WHEELS AND MACHINATIONS

By David Brashear

Bart Allen had to fight to keep a confident look on his face after the words he’d just spoken.  He’d just thrown down a gauntlet by urging his fellow students to escape the Academy with him.  The majority of his friends were staring at him, although there was one notable exception.

“Escape?” Connor Ellis asked in an incredulous voice.  “Are you out of your mind?”  He turned and began to pace the narrow area where the students were hiding behind a bush.  “You say that you think Merl’s trying to kill us.  What do you think he’s going to do if you try and bust out of here?  All you’re going to do is give him an excuse!”  He started toward the bush.  “I’m out of here.  Get yourselves killed chasing ghosts if you want to.”

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you weren’t so obsessed with Cheshire,” Roy challenged.

Connor stepped back and jabbed a finger in Roy’s face.  “Leave Jade out of this,” he warned.  “I hope the rest of you enjoy your crazy. Leave me out.”  He stormed into the bushes and was gone with a rustling of branches.

Cissie, standing beside Donna, let out a small cry as he left.  “Maybe Connor’s right,” she said through a voice that was trembling as her eyes began to fill with tears.  “Maybe we’re wrong about all this.  Maybe . . .”  She stared at the path Connor had just left by.  “I don’t think that I need to be part of this.”  She hurried into the bushes and left as well.

“Wonderful,” Bart said.  He turned to the others.  “Anyone else out?”

“No way,” Roy said.  He was smiling widely.  “Getting out of here would really frost old Merl.  I’m in, even if I’m the only one who is.”

Charlie shuffled uncomfortably and looked at Duela, who was beside him holding his hand.  “Actually, Duela and I had talked about this already,” he said.  “I can’t keep my wings hidden forever, and I don’t know what Merl would do if he found out about them.  We were already thinking about making a break.  We’re definitely in.”

“The more the merrier,” Duela added with a smile.

“You know I’m in,” Donna said with a determined look on her face.  “I think I can get Cissie back, too.  She’s just so hung up on Connor that she doesn’t see the danger that’s right in front of her.”

“And Connor’s hung up on Cheshire,” Roy said.  “Bart, if you can help me with something I’ve got an idea that may help us get Connor back.”

“You’ve got it,” Bart said.  He looked around.  “The rest of us had better get back to our rooms.  We’ll talk again soon.”

With quiet goodbyes, the students left the hiding area and dispersed across the campus.

Merlyn sat in his office and studied Cheshire, who was seated across from him.  He’d been angry that he’d been awakened, until she’d told him about the clandestine meeting.  He’d listened intently to every word that she’d spoken and, when she finished, leaned back in his chair.  He studied a crack in the wall’s plaster while his mind digested what he’d just heard.

“That’s all they said?” he asked.

“That’s all I heard,” Cheshire said.  “That idiot you’ve got me dating started coming out of the bushes and I had to get out of sight before he spotted me.”

Merlyn nodded slowly.  “Excellent work,” he said finally, although his mind was elsewhere.  He waved her out.  Cheshire silently stood and walked out, leaving him alone.

“Danny,” he muttered.  A scowl that was deeper than usual crossed his face as his mind raced.  He sat there for a long time without moving.  Finally he stood and left his office.

Merlyn walked out of the administration building and headed straight for the off-limits lab building.  He pressed his thumb against an entry plate and a red light scanned his thumbprint before the latch clicked and the door opened.

He stepped into what appeared to be an abandoned hallway.  Doors hung open and paint was peeling on the walls.  Merlyn didn’t stop as he walked down the corridor and passed the room where Charlie and Duela had been caught days earlier.

Finally he reached a storage cabinet at the end of the corridor.  A rusted padlock made sure that it stayed closed.  He simply touched what appeared to be a random place on the cabinet’s right door and the cabinet slid into the wall, revealing a stainless steel door and a keypad. He tapped a code into the pad and was rewarded by a green light just above it.  The door unlocked and slid open, allowing him to enter. The cabinet slid back into place behind him.

