The Flash Issue 7

"Upgrades" Part 1

Written by Bodhi Ouellette

Warehouse:

Leonard Snark drove his blue Subaru car into the abandoned parking lot in the outskirts of Central City. He parked his car up into a parking spot, overgrown with weeds and plants. The lines to measure spaces for cars have also faded. Leonard looked around, suspicious of the place. No one else was around it seemed. Two cars were parked far away from each other, but other than that, it looked like the place was completely deserted. A perfect place for a gang meet up, Leonard thought.

Leonard got out of his car and unlocked the back trunk of the car with his keys. He opens the door up and pulls out two of his freeze guns. He closed the back trunk door and made his way over to the warehouse. "This job better pay well," thought Leonard.

Ever since he and his fellow Rogues members helped save Central City from the Kryptonian invasion two years prior, and the disbandment of the team, Leonard was left without much left to do. Spending his time at his sister, Lisa, instead, finally deciding that the life of crime was over. But it wasn't until about a year ago that Lisa was diagnosed with an early stage of cancer. It was in the tumor stages, but it has been stable over the past few months with the help of chemotherapy. But when the option to remove the tumor came, and there was no money they could use to spend, Leonard returned to his Captain Cold identity to help pay for her sisters surgery. Even the jobs he was doing had offered him very little money. This job he took up promised him enough money to pay for her sister's surgery.

Leonard kicked down one of the doors leading into the warehouse and pointed his guns out. But no one was in the warehouse. Leonard was confused for a second, and then became angry once he came to the realization that his employer set him up. "That bastard," muttered Leonard. "He lied to me. I'm gonna kill him once-"

But then, Leonard heard someone's footsteps approaching out. He quickly turned around and pointed his guns at whoever was behind him, but realized something; it was his friend, Captain Boomerang, who had two boomerangs out as well. They stopped and looked at each other for a moment. "Boomy?" said Leonard.

"Lenny?" said Captain Boomerang. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you the same question," replied Leonard. "I thought you were in prison, anyways."

"I was. Someone posted my bail. And they gave me a letter, said to come here."

"Hm. You don't think-"

Then, in the room came Heatwave, who was also surprised of his friends being there too. "What are you two doing here?" blurted Heatwave.

"Heatwave?" said Leonard. "How did you get here?"

"Some ominous guy off the streets just approached me and asked me to go here. Yes, I'm being serious when I say that."

"You wouldn't be the first to have that happen to you," said another new voice in the form of Mirror Master, who also came into the group's conversation. "The same thing happened to me, but this was from one of my co-workers."

"Alright, so this has quickly turned into a Rogues reunion," joked Leonard. "Now where's Trickster?"

"Right over here!" yelled Trickster, who was at the far end of the warehouse. Standing next to him was a man with scruffy brown hair and was approximately the same height as Trickster. He was wearing dark green spandex, with a pale green hoodie, and a belt that carried a piccolo. Digger was almost close to laughter.

"Oh great," he half chuckled, half dreaded. "Who's the bloke right next to you?"

"He is not a bloke!" barked Trickster. "He's my friend!"

"Sure am," spoke his friend. "Name's Hartley Rathaway, but you can call me... the Pied Piper."

"Wait- Pied Piper?" said Mirror Master.

"The one and only," said Pied.

"You mean the same guy who hypnotized Flash a while back? With a flute?" uttered Heatwave. "You're that guy?"

"Sure am," Piper said with such pride. "Pretty impressive, huh?"

"You certainly fit the bill of the Rogues," commented Captain Boomerang. "But that still doesn't explain why the hell we're all here."

"The answer, Mr. Harkness," a mysterious voice said, quiet, but threatening. The person who spoke stood out from the shadows was a tall bald headed man, wearing a purple and green suit. His stature indicated a cunning and sinister man. "- Is right here."

But the Rogues all looked at the figure in confusion. "Lex Luthor?" asked Heatwave.

"No, you idiot," the Man replied. "My name is Mazdan."

