CRISIS #10: The Flash #10

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The Flash
Issue 10: "Flashes of Lightning"
Written by Charles HoM (with additional material by David Charlton)
Cover by Borize
Edited by David Charlton

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…And there came a day, unlike any other, when the world’s greatest heroes faced their greatest threat… Coveting the legendary Anti-Life Equation that would make him the Master of the Universe, the evil god Darkseid brought death and destruction to Earth… Now, the fiery, black planet Apokolips hangs above the Earth and the two worlds go to war! Separate and taken by surprise, the heroes of Earth struggle just to survive!

… First blood was drawn in Metropolis. Striking a deal with Lex Luthor for the comatose body of Superman’s half-brother Kru-El, Darkseid’s chief scientist Desaad transforms the Kryptonian into the rampaging killing machine called Doomsday! A fierce battle ensues and for the first time, Superman falls in battle! Dragged in chains to Apokolips, the Man of Steel is Darkseid’s prisoner…

… On Oa, the Green Lantern Corps is sabotaged and betrayed by an agent of Apokolips. The Central Power Battery is destroyed and the Manhunters, ancient enemies of the Guardians of the Universe have launched a successful assault on the planet. Oa falls, and the mysterious new Manhunter Grandmaster sends a prisoner to his ally Darkseid--- the Guardian Appa Ali Apsa!

Meanwhile, on Earth, Green Lantern Hal Jordan finds himself, inexplicably, in possession of the only working power ring in the universe, and uses it to save Coast City from a massive tidal wave threatening the Pacific seaboard--- and to soundly defeat Kalibak, the son of Darkseid in a fearsome brawl!

… As the captured Guardian Appa Ali Apsa is taken to Apokolips, he escapes briefly before he is recaptured over Metropolis--- but not before he can bathe one particular Earthling in a weird emerald light… changing Kyle Rayner’s life forever!

...In Gotham City, the alien assault hits the hardest and the city falls to the brutal General Steppenwolf, but not before the Dark Knight Detective is able to smuggle out (with the help of Nightwing) the one man Darkseid wants the most: Scott Free, the vaunted Mister Miracle...

... Following the nefarious Virman Vundabar through a boom tube, the New Outsiders become stranded on Apokolips itself. And while part of the team launches a desperate mission to rescue one of their own from the clutches of the despicable Desaad, the rest of the team joins the Hunger Dogs in a bold uprising against Darkseid himself...

... At the same time, the Challengers of the Unknown also find themselves on the dark planet, battling Doctor Bedlam...

... Against all odds, Nightwing safely delivers Mister Miracle to his fellow New Gods in Metropolis... and the Teen Titans foil Dr Bedlam's plan to use the Forever People to discover the Anti-Life Equation! But it is Lex Luthor who, feeling his usefulness to Darkseid is at an end, breaks the truce and launches a premptive attack against the occupying forces of Apokolips, bringing Metropolis into the war...

... In a lethal gambit, G. Gordon Godfrey seizes control of the US Government, but in a daring raid on the White House, the Suicide Squad face off against the Female Furies in a race against time to save the city from nuclear annihilation...

... Wonder Woman leads a desperate raid on Apokolips to rescue the Man of Steel--- and in an act of selfless heroism, a hero makes his final stand against Darkseid himself!

Heroes will rise and heroes will fall. And the DC2 will never be the same again…!

CRISIS: The Apokolips Imperative, Part 10!

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The Flash ran.

He ran faster and longer than he ever had before. There was a war on. The Earth had been attacked, invaded by interdimensional monsters who wanted only to kill and destroy. They struck without warning and without mercy. Flights of parademons filled the skies, blasting at targets below, and waves of dog soldier shocktroops marched into towns, driving all before them.

So the Flash ran. He seemed to be needed everywhere. He raced up the side of a building to pull a mother and her crying baby from a fiery inferno. He sped over the surface of Lake Infantino to destroy an Apokolitian plasma battery, evading the retaliatory laser blasts. He rushed supplies and ammunition to the US Army 2cnd Cavalry, engaged in a pitched battle with a parademon legion. He helped evacuate civilians from suburbs of Keystone City where the grinding war machine of Apokolips had destroyed homes and lives.

