Bab 70: Chapter 70 Rise Of Parasite
Star Labs
Central City
One of the most iconic research facilities in the city, surpassing even Mercury Labs.
The facility was known to be responsible for the particle accelerator accident many years ago that created the wave of metahumans that plagued Central City for close to a decade.
It was also responsible for the creation of one of Earth's greatest Superheroes. The guardian of Central City, more popularly known as "The Flash".
Home to some of the greatest minds on the planet, since then, staff of Star Labs had become pioneers on the road of technology. Working with the government and the Justice League to make groundbreaking advancements in human sciences.
It was also in this building that another famous superhero, Cyborg was created.
However, at this moment, the whole building was crawling with military soldiers securing every nook and cranny.
Central City's iconic figure, The Flash in his red speedster suit stood at its lower levels, hands on his hips and a gloomy and uncertain expression on his face.
"Hey dude, you sure you're ok?" A figure beside him couldn't help but ask with a touch of worry.
"The Flash" turned his gaze to the side where someone he was so familiar with yet also unfamiliar at the same time stood.
Wally West, also known as Kid flash.
"..... Yes… I'm fine. Just..... A little unsettled, is all". He said while taking a deep breath.
His gaze moved back towards the shrivelled corpse that was lying in the distance.
"Still can't believe he's actually dead though". His solemn voice irked Wally out a bit.
Wally frowned slightly. The black flash in his line of vision put him in deep thought.
"Was he really that bad?"
The young speedster couldn't resist asking for confirmation.
"He was the worst".
The reply made the mode slightly heavy.
"Honestly, I still find this whole thing a little weird".
"Hehehe..... You and me both".
Flash chuckled. The amusement in his expression beyond concealment.
Wally also let out a small laugh. Looks like his attempt to break the heavy atmosphere was successful.
It happened then. Whooshing noises could be heard in the distance prompting them both to turn their heads.
The military offices around were also startled slightly. Some instinctively reached for their weapons but stopped their actions after seeing the new arrivals.
"Superman!" Wally called out.
"I'm here". Clark replied, giving Kidflash a subtle nod.
His gaze rested on "Flash" for a moment before nodding as well.
"Kidflash, Flash". Then, his sight turned towards the dead corpse causing a frown to make its way to his face.
"Looks like Arrow wasn't kidding".
"Yeah".
"Ok, now this is interesting".
Although it looked dried up, shrivelled, sucked clean of all life..... Whatever way you wanted to put it, he wasn't unrecognizable.
Well, at least his speed suit wasn't. Add his current look to his scary mask, and you would have an expression that popped straight out of a horror movie.
At least, that's what I was going for.
"It's you".
Wally looked at me with somewhat mixed emotions. There was a bit of displeasure in his voice.
"Hello speedy". I said without looking at his direction.
The words immediately ticked him off.
"I'm not speedy". He replied through gritted teeth.
"Oh right, Junior Flash then".
"You.....".
"Ok enough". Superman called out.
"Is he the one". Flash looked at me with clear interest.
"Sure is".
"That…." I paused, taking my attention off the corpse to the man in the red suit. I was slightly surprised, before turning on enhanced vision. That surprise turned into a frown and ultimately, realization.
"I was wondering how you were still here. Turns out, you're not the Flash of this earth".
The man under the cowl had his facial expressions shift slightly before returning to normal.
"And you're supposed to be the last known person he encountered before ending up like this". He accurately shifted the subject to the matter at hand.
"And? What does that have to do with me?"
"He's dead". Superman interjected.
"We got an emergency distress signal from Star Labs. From forensic analysis, he had been killed nearly four hours ago, strangely by having all the vitality sucked out of him".
Clark raised an eyebrow.
"Does that ring any bells?"
"You think I did this?" I couldn't help feeling amused.
"It matches your skill set. And you're the last known person to cross paths with him".
He replied solemnly, the picture of me draining lobo of his essence still vivid in his mind.
"So I guess that's why you're here". I turned my gaze back to The Flash.
"Want to make sure your demons are dead?"
Wally west of Earth -1 opened his mouth slightly, but ultimately chose to rain silent.
"Well, then". My gaze shifted back to the corpse.
"Sorry to disappoint but as you must already know, this isn't my handiwork".
"Then we need to know what happened when you last saw him". Clark's tone was serious.
He already knew that I wasn't the one responsible. Even if he had no concrete evidence, he would at most suspect me.
"Someone who can do this to a speedster is dangerous. The lives of many Innocents are at stake".
"There's not much to talk about. Our meeting was rather brief". I said with indifference.
