Chapter Text
Wally couldn't breathe, and the soft crack in his chest warned him that one of his ribs was breaking. He shuddered and vibrated, rattling his bones anyway, because what’s a rib or two between friends? Literally between them: Superboy had Wally sandwiched between his arms and his chest, squeezing tighter and tighter. The freezing cold mountain air bit at Wally’s throat as he struggled to inhale past Conner’s grip and buzz his way out. But the heat and friction Wally generated didn't bother the Kryptonian in the least—Superboy just growled and squeezed Wally's torso harder, and Wally gagged against the pain.
Miss Martian hovered above the giant doors of the hanger-sized warehouse that led to the ski slopes beyond, while Aqualad circled carefully around her, moving gingerly over the snow blowing inside. He did his best to engage and distract his brainwashed teammate, but she deflected his water attacks with a robotic, almost casual efficiency—one turn of her hand and a telekinetic tendril brushed the ice cold stream aside. On the other side of the room, Artemis struggled to outmaneuver Robin, but he had her cornered behind a pile of battered red ski lift chairs. Her bows weren't very effective at close range—and Robin was. Maybe even deadly. His laugh echoed throughout the warehouse, and for the first time, it really creeped Wally out.
It was a thoroughly uneven match, though not the least because the three sober superheroes held back considerably to avoid hurting their friends.
"Supey," Wally wheezed one more time, "Supey, it's us. You've got a mind-control …"
Superboy crushed the last of Wally's breath out of him, and he wilted, gasping. His hair fluttered as another one of the warehouse windows shattered, sending glass and debris through the room. The squall outside was terrible, and a chunk of rock flew at Conner’s back. Wally opened his mouth to warn him, but it was too late, and Conner didn’t even register the hit.
They were really screwed.
An exhausted Wally caught Kaldur’s eye with a worried glance, and he nodded grimly in return.
Robin carefully paced around Artemis as she scrambled up an industrial-sized snow blower to gain distance and higher ground on the acrobat. As soon as she cleared the floor, Aqualad studied her for a moment before yelling: "Aim for the device on Superboy's neck! If you miss he won't be hurt!"
Artemis nodded tersely but snorted. "Like I'll miss," she said dismissively under her breath.
She drew a green arrow and took aim at the back of Superboy's neck where the device was embedded. Wally, who had been fading in and out of consciousness, snapped back to life. He was inches away from the blinking green box.
"Wait, what? Dude, don't aim arrows at my head!" he squeaked.
"Don't whine, Baywatch," Artemis said, and let the arrow fly. The arrow flowed toward the Kryptonian, and Wally leaned as far away from the box as he could, struggling against the pain, one eye squeezed shut and the other on the incoming bolt. He didn’t even need to do that much, though.
It was a perfect shot.
Until Robin stepped in front of it to take it in the chest.
Time froze, and everyone with it, except Wally. He kicked and vibrated like there was no tomorrow, and soft coils of smoke curled up and faded from Superboy’s now smoldering t-shirt. He was stuck in hypertime; there was nothing for him to do but watch a twisted play of Zeno’s paradox unfold in front of him as the arrow crossed half the distance between Artemis and Robin, and half again, and half again, and part of Wally hoped that the famous paradox puzzle would never resolve, but—
—a tiny projectile whizzed down from the catwalks in the ceiling. Inches before the arrowhead embedded itself into Robin's heart, the blade sliced the shaft in half, knocking it off-course. The arrow cut his uniform open, but as it deflected to the side, it left only a scratch—a deep one, but just a scratch nonetheless—across his breast. Robin barely noticed and continued to advance on Artemis, giggling ominously.
Wally, Artemis, and Aqualad's eyes shot up toward the source of the weapon, but they couldn't see anything—and they had more pressing concerns at the moment. Robin had grabbed Artemis's ankle and tripped her; she barely kept him at bay with her bow. M'gann tossed Aqualad across the room, and Wally was starting to wonder how long it would take to heal from two punctured lungs and a crushed heart. Two weeks? Eternity?
