SPEED FORCE
(JUSTICE LEAGUE, the JUSTICE LEAGUE icon and all names and characters therein are property of and owned by DC Comics and Cartoon Network. Any attempt to use any such property of these companies without their proper authorization and/or permission can and will result in civil liability and criminal prosecution.)
(I do not own JUSTICE LEAGUE, nor am I in any way affiliated with Cartoon Network or DC Comics. I'm just a diehard fan who loves the show.)
(This fanfic is rated PG. It contains mild violence.)
CHAPTER 09 TIME: 0918 hrs. PLACE: An abandoned refinery outside Central City
Two streaks – one red, the other yellow – raced toward the abandoned factory at hyper-speed. As the two streaks tore along the road, they left behind a gust of wind so forceful, trash cans were hurled forward like cannonballs.
Gradually the yellow streak inched closer and closer to the red streak, until they were traveling exactly parallel to each other. "What d'you think you're doing?" Zoom demanded.
"We're going to settle this without any interruption from anybody else," Flash replied. "It's what you want, isn't it?"
The two continued running. By this time they were among the steel pipes and run-down boilers, heading further and further into the factory until they were in one wide, open space. Here both slowed down to a complete stop. At this point Flash turned to face Zoom.
"Figured it all out, haven't you?" Zoom smirked. "You've figured out who I am, right? And with that knowledge, everything else falls into place."
"Got that right," said Flash.
"You only have yourself to blame for all this, though," Zoom said spitefully. "If only you'd done me the favor I asked, like friends do...we wouldn't have to be fighting each other like this."
"No, Hunter," Flash said in an acid tone. "You are no friend of mine. Not anymore."
"Indeed," Zoom grinned evilly. "And for your information, Hunter Zolomon is no more. Zoom is all that remains."
"In that case," said Flash, "I'll have no trouble breaking your neck."
Zoom's grin vanished. "Now, Flash, ol' pal," he glowered, "I'm gonna run you straight down to Hades...and I won't feel an ounce of remorse for taking you there."
"Bring it."
**************************************************************************** ****************
"Look out!"
Lantern's warning came an instant too late as Grodd grabbed Wonder Woman's oncoming fist in his palm. Flailing her around, he sent her flying straight into Lantern, and both of them crashed into a lamppost.
Batman stepped forward. "Come on, Grodd; surely you can do much better than that, can't you?"
Using his telekinesis, Grodd lifted two cars off the ground and hurled them at Batman, who quickly fired his grappling gun at a nearby window ledge. Pulling himself out of harm's way, Batman released his grappling hook's hold on the ledge and came down bodily on top of Grodd, kicking him in the head and forcing him back. Coming to his aid, Lantern fired a blast of energy at Grodd's stomach, pushing him further back.
Meanwhile, J'onn and Giganta, still giants, were exchanging heavy blows with each other. Presently J'onn swerved aside to avoid a massive left hook, then swiftly charged in with a powerful tackle, knocking her over and nearly causing her to lose her balance. Wonder Woman, getting back up from off the ground, saw this and quickly took out her golden lasso. Twirling it around as she flew in, she lassoed a lamppost on Giganta's left, then pulled back and held her end of the rope as firmly as she could. Stepping back involuntarily, Giganta's foot caught on the rope and she lost her balance completely, toppling over.
At the same time, Grodd was using his mind powers to ward off Lantern's ring attack. In the meantime, Batman, looking up, saw Giganta falling and got an idea. Taking out one of his trademark Batarangs, he threw it at a wall parallel to Grodd's head. Seeing this, Grodd was amused. "You really do have bad aim, Batman," he gloated, his kinesis become stronger and pushing Lantern's power further back.
Batman just smiled. "Who ever said I was aiming for you?"
Grodd stared at him in puzzlement – and then grimaced as the Batarang exploded, showering him with bricks from the wall. Lantern saw the opportunity and formed his energy into a giant wrecking ball, slamming Grodd in the face and knocking him further back – right in the path of the falling Giganta.
Shaking his head to get his bearings back, Grodd glanced at the ground and noticed a huge shadow lying there. "Oh, no, not again," he groaned. He quickly used his kinesis to suspend her body in the air, but her weight was starting to put pressure on him.
Batman noticed this. "We need a distraction, Lantern. Something to take his mind off the task at hand."
"One distraction, coming up!" Lantern quickly formed his energy into a hand, and used it to grab one of Grodd's legs. Taken completely by surprise, Grodd could do nothing as the energy hand pulled his leg out from under him, forcing him on his back. At that moment Giganta crashed down on him.
