Post by C_Miller on Oct 2, 2011 13:18:03 GMT -5
Ultimate Flash #6
Revenge
He had watched the sunset from this spot every evening for as long as he could remember and as far as he could tell, he never got sick of it. The sun cast a gorgeous red, orange and yellow glow across the rest of the sky that was painted a deep shade of mauve. The ocean below acted as a mirror reflecting the colors back at the sun, so it could see itself. A single tear rolled down his cheek and was caught by his long flowing beard as he said goodbye to the day as the sun and the breeze whispered goodbye to him. He was Max Mercury and this island was his prison.
“Good Evening, Max… beautiful sunset.” A voice spoke from the jungle behind Max. He needn’t turn around to know who it was. There were only two speaking people on the island; Him and Professor Eobard Thawyne.
Max remained silent in the hope that he would just go away if ignored. He knew this wasn’t the case though. “Do you know what this means? Do you remember?
“That day becomes night?”
Thawyne let out a vitriolic chuckle. “Cute, Max. Real cute. You know what I’m talking about.”
Max turned around and gave Thawyne a sad smile. “Of course I do, Thawyne. That doesn’t mean I have to dwell on it. Those who dwell on the inevitable are the sorriest souls.”
“Don’t call me that. I am no longer Thawyne. My name is Zoom!” Thawyne sounded spastic and unhinged as he corrected the older man.
Max didn’t react to the outburst. He simply stood up and faced the other man. “You’re not Zoom. You may be his puppet, but you are not him. There is still hope for you, Eobard. I just wish you had the gall to take it.”
“You’re foolish, old man. Barry Allen may have bought into your pseudo-intellectualism and your speaking in metaphor, but I won’t. There is hope for me and its name is Zoom.”
Max shook his head. “I feel sorry for you, Eobard. I thought I could rehabilitate you here, but it appears that I was a foolish old man.”
“We agree on one thing.”
Max nodded. “Look if you want to do it, just do it.”
Thawyne sneered as he ran towards Max as fast as he could which knocked them both off of the cliff. During the fall, Thawyne grabbed on to a ledge, saving himself from certain death. Max was not so lucky. Thawyne watched as Max continued to fall and hit a pile of sharp rock, which skewered him.
“Too easy.” Thawyne laughed to himself. “Well, I guess it’s time to go home.”
***
Keystone City Police Department. Keystone City, Kansas
Barry Allen, dressed in his Flash costume quickly brought his right hand to cover his eyes as a brief migraine caused him to wince. It soon subsided and he opened his eyes to see a concerned looking Commissioner Vaughn Hotchkiss. “Flash, are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. The sun reflected off of you badge for a second… it’s nothing.” Barry said as he quickly thought of a lie to cover. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure what just happened, but he quickly put it out of his mind.
The Commissioner nodded. “Anyways, thank you for coming in today. I’m sure you’re quite busy being whoever you are under that mask to come in without any fires to put out or Rogues to catch.”
“It’s no trouble at all. What’s the problem?”
Hotchkiss cleared his throat. “That’s just it, Flash. There is no problem. I have been a part of the KCPD for nearly thirty-five years and I have never seen the city so quiet. With Cobra Queen being sent off to Iron Heights tomorrow, there are only a few of those loonies left on the streets.”
Barry furled his brow. “Commissioner?”
“Flash, I don’t think you need to go on patrol any longer. That is, unless you want to start going after speeders, drunk drivers and jaywalkers.” Barry could hear Commissioner Hotchkiss get more excited with every word as a smile began to dance across his face.
He didn’t quite believe what the Commissioner was telling him, but he also didn’t know Hotchkiss to be an especially humorous man. “Commissioner, what are you saying?”
“For all intents and purposes, you’ve worked yourself out of a job. Congratulations.” He stood up, leading Barry to follow suit with his hand outstretched. Barry cautiously shook it and turned to walk out of the room. “It’s been a pleasure serving with you, Flash.”
Barry turned and nodded at the aging man. “The pleasure was mine, Commissioner. You know how to reach me should something come up.”
“Aye.” The man nodded as Barry walked out of the room. That was the strangest goodbye he ever given. He knew that come Monday morning, he would see him again, but this time it would be as Dr. Barry Allen, Chief of the Forensic Science Department and not as The Flash.
Never in a million years did he expect this to happen. At the same speed as he ran, he mind began to process his options. He knew that he became The Flash to do good. He didn’t do it to protect an especially dangerous city like Sandman did in Chicago. Nor did he do it to atone for past sins like Starman. And he definitely didn’t put on a mask to avenge a crime committed against him like the Nighthawk. Just because the Twin Cities were done with him didn’t mean that his quest to do good was over.
But that required a move. What about Iris? And Danielle and Blaine? And Wally for that matter? He couldn’t just ask them all to move with him to a new city so he could continue his quest as The Flash. Or maybe, just maybe, he could take the route Jay took.
“Penny for your thoughts.” Barry quickly looked up and saw Jay Garrick standing in front of him with his typical warm smile on his face. Jay’s demeanor couldn’t help by cause Barry to smile in return.
“Sorry. Just on my way home from the station. Hotchkiss told me that I had worked myself out of a job… only took fifteen years.”
Jay chuckled. “I had noticed lately, a change in the coverage in the newspaper. More stories of The Flash saving the day instead of Captain Cold or The Pied Piper robbing a bank or derailing the commuter train. Congratulations.”
“It’s strange. I went right from being a Field Agent in the FBI to The Flash with no break. I don’t know where to go from here.” Jay could sense the uncertainty in Barry’s voice.
