Post by Alex on Jun 27, 2013 1:15:05 GMT -5
Universe
An Earth A Title
(Featuring The Flash)
Issue #1 : “Faster Than Lightning, Part One”
Written by: Alex Vasquez
Cover by: Alex Vasquez
One Year Ago
“Come on Barry, we’re gonna be late… again.” A ginger-haired young man chided, as he walked into the crime lab in the Central City Police Department.
“We’ll only be a second Wally, I know exactly where it is,” Barry Allen replied to the youth, patting himself down. “I mean, we will be once I find my keys.”
“You mean these?” Wally asked, holding up a set of keys. “You left the car running remember?”
“Right,” Barry hurried towards Wally, grabbed his keys and hurried back his desk and fumbled through each one before he found the one for the locked drawer in his desk. He opened it and a puzzled look fell upon his face.
“What’s the matter?” Wally asked as he looked around at the various workstations.
“It should be here, I mean, I put it here…” Barry said, sifting through the contents of the drawer before scratching his head.
“Aunt Iris is probably already at the restaurant. I might as well text her. Since you insisted on wearing that bow tie, I don’t think I should apply the term fashionably would apply.”
“It’s the same bow tie I wore when I met Iris, wait, hold on a second Wally,” Barry said pointing his finger up. “Let’s see, I came back from lunch, worked on the Bilson case, got called out for a homicide on Infantano, came back, wrapped up some paper work, was about to leave when I got called into the Chief’s office…” Barry snapped his fingers as a light bulb went off in his head. He walked over to a coat rack next to his desk, which was adjacent to a shelf with various chemicals. He searched though his lab coat before pulling out a black velvet ring box.
“Wow Mr. Allen,” Wally said as Barry held up the box in triumph. “It’s amazing that you’re only a lab tech and not a detective.”
“Have I told you that I’ve already begun to countdown to the day you head off to college?” Barry said as he locked his drawer.
“You can barely keep things together as it is Barry, how to you expect to when I’m not around?” Wally shot back, walking to a window to look outside.
“Looks like that storm everyone’s been talking about is going to hit us any minute.”
“Yeah, we better head out before we get drenched,” Barry said, looking out the window next to the shelf.
“You realize, if you do give that to my Aunt, you won’t be able to get rid of me.”
“Wally,” Barry said with a smile spread across his face, beaming as he opened the box. “Some crosses are worth bearing.”
Time seemed to slow down for Barry as the box opened with a click and gazed at the diamond ring. He turned to Wally and saw the teenager bring his cell phone up to his ear at a slow as molasses-like speed. Puzzled, Barry moved one of his hands to his face and saw it moving at a normal rate. Out of the corner of his eye, Barry noticed a pencil rolling off of his desk at the same slow speed Wally was moving.
What is going on? Barry thought while a low rumbling and crackling sound filled his ears. He turned to look out of window and saw a large lightning bolt cut through the sky and head straight for him. He stood transfixed on the bolt of lightning as a cacophony of high pitched sounds filled his ears. The sounds were not unpleasant, and Barry thought they sounded human, but it was so fast he could not make out the words.
The lightning bolt got closer and the window began to break, spider-web like patterns emerging throughout the surface of the glass with the same slow speed that seemed to be affecting everything but him. The lightning bolt burst through the window and fragments of glass and wood were sent in all directions. The rumbling and cracking sounds started to get louder, but did not over take the high pitched symphony that was mesmerizing him these past few moments. The pencil that was rolling off his desk finally reached the edge and fell off and seemed to be picking up speed as if fell to the tiled floor. Barry’s instincts were screaming at him to run as fast as he could, but his couldn’t obey. The bolt of lightning was just inches from his chest. The fragments of glass and wood from the window began to fall in their respective directions faster and faster. The rumbling grew louder and louder. The glass beakers and tubes that were on the shelves began to rattle and shake. Papers on desks began to shift about and computer monitors began to dance along the desktops.
In contrast, the fast, high pitched sounds began to slow to a point where Barry could hear what they were saying, in what seemed every language in the world. The pencil, along with the with glass and wood from the window hit the tiled floor of the Central City Crime Lab when Barry finally understood what those voices were saying.
