Aboard the Javelin, the ship cut through the clouds above the coordinates that, according to every map, should have been Central City. But below, there was nothing. Just an empty, desolate expanse, as if a gigantic hand had wiped the metropolis from the face of the Earth.
"I detect no trace of urban structure, no signs of life," announced J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, his brow furrowed in intense concentration. His telepathic powers battered against a wall of absolute silence. "The communicators for Flash and Utopian are no longer responding. Their signals ceased twenty minutes ago."
Wonder Woman, standing beside him, tightened her grip on her lasso. "Sorcery? Advanced technology?"
"It's more than that," growled Hawkgirl, her wings twitching behind her. She pointed at the navigation screen. "I'm reading a magnetic field of phenomenal intensity enveloping the entire area. It's a bubble."
Suddenly, an intense green light swept the sky as a Fighter Jet, piloted by Green Lantern John Stewart, pulled up alongside them.
"I tried to breach this field from the outside," John's voice, tense, came through the Javelin's speakers. "My constructs have no effect. This thing... it either absorbs or dissolves the ring's energy. I've never seen anything like it."
Their eyes met, silent, through the cockpits. Central City, Flash, Utopian... all gone, locked in an invisible prison against which even the strongest will seemed powerless.
---
Inside the Bubble
The silence was worse than anything. A suffocating shroud lay over what had been downtown. The buildings were still there, but frozen, drained of their soul, surrounded by a yellowish energy mist.
In the middle of a deserted avenue, Utopian and Solovar stood back-to-back, their breathing the only sound in the void.
Facing them, Flash. His eyes glowed with a sinister green light, and an inhuman sneer distorted his features.
"I'll hold him off," Utopian announced, his voice low but firm, echoing strangely in the silence. "Solovar, find Grodd. He must be close, watching his triumph."
The white gorilla gave a brief nod, his piercing gaze scanning the surrounding rooftops. "Agreed." With surprising agility for his mass, he leaped and began scaling the facade of a nearby building, quickly disappearing into the mist.
Utopian turned his full attention to the scarlet tornado threatening him.
"Flash, wake up!" he called out, a final, desperate attempt. "It's Barry Allen! Remember!"
No reaction. Only a low hum as Flash accelerated, becoming a vibrating blur encircling Utopian. Blows began to rain down from all directions, fast as lightning.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Utopian absorbed the impacts, his white suit dissipating some of the force. He possessed superhuman strength, speed that could rival the Flash's, but all of it was meant for facing enemies. Not for neutralizing a friend without harming him. Every blow he blocked wrenched his gut with guilt.
I have to catch him, he repeated mentally. Immobilize him and get the anti-telepathy headband on him.
He reached out, trying to grab Flash's arm as it whipped past, but found only empty air. A lightning-fast uppercut struck him under the chin, sending him staggering.
It's impossible to match his pure speed. He closed his eyes for a moment, focusing inward. I'll have to rely on the Compound V.
He felt the special fluid coursing through his veins answer his call. A warmth spread through his body, rising to his skull. He reinforced his synapses, erecting a mental fortress around his consciousness. Grodd's control was powerful, but Compound V could boost all faculties, including cerebral defenses. The mental heaviness he'd begun to feel just being near Flash lessened slightly.
His eyelids reopened, his pupils emitting a faint red glow. He stopped trying to follow Flash's movements with his eyes and instead used his super-hearing. He listened to the whistle of the air, the minute friction of the suit on the asphalt, the ultra-fast heartbeat.
There.
He pivoted, his arm shooting out not to strike, but to ensnare. In a move of surgical precision, he caught something solid within the scarlet blur.
He held Flash by the arm.
Surprise immobilized the Speedster for a fraction of a second. A fraction was all Utopian needed. With his other hand, he brandished the mental dampener headband Solovar had given him.
"Sorry, Barry," he murmured.
He aimed for his friend's forehead and brought the headband closer.