Chapter 16

As soon as the scarab had reported failure with the backup plan, Hans knew he had failed. The goal had been to kill the Flash, the man who had destroyed his future, but it had all gone south. He had failed, and all because the Flash was faster than him. That was it. He could move his body at a higher speed than himself, and that was why he won.

He hoped with the Rogues it would be different, but he didn't really know if they could be trusted. He knew they were Flash's number one enemy group, but they had never actually succeeded in beating him. Which meant he needed to formulate a plan by himself. A way to steal the Flash's speed.

Hans had asked the scarab to show him a way to take away the Flash's speed, but the only thing it showed him was a past villain of the speedster. The Turtle. Interesting. A little nobody, whose power was a little bit strange. He could create a bubble around him that slowed down everything and everyone in it. It would be useful against the Flash, but he need something more.

That would have to come later, however, because he had just sent out a distress signal to the Rogues, and they quickly responded, as a mirror appeared in front of him and pulled him in.

When he landed, he noticed he was back in the hideout, and everyone was surrounding him.

"Pretty neat trick, huh?" Mirror Master gloated. "I used the reflection from your suit's armor to-"

"Did you get him?" Cold asked, and Hans shook his head. He sighed, and revealed his face to them by taking off the armor protecting it.

"Well, great," Cold grunted. "Did you find out anything useful?"

Again, he shook his head, but this time he spoke up. "I almost defeated him; I think it would be easy if we all faced him together."

"Right," Captain Boomerang snickered. "And once we're done, we can all go home to our magical castle with the princesses waiting for us. Maybe the Glider will be a princess!"

Everyone except the Snarts laughed, including Hans. The Glider, however, was not pleased, and she smacked Boomerang's head, who just gave her a shrug.

"Well," Mirror Master said, "The illusion is almost complete. It should be ready by tomorrow."


It was finally time for Barry Allen to take a look at the papers from Luthor. He had been distracted so many times he had almost become annoyed, and he severely hoped they would actually contain something useful.

The first page looked like standard corporate procedures, which he still read, but it contained no useful information. He went on to the next few pages, and finally he found one which appeared to be a letter directly from Luthor.

By now, you've probably made sure the vials I sent you are fake. Not because I lied to you, but because the mailing system wouldn't let me, and it's one of the few institutions I respect. So instead, I sent you this letter which will explain the situation to you. If you haven't broken your side of the deal by now, then this is what needs to happen. Unfortunately for me, I'm not a part of the Speed Force, or Superman would be old news. Which means, I don't have what you want. No, but what I do have is information on Thawne. Your old friend who's still stuck on the Watchtower. The only issue is, I safeguarded everything in Siberia. And I'm not going to leave my safe position, so it's up to you to find it. Your colleague, Batman, was a fool and didn't check the rest of the remains over in Siberia, so you'll probably find something. Unless looters got to it.

That was all the information Luthor had given him. The vaguest of directions, the most cryptic information, and basically, it was a wild goose chase. The good news was, it should be over in minutes because of his super speed.

So he left everything the way it was, put on his suit, and began running to other side of the world.

It was night when he arrived, and it was very dark. He wasn't fond of the snow, but he didn't mind it, because thanks to his super speed, he was able to move on the snow without sinking.

He was expecting some sort of trap from Luthor, but what could he do? He would need to face it.

Barry expected the building to be protected by the dome still, for some reason, but it was just the small building. Batman had told the League, including Barry, that the building had been surrounded by guards the last time he visited, but there was no one there now, which made it even more suspicious. He stepped closer, expecting alarms to start blaring, but nothing happened.

He used his super speed to move as fast as he possibly could, to avoid any traps, but still, nothing happened. He opened the door, which had been freezing, and he saw an empty, abandoned cafeteria. He went past it, and searched every room, until he got to the factory room. It was big, and it was where he assumed the portals had been constructed. He looked around the room, cleared it, and went into what looked to be a clearance only room. There were machines he had never seen before, and he didn't have time to look at them, when he heard a voice.

"A shame, isn't it?" the voice called to him, and Barry turned around.

"Luthor?" he asked, taken by surprise.

"In hologram form," Luthor said. "I wouldn't risk myself here."

"Why are you here?" Flash asked, suspiciously.

"To help you, of course," Luthor said. "That room you're in, look to your left, and under the light switch, press your hand on the wall. It'll reveal a secret compartment."

Flash did what he said, and asked, "How do I know this isn't a-?"

But when he turned back to face Luthor, the hologram was gone.

Barry ignored what had just happened, although he was still on alert, and did what Luthor had instructed him to do. Sure enough, the wall could be pushed back under the light switch, and on the other side of the wall, behind him, a small doorway opened. It had a simple leather journal resting on a small table, and Barry took it, and began reading.

