FLASH

Issue #10

"Futurebound – Part Three"

My name is John Fox and I'm the fastest man alive. At least, I think I am.

Jay Garrick is beside me, and at one point, he was the fastest man alive. Now he's a slow second, but his years of experience more than make up for it. I'm in the future, riding shotgun through a tesseract field with future analogues of the JLA. Their Superman is no dub either when it comes to a foot race, although I'm told his speed is more muscle than anything else.

Future versions of Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Batman (super creepy, by the way), Hawkgirl, and Hourman are with us. The original Resurrection Man is part of their team, taking a more active field status since their Starman betrayed them. None of them would be able to even catch my slipstream.

You'd think that I would be pretty confident about my speed prowess then, right? Wrong.

Savitar, somehow, is in this timeline. I don't know how, or even why, but he's here. Working with Vandal Savage. I can't think of a more dangerous combination. He's apparently after me.

"How does this tesseract work again?" Jay asked.

"It is similar in design to what you would call a boom tube," the robotic Hourman replied. "Except that instead of transporting you the tesseract transports the two points in space closer together."

"We're moving space?" I said.

"Essentially. That is an elementary explanation."

Wow. Have I mentioned how cool the future is?

"The other side is opening," Superman told us. "Get ready."

The other side of this weird tunnel supposedly leads to Savage's home base located on the planet Mercury. Apparently all of the worlds in the Solar System have been colonized for thousands of years. Mercury, as Hawkgirl told me, looks to be a pretty fast-paced city. The kind of place I could live in. *

* (In this timeline, John Fox has not yet joined the Justice Legion Alpha, so he hasn't yet made Mercury his home as seen in the awesome DC 1,000,000 event – D)

Hawkgirl. I looked her over again faster than anyone, even Jay, could notice. It's the third time I've done it in the last second. The first time I saw her upon getting to the future I noticed some bizarre afterimages floating around her. Someone close to her. Very strange, but I have no idea what they meant.

Not that I wouldn't mind being that close to her. She's hot, as far as aliens go. Given the look she gave me before we left I'm not unconvinced she wouldn't want me that close.

Here's the big problem we're facing at the moment. Vandal Savage, somehow, is disturbing time enough that entire planets are being created and then crumbling in mere hours. Ecosystems are established and ripped away within minutes. Life evolves and dies in seconds.

However he's doing it, it's causing havoc on the timestream. As Hourman describes it, Savage's meddling has caused a temporal rippling effect heading backwards through time. Maybe even hypertime.

If we don't stop him he runs the risk of obliterating all of creation. Just another day, right?

I saw the tesseract open into a red room with huge silver towers randomly spaced throughout. Cables thicker than me ran the length of the walls, plugging each tower into each other. The floor, patched together from compacted dirt, had a rusty tinge to it that reflected off of the towers.

Superman and Batman burst out into the room first. They are the leaders here, just like the original counterparts would be. Some things never change.

The rest of us grouped around them, taking in the scene. "Thanagarian technology," Resurrection Man said. "Hawkgirl?"

"Definitely," the winged female replied. "Most of my race has been wiped out. Savage must have stolen some of our technology centuries ago to do this."

"Is this how he's doing whatever it is he's doing?" I asked.

Batman answered without glancing at me. Even though he had a mask covering his entire head, he looked like he was concentrating. "According to my pholitic straps, which are continuing to identify more and more various alien technologies, Savage is filtering through epic amounts of energy with these towers."

"Energy to power whatever he's using to create entire worlds," Wonder Woman said. "But where is the energy being generated from?"

My eyes caught the movement, but I still wasn't fast enough to intercede. A blur smashed through Aquaman's solid water body, dispersing him everywhere. He simply exploded as the blur shoved itself through the hero from Neptune. Everyone caught themselves at attention instantly.

"It's being generated," Savitar said as he glowered at us, "from me."

Superman got to him first, but Savitar was still too fast for him. He sidestepped Superman's lung and raced for Wonder Woman, slamming his fists against her energy shield. She could withstand a hit from a megarod, but pushing her back wasn't what Savitar intended. Instead it was a distraction, as he raised his leg out and clipped her chin at mach three. She tumbled over and bashed against the wall thirty feet in the air. Hawkgirl rose to the air and caught her, lowering her to safety.

