Post by C_Miller on Feb 25, 2012 0:33:00 GMT -5
Ultimate Flash (v2) #3
Mirror, Mirror
“So, Mr. West, any deep dark secrets?”
Wally gulped as he looked up from his plate of Bulgogi and saw Linda Park staring at him with an evil grin on her face. The two of them had started dating nearly immediately after Jessie blew up at him for becoming The Flash and they were currently on their third date. “Umm… like what?”
Linda laughed. “Well, it’s clear that you can’t use chop sticks.”
Wally looked down at his plate and half the rice that the dish started with was spread around the table. “I guess you’re right…” he said dryly with a hint of sarcasm.
“Any ex-girlfriends I should worry about?” she asked sweetly.
He looked at her with a look of surprised disapproval. “Well, my ex-girlfriend was the former Flash… whether that makes you worry or not is up to you.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “These super-types don’t worry me. I’ve worked with them and let me tell you, deep down they’re just as screwed up at the rest of us.” Wally looked down at the floor and a look of regret spread across her face, realizing how connected he was to metahumans. “Umm… speaking of The Flash, there’s a new one in town… have you met him?”
Wally instantly blushed, which he quickly attempted to hide by rubbing his face with his hands. “Uh… no, not yet. He, erm… he seems to be doing some good out there… but, uh, it’s strange seeing someone wearing my Uncle’s costume.”
Linda let out a laugh as Wally dropped a small piece of meat on to the floor. Without a word, she got up and moved to the seat directly perpendicular to Wally. She picked up a piece of beef with her chopsticks and gingerly placed it in Wally’s mouth. Leaning in, she gave him a light kiss and put her forehead against his. “You’re hopeless.”
The pair finished the dinner off with a shared order of Bungeoppang and made the short walk back to their apartment building hand-in-hand. When they reached Linda’s door, she pulled him into a tight embrace. “Thanks for dinner. It was really sweet of you choosing Korean.”
Wally shrugged. “I’m always up for something new.”
“So, uh, Wally… do you want to come in for a little while?”
Wally blushed at the implication. “I… um… I have a busy day at the shop, I was hoping I could turn in early.”
Linda’s face fell. “Oh… no, that’s okay. We still on for lunch tomorrow?”
Wally smiled and kissed her on the forehead. “Wouldn’t miss it.”
With that, he turned around and walked down the hall to his apartment where he immediately got into his costume. “Okay, Keystone… let’s roll.”
He took off down the stares and out of the building. Luckily, he moved fast enough so no one could see him, as he didn’t want to bring suspicion that the Flash was possibly a tenant at the apartment building. When he was out of the building, he immediately heard Police Sirens and took off towards the sound.
After several seconds, he arrived at the beginnings of a Crime Scene where Officers were spreading police tape around a building where a murdered man lay on the steps. Wally looked around at the scene and walked over to Lieutenant Fred Chyre when he saw him by a squad car. “Chyre? What do we have here?”
Chyre looked up in a bit of surprise. “Flash? I wasn’t expecting to see you here. Just a crime scene… unless you’re a Police Scientist like your predecessor.”
Wally shook his head with a bit of a chuckle. “No, sir. I just heard the sirens and followed them here. Guess I’ll move on.”
When he took off to run, Chyre placed his hand on his shoulder. “You may actually be interested in this one though.” Wally cocked his head at the aging Police Officer as he was led to the steps were the dead man was laying. “Do you recognize him?”
Wally shook his head. “No. Should I?”
Chyre shrugged. “Don’t see why you would. Barry Allen certainly would… this is Sam Scudder. The Mirror Master.”
The Speedster’s stomach dropped and he began to frantically scan the scene at sub-light speeds. “The Mirror Master? Really?”
Before Chyre could answer, a black Cadillac drove up to the scene and a man of Hispanic decent exited from the driver’s side in a rush. He looked disheveled with his hair a mess, five o’clock shadow setting in and buttons done wrong on his shirt. Surprisingly, his tie was tied correctly. “Sorry to keep you up late, Morillo,” Chyre quipped with a wink towards The Flash.
