Chapter 35: (Not) Back to the Future
Eddie awoke to find himself in a hospital bed, his vision blurred and his head aching slightly. Sitting next to his bed were Joe and Iris, who were watching him worriedly.
"Hey…" He greeted them tiredly, voice slightly raspy.
Iris smiled at him. "Hey. How are you feeling? From what the doctor told us, you took some pretty hard hits."
"Nothing I can't handle…The Streak…?" He looked at Joe, who shook his head.
"By the time we got there he was long gone." His partner explained.
"Damn…"
Iris gave him a soft pat on the leg. "Look at the bright side. At least we know the dampener works. And we also got a more accurate assessment of his abilities."
"Whoever he is…he's been trained extremely well…even without his powers, he completely outclassed me..." Eddie murmured. "When we go after him again…we're going to need a lot more firepower…"
Especially if I really did see what I think I saw.
"Great, you're awake, let's talk." Barry loudly stated as he gazed at 'Harrison Wells,' who was standing in his Pipeline cell. Beside him were Oliver and Kara, both of whom were measuring 'Wells' warily. All three were still dressed in their vigilante attire, though with their faces unconcealed.
"Impatient, are we?" 'Wells' smirked, leaning against one of the walls of his cells.
"Yes." Barry responded bluntly, causing 'Wells' to blink. "You promised me answers if I caught you. I caught you. Now tell me: who the hell are you?"
'Wells' grinned, stepping forward and spreading his arms in a grand gesture. "My name…is Eobard Thawne. Or, as people will soon like to call me, the Reverse-Flash."
Barry frowned. "Thawne…you're one of Eddie's descendants, aren't you? That's why you've been keeping an eye on him."
"Yes." The newly christened Eobard leaned forward, resting his forearm against the glass wall separated them. "I've always thought of him as the most boring of my ancestors, and only planned to keep an eye on him to ensure my own existence. So far, he hasn't proven me wrong." Eobard lamented.
Barry's frown deepened. "Why did you try to kill me? Why did you kill my mother?"
"Because I hate you." Eobard answered frankly. "Not the current you – you, years and years from now. I went back in time to make sure you never became the Flash and haunted me. Future you followed me back, though, and saved you," Barry's eyes narrowed at that. "So, I had to settle for the next best thing and hope that it would work. And it did. Except…without you, I had no reason to gain my powers in the first place. I was stuck in this barbaric time with no way back – except you. I tried to destroy you and lost everything. And the only way to reclaim all that I'd lost, was to recreate you, the Flash, my greatest enemy." Eobard gave a humorless laugh at the irony. He remembered his reaction when he first made that realization, the anger, the sheer hatred that coursed through him. No matter wherever he went, the Flash would always be a part of his life, and that only made him loathe the man all the much more.
"The Flash?" Kara piped up, curiously.
"Yes. His superhero name, one that has endured for countless centuries. Granted, he wasn't the only one. Imagine my surprise when I saw you return home with Supergirl and the Green Arrow in tow." Eobard shook his head in amusement. "Quite the shocker."
"Supergirl?" Oliver blinked.
"Green Arrow?" Barry guffawed, momentarily forgetting the seriousness of the situation.
"What kinds of names are those?" Kara demanded incredulously.
Eobard shrugged. "While history is a little unclear on how Mr. Queen got his name – though, it likely evolved from his choice of weaponry and attire – your name was actually derived from your cousin's, who had been a long-established hero by the time of your debut. They called him Superman, the greatest superhero in the world."
Kara raised an eyebrow. "Kal-El?"
"Better known by his human identity, Clark Kent." Eobard confirmed. "Together, with Batman, aka Bruce Wayne, and Wonder Woman, aka Princess Diana of Themyscira, they were the three pillars of the Justice League, the greatest superhero team of all time. Of course, it seems my meddling has drastically altered history. Diana has yet to leave her island, and Bruce Wayne will never become Batman now that his parents have survived to see him off into adulthood." He smiled slyly. "In fact, it seems their places in history have been taken by you three."
"Any other changes you think we should be aware about?" Oliver asked drily.
"Well, there's the article of course. I imagine you memorized it already, Barry?"
"Duh."
"Do you recall the byline?"
Barry narrowed his eyes again. "Julie Greer. What about her?"
Eobard smirked once again. "She wasn't the original author. The original author's name was Iris West-Allen."
