Okay, so this is the start of my Flash fic. It's going to do a bit of narrative jumping, I'll warn you now, since it is, despite being primarily a sequel to Justice League United: Apokolips, also a prequel to it. I wanted to explain exactly why we have Bart Allen as Impulse and then The Flash within that narrative, and the absence of Barry. I intentionally ignored Wally as I just have a weird thing against him which I admit makes no sense but I have the same dislike of Carry Kelly as Robin and Cassie as Wonder Girl. But anyway, enough about that. I give you; Fastest Man Alive.

...

Bart raced through the streets of Central city, yellow lightning crackling off his red boots as he did. In the last year, since the incident with Darkseid, the whole world had looked at the people like him, the heroes, differently. They seemed to view them with some kind of reverence, rather than the way they'd been seen before; barring Superman and Bart's predecessor as the Flash, they were all thought of as urban myths.

Of course, Bart was more aware that he was filling in someone else's shoes; Barry Allen, the previous Flash. Bart didn't know what had happened to Barry, just that there was some kind of familial relation there; having seen photos, Bart knew he was virtually identical to Barry at his age. That was all he knew. There'd been some kind of incident, an explosion, which had taken out several blocks of Central City and the Flash. Bart had woken up, naked, in the centre of it, with no memory of anything before that.

It was out of a need to differentiate himself from Barry that he'd changed the Flash costume a few months ago. Now, it had a more metallic, slightly armoured appearance, being made of interlocking plates over a nano-fibre bodysuit. It was red from head to toe, with thin lines of yellow energy visible pulsing all over it, finishing at the yellow lightning bolt emblem at the centre of the chest, with a gold circle around it. The cowl was, aside from the new tint, essentially identical, and the lighting on the suit still provided the lighting patterns around the waist, gloves, and now the boots as well. It was the best Wayne Enterprises had to offer.

As Bart ran, he heard a beep from the police scanner built into his cowl. The device immediately began to play the audio.

"Dispatch, we have a highly dangerous perpetrator attacking the CCFD building." Came the voice of the man reading the dispatch "Attacker is Garfield Lynds, alias Firefly."

"On it." Bart said to himself, doubling back and zooming towards the CCFD building, running up a building as he approached the building and diving off, aiming his trajectory at the assailant, a man wearing a red and black mechanical suit based on a fly, with a large afterburner on the back of the flight pack, and flames being fired from the gauntlets "Hey there, I'm the Flash and I'll be kicking your butt today!"

"I'd like to see you try." Firefly said, pulling a loop the loop and causing Bart to lose his grip, hurtling towards the ground and hitting it with a loud thud.

Bart picked himself up. He could keep trying to take Firefly down by jumping on him all day, it'd just end in him being taken down every time. On the other hand, bringing Firefly down to his level...

Bart began to run in circles at high speed, approaching what he considered to be his top speed, just below supersonic. As he did, the flame coming out of Firefly's flight pack began to stutter, as the oxygen was sucked away by the vacuum Bart was creating. Bart continued to pick up speed, a sonic boom emanating from his location as he broke the sound barrier, still gaining speed. As he did, yellow lightning began to emanate not just from his feet, but his entire body.

There was a flash of energy, and a large shock wave as Bart passed his usual maximum, taking down both Firefly and a large number of the CCPD vehicles arriving at the scene. Bart stopped, panting. He looked around for a second, seeing Firefly being apprehended by officers. He offered a quick two fingered salute before speeding off.

...

Bart reached his apartment, running in at full speed. He quickly moved to the refrigerator, grabbing a gallon sized milk bottle filled with Red Bull, downing the drink in under 5 seconds. He grabbed a box out of the refrigerator that contained an extra large pizza with everything on it, proceeding to demolish it in a matter of seconds, before speeding to his couch, picking up the newspaper. He speed read the pages before tossing it aside.

This was the part of the day he hated. He was 21 years old, and yet still felt the need to read the papers for some reason he couldn't explain. Maybe he'd been a bookworm before he lost his memory. Hell, for all he knew, he was meant to be doing a degree at the moment. Maybe forensics or something like that. That'd be cool.

He stood up, moving to the window at a normal place and looking out. This was his city. He lived in it. He protected it. It was a part of him as much as he was a part of it. He couldn't even explain it; the whole place, him being the Flash, it had all came so naturally. He'd been hostile to the other members of the Justice League at first, in an attempt at respect for the dead, but he knew it was who he was.

He was the Flash.

...

Iris West-Allen sat at her desk in the Central City Newsroom. She was working late, yet again. Since her husband, Barry, had vanished almost a year and a half ago, she'd been trying to work out what had happened the night he'd died.

Of course, she knew how it had started. There'd been reports of some kind of storm at the heart of Central City, a tornado. Barry had sped down there, and there'd been reports of some kind of battle between him and a man in a trenchcoat, who was apparently controlling the storm. Apparently, Barry had been trying to reverse the storm when some kind of lightning bolt hit him. There'd been some kind of explosion, taking out a large portion of the city, and a pair of streaks had been seen disappearing away, one red, one yellow.

The cleanup crew hadn't found much. What they did find, however, was the charred remains of Barry's costume. Shortly thereafter, someone had reached out to her. He had shown up at her office, his features a vibrating blur. He'd known about Barry, claimed to be related to him, and he'd helped her stage Barry's death, give her a way out of having to claim he was away on a case in Star City.

He'd disappeared as soon as it was done, red lightning trailing behind him. She hadn't seen or heard from him since, but had to assume he was the man now running around claiming to be the Flash.

She stood up, moving to the window. There were a lot of clouds in the night's sky, but not much else. As she observed it, she heard the door open and slam in the same instant, making her turn on her heel in shock.

Stood at the door, his body vibrating at high speed, was a man. He wore a yellow suit with a red trim, red shin guards and red gauntlets. Red lightning bolts were visible where his ears were, a red, flipped version of the Flash symbol on his chest. His eyes glowed a bright, menacing red.

"Hello, Iris." He said, his voice deep and reverberated "Please, don't be afraid. It's me. It's Barry."

...

So, this is the opening for Fastest Man Alive Volume One: Reverse. Please note, this chapter is only a teaser, and the story proper will start next chapter. Anyway, if you can guess the full events of what happened to Barry Allen, if this Reverse Flash is Barry or someone else, and the history of Bart Allen... Well, there won't be prizes but feel free to PM me if you think you know, I love hearing theories :P

R&R. Please, no flames. B.