Legends of the Flash #2

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Legends of the Flash #2
Trial By Ice

Written by Nikolai Peter Fomich
Edited by Daniel Dyer

ZOOOSH! ZIPPING PAST the powerful blast of ice, the Flash is strangely impressed. That thing’s more dangerous than I thought. Barry allows himself a smile. But just as exciting. Still, I’d better end this fast. Barry stops for a split second, seeing Iris’s face in the crowd. She looks on in awe. ZAM! Narrowly avoiding the blast, Barry realizes that he is in real danger. That’s what I get for thinking too much. Who is this guy? He looks a little familiar.

“And who are you supposed to be?” Cold asks, wondering what this clown was doing here. Snart had picked out a blue jacket to go over his grey shirt, and had even gone through the trouble of adding a hood, to conceal his face from the public. He thought the overall affect worked well with his knew gimmick. Leonard Snart had spent quite some time thinking of places he could rob. A public place, where he could make a name for himself. He wanted to show everyone he wasn’t just some lackey. Snart had been elated when he had found out about Sue Dearbon’s charity event. Every politician and their mother would be here. What he hadn’t counted on was this clown showing up.

“I’m the Flash,” Barry says, smiling. Looking into the crowd, he wonders if Iris is OK. ZAM! Another blast narrowly passes him, this time freezing the buffet and all its food. The table crashes down, as Barry moves two women out of the way. Captain Cold aims for the chandelier next, which shatters on the ground. This is more dangerous than I thought. I better put Cold out of commission quickly.

Still blasting, Cold realizes he can’t beat the Flash fairly. He sees a blur come his way, and instantly freezes the ground around him. The Flash falls, slipping on the ice, and then skidding forward. Crashing into a few chairs, Barry realizes he’s hurt his left knee. “Agh!” So much for my big debut. Circling around the ice, Cold sees what the Flash is doing, and freezes the ground again. This time, Barry falls flat on his back, and the last thing he sees is icy energy right before his eyes.

Looking down at the Flash, Leonard Snart wonders if he is dead. Snart had done a lot things, bad things. Robbery, industrial espionage, racketeering... and more. But never murder. Snart may have been cold-hearted, but he never thought of himself as a murderer. Hearing the sirens, Captain Cold realizes the time for thought has ended. Looking down on the Flash, he says, “So long, kid. Tough break.” Leaving the scene, Snart realizes that he did not even get what he came for.

Vibrating free of the ice, Barry gasps for air. Nothing came even close to the paralyzing feeling he had just endured. Though somehow he had been able to breathe slightly, the icy tomb all but suffocated him. Looking around, the Flash realizes Cold is long gone. Then he turns his attention to the people. Great. I let Cold escape. In front of Iris and all these people too! I’m lucky if they don’t chase me- Barry suddenly hears clapping.

“Let’s here it for the Flash! Central City’s own hero!” One of the older women he had saved from the crashing banquet table comes up to the Flash to thank him for saving her. Surprised, Barry smiles, grateful that these people appreciate what he’s done. Disappearing from view, the Flash decides he didn’t mind losing all that much.

* * *

[Spider-Man Beyond]

"Barry, where’ve you been?” asks Ralph Dibny, wide-eyed. Barry had changed in a second, and had now found his long time friend. “Did you see that guy? It was like a blur! I’ve heard stories in Metropolis about that Superman, but I never really thought about it, y’know? Imagine! Central City’s own super-hero!”

It takes all of Barry’s willpower to stop himself from laughing. “It was incredible, I know. Did you see Iris?”

Before he can respond, Barry hears the voice of Sue Dearbon, Iris’s friend. “You don’t really think you could have escaped that easily, Mr. Hero?” Barry turns suddenly, coming face to face with Sue and Iris. He had hoped to keep his powers secret for awhile - just for the sake of privacy - but now that the cat was out of the bag, there was no use hiding. He sighs.

“That’s right, I’m-”

But Sue had apparently not heard him. Coming right up to Ralph, she gives him a kiss on the cheek. “If it wasn’t for you, that table would have killed me!”

Blushing, Ralph seizes the moment. “It was terrifying, I admit. But when I saw it coming toward you...well, I just didn’t know what else to do.”

Turning towards Iris, Barry is more than a little puzzled. “Did I miss something?” he whispers.