“I don’t want to hear it, Chyre… wait, what is he doing here? This is a crime scene.” Morillo scoffed, indicating towards The Flash.
Wally looked at Chyre whose relatively cheerful demeanor turned to anger and discontentment. “He heard the squad cars and decided to give us a hand.”
“Heh. If you say so… so, fill me in.”
The Flash took a step back and explored the scene himself as Chyre spoke to Morillo in what sounded to be a different language to him. Wally knew that the Keystone City Police Department was having trouble with the Mirror Master, so this naturally seemed way to easy. “Gentlemen? Was Mirror Master’s identity public?”
The two detectives stopped their conversation and turned to look questioningly at the crimson-clad hero. “Um… it was public record, but not something that was especially publicized. Why?”
“The knife that’s beside the body… it’s made out of a mirror.”
Chyre let out an amused chuckled. “And that’s why he’s here Morillo. A dozen cops have walked passed this scene and not a one has discovered that.”
Morillo shook his head and ignored his partner. “That would suggest this isn’t a random occurrence… Jackam, come here.”
Wally looked over and saw a beautiful olive skinned woman walk over to the two chief police officers on the scene. “Yeah, boss?” she asked lightly.
“Julie, I want you to go back to the station and pull Scudder’s file. I’m going to need you to search any and all victims of his crimes for possible culprits,” Chyre ordered.
Julie Jackam took a step back. “Whoa there, Chief. Don’t you have other researchers? I should be out in the field.”
Chyre shook his head emphatically. “No. No you shouldn’t. I need you back at the station with Spivot and Forrest, do I make myself clear?”
The woman half-heartedly nodded as she walked in Wally’s direction to her squad car. When she got to The Flash, she stopped and looked up at him with a slight smile. “Hi, I’m Julie Jackam, I don’t believe we’ve met yet,” she said as she offered her hand to him, which he graciously shook.
Wally smiled back at her. He felt a strange sensation flow through his body, having his date to Senior Prom introduce herself to him. “Lieutenant Chyre speaks very highly of you.”
Her face turned a light shade of red as she hid her eyes from Wally’s gaze. “That’s nice of him… well I better be getting back. I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of you.”
“Hey, Flash.”
Wally looked up and saw Fred Chyre wave him over. Tapping into the Speed Force, he hurried over. “What is it, Lieutenant?”
“We know you’re not an official cop, but we were hoping you’d keep your eye out for Rogue related activity?”
The Flash nodded with resolution. “You didn’t even need to ask.”
***
The next several days were stressful for Wally. The criminal activity wasn’t any worse than usual, but he was prepared for worse. Feeling the inability to take a breath fatigued him faster than usual, even with the enhanced metabolism. He wasn’t even able to enjoy his time with Linda, who was becoming more and more suspicious.
“Wally, what’s wrong?” she finally asked point blank as they enjoyed a light lunch together in her apartment.
He looked up at her like a deer in the headlights. “I, um, nothing… just work.”
She gave him a condescending look. “Wally, look, I’m really into you. I’m not going to say that I’m not… but if you don’t feel the same way, I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t waste my time.”
Wally’s heart sank to the floor. “Lin… that’s not it at all… I’m sorry if I made you think that at all.”
Linda crossed her arms over her chest. “Then what is it?”
The Speedster sighed. “I… well, I’ve only ever been with two girls. Jess was the proverbial girl next door. I grew up with her and we just ended up together naturally… the other one, Julie… my Uncle set us up. She was the granddaughter of one of his co-workers… this whole dating thing? Not really good at it… and I really like you. I don’t want to screw it up.
He paused to see she was buying his soliloquy, which was only half a lie. He felt all of it, but that wasn’t the biggest of his concerns at the time. Her face indicated a mix of disbelief, amusement and endearment. She reached across the table and placed her hand on his. “I had now idea. That’s so sweet.”
“Yeah, not something I normally talk about.”
Just then, the phone rang across the room, which almost caused Wally to jump into the Speed Force. Luckily, he was able to catch himself before revealing his identity in front of his girlfriend. “Sorry… let me get that.”
