"We're running late." "We'll make it." "Keep it under the limit." "I don't wanna get stopped." "Never got a ticket in my life." "Roadblock up ahead." "How did they find out we were coming?" "Keep it cool." "Maybe we can bluff it out." "Good evening, officer." "What's the problem?" "We've had an infestation of fruit flies in the area." "Any fruits or vegetables in the car?" "No." "We've been on the road all afternoon." "We didn't even stop for dinner." "Mind opening the trunk?" "It's empty." "ls it really necessary?" "Afraid so." "All right." "Open the trunk for the officer, Parry." "I'd be delighted." "Can you recommend a good motel in Central City?" "Sure thing." "It's stuck." "Maybe you can get it open." "What?" "Get out of here!" "I knew we'd be late." "Where's our regular guy?" "How should I know?" "You want this or not?" "We're closed." "lt ain't even 7:00." "l lock up when I want." "So beat it." "Yeah, well, I'm sure as hell not lugging this back to the truck." "Nine-eighty, pal." "You want me to keep the meter running or what?" "Keep the change." "You laughing at me?" "Hell, a 20-cent tip makes you a hell of a comedian." "No!" "Oh, I'm sorry, man." "lt's okay." "Barry, I thought you went home." "l changed my mind." "I wanted to check out that security briefing." "Oh, my hero." "Look, if you need anything, just call me at Sabrina's." "Better yet, don't call." "You're still representing the department." "I'm going on my own." "There's someone I want to see." "A little unfinished business." "Business?" "If you'd get off of this sugar train, you could slow down." "Take a night off." "You're late, Julio." "Go on. I'll get this." "I'm federal agent Mitch Lestrange." "Ladies and gentlemen, we've got a serious problem here in Central City." "This evening, one of my field agents transmitted snapshots from East Helltown." "The photos you're about to see cost him his life." "Lights, please." "By now you're all familiar with this thing." "The death mask of Rasputin, Russian national treasure." "First and only time away from home." "Everybody wants to see it." "We think six people wanna steal it." "Here they are:" "Kate Tatting, cat burglar." "Careful, son." "This one would tear that whistle out of your throat." "Mark Bernhardt, pyro freak, demolitions ace." "Franco Mortelli, professional driver." "Known in the Italian press as the fastest man on earth." "Parry Johnson, chemist." "Did the gas in that Munich hanger heist." "Darrell Hennings." "Has guns, will travel." "And Chu Lee, formally aligned with the Green Dragon cult until he realized his electronics expertise was more profitable on the open market." "Everyone came into town tonight." "They're all here for one reason." "Believe me, it's not the local cuisine." "Lights, please." "Questions?" "What's the mask worth?" "Stones recut, pull down about 1 5 million or so." "intact, it's priceless." "Gold, jewels, of course." "But its history makes the mask irreplaceable." "For those of you who don't know him, this is Ted Preminger head curator of the museum." "I came down here tonight to let you know that my staff and I are willing to cooperate in any way to protect the mask." "There are some people who would just as soon move the tour past Central City." "But the museum needs this exhibit, desperately." "We've sold thousands of tickets." "And if Miss Wayne could have arranged a longer stay, we could have filled the hall for months." "Look, let's just get through the next couple of days, okay?" "Two hours ago we raided the pool hall where the photos were shot." "The suspects scattered, and we have nothing to go on." "Remember, don't call." "Ted." "Barry Allen." "It's been a long time." "So, what do you think?" "Did I inspire the troops to greatness?" "I think the reward money is inspiration enough." "Right." "Last time I heard, you'd been in some sort of lab accident." "You all right now?" "Yeah, I guess you could say I was a little under the weather, that's all." "Lestrange is sweating." "If so much as a housefly gets through security tomorrow, he'll pull the exhibit." "Celia Wayne, Barry Allen." "Hi." "Haven't we met before?" "Maybe." "l think we both took Ted's classes." "And Celia made a career out of it." "I asked special permission for duty at the museum." "You don't have to." "l want to do everything I can..." "...to help it go smoothly." "lt's not