04
A (Not So) Normal Day in Central City
Cadence turned off the blender, licking spilled smoothie off the side of her thumb. She poured the contents into a water bottle before dumping the pitcher into the sink to fill with water, making a mental note to do the dishes later. She looked at her watch and leaned to the side to look out from the kitchen, half expecting her son to suddenly appear before her eyes, as was to happen first thing in the morning; half asleep and not thinking much about the use of his powers. The amount of times he'd managed to make her jump with his sudden appearances had grown exponentially since he'd grown another few inches, thus keeping him sleeping much longer.
That didn't mean she'd let him be late for school.
"Brady!" She called. "Come on, you're going to be late." She listened hard, waiting for any sign of movement from her son's bedroom and sighed, hearing nothing. She then spoke to Conner, who sat quietly at the breakfast table. "You'd think having you around would help him wake up quicker." Conner smiled and shrugged. Twisting her mouth aside, Cadence leaned on the island, watching him. He slowly, almost methodically, spooned cereal into his mouth, eyes downcast. "How are you doing today?" She asked.
Conner shrugged. "Fine," he mumbled. He reached for a napkin when milk dribbled down his chin. For any boy on the cups of turning thirteen, it would've embarrassed them, a bright flush coming to their cheeks as their eyes darted around, trying to determine if there was anyone watching. Instead, he almost dejectedly wiped at his face.
"Has Oliver or Felicity called?"
She knew the answer before Conner even thought about shaking his head. She figured as much. It was a delicate situation, she understood that. It was hard for anyone to come back from what he'd seen and the ramifications that still haunted him and Star city. She tried to shield him from as much of it as she could, but it never took too long for the name 'Hawke' to be connected to what happened. Not to mention the last time she'd heard from them had been just before she sent out invitations to Team Arrow for the engagement party. She should've known something was up when she didn't even get a phone call from Thea, who was almost always attached to her phone.
"I'm sure they'll get in touch when they can."
"Yeah…" Conner agreed. His eyes shifted back to his cereal bowl, shoulders barely rising in a shrug.
Cadence nodded, understanding how he was feeling. She moved around the counter and headed toward Brady's room, ruffling Conner's hair as she passed. Reaching her son's room, she knocked, leaning against the door frame. "Brady!"
There was a second of silence before he managed to mumble a gruff, "Come in."
She pushed open the door and went inside to see Brady sitting on the edge of his bed, dressed, but continuing to wipe sleep from his eyes. "Are you going to school today or should I call them?" She lifted a finger. "Fair warning, that the past few years you've always arrived sometime in October and I think the fact I had you there at August will work against you, bud."
"I'm just tired," Brady replied.
"Uh-huh." Cadence watched him closely, watched as he tugged at his left ear, yawning once more. Her eyebrows twitched upwards, recognizing the same movement he'd made since he was a baby. He truly was tired if he started to pull at his ear. She thought for a moment, trying to figure out what it could be. Decided to ask. "Did you stay up all night talking, or did you go out to look for the Samuroid?"
Brady only gave a tired smile in response. That didn't help. It could've been either of them as the actual answer. "I think I need to get better with my sneaking out skills," he joked.
"Yeah, I'd quit using the front door," Cadence joked back. Then she frowned, folding her arms. "There's more than that, Brade. I need you to stop looking for trouble outside of what I send you on."
Brady lifted a finger the same way his mother had only minutes before. "But it's not me," he pointed out. "It's Shadowhunter."
"And when was the last time that excuse worked? Whether or not you find yourself doing something 'as Shadowhunter'," she used air quotes around the words, "There's more than enough people who will try to find out your identity and use it against you when they do." Her words registered with him, making him lower his head and nod, finally dropping his hand from his ear. "Besides, you know how dangerous it is if you go up against something you're not ready for."
"I know, I know," Brady droned, rolling his eyes. "Everyone around me can be in a lot of danger, especially those that don't know about my identity." He paused, nodding out toward the hallway. "And those that do." He paused. "Mom?" His face screwed up. "Why haven't Oliver and Felicity asked for him?"
"I suppose it's too dangerous for him to go back right now."
"Yeah, but not even calling?"
"I don't know, bud," Cadence suddenly felt very tired. The weight of having to take care of two boys by herself falling on her shoulders. "They said they would—"
"—Seems like not keeping promises is a thing now." Brady stood and grabbed his backpack from the ground. "Lucky us." He slung it over his shoulder, giving his mother a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving the room.
