December 11th, 2013 | Central City, Missouri | Time Vault, S.T.A.R Labs | POV: Alexander Morue
Xander stared at the two speedsters, who were obviously from the future based on the Flash ring that sat on Barry Allen's hand. The only question was when. His Bluebox was unable to save his memories from the Speed Force, meaning that they were a little fuzzy due to the distance in time from when he had seen them. But what he did know told him about the Flash's first six years on the job. And from what he remembered, Flash's fifth year was occupied by the two Cicada's as well as Allen and Iris' daughter, Nora West-Allen. His initial visit to 2016 had been erased from the timeline, meaning that Nora still appeared in 2018, when she had arrived in the third timeline.
"Who the hell are you?" Allen asked. "There's not supposed to be anyone here,"
"Right," Xander replied simply, examining Allen's hands. He held a small vial gun in his right hand, and a small piece of metal in his left hand. His memories started to come back to him, and he couldn't help but smile. The piece of metal - a shard from Savitar's suit - mixed with dark matter from the accelerator would create the means of attracting Cicada's dagger. Once the dagger was of no use, then Team Flash could dispose of Cicada, though he knew from his memories that the attempt would fail. "Well...you see...there's no way to put this besides...I'm kind of new to the timeline, so I'm doing my first run around, which is why you don't remember me. I'm just here to collect a message. Feel free to collect the dark matter for your mission against Cicada. Though...well...wouldn't want to give any spoilers,"
"You know about Cicada?" Nora asked, her interest clearly piqued as Xander moved towards the other wall opposite of the now-empty frame. He pressed his hand against the wall, watching as it peeled open to reveal a tiny microchip. Once he removed the chip and stuffed it into his pockets, Xander turned back to the two speedsters. "Of course I know about the Cicada's and his dagger. And another thing I know about...is that you should tell your friend Vibe to take the dagger to another Earth. Not into space. Just a suggestion,"
He moved towards the far wall, giving them a salute before phasing through the wall. Xander fell through the roofs and floors, before performing a 'superhero landing' on the ground. Once there, he stood up and began to examine his surroundings. He was late. Obviously. So, Xander began to slowly rewind time, watching as the crowd that had been watching the speech suddenly returned. Thawne and his employees suddenly moved backward through the doors, moving back onto the stage before the speech began to run backward. Once he had gotten to where he wanted, he resumed time and stepped forward.
Thawne suddenly froze, realization flooding his face as he looked around the conference room. Xander grinned, moving into the crowd as Thawne started his speech. "Thank you. Thank you. My name is Harrison Wells. Tonight, the future begins," He spoke, drawing everyone into silence. Xander continued to move into the crowd, before finding Barry and Iris halfway into said crowd. "The work my team and I will do here will change our understanding of physics. We'll bring about advancements in power, advancements in medicine, and trust me, that future will be here faster than you think,"
'Yeah, no shit asshole. I already brought us those achievements' Xander thought as he approached the future couple only for him to get violently shoved out of the way by a hooded figure. "Oh, hey, my laptop! It's got my dissertation!" Iris exclaimed, motioning towards the running figure. Xander instinctively took off at non-speedster speeds, a slower Barry on his heels, with Iris close behind. Xander took a hard right, jumping up onto a large box before using that to hoist himself onto the roof of the building.
Once there, he took off once again, jumping up and down onto different roof sections before coming to a stop at the edge. Looking down, he could see that Barry and the thief were now facing off in the alleyway. "All right, kid, you don't have to do this, all right? Just give me back my friend's bag, and we'll call it even. Okay?" Xander scoffed at the useless attempt, watching as the thief slammed the bag directly into Allen, who fell over onto the ground next to Iris, who had just arrived. "Barry!"
