Nine months ago,
The Particle Accelerator was about to explode, everybody was evacuating the building in a hurry, trying to get to safety. At a long stretch of a Corridor, Dr. Wells walked briskly in front of a part of the wall, pressing his hand on a hidden mechanism, the walls split open showing a hidden room within. This was the Time Vault. At the far end of the Vault, within a glass case, there was a mannequin wearing a yellow suit made of a strange, frictionless material, with a lightning emblem on its chest. He walked in and went to the far wall where a console was placed. He activated the console and watched as a holographic screen appeared. It was a real time footage of a placed camera just outside STAR Labs.
Dr. Wells watched as August tried to help Clifford DeVoe to safety, then a flash of lightning filled the skies and two bolts of lightning struck, one bouncing off of DeVoe's thinking cap and the other going straight for August Heart.
"I'll be seeing you soon, Mr. Heart" In the dark room, the light from the holographic displays illuminates Dr. Wells smile.
It was a new day in Central City, the sun arose in all its splendor bringing with it the glorious sounds of the morning and in a little street in Westminster, August Heart was waking up.
It had been a week since the test at STAR Labs and despite his grievous injury, he had healed in just two hours, astounding everyone in the building and making him look forward to seeing what more he could so. Getting up from the bed, he pulled on his running clothes and shoes, slipped on a hoodie and ran into the streets.
Cisco had commented one day that enhancements had been made to his body, and that's how it struck him. While he was already possibly the fastest man in the world, he couldn't allow himself to stagnate. This led to him devising a training plan for himself of which, a ten-mile run every morning was a part of and given his enhanced stamina, he could do more than that too.
Finishing the run with time to spare, August ran over to an abandoned building in Westminster where he had set up a few gym equipment modified to be able to handle his physique.
He ran through a gymnastic course, he jumped and flipped off a vault, spun over a high beam and swung back and forth from the gymnastic high bars. August did a triple flip over a landing pad and bounced off a tumble rack and landed hands first on a balance beam. He raised one hand of the beam and began doing one-handed hand stands. After a while, he moved on the beam using his hands and then flipped forward and grabbed gymnastic rings and did a few flips and spins. Will then built up some momentum and flipped through the air and landed perfectly on the floor.
As he walked into his apartment, to prepare for work, he heard the news reporting freak weather reports over the city, especially at robbery sites. Hearing this, something tingled at the back of his skull, but he ignored it and taking a quick shower, he grabbed some toast and raced down to STAR Labs. As always, running felt exhilarating but was cut short because he reached STAR Labs in no time.
This was his first official day as an employee of STAR Labs, granted he'd been granted the job mainly so that they could study his abilities as STAR Labs wasn't even supposed to be hiring but it didn't matter to him. For him it was a dream come true, a very nerdy dream that had sustained him through the trials and bullying of high school.
As Cisco led him to his office/lab, he passed several equipment that almost made him leap in joy. He was still admiring the gene splicer in his mind when they arrived at another floor altogether.
"So. This is it man. I gotta go, need anything else, just gimme a buzz." Cisco said preparing to go back into the lift.
"Wait man, you haven't shown me the lab.....wait....the entire floor?" August was so astounded that he almost forgot how to breathe.
"Yeah dude, the whole place is yours. We call this Level 540. Used to be a very brilliant scientist working here, Dr. Harvey Jones. But after the accelerator incident, he moved on so it's been sitting empty for a while now, just like the other floors."
A sad, nostalgic expression graced Cisco's face for an instant before it was gone just as quickly like it was never there. he gave a wide smile. "Alright man, I gotta go. If you need anything, talk to me." Cisco fist bumped him and then left the room. He looked around. It was wide and filled with whatever equipment he would need.
