Author's Note: This chapter is focused on Bart and explores his and Barry's relationship a little. It also hints as to why he came back in time in the first place. Remember, my version of Bart is a little different from the comics and the YJ tv show, he doesn't come from any post apocalyptic universe .
PS: This chapter may have a few mistakes here and there. But I'll upload the proofread version soon.
Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.
Chapter Fourteen – Trajectory
SAN FRANCISCO CITY MALL,FEBRUARY 11, 20:16 EDT.
The city mall was roaring in retail and sales business, with Valentines day approaching. They mainly targeted teenagers and young adult couples, giving them coupons or heart shaped balloons as they walked through the mall. The air was thick with the warm, fuzzy feeling you always felt during festive seasons and the distinct aromas of various fastfood stores wafted through the air as the throng of couples made their way to their destinations.
Bart was offered the sixth coupon for the day as he and his date walked into the bowling alley in the mall. He pocketed the coupon in case it could come in handy for later. He wasn't one to turn down free opportunities.
"So how'd you like this place so far?", he asked , grinning, as he dug his hands into his pockets, leading her along as they entered the bowling alley.
"You know, I'd never have pegged you as someone who likes to bowl, Allen.", his date replied .
Bart had just met Linda Park two days ago at the city movie convention center and he had somehow managed to get her to go on a date with him. Linda was a pretty quirky girl with big doe brown eyes and waist length black hair that had been combed sideways and it had a sweet, fragrant smell to it. She wore a small leather jacket over the flowery dress she was wearing for the night.
"Oh ,are you kidding. This spot happens to be one of my favorite places in the city and I'm guessing…that this is the only sport that I can probably beat you at.", Bart replied with a chuckle, turning and walking backwards , facing Linda.
The loud music rang out through the air and teenagers of all ages walked around the place, chatting among themselves. The strong smell of frappes and lattes drifted through the air, tingling the nostrils upon arrival. There were also many teenaged couples lining the walls, kissing each other , away from the prying eyes of their parents, caught up in their own worlds.
"Oh? You think so, huh?" ,Linda replied with a smirk, playing along.
"Uhm.. I'm pretty sure…", Bart replied with a cheeky smile.
Just then, a familiar voice to Bart spoke up behind him . It sounded all too familiar.
" Bartholomew Allen?!", a female voice spoke up .
And when Bart spun around on his heel to locate the person, his eyes landed on the figure of Kara, who had a bowling ball in her hand. Next to her stood Kyle and both of them had a smirk on their faces. They had purposefully called him that.
"Oh! Hey! …Guys! What're you ..um.. What're you doing here?",Bart asked, sounding a little breathless.
"You…Know them?", Linda inquired a little quietly to Bart, who had a surprised look on his face. With all his speed, he seemed a little lost in time at the moment.
"Hmm? Oh! I'm sorry!", he replied quickly and brought over his date towards his friends.
"Linda. These are some of my friends, Kara and Kyle. ", the teenager remarked, indicating to the teenagers .
"Guys, this is the Linda I told you about.", Bart remarked, nodding to them. The two smiled at her, acknowledging her presence.
"So..", Linda asked, looking at Kara and Kyle.
"Are you two on a date as well?", she asked nonchalantly.
"What?", both Kara and Kyle remarked, glancing at each other with incredulous expressions before turning back to Linda.
"Oh no! No .She's not.. We're not…like that… We're here with our friends, actually . They've just gone to get some drinks. ", Kyle answered, glancing at Bart, who had an amused expression.
Just then, a female voice spoke up and the group turned to see three people making their way towards them.
"Bart! So nice of you to join us!", M'gann beamed . She had her skin turned to look like that of a caucasian human girl, with freckles lining her cheeks.
"Yeah. We were just about to start a game. Wanna join?", Jaime asked.
Bart opened his mouth to answer but then looked at his date unsurely, wondering what her answer would me. Honestly, he himself just wanted to leave the scene with his date before his teammates embarrass him in front of her or something. Unfortunately, Linda began to smile and nod.
"We don't..wanna interrupt your date.", Garfield remarked, glancing around with a smile.
"No. It's..fine.I'd like to get to know Bart's friends anyway.", Linda replied sweetly.
"Hi! I'm Megan . ", M'gann chirped, shaking Linda's hand with a smile on her face.
"And this is Garfield and that's Jaime. And I'm guessing you've already been introduced to Kyle and Kara.",the martian stated, pointing to the people as they all exchanged smiles. Linda nodded.
" Megan, you go first .", Kara proclaimed as she handed the people the bowling balls.
"Okay!", M'gann chirped and walked forward .
"This is a lot heavier than I expected!", M'gann groaned telepathically so that everyone of them besides Linda heard her.
"By the way, Bart.. She's pretty cute.", M'gann added and it resulted in the others snickering at Bart, while Linda was oblivious to all of this.
"Is it just me or..does your friend,Garfield look really green?", Linda whispered to Bart as she eyed beastboy suspiciously.
"Hah-Hah. Yeah..Um..He just…was at a cosplay convention and had a lot of…body paint on him. ", Bart replied quickly, berating himself mentally for the lame excuse.
/
It came as a surprise when they found that Garfield and Bart were in fact leading the little competition. Unbeknownst to the others, Garfield had been using eagle eyesight to take aim at the pins , resulting in sucessive spares, with him being the leading scorer.
"Boo ya!", the green skinned teenager exclaimed victoriously for over the sixth time as he passed the others.
"Dios Mio...Would you just shut up?", Jaime groaned.
"Crash. Totally crash. Now watch how the mastero does it.", Bart replied as he stepped forth. Bart was the second leading scorer present and true to his word, he was pretty good at bowling, much to the surprise of even his own friends.
Squinting his eyes, he focused on the pins and swung his ball forward, letting go . They all watched as the ball rolled straight at the middle pin and knock it out. The telescreen lit up with 'STRIKE' written on it.
Bart turned around and bowed with a cheeky smile as if he was receiving applause from the others.
"Told ya I was good at this.", Bart smirked at Linda, who smiled back.
"I guess I was wrong.", the teenaged girl replied.
Just then, they group heard panicked screams from the crowd nearby and whipped around to find a blonde teenaged girl rushing in, clutching to her purse as if it was her life. She had a terrified and confused look on her face as she came sprinting into the bowling arena . They could all see the crowd panicking and moving in random directions behind her.
Before anyone knew what was happening, something moving incredibly fast entered the bowling alley and all anyone could see was a red streak of lightning as it zipped around, throwing people off their feet and upturning tables, too fast for the eye to see.
The red streak zipped around in various directions for a couple of seconds before it vanished altogether completely. Just then, chaos ensued around the place.
"It was the flash!", one girl yelled.
"He took my wallet!", another yelled.
"Blimey! He took all the cash!", the british vendor standing at the entrance booth exclaimed , appearing just as confused as the others.
Just then, Kyle checked his pant pocket and a scowl came over his face.
"Last time I checked, the flash wasn't a town thug and neither did he operate In San Francisco.", the teenager mumbled to the group as they looked around in confusion. Bart appeared the most confused of all.
He had a shocked look on his face as he looked at the spot where the speeding red blur had vanished.
Then, on impulse, without thinking it through, the teenaged speedster zipped out of the mall .
"Guys. What the hell was that? Bart, let's … Um… Bart?", Linda remarked, a little confused as she looked around for her date but the brown haired teenager was nowhere to be found.
"He was right here? Where'd he go? ", Linda inquired, a clearly confused look on her others merely glanced around, exchanging looks with each other.
