outofalpha | Sept/Oct Test Drive Meme

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test drive meme

Sept/Oct Test Drive Meme

Alpha Complex Test Drive Meme

Please feel free to take a Test Drive to see if the environment would suit your character! All potential players are welcome.

It may be your first day in Alpha Complex or your hundredth, either way, you are in serious trouble.

Scenario One
Your character has been accused of treason!

Whether the accusation is true or not, you are a wanted citizen! Do you turn yourself over to IntSec (Internal Security) for questioning? Do you make a run for it and go AWOL? Will you fight for your right to exist or hole up somewhere safe until the chaos passes? Do you become The Fugitive and try to prove your innocence? Or are you guilty as hell and seeking help from friends or other parties who would be willing to assist you for a price?

Beware of the security cameras everywhere - some of which actually work - and being spotted by citizens who might be willing to turn you in to gain points with The Computer or to prove their own loyalty.

Scenario Two
Your character has been given the mission to hunt down a traitor!

It is your job to hunt down and apprehend the traitor by any means necessary. If you fail or refuse, you might be accused of being a traitor yourself. It doesn't matter if the person you are hunting is innocent or had good reasons for their treason. It doesn't matter if their crime was major or some minor form of treason, Friend Computer wants their head. You have twenty four hours to complete your mission.

Please post your character name and fandom in the subject line.
Work Together. Turn On Each Other. Survive.

Premise | Setting Information | New Arrival Introduction

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well this bites.

He's barely been here for a couple of days and now the bipolar Computer overlord is pissed at him for something that wasn't even his fault. ...Alright, it was sort of his fault, a solid 20% his fault, but if nobody wanted him to try and dismantle Friend Computer's hardware then they really should have better equipped security for high-speed assaults. 80% better equipped, in Wally's humble opinion.

But it doesn't matter now, because now he's on the run. The Computer effectively put a hit out on him and now he's hiding away in some abandoned...warehouse thing that he probably can't live in, if he's being completely honest with himself. He's already slowing down, his metabolism having burned through whatever he's managed to eat so far today, and Wally needs rest. He's not done, he's going to find somewhere to hide, people to help him take this tyrannical system down chip by chip, but for now... he needs rest.

He's sitting on the far side of the building with his back against the wall, trying to ignore how annoyingly lightheaded he feels, when he hears a sound in the darkness on the other side of the building. He's on his feet in less than a second, and he stumbles a little to catch himself on the wall behind him as his head spins from the blood rush, but his voice is all confidence and challenge as he calls out into he darkness at the unseen intruder. "If you're here to try and catch me, good luck." His body language is all tenacity, despite how false it may be in the moment. "I don't know who you are but if you want to play a game of cat and mouse you're gonna lose. I can do this all day."

Edited 2016-09-06 07:06 (UTC)

Dick doesn't do too much snooping in computer systems because he doesn't want to accidentally give away his location to the computer, but sometimes he likes to sneak in and check up on things, make a few modifications here and there, see how his friends are getting on, checking up on important news that might be relevant to him - especially if it'll give him a head start on any price on his own head.

He's browsing through the traitor announcements when he sees a name that nearly makes his heart stop.

Wally West.

It might not be him, it might be a different version of him from another world, like Ray and Oliver and all of Barry's other friends, but even if it was, Wally was his best friend, he couldn't just leave him to whatever fate the computer had in store for him.

The first glimpse he caught of him on a security camera confirmed what he'd been hoping - it was really him, it was his Wally. Well, not his Wally, but... anyway. Focus.

He tracked the redhead's movements as far as he could until Wally had gone out of the range of the working cameras and then went hunting the old fashioned way, he was just searching an abandoned warehouse when he hears Wally's voice and he had to stop himself running towards him, he didn't want to startle the other boy after all.

"I bet you're not even tired," he calls out jokingly instead, moving slowly out of the shadows towards Wally.

Despite his confidence Wally is tense, with shoulders squared and jaw set, but his determination to be prepared for anything melts away almost immediately the moment he hears a voice respond. He barely has any time to doubt what he's hearing before a familiar face steps out of the shadows. Well, a familiar head of hair. A familiar height, a familiar smile, but not a familiar face, because Wally's never seen the face before. Between everything else, though, it's unmistakable, and Wally lingers for a minute in shock before finally managing to find his voice again. "...Rob? Is that-"

Of course it's him, Wally, don't ask stupid questions. It takes him another second to process, and he fills up the time lapse with another comment. "Are you kidding? I could run a marathon right now. Two, actually. Way more than two." It's hard to tell who's on your side in this place, but Wally doesn't doubt Robin for a moment. If anyone could find a way to keep their head in this place, it's Rob.

