Part Four: Enter Flashtime

I felt trapped, panicked, defeated. Standing beneath a vast cardboard cutout of a circus tent that from the front seemed completely real, and dressed as the ringmaster, I was watching a small group of people walk closer and closer to the main entrance – with more cars pulling up by the second – and I had literally nothing to show them. They were rolling up, rolling up, and I was about to let them down down down. Why the hell did I try to get their attention before I even had a real tent? What was I thinking?!

Having absolutely no idea what I was going to do or say, and with a sinking sensation in my stomach as though the ground was going to open up and swallow me at any moment (fingers crossed), I trudged dejectedly out of the fake entrance to my fake tent to face the fairground music that continued merrily mocking me with its cheerful organ ditties.

I stopped underneath the gateway of the main entrance, and the crowd of patrons – perhaps two dozen or so by now – halted, looking at me, excitedly, expectantly. I took a deep breath, in… then out… then in again. The people began to gaze with puzzlement, wondering, I suppose, if something was wrong or if this was all part of the show. I had no choice but to admit my deception and face their accusing glares of anger and disappointment. If only I had more time, I was sure I could fix this, figure out the solution… but there was no time left. I opened my mouth to begin my confession, when I felt a reassuring grip on my shoulder, and at that exact moment the increasingly impatient-looking group in front of me fell motionless; the music had ceased, and the figures and cars in the distance were frozen. Time was actually standing still! I turned to see whose hand was on my shoulder.

“Flash!”

Lithe and athletic in his sleek red outfit, a yellow bolt of lightning emblazoned upon his chest, grinning from beneath his tight-fitting hood, he was the most welcome sight. It was even my favourite version – Grant Gustin, adorned in his Season Four costume.

“But… what are you doing here?” I asked.

“I’m here for you, of course.” He flashed that disarming smile again. I couldn’t help but return it.

“You brought me into Flashtime,” I half asked, half stated.

“Yep. Time hasn’t stopped, we’re just moving much, much faster than everything else.”

“How much faster?”

“Is that really why you brought me here? For a lesson on Speedforce metaphysics?”

“No, definitely not. Hang on, you’re saying I brought you here?”

“Sure,” he replied. “After all, this is your reality. Right?”

I began to consider the situation. This was no mere dream, and yet somehow the logic of it up until now had kind of washed past me as I had become so deeply immersed in the experience. At first I had been sitting in front of my PC, feverishly typing my first blog post and letting a whole bunch of stuff just pour out. Then I had found myself raft-bound on a digital ocean, firing a flare gun that had ended up blotting out the entire sun. Next there was the circus, and now here I was in Flashtime with my favourite incarnation of the fastest superhero in the multiverse. Having finally stopped to really think for a moment, I wasn’t having what could be described as a normal day.

“Yeah,” I replied. “I suppose it is.”

The Flash took his hand off my shoulder and I gasped: “No wait!”

I looked anxiously around but everything still appeared to be in stasis.

“How is that possible?” I asked.

“Oh yeah, sorry, you didn’t get to that part yet. In the future I learn how to set people vibrating at the right frequency to keep them in Flashtime without maintaining physical contact.”

“Wow,” I said. “How long will it last?”

“Long enough, I’m guessing!” he replied with a knowing smile. “Come on, why don’t we explore the fairground a little?”

I nodded in agreement, and we began to weave our way through the brightly lit attractions: candy floss vendors and air rifle target shoots, bumper cars and scream-inducing rides, tarot card readings and find your fortune booths, all at this moment empty and motionless. The effect was surreal, and would have been eerie if not for Flash walking along next to me, chatting away.

“So, why me?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Why pick me?”

“Well, I needed more time I guess, and you can stop time, so…”

“Technically I can’t,” he reminded me.

“But the effect is the same.”

“I’ll give you that,” he conceded. “But there are plenty of others you could have called on.”

“Like who?”

“Well, if we’re talking about needing more time, I’d have thought the Legends on the Waverider would be the more obvious choice.”

“True,” I agreed.

“And Supergirl and Superman have both been known to reverse the flow of time.”

“Yes, but kind of a big ask to get me out of a jam.”

“Perhaps. But what about Hiro Nakamura or Peter Petrelli?”

“I guess.”

“Doctor Manhattan?”

“Too far detached from humanity.”

“Doc Brown, then.”

“Hmmm, a bit too human!”

“He got the job done though, right?”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I guess he did.”

