Published: June 27, 2015

Title: A Dark Speedster: 74X-2D89
Chapter Ten: Talking and Reading
Word Count: 4,152
Summary: Wally West doesn't have a great family life much to contrary belief. All his mother wants is for a normal family. His father blames him for everything wrong. In all honestly, though, he's dealing with. However, sometimes it's just too much. This night is father is hitting harder than ever and Wally is actually afraid. He runs to his friend's city but getting in contact with the bird is harder than normal. For there Everything goes down hill. A few days later, Wally wakes up in a hospital.

Recap: Rachael isn't giving up on finding out the truth even if Alfred is turning away all her phone calls. She's sough out Dr. Harris but she's not the only one. Bronze Tiger, the hired gun, is also on Wally's trail. Linda, a friend of Wally's, stopped by Iris' home to drop off Wally's schoolwork. Neither of them have given up on Wally coming back. King has assigned the team a mission.

November 13th
Wayne Manor, Gotham City

Rachael had tried calling both the Wayne manner and Wayne Tech. but to no avail. She was growing annoyed. There were no other leads, nothing else to figure out until she talked to Bruce Wayne or Richard Greyson. She had been stuck for days and she was growing desperate.

This had become an obsession for the reporter. But she knew it would be worth it. This story was a big one – it had to be. She was wagering her entire career on it.

Which is exactly why, she was now standing on the steps of Wayne Manor waiting for the door to open up with all of its secrets shown to her. A moment after ringing the door bell, the door opened. An older gentleman stood before the reporter. He eyed her appearance which she knows isn't her best. She had more flyaways than she could count and even with her makeup she hadn't been able to hide the bags underneath her eyes. It was cold but she was not dressed for it with a simple blouse and pants; she hugged her files to her chest worried they'd slip away and all of these long nights were for nothing.

"How can I help you, miss…" It was almost déjà vu, except that this greeting had no ill intent.

Rachael shifted her files and her weight to her other side then threw out her good hand. "Gonzales, Rachael Gonzales." The man shook her hand in greeting but she didn't give him to time to introduce himself as she quickly continued. "I'm a reporter with LM Magazine and I've called several times but – "

Recognition came over the man's face and she realizes that this must be the same man that she spoke on the phone with all those attempts. Pennyworth? Al…Alfred, yes that was right. He doesn't open the door wider and Rachael knows what he's going to say before he starts talking, interrupting her.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Gonzales, but Master Wayne is not doing any interviews today nor is Master Greyson."

No, she was not having this. She had come too far to wait. As Alfred made to shut the door, Rachael shot her hand out against the wooden door pushing back against the older man. "I know about Wally."

Alfred froze. Literally, froze. His eyes went wide and he looked like he stopped breathing. Rachael was suddenly worried that the man was having a stroke and was about to call out for help when he swung the door open and waved her in, "Please, come in."

She followed him inside the impressive manor and he gestured to a sitting room off to their left. "Wait there and I'll return with Master Wayne shortly." He left then, without looking back.

Rachael's full weigh fell onto the love seat as she took a seat inside the nicely done up room. She was too tired to register the wealth and comfort that surrounded her. The only thing that crossed her mind was how this was it.

Soon, she would have all the answers.

xxxxxx

November 13th
Mark Shaw's Private Eye Detective Services, Chicago, Illinois

King's team had already been to the man's home. There was little there giving the impression that Mark Shaw wasn't home often. Still, SR3 had them gather any and all documents as well as instructed 96P to sweep the place for anything magical. Nothing was present but 96P's sweep did turn up magical residue. Something 74X was unfamiliar with but apparently proved that at one point there had been a magical artifact present in the home. 96P hypothesized that the artifact had been gone for about the same time Shaw had been from his home leaving the team to conclude that the artifact was in Shaw's possession.

They were now standing on the roof of the building housing Shaw's private eye agency. It was a four story building, not the tallest on the block nor the shortest. Red brick blended the building to the rest of the block but Shaw's silver worked sign was prominently hung outside above that of the other tenet's businesses – a tax agency and a bill bonds organization. The top floor of the building was vacant.

