The Clyde persona had laid enough hints. Barry had finally put together the puzzle that had been forming since the first confrontation between the rogue and the speedster following the former’s escape. Mark Mardon didn’t just blame Joe and the Flash for his younger brother’s death. He blamed himself as well. Perhaps subconsciously even more. It did not matter at all that he had been lying in a coma. In the Weather Wizard’s distraught thoughts, he was still greatly responsible. Because of such thoughts, in his mind, there could only be one solution that would resolve all his turmoil.
Bring Clyde back to life.
It couldn’t have been a conscious decision at the time. Rather, Mardon’s subconscious had taken command of the situation and finally determined that the only way to truly make amends would be to accomplish this impossible task. Erase the guilt as if it had never been.
Barry sincerely doubted that there was any method by which Mardon could achieve such a fantastic feat. Yet, in attempting to accomplish it, the Weather Wizard had brought together tremendous forces that should have been kept apart.
And here the Flash now confronted those very forces. The Weather Wizard couldn’t have chosen a more deadly attack if he had planned it and yet it was very clear to the speedster that Mardon didn’t even realize what was happening. The elder brother didn’t look at all healthy. Clearly, whatever he was doing was near to killing him already, but he seemed not to notice.
“I don’t want to fight you,” the Flash insisted. “Mardon, this isn’t your brother. Your brother is gone.”
“Dead, maybe, but I’m not gone,” mocked the Clyde persona.
“And soon he won’t be dead,” the Weather Wizard added without pause, “with your help.”
The Flash had no idea how he was supposed to help with that and really did not want to know. He suspected that it had something to do with his increasing exhaustion. If so… If he was feeding energy to the Weather Wizard, then to Barry that meant that anything that happened to Central City because of it was in part his doing. Never mind that it was through unwilling means… without the Flash, Mardon would not have been able to become as great a threat as he looked to be.
“He looks rested up enough now, Mark.”
The Weather Wizard nodded to himself. “Yeah, I think so too. I think we gave him more than enough of a break.”
“Mardon, I don’t want to fight you! I want to get you help!”
“You’re all the help we need,” “Clyde” answered. “And you will fight us, for him.”
Too late, the Flash realized what had happened. He spun around, only to find Joe missing.
No, not missing. Floating several feet above him thanks to a subtle wind the Weather Wizard had grown behind the speedster’s back.
“Being quick isn’t everything,” Mardon sneered. “Being smart is.”
“And sneaky,” the Clyde persona added in a similar tone.
The Flash raced at his adversary. He put a hand on the Weather Wizard.
A tremendous shock sent him reeling.
“Being smart is,” repeated Mardon. “I’m more than I ever was before, Flash. This time, I really am a god.”
Barry rolled aside before the lightning bolt could hit. Jumping to his feet, he used the brief illumination of the bolt to inspect both the vicinity and his opponent. From the former, he gained little knowledge; the floor of the ruined farmhouse had little to offer other than crumbling refuse.
On the other hand, the Weather Wizard now stood revealed in the bolt’s light to be in even more heinous condition than Barry had thought. The Flash noticed that Mardon’s body shivered in sync with the electrical surge of the bolt.
“I am the storm,” the Weather Wizard remarked coldly. Framed as he was by the fading light of the bolt, he reminded the Flash more of one of the animated dead from one of the television shows. This was no god, save perhaps of some ghoulish underworld.
“Let’s try harder now,” Mardon ordered, “and let’s try expanding our horizons in the process!”
A wind took the Weather Wizard aloft. As he rose, his body glowed from the energy he barely kept checked within him. He spread his arms wide, then looked down at the Flash.
“Maybe he needs more incentive?” came the Clyde voice. “Let’s play with the detective…”
With another gust, the Weather Wizard brought Joe toward him. Mardon waved one hand back and forth, the detective’s motionless form swinging to match the movement.
“Still out, is he? Guess he’s not so strong without a gun to back him up,” the Clyde persona commented.
