“You can’t take him from me!” the Weather Wizard shouted as something brought the Flash toward him. He had managed to straighten, but just barely from what the Flash could see. Mardon was still clearly very much in pain. “I won’t—I won’t—”
The Flash glanced down. Their shifting position had put him close to a rooftop. If he dropped now, he could land safely.
“Flash…”
It was not that Mardon had called his name that surprised the speedster so much as the tone he now used. The Flash looked at his adversary.
Without warning, an awful paleness had replaced the burned look of the Weather Wizard’s skin. Barry noticed Mardon shiver.
“Flash… I’m… It’s not well… It’s…” He looked just past the speedster. “Clyde… No… You’re gone… I—”
The Weather Wizard shivered again… and dropped like a rock.
23
At the same that Mardon began falling, so too did the Flash start to drop. As he had planned, he landed barely a moment later on the rooftop he had been studying.
No sooner had he regained his balance than he raced from the edge of the roof and leaped toward the next building, a smaller one by some ten floors. From there, the Flash jumped to another, smaller structure and from that to a smaller yet.
All the while, he kept watch on Mardon’s plummeting body. A part of Barry—a great part, he had to admit—was sorely tempted to let the Weather Wizard fall to his death. Certainly Mardon would have done nothing to save the Flash under the same circumstances. But even now Barry couldn’t simply let Mardon perish. The Flash leapt across one more building, then noted the Weather Wizard’s current location. Mardon had dropped nearly three-quarters of the way down. The Flash had to catch him now.
The speedster leaped. If he had everything calculated correctly, he would be able to catch hold of Mardon and use momentum to carry them easily to the rooftop across from him.
As the Flash jumped, time began to catch up. Mardon’s body started to slip lower. That suited the Flash just fine as it set the Weather Wizard to be at the correct height for the plan.
But then a fearsome gust of wind caught the speedster unawares. As it tossed him toward the side of a building, the Flash thought he glimpsed a hulking form several stories high.
Barry rolled onto the rooftop for which he had already been aiming, the added momentum from the wind threatening to send him slipping off the other side. He turned around to see Mardon’s body nearing the street level.
But a rush of wind underneath pushed the Weather Wizard’s body up just a few feet from disaster.
The Flash started down after Mardon… only to be struck by yet another burst of wind. The speedster went crashing through an office window.
As he pushed himself up, he beheld an even greater monstrosity than before. The false Clyde now stretched larger than ever, a huge tornadic shape lacking all but the most vague human traits shifting through the street, ripping up mailboxes, benches, huge cement planters, and adding them to the already massive collection swirling within it, heading toward the Flash with malevolent purpose.
The speedster peered up at it, then back at the Weather Wizard. Mardon knelt on the street, once more his arms tightly wrapped around his sides. He remained as pale as earlier and his hollow eyes stared ahead as if not really seeing anything.
The Flash started toward the Weather Wizard, only to find the unsettling tornado somehow directly in his path.
He looked back behind him and verified that it was indeed the very same behemoth. Barry frowned. “Cisco!”
“Go ahead!”
“Cisco, are you reading anything in front of me? Something really, really large?”
After a moment, Cisco replied, “This is weird, man. I’ve got Mardon in front of you and … another Mardon? What’ve you got going on there? He hasn’t developed the power to clone himself now, has he? I mean, that’s not fair. One power to a metahuman, that’s the rule!”
“Remember ‘Clyde’? He’s a lot bigger and no longer masked! He’s a whirlwind, a huge tornado, Cisco! A tornado on the hunt for me, apparently!”
“Well, as awful as it sounds, you must’ve gotten through to Mardon at least some! His subconscious is focused on you specifically now! It’s bought us a slight reprieve and may be the key to ending this!”
“If we still have enough time. Mardon looks like he’s about gone and—”
The Flash shifted out of the way just before a mailbox hit where he had been standing. However, as he came to a halt in a spot he felt was at least a momentarily safe one, he was overcome by a new wave of exhaustion.
“Barry! You just slipped below fifty percent!”
“I can feel it…” It was now a race against time in more ways than one. The Flash warily eyed the massive tornado as it moved in his direction: one extension of the funnel swept up a car someone had abandoned and tossed it the Flash’s way. It should have been a simple task for Barry to evade such a missile, but as the speedster moved, every muscle in his body stiffened. He was able to keep moving, yet at a pace that made him feel as if he stood still.
By the time the car crashed into his previous location, the Flash had barely moved far enough away. His reflexes were slowing.
“I’m getting some bad fluctuations from you!” Cisco cut in.
“I’m sure! Listen, I’ve got to try something. This can’t go on!”
He did not wait for Cisco to reply. Instead, he raced past the swiping limb of the tornado figure and headed directly for the Weather Wizard.
The moment he came within earshot, the Flash called out: “Mardon! Listen to me! I know what it’s like to lose a loved one! To lose someone that was a part of yourse—”
A lightning bolt struck just yards from the Flash. Even despite the debilitating effects of what the Weather Wizard was doing to him, the Flash still managed to back out of range before it actually hit. Despite his success, the speedster knew he couldn’t keep this up much longer.