He walked over to the phone and answered it. “Hello?”
“Wally West?” asked a man with a Scottish accent from the other end of the phone.
Not recognizing the voice, Wally furled his brow at the phone. “Um, yeah. This is Wally. Can I ask who’s asking?”
Wally heard a light chuckle on the other end. “You can ask. Don’t mean I’m inclined to answer, boyo. But, I must say it’s a pleasure to finally make yer acquaintance, laddie. I’ve been a fan for… um… about a week now.”
Wally’s heart sank. Even though it wasn’t spoken, he knew exactly what he was referring to when he gave the time frame. “What do you want?”
“Oh, very direct of you, boyo. I don’t ask for much, I just to play. I think we can have some real fun together.”
Wally’s mind began to race, thinking of how he could figure out where the call was coming from. He knew that the Proton had such power, but he wasn’t sure how he could locate him in thirty seconds. Just then, he remembered Linda was sitting just a few feet away from him. He turned to her and saw that she had a look of concern on his face to which he reassured her with a thumbs up.
“I’m serious, what do you want.”
“That quine sittin’ at yer table. She’s quite lovely…”
Wally began to search the room frantically, while keeping a facade of normalcy as not to alarm Linda. He quickly hung up the phone and began to search around the room frantically.
“Wally, is everything okay?”
He turned to her. “Um… yeah. Just a fan of my Uncle’s. They always set me off,” he lied. “Look, Linda. I have to go see my Aunt… something came up.”
She nodded and pulled Wally into a tight embrace. “Let me know if you need anything. You know where to reach me.”
***
“And there’s no way he could have known that a woman was in your apartment?” Jay asked with a hint of worry in his voice.
Wally emphatically shook his head. “If I knew how, I wouldn’t be here, Jay.”
Jay continued to pace the room as he scratched his chin thoughtfully. “I can send Bart out… Jessie may be willing to lend a hand as well, I’ll see what I can do.”
“With all due respect, Jay, I’d prefer to do this on my own.”
The aging Speedster eyed the younger with his oddly warm blue eyes to size him up. “Wally, real people are involved here. You’re not trying to prove yourself are you? If so, we end that right here.”
Wally shook his head. “Jay, it’s not like that. It’s just… I don’t know… has anyone ever threatened Joan?”
The two men stood in silence for a moment in the middle of Jay Garrick’s kitchen holding mugs of coffee. Hesitantly, Jay nodded as he took a seat at the breakfast bar. “Yeah… When I got home from the war, I reasserted myself as the defender of the Twin Cities. Needless to say I made a few enemies. But the only one to ever make it personal was Rival.”
“Rival?”
Jay nodded his head lightly. “Yes. Dr. Edward Clariss, not too dissimilar to Jessie’s biological father. He got a whiff of the Speed Force and tried to control it. Unfortunately, unlike Chambers, he found the Reverse-Speed Force.”
Wally nodded along like a good listener. “What happened then?”
“Well, there’s a certain bond that all Speedsters share, so it didn’t take long for him to determine who I was and he spent some time going after Joan.” Jay spoke with a quiver in his voice.
“What did you do?”
Jay shrugged. “I did what I had to do… I defended her.”
Wally nodded. “I wish it were that easy. I don’t even know what this guy looks like… I just know he has a Scottish accent…”
“Then start there,” Jay smiled at him.
Just then Wally’s cell phone rang. He picked it up and seeing it was Linda, he quickly answered. “Hey, Lin. What’s up?”
“Wally, are you home?” Her voice sounded panicked and hushed.
“No, I’m at my Aunt’s… Is everything okay?” He asked with the sound of worry rising with each word.
She let out a brief cry. “Wally, there’s someone in the apartment.”
Before she was able to speak her last three words, Wally was in his Flash costume and heading towards the inner city of Keystone. Tearing through the city streets, leaving nothing in his wake, never before had he run so fast.
When he arrived at the apartment, he busted into Linda’s unit and saw a man in a metallic green costume with reflective lenses standing over Linda with a gun pointed at her. “Ah, good of you to join us.”
