Flash's History
Wally West was born to Rudolph and Mary West in Blue Valley, Nebraska. As a boy, Wally would often daydream, most notably about being the Flash. He idolized the Flash and was the president and sole member of the Blue Valley Flash Fan Club. His parents thought he was setting himself up for failure and did their best to dampen what they believed to be unrealistic expectations, in rather harsh ways. His father encouraged him to work at the same plant he did, but Wally grew frustrated and hurt (and eventually apathetic) by their lack of faith in his abilities.
At a family reunion held at the Wests, Wally accidentally spilled some soda while pouring, and was yelled at by his father for keeping his head in the clouds. He went to his room crying and a familiar looking man, who he thought was maybe his uncle or something, came in and talked to him, saying he shouldn't give up on his dreams and giving him confidence that he'd reflect back on for years to come.
Kid Flash
One summer, when he was ten years old, Wally went to Central City to stay with his Aunt Iris, who he called his best friend. Iris was going out with police scientist Barry Allen, who was "friends" with the Flash. Barry "introduced" Wally to his idol, the Flash. In the back room of Barry's apartment was a lab, where Wally asked the Flash all sorts of questions.
When he asked Flash how he got his powers, it turned out the speedster had set up his chemical cabinet just as it had been when he was created. Wally wished that something like that could happen to him; the Flash dismissed it as a billion-to-one chance. However, it just so happened that the weather that particular day was stormy and, at that moment, lightning did strike the cabinet, bathing Wally in the same chemicals that created the Flash.
Flash told Wally to keep this a secret, even from Iris. He gave Wally a Flash costume specially tailored to fit him, and Wally became Kid Flash. The Flash taught Wally everything he knew about how to use speed to his advantage, and about the rogues gallery.
The next day, Wally apprehended his first criminal after conquering a crippling fear of fire, Mr. Element. Element had attacked the Art Museum, transmuting many pieces of art into shapeless forms. Element stole the Giardi Atom, an atomic model crafted from gold and jewels. Kid Flash followed Element to the home of Ward Wellington Weaver, owner of another Giardi Atom, where he defeated the villain and turned him into the police.
While in high school, Wally was a member of the Eta Pi fraternity, along with his good friend, Tommy Elkin.
The next summer, Barry told Wally his secret identity, which surprised Wally, who had always thought Barry was kind of boring. Again, lightning struck, causing a matter-transforming machine to transform Wally's costume into a newer, predominantly yellow costume, the design of which Barry had been toying with in the back of his mind. He also joined the Teen Titans. He began to take classes at Taggert University, with hopes of eventually getting a doctorate in physics.
As Barry's sidekick, Wally met Hal Jordan, then Green Lantern of Earth, and became Jordan's friend just as Jordan had been Barry's friend.
Because Wally had been struck by lightning and affected by the charged chemicals when he was a kid, rather than a full grown man, it affected his body differently than it had Barry's. Although he was able to run through the crippling pain he called "hitting the wall" the summer after he got his powers, when adolescence hit, it came back with a vengeance, to the point that Wally was forced to quit his superheroic career.
The New Flash
During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, after Barry Allen sacrificed his life to destroy the Anti-Monitor's antimatter cannon, an antimatter ray fired by the Anti-Monitor hit Wally full force. While it knocked his speed down to that of sound, it also removed the malady that caused him intense pain. Wally took Barry's uniform and declared himself the Flash, just until Barry returned. However, the rest of the population did not share Wally's feeling that Barry was still alive, and they also did not appreciate Wally's attempts at filling Barry's boots. After being publicly embarrassed in a fight with Dr. Alchemy, Green Lantern declared that he would protect Central City. For about a week, Wally donned his Kid Flash costume again. However, during the next fight with Dr. Alchemy, he finally realized that Barry was not coming back. He saved Green Lantern and Jay Garrick from Dr. Alchemy. Finally, he was accepted as the Flash.
After accepting that Barry was dead, Wally still had to overcome his anger of feeling abandoned, and forced into a role he did not feel ready for. Coupled with the emotional pain of what had happened with Raven, anger somehow overcame all the values that Barry had taught him, and he was rather rude and childish for a while. All these mental blocks also slowed him down, sometimes to the point where he lost his speed entirely. He also manifested the need to consume large quantities of food after using his powers, another product of his psychological condition.
Wally won six and a half million dollars in the lottery. He was able to leave his small apartment in Brooklyn and buy a mansion on Long Island. He asked Frances Kane to live with him, and she accepted, for a short while. After two weeks, she left, saying they were moving too fast. Soon afterward, Wally invited nutritionist Tina McGee to live with him, even though she was eleven years his senior and not quite divorced. Wally's mother, Mary, also came to live with him, causing much tension between the two women.
After Tina left so that she could go back to her husband, Wally lost all of his money in the stock market, and had to move into a new apartment. Here, he befriended his neighbor, Mason Trollbridge. He also began seeing Connie Noleski, a Texan model who he had actually been living with for a short time before Tina.
After the alien invasion of Earth, during which Wally fought Durlans in Cuba, the aliens set off a gene bomb that robbed Wally of his superspeed. His friends, Jerry and Tina McGee, set up a device to restore his speed. It sprayed him with the chemicals that had gifted Barry and himself with superspeed while sending an electrical charge through him. However, with his new speed, Wally burned a deep trench across America, stretching from New York all the way to New Mexico. His aura, which had previously served as an energy collector, began to feed directly on him, starving him and affecting his brain, and also sending his consciousness to another energy level. He grew long spines around his body, and stalked around Swainsville, New Mexico, confused and looking for food, contributing to the citizens' belief in a local myth, the Porcupine Man. Luckily, Chunk was able to restore his essence to this dimension by using his singularity powers. Afterwards, Mason Trollbridge was able to pluck the spines out of his body.
Keystone City
After several attempts at Wally's life, he decided to move to Keystone City, which had been recommended by Jay Garrick's wife, Joan. Mason decided to join him so they could share rent.
In Keystone, he started to date Linda Park, a reporter he had met initially during the Porcupine Man incident.
When Barry Allen seemingly returned from the dead, Wally didn't know what to think. Jay and Hal Jordan had both embraced his return, but Wally remained skeptical, mostly because he hadn't mentioned Iris, who had died at the hands of Professor Zoom, at all. However, when Wally saw Barry visit Iris' grave, his heart was won over. Barry was back, or so he thought. Barry began to behave irrationally, as if he, and only he, was the true Flash. When they were both stuck in a Combine trap, Barry left Wally to die, then told the rest of the world that Wally hadn't been up to being the Flash, and had passed away trying. In fact, Wally had escaped, but after watching Barry speak so badly of him, decided to give up on the Flash identity, telling only Linda that he was still alive. In an aimless mood wandering through the streets, he came upon a tattered old book in the alleyway where Barry had materialized. It contained the truth: this Barry was fake, his true identity being Eobard Thawne, better known as Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash. With the help of the older speedsters, Jay, Johnny Quick, and Max Mercury, Wally brought Zoom down. In this fight, his speed returned to its old glory. Wally was every bit as fast as Zoom, because he had finally come to terms with the fear that he would be replacing Barry.
