The Flash: Speed and Greed

Chapter 2

Through the Thick and Thin

Earth 1

Arnold Reynolds at one point was one of the nicer guys that you would meet. If you needed something done, mainly involving school work, he was the guy to call. From eighth-grade until midway through high school. He was that guy. Very few people were thankful that such a person could be counted on when there were so many flakes around, but most others abused it constantly.

In the beginning, it didn't really bother him. He kind of liked the attention. Especially from girl named Marci Rose. He was in love with from the moment he saw her. From her perfect skin to her auburn colored hair. Or her light hazel eyes and perfect smile. She was a goddess in his eyes. He did everything for her, hoping that one day she would see him as more than just a friend. Of course that never happened. He was always the other guy.

Over time, he began to resent being that guy. He hated going out of his way to help people and if he was lucky, he'd only get a simple thank you. He was feeling extremely used.

Soon he grew sort of cold and stopped helping people. This led him to become a loner and unpopular. Marci still caught his eye and he wanted to be with her, but she quickly forgot about him.

His father was speed meter and his mother a baker at the local grocery store. It was easy to tell that money was always an issue. His parents never knew of his pain or loneliness. They were working far too hard to notice, so he was pretty much on his own.

It was in his senior year of high school when everything changed. After months of going through lists of possible community colleges that he could attend, his father had a heart attack. In order to help pay for the medical bills, he took a part time job as a cashier at the grocery store his mom worked at. He hated the job, but knew that he had to do it.

He was walking to work one day, thinking about how lonely his life was, when there was a large meteor attack in the city. He ran to hide, but one of the meteors struck close to him knocking him unconscious. When he came to, he found himself in the hospital. His father was by his bedside relieved to see him, but there was sadness in his eyes. He later found out that the one of the meteors struck the grocery store, where his mom was working. She never made it out, before it was turned to a smoking rubble.

His father had a stroke a few days after he left the hospital and he never recovered from it. He now felt completely alone mourning the loss of both of his parents in such a short time. One night he was three beers into a six pack, when he went to grab the fourth and his hand went right through it. Thinking that he was drunk, he went around the house touching random objects. Some things he went completely through, but that was only when he concentrated. The more he thought about what he wanted to pass through, the easier it got. It didn't take long for him to master his new ability.

He began to take whatever he wanted. Since he was able to pass through solid objects, he felt that his new ability was a gift from god. He would steal from banks, stores, and anything he felt would bring him joy. He became so good at it, that he was never caught. But the thing he enjoyed the most was using his ability to spy on Marci.

Soon she moved to Central City and started going to school there. He of course followed her and made sure that she didn't know he was still spying on her. She met her husband at a coffee house and this of course made him very jealous. If he couldn't have her, then no one could.

So late one night, when he was watching them in bed, he knew that he had to do something. He had to kill her husband. It was the only way. Having memorized her schedule, he waited until she was at work and he was home alone to make his move.

Barry was not expecting a busy day when he woke the next morning, but the moment he got the call from Joe about a gruesome homicide, he knew it would be a tough one. He quickly showered and then sped to the scene. He got there within in seconds and immediately saw what Joe was talking about. This was one he had never seen before in his life and one that he wouldn't forget anytime soon.

There were a number of squad cars parked in front of the house and yellow caution tape surrounded the scene. He saw Joe's car parked there as well. Next to it was the Captain's. There were analysts taking pictures of the scene, while cops outside prevented the press and curious onlookers from coming inside.

A moment later, he was standing in the living room, mouth agape looking at the bloody body that belonged to a young male, probably in his early twenties. He was stuck in the middle of the wall. It almost looked like he was part of the wall itself. Blood dripped out from the parts of the body that was stuck in the wall, down to the floor that led to a much larger puddle.

Barry leaned close to inspect the body, ignoring the nauseous feeling as well as the man's sobbing wife who was in the corner of the room. The man's eyes were wide eye with fear and his skin pale from the loss of blood. It looked like he had been in a fight prior to whatever happened to him. He wondered how he managed to get stuck in the wall, without damaging the wall itself.