“You sure did, Barry. Ralph pushed Sue out of the way when that Freeze Man, or whatever, destroyed the chandelier. And now-” Iris continues, gesturing toward Ralph and Sue, “He’s her hero.” Gently placing her hand on his, Barry is once more humbled, glad to feel a sense of normalcy.

* * *

[Spider-Man Beyond]

"Son of a bitch.” Keith Kenyon was mad. Very mad. After witnessing the heist the so-called ‘Captain Cold’ had tried to pull, he immediately left for his research lab. He knew what had happened. “Why wasn’t I notified immediately?”

“Sir, you were unreachable. You had taken the day off to go to the charity and deal with your divorce, so-“The look in Kenyon’s eyes told his administrator that he didn’t need to elaborate any further. The last thing he needed right now was to be reminded of Amunet and the other mess he was in.

“Is there anything left of the project? Blueprints... anything?”

“Anything that wasn’t taken was destroyed, sir.”

“Damn it!”Almost smashing his hand into whatever was closest, Kenyon instead takes out his golden pocket-watch. It had been a keepsake of his father’s. Flipping it open and shut in his hand, Kenyon closes his eyes.

“Was anything else taken? The hologram/mirror equipment?”

“No sir.”

“And you’re sure it was Snart?”

“Yes sir. I guess he didn’t know about all our security cameras.”

Looking across at the ruined lab, Kenyon’s face holds a grimace. Snart’s a dead man.

* * *

[Spider-Man Beyond]

So this is the price of being a hero. Walking up the stairs of his apartment building, Barry was thankful for living on the second floor, and not the third. He may have been the fastest man alive, but that didn’t change the fact that his knee was in bad shape. As he approached his door he noticed his new next door neighbor who, fumbling with her keys, drops them.

“Hi. I’m Barry,” he says while picking up her keys. That’s funny, he thinks. She looks familiar.

“Thanks. My name is Fiona Webb. I guess we’re neighbors now.”

Suddenly, it hits Barry. That’s one of the two people I saved during my fight with Cold! I can’t believe it...

“Have you lived in Central City long?” she asks.

“Hmm? Oh yea. Born and raised. How about yourself?”

She shakes her head. “Nope. I just moved from Keystone. I was lucky enough to get a job with Senator Phillips- do you know him?”

“From the papers, yes. And how do you like Keystone’s sister city?”

“It’s similar. Less pollution though. And less traffic.” She pauses for a moment, as if thinking. “And defiantly more exciting.”

“And... and what do you mean by that?”

“Haven’t you heard the news? There’s some kind of hero running around... like back in the ‘40s. He calls himself ‘The Flash’ and he’s simply amazing. I was with Senator Phillips at Sue Dearbon’s charity event when some strange crook calling himself ‘Captain Cold’ tried to rob everyone. He rescued me! It was spectacular.”

”Wow. And you’re OK?”

“Yes, I’m alright. I just think it’s incredible, don’t you?”

Barry looks up, not sure what to say. “I think it’s good someone is out there saving people. That’s... that’s what’s important.”

“Mr. Allen, I believe you do have the workings of a hero.”

“Well. thank you Fiona for the compliment. I’ll see you around, OK?”

“Sure Barry.” As he walks away, Fiona notices the limp in his left leg.

* * *

[Spider-Man Beyond]

"Poor Wally.” With these two words, Barry Allen feels like an idiot. After visiting Iris’s father, Ira, in the hospital, Barry decided to take Iris out to lunch. She had seemed uncharacteristically troubled, and Barry wanted to know what was wrong. What he got was more than he bargained for. Wally West had been right next to him when the explosion had occurred, and he had not given him a single thought. So concerned with his own condition, he had completely forgotten that Wally too may have been affected by the "accident".

“Is everything alright? Is he sick?”

“No, no, it’s not that. He... well, Wally won’t be coming around after awhile.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know that my brother and I don’t exactly get along. Rudolph’s never liked Wally coming down here. And now with the accident... well, I just hope Wally will be OK. He’s had a lot to cope with, especially with his parents’ divorce. I feel so helpless.”

Barry puts his hand on hers. “Iris, Wally’s strong. He’ll be OK. You’re my hero too, you know?”

Iris smiles, feeling lucky to have Barry.

