Flash Read online

“Please continue, Mr. Piper.”

  Rathaway strolled over to the desk, pausing to shove Captain Singh out of the way. He sat in the captain’s chair, then he looked back and indicated for Shawna to join him. Hesitating at first, she came forward. West stepped aside and she perched on the edge of his chair. The two policemen stayed close until Rathaway glowered over his shoulder, at which time they moved near the window.

  “All right,” Rathaway said, “here’s the situation, Your Honor. Your city is being taken apart, piece by piece. Your resources are or soon will be at a breaking point. Police. Fire. Rescue. Hospitals. Basic services like water and sewage and transportation are going to fail soon. Don’t bother to deny it. I know the truth.” He leaned in closer. “You are a week or so away from being the mayor of a failed city, at which point, two things will happen. One, the population will begin to flee. Central City will become blighted, the subject of ‘where are they now’ documentaries and Internet lists of the once-great cities.

  “Or two,” he continued, “the federal government will step in to manage the crisis. Your authority will be negated, and you will never get it back because you’ll get kicked out with the next election. Along with you will go the interests of all your business and social allies.”

  “Did you practice that speech?” Mayor Bellows asked. He didn’t look particularly impressed, which surprised Shawna.

  “You are in no position to be smug,” Rathaway replied, a hint of irritation in his voice. “I practiced this part, too. I’m here to give you a third option. You can pay me five hundred million dollars, and repeat that amount each year until I say you can stop. If you do that, the sun will continue to shine on Central City.”

  “So it’s all about money?” The mayor scowled. “That’s your villainous plan?”

  “Money is a part of it, because money is a part of everything,” Rathaway replied coolly. “But this is mainly about winning, and I have won. You need to recognize that there is no place for you to go, and you must concede.”

  Mayor Bellows took a deep breath. His eyes flicked to the two detectives standing near the window, and then he lowered his gaze to the desktop. When he looked up, he seemed suspiciously calm.

  “We don’t negotiate with terrorists, Mr. Piper.”

  “I’m not negotiating,” Rathaway responded. “I’m dictating. Five hundred million per year. It’s actually quite reasonable, considering the damage I’m doing to your city every day. Some professional sports teams have annual payrolls nearly that high. I’m sure if you go to your major contributors, and the business leaders of Central City, they’ll be happy to put that amount together. They understand the cost of doing business.”

  “Even if I agreed, how do I know you can deliver? Those metahumans are animals.” Bellows smiled viciously. “Present company excepted, of course,” he said sarcastically.

  Shawna ignored the insult because, despite his blanket statement against negotiating, Bellows was negotiating. Typical politician.

  Rathaway inspected his fingernails. “You just have to trust that it’s in our mutual best interests. Above all, my partners are greedy. Money satisfies them. Your partners are greedy. Their top priority will be getting back to business as usual.” He crossed his arms and stared across the desk. “What’s it going to be?”

  “If I say no…”

  “Tick tock, Your Honor.”

  “He’s bluffing.” Captain Singh brought his pistol to waist level. “I can put him down, and our troubles go away. CCPD will wrap up the other thugs.”

  Rathaway remained still. “Have fun explaining that to the families of the dead. How you took their loved ones because you felt the need to be a real man.” He turned to stare at Singh. “I don’t bluff, Captain. I anticipate.”

  Singh didn’t flinch. “Give the word, Your Honor.”

  “Stop it, Captain.” Mayor Bellows leaned forward.

  Rathaway smiled. “Very sensible. That’s why I came to you privately, so we could find a gentleman’s path to agreement. I could just as easily have invaded a television station to announce my fiendish ultimatum, but there’s no sense backing you into a corner. I want this deal to happen. I want you to look like the man who saved Central City. The public doesn’t need to know how you did it.

  “Once you save the city from the terrible metahumans,” he continued, “you can be mayor for as long as you like. Or congressman. Or senator.” He extended his hand. “A simple handshake, and it all gets better.”

  The mayor stared hard at Rathaway’s hand.

  “There’s more to it, isn’t there?” Detective West said from the window. “Come on, Rathaway. Spill it.”

