Chapter 5 – Rumors of Red
Central City was no stranger to miracles anymore.
Not since the particle accelerator exploded.
Not since the streak of red and gold began saving lives, lifting cars, pulling civilians from the jaws of death at the last possible second.
But the city wasn't just talking about The Flash anymore.
No—there was something else now.
Something darker.
Something silent.
And it began with a whisper.
"The Other One"
The hospital incident never made the news. At least, not honestly. The reports said the villain known as Toxin died in a power surge while fighting The Flash.
But the nurses talked.
And the guards.
And the patients who saw something step from Room 219.
> "He didn't walk. He drifted."
"Lightning followed him."
"His eyes were red. Not glowing. Burning."
Rumors spread like smoke through alleyways and rooftops.
They called him the Red Ghost.
Or the Grave Runner.
Some even called him The Devil's Flash.
Barry heard them all.
He didn't like any of them.
---
CCPD – Evidence Room
Barry stood at Dante Hart's personnel file.
He read it again.
And again.
He wasn't a soldier.
No military history.
Just heartbreak.
Dante had dropped out of school at fourteen after his father's death. Took care of his sick mother and younger brother. His mother died when he was sixteen. His brother disappeared a year later—later found dead in a back alley, no suspect ever found.
Two years on the street hardened him.
He didn't trust people. Didn't speak unless spoken to.
And yet, somehow, he found his way back to Central City. Took a janitor job at CCPD. Quiet. Distant. Alone.
The chief let him smoke in private corners. Probably because he'd read the file too.
Everyone knew Dante had ghosts.
But no one knew he'd become one.
---
STAR Labs
Cisco sat at the computer for hours, running simulations.
Replaying Barry's descriptions.
Calculating speeds.
"It's not possible," he mumbled.
Barry paced nearby. "How fast was he?"
Cisco leaned back. "You top out at about Mach 3 on a sprint. That's 2,300 miles per hour. Based on what you described—this guy's at least Mach 5."
Barry's eyebrows raised. "You sure?"
"No," Cisco admitted. "But that's just what the readings suggest. He didn't leave a trail—he left a scar."
Caitlin stepped in. "That's not what scares me."
Barry turned.
She gestured to the readout. "Your body builds up friction the faster you go. You have your suit, your metabolism—every piece of you is designed to withstand that heat."
She paused.
"He wasn't."
Barry understood what she meant.
> Dante woke up from a coma. Naked under a hospital gown. No speed suit. No protection.
And yet, when he moved…
No burns. No wounds. No damage.
He just… was.
---
That Night
Rain fell softly across Central City.
The Flash moved through the streets, not chasing criminals, but searching.
Every rooftop.
Every shadow.
Every corner where the lightning might hide.
He'd told no one what he was doing.
He just… needed to see him again.
To talk to him.
To understand what Dante Hart had become.
Meanwhile
Dante sat in a broken church.
Empty pews.
Shattered stained glass.
Lightning flickered along the arches of the ruined ceiling.
He sat with one knee up, a cigarette resting between his fingers. The cherry glowed dimly in the dark.
His heart no longer beat like it used to.
He didn't know what ran through his veins now—light, fire, maybe rage.
He remembered pain.
He remembered burning.
He remembered hearing voices inside his own skull for months.
No, years.
But they were silent now.
Everything was silent.
Except the lightning inside him.
Always whispering.
Always hungry.
Then he felt it.
A presence.
Not a threat.
Not fear.
Just… familiar.
He flicked the cigarette to the ground and crushed it with his boot.
And turned his head.
The Flash stood across the broken aisle.
Rain still dripping from his mask.
They locked eyes.
The church was silent.
Barry didn't speak at first. He just… studied him.
This close, he could see how inhuman Dante had become.
The way the air bent subtly around him.
The way lightning clung to his body like it had chosen him.
"Dante," Barry said softly.
Dante tilted his head.
"You remember me?" Barry asked.
A pause.
Then a faint nod.
Barry stepped forward. "I need to talk to you."
No response.
"You saved me. At the hospital. You saved a lot of people."
Still, silence.
"But that man… you killed him."
Dante blinked once.
Then he said, "He deserved it."
Barry tensed. "That's not how this works."
Dante's voice was calm, but it cracked like thunder. "You save the innocent. I destroy the guilty. That's balance."
Barry shook his head. "No, that's not justice. That's vengeance."
Dante stared through him.
"You still think this world runs on justice?"
Barry's mouth tightened.
"I thought you were dead," he said finally. "But you're alive. We can help you. STAR Labs can figure this out. Help you control it."
Dante looked at his hand.
Lightning curled across his fingers.
He closed it into a fist.
"I am in control," he said.
Then he vanished.
No sound.
Just the soft thunder echoing from the city below.
Barry returned to STAR Labs, more shaken than he'd ever admit.
He didn't tell them everything.
Only that he saw Dante
And that he was fast.
> Very fast.
Cisco looked up from his monitors. "You okay, man?"
Barry didn't answer.
Because what could he say?
Dante Hart wasn't a villain.
Not yet.
But he wasn't a hero either.
He was something else.
Something Barry couldn't stop.
Couldn't reach.
Couldn't save.
---
And somewhere out there, Dante Hart lit another cigarette.
And watched the world burn slower than he did.
---
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