Topic: From the Rubble

The Flash

Date: 2006-09-27 20:49 EST
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.".))

The Flash

Date: 2006-09-28 18:58 EST
The Crimson Flash was confused. He stood surrounded by people who seemed to live on the streets, all of whom were on their knees, staring at him. The kobold rose to his feet, carefully brushing off his tattered red shirt. "You will come with us? We have something. Something to show you." Slowly, as though afraid, the kobold lifted one hand, reaching for one of the crimson comet's gloved hands. "You will come?"

Crim nodded, brows furrowing beneath his mask. "Um...sure. Sure, I'll come along. Where am I going?" The others were starting to rise now, he noted. He still wasn't completely sure that this whole thing wasn't just the strangest ambush ever performed. The people around him didn't seem dangerous, really, but one could never really be sure. Nevertheless, he started to walk as the kobold tugged on his hand.

The kobold was nearly skipping, having to move faster than usual to keep up with Crim's long strides even at that relatively slow pace. "Oh, you will see, you will see." They began to weave through back alleys, taking an obviously circuitous route. "And we have a thing for you, yes we do. So glad to see you!" Kobolds are not usually considered to be bubbly creatures, but this one seemed an exception. "You saved us, and you're back!"

Crim nodded faintly, the untugged hand rising to rub the back of his neck. "Right...you said that before. When did I save you? I...you know, no offense, but I don't remember you."

"Oh, you didn't save me. Not...yes, you did, but not me me. Just...by stopping..." The kobold ceased his rambling for a moment, then jerked a thumb over one shoulder. "The Bogey. You knocked his house down." The kobold's steps slowed, for a moment. "I miss Shenda'ana." His voice was very small, as he said that. "She was nice to me. She's gone. Seven, eight moons. But that was before you came. You came, his house went boom! No one else was gone. K'lorkanto says source of bad things was in house, man there was Bogey. No more house, no more Bogey. We're safe!" The kobold paused in his speech for a moment. "Well. Safe as before. Still live as we did."

Crim listened, his head bowed forward. "I'm sorry about Shenda'ana. I... I didn't know what he was doing until the night I went to his lab." They were in one of the poorer sections of the West End of the city. He was able to tell that, but the roundabout path they had followed made it impossible for him to be sure exactly which area he had been led to. He would be able to find his way out easily enough, even though it would entail running in one direction until he saw something he recognized. He had begun to relax a bit, though he still felt strange being led about.

"But you stopped him. When you learned, you made him stop. We were scared, K'lorkanto said his magic couldn't do anything to stop the Bogey. But we saw the light snakes in the air. They called you, didn't they?" The kobold was walking in a weird sideways manner, now, peering at the lightning bolt emblazoned across the crimson comet's chest. "So you came. And now, we will show you what we have made for you."

They had arrived at the remains of a building. The first floor seemed to be stable, but the second and third were a mess of broken stone and brick, spilling down from atop the walls. The kobold was leading him in, carefully removing a thread that had been hanging across the empty door frame. He spoke as it did. "Is Gnarshl, K'lorkanto. I found him. I bring him down." Crim blinked as the string glowed faintly blue for a moment. He had thought that this K'lorkanto was one of those street magicians, using tricks to gain the admiration of people who would be able to help them. It seemed that this was not the case, and that the man had some actual magical ability.

The kobold was speaking again, as one of the others replaced the string behind them. "Good, good. You come with, yes. Others, stay here." The kobold must have earned a degree of authority, or at least respect, as the others spread out inside the building, moving into the remaining rooms as Gnarshl led Crim toward a trap door set into the floor. He opened the door, and the pair descended.

The Flash

Date: 2006-09-30 17:34 EST
The air grew noticeably colder as they descended. The steps they walked on were wooden, at first, but when they passed the building’s original basement, the stairs seemed to have been hewn from the bedrock under the foundation. The Crimson Flash let gloved fingers trail along the rough wall.

“So, ah…Gnarshl…” He was looking down at the kobold leading him, head tilted slightly to one side. “This K’lorkanto. He’s some sort of sorcerer? Does he live…?” Crim trailed off, not sure how to politely ask whether the mage was a squatter. “…here?”

“What? Oh, yes. Yes, yes. He lost power, used to be very, very powerful. K’lorkanto says, he says if he didn’t lose power, he would have been able to crush Bogey. Make him go away. But he lost it, six, seven moons ago. He try to get it back, no good. So he lose his tower, he lose his works, he lose everything. He stays with us, until his power come back. He just has what he call…cane drips? Something like that.” The kobold shrugged.

The scarlet speedster nodded, faintly. He remembered the man in rags, and wondered if that had anything to do with K’lorkanto’s loss of power. “So he can just do little things, like the string upstairs, now?” He could see wisps of steam forming from his breath as he spoke. They were now very deep underground. “How far down are we going?”

“Little more. Not just that.” The kobold stopped, then, and turned to regard Crim. “Little farther. You’ll see, be glad you came.” Gnarshl nodded enthusiastically, then continued down. “Bad people don’t like coming this far, unless they look for treasure. We have none, so they don’t bother us when they find that out. And K’lorkanto has tricks, makes sound like dragons come up stairs. Scare bad people.”