Cadence leaned back against the wall, so he could pass. "Brady," she started.
Brady turned to face her, the weight of his backpack nearly knocking him over. He frowned in annoyance, before steadying himself, reaching out with his hand to phase the air particles around him. "I don't need a lecture, mom. And I don't need you to make excuses for him."
"I'm not," Cadence said calmly. "I was just going to say it's two different situations. One that we won't understand because we're not in it. All we can do is be there for Conner until Oliver thinks it's right for him to be back in Star City. Just be his best friend until then, okay?"
Brady looked offended. "Why wouldn't I be his best friend?"
Cadence chuckled. Things were easy for him. Tended to be black and white, as his youth didn't make him experience so much that'd make him jaded to everything. Though his superhero antics had certainly changed him through the past four years. She still saw his excitement and almost hyperactivity toward his powers and powers that anyone else would learn they'd have, but found it to be where his enthusiasm tended to start and end, sarcasm and cynicism coming more to the forefront in his interactions with others.
"Just go to school."
"I'm going." Brady looked over and nodded as Conner picked up his backpack from the floor by his chair. He started toward the door then paused, looking back at the cereal bowl he left on the table. "It's alright, mom'll clean it up."
Cadence rolled her eyes. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." Brady smiled impishly. "Have a good class. See you later." Conner lifted a hand in a small wave, leaving behind his best friend.
Cadence closed the door behind her then looked at her watch, then leisurely went through the rest of her morning routine. She tossed the bowl into the sink and filled it with water, then wiped down the counters and table top before heading to the door. She grabbed the gym bag she had held there and slung it over her shoulder, leaving the apartment building.
She waved to the receptionist and those in the leasing office before stepping out into the streets of Central City. Some streets that were broken, torn apart with orange construction cones that forced residents to step into the streets. And yet, there was nothing but smiles on the faces of the citizens. Central City managed to come back from the destruction from the Assassination Bureau and Savitar, much faster than she thought they would.
It was the higher ups, the city officials, the mayor and those that made the laws of the city that seemed not to be able to move on. Even as she passed random telephone poles, boards sitting outside of businesses, and flyers hanging in the window, she saw the reminders of the citywide curfews and new practices for those found out to be metahumans.
That was probably the worst part, knowing things were slowly getting worse for metahuman life. Lex Luthor's presence in his presidential campaign was nothing short of ruining the quality of life that metahumans could have. Especially with those opposing him that were working to make Central City a haven for metas. First was the curfew, then there were whispers of putting in measures to determine who was or had the chance of becoming a meta.
Similar to the metahuman watch that Harry had brought over from Earth-2. It made sense to have the piece of technology there, Zoom targeting metas to join his team was needed, striking down those that opposed him. Just like it made sense for the CCPD to take on security measures from STAR Labs inventions and innovations that'd make it easier for them to take on anyone they'd find out—too late as it tended to be—was, in fact, a metahuman.
The rumors of what was to come after that…? That was the part she couldn't stomach. Things were slowly starting to go downhill, and it wasn't anything they could ignore much longer. Especially with the disappearance of the Flash and the appearance of the Samuroid. All the headers scrolling across the bottom of TVs in businesses were talking about it, about the damage that needed to be fixed, about the money it would cost to do so.
About how much longer could they pretend that metahumans weren't helping the city but hurting them.
And, every morning, Cadence pushed the thoughts away as she went to the city's health center and taught a Zumba class. Something she'd taken up after a year of absence, finding it to fill a void of some sort. Not just to fill a void, but to bring happiness back to her life. The year before had been nothing but bad things happening one after another and it was a goal to be happier. Starting off the day with a Zumba class certainly did it.
What made it even better was going to Jitters afterward and having breakfast with Mallory Jenkins, her best friend since high school. It had been a surprise to find Mallory standing in front of her, trying to make sense of the GPS on her phone to get her to her destination—something that'd been affected by the magnetic meta they'd worked against a few days prior.
"Mall?" Cadence asked, tilting her head to look at the young woman's face as she approached, ready to apologize had she been wrong. "Be Fri?"
Mallory faced her, blonde hair flying for her face, before a bright smile illuminated her face. "St. End!" She reached out and grabbed Cadence in a massive hug, a hug that Cadence easily and excitedly returned. "Cade, wow, I can't believe I ran into you!"
"Me either," Cadence agreed. She hitched her bag up her shoulder. "I thought you were in Metropolis."
