The Rise and Fall of Crimson Flash and the Night Gaurds

It started months before my conception. Maybe even years. I don't know all the details. I still don''t want to. I know now that my father, my real father, was a meta human. My father had been called Fire Burst and was a lesser known hero. He had a barely there track record. His hero business didn't really get off the ground.

Then, just like that, my father was ripped off the streets. My father was probably no older then sixteen. The organization known as Rebirth took him. They took him and a hand full of other lesser known meta human's and used their genes, and their lives, to create a generation of meta humans to be used for their sick game of political destruction.

That's how I was born. I don't know how my mother got involved with Rebirth, but she had been given a mix of genes to create me. I was born in Lutheran Hospital in Indiana, Fort Wayne. My brother was born five years later. I don't know if my brother was like me or not. I think he might have been a normal kid. I didn't know him long enough to find out. He died in a car crash when he was seven that my mother survived. Back then, I thought it was one big accident. I thought the guy who had hit my mother's car had been drunk and negligent. Then I learned the truth. My brother death was supposed to be a trigger. It was supposed to awaken my abilities. All it did was make me miserable. Now that I know the truth, it keeps me up at night, tossing and turning with a sick guilt that in a way, I had killed my brother by simply being born.

I sometimes wonder what things would have been like if I had been born normal.

Things got worse in my home after my brother's death. My dad, or the person parading around as my dad, was a prick to begin with. The day I was born he was nothing but a self centered domineering abuser. So when my brother died, it took him to a whole new level. He had already been abusive toward me and my mom before my brother died. I guess when Tyler died, my dad snapped.

A year this went on. Then something about the cycle of abuse changed. My father wasn't kind or gentle, but he wasn't a killer. So when he tried to kill my mother...

I should have known. I should have known that he didn't do it on his own. He wouldn't kill Mom. He loved her, in his won twisted way. Rebirth had again stuck their hand into my messed up life. They had made my father do it. I don't know how, but they made him go after her. This time, the trauma worked. I discovered my powers.

I could use fire. With it, I burned my father alive.

I hated him. Loathed every breath he breathed, but killing him... I can't forgive myself for that. I will never forgive myself.

I ran away. What could I do? I was twelve and afraid of the consequences of my actions, and worse yet, afraid of myself. I just ran as far and as fast as I could. I didn't know where to go or who to trust. As far as I was concerned, the world had a hit on my head. Kill the monster, burn the freak.

I found my way onto a set of fright trains. From there, it was just about surviving. I didn't have food water, clean clothes or shelter most of the time.

Do you know what that can do to a kid? I still can't get rid of the nightmares. I wake up at night thinking someone has a knife to my throat or worse.

Like this I lived for five months. Five months of utter misery. Everything comes to an end though. I had decided to stay in a town somewhere in Florida. I was sick and tired of almost freezing to death up north. It was a town you'd see out of a catalog from the fifties. Main street and everything.

There had to have been some kind of benevolent being out there who didn't completely hate me, because pity was give to me in this town.

A woman by the name of Sabella took me in. She was the first person who had been genuinely kind to me for months and at first I didn't trust her. I had half a mind to steal as much food as I could carry and run for the hills, but I didn't. I wanted to stop running and stop hiding. I wanted to be normal again. I told her about my family and about my father. I omitted me burning my father to death. I was still on the run after all.

Three months of peace. A beautiful three months of being normal again. I even considered going back to school.

Then, my luck changed. If I had know what would have happened, I would have ran away and never let Sabella get close to me. I wouldn't have let myself believe that I could ever live a normal life and my past wouldn't catch up with me.

I lost control of my powers. I don't even remember why I had been mad. I was furious over something. Looking back, it was probably something stupid and childish. What ever it was, made me snap. I remember people screaming and running out of the building as it set on fire. I remember the panic that hit me. I remember seeing people point toward me and saying things that I couldn't hear over the roar of the blaze. No on died in the fire.

My chances at being normal died in the fire though.

I tried to run away, but Sabella stopped me. She said she understood. She said it was an accident and that everything would be alright. My mind was told me to run and never look back. I should have got on that train and stayed their. My heart though said to listen to her.

My heart won.

Four months later, Sabella was attacked.

I came home, and there she was, sprawled out on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. She had been beaten then shot. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't sure if I should call the police, an ambulance, or try to do something about her wound. I was panicking. The last person I had left was dying. She said one thing to me.

"I will never let them take you."