“What do you expect?” Mardon replied. “He’s only human, after all.”
“Not even really that. Just a cop.”
The Flash watched Joe and the Weather Wizard carefully. With Mardon’s body virtually untouchable, the speedster had to come up with another way of bringing down the Weather Wizard while keeping Joe from harm.
“Barry…” came Cisco’s voice in his ear.
“Gotcha,” the Flash muttered, hardly moving his mouth.
“Ah, you’re facing Mardon right now. What about Joe?”
“Uh huh.”
“Listen, I think—”
Above, the Weather Wizard suddenly gestured.
“Hold that thought, Cisco!”
Joe went flying toward Barry. The speedster attempted to grab him, but the Weather Wizard kept him just out of the Flash’s reach.
“You know what I want of you, Flash,” Mardon called. “Time to show off! Time to run like your life depends on it… Like his does.”
The Flash eyed the farmhouse floor, which had been left half dirt by its destruction. The ground was dry due to the fact that Mark had kept the area around himself clear.
Kneeling, the Flash began digging up loose dirt and tossing it into the air in the direction of his adversary. The speedster moved so quickly that what should have been just a handful of dirt became a vast cloud.
But that was only half of what he planned. The moment he had enough dirt in the air, Barry spun his arm around, making wind that was focused at the Weather Wizard.
The thick cloud of dirt flew.
At the same time, the Flash ran to one of the remaining walls and used his velocity to rush up until he was on the roof. Once there, the Flash rushed along the cracked edge closest to Joe and used momentum to carry him into the air.
He seized the detective and used his remaining momentum to send them both toward another remnant of the roof across from where he had started. His feet barely even touching the weak wood, the Flash carried Joe down to the ground.
However, as he set Joe aside, he was hit by a wall of horizontal rain.
The force sent him crashing into one of the walls, which crumpled from the impact. As he fought to regain his equilibrium, the Flash also tried to see what had happened to Joe.
“It only takes me a glance, a moment now, to set things in motion,” the Weather Wizard declared as he dropped down slightly. “A bolt of lightning, a gale, anything I desire, Flash! That, and knowing exactly where you’d pick! I like the dirt, though. That was original, from you…”
Leaping up, Barry returned to Joe. He carried him to the edge of the farmhouse, only to be stopped by the solid wall of torrential rain. Again, the Flash hesitated, not for himself—he was certain that he could get through the harsh downpour fairly unscathed—but he had never carried anyone with him while attempting such a feat.
There was no choice. Barry charged into the rain, his entire body vibrating. Simultaneously, he used his own vibrations to affect Joe’s body as well.
As he entered the storm, the Flash felt an oppressive force push against him. Vibrating as he did should have enabled the Flash to evade being touched by even a drop as the water molecules slipped between his own. However, Joe’s body had by nature a slightly different vibrancy rate. Barry, more concerned with Joe than himself, did his best to adjust his rate so that Joe received the most benefit. That, unfortunately, meant that with each step t
he speedster suffered more, something made even worse by his increasing weakness.
Finally, he reached the end of the Weather Wizard’s barrier. The rain, although powerful in itself, was nothing compared to what Mardon had created around the farmhouse.
With a gasp, the Flash ceased vibrating. Despite the danger still present, he was forced to set Joe down and take a breath.
Joe moaned.
“Joe!” Barry knelt next to him. “Joe!”
The detective’s eyes opened. “Barry?”
“Take it easy. I’ll carry you back to the lab—”
Joe shook his head as if trying to clear it. “Listen… Mardon… He’s crazy!”
“I know! I’ve seen him talk as both himself and his brother! Don’t worry about that. Let me get you to—”
With a grunt, the Flash doubled over.
“Barry! What’s wrong?”
As Joe spoke, Cisco’s voice also filled the speedster’s ear. “Barry! Do you hear me again? I lost you again, but I’ve made a correction! We should be good now!”
