The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive (Male Reader Insert)

9.8 Destiny Awaits

Two months. That's how long everything was gone. For two months the Paragons and Pillars were stuck at the Vanishing Point, left with nowhere to go. Nothing to fight for. Nothing to bring them together. 

Each of them spent the time in their own ways. Batwoman trained for days on end, pushing her body to its limits. Batman trained some, but was often found meditating alongside the Martian Manhunter. Shazam went through any book he could find, trying every spell he could read and knew in order to give them some glimpse of hope. When we wasn't practicing his magic, the champion spent hours resting and mourning at an altar he made for his siblings and lost family. As for the Flashes, both were gone. They had disappeared one day and had not returned for months.

Ryan Choi, Lex Luthor, and Atom-Smasher all worked together in trying to build a transporter using any piece of technology they could find. They were getting nowhere. Anything they could cobble together didn't last long. As the three continued to work on their latest attempt, a set of sparks flew, frying some of the circuit boards and making them unusable. Luthor hollered in anger at his two assistants.

Lex: Aagh! Idiots! Why couldn't I be trapped at the edge of eternity with someone possessing more than 200 IQ points?!

Lex turned his back and tossed aside a screwdriver. Atom shook his head at the egomaniacal genius' outburst. He noticed Choi with his head down and turned to him.

Atom: Don't let him get to you. I've seen men with three times the ego fall on their asses in the face of it all.

Choi: I didn't think anyone could have a larger ego than that.

Atom: Oh, yes. Many people, in fact. Though none that I've met that are quite as hairless up top.

Choi snickered at the comment about Lex's head. Luthor spun around on his heels and faced the two men once again.

Lex: I'll have you know that my name alone is worth billions, plastered on every wall and countless buildings across the globe.

Atom: So is the Third Reich's. Didn't make them any less favorable. 

Lex: Oh, so I guess you find yourself right at home in this dump.

Atom looked around at all the shattered glass and bent steel beams that surrounded him. He hated to admit it, but Luthor had a point. This was eerily familiar to his Earth.

Atom: I guess so, yeah. Just with less propaganda.

Choi: What was life like on your Earth?

Atom paused for a moment, thinking. He clicked the roof of his mouth with his tongue and blew out a breath of air.

Atom: Honestly, it's a bit hard to describe. For you guys, it probably sounds like an unbelievable hellscape. But to me and many others, it was all we ever knew. Born into a world that knew only chaos and death in the name of order. If you behaved, maybe you'd get to see food on your plate later that day. Starting out, few of us did anything to push against it. People disappeared every day. A good neighbor one morning, exposed Jew or some powered "criminal" with grand abilities the next. All labeled as threats to security.

Atom-Smasher paused for a moment. He looked down at the red and blue suit he was wearing. The blue symbol of an atom emblazoned on his chest.

Atom: I inherited by powers from uncle. We kept it secret for years. He never showed what he could do to anyone. I didn't even know I had them until I was a junior in high school. One day, I got a bit cocky. I went out with my uncle's suit. Made a real scene. My uncle took the blame, wanting to protect me. We never saw him again and I swore to never use my gifts.