What he understood after rereading it twice, was that the culprit for Thawne's powers to be gone was still unknown. The best guess they had was that someone from the multiverse had taken them, because no one on Earth could do it. Especially when most heroes and villains were accounted for. They couldn't find anyone that could steal the Speed Force from someone, but that was their hypothesis; Thawne's powers had been stolen.

Which Barry thought was partly why the base was abandoned. They hadn't found anything useful. And that meant that Barry's time had been wasted. So he checked the entire facility once more, found nothing, and went home.


"I have it, Elsa!" Anna said proudly. "How did Hans get to Central City?"

"He used his bug powers?" Elsa guessed, since she hadn't been around for much of Hans and Anna's time together, which was admittedly a very small amount of time.

"No," she said excitedly. "He went to the League Building, and they let him go!"

"So we need to do the same?" Elsa said, doubtful. "You realize they probably don't trust anyone anymore? Since the last man they let go turned into a villain?"

"It'll be fine," Anna said happily. "Or do you not want me to find Barry?"

"Alright," Elsa said, sighing, and then smiled. "Let's go try."

When they arrived to the League Building, they explained who they were, and Ms. Anderson was called up again.

"Hello, ladies," Ms. Anderson greeted, and the sisters greeted her. "What may I do for you?"

"We need to get to Central City!" Anna blurted out, and Ms. Anderson's face became worried.

"I don't think we're allowing any flights to the United States anymore," she frowned.

"Oh, please, Ms. Anderson," Anna pleaded. "We need to get there! No matter what!"

"My sister's true love is there," Elsa explained, somewhat truthfully. "She wants to see him."

"Oh," Ms. Anderson groaned, pondering her situation. "I guess we can make an exception for you two."

Both sisters cheered, and then composed themselves.

Anna then asked the question, "What do we need to do?"

They went through the exact process Hans had gone through when he had left, and when they boarded the plane to get to Central City, they knew it would all work out.


Barry Allen was considering something he had never thought of before. It was the riskiest move he could make, but it might give him the answers he needed. He was thinking of going into the Speed Force.

He didn't even know if it was possible, but at this point, he still had enemies everywhere, and he wasn't any closer to capturing any of them. The Speed Force was what he had created by accident the night he was struck by lightning, and he was hoping he could find answers in it. He had only mentally seen it, images fed to him by the Force itself, and it looked beautiful, but he was afraid it wouldn't let him leave if he went in, assuming it existed. If the League were here, he would surely ask them for their opinion, but they weren't, and he was running out of time.

At the moment, he didn't have anyone he could ask, so he decided to go ahead with it himself. The consequences of him failing were catastrophic, to say the least. If it worked, he never returned, and the League failed, well, the Earth would certainly fall. But if he didn't do anything, and he let the Rogues be free during the theoretical invasion, then he would probably lose either way.

So his only choice was to be able to permanently stop the Rogues, by taking their speed. And he hoped the Speed Force would show him how.

The first thing he did was run out to an empty field, where no one could possibly get hurt. Barry didn't really know what he was doing, because he had never tried anything like it before, but he had an idea of what he could try.

He had seen the Speed Force as a place before, and he was hoping it wasn't just an embodiment of it, because if it was, well, it would be a lot harder. But surely, if it had been shown to him, then he could possibly reach it.

Barry started by vibrating himself to different frequencies, and while he did, he kept mentally repeating the phrase, "I'm in the Speed Force" with his eyes closed. He was hoping if he could trick himself into believing it, then it would actually happen. Eventually, he couldn't feel his molecules anymore, and when he opened his eyes, he knew it had worked.

It was like staring into the sun, and when he looked at his feet, there was nothing there. He was just, there. It was beautiful, in an indescribable way. So much space, yet he didn't need to move around to take it all in.

He still needed to find the answer to his question, and if he could get out, he would return someday. There were just too many things going on currently to truly appreciate it all.

Suddenly, without warning, the Speed Force's 'walls' began to move, almost as if it were a tunnel. Flash remained still, and he couldn't tell if he was being moved as well, or if he was still standing still. Then, everything began to change, and the 'walls' became dark, and suddenly, when Barry looked down, he was a dozen stories up in the sky. In the same building he had been when the lightning had struck him. Where he had first become the Flash.

"This is where it began," a voice boomed, and Barry looked around, finding no one. "Where I began."

"You're alive?" Flash asked, still trying to find the source of the voice.

"In a way," it responded, and it replayed the moment he had become the Flash. The moment the lightning bolt came from the sky and struck him in his laboratory, with all of the chemicals near him. "You made me, and now I live in you."

"But, do you know more than I do?" Barry asked it, and it replied.

"I know a great deal," it said, "And I know many secrets."

"Will you tell me how to steal speed?" Barry questioned, and a laugh could be heard from every direction.

"And why is it you want to steal speed?" it implored from him.

