Chapter 2 - No Winners in this Race

Barry zoomed down the barren streets of New York City, the Man of Steel close behind. Barry glanced over his shoulder to see Superman only a few feet away.

"Come on Barry, you've got to go faster!" Barry said to himself.

He pushed himself harder and managed to get his legs to move faster.

"You can't escape me Barry!" Superman shouted.

Storm threw Iron man into a stone slab with an intense gust of wind. Tony slid down the slab and on to the ground.

"Ultron how much longer until the repairs are finished?" Tony asked, aggravated.

"Sir, Barry Allen destroyed some vital parts of the suit. Half of the systems can't be repaired in the field. The ones that can should give you your repulsors and targeting systems back. I estimate the repair time at 5 minutes, if you can keep Storm from doing any more damage to the suit." Ultron explained.

Tony rose up off the ground as Storm approached him.

"Stay down Stark! You have been beaten." Storm commanded.

"You Mutants are all the same, way too confident in your abilities. That's probably why most of your kind is extinct." Tony mocked.

Storm's eyes changed to a bright white. She rose of the ground as the sky became even darker than it already was. The wind picked up and thunder boomed in the clouds above.

"Do you feel that it is wise to insult Mother Nature?" Storm said sternly.

"Your not Mother Nature, she died a long time ago. You're just some wannabe mutant." Tony retorted.

"Sir repulsors are back online." Ultron said.

Lightning lit up the darkening sky above them. As Storm summoned a bolt of lightning to strike Tony, He countered with a bright red repulsor beam. The lightning collided with the beam causing both Storm and Tony to be blown backwards.

Barry continued to run down the abandoned streets. Superman was quickly closing the gap between them. Barry took a sharp left turn causing Superman to lose some speed as he couldn't make the turn as sharp as Barry did.

"That's it, i've had enough of this game." Superman said, angrily.

His eyes lit up red and became scolding hot. Suddenly beams of pure heat exploded out of his eyes, shooting straight towards Barry. Glancing over his shoulder again, Barry saw the beams coming towards him. With no effort at all he lowered his speed coming up alongside the beams. He then slid under them and ran up the closest building to him. By the time Superman realized what had happened, he had already flown right past Barry. He stopped in mid flight and immediately turned around and followed Barry up the side of the ruined building. When Barry reached the top he went flying up into the air. Flying up and over the building, he managed to landed on the other side and run down the building. As he found his way back onto the ground he took three sharp turns through the city, hoping to lose Superman.

Unfortunately, Superman was still close behind him.

"Need… To go…. Faster!" Barry stammered.

He was under extreme pressure. He hadn't had to go this fast in a long time. He pushed himself to go faster, but Superman stilled gained on him.

"It's over Barry! Give up now!" Superman shouted.

Barry closed his eyes and focused his mind on the Speedforce. The only thing he could see in his mind was the eternal force that gave him his power. For moment everything was slowed. It was as if time froze around him. Barry opened his eyes and they glowed an icey blue.

Within the blink of an eye Barry exploded off into the distance, creating five simultaneous sonic booms. He tore up the pavement in his path and crumbled any remaining buildings along the way. Superman found himself being thrown miles away from Barry. He landed somewhere in the remains of Central Park. Barry shot across the country. When he finally managed to slow down he found himself somewhere outside Los Angeles.

As he came to a screeching halt, Barry fell to his knees. His clothes were extremely singed. His shoes were gone and some smoke flowed off the holes in his clothes. Barry's eyes slowly returned to normal as he tried to catch his breath.

"Damn. Been a while… Since i've been… this wiped." Barry said in between breaths.

He took off his now tattered black jacket and threw it to the side. As he tried to stand up he felt his knees buckle and he fell back to the ground.

"Okay, maybe i'll rest here for a bit." Barry said as he closed his eyes.

As Barry fell into a deep sleep, he was unaware of the figure approaching his unconscious body.