A/N: Things aren't going to be exactly like they are in the show. I'm going to try to mix the show with the comics to try and make it more accurate, so there's going to be some tweaks. Just a heads up.

Blüdhaven

August 31, 4:30 PM

*flashback*

Artemis takes in a deep breath and knocks on an apartment door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Artemis... Can I come in?" Artemis says on the other side of the door. Nightwing walks over and opens the door.

"Sure, come on in." Dick says and Artemis walks in.

"Dick, are you OK?" Artemis asks after he closes the door.

"Fine, why do you ask?" He asks.

"You've been in here for two days straight. This place is a mess, you're usually so organized."

"I've just been a little... distracted, lately." The acrobat stammers. Earning him a 'really, that's the best you could come up with' look from his blonde friend. "What?"

Artemis sighs, knowing just how broken up he is. "You're hopeless." She says then heads for the door. "See you tomorrow?" She asks over her shoulder.

"Count on it." Dick replies with an unconvincing smile and Artemis leaves.

Watchtower

August 31, 9:30 PM

"Recognized, Artemis. B07." The cool Zeta voice says at the new Mt. Justice.

"How's he holding up?" Zatanna asks walking up to Artemis.

"His apartment is a mess. So not good. He tries to hide it, I think he forgot that he isn't as good at covering up his emotions around us as he thinks." Artemis says and hugs herself. "Ya know, the only person who would know how effected by this he is would be, well, Wally."

"How are you holding up, Artemis?" M'gann asks, joining them.

"No better, maybe a little worse." The archer sighs. M'gann hugs her and Zatanna goes to greet the returning squad.

A red and yellow uniform passes and Artemis gasps. "Wally?"

Kid Flash II turns around with a sad look on his face. "I wish. But it's just me... Sorry Artemis." Blue puts a hand on his shoulder and they walk away. KFII runs back to hug her, slightly stifling her crying.

"I miss him too." He whispers and gives her a final squeeze before catching back up with Blue Beetle, tears welling in his eyes.

Blüdhaven

September 1, 3:12 AM

 Dick is at a work desk and his studying a bunch of papers in a dark room lit only by a lamp.

"OK, Flash said he just kinda dissolved. That means that he's really dead, or..." He trails of and groans in frustration. 

"Or what? He could've time traveled, or just gotten spread all over the Arctic, and then there's the Speed Force.... It could be anything with that kind of alien tech! I could ask Bart if he can somehow check the future, but what risks- what danger- would that put him in? No, I can't ask him to do that. Barry did say that time travel was an option though, and if that's true he could be anywhere, any time..." He trails off, and sets his pencil down on his cluttered desk.

Leaning back in the chair, Dick sighs in frustration and runs a hand through his stress-messed hair.

"Guess I'll have to go by trial and error. At least I have all the possible options figured out."

Standing up, he turns the lamp off and heads to bed for a couple hours of restless sleep before beginning his experiments.

After the memorial, of course.

Watchtower

September 1, 2:30 PM

The Team is gathered together in one of the Watchtower's more relaxed rooms, all grieving the loss of their comrade. M'gann and Artemis sitting on a couch, M'gann's arm slung over Artemis's shoulders while the blonde cries silently against the martian's shoulder. Said martian strokes and scratches absently at the green cat laying in her lap.

Nightwing's sitting in a corner with his head on his knees, not letting anybody see the tears or hear him sob. The only thing showing his sorrow is the shaking of his shoulders as he cries into his arms, sunglasses resting on the top of his head. Batman gave him and Tim (ha! that rhymed!) the "Boy's don't cry. But men do." talk before dropping Tim off.

Bart is sitting next to a window on the other side of the room. Piles of empty pudding cups and a spoon on the table in front of him. Jaime is leaning on the wall behind Bart's chair, keeping an eye on his mourning friend while grieving on his own.

The rest fill the space, grieving in their own special way. Out of nowhere, Nightwing stands up and just walks out. He doesn't say anything, look at anybody, just leaves. Red, watery eyes hidden behind his pitch black sunglasses.

"What was that all about?" Cassie wonders out loud.

"How would you feel if your best amigo died only a few days ago?" Jaime points out then looks back at Bart, who is now staring out the window. "I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty messed up."

"Fair enough." Cassie says and walks away. As if on cue, Jaime's phone vibrates in his pocket. He pulls it out texts the person back.

