.

A man who looked like the Flash.

Kid Flash nearly ran into a wall out of shock when he finally entered the room. The Blur was a man—one that had to be in his twenties, at least, in a lightning yellow suit that whirred with electricity and blood red wing-tipped ears and even bloodier boots. On his chest was the Flash Family insignia—dead black, and a crimson lightning bolt that made Bart sick to his stomach

"Grandpa?" Bart called out instantly, eyes widening. He skidded to a halt.

Suddenly the man's gaze snapped over, making him wince. A terrible smirk curled across the Blur's face and—no, definitely not Grandpa. And—

"LET GO OF HER!" Bart snapped back into hero made and charged toward the pair. From the corner of his eye, Tigress gasped for air before whipping out a TASER—which she never had the chance to use. The Man in Yellow plucked something out of her utility belt and flung her across the room.

"This is not cool," Virgil shouted. He charged a metal container and threw it toward the man.

Who definitely had more gymnastic training than the younger speedster could give him credit for. The Yellow Blur grab a hold of the metal container and stood perfectly still in the middle of the arena. A grin carved across the Yellow Blur's face and he flung it back. Virgil dodged, taking flight in the air above him with a metal disk beneath his feet.

Bart rushed over to Tigress's side as Miss Martian helped her to her feet. Artemis groaned, rubbing her head out of pain and looked to him warily. "Friend of yours?"

"If he is, I've got a lousy taste in friends," Bart spat back. He scowled. "You okay?"

"Knocked out of the battle, not for the count." Artemis scowled beneath her mask and whipped out a bolas. "You learn a few things after dating a speedster for five years." 'New Battle Plan. Megan, read his mind.'

Miss Martian took flight in the air next to Virgil and forced the Yellow Blur into the air. Her eyes glowed green, red eyebrows scrunched together and—'No good. Lots of…mental blocks. Psimon's doing, I think. Got a name though—Zoom. Looks like he's planning on taking them to…Deathstroke?'

'Deathstroke?' "Not if I have anything to say about that." Artemis whirled the bolas in her hands.

A smirk etched across Zoom's face—so wide, even Bart could see from the ground. He curled his first two fingers into an anchor, mimicking a come-hither gesture toward Miss Martian—then made kissy noises.

Okay. Ew.

'Megan—' Tigress whipped out an inhibitor collar and flung it through the air. It floated into Miss Martian's range of telekinesis, with the discomfort almost as obvious as Tigress's hate for Junior. No traction under his feet meant that Zoom couldn't move.

'Nice job,' Virgil grinned.

"You've been giving the league a lot of trouble," Miss Martian pointed out. Her eyes narrowed to Zoom—who only grinned.

Suddenly the yellow speedster whirled his body, hands rotating in twin axels. Duplicate cyclones appeared in their place and hit Miss Martian square in the face. Falling backward in the air, she cried out in pain while Zoom mimicked the actions to land on his feet.

"Hey! You're not the only one that can spin tornadoes, buddy." Bart dashed straight back into the line of fire and pivoted on his feet until he spun like a top. From the corner of his eye he could see Zoom stare back—lucid, with his lips turned into a straight line. The Yellow Blur mimicked his motions, spinning counter clockwise toward the younger speedster.

They collided straight into each other. Pain struck the brunet straight in the jaw like he'd been knocked over by a wrecking ball. He upped his speed with a grunt, driving against the man in yellow, and attempted to deliver the punch to stop his rotation. Up close, he saw the oblique white opaque lenses of the man's costume, followed by the sickening stormy yellow of his suit. Zoom sneered at him and rammed a foot into his revolution.

"Ah!" Falling to the ground, Bart smashed head first into the floor before Tigress jumped over him.

"You don't actually think you're going to get away with this, do you?" She jutted an elbow into Zoom's stomach and reached to kick his jaw. Zoom scowled, grabbing her by the arm, and clenched her throat between her hands. She whipped out a crossbow from nowhere and pressed it to his abdomen. A smirk curled across Artemis's face. "I've got you."

Zoom tutted. He wagged his finger—and before she could pull the trigger, he speedily grabbed the crossbow from her fingers and flung it across the sky.

"Artemis!" Virgil rocketed through the sky, fingers crackling electricity through the air. He zapped shots toward the sketchy speedster.

The Yellow Blur tripped Artemis ,kicked her out of the way, and dodged each shot. He rushed toward the fallen villains, whipped out the key that had been stolen from Tigress earlier, and ran straight toward Icicle Jr.

Junior frightened easily, eyebrows twitching. "You here to help us or kill us?"

The yellow blur looked back, the smirk carved across his face, and unlocked the handcuffs around his hands with ease. He did the same with the Terror Twins and Jinx—just them—and whipped out another device.

"He's got a boom tube!" someone shouted in the air.

Groaning in pain, Bart immediately pushed to his feet and looked into their surroundings in confusion. Miss Martian had been slammed into the wall—with Tigress joining her. Superboy and Robin rushed into the scene, quickly gathering toward their fallen comrades while Static darted toward the man.

No way. The young speedster jumped to his feet and darted toward Zoom just as he finished uncuffing the last of the villains. Zoom brought the boom tube to his mouth and muttered a destination.

Red and yellow energy burst in mid-space and hissed violently in the room. It took form of an entrance, six-feet high and six-feet wide in a perfect circle. The Yellow Blur jabbed a hand at the portal with a menacing smirk across his face.

"No!" Kid Flash jumped the man, lunging toward him with vivacity. He wrapped arms into a chokehold around the man's neck and dug the back of his heels into the bigger speedster's abdomen. Zoom toppled forward three steps—but it didn't stop the freed criminals from stepping through the portal. It closed promptly right after Jinx stepped inside, and the Father box fell to the ground before smashing between their feet. "Now you can't escape!"

