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First of all, I want to apologize to all of you guys who were waiting for this chapter but several things came up, thanksgiving, the crossover, wonky internet connection and then I had an exam. So I don't know or remember who I've already replied to so if I haven't please let me know and I'll get back to you however I can.
Second How about those last couple of Episodes of The Flash? I know I enjoyed them and now I have seven weeks nearly distraction free to continue writing. I must say this story is much faster paced and convoluted than I initially planned. Hopefully as confusing as things get they will still make a lot of sense.
Heads up there is a bit of torture and mutilation in this chapter you have been warned.
The Flash: Survival of the Fastest
Chapter 4: That Syncing Feeling
STAR Labs, Cortex
10:30 AM
Team Flash was gathered in the main cortex of STAR Labs. After XLR8's attack Barry had everyone gather together so that Ben could explain just what the hell was going on. The young speedster from the future had a lot of explaining to do.
"Are you all OK?" Joe asked. Hearing how Barry, Caitlin and Cisco were attacked scared him. It had only been a day but things were getting very out of hand.
"We're fine Joe." Barry reassured his foster father. He and Caitlin hadn't been hurt too badly. It was more like XLR8 was trying to steal their speed rather than kill them. "A little shaken up but we're good."
"We were attacked by a speedster named XLR8." Ben said. "Which shouldn't have happened."
"How come?" Joe asked donning his cop disposition.
"Where I am from XLR8 was already dead." Ben explained as he once again brought up the speedster's file onto their screens via the device Cisco would eventually create. "His real name was Axel Areight. He was a nurse at Central City Memorial Hospital before he was fired for selling prescription medication on the streets. He became a speedster during the Speed Force Storm."
"Speed Force Storm?" Caitlin asked
"It's exactly as it sounds. The Storm happened during Barry's final fight with Godspeed. You two were racing at such high speeds and putting out so much energy in an attempt to take the Speed Force from each other that you created a massive feedback burst. The resulting electrical explosion tore the Speed Force apart and scattered it throughout time and the Multiverse. I know this sounds crazy Barry, but you are not the first Speedster." The young speedster explained.
"What do you mean?" The Flash was quite interested to hear that there have been speedsters throughout history. He remembered hearing the legends about Savitar being the first but could there really have been others like him?
"Like I said the Speed Force exploded and caused simultaneous lightning strikes throughout basically everything. Dozens if not hundreds of millions or perhaps infinite amounts of people were struck turning them into speedsters throughout time and space."
"So… what happened to these other speedsters?" Wally asked quite curious about what happened to his apparent predecessors and possible legacies. "Does this have anything to do with Savitar? I mean he's supposedly the first Speedster in the entire Multiverse."
"Well, I've heard about Savitar it is quite possible the Storm is a part of his origin story. As were you Barry. The lightning that struck you, came from that Storm. I don't know where it begins and where it ends but every speedster they've all met Godspeed or Speed Demon at some point or another." Ben explained. "They've been traveling throughout time and the multiverse taking the Speed Force from speedsters. Godspeed cultivates new speedsters and grooms them into his pawns if they fail he takes back whatever he gave them while Speed Demon just tears the Speed Force out of you and as you saw with XLR8, it is not a pleasant experience. If losing your speed doesn't kill you Speed Demon will directly end your life."
"Right… so how do we stop them? I mean Speed Demon was only around for a few seconds and even then, he did not look real. He looked like a monster." Caitlin argued.
"Thankfully he's a monster that can only be around for a few seconds before the Speed Force snaps him back to his time like a bungie cord." Ben sighed. "Which is unfortunately where I come from. So yeah… Until we deal with him I'm kind of stuck here. The only problem is I have no clue how to defeat Speed Demon, all I know is that only I can beat Speed Demon."
"You don't have to do this alone Ben. You've got us. We can help you." Iris said
"You don't understand." Ben's voice was rising in volume. "Only I can stop him because I created him!"
"What?" Everyone had different reactions. Iris actually voiced her confusion while Barry and Caitlin looked at their son in stunned silence. Cisco Joe and Wally had to pick their jaws up off the ground while Eddie subconsciously reached for his gun ignoring the blue flame like energy swirling around his fingers as he did.
"You created him? What is that supposed to mean?" Barry near shouted.
"I found someone. He was young… and he had a wonky connection to the Speed Force just like me because he was born with it." Ben said sadly. "I tried taking him under my wing, make him use his powers the right way, but he fought me at every turn. By the time I saw what he had become it was too late. He had become Speed Demon and made it his mission to hunt me." Barry immediately felt bad for getting angry at Ben. Clearly Speed Demon had left a huge impact on his son. "I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree when it comes to Allens trusting the wrong people."
