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Post by C_Miller on May 13, 2011 16:19:46 GMT -5
Ultimate Flash #1 First Strike Pt. 1 August 14, 1993. Somewhere Over the Pacific Ocean “Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned off the fasten seatbelt sign. You are now free to move about the cabin. In roughly one hour we will be delivering your in-flight meals, until then sit back and enjoy the flight.” The flight attendant spoke in a characteristically emotionless voice over the intercom of the massive seven-forty-seven that was tasked with flying Special Agent Barry Allen and his partner Special Agent Danielle Quinn. Agent Allen sat back in his chair and breathed a long sigh of relief, to much the amusement of Agent Quinn. “You just spent the past four days on the trail of one of the most wanted serial killers in the world and even made the arrest yourself and you’re scared of a little plane?” “Dr. Thawyne can’t get me struck by lightning.” Barry said matter-of-factly, speaking of the man that the three Federal Marshals had secretly apprehended down on the lower deck. When Barry was a young boy, his family took a trip to Disney World after it first opened, but their vacation was cut short when the plane was struck by lightning over Tennessee. Fortunately, the pilot was extremely experienced and was able to make a soft crash landing in a cornfield. Still, it had scarred Barry for life and it was one of the few things he hated about joining the Bureau. Danielle simply rolled her eyes. “You’re a piece of work, Allen. Every time I think you have nerves of steel, something like this happens.” Barry went to open his mouth but she quickly covered it with her hand. “No, I don’t want to hear the story again.” She felt his lips curl into a smile under her hand. There was no doubt that she was a firecracker, one that would have no problem keeping him on his toes. Lord knows he needed it. The flight went by generally well, without much incident until a red haired woman in a trench coat walked up to him and sat down in the empty seat across the aisle. “Agent Allen, is it?” “Um… yes, who are you?” “My name is Iris West and I’m a reported with the New York Times, I’d like to ask you a few questions about one of the passengers with the Federal Marshal down below.” Barry squirmed in his chair. They weren’t supposed to admit that there were two Marshals of a Fugitive onboard, but he was never a very good liar. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Miss West. “You’re lying, Agent Allen. Did you finally catch Dr. Eobard Thawyne?" She was good. Very good. Before Barry was able to respond, the plane lurched forwards and the fasten seatbelt sign lit back up with a warning bell ringing. “Attention we have hit a slight pocket of turb…” She was cut off by another stronger lurch that sent Iris flying forward and hitting her head on the seat in front of her. Agent Allen undid his own seatbelt and lunged across the ailes to strap in his interrogator from just a few minutes before. By at this point the plane was violently shaking like a washing machine that was off its track, throwing the occupants and luggage around like ragdolls. Barry was doing his darnedest to keep Iris strapped down, but it was proving to be easier said than done. He looked out the window across on the other side of the plane from where he was originally sitting and he witnessed a lightning storm forming right off the right wing. “Oh for the love of…” He managed to get out before a lightning bolt shattered the window and hit him dead in the chest, which sent him flying backwards into the overhead compartment and that was the last thing he remembered before everything went black.
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Post by C_Miller on May 13, 2011 16:20:40 GMT -5
***
The warm Midwest sun shone through the window and tickled Barry’s face as he began to wake up. He felt like he had been asleep for years, but that’s what happens when you put in back to back sixteen hour shifts at the Bureau. Feeling every joint in his body crack, he sat up in bed arching his back and stretching his arms. Letting out a yawn, he got up and went downstairs to see a redheaded woman sitting at his kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee.
She heard him hit the last step, which let out a long creek, causing her to turn around. “Good morning, sleepy head. Do you have any idea what time it is?”
“Ms. West…?” Barry asked in an extremely confused manner.
“Ms. West? So formal, Mr. Allen.”
Barry closed his eyes and shook his head, hoping that she’d be gone when he opened them up. No such luck. “What are you doing here?”
“Barry, we’ve been together for three years. We’re getting married next month… I live here.” Now she was equally confused, but she wasn’t hiding it as well as he was. Her face revealed a look of fear and total concern for her fiancé.
The blonde haired FBI Agent moved into the kitchen, taking a seat at the table across from Iris. “When is the date, tell me the exact date.”
She was hesitant in answering. “Um… June Seventh.”
“The year?”