“Cisco? I’m not… I’m not feeling too well.”
“I know! Listen! I don’t know exactly what you and Mardon just went through, but it’s caused an acceleration in however he’s draining you!”
“Tell me about it… My legs feel like lead. I’ve got to get Joe out of here, though. Then I can deal with Mardon!”
“Barry, I don’t think you can face him. That last encounter? Everything doubled. You face him again… Let’s put it this way, I might end up being faster than you.”
“There’s no choice, Cisco!”
“It gets even better. What you’re feeding Mardon and what he’s gathering… It’s going to make him ‘explode’. When that happens… no more Central City!”
“No more—?”
“I hate to break in,” Joe interjected, unaware of the revelation just revealed to the Flash. “But I’d feel a heck of a lot better if you would at least untie me!”
“Sorry about that.” The Flash slipped around to the other side. “I forgot.”
Joe glanced up at him. “You don’t sound good. How bad are you?”
“I’ll be fine if I can just lie down for a century or two—”
Barry’s world spun around. Unable to stop himself, he slumped against Joe.
“Barry?” the detective called out in concern.
“Barry!” Cisco called at the same time. “Your readings are sinking fast! You’ve got to—”
Whatever Cisco prepared to say, it was lost as a tremendous explosion illuminated the sky for as far as the Flash could see. Although nothing physically struck him, the speedster suddenly felt as if his very soul was being torn from his body.
“Barry!” Joe shouted.
The Flash fought to keep himself conscious. In his ear, Cisco also shouted, but Barry couldn’t concentrate enough to understand what he said. Barry knew that he had gone through something akin to this before, but now it struck him several times harder. So hard, in fact, that if he had not fallen against Joe, he would have now been face first on the ground.
He fumbled with the detective’s bonds, but his fingers kept slipping off. Barry tried to get his hands to obey him, but they refused. He managed one tug, but the effort cost him too much.
The flaring light above grew so intense that even in his awful state, the Flash couldn’t help but look up to see the cause.
The Weather Wizard hovered above them, his body not just aglow, but surrounded by crackling lightning erupting from all over his body. Each time the energies around the Weather Wizard flared anew, that feeling that his soul was being wrenched from him increased within the speedster.
Next to Mardon—and glowing with just as much fury—floated the grinning figure of the false Clyde. When the Weather Wizard laughed, he laughed. When the Weather Wizard turned his maddened gaze down at the Flash and Joe, so did the second figure.
The Weather Wizard gestured… and the Flash’s world turned upside down.
19
“Barry!” Cisco roared into the mic. There was no reply, not even any static. Cisco knew that he still had a link to Barry and that the only reason that the Flash did not answer was because he could not.
“Cisco?”
He peered at Iris, whose expression more than mirrored his darkening thoughts. Both her father and the man she loved were out there. A moment earlier they had all felt a surge of hope on hearing that Barry had grabbed Joe from the Weather Wizard.
Then Caitlin had groaned and fallen back yet again. Cisco, quickly checking the stats, had discovered an approaching fluctuation more than double any previous. He had instinctively tried to warn Barry, but it was all for nothing.
Too late Cisco realized that he should have been doing something more to help the Flash. Now, though, he feared it might be too late. If Mardon had Barry…
Iris suddenly stood next to him, her expression drawn. “Cisco… What’s happening? What’s wrong with Barry?”
“Barry’s readings are weaker, but still steady enough.” It was not a satisfactory answer and he knew it. “And if Barry’s alive, so’s Joe.” There was nothing to back that up either, but it was all Cisco could think to say.
Iris folded her arms tightly across her chest. “What can you do? There’s got to be something you can do. Can we help restore Barry’s strength somehow?”
“Unfortunately no… at least not directly and not soon enough.” He thought quickly. “Still monitoring the fluctuations in the Weather Wizard’s readings. There’s chance if we catch one of the drops, but…”
“But you need Barry to do something then, don’t you?”
