This story takes place in a literary Arrowverse that I created starting with my story titled The League. This story picks up after Zooms defeat at the end of season 2, however, Barry did not initiate the Flashpoint Paradox by going back in time to save his mother. This story also takes place after the events of my story The League. You don't necessarily need to read that story to understand what is happening in this, however some of what Barry Allen will deal with in this story began in The League. I can't post what happened as that's obviously spoiler's lol I suggest giving it a read for yourself but it won't hinder or change the experience or quality of this story at all.
Thanks for reading & reviewing.
Enjoy.
The Flash
Speed War
1
My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive.
Or at least I was until a man by the name of Jay Garrick showed up from another Earth.
Yeah, that's right. Another Earth.
Almost two years ago I accidentally opened up a massive singularity above Central City nearly destroying the planet. I managed to close the thing up but I lost a good friend in the process and opened up our world to a new speedster from what we call Earth-2. An evil speedster.
His name was Zoom.
Zoom had used his speed to kill everyone who opposed him and conquered Earth-2 but Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth-2, managed to escape and came to us with a warning and seeking help. He wanted us to help cure him of a disease he had caused by a speed force drug he used so he could then help us take down Zoom once and for all.
Only it turned out that Jay wasn't really who he said he was. He was Zoom and his real name was Hunter Zolomon.
It took everything myself and my friends at Star Labs had to defeat him. I had to call on every ounce of speed I could muster and had to use every ounce of my willpower to keep going when it got hard but I did it.
I stopped Zoom.
But I wasn't fast enough to save him.
Barry held an umbrella in one hand and knelt down, placing flowers down next to a grave. It was raining. It always seemed to rain whenever a superhero or one of their friends was down on their luck. Barry didn't think he could get any lower than losing his mother. Or rather having his mother taken from him by a time traveling psychopath. That was until Zoom killed his father.
Thunder rumbled angrily in the distance and lightning sparked the sky with a brief moment of light. It was all the time Barry needed to read the entire tombstone.
Here lies Henry Allen. Husband and father.
That was all that Barry had been able to come up with and that was all that had been etched into the cold stone that was now drenched from the heavy downpour. It had been months since his father's death but the wound was still fresh and the pain didn't subside once Zoom had been defeated.
Since then Barry had done some pretty amazing things. He'd saved the world, again, with the help of the newly formed team 'The League'. He'd captured his most hated rival, Eobard Thawne after another of his attempts to travel through time and defeat him. Oh, how angry it must make Thawne knowing that he had come back in time to prevent something, only to end up being the reason it ended up being created.
Ironic really and that thought had been one of the few things that had made Barry smile when he was down since his dad's death.
Barry felt his phone begin to vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out slowly then answered it.
"Hey," he said in a solemn tone.
"Hey," the voice said back to him. It was another of the few things that made him smile like he was doing right now. It was Kara. "Visiting your dad?" she knew from the tone in his voice that he was there.
"Yeah. Just came by to bring some flowers on my way to work." Barry told her.
"I wish I could tell you that it gets easier with time but…" Kara let her words trail off. This was a subject she was all too familiar with. Her entire race and most of her family had been killed when their planet exploded.
"No, its okay, Kara. Really. Thank you for everything." Barry took one last look at his father's grave and then turned and began walking away. "Just having someone to talk to that understands this sort of pain helps a lot."
"I wish I could see you more often. Maybe I'd be able to help more." Between her being Supergirl and working at Catco and his being the Flash and seemingly the only forensic scientist CCPD had, they rarely had time to really spend alone.
Sure, Barry would use his super speed to come for visits at night or dates but they had been together now for a few months and Kara wished she could see the man she cared for more often than just once or twice every other week. Or that they could be together without Star Labs or the DEO calling and ruining the moment with hero duties.
"How about I come see you tonight after work? We both get off around the same time today." Barry offered.
"Would you? I'd like that." He could tell Kara was smiling on the other end of the phone.
"Alright. I've got two minutes to get to work so I'll talk to you later ok?"
"You've got two minutes and you're kicking me off the phone already?" Kara pretended to be hurt and Barry laughed a little. "I'll talk to you later. Bye."