In an elaborate scheme laid out by Abra Kadabra, Wally was sued for negligence by Allison Armitage, a store employee who was maimed in his fight with Razer. Although all the evidence in court favored him, Wally himself was furious at his actions. He felt that he, being the fastest man alive, should be everywhere at once. During the trial, he went on a non-stop, one-man life-saving spree, trying to make up for what he had done. After the trial was over, he went to Johnny Quick to ask for his speed formula, hoping that by adding Johnny's speed to his, it would make him unstoppable, able to save everyone. However, the formula only froze him in time. Max Mercury, who was able to join him for a while at that speed, taught him an important lesson: he cannot be everywhere at once. No matter what, he couldn't save everyone.
Establishing His Own Legacy
Aunt Iris returned from the future, where she had actually gone, instead of actually being dead. She wasn't alone either; with her, she brought along Bart Allen, a young man with amazing speed, who turned out to be her and Barry Allen's grandson. His power was accelerating him to the point that he'd die of old age before reaching his 4th birthday, and she needed Wally's help. He was already in the body of a 12 year old despite only being alive two years (although he had the mental capacity of a young teen). Wally managed to stabilize his speed, but the two did not mesh very well at all, Wally claiming it was because they were too alike. Bart took up the speedster gig, but laughed at the idea of going by Kid Flash, instead dubbing himself Impulse.
When Hal Jordan seemingly went mad after the destruction of his former home, Coast City, and became Parallax, he was replaced as Green Lantern by Kyle Rayner, who took his place in the Justice League of America, just as Wally had taken Barry's place. The relationship between the new Green Lantern and the third Flash got off to a rocky start - Wally, having grown up with Jordan as Green Lantern, and also having fond memories of him to the point that he thought of him as "Uncle Hal", did not warmly embrace Rayner and questioned whether or not he was worthy of replacing Jordan, and was perhaps more critical of Rayner than any other hero was in Rayner's early days. The two eventually overcame their differences and became very close friends, like their predecessors were.
During Zero Hour, Wally was seemingly killed while trying to help Rip Hunter and Waverider save the 64th Century and the timestream itself from waves of destructive entropy. Actually, he was flung backwards through time, where he invisibly and intangibly watched on the important points in his life as they happened. Wally became solid at the West Family Reunion, and turned out to be the "uncle" that gave his past self that pep talk. He soon returned to his proper time, but not until he had seen one more vision, a vision of Linda's apparent fate at the hands of Kobra, as well as his own death.
Afraid for Linda, he tried to take out Kobra as soon as possible, hoping that he could stop the tragedy that he had seen before it happened. He hid all of this information from her as long as he could, and kept holding back his speed, hoping to not brush against the future again. In a fit of rage when Bart ruined his plans against Kobra, Wally raced home, and began to turn into a being of pure energy. It subsided, but it happened again shortly thereafter, and more so.
Giving it one last ditch effort, and realizing he would very likely not make it out alive, he asked Jesse Quick to take over the mantle of Flash for him, should he die. This turned out to be nothing but a ploy to make Bart jealous, in hopes that he would get more serious about his legacy.
Wally thought he had averted the disaster he had foreseen when he saved Linda from Kobra's laser, but did not expect it to play out again. He had to go at speeds way beyond light to save her, the consequence being that he entered the Speed Force. He traded her fate for what he thought would be his. However, he managed to returned from the Speed Force, despite what Max had said about it being impossible. Linda was still on Earth, and that kept him from leaving her forever. Upon his return, he quickly defeated Kobra and destroyed his geothermal tap, ruining Project Morpheus. This trip beyond the light gave Wally the power to tap directly into the Speed Force itself; he now mainlined the Speed Force, and this resulted in him manifesting new abilities. He accelerated the speed of Jesse Quick's injury, healing her leg instantly, was able to vibrate through objects like he did as a kid, only now they were atomized afterwards, and was able to lend speed to other objects.
A New Contender to the Title
Far away in the Balkan Mountains, a new contender to the title of "fastest man alive" made himself known--Savitar, the self-titled "lord of speed". With the assistance of Lady Savitar, Savitar had found a way to siphon energy from the Speed Force, cutting off its access to several speedsters, including Jay Garrick, Jesse Quick, Johnny Quick and Bart Allen; this power drain also resulted in the death of Kapitalist Kouriers speedster/deliveryman Cassiopeia.
A small group of superspeed-powered acolytes assaulted Wally and Linda at an outdoor cafe in Keystone City; the only way Wally could protect the citizens was to shift into hyperspeed and fight them, as this was the only way they were visible. After Wally defeated the acolytes, Jay and Jesse showed up, Jesse accusing Wally of somehow siphoning off all available Speed Force energy, rendering them "normal". Wally then grabbed the one remaining speed-acolyte and interrogated him on top of a skyscraper, the ninja telling him that it was Savitar who had "stripped the unworthy of their swiftness", transferring it to Savitar's group of acolytes to hunt down "all true students of the lightning". Upon him saying that, the acolyte's body (presumably due to Savitar) supermetabolized, aging years in seconds, causing his death.
Jay and Jesse, with assistance from Wally's speed-lending ability, headed for Manchester, Alabama to check up on Bart; however, by the time they arrived, Bart and a mysterious girl were surrounded by more of Savitar's superspeed acolytes. Wally, who was the only speedster fully powered, took them on, achieving a solid victory. Bart told him that Max had been missing for days; while Bart (finally having a reason to search through Max's things) rifled through Max's personal files and papers, Wally came upon a journal written in Korean by Max, which Linda took a few minutes to translate. Meanwhile, the mysterious girl revealed herself to be Jenni Ognats, cousin to both Bart & Wally and granddaughter of Iris West-Allen. Jenni revealed that she was from the 30th Century like Bart is, that her mother, Dawn Allen, was Barry's daughter (and that Bart's dad was Barry's son) and that she was a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes who was stranded in the 20th century after a mission through time. Wally, upon learning that Barry and Iris had managed to have kids, felt a little jealous, feeling that he was the closest thing Barry had to a son.
