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Alright guys, I am back and while this chapter is on the short side I like to think of it as a follow up to the previous chapter while also serving as a Segway for the back half of the story.
Also, if I end up going missing for about a month after next week you all can blame it on Mass Effect: Andromeda
The Flash: Survival of the Fastest
Chapter 11: Looming Crisis
Earth 131216
On Earth 131216, a reality where humans were not the dominant species, Speed Demon crouched next to the severed head of this Earth's version of The Flash. Throughout the Multiverse every reality, save for one, had at least one resident Speedster, and it was his duty to collect them.
Unfortunately, someone had murdered this Earth's Speed Force Conduit, and at the beginning of his journey. This speedster was poised to replace the current Speed Force Conduit for she was old and nearing the end of her life and Speed Demon could not collect her until she had a proper successor.
Speed Demon understood the gravity of the situation, of the countless Earths and realities Speedsters were being either abducted, drained of their powers or murdered. The black speedster knew who was behind these actions and their reasoning for it. Godspeed was attempting to amass a large force of speedsters to challenge him. Odds were, it was easy to convince some to join him as Speed Demon was seen as the monster the boogeyman checks under his bed for.
"Who did this? Who dared to murder my legacy!" She demanded as she arrived in a massive surge of green lightning. Her mighty voice echoed like thunder to match her lightning and the earth seemed to tremble with the storm she brought with her. Normally humans could not understand her as she was a beast and therefore did not communicate in any human language. Fortunately for Speed Demon their connection to the Speed Force allowed him to understand her despite no one being able to understand him save for Godspeed.
Speed Demon didn't turn to her, he would be unable to explain himself for the Queen had already made up her mind that he was guilty.
"Grave Runner!" She bellowed seeing the black speedster next to the severed head of her child. "You dare show your face here? And you have the audacity to behead my child"
Thunder boomed and green lightning flashed. Speed Demon looked upon The Speed Force Conduit as her storm barely illuminated her. She was a truly magnificent and terrifying sight to behold. She was a mighty Chestnut Colored Shire Horse, nearly twice the size of an average Shire Horse with a fiery red mane and green lightning arcing all over her body and pulsing from within her, giving her chestnut coat a slight greenish glow. She was known by a multitude of names over the course of her immense life; most famously Sleipnir, the mount of the Nordic God Odin, The Man-eating Mare of Thrace, she was even known as Greek deities like Poseidon, for she was more like a force of nature than a living creature.
No matter what he could say to the Beast, she would be unable to understand him. No speedster could, save for Godspeed. Knowing that there was going to be a fight Speed Demon generated his signature Speed Force Scythe. He would have to allow his actions to speak for him.
"You challenge me?" She demanded. "I have been a Conduit for the Speed Force for nigh three thousand years! I have seen Speedsters Rise and Speedster's fall!"
The two speedsters, one beast and the other a monster, allowed their lightning to flicker and clash before tearing off moving to meet scythe with hoof. The clash of these two powerful conduits would be felt throughout the multiverse and the Speed Force, but that is a story for another time.
Earth-Prime
Barry glanced to his right at the white clad speedster running alongside him. They were about equal in speed but from what he could gather Godspeed only knew how to run fast. He didn't know about phasing, throwing lightning or even creating whirlwinds. In his opinion it seemed like a waste of talent to spend four years to just running fast.
With a crackle of yellow and gold lightning Godspeed and the Speedsters slid to a stop. Wreaking havoc in the city was a beast none of them have ever seen except in an old text book from middle school.
The Beast was in actuality a large bipedal goat man, which was strange. He wore tattered clothes and was covered in light brown fur. While his feet were hoofed like a goat his hands were a different story. He still possessed five digits on each hand but each one appeared to be made of a thick black hoof. Aside from his elongated face and bovine eyes he had two large curved horns jutting out from the crown of his head.
His hoofed fingers were wrapped tightly around several duffle bags and a few bills fluttered in the breeze as he rampaged.
"Is that a Meta-Goat?" Wally asked highly confused.
