The Hyper-tarmac jacuzzi bath was not how Flash envisioned it would look. In all honesty, when he first heard of it, his first thought was of a bathtub, boiling water, and a couple scantily-clad girls with umbrellas drinks. Oddly enough, those girls shared an uncanny resemblance to Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl.
The reality of it was much less sexy. Instead of a tub, there was what looked like a giant tank full of water. It towered over the red-clad man, a column of transparent glass. There were cables and huge tubes connected to it at the base, most likely to power the thing.
While Flash stood in front of it with his hands on his hips, Hawkgirl was hovering over it, her wings occasionally flapping to keep her up there. Dangling from her hands was the bag of J'onn, the contents just waiting to be dumped in.
Because this was their friend they were talking about, Flash understood why the winged woman was taking her time. She didn't want a piece of the Martian to not fall into the tank. So as delicately as she could, she began to pull the bag up to her, opening it one flap at a time. Once the top was open, she then hefted the bag up, getting a good grip of it at its bottom with one hand while the other stayed with one of the open flaps.
All the while, Flash watched with bated breath. He was primarily focused on the bag's opening so that if a piece did fall where it wasn't supposed to go, he could snatch it up before it was lost forever.
Finally, Hawkgirl began to lean the bag forward. It started slow as one or two pieces of ice dropped out, falling into the water of the tank, where they began to lazily drift towards the bottom. So far, so good. Still, despite this being encouraging, the Thanagarian didn't rush herself, slowly tilting as another piece of ice, and then another, fell into the tank.
Gradually, more and more pieces tumbled out. It wasn't until—Flash estimated—about half the bag was empty that Hawkgirl picked up her pace, flat out dumping the contents in without any disregard. The moment the bag was empty, the redhead tossed it away before she began to drift downward towards Flash, landing beside him. Every piece was accounted for from what the speedster saw, his eyes watching as the chunks of ice fell through the water. Dull thuds were made when the larger pieces hit the bottom.
"Looks like that's all of him," Flash remarked as he continued to watch, Hawkgirl also staring at the sight.
"Looks like," she agreed with him.
"You know, I find it funny how Bats is letting us use his stuff without his supervision."
"Well, he is having to prepare that jet of his. It's not like he could do this while getting that ready."
"True," Flash acknowledged the point. "But if he's willing to trust us to use this machine, why did he think we needed a chaperone?"
At this, he jabbed a thumb to point over his shoulder. Crouching on top of a bulky metal box—what it was or what it contained was beyond the speedster—was Batgirl. The entire time she had been watching them with an unwavering stare. It was creepy to be frank.
What did Bats not want them to do anyways? It wasn't like they hadn't been here before, explored every last nook and cranny of this place, so they wouldn't get lost. They were heroes even, so it wasn't like they were going to steal anything either. There wasn't any need for the guard-bat.
Hawkgirl merely glanced behind them to look at the girl before returning her sights to young man, staring at him. For some reason, he felt she was raising an eyebrow, but her mask did a pretty good job hiding that. "Is she bothering you?" she said snidely. "Does she give you the heebie-jeebies?"
"No!" he protested, his voice echoing a little too loudly for his liking. He then added in a calmer tone, "Maybe a little. Look, all I'm saying is that we don't need to be watched every second we're here."
"You do know it's not polite to talk about people in front of them."
"Oh, please. You saw the way Bats talked about her. She was even looking right at him and that didn't stop him. She didn't even bat an eye!"
"True," the redhead replied, shrugging her shoulders. "And I won't say that he should have done that. I'd imagine, though, that you'd let Batman talk about you like that if he were giving you three hots and a cot."
Well, when you put it that way…
Flash shook his head. "No way, man. I wouldn't stay to be treated like that. Sure he may have a big house with a cave full of the latest high-tech gadgets, rich beyond my wildest dreams, brings home my celebrity crush every other weekend, and...and…"
There was a knowing look on Hawkgirl's face as he trailed off. "God, I hate him and everything he stands for," he muttered his surrender.
"There, was that so hard?"
