For Those Who Ride the Lightning - Part 2

April 02, 2015:

Anticipation has turned to horror as Barry and Kitty find they are lost very, very far from home.

Southwest Colorado

Not far from Ute Mountain. Circa 1899.

Characters

NPCs: Various Ute Native Americans

Mentions:

Mood Music: [*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6rIks03cdM Teardrop - Jose Gonzales]


Fade In…

FOR THOSE WHO RIDE THE LIGHTNING, PART 2: Feathers on my breath, Teardrops on the Fire

SOUTHWEST COLORADO
May 30
1899

True to their word, the men upon the horses really could help Barry. They came well equipped with a gurney and salves. Almost as soon as the man in charge told Kitty about their intentions, his three helpers got to work without so much as looking at the white woman with the strange clothes. They work like machines. They work like they planned for this.

Back at the camp, the dark wood of the teepees look black against the dark mountain as the sun begins to rise in the east. It is still cold here this time of the year, especially in the morning, when the wind likes to rip through the camp. Men mill about with feathers in their long black braided hair and pieces of flair around their neck. Their dress is some sort of a mixture between their ancestors and those who came to replace them upon the land to the north west. The men pay Kitty no mind, but the women look at her with dead eyes of wonder and the children…Well children are children and decidedly less afraid as they come to inspect the woman with the brown at the ends of her pulled back hair.

Barry, meanwhile, has been taken to a teepee in particular that billows smoke out of the top. Chief Orahu has promised that after he sees to it that Barry is okayhe called him The Man who Rides the Lightninghe would return to explain things. He can't come soon enough.

Despite her tumble into the earth, Kitty made it out of it without much dirt. It's one of the best parts of phasing - the ability to stay clean. As soon as she sees the dark scarlet lump in the desert, she runs faster. "Barry!" She stays by Barry's side when the man on the horse looks down at her, even though he says that they can help.

As the men start to work on her friend, she only steps back enough to not be in their way. She is suspicious, but grateful when she sees that they are true to their word. Her gaze continually moves from Barry to the others. There's little choice but to follow them now that they have her friend in their care. She has no idea where she is - the fact that this may be another time hasn't even occurred to her yet. With how fast Barry was running they could be in Pennsylvania. Though, Pennsylvania doesn't have deserts. Okay, this must be further even than that. The Midwest? Can he really run so fast that they could be in the Midwest in mere moments?

Despite the worry and the wariness, the naturally curious woman glances around her surroundings. Teepees. Men and women in older style clothes. As the people move closer or stare at her, she looks back at them with confidence, taking in the details. In fact, she tries to follow the people who are taking Barry into the teepee, unwilling to let her injured friend out of her sight. Something very strange is going on here and she isn't sure if she trusts it.

ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE

Through the haze of smoke and black night a Ute man desperately searches for his wife and daughter, though it is hard to focus with all of the screaming. The shrieks are guttural, as these sorts of things are when they are the last noises a person will ever make.

As he finally gets outside the ground is littered with the dead: brothers, women, and children. One with arm bent akimbo and neck bent the same; a victim of a ruthless blunt force attack. It's not the first, and it certainly won't be the last. This one though, short bangs and deep brown skin, chubby cheeks and a beautiful mauve, checkered dress with ornate pale jewelry. She looked ready for a picture is what the man can't help but think before being blindsided in one fell swoop. He joins her in the afterlife not long after.

1899

As Kitty tries to enter the teepee, she's met by the burliness of the Chief as he's making his way out to her. He smiles at her holding her hands up in a nonthreatening way, but in a way where she cannot pass either.

"You mentioned you would act like this," he says in a thick accent, slow in his cadence. "He calls you the Cat, yes?"

"Come, Cat, let us talk while we wait for his return."

Having her mutant ability means that Kitty can basically go where ever she wishes to go. However, the sudden appearance of the Chief brings her up short. Especially when he calls her by the pet name only a few use. "What did you just say…?" her eyes narrow. He called Barry the Man Who Rides the Lightning. He's calling her Cat. People appeared shortly after she and Barry crash landed with the very things needed to bring him here to be cared after.