"Umm.", Garfield mumbled, trying to come up with an answer.
"He just went out to call the cops. His… uncle Barry is a CSI.", Jaime remarked quickly, covering for the others.
"oh..Okay..", Linda replied, though she did seem a little down at suddenly being left with a group of people she had just met.
"He should be back soon though. He's really fast.", Kara added . It was a simply remark but she had another implied meaning that Linda wouldn't understand.
/
Bart grit his teeth as he chased after the red streak of lightning in front of him. Whoever it was, they were just as fast as his grandfather.
The two red streaks of lightning sped across the city, blowing papers and other lightweight materials away and throwing cars and people off balance in the process. Bart had never run this fast or been pushed to the limit of his speed to this extent since he came racing after his nemesis through the time barrier.
He was finally now running neck and neck with this speedster and he turned his neck to see who it was. A confused look flitted across his face. It wasn't anyone he knew. He couldn't even identify the person, for their whole body was vibrating too fast for him to make sense of anything.
The speedster merely turned to look at him and before Bart could react, the speedster increased their speed and left him behind in their dust.
As he came screeching to a halt , he slouched forward with his hands on his knees as he looked on where the mystery speedster had left him in their dust.
Bart was just as fast as Barry but this speedster was much, much faster than both of them and it confused him.
"Who..Who the hell are you?", he wondered out aloud as he panted , evidently tuckered out from trying to keep up with the speedster.
TITANS TOWER ,FEBRUARY 12, 10:20 EDT.
"So you're saying that this speedster wasn't Barry?", Dinah asked with a bewildered look on her face as she listened to what the teenaged speedster was telling her.
Damian and Dick were in Gotham, with Batman, having their injuries treated . Raven and M'gann had just left for a new mission that required their telepathic skill set. So the remaining titans were huddled in the common room as Bart and the others filled in Kori and Dinah on what they had witnessed the other night.
"I'm positive.", Bart replied, stuffing his mouth with a sandwich.
"I mean… where did this speedster even come from?", Bart inquired and he genuinely appeared a little perturbed.
"I don't know man. All I know is that blur made sixty smackeroos off of me last .", Kyle chimed in .
"Maybe it's got something to do with the Myriad drug that you guys discovered from that Hive base.", Jaime remarked , his brows furrowed in thought.
"Can't be. Batman confirmed that the drug only brainwashes it's victims .", Dinah interjected.
"So there's only one way a guy can become a speedster, right? ", Kara chimed in .
"A particle accelerator explosion.", Garfield remarked.
"Or you gotta inherit the speedforce like me.", Bart interjected
"Right . But there haven't been any reports of particle accelerators since the one that Barry got caught in . And that was over five years ago. ", Kyle replied.
"So if , let's say another guy got caught in the explosion like ma grandmps did. Why haven't there been any reports of this speedster before? I mean why do we only know about this new guy now?", Bart asked, adding to the confusion of the discussion.
"I don't know but you said yourself that the only way to become a speedster was to get hit by lightning during a particle accelerator reaction.", Jaime replied.
"As far as I know.", Bart remarked as an afterthought.
"Well….", Kori muttered,a little apologetic looking.
"What?", Bart asked with a cocked eyebrow, a little confused. Kori bit her lip and glanced at Dinah, who had a thoughtful expression on her face.
"I shouldn't be telling you guys this.. but.. there is another way. Three years ago, there was a villain called Zoom. He was a speedster. ", Dinah began before Bart waved her off impatiently.
"Yeah. Yeah. I've heard it like a million times already. How the flash entered the speedforce for the first time and took down the zoom guy. ", Bart replied hotly.
"Well. That's not entirely what happened.", Kori replied, biting her lip.
"What?", Bart remarked, a little confused.
"Zoom was a guy named Hunter Zolomon. He used to work with the Central city Police department and was one of Barry's best friends. He was the one guy that figured out Barry Allen and the flash were one and the same. Anyway, Hunter was on a case of a meta human and he somehow got hit by the same lightning that turned Barry into the flash. For a while, everything was perfect. He wasn't a full on crime fighter like the flash was, but he helped Barry out on some cases, dressed in a makeshift costume . ", Dinah remarked.
"One time, they were after a metahuman that spewed electrical discharge and it managed to figure out Hunter's identity. So he went after him, thinking that he was the flash and killed his wife. Hunter Zolomon was fast, but not as experienced as Barry was with the speed force, so he asked Barry to go back in time and change the events so that his wife could live. ", Dinah stated .
" But Barry didn't do it..Apparently he said it could risk breaking the timestream . This didn't sit well with Zolomon and Barry didn't know it, but that decision broke their friendship . Zolomon quit his job and disappeared from Barry's life entirely.", Dinah continued.
" Then, a few months later, Zolomon returned as Zoom, and this time, he was convinced that Barry didn't help him because he hadn't gone through enough trauma and he needed to be taught a lesson .So Zolomon began his attack on everyone Barry knew. He created a magnetar generator, a massive circular device that created a black hole around Central city. ", Dinah recounted as the others listened intently.
"No matter what Barry tried, he couldn't access his fastest speed, since Zolomon was siphoning off some of the speedforce,making Barry slower. So, in a desperate attempt to stop Zoom, Barry turned to one of the head scientists who worked at s.t.a.r labs at the time. Doctor Harrison Wells. Nice guy. In his fifties. Anyway , he worked with Barry to create a kind of prototype speed drug called the Velocity-Nine. The V-nine drug enhanced Barry's speed,increasing it triple degree, making him faster that what Zoom was and together with superman, he managed to stop the singularity wormhole over central city by setting off an atomic discharge in the eye of the storm. ", Dinah finished.
As she finished, an uncomfortable silence crept into the room. Everyone stared at her .
"So …what happened to Zoom?", Garfield asked quietly.
"After he saw that he was beaten, Zolomon went crazy and tried to rip reality itself by running at incredible speeds around the globe, with the flash chasing after him. With their combined speeds,they both created a 'rip' in the time . Barry escaped the ordeal okay but Zolomon got trapped in the time limbo, entering a comatose state.", Dinah replied.
The teenagers looked around. Barry always had appeared so cheery that they never would have guessed he had faced such dark events. But Bart had a slightly disgruntled look on his face.
"Wait a sec. You mean to tell me that this whole time, while I've been busting my ass out there to try and increase my speed , to be better, to be faster, there is this drug that can do it for me?", Bart remarked and for the first time since Kara had known him , he looked dead serious.
"Yes. But the flash has only used it once and wouldn't want anyone near that thing again. While it did give him increased speed, it also apparently was killing him slowly. If he had used it any longer, it would've been lethal to him .That drug isn't good news for anyone. ", Dinah replied as she found that Bart had taken the wrong message from this whole story.
"Yeah? But I could've used it so many times where you guys needed me to go faster. I could've been much faster and more efficient with this. I'm stuck in this timeline because I'm not fast enough to break the time barrier again. I can't go back to my time because I'm slower than I was. And my grandmps used the drug. Why shouldn't I?", Bart asked, standing up.
"Because It's not the right way to do it. Even the flash said so. Nobody has used that drug since . ", Kori replied.
"Hang on… You guys said this drug gave Barry faster speeds, right?", Kara replied, tried to put together the whole thing. Kori nodded.
"So if that happened, why can't it give a normal person the powers of a speedster? ", the blonde teenager inquired and this put the others into thought.
