Young Justice: Christmas

Run, Run, Rudolph

Bart never had a Christmas before. In the future, that holiday was nearly unheard of, except for a few whispers some of the older slaves would tell Bart and the other young slaves out of earshot of those like Blue Beetle and Black Beetle who monitored them.

Over the past three weeks, Bart had seen decorations and presents and bright lights, the total opposite of his life in the future. The past was retro, but it was amazing. 

Artemis said that Christmas was about family and friends, being together to celebrate the end of the year, but despite wanting to spend time with the most awesome people in the world (aka, the League and his team of super-friends) Bart had an itching suspicion that there was more to Christmas.

Over the past three weeks, Bart had seen his friends share their most desperate, heartfelt wishes for Christmas, and he'd also seen those wishes come true. Now, he and Robin knew, Nightwing and Batgirl had been behind all of that. They'd inspired others to make wishes come true, and now it was Bart's turn to help with that.

He ran. As fast as he could go, he ran. He ran until he felt like he would explode, and then he ran some more. 

They had one more day to do it. Their small squad had been working on it for two days at S.T.A.R. Labs, keeping it a complete secret from the rest of the team. He ran on the cosmic treadmill, the one that Doctor Snow and Doctor Ramon had built for Bart's grandpa when he first got his superspeed. He could see them now, through the window in the other room, with Nightwing and Batgirl and Robin helping them.

Nightwing said it was working, but Bart couldn't quite understand how. all this old-timey tech was so retro. 

From what he did understand, Bart had to run on the cosmic treadmill, as fast as he did when they fought the MFD back in June. At that speed, he would open a rift in the speed force- the thing that gave speedsters their speed -and draw Wally out.

That's what Nightwing said, anyway.

He'd been at this for hours, and Bart was starting to loose hope. He wasn't the only one. Batgirl and Doctor Snow, ever the practical ones, acted like this was useless too, like they were only doing it for everyone else.

Distracted by his friends in the window, Bart tripped over a loose tread. his speed sent him flying off the cosmic treadmill and into the wall, leaving a huge dent in the titanium.

Robin was at his side immediately, helping him down. Thankfully, hyper-metabolism would help him heal much faster than a normal human.

"Alright, that's enough!" Doctor Snow declared, entering the room hot on Nightwing's heels. "We've been at it for days and Bart's gonna get hurt!" She snapped before he could rebuke her.

"Hey 'Wing," Impulse moaned, rubbing his sore ribs. "I want Wally back as much as you do, but what if this doesn't work?" In despair, he accepted the Mongo-Gulp from Cisco and his usual from Big Belly Burger.

"But it has to work!" Nightwing said, desperately running his hands through his hair. Batgirl put a hand on his shoulder, but Nightwing ran back to the other room. Bart could see him checking the data they had collected from the computers, but was then nearly force-fed some french fries by Caitlin, who insisted that he needed to bring his strength back up. He was only thirteen, after all.

Suddenly, Nightwing slammed the door open, clutching something in his hand.

"One more time." He said, bracing his hand on the doorframe for support. "Please, just one more time." He begged.

Caitlin and Batgirl looked at each other doubtfully.

"Oh what the heck, Cait! It's Christmas!" Cisco shouted, clearly exasperated with the two red-headed women.

"Ugh!" Caitlin groaned. "Fine. One. More. Time." 

Batgirl relented too, and the three of them headed back to the watching room, followed by Robin, but Nightwing stayed behind.

"I don't think I can do this." Bart muttered, stretching his sore muscles. Dejectedly, he sat on the edge of the treadmill.

Nightwing nodded. "Well I know that you can." He placed something in Bart's hands.

"I found this in the Arctic, just after you stopped the MFD." Nightwing said quietly.

Bart opened his hands. Lying in his palms were a pair of bright red speedster goggles. Wally's red speedster goggles.

"Souvenier." 

When Bart looked up, Nightwing was already closing the door behind him.

Feeling slightly renewed with energy, Bart threw off his goggles, replacing them with Wally's. He pulled them down over his eyes for protection, and took his place on the treadmill. Giving a thumbs up to Doctor Snow, he began to run. 

He started out slowly, to let the machine get used to his speed. Slowly his legs became a blur, his hands whistling through the air as he pumped them up and down.

This is for Wally, this is for Wally.

Bart squeezed his eyes shut.

This is for Wally, this is for Artemis.

Bart could feel himself getting faster and faster.

This is for Nightwing, this is for Grandpa Barry.

His arms and legs were growing numb, but still he kept going.

This is for the team.

This is for you.

Bart opened his eyes and gasped. He wasn't in S.T.A.R. Labs anymore, he was back in the Arctic.

There he was, in his Impulse costume, running right alongside Barry. Next to Barry, Bart could barely make out his second-cousin once-removed: Wally West.

"It's no good Barry." Wally grunted painfully through gritted teeth. "Man, Artemis is so gonna kill me for this! And don't get me started on mom and dad..."

"Kid?" Barry asked, just barely grasping what Wally and Bart already knew.

"Just tell them, okay?"

"NO!" Bart jumped past Barry and on top of Wally, shielding him from the last blast of energy from the chrysalis that would have destroyed him. 

The two of them fell to the ground, but instead of landing in the cold snow, they landed on the tiled floor of S.T.A.R. Labs.

"Bart, what was that for?" Wally snapped. "The chrysalis, everyone, the Earth will be destroyed!" He shouted angrily.

Bart stood up and backed away from Wally, shocked that it had worked.

"Wait a minute," Wally said, just now noticing his surroundings, "where the heck are we?"

And that's when the hug attack burst in the door.

I am so (NOT) sorry for all my Flash references :3

HE'S BACK HE'S BACK HE'S BACK!!!!!!!!!!