After fully translating the diary, Linda revealed to everyone present Savitar's history: 'he was a Cold War pilot in a Third World nation who was chosen to pilot an experimental supersonic aircraft; doing so, he cracked the light barrier, becoming at that moment, the fastest man alive. Thousands of miles from home, his plane crashed; luckily, he was completely unharmed. Foreign soldiers appeared at his location, believing that this unknown man's arrival meant they were under attack. Reacting with lightning-charged reflexes, the pilot cut the soldiers down like grain; after he killed them, the pilot had a epiphany. To him, it felt like the gods had twice spared him death... speed became his newfound religion. To that end, he traveled the world, ransacking library after library, poring through tomes both known & forgotten, attempting to discover more about the force that drove him. Armed with knowledge, he started thinking of himself not as a disciple of speed, but as its high priest; he then renamed himself Savitar, after the Hindu God of Motion (upon whom all moving things were dependent). Savitar kept pushing himself constantly, gaining even greater speed, hoping that if he moved swiftly enough, he would enter the Speed Force and learn its secrets. Try as he might, however, he could not attain the peace he sought and slowly turned to madness, becoming more dangerous than before...
'With nowhere else to turn, Savitar then sought out the only person he thought could understand him and their shared abilities: Johnny Quick (Jay Garrick had retired for the first time and Barry Allen hadn't yet attained his powers). However, Johnny never believed in the Speed Force, instead relying on a spoken mathematical formula [3X2(9YZ)4A] to give him his powers; Savitar took this as an insult and attacked Johnny. Luckily, Max Mercury appeared and saved him, Max once again chiding Johnny over his non-belief in the Speed Force. Max and Johnny raced after Savitar, finding him several states over; the two heroic speedsters battled Savitar's minions, Max later goading Savitar to chase after him through the Speed Force. Savitar sensed where he was... he knew that with a final burst, he would push his way in beyond the field, where he always wanted to be. What Savitar didn't know and Max was all too aware of, was that if anything altered a speedster's path, they'd bounce off the field and wind up in the timestream. Max regretted his actions... by allowing Savitar to brush up against the Speed Force, it gave him more knowledge and made him more powerful.'
Wally then realized the reason why Max insinuated himself within their lives: to gather an army to combat Savitar and his forces. At that moment, a bloody and beaten Max showed up on his doorstep, a tattoo of a map to Savitar's castle drawn on his chest; Max then revealed that while Wally moves speed around, he can store it in his body, keeping him alive. He also warned Wally to be wary of Savitar, urging Wally to defeat him before Savitar kills him; being that Wally was tied too close to their shared energy source, Savitar irrationally believed that he had to own it all. Jay then mentioned that Wally couldn't go in alone, but Wally countered this with the fact that, at that moment, everybody but him was powerless. Jenni then stepped up, offering her help and her Legion Flight Ring; however, as Wally had never worked with her before, he couldn't take the risk of her being hurt. Wally then passed on Jenni's ring to Jesse, as with her powers, she had experience with flying as a combat skill. Telling the others to get Max to the hospital, Wally and Jesse set off for Savitar's fortress.
Arriving in the Balkans, Wally and Jesse landed in Savitar's castle, where he saw a chamber filled with speed-ninjas strapped to the wall, plugged into an alchemical battery/transformer being controlled by Lady Savitar. Savitar then appeared and summoned Lady Savitar to his side; in order to test her loyalty to him, Savitar commanded her to kill the Flash. Wally then realized that Savitar had locked onto his energy signature, the same way he located Max and Impulse; since Jesse's connection to the Speed Force was severed, Wally instructed her to hide while he took down Christina. After vibrationally atomizing a wall to knock Lady Savitar out, Wally went after the big man himself. However, Savitar was ready for Wally and, with one swift move, grabbed Wally's wrist and slammed him into a wall, dizzying him.
Savitar then presented Wally with two chances to disable him via weapons; Wally grabbed a sword and threw it directly at Savitar's chest--the blade penetrated Savitar's skin, but he rapidly metabolized the wound, healing himself in seconds. Savitar then handed him three shurikens, which Wally launched at Savitar with superspeed; with a flash of lightning in his eyes, Savitar redirected the shurikens' momentum, causing them to cut the Flash instead. Savitar then personally attacked the Flash himself, screaming that he considered Wally unworthy of "God's" gifts, that he had the audacity to drain speed that was "rightfully his... power he'll need to follow God's calling to the barrier and beyond." Meanwhile, Jesse tried to find a way to destroy the transformer when she intercepted by Lady Savitar, who tried to goad Jesse into losing focus by threatening the people she cared about, including her father; with that, Jesse snapped, dove straight for the alchemical transformer, destroying it and releasing the gathered Speed Force energy, restoring her powers and also temporarily affecting Wally (in the form of a small seizure and loss of consciousness). With their powers returned, Jay, Max, Johnny Quick and Impulse caught up with Wally and Jesse and proceeded to battle Savitar's army. Savitar, fearing defeat, ran from his castle and proceeded to threaten Wally and his allies, stating that since they've stolen everything from him, he can do no less for Wally; Flash knew that Linda was in danger and took off after Savitar, Max knowing that Savitar would keep striking over and over unless the Flash killed him!
Making it back to the U.S., Wally pursued Savitar across several states, barely keeping up with him; Wally cursed the time he lost, also having to save innocent bystanders from Savitar's wrath. Jay and the others, taking a straighter line from the castle, arrived and tried to intercept Savitar; they were knocked out of the way by the sinister speedster. In Colonial Williamsburg, Impulse attempted to build up enough speed to knock Savitar away, but Flash intercepted Bart and threw him to safety. Wally came to a grim conclusion when he saw a sign (Manchester - 22 miles). He knew that he had to make himself the more tempting target; by insulting Savitar and his "god", the plan worked. However, Flash's plan then hit a slight snag--Jenni sped onto the scene. Having to draw her into his "speed aura", Flash put them both at risk for being slaughtered. Jenni then revealed that Iris sent her with a message: that Wally couldn't beat Savitar directly--that Wally had to give Savitar want he wanted. With a smirk on his face, Wally finally realized what his aunt meant: lure Savitar directly into the Speed Force itself! Traversing the Speed Force once again, Savitar knew that he reached absolute nirvana; he tried once again to kill the Flash, but Wally was ready for him. He grabbed Savitar's wrist and flung him further into the energy field, where the spirits of deceased speedsters claimed him once and for all. In the aftermath, not wanting the Speed Force to absorb him, Wally concentrated on finding his way home... and vanished...
Race Against Time!