"That's …actually a valid point, Kara. Doctor Wells was the V-nine drug's main creator. He died in a car accident over a year ago but Eliza Harmon, his intern at the time helped him with the manufacturing. I think she still works at s.t.a.r labs . Maybe that may be a good place to start looking for clues on our mystery speedster.", Dinah replied.
"Great. I'll go train .. The right way.", Bart remarked with a slight edge to his voice. It was evident that he was pissed off about the fact that there was a special chemical that could make anyone go faster. There was nothing special about him or Wally and Barry anymore then.
"Kyle, Jaime, Gar. Why don't you two accompany Bart? ", Kori remarked as they watched the brown haired speedster storm off.
"Yes ma'am.", Kyle remarked as the three of them left.
"I'm going to central city to try and talk with Eliza.", Dinah remarked as she got up
"I'll help.", Kori added as she got up to go change her clothing.
"I might as well come with you.", Kara added as she followed through. She didn't want to sit around in an empty tower.
Bart , Jaime, Garfield and Kyle were standing in a forest clearing in one of the nearby deciduous forests of the of them stood in their respective suits. The ground on which they stood were littered with pebbles and over five hundred feet below was a raging river of rapid waters that seemed more threatening to Bart than some of the criminals he had faced in this timeline.
Bart peeked out over the cliff that they were standing on and he began to have second thoughts about this training exercise.
"I didn't look this deep on the map.", Garfield stated as he peered around.
"Now who's brilliant idea was it to train me here?", Bart asked hotly, turning to his friends, who all shrugged.
"Well, you've gotta be faster than our mystery speedster. Maybe plummeting to your death in a five hundred foot abyss is a good enough motivation to get you to get there.", Kyle replied nonchalanctly.
"Anyway.",Jaime replied, looking at the tablet that the arm extensions from his beetle body suit was holding for him as he glanced at it .
"According to this module that Barry gave you, you've got to be travelling at …this speed.. Not sure what that means.", Jaime finished with a shrug as he turned the tablet so that Bart could have a look at it.
"Mach three point five . ", Bart exclaimed .
"I understand if you're getting cold feet, fastest boy alive.", Kyle remarked, teasing Bart, which the speedster didn't take to.
"Not crash,Bro. Not crash at all. This is canyon is almost a hundred foot wide.", Bart pointed to the other end of the canyon of rocky water falls, where another rocky cliff stood, protruding outwards.
"Taking the drug would be much more simpler than all this nonsense.", Bart remarked hotly as he walked over to his starting point , which was a few feet away from the cliff end.
"It may be. But you heard what Kori and Dinah said. Barry himself isn't proud of what he did. I'm sure he wouldn't want you to make the same mistake he did.", Jaime replied.
"Yeah? I don't see how doing something to become faster is a bad thing.", Bart snapped back.
"Just look at it this way. If you get faster naturally, you won't need no damn speed drug to be the fastest bipedal alive.", Garfield chimed in .
"At least someone know how to talk when you're about to run over a goddamn canyon.", Bart hissed at the others as Kyle shrugged.
Bart bent down into a racing position, with his fingers lightly touching the floor . He focused hard on the area ahead, where he needed to get to .
Then, in a burst of speed, Bart made the dash. The others witnessed the streak of yellow lightning as Bart raced towards the cliff side in the blink of an eye.
As he neared the cliff edge, he kicked off with his right foot and gained substantial height and as the others watched, the streak of yellow lightning flew across the sky.
He was twenty feet from the start side. Thirty feet. Forty feet.
Then, it all went south. He made the grave mistake of glancing down mid jump and it did the damage but shaking his concentration. And when he lost his concentration, it sent him spiralling not where he needed to be , but towards the wet heap of mossy rock that was the cliff side . He plummeted towards the dangerous rapids and bone cracking rocks .
"This is so not going to end well..", Bart muttered as he closed his eyes, waiting for the impact.
But it never came. As he slowly opened his eyes, he found himself lying on an emerald green bed that was floating mid air. Looking up, he spotted Kyle hovering down to his side in full lantern uniform with his right arm outstretched in front of him, his green lantern ring gleaming on his fist in the midday sun.
"Really? You coulda imagined up anything to catch me and you come up with a bed?", Bart snarked.
"You're welcome.", Kyle simply replied with a teasing grin as he hovered the both of them back to the safety of the cliff side .
/
S.T.A.R LABS, CENTRAL CITY, 13:05 EDT
"Wow. I thought TV shows just exaggerated the stuff about scientists always wearing white lab coats. I guess I was wrong. These guys really do wear those things all the time. I think I just saw two guys going into the restroom with those coats on.", Kara whispered as she and Dinah walked through the sixth detention level hallway of the s.t.a.r labs facility in central city.
Barry wasn't in town , since he and Superman had been called away on some League mission to Vlativa in Europe.
"Keep your head in the game, Kara. And don't say anything. ", Dinah ordered sternly as she led the way with Kara following through. Kori was waiting in the car, since her green eyes would be dead giveaway about her identity. She couldn't be seen with Dinah and Kara while they weren't in their suits, so she waited behind in her van.
Kara was wearing her usual sleeveless blue sweatshirt with baggy pants and woolen boots. She had her hair up in a ponytail . Dinah was wearing a black leather jacket over black ripped jeans .
The entire area was pungent with the smell of strong chemicals and it affected Kara more than Dinah, since her sense of smell was greatly enhanced. The black and white tiling on the floor reminded one of a giant chess board .
"Here.", Dinah stated as she turned right and pushed open a transparent glass door.
They entered a lab that had four transparent glass walls around . Three silvery metallic slabs and tables lined the room with all sorts of chemicals being worked up , with fumes rising up .
And in the midst of all this chemical mess stood a blonde girl of short stature. She had her hair tied into a braided topknot and she, like all the other scientists, had her white lab coat on.
"Doctor Eliza Harmon?", Dinah spoke suddenly, sounding very authoritative.
At her name being called, Eliza whipped around, her eyebrows raised in mild surprise. She had the lab goggles on her face but Kara could see her bright blue eyes and prominent eyebrows. Her squarish face was set and she had a very button-like nose with freckles lining her didn't look too old either. She looked like she was in her early twenties, a the most.
"Yes?", the woman replied.
As an answer, Dinah pulled out a black, leathery, crest and flipped it open for the woman to see.
"I'm detective Laurel Lance, Central city police department,ma'am. ", she remarked in a calm, collected voice, leaving Kara completely flabbergasted.
"And this is my intern, CSI Kara Danvers. ", Dinah remarked, nodding to Kara, who waved slightly.
"What..Ah…What can I do for you, officers?", Eliza Harmon replied, a little confused but still managing to give them both a smile.
"I'm here because of recent sighting in the vicinity of a red blur . A speedster, to be more exact. We don't know who it is .", Dinah began.
"Ah! Yes. I've seen the video on youtube. The flash's gone cuckoo, I guess. Central city's great hero becomes a new villain. Not the first time it's happened in crime fighting history, if I'm correct.", Eliza remarked as she walked around with a clipboard and a beaker that contained a bubbling blue opaque liquid.
"We think it's the flash too. But we need to gather evidence before we can point any fingers at anyone. Particularly at a meta human . ", Dinah remarked, catching Kara off guard. She was indeed a master undercover agent, agreeing where you know they were wrong.
"So what brings you here? Particularly to my lab?", Eliza inquired, a little perturbed.
"We have sources that tell us about how Doctor Wells, your former mentor, created a speed drug for the flash to use to stop a criminal named Zoom. And-", Dinah began before Eliza cut across her.
