Thawne sat in his room, watching the news coverage of Bart Allen being granted the mantle of Flash on his TV. He picked up a bottle of whiskey, downing it in one long guzzle before slamming it back down on his table.
"This is a bit of a bizarre choice if I do say so myself." said one of the news anchors, "One would think Allen would choose Thawne, the highest-ranked hero in his agency."
"I would think so too," said the other anchor, "I guess Allen just wants to keep the Flash name a family name."
Thawne growled, flinging the empty whiskey bottle at the TV. Time slowed to a crawl as the bottle floated to a stop in midair.
"Goddamn it." said Thawne, sighing as he got up and strutted over to the bottle, plucking it out of the air.
"Mr. Allen will be holding a party to celebrate the occasion." said the news anchor, "It will be held at the Flash Museum."
Thawne felt his phone buzz, taking it out of his pocket to find a variety of messages from Barry. While said messages were mostly to inform Thawne of Barry's decision and also included an invitation to the Party, Thawne didn't care about any of it.
"You want to spit in my face Barry?" said Thawne, "Fine, I'll spit in your grave."
Putting the phone away, Thawne drew himself an evil grin, "Time to put my master plan into action."
The Flash Museum was abuzz with activity as numerous guests walked its hallways. Waiters served drinks as the various heroes of the Flash agency mingled about. Thawne walked in through the front doors, clad in a suit and tie.
"Thawne, you made it!" said Wally, walking over to Thawne and patting him on the back.
"Yes...I did." said Thawne, "Where's Barry?"
"He's in front of the stage we set up in the cosmic treadmill exhibit." said Wally, "Go ahead, I'll catch up with you."
Thawne nodded, walking towards the stage area. Walking into the large room, he gazed upon multiple rows of foldable chairs set up in front of a wooden stage. Thawne spotted Bart standing nervously on top of the stage, noticing that Barry was there with him. Barry's hand was on Bart's shoulder and he seemed to be consoling the young man. Thawne's fists clenched in silent fury, but soon they untightened.
"Not yet." whispered Thawne.
Barry's gaze drifted until it landed on Thawne, "Ah, Eobard!"
Barry sped up to Thawne, practically tackling him with a hug, "So glad you could make it!"
Thawne was taken aback by the unexpected affection, "Oh! I uh, didn't expect that."
"Expect what?" said Barry, "Wally and I's retirement or the hug?"
"Both I guess." said Thawne, "What's next for you?"
"I'll probably settle down with Patty," said Barry, "I've wanted to do that for a while now, but felt that the people needed the Flash. Now that Bart is old enough and experienced enough to take the Flash mantle, I can finally retire."
Thawne put on a smile, fake as it was, "Might I ask why you chose him?"
Barry's eyes narrowed, detecting an ulterior motive from Thawne's questions, "I chose Bart because he was the best choice, no other reason."
Thawne hid it well, but mentally speaking, he was exploding.
GODDAMN LIAR! YOU EVEN DID IT TO MY FACE!
On the outside, Thawne kept his composure, "I'll be sure to congratulate him personally."
"Of course," said Barry, "You are handing him the costume."
"What?" said Thawne.
"Since you're our top hero now." said Barry, "I want you to do the honors of giving Bart his new outfit onstage."
The veins in Thawne's hands popped, "I'll do it, sir."
"Thank you," said Barry, "I'll make my speech then let you do the honors."
Barry patted Thawne on the shoulder before walking off to meet with his wife. Thawne could barely contain himself.
Now that bastard is just rubbing it in my face!
Thawne looked to the center of the room to distract himself, spotting the cosmic treadmill itself. The treadmill was an invention of Barry's during his more scientific years and it was designed to let a speedster go back or forward in time. Ultimately, after some adventures in the time stream, Barry sealed the treadmill off due to risks to space and time and coded it to only allow himself to use it.
Hmm, hope you still work, little guy.
"Welcome everyone!" announced Barry, wielding a microphone, "I'm sure you were all shocked by the retirement of myself and mister West."
All the guests nodded in their chairs. While the entirety of the Flash agency was here, most were family members or friends of the Agency as well as everyday citizens. Thawne watched from the back, eyeing the stage with envy.
"We chose to retire less due to our age," said Barry, "But to spend more time with family. Wally wants to be there for his kids and I want to be there for my wife a little more."
Barry spotted Patty in the crowd, waving at her, "I love you more than anything Patty, let's hope for another 50 years."