"How so?" The Flash asked.
"All I know about Godspeed is that he was someone you taught. But in his mind, you failed at a number of things so he lashed out determined to take your mantel as the fastest man alive and as Central City's resident Speedster. Funny how two of the most powerful and dangerous speedsters ever are our failed students."
Caitlin was by Barry's side fairly quickly taking his hand into her own, in an attempt to sooth the conflicting emotions in her boyfriend.
"Wait so basically Godspeed and Speed Demon are the Darth Vaders to you Obi Wan Kenobis?" Cisco summed up with a Star Wars metaphor.
"Well… putting it very simply… yes."
"Good, just making sure we are still following clearly." Cisco was satisfied that his metaphor summed up what was so wrong with the future.
"So, if Godspeed and Speed Demon are pupils gone rogue wouldn't it be easiest to just… I don't know, not train any new speedster?" Caitlin asked
"Maybe, but that wouldn't stop Godspeed and Speed Demon. They already exist. I've said this before and I'll say it again. Multiverse Theory is a bitch." Ben explained before turning to his parents. "Now… It's clear to me that Godspeed isn't going to sit around and wait for you two to get faster if he was willing to send XLR8 after you two so soon.
"I know, normally we get what? A week between Meta-Humans?" Barry asked the rest of the team.
"Sounds about right." Joe shrugged. "Feels like every Tuesday there is a new Meta-Human."
Central City, Abandoned Warehouse
Same Time
"RAGH!" In a massive furry Godspeed threw a table with such force that it splintered upon hitting the concrete wall of the warehouse he was held up in. He had not counted on Speed Demon showing up when he did. Not only had he had lost XLR8, one of his best creations but he also lost the Speed Force Axel Areight had in his system. Gold lightning flashed all over the room as the white speedster decimated everything in his path.
"You can't win Godspeed…" He stopped his rampage and turned to the source of the voice. His prisoner.
Chained up with her movements completely restrained was a young woman with purple hair pulled into a matted ponytail, torn clothes, smudged make up along with several cuts and bruises that refused to heal, mainly because Godspeed would inflict new ones whenever she was healed.
Godspeed scowled beneath his mask before reappearing right in front of her wrapping his hand around her neck and began to squeeze. "Don't be coy with me Abigale… never forget I can bring you to the brink and make it last for an eternity."
Abigale flinched her bravado gone at the threat. Well more like a promise than a threat, he had done it before, multiple times.
Thirty seconds later Godspeed walked away from the now bloody and unconscious Abigale. She made an excellent punching bag when he needed to relieve stress or any frustrations. He had to continue with his plan and to do that he needed the Flash's speed. He wasn't too concerned about the female Flash he was going to get her speed regardless. She was forever doomed to be his first victim nothing was ever going to change that.
Perhaps he should kick it up a notch. He might not like it but he might need to jump start the biggest and most powerful crime lord the United States has ever seen.
Central City Police Department
12:26 PM
Joe sat at his desk trying to sift through a whole mess of cases that seemed to be endlessly piling up. He really needed to get a new partner so that he would not be swamped with this much work. He may be a great cop but he wasn't the Flash.
"Joe!" He looked up to see Captain Singh making his way over to him while putting his coat on. "Round up everyone we have an emergency!"
Joe nodded and grabbed his jacket and kept in stride with the captain. "What's happening David?"
"Mayor Karon is missing!"
"The Mayor? What happened?"
"His secretary called. She heard some screams coming from the mayor's office and when she opened the door He was gone and the man he was meeting with was dead." He passed Joe a file that had photos from the first responders.
Joe looked at the pictures. He'd seen some messed-up things in his long career as a detective but this was certainly in the top ten. The body looked like it had been through a junkyard, lacerations, bruises, burns, bones and blood decorated the corpse that no longer resembled any kind of human to the point even Joe had to put in some effort to keep his lunch down. "Damn… any clue who our victim was?"
"It's going to be difficult to ID the body, which is why I want Allen on this one, now where is he Joe?"
"He's got some personal issues to work through right now. Some of his family just came into town and well, it hasn't been easy for him."
Singh pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Fine, I'll have Albert work the case. And tell Allen if he's not here tomorrow I'll have no choice but to fire him. His lack of respect for the passes I have given him is starting to annoy me."