“Warn them all.”
Barry heard Wally scream his name as the lightning bolt hit his chest followed by a large clap of thunder. His skin began to sizzle; crack and char. Blood ran down from his ears. He stumbled into the bookshelf next to the window which caused the various chemicals to spill on him, irritating the new burns on his skin. He fell to one knee and looked towards Wally. The boy’s eyes were opened wide and his mouth agape as a look of fear washed over his face and he let go of his phone. Barry watched as it fell to the ground, the case and battery to scattering in different directions. He fell to the ground as well and looked up at the lights on the ceiling. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he muttered a single word from his lips.
“Iris.”
***
Present Day
“Morillo, I was about 5 seconds from taking Luscious Fox into the champagne room when the call came in,” Freddy Chyre, a burly detective of the Central City’s MCU unit grumbled to his partner while exiting the driver’s side of their sedan.
“I’ll be sure to put out an APB to the criminal element of Central City to go on recess when you are frequenting your favorite gentleman’s club, sir.” Jared Morillo responded exiting the driver side door and reaching for the notepad in the inside pocket of his sport jacket.
“Ah, her loss,” Chyre said pulling a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his brown trench coat as he approached the uniformed officers guarding the entrance to their latest crime scene, a house in the Windsor Heights neighborhood. “Let’s just get this sign, sealed, and delivered and…”
Chyre was interrupted by the uniformed officer. “Sorry Detective, CSU has asked you not go in yet.”
“What?!” Chyre screamed. He looked for the CSU tech, who was hunched over examining a piece of evidence. “Let’s go Allen; the real police have work to do.”
“I don’t think berating Officer Allen is going to make him work faster, sir. He is already considered to be the fastest lab tech in the department,” Morillo reminded his partner.
“That makes me feel better,” Chyre replied with heavy sarcasm, while he took a long drag of his freshly lit cigarette.
“Detective Chyre, have I ever told you that you’re my favorite?” Barry Allen asked, gathering his kit and standing up. “I’m finished, so feel free to do what real police do.” The truth was that Barry had actually finished processing the crime scene about 5 minutes ago, 30 seconds after receiving the call from the precinct. After processing the scene, he left to stop a few things he had noticed while out on patrol. A home invasion across town, down to the docks on the river front to bust up a drug shipment, then to the west side and prevented a rape, a carjacking and a hit and run before helping a little girl get her cat out of a tree on his way back. He was dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s at the scene when the detectives arrived on scene.
“I will have to caution you, I hope you didn’t have dinner before arriving” Barry added.
“Christ Allen, what happened here?” Chyre asked while he walked towards a set of bloody tennis shoes, which housed a matching set of stumps. 'I guess this is the vic, or at least part of him?'
'Yes sir,' Barry answered. "Damien Lacerta..."
"How..." Chrye asked, interrupting.
"Wallet found over there," Barry pointed to the table next to the couch while holding up an evidence bag, showing both Detective its bloody contents. "Blood type matches what's left of the victim, we'll confirm once we process the DNA. Remains of the victim are scattered about. Evidence suggests he died from an explosion."
"Explosion? Was he making a bomb" Detective Chyre asked, moving about the apartment and looking at the pictures and personal items of the victim in the apartment. "I may be biased, but this dude doesn't scream terrorist to me."
"I doubt that as well," Barry said. "No religious or bomb making literature. Nothing here but a pretty impressive collection of anime, king fu videos, comics, and video games. We'll have to study his computer to see what does he was visiting, but my guess is the most likely thing he spent time planning was a raiding strategy for his role playing games rather than a crusade."
"No bomb making materials. No bomb fragments or shrapnel, no structural damage," Detective Morillo said, adjusting his glasses while examining the apartment. "No charring of the furniture or movement due to a pressure wave. And no crater to indicate the origin of a blast..."
Detective Morillo walked over to the two stumps in tennis shoes. "This must be where the blast originated from." He took a look around the room from that spot, scanning the splatter around the room. "Mr. Allen, what theory do you have about the blast?"
"Well," Barry began, "I think the blast must have originated from within the victim based on the spray of the splatter. How... that's something i can't explain at the moment."