"I was," Mallory agreed. She then briefly closed her eyes. "Oh, right, the whole engagement thing. I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to you, when you were in Metropolis to meet up, I had so much stuff I was doing. With the move and everything."
"You moved to Central City?"
"Keystone. I commute into Central City for listings and showings. And I'm sorry I couldn't celebrate your engagement or go the party. I heard it was a blow out." Mallory's smile widened, the lapels of her jacket bunching as she did so. "Then again, it is your mother, I can't expect anything less."
Cadence laughed. "That's very true," she agreed. "it was a good party. I, uh, went back to Metropolis recently, to plan some more stuff. To see my mom." And to quickly take a trip to Earth-38 to meet up with Kara and Deity, but that wasn't anything she could slip into the conversation. Cadence was suddenly very aware of the feeling she hadn't had to feel in a long time; the conscious decision of having to keep her identity and powers a secret. "You can probably guess how that went."
"She's pretty excited, huh?"
"To the point that she's messaged me almost every day to talk wedding stuff. Recently, it was about what kind of forks I want at the reception." Cadence made a face. "I didn't know forks were a very serious thing at weddings."
Mallory laughed. "So, when do I get to meet the groom to be?"
Cadence wracked her brain, trying to figure out whether she had met Barry the last time they'd been around each other in Metropolis. Even then, her mind was also on the thought that it'd mean she'd have to explain for the umpteenth time that he was on Sabbatical and would be back soon. If 'soon' had any measurement of time in the Speed Force, anyway.
But Mallory continued, not seeming to notice Cadence's hesitation. "And I need to see little Brady again."
Cadence grinned. "Not so little anymore. He'll be thirteen next year."
"It's been that long already?"
"Believe me, it even surprises me." The conversation petered out a bit from there, with the two quickly bidding goodbye so that they wouldn't be late for work. It was Mallory who'd turned around and asked if she'd like to meet up for coffee when she was finished with her class. Cadence had hesitated at first, wanting to use that time between her class ending and going to work to head to STAR Labs and patrol the city.
One day away won't kill you, Cadence reminded herself. And every few days or so they would meet up for coffee—hot chocolate in Cadence's case, the excess caffeine was certainly not needed-and talk before they went to work. They talked about everything, starting up their friendship once more, everything but the more important thing, that Cadence was Flare and when she suddenly had to leave it was because there was some sort of disturbance she had to take down.
But part of her was glad to be able to be normal, not having to worry about her other life. To be herself…to forget everything she tried to forget by the time she went to sleep and the darkened thoughts crept into her head, her defenses lowered.
A routine that she continued that day, moving quickly after class ended. "Okay, you guys, that's enough for today!" She called over the head-mic stuck in her ear, voice booming through the studio. She smiled to herself, lowering her volume to say, "I'll see you all again next week."
She waved to her class, grabbed her towel, and roughed it across her face before leaving the health center to head to Jitters. Along the way she was stopped by her phone frantically buzzing with messages. Her heart jolted as she grabbed her phone, rising with hope that she tried hard to swallow. Maybe it was some news…?
Cadence whipped out her phone and tried to swallow the bitterest pill of dashed hope when she saw it was Captain Singh trying to get a hold of her. It had to be serious if he were messaging her that early. Then again, the nature of her job was that serious and couldn't be ignored. Glancing around, Cadence ducked down an alleyway, bending her head over her phone to respond to Captain Singh and send Mallory an apology text with the offer for a rain check. Once she got more information, she could teleport straight there and get started.
Nothing was going to keep her from getting started on a new case. Anytime she closed out with a child moving to a safer home, she immediately moved onto the next one. There were too many kids in Central City getting hurt, being neglected, or taken advantage of by their family that she couldn't sit back and wait. There were times she had to go to court and as nerve wracking as it is, she wouldn't miss those days either, even the long nights to get ready for them.
She'd spent days of all-nighters to get ready for Frankie's court case, scouring over every piece of evidence against John and his wife to prove he'd been hurting her long before anyone caught wind of it. Found anything that would make it so that her metahuman abilities didn't come up as evidence in any way. It still made her smile when she saw the defeat in John's eyes. And now that Frankie was living a better life, she moved onto the next case, though checked in on Frankie much more than she had before.