That was the last thing she ever said to me. I didn't know who was responsible, but I knew it involved me. I knew who ever did this, was after me. I thought of running away again. I thought that maybe hiding would save others from the fate Sabella suffered in my stead.

Then I said screw it, and made my choice. I refused to run away again. I had spent the last few years of my life running away from all the madness. I wasn't a cowards, and sure as hell was not going to let this be. Sabella became the mother I wasn't allowed to have any more. I wasn't going to leave her death the way it was. I wanted revenge.

I became Crimson Flash. I swore to hunt down those who killed Sabella and make them pay. At thirteen, I became a vigilant.

Through great trial and error, I learned how to use my abilities. I learned my strengths and weakness's. But I did not learn to use my fire. I refused to use something that had taken a life. I swore off lethality. I swore vengeance, but I did not swear to kill those who took Sabella from me. She would never forgive it and I would never forgive myself.

I learned martial arts of varying strengths and acrobatics. I had broken quite a few bones in the process, which showed me I could heal faster then the average human. I studied anything I thought would be useful to me. I became a detective in my own rights. With these skills, I found the clues I needed.

I wounds up in Gateway City following a lead.

I found Rebirth lying in wait in the bowels of the city. On the surface, they were a medical company that had enough good Pr that no one asked any questions. The company was known for giving away free medication and making leaps and bounds in helpful research against all kinds of illnesses. I had thought I had hit a dead end when I wound up there. I had looked so hard for those responsible for Sabella death. I had to know the truth about everything.

I broke into the building after hours, thinking I could just wander in and take them down. It was stupid and naive. I had no idea what I was dealing with.

I was captured. I had walked right into their trap blind. I had thought I was strong and ready to confront the source of my pain, but in the end I had been stupid.

I became their lab rat. For three weeks I was experimented on. Most of it I don't remember, or I blocked it out. sometimes flashes come back to me when I don't expect them. Like fire works your too close to. They blind me and I freeze up. Sometimes I have a panic attack from it, sometimes I just shut down. Either way, it all points to one thing. What ever happened to me while I was there was horrific.

I learned though. Everything was told to me, if only in scraps of conversation I pieced together after the fact. I learned who my real father was. I learned why I was born and why every one I ever loved was killed.

The original purpose of my birth was to create a super being that they could use to over throw the current government of America. The group had utilizing the military resources of Fort Wayne to create me. They had been keeping tabs on me for most of his life. When I showed no progress, they decided to kill my brother to see if it would trigger anything from the emotional strain. When that didn't work, they made my 'father' try to kill my mother. Because I ran away so abruptly, they lost track of me. It wasn't until I lost control of my abilities when I was with Sabella that they were able to find me again. They originally were going to capture me after killing Sabella, but decided to let me built up my powers on own. They had then laid clues for me to find and to lure me into a trap.

I had walked right into it. I had no one to blame but myself.

Then they came. Three people just like me. Each a product of Rebirth. Each out to take the organization down. I vaguely remember them coming to get me. There had been an explosion. I had been on an operating table. I got free somehow. I knew I needed to move. There were blurs of movement, shouting, people trying to grab me. Then darkness.

When I woke up, I was in a room that smelled of mold and decay. It was furnished with things that seemed like they had been dragged off the street. I was bandaged in just about everyplace. I hurt in more places then the bandages covered. It was my first cohesive memory after I was captured.

The people whop saved me were lying about the room. The two younger ones were asleep on top of each other. The third stood in the corner of the room, seeming to be drifting off.

His name was Raze, at least, that's the name he gave me. His real name was Jace. The twins, as I learned to call them, were Deviation and Aegis. Their names were Lian and Trinity, respectively.

The three of them had formed a misfit team of would be heroes to take down Rebirth and to defend Gateway City when they could.

The three offered to help me with my goal against Rebirth, but I stubbornly refused. I didn't trust new people. I still have a hard time trusting people now. Old habits die hard.

Once I was strong enough to stand, I decided to go after Rebirth again. It was bold faced and stupid. I didn't have the skill and was still walking with a limp. I could barely hold my own against a group of half decent thugs, let alone an organization designed to capture and control lesser heroes. It was like I was trying to get myself killed. I don't know what made me think I could do it on my own. I don't remember what was running through my head. I just know it blew up in my face. Rebirth was not happy to see me. They wanted to capture me again. I nearly died that day. Raze saved my life a second time. He had followed me and planned for my failure.

