Post by C_Miller on Dec 23, 2011 17:14:30 GMT -5
Ultimate Flash #1
Lightning Strikes Twice
*This takes place directly after the first arc of Spoilers and two-three weeks before the first arc of Justice Society*
Keystone City, Kansas. 3 Years Later. The Present Day
The crackling echo of gunshots rattled through raucous din of the urban concrete jungle that was called Keystone City. Keystone City was always a rough and tumble place. It was populated with blue-collar workers, real salt of the earth types. There was quite a bit of crime, but they were generally good, well-mannered people. And then in 2008, everything changed.
In 2008, the United States economy crashed, Keystone Motors closed down its main manufacturing plant, and Barry Allen, the Man who called himself The Flash, the protector of both Keystone and Central City, died in a final effort to defend the cities he loved. It’s up to personal interpretation as to what had the greater effect. There are loud, passionate people on all sides of the debate. But Wally West? He chalks it up to his Uncle’s passing.
A few months after his Uncle Barry passed away, he moved out of his aunt’s house and moved to the heart of Central City with two of his best friends from High School, Ray Terrill and Todd Rice. But when Todd moved in with his girlfriend, Patty Spivot whom he met at Barry’s funeral, Wally and Ray moved to find cheaper housing in Keystone City.
They best the pair could find were two separate units of a studio apartment, that was more like a boarding house, which was the definition of run down and on what one would call the wrong side of the tracks, but they made it work. Wally had taken a job at a local mechanic and tow service and while they pay wasn’t great, he enjoyed his job and his life. Unfortunately, he was no longer sharing it with Jessie.
Since becoming The Flash, she flew off the deep end. Her drug habit prevented her from coming anywhere close to the hero that Barry was and quite often she’d avoid playing hero just out of the fear of failure. She got even worse when she wasn’t able to stop the bullet that put her best friend, Barbara Gordon permanently in a wheelchair.
Even though after Barry’s funeral, she committed to Wally, their relationship had been a struggle. They maintained a solid foundation for roughly a year, but once he proposed and she accepted, it was all down hill. Their relationship was the definition of on and off with it currently being off. Though, it didn’t bother him too much.
“Goddammit!” Wally exclaimed as he brought his fist down hard against his kitchen table, causing drinks and the rest of the objects on the table to shake. “How is it that you keep winning? You hiding cards?”
Patty Spivot flashed Wally an innocent look with big puppy dog eyes. “Me? Would I honestly do that?”
Wally let out a low grunt. “Most likely. Yes.”
She hooted out of amusement and her look went from innocent to sneakily guilty. “Wally, don’t you know by now to instinctively fear this poker face?” She stared at him down her nose with her lips pursed, but then slowly, her tongue erupted from her lips, sticking it out at Wally.
This was the weekly poker night that Wally, Ray and Todd held every Friday since they were in High School. Other people would occasionally come and go, Todd’s girlfriend Patty for example had become a regular, but the only constants were the three guys. Tonight, Wally had invited his next-door neighbor, Linda Park over, who clearly didn’t know what to make of it all.
“So, Linda, you go to Central University?” Todd asked as he took a swig of his beer with his free hand that wasn’t wrapped around his girlfriend.
She nodded innocently. “Yep. One more year for a Bachelor’s in Journalism.” She crossed her fingers, looked up at the ceiling and feigned a prayer.
“Why do you live in Keystone? That has to be a hell of a commute every morning.” Ray asked with a hint of confusion in his voice. “And Keystone would not be on top of my list of places to live.”
Linda shrugged. “I’m kind of working my way through college and this was the cheapest place I could find… I did have a pretty good internship over the summer working on The Brave and the Bold, but that just paid my tuition.”
“Preach.” Ray exclaimed who had just finished up college a year ago and was well into the process of paying back his student loans. “The Brave and the Bold, eh? Wally has a lot of opinions about that show…”
Wally winced at the sound of his name said in relation to the show. “Ray… not tonight, please.”
Ray instantly felt a swell of regret that promptly appeared on his face. “Sorry, brother… I forgot.”
“Forgot what?” Linda asked with an innocent curiosity.
