10 - Denial

Chapter 10 - Denial

Written By Dr Armstrong

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->Flash POV<-< p>

*THUD*

The prototype suit he had so eagerly made was thrown straight to the bin as Flash held the biker's helmet and goggles in each hand, a conflicted and darkened expression concealing his face better than any mask would.

The pregnant silence occasionally broken by the crackling of flames set the scene as Flash calmly sat on the living room sofa, gazing deep into the fireplace as if it were a piece of art.

He then wordlessly settled the pair of headgear upon the table's top, wearing an unreadable expression as he gazed back and forth between them and the fireplace.

A sigh of warm and humid air left through his mouth as he rubbed his forehead in deep frustration.

"Aleksei Sytsevich..." He muttered a name under his breath, belonging to that one bastard responsible for all of this.

It has been several hours since that incident, a lot of hours. The sun has finally begun to set on the horizon.

Flash had tried to save those hundreds of people, the people that were ahead on Rhino's path of destruction.

It turns out they never needed saving in the first place—Rhino really was running away, and he actually did it; he managed to run away from the fastest man alive.

After seeing Flash too busy dashing around and moving people out of the way, the bastard turned his charge to the ground, breaking through a sewer manhole and creating a new Rhino-sized hole for himself before he escaped into the muddy depths below.

Flash, being too exhausted by the supposedly heroic act he was committing, couldn't do shit.

Go chase the Rhino whilst he's frolicking around the sewers? Yeah, go fuck yourself. 

"Why on Earth was he even targeting me..." It was way too suspicious, the fact that Rhino called him by the moniker 'Red-eyed man' could be written off because Flash did have red eyes when he ran.

But why did Rhino seem like he had known Flash before? That is quite literally impossible in every definition of the word—this was his first-ever appearance for God's sake!

He stood up from the sofa and took a deep and audible breath to calm his nerves, Flash then grabbed a drink from the water dispenser and gulped it in.

The water splashed inside his throat like a hillside river flowing onto the sea, cooling down his body as it broke the inertia of heat that had been building up inside him due to the stress.

He calmly placed the cup beside the sink before returning to the sofa—

*BAAM*

"It's not my fault, damn it—FUCK!" He slammed his fists to the table only to recoil back in pain as his still-healing wounds stung out like they had been injected with agonizing venom.

Flash gritted his teeth as he mentally stopped himself from lashing out with violence, it would result in even more misery, Flash had recently realized this...

He glanced at his hands, beaten and bloodied. He overworked himself for nothing, those people he saved...

They would not feel an inch of gratitude towards him, disrupting their lives, potentially even making it worse by crashing their vehicles toward one another.

No one died...at least, Flash hoped so. But the people he hadn't managed to save? They had cars and buses crashing into them at maximum speeds, with no warning to speak of.

That must hurt.

All because of him—no, it wasn't him, it was the fucking Rhino!

'Next time I see you, I'll make you into a goddamned vegetable. Dare me, motherfucker!' He inwardly cursed the Rhino as he subconsciously started to vibrate in superspeed, his eyes briefly glowed orange before turning into a bright red...

DING!

"Oh, what the fuck..." He mentally deflated like a balloon as a 'ding' pulled him out of his rageful stupor.

'Vegetable, really? I'm starting to sound like Harry...' He cursed himself out, the edge of his previous words biting him in his scrotum. 

He picked up his phone from the table, quickly unlocking it before he saw a very conspicuous notification.

'Speak of the Devil, what timing.' It was up to one's interpretation on whether that was a compliment or an insult.

Harry 'What the fuck is that haircut' Osborn had just texted him.

[---Little Osborn Jr---]

LOJ - You good, bro??? 

Heard from Mr Wilson that your house got robbed, what happened?

You - I'm fine, just some bruises and all.

Some dick broke in at midnight and stole all my food, I woke up cause all of the sounds he was making and tried to stop him.

Newsflash: you know the rest.

LOJ - Damn, that's crazy.

Wait, he only stole the food? Why???

Is he stupid?

You - Probably saw the photos of my dad wearing his uniform on the wall and dipped once he realized he was robbing a cop's house.

Also, did you hear about the weird storm that messes up phones and crap? That stuff was right above my house, so I couldn't even call the cops this morning.

LOJ - Yeah, everyone talked about it this morning, didn't see it myself though.

It's some real sci-fi. Must have been a military experiment.

Communications disruptor hidden in plain sight, I would want to make something like that if I was the army.

Btw, did you see the Rhino fight? Is he really 7'5? Or did he not cross you?

You - Why would you think I know, lmao.

Saw it in the news, that Superspeed guy really messed up, huh?

LOJ - Well, I thought the fight happened close to your neighbourhood. But I guess, it wasn't that close.

You - Wait, you can change the text to italics and bold now? I didn't even realize.

LOJ - Are you stupid???

That's been there since last month, it was an update or some shit.

But I don't really think that Speed guy should be blamed all that much. For all of it, at least.

Looked pretty heroic to me, and he's obviously a noob.

What the fuck is that costume? It's like he just stole it from some meth-addicted mall Santa.

And he looked pretty young too, probably our age even.

You - Our age? Nah, don't know what you're talking about. He seemed pretty tall, probably in his twenties.

LOJ - You're one to talk.

Are you stupid???

You - Stop saying that, that's not a good catchphrase. It just makes you look like the annoying Goblin that you are.

LOJ - No.

[---]

"Ugh..." Flash looked up from his phone and placed it on the table with a groan. Harry wasn't really that annoying, but he becomes very cringy whenever he texts for some reason.

Like, he's pretty normal when he speaks in real life, so why must this be?

But that comment about the Flash really was unexpected.

'I hope the rest of the world has similar thought processes...' He muttered silently, a flicker of hope igniting within his heart.

They didn't.

--->Author's Note:

Thoughts?

I just got back from a sleepover and immediately shot a video for a competition, sorry for being late by a day.

Please comment more, that's what makes Webnovel better in my eyes than other sites. The paragraph comments are undefeated.