Shrinking back to normal size, J'onn joined the rest of the League as they gathered around the fallen Grodd and Giganta, watching as the latter returned to her normal size, as well. Both had been knocked out, Giganta from her fall, Grodd from having well over ten tons of false weight dropped on him.
"Well, I'd say we've won this one," said Wonder Woman, reclaiming her lasso.
"Not just yet," said J'onn. "There's still one more to go."
"Yeah, THAT guy," Lantern recalled.
"Don't worry about that – Flash will take care of him," said Batman. "Right now, our biggest concern should be getting these two back into prison cells."
There was no objection from the others. Gathering the unconscious Grodd and Giganta into an energy sphere, Lantern flew off with them in the direction of the penitentiary, J'onn and Wonder Woman accompanying him and Batman following below in the Batmobile.
**************************************************************************** ****************
"YAAAARGH!"
Flash and Zoom sped at each other, screaming like men gone mad. They clotheslined each other at super-speed, landing on their backs some fifteen feet away from each other. Not missing a beat, they jumped back up simultaneously and rushed each other again. This time they began punching at each other at hyper-speed, blocking and parrying each other's fists. Finally Flash managed a sucker-punch to the face that knocked Zoom back down to the ground.
Zoom wiped the blood from his mouth and grinned. "Pretty good, drawing first blood like that," he commended his adversary, "but now it's my turn!"
He jumped up and began to run at Flash again – but instead of doing anything he just ran past Flash. Looking at him in bewilderment, Flash suddenly howled in agony as a massive sonic boom ripped through him, lifting him off the ground and slamming him into a pipeline.
As Flash landed on the ground, Zoom laughed hysterically. "You never learn, do you, you wuss?!" he demanded.
Flash got up gingerly. "Actually," he remarked, "I have a few improvised moves of my own. Just watch."
All of a sudden, Flash was speeding round and round Zoom. The other speedster, on seeing this, laughed. "I can do that, too!" he cried, and he began running in circles as well, but in the opposite direction.
As they passed each other multiple times in seconds, Zoom shouted, "You know you can't keep this up forever, Flash! I'll just knock you over!"
"Really." Before Zoom could react, Flash suddenly took a jumping step and stepped heavily on his knee. As Zoom winced and started to fall forward, Flash did a back-flip and kicked him in the chest with one foot, then under the chin with the other. As Flash came back right side up, he did a double foot-thrust to the chest that send Zoom sailing, skidding on his rear.
Flash regarded his downed foe for a moment. "There's still something I don't quite understand, however," he said. "You said you were going to cause agony for me, but somehow it doesn't seem to be meaningful enough. Just what are you going to accomplish by killing me?"
Zoom stood up, brushing dust off his person. "Let me tell you something, buddy-boy," he said quietly. "Now, then. This is the story of a little boy named Hunter Zolomon. When he was very small, he didn't get a lot of love from either of his parents, and they didn't show a lot of love for each other, either, for that matter."
Flash stayed on his guard. He didn't know what Zoom was up to; yet, somehow, part of him sensed that Hunter Zolomon might still be alive inside this monster, begging for someone to just listen to his side of things for a moment.
"Now, see, the tragic part of this story is that little Hunter's father was a murderer, and on the day Hunter was to leave for college, his father killed his mother, and then in turn was killed by the cops." Zoom's raspy tone was starting to become even-edged, just the way Hunter's voice had always been.
As he talked, Zoom walked very slowly, moving in a circle, but always keeping at least fifteen feet away from Flash. The villain's eyes had already told him that, if he kept distracting Flash with his talking, there would be a moment when Flash's back would be turned to the entrance of the room.
"A few years later, Hunter became a member of the FBI after much hard work," he kept on talking. "He found happiness with a young woman, whose father was working for the FBI. Hunter and the old man became friends, and eventually partners in the field. However, after many successful cases, Hunter made a mistake while chasing a notorious criminal. That mistake led to the death of the old man, and consequently, the woman divorced Hunter, and he was cast out of the FBI. That was approximately ten or so years ago; I believe you know everything that happened after that."
"Hunter came to Central City...and became a police profiler," Flash finished the story. "But then, only one day ago, his back was broken by Gorilla Grodd..."
"...and that's when he asked his friend, the Flash, the great Scarlet Speedster of Central City, to use his speed to run back in time and prevent the mistake that had cost him everything. But do you know what you did? You REFUSED! You flatly said NO! So, now I'm going to make you learn a very costly lesson..."
Flash watched him carefully.
"It would be a simple thing to kill you, except for the fact that you and I are evenly matched in terms of speed and fighting skills. So, I'll do the next best thing and take away the one thing that means more to you than anything else in the whole wide world..."
