Disclaimer: I do NOT own Young Justice or DC comics, or any of the characters associated with the two.
Reborn Lightning
Chapter 1: Priorities
BOOM!
Like a crackle of thunder, a surge of blood red combined with a verdant green had slammed into the asphalt, breaking up the already battered earth and rupturing the water mainline, causing water to spurt out and come back down like an army of needles as they fought to pierce through the thick layer of dust.
As the the deceiving smoke began to clear, there radiating the very color that heralded villains far and wide that they should beware his power was Green Lantern, better known by a select few as Hal Jordan. His uniform tattered and his breathing getting heavier by the second, he uplifted the sovereign weapon given to him, and many others by the Guardians of the Oa once more and constructed a small green dome of hard light that shielded him as repeated blasts of purple energy came charging straight for him.
As sinister violet kept clashing with heroic viridian, a beastly but also at the same time authoritative voice came upon his ears, "Your evolution was a mistake but mine? Mine was destiny! Reclaiming this earth, I will make all in my own likeness!"
'Gotta...stay...focused!' This thought never escaped Hal's mind as he struggled to keep the barrier going.
"Yet you humans refuse to surrender a world that by rights belongs to me?! I, who can control even the strongest of minds and channel primal rage?!"
"Life is survival of the fittest," Hal could see a rather large, beastly figure coming towards him, highlighted by the bright orange ember in the background that lit up the smoke to have a more light-brownish hue. Not wanting to be a sitting duck any longer, Hal relinquished the shield and went on the offensive, quickly creating an M1 Anti-Tank Gun from World War 2 in front of him which fired at the silhouette only to be stopped by a purple field of energy.
Just as the Lantern was about to take the skies, he was suddenly hit with a purple telekinetic bolt that sent him to the ground hard as what felt like a thousand roars of bestiality ran through his mind.
By the time Jordan was writhing in pain, the beast had made it through the smoke. But no, this beast was no ordinary beast, he had the appearance of a gorilla with yellow shoulder pads and head gear and a belt with some purple and gold cloth to show his modesty, that towered over the willpower user by sheer size, not only was he great in brute strength- he had the intelligence to match.
Grappling him by the neck, the gorilla brought the ring-wielder close to his face and increased the mental stress on his mind , "and Grodd won't just survive- He. Will. Triumph!" Declaring this with great pride, the other armored gorillas armed with laser rifles stood near him in awe and beat their chests while roaring out in sheer joy of their savior, their general, their idol.
One of the primates approached him and knelt down before him, "Sir, the devolution devices are ready-" The moment he had heard him say that, Grodd had growled and given him a powerful backhand.
"Devolution?! Ignorant fool! You know nothing! These humans will be morphed into a higher state of being and I will reclaim this earth and Gorilla City will be it's capital. It will be a new age, not an age of man, but an age of Grodd!" Looking into his subject's eyes and seeing fear, he gave a satisfied smirk when he knew he had gotten his point across, "Excellent work nonetheless."
Another Gorilla soldier approached him, "But, my King, what if some of the hairless apes manage to escape the waves that these devices give off?"
Grodd cackled and replied, "Humans are slow, immoral, and-" He picked up a scent from the Lantern's unconscious body and reeled back in disgust, tossing him off to the side like dirt, "and give off a rather unpleasant body odor." The super-intelligent primate then sat back and watched as the rest of his fellow Gorillas raved on through the streets of coast city, upturning, assaulting more U.S. soldiers, and harassing- moreover, bringing the civilians that were just trying to get away from all the destruction into a 'higher state of being.'
Even though Grodd obviously possessed a different perspective on the subject, the devolution devices were already whirling to life and devolving ordinary citizens back into large apes that lost their sense of reason and went on a rampage through the streets. Some of the resistant humans that were avoiding the devices were chained by the rifle-toting Gorilla troops and cattle-prodded on board state-of-the-art silver hover-vehicles that probably acted like Armored Personnel Carriers for the warriors that hailed from Gorilla City.
Coast City is known as the 'City Without Fear,' but right now it's residents were as scared as hell. In the midst of all the chaos which was the result of bestial guile, there was an abrupt flash of flames in the distance to which some of the Gorilla sentries stationed near the devolution devices stared at for a moment when a loud whirring sound came to their ears as it got louder and louder and closer and closer, they couldn't see anything but hear as they heard a 'Zoom!' go by.
