*Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud*

Barry's fists pounded against the trunk of a tree at super speed, wearing away the bark. Bits of the bark flaked off, falling to the ground as Barry continued his onslaught. It was day 3 of the training camp, and everyone was working hard as ever back in the forest.

"Making any progress Barry?"

Barry stopped, turning around to find Jay observing him with arms crossed.

"The bark is gone," said Barry, "but the inner trunk is really dense."

Barry rubbed his knuckles, which were bruised to hell and a little torn up.

"Well," said Jay, "what if I told you that you could punch a hole in that tree in one move."

Barry's eyes widened, "We can do that?!"

"Yes we certainly can!" said Jay, walking up to the tree, "Look at Kirishima."

Barry turned his gaze to Kirishima, who was currently taking hits from Ojiro and his tail. The tail struck Kirishima hard, forcing him back, but he remained firm in his stance.

"What you were doing is great for quickly wearing down an opponent's guard." said Jay, "Throw enough punches at that speed and you're bound to get a hit in."

Jay laid his hand on the tree, "But it doesn't work against people like Kirishima. If your opponent is super strong or durable, it's gonna be nothing but taps to them."

Jay took a step back, clenching his hand into a fist, "So you gotta get creative."

Jay vibrated his fist, taking a moment to find the right frequency before swinging at the tree. His fist blows through the trunk, like a knife through hot butter but faster and messier. Without a foundation, the tree falls over, landing on its side. Barry watched the entire thing unfold in awe.

"What. Was. THAT?!" said Barry.

"I learned this trick from you believe it or not." said Jay, "You called it the infinite mass punch."

"I-Infinite?!" said Barry, "Wouldn't that cause a black hole?"

"It would, and we're certainly capable of such." said Jay, "But in reality, I vibrated the molecules of my fist to a certain frequency in order to increase its density and mass."

"Thereby making your fist heavier than it really is!" said Barry, "And when swung at such speeds you could destroy practically anything!"

"Exactly!" said Jay, clapping.

"Just one question." said Barry, "Why is it called the infinite mass punch?"

Jay put his hand to his chin, "I'm not actually sure, though from what I know your dimensional counterpart probably named it that because it was cool."

Both Jay and Barry shared a chuckle, "Alright Barry, practice that for a while. I'll be back after checking if Iida is overheating his engines correctly."

Jay walked away, leaving Barry on his own. Looking around, Barry spotted a boulder roughly his size. Walking towards it, Barry began to vibrate his fist.

These moves, they'll help if Thawne attacks.

Barry stopped himself in front of the boulder.

If he wants to hurt us, he'll have to get through ME!

Barry punched the boulder with all his might, cracking it in half. He watched as the two halves came apart, falling to separate ends. Barry brought his fist up to his face, observing it.

Look at me, I'm getting stronger by the second!

Despite the show of strength, Barry frowned.

So why am I still so worried?

"Alright everyone!" shouted Iida, "We've been tasked with making stew, so let's go all the way and make it a PLUS ULTRA STEW!"

The students had gathered outside at the cooking area to once again cook their own food, this time the meal was stew. Barry stirred the pot, making sure not to go too fast so that he wouldn't turn the ingredients to mush.

"I've got the carrots!" said Kaminari, dropping the carrots into the stew.

"Here's the meat!" said Kirishima, dropping the meat into the stew.

"Potatoes are here!" said Yaoyorozu, dropping the potatoes into the stew.

Barry continued to stir the pot, not saying a word as his classmates contributed their ingredients. As they returned to their stations, they all noticed Barry's odd change in behaviour. Where he was once a fairly positive and bright boy, was now a silent and perhaps even sullen figure.

"Hey, what's up with Barry?" asked Yaoyorozu, "He appears to be sulking."

"I dunno," said Kaminari, "He's kinda been like that since the start of training."

"He didn't hang out with me all summer too." said Kirishima.

"I've got onions!" said Midoriya, walking over to the pot, "Hey Barry."

Barry didn't respond, absentmindedly stirring.

"Barry?" said Midoriya, noticing the frown on his face, "Barry!"

"Huh?!" yelped Barry, who was jolted from his trance, "Sorry Midoriya, put em in!"

