The Flash Issue 4

"Welcome to Gorilla City!" Part 3

Written by Bodhi Ouellette

Miles away from Gorilla City:

Hundreds of cars have made a traffic jam within the highway. Almost all of these cars are heading to one place; Gorilla City. One of these cars stuck in the traffic was Barry Allen's and Iris West-Allen's car. Barry honks his horn to the car in front of him, who is stuck in traffic, not moving at all, when Barry can see that other people are moving ahead of them. "Come on!" he yelled. "All the cars in front of you are moving! Why aren't you moving?!"

"Barry, calm down," said Iris. "Seriously, you do this every time we're in a car."

"Sorry, honey. It's just I have a low tolerance for bad drivers. And slow drivers. That's the price I pay for being one of the fastest men on the planet."

"I wonder what the people in Gorilla City have in store for the tour."

"Same. They'll probably have a tour about all of the banana monuments they have in their city."

Iris chuckled. She looked back at her husband, his face changed from an irritated driver to a contemplating face. She hadn't seen a face like that on him in a long while. Usually when her husband had to solve a problem it took him no time at all to figure it out. But to her, that face meant he was thinking deeply into something. "Something on your mind, Honey?" asked Iris.

Barry looked over towards his wife. "Hm? Oh, yeah. I'm fine, Iris," said Barry. "It's just… I've been thinking about the baby. Like how we're going to balance taking time with the baby, between your job, and my superhero stuff. Or things like school, and college, girlfriends or boyfriends, and-"

"You're thinking way ahead, Barry. We've only discovered about it yesterday morning. We'll figure all that stuff out when the time comes for us to think about it."

"I'm not just thinking about all of that. I'm also just thinking about what this means for our future. We're going to be parents now. Can you believe that?"

"I can. I'm the one who's conceiving the baby."

Barry laughed. "Yeah that's true. I guess I'm just really excited for this baby."

"I am too, Barry. Well, looks like we're here. You brought the camera, right?"

"Mhm. I made sure we've got plenty of battery life too."

"Good. We're gonna need it."

Barry pulled up onto the gravel road. The two of them exited their car and looked around to see other cars also parked on a straight road surrounded by trees. The two followed sighs placed off of the road to direct visitors into Gorilla City.

They, along with many others who were interested in this tour being set up, arrived at the front gates of Gorilla City. There was already a large crowd that developed outside of the gates, waiting till they open the doors for everyone to enter. "I can't believe how many people are here to see this city," said Iris.

"I can't believe it either," agreed Barry. "But they don't know the real Grodd like I do. Something's up, and I want to know what."

As more and more people arrived, it was finally time to begin. A few Gorillas wearing ties and holding microphones walked up to the large crowd of people.

"Good morning fellow primates!" said one of the Gorillas into the microphone. "We welcome you all to visit Gorilla City! My name is Koba, and I will be one of many of your tour guides here! We will direct you along this path across this wondrous city! Open the gates, Louie!"

The Gorilla that Koba called Louie pulled a lever on the other side of the wall, which opened the gates up to the public. The people swarmed into the city, like an anxious child patiently waiting to enter into Disneyland. Once Iris and Barry finally got into the city, they were latched together with a group of people to tour Gorilla City around with a Gorilla tour guide.

"Keep up everyone!" said their tour guide. "I'll be your tour guide for today, and try not to separate from the rest of the group and wander off, please! We're very strict about keeping things in check."

"I wonder why," whispered Barry to Iris.

The tour-guide directs the group of people over to a large shallow water fountain, with a big statue of Gorilla Grodd right in the middle of the fountain, as water squirts out from the platform that the Grodd statue was standing on. "This here is the Grodd Monument," said the tour-guide.

"Because of his glorious leadership overthrowing our kidnappers, and getting the idea to create this city for all of us, we honor him by putting this monument of our founder at the front of our entrance, to remind those who enter into the city that this man freed us all from captivity." At this time, the tour-guide allowed the people to take any pictures they want, which Iris did.

They're then brought over to a large park area near the center of the city. Tall trees with large branches cover the landscape, and they can see dozens of Gorilla's jumping from branch to branch. "Here is our park," stated the tour-guide.

"We have the grounds where you can take a walk, have a picnic, or play a game. Or, you can travel above by climbing from tree to tree. This is how most of us travel in the morning." There was a moment for the crowd to take in this marvelous park, as well as to take pictures. Iris pulled the camera back out and took more pictures.