I finally admitted defeat and decided to work with the other three. At first it was supposed to be temporary, but I grew to love them like family. Eventually we gave ourselves a name. We became "The night guards". Raze and I fought for leadership of the group (though not directly). Somehow I managed to come on top. The twins listened to me more for some reason. Maybe it was because I was the oldest and had the most experience on my own. Maybe they liked my jokes. I don't know why. They chose me though. Raze eventually chose me too. Everything was settled on my fourteenth birthday. The Night Guards were officially born.

We became the defenders of Gateway City. Things were well for us for some time. We grew as a team and became great friends. I guess you could say we lived like the original Teen Titans did. We had the freedom and lightheartedness to goof off, crack jokes, and be, in a way, normal.

We also became stronger. There was nary a villain we passed that we couldn't take down. Sure we lost some battled and villains got away, but we still were great fighters. For almost a year we grew. Finally, we believed we were ready to take down Rebirth.

It was no easy task and not without its consequences. Deviation lost and arm and Aegis was traumatized by what we had seen. Raze and I came out relatively alright. I have a scar that will never go away and Raze had been burned severely on his left side. We won though. Everything we had ever worked for came to fruition. We defeated Rebirth.

In the process though, we created something far worse.

When we had pushed the leaders of Rebirth to their last strong hold, they were not willing to go down without a fight. We had given them the option to come quietly but they refused vehemently. We had to fight a way through countless mutated humans and meta-humans they had altered beyond saving. When the group was finally cornered and their lab aflame, we offered one last time. Their leader held a gun of some kind. I reacted before he had the chance to shoot it.

I knocked it out of his hand with a throwing knife. The knife veered after striking the gun though and hit a chemical holding tank. It burst, dousing the three Leaders of Rebirth. The chemicals ignited. My team and I left before we saw the results. The chemicals mutated them. They became the very monsters that they had been creating.

It changed them, right down to their souls. They weren't human.

Their leader was given the heaviest dose of the chemicals. His mind altered. His goals and ambitions changed. He didn't want to overthrow governments any more. He wanted to kill. He wanted to kill any one that could make a government. He wanted to destroy society as we knew it and leave only super humans. Any one against his ideal were to be disposed of. They called themselves Apocalypse now and their first targets toward their goal..

...The Night Guards.

We never saw it coming. They armed themselves with the various villains we had taken down. They built a new empire. We had been so happy that we took down our enemies that we hadn't even thought that the leaders could still be alive and plotting our downfall.

When they came, we hadn't even been properly armed. They had found our base of operations and attacked us while we slept. At a great cost, only three of us escaped. Raze had stayed behind to buy us time.

That was the last time we saw Raze as he was.

We learned later that he had been captured, not killed. We were over joyed, then imminently devastated. We had seen the horrors first hand. We knew what Rebirth was capable of.

We had searched high and low for him, but can't find him. Days turned to weeks. Weeks to months. Seasons changed. Eventually, we gave up hope.

Time passed. The Night Guards weren't the same without him. We tried to hold ourselves together. The heroes we had made friends with tried to console us, but we were broken. Series injuries we could take. But a death of a teammate was too much. We started to drift apart. The night Guards began to crumble.

Then Raze appeared on our new bases doorstep. Half dead, horribly injured, and incapable of a complete sentence, but alive. He came back on my sixteenth birthday. We helped mend his wounds, but the scars he sustained mentally, was something we weren't fit to take care of, but we did out best.

The damage was permanent though. There wasn't a therapist in the world that could undo the things he had suffered. He just wasn't the same. We tried to pretend everything was alright. We tried to integrate him back into our team and have things go back to the way they were. It only made things worse. The more we tried to pretend it was alright, the more we realized Raze had changed. He didn't sleep. He just wandered the halls restlessly and haunted by memories. When he did sleep, we could hear him screaming.

If we, no, if I hadn't been trying so hard to not notice, maybe I would have seen it coming.

Raze was damaged mentally. He was unstable. Even on missions, we just couldn't bring ourselves to trust him. We could see the spark of insanity in his eye. We chose to look the other way.

Then one day, he snapped. I knew it would happen. I could see him unwinding, but I didn't know when, and I didn't know how.

We had been eating at one of favorite lunch spots. We had been laughing and chatting, having one of those rare moments when things seemed normal. I was too busy enjoying the moment to notice how quite Raze had become. Then an odd sound come from Raze. It was something between a laugh and a sob. Then there was blood.

