Chapter 18

Hans had left the battle feeling rather confident. He had just blown a heavy blow to the people of the city, and he didn't know why, but it was starting to make him feel good. He had so much power over the citizens, and without even moving he could exert his power over them. If it weren't for the Flash, he knew he could be the king of the measly city.

So he was very surprised when the scarab on his back told him that there was something it had to do, and through all his resistance, the will of the scarab came first. It was astonishing for him, because never had the scarab been able to order before.

Hans asked it several times where they were going, and the scarab only responded with, "Space."

The truth was that they were going to a place only two other people knew about out. Luthor had killed everyone who had helped construct it.

When they finally arrived, Hans could see a massive space station, floating peacefully in front of him. The scarab stopped for a moment to let him take in the sight, and then continued forward, jerking quickly and surprising Hans.

There was a landing bay, where Hans assumed ships could land, but it was massive. Enough for the aircraft carriers of the modern day to fit. If only he knew why the space station was truly so big.

Once they had touched the ground inside, the entryway shut itself closed, and the scarab opened Hans protective helmet, which almost gave him a heart attack. He had thought the air had escaped from the bay when the doors had opened, but as he breathed, he relaxed.

"Welcome!" a voice said, and thought Hans couldn't find it, he soon saw a man begin walking towards, him, from a small passage in the distance. The place really was huge.

"I'm Alexander Luthor," the man said, as he reached the Blue Beetle. "And you're Hans Isles."

"Yes," Hans said, as he shook the man's hand. "What is it you've brought me here for?"

"I have a task for you," Luthor said, looking at his suit. It had a wrinkle in it, and he got his hands on it to fix it. "I need you to break into the Justice League Watchtower, and bring me a prisoner here."

"And why would I do that?" Hans asked, still not seeing the purpose of his visit.

"Apart from the thousands of killer clones behind these walls?" Luthor scoffed, pointing behind him with his thumb. "How about because I can offer you what you want?"

"Which is...?"

"A journey to the past," Luthor said, becoming serious. "I can send you back to the day it all went wrong, and you can fix it, according to how you want."

"You mean..." Hans said, making sure he was understanding correctly. "You would send me to my time? Before everything?"

"Exactly," Luthor clarified. "And you would keep your scarab, of course."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Luthor said, playing around. "It's not really safe to travel through time if you're not someone like the Flash."

"So then how am I going to get back?" Hans demanded.

"That's the cool part," Luthor responded. "If you wear your armor, you'll be just fine."

"And you're sure?" Hans hesitated. He didn't want to go back to his time, at the cost of his life.

"Positive," Luthor answered, trying to be sound as truthful as possible.

Hans asked the scarab something in an alien language, which irritated Luthor. It didn't sound anything like Kryptonian, and it bothered him, because he thought of himself as the only expert in alien civilization. Now he would really have to rip the scarab off of the man's back when he returned.

"Alright then," Hans said, giving Luthor the widest grin he had given anyone since he had been in the future. "It's a deal."


The Flash returned to Earth feeling weaker than ever. After his diagnosis by Zatanna, he now knew that it wasn't Captain Cold who had struck him with his Cold Gun, it was a woman who wielded magic. If it wasn't Zatanna, then it didn't leave many other choices. Enchantress was dead, Circe hadn't been seen in years, and the Amazons never left their island. So it was a new player.

He didn't have time to try and narrow a list of possible suspects, but rather, zoomed around his home city, trying to find the two women who had appeared during the battle against the Rogues. They were from the past, had been brought to the future like Hans, and knew his name. His best guess now was that he had known them, and if he had really wiped his memories, then they must have know him well, because it was the only logical reason that explained why they hadn't given his identity away. He knew them, they knew him, and they had once known each other before on a personal level.

The first place he returned to was the CCPD building, because that was where he had last seen them, but it had been a couple of hours since then, and they weren't anywhere to be found there. He had become a lot slower though, which meant the search would be longer, which meant they could actually hide from him if he didn't look carefully. It was worrying, because never before had he been this slow, save the time he had returned from the dead.

He finally caught them, walking down the street, the redhead looking especially defeated. They were just about half a kilometer away from him, and he began to run towards them, when his a sharp pain hit his left leg. Every step he took made his leg ache more and more, and he had to stop after just beginning to run. It was enough noise, however, to get the attention of the two women who he needed to desperately speak to, as well as everyone near him.

They began running towards him, and he limped towards them, slowly closing the gap between them.