Next thing they knew, the devolution device had suddenly exploded and the whole fireteam had scattered, the explosion sending them flying away a few feet away before they hit the ground hard.
A few soldiers a distance away from the confusion were loading up on prisoners. One of the Gorillas had prodded a slow-moving young girl with his staff so forcefully that she had fell to the ground, causing the soldier to shout, "Keep moving you hairless ape!"
She didn't move. In fact, she sat there about to burst into tears.
"You dare defy a direct order from your superiors, human?!" The gruff soldier snarled and readied his staff to stab her, "King Grodd would be pleased if this insolence was cleansed from this new age."
Suddenly, there was a yellow and red blur that appeared in front of the soldier as he was about to strike. When his staff didn't move, he noticed a green-eyed teenage boy with spiky red hair clad in a yellow suit with red pants, yellow shoes, red gloves, and small red wings that were etched over where his ears would be. On his chest was a red lightning bolt within a white circle.
The adolescent shot him a glare which came right through the cowl as he grasped the wooden pole of the staff and angled it away from the girl, "Leave her alone!" When he noticed the gorilla wrestled the weapon out of his hand, he zoomed around around him and threw haymakers at him like machine-gun fire while the trooper attempted to hit him with the staff. With one final high-speed blow to the jaw, the soldier was down for the count and he continued on to the rest of the troopers before freeing the prisoners.
While he was doing that, a crimson blur had jetted on by and passed through more of the devices as if it wasn't even there, each one exploding in it's wake as it headed straight towards Gorilla Grodd. Said ruler of the apes responded with a flechette of telekinetic beams which came out of his helmet like bullets come roaring out from the barrel of a shotgun and chased down the crimson streak like a lion chases after a gazelle.
As the streak of crimson rushed forward to meet the incoming mental projectiles, it managed to evade the maze of homing projectiles.
"Prepare yourselves! We must defend King Grodd at all costs!" One of Grodd's most trusted lieutenants said as he readied his rifle. Just when he was about to get into a combat stance, he found his gun was no longer in his hand, "What in the name of Grodd?-" He could see multiple after-images of a man in a red costume with yellow boots racing around. It was almost like he was looking at some kind of animated flip-book of some sort. He noticed his gun not too far away and ran over there to get it-
Wham!
As one of Grodd's best lieutenants fell to the ground in defeat, a yellow boot being placed on his unconscious furry being.
Grodd, who had witnessed the whole thing snorted and let out a menacing snarl as the man approached the great ape. This man was a person who if you just mentioned his name in front of Grodd, made him surge with rage. He is one of his greatest enemies if not the swiftest and most annoying of them all. He would be overjoyed when the day came that he would make this man bleed the same color of his costume, and tear those ridiculous small yellow wings off his ears and mount his head on a stake somewhere outside Gorilla City.
"What's the matter, Grodd? Got tired of Central City?" These words came from the mouth of the 'champion of mankind' that he hated the most- 'The Fastest Man Alive.'
A yellow and red streak had appeared next to him, revealing his protege known as 'The Fastest Boy Alive.'
All this planning, all this ordinance and technology gathered for this invasion was going to be stopped by just two speedsters? Grodd wasn't having any of this, "California is just the beginning, Flash. Once the whole west coast becomes the land of the apes, Central City shall be next! You will be the first of many to kneel before their dominating ruler!"
Kid Flash rolled his eyes, "Ha! The only thing you're dominating is the conversation, fur-face!" He was the first to charg at the mentally-enhanced ape, "Now it's bed-time for bonzo!"
Grodd smirked and simply activated his mental powers again. As he tapped into the minds of both Flashes, all he saw was electricity until he was cast back out.
"Guraaaahh!" Grodd shrieked as he clutched his head in pain, he could still feel their minds moving at super-speed!
Now it was the scarlet speedster's turn to smirk. While Grodd was dazed and confused, him and Kid Flash blitzed him, raining down punches that only annoyed the gorilla until they decided to speed it up and began hitting at a hair's breadth short of the speed of sound.
Flash chuckled at how defenseless the primate was as they both assailed him, "Your devices may be able to affect the minds of all these people, Grodd. But how well do they do against people who can not only move fast,"
Bam!
",but think just as fast?"
Wham!
As the oversized primate was knocked out cold by that last blow, Flash could see the barrel of a laser gun in his peripheral vision, which was quickly knocked away and so was the owner by none other than Kid Flash.
