Flash Beyond #1

[Glippernip]

Flash Beyond #1

Flash Forward

Part 1: The Learning Curve

Written by Irenadubrovna and Daniel Dyer
Edited by Joel Sawyer


Kid Flash leapt back from his foe. He’d rushed in too fast again. He underestimated his enemy and let down his defenses. Even now, from a few yards back, he could feel the heat of the fire coming off the young man’s gloves.

“I could use a little help here,” Kid Flash, said, turning to the Flash. The Kid wore dark red leggings and arm sleeves, with light blue gloves and boots. The tops of the gloves and boots were pointed, like lightning bolts. His mask was a darker blue, half-cowl, allowing his bushy brown hair to flow out of the top. His shirt was the same dark blue with a big, bright yellow lightning bolt on his chest.

“Darn right you could!” shouted the street thug with a laugh.

“You know the deal, I can’t help you unless you tell me what to do,” the Flash, in his own sleek costume, responded with a smirk. He wore the classic red costume with a small yellow lightning bolt on his chest in a circle. There were, however, two minor changes. This Flash also had a half-cowl, allowing his own brown hair to flow out, and instead of the circle on his chest being white, it was colored blue, in remembrance of his mentor from decades past.

“I just told you what to do! I told you to help me!”

“That doesn’t count. Besides, you’re doing just fine. You’ll have him in no time.”

“Hey, Kid,” the thug broke in.

Kid Flash paused and turned to the thug. “Yea, could ya hold on a sec?” Then back to Flash, “This is ridiculous trying to teach me to stand on my own and fight my own battles when you’re right here watch-”

“HEY! Don’t you ignore me, Kid! I’m the freaking Flamer!”

The Flashes’ jaws dropped simultaneously.

“Did he just say…?”

“Yea… yea, he did.”

The pair smirked then busted out laughing.

Flamer sneered at the pair, and lit up his gloves once more. “Quit laughing at me!” He put his fists up in front of him and came barreling towards the pair.

“You’re right, Flash,” the younger speedster said with a grin, “I can handle this,” as Kid Flash leapt off to the right and Flash to the left.

Flamer stopped and paused trying to find the speedsters again, when all of a sudden he noticed a blur of red and blue moving around him in a tight circle. He thought he would blast Kid with his gloves, but the flame was out. He lifted the gloves to his face to examine them, and it was the Kid’s cue. He stopped suddenly and oxygen burst the fire back to life. Flamer squealed, and threw his arms out, leaving his face exposed for a perfect kick. The villain hit the ground, unconscious.

Flash carefully removed the gloves and examined them. “Look at this,” he said, motioning to Kid Flash. “It has a trigger on the palm, make a fist and the glove goes up in flames. Here, take these over to STAR Labs, see what they think. I’ll wait with this guy until the authorities show up.”

“Why not the other way around? Don’t trust me to watch him by myself,” questioned the Kid.

“Its not that, I just thought you might like seeing Dr. Sanchez. But you can stay here if you wa-”

“Bye.”

* * *

[Glippernip]

Kid Flash whisked past STAR Labs security. They’d realize it was him in about 20 seconds, which really would be far too slow if an evil speedster wanted to get in. Luckily, there hadn’t been any speedsters around except for the Flash family for a very long time. It seemed odd to the Kid but he chalked it up to the limited access there was to the Speed Force. It was still inside his father, Bart Allen, the current Flash and because of that, it was Bart who decided who had it and who didn’t, at least to an extent. He’d never explained it fully to his son but it had to do with certain people having something about them that made the Speed Force want to go to them. That’s how Bart was able to give the Wally West and his twins, their speed, as well has his own son, Reese Allen, his speed, which he now uses as Kid Flash. It was draining him, too. Soon, he’d give up the rest of the power from the Speed Force to his son and he wouldn’t have enough left to run anymore.

Kid blew past the receptionist’s desk and into lab room 4A. He zipped up and stopped just behind the lovely Dr. Sanchez.

“Hello, Kid Flash,” she said smiling but not turning to face him. “Have you ever looked at yourself under a microscope?”

“No, Dr. Sanchez, I haven’t.”
“You should. It’s a humbling experience seeing what you really are.”

“You don’t think I’m humble?”

“Kid Flash,” she said turning to face him, “I know you’re not humble.” She smirked.

He blushed. She was stunning, absolutely stunning. The doctor was petit, and every bit of her looked soft. No harsh edges. No roughness. Just soft and smooth. Her blackish brown hair was always in a ponytail up and out of her face, allowing her very dark green eyes to show.
“Umm... I... umm... uh.” Words had escaped him.

“Are these why you’re here?” she asked, gesturing towards the gloves.

“Yes,” he said as she took the gloves from him. “Umm... yes, be careful, though. There’s a trigger in the palm.”

