by Barry Lyga
“Mr. Allen,” Captain Singh said, very seriously, “everyone here has spoken quite eloquently and truthfully about your dedication, your skill, and your personal integrity. I’m going to say—on the record—that they are all right. And I’m also going to tell you—again, on the record—do not make me regret this decision.”
“I won’t let you down, sir.” Barry squeezed Iris’s hand back.
“Then we’re adjourned,” Singh said. “West. Allen. Get back to work.”
As soon as the members of the board stood to leave, the members of Team Flash finally let loose, shouting and cheering and applauding. Iris stood up and threw her arms around Barry, clutching him tightly. Cisco hooted and clapped, joined by an enthusiastic Wally. Caitlin leaned in to kiss Barry’s cheek. Joe slapped him on the shoulder, beaming broadly.
“You did it,” he told Barry.
Darrel Frye packed up his briefcase and headed for the door. Before he left, though, he turned to Barry.
“Kid,” he said, “with the kind of luck you’ve got, head down to the track right now and put some money on the ponies.”
“It’s not luck,” Barry told him.
“If you tell me it’s family,” Frye grumbled, “I’m gonna puke.”
Borne high on a wave of the love of his friends, Barry could only smile. “Grab a bucket.”
Frye grunted and rolled his eyes.
Barry understood the man’s cynicism. He understood it well, and once he might even have shared in it. But he’d been to the future—two of them, in fact—and he’d seen that humanity survived.
Actually, that was wrong. Humanity would not merely survive—it would thrive. He could countenance no cynicism in the face of what he’d witnessed.
And while he was certain that there were dark periods in between the two points of light he’d visited, those points of light were important markers for him, proof that what he and his friends did and cared about and accomplished mattered. Even if those futures were alternate timelines or merely possible futures, well . . . at least they were possible.
So, yes, it was family. And it was friends. And it was belief in truth, in science, in society, and in everyone around him.
Iris kissed him. “You did it,” she whispered in his ear.
“We did it,” he told her.
42
Later, at S.T.A.R. labs, they celebrated, a party to welcome Barry back to the present. He regaled them with tales of the future, and they told him what they’d endured in his absence.
At one point, Barry and Cisco found themselves alone in a corner, huddled and discussing some arcane point of quantum physics. Cisco looked around conspiratorially and said in a low voice, “Look, what are we gonna do about this alternate timeline Flashpoint thing?”
Barry sighed. “There’s nothing to do, Cisco.”
“But do we tell the others?”
“Yes. Absolutely. We’re not going to keep it a secret from them. We don’t gain anything by lying to our family.”
Cisco nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, but . . . What if it shakes them up? Like, to the core shakes them up? It’s one thing knowing there’s an Earth 2 doppelgänger out there. It’s another knowing that there’s literally another you out there. A you who’s one decision away from being you. I mean, are we even really here? Are we just living in a cast-off version of the other timeline?”
Barry grinned. “C’mon, Cisco: It doesn’t matter where we are or when we are. What matters is who we are. And what we do.”
Cisco furrowed his brow, absorbing that. Then his face split into an enormous smile. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s legit.”
Just then, an alarm sounded. Barry flipped open his ring; his costume expanded out into its full size, and he had slipped it on by the time Cisco had rushed to his computer and flung himself into his chair.
“Metahuman alert!” Cisco shouted. “Looks like we’ve got an old-fashioned super-villain team-up in progress, guys and gals. Weather Wizard and Rainbow Raider are robbing the First Bank of Central City on Novick Street!”
Barry turned to Wally, who had already donned his Kid Flash costume. “You up for it?”
A grin. “I was born up for it!”
They fist-bumped, and then they ran, and then they won.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’m so thrilled that I had the chance to bring this story to you. And it wouldn’t have been possible without the fine folks at ABRAMS and The CW/Warner Bros.
First up, the crew at Warner Bros. and The CW: Thank you so much to Greg Berlanti, Todd Helbing, Sarah Schechter, Carl Ogawa, Lindsay Kiesel, Janice Aguilar-Herrero, Catherine Shin, Thomas Zellers, Kristin Chin, Amy Weingartner, and Josh Anderson for letting me play with their toys.
Also thanks to the ABRAMS gang: Pam Bobowicz, Melanie Chang, Andrew Smith, Maggie Lehrman, Chad Beckerman, Evangelos Vasilakis, Alison Gervais, Maya Bradford, Hallie Patterson, and Liz Fithian for making this dream possible.
César Moreno once again brought the thunder and lightning with a terrific cover.
And a special thanks to my wife and my children, loves of my life, for understanding why I had to close the door to my office so many times. It’s worth it—my three-year-old knows the Flash on sight!
Finally, my deepest gratitude to the legion of comic book artists, writers, and editors who have guided Barry Allen’s adventures since those early days. You thrilled me as a child and inspired me as an adult. The Flash gets to run into the future, and thanks to you, we get to go with him.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Barry Lyga is the author of the New York Times bestselling I Hunt Killers series and many other critically acclaimed middle-grade and young adult novels. A self-proclaimed Flash fanatic, Barry lives and podcasts near New York City with his family. Find him online at barrylyga.com.
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