"Well," Detective Morillo said. "We may need to consider that this explosion may have been perpetrated by someone with superhuman means."
"Great, as if this wasn’t going to get enough attention as it is," Chyre said, grabbing his ringing cellphone from his pocket.
"As far we know, there is only one superhuman left in twin cities," Barry replied. "Doesn't seem to be his style."
"I've seen him vibrate through a wall Mr. Allen," Detective Morillo retorted. "Seems to be worth looking into at least."
"I'll get back to the lab and let you know what more we can determine from the evidence.” Barry paused for a moment. He felt a burning and flooding sensation in the back of his head. He shook it off when it quickly passed.
"Looks like you'll have a busy night Allen," Chyre said, ending the call he had just taken. "Just got a call from dispatch, 4 more murders have been reported, all with this M.O"
***
Barry hunched over his desk in the crime lab of the central city police department exhausted and hungry. He had been going over the evidence all night, trying to figure out some way to explain how the victim in the case, Damien Lacerta, could've been killed by an explosion from within his body without any evidence of an actual bomb or chemicals in his system. Detective Morillo’s theory that this was done by someone with superhuman means seemed to be gaining traction, along with the other four murders that occurred that night. All with the same M.O. and all occurred within minutes of another.
Just like every major metropolitan area, the twin cities of Central and Keystone had experienced a jump in superhuman activity in the past year. Some people called them wonders, some called them something worse. Barry had helped the police capture all of the known superhuman criminals in the area and it had garnered good will for his alter ego, but in the back of Barry's mind, were the events of Metropolis and Gotham.
Aliens, claiming to be from the same planet as Metropolis’s protector Superman nearly destroyed the city in a take over the world attempt that was thwarted by the Man of Steel. A worse happened in Gotham, where the terrorist known as The Joker released a chemical that caused the city’s citizens to turn on themselves. The lives lost and the property that was destroyed where catastrophic. The Joker himself murdered many prominent Gothamites, notably the Mayor, the Police Commissioner and the fiancée of the city’s most famous resident, billionaire Bruce Wayne who had become a recluse afterwards. Since these events, Barry always worried what if he became the cause or was made to be the cause of a similar catastrophe in Central City? He constantly thought about those words he heard as he was struck by the lightning.
“Warn them all.”
"Barry, you doing alright?" A voice from behind said as Barry felt a hand on his shoulder.
Barry turned to face his lab supervisor and best friend, Julio Mendez. They had come up through the ranks together up until Barry's accident a year ago when Julio was selected to replace the departing supervisor who had decided to retire.
"Just going over the evidence of these crimes," Barry said running his fingers through his hair. "I just can’t figure out a cause my normal means…”
"Which means it’s looking like we are dealing with a superhuman," Julio said. "Detective Morillo is pushing his theory that our resident superhero is the prime suspect and I have to admit, seeing the things that he can do, it's possible."
"I just think it's convenient," Barry replied. "It seems the vogue thing to do, blame superhumans. I mean, it's what got our current president elected"
"Come on Barry, you act like this guy is the same one we used to stay up late and read about in comic books when we were kids. He may have been christened as The Flash, but that's all they have in common."
"So we just finger him for these murders."
"Barry, stop acting like this is out of the ordinary. Evidence points to someone, we proceed in that direction until it doesn't pan out, or we receive new evidence telling us otherwise."
"Thanks for the lesson."
"You should take a break, you've been at this for a while," Julio said. "How about we go for some coffee, we haven't hung out in a while"
"Thanks, but no, I’m not feeling up to it at the moment. "
Julio paused for a moment. "Is there something you want to tell me Barry?"
"What?" Barry asked defiantly. "Do you have something you want to say to me?"
"Calm down Barry," Julio responded, holding his hands up. "No need to be defensive. It's just that... since your accident you haven't been the same. You used to be fun and outgoing, you were Garrick's handpicked successor and you were about to ask Iris to marry you. Since then, you’ve been aloof and something always seems to be troubling you. You let this position fall to the wayside and… "
"Which you seem to be benefiting from," Barry interrupted.
"By default, we both know you should be in this position, not me and you let your relationship with Iris fall apart... look, all I’m saying is that whatever happened, you don't have to go through this alone. You have friends, don't shut us out."
