JLU 2001 Fanfiction

Flash
Previously:

    Over the last year, Wally West’s activities as the Flash have increased in Keystone City. He has taken to speeding through the city on a constant patrol, righting wrongs and stopping minor threats without even slowing down. To celebrate what she feels is Wally’s diety, Fiona Webb has set up the Temple of Triumphant Velocity, a church dedicated to worship of Keystone’s hero. Attendance is growing.

    When Linda Park found out that Wally had engaged in a tryst with Karen Starr, the now semi-retired Power Girl, Linda broke up with Wally, and even took a reporting job for a news network in another city.

    Meanwhile, the villainous Eclipso has recovered the black diamond that gives him power, and is plotting to use it against the Flash once again…

The Fastest Man Alive:

BLUR: Part 1 of 3

"Keystone All in Red!"

Flash #10- November, Year One by Tim Burns

Last month (September, Year One)…

Eclipso sat happily, staring at the dark jewel that would bring him victory. Except, it wasn’t there anymore. He blinked twice, refusing to believe his eyes. Was he dreaming? It had been in his hand just a minute ago, hadn’t it? There was no way… The Flash! It was impossible! The Flash had never been this intrusive before! He’ll pay for this, Eclipso thought, as he felt the effects of stolen power leaving him, and realized he had no way to make good on his threat. He screamed in impotent rage as his plans dissolved.

Wally West, the Flash, laughed as he thought about the jewel he had deposited at KCPD headquarters a split-second after he had taken it out of Eclipso’s fingers. It had been so simple, the Flash realized. Why he hadn’t he thought of it sooner? He had known about Eddie Traynor stealing the jewel, he had known where Eclipso had hid. How could he not? At the speed he was going, as he made his patrol, he was everywhere in Keystone at once. He knew everything that was going on. Omniscient, and omnipresent, Wally thought. Just like Fiona said.

But the question remained: Why hadn’t he thought of this sooner? By taking the black diamond now instead of waiting for Eclipso’s plan to come to fruition, Wally had just prevented a long, drawn out battle that would cause pain and suffering, thousands of dollars of property damage, and possibly human lives. It only made sense to solve the problem before it started.

On his next lap around the city, Wally saw a man consulting blueprints of a bank; planning a robbery. In a blur and a gust of wind, the blueprints were gone.

Karen Starr tapped her fingers on the outdoor café table as she waited for Wally to appear. She had already ordered and picked up the food for both her and Wally. He was supposed to be here now, and he had no excuses for being late. If he was, he deserved to eat his food cold.

Karen took her sandwich out of the bag and started eating slowly. A minute and a half later, Wally materialized in the chair opposite her.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said, looking down at his watch. “I just wanted to go another thousand laps through the city. It’s so exhilarating, you know?”

“No, not really,” Karen said, as she reached into the bag and brought out a foot-long gyro for him. “I always found the whole ‘going out and looking for crime’ thing to be the most boring part of the job. I found it a lot funner when we got to the fight,” Karen added, smiling.

“But that’s the beauty of it!” Wally said, unwrapping his sandwich. “I just had this realization that I can prevent crimes before they happen! I mean, I know this isn’t exactly a completely new revelation, but it seems like nobody really does it.”

“What do you mean?” Karen asked.

“It’s like this,” Wally explained, getting excited. “When I go through the city as the Flash, I see pretty much everything that’s going on. So if I pay attention to the right things, which I didn’t do before, I can figure out if someone’s about to commit a crime, and I can stop it before it happens. Like, if a guy’s going to shoot his wife, I can just take his gun away before he does,” Wally took a big bite. “It’s sure a lot better than bringing him to the police and trying to get her to the hospital in time, after he shoots her.”

“Um, I hate to sound like the voice of reason here,” Karen said, pulling a loose strand of hair out of her eye. “But what about innocent until proven guilty? You can’t just take a guy’s gun, that’s theft.”

“I drop it off at the police station with a note attached. They can take care of it from there.”

“But what he wasn’t going to shoot his wife? Like, say he was actually taking out the gun to protect her from someone?”

“Oh, he was,” Wally said, finishing up the first half of his sub.

“How do you know?” Karen asked.

“I’m the Flash,” Wally said, with a smirk. “I see everything. As long as I’m patrolling, I am privy to everything that’s going on in Keystone City. That guy was gonna kill her, Karen. I saved her life.” Wally looked down at the table in front of him, only now noticing that Karen had bought him three more gyros. “What’s this?” he asked.

“You need to eat a lot, for that overactive metabolism, right?”

“I don’t have time to eat all this!” Wally insisted, pushing the subs away from him. “I’ve got to get back out on patrol.”

“So just eat them at superspeed.”

“I can’t do that. Sure, I eat fast, but if I ate at my full speed, I’d get indigestion just like anyone else.”

“Okay,” Karen said flatly.

