FDC Presents:

Issue #5
Plots: Clay Arceneaux
Scripts: Doc

Part I
"The Strange and Unusual"

Her name is Raven.

I used to have the world's biggest crush on her, back when I was a teenager.
I'm not sure why I was so knocked out by her - she's not the best looking woman I've ever seen, and she's not the warmest or kindest-hearted gal you're ever going to meet, that's for certain.

The story is, she has a demon lord for a father, and she's continually
struggling to keep that side of the family's influence to a minimum.

As a result, I guess, most of the time she's ... well ... kinda strange.

Back when I was a teenager, I was going through all of those CHANGES, both physically and mentally. I suppose my having the hots for Raven was more about being attracted to the "strange and unusual" than anything deep and meaningful.

Yeah, I know, pretty darned shallow. But that's the way I was back then, before Barry died, leaving me to take his place and become a serious hero, losing the "kid" from my name and taking his place as



That job just got a lot tougher than it used to be, since my latest change has me walking around without my super-speed.

That's where Raven comes in, along with the rest of my friends in the
Titans. They've known me for a long, long time, which is sometimes a good thing and sometimes a bad thing.

It's good when I'm in battle alongside them: we can anticipate each other's movements and fight more effectively.

It's bad when they relate to you based on your nutty behaviors and actions as a teenager, forgetting you might have moved forward and learned a thing or two about life since your 16th birthday.

And, when you've known people for as long as I've known them, those people don't think twice about butting in on your time or asking for favors, which kinda explains why I'm here miles above the earth in Vic Stone's orbiting space ship right now instead of back at the lake with Linda looking for my lost super speed and something to wear.

*see last issue

I had just defeated Neron - a big time loser who may or may not be the Devil himself - when I discovered he had robbed me of my speed and my clothes. Then, before I can get all of THAT through my no-longer super-fast brain, it starts to get cold and clammy, there's a smell like rotting eggs, and I see ebony smoke laced with fire. Only one person I've ever met makes an entrance like that.

Raven.

Without so much as a "hi, Wally," she magically transports me to STAR labs. After the hoots and hollers from my former teammates about my state of undress - (and the fact that I'm with Raven probably provided some grist for the Titans' gossip mill, too) - someone has mercy, gets me some itchy surgical scrubs, and eventually I found a cup of coffee.

(*See The New Titans # 132 for even more details.)

Roy Harper, the man named Arsenal, found one of my old Kid Flash uniforms. The fit was ridiculously tight, but it served its purpose as we took on yet another bad guy and saved the day. I found some creative ways to "lend" my super speed to objects, making me a good team player, despite the circumstances.

(*See The New Titans # 132-134 for even more details.)

After the fight, though, I learned the strain of my extended "loaning connections" to the speed force had weakened my bond with it even further.

I've lost ALL of my powers.

I'm just plain old Wally West again. Which means back to the lab tests, and back to the machines and the rest of the all-too familiar world of "Wally West - World's Fastest Science Experiment." I decide I want a little bit of privacy, so we go as far away from everyone as we can get, to Vic Stone's orbiting space ship.

Right now, I'm flat on my back on a cold lab table, lots of sensors and wires taped to different muscle groups and nerve endings. More than a few are taped to my scalp, too. There are a few needles (and yes they hurt) but I've dealt with worse.

This "human guinea pig" stuff is not new to me. Having the wonderful gift of super speed carries with it the unending curiosity of the "science guys."

Vic Stone, the half-machine/half-man codenamed "Cyborg" from our teenage years, is using his dual natures to keep track of my condition. His robotic shell is hooked into some of the computers taking readings on my brainwaves and nerve registrations, while his human half is chatting about my total loss of speed.

"Wally," Vic says, his one human eye glancing over to a machine to get a reading his robotic one has already analyzed, "this doesn't make a lick of sense. I mean, I know your readings are never really easy to decipher, but this, this is really strange and unusual."

"Yeah, I'm with you so far, Vic," I say. Vic is one of the nicest guys you're ever going to meet, you see. He goes through his life being overly warm and kind to counter people's first impressions of him. Problem is, this also makes him remarkably poor at giving anyone bad news.

Vic's a great guy, really, but as the Flash I never have been very good at waiting.

"Shoot it to me straight, Vic," I say.

"Well, it's like this Wally. You're brain and nerve endings are fine - if fine is based on someone who has never had super-speed. In fact, I find NOTHING that suggests your physiology has EVER been effected by ANYTHING out of the ordinary." Vic says.

"B-but that's impossible, isn't it?" I ask. "I mean, I became one with the speed force," I protest, and feel my blood boiling, and do not know why I am getting so worked up. "I became MORE than human, I... I...."

The room spins. The lights above the examining table go from shock white to pale yellow to RED, and explode with a shower of sparks. Vic leans over, protecting me from the flying glass with his big metal arm, and his voice sounds like it's at the other end of a deep tunnel as he says "Wally?"

I feel that cold, clammy feeling again, and the smell of rotting eggs ... Ah, what does Her Royal Weirdness want NOW, of all times ...