Jay closed the gap between them and warmly put his arm around Barry. “You’ll figure it out. I did and I’m not half the man you are. I never even came close to solving the crime problem in this city.”
“Thanks… so what brings you out here?”
Jay took his arm off Barry and turned to him with a grave look on his face. “Roughly twenty minutes ago, I felt a brief twinge of pain and I felt my connection to the Speed Force dwindle for a second.”
“I felt it to. I didn’t pick up a change in the Speed Force though, granted I wasn’t paying close attention.”
Jay nodded. “You’ve always had a stronger connection than me. I’m not sure how to investigate this further. The last time one of us tried to enter the physical Speed Force…”
“I know. No need to remind me. I’ll see if I can make contact with Max. You give Jessie a call. See if she felt it too…”
***
North Quad, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
“Oh God!” Jessie Garrick let out a short scream as she quickly grabbed her head and collapsed to the floor in the middle of her suite’s common room.
Her suitemate, Barbara Gordon jumped up to her aid from her spot on the couch. “Jess! You okay?”
After several moments of panting and heavy breathing, Jessie looked up at her friend and gave her a slight nod. Babs helped her up and moved her to the couch where she laid her down. “Honey, what was that?”
Jessie opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out, so she shook her head to answer. “I… I don’t know?”
“Do you want me to call your Dad?” She shook her head again as she slowly sat herself up. “Jess, I know you’re the medical student, but I don’t think you should be getting up.”
She slowly turned towards Babs and when Babs looked her in the eye, she saw the most horrified face she had ever seen in her life. “I don’t remember…”
“Don’t remember what, sweetie?”
“The formula… the mantra. It’s gone.”
Babs looked at her with a concerned look on her face. “It’s gone? What do you mean gone?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember it.” She shot up and began to violently pace the room as her breathing quickened and the blood drained from her cheeks. “Oh my God, it’s gone… what do I do? What do I do? WHAT DO I DO? OH GOD!” She fell to her knees again and began sobbing.
Babs shot towards her and wrapped her in a comforting embrace. “Shhh, sweetie.” She whispered in her ear as she began to rub her back. “It’s okay, honey, I’m here.”
“It’s not okay, it’s not okay, it’s not okay… without it… I can’t find the Speed Force… OH GOD WHAT’S HAPPENING!?”
Her cries prevented both of them from hearing her cell phone go off in the next room.
***
Central City, Missouri
Barry Allen tiptoed into his daughter Danielle's room well after she had gone off to bed. He didn’t have a favorite child, but from the minute she was born, he had an instant connection with her. Once he was above her bed, he noticed that she was awake. “Hey, Kiddo.”
“Hi, Daddy.” The nightlight in the corner of the room revealed a wide smile that spread across her face the second she realized who was in the room.
“Why aren’t you asleep yet?”
“I’m. Not. Tired.” She feigned a baby’s voice, which she had clearly outgrown years ago. She was eleven now and even though she was twelve, she had somewhat of an old soul, something that she developed as a defense mechanism for being the daughter of The Flash.
Barry knelt down at her bedside and caressed her cheek lovingly. “How was your day? First day of Middle School. That’s a big deal.”
“It was okay. I like my teachers and I made a new friend.”
Barry smiled. “Did you learn anything?” He asked, to which she violently shook her head. He was the same way when he was a kid.
“My favorite class was Science.”
Barry nodded with a victorious smile on his face. “That’s my girl.” He leaned in and kissed her gently on the forehead before he turned to walk out of the room.
“Daddy, are you okay?” Barry turned on a dime and looked back at his daughter.
“Yeah, I’m fine, why do you ask?”
Danielle furled her brow. “I don’t know. You seem different.”
He solemnly looked down at her. “This may seem like an adult question to answer, but do you hate what I do?”
“You’re the best Daddy in the world. You’re a superhero! You help people, why would I hate what you do?” She asked with genuine curiosity.
He walked over to her bed again, but rather than kneeling next to it, he sat himself down on the edge of her bed. “I do help people. Or I try to at least. I’m not fast enough to save every body… but what if I quit? What if I was able to spend more time with you and your brother?”
“I’d like that…” she said sleepily as she began to drift off to sleep. He leaned in again and kissed her on the forehead. Looking back at her breathing lightly, he left the room as quietly as he entered.
***
University of Michigan
Jay ran as fast as he could through the University of Michigan campus. Fortunately, he was an alumnus and a member of the faculty. That meant he knew the campus well, so he could get around any hazard that could present itself with relative ease. The navigation of it was second nature to him. Normally he was never in such a hurry, but with a combination of a possible disturbance in the Speed Force and his daughter not answering her phone, he couldn’t risk anything.
He got to her dorm room in record time and aggressively knocked. After a very short amount of time, Babs came to the door. “Jay? Is everything okay?”
“Let me ask you the same question. Is Jessie okay?”
Babs tried to put on a brave face for her roommate’s father, but she couldn’t do it. It was all in her sad eyes. She somberly, stepped aside and waved Jay in with her hand where he saw Jessie staring at the television blankly as an animated Lion, Warthog and meerkat danced across the screen while they sang a song. “Jessie?”
She looked up at her father with the saddest eyes he had ever seen. “Hi Daddy? What brings you here?” She asked him as if she were a million miles away.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine…” She responded in the same spaced out tone of voice as she turned back to the movie.
Babs shook her head from behind Jay. “Jessie. You’re not.”