  Rathaway laughed, and nodded toward Mayor Bellows.

  “Well, yes,” he said, pulling his hand back. “Now that he mentions it, there are a couple of addenda.” He tilted his head in West’s direction. “It’s a little awkward to have the detective here, since he’s directly… impacted. As part of our agreement, Joe West is to be fired from the police department, and he must leave the city. A couple of my colleagues have a bit of a grudge against him, and his presence makes them uncomfortable.”

  West chuckled coldly. “I’ll give them a nice comfortable spot in Iron Heights.”

  “There, you see,” Rathaway said. “That’s needlessly antagonistic. So Detective West must go, and the city’s scarlet knight—”

  “I don’t have any control over the Flash,” the mayor interjected. “I don’t even know who he is.”

  “And that’s part of the problem, isn’t it?” Rathaway replied. “Vigilantes running roughshod over our legal system. Are we living in Star City now? You must do your civic duty, and criminalize the Flash. In fact, putting a bounty on his head would be a nice touch.”

  “So you can take down the Flash without breaking the law,” West said. “Not gonna happen.”

  “Don’t be a sore loser, Detective,” Rathaway snapped, and he faced the mayor again. “There’s one last thing, and for this you should give me a medal. I want to protect the city from a threat that has nearly destroyed it twice in the recent past. You see, I am one of the founders of S.T.A.R. Labs. As much as Harrison Wells, I created the particle accelerator, and just as I predicted, it failed.” Rathaway gripped the arms of his chair. “On the positive side, eventually it led to his death. Now I want S.T.A.R. Labs leveled. No, let me rephrase that—I want to be the one to level S.T.A.R. Labs.”

  “That’s private property, Hartley.”

  A new voice, Shawna realized with a shock, and she turned.

  The Flash leaned against the door, arms crossed, a broad smile on his face.

  She leapt to her feet, slapping a hand down on Rathaway’s shoulder. She looked at the window for an escape route. The venetian blinds were shut and Detective West stood with the adjusting wand in his hand. He grinned, pulling a cellphone out of his coat pocket. It was active—he had been broadcasting the meeting to the Flash the whole time.

  With no view outside, Shawna was limited to teleporting inside the office. It would be hard to stay away from the Flash for long.

  He pushed away from the door in a leisurely manner.

  “Anybody here happen to know how many supermarkets there are in Central City? I do, and they’re all empty now—no shoppers for the Mist to harm. You’re a chess player, aren’t you, Hartley? I believe that’s check.”

  Shawna teleported Rathaway across the room. She released him and jumped next to Captain Singh, who was just bringing his gun up. She teleported him beside Mayor Bellows so the muzzle pressed against the mayor’s head.

  She appeared behind the Flash and wrapped her arms around him, then left him in the corner behind a large fern. The exertion made her vision blur, and she felt lightheaded. Still she popped next to Rathaway and moved him again, just as the Flash zipped toward him. Leaving him behind the mayor, she materialized in front of Joe West.

  She put her hands on both sides of his face and smiled at him. Then he was next to the door. She moved Rat
haway yet again as a red blur came toward the mayor’s desk. They appeared in front of the window.

  She parted the venetian blinds.

  Sunlight streamed in. Shawna and Rathaway vanished.

  23

  Barry’s head dipped for the fourth time as he lifted the fork to his mouth. His body needed food, but he was too exhausted to eat. He rubbed at his face, feeling nothing but dried sweat and grit under his hands. Sighing, he attempted to stay focused on the simple act of eating.

  It took effort to even chew.

  Eight times he made it to his mouth before his eyelids started to droop again. He jerked awake as Caitlin entered the room and plopped a stack of research on the top of her desk a few feet away. For a moment he panicked, wondering if he had blurred. But she didn’t seem alarmed.

  He tightened his grip on his fork.

  “You haven’t eaten much,” she pointed out.

  “I haven’t had time,” he replied. “Now I don’t have the energy. Since we missed Rathaway at the mayor’s office, he’s really ramped up the attacks. More fires. More floods. More chaos. We made him mad.” He glanced around. “Where’s Cisco? We need to talk about strategy.”

