"To understand what I'm about to tell you, you need to do something first. You need to believe in the impossible. Can you do that? Good. Because all of us, we've forgotten what miracles look like. Maybe because they haven't made much of an appearance lately. Our lives have become ordinary."
"But there is someone out there who is truly extraordinary. I don't know where you came from. I don't know your name. But I have seen you do the impossible to protect the city I love." She continued her blog.
"So for those of us who believe in you, and what you're doing, I just wanna say: Thank you." She finished, dramatically pressing the enter-key on her laptop and closing it shut.
Ever since the new heroine had showed up just mere weeks after the particle accelerator explosion, news channels have had mixed opinions about her. Thus, one day, Iris decided to publish online blogs about the savior that are more hopeful, creating a true image of the hero she really is.
Iris sighed in contentment whilst leaning back against her chair. But a second later, she was at the top of Central City Jitters, she was sped so fast that she needed to compose her breathing.
She turned to see Central and now-Metropolis' favorite heroine of the night, the face of hers partially shrouded by the shadow but enough to mask her identity, "How did you--? I literally just hit send." She breathed heavily in chuckles.
"Uh... super-reading." The Blur had to think first for her ability as Iris then laughed, "Thank you." Her voice was tuned deeper, more commanding and not the bubbly real one she uses as Kara.
"For what? People only needed to know that you exist." Iris' cellphone buzzed, she pulled it out to see Eddie Thawne calling her, the same blonde policeman that caught Felicity's mugger. He and Iris had been seeing each other for a couple while now and somehow they've become very close. Though right now, Iris knew that she had to not pick it up, she couldn't miss this opportunity of interviewing The Blur. So she closed her phone.
"For instilling hope in people's heart. My sudden appearance was born out of grief from... someone close and to see something so dark make people feel hopeful... is a nice change." The Blur appreciatively smiled to Iris, "He would be really happy if he was here... so again, thank you."
"You're doing all the work." Iris responded with humbleness.
"But you're doing it while in college." Her tone filled with surprise, which was ironic because she too was still in college but already saving lives on her own, "Well, anyways, gotta' head back to Metropolis."
"Oh yes, wait! Why Metropolis all of the sud-" Kara already sped off into the distance, "-den...?" Leaving Iris unanswered after moving her back into previously-mentioned jitters.
•••••
Joe never had it in him to look away for just a second. He had been into his detective work, rummaging through folders and documents for as long as his body could withstand because he didn't want to remind himself of Barry, his son. He barely comes home, rarely talks with Iris and he doesn't know what had been happening for the last 4 months. He, of course, knew that he had to go out soon. Whether that is because of his own will or chosen to by his commanding officer, Captain Singh.
"West!" Joe heard his captain call his name, he awoke from practically a slumber after nearly face-planting on his paper-filled desk, "What is all this?" Singh referred to the overwhelmingly full station.
Joe looked around for a second to understand, "Oh, witnesses from the robbery at Gold City Bank. Perp made off with 200 grand more or less." He slurred his words.
"The Blur didn't show up?" The captain questioned, unaware of Joe's lack of information of the months prior.
"Blur, captain...?"
"Just... catch these guys." Singh ordered him bemusedly, swiveling to the right of his desk before stopping in his tracks, "Oh, and West? Take a break for a while, you need it." He then continued his path.
"Yes, captain." Joe answered, but more to himself as his voice was discerned with grogginess and confusion to the word 'Blur'. Afterwards, he rubbed his eyes and finally fully awake, decided to walk over to his partner's desk.
"The windows blew in... it was like a hurricane! Everyone ran for cover." A woman sat beside Eddie's desk testified for a witness statement.
"We're gonna have a sketch artist work with you, if you feel up to it." Eddie smiled to the woman, then standing up to walk with Joe, "A robbery with a freak storm proceeding it." He chuckled, "Well, I shouldn't be surprised given there's The Blur now." Subtly rolling his eyes, never accepting the new heroine. In his mind, he believes that the work she does is useless, that it should be just the police and fire department saving those lives. However, in reality, he doesn't understand the hero, her powers, her motive, who she is; and because of this, he fears her. People fear things they don't understand, and for now, it's acceptable.