She finally cracked, causing a single tear to roll down her cheek and then another and then another until she was sobbing again. Jay instantly tapped into the Speed Force and ran to her side where he scooped her up into a fatherly embrace. “Jessie… what’s wrong?”
“The Speed Force, Daddy. I don’t remember the formula. I can’t… I can’t tap into it. It was there one second and then the next thing I know I’m on the floor and it’s gone. Just gone.” She managed to get out between sobs. Jay’s eyes grew wide. While he remained concerned for his daughter, he knew this confirmed his suspicions from earlier.
He continued to hold his daughter close as he rubbed her back, which seemed to calm her down. Once he was sure she was calm, he looked up at Babs with a grave look in his eyes. “Barbara, don’t leave her. Any food, order it in, if you have any plans, please cancel them. Please. She needs you.” He lovingly kissed her on the temple and stepped towards Barbara.
“Where are you going?”
Jay walked towards the door and got into his sprinting stance. “I need to talk to The Flash. I think this is part of something big.” He took off, but quickly circled back around. “Could you also call your father and tell him to get to Keystone City as soon as humanly possible. I need the Watchtower on call.”
She went to nod, but before she could, he was gone. She eyed Jessie who was simply looking at the door with longing in here eyes. “Jessie, it’s going to be okay.”
“I can’t be Kid Flash any more.” It was that realization that sent her into another tailspin. Barbara came into scoop Jessie up into another embrace. “What… what will Wally think?”
“Jessie, he loves you. More than I’ve seen someone love another person. He’ll still love you.”
Jessie stood up and ran to her room. “Jess, what are you doing?”
“My Dad. My bio Dad was able to find away into the Speed Force… I have to find away in too.”
***
Central City, Missouri
As Barry shut the door softly, Wally walked up to him in the hallway. “Uncle Barry, I was looking for you. Could we talk?”
“Of course, Wally. Here, come down to my office. We can talk there.” Wally nodded and they both walked down the stairs to the main part of the house and then down the second stairwell into the basement where Barry’s office was located. Once they were both in, Barry shut the door.
He moved around the desk and sat down. “What’s on your mind, son?”
Wally bit his lower lip and clasped his arms behind his back as he began to pace the room, all habits he picked up from Iris. “Well…”
“If you’re trying to tell me about you and Jessie, I’ll stop you now. We already know and we’re fine with it as long as you’re being safe…”
Wally grew wide-eyed. “What? No, It’s not that. How?”
“Wally, I’m The Flash. I came home early one day… but that’s neither here nor there. What’s really the matter?”
Wally hung his head and reached in his jacket pocket to pull out an envelope with the KCPD seal on the front. “It’s my Policy Academy Entrance Exam scores…”
Barry’s stomach sunk. “How… how’d you do?”
Wally hung his head even further, which caused Barry to only see his red hair. “I didn’t make it. Finished in the lowest quintile. Just like the last time.”
Barry sighed. “I’m sorry, Son.”
“I studied so hard. I don’t know what went wrong.”
“Well, perhaps it’s not for you then. There’s no harm in that.”
Wally sighed in defeat. “But it was for you… I just wanted to make you proud of me… I guess following in your foot steps was the best way to do that.”
“Wally…” Barry started, but then quickly stopped. Unsure of how to continue the conversation, he began to think, something he did quite often in the middle of conversations, something that annoyed his friends, family and colleagues to no end. “Wally, why do you think being a police officer would make me any more proud of you than I already am?” Wally was dumbfounded. Ever since he met Barry, he looked up to him and wanted to be just like him and in his mind, being a cop was part of that.
Barry smiled and nodded. He knew exactly what his silence meant. “When I was twenty-five years old I was contacted by the F.B.I. asking me for help to catch an old Professor of mine who had been running deadly experiments on humans for research. I helped in anyways I could and in five years, we caught him.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
“Catching him culminated in my plane getting struck by lightning and in that moment I became The Flash. And I suddenly was called to something else.” Barry could tell he still wasn’t entirely getting it. “Look, what I’m trying to say is that nothing will make me prouder than if you follow the path that the universe presents for you.”
Wally scratched his chin, clearly trying to contemplate what Barry had just told him. “Wally, I’m already proud of you.” He could tell his nephew wasn’t entirely convinced, so he continued. “Do you remember when Jessie came to live with Jay? The summer before you came to live here permanently. I took you to meet Jay and even though you were in the midst of your childhood hero, the only thing you could focus on was the sad little girl in the corner in an effort to make her feel better.”
Wally looked down at his feet sheepishly. “I just did what anyone would have done…”
“That’s not true. Yeah, we all may have tried, but where we tried you succeeded. That has to count for something.”
Wally solemnly nodded. “Thanks, Uncle Barry.” He left leaving Barry alone to his thoughts. Barry loved Wally like a son, in fact, he thought of him as a son, but he never was able to see that. He took in one final sigh and began to ascend the stairs towards the main part of the house when he heard Iris in the living room talking to herself, something that she quite often did to Barry’s extreme amusement.
“If you keep that up, Iris, you’re going to be committed.”
She let out a scream as she lightly jumped and her body tensed. “BARRY! You take a year off my life every time you do that. Is that what you want? To kill me? GOD!”
“I actually wasn’t using the Speed Force that time, but nice try, honey.” To spite her, he tapped into the speed force to kiss her and then run across the room. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, but something felt off about it. Like before, he quickly put it out of his memory as he sat on the couch.
