Enter: Zoom

by The Phantom Joker

Chapter 4: Heavy Metal

Inside a large, elegant, well-furnished office, a unicorn stallion with a blond mane and tail wearing a sleek navy blue suit and tie with black heeled shoes poured himself a drink of what looked expensive liquor as he sat in a large, expensive-looking black leather chair. This was Amadeus Blueblood Junior, or as he liked to call himself, Prince Blueblood.

As Blueblood heaved a sigh and took a drink, there was a gentle knock on his door. “Come in,” said Blueblood.

A couple of stallion wearing suits not dissimilar to Blueblood’s entered his office, holding tightly to a powerfully built man wearing a white tank top, blue jeans, and brown work boots who looked both slightly hungover and none too happy to be there.

“Ah, Mr. Woodward. How pleasant of you to join us. Leave us,” said Blueblood to his men.

The mobsters both glanced at each other before they released the man, Woodward, and backed out of the room.

“So, boss,” Woodward said with slight distaste, “what exactly did you want from a mook like me?” he asked Blueblood, or as many who dislike him-Woodward included-called him ‘Prick Blueblood’ behind his back.

“There have been rumors going around the lower levels of my organization, rumors about a Metal Meta. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?”

“Now, what makes you think I’d know about that?”

“Because I’ve heard about your accident, Tony… you got laid off from your day job, and when you were pulled off of your boss, you fell into a vat of molten scrap.” Blueblood explained to Tony who just scoffed at the idea.

“‘Fell into a vat of molten metal’, he says.” Woodward said interrupting his ‘boss’

“Funny thing is, you seem to be in perfect health despite it.”

“Get this through your head, Blueblood, nobody can survive landing in molten anything! Except maybe dragons. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got places to be.” Tony said as he turned around and started to walk out.

Blueblood sighed as he pulled out a pistol from under his desk and cocked it, drawing Tony’s attention. Before Tony could say anything, however, Blueblood pulled the trigger. But, instead of leaving a gaping hole in Tony’s head, the bullet somehow sparked off his skin, revealing shining metal underneath it.

“Well, well, well.” Blueblood said fascinated, and smug. “Looks like there really is a Metal Meta in our ranks.”

Damn it. Tony Woodward, or as he called himself Girder, turned to face his bastard ‘boss.’ “I assume if you’ve figured out my secret, you must have something planned for me?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. You see, I have this… problem. You are absolutely the man who has the gifts to take care of it for me. And the reward for taking care of it…” said Blueblood, placing a briefcase on the desk. “Well, I’d like to think it’d be worth it.” he said as he opened it showing it contained both American and Equestrian currency.

Girder smirked as he looked down at the briefcase before him. “What do you need me to do?” he asked Blueblood.

“There’s this CSI working for the Baltimare Police Department. His name is Hunter Zolomon. I tried to offer him an olive branch to get him on my payroll, but he knocked it out of my hand, along with some of my enforcers. I need you to find him and beat him to paste,” said Blueblood.

“Well, as it happens, I love to punch things… you’ve got your man.”

…

Hunter Zolomon sat on the sofa of his apartment, looking down at his Zoom mask. He knew it was only a matter of time before someone made the connection between him and Zoom. Sure, his time remnants could throw people off for a while, but deep down, he knew it was only a matter of time before someone made the connection. And when they did, he would lose everything that he’d worked so hard to gain ever since he got here.

Hunter’s cell phone rang. Looking down at it, he saw that it was from a number he didn’t recognize. Pressing the answer call button, Hunter held the phone to his ear.

“Yello?” asked Hunter, only to hear the dial tone, causing him to start to feel as though something was wrong. “Something’s wrong.” Hunter said stating the obvious before shrugging the feeling off.

Hunter set the phone down and got up to get a drink from the fridge. Hunter walked into his kitchen and opened the fridge, when Hunter leaned inside to grab a can of Soder Cola, Girder was standing behind him. Hunter remained oblivious to the threat upon his life as he stood back up and opened the can and took a big swig of it. Girder, meanwhile, reached back and raised a fist, ready to either kill, or retrieve his target. Then faster than a man his size should be able he threw his punch, which Hunter dodged making Girder dent the freezer door.

“Close, but no cigar,” said Hunter right before he threw a punch of his that landed right on the side of Girder’s face… and he felt most of the bones in his hand break, giving Girder the opening he needed to start pounding on the helpless man. It wasn’t long before Hunter stopped moving and simply laid motionless on the floor, apparently dead.

