The Flash: A Night on the Town
Part 1
If his double life had taught Barry one thing, it was that it actually paid to slow down.
Barry Allen, the Flash, spent so much time doing his thing that he found that he no longer had time to do the things he used to enjoy. Granted, his life had been depressingly dull before he got his powers (working in a Forensics lab non-stop can do that to you) As it was, his new line of work had gotten him a ton of new friends, but dark gritty vigilantes who made Bill Gates look like a pauper, archers who had turned left-winging into an art-form, and space policemen in green spandex who doubled as womanizers did not always make for the most social of people.
Still, it was worth a try. Barry had nothing better to do tonight, so he may as well try and call one of his friends in the Justice League. He leaned forward on his couch and grabbed his phone. He decided he'd start small. Try O'brien. Predictably, he wasn't available, and maybe that was for the best. Barry had always found him a little…well, suffice to say, he preferred Ralph.
Ollie was next. "Busy" Ollie said before hanging up quickly. Barry probably knew what he really meant when he said "busy". Ollie and Dinah had always had their "on-team" relationship (and where the only ones that did) That got Barry thinking on something else: his love-life was nonexistent at the moment. It was kind of sad, when Barry thought about it. Clark had Lois, Diana had that Steve Trevor guy, even Bats had that cat-chick he'd go roof-top jumping with. And nothing really needed to be said about Hal when it came to women. Barry's thoughts on the matter where interrupted when he overheard police sirens wailing in the distance before gradually fading away.
"Ah damn, here we go again…"
For a second, Barry considered just letting the police handle this one. They where certainly capable of handling regular hoods without a guy in bright red spandex providing assistance. But Barry knew that it could easily be a supervillain or something more serious then a few punks, in which case he should probably just make sure to be on the safe side. He took out his special ring (not quite as special as Hal's but still nifty all the same) and out popped his signature red costume which he quickly changed into. Right before he did, he spotted a ten dollar bill on the floor.
"Might need that…" Barry thought, putting the bill inside his boot before speeding off. He actually ran so fast that he beat the police cars to the crime scene. As it was, it wasn't anything major. The chumps he was greeted to upon arriving at the scene weren't members of his rogue's gallery. He could barely even remember their names. The one in the center was…if he remembered correctly, the Mad Hatter, the one next to him was Rag-Doll, and the one floating above them…Flash couldn't remember his name but boy oh boy did he look completely ridiculous. Even more so then his cohorts.
"Aren't you losers supposed to be Batman villains?"
The three turned to face him. Flash didn't even give them a chance to respond before he hastily rounded them all up. He then sped over to the nearest Gotham police station to drop them off. The whole thing took a little over 30 seconds. Flash looked up as he exited the station. The fog was so bad in Gotham it was kind of hard to make out the exact time but Barry knew the night was still young. What to do with himself…now that was the question.
Then, almost out of nowhere, a streak suddenly zoomed by Barry, nearly running him over.
"That wasn't a car…" Barry thought. He sped off after it. The streak he was chasing was way ahead of him, and Barry was beginning to get the feeling this "streak" was another speedster. Barry didn't know many other speedsters besides himself. He tried a little test.
"Hey Clark, is that you?"
No response.
"Jay?"
Nothing.
OK then. Whoever this chap was, Barry had a feeling it wasn't a friend of his. The two kept up their chase, running across streets and criss-crossing through various corners of town. As Flash ran past another series of buildings and back into the street, the streak turned all of a sudden, and Barry couldn't quite swerve in time. By the time he did, the streak was nowhere in sight.
"Now what was that all about?"
Well, regardless, Barry now had absolutely no idea where he was. He hadn't been to Gotham too many times and he didn't have a clue on where he should go from here. The smartest and most obvious thing, of course, would just be to back-track the way he came, but then something caught his eye: a poster, stuck to the building he was near, featuring a VERY sexy lady with long black hair dressed as what (as far as Barry could tell) a magician, complete with fishnet stockings, very long black boots, a waistcoat, a short cape that was red on the inside, black on the outside, and a top hat and short coat that matched her hair perfectly. Barry found himself eyeing the poster a little as he read under it: Zatanna, mistress of Magic.
