The Flash

by Richard Knaak

  “Ungh!” Out of nowhere, a massive funnel cloud swept into the Flash and threw him into a wall. Barry managed to brace himself enough to avoid much injury, but the collision still left him shaking his head.

  He looked up to see what appeared to be the same enormous whirlwind, save that to have reached the Flash then it would have had to teleport—

  No, the speedster realized. Something even faster. It moved as quick as thought! A creation of the Weather Wizard’s mind as well as of his powers, it made sense that it could be moved from one spot to another at Mardon’s whim. The Flash just wished he had fully appreciated that before now.

  Dust and rubble filled the hulking figure. Now and then enough pieces gathered around the “head” to form a vague semblance of a human face. Clyde Mardon’s.

  Mardon’s obsession with Clyde is my best chance, the Flash concluded. It may be the driving force behind all the Weather Wizard’s done here, but it also keeps distracting him. If I can just make use of that distraction…

  Caitlin’s voice came over the com. “It’s done!”

  “Then why does he still look like that?”

  “He’s still got what he gathered! Cisco is—”

  Jumping to his feet, the Flash kept one eye on the whirlwind while closing as best he could on the Weather Wizard. Even now, the other metahuman was a danger.

  “You’ve got to listen to me, Mardon!” Barry shouted. “All you’re doing here is killing yourself! You need to stop before it’s too late! I want to help you!”

  “And you know what I want?” the Weather Wizard growled in his Clyde persona. “I want you to shut up!” Simultaneously, the whirlwind tried to snatch up the speedster.

  Barry dodged the attack, then said, “Look at this, Mardon! Look! This is nothing but a creation of your powers!”

  Bracing himself, the Flash suddenly turned and headed toward the whirlwind. As he neared, he ducked down and turned in the opposite direction of the whirlwind’s natural spin. Keeping as low as he could, the Flash cut a tight circle around the whirlwind’s base.

  The counter wind created a disruption in the giant whirlwind. It lost cohesion, then fragmented.

  The Flash felt the elements attempting to re-form. He looked over at Mardon and saw the Weather Wizard gaping at what was happening. Mardon could now see “Clyde” for what he actually was.

  Barry had not wanted to do it this way. The strain he felt almost made him trip. If Cisco was taking readings, Barry felt certain that by now they had to be in the single digits. Yet still he pushed on. Then, as abruptly as he had started, the speedster broke off from his attack on the whirlwind. Not only could he not continue it at that moment, but as he had eyed Mardon again, the Flash saw his effort take effect.

  The Weather Wizard had shut his mouth tight. Eyes narrowed to slits met those of the Flash.

  “It’s as I said, Mardon,” the Flash continued as he neared. “Clyde is truly gone. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth. There’s only you and your guilt giving this thing any resemblance to him!”

  Mardon stared at the speedster a moment and then a single word escaped his lips.

  “Clyde…”

  The name was followed by a guttural scream. The storm rumbled. Taking a look at the whirlwind, the Flash saw it had no semblance of anything human any more.

  That’s it then, Barry thought. Unlike the Flash’s previous attempt to talk with Mardon, this time there would be no return of the Clyde persona. Disrupting the towering figure had finally proven once and for all that there was no Clyde and never had been.

  But without the false hope of bringing his brother back, Mardon slipped again into his dark guilt. The Flash had given that some thought too. He would have to bluff Mardon.

  “You damned…” the Weather Wizard growled as the two faced one another. “You took him from me not once but twice, damn you!”

  “There was nothing to take, Mardon. Give up now!”

  The Weather Wizard crackled with energy again. “You’ve taken everything from me! Everything! Well, I’ll do you that favor in spades! I’ll take everything important to you with me! You think your friend the detective is safe? His daughter?” Mardon’s unearthly glow grew almost blinding. “I’ll take them all from you!”

  Despite the dire warning, the Flash held firm. He could not allow the Weather Wizard to know just how near to collapse he was.

  “Listen to me, Mardon. It doesn’t have to be this way. I know the awful pain of losing a loved one! I did some terrible things while I was grieving! It didn’t help though. They were still gone…”

  “Gone…” The Weather Wizard laughed abruptly. “Truth be told, I can’t go on one way or the other, Flash, but it’ll be a pleasure to take you, the detective, and everything else in this damned city with me! Then there can finally be—finally be—”

  Mardon flared brighter. The Flash almost started forward, but knew he had to stay where he was.

  “Can’t… Can’t seem to be able to contain it anymore anyway,” Mardon managed. “Be a pleasure to let it loose on Central City…”

  This is it, Barry told himself. To the Weather Wizard, he said, “Go ahead then, Mardon. I tried to do what I could for you. It’s not worth it to me or anyone else anymore.”