"Well," Barry hesitated to say, "I need to stop my enemies. You should know, because I think the invasion is coming. And if it gets here, then-"

"Very well," the voice boomed. "I know how to take speed from others, and since you do not want it for yourself, but rather to help others, I will tell you."

"Your ring," it demanded. "Look at it."

Barry did, and he noticed that the ring looked different, as if it were made of pure gold.

"What happened to it?" he asked.

"I have given it a lighzinium coating," the voice answered. "This is what you will need to vanquish your foes."

"That's it?" Barry said, a little confused and unclear on what to do. "I hit them with the ring?"

"In time, you will learn," the voice said, as the 'walls' began to shift, and they became the color of the sun again. Barry felt himself falling through the ground, even if his surroundings were still the same, and as he blinked, he saw the sky once more, blue and filled with clouds. He looked around, and this time, he could see two farmers out in the distance, looking at him. He got up, waved, and took off.

When he made it home, he tested the ring he had on, and he found, sure enough, the element that surrounded the ring did not exist. It should not exist, yet there it was. He ran several more tests, to be conclusive, and the same thing happened every time. He had discovered a new element, courtesy of the Speed Force!

The Speed Force had called it, 'lighzinium', and had said it would 'vanquish' his enemies. But how? His best guess was to turn it into a weapon, and use it on them, but could it actually take away speed? And what happened to the speed if it was taken? Would it dissipate, or would it be stored in him?

Too many questions to be answered, and by now, it was getting late, and his body knew he needed to rest.

As he lay in bed, however, even more questions bothered him. The Speed Force had mentioned that it was kind of alive. Which made no sense, because if it was a place, then how could it be alive? Another dimension? And if it wasn't a place, but rather somewhere his mind had traveled to, it couldn't be alive either. And if it was all in his head... Then maybe he was going crazy.

But he couldn't have been. The ring was proof that something had happened. He had been somewhere, whether it be in his mind, or in another dimension, something had happened, and for now, he believed it was alive. The Speed Force lived, either in him, or in a secluded dimension, or even maybe its own pocket universe.

And another question he had, was why Luthor had lied about having information? He knew that the Rogues were planning something big, and maybe he stopped it when he stopped Captain Cold the day... The day what? Why did he think something else had happened that day? Something bigger?

In any case, Luthor might have been planning something as well. Which made complete sense, as he had been absent from the spotlight since, well, he came back. Maybe even before. He knew Luthor was most likely working on his army, but he hadn't found any trace of one, in all of the times he searched the Earth. It couldn't be in space either, since the League had destroyed Luthor's space station, so where was he? Had Luthor found a way to escape to the Moon? To Mars? Possibly, since he couldn't get to the Moon or Mars in a short amount of time. It would take many hours, since he would need to take one of the interplanetary ships, which took forever to travel. Not that they were slow, but relative to his cruising speeds on Earth, they were snails.

It frustrated him that he had so many questions, and even more so that he would probably wake up feeling crossed. It was this thought that made him ask himself the question of why the note he had written himself had also denied him the opportunity to ever fall in love again. Had it been a girl, who had broken his heart, leaving him devastated enough? He was starting to feel a bit lonesome, with no one at his side. The only friends he had were the ones at work, but he could never even tell them about himself without giving away his biggest secret.

Whatever the case may be, he needed to rest. Before he did, however, he got up to serve himself a glass of water. All the thinking had gotten to his head, and on his way back, he noticed the same light, still dimly lit. He knew it needed to be fixed, but he would leave that for another day. For now, he would sleep as best he could.


"Elsa, we're here!" Anna whispered, as she tugged on her sister's shoulder.

They had finally arrived at the Central City Airport, and once they had gotten off the plane, they went out to the front of the complex, and saw the skyline of the city off in the distance.

"Well, it's time to find him," Anna declared.

"How are we going to find him, though?" Elsa said, and Anna shrugged.

"We'll find a way," she said cheerfully.

"You better have an idea of what we're going to do," Elsa said, rolling her eyes.

"Of course!" Anna said. "Are we going to walk there?"

Elsa looked at the guide the League had provided them, and they quickly called a cab. As they rode to the city, the two sisters agreed to not say anything until they landed in the heart of the city.

Once they landed, they quickly realized it would be harder than they thought.

"Anna," Elsa said slowly, "You do know we don't know anyone here?"

"Yes," she gulped. "Actually, we know Barry."

"But he doesn't know us," she reminded her sister, making her sad. "Don't worry though, all we need is for him to kiss you, and everything will work out."

"Well," Anna said. "I have a plan, but I don't know if it will work."

"What is it?"

"I think we can use the fact that we know the Flash is really just Barry to our advantage," Anna said, thinking, and then exclaimed. "We can go to that reporter woman, Iris!"

"We can start by looking around," Elsa suggested. "Talking to anyone who might help us."

