Brothers To The Bitter End

9

Three months later
*****
Wally West sighed as he got caught in traffic. Again. This was the third time in as many days, and he was tired of it. He could have been at his work place in seconds from his home, but he chose to drive instead. His fiancee Artemis couldn't understand why he didn't use his super speed, and somehow Wally couldn't bring himself to tell her. Being stuck in the speed force for three years had changed him. He was faster now, but he could barely stand to run anymore. He had done this to himself and now he hated it.

Before he had entered the speed force, he and Artemis had renounced supers and had tried to be normal. But when Aqualad had come to Artemis for a mission, she had jumped at the chance, unknowingly dooming Wally to spending three years alone in the speed force. Barry had finally managed to pull him out, but Wally had once and for all renounced supers. It made it a little awkward with Artemis because she was had taken up training the up and coming supers. But it had been two years, and they made it work.

He groaned and honked at the cars in front of him. He knew it wouldn't help, but he still tried. His phone rang and he almost hit the gas out of surprise. A glance at the caller ID almost made his heart skip a beat. It was his boss. Wally answered the phone, cringing, expecting a chewing out.

"Hello, Wally?"

"Yeah, hey Chief. Sorry I'm late, but traffic . . ."

"Yeah, yeah. Listen, West, we've got a situation. One of our criminals broke out and made it out of the city. He's been sighted in a nearby city though, so we need you to go there and work with the police there to catch him. After all, last time we only caught him because of you."

"Ok, Chief. What city?"

"Bludhaven. You'll be working with their wonder detective there. They've got all the information there. Have fun!" The Chief hung up, and Wally sighed with relief. He had taken the next exit and gotten on the highway to Bludhaven before he remembered to call Artemis and tell her he wasn't going to be home for a while.

He called her, but got sent to voicemail. "Hey, honey, the chief just called and one of our criminals broke out. They're sending me to Bludhaven to work with their cops there to catch him, so I'm not going to be home for a few days. I love you. I'll see you soon."
**********
Wally walked into the police department with great trepidation. The woman at the front looked him up and down and raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"How can I help you?" She asked.

"I'm Sergeant West. I was sent here from Central City to help with a case."

"Ah," the woman's face became infinitely more friendly. "Come with me. I'll take you to the officer in charge. Sorry if I was a little short with you. It's just that that boy is driving us all insane!"

"Boy? What boy?" Wally asked, just as a knife whistled past his head and buried itself into the wall behind him.

"That one," she replied with a snort.

A young, black haired boy walked up to them. "I didn't have to miss." He said, calmly removing the knife from the wall.

"Don't you have anyone else to bother?" The woman asked in annoyance.

"Not really, Martha. You're much more fun to bother than anyone else." The boy replied smugly.

"You are impossible!" Martha cried, throwing her hands in the air.

"And that's the way I like it." The boy flounced off in the opposite direction, not allowing Martha to get the last word in.

"That boy! I know he had a rough childhood, but his brother shouldn't be so lenient!" Martha grumbled to herself. Wally was about to ask her about what she meant, and why a child was allowed in police headquarters, but they came upon a group of people first.

"Lieutenant!" Martha called. "Your transfer is here." Martha patted Wally's arm. "The Lieutenant will take care of you from here." She opened the door to a nearby office and ushered him inside. "He'll be in in just a moment." And she left.

Wally glanced around at the office, which was very nice. He glanced at the desk and saw a picture of three boys. One was the child he had just seen. The second was a young man with several locks of white hair falling in his face in stark contrast with the rest of his dark hair. The last one was the oldest and looked to be the happiest with the picture being taken. He had shockingly blue eyes that seemed familiar to Wally.

The door snapped open behind Wally. "Sorry about the delay," a youngish sounding voice said. "I was . . ." Wally turned and saw the oldest face from the picture. But suddenly in person, with that familiar smile, blue eyes, and black hair, Wally recognized his best friend.

"Dick?" Wally asked, standing.

"Wally?" Dick's face brightened and Wally found himself dragged into a hug. "It's so good to see you!"

"You're alive?" Wally managed to choke out.

Dick laughed and released his friend. "Yeah I'm still alive. Not that I was ever really dead."

"You faked your death?"

"Didn't have to. When I disappeared, Bruce covered it more thoroughly than I ever could have. It was cruel, I know, but it had to be done."

"But . . . Why?" Wally spluttered.

Dick grinned. "Help me catch this criminal and I'll tell you everything. Deal?"

"Sure." Wally opened his mouth to ask just one more question, one that had been weighing on his mind for some time, but Martha stomped in dragging the sullen boy behind her.

"That's it! I can't take it anymore! Grayson, either you take care of this . . . this . . . this problem or I'm going to throw him in a cell!" Martha whirled around and slammed the door behind her.

"Damian," Dick's voice had a warning tone in it that Wally hadn't heard before. "What. Did. You. Do."

"I conducted an experiment on the reflexes of the average desk worker. Needless to say, Martha did not see the humor in it."

Wally glanced between the two of them. "Translation?"

"He bounced grapes off the back of her head until she yelled at him and then proceeded to do it with greater frequency until she brought him to me." Dick shook his head. "You've got to stop ticking Martha off. I know you don't like her, but if she makes a formal complaint, the chief could tell me to stop bringing you. And then you'll have to stay home with either a babysitter or Jason. And you won't be allowed to help on cases anymore."

Damian looked horrified. "They could do that?"

"Yes." Dick said firmly. "Now go apologize to Martha and tell her that I'm taking away your Nintendo and am making you write a five page paper on . . . Shakespeare."

Damian smirked. "I don't have a Nintendo and I love Shakespeare."

"But she doesn't know that. Just tell her what I told you to. She thinks all boys are addicted to video games, and she hates Shakespeare. That should convince her that I'm punishing you enough. And try to look contrite and not like the cat that ate the canary."

Damian nodded and headed out the door, attempting to look less smug. He paused at the doorway. "Are you going to punish me?"

"I'm going to take away your katana for a few days and revoke gym privileges."

"Which katana?"

"All of them."

Damian looked like he was going to protest, but apparently thought better of it and left.

Wally gaped at Dick. "You're having him lie to one of your coworkers?"

"It's the only punishment she accepts. If I told her how I was actually punishing him, she'd throw a fit and make a big hullabaloo. The main thing is that Damian is going to be punished."

"So Damian is your . . . what?"

"That is complicated. He's sort of my kid. Although he's also kind of my brother." Dick chuckled. "I'll explain it all later. You can help me revoke Dami's katanas."

"Wait, how many katanas does he have?"

"Let me put it this way," Dick said as they rejoined the other cops. "How many days are in a year?"