Issue 8: "Time Flies, Finale"

Bonus variant cover!

Chapter Six: “Revelations”

“In the future, there is a team of God’s and Mortals, one that protects the innocent from evil, and borne from the ashes of the greatest global disaster known to man. You’re a member of the team, Flash.”

“The Justice Society?” Jay rubs his cheek, confused.

“Oh no, not the Justice Society… They don’t really play a role in this game… Not yet. We do Jay. We’re there. But no. Barry Allen, The Flash, he was there. He was in the front line, suffered a tragedy so great that no one really saw it coming, apart from the ones who watch all.”

“You’re mad. You can’t be me.”

“I AM YOU! WE SUFFERED SOMETHING SO GREAT THAT IT TURNED US INTO THIS!” He points to the reverse emblem on his chest. “YOU made me this, Barry…”

Barry looks up, his costume loose, his body fat reduced immensely and waves his hand away, looking at his feet. “Me? Don’t bring me into your delusions…”

“Flash forward a couple of years, after the event. Another mission, another cataclysm. You’ve been given an important mission to save the world from The World Destroyer himself, yet you hesitate, the world is lost… You’re fine though, Barry. You die immmmmediately. But us other speedsters, we’re still there. Suffering for your sins. Imagine when a man, whose emblem adorns others, allows half the world to erupt in flames. We suffered for your sins ten hundred times over.” Zoom shakes his head. “Enslaved. Tortured. Powers removed by little devices attached to your spine. The women raped, the children sent away, the strong men transported into the vacuum of space. The OverMaster cometh.”

Barry bangs his fist against the dome and screams in anger. “Your mad!”

“But the spirit still exists, so that’s always a plus. Uncle Sam came up with a plan with the help of an old friend of ours. The Turtle. Bruce, Kyle and the others were able to cause a massive distraction at the Citadel of Id, and we were able to make it to The Flash Museum. Sam, Ted, Mike, Wally and me. Time travel is untested, even then, and we needed someone with knowledge of the future to help us through it all. He didn’t know how all this was happening mind, we think he was from a parallel dimension, not an immediate future, else he would have known about the death of Africa and Europe and been able to divert it, you know? Mike was able to fix the fatal flaws in The Turtles machine, so it wouldn’t absorb kinetic energy from the runner and just keep them in one place, but actually propel them into the past, so we could avert the disaster…” He nods to himself, reliving the memory. “Ted was a technical whiz, he still is in this time, I assume? The Beetle? Blue Beetle?”

“Never heard of him.”

“Never mind. He fixed the device, and Uncle Sam, Booster Gold and The Blue Beetle sacrificed their lives to allow us a running start that propelled us into the past. Hop scotching backwards in time is disorientating you see, and when coming back, I realized the error of the idea we had. I couldn’t just tell you to stop, I had to KILL you. To ruin you. You see, as soon as I kill you I’ll wear your costume, kill Iris, and murder half of America in say… Half an hour. Easy enough with my amped up abilities… And they’ll blame you, and you’ll never become a Leaguer.”

Barry’s eyes widen. “My God, you’re insane…”

“Yes, yes, insane, but with bouts of clarity that would put you to shame.” Zoom paces the floor. “I came back, sent Kid Flash hurtling back into the Speed Force and then set about forming the Rogues earlier than they should have been. Placed a shipment of Freeze technology in a crate headed for Sam Scudder’s lair. Wrangled the release of James Jesse, who should have been The Trickster anyway, give or take another beating in the Heights, he would have blown up Stirk himself and then adopted the persona. Saved Murmur from Gotham City, got Captain Boomerang fired from his job, you know, the greatness of my mind knows no bounds…” Zoom smiles again. “I united them early so you weren’t ready. It would weaken you, make you question yourself…”

“I beat those creeps, Zoom, you’re plan failed…”

“Not failed! The rules of the game changed immensely. Kid Flash came back with a new look, and then tried to save your skin, but I found a way to stop him.”

Jay looks up. “Who the hell is Kid Flash?”

“Wally West, who else? I kind of ruined his debut though… I was able to delay his arrival into the city, so he wouldn’t be exposed to the chemicals that would give him his powers… But he’s around here somewhere, ready to die when I will it be.”

Jay’s eyes open wide for a moment, and then turns to Barry, leans into his ear and whispers... “Behind him, do you see that?”

“That fuzz? Like… Someone vibrating?”

“No… Not vibrating. It’s a darkness… I know what that is…”

Zoom looks at the aged speedster, and smiles beneath his mask, curious. “Sssssssssspeak up, Jay…”

Jay looks around, not knowing what to do or say, and then puts his hand on Barry’s shoulder, and whispers in his ear. “Someone’snotgoingtomakeitoutofherealive,Barry…IseeTheBlackFlash…”

“Baaaarry cauuused the deeeath offff Joan.”


