Fear the Unknown
By Dante
Chapter 17: Unified Justice
It was an eerie feeling for Barry as he entered the room, staring into the faces of legends. He'd heard stories of these men, cobbled together through bits and pieces of government reports that had been disavowed and hushed up. There was no denying it though, they were in the presence of legends.
"The key," McNider began. "Is with the man you recovered from the Area 51 facility."
The man in desert clothes stood and spoke, hands clasped behind his back.
"We've examined a number of historical records, and come to the conclusion that Dominic Bliss is not from this time. He is from the future."
"Now that's pretty far-fetched, don't you think?" Hal asked.
"As far fetched as a piece of jewelry that conjures whatever your mind can conceive, son?"
Scott chuckled softly in the background.
"Now, to continue. There are sketchy records of Bliss appearing at key junctures in the nation's history dating back to before the Revolution. He orchestrated the deaths of the original leaders of the thirteen colonies and placed his own sympathizers in seats of power within the fledging government. From there, he goes off the radar for about fifty to sixty years at a stretch, turning up every now and then to assasinate someone, influence a war, what have you. Our theory is that history as we know it is not correct. His main goals appears to be, for the most part, the establishment of the religious fascism that governs us and the villification of super-powered beings. It stands to reason that Bliss comes from a history where beings such as ourselves are not considered demons and, most likely, stood against him in some way. He couldn't defeat them there, so he devised a way to eliminate them from existence."
"What about us, then? How are we still here?"
"We're not sure, but Bliss' knowledge appears to have holes in it. He handles history very easily, but its possible that anything that was not part of a public record, he doesn't know. I doubt very much that even in a world where our powers aren't outlawed, that many of us would choose to openly reveal our identities, so without knowing those identities he couldn't eliminate us retroactively."
"This is all pretty wild stuff. Why should we believe you?"
Barry spoke softly. "Believe them. Its true."
They turned on him.
"How do you know?"
"I know. I know that I shouldn't be here. That I should be dead. Whatever that other history is, I'm not in it."
"What are you talking about?" Clark asked.
"Sometimes... when I move fast enough, I can feel things... changing. I can see things as different from what they're supposed to be. Sometimes I see you, Clark. A lot, actually, and its always different. You're older, or younger or sometimes... not a good person. But almost every time I try to see myself... all I see is a grave."
There was a silence in the room. McNider was the first to break it.
"Mr. Allen... whatever other histories might have recorded, you are here and you are alive now. I believe that we are all here for a reason and I also believe we now know that reason. We must somehow undo what Bliss has done and set things right."
"But how?"
"Your friend, the time traveller. He can set things right. And I believe he is right on time."
They all turned around and there, in the doorway, was a shrunken man in hobo's garb who, as they watched, dissolved into a gleaming figure of black and gold.
"What do we do?"
While the others talked and talked and talked, Bruce slipped down one of the corridors and up to the roof. How could they not see? This was too dangerous, all of them gathered here with no defenses, no warnings and Bliss and his men out there.
He was, in fact, so busy watching for signs of Bliss' men that he didn't even notice the perfectly normal-seeming man slipping out of the shadows behind him with a syringe. He plunged it into Bruce's neck and watched as he collapsed.
"Now, my son, you will tell me all you know. Or you will die." There were men on the roof with him and he turned to them. "Take him back to the base and destroy this building, but before you do, make sure you tell my old friend Chaz that I said hello. When you put a bullet through one of those blind eyes of his, make sure he knows that his old friend Thomas hasn't forgotten."