Issue 13: "Burning Crusade"

On the other side of town,


With a blast, the side door of the police cruiser exploded. The Trickster, Weather Wizard and Lisa Star moved ahead, each one holding a gun at a group of policemen hiding behind the last one of the patrols.

"Run, and take the wounded with you." Lisa said, making a gesture with her hand.

"Wha..."

"I won't kill, Trickster. That was never a part of the plan."

"Okay." The Trickster looked at the police, pitifully. "Leave"

The cops fled the place, with their partners in their shoulders.

"Jesse, can you tell me who this chick is now?" asked Mardon.

"Oh, right. This is Lisa Star, ex-professional skater a few years ago, turned millionaire businesswoman. She's now searching for her long lost brother, who is... Nah, you won't believe it." Trickster looked at Weather Wizard, whose patience was starting to fade. "Lisa Star is a fake. Her real name is Lisa Snart. Cold's sister."

He sprinted forward, tackling Heatwave. He went flying and hit a tree. “Is that all you got?” taunted the Flash, knowing that the insult might lure their attack. The melody fainted. When Barry looked around, he saw a bunch of people walking towards them. Towards him. They seemed disoriented and confused, like they didn’t know why they were there. A modern Pied Piper technique. “Not again! Look, these people have nothing to do with us!” And that’s when the Rogues attacked.

Boomerang threw four boomerangs at a time. Heatwave, already on his feet shot at the people. Barry had mere seconds to save them. He quickly moved some of the targeted out from the blast, and moving his hands at super speed, dispersing the fire. The boomerangs passed close to him, but he managed to grab them and throw them to the floor, but when his hands touched the last one, an electric blast sent him to the floor.

“As one new friend would say, time to pay the pipers, Flash!” shouted Boomerang taking out from his coat yet another boomerang.

“All of you run! Hide!” Barry told the people, who didn’t think twice and were already running to the streets. Barry stood up, and without any of his Rogues noticing, started vibrating at fast speed. “Digger, Rory, this is the second time this day that something like this happens. I won’t tolerate it, not now, and specially, not here!”

“What are you gonna do? You’re going to realize real soon enough that you can do less than expected.” Grinned Heatwave.

The Flash ran towards Heatwave, removed his gun from him, and knocked him out with a single punch. He then grabbed all of Boomerang’ weapons and broke them in two. “This is what I’ll do” he said. Sound started playing again. Music changing from piano concert, to heavy metal. “Metallica? What exactly did you plan? Or you stole this from Dr. Spectro’s old ways to finish a speedster? Barry said, lighthearted. All this was going better than expected after the disaster that almost happened with the Trickster.

Hidden Location,

Len Snart, sat down in his piece of art. He had finished minutes ago the most complex mirror hall in his career, made entirely out from ice. When he finished all of the details and traps, he created a statue of five people. Both of them were Flashes, the current one and the deceased one were the only ones he recognized from the place he had seen that image. The other three were, a man in a dark tuxedo, with his hair perfectly combed, a costumed woman and finally, a man wearing normal clothes, sprinting forward. According to the book, they were going to be crucial in the future. He knew what would happen in the next months, and this Rogue attack was a minimal fraction of it.

But today was not the day to mourn the future, it was the time to change it, he thought. He stood up, and broke the crystal with his gun.

Trickster's Hideout,

Trickster was revising his plan at his room in the Rogues warehouse, surrounded with little diagrams of different places, sketches, and notes placed around his walls. Toys were scattered on the floor, including a decapitated little Flash doll from the Justice League action pack. When Mardon entered, he just made a sign to join him.

“You know the boss will kill you when he knows his beloved sister has joined our ranks, and is now sitting here watching TV. Now could you tell me why I’m risking my ass here?”

“Oh, would you stop nagging so hard! I can’t hear my own thoughts.” Jesse said, leaving his current note in the desk. ”Jesus, you don’t sound like a villain, you sound like a crybaby.”

Mardon grabbed Jesse by the neck of his shirt, pinned him to the wall and pointed his wand in the middle of the eyes. “Look, want to know how does it feel to have your brains blown through the back of your neck? Or to be fried in an instant by a lighting three inches from your face? No? Then answer me, and stop screwing around, understand?”

“Heh… The boss won’t do anything about his sister. I’ll promise. Now, leave me down.” Gasped Jesse James. When his feet were touching the floor again, he grabbed one of his notes and one of his diagrams from the wall. “There’s a reason why the teams I made are like that. You being the most powerful member? Puh-lease. Mirror Master could beat Superman if he wanted to, but I guess his hood is too tight, or something, to come out with a decent plan, unlike me. Want to know a secret? Look at this. This is the master plan. When this is all over, the Rogues will be completely different, my friend.”

Mardon looked at the papers. His eyes widened. “This thing… Is it built were I think it will?”