"It's... complicated," Barry replied. He closed his eyes and thought about the dreams and visions he had since his accident, scenes of war, of people being hunted and imprisoned, of people dying. He couldn’t tell specifics, but they were getting clearer every day and they disturbed him. “It’s just... complicated."
“I don't imagine near death experiences and miraculous recoveries not to be, but if you need anything," Julio out his hand back on Barry's shoulder. “You can always talk to me."
Barry stood silent, before Julio continued. “Take the rest of the night off. Everything will be here tomorrow and you'll probably have some new evidence to process too."
"What's that mean?"
"It’s what I came here to tell you about, Detectives Chyre and Morillo found the connection between our victims; they’ve all had an encounter with The Flash in the past year."
***
Barry sat in the back of the bus, flipping through scans of old newspapers on his tablet trying to jog his memory. Damien Lacerta was saved by The Flash in a liquor store robbery that he had stopped shortly after making his public debut. Carly Whaley, another victim, was someone The Flash had saved from a mugging, and so on it went with the other victims, all either helped or apprehended by the flash.
Those early days using his superpowers were literally a blur to Barry. The more he used his powers, the easier it became to recall the things he did at super speed. He found that many of those early memories had been resurfacing lately and worried that in his haste to use his powers to help; he may have been doing something that caused harm without fully understanding how his powers worked and their potential side effects, which seemed only to be an insatiable appetite.
He closed his eyes for a moment and thought about the accident. Even with that memory, more details came to him. He could hear the crash of the window as the lightning burst through it, the crackle of the lighting dancing on his skin. He saw things, images of men in blue armor with a glowing red eye, a red cloth flapping around an exposed metal pipe like a flag in the wind, fingers made of clay hitting the sand, and the snap of bones breaking. He recalled looking at Iris's nephew Wally looking at him in horror, stretching a blood soaked hand towards him and calling out his aunt's name. Barry opened his eyes and let the sight and sounds of the bus come back to him. He needed to find out what was going on, and if he was responsible... he just hoped it wasn't the case.
He looked across the bus and saw a young African-American mother with her two young daughters. She looked up and saw him looking at her and smiled, which Barry sheepishly returned. Have I met her before? Barry thought when a strange buzzing sensation filed the back of his head, similar to the one he felt at the crime scene, but growing stronger. Barry grabbed his head and winced, as the buzzing became quickly turned into an intense throbbing at his temples. What is happening to me? Barry asked himself. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw a dark purple and red blur sprinting towards the bus. With every step it took, the pounding in Barry's head grew more intense. He dropped his tablet and staggered to his feet.
"Please, everyone move away from this section." Barry raised his police badge as he saw the blur growing closer. Some protested, started calling Barry crazy along with some expletives. No time for this, Barry thought as he quickly rounded everyone up and moved them to the back before The Blur crashed through the middle of the bus, ripping the vehicle in half with a large metallic screech.
The momentum of the crash caused both halves of the bus to spin around and Barry was thrown from his half and on to the street. As if the world around him was moving in slow motion, Barry saw The Blur come to a stop and begin to make its way back towards the crash. The commotion was drawing the attention of the nearby people, giving Barry the distraction he needed. A suit of red armor began to lock into place around him. Yellow boots covered his feet and legs just below his knee. A red cowl locked around his head and a lightning bolt encased in a white circle adorned his chest.
The Flash raced back towards the bus, lightning crackling around the seams of his armor and leaving a trail behind him. He ran to intercept the being, reared his fist to strike and as Barry was about to connect, he ran right through it. The Flash hit the brakes, kicking up chunks of asphalt. While unable to connect, it did seem to gain the attention of the blurred creature. Barry let his eyes focus more and the blur began to take a more human appearance. Red lighting crackled around it and it raced toward the scarlet speedster.
Barry turned and ran, leading it away from the wreckage, weaving through the traffic on HoM Ave but The Blur was gaining quickly. As it grew closer and closer, the pounding in Barry's head grew. The Flash pushed his speed as far as he could without breaking the sound barrier. He had learned the hard way what that could do in the middle of a city street. An intense pain shot through him as he saw The Blur closed the distance. Barry looked a head through squinted eyes and saw the City limits. If i can just make it, I can cut loose.
