Issue 11: "Topsy Turvy"

[Darkseid Is]

[Darkseid Is]

Prologue:

My name is Barry Allen and I’m the fastest man alive. Well, actually I’m one of the two fastest men on Earth, the other being my nephew Wally West. There used to be three of us but Jay’s dead now. He sacrificed himself during the Crisis to save the world. He died a hero.

[Darkseid Is]

The Crisis hit me pretty hard. My mentor and close friend was killed and they city I spent years protecting was nearly razed to the ground in an act of cosmic conquest. I threw myself into my police work and my super heroics.

A couple of months ago I realized that something was wrong with my powers. I was losing speed gradually day by day. I first noticed the difference when I was running over the Pacific Ocean on an errand for an old friend, Manfred Mota. Everything was going great until I took my next step and instead of skimming across the surface, I fell straight through. I nearly drowned because I was so shocked. I was the fastest man alive; running across water was child’s play!

So I decided to pay S.T.A.R Labs a visit. They told me that they couldn’t find anything wrong with me and that it was all in my head. They said it could be that I was afraid of stealing Jay’s thunder and so I subconsciously made myself slower. If I was any other person I would have attacked the doctor in a rage.

[Darkseid Is]

Over the next few days I became more withdrawn and I eventually disappeared off the radar for a couple of weeks. It seemed like a good idea at the time: retire from being the Flash for two weeks and find my inner peace in the speed force.

Now that I look back on it, I realized that I sounded like some zen-master of speed or something. Iris found me alone on Easter Island. Turns out, a bat told her where I was. I broke down in front of her. All my guilt and anger came pouring out of me in a speech that lasted less than a second.

Even though she had no idea what I had said, she got the general meaning. We went back to Central City and a few weeks later Iris dropped a bombshell on me; I, Barry Allen the fastest man alive, was going to be a father!

[Darkseid Is]

Little did I know that there would be dark days ahead for Iris and I...

[Darkseid Is]

The Flash
Issue #11: "Rogue State Prologue: Topsy Turvy"
Written by Sebastian Gutierrez
Cover by Borize
Edited by Immanuel Coke

[Darkseid Is]

“You’re ruined Flash. This is your last battle!” the Mirror Master screamed inside one of the many mirrors scattered around the abandoned warehouse. He took out his kaleidoscope and pulled the trigger, causing dozens of deadly lasers to appear and bounce around. The Flash slowed down and tried to avoid them, but finally one of them hit him directly in the chest.

Mirror Master passed from one reflection to another, shooting every once in a while. The Flash recovered quickly and swiftly avoided the beams.

“Well, let’s get this clear, you can’t beat us!” Mirror Master disappeared. Soon, he appeared again, now in each and every mirror he had strategically placed before luring the Flash into the abandoned building. Each one of them holding one of the odd mirror guns, pointing at the Flash.

“I am the most powerful rogue you have. You stand no chance against me.”

[Darkseid Is]

Barry just couldn’t understand why most villains spend their time monologuing and trying to scare him. If he finished soon, he still had twenty minutes to prepare himself for his special dinner tonight with Iris. He just couldn’t be late this time.

“Gotcha.” The Mirror Masters shot at the Flash at the same time. Now, hundreds of laser beams filled the room. The Flash tried to avoid them, but he fell to the floor, screaming.

Mirror Master stepped out of the reflection, and pointed at the Flash with his kaleidoscope. “Oh, Flash. I thought you would last longer than that.”

“Gotcha.” Barry stopped faking and sprinted at the villain, taking out his weapon first, and then knocking him down with two punches to the face and an uppercut. He grabbed Scudder and ran out of the building. He told himself to remember to remind the police to use that warehouse for something legal before another Rogue or a gang used it.

“Here we are, at channel 8 with breaking news. The Flash has once fought and stopped another villain’s scheme, defeating his old Rogue the Mirror Master, this very afternoon. Scudder will be moved to Iron heights as soon as possible, meaning, whenever they finish a new room for him, since he escaped through a reflection last time. This is the first time this month that the Flash has battled one of his many foes. Just in time for tomorrow’s grand re-opening of the Flash’s museum, after some rebuilding, cleaning and the inauguration of his newest wing. A well-deserved homage, after saving us all the time, I say. ”

[Darkseid Is]

A man is watching TV in a dark room. There are bodies in the floor, all of them wearing white robes or scrubs. He smiles.