"The B-- The security cameras at the bank?" Asked Joe, Eddie not noticing his sudden pause.
"Apparently all shorted out." The younger detective showed Joe his notes.
"Well, we got a bunch of witnesses here." Joe lightly pointed to the civilians cramped inside, "One of them probably has a cellphone." His tone suddenly zealous. They knew video recording on cellphones were a very new concept but it was still promising.
"The sky went black and then, boom! Outside was Inside. Man, it was like there was a thunderstorm in the bank." A shivering witness told the officers after uploading the footage to a computer's database.
"Suspect is driving a black Mustang, partial plate: Six-Kilo-Charlie-Three. Put out an APB." Joe told an officer after reviewing the footage.
"Copy that." He answered.
•••••
Kara only stayed in Metropolis to study, she would occasionally go to Central to visit Barry and sometimes have a chat or two with Caitlin, but she knew she couldn't stay long. She tried to be as mentally sound as she could, but Kara just couldn't accept that her boyfriend isn't with her right now. Though fortunately, she had one thing that kept her going.
Every night in her current city she kept putting on the suit, running towards danger, stopping fires and robberies, all in Barry's honor. Even with all the lives she had saved, the bad-side of the media always had it's way to manipulate audiences. Kara only wanted to stand for hope. How hope can heal us, how it can still shine through in the darkest of times. So, she was very thankful to see Iris spreading the true intentions of the hero.
Kara was even more thankful when she found out she could leave campus earlier than usual. She used her gifted time to - of course - visit Barry. Once she had arrived in Central by speeding into a small alleyway, she noticed that all the newspaper that were scattered on the ground were almost all about her. Her small smile quickly turned to a frown upon seeing a part about a robber who can supposedly control the weather and whom The Blur didn't catch. Her eyes radiated a small fiery ring for a second, she felt ashamed of herself knowing that her small time in Metropolis had already given a very negative impact in Barry's home city.
Afterwards, Kara started to walk the city roads on the way to STAR Labs which was then rudely interrupted by her ears honing into wailing police sirens and tires screeching onto asphalt. She groaned in frustration that her visit had to wait, before speeding away to the scene with a quick change of clothes.
Upon arriving at the chase, Kara, as The Blur, saw a horde of police cars entailing a black coupe car. She quickly got in-front of said car to halt it as gently as she could. Once she did however, she saw a face familiar on the television. She had seen that face before, the face of a murderer. A murderer who had died. The reveal froze her long enough for the man to unload his revolver, three solidly hitting Kara's shoulder and arms, but no effect on her as always. Once Kara had regained her senses, she tried to grab the criminal through smashing the front windshield but when her grip was a hair away, the man's body quickly began to fade into smoke and only a second later, the street was enveloped in massive amounts of fog.
Bad luck for Kara as she instantly noticed that her eyes began to spasm uncontrollably and her vision going in-and-out of her x-ray. Even worse luck for Kara as she heard a car's honk in-front, knowing that it was heading and possibly colliding onto the car she's by, she had to use her other senses to approximate where it exactly was. She then heard its tire screech loudly before a sound of a fiberglass impact came. She tuned her ears onto the origin of the crash as she jumped onto the roof of the one near then into the other, using her clarified tactile perceptions as she tried to spot the passengers.
Kara, in her fast-vision, felt its downward motion rapidly accelerating as if the car was already grazing the road below. Luckily for her, however, she felt her hands touch someone's shoulder, hastily but gently pulling them out and speeding to a safer place nearby. As the smoke died down, Kara didn't see any other passengers in the crash thankfully. Even though the said-to-be dead criminal may have gotten away, she mentally thanked Rao for no innocent lives lost.
•••••
"Joe!"
"Wh- Kara?" He turned around in worry, "Kara, you can't be in here, it's a crime scene!" His eyes rapidly glancing around their place with an aim of answering how she got into the uniformed-officers and medical personnel filled location.