They then moved on, as the tour-guide now brought them inside a three story building. "This is where our science labs are," claimed the tour-guide. "When we were experimented on, our brains developed advanced intelligence, smarter than any human's brain. So this building was built to create new technology and produce cures for thousands of diseases around the world. Unfortunately, we can't go around the building due to our tight schedule, so let's move on, shall we?"

As they began to move on, Barry looked around to see if there were any cameras around. There were two of them in the front lobby. "Would you mind giving me the camera, Iris?" he asked.

"Sure," she concurred, giving him the camera. "Why?"

"Go on ahead with the group, I'll be back in a flash-" not even finishing that sentence, he zoomed off, leaving nothing but a trail of air. Iris rushed back with the group, as they continued on to their next destination. As they were, Iris listened into one of two other people's conversations, talking about Gorilla City. "Man, is this city cool or what?" proclaimed one of the guys.

"At first, I wasn't sure what to think about," said the other guy. "I mean, a city inhabited by gorillas? That's just ridiculous. But now that I'm in this place, I'm totally down with this."

"I know right? We should see if they let humans move in here? I so totally want to be best buds with a gorilla."

"Totally, man!"

The next location they were brought to the Capitol Building placed right in the middle of the whole city. It is a tall tower with a strangely shaped top, almost spherical like, and was colored in gold. "The Capitol Tower here is where our leader Grodd resides, as well as where people in power govern us. We have full faith in that they will expand our city into being a fully fledged city within the United States. And now, we have someone very special we'd like to show you."

As soon as the tour guide announced that, a gush of wind brushed up on Iris, she turned around to see Barry again, still holding the camera. "I'm back," he proclaimed. "And I've got some pictures of around Gorilla City."

"What did you find?" asked Iris.

Barry was about to speak, but he was cut off when entering into the lobby was Gorilla Grodd, wearing a light gray suit and tie. Everyone ogled at the founder of Gorilla City like if he was an undiscovered celebrity. "This is Gorilla Grodd," said the tour-guide. "The founder and current Mayor of Gorilla City!"

"Welcome everyone," greeted Grodd. "I hope you've all enjoyed your visit here in Gorilla City. I am proud of what I have given my kind, and I plan that this city will lead us to great places in the future. If you'd like to take some pictures with me, you may." As people began to line up to take their pictures with Grodd, Iris leaned over to Barry. "So, what were you saying?"

"Basic stuff. All the science labs had just Gorilla's either building tech or working with chemicals, probably studying for finding cures. Nothing else besides that. Cameras are all around this place. For what reason I'm not sure, but it's probably just tied with the law enforcement here."

Grodd then walked up towards Iris and Barry. "I remember you," said Grodd. "You work for Channel 8, correct?"

"Uh... yes, I do," stuttered Iris. "I wanted to come here and see inside the city a little bit more on my own time with my husband and I."

"I hope you two are enjoying your visit here then. Also, congratulations to the two of you."

"Thanks."

"I think with you two, instead of taking a regular picture; all three of us should take a... what you call them... selfies. Does that sound ok?"

"Of course," Iris and Barry huddled around Grodd's large arms. Grodd grabs the camera out of Barry's hands and with his big palms carefully handles the camera out, so they can all be in the frame of the picture. While both Iris and Barry tried to hide their awkwardness with their fake smiles, Grodd took pride by displaying his large gorilla grin. "Say cheese!" the camera flashed. Grodd handed the camera to Iris, who then looked to see how the picture came out. Barry and Iris looked back at each other; almost in agreement that what they were just a part of was one of the weirdest moments they were a part of. "Thank you very much," said Iris.

"My pleasure," Grodd responded.

The Allen's House; Night:

Barry and Iris were now at their house, with Wally and Jay also present with them. Barry pulled into the living room, a large blackboard, and a half gone roll of tape. "Why do you have a blackboard, Uncle Barry?" asked Wally.

"This used to be my blackboard at work," explained Barry. "But after a while, they were ready to give some things away in preparation for some renovations. Since I used this blackboard a lot, they just gave it to me. I had to pay though, but it was worth it."

"So what is the point of this blackboard exactly?" asked Jay.

"I'm glad you asked," said Barry. Iris handed Barry the photos they took while in Gorilla City, and he started attaching them to the board with tape. "While on our little trip in Gorilla City, I took my chances to take some pictures all around the city."

"What did you find?"

"Nothing that looks too suspicious," answered Barry. "We could look deeper into some of these things, however, as we have no clue what they could really be for."

"Though, there's something that I noticed about the people around Gorilla City," stated Iris. "There was an abundance of people there in the city, completely packed. And they all seemed a little bit too impressed with what they were being shown."