Patty was a blonde woman with a similar age to Barry. She smiled, waving back at Barry with her other hand on her heart.
"But enough of that." said Barry, "Let's move on to Bart."
Wally leads Bart onstage in his Kid Flash costume, though Bart is shuffling about nervously.
"I chose Bart because he best embodies what the Flash is about." said Barry, "The fact that my grandson has managed to get this far in the hero life makes me proud to be his grandparent."
Barry smiled, giving Bart a hug before giving him the microphone.
"I...Hello!" said Bart, "I'm Bart Allen, Kid Flash-I mean Flash! I'll be honest, I didn't expect to be granted the mantle my grandfather carries, but I'll do my best to live up to his legacy!"
Wally took the Mic, "The new Flash everybody!"
The crowd roared with applause, causing Thawne's teeth to grit against each other in anger.
"Now," said Barry, "Our most prestigious member, Eobard Thawne, will hand Bart the Flash costume!"
The crowd clapped deafeningly as Thawne pulled out the Flash costume.
This should have been mine. MINE DAMNIT!
Thawne walked onto the stage, staring Bart in the eyes as he shuffled right in front of Bart. Bart looked over the costume with a nervous glance.
"I know you wanted this." said Bart.
Suddenly, all of Thawne's anger seemed to drop away, what did Bart mean.
"You've made it clear from the very beginning that your life's dream was to be the Flash." said Bart, "It must be awful that I was chosen in your stead."
Thawne looked at Bart with heavy eyes.
"I promise you Thawne," said Bart, taking the costume, "I'll live up to Barry, for both our sakes."
And just like that, Thawne's anger came roaring back, "You won't get the chance."
"What?" said Bart.
With lightning speed, Thawne reached his open hand towards Bart's chest. Plunging his hand through Bart's ribcage, Thawne wrapped his hand around Bart's heart before savagely pulling it out of his chest. Bart sputtered, blood beginning to drip from his mouth before he fell onto his back, dead.
"BART!" shouted Barry, "THAWNE, WHAT DID YOU-"
Thawne raced towards Barry, cracking him across the face with a punch, knocking him out. Moving on to Wally, Thawne grabbed him before tossing him off the stage and into the chairs. At this point, the crowd had just begun to process the violence before them and many of the civilians began to scream in terror.
"Head for the exits!" shouted Wally, "I'll hold him off!"
Thawne smirked, "No you won't."
Thawne blitzed by Wally, grabbing various bits and pieces of equipment and blocking all the exits.
"Oh god there's no way out!" shouted a civilian.
Thawne sped back up to the stage, grabbing the Microphone dropped by Wally, "Ladies and Gentlemen, before I begin slaughtering all of you, I want you to know something."
The civilians and the Flash agency heroes stood back as Thawne stripped himself of his tuxedo, revealing his yellow costume underneath. Thawne pulled the mask over his head, gaining an evil smile, "This wouldn't have happened if Barry Allen didn't choose the wrong person."
Dropping the mic, Thawne jumped into the crowd, grabbing and snapping the necks of every civilian he came across while ignoring the heroes. It didn't matter if they were a man, a woman, or a child, Thawne would grab them by the head and twist until he heard that oh so satisfying pop.
Making it to Patty, Thawne knew he had to make this one special. Grabbing her by the head, Thawne twisted extra hard, watching as Patty's head practically popped off her shoulders.
Arriving at the back, Thawne turned around, watching the heroes immediately began to drop to their knees.
"My son!" shouted one hero.
"DAD!" shouted another hero.
Wally cradled a woman with black hair, "Linda." he whispered with tears in his eyes.
"I got them all out of the way." said Thawne, "I wanted to have everyone fight me not as an old comrade, but as an enemy."
Wally looked up at Thawne in anger, gently placing the woman down, "You want that? You've got it."
One by one, other heroes began to stand up, fists tightened as they approached Thawne.
"We will avenge our families." said one hero.
"We will bring you to justice." said another hero.
"You're irredeemable Thawne." said Wally.
Thawne clenched his fists, "You'll all pay for Allen's folly!"
Thawne raced forward, throwing himself into the heroes' attacks. Thawne was merciless, killing most heroes with a single strike to the neck or heart. Some heroes managed to gang up on him, landing a few blows on the speedster, but it was all for naught as Thawne returned to favor, killing them all. Soon, Wally was the only one left standing.