The Blur was almost running side by side with him. The ‘Now Leaving Central City’ sign was growing closer, and with each step, Barry's head felt like it was going to explode. Blood began to seep from his nose and his tear ducts. Just a few more steps, Barry thought as the sign grew closer. Lightning emanated from Barry's eyes and danced around his body as he took his first step out of Central City. He vibrated slightly and burst forward, breaking the sound barrier. The sonic boom seemed to catch his pursuer off guard, create some space between the two and The Flash was off to the races.
Barry looked behind him and saw The Blur get to his feet. The space the sonic boom caused the pain in Barry's head subside for a moment and gave him a much needed moment of clarity. Phasing through the bus, how I just passed through him before, he must be inherently vibrating at a different frequency, Barry thought. If just match his vibrational frequency; I should be able to take the fight to him. Lightning danced around him as he began to vibrate. He sprinted forward and ran towards The Blur, who now was coming into focus as Barry matched his vibrational frequency. He appeared human and dressed in some strange purple and red suit, wearing a visored helmet. Barry looked into the creatures eyes; they were pupil-less with sparks of red lightning emanating from them. As they got closer, Barry clenched his fist and the creature opened its mouth. Lightning from its eyes joined a ball of light that was forming in its mouth. Barry, using one last burst of speed, raced to creature and connected with an uppercut. The impact caused a shockwave that knocked both backwards.
Barry picked himself up gingerly, and looked around. He was thankful no cars were in the area, but The Blur was nowhere to be found. After a few steps, he looked around before falling to the ground, wary and hungry. He took a few deep breaths before noticing a change in the wind and two hands grabbing him on the shoulders. Barry let loose a scream as jolts of electricity flowed in and out of his body. With all the energy he could muster, he spun around as fast as he could and threw a punch, connecting with The Blur and knocking it to the ground. Barry fell to one knee again and was able to see his adversary clearly. He was a man, but composed entirely of energy and Barry recognized the suit and the helm that he was wearing instantly. No, it can’t be. That’s impossible! Barry thought as it began to speak.
"You are not The Flash."
"What are you talking about?" Barry replied. "Who are you, what do you want?"
"But I will find him." The creature began to lose focus and disappeared.
***
Barry made his way back to the scene of the accident just as the authorities arrived. His armor dissolved and he inconspicuously joined the scene and gave a statement. An officer gave him a ride back to his apartment where he ordered a couple of pizzas and a few trays of Chinese takeout. Once he finished, he stretched out on his couch and dozed off. He dreamt of running on a river and in this river he saw images. A ship flying through a sky, parents shot dead on a cold rainy night, and smoldering wreckage on a beach. As he ran further down he saw soldiers patrolling down a city street in ruin, soldiers in blue armor. At the end of the river, was a black figure. White lightning sizzled around it as it looked at Barry with a featureless face. The lightning began to consume all it touched as everything faded to black.
Barry was woken up by a rapid knocking on his apartment door and the call of his name. He sat up, tried to shake the off the sleep and looked at the clock.
Only 10 minutes? Barry thought to himself as he got up and went to the door. He opened it to see Julio Mendez outside.
"Thank God Barry,” Julio said, relieved. “Is everything is okay?"
"Come on in Julio. Everything's good, just a couple of scrapes and bruises. Is everyone else okay from the accident?"
"Accident?" Julio asked. "Was there another accident?"
"Another accident?" Barry asked with a confused look on his face. "I'm talking about the bus accident, what are you talking about?"
"Barry, that was over a day ago. You didn’t show up for work and haven't been answering your phone. I was about to break your door down if you didn't answer."
Barry grabbed his cell phone from the coffee table and saw over a dozen missed calls and from the date, saw a day had indeed passed. "Damn Julio, sorry.... I've just...."
"It's alright," Julio said. "I'm just glad you're okay. We got you covered at the lab so you don’t need to worry about that."
"Thanks," Barry said sitting back down on the couch and placing his head in his hands. "Guess that accident took more out of me than I thought."