The Flash ran and he did not stop for long. Because every time he did, a new crisis seemed to loom over his shoulder. So, he ran a little faster, and he felt more and more like he was living on borrowed time. That the world was carrying-on without him, that he had stepped out of history, had become an observer… He ran so fast and so much, he felt like he was chasing himself--- or that he was running from a fate he dare not contemplate. He dove into the speed force, rode it, challenged it.

He had taken to looking over his shoulder, almost expecting to see himself there, the Black Flash calling him to his doom…

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He woke with a scream, shooting up in bed.

“Barry!” Iris was awake instantly, soothing him, wiping the sweat from his brow. “It’s alright, darling! I’m here, I’m here…” She kissed him and murmured comfortingly to him.

Outside the fortified shelter of the Flash Museum he could hear the distant sounds of mortar fire and Apokoliptian pulse canon. It never seemed to cease. He knew he would never get back to sleep this night.

He got out of bed, searching for his ring.

“Barry, come back to bed.” Iris pleaded with him. “You haven’t had more than a few hours of sleep since the war began…”

“I can’t.” He simply said, softening the words with a faint smile. “It’s like everything in me is screaming: run! I can’t sit still for long--- I’ll go crazy.”

Iris frowned. “You can’t keep this up. Your body may crave the speed force, but it’s still mortal. I’m afraid you’ll… run yourself to death.”

Barry Allen slipped on his ring, activated it, and in the blink of an eye, clad himself in the familiar red and yellow uniform.

“So long as I have your love to guide me,” He bent down to kiss her tear-moistened cheek. “I will always find my way home.”

Before the moisture of his kiss dried on her cheek, he was gone.

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Apokolips.

Desaad stepped out of a boom tube into Launching Station 1, screaming orders to the Desaadites who scurried out of his way. He stalked across the platform to the control panel and the view screen overlooking his latest creation, and he sighed in wonder at its lethal beauty: the Infernal Machine squatted on the launching pad like missile aimed at Earth, steam pouring from its vents.

“It is not yet ready for launch.” A deep voice grumbled behind him.

“There is no more time for fine tuning, Gravyn.” Desaad told Darkseid’s bastard son, Desaad’s own pupil and sometime pawn. “The Earthlings dared to attack your lord father in his own throne room, and our dread master is mightily wroth!”

“The machine is unstable.” Gravyn pressed. “It is designed to drill into the Earth’s core and remake that festering world from within into a dark mirror of our own beloved Apokolips. But the calibrations have not been checked. The Machine might just as well rip apart that pretty little mudball…”

“Who will then mourn for Earth, Gravyn? You?” Desaad whirled on him. “But no matter. I have made no mistakes, Gravyn. My calculations are correct. You fool, don’t you see? This is your chance! Go do what your imbecilic half-brother failed to do! Protect the Infernal Machine against the heroes of Earth, and show Lord Darkseid he has at least one son worthy of the name!”

Gravyn’s lip curled around his sharp teeth as Desaad readied the Machine for launch.

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Barry found Jay on a hill outside Keystone City. Dawn was just beginning to color the sky, but the elder speedster only had eyes for the hellish black planet, sputtering and fuming in the upper atmosphere.

Skidding to a halt, Barry stood in silence with his friend and mentor for a moment, joining him in silent contemplation of the enemy.

“You know,” Jay finally said, in a quiet, thoughtful voice. “Even during the darkest days of the Second World War, I never felt like we wouldn’t beat the bad guys… That, eventually, given enough time, things would be back to normal, lives would resume. Joan and I would have a family.” An involuntary wince flashed across his face, quickly dispelled. He smiled at Barry, patting him on the arm.

“How’s Iris and Wally?”

“Iris is safe.” Barry told him. “We opened the Flash Museum as a shelter. Half of Central City is there! Wally is in Metropolis with the Titans. Those kids are almost single-handedly throwing back the invasion there. You would be very proud of them, Jay. The legacy of heroism you and the JSA left us…” Barry shook his head, his voice catching. “We’re going to get through this, Jay. Things will return to normal one day. And I want you and Joan to stand as godparents to my children when the time comes.”