He immediately getting down to work personalizing the lab. He arranged his work and personal effects as well as his current projects and with the help of his speed, he was done a moment later. Sitting down at his desk, he wondered what he should work on. Before his accident, there were so many projects he had left unfinished and so many that he had shelved due to lack of equipment, but which to do first. As he looked around the lab, deep in thought, his eyes fell upon a report concerning his abilities. He picked it up absently, going through the words when he suddenly remembered something, abilities, the freak storms that the news had been reporting all week, the robberies that the cops had been mystified about, it could be someone like him, someone with abilities. A lot of people were exposed to dark matter that night from the Accelerator and there was no way for him to be able to tell who did or did not get abilities and the police had no ability or experience to deal with this kind of thing.
He decided. He would create a dampener, an inhibitor that could separate and isolate all traces of dark matter in the cells and dampen it. A power dampening bracelet. With his body scans, there was a possibility that it could work.
August immediately began working on the idea. By lunchtime, he had managed to create a skeleton of the schematics and it was unwieldy. Feeling that he could not spend much time on aesthetics, he invited Cisco into his office and told him of his idea and they decided to split the work, with Cisco working on the framework of the bracelet and August working on the energy issue.
The band would emit a low-level energy wave targeted at negating the dark matter in the body so the issue was an energy source for the band.
Maybe he could use a charging system to power the bands, but it'd have to be a really powerful battery for it to work. August grabbed the schematic papers and was walking around STAR Labs to find Dr. Wells to get some help. He found him in the cortex going over some data that he could not recognize.
"Dr. Wells, sorry to bother you. I have something I'm working on and I think I've hit a wall so I wanted you to take a look" August handed over the schematic papers. Dr. Wells looked over the papers silently before wheeling away, gesturing for August to follow him.
"Mr. Heart, I have to say, this design of yours is ingenious. What prompted this idea?"
"Ah…yes, Dr. Wells, lately on the news, I've been hearing about freak accidents, freak weather reports and so many other unnatural things and I thought that perhaps it was people with abilities like me…"
"Metahumans" Dr. Wells cut in.
"Sorry?" August was confused.
"Metahumans. That's what we call them" Dr. Wells smiled. "Well, Cisco came up with that name but I like it and that's the term we've been calling them"
"So you've known about these people all these while?" August asked feeling anger rising up within him. "Why didn't you tell anyone then, the police, everyone don't know what is going on and crime rate in the city is up by more than 12%"
"Why didn't you go to the police the moment you discovered your abilities, Mr. Heart?" Dr. Wells interjected. He took off his glasses with a solemn look on his face. "Mr. Heart, a day doesn't go by where I don't regret my rash decision to activate that accelerator. Look at me" he pointed at himself, "I've lost my legs, my career is in the gutter and even my pride and joy, STAR Labs has fallen. Mr. Heart, I want to help, but the world is not ready for the truth. They won't be able to handle it."
August fell silent, moving automatically as he pondered Dr. Wells' words. Dr. Wells wasn't wrong. Even he himself could never reveal his abilities because he knew just how it would be taken. He might end up locked up somewhere and strapped to a table for the rest of his life unless he went on the run. He looked up, they were back in his lab.
Dr. Wells wheeled over to his board and began writing out some equations. Seeing that he was standing behind, he turned to him and smiled. "Are you going to stand there all day, Mr. Heart or are we going to do this."
…
"Good afternoon, Mr. Heart," Dr. Snow called as she walked into the lab. August slowed to a superfast jog on a high-tech treadmill or the cosmic treadmill as Cisco called as Cisco continued to examine data streaming from nodes on the speedster's chest. Dr. Wells looked up from the tablet in his hands, one that, in particular, read bio signs.
"Hi," August greeted, pleasantly surprised by Dr. Snow's more outgoing behavior. He glanced questioningly at Cisco, who didn't notice his confusion.
"Call me August, Dr. Snow," he said with a smile. To his surprise, she returned it. "Call me Caitlin."
August turned off the treadmill and slowed to a regular walk. He was about to say something else when something on the news caught his attention. He snagged a remote from a nearby table and turned up the volume on one of the four TV monitors on the northern wall of the room. There was a blonde reporter on the screen. The headline below her read 'ROBBERY IN PROGRESS AT CENTRAL CITY BANK.'