  Mardon shook his head in an obvious attempt to clear it. “What’re you talking about? Why aren’t you begging?”

  The Flash shrugged. “I can’t touch you and I can’t move a city. I’ll just be satisfied to get everyone out. That’s good enough for me.”

  “You… You’re not making any sense. You… You’re going to move all the people? That’s impossible, even for you!”

  “No. I did it last time, during the tidal wave,” the Flash bluffed. “Turns out I didn’t need to, but I don’t like to take chances.”

  “You’re lying!”

  “You know what I do, Mardon. You know what I’m capable of. A city can be rebuilt. There’ll be a lot to work with, but that’s minor.”

  The Weather Wizard clutched his head. “That’s not possible,” he repeated to himself. He doubled over, shrieking. The Flash wanted to help, but forced himself to stay still.

  “Can’t control it anymore! Damn you… I won’t go without taking you and West with me!”

  With a final monstrous shriek, the Weather Wizard stretched both hands as high as possible. From his fingertips shot streams of energy that spiraled into the cloud-enshrouded heavens. Mardon’s shriek continued unabated as energy poured from him.

  Now the Flash wanted to help the Weather Wizard, but dared not. He watched, helpless, as the powers once held in check by Mardon now poured out with such force that the Weather Wizard could not have stopped the process even had he wanted to.

  Central City blazed bright as the energy poured out. The stress proved to be too much for Mardon, who fell to one knee.

  The whirlwind lost any traces of its semblance to Clyde Mardon. It began shifting back and forth, tearing apart more of the vicinity in the process.

  Barry looked from the whirlwind to Mardon and back again, abruptly aware that the constant physical drain that he had been suffering had made him ignore one possible solution to the towering menace before him.

  He turned and raced toward the tornado. As he neared, he repeated the steps he had previously taken against it. Faster and faster the Flash raced around the tornado in the opposing direction. He made the circle tighter and tighter with each turn, fighting against the natural spin of the tornado.

  The reverse circle finally had its desired effect. The strain proved too much for the tornado. With what almost sounded like a loud sigh, the last of the huge whirlwind broke apart and died as a shower of refuse hit the area.

  Returning his attention to Mardon, the Flash froze in shock. Mardon remained on one knee, his hands clamped to his head, his skull glowing.

  Finally, there came one last monstrous burst of energy into the storm above. The sky turned an unsettling black and crimson, as if the heavens had grown molten
.

  A brief gasp escaped the Weather Wizard. He shook. His hands dropped to his sides.

  He collapsed forward and would have struck the concrete face first if he’d not been caught at the last moment by the Flash.

  The wind howled, sounding not a little like the frustrated voice of Clyde Mardon…

  24

  The sky cleared the next day. As if trapped on Noah’s Ark for forty days and forty nights, far more than the usual crowds of people found reason to be outside. Repair crews were out in force too. The Flash had saved Central City from much destruction, but there was still a lot to replace, especially in the city center. Casualties had been light, but there had been casualties. How many of those could be blamed on the Weather Wizard and how many had simply been from the original storm was still a matter of conjecture.

  Barry met Iris outside the main lab. Inside, Cisco and Caitlin were at work going over the still-comatose Weather Wizard. Mardon had not moved since collapsing.

  The signal the team had sent had worked, greatly reducing the danger Mardon had represented. Barry’s other efforts had taken care of the rest.

  “Have you been in the lab all night?” she asked, concerned.

  “I needed to be there just in case he woke up. Wally was here too.”

  “He promised he wouldn’t come back to the lab after we got Dad home!”

  Barry rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah… Joe’s been back already too. He’s going to help make arrangements when it comes to officially putting Mardon back into custody.”

  Iris sighed. “I give up. It just proves I came to the right conclusion after all.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that after all this I realize that there are some things I have to learn to live with. I still don’t like the fact that Dad, you, or Wally have to risk yourselves so.”

  “You don’t always live the quietest life,” he countered.

  “Don’t even try to compare! As I was saying, despite that I can’t imagine what the world would be like if there weren’t those like you risking yourselves to keep madmen like Mark Mardon under control. Yes, it scares me, but it also makes me so damned proud of all of you. You save so many people…”

  She leaned forward and kissed him.

  “I’m glad to see you’re not angry with me anymore,” Barry murmured after they separated.

  “Just… keep doing all you can to stay safe when you’re out there.”

  “Hey, I’ve got you to come back to. That’s all the impetus I need.”

  H.R. chose that moment to step out of the lab. He looked embarrassed to come across them as they were. “Sorry! Cisco sent me out to get you, Barry. I think they’re finishing up with him.”

  “Has he woken?”

  “Not so far and if we’re lucky he’ll wait. Joe’s champing at the bit. He wants to get Mardon secured.”

