It had been six months since the Crimson Flash defeated the mad German, mostly by luck, and he found himself drawn to the remains of Varick’s building not long after midnight. Dark eyes peered down at a few bricks which had rolled to the road and remained there since the place collapsed under the weight of the very wrongness of the experiments which had taken place within its walls. He knelt there, fingertips brushing across the rough clay.
Gaze turning toward the pile of metal off to one side, what was left after the scavengers had finished going through the place, he straightened. There was movement among the twisted (in more than one sense of the word) equipment there, small but humanoid. Given the fate of the previous owner of the various items there, he didn’t have much cause to discourage those who might find something useful. However, it was not a safe place for children, as the small shape darting behind hunks of steel seemed to be.
"Careful there!" He spoke as clearly as he could with his voice muffled by the fabric of his mask. The small shape seemed to be trying to hide in a small opening under a pile of twisted and useless Tesla coils. "That isn’t stable!" No sooner had he called the warning than the stack began to shift, the lightest touch setting it to sway. There was a groan of rending metal as it began to fall, and a strangled cry from the one below it.
He had considerably less time within which to act, this time around, but then he had no need to run up the side of the building to come to the child's aid. He shot forward, trailing sparks as his movement through the air generated and released static electricity. In a show of agility, he planted both feet on coils around the opening the little one had ducked into, even as he reached down between his legs to grab hold of the child.
He straightened his body, a coiled spring releasing tension, and shot away from the collapsing mound. A midair twist, and he landed with feet pumping, only stopping once he had gotten halfway across the deserted street. He turned to look back at the settling and shuddering mass of steel. "You need to be more careful with piles of junk like that. It could have..." He trailed off as he looked back at what he has assumed to be a child.
The kobold blinked up at him, snout falling open. He breathed one word. "You." The creature was wearing a tattered shirt which once was probably red. Crudely scrawled across the chest was a pale lightning bolt, which appeared a dull orange but was likely meant to be yellow. His muzzle snapped shut, teeth exposed in what may have been meant as a grin, before he laughed and pointed. "Ha ha! It's you!" The creature looked all around and raised his voice. "He's here! He's here! He’s here! Caloo calay!"
Crim blinked, dark eyes rising from the kobold. He looked around as various people appeared, some moving over the ruins of the lab while others stepped out of an alley nearby. "Yeah. I'm… here. So...what's all this about?" His gaze darted among the people. Some of them were armed. There weren't many, really. Less than a dozen. But they were all around him, and some actually had weapons that could hit him before he would be able to hear the shot. He glanced toward the windows of nearby residences, but it seemed that those who lived nearby remembered the graf well enough not to peer out their windows at disturbances there. Going into a slight crouch, he prepared to move if he had to.
Those with weapons dropped them to the ground as they stared at him. All of them fell to their knees around him. The kobold, a bit bolder than the others perhaps, dropped to only one knee, peering up at the scarlet speedster. "You saved us."
((the events of this thread begin very early on the morning of September 26, 2006. The events leading up to the destruction of Varick’s lab are depicted in the March 25, 2006 posts at Through the Rift, thread "A New Direction.".))
Gaze turning toward the pile of metal off to one side, what was left after the scavengers had finished going through the place, he straightened. There was movement among the twisted (in more than one sense of the word) equipment there, small but humanoid. Given the fate of the previous owner of the various items there, he didn’t have much cause to discourage those who might find something useful. However, it was not a safe place for children, as the small shape darting behind hunks of steel seemed to be.
"Careful there!" He spoke as clearly as he could with his voice muffled by the fabric of his mask. The small shape seemed to be trying to hide in a small opening under a pile of twisted and useless Tesla coils. "That isn’t stable!" No sooner had he called the warning than the stack began to shift, the lightest touch setting it to sway. There was a groan of rending metal as it began to fall, and a strangled cry from the one below it.
He had considerably less time within which to act, this time around, but then he had no need to run up the side of the building to come to the child's aid. He shot forward, trailing sparks as his movement through the air generated and released static electricity. In a show of agility, he planted both feet on coils around the opening the little one had ducked into, even as he reached down between his legs to grab hold of the child.
He straightened his body, a coiled spring releasing tension, and shot away from the collapsing mound. A midair twist, and he landed with feet pumping, only stopping once he had gotten halfway across the deserted street. He turned to look back at the settling and shuddering mass of steel. "You need to be more careful with piles of junk like that. It could have..." He trailed off as he looked back at what he has assumed to be a child.
The kobold blinked up at him, snout falling open. He breathed one word. "You." The creature was wearing a tattered shirt which once was probably red. Crudely scrawled across the chest was a pale lightning bolt, which appeared a dull orange but was likely meant to be yellow. His muzzle snapped shut, teeth exposed in what may have been meant as a grin, before he laughed and pointed. "Ha ha! It's you!" The creature looked all around and raised his voice. "He's here! He's here! He’s here! Caloo calay!"
Crim blinked, dark eyes rising from the kobold. He looked around as various people appeared, some moving over the ruins of the lab while others stepped out of an alley nearby. "Yeah. I'm… here. So...what's all this about?" His gaze darted among the people. Some of them were armed. There weren't many, really. Less than a dozen. But they were all around him, and some actually had weapons that could hit him before he would be able to hear the shot. He glanced toward the windows of nearby residences, but it seemed that those who lived nearby remembered the graf well enough not to peer out their windows at disturbances there. Going into a slight crouch, he prepared to move if he had to.
Those with weapons dropped them to the ground as they stared at him. All of them fell to their knees around him. The kobold, a bit bolder than the others perhaps, dropped to only one knee, peering up at the scarlet speedster. "You saved us."
((the events of this thread begin very early on the morning of September 26, 2006. The events leading up to the destruction of Varick’s lab are depicted in the March 25, 2006 posts at Through the Rift, thread "A New Direction.".))