Chapter Seven

While Batman and the Arrows were fighting Mirror Master; Flash was chasing down Zoom and soon they were seeing parts of Central City. Zoom was ahead of Flash, but not for long as Barry poured on the speed and was soon side by side. Zoom wanted to slow down the Scarlet Speedster and so he punched at him. That didn't stop Barry as he dodged it and countered. Soon they were running up the side of the Flash Museum, and then jumped across to the neighboring building.

"You messed with the wrong family; Zoom." Flash remarked as he got close to the villainous speedster.

"If you think just you and Wally were my target then you're mistaken. Every being has some amount of speed, and I was going to see what I could get from your future niece-in-law and those pesky twins. Sure there's a fair chance that they would die from the process, but as long as I am the fastest man in history, then as you say: totally worth it." Zoom said, even at their top speeds; Flash could see a smirk on his opposite's face.

As Flash paid attention to Zoom he didn't see something SPINNING toward the building. It hit the ground as they were running down and exploded. Zoom moved in time, but Flash ran right into the pothole. The Scarlet Speedster didn't get up at first, but when he did; his face (well what you could see of it) was bloody and part of his cowl was missing, showing his blonde hair. Zoom took this opportunity to take Flash down and he ran behind Flash and got him in a headlock.

Barry knew he had to get out of it soon or he'd pass out if his neck were pushed the right way. With that, Flash was able to elbow Zoom hard in the ribs and he was released. Before Flash could run; another object came spinning at him, and this one hit right at the Scarlet Speedster's feet and exploded; throwing him backward and THROUGH the building.

"This is a pointless fight, Barry; we will always fight like this. The only solution is to give up your speed to me and end this." Zoom said as he walked into the building as Flash struggled to get up.

"I'll never give up to YOU. The world needs heroes to fight demented people like you and I'd rather die than give in to a villain." Flash said as he stood up, but fell right back to his knees. "How are you getting the explosives?"

"Ah, that would be an old friend of ours. Come on out Digger." Zoom said, and soon enough a man clad in a blue shirt and black pants with red hair came out, but didn't say anything.

"Captain Boomerang." Flash said, but there was no response.

"Curious as to why he's not very talkative? That's because I'm controlling his mind." Zoom said as he pulled his cowl off. "A little something I threw together from Gorilla Grodd's plans. Your nephew already knows about it, so you just need to give up."

"As long as I'm breathing, I'll never give up." Flash said.

"Well, that would help me more than I thought. Your descendant chose to follow your path instead of mine, and what better way to ensure that he doesn't do that is to see that he's never born." Zoom stated and with that he turned to Captain Boomerang and the villain pulled out three boomerangs.

Flash got up and was ready for whatever the boomerangs were and just as Digger threw them, the speedster took off but for some reason these projectiles were following him. As he ran around the block, an idea came to him and that's when he went for it. The Scarlet Speedster came right back toward Zoom and sped around him. Before the evil speedster could process what Flash was doing, the boomerangs caught Zoom and flew him right into a nearby building; trapping him.

"I'll get out of this, you know that." Zoom shouted.

Without saying anything, Flash ran over to him and pulled the special helmet down over Zoom's eyes, then drummed on it several times. The good speedster then ran back and watched as Zoom freed himself.

"That does it; I'll take care of you once and for all." Zoom said as he pulled the helmet up, and tried to use it on Flash himself.

As Zoom focused to find Flash's mind, something didn't go right as electricity went all around his head and he dropped to the ground. Suddenly; Captain Boomerang shook his head and stared at Flash.

"What happened mate?" The Australian villain asked.

"Zoom had you under mind control. I have more pressing matters right now, so count yourself lucky I don't take you in." Flash stated, and with that he took off, heading back to Gotham to check on his nephew.

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Gotham

Batman had worked his field magic on Wally and was now working hard to free the others. Robin was freed first and grateful to be able to move again. Cardinal had not been conscious but after Red Arrow got her free she started to wake up. The 21 year old archer moved back as he knew that Batman would want to check on his daughter and as he picked her up, she looked right into his face.

"Sorry if we worried you, dad." Cardinal said; a smile on her face.

"As long as you're alright; then don't worry about it." Batman said, a softness to his voice that no one ever knew of except the twins.

"Artemis…" Green Arrow stated, seeing the trickle of blood.

"A few broken ribs, but it could be worse by now, if Robin hadn't gotten that strap off of them." The female archer told her mentor, her voice weak.

Batman saw the levers behind the chairs and carefully handed Cardinal to Red Arrow. When the Dark Knight saw the settings for the chairs, he realized why Cardinal was so weak. He hoped that Flash did something to Zoom, because if Zoom came back, there was no telling what he would do to the villainous speedster from the future. Soon enough Flash appeared and was about to ask where his nephew was when Green Arrow pointed into the other room.

