Hope & Love - SuperFlash [1]

Chapter 24

Barry opened his eyes, immediately finding himself blinded by the harsh sunlight that bled into the room through the blinds. He shifts, but stills as he realizes Kara's right arm is draped over his chest, and she is snoring lightly into his shoulder. He can't help but smile as he watches the woman, but his moment of peace is all too quickly interrupted by the shrill ringing of his cellphone.

He carefully unfolded himself from her so as to not wake her, and grabbed his phone, eyebrows furrowing as he read Cisco's name. Why was he calling this early? "Hello Barry." He hears his own voice say to him, and he remains silent. "That's okay, you don't have to talk to me. Just know, you, your little girlfriend, or any of your friends at Star Labs are never safe."

"If you hurt any of them I swear-"

"What, are you going to kill me?" He hears him say in a mocking tone. "Barry Allen doesn't have what it takes. You'd rather let your friends get hurt than deal with the problem quickly. That's why you're going to lose Barry. Because you don't have what it takes, you failed anyone that ever depended on you."

Before he can reply he hears the call end and Barry sets the phone down gently. He looks back at the sleeping figure of Kara and brings his hands up to his face, releasing a heavy sigh into his palms. He can't let him harm his family. He has to stop him before it's too late.

The rest of the day went by slowly, only spurred along by the short moments where he and Kara got to see each other, and even then he was surrounded in this feeling that everything was going to come crashing down. He'd ran around the city at least a dozen times, searching for the aberratio, and yet had still found nothing.

He was like a ghost. Barry could do nothing but wait until he struck first.

Barry reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out as it rang, reading the name and seeing Cisco's name on display, he answered. "Hey what's up?" He asked as he closed the file on his desk.

"Hello Barry," He heard his voice again and he tensed. "I thought I told you to stop looking for me or else. I've got ways of keeping tabs on everybody."

He quickly flashed over to Star Labs and saw Cisco sitting idly with a twizzler in his mouth, monitoring the city. "Cisco, where is your phone?"

"I don't know." Cisco said as he turned to face his friend. "I've been looking for it all day. Why?" Barry's expression turned to one of horror as he frantically looked around. "Where's Caitlin?"

Cisco shook his head, indicating he didn't know and Barry ran as fast as he could around the city. But he couldn't find her. His phone buzzed and he came to a halt in an alley, pulling it out. "Barry," He began, clicking his tongue in disappointment. "You've been looking in all the wrong places. Look somewhere you wouldn't expect, look somewhere familiar."

Barry hung up and immediately flashed to his house and screamed in frustration. He thought it over in his head again and sped to Star Labs. He went down into the pipeline, his blood boiling as he saw Red Death holding Caitlin tightly, his hand vibrating directly above her chest. "Not a step closer Barry."

"What do you want from me!" Barry screamed. "Why are you doing this?"

The aberration tilted his head to the side as his hand stopped vibrating. "Barry, everything happening is for a reason. Every agonizing moment of pain I put you through, I have a motive for. But-" Red Death screamed in agony as he felt something sharp pierce his calf.

He looked down and pulled the icicle out and quickly sped away. Barry decided not to follow as he walked over to Frost quickly, pulling her in a hug. "Are you okay?" He asked worriedly.

He pulled back to look at her. "I'm alright." She said. "That asshole had it coming." A smile found its way to his face as the two made it back to the cortex.

....

"Reports of a speedster at Mercury Labs. Let's go!" Barry announced, him and Kara quickly changing into their supersuits and heading to the scene.

"Ahh, Flash and Supergirl." He turned to face them, giving them a good look at the stolen Flash suit that he modified. On his chest was a cracked black lightning bolt and his eyes were completely red. "Allow me to introduce myself. I... Am Red Death!"

The doors burst open, filling Mercury Labs with a dozen Central City police offices, Captain Joe West leading the charge. Barry, Kara and Joe look on in horror as the bodies drop one by one, the guns clanking against the marble floor.

The speedster jolted off and the two followed after, Barry easily caught up with Kara trailing behind. Then Barry realized that he was just toying with them. He didn't want to actually fight. He turned every corner, sped between cars, up buildings and even through crowds of people before they came to a stop on top of Star Labs, Kara floating nearby.

Red Death shifted his foot forward as Barry started speaking, getting ready to run at a moment's notice. "We're not gods! We've just been given extraordinary abilities!" Barry screamed. "If you truly were Barry Allen, then you would never do this. you would never dream of killing another human." Barry reasoned, disgusted as he thought about the family's that had just suffered a horrific loss.

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." Red Death spoke, his inhuman voice sending chills down Kara's spine. "Barry Allen is no more... I am stronger, I am pure! I see through his lies, I am the truth!" The aberration spoke, jolting forward, acting like he was going to run but in reality was just toying with the two yet again.

That little movement reminded Barry of when he did that same thing to Zoom and Barry kept his eyes glued on the man in front of him. He was using his own tactics against him, reminding him who he was facing.

Red Death narrowed his eyes under the mask and calculated his next movement. He began vibrating and the two versions of himself ran in opposite directions. Barry followed the one on the right for a while, while Kara chased after the other. "Barry, Kara what happened?" He heard Cisco ask through the comms.

"We lost him." He confirmed and the two began the trip back to Star Labs.