STAR Labs, Speed Lab
1:00 PM
Cisco and Ben watched as Barry and Caitlin ran laps around the track. Flashes of yellow and blue lightning illuminated the small windows showing them where the two speedsters were a tiny fraction of a second prior.
"So… how fast are they going?" Cisco asked. Ben Had taken over monitoring their energy output, speed as well as their vitals, he at least knew what he was doing.
"Well, as long as they run in unison they can hit speeds close to Mach 100. That's about four times faster than their top speeds when they raced Zoom."
"Mach 100!? Damn…" Cisco whistled impressively. "I know Barry said Mach 50 wasn't a thing but-"
"Mach 50 is real." Ben said without looking up not even sounding the least bit impressed with what his parents could do. "I myself can run at least Mach 30,000, or the average speed of an actual bolt of lightning if you want to get technical. Mach 100 isn't going to get them much of anywhere. Heck, if I didn't have this cuff on they'd be standing still to me. Godspeed has a few speedsters that can reach lightspeed in his thrall yet he's still the fastest and Speed Demon is at least as fast as me and he gets faster with each speedster he kills."
"So, I take it there's not much optimism in the Future." Cisco shrugged. "Sounds depressing."
"Yeah… the future is rather depressing. Not much for us heroes to do after The Fall. Aside from putting down the occasional Meta-Human that pops up once in a while."
"The Fall?" Cisco asked. "What's The Fall?"
Ben was about to respond when Wally came rushing into the Lab. "Yo! What's up?" He made his way to Cisco and gave him a high five before turning to Ben.
"Uh… nothing much really. Just monitoring Barry and Caitlin's progress. They just passed Mach 113." Ben replied. "You want to help them out Wally?"
"Absolutely." Wally loved using his powers any chance he got and running alongside Barry, Caitlin, Jesse or Jay was absolutely phenomenal.
"Then suit up and join them Kid Flash." Wally frowned at his code name. As much as he loved being a speedster he hated being called Kid Flash. He was in no way a kid. But having three people called the Flash would make things a hell of a lot more confusing. Wally raced off, grabbed his suit and joined Barry and Caitlin on the race track.
No sooner had he joined them Wally began to sync up and their max speed began to increase rising past Mach 120, Mach 130 and even Mach 150 reaching all the way to Mach 170 resulting in Ben smiling at the progress.
When speedsters ran in unison they could increase their speed by keeping at this pace for a while Mach 170 could become each of their new top speed.
"Alright guys! Keep it up!" Ben called into the microphone so that the three other speedsters could hear him properly. If there was one downside to super speed it was that sometimes you couldn't hear things fast enough and you would end up missing information. Thankfully speakers channeled directly into their ears generally solved this issue for any speedster.
"Remember this feeling! Remember this speed! Let the Speed Force flow through you leaving this feeling on every cell in your body!"
"Dude you sound like Yoda." Cisco chuckled.
"Eh, I always thought of myself as Ben Solo."
"Ben Solo? Who the hell is Ben Solo?"
"Oh shit!" Ben slapped a hand over his mouth. "That was a spoiler! Damn it I really need to watch what I say sometimes…" He looked at Cisco's dead serious look before he broke out into a smirk then a full belly laugh. "You're joking, right? You have Star Wars: The Force Awakens here and you are just teasing me, right?"
"Oh man you should have seen your face." Cisco was having a little too much fun torturing Ben with pop culture. "But seriously why Ben Solo? He's Kylo Ren. You know, the bad guy."
"Dunno. I think it's because I don't really care that he's good or evil he's pretty badass. Come on you had to admit that was beastly when he stopped that blaster bolt."
"Oh, hell yeah! And when Ray Finn and BB-8 flew the Millennium Falcon through the ruined Star Destroyer"
"Awesome!" Ben was nerding out just as much as Cisco was. They kept firing back their favorite comic books and movie moments and only stopped when Barry Caitlin and Wally slid to halts.
"How fast was that?" Wally asked first.
Realizing he hadn't been following their speeds Ben went back to the terminal to get a reading. "Uh... top speed, for all three of you, was Mach 186."
"Mach 186!?" Barry asked not believing it. "How'd we do that?"
"When two speedsters run in sync one of two things can happen. If you run in perfect sync like the three of you were, your speed compiles and multiplies by the number of speedsters running. Two is double, three is triple and so on. This does have a risk however. If you aren't in perfect sync you run the risk of the Speed Force being torn from you and being dragged into the faster Speedster. Like what XLR8 tried to do to you. Unfortunately, Mach 186 is nowhere near fast enough for you to beat Godspeed or Speed Demon let alone some of the other Speedsters."