  “He’s in the lab, working on a way to shut down the Pied Piper’s gauntlets. Don’t worry about him right now. You’ve been running full speed for two days. You’ve got nothing left in your system, Barry. Eat.”

  “I will.” He looked at the pile of paperwork. “Are those my latest results?”

  “Yes.”

  He reached over to take the top report, but Caitlin pulled the stack out of his reach.

  “Just keep eating,” she said firmly. “I’ll tell you what I’ve found.”

  “I can speed read through them.”

  “And use up the little bit of energy you’ve got left? Don’t be silly. You can look at them later, when you’ve gotten more zip back into you.”

  “I am zipless,” he admitted. “It’ll pass.”

  “Barry, it isn’t just the running around, saving people, and looking for meta-villains. Every time you blur, the plasma grows, and it’s not just co-opting red blood cells. It is spreading through other cells too, and it’s draining your speed force. The longer it goes on, the longer it will take you to replenish.”

  “Guess I’ll just have to eat faster,” he said. “Either that, or give me pie intravenously.” He chuckled. Maybe it was the exhaustion making him a little lightheaded.

  Caitlin actually paused and put a finger to her chin.

  “I was kidding!” Barry exclaimed.

  “I could give you some boosters—electrolytes, simple proteins. We could use protein shakes, for when you’re too tired to even eat.” She watched his head dip again. “Like now.”

  “Look. I’m eating.” He lifted his fork to shove in another mouthful.

  “I’m serious. You’re draining faster than you’re replenishing.” She rummaged through the folders in front of her. Finally she pulled out an X-ray. “This is the break in your arm from the fight on the bridge.” She slid it in front of him. “Taken this morning.”

  Barry held it up to the light. To his surprise, he could still see a hint of the fracture line. “It’s not healed.”

  “It’s healing, but far slower than it should. Under normal circumstances, your bones would have knit completely by now thanks to your metahuman physiology.”

  Barry frowned and then lifted up his shirt. “I guess that explains this.”

  Caitlin gave a soft cry.

  “Good God, is that a burn?”

  “Yeah, left over from the house fire on Livingston Street.”

  “Damn it, Barry. That was two days ago!”

  Caitlin moved toward the med ward. It took her all of two minutes and she was back with some salve and a bandage. Barry stood quietly as she quickly and efficiently took care of the half-healed burn. He hissed as she dabbed some ointment on it. Pain wasn’t new to him, but rarely did he have to deal with it for extended periods.

  “It’ll be all right,” he told her. “Don’t worry.”

  She scoffed at him, applying a bandage over the burn.

  “This is serious, Barry.”

  “It’s just a burn.”

  “But it’s not healing. It may be minor now, but the next time you get your ribs caved in, or breathe some hydrogen cyanide, you may not come back. You’re no longer indestructible.”

  He smiled at her. “You thought I was indestructible?”

  She sighed. “You know what I mean. You’re more vulnerable now. You could easily die out there.” The expression on her face told Barry where her thoughts were heading.

  “No one’s going to die.” He stood and took her by the shoulders. “Look at me. That’s not going to happen.”

  Caitlin stared at him for a long moment. “It better not.”

  “I’m getting my second wind,” he said, but her dubious expression told him she wasn’t buying that for a moment. He returned to the food.

  “You really need to take it easy,” she said, going back to her papers.

  “We both know that’s not going to happen until those metas are behind bars. I’ll take it easy then. Otherwise, the Flash has to stay on the clock.”

  “You’re always on the clock. If not fighting this group, then another. It will always be something.”

  He held up a hand. “I promise, the moment these guys are down, I’m going on vacation. Even if it’s fishing with Joe and Iris.” That made him grimace.

  “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Caitlin placed her hands on the desk and leaned over them. “I know you, Barry. You’re not the vacation type, not when there are people in trouble. That’s the problem. You think you can do it all. Just because you can do everything quicker than everyone else, it doesn’t mean you can do it all alone.”