Barry hung up and sighed a little. He stood there under his umbrella watching the raindrops fall from the skies and pool around his feet. Small rivers of water cascaded from his umbrella and with his speed he was able to look at each individual drop of water if he decided to. After what was a long time for a speedster, Barry closed the umbrella and vanished in red and yellow lightning.
"You know dear, we should really do things like this more often," an older woman said to her husband.
The two of them were currently laid back in full recline on some plush, very large and very expensive looking cabana chairs beside a pool of crystal clear water. Around them were children hard at play, young couples lounging in the lap of romance, singles of all ages searching for love of varying lengths of time and the hotel workers that trudged about their duties to earn their hourly wages. It was a bright and sunny day, warm and beautiful with not a single cloud in sight anywhere.
"On this we agree, Clarissa," Martin Stein replied lovingly. He reached over and took her hand in his own then exhaled a sigh of pure and utter comfort and tranquility.
Their vacation was coming along perfectly so far with no signs of slowing down. At first, Professor Stein had been against the idea asking how a trip to National City could even be considered a vacation. But his wife had insisted and as with all married men, the wife eventually got her way. They had been at the hotel for two days now with another three days and two nights booked and paid for. The first day Professor Stein had tried to pretend that he had been right but by the evening he could no longer deny, this was indeed a vacation for them.
The elderly couple hadn't traveled together in years and even though National City was only a few hours from Central City the road trip here had been fun and memorable. They had laughed and Professor Stein had shared some stories about his time as Firestorm with Ronnie Raymond. The thought of Ronnie still caused a pang of pain to go off inside of Professor Stein's heart and he had a hard time figuring out if it was from them being literally bonded together or actual feelings developed for Ronnie.
He knew he cared for the boy's safety as his life had been tethered to Ronnie's beforehand but now that he was free of such commitment he dawned on him that he had begun to look at Ronnie as something of the son he never had.
Professor Stein began to sulk into dark thoughts for a moment but his wife tightening her grip on his hand drew him back. He looked back at her and saw that she had seen his mind turning to dark corners and helped him.
"I love you," he said to her in the way that only long term couples could say it.
"I love you too, Martin," Clarissa Stein replied sweetly.
A member of the hotel staff approached them with a tray in hand. "Would either of you care for some champagne?"
The elderly couple hesitated and looked at each other. Professor Stein smiled and sat up, "Yes. Yes we would love some champagne." He stood up and took the glasses from the hotel staff member and then sat at his wife's feet handing her the glass.
"Oh, Martin," she said playfully and sipped it.
"How long has it been since we shared a drink together?" he asked her.
"Why, I can't even remember."
Professor Stein sipped his champagne and savored the taste. "I'm glad we came here. I haven't had this much fun since Ronnie and I blasted the Reverse Flash off the roof of Star Labs."
Clarissa giggled like a swooning schoolgirl "Oh, Martin. Such a daring hero." She giggled more and Professor Stein leaned in to kiss her. Clarissa closed her eyes and waited patiently for their lips to touch but nothing happened. She opened them to see her husband stuck in place with bulging eyes and his skin glowing a fiery red. She screamed at the top of her lungs and dropped her glass of champagne. "Martin! Martin are you alight!?" she reached out to touch him and immediately yanked her hands back as the heat coming off her husband was immense. "Help! Somebody help!"
The people around her and Professor Stein began to back away and chatter loudly. Several had phones and tablets pointing and recording while others were calling the authorities. The glass inside Professor Stein's hand melted away like nothing and he collapsed from the chair landing hard on the ground where he began to violently shake.
"Please God somebody help my husband!" Clarissa was crying harder than she had in years feeling fear unlike anything ever before. She couldn't lose him. She couldn't lose Martin. "Please! Anybody!"
Hotel attendants rushed over and tried to aid but they too were pushed back by the heat radiating off her husband's body.
"Clari-Clari-ssa…La-La…Sta-Star…" Professor Stein muttered over and over again. She knew he was saying her name but no what he was trying to say.
"We can't touch him!"
"He's burning up!"
"There's nothing we can do!"