Iris laughed at him as she sat down next to him. “I never thought I’d find someone who kept my on my toes… then I met you. The only other person in the known universe who could put up with me for fifteen years.”
“And I thought super speed was my power.” He smiled at her, which warranted a light swat from Iris, followed by a chaste kiss.
“You didn’t have a sense of humor when we first dated… I’m rubbing off on you. My quick wit is contagious.”
Barry smiled. “It’s something…” He kissed her again, this time with a little more passion behind it. When they parted, he looked her lovingly in the eyes for an extended period of time. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Now what’s wrong?”
Barry face palmed with a bit of tongue-in-cheek. “Why is everyone asking me that?”
“Well, if you stopped acting weird, people wouldn’t feel the need to ask you. Spill it. Talk.” Iris shifted on the couch to where she was facing Barry and sitting with her legs under her.
Barry took in a tentative breath. “I met with Hotchkiss as The Flash today. He told me that I’ve done a great job… too great a job.”
“What does that mean?”
Barry shrugged. “He told me there were only a few Rogues still left out there. I had run my course, reached the finish line.”
“Does that mean…?”
“I’m free? I can retire. I can finally get on with my life.”
Iris looked over at him cautiously. “That doesn’t sound like you, Barry. You wanted to go into medicine to heal people, then you became an FBI agent to put away the most dangerous man in the world and then you became The Flash to save people. Quitting while you’re still able isn’t in your vocabulary.”
“That was fifteen years ago. I missed Danielle's first day of middle school because I was off being The Flash. What else am I going to miss? Blaine’s first day of middle school, their first day of High School? Graduation? Their weddings? I can’t do all of this.”
Iris reached her hand towards Barry and lightly touched his cheek. She softly moved his face to look at her. “Barry. You can do all of that while still being The Flash. Whether they need you to put The Mirror Master or Captain Cold or The Pied Piper in prison for the umpteenth time again or whether they just need to know you’re watching over them, the Twin Cities need you.”
Barry looked down at the floor in shame. “Honey, a shark dies if it stops swimming. Never stop swimming.” She leaned in and lightly kissed the corner of his mouth to which he responded by moving slightly to meet her lips with his.
Just then there was a stiff knock on the door. Iris stood up to answer it and when she opened the door an extremely disheveled looking Jay Garrick in full costume greeted her. “Jay? Is everything alright?” Barry asked from the couch in the background.
He sidestepped Iris and entered the house to get closer to Barry. “No. Jessie lost her connection to the Speed Force. Something is horribly wrong. Were you able to get in contact with Max?”
Barry shook his head. “No. It’s not an exact science. Sometimes he answers, sometimes he doesn’t. But what about Jessie?” He asked in a worried tone. Jessie had been his sidekick for close to eight years; the fact that she lost her speed was devastating to him.
“She can’t remember the formula. Even if she can remember parts, she can’t remember how it works, which is the most important part. I think there’s big trouble.” Barry lightly nodded in affirmation.
“Youredamnrighttherestrouble.” A strange voice came with a gust of wind through the door.
Barry and Jay looked at each other. “What was that?” Out of reflex Barry quickly jumped into his costume.
“Itsmeallen,” Suddenly they heard a large crash, which caused the three of them to spin their heads around to see a massive hole in the side of the house with dust still settling.
Barry tapped into the Speed Force and saw, in plain sight, a man wearing a costume that was extremely similar to his, except all of the colors were reversed. “Who are you?”
“Don’t you recognize me, Allen?” He hands went to the mask, which he began to take off. Barry didn’t need to see his face. He knew exactly who it was, causing his stomach to drop.
“Thawyne…”
Once the mask was off, Thawyne sneered. “I’d prefer that you call me Professor Zoom, if it’s all the same.”
“How…?”
“As much as I’d love to catch up, I don’t think we have much time… there’s a bomb in your basement and it went off a tenth of a second ago…”
Out of shock Barry went out of the Speed Force and watched his house explode around him.
***
University of Michigan
Jessie watched the light in the room get thinner and thinner until it was completely gone as her suitemate Barbara shut the door. She thought Jessie had gone to sleep, but she was just faking to get rid of her. Jessie shot up in bed, jumping to her desk to take out a notebook to start working out the formula again.
After about an hour, she broke the pencil in half and threw the pieces across the room in defeat. “God Dammit.” She put her head in her hands and began to sob again.
Suddenly she heard a sound that she couldn’t place behind her. She spun around and saw a man who wore red robes and a long grey beard in front of eight other people who were wearing some variation of The Flash costume. “What the hell is going on?
“Jessica. My name is Max Mercury, perhaps you’ve heard of me.”
Jessie hesitantly nodded.
“These are the Guardians of Flashpoint. The Flash, Impulse, Velocity, Quicksilver, Impala, Blitz, XS, and Kid Flash. And we need your help.” Max spoke in a regal tone that made him sound as if he were in another time.
Jessie stood up to meet Max in the eye. “With… With what?”
“There is a fracture in the Speed Force we need to repair it or it’s all gone.”
“What’s all gone?”
“Everything.”
Jessie nodded while she looked longingly at the costume hanging in her closet. “What good can I do?”
Max smiled at her. “Bring the costume along. It might do you some good later.”
She grabbed if off the hanger and put it gingerly in her backpack that sat next to her bed. “What about Barry? Should we get him?”
“No. He’s currently facing his own trials. We’ll meet up with him soon enough.” Jessie nodded and took Max’s hand. With that, Max used his freehand to summon a lightning bolt and out of the lightning bolt, a vortex appeared that they all walked through and disappeared.
