DC: A New Beginning-Chapter 50: Iris West (Extra)
*Iris West’s POV*
My name is Iris West.
I live in Central City and have a boyfriend who works for the police. Barry always corrects me, saying he’s a forensic scientist.
Barry’s job is even busier than a regular police officer’s, and he’s constantly working overtime.
Still, I like calling him my police officer. It makes the little time we have together feel special.
He shares a lot about his work with me, some of which is really scary, and others are quite disgusting.
But that tells me Barry trusts me completely, and it makes me feel completely confident about us.
There’s just one thing he’s been hiding for a long time. Though once I found out he was the Flash, I didn’t hold it against him.
Barry is a very shy person, but he still whispers to me sometimes that being with me is the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to him.
He also began sharing another part of his work with me, and every time he came home, whether happy or frustrated, he would tell me about it.
Until last night.
Barry came home earlier than usual.
He was curled up on the couch with the TV on, but his eyes were staring blankly.
I put down my bag, walked over, and wrapped my arms around his head, ruffling his golden short hair.
"What’s wrong, my police officer?"
Barry took a long time to answer this time.
He used lots of words to explain, and to make sure I heard everything, he would pause often, waiting for me to respond.
After about ten minutes, I understood the main point.
With the help of a young man named Viktor, Superman found a family member.
Barry reached over and grabbed a pillow from the sofa, hugged it to his chest, and stared ahead with a slightly distant look in his eyes.
The light from the TV flickered on his face, but his pupils seemed to be staring at something else.
"Clark was really happy when he left. He said he finally had a blood relative on Earth."
I understood.
Barry was thinking about his mother.
"I want to go see her."
Barry suddenly said.
I twisted his ear.
"You’ve said more than once that changing the timeline is a very dangerous thing."
"I know, I know."
Barry pleaded.
"I’ll just take a look from a distance, and then leave. I won’t change anything, you know that."
"I mean it."
I softened.
However, I knew my Barry wouldn’t lie and was just going to take a look.
He put on a jacket and walked out the door.
I picked up the pillow he had been hugging, sat back down on the sofa, and kept watching TV.
But in reality, I couldn’t focus on the shows. The time travel sounded so dangerous, and I couldn’t help but worry about him.
I started counting, trying to estimate how long Barry might be gone, but one night passed.
Barry still didn’t return.
After a ray of sunlight poured through the window, a figure covered in blood suddenly appeared in the living room.
"Oh my God!"
I was startled.
"Barry, what on earth happened to you in the past?"
The figure turned around with his helmet damaged, blonde hair disheveled, and covering his face.
There was clearly blood dripping from his head. He was dirty and disheveled, and I couldn’t see his face clearly.
"Iris?"
He seemed really confused, looking at me.
"What happened? If I succeeded and changed the whole world, why am I still wearing this suit?"
He muttered quickly, anxiety and unease filling his voice.
I froze for a second. I knew, at this moment, Barry usually needed a hug, but he pushed me away.
He seemed to be confused.
"No, no, no, wait! Iris, you look much younger than you should!"
"What are you talking about? You’ve never said things like that before."
"Oh my God, how do I explain this!"
He was gesturing wildly at me.
"This isn’t my universe. I’m afraid I came to the wrong place. I thought I corrected the timeline this time, but somehow I ended up here instead."
He glanced at me quickly, and surprisingly, he started commenting on me.
"Though I have to admit, Iris, you look young enough to be glowing."
That’s when I knew.
This was not my Barry.
He wasn’t shy at all. He was loud, fast, and almost reckless.
After he explained things more clearly, I began to understand.
The time and space are always closely connected, and this Barry thought he could return to his own timeline, but instead, he ended up in another universe.
I didn’t fully understand it, but I pretended like I did because I wanted to calm this Barry down.
He looked really tired and had clearly been scared by something.
So I continued talking to him.
"No wonder my Barry hasn’t come home yet. It sounds like the two of you switched places." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
Unexpectedly, this seemed to have the opposite effect completely.
Barry instantly jumped up.
"He went to my world?!!"
He froze after that with his mouth open, but no words came out. It looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t.
"He’s not as good with words as you are and wouldn’t be able to flirt with your Iris."
I had full confidence in my Barry. Even though he was young, he would never make that kind of mistake.
"No, oh my God, I mean, what happens if this world needs him?"
Flash said, running a hand through his hair.
"But you’re here, right? You’re older, more mature, and you look more like a warrior. You’re also the Flash. You’ll protect this world when the Flash of this world isn’t around, right?"
Even though this wasn’t my Barry, I still reached out and ruffled his hair.
"He’ll protect your world while you’re gone. I believe that. I know he will."
This Barry remained silent for a long time. He looked at me with complicated emotions.
There’s pain, regret, and... guilt.
"I will."
He lowered his head, like he had made up his mind about something, then pulled away from my hand.
Then, a device on his waist suddenly lit up.
I knew what it was.
A Justice League communicator.
Even across different worlds, it seemed the signal frequency for the Flash was still compatible.
Then, a voice came from the communicator.
"Oh, Flash, where have you been? We couldn’t reach you all night!"
Flash recognized the voice and seemed a little excited.
"You’re... Shazam! It’s so good to hear your voice again."
"There’s something huge that has happened, and everyone is arguing! Aquaman called an online meeting through Cyborg an hour ago, and he said that, as the King of Atlantis, wants to resign from the Justice League!"
"What?!"
This Barry seemed particularly shocked.
"And it’s not just him. The others are also saying they need to rethink the meaning of the Justice League. Even Wonder Woman angrily confronted Batman, saying she’d temporarily quit until the threat to Themyscira is fully investigated!"
I watched as this injured Flash began to tremble, and his expression was filled with pain.
"Explain yourself! What exactly caused all this to happen?!"
"What were the last things they said before they left?"
He even started shouting at Shazam.
Shazam’s voice rose to match his. The two of them were nearly yelling at each other through the communicator.
Shazam tried to explain as quickly as he could.
"Aquaman said that he nearly let down every single one of his people if it weren’t for Viktor. Wonder Woman also said that Batman has never truly trusted Viktor and that everything Batman has done is far less sincere than Viktor has been."
"Who is Viktor?! Why have I never heard that name before?"
Suddenly, a live broadcast cut into the TV that had been on all night.
"Hello, everyone, I’m Lois from Media Planet..."
The communicator suddenly lost contact, and the injured Flash quietly watched the TV screen until his eyes started to fill with bloodshot anger.
"This cannot happen again. I have to investigate this myself!"
He turned to me.
"You were right, Iris. I need to take his place temporarily. I’ll become the Flash of this world. I’ll fix everything that’s gone wrong."
"I’ll keep my word!"
As I watched the golden lightning disappear, I suddenly felt a sense of fear.
The look in his eyes at the end was too frightening...
That was not my Barry.
...
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