“The Flash is at the top. I must be at the Top! No, wait, I am the Top!”

“Mom! Mom, Look!” says a little five year-old. His hair combed to the left, a wide smile in his face. He is wearing a shirt with green and yellow stripes.

“What is it darlin...? Oh my God!” she screams.

“I killed him.” the kid says, proudly. He is carrying a dead rabbit in his hands. “He was boring. I wanted him to be fuuun, but he didn’t wanted to. I wanted fun!”

[Darkseid Is]

Barry Allen runs through Central City. He has today off at work, and in a few hours he has to be at the Flash Museum for the grand re-opening. Say hello, smile, and deliver a speech. It’s great. What other superhero has a Museum made by his city? None. Well, the JSA, but that’s a team. That means he is doing his job well, so he should be proud of himself but he can't help but feel that today was merely the beginning of a bloody season. His powers were still decreasing but he could manage.

[Darkseid Is]

He runs up the stairs, to his son’s room. He opens the door. His son is reading a book in his bed, his shirt stained with blood.


“Again? I’ve told you to stop seeing that nasty kids! No more fights, you’re grounded!”

“You ground me? Oh my, dear dad, you cannot do anything to me! I’m 50 IQ points smarter than you are. I’m better than you!”

“Don’t you talk to me like that! I raised you! I’m the one that brings money; you can’t work without me! I’ll call the police.” He grabs the phone and starts dialing.

“Oh, you won’t!” The kid says, and throws a jar at his father’s head.

His mother enters his room running. His father is lying on the floor, blood all over the place. The kid smiles. Then he continues to read his book.

[Darkseid Is]

“I’m leaving now, honey. Remember to be there on time, ok?” Iris, his loving wife, says mockingly. She kisses him in the cheek and leaves. He stays there, sitting in the couch for a while. Thinking about his time in Keystone and Central city, his rogues, the almost fatal experiment that gave him his powers, Jay’s sacrifice, Iris, their unborn child, and even Wally, . About nearly everything.

Will some of his old foes have the courage to attack him on the museum’s grand reopening? Maybe one of his rogues? He crosses his fingers and hopes forthe best. But the idea doesn’t leave his head. In a place like that, filled with people, a well thought plan could kill hundreds of people. Maybe even thousands. And if someone does, he will try to stop him.

He stands up, and presses his ring. His suit appears, and in less than a second he leaves the building, vibrating through the walls.

One year ago, after the crisis happened, and Central City was still being rebuilt, the Rogues all appeared in the middle of the city, and promised to leave the City alone for a few months. Cold, Mirror Master, Trickster, Heatwave, Weather Wizard and Captain Boomerang promised no attacks, no robbing, nothing. Mirror Master’s attack signaled the end of the peace treaty.

[Darkseid Is]

Newspapers are scattered among the floor, with tattered colorful pieces of clothing.

“So, it was a very long time you kept me here, you know? For a moment, I thought I’d be here forever. But I was underestimating myself, which, of course, is a really stupid thing to do. You little rascals.” The man looks himself in the mirror. He combs his hair all the way to the left. When he finishes, he paints the area around his eyes black. “ I know you are really sorry for what you did, and I forgive you. I’m pretty sure you won’t do that again.”

He looks back, to a man sitting on a sofa. Dried blood in his nose.

“Fear, Central City, Roscoe Dillon has come, and with him, your doom!” Dillon smiles, madness clearly present in his grin. He is wearing a yellow and green striped costume, with a black diamond in his chest. “Ready to be on Top of the hill!”

[Darkseid Is]

The people shout and cheer outside Flash’s museum. Seen from the air, the city would look almost deserted, except on that site. Thousands of people waiting for their hero, even though the vast majority won’t enter the gala party. Police every few meters, wearing special vests, helmets and shields. And a giant Flash statue in the middle of the place. A Jay Garrick statue.