He's so relieved to see his friend that he doesn't think about his actions before executing them, running at Robin a little too fast and colliding with him in an embrace that's too tight. Wally's been certain that he's been alone since the day he arrived, but Robin is here, his best friend, and if Wally could have asked for just one other person to see again, it would have been Rob, without hesitation.

"What are you doing here? How long have you-" Wally releases Robin in the process of speaking, holding on to his shoulders firmly as he puts space between them, but he stops speaking abruptly when he sees his friends face once more. "...Dude can you like, close your eyes or something, this is really freaking me out. I feel like I just walked in on you naked."

Even though he's had a chance to get used to Wally being there during the search, it doesn't remotely prepare him for seeing Wally there, in the flesh, his best friend, finally. It's been too long, too lonely, and he never really realised just how much he needed to see a friendly face from home until this moment.

"Yea?" he smiles slightly at the marathon comment, trying not to reveal just how emotional he's feeling at Wally's appearance. It all breaks down when the speedster barrels into him, and Robin flings his arms around the other boy and practically clings to him. It's partly in order to prevent himself from falling over at the sudden impact, but it's mostly to reassure himself that Wally's really there, flesh and blood.

"Months. It's been.. it's..." he stops, confused for a moment before laughing, realising the problem that Wally was having, and it was a little weird to think this was the first time Wally had really seen his eyes. He fished in his pocket for the makeshift mask he'd created, tying it around his face. It didn't really cover the way his glasses or mask did back home, he hadn't been able to recreate the lenses so it was really just a zorro-esque strip of fabric, but it was better than nothing "That better?"

Wally blinks once when Robin finishes putting on the mask and he scoffs with a wrinkle to his nose, as if insulted his friend would even ask. "No it's not better, it just makes it weirder! This isn't your mask, it looks like you're wearing..." Wally takes the mask and lifts it up so it's off of Robin's eyes, messing up his hair instead, "panties on your face or something, take that thing off." It's strange, seeing his face for the first time. Wally's known Robin for years, all of them being the most influential years of his life since they first met when he became Kid Flash. He'd seen him in his mask, in sunglasses with civilian clothing, and yeah, sometimes it bothers Wally that he doesn't even know his best friends real name. It's become a part of their friendship, though, so much so that it feels like some sort of betrayal when he sees Rob's face for the first time. He realized a long time ago that he doesn't need to know what Robin looks like or what his real name is to trust him with his life.

"What do you mean months? I've only been here for a couple of days, I saw you back home just - oh man. Oh man hold up, this is like," Wally releases Robin's shoulders so he can wave his hands in front of him, one making a circular motion and the other pointing to it to gesture... nothing that can be deciphered. "This is like on of those dimensional things, right? Uncle Barry has told me about this stuff, time hops and all of that, did I run through time? That's sick, I didn't even know I could do that!" He finishes by planting his hands on his waist with a smug smile, a little too proud of himself after giving himself credit for something he most certainly didn't accomplish. "Now I just have to figure out how to get back home. I can bring you with me, we can get out of here!"

He looks over Robin's shoulder to make sure that he's alone before Wally's eyes return to his friends face, still a little struck by the fact that he can see it in the first place after all these years. "Are you on the run too? That stupid computer is having a tantrum, you try to disconnect one hard drive and it acts like you were trying to erase it's memory or something." Which is exactly what Wally tried to do. No use in the technicalities though. "...Wait, so you've been here for months without wearing your mask? Just like that?" Why does that rub Wally the wrong way? He's known Rob since they were little kids, and the thought of a bunch of strangers and robots learning his best friends identity before Wally did hits his pride in exactly the wrong place.

