“What’s that mean?”
“It means that we don’t even have a temporary reprieve going on! It’s eating Mardon up and when his body can’t contain it anymore, there goes everything. At best, we’ve got a few hours.”
“At worst?” asked the Flash.
“We may not finish this conversation. Our best bet is to somehow get Mardon to let it go willingly.”
The speedster eyed the Weather Wizard’s limp form. “I’ll have to try to wake Mardon up. I hit him pretty hard. At the time, I thought I wanted him out for the count.”
“Do whatever you can, buddy.”
“Yeah.” The Flash stared at Mark Mardon. “I’m going to try something.”
Cisco went silent again. The Flash took a deep breath, then moved one step forward.
As he expected, “Clyde” reacted instantly. It was almost as if in this state Mardon’s mind worked faster, without distractions.
“Easy, Clyde. I only want to talk.”
No new barrage struck Barry. Instead, “Forget it, Flash. Maybe you can plead for your life or that of your buddy. We might show a little mercy.” The false Clyde grinned darkly. “Just a little.”
The Flash noted a bit less slurring in the words. What that meant, he couldn’t say just yet. “I’m not thinking about us. I’m thinking of your brother. He’s not well.”
“My brother’s nearly a god… and when he restores me to full life, he’ll actually be one!”
It’s like talking to a living person, the Flash couldn’t help thinking. The schism in Mardon’s mind was so strong that the second personality—clearly born from the combination of Mardon’s incredible guilt and the untested system Iron Heights had thought would nullify his powers, not magnify them—had grown dominant enough to exist almost separately.
The sky rumbled ominously. There was that too, Barry realized. So long as the Weather Wizard remained bound to the storm, feeding on its energies, then the Clyde persona also had those energies to feed upon.
This is madness! Yet the Flash realized that his only chance remained in trying to reach Mardon through “Clyde”. Worse, if Cisco was correct—and Barry had no doubt that he was—then the window was quickly closing. Mardon would perish, but he would take all of Central City and much beyond with him.
Taking another deep breath, the Flash continued. “Clyde, I really need to speak with Mark. I’m not trying to pull a trick here. It really is about Mark’s life.”
“Clyde” shimmered. His expression grew slack. Barry realized suddenly that “Clyde” looked like an animatronic suddenly shut off. The Flash was tempted to see if he could reach Mardon’s body, but then a semblance of life returned to “Clyde” and the chance passed.
“Mark can’t talk. You hit him damn hard. Another thing I owe you for, Flash. Almost as bad as helping me get killed.”
As the figure glared at him, the speedster couldn’t help thinking how used to the bizarre situation he had already become. Mark Mardon continued to be the actual source of “Clyde’s” voice, but at times it was easy not to notice that, even despite the slurring.
Still, for all “Clyde” seemed more and more alive, the Flash knew that the truth was otherwise. “If you’re here in front of me, that means that you should be able to reach him, Clyde. Do it.”
To his dismay, the figure laughed. At the same time, various parts of the false Clyde also fragmented again. “You’re a fool, Flash, but then, so is my brother. He’s all broken up over his guilt, just like he should be. Only, he thinks he can actually bring me back from the dead, can you believe it?”
Something’s not right here, Barry noted with growing concern. Why is he talking like that? “Listen, Clyde. Mark is going to die very soon if we don’t help him—”
The murky figure smiled more widely… too wide, in fact, for a true human being. “Sure. That’s been the idea all the time.”
The Flash stood stunned. After a moment, he managed, “What do you mean?”
“Mark’s been living with the guilt since he woke up. When we were young, he swore he’d protect me. He swore no one would touch me. He let me down. Now he’ll never let me down again.”
“Cisco, you guys getting this?” Barry whispered.
“Yeah. Talk about creepy…”
To “Clyde”, the Flash responded, “Mark couldn’t help what happened. He was in a coma. From the same accident that gave both of you your powers.”
