CHAPTER 13. A SPECTACULAR VIEW.

21:00

She kept running for thirteen minutes until she reached the town's electrical substation, which was made possible by the fact that she was going downhill. This happened while, in the town, some of the people had already gone home, a large number were still in the very center of the place where the comet would hit, some were still flying kites, and others were attentive to see the Comet Petropoulos itself, even without knowing that in a short time they would be ashes if that girl did not manage to evacuate them in time.

Tired from all she had to run, she stopped and put her hands on her knees to catch her breath for a minute until a light shone on her. That light was coming from a scooter, a scooter that Barry rode.

"Barry!" She yelled when she saw that he had gone there as the boy she did not want to forget had ordered her to do as part of the plan.

"Diana!" He yelled. He didn't expect to see her there, especially when she borrowed his bike to go up the mountain to see something he didn't know what it was, but at least she was back. "Where the hell were you?" He asked to find out if she had been somewhere else, because he didn't think it would take that long to go up, and it should have taken less when she was just checking if something was in one place.

She didn't want to answer that, because it was only going to distract him, but she was going to tell him what the boy she didn't want to forget told her to tell Barry.

"He says he's sorry for losing your bike" She said. Barry was soon confused by this phrase.

"Who's sorry to lose my bike?" He asked.

It didn't take long for her to see that if he told her who really lost it, they would get off topic, so she decided to lie.

"I mean me, Barry" She said, pointing at herself. With this, she only increased the confusion in her friend, but it served to change the subject.

"This is very confusing. Explain it to me later" Barry said, getting up from the bike and going to the fence with barbed wire on top. Besides, he didn't notice that she already had her ribbon tied around her head again.

Barry put the backpack he had brought on the ground next to the fence, opened it, and took out a large pair of pliers made for cutting metal. You could see he was also carrying the bomb wire. Before starting to cut with the tweezers, he asked his friend: "Is the comet going to fall? Really?" He said it because he didn't want to do something so stupid for nothing. He could say and do nonsense from time to time, but not on such a large scale.

"Yes Barry. The comet will fall on the town. I saw it with my own eyes" Was what she replied, without mentioning that she had seen the horrible view from the mountain with the big 8 formed by the two lakes.

"Oh really? Then it's decided. We are officially criminals" He said all this while a mischievous smile spread over his face, before chuckling lightly and then cutting the chain attached to a padlock that was stopping the door from opening.

XXX

21:10

"What? Do I really have to do it?" Iris asked Barry on her cell phone, who, along with her other friend, had planted the bomb and it was a few minutes away from exploding, so she would have to make the announcement from the radio station once the bomb did its job.

"Yeah. When the town's power goes out, the emergency generators will be turned on. After that, use the transmission equipment" Barry explained, yelling at her, but because the sound of the scooter was interfering too much with what he wanted to say. This too, while her friend was holding her phone because she was sitting behind him on the scooter, and it was not good to drive a two-wheeler with a cell phone in hand.

"Please, Iris, repeat the message as many times as you can. Don't be afraid" She told her. Silently, she was very grateful to them for helping her, despite how crazy this whole comet thing sounded.

"Wahoo! You can do it, Iris!" Barry yelled from the four winds, this made him very excited, and he wanted to support her friend. After this, she finished the call.

After her friend hung up, Iris sat down on the chair, and began to press the buttons very nervously. Despite what her friends told him, and that she wanted to help, this whole plan was still so crazy that she was still hesitant to participate, but she calmed down by telling herself that there was no other option.

Barry and his friend were a long way from the substation when she asked if the explosion was far away. After all, time was of the essence.

"And what do I know?" Barry asked, nonchalant. He knew the importance of time, but he was sure he had done a good job, and he had.

Seconds after this exchange of questions and answers, a large and devastating explosion occurred in the substation, the fire could be seen even at the great distance in which the two friends were from it. Barry gave a nervous laugh, while his friend just stared nervously at the fire.

