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"Metahumans robbing the Central City Bank?" Joe questioned, his voice tinged with disbelief as his gaze shot toward Wally and Barry, both of whom stiffened at the news.
"New metahumans?" Wally murmured, his eyes narrowing with curiosity. He turned to Alfred. "Live feed, now." A holographic display flickered to life, showing a video of metahumans storming the entrance of Central City Bank. There were three of them.
Barry exchanged a brief glance with Wally, their unspoken communication clear. He'd originally planned to return to Star Labs to suit up, but now, with the new threat at hand, Wally suddenly called to him.
Wally tossed something in Barry's direction. Barry caught it instinctively, but curiosity edged his voice. "What's this?"
"It's a new suit I made for you," Wally replied with a grin, revealing a matching ring on his own finger. While Wally's ring sported black and silver lightning, Barry's was red with a gold lightning emblem at the top.
Recognition sparked in Barry's eyes. The design was reminiscent of Reverse Flash's ring. Without hesitation, he pressed the ring's mechanism, and the suit shot out from the device, materializing in a flash. Within seconds, Barry was suited up, with Wally doing the same beside him.
"Damn, that's some serious gear," Cisco murmured, his eyes wide with awe. He could almost smell the advanced tech embedded in the suit, and the design was simply out of this world.
"Good day, Mr. Allen," a smooth, feminine voice suddenly chimed in, startling Barry.
It didn't take him long to realize the voice belonged to the suit's artificial intelligence. However, now wasn't the time for questions. With a quick nod, he and Wally swiftly departed the villa.
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The Central City Police Department was already in chaos the moment they arrived at the scene. Captain Singh barked orders into his radio, his voice barely audible over the sound of gunfire and exploding glass.
The metahumans weren't subtle. One of them, a hulking figure with glowing red veins, tore apart police barricades with his bare hands, his movements deliberate and devastating.
Another, a woman with glowing blue eyes, unleashed beams of energy that forced officers to retreat behind their vehicles. The third, a man clad in loose, tattered clothing, stood with skin as green as leaves.
With a single motion of his hand, thick roots erupted from the ground, crushing vehicles in their path.
The police were overwhelmed. Several officers had already fallen, and even with reinforcements, it was clear they had little chance against this relentless trio.
Only someone like the Flash—or perhaps the Phantom—might stand a chance of stopping them.
Captain Singh fired his pistol, the shots echoing uselessly in the chaos. The bullets bounced harmlessly off the hulking figure's glowing skin.
The green-skinned man regenerated almost instantly, his wounds closing as though nothing had happened. The woman with glowing eyes was even more unnerving; the bullets didn't touch her at all, dropping lifelessly to the ground midair as if robbed of all momentum.
Despite their overwhelming power, it was clear the metahumans weren't trying to escape. They could have left at any moment, yet they lingered, their intent almost theatrical.
They didn't seem to fear the Flash—if anything, it felt as though they were waiting for him.
Then, Captain Singh saw it: a streak cutting through the chaos. Relief surged within him, but it was short-lived. This wasn't a familiar blur of red and yellow nor was it light blue. This was something else entirely—a streak of silver.
Pietro, having seen the news and realizing he was nearby, decided he couldn't sit still. With great power came great responsibility, after all.
Hastily donning the rough suit he had put together, he sprinted toward the scene. As he arrived, the world slowed to a crawl—the bullet hung suspended in mid-flight, the metas' movements dragged as if weighed down by time.
Everything unfolded in a surreal, slow-motion haze. Pietro felt invincible, untouchable, as if the world was his to control.
Emboldened by his confidence, he decided to prioritize apprehending the woman. Her beams seemed the most dangerous, and he thought taking her down first would make the two easier to handle. Fueled by ego, he dashed toward her, aiming to incapacitate her in one swift motion.
But that proved to be his undoing.
As he closed the distance, something felt wrong. The world, once sluggish and predictable, began to speed up unnaturally. A disorienting feeling caught him off guard.
Before he could process what was happening, the woman's voice rang out, cutting through the chaos.
"Now!" the woman shouted, her voice cutting through the air like a whip.