"We met when he was about to use a breach to return to his earth. He attacked me, I beat him back, then he escaped as fast as his lightning infused legs could carry him, forgetting your body in the process. That's it".
The words fell into their ears but elicited different reactions.
"Seriously?"
"Breach?"
"Breach?"
Superman frowned while Flash (-1) raised his eyebrows.
Wally was just plain surprised.
"Hold on, you found a portal leading to my earth?"
Flash asked with narrowed eyebrows.
"Yep".
"Where is it".
"...." His answer was destined to receive no response. I wouldn't mind answering one or two irrelevant questions, but this certainly wasn't one of them.
"Hey, what about the location?"
"I'm talking to.....". Flash (-1) was interrupted by Superman who stretched his arm and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Calm down". Superman said seriously before turning to look at me, my attention still fixed on examining the corpse.
The Man Of Steel felt slightly helpless. Things were getting difficult.
Eventually, my interest in the corpse dissipated. I had seen all I had to see. Then something else came to mind.
"What did he even want in this place?"
I got up from my squatting posture.
Superman frowned. The answer to that question was unknown even to him. After all, the league had just discovered this body not long ago.
"Tachyons". However, just because he didn't know doesn't mean someone else wouldn't.
Flash (-1) was well-informed in this regard.
"On my world, Zoom was obsessed with speed. Literally. It's the only thing that could gain his interest here. But from the looks of it, he met something even he couldn't handle".
"Is there any available surveillance footage?" Clark asked.
"No, for some reason, the whole building lost power. Almost all electronics were fried, even the cameras. That's what they're here for". Wally made a small gesture towards the military officers patrolling the place like flies buzzing around rotten meat.
"Did they get anything useful?"
"No yet apparently. It would be different if Cyborg was....." Wally said nonchalantly before realizing. He quickly shut up before he said anything more.
The fact that six or so Leaguers had gone missing had been made known to the team. Robin was the earliest to find out since Batman was put in a coma.
This was also the reason Wally (current earth) and Wally (-1) were in Central City.
One, to thwart any possible crimes that would take place in the scarlet speedster's absence, and two, to put on a show.
The presence of The Flash (-1) could conveniently plant a smoke bomb for possible enemies.
"Don't bother, if it's video surveillance, they won't get anything". I said with an Infrared sweep of the area.
The whole facility lost power within a time span of three hours and the way the power was lost was extremely strange.
The whole incident had passed, so the clues they could gather were rather limited. They couldn't see it, but I could.
The faint diversion of power lines could be seen all over the walls within my energy vision.
Put simply, the energy that powered the entire building was drawn towards a singular area. That area was.....
I turned my head towards a point in the distance that was surrounded by military offices. Sure enough there were two palm prints.
"If it's just absorbing energy, there are a lot of villains who could achieve this. Nevertheless, there aren't many characters in the DC universe who can absorb vitality....". I muttered slightly as my eyes lit up.
"Alice". I called out inwardly.
"Yes sir?"
"Find out if this is who I think it is".
I ordered nonchalantly.
The military couldn't gain anything and if they could, it would definitely take a while. But that didn't mean Alice couldn't.
"Amari...". Clark opened his mouth and called me. I turned my gaze in his direction to find that the Man Of Steel was looking at me with narrowed eyebrows.
"Oh! Oops!". Almost forgot, this guy has Super hearing.
I let out a small chuckle, finding the situation amusing. I didn't care, though.
"What did you mean by that?" I was amused, but the Kryptonian wasn't. Clark looked at me with a serious expression, expecting a reply.
"Nothing much. You won't understand anyway". I gave a slight shrug and turned my attention away.
"What was that about?" Flash (-1) couldn't help but ask.
"He's hiding something".
Superman didn't elaborate. Unlike the two speedsters, he heard my words as clear as if I were speaking through a microphone.
What did the term, "DC Universe" imply?
"He knows more than he's letting in on".
.....
Star Labs
Central City...
Three Hours Ago
BAR.... BLAR....
The Star Labs facility sirens were going haywire. The lights were out, and the backup generator didn't come on. Almost all electrical equipment in the building had lost power.
"Huh … Hah…. Pant!" Two middle-aged men appeared, running through the hallways.
"The Stairs... Take the stairs…".
"No, this way".
Both men turned down another hallway and made their way towards the door at the end.
Seeing the room in front of them, the first man took out his security card and pushed it against the side. The door suddenly shone with a green light, granting access.
"That's a speedster. A door won't stop him".