Flash shook his head furiously. "That still doesn't excuse him. I mean, did you see her costume? Just look at—"
As he was defending his ground, the red-clad man turned so that he could gesture to the poor girl with a hand, only to realize she was no longer crouching on the box. Staring with a confused looked on his face, Flash dropped his arm as he began to search for the girl, only to let out an "Eeep!" when he found her standing right in front of him.
Jumping back a step, Flash flinched from her unexpected proximity to him. Even more disturbing was that Batgirl didn't look the least bit put off by his action. Instead, she looked right up at him, her head tilted back due to the big difference in their respective heights. The black lens that covered her eyes were big and round, giving her an innocent look as she looked up at him.
"Uhh, hi?" the speedster spoke as he stared down at her. He hadn't even heard her approach. A glance out of his eye to Hawkgirl told him she was just as surprised if the look on her face was anything to go by.
Seconds passed without any of them moving—that is if you excluded Flash's fidgeting. He didn't like uncomfortable situations and this one was most definitely one of those.
Slowly, Batgirl seemed to rise up to him, probably because she was beginning to stand on her tippy-toes. This brought her face closer to his, which the red-clad man began to lean away from. He wasn't sure what was going on, but if this girl was falling for his manly charms, he could just imagine how pissed off Batman would be if he caught the two of them making out. It was a total Romeo & Juliet thing, just hopefully without the statutory rape and dying parts. He really, really didn't want to be part of an insane suicide plot.
And then, the young girl raised a hand, reaching up to touch his face, or so Flash thought she was. Her hand hovered between them as if she were unsure of what she wanted to do.
Then she came to a decision. With one finger, she flicked his nose, much to Flash's confusion. Caught off guard, he raised his own hand up and began rubbing his nose with his fingers, looking to Hawkgirl for any possible reason why the young girl would do such a thing. The Thanagarian merely looked right back at him, obviously without a clue as to what was going on.
Returning his eyes to Batgirl, he was in for another surprise as she had simply vanished into thin air. She was just gone, like she hadn't been standing in front of the speedster to begin with. Jerking his head from side to side, he sought her out, finding no sign of her anywhere.
"Huh? What?" Flash sputtered before he found himself staring stupidly at Hawkgirl. "Why? What was that even about?"
"Why are you asking me?" the redhead replied. "Like I know what's going through her head."
"But you're a girl, aren't you? Shouldn't you have a better idea than I do?"
The look he received in response told Flash that he had just said something he shouldn't have. That was always the trouble of talking before your brain had a moment to actually consider whether you should be speaking or not. Many a relationship had come to a dramatic, if not instant end because he couldn't, ironically, slow down.
"You know what, Flash?" the winged woman spoke, causing the young man to slowly begin cringing from what was assuredly a verbal tongue-lashing. "I'm going to pretend that you didn't just say that and start this machine up."
Oh...oh thank you, merciful Jesus. "Yeah, good idea." That's when he ran into a slight problem. "Umm, how do you start this thing up?"
As if in answer, the sound of a generator powering up sounded off, echoing throughout the cave. Startled, Flash whipped his head back and forth until he spotted Batgirl of all people standing in front of a previously unobserved computer panel. One of her hands was held out in front of her, a finger pressing down on a button.
A new sound came from the tank then, causing the speedster to turn back to it. Bubbles began to blow upwards through the water until the only thing visible through the tank's glass was a curtain of rapidly-moving bubbles.
"Oh," was all Flash was able to say.
"Well, this is going to take awhile," Hawkgirl remarked before she turned away from the tank. "It's time you and I headed back to Metropolis. We have a factory to search."
"What about J'onn?" the red-clad man asked, pointing at the tank.
"J'onn's not going anywhere and the others are about to leave, or have left while we've been messing around with this thing. The girl seems to know what she's doing with the equipment, so she can watch and, if need be, protect the place. Now let's go."
"Well, when you put it that way…"
The Lexcorp building was in shambles. The walls were cracked, pieces broken off due to some sort of fight. Considering all major media outlets had reported this place as being the battleground of a fight involving Superman, the visible damage made sense.