In an instant, the green-skinned man sprang into action. Vines erupted from the ground, snaking around Pietro with shocking speed and wrapping him in a crushing grip.
He struggled against their hold, instinctively trying to tap into his speed, only to feel... nothing. The energy that always coursed through him felt absent, as if drained.
The three criminals grinned at their accomplishment, paying no mind to the officers firing at them. Their confidence quickly turned to shock when they realized it wasn't the Flash or Phantom they had been expecting.
The newcomer looked inexperienced, as if this was his first time attempting something like this. His suit, amateurish and unpolished, only added to that impression.
"What did you do to my speed?!" Pietro barked, his voice laced with panic and fury. The thought of losing the power that had changed his life was unbearable.
That speed had finally allowed him to support his sister's financial burdens. Without it, he feared he'd be nothing more than the failure he used to be.
"With me around," the woman said coldly, "your speed is useless."
Pietro struggled harder, but the vines only tightened, squeezing the air from his lungs. He could feel the pressure building, his heartbeat growing louder in his ears as his speed flickered and died. He couldn't escape, not without his power.
The hulking figure stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. "You're next, Speedster," he growled.
The woman seemed to hesitate. She could tell that the individual they had apprehended was immature, unprofessional, and unprepared. Instinctively, she could sense he wasn't that old, and his tone earlier had made it even clearer.
"Stop, he's not our target," she quickly said, attempting to curb the malevolent intent of the two, but her attempts quickly failed.
"You may be right, but he might become a threat in the future. It's best we end him now," the hulking figure said, advancing toward Pietro, who shivered at their intentions, a flicker of regret in his eyes. Tears began to form. 'Why was he so careless?'
The woman quickly moved to intercept the hulking figure, stepping into his path with a forceful command in her voice. "We deal with him later. For now, we focus on the target. We came here for a reason." She said, attempting to save the boy. Even though she had killed before, she wasn't heartless.
The hulking figure snarled, unwilling to back off, his intense gaze locked on Pietro.
Pietro, still trapped in the vines, felt his heart race in panic. His mind scrambled for a solution, but with his speed drained, he was helpless. He'd never felt so vulnerable. The silence between the trio was suffocating.
Wally and Barry quickly closed in, but as they neared thirty meters from the three metahumans, Wally suddenly felt something was off.
He urgently pulled Barry back, coming to a quick halt. The three figures, still locked in their confrontation, immediately noticed their arrival. As soon as they saw the Flash and Phantom, their attention shifted from Pietro, who remained bound.
"What's wrong?" Barry asked, his gaze scanning the several bodies on the ground. His suit's sensors confirmed what he feared: they were dead. Anger surged through him, but when he noticed Wally's hesitation, he could already feel that something was wrong.
"Don't you feel that? A strange pull... like we're being drained," Wally murmured, his focused scrutiny locked on the three.
"Yeah, something's leaving me... like my body's energy is being drained," Barry replied.
"Alfred, what's going on?" Wally asked, his voice crackling through the comms. The three were silent, almost as if waiting for the heroes to make a move.
"There's a constant drain on your Speed Force," Alfred reported, though Wally had already guessed that, he was very sensitive to his own energy. What he needed to know was who was responsible. "It seems to be originating from the woman," Alfred added.
Wally immediately locked eyes with her, forcing his attention past her seemingly pleasant appearance. Her gaze faltered under his intense scrutiny, and her eyes glowed a faint blue.
"It's her," Wally said, narrowing his focus. "She has some kind of energy absorption."
"Yeah, I can feel it too," Barry confirmed, his eyes now fixed on her as well.
"Can she use the Speed Force energy to access speedster powers?" Wally asked, his tone sharp, assessing her threat level.
"No," Alfred replied. "It seems the energy becomes neutral once it's drained. What's more, she's actively absorbing all forms of energy around her—ultraviolet rays, possibly even kinetic energy."
Wally's expression shifted as realization dawned. The sheer potential... 'If I could harness her abilities, what could I accomplish?' His gaze deepened as he stared at her, ignoring the other two. 'I need to get my hands on you.'
Charna, the woman, instinctively took a step back. Something had shifted in Wally's energy, and she could feel it—a dangerous change that unsettled her.