6Chapter Published: 27/06/2014
Chapter Last Updated: 27/06/2014
I've decide to copy Marcus Galen Sands in putting my notes on the chapter and previous reviews before the chapter, so the bold contains possible spoilers.
Reviews: I didn't get any
Notes on chapter, first off to those of you who don't know the speed force is an extra-dimensional energy source where all DC comics speedsters draw their powers from, it also where speedsters go after they die so the 'voices' were previous speedsters urging him to survive.
On less important note, I'm not sure if there really is special speedster food, but it seemed like a fairly logical thing to have and Batman is nothing if not logical, so if they don't exist my explanation is that when the team first formed BM had them developed to lower the costs of keeping a growing speedster fed in addition to (as stated) quickly 'recharging' them if they run out of energy on a mission.
Also I will be using the [squared brackets] on most spells, authorities and some mythological items, creatures, terms and places.
Disclaimer: see chapter one
Prologue 2: How it all started: Arrival
What happened to him?
Where was he?
He was in Paris with his girlfriend, saving the world. No, he could remember leaving.
He was on the Watchtower, listening and calculating, while two speedsters ran in circles in the arctic. But he went to help them.
He was running, using his body as a shield, taking numerous blasts of energy for his mentor and fellow apprentice.
He was disappearing, blue energy filling his vision. He turned to his uncle and with his last, pleaded for him to pass on a message.
He was gone.
But at the same time, he wasn't.
He was still running, a world of energy and lightning surrounding him as he continued to run.
He could hear voices around him, urging him to keep going.
And then something about him changed, he could feel something enter him, permeating through his entire body.
There was something behind him, two somethings, one green, and the other black and blue, both being dragged in his tailwind.
And then the world before him shifted, a tear of blue appeared an indeterminable distance ahead of him.
He wasn't going fast enough, he didn't know how or why he knew this but he could tell something bad would happen if he didn't accelerate. And so he called upon the energy that now resided within him as well as the infinite world around him, and forced his body to go faster.
He hit the tear.
And there was darkness.
He was already in the process of descending when he felt the spike.
When compared to other gods this particular one considered himself to be fairly laid back. Admittedly, he may have moments every now and then, but who didn't; at least he didn't feel the need to throw a huge tantrum whenever he came to earth at people who had no idea what the world was truly like.
One of the main reasons for this is the fact that he had found a way to suppress the madness that afflicted all gods, when they descended to the mortal realm. As a god of trickery and travel he knew that there were many ways to reach a single goal so over the millennia he had emerged multiple times, each in a minutely different way, until he found that he was able to turn the madness, that often overwhelmed gods when they first descended into frenzy, into nothing more than a tiny a small, rather annoying voice in the back of his head; though his method of entry did take a longer period of time, he felt it was worth it to remain lucid.
His reasoning for doing this was that he found mortal to be quite interesting, for someone who yearned to see new sights, the unchanging [Plane of Immortality] was quite boring, peaceful, yes, but nothing new ever happened. Which was why he came down every so often, while they weren't very powerful, humans continued to build and destroy, to surpass previous generation, creating so many new ways to perform tasks that a god wouldn't have to put so much as a thousandth of their consciousness to do, as such their continuous advancement was much more interesting for someone such as he to watch than the other gods.
This is where the spike comes in, as a god of travel, he instinctively knew where and what every form of transportation was within thousands of miles of his current location. Because of this, he could sense a traveller appearing form beyond his senses, dragging two others behind it, in a burst of energy that seemed somehow familiar yet at the same time, like nothing he had ever seen before.
It was enough of a shock that it shattered his concentration, allowing the madness to take a greater hold on his mind. As so many others before him, he now fell into the madness.
He would find the ones who had dared enter his domain, through unrecognizable means, without permission and he would find out how, if he had to rip their minds to pieces while doing so then so be it.
The moment Wally West woke up his eyes were immediately scrunched up from the pain he felt, as if his entire nervous system had been set on fire.