***TO BE CONTINUED***
Revenge
He had watched the sunset from this spot every evening for as long as he could remember and as far as he could tell, he never got sick of it. The sun cast a gorgeous red, orange and yellow glow across the rest of the sky that was painted a deep shade of mauve. The ocean below acted as a mirror reflecting the colors back at the sun, so it could see itself. A single tear rolled down his cheek and was caught by his long flowing beard as he said goodbye to the day as the sun and the breeze whispered goodbye to him. He was Max Mercury and this island was his prison.
“Good Evening, Max… beautiful sunset.” A voice spoke from the jungle behind Max. He needn’t turn around to know who it was. There were only two speaking people on the island; Him and Professor Eobard Thawyne.
Max remained silent in the hope that he would just go away if ignored. He knew this wasn’t the case though. “Do you know what this means? Do you remember?
“That day becomes night?”
Thawyne let out a vitriolic chuckle. “Cute, Max. Real cute. You know what I’m talking about.”
Max turned around and gave Thawyne a sad smile. “Of course I do, Thawyne. That doesn’t mean I have to dwell on it. Those who dwell on the inevitable are the sorriest souls.”
“Don’t call me that. I am no longer Thawyne. My name is Zoom!” Thawyne sounded spastic and unhinged as he corrected the older man.
Max didn’t react to the outburst. He simply stood up and faced the other man. “You’re not Zoom. You may be his puppet, but you are not him. There is still hope for you, Eobard. I just wish you had the gall to take it.”
“You’re foolish, old man. Barry Allen may have bought into your pseudo-intellectualism and your speaking in metaphor, but I won’t. There is hope for me and its name is Zoom.”
Max shook his head. “I feel sorry for you, Eobard. I thought I could rehabilitate you here, but it appears that I was a foolish old man.”
“We agree on one thing.”
Max nodded. “Look if you want to do it, just do it.”
Thawyne sneered as he ran towards Max as fast as he could which knocked them both off of the cliff. During the fall, Thawyne grabbed on to a ledge, saving himself from certain death. Max was not so lucky. Thawyne watched as Max continued to fall and hit a pile of sharp rock, which skewered him.
“Too easy.” Thawyne laughed to himself. “Well, I guess it’s time to go home.”
***
Keystone City Police Department. Keystone City, Kansas
Barry Allen, dressed in his Flash costume quickly brought his right hand to cover his eyes as a brief migraine caused him to wince. It soon subsided and he opened his eyes to see a concerned looking Commissioner Vaughn Hotchkiss. “Flash, are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. The sun reflected off of you badge for a second… it’s nothing.” Barry said as he quickly thought of a lie to cover. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure what just happened, but he quickly put it out of his mind.
The Commissioner nodded. “Anyways, thank you for coming in today. I’m sure you’re quite busy being whoever you are under that mask to come in without any fires to put out or Rogues to catch.”
“It’s no trouble at all. What’s the problem?”
Hotchkiss cleared his throat. “That’s just it, Flash. There is no problem. I have been a part of the KCPD for nearly thirty-five years and I have never seen the city so quiet. With Cobra Queen being sent off to Iron Heights tomorrow, there are only a few of those loonies left on the streets.”
Barry furled his brow. “Commissioner?”
“Flash, I don’t think you need to go on patrol any longer. That is, unless you want to start going after speeders, drunk drivers and jaywalkers.” Barry could hear Commissioner Hotchkiss get more excited with every word as a smile began to dance across his face.
He didn’t quite believe what the Commissioner was telling him, but he also didn’t know Hotchkiss to be an especially humorous man. “Commissioner, what are you saying?”
“For all intents and purposes, you’ve worked yourself out of a job. Congratulations.” He stood up, leading Barry to follow suit with his hand outstretched. Barry cautiously shook it and turned to walk out of the room. “It’s been a pleasure serving with you, Flash.”
Barry turned and nodded at the aging man. “The pleasure was mine, Commissioner. You know how to reach me should something come up.”
“Aye.” The man nodded as Barry walked out of the room. That was the strangest goodbye he ever given. He knew that come Monday morning, he would see him again, but this time it would be as Dr. Barry Allen, Chief of the Forensic Science Department and not as The Flash.
Never in a million years did he expect this to happen. At the same speed as he ran, he mind began to process his options. He knew that he became The Flash to do good. He didn’t do it to protect an especially dangerous city like Sandman did in Chicago. Nor did he do it to atone for past sins like Starman. And he definitely didn’t put on a mask to avenge a crime committed against him like the Nighthawk. Just because the Twin Cities were done with him didn’t mean that his quest to do good was over.
But that required a move. What about Iris? And Danielle and Blaine? And Wally for that matter? He couldn’t just ask them all to move with him to a new city so he could continue his quest as The Flash. Or maybe, just maybe, he could take the route Jay took.
“Penny for your thoughts.” Barry quickly looked up and saw Jay Garrick standing in front of him with his typical warm smile on his face. Jay’s demeanor couldn’t help by cause Barry to smile in return.
“Sorry. Just on my way home from the station. Hotchkiss told me that I had worked myself out of a job… only took fifteen years.”
Jay chuckled. “I had noticed lately, a change in the coverage in the newspaper. More stories of The Flash saving the day instead of Captain Cold or The Pied Piper robbing a bank or derailing the commuter train. Congratulations.”
“It’s strange. I went right from being a Field Agent in the FBI to The Flash with no break. I don’t know where to go from here.” Jay could sense the uncertainty in Barry’s voice.
