First Run in a While

Wally entered the fully equipped weight room in the manor, feeling the collar shift against his neck. He remembered Alfred mentioning that this was one of the few rooms where collars were turned off and they could use their full powers. He hasn't used any of these rooms yet, mostly because his mind was focused on other things. But lately, it almost felt like his powers were going to go out of control. He feared that if they did, the shock that he would get from it would not be pleasant.

Walking up to the treadmill and setting it to its highest setting, he started out with a speed that was a light jog. He wondered if there was a super-speed treadmill in here somewhere. If worst come to worst, he could just go somewhere else and run laps. Wally hoped he didn't have to do that, he can't handle going outside right now.

Tony puffed out his cheek, this was getting annoying. He couldn't find anyone decent to talk to. Laura wanted to kill him and he was pretty sure being around Steve would give him Patriotic Cancer. He scowled as he opened the door. If he was stuck in this God damn place he might as well update his suit.

It felt like the world was suddenly clearer, more focus as Extermis whirred to life. Laura's biography flew to his face as he mentally moved it away. He didn't need that information anymore. Another scowl adorned his face. He noticed someone running one the tread mill. He raised an eyebrow as he asked Extermis for a biography of the man. No such luck however.

Another scowl covered his face.

"Who are you?" He said roughly, already annoyed as it was.

Wally heard someone enter the room during his run, but he didn't look up. The manor was getting pretty full lately, and the room was open to everyone after all. Besides, it was taking all his focus not to outrun the machine, even at its highest setting.

"Who are you?"

The Scarlet Speedster, dressed in some sweats and a baggy t-shirt, looked up at the question. He was a dark-haired man, looked to be in his late 30s wearing some common civilian clothing. Wally couldn't remember seeing him anywhere before.

"Flash. And who are you? Don't remember seeing you before." He looked at the visitor for a longer period of time and temporarily lost control over his speed causing him to outrun the machine and crush into its front. "Ow ow ow," he mumbled, clutching his chest as he got off the now-turned-off machine. "Remind me never to do that again."

"Tony Stark, Iron Man." Tony robotically grumbled out, feeling as sour as the day was long.

"Don't do that again." Tony drawled out. The words felt awkward and fumbled out. He almost wasn't in the mood to talk. He let his arm be covered in his suit as it appear on his skin. He started to press a few buttons on the suit to open the control panel to update security with Extermis.

"Iron Man? What kind of a name is that? That's worse than Supey's name," Wally smirked, looking Tony in the eye. "And yes, thank you. I still remember not to do it again."

Wally watched Tony put on the weird armor thing on his arm in fascination. He zipped up to the man with excited eyes. "Oooh, what sort of metal is that? What does it do? What about that button? How does this work? I totally dig the colour scheme by the way," he started talking, using his speed.

Tony just blinked at the speedster, he hadn't understood a word the male had said.

"What?" He asked sourly, almost regretting coming into the room to work on his suit. Not really though, he enjoyed working on the equivalent to his skin. He looked back down at his armor, flexing his fingers. He had really missed the feel of his suit against his skin.

Wally, oblivious to the other man's need to be alone, continued to stare openly at the armor that was so finely fitted against the older man's skin. "I asked what sort of metal is that? I've never seen such a fine alloy."

Tony just blinked at the man asking all of the questions.

"Why are you so curious? It's obvious you're clearly not understanding the mechanics of the alloy or you wouldn't even ask that question." Tony scoffed, it was obvious it wasn't a real metal. It was a biotic hybrid that allowed him to sync up with any computer... he had a thought suddenly. He made Extermis pull of a file on a holographic computer that adorned his wrist. He created a new file for the speedster, which Extermis would automatically place information.

While he did that he mentally started working on plans to make a tread mill that could reach speeds for the speedster to run in. Obviously that pathetic excuse for a treadmill wouldn't work for him.

"Oh," Wally blinked. "Huh, you must be pretty smart to make something like that. But to be fair, if you probably explained it to me I would understand it. I'm pretty good in that field, y'know?" he smiled. "Actually, you don't 'cause we just met and I've never even met you I didn't even know you existed to be honest until today."

Seeing the holographic computer that Tony pulled up, Wally smiled triumphantly. "Now that I know! The JL has similar technology. Though I never really took interest in technology. Chemistry's more interesting. And I had..." he trailed off, "I had a friend to offset my chemistry knowledge," he finished in a whisper.

