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[The secret ID thing is sometimes the biggest pain in the ass.

Not so much for Wally; nobody knows who the hell the Wests are, so if Wally loses his cowl in the middle of a fight it's not a big deal. Cameras are too slow to get a good shot of his face and there have to be about five hundred thousand ginger kids his age and body type. Hell, the only reason Barry let him cut the top off his cowl in the first place is because nobody knew who the Wests were.

Aqualad, well, he doesn't give a flying fuck if the surface world knows who he is. M'gann and Conner might have secret IDs, technically, but they're hardly ever seen by the public in uniform. Artemis, well, she had no excuse. Really? The name, the hair, really?

But Robin -Dick- has the biggest problem. Robin's on TV as Dick Grayson more than he is as Robin any given day of the week, but they're both equally famous. People have been searching for the boy behind the mask ever since Robin's debut, and Dick Grayson almost made Times' "100 Most Influential People Under 21" list this last year. He's a known face.

Which is why him being kidnapped from his school is one of the most televised crises ever...well, televised. The problem is that while Robin is totally capable of knocking the shit out of any morons who try to kidnap him, there are a lot of the guys, they were organized and also they kidnapped Dick Grayson. "I take Brazilian kickboxing" can only stretch so far, right up about to the point where he rolls out a few smoke bombs and goes cackling up into the rafters.

Of course, not many people even within the League know about Robin's true identity. It's a delicate situation.

So, the Wally gets the job. Kid Flash and the Flash are going to zoom in and take care of business; Flash, the bigger threat, is supposed to distract the kidnappers and wreak general havoc while Wally zips in, extracts Robin and zips back out. It's suppose to be easy.

It's not easy. The kidnappers have funding, and they were expecting League intervention. Barry has his hands fuller than full just fighting them off, and Wally feels a shot of fear stab through his gut when he remembers what Robin had told him about Gotham villains, how they were harder than Kansas criminals, and at the time Wally had thought Robin was just bragging. He probably was, a little bit, but he wasn't lying either. Something about Gotham produces monsters, men who don't care about hurting children, who don't care about killing as many people as they need to so they can get what they want.

It's weird. They didn't even ask for a ransom yet.

Wally manages to give them the slip and darts as quietly as he can down the hallways, searching for where they might be keeping Robin. It's just an abandoned office building but there are a few reinforced doors, like they'd been prepared, and it takes four tries before he finds one with a digital lock and no windows and one tiny vent. He tries one thousand, six hundred and forty-four combinations before he finds one that works.]

-Dick Grayson? [Almost tripped up.] It's Kid Flash. Are you okay?

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[ Dick hates the waiting most of all.

He knows twenty-nine different ways to get out of the knots these mooks tied his wrists with, and he's already loosened the binding around his ankles enough that he could run in a pinch. Air vent's high up, but he could have it unscrewed in under thirty seconds. He was knocked out and blindfolded when they brought him here (gas rather than a knock on the head — gotta keep the hostage in one piece, and at least he doesn't have a headache, which he's grateful for), but he's pretty sure he's on the fourth floor, and could get out of that window no problem.

But instead, he's alone in a room that smells like recycled air conditioning and is way too cold, despite his school uniform jacket, spinning himself slowly in the cushy office chair they tied him to and listening to snatches of words from the hall when people walk by and trying to figure out who organized this. Right now, he doesn't know much.

Spin, spin, spin, spin.

It's when he hears the soft, repeated beeping of the e-lock that he stops, braking with his toes. Jeez, some guard must have forgotten the combo. Or it's going haywire. Oooor—

His eyes go wide when the door opens. He'd expected Batman — but then again, if Bruce is running TV PR, maybe not. Depends how big this thing is.

Well, he figures, this could be worse. He blinks in mock surprise. You never know who's watching, after all. ]

... Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?

Edited 2014-05-21 02:09 (UTC)

[Wally smothers a grin. He lets himself in, stuffs a crumpled up protein bar wrapper into the hole for the deadbolt and comes closer to pull at the suspiciously loose ropes around Dick's ankles and wrists.]

Speak for yourself, small fry. [Maybe a little too familiar, but Kid Flash has always been mouthy.] C'mon. We're getting out of here. Hope you don't mind being carried.