Captain Singh must've had a dire situation for her if he needed to pull her in early. It took Cadence only a few seconds to realize she was being followed. Lifting her head, Cadence risked a quick glance over her shoulder to find a taller man dressed in a jacket with a hood pulled up, following close her. Close enough to keep her in his sights, but not close enough to appear as if it were a coincidence he was there.
Cadence slowed her steps, sighing patiently when she heard the footsteps behind her slow as well. Someone out to rob her. Oh well, she thought. At least I can have some fun before work. Cadence abruptly turned around, making the man stop as well, his eyes widening at her movement.
"Oh, sweetie," she said, folding her arms. Her eyes slowly, very slowly started to grow orange. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
The man continued to stare at her, then quickly moved, bringing his arm back. Cadence's eyes shifted down toward the glinting object that moved at his side, sawing through the air with the movements of his arms as he careened toward her. A knife. Of course.
They never seemed to learn.
Cadence waited until he got close before setting off a blast of hear vision into the attacker's hand. The strike smacked the knife out of his hand, sending it careening back over his shoulder. He stopped in his tracks, looking at her in surprise, seconds before the pain registered.
A scream tore from his throat, eyes bulging out as he turned his smoking hand to get a good look at the damage she'd caused. Then he clenched his teeth and turned his glare to Cadence, who continued to stand calmly before him. With a loud cry, he brought back his uninjured hand and threw a punch toward Cadence's head. She ducked out of the way and kicked him swiftly in the chest with enough power to knock him back, to bruise him, but not enough to break any bones or send him into the wall behind her.
Nevertheless, he got back to his feet. This time, thankfully, a look of fear came to his eyes. Just enough so that he understood the trouble he'd gotten himself into, but not enough to get him to completely stop. Cadence didn't take off her bag as she made quick work of the would-be mugger.
She lifted her bag toward her face as he moved to punch her, absorbing the blow of the punch. As he was distracted by the bag suddenly appearing in front of him, Cadence leaned back on one foot and slipped her body around in an illusion, striking him in the head. The blow flipped the man to the ground. She placed her bag atop of him and used it to flip herself over onto her feet.
He worked to get himself back to his feet, only for her to sweep his legs out from beneath him. He crashed hard to the ground once more while Cadence swept him up in her legs, trapping him beneath her with her. "So, I'm going to give you a choice," she said calmly. "I'll take you to jail kicking and screaming or I'll take you to jail knocked out."
The attacker continued to struggle.
Cadence sighed. "Fine, but you're just going to make it more fun for me." She got to her feet, grabbing the man by the collar and lifted him to his feet with ease. As she did so, something fell out the pocket of his jacket. She felt the man still beneath her grasp, tensing all his muscles at once. Interesting. She pressed her foot over the item, to ensure it was in her possession. Then carefully knelt to pick it up.
Tilting it this way and that, Cadence examined what looked like to be a bracelet with blue light signatures coming off it. She held it closer, examining the inside rim of the bracelet. It was clearly made from high quality tech, something she'd come across within STAR Labs, but didn't have Cisco's imprint of work on.
Definitely something he should look at, Cadence thought. She tilted her head back toward the attacker, eyebrows rising when she saw the sudden hostility on his face. Even more angry than he'd been before. And yet, he continued to hold still beneath her grasp, defiance radiating off him in waves so strong that Cadence could practically read their heat signatures.
"Quick question," she drawled, bringing him down to her eye level "Did you attack me because you thought I was weak? Or was there someone who sent you?"
The attacker struggled to respond, the collar of his shirt digging into his neck. Shrugging, Cadence teleported to the CCPD and dropped him off at the front desk, teleporting in the same split-second back to the front doors of the CCPD where she strolled in calmly.
"Good morning, Jordan," she greeted the young woman sitting at the front desk. She smiled, noticing Jordan jump, and quickly looked like she knew what she was doing, managing to fling a pile of papers into the air as she did so. Jordan's brown eyes widened in surprise, clasping her hands over her mouth as the papers rained down like confetti. "Don't worry, it's just me," Cadence reassured, though she couldn't help but laugh.
Cadence didn't think it was possible for anyone to be as jittery as Barry was when he was faced with difficult questions to answer or working to come up with an excuse for the reasons as to why he was late that day. Nevertheless, he seemed to tremble anytime Captain Singh seemed to even glance his way. Jordan didn't seem to be much better, since her first day of the internship, she seemed unable to come to terms with the fact she was then the 'face' of the CCPD so to speak. The first face anyone saw when they came into the precinct, making the shy woman seemingly even shyer.