Without thinking, Wally lunged at him, but before he could reach him, the intruder jumped towards a glass vase in on Linda’s coffee table and disappeared into it. “Up here, brother… come and get me.”
Wally looked up and saw his reflection in the brass of the ceiling fan. “Nope. Wait…” His reflection disappeared again. “Over here.”
The sound of his voice was now coming from the balcony. Wally looked over and just saw his reflection in the sliding glass door. The Flash quickly spun around but saw nothing. “I’m coming for you!”
Wally turned back around to the glass and saw eight men who looked exactly the same charging towards him. Tapping into the Speed Force, he ran at each up them, but when he made contact, they all disappeared. “DAMMIT!” Wally shouted in frustration.
The Flash looked back at Linda who was quivering on the couch in hysterics and the man was standing right above her. “Looking for me?”
“Mirror Master…”
The man let out a brief cackle. “Kinda. Let’s just say I’m not your Uncle’s Mirror Master. I’m better.”
Before Wally could react, the person calling himself the Mirror Master shot his laser gun at him, sending him hurtling into the wall, making a large crack in the mirror that was set up over a desk.
“Didn’t anyone tell you that breaking a mirror is bad luck, boyo? Let me tell you, that superstition is 100% true.” Without missing a beat, he deftly jumped through the mirror, creating upwards of sixteen body doubles of himself that exited from every picture frame in the apartment.
Wally struggled to get up. The blast from the laser had left him somewhat immobilized. He got to his feet and readied himself to fend off the army of Mirror Masters. However, they quickly rematerialized into one, who was standing on the coffee table in the center of the room. “Wh… Who are you?”
“I used to live in a room full of mirrors; all I could see was me. I take my spirit and I crash my mirrors, now the whole world is here for me to see,” he said; barely able to contain his laughed.
The Flash only stared blankly at the man. “What is that?”
Mirror Master rolled his eyes. “For someone who’s wearing the exact costume the other Flash wore, I would think you would know something about mirrors and let me tell you, boyo… only one can exist on each side of the mirror. Not you and the ghost…”
“You killed Sam Scudder…”
For the first time the Mirror Master showed his teeth. “Bingo. You’re smarter than you look… Now when are you going to put your double out of its misery…?”
“Jess?”
“Barry Allen.”
Wally’s heart dropped. “What does Barry have to do with this?”
“Look in the mirror and get back to me…” He pulled his gun from his holster and took one more shot at Wally who dodged it, but when he finally came around to face the Mirror Master again, he was gone.
The Flash darted around the room, looking for him to no avail. Suddenly as he came back into the living room he caught his reflection in a shard of the broken mirror. “Catch ya later, Flasher.”
And with that, he was gone.
Wally looked at the passed out Linda on the couch and quickly got back into his street clothes. “Linda!”
He ran over to her and cupped her face with his hands. “Wally?” She asked in a labored voice. Wally beamed down at her with tears flowing from his eyes.
***
Wally sat with Linda for several hours before he felt comfortable going home and even then, he was still on guard. Luckily for him, she was out of it due to a laser blast, so she wasn’t comprehensive when Mirror Master was giving away information as to his secret identity. Afterwards, he filled in the Major Crimes Squad, specifically Detective Jared Morillo, who for the first time was happy to have The Flash in Keystone City.
At around ten o’clock, he finally settled into his apartment after checking in on his girlfriend one last time. He was dozing off in a recliner in front of his television, watching the Food Network when he heard a crash in his bedroom. He snapped his neck, tapping into the Speed Force for a split second. “Hello?”
Warily, he walked towards his room with apprehension and saw before him, a man with a long grey beard wearing red robes that were adorned with lightning bolts. The man’s blue eyes lit up and he smiled at Wally with a toothy grin. “Wallace! It’s wonderful to see you.”
“Who the hell are you?”
The man looked around the room to see if there was anyone else there that he could have been referring to. “I’m Max Mercury, of course. We have a lot of work to do.”