The explosion did not go unnoticed by the villagers, they could even see the smoke from the substation, but not the fire, since it was uphill. Suddenly, all the light in the town (from the buildings, from the light poles, from the lights that adorned the streets along the Katheri Deftera, including that of the mayor's office) left, leaving the town of Little Volos as a large lake without a town, that is if you could see it from a long distance.

Unfortunately, the explosion did not make the inhabitants of Little Volos start to leave. Everyone was confused as to why it had happened and didn't know if they should leave or stay in place. They got the answer when a little boy looked at the sky and told the others to look there. Everyone paid attention and could see the great spectacle that the Petropoulos comet was leaving them, with its blue tail that illuminated everything in its path, as if it were a great light, but natural.

Not a minute passed before the alarm blared over the speakers, and then it was replaced by Iris's flustered voice.

"This is an announcement from the Little Volos Town Hall. You are informed that there was an explosion at the substation. There may be more explosions and even forest fires. The neighbors have to evacuate the area and go to the Little Volos High School" That was the announcement that she had to give as many times as possible.

XXX

21:15

Once Iris's announcement was heard over the loudspeakers, Mayor Princeton was working with his entire team at City Hall, once emergency power came on after it went out from the explosion.

"If the transmission didn't come from here, then where did it come from?" Asked the mayor.

XXX

Iris's ad seemed to work, but very slowly. Some were already going straight to Little Volos High School very calmly, not like in a drill, but moving at a snail's pace, but others didn't know whether to stay or not.

In this time, Barry and his friend had finally made it back to the town, on the scooter. Barry leaned the scooter too far to slam it to a stop, but he nearly hit it. Fortunately, the two friends escaped unharmed and went to the place where the comet was going to impact in no time, while Barry's friend was still concentrating on, in a certain part, the name of the boy she wanted to see once they finished this.

"Everyone, evacuate! There is a fire!" It's what Barry said to the people who were being so slow to evacuate.

"Fire! Please evacuate" Is what she said, while Iris kept repeating the announcement over and over again.

The two of them said that, besides that the place was not safe, but it seemed that people were ignoring them or just asleep on their feet and therefore did not pay them a measly attention.

"It does not work. We're running out of time, Diana" Barry said, seeing that what they were doing was useless, and they needed help from the person she hated the most in the world. He grabbed his friend by the shoulder to get her attention, but when she turned to him, he noticed that she was shedding tears. "Why are you crying?" He asked, surprised that she was doing that in such a critical situation.

She thought about not telling him, but the frustration and sadness she felt from what had just happened in her mind was too much.

"It's just that... I can't remember his name anymore!" She answered him. Despite her optimism, she had forgotten that boy's name again, so seeing him again seemed like an impossibility one more time.

However, this only confused Barry more, as there was no point in him forgetting the name of the comet, or his father. In the end, he didn't know anything about what she was talking about at the moment.

"What's wrong with you? You started this! We can't evacuate the town without help! You have to convince your father, fast!" Shouted him. He had to make her react.

This served, so she ran away again, but towards the mayor's office. It was obvious that her obnoxious father would be there.

Seeing this, Barry again tried to evacuate the townspeople, along with Iris's announcement, without much success, it is not known if it was because the announcement did not come from the town hall itself, or if the townspeople were too stupid to ignore that there was an explosion just a few minutes ago.

While she was running, people were surprised that the mayor's daughter was there, running at full speed, that or because they hadn't seen her all day.

XXX

At the mayoralty, progress had been made. They had discovered that the explosion had not been made by terrorists, but they were still investigating where the evacuation announcement came from. Even Mayor Princeton was also working to find out if any of that announcement had come true, like the forest fires, or another explosion.

"What?" Asked the mayor. "Has the fire not spread? Sure? Understood." That was what he said after they confirmed that there was no fire. Now, it was time to finish off the person who kept repeating the evacuation announcement. He wasn't happy about being messed with and the alarm system, and, well, no one would be happy about that. "I want you to remove that transmission. Don't you know where it comes from?" He asked one of his employees, who still didn't have an answer to give his demanding boss.

"Mayor, they have detected a signal from Little Volos High School" Said an employee who had quickly entered the office.