[ Dick arches an eyebrow, clear blue eyes fixed on Wal— Kid Flash. He's been around him without his mask before, the few times he could get away with it, but it was always as Robin. Dick Grayson's a whole different person (and he'll worry about the implicatons of that thought later). ]

Well, if that's my only option... [ With put-upon rich boy skepticism. ]

[The implications of that are that Robin probably needs way more therapy than Batman is getting him.

Wally tries not to be too gleeful when he grabs Robin up in his arms -princess carry even- and tears out of the room, zipping around corners and past thugs with guns before they even register the blur of color. It's a large complex and Wally has to avoid a couple corridors because of the fighting, but he's about halfway out when it happens.

Something in the air goes whumpf as if it was just displaced and then another, longer, bone-deep sound, a rumble like the bass turned up too high or a tornado approaching before Wally gives out a yell and abruptly drops out of his run. He twists to take the brunt of the fall with his shoulder and knee and protect Robin from the concrete, but when they skid to a halt he lets go of Robin and doesn't get up.]

[ Dick's heart is in his throat, and before Wally hits the floor he's trying to figure out what that sound is, where's it coming from and what's going on but it shakes something in the core of him and sends the bottom dropping out of his stomach.

Doubly so when Wally skids and twists and doesn't move.

Dick gets to his knees by Wally's side, breathless, blue eyes wide and a hand on Wally's chest. Dude, he wants to say, KF, get up, but he doesn't know— he can't, and— ]

H-hey...

I'm okay, [Wally gasps out, and reaches up to touch Robin's hand briefly before brushing it aside. He pushes himself upright to sit and rests his forehead in his hand.] That- ugh. Feels like I'm wearing an inhibitor collar...

You took a bad fall...

[ Dick feels his normalcy more than ever at moments like this. He lifts his hand up next to Wally's own for a moment, letting it hover awkwardly. ]

What was it?

[ He says it out loud like any scared teenager would, but he's already running through a list in his mind. ]

No idea. But we should get out of here sooner rather than later. [Wally climbs to his feet and pulls Dick up with him. His shoulder and knee are sore, but definitely nothing crippling. What is crippling is that no matter how hard Wally reaches for it, he can't find his speed. It's being suppressed.

Wally huffs through his nose before turning to Dick. No good. If he's got no powers, they're just two kids trying to fight their way out. Dick's got a better chance of making it out than he does.

-and then it occurs to Wally: if he's got no powers, neither does the Flash.]

My-! [Wally turns to Dick, desperate but unsure. They can't blow Robin's cover, especially if there are cameras and the feed is streaming live elsewhere, but what else can they do?] The Flash was with me. He's inside the building too.

[ They planned this.

He's starting to think he should have gotten out of this one by himself. Then no one would be in danger because of him. No. Have to stay calm. Have to think. You're a superhero, too, even if no one knows it. ]

We need to find him, then. [ He says it quiet and businesslike, all Robin for just a moment. ] Do you know where?

[Wally would be embarrassed of the wave of relief that washes over him, but he's just too damn grateful. The two of them, they can get to Barry before anything happens to him.]

I left him on the first floor. He was drawing all the attention so I could slip in and get to you.

[He could be dead by now, full of bullet holes and- no. Not thinking about that.]

[ He rests a hand on Wally's arm, letting out a breath and nodding. ]

Maybe he took care of them before anything happened. [ Maybe. "Did you get a head count," he wants to ask, but holds back. He thinks of the smoke pellets in the hidden pocket in his jacket, and wonders if he'll have to use them this time. ]

Maybe. [A good hero would get the hostage out first. And if this were anyone else, if this were anybody but Robin, that's exactly what Wally would do. But because it's not-]

But we gotta check. He might be cornered. [Wally heads right for the emergency stairwell. They're on the fourth floor now, but the stairs go straight to the bottom. He takes them two at a time, ignoring the twinge in his knee and stops himself just at the door to the emergency exit. He cracks it open and peers around.

No sight of Barry. Loads of totaled thugs though, all piled up on one another. Wally shoots a whisper over his shoulder.]

Hey, Dick. Or uh, Grayson, whatever you prefer. Coast is clear.

[ He lets out a sigh of relief. If they'd had to fight their way out— but it hasn't come to that. Not yet. So he follows Kid Flash, playing the part of the cautious sheltered kid and trying not to get too method about it. ]

I didn't think I'd be part of a rescue mission this morning.

[Wally rolls his eyes.] Hey, never know. You might get a taste for crime fighting. Ever want any tips, give me a call. [okay wally, pack it up

He slips into the room and steps around a thug. No sign of the Flash; there's no way Barry would've left without checking to make sure Wally was out though, and his comm's been silent ever since he got in. Maybe that pulse, whatever it was, fried their communications.]