With that, Max clapped his hands together causing a barrage of lightning bolts to fill the room and when they subsided, the pair was gone.
Mirror, Mirror
“So, Mr. West, any deep dark secrets?”
Wally gulped as he looked up from his plate of Bulgogi and saw Linda Park staring at him with an evil grin on her face. The two of them had started dating nearly immediately after Jessie blew up at him for becoming The Flash and they were currently on their third date. “Umm… like what?”
Linda laughed. “Well, it’s clear that you can’t use chop sticks.”
Wally looked down at his plate and half the rice that the dish started with was spread around the table. “I guess you’re right…” he said dryly with a hint of sarcasm.
“Any ex-girlfriends I should worry about?” she asked sweetly.
He looked at her with a look of surprised disapproval. “Well, my ex-girlfriend was the former Flash… whether that makes you worry or not is up to you.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “These super-types don’t worry me. I’ve worked with them and let me tell you, deep down they’re just as screwed up at the rest of us.” Wally looked down at the floor and a look of regret spread across her face, realizing how connected he was to metahumans. “Umm… speaking of The Flash, there’s a new one in town… have you met him?”
Wally instantly blushed, which he quickly attempted to hide by rubbing his face with his hands. “Uh… no, not yet. He, erm… he seems to be doing some good out there… but, uh, it’s strange seeing someone wearing my Uncle’s costume.”
Linda let out a laugh as Wally dropped a small piece of meat on to the floor. Without a word, she got up and moved to the seat directly perpendicular to Wally. She picked up a piece of beef with her chopsticks and gingerly placed it in Wally’s mouth. Leaning in, she gave him a light kiss and put her forehead against his. “You’re hopeless.”
The pair finished the dinner off with a shared order of Bungeoppang and made the short walk back to their apartment building hand-in-hand. When they reached Linda’s door, she pulled him into a tight embrace. “Thanks for dinner. It was really sweet of you choosing Korean.”
Wally shrugged. “I’m always up for something new.”
“So, uh, Wally… do you want to come in for a little while?”
Wally blushed at the implication. “I… um… I have a busy day at the shop, I was hoping I could turn in early.”
Linda’s face fell. “Oh… no, that’s okay. We still on for lunch tomorrow?”
Wally smiled and kissed her on the forehead. “Wouldn’t miss it.”
With that, he turned around and walked down the hall to his apartment where he immediately got into his costume. “Okay, Keystone… let’s roll.”
He took off down the stares and out of the building. Luckily, he moved fast enough so no one could see him, as he didn’t want to bring suspicion that the Flash was possibly a tenant at the apartment building. When he was out of the building, he immediately heard Police Sirens and took off towards the sound.
After several seconds, he arrived at the beginnings of a Crime Scene where Officers were spreading police tape around a building where a murdered man lay on the steps. Wally looked around at the scene and walked over to Lieutenant Fred Chyre when he saw him by a squad car. “Chyre? What do we have here?”
Chyre looked up in a bit of surprise. “Flash? I wasn’t expecting to see you here. Just a crime scene… unless you’re a Police Scientist like your predecessor.”
Wally shook his head with a bit of a chuckle. “No, sir. I just heard the sirens and followed them here. Guess I’ll move on.”
When he took off to run, Chyre placed his hand on his shoulder. “You may actually be interested in this one though.” Wally cocked his head at the aging Police Officer as he was led to the steps were the dead man was laying. “Do you recognize him?”
Wally shook his head. “No. Should I?”
Chyre shrugged. “Don’t see why you would. Barry Allen certainly would… this is Sam Scudder. The Mirror Master.”
The Speedster’s stomach dropped and he began to frantically scan the scene at sub-light speeds. “The Mirror Master? Really?”
Before Chyre could answer, a black Cadillac drove up to the scene and a man of Hispanic decent exited from the driver’s side in a rush. He looked disheveled with his hair a mess, five o’clock shadow setting in and buttons done wrong on his shirt. Surprisingly, his tie was tied correctly. “Sorry to keep you up late, Morillo,” Chyre quipped with a wink towards The Flash.