As a location that stored kryptonite and possible kryptonite-based weapons, Batman highly suspected the building had been cleared out at the first chance. No way would Luthor leave a treasure's trove of resources and equipment in a place that would be combed thoroughly with a fine-tooth comb following the fight. It had become a crime scene the moment Superman had entered it, so a law enforcement search was practically expected.
Entering the building through one of its many holes, Batman landed on the floor, the soft tapping of his boots touching cement echoing through the room. A moment later Diana joined him, touching down right next to him.
Silently the two scanned the room, searching for anything out of the unusual, be it a lead or a trap. All the while, Batman reached to a pouch on his belt and opened it, pulling out a small device.
Due to extensive research by Wayne Enterprises, STAR Labs, and a multitude of other laboratories, it was known that kryptonite gave off radioactive radiation, its ion composites exhibiting an unique signature. The device in the vigilante's hand was a modified Geiger counter, specifically designed to detect the presence of kryptonite by picking up the radiation it gave off.
Turning on the handheld device, Batman held it up in front of him and watched as the needle on its face began to swing back and force. A crackling sound was being emitted, softly at the moment but that would change momentarily.
Walking forward, the Dark Knight held the Geiger counter in front of him, a frown appearing on his face as he soon noticed the crackling sound growing louder. A few steps more and the needle was pressed towards the right side of the gauge.
Glancing to the floor, he was quick to note the signs of what looked like light scorch marks. Kneeling down, he reached a hand out, two fingers extended, and dragged them over the mark. Bringing his fingers back, he examined them, noting dark particles dropping off of them.
"Have you found something?" Diana inquired then, coming to a stop behind him.
"There was some kryptonite here," he answered her. "A strange place for it out in the open. Either someone dropped a piece here recently, or—"
"Or this was where the Joker placed his purple kryptonite on Superman," the Amazon finished for him. She paused for a moment. "What about those markings?"
"Something powerful and hot made them. If this is indeed where Superman was exposed, it's likely he was taken down with some sort of weapon." Glancing about the floor, he saw several more scorch marks. "Multiple shots were fired too. Yet, these could have been made when Superman was first here."
"Then we continue looking."
Standing back up, Batman ignored the constant pinging of the Geiger counter as he began to move forward. The device slowly began to quiet down until it was just a repetitive pop. As the two heroes passed the large chemical tanks, it was becoming apparent this part of the building was mostly for storage of chemicals, acids, and waste products, at least if the labels on the tanks were accurate. There were labels for hazardous waste, flammable and toxic warnings, and directions for safe practices painted the the hulls.
That was when Diana grabbed his shoulder, causing the dark-clad man to stop. Turning his head to look at her, he saw the Amazon pointing to a set of elevator doors. There wasn't anything peculiar about them, but they did offer access to the rest of the facility. Seeing no other reason than to do a thorough check, something they should do later if they hadn't found something more concrete, the vigilante allowed his comrade to lead him to the doors.
Once they reached it, Diana hit the up button, receiving immediate results as the doors slid open. Boarding the elevator, Batman was quick to note a panel with the buttons for the other floors as the doors behind them slid shut a moment later. However, toward the bottom of the panel a security card reader extended out. In fact, the card reader had been wrenched out of the panel, a couple of wires keeping it dangling in midair, revealing an opening from whence the wires emerged.
Kneeling down to look at it at eye level, Batman stared at it. Someone had wanted to bypass the security feature, that much was evident. Peering into the hole he noticed a couple pairs of wires had been cut and stripped, their copper wiring exposed. This had allowed the person to connect each wire with a different end.
But to what end? Glancing to the rest of the panel, he examined it until he realized one of the buttons lacked an identification number. For the various floors, the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on had been labeled on specific buttons. However, there was one that lacked such a label. While some buildings had blank buttons, they were usually towards the top of the panel, not the button as this one was.
Could it be so simple?
Hitting the number-less button, the elevator began to move down, a soft hum filling the steel cage. A few moments later the elevator came to a stop, the doors opening soon after. The first sight that greeted them was a small room with a steel wall facing them on the opposite side. Off to the right was a desk, which was cluttered with folders, papers, and a computer. To the left was a cot, a bed sheet lying on top of it in a pile along with a pillow. A nearby trashcan was overflowing with open plastic wrappers and fast food bags.