“Nineteen Ninety-Six. Barry, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”
He stood up again and began to violently pace the room with his right hand on his forehead, covering his eyes. “I don’t know. September 14, 1993… we met briefly on a plane. I had just captured Dr. Eobard Thawyne in Hong Kong for crimes against Humanity… um and then I boarded a plane with him…”
“Sweetie, Dr. Thawyne was never caught… in fact a few weeks ago he kidnapped the President’s Daughter and murdered her on live television… it was awful and my dick of a boss assigned the story me… kept me up for weeks. I can’t believe you don’t remember.” Iris reached on to touch his hand across the table, but he jerked his away as if her touch was an open flame.
Before they could say anymore a man wearing a featureless gold mask and a red cloak barged through the door with a gun drawn. “Dr. Allen! This is all wrong! You can’t take the effect and make it the cause and you can’t close doors that you have yet to open!”
“What?” Barry and Iris shouted in unison.
“I am so very sorry,” The man spoke before he raised his gun behind Iris’s head and pulled the trigger. The bullet lodged itself in her ear, splattering blood all over the room. Her head crashed down on the table, which caused the coffee cup to fall to the floor, shattering on impact.
Barry rushed to his feet, knocking the chair out from under him. “NO! You sick, bastard. Who are you!?!”
“I’m a friend, Dr. Allen… you have to trust me on that.”
Barry didn’t respond. He simply ran towards him, but before he was able to wrap his hands around the killer’s neck, his vision went white.
***
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Post by C_Miller on May 13, 2011 16:21:09 GMT -5
“Ackkk.” Barry woke up with a heavy cough causing him to violently seize. When the coughing subdued lied back on the ground keeping his eyes close as if they were stuck. He could hear what he thought were seagulls calling and smelled a strange mix of salty air and jet fuel that made him want to vomit.
He opened his eyes and saw the more horrific witnessed before. He saw the decimated fuselage of the plane, on fire lying in the middle of a beach with bloodied and burnt people all trying to nurse their wounds with little to nothing in the way of medical supplies. A pain shot through his entire body as he tried to stand settling at his back of his head. He lazily felt around his head and found a bandage that was clumsily made out of a shirt from what he could tell.
“Agent Allen! What do you think you’re doing?!” A redheaded, out of breath woman croaked as she hastily ran towards him. “I’m no Doctor, but I don’t think you should be standing that quickly.
“I…Iris?”
“So we’re on a first name basis now, eh?” She winked at him as she put her hand on his shoulder and genteelly helped him lower to the ground.
It was then that he noticed that she was no longer wearing a shirt and she was simply in a bra and her jeans. She noticed that he was staring at her and she blushed, her face growing a deeper shade of red than her hair. “It’s on your head… usually I let a guy buy me dinner first, but desperate times call for desperate measures.” She said sheepishly, causing Barry to snicker a bit.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Barry tried to stand again, but was disabled again by the pain on the back of his head. “Argh. I have to help these people…”
“Take it easy, Agent Allen. I can’t speak for everyone, but I certainly wouldn’t want anyone working on me with that gash on the back of his head. We have it mostly under control.” Just as she said this one of the Federal Marshals who was in charge of Dr. Eobard Thawyne ran up to the pair hurriedly.
Barry really didn’t have to ask why, but he needed it confirmed. “What’s wrong?”
“Dr. Thawyne’s escaped.”
All of the blood in Barry’s face left, leaving him nearly ghost white. He put his head in his hands and let out a muffled scream. “How did this happen?!”
“The plane crash caught us off guard, sir. He was able to escape into the chaos.” The Marshal spoke in a matter-of-fact tone entirely devoid of any emotion.
“What is your name?” Barry asked softly after uncovering his face.
“Deputy US Marshal Roger Hayden, sir.”
With the help of Iris, Barry stood up and looked the Marshal in the eye with an intense glare. “Hayden, we need to find him and fast. He’s extremely resourceful, so we should consider him armed and dangerous… but random killing doesn’t fit his MO. We should focus on helping these people and setting up some kind of camp to wait for rescue.”
“Yes, Sir. I’ll get right on that.” Barry shook his head as the Marshal walked away. Iris placed her hand on his shoulder and wordlessly told him that everything was going to be okay.
The pair silently walked down the beach to survey the damage and the survivors. Barry still wasn’t entirely steady so she had to hold him up, which was relatively difficult for the small-framed woman. “Tomorrow is my nephew’s birthday. He’s turning seven… I was heading to Blue Valley, Nebraska for his birthday party… he’s like a son to me.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. West.”
