Flash Read online

  The Flash wrenched the pistol away, and it joined the cell phone in the river far below.

  Another car roared past. The Flash raced after it and put a vibrating hand through a rear tire, causing the sedan to flop to a harmless crawl before it could slam into a pile of vehicles that blocked most of the lanes.

  From the middle of the bridge, the Flash spotted a familiar figure halfway toward the far end. Roy Bivolo strolled away from him, down the center lane with his arms wide, catching the eyes of oncoming drivers. When cars passed, they immediately accelerated or veered into their neighbors. Drivers screamed out of their windows and leaned on their horns.

  The Flash took off toward him, but didn’t make it far. Stopping several more collisions, he finally pulled a flailing woman free of her out-of-control car and set her on her feet, just so she could try to kick him. Dodging easily, he turned back toward Bivolo, who was only twenty yards away. The next wave of oncoming cars waited at a red light.

  “Bivolo!” the Flash shouted. He touched a small switch on the left side of his cowl. Colored lenses slid down to cover his eyes. A gift from Cisco. The lenses fired color sequences into Barry’s retinas, thus blocking Bivolo’s power to spark an emotional response in anyone who looked him in the eye. Unfortunately the lenses hadn’t been tested.

  When Prism spun to face the Flash, Barry reacted out of habit and looked down to avoid eye contact. The lenses flashed colors in quick succession. The effect was slightly nauseating.

  “What’s the matter, Flash?” Prism called out. “Can’t stand the sight of me? Come on. Run on down here. See if you can do it without looking me in the eye.”

  The Flash took a deep breath and lifted his head. He stared straight into Bivolo’s eyes. The world tinted with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple hues. Bivolo grinned—

  —and the Flash grinned back.

  Bivolo stiffened, and glanced up toward the bridge tower. The Flash streaked toward him and landed a solid punch. Bivolo flew off his feet, bouncing on the pavement. Barry wasn’t a violent person by nature, but he still found it very satisfying to finally get his knuckles on one of the bad guys.

  “Okay, Prism. Time’s up.” The Flash walked leisurely toward him where he lay in the road, rubbing his jaw. “You’ve only got one trick, and it’s not working. I guess your super-villain days are over.”

  Bivolo lifted his arm.

  A black haze appeared next to him. Shawna Baez stood there. Glancing up, she grabbed Bivolo’s hand, and they were gone.

  The Flash looked up in the direction Peekaboo had glanced. High above the deck, the two metas clutched precariously to a tower platform. The fastest way to reach them was a suspension cable.

  Jumping on the narrow steel coil, the Flash ran up the slope toward the tower’s platform, where he found Bivolo and Shawna, looking terrified. The wind battered them on their narrow perch. When the Flash neared, a whoosh of smoke appeared again.

  He was alone.

  The two materialized down on the bridge just as another wave of traffic approached. The Flash raced back down the steel cable and came within an inch of seizing Bivolo before he vanished again, leaving behind the sound of metal crunching and squealing tires.

  Through a wasteland of scattered cars, a pickup truck rammed the front end of a small economy model and shoved it toward the side of the bridge. Despite its smoking brakes, the small vehicle crashed against the railing. The woman at the wheel screamed—not in fear but in anger. The truck just revved its powerful engine and smashed the car over the rail, sending it into the air.

  “Guys, I got a car over the side of the bridge,” Barry called into his mic. “I’m going to get her.” He shot past the truck, stopping to grab the keys and pitch them away. Bolting through the crushed railing, he ran along a girder, then plunged down a support beam and out onto the surface of the river. He sped along the water until he saw the small blue car, seeming to hang in the air above him.

  He circled beneath the car, running around and around on the surface, creating an updraft that slowed the vehicle’s fall. The rising air drew water with it, and a spout lifted into the sky. He had to regulate his speed carefully to prevent a hard cannon of water from slamming against the underside of the car.