Wally shook his head and Patty answered for him. “His Uncle Barry Allen… The Flash… The 3rd anniversary of his death is tomorrow.”
Linda instantly reached out and touched Wally’s hand that was still on the table, to which he responded by looking up at her with a small smile. “I’m so sorry… is there anything I can do?” He shook his head and took the last sip out of his beer bottle. “Here, I need a refill anyways,” she said pointing to her water cup.
She stood up and moved towards the kitchen with her cup and his empty beer bottle in hand. Todd glared at Wally with surprised eyes. “Oh man, she’s a keeper. Patty and I have been together for three months and she didn’t get me a beer when I finished.” She lightly smacked him.
“As much as I resent that last part, I agree with my very smooth boyfriend. She’s pretty great.” Patty responded.
Wally shrugged. “I mean, I guess. She’s a lot of fun to talk to and hang out with. We cook for each other, because we both hate cooking for one, but Jessie…”
“… Is gone.” Ray added. He put his hand firmly on Wally’s shoulder. “Look, I know you and Jessie go way back and I know you’ve been through a lot with her.”
“Everything.”
Ray nodded and held up his hands. “Yeah, that. But, she had her chance and she’s not coming around. Wally, I know you feel a sense of duty about her, but she’s dropped the ball… I’m sorry.”
Wally hesitantly nodded as Linda strolled back into the room and handed him his beer. He instantly perked up as not to give her any reason for concern. “So speaking of relationships, Todd, when are you going to put a ring on it.” He said with a smile, indicating towards Patty who was rolling her eyes.
“As soon as she lets me.” He responded, to which the table responded to with a stiff laugh.
“You know, Patty… when anyone calls your name for anything official, you’ll be called Rice, Patty… you don’t want that, do you?” Wally asked with a sly smile on his face, which caused the already laughing table to completely lose it.
Patty bit her lower lip as she took the good-natured ribbing, but quickly her face got a devilish smile that was similar to Wally. “Just admit it, West. You just want me all to yourself.”
Wally held his hands up towards Patty as he looked towards Todd who was giving him a look that said, ‘you’re all on your own with this one.’ Wally stammered, “We only hooked up twice. I’m hardly carrying anything.”
“Sure…”
The game continued until the early hours of the morning when they all decided to call it quits, mostly because they could barely read the cards due to all the alcohol in their system. Ray left the earliest as his apartment was just a few floors down, but Patty and Todd waited for a cab. When they left, it was just Linda and Wally.
“Do you want me to help you clean up?” She asked him before she reached the doorway to head to her apartment next door.
Wally stood up to see her out as he shook his head. “Nah. I’ll just get it tomorrow… I’m working a pretty good buzz right now. I wouldn’t want to ruin it by cleaning up.”
She turned around to walk out the door, but then she stopped and turned to face Wally again. “Wally, I’m not usually this forward, but would you like to get Lunch sometime or coffee? I really like spending time with you and I’d like to get to know you better… for… you know…”
Wally shut his eyes hard, knowing exactly what she meant. “Linda… look…”
She threw her hand up towards him and looked down. “No, I understand... It’s okay. I get it.” She turned to walk out, but Wally lightly touched her arm.
“It’s not you… Oh God, I’m not going to put it that way.” Linda sadly smiled at his lack of wit. “Linda, you’re great, you’re amazing. Any guy would be lucky to go on a date with you, but I’m not in a good place right now. Two months ago I was engaged to marry my childhood sweetheart… and now… I’m not…”
Wally hadn’t really put it all into words before and when he did, it hit him emotionally. “I can’t get into anything right now… you understand, right?”
Linda looked up sadly at him. “Yeah, sure. Whatever you say.” With that she walked out the door and back to her apartment. Wally, felt a twinge of pain and was left alone with his thought.
When he was half way back to his bed, there was a knock at the door. He quickly rubbed his face to wake himself up and strolled over to the door. He opened it and his stomach dropped and heart shot into his throat when he saw Jessie Garrick standing in front of him.
“J… J… Jess?” Wally stammered.
She nodded, but before she could get a word in, she flung herself at him, leading with her lips. She found the full seam of his lips and didn’t let go out of pure need. With her eyes closed, she moved him backwards towards his bedroom without taking her lips off of his.