“And that’s what happens when you cross Blueblood! Should’ve taken his olive branch,” said Girder, before he kicked Hunter as hard as he could in the side. The job done, Girder proceeded to walk over to the fridge, open it, and began searching for beer in it, but came up empty. He then proceeded to walk out the door, a confident smirk on his face.

As soon as Hunter heard Girder’s footsteps fade away, he opened his only eye that wasn’t swollen shut by a bruise, and began to crawl his way to where he kept the rest of his Zoom costume, and painfully pulled it on, but was too drained to put on the mask. Once that was done, Zoom ran to the only place he could think of where he could get medical attention and heal without doctors questioning how he was able to heal from his injuries so quickly.

…

Moondancer was walking beside Wells while she played around with something on her tablet.

“What exactly are you working on?” Dr. Wells asked Moondancer as they made their way into the Cortex.

“I’m trying to figure out where Starlight’s hiding. I installed an ECU into the Cold Gun in order to prevent the sub-cold fluid inside from overflowing and causing the device to explode. It’s been receiving updates wirelessly from my tablet,” explained Moondancer. “I’ve been trying to send false updates to it. Problem is, the signal’s too weak for a proper reception. I really shouldn’t have cheaped out on our wireless package.”

“Well, it was my building before you bought it, so I guess I’m the one who cheaped out on the wireless package,” said Wells with a gentle smile, which Moondancer returned.

However, both of them stopped dead in their tracks when they saw what, or who rather, was lying on the ground, unconscious. It was Zoom without his mask, which was lying on the ground next to him, and he looked like he had been hurt badly.

Moondancer got on the ground next to him and began searching for signs of life. “I recognize this guy. He was the CSI who was with Twilight and Spike when they came to question us about Captain Cold- I mean, Starlight. But, why is he dressed up like Zoom? And more importantly, why is he here?” asked Moondancer.

“Consider it a wild guess, but I’m thinking our friend here actually is Zoom. Although, how he was able to be in two places at once is beyond me, as is why he would come here in such a battered condition,” said Dr. Wells, making a look that suggested he was intrigued by what lay before him. “One way or the other, he needs help, Moondancer, get the crash cart.”

…

Hunter groaned as he regained consciousness, quickly realizing that he was lying on a hospital bed, or crash cart, more likely. As his vision cleared, he saw that Harrison Wells and Moondancer were sitting around his bed.

But they weren’t alone. Also sitting around Hunter was Twilight Sparkle and her boyfriend, Spike.

Hunter groaned at the sight of Twilight and Spike. “Are you two here to arrest me?” he asked them drowsily.

“Actually, no. We’re here because we want to help you with… whatever it is you’re doing. This city is dying, and Twilight and I are only two of the few good cops left who haven’t had an unfortunate… accident,” said Spike.

Twilight nodded. “That, and it’d be pretty difficult to get so much as an arrest warrant, let alone a conviction when all four of us saw you and… Zoom, together only a few days ago. Speaking of which, how did you pull that off? Some kind of optical illusion?” she asked.

Hunter chuckled, relieved that he wasn’t going to prison forever… not that any prison built by normal men or ponies could ever contain him. “Somewhat. I created a time remnant. It’s a temporal duplicate created when guys like me run back a few seconds in time and meet ourselves,” he explained.

“I thought that the universe was supposed to end if you meet a future or past version of yourself,” said Moondancer. “Either that or you pass out from the shock.”

“Professor, Back To The Future is just a shot in the dark, like almost everything everyone has ever known about time travel, ever,” said Hunter.

“What I want to know is, what happened to you, Mister Zolomon, and how are you healing so fast.” Harrison Wells asked him.

“Well, in addition to being able to run faster than the speed of sound, I also have accelerated healing and a hypermetabolism. They came with this new body after my accident.”

“Accident? New body? What are you talking about?” asked Twilight.

Hunter sighed before he began to explain. “Where to start… well, for one thing, my name isn’t really Hunter Zolomon, I’m not from this particular Earth, and this isn’t my original body,” he said leaning his head back before he continued, among confused looks. “It all started right about the same time your particle accelerator exploded, oddly enough. Back then, my name was James Jackson. It was the middle of winter, and I was on my way home from a party when my car hit a patch of black ice and flipped over. As if that weren’t enough, the damn thing slid directly into some electrical wires and knocked one loose. It fell directly on top of my car. I was electrocuted, burned, and blown to smithereens all at the same time.”