"Who was it?" Bart asks, not taking his eyes off the window. His voice takes Jaime off gaurd. It's so depressed and listless... not at all the happy-go-lucky tone he was used to hearing. Then again, they are at a private funeral for his cousin. Not to mention the fact that he's pretty much replacing Wally as Kid Flash.

"Tye. He's mad because I forgot about to meet him at the skate park earlier." Jaime says and walks towards the door. Bart pulls out his iPod and a screwdriver, speeding away to throw away the pudding cups to make room.

"What're you doing hermano?"

"Gonna up my memory capacity."

"You know how to do that?"

Bart looks up at him and nods. "I built a time-machine out of practically scrap her-man-oh, pretty sure I can increase my memory with a screwdriver."

Jaime just nods. "I'm gonna go ahead and catch up with Tye. Have fun, hermano."

"Yeah, you too." Bart says, somewhat muffled by the screwdriver in his mouth, before taking it out and beginning to work delicately. Jaime tosses a bag of Freeze Dried Chicken Whizees at him before walking out the door.

El Paso

September 2, 3:00 PM

Jaime skates towards Tye, who is leaning up against the skate park gate. The young hero would be hanging out with Bart, but the speedster was on a recon mission to LexCorp.

So, Jaime skates up to the gate.

"Dude, what took you so long?" Tye says and stops leaning on the fence.

"Got caught up."

"Whatever, let's just go." Tye says and starts skating downtown. Jaime catches up and they skateboard through El Paso, small talk budding between the two of them.

Smallville

September 2, 3:00 PM

"Where did all these soldiers come from?" Bumblebee yells out, stinging left and right.

"If I had to guess I'd say that red portal in the wall." Superboy supplies before leaping onto four more soldiers rushing towards them. "Just a guess!"

"I see the portal, but where's Klarion?" Kid II shouts back after disarming and knocking out six more.

"You don't seem the same Kiddy." The voice sounds behind them. They spin to see the smiling boy floating behind them. "There's definitely something different about you... New haircut?" Klarion pauses a moment. "I got it! It's the new meat suit isn't it? Yeah, I heard about that. Must be hard, living in a shadow, feeling like a replacement and a fraud."

The squad, Kid II especially, grit their teeth at Wally's mentioning.

"How do you feel puny hero? Am I hitting a sore spot?"

Before KFII can get a snappy comeback in, Superboy launches himself at the witch-boy, barreling him over.

"How do you feel? Did I make a sore spot?" He yells and the battle progresses.

Arctic

September 4, 3:00 PM

Nightwing stands from his crouching position in front of the machine. He spent all day and night building the machine to recreate and reverse Wally's accident, and thus bringing him back.

Nightwing backs up, just far enough to provide a safe distance between him and the machine, and presses the button.

The machine surges to life, sucking in an abundance of snow and charging it with an energy similar to that of the Reach MFD. The swirling mass inside the glass chamber begins glowing, pulling in closer to the center.

Nightwing thinks he can see a form amongst the snow, but his hopes are shattered after the machine splutters to a smoking stop. Shaking in the bitter cold, Nightwing throws a wing-ding, obliterating the mechanical disappointment.

He pushes down his rage and anxiety with the hope that one of the other ideas will work.

El Paso

January 3, 2017, 5:30 PM

*present day*

Jaime and Tye are laughing with sodas in their hands. Jaime's phone rings and he takes it out of his pocket.

"Hello?" He answers.

"Hey, Jaime how's it goin?"

"Pretty good, actually. What's up ese? I thought Mr. Garrick had you on missions 24/7."

"Yeah, he does. Says it'll help keep my mind off of replacing... him... as Kid Flash, don't think he realizes that it just makes it worse sometimes. Anyway, Nightwing just called a meeting, says it's urgent."

"Okay..? Where's it at?"

"The Arctic, at the place where Wally..."

"Yeah, I know the place. Why there?"

"Your guess is as good as mine amigo. I would hurry though, Nightwing's getting kinda antsy."

"Okay, okay. I'll be there soon." 

"Sounds crash, see ya in a few."

"Yeah, adios hermano." Jaime says and pockets his phone.

"Sorry Tye, I gotta go."

"Yeah, I figured. It's cool, I actually need to run too. I told Sam and Ed we'd hang in about twenty minutes."

"Okay, cool. I'll see ya Tye."

