luckiest_flash (luckiest_flash) wrote in newalliance, @ 2014-09-14 22:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | nightwing, wally west |
Who: Wally and Dick
Where: Batcave
When: September 14, 2014
What: Wally runs down to the cave for a scan, only to run into a friend who's been scarce.
Rating: PG
No one ever accused Wally of being subtle. Some would never accuse him of being considerate, either. But he knew better than to pop by the Cave without invite. It didn't matter if he'd been there the first time when he was a young teen and many times since. It was a touchy territory under the Bat's shadow, and it was well-known Batman still intimidated the crap out of Wally.
So he went through all the appropriate channels. Which meant contacting Alfred, who then contacted Bruce, and then Alfred would tell Wally if it was okay and make arrangements for when to expect the speedster. (Usually Alfred was kind enough to have a pile of sandwiches waiting as well. He was an illustrious host, that one.)
Today there was another unexpected surprise to be found under Wayne Manor. Not only were there sandwiches and a thermos of hot soup, but also another person was mucking about in the repair area. Wally heard the tink of a wrench on metal and rushed that way, curious. His sudden approach, all wind and electricity whirling off his skin, was indicator enough for Dick to know who it was, because he was smiling as he looked up from repairing his bike.
"Hey, stranger!" Dick greeted, his white tank top smudged in grease.
"That's my line!" Wally retorted playfully, quickly giving him a hug. "You're the one who has been scarce!"
"You've been busy, too. Don't deny it." Dick was smirking as he turned and wiped his hands off. "How's Linda?"
"Better! She's still uncomfortable, but she's been pretty happy. How's the job?"
"Job's going fine. That much closer to making a case on the corruption in the district."
Wally looked him over, but Dick didn't seem to be suffering from fatigue at the moment, so he decided not to say anything. "I suppose I'm surprised at seeing you up and moving during the day."
"I'm not in my mask," he pointed out with a hint of laughter in his voice. Lately that had been the only time Wally had seen him. Either Dick was sleeping or working, or he was out on Bludhaven's rooftops (except when he headed North to the Big Apple to look after the kids). "Besides, I needed to do laundry."
"You mean you needed laundry done by Alfred." Then the two became interested in the bike once more, and Wally helped repair some of the outer body and repainted it. Once that was done, they were sitting back with two mugs of soup and waiting for the paint to dry.
"Saw your ice bucket challenge," Dick noted, welding goggles sitting in his mussed, dark hair. "Very impressive."
Wally beamed. "Superman and his penguins still got more likes. Still, I thought running a lightning streak into a glacier while wearing a GoPro was neat. Surprised I got the lines as straight as I did. They even paid for it! Charity and product promotion all in one for them, so I didn’t have to lift hardly a finger. Those ice caves are unbelievably cold though. That jumping around under the melt wasn't an act."
"All anyone else saw was a bunch of blurs and your hands frantically flailing about. Still, it was pretty neat." He paused to take a drink. "So... What brings you to the underground?"
"Um... scanning stuff." He shrugged. "It's been some months since I broke things. Need to check up on how the bones are doing."
"Guess that needs to be done, huh." Dick suddenly grinned, smacking Wally's shoulder. "Well, no time like the present. Off with them! Get down to your knickers!" He stood, starting toward the medical machinery.
Wally gave a scandalized gasp. "Why Dick, you perv! If you ask to play doctor, I'm zipping out of here."
The hardest part about running the scans was simply holding still. Wally waited patiently for the slow machine, then was off the scanner, in his clothes, and zipping over to the computer screen. Dick's hair ruffled from his approach. "What's the verdict, doc?"
"I don't see anything." Dick flipped through the images of Wally's skeletal structure, frowning thoughtfully. "I mean, there's nothing. Not even hairline fractures." He turned the chair to face Wally as he looked over his shoulder at the images. "It's not like when you were a teen. Then you could still see there was healed trauma. Now..."
Wally narrowed his eyes at the images, the bones clean of any marks or unusual lines. "Nothing."
