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I'm Energy In DC: 165 The Last Stand 2
🕑 Added 2025-01-20 23:09:25 +0000 UTCThe sun dipped below the horizon, casting the beach in a deep orange glow. The waves lapped at a man's feet as he stared out into the endless expanse of water.
The man sat on a rock near the shoreline. A scruffy, unkept beard was plastered on his chin. His body was thin, the outlines of his bones visible from his skin-tight suit. Eyes dull, devoid of the light and life they once contained several months ago.
The time before he and his fellow Leaguers under mental manipulation had tried to force their way into Amari's Base.
Before he was transported to a negative reality where he lived in what he could only describe as a nightmare.
His name was Barry Allen. A.K.A., The Flash. And he was the fastest man alive.
“.... Back so soon mate?” The sound of footsteps across the sand fell into his ears, followed by a voice that carried a heavy British accent.
Eventually, a man in a yellow trench coat with blond hair and blue eyes made his way beside him.
“... Yeah". The Flash took a look and responded before turning his gaze away.
John Constantine.
An occult Magician from the Negative Earth. Or at least, that's what he told him.
John raised an eyebrow. That was … Odd. He shouldn't be like this.
“Hey, you alright?”
In response"…. Fine, I guess …". The Flash said without even turning his head, his gaze fixed on the dimming sky.
“Fine?” The occult warlock raised an eyebrow, then sighed. “Nah mate, you don't look fine”.
“What makes you think that?” Barry asked apathetically.
“Your eyes”. John responded. “I've seen the look in them before. They're the eyes of a man who's been through hell”.
The Englishman said, his gaze shifting.
“Eyes like mine”.
The Flash was silent. Until …
“That … That world. Yours …". He uttered in a bland tone “It was hell”.
The memories were still fresh. As if it were just yesterday.
Waking up after falling into the void with the rest of the League. He had found himself in an apocalyptic version of Metropolis.
There, he met Clark, not knowing it wasn't The Clark Kent he was familiar with.
Not long after waking up, he was knocked out again. What followed was basically torture.
Strapped up to a perpetual motion machine, forced to run constantly, day and night, acting as a battery to power his base.
Like a hamster in a hamster wheel.
Flash remembered every bit of it. Without exaggeration, he could say that those were the worst few months of his life.
“.... I know”. John sighed. “The Negative world isn't for everyone. It made our world's Justice League doubt everything we had ever believed in. However, do correct me if I'm wrong, but I doubt that's what broke you like this”.
John did not imagine the tensing of his fists.
“I knew a Barry Allen in my world. I fought alongside him many times. Quite the character you could imagine. Resilient, strong, always managed to find his way, no matter what happened”.
He went on, listing several qualities of his world's version of The Flash. “I see him in you. Every last bit of it. Which is why I know that your time on my earth isn't enough to make you what you are now. There's more, isn't it?”
Those tightened fists clenched to the extreme …. before loosening.
Constantine frowned slightly. “Tell me, what did you find?”
The Flash remained silent. A seemingly heavy pressure resting on his shoulders.
Until ….
“Joe and Iris are dead”. his voice broke the long silence. This time, carrying a tad more emotion than before. “Oliver too”.
“Oh .". John fell silent.
“That time, when you brought me here, and let me go … You knew, didn't you?”
Barry could still remember John's words a few hours ago.
“... A lot of things happened since you were gone. I can't explain it all. It'll be better if you go see for yourself ….”.
That was hours ago.
“Just Green Arrow's. I had no idea about the others”. Constantine replied after a few seconds.
He knew of Green Arrow's death. It had been mentioned while he was with the League. During the End Of The Earth. Green Arrow was in the watchtower when it happened. Unlike the Earth, however, Amari didn't fix it.
Iris and Joe West? That was new.
“How?”
“..... Doctor Light escaped from Iron heights last night. Tried to flush me out by using them as bait. I never showed up, and they died for it. I saw their bodies when I left for Central City”.
The already gloomy atmosphere grew even more depressing.
'… How convenient. Though why am I not surprised?'