And he arrives. The Flash. Decelerates on the street, and stops in front of all people. He walks his way to the stage where he will deliver his speech. He shakes hands, talks and smiles to people.

“Flash! Flash! Over here! You saved me once from the Trickster!” A bald man with a baby in his hands says, grabbing Barry’s hand and shaking it enthusiastically over and over.

“Flash! I love you!” screams a blonde girl with a Flash t-shirt and jeans.

“Flash! Have you received my letters?”

[Darkseid Is]

They are waiting for the results. When the people at Arkham sent them to S.T.A.R Labs was like getting a punch right in the stomach. They felt empty, shocked. The doctor walks in, holding a paper firmly with the hand. He sits down and looks up to them. A solemn look, omen of the bad news coming.

“We... we found something weird. Possibly the cause of your son’s behavior.” He shows them X-ray’s of the brain. “See this little thing over here? Well, it’s not supposed to be. It affects the neurons, the electrical impulses in the brain.”

“So... is there anyway it could be fixed?” asks his mother, angst filling all over her.


“Sorry, if we try to take it out with surgery, the chances of killing him exceed 90%. It’d be a homicide.”

“But... but...”

“He’d have to stay here, under medication. He is a threat to society in the way he is now. I’m sorry. Really sorry.”

Mrs. and Mr. Dillon look at each other with faces that are completely absent of light or hope. They just lost his son. And there’s nothing they can do about it.

In a different room, Roscoe is lying in bed, reading a book.

[Darkseid Is]

Finally, he arrives at the stage. Reporters taking photographs, asking him questions. He goes by Iris’ side.
“Hello, lovely lady” he whispers to her. He grabs the microphone, smiling. And then everything goes wrong. People start shouting, and running everywhere. Barry tries to see what’s causing it. “A miniature tornado?”

He runs, taking people out of its way. Whatever that thing is, is really powerful. Even with his super speed, he almost was sucked in. After he clears the area, he runs in the opposite direction that it is spinning. It may be fast, but he is faster. He IS the fastest man alive, after all. So, when the tornado defeats him and throws him back against his statue, the reason why he doesn’t get up is, mostly, the impression. The tornado starts slowing down, and stops.

“Welly, welly, welly, welly, welly, welly, well. If it isn’t crimson, lighting fast and beloved Flash. The hero of this city. A hero of this cruel, bloody city. Well, get ready, ‘cause I’m rising to the top tonight. Meaning, you fall. Hard.” He says, combing his hair to the left. “I’m the Top. Nice to meet you.”

“So, you spin really fast? In circles?”

“Well, yeah, I do. Hear my trombone deep sound, feel them spin in your head, the sound of infamy. Sweet sweet infamy.”

“What?”

Barry gets up and runs, but when he gets near the Top, his ears starts to feel weird, he gets dizzy and finally hits a wall. He looks up to his enemy asking himself what had happened, but then throws up.

[Darkseid Is]

“I can control anything, my friend. Not just spin around. Make you spin. Flip flop people, do mental in-outs, in-outs. Mind over matter. A mental genius, with ten years to fully develop his technique, to let it grow. I’m a God among men! And they trapped me, drugged me! And you Flash, you are going to suffer the consequences.” Roscoe Dillon shouts, and starts to spin again. Sending things flying around, moving towards the Flash,

Barry sprints out of the Top’s way, grabs debris and throws them at super speed, but they are deflected. He closes his eyes, and tries vibrating through it, but something appears in his head, that makes him stop. Roscoe grabs him, spins and sends him flying against a lamp. Grabs him again, and repeats the process, until finally Flash gets out of the way again. How is he going to defeat him?

“Why me? Why not anyone else? I haven’t done you any wrong.” He says, hoping that the talking would work, but half-heartily, with a desperation tone in his voice. He doesn’t really care about his foe psyche; he will have time for that in the future.

“You represent this city! This city, which kept me prisoner for the sake of the “people”. This city that thinks they are above me! Ha, I spit on people! It was really the fears of the doctors, a second plan after my “curing” and “rehabilitation” got complicated. The easy way out.” Rage crawls through his nerves. He slows down, but Barry doesn’t take advantage of this. Maybe he has the time, maybe talking can stop this battle.