I took my chance and acted. I burst into a whirlwind around Savitar, creating a vortex around him. With luck, I could keep up with him and distract him while the JLA moved in.

"Embarrassing," Savitar said as he simply zipped out of the vortex, stepping around me as I circled.

Batman launched a handful of glowing batarangs at Savitar, who simply vibrated through them. They exploded in Hourman's face, causing him to stumble back. Savitar was on top of Batman in an instant, although the future Dark Knight spun his cape around himself and vanished before Savitar could touch him.

"Coward," Savitar said as he paused to choose his next target.

A mighty thunderclap sounded as Superman clapped his hands together. He began rubbing his palms at hyperspeed, generating amazing friction. "We'll see how fast you are after I slow your thought with my superESP," Superman said.

"Your mind powers only effect what they can focus on," Savitar said. "According to Savage, anyway."

Savitar rocketed to the far side of the room and ducked into the shadows, causing Superman to stop rubbing his hands together. Superman lifted into the air, but was struck down by the body of Batman being thrown at him.

Savitar was behind them in a millisecond. "Lurking in the darkness is not how a warrior acts," the speedster said.

Twin pools of water suddenly formed underneath both of Savitar's feet, clutching at him and holding him in place. Aquaman's head formed between the pools, saying, "Stand down, or I'll boil the hydrogen in your body."

I delivered a right haymaker to Savitar's chin in a red blur, taking advantage of his immobility. I followed it up with another from the left side, but Savitar was gone.

Aquaman reformed beside me, his solid water body composing itself perfectly. "Where did he go?" the hero asked.

The air in front of us shimmered and I realized that Savitar had vibrated his body at just the right speed to make himself both invisible and intangible. His body materialized, but his left hand kept vibrating.

He plunged the hand deep into Aquaman's body and said, "And what if I boil your entire body?"

Aquaman screamed in pure pain. I swung at Savitar, but he speedster ducked under it and kicked me away. Hawkgirl swung in low, her arm blades extended, but Savitar heard her coming. He ripped his arm out of Aquaman, added momentum to her flight through use of the Speed Force, and sent her crashing into one of the silver pillars.

Hourman was still standing, right? Where was Hourman?

Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman had gotten up and were surrounding Savitar. I managed to stand, but it felt like I had cracked a rib. Superman's eyes began to glow red and I assumed that heat vision had survived through the bloodline.

"Enough of this playtime," Savitar said. "I'm taking what is mine."

And at that, he ran across the room at hyperspeed, gripped my forearm, and dragged me away from the brawl. The Justice Legion Alpha, busted, bruised, and bent, was left behind me where they couldn't help.

Savitar whipped me through the complex. It was massive. Like, as big as a city massive. My heels were scraping against the ground, keeping me from getting any traction under myself. I was at his mercy, wherever he took me.

Where he ended up taking me was straight to Vandal Savage. The immortal villain had grown longer, silver-streaked hair since I had seen him. A purple cloak was wrapped around his shoulders, with an eye patch covering his left eye.

Eye patch? Isn't Vandal immortal? Something must have happened in the last few thousand years that had permanently scarred him.

Savage was standing on front of a massive machine that was pumping out gobs of black smoke. I guess they still haven't figured out how to get rid of pollution yet.

"Excellent," Savage said. "I've nearly used up the last stores of kinetic energy you supplied my planetary engine with. The cosmos is getting quite crowded with all the worlds I've created in my own image."

Savitar dropped me, allowing my feet a rest. I tried to stand but the pain in my side kept me from doing so. "I have what I want, Savage," Savitar said. "The deal is over. I shall not provide you with any more of my power."

Savage was using this machine to create entire planets? Wow. And powered by Savitar, too. Interesting.

"Impudent whelp!" Savage exclaimed. The fury on his face was overly evident. "At times I saw fit to rule various worlds. Earth. Mars. Even Jupiter for a decade. Now, so far into my life, I tire of the inane games that these everlasting heroes seek to disrupt. I bring you into my fold, allow you to be a part of the making of an entire galaxy, and you depart? Fool."

