––– Open v14.1 ❕
⚡️ ––– ❝ I’ve got my hands full trying to stay one step ahead of everything, at the moment. ❞
📰 Strange New Heroes Bring Hope To Central City
––– ᴅᴇsᴍᴏɴᴅ ʀᴇᴇᴅ ( @thenew-blue )
⚡️ ––– It was a pretty widely accepted fact that nothing made a better morning than a nice run. It was an even wider accepted fact that knocking a couple robbers off their feet while in the middle of that morning run only made it better. This is why, when Barry heard chatter about a heist going on downtown, it didn’t take a lot to convince him to suit up and make a quick detour there.
⚡️ ––– The scene had apparently escalated in the time it took for him to reach the place. A group of masked men were visible through the big glass windows of the bank; A few guarding the door, a few waving guns around wildly to scare the trembling civilians inside and one shouting at a teller and shoving a bag at the poor lady in a pretty universal sign of hand over the cash and no one gets it! Barry might have been taken the time to chuckle to himself about how cliche that really was. A small crowd had begun to gather outside to to watch what would happen. He hovered out of sight for just a moment to assess the situation before zipping around the amassed people and vibrating straight through the glass windows into the bank itself. ❝ Hey there, gentlemen. How’re we doing this morning? ❞
⚡️ ––– Instead of an actual answer, Barry earned himself a outraged shout and a gun unloaded in his direction. He shifted out of the way just enough that the bullets soared past him before turning a raised eyebrow on the attacker. ❝ Not great, I’m guessing. ❞
⚡️ ––– Taking them out after that was a simple matter; Knock the weapons out of their hands, knock ’em on their asses, and rope ‘em up. By the time the police pulled up, sirens blaring and shouting to one another, Barry was already sitting comfortably in a tree across the street, munching on an apple and trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible. It was his hope that everyone would be too busy wondering what the hell just happened and apprehending the robbers to notice one guy just hanging out in a tree. Batman may prefer to live solely as a legend, disappearing after his service was given, but Barry liked to make disappointed faces at the baddies as they were carted away, so he stuck around.
📰 Gotham Elite Attacked In Her Home Late Last Night
––– ᴍᴏʟʟʏ ʙʀɪᴅɢᴇs ( @goldenprincessofgotham )
⚡️ ––– It was really fortunate that cops didn’t tend to check with his superiors when it came to his trips to the precincts in other cities. It just took a quick flash of his badge and a simple “We have a similar case we’re working in Central City” and people tended to nod in good faith. It might have also had something to do with his disarming personality and nonthreatening role as a CSI, but whatever it was that let him continue to get away with this, he hoped it kept working.
⚡️ ––– In this instance, they actually were working a similar case in Central City and, although his superiors had sent him, he’d figured The Flash could use a little bit of an assist. If his hunch was correct, there was someone targeting elites all over the place. They’d already hit a couple in Central City and Metropolis and he’d apparently been correct in assuming the mastermind would get to Gotham, eventually. Besides all the victims being wealthy, he hadn’t been able to draw any connection between them.
⚡️ ––– It was just his luck, then, when one of the victims had managed to chase off her attacker, who probably had not been expecting much resistance at all. Barry, while glad she had managed to get away mostly unharmed, was also incredibly grateful that he finally had someone he could pester for some answers. After doing a quick assessment of the scene itself, Barry found the young woman who actually lived here and came to stand in front of her. ❝ Hey there. ❞
📰 Scarlet Speedster Riddles Riddler For Some Answers
––– ᴇᴅᴡᴀʀᴅ ɴɪɢᴍᴀ ( @riddleculed )
⚡️ ––– Things were… Really weird.
⚡️ ––– Given the fact Barry was the fastest man alive and regularly fought baddies with equally unbelievable powers and silly codenames, he was actually quite used to the weird, but this went beyond that. Already this morning, he’d ended running into Cupid and Prankster already earlier and with Riddler somehow ending up in Central City on top of that, he was beginning to think this was a little more than some kind of coincidence.
⚡️ ––– ❝ Alright, Riddles. I’m here, ❞ Barry grumbled, pulling to a stop when he’d finally figured out the clue as to where the Gothamite was hiding out. It might have been quicker to just search the whole city until he was found, but he also didn’t want to risk irritating the guy if he was gonna try and weasel some answers out of him. ❝ I played your game and now I want something for my troubles. You can start by telling me what, exactly, compelled you to take a trip all the way out here from Gotham. Are they having a plane tickets deal on Super Villain Groupon or something? ❞
📰 Sparks Fly During Hero Team-Up
––– ᴇᴅɴᴀ ᴘɪɴʜᴏ ( @the-stars-n-an-alien )
⚡️ ––– Barry was - Unsurprisingly, given many of his friends, not to mention the near limitless potential of the Speedforce, itself - used to working with people who had powers that could easily get out of hand. It had been a learning process for just about all of them at one point or another, even if it is very easy to forget a time when you didn’t already know how softly to punch someone without breaking all the bones in their body or how to manipulate molecules in a way that didn’t make every single thing you speed up explode on accident. Control had been a learned trait for all of them and it was what made them great heroes.
⚡️ ––– It was also, unfortunately, what made some of the guys out there fighting the good fight harbor some pretty extreme cases of self-doubt.
⚡️ ––– He’d been very specifically picked by Batman to team up with one such hero at the moment. He liked to think it was because of his own great sense of restraint, but he also knew somewhere in the back of his head that that probably was the opposite of the case; Given that dark and broody somehow managed to keep from laughing at anything ever and Supes was notorious for juggling every power under the sun, he was a little lacking when it came to measuring up there. But what he did have was the ability to give a really good peptalk and to throw lightning at people like some kind of modern day Zeus. Neither of those two could do that, at least.
⚡️ ––– After a quick briefing from Bruce, the speedster eventually found his temporary partner waiting around mostly by herself. He was at her side in an instant, leaning casually against the wall and giving her a disarming smile. ❝ Hey there! The way I hear it, you and I are gonna be teaming up on this one… Thanks again on agreeing to pitch in, by the way. I don’t know if Bats took the time to tell you, but we really appreciate any help we can get. ❞
📰 Local Butler Puts Up With Impatient Speedster
––– ᴀʟғʀᴇᴅ ᴘᴇɴɴʏᴡᴏʀᴛʜ ( @asyouwishmasterwayne )
⚡️ ––– It was kinda weird, being in a house so big and so… empty. Barry’s childhood home was really pretty average compared to the Bat’s digs and it had always housed a minimum of three people when he was younger. These days, considering just how much Team Flash had expanded since they’d started out, one could easily find seven or eight people all crowded uncomfortably into the living room during the holidays. It had never been extravagant, but it’d been cozy and there had never been any lack of family to chose from. For all the nice things Bruce had scattered about - And Barry had taken the time to look at everything. Who knew they even made pajamas that soft? - he still had way too much space and not nearly enough people to fill it.
⚡️ ––– The speedster was admiring a painting, just touching on the edge of feeling sad for the poor guy, when another presence appeared in the room and he was reminded that the dark crusader wasn’t completely alone. Barry flashed Alfred a smile, the artwork forgotten in the face of someone he might be able to hold an actual conversation with. ❝ Jeeves! I was starting to worry you’d gotten lost in this place or something. It’s surprisingly way easier to do than I thought it’d be. ❞
⚡️ ––– Barry zipped over to the window, looking intently through the glass as if he expected something to suddenly appear. ❝ Thanks for letting me stay here until Bats shows up, by the way; There is never a good time for an unexpected guest. Also, since we’re talking about it, did he say how much longer he’d be before he got here? All this waiting around is making me anxious. ❞