Zatanna…Barry had heard that name before. Oh right, she was a member of the Justice League along with him. As it was, he'd only seen her once or twice. She wasn't exactly a major member. But, Barry knew someone interesting when he saw them. And as he had nothing better to do…
"A little magic never hurt anyone" Barry joked to himself as he changed into his street clothes and paid the admission to get in (good thing he'd brought those 10 dollars). Barry sat down along with everyone else, and soon, in a puff of smoke, stood the mistress of magic in the flesh. Barry was impressed. She was even better-looking in person, and he found himself paying as much attention to her…features as he was to the actual magic tricks. And he was getting the feeling he wasn't the only one either.
But, as things where going on and the classic "saw the assistant in two" routine was underway, a voice cut through
"Impressive, impressive. Now how about some real magic." Then, out of one old lady's personal mirror, leaped a figure in an orange jumpsuit with green metallic boots, gauntlets, and a helmet that completely covered his face.
"Greetings Ladies and Gentleman. You are staring at the greatest rogue in Central City: Mirror Master."
Oh no. Barry had fought him more times then he cared to remember. There wasn't a thing the guy couldn't do with mirrors, it seemed. Mirror Master aimed a pistol of some kind directly at Zatanna and fired. She just stood there as the mirror-like projectiles came and held out her hand.
"Ezilairetamed!" The flying mirrors disappeared as though they where never there. Barry was impressed. So was Mirror Master, it seemed. Zatanna aimed her gloved hands at him next
"Ezilibommi!"
Nothing happened. Mirror Master merely fired another round of mirrors from his pistol.
"Sorry my dear" he said with a Scottish accent full of arrogance. "But this new suit isn't just for show. It's a little gift from Felix Faust. Renders most of your lesser spells completely useless."
"How about the ol' one two?"
Mirror Master turned and was greeted with a punch to the helmet. Flash then delivered several more blows then sped off as Mirror Master fired another round. He sped over to Zatanna.
"Hey there."
"Hey…you're that fast guy in the Justice League right? Flash?"
"That's me beautiful."
"Are you flirting with me?"
"What me? Never!"
Mirror Master's metallic voice rang out.
"I don't have time for this childish idiocy!"
Mirror Master, was by now, busily pressing buttons on some sort of device as the people in the room attempted to leave. No such luck. The doors had been bolted shut. Mirror Master finally tossed his device to the ground. Out popped a VERY powerful beam of light, that possessed a light purple hue. The whole room seemed to slow down, even for Flash, as the area where the beam was coming from grew brighter and brighter. Then, there was a blinding flash that consumed the entire room. Flash and Zatanna held up their hands as they where consumed along with everyone else.
Part 2
Flash found the whole world swimming before his eyes. Then things gradually came into focus. Or did they? Flash found himself looking at a very peculiar scene. He was standing on a tile floor, the tiles being arranged in a diamond pattern in purple and white. He saw the same design was on the "walls" of the area, and there where staircases leading upward, downward, and even upside-down stair-cases and ones that where on the sides of walls. It was all thoroughly bizarre, but it was also a place that Barry had been in before. This was Mirror Master's mirror dimension.
Then he remembered that he wasn't alone this time.
"Are you OK?" Zatanna asked him.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Barry said.
"That guy's one of your enemies right? Do you have any idea where we are?"
"Yeah, Mirror Master sent us to one of his mirror dimensions. I really hate it when he does this. Always takes me forever and a day to get out and by then he's already made off with the loot. That's why I usually try to keep the pressure on him during our fights so he never gets the chance to do something like this…"
"Well that went really well."
"Yeah, it sure did" Flash replied sarcastically. "Well, I think we should get out of here and figure out what Mirror Master did to all the other people. Can you use your magic to get us out of here?"
A metallic voice suddenly rang out. "Fraid not."
Flash and Zatanna looked up and there was Mirror Master standing upside down on the ceiling, no less. He took one of the "wall-stairs" down until he was on the floor facing them.
"This is a very special mirror dimension. The most potent I have ever created. Her magics will not get you out of this. Escape, my friend, is entirely impossible unless I decide to open a door leading back to our dimension. And once the other people get wind of that, they'll be giving me everything they own save the clothes on their backs if they ever want to leave. Which, if they don't want to starve, they will."
"You're a monster."