He emerged into a stainless steel modern lab.  Technicians didn’t even look up from their workstations as he walked past them, his boots ringing as he proceeded down the metal walkway.  At last he reached his destination – a door labeled Subject Alpha.  Further signage blared that no unauthorized personnel were to enter the room.  Merlyn strode through the door without pausing.

Merlyn stopped when he reached his destination.  Before him was a glass tube filled with a slowly bubbling liquid.  A red-haired man floated naked in the center of the tube.  Tubes were attached to his face and body to provide oxygen, nourishment, and – perhaps most importantly – tranquilizers.  Other tubes handled waste removal.  His eyes were taped closed.

Merlyn studied the man for a moment or two before he spoke.  “So you’re managing to counteract our tranquilizing agents, I see.  I know you can hear me, Mr. Chase, even if you can’t respond.  And that’s good.  I just want you to listen.”  A malicious smile appeared on Merlyn’s face as he continued.  “You have signed those children’s death warrants with your little mind tricks.  I don’t know how you were able to form a coherent thought long enough to reach them and I don’t care how.”  He leaned closer to the tube and touched the glass.  His voice lowered.  “Your little stunt has our superiors listening to me instead of Flagg for once.  They’re reviewing his status as the head of this project now.  Once they finally kick him out of that post and put me in charge, your little pals are all dead.”  Merlyn stepped back and studied the man again.  “And it’s all thanks to you.”  Merlyn turned without another word and walked out of the room.

Behind him tears flowed from Danny’s eyes and mingled with the other liquids in the tube.

Duela took a deep breath and ran toward the parallel bars.  She’d not been able to sleep and had opted instead to come to the Academy’s gymnasium for a late night workout.  She effortlessly performed a complicated routine on the bars before she launched herself across the room and landed perfectly on top of a pommel horse.  She paused when she heard applause from across the room.

Duela turned to see Cissie standing in the door of the gymnasium.  She was wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt bearing the Academy’s logo. “Hi, Cissie,” Duela greeted.  She dropped to the mat and walked toward a chair at the side of the room as Cissie approached her.  “Been watching long?” Duela asked after toweling the sweat off her face.

“Not too long,” Cissie said.  She dropped a towel onto a bench.  “You’re really good at that.”

“Thanks,” Duela said with a wide smile.  “I’ve just always been good at gymnastics.”  She chuckled.  “It’s hard to find new challenges sometimes.”

Cissie nodded and looked down awkwardly.  Duela sat down on the bench and patted it to invite Cissie to join her.  She waited for Cissie to sit before she spoke again.  “What’s going on?” Duela asked softly.  “”You look like something’s really bothering you.”

“All of this,” Cissie said with her head down.  “It just seems like things have gone so crazy ever since these dreams started.”

“That’s not all, is it?” Duela asked.  “It’s Connor, too.”

Cissie didn’t raise her head.  Tears began running down her cheeks to fall and spatter on the gym’s floor.

Duela nodded in understanding.  “It’s okay,” she said.  “We all know that you’re interested in him.”

“He doesn’t even know I’m alive,” Cissie whispered.  “He’s so occupied with Cheshire.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Duela said. “Roy and Bart have something planned for that.  We just need to know – are you in with us?”

“I don’t know,” Cissie sobbed.  “I guess so.”  She leaned over with her elbows on her knees.  “I just don’t know.”  Duela put an arm around her as she cried.

Donna Troy stopped at the door of the gymnasium.  She’d been looking for Cissie to talk to her, but it looked like Duela had that covered. She quietly stepped back and walked back down the hall.

The next morning found Bart Allen standing in Roy Harper’s room.  “You know what to do, right?” Roy asked.

“I think so,” Bart said in a confused tone.  “But I don’t see how this could possibly be what Cheshire’s up to.”

“Trust me,” Roy said.  “I don’t think that there’s anybody on this campus who knows her better than I do.  Just grab that bottle and I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Right.”  An instant later Bart was gone.  It took less than five seconds for him to reappear with a small glass bottle in his hand.  “Sorry it took so long,” Bart said.  “I got turned around in the girls’ dorm.”

“No problem,” Roy said.  He reached out and took the bottle.  “Is this it?” he asked as he inspected it.

