They moved at the same time. Flashes of fire and green filled the room. To any bystanders, it would look like they were flickering back and forth, but to Barry, he saw every move in stunning clarity. His cane clashed with her swords. They moved back and forth across the room. The old man finally got a hit in, poking the woman in the abdomen with his cane.
She slid back, her hand on the floor, heating the floor it glowed with heat as she slid back, leaving grooves in the ground from where her fingers melted through. She stood up and turned around, ice shards forming in the air before sending them flying at the old man.
The old man blocked each shard one by one, flashes of green surrounding his form before rushing the woman and poking her with his cane a dozen times before punching her back. The woman stopped her movement by spreading her arms out, fire emanating from her body.
The old man stabbed his cane into the ground and a green bubble formed around him.
The woman launched a column of fire at the same time the old man leaped up, meeting the fire head-on.
Barry saw the bubble begin to crack. The old man was going to die. Barry refused to be too late again. Barry became visible once again and ran towards the bubble, Barry leaped up and started vibrating. Phasing through the bubble, Barry stopped phasing for a millisecond, grabbed the old man around the waist before taking a gamble and trying to phase both of them through the bubble. It worked. Barry and the old man made it through the bubble and Barry felt the heat of the fire as it flew over them. Running out of the underground facility, Barry carried the old man down a cliff and into a forest before setting him against a tree.
"Are you okay?" Barry asked, blurring his face.
"What just happened? Why am I out here? Who are you?" the old man asked in rapid succession.
"You were about to be well done, I carried you out here, and I'd rather not say."
"You carried me out here?, the old man asked incredulously before exploding in anger, "You fool! I was stalling her and now she's going to destroy the tower and no one can stop her!"
"What's your deal?" Barry asked defensively, "I saved your life!"
"I was ready to do everything in my power to stall her! Now no one can hold her off and the tower will fall!"
"What's so important about that tower and why would you trade your life for it?" Barry asked.
"If the tower falls so do intercontinental communications," the old man said in a resigned tone, seeming to have calmed down.
"Oh, Yeah that'd be bad," Barry said, scratching his neck before kneeling down, putting his hand on the old man's shoulder and saying "But you're more important."
More screams came from the city.
Barry turned to the city and then back to the old man.
"Go," the old man said, "I'll be okay."
Barry nodded before racing off and kicking up dirt.
Entering the city, Barry found more people in danger all over the place. Barry cleared out each street in less than two seconds. Stopping for a moment, Barry heard screeching from behind him and turned around to the sight of a plethora of monsters approaching. Barry ran around the monsters and hit them in the side with a tornado, drawing their attention. As the monsters charged at him four of them lined up perfectly. Running towards a monster that was stumpy with two legs, Barry jumped on its back before propelling himself off, jumping on the wolf monster's head and doing the same to the bear before he launched off of it and burst through the body of the bird monster.
Landing on his feet, Barry felt wet. Looking at his body he realized it was because he was covered in blood. Barry vibrated in place the blood flew off. Barry heard a grunt from behind him. Whipping around, Barry brought his fists up in case it was another monster. It wasn't. It was a woman with white clothes and hair who had blood on her face and clothes. Blood that he just flung off of him.
"Ah, jeez, I'm sorry, miss," Barry said.
"It's fine. We have bigger problems to attend to," the woman said.
"Yeah. Yeah, we do," Barry said before he saw the dragon-like monster fly at the top of the tower and knock it off. Watching the pieces of the top of the tower careen to the ground. Barry could only pray nobody was crushed under the falling portions of the tower. Growling interrupted his thoughts. More monsters were approaching. The woman drew her sword and told Barry, "Stay back."
Before the woman could move, Barry sprang into action, dispatching each monster in less than three seconds.
After the monsters were cleared, Barry asked, "So is white hair a fashion trend or are you just old?"
After getting over the sight of Barry in action, the woman rolled her eyes.
As Barry was about to say something else he heard an explosion. Whipping around to the source, he found that it came from the top of the tower.
Getting into a runner's stance, Barry looked at the tower and his eyes became alive with electricity before he was stopped.
"Where are you going?" the woman asked, "People need you down here."
"I was too late to save someone already today," Barry said, "I'll be damned if I'm too late to save someone else."
Pushing off, Barry ruined the ground he ran on. Racing up the cliff towards the school once more. Barry lost valuable seconds in hangtime once he made it to the top. The moment his boots touched solid ground he dashed off once again. Barry phased through monsters to save time running around them. He soon made it to the foot of the tower and wasted no time planting his feet on the side before he bolted up the side.
As he ran up the side, Barry saw a girl in a cape running up the side as well. Ignoring her, Barry pushed on and when he reached the top of the tower, instead of shooting up the side, Barry reached his leg over the edge of the tower and made a ninety-degree turn over the side and kept running. He saw the woman he had followed underneath the school release an arrow aimed at another girl's chest. Barry's legs burned but he couldn't stop. Someone needed saving and he was the only one who could do it. Reaching out, Barry's fingers wrapped around the shaft of the arrow and stopped its flight.
I want to thank Jupitermonkey4 for helping with this chapter.