"I'm smart, my dear. Which I'm afraid is more then can be said of you or that idiot you are currently stuck with. Although…"
Mirror Master eyed Zatanna's fishnet stockings
"…If you would rather not remain trapped in here, I think I could…"arrange" something between us…"
Zatanna's face flustered. She angrily pointed a hand at him.
"Eirf dna Eci!"
Blasts of fire and ice sprouted forth out of Zatanna's hands and flew directly at Mirror Master. Mirror Master just stood there, and several tiles in the floor rose, creating a barricade that shrugged off the blasts. Zatanna got ready to let loose with another, even more aggressive spell, but Flash held her back
"Hey easy, easy, we're not getting out of here if he's dead."'
Zatanna glared at him before finally standing down. Mirror Master just continued to stand there.
"I grow bored watching this. I'm going now. But just to make sure you feel the pressure, how's about throwing a few dozen waves of my duplicates at you?"
And with that, Mirror Master vanished. Then, dozens of copies of him rapidly materialized, and charged the duo. Flash immediately sped in various directions, knocking down duplicate after duplicate as Zatanna took to taking them down hard with her magics. Both heroes knew the duplicates were not living, so they had no qualms about going all out, which was especially good, because the duplicates came at them in swarms.
As things progressed, it soon became apparent that there was no end to the waves upon waves of copies. Barry had already felt like he'd taken down 2 dozen or so, and more merely came to replace them. He sped towards Zatanna and knocked down another duplicate. He turned to her,
"Can you create a force-field or something? I have a plan, but I can't discuss it when we're under attack like this…"
Zatanna nodded "Dleihs eht Hsalf dna I!"
"Can you translate that please? I don't understand."
She glared at him. "It meant "shield the flash and I"
An indigo-colored bubble suddenly appeared to protect the pair as the duplicates closed in. They took to bashing it with their fists to no effect. Zatanna turned to Flash
"So about that plan?"
"Oh, yeah, well, I've been looking around, and there's a series of stairs that leads out of here. It's not the uh…straightest run, so to speak" he pointed at the series of wall stairs and upside-down stairs. "…But it looks to be the only clear exit out. I can speed over there pretty quickly." He turned to Zatanna. "When I'm running fast enough I can scale walls and ceilings easily. Mind if I carry you? It would really make things easier…"
Zatanna gave him a bit of a look that Barry had only seen once or twice before. It wasn't a good look.
Finally though, she moved forward and Barry hoisted her up. She put her arms around his neck.
"Don't get any ideas speedster."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
And with that, as the force-field disappeared, Flash sped off with Zatanna in his arms, who found herself having to hang on rather tight as Flash kept up his run. Flash ran across the series of wall stairs, then up a set of stairs attached to the ceiling. He kept running until he saw the series of upside-down stairs leading through a hole in the ceiling. Flash ran through the hole and up the stairs and they found themselves in an entirely new area. Flash let Zatanna down and took to analyzing the scene in front of him. They where standing on the same type of tile floor as in the previous room, but there where no walls or ceiling here, just a vast, purplish colored void, with a marble bridge leading to a massive set of double doors. Two gigantic mirrors floated in space on either side of the door.
"Looks like a straight run." Flash thought. He looked back at Zatanna, who was using her magic to seal the entrance they had come through to make sure none of Mirror Master's duplicates followed them. He had a feeling she wouldn't want him to carry her again. "Guess we'll have to hoof it" Flash thought. He turned to her
"Come on, there's a bridge that way."
Flash and Zatanna started walking, making their way to the marble bridge. As they approached, Mirror Master's image suddenly materialized in the twin mirrors. He spoke
"So you got out of the bottom floor did you? I'm impressed, I'll admit, but I'm afraid that you're still not getting out of here unless I want you to."
"Why don't you quit fooling around and tell us what you've done with everyone else?" Flash demanded. Flash couldn't see any of Mirror Master's face underneath that helmet but he knew he was smiling.
"Ah yes, the others…well, they're scattered all throughout this little dimension of mine. You're welcome to try and find them, rescue them, whatever it is you "superheroes" do, but if I had to guess, with the way my dimension is laid out it would take you approximately 40 years, 5 months, 2 weeks, 6 days, 30 hours, and 10 minutes to find everyone, navigate the little puzzles I have keeping them contained, and then rescue them. Better get started."
Mirror Master chuckled lightly before his image in the twin mirrors disappeared. Flash and Zatanna turned to one another.