The mentor gave a thankful grin and a nod to his 14 year-old nephew and sped off to assist a fallen Hal Jordan, who was just coming out of his unconscious state, "Barry?" He groaned and put his hands on his head, "W-What's going on? Where's Gro-" noticing the super-villain down for the count, that the answer was pretty self-explanatory, "How long was I out?" He noticed Barry holding out a hand to him and accepted it.
"Not too long. Sorry we couldn't get here sooner, Heat Wave was starting lots of fires in Maine and the Weather Wizard was causing a blizzard in Texas." He explained as he helped his best friend up.
Hal raised an eyebrow through that green domino mask of his, "We?"
Kid Flash suddenly appeared next to them in a blur, "You okay, Hal?"
Adjusting his head and feeling a few cracks here and there, he nodded, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Grodd caught me off guard with those mental attacks of his but I'm all good now. Thanks, Wally." Giving him a reassuring smile and a thumbs up, Hal noticed some Gorilla troops trying to flee the scene.
"King Grodd has fallen! Retreat! Retreat!" A trooper howled off in the distance.
Smirking, he emanated himself in green energy, "You guys go check with Solavar in Gorilla City. I got this-"
Wally got in front of him, "And leave us out of the all the action? I don't think so! You can just go home and relax and-"
Chuckling, he replied, "Hey! My city, remember?"
"True, it is your city...that's about to be saved by me!" Barry said, laughing and speeding off to go fight the gorillas.
"I may not be as fast as your uncle, but a Green Lantern's speed is nothing to sneeze at. Heck, there was this one time I was flying so fast in outer space that-"
While Hal was going on about accelerating towards light-speed in space, Wally had already got into a starting position and explained, "Race you there!"
"So, what do you think of that, Wal-"
Zoom!
"ly?" The brunet sighed and took to the skies, soaring straight towards the conflict at a speed that almost had broken the sound barrier.
-Seven Years Later, Palo Alto-
As the T.V. screen flared to life, a blond Caucasian male with cerulean blue eyes wearing the common suit and tie combination appeared with a picture of the Justice League behind himn crossed out with a big, fat red 'x.'
" They call themselves protectors of earth but what are they really hiding? If they want to protect us then why do they constantly keep secrets from us like oh, I don't know... their HQ, the Watchtower, hovering over our very heads as we speak!? God knows the weapons that come equipped with that station, just ready to drop on our very heads!"
"Speaking of weapons, what of Superman, the 'Man of Steel?' What is stopping him from bringing agony upon this Earth? For all we know, the League's views of right and wrong could be entirely different from our own! These are the questions you need to be asking people!"
Kra-thoom!
Wallace, who was sitting on the couch with his laptop, typing up some kind of paper at inhuman speeds noticed some white highlights move past the blinds of some of the windows. Putting the laptop aside, he went to the window and pulled up the blinds to take a look.
Lightning.
That, a few of Barry's notes, and some spilled chemicals was what started it all for him. The very moment he got out of that hospital after the chemical explosion was when his superhero life began under the tutelage of the Flash, also known as Barry Allen.
Although he was his uncle, Barry was more of a father-figure to him. His true parents, especially his dad, had always barked at him for 'having his head in the clouds' and trying to follow his dreams. But if he hadn't followed his dreams then he probably never would have met his favorite hero (who turned out to be his uncle), gained super-human speed, or have the best girlfriend a man could ask for, Artemis Crock.
The thing about that one moment that could change your whole life is that it could come from any angle: the barrel of a gun; the destruction of your homeworld, even a lightning bolt from a clear sky.
His teenage life was accelerated into a high-speed, adrenaline-pumping, heart-pounding adventure with trouble bubbling around every corner- but even speedsters have to slow down once in a while.
However, unlike him, Artemis still loved the action, the rush that comes with the mask. Eventually, when the call of duty had came upon her ears, she couldn't say no to returning to the battlefield- the war between good and evil.
Wally knew he couldn't stop her, but now with the possibility of Aqualad being a triple agent , he worries about the fact that Artemis- or should he say 'Tigress,' might not come back to him in one piece.
He heard a few short pants near him and a litle whine, looked down only to see the male pitbull that him and Artemis adopted sitting near his leg.
He crouched down and scratched behind his whire ears, "I know, I miss her too."
As he let down the blinds he heard the doorbell ring and went to answer it. The door opened, revealing an adult male with pale skin, green eyes, and blond hair. He wore a fully zipped light green jacket with khaki pants and black shoes.