* * *

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Returning to the scene of his and, incidentally, Captain Cold’s debut gave a strange feeling to Barry. It was almost like a dream... but the aches in his body proved otherwise. Giving his attention to the ruined ballroom, Barry’s mind-set immediately changed from reflective to orderly. During investigations, Barry was extremely methodical, and although he usually spent time in his lab, he had been to more than one crime scene on occasion. He had been trained in this sort of work since the day he entered college, and considered himself more than adept. Searching the area meticulously, Barry found some fragments of ice. To the untrained eye, the ice was almost undistinguishable to glass. But Barry knew better. Frozen inside one of the pieces was an article of red cloth. Pocketing the ice, Barry reviews the rest of the area. Satisfied, he exits the scene without leaving a trace he had ever been there.

* * *

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Since the accident, time had been a strange thing for Barry. Normally, he would feel fine, and time would pass him just as it did everyone else. But on occasion, it would seem to move slowly, and the seconds would become minutes, and the minutes would stretch out to feel almost like hours. Now was one of those times. Barry had come to Albert Desmond’s house for help in regards to what he had found. Barry needed all the help he could get if he was going to put this Cold creep away for good, and Barry considered Albert more skilled in chemicals than himself and Professor Thawne combined. Suddenly, time snaps back into place. After waiting there for what seemed to have been an hour and a half, Barry sighed a breathe of relief.

“Barry? What are you doing here at this time?” Desmond says while opening the door

“Hey Albert. Are you busy?”

Albert looks intently on Barry, his deep brown eyes fixed with a questioning gaze, but lets him in all the same. Explanations would come soon enough. “Not at all, Barry. Come inside.”

“Thanks.” Stepping inside the one-story house, the first thing Barry notices are all the books. He had been there before of course, but it was never lost upon him just how much his friend Albert Desmond knew. Looking over a night-stand, Barry sees several books of particular taste.

“‘The Crowning of Nature’, ‘A Work of Saturn’, ‘The Secret Book of Artephius’... is this... is this, alchemy?”

Albert hurries over, protective of his collection. “Ye- yes. It’s a bit of an obsession of mine. I’ve always found the idea of controlling elements in such a way fascinating... mankind changing the elements, controlling their own future.”

Barry turns to face his friend. “Your knowledge for chemistry is exactly why I came here, Al. I found this,” Barry holds up the fragment of ice he found, sans the piece of red cloth, and hands it to him, “at the crime scene.”

“The crime scene?”

“Didn’t you hear about the Flash?”

“Honestly, I’ve been too busy catching up on my studies.”

Barry frowns. That seemed like an excuse to him. Albert hadn’t been the same since Rita left him, and becoming even more of an introvert. He seemed to dislike company, preferring to spend hours pouring over his books. Once upon a time, Albert Desmond was a happy, married man, with bright hope for the future and a wit unlike any other. But now, he just seemed sad... and obsessive. “Albert, I know you’ve been busy lately, but there’s a new Brazilian restaurant opening up and-“

”Thanks for the gesture Barry, but I really am busy. Now, what can I help you with my friend?”

“Can you run an analysis on the fragment for me? I’d really appreciate it.”

“Analysis? Barry, it’s just a piece of ice. Besides, doesn’t your lab specialize with this kind of thing?”

“Call it a hunch. As for the lab, you’re better than any of the chemical specialists there- including me.”

Ignoring the flattery, Albert concedes. “Alright Barry. A personal favor.”

“Thanks. Oh, and Al? The Brazilian restaurant- think about it.”

Albert laughs, and Barry is glad to hear that almost forgotten sound.

* * *

[Spider-Man Beyond]

ZOOM! Racing to the scene, sirens blaring, Detective Curtis witnesses a burst of scarlet wind, something unlike he’s ever seen. “Wow! What was that?” As the police vehicle slows to a halt, Jack O’Malley, Detective Curtis’s partner, is left speechless. Standing heroically with a grin on his face, a man in a strange uniform... no, costume waits for the officers. Three criminals lay by his side, all unconscious.

“Hello officers. My name is the Flash, and I hope I’ve made your job a little easier this evening.” With a smile, the hero dashes off, a happy man without any worries.

* * *

[Spider-Man Beyond]

"Ha!” Working nonstop in order to restore his reputation, Professor Thawne has done it. After fixing the problems in the Speed Force serum created by Barry Allen’s unwanted meddling, his experiment will be ready soon. Barry Allen. Thawne tries not to think about him. Allen opens up too many questions... and Thawne only likes answers. Pausing for a moment, Eobard Thawne wonders if it was all worth it. The death of his wife, losing his son. Was he too obsessive? But no, he can’t accept that. This is his life now. It has to work. The world will see him for what he is- a man of vision. And they will love him for it.

Continued...