[Darkseid Is]

“I’m sorry. We really thought that the brain tumor was the cause of his personality, but it wasn’t. After more tests, the results throw out this is amplifying his brainwaves, giving him some kind of mental power. We can’t be really sure for how long he’s had them. Maybe having them gave him the superiority complex that led him to fights.”

This time the Dillon’s cry. Now their son is really lost. The doctor tells them they’ll have to turn him into almost vegetable with experimental drugs to keep him calm. Powerful medications.


And in another room, Roscoe lies in a bed, with a little top in his hand. Spinning him round and round. A book in his lap. The next day, a nurse came to the room and injected him in his catheter. Roscoe didn’t wake up for the next ten years.

[Darkseid Is]

“They prevented my “evil” by not letting me have another option. It’s that even right? Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Even if he wanted goodness, he made us with the ability to choose, and they took it away from me! This is, dear, when you give this big speech about moral ethics, and we hold hands and go to play.” He says, a malicious smile in his face.

“Why?” Then is where he understand the subtle quotes the Top’s been making. Quoting, trying to win his confidence.

“Because, this is when I deliver you a bloshy tolchock, you eunuch.” Top hits Barry in the face, and throws ideas into his mind. Grotesque, violent ideas. A brainwash. A state of the art mindwipe. Even though both see and feel the same, is beautiful, gorgeous poetry for Dillon, intolerable pain for Flash. A considerable change made by the slightest difference of ideals, and of course, place. Justice and goodness, against a rotten mind, getting dirtier by the time. Stopped for ten years and recently delivered to a different time, childhood lost. “You shouldn’t have heard the men behind the curtain. You should have just kept fighting. Now is true, fleshy horrorshow. God, I love this. Ye Olde Ultraviolence. Heh... Ha ha ha ha!”

Barry can’t stand longer, he starts to lose his grip, feel the desire for blood, the thrill for destruction, killing, mayhem. But he needs to fight, cause if he stops, thousands could die. So, he holds to the memory that has kept him going for years. Iris.

“You end here, Top. You don’t mess with my head, and for God’s sake talk for your own. Just reading a book doesn’t make you better than anyone else.” He breaks from the mental attack, not too late, and unfortunately not too soon. He doesn’t have a killing wish, but he does want to kill the Top. Playing with someone’s mind can backfire.

[Darkseid Is]

Flash grabs him and slams the Top against his statue. “You are...” he punches Roscoe in the stomach. “...sick.” punches him in the face. “Y’think that...” again in the face. “... you are better...” hits him with his knee in the rib several times. “...than other people?” slams him again against the statue, this time hitting him in the back of his head. “Than me? You should have been killed instead of just locking you up.” Finally, he slams Top’s head with the foot of his statue. “Finally, done”

But he is far from done. The Top slowly rises, smiling. “You can’t keep me down for long, you... fool’s idol. But, you really think I should be killed? How rude of you. Droog.”

“Can’t you talk in a normal way?” Barry grabs Roscoe by the shirt, but he is kicked in the knee, and releases him. The Top starts to spin. Maybe he could drug him again, like he says they stopped him... “Wait. How were you able to break free?”

“Glad that you asked, Flashy-boy. It’s quite a story, I’ll tell you.”

[Darkseid Is]

They kept me drugged, three times a day they came and injected me with the darndest things. A colorful liquid, long needles, pills in my mouth. It felt like I was in a deep well, sometimes able to hear a muffled voice, or see a little ray of light. Nothing more. Couldn’t count time, time passed incredibly fast. Until everything started to get clearer. Compared to what it seemed before, it felt as clear as an azure sky, as a perfect crystal lake...

“Stop quoting, I can tell when you do that.” Barry evades a scrap of metal thrown to him by the air currents caused by the spins of the Top.

Ok... Everything filled with light. I was, finally, alive. My powers came to the surface again, stronger. I used my powers to get out from there. Lived in the streets, years. I had a feeling, like I wasn’t in home anymore. Recently, I returned to my prison. Beat everyone there. Nice.

