Slow Burn Part 3

"Barry, it's Ray."

" "

"Barry?"

"Yeah, Ray. What did you find out?"

"Someone or something tore Max to pieces by hand. By hand, Barry."

"How? How would someone do that? Max was our own Zen Guru of Speed. Wouldn't he run?"

"Someone must have gotten really close very quickly. The cops are looking into it, but I don't think that's enough. We have to know if this is designed to hit Max or designed to hit us."

"Us?"

"The Flash Family."

With that statement, Barry hung up the phone and tried to clear his head. He was acting too morose about this. This tragedy should not stop him from protecting the rest of his family. Ray was right.

Using his QuikTalk, Barry contacted Wally and Linda, and directed them to check out Max's background, and try to find out if this attack was directed toward Max or the Flash Family. He was going to take Don and Dawn to look in other directions.
******

"Linda, what is this place? That smell, those lights, who are these people?"

"Wally, grow up. I know you've been to the library before." Linda headed straight for the microfiche readers. "This is the fastest place for us to do this type of research. I grew up in places like this, and we didn't have the Internet when I was a journalism student."

"Okay, but I think we'd be better off if we could actually be accomplishing something right now. I mean, Max is dead, and we're in a library?" said Wally, a little loudly, receiving disapproving looks from the people standing nearby.

Linda sighed, and flipped through the microfiche card catalog. She pulled a sheaf of microfilm, and handed them to Wally. "These are the last twenty years of the Daily Planet. Start recently, and go through each of them one by one. Look for anything relating to Max, or anything else that jumps out at you."

******

In Waymore, Nebraska, there is a dingy storefront off Main Street with a sign out front that says "Private Investigator". Barry, Don, and Dawn appeared suddenly, whipping a dust cloud that momentarily obscured their vision. As the cloud dissipated, they start walking towards the door. Dawn giggled as she sees the sign painted on a window of a man with an elongated nose, looking for clues.

Barry walked in quickly, through the waiting room, past the empty secretary's desk, and proceeds to enter the closed door that is obviously the main office. Don looked at Dawn, shrugged, and they followed close behind.

"Barry! I'm glad to see you, although under such unfortunate experiences." The man behind the desk stood and walked quickly around. He was bouncing with energy, and shook everyone's hand like it was the last thing he'd ever do. "You two must be Don and Dawn, the Tornado Twins! I've heard so much about you. I am," he bent with a flourish, "Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man! Surely you've heard of me!"

"You mean you're not Plastic Man?" Dawn asked.

"Damn O'Brien! Always stealing my thunder," Ralph exploded with pretend fury. "Sure, he can change shape and color, and all I can do is stretch, but at least I have a good tailor!"

"Ralph, I don't have time for this right now." Barry said quietly. "Max was a very close friend, and I need to know if you've heard anything from any of your contacts about something going on."

Ralph stretched, and then stretched a little more, until his fingers touched the ceiling, and said, "Well, now that you mention it, the criminal front has been unusually quiet. The only things that I have heard, coming from absolutely the wordest-of-mouth sources, is that some new player in the game wants the Flashes gone. It has to be someone new, too, because nobody major has even attempted to break out of prison (or Arkham *shudder*), and there isn't anybody major out of prison."

"Do you think that anybody could be pulling another trick, like that thing that Clayface did a few years back?"

"I doubt it. None of them really have the wherewithal or ability to actually do it. Wow, I actually used wherewithal in a sentence. Now that's a stretch!!" Ralph hooted in pleasure, and began dancing around the room.

As Barry and the twins left the building, Dawn remarked "He seems nice, but a little weird."

Barry said, "Nobody ever investigated what 25 years of ingesting gingo will do to you. Let's go see what Wally and Linda have found out."

*****

"How's it going, Wally? Found anything interesting?"

Wally stood up from the microfiche. It was about time for a break, because the machine was beginning to smoke. "I haven't seen anything about Max, other than stories about rescues and some of the charity he's done. However, I've seen something weird that only really occurred at the speed that I was looking through them. Kind of like time lapse photography. I don't think anyone else would have ever seen this."

"What is it?"

"Well, according to what I've been reading, over the past 2 years, there have been over 50 costumed heroes either quitting, committing suicide, disappearing, or dying in some sort of accident, like a car wreck. Now that I think about it, I haven't heard from Vic or Gar recently. I should check on them."

Linda rolled her chair closer to Wally's machine. "Who are we talking about?"

"Well, Firestorm just went public. Apparently, he's two different people and he committed himself to an institution until he's cured. The Blue Beetle just took his company public and has retired and renounced all of his superhero activities. Jack O'Lantern was found in his apartment, apparently the victim of a drug overdose. Fire quit to pursue her modeling career, and Sentinel hasn't been seen in six months. And that's just some of them." Wally paced quickly. "Maybe there's someone out there with some huge, universal plan to stop all heroes - somebody has their eye on running roughshod on the planet."

"Wally, you always look on the dark side of things. Maybe it's just coincidence?" As Linda spoke, the library trembled. "Was that an earthquake?"

"I don't think so." Wally's words seemed to spark a larger tremor. The entire building began to shake, not as if in an earthquake, but as if someone were pounding the foundation. Cracks ran up and down the walls, and shelves began falling over. "I've got to get these people out of here!" Wally said, mainly to himself, as he began quickly moving people outside. "Linda, call Barry now. Tell him about this as soon as possible. If something happens to me, he has to know."