Batman narrowed his eyes. Someone had been living here, recently even. His nose detected the scent of old food, just on the verge of spoiling, if not spoiled already. Entering the room, he went directly to the desk, grabbing one of the folders and opening it.
Diana was right behind him, picking up a file as well and opening it to read it. While Batman didn't read every single word, he was skimming the document, and the parts he did set his teeth on edge.
A moment later, Diana spoke, "These documents speak a lot about kryptonite."
Placing his current folder down, the Dark Knight picked up another and simply scanned for any reference of kryptonite, finding several. Repeating this action over and over, he found most, if not all, of the documents were about kryptonite.
Specifically, they were about the weaponizing of the radiated rock.
While Batman wasn't surprised that someone was attempting to do this, it still left a sickening feeling in his gut. Before they left here, he was fully intent on gathering up any and all data on these kryptonite projects and removing them from the premises. There was no way he was going to leave such information out for anyone to stumble upon—assuming that such a thing hadn't already happened.
Faintly, he wondered why they hadn't been gathered already. Was Luthor so arrogant that he felt no one would find this place? Or perhaps he had enough leverage in the local police force for them to turn a blind eye to his properties. Or maybe it was simply that there was no way he could move all this stuff, not until the attention focused on the facility lessened.
Either way, someone had found this place and made themselves right at him.
Now though, that just left the two Leaguers one last place to check, that place being behind the steel door. Moving to it, the vigilante was quick to note a computer panel with a single button on it. Hitting the button, the door opened up, revealing another small room.
Entering the chamber, Batman was quick to realize it was a supply room. The only thing that was in here though were hazmat suits. Seeing a glass door directly in front of him, Batman could only surmise that the next room was a decontamination chamber.
Grabbing two of the suits, which were hanging from the wall by hooks, he tossed one to Diana, who caught it with a surprised look on her face. "Put that on," he grunted to her even as he began shoving a leg into his own suit, followed by the other.
"There is nothing beyond this room that can harm me," she stated matter-of-factually, lowering the hazmat suit down until it was half hanging from her hand, half lying on the floor.
"That may very well be," he admitted before adding, "but others aren't. If you go in there and there's radioactive material, you can easily carry it on your person and expose it to others who aren't immune to it."
The dark-haired woman slowly nodded her understanding before she too began putting on the suit. It took a couple of minutes for them to put on everything and make sure they were airtight—or at least as protected to the vigilante's satisfaction—but once they were ready, they stood in front of the glass door.
Punching a nearby button with a finger, the glass door slid to a side, allowing the two to enter it. A moment later the door slid back into place, a hissing sound being made as the room was sealed. Patiently they waited until another glass door opened and a sickly green light poured through the opening.
Mother of God…
Slowly, numbly even, Batman moved into the room. There was kryptonite everywhere, sitting on the floor, growing up and down the walls, even hanging from the ceiling. An occasional table and workstation broke up the formations, turning them into several smaller ones instead of one giant one. On top of the tables was various equipment, tools, and devices that were most likely the end-product of an engineer's design.
"Hera," Diana swore next to him, her voice distorted by the hazmat helmet.
"Luthor's made himself quite a collection," Batman commented, silently adding to himself, And this is just one of several stockpiles. He had been expecting a larger than normal stash of kryptonite, but this had gone beyond any of his expectations.
Exploring the room, Batman soon found himself drifting over to a workbench, an open tool box with several of its contents lying on the table. A transportable computer stand stood nearby and the Dark Knight couldn't help but take a seat on a stool and boot up the computer. It didn't take more than a few seconds before an image appeared, one that he recognized as a design blueprint. Reading over the specs, a design was pictured on the screen along with various equations and numeric values. As far as he could tell from his perusal, someone had been trying to create a device that discharged a power surge fueled by kryptonite. It wasn't a bad idea if one wanted to get into a fight with Superman; having a weapon that could hit him from long range and do serious damage was ideal.