Why Captain Singh had opted to hire her when she could hardly string a few words together without eventually speaking so quietly people had to lean into her personal space to hear her, Cadence didn't know. But when she wasn't disturbed, Jordan managed to get more work done than any seasoned officer confined to a desk job.
"Oh." Jordan Walker brushed her white-blonde hair back from her face, flashing Cadence a wary smile. "I thought it might've been Captain Singh. I'm uh, I'm a bit behind with my work."
"Is my voice as gruff as Captain Singh's?" She teased, leaning against the desk. "I mean, I get the intimidating thing, but last time I checked, he was a little bit taller than me." She shrugged. "Not by much but…" she trailed off, noticing Jordan frantically pointing behind her. "He's right behind me, isn't he?"
"Yes, that would be the case," Captain Singh said, his gruff voice making Cadence's shoulders hunch up to her ears. She gave Jordan a 'thanks a lot' look, making the young woman smile and shrug helplessly. Cadence slowly turned around to face her boss, who looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. A raised eyebrow that befitted the expectant and slightly suspicious expression on his face greeted her. "Good morning, Miss. Nash."
"Good morning, Captain," Cadence replied, quickly bringing her hands onto the strap of her bag. She didn't want to risk him finding the piece of technology she'd found, not before she got Cisco to look it over. Especially not when she had any answers for it.
Captain Singh motioned toward her with a stack of papers in her hand. She could only imagine what it was he had been tasked with now that there were more measures put in place to keep the city safe. "There's a case already waiting for you. Please try to be on time." He then paused and looked curiously at her, down at the papers, at her, then at his watch. Then back to her with narrowed eyes, realizing that she wasn't, in fact, late. "I just messaged you, how'd you get here so fast?"
"I teleported." Her cheeks twitching, Cadence had no idea how she managed to say it with such a straight face. Nevertheless, she kept one hand clamped around the strap of her bag, the other holding the metallic item firmly in her palm, thumb rubbing against the sides of the contraption.
Captain Singh looked at her for a long, tense moment, the stern expression on his face not changing. "You really need to work on your jokes, Miss. Nash," he said flatly.
"I'll keep that in mind."
She went to her office, ready to get to work.
It took her a long time for her to pinpoint why she felt so uneasy about the attack...he didn't seem surprised to know she was a metahuman.
"Do you think he'll want to play?"
Brady planted his hands on his hips, doing his best not to roll his eyes, glance at the ceiling, or make any face in irritation for what Leah would do to him in response. He didn't have to glance over his shoulder to know she was speaking about Conner, who sat on the bleachers of the gym, chin held in his hands, watching the rest of their gym class apathetically. As he'd done since the school years started.
"No, I don't think he'd want to play," Brady replied. "Just like he didn't want to play the first five times you asked me." Leah scowled and heaved the basketball she was holding at his face. Brady reached up and caught it before it could smack him in the nose. "Watch it."
"I don't need your attitude, Brady, I was just asking a question," Leah replied. Brady made a face back, taking a glance around the gym filled with his classmates as they bounced basketballs, waiting for gym to start. "What's with you, anyway? You've been super mean lately."
"I'm not being mean," Brady weakly protested.
"I mean, I know you're mad at Barry—"
"—Forget it," Brady cut in. He turned a sharp glance to his friend. "And I'm not being mean, I'm just tired."
"Ohh." She nodded slowly. "All that training you've been doing with Black Blade, right?"
"Well, Oliver's not going to do it. He's got his own stuff going on." Brady bounced the basketball at his side and started to walk in a circle around Leah, at least making it seem like he was doing something so their teacher didn't yell at him. "And, you know, it makes him too busy for Conner."
"He's the mayor," Leah reminded him. "And he's the Green Arrow and—"
"—And Conner's mom died because of him," Brady interrupted. Leah closed her mouth, nodded. That wasn't anything that could be disputed. Samantha Hawke died, it was all because of the danger that Oliver brought into his life. Had he kept away from Conner like Sam had originally asked, none of it would've happened. Adrian Chase wouldn't have targeted Oliver, he wouldn't have kidnapped Sam, Conner, Thea, Team Arrow, and everyone close to him to get back at him.
Sam had died.
Merlyn had died.
Thea was in a coma.
And there was trauma they wouldn't be able to come back from. How Conner managed to see Adrian Chase's suicide and continue to act normally, Brady wasn't sure. But he couldn't imagine the pain of having to then know it was his father's mere presence that caused it and then be shipped away to a different city because it was 'safer'. If that's' what having a dad was like, then Brady was perfectly fine with the setup he had, his mom, Ryder, and the rest of Team Flash…as small as they'd become.