"We used each other," Savitar replied. "Our business is at an end."

"And so I surmised days ago," Savage said. "Immortality has provided me with quite a bit of foresight."

Twin beams of orange energy blasted both me and Savitar, instantly encapsulating us. They were being discharged from the wall somewhere, I couldn't make out where exactly. The pain was too intense for me to really focus.

The yells were stuck in my throat. I couldn't tell if Savitar was screaming in agony or not since the ringing in my ears was too loud.

"A temporal distortor," Savage told us as he picked up a goblet and sipped from it arrogantly. "Something I picked up from great Oa 'Morta of the Khund around 5620. He tried to conquer the Cloud Nebula with it, but I find it more useful against speedsters. It freezes your atoms in this timeframe, making it impossible for you to move."

Savage swirled the liquid around in his goblet and sneered. "Long enough exposure will erase you from time. It's how I killed the Lightning Lad of that insufferable Junior Justice League last month."

Whatever this thing was, Savage was right about one thing: I couldn't move. At all. Not even blink my eyes.

A yellow hand sliced suddenly through the energy cocoon holding me, dispering it. Savage said something in defiance of the newcomer as I tumbled to the ground in a heap. My chest was on fire as sweet oxygen exploded into my chest again.

I looked up to see Hourman, cloaked in his brown, flowing robes. He turned his attentions back to Savage, but said to me, "The worlogog led me to you and this abomination on time. Quickly, Flash, stop the—"

A scarlet spear stabbed the android in the shoulder, casting him back a few feet. I looked to see Savage, who was wielding several more of the spears, running for us. I stood up to rush him, but Savitar tackled me around the waste.

The bastard was still intent on getting to me. It seemed that he was more willing to take me down than fight off Savage for his own escape.

There was a blinding light, a flash of lightning, and we both were gone.

My name is Wally West, and I'm the very essence of speed.

Some know it as power, others as a means of everlasting life. Still more have looked to speed as a religion.

One man, a zealot named Savitar, looked to speed not only as a way of life, but as his god. I fought him, giving him what he wanted in the end and sent him spiraling directly into the Speed Force, that extra-dimensional field that supplies speedsters with their power.

He even took his name from the Hindu god of motion. Ironic, considering what I am now.

During an altercation with a Superboy from another universe, I was forced to do what my uncle had done before me. I sacrificed myself for the greater good. That's what heroes do. That's what Uncle Barry did.

I merged with the Speed Force. I became it, controlled it, willed it.

But I'm only human, and humans weren't designed to withhold such awesome power. I needed an output, an anchor. That man turned out to be John Fox, a fan of mine from my future.

He's made the role his own having journeyed through the timestream and eventually becoming a hero on the planet Mercury. But that hasn't happened yet, and possibly never will happen thanks to the intervention of Savitar.

Twice I was nearly pulled into the Speed Force before, and twice I managed to escapes its daunting pull because of the love of my life, Linda. I have since learned that it wasn't just the connection I shared with her, but rather the extreme emotional desire to latch on to another person.

Savitar and I have this one and only thing in common. However, whereas my desire was based out of love, his was based out of hatred. For me.

He escaped the Speed Force when I took it over, driven by his hatred and jealousy of me. Now he has struck at John, my avatar of speed, to get back at me.

In the weeks that have passed since I recruited John I have learned a great deal about the Speed Force. I can now be its guiding hand to ensure that random, undeserving creatures like Savitar will no longer receive its gift. He never should have been granted its power in the first place.

Now, I will take it from him.

The temporal energies that Savage captured both John and Savitar with still lingered around them, and when Savitar touched John again, they were swept away into the timestream. I caught them, as John's unique presence in time, established by being connected directly to me, and brought them here.

Where is here? The Speed Force.

To my left is Savitar, furious at the sight of me. His jealousy will never end, nor will his evil. I watch him shrivel as I remove the power of the Speed Force from his body, severing his connection forever.

He curses me as he dies, unaware that unless I will it in this place, he has no voice.

And so Savitar ends, this time not getting what he desired, but instead having it ripped from him like all the others he killed and used up. A fitting death.

