Issue 12: "Weather Report"

“I tell ya my plan can’t fail. Mirrors everywhere in an enclosed space. The Flash can’t get out of that.” Mirror Master said and then opened a beer.

“You said the same thing with the abandoned warehouse and the kaleidoscope the other time, and the Flash defeated you in no time flat.” Captain Cold said. His eyes fixed on his gun, repairing it.

“But....”

“Look, you had your chance. You wasted it. I won’t let you act solo anytime soon”

“But why!? I made mistakes, but this plan has no error margin. It’s flawless…”

Heatwave, Captain Boomerang, Trickster and Weather Wizard entered the room. The building is the official headquarters and warehouse of the rogues. The exact location is unknown to all, except for Mirror Master and Captain Cold. Not even the Flash with his super-speed has found it. The reason why it hasn’t been discovered yet, is that the team enters through mirrors scattered around Keystone and Central City.

“Hey, Cold, when are we going to do something? We’ve been with no action for about two weeks. I’m in the mood for throwin’ some of ‘tis.” Captain Boomerang grabbed one of his weapons and gently touched the sharp edge of it.

“And I haven’t seen fire like it should be in a long long time.” Heatwave said. He then grabbed a beer, and drank it in a long sip.

“I was telling him that I had this great plan to bring the Flash to his knees. I can already hear his pleas.”

“A plan again? Ha ha ha Scudder, you’re a riot! You can’t beat the Flash. It’s proved. Not you, maybe not me, not George, not anyone. Well, not alone. Not this time. I have an amazing idea.”

“Hey, I can beat the Flash.” replied Boomerang.

“Whatever. Look, we can attack the Flash in teams. Tire him out. Hurt him. Then, the next team has more chances of defeating him. And then, down goes the Flash.” Trickster grinned “We divide in three teams, which I’ve already divided, the most powerful, or with the most potential, with, the ... well... less powerful.”

“That sounds good. What do you think, Snart?” Scudder said.

“Keep talking James.” His eyes still riveted to his gun.

“The teams should beMardon and I, George with Rory, and you with Scudder. How about that?”

“Fair enough. So who do we choose who goes first?” Captain Cold finished fixing his gun. “When we attack?”

“Well, first, my team, then George’s and finally our boss. I’ve called some people, low class villains, which could help. But how about making this more interesting? How about a thousand bucks each one and the winner takes all.”

In a flash, six thousand dollars laid on the table.

“The Flash is going down.” Heatwave smiled.

“Six feet under..” The Trickster laughed. Soon, everyone joined him.

Barry looked down his microscope at the blood sample. His mind started wandering, about the last months. About Iris, Wally, but specially, Jay. This same day, a year ago, was the day they held the memorial for him. The Eternity Kid, the Flashes from different periods of time, the JSA. In his heart he still knows, or hopes, that Jay is still there. He can feel Jay every time he wears his costume, or uses his speed, and not in an emotional way. He can almost hear him, touch him, like they were running together.

He focuses back on his work. A guy, named Ebenezer Jones was found dead with chewing gum all over him last night. If the test results Barry had asked for were positive, it meant that the Trickster killed this guy. And it meant the promise the Rogues had done with him a year before expired.

“Hey, Bar, you look awful. Are you feeling well? You should take a break” said Jim, one of Barry’s co-workers.

“I’m fine, thanks.” answered Barry. His hands were shaking.

“No, you really should rest. Go, I’ll finish this.”

“Thanks. I owe you one.”

Barry went to the bathroom, and stared at him in the mirror. He still was sweating, but the shaking had disappeared. He threw water to his head, and headed for some coffee.

“What is happening?”

“The Rogues returned. They have taken Keystone hostage.”

Barry pressed his ring, and changed into the Flash in a fraction of a second. He saw Chyre and Morillo and ran to their patrol. He asked them what had happened..

“The Rogues are in three different points of the city. Trickster has taken hostages, Boomerang is the one responsible for turning the power off, but continues to move around, and finally, the Mirror Master is robbing every bank on Keystone. There are many wounded officers, but still no casualties.” said Chyre, in a low grumbling voice.

“So, where is Cold, Weather Wizard and Heatwave?” asked Barry, confused.
“Well, they can be preparing to attack soon. We really don’t know. This is going to be a though afternoon, but we trust you Flash.” answered Morillo, patting Barry on the shoulder.

And with this, the Flash ran into action

The blizzard stopped, but a couple of the destroyed cars levitated off the floor, and started to spin in the air. They started to fly, trying to smash the Flash against the floor, and soon all sorts of metallic junk followed them.

“Electromagnetic fields Flash. This thing is fantastic, a real state of the art machine." Wizard said, flickering the wand with his hands.

The robots started to shoot Flash with tennis balls that exploded, and paintballs filled with acid. One even threw a boxing glove from its stomach, that, although incredibly ineffective, made the Trickster laugh. It was difficult to evade all the exploding toys and bullets, while at the same time trying not to step on the gum that filled the street.

“Now?” asked Mark Mardon, still playing with his wand.

“Wait, wait. Now.”

The trickster pressed another of his buttons, while at the same time, the Wizard made a gesture with his wand. Gas came out from several cracks in the floor, and the earth started to shake violently.