"And training with Black Blade isn't bad," Brady continued. "But having to do it so late at night kind of sucks." He shrugged. "But if it's the time my powers are the strongest…may as well train when I'm at my strongest, right?"
"What about the training your mom has been putting us through?" Leah waved a hand when Brady raised an eyebrow, unsure of whether she was complaining. "I mean, you've been making a lot of progress with it."
"And I'll get even better with Black Blade's help," Brady insisted. "Maybe stop that Samuroid guy that's running around." He winced at the sound of the coach's whistle blowing, missing another bounce of the basketball. It bounced off his foot and rolled across the gym as his classmates raced to the far side of the gym, ready for drills. "Darn."
"You better get that before Coach Hines forces you to run laps," Leah said, pulling her hair back into a ponytail as she moved to join the class.
Brady rolled his eyes and jogged to catch the ball. Stopping only when it struck a Native American girl in the ankle. She looked down at the ball, it having stopped her own bounce pass, nearly smacking her int eh face. "Sorry," Brady apologized, hurrying to retrieve his ball. "It got away from me."
"No problem," the girls replied. She took the ball and held it out to Brady. "You might want to be careful with it, though. I know in soccer you're used to playing with your feet, but I never pegged you to be such a butterfingers with basketball."
Brady's face screwed up as he took the ball back from her. She clearly seemed to know a lot about him, but he couldn't remember ever seeing her in class. "Sorry," he apologized again. The two started to the other side of the gym. "I don't think I've seen you before, are you new?" The girl snorted. "What?"
"I've been in your class since the first grade," she replied. Brady felt his face enflame at his mistake. "Not that I expect you to notice, you always seemed to be too busy for everyone else."
Now it was Brady's turn to snort. "Have you been hanging out with Alicia?"
"Right, like I'd hang out with Miss. Popularity," The girl replied with a roll of her eyes. She brushed her long-braided pigtails behind her ears. "Like you, she probably wouldn't even notice if I was there."
"I noticed," Brady defended himself.
"Oh yeah?" She smiled, not seeming to be annoyed but finding amusement in the conversation. "Then what's my name?" Brady clenched his teeth, trying to stall for time. What was her name? He had to have noticed ifs he was in his class. "Too busy traveling the world, huh?" She came to the back of the line that the girls lined up in for drills across the floor. At the front, Alicia and her best friend, Rachel, whispered quietly together, glancing over their shoulder towards the girl. "So what made it so that you were able to stay in school with the rest of us normal people? Don't you usually show up in October?"
"We didn't go on vacation this year," Brady replied. He racked his brain, still trying to figure out what her name was. It couldn't be that hard.
"Gotcha." They moved forward in line as, with each sharp blast of the whistle, the took their basketballs and dribbled down to one end of the court and back. "My name's Stella, by the way. Stella Luna."
Brady nodded, bouncing from foot to foot, unable to hold still—he was sure he got that from Ryder—while trying to stave off the fatigue that threatened to make him fall asleep on his feet. All the extra training with Black Blade was certainly starting to take its toll, but it would be worth it now that the Samuroid was around. If Flash didn't come back soon, and it didn't look like he was, then they'd need to be at the top of their game to take him down.
And, Brady thought. You need to be there for mom. I can't lose her. He shoved his fists into his armpits, continuing to bounce back and forth. Leah look over at him and gave him a look before reaching her hand behind her back. All at once, Brady felt his feet become nailed to the floor and glared at her.
Her eyebrows shot upwards, before she stuck out her tongue. Brady twisted his mouth aside and moved to the front of the boys' line, standing next to Leah. She shot a glance at him and he shrugged in response, a grin coming to his face. Leah nodded subtly, understanding the silent challenge he posed. Finally, the classmates that came before them came back to the line.
Brady started to move forward but found it almost impossible to move his feet while Leah took off like a rocket, bouncing the ball next t her. Brady glared at her retreating back and waited 'til she was far enough away so that her range of power was lowered. He raced after her, bouncing the ball at his side as he moved. He caught up to her quickly, and held out his left hand, twisting his wrist. As he did so, a shadow ball, the tiniest of shadow balls, moved toward her and struck the side of the basketball.