He responded tentatively by returning the kiss, until he got caught up in the moment and lost himself. When they hit his bed, he fell backwards on top of it and she crawled on top of him, with only a moment’s break. They hit the bed with such force that a lamp on Wally’s bedside table was knocked off and broke.
As the pair continued to kiss, she clumsily unbuttoned the buttons of his shirt and when they were all unfastened, she completely removed it with her free hand. The two continued and as time went on, the kissing got more and more hungry. This led Wally to move his hand up her shirt, but before he could continue, she broke the kiss and pulled the shirt off herself.
After that, Wally reached up and unfastened her bra and flipped her onto her back in one fluid motion, overcome with both love and total lust. Instincts then took over and pure desire took over, completely clouding everything else.
***
Keystone City Police Department
Lieutenant Fred Chyre checked the clock and saw that it was three in the morning. He let out a stiff grunt and continued to shuffle through his papers. Lucky for him, he didn’t have anyone to come home to. Not anymore at least. After The Flash died, he was forced to put more hours in at the Department as kind of the elder statesman of SCU, the Special Crimes Unit. After several heads moving in and out, Chyre was seen as the one constant on the team. After a year of that, his wife of twenty years left him.
He looked over at his office’s personal coffee maker and saw that it was nearly empty, barely enough to fit a half a cup. With a long groan, Chyre rubbed the back of his neck and grabbed the pot so he could go to the water cooler to make a fresh pot of coffee.
Chyre went to the water cooler and he was almost back to his office without running into anyone, until he heard Commissioner Hotchkiss outside his office. “Ah, Fred. I’m glad you’re still here. There’s someone I wanted you to meet.”
“Oh?” mumbled the notorious man of few words. Chyre checked out the man who was standing with his boss. He looked to be several years younger than Chyre, perhaps around his late 30s or early 40s. His hair showed signs of early graying, but he clearly dyed it on a regular basis and his skin was dark, probably indicating a family from Central or South America.
Commissioner Hotchkiss put his arm around the young police officer. “Fred, this is Captain Jared Morillo. I’m putting him in charge of the SCU in hopes of getting more consistency.”
Morillo stuck out his hand, but Chyre refused to take it. “And when were you going to tell me about this little change? And what makes you think that we even need help? Especially from a green rookie like this guy… The only person that could make this operation run smoother is Barry Allen.”
Morillo’s eyes grew wide out of shock. He was not used to hearing beat cops call out their superiors like that in Star City. “Chyre, I’ve had it up here with your sense of entitlement. It’s time to start being a team player and this is how you start.”
“We’re fine.”
Hotchkiss shook his head violently. “There’s been another murder tonight… on Bleaker Street…. It looks like Mirror Master’s M/O again.”
Chyre closed his eyes and subsequently rubbed them as he took in the information that his boss had delivered. “I… uh… I don’t know what to say.”
Hotchkiss opened the door to Chyre’s office and pointed the both of them in with his hand. “You can start by assembling your team. Spivot, Philips, Forrest and Desmond. Get the evidence and bring Scudder in. I don’t want any screw-ups this time around. You got it, Chyre?”
Chyre nodded lightly. “Oh, and I hope you don’t mind sharing an office.”
***
Wally West’s Apartment. Keystone City, Kansas
Wally West softly woke up as he felt his bed begin to move. Lazily, he opened his eyes and rolled over to see his ex-fiancé sitting off the bed, re-clasping her bra. Wally moved towards her and reached around her, beginning to lovingly rub her thigh. He heard her sigh and watched her hesitantly take his hand and move it off of her.
She looked around at him and stared at him with pity. “This doesn’t mean we’re back together. You know that, right, Wally?”
Wally ran his tongue roughly over his teeth to prevent him from noticeably gritting them. “Yeah…” was all he managed to get out. “What brought this on, Jess? Not that it wasn’t welcome…”
“My new boyfriend just broke up with me… I needed someone to comfort me and all I could think of was you.” She blurted out, clearly without thinking and trying hard to sound earnest.
Wally shook his head. “You’re a liar.”