“Not to mention Doctor Who, you Brits seem to go nuts for him. And then there’s…”

“Okay, okay, I get it, I had plenty of options!”

“Then what’s so special about me?” he asked.

That’s when I realised. “I think… I think it’s not you I needed, I think it’s…”

“Barry Allen?”

I turned to look at him and he had already removed his hood.

“Yeah. It’s you, Barry,” I said. “I picked you.”

“I know. I just needed to make sure that you know too.”

“I didn’t just need to hit the pause button… I need guidance. And there’s no hero I can think of who’s a more inspiring leader, a more caring friend, a more compassionate person than you.”

His face wrinkled into a cheeky smile. “Oh knock it off. You don’t have to say all of that. I mean, it’s nice to hear it and I can’t help but agree with it… but you don’t have to say it.”

We both laughed.

“Come on over here a minute, let’s sit.”

Barry hopped up onto a nearby carousel, and sat sideways on a dragon. I took a seat on the unicorn alongside it, so we were face to face.

“I get it,” he said.

“You do?”

“When I first became The Flash, my whole world was thrown into complete disarray. It was so exhilarating, and wonderful, but also terrifying… the weight of all those lives hanging in the balance, and I’m the only one who can save them from the metahuman threat. It’s a lot of responsibility.”

“I can’t even imagine.”

“Can’t you? I mean, sure, I fight metavillains and save the world from time to time because that’s what superheroes do… but it’s regular heroes, the ones without powers, the ones who have no special ability for overcoming all the adversity they face… they’re the ones who make the world what it is. The visionaries. The engineers. The artists. The scientists. The doctors and nurses. All the countless workers who keep the wheels of society turning. So many unsung heroes.”

“Yes, but still it’s nothing like what you do. I mean, I’m not responsible for saving lives.”

“Are you sure about that?” he asked.

Now I was really confused.

“Saving people isn’t about just keeping them alive,” Barry continued. “It’s about their quality of life. It isn’t enough just to exist. People deserve to thrive. They deserve to be happy. They deserve to find meaning, find a calling, fulfil their potential. But it isn’t easy to do that, most people never manage it. They just end up where they end up and they never really question it, or even if they do question it, they can’t see a way out, they don’t want to take any risks. So they stay where they are and make the best of it. And who’s going to help them? Not me, I have a different calling. But…”

I hesitated for a few moments. “You mean me?”

“Why not? You have a voice. You have ideas. Do you have the potential to reach people? To touch them? To guide them to make changes in their lives? To inspire them to believe in themselves? To help them realise that the biggest risk of all in life is never actually taking big risks?”

“I don’t know. Do I?”

“I can’t answer that,” he said. “But I can tell you one thing.”

“What?”

“We’re never going to find out sat here. You have to face it.”

“Face what?”

“It,” he said, gesturing with a nod.

I looked behind me and realised that we had almost completed a full circuit of the fairground, circling back around to the big top, which was now fully formed, no longer a cutout.

“What is it?” I asked, feeling anxiety rising from the pit of my stomach and beginning to squeeze my chest.

“I don’t know,” said Barry, hopping down from the dragon. “And there’s only one way to find out… right?”

(Very faintly, out in the distant darkness, I could swear I heard someone who sounded just like Harry Hill yelling “Fiiiiiiiggggghhhhhhhtttttt!”)

“I guess,” I said with a sigh. I jumped down from the unicorn and we walked back around to the front of the big top. The entrance was shrouded in shadow, dark and foreboding, and as I looked deeper and deeper into the blackness, the tightness of the anxiety gave way to a sense of dread that seeped through me like thick fog, oozing into every molecule of my being. The dread began to morph into terror, and the urge to turn and flee was overwhelming. Paralysed and on the verge of breaking free so I could sprint away from all of this madness as fast as I could, Barry placed his hand on my shoulder again.

“You got this.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

He looked at me, and his eyes twinkled as he said the words I’ll never forget: “Because I know a hero when I see one.”

Warmth instantly flooded my body, the terror melting away. A sense of resolve arose within me, buoyed by his words.

But I still had questions. “So you’re sure Flashtime will last long enough to deal with whatever’s in there?”

“I’m pretty sure. Just don’t stand still for too long.”

“And how do I get out when I’m done?”

“Just close your eyes, tap your heels together three times and think of Smallville,” he said with a wink and one last grin.

Then he turned and was gone, and without another moment of hesitation, I strode towards the big top, and whatever lay waiting within.