3rd May
09:03 GMT -5
I point to the star chart being projected into the middle of the training area, my spirits falling further.
"And
here?
"
Canis shrugs. "Perhaps? I was a cavalry commander, not a ship captain." Canis has a great deal of experience with alien civilisations. Unfortunately, most of it involves boom tubing in with a few hundred friends and looting the place. "The region
here-" He reaches into the hologram with his right forefinger and indicates a radius. "-is known as The Waste. Any settlement here was taken as an affront to Great Darkseid and destroyed, the foolish people attempting it either slain or taken back to Apokolips in chains. Further out, we raided and brought ruination, but never in so focused a manner."
"What was the point?
"
He frowns at me. He's not confused by what I've asked so much as by the fact that I'm asking. "To keep them afraid, of course. To remind them that every day they are given leave to draw breath by Great Darkseid, and should his merciless gaze fall upon them his gift would instantly be rescinded."
"Does he order each attack personally?
"
Canis smiles, shaking his head. "No. Such matters are beneath his notice. At some point long before my birth he ordained that things should be so. And we faithfully carried out his commandment ever since."
"Faithfully?
"
"We cry out his name, shout his praise and -time allowing- erect monuments to his fearsome magnificence."
I nod. From the comics it was never very clear what the peoples of Apokolips did from day to day. I'm getting a better idea
now.
"Now, the events which led to you being banished…
"
"What is to say that you do not already know? I achieved a moment of perfect self-realisation, of communion with the greater spirit of Darkseid. I took my god-name, cut down my father and replaced him as general. My new status demanded greater targets so I ordered a raid on New Genesis itself."
"Did you have that authority?
"
"We do not need special permission to fight and die for Darkseid. And I met with success! Their people cut down, their army routed, two of their sky cities left as burned out ruins!"
"And yet, you're here.
"
He shrugs. "Kanto has taken some exception to my ascension, and he is an assassin without peer. I cannot guard myself in my sleep. But I still do Darkseid's work, harrowing the weak and unworthy."
…
"Okay, so why don't we try tracking the world you visited
after you were forced to-
"
"Recognised, Kid Flash, B zero three."
"-quit your position.
"
Brut stirs himself as Wallace materialises in the tube's terminus. I imagine that when compared with the fast paced and highly dangerous life Brut and his master lived on Apokolips his time on Earth must be restful at best. He hasn't quite gotten to the point where he'll let the rest of us stroke him, but at least he doesn't bark or urinate at inappropriate times or places. Wallace doesn't warrant more than a quick sniff before Brut's head is once more resting on his forepaws.
"Good morning, Wallace.
" Oh dear. His posture is slouched and his face fallen.
"What's wrong?
"
"
Anatole Sokolov's dead."
Ah. I nod.
"I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't know the two of you were close.
"
He trudges in our direction, looking over the star chart briefly and then dismissing it. "We weren't. I met him a couple of times when he was visiting Jay, but that was about it."
Canis frowns, this time in frustration. "Who is this person?"
Wallace looks at the ground for a moment. "Anatole was a Russian guy. A speedster like me. Ah, well, more like.. Jay, really."
"I don't know who
he is either."
Wallace looks at me and gestures at the hologram with his right hand. "Mind if I..?"
I shake my head.
"All yours.
"
He dismisses the star chart and calls up Jay's personnel file. "Jay Garrick, the first Flash." We get a picture of him in his prime. "Born, nineteen eighteen, started out as the Flash in nineteen forty. Far as we could tell, some time in the fifties the Russians got a hold of a copy of the formula he used to get super speed. Only… They didn't get a perfect copy. The first three Russian speedsters he met were
Blue Trinity-" A picture appears showing Blue Trinity's members;
Boleslaw Uminski,
Gregor Gregorovich and
Christina Molotova. "-and they ended up with
crippling health problems as well as being mentally unstable. Anatole was part of the second group." Another picture, Anatole in costume with his Red Trinity team mates
Bebeck and
Cassiopeia. "They did better, but when they started showing the same symptoms as the Blue Trinity members they came to Keystone City to see if Jay could help them."
"And swore themselves into his service in return?"
"What?" Wallace frowns at Canis. "No. He just tried to help them. And it… Kinda worked." He presses another button, calling up a more recent image. "Until it didn't."
They look withered, and I know from when I read their files that their legs from the knee down are artificial. To say nothing of the constant tremors and headaches.
"I didn't know about any of this when I tried copying Jay's formula, but there's a reason -or rather, six reasons- why there hasn't been more interest in it. Get it wrong -like
I did- and if needing a calorie rich diet is
the worst that happens to you then you got off lucky." He steps back. "And the symptoms are progressive."
!
!!
"You're not showing any-?
"
"No, no." He shakes his head. "It just really brought it home, you know? Between that and Velocity Nine there's more examples of super speed gone
wrong than gone
right. My healing potion helped him, but it didn't make the symptoms
vanish."
"Okay. Do you know what went wrong with the version of the formula the Russians used on him?
"
"Yeah, for some reason? They weren't all that keen on talking to Jay about it."
"But would they be willing to now?
" His face stills.
"I mean, I could understand them… The super soldier producing part of the military, at least… Not being willing to help a defector. But if he's dead and the s-.
Partner of the current Flash puts in an official request for information…
"
He frowns thoughtfully. "You think?"
"They want one of theirs on the Justice League and this could win them points. They know that Jay isn't sharing with the US military.
" I shrug.
"They
might go for it. Might
not, but it won't hurt to ask.
"
Wallace nods. "That's a great idea. I'll call Uncle Barry-."
"What happened to the blue ones?" Canis jerks his chin at their hologram. "Were they slain in battle?"
Wallace shrugs. "We don't really know. I mean, given how severe their symptoms were they'd probably be dead by now, but the last we heard of them was when they got shipped back to Russia after failing to stop Red Trinity coming over to
our side."
"Then they're the first thing we ask about.
"