"Well I'm sorry my face is so weird to you," Dick laughs, taking the mask the rest of the way and shoving it back in his pocket, smoothing his hand over his hair to fix the mess Wally made of it. His hand freezes when Wally says he just saw him back home and his eyes widen slightly. The babbling about time made him feel a little bit better about it, maybe it was possible after all, but if it wasn't... it brought some very unpleasant implications about cloning. People were being dragged from different worlds and time points so maybe that was an explanation, but then surely he would have been missing and... thinking about it gave him a headache. Maybe it was just time travel. Maybe Wally had only come from a couple of days after he'd left, maybe time moved differently here, it was a conundrum to unravel for a different day, he didn't want to darken this reunion with it now.

"Something like that, I think," is what he says instead "If you could figure out how to get us out of here that would be pretty great, so far I haven't had any luck. Obviously. Oh, hey, speaking of your uncle Barry... he's kind of here. I mean, it's not the same him, but it's him." that probably didn't make any sense if Wally had only been here a couple of days, but it was the best way to explain it.

"Sort of on the run, I've been kinda off-grid for a month or so now, it's not so bad, I know safe places to hide and I've made some friends amongst the other specials who help me out as well. I-oh, yea," he shrugs at the mask question "It just... well, you know the outfits they make you wear here don't exactly lend themselves to masks, uh, most people here don't actually know Robin, I mean, a couple of people have learnt about some of my skills and it's sort of come up in conversation a bit, plus some people know about Batman and Robin for different reasons," he remembers how Hardison pegged him right away "but that's kind of a long story. But anyway, I've kind of... not been Robin here."

Wally's brow pinches again when Rob mentions his uncle Barry being him but not him, and his eyes move down to the ground between them in thought as he tries to mull over how that can be possible. Robin can be mistaken, it can be a different Barry, but Robin doesn't make mistakes like that. He wouldn't make that claim unless he's certain. "If it's a time thing he can just be younger..." he thinks aloud, but even as he says it he's shaking his head as if he knows that's not the case. That's too easy. "If there's a time differentiation here it can be a dimensional change, Uncle Barry has told me about different versions of Earth before but I never really thought I'd ever see it. It sounded so cool at the time..." It's not cool anymore, Wally decides. This is so not cool.

He only looks up again when Robin explains that the people here doesn't even know him as Robin, and it takes another lingering second for him to realize what that means. "They know your name? Your real name?" He can't help but sound a little hurt this time, his shoulders sagging in disappointment. It makes sense, he supposes... without Batman here, Rob would have no reason to go by his vigilante title. In fact, it would be smarter if he didn't so he could still use it if he has to, and that all makes sense to Wally. It still sucks, though. It sucks knowing that a bunch of strangers now know things about his best friend that he's not even allowed to know. He swallows hard, hoping that Robin would just give him the information, but when he doesn't Wally takes another hit to his pride as he croaks out his question. "I mean," he kicks the ground awkwardly in discomfort, "...what is it...?"

"I'm pretty sure it's dimensional," he nods "We've compared a couple of notes, there's definitely some people we both know but a lot of people we don't." he can't help but agree with Wally's assessment, it seems like it would be really cool and interesting, but in reality it's just kind of a disappointment, especially when he hears about people turning up that he recognises, but who turn out to be from Barry's world. He can't believe he's finally met someone from his own world and it's Wally of all people, one of the two he would want to see more than anything.

He doesn't know whether to be amused or guilty at Wally's reaction to finding out everybody here knows his real name, he can understand why his best friend in all the world might feel a little jealous of the people who know his secret identity, especially when Wally doesn't, but at the same time... it isn't like nobody in the world knows what it is. The only people at home who know that Robin and Dick Grayson are one and the same are family, of course, but Dick is pretty damn well known - a biproduct of being the son of one of Gotham's wealthiest names of course.

When Wally comes right out and asks it, there is a split second hesitation because he knows how much Bruce had drilled it into him that he should never reveal his secret to anybody, but it's not like Wally isn't going to find it out anyway, and he deserves to be told by Dick himself because otherwise it's just not fair, and honestly? He's been waiting for this moment for a while, he wants Wally to be the first person from back home to find out, and even though the circumstances are a million miles from what he ever hoped, he's still glad to be able to do it.

"It's Dick. Dick Grayson." and if Wally knows anything about Gotham and its upper crust, it's not a great leap to figure out who Batman is.

Wally hates how on edge he is as he waits for a response, and for a second he's almost sure that Robin isn't going to answer him. How awful would that be, if he still decides to keep that secret when a bunch of strangers know who Rob really is? Wally isn't sure if he would be able to actually handle that.