It was late; the sun was setting allowing the team to see that the only lights on in the building came from Shaw's office and the entry hall down stairs.

"Remember the plan." SR3 reminded the group. His tone stern as he moved forward towards the fire escape. 96P followed close behind. The two would wait there until the signal was given to come in by the other three who were already opening up the ventilation shaft. They were leaner than the others and could more quickly in the vents – which they had studied a map of beforehand. 74X guessed that even without the blueprints of the building it wouldn't be hard to navigate the building.

74X followed behind the girls, being the quickest meant if he needed to he could get to the front from the back without the same hassle as the other two. JQK lead the group, easing them through the building quietly without detection.

There wasn't a security system for the building but there was one for Shaw's floor. XYZ took care of that deactivating the device. 74X wasn't sure if the girl used her powers or not but he supposed it worked all the same, though he had to admit he was growing impatient.

Once the alarm system was off the girls took point on either side of the door, 74X stood off to the side not against the wall as he radioed their leader. The trio took a breath, counted to three and then 74X kicked in the door just as the others came in through the fire escape.

Shaw's office was two rooms – the actually office and then a separate room for all his files. Shaw was in his office, at his desk when the trio entered. He looked up surprised but by then, 74X was already beside him. The redhead pulls the older man's chair away from the desk and he spun it. Shaw grabbed the armrests trying not to fall from the momentum. 74X can't stop the smile on his lips as he stopped the chair and the man lurched forward. The girls were at his side, JQK with rope in her hands. Without a word, she quickly went to work tying the man's hands together and then his feet while he was still dazed from the frantic spinning.

Shaw caught on quickly and started to struggle against the bonds, but XYZ held out a hand pressing an individual weight to the man stopping his movement as the other two separated. 74X started searching the room while JQK went to work dismantling Shaw's computer. They could hear SR3 and 96P in the other room already searching for the files King wanted.

"D-do you know w-who you're messing with?" Shaw has to work hard to speak – the individual weight heavy on his muscles. It doesn't help that his voice is raw from years of smoking. 74X freezes from his spot on the floor next to the desk. He was going through the draws when the man spoke…he knew that voice. Knew it before. It was gravely and Shaw hissed on his S's. He had heard it before.

He was right. He did know Shaw. He must have worked with him, must have hurt people.

74X bit his lip, his knuckles going white as XYZ takes point.

"And who are we messing with, Shaw?" The small girl asks innocently as if she wasn't pinning him to his chair, as if her comrades weren't going through his belongings.

Shaw grimaced before speaking again in that same ruined voice, "The galactic police force. The true keepers of peace."

74X twisted, looking back at the man. Police force? Peace? What was he talking about? Did that mean Shaw wasn't a bad guy? But why would King send them after him if he was a good guy? Everything in 74X tells the redhead that King is the good guy. King was one that took him from Harris, trained him, made him better and allowed him to better himself. King allowed him be a hero.

More importantly, every fiber, every molecular in 74X was screaming that Mark Shaw was wrong. That what he did was not keep peace. That voice belonged to a very bad man.

XYZ arched an eyebrow in disbelief at the guy before shaking her head not giving the man a response to such words. JQK slipped the computer's hard drive into her satchel before walking over to the bound man where she began to search Shaw's person. 96P had suggested that the artifact he had sensed at Shaw's home might still be on him.

She was searching pants' pockets when SR3 and the 96P joined him, their bags filled with manila envelopes. 96P went to the blond girl's side before he reached out and pulled open the man's jacket. Ripping the seams, he found a hidden compartment and a talisman which he gingerly placed into a separate pocket on his bag.

Shaw had watched this, glaring and cursing as he could before SR3 called for their pick up. The team along with their bound man made their way to the roof where one of King's helicopters picked them up. The drive back to base was, like the mission itself, quiet and somehow that felt wrong to 74X.

xxxxxx

November 13th
Wayne Manor, Gotham

The Team had been sent on a mission, halting the progress Robin was making on the laptop. The mission took longer than they had wanted, some scout work on an upcoming shipment that has a possible link between the Light and their unnamed partner. They had intercepted a previous shipment a while back and it looked like the group was trying to make another attempt. It was important work, Robin knew that, but he had a hard time concentrating on it none the less. His mind kept going back to Wally.