"RAH!" shouted Wally, cracking Thawne across the jaw and laying into him with more punches. Despite Wally's age, he was still a speedster and still fast.
Thawne stumbled back, his nose bleeding as he realized it was going to take more effort to kill Wally. Running around the room, Thawne began to rethink his strategy as Wally chased him down.
"GET BACK HERE!" shouted Wally, pain in his voice.
As Wally was just catching up to Thawne, time slowed down around Thawne once more. Turning around, Thawne noticed that Wally had slowed down too.
"What?" said Thawne, "But if he has the speed force shouldn't he-"
And that's when it hit Thawne.
I don't have the same speed force as the others. I have some sort of anti-speed force. A negative speed force.
Thawne looked at his own blood-soaked hands.
Heh, good for me.
Walking up to Wally, Thawne vibrated his open hand before plunging it into Wally's forehead. As time sped up again, Wally's body slumped to the floor, motionless. Thawne smirked, satisfied that everyone in the room was dead. Everyone except-
"Barry." said Thawne, walking over to his unconscious mentor. While Thawne was still fully intent on taking his revenge all the way, he still felt a pang of guilt over doing this to his old friend.
"Damn it Barry." said Thawne, "Why'd you have to do this to me?"
"Ugh." groaned Barry.
"Wake up Barry." said Thawne, "Wake up."
Barry's eyes glazed open, his eyes starting to dart around the room. Barry's mouth went wide open when he glanced at all the bodies on the floor.
"Don't bother screaming Barry," said Thawne, "I've already killed everyone, it's just us now. I do admit that Wally put up the best fight though, props to him."
Barry felt his hands and feet, realizing they were bound together by rope, "Patty. Wally. Bart."
Tears began to fall from Barry's eyes as Thawne worked on a piece of machinery, "Don't worry Barry, you'll join them soon enough."
"Why are you doing this Thawne." asked Barry, "I thought we were friends!"
"So did I," said Thawne, "but it turns out one of us is a lying bastard!"
"What are you talking about?!" said Barry, "I've never lied to you!"
"You've known that my entire life has built up to becoming the Flash!" shouted Thawne, "I dedicated every waking moment I had to honor your legacy and what do I get? You handing off your mantle to your own blood over the obvious best choice just to spite me!"
Barry looked at Thawne, "That's what this is about?! Bart taking on the mantle?!"
"Why?!" wailed Thawne, turning around to face Barry with tears in his eyes, "Why didn't you choose me?!"
Barry paused for a moment, taking deep breaths while waiting for the tears to dry up, "Bart was the best choice."
"LIAR!" shouted Thawne, throwing a wrench at Barry and cracking him right in the nose, causing it to bleed.
Tears kept falling out of Thawne's eyes as he continued, "You chose him because he was your grandson! I was always more skilled, more capable, more deserving!"
Thawne sniffled, dropping to his knees, "You ruined my life."
Barry looked at Thawne with somber eyes, "So you've come to ruin mine. Go ahead, you've already taken everyone in my life. Finish your vengeance and let that be the end of it."
Thawne looked up, staring Barry in the eyes, "As much as you want that, It's not enough for me. It isn't justice for the life you invalidated."
Standing up, Thawne stepped out of the way, revealing the cosmic treadmill, "That's why I'm going to invalidate your life, by going back to the beginning."
Barry's eyes widened, "It'll never work without me."
"I know," said Thawne, grabbing Barry and trying him the front of the treadmill, "That's why you're coming with me."
Barry's heart raced as he tried to struggle against his bonds, "Thawne don't do this!"
"After what you did," said Thawne, stepping onto the treadmill, "there's no way I'm backing out."
Thawne began to run on the treadmill, generating power while activating the machine using Barry's presence.
"THAWNE NO!" shouted Barry as lightning began to radiate from the treadmill, "STOP!"
"I just want you to know Barry," said Thawne, "You brought this on yourself."
The cosmic treadmill whirred to life as a huge bolt of lightning exploded from the machine, sending both men into the timestream. Barry screamed in pain as Thawne continued driving them through time.
*BOOM!*
The treadmill landed in a forest, it's monitor displaying that they had traveled nearly 70 years into the past.
"I've done it!" said Thawne, "I'm here!"
Thawne threw his fists into the air in victory.
"HUGH!"
Thawne looked down at Barry, whose skin was starting to turn gray. Racing to the front of the treadmill, Thawne noticed pieces of Barry were starting to flake off as if they were dust.
