Who: The Flash Where: Baxter Building When: February 17, 2014 What: Wally goes to the Baxter Building to get more info on Skrulls. He gets a lot more than he bargained for. Rating: PG-13. Some action and minor cursing.
It was going to be a simple stop-by. He had even text Jesse to tell her to get her skinny butt over to his house for sundaes tonight so she'd relax some, all with a promise to have more information on Skrulls for her when he got home.
Because there was one group of heroes who had experience dealing with Skrulls. Or at least a Skrull, but Super-Skrull was some rather serious business. Maybe they could explain if a Skrull could really take superspeed or not! Reed would know. Reed knew all kinds of weird stuff, or at least he'd make a theory and run some simulations if he didn't.
"Yo, HERBIE, whassup?"
"Welcome to the Baxter Building, home of the--Oh, good afternoon, Mr. Flash." The little robot wheeled toward him. "Are you here to see Dr. Richards?"
"Yep! The mister today, if he's in, though let Sue know I'm in, too. Also, tell Johnny his day is due. We're planning a poker game, and he's in it deep if he skips out on us again."
"I will certainly let them all know. Right this way!"
Wally was patient enough to pace behind HERBIE. Besides, the little good-natured robot was fun company. He pestered him with a few questions on what Reed had been working on and if they had any trouble with their quad-powered alien bothering them.
"Oh, no, we haven't heard from Super-Skrull at all. Last time he was on Earth he didn't bother the Baxter Building, on some different mission it seems. We haven't seen any other Skrulls since the few had turned up, either. Did you see Dr. Richards public address?"
"I did! Sue's pretty good at the whole 'everybody stay calm and carry on' sort of speeches. Guess after so long in this line of work, she'd have to be."
The lab was its futuristic, curvy, beautiful self. Wally zipped around it to see if he recognized what any of the projects were. He had a good idea of a lot of the astral physics the machines were calculating, but the details were lost on him. He was a physics nerd, but nowhere on the level of Mr. Fantastic. After blurring about, he came to a sudden halt by the scientist in question as he measured out some chemicals, big black goggles taking up most of his face.
"Whassup, doc?"
"Hello, Wally," Mr. Fantastic greeted back, not the least bit startled and still measuring things out perfectly. "What brings you here?"
"Nothing much! Oh, except for all the Skrull stuff making people nervous. Do you guys know-." Wally started off in a rapid ramble concerning what people were concerned about and if there was anything to do about it and if he had seen any Skrull activity and what was the best defense and did they have any cool gadgets to detect them and so on. Reed continued working, making humming sounds in response now and then until Wally was done, which truly did not take all that long.
"Actually, I think we do have something in the works that can help you." He pushed his goggles up, looking to the Flash just as he was about to pluck at a hologram screen experimentally.
"You do? Great!" Wally was back at his side in less than a heartbeat, an eager kid. "What is it? Super ray gun? Cosmic dish? Chemical supersoaker?" Reed only smiled a bit as he paced toward another section of the lab, the Flash flitting about behind him. Johnny was more mellow than Wally was, but he still was good practice for putting up with the younger Flash.
Ben Grimm wandered into the lab in front of him from a side entrance. Wally zipped up to him to say hi, talking rapidly. "Whassup, big guy! Hey, I know I didn't bring any German beer this time, but we're putting together a poker game and-Whoa! Hey!"
Everything went entirely wrong at that point. Reed wrapped around Wally and cinched in tight as a boa. Then Grimm was doubling his fists and starting to swing down toward Wally's head.
Time slowed. Wally watched Ben's big rocky chest expand as his arms pulled back, then watched all the stony muscle starting to lurch forward to bash him. "Yeahno!" Wally started to vibrate, mentally willing in the barrier that protected his environment from his speed.
"AH!" Reed suddenly uncoiled from him, smoking everywhere he had been touching Wally from friction burns and unable to hold on to the man as he forced them both to the left. Ben's fists smashed into the floor instead. The Flash backed away from them, dismayed, then narrowed his eyes.
"So, my coming here wasn't a total waste of time," Wally said, watching them closely. "Can't believe they got to you guys, though. Well, not you guys, but them, the real F4."
"Oh, it wasn't so difficult once I infiltrated." Reed's eyes had become buggier and red, his skin turning green and ears pointy, even as he kept his body stretched and ready. "You would be surprised who all we have in our little collection."
"Probably. Sorry to say this button is not going in that collection. Too cute, you know. Gotta jet! See ya!" Wally flew down the hall.
The stretchy Skrull merely touched the com in his ear as the Thing, now turning green himself, thumped a button to make a heavy steel panel drop. "He's heading your way."
"Good." The voice sounded exactly like Johnny's. "Fire in the hole."
Wally turned a corner and immediately started skidding to a halt. The hall was quickly filling with flames rushing toward him. "Fuuuuuuuhhhhh-!" He raced back the other way, coming to the steel door. "Oh, you guys suck!" Wally noted. "Okayokayokay. fireneedsoxygen, it'sjustlikewithHeatWave!" Wally started to run, racing up the wall, over the ceiling in a tight circle. The air started circulating rapidly and the fire became a funnel of flames. When it stopped at last, Wally winced, hands on his knees and smoking. The burns were already starting to heal though, and he needed air! He bolted down the hall, slamming into the not!Johnny and skidding to a halt in the larger entertainment room, pulling in grateful gasps of air.