Previously, Wally had been able to find his way home by using Linda as a beacon to his proper time, but in his last jump, Wally was mysteriously unable to make it home right away and ended up bouncing through time. The first place Wally wound up on his journey through time was the 64th Century (for the second time), where the citizens of that era worshiped the Flash and wanted to be just like him. After leaving that place, he next appeared in the mid-30th Century, where he met his twin first cousins, Don & Dawn Allen (Barry & Iris' kids) and encountered Earthgov's rampant xenophobia. After helping them reclaim their legacy and partially siphoning their energies (due to feeling somewhat weakened every time he entered the Speed Force), Wally time-jumped once again, this time landing in the 27th Century, where he met the Flash of that era, John Fox. Looking haggard, Wally still realized that he wasn't home yet; John revealed that, for a while, he protected Central City as their sole hero, until he was made the curator of the Time Institute and replaced by supersonic robotic humanoids called Speed Metal. John also told Wally that time travel was illegal. Reiterating to John about knowing that he had an anchor to his time, a love like a lightning rod to find his way home, Wally lashed out, screaming that he couldn't remember Linda's name. The time-traveling villain Chronos appeared in the museum to ransack it, prompting both Flashes to take him down--however, Speed Metal then showed up, pushed John & Wally out of the way and proceeded to try and capture Chronos. Noticing Wally fading fast, John grabbed an exhibit (Paradox's "Sands of Time") and threw it at Speed Metal, causing them to rapidly accelerate and fill the museum, which prevented Chronos' escape. After Chronos was sent back to where he came from, John informed Wally of his lost love's name: Linda. Armed with that knowledge, Wally attempted one last time-jump back to the 20th Century; John, based on what he knew in his own time and believing that Wally wouldn't make it back in time to prevent a great disaster, volunteered to jump back to the 20th Century himself to fill Wally's boots if needed. John arrived first, meeting Linda and Piper, facing off against Chillblaine and falling in love with Linda; Linda's love had been distracted by John, who told Linda that Wally was dead, and she was doing her best to move on.
However, after realizing that John lied about his reason for coming to the 20th Century and that he couldn't stand up to the superheroic pressures that Wally normally faced, Linda told him that she would always love Wally, no matter what. Somehow sensing this, Wally emerged from the Speed Force--only to realize he was too late; Linda had been flash-frozen in an attempted second Ice Age by Polaris and Abra Kadabra. Chastising John for his numerous mistakes, among which were causing Linda to doubt his return, Wally realized that Linda was somehow still alive (her love for him guided him home). After racing off to Piper to procure tech to keep Linda safe, Wally and John dropped her off at S.T.A.R. Labs in the hopes of having Dr. Tina McGee reverse her condition. After grabbing a device that tracks magnetic energy, the two speedsters headed off in search of Polaris and Abra Kadabra; upon finding the location, Wally discovered his Aunt Iris, who was being held captive by Kadabra for her knowledge of future events. Kadabra revealed that he had found "The Life Story of The Flash" (which was previously owned by Eobard Thawne a.k.a. Professor Zoom and which Wally thought he destroyed); looking through it, he read of the ice storm and, with Polaris' assistance, decided to advance it with him as the new ruler of Earth. Wally then dropped to his knees, feigning defeat... until John zoomed in and knocked Kadabra out! Polaris, realizing his plans were over, charged up his magnetic powers; Wally then grabbed him and headed for the cryo engine, where Polaris unleashed his magnetic blast, unwittingly destroying his own machine. Wally thought everything was complete, until John alerted him about the (now cracking) glacier in the middle of the city; in a matter of seconds, Keystone City would be wiped out by a massive tidal wave! Wally then "persuaded" Polaris to use his powers and redirect the water to the waterfront. With Polaris taken care of, Wally and John sped back to S.T.A.R., only to discover that Linda was still frozen solid. At that moment, appearing from a time portal was Speed Metal, on the search for the "fugitive", John Fox. Wally, still massively angry at John for everything that he caused, wanted to give up John when Speed Metal arrived for him (instead of taking him back to the 27th Century for a fair trial, they were going to kill him now); however, after Piper goaded him, Wally sped off to rescue John. After leading Speed Metal to a desert in Colorado Springs, Co., Wally instructed John to distract one of the robots and have it vibrate through a butte; after it partially vibrated through, Wally vibrated his hand through it, causing it to explode. After destroying the last two Speed Metal bots (with direct assistance from Wally's speed-lending ability), John got an idea that could help solve Linda's problem. Racing back to S.T.A.R, Wally, channeling the Speed Force, sped up Linda's molecules, successfully thawing her out.
Out Of Commission
While Wally had taken Linda to India for her birthday, a new foe called The Suit had shown up in Keystone, looking to kill the Flash. Max Mercury and Jay Garrick, watching over the city during Wally's absence, had come upon a familiar-looking dead body with a note attached to it in an alleyway. After locating Wally in his hotel room, the three set off for the Keystone City Morgue, where the dead body was revealed to be Wally's, 30 minutes from now. Wally, Jay and Max then raced off towards downtown Keystone, where they found The Suit; The Suit, using its stolen time-controlling powers, froze Wally in place. Back in the morgue, future-Wally awoke on the table. While Max explained to Jay and the coroner that Wally put his body into molecular shock to save himself, Wally raced off to intercept his past self to perform the same trick; however, an explosion caused by The Suit sent debris flying everywhere, some of which hit Wally, causing him to lose his footing and hit the ground hard, which sprained both of his wrists, cracked three ribs, fractured his hip... and broke both of his legs.
Confined to a wheelchair, Wally knew that The Suit thought he was dead. He came up with the idea of having Max, Jay and Impulse pretend to be Wally and confuse The Suit. While the plan was being carried out, Wally remembered one of his missions with the JLA, one in which The Key had trapped the team in alternate dream realities; in Wally's dream, he had a suit made out of pure Speed Force. Concentrating on that, for three days, Wally repeated Johnny Quick's speed mantra in his head and vibrated in place; Linda, who noticed the kitchen clock's hands had sped up, rushed into the den to witness a golden energy flowing over Wally's left arm.
Clad in a new, golden Speed Force suit, Wally confronted The Suit (who, in the meantime, had managed to assimilate Max Mercury) while Jay and Impulse took on Keystone Penitentiary's freed inmates. Gifting Jay with a Speed Force-energy boost (which, part of it, he passed on to Impulse), Wally then spread some speed particles on the Max Mercury-infused Suit, causing it to accelerate out of control. The Suit, catching up to Wally, whipped up a wavefront that hit Wally's legs, causing him to tumble. Waiting for his speedsuit to reform, Wally plucked up a grain of sand and, trying to reach through to Max inside The Suit, tossed it at him, puncturing its substance; grabbing a thread, like a tailor in reverse, Wally unraveled The Suit, freeing Max. Max then revealed that The Suit was actually an electrical field-based alien creature that was pulled to Earth by a huge electrical current.
Catching up with Jay and Impulse at the prison, Wally and Max thought everything was wrapped up... until The Suit returned and tried to assimilate Jay. Thinking fast, Wally coaxed The Suit to let Jay go and assimilate him instead. The Suit then assimilated Wally, growing more powerful; thinking that it finally won, The Suit then sensed something was wrong... it started vibrating. Wally, struggling to remember that anything solid he vibrates through atomizes, destroyed The Suit, its remnants being absorbed into the Speed Force.