“He should’ve been there! He should’ve been there to keep me from doing anything that could have led me to getting killed! He knows that! He was supposed to be there! He was supposed to keep me safe!”
“Sounds like Mardon’s got some big brother guilt issues,” Cisco ventured.
“Really big,” Barry murmured. He continued to glance at the Weather Wizard. Mardon showed no sign of stirring. The Flash wondered if there was more to it than a lucky strike by him. The Clyde persona seemed a far more dominant one than Mardon’s own and if the constant rants about the elder brother’s failure to protect the younger were any clue, Mark Mardon had been carrying around a tremendous burden. So tremendous, in fact, that a part of him had secretly believed he needed to face the ultimate punishment for that failure. “Got an idea, though.”
“Well, that’s more than we’ve got here. Go with it.”
“You know that’s not fair, Clyde,” the Flash finally answered. “Besides, if he dies, you die with him.”
“But I’m already dead… No… I’m alive.”
Ah! The Flash had wondered if he had noticed a potential conflict within the Weather Wizard’s mind. Mark Mardon was evidently willing to die to assuage his guilt. Yet the persona he had created of his brother had shown an insistent desire for life. The speedster wondered just how strong that second desire was. It was also based on the elder sibling’s guilt, and past encounters had shown the Weather Wizard himself fearful of losing Clyde again.
“But you’re only alive as long as Mark is,” the Flash dared say.
“But he’ll make me live again… No…” For the first time that the Flash could recall, a look of absolute confusion crossed “Clyde’s” shadowy features. “No… I failed him. I deserve to die…”
“You hear that?” Cisco asked in Barry’s ear. “He’s talking like he’s Mark Mardon now.”
“Yeah. Maybe that part of him is waking up. We need that.”
“I failed him… No… I will live… No… We are all guilty…”
The storm shifted along with the voice, rain and wind blowing wildly. The Flash noticed a couple of specks of rain on the other metahuman. Up until now, the Weather Wizard had had instinctive control over the elements. This was the first hint that his control was slipping.
“This may be our one chance,” Cisco suggested. “If we can get him to the lab, we might be able to bring this to a safe conclusion.”
“Agreed.”
“Just watch it, though. His readings are still off the charts. Mardon may look unconscious, but his body is still churning with power nearly ready to burst free.”
Barry eyed the Weather Wizard. His body glowed faintly, but otherwise looked normal. Still, Barry trusted Cisco’s information.
“We can help you,” the Flash offered carefully. “We can bring Mark to a place where he can be helped—”
“‘Helped’? Iron Heights… they said it was best for me… for him…” A new volley of thunder punctuated the last statement. The false Clyde’s features turned more shadowy and less human. “Help… Iron Heights helped … We’ll die before we go back there…”
“You better move, Barry!” Cisco suddenly warned.
The Flash had no idea what his friend had noticed in all the readings to issue such a dire warning, but knew better than to ignore it. He darted away from where he stood—
And not even a breath later, lightning ravaged the spot.
“We’ll never return to Iron Heights!” the Clyde persona roared through the Weather Wizard’s mouth. “Never!”
Wind, rain, and
hail struck wherever the Flash paused. Try as he might, the speedster could not get close enough to grab Mardon’s still body.
Then, a gold-clad form materialized next to Mardon. Wally, eyes on “Clyde”, reached down and took hold of the unconscious rogue.
A wind swept past Wally and scooped up the Weather Wizard before he could tighten his grip enough. Mardon’s body went flying high into the air.
“No Iron Heights… No…” Mardon’s Clyde persona insisted to no one in particular. He rose several feet in the air. “No Iron Heights ever again…”
Wally appeared next to the Flash. “Sorry! I thought for sure that I could grab Mardon and get out of there before I was noticed.”
“You might’ve had a chance if it’d been Mardon himself, but even I’m not fast enough to keep up with thought itself!”
They split up just as a tornado nearly caught them both. The two speedsters met a short distance away.
