Escape Velocity // The Flash

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Crises

Barry's eyes widened in realisation. "Did you say that all matter was erased?"

"Yes?" Was Hamilton's answer, drenched in curiosity.

"I think I know what's been happening." The Flash stated with an air of urgency. "I ran into someone yesterday...called himself Anti-Monitor. He had this massive device, I didn't know at the time, but I think
It's an Antimatter cannon."

"Why didn't you arrest him?"
Superman asked patiently.

"Well, first of all, he's too tall to fit in any of our prisons. He's strong as well. Too strong for me to fight one on one. I needed to run or let him kill me. I chose to run." The Flash said in embarrassment. It was never easy to admit defeat, but sometimes a situation's too big to handle alone. "I informed Batman but he said that he wanted to look into it further before taking action."

"...Of course he did." Superman sighed. "I'll get a hold of the Justice League. We need to end this."

That conversation had taken place hours ago. Four hours, to be exact. Now the Justice League were in the midst of a heated battle against Anti-Monitor - an alien that currently extended about nine feet tall. Whilst Wonder Woman was thrown through buildings, Superman was tossed into outer space, and Green Lantern was pummelled into the ground - The Flash and Mineko, who now went by the name 'Kaze' when in uniform, tried to analyse the cannon.

"Oh no..." The Flash said in genuine terror.

Superman flew back into the building and struck a rather hard hit against Anti- Monitor before replying "What's 'oh no'?"

"If this thing goes off, it's not just our universe that will be destroyed...it's set to terminate all the remaining alternate Earths at once."

"What?!" Superman yelled in disbelief before being grabbed around the neck by Anti-Monitor and strangled. Superman tried to pull his hand apart but it did no good. It took Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Power Girl and Shazam to all punch him at once for the villain to finally let go. This guy was more powerful than anyone they had ever faced before...

"We can't defeat him. I don't think anyone could." Shazam exclaimed in concern just as Anti-Monitor broke Power Girl's arm in eleven different places with one shift of his hand. The force of this sent a shock wave that knocked The Flash and Kaze off their feet.

Power Girl let out a scream of agony that rippled through the vicinity. Superman rushed to her side, using his x-ray vision to assess the damage. "You need to hurry up, Barry. We can't hold him off much longer."

The Flash stumbled back up, Kaze quickly following suite, and returned to the cannon. "I'm trying! This is complicated stuff."

"Try harder!" Power Girl snapped, primarily due to the pain shooting through her body.

"Do not let them sway you." Mineko's soothing voice came after Power Girl's. "You are doing well. Do not rush, you may overlook something."

The Flash's breath was a little unsteady but he nodded gratefully at her words. "Thank you... You're right. I can't afford to make any mistakes."

This mindset was quickly dismissed the moment the cannon roared to life. Anti-monitor laughed - the loud noise rattling the entire building. "It's almost time."

Wonder Woman tightened her grip on her sword and charged forward. "You will deactivate your weapon, demon, or face the might of an Amazon warrior!"

"Your 'might' leaves little to be desired." The villain hissed cruelly, swatting the woman away as if she were nothing more than an irritating fly. "Just give up. Resign yourselves to death. This world is weak anyway. It's not worth fighting for."