The Flash: Smoke and Mirrors
Chapter One
"They did it again?" asked the man, taking off his coat and placing it on the chair at the dining table, before pouring a glass of water.
"Yeah, and this time, Barry wasn't fast enough to get away from them. Lord knows why he picks fights with those kids," replied the man's wife, walking down from the stairs.
"What were those kids doing?" asked the man.
"Picking on one of Barry's friends, that air force kid," replied the woman. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed.
"Well, Nora, if you think about it, I'd say he was doing a good deed by standing up to those kids. If anything, it shows he's brave," said the man.
"Henry, I-" started Nora, stammering. "I fail to see how getting beat up is somehow bravery," she finished, walking to the dining table and rubbing her eyes together.
"It just proves we raised him right. To not overlook any trouble, but rather do something about it, doesn't it?" reassured Henry, hugging Nora.
"I just don't want him getting hurt," replied Nora.
"Don't worry, I'm sure he won't be." Said Henry.
Towards the right of the two of them was a window, which overlooked the street. A man wearing a hoodie stood across the street, staring into the window while a sharp glint of silver reflected in his right hand.
"WHOA!" shouted a man in a red suit, being thrown out of a bank and into the side of a bus. He crumpled to the floor, but managed to regain his footing.
A huge, 8 foot man heaved himself out of the hole in the bank, holding bags of money. He cracked his neck and glared at the man in red.
"Blockbuster, what are you even gonna do with all that money?" asked the man. Blockbuster grunted and dropped the bags, raising his arms.
Before his arms could hit the ground, a crackle of lightning seemed to erupt from the man's body, as he shifted his entire body to the right and dodged Blockbuster's attack.
"If that money is going into a liposuction, lemme tell you, I'll fund it myself!" taunted the man, dodging a swing by Blockbuster.
"Quit moving!" grunted Blockbuster, trying to hit the man again. The man ran behind Blockbuster and slammed into his back, throwing him to the ground.
Before Blockbuster could get back up, the man in red zoomed down the street, then turned around and ran back towards Blockbuster, punching him directly in the face.
Blockbuster fell on his back, seeing figurative stars over his head. The man walked up to the bags of money and rushed them back into the bank.
"You'll pay for this, Flash!" yelled out Blockbuster incoherently.
"Yeah, yeah. Seems like the only busted thing is your jaw," replied Flash, chuckling as orange lightning began to envelop him, and the symbol on his chest.
In an instant, he disappeared from the scene, racing down the winding streets of Central City. Citizens held onto their coffee cups as The Flash whizzed past them, dodging cars and streetlights.
Just then, he heard his phone vibrate from a small pocket in his suit. Flash quickly stopped and picked it up.
"Joe, hey," said Flash, huffing a little bit.
"Barry, you better get your ass here fast. Singh isn't too pleased," said Joe, his voice a little hushed.
"Oh crap, is it the Cooper case?" asked Flash.
"You're damn right it is. Singh's blowing a casket saying that it's going too slow, and he's especially calling out the forensics team. Patty's taking enough of a beating here, care to show up?" asked Joe, with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Yep, I'm on my way," said Flash, pocketing his phone and running to an alleyway behind Central City Police Department, picking up a bag and instantly changing into a shirt and a pair of jeans.
"Here we go," Barry told himself, speed walking out of the alleyway with his bag and entering the gates of the CCPD.
"Allen? Allen?!" shouted a blonde haired woman. She adjusted her glasses and continued to look around, finally noticing a similar blonde haired man bumble his way past the elevator and into the bullpen of the CCPD.
"Barry!" she hissed, grabbing his attention. Barry turned to her and nearly stumbled, but regained his composure and walked up to her.
"How mad is he? On a scale of 1 to-"
"11. You better get in there and explain yourself," said the woman. Barry ran a hand through his messy hair and sighed, causing her to raise an eyebrow.
"Did you get electrocuted? Your hair seems to be on the frizz. More than usual, I mean," she remarked. Barry realized the top of his blonde hair was standing tall, and he instantly flattened it a bit.
"The bus I was on was going really fast, might have been the wind," explained Barry hurriedly, walking into Captain Singh's office.