Jessie instantly stood up and turned around to glare at him. “What?”
Lethargically, he stood up and threw on a pair of sweatpants that were lying in a heap next to the floor. “Jess… Babs and I are friends. She called me the second you showed up on her door step. You want to share with me what really happened?”
Reflexively, she bit her lower lip and slowly shook her head. “I failed, Wally. I thought I could make a comeback, but I failed. Again. In front of Babs.” A tear rolled down her cheek followed by several more. “It was the first time I saw her in the chair. I can’t explain… the pain I felt when I first saw her.” She turned away from Wally to hide her tears.
Wally came up behind her and wrapped her into a tight embrace, which she slowly turned around to accept. He stroked her back and she sobbed into his chest. “Hey sweetie, it’s okay. I’m here.”
She pulled away when she was finished and continued to collect her clothes. “Here, Jess, why don’t I walk you home?”
“I can just run…”
Wally nodded. “Yeah, but you need the company.”
Jessie hesitantly nodded and the pair left the apartment after Wally grabbed his trademark leather jacket that was given to him by his Uncle Barry. It was a chilly night, which was characteristic of October in Keystone City, but something about it just felt off.
“Wally… what’s wrong with me?” She asked in about as innocent as a voice as he had ever heard from her.
He couldn’t think of what to say. “Nothing… nothing’s wrong with you, Jess. I can’t imagine everyone was built for the life you chose. Maybe you weren’t either.”
She looked up at him with a pair of sad eyes. “If you were in my place, what would you have done?”
He shook his head firmly. “I couldn’t say, Jess. You know I would give anything to make sure Uncle Barry was proud of me, but at the same time, I’m not in your shoes… pardon the figure of speech.”
Jessie rolled her eyes as her mind drifted towards the caper that she had just gone out on trying to retrieve her father’s shoes. Suddenly the pair heard screams coming from the alley adjacent to them. “NO! STOP! HELP ME! ANYBODY!”
Wally turned to Jessie with a look of intensity in his eyes. “Well, here’s your chance. Go on…” He nudged her towards the alley, but she dug her heals into the ground and shook her head at him.
“I can’t... the last time I helped someone…”
Wally glared at her with sheer shock and horror in his eyes, but before he could judge her further, he took off his jacket and ran towards the alley. When he got there, he saw a girl who was about seventeen years old being cornered by two large men with knives. “Is this really what you have to do to get your rocks off?”
The two spun around and stuck their knives out towards Wally. “Just walk away, Buddy. We ain’t got no beef with you.”
Wally smiled with a sly look on his face. “Well, that’s funny, because I’ve got a beef with you. Leave her alone.”
With that, they charged at Wally. Lucky for him, they apparently had never faced The Flash before and were too slow to function. He was able to dodge them with relative ease. As they flew past him, Wally was able to get a leg under one of them and trip him, sending him flying across the asphalt.
Wally took that chance to even up the fight. He jumped down on the man who had been tripped hard and clobbered him in the face with both fists, decidedly knocking him out cold. Wally sprung up and charged towards the final thug, knocking him to the ground. He rammed is elbow once more into the back of his head for good measure.
With his arms out reached, he moved towards the girl out of comfort. “Are you okay?” She cautiously nodded and ran towards him, giving a big hug.
“Thank you. Thank you so much. My hero!” A confused Wally returned the tight embrace.
Wally looked down at her with a bit of concern. She already had a couple bruises on her face forming and there was a gash on her cheek. “Here, where do you live? I’ll make sure you get home.”
He guided her out of the alley where Jessie was waiting with a worried look on her face. Wally paid her no attention as he began guiding the young girl down the street. Suddenly, they heard a crack of thunder rattle across the tall buildings, causing all of them to immediately look up. “Lightning? In November?”
Just then, a large streak of lightning flashed directly over their heads and hit Wally right in the chest, causing him to fly backwards into the building behind him. Jessie ran over to him and shook his limp body violently. “WALLY! Wake up, please, Wally. Wake up.” She pointed to the girl. “Do you have a cell phone? Call an ambulance.”
