A wild Bart Allen appears!

[kid_flash_found]

"Run, Flash, RUN!"

Those were his last conscious words, his whole being as the Speed Force poured from him into his grandfather, giving him everything he had, everything he'd taken from every other speedster, that last push he needed to finish things. Bart knew he was lost, but this would let the world, everything he fought for, his grandfather, win. That was the important thing.

He'd never expected to feel anything. To live. Except...something had happened, and the Speed Force spat him out, all the worse for wear. That was the only thing he could guess. No, wait, this place...he’s never been here. Bart knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he would remember every place he’s been. This place is new, different. It feels subtly off, or is that just the way he feels his connection to the Speed Force?

There really is only one thing to do, and that’s gather information, learn, find out if he’s alone or if there’s anyone else he knows here. Making certain his cowl is firmly in place, Bart Allen, better known as Kid Flash steps out to see what he can see.

"Star Labs, huh? I wonder if Val is here..." he muses aloud.

Comments

[froststorm]

She waves her hand and the snow disappears.

“Uh, easy or hard explanation? Easy explanation is that there is some kind of cross fire in breaches and you were breached here by accident,” she offers. She holds out her hand to him. “I’m Crystal.”

[kid_flash_found]

He's still a little wary, but, really, there isn't a thing to do.

"Kid Flash," he said, giving a firm handshake. "What do you mean by 'breached'?"

[froststorm]

“I can’t explain the physics of it per se. I guess it’s like being thrown through a portal from one place to another. I was thrown here right as I was trying to figure out my powers.”

She tilts her head at him.

“Kid Flash. You’re... are you related to the flash somehow?”

[kid_flash_found]

"Somehow," he agreed, gold-colored eyes glittering with quiet amusement at the statement.

"I...wasn't exactly anywhere. I mean, the Speed Force isn't a place, it just is."

[froststorm]

“Huh. It just is. How is it just is?” She let’s go of his hand. “Oh wow, I’m holding onto your hand too long. Uh. I guess that snowbank didn’t help you out at all, did it?”

[kid_flash_found]

"It's like Dark Energy or the five basic forces of Physics. We know it's there, we can measure the results, but it isn't exactly in a measurable location, or maybe it's everywhere. I can't explain it to a non-speedster, and any speedster would probably know all this already."

He shrugged, taking his hand back, blushing faintly. "Well, maybe Val could have understood, but only because we'd been working together. Well, not me exactly, it's complicated."

[froststorm]

She tried to control the pink in her cheeks as well and reaches up to tuck a few curls behind her ear.

“Uh who’s Val? Maybe she’s around here somewhere.”

Maybe whatever brought them there was one of the five forces.

[kid_flash_found]

"Valerie Perez. She was an intern here for a while." He hoped things had gotten straightened out. It wasn't like she'd wanted to be identified with her dad, and so leaving it out...

"If things got changed, maybe..." Maybe he wasn't part of the reason she'd gotten fired.

[froststorm]

“Maybe she’s still there on your Earth?” She offers. “I haven’t met a Val on mine and this place is like a second home to me,” she explains. “Maybe there’s a way to get back home from here. The breaches went to appear at random.”

[kid_flash_found]

"I usually did my best to avoid it. Being here. Not much good came out of it."

[froststorm]

“Why’s that?” She asks. Crystal moved around to a console, trying to see if she could hack into the system.

[kid_flash_found]

"It always felt like all they wanted was to study me," Bart said. "Nobody likes being a lab rat."

[froststorm]

She looks up at him.

“A lab rat? That’s. That’s not what the Star Labs back home is about. They’re all about scientific betterment. Like I’m starting to create different prosthetics for metas who have—“

She stops because no one wants to hear her ramble about science.

[kid_flash_found]

"They weren't trying to be underhanded about it or anything. But my case is, well, unique, even among speedsters, not that there are many of those," Bart said. "It just brought back bad memories of the Earthgov scientists when I was younger."

[froststorm]

“Earth gov?”

Her heart goes out to him.

“I know I’m not affiliated with any of those scientists but I’m so sorry that you went through that.”

[kid_flash_found]

"Time stuff. I was originally born a long time from now. At least, what looks like now. 21st century, unless you're really into retro stuff."

[froststorm]

"Oh, I'm from 2047," she explains. "The STAR Labs I know looks nothing like this and it definitely isn't owned by ARGUS. Even if you were a special case among speedsters, like you said, you wouldn't have been treated like a lab rat. Just...potentially recruited for Team Flash."

[kid_flash_found]

"Who's the Flash then? Wally? Iris?" Bart has to ask. It wasn't him, he knew that much. He'd...yeah.

"ARGUS? What do they have to do with anything?"

[froststorm]

"There was a rumor that ARGUS bought out STAR Labs." She waves her hand a little and makes a face. "Kind of a big deal but not going to happen at all. And anyway, The Flash is Jay Garrick."

Crystal seems to perk up at that, excited to talk about the team she's helped.

"He works at STAR Labs. Mom and pops work there too. Kind of a place where I grew up."

[kid_flash_found]

"I knew Jay redefines well-preserved, but he was in his ninties at the turn of the millenium," Bart said, startled by that.

[froststorm]

Crys lets out a laugh.

"His nineties? He's old, Kid Flash, but he's not that old. Maybe he is when you're from."

[kid_flash_found]

"He was the Flash before there was a Flash, as my grandpa put it. I lived with him and his wife in Denver for a while."

[froststorm]

"You know Joan?" she asks. "I used to go to their house after school because the folks were working pretty often. Plus it was probably safer there than staying in our own house when they were beating up bad guys."

[kid_flash_found]

"Yeah, I do. I still remember her chiding me for dropping the phone to run over from California because she'd just made butter tarts. But they're totally worth it," Bart said. "And sometimes, when Jay was busy I'd be a plus-one for some of her society things. I tell you, that woman is cutthroat on the dance floor."

[froststorm]

That gets her laughing.

"Those butter tarts are amazing. But I don't thin kI've danced with her yet."

Crys relaxes a little, glad to meet people who knew some similar people, at least.