"Well?"
"Well…" Flash responded "…we're probably going to have to go through the double doors, because I don't see any other way out of here. I've got an idea once we go through, but I'd rather he not hear. Can you do telepathy?"
Zatanna nodded. Flash thought out his plan in his head as Zatanna read his thoughts. He tried to block out a certain few in the hopes that she didn't see.
OK, here's what I'm thinking: Mirror Master has us trapped here, along with who knows how many other people. I say we try and get him out in the open, and then, we're going to have to try and take him down and get him to release us, and everyone else. Now, granted, this is his world, so it won't be easy, but I have beaten him in these mirror-dimensions before, and with you here…
Flash quickly tried to block out a certain image about the mistress of magic that suddenly popped into his head and then continued
…We should definitely be able to take him down.
But Flash, his suit resists most of my magics. And he can always use this dimension's defenses to block some of my more dangerous ones. Not sure how I'm going to be much help against this clown.
Do you know any really powerful spells? Ones he couldn't block or shrug off?
Well if we count ones that would kill him, yes. But like you said, I do that, and we're stuck here.
There was silence once more. Flash wasn't entirely sure what to say next (or think, as the case may be) but finally, he said
Let's cross that bridge when we come to it.
Zatanna didn't like the sound of that, but she decided to go along for now. She remarked, now out loud
"Well here's a bridge. Wanna cross that?"
Flash chuckled a bit and nodded. Zatanna walked across first to test it, and, seeing that it was totally stable, motioned for Flash to come across. He sped across and then looked at her.
"Just to be safe" he said.
"Do you ever slow down?"
"Well, actually, now that you mention it…"
"Never mind" Zatanna said shaking her head.
The two turned to look at the double doors. They were even more massive now that Flash was looking right at them, with no clear way of opening them. Zatanna held out her wand
"Nepo!"
Nothing happened.
"Open Sesame"
As predicted, nothing happened. Zatanna shot Flash a bit of a look. He grinned.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist."
Zatanna shook her head. "Got any more bright ideas on how we get through this door?"
Flash smiled. "Just one. You may want to stand back…"
Zatanna did as she was told and Flash prepared himself. He just stood, as if ready to run, but not budging an inch. He gathered energy, sparks began to emit from where he stood, and he remained rooted in place. Sweat trickled down his forehead, but still he stayed in his spot, letting more and more energy circle around him. Finally, Flash released it, rocketing forward like a human cannonball. When the dust settled, Zatanna could see a man-sized hole in the door. Flash walked through it, sweating a little but looking quite pleased with himself. Zatanna looked at him, mildly incredulous.
"Hey, is what all I could think of" Flash remarked, though the tone in his voice suggested that he really enjoyed doing it. Zatanna sighed and walked through the gap. The two moved forward a little more, through a hallway lined with mirrors that seemed to lead into empty blackness. They couldn't see ahead, so they kept going. As they did, Flash decided to strike up a conversation
"So, let me get this straight, you have these magic abilities where you can do almost anything so long as you say it backwards, that use as both a hero and a magician?
"That's about right"
"Pretty sweet"
Zatanna turned to him and said
"My father taught me everything I know and then some, both in the actual magic I employ and also in how to be a good stage magician. That is what he did for a living you know…before mother died."
There was a bit of silence, before Zatanna finally asked, "So what's your deal exactly? How did you get your powers I mean."
"Well…" Flash began "…I was a scientist in a Forensics lab (still am in fact) in Central City. One of the most boring lives you could possibly imagine, but at the time, I didn't really realize it. I was that depressed. But, one night, when I was staying after hours, working on one last case, a storm came in. I still don't know exactly what happened, but suffice to say, lightning and sensitive machinery don't exactly mix. Or, well, in my case, it did, in the sense that I developed a connection to a place called the "speed force". Beautiful place really. It allowed me to do well…basically everything you've seen me do tonight and then some. It was about then when I got into the whole Superhero gig"
"So, let me get this straight; you got your powers by being struck by lightning?"
"Uh…in a bit of oversimplification, yes."
Zatanna found herself smiling a little at that. Sounded just a little ridiculous, but maybe she wasn't one to talk, and besides, the results kind of spoke for themselves. He definitely had a lot of power. And he wasn't half bad looking either…
All of a sudden, the two stopped. A faint light was off in the murky distance. Flash could see it was actually moving very fast (as light did) and was headed their way. Flash pushed Zatanna to the ground and the light struck him square in the chest, knocking him on his back.