This really surprised Mayor Princeton. The announcement was not expected to be made there, plus they had infiltrated the alarm system very easily.

XXX

Shortly after the discovery of the origin of the transmission of the evacuation announcement, Iris continued repeating the announcement commissioned by her friend, but was interrupted by employees of the town hall.

"What are you doing? Turn that off!" Said one of the employees, and could be heard over the speakers.

Seconds later, the employees were escorting her to the exit, she was crying over this situation.

"What were you thinking, Iris?" Asked one of the employees. It was obvious they wouldn't understand why she was doing that.

Hearing this over the loudspeakers, Iris's friends knew that she had been caught, so now everything had become complicated, and even worse when a town hall employee spoke over the PA system.

"Attention, this is an announcement from the Little Volos council. At this time, we are verifying the accident report. Please keep calm. Stay where you are until further notice" Was what the employee said.

This announcement made everyone stand still, or sit for those in their homes. Now, the evacuation of the town was almost impossible.

Despite this great limitation, Barry did not want to give up.

"Come on, there's a fire! Evacuate! Let's take refuge in the school" He kept saying.

"Allen!" His father's voice said. Barry turned, and saw that his father was accompanied by two of his construction employees. He knew what awaited him. "What are you doing?" He asked, but it was clear he was furious.

"I'm sorry, Diana. We're dead" Barry said to himself, hoping his friend would hear him, head held high. He closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened it, he couldn't believe what he saw in the sky. "I can't believe it. It's really breaking" He said again to himself.

In the end, his friend was right, the comet was breaking up, and it was more than likely to fall on the town.

The comet breaking into two pieces was seen by everyone, not only in the town of Little Volos, but also in the other areas surrounding the town, and wherever the comet was.

XXX

21:25

In a large mansion, which could surely fit fifty people, or even a hundred, a certain boy was in the large room, along with his parents and his butler, attentive to the news, since both he and the other three people, they were watching for the comet as well.

"Can you believe it?" Asked the newscaster. "Comet Petropoulos broke into two large pieces and now they are falling into several meteorites" He informed.

Not only was the comet splitting up being talked about in that newscast, but in all the others. Some tried to explain this event, such as that it was the consequence of a change in the planet's tides or that the nucleus must have had some fault, they even mentioned another comet that had the same thing happen to it in the 1990s, but which ended up colliding with Saturn. It was also said that the meteorites detached from the comet would be pulverized before hitting the ground; or even if they did make it to the surface unscathed, it was highly unlikely that they would hit a residential area. The only thing that didn't change was that no one had foreseen this. What they did say was that it was a mystical sight, and that they were in the presence of one of the greatest natural spectacles in the world and that everyone was lucky to witness it.

He, being so excited, got up from the armchair, and spoke to his parents.

"Come on, we have to see this from the outside. We can't lose It for nothing" Was what he said.

The parents agreed. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and his son was excited about it. So, they got up from the sofa.

"Alfred, come. You also have to be part of this" The boy said to the butler, who wanted to stay inside. After hearing this, the butler he referred to as Alfred joined them and they left the large mansion to the place where the pool was. It was the best place to see it.

XXX

21:25

With the comet splitting apart, and visible to the entire town of Little Volos, Barry and Iris kept yelling at Mayor Princeton's employees or allies to go to tell him to evacuate the town. The comet had already split, and with each passing second, the tragedy was closer to repeating itself.

The only person who could change that was still running at full speed. She had gone down the stairs and was again going straight. But, she wasn't focused on the comet, but on the name of the boy she wanted to see when this was over, and his name, which she couldn't remember.

"Who are you?" Thought. "Who? Who? Who is he?" She asked again, hoping her memory would give her the answer. "He is someone important. Someone I shouldn't forget. Someone I would never want to forget" She kept telling herself, at least she knew he was important to her. "Who? Who? Who are you? What's your name?" She kept wondering, but she didn't get an answer.

Those thoughts were interrupted by the sight of the comet splitting apart and the meteors falling from it.

"Oh, no" She said. She knew the time was close to running out.