Midoriya gave Barry an odd look before putting in the onions and leaving Barry to stir them in.

"Stew's almost done!" said Barry, who took the spoon out in order to let it simmer. Placing the spoon next to the pot, Barry prepared to leave when he heard the crunch of a leaf behind him.

No.

Whirling around, he came face to face with-

"Wally?!" said Barry.

Sure enough, Wally had snuck over to the pot with two bowls in hand. Luckily, Barry had caught him before he could make of with the stew.

"Trying to get some early?" said Barry, "And having two bowls no less."

"No!" said Wally, "One bowl is for Kota."

"Oh." said Barry.

"Yeah, he went off to his secret hideout again." said Wally, "I'm just taking some stew since he didn't eat dinner."

Barry sighed, "Alright, go ahead, it's just about done and the others are already coming over to get their stew."

Wally smiled, nodding as he spooned some stew into the two bowls before carrying them off into the forest. Barry grabbed his own bowl, filling it with stew before speeding over to a nearby tree. Sitting down underneath it, Barry began to wolf down his food as his classmates filled their bellies.

"Hey, Barry?"

Barry looked up from his bowl to find Midoriya, who held his own portion of stew.

"Mind if I sit down?" asked Midoriya.

"No, you're fine I guess." said Barry, going back to eating.

Midoriya sat down next to Barry, taking a bite of the stew, "This is pretty good for non-professional stew."

"It is." said Barry, taking another bite.

Midoriya opened his mouth to say more, but closed it, rethinking his words. After a few moments of silence with the exception of Barry eating, Midoriya began to speak again.

"Barry, is something wrong?" asked Midoriya.

Barry swallowed his food, "What would be wrong?"

"Well," said Midoriya, "the class has been noticing you're not yourself."

"What?" said Barry, "What do you mean not myself?"

"You look a lot less...Happy as of late." said Midoriya, "I've seen you looking around like something bad is gonna happen at any moment."

"I...It's complicated, really complicated." said Barry, "It's better if nobody knows."

"Knows what?" said Midoriya, "Barry if something is troubling you, you can tell me."

Barry put his food down, sighing. Wiping his face, he quickly looked around, making sure nobody was in earshot. After checking, he leaned in closer to Midoriya.

"You can't tell anyone what I say now, especially Kirishima and Mina." said Barry, "Swear! It!"

Midoriya was taken aback by the sudden seriousness in his voice, "I S-Swear not to tell!"

"Do you remember the mall?" asked Barry.

Midoriya's eyes widened, "How could I forget, that was the day I had a face to face with Shigaraki!"

"Well," said Barry, "I met someone that day too."

Midoriya cocked his head, "Who?"

"He said his name was Thawne," said Barry, "He's got some sort of speed quirk just like me."

"Oh," said Midoriya, "Then you two must have gotten along, considering you had something in common."

"Unfortunately, he didn't see it that way." said Barry, "He's convinced I wronged him in the future. He wants to make me suffer."

"F-Future!" yelped Midoriya, causing Barry to shush him.

"I don't know if it's really true, but everything he's said has been pretty accurate." said Barry, "He wants blood and not just mine."

Midoriya had a worried look on his face, "So this Thawne wants to hurt you? He's gonna have a tough time doing that since you're one of the strongest people I know!"

"You weren't there Midoriya." said Barry, "He's fast, way faster than me. He could have killed me then and there, but he wanted me alive so he could put me through the wringer."

Midoriya's eyes widened, "So that's why you've been like this. You're afraid of what he's gonna do next."

"Not just that." said Barry, "He specifically mentioned my friends. That means Mina, Kirishima, you!"

Midoriya processed the words, "So it's not really your own life that you're afraid for, it's ours."

Barry nodded, trying to hide the panic in his voice, "It feels like he's watching me, watching all of us, ready to hit us when it hurts the most."

Midoriya thought for a moment before standing up, "Who are you?"

"What?" said Barry, confused.

"I-I said, w-who are you?" said Midoriya.

"I'm Barry Allen?" said Barry.

"I d-didn't ask for your name," said Midoriya, trying to maintain his confidence, "I s-said, w-who are you?"