Jesse looked at one of his drawings. A gigantic machine with several equations and arrows pointed everywhere was under a title named “Speed Machine”. JG and a lightning bolt were written in big letters on the left, along with F written all over it. “Came to me like a dream, the graveyard, the ultimate piece of the ultimate plan. But Mark, you doubt my potential, of this plan. The machine is already there.”

Arkham Asylum,

He had been waiting more than a month before he appeared again. And, like the last time, it started as a little light, flickering all over the room, until it was so bright even when his eyes were closed and covered it burned them. When it fainted, the man was again in his cell.

“Well, Roscoe Dillon, the time is near. Are you ready?” asked the strange man, little explosions happening around him.

“Oh, you’d be delighted, satisfied, overjoyed, delighted to find this. Yes, I have not failed. Now watch, my ‘umble friend, watch closely” Roscoe concentrated. Then smiled. A crack appeared in the ceiling, which extended to cover completely the room. Then, it disappeared. “You can’t top the top, right?”

“Nobody can’t top you, Mr. Dillon. And I will help you dethrone that obscene Flash, and win your righteous place in human history. I assure you.”

“Rory, you can tell me where the others are, and then I tie you to a tree, or I can take that information the bad way.” Barry said, in a grim tone. Heatwave fired again but his blast was suffocated in the air by a sudden vacuum of the air. Barry moved his hands at high speed until the pyromaniac couldn’t breathe. He then kicked him in the head, bringing him down.

Digger had left only two more boomerangs, one in each hand. The dust had settled, and there was no sign of the Flash.

“Digger Harkness, tell me where are the rest of the Rogues. Or you’ll end up worse than your partner.” A voice behind the Rogue said, but when Boomerang turned around, it was all deserted. “Last chance Digger.”

“Look, I… I think they are at the bank… The big one...” Boomerang stuttered. He turned around, but there was still no one to be seen anywhere.

“Keystone’s City Bank?”

“Yes, that one. Flash, just one more thing.” Digger threw one of his boomerangs, which removed the head of the Jay Garrick statue. Oil started to rain from a pipe inside the idol. “Boom.”

You could see the explosion from miles away. The memorial park made in the honor of Jay Garrick was gone. Up in flames.

Park Ruins,

Barry stopped running after the last bit of flame on his costume was put out. Next to him, tied from head to toe with rope, were Razorback, Viper, Heatwave and Captain Boomerang. And besides them, the corpse of Mr. Eel. He was cut, bruised and battered. His suit was now a bunch of loose rags. His hair was growing again at a fast rate on his burned skin. It would take a while to recover, but he won. Again.

There was nothing left of the park, just a gigantic crater. Fortunately, the park was far away enough that the explosion didn’t destroy any occupied buildings, and the fire that had passed to those buildings, didn’t last long enough to disperse.

But he couldn’t rest. When the police arrived, he was already at the next scene. The Keystone City Bank, celebrating its 90th anniversary, was intact, no fire, no debris, nothing. But there weren’t any bystanders, cops, or anything else. It looked like a ghost town. “Excellent. No hostages this time.” Barry murmured.

He ran all over the place, looking for someone. He stopped and scratched his head. Then, in a blink, he disappeared.

Sometime in the future…

He couldn’t see or hear a thing. His mind was muddy and unclear, and even his name was hard to remember. All he could remember was a lightning bolt.

“Help!” He yelled, to no response. He ran, and the collar he hadn’t noticed activated, injecting a tranquilizer into his bloodstream. “Help…”

In a land of lightning and fire, the eldest of the Trinity teleported angrily into a chamber lined with skeletons. He was met by his servant of several decades.
“Milord would yo-” he was cut short as a blast of searing energy ripped through him.
Still feeling angry, the being unleashed his wrath upon the entire castle. Energy leapt from his body and destroyed everything around him.
He dropped to the ground feeling spent. Suddenly he noticed that the castle was reforming around him. He looked up and beheld the most powerful of the Trinity. With tiny movements of his hand, He of the Blue Flame reconstructed the castle within mere moments.
“I urge you to reconsider your rash actions. I would not want your sister to find your carcass being used as my foot stool.” Mocked He of the Blue Flame.
“I am nobody’s fool! I was here when the Earth was without form and my power is great. You arrive only a year ago and yet you lord over us as if you are our master! I say thee nay!” with that, the bronze titan launched himself at his hated rival.

His cracked metallic form was releasing his energies back into the Speed Force. He remembered charging the Blue Flame, and then nothing. He tried to get up but his injuries were so severe that it took him several times before he could prop himself up on his elbow. As he looked up, he saw a vortex forming in mid-air. Energy from the Speed Force was being shunted somewhere else. If he could take that power for himself, he would be able to defeat the Blue Flame and take his place as Lord of Nonalin. His form vibrated and he disappeared.