Flash started. "Linda!"
"Exactly right! And do you know what else? I'm going to make you understand that, if you want to avert tragedy, you've got to do everything in your power, even if you have to risk your all!"
"Why, you gutless son-of-a...if you lay even a finger on her, I'll – "
Suddenly Zoom shot past Flash, rushing for the entrance. "See ya, sucker!"
Before Flash could turn to chase after him, the sonic boom Zoom had left behind smacked him full in the face, tumbling him some ten feet away. As he writhed on the floor, he suddenly remembered what Zoom had just told him.
...now I'm going to make you learn a very costly lesson... I'll do the next best thing and take away the one thing that means more to you than anything else in the whole wide world... I'm going to make you understand that, if you want to avert tragedy, you've got to do everything in your power, even if you have to risk your all!
"No! No, no, no, NO!"
**************************************************************************** ****************
Zoom was speeding along the road, closing in on Central City. "Soon, Linda...very, very soon..." he chuckled to himself.
As he ran along, Central City became even closer on the horizon. Then ten seconds later, he was touching on the border – then he was rushing through the streets, closing in on the hospital. "Hush, little baby, don't say a word," he chuckled.
But as he ran, he became morosely aware of a ripping sound behind him. "What the heck is that?" Looking back, he was shocked at what he saw.
The Flash was closing in on him, moving far faster than Zoom had seen him go yet, literally ripping up the pavement and leaving a blazing trail behind him.
"Holy – " Zoom managed to cry out before Flash decked him in the back of the head, knocking him down. Zoom toppled over, but he'd been going so fast that, even as he fell, he skidded face-first along the ground for an extra ten feet.
When he finally stopped skidding, Zoom got up, wiping the blood off his forehead. "Don't you ever give up?" he protested.
Flash stood before Zoom, a look of doom on his face. "You are not going to get to Linda while I'm still alive," he retorted. "You'll have to kill me first! Understand, you sick piece of garbage? You will have to KILL ME FIRST!"
Zoom grinned maliciously. "So, that's your choice...very well. So be it."
The two ultimate adversaries stood there in the street, staring each other down. Around them, a crowd of civilians was gathering to watch the conclusion of the fight. All eyes were now on the two speedsters. Even traffic had come to a complete halt as everyone waited with bated breath to see what would happen next.
Then both men spoke in one voice. "Time to blitz."
(JUSTICE LEAGUE, the JUSTICE LEAGUE icon and all names and characters therein are property of and owned by DC Comics and Cartoon Network. Any attempt to use any such property of these companies without their proper authorization and/or permission can and will result in civil liability and criminal prosecution.)
(I do not own JUSTICE LEAGUE, nor am I in any way affiliated with Cartoon Network or DC Comics. I'm just a diehard fan who loves the show.)
(This fanfic is rated PG. It contains mild violence.)
CHAPTER 09 TIME: 0918 hrs. PLACE: An abandoned refinery outside Central City
Two streaks – one red, the other yellow – raced toward the abandoned factory at hyper-speed. As the two streaks tore along the road, they left behind a gust of wind so forceful, trash cans were hurled forward like cannonballs.
Gradually the yellow streak inched closer and closer to the red streak, until they were traveling exactly parallel to each other. "What d'you think you're doing?" Zoom demanded.
"We're going to settle this without any interruption from anybody else," Flash replied. "It's what you want, isn't it?"
The two continued running. By this time they were among the steel pipes and run-down boilers, heading further and further into the factory until they were in one wide, open space. Here both slowed down to a complete stop. At this point Flash turned to face Zoom.
"Figured it all out, haven't you?" Zoom smirked. "You've figured out who I am, right? And with that knowledge, everything else falls into place."
"Got that right," said Flash.
"You only have yourself to blame for all this, though," Zoom said spitefully. "If only you'd done me the favor I asked, like friends do...we wouldn't have to be fighting each other like this."
"No, Hunter," Flash said in an acid tone. "You are no friend of mine. Not anymore."
"Indeed," Zoom grinned evilly. "And for your information, Hunter Zolomon is no more. Zoom is all that remains."
"In that case," said Flash, "I'll have no trouble breaking your neck."
Zoom's grin vanished. "Now, Flash, ol' pal," he glowered, "I'm gonna run you straight down to Hades...and I won't feel an ounce of remorse for taking you there."
"Bring it."
**************************************************************************** ****************
"Look out!"
Lantern's warning came an instant too late as Grodd grabbed Wonder Woman's oncoming fist in his palm. Flailing her around, he sent her flying straight into Lantern, and both of them crashed into a lamppost.
Batman stepped forward. "Come on, Grodd; surely you can do much better than that, can't you?"