Returning home, Wally noticed something was wrong with Linda: she was both talking and walking backwards. That's when the Mirror Master showed up, seeking revenge on the Flash. Trying to locate the real Mirror Master (the one at his and Linda's place was just a hologram), Wally ran through a prism that Mirror Master had set up, causing Wally to split into seven different images, each a color of the rainbow and possessing separate personalities; after realizing that they would eventually discorporate and fade away, all seven Flashes ran back through the prism at light speed, reuniting them into one single Flash in a familiar red & gold speedsuit. Racing back into town, Wally was momentarily fooled into thinking that he had enlarged in size; however, it was only an illusion. Getting his bearings straight, Wally headed for Keystone National Bank, where he found another Flash and a tied-up Mirror Master. That's when Wally noticed his lightning bolt emblem facing the wrong way. Chasing after his "double", Wally noticed the "Keystone City Limits" sign written in reverse--he was still stuck in the mirror world. Returning to the bank, Wally disabled Mirror Master's laser gun. After heading to Singapore to retrieve a chip for Mirror Master's gun, Wally confronted Mirror Master, asking McCulloch why with his technology, he chooses to commit crimes; McCulloch answered with the fact that he needs money to commit crimes and commits crimes to get money. Heading back home to make sure Linda was okay, Wally caught Mirror Master within his speed-stream and hauled him off to prison.
Linda's Disappearance
During a brush with the Black Flash, who had apparently claimed the life of Linda, Wally saved her from the Speed Force. He proposed to her and they were almost married shortly thereafter, but she then disappeared off the face of the earth, and no one, not even Wally, remembered her.
Chain Lightning
Wally then got caught up in an adventure spanning through different eras. Malcolm Thawne, Barry Allen's twin brother, reappeared, beginning the Allen-Thawne feud. Barry's death during the Crisis appeared to have cheated Malcolm out of his dreams of revenge on his brother. Instead, Malcolm focused on Allen's descendants traveling through time in a bid to exterminate them, starting with Wally West. Under the identity of Cobalt Blue, Malcolm ignited a family feud that endured for a millennium.
The feud came to a head in the late 30th Century, where Barry Allen was living with his wife Iris. Wally West arrived to try and protect his uncle. Flashes of all eras between the 20th and 30th centuries arrived soon after, all under the control of Thawne's spirit due to them all carrying a shard of the original Cobalt Blue gem. In the end, Wally West ended the menace of Cobalt Blue by running so fast that he skirted the edge of the Speed Force. Its power poured into the gem, and Thawne's spirit (and the gem itself) overloaded from the excess energy. Wally then vanished into the Speed Force. At that same moment, a new, mysterious Flash appeared in Keystone City...
The Dark Flash
Linda's disappearance was caused by a mysterious man who had a deep hatred for the Flash; he abducted her and kept her imprisoned within Limbo. This was also the reason behind why everyone on Earth had forgotten about her--Linda was taken from a time prior to her originally meeting Wally. Linda escaped from his prison and landed in an alternate Keystone City, where she encountered who she thought was Wally, until she noticed three distinct things: (1) Keystone City's police were after Wally and called him "Walter"; (2) Wally seemed to be mentally unbalanced; and (3) this Wally's eyes were blue, not green. Linda next encountered this world's Pied Piper, who told her to run from "Wally," as he was dangerous.
Linda ran toward a now-abandoned Flash Museum, where she found a memorial statue dedicated to her dimensional counterpart (named Linda Kiyo Park), 'who sacrificed her life to save Keystone City from the villain Kobra.' After again encountering Walter at a cemetery, Wally, following his link to Linda, emerged from the Speed Force. A battle ensued between Wally and Walter, where they were evenly matched. However, Walter came back with a vengeance, pinning Wally to a wall with a vibrationally-charged rebar. Wally tried to explain to Walter that he and Linda were from a parallel world; he also explained that although they share the same memories, Wally could never turn into the man Walter has become. That statement set off Walter's anger once again, starting another fight with Wally.
Walter then let loose with the fact that after his Linda's death, he sought out the "dark lord of speed, Savitar", and after tricking him into teaching Walter every trick and skill he knew, killed him. After Walter's revelation, Abra Kadabra appeared, trapping both Wally and Walter. Kadabra explained that he tried to break the bond that draws Wally back to this dimension by casting a spell to make everyone forget that Linda existed and hold her outside of time, but she escaped, landing in that alternate Keystone and drew Wally to her once again. To defeat Kadabra, Wally temporarily merged his physical essence with Walter's, gaining greater speed and learning a few new skills; from this merging, Walter also finally came to terms with not being able to save his Linda from death.
Kadabra, however, faked his defeat at their hands and seemingly discorporated Wally and Linda's essences; in actuality, they ended up traversing through countless alternate dimensions, nearly losing their minds until they found their home dimension, thanks to Bart (he was actually born outside of time, rendering him immune to chronal alterations). Wally and Linda finally made it back to their Keystone City; however, Linda was still forgotten from everyone's minds. Wally then sought out Jay Garrick, told him of his plans to rescue Linda, and set off for the Flash Museum, where he donned a Reverse-Flash costume and "allied" himself with Abra Kadabra and Replicant. Wally then "kidnapped" Jay Garrick, Bart Allen and Jesse Quick and took them to Kadabra's abandoned theater hideout, where as Professor Zoom, he taunted Kadabra into reversing the spell he cast on Linda, bringing her back in full, to everyone's memory; "Professor Zoom" then pulled back his cowl, revealing himself as none other than Wally West. The final battle between Wally, Walter and Abra Kadabra ensued, Kadabra preparing a spell to wipe the memories of the Flash legacy from the world's minds forever. Wally, Walter, Jay, Max & Bart, on Linda's suggestion, used mirrors to block and reflect Kadabra's spell back at him, rendering Kadabra himself with amnesia.
The Whirlwind Ceremony
Wally and Linda, with their friends' help, finally set about planning their upcoming nuptials. During this, Wally discovered that (due to him temporarily merging with Walter while fighting Kadabra) he could "steal" speed from moving objects; while "helping" the staff prepare for the wedding, he unintentionally knocked over the wedding cake--trying to catch it, a black aura enveloped the separated cake pieces, causing them to fall with drastically reduced speed, making them easy to catch. Later, during the ceremony, Linda noticed Wally seeming more agitated than before; she temporarily stopped the proceedings and asked Wally what was wrong. Feeling slightly overwhelmed, Wally revealed that after seeing how Walter acted after losing 'his' Linda, he was worried about becoming like that himself... to which Linda thought she and Wally were just getting married so he could be different from Walter. Wally explained the truth: that he couldn't wait to be married to Linda; that he doesn't want to spend life without her again; that they've taught/learned things were vital to them both; and that he can't wait to spend the rest of his life with her. Upon hearing that, Linda told the priest to restart the ceremony. Gathered together among all their friends (with Nightwing serving as his best man), Wally and Linda became Mr. & Mrs. West.