“I don’t want to hear it, Chyre… wait, what is he doing here? This is a crime scene.” Morillo scoffed, indicating towards The Flash.
Wally looked at Chyre whose relatively cheerful demeanor turned to anger and discontentment. “He heard the squad cars and decided to give us a hand.”
“Heh. If you say so… so, fill me in.”
The Flash took a step back and explored the scene himself as Chyre spoke to Morillo in what sounded to be a different language to him. Wally knew that the Keystone City Police Department was having trouble with the Mirror Master, so this naturally seemed way to easy. “Gentlemen? Was Mirror Master’s identity public?”
The two detectives stopped their conversation and turned to look questioningly at the crimson-clad hero. “Um… it was public record, but not something that was especially publicized. Why?”
“The knife that’s beside the body… it’s made out of a mirror.”
Chyre let out an amused chuckled. “And that’s why he’s here Morillo. A dozen cops have walked passed this scene and not a one has discovered that.”
Morillo shook his head and ignored his partner. “That would suggest this isn’t a random occurrence… Jackam, come here.”
Wally looked over and saw a beautiful olive skinned woman walk over to the two chief police officers on the scene. “Yeah, boss?” she asked lightly.
“Julie, I want you to go back to the station and pull Scudder’s file. I’m going to need you to search any and all victims of his crimes for possible culprits,” Chyre ordered.
Julie Jackam took a step back. “Whoa there, Chief. Don’t you have other researchers? I should be out in the field.”
Chyre shook his head emphatically. “No. No you shouldn’t. I need you back at the station with Spivot and Forrest, do I make myself clear?”
The woman half-heartedly nodded as she walked in Wally’s direction to her squad car. When she got to The Flash, she stopped and looked up at him with a slight smile. “Hi, I’m Julie Jackam, I don’t believe we’ve met yet,” she said as she offered her hand to him, which he graciously shook.
Wally smiled back at her. He felt a strange sensation flow through his body, having his date to Senior Prom introduce herself to him. “Lieutenant Chyre speaks very highly of you.”
Her face turned a light shade of red as she hid her eyes from Wally’s gaze. “That’s nice of him… well I better be getting back. I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of you.”
“Hey, Flash.”
Wally looked up and saw Fred Chyre wave him over. Tapping into the Speed Force, he hurried over. “What is it, Lieutenant?”
“We know you’re not an official cop, but we were hoping you’d keep your eye out for Rogue related activity?”
The Flash nodded with resolution. “You didn’t even need to ask.”
***
The next several days were stressful for Wally. The criminal activity wasn’t any worse than usual, but he was prepared for worse. Feeling the inability to take a breath fatigued him faster than usual, even with the enhanced metabolism. He wasn’t even able to enjoy his time with Linda, who was becoming more and more suspicious.
“Wally, what’s wrong?” she finally asked point blank as they enjoyed a light lunch together in her apartment.
He looked up at her like a deer in the headlights. “I, um, nothing… just work.”
She gave him a condescending look. “Wally, look, I’m really into you. I’m not going to say that I’m not… but if you don’t feel the same way, I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t waste my time.”
Wally’s heart sank to the floor. “Lin… that’s not it at all… I’m sorry if I made you think that at all.”
Linda crossed her arms over her chest. “Then what is it?”
The Speedster sighed. “I… well, I’ve only ever been with two girls. Jess was the proverbial girl next door. I grew up with her and we just ended up together naturally… the other one, Julie… my Uncle set us up. She was the granddaughter of one of his co-workers… this whole dating thing? Not really good at it… and I really like you. I don’t want to screw it up.
He paused to see she was buying his soliloquy, which was only half a lie. He felt all of it, but that wasn’t the biggest of his concerns at the time. Her face indicated a mix of disbelief, amusement and endearment. She reached across the table and placed her hand on his. “I had now idea. That’s so sweet.”
“Yeah, not something I normally talk about.”
Just then, the phone rang across the room, which almost caused Wally to jump into the Speed Force. Luckily, he was able to catch himself before revealing his identity in front of his girlfriend. “Sorry… let me get that.”