"Hey," he tried to shout, as they reached yelling range. Finally, the pain in his leg was too much for him, and he collapsed on the sidewalk. People began gathering around him, staring, some calling for an ambulance, and at last, the sisters reached him. As he slowly felt himself losing consciousness, he felt his head being lifted and put on someone's knees.

He made his best effort to keep his eyes opened, and he saw that it was the redhead girl who was on her knees, holding on to him as if she depended on him.

"I'm going to kiss you," she whispered, as a tear from her puffy red eyes fell to his cheek. It was the only act of true love she could think of.

"No!" he grunted, still thinking she was sent by Hans. As his head throbbed around, he noticed his hands were becoming literal ice, losing any feeling of life in them.

But she leaned down anyway, and kissed him.

Immediately, the first thing that returned to him were the memories. All of them.

Everything they had done, everything they had loved, everything they had lived.

Their entire lives together, he now remembered.

How he destroyed Arendelle because he had believed Anna to be dead, how he had left her behind when he had defeated the invasion and died, and how he had been revived and given a second chance with her.

But most importantly, he now remembered what had driven him to erase his memories. The reason why.

All of the mistakes he had made were now pouring into him like water down a waterfall, and he became overwhelmed with emotion.

As soon as the magic was gone from him, he could feel it. He felt recharged, completely full of of energy, and he stood up, to which Anna responded by tugging him down. He didn't know what to think of it, and he wasn't going to be given a chance, because Anna kept him down, and went in to kiss him again. The crowd around them didn't really know what to do or think, so Elsa used her ice magic to shoo them away.

"A true love's kiss would break the spell," Barry said softly, remembering Zatanna's words as he looked into Anna's blue eyes. "You did it."

"I needed to," she said, not being able to control the tears. "I needed you to know I was sorry."

She began crying into his shoulder, and he finally stood, this time with her.

"Let's go home," he assured her, as he picked her up. She was still crying, though now much softer.

Elsa was left behind, but Flash had used his super speed to place his teleporter he rarely used in her hands.


"Barry!" Anna cried out, as the pair were giggling and laughing in front of their home in Arendelle. "Put me down!"

"I'm never going to leave you," he teased, in a loving way, as she fought and squirmed.

"I won't either," she giggled, "but I need to be able to walk."

"Alright," Barry groaned, but then gave her a huge smile. "But I'm still holding on to you."

The couple found Elsa inside, waiting with her arms crossed, and a smirk on her face. They greeted her, and she began to smile too. The laughter and fun was becoming contagious.

"Come on you two," Elsa said, almost like a mother. "Hold yourselves together."

"I'm sorry, Elsa," Barry smiled. "But I just don't think I'll ever be able to take my eyes off of your sister. She's the best thing that ever happened to me."

"And you're the best thing that ever happened to me!" Anna said happily, but her happiness quickly faded. "I'm sorry for overreacting, Barry."

"No no no," he said, reassuring her. "Don't worry about that. It happened, it's in the past. It's gone."

Elsa slipped upstairs as soon as he heard Anna become uncertain. She knew what usually followed.

"Barry, I'm so sorry for how I treated you," she trembled, as he beckoned her to the couch. "I overreacted, and I can't believe I didn't even give you a chance to explain yourself."

"Anna," he hushed, as he saw her begin to cry. "You reacted naturally, and that's all that matters. You did it out of instinct."

"But it was wrong, Barry," she sniffled. "I was so wrong."

"I assume you got the letter then, right?" he joked, and she nodded.

"I did," she confirmed, taking deep breaths. "And it was like receiving news of your own death."

"The words in that letter," he said seriously, "were straight from my heart. It was nothing but the truth. I never cheated."

"I know Barry," she said, continuing her sobbing. "I'm sorry."

He waited a moment for her to say more, letting her cry.

"I also saw the ring you were hiding," she said sadly. "I wish everything had been different. I could have been your fiancée this moment."

"So you saw it, huh?" he said, feeling sad as well. "That was supposed to be the third happiest day of my life."

"What was the first?" she quickly asked, looking shocked.

"The day I marry you," he smiled, but she still had a question.

"And the second?"

"The day I met you," he answered, and she smiled again.

"Well that's good to hear," she said sweetly.

Neither of them had wanted to keep touching on the subject of marriage, even if Barry had brought it up. Luckily, or unluckily for them, the matter would have to wait, because Barry's commlink activated, and the voice of Mr. Terrific could be heard.

"Flash, there's been an incident."