  The waterspout struck the vehicle, bouncing it upright and level. The Flash slowed down so the spout would begin to drop, lowering the car with it. He grinned to himself, pleased with his makeshift elevator, until he saw that the car’s windows were open and the geyser was flooding it. The woman at the wheel thrashed, trying to escape the water that was drenching her.

  With the car only fifteen feet above the river, he dropped his speed again and let the updraft weaken. His feet lost traction, causing him to stumble. The geyser collapsed and brought the car down. The Flash threw himself out of the way, but the edge of the undercarriage caught his right arm and a knife of pain shot through him, making him cry out.

  The blow pushed him under the water. Above his head, the car splashed into the river and bobbed like a foundering boat. The Flash broke the surface with a gasping breath.

  “Barry, are you all right?” Caitlin asked in his ear.

  “I-I think I broke my arm,” he gritted. “By the way, how long does it take a car to sink?” He swam awkwardly for the passenger’s side. Pain shot through him every time he moved his right arm.

  “Too many variables. There’s no set rule for it,” Cisco replied.

  “How is the driver?” Caitlin asked. “Can she get out on her own?”

  The Flash bobbed next to the open passenger window. The driver was stunned, but seemed uninjured. She showed no cuts on her face; there was no blood.

  “Ma’am, can you hear me?” he called. “Are you all right?”

  She looked at him with a blank expression. She appeared to be about forty and in good physical shape. The river water sluiced into the car through the window, already coming up to her abdomen. She was sinking quickly.

  He swiftly swam around to the driver’s side. As the water began to lap at her neck, she jerked frantically at her seatbelt. She pulled it away from her chest and tried to struggle out, but it only snapped back tighter. Her breath turned ragged. She was either going to hyperventilate, or swallow a lot of water.

  The Flash pressed his hands against the door and vibrated. Unexpectedly, the force propelled him through the water away from the car. He swam back. The driver started shouting for help. The Flash held onto the car with one hand and shattered the lock with the other.

  The water slapped at their jawlines. The driver pressed against the roof of the car, trying to stay in open air.

  “Ma’am!” the Flash said firmly. “I need you to take a deep breath. You’ll be fine, but take a deep breath.” Her panicked eyes latched onto his. She sucked in a lungful of air. He smiled. “Take a deep breath. I’m going to—”

  The river swallowed them.

  Barry hadn’t taken a breath himself. He could surface again, but he couldn’t let the driver think he was abandoning her. With his lungs already tight, he grasped the door. The sinking car had a weird bulky weight. Bracing one foot on the frame, he wrenched the door open. The driver tried to surge out, but her seatbelt still held her.

  The Flash wedged himself between her thrashing body and the steering wheel. She clawed at his back, trying to use him for leverage to push herself away. Even in the daylight, it was dark under the surface. His chest was on fire, and grinding pain shot through his body. He had to use his left arm to feel along the edge of the seat for the safety belt release.

  He touched the metal latch, and pressed.

  Nothing happened.

  “Barry, what’s going on?” Caitlin said urgently.

  He tugged on the belt, trying to force it loose, then seized it in his left hand and vibrated. At last the metal buckle came apart in his hand.

  The Flash pushed himself back. The seatbelt still threatened to tangle him and the driver, who sat motionless now. Her dark hair floated arou
nd her face. His own vision sparked and dimmed. Limbs turned sleepy and thick, but he still took her by the shoulders, pulling her out of the car.

  He wondered which way was up.

  In the dark, he made out the roof of the car and trusted that it was still oriented correctly. He kicked away and swam, holding the driver tight against his chest with his searing right arm. He didn’t know if he was going in the right direction. He didn’t know if he was using his speed. He should have been at the surface by now.

  His vision dimmed. Barry fought to keep his mouth closed, to suppress the savage urge to draw in a deep breath.

  Kick. Trust in the direction.

  Just another second. Keep kicking.

  His face hit a wave of cold. Light surrounded him. He hesitated to breathe because he didn’t trust it. He saw what looked like the bridge and the skyline of Central City.