Cisco said nothing, instead focusing on the monitor.
A grunting sound made both turn to Caitlin. With H.R. assisting her, Caitlin managed to get up on her elbows.
“I have to go face him,” she announced. “I have to go try to stop him. These damned powers should be good for saving my friends at least!”
They all knew what she meant by that. Despite the danger to Barry and her father, Iris shook her head. “No. Not even for them.”
“You can’t,” Cisco added. “You’re still susceptible. You’ll become Killer Frost. Not Caitlin with her powers. Killer Frost like we always feared, Caitlin.”
His monitor beeped. Cisco spun back to it.
Iris joined him. “Is it Barry? Is he fighting back?”
“No. It’s Mardon. Everything we’ve been talking about might just be moot points. I made some calculations earlier and imputed a warning into the system should his readings meet those calculations. They’ve just done that.”
“What calculations?” asked Iris.
Running a hand through his hair, Cisco answered, “Unless Barry stops him very, very soon, it won’t matter if Mardon wins. All that power he’s gathered is near the tipping point. He’s only got minutes before it consumes him and escapes.”
“And when that happens,” muttered H.R., “Central City will suffer. That’s what you were saying earlier was a possibility.”
Cisco shook as, for a moment, he saw the future. It was not a true vision, as he sometimes had, but merely a very strong knowledge of the energies in motion. “‘Suffer’? If Mardon goes at this point, there won’t even be a Central City… or, if my new calculations are correct, much else for a hundred miles in any direction.”
* * *
The incredible weight his body had taken on abruptly left the Flash. He now felt like he weighed nothing, as if he floated free.
Another part of his mind warned him that there was only one reason for that.
Forcing his eyelids open, the Flash saw the approaching figure of the Weather Wizard. After a moment, he realized that it was not Mardon who was approaching him, but rather that the speedster was floating toward his adversary.
The Weather Wizard looked more like a demon than a man. His eyes bulged and his mouth appeared frozen in that great rictus. In contrast, the false Clyde drifted almost serenely and look
ed far more human even though there was nothing human about him. He stared in the Flash’s general direction, but at the moment there was no animation, which the speedster found curious despite his precarious condition.
The next breath later “Clyde” lost cohesion. It was a momentary loss, but enough to give the Flash an idea… assuming he could free himself.
His thoughts turned to Joe. Quickly glancing around, he saw that Joe lay on the ground. The detective appeared to be unconscious.
The speedster refocused on Mardon. “What did you do to him?”
“Don’t concern yourself with him. West will get what’s coming to him soon enough.” The Weather Wizard continued to grin. “Unless you think you’ve still got what it takes to save him. Want to give it a try?”
The Flash’s brow furrowed. Even though his adversary had the upper hand, he was offering the speedster a new opportunity to rescue the detective. Just what the hell is he up to?
“Sure,” Barry responded. “Give me one more chance.”
The Weather Wizard laughed, not a pretty sound to the Flash. Still, just as he hoped, Mardon began to descend, bringing the speedster too.
But more important to Barry, “Clyde” descended with them.
The moment both the Flash and the Weather Wizard touched the ground, the speedster raced forward. As he expected, Mardon already had a wall of hail protecting him from the Flash’s swiftness.
Barry veered away from his adversary, instead heading at the false Clyde.
The Flash had counted on a slight hesitation between the moment Mardon had created his own protection and the moment when the Weather Wizard also protected his “brother”. With Clyde supposedly a spirit, Barry also thought that Mardon might even believe his adversary unable to inflict any harm at all on the younger brother.
Whichever the case, no hail shielded “Clyde”. No hail, no rain, no lightning. Barry raced, assuming he had only a single second before that changed.
A second was all he needed.
Mardon’s false brother stood frozen. Yet, as the Flash neared, he noticed that the figure was slightly out of focus. Barry had never noticed such a thing before and wondered about the reason for it.
The Flash Page 24
