Chapter 3 – The Red Awakening
The morning sunlight pierced through hospital windows, casting gold across the sterile white walls.
Barry Allen stood at the front desk, one hand gripping the edge, the other fidgeting with the hem of his sleeve. His eyes were tired, his thoughts far away.
"Dante Hart," he said to the nurse behind the desk. "Can you tell me if he's… still here?"
The nurse glanced at her screen, tapped a few keys, and nodded. "Still in Room 219. Unconscious. No change."
Barry's chest tightened. "Thanks."
He walked slowly down the hallway, each step echoing off the polished floor. His sneakers made no sound, but the weight of guilt felt loud in his chest.
He reached Room 219.
There he was.
Dante Hart.
Still. Pale. Wired to machines.
His face was peaceful, but there was something haunting about it. Like someone who wasn't sleeping—someone who was waiting.
Barry sat in the chair beside him. "You ran in that night," he murmured. "You heard me cream and you… you just ran in."
A bitter laugh escaped his throat.
"If I hadn't said anything, you'd still be walking. Smoking in some corner of CCPD. Not lying in a hospital bed like this."
He exhaled slowly and leaned back. "I'm sorry, man."
---
STAR Labs – Later That Day
Harrison Wells sat before his holographic display, analyzing digital scans of Central City's recent meta-activity. Cisco and Caitlin stood nearby, sorting through a growing list of newly emerged metahumans.
Barry entered, his face set with purpose.
"I need to know what really happened that night."
Harrison looked up. "We've been over this."
"I don't mean me," Barry said. "I mean Dante Hart. He was hit by the lightning too. He's still in a coma. And no one's done anything about it."
Cisco's eyebrows raised. "Wait, the janitor? That guy? I heard he was just hit in the head or something like that when we came to the hospital to take you back then"
Barry nodded. "He was up in the lab. He got struck just like me. But STAR took me. No one even looked at him."
Harrison narrowed his eyes. "Where is he now?"
"Central City Hospital."
Wells tapped a few commands. "Caitlin. Cisco. Go."
Without hesitation, they left.
---
Hospital – Room 219
An hour later, Caitlin Snow leaned over Dante's bed with a scanner in hand. Cisco stood at her side, typing into a tablet.
"He's stable," she said. "Everything's functioning. But it's like… something's dormant. Locked in place."
"Dormant how?" Cisco asked.
"No signs of active metahuman ability. Brain function's a little elevated, but nothing too extreme. He's just… not waking up."
Cisco looked at Dante, furrowing his brow. "Creepy eyes. Red hair. Kinda looks like a younger Roy Batty. You sure he's not half robot?"
Caitlin rolled her eyes.
They returned to STAR Labs a few hours later.
"Nothing," Caitlin told Barry. "He's still unconscious. And... we don't think he has powers."
Barry nodded slowly.
But something didn't feel right.
---
Two Months Later
Time had moved quickly. Since Barry woke up, the world had changed.
Central City was no longer ordinary. People whispered of "metahumans," freak accidents, strange abilities. Some robbed banks. Some just vanished. And one among them chose to fight back.
The Flash.
Red lightning streaked across the city.
Barry Allen had become a ghost in the wind—a hero, a symbol.
But every now and then, as he ran through the city saving lives, he'd pass the hospital. And a sliver of guilt would cut through him. A sliver named Dante Hart.
---
That Night
The city was quiet, the moon veiled behind clouds. Then the silence broke—gunfire in the south district. A man collapsed in the street, foaming at the mouth, black veins rising under his skin.
"Poison," whispered the EMT. "He's poison."
Not a metaphor. Literal poison.
An emerging metahuman, face pale green, hands dripping acid. His name: Toxin. His body a swirling chemical nightmare. He could seep through walls. Liquify metal. And now, he had a list.
His next target was a doctor.
Inside the hospital.
---
Central City Hospital – 11:21 PM
Barry ran across rooftops, lightning crackling at his heels. He arrived in seconds, bursting through the main entrance of the hospital.
Screams echoed in the hallways. Nurses ran. Security had already collapsed, coughing on the floor, foaming at the lips.
Barry found him on the third floor.
Toxin hovered in the center of the hallway, poison leaking from his arms like vapor. His eyes were sunken. His lips curled into a feral grin.
"I told them," he hissed. "They thought I was crazy. But I was right. And now they'll all choke on the truth."
Barry blurred forward.
He landed a punch—his hand sizzled instantly. The villain didn't even flinch.
Barry cried out, pulling away, his glove eaten through. "He's pure acid! I can't hit him!"
Toxin turned. "You're fast, Flash. But you can't outrun chemistry."
He raised both hands. A torrent of green mist roared through the hallway.
Barry spun into a cyclone, trying to blow it away—but it barely moved. The gas was heavy. Toxic. It began to spread into rooms.
"No—" Barry gasped. "The patients—"
---
Room 219
The poison crept under the door.
It hissed along the floor, curling upward.
Dante's fingers twitched.
A red spark snapped from his nail.
Then another.
His eyelids fluttered once.
---
In the Hall
Barry stumbled, coughing hard, his body weakening.
Toxin stood above him, laughing. "Even the fastest die slow."
And then—it happened.
---
Across Central City
Lightning split the sky.
But it wasn't yellow.
It was red.
From the heart of the hospital, a blast of red lightning exploded into the sky, forming a pillar of blazing energy that shattered windows, cracked walls, and turned night into blood-colored day.
The storm wasn't in the clouds.
It came from inside.
The city shook.
Alarms blared across towns twenty miles away.
People looked up.
"What was that?"
---
In the Hospital
The sound was deafening.
A roar.
Not human. Not animal.
Something ancient. Something furious.
It rang across the hospital like a god's fury.
Every hallway. Every floor.
It froze Toxin in place.
His mist curled back into his hands.
His knees buckled.
He turned toward Room 219—and knelt in fear.
A shadow stood in the doorway.
Eyes glowing like coals.
Red lightning crackling across his skin.
A smirk curled his lips.
Dante Hart stepped out of the room, shirt torn, chest rising and falling as smoke lifted off his back.
The red lightning danced around his fists.
Toxin began to tremble.
"N-No—"
Dante tilted his head.
And said nothing.
But the whole world will later know it
Dante Hart was awake.
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