Earth 266
Naomi wasn't happy. In fact she was irritated, frustrated, whatever you wanted to call it. It was three months since Floyd had been killed and she hadn't even had a taste of the revenge she yearned for. She'd practiced her knife skills until she realised she was on the point of getting stale. For a time, Sara had been willing to teach her unarmed combat -but that had come to an end when the A.I. Morris had helped the New Legends choose these missions. Some Legends, she thought, when the only non-villains who know about us have basically told us to get lost.
She'd left the camp, having left a note in her tent, rather than bothering to speak to anyone. Not that there was much to see in this ruined city. She was standing by one of the flooded streets, aimlessly kicking small chunks of debris into the water when she realised she wasn't alone.
Reflexively, her hands had flown to her belt knives, but dropped away just as quickly. He was just a boy, a skinny, dark-haired Anglo boy, in his early teens. And he was on the other side of the water.
''Hello' he cupped his hands around his mouth, so that his voice carried over to her. ''I'm Barry. Who are you?''
Ordinarily, she never had time for kids like this, especially if they developed a crush on her. But she forced herself to remember the purpose of the mission.
''Naomi'' she called back.
He looked at her for a moment. She was young, slim, not very tall. But he had seen her knives and the way her hands had dropped automatically to grasp their hilts. Dressed in jeans, dark t-shirt and leather jacket, she could have been a scavenger. Certainly, she looked tough. He was on the point of saying ''Nice to have met you'' and starting for home, when a man came round the corner and walked towards Naomi.
He was a lot older than Naomi, grey-haired and thickset. Quite possibly he was the oldest man Barry had ever seen - as Joe had told him once, people tended not to live as long as they once did. If he had not known better, Barry would have thought he looked kind. He was certainly an unexpected companion for this Naomi.
''Naomi, you-'' the man began to say, then fell silent when he saw Barry watching them. He moved closer to the waterside. Barry took hold of the oars and prepared to get underway.
Suddenly the man smiled. ''Hello, Barry.''
Barry paused at the moment just as he was about to start rowing. ''Do I know you?'' Joe did sometimes have visitors, but he had no memory of this man being among them.
''Your name is Barry Allen and you live with -'' Martin paused and decided to take a chance ''Joe West.''
Barry relaxed, slightly. ''I don't remember -''
''I'm Professor Martin Stein.''
Professor? Weird first name, Barry thought.
''So how is Joe these days?'' Martin asked.
He didn't want to do anything to alarm to alarm this justifiably cautious boy. The presence of the boat indicated he'd probably come from the coastal village they'd seen before the Acheron dropped them off.
''He's fine.'' Barry told him.
Joe had, frequently, told him not to trust strangers, but to find out all he could about them. Naomi was Hispanic, Professor sounded North American - they were possibly bed-mates. By contrast with Naomi, Professor didn't look dangerous, he was thickset round the middle and didn't look particularly muscular. He wasn't carrying any weapons that Barry could see.
''Nice to see you again, tell Joe I might call by some time.'' Professor turned to Naomi. ''We should be going - dinner's nearly ready.'' He looked back at Barry for a moment. ''Would you like to join -''
''No, thanks. I need to get back.'' The last thing Barry was going to do was to follow strangers to wherever they were living. ''Maybe I'll see you again sometime.'' He picked up the oar handles.
''I hope so.'' Professor smiled again.
He and Naomi stood and watched for about a minute, then turned and disappeared behind the ruined buildings. Barry paused and stared at the now deserted riverbank for a moment, then began to row for home.
