Professor Zoom.

A Former Friend.

 

Hunter Zolomon - Two boys as thick as thieves, Hunter Zolomon and Wally West spent most of their adolescent and adult life together. Everyone around them knew they were closer than brothers from the moment they met, sharing everything from toys to their very first jobs. They were both two of the nicest boys while simultaneously being the biggest troublemakers those around them had ever known. Every day one could find the pair together, that was until Wally moved to Central City to live with his aunt Iris and her boyfriend Barry, thus leaving Hunter by himself in Keystone City. While the pair were only separated by the Gem Cities Bridge, the two quickly became distant from each other. Their weekly car trip across the state line to visit one another swiftly drifted into a once in a while text message or phone call. Eventually the messages mostly stopped as Wally moved to New York for what he claimed would be a great learning opportunity at a prep school.

 

Hunter was left alone in Keystone for years, and because of his tight bond with Wally coupled with not really knowing many more friends than him, Hunter had a hard time finding any luck socializing with the other kids in his school. Eventually, Hunter dropped out of his school and opted to finish his high school years online, furthering his isolation from any form of friendship. After Zolomon graduated from high school he spent a few years in a community college but his real goal was to become a cop when he became of age. So once he turned twenty-one Hunter enrolled in to a police academy so as to fulfill his goal.

 

A few years had passed and Hunter had become an esteemed police officer, even being considered a promotion to detective after he cracked a case that had stumped many of his fellow officers. All while this was happening, Wally had finished college and was travelling the world with the Titans, though Hunter only knew that he was with some “friends.” Eventually, Wally made his way back to the Gem Cities to stop by and visit his Aunt and her now Husband. While there Wally made his way across the bridge to once again meet up with Hunter. The pair hung out at Zolomon’s house and reminisced about old times as well as caught up on things that had transpired since the last time they had seen each other. Wally went on and on about his travels across the country and abroad all while Hunter really only had stories of cases he had worked on and nothing more.

 

Almost a year passed and Wally had since moved back home to Keystone City where he began work as a mechanic for Zolomon’s precinct. All felt right again as the pair again began to spend most of their free time together. That was until one day Zolomon was called to a case that got very violent. Caught in a shootout, Hunter had nowhere to go so he had no other option but to call for back up. Unfortunately the back up showed up to late and Hunter was caught in the cross fire of two rival gangs. A stray shot struck Hunter in the back and instantly paralyzed him. The loud gunfire caught the attention of Wally who was patrolling the city as the Flash. Quickly, Wally made it to the scene and disarmed all of the gang members, even going as far as finding some chain to tie up all of the thugs. With a painful groan, Hunter yelled for the Flash to come to his aid. Wally swiftly ran to Hunter’s side and quickly unmasked in an attempt to calm Hunter. In the blink of an eye, Wally got Hunter to the hospital before any further damage happened and the doctors were able to stabilize Zolomon. However, due to the point at which the bullet entered Zolomon’s back he was now left paralyzed from the waste down.

 

After Hunter was discharged from the hospital he and Wally met up so Hunter could thank his friend for saving him that day. Wally assured Hunter that he would do anything to help Hunter and that he would be by his side whenever he was needed. Hunter again thanked Wally and the pair began discussing Wally’s secret life and all things superpower related. Eventually the conversation got the point that Wally mentioned that at one point he travelled back in time thanks to a “cosmic treadmill” that Star Labs had let him use. With this information, Hunter asked Wally if there was a way that he could use the treadmill to go back in time and stop what had happened. Wally quickly shot down the idea because he said that it would tamper with the timeline and only cause more issues to arise if he did so. Hunter begrudgingly agreed, though he began to think that if he could somehow gain access to this treadmill that maybe he could reverse the events that had transpired.

 

So with this hopeful idea, Hunter secretly made his way to Star Labs in Central City. There he broke in to the facility and found what could only be described as a glorified treadmill. With what little mobility he had left in his lower body, Hunter made his way onto the treadmill after finding the power source and flicking it on. Hunter braced himself on a bar and waited for the treadmill to begin moving. With a loud roar and a fury of blinking lights, the treadmill began to slowly move. Zolomon began to stumble along the moving ground beneath him as the machine began to hiss and stutter. A loud crack sounded behind Zolomon and a flash of electricity jolted his legs causing him to fall face first on the ever accelerating platform on which he stood. As Hunter crashed off the back of the treadmill he noticed a small puff of smoke coming from the treadmill’s power source. The small puff quickly became a large billowing stack of smoke as a large blast of flames came bursting forth out of an electrical panel. Hopeless once more, Hunter laid there as the machine roared ever louder and sputter flames onto the ground before him. Hunter closed his eyes as he knew the machine was about to explode before him, though to his surprise, with the sound of a loud pop he found himself falling through a realm of electricity. In shock, Hunter faded into unconsciousness and landed back into the reality he found familiar.

 

After coming to, Hunter found himself in a hospital room, a surrounding he had unfortunately grown accustomed to. Though this time he felt different, he could feel his legs and every muscle in them. For the first time in almost a year Hunter could move his legs, so he did what anyone would do in his position, he got up and began walking. Much to his surprise, however, as he began walking he was moving much quicker than he could really comprehend. In a second he found himself outside the hospital and in the middle of the street outside. Somehow he could set his sights on a place and in the blink of an eye his legs could carry him there with little to no effort. Remembering what had happened to him and why it did, Hunter became filled with rage towards Wally. He knew that Wally could have stopped what had happened to him because of the very fact that he now had the ability to move his legs again.

 

Filled with rage, Hunter raced to Wally’s house, there he found Wally’s girlfriend, Linda. Without thinking much, Hunter took a hold of Linda and raced her out to the exact spot where he had gotten shot. Angrily, Hunter grabbed Linda’s phone from her jacket pocket and dialed Wally. Hunter told him exactly where he was and what he would do if Wally didn’t show up to talk to him. Zolomon figured that Wally wasn’t willing to risk his life to help him get his legs back, so he was going to pay for it by losing his girlfriend. One thing kept racing through Zolomon’s mind and that was that Wally had never truly cared for him. To Hunter, that’s why Wally left him alone all those years ago. In Hunter’s mind, Wally was the reason every bad thing had happened to him, so in return Hunter himself would be the reason every bad thing moving forward would happen to Wally. Along with the powers of the Speed Force, Anger, rage, jealousy, and heartbreak are the only things that seem to course through the veins of Hunter Zolomon.

Done