necessary." "But if you've already made the arrangements...." "Yeah, besides it's been years since I've been to the museum." "Why's that?" "Well, I haven't had the time." "Yeah, you and the rest of the city." "But it's no surprise really." "I'm counting on the box office from the mask to save our necks." "I've seen it happen in museums all over the country." "Civic art funds drying up, private patrons disappearing." "These days it's hard to keep the wolf from the door." "There are six wolves I'm worried about." "Barry, cool." "You're just in time to try some of Sabrina's herbal tea." "lt's from her own garden." "No, thanks." "Come on, Barry, it's terrific." "It's all-natural." "Looks like a backed-up sink." "Great for your digestive system." "One cup after every meal, man." "And you know the way you eat, right?" "What was that?" "Earthquake?" "Been getting enough sleep?" "Yeah." "Sabrina's got this brew." "It'll knock you out all night." "Julio, lay off, will you?" "I'm fine." "This wouldn't have anything to do with your old pal at the museum, would it?" "No!" "Now, can we just drop it?" "Okay, fine." "With pleasure." "Sabrina's got this girlfriend." "Came in town from New York." "She's a model." "Lingerie catalogs, man." "I'll bet she has a lot of interesting little hobbies too, like ant farms and voodoo." "So that last chick Sabrina set you up with was a little spacy." "A little spacy?" "Julio, she was engaged to Elvis' ghost." "Now, what was that?" "l'm a little tense." "I think I'm gonna bounce down to the gym and punch the bag a while." "Okay." "Okay. I'll catch you later, man." "Sorry." "And put your gloves on." "Mr. Hennings, begin the operation now." "Yes, sir." "Johnson, ready for alarm-circuit interrupt." "Go ahead and cool the box." "Three minutes, Mr. Kovacs." "Oh, you scared the life out of me." "Sorry." "Have to work on that back draft thing." "It's hell with doors." "It's after midnight." "What are you doing here?" "Well, I just wanted to talk to you." "You might have phoned." "Well, I called you at home." "You weren't in." "I can almost beat a phone signal here, so.... in that case, you must be starved." "No, thanks. I'm fine." "Barry, this is about something, right?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "This speed thing." "Now, it's possible it's affecting my brain, right?" "I mean, psychologically, emotionally." "Maybe." "Why?" "I feel like my mind is stuck in overdrive, you know?" "I mean, if I start thinking about something, anything, it's like opening a floodgate." "I haven't slept in three days." "So, what happened three days ago?" "You don't have to play therapist. I know." "It was a newspaper article about the Russian mask." "The one on tour." "It was a nice big photo of Ted Preminger, my archaeology professor in college." "l didn't know you were interested in" "Archaeology?" "Oh, yeah." "Big time." "I even worked a couple summers at the museum." "It was great." "Before I met Ted, I was afraid to walk into the place." "Did you think one of the Aztec mummies was gonna grab you?" "No, I did not. I thought my father would." "See, he was always hoping I'd be in a hockey rink or a duck blind somewhere, I don't know." "And when I went to work at the museum, for the first time in my life I could do what I wanted, without fear of criticism from anybody." "Then my junior year I switched my major to police science." "And this man, my mentor, my friend he didn't speak to me for 1 0 years." "Until tonight." "Well, that's good, isn't it?" "Tina, you don't get it." "Henry Allen wasn't much of a father to me, all right?" "Ted sort of took his place." "And when he shut me out it hurt." "Maybe more than I realized." "And then tonight, like a damn idiot I volunteered for security detail at the museum." "Well, what's wrong with that?" "Every time I close my eyes, I see those thieves who blew into town crawling all over the museum, ready to snatch that mask from Ted's fingers." "So come on, hook up one of your sensors to this brain and find out what's going on." "I don't need to do that, Barry." "The problem is painful." "But it's human." "You'd see that if only you'd stop whipping yourself." "Whipping?" "Yes." "You didn't let Preminger down." "You didn't owe him your life's work any more than your father for not becoming a street cop." "Look, if it makes you feel any better, you wound up