Seeing his window, Xander jumped down from the roof, gliding down before falling directly onto the thief, tackling the thief to the ground as a shield. Xander dealt a swift blow to the thief's hooded face, pressing his foot into the thief's neck with a sneer before picking up the fallen bag. He handed it to a very shocked Barry Allen, before adding more pressure to the thief's neck. "Step off of the kid!" A voice shouted. Xander, his sneer very apparent, turned towards the voice to find one Detective Eddie Thawne standing in front of an open fence, his gun aimed directly at him. "Step away!" Xander let out a growl, pushing a little bit harder before stepping off of the thief. "What the hell are you doing?"
"The kid...he stole my friend's bag," Barry spoke, motioning to the kid who still lay on the ground, no doubt afraid to stand up. "My other friend here, he jumped down from the roof...and landed on him," Xander sighed, shrugging his shoulders as some of the built-up tension there seemed to release somewhat. Detective Thawne looked between the kid, Xander, and the roof, a look of skepticism over his features as he turned back at them. "How the hell did you do that?"
"I used the thief as a shield between me and the ground," Xander replied simply, motioning down to the kid, who most likely had more than a few broken bones. Thawne frowned, before bending down to grab the kid, who groaned in pain as he got to his feet. Thawne proceeded to cuff the thief, before turning back to the three. "Well then, I'm Detective Eddie Thawne. I'm gonna need all three of you to come down to the station for more in-depth questioning,"
"Wow, not a day out of the house and I'm already going to the police station," Xander said amusingly as he turned to Barry and Iris. "So...coffees on me?" He asked, receiving a faint chuckle from Barry and a smile from Iris. 'Well...look at that. Not a day into meeting them and I'm already a friend. Maybe this whole saving the future thing could work," Xander thought to himself. He shook away his thoughts, following Thawne and the thief as he launched into conversation with Barry and Iris.
December 11th, 2013 | Central City, Missouri | Central City Police Department | POV: Alexander Morue
After lengthy discussions with Detectives Joe West and Eddie Thawne, Xander and Iris stepped out of the police department. Barry would have joined them, but he said something about Captain Singh forcing him to work given the trouble at S.T.A.R Labs. So, Xander and Iris decided they would go to Jitters to get some coffee, and maybe watch the accelerator activate. They were about halfway between the department and Jitters when Iris spoke. "So...what is it that you do every day? I mean, I know you're the CEO of your company, but what do you do all day?"
"That's a very loaded question, Iris. I do a lot of things. Though I'm not fond of board meetings, I tend to avoid those at all costs. When I'm using my free time, I'm usually developing some sort of technology or coming up with some sort of new technology," Xander explained. "I've been having calls with the U.N recently regarding a project I'm working on. So far they're at least listening to my pitch, but I'm not feeling good about their response. I'll have to come up with a second plan if they deny it,"
"And I'm assuming this 'project' is...what, a weapon?" Iris asked.
"Oh, no. I'm not really one for weapons. This project is more of an idea for the future, which may or may not be - as Doctor Wells put it - closer than we think," Xander replied as he pushed open the door to Jitters, holding it open to Iris, who gave him a small smile and a nod in return. The two moved towards the counter, meeting the same barista as before as they ordered their drinks. Xander took a seat at the closest table, Iris doing the same as he activated his Quickware, which displayed that the particle accelerator had just activated. "What is that?" Iris asked, motioning to the device.
"Oh, this? It's kind of like a watch and computer mixed, a piece of tech I developed that I named the 'Quickware'. I was just checking the S.T.A.R Labs accelerators' progress to find that it activated a minute or two ago," Xander replied, turning the display over to show Iris, who appeared to have not seen this part of his tech, which wasn't surprising seeing as most of his sales were in the east and west coasts and Europe. "But those readings seem...off,"
"What's wrong?" Iris inquired, taking a sip of her coffee as Xander spun the display back over to face him. He already knew what was happening, but decided to act dumb. "These readings are off the charts, which would normally be a good thing if it weren't for the fact that some sort of exotic matter has formed within the accelerator itself. If the matter stays there, which it will, then the accelerator will experience a cascade failure...that will blow up the city and everything in a thirty block radius," Xander explained. Iris went wide-eyed at this, realizing that that included them, Barry, Joe West, everyone.