Using his telekinesis, Grodd lifted two cars off the ground and hurled them at Batman, who quickly fired his grappling gun at a nearby window ledge. Pulling himself out of harm's way, Batman released his grappling hook's hold on the ledge and came down bodily on top of Grodd, kicking him in the head and forcing him back. Coming to his aid, Lantern fired a blast of energy at Grodd's stomach, pushing him further back.
Meanwhile, J'onn and Giganta, still giants, were exchanging heavy blows with each other. Presently J'onn swerved aside to avoid a massive left hook, then swiftly charged in with a powerful tackle, knocking her over and nearly causing her to lose her balance. Wonder Woman, getting back up from off the ground, saw this and quickly took out her golden lasso. Twirling it around as she flew in, she lassoed a lamppost on Giganta's left, then pulled back and held her end of the rope as firmly as she could. Stepping back involuntarily, Giganta's foot caught on the rope and she lost her balance completely, toppling over.
At the same time, Grodd was using his mind powers to ward off Lantern's ring attack. In the meantime, Batman, looking up, saw Giganta falling and got an idea. Taking out one of his trademark Batarangs, he threw it at a wall parallel to Grodd's head. Seeing this, Grodd was amused. "You really do have bad aim, Batman," he gloated, his kinesis become stronger and pushing Lantern's power further back.
Batman just smiled. "Who ever said I was aiming for you?"
Grodd stared at him in puzzlement – and then grimaced as the Batarang exploded, showering him with bricks from the wall. Lantern saw the opportunity and formed his energy into a giant wrecking ball, slamming Grodd in the face and knocking him further back – right in the path of the falling Giganta.
Shaking his head to get his bearings back, Grodd glanced at the ground and noticed a huge shadow lying there. "Oh, no, not again," he groaned. He quickly used his kinesis to suspend her body in the air, but her weight was starting to put pressure on him.
Batman noticed this. "We need a distraction, Lantern. Something to take his mind off the task at hand."
"One distraction, coming up!" Lantern quickly formed his energy into a hand, and used it to grab one of Grodd's legs. Taken completely by surprise, Grodd could do nothing as the energy hand pulled his leg out from under him, forcing him on his back. At that moment Giganta crashed down on him.
Shrinking back to normal size, J'onn joined the rest of the League as they gathered around the fallen Grodd and Giganta, watching as the latter returned to her normal size, as well. Both had been knocked out, Giganta from her fall, Grodd from having well over ten tons of false weight dropped on him.
"Well, I'd say we've won this one," said Wonder Woman, reclaiming her lasso.
"Not just yet," said J'onn. "There's still one more to go."
"Yeah, THAT guy," Lantern recalled.
"Don't worry about that – Flash will take care of him," said Batman. "Right now, our biggest concern should be getting these two back into prison cells."
There was no objection from the others. Gathering the unconscious Grodd and Giganta into an energy sphere, Lantern flew off with them in the direction of the penitentiary, J'onn and Wonder Woman accompanying him and Batman following below in the Batmobile.
**************************************************************************** ****************
"YAAAARGH!"
Flash and Zoom sped at each other, screaming like men gone mad. They clotheslined each other at super-speed, landing on their backs some fifteen feet away from each other. Not missing a beat, they jumped back up simultaneously and rushed each other again. This time they began punching at each other at hyper-speed, blocking and parrying each other's fists. Finally Flash managed a sucker-punch to the face that knocked Zoom back down to the ground.
Zoom wiped the blood from his mouth and grinned. "Pretty good, drawing first blood like that," he commended his adversary, "but now it's my turn!"
He jumped up and began to run at Flash again – but instead of doing anything he just ran past Flash. Looking at him in bewilderment, Flash suddenly howled in agony as a massive sonic boom ripped through him, lifting him off the ground and slamming him into a pipeline.
As Flash landed on the ground, Zoom laughed hysterically. "You never learn, do you, you wuss?!" he demanded.
Flash got up gingerly. "Actually," he remarked, "I have a few improvised moves of my own. Just watch."
All of a sudden, Flash was speeding round and round Zoom. The other speedster, on seeing this, laughed. "I can do that, too!" he cried, and he began running in circles as well, but in the opposite direction.
As they passed each other multiple times in seconds, Zoom shouted, "You know you can't keep this up forever, Flash! I'll just knock you over!"
"Really." Before Zoom could react, Flash suddenly took a jumping step and stepped heavily on his knee. As Zoom winced and started to fall forward, Flash did a back-flip and kicked him in the chest with one foot, then under the chin with the other. As Flash came back right side up, he did a double foot-thrust to the chest that send Zoom sailing, skidding on his rear.