To my right is John, his gleaming red suit standing out amongst the yellow lightning background of the Speed Force. He saw what I did to Savitar. He does not look happy.

"Wally?" he said. "Is that you?"

I assure him that it is and that he need not fear me. He might have been in a state of shock, but he began to ramble about the type of hero I was. He began to overly state how I had changed and that Wally West would never kill anyone.

I told him I'm not human anymore, and for whatever reason, I have been chosen to govern those that seek the power of the Speed Force.

"What about my purpose?" John said. "I thought I was supposed to anchor you. What about Linda? You charged me with finding her and the kids!"

I wave my hand and bend the light behind me. Until Savage's interference I wasn't able to directly contact John to tell him that Linda and the twins were with me the whole time. I had brought them with me, but until I had come into my own within the Speed Force, I didn't know how to retrieve them.

"You will still be the Flash," I told him. "There must always be one. Time is not straightforward anymore. You have more work to do, and I will ensure that you will no longer be alone."

He argues, but I banish him back to where I took him from. He will understand in time, but I have changed and that I have to look at the bigger picture.

There's a lot for him to do, and for me as well.

My name is Wally West, and I am the fastest god alive.

"Ouch!"

I feel my chest and am thankful that my wounds have been healed. Somehow Wally must have taken care of that before sending me back. I'm the Flash, after all, like he said. I've got work to do.

But I still can't believe it. Wally, a god. Is he my god? The god of speed?

KRA-KOOM!

Looks like the JLA is back on their collective feet, not that Savage isn't trying his best to bowl them over. All of the heroes except for Hourman, who seems to be focusing his attention on what I already know is the worlogog (that's a physical map of all space and time that he constantly studies), seem to be holding their own.

Savage had suited up in some exo-skeleton monstrosity that would put Rippley to shame. Hawkgirl came in for a dive bomb, her blades extended, but Savage easily parried her with one hand, while using his other hand to emit some sort of suppression way against Superman and Wonder Woman.

Aquaman attacked from the rear, slamming his anchor weapon at the back of Savage, but the automated defense systems in the exo-skeleton countered him, shuffling his blow to the side and casting him aside.

Resurrection Man died. Twice.

Batman handed Jay something from his belt, but both of them were caught off guard by the spiraling fourth and fifth arms of Savage's suit. They're sent reeling, just like Aquaman.

They're getting mauled.

"Flash!" Hourman called out. "I need you!"

I'm beside the android in half a breath. The worlogog is vibrating fast, and even I can barely see it.

"Savage's planetary engine is going to explode unless we control the chronal output!" he told me. "This vile machine is outputting too many tachyons."

"Lucky for you in my time I was a tachyon physicist," I replied. "You mean to tell me that this thing is actually leaking time particles?"

Hourman couldn't reply as he was too busy sliding pieces of the worlogog back and forth, in what I assume was an effort to contain the rampant energies being discharged around us. A portion of the wall simply evaporated as a stray beam slashed it.

The first rule about tachyon particle acceleration is that there is no forward and backward. They don't start flowing at one place and continue in one direction. They are always moving, always changing shape and direction, never beginning, never ending.

They are the closest form of subatomic immortality. Ironically, that's why I'm able to control them as well.

Because of my unique nature, not only in the Speed Force, but in the timestream as well, I can do things to tachyons that others can't. I bet even the legendary Rip Hunter would have difficulty trying this little trick.

I focused my concentration and raised my hands toward the machine. I felt the tachyons bombarding me, a familiar feeling.

My connection to the Speed Force was stronger than ever. For that reason I was able to do the impossible and actually steal the speed from particles that aren't even moving in one direction.

I began to see certain things that would have baffled me before. Now…now I understood what it was I was seeing.

The first time I saw Hawkgirl I saw visions of someone embracing her. Someone moving almost too fast to be seen by normal eyes. My eyes are far from normal these days. I saw the same things happening again around Hawkgirl and I understood what they meant finally. But before I could handle that I had to focus.

The energies began to subside as I commanded them to halt. Hourman continued manipulating the worlogog. Because of the leeway I bought him he was able to now control the chronal output. Metron would have been proud.