"Captain Singh-"
"And where have you been, Allen? Patty has been waiting all morning for you," asked Singh, sternly staring at him as he pointed at the blonde haired woman standing behind him.
"My uh, my bus broke down! Yeah, and the mechanic was just a real asshole, you know," fumbled Barry. Patty raised an eyebrow and stifled a laugh.
"Whatever it is, how far are you on the Cooper case?" asked Singh. Barry's mouth was left agape, until Patty stepped in.
"Allen and I have been working on the DNA profile for each suspect. The new sequencer is hard to get used to though, so we're both trying to get accurate results from it," said Patty. Barry gave her a grateful look.
"You two are my best forensic scientists. The DA needs that evidence as soon as possible, and he's not the most patient man on the planet. Or anywhere, for that matter," said Singh, dismissing the two of them.
"Thanks for that," said Barry, as the duo began to walk down the stairs, to the forensic lab.
"You can thank me once we finally make a break in the case. The electrophoresis machine broke down," said Patty, sighing as the two of them entered the laboratory.
"How so?" asked Barry.
"The circuit can't carry a current anymore, I don't know. I haven't studied circuitry since eleventh grade," replied Patty, sitting down near a microscope. Barry walked up to the machine and examined the circuitry.
"The circuit seems fine, but the power supply needs a little juice…" he said.
"Do your thing, Inspector Gadget," said Patty sarcastically, examining the sample under the microscope. Barry smirked as he lightly touched his finger to the power supply. He vibrated it, and sent an electric current straight to the power supply.
The machine came to life, and Patty pulled herself away from the microscope in surprise.
"Well, what do you know? How'd you fix it?" she asked.
"Just needed some rewiring. Bottom line, we can finally run those samples!" exclaimed Barry. Patty jumped up and high-fived him.
"Take that, Captain Singh. He needs to learn a thing or two about the virtue of patience," said Patty.
"Definitely," said Barry. Just then, his phone received a ping.
"Hey uh, I gotta go. The dog in the house I've been housesitting just ran out of the door," said Barry, hurriedly running up the stairs. Patty shook her head and sighed, continuing her work.
Barry ran into the alleyway and in a flash of lightning, was back in his red and gold outfit. Lightning emanated from the symbol on his chest as he dashed out of the alleyway and back onto the streets, running nearly as fast as the speed of sound.
"Crime alert pinged…Waid Museum," thought Barry, rushing to the scene. As he ran further, he felt the temperature begin to drop.
"Oh boy," he said out loud, realizing who he was dealing with. Just then, he felt his legs give way, as he slipped and fell forward, tumbling onto the ground.
"What the hell?" asked Flash, getting on his feet. That's when he noticed that the whole street had been covered by a sheet of pure ice. Flash groaned and massaged his knee, which he had landed on when he fell.
"Funny thing about moving fast…you miss out on the small details," said a voice. Barry turned around and dodged a projectile, which looked a lot like a bolt-shaped icicle.
He followed the trajectory of the icicle to a man standing in front of a car. He wore a light blue fur parka with an eskimo hoodie, and blue goggles shielding his eyes. He held an odd shaped gun in his hands.
"Captain Cold. What's a guy like you doing robbing museums?" asked Flash, getting back on his feet.
"A whole building full of priceless stuff, worth millions on the black market, and you expect me to not try my chances?" asked Captain Cold, pulling the trigger and releasing a stream of concentrated ice towards Flash.
Barry quickly drifted to the left, but a part of the stream hit his left arm.
"ARGH!" he grunted, clutching his arm. Cold released another stream and hit him straight in the chest. Flash was sent flying back into a parked car. Barry quickly rolled out of the way of another blast.
He zoomed towards Captain Cold and clocked him across the face, sending him to the ground.
"Now then, Snart, let's wrap this up," said Barry, picking him up.
"Let me ask you a question, Flash. You've got lightning and thunder, so what do you get with ice?" asked Snart, sneering.
"FIRE!" shouted a large, grizzly voice. A huge stream of fire hit Barry, causing him to stagger back and let go of Captain Cold. A second man, wearing an all white protective suit with orange lining stepped forward. His goggles were orange and his gun seemed to be a smaller, modified flamethrower.
"How'd his suit not catch fire?" asked the man.