Jay Garrick squeezed the shoulder of his young friend, his own eyes bright. But before he could say anything, something caught their attention. A burst of light on Apokolips, not a firepit, but something else… a missile? The Flashes watched it as it arced over the horizon, heading straight for Keystone City.

“What in Blue Blazes…?”

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The massive device descended toward the Earth. A crowd had already begun to gather, where the massive machine hovered over Keystone City. Cheers erupted as the Flashes arrived on the scene, as the device hovered over the Earth.

“What in God’s name?” Jay did a quick pass beneath it, searching for any visible weapons.

Before anyone could take a breath, the ground began to rattle and shake and a strange metallic tentacle was loosed onto the green park below! Barry went into action, picking up speed beneath the device. He created a massive updraft, a red whirlwind that shot upwards, catching the device in its tornado-like grip. He smiled, and poured on the speed, but the device began to jerk downward awkwardly, the tentacle keeping it locked securely with the Earth below! It wasn’t going to budge!

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“Get away from the Infernal Machine, human!”

He was thrown backwards by a giant hand, slamming into Jay Garrick’s statue in the memorial park. “Puny human, none can stop the will of He-Who-Is-The-End… None can stop Darkseid!”

Barry looked up, and shook his head to clear it.

“Y’think?” He accelerated straight at the purple skinned man, but was punched in the chest, and sent clattering backwards again. Whoever this bruiser was, he was able to see at superspeed!

“I am his scion, the dread Gravyn! You may try and amuse me, you may TRY to stop me, but I assure you, human, none can withstand my power.” He smiled cruelly, only to stagger backwards, as some unseen force hit him square in the back.

“Withstand this!” Jay Garrick leaped to the side of Barry Allen and smiled at his protégé, and the duo unleashed a barrage of punches on the being, moving faster than the eye could see, two red blurs streaking backwards and forwards in unison, never keeping the same direction, never hitting the same place in the same order. Gravyn jerked forward, and swung his arms back, dispelling the men, and sending them hurtling backwards. Jay looked up as his helmet clattered to a standstill on the ground in front of him, and then flinched as Gravyn stomped his foot on it, crushing it with his might.

“What is there to withstand, fleshling? Your punches are nothing compared to the fire pits of Apokolips!”

Barry launched himself full tilt at the creature, causing them both to stumble backwards towards the shimmering lake behind them both.

“COME ON THEN!”

Jay looked up and saw the device descending, mere metres away from them now, shook his head, and joined the attack, pressing the villain into the lake behind him.

“You thinking what I think you’re thinking?”

Barry winked and smiled.

“Alley Oop.”

Gravyn aimed his fists at Jay, but Barry grabbed them, and held on for dear life as he arced high over Jay’s head. The son of Darkseid slowly stumbled backward, and then the lake was upon them, both of them stumbling into the flowing waters as the massive device slammed down on the ground, tentacle bursting through stone and soil and heading straight for the core of the Earth.

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Gravyn emerged from the water, the two speedsters in his hands, their heads caught in his titanic grip, and he hurled them into the Infernal Machine, the two humans simply bouncing off the metal.

“WEAK!” Gravyn bellowed into the sky, smiling. “Where are the heroes? Where are the challenges?! I’ve seen so much of this planet, so much potential for a slight distraction from the tedium of my life but no, only these people who think they can RUN fast! I AM A GOD! A GOD OF APOKOLIPS!”

He stalked over to Barry and kicked him in the ribs, sending him back into the Infernal Machine, causing him to spit blood.

“Don’t… Touch him…” Jay stumbled up, his fists raised and clenched, ready for the fight once more.

“Oh, old man. Do not tempt me to kill you, it is an already overwhelming feeling in my gut, and your petty threats only make me laugh. I do not battle for comedy, I battle for the rush, the power it brings me!” He backhanded the elder speedster away.

Barry looked up, his eye swollen but his ribs healed already.

Without words, he pounced, and vanished from sight, picking up speed as he began to lap the world. He needed momentum, he needed speed. He raised his fist and threw himself at Gravyn, but the two grappled for only moments, the New God gaining the upper hand and swinging him into the water, and then diving in after him, trying to hold him under, trying to drown the Flash.