  Barry shrugged. “Well, who can keep up with me?”

  “It’s not a race, Barry,” she argued. “You have to let someone else help you, or you’re going to die.”

  “All of you are helping me,” he said, meaning it. “Don’t think I don’t appreciate it, too. I do. If it weren’t for you—”

  “I don’t mean us. We’ll always be here for you.”

  “Then who?”

  “Oliver.”

  “Oliver Queen?” Barry immediately shook his head. “He’s busy. He’s the Green Arrow.”

  “And you’re the Flash.”

  “But he’s got his own problems. I’m not going to add to them.”

  “Excuse me, but you’ve got an army of metahumans trying to destroy this city. Plus you’re experiencing unexplained issues with your power. And yet, even with those problems, if he asked you to lend him a hand right this second, you’d go. I know you would.” She took a deep breath, and continued. “You don’t have to be alone in this. There is no shame in asking Oliver for help. You’re sick, Barry, and if you keep pushing like this, we’re going to lose you.”

  He started to protest again, but closed his mouth. Caitlin was right. Under normal circumstances he could have handled this. He wasn’t worried for himself, but what if he blurred while he was trying to save someone? It wouldn’t be him that paid the price.

  “All right,” he said.

  Caitlin looked shocked. “What?”

  “I said all right. I’ll call Oliver.”

  Caitlin ran over and gave him a fierce hug. “Thank you!”

  “He hasn’t said yes, yet,” Barry reminded her. “He may not be able to come.”

  “He will,” she said. “I know he will. Oh, and ask Felicity to come with him. I’d love to have her help with the plasma problem.”

  “She’s not a doctor.”

  “No, but with her computer skills, we could double our output here in the labs. And I want her analytical eyes on my data.”

  “Anybody else?” His eyebrow rose. “John Diggle? Speedy? How about Deathstroke?”

  Caitlin ignored his sarcasm. “I’ll leave that to Oliver. He knows what he’s doing.”

>   “I’ll call him today.” Barry yawned and stared listlessly at the plate. “Iris will be happy. She loves her some Oliver Queen.”

  Caitlin gathered her papers against her chest. Her beaming smile, the first ray of hope Barry had seen in her for days, let him know he was making the right decision.

  24

  The next evening, the Flash patrolled the city, as usual. The pouring rain stopped, but not before a lightning-sparked fire took down a tenement used by the homeless. He rescued more than twenty people with the help of the CCFD, then searched the area for Mardon or Bivolo.

  Nothing.

  City Center traffic was much lighter than it should’ve been on a normal night. He passed blocks of high rises, dark due to the failing power grid. A number of luxury condos stood empty because of fire damage. The once-bright lights of fashionable restaurants and ritzy clubs remained dark. Rathaway made sure the rich and powerful felt the impact, hoping to ramp up the pressure on the mayor.

  The Flash turned a corner and stopped dead.

  “Hm,” he grunted. “That’s weird.”

  “What is?” Cisco asked, but Barry didn’t answer.

  Two men in military fatigues sat on the sidewalk with their backs against a light pole. They bent forward with their arms placed awkwardly behind them. The Flash pulled to a stop in front of them.

  “Hey, guys. What’s up?”

  The two soldiers looked up with amazement. “It’s him!” one said. “You’re the Flash!”

  “Yeah. Who are you?”

  “I’m Douglas Thomas.”

  “Okay, hi, but I really meant what are you doing here?”

  “I’m Randy Murrow,” the second soldier replied. “We’re tied up.” The Flash peered behind them. Sure enough, their wrists were bound with plastic zip ties.

  “Is there a reason why?”

  “Our buddies went nuts,” Douglas said. “They jumped us, tied us up, and took off with the Humvee. Left us here. We need to get loose and find them.”

  “Your buddies went nuts?” the Flash asked warily. “What happened?”

  “We were on patrol.” Douglas twisted to show the unit patch on his shoulder. “We’re National Guard. Came in for public safety duty. We were rolling down the street here and a guy flags us down. We pull up and our sergeant starts talking to the guy.”