“Please, call me Iris. Ms. West is my mother.” She said with a sad smile as she looked wistfully at the ocean.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what were you doing in Hong Kong?” Barry asked her as he pulled away. He was starting to get a bit of his strength back.
“The same thing you were doing. I write for the New York Times and they had given me the task of following the Dr. Thawyne case. I have a contact in the F.B.I. tell me that he had been tracked to Hong Kong, so I hopped on a plane but by the time I had arrived you had already caught him, so I booked myself a flight on the first plane back. Luckily enough, you were on it.” Iris grew more distanced with every word. Thinking that she was going to miss her nephew’s birthday made the whole situation sink in.
Barry laughed at the candidness of Iris’ explanation. Most reporters wouldn’t mention the fact that they had a contact within the Bureau, but situations like this made priorities shift. He gracefully took her by the hand. “Look, Iris. I don’t know how yet, but we’re getting off this Island. The plane had a black box, they’re probably looking for us.”
It was then that they spotted Hayden again who was talking to Barry’s partner Danielle Quinn and two other Marshals. “Barry!” Agent Quinn called out. They met in the middle and she offered him a warm embrace. “It’s good to see you… after that lightning bolt hit you on the plane… I don’t know.”
“I was hit by a bolt of lightning?” Danielle nodded emphatically as the three of them walked towards the group.
“Agent Allen, with all do respect, I’d prefer it if civilians are left out of this.” The head Marshal motioned towards Iris.
Barry shook is head. “No deal, sir. There are only five of us. How do you assume that we’re going to track him down with just us? I propose that the five of us take someone with us and spread out across the island, trying to meet somewhere… like the exact other side of the island from here.”
“Agent Allen…”
“No. You’re just the transporter. Agent Quinn and I are in charge of this case and on account you losing him, the jurisdiction is ours again.”
The head Marshal held his hand out, admitting defeat. “I’m sorry, you’re right. It’s just I want to catch this guy… After Metropolis and then finding his labs so quickly afterwards… we could really use a victory.”
“Understood. Now, from the looks of it, we don’t have much in the way of daylight left, so first thing in the morning, we divide up… got it?”
The Marshal nodded and walked away with Hayden and the other one. Barry turned to Danielle. “Can you keep an eye on them for me please. I’ve worked too hard trying to get Thawyne… I’m not letting him slip through my fingers again.” She nodded and walked off.
“Iris, I want you to stay close to me. We have no reason to believe Thawyne is going to try and hurt anyone here, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
Iris couldn’t help but smile at that. “Are you trying to say you like me, Agent Allen?” She moved her hand up to touch his cheek and Barry instantly became aware again that she wasn’t wearing a shirt.
“Um… erhm… ah,” was all he was able to mumble.
“Am I making you nervous? Ha! Well, I’m going to go see if I can do something about this whole shirt thing… I’ll be right back.” She walked away and Barry’s gaze lingered a little bit longer than he planned.
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Post by C_Miller on May 13, 2011 16:21:37 GMT -5
***
The night was quiet and most of the passengers (who had all miraculously survived the crash) were for the most part asleep. Barry was sleeping next to Iris with some considerable distance between the two when Roger Hayden ran up to them, dragging another passenger with him.
“Agent Allen! Agent Allen!”
Both Barry and Iris woke up with a start, Barry drawing his gun. “What is it, Hayden?”
“This man says he has vital information about the crash… why it happened… he said he wanted it… to happen.” Hayden was clearly out of breath, gasping between words and phrases.
Barry holstered his gun and grabbed the passenger by the neck. “Are you working with Dr. Eobard Thawyne?”
“Heavens no. The lightning struck you, didn’t it? That means you were called.” The man spoke with a very light voice with a lot of air around his words. He was an older gentleman, but that may have been due to weathering. He looked pretty shabby with his unkempt white hair and poor teeth.
“What does that have to do with anything!? Who are you AND WHY DID THE PLANE GO DOWN!?!” He grabbed his gun again and waved it in the man’s face.
“Barry!” Iris yelled, moving towards him, trying to stop him from making a big mistake.
The man smiled with a large toothy grin. “My name is John Chambers and you are one of the chosen few who are called… now, we must go to see Max Mercury.”
***TO BE CONTINUED***
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