Barry felt the two hands clenched around his throat but he couldn’t break their grip. He felt the air being sucked out of his lungs, his body being starved of oxygen. But as his brain began to ache and his limbs began to get heavy he thought of Iris’ face and his mother, his father, the children he’ll never have and the grandchildren. He moved his leaden arm and started rotating it up, generating friction creating heat. Simple physics, he smiled, causing Gravyn to frown and bear down upon his trachea.

Flash fact: When water is boiled into steam the volume increase about sixteen hundred times and transfers the energy between molecules into whatever it hits.

Barry smiled. Meaning? Boom.

The lake erupted, and the two men were flung upwards into the sky, and then came crashing back down. Gravyn landed hard, his body cracking on the ground below, but Barry floated, vibrating his arms, cushioned atop a seat of wind, slowing his movements for a gentle landing.

He looked around, saw that Gravyn was down but not out, and then thought of his predecessor and mentor.

“Jay, are you alright?”

“Take more than him to put me down…” The older speedster got to his feet, leaning on Barry’s arm. “But this is why I always wore a helmet…”

Barry shook his head and quickly examined his friend.

“You’ve got a concussion. Your metabolism will shake it off in a couple of minutes. Come on--”

Before Barry can move the man out of harm’s way he was sent flying by a mammoth blow. He landed beside the construct and turned to see Gravyn looming over the unsteady Jay Garrick.

“You’re impressive, speedsters. You think on your feet. Impressive indeed. I shall tear off your heads and mount your masked faces on my trophy wall.”

“Not today, you won’t.” Jay wound up, gathering all of the momentum he could from the speed force in the blink of an eye, and slammed Gravyn in the solar plexus a hundred times before the Apokoliptian even felt the first blow, causing the villain to howl out in pain, and stagger backwards into the lake.

Barry pressed their advantage, shooting forward and uppercutting the villain back into the centre of what’s left of the water.

“Nice move, Jay…”

“I think I got that one from you…” Jay smiled back at his protégé, the paused, and placed his hand on the ground. He looked up. “Do you feel that?”

“What?” Barry knelt and placed his hand on the earth beside the machine. “Huh… Like a pumping…”

“And these tremors!” Jay nearly lost his balance as the ground shook and rattled, sending both men stumbling over. “Damn… I think…”

“This machine is sucking the life out of the Earth!” Barry cried, appalled. “This is insanity, what could they possibly hope to achieve by this?!”

In horror, Jay pointed up to the planet in view high above the world. “Look at that. It’s black. Ash and charred remains of a planet…”

“Great Scott! You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you?”

Jay frowned. “This machine is pumping something directly down into the core of the Earth, and now it’s doing something to it… Do you feel that heat? It’s causing whatever happened up there to happen down here!”

“Pits of fire belching upwards… Fire pits! Just like that freak mentioned!”

“Mentioned?” A voice emerged from the lake once more, and Gravyn bellowed with laughter. “Maybe I should make myself more abundantly clear, warriors… This planet will be a charred wasteland that reflects the true visage of the dread master Darkseid, my father. Fire pits? Peh. They are just the beginning. Zombie factories, where your people are turned into the ever willing slaves of Darkseid!” He trudged forward. “Your children shall be sent to Granny’s orphanages, their parents slaughtered before their very eyes, and they shall become the next breed of warrior, and once we are done raping your women and slitting the throats of your babes… We shall move onwards, Apokolips and her new sister, D’spayre, old Earth renamed, and take the next world, one by one, a fleet of planets with one cause, one meaning when they approach… Death.”

“You’re insane…” Jay spat at their foe.

“INSANE!?” Gravyn chewed the words, anger flashing in his eyes. “Insane? No. I am Darkseid’s son. I am the son of the purest darkness. I am not insane, I am the true.”

“I’ve heard talk like this before.” Jay said in disgust, anger, seething. “I heard it when a man named Adolf Hitler took control of Germany and slaughtered millions of people across Europe. I’ve heard dozens of madmen utter the same words, and every time they have failed. We will stop you. You are not the true but I have no doubt that you are the evil…”

Gravyn smiled, and laughed. “Evil? Yes. Yes I… We are. So what does that make you? The good? And are the purest good and the purest evil not destined to meet and battle? Ragnarok? The end? Come, then, my playthings! Let us make an end here and now! Here is your apocalypse! Here is your holocaust!”

