Short on Time

Chapter 127

Ginger

"This is a terrible idea," Esther said.

"Hush, granddaughter," Nash said.

"I am not your granddaughter," Esther said angrily.

"Right," Nash replied. "Anyhow, this is what I do. I don't just solve mysteries, I bust myths. I bust them wide open."

"You said you could save Barry," Iris said. 

"Tell us what you meant," I prompted. 

"The truth," Nash replied. "Do you know what you're dealing with? The Monitor, Mar Novu, or whatever we calls himself."

"Are you saying the Monitor's here?" Barry asked. 

"That's right."

"You tracked a Multiverse god down to a hole?" Frost asked. 

"And he's going to do here what he has done on all these other Earths create fear because the Monitor is a fraud," Nash said. "As my daughter would say, he's a false god. One that I intend to take down, thereby saving Luci's husband. If my calculations are correct, behind these rocks there's an inter-dimensional portal, and that portal will lead us directly to Mar Novu."

"He's been here all along," Esther said in annoyance.

"He has nowhere to run," Barry said. "Back up."

"Yeah, uh, no," Nash tried, but we all moved. "I wouldn't do it-"

"Honey," I said in concern as Barry tried to phase through, only to be sent flying.

"Barry!" Iris said in alarm as I ran to his side. 

"Barry," I said gently as I turned to glare at Nash. "Did you know that would happen?" 

"Yeah," Nash said, and I was tempted to give him a sunburn. Look, this is just another one of Mar Novu's tricks. These rocks are infused with Eternium, and that creates an anti-vibrational force field that-" 

"No phasing," Barry concluded. 

"No phasing, correct," Nash said. 

"So how do we get through?" Frost questioned. 

"I've got a jackhammer in my car, so-" Ralph began, but Esther shot him a glare. 

"Uh, no," Nash said. "Any contact with the Eternium in this sediment could cause a catastrophic molecular blast. Everybody dies. No instead, all I need is an artifact. One that will illuminate the Eternium so I can know what rocks to dig around. Simple, and I'd know where to find that artifact."

~*~

Esther

"Why is my dad coming with us?" I asked Ralph. 

"He thought it would be fun," Ralph answered as my dad joined us inside. "Admittedly, I was hoping to give you an actual date night tonight, but-"

"Hopefully this will go better than the team up with my dad like this," I sighed.

"Like when you almost killed Goldface?" Ralph questioned.

"Just because my parents are the morally good guys, doesn't mean I can't have a dark side," I snapped back. "The world isn't all black and white."

"There's a lot of gray," Ralph agreed.

"Gray what?" Dad asked.

"There was a lady wearing a very gray dress," I answered. Ralph gave me a look, but didn't try to get me to talk more.