"Kind of like Grodd, only a Goat… Hopefully he's not psychic nor does he have an army." Jesse added.
The Goat man bleated before charging several cops who elected to open fire on the monster. Acting slightly faster than the rest of the speedsters, Godspeed took off in a bolt of gold electricity and pulled the police away from the goat as he smashed his horns into a nearby concrete pillar.
"That ought to take" Wally smiled at how easy this was as the Goat man's head collided with the masonry. Cracks spread out from the point of impact in all directions before the pillar crumbled and the goat man was unharmed. "him… out…"
"So, I'm thinking he's more of a Bighorn Sheep than a goat." Godspeed said as he rejoined the group. "What now?"
The bovine man bleated before charging once again, each speedster took off in a different direction while Supergirl stood her ground. She grabbed a hold of his horns and, despite the tiny struggle, managed to wrestle the beast to the ground.
He tried to get back up but Supergirl's absurd strength allowed her to easily keep him pinned to the ground.
The goat man continuously struggled under the weight of Supergirl, even managing to rise a little before being pelted with a barrage of punches courtesy of The Flash, Jay Garrick, Jesse Quick, Kid Flash and Godspeed. Eventually they over powered him and he collapsed to the ground with no fight left.
"That was easy." Kara said smiling as she dusted off her hands. The beast convulsed and shrunk in size, his fur falling off, horns retreated into his skull as his body restructured itself into a human form.
"No…" He groaned as he tried to claw away from the heroes. "No, no, no… I need more…" He reached into the remainder of his tattered pants and pulled out a vial with a tiny amount of crimson liquid that greatly resembled blood.
He was about to bring it to his lips when a stream of golden lightning raced by him and snatched away the vial. Godspeed looked down at the vial before looking at the man. "I don't know what this is but I have a feeling it's not good for you."
"GIVE IT BACK!" The man screamed "I NEED IT! I-" The man suddenly doubled over vomiting out a blend of stomach bile and blood. The sudden ejection of bodily fluid repulsed the heroes for a moment. "AAAAAAAAAAA!" The man looked up and screamed as blood leaked out of his eyes, nose and ears.
"What's happening?" Barry asked.
Kara used her x-ray vision to look into the man's body and was horrified by what she was seeing. His bones were breaking, muscles were tearing and his organs were rupturing. "He's being torn apart from the inside!" Kara exclaimed. "He needs medical attention right away!" Immediately The Flash and Godspeed lifted him up and flashed him to the nearest emergency room, while also cuffing him to the hospital bed.
All the heroes gathered back at the crime scene trying to figure out what they had just witnessed. "Anyone know what we just saw?" Wally asked
"A dude who drinks a red liquid and transforms into a giant goat man." Jesse said taking the vial from Godspeed. "From what we saw it might have something to do with this."
"We need to take it back to S.T.A.R. Labs." Kara said before turning to Godspeed realizing what she had just said with the 'newbie' present.
"I kind of figured you'd use a sophisticated laboratory. Never thought it was the derelict S.T.A.R. Labs." Godspeed said.
"We need to take this to STAR Labs." Barry said. "Godspeed can come with us."
"You sure Barry?" Wally asked the scarlet speedster. "I mean we just met him and you're OK with bringing him to the Lab?"
"He helped us out just now. If anything, he deserves the benefit of the doubt." Barry said. He looked to Kara, Jesse and Jay for some morsel of approval and got it as a smile from Kara, a nod from Jesse, but Jay bore his usual neutral visage.
"Look, Flash… I get it if you don't want me to join any of you back at your base. Believe me, if I were in your situation I'd do the same thing."
Barry listened to Godspeed's words before turning to his team then back to the white speedster. "Maybe you should come with us." Barry said. "We have a lab dedicated to Speedsters. We can help you learn more about your powers."
"Wait, are you telling me there's more to my powers aside from running very fast?" Godspeed asked sounding quite surprised.
Barry smiled a little. "There is so much more to what we can do than just running fast. Come with us to S.T.A.R. Labs and I'll show you."