She could hear the voices all around her but the people, hotel and even the ground was vanishing before Clarissa as she felt herself coming closer and closer to losing her husband. Then she heard a sound like concrete cracking and a gust of wind rushed over her carrying a bit of dust with it. She rubbed her eyes and looked up through teary, blurred vision and saw a red 'S' in front of her.
"What the…?" she tried to compose herself.
"What's going on here?" she heard a female voice say.
"This man is burning up! He needs to be taken to the hospital but we can't touch him!"
"Stand back," the female voice spoke again.
Then her vision cleared and Clarissa was able to see everything. It was Supergirl. She recognized her from the news when superheroes were fighting with supervillains in National City several months ago. Supergirl reached down and lifted her husband up like he wasn't burning up hot enough to melt glass.
Martin's phone fell from his pocket and Clarissa saw his finger point down at it and then she realized what Martin had been trying to say. "Supergirl! Wait!" she stood up and grabbed the phone. "Take him to Star Labs! They can help my husband at Star Labs in Central City!"
"Yo! Wally! Toss me that quantum diagnostics rod over there!" Cisco called out from under a machine he was tinkering with and held out his hand waiting for the tool requested. After he received nothing for a minute he slid from under his work and saw Wally standing with two experimental batons he was working on for Laurel Lance aka Black Canary over in Star City. Since he discovered that Barry was the Flash, Wally had been spending more and more time at Star Labs trying to find ways to be useful.
"No. No!" Cisco yelled. "Those aren't quantum diagnostics rods! It's the long gray tube looking thing right there. Yeah. That right there."
Wally picked it up and carried it over to him with a look of confusion and curiosity blended on his face. Cisco thanked him and went back to his work. "You ever think about using your powers to help Barry when he's out there being the Flash?" Wally asked him.
"Yeah. All the time." Cisco admitted. "Especially after seeing my Earth-2 doppelganger and how powerful he was! But I don't have the kind of control over my powers so I'd be more of a liability I think. Best I've ever done was knock out Killer Frost when she tried to attack Caitlin and I."
"I heard about that. Pretty badass, man."
"Dude, you should have seen it!" Cisco stopped working and slid from under the machine. "One minute I'm thinking it's the end and she's gonna finish us off any moment and then the next BLAM! Hold out my hand and I force push that chick into next week!"
"I wish I could have been there." Wally smiled. "Hell, I wish I had super powers. I thought that maybe I'd get some after that second particle accelerator explosion but so far nothing."
"Having powers is a gift and a curse, Wally. Maybe it's for the best that the explosion didn't change you," Cisco remarked while returning to his work.
"Yeah. Maybe. So what you working on anyway?"
"Remember the footage of when the League fought the Legion?" Cisco counter-questioned.
"Yeah, what about it?" Against nearly everyone's wishes Cisco regularly watched the footage they had of the massive battle that took place in the Glades section of Star City a few months ago. Cisco had relented and agreed not to release any of the footage but he couldn't be stopped from watching his personal DVD copy of the battle. Wally happened to be around during one of his showings and was treated to the entire fight.
"I'm trying to make something similar to the armor Maxwell Lord used against Supergirl. Just without the kryptonite or anything like that." Cisco grunted and the sounds of leaking proceeded a massive pool of oil that spread from underneath the machine. Cisco rolled out covered in black oil. "Problem is I'm not an expert in robotics so I can't make it work right by myself."
Wally laughed at him and opened his mouth to speak but his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell flat on his back, unmoving. Cisco cringed at the sound of Wally's body making contact with the hard concrete floor.
"Wally! Wally, are you alright?!" Cisco knelt down to check for a pulse. "Caitlin! Harry! I need help in the lab! Wally passed out and has no pulse!" Cisco called out hoping that the building-wide communications were up.
"We're on our way!" Caitlin screamed and minutes later in rushed Caitlin with Harrison Wells from Earth-2 who had opted to stay on this Earth after Zoom was defeated.
Harrison helped Cisco lift Wally up and place him onto the bed. Caitlin quickly attached the IVs and various medical plugs to monitor a patient. Cisco charged up the defibrillator and Dr. Wells stood over Wally. "Clear!" he pressed down delivering the shock and it raised Wally's body up some but still no pulse. "Clear!" Wells shouted again and pressed down. He looked at his partners. "One more time! Clear!"