"I know who did this! I saw him on TV once, the one who died in a plane crash!" Kara clasped her hands individually, putting on a thinking face, "Mardon! Clyde Mardon!" She supplied the name as Joe only formed a disagreeing and unamused expression, "Something must have happened that night when his plane went down I... I think he really can control the weather." She continued, Joe started to scornfully nod, he didn't take any word she said as serious or into consideration, "The robbery that just happened, people were all talking about a freak meteorological event, and when I just confronted Mardon, the entire street was instantly covered in fog." Kara explained more in hopes of Joe believing her, but she scoffed when she saw his disregardful expression, "Of course you don't me believe me... you never even believed Barry."
"I get it." Joe sighed, "You're Barry's girlfriend." Though his voice not appealing as condescending or mocking, but it still made Kara roll her eyes, "You wanna believe his story."
"Okay, yes I do believe Barry's story of that night, but that doesn't mean that this is some fiction, Joe!" She raised her voice slightly.
"And just because you're my son's girlfriend doesn't mean you have to believe what he says!" Joe started to shout, although taking his infuriation from Barry to her and somewhat all his pent-up anxieties too.
Kara noticed immediately that he wasn't acting as himself or at the minimum incapable of doing so, "Look, I'm sorry that I yelled at you last time, I really am. I was angry at myself and I took it out on you, but that doesn't mean you can take that to here!" She yelled, fixating around her not-so-good encounter the last time with him to make this one as unharmful as she could, "And if you're not going to even at least consider that Mardon is alive..., then I'm sorry I can't help you." Her departing words made Joe slightly speechless attributed by the amount of sincerity that she gave. Turning her back on him, Kara started to leave with small tear marks unknown to the detective why.
"You're not going to believe this..." Eddie came from Joe's left, "We got the eyewitness sketch of the robber from the bank job." He unfolded a sheet of paper in his hands, revealing a clear sketch of a familiar man to him and Joe, "If I didn't know better, I'd say that's Clyde Mardon." Eddie then compared the sketch to a mugshot of said Mardon, "But that's impossible. He's dead, right?" Eddie asked rhetorically, changing Joe's face into one of uneasiness. It made the detective question whether Kara really did see the 'dead' Clyde Mardon.
•••••
"I'm not saying Mardon's alive!" He slammed the car-door shut, "But if he was, this is the last place him and his brother hid out. Let's go." Joe wasn't completely into the idea of it, but after realizing the magnitude of Kara's sincere and genuine words and expressions made him second guess about the whole ordeal.
The night was foggy as the partners went into an abandoned, somewhat unskeptical-looking barn on the outskirts of Central. They then heard rustles and rattles, pure instincts kicked in for both as they swiftly withdrew their pistols and began warily checking each corner. Not long after, they stumbled upon a blonde man dressed in all black, his back facing the detectives and slowly standing up from his stool with his hands above his head in surrender.
"Mardon." Joe immediately recognized the man while Eddie was in pure disbelief, "On your feet, hands on your head." The older detective calmly but authoritatively ordered to Mardon.
"You got me." He chuckled, a smirk on his lips invisible to Joe and Eddie.
The blonde detective then gestured his head for Joe to cuff the robber as his partner part-reluctantly holstered his gun. The seemingly easy encounter gave the impression of dubiousness to Joe.
"The night of the storm, after STAR Labs blew... after our plane went down, and I woke up on the ground alive... when I saw what I could do, I understood." Mardon's ramble made an agitating effect on Joe, "I am God."
"Shut the hell up." Joe condescended with annoyance.
With Mardon's back still facing the detectives and hands still atop his head, the chain he wore rattled against the seat as he finally stood up completely, "Turn around!" Eddie demanded.
Joe's eyes widened at the horror of layered dark smoke somehow appearing straight from the hands of the criminal. Mardon then swung his fists downward, jetting the clouds right at the guts of the partners. Eddie and Joe, both grunting in pain, were launched several feet back by the sudden attack, putting the blonde detective unconscious.
"Do you think your guns can stop God?" Mardon mocked, his vicious winds blew every object around flying inside the barn. Joe had only then believed Kara's words of 'I think he really can control the weather' Which then the detective internally gave Kara his sincere apologies.
"Why in the hell would God need to rob banks?" Joe questioned him in anger.
"You're right... I've been thinking too small."