The boy had been gone over a month, and Robin keeps getting the impression from Batman and Flash that they're search isn't going well.

It's taking a lot from the speedster, everyone can tell. His wife, if the news reports are anything to go by, isn't holding up much better. Robin hasn't seen or heard how Wally's parents are handling things. He images not well. The boy was their only son, after all.

Robin removes his mask and places the costume away as he makes his way up to his room at Wayne Manor. Once there, he takes caution to get out Wally's laptop. He logs in and begins where he left off.

Most of the information lead to the conclusion that Wally had been using the device for school work, that and FreeCell apparently. He went through the computer's history finding the files that Wally had been using recently and went through them first. It had all been school based documents. Wally's pictures were an assortment of funny photos downloaded from the internet and family photos that Wally had backed up to his computer. Robin made sure to inspect the family photos. There weren't many and most of them were of Wally with his aunt and uncle in Central. There was one of Wally's parents with himself when Wally was young, maybe five or six. The family was at the zoo; Wally looked really happy.

He moved on, opening up all the written documents instead of just the recent ones and began skimming through them. There he found an anomaly. The file had been named Robins of a Feather, Flock Together. It was in the English section of his school work and sounded like an English paper except…wasn't the phrase Birds of a feather, flock together?

Robin double clicked the word document and was immediately greeted with what was most certainly not an English assignment.

Hello Boy Wonderful,

I figure if anyone found this dumb thing it would be you, Rob. Who else would go through my school assignments? I thought the title was pretty clever – gave myself a high five for it. I hope you enjoyed it. However, I should stop here and say or type rather that if this isn't Rob reading this you might as well stop. None of this will make sense for you so scram.

Moving on…I'm guessing if you've gone to the trouble to find this then I'm not around for one reason or another. I should apologize for that. You haven't said it, but I know you've lost people, Rob, and I'm sorry that I'm making you add another person to that list. I don't know how permanent my absence is but either way you should know I never meant for this to happen. I wish I could be there to help you through this but obviously I can't…I hope it doesn't suck too much not having me around. I hope you remember even without me you're not alone. I think you'd be surprised at how many people have you're back, Rob. Let them help you…don't let this eat you up.

Wow, this is becoming more depressing than I planned. I should move on – I have some other things to say. They're important so I hope you haven't stopped reading this already.

Important stuff, here we go.

First, my dad is not a good man. I'm not being an angsty teenager here, Rob, I mean it. He…well, that's really not the point. The point is that he works for some really nasty people…it's just I can't prove it. That's why I've never said anything. Honestly, I don't even know who it is he works for but based on some of the things I've heard they're bad. Like the Light bad.

I know right now you're probably angry at me. I should have said something sooner maybe then we could have found some proof but…well it's just that if I told you this, asked for your help, it would have brought up some things…and you would have been even angrier about those things…

I'm stalling.

….Rob, if I'm just missing...I think you should really check out my dad. He's abusive – physically, verbally, whatever really fit his fancy. It started when I was young, real young and it just never stopped even when I could stop him. In fact, it just got worse, when he realized I could but wouldn't stop him; when he realized I could now take more and harder hits, when he realized that everyone just seemed to write off the bruises as hero work…honestly, the physically fighting was never really that bad. I've been hurt worse from our jobs. It's the other stuff - that's what really got me.

…it helped though, having you and Roy and Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry and the team. You guys really made it easier getting him out of my head. You guys have always been there for me and with you guys in my life my dad never got to me the way he thought he did. I owe you guys a lot. I want you to know that.

But back to the point, between my dad's temper and his friends if I went missing I'd check them out.