It happened at lightning speed. Raze had attacked without a moment of hesitation. He had hit Aegis, who was closest to him, in the rib cage. Later I would learn that he collapsed a lung and interrupted the rhythm of her heart. At the time, I only knew that she was hurt badly. He tried to down Deviation and I, but we reacted before he could.

I gave chase while Deviation tried to keep his sister alive.

I chased him as long as I could, but he kept blind siding me with attacks I didn't even know he could do. Somewhere along the way he knocked me out. When I came to, he was gone. Aegis had been hospitalized while Deviation frantically had gone to look for me. He had to carry me to the hospital when he found me.

The media had a fit. We were well know in Gateway City, so they had kept tabs on us in just about every headline. They went on a witch hunt after us. Evey left wing anti-hero publisher had some take on what had happened.

The rest of us though, was trying to cope with what Raze had done.

Raze went missing. Deviation had gone looking for him while Aegis and I stayed bed ridden. When I was well enough, I joined the search. We came up empty handed.

Two months passed. Aegis was finally released from the hospital and we all returned to our base to piece everything together.

Looking back, I almost feel responsibly for Raze going rouge. Though we became friends, in way he resented me. I had become the leader of the team. It was my responsibility to look for him when he was captured. It was me who called off the search. If we had kept looking, Maybe things wouldn't have turned out the way they had.

Raze made an appearance. He didn't go by the name Raze any more. He called himself Nightmare and he had joined Apocalypse.

We were didn't know what to think of this when we figured everything out. Raze had been tormented for a year by these people. To join them made no sense.

At first we didn't want to hurt him. We wanted to have answers and were willing to help him. He was our friend.

It became clear though, he wasn't our friend any more. He tried to kill us, killed others, and did everything within his power to cause destruction and suffering. Raze didn't exist anymore. He died the day Apocalypse captured him.

Then we learned something that caught us all off guard. Raze had killed the leaders of Apocalypse in cold blood. A part of me thought Raze had infiltrated them without telling us. I wanted to believe that he had planned this and that now he would come back to us. He'd be in trouble for what he did, but we could forgive him for that, at least a little. I wanted to believe my friend was still in there.

Nothing changed. Raze had become a nightmare to us. Everything the Night Guards had worked for was being crushed by his actions. We weren't seen as the cities saviors. We were seen as unstable vigilantes that could go crazy any moment. Warrants were issued against us. People began to fear and hate us. We had protected these people, saved their lives countless times, yet they were willing to throw us under the bus.

We became bitter. It was hard to save someone's life when they were ungrateful and loathsome. We also began to hate Raze. We were forced to realize that Raze was now our enemy and the only way to fix things, was to take him down.

We hunted Raze down. It boiled down to a final conflict between me and him.

Deviation and Aegis were injured and barely conscious and I wasn't much better. Raze was bleeding heavily and could barely stand. I was prepared to finish things. Even if it meant killing him.

I don't know if it was the blood loss that made me do it. Maybe it was regret, but something stopped me. I hesitated as I looked him in the eye. For a moment, I saw Raze beneath all the murder and insanity. I will always regret my hesitation.

Nightmare struck. He ran me through with a broken pipe he had been using earlier as a boa staff. I didn't feel it at first. I remember just standing there looking at the pipe sticking out of my abdominal and watching it move as I breathed. I remember screaming, but not really hearing my voice or feeling any pain. I fell to my knees, gripping the pipe as if I let go, I'd die.

Nightmare hovered over me, panting. He looked weak and frail, but the knife he had looked hard enough to cut through steel. I thought I was going to die. I really thought Nightmare was going to kill me.

But he didn't. He let me live. Instead of me he took the twins lives.

I still wish he had taken mine.

...

I survived.

Someone had found me and brought me to the hospital. I was in a comma. They thought I was going to die, but I slowly began to fight back. I was in the hospital for a year. I had to learn how to walk again. They told me I could never be a hero again. The damage was too extensive. I'd risk internal hemorrhaging.

I knew the risks. I knew what could happen to me if Someone hit me in the old injury. I could die from it. But I had something I needed to do.

I needed to bring Nightmare to justice. Even if I had to search the planet for him. I would find him and make right what I had wronged.

I will never give up my search. I will never let those who died in my place be in vein. I will swear to take down Nightmare and never let any one he cares about be hurt again.

I am a hero. I am the only one who can stop Nightmare.

I am Crimson Flash.