  “Oh, does he say just where? Iron Heights is still in pieces.”

  H.R. shrugged.

  “We’d better get inside,” Iris said. “It may take all of us to convince him otherwise.”

  As they entered the lab, they saw Cisco and Caitlin studying a screen while Joe stood near the Weather Wizard’s prone body, the detective looking ready to tackle the rogue should he wake. However, Mardon remained motionless on the platform.

  “What’s the verdict, Cisco?”

  “Well, first of all, he’s going to need a rigorous program of fluids. It seems like he hasn’t had a drop of water in a week. I’ve seen juicier mummies.”

  “That sounds awful,” Caitlin muttered. “I know it’s Mardon, but still…”

  “He also looks as if he hasn’t eaten for days. Don’t know how true that is, but according to records, he’s several pounds lighter than he should be.”

  Barry studied the still form. “All important, but what about his powers? That’s the most critical factor, especially before we can trust him to any prison.”

  Cisco tapped the screen. “Well, to put it plainly, he’s shut down completely. All the readings are way down in the normal area. However that system augmented his mind, it seems it was wearing off for a while anyway. That’s why everything was going terminal!” He leaned back. “Now, according to everything I’ve got on hand, he’s back to the way he was before… or will be whenever he wakes up. I’d say his hallucinations about Clyde will be pretty much gone too. Yeah, he’ll be just your ordinary villainous master of weather again. Nothing special!”

  “So, if what you’re saying is true,” Barry responded, “then Caitlin won’t be—”

  “I’m free of him,” she happily told them. “For the same reason, yes. I won’t have to worry anymore.”

  “Great… But next time I want to be in the know too! You’re my friend as well, Caitlin!”

  “I know, Barry… I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t you apologize, Caitlin,” Iris put in.

  Joe cleared his throat. “So, does that mean he can finally be shipped out?”

  Cisco exhaled. “Yep. We just need to make sure he ends up somewhere where they can handle his normal powers.”

  “‘Normal powers’,” the detective grunted. “Isn’t that called an oxymoron or something?”

  “Not anymore.”

  “Well, Iron Heights still has a special hospital. It’ll hold him in this condition and with those other injuries he has, they should have time to fix up something proper.”

  Barry stepped to the side. “Sounds like it’s time for me.”

  Even as he spoke, he switched from his street clothes to his uniform. To the others, it was as if Barry vanished and the Flash stood in his place.

  “So he’s okay for this?” the speedster asked.

  “With you?” Cisco nodded. “Yes.”

  “All right.” The Flash picked up Mardon… and vanished.

  * * *

  The warden was among those who met the Flash at Iron Heights, quickly assuring him that the Weather Wizard would be secured properly.

  “He’s not the only one of his kind here, after all,” the man said blithely, perhaps not realizing he was talking to one of Mardon’s “kind”. He guided the Flash into the prison hospital so that the speedster could see the precautions being made. “The implant will be removed later today and all will be well.”

  Barry silently watched as they prepared the Weather Wizard, hooking him into several machines and strapping him in so that, supposedly, his powers would be of no use if and when he woke.

  Several thoughts stirred in the Flash’s mind as he observed everything. Again he sympathized with Mardon’s loss and the deep effect it had had on the man, however ruthless the Weather Wizard was otherwise. Clyde had been the only thing of value to his older brother. Thinking of his own losses—especially his mother—the Flash wondered if there was any way he could still someday help Mardon cope with these things. It was worth a thought, he decided.

  Perhaps.

  Once he was satisfied, the Flash thanked his host and sped off. More than ever Barry looked forward to being alone with Iris, being alone with the woman he loved, and just, at least for a time, feeling human.

  * * *

  The storm filled his world, raging in sync with his fury. The storm and he were one, powerful gods and yet ineffectual at the same time.

  Once, this same storm had raged under the influence of another: his brother. Clyde was gone though. Now the storm raged in his own image, in that of Mark Mardon, the Weather Wizard.

  And that storm raged around one hated image, that of the Flash and Joe West standing and mocking him. The storm assailed it, beat at it… but to no avail. Yet Mardon continued to guide its efforts to destroy the image. Even in his subconscious, the Weather Wizard knew his efforts had thus far come to nothing, but still he pounded at the image. Pounded at it with his full fury no matter how impotently those blows landed.

  Impotently… At least for now.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  With thanks to Cat Camacho and Steve Saffel.<
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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Richard Knaak worked as a warehouseman, résumé writer, and office clerk before becoming a full-time freelance writer. He is the bestselling author of the Dragonlance, Dragonrealm, Diablo, and Warcraft novels, as well as originals such as Dutchman, Ruby Flames, and Beastmaster: Myth.