Godspeed looked from The Flash to the other speedsters and Supergirl before smiling beneath his mask. "Seriously? You're this willing to trust a guy you just met?"
"More like we're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt." Kara said smiling at the white speedster. "I believe if you're truly committed to being a hero why should we try and stop you."
"Exactly," Barry interjected. "We should be working together."
Godspeed's head drooped. "I… I don't deserve your trust Flash. You hardly know me…" The Speedsters and Supergirl were quite surprised when they heard that his voice was no longer disguised. "If I want you to truly trust me I guess there's no point in concealing my identity from any of you. I trust all of you, so I will tell you my biggest secret, hopefully this will make us closer allies." He reached up and gripped the bottom edge of his mask. Slowly he removed it showing his face to Team Flash.
Underneath his white and gold mask was a chiseled face with a scruffy beard and shaggy black hair. He gave everyone a soft smile as they gazed upon his face. "It's time I properly introduce myself. My name is August Heart."
Star City, Mayor's Office
Mayor Oliver Queen read over the police report. Last night there had been a murder, two drug dealers were found dead, one had three arrows in his chest while the other was found nearby with his skull crushed into his chest. These gruesome murders, caused by The Arrow and Skull Crusher as the public was referring to them, where popping up more and more frequently in the last few days and frankly it was starting to unnerve Oliver.
"Mr. Queen your Two O'clock is here." His secretary said snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Thank you, Felicity," Oliver replied to the intercom. "Send them in."
A few moments later a beautiful young woman walked into the room. She had shoulder length dirty blond hair and a figure many supermodels probably would kill for. She wore a sleek navy-blue blouse and black suit pants with nice shoes while having a red purse slung over her left shoulder. How was Oliver to describe her face? Stunning. She reminded him an awful lot of Laurel and if he were about ten years younger and not married to the love of his life he would most certainly be hitting on this woman.
"Good afternoon Mayor Queen." She reached out to shake his hand. "My name is Sasha King. We spoke on the phone yesterday regarding your renewed 'Save the Bay' plan."
Oliver smiled. "Oh yes. Thank you for coming Mrs-"
"It's Miss King, Mr. Queen." Sasha corrected him. "And before you ask I am still a college student despite my age."
"Age? You hardly look a day over thirty."
Sasha gave him a hard stare. "Didn't your Mother teach you to never question a woman's age?" She almost immediately regretted her words. "I'm sorry that was indecent of me."
"No, it's quite alright. I did kind of deserve that. So how can I help you Ms. King?"
"Well, my brother and I are fairly new to this city and we would like to get more involved in the community."
"That's good to hear, how-"
"We would like to donate 1.4 million dollars to your 'Save the Bay' program." That caught Oliver off guard.
"1.4 Million?" He questioned. "I was expecting somewhere around five hundred thousand max from all our donors. Dare I ask where this is rooted?"
"Well, my brother and I, we are quite the environmentalist nuts. Our dad ran a lumber company up in Washington for every tree he cut down he planted one more in its place. And we just find it aspiring that you are a politician who is willing to put your money where your mouth is."
"I… I honestly don't know what to say Ms King." Oliver reached out and shook her hand again. He was over the moon about the 1.4 million dollars as it was triple their expected amount. "How can I ever repay you for this?"
Sasha thought for a minute. "Well, there is something you can do." She reached into her purse. "but it requires you to come with me
"What?" Oliver didn't have time to react as a piercing screech exploded into his ears. It was so intense it actually caused Oliver Queen to pass out.
Satisfied, Sasha pulled out her phone and dialed the number marked Badass Bro"Zeke, I got him. Meet me at the base."
Gem Cities' Crime Families Meeting Grounds
Contrary to what the Police and justice departments of both Central and Keystone City knew and told the public there was a large underground ring of crime families that none of the public authorities knew existed. In a way it was the Underworld of the Gem Cities and beyond. Normally these families would not interact with each other, but there was a disturbance that threatened the balance of their carefully crafted world.