The doctor slid the left glove on and pointing it away from them and the equipment, made a fist, causing the glove to burst into flames.

“Interesting toy. Where did you find it?”

“On a street thug’s fist.”

“They’re getting better equipment. Any clue yet who’s supplying it?”

“Not yet, but I was sort of hoping you could help us figure that out, Dr. Sanchez.”

“Alright,” she said, sliding off the glove. “I’ll see what I can do. Alex, do you think you could run these to lab 7B.”

Alex shuffled over and picked up the gloves with extreme care. The girl seemed clumsy to the Kid. Too long, almost awkward and taller then most the girls he knew. She grinned sheepishly as she shuffled past the doctor toward the door.

“Oh and get me a coffee while you’re at it,” Dr. Sanchez said.
Alex nodded and headed out the door.

“She’s a nice girl, shy, but very nice. So, anything else you can tell me about the man you found wearing these.”

“Nothing to tell really,” replied Reese.

“Hmm, well I’ll check out the gloves, see how they work and try to find out where they came from. I’ll let you know if I discover anything,” explained the beautiful doctor.

“Alright, thanks, Dr. Sanchez.”

“You’re welcome,” she said as she turned back to her microscope.

* * *

[Glippernip]

It was nearly evening when the speedsters met up again at home. Kid Flash whisked in the door and plopped down on the couch without even taking off his mask. He clicked on the vid screen and surfed until he found the 5 o’clock news. He sat watching footage of himself and the Flash take on the pyromaniac.

“Hello to you, too,” said Bart, walking out of the kitchen.

Kid waved but his eyes remained glued on the screen.
“Hey, Dad, can you hand me a soda?”

Bart rolled his eyes. “You gonna take the garbage out?”

“But I took it out last week.”

“And now you need to take it out this week.”

Kid Flash groaned.

Bart paused, to see if his son had a retort but he saw the boy had submitted and was done with the argument. “If you do that and the dishes I’ll order us some pizza.”

Kid Flash perked up a little. “I’ll take care of the trash and get changed next commercial break.”

“Good. I’ll order us some dinner then,” he said as he opened the fridge and pulled out a pair of sodas, then flopped down next to his boy on the couch, phone in hand. “You want the usual?”

* * *

[Glippernip]

Two hours later Reese was out of costume and both he and Bart were full. Reese held out a crust to the dog.

“Speak.”

“BARK!”

“Good boy, Chubs,” he said as he patted the young Bullmastiff.
“Gotta eat to get bigger, don’t ya, puppy?”

“Ya know, Reese, something’s been bothering me since this afternoon,” Bart interrupted.

“Oh yea, Dad?” Reese said, picking up the puppy and setting it on the couch beside him, “What’s that?”

“The guy that we were fighting today, what was his purpose?”

Reese gave his father a quizzical look.

“I mean, what was his goal? Why was he there? He wasn’t robbing anyone and he wasn’t ranting about seeking revenge.”

“I’m sure not all villains who want revenge rant about it.”

“In my experience, they do, and usually at great length. But it seemed like... Well, it seemed like he was causing just enough damage to get our attention.”

“So maybe he thought he could take us. Maybe he thought it would gain him some respect. I mean with a name like Flamer, I somehow doubt he was getting very much. Heh. You’re just being paranoid.”

* * *

[Glippernip]

“We need to be more careful,” a strikingly beautiful woman, in her late 20's with silver hair, said as she addressed an assortment of men and women sprawled out across the room. The woman wore dark glasses covering her eyes. “Jonathan was reckless; he got too cocky and nearly exposed us. I can’t risk this sort of behavior from any of you right now. I did, however, pay for his bail and he and Eric should be here ver-”

Just then Flamer and another man walked in.

“In fact, here they are now,” the woman said warmly as the pair walked in the door. “Thank you Eric. Now Jonathan, please sit. You’ve had a long day.”

Jonathan sat down and smiled nervously.

“Good. Now why do you think I paid your bail, Jonathan?”

“Umm, be- because you need all the help you can get right now?”

“Huh, well yes that’s one reason. The other is that I couldn’t risk you making another stupid mistake today and telling anyone my plans. You didn’t tell anyone anything, did you?”

“N- no I didn’t say nothing about your plans.”

“Good,” the woman cooed as she walked up to Jonathan and bent down to his ear, “because if you had…” she whispered sweetly, “I WOULD HAVE KILLED YOU!” she screamed as she stabbed a metal spike through his hand and into the arm of the chair.

Jonathan was screaming with pain and he thrashed about, trying desperately to pull the spike from his hand.

The woman stood up and took a moment to fix her hair. She pulled her shades down slightly, allowing her blank, sightless eyes to be seen and then added very calmly, “Let this be a lesson to all of you.”

Continued...