The power in the entire building went out and they were stuck in pitch black. "Oh come on! A power outage right now?! Really?!" Cisco shouted at the dark a second before the backup generator kicked in and power was restored. When the machinery came on they all heard a small beep on the heart monitor that was followed by another one.
Everyone sighed with relief. "It's weak but he's alive," Wells said, relieved. "Would have hated to have to tell Detective West we lost his son."
"Speaking of Joe." Caitlin reached for her phone. "Better call her and Iris." The building shook.
Caitlin and Cisco took steps back and then the building shook again more violently. "What the hell is going on? This is just not our day!"
"Cisco! Caitlin! Anybody! This man needs help now!"
They could hear a female voice yelling throughout the building after the shaking stopped. "I know that voice." Cisco left the room followed closely by Caitlin and Wells, the latter with his large futuristic rifle in hand and ready. They walked down the hall and into the main room.
"Supergirl?" Cisco looked at the glowing mass of flesh in her hands.
"Professor Stein!" Caitlin ran over to him and immediately leapt backwards from the heat.
"He's burning up. Too much for you guys to handle. I don't know what's going on but he's getting hotter and hotter." Supergirl informed them.
"This day just keeps getting better," Wells grumbled as he began to run around the lap and search for an answer.
"I'm calling Barry," Cisco announced.
The rain continued to fall outside but Barry was safe from it inside his lab at CCPD. Despite this, the air-conditioning was on in the building and making it colder than it was outside. Barry wondered absently why government buildings always had the AC on no matter what the time of the year. He shook his head and returned his attention to the task at hand.
Identifying this blood sample so one of his coworkers could get the prosecution he wanted. Barry however was beginning to think that these blood samples didn't quite match up when he heard a knock at the door and turned around.
"Patty." He greeted her warmly and got out of his seat.
"Hi Barry." Patty smiled and Barry found himself forgetting that he had a girlfriend. "No need to stand up just came by really quick to drop off this paperwork." She held out a stack of papers that just so happened to pertain to the blood sample he was just looking at.
"Oh great." He made a face and tossed the papers on his cluttered desk. Then the two stood in awkward silence for a while.
"So, uh. How you holding up?" Patty seemed to always ask Barry this and instead of finding it annoying or troublesome Barry found it sweet that she was concerned about his well-being.
"I'm doing well actually. Joe and everybody have really been helping me out and making sure I'm okay and everything so I'm happy as anybody could be." Barry tried to sound optimistic, hoping that he wouldn't crack. It seemed that he wasn't in control of when he would have an emotional breakdown and when he wouldn't as his grief was strong.
Patty must have sense it and instead of leaving she moved closer. "Barry, I know what it's like to lose a father. To have him taken from you..." her voice was so soft and sincere. Her words full of compassion and truth. "..The anger you feel at the person who took him and the emptiness you feel once that person is made to pay for their crimes." She looked at Barry with those big sweet eyes he found he liked. "I know that being alone during that time isn't good..." Patty seemed to hesitate. "...so I'm making myself your honorary hang out buddy, okay? Once you're done here we'll meet up for some coffee and just talk."
That was not what he was expecting and so out of the ordinary that it made him smile in a way he hadn't since his father died, even for Kara or the thought of defeating Thawne. He found that he was nodding his head yes even before he gave his body signal to do so, "Yeah. Yeah I'd like that." He stammered a little.
"Okay, well I've got to go finish up some work so I'll see you later Barry." Patty smiled again and then left the room.
Once the door closed Barry let his head fall into his hands, "What the hell are you doing, Allen?" he asked himself between his fingers. "If Kara finds out…"
His phone began to vibrate on his desk.
'Oh god what if Kara heard the conversation with her super-hearing?!' he frantically thought and cautiously picked up his phone. "Cisco! Oh thank god!" Barry answered the phone happily. "Cisco! What's up man?!"
"Barry, you need to get to Star Labs now! Something has happened to Professor Stein and Wally." Cisco informed him. "Oh, and Kara is here too."
Barry Allen's jaw hit the floor and then was gone in the familiar yellow and red blur of lightning.