The awake detective then watched in terror as now brown, sand-like mist spiraled around the criminal. Forming a devastatingly large tornado that immediately shattered the roof of the barn and then sending large items striking the air inside. Joe, noticing that it has the potent to fatally harm him and his partner, slung Eddie's arms over his shoulders as he began to run outside the barn, partially waking Eddie until they were launched forward onto the side of their police car due to the immense amount of shockwave from the barn-roof fully breaking apart. With Eddie unconscious again, Joe unable to move and both on the ground, The older detective was forced to watch the enlarging tornado as it gradually gains speed on a path to the city. Joe then covered his head in impulse and somewhat fear as he saw a large debris from the roof on a fixed trajectory, heading straight towards a helpless Joe and a passed-out Eddie.
Fortunately for the detectives, however, a shaded blur comes dashing through, catching the oncoming roof-piece in an instant before it hit them.
Once Kara had abruptly left the crime-scene before, she wanted to continue her visit to her boyfriend but instead she just found herself in a bath of self-loathing. She had brought into her mind how she failed to catch the criminal, how she didn't even come close as she thought, how she, again, failed her Barry. Kara had sat on a rooftop for several hours before sunset then came a red-moon night, remembering of how stunning Barry looked in red clothes. Her mind-easing ponder was cut short when she heard an ear-shattering noise of wood cracking, one that would rival a destruction from an earthquake of 6.0 in the Richter scale.
With Kara easily throwing the large rubble away from the detectives, she now turned to see a giant tornado, as if it was reaching heights near the clouds. Her heartbeat sped up slightly at the sight of it, even the girl of steel needed to have a boost in confidence. Meanwhile, Joe, disoriented, stared at the heroine with a vague countenance that says 'Do I know you?' with Kara then looking back at him as a way of self-assuring herself, and it made her smile internally seeing Joe finally putting time and effort into the lead she gave. The alien then massively but humanly-as-possible inhaled before speeding to where the tornado was.
Kara guessed that it was either the cause of or the escapee. She blitzed towards it, hoping for a solution to come to her mind as she runs. 'Maybe he's in the tornado or maybe he is the tornado? Can he even be a tornado?' The heroine quizzed to herself, but she didn't need to ask anymore when she saw the bastard, Cylde Mardon, hovering above a dozen meters in the middle of the spiral after she had peeked in through the whirlwind in a try to get some information. But in doing so, blew her a couple feet back from the colossal strength of the wind. Kara then knew that she had to go into the tornado fast and with a leap to catch the levitating criminal, and she did so by procuring her pace as she ran and when she had a fast enough velocity, she jumped high in a forward-up motion with an ambition to punch Mardon out of the sky.
The heroine's belief in success was thrown out the window as she was flung backwards again but now a greater force after attempting her idea which she then let out a gentle grunt. Kara thought that it was either her lack of speed on the ground or the deceleration it gave her when she was in the air, thus a way superior plan popped up in her head. She needed to do what she did back when she fought the Zargomite alongside Barry a few years ago, she needed to soar across the wind, she needed to fly. It made sense to the heroine because she would be in the sky already whilst keeping momentum.
On the other side, Joe was incapable of helping and had to watch the superhero give her best efforts on stopping Mardon, meanwhile forced to grimace at the failed attacks Kara gave. Mardon, on the other hand, never noticed or didn't seem to care about Kara's, to his mind, feeble attempts and kept channeling his powers with a route onwards the city's devastation for a feat of God, again, to his mind. Kara, after a moment of composing herself and a couple failed lifts, finally jetted off the ground with a speed incomparable to that of in the ground. She smiled at her triumph for a bit before putting back on a determined face, realizing the dire situation. She flew right into the middle of the tornado, and to her relief, successfully smacked Mardon using her million-newton fist right across his smug jaw.
As the whirlwind, that was nearing a city's fate, broke down into bits of reek, The Blur and the villain tumbled along the grass in dueling sides with the heroine already primed to punch again. Mardon, however, was not going to be caught off-guard again as he turned to pure smoke when Kara was just about to strike him using her dash. The heroine tried again but failed as the criminal turned to gas again, she then tried again and again, doing everything she could, even using her 'Freeze-breath', as she dubbed it, but to no avail until she stopped, knowing that he was just toying with her.
"I didn't think there was anyone else like me." Said Mardon to Kara as he wheezed crazily.
