A/N
WOOP nothing to see here! This is totally not another story!
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Wally stared wide eyed as the masked figure standing above him. He was frozen and time, it felt like it was moving even slower than usual. The figure gave a slight nod to the other before sidestepping the enemy, a very well known clown in the area.
A mad laugh filled the air "What's this? I have not seen you before. Another bat perhaps?~" the clown held up the gun he was earlier pointing at Wally. " There are always people trying to ruin my game!? Why not run along and let me finish my little game of— ack!" The Joker got punched in the face by the masked figure, reeling backwards. "Just as much manners as the bat I see." He pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed the blood coming from the corner of his mouth. He paused a bit, waiting for a reply but got nothing. " Though less talkative" another mad laugh escaped his lips. " if that is possible." The clown pulled out a grenade pulling the pin and tossing it right between the speedster and the masked figure. "Well, I have things to do!~ I'm a busy working man after all!" Smoke erupted from the grenade.
Wally scrambled to his feet, fumbling still from sheer shock, only to have his feet knocked out from under him and a hand covering his mouth.
"Don't breathe the smoke in."
The voice sounded young, and it took Wally a little bit to process that the figure who had protected him, was shorter than him. So either this man was extremely short, or it was just a kid. The smoke had cleared and the hand was slowly removed from Wally's mouth, who gasped dramatically for air. " Man, Gotham is a scary place, just like they say." He let out an awkward and relieved laugh looking up at the figure, a frown appearing. "Dude, you got hit!"
The figure looked down slightly before placing a hand on the bleeding wound, recoiling a bit when the hand made contact, though still he said nothing.
"I'm sorry.. I froze and– because of me.."
"You don't belong here." The voice commented, almost robotically. "This is not your city speedster."
Wally frowned at that. It was true, Batman never allowed anyone in his city– but he was not Batman either! Wally gave the figure a quick glance over. He wore a belt like Batman..was he a sidekick? Bats said nothing about a sidekick– and the idea that Batman would work with anyone was laughable. "Who..exactly are you?"
"None of your concern. I am not anyone." The voice replied, staring at the other before giving a slight nod. "You don't seem to be injured...I take it you can return home without any trouble." The figure stopped again before getting in a defensive stance, which worried Wally into thinking the Joker was back. " It looks like he has heard the commotion. I can save you from Joker, but the Batman I cannot." The figure pressed once again on the bullet wound in his side. "Best of luck speedster, stay traught."
Wally paled. He was going to be in some serious trouble. "Hey what do you mean traught–" he blinked looking around quickly, though the figure was no longer there.
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"I thought I made it very clear that Gotham was off limits." The Dark Knight's voice was even and stern, his glare making Wally shrink a bit.
"Y-yeah..but..." He wanted to prove himself, that he was not just some sidekick. Gotham felt like the right spot to show his grit– but he had failed so miserably. He stopped everything when he remembered the figure that had jumped in the line of fire when he froze up. For a moment, he forgot he was getting lectured by the scariest hero of all time. "He got hurt! We need to find him!"
Batman frowned more " The Joker?"
Wally shook his head frantically " No the guy in the mask who saved me! Joker shot him!"
The Dark Knight went silent for a moment, trying to see if the child was joking or not. However, the look in the young speedster's eyes showed nothing but concern. If there was another person involved and shot, how did they get away so quickly. Come to think of it, he had seen blood, he just figured it was Kid Flash's. Though now that he has gotten a closer look, the child did not seem injured at all, just a bit shaken. "Did you recognize any specific traits of this man?"
Wally paused once more. "So..he was not your sidekick then.."
Batman's eyes narrowed. "No." There has been rumors of another vigilante in Gotham, Batman would occasionally come to crime scenes with the police already putting tied up criminals in the back of their police cars. The crimes were often small ones, kept under the radar and not done on a regular basis– though if this supposed masked figure that saved Wally was the same rumor.. He had a lot more to worry about than the young hero who thought it a good idea to give Gotham a test run. "What made you assume that?"
The speedster shrunk a bit again at Batman's tone. "Well..uh...he had a utility belt like you...but that's it.. He wore a mask that covered his whole face...and.."
" And what?" Batman asked a little bit more impatiently.
"And when he spoke, he sounded extremely young..he was shorter than me too.."
That one took Batman by surprise for a second. A child taking on Joker? "Stay here." He ordered. "We will talk about your punishment later for breaking rules, I am sure your uncle would like to be present as well." He looked back to see a pale speedster give a quick but regretting nod before heading towards the Zeta Beam.
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Bruce sat in the bat cave, checking hospital records for the night, looking for children with gunshot wounds. If the child went to the hospital, it would be easy to find them. Though he did not find any. He silently hoped that it was out of stubbornness and not that he could not reach one in time. Another pause, surely he couldn't ... He typed in findings of the morgue for children with gunshot wounds– no luck either. That was a good sign at least. " A child fighting crime in Gotham...I'm surprised he survived this long if it is true. He grabbed the keys to the batmobile I quickly left to finish up his patrol, hopefully he would get to the bottom of this before the sun rose.
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It has been about a week after Wally's little adventure in Gotham, he sat on the couch at Mount Justice " I'm telling you Kaldur– he couldn't be any older than us, and he just popped out of nowhere...it does not seem like Bats found him either, he went back to get samples of blood and there were no matches..I swear he was there but nothing." He sighed, putting a handful of potato chips in his mouth. " if I was not in so much trouble, I would go back and look for him. The guy took a bullet for me– I should find him just to say thank you at least."
"It does not seem like your friend wants to be found, perhaps you should leave it to batman to handle it." Kaldur frowned a bit. He was a bit unnerved as well over the order that had transpired last week, the masked figure had been on everyone's mind in the Justice league not only Wally and his. The rumor had spread so much that news of Batman having a secret sidekick was in the news and there was a cash reward for a picture of the vigilante. "Things seem to have already gotten out of hand."
"Tell me about it." Wally nodded face going serious. " That's it, I made up my mind." He stood up,dusting crumbs off his costume. "I'm goin' back to try and find him."
"Not alone my friend" Kaldur stood as well. " though perhaps this time, we take a civilian approach so not to draw attention."