"Hm… they all were a bit too enthusiastic about the city in general. But then again, they don't know the real Grodd like we do. So their excitement may be justifiable."

Wally walked up to the blackboard and tore off one of the pictures off. It was the 'selfie' taken with Grodd, Iris and Barry. "I'm keeping this if that's alright with you," said Wally.

"So what should we do?" asked Jay. "Sneak into Gorilla City again; find out some more stuff that Grodd might be planning? Anything at all?"

"We're going to do nothing right now."

"Wait what?" Jay burst. "You can't seriously think the best plan is to just wait around till Grodd does something?"

"Sorry Jay, but right now Grodd doesn't pose a serious threat right now. We'll keep an eye on him, don't worry about that, but we can't jump the gun on this one."

"That's ridiculous, Barry. If we wait too long, we may be too late for whatever Grodd has in mind-"

Bart then entered into the house, closing the door behind him, and interrupting the argument. He was absolutely dirty, and smelled of spray paint. "Bart, where have you been?" asked Iris.

"I, uh, was hanging out with friends," Bart quickly answered.

"But why are you so dirty?" Wally asked.

"A bit of rough housing, that's all." Bart began to walk past Barry into the kitchen when Barry grabbed his backpack and dug through it. He pulled out three empty spray cans. Bart looked back in be stared down by an angry Barry and Iris. "Bart… go up to your room," said Barry.

"But I-"

"NOW!" both Barry and Iris ordered Bart to do. Bart slouched off upstairs. Barry looked back over to Wally and Jay.

"We'll leave you two to deal with Bart," said Jay. "I should be heading back."

"Yeah same," said Wally. "We'll see you two whenever." Jay and Wally walked out of their home. "I agree with you, Jay, I hope you know that," stated Wally.

"I know, Wally. You and I tend to agree on a lot of things." They started walking back to the direction that Keystone City was.

"You seemed stressed out," commented Wally.

"So do you," Jay replied back.

"I'm always stressed. I-"

"If this is about you doing badly in school, we all know it's because you don't pay attention at all."

"Hey! I do pay attention in my classes!"

"Yeah, you're right. You do. But I know you're not stressed about school. It's your dad, isn't it?"

"How… How do you know about what my dad does?"

"I'm old, Wally, but I'm not stupid. I know a child abuser from a petty crook in the back of my hand. What did he do recently?"

"He almost hit me. Right in front a friend too. But she stopped him from doing it."

"She? Who's this friend of yours?"

"Linda Parks. She's just a freaking incredible friend. And she's saved my butt more times than I can recall. I own her a lot."

"Does Iris know? About your father?"

"No. But she'll figure it out. And when she and Barry do- oh boy, it's going to be hell."

"I hope so. You're fathers an asshole, Wally, I hope you realize that."

"I do. I've known that for a long time."

"Good."

"And what about you? What's on your mind? Because you look really aggravated about something. Did your short argument with Barry make you mad?"

"No, I couldn't really care about what he thinks is right or wrong to do about Grodd- though I still think I'm right. Nah, it's more personal than that..."

"... Care to say?"

Jay sighs. "It's Joan. I don't know if you guys know about this, but... she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a short while back."

"Oh... that's terrible. Sorry about Joan. How's she holding up so far?"

"She sometimes forgets some of the new people she's met, conversations, and some objects, but she's confident we'll pull through together. Just like my old Joan would say. I'm just waiting till the day she eventually forgets my name. She tells me it's going to be alright, but I know that it's just going to get worse for me, and especially for her. And she won't realize it either."

"Gee… I couldn't imagine what it'd be like to see someone you love go like that."

"I feel like I should've noticed. Problem is that I think too fast while everyone else around me thinks too slow."

"Same here."

"Hey, kid. Instead of going back home to your parents, how about we go into Gorilla City and see for ourselves what they're doing. Do our own little investigation."

"Barry will kill us if we do that, Jay, I hope you know that."

"I know. I just need to burn off some steam. Besides, you have time before you have to go back home to bed. And it's a Saturday. What are you really going to do on a Saturday? Sleep in?"

"Hm… I guess. Alright, you win. Let's get to Gorilla City." The two then sped off in the direction of the city.

Back inside the house, Bart was in his room, sitting on his bed, waiting for Barry or Iris to come in and scold him for what he's done. As he waited, Bart was twiddling with his thumbs really fast. He was getting nervous. Punishment for him was brewing. The sad part was Bart didn't really think what he did was a bad thing to do until he did it for the first time and almost got caught.