"I mentioned?" She's never met the man before, but things are starting to click into place. She's a smart woman and she knows a little bit about the impossible, but what he's suggesting is… "You're saying you've met me before. And that I'd know that I was acting how I'm acting now. Actually, it's Kitty, not Cat." Perhaps that's where the confusing came from. Kitty's pretty close to Cat.

"His return? You mean into consciousness? Is he going to be okay? I'd like to see him."

"Forgive me," the chief says with a chuckle. "My English is not so good. Kitty. Unfortunately, you told me that you would put up some resistance too. Barry will be alright. He is strong." The giant of a man lowers his hands abruptly in a 'calm down' motion. "I will explain everything. Come. Eat."

The haze inside the teepee perhaps goes a long way into waking Barry up and keeping him asleep at the same time. His dreams lack any sort of lucidity, buried in the surreal. There are things he recognizes: STAR Labs, Caitlin, and Cisco. But for the life of him he has no idea who the man wearing the black turtleneck is. He can't make out his words, only his blue eyes behind a thick pair of in vogue glasses. Can't make out the words even when the man turns his wheelchair to face Barry better.

Her suspicion is slowly giving way to her ultimate need to figure out what is going on. The things Orahu are saying have peaked her curiosity. She was calling Barry's name in the forest, so that might be where he got her name from. But, this is all far too strange. Her eyes move to the teepee entrance, so close. It would not take much to phase through this man and anyone else who would get in her way to ensure Barry is safe. If she did that, though, would they tell her about how he knows them? Why some other Kitty knows to tell him about her personality and her name? If that's even what happened.

"It's fine, sorry. I know I can be difficult, but Barry's my friend and he's hurt. And I don't know you, sir." Is sir what you call a chief? She's not sure, but she certainly is talking fast. "You are Chief Orahu? Someone said you'd be out to talk to me. But, I don't know you, though I guess at some point I do? This is all really weird." Then, she remembers that he said he doesn't speak English very well and slows her speech down to a more normal pace. "Sorry. It's a weird day. Last time I checked it wasn't the middle of the night and I was no where near a desert."

The Chief chuckles and nods, "12 days ago you and your friend Barry came to our village. You made an offer to help us if we would assist your friend back to health and help you get to the Electric Man. You and Barry knew you would need our help, knew he would be hurt, and also knew that you would not know who you were when you arrived in 12 days time. The moon has set and risen 11 days before this day. This is the 12th day."

"12 days ago." Kitty blinks. "We came here 12 days ago seeming to know what's going on? What day is it now? What did we help you with?" This are a lot of questions, but she's attempting to keep her speech at a regular pace, despite her desire to know what is happening and what he knows. "And what Electric Man? I mean, I know who I am. I'm Kitty Pryde." She turns her head again toward the teepee. "Does Barry have amnesia?" The man certainly seems to know more about what is going on. Hopefully he'll be able to answer all her questions.

"You did. You explained that you would return in 12 days. That you needed to meet with the Electric Man in the East," The chief responds, wondering how to say some of the words in english, but does a decent job of it. "It is Tuesday."

And then he gets it, sort of. "Today is Tuesday, May 30, 1899."

Far away, yes. Dealing with time travel, sure. These are things that Kitty was willing to entertain. But, that she is presently in the past is not what she imagined. "18. 1899." The other questions will wait for now. "You're saying it's eighteen hundred and ninety nine. Spanish American War. Teddy Roosevelt saying bully. McKinley getting shot…" While a smart girl, history has never been the subject she knew the best. "Wait, did you know that? Crap, can I change history by saying things like that?" Resolutely, she says nothing else about American events.

"You're serious. This is 1899." Kitty raises an eyebrow at Orahu, before muttering under her breath, "Barry did not say one of the things he could do was run so fast he puts us back in time." She takes a deep breath and starts to think logically. "Okay. Let's start taking this apart one by one. The Electric Man. Who is that?"

"I didn't know," Barry says as he dips out from the entrance of the teepee. He still walks gingerly, but the marks upon his face have already begun to heal. "I'm not sure who the Electric Man would be."

Barry thinks for a moment, even takes a bit to look up at the sky as he goes silent. "Wait a second. 1899. May?" No way. "In middle school I wrote a paper on Tesla's experiments in Colorado Springs. He was trying to find a way to transport power wirelessly…"

TO BE CONTINUED…

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