  Throwing open his mouth he dragged in a rasping breath. The woman flopped helplessly against him. He angled her face out of the water. Her eyes were rolled up and her lips were blue. The Flash clutched her to his chest and swam for the shore, kicking up a violent wake, as if a speedboat was roaring across the river.

  “Are you all right?” Caitlin cried. “What’s going on?”

  But he couldn’t manage to speak yet. Soon his legs scraped the bottom. With a shock of pain, he carried the woman out of the water onto a rocky area under one of the bridge’s great steel pilings.

  “Barry! Answer me!”

  His legs wobbled and he dropped to his knees next to the sodden woman. He couldn’t find a heartbeat.

  “She’s not breathing. I’ve got to do CPR.”

  “Couldn’t you get her to a hospital faster?” Caitlin asked.

  “Can’t carry her. I’ve got a broken arm, and I can barely walk. No time to wait.”

  “Barry, do you have enough control? If you try chest compression, you could shatter bone.”

  “She’s going to die if I don’t do something.” The Flash put a hand to her slack face. “Hang on, I’ve got an idea.” With one hand, he pulled her closer to the girder. Then he tensed, as if preparing to run, but he stayed locked in place. Power surged up through his body. Nerves fired. Muscles filled. Energy crackled into his system. The air sparked.

  “Barry,” Caitlin said, “lightning could kill her, too.”

  He didn’t respond. If he did nothing, she would die. This was his best bet. The power roared through him, threatening to escape his weakened control. Crackling energy popped off his arms and legs. It was going to burst out, whether he wanted it to or not.

  Reaching out, he grabbed the steel strut. A ripple of lightning coursed down his arm and into the rusty piling with a deafening crack. At the same time, he held his right hand over the woman’s chest. Spiders of electricity arced from his fingertips into her body. She spasmed off the ground, held in a white-hot glow. Her eyes flew open. When she fell back into the gravel, her mouth parted and she spit up water.

  Barry dropped beside her, and heard her take several quick breaths before she coughed into a regular rhythm. She let her head fall to the side and her eyes met his. She blinked and closed her eyes. He took her wrist, and found a steady pulse.

  “She’s alive,” he muttered. “Send an EMS team to our location.”

  “They’re already on the way,” Cisco said. “Good work, doctor.” A moment later he added, “It looks like Prism is gone.”

  “It’s just as well,” the Flash replied, “because I can’t move.”

  20

  Barry jerked awake, and found himself in the corner of the Cortex. The lights were always at the same level, so he didn’t know if it was night or day. He remained still, pondering why he was sitting on the floor. Two blankets lay draped over him. He stretched his legs out in front of him. They were red.

  He was wearing the Flash suit.

  The sound of gently tapping keys and the constant background hum seeped into his hearing.

  I should get up, he thought. When he moved, he only saw one hand. Oh my God! I’ve lost an arm!

  Then he saw his right limb restrained in a sling, and everything swept back into place. The car in the river. His broken arm. Flexing his fingers, he didn’t feel any sharp pain. He reached up to pull the sling off over his head. His muscles ached, and he groaned.

  A chair squeaked. “Barry? You awake?” It was Cisco.

  “Yeah.” Barry pushed himself to his feet as his friend rushed to help him. He stood, gingerly testing his limits. A bit weak, but even that was slowly passing. “How long have I been out?”

  “Not long enough.” Cisco steadied Barry, watching him carefully before stepping back. “Five hours. You came back from the bridge, Caitlin took blood and put your arm in a sling. Then you sat down in the corner and went out like a light.”

  “So you left me lying on the floor?”

  Cisco shrugged guiltily. “We were afraid that if we woke you, you’d rush out again.” The young man’s expression held actual worry.

  “Five hours is too long for me to be out of action.” Barry tested his right arm. Stiff, but pain free. He went to the main computers, moving slowly. “Where do I need to be?”

  “Nowhere right now,” Cisco insisted. “Just chill, man. I haven’t logged any meta activity in hours. Nothing since you came back from the bridge.” Then he grinned and held up a small cylinder about five inches long. “This might make you happy—it’s a working prototype for an anti-Prism strobe, a portable version of the color sequencer we used on you when he whammied you last time. This little beauty should reverse the rage effect in anyone he’s already hit.”

