Flash Flood (A Percy Jackson / Flash Crossover)

Chapter Three - Barry

When Cisco had called Barry to ask him to help with the rampaging bear, Barry hadn't known what to do. Yeah, he'd help, but he'd never dealt with animals before, more or less bears. What could he even do about a bear? "What am I supposed to do? Run around it until it gets dizzy and tie it up?" He had asked sarcastically.

Cisco had snorted. "Please, Barry, this isn't a cartoon." Then Cisco had gasped and added that two kids were there. Barry had been out the door an instant later.

So there he was. He'd gotten the teenagers out of the way. Hopefully, the boy would be smart and get himself and the girl as far away from the scene as possible. Because this was definitely NOT a bear.

"I thought you said it was a bear!" Barry yelled into the com that was built into his suit, reaching up and pressing the lightning emblem over his right ear as he watched the giant...thing search for the kid it'd been about to harm a minute ago. At least, Barry assumed it'd been about to hurt the guy. It'd been tense, like it had been ready to pounce. Then again, what did he know? Oh, right, nothing.

Cisco's voice crackled to life in his earpiece, sounding puzzled. "It is. Why?"

"Because I'm pretty sure it's not!" His yelling gained the thing's attention. It turned and stared at him. He stood still, watching nervously as the creature studied him. He didn't like the look in its eyes. It was one of calculation, of a hunter trying to decide if this new prey was worthy of its time. Barry fought down slowly rising panic. If he could take on bad metahumans, he could deal with this. Right?

"I'm watching the feed coming from the camera on your suit, man. I'm seeing everything you see," Cisco informed Barry. "So, unless you're crazy or something, that's a bear."

The definitely-not-a-bear growled. Barry felt like his bones were rattling from the noise. A chill went down his spine and he involuntarily sucked in his breath, taking a step back. No matter what Cisco said, this - Whatever he was looking at - was not a bear. And it was not friendly.

The thing charged. Barry didn't waste time in getting out of the way. The instant that whatever-it-was took a big step forward, he took off running. He stopped once he was out of reach and then some, watching as the not-a-bear bit the empty space he'd been in a few seconds ago, eating empty air. In his earpiece, Cisco whistled, almost sounding impressed. "Daaaang. What'd you do to make that poor bear mad?"

Barry couldn't believe that Cisco couldn't believe that thing wasn't a bear. At first, maybe he'd thought that his friend was pulling his leg. Now he was beginning to doubt that. "Call me nuts, but that is not a bear," he breathed, raising his voice to be heard over the gushing fire hydrant that was also on the street.

The creature heard him and turned, knocking over a tree as it did. It landed on the roof of someone's car. Barry winced. "Ooooo," he said under his breath, looking at the newly wrecked vehicle. Oh, he hoped they had insurance. Really, really hoped.

"Alright, alright," Cisco relented. Barry imagined his friend frowning back in S.T.A.R. Labs, probably worried that the speedster was going insane while sucking on a lollipop. Barry himself was beginning to question his sanity. "If it's not a bear, then what is it?"

"I don't know!" The beast didn't hesitate when it saw him. The second it laid its eyes on Barry, it sprinted towards him. The creature rapidly closed the distance between him and it with large steps. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was intent on eating the Barry or, at least, doing some serious harm. It jumped, soaring upwards. It easily went over twenty feet up, momentarily blocking out the sun.

Everything slowed for Barry. He was horrified. He was scared. The monster falling towards him in a downwards arc, its shadow darkening Barry's surroundings. Looking up, he found himself frozen in place. He saw its teeth, wickedly sharp. Its drool, splattering across the ground as its mouth watered with the yearning to eat him.

He heard Cisco's voice in his earpiece, but it sounded faint. The yells got louder, until the message finally got through the Barry. "What are you DOING, man? MOVE!" Just like that, things sped up again. It took a few seconds for Barry to process the command. During that time, the giant dog-like thing got closer. Too close. It was almost on him.

Things slowed again, but only because Barry was going faster. The yellow lightning crackled around him, his power surging. He took off in the direction he was looking. Underneath the beast. Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but he'd already started running. It was too late to think of a better route now.

He ducked low as he went below the hellhound. Quickly, he ran to the opposite side of the street. Barry would have gone further, but pain erupted in his left shoulder. Crying out, he skidded to a stop in front of the bakery, clamping a hand over the area of pain. Breathing heavily from the adrenalin, he risked a moment to look at his shoulder. The front of it had been sliced. One of the thing's claws must have gotten him. And it got him good.

"Barry! What happened?" Cisco yelled, his voice urgent and worried. "Your vitals just spiked." Barry heard his friend tapping a keyboard and guessed that he was in front of a computer, looking at the information the tech in his suit sent back to the lab.

Keeping a hand over the injury, he applied pressure and hissed. "I got cut," he answered. "The thing...it got me."

"A bear did that to you?" Cisco sounded shocked.

Barry took deep, quick breaths. He looked at the thing, not wanting to take his eyes off of it for too long. It'd crashed into a car and was pulling itself up, shaking from head to toe to get any debris off. "I told you, it's not a bear. It's like a..." He struggled for a good description. Watching the beast, he decided on, "A giant, black dog that's on steroids or something." From hell, he silently added, but restrained himself from saying. "Whatever it is, it's not a bear."

Cisco echoed, "A giant dog? On steroids?"

Barry didn't reply. He could go into detail about the hell-dog later, when it was taken care of. Thing was... How did he take care of it? How did one get rid of something like...like that?

"The sword!"

What?

"The sword!" It repeated, "Use the sword!"

Barry looked towards the new voice. It was the guy from earlier. The black-haired boy had hardly moved a foot. He was kneeling next to the blonde girl and gesturing wildly to something behind Barry, waving his hands like a maniac. "Hurry!" He shouted urgently.

Barry frowned, puzzled. Sword? He turned, looking at the area before him. There, on the ground. A bronze sword was lying on the sidewalk, sunlight glinting off its blade. "What in the world...?" He whispered to himself. First, some dog monster was mistaken for a bear and attacked. Second, there was a sword just casually lying on the sidewalk, like it belonged there.

Behind him, the dog-beast had spotted him again. And, again, it charged.

His first instinct was to run, but he didn't. Something else pulled at Barry. "Use the sword!" The boy had said. "Hurry!"

Barry couldn't waste anymore time with his decision. He had to choose now.

Taking his hand off of his shoulder, he lunged and grabbed the sword with his right hand. Rolling, he spun and got to his feet, staring at the dog-beast while adjusting his grip on the sword's leather handle. Barry counted down the seconds.

Two...

One.

Barry ran forward and swung the sword.