Barry looked down, unable to answer, "I-I don't know."

"Wrong, you do know!" said Midoriya, "C-Cause you're the Flash!"

"Huh?" said Barry.

"And I-I'm Deku," said Midoriya, "and Kirishima is Red Riot, and Mina is Pinky!"

Barry was even more confused, "Those are our hero names."

"Exactly!" said Midoriya, "We're heroes! we overcome any challenge! It's what we do!"

Midoriya reached out his hand to Barry, "No matter how tough this Thawne is, we can take him down together, PLUS ULTRA!"

Barry stared at Midoriya, completely in awe.

"Heh," said Barry, "Midoriya, you'd make one hell of a number one hero with those speeches."

Midoriya began to blush as Barry took his hand and let him help him up, "I-I would?"

"Well, yeah!" said Barry, "Cause I'm feeling way less nervous now!"

Midoriya smiled, "T-Thanks Barry."

For a moment, Midoriya looked conflicted. Barry had been a good friend since they first met at the entrance exams, and he'd been through the USJ attack and the Sports Tournament with him. He was just as important as Iida, as Bakugo, as Todoroki, as Uraraka. Should he tell Barry his… secret?

"Hey Barry?" said Midoriya, "I-"

"OK!"

Pixie-Bob burst into the meal area with an infectious enthusiasm, "It's time for the test of courage! Everybody follow me!"

"Oh yeah!" said Barry, "I forgot about that, guess being really paranoid does that to you."

"Y-Yeah." said Midoriya, "I guess."

"What were you gonna say just now?" asked Barry, "You got cut off."

"Erm," said Midoriya, "Nothing, nothing at all."

"Alright, here we are!" said Pixie-Bob.

Pixie-Bob, Mandalay, Ragdoll, and Tiger led the students to a clearing in the woods that was a decent distance from the lodge. It was a starry night, not a cloud in sight. Jay had also arrived late, making sure to supervise.

"Right, Class B will be on the offensive first." said Mandalay, "Class A will head into the forest in teams of two every three minutes. You'll find name cards at the halfway point. Grab your own and head on back here!"

"The scarers aren't allowed to make direct contact," said Pixie-Bob, "so they'll have to use their quirks to scare you as best they can."

"So get creative!" shouted Ragdoll, striking a pose, "Whichever class makes the other wet their pants more wins!"

"Think of it as a teamwork exercise." said Jay, "It'll help out in the long run in addition to being fun!"

"Wait," said Barry, "There are teams of two, but 21 people per class. Wouldn't that leave someone out?"

"The ones who failed their exam aren't going to participate." said Tiger, "Five of 1-A and one of 1-B failed, so the teams are even."

"Oh!" said Barry, "Ok, so how do we determine team-"

"Let's draw lots!" said Ojiro, pulling out a piece of paper and beginning to draw on it.

"Alright, that sounds good!" said Barry.

"Number 8?" said Barry, who had drawn the paper with said number, "I'm looking for number 8!"

"That's me!" shouted Midoriya, who shuffled over to Barry, "Guess we go last."

"That's fine." said Barry, "Their creativity will have worn thin by then. I doubt they can get us."

*15 minutes later*

*EEEEEK!*

A scream sounded off, audible from the clearing and putting the remaining teams in a state of unease.

"Alright! Next team please!" said Pixie-Bob, gesturing towards the path, "That's you, Ribbit Kitty and Uraraka Kitty!"

"O-Ok." said Uraraka, trembling as both her and Tsuyu are ushered down the path.

"Do you think they'll be ok?" asked Midoriya.

"They'll be fine," said Barry, "I hope, not sure how they're doing the scaring though."

"Derek, you beautiful genius!" said Kendo.

Derek blushed at the compliment as he closed the rift, watching as the emu he had sent to run across the path went back to his natural habitat. He had holed up with Kendo and Honenuki to scare the opposing class from the bushes off the beaten path. He had just elicited a shriek out of Kyoka and Toru by sending the large bird across their path, knowing its sudden appearance would catch them off guard.

"Really man, that's an amazing tactic!" said Honenuki, "Setting scary animals on them is sure to make them scream!"