"Flash!" Zatanna shouted. He didn't move. Zatanna turned and saw another faint light in the distance.
"Tcelfed eht sthgil!"
The next few blasts of light came towards her just after the spell was uttered. They where repelled, as if striking an invisible barrier, disappearing as they did so. Zatanna turned to Flash. She could hear him breathing. Good, that meant he was alive. She'd been a little worried…
"You are truly no fun woman"
Zatanna's attention was turned to a familiar figure. Mirror Master. He continued.
"Well, if the light ray trap isn't enough, how about something a bit more…direct?"
Mirror Master snapped his fingers, and several of the mirrors lining the walls of the room detached and spun rapidly around in a cyclone, forming over one another, finally creating a massive golem-like creature. It held in it's hand a large ornate staff with a shining, polished crystal axe blade on either side of it.
"Kill them." Mirror Master commanded
The Golem moved forward and raised it's weapon over it's head. Zatanna wasn't afraid. She'd dealt with these sort of things before. A simple freezing or disassembly spell was all it took. But before Zatanna could utter either such spell, a green gauntlet clamped over her mouth in a near-suffocating grip. Mirror Master was standing behind her.
"No, no, no. No disassembling my new toy."
He rubbed his other hand gently across the curves of her body and whispered in her ear, his metallic voice growing even colder
"Surprised? I can teleport in this world you know."
He turned to his golem, which was standing patiently waiting for his master to move so he could kill it's designated target. Mirror Master looked up at him. He pointed to where the Flash lay still.
"Do kill that man in red if you please."
The golem nodded and walked off to complete it's task. However, it found that the Flash no longer lied unconscious on the floor. A red streak whizzed by, confusing the golem and disorienting Mirror Master for a brief second. Zatanna proceeded to kick him quite hard in the shin, forcing him to release his grip. She spun around and fired a spell which Mirror Master countered with a blast from one of his pistols. The two blasts cancelled each-other out. As the two beams disappeared, Zatanna unleashed another spell that sent him flying backwards, landing hard against the tile floor. Not even his new suit could protect him from that spell. He staggered to his feet, panting, and glared at her. Then he saw that he was bleeding slightly.
"You bitch."
Mirror Master turned to his golem.
"Kill them. Kill them both," he said before disappearing once more. The golem lunged forward, axe in hand, ready to bring it down on Zatanna when a red streak cut in front of them. The golem halted. The streak whizzed around and around a few times. Finally, Flash stopped dead in his tracks. The golem turned to face him. Flash flipped him off. He wasn't sure the golem understood the insult, but it was definitely focused on him now. It brought it's axe down but of course by then, Barry was gone. The golem's axe hit the tiled floor hard, embedding itself in one of the light purple tiles. The golem turned and saw that Barry was standing behind him. Using it's massive strength, the creature hefted it's axe out of the ground and swung at Barry, who sped out of the way again, leaving the golem open.
"Rettahs eht exa sedalb!
"What does that mean exactly?"
Zatanna quickly shot him a look that was somewhere between confusion and incredulousness.
"I need a translation"
"It means "shatter the axe blades"
"Ah"
Indeed, the crystal axe blades had since shattered and broke apart into countless pieces. The golem hoisted the staff piece and took to holding it like a club. It swung wildly, continually missing Flash as he ran circles around it. It tried bringing the weapon down on Zatanna but she merely destroyed it with another spell. Now the creature seemed totally incensed (assuming it wasn't that way to begin with.) It pounded it's fist against it's chest, inadvertently cracking one of the mirrors that made up said chest. The creature raised it's fist to bring it down on Zatanna, but the red streak whizzed by and then Zatanna was gone as well. Flash set Zatanna down and she aimed her wand at the creature just as it was turning around
"Elbmessaid!"
"What?"