Flash regarded his downed foe for a moment. "There's still something I don't quite understand, however," he said. "You said you were going to cause agony for me, but somehow it doesn't seem to be meaningful enough. Just what are you going to accomplish by killing me?"
Zoom stood up, brushing dust off his person. "Let me tell you something, buddy-boy," he said quietly. "Now, then. This is the story of a little boy named Hunter Zolomon. When he was very small, he didn't get a lot of love from either of his parents, and they didn't show a lot of love for each other, either, for that matter."
Flash stayed on his guard. He didn't know what Zoom was up to; yet, somehow, part of him sensed that Hunter Zolomon might still be alive inside this monster, begging for someone to just listen to his side of things for a moment.
"Now, see, the tragic part of this story is that little Hunter's father was a murderer, and on the day Hunter was to leave for college, his father killed his mother, and then in turn was killed by the cops." Zoom's raspy tone was starting to become even-edged, just the way Hunter's voice had always been.
As he talked, Zoom walked very slowly, moving in a circle, but always keeping at least fifteen feet away from Flash. The villain's eyes had already told him that, if he kept distracting Flash with his talking, there would be a moment when Flash's back would be turned to the entrance of the room.
"A few years later, Hunter became a member of the FBI after much hard work," he kept on talking. "He found happiness with a young woman, whose father was working for the FBI. Hunter and the old man became friends, and eventually partners in the field. However, after many successful cases, Hunter made a mistake while chasing a notorious criminal. That mistake led to the death of the old man, and consequently, the woman divorced Hunter, and he was cast out of the FBI. That was approximately ten or so years ago; I believe you know everything that happened after that."
"Hunter came to Central City...and became a police profiler," Flash finished the story. "But then, only one day ago, his back was broken by Gorilla Grodd..."
"...and that's when he asked his friend, the Flash, the great Scarlet Speedster of Central City, to use his speed to run back in time and prevent the mistake that had cost him everything. But do you know what you did? You REFUSED! You flatly said NO! So, now I'm going to make you learn a very costly lesson..."
Flash watched him carefully.
"It would be a simple thing to kill you, except for the fact that you and I are evenly matched in terms of speed and fighting skills. So, I'll do the next best thing and take away the one thing that means more to you than anything else in the whole wide world..."
Flash started. "Linda!"
"Exactly right! And do you know what else? I'm going to make you understand that, if you want to avert tragedy, you've got to do everything in your power, even if you have to risk your all!"
"Why, you gutless son-of-a...if you lay even a finger on her, I'll – "
Suddenly Zoom shot past Flash, rushing for the entrance. "See ya, sucker!"
Before Flash could turn to chase after him, the sonic boom Zoom had left behind smacked him full in the face, tumbling him some ten feet away. As he writhed on the floor, he suddenly remembered what Zoom had just told him.
...now I'm going to make you learn a very costly lesson... I'll do the next best thing and take away the one thing that means more to you than anything else in the whole wide world... I'm going to make you understand that, if you want to avert tragedy, you've got to do everything in your power, even if you have to risk your all!
"No! No, no, no, NO!"
**************************************************************************** ****************
Zoom was speeding along the road, closing in on Central City. "Soon, Linda...very, very soon..." he chuckled to himself.
As he ran along, Central City became even closer on the horizon. Then ten seconds later, he was touching on the border – then he was rushing through the streets, closing in on the hospital. "Hush, little baby, don't say a word," he chuckled.
But as he ran, he became morosely aware of a ripping sound behind him. "What the heck is that?" Looking back, he was shocked at what he saw.
The Flash was closing in on him, moving far faster than Zoom had seen him go yet, literally ripping up the pavement and leaving a blazing trail behind him.
"Holy – " Zoom managed to cry out before Flash decked him in the back of the head, knocking him down. Zoom toppled over, but he'd been going so fast that, even as he fell, he skidded face-first along the ground for an extra ten feet.
When he finally stopped skidding, Zoom got up, wiping the blood off his forehead. "Don't you ever give up?" he protested.
Flash stood before Zoom, a look of doom on his face. "You are not going to get to Linda while I'm still alive," he retorted. "You'll have to kill me first! Understand, you sick piece of garbage? You will have to KILL ME FIRST!"
Zoom grinned maliciously. "So, that's your choice...very well. So be it."
The two ultimate adversaries stood there in the street, staring each other down. Around them, a crowd of civilians was gathering to watch the conclusion of the fight. All eyes were now on the two speedsters. Even traffic had come to a complete halt as everyone waited with bated breath to see what would happen next.
Then both men spoke in one voice. "Time to blitz."