“But what caused the medicine to stop working?” Then, Flash pukes.

Oh, right, right. This morning, in the time it got to finally free me, I saw this yellow blur, my savior. I guess he changed, or adulterated my medicine. Talked like, I don’t know, like his place in the time-space was fluctuating, causing him to speed up and speed down, I guess, maybe he just could and wanted to talk that way. I tried to look at him, but he was glowing, brilliant colors, flashing ones. The point is he told me something:

“The Rogues. Attack the Flash.” Well, that were the only things that I could understand. And he left.

My savior, any name would be sweet, but I got none.. I’m eternally grateful to a mystery man. I owe my freedom to him. To no one else.

[Darkseid Is]

The Flash stops, and leaves the Central City.

“Well, that’s no way to behave on our first fight, ain’t ya?” Top says.

Inner Monologue

Well, this is the only thing I could think off. I mean, I’ve never faced a human being as twisted as this before. I need to clear my head and: a) Top has stopped spinning so I can attack him, or b) pray that the force and speed that I have gathered, can penetrate his barrier, his mind-over matter tornado. Who knows, maybe I’ll break a neck or a spine.

Police Officer, Ray Martin, sees the Flash leaving the fight. Leaving that monster in there, alone. Central and Keystone depending on him. Or at least that is what he thinks. He walks slowly behind the psychotice dervish, and shoots the Top three times in the back, but the bullets bounce off. Roscoe stops, and smiles.

[Darkseid Is]

Barry arrives back in Central City and prepares to attack the Top, when he sees something that makes him stop in his tracks. The Top is dangling an innocent police officer by his neck.

“Stop it. Leave him alone, this is between you and me. Let him go.”

“Then, why did you run? For help, to fool me? You can’t Top the top. YOU CAN’T TOP THE TOP.” He grabs the officer’s head tighter.

“D-don’t worry, a-about me. Save eve-everybody else fr-from t-this madman.” Ray Martin gasps.

“You don’t have to protect yourselves from me! I should protect myself from you! Your phony thoughts influenced by everyone, stupid lives led by stupid people! I’m better than you, I’m making you a favor.” He starts to spin faster nad faster.

[Darkseid Is]

“Stop! Don’t do it, I believe your not a killer at heart.” And what he said was true. Not one person that was present at the Top’s assalut were killed or maimed.

“I can do whatever I want, FLASH!” Barry runs, but this time he is not fast enough. Roscoe spins his hands at super speed, breaking the officer’s neck “Oh... oh, it feels, I didn’t, but...”

The Top stares blankly into the space. Then, before the Flash can move, his expression changes into one filled with pain. “My braaiiiin... feels, burning... What did you do?”

“This time you went too far, Top!” Barry says, grabbing him, and hitting him in the head several times, then throwing him at super speed in the air. Dillon falls to the concrete. Rage fills him, he wants the Top dead, but he stops. That’s not really him, he wouldn’t kill.

The Top lies in his back, blood coming out from his mouth, and tears rolling down his cheek. And passes out.

[Darkseid Is]

Minutes later...

Paramedics have already arrived to the scene, and taken both the officer and Roscoe, but it’s too late for the first one. He was already dead.

They postponed the reopening of the museum to the next week.

“How are you feeling, Barry?” Iris asks. She has her hand on Barry’s shoulder.

“Bad. Well, nothing hurts me, but I can’t get out from my head that that officer died because I couldn’t do my job in the first place. I sensed that something like this could happened, one of my villains attacking on a killing spree on a public event like this. And still, I allowed it and came. They have a museum for me, and I can’t even save them. I am the fastest man alive!”


“This is not your fault, Allen, so quit it already. First, you stopped that crazy psycho Top. And you saved thousands of lives. Five thousand, seven hundred and twenty-three people came, and only one died. I don’t mean to say that his dead wasn’t bad, but I think the other person not dying is way merrier. People will die, and not even your speed will be able to save them. You inspire everyone, you are fundamental for our lives.”

