Superflash - Hope and Lost Love

Chapter 24 - Invasion! (Part 3)

As Barry ran to the bank, he realised how much he missed being the flash, and in a split-second decision, he decided to change into the flash suit that Cisco was making for him when he died.

While the suit wasn't as comfortable as the one the speed-force gave him, when Barry looked into a mirror he saw it was much more aesthetic. 

Leave it to Cisco to make a super-suit not just functional but also good looking  Barry thought.

Barry then ran to the bank and for once enjoyed the calm feeling of everyone around him being frozen in time. Barry then noticed a bit of movement and turned around, seeing another speedster that was moving fast to the normal eye, but to Barry he was barely moving. Barry then thought about how this must have been how Zoom felt before Barry got a speed boost from the speed-force.

Barry quickly saved all the hostages and put the thiefs in handcuffs before chit-chatting like he used to.

"Hey criminals. You should know that taking hostages won't get you anywhere." Barry joked.

"Who are you. Our plan should have worked. Windrunner should not have been able to save the hostages in time." One of the criminals spat.

"Windrunner? Well, the bad guys always lose. Even if your a planner like Thawne." Barry said.

"Thawne?" The speedster behind Barry asked, probably Windrunner.

"Yeah. Reverse Flash. You know him?" Barry asked.

"No." Windrunner said.

"Alright. Bye then, I am needed elsewhere." Barry said before vibrating his molecules too fast for Windrunner to see, even with super-speed.

"How did he run out of here without me noticing?" Windrunner muttered to himself before running away, back to his base with Barry sneakily following him.

Barry followed 'Windrunner' to an abandoned hotel, and he saw him press his hand against a wall, which opened a wall into their base of operations, Barry assumed.

"Good job with that hostage situation Max, your finally getting faster!" A girl that looked like Earth-38's Supergirl but with shorter hair said.

"It wasn't me." The speedster said, obviously Max.

"What do you mean it wasn't you?" Another man in the group asked, Barry recognised him as Hawkman, someone he helped out with the help of Oliver.

"There was another speedster there. Remember the flash?" Max asked.

"Yeah, he died years ago during his fight with Zoom." A man dressed in green, with a notable ring that glowed a radiant green on his ring finger.

"Well I saw him but the suit was different to what I've seen in pictures and models at the flash museum. It was a brighter suit, and get this, his lightning was white, not red like everyone said." Max said.

"Did you talk to him?" Kara's doppelgänger asked.

"No. He was fast. Like I may be fast, but he was on another level completely. He disappeared once he finished rescuing the hostages, and I couldn't see where he went." Max said.

"So if there is someone new in town, we need info on him. Max, based on your understanding of the source of your powers, can you figure out how he's so fast? Bruce, can you find him, I think we should talk to him." Kara's doppelgänger said.

"I don't think that will be necessary." Barry said, materialising out of thin air.

Suddenly the whole JSA was ready to fight, and they began attacking, but Barry didn't want to actually fight anyone, so he simply phased through every attack. Nobody could lay a finger on him because anything they did would just go through him.

"Can we stop now?" Barry asked.

"Stand down, if he wanted us dead we would be. He's way too fast for all of us combined." Max, the speedster in the group said.

"What do you want?" Kara's doppelgänger asked.

"I wanted to see who has and will be taking care of this world when I'm gone." Barry replied.

"Who are you?" Max asked.

"Nobody of consequence. Anyway, I came here on a hunch, but I couldn't find anything that happened. What has been happening recently?" Barry asked.

"Well funny you should ask. About 3 months ago these alien ships began orbiting our upper atmosphere, we've been calling them dominators. They sent some reconnaissance ahead, and we have been tracking them since. We think they may be planning an attack on Earth." Batman said.

"Oh, did you not think to alert the arrow on this?" Barry asked.

"No.He's one man handling a whole city on his own, the last thing he needs is a distraction." Batman said.

"No. He is handling a city on his own while a team of superheroes can barely handle this city. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe he may, I don't know, HELP YOU WITH THIS!" Barry shouted, angry that this team wasn't calling back-up when they needed it.

"Jeez, what experience do you have fighting aliens?" One of the members of the society asked.

"Lots." Barry replied vaguely, "From what I have heard about the dominators, they want to end life as we know it on this Earth."

"So what should we do?" Kara's doppelgänger asked.

"Well Kara, or what should I call you?" Barry asked.

"Wha- how do you know my name? Powergirl will be fine." Powergirl, Kara's doppelgänger said.

"Okay power girl, can you show me everything you have on the dominators?" Barry asked.

"Yeah sure." Power girl said, typing on a keyboard, before a map of the world appeared on a large monitor.

"So as far as we can tell, the dominators have been scouting Earth, looking for our weaknesses. These dominators we can see are only from one ship, and there are 4 more ships hovering above Earth." Power girl said.

"So what's your plan?" Barry asked.

"We confront the dominators." Powergirl said.

"Okay, then what?" Barry asked.

"Then they either surrender, or fight the JSA." Powergirl replied confidently.

"Ok." Barry replied.

"Your not going to say it's a bad plan?" Powergirl asked.

"I haven't been scouting them like you guys, so I'll just trust you all." Barry said with a nod.

Suddenly Barry was covered in light and transported into a cage with meta-dampeners.

"Hello." A dominator said.

"Who are you?" Barry asked.

"The one who will cure your Earth of the plague that has covered it for too long already." The dominator replied.

"You want to blow up the planet." Barry realised.

"And you are the only one fast enough to stop it. At least you were." The dominator said, placing a needle into Barry's arm. Barry instantly felt the link he had with the speed-force deteriorating, so using every ounce of power he had in him, he defied all odds and phased, removing most of the serum injected into him from his bloodstream. Only a fraction of Barry's speed was gone, and while Barry didn't know how much, he realised what the dominators were doing. 

Somehow, the dominators managed to steal that bit of Barry's speed, and transport it into another container. Barry was amazed at what the dominators achieved. They took the very essence of the speed-force and contained it.

"No! How did you do that?" That dominator shouted, unhappy that not all of Barry's speed-force was gone.

"Your serum took time to take effect, so I quickly phased. I guess your meta-dampeners are broken." Barry said.

With that Barry was beamed back down to the JSA headquarters.