CHAPTER 1
Central City: the town bursting with life. Compared to other US cities such as Gotham or Star City, it's an idealistic place for the kind-hearted to live. And whenever the city is in peril, they have their Scarlet Speedster, their Red Streak, the Flash. The speed-powered hero protects his beloved city from other meta-humans, such as himself, but these variations have bad intentions for the Flash, Central City, and the world. But these people didn't always exist. After years of production from the team at S.T.A.R Labs, the revolutionary Particle Accelerator went online. This machine was supposed to change the world for the better. On the contrary, many people died, many more injured and scarred, both emotionally and physically. It also created anomalies, creating a pathway for new criminals and villains. From what you've previously heard, only one of these anomalies became a hero, legendary. Let me tell you a story; the story of the unrecognised, heroic anomaly.
'And make sure you take Clark around the block an extra lap, 'kay? I'm sure I don't need to remind you of Mr Halberstadt's surprise last week of a tor n up rug, Charley?'
Glancing down at the proud Great Dane, the intern to one of Central City's finest veterinarians gulped down the fear of losing that internship she'd moved halfway around the globe for.
'Trust me, Selina, this pup'll be hitting the sack as soon as he gets home, don't you worry. He's not the only one who needs to burn off energy.'
The leading vet gave her another look, probably half of it consisting of judging her accent, before turning back to her current patient. Right then, Charley thought to herself, just have to walk these 'dogs', finish up clinic, and then be back to the apartment in time to watch the Particle Accelerator turn on. Today's a big day.
It's very easy to say that Central City was very different to her home country. It wasn't even the CBD, and each step meant nearly bumping into someone else. Trying to not do this was very difficult trying to handle four energetic dogs at the same time. Charley's mind shifted from the dogs back to the clinic, to the cats there. She'd always been fond of cats and dogs, and animals in general. She was that weird kid in grade three who would get all upset and flustered with someone stepped on an ant or spider, the kid in high school who would be only girl not all skirmish from wading around in flood water for service, trying to find injured or lost pets, and would probably even help the wildlife and pests. Her pets back home sometimes felt more like family than her biological one and her own species. This included her horse, Blake. The majestic gelding had always had her back, and had been her escape from the hardships of the real world, including school. Her family believed her to be focusing too much on how high she was jumping and not enough on how low her grades were getting. She was incredibly smart, and she was wasting her brains on nothing but YouTube, horses, and other stupid dreams and ideas. So at age 15, she got herself a job, and by the time she was 19, had earned enough to get her away from the disapproving eyes from the people around her, away from her city, her country, and off to America to begin her apprenticeship to an equine chiropractor, her dream that had lasted 6 years, since she was a 14-year-old fantasizing future possibilities. Now here she was, in Central City, closer to the rest of her life than ever before. And now here she was, four dogs about to drag her across the busy road, car horns blaring at her as they inched closer.
'Oi, come here guys, Clark, Shayera, Bruce, Diana, get off the road…!', Charley shouted, bracing for impact…
And it came, but instead of a crushing coming in from both sides, it was an arm across her abdomen, pulling her back into a chest, dogs thumping against her legs. Opening her eyes, she saw that she and the dogs were safely on the side of the active road they had just come from. Turning around to thank her saviour before he or she could have a go at her for not paying attention, Charley prepared to see an officer or some humanitarian type thing.
'Hey, you alright? You could've been run over! Actually, your dogs were at a higher risk of being run over, but that doesn't mean you couldn't've, I mean over 4,735 pedestrians are run over in the U.S annually, but that's beside the point…'
He was a young man, early or mid-twenties she thought, and he did have an officer's badge, but he wasn't in uniform, and seemed to carrying around a briefcase of some sort… and even though it was a really inappropriate time to think so, he was quite good-looking. Hot, even. When Charley realised she was staring, she pushed a lock of caramel hair behind her ear, quickly looking down at her four-legged friends, making sure they were unharmed.
'Ahhm, yes, thank, I uhh, kinda zoned out, didn't even realise we were on the road but um… yeah, thank you very much, umm…?'
'Barry. Allen. CCPD forensic scientist.'
'Thanks Barry. I'm Charley Burgess, veterinarian intern', she said, shaking hands with the young CSI. Well, at least there was one person smiling at her thing morning. Barry smiled at her again, the a look or pure horror crossed his face, one Charley knew all too well. He glanced down at his watch, and took in a sharp breath.
Stammering out, Barry managed to say, 'Ah, look, I'm so sorry, I'm god, really late for work, which isn't unusual, but I really need to go, or my boss…'
'… will kill you. Trust me, know that all too well. Thanks again. See you round, now run, Barry, run!'
She didn't need to tell him twice as he took off down the street, racing off to whatever crime scene young, dorky investigators check out, with papers and equipment flying everywhere. Looking back at her companions, Charley saw that she wasn't the only one behind schedule, and took off in the opposite direction, barking dogs trailing behind.
Soooo, guys, what's the verdict? Crap writer? Stick to horse-riding and fangirling? No hate, but I'm all for constructive criticism as this is my first fanfic :D xx
p.s. did you guys like the JL easter egg ;) did anyone notice it?