Tony just raised an eyebrow, it seemed almost disheartening to see the bubbly man sink within himself.

"You say that in a past tense, are you two no longer friends?" The Iron Man wasn't exactly sure why he thought asking the speedster would be a good idea, but he felt almost... curious.

"Also, max running speed please."

Wally turned away from the scruffy man, eyes downcast. "You know the rules of this place, those... battles we have to fight? He fought in the first one. And well," he let out a mirthless chuckle, "'Wing never liked to kill."

Taking a moment to process the second part of the question, Wally replied, "Well, it really depends on the situation. I can break the speed of light if needed, though if will most likely kill me, like it did that one time," the last part was muttered. "But usually I run at around mach 3 during traveling. Helps to keep me on water. I can go faster during fights if need to."

Tony found his mouth turning into a line. Killing wasn't exactly fun but to live you'd think people would decide to kill their opponent. At least, if not for themselves, do it for the ones that cared for them. This... 'Wing' guy must have been a selfish piece of work. He was glad to never have met him.

"...So, shoot for a little over those speeds." Tony concluded aloud, feelings where never his thing. He'd leave the Patriot to his needless emotional clings and other needs to save people.

Damn, he could really use a drink right now.

"Pardon? Didn't catch that," Wally blinked. Didn't the man hear him, he could go faster but the speeds he said were the speeds that he already knew where needed for each action.

"The training an weight rooms do not have a treadmill designed for the speeds you can reach. I'm merely stating you might as well practice your legs at a healthy speed rather than one thy can kill you." Tony explained in a bored tone, this kid really didn't get it, did he? He really must have been more of a Chemist than an engineer.

Wally felt stupid. But then again, he could never tell when people were thinking out loud or were actually talking to him. "Oh," he said simply. "Wing designed me one a few years ago, but it was destroyed. Since then I was never forced to stay in one place, so I could usually just go on morning runs across the globe. No can do right now since I'm stuck on the manor grounds, and these things -" he pointed to the collar on his neck "- don't turn off outside. It's just in here or out on the training area, which is tinyyyyy."

Only at the end of his rant did Wally realize that he was actually ranting.

"I figured." Tony said in response to the melodramatic rant the speedster was going on about.

"I'm not much of a training person. So I build the equipment for my team." Tony summed up with a hum in his throat. He images the way it would look in 3-D. The hologram computer displayed a 3-Dimensional model of the treadmill. Tony gave it a notable stare over, the track itself adjusted minorly before he gave a nod of approval.

"Comment?"

It took a moment for Wally to realize what exactly he was staring at. Much like Dick did back in the day, Tony had just designed him a super-speed treadmill. Granted, it would probably take a while for him to get the materials needed to create the construct and it looked much more advanced that the piece of machinery Dick and Vic designed for him almost a decade ago. "I... I don't know what to say," he finally managed to say. "You don't have to do this. I mean, I would love you forever if you did this for me, but we didn't even know each other until today and I just feel like... I don't know."

Taking one last look at the machine, Wally resigned himself. "Make the track a little bit wider if you can, but otherwise it looks great."

Tony raised an eyebrow before he mentally expanded the track, a little bit on both sides. His eyes flicked up to make Flash's own.

"I don't really have a choice, Extermis holds all the plans that pop into my mind. It forces me to make them." Lie, but he didn't want the kid to know he was trying to do something for him not to die. He looked too younger to die, honestly. Unlike himself, he could die any moment without the use of Extermis. He almost wished he could live in this room and just play around with different constructs. At least he knew he wouldn't...

Fuck he really needed another drink, or a drink in general. Where was Jervis when he... Jervis wouldn't give him anything anyway. He mentally sighed, a few machines next to him whirred to life at his sudden anger, well more like disappointment.

"Exter-what now?" Wally tried to repeat the word several times to no avail. "And do you want a cup of water or something? You look ready to pound someone's face in, and I really don't want it to be my face. Even with super-healing it'll still leave a nasty mark for a few hours."

"Ex-ter-mis. It's biotech, again I don't expect you to understand, Chemist." Tony drawled out, why did Chemists always trying to do an engineer's job.

"And do you want a cup of water or something? You look ready to pound someone's face in, and I really don't want it to be my face. Even with super-healing it'll still leave a nasty mark for a few hours."