Suddenly, Wally woke up with a start and gazed at Jessie in the eyes. “Jess, It’s okay… I feel wonderful…”
To Be Continued
Lightning Strikes Twice
*This takes place directly after the first arc of Spoilers and two-three weeks before the first arc of Justice Society*
Keystone City, Kansas. 3 Years Later. The Present Day
The crackling echo of gunshots rattled through raucous din of the urban concrete jungle that was called Keystone City. Keystone City was always a rough and tumble place. It was populated with blue-collar workers, real salt of the earth types. There was quite a bit of crime, but they were generally good, well-mannered people. And then in 2008, everything changed.
In 2008, the United States economy crashed, Keystone Motors closed down its main manufacturing plant, and Barry Allen, the Man who called himself The Flash, the protector of both Keystone and Central City, died in a final effort to defend the cities he loved. It’s up to personal interpretation as to what had the greater effect. There are loud, passionate people on all sides of the debate. But Wally West? He chalks it up to his Uncle’s passing.
A few months after his Uncle Barry passed away, he moved out of his aunt’s house and moved to the heart of Central City with two of his best friends from High School, Ray Terrill and Todd Rice. But when Todd moved in with his girlfriend, Patty Spivot whom he met at Barry’s funeral, Wally and Ray moved to find cheaper housing in Keystone City.
They best the pair could find were two separate units of a studio apartment, that was more like a boarding house, which was the definition of run down and on what one would call the wrong side of the tracks, but they made it work. Wally had taken a job at a local mechanic and tow service and while they pay wasn’t great, he enjoyed his job and his life. Unfortunately, he was no longer sharing it with Jessie.
Since becoming The Flash, she flew off the deep end. Her drug habit prevented her from coming anywhere close to the hero that Barry was and quite often she’d avoid playing hero just out of the fear of failure. She got even worse when she wasn’t able to stop the bullet that put her best friend, Barbara Gordon permanently in a wheelchair.
Even though after Barry’s funeral, she committed to Wally, their relationship had been a struggle. They maintained a solid foundation for roughly a year, but once he proposed and she accepted, it was all down hill. Their relationship was the definition of on and off with it currently being off. Though, it didn’t bother him too much.
“Goddammit!” Wally exclaimed as he brought his fist down hard against his kitchen table, causing drinks and the rest of the objects on the table to shake. “How is it that you keep winning? You hiding cards?”
Patty Spivot flashed Wally an innocent look with big puppy dog eyes. “Me? Would I honestly do that?”
Wally let out a low grunt. “Most likely. Yes.”
She hooted out of amusement and her look went from innocent to sneakily guilty. “Wally, don’t you know by now to instinctively fear this poker face?” She stared at him down her nose with her lips pursed, but then slowly, her tongue erupted from her lips, sticking it out at Wally.
This was the weekly poker night that Wally, Ray and Todd held every Friday since they were in High School. Other people would occasionally come and go, Todd’s girlfriend Patty for example had become a regular, but the only constants were the three guys. Tonight, Wally had invited his next-door neighbor, Linda Park over, who clearly didn’t know what to make of it all.
“So, Linda, you go to Central University?” Todd asked as he took a swig of his beer with his free hand that wasn’t wrapped around his girlfriend.
She nodded innocently. “Yep. One more year for a Bachelor’s in Journalism.” She crossed her fingers, looked up at the ceiling and feigned a prayer.
“Why do you live in Keystone? That has to be a hell of a commute every morning.” Ray asked with a hint of confusion in his voice. “And Keystone would not be on top of my list of places to live.”
Linda shrugged. “I’m kind of working my way through college and this was the cheapest place I could find… I did have a pretty good internship over the summer working on The Brave and the Bold, but that just paid my tuition.”
“Preach.” Ray exclaimed who had just finished up college a year ago and was well into the process of paying back his student loans. “The Brave and the Bold, eh? Wally has a lot of opinions about that show…”
Wally winced at the sound of his name said in relation to the show. “Ray… not tonight, please.”
Ray instantly felt a swell of regret that promptly appeared on his face. “Sorry, brother… I forgot.”
“Forgot what?” Linda asked with an innocent curiosity.
Wally shook his head and Patty answered for him. “His Uncle Barry Allen… The Flash… The 3rd anniversary of his death is tomorrow.”