square in the middle." "I mean, what is a police scientist if he's not one half cop and one half archaeologist?" "An apple for the therapist?" "What was that?" "ls there anyone else in the labs?" "No." "Stay here." "And I mean, stay here." "It's Hennings." "I'm in the main corridor." "Nailed it, Mr. Kovacs." "No guards." "Just a lot of quiet alarms." "I'll keep scanning until the" "What the hell was that?" "Hennings?" "Sorry. I thought I saw a red light or something." "lmpossible." "All security's down." "Damn, there it goes again." "It's not a light, though, it's a" "What the hell are you?" "What happened to Hennings?" "Just drive, Mortelli." "Did you see that?" "Nothing." "Pull over, Mortelli." "Shut up and drive." "What's that on the car?" "Don't panic." "He must be on the car." "Don't panic!" "Try to do something." "Shut up!" "Get him off or something!" "But he's not off!" "Hold back." "What about Franco?" "Leave him." "The damn job's a disaster." "Oh, great." "I got everything we were after." "Precinct." "Dispatch desk. I got a single-vehicle collision, Fourth and Garrick." "How many people?" "One injury." "Robbery suspect." "Send an ambulance." "Who is this?" "Code three." "Thanks for taping me up." "You don't want to go home instead?" "No, no, no. I'm fine." "As long as no one pokes me in the ribs." "Take it easy." "Last night those ribs were cracked." "And today, just bruised." "Benefits of a messed-up metabolism." "I was thinking about things stolen from the lab." "The components could be assembled into a cutting laser." "Powerful enough to cut up gem stones?" "Sure." "Check this out." "There was a guy in the car with Mortelli." "He wasn't one of the six photographed." "l'm gonna get these guys." "You can barely walk." "If they'd found you in the lab they'd have killed you." "And I'm glad you were there." "But next time you get the urge to chase a car like a crazed Doberman, well...." "Yes?" "Well, don't." "So, Barry, what's your position?" "Right here. I asked permission to be assigned to you." "Sort of a liaison." "lf that's all right." "Why wouldn't it be?" "It's mainly so Lestrange won't have to deal with you." "The man is paranoid." "In Rome, Michelangelo's Moses has nothing more than a velvet robe for protection." "Sure." "But six known thieves weren't seen drinking espresso outside the Colosseum." "You agree with Lestrange, we should pull the exhibit." "l didn't say that." "Maybe they're after something else." "The accumulated wealth of Central City isn't stored here, for God's sakes." "Although, for all I know, it could be." "I don't even have the manpower to catalog anymore." "Who knows what's stashed away in some dark corner gathering dust." "Yeah, I think there's a few corners around here that could use sweeping." "Ted, the mask is here." "The original presentation case given to the czarina by Rasputin himself." "The mask is in place." "Activating vacuum and sensor." "I may be a local boy, but what's the big deal?" "You've seen one Rasputin mask, you've seen them all." "I don't think so." "Rasputin wanted to exert influence over the Russian czars even beyond death." "He designed the mask himself for the czarina's private chambers so that he could always be near." "The secret's in the rubies." "When the sun is at the right angle-- lt's all set up." "Let me show them." "I referenced recent files of the Central City Daily." "I think you should see this." ""A man witnessed a red phantom sweep the outlaw motorcyclists from their machines, and then apparently vanish into thin air."" "That's what I saw." "That's what hit me." "There's a couple other incidents in the past few weeks." "He's even picked up a nickname." "What?" "The Flash." "It's a spiritual vengeance." "He could be protecting the mask." "Like the curse of the pharaohs." "That's idiotic." "There's an explanation." "Yeah, a hologram perhaps, or a hallucination." "It doesn't matter!" "Whatever it is, it's either a cop or it's working for them." "Now who sounds like an idiot?" "He called Mortelli by name." "And I checked the hospital report." "A cop called in the accident not 30 seconds after I left it." "And the streets were empty." "I want out." "Anyone else?" "You won't get a nickel if you leave now." "So?" "But if you do one thing more for me, Bernhardt I'll give you a generous cancellation fee." "What do you want?" "That troublesome