Nightshift 34: Bus Unloading Area
[ from here]Wally shivered as he stepped out into the cool night air. They seemed to be in some kind of parking area - a few buses were throwing huge shadows across the ground which, combined with the general lack of lighting and cold breeze, sent a chill down his spine. Not that he was afraid or anything, it was just a little creepy, that was all
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It was kind of hard not to when he had some moonlight to go by and Wally just seemed to vanish. There was a faint blurring of the air, like a mirage, and suddenly the guy wasn't there any more. There was even a puff of air in his face as he stepped forward. Clark wasn't going to let him get away that easily.
The farmboy ran after Wally. It was surprisingly easy to track him, what with how he kept finding bits and pieces of what he assumed were Wally's shoes. It was like some weird bread crumb trail. Clark followed them...only to come face to face with a row of dead, silent buses. He came up short, his breath hitching. Dread ran down his spine. Clark could almost hear the nurses's agonized scream, the stench of her burning on his skin. It'd been an accident, he hadn't meant to hit her, he hadn't been able to control it.
Clark had to fight to bring himself under control. He took a deep, shaking breath, trying to push away too vivid memories, and then pressed on, moving into the buses' shadows and following the shoe scraps until he eventually came upon a form huddling against a bus. Wally.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
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He'd had enough of Kal's questions, he just wanted to get away from him. Unless the kid produced a chocolate bar or something in the next few minutes, Wally couldn't think of any other reason to put up with him. Not when he was feeling so awful.
"Why are you so eager to keep following me around anyway? And how did you find me here?" he asked on a whim. He'd been certain Kal couldn't have seen him. Well, mostly certain. Maybe.
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"I followed you," Clark said. He held up one of the shoe scraps as evidence. "And I know you're not normal. You were there and suddenly you weren't. So either you can fly really really fast or run really really fast, take your pick."
He dropped the shoe fragment, the piece fluttering to the ground like the flimsy piece of cloth it really was. Clark crossed his arms over his chest. Was this guy another kryptonite-infected guy? It'd explain how he knew about the stuff...but not what it was called and not what it did to him. Knowing Wally wasn't the normal guy he passed himself off as didn't help: it just opened up even more questions.
Clark stood there with a determined look, waiting for an answer. He'd just follow Wally again if he tried to take off. Or he could try to just restrain him (he was close enough), but he wasn't sure how smart that'd be - his strength was probably as unreliable as his other powers. He could either hold down Wally or get his arm pulled off.
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"I don't know what you're talking about," he began, but it sounded weak, even to him. He couldn't think of what to do and at this point was too desperate to try and come up with a good excuse. Better to make a run for it and have J'onn mind-wipe the guy later or something.
He shuffled his feet a little and edged to the side as subtley as possible. Hunger pains aside, he was pretty sure he could at least make it over the fence from here, then he could worry about where to go from there. His whole body tensed and he lunged to try and move past Kal.
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There was a sharp jerk - he almost dislocated his arm or something, another first since being in Landels - but Clark managed to hold onto Flash's arm.
He wasn't going anyway.
"I asked you a question," Clark said. He could feel his heart thudding. He wanted answers, but he couldn't just lift up Wally like he weighed nothing. Sure, he looked big, but lifting up someone off the floor? Not exactly something that should be as easy as it was for Clark. If he was going to manhandle Wally and keep him from just running away again, he couldn't afford to be too obvious about his strength. "How'd you do that?"
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"Hey! Let go!" he protested loudly, all the while struggling to break away from Kal's grip. He tried stomping heavily on his opponant's foot, but it didn't seem to do much more than cause his own foot to ache. It seemed like whatever had sapped his speed had taken his increased strength too. Wonderful.
He tried not to panic as he continued fighting against Kal's grip. Maybe it was a side effect of his power, but he'd always hated being trapped. "I said let go! What's it to you anyway!" he yelled.
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"You're not who you said you are!" Clark said. Wally was trying to squirm away, giving Clark the fleeting impression of trying to catch wet soap for a second, and it was all he could do to keep old of the guy. "I just want to know the truth!"
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He was panting from trying to break free, but Kal didn't seem like he was going to budge at all. Maybe it was time to try a different tactic. Wally wasn't particularly fond of using this trick, it was something he normally reserved for when he was being held against his will (like now) and that was a situation he normally tried to avoid. But desperate times and all that.
He stopped fighting Kal and concentrated instead on tapping into his connection with the Speed Force without running, instead simply letting the energy express itself in the form of high speed vibrations, capable of causing friction burns to his captor. Or at least, that was the idea. A couple of heartbeats in and Wally realised that he wasn't getting the right speed for that trick either, instead he just seemed to be making Kal stare at him with a rather uncomfortable expression. It would have been embarrassing if he didn't feel so... pathetic. The Flash, fastest man alive, completely at the mercy of a teenager.
He slumped back against the bus and let his body drop back to normal speeds, though he still shuddered a little from exertion. "Now what?" he mumbled.
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But Clark managed to keep it together and instead said, "You can start with the truth," he said quietly and was surprised at how calm he sounded.