During their honeymoon, Wally and Linda were faced with seemingly unrelated threats: first in Paris with an "alien ship", then soldiers in "fish suits" on a beach and finally, a metallic sea-snake in Alaska. Allowing themselves to get captured, they discovered their tormentor to be none other than Kobra, who sought vengeance on Linda for his defeat at her hands. Getting free of Kobra's "kinetic siphons", Wally rescued Linda from Kobra's poison snake cylinder; he then trashed Kobra and his loyal soldiers. Returning to Keystone to plan another honeymoon spot, Wally and Linda were confronted by Christina (formerly Lady Flash/Savage/Savitar/Kobra, now going by Lady Flash once again), who was in disguise as "Becky", Wally's travel agent; she convinced herself that she was "in love" with Wally again and was behind each of the sabotaged honeymoons, trying to kill Linda. Racing towards Linda in a effort to kill her herself, Wally intercepted Christina--employing his newfound ability to "steal" speed from any moving object, Wally snatched the speed right out of her body, slowing her down to a crawl and allowing Linda to knock her out with an uppercut.
After New Year?s 2000, Wally and Linda settled into married life. Dropping Linda off at the American Broadcasters Association Expo, Wally met her fellow reporter, Billy Batson; after escorting Billy to the Central City International Airport and signing an autograph for a young fan, Wally noticed Linda and Billy go into a trance and speak in a strange language after the ticket sales agent told Billy he missed his original flight and would have to catch another one at 6:57; at that same moment, the airport terminal slowly converted into a medieval setting. After everything reverted to normal, Linda noticed that, due to the momentary disruption, a plane lost contact with the flight tower and was about to crash into the terminal.
Activating his speedsuit via his ring, the Flash raced away to stop the plane from crashing. At that very same moment, ducking away so he wouldn?t be noticed, Billy said his magic word, transformed into Captain Marvel and flew off to help the Flash. With Captain Marvel using the Strength of Hercules & Stamina of Atlas and Flash using his speed-stealing ability and crash foam, they managed to slow the plane down and land it safely. Afterwards, Wally interrogated both Linda and Billy on what happened, to which they said they had no clue. However, Linda did remember that both she and Billy were together during a speech given by Ken Blackwell. Grabbing them up in his speed-stream, their next stop was Blackwell?s hotel room; after the concierge let them in the room, Wally and Linda found a disfigured simulacrum in the middle of the floor, while Billy found the real Ken Blackwell tied up in the closet. Blackwell explained that he was trapped in there for days--a man in a sorcerer?s outfit ambushed him and created a magical duplicate of him. From that, Wally immediately guessed who was behind it all: Felix Faust.
The two heroes teaming up, Captain Marvel figured out that 6:57 is the time that the Golden Spike Network goes on-line; at that moment, once hundreds of newscasters start speaking the same incantation that Linda and Billy were spouting, Faust?s spell would go into full effect, shifting the world back to the Dark Ages! Heading off to Promontory, Utah (where the Transcontinental Railroad was completed with a ceremonial golden spike and home to the Golden Spike Network), Flash and Captain Marvel found Felix Faust at the Ali Baba Hotel; switching back to his normal guise, Faust mystically commanded the ?neon dragons? to come to life and attack the heroes. With Flash using his vibrations and Marvel using super-strength to destroy the glass sculptures, the heroes raced after Faust. After Captain Marvel easily destroyed Faust?s mystic shield, Flash demanded from Faust a way to stop the spell; unfortunately, Faust had no way to stop the spell from going through. Figuring they only had five minutes to counteract the spell, Flash realized they had to stop everybody from hearing the incantation. Racing away hard and fast, both Flash and Captain Marvel built up so much vibration and momentum, nearly colliding at the last possible second, causing a destructive pulse wave to wash over the station?s master antenna, temporarily shorting out the broadcast signal in the surrounding area; Faust thought his plan had come to fruition, until the signal reset itself, ruining his plans for the next 366 years. After this adventure, Wally and Linda bid Billy farewell as he boarded a train headed for Fawcett City, Indiana.
Arriving home in Key West after a day of quick patrols and crime fighting, Wally greeted his wife and quickly set the table for a romantic dinner. Afterwards, relaxing on the couch, Linda told Wally they received a late wedding gift from an ?Uncle Toby?; Linda opened it, revealing a pair of ceramic turtle doves. At that exact moment, a news broadcast came over the radio, indicating that the Yellow Diamond of Nepal was stolen from the Keystone Natural History Museum?s latest exhibit. Linda asks if Wally is going to investigate the theft, to which he responds that he?ll check on it the next day. Carrying his wife up to the bedroom, Linda asked Wally what possessed his Uncle Toby to send them such a gift--to which Wally thought that the turtle doves were from her uncle. Wally quickly figured out that if it wasn?t from any of their friends, it had to have been from one of his enemies!
Rushing downstairs, Wally grabbed the ?gift?, only to discover it vibrating and heating up. Speeding from the house, Wally headed for the Nevada desert and released the bomb, allowing it to explode--all of a sudden, a high-frequency microwave transmission bombarded Wally?s head, the wings on his cowl acting as an antenna. Increasing his speed to better hear the message, Wally heard that four fellow members of the JLA (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and Aquaman) were in danger of being assassinated by an unknown foe; tracking the signal to a office building in Kansas City, Wally vibrated through a wall, finding a computer with a list of his allies? names and target coordinates. With the information on the screen not scrolling fast enough for him to read, Wally sped off to a computer company in Silicon Valley, getting any tech he could to enhance the computer so it could scroll at near-light speed, allowing Wally to scan everything on the monitor at super speed.
First stop: Metropolis, where Flash saw Superman descending on a bomb the police had discovered. Only the Flash knew what the bomb really contained--pulverized kryptonite, which if Wally didn?t intercept in time, would explode and kill the Man of Steel. Scooping up the bomb, Wally raced off to Bear Creek, Montana and threw it deep into an old coal mine.
Wally next raced for Gotham City; getting there, he had to circle around Crime Alley multiple times before finding Batman in an alleyway. Apparently, someone had managed to fool the Dark Knight Detective into going after who he thought was the Scarecrow--it was actually a bomb. Moving faster than Batman could see, Flash collected the dummy and dropped the bomb off in an area of earthquake rubble. Two heroes saved, two to go.
Speeding off to Greenwich Village in New York, Wally next had to save the life of his best friend and teammate, Kyle Rayner (a.k.a. Green Lantern). Realizing that this unknown foe was both smart enough to figure out Kyle?s secret identity and replace the Emerald Crusader?s power battery with an explosive double, Wally grabbed the bomb and sped off to the peak of Mount Whitney, flinging the bomb away, the explosive discharging harmlessly in the night sky.
