Sorry this is so late. I was out for longer than I was anticipating. But I'm here now with the start of my Crisis. I hope you all enjoy what I've done. Let's get right to it.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash.
Barry Allen was walking down the street on a completely normal day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing on the rooftops. All was right with the world.
Barry stopped when he saw an elderly lady looking up at a tree. "Come down Mr. Fluffy Pants. You can do it," Barry looked up to see a cat leisurely resting on a branch.
"Excuse me ma'am. Do you need some help?" Barry politely asked.
"Yes. My cat is stuck up the tree. Would you mind going up to get him?"
"Not a problem," Barry smiled and carefully began climbing up the tree. Once he was about eye height with the cat, Barry tried to reach out to grab him or coax the creature to come toward him. "Come on little kitty. Let's get you down from there,"
The cat got up on its four paws. "That's it," Barry thought the cat was going to be walking for him to bring down, but the cat completely ignored him and jumped across his body, climbing down the tree itself. The cat jumped into the waiting arms of its owner, who immediately began cooing at it.
"Welcome back Mr. Fluffy Pants. Let's get you home for lunch,"
Barry just jumped down and watched them walk away, wondering if he was even needed in the situation. He'd like to think so, but he wasn't sure.
An alarm sounded from Barry's wrist and he saw the time. "I'm late for work!" Barry exclaimed and immediately took off. "What I wouldn't give for a little super speed here,"
Barry arrived at the library where he worked and tried to blend in. It was a slow day, like everyday. He was just checking out a book for a customer. "Enjoy your day," Barry bid farewell to her, handing her the book.
"I will," she smiled brightly at him, placing the book in a bag and taking the exit.
Barry's grin was stuck on his face as he watched the woman walk off, even after she was gone from view.
"Mate, just ask her out already. We all know you want to," Barry's co-worker, Julian Albert, said to him.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Barry denied as he was weaving through book aisles, dodging the question.
"You and that Katie Frost girl. It's obvious you both like each other," Julian chased after him.
"It's Caitlin Snow. And it's nothing like that," Barry shrugged.
"You're kidding right? You realize the only time she's ever here is when you're on duty, right?" Julian pointed out. "One time, when you were especially late, she asked me where you were. When I told her you were late, she stayed until you arrived and checked out the book she finished reading when she was waiting."
"That…" Barry nervously laughed. "That didn't happen. Did it?" Barry developed a serious tone at the end.
"Yeah, it did," Julian laughed. "We've got a betting pool in the back on who's going to ask who out and how long it's going to take."
"I don't know," Barry sighed.
"You like her. She likes you. Stop torturing yourself over this. The worst she could say is no and ruin your sense of competency." Julian winced. "That came out wrong."
Barry nodded his head. "I'm definitely not going to ask her out now,"
"What is it going to take to give you the confidence to ask a woman out?" Julian asked.
"The end of the world," Barry wilely replied.
Barry returned home after a long day at work to see his parents sitting on his couch. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Barry!" They both jumped up to face him. "What? No 'Hello'? I thought we raised you better than that."
"It's great to see you," Barry brought them both in for a hug. "But it's not like you to just show up without warning. Is there something wrong?"
"No, we just came to give you some news. You remember Joe West and his daughter, Iris? They used to live on the same street as us," Henry asked.
"Vaguely. They moved away right? To live with Iris' mother?" Barry answered while pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"Well, they're moving back and the neighborhood is giving them a welcome back party. We came to tell you ourselves," Nora said.
"Oh, that's nice," Barry answered, taking a sip from his mug.
"That's all you have to say?" Nora raised an eyebrow.
"Well what do you expect? I haven't seen them for about two decades. It's not like I actually knew them that well," Barry shrugged.
"Remember when you had the biggest crush on Iris? It was so adorable," Nora gushed.
"I did?" Barry widened his eyes.
"Of course you did. It was obvious to everybody but the two of you. It was the most open secret of the neighborhood." Henry chuckled.
"I don't remember that," Barry shook his head. "And it's not like I stayed hung up on her," Barry reminisced on his few previous relationships. Becky Cooper, Linda Park, and Patty Spivot. Each one he treasured but had all mutually agreed that the relationship wasn't working.
"Well you should still make an appearance. It would mean so much to us if you did," Henry spoke.
"I will be there," Barry promised. It wasn't like he had anything important coming up. "When is it?"
"The West will be arriving tomorrow. Be there," Nora looked pointedly at her son.
"Okay," Barry assured his mother.
"And bring something, would you? Everybody else is bringing something to add to the party." Nora added.