Barry and Jay shared a quick look, then sprang into motion as one. They assailed the New God, landing punch after punch, hundreds of them, driving him backward.

“Heh. You are like gnats! The Infernal Machine shall cause hell to reign on Earth, and Apokolips to be scarred upon your cities!”

“The machine is THAT important then, eh?” Jay said grimly, nudging Barry as he passed him, and in a concentrated move, they both struck the villain in the chest, causing him to double over, and then delivered the next blow straight into the head, causing him once more to crash into the Lake, water spraying everywhere.

“We can’t keep stalling him, Barry. I’m putting an end to this---Now!”

“Jay?” Barry spun around, trying to catch sight of his friend, only to see a red and blue blur pass him at speeds faster than he thought Jay Garrick was capable.

“Jay?!”

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Jay Garrick ran. He ran faster and longer than he ever had before. He ran because that was all he could do. The device was sucking the life out of the Earth, and if he didn’t stop it, the world was doomed.

Step after step he ran, gritting his teeth, never stopping, unwilling to slacken the pace, and as he picked up speed he felt himself loose matter, and this caused him to shake his head. He couldn’t fail. Couldn’t stop!

Barry Allen suddenly appeared beside him, screaming for him to slow down, but Jay only smiled, winked at his young protégé, and then showed him what real speed looked like!

Jay grimaced, leaving Barry in the dust. He then placed his hand on the construct, never stopping, his hand running against the metal and causing it to superheat with friction. He knew it was working… He needed to disconnect the machine from the Earth, because these tremors were so strong… They might even be travelling across the country, across the world. He smiled, thought of Joan, and then put his head down and ran even faster.

By now, he was just a red and blue blur, a continuous stream of light that surrounded the machine, and as the onlookers gathered they saw the machine begin to glow red… Then yellow… Then white. They felt the heat emitted from the cordon, and then they begin to cheer. They cheered because they knew that the Flash was saving the day.


The machine erupted all over, sparks and flames appearing over the construct, and then the tremors begin to subside, and then finally they stopped, the machine rising into in the air on the whirlwind created by Jay Garrick.

Barry Allen looked up, pride and fear in his breast, and his eyes widened, witnessing the massive device flying up into the air, shaky at first, but then rising steadily. It floated for a moment and then shot upwards, straight back through the dark clouds and into the atmosphere above. He grinned and ran to the spot where the Machine had once stood, where Jay Garrick was still just a blur of energy.

“Jay!” He called, trying to catch a glimpse of his hero. “You’ve done it, you’ve saved us all!”

Jay appeared in front of him, his body riddled with little bolts of lightning and his visage flickering in and out of reality. His costume glowed white, his very being changing at an unimaginable rate. “Everyone safe… Joan, safe…?.”

Barry reached out to touch his friend but his hand passed right through him. “Good Lord… You’ve become…”

“Can’t stay here—Much longer--- Molecules unstable!”

Barry was aghast. What?

“I’m loosing—Myself—Sucked into—The Speed Force!” Jay flickered in and out of existence, reappearing more faded than before. “Too far gone! Can’t feel Joan—My anchor like yours is—Iris--”

Barry nodded slowly, a tear falling down his face.

“I’ll find her, Jay, I’ll find her and look after her.”

No. This could not be happening. Not him.

“You’ve been—Like a – son to me. Oh… I see him— the Black Flash!”

KRACKABOOM!

Lightning streaked from the sky and struck down where the machine was, and the ground erupted in light.

Barry covered his eyes, but looked up, untouched by the sudden thunder strike. The afterimage of Jay Garrick lingered for a moment, but then was gone. Jay was gone. He’d saved the city, saved the world even. But there was still so much to be done…

“Puny… Human… And your sentimental weakness!” Gravyn pulled himself out of the lake no longer laughing, spitting out water.