“A quake? The buildings will fall, Trickster! The people could die!” said the Flash, surprised. Now, it was even harder to move, and several of the projectiles hit the Flash. The gas that came out made him so dizzy, that he vomited. He thought back to his battle against the Top and how this seemed so similar.
“The quake is all my work. You see, the electromagnetic field is not only about moving metal things around. You have to think big, and that’s what I did. Shifting the earth beneath you.” Said the Weather Wizard, with an angry face. He didn’t like how the Trickster took all the credit from his brilliant idea, and he let the Flash know with another lightning.

The earthquake stopped, but the gas kept coming. The Trickster threw marbles to the trees on the street, and ran far from there. The marbles, one by one, exploded, setting the trees on fire.

Captain Boomerang stopped his motorcycle at a beautiful park. The Golden Flash Memorial Park. Heatwave was waiting for him.

"So, they did their work?" asked Boomerang.

"They did. He even attracted people to the area with his little instrument. When he grows he'll be one great Rogue." said Heatwave. They had hired a few D-list villains to help them, with the promise to enlist them on the Rogue squad as supplementary members. He then pointed his gun at a tree. "Burning time."

Barry had to be quick. As soon as he stopped talking, he started vibrating, starting to gain speed. When the Wizard shot him, he used one of his other powers and stole the speed from the lightning. Everything stopped, and the Flash just had to walk and tie Mardon to a post, while the electricity above him dissipated.

The Flash, still powered by the lightning, ran to save the hostages in the buildings.

Barry arrived at the building that the Trickster had entered. The lightning speed was already gone, but some of his wounds were already being cured. He took a moment to focus, and vibrated through a wall. He wouldn’t risk his life just to be caught by some booby trap the Trickster had prepared for him. And right he was. As soon as he entered, he saw buckets with acid in the ceiling, hydrogen balloons and robot teddy bears. After evading them, he heard a voice down the corridor.

“You already defeated my partner? Well, I won’t be as naive and foolish as he could be. This is my playground, and these are my rules!” said Trickster, laughing. He held the remote control in one of his hands.

“If you keep talking, you’ll make my ears bleed. Really, can’t you stop?” said the Flash.

“Oh I see you’ve forgot about our guests. Maybe I can make their ears bleed, or even more. Now, the rules. If you want to have a chance to have a fair fight with me, you’ll have to get to the top of this building, and find the bomb that I hid in the ceiling. Oh, and don’t even think of doing something funny. I have cameras all over the place, if you disappear or things like that, I’ll press the button. Understood?” said the Trickster, mockingly. He loved doing this to the Flash.

Flash knew this could be a trap, and that he didn’t had the time to play the Trickster’s game. But there was no other chance, was there? If he tried to remove the control, the Trickster could have the time to press it. Too risky. “Ok Trickster, I’ll do it.”

“Ready? Set? GO!”

Flash ran through the second and third floor easily, but from the third floor and up, there was the same sticky gum the Trickster had used earlier.


The Trickster saw the Flash pass through all of his traps, at super-speed. Sometimes they managed to hurt him, but he continued on. Finally, after several seconds, he reached the top, and started searching. Jesse smiled, and grabbed his remote control.

“Not so fast, Trickster. You got your fun, but play time’s over.” said the Flash, behind him. Jesse looked back, and Barry punched him in the mouth while retrieving the control.

“You tricked the Trickster? Hehehehehe....”

Trickster and Weather Wizard were in the inside of a special security van. All their weapons had been removed, and they were handcuffed from the hand, legs and feet.

“It wasn’t my fault! He taunted me, I had to take the opportunity! He surprised me.” shouted Weather Wizard.

“Stealing speed. The oldest trick in the Flash book.” said Trickster.

“Well, how about you? Vibrating through a building, and punching you from behind?”

“No need to have this fight. I prepared everything. As I’ve told you, this plan has all kinds of situations ready with a back up plan. That should be arriving, now.”

The image of a girl with an orange suit holding one of Mirror Master’s gun appeared on the shiny surface of the wall. She then stepped out of the reflection.

“Say hello to our new partner, Lisa Star.”

If anybody were to look in on the small man mumbling to himself in the dark laboratory, they would have seen an instant comparison to any mad scientist. His name was Manfred Mota, and he plays an integral role in this story.
As he bent to pick up a beaker from the floor; Mota was startled by the slam of the lab door. It was his wife Rosa and their 4 year old daughter, Valerie.
“Manfred! I told you that the next time I caught you staying late at the lab, that I would leave you. Valerie needs her father and frankly I don’t think you can provide for her anymore.”
“But Rosa! I have finally done it. I have found the secret to harnessing the power of lightning! You can’t leave me now. I love you.”
“It’s too bad I can’t say the same to you.” With a tear-stained face, Rosa planted a small kiss on her husband’s brow and took her daughter and left for good.
“But mommy, why can’t daddy come too?” asked Valerie plaintively.
“Because baby, daddy believes that he can command lightning and he has forgotten the important things in life.” Valerie thought for a minute and said in a small voice,
“I don’t like lightning. It is scary mommy.”
“So is your daddy. So is your daddy.”

Elsewhere...

Three different events, all linked together by that disaprate energy source known as the Speed Force. I alone know what will come next but I it is my task to watch and monitor and to never interfere. It is my blessing and my curse.