"We have to warn them somehow!" Iris exclaimed, pulling out her phone as she and Xander darted for the door. Iris made it out, but Xander was stopped as he collided with a woman. Xander's Quickware immediately spiked up, showing readings he'd never seen before as he silently positioned it towards the woman. He entered Flashtime, sending a single nanite at the woman to take a blood sample. He waited a moment, before watching as the results suddenly appeared on the screen. He projected the results to his tecno-contacts over his eyes.
Based on the results from the woman, and the system he was using to determine whose blood was in the sample, only one name appeared. Iris West. Xander stared at the woman, who seemed nothing like the Iris that had just exited the building. This Iris had light skin, brown hair, brown eyes, wore blue jeans, a white tank-top, blue tennis shoes, and a black belt around her waist. She was very much attractive like the Iris of this universe but didn't have the same body structure. Then it hit him. The names on the list all had personas that he had heard before. Lady Flash. Liberty Belle. Impulse. Johnny Chambers. Superboy. All of them he had heard about or had seen in his time in either the Speed Force or Quantum Foam. All residing in the original Earth-0. Not 1. Not 1-A. Earth-0. Eobard Thawne had destroyed the Earth he and the Speed Force had known after killing Nora Allen. Only now...people from Earth-0 were slowly seeping into his own Earth as...doppelgangers. How many were there? Was there one of him? And how could he account for the mass paradox that would arise from such a thing?
Xander slipped out of Flashtime, grabbing her arm before yanking her out of Jitters. "Hey! What the hell!" Iris II exclaimed as they joined a very scared and frantic Iris. Xander let go of her but began to speak immediately to keep her attention. "Iris West, I know who you are and I am aware of your situation. However, we don't have much time. I'm going to need you to stay calm, and listen very carefully," Once he was sure he had her full attention, Xander continued. "Your universe is gone. Everyone, you knew dead and they're never coming back. Yourself and a few others - I don't know how much - have slipped into my universe as doppelgangers, which is why everywhere you go, no-one believes you're Iris West,"
Iris staggered for a bit at the information, examining him and her surroundings as she tried to process everything. "Barry...he just...he ran into the breach...I told him not to...to stay with the others...but he vanished with Thawne...where did he go?" Iris asked. But they didn't have time, Xander watched as the accelerator erupted, going into cascade failure, only avoiding blowing up the city by Ronald Raymond. The shockwave hit almost immediately, sending all three of them back as a large beam of light suddenly shot into the air above S.T.A.R Labs. Xander grabbed Iris I, spinning her so she was facing away from the explosion. He placed a shield generator onto her shoulder, watching as a small layer of blue surrounded her.
He was about to do the same to Iris II, but once again was too late. The beam descended back down to S.T.A.R Labs, colliding with its own energy as an explosion of dark matter suddenly shook the city itself. Over two dozen lightning bolts fell from the sky in Xander's line of sight, some yellow, some orange, and some blue as they shot down. He watched as two bolts of yellow lightning fell from the sky, hitting Iris II in front of her before sending her flying back into Jitters, through the door, and onto the floor inside.
The second lightning bolt hit Xander, sending energy rippling over him. The thing he hadn't calculated was the small pinch fusion reactor in his jacket pocket. As soon as the energy hit it, an explosion ran out, blowing up the entire block as a shielded Iris I went flying back. Luckily, the reactor wasn't on, so the explosion was rather small, creating only a small crater in the ground as well as obliterating Xander's body. Merely an inconvenience. Both for him, and then for the emotional trauma on Iris, who had just watched him blow up.