Linda was left outside, feeling a sense of dread, as she watched - no, felt Wally run in and out of the building. All she could physically see were people appearing on the sidewalk, looking confused and frightened. The shaking was getting worse, looking like the structure was having some type of seizure. Wally appeared in front of her for a second, saying "Just one more check, but I think everyone's safe", and then he disappeared again into the building.

*****

As Barry and the twins ran back to Keystone City, Barry started thinking about the past few days. It was hard to believe that a man he had known for more than 10 years was dead, and this was all part of some plot to destroy the Flash Family. Why would anyone want to destroy the one thing that has made the Earth the safest place to live in the entire universe? It might be time to consider calling in for help, Barry mused. I never thought I'd have to make this call. Quickly, he used his QuikTalk to make one of the most important calls of his life. As he finished his conversation, the world swam before his eyes, and, suddenly, he was no longer on Earth. Looking around, all he could see were red skies, bubbling craters in the ground, and two ugly, yellow creatures running at him from behind, screaming in a horrific language.

*****

Johnny Quick was sitting on the porch of one of the Flashco training arenas in the country outside Keystone City. He was enjoying his second Corona of the day (and last, he told himself, can't be getting a beergut at his age) and watching Jesse and BJ flirt with each other. They were racing through a giant maze that a twisted genius named James Jesse had built, where the walls and dead ends appeared and disappeared at lightning speed. Normally, these two would be competing as hard as they can, Johnny thought, but I do believe they've taken a shine to each other. I don't know what I'd do without her - she's the only thing left of Libby's. Jesse could do much worse than BJ - he's a bit naïve, but he is smart, and strong, and fast. He'd never let anything happen to her. Not like me.

*****

Richard Grayson and Jay Garrick walked quietly through the darkened caverns, with only two flashlights to barely light their way. The sound of water slapping the rocks and the rustling of the thousands of bats above echoed throughout the expanse. "Dick, I think this is a great place to set up a new training facility. We need to train more in a confined setting. Not that this place is small," Jay said quickly, seeing Dick's face, "but I think it would be just right. How'd you find it?"

"Well, this is actually under the Wayne Manor. They've been looking to sell since their son died in that FBI raid on the Zsaszian complex, and I was just exploring the property when I fell down a hole by accident. I followed the breeze to this opening, and voila!"

"That's great, son. Hey, is it me, or is it getting lighter in here?"

*****

Barry started running, looking around for Don and Dawn. Frantically calling their names, he began trying to assess his situation, while keeping his eye on the creatures behind him. Suddenly, more of these demons appeared on the horizon, in groups of twos. Each pair of demons ran at him, some with weapons, some without. Barry realized, as he felt an acrid taste in the pit of his stomach, that this might be the last thing he ever does. He might never see his wife or son again, and that frightened and saddened him more than anything else.

And then he got angry. If he was going to go down, he was going to take as many of these monsters down with him, starting with the two behind him. Quickly, faster than he had moved in a long time, Barry was upon them, swinging and fighting with all of his might. The creatures shrieked and fought back with an impressive fury, raining blows on his head and back with staggering force. Barry responded in kind, hitting each monster thousands of times before they could blink. While fighting, Barry felt the fear dissipate, and the cold, scientific reasoning he was used to take over. Where did I go? How is the gravity exactly what it is on Earth? How can I even be breathing this air, which looks like it would burn my lungs to a cinder? As he considered these issues, he realized that his two attackers were no longer moving. They were both lying limply on the ground like boneless scarecrows. Something was wrong, Barry's mind raced. What is going on here?

And then his QuikTalk beeped, with an incoming call from Linda. As he went to answer it, he realized that no matter how good Ray Palmer might be, he did not create anything that could traverse worlds.

"I'm still on Earth." Barry proclaimed triumphantly, and his vision twisted again. "Oh, God, no." As the barren, fiery landscape was replaced with trees and blue sky, the monsters did not disappear. They simply . . . shifted. "Oh no oh no oh no oh no," Barry sobbed as he cradled the lifeless bodies of the Tornado Twins. "What have I done?"

*****

Linda couldn't hear anything on the other line except Barry weeping softly. "Barry!" she shouted, "Wally's almost finished evacuating the library, but we think we know what's going on!" And then the building exploded.

*****

As Johnny looked on, he noticed a shadow pass over the sun. That's quite a cloud, he thought, and took a quick glance up. Something shiny was coming down on them so fast it was a blur, even to him. He stood up, shielding his eyes from the glare, and tried to make out the image.

Before he could even register what it was, the tanker crashed into the maze at an impossible speed, landing directly on Jesse and BJ. The resulting ball of flame knocked Johnny off his feet, where he smacked his head on the concrete steps, and everything went dark.

****

"It is getting lighter." Dick said, trying to find the source. "It's almost an orange light, isn't it?"

Two beams of light arced through the caverns, twisting and turning so quickly that they were a blur to Jay. Without any hesitation, he shoved Dick to the ground, knocking the flashlight out of his hand in the process. "Stay down!" Jay's shout woke the bats, and they began flying en masse towards the exits.

Dick didn't have time to do anything but watch as the beams hit Jay square in his chest. As he disintegrated into particles of dust, the beams disappeared, and Dick was left in the pitch black with nothing but the bats for company.