“Look, I’m sorry to eat and run, but you know how it is. Gotta go,” Wally said with a wink, and then, with a puff of wind behind him, he disappeared.

Karen looked at the chair had he just occupied, and grimaced as she put the three sandwiches back in the bag. “Why do I do this to myself?” She wondered.

Fiona Webb stepped up onto a raised platform in front of the prostrate congregation of the Temple of Triumphant Velocity. She wore a loose, flowing red robe that had yellow trim running down it in a lightning bolt pattern.

“Followers of the swift way!” she said, in a loud voice that had been made confident by the ever-growing size of her flock. “Lovers of truth and believers in speed!”

The worshippers acknowledged her with their eyes, looking up attentively, but continued in their mantra. But Fiona raised her hands and the crowd quieted.

“Know, all you who have given your lives to worshipping the embodiment of speed, that his time is at hand!”

“Sacred be his name!” The crowd replied.

“Even now his activity is increasing. He is taking hold of his guardianship of this city ever stronger. Do you feel that slightest breeze wafting across your faces, licking the sweat from your brows? That is no mere wind, believers, that is that the force of the divine one himself, Wally West!”

“Fleet be his feet!” They yelled.

“His aura is increasing! His energies fill the city. Feel the speed resonating inside of you!” Fiona said, her voice rising to a triumphant pitch. “Soon, he will accept his rightful place as diety, and usher in an earthly paradise in Keystone for all the faithful!”

“May my soul be carried in his wake!”

Just as the captive audience finished their declaration, an image appeared on the platform near Fiona. Too fast for the eye to see, the Flash had run through the temple, and had paused for just a second, posing as if for a photo opportunity. While Wally himself was long gone, his image seemed to hang there for just a scant lingering moment.

“It is a sign!” Fiona said, raising her hands. “A vision of the one who will soon ascend to his rightful place above us. Wally West…the God of Speed!”

This is amazing, Wally thought, If I pay very careful attention, I really can know practically everything that’s going on in Keystone City!

The Flash whisked by Police Captain David Brumby, who was receiving a surreptitious bribe from a prominent mob power in the city. He heard insurance agents swapping stories of things they had secretly added to policies to drive up the commission. He heard both sides of a phone conversation where a bank Security Guard was making a deal with a robber, to get him inside for a cut of the take. He saw the corruption in the Mayor’s office. He even saw restaurateurs covering up obvious health code violations.

But notwithstanding all the crime and graft in the city, Wally learned a lot of secrets. He knew who was cheating on their spouse, who was cheating on their taxes, who was cheating on their tests at Keystone High. He knew that Tom Derson liked a little gin with dinner, he discovered the secret ingredient of old Mrs. Cleary’s prize-winning apple pie, and he knew about Randy and Paula’s favorite make-out spot.

All this and so much more, Wally knew. He knew it because he was everywhere, almost all the time. And the more he sped around the city, the closer he came to knowing everything.

    “Wally,” the voice said, sending Wally to a stop for just a split-second before he launched off again in his never-ending circuit of Keystone City. “You have come so far, my son. I am pleased with your progress.”

    “It’s amazing,” Wally said at loud, even though the voice was only in his head. “The things I’ve learned so far…it’s just incredible.” Wally realized then that this was the first time he had really talked back to this voice in his head. He wondered why.

    “But you have even more to learn; farther to go. You have done much good for this city in this time when your wisdom has grown. But there is so much more good you can do.”

    “I never thought it could get like this,” Wally said, his voice probably sounding like the momentary whine of an insect to anybody he passed by. “The city is so much calmer now, since I’ve been stopping the crimes before they happen. No need to worry about some big fight on Main Street, or being surprised by some supervillain that’s been plotting inside the city for months. I know about them long before their plans can come into action. Just think how many lives have been saved!” Wally thought about what he had just said aloud. Had this enigmatic voice inside his head been here for so long that he thought of it…and Wally reflected on the word it…like any other friend or confidante.

    “Make the ultimate choice, Wally. Choose to craft Keystone into an earthly Utopia. You can abolish crime forever, if you are willing.”

    Wally liked what he was hearing, and it was something that had been on his mind as well; he could do so much more for his city. But right then, he had something else on his mind.

    “Who are you?” he asked, not disrespectfully.

    “You know me, Wally; I have been with you long before I started speaking audibly. For a long time, I have reached out to you in more subtle ways, but now the time has come. You have proven yourself. Even when I offered you the chance to stop moving, you would not take it; so great is your love for these people, so great is your wisdom. You will be great, Wally West. And I will be with you, even as I now increase your speed, your stamina, through the worship of your followers.”

    Wally stopped again at those words, but for longer this time. Could this voice in his head actually be the Speed Force itself, talking to him? Wally had long wondered if the Speed Force, sometimes showing signs of intelligence, might actually be a sentient being, but only in passing. But now, it was quite possibly talking to him. Wally pulled out his JLA communicator and called J’onn J’onnz*. This one might be worth a little mind meld, he thought, as he started to run again.