"Kid Flash! Get down!"

Three birdarangs were thrown in their direction. Zoom turned into the line of fire, and—SNIP. SNIP. SNIP.—all three of them dug into the man's leg. Bart could feel the man take a moment to register the blades in his leg—before swirling to throw Bart off of him, and vibrating each wing out of his leg.

"Ah!" Bart coiled, tumbling three yards away from his previous sight. Zoom, on the other hand, vibrated through a wall and out of Belle Reve.

The entire structure of the wall trembled. Robin ran the length of the room to collect the team's speedster, eyes narrowed unflatteringly under the mask. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Bart breathed. He clutched his head, which now throbbed in pain from a hit to the floor. His gaze darted to the wall and the entire prison quaked. "But I don't think—Look out!"

BOOOOM

The wall that Zoom had run through exploded, with plaster and metal structures shot in every direction. Kid Flash dragged himself out of the line of fire, scooping Tim as he did so. Beta stood to their feet, alert and aware with their eyes widened in shock.

'STATIC, MISS MARTIAN!'

Before the explosion could kill them, both Virgil and Megan flew in. Virgil secured the metal binds with his powers, and Megan forced the explosion down with telekinesis. The wall was quickly reconstructed with a force field to secure it, and the lingering members of the team stood at the other end of the entrance. Kid Flash let Robin fall to the ground carefully and they watched the impact lessen. Fire alarms sounded, with sprinklers following and showering the fire that had appeared.

"No gunpowder, no chemicals," Robin said. He secured a hand on Kid Flash's shoulder, voice full of surprise.

Bart's jaw tightened. He turned to Artemis, hands curling into fists. "You guys got things from here?"

Tigress nodded. "Yeah—"

"Good." ZIP!

Bart charged straight after the other speedster, vibrating out of the wall that Miss Martian and Static were in the middle of painfully reconstructing. He kicked up his speed as fast as he could go and felt the energy coil in his belly as he darted across the cement bridge. First—he skidded to a halt, looking in every direction in effort to find the direction Zoom had bulleted through.

Explosions could be heard in the nearby forest.

Looking up, Bart was met with the sight of trees collapsing in the adjoined forest before exploding. Birds shrieked, flying into the sky and out of the battlefield out of fear, followed by other animals.

Weird. He darted after the speedster, the tension tight in his stomach, and rebounded through the forest.

Flash's words went through his head—always keep the goggles on. For debris—and for thermal heat signatures. Bart's heart throbbed in his chest as he found Zoom, running nearly half a mile ahead of him. The brunet darted forward, bringing his speed to a peak until Zoom and he were in breathing distance. His lips curled into a smirk.

"HEY!" He shouted—and immediately, the Yellow Blur looked back. An identical grin carved across his face, causing chills to bristle beneath Kid Flash's suit. He sucked in a breath and trudged forward faster, with the electricity tightening at his ankles. "I bet you think you're pretty sweet, don't you? Running straight to Belle Reve—my personal favorite hobby, knocking down all of my friends, kidnapping our super villains for who knows what and nearly causing the building to explode, huh? I'll tell you what—" Kid Flash's smile darkened, eyes narrowing to a glower. "Not. Crash."

"Heh." Zoom cocked his head to the side, with a smirk stretched across his face from cheek-to-cheek. Bart squirmed, feeling the wind slap his face from the adrenaline and pick-up of debris. They high-tailed it out of Louisiana—straight through Texas—New Mexico—California, and ran even faster.

Yeah—this guy could definitely keep up. Bart's face scrunched. He maneuvered his foot in effort to trip the man and slow him down. Zoom jumped and gripped him by the arm.

"What—"

And smirked. The Yellow Blur upped his speed even higher, knocking Bart off his feet and causing him to drag the younger speedster along the ground with him. Kid Flash shouted in surprise, then yanked himself up from the ground. He shimmied onto the man's back and dug a fist into his throat.

Zoom made no noise, and instead stopped abruptly. He threw the speedster over his body, causing Bart to skid across the open street of Star City and slam into a car door.

Kid Flash let out a cry of pain, recoiled, and clutched his aching shoulder. He cocked his head up with a scowl on his face. Pain shot through his arm and pounded at his head, with blood dripping down the side of his face. Zoom, on the other hand, stood tall and firm.

Nearby people shrieked in fear and ran. The teen could hardly care.

The aches stabbed his arm from when Zoom had grabbed him—and he felt the strain whine at his feet. "Y-You must be pretty tough," he stammered, and he trembled at his feet. "Don't think I've ever had to fight a speedster before. Usually we're pretty chill—pretty awesome. Crash. You know—speedsters are pretty cool that way."

A chill ran up his spine as Zoom smirked. Suddenly the man blurred—he shot down the street quickly, then jutted an arm at the younger speedster. Bart ducked and hissed—Zoom's hand vibrated straight through the glass window—whichifitwasanythingliketheB elleRevewall—

Ohcrap.

"GETOUTOFTHEWAY!" Bart's hands phased through the door—if he could match the frequency.

Zoom smashed the brunet's head into a side-view mirror. Shards lodged themselves into Bart's forehead, and he shouted weakly before falling face-first into the ground. Every part of the young speedster's body went limp, and he shivered, hands burying into gravel.

The Yellow Blur turned him over. Green eyes gazed upward into opaque lenses, blood accumulating at the back of the speedster's throat. A smirk coiled across Zoom's face, no sweeter than the last. He reached out with a golden glove, with two fingers that touched the blood oozing out of brunet hair, and smeared it against the flesh of Bart's face.

Kid Flash choked. He looked through hazed vision to the leer above him.

Zoom raised a hand and vibrated it straight through Kid Flash's chest.

xxx