red ghost." "We're gonna send him back to hell." "Out of 238 days twenty-two cities, and maybe I can put my feet up." "Hey, what finally convinced you to bring the mask here?" "Ted Preminger." "I thought that was fairly obvious." "Besides, it gave me a chance to come back and see the old place." "I really missed it." "Cobwebs and all." "Yeah. I did too, I guess." "What made you finally quit, Barry?" "Well, a lot of things really." "I couldn't see myself locked in a museum basement cataloging bones, you know." "And I wanted to have some effect on the world." "Do something." "What?" "I'm sorry." "But you did finally end up in a lab anyway, right?" "I do my share of running around." "Nice one, Murph." "That's first-century Etruscan bronze." "It'll be all right." "It's made out of metal, isn't it?" "Yo, ham and eggs, hit the spricks." "The night shift has arrived." "How you doing, Barry?" "Great." "What do you got there, Bellows?" "Snacks." "We're here for the long haul." "Good evening, my dear." "I'm Officer Murphy." "Will you be staying with us for the late show?" "No, actually, I need to get back to my hotel." "Oh, what a shame." "And my partner has prepared a most superb cold buffet." "Will you can it?" "Just corned beef sandwiches, you know." "l'll see you later." "Good night." "Good night." "What's happening at the station?" "Usual dull stuff." "Oh, yeah, there was some nut who left a message for the Flash." "What?" "The Flash." "You remember?" "His buddy." "He's out there. I saw him once." "Yeah, sure." "So, what did this nut want?" "It was about the Star Lab robbery." "Said he wanted El Flasho to meet him at midnight at some poolroom on River Street." "Probably wants to play a real quick game of eight ball." "Right, Bellows?" "Well, I'm off." "See you, Bar." "Good night, guys." "Hey, Barry." "Take a sandwich." "Thanks." "I'll probably need it." "These look fantastic." "Not yet." "I'm here." "What was it you wanted to tell me?" "Hurry up, darling." "You're missing my favorite program." "You've never seen anything like this guy." "Bernhardt?" "You missed the show." "I don't think so." "Oh, that's fine right there, Charlie." "Thanks." "Look, it took a day, but that's every jewel thief who's stolen more than a rhinestone in the past five years." "But I'd better warn you there are file clerks coast-to-coast that are calling for your head." "I see you took my advice about slowing down." "Did you get out to Crystal Beach?" "You're sunburned, man." "Beach?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "What are you looking for, anyway?" "I got a description of the guy in the car with Mortelli." "Anonymous witness." "It will be midnight before you even dent that pile." "Julio, we're gonna be hungry pretty soon." "Why don't you get us something to eat?" "Bagels and borscht." "My pleasure, your treat?" "Bagels and borscht?" "There's a new deli over in Little Moscow." "l figured I'd just" "Ham, eggs, toast." "White toast?" "Damn." "I ran an exhaustive background cross-check." "Kovacs has worked with Tatting and Johnson before." "You trust this anonymous witness?" "Like I trust myself." "Kovacs." "That makes sense." "Nice work, Allen." "Not bad for a lab guy." "Thank you." "Now, I've got a complete dossier, m.o., everything we need to prepare for him." "Prepare?" "You don't prepare for Stan Kovacs." "You take your toys and go home." "What?" "Mitch, you can't just" "Oh, yes I can." "I warned you and I warned your boss in Washington, this is my call." "Lestrange, I didn't think you'd back off from a fight." "With Kovacs in, everything changes." "I'm not gonna take responsibility." "l want the mask out in six hours." "That's impossible." "I can't arrange proper transport till morning." "You got six hours, lady." "Or else I throw the thing in a paper sack and drive it myself." "Triple the guard on the mask." "You can break it to Preminger." "I'll talk to Ted." "You've done enough." "They know you're in town." "Lestrange is gonna move the mask within six hours." "Stan, I tried to stall them." "We have to make it work tonight." "Ted?" "How did you find me here?" "Only place left." "Did Celia explain about--?" "Yeah." "Well, we had a couple days of glory, anyway." "Remember this room?" "Sure." "It got flooded one spring." "Guess it never reopened." "I was gonna use the extra revenue to refurbish the whole