(Star Labs, during the power outage)
How long had he been down here now? He'd lost count so long ago. Without windows and access to daylight it was hard to keep track of time and that made time seem to move slow and moving slow was the worst thing in the world for a speedster.
Eobard Thawne slammed his fist into the glass that was his prison for the hundredth or so time. It did nothing to aid in his escape but it served to make him feel a little better. It relieved some of the anger that he felt and the need to kill. Thawne closed his eyes and jammed his head back onto the glass a few times while grimacing.
He had come back in time with a plan and a purpose. The Justice League of his time had brought crime to a standstill and only the most talented criminals managed to stay free, never mind making a profit. Green Arrow, Supergirl and the Flash. Those three had been the backbones of it all and the leaders of the force that would eventually make the criminals of the world get legitimate work. Those that were able that is.
Many weren't lucky like Thawne. He'd always worn a mask and always was careful with his identity. The Flash of his time didn't know who he was or what he could do outside of the costume. After a year or so of doing that Thawne had had enough. He had been like a god among men before The Justice League came along and there was no way he would live like a common man now.
The night he put on the Reverse Flash costume again. And that night he'd almost lost his life.
Thawne used his speed to shut down the power on an entire block and then proceeded to rob every store he could in succession. Thawne had no idea where he would sell the stolen goods but he was sure he could find someone and if not he then he would rebuild the black market by himself from the ground up.
He would then lead the revolution and return crime to this world the way it used to be. He would bring back the balance and the criminals to come after him would hold him to the godlike status he had envisioned for himself back when he was on top of the world. He cleaned out several shops in the time it took him to think about that and then he began to formulate his plans on how he would do it.
The first step was to gain minions of some kind. That could be arranged through staging of prison breaks-
The wall of the shop exploded beside him sending rocks and dust everywhere. Thawne covered his eyes and coughed.
"I was beginning to think you weren't going to show your face again." Thawne knew that voice. He hated that man. He hated the cockiness in his voice and his smug carefree attitude.
"Flash..." Thawne grumbled in his usual manner then spun around in a super speed circle clearing the dust from the room. When the dust cleared he saw it was just the Flash and got overconfident. "I'm going to kill you!" he immediately attacked Flash.
The two of them moved from the store to the street in seconds, punching and kicking each other the entire way. From there they dashed up buildings and up and down the street battling as only two masters of the speed force could. To the naked eye nothing could be seen but wind whipping up debris and paper into small tornadoes coupled with blended blurs of red, yellow and lightning.
Thawne tossed a rock at Flash's leg knocking him off balance and allowing him the opportunity he needed. He sped over and began to stomp on his hated rivals chest and arms. The Flash blocked what he could but received more than he could defend and Thawne took great pleasure in the grunts of pain. He stomped until finally the Flash stopped blocking and began to take the full force of Thawne's super speed rage.
When he stopped the Flashes lips were caked with blood and his costume was lined with footprints. His breathing was shallow. 'I've done it!' Thawne thought. 'This is the moment! The start of my empire! How fitting it begins with the Flash's end!' he was almost giddy with glee as he stood over the Flash.
And then, much to his irritation, the Flash smiled. Thawne kicked him again several times and now the Flash chuckled weakly. "What are you laughing about?! I'm about to kill you!"
The Flash grinned, "No you're not. You'll never beat me Thawne." His voice was low and hurt.
"Your present circumstances prove otherwise."
"I bet them that you'd show up eventually you know."
"Bet who?!" Thawne demanded angrily, losing himself in rage and confusion.
"They didn't think you'd do it but I knew. He'll never be able to live a normal life for long, I said."
Thawne kicked Flash again, interrupting his rant. "Who?! Who damn you?!"
"…my friends…"
Then the shadows grew over him and Eobard Thawne felt his heart fall into his stomach. In his anger he had made a fatal mistake. He had forgotten about the Justice League. He slowly turned around.
Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Supergirl, Martian Manhunter, Firestorm and the Atom all hovered over him in the sky. Green Arrow stood in front of Kid Flash, Vixen, Vibe, Black Canary, Speedy, Arsenal and other heroes he didn't take the time to recognize.