"Disassemble!" she snapped at Flash, who suddenly felt like a bit of an idiot. That one was easy enough to understand…
Mirrors began falling off of the golem rapidly. The creature moved forward as the disassembly continued. Soon, an entire arm came off, it's many mirrors making a deafening sound as they shattered on the floor. But even as mirrors rapidly continued to fall off, the golem continued to lumber towards Flash and Zatanna, showing little to no signs of slowing down. It raised it's remaining arm above them, ready to bring it down hard. But then, it began to freeze. More and more mirrors began falling off. Finally, it froze completely, and then, what was left of the golem gave way, it's many mirrors smashed to pieces. A few of the shattered pieces wound up cutting Flash and Zatanna a little.
There was a brief moment of silence before Flash remarked
"We make a good team"
"Yeah, we definitely seem to…"
Zatanna noticed the cuts on her arms and Barry's face.
"Laeh eht stuc"
The few small cuts slowly mended back together, then disappeared completely. Barry looked at Zatanna's wand.
"You don't need that thing to cast spells do you?"
Zatanna shrugged "Well, as you saw earlier, no, but it does help."
"So what's it's core?"
"Excuse me?"
"You know, what's in the center of the wand? Unicorn horn? Dragon heart-string? Phoenix feather?"
She looked at him incredulously.
"Heh. Just kidding. I was thinking of a book I read. Once…"
"Ha. Ha." She said it with such a deadpan. Then she smiled little, as if she really did think Flash was funny.
"We should probably keep moving. I think there's a door at the other end."
Part 3
The two kept moving, and sure enough, there was a door facing them. Unlike the doors that had led into the hallway, this was a normal-sized door with a knob. Barry touched it. Nothing happened. He turned it, and the door opened with ease. He turned to Zatanna.
"What do you want to do?"
She shrugged "I think we should just keep moving." She then added playfully "so lead on, my knight in shining red spandex". Barry winced a little. But he also liked it.
"She's flirting with me. I must be making progress after all"
The two found themselves in a massive room covered in diamond-patterned purple and white tiles, with several sets of stairs; some leading upward, others on the sides of the walls, and some that where upside-down. It was exactly like the first room they'd been in, only here, there where a trio of well-dressed people, milling about in confusion and despair. Then one, a portly middle-aged man in a tux with gray hair turned and saw Flash and Zatanna. He turned to his friends and pointed
"Look! Superheroes! They've come to get us out of here!" The other two people, an old woman (coincidentally the same woman whose mirror Mirror Master had leaped out of in the first place) and a younger man with blonde hair and tanned skin, turned to face Flash and Zatanna. A voice suddenly rang out and everyone looked up.
"Congratulations. You've found the first of 36 people. Just 33 more to go!" Mirror Master's metallic laughter filled the large room. He then materialized in the center of the room for all to see. He turned to look at Flash and Zatanna, not even paying the three other people any heed. Zatanna drew her wand and Barry sped at him. Mirror Master had anticipated this and disappeared as Barry came at him. He rematerialized in front of them. Flash spun his arms rapidly, creating mini-tornados which he directed at Mirror Master, who merely raised a series of tiles to block them.
"So you two want to fight eh? Well I'm not in the mood."
Mirror Master took out one of his pistols, this one different from the others, and aimed it at Zatanna. It began to glow blue as it charged up, a powerful blast with a bluish hue building up in front of it. Flash ran forward to grab Mirror Master's pistol arm, but he merely shot him with the blast instead. The blast passed through Barry after making him disappear and struck Zatanna as well, and then she too was gone. The three people watching stood there, jaws hanging open, eyes bulging in horror. Mirror Master turned to them.
"So, now that that's over are you ready to pay for your release now?"
The three people nodded solemnly, and started giving Mirror Master anything and everything they had that was of value: wallets, watches, rings, even a personal diamond.
"Now this is a score…" Mirror Master remarked, admiring the diamond, before sucking it into his storage cube gadget along with everything else. He then tucked the storage cube away and dematerialized once again. His voice rang out.
"Unfortunately my friends, I cannot release you just yet. If I did, you'd undoubtedly call the police on me. So I'm afraid that you're going to have to wait until I collect my ransom from EVERYONE before I release all of you. And if you where paying attention, I still have 33 people to go. If I where you, I'd make myself comfortable.
Cold, metallic laughter filled the room.
Flash slowly opened his eyes. He staggered to his feet and found, to his great frustration, that he was now in an entirely different room. It was some kind of elevated floor, surrounded by an empty purple void, and in the sky where what looked like stars. But they couldn't be stars. Barry knew what they really where. Mirrors. Millions of damn mirrors. Flash almost felt like screaming in pure frustration. Then he remembered.