wing." "New exhibit cases, dioramas." "Ted, I'm sorry." "I wanted to protect the mask for you. I never expected Lestrange to pull the exhibit." "You did your job." "You were always thorough." "It's what I liked about you." "I could count on your research." "Like your little speech about the mask." "I'm just sorry it took your job to bring you back here." "I'm here because I want to be." "As far as the mask, I didn't have to research that." "You told me that story and I never forgot it." "I never forgot any of it." "The last time we talked, I told you I was leaving the museum." "I was 1 9." "I'm sorry, but the relics of the world hundreds or thousands of years old just didn't seem to matter." "But now I need you to understand that your time and your attention weren't wasted on me." "You were wrong to shut me out." "And I guess I was wrong for not telling you all of this sooner." "Barry, you were my favorite student." "I made a mistake." "And it looks like it was my loss." "I'm sorry." "Chief Cooper just pulled all Central City P.D. units from the museum." "You've got a crime wave out there, Allen." "Half a dozen major jobs already all over the city and more in progress." "Kovacs." "It's been a setup all the time." "While every cop in town sits on the mask, they pick Central City clean." "And there's no way we can be in 1 0 places at once." "Get your jewelry off and into the bag." "And do it now!" "There's a substantial penalty for early withdraw." "Going somewhere?" "I must have inhaled some residual gas." "You can't exist." "You need a reality check." "Please!" "I'm claustrophobic." "I prefer you in a tux, but I'll take you any way I can get you." "Get me rich." "That's treason, Miss Tatting." "Well, phantoms don't bleed." "So unless you'd like to be sliced up, I'd stand very still." "This officer is transporting the mask." "We'll need an escort." "In the bag." "Let's go." "Let's go." "Move, move, move." "In the bag." "Let's go." "Come on, hurry up, hurry up." "Put it in here." "In the bag." "All right, let's go, let's go." "Come on, come on." "May I see your invitation, sir?" "It won't work without this." "Or this." "Had enough?" "Get up, get up, get up." "Come on." "Get up." "Get up." "Four down, Kovacs to go." "But where?" "Several of the components could be assembled into a cutting laser." "Powerful enough to cut up gem stones, right?" "Sure." "It's a double fake." "He was after the mask all along." "They'll be out for another 20 minutes." "l switched off all the sensors." "Five years I've planned and waited." "You can plan for the next 25 in Leavenworth, Kovacs." "Lestrange." "Thank God you're here." "He knocked out all the guards and he forced me to" "Can it, Wayne." "That's one hook I won't bite." "Drop it." "Nice shot, love." "Stan, when do we meet the others?" "We don't." "If we're lucky, they've been arrested by now." "Get the mask, damn it!" "How many times do I have to kill you?" "Celia, what's happening?" "I heard a shot." "What are you doing with the mask?" "Just get away from me, Ted." "Just be smart and let it go." "I can't." "I worked too hard to bring it here." "So did I." "Just get out of my way." "I don't wanna hurt you." "Then don't." "Take the mask, Ted." "Where the hell did you come from?" "Right here." "I never really left." "My God, you're bleeding." "Yeah." "Would you call my doctor?" "Her name's McGee." "Did you see this?" "I can't believe this rag." "I'm trying to keep a low profile." "As long as you stay in the tabloids, you're still just a rumor." "It looks like this Flash name is gonna stick." "Swell." "I don't know, I think it's kind of sexy." "I beg your pardon?" "I don't believe I've ever heard you use that word before." "Sexy, huh?" "Yeah." "You know, like a sports car or an after-shave." "Oh, thank you." "Where is that kid?" "I told Eve I'd have him home by 3." "Hey, Uncle Barry." "Can I stay a while longer?" "Dr. Preminger is gonna show me this room that hasn't been opened for a long time." "Shawn, it's getting kind of late." "But there's swords and spears and knights in there." "Come on, it's the boy's first time here." "l'll have him back in 1 0 minutes." "Ten minutes." "Okay." "Come on, let's go." "Why didn't you go?" "You loved those forgotten corners of the museum." "Not that one." "They're still looking for the guy who punched 1 2 holes in that 500-year-old tapestry."