He walked over to the phone and answered it. “Hello?”
“Wally West?” asked a man with a Scottish accent from the other end of the phone.
Not recognizing the voice, Wally furled his brow at the phone. “Um, yeah. This is Wally. Can I ask who’s asking?”
Wally heard a light chuckle on the other end. “You can ask. Don’t mean I’m inclined to answer, boyo. But, I must say it’s a pleasure to finally make yer acquaintance, laddie. I’ve been a fan for… um… about a week now.”
Wally’s heart sank. Even though it wasn’t spoken, he knew exactly what he was referring to when he gave the time frame. “What do you want?”
“Oh, very direct of you, boyo. I don’t ask for much, I just to play. I think we can have some real fun together.”
Wally’s mind began to race, thinking of how he could figure out where the call was coming from. He knew that the Proton had such power, but he wasn’t sure how he could locate him in thirty seconds. Just then, he remembered Linda was sitting just a few feet away from him. He turned to her and saw that she had a look of concern on his face to which he reassured her with a thumbs up.
“I’m serious, what do you want.”
“That quine sittin’ at yer table. She’s quite lovely…”
Wally began to search the room frantically, while keeping a facade of normalcy as not to alarm Linda. He quickly hung up the phone and began to search around the room frantically.
“Wally, is everything okay?”
He turned to her. “Um… yeah. Just a fan of my Uncle’s. They always set me off,” he lied. “Look, Linda. I have to go see my Aunt… something came up.”
She nodded and pulled Wally into a tight embrace. “Let me know if you need anything. You know where to reach me.”
***
“And there’s no way he could have known that a woman was in your apartment?” Jay asked with a hint of worry in his voice.
Wally emphatically shook his head. “If I knew how, I wouldn’t be here, Jay.”
Jay continued to pace the room as he scratched his chin thoughtfully. “I can send Bart out… Jessie may be willing to lend a hand as well, I’ll see what I can do.”
“With all due respect, Jay, I’d prefer to do this on my own.”
The aging Speedster eyed the younger with his oddly warm blue eyes to size him up. “Wally, real people are involved here. You’re not trying to prove yourself are you? If so, we end that right here.”
Wally shook his head. “Jay, it’s not like that. It’s just… I don’t know… has anyone ever threatened Joan?”
The two men stood in silence for a moment in the middle of Jay Garrick’s kitchen holding mugs of coffee. Hesitantly, Jay nodded as he took a seat at the breakfast bar. “Yeah… When I got home from the war, I reasserted myself as the defender of the Twin Cities. Needless to say I made a few enemies. But the only one to ever make it personal was Rival.”
“Rival?”
Jay nodded his head lightly. “Yes. Dr. Edward Clariss, not too dissimilar to Jessie’s biological father. He got a whiff of the Speed Force and tried to control it. Unfortunately, unlike Chambers, he found the Reverse-Speed Force.”
Wally nodded along like a good listener. “What happened then?”
“Well, there’s a certain bond that all Speedsters share, so it didn’t take long for him to determine who I was and he spent some time going after Joan.” Jay spoke with a quiver in his voice.
“What did you do?”
Jay shrugged. “I did what I had to do… I defended her.”
Wally nodded. “I wish it were that easy. I don’t even know what this guy looks like… I just know he has a Scottish accent…”
“Then start there,” Jay smiled at him.
Just then Wally’s cell phone rang. He picked it up and seeing it was Linda, he quickly answered. “Hey, Lin. What’s up?”
“Wally, are you home?” Her voice sounded panicked and hushed.
“No, I’m at my Aunt’s… Is everything okay?” He asked with the sound of worry rising with each word.
She let out a brief cry. “Wally, there’s someone in the apartment.”
Before she was able to speak her last three words, Wally was in his Flash costume and heading towards the inner city of Keystone. Tearing through the city streets, leaving nothing in his wake, never before had he run so fast.
When he arrived at the apartment, he busted into Linda’s unit and saw a man in a metallic green costume with reflective lenses standing over Linda with a gun pointed at her. “Ah, good of you to join us.”