John thought.
“I see. Well then, I think you know what you need to do mate”. He said with his hands in his pants pockets. “Clear the board. Start again”.
The Flash's return to Earth 16 was The Phantom Stranger's work. Constantine was just there to take care of the rest.
It had barely been a day since then. To Constantine's confusion, he had allowed The Flash to leave unhindered.
Now he knew why.
Barry Allen had run all the way back to Central City upon regaining his freedom. To see Iris, and Joe and everyone else.
But no one was home. He checked the Central City Picture News.
Iris wasn't there. Then he ran to CCPD and learned of their deaths.
Leading to the scene currently ongoing now.
“Another Flash point?” Barry didn't need Constantine to point it out. The moment he learned the news, he had already thought of traveling back in time to stop it from happening.
But …
“I promised Iris, before she …". He paused, then … “I can't”.
“.... Yes, you can, Barry. You have to”. The words fell into his ears, causing him to frown.
“No, I can't. Not anymore. I can't mess with the timeline for my personal selfishness. I've already done it once. Do it again, and everything will change”.
“Yeah, figured you'd say that”. John said, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Sigh!
The middle-aged magician took in a deep breath.
“Look, I know you're in a world of hurt right now, and what I'm about to say is gonna make me sound like am insensitive prick. But there are things that need to be done, Barry, and I didn't bring you back to your earth just to watch you mourn”.
He said, his tone serious. “I found you because I need your help”.
“Yeah? What for?”
“I want you to help me get rid of Amari”.
“...”.
The air froze. Flash stiffened slightly at the words that came out of Constantine's mouth.
“You're kidding right?”
“Frankly, I wish I was”. In response, the man replied apathetically. “However, I mean every word of it, and you're the only man who fits the job description”.
He wasn't kidding? Flash fell silent. The revelation of Constantine's true intentions, weighing down on him.
During this time, neither released a word. Ultimately ….
“You want me to go back in time?”
“Yes. Because if you don't, Amari will be the death of us all. In your world and beyond”.
“How? What do you mean by this?” The frown on Barry's face became increasingly prevalent.
Constantine looked at him deeply. Then turned to look at the sea.
“Amari's presence has affected your world in ways it was never supposed to. You've experienced more crisis's in the past few months than you have in years. The breaches, the deaths …. It's affected everyone here. Not just the people, your League as well”.
“I checked through your League files. Several months ago. It's already happened before. You, Wonder woman, Captain Atom, Lantern, hawk, cyborg …. The whole group that went with you that day disappeared. Zatara lost his magic permanently and had to become the host for Doctor Fate to have any significance, Captain Marvel was stripped off his powers …. The League is in shambles, Barry."
Flash listened to the recap and was shocked. Losing Iris, Joe, and hearing of green Arrow's death had a huge impact on him, so much so that he didn't even stop to see the rest of the League.
Of course, he figured Batman should already know he was here by now.
It was his thing, Barry was sure of that.
“.... And Amari is the cause. Is that not enough?”
“That, that was the league's fault”.
Barry replied with a slight stutter. It was the last thing he remembered before leaving this earth. How he and the league decided to break into that place and were sucked into shattered space.
Honestly, he still didn't know what had come over them to act like that.
“Was it Oliver's?” A real gut punch to where it hurt.
“The only ones the League managed to find are Wonder Woman and Cyborg. The former was in my world, just like you. The other …".
Taking his gaze away from the sea, he set his eyes on Barry. “... It's complicated to explain really. How about I just show you …"? He said raising his hands and placing it on Flash's head.
“Hey, what are you …".
His body froze mid-sentence. The next moment, Barry's mind was infiltrated with numerous visions that didn't belong to him.
The income universe … Far in its outreaches … On a planet named Apokolips.
The scene of cyborg being extracted from the Apokolips computer frame into a new body while the old one remained flashed in his eyes.
It quickly changed to the secret lab in Darkseid's tower.
Rows and rows of monsters that looked strangely similar to parademons. The burning fires of Apokolips … The readying armies.