"Gentlemen," Demetri Corlone, the leader of the Corlone Family, which was responsible for the majority of the high-tech weapons flooding the streets of every major city around the world. "It appears that we have a new player wanting to get in on this game."
Other families included Hamato Saki, the local representative of the Yakuza, Hector Alcazar, the leader of the Cartel responsible for the drugs on the streets, and the Tesoro family, which owned numerous casinos, hotels and banks, such as the ones that were hit and robbed a few days ago, across the world.
"This bastard is flooding the streets with a new drug." Alcazar said. He was the one member of this group who would be most affected by this new drug as it undercut him in almost every possible area. "Some of my men were able to obtain it and I have seen nothing like it. It's even more unknown than that Venom drug from Santa Prisca."
"What is it?" Michael Tesoro asked. If one were to hazard a guess, the Tesoro family possessed roughly seven percent of all the global money.
"It's called MH-52." The heads of the crime families looked up and turned to the door way to see ADA David Caesar walking in. "And it is the drug that has made all of your businesses obsolete."
"You've got a lot of nerve coming in here Caesar." Saki bit down on his cigarette and snapped his fingers. Almost in unison every bodyguard in the room drew his gun and aimed at the Assistant District Attorney.
Caesar held his hands up but refused to drop his grin. "Relax gentlemen. I am just here to inform you regarding MH-52."
"If you have something to say Caesar say it!" Corlone demanded.
"MH-52 is a highly addictive drug." The ADA said. "So addictive, it can easily trump a person's craving of heroine, cocaine, meth or even Venom. And that's not even the best part about it. Best part is it also makes weapons obsolete."
"What are you talking about?"
"MH-52 is a drug that grants ordinary people the powers of a God. No longer do these people need weapons to commit robberies, murder or even self-defense. They are their own weapons!" Not once did Caesar lose his grin as he spoke. "With it I have single handedly undermined your entire operation.
Having quite enough the heads of the crime families drew their guns and attempted to shoot the Assistant District Attorney but they found it impossible to move. Not only that but each of the crime heads felt something thin wrap tightly around their throats.
"What…" Tesoro could hardly breath as he felt the wire dig into his throat.
"Why… are you doing this?" Alcazar barely managed to say. "We had a deal…"
"Yes, I know. You provide me with a small cut off all profits and in return I keep you hidden form the authorities and ensure that not one of your men sees one minute of prison time." Caesar jumped up onto the table and crouched down to look into the Crime Bosses' eyes. "But sometimes a better offer comes around" He held up his right hand like it was a crossbar and Corlone could have sworn he saw razor thin wires protruding from his fingers and wrapping around their necks while also keeping their bodyguards frozen in place. "And you know how that old saying goes, To make an omelet you need to break a few eggs." With a devilish smile, he clenched his hand pulling on every single razor wire simultaneously.
Fountains of blood erupted from everyone in the room as the Crime Bosses' heads were removed from their bodies and their bodyguards were torn into jagged meat chunks leaving David Caesar alone in the middle of the blood bath with his plan complete, gather the crime families in one place? Accomplished by taking control of random people and using them to rob every one of their banks simultaneously while also flooding the streets with MH-52, forcing them to have an emergency meeting. Murder them all? A trivial matter when they were all together and to make things easier Caesar managed to commandeer their operations and using them to further his own cause, generating chaos.
Godspeed had told him he wanted chaos.
S.T.A.R. Labs
Caitlin laid on a bed next to her son. Ben had woken up a little while ago and almost immediately Caitlin offered to dive into his mind to see if they couldn't find the source of all his mental blackouts as they were getting progressively worse with each passing hour.
J'onn J'onzz the Martian Manhunter stood between the Beds while Alex maned the machines displaying Ben's and her vitals.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" The Martian asked.
"Yes." Ben said absolutely sure of himself. He had to know why he was experiencing these detrimental lapses in memory and reality.
"Hey guys." They turned to the doorway of Caitlin's lab to see Cisco standing there. "You may want to join us in the cortex."