As the deal had been agreed upon, Hans had expected to receive a map, a layout, anything from Luthor to break into the Watchtower. Unfortunately, he hadn't, and he was flying completely solo, with no help at all. Finding it was rather easy, actually, because it was even bigger than Luthor's space station, and stood out like a sore thumb. It was a shining white tower in the middle of the pitch black of space, so it looked very majestic, but he had to stop admiring the thing, and break in. The good news was that the scarab had devised a way to get past the security of the Watchtower. It simply sent out thousands of decoys to the massive station, and tricked the tower's systems into thinking almost every spot had been attacked. It let Hans easily break a hole in the side of the tower while the defenses were overrun.

The scarab used its nanotechnology to seal the hole, making sure there was no oxygen escaping. What good was a dead prisoner?

Because Hans ordered the scarab to search the entire Watchtower for the intended prisoner, he had to fight himself, manually. It wasn't bad, but it meant that there was a greater chance of him messing up. It was a risk he didn't want to take, given what was at stake, but he had no choice and had to fight.

Strangely, there were very few guards onboard, and no superheroes present. It wasn't a very hard job for him, and he quickly had a moment to stop and rest.

After a moment, the scarab finally found the cell containing Eobard Thawne, a prisoner of the Justice League. According to the Flash, he was the man behind everything. Supposedly. But Hans didn't really care. As long as he got what he wanted, he would do whatever he needed to.

As Hans turned the corner to the cell Thawne was being kept in, he found himself face to face with Mr. Terrific, the only hero on board the vessel.

"You're going to stop now, or I will be forced to stop you," Mr. Terrific said calmly.

"I may not be the smartest man," Hans snickered, "but my scarab tells me you're one of the smartest men. Let's see how you fare against me."

The scarab deployed multiple nanomachines from itself, which completely deactivated the T-Spheres surrounding Mr. Terrific, taking him by surprise. The Blue Beetle jumped forward, leaping like a lion, and quickly knocked out Mr. Terrific. He needed him alive, so he would be able to send a message to the Flash, because if he could send the Flash's biggest enemy to him, and disappear forever, then he knew he won, even if he hadn't defeated Flash in battle. At this point, Hans wanted to feel the pride.

He used the cannons on the scarab to destroy the protective glass in Thawne's cell, waking him up instantly. He took a hold of the man, who twisted and turned, but to no effect. The Blue Beetle clearly overpowered him, and he began to fly out of the region, already having encased the once speedster in the scarab's nanomachine suit, when he heard the hoarse voice of a man in another cell, across the one he had broken Thawne out of.

"Wait!" the voice cried out. "Come here!"

"You might want to listen to him," Thawne said cunningly. "He's got something you also need."

This was enough to grab Hans' attention, and he flew back down, even as the alarms sounded.

"Okay," Hans said, "Speak."

"You need to get me out of here," the man hissed. "I can help you with your enemy."

"And who's my enemy?"

"The Flash," the man answered with confidence. "That's why you're breaking the Reverse Flash out."

"I'm breaking him out for another reason," Hans thought, "but I could use your help. What can you do?"

"I need the ring back," the man muttered. "I need the ring."

"Speak up!" Hans said angrily. "I don't have all day."

"Just let me go, and I'll find a way to stop him on my own!" the man pleaded.

"Scarab, who is this man?" Hans asked, and it responded.

The man in front of him was Kristoff Bjorgman, surprisingly a time traveler too. He had been taken to the future from the past, just as Hans had, and it shocked him to learn he had also already faced the Flash, much before him. The problem? He had been defeated almost instantly.

"Alright, Mr. Bjorgman," Hans questioned. "Why should I let you go, when you have no powers? You've never even come close to defeating the Flash!"

"I just need my ring," he repeated, now louder. "If I had it, I could defeat anyone."

Hans looked around for any sign of danger, and then addressed the prisoner. "Look, I'm going to let you go, but if you manage to escape and you don't hunt down that speedster, then I'm going to hunt you. Is that clear?"

The man nodded, and Hans blasted the door to his cell open. "Enjoy your freedom while you have it."


"Perfect!" Luthor exclaimed. "Perfect, perfect, perfect!"

Hans had just returned with the prisoner, and he ordered the scarab to reveal the man he had captured, to show to Luthor it was really Thawne.

"What is it you vile men want with me?" Thawne complained. "I have no speed anymore, or have you forgotten, Luthor?"

"This is as far as our deal went, Luthor," Hans stated. "When can I return to my time?"

"Oh, that's right," Luthor said, giving him a warm smile. "Mercy, bring in the Chitauri."

Hans waited patiently, and a woman emerged from the passage Luthor had originally come from, leading a giant monster with her.

"This is a Chitauri," Luthor said, gesturing towards the beast, "and it has the power to take you back to your time."