"-We'll now go live to the scene where our field reporter, Lilian Grey who is on the scene to give us the updates on what's going on." The camera switched to young woman standing in from of the Central City bank with squads of Police Cars surrounding the bank and waiting for the robbers to come out.
"Thank you, Linda. Standing outside Central City Bank, as you can see, the police have the building surrounding and there are SWAT teams standing by but the Police cannot move in on the bank as there are reports that there are hostages inside the bank, so at this moment in time, I believe the police is trying to negotiate with the bank in order to find out their demands at this time."
Suddenly behind the woman, a man walked out of the entrance of the bank, he was carrying bags that were filled with cash, if the notes floating out of the bag was anything to go by. The police immediately pointed their guns at him, telling him to drop the bags and raise his hands up.
The man complied and put down the bags, but as he raised his hands up, a gust of wind started swirling around his hand, it went faster and faster and then then it slammed into the blockade of squad cars blocking the entrance of the bank. By the time the winds died down, the bank robber was gone, leaving devastation in his wake.
The reporter on the screen was as shocked as the viewers, she gasped out, "Is this an act of god or man?"
"My God…" August muttered, switching off the monitor.
No one bothered to speak for a while as the events that just occurred sunk in. The silence was deafening. August turned to the side; a complicated expression stuck on his face as he spoke to Dr. Wells.
"Dr. Wells, think the world is ready to accept that?"
Hearing that, woke everybody up from the daze. Seeing this, he continued,
"I think this is just the beginning, when you brought up that map, I could see that more than a thousand people were infected by dark matter in the Particle Accelerator that night. Perhaps they've been hiding it, using their powers in secret. But with this, they'll know they're not alone. More and more people like this will be coming out of the wood work. I always wondered why I got these powers, when I was young, my brother was killed right in front of me. He wanted to become a Police Officer because he wanted to be a protector, to be the middleman standing in front of innocents against the things that would wish to harm them. I never understood that. His fervent belief in Justice, now I do, if this isn't contained, Central City will become a haven of crime and lawlessness. I guess what I'm saying is that I want to help, put my powers to use not just for research but for the good of the city that we all love." He said passionately, "I want to do something more with my powers, I want to protect lives and act as a symbol of hope for this City, be the middleman between them and whatever is against them."
All was silent for a moment then Cisco tossed his tablet aside and ran into an adjacent room leaving the others to look after him in confusion. A few moments later, he ran back in, carrying a pair of black boots.
"On a much brighter note, here are shoes you can actually wear while you run that won't burn away," Cisco said, handing August the boots. As August looked them over, he continued, "They're mostly friction proof. Been a pet project of mine for a while. They were designed for firemen and soldiers who might be caught in, y'know, explosive situations."
He motioned back towards the other room, "There's a suit too, but it's, uh, not really for casual use. Since you wanna be a superhero though…"
Caitlin frowned. Cisco nodded.
"Or just pretend I never said that," he mumbled, turning away.
"August," Caitlin spoke up, "You can understand my concern. There's so much about your abilities that we still don't understand. Going out there, risking your life, it will get you killed. You can still contribute here. Think of the groundbreaking discoveries and the good they'll do for everybody. I don't support this craziness of yours. If nothing else, think of your family, they already lost you once, how'd you think they'd feel if they lost you again"
Saying this, she briskly walked out of the lab.
Dr. Wells removed his glasses, his eyes seemingly far away as he said, "I agree with Dr. Snow that it is very dangerous and you'll be at risk the moment you decide to do this, but a more selfish part of me hopes that by doing this you can make up for my mistakes and crime of releasing this upon Central City. All I can say is be careful Mr. Heart and there'll always be help for you at STAR Labs."
August extended his hand to the scientist. "Thank you, Dr. Wells."
The older man eyed August's hand for a moment, before shaking it. "You're welcome." He wheeled out of the lab.
"Well," August slapped the boots together as he turned to face Cisco, "Let's see that suit of yours, shall we?"
They smiled and slapped hands together as they left the lab.