"Ah. I know where you're going. You think I may have the drug here or something?", Eliza remarked, appearing a little affronted.
"Not exactly , no. We just need to know, on record, whether the flash or anybody else came to you for the drug recently. ", Dinah replied.
"Oh. Then ..no. Doctor Wells was really the brains that created the formula and he pretty much destroyed all traces of the drug in the lab afterwards. So I really can't help you there.I wish I could.", Eliza replied.
As she spoke, she noticed that Kara was looking around with squinted eyes.
"You're free to look around the lab if you like.", Eliza replied , smiling at Kara.
Unknown to Eliza, Kara had been scanning the area with X ray vision to see if there was anything suspicious. So far, nothing came up.
"No..It's..fine.I was just.. lookin around at all this fancy chemistry stuff you've got goin on.", Kara replied .
"Thank you, Doctor Harmon. Sorry for taking your time. ", Dinah remarked and both of them turned and began walking away as Eliza turned back to her work.
As soon as they exited her lab and was out of earshot, Kara turned to Dinah.
"I checked the place. There was nothing there. What do we do?", Kara asked.
"For now, we take her for her word.", Dinah replied.
As they continued walking, a smile crept up Kara's face.
"Where did you get a fancy police badge? And Laurel Lance?", Kara asked with an amused expression.
"Come on.", Dinah smiled , waving her off as the two of them entered the elevator.
TITANS TOWER, 16:30 EDT
Kara, Dinah and Kori entered the titans tower common room after a three hour drive from central city to find the four boys lounging around on the couches with seemingly disgruntled expression on their of the lot, Bart looked most irritated and he was not his usual cheery self.
"So how'd it go?", Kara asked, dropping down on the couch next to Bart.
"It was a total bust. The guy almost got himself killed jumping across a canyon.", Kyle replied as Dinah and Kori took their respective seats on the couch. Dinah cocked her eyebrow.
"And who's brilliant idea was it to jump across a canyon?", the blonde justice leaguer inquired as the guys exchanged looks, staying silent.
"Anyway, did you guys find anything?", Garfield inquired, trying to change the topic.
"Nothing yet. We did visit the scientist from s.t.a.r labs but she seemed to have checked out okay. I scanned around, there weren't any radioactive spikes nearby. ", Kara replied .
"So it's a bust on both sides.", Garfield groaned, pulling at his hair.
"Maybe not..", Kyle muttered ,his eyes fixed on his smartphone.
"What 're you saying?", Dinah remarked.
"Social media for the win! Our mystery speedster's over in National city creating Havoc.", Kyle exclaimed, appearing a little too excited as he switched on the flatscreen TV in the room, switching to the local news channel and sure enough, was live footage of a red streak of lightning zipping around the roadway, going in and coming out of buildings in the blink of an eye.
"More and more reports are coming from live witnesses on the spot describing a red blur that coincides with the flash's appearance. No one has managed to snap a picture that will confirm the theory for sure but as more reports and footages come in, the unthinkable is becoming more of a solid reality.", the male news anchor was saying on the screen.
"Bart . Wait. We can't just-", Kori began saying frantically but it was too late, by the time they had turned to him, a gust of strong wind blew past them and a red streak of lightning exited the building.
"Kidflash versus the Evil Flash.I've so gotta get some live footage to post online!", Garfield remarked with a gleeful look on his face before cowering under a stern glare that Dinah gave him.
/
Bart sped through the streets of downtown San Francisco. Now he was past the city border. Now he was speeding through Midway city, a red streak, a red blur. He didn't know. He didn't care. He just wanted to get there and stop this speedster who was wreaking havoc. He hadn't told anyone why he had come through the time barrier. Everyone thought he was just a time traveling tourist. But he had omitted the whole truth. He couldn't have his grandfather helping him and messing up the timeline further than he already had. But then again, the timeline that he was from was already messed up an uninhabitable as it was.
He came screeching to a halt , right in the middle of the four-way lane and looked around. National City. He was here. It took him under five minutes but he was here.
Just then, as he tried to locate his target, a red blur of lightning sped past him. The speedster.
In a swift motion, Bart spun on his heel and followed the blur through, two yellow streaks of lightning that sped around the roadways of National city . Bart clenched his teeth and reached his hand out as he was neck and neck with the speedster.
Then, suddenly, the speedster changed course and headed straight toward the empty baseball stadium in the city, with Bart giving chase.
Bart came screeching to a suddenly halt, sending up the dust of the ground around him to find the speedster standing in front of him, about thirty feet away .The speedster's face was vibrating so Bart could see or make out his features.
"Who the hell are you!?", Bart yelled in frustration across the field. The speedster remained silent.
"Not much of a talker, are we?", Bart replied as the mystery speedster continued to stare at him from afar .
"Fine. Let's dance.", Bart proclaimed and burst forward, yellow streaks of lightning eliciting off of him. Simultaneously, the speedster did the same action, charging straight at each other in the middle of the field.
They were nearing. Nearing. Close. A feet away.
Then, upon collision, the mystery speedster simply increased his speed drastically, taking Bart by surprise. As a result, the speedster ended up catching him off balance and flipped him over on his feet, throwing him over.
Seemingly shocked, Bart lay there, where he had been beaten, on his back, staring up at the figure of the speedster . What shocked him the most was not the fact that he had been beaten. Not that he didn't know who this person was. What shocked him the most was the fact that it was someone who he certainly not expected. The speedster wasn't a he. It was a she.
As a result of an increase in her speed, she had lost control of her vibrations that blurred her face and Bart could easily make out the features. The bright blue eyes that glared at him mockingly. The dirty blonde hair that fell to her waist length.
She stood in a red suit that looked eerily similar to Barry's. It looked like a female version of the flash's suit, only with the top of the mask cropped off like Bart's was, exposing the hair outside.
"You're..a woman? I mean..Not that I'm sexist or anything but.. I've never seen a female speedster in this timeline.", Bart huffed, still in slight shock.
"Not fast enough, Kidflash.", the woman simply stated with an edge to her voice.
Bart grit his teeth and jumped up to his feet.
The two of them then burst into red blurs again, speeding across the stands and the corridors of the stadium at incredible speeds, with Bart chasing after the woman .
She then led him straight back into the center of the field and screeched to a halt as he came speeding after her. In a fluid motion, she spun around and landed a solid kick on Bart's shin, tripping him over.
Bart tumbled a few feet as he slowed down , rolling on the ground . As he lay there, the speedster burst forward and kicked him hard on his face.
"Why do you dress up like the flash? And who the hell are you?!", Bart yelled as he lay there . She may be female, but getting hit by another speedster was painful to a speedster. One of the few flaws of having the speedforce.
"What I want is for you to stay out of my way, kid.", the woman hissed before she sped away, leaving Bart on the ground, a confused look on his face ,clutching his rib area .
"Oh, boy. Just what I needed. Another crazy speedster.", Bart panted as he lay there, the evening sun staring down at him.
/
"I thought you speedsters can heal yourself quickly.", Kyle replied,munching on some popcorn as he flung it into his mouth.
Bart was no back at the tower, having the cuts on his face dressed by Dinah as he sat on the couch in the common room.
"We can vibrate our bodies and fix bone and muscle tissue. Not injuries induced by other speedsters. There's a difference.", Bart remarked, munching on an energy bar himself.
"So you do not know who this person was?", Kori inquired as she helped Dinah.