However, the design he was reading required the discharge to be administered in close range—as in the target had to activate the device to fire off a blast of kryptonite-based energy. That hardly made any sense.
"Have you found something?" Diana asked him, coming to stand at his side.
"Possibly," Batman admitted before he pointed a finger at the design specs. "This is a blueprint for a weapon that emits kryptonite as a laser. Yet, from what I'm reading here, the target would have to trigger the firing mechanism. That goes against any conventional wisdom that I can think of."
"Perhaps they were trying to make something used in close-combat?" the Amazon suggested. "What better way to make sure Superman is hit by it than to fire it point blank?"
That was a fair point and it would have to take someone extremely brave, or extremely stupid to pull off. Looking to the table, he glanced at the objects on top of it. Aside from the tools, he couldn't help but notice a small buzzer lying discarded nearby. Its innards had been removed, making it useless, an empty shell.
For some reason he couldn't look away from the buzzer itself.
"My mother always said to carry an electric buzzer—you never knew when you'd need one, heh heh!"
Batman nearly smacked himself in the head. How could he have not seen this?! "The Joker's been here," he growled lowly.
Diana snapped her head to stare at him. "How do you know?"
Pointing to the empty buzzer, he explained, "That's what's left of an electric buzzer. The Joker was rather fond of one that could emit high doses of electricity." He then gestured to the computer. "And the design specs are of a device that requires close proximity to its target to be used."
"Such as an kryptonite-powered joy buzzer," Diana finished for him.
"The cot outside is where he slept and ate. He must've been here for days preparing to take down Superman, modifying his electric buzzer, creating that purple kryptonite." Batman scowled. "There's no telling how long he's been preparing for us."
"You believe he's made countermeasures like the ones you did?" Diana questioned him. Much to her credit, she didn't say that maliciously. She was coy with her words, suggestive if anything. She clearly didn't want to upset him, even if she was feeling that way herself.
"Let's look at what we know. The Joker created a strain of Joker Venom that could only be spread by Flash. He then made a synthetic kryptonite along with a kryptonite-based weapon to subdue and poison Superman." Batman paused to let his points sink in. "In my book, once is happenstance, twice is coincidence. I am not going to wait until a third instance for it to become a pattern."
"Not to mention your familiarity with this madman," she added.
He gave her a sharp nod. "Collect everything. Documents, papers, half-finished equipment, I want it all. We'll be transporting it all to the Cave for further analysis."
"What about the kryptonite?"
"I'll be disposing of that very soon."
"Well, that was a bust," Flash remarked as he came to a stop outside the large building. Hawkgirl stood nearby, arms crossed over her chest as she waited with a bored look on her face.
The decision had been simple: Flash would run through the entire complex and look for anything less than honest. The search had taken seconds and there hadn't been so much as a green hair found. There had been kryptonite, sure, but there was only one piece and it was currently on lock down. It would have taken someone with serious determination to break the lock, or pry the lead-lined door open. So much for a stockpile.
All of the equipment hadn't been used, no signs of foul play noticeable anywhere. This was definitely not the place they were looking for.
"Hopefully Bats and Wondy found something," the red-clad man added. "Wouldn't want any of this to be a waste of time."
"No kidding," Hawkgirl replied. "You're certain you didn't find anything? See something out of the ordinary?"
"Not even so much as a whoopee cushion, or a chattering box of teeth."
"Well then, we're heading back to the Batcave. Don't get too far ahead of—"
The sound of an explosion rang out, interrupting the Thanagarian. The sound had been dull and distant, indicating it was nowhere close. Both heroes turned their heads to look towards the city, seeing a rising cloud of smoke from deep inside Metropolis.
"If it isn't one thing, it's another," Flash muttered before turning his attention back to Hawkgirl. "We have to see what that is. There could be—"
"People hurt there, I know," the redhead interrupted. "Get there as soon as possible, but if there's any clown activity, you find me first before investigating."
"Roger, over and out." In an instant, Flash was running, the world blurring around him. He ran down a black line, making sharp turns left and right as necessary. The buildings lost their color, becoming an endless brown wall on either side of him.