Joe approached, catching his attention. He turned to him and shook his head. "I am at a loss," He said in a low voice. "What do you think Barry?"

Barry stepped away from the body and motioned for Joe to follow him. He glanced at the coroners briefly, who came to remove the body as cleanly and quickly as possible. Joe followed him outside to talk.

"What do you think?" Joe asked looking at him for an answer.

Barry looked around making sure that no one would be able hear. "If I had to guess," He said with a small shrug, "It looks like a meta human attack. Perhaps one that can phase things through solid objects." He sighed and scratched at his neck. "It is the only way that I can explain how he." He paused searching for the right words. "Became part of the wall."

Joe groaned. "I was afraid you'd say that." He was clearly unhappy and looking quite tired. "Man I miss the days before all the meta humans attacks."

Barry had to agree. It seemed that the moment he learned of his ability, everything turned upside down. It was quite similar to what happened in Smallville. A weird meteor shower occurs and then everyone seems to have abilities. It turned the city into one entire freak show. Most used their abilities to do harm to the city, but a few didn't let it change them. Some even used them to help stop what they called the meteor freaks.

"I don't think there is more I can do here," He said glancing at the house again. Even though he couldn't see inside, the image of the man's bloody corpse burned in his mind. "If it isn't a problem, I am going to go to the lab and see what I can find out from there, about this attack."

Joe nodded in agreement. "Call me as soon as you know anything."

With that, Barry sped out of sight and back to Star Labs.

Earth 2

The moment Zoom left, Chis searched the cell for a way to escape, but he couldn't find anything. With a grumble, he looked at chamber to his right. There was a middle aged woman in there sitting on the floor in the corner terrified. He tapped to get her attention, but she just looked at him with fear, not saying a word. He stepped up to the glass, which caused her to scoot further away from him.

"She won't talk to you," He heard someone say.

Chris turned to see a young male in the chamber across from his looking at him intently. He was tall and extremely muscular. He had long black hair that was tied in a pony and had a small goatee. He was wearing worn out jeans with tears at the knees, and a Deftones t-shirt that was cut at the sleeves.

"What are you talking about?" He asked him.

The man gave him an obvious look. "Well aside from her being terrified of Zoom," He said in almost a mocking tone, "We all saw you suck out whatever that was from that guy. Your little show back there, didn't help the matter."

Chris didn't say anything right away. He just studied the man, while the man was doing the same thing to him. He sighed and crossed his arms of his chest. He saw that a few of the other hostages in the other chambers were watching him intently with almost as much fear as they did when Zoom was around.

"I guess we all know why Zoom has brought us all here," The man narrowed his eyes at him. "And you."

Chris eyed all the chambers briefly and then looked at the man. "What is your ability?" He asked.

"What you don't know?" The man asked with dislike. If there weren't glass barriers in between them, he'd probably attack him.

"No," Chris shook his head. "It doesn't work that way."

The man snorted. "I see," He said shaking his head. "Well I shoot lightening out of my ass. Good luck with stealing that one."

Chris gave him a look. "You think I want this?" He asked feeling hot. He made a fist wanting to pound on the glass, but he knew it wouldn't help in any way. "You think any of us wants this?"

The man narrowed his eyes again. "What we want now is pointless," He said, "Zoom has us all in here trapped like cattle and you seem to be the only one that will survive." He took a step closer to the wall and leaned against it. "That is until he doesn't need you anymore. Then you share the same fate as the rest of us."

It was at that moment, Zoom returned. He approached his cell and stared at him menacingly for a minute, before he walked right through the glass. Chris eyed him fearfully as he took a few steps away from him. It did little good, for Zoom grabbed him and pulled him out of the cell. He then sped and grabbed the guy that he was talking to just moments before.

"Next one," Zoom said perilously. He beat up the guy just like the previous one and then handed him to Chris. "Hit a homerun kid."