Wally's brow had raised at him, "Uncle Barry? What are you doing here?"
The older man responded with a grin, "Hey kid, just droppin' by to see how you're doin'." As Wally welcomed him in, the pitbull came running towards Barry, his tail wagging like there's no tomorrow. The blond chuckled and kneeled down to pet the ecstatic canine, "Heh, hey Caesar, it's good to see you too." He then went to take off his jacket and put it on the coat rack. Underneath said light-green jacket, was wearing a short-sleeve blue shirt.
For a normal nephew, having your family members visit you by going from Missouri to California would take them a few hours but when you have an uncle who is the 'Fastest Man Alive,' places like California are just around the corner for him.
'I guess I could take a break from the paper for a bit, not like I have much more to do anyway' Thought Wally as him and Barry decided to sit back and watch some T.V. The thunder and lightning outside would flash here and then, followed by a boom which kept reminding Wally of the life he had before he abandoned it. Plus it made him think of an interesting subject.
...
"...So, when is he gonna to become Kid Flash?"
His attention was drawn away from the screen as he looked to his nephew, "Huh?"
"Bart. When is he gonna become Kid Flash?" He repeated.
"Well, from what hear, he just wants to stay as 'Impulse' for now- wait, why did this come up all of a sudden?"
The red-haired nephew shrugged , "No reason, just wondering when he was going to be the new replacement." He explained, making sure to put emphasis on "replacement."
"What? No one's replacing anyone. He's just stuck here and now he's just helping out the team, that's all."
"That time I came to help with Neutron was just a one-time thing. Face it, he's gonna wear the yellow and red sooner or later." He zoomed to his room and came back in front of Barry with his old Kid Flash costume in hand, "Here, he can have it, take it, he'll grow into it!"
"No, I want you to keep it." He said cordially while looking past Wally and changing the channel to sports.
This only made him let out a low growl. Swiftly, he shut off the TV the manual way and turned to him, "Keep it? What, in case I change my mind?! When I told you and the Team that I was out of the superhero gig, I meant it! Now just take the stupid suit!" He yelled while shoving it into his chest.
Surprised at him, the uncle lightly pushed the costume away. The pitbull whined and hurried into another room, "Wally..."
"I'm not being Kid Flash anymore! Not now, not ever! Dick may have gotten Artemis back into the superhero thing, but not me okay?!" As he yelled this, he deliberately threw the costume right into his lap, "Now just give Bart the damned suit!" With another flash of lightning, there was a minute of silence between the two, as Wally came out of his fuming state, he noticed the look of surprise in his former mentor's eyes and the frown on his face.
When another crackle of thunder had cut through the heated atmosphere like a razor-sharp blade, Barry neatly folded the yellow and red costume with care before rising up off the couch, walking past his nephew and making his way to the coat hanger.
Just when Wally was about to apologize to him, his JLA communicator chimed in and he put a finger to his ear to answer it, "Hello? Captain Atom...? Okay, I'll be right there." Ejecting his costume out of his ring, he quickly changed into it so fast that he seemed looked like a tiny red tornado while doing it. Once again donning the legendary red full body suit he readied himself to take to the streets as he opened the door only to see rain descending from the dark and cloudy skies to hit the Earth.
"Uncle Barry, I'm sorry I, I didn't mean to-"
He looked back at him and gave him a small smile, "You did say you weren't going to be Kid Flash anymore." He looked at the house and Caesar then back at him, "This is the life that you want to live then by all means, go for it."
"We may not be partners anymore, but we're still family even though not by blood."
Kra-thoom!
The scarlet speedster began to walk out onto the sidewalk (the house didn't have much of a lawn), "So if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here for you." He turned around to give his nephew one last look, "Good night, Wally...and good luck."
Said adult watched as he ran down the street at a speed slower than usual. Dashing through the precipitation, he had to slow down to make sure he didn't trip.
'There goes my superhero career, literally gone in a flash.' He thought as he watched the crimson blur disappear around one of the houses in the neighborhood.
But if he was honest with himself, did throwing away this life for good really have to take driving away the man who had literally given him this life in the first place?
Whew! Now THAT was fun to write!
At first I had some writer's block with the transition from the flashback (no pun intended) to the present but it all worked itself out in the end.
So, what did you think of this first chapter? Let me know in a review!
Up next on Reborn Lightning...
Chapter 2: Dead Heat