Fast Friends

*Authors Note: This story references two heroes from comic book universes. 

Pietro or Peter Maximoff (Quicksilver) from Marvel and Barry Allen (The Flash) from DC

… “Breaking news, a giant space storm made of purple lightning and what appears to be a black hole protruding in the middle, is headed right for Earth. Grab your family and run folks, I don’t think there’s any escaping this one. Even our good friend The Flash can’t run the entire planet out of harms way…”

I heard what the news said. There was no hope. The storm grew closer every second, looming above our spinning home. Lightning crashed down, seeming to almost reach the ocean I had been staring at.

I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. To just watch as the planet was destroyed without ever lifting a finger to try and stop it. But what could I do?

“Think.” I nearly shouted at myself. “What do you know about space storms? What do you know about this storm? What can you do that nobody else can do?”

“Ok, this storm seems to be a one-two punch of destruction. First, it will zap any type of electronic. Electricity, internet, cars, and more; everything will be useless. It looks to be powered by its center. A black hole that will suck up everything it gets close to. A tornado that keeps everything it pulls into itself, instead of spitting it back down into the mess. All that might not be an issue if this was a regular storm on Earth. I could just run around it, until my speed outpaced it. Slowing it down enough that it would dissipate on its own. But in space, I wouldn’t be able to breath long enough to do that, and if I wore a suit to help me breath, I wouldn't be able to produce the speed needed.”

I was still talking to myself, trying to come up with a solution. The pent-up energy and nerves had me racing back and forth between the east and west coasts, ocean to ocean. 

“Maybe if I just run back to Earth to breath every couple of minutes, I’ll have a chance. I might not be able to stop the thing completely, but I’m sure I can slow it down. At least enough to evacuate people to a safer area.”

A new news broadcast was put out, detailing my plan. Nobody tried to stop me so I guess that meant everybody was on board with it.

I thought it over for just a few moments before I gathered my courage and took off. I knew I had to hit the wind waves just right to elevate myself. I wondered if after I made it past the atmosphere, I would just stop completely and fall back to Earth. After all, there would be nothing holding me up there. 

Well, only one way to find out. 

As the air carried me higher and higher, I breathed deeper and deeper, trying to prolong the amount of time I would be able to stay up.

Blurring around the storm, I could barely see the purple lightning or the black hole in the middle, but I could feel them. The lightning was electrifying the atmosphere the storm brought with it, which was good for me, as it allowed me to run faster, and I could push or pull the light to where I wanted it to land. But I also felt a pull, dragging me into the center. I tried to run away from that pull, but it was too strong.

Before I could really register what was happening, I was flying through the storm, being shocked by bolts of light, and getting sucked into something unknown.

I wouldn’t be able to save anybody, not even myself. My fastness wasn’t working, and I could only sit there, suspended in space while the hole pulled me closer.

As the looming blackness approached, a lightning rod shot through me and I was only able to see purple waves of color staining my vision. Purple sight was accompanied by shooting pain and I slowly passed out and the center swallowed me. 

****************

Making my rounds to rid the night of any bad guys, I was determined to convince the world that I was one of the good guys. I had been fighting crime for so long now, but some people still saw me as a threat. I couldn’t help how I was made, but I guess I’d always have to pay for it.

Luckily for me, the night was quiet. Running around the world so quickly that time was almost at a standstill, it was easy to disrupt any wrong-doings I came across. 

Making my way back home, slowly for me, the sky opened up, and a giant purple lightning storm appeared from the heavens. 

“Well that can’t be good.” I began to think of all the villains capable of pulling of something like this. Not many that was for sure. 

Thinking of a way to track this storms movement, and how to stop it, I started observing the way it flowed through the night.

Watching it so intently, I noticed as a man came falling out of the darkened middle. 

I raced to catch him. I couldn’t have this man splatting onto the ground without giving me some answers.

I wouldn’t miss. I never did.

***************

I awoke as I was falling, and a blur was streaking to me. Another me? I couldn’t tell, he was too fast, but I sure hoped not. I didn’t want to live through those days again.

Knowing that I messed up some version of the past or future and having to fix it over and over was not what I wanted to be doing right now.  

I landed in his arms with a thud and he just kept on running, like I weighed nothing. Now that we were going the same speed, I noticed that he had a suit on. Not just any suit, but a super suit. 

It was gray-ish, no, it was more of a silver. It wasn’t one that I recognized, and I knew all the people that had powers to help make the world a better place. Maybe he was the one behind the storm. There was no time to wonder about it now though, we were coming to a stop. 

As I looked around, I questioned where we were. It was familiar, but at the same time so completely different.

“I’ll ask the questions.” He said in a not unpleasant voice. “You’re the one that fell into my world, from a strange storm cloud no less. What do you want? Did you make that storm?”