"Never heard of ya," said Captain Boomerang.

"I know you all don't know me. But I know all of you. I know all about your lives; past, present, and future."

"What are you-"

"I'm saying I'm from a future, much different from yours, but very similar in many ways. By the 24th Century, the universes societies have been aligned, and stand united together when your tomorrow almost never happened. Diseases have been cured, new species have been created, and societies have been created, and crumbled. It's a very different world from what it is now."

"Fascinating," said Mirror Master. "A time traveler."

"Ya, ya, whatever," Boomerang brushed off. "That doesn't explain who you are exactly."

"I'm a thief, a well known one across the cosmos back in my world. I was in the middle of making my biggest steal ever, when I was caught in a time flux. And I've been stuck in this timeline for the past three months."

"Kay. What does this have to do with any of us?" asked Heatwave.

"Because I need you all to help me get back into the future," said Mazdan.

"T'hell with that!" screamed Boomerang. "Why should we give a shit about your problems?"

"I can give you all anything your heart desires," revealed Mazdan. "Did you really thing I would bring you all together and not expect to give you something in return for your actions?"

This peaked Leonard's interest. "What... what are you willing to offer us?" he asked.

"Well, to start off, you know those gadgets you possess? What if you never needed to use those again? What if you actually possessed the abilities within you?"

"Y'mean... like, super powers?" asked Pied Piper.

"Precisely," answered Mazdan. "You won't ever have to use a freeze gun or a mirror gun ever again. I can give that to you. I can also give you any pleasures you wish for."

"Anything?" Leonard emphasized.

"Anything," Mazdan assured.

"Alright then, future man," said Leonard. "Before I go and sign my name up to your little experiment, I have only one thing I want you to give me."

"And that is?"

"My sister. She… she has cancer. She was diagnosed with it about two years ago. It's still in the tumor stages, but she doesn't have a whole lot of money to do the operation. Can you… can you remove it from her?"

"Leonard, I can make sure your sister will never be harmed by anything again," remarked Mazdan. "You have my word."

"Then you have my vote," said Leonard. "I'll do it."

"Excellent," said Mazdan. "And what about the rest of you?"

"I do like what you are offering," pondered Mirror Master. "I've been wanting to expand my connections to the world of Mirrors, so maybe this'll be the way to do so. As for my personal demands, I want money, my criminal records cleared, and for my restraining order from me and my family gone."

"I just wanna burn stuff," said Heatwave. "You give me that, and I'll be a happy camper."

Pied and Trickster whisper into each other's ears, then they faced Mazdan. "Pied and I talked, and we both decided we want a house on the beach, in Spain," demanded Trickster. "With our own squad of maids, our own personal theater, and a racing track."

"And what about you, Digger?" said Mazdan. "Will you accept my offer?"

"Meh. Why not, I suppose," said Captain Boomerang. "I doubt you can even make a guy like me cool with the boomerangs anyhow."

"I can't thank all of you enough for helping me," said Mazdan. "When I leave, you will all live on like gods."

"Yeah, whatever, now just give us our powers!" burst Captain Boomerang.

"Be patient, Digger," replied Mazdan. "I'll get the shots ready..."

The Allen's House:

Returning back home from his day job at Central City Police Department was Barry Allen, exhausted and beat. Bags are under his eyes, and he is completely deprived of any excitement, like the normal Barry Allen had. He dropped all of his stuff on a chair, and then plopped down on the couch next to Iris. She leaned over to Barry and kissed him on the cheek. "How was work today?" she asked.

"Horrible," Barry replied back. "Captain Frye really ripped me a new one today. Thank god Patty and Dave backed me up, because I'm pretty sure I was this close to being fired."

"Aw. Poor honey," softly said Iris, pulling her husband in closer to her. "What happened?"

"I was slow," Barry explained. "Too slow for Frye to handle. He got frustrated with my speed and began to chew me out. I was too tired to care, honestly."

"Slow? Odd; you're normally good with getting work done. Sometimes."