He says the name and the older boy can't help his first reaction, a snorted laugh that's paired with his shoulders hunching as he leans forward in amusement. "Yeah, alright, you're Dick Grayson," he scoffs with a roll of his eyes, but when Robin doesn't laugh Wally's grin fades into something more stunned. Soon he looks as if he's been slapped, and his mouth flops open and shut almost comically with rapid blinks. "...Wait," he begins slowly, his hand moving to point directly at Robin. "You're Dick Grayson. ...You're Dick Grayson?? Hold on, but that means- HOLY CRAP!" His hands shoot up to grab his own hair, eyes wide in awe. "That means that BRUCE WAYNE IS BATM- shh!" he hushes Robin as if he was he one about to scream a secret that meant nothing in this world, and he continues in a frantic whisper, leaning in a little to close the space between them. "That means that Bruce Wayne is Batman- oh man, oh man, oh man that is - this is so sweet!" Wally is yelling again by the end of his sentence.

"So wait, you're - he's- you're- so you've been- and he's been-" he stops himself abruptly time and time again, answering the questions in his own head, and by the end of it Wally is laughing in amazement before he reaches in to hit Robin on the arm. "Dude! Dude! Oh man, you probably have the best video game set up back home and you've been totally holding out on me, seriously? Seriously. Seriously?" Wally shakes his head, finally letting his excitement fade a little for the sake of his health; he's feeling light headed as it is. His arms cross in front of his chest as he shakes his head, staring at Robin in disbelief.

"...I totally called it." He comments with a one shouldered shrug. "I totally knew, I mean, he had to have a lot of dough to be driving around cars like that, and that sort of gear isn't cheap, right? I totally called it." He frowns, suddenly looking a little put out. "...I don't have to call you Dick now, right? And I thought my name was bad."

Dick's a little bemused when Wally's first reaction is disbelief, but he waits for the other penny to drop and man, when it does, the reaction is kind of glorious and he has to fight really hard not to burst out laughing at several points. When Wally eventually winds down he's managed to get himself under control, but he still can't keep the fond smile from his face.

"Okay," he held his hand up, checking his fingers off as he made his way through the points "Yes, I am really Dick Grayson. Yes, my dad is Batman, or Bruce Wayne, well, both. My video game set up is... pretty good, okay, I admit it, I mean it's not as good as my gym set up, but still... I'm sorry man, I promise, when we get back you get to come over. And finally I don't care what you call me, I'm just glad you're here." he finishes sincerely, kind of impressed with himself how evenly he manages to keep his tone when it almost feels like it's going to crack and he's going to horribly embarrass himself by blubbering all over Wally.

"You could call me Richard but nobody calls me Richard, not even Alfie." he offers with a half smile.

"Yeah, pretty good, okay," Wally rolls his eyes when he repeats what Robin says aloud, hands still on his waist as he eyes his best friend again to give him a once over. Finding out that your best friend is Dick Grayson is like finding out that your best friend is secretly Robin or something, just, you know, backwards. It doesn't matter, though, not really... Rob is Rob in the end, nothing can change that. It's why Wally never let the fact that he didn't know Robin's true identity bother him in the first place, because his name doesn't matter. The fact that he's always there for Wally when Wally needs him, that's what's always mattered. Robin, Dick, Richard, it's not important. The fact that he's here. That's what's important.

"I'll call you Richy. Oh! Or DG. No, that sucks... whatever." He waves his hand passively. "I'll think of something. Who's Alfie? Why do you know all of these people that I don't know about, you know how weird this is, right? This is weird." Wally trails off with a sigh, but there's a lingering smile of content on his face. This isn't so bad. He thought that finding out who Robin really was would be earth shattering, but they were still standing and nothing changed. He was still grateful that Rob was the one to find him and not someone else.

His smile finally fades at the thought, and his hand moved to his stomach before he looks up at Robin - Dick - once more. "You didn't happen to bring a pizza with you or something, did 'ya? I can't run anymore - not like I can back home, at least. But I still haven't eaten anything and I'm starting to feel it. I'll be honest with you," Wally's voice lowered a little, as if ashamed. "If it wasn't you I don't know if I would have been able to get out of here fast enough. I feel like I'm going to pass out soon if I don't get something in me."