The Skrull imitating Johnny looked up in amusement, picking himself up slowly. "What's the matter, Wally? Didn't want to take your chances going through the wall?"
"No, because unlike you bastards, I don't ruin people's homes when they're out! When we get them back, I'm not going to explain any ruined walls to them that I don't have to! And we are going to get them back."
The Johnny-imitating Skrull spread his green hands. "What makes you think they're still alive?"
Wally's mouth was open for only a second, worried and hoping that wasn't the case. But then flames were starting to rush for him again. Wally evaded them easily now that he wasn't in a closed space. He had to get out of here, though. "Ha! Too slow!" He tripped the Skrull imitating his friend flat on its flaming back and started racing for the stairs that would allow him to get to the ground floor and out of the building. "Run, run, as fast as you can! You'll never catch the-!"
WHAM!
Wally looked up in dazed confusion from the floor, the building swimming around him as he tried to focus. "Ginger.. bread... Cookie?" What had he ran into?
The answer came to him as he saw a shapely woman's leg in front of him. The Sue-skrull smirked at him, raising her hands and slamming the forcefield down again.
Everything went black.
~~~
Wally groaned as he woke up, head still pounding.
"Told you he would recover fast," someone said.
"Are you sure that goop will hold him?"
"Yes. It's even resistant to friction."
Wally tried to move his hands, then opened his eyes. If it weren't for the open window in front of his face, he would have sworn he was in a coffin, and it was filled with a weird yellow substance. He tried to move, but it held him like a stiff glue. He started to vibrate. It jiggled. That was it. Wally turned the speed up, trying to get through the cement-phlegm. It only expanded some, and he stopped when it climbed to his chin, panting.
"Fascinating stuff, isn't it?" Reed's face (but definitely not Reed!) stretched into his view, studying the reaction it had around the Speedster.
Wally scowled. "There are many things people don't get away with doing, Elasti-Skrull. Stealing my sandwiches is one. Forcing me to hold still is another."
"Hm." The Skrull mimicked Reed perfectly with that sound, his head receding back. "You are safe to attempt simulation now."
"Simulation?" Wally looked toward the other Skrulls. The ones mimicking the Fantastic Four were there. HERBIE was too, but he was powered down. There was another Skrull that didn't look recognizable as anyone Wally knew, though, and this one was coming forward, holding up a device. "Get your funky little brain beam thing away from me!" Wally snapped, even as the light scanned over him and he felt a strange tingling down his nerves.
"Simulation complete." Wally watched with a sense of horror as the Skrull suddenly turned into him. "Oh, that's so not cool."
The Reed-Skrull stretched over to the now Wally-Skrull, looking him over briefly. "Do you have all of his powers now?"
The now red-haired Skrull looked to his peach hands, brow furrowing in concentration. His hands trembled a little, then looked up. "Oh, suck!" he exclaimed, in entirely Wally fashion. "I know about it. I know what it's like to have it, even. But it's... sortanotthere. Okay, not there at all." He looked entirely frustrated. "Apparently it's a bit like being struck by lightning. Which, by the way, he literally was." He thumbed toward Wally.
"Feel free to dance in the rain with a metal rod, asshole," Wally grouched.
"Hm." The Reed-Skrull looked back to Wally. "At least you can take his place. If you can keep an eye on the other-."
Wally's eyes narrowed, starting to vibrate again. "Youstaythehellawayfrommywife!" He revved the Speedforce on high, trying to force himself free. Then felt a pain in his stomach and a familiar burn run down his muscles. He stopped, one eye squeezed shut. "Besides!" he said, tone a little more desperate. "Anyone close to me will know in a heartbeat without the speed."
The Wally-Skrull spread his hands. "Eh, well, he has us there. His gal would know." He smiled crookedly toward Wally. "Quite the kinks."
Wally's words came out an irritated buzz, calling the Skrull everything from a wacky monkey's uncle to a middle-schooler slug with hiccups as they talked among themselves. Finally the one that looked like him turned back into his Skrull shape, taking Wally's phone from the table and texting people. The Johnny-Skrull looked to the angry Flash, frowning. "Are you certain we shouldn't assure he's not a nuisance permanently?"
"No. He's a valuable study subject," the Sue-Skrull said instantly.
"He is. Besides," The Reed-Skrull looked at Wally thoughtfully. "He's out of calories at this point. So long as he's given only the minimum of food to survive and kept in an anti-gravity centripetal cell that doesn't allow him contact with the walls, he'll be helpless. Arrange to have him transported."
The Skrull that had been imitating him grinned. "Sucks to be you, Kid."
Wally glared, but he couldn't help but think that the Skrull was all too correct on that. The texts would buy the Skrulls some time, but that wouldn't hold off his friends' suspicions for too long. Hopefully he could find out if the real Fantastic 4 were okay. He frowned at the stretchy Mr. Fantastic mimic. How? Who did they use to get the drop on Reed?
He didn't have time to ponder it. They closed the window to the capsule he was in and a gas flooded it. He passed out again, still wondering.