"Not a clue. Trajectory was a blonde female with blue eyes, wearing a female version of the flash suit. Nothing else I could pick out.", Bart replied .
"Trajectory? She already named herself?", Kara scoffed with an incredulous expression, crossing her arms.
"Nope. I named her. I thought it was a cool, out of wack name for a crazed speedster. And it's a physics term.", Bart replied, as the others looked at him with cocked eyebrows.
"What? Don't tell you guys don't name your enemies. ", Bart replied , jumping off the couch , walking towards the dining table.
"We don't…actually. Most of them just give themselves wack names.I mean, did you really think that a guy like Batman named the Joker, 'the joker' ?", Jaime replied.
"Wow. Never really thought about that.", Bart replied in a matter-of-fact voice.
"But I still can't believe that a guy as fast as the flash got his ass handed to him by a newbie speedster.", Garfield snorted as he took a fistfull of the popcorn from Kyle's bucket, resulting in the teenaged green lantern giving him a glare that he was oblivious to.
"I could've got her by now if I had that speed drug. But I didn't and now Trajectory's still running around creating havoc.", Bart replied in an irritated manner.
"I've already told you, Bart. Barry doesn't want you anywhere near that thing.", Dinah replied.
"Right. And tell me why I shouldn't be?", Bart asked, squinting his eyes to make clear his disgruntlement. He had always looked up to Barry and now….
"If everyone else is cheating, why can't I? Why can't I level the playing field?If this drug can make me faster the easier way, why can't I use it? Even Barry used it. ", Bart retorted vehemently.
"You want to take a shortcut? Right? Do it the easier way? It's your decision. ", Dinah replied, changing her tone to a stern manner.
"But remember this. You lose…who you are, every time you compromise your values. The drug can have adverse affects, get you hooked on it and you could lose a chunk of your humanity every time you fall for the temptation. All you need to beat her is yourself, Bart. That's all you need.", Dinah remarked with a serious expression.
As everyone watched, Bart merely snorted.
"I'm sorry. That's really good, coming from you guys.", Bart replied.
"So don't be like us. Aim to be better than us. Better than we ever were. ", Dinah replied before she turned and walked away out of the door.
"I'm gonna go run the training module my own this time.", Bart remarked and followed her out the door, leaving the others in silence .
"Was it just me, or did things get really serious up in here?", Garfield remarked, scratching his head.
S.T.A.R LABS, CENTRAL CITY, 23:05 EDT
Doctor Eliza Harmon worked frantically, her hair all messed up and frizzy as beads of sweat trickled down her pungent smell of fizzing chemicals plagued the very air around her and she could hardly breath inside the claustrophobic laboratoryAll her co-workers had already left for home but she stayed. She stayed late most nights, working to finish the chemical bio-component for her part of the deal .He visitor would be here any minute now .
As she glanced into the microscope , she heard a familiar, cold, raspy voice behind her.
"Good evening, Doctor Harmon.", Lady Shiva stated, almost shocking Eliza as she whipped around .
"Oh…it's…just.. just you.", the blonde woman stated. Shiva cocked an eyebrow.
"Were you expecting someone else?", the assassin remarked.
"No. Not at all. The component is almost ready. It's just that.. today I was visited by two cops and I could tell that one of them, the CSI officer was almost onto me. ", Eliza wheezed.
"And did…they suspect your involvement?", Shiva remarked as she looked around the place in a calculating manner.
"No! Not at all! They were just here because they, like everybody else, thinks the flash has gone rogue.", Eliza quickly replied.
Shiva didn't say anything for a few prolonged seconds, merely staring at the scientist.
"You don't look so well, Doctor.", she stated.
"I… I'm just.. really ,really tired.", Eliza admitted, rubbing the sweat off her forehead.
"I see. And have the…. medication been helpful to relieve the stress?", Shiva stated.
"Oh yes. The problem is… I think I may be getting to reliant on it . ", Eliza stated.
"But it hasn't bothered you before. That was our deal, doctor Harmon. You give us the chemical component and we provide you with the requirements needed for you to create your V-9 .", Shiva stated.
"And it still is our deal. It's just..this was supposed to fix things …but I can't stop thinking that it's making things worse. ", Eliza stated as she collected the four vials of blue crystals and walked over to Shiva, handing them to her.
"But doesn't it feel good?", Shiva stated as she handed her the chemical samples she required to manufacture for her stress medication.
"I…I don't…yes.", Eliza stated as if something, some unknown force within her was driving her, was yearning to experience that rush again. It did feel good. So good.
"Well. I'll leave you to it, doctor. And just between us, you might want to take the night off. Have a little fun. Blow off steam.. ", Shiva stated with a provoking smile before she exited the door, accompanied by a masked armed henchman, leaving Eliza to her inner demons.
As she watched Shiva exit the building below, Eliza realized that she was now alone in the was no one around. All of a sudden, she felt her mind pulling, succumbing to her inner needs. Wants. Desires.
She wanted it again. She wanted to feel that incredible rush she felt each time she took it.
Slowly, she began inching towards the containment cabinet that she had locked up her last stock in. Suddenly, she halted.
"No. T-There isn't enough. It needs to be saved for a later date.", Eliza mumbled to herself as she bit her lip. She tried hard to try and forget it but that surge of power was tempting, alluring and no matter what she tried, she couldn't resist the pull of the drug.
And before she knew what was happening, she had already opened the cabinet and had injected the red liquid into her blood stream.
And boy did it feel good. It felt incredible. The rush she felt surging through her. So this is what the Flash felt everytime. It was incredible. The feeling.
And then, powered by the Velocity-Nine , she sped away, a red blur .
A streak of yellow lightning racing off in the darkness of the night.
Kara watched behind the profane glass as Bart ran on the manual treadmill, a red blur with lightning streaking off of him . She had never seen him so serious. She had always seen only his goofy, quippy side and didn't know he had a more serious aspect to him as well.
"How long has he been at it?", Jaime inquired, entering the room.
"I'm not sure but I've already eaten through five donuts and he's still running. ", Kara replied.
Just then, the speaker fitted in the room went online and Kori's voice came through.
"Everyone, please come to the common room. I think we've found out where Trajectory is.", She said . Kara and Jaime whipped around to find Bart screeching to a halt and in the blink of an eye, he had already zipped out of the room.
/
By the time the two of them got to the common room, Bart was already there, munching on an energy bar , his eyes fixed on the giant television screen. Dinah, Kori, Kyle and Garfield were also already there and they were staring up at the screen , with the news channel switched on.
The screen showed the news anchor, Iris West , on the scene in a helicopter as her cameraman captured the footage of what was clearly a continuous streak of yellow lightning zipping in circles around various points of central city, creating mini tornadoes that spun around, throwing cars and motorcycles around, damaging nearby shops and households.
"We are on the scene as the speedster, whom eyewitnesses claim to be the flash, is creating havoc,vandalizing the public speedster seems to be creating storms with their speed. There hasn't been a confirmed report on whether or not this is actually, in fact the scarlet speedster but all signs point In that direction. We advise local citizens to stay out of the streets and in their homes as the conditions outside seem to be less than ideal. Back to you in the studio.", Iris reported.
"Bart , you cannot just go waltzing out there. It's what Trajectory wants.", Kori pleaded but Bart had a determined look on his face as he pulled his mask over his face.
"Watch me.", he simply stated ,and before anyone could stop him or make him see the rational side of things, the speedster was already gone in a flash of yellow lightning.
"Damn it .", Dinah cursed .