The man groaned in his arms all bloody and broken. He really didn't want to do this, but the hunger his ability brought, pounded in his ears. The more he resisted it, the louder it grew. It was almost as if he could feel it running through the man's body. Knowing that if he didn't do this he was a dead man.

He thought about the man's ability and stealing it from him. The man's mouth opened and just like before as if he was exhaling, the sliver of light floated out. It flew into Chris' open mouth and then disappeared. Instantly, he felt a burst of electricity run through his body, but it only lasted a few seconds.

The moment it was gone, Zoom grabbed the man from him and sped out of sight to take him away. He returned moments later before Chris could move a muscle. "Show me," He simply ordered.

Chris made a fist as electricity rippled through it. "Interesting," He said wondering what would happen if he used to against Zoom. Chances were, that it wouldn't really help much. Zoom was too fast and would easily stop whatever attack he mounted against him.

"Good," Zoom said before he sped and grabbed another one of the prisoners. "Keep going." He ordered gruffly, ignoring the desperate look that Chris gave him.

Barry stepped into the lab, thinking of the homicide he saw earlier. It was one of the strangest and most gruesome things, he had ever scene. He hardly noticed that Caitlin was talking to him. He shook the image out of his mind and approached her.

"Thank you so much for last night," She repeated with a smile. "It was really nice and thoughtful of you and just what I needed."

"You're welcome," He said smiling back at her.

Cisco looked up from his computer to give them a confused look for a moment, before he returned to his work. He was working on a formula that would speed up the process in finding meta humans. With the over-abundance of them these days, he wanted to find a way that it would make it easier to track all of them.

Harry was in the other room, continuing to work on finding ways to get Barry faster. The faster and more powerful he becomes, the better of a chance he has in defeating Zoom. Even with all the portals closed, he knew that it was only a matter of time, before Zoom found his way back to Earth 1 and when he did all hell would break loose.

Jessie meanwhile was trying to help her dad out, but with little luck. Despite how bright she was; she was still quit young. Harry wanted to keep her out of harms reach and by helping out in the lab, that would be doing just the opposite. The more she got involved, the bigger the chance she would get hurt.

"So we have a situation," Barry began as he glanced between the both of them. "There was a meta human attack today."

Cisco and Caitlin both looked at him with concern. "What happened?" Caitlin asked.

Barry thought back to the scene and shuddered. "What do you guys know about phasing through physical items?" He asked.

Caitlin looked confused. Cisco scooted his chair away from the desk and leaned back in it. He looked confused as well. "What happened exactly?" Cisco asked.

"Well the victim of the attack was literally morphed into the wall," Barry answered with slight disgust.

Cisco imagined the scene and thought of an episode of Star Trek the Next Generation, when a lady became infused with the floor itself, which resulted in her death. "Ouch," He said making a face.

"Well I am thinking the cause of his death was two things," Barry began. "The first and obvious thought was that it involved someone who is able to move through solid objects. Most likely that whatever this meta human touches, would also be able to pass through solid objects as well."

Cisco finished his sentence. "And if he or she lets go, then the person can't phase through anymore."

Barry stopped pacing. "And just like this person who died today," He said, "Half his body had passed through the wall, when the meta human let go of him."

Caitlin was glad she didn't see the scene that Barry was describing. "What is your other thought?" She asked.

Barry looked at her. "That this guy was a meta human, who was learning about his ability and died in the process," He said not believing that this was an option.

Cisco shook his head. "Nah," He said, "I think your first idea is what happened."

"I agree," Caitlin said with a nod.

Barry nodded as well and glanced at Harrison and Jessie in their office. Harrison glanced at him briefly and then went back to his work. "Yep," He said, "Guess we have our work cut out for us."

Cisco sighed and rolled back to his computer. "Yep," He said with sudden exhaustion. He cracked his neck and then knuckles, before he decided what his next move would be.

Hope you guys enjoyed the update. More to come soon!

shaw18