“Dude, be careful!” Cisco reported, as if on cue. “You’re down to forty-six!”
“Do—do me a favor! When I get down to twenty-five, let me know! Nothing before!”
“Your choice!”
“Listen, I think I’m onto something. Mardon looks like he’s in a coma, but when I started talking about losing someone, the weather got even more violent right around him! I think if I keep pressing him on this, it could break the impasse—”
“Or break you. That drop happened as a result of that last little stunt! Barry—”
Whatever Cisco said next was lost to the Flash as he dodged another heavy piece of refuse thrown at him by the whirlwind. It became readily apparent that it too was seeking to keep the speedster from reaching Mardon.
The Flash hesitated. With his abilities weakened, the sinister construct and the protective barricade of weather surrounding Mardon were nearly more than he could handle. He watched both situations, hoping for a gap of even a single second. A golden streak ran by, crossing paths with the whirlwind a moment later.
“Cisco filled me in, man!” Wally called over the link. “Do whatever you need to do! I’ll keep old Windy here occupied long enough!”
Barry wanted to reprimand Cisco for drawing in Iris’s brother, but knew that he needed Wally right now. “Just be careful!”
“Aren’t I always?”
The Flash refrained from answering, instead eyeing the Weather Wizard. The path to Mardon appeared momentarily clear.
Barry ran. The moment he was again close enough, he paused and called out, “Mardon! I know the pain! I’ve lost someone near to me too! I did something to try to bring them back, but it only ended up creating disaster on a scale you can’t imagine! That’s all that’s going to happen here! Countless lives will be lost and for nothing! Clyde is gone and there’s nothing that can be done to change that!”
To the Flash’s surprise, the area around the Weather Wizard remained subdued. The speedster wasn’t certain whether this wa
s due to a trap set for him or because his words had actually penetrated Mardon’s fevered mind.
The Weather Wizard looked up.
Barry shivered. Mardon still looked as if he had just risen from the grave himself. His gaze would not quite focus and he wheezed. He seemed as if he was either in a trance or halfway to a coma.
What’s happening to him? the Flash wondered.
Then, the bloodshot eyes opening wider, the Weather Wizard stared at his adversary. “All gone. It’d never work. You were right.”
“Mardon, listen. No one could appreciate what you were going through unless they’d suffered through it too. Clyde’s not coming back. You have to accept it…”
“Accept it… Never worked…”
The Flash continued to watch warily. “Maybe we’re safe here, Cisco.”
“Maybe… But he’s still burning off the charts, Barry. If he should lose it completely at this point, then it’s bye-bye everything. We need to shut down that thing in his head.’
“Hold on, Cisco.” The Flash watched the Weather Wizard through narrowed eyes. A subtle change had come over Mardon’s expression, one that disturbed the speedster. “I think—”
The Weather Wizard rose, a scene that reminded Barry of a zombie movie. Mardon swayed back and forth and twice the Flash expected him to collapse.
“Clyde’s not… coming back. He’s dead, Flash, and you and I know that. How do we know that? Because we made sure he was dead, didn’t we, Flash? You and the detective, but me too. I let him die.”
The Flash took a quick glance at where Wally was. Wally continued to keep ahead of the animated tornado, which looked as if it were starting to lose form.
Returning his full attention to the Weather Wizard, the speedster said, “It’s time to put an end to this, Mardon. Just come with me—”
Mardon cocked his head in clear bewilderment. “‘Come with you’? Why? It doesn’t matter where we go! Clyde’s gone from everywhere!”
The illumination surrounding the Weather Wizard’s body grew stronger.
“Barry, his readings are taking off!”
“Get ready to hit that button, Cisco!” The Flash moved in at a speed against which the Weather Wizard could do nothing, but the moment the Flash reached the edge of the illumination, he was flung back like a rag doll. He collided with a huge storefront window, which shattered, and he fell into the store, momentarily stunned.
As he stirred, Cisco’s voice shouted in his ear. “You’ve got to get out of there, Barry! You’ve just dropped to twenty-four percent! You can’t keep this up!”
“I’ve got… Got to!” Still, he understood Cisco’s concern the moment he tried to stand. If not for a nearby table to lean on, his initial attempt would have seen him back on the floor. The Flash inhaled deeply, then pushed himself out of the store.
The Weather Wizard stood where the Flash had last left him, his hands stretched high. His eyes were shut in concentration.
From the Flash’s left came a loud crash. Zipping toward it, Barry found Wally still trying to harass the whirlwind. The crash had been the sound of a bus being thrown across the street at the spot where the other speedster had been standing.
Wally saw the Flash and vanished, reappearing beside him.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “You look almost as pale as Mardon!”
“I’ll be fine.”
“If you say so.” Wally looked doubtful. “What’s happening with him?”
“The Weather Wizard’s about to destroy everything, including himself.”
Wally made a face. “Great. And what do we do?”
“First, I need you to keep an eye on that thing.” He gestured to the whirlwind. “Will you?”
“Sure, no problem. It looks friendly. What else?”
“I haven’t heard anything more from Mardon’s Clyde persona, but if that whirlwind still exists, the other personality does too, deep down. Just make sure you steer clear of it. Don’t try anything tricky.”