Linda instantly reached out and touched Wally’s hand that was still on the table, to which he responded by looking up at her with a small smile. “I’m so sorry… is there anything I can do?” He shook his head and took the last sip out of his beer bottle. “Here, I need a refill anyways,” she said pointing to her water cup.
She stood up and moved towards the kitchen with her cup and his empty beer bottle in hand. Todd glared at Wally with surprised eyes. “Oh man, she’s a keeper. Patty and I have been together for three months and she didn’t get me a beer when I finished.” She lightly smacked him.
“As much as I resent that last part, I agree with my very smooth boyfriend. She’s pretty great.” Patty responded.
Wally shrugged. “I mean, I guess. She’s a lot of fun to talk to and hang out with. We cook for each other, because we both hate cooking for one, but Jessie…”
“… Is gone.” Ray added. He put his hand firmly on Wally’s shoulder. “Look, I know you and Jessie go way back and I know you’ve been through a lot with her.”
“Everything.”
Ray nodded and held up his hands. “Yeah, that. But, she had her chance and she’s not coming around. Wally, I know you feel a sense of duty about her, but she’s dropped the ball… I’m sorry.”
Wally hesitantly nodded as Linda strolled back into the room and handed him his beer. He instantly perked up as not to give her any reason for concern. “So speaking of relationships, Todd, when are you going to put a ring on it.” He said with a smile, indicating towards Patty who was rolling her eyes.
“As soon as she lets me.” He responded, to which the table responded to with a stiff laugh.
“You know, Patty… when anyone calls your name for anything official, you’ll be called Rice, Patty… you don’t want that, do you?” Wally asked with a sly smile on his face, which caused the already laughing table to completely lose it.
Patty bit her lower lip as she took the good-natured ribbing, but quickly her face got a devilish smile that was similar to Wally. “Just admit it, West. You just want me all to yourself.”
Wally held his hands up towards Patty as he looked towards Todd who was giving him a look that said, ‘you’re all on your own with this one.’ Wally stammered, “We only hooked up twice. I’m hardly carrying anything.”
“Sure…”
The game continued until the early hours of the morning when they all decided to call it quits, mostly because they could barely read the cards due to all the alcohol in their system. Ray left the earliest as his apartment was just a few floors down, but Patty and Todd waited for a cab. When they left, it was just Linda and Wally.
“Do you want me to help you clean up?” She asked him before she reached the doorway to head to her apartment next door.
Wally stood up to see her out as he shook his head. “Nah. I’ll just get it tomorrow… I’m working a pretty good buzz right now. I wouldn’t want to ruin it by cleaning up.”
She turned around to walk out the door, but then she stopped and turned to face Wally again. “Wally, I’m not usually this forward, but would you like to get Lunch sometime or coffee? I really like spending time with you and I’d like to get to know you better… for… you know…”
Wally shut his eyes hard, knowing exactly what she meant. “Linda… look…”
She threw her hand up towards him and looked down. “No, I understand... It’s okay. I get it.” She turned to walk out, but Wally lightly touched her arm.
“It’s not you… Oh God, I’m not going to put it that way.” Linda sadly smiled at his lack of wit. “Linda, you’re great, you’re amazing. Any guy would be lucky to go on a date with you, but I’m not in a good place right now. Two months ago I was engaged to marry my childhood sweetheart… and now… I’m not…”
Wally hadn’t really put it all into words before and when he did, it hit him emotionally. “I can’t get into anything right now… you understand, right?”
Linda looked up sadly at him. “Yeah, sure. Whatever you say.” With that she walked out the door and back to her apartment. Wally, felt a twinge of pain and was left alone with his thought.
When he was half way back to his bed, there was a knock at the door. He quickly rubbed his face to wake himself up and strolled over to the door. He opened it and his stomach dropped and heart shot into his throat when he saw Jessie Garrick standing in front of him.
“J… J… Jess?” Wally stammered.
She nodded, but before she could get a word in, she flung herself at him, leading with her lips. She found the full seam of his lips and didn’t let go out of pure need. With her eyes closed, she moved him backwards towards his bedroom without taking her lips off of his.
