"Oh my God!"
"Hey! What's going on?'
"Damn! Something happened over here?"
"It... Looks like a car accident".
"That car was hit by a truck".
"..... Someone call 911".
".." Providence wasn't a small city on Rhode Island. The total population, although incomparable to Gotham, Metropolis, Central City and the likes, it still had a population exceeding two hundred thousand residents.
A car crash on the roads of the less busy parts of the city quickly gathered considerable attention.
"Oh no! People". "The Flash" saw all this and his expression turned unsightly.
The situation was escalating out of his control. At this moment, a crowd of onlookers was the last thing he wanted to see.
"Flash" fixed his gaze on the "new arrival" only to find that the latter's attention wasn't on him.
".... Fascinating". The distorted voice carried an eerie tone as Zoom turned his head slowly from one side to another.
"This city..... This .... world…." The pitch-black eyes from behind the creepy demonic mask stared at the surroundings with apparent interest.
Clean streets, fresh air, clear skies, working vehicles, brightly lit buildings.
Seeing it all, Zoom marveled.
This.... all this surprised him. Not because he hadn't seen this before, but because of how long ago he last saw it.
Years.
This image.... It was not what he was familiar with. All this was in the past era.
The era before "He" changed. Took control of the world. Earth, his earth.... Was nothing like this.
Not anymore
So he was sure that this wasn't his earth. This wasn't the world he came from, and it was due to that reason that the black speedster marveled even more.
Earths!
There were other Earth's. Completely unknown, untouched, unconquered.
The multiverse. It truly existed.
New world's, new possibilities, new speedsters with the speed force….
In those pitch-black eyes, a trace of uncontrolled madness frenzied within. The thirst, hunger and maniacal mind combined to form an unimaginable greed.
The Greed for speed.
"A parallel earth". Zoom said, slowly enunciating each word. Arcs of blue lightning flashed on his body uncontrollably as his desire increased by the second.
The lightning sparks quickly drew attention.
The crowd that was slowly amassing immediately noticed the two figures standing opposite each other in some kind of confrontation and were surprised.
"Someone's here?"
"Who are these guys?"
"Damn! That guy's got electricity flickering all over him".
"..... Cool..... Hang on, is this some kind of movie set?"
Some people couldn't quickly understand the situation and asked with slight confusion.
However, among the crowd, there would always be those who were more learned than others.
"Hey, is that The Flash?"
".... Flash? You can't be serious".
"I recognize the costume. It does look like Flash".
"Are you sure? I always thought the flash looked different on TV".
"What the hell is he doing here? Shouldn't he be in Central City?"
"That's like, hundreds of miles away".
"What's that thing on his chest? I've never seen it before".
"Forget about that. It looks like he's confronting the guy in black".
"The one with blue electricity? Hold up! Is he also a speedster?"
"I've never seen this man on the news. Could he be a new villain?"
"He's not any bad guy in Central City's rogue gallery that I've ever seen".
The crowd spoke with unprecedented enthusiasm as they watched the scene from a few meters distance.
Opinions flew around from one person to the other. Some started conversations about whom the new guy might be, while others had already taken their phones, connected to their social media accounts and began streaming live.
Cars that would originally pass through this road braked as the place was blocked.
People took pictures, took videos, live-streamed.... The whole place grew lively.
Zoom paid no heed to this.
"So this was what your plan was". The demonic voice was rather loud, amplified by the vibrating of his vocal cords.
The short sentence splashed down on the crowd's enthusiasm like a bucket of cold water.
That tone, that voice….
Everyone listening felt a chill run up their spines for no reason. Especially when they saw the Man in Black turn his gaze in their direction, everyone felt their scalps grow numb.
Pitch-black eyes that made people shudder, the electric arcs flickering around his body, followed with the occasional erratic vibration of his body that made him seem ethereal, without form, like a ghost. And the suit slitted mouth part on the mask..... But…. Was that even a mask? It looked so... Organic.
Anyone looking at him could confidently state that the figure standing there was a phantom silhouette from the underworld, and no one would rush to refute.
Horrifying!
The pitch-black figure did nothing except stand there, but the pressure he brought to those who looked at him was scary.
"Travelling to parallel Earth's, in an attempt to gather help to do what you could not. Truly…. Clever".
His hand moved at Super speed as lightning arcs flashed, grabbing the throat of the man in the car.
The crowd gasped in shock.
"How unfortunate, that all your efforts will come to a bleak..... end".
Tom whose throat was being gripped struggled frantically as he began making choking noises.
"Silas stone and Harrison Wells truly are geniuses. Devising a way to harness the speed force and use it to travel through universes. Remarkable. Now I, will take this wonderful gift you have presented me, and use it to my disposal. When I get back... I will thank them both by giving them a swift and painless death, sending them to meet with you, right after I kill you and take what value you have to me".