"Oh, Alfie is Alfred, he's the butler..uh... you know whenever I say that out loud it sounds really weird, but he's just part of the family you know? Alfie's the best mom." he laughs slightly, though there's a slightly bitterness to it because honestly, as nice as it is to see Wally, he'd much rather be seeing him at home again, and everybody else too. He missed Alfred, and Bruce, and Jason. "I don't know that many people you don't know, I mean Alfie's the only person in the family you don't know, you know Jay!" only of course Wally didn't know that, so he quickly follows it up with "Jason, my brother, the newer Robin."

"I don't have any food on me," he says, expression turning worried "but it's not too far to where I've been staying, there's food there..." for a second he's planning on taking Wally back to the more secret HQ, but he realises it's a bad idea, and kind of rude when it's technically Steve's base, he's just crashing there. Still, the regular specials HQ has food, and he trusts Wally more than enough to take him there.

_{((In case you don't know, Jason Todd is the Robin that died, you can see the memorial for him in a couple of the episodes, and then Tim Drake is the third Robin, the one who shows up in s2))}

Wally's eyebrows practically rise into his hairline. "Oh, right, your butler, how could I not have guessed?" He can't help but sound amused because he is... Rob never acts like one of the snobby rich kids, to find out that he lives with so much wealth is genuinely shocking. Yeah, he has all the latest tech when it comes to his gear but so does Wally, Batman always pays for that kind of stuff. It makes sense that his son would get extra perks, though, now that Wally knows who they actually are.

"So new Rob is your brother," he clarifies aloud, one hand moving to mess up his own hair. "You guys are like some sort of super family, huh? That's cool though, that's like me and Uncle Barry! Just, you know, with more people." Batman, adopting kids and doing copious amounts of charity work. Who would have thought? ...Anyone, now that Wally is thinking about it. It makes so much sense that he's almost angry at himself for not seeing it earlier.

He visibly deflates when Robin says he isn't carrying any food, but his head perks back up a little at the mention of it being somewhere else. "...Well can we go?" He tosses his hands out a little, trying to curb his impatience and failing. "I'm dyin' here, if I don't get something in me soon I'm going to pass out. Is there a way to get there without anyone trying to shoot my head off? Because that would be sweet."

Dick's cheeks colour slightly at Wally's comment, because yea okay when you put it like that it makes him sound like a rich brat, but he can't say it any other way, Alfred was the butler, that was his job, it was probably even weirder to say 'he's this old guy who hangs around our house and basically helped raise all of us and actually kind of Bruce too'.

"Yea, something like that, it's not that weird when you think about it, I mean, half the team has somebody who's related to them who's in the hero game, that's how most of us got into it," Artemis and M'gann and Zatanna all sprung to mind.

"Oh, yea, come on, it's not too far and I know all the back routes, we'll avoid anyone who might want to shoot at your head or anywhere else for that matter." he motioned for Wally to follow him and set off back the way he'd came, glancing back after a moment "Are you going to be okay walking there or do you want a hand?" or a shoulder to lean on

Admittedly, being sent on a mission to find a traitor is intimidating enough as it is. She's new here and she's still learning the lay of the land, but the fact of the matter is, she disagrees with almost everything the Computer considers to be treasonous. But adding to that, knowing that the person she's looking for is named Wally West makes her super uncomfortable. The thing is, it might not be him; it probably isn't Kid Flash, but the name itself is jarring enough and she's almost decided that maybe she shouldn't do this mission at all and just take the punishment for it.

In the end, she tells herself that there's no way this Wally is the Wally she knows and she's not interested in being arrested today, so she goes. She's been following security footage that's been fed to her via her PDC to pursue him and the red hair makes her wary of carrying out this mission, but she's only seen the back of his head in every shot. It's probably not him. It's almost definitely not him. It's totally a coincidence.

Zatanna is, quite honestly, a little afraid to follow him into the warehouse because all she's got on her is a RED barrel on a laser gun — he's wearing RED, too; does that mean it'll kill him? She doesn't want to kill anybody today — and absolutely no magic which...she hadn't realized until recently she used so heavily as a crutch back home.

His voice echoes a little in the big space and it's mostly dark, so she can't see him just yet, but she pushes forward anyway. He sounds like the Wally she knows, even.