He responded tentatively by returning the kiss, until he got caught up in the moment and lost himself. When they hit his bed, he fell backwards on top of it and she crawled on top of him, with only a moment’s break. They hit the bed with such force that a lamp on Wally’s bedside table was knocked off and broke.
As the pair continued to kiss, she clumsily unbuttoned the buttons of his shirt and when they were all unfastened, she completely removed it with her free hand. The two continued and as time went on, the kissing got more and more hungry. This led Wally to move his hand up her shirt, but before he could continue, she broke the kiss and pulled the shirt off herself.
After that, Wally reached up and unfastened her bra and flipped her onto her back in one fluid motion, overcome with both love and total lust. Instincts then took over and pure desire took over, completely clouding everything else.
***
Keystone City Police Department
Lieutenant Fred Chyre checked the clock and saw that it was three in the morning. He let out a stiff grunt and continued to shuffle through his papers. Lucky for him, he didn’t have anyone to come home to. Not anymore at least. After The Flash died, he was forced to put more hours in at the Department as kind of the elder statesman of SCU, the Special Crimes Unit. After several heads moving in and out, Chyre was seen as the one constant on the team. After a year of that, his wife of twenty years left him.
He looked over at his office’s personal coffee maker and saw that it was nearly empty, barely enough to fit a half a cup. With a long groan, Chyre rubbed the back of his neck and grabbed the pot so he could go to the water cooler to make a fresh pot of coffee.
Chyre went to the water cooler and he was almost back to his office without running into anyone, until he heard Commissioner Hotchkiss outside his office. “Ah, Fred. I’m glad you’re still here. There’s someone I wanted you to meet.”
“Oh?” mumbled the notorious man of few words. Chyre checked out the man who was standing with his boss. He looked to be several years younger than Chyre, perhaps around his late 30s or early 40s. His hair showed signs of early graying, but he clearly dyed it on a regular basis and his skin was dark, probably indicating a family from Central or South America.
Commissioner Hotchkiss put his arm around the young police officer. “Fred, this is Captain Jared Morillo. I’m putting him in charge of the SCU in hopes of getting more consistency.”
Morillo stuck out his hand, but Chyre refused to take it. “And when were you going to tell me about this little change? And what makes you think that we even need help? Especially from a green rookie like this guy… The only person that could make this operation run smoother is Barry Allen.”
Morillo’s eyes grew wide out of shock. He was not used to hearing beat cops call out their superiors like that in Star City. “Chyre, I’ve had it up here with your sense of entitlement. It’s time to start being a team player and this is how you start.”
“We’re fine.”
Hotchkiss shook his head violently. “There’s been another murder tonight… on Bleaker Street…. It looks like Mirror Master’s M/O again.”
Chyre closed his eyes and subsequently rubbed them as he took in the information that his boss had delivered. “I… uh… I don’t know what to say.”
Hotchkiss opened the door to Chyre’s office and pointed the both of them in with his hand. “You can start by assembling your team. Spivot, Philips, Forrest and Desmond. Get the evidence and bring Scudder in. I don’t want any screw-ups this time around. You got it, Chyre?”
Chyre nodded lightly. “Oh, and I hope you don’t mind sharing an office.”
***
Wally West’s Apartment. Keystone City, Kansas
Wally West softly woke up as he felt his bed begin to move. Lazily, he opened his eyes and rolled over to see his ex-fiancé sitting off the bed, re-clasping her bra. Wally moved towards her and reached around her, beginning to lovingly rub her thigh. He heard her sigh and watched her hesitantly take his hand and move it off of her.
She looked around at him and stared at him with pity. “This doesn’t mean we’re back together. You know that, right, Wally?”
Wally ran his tongue roughly over his teeth to prevent him from noticeably gritting them. “Yeah…” was all he managed to get out. “What brought this on, Jess? Not that it wasn’t welcome…”
“My new boyfriend just broke up with me… I needed someone to comfort me and all I could think of was you.” She blurted out, clearly without thinking and trying hard to sound earnest.
Wally shook his head. “You’re a liar.”
Jessie instantly stood up and turned around to glare at him. “What?”
