runningstart | MASK OR MENACE IC INBOX

MASK OR MENACE IC INBOX

WALLY WEST
"You've reached the personal voice mail of the Wall-man. The honor is yours! Leave your deets, I'll holla back atcha."
[ BEEP. ]

KID FLASH
"This is the contact for Kid Flash. If it's an emergency, call Robin; he'll know where I am. Otherwise, leave your info and I'll get you back ASAP."
[ BEEP. ]

[ voice | text | email | action ]

( Please specify in tag subject line if the contact is for Wally West or Kid Flash! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's... probably smart. Let me know if you need anything. A second pair of eyes, anything like that. He doesn't know who I am, right?

I haven't said anything about you. And far as I know, there's no Batman where this Barry's from, so probably no you either. It might be good, if you could go on the days I can't. Or at least on some of them, but we kind of have the same schedules so I dunno how that'd work.

Hey, you know I'm good at shifting things around for official business.

[ Dick moves to sit on the desk, legs dangling over the side, swinging slowly. It's weird, thinking of a universe without him or Wally (or at least a universe where they never met). Without a Batman; just a Flash. How different would things be? ]

I'll make it work. Maybe we could even go on the same day a few times, just so it doesn't look too suspicious, like I'm covering for you. If he's a crazy genius type, he might notice.

He probably will. He already knows I'm attending. [Wally drums his fingers atop the table.] Can you do your super stealth thing in broad daylight, or do you need shadows and stuff?

It's a lot easier at night, but I've pulled it off during the day before. Never with a whole class of people, but... it might be fun to try.

Fun- Okay Rob I know how this sounds coming from me but this is serious. Thawne isn't someone to screw around with.

Dude, I don't mean—

[ He frowns, huffing through his nose. ]

I can have fun while I take things seriously. Remember? That thing we have in common? I like what I do, and I like testing myself with the hard stuff. That doesn't mean I think it's a joke.

Nothing about Thawne is fun to me, dude. If there's one thing that scares me more than what's waiting back home, it's the idea if Wells getting fed up with playing house and going after someone because he thinks it'd get to Barry.

[ He so rarely sees Wally like this. It's strange... all the times he'd asked for him to take missions more seriously, and now Robin's on the other end of it. But if Wally's this serious about it, he can try to see where he's coming from.

He lifts a hand, rubbing the back of his neck. ]

... I'm too far removed, anyway. Unless you think he'd use me to get to you, and then you to get to Barry.

I dunno what he'd do. He probably thinks I'm amusing, which is why he's putting up with me, if I had to guess. I dunno what he'd think of you if he thought you were snooping around.

[Wally runs a hand through his hair.] Uncle B came after me seriously once. Just to show me what it would be like, just in case Thawne ever showed up again- Cause he's technically still at large back home, right?

You don't even know, man. You don't know what it's like, having someone that fast come after you. Your neurons wouldn't even get a chance to fire before he'd be on you, and you'd never get away unless he let you.

[ It sends a chill up the back of Robin's neck, the fine hairs there standing on end. What must it be like to deal with something like that? ]

I'll follow your lead on this. But you have my back. Whatever you need. [ A small tilt of his head, his brow furrowing. ] There's no way to prepare? Nothing you and I could do?

[Wally droops, a little relieved. Okay.] Dude, I don't know. If he's like the Thawne from home? Not much. A gravity field would probably contain him for a while, but I have no idea where we'd even begin getting the tech to put something like that together. Or the expertise; I've got no idea.

Then I think we should start looking into it. Or... looking into someone who can, anyway. Hope we never have to use it, but be prepared in case we do.

Yeah...yeah, probably.

Look uhhh, speaking of looking into stuff, I wanted to ask you something. Tadashi- the place he was doing Porter research before I got on board kind of. Burned to the ground.

And considering it's prrrobably not gonna be legal to actually build one of these things, I was wondering if we could. Y'know. Start building it here.

[ And, logical or not, there's that stupid little flare of jealousy again. ]

Wait wait wait, he was building one?

That's the end game, far as I know. A real, working Porter. I figure here it'd be off the city power grid, we already have security. I can use my clearance to bring him in as a guest so we don't have to give him full access.

[ Dick's brow furrows as he mulls it over. It's dangerous. It's probably extremely illegal. And civilians in the cave...

... but his heart always goes a little fluttery when Wally suggests doing something that risky. ]

You really think it can be done?

I dunno.

I hope so. Maybe. I dunno the deal with this 'Lachesis' component but we have to try. Not just for me, but anybody else who can't go back yet.

[ He nods, thoughtful. ]

I wish I knew more about how the zeta tech back home worked. That might be a start.

[Wally shakes his head.] It might help some, but it's one thing to cross relativistic space and another to cross between dimensions. That's something totally different. Might as well focus on this like it's a completely new theory.

Mm... okay, good point.

[ He drags a hand through his hair. ]

What we really need to figure out is how to get a look at the one that brought us here. But it's seriously well guarded.

It's on the list. There's got to be people here who can help us get at it, but...I don't wanna send anybody else to prison for helping us out. Or worse- whatever happened to Holiday. Something tells me they'd take sneaking in to the Porter a lot worse than knocking over a liquor store.

But that's also why I wanna keep the research here. It'll be harder for them to find it and raid it.

I'd risk it for you.

[ It just slips out. Maybe because everything is so fresh, maybe because he feels it so strongly, maybe because he's just tired of bottling everything up. He glances away for a moment, biting the inside of his cheek... but it's only a moment. He looks back up at Wally, his gaze hard, and continues. ]

... but we'll be lucky to get even one shot. So I agree. We have to be careful. Take our time, make sure we don't rush it and mess up. That doesn't help anyone.

I don't even know who the right people for that are. They'd need the right skillset and have to be willing to put themselves in danger. [ A tight shrug. ] We'll figure it out, though. This is our thing, right?

[Wally stares at Robin, tapping his fingers against the back of his chair and chewing on his lip.] D'you think your stealth thing and techno-whatever can get you inside if I run distraction outside?

Just you and me?

... Maybe. We've both gotten better. Faster. Without knowing for sure what their security situation is, I can't be sure. But with the right planning, scoping out the area... I think it's possible.

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Sure did delete this notif accidentally via phone. THANKS PHONE...

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