December 11th, 2013 | Central City, Missouri | Morue Mansion | POV: Alexander Morue
Not a second later, Xander's consciousness was transferred back into the 'Resurrpod' located within his basement's lab. This was only his second time using the 'Resurrpod' tech, and he was quite satisfied with the results. The last time, he had altered the new body's DNA to add that of Superman, making him ½ Kryptonian and ½ human. This time, he had added a new strand of DNA onto his own. The DNA of Merlin himself, making him ⅓ human, ⅓ Kryptonian, and ⅓ magician. He had loved the Harry Potter books over the years and had been a fan of the movie adaptations as well. And on top of that, he had fused his body with nanites, making him ¼ human, ¼ Kryptonian, ¼ magician, and ¼ robot.
The pod slid open, letting a very naked Xander step down. He looked down at himself, finding that his body had remained relatively the same. He still had the same scars and he was the same height, only now there were two distinct differences. He was more muscular than before from the infusion of nanites. And now there was a small tattoo on his left hand, which he immediately realized was ripped right out of the Harry Potter books and movies. The Deathly Hallows symbol, a triangle, a circle, and a line.
Xander grinned down at the tattoo, moving out of the lab where a clump of nanites hovered over the table. As soon as he neared, the nanites dropped three objects onto the table, before fusing back into his shoulder. The nanites had dropped his ring, his Bluebox, and his Quickware. Xander grabbed the Bluebox, pushing it back into his brain as an Earth's ton of memories entered his mind. He then got dressed using his speed before attaching his Quickware to his left forearm. Xander then grabbed the ring from the table, stuffing it into his pocket before grabbing the ring from the collection of rings on his shelf.
He had gotten a major speed boost from the lightning bolt, and he intended to use that speed boost as he took off in a flash of golden lightning. Xander sped into the city itself, using a very useful trait of Nora West-Allen's, reversing time as he ran towards CC Jitters. He purposely created tears in his body, mostly on his chest where the explosion had rang out, being forced to do so because of his advanced healing factor, meaning the explosion wouldn't majorly hurt him. The only reason it did before was because he was right on top of the miniature nuclear blast.
After arriving at Jitters, Xander sped right into the 'safe' zone before resuming time. The explosion rang out again, hitting him as he went flying directly into a nearby car. Xander fell to the ground in pain, a few pieces of metal, plastic, and concrete sticking out of him from not only the car but the ground as well. For the first time in about four years, pain overtook Xander as well as his mind, keeping him from clear thought as a bit of blood poured out of his mouth. He was keeping his nanites from healing him and was also using the nanites to keep his cells from healing at extreme rates.
The entire city around him had gone into chaos. Power outages could be seen everywhere, fires were spreading, sirens could be heard, and Xander could hear people screaming. Grimacing, Xander clutched his chest in pain, leaning back against the broken car. "Oh my god!" He heard someone shout. He wasn't really sure, seeing as his vision was getting worse by the second and he was pretty sure his right ear-drum had been completely shredded. What he could see though was one Iris West rushing to his side, kneeling beside him as she began to put pressure onto one of his many wounds. "Stay with me - with me,"
His hearing was beginning to fade, only hearing a bit of what she said as he looked around. He could see the unconscious form of Iris West II inside an un-lit Jitters and could see a bit of cloth on the ground nearby, most likely from his old body. Xander sighed, letting out a cough that came with a bit - a lot - of blood as he smiled up at the sky. Sure, he knew he wasn't dying, but it sure as hell felt like it. "Ugh...so this...this is what dying - cough cough - feels like,"
"No, don't talk like - make it through -" Iris replied. Xander smiled, reaching out for her as he grabbed her arm. "Go...find...Barry," With that, he let out a sigh, and leaned further back into the wrecked car. Iris let out a small sob, no doubt because he was the first person to die right in front of her. Xander let his left hand fall off of her arm, before slowly moving it towards his right arm, where his Quickware sat. His nanites were keeping him alive, barely, and so he decided to act.
Xander pressed a small button on the device, transmitting his location to the Central City Hospital before pressing a second button. He leaned back farther, his smile increasing slightly as blood began to collect in his lungs, before being emptied by his nanites. With a final breath, Xander slipped into unconsciousness, letting fate decide his...well, fate.