Everyone else immediately stiffened at that. "Don't worry, it seems the only reason that change happened was because Iris West changed professions. Last I checked, she still survived to see you disappear, and her last name was still 'West-Allen'." Eobard further explained, and while it was a relief to know that nothing bad had happened to Iris, Barry was still focused on the name. West-Allen… He didn't know how to feel about that. All his efforts to keep away from Iris romantically had evidently failed, that much was certain. Perhaps this was the trigger, for this timeline? No, acting this foreknowledge felt like acting on an obligation, and as he told Iris before, relationships weren't obligations.
"Anything else?" Oliver growled out, breaking Barry out of his thoughts.
Eobard shook his head, his demented smile clear on his face. "No. So let's cut to the chase, shall we?"
"You want to go back home." Barry claimed.
"Yes. And you can do that for me. But you won't, because you hate me."
"And yet, you have an offer for me. My mother."
Eobard nodded, smirk widening. "So, what do you say, Barry? It's not just your mother I'm offering. You go back, you can undo everything – all the suffering you went through, becoming this killer, your father's incarceration – everything. And all you have to do…is get me home. Quite the deal, don't you think?"
Barry looked intently at him, taking everything in, perhaps weighing all the pros and the cons.
And then, he gave that cheekily sharp smile that so many had come to loathe.
"No." He answered cheerfully.
"…What." Eobard blinked, his growing triumph having stopped cold.
"No. I won't help you get back home." Barry enunciated slowly, as if talking to a mentally disabled child.
"Do you have any idea what you're giving up?" Eobard whispered, his satisfaction gone and replaced with mounting rage. He was glaring hard at Barry, as if he would love nothing more than to strangle the younger (older?) man.
Barry shook his head, that fucking smile still wide on his face. "Oh, I know perfectly well what I'm giving up. And I'm giving up the chance to regain the life that should've been mine. But honestly, I don't mind."
Eobard looked ready to spit fire. Barry didn't care.
"Do you remember what I told you, Eobard," Barry spoke the name spat the name out like it was poison, but he was still smiling, "when I first revealed myself to you? How I knew a fellow killer when I saw one? Well, if there's anything I've learned over the years since I've made my first kill, it's that death is a part of life."
"Right this second, there is someone, somewhere out there, that is dying. Be it from old age, disease, accident, or violence, someone out there is dying. And there's nothing I can do to change that, because we all die in the end. The same applies if I go back and change the past. She'll still die – eventually, perhaps a little more peacefully – but she'll still die, and there is nothing I can do to change that. All you're offering me is a little more time with her."
Barry placed his palms against the glass, leaning forward. "I won't deny that a part of me wants that. That wants to change a lot of things. But it means giving up all I have right now, and truth be told…" he turned his head back, to see Oliver and Kara smiling approvingly at him. He smiled back, genuinely, fondly, and then turned back to Eobard with a determined look on his face. "Truth be told, despite everything that happened over those ten years, I'm fine with the way things turned out. So, you can take your offer and shove it where the sun doesn't shine, because I'm not doing it."
Eobard scowled heavily, gritting his teeth. "Then don't expect me to help your father get out of jail, because I'm not saying a damn thing."
Barry smirked and backed away. "Then don't expect to get anything to eat for the next couple of days. After that, I'll get out the toys and we'll talk again."
"You're going to torture me?" The time traveler accused him.
"It's cute how you assume I'm above torture, Eo." Barry turned and walked away, joining Oliver and Kara. He placed his palm on the scanner and watched as Eobard's pod was taken away.
"Okay, now that he's dealt with, all we have left is Malcolm." Kara said as they made their way back to the Cortex.
"How has surveillance been going?" Barry asked Oliver, who seemed to be glaring into space.
"Not well. I've bugged all the obvious places, but he's being tight-lipped about whatever his plans are. No doubt he recognizes the danger I pose and is taking all the necessary precautions."
"And your parents." When Oliver said nothing, Barry sighed. "Oliver…"
"I know. But…"
Kara put her hand on her hip. "Oliver, I don't want to do it either. But like it or not, they are a part of this, even if unwillingly. If they knew, I don't think they would really mind."