“I wouldn’t know just what trick to use on it anyway.”
The Flash nodded. “I have an idea, if it comes to it. First, though, I’ve got to see to Mardon. Maybe we can still avoid a full catastrophe.”
“Maybe.”
Barry had no better answer. He nodded to Wally, then rushed away.
The Weather Wizard stood seemingly frozen in place, only the crackle of energy around him showing any change. Now it flared brighter, stronger.
The Flash did not hesitate. At the very least, he had to try to break Mardon’s concentration. There was one simple way to attempt that.
Accelerating, the Flash threw himself directly at the Weather Wizard.
He did so well aware that it might not be possible to penetrate the forces surrounding his adversary. Barry only hoped to distract the Weather Wizard, even if it meant the speedster bouncing off.
Closer and closer he got. When he passed the point where the weather had tried to block him and nothing happened, the Flash prepared himself for the collision with Mardon.
“Now, Cisco!” he shouted.
“We’re on it!”
An explosion of energy marked the impact. The Weather Wizard let out a grunt as the speedster barreled directly into his midsection. Still grappling, both men went flying.
They crashed into a plant display from the city’s recent beautification project. The energy loosed by the men’s collision sent plants, concrete planters, and benches scattering everywhere.
A second burst threw the Flash from atop his foe. Barry flew a few feet in the air—at which point a massive gust of wind plucked him up.
No, not just any gust of wind, the speedster saw… but rather the “hand” of the gargantuan whirlwind Mardon had used to recreate his brother.
Barry had no idea what had happened to Wally and could only pray that he was all right. There was nothing but static in Barry’s earpiece, which likely meant that the energies unleashed during the collision had ruined it. That left the Flash almost entirely on his own.
The swirling air drew the Flash higher and higher. A shift in its direction sent the speedster facing the whirlwind.
There, for a single moment, Barry thought he once again beheld the murky features of Clyde Mardon. The Flash’s view changed before he could verify his impression. The wind turned again, sending the Flash flying across the street. He grimaced as the wall of an office building quickly filled his gaze. A hand pulled him to safety just a few yards from what would have been a very painful collision. Wally helped the Flash to his feet just as both heard a horrific wrenching noise.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Wally muttered.
“No.”
They looked in the direction of the noise.
A mass of girders, bricks, cement, and more, clearly torn from the side of some building, came flying at the pair.
“Split up!” ordered the Flash.
A girder barreled through where Wally had stood, the long, heavy piece burying half its length in another building. A two-ton piece of masonry rolled over the location where the Flash had just been standing.
Another girder crashed just inches from where he moved to after that, but by then the Flash had managed to move further away.
The bombardment spread rapidly over not only the location where the two had initially stood, but an area reaching far ahead. It was clear to the Flash that even now there was no lack of cunning on the part of the Weather Wizard despite the turmoil going through his mind. Chunks of debris wreaked havoc over the center of Central City: all to try to kill the two speedsters. Several pieces from what the Flash determined was a sidewalk shot just above them, battering a nearby building like a volley of heavy cannons. This sent a shower of deadly fragments and glass raining down on the duo. The Flash and Wally raced into the ruined building, locating the offices struck by the concrete. Together, the pair pulled several shocked innocents free, carrying them to safety in seconds. But even as they did so, more makeshift missiles assailed th
em. Another huge piece of concrete came down just in front of Wally, who barely avoided running right into it, but in veering off left Barry’s line of sight. Unfortunately, the Flash couldn’t check on his friend, evading those missiles sent after him fully demanding his attention.
Barry’s body screamed for rest, but he tried to ignore both the screams and the memory of the last update Cisco had given him concerning his capabilities. The physical stresses the Flash felt were evidence enough that he was fast approaching the zero mark and yet not for a moment was surrendering to his pain an option he considered. Still, the Flash knew he couldn’t keep retreating. That meant turning into the onslaught. Hoping that Wally wasn’t planning the same suicidal tactic, the Flash chose the narrowness of the street to enable him to leap to the side, run up the wall of one building, and use it to arc around back toward the center without actually treading the street for some distance.
It was a tactic that saved him at least once; the street now a ruin from so many gigantic missiles. Gaping holes and upturned sections of concrete marked the once neat street. A crushed water main left a good portion of the street flooded.
Finally alighting back on one of the more serviceable parts of the street, the Flash picked up speed as best he could as he headed back to the Weather Wizard.
Another girder crashed into a storefront far to his right. The Flash adjusted his route. Fast as he was, he could now run at only a fraction of his optimum speed. He prayed this would be swift enough.
The hulking form of the tornado briefly filled the Flash’s vision, then vanished behind him. Ahead, the speedster saw the fiery illumination that marked where Mardon had to be. He found the Weather Wizard pushing himself to his feet with jerky movements that added to Mardon’s zombie-like appearance. The Weather Wizard was even more on his last legs than the Flash. It amazed Barry that the man could stand at all.
It turned out that not only could Mardon stand, but he still retained some of his faculties. Brooding eyes fixed on the Flash.
The Flash Page 29