“That’s the only one I could find,” Bart said.  “I didn’t want to stay in there too long.”

Roy nodded.  He raised the perfume bottle and sprayed a burst into the air.  He tentatively leaned forward and sniffed it.

“Anything?” Bart asked.

Roy shook his head.  “Nothing,” he said.  “Just lavender.”  He took a deep breath.  “Looks like there’s just one more test to try.”  Before Bart could say anything, Roy had sprayed him with another burst from the bottle.

Bart sneezed while Roy leaned in closer.  “Anything?” he asked again.

This time he got a different reaction.  Roy had a strange look on his face.  He gently placed a hand on Bart’s cheek and then tenderly kissed him.

“Dude!” Bart yelled.  “Dude dude dude dude dude dude!”  He was still yelling as he vanished out the door.

Once he was gone Roy’s eyes cleared and he shook his head.  He stepped back to the far corner of his room and picked up a bottle of mouthwash.  He took a swig, swished it around his mouth, and spit it into his trash can.

Just then Bart reappeared.  He was wearing running shorts and sneakers.  His torso was covered with sweat that had also plastered his hair to his skull.  He was breathing hard.  “What did you do to me?” he demanded.

“Are you okay?” Roy asked, keeping back from him.  He tossed him the bottle of mouthwash before kicking the trash can toward him.

After rinsing his own mouth out, Bart wiped his chin and slammed the bottle down on Roy’s dresser.  “I knew that something had to be in that perfume, so I went to get a shower.  Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to be in there and have other guys trying to kiss you?  It’s like taking what happened here and upping the skeev factor to a billion!”

“So what happened then?” Roy asked.

“I went for a run,” Bart said.  “I’ve done about five thousand laps around the track.”  He glared at Roy.  “What did you do to me?”

“Cheshire’s a chemistry whiz,” Roy explained.  At a nod, Bart sat down in a chair across the room.  “She’s whipped up that perfume that I’d be willing to bet is jammed full of pheromones.  I felt it when I was going with her, and I’ll be that’s how she’s controlling Connor, too.”

“Great for them,” Bart said.  “But what about me?”

“Get ready to back off,” Roy said as he stood.  He leaned closer to Bart and took a tentative sniff.

“Well?” Bart demanded.

Roy pinched his nose closed.  “You reek,” he judged.  “It looks like you sweated that perfume off.  Hit the showers and get dressed.”  A sly smile crossed his face.  “I’ve got a little plan in store for Cheshire, and I want you there to see it, too.”

“No problem,” Bart said.  He raised his arm and sniffed himself.  “I’m almost making myself want to throw up right now.”

“Take your time,” Roy said.  “Come back when you’re done and we’ll take care of this little bit of business.”  As the door closed behind Bart, Roy’s eyes were fixed on the perfume bottle.

The next morning Roy and Bart were waiting in the quad.  Roy was leaning under a tree while scanning passing students.  At last he saw the nerdy student he was looking for.  “Hey, Maynard!” he called.

Maynard’s eyes widened behind his extra-thick glasses as he saw who was calling him.  Expecting a beating, he slowly walked over.  “What do you want, Harper?” he asked.  “I did your term paper for History that you wanted.”

“I know, and you did such a good job on it that I wanted to give you a reward,” Roy said with a smile.  “How’d you like a date with Cheshire?”

“Are you kidding?” Maynard asked.

“Here.”  Roy handed him the perfume bottle.  “Give yourself a hit of that and then make sure you get close to her quick.  She’ll be putty in your hands.  Now get out of here.”  Roy gave Maynard a little shove to start him on his way.

As Maynard hurried off, Bart leaned closer to Roy.  “What are you doing?” he asked.

Roy’s smile never wavered.  “Giving Chesh a little taste of her own medicine.  This should help to get her away from Connor, and then we can start looking at our own plans.”  He and Bart walked away from the tree while speaking softly until they vanished in the crush of students.

Next issue:  Connor has heartbreak on the way!  Cissie and Donna find themselves in mortal danger!  And Karin Grace has a choice to make…