Peace of the Jedi [Sequel to Sword of the Lanterns]

Chapter Nine- Family Ties

Jaina followed Bart-Impulse-Allen-from-the-future all the way to Central City. She could see the sign as she flew in: "Home of the Flash".

Her ring tracked him to a house in the suburbs, where she arrived at the same time as Wally.

"Lemme guess, this is your aunt and uncle's house?" She asked.

"Nightwing called, told me about the kid. I assume that's why you're here?" He grinned.

"Faster than you, and an even bigger pain in the butt." She summed it up.

"You wound me, Jay."

She threw him a lopsided grin as they walked up the sidewalk together. "You're also not funny."

Wally placed his hand over his chest. "Shot through the heart, Artemis' arrows hurt less than this."

"Has she actually stabbed you with one of her arrows?" Jaina asked, standing right outside the front door.

"Actually, no." Wally opened the door and walked in. There was Impuse, running around the front room between a middle-aged man and woman who Jaina vaguely recognized as Barry and Iris Allen, and an older couple he called the Garricks.

"Wait, there are two in there!?" Barry shouted.

"We're having twins?" Iris shrieked.

"Ooops! Spoilers!" Bart apologized lamely.

Wally sighed, announcing their presence. "Careful kid. If you are who you say you are, revealing too much could crash the time stream."

Bart beamed up at Wally reverently. "Crash it, if only."

"Wally, what are you-"

"Nightwing called. Thought I might be of some help with this mess."

"You're Wally West!" Bart squealed, running over and trapping Wally in a bear hug. "My second cousin once removed!"

"The operative word being removed." Wally insisted, prying the kid off him.

Iris smiled warmly at Green-Girl Lantern. "Hello Jaina, so nice to see you again. Carol mentioned you were back on Earth."

"I hope to stay, for a while, at least." Jaina shook Iris's hand. Iris stopped mid-shake to answer her ringing cell phone.

"Don't answer that!" Bart told his supposed grandmother. "W-why interrupt the family reunion?" He covered.

"It's my boss at GBS," Iris told them. Jaina remembered that Iris was a news reporter, the one who always got miraculously saved by the Flash in the middle of a firefight, even when the odds seemed increasingly slim.

Iris's face paled as she listened to the other end of the phone.

"They're evacuating downtown," she told the others in the room. She looked at Barry, her eyes wide and fearful. "A new supervillain is calling for blood, your blood." She told her husband.

Jaina's ring vibrated with the nearby alert, and she pulled up a security cam's spotty footage of the rampage.

"Looks like he's projecting some form of energy." Wally observed, squinting at the feed.

"Must be that suit he wears," Jaina nodded. She looked up, to see a mini-tornado in the middle of the room, and when it vanished, Barry Allen had become the Flash.

"Come on, Grandpa! Let to cops handle this one!" Bart begged. Jaina glared at him suspiciously. Was this kid a villain, sent to try and keep them from doing good?

Well, at the moment at least, he was unsuccessful.

"Look, I'll deal with you later," Barry told him. "Stay here. I'll be back in a flash!" He sped out of the room, leaving a gust of wind in his wake.