"Ah, sorry Barry." said Thawne, untying Barry from the treadmill and cradling him, "It seems using you as a personal keycard to the treadmill may have had unintended side effects."
Barry's mouth opened to speak, but his vocal cords had already disintegrated.
"You know, as much as I hate you for what you did Barry," said Thawne, "I still can't help but feel sad."
Barry's eyes met Thawne's eyes, "I'll live up to your legacy Barry, just you wait."
And with that, Barry's form went limp, his body disintegrating into ash. Thawne got onto his feet, stretching his arms and legs before getting into a sprinting position, "I'm coming Barry, I'm coming."
In the present day, Thawne released Barry from his grasp, watching him fall to the ground. Barry could hardly catch his breath, having trouble processing the massive speed force shock of knowledge sent directly to his brain.
"Now you see Barry." said Thawne, "Now you understand why I hate you."
"You killed me and everyone I knew in the future, then came back to torture me and my friends in the present," Barry said incredulously, "because I didn't let you be me?!"
"DAMN YOU!" shouted Thawne, punching Barry across the face, "The Flash is more than a mantle, it represents hope, love, fame! I wanted that and you didn't let me have it!"
Barry coughed up blood, unable to get up due to his broken arms.
"You broke my heart Barry," said Thawne, "So I'm gonna break you!"
It was then that Barry heard the pained scream of Midoriya.
"No!" sputtered Barry.
"Uh oh!" said Thawne, "Looks like your friends came up short saving Bakugou. Let's go say hello!"
Grabbing Barry by the head, Thawne raced off towards the screaming.
Within seconds, Thawne slid to a stop in the clearing, holding Barry's limp body up by the head for all to see. While Midoriya had gone into shock and was now unconscious, Todoroki, Uraraka, Tsuyu, Shoji, Tokoyami, and Aoyama were still conscious.
Thawne whistled, getting their attention, "Take a good look!"
As his classmates turned to face Thawne, many of their eyes widened upon seeing Barry's broken and mangled form. While Midoriya had broken his limbs on multiple occasions, this was a whole other level entirely. Aoyama resisted the urge to vomit while Tsuyu and Uraraka put their hands over their mouths in shock.
"You failed to save your friend!" shouted Thawne, "I wonder how differently things would have gone if Barry here hadn't run off with me to settle our personal score?"
Barry desperately tried to get a word out, trying to tell his friends to run, but Thawne had beaten him so badly he couldn't even find the strength to speak.
"I'd love to break Barry's heart even more than it's already been broken by killing you all in front of him, but he's had a long rough night." said Thawne, "So I'll settle for a broken spine."
Letting go of Barry, Thawne vibrated his fist before hitting Barry in the back harder than he's ever been hit before. Barry's body bent backward as he felt his spinal cord snap like a twig. He landed face-first in the dirt, feeling the thunderous vibrations of Thawne's footsteps as Thawne sprinted away, exiting the valley in seconds.
Barry could hear someone speaking, yelling his name even, as Todoroki ran to his side, pushing his body onto it's back. Barry could see Todoroki in a state of distress, desperately trying to speak to him, but he couldn't hear anything nor feel anything except for the tears pouring from his eyes.
He went over what happened in his mind, how desperately he tried to protect his friends from the Rogues, only to have Reverse Flash hurt them all. How Thawne had destroyed his future, further deepening Barry's trauma. Even worse, Barry could only speculate that Thawne had killed his mother.
Today, Eobard Thawne won, because, at that very second, Barry Allen was the most broken boy on the planet.
Oh man, The end of the Thawne origin and the Training Camp Arc. Soul Crushing stuff right?
This chapter is also significant because it marks the 50th chapter WOO HOO!
Thank you to everyone for accompanying me on the way to making 50 freaking chapters. You all make my day every day!
Reviews:
Flameman'67: It's always nice to hear that someone likes my story!
Thanks for the feedback as always! :)
Jose Ramiro: Thawne's origin is a cross between Midoriya's origin and Williamson's origin for the villain. I really love how it came together for me to write in this chapter!
Thanks for the feedback as always!
Aztec 13: Thanks for the feedback as always!
DCDGojira: I haven't read the recommended fics, but I promise I will at some point! And it's good that you're taking precautions against Coronavirus!
Thanks for the feedback as always!
Next Chapter: Pick Up The Pieces