Jay closed the gap between them and warmly put his arm around Barry. “You’ll figure it out. I did and I’m not half the man you are. I never even came close to solving the crime problem in this city.”
“Thanks… so what brings you out here?”
Jay took his arm off Barry and turned to him with a grave look on his face. “Roughly twenty minutes ago, I felt a brief twinge of pain and I felt my connection to the Speed Force dwindle for a second.”
“I felt it to. I didn’t pick up a change in the Speed Force though, granted I wasn’t paying close attention.”
Jay nodded. “You’ve always had a stronger connection than me. I’m not sure how to investigate this further. The last time one of us tried to enter the physical Speed Force…”
“I know. No need to remind me. I’ll see if I can make contact with Max. You give Jessie a call. See if she felt it too…”
***
North Quad, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
“Oh God!” Jessie Garrick let out a short scream as she quickly grabbed her head and collapsed to the floor in the middle of her suite’s common room.
Her suitemate, Barbara Gordon jumped up to her aid from her spot on the couch. “Jess! You okay?”
After several moments of panting and heavy breathing, Jessie looked up at her friend and gave her a slight nod. Babs helped her up and moved her to the couch where she laid her down. “Honey, what was that?”
Jessie opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out, so she shook her head to answer. “I… I don’t know?”
“Do you want me to call your Dad?” She shook her head again as she slowly sat herself up. “Jess, I know you’re the medical student, but I don’t think you should be getting up.”
She slowly turned towards Babs and when Babs looked her in the eye, she saw the most horrified face she had ever seen in her life. “I don’t remember…”
“Don’t remember what, sweetie?”
“The formula… the mantra. It’s gone.”
Babs looked at her with a concerned look on her face. “It’s gone? What do you mean gone?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember it.” She shot up and began to violently pace the room as her breathing quickened and the blood drained from her cheeks. “Oh my God, it’s gone… what do I do? What do I do? WHAT DO I DO? OH GOD!” She fell to her knees again and began sobbing.
Babs shot towards her and wrapped her in a comforting embrace. “Shhh, sweetie.” She whispered in her ear as she began to rub her back. “It’s okay, honey, I’m here.”
“It’s not okay, it’s not okay, it’s not okay… without it… I can’t find the Speed Force… OH GOD WHAT’S HAPPENING!?”
Her cries prevented both of them from hearing her cell phone go off in the next room.
***
Central City, Missouri
Barry Allen tiptoed into his daughter Danielle's room well after she had gone off to bed. He didn’t have a favorite child, but from the minute she was born, he had an instant connection with her. Once he was above her bed, he noticed that she was awake. “Hey, Kiddo.”
“Hi, Daddy.” The nightlight in the corner of the room revealed a wide smile that spread across her face the second she realized who was in the room.
“Why aren’t you asleep yet?”
“I’m. Not. Tired.” She feigned a baby’s voice, which she had clearly outgrown years ago. She was eleven now and even though she was twelve, she had somewhat of an old soul, something that she developed as a defense mechanism for being the daughter of The Flash.
Barry knelt down at her bedside and caressed her cheek lovingly. “How was your day? First day of Middle School. That’s a big deal.”
“It was okay. I like my teachers and I made a new friend.”
Barry smiled. “Did you learn anything?” He asked, to which she violently shook her head. He was the same way when he was a kid.
“My favorite class was Science.”
Barry nodded with a victorious smile on his face. “That’s my girl.” He leaned in and kissed her gently on the forehead before he turned to walk out of the room.
“Daddy, are you okay?” Barry turned on a dime and looked back at his daughter.
“Yeah, I’m fine, why do you ask?”
Danielle furled her brow. “I don’t know. You seem different.”
He solemnly looked down at her. “This may seem like an adult question to answer, but do you hate what I do?”
“You’re the best Daddy in the world. You’re a superhero! You help people, why would I hate what you do?” She asked with genuine curiosity.
He walked over to her bed again, but rather than kneeling next to it, he sat himself down on the edge of her bed. “I do help people. Or I try to at least. I’m not fast enough to save every body… but what if I quit? What if I was able to spend more time with you and your brother?”
“I’d like that…” she said sleepily as she began to drift off to sleep. He leaned in again and kissed her on the forehead. Looking back at her breathing lightly, he left the room as quietly as he entered.
***
University of Michigan
Jay ran as fast as he could through the University of Michigan campus. Fortunately, he was an alumnus and a member of the faculty. That meant he knew the campus well, so he could get around any hazard that could present itself with relative ease. The navigation of it was second nature to him. Normally he was never in such a hurry, but with a combination of a possible disturbance in the Speed Force and his daughter not answering her phone, he couldn’t risk anything.
He got to her dorm room in record time and aggressively knocked. After a very short amount of time, Babs came to the door. “Jay? Is everything okay?”
“Let me ask you the same question. Is Jessie okay?”
Babs tried to put on a brave face for her roommate’s father, but she couldn’t do it. It was all in her sad eyes. She somberly, stepped aside and waved Jay in with her hand where he saw Jessie staring at the television blankly as an animated Lion, Warthog and meerkat danced across the screen while they sang a song. “Jessie?”
She looked up at her father with the saddest eyes he had ever seen. “Hi Daddy? What brings you here?” She asked him as if she were a million miles away.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine…” She responded in the same spaced out tone of voice as she turned back to the movie.
Babs shook her head from behind Jay. “Jessie. You’re not.”