"What's going on?" Caitlin asked
"Uh, Barry and the Flash Family are back. And they brought a friend."
"Who?" Ben asked sitting up curious.
"Some guy named August Heart." Cisco said at which Ben seemed to perk right up gaining the attention of everyone around him.
"Ben?" Before Caitlin could get a response, Ben flashed out of the lab and into the cortex. Cisco, Caitlin Alex and J'onn followed shortly behind to find the rest of their friends in the cortex with Barry standing next to a youngish man in a white suit.
"August…" Ben seemed to whisper shocked to see the man standing before them.
"Alright everyone." Barry began to say to the rest of the team not hearing Ben. "I'd like to introduce you all to August Heart."
August, the man in the white suit, waved to the group and gave them all a reassuring smile. "Hello everyone. My name is August Heart and I am an aspiring hero named-" He was cut off when Ben suddenly enveloped him in a bone crushing hug. "Um… hello."
Ben broke the hig first and grinned like an idiot. "Damn sorry about that. My name's Ben." He held out his hand for August to shake, which he did. "Sorry about hugging you out of the blue. My life is a little crazy and it's nice to see a familiar face."
"Ben, you know August?" Barry asked
"Know him!?" Ben sheepishly ran a hand through his brown hair. "He's one of your best students. He even trained me for a while."
"Trained you? What are you from like the future or something?" August joked until he noticed everyone's unamused looks. "Wait are you serious? You're from the future?"
"Yeah, hence how I know you yet you have never met me."
"Cool." August said before turning to the rest of the group. "So, is there anyone else I should meet who has already met me before I meet them?"
After that initial first awkward introduction with Ben, August was slowly introduced to the rest of the team. He shook each and every one of their hands and exchanged pleasantries.
While everyone was gathered, and chatting with August J'onn, Jay Joe and Harry stood a few paces away from the young heroes.
"What do you guys think about this new speedster?" Joe asked. He genuinely liked August, he gave off the same vibe that Wally usually gave him just on his eagerness to save others.
"Dunno." Jay said. Joe honestly felt a little weird whenever Jay was around. The Flash of Earth-3 was a dead ringer for his old friend Henry Allen to the point Joe had to think about every word he was going to say so as to not accidentally call the man Henry even after knowing him for about two years. "He claims to have had his speed for roughly the same amount of time as Barry and yet none of us have ever heard of him."
"It has been my experience to not trust a speedster unless we know absolutely everything there is to know about him, and this guy is wearing everything on his sleeve." Harry said
"I tried to read his mind." J'onn said catching the attention of the other elder men. "I don't know why but I cannot read it. His thoughts are moving too fast for me to follow."
"I say for now we watch him carefully." Jay said "In the meantime We should all be heading back to our respective realities. Our cities can only protect themselves for so long." He gave the other men a smile and a tip of his helm before saying his goodbyes to the youngsters and heading back to his reality.
"Perhaps he's right." Harry said. "While we have been brought here for a reason I think it might be best if we all go back to our respective realities. Since there is clearly nothing here for us to do."
Godspeed's Lair
Meanwhile, while Godspeed was winning the hearts and minds of Team Flash and the people of Central City, the young woman Godspeed kept as his prisoner began to convulse violently.
Once in a while this was normal for her, however this time it was much more severe as her true abilities granted by the Speed Force bloomed. Most people would say that her ability is the greatest gift possible, the ability to see into the future.
Her eyes begin to dart back and forth at vigorous speeds while emitting light green lightning. To Abigail it was torturous. The Speed Force had given her a curse rather than a blessing. Sure, she could see the future, that's how others perceived it, the truth was Abigail could see EVERY POSSIBLE Future. Though right now countless possible Futures showed her the same two visions with only one main difference in them.
The sky was split open and it looked like it was burning a deep orange hue as it illuminated the destruction of what she could only assume was Central City She saw a figure clad in a black suit with crimson flames billowing off of him while holding a sphere. There was a flash of green lightning and suddenly Speed Demon was replaced by the son of the Flash. As if they were the same person, Abigail watched them move between visions as if they were one as they activated the device in their hands causing a massive white light to burst forth and swallow everything.
