The Line Between Living and Dying

The Streak

The police were on their way to Stagg Industries. But they wouldn't be fast enough.

Barry raced down the busy streets, weaving in and out between cars. He had on his suit so that he could protect his identity if anyone saw him.

When he got into the warehouse where Joe was being shot at, three unmasked men were closing in on him. Barry stole their weapons, stopping next to Joe. "Go!" He ordered.

"No." Joe refused but Barry sped him outside of the building before going back to take care of the gunmen.

He stopped in front of the gunmen. "Whoever you are, give yourself up."

"Sorry." The middle one shook his head. "We are not going anywhere. Until Simon Stagg is dead." All three spoke the last sentence.

Barry knocked two of the men out with his superspeed and moved right back in front of the middle one. He was proud of himself. He was defeating the bad guy. Then the man made two more copies of himself.

Barry tried to fight them off but when he punched the middle guy, more of him popped out. All of the copies encircled Barry, kicking and punching him until he was on the ground. They threw him against a supply shelf, aiming their guns at Barry but he took off before the bullets even left the guns.

Zander just got to the warehouse when he saw a red blur run out of the building. Dani was right. There really were more metas in Central City.

When the rest of CCPD got there, Zander pretended to be doing his job of canvassing the scene and interviewing witnesses but he left after talking with Stagg's head of security. He needed to talk with Dani and Cheyanne.

* * *

Dani sat at her office desk, signing off on a painting transfer from a rich family to the Central City Art Museum. She had just gotten back from inspecting it and it was a beautiful piece with an intricate wood frame carving to varying brushstrokes and amazing use of color.

A knock on her office door interrupted her thoughts. "Jason, I told you that I will have the paperwork by the end of the day. Tell Hector to be patient."

"I'm not Jason." Zander stepped in.

Dani looked up, smiling. "Thank God. What are you doing here?"

"I saw the blur thing," Zander told his sister.

"You did? Where? Did you actually see see them or were they still just a blur?" Dani questioned after shutting her office door.

"Just a blur. But... it looked like he had lightning trailing behind him." Zander explained.

"Lightning?" Dani sat on the edge of her desk. "Why does that sound familiar?"

"Do you think Cheyanne can do a deep dive on the internet. See what she can dig up about this guy?"

"It's Cheyanne. She can do anything with a computer. Meet at my place for dinner?"

"Yeah." Zander nodded. "I'll be there."

Zander left, needing to be back at work soon before Captain Singh noticed that he left the crime scene.

Dani sat back down in her desk chair, chewing on her pen as she thought about the lightning her brother had mentioned.

* * *

Dani took the boiling pot off of her stovetop, turning the eye off. She emptied the pot of noodles into a strainer then mixed it up with homemade tomato sauce.