I black out, I guess.

Part Two
"Separation Anxiety"

I wake up on the lab table - no, wait, this is a different lab... Where am I?

I look at the machines overhead, and hear a voice that sounds like two tons of sand being poured through a metal tube say "he is rising."

I know that voice, but not from the Titans. We haven't met that many times, but there is only one voice in the whole world that sounds like that. I move my head a bit to the right, and see that I am correct.

My condition must be worse than I thought if they had to bring in the immortal Doctor Fate.

"Be still, Flash, and I will tell you what we know," Doctor Fate says, and even though I'm normally creeped out by most things 'mystical' - yeah, I HAVE changed a lot since I was a teenager - I don't say a thing. Rather, I listen.

"You have been unconscious for three days. Shortly after the incident on the Titans' starship, you were brought back here, to STAR Labs. When the science of this modern world and the limited skills of your team mate, Tempest, could not heal you, I was contacted to determine the source of your illness," Doctor Fate says.

I resist the urge to say "What's up Doc?" and continue to listen. The man's voice leaves me little choice, after all.

"You have been afflicted with a very specific spell," he continues. "The speed force which gives you power is unable to enter your body."

"Unable?" I ask.

Doctor Fate does not answer, but another voice in the room does speak.

"That's basically it," Jay Garrick says, "without going into the bad part."

Jay Garrick - first man to wear the uniform of The Flash, and probably the closest thing I have to a father. Old enough to be my grand-dad, but that's another story.

"Bad part?" I ask. I look Jay square in the eye, and he does the same to me. He's judging if I'm awake enough to take a hit. I nod to him, the same way I've nodded over a hundred different times when we've fought side-by-side. I can take it.

And he knows it.

"The speed force is trying to enter your body. It's being blocked by this spell Doctor Fate was explaining. It's doing something to the air around you, and that is poisoning you. Simple surgical mask isn't enough. We don't KNOW what to do, but we have some ideas." Jay says.

Without the speed force, it takes all my concentration to hear each word Jay speaks. I never knew our conversations were so quick. Jay senses this, and slows down a bit.

"Son, we have to find a way for you to channel the power of the speed force trying to enter into your body, or you're not going to last a week," Jay says.

I take it all in. Not the first time my powers have tried to kill me, but that doesn't make it a walk in the park.

Walk in the park.

Linda.

"Where's Linda?" I ask.

"She's asleep - poor girl has been up three nights straight worrying about you. Let her sleep," Jay says. "Besides, you have to try on the suit first, or the air around you might poison her, too."

"What suit?" I ask.

Jay blurs, and blinks out of my sight. I turn to the silent Doctor Fate, who I now realize is floating four inches off the tiled lab floor. Creepy. I'm about to hit him with the classic Bugs Bunny line that I didn't say earlier, but before I can start, Jay blinks back in, holding a large brown box.

"This suit," Jay says, opening the box. Inside, I see black cloth, laced with wires and circuitry, and some odd black designs - I think they're hieroglyphics or something. Once again, I think, "Creepy."

"Please put the garment on," the distinct voice of Fate tells me.

I lift myself out of the bed - several muscle groups in my back tell me that the story about being asleep for three days is true. The costume is similar in design to my regular Flash suit, but it's black instead of red.

"Good fit," Jay says. "Linda found one of your spare suits - we used it as a pattern."

"The suit is a combination of science and magical knowledge," Doctor Fate explains. "It suspends the spell separating you from the speed force, allowing it to channel into your body."

"The circuitry is to counter some slight differences in the speed force that the dueling spells produce," Jay finishes. "When the suit is 'powered up,' you'll notice it glows red."

"What now?" I ask.

"Call on the speed force." Jay says. "Go ahead - we need to see if this is going to work."

I stand. I lift my eyes toward heaven. I relax and tense and relax, and I see the speed force cackle around me. And, after a pause that I am not used to experiencing, I see the lightning dance around my eyes and fill my veins. This isn't the way it normally feels, and I can tell the speed force feels the difference, too, but we are one again.

I have to test this, and I explode out of the laboratory door. I'm running over 225 mph as I near the center of Metropolis, and I see the suit is glowing with a reddish light. I turn around on a dime, and run, run, run some more. 410 mph. Slow... wayyyy too slow... I head back to the laboratory, gunning it with all I have.

540...585...still too slow... 610... 610.... pushing it... 610... I've maxed-out at 610. Blazes, I ran faster than this back when I was just "Kid Flash."

Ahead, I see a mushroom of smoke - there's been a small explosion - and at 610 mph, I turn to investigate. My speed drops to 490 rather unexpectedly, and I fall - tumbling, catching my footing again, I right myself, thankful that the new suit doesn't cancel out my protective aura, or I'd be a skid mark right now.

I look up at the scene of the explosion. Sure enough, it's a bank. I'm down to 385 now, and losing speed fast, and if that wasn't bad enough, I look up and see the source of the explosion - I thought he was out of the game forever - man, this is not good. No, not one bit.

There he is, nine feet tall, big, strong, fast, and programmed for murder.

Amazo!

 

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