“I know, but sometimes I think that the one I won’t be able to save the next time will be you. Or Wally, or someone I love.”

Silence. The alley they are hiding in stinks like rotten eggs and dirty diapers.

“You believe that I don’t think that every time you are late for something, or you leave me? Yes, but I know that you try your best, and that you are helping someone somewhere. And that fills me with hope. I fear for you each time you use your speed. I wouldn’t want our son being born and growing up without a father. But I realize that we wouldn’t be able to do anything against Murmur or Trickster if you weren’t here. So I’m okay with it because its what you do and I’m so proud of you for it.”

Silence. Barry stands up, and presses his ring, unfolding his costume. In a blink, he already has it on.

“I love you.” Barry says.

“And I love you too, Barry.”

[Darkseid Is]

He arrives at the scene, where two people are restraining a drugged and about to pass out Top. Flash gets to them, and looks Roscoe in the eyes.

“You’re never going to see the light of day again.”

“What? Mayhem, destruction? I can pay, pay all for all those things!”

“You killed a man Roscoe, you can’t pay for that! That was somebody’s husband, son and father. What can you say to that?”

The Top stares blankly into space, surprised. They get him inside the ambulance, and leave for Iron Heights. “Killing? Heh, great. Feels great.”

He turns and talks to the nurse besides him. “Flip Flopped the Flash. Guilt and Anger. Heh.”

[Darkseid Is]

A group people come towards the Flash, a women with her girl.. Their eyes look red, and the girl still is crying. Family of Ray Martin.

“He... he praised you, you were hi... his idol. I... we know y-you tried your best, Flash. We know.”

Barry stays and talks with the widow, about how her husband died trying to stop the Top. After a while, he leaves, after asking them for lunch sometime. And that’s the way it always is. You save some, and you lose some. But, luckily or unfortunately, it was only one.

[Darkseid Is]

The next day...

“Cap, have you read the papers? “Top kills police officer, battles the Flash”. A metahuman, speedster, in the same city and with a grudge against the Flash.” Jesse James holds a paper in his left hand, and waves it enthusiastically.

“So?” Len slowly rises his eyes.

“So? We got to get him! He’ll be our ultimate secret weapon against the Flash! We free him from prison, and attack”

“Bad idea. The Flash will track us before he bonds with us. Metahumans are hard to relate with.”

“Ok... I’ll go and make another plan. Another ultimate great secret plan! Filled with tricks, not even the Flash can escape.” Jesse leaves, laughing.

“The Top?” Snart stands up, and gets a book out from a secret vault he has in the wall. It’s title reads “The Life Story of The Flash”. He opens it, and looks for something. “Interesting.”

Iron Heights Analysis on the Top.
By Hunter Zolomon

The Top a.k.a. Roscoe Dillon.

Roscoe Dillon, the newest member of the Flash’s colorful gallery of rogues, is perhaps one of the most disturbing. Born with and incredible level of intelligence, he developed anger problems and what seemed as a God-complex. The dangerous part came next, when at the age of eight he received mind over matter powers, by reasons unknown. Battles the Flash because he blames the city for making him lose his childhood, spending in a coma-like state for 10 years, since he was 12.


Weird fact: He seems to have some sort of mood swings, almost reaching a bipolar state. For periods of time, he is seen crying, or bursting into laughter. We think that his spinning powers are affecting his own brain and mood, making it “spin”.

Found and contacted his parents. Sounded worried but happy.

[Darkseid Is]

Roscoe Dillon sits in a corner in his cell. He looks everywhere. Saliva dripping out from his mouth, his eyes red.

“Be on Top, be on Tooooo........... Well, that wasn’t very nice. I swear that won’t happen to me again. Brain burning, hehe.”

The light in his cell flared like the sun. When the light stop, a figure steps out from nowhere.

“Roscoe Dillon, the Top, your role in this has just started. You’ll help me. I know your capacity, and I can take you to your limits.” the figure plays with a cane he’s holding. “Won’t you?”

“... You know, I kind of like the Flash. I’d love to see him again. Heh, I’m in.”

[Darkseid Is]

To Be Continued...