"No!" Savage cried out. "What have you done! My beautiful machine! The universe would be recreated in my image!"

"Enough," said Superman.

With grace that the original Wonder Woman would have admired, this future Superman cut down Savage's exo-skeleton by swiping his hand through the center. A ghostly form popped out of the side holding Savage by the waist. It was Resurrection Man, who had apparently chosen a power set that allowed him to remove Savage from the suit somehow.

"Took me awhile," Mitch Shelley said, "But I finally found a dislodge on that Kymerian dead-man's switch on the suit, Vandal."

In my time I've seen a thousand different heroes overcome a thousand different scenarios. None of then, statistically speaking, should have come out alive. But they did, and seeing what their ancestors have turned into because of their survival, I'm glad. Relaxed, even.

The future was in good hands.

"Think it's about time we head for home?" Jay asked.

I nodded. Back at the Justice Legion's headquarters, after Vandal Savage had been locked away in a vault on Pluto, I stood near Jay and the statuesque Wonder Woman. She had been telling me about how difficult it must have been for the original Wonder Woman to enter Man's World on her own, without the support of an entire planet behind her. I told her the next time I saw Diana that I would pass that along.

Superman shook my hand and thanked me for coming to their aid. He said that if I ever found myself lost in the timestream again that they would come for me. Who knows? I could get used to staying in their time.

Batman and Aquaman had decided to stay back on Pluto to ensure Vandal's security. Can't say I blame then. He's possibly the most dangerous villain that ever lived. Ever.

Jay caught sight of Mitch Shelley and stepped aside to speak with him. Fine by me. I had catch part of Hawkgirl's gaze anyway. She was in the middle of a discussion, more like an argument, with Hourman. I was worried about this, but it looked like I would need to confront them.

"You must understand how delicate—" Hourman said.

"We've corrected the timestream a thousand times over," Hawkgirl interrupted. "Don't pretend this is impossible."

She saw me approaching and suddenly tensed up. I smiled, but the effect was lost on her because of her jump to caution, and a robot like Hourman probably wouldn't care if you smiled at him or not.

"We're about ready to leave," I said to Hourman while looking at Hawkgirl. "Jay is just saying his last goodbye."

"There's something we need to discuss," Hawkgirl said.

"You're not coming with us."

Her chin raised up. It was that slight bit of defiance mixed with an edge of curiosity that made her a true Thanagarian. She was strong and I was sure more than ever now that she was aware of what I had suspected already.

"I'm sorry," I said. "It's not a good idea if you return to my time with me and Jay. When I was connected through the worlogog, I saw some things. Things about you. Maybe they were bits of your future swirling around the present. I'm not sure exactly, but I do know that the visions I saw served as a warning."

I pulled in a breath as I tried to reason how best to explain this. "I'm uniquely connected to not only the Speed Force, but the timestream as well. I can sense things, for lack of a better word. I know that what I saw isn't supposed to happen. I know that you feel a sort of connection with me. I felt it, too. I'm sorry, but—we can't fall in love."

"I don't understand," she said.

"I saw what I believe to be myself, hovering around you from within the timestream. I know it's difficult to comprehend, but I have a sense that I was shown those visions of us being close so that I would know to avoid it. I'm sorry."

I turned away from her, bitter. I'm sure that she felt confused as well. I know what I saw and I believe I know what it meant. Why was I shown it? No idea. But I do know that a hero can't always do what he wants. Sometimes duty has to come before things like love.

And now that Wally is starting a new avenue in life, so am I. I can't let myself be open like that, not when I have no idea what's coming down the road next.

It's a whole new highway I'm running down.

I left Hawkgirl behind in the 853rd century as Jay and I allowed Hourman to send us home. I felt something pull at my insides, only instead of assuming it was the chronal leap, I knew it was my heartstrings.

END

Author's Note

It's been a fun ride! I'd like to thank Mike Hintze for letting me play in the DC Infinity universe (search for it online, kids, it's a great group fanfic site). The Flash is one of my all time favorite characters, but it's time I let someone else ride the lightning. Thanks for reading and make sure to check back soon, because who knows what will happen next?