Without thinking, Wally lunged at him, but before he could reach him, the intruder jumped towards a glass vase in on Linda’s coffee table and disappeared into it. “Up here, brother… come and get me.”
Wally looked up and saw his reflection in the brass of the ceiling fan. “Nope. Wait…” His reflection disappeared again. “Over here.”
The sound of his voice was now coming from the balcony. Wally looked over and just saw his reflection in the sliding glass door. The Flash quickly spun around but saw nothing. “I’m coming for you!”
Wally turned back around to the glass and saw eight men who looked exactly the same charging towards him. Tapping into the Speed Force, he ran at each up them, but when he made contact, they all disappeared. “DAMMIT!” Wally shouted in frustration.
The Flash looked back at Linda who was quivering on the couch in hysterics and the man was standing right above her. “Looking for me?”
“Mirror Master…”
The man let out a brief cackle. “Kinda. Let’s just say I’m not your Uncle’s Mirror Master. I’m better.”
Before Wally could react, the person calling himself the Mirror Master shot his laser gun at him, sending him hurtling into the wall, making a large crack in the mirror that was set up over a desk.
“Didn’t anyone tell you that breaking a mirror is bad luck, boyo? Let me tell you, that superstition is 100% true.” Without missing a beat, he deftly jumped through the mirror, creating upwards of sixteen body doubles of himself that exited from every picture frame in the apartment.
Wally struggled to get up. The blast from the laser had left him somewhat immobilized. He got to his feet and readied himself to fend off the army of Mirror Masters. However, they quickly rematerialized into one, who was standing on the coffee table in the center of the room. “Wh… Who are you?”
“I used to live in a room full of mirrors; all I could see was me. I take my spirit and I crash my mirrors, now the whole world is here for me to see,” he said; barely able to contain his laughed.
The Flash only stared blankly at the man. “What is that?”
Mirror Master rolled his eyes. “For someone who’s wearing the exact costume the other Flash wore, I would think you would know something about mirrors and let me tell you, boyo… only one can exist on each side of the mirror. Not you and the ghost…”
“You killed Sam Scudder…”
For the first time the Mirror Master showed his teeth. “Bingo. You’re smarter than you look… Now when are you going to put your double out of its misery…?”
“Jess?”
“Barry Allen.”
Wally’s heart dropped. “What does Barry have to do with this?”
“Look in the mirror and get back to me…” He pulled his gun from his holster and took one more shot at Wally who dodged it, but when he finally came around to face the Mirror Master again, he was gone.
The Flash darted around the room, looking for him to no avail. Suddenly as he came back into the living room he caught his reflection in a shard of the broken mirror. “Catch ya later, Flasher.”
And with that, he was gone.
Wally looked at the passed out Linda on the couch and quickly got back into his street clothes. “Linda!”
He ran over to her and cupped her face with his hands. “Wally?” She asked in a labored voice. Wally beamed down at her with tears flowing from his eyes.
***
Wally sat with Linda for several hours before he felt comfortable going home and even then, he was still on guard. Luckily for him, she was out of it due to a laser blast, so she wasn’t comprehensive when Mirror Master was giving away information as to his secret identity. Afterwards, he filled in the Major Crimes Squad, specifically Detective Jared Morillo, who for the first time was happy to have The Flash in Keystone City.
At around ten o’clock, he finally settled into his apartment after checking in on his girlfriend one last time. He was dozing off in a recliner in front of his television, watching the Food Network when he heard a crash in his bedroom. He snapped his neck, tapping into the Speed Force for a split second. “Hello?”
Warily, he walked towards his room with apprehension and saw before him, a man with a long grey beard wearing red robes that were adorned with lightning bolts. The man’s blue eyes lit up and he smiled at Wally with a toothy grin. “Wallace! It’s wonderful to see you.”
“Who the hell are you?”
The man looked around the room to see if there was anyone else there that he could have been referring to. “I’m Max Mercury, of course. We have a lot of work to do.”
With that, Max clapped his hands together causing a barrage of lightning bolts to fill the room and when they subsided, the pair was gone.