Jay pauses. He walks backwards slowly, and presses his back against the back of the containment dome. Between blinks Zoom vanishes, and then reappears behind Jay, whispering in his ear. “You’ve only killed one man before, Jay, and that’s because he was a murderer and you were responsible for his creation. You killed Edward Clariss.”


“He ran himself out of existence! If you were there, you’d know that!”


“You could have saved him if you weren’t weak, you SHOULD HAVE SAVED HIM!”


“And you shouldn’t take things so personally.” Walter West punches Zoom into the speed proof plastic, breaking his enemies teeth against the solid dome. “Thought you could keep me away? Well you were WRONG!” He attempts to punch Zoom again, but his fist slams into the dome, cracking his knuckles with a snap. “Hrgh…”


“EMOTIONAL MEAT!” Zoom unleashes a flurry of punches on Walter, his arms a yellow blur as he cracks his old friends ribs and bones, and he’s about to slam his leg into Walter’s own, when he’s tapped on the shoulder. Two fists meet him, throwing him back.


Jay and Barry are free, the door to the containment dome open. “Good job, kid.” Jay picks up Walter and supports him over his shoulder, then the trio begin to run their fastest, until everything around them is a blur, and they are nearing the speed force itself. “I have a plan, Barry… The creep gave me the idea himself…”


“I think I know what you’re thinking, you want to take him down like Rival did himself.”


“We need to push him, so he runs himself out of existence! We can’t contain him, and if what he says is true, he knows everything about us…”


Walter West looks at them. “He’s not lying, Barry. He is Jay, but he missed out on something that could put a spin on this entirely.”


“LOOK!” Jay points forwards, and they run through a black blur that lingers on Jay’s being longer than the others. “Oh, that was cold…”


Barry looks up, confused. “What was that?”


“The Black Flash!”


“You’ve said before, earlier, but I don’t understand, is he another Flash?”


“The last there will ever be…”

“Your uniform, Barry! It was a black version of your uniform!” Jay picks up the pace, only to be punched back hard by a yellow fist, and he stumbles out of the speed vortex.

“JAY!” Walter is punched back too, not able to block the punch, and Barry watches as he hopscotch’s out of the speed vortex.

“Ah, Barry, you smell that?” Zoom smiles. “That’s the smell of the Speed Force!” He grabs Barry by the lightning emblem on his chest, and drags him in front of him.

“You know why we’re here, Barry?”

“Hrrrrgh…” Barry feels the strain of the speed on his face, and gradually feels himself dissolve into the speed force. “Screw you, Zoom…”

“No, not to screw me, but to tarnish something great. Something fantastic…”

“I don’t have anything fantastic to tarnish you yellow dressed creep!” He feels himself loose a finger, bits of his arm… It doesn’t hurt, he just feels a void in himself. Empty.

“Not you… This was never really about you, I guess… I mean, it was in the first place, but when you’ve spent over a hundred years in the speed force, things change. And when you see an opportunity, you grab it.”

“You’re not…” Barry feels his mouth be dragged down the side of his face, and then be torn off, leaving him without words.

Chapter Eight: “Revelation of the Soul”

Light and sound flicker and convalesce, joining together as they streak past the two men who sprint across the cosmic treadmill. Jay and Wally keep running, the Cosmic Treadmill powering them into the past. Jay smiles at the young man running beside him, until the cosmic treadmill suddenly jerks to a stop, and the duo are flung forward, into the void of subspace. “What’s happening, Jay?”

“I think… Do you hear that? That music? Do you feel that?” Jay’s eyes widen. “Barry once told me about this place…. We’re in the Speed Force… Where our speed originates!”

“AND WHERE YOU SENT ME!” A dark shadow of energy shoots into Jay’s body, and his face stretches into a contortion of agony. Every wrinkle vanishes, and his body is enveloped in a flash of red of light, and then nothing, Wally turns and tries to look at the man who cared for him throughout the hardships of the past years, but is pushed back onto the treadmill. “I win.” He looks up to see Jay, his aging somehow reversed and looking about twenty. “You lose.” He pushes Wally’s head down on the controls with one hand, alters the coordinates and starts running. “I’m back. I have a body…”

“Hrrn… You… No, it’s not possible… Clariss?”

“Yes, m’boy, I’m back, and what cosmic irony this is! In Jay Garrick’s body!” Wally struggles to get himself free but is pushed down harder, his teeth pushing into his cheek, his face against the warm metal of the treadmill. “And after so long trapped here, and with no one to talk to… I improved…” He takes his free hand and vibrates his two middle fingers, then juts them into Wally’s head, scrambling his brain cells. “And as I improve, you become redundant.” He tosses the seizing speedster backwards, and then pops out of the Speed Force. Wally looks up, blood pouring from his ear, and tries to think, but struggles.