"I'm not like you, I'm not a murderer." She spat back. The criminal flickered a smirk in victory, assuming that he had won as he drew out his .38-special revolver and pointing the iron-sight at the heroine's upper torso. Kara groaned in frustration, knowing that a bullet wouldn't work on her and with the thought that her fight would never end as both her and her villain couldn't stop one another. But as Mardon's finger was brushing his weapon's hairtrigger, set to pull back at any second; he - with his guard down - was pierced with two shots coming from Kara's back, his body went limp as he drop dead to cold, dirty terrain below. At that very moment, Kara could've sworn that she saw a small yellow lightning-like zip pass through Mardon's body, she didn't question it, however, due to her tremendous lack of energy.
She dropped down on her knees from exhaustion, the sun's radiation barely stored in her system, as Joe, who fired the bullets before, ran up to her with tears that remarked his bewilderment and remorse, and then sinking down to the dirt below too. His sharp eyes instantly notified his brain of the heroine's real identity.
"Kara...?"
•••••
"What you can do... it was the explosion?" His face unreadable.
"No..." Kara, equipped with her glasses, replied, her gaze directed to anywhere but him, most likely off into the calming far dawn. Joe who was standing beside her noticed that she didn't want to open up about her sudden usage of powers, so he decided to keep it in for later.
Joe shook his head rapidly in discomfort, "I'm sorry, Kara..." His head tipped down in regret and shame.
"Joe-" She tried to stop him. Kara knew Joe was sorry and that was it, she didn't need to hear an apology from him, even though it really did pissed her off that her boyfriend's father figure didn't believe what really happened in that night when Barry's mom died.
"I'm sorry I didn't believe you... and Barry..." Joe cut her off, his voice now shaking, "What he saw that night... could be true. And I called him crazy for seeing the impossible." He then finally looked up, shuffling his feet to face Kara, "I need you to promise me something. I don't want you telling Iris about what you're doing as this 'Blur', not even Barry."
Kara looked at Joe with confusion and fury after he added 'Barry', "Joe, I alre-"
"Any of it. I want them safe and I don't want Barry to have false hope." Joe's eyes fractured with water, "Promise me." He turned to leave before Kara called out to him.
"Why would you think that- ugh--" Kara huffed whilst looking away to reconstruct her words, "Barry knows about my powers way before he got into coma." She said as Joe turned to look at her in confusion of how she got her powers pre-explosion. Kara sighed upon seeing his expression, knowing she had to explain it now, "I'm from a planet called Krypton..." She explained as his eyes widened.
"So, you're... an alien?"
She nodded, "My parents sent me to Earth to protect my cousin but he went in a wormhole. I thought my purpose was to raise him but now... Barry is all I care about. So, I told him everything."
"You really do love him." Joe chuckled slightly.
"I know." Kara smiled somberly to herself, the thought of Barry not coming back to her scared the alien to her core, "And as for Iris... it's only going to be a matter of time before she finds out."
"She can't be hurt for a while at least." Joe argued.
"It will hurt even more the longer we keep it a secret." Kara countered, "For both of you."
Joe only nodded in response, signaling that 'it's okay' or 'it's for the better'.
Kara sighed, "But Barry is off the table... I tell him everything."
Joe crossed his arms, then pinching his forehead, "Fine." A small silence briefly slid in.
"Besides, Barry's already seen me without my glasses in bed." Her eyes immediately widened and cheeks flushed red after realizing her pointless slip-up of having slept together with her boyfriend.
Joe wriggled his left eyebrow upwards in amusement, though kept a still mouth due to the topic of the conversation they just had, following Kara's words as she sighed heavily, knowing that she couldn't correct her words anymore.
"I said too much." She spoke softly before scampering in embarrassment.
"Detective." Joe heard someone call him near his side, then turning to see CCPD's lab owner, Virgil Swann, "I take it that you monitored every-single motion given by us from last night until now." He signified 'us' as their fellow precinct members.
"Not really, no..." His words confused the detective.
"That's fine. Look, detective, I trust you..." The scientist's posture straightened, "Better than any-other in here. That's why I'm going to put false information in the report regarding a detail I found of which you and only you should know." His voice now soft, just above how a whisper would sound.