“What did you mean by that and how’s he striking so near to us?”
“This is Mardon’s subconscious attacking us. It’s pure thought! Maybe full of emotion, but still—watch it!”
He grabbed Wally and dragged him off as hail falling as hard as if shot from a thousand rifles decimated their new location. The entire landscape had been turned into a ruin akin to a war zone.
“What do we do?” Wally asked the moment they paused again.
“We’re beyond trying to reason with him! We need to come at him from different directions at the same time! Follow my lead!”
As they split up, the two speedsters veered away from their adversary and then back again. Rain battered their paths, meaning they could slip at a vital moment. Despite the danger, the Flash had to slow down somewhat. He saw that Wally had had to do the same.
The two crossed paths, then kept going. The false Clyde floated in a circle above them, eyes seeming ever more attuned to Barry’s route. That suited the Flash just fine. While he appreciated Wally’s aid, Barry’s preference would have been for Wally to take his father and go.
Thinking of Joe, the Flash peered around. There was no sign of the detective, which gave Barry the hope that Joe was at least safe.
As the Flash came around the Weather Wizard and his guardian, he darted in. Naturally, the storm’s fury suddenly focused on him. The Flash braced himself for the worst.
Rain, thunder, lightning, hail, wind… the entirety of the storm’s power fell upon the Flash. He dodged when he could, raced faster when that was possible, and prayed he would be able to suffer the rest long enough.
Wally suddenly rushed up onto the farmhouse roof. In one hand, he held a long metal pole.
Come on, Wally! Let’s see how your aim is!
Wally readied the pole like a javelin—
“Clyde” changed, his form immediately reshaping so that instead of facing the Flash he faced Wally. Barry felt an abrupt shift in the wind and rain toward the other speedster and knew that the lightning and hail would quickly follow.
The shift in the wind was so immediate that it caught Wally off guard. He fought to retain his balance just as lightning crackled in the sky above him.
But in the midst of the accompanying thunder there came a single sharp crack all too familiar to Barry and yet startling because of its very existence at this moment.
False Clyde shifted again, this time to face away from both speedsters. For the first time, the Flash saw a glimpse of fear in the murky figure’s expression. “Clyde’s” body lost cohesion, with parts becoming the swirling winds of a tornado.
At that point Wally threw. His aim was good. The makeshift lance headed directly for the twisted form.
Seemingly ignorant of the pole’s very existence, “Clyde” darted closer to Mardon’s floating figure. The pole passed harmlessly by.
The false Clyde and the Weather Wizard suddenly dropped several feet lower. Simultaneously, there was a second sharp crack, the source of which Barry finally located.
Visible only in the brief illumination from the lightning, Joe West knelt ready to fire again despite the downpour. While the Flash was happy to see Joe free, the gun startled him. Barry had assumed the detective to be unarmed.
Wally. He must’ve brought it just in case for his father.
There was no time to worry anymore, about either father or son, for “Clyde” then chose to rise higher in the air, taking the Weather Wizard with him.
“No…” The Flash quickly looked around, but the tallest structure nearby was the farmhouse. Wally already stood there, clearly trying to do the same thing on Barry’s mind.
Wally backed up as far as he could, then raced forward.
“Don’t do it, Wally!” the Flash called uselessly, his shout drowned out by the weather.
The moment he reached the edge of the roof, Wally leaped. With momentum only a speedster could produce, he soared up into the air.
Wally reached the Weather Wizard, seizing the floating body by the leg.
The Flash expected both to fall, but the wind keeping Mardon aloft proved strong enough that although they did descend, it was at a rate slow enough to prevent any real harm to either man.
“Clever, Wally,” the Flash said with a brief smile.
But suddenly both Wally and the Weather Wizard spun in a circle. Mardon’s body spun faster and faster. Wally tried to hold on, but his grip slipped even as the Flash raced toward them.
Wally dropped. Mardon’s body ceased spinning, then rose up once more.