"Mirror Master's trapped in high density polyurethane foam. Batman fixed Kid up but didn't want to move him right yet." Red Arrow said.

Flash nodded in thanks and ran in there to see Wally, he didn't care what Mirror Master saw or if he said anything; he returned with Wally in his arms and a worried look on his face.

"We'll get them ALL to med bay at Mt. Justice; it will be easier to assess their injuries there." Batman said, and with that Green Arrow picked up Artemis and they all headed out, but not before Robin headed into the next room and threw an exploding bird-a-rang at the pods. The charge for the explosive was set low, so Mirror Master was safe.

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Mt. Justice; Two Hours Later

Cardinal, Kid Flash and Artemis were all resting and Robin was right by his sister's side. Red Arrow had shown gentleness with her that said he cared about her as more than just a sister. Dick decided to log that away for later, and after staying with Reiena for a few more minutes, Roy headed out. Artemis was resting after Black Canary came and wrapped her lower ribs and checked for any internal bleeding.

There was a small surgery done as there seemed to be a small hole in the archer's stomach but it only took about one hour and she was now resting comfortably. Wally was in the worst shape. X-rays had shown that his right arm was broken in at least six different places, and one break was over an old one he already had, the break from the fight with the Injustice League. There were bruises and cuts all over but the one thing that worried Flash was the hole in his nephew's left leg.

After talking to Dick; Barry found out what happened to put Wally in this state and he wished he had done more to Zoom than just mess with the wiring on the helmet. For now, they wouldn't be bothered with thinking about it; they had to care for their hurt protégés.

Suddenly, two different moans came from the other side of the room and Dick was standing in a heartbeat. Green Arrow was watching Artemis as her eyes opened and Reiena was looking at her brother.

"What….." Artemis said as she looked around, confusion on her face and in her voice.

"You're safe now. Roy had an encounter with Wally while you and the twins were Zoom's prisoners. He was able to get a tracking device on Wally and he called us in." Ollie told her as he stopped her from sitting up to fast.

As she lay back down her mind flooded with the memories of seeing the pain in Wally's eyes and then Zoom's proposition. Tears started to fall and she dove into Ollie's arms.

"It's alright, Artemis. Wally's going to be alright, and from what Barry tells me, Zoom won't be bothering anyone for a long time." Ollie stated, knowing that she needed to be comforted.

"You alright, bro?" Cardinal asked as she saw tears in her brother's eyes.

"Was just worried about you; Bruce said that your chair was on the highest setting for the shocks." Dick said.

"I don't know how I wasn't affected by the earlier shocks." Reiena stated.

"It's your power." A voice said. "Some cultures see lighting as celestial FIRE, so with your natural ability with fire, you could handle the low levels."

"Where's Roy?" Cardinal asked, having heard that Red Arrow helped save them.

Ollie sighed "He's still obsessed with finding Speedy."

Cardinal looked down; ever since they all found out that Red Arrow was a clone; it was hard for him to cope with that. The twins had tried everything, but they couldn't find anything, and they got in to EVERY computer they could find.

"He'll come around; he just needs time." A new yet familiar voice said.

Everyone turned around to see Wally's eyes open, but they knew he was going to be back asleep soon. Cardinal sat up and Artemis tried, but needed help from Ollie.

"Wally, you're alright." Artemis said with tears in her eyes and she didn't care who saw.

"No worries babe, I knew I would be." Wally said as he sat up, or at least tried to.

"Easy, Kid. You don't need to be moving so soon." Barry said as he put a hand on Wally's shoulder.

"I want to go to Artemis." Wally stated, but when he looked at his right arm, he saw that there was a cast from around the fingers all the way up to and around his shoulder.

"Alright kid; I won't stop you." Barry said, knowing that there was no way to keep him in bed.

The two speedsters slowly made their way over to Artemis' bed and the two love birds shared an embrace. The twins were glad to see that they were all still alive and after some time, Wally and Artemis would be back in the field kicking butt. Cardinal was cleared to leave, so they twins headed out to get into some comfortable clothes. Wally and Artemis had to stay in Med bay over night, but that didn't bother them, and they were put on side by side beds. It wasn't long before the archer and young speedster were resting comfortably.

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The Next Morning

Barry was worried about his nephew, so he went to check on him and came across a heartwarming sight: Artemis was snuggled up against Wally's left side, taking caution with his injured leg, and her head lying on his chest. Wally's arm was wrapped around her in a protective way that also said he would never leave her alone.

Up next is stories 24 and 25 of mine and Malaizjan Dejesus' Batman Beyond Series.