A strangled cry escaped Leah's mouth as she reached to keep the ball form getting away from her. They reached the other end of the court, turned, and started back to the line they came from, all the while the cheering from their classmates reaching around them.
"Cheater!" Leah called.
"Look who's talking," Brady called back. Out the corner of his eye, he saw a bright flash of light in her hand. Saw she had conjured a dagger and was about to throw it toward his ball. Brady phased at the last second, the familiar warping sensation as the blade passed through him and the ball and petered out of sight. They made it back to their lines at the same time and slowed to move to the back. "Show off," he said, pressing a hand to his hip to catch his breath.
"Back atcha," Leah replied.
"Nice run," the girl said. She hugged her basketball in front of her and shrugged. "For someone who can only do things with his feet."
"And you're an expert?" Brady shot back.
The girl smiled and almost impish smile. "I've been on the basketball team for the past year," she explained. "Maybe you've been too busy to notice everyone else around you." With that, she took off at her turn to dribble the ball, making a show of passing it between her legs and spinning around as if warding of fa defender when she reached the other end.
Maybe, Brady thought. I was too quick to call Leah the show off. The rest of class continued in drills before they were dismissed to the locker rooms to get showered and changed before going back to class. Conner straddled the bench as he waited for Brady to finish getting changed.
"Who was that girl you were talking to?" Conner asked, tracing swirls in the grain of the wooden bench with his fingertip.
"Your girlfriend, dude," Brady replied. He smiled teasingly at Conner, pulling a brush through his hair. He flipped it around and poked the handle of the brush into Conner's chest. "You don't recognize your own girlfriend?" Conner rolled his eyes, pushing the brush away, though Brady couldn't help but notice the flush on his cheeks and felt a wave of relief. It at least looked like he was getting back to normal. At least acting a little more normally, he couldn't remember the last time Conner and Leah were around each other without blushing red as a tomato. "Or did you mean that other girl?" At that, Conner nodded. "You don't know her? She said she's been in our class since first grade."
"Well, you and I didn't become friends until third grade," Conner pointed out.
And to think, since then, they'd been through more than any other kids their age. Brady wouldn't trust his secret identity to anyone else. Conner took it all in stride and even helped run through different means of trying to find other metas in their school to help them stay safe. And was the one who came up with the 'bar system' of figuring out how strong metas were.
"I don't know," Brady said. He shrugged, closing his locker door. "She said her name was Stella Luna or something like that."
"Stella Luna?" Conner repeated. He blinked blankly before his face screwed up. "You mean like that bat book?" Brady blinked once, looking back at his best friend, who started to grin. "I think she was messing with you, dude." Brady scowled as the two left the locker room, meeting with the rest of their class to walk back to their classrooms. "Well, just point her out to me."
Brady craned his neck to find the girl standing apart from the rest of their classmates, looking down at her phone. "Her." Brady pointed.
"Oh, you mean Rose?" Conner pointed over his shoulder. "That's Rose Canton." Brady nodded and let out a quiet, "Oh." Conner slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Did you want to talk to her or something?"
"No," Brady said quickly. "But you can."
"Me? Why?"
"Make sure she's not someone we need to know about," Brady replied then quickly added, "For the list I mean." Conner shrugged and nodded. But there was a glint in his eye that Brady didn't miss. He started to call him out for it when Coach Hines called out, "Braden Nash? I need you in my office."
Brady immediately turned, hearing his full name. He seldom ever heard it unless he as in trouble or something was going on. Something heavy settled in the pit of his stomach and he looked to Conner before catching Leah's and Alicia's eye as well. Aware that all eyes were on him, accompanied by the collective, "ooh" that came whenever someone was deemed to be in some sort of trouble, Brady followed Coach Hines to his office.
"There's a phone call for you," Coach Hines explained, motioning to the phone. "Something about your mom."
Brady's breath suddenly caught in his throat. Something about his mom? What did that mean? Was it like the phone call that Conner got? Did his nightmare finally come true? Was the trauma of seeing his mother's lifeless body on the ground, not knowing it was Burnout, not enough? With a shaking hand, Brady grabbed the phone and put it to his ear.
He took in a deep breath before asking, "Hello?", relief practically making him collapse when he heard Cadence say, "Hey, it's me." He closed his eyes to steady himself then asked, "Did I leave the toaster on again?"
"No, no. I'm coming to your school. I need you to be ready when I get there."
"Why? What's going on?"
"We need to go to the CCPD. Right now."