…
It was night as August sped through the city, rushing to his destination in a blur. He had spent the rest of the day working with Cisco modifying the suit to fit his taste. It was very clear that Cisco was a genius as the suit itself was a marvel. It was a skintight protective suit with built in sensors to monitor the user's body for any injuries or exposure to dangerous elements. The suit insulates the body's natural heat in situations dealing with extreme cold and can regulate cooling in situations with extreme heat. The suit is also tear resistant and friction proof and built with protective padding sewed in, making it bullet proof. He had had the color changed to white, with gold trimmings and designs and a gold lightning emblem at the center of his chest.
Cisco had wanted to use a half mask as a hood, leaving his chin and nose exposed but he refused, opting instead for a white mask that covered his face entirely. While they were working, he had written a code to track down the metahuman armed robber or the Weather Wizard as Cisco called him and he had finally discovered him hiding out on a farm.
Upon getting there, he was surprised to see a Police squad car nearby, since he was yet to be seen, he stuck to the shadows. Curious on how it would all play out.
…
"Why are we here, Joe?"
"Following my gut. That man at the bank, he might have been wearing a hood but he looked like Clyde Mardon. I'm not saying Mardon is alive," said Joe, glancing at his partner who shot him a look of disbelief. Eddie was a good cop, but sometimes Joe missed the mutual skepticism that Chyre used to share with him. Joe sighed and continued. "But if he was, this was the last place he and his brother hid out." He pulled out his weapon clicking off the safety.
"Let's go then," said Eddie, drawing his weapon and flanking Joe as they entered the barn doors. In the center of the room there was a man sitting on a stool, his back to them. A lamp hung dimly over the man, creating an eerie air about the place that chilled Joe to the core. The thought struck him that he hadn't been to the farm since the night of the particle accelerator explosion. Since the night Chyre died.
"Mardon?" Joe said, trying to hide the hesitation that crept into his voice. It couldn't be… "On your feet. Hands on your head."
"You got me." Mardon chuckled and stood slowly, his head turned ever so slight so Joe could properly see the profile of his face despite the darkness
The sound of Mardon's oh so familiar voice sent a shiver up Joe's spine, not to mention the sight of the man's face. It was him. It actually was Clyde Mardon. His hunch had been right.
Joe glanced at Eddie who gave him an affirming nod. Eddie kept his weapon trained at Mardon while Joe holstered his own, reaching for his cuffs.
"The night of the storm, after S.T.A.R. Labs blew, after our plane went down and I woke up on the ground alive, when I saw what I can do. I understood." Joe watched Mardon carefully as the man continued to ramble on. "I am God."
"Shut the Hell up." Joe took a step toward Mardon, Eddie following his lead, as the bank robber and murderer stepped slightly left and away from the stool, his hands raised, but his back still to them.
"Turn around," ordered Eddie.
Mardon kept his back to him, his hands moving ever so slightly and wisps of some sort of cloud building in Mardon's hands. Joe started in fear seeing this. He had seen it on the news, heard it from the officers who had been there in person. But it was still very unnatural to see a human being in control of such a power.
In the split second it took for Joe to register this, Mardon was moving, throwing whatever the stuff was backwards at the two police officers. Joe hit the wall hard, his head taking the brunt of the impact and filling his vision with stars. He tried to open his eyes, the world both blurry and dim around the edges. He sensed rather than felt Eddie race to his side, checking his pulse before his world suddenly went pitch black and he succumbed to the darkness.
"Joe!" Gasped out Eddie, still winded from the force at which he had been slammed into the bales of hay. He scrambled to recover his weapon, racing to Joe's side in time to see his partner slip unconscious. Eddie checked his pulse, finding it steady, but faint. He needed medical attention. That was if they got out of this alive.
"Do you think that your guns can stop God?" Mardon looked drunk with power as he turned to face the two cops.
Eddie's hand instinctively reached for the Saint Michael's medallion around his neck. His mother had given it to him the day he graduated from the Academy and he almost never took it off. Somehow, the feeling of the cold silver in his fingers steeled his resolve and brought a retort to Eddie's lips, a retort that Eddie was pretty sure Joe would have said if their positions had been reversed.