It seemed like Wally finally gave up on trying to get away. Clark had been getting a little worried there - this wasn't like back in Smallville, back when he could pick up a trailer and not even sweat over it. Holding down a guy, even a really fast guy, shouldn't have been a problem. But in Landels, it'd taken everything he had to make sure he didn't lose his hold.
Was he imagining it, or had Wally been vibrating? Clark could've sworn he'd felt them up his arm, but if it was him doing it, he'd stopped. The farmboy stared sternly at the patient he held down, knowing this wasn't exactly the safest place for a discussion but wanting some answers. If he let go of Wally, there was no telling how far he could make it next time or if Clark could even catch him.
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"I... have superspeed," he said. It was a start, but he wondered were he should go from there. Besides, Kal hadn't seemed to know anything about the Justice League earlier, so how was he supposed to explain all of that? "It was in an accident a long time ago. Things have been kinda complicated since then."
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Wait, was he a Kryptonian? Clark wavered. He was the only one with that kind of speed. And if Wally was like him - it'd explain how he knew about the kryptonite - then why wasn't he freeing himself? Then again, he knew nothing about his kind, so maybe there was a chance the whole powers thing was different for each person. It boiled down to the fact he was still in the dark. Clark didn't let go of Wally just yet, but his expression softened a little.
"What accident?" Had it been in Smallville? All the people with powers he knew had been exposed to some form of meteor rock...but then there were people like Claire who said they'd never even heard of the place, much less been to it. Questions whirled in his head, questions he didn't have enough time to ask, much less get answers to.
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"It was a long time ago, back in Central City. I was working late one night and there was this huge lightning storm in the area. It sounds kind of stupid now I'm telling someone else, but lightning struck a shelf of chemicals I was standing in front of. Blew the whole thing to pieces and dumped it all over me. Ever since then, I've had superspeed." He shrugged and smiled weakly. "It pretty amazing, but it's not working so well here. Obviously."
His stomach growled loudly and Wally flushed. "I, uh, have an increased metabolism too. I didn't get much lunch or dinner today, so it's been affecting my speed." It was probably part of the reason why Kal had managed to catch and hold him. "Anyway, I was trying to get over the fence, maybe run into a town and get in contact with some, uh, friends of mine. They'd be able to handle this place."
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It also didn't answer the question of how Wally "knew" Clark Kent and kryptonite. Clark pursed his lips, about to bring that up when Wally suddenly mentioned going to get help: he had "friends" who could "handle" this place.
That got his attention.
"Friends?" Clark suddenly sounded hopeful, only to turn serious again. "But then you'd have to get to them first," he said. He had no choice but to believe the fact that a) Wally was super fast and b) he was right about his metabolism. "How would you make it to Doyleton if you have no energy. It's a long way down," Clark pointed out. "A very long way down."
He still didn't trust Wally. Maybe he trusted that he wanted to help and that he really was another "different" human around here, like Claire, but he didn't know anything else about the man. But if there was a chance of reaching someone who could help the prisoners here, then Clark knew he was for it.
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"Yeah, friends," Wally said, a little defensively. He wasn't sure he wanted to explain the Justice League and his ties to them just yet anyway. Better to let Kal think that he was just some guy with powers. "I should be able to contact them if I can get to a phone, or find my stuff. There should be a mobile or something there." Actually there'd be his costume, safely stored in his Flash ring if he was lucky. But it had a built in communicator with a direct line to the League, better than having to go through normal channels.
His heart sank when he heard how far this Doyleton was. It sounded like he wouldn't be able to make it in a night, not at his current speed and energy levels. "Well do you have a better idea?" he asked.
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Seriously, how did he think he was going to find a phone? One really fast until he ran into one? Clark had to admit he'd thought of the same thing, but he hadn't done it. Instead, he was going to do the careful thing and try to get information before running off. Clark ticked off all the points that was wrong with Wally's brilliant plan:
"First, you'd probably need a map to get down to Doyleton. And supplies, because it might take a long time to get there on foot no matter how fast you are," Clark wasn't sure Wally could even run all the way down if he had such a crazy metabolism, not without lugging food with him. "Second, you don't know anything about the area. I think it'd be better to take it slower and investigate before running blindly into things."
Wally was lucky he hadn't run into anything yet in Landels, seeing as he thought it'd be so easy to just walk over to a phone. They were lucky they hadn't even been overheard here in the open. Despite his words, Clark was definitely feeling nervous being exposed like this and in one spot. The longer they stood like this, the more chances they could get attacked.
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Still, he wasn't just going to stand there and take this. "First off, who needs a map? In case you haven't noticed, there's a road right there. They have this habit of leading to towns, last I checked. Secondly, I don't need any supplies! I could make it there in no time. I just gotta rest a bit, get my speed back." At least, that was what he hoped. He didn't want to think of what it would be like if this was how his speed was going to be from now on. All he needed was a few minutes to catch his breath. And maybe a few hours at the buffet.
"And finally," Wally continued, "I don't see why you think you're that much better suited to be in charge here! I mean, you spend your time thinking you're a reporter from Metropolis! How am I supposed to know that the rest of your information isn't just as delusional? For all that you've been going on about danger, I haven't seen anything 'cept for that whack-job on the intercoms, which barely counts!" He folded his arms across that awful smiley face and glared up at Kal, daring him to answer.
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