"See ya around, Jaime." Tye responds and Jaime armors up, flying to the nearest Zeta-Tube. He beams himself to the coordinates nearest to the Arctic, flying the rest of the way.

About halfway there, Miss Martian picks him up in the Bio Ship.

"Didn't want you to be the only one arriving late." She jokes when he's aboard.

Blue Beetle chuckles. "Thanks Miss M."

"Anytime." She replies as they land. "Sped up during our little conversation." She explains, noticing his slightly confused face, and stands up.

"Ah." Blue says and follows her out, coming to a stop next to Kid Flash II.

"Well, now that everyone's here," Nightwing begins. "I suppose you'd all like an explanation."

"I think I might know why we're here, but a confirmation would be nice, yes." Robin pipes up.

"I'm not good at introductions so I'll just get right to it. During my leave of absence, I've been going over the multiple explanations to Wally's... disappearance." Nightwing starts.

"You just can't let it go, can you?" Bumblebee's voice pipes up. "Seriously Nightwing, we're all hurting but you have to face the facts. Wally is dead."

Nightwing silences her with a glare and starts up again. "I've narrowed the options down, and have decided to run a trial-by-error process. I debated whether or not to bring you to this trial, but Wally's mom, Mary, convinced me to bring you all here."

A woman baring a striking resemblance to Wally nods.

"If this doesn't work, I have one more idea we can try, but I'm leaving it as a last resort before trying to move onto different options. So, Bart, I'm gonna need your help with this."

"Hey, if it'll help bring back Wally, I'm in." Kid II says after running up. "So, what'll it be Nightwing?"

"I'm thinking Wally might have been sent to the Speed Force, and I need either you or Barry to access it."

"Sounds crash to me."

"Good, now lift up your arms." Kid II obeys with a slightly confused look. Nightwing begins wrapping thick black chord around the speedster's waist.

"Black rope?" Wonder Girl asks curiously.

"Bat black rope." Robin clarifies. "Super strong, enforced black rope."

"The Speed Force may be a little bit overwhelming, just stay whelmed and look for Wally. Pull on this twice and we'll pull you out. Clear?"

"Crystal boss-man. Gonna go crash Speed Force's mode!" Kid Flash II yells and sprints off at top speed. Knowing he has to really push it to run right into the Speed Force, he picks up the pace. 

He glances to the side to see he has done two complete laps around the world, judging by the trail of packed snow. His vision begins to blur a bit and he starts to feel strange. About his fourth lap in, he simply vanishes about 10 feet away from his starting point.

"What did you do?" Blue yells, flying up to Nightwing. "We can pull him out right?"

"Should be able to." Nightwing says and grabs a hold of the rope further up the line. "The chord was wrapped around the world though, mind cutting me off?"

Blue just hesitantly cuts the chord. "Now what?"

"Now we wait for the tug." Nightwing says and about that time feels a tug. He starts to pull, aided by Blue Beetle and Superboy.

Stretched images of red and yellow figures emerge, pulled out by their teammates. They lay exhausted on the ground before the taller of the two stands up shakily.

"Wally?" Nightwing asks cautiously, stepping towards the red-head.

The speedster turns his head to face his best friend, grin spreading across his face. "Who else would it be Dickie?"

"KF!!" The bird yells and jump hugs him. Relaxed by the speedster's response, Jaime rushes by them to help his best friend, who is still recovering. "Man it's good to see you!"

"I am quite easy on the eyes."

"I don't know Wallman, you are a bit torn up." Nightwing says, breaking the hug, humor and happiness clearly in his voice.

"You okay hermano?" Jaime asks KF II after unwrapping the chord from his torso.

"I'm totally feeling the mode." The smallest Flash says as Jaime helps him up.

"I must be so hyped on adrenaline being back that I don't feel it yet." Wally says, then pauses. "Oop, nope, there it is."

Nightwing supports him while remembering they have an audience.

"Let's get these two back to HQ, what do you say?" He asks Aqualad.

"I think that is a marvelous idea." The Atlantean agrees and puts a hand on each of his friends shoulders. "Well done Nightwing, and Wally, welcome back my friend."

"It's good to be back, Kaldur." Wally says, smile seeping into his voice, and they all board the Bio Ship.

Watchtower

January 4, 12:02 AM

"How ya feelin pal?" Nightwing asks from his seat next to Wally's bed in the Watchtower Medical Bay.