She finally cracked, causing a single tear to roll down her cheek and then another and then another until she was sobbing again. Jay instantly tapped into the Speed Force and ran to her side where he scooped her up into a fatherly embrace. “Jessie… what’s wrong?”
“The Speed Force, Daddy. I don’t remember the formula. I can’t… I can’t tap into it. It was there one second and then the next thing I know I’m on the floor and it’s gone. Just gone.” She managed to get out between sobs. Jay’s eyes grew wide. While he remained concerned for his daughter, he knew this confirmed his suspicions from earlier.
He continued to hold his daughter close as he rubbed her back, which seemed to calm her down. Once he was sure she was calm, he looked up at Babs with a grave look in his eyes. “Barbara, don’t leave her. Any food, order it in, if you have any plans, please cancel them. Please. She needs you.” He lovingly kissed her on the temple and stepped towards Barbara.
“Where are you going?”
Jay walked towards the door and got into his sprinting stance. “I need to talk to The Flash. I think this is part of something big.” He took off, but quickly circled back around. “Could you also call your father and tell him to get to Keystone City as soon as humanly possible. I need the Watchtower on call.”
She went to nod, but before she could, he was gone. She eyed Jessie who was simply looking at the door with longing in here eyes. “Jessie, it’s going to be okay.”
“I can’t be Kid Flash any more.” It was that realization that sent her into another tailspin. Barbara came into scoop Jessie up into another embrace. “What… what will Wally think?”
“Jessie, he loves you. More than I’ve seen someone love another person. He’ll still love you.”
Jessie stood up and ran to her room. “Jess, what are you doing?”
“My Dad. My bio Dad was able to find away into the Speed Force… I have to find away in too.”
***
Central City, Missouri
As Barry shut the door softly, Wally walked up to him in the hallway. “Uncle Barry, I was looking for you. Could we talk?”
“Of course, Wally. Here, come down to my office. We can talk there.” Wally nodded and they both walked down the stairs to the main part of the house and then down the second stairwell into the basement where Barry’s office was located. Once they were both in, Barry shut the door.
He moved around the desk and sat down. “What’s on your mind, son?”
Wally bit his lower lip and clasped his arms behind his back as he began to pace the room, all habits he picked up from Iris. “Well…”
“If you’re trying to tell me about you and Jessie, I’ll stop you now. We already know and we’re fine with it as long as you’re being safe…”
Wally grew wide-eyed. “What? No, It’s not that. How?”
“Wally, I’m The Flash. I came home early one day… but that’s neither here nor there. What’s really the matter?”
Wally hung his head and reached in his jacket pocket to pull out an envelope with the KCPD seal on the front. “It’s my Policy Academy Entrance Exam scores…”
Barry’s stomach sunk. “How… how’d you do?”
Wally hung his head even further, which caused Barry to only see his red hair. “I didn’t make it. Finished in the lowest quintile. Just like the last time.”
Barry sighed. “I’m sorry, Son.”
“I studied so hard. I don’t know what went wrong.”
“Well, perhaps it’s not for you then. There’s no harm in that.”
Wally sighed in defeat. “But it was for you… I just wanted to make you proud of me… I guess following in your foot steps was the best way to do that.”
“Wally…” Barry started, but then quickly stopped. Unsure of how to continue the conversation, he began to think, something he did quite often in the middle of conversations, something that annoyed his friends, family and colleagues to no end. “Wally, why do you think being a police officer would make me any more proud of you than I already am?” Wally was dumbfounded. Ever since he met Barry, he looked up to him and wanted to be just like him and in his mind, being a cop was part of that.
Barry smiled and nodded. He knew exactly what his silence meant. “When I was twenty-five years old I was contacted by the F.B.I. asking me for help to catch an old Professor of mine who had been running deadly experiments on humans for research. I helped in anyways I could and in five years, we caught him.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
“Catching him culminated in my plane getting struck by lightning and in that moment I became The Flash. And I suddenly was called to something else.” Barry could tell he still wasn’t entirely getting it. “Look, what I’m trying to say is that nothing will make me prouder than if you follow the path that the universe presents for you.”
Wally scratched his chin, clearly trying to contemplate what Barry had just told him. “Wally, I’m already proud of you.” He could tell his nephew wasn’t entirely convinced, so he continued. “Do you remember when Jessie came to live with Jay? The summer before you came to live here permanently. I took you to meet Jay and even though you were in the midst of your childhood hero, the only thing you could focus on was the sad little girl in the corner in an effort to make her feel better.”
Wally looked down at his feet sheepishly. “I just did what anyone would have done…”
“That’s not true. Yeah, we all may have tried, but where we tried you succeeded. That has to count for something.”
Wally solemnly nodded. “Thanks, Uncle Barry.” He left leaving Barry alone to his thoughts. Barry loved Wally like a son, in fact, he thought of him as a son, but he never was able to see that. He took in one final sigh and began to ascend the stairs towards the main part of the house when he heard Iris in the living room talking to herself, something that she quite often did to Barry’s extreme amusement.
“If you keep that up, Iris, you’re going to be committed.”
She let out a scream as she lightly jumped and her body tensed. “BARRY! You take a year off my life every time you do that. Is that what you want? To kill me? GOD!”
“I actually wasn’t using the Speed Force that time, but nice try, honey.” To spite her, he tapped into the speed force to kiss her and then run across the room. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, but something felt off about it. Like before, he quickly put it out of his memory as he sat on the couch.
Iris laughed at him as she sat down next to him. “I never thought I’d find someone who kept my on my toes… then I met you. The only other person in the known universe who could put up with me for fifteen years.”