The Flash looked around. Wally was too far up to land safely and the Flash knew he couldn’t catch someone from so high up. Barry needed something better.
The Flash raced from the ruined farmhouse and down the road to the nearest functioning farm.
As he hoped, this time of year the crops were near harvesting. With a silent apology to the farmer, the Flash raced along, gathering stalk after stalk in his arms. Each time he had an armful, he carried it back to the site of the struggle.
A moment later, Wally landed… on a heaping pile of soft vegetation so high, it completely cushioned his fall.
The Flash rushed up to the top. “Are you all right?”
Eyeing the pile, Wally nodded. “I am thanks to you! And here I thought I was the clever one for knowing that the thing with Mardon would never let him fall to his death. I figured we’d drop slow enough—but then the spinning started.”
“Are you all right up there?” shouted Joe from the darkness below.
“I’ll take care of him,” Wally told the Flash. “You get after Mardon. We can’t let him get away, not if he’s as dangerous as Cisco explained!”
Barry didn’t argue. He moved to Joe.
“You two be careful, all right?”
“We will,” Joe began. “But you—”
But the Flash had already raced away, following the trail left by the false Clyde and the Weather Wizard. High in the sky, he caught a glimpse of the pair continuing to ascend as they headed in the direction of Central City. As the Flash picked up the pace, he tried his best to keep both in sight. That proved harder and harder, with only the continuous lightning giving him any real view of either.
The night erupted into blazing daylight so intense that the Flash had to avert his gaze.
When he looked again, it was to find no sign of the Weather Wizard and “Clyde”. The Flash inspected the darkening sky to no avail.
“No…” The Flash searched desperately, but again came up with nothing. The storm had swallowed up the Weather Wizard. “Cisco! Where’s Mardon? I can’t locate him!”
“Hang on!” There was a moment of quiet, then, “I can’t find him either. The storm’s reached a new level of craziness! The energy fluctuations are like nothing I’ve ever seen!”
And they’re going to get a lot, lot worse if we don’t locate Mardon quickly! Barry thought. He continued his search of the heavens. But what can we do?
The storm rumbled as if mocking his question. What could they do? If they failed to find Mardon, then
all that remained for all of them to do… was simply die.
21
Barry and Wally covered the city several times, but could find no trace of the Weather Wizard. Cisco ran program after program, only to come up short each time.
And, meanwhile, the storm somehow continued to grow more frightening. The incessant torrent of rain shifted to an incredibly thick fog that left Central City paralyzed as never before.
The two speedsters managed to get Joe and themselves to the lab. There, somewhat bedraggled, the trio tried to recuperate.
Iris brought her father a cup of coffee and a hug. The hug was accompanied by a hard punch to the shoulder.
“What was that for?” demanded Joe.
“Next time, don’t take such chances!” She turned on her brother and Barry. “You don’t go out there again, you understand me, Wally?”
He gave a noncommittal grunt which seemed to satisfy her.
That left Iris and Barry staring at each other in such a way that the rest quickly left them alone on one side of the lab.
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” Iris told him.
“You’re not going to punch me now, are you?”
That briefly brought a smile to her face. Then, “Thank you also for all you’ve done for Dad.”
“Joe’s pretty capable himself,” Barry responded, “and Wally’s getting better and better with his abilities.”
“I agree on both counts, but where would both of them be without you, Barry?” She shifted position. “I know I’ve gotten on your case about Dad, but I think it’s fair to say that it had as much to do with you as it did him or Wally.” Iris put a hand on his shoulder. “I couldn’t imagine what would happen without you.”
“I’m being careful… but I can’t give this up, Iris. Not just for my sake, but for everyone who has ever or will ever need my help. Especially not now.”
“I know that more than ever. I wondered if I could handle that… and while I may not like it at times, nothing is going to separate me from you!”
Iris leaned forward and kissed him. Barry returned the kiss, then pulled back without warning.
“Did I do something?” a startled Iris immediately asked.
The Flash Page 26