Eobard Thawne felt fear and he heard the Flash laughing a little behind him. "This isn't over." He grumbled to Flash and then tried to use his speed to dash off but the ground tore up around him from Supergirl's heat vision and he was flung through the air, tumbling several times before hitting the ground.
'Not gonna be able to run away from this it seems.' Thawne rolled and got to his knee to eye his foes. They weren't all attacking at once, they knew he was defeated and were toying with him like a cat and mouse. This made Thawne even angrier and resolved him in his latest desire, 'They aren't taking me alive.' He promised himself and vanished into the speed force.
Vibe struck out with a pulse but Thawne moved around it and drove his fist into the heroes face. He easily dodged all of Green Arrows, Speedy and Arsenal's archery then tripped them all before they could reload more arrows. The Atom took to the sky and began unleashing beams of energy all around while the others continued to watch. Thawne easily took out Atom by running up a wall and jumping from a nearby building, crashing into Atom and knocking him down into a car before again vanishing in the speed force.
Kid Flash entered the fray now and the two of them did battle for a brief moment before Thawne overpowered him and knocked him unconscious with a vicious series of blows to the head. He finally stopped, gripping Kid Flash by the back of his costume and stared at the heroes. 'I can do this.' He told himself. He was winning. He spun around quickly and flung Kid Flash up into the air forcing the flying heroes to spread and catch him. While they did this he dashed forward attempting to speed blitz the ground based heroes.
Vibe caught him with a sonic burst that knocked him backwards and into a solid concrete wall. The air rushed from his lungs upon impact and he hit the ground gasping for breath and gripping his side. "I'll kill you all!" he snarled with spittle flying from his lips.
"No." Down floated the Hawks with their weapons of justice brandished proudly.
Thawne moved at blinding speeds and attacked the Hawks before they could land to deliver the final blow. Hawkman received a kick to the groin while he tossed Hawkgirl to the side by her wings. An arrow dug into his shoulder and he pulled it out to see a syringe was attached to the end.
"Serum we've been working on just for speedsters." Green Arrow notched another arrow. "That should slow you down." He fired another but Thawne managed to dodge it but he could feel the tranquilizer taking its affect.
"No! No! No!" he began to spin in a circle in attempt to burn the tranquilizer from his system and this caused a tornado to appear. Everyone moved back but Supergirl floated forward.
"Enough."
She fired off a massive blast of heat vision that destroyed the ground around Thawne effectively ending his tornado. Thawne lay sprawled in the bottom of a hole covered in debris and wounded. His pride hurt more than his actual wounds, his speedy healing could never fix that.
"Surrender, Thawne." Supergirl floated down with her arms folded.
Thawne was surrounded and defeated. He'd put up a good fight, better than any before him but still they had defeated him. Then he got an idea. He began vibrating and phased through the ground landing in a dark subway tunnel below. Without hesitation he sped off into the blackness not knowing where he was going. He had escaped with his life for now but he knew the Justice League would be after him soon. He had to find somewhere safe, somewhere this League couldn't reach him.
And that's when the idea struck him. "Gideon. We're going back in time." Thawne told his artificial intelligence. With a grin on his face Thawne used the speed force to rip open a portal and ran into it.
That had led to him ending up in National City and his eventual team-up with Maxwell Lord and the Legion. Their failure resulted in his current imprisonment at the bottom of Star Labs. No escape possible. He knew because he tried. Thawne didn't know how long he'd been here but every so often he would attempt to use his speed to phase out of the cell and it never worked.
Bored and dying of inability to run, Thawne decided to try one last time. Reached out for the door of the cell and concentrated as hard as he could on mustering up speed enough to vibrate through the solid matter. As he did this the lights went off leaving him in pitch blackness. It happened for all of 2 seconds but that was all the time Thawne needed.
He quickly realized the power was out and in that moment he summoned all the speed force he could and escaped Star Labs, unknown to the others who were currently dealing with the problems affecting Wally West and Martin Stein.
Thawne ran until he was several miles away from Central City and standing atop a plateau that allowed him to overlook Central City from a distance. He could see it all. The lights, the buildings, everything. It was raining a little, he could tell the storm was passing but he pulled his mask off and turned his head back letting the raindrops wash his face. He inhaled his first breath of fresh air in god knew how long and grinned.
"Now what?"