"I can't call In the league. Most of them are in the watchtower, dealing with the Hive crisis. They'd take way too long to get to Central city in time. ", Dinah replied, checking her league comms system.
"I'll go and help Bart. I can get there fast enough. ",Kara replied, switching to her blue kryptonian supergirl uniform.
"It's too dangerous. ", Kori protested.
"I'm half kryptonian. I'm the fastest here besides Bart.I can get there in time. Trust me. And I can take a hit.", Kara scoffed as she floated off the ground.
"She has a point. She's the only one out of us fast enough to get all the way to Central city in time. ", Dinah replied thoughtfully.
"Make sure you stop Bart in case he does something stupid.", Dinah replied , handing Kara an earpiece.
/
Just like it had been shown on the news channel, in the absence of Barry, Central city was in complete chaos. Trajectory was sprinting in various directions, upturning vehicles, destroying roadways by running too fast on them and creating min tornadoes. If nobody knew that a speedster was doing all this, it looked like a powerful hurricane was hitting Central city.
Bart came screeching to a halt, skidding over the tar road .
"We are totally feeling the mode..", the teenaged speedster mumbled to himself as he glanced around at the destruction that Trajectory was creating. Electricity poles were sparking randomly due to overload of kinetic energy and the powerlines in the district had been burnt off due to Trajectory's speed.
Just then, a flash of lightning burst in front of him and Trajectory stood before him, a maddened grin on her face. Her blonde hair billowed in the wind and yellow electricity crackled momentarily around her.
"I knew that If I make enough noise, I should be able to catch the flash's attention. I guess I wasn't making enough noise . You don't seem like the flash, Shortstack.", Trajectory hissed.
"I'm not him but I'm still going to kick your ass,lady.", Bart retorted, cracking his knuckles.
"That remains to be seen.. ", Trajectory replied, looking him up and down as if sizing him up.
"What the hell do you want? Besides a super fast butt whooping?', Bart yelled.
"I just wanna have some fun, what do you say? You game?", Trajectory replied with a smirk.
"You just picked the wrong speedster to mess with, lady.", Bart proclaimed and burst forward in a flash of lightning. Almost instantly, Trajectory did the same and soon, the two blurs of red and yellow were zipping across the blocks of the city, making hard turns at each corner, with Trajectory leading the way, cackling out loud as Bart gave chase.
"You're not fast enough, Kidflash. But you can keep up.I'm impressed.", Trajectory cackled, mocking him as they ran , two streaks of lightning zipping across the city blocks.
Bart roared as he caught up to her, shoving onto her shoulder with his own, changing their direction. The two of them headed straight for a skyscraper of a building and soon , the two speedsters were running up the side of the building .
Up ahead, they spotted what appeared to be the joint ridge of the office building where it connected to another building and they both raced off the edge of it.
While mid air, they both began landing punches on each other, kicking and punching as they tumbled back down to earth .
As they neared another glass office building, they stopped their punching in order to land a proper footing on the building side and once they both had achieved it, they were racing back down the side of the building in a tilted path, down towards the pavement , where they continued to run with lightning crackling off of them.
Bart was now running neck and neck with Trajectory and he glanced sideways as she returned the action with a manic grin. He pushed himself rightward, trying to knock her off her feet but she simply increased her speed, dodging his movement before she slowed back down to his speed.
"Where the hell did you come from?!", Bart yelled as he tried the similar action again, yielding the same result as before.
"Let's just say that I've have some special friends capable of doing marvelous things for me.", Trajectory replied with a smirk as she looked forward and increased her speed, leaving Bart in her dust. Then, all of a sudden, she flipped around and dug her foot into the ground, screeching to a sudden halt with her right palm lightly touching the roadway beneath her.
"Okay. Game time's over, lady.", Bart yelled as he sprinted straight at her.
In a fluid motion, she simply side stepped Bart, tripping him and sending him to the ground. Bart's rage was blinding his creativity with the speed. Bart tumbled over a few feet across the roadway as his body slowed down .
As he slowly picked himself up, panting, Trajectory shot towards him in a burst of speed and began landing quick punches on his rib and abdomen area. This continued for over five seconds but to a speedster, five seconds is an eternity. With a final punch against his jawline, she sent him tumbling backwards.
"You're not as fun as you claim to be, kid flash. Maybe If I break you and leave you at your mentor's doorstep, the scarlet speedster should come looking for me and then we can have a real game. What do you say?", Trajectory said in a taunting voice as Bart glared up at her.
"You're really starting to irritate me, lady. And that's an achievement.", Bart wheezed as he got up back to his feet.
Trajectory, who had been grinning at him so far suddenly dropped her smile into a dangerous scowl.
"I'll send your regards to the flash with your dead body.", Trajectory hissed and was about to run towards him to attack again when a red and blue blur whizzed past Bart and landed a solid blow on Trajectory, knocking her off her feet, sending her flying back , straight through a building wall and out of sight.
"Did anyone ever tell you to slow down a little? If not, I'm saying it now. ", Kara replied as she gave him the stink eye.
"Thanks but I didn't need you to help me. This is speedster against speedster. You're pretty fast but no offense, I can run circles around you.", Bart remarked as she handed him an earpiece .
"Hey. You may be pissed off or something. But I don't care. Don't take it out on me. I'm here to help you. ", Kara remarked and before she opened her mouth to say anything else, a red blur sped towards her from where Trajectory had vanished and caught her head on and in the blink of an eye, both of them seemingly vanished.
/
Trajectory used her built up momentum to send Kara shooting straight through two building walls.
As Kara got to her feet in the crumbling mess of bricks and dust around her, the speedster shot towards her and began raining down punches , her hands moving so fast it was a red blur. When Kara tried to punch out at her, Trajectory simply zipped out of the way before returning in another direction and began landing blows.
The speedster's punches didn't hurt Kara but she could definitely feel the effect of the speed with which she was being hit.
Then, in a spur motion, Trajectory kicked out at Kara , sending her tumbling back into the wall of the building that they had currently crashed into.
Trajectory caught Kara by the hem of her cape and raised her hand, vibrating it incredibly fast, ready to send it shooting through Kara's chest to kill her . Then, all of a sudden, the speedster stopped and simply stared at Kara's face. She recognized it.
"You? You're the new Kryptonian I've been hearing rumors about? I wonder if detective Laurel Lance knows about your double life, Alien.", Trajectory replied and for a brief second, Kara didn't understand what the speedster was rambling about. Then it hit her. There was only one person with whom Dinah had put up the ruse of being detective Laurel Lance.
And that was Doctor Eliza Harmon.
"Doctor Harmon?!", Kara exclaimed out in shock as Eliza smirked.
" You think pretty fast, Blondie. But how fast are you, really?", Eliza scoffed before she shot towards Kara in a blur of lightning and attempted to drive her vibrating hand through Kara's chest. But unfortunately, it didn't turn out as expected. Eliza wasn't able to phase her hand through Kara's body due to her invulnerable Kryptonian skin. Eliza ended up spraining her wrist and she backpedaled in pain , glaring up at Kara.
"I guess you didn't get the memo, doctor. Kryptonian's can't be beaten that easily.", Kara remarked as she began to advance forward.
"You're no fun at all.", Eliza scoffed as she began to vibrate her hand to heal herself and she quickly healed herself, standing back upright.
"See you in a bit , darling.", Eliza remarked in a taunting tone and zipped out of the area, with Kara flying behind, following her.
When Kara finally reached her, Eliza was already zipping around , back and forth across a over bridge as the people on it began running around , screaming in terror.