I gave him a look that said he was clearly crazy. “I’m trying to stop the storm, you know, before it devours the planet.”

“What do you mean, ‘before it devours the planet’? It’s an odd system, I’ll give you that, but it doesn’t seem to be doing any damage. And it just appeared anyway. How could you know it was going to cause that much damage if you didn’t create it?”

I looked up at the sky. He seemed to be right. This was the same storm, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t throwing off purple lightning like I remembered. The middle black hole didn’t seem to be sucking up the material around it. Maybe I had slowed it down after all.

“And what’s your name anyway. Once I stop your plan and turn you over to the authorities, I’d like to be able to give them the name of the person that tried to do…… whatever it is you’re trying to do.”

I didn’t expect every person in the entire world to know who I was, but he was like me. He wore a suit to conceal his identity, to help people and the Earth. I was on the news more often than not for helping in some way. I didn’t know him, but I just chalked it up to maybe he was new. Maybe he had just discovered the things he could do.

I laughed slightly. “I’m The Flash. You know, I have super speed, among other things, and I use my speed to help when I can. Stopping criminals, or when the need comes up, storms that come from space and threaten the world.”

“No no no.” He started replying while standing me on my feet. “I would know you if you did stuff like that. And I have super speed. I was just making my way back home after a quiet night of almost no noise when I caught sight of you.”

We stared each other down.

“Well, I’d like to see that super speed.” He finally demanded.

He pointed out a path, and we took off, almost side by side, until we made it back to where we started. An open field with manufacturing buildings boasting their silhouettes against the night. I was faster, but I didn’t want to show off too much, so I pulled ahead just enough to let him know it and then fell in line beside him.

“What does this mean?” We both asked each other, as we skidded to a stop.

“What else can you do?” He asked me, no longer accusing me of being behind the storm.

“I can time travel and travel through dimensions. I can run faster than the speed of light. I can manipulate light and electricity, I have extra stamina and endurance, and when I get hurt, I heal quickly. What about you?”

 “Mostly the same kinds of things as you. I have speed and endurance. My metabolism runs faster than most people’s, and so does my mind. I can manipulate some things as well. You said you call yourself The Flash? I’ve never heard of you. Care to tell me your real name? Where are you from? Never lived at the mansion, right?”

“Uh, no I’ve never lived at a mansion, even though I’d love to. What mansion do you mean? And what’s your name?” The way he asked made it seem like I should know of the home he referred to.

“Oh, my Uncle Charles’ mansion? He takes in people like us? School for gifted youngsters?” Each question was asked like he shouldn’t be explaining any of this to me, like it was common knowledge. “And my name’s Quicksilver, but you can call me Peter.” He said as almost an afterthought.

I had been to other dimensions before. Whenever I encountered a different version of myself, I was still me. This man wasn’t me. Who was he then? And where was I?

“My name is actually Barry.” I was still trying to puzzle everything together, but nothing made sense.

He had the same confused look plastered to his face, but we continued talking about our lives and how we came to be the people we were.

Before I knew it, we were walking and laughing along, like we had been friends forever. 

As far as I could tell, this wasn’t my universe. Something had happened inside that storm; a storm that didn’t seem to be any more of a menace than a regular storm. I wasn’t sure what, but the lightning that I had been manipulating to run faster, manipulated me back, and I ended up here.

Maybe that’s where the black hole in the center had led, to here. It didn’t seem to be doing much of anything here, but what was going on back home? I only imagined destruction of everything it touched, and had no idea how to get home. I shared all this with Peter.

“Listen, I was trying to stop that storm back home. You have to help me get back. Maybe, and this is gonna sound crazy, but maybe, if we both run at it, I can jump into the center, and make it back.” I knew it was a long shot, but just like I had to try and stop the storm when I first saw it, I had no option but to try and get back through now.

“You’re a really great guy.” I told Quicksilver. “The people of this universe are lucky to have you. Maybe at some point, we can find a way to meet up again. It’s been great finding someone that understands me.”

He laughed a sad laugh and said, “I wish people always saw me as the hero, but more often than not, people don’t know how to identify me. I’m a hero, then I’m not.” He laughed an actual laugh and joked, “I guess you can say we’ve been fast friends. C’mon buddy, let’s try to get you back where you belong.”

As we raced up toward the center of the storm, still spewing purple lightning, he grinned a crooked little grin and shoved me in.

I landed on my back on the cold pavement where I had left. I knew I was back in my own world. I looked around. Everything seemed to be in order. I stood up, preparing to fight off the storm once again.

I didn’t have to. The storm was slowly shrinking in on itself, disappearing on its own. 

As the last remnants of the storm blew away, I looked up and saw a few words written across the sky.

FAST FRIENDS VOLUME 1

WHEN UNIVERSES COLLIDE: WHAT STORMS MAY BRING!

I don’t know why I expected anything else, this whole night had been one weird surprise after another.