And then Flash stopped, his feet skidding across the asphalt. Quickly, the blurring colors began to sharpen until he was able to make out the scene around him. Heh, well what do ya know? The First National Bank of Metropolis was getting hit. So it was an old-fashioned bank robbery.
This he could handle.
"Alright, guys!" the speedster hollered at the bank front. "This is the ever-popular, incredible, Fastest Man in the World, the Flash! I'm giving you a chance to come out with your hands above your head, and give yourselves up! Do so and I won't have to hurt any of you!"
There, that sounded reasonable to him. Unfortunately, the robbers inside didn't see it that way. It took a few seconds, but the sound of gunfire told Flash their response. The rapid-fire of bullets tore apart the glass doors, sending pieces of lead flying at the red-clad man.
"Whoa!" Flash exclaimed before he darted to his right, avoiding a hailstorm of bullets. Immediately he raced towards the bank, entering it milliseconds later. As it turned out, there were three robbers, only one of whom was firing their machine gun, the other two standing further back in the bank, each holding a sack in one of their hands. They were all dressed in turtlenecks and slacks, the usual outfit for crooks these days.
Due to his speed, Flash could see the gun-firing thug slowly turning his weapon as he tried to shoot at the speedster, bullets flying at incredibly slow speeds, the air around them rippling and leaving trails in their wake. Arcing his path, Flash closed the distance between him and the man, throwing a punch at the literal last moment, and slamming it into the guy's face.
The combined force of the punch and the speed in which it was thrown sent the robber flying off his feet and through the air, crashing into the wall seconds later. In the process he dropped his gun to the floor, a moment later followed by the man as he collapsed into a heap.
Not even breaking stride, Flash raced towards the other two robbers as they slowly moved to aim their guns at him. He reached the first one in half a heartbeat, leveling him with a fist to the face, knocking him down to the ground. Not even missing a step, the red-clad man was right at the last man an instant later, decking him as well and sending him to dreamland on the floor.
And then Flash came to a stop, the world around him returning to normal. Dusting his hands off, he looked at his handiwork with a little satisfaction. That had done a world of good for him.
In fact, he would've called up Hawkgirl to tell her everything was all said and done had something not slammed into his side, and sent him crashing into a wall before dropping to the floor. "Ow, he groaned before shifting so he could push himself up.
That when he caught sight of a new guy. Unlike the robbers sprawled on the ground, this guy seemed to take his fashion seriously. An older gentleman—if the white at his temples were any indication and Flash was pretty sure it was—was standing in a rather nice suit. He even had an old-fashioned blue cape hanging from his shoulders.
"I see you have dealt with the riff-raft," the man spoke haughtily, raising a hand up to adjust a monocle in front of his left eye. "I should have known better than to have hired them."
"I'd say," Flash agreed even as he pushed himself onto his feet. It was then that he realized this old dude hadn't been anywhere near where the Speedster had been standing. There was no visible weapon in his hand, so how the heck had he delivered a wallop of a blow to him? "Mind telling me why you're robbing a bank?"
"For the money, why else?" the man responded as if he were talking to an imbecile, his—admittedly awesome—mustache twitching with irritation. "Now if you would kindly get out of my way, I'll be taking my leave."
"Sorry, pal, but you chose the wrong time to be doing this."
"To the contrary, there is no better time considering."
Oh, so that's how it was. This guy was taking advantage of Superman's attack and its aftermath to score a quick buck. Real nice, guy, real nice. "Well, hate to break to ya, but this was really the worse time for your shenanigans. It's been a long day and I really don't have the patience to be playing with you. So how about you give yourself up and save the both of us a lot of grief."
"No, I rather think I will not do such a thing."
Flash was about to say, "Suit yourself," before knocking the guy out cold. He never got the chance, however, as the guy's monocle began to glow before a laser beam fired out of it.
"Whoa!" he shouted as he darted to a side, the beam flying behind him, sizzling through the air. He could practically feel the heat of it against his back. So that was what had hit him earlier, it just had to be.