Tony scowled, a drink sounded fucking fantastic a glass of whiskey couldn't hurt, right? Plus he really felt like he deserved one for being a Mr. Fix It for the speedster. His logic faultered the moment he remembered Stripes telling him drinking himself into a stupor would kill him.

But meh, he was fine. Extermis was working and his liver wouldn't fail as long as they were in this room.

"I'd rather a whiskey on the rocks, to be bluntly honest. Water is for girls,... I never did caught your legitimate name. Mind telling me what it is so I'm not going to keep calling you Flash?"

It took Wally a moment to realize that he had never introduced himself as a civilian but rather as his hero self. "Oh, sorry. Force of habit to introduce myself as my alter-identity," he grinned sheepishly. It wouldn't hurt to tell Tony his identity, the Bats - minus Dick - were walking around maskless, so there was probably no threat. "Name's Wally West, pleased to finally make your acquaintance properly, Mr. Stark."

"And wait... you want whiskey on the rocks?" he finally realized what drink the man asked for. "Don't think the fridge in here is stocked with alcohol, for that we'll have to go out, wouldn't we?"

Extermis automatically updated Wally West's file. Something intrigued him though.

"So, you're a vigilante? Lame." Tony said, dismissing the thought of heroes not giving up their names to the government, honestly it was for their own good. Of course, the ideals of that had put a rift between Cap and him but he didn't care. Eventually the hype died down and the government didn't care.

"Just because there isn't any in the Kitchen doesn't mean there isn't any else. Extermis, download Wayne Manor blueprints. Look for any signs of alcohol." The treadmill hologram shrunk and moved to the side showing a 3 Dimensional images of the Wayne house. The slowly moved around before zooming on a certain room. Tony had passed it earlier.

"Told you so." The Parlor was for entertaining guests. Of course the place would have liquor and quite possibly they could just move it in here. Drink safely, right?

"Most of the metas back home have secret identities. Mainly to keep the enemies from coming after our families," at that statement, Wally's mind was temporarily lured toward thoughts of Linda. He quickly shut out those thoughts - her smile was beautiful as ever on their last Valentine's Day - and turned his attention back to Tony. "For me, it's mostly for the safety of others than myself. I can outrun almost all my enemies and being in this business taught me well enough on how to disappear if needed. And besides, nothing beats being a vigilante loved by the public!"

"Just because there isn't any in the Kitchen doesn't mean there isn't any else. Extermis, download Wayne Manor blueprints. Look for any signs of alcohol."

"Okay, that's freakin' genius," he stared open mouthed at the blinking dot on the 3-D map. "Off to the parlor we go!" he made movement to zip out before remember that the collars turn on outside the room. He still ran up to the door and turned to look at Tony. "You coming or do I have to pull your iron butt all the way there?"

"Government required we give our names and aliases to them. Most of us do not have lovers or families, we'll die before we'd ever get to tell them how much..." Tony shut up for a moment, only reason he never actually went out with Pepper was the fact he could die at any moment. That and... well...

"If I leave the room, I run a 87% higher risk of death. Extermis isn't just for fun or knowledge. It keeps me alive. I didn't kid when I say we don't have families because we can die in an instant." Tony sighed through his nose, admitting weakness sucked ass... but he really didn't want to run an unnecessary risk of leaving the room. His binge with the bucket had taught him how human he had forgotten himself to be.

I hate it when you're right Cap.

"Just get it and bring it back, I'll be working on your treadmill."

"Our government's not always on our side, well as an entity it's on our side. But usually there's the odd corrupted one in there who could - and probably will - blab our identities to our enemies, if the right sum is given. And money is not hard to come by to most of them," Wally had an oddly seriously look on his face. He still didn't get over CADMUS and the open war they waged on the League for over a decade, only Batman's serious interference stopped it.

"And uhm, okay," Wally tried to understand what exactly this Extermis was. After a second or so, he decided that it was useless to try and understand how it worked because obviously Tony Stark was a technological genius to rival the Bats or Ted Kord. "Okay, I'll go get us some glasses, some drinks, and you wanted ice. Be right back," he waved cheerfully as he exited the room, jogging lightly down the hall toward his destination.

Before he could turn to an adjacent hallway he realized that he had no idea where the parlor was. Turning back and entering the weight room, he grinned sheepishly. "Um, how exactly do you get to the parlor again?"