Picking up speed, the Flash?s final stop was along the Pacific Ocean. Seeing a beacon (the contrail of a missile) overhead, Wally dove beneath the water, where he saw Aquaman, trying to somehow deflect the missile heading for Atlantis. Knowing that the King of the Seven Seas couldn't stop it on his own, Wally set up a series of sympathetic vibrations, rattling the mantle of the missile loose; exposing the payload, it allowed him to convert it into a dud. Swimming quickly to the surface to breathe again, Wally followed the missile?s contrail back to its launch site. Arriving back in Keystone City, Wally discovered a missile silo outside of town; racing inside, Flash had to pump his legs harder to run along a moving treadmill.
Following another high-speed broadcast, Wally pushed himself to once again translate it--this message revealed that the enemy threatening the Flash and his allies was none other than the Turtle, the slowest man alive. It was he who stole the diamond from the museum and now, using the Flash?s kinetic energy, planned to travel back to the 1880?s, a time both without technology and before the Yellow Diamond of Nepal was ever discovered. Wally, however, quickly snatched the diamond from the Turtle?s throne before increasing his speed, sending the Turtle even further back in time. Returning home (to Linda, it was only a few seconds ago), Wally temporarily gifted her with the diamond and planted a deep kiss on her.
Wonderland
Arrested and taken to the Keystone City Police Department, Wally was confused as to what he was doing there. Officer Fred Chyre demands to know who he is and if he was responsible for the death of a fellow officer. Another officer reads off Wally?s profile, saying that he?s a school teacher & track coach living in Blue Valley, Nebraska; his mind fogged, Wally manages to get free and tries to run away, but the cops catch him and try to unmask him. He then realizes that his connection to the Speed Force is gone, rendering him as slow as a regular human. Attacking an officer in self-defense, Wally realizes the cop is Mick Rory (Heatwave), who claims to not recognize or know him. On the TV in the arraignment room, a news report documents the 10th anniversary of the death of Aquaman; at that moment, Wally is knocked out and carted off to a cell.
Waking up from a horrible nightmare (in which a giant, monstrous Jay Garrick exclaims that Wally shouldn?t have followed him and that Keystone City is his), Wally was met in front of his cell by a woman named Fiona, who tells him she is the resident social worker for the police department and asks Wally what is the last thing he remembers; he replies that he remembers running. After taking a drink of water (and slightly hallucinating), Wally explains what the lightning emblem on his chest means after Fiona asks about it.
His mind clouding up once again, Wally dropped the glass and fell to his knees--Fiona revealed that she drugged the water with a heavy truth serum and tranquilizer. Luckily, Wally?s metabolism was breaking the chemicals down quicker than she expected. After Fiona left, Wally thought about what both the cops and Fiona said about his life--it wasn?t true at all. Trying to get some reassurance, he mentally commanded his speedsuit?s left glove to peel off and reveal the lightning bolt-engraved wedding band that Linda gave him. Wally was feeling fine until he heard a familiar voice--turning around to look out of his jail cell?s window, he saw Barry Allen!
Realizing that he used his direct connection to the Speed Force to shrug off the tranquilizers, he focused on concentrating enough to vibrate through the prison walls--only to be painfully bounced off, his palms smoking. Once again confronted by Officer Rory, the cop was suddenly frozen solid and shattered by none other than Captain Cold.
After telling Cold that his speed was gone, they were again blocked by Officer Chyre and his cronies. After fighting them off and finally escaping, Wally came to the grim conclusion that both he and Captain Cold were trapped in an alternate dimension; Wally figured the only way to restore his connection to the Speed Force and get home was to find Jay Garrick. Arriving at the Garrick home, Cold noticed that on the mailbox, it said ?Clariss,? not ?Garrick.? Knocking on the front door, Wally was confronted by a man waving a shotgun in his face: Edward Clariss; unmasking himself, Wally grabbed the shotgun, pushed Edward aside and commanded Cold to help Joan up. Asking Joan if she recognized him (to which she said no), Wally then asked her if she knew Jay (which she said she did). Relocating to a cemetery, Wally and Captain Cold saw Garrick?s headstone. Wally learned from Joan that apparently, after the lab accident, instead of gaining superspeed, Jay joined the Army after recovering and later died in the war. After receiving a book that Cold stole from Clariss (before freezing him solid) titled "The Death of the Hero" (written by John Law), Wally learned that in this dimension, there never was a Flash--they were in a world where the Speed Force never existed.
Reading through the book, Wally and Cold learned that the Justice Society of America did exist during World War II, but without a Flash, Mr. Terrific was killed in action by the mystical being known as Stalker. It struck such a tragic blow to American morale, "Uncle Sam" decided to drop the atomic bomb on Berlin. The other members of the JSA then helped to completely destroy Germany, after which they retired in shame.
Decades later, the Justice League of America formed, but during their very first battle against Starro, Aquaman was killed by the alien conqueror; there was no Flash there to back him up during the fight. After this tragedy, half of the alien-born heroes were thrown into concentration camps--some died.
Then came the Teen Titans? turn. Without Wally there as Kid Flash, in their first battle against Mister Twister, Speedy and Aqualad were killed as he sucked the air out of their lungs. Also, Wonder Girl was put into a coma from which she never awoke. Mister Twister was hunted down by Amazons and was slaughtered, his head put on a spike and left outside of the JLA headquarters. All young heroes were removed from action. A large portion of the adults started playing judge, jury & executioner--America followed suit. Captain Cold then told Wally to look across the river--apparently, back in the 50's, the Shade, the Fiddler and the Thinker had a personal war over who would control Central City, leaving the city destroyed. Central and Keystone no longer reflected each other...
Catching on to what Cold was saying, Wally then noticed that every time Cold held his freeze gun, it was in his left hand, not his right as usual; Wally then truly realized they weren?t in an alternate dimension, but in a mirror dimension. At that moment, the two of them were again confronted by Keystone City policeman, including a surprised and startled Barry Allen...
Unmasking himself in front of Barry to prove who he is, once again the cops started shooting. Quickly hiding behind a few tombstones, Cold set up a cold field to stop the bullets. Remasking himself, Wally turned around to see the cops transformed into glass statues--by none other than Mirror Master.
Asking McCulloch if it was his doing that trapped them in this twisted world, he explained that both Flash and Captain Cold were new to traveling into fractionalized mirror dimensions and that it also messed with their minds. Apparently, in the process of being transferred to Stryker?s Island in Metropolis, Captain Cold, Mirror Master and Weather Wizard escaped, but were almost apprehended by Superman, Superboy & Steel; Snart and McCulloch managed to escape through a mysterious portal. Next thing they knew, they were back in Keystone City, where a mysterious man appeared before them and offered them the chance of a lifetime: destroy the Flash. Giving Mirror Master the technology (along with his own mirror gadgets) to trap the Flash, their mysterious benefactor also revealed that Snart and McCulloch would reap the benefits of a defenseless Keystone City... and a world without a Flash.