"Why the Hell would God need to rob banks?" snapped Eddie, leveling his weapon at Mardon.
A stunned expression made its way across Mardon's face for the briefest of seconds before shifting into a look of understanding. "You're right. I've been thinking too small." The wind began to pick up suddenly, beginning to swirl around Mardon. Before Eddie's eyes, a tornado started to form around Mardon, the force of the winds beginning to tear apart the barn around them.
Eddie's instincts kicked in in seconds. He needed to get Joe out of here and to safety. He holstered his weapon, throwing one of Joe's arms around his shoulders and dragging his partner out of the barn as the tornado began to strengthen, whipping debris across the farmyard as Eddie managed to get Joe out and lean him up against the side of the car. Meanwhile, Mardon had begun to walk out of the barn, the tornado all around him. Eddie glared after the tornado, all too aware that there wasn't a thing he could do to stop Mardon.
Suddenly, Eddie spotted a chunk of roof headed their way. There was no way Eddie could get both himself and Joe clear before it struck them. Maybe he could at least protect Joe from getting hit again, but-
Just as the roof section was within a yard or so of hitting them, a burst of white and gold slammed into it, knocking it way from Joe and Eddie. Eddie stared, his eyes locked on the section of roof where it had landed and was now being tossed to the side by what looked like someone in a white suit and a gas mask. The figure was blurry like an illusion and wreathed in flowing, golden lightning. Eddie staggered to his feet, taking a step closer to the strange figure. Before he could take another step, however, the figure shot him a brief glance and was off, racing toward the tornado in a streak of golden lightning.
Suddenly the blurry figure in white was thrown backwards, tumbling a few yards from Mardon and his tornado which were still on course for the city. The figure sat up and paused, tapping the side of his head and cocking it as though listening to someone. The figure knelt there, frozen for a good minute, before he once again disappeared in a streak of lightning, going far faster than he had been before. Eddie stared, watching in wonder as the man seemed to run faster and faster, the tornado's shape starting to visibly change. There was a loud scream from Mardon and then a sudden boom, which send Eddie diving back behind the car for cover as the tornado collapsed with an incredible explosion of air.
Eddie made his way carefully to his feet, surveying the scene. The tornado was gone and the man in white was picking himself off the ground, his figure still hazy and indistinct. It was as Eddie stepped out from around the car to get a better look that he spotted Mardon also picking himself up off the ground, aiming his weapon toward the man in white. Eddie immediately drew his gun and raced forward. It was now or never.
…
"Hey." August whirled around at the sound of Mardon's voice, shocked to see the man standing behind him. The other metahuman held a revolver in his hand, probably the same one that had been used to kill Chyre nine months ago. "I didn't think there was anyone else like me."
"I'm not like you," said August, still too out of breath to snap at the bloodthirsty criminal much less try to run away, "You're a murderer and a bully." Mardon sent August a look of acknowledgement, raising his gun to finish August off before the speedster could flee.
Two shots range through the air, scaring the crap out of August even as he saw Mardon's body jerk twice before falling to the ground, lifeless. August whirled around to see Eddie racing over, his weapon still drawn.
"August?" Caitlin's voice came through the earpiece and August breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's over," gasped out August, practically sensing the relief of the three scientists on the other end of the line, "I'm okay." He focused, wreathed himself in lightning once more and vanished.
Eddie looked at the carnage wrought by the tornado Clyde Mardon had created, part of his mind still scrambling to understand what had happened. In the last 24 hours, he had seen Clyde Mardon come back from the dead, the same man try to kill both him and Joe and then Mardon suddenly conjure up a tornado out of thin air. It was the arrival of a super speed empowered stranger, however, that had saved Joe, the city, and Eddie himself from Mardon. In the end, Eddie had had to shoot Mardon in order to save said stranger, but it was a decision that Eddie did not regret in the slightest.
He was running towards the blurry figure in white, in order to see if he was alright and give him his gratitude, when suddenly, the originally dim lightning on the surface of the figure sparked with a vengeance. It was so bright that he had to cover his eyes. By the time he could open them, he was standing alone in the field.