"How?" Hans asked, suspicious of the beast.

"Simple," Luthor said, and he flicked his fingers towards the Blue Beetle. "By killing you."

The Chitauri charged forward, and began fighting Hans ferociously, with strength and vigor Hans had never seen before.

"Make sure he's dead," Luthor said to Mercy as they walked away.

"Why not just have me kill him, boss?" Mercy inquired.

"I want to get a little taste of the invasion to come, Mercy," Luthor replied. "A taste of victory."

Hans began to fly towards the giant doors that were guarding him from safety, and his cannons began to fire at them, which managed to break a hole through. However, the Chitauri monster grabbed him, and began attempting to pierce his armor. It wasn't working, because the scarab kept replacing the armor as soon as it broke, but Hans knew that after enough hits it would be enough to get to him.

"Scarab, use your thrusters to incinerate him!" Hans yelled, and the scarab did. Unfortunately, it didn't have the intended effect, but it did at least get him loose for enough time to escape through the doors.

"Yes!" Hans shouted in space, as he moved calmly now.

His safety would be short lived though, because in an instant, the Chitauri shot forward, and began thrashing the Blue Beetle again.

"Any weakness?" Hans asked the scarab as he fought the monster. It responded with an answer he didn't like.

Eventually, they would fall to the atmosphere of the Earth, and they both began to burn up on re-entry. The monster did not survive, but the armor protected Hans quite enough. Though, he was weak from the fight, and he could not steer himself to a safe landing.

The scarab couldn't either, because it depended on its host's mind to be active for it to formulate plans itself.

Which meant he would end up crashing in Siberia, on the soft snow of the cold wasteland.


"Barry, don't go anymore," Anna begged, but she knew from the start there wouldn't be any chance of her wish being fulfilled.

"Anna," he said to her, "I was brought back for a single reason. To protect the Earth. And even though the Watchtower isn't technically on the Earth, it defends us from any threat. I need to go."

"If you don't come back, I'm going to kill you!" she shouted, and Barry smiled as he suited up.

"I'm counting on it," he grinned, as he teleported to the Watchtower.

Once on board, he found there was minimal damage, probably because of the Blue Beetle's efficiency. It was unquestionably high. He quickly found Mr. Terrific picking himself up from the ground in the prisoner section of the tower, and he helped him.

"What happened, Michael?" Flash asked.

"The Blue Beetle happened," Mr. Terrific said, rubbing the back of his head. "You make him look very easy to defeat."

"Well," Barry responded, looking around. "Can you tell me what he took? Assuming he took something."

"Only a single prisoner," Mr. Terrific answered. "The man we know as the Reverse Flash."

Instinctively, Flash went into Flash Time, to have more time to think. Why would Hans have taken his greatest enemy? What purpose would he serve Hans?

And then it clicked; it wasn't for him, it was for Lex Luthor. Somehow, the two had struck a deal, and the Blue Beetle was stuck doing Luthor's dirty work. It made too much sense. It would explain why he had been gone for so long. He was preparing the invasion, and in order to make sure Flash couldn't stop him this time, he had fabricated a way for Thawne to stop him, or at least slow him down. Maybe it had been Luthor who had taken Thawne's speed, to distract Flash. In any case, he needed to be ready.

He needed to be back home, to be able to protect the city. If Luthor was now asking for Thawne, then that meant the invasion was very near. Not to mention the fact the League hadn't returned, and it was about to be three weeks since they had departed.

"Michael, rally the troops," Flash commanded.

"Already on it," Mr. Terrific responded, as he began to speak into his commlink. "There's also been a prisoner who broke free. He's still on board."

"That's fine, we'll capture him later. Tell the reserve team the time to fight has finally come," Barry said. "Tell them it's up to them to defend the world."

"And if they ask about the League?"

"Tell them they're still on their way back," Flash said. "They won't fight very well if they're demoralized."

"Certainly a bold move, Flash," Mr. Terrific commented, and turned his attention to another matter. "Do you think the League failed?"

"It's a very real possibility," Flash admitted, as he finished cleaning up the prisoner cells that had been destroyed by the Beetle. "I hope they didn't."

"Well," Mr. Terrific said. "I believe your duty on Earth awaits you."

Barry turned to one of the giant screens, and saw the Rogues had returned, missing their newest member. He took a deep breath, and used the teleportation room in the Watchtower to land back on, safe and sound.


"Thawne, my friend," Luthor said. "Don't you think it's time something was returned to you?"

"You better not say you'll give me my time back," Thawne snapped.

