Fangirls are Heroes

The Flashpoint Paradox

Ugh... I've got a blinder of a headache. I wake up to find myself in a bedroom that I vaguely remember. Searching around I find a familiar speedster sleeping like a baby on top of the blankets. With a devious smile creeping across my face I grab the top sheet and use it to roll him off the other side of the bed. "Who! What! Where!" Barry wakes with a start, buzzing around like a deranged bumblebee. "Barry." I begin to reprimand, "What the hell happened last night?" He seems groggy, but still responds, "I have no idea... There's no way we got drunk though." I start to run through the possible scenarios when it hits me, "Flash? We need to leave now." I whisper sternly. "You haven't been wrong yet." He agrees. "We have either been mind-controlled, there's been a shift in time or we've been dumped in another reality." I whisper as we creep down the staircase. A feminine voice downstairs shouts, "Barry Allen! Don't you dare try to sneak off without introducing me to your lady friend!" Oh shit... Flashpoint. I quickly turn on him. "I'm going out the window in your room. You have 15 minutes to talk to her starting now. This world may seem nice now, but it's toxic and we have to get out of here before it goes nuclear." I rush through my words, tapping my watch for emphasis before shoving past him.

Waiting outside I begin to wonder to myself. I know Barry doesn't have his speed. Do I? I decide to test it out. Taking a quick dash around the block I check my watch and see that I've run it in 1.3 seconds. Alright. Cool. I'll just hang back and make sure Thomas doesn't kill Barry. Soon the ex-speedster marches around the corner looking pretty pissed off. "Are you gonna explain or are you gonna be a smug bastard about it?" He growls. "Neither." I quip quickly before throwing him over my shoulder as I dash him towards Gotham City. Taking the natural entrance into the Bat cave (you know. The one Bruce fell in.) I finally put the squirming hero down. He sits down for a second to allow the world to stop spinning I assume and then he pants, "So that's what everyone else feels like when I do that?" I nod as he begins to take a look around, "Hey, when did Batman redecorate?" "Um... Barry?" I start to warn. Unfortunately this is the moment that Batman decides to make his grand appearance. He dive bombs from the ceiling and before I can react he has planted his foot in the middle of Barry's cheek and he goes down with Thomas standing on top of him. Batman pulls his gun on me and holds me there until Barry groans, "What kind of greeting is that Bruce? Geez. I know you told me to call first, but we've got a serious issue." Batman drops down so that he is kneeling on the confused hero's chest and he places the muzzle of his gun under Barry's chin. "Explain yourself before I lose my patience." He growls at his captive. I step forward, "Thomas Wayne. Put the gun down and get off of my teammate. I'll tell you everything." He glares at me, "And what proof do I have that you will?" "For one thing, I'm no moron. I wouldn't come here to gain your help unless I was desperate and I had good information to trade for your assistance. Second, I have superspeed. Thirdly, I'm trying to be nice to you." I quip curtly. He seems to weigh his options for a moment before he flicks the safety on and holsters his gun. He dismounts Barry's chest and holds out a hand to help him up. "Spill it." He utters.

I explain to the two of them the best I can. How Barry managed to (stupidly) use a time travel device to save his long dead mother while also creating the equivalent of a sonic boom across time and space which changed reality as Barry, Thawne and I know it. "So in this world the gunman killed eight year old Bruce Wayne. Thomas here became a non-gun phobic Batman and Martha went insane and became a female Joker." I explain to Barry. Turning quickly to Thomas I fill in, "In our world you and Martha die and Bruce is left an orphan who's afraid of guns to this day. He has become a wonderful Batman, but he refuses to take a life. Joker is just a chemist turned comedian who got a particularly nasty dip in an unknown chemical." Thomas pales slightly at the thought of Bruce growing up alone, but seems to be proud that he too has taken on the mantle. "Okay, here's the major issue. There isn't supposed to be a war between the Atlantians and the Themyscirans." Barry trys to interrupt but I slap him, "This war will decimate the earth. We need to get Barry his speed back and find the treadmill." I plan. Barry looks like he's seen a ghost. "What?" I ask, cocking my head slightly like a puppy. He continues staring and I look down at my hands to realize I can see through them.