Lethargically, he stood up and threw on a pair of sweatpants that were lying in a heap next to the floor. “Jess… Babs and I are friends. She called me the second you showed up on her door step. You want to share with me what really happened?”
Reflexively, she bit her lower lip and slowly shook her head. “I failed, Wally. I thought I could make a comeback, but I failed. Again. In front of Babs.” A tear rolled down her cheek followed by several more. “It was the first time I saw her in the chair. I can’t explain… the pain I felt when I first saw her.” She turned away from Wally to hide her tears.
Wally came up behind her and wrapped her into a tight embrace, which she slowly turned around to accept. He stroked her back and she sobbed into his chest. “Hey sweetie, it’s okay. I’m here.”
She pulled away when she was finished and continued to collect her clothes. “Here, Jess, why don’t I walk you home?”
“I can just run…”
Wally nodded. “Yeah, but you need the company.”
Jessie hesitantly nodded and the pair left the apartment after Wally grabbed his trademark leather jacket that was given to him by his Uncle Barry. It was a chilly night, which was characteristic of October in Keystone City, but something about it just felt off.
“Wally… what’s wrong with me?” She asked in about as innocent as a voice as he had ever heard from her.
He couldn’t think of what to say. “Nothing… nothing’s wrong with you, Jess. I can’t imagine everyone was built for the life you chose. Maybe you weren’t either.”
She looked up at him with a pair of sad eyes. “If you were in my place, what would you have done?”
He shook his head firmly. “I couldn’t say, Jess. You know I would give anything to make sure Uncle Barry was proud of me, but at the same time, I’m not in your shoes… pardon the figure of speech.”
Jessie rolled her eyes as her mind drifted towards the caper that she had just gone out on trying to retrieve her father’s shoes. Suddenly the pair heard screams coming from the alley adjacent to them. “NO! STOP! HELP ME! ANYBODY!”
Wally turned to Jessie with a look of intensity in his eyes. “Well, here’s your chance. Go on…” He nudged her towards the alley, but she dug her heals into the ground and shook her head at him.
“I can’t... the last time I helped someone…”
Wally glared at her with sheer shock and horror in his eyes, but before he could judge her further, he took off his jacket and ran towards the alley. When he got there, he saw a girl who was about seventeen years old being cornered by two large men with knives. “Is this really what you have to do to get your rocks off?”
The two spun around and stuck their knives out towards Wally. “Just walk away, Buddy. We ain’t got no beef with you.”
Wally smiled with a sly look on his face. “Well, that’s funny, because I’ve got a beef with you. Leave her alone.”
With that, they charged at Wally. Lucky for him, they apparently had never faced The Flash before and were too slow to function. He was able to dodge them with relative ease. As they flew past him, Wally was able to get a leg under one of them and trip him, sending him flying across the asphalt.
Wally took that chance to even up the fight. He jumped down on the man who had been tripped hard and clobbered him in the face with both fists, decidedly knocking him out cold. Wally sprung up and charged towards the final thug, knocking him to the ground. He rammed is elbow once more into the back of his head for good measure.
With his arms out reached, he moved towards the girl out of comfort. “Are you okay?” She cautiously nodded and ran towards him, giving a big hug.
“Thank you. Thank you so much. My hero!” A confused Wally returned the tight embrace.
Wally looked down at her with a bit of concern. She already had a couple bruises on her face forming and there was a gash on her cheek. “Here, where do you live? I’ll make sure you get home.”
He guided her out of the alley where Jessie was waiting with a worried look on her face. Wally paid her no attention as he began guiding the young girl down the street. Suddenly, they heard a crack of thunder rattle across the tall buildings, causing all of them to immediately look up. “Lightning? In November?”
Just then, a large streak of lightning flashed directly over their heads and hit Wally right in the chest, causing him to fly backwards into the building behind him. Jessie ran over to him and shook his limp body violently. “WALLY! Wake up, please, Wally. Wake up.” She pointed to the girl. “Do you have a cell phone? Call an ambulance.”
Suddenly, Wally woke up with a start and gazed at Jessie in the eyes. “Jess, It’s okay… I feel wonderful…”
To Be Continued