"Only if they knew what we were capable of, which we all agreed we would never reveal to them." Oliver retorted shrewdly. "Otherwise, they would try to dissuade us any way we can, and if I learned anything about my parents from my parents, they are willing to go extreme lengths to protect Thea and myself from whatever danger we're in."
Ring!
The discussion broke as Oliver's phone began to ring. Sighing, hoping it wasn't a member of his family, he picked it up.
"Hello?"
"KID! YOU THREE NEED TO GET OUT OF THERE NOW!"
Oliver's eyes widened. "Slade? Slade, what's going on?"
"NO TIME TO EXPLAIN! JUST GET OUT–" The call immediately shorted out.
The trio stared at each other, only to stumble slightly as a loud BOOM! rocked the building. Once they regained their footing, Barry immediately grabbed Oliver and Kara by their waists and sped them into the Cortex.
There, Cisco was already typing onto the computer, trying to bring up the security feed, everyone else leaning over his shoulders. The screen buzzed and revealed a very startling sight: a mixture of the metahumans they had captured and some strange-looking individuals (who the trio immediately identified as the Fort Rozz escapees that were thought to be holed up in Coast City) causing chaos in the lobby. Off to the side, they could see a blasted opening where S.T.A.R. Labs' front door used to be.
"Are those the metahumans we caught? How did they get out of whatever place you sent them to?" Caitlin demanded from Barry, her anxiety hiking up.
"That's what I'd like to know." Barry seethed.
Kara wringed her hands. "I'd like to know how those Fort Rozz escapees found out where we were."
"None of that matters right now!" Oliver cut through, already moving to put his hood back on. "We can deal with all that later. First we need to make sure they don't destroy the building."
Ronnie and Stein exchanged looks and nodded, slapping their hands together and immediately combining into Firestorm. The three assassins put their disguises back on, becoming their vigilante alter-egos.
"If anyone gets in, you run, and you hide. Got it?" The Streak told Caitlin and Cisco, who nodded nervously. Satisfied, he grabbed the Hood, and all four went off to the Lobby to deal with the current threat.
When they arrived, the lobby was already in shambles. Debris were everywhere, metahumans and aliens alike running amok. Firestorm noticed a familiar face among them, Hartley Rathaway, and immediately blasted him, knocking him unconscious. That caught the attention of everyone else, and the brawl was on. The Kryptonians tried to bum rush the Girl in Blue, looking to avenge the losses of their leaders, while the metahumans aimed for the Streak, who began to run around trying to avoid their blows and take them down.
The Hood, knowing he was outclassed, kept his distance, aiming his arrows wherever he could see a shot. Firestorm kept to a similar strategy, flying about and throwing frequent fireballs whenever it seemed one metahuman or alien was starting to get some progress on taking down one of his two super-powered comrades.
Despite this teamwork, however, things were at a stalemate. Astra had recruited quite the amount of muscle from Fort Rozz for her cause, and the numbers game was on the enemy's side. It looked as if it would never seem to end. Soon, someone was going to have to do something big to break it.
Caitlin and Cisco watched this all from their places at the Cortex's computers, silently cheering their friends on. And then…
Beep!
The feed cut out, and the computer showed a message: 'OPENING CELL.'
"What the hell?" Cisco said, already typing, trying to combat whoever managed to hack his systems. His efforts were fruitless, and soon another message appeared. 'SYSTEM INITIATED.'
"They've started up the Particle Accelerator! I can't shut it down!" He told Caitlin, who frantically tried to access the com system to tell the combatants in the lobby. However, before she could, someone hit her on the back of the head, and she blacked out. Cisco turned to see their assailant, catching sight of the man who had betrayed them all, before he too fell into the realm of sleep.
The Streak zipped around, dodging attacks and offering both lethal and non-lethal blows with his knives in return, but even with him, they were barely making a dent. Too many powers, too much thick skin, all able to resist him. The lack of progress was starting to frustrate him.
Then, his eyes saw red lightning zipping through the mass of bodies, its path leading directly to him. The Reverse-Flash, his outline blurring as always, charged straight at him, and the Streak could barely react before he was taken away from the battlefield. The Hood, the Girl in Blue, and Firestorm all saw it, but they could do nothing to help as the enemy's numbers began to overwhelm them. Without the Streak, their opponents had gotten the advantage, and they intended to press it much as they could.