This made her not see that there was a hole in the road. Stepping on it, she stumbled, fell sideways and rolled for a few meters, got up in the air for a few seconds and fell to the ground hitting her head. She was there for a few minutes, sad and in pain from the blow, added to the fact that she could not remember the name of that person.

"So that we don't forget it when we wake up, let's write our name on each other" Was what he told her. It was the only thing she could remember of him, apart from his appearance. This made her pay attention to her right hand. That's where he had written his name on it. So, she opened her hand slowly, happy because it had his name, but it turns out that it wasn't his name that he had written on it.

"I LOVE YOU" Was what he wrote on the palm of his hand.

Tears were falling down her face. She was sadder now. She got up slowly, to regain strength, with her gaze still fixed on the palm of her hand.

"Reading this…doesn't help me. I don't know your name" She said to herself before crying for a few seconds. Now, finding him after this was over seemed impossible again. However, she wasn't going to let this stop her, so she stopped crying and went back to running at full speed until she reached the town hall in a few minutes.

"Dad" She said as she caught her breath in the doorway.

"There you are" Donna said, who had turned to her. She was sitting in the office sofa next to Aunt Antiope, who had also turned to see her niece in that place. Antiope didn't want to see him after all this time, but because of the alarm, she had taken the little girl to that place and waited for him to tell them what they were going to do or what was going to happen.

"Diana, you again?" asked Mayor Princeton. He didn't expect and didn't want to see his daughter again, although it could be more understandable, since this must be her real daughter, not the one that looked like her, but in the end it wasn't.

His answer was found when his daughter walked towards him, she stood in front of his desk, with an upright posture, a serious face (because she hated him a lot), she had her ribbon tied to her head, although one could see the occasional scratch on her head, her face and on one knee.

Antiope and Donna couldn't hear what that girl had said to her father at that moment, not even when she said "If you really loved my mother, then evacuate the town now" in a whisper.

XXX

21:42

While this was happening, he, along with his parents and butler, was enjoying all this visual spectacle. His parents had their hands entwined, and his butler was just standing, with a smile on his face, and his hands joined behind his back, that was his usual position when he was calm.

Everyone was happy to see this great sight, and more to see their son happy. He just knew, this was like seeing something out of a dream. Nothing more or less than a spectacular view.

And it was even more spectacular when meteorites fell on the country, destroying certain areas empty of people and animals. But, without a doubt, the best thing about this show was a certain meteorite that went through the clouds quite calmly and headed for the town of Little Volos.

It seemed like everything had gone silent for a moment when the meteorite collided, at first it formed a small explosion in a small area, but from one second to the next, it was a totally devastating explosion that destroyed a large part of the town. It destroyed all the houses, buildings, infrastructure, the bridge through which it was crossed, raised the earth that was under the lake due to the force of the same explosion, and even the wind shook all the trees in the forest that were near the town.

That explosion lasted about three minutes, but for anyone who has seen it, it could have been the longest three minutes of their entire life. When it finished, you could still see the earth raised by the meteorite crash and a great fire in that entire region.

XXX

11:00

The sun was shining all over the place. It illuminated the entire region, including the top of the mountain where he was sleeping. He spent the night on that peak. It had been a very uncomfortable night from trying to sleep on the ground, but the fatigue was too noticeable to not fall asleep. He wanted to walk back down the hill, but it would take so long, and if he tripped and fell on something he couldn't see, he would have been hard to find, so he had stayed there.

He opened his eyes when it began to feel quite hot, and he was up in no time. He stood up, and saw the large lake that formed an 8 in front of him. He rubbed his eyes a bit to get used to the sight, and this made him see that a straight line was written on the palm of his hand, just a straight line.

"What do I do here? What am I doing here?" He asked himself, since he didn't remember anything he had done the day before, not even the reason why he had come to that mountain.

Since he couldn't remember anything, he simply went back to the altar for his backpack, still not noticing or remembering what he had done the previous days. When he saw that nothing was missing, he left there and started walking down the hill. The good thing is that he still had enough money to get back to Gotham when he got to the train station.