His hair ruffled in a breeze as someone—or something—flew just behind Superboy's head.
"Yoink."
The mind-control box crackled with green sparks as it was half-ripped from the nape of Superboy's neck, and he dropped Wally immediately. Trying to simultaneously keep one eye on the figure who’d gone by, Wally scrambled to avoid Conner’s crushing weight as he groaned and collapsed onto his knees. In a dark corner of a catwalk by the ceiling, there was another bright green flash as the rest of the device crumbled and a whir of a retracting cord, but unfortunately, the light it gave off wasn't enough to illuminate the mystery man. At least, he'd sounded like a dude.
Wally took a few deep breaths—dammit, one of his lungs might actually be punctured—but he could deal. A growl from the other side of the room caught his ear, and he took after Robin, who was still hunting Artemis; three more batarangs whizzed by her ears before Wally managed to get between them. Robin dodged the wounded speedster, one foot out to catch his ankle, but Wally was still a second ahead, and he finally tackled Robin to the ground. He couldn't hold the boy down and get the device at the same time, though.
"Artemis! Help me get this thing o—oooouuffff!"
The Boy Wonder kneed him in the balls and squirmed away, giggling. As Wally doubled over, another laugh echoed throughout the building—it was stifled, but somehow familiar and strange still at the same time.
"Owowow ... not funny, dude," he growled into the darkness. Robin mindlessly returned to his task of subduing Artemis, and Wally stumbled to his feet, clutching his wounded ribs and, well, pride. He wasn't feeling very fast at the moment.
"Let him catch you!" called Wally weakly.
Artemis ducked under Robin's arms again. "What?"
"It's ok! I got you both! Just let him grab you!"
Artemis narrowed her eyes at the yellow and red boy, but she stopped running. Robin pounced on her, and Wally pounced on him. They collapsed in a struggling dog pile until Wally pinned him again, and Arty snapped off part of the device. Robin collapsed, but he didn't pass out.
Wally bent over him with a concerned little frown, massaging his aching ribs. "You ok?'
"Uhng." Robin dragged his thick black gloves over his eyes as he came to. "Killer headache," he said, glancing down at his ruined uniform and the scratch across his chest. "... what the hell?"
"Kind of a weird story …" Wally began, pointing over at the strange batarang-like weapon that had saved Robin’s life, now lodged in a wooden crate.
"Artemis! Kid Flash!" Aqualad shouted. "Superboy and I need help subduing Miss Martian … now!"
Wally and Artemis helped Robin to his feet, and they stumbled toward the door, leaning against the snow and wind.
In the rafters, a figure clad in black and blue was rubbing his biceps vigorously and hopping back-and-forth from foot to foot. His teeth chattered.
Crap, he thought. Where are they going? He panicked as the trio was almost out the building. You guys are supposed to … Dammit, what the hell?
Dammit. He ran through a couple of options he had, and chose the one closest to what was "supposed" to happen. His grappling gun whirred as it landed in the side of a small box on top of the crate that had his modified batarang. He dragged it off.
Robin glanced behind him in the direction of the soft clatter. He let his friends go ahead while he carefully snuck back; his eyes went wide with surprise as he noticed the bird-shaped blue batarang. Robin's gaze shot right up to where the hero hid in the darkness, and the young man held his breath. Robin didn't stop looking, though, so the figure slid closer to the wall, just in case.
Go on, go on. He mentally egged on the red-and-black kid below him. You know you want it …
Wally called for Robin again, and Robin hesitantly looked back over his shoulder before pulling the batarang out of the crate and hurriedly stashing it in his belt as he ran out the door.
Oh thank God, the hero breathed. He tucked away his grappling gun and climbed out a window and onto the roof, a conspicuous back dot against a field of white, for those who wanted to look. But no one did. So far, no major players out of place.
But I don't remember that box falling. He frowned. Maybe I just forgot.
It had been a while.
There should be a time traveler’s manual for this crap. He shivered again. Also, why didn't I wear a damn parka the first time around?
… he briefly wondered if a total rewrite of history would be worth risking a new coat.