Then all action stopped as another explosion rocked the building. Bodies flew inward as another hole was blown into the other side of the lobby. Before anyone could act, one of the Fort Rozz escapees collapsed dead, a bullet in his head. Everyone stared at him, then at his killer: a man dressed in heavy tactical assault gear, wearing an orange and black mask. Beside him were an Asian man dressed in similar gear, as well as an Asian woman with white hair. In front of them, holding her hand outward with one of her gloves off, was a Caucasian woman with light brown hair.
While Firestorm observed these people warily, the Hood and the Girl in Blue immediately felt relief.
The cavalry had arrived.
The Streak rolled to his feet as he was dropped unceremoniously on the ground. He blinked as he looked around: The Particle Accelerator.
"You are going to bring me back home, whether you like it or not." The Reverse-Flash rumbled in front of him.
The Streak glared back. "You're better off killing me, because I'm not doing it." He stated firmly, preparing himself. He reached back and grabbed another one of his knives from one of the hidden compartments in his suit.
"Very well then." The Reverse-Flash crouched slightly, readying himself. "That can be arranged."
With that, the two speedsters charged at each other. The Streak knew that his previous strategy could not work in an enclosed space like this, so he had tried to modify it by getting in close and using his speed to keep out of range whenever he could and block the rest. Unfortunately, it wasn't working as well – without the advantage of distance, the Reverse-Flash had him boxed in from the get-go, slowly wearing down his defenses.
"I'm not going to kill you immediately, of course." WHAM! The Streak flinched at the hard blow that met his forearm. "I'll just beat you down and restrain you." He flinched again when another fist managed to break through, hitting his midsection. "Then I'll bring each and every one of them in front of you, expose you, if they don't know, and then kill them, and make you watch." The Streak collapsed to his knees, only to be kicked in the face. Already somewhat exhausted from fighting the mass of people out in the lobby, he breathed in deeply, trying to catch his breath, only to start choking as the Reverse-Flash and started to squeeze.
Unfortunately for him, however, he gave the Streak the opening he needed, and was forced to let go as a knife slashed at his side, leaving a deep cut. The Reverse-Flash gave a roar of pain, as the Streak once more fell to his side, massage his abused throat.
"Barry!" The Streak looked to the mouth of the Particle Accelerator's entrance, where the recently-awakened Cisco and Caitlin were standing rubbing their heads. "The Accelerator has been activated, you need to get out there now!"
The Streak moved to get up, but found himself kicked to the side again.
The Reverse-Flash, despite the immense amount of pain he was in, smiled hungrily. "How about I start with them?"
He sped forward. The scientists shrieked, and in a wave of panic, Cisco got in front of Caitlin and held out his hands. A blast of blue energy came out, hitting the Reverse-Flash right in the chest. The Streak watched in shock as the other speedster flew towards him, landing ungracefully right in front of him. Immediately, everyone fell silent, staring at Cisco (or in Cisco's case, staring at his hands) in shock. Only the whirr of the Particle Accelerator could be heard.
"What…what was that?" Caitlin asked in astonishment.
"I…don't know." Cisco whispered.
"Vibe." The Reverse-Flash gritted out, grasping his chest in slight pain. The Streak said nothing, just watching his friend for but a moment. Then he took advantage in his opponent's momentarily lapse in concentration. Tumbling forward, he pulled the other speedster forward, and twisting him until he was fully restrained in an arm-bar. The man yelped in pain, trying to break the hold, but it was already too late. The Streak pulled, adding just enough force until…snap!
"BASTARD!" The Reverse-Flash screamed, his blurring long gone and his writhed around on the ground, holding onto his arm in agony.
The Streak got up and moved to take the Reverse-Flash back until he saw it: the particle. However, before it could reach him, it hit something, tearing open some sort of portal in front of him. Whatever it was, there was a gravitational pull to it, trying to drag him into it. The Streak, immediately held onto the ledge of the bridge, clasping it as tight as he could. Caitlin and Cisco did the same, holding onto the edges of the entrance.
"FLASH!"
The Reverse-Flash, however, could not, with one working arm. He tried to hold onto the ledge as he felt himself flying towards the mysterious portal, but his hold broke easily. He went into the portal, and with that, it closed.
Well, that's done! Next two chapters are the denouement, then we finally start with the climax of Oliver's storyline and the end of the arc.
As for Thawne, we'll see him again. Though it won't be until the second half of the story, so not for a long, long time.