I think we can- Dick! [Wally lunges for Dick but he's too slow, he's slow and not all the guys on the ground were out-!]

[ He sees what's happening like he's watching someone else in slow motion. The man getting to his feet, the lunge, the grab. Robin could evade it, but Dick can't, and for a moment he forgets who he's supposed to be— or he's sloppy, or—

It doesn't matter why. In an instant, the man's arm is around his throat, the other holding him in a firm grip, using him as leverage against Wally. "Don't do anything stupid, now," the guy says, like he's straight out of a bad mob movie. And it's amateurish, Dick can tell that much. He could be out of it in an instant, have this guy on the ground with bruised ribs, but he's not sure how many others there are, and whether they have weapons.

So he puts up a token weak struggle. Enough to make it look like he doesn't know what he's doing. Play dumb: it's what they expect. ]

Please, just let me go. I-I can get you money!

[ Go find the Flash, Dick thinks, eyes fixed on Wally and trying his best to convey it. I'll be fine. They needed him in one piece... didn't they? ]

[Oh thank God. The thugs are well-equipped and organized, but not very bright. They're still trying to go for the ransom thing with half of their men down and two superheroes inside their facility. But then again, don't inhibitor collars have to be frequency-tuned to match particular powers? So...they knew two Flashes would be coming in rescue Dick Grayson.

Something here just isn't adding up.

Wally could run off and find his uncle, but he doesn't even know where to look and besides that, it's not what Kid Flash would do if he was with a civilian. He can brush off looking for Flash as a dumb move, but just running off when a hostage is in the hands of an enemy? Won't sell. More than making sure Robin isn't exposed, there's another advantage to pretending Dick Grayson is helpless, and that's that if they're in a pinch they have another superhero in here that the bad guys didn't anticipate.

So Wally slowly straightens and lifts his hands in surrender. He sends his friend an apologetic look as the thug winds one beefy arm tightly around Robin's throat so he can tap his comm. "Got 'em," he says, and Wally lets his attention wander around the room. Nobody else is moving yet, though he hears a groan here and there. No sign of the Flash, but plenty of tell-tale skid marks and the faint smell of burnt tiling lingers in the air, so his uncle was definitely tearing it up not too long ago. He tunes out the thug reporting in until he hears, "I still think killing the kid is a bad idea."

Wally's eyes snap over to Dick. Killing Dick? They'd planned to kill him?]

What?

[ There's a first time for everything.

He's used to attempts on Robin's life. Pretty much the entirety of Gotham's criminal underground would be happier with him gone. But Dick Grayson? What had he ever done besides charity benefits and the odd photoshoot? He's good for ransom money. He's not good for much else — not that he knows about. This is beyond weird.

He's not scared, but he can fake it enough to get more info. He hopes. ]

[The guy ignores them except to tighten his arm around Dick's neck a little more than necessary, and despite knowing that Robin could easily flip this guy over his shoulder Wally scowls and shuffles his weight like he's going to charge.]

Hey. Knock it off, meathead.

[Okay, that's enough fooling around. They need to find Barry, get out and figure out who hired these guys, because it's pretty obvious now this isn't a ransom job. This is a setup, these guys don't know anything more than "grab the kid, get the heroes, flip the switch and I'll pay you." They're wasting time.]

Let's jet, [is all Wally says before dropping down and kicking out hard at the thug's ankle to drop him down.]

[ The thug shouts and stumbles hard, and Dick does the finishing touch: an elbow to the solar plexus and a followup blow to the head have him out cold, like he should have been to start with. If the security cameras catch it — well, people have done stranger things with their lives in danger.

He steps away from him the second he can, close enough to brush elbows with Kid Flash. He's not taking any more risks. ]

... Nice. [ Dick can't help shooting Kid Flash a little fanboy grin, before he catches himself. The naive kid persona goes deep. ]

Come on, get us out of here.

Yeah.

[Wally is still bothered.] The Flash should've been down here though. All these guys are knocked out but there's nobody here. And there's somebody still to report to...

[All of a sudden, it hits him. Not like a ton of bricks or like a punch, but like dropping a barbell into his stomach.]

I think this was a trap for the Flash. I- I think I know who did this. And I don't think those cameras are on.