Anna was a woman who had grown much since the days of the past. Now, she was determined to find true love again, something she had obtained, and then lost. There wasn't a moment anymore when she couldn't stop thinking about what she had once had. Her life with Barry had been perfect, and she now realized that it was partly her fault she had lost him. It was her overreaction that pushed Barry away, and ultimately led him to erase his own memories.

And she still hadn't gotten over the fact he had erased his own memories. How could he have done that? She knew what the letter had said, that he couldn't focus with her on his mind, but how could he have chosen to purge himself from her existence? She needed to know why, which was one of the reasons she had come to Central City.

Now they were there, maybe within a kilometer of him, and they still couldn't find him.

But they were getting closer.


While all of this was happening, the Rogues, now including Hans, were just waiting on Mirror Master to finish his device. The device that would bring the downfall of the Flash. And after a few hours more of waiting since the day began, it was complete.

"I've done it, Snart!" Mirror Master cried from his room, where he kept all of his mirrors.

Captain Cold, followed by the rest of the Rogues, ran in to see it, and he could indeed confirm it was finished.

"Then we have everything we need," Cold smiled. "Rogues, it's time."


The night had turned to day, and Barry Allen awoke early, in order to have time to test out the new element he had discovered. It was interesting, because it was easily malleable, but it was very, very strong. Stronger than spider-silk, he would say, and test, if he had any. The instructions from the Speed Force, however, left him guessing as to how the metal would be able to defeat the Rogues.

For now, he didn't have a ring anymore, since he had melted it down to test the new element, so he would just put on the Flash suit and wear it.

The first test was on a stray cat, and he poked it with a needle made out of the element. However, this did not have any effect, other than annoying the cat and making it leave. It wasn't a good sign.

Next, he made it into a helmet, which was skinnier than one of his hairs, and carefully put it around his head. Still nothing. He was getting pretty worried about it, so he tried finding the man behind the Metal Men, Dr. Will Magnus, but it seemed as if everyone on the Earth who he needed to find had suddenly disappeared. His next stop was the Watchtower, where he spent a good amount of time speaking to Mr. Terrific, the man who ran the Watchtower while the core members of the League were gone, but his guess was as good as Barry's, and Barry had already tested his guesses.

So he returned to the drawing board, back at his apartment, trying to figure it out, when he heard an explosion fill the air near him. He looked outside his apartment window, and in the distance, he could make out seven humans. Seven Rogues.

The war was about to begin.


Now, you may be asking yourself, What has Luthor been up to all of this time? The answer lies in his space station. No, not the one which was destroyed by Superman and Batman. A second one, a backup. It was his own private space station, where he spent time relaxing, with no one but Mercy Graves to bother him. However, because of the destruction of his scientific space station, he had converted his private one into a mini laboratory. He had all the tools he needed there, and he had been perfecting his killer Chitauri, fully upgraded, but more importantly, he had been working on a new drug.

It wasn't any drug either, it was a speed drug. And whoever took it, would be temporarily granted immense speed. Enough to maybe match the Flash. He had tested it several times, but each time he did, his test subjects weakened, and shortly after consuming it, died. Which was why his drug was called V9. Not because it gave you velocity nine times faster than the speed of sound, but because it was his ninth version of the drug.

It worked, though, and he knew the only one who could take it and not die was Eobard Thawne. His body had already been full of the Speed Force before, or the negative one, (he didn't care), which meant he could surely take V9, and live. The only problem was the Watchtower was the most protected fortress he knew of, other than the Fortress of Solitude, and there was no way he could conduct a successful heist to recapture Thawne. Even the chip he had planted in the criminal had been discovered and destroyed.

Luthor had thought of hiring the Rogues, but with the emergence of the Blue Beetle, he had thought of a better idea. The Rogues were definitely planning something big, and he wanted them to serve as a distraction to the Flash, while his new partner, the Beetle, would break out Thawne. That way, Thawne would be delivered to Luthor, and Luthor could control Thawne with the new drug.

The only problem in his way was how he would convince the Blue Beetle to join him. The man didn't seem to care for personal wealth, but he had learned through the article, that Iris West had published, that the man behind the suit was really Hans Isles, who had been brought to the future from the past. He was one of the Arendellians. So what if he offered to bring him back to the past? It was Luthor's best guess as to what he wanted. And perhaps, to also get the scarab off his back. That was more for Luthor, as it seemed like alien technology, and he was the world's expert on Kryptonian technology. It wouldn't hurt to add another civilization's technology to his list of growing knowledge.

So he would get the insect to work for him. But now, he faced another problem... How would he get the attention of the Blue Beetle? The way he had contacted the Flash wouldn't work, because if it had, he would have had contact with the Beetle too. It was something he would need to figure out, and fast.

However, Luthor was Luthor. And he knew.

He knew it would be done.