Chapter Text
Barry was used to getting weird vibes when he visited Iris' brother, Rudy. He felt bad for judging his wife's family like that, but the truth of the matter was, Rudy was kind of a jerk, and Barry always had the feeling he was hiding something.
But that was fine. Barry was hiding something too, at least from Rudy. So The Flash let his suspicions roll off his back when the man's behavior made his brain twitch; he really had no other choice.
It was supposed to be a simple visit. Iris had left her purse at Rudy's house the day before, and Barry was just swinging by to pick it up. He should have known better than to snoop through Rudy's house when the man went upstairs to find the purse… but Barry's curiosity got the better of him.
As the blond waited in the hallway for his brother in law to return, he heard a crash from below him. Barry raised his head from his phone, squinting in the direction of the noise. He knew that door led to a basement, but Rudy had said it was unfinished, just a boiler room, so he had never entered. But as the crash came again, Barry began to worry that perhaps some kind of animal had burrowed into Rudy's home, so he opened the door, and peeked inside.
The room below him was dark, the only thing visible in the light from the room above being a set of creaky wooden stairs. Yet the stale air hit Barry straight in the face, smelling of rot, urine, and a chemical smell he couldn't place. Something was absolutely living down there. Though the smell made disgust swirl in his belly, Barry stepped forward, shutting the door behind him to ensure whatever animal had gotten inside couldn't slip past him in the dark. There was a tiny window on a far wall, giving Barry just enough light to make his way down the stairs and see the pull string from a lightbulb dangling in the center of the room. He stepped down to reach for it, but froze when the sound came again, much closer than he expected.
The sound was strange. Wrong in a way he couldn't put his finger on. Something was hitting against another object, but this close he could hear that the sound was wet, like a soaked rain coat being plopped onto a tile floor. Had Rudy's basement flooded? Maybe the water had allowed some sort of small creature like a frog in, and the sound was the thing trying to escape. Surely his brother in law would appreciate Barry checking for damage if he thought his basement had flooded!
Yet he couldn't shake the feeling he shouldn't be down here.
Too late to second guess myself now, Barry decided. If Rudy gets mad I was snooping, I should at least come back upstairs with some useful information.
Decision made, Barry pulled the string, and lit the basement in a dirty yellow glow.
Before him sat what looked to be a large bathtub, a thing made of cheap white plastic and coated with dust and water scum. The floor around it was wet and filthy, the stagnant water growing pools of algae in some spots, and foul looking mushrooms in others.
But Barry's attention was quickly pulled to the inside of the tub, which was filled with filthy, stinking water. The scent was acidic and nauseating, like a scummy aquarium left to fester too long without cleaning. He realized now the source of the stench he was buffeted by at the top of the stairs was right in front of him: urine, filth, and chemicals; perhaps chlorine in an attempt to keep the water clear.
Despite there only being a few feet of water, he couldn't see through to the bottom, the water clarity was so low.
He'd later use this as an excuse as to why he didn't notice there was something in the water, but never in his wildest dreams would he have guessed what he'd find in that filthy bathtub.
The sopping wet head of a young boy breached the surface of the water, the child shaking red hair from his eyes and gasping for breath. His green eyes met Barry's, and the man could see terror grip the boy's soft features.
"Please don't tell my dad you heard me!" The boy begged, "I'll be quiet! I promise! I-I'm trying to stay in the water, I'll be good, I-"
The boy's thin shoulders shook as his body was wracked by a fit of coughs, causing Barry to look away from the child's face long enough to see what was truly in front of him.
The boy was thin, so thin his collarbones and ribs stood out starkly under his pale skin. He wasn't wearing a shirt, giving the speedster full view of just how underfed the child was, Barry following the ghostly outline of his bones to where they disappeared beneath the water.
And then he saw it.
Just under the surface of the pond scrum Barry saw dull scales of orange and white, sleek like a fish but just as thin and malnourished as the body it was attached to. Barry did a double take, looking back to the boy's face and suddenly noticing the gill slits on his neck and the thin catfish-like feelers drooping from the child's upper lip.
"You're a mermaid." Barry whispered reverently.
The child froze, as if struck by lightning. He ducked hurriedly back into the water until only his head and desperately clenching gill slits were visible.