"Why? How fast are they exactly?" Caitlin asked not knowing Ben had already told Cisco.
Ben raised his foot onto the table showing them the cuff. "Can you take this off for a second?" Barry was hesitant but nodded removing Ben's cuff. The young Allen got into a starting position before looking over his shoulder. "You all might want to step back… a lot." He let the lightning surge through him as golden electricity flickered in his eyes before turning blue-white.
Like a bolt of lightning himself Ben tore off through the track leaving a scorched trail with every step he took. For the onlookers, especially the three speedsters, it was instantaneous when Ben returned to standing right in front of them.
"What the Hell!?" Wally freaked offering a high-five for Ben which the young speedster happily obliged. "Dude that was insane!
"How fast was that!?" Caitlin questioned in utter disbelief.
"Cisco?" Ben asked for Cisco to show them his speed.
Cisco was completely shocked not knowing how to convey what he saw as the number. Shaking, Cisco showed them the tablet.
"Mach…30…000…" Barry breathed unable to truly believe it.
"That's… impossible…"
"Not for me." Ben smirked as he put the cuff back on. "And I can easily go faster."
Unknown Location
2:23 PM
Mayor Hank Karon slowly opened his eyes. He had not the faintest clue as to what happened nor where he was. It was much too dark for him to see much of anything on top of the fluid in his eyes. Any movement he made brought about waves of pain through his entire body.
"Oh good, you're finally awake." The Mayor looked for the source of the voice and saw two men, their faces were covered by shadow but one of them was giving off a faint glow thanks to dozens of arcs of white-gold electricity. If his eyes could widen anymore they would have when he noticed who was between the two of them. The District Attorney, Mellissa Levine
"Mmmmah!" The Mayor couldn't even say her name thanks to the gag in his mouth. But he could see she was standing on a chair with what must have been a noose made of wire around her neck.
"Oh, don't worry. We have one more guest joining us today." The first of the men taunted. "In fact, he should be here any moment." As if on cue a third man came in dragging another body. This one was heavily wounded, beaten near death. "Leave us." The first man commanded and the third man disappeared into the darkness.
"Mha moo oooh man!" The Mayor pleaded against his gag.
"Did you understand any of that?" The Second man asked the first.
"Nope." The first man began to rock the chair supporting Attorney Levine's body. "What's that? I should kick out this chair?" Both Hank and Mellissa looked at him with terrified looks. The man flicked his wrist and the gag in Hank's mouth was torn away.
"What… what do you want…?" he quivered in fear.
The first man smirked with a smile that glistened in contrast to the dark. "What do I want? I want you to know I own this City. Think of me as the new landlord, and I'm here to collect your rent. And until you pay people will start dying. In fact, I think I'll take your hand as insurance until the payment is made!" Mayor Karon's eyes widened in terror and a searing pain began to dig into his right wrist.
He screamed against the gag ac cold metal cut into his skin and muscle. It wasn't a knife cutting him nor was it a saw. Whatever it was it was cutting all the way around at once. And then in one painful move the Mayor could no longer feel his right hand as he passed out.
Barry and Caitlin's Home
6:34 PM
"Are you alright?" Caitlin's question snapped Barry out of his thoughts.
"Huh?" Barry looked up from his plate. "Oh, I'm fine Cait."
"Really?" Caitlin cocked an eye brow. "Because you've hardly touched your pasta." The Flash looked back down at his plate and noticed how his food was mostly untouched.
"Huh… I guess I'm just not that hungry." Caitlin reached across the table and took Barry's free hand in her own.
"What's wrong Barry?"
Barry sighed heavily. "I've been thinking. If Ben truly is our son from the Future I should have warned him about the dangers and consequences of Time Travel. Just knowing the future is always an issue because when you try and prevent something you just make it happen and I mean, I know he's essentially changing his past which is our present but-" He was silenced when Caitlin gently leaned across the table giving Barry her full undivided attention and distracted him with her beauty. God, it made him think to that horrible future he saw where Savitar killed Iris, thankfully that fate was avoided. "I uh… I…"
"Yes?" Caitlin asked.
"Look… I know we said he should stay at S.T.A.R. Labs and keep that cuff on but…"
"You think we should remove the cuff? Let him use his speed?" Caitlin asked.
"When Speed Demon ran after him I… I felt fear. Fear of losing Ben even though we just met him. That's why I saved him. I was afraid of what would happen if he were gone. Does that sound crazy? I think it sounds crazy."