Tell my Aunt and Uncle that I love them at least one more time for me,
Wally

Robin rereads the letter. He does it again, and again, and a fifth and final time before swiping at the laptop in front of him. It falls off the desk and crashes to the ground. Dick ignores it because in that moment he's suddenly very much Richard Greyson who just found out his best friend had been abused since he was a child. He was not a hero right now – he couldn't be with what he wanted to do to Wally's parents right then.

Perhaps they were holding up better than Dick had previously thought. Perhaps they weren't concerned about their son at all. Perhaps it was their fault.

And then just as quickly as the anger came it left, leaving the seventeen year old in a mess. He ran a hand over his face only to find tears staining his cheeks. He wasn't surprised that he was crying but he was surprised that he couldn't pinpoint when he had started.

How had he not known? How could he have let his best friend suffer like that? Was that why he was gone now? Had Rudy West gone too far this time? Was Wally not coming back and all because no one figured out that the happy-go-lucky speedster was keeping a secret? How could they not? They all had secrets why did they just assume Wally didn't.

Dick had been so immersed with his own secrets that…Wally acted so opened. The acrobat understands that Wally had to be pretty good at keeping secrets to be a hero but he hadn't thought that Wally was keeping such a large one – such a painful one himself.

His mind quickly started to look back at all the memories. Were there any indications? Was there anything that gave away the redhead's secret? Could have Dick done something?

It might have been just guilt but Dick's mind was screaming at him that there was something he could have done. But it didn't matter because he might not have done anything then but he could now. And the anger came ebbing back in. Growing with strength as Dick sorts out a plan with the new information.

He doesn't sleep that night.

xxxxxx

November 13th
Wayne Manor, Gotham City

Bruce looks up from the ATM footage photo Wally West, bloody and battered, the reporter, a Ms. Gonzales, has presented him. Keeping his face in check, Bruce Wayne looks up. He's trying to wrap his mind around what the woman is telling him. It doesn't make sense.

Twenty days before Wally goes missing, he's in Gotham looking like he just got out of a fight only to be admitted to St. Dymphna Care Center down town where a…a Dr. Harris looked over him for about a week before he was supposedly discharged into the custody of Bruce Wayne.

Bruce puts the photograph back onto the table. "Are you telling me I'm keeping some random kid that needs medical attention somewhere in my house without anyone knowing?" He asked bewildered. Something he wasn't acting. It just didn't make sense. For her story to hold any truth then it meant Mary West and her husband were lying about seeing her son for two weeks…which he realizes, is possible as he had been supposedly grounded during that time frame and no one, not even his school, saw the boy during that time. But they had no reason to do that.

And while Ms. Gonzales had a photo of Wally dated correctly, she had not been able to get hospital records involving the boy's supposed stay at St. Dymphna Care Center. And Bruce can think of plenty of reason on why Ms. Gonzales would be lying.

Rachael laughed. It was short and hostile, full of air. "No, but you're obviously covering something up. You're son received a call from 'Wally' the night of the gala. He's so battered that he ends up in a hospital only to get discharge into your hands. So what is that, Mr. Wayne? Did Richard get involved with the wrong people and you're cleaning up his mess or perhaps you're thinking of adopting another kid…though Wally seems a bit old for that one" She was losing some of her flame. It was obvious she was tired and Bruce was talking her in circles. "Why did you try so hard to keep Wally a secret? His presence at the hospital wasn't noted within the facility itself and most of the staff doesn't even recall seeing the boy."

Well, that was interesting and worrisome. Why had Wally's case been kept so low-key? Did this Dr. Harris realize something? Wally's physiology wasn't normal but the speedster had years of practice explaining that one away. Something about an accident with chemicals and lightening when he was younger. Most people turn away from what they don't know anyways and when the kid goes onto saying he has a specialist anyone that's curious gets driven away by the relief that it's not their job any longer.

This was, of course, if there was any truth to the reporter's words.

"Perhaps the staff doesn't recall him because he was never there? I honestly have no clue seeing as I most certainly wasn't. I haven't stepped foot into that particular hospital in over a year, miss."

"Wally was at that hospital." Ms. Gonzales reaffirms. Bruce notes that she doesn't restate that he was there. It seems Rachael isn't as sure about that information. A moment later, "You're not denying that you know him, though. He knows you're son." That had not been a question.