Brady didn't respond. He had an idea of what it was that'd have his mom come to take him out in the middle of the day. Something he wasn't quite sure how to feel about. On one hand, it'd keep his mom from looking as sad as she always did, despite how much time she put into making sure everyone else and herself was happy. (She was at least happier than she had been). But on the other hand, he felt nothing but intense anger in the pit of his stomach, the anger he tried to—and successfully—ignored for the past six months no matter how many times someone brought him up.
Barry was home.
Across Central City a large, electrical cloud ripped across the sky. Lightning flashed as a dark cloud slowly started to swirl open, growing bigger by the second. Residents of Central City stopped and stared as the cloud continued to increase in size. Lightning flashed, starting off as harmless, distant strobes of white. Before morphing into long fingerlike cracks that streaked toward the ground.
The first bolts crashed off the tops of light poles, sending sparks everywhere. Then they reached the ground, stretching across the ground like fingers of a prisoner, clawing its way to freedom. Cars screeched to a halt, running into each other in their haste to get out of the way of the cloud. Screeching filled the air as a Central City Bus tried frantically to steer out of the way of the stopped cars and the opening cloud.
It came to a stop just beside the cloud, a low banging sound erupting from within as the riders on the bus frantically made their way to the front of the bus, trying in vain to get out. The cloud engulfed the bus, at the same time an electrical field opened. Just as it had before Barry went into the Speed Force, red and yellow lightning shot out in all directions.
The lightning stopped and a single bolt careened out the center of the electrical field, and through the streets of Central City, moving so fast that a straight line melted in the center of the road. Glass on all nearby cars immediately blew outward, showering the streets in what looked like glitter.
The bolt of lightning continued a straight and narrow path, until it had no choice but to stop. Until something got in the way of a truck coming up the road. The driver turned from glancing at the rearview mirror and toward the road at the sudden scream from his son in the passenger seat. He looked up and found that same lightning streak coming toward him and slammed on the brakes.
He hit the brakes so hard that the back end of the truck started to swerve back and forth, fishtailing as the truck tried to stop before hitting whatever it was that was coming toward them.
Thunk!
Sucking in a deep breath, the man slowly, very slowly opened his eyes. The engine continued to run, a revving against whatever it was that was stopping them. He slowly looked up and locked eyes with a scruffy looking man who leaned against the truck. The first thing that struck him was that the man wasn't reacting to the heat of the truck, the engine had been running for over an hour and the man's hands were placed flat against the hood.
The second thing that struck him was how…empty the man's eyes were. Haunted almost. As if he'd seen many things that no one would ever dare to see that he'd experience for the rest of his life. His chest heaved as he looked in at the truck driver and his son, shifting back and forth over their faces, a long, ugly scar that cut across the man's chest branched and splintered as if he'd been struck by lightning or lashed by a tree branch.
"Holy shit," the truck driver's son murmured.
The truck driver was too stunned to reprimand his son.
He could only watch as a very tired, very naked, Barry Allen gaped at him and his son before slowly pitching backwards to the asphalt.
A/N: So, if you remember in an earlier Flash story, I had mentioned a Rose Canton. I'm retconning what I did back then to have her be one of Brady's classmates. But, as you can see, there's a lot going on with some new people introduced; Mallory-though she's reintroduced-, Jordan Walker with the CCPD, and now Rose. They've all got certain roles to play as this story goes on and I hope you guys are excited to see it.
Barry's back, but don't worry, you'll see how he got out of the Speed Force in his POV. And Black Blade was mentioned again, you'll see just waht he and Brady have been up to, now that he's a bit more hands on in this story. Black Blade's plot worked better in this one than what I'd been doing with Friction, so I hope you all are excited for that as well.
Cheers,
-Riles
Review Replies
DarkHel145: You're also going to see form his POV how he got out of the Speed Force and what, on his side, leads up to it. His points of being in the Speed Force have been fun for me and I can't help but want to really go into how things were for him. It's a shame the show didn't give us that chance.
Ethan: You'll see what happens to have Barry taken out of the Speed Force from his POV and what will ultimately happen to Savitar because of it. Though I can't say that, for Barry, it's make much sense.
yummers: Thanks, glad you like it!
spinquin142: Unfortunately, I had to push the Wells' and DeVoes back one more chapter. Thanks, I'm glad you like how the mind meld had been going along with everything. It's a big point to keep the influence of traveling to other Earths together. I hope the pay off is worth it for you! :)