"Eh, layers of heat resistant fibers interwoven into the spandex, it's too complicated for you," said Flash, getting onto his feet. "Stuff like-"
"Modacrylic fibers, probably. Aim for the opening at his face!" interrupted Captain Cold. The duo raised their guns.
"Guys, guys! Before we continue, could I at least know what you call yourself? Hot Rod? Human Torch?" asked Flash, cocking his head to the right and chuckling.
"HEATWAVE!" shouted the man, causing Snart to roll his eyes.
"Hey, anything's better than "Captain Cold." I mean, how long did you think about that, 10 seconds?" mocked Flash. Snart grunted and shot out a stream of ice to the left, while Heatwave shot a concentrated stream of flames to Barry's right.
Flash cracked his knuckles as he ran in between the two of them. Time seemed to slow down around him as he turned Captain Cold's gun to face Heatwave, and turned Heatwave's gun to face Captain Cold. Both the streams were now facing each other.
Almost instantaneously, both streams of fire and ice hit each other and snuffed each other out. The blowback into the muzzle of both guns caused both Captain Cold and Heatwave to be launched backwards.
"And that concludes today's episode of Dumb and Dumber," joked Barry, going up to Heatwave and knocking him unconscious. However, as soon as he turned around, Captain Cold projected a massive ice wall between him and Flash.
"Seriously?" asked Flash, running up to the wall and punching a hole straight through it, but Snart seemed to be long gone.
Before Flash could search for Snart, he heard police sirens getting closer to the location.
"Still don't know what the CCPD thinks of me, but I'm in no mood to find out," thought Barry, rushing out of the scene before encountering any police officers.
"That goddamn speedster! I'm gonna burn him to a crisp next time!" cursed Heatwave, as he was handcuffed next to a police van. Joe West stood at the crime scene with Patty.
"Perp's name is Mick Rory. Apparently he was here with our very own Leonard Snart," said Joe.
"Captain Cold? He's back?" asked Patty, raising an eyebrow. "Last time he showed up, the Flash kicked his ass," said Patty.
"You seem to be quite the Flash fanatic, don't you," observed Joe, chuckling. Patty lightly blushed but turned her face towards her open phone.
"I mean, he is pretty cool, you can't deny that. Now where the hell is Barry?" asked Patty, calling him up.
"Here! I'm here!" called out Barry, holding a forensic kit with him. "So, where do we begin?" he asked.
"How about Heatwave's gun? If you ask me, it looks similar to Cold's. But like, fire instead of ice," said Patty. "Except Snart's was modified from the ground up, this works more like a makeshift mini-flamethrower," said Patty.
"Singh is almost here, I'm gonna go debrief him on the situation. You both work your...magic mumbo jumbo," said Joe, sipping on his cup of coffee and walking away from the scene.
"Think something's off about Joe?" asked Patty.
"How so?" remarked Barry, examining the gun.
"Right, you wouldn't have noticed considering you disappear like 88% of the time," commented Patty, taking fingerprint swabs off of the handle.
"Come on now, is it THAT bad that I don't want a dog to starve?" asked Barry. Patty shook her head and sighed, taking the fingerprint samples and placing them in a plastic bag.
"Like I was saying, Joe seems much more…worried. Any idea what that could be about?" asked Patty. Barry thought for a moment, and something seemed to click in his head.
"His daughter wants to join the police force," replied Barry.
"Oh, Iris? I've met her a few times, heard you two are close," said Patty.
"Yeah, she's uh…my best friend," said Barry. "Since childhood,"
"Hold on, you've known Joe since childhood?" asked Patty, amazed. Barry nodded his head.
"Ever since my mom's…accident, and dad's imprisonment, I stayed with my Aunt Esther. But Joe was…always there for me," said Barry, finding himself zoning out as he stared at a pebble at the scene, as if he was recalling something.
"Wanna…talk about it?" asked Patty, surprisingly expressing a modicum of concern. Barry snapped out of his reverie.
"Nah, it's fine. My shrink deals with it enough," joked Barry, going back to his work and tinkering with the gun.
"Circuitry is more your thing, evidently after today morning. Could you bring it back to the lab later? We should run a full chemical analysis on the accelerant used," suggested Patty.