It isn't him. You just miss home and your mind is playing tricks on you, she tells herself, raising the laser gun, not to use it but to at least try to look the part. "I'm just trying to do my job," she calls back. "There's legal aids and lawyers that'll help you if you really didn't do anything wrong," she points out warily, moving further into the cloak of darkness in the room. He could be anywhere given the way their voices are bouncing all over the space and the abundance of shadows. "I'm not going to hurt you." She frowns and sighs softly. This is the worst.

Wally is surprised when the voice that responds to him is female, and he spins in place to face the direction he thinks it's coming from. The echo of the warehouse makes it harder, though, and he can't see anymore; not yet. His eyes move to the way that he came in but it's far now, a lot of open space to run through while getting shot at, and although he's still fast he's not Wally fast. Not in this place. His method still matters, proper posture and breathing, and his legs can still carry his weight much faster than the average person due to the sheer amount of hours he's clocked in running, but he's no longer faster than a bullet. Especially right now, when he hasn't eaten in so long... if he made a break for it his chances of survival would be low.

"Oh yeah, like I've never heard that one before, Sweetcheeks," he calls back with a voice dripping in sarcasm, trying to keep the conversation going as his mind races to think of a way out of this mess. He was counting on not being found. There is no plan B. "We're just going to hold hands and skip our way back together so I can get a fair trial and the Computer is going to go 'you're right, he's a good guy, let's not try to melt his brain out of his ears.' No thanks." His voice takes a darker turn, and the humor is gone. "You're gonna have to shoot me first."

There's something strange about her voice, though, something that scratches at Wally's brain with familiarity that he can't place. He chalks it up to his lack of fuel. "How about you turn back and pretend like you never found me and we both go to sleep tonight with a clear conscious, huh? Sounds a lot better to me."

Rolling her eyes, Zatanna frowns. Sweetcheeks. Honestly! Who does this idiot think he is? That's so demeaning and she's trying to be nice, here. It's not like she actually wants this mission she's been saddled with. She moves forward again but stops short again because the echo is so heavy in the empty space that she honestly can't pinpoint the source. The last thing she needs is to make a move in the wrong direction. Even if she doesn't catch him, that's whatever; she's more concerned with the idea that he might, too, have a laser gun. She's not exactly whelmed at the idea of him evening the score. Zee likes to be a step ahead whenever possible, so this whole situation is becoming increasingly frustrating.

"I would really rather not, if it's all the same to you," she calls out, looking around, trying to catch some movement of a shadow in the little slivers of light that are littering the place. "I don't really like guns all that much." Mostly because she never needs to use them and they're not a comfortable fallback from magic.

"Oh yeah, that must really suck," he begins with a sarcastic drawl, arms thrown into the air. "You being armed and ready to shoot me. How difficult for you." His arms drop to his sides as he continues to circle in one spot, trying to get of feel on where the hell she is. Every time he steps he gives away his location, so he finally falls still, and after a few lingering seconds of silence he speaks again with the edge giving way to exhaustion.

"You can do it, you know." Despite the fact that he's in immediate danger Wally closes his eyes for a second to run his hand down his face. It's over and he knows it. She's got a gun, hes running on fumes, and as soon as he makes a break for it she's going to know where he is. He's already lost, although she doesn't know it yet. "Just... leave. Act like you didn't find me, there are no cameras here, they would never know." He swallows hard, his back leaning against the wall and his eyes falling to the ground. So this is it, huh? This is how all of the bad he's stopped is going to catch up with him.

It was a good run.

"You know what they're going to do to me." His hand runs through fiery hair. "I'm not going to let that happen. I won't let them tell me who I am, I know who I am. I'd rather you just shoot me. So either shoot me or leave." He says the last part with a new sense of determination as if he's made up his mind. "Because I'm not going back there. Ever."

It's like, the more he talks, the more he sounds like the Wally she knows and as angry as the tone makes her, Zatanna hesitates for that reason alone. "Apparently, you've never heard of an ethical dilemma," she replies with the same biting tone. He sounds tired. She feels tired.

He speaks up again and her eyes narrow a little as she considers it. Zatanna only has to think on it for a second before she realizes that, really, there is no win-win here. One of them is screwed.

"You make it sound like it's so easy. It must be nice to think there's other options in this situation." Zatanna shakes her head and she lowers the laser gun without putting it away. "Like I could do that and just go on about my day with a failed mission under my belt. Like they're going to just shrug and say 'oh well, better luck next time, kid.' It doesn't work like that."