Barry spun round, seeing only red. “

“Weakness? WEAKNESS?” He grabbed the villain and took off running, dragging the creature along with him as he lapped the world. “Weakness is something that holds you back, keeps you from doing your best… But emotion? Love? Not a weakness. You know why you’re weak?” Barry turned to the creature bobbing around in the tunnel behind him.

“Kill you, kill this world… Darkseid is coming!”

“Because you’re evil. That’s why you’ll never win.” He released Gravyn, and the villainous son of Darkseid flew backwards, skidding across cities, through jungle and over seas, each landing more painful than the last, and before he even came to a stop Barry was upon him, unleashing a flurry of punches that caused the villain to spit black blood and cry out in surprise. He punched him again and again, a hundred punches, bones breaking and flesh tearing, a thousand punches, each causing the villain to spit and cry out, a hundred thousand, the momentum building up, more and more landing every second, a million punches and then BOOM! The sound barrier was broken by the speed of the attack, the villain’s eyes swollen over, gashes covering his face, his ears bleeding. Barry seized his foe by the scruff of the neck, his skin buzzing with the lightning, his costume changed from red to white, and his body glowing with power. “That’s why I’m going to find your father, and I’m going to take him down.”

“Shrf… Yshh… Mff…” Gravyn looked up, blood dribbling from his mouth.

Barry put his finger to his mouth, and shook his head. “No last words.” He punched him hard across the face. “Scum like you don’t get a chance for last words. You’re going down for a long time.” He punched him once more, and the villain was knocked out, his eyes rolled into his head, the sheer force of the attack too much for even his advanced godlike mind.

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He dropped him off at the DEO containment center in Arizona. Area 51 to those of you not in the know… A nowhere place that didn’t officially exist. Iron Heights couldn’t contain a God, Arkham can’t even hold a man with green hair and a permanent grin, so giving this being to the government was the only thing he could do.

“Flash!” A blonde woman came up beside him and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Is that one of them? An Apokoliptian?”

“He called himself a God, Agent Chase.” He shrugged, his white uniform still glowing slightly. “Anyway, he’s more powerful than anything I’ve ever faced before.”

“What do they want?”

Barry shook his head. “Dominance. Our extinction. It doesn’t matter because we’re going to stop them.”

Agent Cameron Chase nodded grimly. “We’ll take this one off your hands.”

“That guy is the leaders son. I’d hide him… Because they might want him back.”

“The tech guys have already begun setting up a promethium chamber to pump him full of sedatives… And Flash…” She squeezed his arm, and smiled. “Go get them.”

“I intend to.” He smiled back at her and ran, vanishing in a flash, a loud boom echoing behind him as he broke the sound barrier. He thought of Iris, and he thought of Wally in Metropolis, and then he smiled, but then the image of Jay Garrick filled his head, and the tears came.

How was he going to tell Joan…?

He reappeared in Central City, to a chorus of cheers, which faded as the Parademons renewed their assault on the city. The Infernal Machine had failed, so they were going with a more direct approach. He appeared between blinks, between breaths and between the seconds, striking the Parademons before they even knew he was upon them.

He lapped the city, and then expanded his zone, heading to Keystone, and intercepting a Parademon squad before they could think to hurt any human beings.

As the dust and smoke cleared there were no conscious Parademons, hundreds of the creatures lying unconscious in the streets, and him, the Flash, his costume fading back to the usual red and yellow of before, standing triumphant where it all began.

“Flash! Flash!”

He turned as Fred Chrye emerged from the police line.

“Are you alright, Flasher? There were reports…”

Barry smiled fondly, suddenly remembering the words Jay said when they first met, all those years ago. Looks like a storm is brewing…

Come what may, I’m in this race to the end, Jay. Just like you, buddy.

“The reports were greatly exaggerated, detective.”

“Keystone is safe for now, but those monsters are everywhere. Metropolis is under siege, Gotham is a war zone, what can any of us do against that kind of evil?”

“I think… I can outrace it.” Barry smiled and crouched down in a sprinter’s position. “Hold the fort, detective. There’s a war out there to be won!”

And in a flash, he was gone…

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CRISIS: THE APOKOLIPS IMPERATIVE CONTINUES NEXT WEEK IN AQUAMAN#9, DETECTIVE COMICS #10, AND WONDER WOMAN #10!

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