"The Flash" Stiffened.
His expression bordered shock and disbelief before turning grim.
"You knew".
"You're not the only one with insiders, Flash".
"Let him go, Zoom, he has nothing to do with this. This is between you and me".
"Flash" said solemnly. The anger in his tone was apparent, but the audience didn't notice what else was.
At this point, they started to feel righteous indignation
"He's going to choke that poor man to death".
"What are you waiting for, Flash? Get him".
"Beat his sorry excuse for an ass up and take him to prison".
Zoom remained unmoved.
"You and your "Resistance" once tried to fish me out with bait". Raising his right hand, his palm vibrated at extreme speeds, becoming a physical blur.
"I can do the same". Then, he brought the vibrating palm close to Tom's heart.
"Let's see how much faster you've gotten with that thing on your chest. Will you be fast enough to save him first, or... will I phase my hand through his heart and send him to meet his maker".
The black eyes under the horrid mask turned to the unmoving bodies of the two children.
"This is not your world". Flash said through gritted teeth.
Saving the man was impossible, not with Zoom at such close range. He wasn't fast enough, not even with the tachyon enhancer on his chest active.
"..... There are people stronger than you here. You keep this up, and they will come to capture you". He said, giving the best threat he could come up with.
"You always seem to forget, that I am the fastest man alive. Even "He" can't stop me".
The Speed demon slightly tilted his head and continued.
"So let us see.... If they get here on time to stop me... or I kill you first".
"Only if you can catch me". Flash said as yellow lightning arks appeared in his eyes.
"And why would I perform such a meaningless chase when I have the bargaining chips?" Zoom asked.
The demonic voice was so distorted that one couldn't tell if there was any bit of sarcasm in that sentence.
"What do you mean?"
"I told your predecessor once before. That heroes.... Die. You're a hero, are you not? Now, I'll give you a choice".
Zoom said as his gaze turned back to the viewing crowd.
"You think you can make a ruckus and stall for time. I think otherwise. Either you fight me head on right here, right now, or I will kill every single soul I can find in this city, and hunt you down when I'm finished. And unlike your predecessor, there will be no Interference this time from Superman to stop me from getting what I want".
Those casual words thrown out were equivalent to a bomb in the ears of the nearby crowd.
The threat, coupled with Zoom's scary appearance and the "Flash 's" unwillingness to act, immediately frightened the lot of them.
Only then did they suddenly, miraculously realize that in the fight between "Supers", the regular people always ended up as cannon fodder.
Staying here, watching was tantamount to suicide.
"Run! He's a madman".
Someone within the crowd screamed and less than three seconds later, everyone immediately scattered, fleeing in all directions like headless chickens.
".... And I'll start, with this poor man over here. His life, is in your hands. Make, your choice".
Seeing the people fleeing in all directions, Zoom couldn't care less. These people, in his eyes, were nothing but lambs waiting to be slaughtered. How far away could they get within ten seconds?
"Ten".
"Nine".
"Eight".
He said as he began counting down. The claw - like fingers on the gloves of his suit dug deeper and deeper into the victim's neck as several lines of blood were drawn out.
Flash's face turned grim.
"..."
"Five".
"Four".
"Three".
"Two"... Seeing that time was almost up, the scarlet speedster gritted his teeth in frustration.
Thinking of the innocent man who would surely die if he did nothing, as well as thousands of people who would no doubt face the grave if Zoom were to go on a killing spree, time slowed down exponentially as Flash had numerous thoughts pass through his head.
Finally, his eyes grew firm, as if he had made a big decision.
And then....
Swoosh!
The tachyon enhancer glowed with a faint blue light.
Yellow lightning bolts covered his body as his body disappeared on the spot, the yellow lightning bolt rushing into the far away distance.
The people continued to scramble to safety, and Zoom looked in the direction of the fleeing flash without any expression.
In the literal sense, nothing could be seen through the mask.
Today, the most unbelievable thing happened.
In the face of a chance at escaping and the deaths of thousands of Innocents, The Flash actually chose to flee
Looking at the area that was almost deserted, zoom turned to look at Tom, who was almost choking to death within his grasp.
And then.
Snap!
With lightning quick reaction, Tom's neck was twisted to the side, making a cracking sound.
The body fell back on the car seat, completely motionless.
Lightning arcs flashed around his body as he moved around the area. All everyone in the radius of four miles could register in the following second was a momentary flash of blue before welcoming eternal darkness.
Adults, children, babies, elderly. No matter what age, regardless of what they were doing at the time, all of them died.
In less than a second, Zoom had committed a massacre and returned to his original position without so much as breaking a sweat.
"Enjoy the chase, Flash. I know I will".
His words came to an end and a flash of lightning was all that could be seen before he disappeared.
...
Three chapters at once.
Patreon.com/Future805