"Guys, I found out who Trajectory really is. ", Kara remarked into her earpiece as she watched the flash of yellow lightning zipping back and forth at the speed of light.
/
"It's Doctor Eliza Harmon. She's the speedster. She recognized me from when I went with Black canary to question her earlier. ", Kara's voice crackled out of the comms unit as a realization dawned on Bart. He connected the dots. He had figured out how Doctor Harmon had access to the speedforce.
In a burst of speed, he sprinted in the direction of the S.t.a.r labs facility, where he knew the Velocity-nine speed drug that Eliza would be using was being kept.
/
"Now that's a plot twist even I didn't see coming..", Kyle's voice mumbled through the comms unit.
" Supergirl, what's doctor Harmon doing?", Dinah's voice crackled through .
"I dunno. Uhm..She's on a bridge, running back and forth. She really embodies the word 'lunatic' doesn't she?", Kara replied into her earpiece.
Dinah, on the other side of the comms unit , who was sitting with the rest of the team on a JL air craft, speeding towards Central city, locked her system target on the inbuilt tracker on Kara's earpiece.
"Right. She's on the fifth avenue bridge. And she's not crazy for running back and forth ,Kara. She's creating friction on the road and if there's enough of it, she could destabilize the entire structure. ", Dinah remarked, a little hint of shock in her tone.
"What the…how is that even possible?!", Kara yelped.
"It doesn't matter how it's possible . It is. You need to get all those people out of there before that bridge collapses. Get on it, Supergirl! Now!", Dinah hissed into the comms system as the other titans on the air craft exchanged wide eyed bewildered looks.
"I hate physics.", Kara mumbled to herself as she shot towards the bridge.
Kara zipped around , a blur of red and blue, picking up upto five people per go as she zipped them off the bridge , out of harm's way.
But no matter how fast she went, she simply wasn't as fast as a speedster to move everyone out and to make things worse, as she flew people out, she noticed the tar road of the bridge beginning to crack and crumble as the bridge base began to overheat .
Kara immediately flew down underneath the bridge and pressed her palms flat against the underside of the structure and hovered in the same position, holding the bridge up.
"Guys! The bridge was giving way. I'm stuck here holding it up. Can't any of you get here in time? ", Kara yelled into her comms unit.
"Jaime and Kyle could try but I don't think they're fast enough. What about Bart? ", Dinah remarked into the transmitter .
"I don't know where he is. I can't see him . ", Kara grunted as she grit her teeth, holding the structure in place.
/
Bart stood in Doctor Eliza Harmon's glass walled laboratory, holding a vial of the opaque red liquid that was the speed drug and in his other hand was the injecting apparatus. He was moments away from injecting it into his body to give him extra speed to beat Trajectory.
Then, all of a sudden, his earpiece went active and Kara's voice crackled through.
" Bart!? Bart!? I need help. Harmon's running up and down the avenue bridge and she's destabilizing the thing. I'm stuck here holding it up but there are civilians on this thing. Do you copy!?".
Bart glanced down at the vial in his hand. If this thing could boost his speed and give him an edge, it would be worth it but at the same time, it could risk killing him, from what Barry had said.
Dinah's voice about losing his moral values if he took the drug echoed in his head as he stared down at the vial in his hand. It looked tempting. This liquid could give him the edge in finding his nemesis who was in hiding. It could help him beat Trajectory, who was also using the drug and it did make her two times faster than he was.
But there was a small voice in his head that protested and didn't want to give in to the pull.
He didn't know what made him do it, but Bart Allen made up his mind and dropped the glass vial onto the floor where it shattered, letting the liquid flow out.
He suddenly felt a sense of relief wash over him and he leaned back against the wall behind him, glancing down at the liquid as it trickled out.
/
Kara grit her teeth, holding the bridge up from underneath as Trajectory zipped back and forth, trying to destabilize it.
The teenaged kryptonian girl was also simultaneously shooting heat vision onto the giant metal railings that held the bridge up trying to weld it secure.
Back on the topside of the bridge, terrified civilians were all crowded around together , scared of moving forward as they could see the flash of yellow lightning zipping around them in the blink of an eye.
Then, out of nowhere, a second burst of lightning entered the area and began evacuating the people out of the bridge area, groups of three at a time.
Bart began zipping back and forth, moving the remaining civilians out of Trajectory's path as Kara worked to stabilize the bridge.
In a mere five seconds, Bart was done moving the people out of the area and when he turned around , his eyes picked up the streak of yellow lightning moving in his direction and before he could react,the streak caught him in the abdomen area and hauled him along as it streaked away.
/
The red streak stopped all of a sudden and sent Bart colliding straight into an alley wall behind him, where he sat there, clutching his arm, groaning from the pain of being hammered into a wall at the speed of sound.
"You're ruining all my fun, Kid.", Eliza breathed with a smirk on her face .
"You don't have to do this, doctor Harmon. The justice league can help you get better . I know the power the speed drug has over you. We can help you beat it.", Bart wheezed.
Trajectory looked surprised that he had figured out her real name.
"So you know who I am. Maybe you're not as dumb as I thought you'd be, kid.", she simply stated with a taunting edge. But Bart knew that Eliza was simply under the mental influence of the drug she was taking.
"Doctor Harmon. You have to stop. You have to stop doing this to yourself. That V-nine you keep injecting is gonna end up killing you.", Bart wheezed, standing up. A look of shock flitted across Trajectory's face as she realized that Bart had figured out how she could become a speedster.
She burst forward and pinned him against the wall, her face inches from his.
"How the hell did you know about it, kid?", Trajectory hissed.
'How I know about it doesn't matter. What matters is that I know what's happening with you. You have to let us help you, doctor Harmon.", Bart remarked.
"I don't need anyone's help. As you can see, I'm perfectly capable of kicking you ass, boy.", Trajectory replied.
Bart let out a deep breath.
"Alright, lady. Don't say I didn't warn ya. ", he simply stated and began vibrating rapidly and before Eliza knew what was happening, Bart had phased himself out of the wall.
"What the..", Trajectory mumbled to herself and zipped out of the building, to find Bart racing on ahead towards the s.t.a.r labs facility. Once Bart had figured out how she had access to the speedforce, he also realized that while she may be faster than him, she wasn't as used to or experienced with the speed as he was. And he was using it to his advantage.
The streaks of lightning raced through the streets , shattering window panes and upturning vehicles as they bolted by.
Both of them began landing punches on each other and unlike before, Eliza was not able to simply dodge out of the way, for the effects of the speed drug in her system had begun to wear off, and Bart could tell.
Both of them changed direction and raced up the side of the tallest tower in the city, running up the glass walls , a red and yellow blur.
Due to the speed at which they were running, both of them involuntarily sent themselves flying up the edge of the building rooftop and they were locked in combat, punching each other.
They only stopped when they began falling back downwards, screeching to a halt on the rooftop.
"Doctor Harmon. You have to stop. This will only end badly for you. That drug is making you lose who you are. Look at you!", Bart exclaimed.
"SHUT UP!", Eliza yelled and shot towards him. Again, both of them were no racing on the roof top in a zig zag manner, with Eliza chasing after Bart, trying to catch him .
As Bart raced, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Eliza gaining on him and in a fluid motion, he changed direction , confusing her, making her loose her footing. As a result, she tumbled around a few dozen feet on the large area , only stopping once she hit the safety railing of the roof top.
"It's over.", Bart panted as he walked upto her.
It's never over.", she wheezed as she felt the drug's influence wearing off.