Spike, Twilight, and Moondancer all hissed through their teeth at the thought of going through all that pain, while Harrison pressed on.

“And then what happened?”

“For what felt like the longest time, I felt like I was floating in a black limbo without a body. Then, all of a sudden, I was in the middle of what looked like some kind of storm, with different colored lightning bolts flashing around all over the place. In the middle of the storm, there was a woman. She looked just like my sister before she died in a house fire. She told me that I had a great destiny before me, and in order to achieve that destiny I would need a new body, and as it so happened, she had the materials and knowledge needed to create one for me. Then, when I woke up, I was in my apartment, and looked like this. Lying in a corner nearby was my Zoom costume. I learned that I was a new CSI for the Baltimare PD, and the rest simply fell into place.”

“Interesting… that almost sounds like…” said Wells before his voice trailed off, apparently lost in thought.

“Sounds like what?” Moondancer asked curiously.

“Nothing, it’s not important,” said Wells. “But, I’m still curious, what exactly did you hit that put you in this condition?”

“A man of steel. Girded steel to be exact. I already have a hunch how to beat him,” said Hunter.

“Oh? And that would be what, exactly?”

“He can turn himself into metal which if hit at a high enough velocity, can be compromised. Basically, I need to punch him in the face going faster than the speed of sound. Problem is, I need a straight-shot from 5.3 miles away in order to pull it off,” explained Hunter.

“How in the wide, wide world are you going to be able to pull that off?” asked Twilight.

“I have no idea,” said Hunter.

Almost as if on cue, Twilight’s phone rang. “Hello?” she said as she answered it. Listening intently to what the caller was saying, Twilight nodded and said, “We’re on our way.”

After she hung up, Spike looked at his girlfriend. “What was that about?” he asked her.

“Spike, there’s a hostage crisis. Apparently, some Metahuman street tough named Tony Woodward grabbed some reporter named Lightning Dust and ran off with her. They’re holed up in the old elementary school.”

“That’s the guy who beat the crap out of me. But, why would Tony kidnap some reporter?” asked Hunter.

“Don’t know, but you need to go now!” Spike said as he and Twilight got ready to go. Hunter nodded and put on the mask, racing out ahead of them while Moondancer and Harrison Wells got to the computers.

…

“So, what’s the plan, here, Tony? You finally gonna go for that GED?” asked Lightning Dust as she glared up at Tony, pure anger in her eyes.

“You like to write about that ‘Black Blur’ guy, right? Well, guess what? Now you’re going to write about me! There’s a new big man on campus! And his name is Girder!” said Girder, his skin turning to metal as he spoke.

“You could have anypony write about you, Tony! Why me?” asked Lightning.

“Because I like you, Lightning. I always have,” said Girder.”With these powers, I don’t need handouts from Prick Blueblood! I can take whatever I want, whenever I want.”

”Not while I’m around.”

In a flash of blue lightning, Zoom appeared in the hallway directly across from Girder and Lightning Dust.

“So… you here to save your little fanmare?” asked Girder.

”What? Fanmare?” asked Zoom, sounding confused, before it clicked. Zoom turned around look Lightning Dust directly in the eye. ”You and I are going to have a little chat about this lat-” Zoom started to say, before Girder sucker punched him from behind and sent him flying across the room. ”er.” Zoom wheezed out as he got back up.

“Should’ve been paying closer attention to her blog,” hissed Girder as he threw another punch at Zoom, only for the black-clad speedster to evade the attack.

”Too slow, Tin Man,” said Zoom.

Growling in rage, Girder then picked up a nearby nearby flagpole and used it to pick Zoom up and start slamming him around the walls of the building.

Okay, enough games. It’s do or die time, thought Zoom as he felt several more bones break. Finally sliding off the pole, Zoom ran out the door and kept running until he was finally 5.3 miles away.

Okay, it’s go time, it’s go time, thought Zoom as he took a sprinter’s starting stance and he started running. Breaking the sound barrier as he ran, Zoom lunged through the doors of the school and made ready to punch Girder right in the jaw.

”FAAAAAAALLLLLLCOOOOOONNNNN PAAAAAAAUUUUUNCHH!!!” yelled Zoom as his Supersonic Punch landed right on target, causing Girder to get sent flying across the room, where he hit the wall, cracking it, and slid to the ground, unconscious. Zoom himself tumbled to the ground, groaning from the pain in his hand.