“And I thought super speed was my power.” He smiled at her, which warranted a light swat from Iris, followed by a chaste kiss.
“You didn’t have a sense of humor when we first dated… I’m rubbing off on you. My quick wit is contagious.”
Barry smiled. “It’s something…” He kissed her again, this time with a little more passion behind it. When they parted, he looked her lovingly in the eyes for an extended period of time. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Now what’s wrong?”
Barry face palmed with a bit of tongue-in-cheek. “Why is everyone asking me that?”
“Well, if you stopped acting weird, people wouldn’t feel the need to ask you. Spill it. Talk.” Iris shifted on the couch to where she was facing Barry and sitting with her legs under her.
Barry took in a tentative breath. “I met with Hotchkiss as The Flash today. He told me that I’ve done a great job… too great a job.”
“What does that mean?”
Barry shrugged. “He told me there were only a few Rogues still left out there. I had run my course, reached the finish line.”
“Does that mean…?”
“I’m free? I can retire. I can finally get on with my life.”
Iris looked over at him cautiously. “That doesn’t sound like you, Barry. You wanted to go into medicine to heal people, then you became an FBI agent to put away the most dangerous man in the world and then you became The Flash to save people. Quitting while you’re still able isn’t in your vocabulary.”
“That was fifteen years ago. I missed Danielle's first day of middle school because I was off being The Flash. What else am I going to miss? Blaine’s first day of middle school, their first day of High School? Graduation? Their weddings? I can’t do all of this.”
Iris reached her hand towards Barry and lightly touched his cheek. She softly moved his face to look at her. “Barry. You can do all of that while still being The Flash. Whether they need you to put The Mirror Master or Captain Cold or The Pied Piper in prison for the umpteenth time again or whether they just need to know you’re watching over them, the Twin Cities need you.”
Barry looked down at the floor in shame. “Honey, a shark dies if it stops swimming. Never stop swimming.” She leaned in and lightly kissed the corner of his mouth to which he responded by moving slightly to meet her lips with his.
Just then there was a stiff knock on the door. Iris stood up to answer it and when she opened the door an extremely disheveled looking Jay Garrick in full costume greeted her. “Jay? Is everything alright?” Barry asked from the couch in the background.
He sidestepped Iris and entered the house to get closer to Barry. “No. Jessie lost her connection to the Speed Force. Something is horribly wrong. Were you able to get in contact with Max?”
Barry shook his head. “No. It’s not an exact science. Sometimes he answers, sometimes he doesn’t. But what about Jessie?” He asked in a worried tone. Jessie had been his sidekick for close to eight years; the fact that she lost her speed was devastating to him.
“She can’t remember the formula. Even if she can remember parts, she can’t remember how it works, which is the most important part. I think there’s big trouble.” Barry lightly nodded in affirmation.
“Youredamnrighttherestrouble.” A strange voice came with a gust of wind through the door.
Barry and Jay looked at each other. “What was that?” Out of reflex Barry quickly jumped into his costume.
“Itsmeallen,” Suddenly they heard a large crash, which caused the three of them to spin their heads around to see a massive hole in the side of the house with dust still settling.
Barry tapped into the Speed Force and saw, in plain sight, a man wearing a costume that was extremely similar to his, except all of the colors were reversed. “Who are you?”
“Don’t you recognize me, Allen?” He hands went to the mask, which he began to take off. Barry didn’t need to see his face. He knew exactly who it was, causing his stomach to drop.
“Thawyne…”
Once the mask was off, Thawyne sneered. “I’d prefer that you call me Professor Zoom, if it’s all the same.”
“How…?”
“As much as I’d love to catch up, I don’t think we have much time… there’s a bomb in your basement and it went off a tenth of a second ago…”
Out of shock Barry went out of the Speed Force and watched his house explode around him.
***
University of Michigan
Jessie watched the light in the room get thinner and thinner until it was completely gone as her suitemate Barbara shut the door. She thought Jessie had gone to sleep, but she was just faking to get rid of her. Jessie shot up in bed, jumping to her desk to take out a notebook to start working out the formula again.
After about an hour, she broke the pencil in half and threw the pieces across the room in defeat. “God Dammit.” She put her head in her hands and began to sob again.
Suddenly she heard a sound that she couldn’t place behind her. She spun around and saw a man who wore red robes and a long grey beard in front of eight other people who were wearing some variation of The Flash costume. “What the hell is going on?
“Jessica. My name is Max Mercury, perhaps you’ve heard of me.”
Jessie hesitantly nodded.
“These are the Guardians of Flashpoint. The Flash, Impulse, Velocity, Quicksilver, Impala, Blitz, XS, and Kid Flash. And we need your help.” Max spoke in a regal tone that made him sound as if he were in another time.
Jessie stood up to meet Max in the eye. “With… With what?”
“There is a fracture in the Speed Force we need to repair it or it’s all gone.”
“What’s all gone?”
“Everything.”
Jessie nodded while she looked longingly at the costume hanging in her closet. “What good can I do?”
Max smiled at her. “Bring the costume along. It might do you some good later.”
She grabbed if off the hanger and put it gingerly in her backpack that sat next to her bed. “What about Barry? Should we get him?”
“No. He’s currently facing his own trials. We’ll meet up with him soon enough.” Jessie nodded and took Max’s hand. With that, Max used his freehand to summon a lightning bolt and out of the lightning bolt, a vortex appeared that they all walked through and disappeared.
***TO BE CONTINUED***