"Yeah, seems like that." Julio said looking at the empty pizza boxes and Chinese food cartons. "You seemed to be recovering nicely, seems to be something you do."
"What’s that supposed to mean?" Barry asked suspiciously.
"I'm your friend Barry; we've been friends since we were kids. You can tell me anything."
"That's the second time this week you've reminded me."
"Seems like you need to be reminded," Julio said. "Now that I’ve confirmed you are still among the living, I also want to give you a heads up that Chrye and Morillo want to talk to you about that bus accident.”
"What's going on Julio? Did they find something?"
"Well, they can’t find anyone else who saw this blur, but from what you described in your statement, it seems to give more credence to Morillo’s theory. Are you sure you saw what you saw?"
"Yeah," Barry replied. “But I don’t think it was our Flash, he actually looked like…”
“Looked like what?”
“Nothing, it was just some silly thought, probably my mind playing a trick on me.”
“Are you sure Barry? I mean the more information…”
“It’s nothing. Honestly, I couldn’t tell any specifics…”
"It’s okay, I told them to give you a couple of days, but expect them to pay a visit. You know, your quick thinking saved a lot of people. No one was seriously hurt. Also there was this one person on that bus, Alicia Randall, she had her two daughters with her on that bus. She wanted you to know how grateful she is that you saved them.""
"I'm glad. Thanks Julio, for everything."
"Any time bro, I’ll see you tomorrow at work."
Julio let himself out and Barry grabbed his cell phone and took a look at his missed calls. There were a couple of numbers he recognized from the precinct and lab, and couple from Julio's cell. The last two were from Iris. It was a while since Barry had spoken to her. Things had changed between them since the accident that gave Barry his powers and it didn't end well between them. Barry's thumb hovered over the send button to call her back before he pressed the shoulder button on his phone to but it to sleep. Barry threw himself on his couch and leaned back, closing his eyes.
“Warn them all.” He kept hearing it since the lightning hit him. Who was he supposed to warn? What was he supposed to warn them about? Since that day he was constantly searching for the answer to that and why he was the one who had to do it. That search caused him to become The Flash and help as much as he could, but it was at the cost of those closest to him. Maybe this Blur, this thing is the answer.
He grabbed his phone, stared at it and contemplated calling Iris again. Before his powers, thought of being without her was unbearable, and since their fallout, Barry’s feelings were confirmed. He remembered the first time he saved her as The Flash. Some nut named Nicholas Pike and his motorcycle gang had started a crusade against the City and Iris was caught in the middle of it, covering it for her paper, the Central City Citizen. She was the one who started calling him The Flash, comparing him to the comic book hero based on the World War II legend.
Reminiscing, Barry realized now why that woman, Alicia Randall, was familiar. He had saved her during that rampage, right before Iris. Barry rushed to his computer and logged into the CCPD database. He pulled up the reports from the first set of victims and looked at the estimated times of death and cross referenced them with the times they had interacted with him as The Flash. They had died in the order in which he had interacted with them. Their deaths had occurred a day before the bus incident and it was now a day since that. They were all discovered at different times so it didn’t occur to Barry to check, but if the pattern held, Iris was the next target.
Barry rushed to his phone and dialed Iris. Please pick up, Barry thought, but it went straight to voicemail. He took a breath and ran out of his apartment, his red armor locking over his body as he dodged cars and people on the way to Iris's house. As he got closer, he could feel a familiar ache in the back of his head that confirmed his suspicion. Iris, Barry thought as lightning danced around him and pushed him forward.
Once he arrived at Iris’s house he saw the door broken down. His head was thrown back with the sudden rush of pain and his ears filled with the sound of her screaming. He gritted his teeth and ran inside, where The Blur had Iris and her nephew Wally lifted up by their throats. Unlike before, Barry could see him clearly and what he dismissed earlier with Julio was, in fact, true. It wore winged helmet with a visor and a lightning bolt insignia across his chest that connected with a stripe on his pants. It looked just like the hero Barry was named after, but the details were reversed and dressed in black and purple. Red lightning twirled all around him.
“I will find The Flash,” he said to Barry. “And I’ll destroy everyone and everything in this world to do so.”
To be continued…