Zatanna!
Flash looked over his shoulder and saw her slumped on the floor. Flash sped toward her. She started getting up as he did.
"Relax" she said "I'm not dead"
"Glad to hear it. Too bad that bastard sent us to a completely different area of his dimension. What are we supposed to do now! Neither one of us has any idea on where to go!"
Zatanna thought for a moment. "I have an idea…but you won't like it."
"Oh?"
"Yeah…" she whispered it in his ear, and Barry's eyes widened in horror as she continued. When she was done, he turned to look at her.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, unless you've got a better idea. This is all I can think of and believe me, I hate it as much as you do, but..."
"Well, I mean it's clever, it's just…"
Barry trailed off, thinking to himself. He really did not like where this was going, but he decided that there really was no other way. He turned to Zatanna and nodded.
"Let's do this."
Part 4
"Mirror Master!"
Mirror Master materialized upon hearing his name be called out to him. He looked at who it was. It was her.
Zatanna looked at him, with a demeanor that was a little hard to define. It looked to be an odd blend of apology, desperation, and…seduction.
"Please, I can't stand it in here anymore. I can't bear this torture. You win. I'll do whatever you want…just let me go."
Mirror Master raised an eyebrow underneath his helmet. She'd submitted rather quickly after being subdued. And then the memory of what she had done previously was fresh in his mind.
"I don't believe you. Where's the Flash?"
"I killed him."
Mirror Master wasn't sure he heard that right. "Excuse me?"
"I said I…killed him. I killed him to show you that I mean what I say." She inched a little closer to him. Mirror Master held up his hand as a sign to stop.
"Prove it. I find it hard to believe that someone like you defeated the Flash."
She moved out of the way, revealing a skeleton in the Flash's costume. Mirror Master was impressed. But then he turned to the magician
"How do I know you aren't creating an illusion?"
Zatanna went closer to him
"Do you think I am?" she asked seductively.
Mirror Master held her chin between two of his fingers and tilted her head back a bit to get a better look at her. With his other hand, he pressed a few buttons on his helmet, retracting his visor. He was an older man probably in his late 30s, with skin that was neither tan nor Caucasian but something in-between. If he had any hair, his helmet still covered it. He lowered his other hand and pulled her closer. He looked at her hard, looking for even the slightest hint of deception. As he was examining her, Zatanna suddenly lunged forward and brought her mouth to his. Mirror Master was distracted by this, and closed his eyes to enjoy the moment.
Then, all of a sudden, he felt a sharp, biting pain on his tongue. He broke the kiss and screamed, his tongue now bloodied.
"Hsalf Raeppa!" A streak whizzed by and delivered several lightning fast punches to Mirror Master's face. The blows knocked him down, and Zatanna aimed another spell at him
"Gnirb em Rorrim Sretsam Enihcam!"
The exact same device Mirror Master had used to begin all of this flew out of a pocket on his jumpsuit and into Zatanna's hand. By now, Flash had gotten back into his costume. And now both he and Zatanna stood over Mirror Master.
"Tell us how to use this to get everyone out of here."
Mirror Master spat blood at the two of them. Neither said anything, instead Zatanna merely pointed her wand at him
"Llet em woh ot esu siht ecived ot teg enoyreve tuo fo ereh won"
Mirror Master felt a sudden desire to tell the two heroes what they wanted to know even though every fiber of his being was telling him otherwise.
"You need to…press the buttons…in….the correct order."
"What is the order?"
Mirror Master grimaced, almost like a young child who didn't want to eat his vegetables, but nevertheless, he told them
"The combination is…2085-6121198-105"
Flash found himself shaking his head at the ludicrous nature of the code, a seemingly random string of numbers. Zatanna pressed them all as instructed.
"Then what?"
"Then just press the center button, throw it to the floor (try to be gentle) and it does the rest."
Zatanna got ready to press the button when Mirror Master tackled her, causing the device to fall to the ground. He grabbed one of his pistols but Flash sped by and punched him across the face, knocking him down once more.
"I don't think so."
Mirror Master scowled at the Flash with absolute contempt as Zatanna picked up the device again and pressed the center button. The purple-hued light appeared and then, everything was consumed by the bright light. As it was, Flash thought he could hear Mirror Master screaming in fury.