"Shit!" I curse loudly through the cave, "So the world's gonna pull some 'Back to the Future' bullshit on me! Just fuckin' great!" I grab Barry by the collar as Thomas stares blankly at me. "Let's get your sorry ass electrocuted." I yell. When everything is set up and I have a trusty fire extinguisher in hand we raise the metal rod in the middle of a storm and he gets hit by lightning. The sound of the thunder is immediate and deafening. As soon as it hits he catches on fire and I quickly put him out. The same as the comics, he didn't get his speed back this time. Thomas begrudgingly patches him up and attempt to make some conversation with Batman as he works. "So Tommy? You're asking surprisingly few questions for a Bat." I break the ice badly. "Don't call me that." He orders "Besides, it's a lot to process when someone just walks in a tells you that the majority of your life wasn't supposed to happen." He adds softer. "Well, I can't very well call you Batman. That title is reserved for Bruce. Also, sorry about being so blunt. I'm still getting used to this." He lifts his head up, "oh?" He says suddenly interested. "Yeah, this is an alternate timeline, but I'm from a parallel world where your lives are serialized as comic books. This world has always been fiction to me until about two weeks ago. Now I'm standing amongst my childhood heroes as their trusted teammate, knowing every minute detail of their lives from birth to gruesome death and not knowing what to tell them or where I should act." I complain. "What kind of sadistic fuck could imagine and write about such a horrible world?" He poses an excellent question. "I don't know Tom. I don't know." I mutter.

Flash stirs for a moment before he wakes up completely. He moves a little more than a fraction of an inch in the wrong direction and he's wincing. He's got deep burns on his shoulders and lighter ones on his left leg. I hit his head first with the fire extinguisher. So it's a massive production to get him over to the full length mirror. "You look like shit." I scoff at the bandaged man who I'm holding up on the left. Thomas agrees, "One more failed attempt will likely kill you no matter how fast your friend is with the extinguisher." Barry takes a look at me in the mirror and I finally look at what I've been avoiding. Used to be barely see through, but now I'm transparent. Definitely a ghost of my former self, Heh. They both stare with concerned eyes. "Hey!" I grab their attention, "I'm not even supposed to be on this planet. I don't know how long I'll last, but I'm determined to set this world right or walk you two through it. Now stop staring at make your choice Barry!" The de-powered hero nods his head and grabs Thomas by the wrist, marching the two of them back out into the storm. "I'll grab the fire extinguisher" I mutter. I know fully well that this is supposed to restore his powers, but after after everything I've changed to save my own skin there are no guarantees. That's why I made him choose rather than tell him flat out. Either we will both die or neither of us will. This Batman is very perceptive and seems to know this, but he says nothing about it.

Barry sits down in the chair for what could be his last time and at his signal Thomas raises the large metal rod that will decide not only our fate, but the fate of the world. I move closer and ready the extinguisher while slowing my perception. The lightening curls down from the storm cloud like the hand of an electric deity coming slowly down on Barry, but it's not like before. There is no loud crack of thunder or aggressive feeling to it. It is light and warm like an old friend. I almost walk into it, but at the last moment something in the back of my mind screams "No!" and I hesitate. I would have walked right into the Speedforce and been gone forever.

Stumbling back I watch the speedforce hit The Flash. Finally he's at my speed again and he quickly spins to put out the flames. He walks calmly towards me with a look of concern on his face and he resolves, "We have to get you out of here." He rests his hand on my shoulder and I can hardly feel it. "I take it we don't have long before I'm erased from history so let's get to work." I rally my boys as we run back to the batcave. The beginnings of a plan starts to come into shape in the back of my mind. In theory it should work, but we are low on both resources and time. I dig my nails into my palms, half to prove I'm here and half as a non-verbal "get a grip." It may be theoretical, but whether I live or die I'll be saving the world that's gotta count for something.

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Hey there loyal readers! It's your friendly neighborhood writer here! Hope you liked the first chapter of my Flashpoint arc. One to two more chapters left in this arc and then I'll be introducing everyone's favorite fast running, but faster talking sidekick so it's time start the HYPE!train. (Wally's my favorite Flash)