However, the elderly man didn't seem content on just firing one beam. Instead, he began rapidly firing multiple energy blasts at him, creating a barrage of lasers that streak towards him.
Unfortunately for him, those beams would never hit the red-clad man. Instantly he was ducking, bobbing, and weaving through the oncoming onslaught, dashing from side to side as he juked and twisted his body through the space between the blasts. It was child's play really.
And all the while, he drew closer to the monocle guy, speeding himself up so he could avoid the beams at close range. The moment he was within hitting distance, Flash let him have it, driving his fist up and landing an uppercut to his foe's chin. Head snapping back, the man was lifted off his feet and sailed backwards until he landed unceremoniously on his back on the floor. Even better, Flash spotted the man's monocle skipping across the ground on its rim, until it hit the crown molding of a wall, bouncing off of it and clattering onto one spot on its side.
"Kinda feeling stupid right about now," Flash remarked, arms across his chest as he looked lazily at the old man. He was lying on his side, shifting about with his cape draped over his head while one arm was raised up to make a tent out of it. "Don't worry, that's how most people feel when taking on the Fastest Man Alive."
The man went still then. "Is that so?"
"Yeah, pretty sure."
The man moved his cape from over his head with his extended arm. The next thing Flash knew, a blue flash fired from the man's face, blasting his feet and lower legs. The speedster felt intense cold as he yelped, falling over and landing on his side. Gritting his teeth, he looked down at his feet, only to see them encased in ice. Oh, that just couldn't be good.
"It would seem I am not the one to be feeling—how do you say—stupid," the older man spoke as he rose to his feet. Returning his attention to him, Flash saw he had another monocle on and he was looking down at the red-clad hero with disdain.
"I will have you know that I have many monocles, dear sir; one for every occasion. As you can most certainly feel, this one freezes people."
"Great, so you collect fancy eyeglasses, big whoop," Flash bit out sarcastically. "That's not much of a gimmick, I'll have you know...uhh..."
He paused, eyes blinking dumbly. "What's your name again?"
The man pointed his nose up. "I have not given it nor shall I offer it to a wretch like you."
Flash shrugged. "Hey, that's okay. I'll just come up with one for you. Let's see...Bushy Brows? Suit Guy? How about the Rich Cape? Like that sound of that one? It does have a ring to it."
The old man went red in the face, probably from anger. Scratch that, most definitely anger. "Never, you twit! If you must know me by something, you may call me...call me…"
Flash smirked at him. "See? Not so easy, is it?"
"Silence!" the man roared. "I am...the Monocle! All that see me shall tremble beneath my presence!"
There was a silence. Then, "Kinda like Rich Cape better."
"Well, I don't! And just to make sure I never hear that name again, I'm going to freeze that mouth of yours shut!"
Flash's eyes widened. "Ohhhh, you don't want to do that."
The Monocle's...monocle...began to glow blue, a gleeful smile appearing on his face. "Enjoy your cold sleep, peasant."
"How about not?"
Flash jerked his head around while Monocle lifted his up. Flying through the open bank door was Hawkgirl, racing towards the old guy with her face twisted in anger.
Alright! The cavalry was here!
And then Monocle fired his freezing blast again, only this time right at the charging Thanagarian. She tried to move to a side, but wasn't able to as one of her wings was hit, ice immediately encasing it. Screaming, the redhead dropped to the ground, skidding over it as her momentum kept her moving until she came to a stop.
"So you did bring some help," Monocle commented, staring at the fallen woman. "Perhaps I have overstayed my welcome." Looking to Flash, he took a step closer to him before kneeling down. "It would be so easy to finish the both of you here and now, but I feel this is appropriate enough. Let your defeat here be the prison to that pride of yours. Know that forevermore, the Monocle was the man to bring you down."
Standing back up, he then sauntered towards the back of the bank, heading right for the vault. Even from where he was lying, Flash could see a back exit near the vault, only to be used for emergencies, but the red-clad man felt that Monocle didn't care about such matters.
Damn, this sucked.
Hope y'all caught the Deadpool reference. It was just too good of a moment to pass up, I must say.