He remembered something that Dick had told him, "If you ever wake up, feeling something wrong with you then don't get up immediately, wait until your senses return to you, work out everything you can about your surroundings, where are you, are you bound, how many are there around you. Only after, working out all of this that you can, should you show signs of waking up, do you recognise anything? Now, what is the best response to the situation?"
Due to his enhanced physiology and healing, his mind and body had adjusted enough that he was able to properly interpret what his senses were telling him. First, touch, he was lying face up on a hard surface, most likely concrete from the feeling, there was a light breeze hitting his face but nowhere else; this suggested that there was at least some vertical cover near him and his hair was slightly damp. Second, taste, his mouth was dry, indicating that he had been moving a lot recently without a chance to refuel. Third, smell, he could smell some kind of building around him, with a slight under tone of rotting material; the area was derelict. Fourth, hearing, the only sound he could hear nearby was a slight wind, in the background, there were distant sounds of a town or city; he was close enough to a decently sized settlement to hear it but not enough for any of the sounds to really stand out. And finally he opened his eyes.
He was in what appeared to be a fairly large abandoned building (possibly a factory or museum), from the looks of it; it had been out of use for less than a year, morning light entered from one of the holes in the ceiling. He rolled over and used a nearby wall to help support his weight as got up. Just how much had he done to tire himself to this point? There was rubble strewn about but something about the place seemed familiar.
His mind went back to what he could last clearly remember
He heard moaning behind him, "Uh, so not whelming", that was Dick's voice. He slowly turned around and sure enough, there was his friend's form, coughing from dust in the air, as he brought himself to a seated position.
Looking just a little further, Wally was able to see that Artemis was there too, he sped over to make sure that she was all right. She was for the most part. Before turning back to Dick and speaking at high speed.
"Dick, man, it's good to see you, but what happened? Why are you here? Where is here, anyway?"
"Ugh, Wally, give me a minute to get my bearings here, not all of us recover as quickly as you do." Dick slowly got to his feet, reaching into his utility belt and pulling something out and putting in his mouth, grimacing slightly as he chewed. The soreness in his body seemed to abate slightly. He took note of his surroundings, the status of the others and the fact that Artemis seemed to be stirring in Wally's arms. "Now, you were saying?"
"Oh, right," Wally said, between bites, while Dick was talking he had decided to follow his example in his body, starting on one of the high in calories and nutrients 'Flash bars' that had been specially made to help a speedster recharge quickly. "What happened, I remember going to arctic to help Uncle Barry and Bart, I can remember running alongside them, but after that it's a blur, what happened?"
Nightwing activated his wrist computer, "Well, you disappeared in a flash," Wally deadpanned at him, "Well after that, I noticed that your uncle had started slow down, which caused the residual energy to start hitting him, I had Conner throw me and knocked Flash out of the way, judging by the fact she's here, I guess Artemis must of done the same for Impulse"
For the next few minutes there was quiet as Wally thought this over, the only sounds being the low whistling of the wind around them and Nightwing tapping away at his computer.
Wally noticed the frown on his friend's face "Is something wrong?"
Nightwing sighed, "I hacked into a local source and we seem to be in DC, and the date is the same"
"But..."
"I can't access the watchtower or any of our bases. And considering the fact that I should be able to even if I end up on the moon"
"Meaning we're not on our Earth any more, right?" Wally pulled his mask up and rubbed his eyes.
"It does seem to be the most likely scenario, given current information"
"Great; so what do we do now?"
Nightwing thought this over for a while before saying, "Well first we should find somewhere we are sure is safe, and then it would be out what's different in this world compared to own like if they have a League here"
Wally nodded absently.
"Could you go on a quick run around and see if there are any obvious differences here, I can look after Artemis and it isn't like it would take you more than two minutes." Nightwing asked.
"I guess I should go, just to make sure that it isn't dangerous for us" Wally carefully lay Artemis down on the ground next Night, who was already bending down to see if Wally had missed anything wrong with her in his worry (the answer to that, thankfully, was no), Wally then smiled slightly and said, "Just keep her safe, I'll be back in a flash" Before moving out at a speed faster than his friend could follow.
Nightwing groaned, "Not him too"
The god had now fully materialized and slightly annoyed at the state of his current self.