But he did it again. Because of Keighley. Right now, all he was feeling was how much in the mode he was in. The door opened, and Barry came into the room, sitting right next to him on the bed. He passed to Bart one of the spray cans he possessed in his backpack. "Your school called us," started Barry. "They told us that you haven't been in school in a few days. So is this what you've been doing instead?"

"I… yes," admitted Bart. "I wanted to learn more about the culture in Central City. So I skipped school, I pretty much already know everything they needed to teach me, and while I was roaming through the more shady part of town, I met these three kids and they were using this graffiti stuff, and I was impressed with what they were doing, so they let me try it out, and I was blown away by it, you know? So we went around spray painting things up."

"Do you know that going around spraying graffiti on public property is illegal, right?"

"I know now. I kinda figured when I did it for the first time at the rail yard. And it was kinda thrilling. I was making art."

"You were vandalizing property, Bart. And why did you continue on with that when you knew it was a bad thing to do?"

"I wanted to stay friends with the three kids that I met. They introduced me to the graffiti."

"Who are these friends you made?"

"Carmine, Josh and Keighley. They're pretty cool, despite them being... well, doing bad stuff like vandalizing property."

"I don't know, Bart. These new friends seem like a bad influence on you."

"Oh, don't do that. Sure you'd probably look at them and think of how I managed to become friends with them, but they're cool. They remind me of how kids in my time usually are."

"Well, I... I'm not going to say you should stop being friends with these kids, but unless you want to keep the friends you have, you can't go around and vandalizing things. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal. Although, I do think I have a knack for art. I should sign up for an art class."

"Sure. We'll get you into an art class at school."

"Crash!"

"Dinner will be ready soon, Bart. I'll call you down when it's ready." Barry got off of the bed and out of Bart's room. But before he could close the door behind him, Bart looked at Barry. "Hey, Barry," said Bart.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for understanding."

"No problem." Barry smiled, and he closed the door.

Gorilla City:

Jay and Wally have now changed into their costumes, as they overlook the whole city off of a cliff not far from the city itself. Wally pulled down his goggles, which has a red filter, and displays hostiles in infrared. "Ready?" Wally said to Jay.

"I'm ready," said Jay.

"I'll lead, and you'll follow." Wally sped off, and Jay followed behind. They traveled down the steep cliff, and then approached the gates of the city. Over the gates they went, and they sped through block after block, getting closer to the Capitol building. They passed by any guard or citizen within Gorilla City. The best they could've seen was a brush of air zooms by. There was no one patrolling around a back door behind the Capitol Building, so they entered into the building through that entrance.

As they traveled through the building, dodging detection from anyone who tried to get near them, they found a map of the whole building. Nothing about it was really special or revealing, except for the top level, which was labelled Top Secret. "Lets see what's on that top floor," said Wally. They zoomed through until they found a set of stairs that they traveled up. A door blocked their way going into the Top Secret area, but that didn't stop either of them from phasing through the door. "Let's split up," suggested Jay. "You go left, I'll go right."

"Got it," replied Wally, and he zoomed off. He passed by room number to the room number, looking through all the windows of the doors to see anything suspicious. He then phased through a large door, and in the room was a large dome shaped room, with blue panels up to the ceiling, and about a dozen gorillas in the room wearing lab coats, and operating panels and machines.

Wally quickly hid behind a couple of crates, when coming into the room was Gorilla Grodd himself. A Gorilla scientist walked up to Grodd, with what looked like important news. "Lord Grodd, we have made great progress with this machine," said the scientist. "We're now able to control the minds of thousands of human beings for longer periods of time."

"How long till we're able to control hundreds of thousands of humans?" asked Grodd.

"Soon," he replied. "We can get this one hundred percent ready for Sunday."

"Perfect timing. I'll be at a meeting with government officials on Sunday, so that will be the day we will activate the machine…" Grodd sniffed. He could tell there was somebody in the room who should've been. He turned his head over to the crates. "He's over there!" announced Grodd. "Get him!"

"Oh, great," Wally said, as he ran out of the room, dodging bullets. He ran down the hallway, but an electrical shock gate caught Wally and electrocuted him, until he was knocked out. A couple of Gorilla guards approached the unconscious Wally. "He's one of the Flashes," stated one of the guards. Suddenly, one of their coms went off. "Sir! There may be another intruder inside of the building!" said the guard through the ear piece.

"Search the whole building!" ordered Grodd. "As for this kid, give him an inhibitor collar and put him in the prison. I will have a little talk with him later..."

To be continued in The Flash Issue 5!