Luring the Flash out by attacking his wife, both Captain Cold and Mirror Master enacted their plan; using his modified mirror gun, Mirror Master created a portal that was supposed to trap the Flash in one of many splintered reflections, to be imprisoned there as long as they pleased. But something went wrong--whatever he did to his mirror gun, it caused both he and Cold to be pulled into this dimension along with Wally--both Snart and McCulloch had been double-crossed. Landing in this mirror-Keystone, Mirror Master heard a voice inside his head, telling him that the Flash would be cut off from the extradimensional energy force that gives him his power. Trying to get back to the main dimension, McCulloch saw that one of the mirrors in his gun was cracked. Unintentionally attracting the attention of a police officer (Officer Nick Kelly), Mirror Master killed him, afterwards running off and allowing Wally to get arrested for his act.
Commanding Mirror Master to revert the cops back to flesh and blood, the three of them next set off for The Hal Jordan Museum of Keystone City, where Wally remarked in their world, all Hal wanted to be was a hero. Finding the lens he needed to replace the cracked one in his gun, Mirror Master was shot at by a masked man; revealing his name to be Plunder, Flash, Captain Cold and Mirror Master ran into ?Mirror Master?s Mirror Maze?, trying to outrun Plunder?s laser bursts. Preparing to defend himself, McCulloch unsheathed his mirror gun, trying to absorb Plunder?s lasers--unfortunately, the lasers activated his gun, creating evil mirror duplicates of Flash, Captain Cold and Mirror Master.
Combating both his evil mirror duplicate and Plunder, Wally hurled the duplicate toward Plunder, shattering the dupe and knocking Plunder out. Witnessing Mirror Master's duplicate pulling him into a mirror, Wally and Captain Cold used their own reflections to free McCulloch. Noticing the mirror dimension breaking down, Snart and McCulloch were then knocked out by a revived Plunder. Escaping to the museum's Super Villain Armory, Wally armed himself with weapons from several of Green Lantern's foes: Sonar's Sound Gun, Black Hand's Cosmic Divining Rod, Javelin's javelins, Evil Star's Starband and Dr. Light's anti-gravity flight belt. Rushing to the rescue, Wally attacked Plunder, only for them to be nearly blown up by a rocket launcher wielded by Officer Bender of the KCPD. Wally then used Sonar's Sound Gun to render a few of the officers unconscious and took to the sky with Dr. Light's flight belt. Shattering a window with a javelin to enter the Thinker's hideout, Wally and Plunder had one final battle, with Wally snatching Captain Cold's and Mirror Master's weaponry from Plunder and sending him into the sky with the flight belt. Finally escaping this twisted dimension, Wally's powers fully returned. Back in the real world, Wally quickly disarmed both Rogues. McCulloch then discovered why he and the others had such a difficult time getting out: the mirror dimension was based inside of a diamond, specifically Linda's diamond wedding ring. Quickly accusing Mirror Master of harming his wife, Wally threatened McCulloch; Captain Cold went to defend Mirror Master, only to be suddenly caught off guard. Wally then saw what Snart was looking at: Keystone City was gone!
Standing on the outskirts of where Keystone City used to be, McCulloch realized that the city wasn't destroyed, but rather "taken". Linda later gave birth to twins, Iris and Jai West.
Retirement and Return
During what has become known as Infinite Crisis, Kid Flash, Barry, Max, and Johnny, were able to temporarily subdue Superboy-Prime by sending him to the Speed Force and Wally once he had gotten his family followed them (which later turned out to be an alternate Earth). He and the other speedsters, along with Linda and the twins, were sent to an alternate Earth, home of another Jay Garrick operating as the Flash. They decided to absorb the Speed Force into Bart and send him home to battle Superboy-Prime.
Content with passing the Flash mantle on to Bart, Wally and Linda decided to raise their children on the alien world Savoth, where the residents were longtime friends of the Flashes. However, shortly after their arrival, the twins began to age very rapidly. The Savothians, who were advanced scholars of velocibiology, at first did not agree to help the Wests, but finally relented and agreed to train Linda to deal with the children's rapid aging.
Wally, along with Linda and their children, was brought back to Earth by seven members of the Legion of Super-Heroes using lightning rod devices. When Wally came back, he indirectly took away Bart's portion of the Speed Force, and with the return of Wally West, the Speed Force also returned as he mainlined it and was practically one with it. He was then invited to join the newly reformed Justice League of America. Wally and Linda moved back to Keystone City. Since they were afraid the twins could, at any time, age rapidly, possibly even to old age and death, they decided to let Iris and Jai, who had developed their own superspeed-related abilities, live their lives to the fullest by helping their father fight crime. Wally later found out that the cause of his children's rapid aging was not because of the Speed Force, but because of the Black Flash. He then absorbed the Speed Force fragments from his children and defeated the Black Flash, thus caused Jai and Iris to revert to their actual age.
Not long after, Wally found himself once again pulling a double-shift for two separate teams. He reunited with his old allies the Titans in order to face the pressing threat of Trigon.
Flash: Rebirth
When Orion, was murdered, Wally and Jay investigated to find the Secret Society of Super Villains' hideout and discovered Metron's chair. They figured out that the bullet that had killed Orion had been sent through time thanks to the chair which acted as a gateway. Suddenly, a light filled the room and from within the portal of the chair came Wally's former mentor and idol, Barry Allen. Barry was chasing the bullet that killed Orion through time but was being pursued by Black Racer. Wally and Jay joined him in the race to save Orion's life but they were too late, Orion was killed. Jay was forced to abandon the chase due to not being able to keep up but Wally and Barry tried to escape the Black Racer, ending up in the near future where the world had been taken over by the Evil Gods thanks to the Anti-Life Equation. They visited Wally's Aunt Iris' house to find even she had been corrupted by Anti-Life. After freeing her from the Equation, Barry and Wally tried to come up with a plan to stop Darkseid, who had now taken over the world. They once again ran, the Black Racer catching up with them, and went into a full sprint for Darkseid. The Black Racer was gaining on them as they approached Darkseid, who was in the middle of battling Superman with his followers. The Flashes saved Superman from the followers' omega beams and when they managed to get to Darkseid, they vibrated through him, causing the Black Racer to crash into him, severely wounding the Evil God. After Darkseid was defeated, Barry and Wally reunited with the rest of their friends and family. Superman assembled Wally along with both generations of the Titans, to reveal that Bart Allen and Superboy had been resurrected in the future and brought back to the present. Wally couldn't be more overjoyed to see his cousin back.
Both the superhero community and the public learned of Barry and Bart's return, assembling parades and celebrations for all of the Flashes. Wally was with the other Titans at their tower in New York, putting together a welcome back party for Barry. He talked with them about what it was like being mentored by someone like Barry while also keeping Jai and Iris, who he had brought along, in line. Wally and his kids all recieved a huge electrical shock caused by the Speed Force after Barry had accidentally killed Savitar.
All of the speedsters felt it, except for Barry, and Wally