The reason for this was, that using his method of descent meant that after a certain point he could decide to leave a part of himself behind instead of taking on a complete form, the reason for doing this could be described as 'Travelling light' as with less power to convey the process would be quicker.
In his haste to get to the source of the energy spike he had felt, he had left behind a fair amount of his legend, he was still a god, no doubt, just not as powerful as he should have been.
He could sense something moving at high speeds in around the area as the spike, faster than any human should be able to move on the ground in a busy city.
The [Madness of Descent] then showed itself again as he grew angry at this.
He continued moving towards the heart of D.C.
Wally arrived back exactly ninety four seconds later to find that I his brief absence Artemis had regained Lucidity, Nightwing was hovering around her making sure that she was in good condition. He took a moment to sigh in relief before walking in to join them.
In the time that Wally had been gone Nightwing had finished checking Artemis for injuries, of which he found none, at second fourteen. From then till second forty seven he had taken inventory on what equipment he had on his person (his wrist computer, binoculars, two pairs of handcuffs, 16 batarangs of varying types, some chalk, gas pellets, periscope, rebreather, a few recording devices, a small knife in his boot, a single escrima stick in its holster and, in the most secure area of his utility belt, a piece of kryptonite that he had had shaped into a ring (he may not like keeping something so dangerous to his teammate but, as his mentor had reminded him, it was the quickest and safest way to take him down in the event of mind control)). Artemis started awake at second fifty two and he then spent the rest of the time assuring her that Wally was fine and would be back soon.
Having noticed Wally, Artemis stood up, "Wally you're really here" She reached out and threw her arms around him, "Dick said you were fine but …" She looked up at him, it was then that Wally noticed the tears that seemed to fill her eyes.
Wally held her tighter "Don't worry babe, it'll take more than that to get rid of me" They remained that way, just reassuring themselves of the other's existence, for a few more minutes.
Feeling increasingly awkward, Nightwing began looking through the few files on his computer documenting the League's previous experiences with different dimensions.
Artemis having regained control of herself then turned to Dick, still in Wally's arms and asked, "So what's going on, you never did get round to explaining"
Dick then took the next minute explaining the conclusion that he and Wally thought to be most likely before asking Wally what he had found.
"From what I could see the layout of this D.C. is pretty much the same as our one with the only real difference that I could see was this one building, which is pretty obvious considering the fact that, from what I saw of the news, there don't seem to be any superheroes in this world"
Dick took a moment to look more closely at his surroundings, "Oh, that would explain the familiarity about this place"
Artemis feeling a little out place looked around, now getting an extremely vague sense of Déjà vu said, "Would someone please tell me what's so special about this place?"
Wally was the one who answered this, "Don't worry about it, I forgot you haven't been here as much as me and Dick" His voice then took on a more excited tone, "this is the Hall of Justice"
As with the like once it had been pointed out, Artemis couldn't help but wonder how she hadn't seen the resemblance before.
Dick then set the conversation back on track, "So, that means we can't contact the League here for help, if they don't exist"
The next few minutes were spent bouncing ideas off each other, till they came to the conclusion of trying to fit in with this world and looking into getting back to their own"
Artemis who mostly been listening to the other's ideas for the last few minutes then spoke up, "So, what do you think we should do first?"
It seemed that Dick as about to answer when he stopped at the feeling of a pressure pushing down on him; and his guard was raised.
A voice, coming from above them spoke out, "You can start by explaining yourselves, the three of you do not belong, how did you come to be here?" the voice then took on a harsher aspect, "Answer quickly and I may not destroy you for infringing on my domain"
The three then looked up to see a figure standing at one of the larger holes in the roof, silhouetted by the rising sun was what looked to be a tall man with familiar looking extensions coming from the sides of his head and feet.
OK, so what did you think, I did right, wrong?
Did you like what I did with the Hall of Justice?
Am I moving things to quickly?
Do you think I should pair Dick with anyone? I have been considering Annie/JPS, but is 6-8 years to big an age difference?
Feel free to review.
Like before, the next chapter should be out sometime in the next fortnight