”Hunter? Hunter, are you there? Is this comlink working? Has Girder been dealt with?” said Wells’ voice from the comlink that had been installed in his mask while he had been unconscious

As Zoom staggered to his feet. he felt around for the button to turn on the comlink. ”We win. Tell the detectives to move in,” said Zoom as he turned to face Lightning. ”Looks like we’ll be having that chat another time. See you around,” said Zoom as he dashed out of the building.

…

Lightning Dust sat on one of the comfy chairs inside Jitters, one of the local coffee shops, the following evening. She had been invited there by an anonymous user on her blog. She looked up when the door opened and saw a face she recognized as the CSI who’d been clueless about the particle accelerator explosion.

Hunter Zolomon, I think, thought Lightning Dust.

Hunter made his way over to the chair directly across from where Lightning Dust was sitting.

“Glad to see you got my invitation,” said Hunter as he looked over at Lightning Dust, smiling over at her.

“Thank you for inviting me. May I ask why you invited me here?” asked Lightning Dust as she took a sip of her coffee.

“Well, I wanted to talk to you, on behalf of our… mutual friend, about your blog. He’s not asking you to give it up, he just wants to know more about it, what reports you’ve heard, what you’ve been writing about, things like that,” said Hunter.

“Wait, wait, you know Zoom?” asked Lightning.

“As a matter of fact, I do. He’s an old friend of mine from back home. He thinks that, if he knew what exactly you were writing about, it could give him an idea as to what he’s up against,” said Hunter.

“Well… where should I start?”

As the evening progressed, Lightning told Hunter about a pony whose head and hands burst into flames yet she didn’t burn up, a superstrong pony who called himself Atom Smasher, and many more. As the evening progressed, Hunter began to feel a warmth starting to blossom in his chest.

One way or another, Hunter knew that this was the start of a long and beautiful friendship… perhaps more.

...

All seemed peaceful in a residential neighborhood just outside of Baltimare. Leaves littered the street as two teenage foals rode their bikes across the street, apparently heading home for the night.

Then, something extraordinary happened. For the briefest of moments, a glowing blue vortex appeared, and from it merged a yellow blur that had blood-red lightning coming from him. As the figure came to a stop, it could be seen that the figure seemed to be blurred somehow, but what could be seen was that he had glowing red eyes, wore a yellow-and-black suit similar to the one worn by Zoom, and seemed to be making what could only be described as “scary helicopter noises.”

The figure stopped vibrating, reached up, and pulled back his open cowl, revealing himself to be a man in his late thirties with blonde hair. The man held his hand open, causing a holographic head to appear.

“GIDEON,” said the man.

”Yes, Professor Thawne?” replied GIDEON.

“Where the Hell am I?” Eobard Thawne asked as he looked around, clearly unsure of his surroundings.

Author's Note:

I DID IT! I ACTUALLY MADE IT PAST THE THREE CHAPTER MARK!!!! Go me!!! But, it certainly looks like things are about to get real up in here! Join us next time as Zoom goes one on one with The Reverse Flash! Until then, be sure to fave, follow, like, and comment! And remember: dying is easy, comedy is hard!

Comments

[Gotland]

DIS GUNNA BE GOOD!

[Purplefan9]

Wwoooo a chapter update!!!

[VikingOtaku6]

It's all coming together... Excellent...

Hail Hydra.

[Fallen Black Soul]

8306762
*SALUTES* SIEG POI!
*starts playing the anthem*https://youtu.be/G_8kHIRafNM

[Redstargazer]

Okay, the suggested themes? Brilliant. More than enough to bring me in. Buuuut there are a few lingering issues keeping me from being able to like or stick with at the moment. If you're willing to accept a little criticism, maybe you could hear out a few suggestions ?

[Texus]

I can'T image Spike x Twilight, but it sounds good enough to start reading it, the story I mean.

[Texus]

do you continue this story? I haven't seen that the last chapter was last year when I took the story into my reading list.

[The Phantom Joker]

8795210
Eventually.

[Fox spirit]

Sooo... When is the next Chapter?

[CrAzY FaLcOn]

POKE.

[nightshroud96]

I hope we see this continue.

Spike x Twilight is pretty nice to see.

[The Spot]

Pls update