"It's less that the animal itself is scary and more that they don't expect something like that here." said Derek, "I was thinking we could drop a spider on the next group, maybe a goliath birdeater?"

"Wouldn't that be dangerous?" asked Kendo.

"If I did my research right, they don't bite humans very often," said Derek, "And even when they do, at worst it's effect is similar to a wasp sting."

"Yeah, but that's still a little harsh," said Kendo, "Maybe another big bird, like an ostrich?"

"Ok!" said Derek, "One ostrich coming up-"

Derek stopped mid-sentence, smelling something strange.

"Hey, do you guys smell something burning?" asked Derek, "I could swear something's burning."

"I can smell it too," said Honenuki, "Maybe Todoroki got so scared his quirk fired … fired off."

Honenuki's words began to trail as his eyes rolled over and his body dropped to the ground like a sack of grain.

"What the?!" said Derek as a purple mist made itself visible, "What's *KAFF* Happening."

Derek began to cough violently, his eyes tearing up as he dropped to his knees. He could feel his insides turning inside out as his coughing became even more violent, spittle flying everywhere.

"What's...going...on?" groaned Derek.

"Don't breathe in!" shouted Kendo, who grew her hand to a massive size before clamping it down over Derek's body, isolating him from the mist, "It's poisonous!"

A small boy in a gas mask no older than 13 stood in another clearing, purple gas pouring out of his skin pores. Jin stood nearby, bearing another gas mask while levitating a few bullets in the air with his mind.

"Aren't you Rogues supposed to look for this Flash asshole?" said Mustard, "The rest of them are looking for him, but not you?"

"They're taking a more active role," said Jin, "But I'm trying a more passive route. If the Flash tries to stop the gas, I'll be here to take him down. Plus, I'm a guard for an important League of villains member, two birds with one stone."

"Heh, like I needed your protection." said Mustard.

Uraraka and Tsuyu continued their careful stroll down the path, warily watching each and every angle and bush.

"Uh, do you think any of class 1-B are nearby?" asked Uraraka, "I don't wanna get caught off guard."

"Relax Uraraka," said "Even if they scare us, they can't actually hurt us nor would they."

"Yeah, but unfortunately for you, I'm not your classmate."

The voice was foreign and more mature than the voices of their classmates, causing the girls to freeze.

"Wha-Who was that?!" said Uraraka, clinging to Tsuyu.

"I don't know!" said Tsuyu.

Suddenly, a shiny metal projectile flew out from the woods, embedding itself into the trail in front of the girls.

"Eeeek!" shrieked Uraraka, who jumped back in terror. Tsuyu got in front of Uraraka, putting herself between Uraraka and the projectile as a man in a wool jacket stepped out of the woods. He had boomerangs tucked into a variety of pockets as he grabbed the boomerang and pulled it from the earth.

"W-Who are you?" asked Tsuyu.

"Me?" said the man, "I'm the new Captain Boomerang baby."

"C'moooooon!" cried Mina, who was dragged along the hallway with the rest of her classmates by Aizawa, "I wanted to do the test of courage too!"

"Remedial lessons are required," said Aizawa, "So no test of courage."

Aizawa walked over to a door that led into a classroom, opening it up to drag the students in. As he closed the door, the students were accosted by-

"Isn't that funny!" said Monoma, "The Stupendous Class 1-A produced five whole failures while Class B had only 1!"

"Rrrh!" grumbled Kirishima, "You're lucky Kendo and Derek aren't around!"

"Ha, those two traitors can get a room!" said Monoma.

As the class sat down, Aizawa approached Vlad, who was also sitting tight, "I was thinking about adding a physical portion to this remedial session, how's that to you?"

"Sounds good, I was thinking the same thing," said Vlad.

"FLASH! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!"

The room was startled by the sudden screaming, glancing about trying to find the source.

"What the hell, is that screaming?" said Sero.

"Did he say the Flash, isn't that Barry's hero name?" said Kaminari.

"It sounded almost like..." said Mina, trying to place the oddly familiar voice.

"Huh?" said Monoma, glancing out the window, "Hey, there's a man outside screaming nonsense."

Mina looked outside, only to lay her eyes on a heavily burned man.