“J-Jay… Where a-are you?”

1949...



I jerk awake, my body on fire, every fiber of my being aching. I know what’s happened. I know who did this. “AGAIN! HE DID IT TO ME AGAIN!” I awaken from another one of my long sleeps, the ones that always result in my prolonged closeness to Jay Garrick, and feel the lightning return to me once more, sparks racking my body, reenergizing me once more. My hands are scarred; my wounds from the last battle not fully healed, no matter, my pain won’t stop me. My mind races, trying to figure out what to do. Everything is accelerated. My eyes flutter as my retinas fire off… “Putmeinthisplace?Whycan’tIthinkright?What’swrongwithmyvoice…Mybrain?” I climb out of bed, only to be rushed by doctors and nurses. They’re on his side. I have to reach him and make him pay for the crimes he committed against me! No need to be polite, a flick of my arm should take them out long enough for me to complete my task. I head back to Keystone for the final confrontation. This will be the last time I see Jay Garrick alive, I vow that now. My costume is where I left it, in one of my lairs, and then I run, ready to defeat the villain known as The Flash. I run fast, everything a red blur by the time I reach Jay’s home. Before I can walk inside, Jay stands there, in his costume, his hat gleaming in the sun.
“JayJayJayJayJayJay!I’mback!Backfromthegraveyoudugme!Backandreadythanever.IsuggestweplaycatchupoverwhatIplannedforyou laaaaaaaaaaaaast time. Race ya’.” I shoot off once more, and I can feel him follow, anger coursing through his body. He is faster than ever, faster than he had ever been, if I didn’t want to see him put away, I’d be proud. I doubt my own ability to keep running, but I’m able to keep up a solid pace, keeping me just out of reach from him. As we enter the slipstream of speed I’m grabbed by something, and my body ripples a feeling unlike anything I had ever experienced before. My body flickers in and out of the tunnel, I’m yanked out of the vortex, and a face is right in front of me. “Soon.” I lapse back into the tunnel, and I’m right next to him… It must be one of his games, but he won’t win. I smile to myself and try to knock him out. “Duck.” I punch him square in the jaw, and he staggers back, but not letting himself lose much speed. He has discipline. I like that. He keeps running, and I feel him once again grab my shoulder. But I’m ready. “Not this time, student.” I slam my elbow down on his arm, shattering it. He stumbles at this, loses my pace, but he’s still on his feet, still running as fast as I can. I watch him break his arm four times when running, and watch as everything knits back together. He heals. He tries to catch up with me again but I’m out of reach, and then I’m yanked forward once more, I feel my body lose... Matter. I feel the speed in the vortex pick up, and my body dissolves into reality, and suddenly I realize what was happening. I was being run out of existence. I saw a black blur hold onto me, accelerate my body, and run me into speed itself. I feel myself about to be released when everything stops, and I realize where we are. I feel my lungs seize shut, my blood freeze, and then I’m nowhere. A vacuum... ran so fast that I defied gravity itself, and ran in a straight-line through the sky and into space. My thoughts turn to nothingness as I float out of Earth’s orbit and into the direction of the sun.




I decelerate myself, trying to avoid picking up anymore speed before I suffer his own fate, when I see something up ahead, a black blur clad in a sleek uniform with a red bolt of lightning on his chest, surrounded by a white circle. His face is hidden in the shadows on the edge of the speed vortex, but I see the glistening on black eyes with tiny white pupils, and as I slow down, I hear him speak, words that I will never forget.


“I’ve ended this for you.”

Epilogue: “And This Is Where We Were Always Headed…”

Now...

Barry Allen opens his eyes, and smiles. Everything is right with the world. Kid Flash fights by his side, a casualty of the same accident that Barry himself fell victim to. The deadly accident of super speed. “You know Barry, we keep this up, and we’re going to be late!”


“Couldn’t have that… Heh, anyway, I’m glad you could head back from NY to be part of this little get together…”


“Little get together, my ass (excuse my language)! Momentous occasion I think is what it’s called nowadays…”


“So eloquent in costume!” The two speedsters defeat the bank robbers and dart north. “Let’s run!” The two men arrive in the small room, change into their suits, and then walk out into the church, the assorted family members and friend’s gasping in surprise. Barry jogs up the aisle, and then holds the hand of Iris West, his fiancée.


“You’re late.”


“Aren’t I always.”


“Saving the world?”


“Something like that.”


“It took us four years since you asked me Barry. Couldn’t you save the world saving for the other professionals?”


“They were too busy sitting in the pews, baby…” The two kiss and the wedding proceeds.