[ A trap for the Flash? With him as bait? Dick's confused, and way more than uneasy. But Kid Flash is worse, he can tell— and no wonder, it's his uncle. He rests a hopefully-steadying hand on his bicep. ]

Who?

He calls himself Professor Zoom. [KF shakes his head.] It's a stupid name, I know, but it's because the guy -Eobard Thawne- he's crazy. Certified. He's also maybe even faster than the Flash.

[Kid glances over his shoulder, feeling exposed out in the open and grabs Dick's arm to drag him over to a hallway. He lowers his voice to barely a whisper, just in case, and leans closer and puts his back to a camera so just in case they are rolling, they can't read his lips.] He probably knows who you are. He knows the Flash's identity, mine, probably knows you and me are friends- he's from the future and he can time travel, he's really bad news, dude. And this is just the thing he'd do. Make it look like someone else is responsible, orchestrate something to hide a completely different goal- Dick, he just likes to screw with people. But more than that, he hates the Flash. Hates him.

Edited 2014-06-26 20:27 (UTC)

[ Dick's eyes go wide. He'd heard the name before, but never looked into it — figured anyone who actually called himself Professor Zoom would be a crackpot at best. That had apparently been a mistake. There's a sick, crawling feeling starting in the pit of his stomach, and not least of all because he's been used. ]

... So all of this, this whole thing— you're saying I was just a distraction?

You were bait. To get me here, because if I came then Flash would come. We were both loose ends. [KF folds his arms tight, glaring down the hallway as if expecting Zoom to come leaping out at them.] We're lucky these guys were more greedy than smart. They might've tried to kill you the second we showed up if they didn't want to try for the ransom anyway.

... Yeah. Lucky us.

[ He's still holding onto Kid Flash's arm, some unconscious impulse making him seek out that point of contact between them. They're in this together, whether he's Dick or Robin. ]

So what do we do? I mean, what kind of crazy are we dealing with here?

[Wally doesn't brush Dick off, but he doesn't acknowledge his hand either. Not obviously, anyway. He might be leaning a little bit closer to Dick though.] Bag of cats crazy. He's obsessed with being faster and- and sapping all the Flash's powers from him. Flash won't tell me much about it. I don't think he likes to think about it.

[Which usually means something bad went down.] We gotta find a way to get the League on the line.

So he's like the Flash's Joker. [ That's... unsettling. ]

... They took my phone. Your comm's down, too, right? So we need to get out of the building, or else find out what's jamming the signal. Neither one's gonna be easy.

Out of the building is gonna be easier. This inhibitor device that's suppressing my powers probably has a short radius; all we have to do is get clear of it and I can run us to the nearest League transporter.

[Wally picks carefully over the bodies before heading over to the nearest exterior door. He tests the handle before glancing back at Dick and giving him a thumbs up. When he pushes open the door, however, it only opens an inch before it slams into something blocking the way.] Wh- huh? [Wally shoves his shoulder against it.] This was the door we used to get in. What's-

It's blocked? Are you kidding me? Why would—?

[ Naturally, Dick has to come and try it, too, shoving against the door with his shoulder until it aches. ]

[Even with both Dick and Wally shoving against the door, it doesn't budge. Wally curses and kicks it before backing away and jogging across the room, down the hall to another exit.

Also blocked.]

Dammit! Dick, I'm sorry, this asshole- Just to get to the Flash-!

What are you apologizing for?

[ Dick trots after him, trying not to let Wally's own (understandable) panic put him on edge. He needs to stay calm. He needs to find a way out of this situation, no matter how bad it looks. Maybe if they can get up to the roof . . . ]

This is a Flash thing and you got dragged in...just. [KF shoves the heels of his palms into his eyes, taking a deep breath.] We gotta tell the League. If this really is Zoom, they've got to know before it's too late.

I know. I know.

... So the doors aren't an option, but we've still got windows and air ducts. We'll get out.

We need to look for something to call out from too. Even if we can't get the League, we can get someone who'll help. [Wally drags his hands down his face again and looks at all the unconscious thugs sprawled across the ground.] These guys can't just be using short-range walkie talkies. Maybe one of them has a cell. Or maybe there's a landline connected in here somewhere.

They had me tied up in an office — there might be a phone up there somewhere. I can check out that floor while you search the guards?

[ Splitting up isn't a great idea, but with Wally's powers inhibited, they're already strapped for time. ]

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picking up threads a month later, what

dates are just numbers they mean nothing in the face of our love

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