"And that is...?"
"Two one-sided bullet-wound marks, only one bullet found. One might say it fell out, but I would suggest to be wary of a moley contamination..., Detective West." He left in a gentle manner after putting a very subtle emphasis on 'moley', making a rigid-bodied Joe rapidly move his pupils around his co-workers in paranoia.
•••••
"The Blur was now apparently spotted in Metropolis-"
"So, is she like every city's hero now?" A man questioned the news displayed on the TV in-front.
"Caitlin?" A female voice called out to the Cortex that made him jump.
"Umm, hi?" He said as she turned to face a short Hispanic man turning his seat to face her.
"Oh, is Dr. Snow not in for today?" She asked the confused man.
"She is at... somewhere right now, I don't know." He shrugged, "Say, do I know you?"
"No, we haven't met yet, I'm Kara Kent." She introduced herself to him.
"The coma patient's girlfriend?"
"His name is Barry, Cisco." Caitlin interjected after coming into the room, giving a subtle glare to her co-worker.
"Thanks, Cait." Kara gratefully smiled, giving a mocking tone to Cisco.
"Oh, she can call you 'Cait' already?" Cisco asked to Caitlin with confusion and a tint of anger.
"Yeah." Caitlin simply put. After the first meeting two months prior, Kara had been 'taking trains' to visit Caitlin, talking in lunchtimes, basically bonding over a comatose boyfriend and a dead fiancé.
"I thought I was supposed to be your BFF." He mumbled to himself, crossing his arms.
"Soooo, can I see Barry?" Kara asked with her hands clamped together in nervousness when noticing the small tension, "Then, we can grab lunch if you want to?"
"Sure." Caitlin gestured her hands for Kara to go in. Once Kara was in, Caitlin got the hint for both her and co-worker to give Kara some room, Cisco, however, didn't, "Cisco!" She whisper-yelled, rapidly motioning him to get out of there as he quickly obliged, sprinting awkwardly towards the door.
Once Kara had seated next to Barry, she brought his hands in her and held on tightly, "Hey, Barr... I don't know what else to say actually." She placed her cheek against his knuckles, "Just please come back to me... I don't know if I could last a day longer." Water began to slip through her eyes, "I love you." Kara then kissed his hand.
She sat there for a few more moments to let every drop of tear flow down. But when Kara felt it was enough and probably time to head out with Caitlin, she heard screams from afar the windows. She tuned into what sounded to be a robbery which was to-be-expected due to her lack of appearance in Central those few weeks.
Kara hesitated to speed away unknown to her why at that moment, but once after glancing back at her boyfriend, she immediately realized why, "I'll be back soon, babe." She kissed his forehead, reluctantly pulling away before arriving at the scene with a change of clothes.
"Oh crap! The Blur's here!"
"Damn right 'Oh crap'!" The heroine knocked out the previously speaking robber whilst he was shooting his rifle at her. The bullets, however, didn't affect Kara in any way, "Ruining my visiting time!" She punched another who was shooting too, his back slammed against the wall, "Then, I was going to get lunch!" She uppercutted the last one, non-fatally of course.
She dusted off her hands in victory, but unbeknownst to her, there was another robber that was previously guarding another section of the bank now coming back into the main area. The man fired a couple bullets at her but she managed to catch all, minimizing the amount of possible casualties of the hostages. She got in-front of the robber as she then bent the gun's barrel to the side.
The robber, out of options, decided to swing a punch at the heroine in the heat of the moment. He winced in pain after hitting her square in the arm, most likely due to a fracture or a couple broken bones in his hand. The question of: Why they do that, knowing bullets don't work on her — still mind-baffles Kara to this day. The robber fell to the floor in exhaustion as Kara sighed in relief, "Finally." She spoke to herself under her breath.
But then at that very moment, right before she could apprehend the criminals, she felt a sudden jolt inside her heart. Flooding it with emotions not her own; she felt panic, confusion, fear. She really felt it, that chain that keeps them together. Kara swiftly jetted out along with the unconscious gang of robbers, dropping them off carelessly by the nearby police surrounding the building. She didn't even bother changing clothes as she just wants to get back to her Barry.