In the last vision, he saw something getting launched by Darkseid into a boom tube before disappearing.
Then it all collapsed.
“Ugh!” Barry felt like his mind had been shoved through a cheese grater the moment it ended.
He nearly keeled over, hands on the sand while releasing heavy pants.
“... That … What was that?” Flash asked, horrified.
“That's what happened to Cyborg. He was found by Darkseid, dismantled and integrated into Apokolips's computer. What's in the hands of your Justice League is a clone, one that will display to Darkseid everything he needs to know about you”.
Flash's face paled. “T-The rest? Those creatures I saw in the ….”.
“Paradooms. Creatures born by fusing Parademons with Doomsday DNA”. Constantine replied. “... Your world hasn't even met doomsday yet. The ultimate biological weapon capable of killing Superman in my world. It did. We managed to revive him, but …".
“I have to warn the others”. Flash interrupted urgently.
“...”. John felt the urge to deadpan. “I'm afraid you're missing the point Barry. Darkseid's already sent doomsday here. It's on its way, nothing the League can do will change that. Not the League before and definitely not the one now. And let's say by some luck, you managed to kill it, what then? Darkseid has a whole army of Paradooms ready to march on Earth in its most vulnerable state. No matter whether you win or lose after that, the cost will be great”.
The man's tone hardened.
“And even if you get past all that, it's still just the beginning. Darkseid may not be Amari's doing, but everything else is. He's a being that wasn't supposed to exist in this timeline, but did due to a series of events even I can't explain. Hence, due to his special nature, his presence on earth alone will attract a lot of unwanted trouble. With everything that's already about to happen, how much more can the League have on their plate? How much more can your world take before collapsing?”
The man froze. His expression at a loss.
'… There we are …'. John knew he was swaying. All he needed was a little push.
“I know this is hard Barry, but the fact is you have tough times ahead of you. Many will die, more than you have already lost. But you can change all that, right here, right now. I'm not asking you to go back in time to save Iris. I'm asking you to go back in time to save your world from experiencing all these tragic fates in the first place. Sure, it will be different, and it will have its ups and downs. But trust me when I tell you that it will be better than what's coming your way”.
The man put his hands in is pockets.
“So choose. Between Your sense of justice, or the world. Between what is, and what can be. There is no right or wrong on this one mate, only the lesser of two evils”.
Flash was silent, an emotional war going on within him that no one else had access to.
Silence engulfed the shoreline, with the only exception being the sound of the waves.
Time elapsed. Until ….
“You said Amari was never supposed to be here?”
“Bloody right”.
“Then what would you have me do?” The scarlet speedster asked. “Travel back in time and kill Amari before he's born?”
His voice was particularly heavy, especially when mentioning the K word.
At this moment, Barry was perplexed, not knowing what exactly he was doing.
He knew how dangerous what John was insinuating was. He was creating another Flashpoint.
Everything would change once he did it. In was he couldn't possibly control.
Worst off, he might not even remember it this time.
However, the faces flashed in his mind.
Joe, Iris, Oliver, Captain Atom, Stewart … All of them.
Barry realized that he didn't have much left. And with what was coming ahead, losing anymore would break him.
So … Was this it? The first time he would stain his hands?
He wondered.
However … “Nah mate”. Constantine's reply was not what he expected. “It doesn't work like that”.
“Huh?”
“You can't kill him, not the way you think anyway”. John said, scratching his head. “Trying to solve the problem that way might work for anyone else but him”.
“.... Why?”
“Because like I said, Amari isn't from around here”. John said with a slight frown. “He wasn't born into our multiverse but came on his own. Amari's powers accompanied him from the moment he dropped into this world. So unlike everyone else, he doesn't have a weak period. His strength wasn't as high as it was now, but his survivability wasn't one bit lower when he arrived on earth. No offense, but not even sups had the power to kill him at that time. If push came to shove, he would lose, badly”.
Flash frowned, feeling slightly annoyed. “Then what's the point of telling me all this?”
“Because the plan was never for you to kill him”. Constantine revealed. “... But you do need to kill someone else”.