"Like a million bucks. A million bucks that just got thrown out of a car window at 65 miles-per-hour in the middle of a thunderstorm, I'll admit, but still a million bucks."

"Well, I've gotta say, I'm feeling the aster from trying to drag you back here. But, I'm glad it worked."

"You and me both, bro. Thanks for not giving up on me."

"How could I? You're my best bud, and it was my fault anyway. You and Artemis were retired, and I drug you back in, and I'm so sorry."

"Ah, don't worry about Dick. We were trying to leave it behind, but when you called, neither of us could say yes fast enough."

"I have to ask though, are you and Artemis going back into retirement?"

"We'll have to talk about it. I'm all for coming back, it just depends on what she wants to do."

"What made you change your mind?"

"Being back in the action I guess. Artemis said something when we were in Paris that night, she said that there will always be a world to save, and she's right. I can't just sit around and let all the new kids have all the fun and the credit can I?"

Nightwing chuckles. "Why do you think I stayed?"

"Is she okay? Artemis, I mean. She hasn't come to see me or said a thing to me since I got back."

"I think she's just a little shaken up, you gave us all quite the scare."

"Yeah, sorry about that. How'd the kid hold up?"

"Bart? Well, he took your advice and started carrying on the tradition. It tears him up though, you can tell he doesn't feel right in your uniform."

"He looked good though, I just happen to think I look better. Yeah, I'll let him off the hook for the time being, I don't think it's time for the Kid Flash mantel to be passed on quiet yet."

"Seconded. And, don't worry about him, Blue's watching him. They're just in the room over."

"Good, the kid needs his own Nightwing to look after him."

"You see the resemblance too?"

"Between them and us, who can't?"

Before Nightwing can respond, chatter from the hall makes its way to them.

"Hermano, would you just please lay back down? You just got pulled out of the   Speed Force, the freaking Speed Force." Jaime says.

"I have to make sure he's okay."

"Amigo, you-"

"No, I gotta see." Bart says and vibrates through door, smiling when he sees his cousin.

"You could've knocked. What if I was naked? What then?"

The second Kid Flash laughs. "This is so crash! You're back! You can be Kid Flash again!" The brunette (transitioning to auburn nowadays) says excitedly, then freezes. "You are going to be Kid Flash again, right?"

"Relax, kid. I want to, if you're okay with that."

"Totally! Just a second, I gotta do something." He says and runs off, only to return two seconds later, Jaime walking through the door after him.

"What did you just do?" Nightwing asks.

"Wait for it...." Bart says.

"Designation number recognized. Name change confirmed. Impulse B23." The Zeta voice says in the distance.

"Tadaa!" Bart says and spins into his Impulse suit.

"I better go talk to Artemis." KF chuckles, getting up.

"Good idea, Aqualad's explaining to the League how we got you back. One less thing to worry about."

"Good, I'll catch up with you later dude. Unless.... you want to come with me." Kid suggests hopefully.

"I think you should probably handle this one on your own KF, she'll think I put you up to it if you bring me with you."

"True. I'll catch you later then."

"Good luck, dude." Nightwing says and KF speeds off.

It doesn't take long for him to find Artemis talking with Miss M in the commons room. He speeds behind her, placing his gloved hands over her eyes.

"Boo, guess who." He laughs. She pries his hands off her face and gestures to M'gann to leave them alone to talk. The martian gets up, flashing a smile at Wally before giving him a hug and leaving.

"You miss me?" Wally asks, sitting in front of the fuming blonde.

"Like crazy, but I'm also crazy mad at you. How could you do that?! You should have known something like that was going to happen! You scared all of us Wally!"

"I know, I know and I'm so sorry. I had to help Bart and Grandpa with that thing, they wouldn't have had enough kinetic energy to stop it themselves."

"I know, and the fact that you're right makes it all the worse. Just don't do it again."

"I can't promise anything, babe. I.. I want to get back in the game. I know we were trying to leave the life behind, but we both jumped at the chance the get back in it. Like you said, there will always be a world to save. And, as long as it'll have me, I want to be one of the heroes to help save it."

Artemis lets out a heavy sigh.

"Normally, I'd argue that they're are other heroes that will save it," she begins. "But, you're right. I want back in too."

"So, it's settled then?"

"It's settled. Today's the day we jump back in."

Wally's face breaks out into an ear-to-ear grin. "Today's the day."