The visions then suddenly stopped. Pulling her back into the present and leaving her breathless. There were an infinite number of paths available and yet most, if not all possible futures were leading to those possible events, the larger question was why could she not see anything beyond?
"So, what did you see?" Olvida asked the oracle. "Has the future been changed?" Terrified to answer Abigail adverted her gaze. Unfortunately, that provided the answer, and it made Godspeed furious. He wanted vengeance against the Flash but it seemed like no matter what happens The Flash was going to forever corrupt his brother, and send him on a path of destruction.
"No…" She whimpered. "No, the future remains unchanged. We are all still doomed to die by either Speed Demon's claws or the hands of the Flash's Son."
Olvida clenched her teeth in frustration. "Damn it all, how can we possibly advert this future the boss' plan will never succeed so long as we are doomed to die."
"Fret not Mindsweeper." Olvida turned to see another one of Godspeed's followers enter the room. Clad in heavy golden armor and white robes with a white hood covering his head, the man before her looked like he belonged either in a Renaissance Fair or standing at the Pearly Gates. "We shall deal with the heretics when the time comes. For the time being we must follow Godspeed's plan as it will take several months to accomplish."
"You know, sometimes your 'Holier than Thou' shtick can get really annoying Lucien."
"Perhaps you would like to challenge me witch? I'll show you why I am the strongest of all of us." Olvida really wanted to wipe that smug look off of this man's face but there was a reason he was the most powerful mainly due to what happened to him when he acquired his speed.
"Maybe some other time Lucien." She gave the man a wave. "For now, we should begin unleashing chaos upon this city."
S.T.A.R. Labs
Iris walked into S.T.A.R. Labs without looking up from her phone desperate to contact her husband, brother, foster brother and basically sister-in-law. Reports from the fire were saying some unknown speedster showed up on the scene and saved the people from the burning building. A man named Godspeed. Iris was rightfully worried since Ben had warned them about said speedster. But why on this earth was he being a hero? Better question what happened after they all left the scene?
She heard laughter and the sound of the Speedsters' voices form the cortex and a wave of relief washed over her. She beelined into the cortex at speeds that would make those Speed Force Conduits jealous and immediately embraced Eddie with a hug and a passionate kiss.
"Oh, thank God you're OK Eddie…" Iris said "When I heard you all ran off with Godspeed I was so worried."
"We're all fine Iris. In fact, we had some help." Gently Eddie guided Iris over to the man in the white suit. "Iris, this is August Heart. He's an aspiring hero known as Godspeed." Iris' eyes widened in shock. Godspeed was helping them? Wasn't he supposed to be an uber villain from the future hellbent on killing them all?
"Which, despite me not coming up with it, is a pretty cool name if I do say so myself." Cisco pipped in. Iris however had her eyes glued to August Heart as he slowly approached her. She honestly felt like a deer being stalked by a wolf.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Thawne." August, or rather Godspeed, held out his hand. Iris looked at it hesitantly before taking it and receiving a strong handshake form the man, which was unusual it felt like he was trying hard to crush her hand and yet hold back while his eyes burrowed into her soul with some kind of deep seeded hatred.
"It's nice to meet you as well August." Iris said behind a forced smile no one noticed. Whoever this guy was she was going to look into him. First, she would have to talk to Ben about him, since he was their Godspeed expert.
"Well August you've shared your identity with us, it's only fair I at least share mine." Barry reached up to remove his cowl but Iris stopped him.
"Flash, are you sure that's such a good Idea?" She asked her foster brother since she was the only one who seemed to think he was a villain.
"Iris, we all have told him our identities and we know his. Trust is a two-way street, especially if he trusts us with his identity then we can trust him with ours." Barry removed his cowl showing August his face. "August, my name is Barry Allen and I am the Fastest Man Alive."
This is the end of the chapter
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