{*This is set slightly before the events of “Red Menace” in the pages of JLA #10-12. –Time-Tossed Tim}

    "You wished to speak to me, Wally?" J’onn asked in his deep, forceful voice.

    “Yeah,” An image of the Flash replied. It was an image that was fuzzy around the edges, almost like a TV with poor reception. Now that Wally was fast enough to do fifty laps of the city in one second, he only needed to pause briefly beside J’onn every few laps, so that he could keep talking even as he held down a conversation with his teammate. Speaking was a little more tricky, but Wally had mastered that, considering it worth the effort to keep his ongoing patrol of the city.

    "In what regard?" J’onn asked, a little irritated by the Flash’s constant fluctuation.

    “Well—it’s—like—this,” Wally said, saying a single syllable each time he stopped. J’onn furrowed his thick beetle brow. “I’ve—got—this—voice—inside—my—head—and—I—think—it—might—be—the—Speed—Force,—act -u-all-y—talk-ing—to—me.”

   "If there is a voice inside your head," J’onn explained, "It is most likely that it is simply your own mind, creating a vehicle to give voice to your own suppressed feelings." Wally’s blurry image nodded; that sounded somewhat reasonable to him, seeing as he agreed with most of things the voice said, although it usually phrased things in a more flowery way. "Have you considered meeting with a psychologist?"

    “You’re—it,—J’onn.” Wally said, even as, across the city, he vibrated through the computer of a hacker committing identity theft, causing the machine to explode. “So,—if—it—is—just—myself,—can—you—look—into—my—head—and—find—out?”

    J’onn sighed, trying to control his annoyance. "I could. But you would need to stop running."

    “How—much—time—do—you—need?” Wally asked, not slowing down at all.

    "Ten seconds."

    The image of Wally came into focus as Wally instantly stopped beside J’onn. “Let’s do it.”

    J’onn looked at Wally, closed his eyes, and then looked at him again. His thick brow raised as his normally impassive eyes widened slightly in a seldom-seen look of surprise.

    "The voice does not come from you," J’onn said.

    “Really?” Wally asked. “Who is it, then?”

    "That I cannot discover by searching your mind."

    “Great,” Wally said, and then started running again. “But—it—could—be—the—Speed—Force?”

    "It is a possibility."

This month (November, Year One)…

    “Embrace your destiny, Wally. Accept what you were meant to become,” the words of the voice, which Wally now believed was the Speed Force, echoed in his head.

     “Ascend to your rightful position as lord of the paradise that Keystone could be,” the message of Fiona Webb also reverberated through Wally’s brain. For a long time, the words had seem strange, distant from who he was. He was just a superhero, not a god, after all. But then, a lot of people did compare the JLA to a modern pantheon in a loose sense. But in the end, the practicality of what they were saying had won out. Ever since Wally had taken the black diamond from Eclipso, Wally had gradually come to realize more and more just how much good he could do in Keystone with a little more proactive effort. The voice of the Speed Force had echoed the sentiment, and Fiona had been the first to mention the Flash being able to turn Keystone into a heaven on earth.

    Now it was becoming a reality.

    The Temple of the Triumphant Velocity had grown exponentially as Wally’s activity had increased, and with it, Wally’s speed and endurance increased. Now, he seemed to need no sleep at all, almost as if running was in itself, restful for him. Despite the fact that when Wally was given his super-speed, it also resulted in a super-fast metabolism, he never felt hungry anymore. What little nourishment he did need, he took while he was moving through the city.

    Wally could circle the city hundreds of times, and that was without him even using a large fraction of his speed. The rest he had given to his followers at the Temple; each now had a double portion of normal human velocity. While half of the congregation would stay at the temple to continue in their reverie, the other half were using their gift of speed to rebuild roads, repair the houses of the less fortunate, build new houses, clean up the litter in the parks, and the sidewalks, and the streets, as well as other community service projects. Under the organization of Fiona Webb, the worshippers had become a network of people who helped the needy, the sick, and the helpless. And if any of them were to stumble from their extra speed, Wally was there, helping them, guiding them.

    As Wally made his way around the city, traversing each point over a thousand times in a minute, he appeared as a soft red blur that settled like a blanket over the peaceful setting of Keystone City.

A stern form stood at the edge of the city. His form was ashen white, his eyes pupil-less. He wore a hooded cloak, trunks, and gloves that were green, almost as if this figure that had already passed beyond the plane of mortality were trying to fit in with the superhero set.

As the Spectre stood there, looking down at the red haze that permeated Keystone, he grimaced, deeply disappointed.

“So shall it be in the last days,” the Spectre said grimly, as he floated slowly toward Wally West...

Next Issue: Has Wally finally flipped his lid? What is the Spectre planning to do? Is the voice in Wally’s head really the Speed Force? All of this, and the reactions of some old friends toward Wally’s drastic actions, in the second part of “Blur,” next month.