Then, she tried to lash out at him, only to have him sidestep out of the way before grabbing onto her suit and sending her tumbling back to her position by rotating on his heel.
Bart noticed that something seemed off about her. Her eyes were slightly red and her lips were slightly cracked. There was a deprived look in her blue eyes and her hair was all frizzy.
Then, in a desperate last resort, she pulled out what looked like a silvery gun and it held a vial of the red velocity-nine drug in it's capsule and she held it to her arm, ready to inject herself with a helpless look in her eyes before Bart called out her name, stopping her mid action.
"Doctor Harmon! Wait!", Bart panted and it got her attention as she glanced up at him, the needle of the injection inches from her arm.
"Stop doing this to yourself…You don't actually wanna hurt anyone. ", Bart remarked, slowly.
"You don't know anything about me, kidflash.", Eliza panted.
"No , I know enough. You're a brilliant scientist who just needs help with your addiction.I know you're not a bad person. This is the V-nine influencing you.", Bart remarked.
"I also know how it hard it is to not give in. I was there in your lab and I almost did this same thing to myself. And If I could resist, so can you.", Bart completed.
Doctor Harmon didn't say thing, simply looking up at him , panting.
"You're not well, doctor. We can help you. Let us help you .",Bart added, thinking he had got through to her, and for a moment he did. Doctor Harmon glanced down at the injection apparatus in her hand and wanted to listen to him. But it was too late. She was already hooked on it.
Before he could stop her, she drove the needle into her arm and released the drug into her body. Yellow electricity crackled around her body as the speedforce in her strengthened again. Bart cursed and looked around, defeated.
As the rush coarsed through her, Doctor Harmon stood up, feeling rejuvenated again.
"How does it feel to know that you will never be as fast as I am because you were simply too weak to take the next step?", Trajectory remarked with a smirk.
"Catch me if you can, Kid.", Doctor Harmon remarked and in a burst of speed, she raced off the edge of the building and began sprinting down the side, with Bart giving chase behind her.
Soon, they were both racing on the streets, two streaks of lightning zipping around the city blocks at the speed of light. As they raced, Bart realized that something was wrong with doctor Harmon this time, besides her unhinged behavior.
Doctor Harmon was over ten feet away from Bart when it began to happen, a yellowish glow of vibrant lightning began to form around her, streaking off her own lightning as she raced, oblivious to it. Then, as Bart watched, giving chase, Trajectory's form began to crackle haphazardly.
The lightning grew more and more volatile and as he watched, Doctor Harmon's form began to evaporate , growing fainter and fainter until she seemingly vanished into thin air, her lingering scream of terror echoing through the air after she had vanished. Eliza Harmon had entered the speed force due to the incredibly fast speed at which she was running. She had the powers of a speedster but didn't know it's limits nor did she know how to use them properly.
"Holy…", Bart whispered as he came screeching to a halt, looking at the spot where the doctor had vanished. She was gone.
TITANS TOWER, 01:35 EDT
"So you're saying doctor Harmon simply…vanished into thin air?", Batman inquired,a little in disbelief.
Bruce and Barry stood in the common room of the titan's tower, with Black canary and the rest of the titans. Bart had just finished telling them everything that had happened in Central city after Dinah had told them what all had happened the whole day while she was on monitor duty, everything from the fact that she had told the others about how Barry had beaten Zoom.
"See, that's an oversimplification.", Bart remarked as he munched on an energy bar.
"What really happened was –", Bart began before Barry finished his sentence.
"Eliza Harmon ran too fast that she got sucked into the speedforce. And now she's stuck there.", Barry commented as he leaned against the wall, his eyes fixed on Bart. Nobody had seen him enter the room.
He could probably guess what his future grandson thought about him since he knew that Barry had taken the speed drug to beat Zoom.
"Right.", Bart mumbled.
"I tried to help her, to talk her out of doing it, but she was too reliant on it. She couldn't stop herself. It wasn't her fault. ", Bart continued on.
"Bart. It's okay. We know you tried your best. What happened to Eliza Harmon was a lost cause. It's not your fault.", Dinah replied solemnly.
"We'll look into the case for now and update you all in case we find anything new. For now, good work.", Bruce stated , resulting in Bart letting out a snort. He still had a piece of his mind to share with Barry.
"Hey, I helped out a lot too!",Kara piped up, looking around . Kori and the other grown ups looked at her with raised eyebrow.
"Speaking was the wrong decision to make. I see that now.." ,Kara mumbled as she looked away from the unreadable expression Batman gave her.
Then,Batman and Black canary proceeded to walk forward, stopping midway to turn and see that Barry hadn't moved.
"You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up. ", Barry replied. The two justice leaguers didn't say anything but they nodded and left the room with the other teenagers. Now that the two of them were alone, Barry walked up to his grandson and the two of them stood around, awkwardly.
For a few moments, there was a dull silence that crept into the room, with neither Allens uttering a word.
"So.. ", Barry began. "I'm guessing you're pretty mad at me..".
"That doesn't half of cover it. ", Bart snorted.
"Bart. I'm sorry .",Barry muttered.
"You know, if you were expecting some kind of heart-to-heart chat right now, you'd better save your breath, cause I'm not really in the mood. I don't wanna say anything bad to you that may or may not hurt our relationship.", Bart replied with an indifferent expression on his face as he munched on his bar with his free hand dug into his pant pocket.
Barry simply stared at him for a couple of seconds before letting out a sigh.
"Right…Well then.. I.. guess I'll talk to you later.", Barry replied, a little awkwardly.
"Yeah.", Bart nodded as Barry proceeded to walk towards the common room door.
Just before he opened the door, his palm inches away from the metallic handle, he paused.
"Bart..I- I'm proud.. of you for being the better person today and I know that you'll be a great Flash one day…It takes courage to save the day but it takes greater courage to say no and stand up for what you think is right.. ", Barry remarked, turning around to face Bart.
"And..I just.. wanted you to know.. that I never took the V-nine. I knew that I wouldn't be doing myself justice if I myself gave in and had done it the easier way. It may be easy to use it, but it it'll only hurt you and your loved ones in the long run .Wells made the drug for me but I never took it. Both Wells and I knew the danger the drug possessed . I beat Zoom with nothing but my own speed. And that's a flash fact. ",Barry stated before he flashed his grandson a smile and exited the door.
Bart stood there, as his head raced, trying to catch up to his heart, the energy bar inches away from his mouth . Then, a smile crept up his face.
Shiva stood the enormous hall that was lit up in flaming torches. A long, black, marble table was fixed into the center of the room and at the edge of it sat a man, shrouded in shadows, his elbows on the table with the fingers of each palm lightly touching each other. The hood of his dark cloak was drawn up and the pale white mask that covered his face gleamed under the light
"We have received the biological components as requested but we..have encountered a setback.", Shiva spoke calmly.
When man in the shadows didn't speak , so Shiva continued on.
"Doctor Harmon , the only one besides the late doctor Wells, who knew how to synthesize the bio-component for the weapon, is no more. ", The assassin stated.
"No need to worry. Our partners have the necessary resources that are capable of reverse engineering the component. We won't be needing the services of doctor Harmon anymore .. what of our young heroes?", a cold drauling voice spoke with a tone of slight amusement in it.
"The titans…got involved again.", Shiva stated.
"Hmm..I see..Once is mere happenstance. Twice is pure luck. Three times... is enemy action. ", the man , stated, blood red eyes glaring out of the thin slits on his mask.
Until next time, folks!