"I'm not anything!" The boy squeaked, so wrecked with terror his voice quivered, "Don't tell dad! Please mister, you can't tell him, if I don't get dinner tonight, I think I'll faint!"
Barry blinked rapidly, gears turning in his brain at near light speed. Rudy lived alone aside from his wife, the boy had to be talking about him. Was Rudy his real father? Was that even possible? How the hell had his brother in law gotten a Mermaid into his house without anyone noticing? How long had he been here?
Why did this child look so sick?
"I won't tell on you, I promise," Barry said gently, putting his hands up in a motion of surrender, "I'm not here to get you in trouble, okay little guy? I just smelled something and thought an animal had burrowed into Rudy's basement."
The boy hunched his shoulders, looking ashamed.
"...I'm sorry I smell," he muttered softly, "I… I try to… do my business over the lip of the tank but… but… it's hard to lift my tail that high and… and when I haven't eaten the exertion makes me dizzy…"
Barry's face fell. That response raised far too many red flags. Did Rudy get angry with the boy when the water got dirty? So angry the kid dragged himself out of the tub just to relieve himself?
Barry didn't know much about Mer. He'd only met one in his whole life. But he knew this was very very wrong.
"What's your name, squirt?" Barry asked, kneeling down a bit so he and the young Mer were face to face.
The ginger child blinked a few times as if taken aback by the question, before whispering.
"Wally, sir. W-Wally West."
"It's nice to meet you, Wally. My name is Barry, and if Rudy is your father, that makes me your Uncle. I have to make some calls… but I'm going to get you somewhere safe."
Wally would later assume he imagined the whole thing, since the moment he heard a creak of the stairs above his head, this mysterious "uncle" was suddenly gone.
He didn't leave. He was just gone.
It was a nice day dream, if bittersweet.
The vast majority of Wally's life had been spent in this musty basement, in this filthy bathtub. All his memories take place here, aside from very young and blurry memories of being kept in an actual bathroom.
He feels like his mom was there, but he doesn't remember her face anymore. All he remembers is shiny red scales and a sweet voice and the feeling of safety.
He misses that bathroom sometimes.
He wasn't sure how long it had been since his daydream, just that the sun was setting outside the dirty basement window, and that Dad hadn't fed him dinner yet.
At least… he hoped he was getting dinner. He'd been good, hadn't he?
He tried to be patient, but his water desperately needed to be changed. It was hard to be still when the water was dirty, at least when he moved his gills could catch some oxygen.
The red-headed mer sighed to himself when he heard yelling from upstairs. Dad and Mary were fighting again, he guessed. Things had really gotten worse for Wally when his step-mom came around a few years ago. She rarely came down to see him, and since she moved in Dad stopped coming around to read books and listen to the radio with him. Nowadays it's almost better when Dad forgets about him, aside from Wally missing a meal.
But after a few minutes, Wally began to realize this fight… didn't sound the same. There was banging to accompany the yelling, and was he hearing more than one man's voice? Dad almost never had company, and when he did Wally had never heard him yell at them before.
What the heck was going on?
"Rudy, you're killing that boy!" Came a voice that seemed to be growing closer. It sounded familiar somehow, though Wally didn't get time to ponder it before the door at the top of the stairs opened and flooded the room with light. "I'm taking him with me, and that is final! You're lucky I'm not dragging your ass to prison right this second!"
A man in a red jumpsuit came down the stairs, followed closely behind by a much larger man clad in armor. When the light in the room was switched on, Wally's head spun.
He knew this suit. He knew it from the covers of his comic books, back when dad had the time to buy them for him. He remembered his face from the few times he'd watched the news.
The Flash was standing in Wally's basement, and if the boy thought he couldn't catch his breath, it was nothing compared to how he felt when the man pulled back the cowl.
It was Barry. His Uncle Barry from his dream. He was real and he really had come back for him.
The banging and yelling continued out of sight as Barry crossed the room slowly, bending down to Wally's level.
"Hey kiddo. I'm sorry that took so long. But we're gonna get you out of here, okay?"
Wally was so stunned all he could do was nod, and hope to whatever God could hear him this wasn't a dream.