  “That could be really useful,” Barry said. “Do we have a couple hundred of them?”

  “I wish. This is our only one, and we don’t know yet if it works. You have to be pretty close to the victim for it to be effective.”

  “At this rate, I’m going to need a backpack to carry all my anti-villain gear. I remember when being fast was enough.” Barry bent backward, stretching his spine. “Where’s Caitlin?”

  “In the medical lab working on your tests.”

  “Has she slept at all in the last few days?”

  “I don’t know, but I’d bet she hasn’t.” Cisco moved back into the bright lights of his workstation, and Barry winced at the sight of his swollen nose and eyes, still bruised purple.

  “What about you? You still look like hell.”

  “Gee, thanks,” Cisco said. “I’m fine. Really. We Ramons are a handsome but strong people. Don’t worry about me.”

  “Okay.” Barry rubbed his hands together. “Well, while the metas are napping, I’ll take over Caitlin’s lab work so she can get some rest. I wouldn’t mind some relaxing science, moving at normal human speed, with a minimum of punching.”

  As he turned to leave, Caitlin came walking down the ramp from the med lab. She carried a thick stack of papers and a tablet. Dark circles rested beneath her eyes. Deep creases hung along her mouth. Her clothes were disheveled, and she had tied her hair up in a hasty bun that was coming undone. When she saw Barry, she straightened with alarm.

  “What are you doing?” she asked quickly. “How’s your arm? I didn’t tell you to take the sling off.”

  “It’s fine.” Barry waved his right arm vigorously, causing Caitlin to freeze in terror. “See?”

  “Stop it!” she scolded loudly. “Stop doing things. For once. Why do you always have to do things?”

  He offered a worried smile. “I’m sorry. I am fine though.” When her eyes flicked to the papers she held in her hand, he added, “Aren’t I?”

  She took a deep breath. “I’d prefer to wait before we discuss this.”

  “Wait for what?” A knot started to form in his stomach.

  “For us, I think.” Joe’s voice came from the door as he and Iris entered. They were both a little out of breath, as if they had rushed over. They regarded Caitlin before pinning Barry with pained looks.

  “You called Joe and Iris?” Barry te
nsed. “You found something. What is it? Just tell me.”

  Caitlin plugged in the tablet and swiped the screen a few times. Around the room, screens flared to life with a video that showed quivering blood cells. They looked normal, if a little hyperactive.

  “Barry, these are your erythrocytes, from a blood sample I took six months ago, and retained for reference.”

  He watched the screen. “They look fine. What am I missing?”

  “Nothing. These do look perfectly fine.” She tapped the tablet, and another image appeared. “This is from the blood I took a few hours ago.”

  In the new image, the red blood cells were moving much faster, careening against one another almost as if on the attack. A yellowish substance seeped through the extracellular matrix between the blood cells. It appeared to be pulsing.

  Suddenly a thin lance of yellow pierced one of the healthy cells. The red oval vibrated rapidly, and then blurred out to near invisibility. In an instant the once healthy hemoglobin was replaced by a lifeless, colorless shape. As they all watched, more cells sickened, until finally the entire screen was a yellowish mass.

  Barry glanced over his shoulder. Caitlin restarted the loop and he stepped closer to the screen. He’d never seen anything like it, and his scientific mind found it fascinating. He had no idea what the strange fluid could be.

  “What the hell is it?” Joe exclaimed. The fear in his voice brought Barry back to reality. He was looking at his own blood, not a random sample or a classroom exercise. He tried to calm his adoptive father by putting the science above the emotion. He crossed his arms and theorized.

  “Whatever it is, it’s a fluid of some sort.”

  Caitlin shook her head.

  “Actually, it’s not,” she responded. “It’s plasma. Not blood plasma. Plasma.”

  “Plasma?” Barry signaled her to run it again. “As in one-of-the-four-states-of-matter plasma? How is that possible?”