"Oh no," said Mina.

"Oh no?" said Monoma, "What? Is a member of the prestigious class 1-A afraid of some random-"

*BOOM*

A fiery explosion blows the windows and the walls to the outside wide open, sending everyone off their feet and seats. As the smoke cleared, the man walked through the opening, his arms on fire. The students stumbled back in fear.

"Alright, here's the deal!" said the man, "One of you tells me where the Flash is and I don't barbeque the lot of you!"

"Is that...Smoke?" said Barry, gazing at some trees in the distance.

Iida walked forward, realigning his glasses, "It appears so, yes."

"That's odd," said Midoriya, "is it a forest fire?"

"I've forest fires before, we had them a lot outside of Central City." said Barry, "But they never happened at night."

"Alright!" said Pixie-Bob, "Who's ne-"

Suddenly, Pixie-Bob's body floats into the air before flying backwards to the surprise of everyone. Just as she's about to fly into the woods, two figures leap out of the underbrush, one slamming a massive magnet into Pixie-Bob's head and pinning her to the ground.

"These pets are in the way." said the figure with the magnet, a transgender woman in casual clothing. The other figure, a lizard man in ninja gear, smiled before drawing a sword.

The rest of the class stumbled back, realizing in terror who had just invaded the valley.

"W-Why are there villains here!" shrieked Mineta.

Barry narrowed his eyes, taking a step back, "Stay away from her!"

"Allen, wait!" shouted Mandalay, but Barry ignored her.

Barry burst forward, racing past the heroes and charging for the villains.

If I hit them with two infinite mass punches, they'll be out in no time!

"Hola Flash." said a Spanish voice.

Just as Barry is about to reach the villains, a bolt of lightning appears out of nowhere, striking the ground and blowing him backward. Tumbling onto his back, Barry gets to his feet.

That voice!

Barry looks up, laying eyes on a familiar villain.

"WEATHER WIZARD?!" shouted Barry, "But you were in jail, with the rest of the Rogues!"

Weather Wizard smirked, flying through the air via an air current carrying pebbles, hail, and lightning.

"You know this man Allen?" said Iida.

"How does he know your name?!" asked Ojiro.

"I helped put him away during my work-study," said Barry, "But he was in jail, and so were his partners."

"I hate to disappoint Amigo," said Weather Wizard, "But we're free, the ones who are alive anyway."

Barry cocked his eye, "What does that mean?"

"It doesn't matter." said Weather Wizard, "The League of Villains is here to capture or kill a bunch of you according to some kind of list."

Barry tightened his fist, "Whatever they've got planned, I'll stop them!"

"That's going to be difficult considering the Rogues aren't just here for that." said Weather Wizard, his voice turning to pure venom, "No, We're here Just. For. You."

The attack has begun! I hope the following chapters will live up to your expectations!

In other news, I saw Birds of Prey and thought it was pretty fun (Butchering of Cassandra Cain notwithstanding.). I'm gonna rent the lighthouse next since it's apparently a modern day 2001: a space odyssey. I'll tell you guys about it next chapter.

Reviews:

DCDGojira: I like the scenes, Especially the Young Justice/terminator inspired Impulse one. Machine gun punches are here! I'll have to check out Ghost in the shell soon! I have a plan for impulse as well as Wally's powers! I swear that once I take a break from one of these fics by catching up to the show, I'll get to work on that vigilantes spinoff.

Thanks for the feedback as always! :)

Jose Ramiro: Thanks for the feedback as always! :)

LordGriffin1000: Thanks! It's always good to hear when somebody likes my story!

Thanks for the feedback as always! :)

Aztec 13: You'll see soon enough!

Thanks for the feedback as always! :)

Farahheydari20: I gave this chapter a little more Midoriya and intend to give him a little more of the spotlight. I've made sure not to let Barry every defeat a foe Midoriya is supposed to defeat too as I feel that that would be Barry invading Midoriya's story. Barry meeting Kota was a scene I wanted to write mostly because I felt there was good potential in their interaction. Barry will mostly fight his own foes. Thanks for the compliment friend!

Thanks for the feedback as always! :)

Next Chapter: Battle Lines!