Caitlin gave her boyfriend a warm smile. "I don't think it's crazy. I honestly felt the same way as well. I surely would have grabbed him if you hadn't."
Barry felt relieved hearing that Caitlin was feeling the same way about Ben's situation. "Then maybe we should call him up, maybe even have a nice family dinner. It'll give us the chance to get to know him. What do you think?"
"Let's go get him."
With smiles on their faces Barry and Caitlin took off in flashes of yellow and blue lightning respectively before returning home Ben in tow.
"What the what!?" Ben was slightly surprised by his change of scenery that it took him a moment to realize his parents chuckling behind him. "Uh… am I missing something? I thought I wasn't allowed to leave S.T.A.R. Labs.
"Change of Plans Ben." Barry said. "Caitlin and I would actually like to get to know you better."
"Really? It hasn't even been one day and you're OK with me… you know, here. What changed your mind Da- Barry?" To say ben was surprised by the about face in behavior was not an exaggeration.
Barry turned to Caitlin before returning his gaze to his future son. "I guess you could call it a parent's desire to know their son. We hardly know you and because of that we almost watched you get killed today."
"I never thought you guys would be accepting me this quickly. I gave myself a few weeks, maybe a month tops to earn your trust, but for now I'll take what I can get." Ben smiled at his parents while shifting his hands into his pockets. "So, what's for dinner Mo- Caitlin?"
"I hope you brought your appetite." Caitlin flashed into her kitchen then returned to the dining table with a large platter of pasta and meatballs. "I made quite a bit considering… you know, high metabolism and all."
The three speedsters shared smiles before sitting down at the table and digging into Caitlin's Pasta. All the while Ben told them stories.
"So, this one time, my friend Bobby and I, we snuck out and met up just outside of Star City to head off to Coast City to catch a late-night concert. That's where we met up with Haley, and god you guys were so mad when I came home at two in the morning Coast City Time. I thought I was home free until mom turned the lights on and I saw her sitting there furiously staring at me."
"That sounds like Caitlin all right." Barry chuckled. "She can be a little…"
"A little what Barry?" Caitlin asked a little too sweetly.
"Uh… nothing sweetie" Barry quickly took a long sip of his water and desperately avoided eye contact.
"That's what I thought you said." Caitlin turned back to Ben. "You mentioned you were homeschooled Ben. Did you ever end up going to college? You know because of your… condition?"
"Yeah, I was studying science, couldn't decide between being a Forensic Assistant Like Barry or a Bio-Chemist like you."
"You double majored?" Barry asked taking a sip of his coco. God his son was going to be so smart to double major.
"Yeah, I did. I graduated Egregia Cum Laude." In surprise Barry actually began to choke on his drink. Even he had trouble getting a single degree. Caitlin on the other hand was impressed, she did have to doctorates and a PhD.
"Where'd you go after college?"
"I ended up working at S.T.A.R. Labs with you guys. Also worked part time for the Precinct."
"Must have been nice working at the precinct." Barry chuckled.
"Did I say the Central City Precinct? I meant the Coast City Police Department."
"Coast City? Why out there? Couldn't you have gotten a position with the Central City Police?" Caitlin asked.
"Maybe, but I wanted to kind of be my own person. Hence when I moved to Coast City and took a different profession. I found that I was pretty good at solving crimes and being a cop. I find it fun. Hey I'd visit you guys at least once a week so don't feel like I just flew the coop." Ben was smiling and rambling which both Barry and Caitlin found to be cute, probably cuter than it actually was since he technically was a twelve-year-old in a twenty-five-year-old's body.
"Sounds like we had a wonderful life together Ben." Caitlin had long since put all the empty dishes into the dishwasher despite Barry and Ben Insisting they would do it.
"We did, for a time." Ben looked into the mug of hot chocolate Barry gave to him.
"Do you mind telling us what happened?"
"Technically I should not tell you because it can alter the future but… Godspeed happened… From what I gathered he stole your speed, which I have never seen you use until yesterday, oh, geeze, look at that. It's nearly midnight. Perhaps we should be getting to bed." Ben suddenly changed to topic drawing attention to how late it had become
Barry and Caitlin exchanged looks before smiling warmly. "Alright. You can sleep in the guest room."
"Yeah, that would be great." Ben smiled. "Better than the couch or back at the Lab."
Five minutes later Ben watched as the door was closed behind his parents he sighed and laid down on the bed wrapping himself up in the blankets Caitlin had provided him. He was lulled into a safe sense of security and allowed himself to drift into his dreams.
This is the end of the chapter
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