Bruce feels the corners of his lips tugging downwards. She's right. He should have been denying that fact harder. Instead of playing into her story and fishing for more information. She was a smart woman. He needed to wrap this up nicely. Stop the questions so that she didn't become more than just a nuisance. He had enough information to look into. The detective didn't need any more information from her.

Casting his eyes down towards the photo, Bruce paused as he thought. Leaning back into his chair, Bruce created some distance between himself and that photo along with the reporter. "Fine. You're right. My son does know Wally. Wally is a bad influence on my son – drugs, parties, sex – and he's gotten Dick involved with people he shouldn't be involved with. I made Dick cut ties but when Wally made a few more bad decisions, he called Dick to ask for money. When Dick didn't comply, people came after Wally." Bruce paused to point at the picture, "I believe that was the consequence of that. Dick was distraught over the call and his worry pushed me to find Wally. It was then that I had him discharged into my custody and we worked out a deal. Wally and Dick would stop communicating and I'd give Wally the money that was owed. We parted ways soon after we left the hospital." Bruce sighed, before dropping his gaze, "There's your story, Ms. Gonzales. Now you can either run that or we can work out a deal to keep this out of the papers. It's my son's reputation after all."

Ms. Gonzales is quiet and for a moment Bruce thinks she's thinking over his offer. He looks up at her face though and he realizes he's messed up somewhere. Her brows are furrowed and her lips parted, her jaw lowered. She's not relaxed as she should be but instead she's on edge and she's studying him like she has an exam coming up.

Finally, "Why don't you try again, Mr. Wayne, but this time you included in the fact that Wally woke up in the hospital with amnesia. From what Dr. Harris told me, Wally didn't even know his own name." Rachael pauses and leans forward as she's about to tell him a secret. "So tell me, if he couldn't remember his own name how did he remember you and 'these people' he owed money to?"

Amnesia?

Bruce runs through scenarios but he can't think of one where Rachael would make this up. She had won. He had given her a story. He had offered to pay her off. She had the upper hand why would she throw in this extra information if it wasn't true.

This was a different game now.

Bruce stood, "You need to leave."

"What?" Ms. Gonzales shoots. She's on her feet too but Bruce doesn't have time for this anymore. Everything – everything the League had been working on to find Wally was a lie.

"Leave." Bruce repeated. It was a solid tone and at it Alfred entered the room from. Leaving the matter of getting the woman out of his house to Alfred, Bruce leaves the room, heading to the Batcave. It took some effort but Alfred got the woman to leave. She promises to come back. She would figure it out, she called out. Tonight, though, she wouldn't.

There was the possibility of the mystery surrounding Wally being on the cover of LM Magazine but Alfred thought that possibility was low. Rachael couldn't go to publish her work and Mr. Wayne's lies without the possibility of some other reporter figuring out the solution to the mystery before her and then that reporter would get the recognition that Rachael had worked so hard to gain. So it would stay on the shelf for now. At least, Alfred hoped that was the case.

A/N: I apologize for not getting this out before I left for GenCon. I just got back and unfortently it doesn't really look like my schedule is slowing down much. I have family in town for the next three weeks. Work, school, you guys know how real life works. I'm just letting you guys know that I'm not sure when I'll get the next chapter out but I am working on it. I promise! It should be before my next semester starts so the middle of September is when I'm aiming for but please don't hold me to that dead line.

I really enjoyed writing this chapter so I hope you guys enjoy it too!

Reviews!

Guest of Honor: Sorry I didn't get it out sooner like I planned but I hope you enjoy this as much as you've enjoyed the rest of it.

GhostLucy: I can't ignore the puppy eyes! And I wouldn't go so far as saying Wally's being a villain...he's just being mislead. He'll figure it all out though!

YouProbablyDontKnowMe: I'm so happy that you enjoyed the Linda and Iris scene! It was so last minute I freaked out a bit after posting. And thank you for another review! It makes me so excited!

Warhawk'42: Thanks!

Thanks for Reading! -8ami