"No," Luthor dismissed, "there's no way I could do that. You know I can't even time travel."

"Yet," Thawne muttered.

"Anyways," Luthor continued, "I think I have something you'll want very much."

As he finished his bold statement, he lifted up a vial containing a red liquid in it. "This."

"Luthor," Thawne scoffed, "last time I checked, I wasn't a vampire."

"This, my friend," Luthor went on, ignoring the villain's comment, "is V9. The most powerful drug in the world."

"What does it do?"

"Well let's just say you'll be on a much more level playing field with the Flash when you take this," Luthor smiled, and Thawne's jaw dropped.

"Are you saying I can get my powers from that?" Thawne said, pointing at the vial.

"Sure can," Luthor confirmed. "Isn't it time you got your powers back?"

"Why don't you use it on yourself then?" Thawne asked, suspicious.

"Are you kidding me?" Luthor chuckled. "It's called V9 for a reason, Thawne. No normal body can take it. I've done the calculations and only you can withstand its power."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Thawne pressured. He was wondering what the catch would be.

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention," Luthor remembered, "that I'm in charge of your future. One wrong move, and I'll rewrite the history books. Maybe your great great great grandfather had an unfortunate accident as a young boy that left him paralyzed, or dead."

"I'm a paradox, Luthor, I can't be erased," Thawne sneered.

"Maybe," Luthor agreed, "but even paradoxes can waste years of their lives, trying to untangle the knots created in their past."

"You wouldn't dare," Thawne snarled, as he lunged for Luthor. Mercy had to restrain him.

"Just get the job done, and it won't come to that," Luthor rolled his eyes.

"Do you just want me to kill him?" Thawne asked, as he restrained himself, slightly confused.

"I need you to at least distract him for a good while," Luthor told him.

"What happens if I kill him?"

"You're free to go with a trophy," Luthor shrugged. In reality, he knew Thawne would never beat Flash, because the V9 drug only lasted for so long before its effect ran out.

"How do I get to the Earth then?"

"That might take some time," Luthor said, as he scratched his bald head. "You're going to have to take one of the shuttles."

"You mean you don't have teleportation to this place?" Thawne remarked, as he looked around the place.

"Just get the job done."

Luthor had put Thawne in an autopilot space shuttle to ride back to Earth. There was a secret compartment onboard that hid the V9, so Thawne wouldn't just instantly take it, and leave the shuttle to find and kill Luthor. The compartment would open itself once the shuttle was out in space. Luthor could only hope Eobard Thawne would be enough to slow down the fastest man alive.


Flash had teleported himself to Central Park, and he quickly looked around, where the Rogues had been seen near. Quickly, he found them waiting for him, near the spot he and Anna had had their date.

This time, he didn't even give them a chance to say anything, and he went directly to apprehend them. However, upon trying to touch them, it was obvious they were really mirror men, disguised as the Rogues.

The mirror men were creations of the Mirror Master, which he had used before against the Flash, and this time they were merely a distraction.

He wouldn't have the chance to inspect them closely, though, because at that moment, something struck him with great force behind him, and green light engulfed his vision.

"In brightest day, in blackest night," a voice recited, "no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might, Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"

As Flash recovered, he knew what that chant meant, and he moved out of the way in time to avoid the blast.

Turning around, he saw it was a Green Lantern who wasn't Hal, which confused him. He wasn't used to being attacked by Green Lanterns.

"It's time you came down from there," Flash called out. "You're a Green Lantern, you're supposed to help others!"

"No, I'm supposed to take my future back!" the Lantern yelled, as he let out another blast of emerald light.

Flash avoided it again, and he came up with a fairly simple plan he had used multiple times before. It consisted of him letting his after images stay a little longer than usual, so that way it would make it look like there were 50 speedsters running towards the Green Lantern, confusing him and letting Flash get the upper hand.

Barry used his speed to punch the Green Lantern several dozen times, which quickly defeated him. Not many could stand up to him and win. Especially someone who appeared to be a novice.

"Your reign of terror is over, Lantern," Flash said, and he disarmed him by taking off his Green Lantern Ring, which was what let him turn his imagination to energy constructs.

But it came as a surprise when he saw the man under the mask to be none other than Kristoff, the man he had tried to help back in Arendelle. It wasn't a surprise he was fighting him, though, because from what the League had told him, Kristoff had been the man behind the Red Lantern mask, back before Barry's death.

"What a shame," Flash commented, as he began the journey to take the man back to Arendelle, since his teleporter was still on cooldown.

As he ran across the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, however, he received a message he thought would never happen again.

"Flash, do you read me? We've returned."