Neither of the options he offers to her is one that Zee has any interest in taking. The renewed defiance in his voice is what finally does it to her. She hasn't been here a long time and she still struggles against the reflex to use her spells to get what she wants.

"Emoc tuo ereh dna wohs flesruoy!" she snaps shrilly. Nothing's going to happen and she realizes out a second too late, so she barrels on. "No more games!" Maybe he'll just think she's swearing at him in a foreign language or something.

"You're going to lecture me about an ethical dilemma right now?" Wally snaps aloud, the sharpness returning to his voice. "I'm standing in a warehouse and my choices are getting shot or having my brain wiped because I couldn't just stand by and let some crazy Stalin-Bot turn human beings into freaking zombies, and you're going to lecture me about an ethical dilemma? That's real nice, Sugar, forgive me if my heart isn't breaking for you."

Wally's jaw flexes in tension as his eyes roll with frustration. "Yeah, we wouldn't want you to get a warning if you don't bring me in to get terminated, you poor thing." He gives an audible scoff as if to vocalize just how ridiculous he thinks the whole situation is, and he's about to say just that aloud when he hears her shout in some other language. It sounds familiar, though, too familiar and that's when Wally makes the connection.

"Where did you learn that?" He calls back, pushing himself off of the wall to start searching for her again. "Hey! Where did you learn to say that?" He walks forward before he stops himself, just short of stepping into the clear, but when he speaks his voice is a little quieter and almost desperate. "...Zatanna?"

Zatanna growls to herself a little in an effort to bite her tongue when she feels a retort bubbling toward the surface. The fact that he thinks all she's going to get if she walks away is a warning makes her blood boil because nobody is that lucky in Alpha Complex. Not even Zatanna Zatara.

She's angry and distracted this entire situation, not just the boy with the name and the voice of a friend. Although, admittedly, he isn't making it any better, that's for sure. Zatanna's trying to think; trying to figure out a way for them to both get out of this in one piece and neither of them end up arrested or terminated or both, so she's ignoring him when she hears him talking, until she hears her name.

"What?!" she snaps, annoyed, in response to her name before realizing that...

...he used her name.

"Wait...Wally?"

The second he hears her say his name, he knows that he's right. She knows his name anyway, he realizes, because she's been put on a mission to hunt him but that doesn't matter. He knows.

Wally takes the chance and walks out into the open, because the worst thing that'll happen is she'll shoot him if he's wrong and honestly, that's going to end up happening anyway at this rate. It's only then that he can see her and his footsteps freeze, staring at her in her jumpsuit with gun in hand. It's Zatanna. His teammate Zatanna, and to see her working for them, hunting someone - him - down for them, stabs so much deeper than it should. He knows she doesn't have a choice. His speed is gone, and her powers are probably gone too... she's killer with hand to hand combat but she hasn't been trained in that department as much as Wally probably has, and he's obviously struggling. This isn't what Zatanna chose. It's what they did to her, and that just makes him even angrier.

"Zatanna," he says her name again, the tension in his shoulders melting away as he starts to move toward her, and before she can stop him he's embracing her tightly with his head in her shoulder and his fingers twisting in the back of her jumpsuit. He releases her after a few lingering moments only to frown down at her, giving her a once over in her current outfit and he manages to give a weak smile that doesn't reach his eyes.

"You look good in red?"

When he moves out into the light, Zatanna's breath catches because it is the Wally she knows. Oh God, she was totally ready to turn in Kid Flash...she's the actually worst! Immediately, she holsters the laser gun; he's obviously not a threat to her safety.

To her credit, Zee doesn't even try to stop him. In fact, she's about to try to meet him halfway, but he beats her to the punch. Zatanna wraps her arms around him and she's squeezing him back, tucking her head against his and closing her eyes as she feels him clinging to her, fingers curling into the extra fabric of her jumpsuit.

When he pulls back, she lets him even though she doesn't want to. A watery laugh escapes her at his comment and she shakes her head. "I look awful, shut up."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sept/Oct Test Drive Meme

Alpha Complex Test Drive Meme

Wally West | Young Justice

Re: Wally West | Young Justice

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Since the other robins happen somewhere between s1 and s2 I'm just...making things up lol

works for meee

Re: works for meee

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