DC x Reader One-shots

The Earth Shakes - Bart Allen [Impulse]

Summary: He had tried to keep your relationship low-key. You both had! To keep you out of harm's way. But there is only so long one can go before they're found out. This is something you learn the hard way when you're whisked away with no warning, kept in the cold, dark, and silent. And despite the fear you feel or the hunger, you know nothing will stop Bart from finding you.

Notes: Requested by @isme20838 (Tumblr), for Earth 16, Young Justice Animated.

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It was freezing. Goosebumps prickled along your skin in rows, hair stood on end as your breath billowed out in white plumes before you.

It had been almost a week since you had been kidnapped. Whisked away to darkness, waking up to the freezing and the silence of those that stood guard outside of the door.

A part of you wants to ask why they had taken you. To beg or plead and hope that maybe they would let you go. But you bite your tongue. You don't need to use much imagination to guess why you've been grabbed by masked men and are being held captive in some isolated wasteland.

You had just left Bart's place when they had snuck up on you.

Bart had been called away on an emergency mission, and you had ushered him off, promising to lock the door behind yourself when you finished your food and went to leave for your own home. He had insisted that you at least get to eat the rest of your food. And you had done just that, finished alone and tidied some things up that you had noticed so he would have less to worry about when he stumbled home in the early hours. Locked the door behind you as always with your spare key and set off to your own dwelling. It was a common enough occurrence but that was the life of dating a superhero. Especially when you and Bart had done your hardest to keep your romantic life away from the limelight.

It had only been a few steps into the evening shadows when everything happened.

His team knew you existed, in some ways, though as far as you had known Bart had never talked much about the two of you actually dating. Year after year you had all seen relationships put people in harm's way, in one situation or another, so it had been safer to just stay quiet about one another.

That wasn't to say that you both enjoyed it. Bart was more than excited to go on and on about you if he ever got so much as a chance, but he kept himself composed instead. And you did not talk people's ears off about how fantastic your boyfriend was every time you saw a news clip of him at work or heard of one of his deeds.

Because of situations like this.

Kidnappings that left you miles from home, in God-knows-where, surrounded by people that only had you alive for thread thin reasons. With only the intention to use you as means to an end and hurt the man you loved.

You at least had food and water dropped in occasionally, keeping the sound of your stomach growling back and the dizziness or nausea that accompanied rampant hunger. Staring down the stone wall and letting your thoughts go by, minute-by-minute as you try to keep your mind together. It was terrifying, in a way that made you want to hunker down and wait out the storm – but you had nowhere to go. Like you were frozen in place. A bird with clipped wings.

Even then, you knew Bart had already figured it out. It had been days – whatever mission he had finished, he would have checked on you if you never sent him his goodnight text. You never had the chance to send it off, and he would have gone looking for you before the morning sun had even risen. He would have called in every teammate that he could, and you knew that Bart would search every last place on Earth until he found you. If he needed to go further? He would.

Bart was so many things – he was sweet, and goofy. He was your sunshine even when he had his own bad days. He took his work seriously, even when he was having fun out in the field. But he had gone through so much, and he had never quite shaken the ghosts of his past. He was so fiercely protective of the people in his life, especially when you did not have the power and skills to protect yourself as well as those he fought beside.

Bart was going to come looking. And he was going to be coming in in an angry frenzy, tearing things apart to find you.

When he came for you, the Earth was going to shake under his feet. And the men that took you were going to regret using you as bait to dangle before him.

There was rustling outside of the door, you only glanced up, thinking it was little more than a rotation change. One more round of people to stand there like a statue. But this time they didn't stop. Behind the door was the stomp of feet, turning from a trickle to an echoing chorus, people rushing past with chatter between them – positions and orders being barked out one after another.

This got your attention, sitting up despite the chill that creeped in worse as you unwound yourself, stepping closer to the door. Taking a deep breath, you put your ear to it, trying your hardest to listen in to what was going on. There were the distant sounds of a fight – beating closer as the seconds dragged on and you stepped away from the door, already anticipating the wood to splinter down if someone else reached you first.

The fighting grew louder, the sounds of walls falling and weapons clashing or firing. You could even hear the distant thunder of a boom tube before it was followed by more yelling. Halo or Cyborg, you knew that it was them, which meant your savior would be there soon. Because Bart was leading this charge, and there was not a second of a question about it in your mind.

Your breathing picked up, and the cold air seemed to be so easy to ignore suddenly. The growling of your stomach was deaf in your ears, the dizziness was little more than a blip on the radar in your head. Because your speedster was here.

He was here and you were home free, because there was no one that would be fast enough to stop him from getting you back.

By the time you stepped away from the door there was a blur forming in front of you after phasing – those familiar yellows, reds and blacks coming into focus all topped with a head of auburn hair. You could feel the way your muscles relaxed, almost collapsing to the floor in relief before Bart could wrap his arms around you.

Bart was shaking, but it wasn't from his speed. The sight of you safe was enough to have him ready to cry. He wrapped one arm tight around your waist to keep you upright while you clung on to him, while he kept his other hand against your head, tucked safe under his chin. If he let you go for even a moment it was like he was going to feel you slip away from him once more. "You're okay, I'm here. I'm here," he swore, trying his best to keep his voice calm. "Did they hurt you?" He narrowed his eyes as he asked, already prepared to reign hell on this place as is.

You shook your head, finding it hard to use your voice for a moment. "No, no. I'm just hungry, that's it. And cold. But you're here. I'm whelmed now. I promise"

"Crash, now let's get you out of here," Bart pulled you forward for a moment, already letting the others know through Miss Martian's psychic link that you had been found unharmed. "We're going to get you home."

"Think I can convince you to stay with me for a while when we get back?" you ask, curling in closer to him as you tried to match his step.

"Oh, I was going to. I'm not letting you out of my sight until we have this taken care of." he swore.

And you believed it. Because Bart had shown that he was willing to move heaven and hell to make sure you came back home to him. You could ask for the details later, when you were safe in bed with your love next to you.