"Got it. I'll examine the wires," replied Barry, inspecting the gun. Patty walked away to another part of the crime scene.
"Hey! Hey you!" whispered Heatwave, to Barry. Inquisitively, Barry turned around and faced the felon.
"Yeah, I'm tinkering with your weaponry. You're free to look away if it hurts too much," joked Barry. Rory looked flustered.
"Forget that. What's gonna happen to me, where am I going after this?" asked Mick.
"Well, for starters, we still need to catch your accomplice in crime. Until then, you're gonna be held at Iron Heights Penitentiary. After trial, you'll probably be incarcerated there itself," threatened Barry.
A look of fear crossed Mick's face. A look he had never seen before on any criminal, no matter how amateur nor how hardened.
"No…no no no! You-you can't send me there. Please!" pleaded Mick, his demeanour instantly changing, taking Barry by surprise.
"Whatever happened to the tough gymbro routine you had going?" he asked.
"Listen to me, you can't send me to Iron Heights. Please, no! I'm begging you, I- I'll do anything! I'll go straight, I swear. You have no idea what happens, please!" begged Mick, the look of terror intensifying in his tone. It was like a prisoner pleading only seconds before Death Row.
"Um, I-"
Before Barry could reply, Captain Singh stepped onto the scene.
"Let's have him transported to Iron Heights. Allen, Spivot, secure any evidence you see. Joe, I want an APB out for Leonard Snart. The sooner he gets caught, the better," ordered Singh.
"No, no please!" begged Mick, but two officers placed him into the police van. He shot Barry one last pleading look, before the doors were slammed shut. A confused Barry turned away from the van.
His mind flashed back to a scene almost 15 years ago. From one fateful night.
"Nope!" exclaimed Barry internally, shaking his head and ridding himself of that thought, walking away from the van and picking up the gun.
"You have no idea what happens, please!"
Barry shot back a look to the van, which continued down the road till it was a mere speck on the horizon.
"So yeah, I don't know. He seemed spooked, but it may have just been your standard "rookie scared of going to prison" crap," said Barry, sipping on his latte while he talked to the woman opposite him. She wore a red sweater and had long, ginger-brown hair.
"Could be. But something tells me you think otherwise," said Iris West, gulping down her iced mocha.
"Yeah. It just reminded me of…well…" started Barry, but drifted off.
"Your father?" asked Iris. Barry lightly nodded and looked back at the table.
"I remember when you'd come over for dinner, and you would only ask Joe questions about the case, about how your dad was doing. If everything was okay," said Iris. "You even did your own mini-investigation,"
"It's why I decided to be a forensic scientist. If the same thing happened to some other kid out there, I can't let our "justice system" do this to them, much less to an innocent father," said Barry, with steely determination.
"And someday, you'll have answers. But for now, I think it's best if you stay closer to the ground, in the present," replied Iris.
"Yeah. Anyway, what's your take on this whole thing? Seeing as how you're the one with a degree in journalism," said Barry.
"Well like you said, most criminals are always afraid of the slammer. But Mick Rory already has a criminal record, doesn't he? He's surely been to prison before, so what's he got to be afraid of?" asked Iris.
"Exactly. Something is definitely off," said Barry.
"That's gonna have to wait, though. Because Joe and I are inviting you and Patty to dinner tomorrow night, and you cannot refuse. There's mashed potatoes and gravy," informed Iris, standing up and slinging her purse over her shoulder.
"I'll see you tomorrow then," said Barry, giving her a hug.
"And hey, don't go off doing anything stupid, okay? I may be a journalist, but even I'd say that you can't investigate this by yourself," said Iris, before walking out the door.
"But someone else can." thought Barry.
Mick was thrown into the dingy Iron Heights holding cell, complete with a stale mattress and dozens of sleeping inmates. He stood up and reached for the bars, locking behind him.
"Whatever the Warden says," said one of the guards. Mick's hardened exterior had completely broken down, and he shivered like a cornered mouse.
"Who-who's the Warden?" asked Mick.
"That would be me," said a voice from down the hallways. From the shadows emerged a tall, brown haired man, in a full suit and tie. He carried a perplexing orange and green handkerchief in his suit pocket.
"Good evening, Mr Rory. I'm Warden Scudder."