“Sounds like it would do that, yeah.” He felt the need to speak softly, with those stone walls close. There were lights set into the walls, which came on as they approached and winked out a few yards behind them. The darkness ahead, however, did not seem as dark now. “We’re almost there?”

The kobold nodded again, as they came to a bend in the stairs. Crim had lost track of how far underground they had come. It must have been over a hundred yards. They went the rest of the way in relative silence, until they came to a short hallway, ending in a well-lit cavern.

“Through here, through here! You go first, see what we have!” Gnarshl moved behind the speedster, apparently very near to pushing him through into the cavern. When Crim stepped in, his jaw dropped as far as the mask would allow.

The entire cavern was painted a dark red color. He could only guess how the denizens had gathered the gallons upon gallons it must have taken. In some areas, apparently where unusual ores shot through the stone, there were streaks of gold. Stylized lightning bolts were painted in that same golden color at random intervals. In the center of the room was a mass of metal, apparently scavenged over time, twisted into a ten-foot tall bolt and painted with the gold paint, on a rough stone pedestal of red.

There were people there, perhaps two dozen. Some were reading thin magazines, while others were either napping or talking among each other. All of those awake turned to stare at him, however, as he entered.

The words that he managed were little more than a whisper. “My God…”

The Flash

Date: 2006-10-04 19:44 EST
Near the sculpture was a thin man in a robe of a deep crimson color, with gold trim. The Crimson Flash groaned inwardly. Everything seemed to be red or gold. The man in the robe was walking toward him. K’lorkanto, presumably. His skin was drawn tight over his bones, with short grey hair and thick brows, a wispy tuft on his chin, and a beak-like nose. His robe, Crim realized, was somewhat threadbare. K’lorkanto bowed, once he got close, pale blue eyes dancing.

“The savior. I must say, I never really expected to have the chance to speak to you. This is quite an honor...” The mage hesitated, for a moment, eyes moving to a side. “My lord.”

Crim could feel color moving to his cheeks, and found another use for his mask in hiding it. He shook his head, holding up both hands. “None of that, please. I’m not anyone’s lord. Look, I’m glad I was able to help you guys, but this…this is just too much, you know? I’m just a guy. This is all just…” Weird? Strange? Creepy? Possibly obsessive? Kind of stalker-ish? “I mean, really. Why?”

The older man smiled faintly, casting glances first one way, then the other, before stepping closer to the speedster. “To be completely honest, I thought it might have been. You are considered something of a hero, which of course you are, but the people here take it a bit far at times. They’re superstitious, I suppose, and your choice of symbol is a powerful one. And one that is quite often associated with gods, of course. Then, one of the children here came upon a chest full of, ah, holy texts…” He gestured, then, to a stack of the thin magazines. They were, upon closer inspection, comic books. “After that, they were convinced that you were a foretold messiah, of sorts. Really, they’re actually a bit fanatical. I’ve done my best to ensure that they realize that you would want them to do nothing…extreme…and I seem to have been successful thus far.”

Crim nodded. That almost made sense. A small smile distorted the mask as he regarded the comic books. “I’m no messiah. I’m just a guy in tights. Heck, even being as fast as I am isn’t all that unusual around here. They need to know that, if they’ve been living in this town.” He was starting to fidget, weight transferred from one foot to the other and back again. He caught himself quickly enough, and decided to walk instead. He examined the walls, the sculpture, and the people, who had pretended to go back to whatever they had been doing before he entered, though most were casting glances his way. “Folks, I’m happy to help, but I’m not a savior, not a messiah.”

The people there blinked quietly, looking to him, then K’lorkanto, then back. They nodded shyly and went back to their own business. “You see?” The mage gestured over the people, then the metal lightning bolt. “They’ll agree quietly, and go back to creating shrines out of souvenirs of your victories.” The mage reached into a pouch, drawing out a brass ring. There was a small pillbox shaped protrusion, with a lightning bolt etched upon it. “They asked me to craft this, in case you should ever happen upon us.” He offered the ring over, with a small smile. “I do believe I may be able to work an enchantment into it, some way to inform you of emergencies that might require your…unusual skills… However, for the moment, it is merely a decorative piece. It would mean a great deal to them, if you accept it.”

The scarlet speedster took a brief look around, and noticed more eyes on him now. He smiled, exaggerating the gesture to make it visible through his mask, and bowed his head forward as he reached for the ring. “Thank you. This is very nice.” He spoke more loudly, at that point, to be sure that people other than K’lorkanto would hear. He had even put on a bit of a show of removing his right glove and sliding it onto his finger. That hand was then wrapped in the crimson cloth once more as he nodded, voice dropping back to quieter tones. “So, what, you want to make it into a communicator or something?”

K’lorkanto nodded enthusiastically, sending the wispy beard into a tizzy. “Yes, quite. That is something that I have not yet decided how best to do, though.” He made a dismissive gesture. “If you’d like, you can stop by here some other time. I’m sure that you have more pressing matters than standing around talking to a once-great wizard, do you not?” Lines appeared at the corner of the mage’s eyes as he smiled.