"Damn! I knew the board should have taken precautions and put Meta human dampeners all over the building".
The middle-aged man with a large beard cursed incessantly in an attempt to cover up the fear in his heart.
"Pant... The guards are all ... Gasp.... armed with power dampener cuffs".
"Yeah, like that managed to stop whoever this freak is".
"Maybe that door didn't....". As he spoke, his legs never stopped moving. Hastily, he came before a wall.
"..... But this one will". This time, he placed his hand against the wall, causing the area around his palm to light up.
What once was a plain wall opened up, making way to reveal a secret room.
"The 05 project Room?"
"Yes. Unlike the building, the whole place inside is filled with Power dampeners and the wall is made of special materials".
Both men hurried in, and the door closed behind them.
"..... Unless the wall is blown up, not even the Flash can get in".
"All we have to do is hide in here and wait until the Justice.....". The speaking man suddenly paused, a stunned expression appearing on his face.
".... What the hell? I thought you said no one else could get in here?" The other man asked aloud with wide eyes.
Standing a few meters away, a human figure stood with his back against them, holding a box like object within his grasp.
He wore a hoodie with long slack pants, preventing others from seeing his skin.
If one looked close, they would see that lines of orange and purple spread on his hands, extending from the point where he made contact with the device.
"Grgggg..... Yes...". An audible sound was released, almost mimicking a primitive growl.
"Believe me, Michael, I thought the same. Only people with sufficient authority even know about this place". The man said with a frown before calling out.
"Hey! You there. Who are you? This area is restricted. State your name and what you're doing with the Tachyon…." His words stopped, and his eyes widened in horror.
He wasn't the only one though as his partner, Michael shared an equal expression.
"Oh my God!" The scene before their eyes nearly frightened them to death.
The figure holding the Tachyon device turned around, showing them the face beneath the hoodie.
Sharp, garbled teeth, pale purplish skin, his hair, or what was left of it at least, was a sickly white color. The ears were pointed and the area around the eyes were filled with purple patches.
As for his glowing hands....
"Ggrghhh.... Arg...".
"You….". Michael fell backwards in fright.
"What the hell are you?"
"... Doctor... Doctor Ggrgh Michael?"
At that moment, a deep, growling voice called out the name of the fallen Michael.
Michael's eyes widened.
"You... You know me?"
"I've.... searching for you... Help.... I need help".
"Hold on there". The other male raised his hands with a wary look.
"Why don't you start by telling us who..... Or what exactly are you?"
"Ugh!" The male figure grunted as if holding in great pain. He placed one hand against his stomach area.
"..... Rudy... Jones. Star..... Labs employee. I..... need....."
It happened then.
A hand suddenly phased through the spot where they previously made an entrance.
The sound of electric arcs successful drew the attention of the two doctors, causing their faces to turn grim.
"Did... Did he just...".
He had barely finished when the hand was drawn back. Following which, a figure suddenly phased through the wall, appearing neatly on the other side.
"But.... The Dampeners?" Michael exclaimed in fear. It was a well-known fact that Power Dampeners made Meta humans lose their powers.
Why wasn't it the case at the moment?
The male beside Michael was equally stunned. Before realizing something and raising his head upward.
Lo and behold, the power dampeners were offline. Seeing this scene, he suddenly had the urged to swear abusive words incessantly.
"Thank you....." The grim, hoarse voice that sounded like a Demon's whisper fell into their ears.
"..... For leading me to what I want".
Speaking of which, Zoom suddenly turned his attention to the other person in the room. Seeing his hideous features, the Dark Flash was surprised before turning slightly curious.
Was this a Metahuman with a deformed ability? Did he have some kind of transformation Meta Gene?
All that curiosity, however, was flushed down the drain when he saw what was in his grasp.
Moving at lightning speed, streams of electricity enveloped him as he disappeared from place, appeared in front of the deformed meta human and plunged his vibrating hand through his chest.
Rudy's eyes widened, and his mouth opened wide to show a set of non-human teeth before his body fell limp.
"No one..... Touches what I want". He said in his distorted voice before turning his attention back to the box.
"Tachyons". Zoom reached out to take the box into his hands.
Grasp!
Just then, a pair of demonic looking hands suddenly latched onto his him.
Zoom was shocked. Turning his gaze, the same person he killed a second ago was looking at him with fiery eyes.
"Your body grghh has more".
"Ughhhh!"
And so, Rudy Jones who at this point was more beast than man, activated his energy absorption ability.
.....
My dear readers, I noticed I have been lacking in Powerstones lately.
Can you help me out here?
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