Part 5
When Flash opened his eyes next, he saw himself standing on the stage, along with Zatanna and Mirror Master. Everyone in the audience where back in their respected chairs. None of them knew what exactly to make of the current situation, only that they had finally gotten out of that bizarre world. Seeing their former captor lying defeated in front of the two heroes, the crowd burst into applause. Flash grinned as he found himself staring at a resounding ovation. Zatanna took a bow as befitting someone who had finished their show. Flash addressed the crowd
"Thank you, thank you. Now…if someone would be so kind as to call the police, I will be happy to return your stolen valuables to you."
The crowd nodded and a man got on his cell phone right away. Flash wrestled Mirror Master's storage cube away from him and opened it, unleashing a large amount of stolen valuables that the crowd gladly helped itself to. Eventually, the police arrived, carted Mirror Master away, and the crowd left happy campers, leaving Flash and Zatanna alone.
They turned and looked at each-other.
"Well…that was…uh…" Flash was kind of at a loss for words. Finally he finished "…That was one hell of a night"
Zatanna smiled. "Yeah. Busiest I've had in a long time."
"It's too bad you never finished your magic show."
Zatanna moved a little closer to Flash. Barry found himself growing a little stiff as she was now inches away from him.
"…Actually, I was almost done. But if you want one last magic trick…"
Flash found himself drawing her closer to him
"I'd like that."
The two drew even closer still and Flash saw Zatanna's eyes shut before closing his own…
It was a rough yet sweet kiss. Flash gripped Zatanna even more tightly as his tongue started exploring the inside of her mouth. Zatanna pressed her chest against his as Flash leaned in to deepen the kiss. Zatanna groaned as he massaged her tongue with his own. Finally, the two let go, and moved behind the curtain, Zatanna threw her cape off and brought her lips to his again.
Barry was in an entirely different world now. Not different like Mirror Master's dimensions but different in that he found himself in an entirely different mindset then what he was used to.
Boy have I been missing out
The two continued. Zatanna tore her coat off and threw it down as the Flash took to nibbling one of her ears before they kissed again. Barry ran his fingers through Zatanna's long hair as they kept going. Flash then leaned forward, holding Zatanna in his arms as she took his mask off and started to bury her hands in his hair. Flash didn't care that he'd been unmasked, obviously, and just kept up his passionate kiss. Zatanna bit at one of the fingers on her gloves before taking it off. Then the other came off, so she could now run her fingers through Barry's hair better. The two rolled on the floor, kissing furiously. The necessity to breath mandated that they break the kiss. The two did, panting, looking at each-other.
"I think I met some with a more magical mouth then mine"
They both cracked up at that, and how corny it sounded. They then looked at each-other again. Zatanna didn't recognize Flash's face. He was a man who looked to be just a few years older then her, had a sort of laid-back demeanor, and blonde hair that was somewhat short. Didn't feel that way when she had been running her fingers through it. Finally she said in response to the look on his face
"No Flash, I'm not going to have sex with you. We've only just gotten to know each-other." Flash stood up himself as Zatanna continued "In fact I'm not sure I should have gone as far as I did. I guess I got a little carried away…"
Flash put his hand on her shoulder.
"Maybe we could go out some time. Next Saturday perhaps?"
Zatanna returned his smile "Perhaps"
Flash saw his mask on the floor. He put it back on and walked out the back door. He took one last look at Zatanna. She blew him a kiss and with that, Flash sped off. He was sure he had never run faster before, or at least he couldn't recall a time when he had. Besides, it wasn't as sweet as this one. He kept running, oblivious to just about everything as he made his way back home.
Little did Flash know as he ran back into his house that he was being watched intently. The figure stood outside his home, cloaked by the shadows that hid his yellow costume well. The figure's plan had worked. He had known from studying the Flash's history that this day was the day Mirror Master would attempt one of the biggest heists of his life. In having his little race with the Flash, he lead him to the scene of the crime, and so Flash had stopped it, fulfilling history. The man was quite pleased with his idol Flash. And himself. Flash had saved the day again, and this time, it was partially thanks to him getting Flash's attention. That meant he Eobard Thawne, had helped save the day. He was quite pleased by this. And then he sped off in a golden streak.
They would get along so well, Thawne thought. Him and The Flash. He just knew they would…
End.