Dick sat back in the chair some. "Entirely regenerated... Wally, something else I've noticed. It's been a few years since you remastered the Speed Force. Since then, well, facial features usually change between 20 through 25 quite a bit. Yours aren't changing at all."
Wally straightened and folded his arms. "...I'm not aging."
Dick didn't respond, instead just watching him closely.
Wally sighed and looked away, pacing a little and taking up his soup, looking down at the little bit left in the bottom. “I know I should see that as a good thing, but… It’s weird. And doesn’t mean it will stay of course. I just, I dunno… wanted to age with Linda.” He tipped his head to look up at the cave’s ceiling. “But, then, I don’t suppose I ever really hoped for that. I mean, it’s a nice thought but…”
“But if it ever comes down to the others’ safety or us…”
“The others will win every time, yeah. Especially now that I have kids coming into the world.” Wally sat down on the counter, legs pulling up to sit cross-legged. “And man, do I worry. I mean, Linda gets it. She’d never take me away from helping others. I see how it worries her, though. Kills a bit of me. I worry about her safety so much, too, especially after Barry’s…” He silenced that sentence before he finished it, then looked to Dick suddenly. “I am already worried sick about my kids, Dick. Worried some bad guy will get to them or they’ll go into my line of work while young and I won’t be able to run faster than their mortality.”
Dick folded his arms, those studious blue eyes steady on him. “Kids are especially concerning. They can say and do things without thinking it through, are more spontaneous and vulnerable.” Wally looked away, brows pinched. “That said,” Dick continued. “They have an extremely fast and experienced dad who is going to be looking after them. You’re not going to be able to hide who you are from them. We both know you never could, even for their safety. All you can do is be sure they’re prepared for the worst case scenario. Drill it into them so there’s no doubt they can do what they need to in an emergency. Then assure them that even if they push you away for being protective, if you can and they’re in trouble, you will be right there for them.”
Wally mulled it over, then gave him a sharp look. “Some of that is Bruce talking, isn’t it.”
Dick smiled slightly. “It never needed to be said. He didn’t push me so hard just because he wanted me to take down bad guys. He did it because he wanted to assure I could survive any situation I found myself in.”
“Man, sometimes he had a harsh way of showing he cares, though.” Wally looked upward again, hands folding together. “I’ll figure it out. Just worried.”
“I’d be worried if you weren’t.” Dick stood up from the chair. “Right now I’m worried about the kids running around New York. Robin’s updated me a bit, and they seem unorganized. Any one of them would lay it on the line for the others but-.”
“That’s not enough,” Wally finished.
“Right. And like you, like Batman, I want to be assured they’re prepared for anything. I’m not sure they are.” Dick looked down into his soup, frowning.
Wally moved to the screen, starting to move through the images. “This job is hard. They know that. I also think they're better prepared than you give them credit for.” The screen flashed as he moved swiftly through his past images. “Even so, unless you’re Garrett, retirement is so rare for any of us… Wow, who’s scan is this?”
Dick looked up sharply from his soup while Wally pointed at the image. “I mean, look at all these fractures. Arm, ribs, leg, head, hey-!” Dick had bumped his chair aside, sending it rolling while looking at the images, sighing, and shutting them away with a shake of his head.
Wally frowned at him while Dick straightened and folded his arms. “Yeah, Wally, none of us are immortal.” He thumbed toward where the images had been. “Remember, I don’t heal like you.”
Wally felt a swell of guilt in his chest, eyes apologetic. “Sorry…”
“It’s okay… Just don’t look at people’s stuff like that. At least it was mine.”
Wally lowered his head. “Yeah. Got it.” The two fell into a silence, only further reminded of mortality, until Wally suddenly perked up. “Think the paint on your bike is dry yet?”
Dick smiled crookedly. “Yeah, let’s check. We should send you back home before sundown so you’re not running in the dark. Linda will chew you to pieces.”
“You speak wisely, oh wise one! ...Speaking of worried ladies, what’s going on between you and Babs right now?”
“Nothing. ...Seriously! ...Oh my gawd, Wally, let’s just check the bike.”