"Iris, I've been sleeping less and less for the past week or so. I just, don't know. I can't sleep at all and I don't know why."

"Have you tried drinking any energy drinks? Coffee? Anything?"

"Done them all. Nothing's worked. I just can't… focus."

"Maybe you have insomnia."

"Maybe. It's driving me crazy, Iris. I barely have any energy to do anything, Iris."

"That's bizarre. What if I knocked you out with tons of sleeping pills? You think that could work?"

"Gimme the full bottle."

Iris got up for her husband, who slid down to lie his back on the couch, while Iris searched for a bottle of sleeping pills. She returned with the bottle and a glass of water, and handed it to Barry.

"Thanks," said Barry, sitting back up as he downed the bottle of pills and washing it down with water. While doing so, he trailed off to looking at Iris. Something caught his eye about her that he had to point out. "Why are your eyes brown?" he asked.

"You must be really tired, Barry," shrugged Iris. "My eyes are green."

"I may be tired as hell, but I can tell you right now, your eyes are brown."

Iris, wanting to prove her husband wrong, went into the ground floor bathroom to check. Looking into the mirror, Iris was shocked to see that her husband was right. "Oh my god," said Iris. "My eyes are brown."

"I told you," muttered Barry. Iris came back out from the bathroom to confront Barry. She's now concerned and confused.

"Barry, my eyes are brown," stated Iris.

"Yeah, and it's now changing colors," commented Barry. "Your eyes are now yellow."

"Oh, god…" cried Iris. "What's happening to me?"

"I… don't know. How do you feel?"

"I feel fine, otherwise."

"Hm… maybe… we can arrange an appointment with a doctor," suggested Barry. "Doctor Ray Palmer that is. He can probably figure it out. Hopefully it's not anything too bad."

"Yeah…" spoke Iris. "Hopefully…"

Warehouse:

Each of the Rogues members sat on a bench, waiting to receive their new powers. Leonard Snark now changed into his Captain Cold outfit he kept in his car, volunteered to try the enhancements first, his arm already out ready to take the needle. Mazdan opened up a box that featured six vials with a needle at the end of it. The other Rogues peered over as they watched Mazdan take his stool over towards Cold. He firmly grasped under Cold's arm and looked up at him. "Just as a warning, this is going to hurt a lot," cautioned Mazdan.

"Just do it," said Cold. And from there, Mazdan stuck the needle into Cold's arm, pressing down on the top as the serum inside of the vile exited out from the needle and entered into Cold's bloodstream. He could already feel the affects of the serum inside of him, falling onto the ground, crying out in excruciating pain, while Mazdan, and the Rogues helplessly watched. When Cold opened his eyes, it glowed a bright blue, and then underneath him, the floor started to ice up. The pain went away and Cold stood up. He felt incredible; the icy chill radiated off of his body now with the powers to create his own ice at will. The Rogues looked at him in amazement.

"How do you feel?" asked Heatwave.

Cold smirked. "Like a million dollars."

Mazdan turned over to the other Rogues members with a new vile in his hands. "Whose next?"

Once all of the Rogues received their shots, and developed their newfound powers, Mazdan looked at them, smiling at his successes, as the Rogues tried out their new powers.

"It worked," spoke Mazdan. "Now it's all your turns to take the serum. But before I do, I should probably tell you what you need to do to help me get back into the future."

"Ah great, the part where you tell us to do shit," complained Captain Boomerang. "Alright, what is it?"

"Bring me the Flash…"

"What?!" burst Heatwave. "Who do you think we are?! Competent?!"

"With your new powers you will be," replied Mazdan. "This is the reason why I'm giving you these powers; so you can finally take down the Flash. I need him to access his speed, and harness it so I can go back in time."

"You really think that these power boost you're giving to us is really going to beat Flash, huh?" asked Mirror Master.

"Of course. Otherwise, why would I be giving you these?"

"Fair point, I suppose. Whatever, you ask us for Flash, and we'll deliver on that."

"Good…"

To be continued in The Flash Issue 8!