"I'll get a pie. How about that?" Barry offered.
"Well, it's better than nothing," Henry conceded and led himself and his wife out the door of their son's apartment.
"And if you want, bring somebody with you! Everyone is invited! A friend, or maybe even a girl!" Nora called out at the last second.
"Way to be subtle Mom!" Barry called back.
Barry sighed once his parents had closed the door behind them and waited until he knew they would be out of the building. He did not want to deal with them after the day of teasing and drop in confidence in his love life. His parents had the perfect love story with the storybook happy ending while Barry hadn't been on a date in years.
Once Barry was sure his parents were gone, Barry went to do his shopping. Barry was known for being absent minded and would probably forget about the whole party until his parents called to ask where he was. He didn't want that. So Barry figured it would be safe to get a pie right now. Apple or raspberry, it wouldn't matter. He'd just pick up the first one he saw.
The sun was beginning to set as Barry walked to the grocery store, but all the while Barry couldn't help but feel that someone was watching him the entire time.
"Hey! If anyone is following me, I just want you to know that I don't have anything valuable. I'm nobody important!" Barry shouted to an empty alley.
When he was met with nothing but silence, Barry figured he was going crazy. "And I'm talking to myself."
Barry stepped forward only to bump into somebody and when looking to see who it was, Barry was shocked to see him looking into a reflection of himself.
"No, now you're talking to yourself," His copy smirked.
Barry was shocked to see someone who looked just like him and started circling the person. He looked exactly like him. The only difference being the clothing. A black spandex suit with two red lightning arcs on the chest. Barry wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but to be honest, that wasn't what he was focusing on.
"Go ahead," his lookalike encouraged him. "Like looking into a mirror,"
"Am I on drugs?" Barry asked himself. It seemed to be the only explanation for how he was seeing a person that looked exactly like him.
"Well, if you won't believe your own eyes, I'll just have to convince you," Barry's lookalike suddenly decked him in the face. "That real enough for you?"
Barry grabbed his jaw and spit out a glob of blood. "That wasn't pleasant. What's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? If you were in the Fatherland, you wouldn't have turned out so pathetic," Barry's doppelganger commented.
"'Fatherland'? Are you saying you're a Nazi?" Barry asked, his eyes wide.
"Where I come from, that term is synonymous with 'hero'. Be careful how you choose to use it," Nazi Barry lunged forward again but Barry was expecting it this time and moved out of the way of several strikes but didn't react in time for a kick.
"Self-defense lessons?" Nazi Barry commented on the smooth movements Barry had performed when dodging his attacks. "I haven't given you enough credit. But I shouldn't be surprised. You're Barry Allen as well. You can do anything I can. But here's something I know you can't do,"
The Nazi touched his collar and a mask started to form over it. Barry was shocked at the display of technology he didn't know existed. But what was an even greater shock was the red lightning flickering over his body and a great surge of speed that sent a fist straight into Barry's gut, forcing the wind out of him and landing Barry in a pile of trash.
"That's not possible," Barry wheezed. Nothing should be able to move that fast that quickly.
"I am impossible." Nazi Barry's voice vibrated when he spoke. His eyes glowed red with the same color lightning sparking across his body. "That's something you're going to become intimately aware of very soon."
"What are you?" Barry asked, this copy couldn't be human.
"I've come a long way to find you Bartholomew Allen," the Nazi chose not to answer. "To find, and end you!" Nazi Barry leaned down to get in Barry's face.
"This has to be a dream. That's it, I'm dreaming," Barry gasped in fear. Barry squeezed his eyes shut, trying to force himself awake from this nightmare.
"Hardly, though I realize from your point of view, this isn't making sense. If I wanted, I could explain why I was sent to kill you. But I was always more on the side of 'shoot first, talk later.'" The Nazi had lightning coursing through his hands, and Barry realized what might be happening a second later and got out of there. Just in time as there was an explosion soon after with the distinct scent of ozone in the air. Barry's alternate could shoot lightning out of his hands. Well, add that to the list of things that aren't making sense today.
"Hmmm, now the chase. I love a good hunt." Crimson Flash said to himself as he took off.
Barry weaved through a crowd and ducked into a building, which happened to be the supermarket he was heading to. All the while, he was shouting for help from anyone who would listen, but nobody took him seriously. Barry ran to the back of the store, people were staring at him strangely with his frightened expression. Barry didn't really care at the moment seeing as he had a Nazi lightning demon trying to kill him. Barry was taking deep breaths, calming himself as he looked through the crowd to see if he could spot his face in them.
A body materialized in front of him. As though the body was always there and his eyes were just now adjusting to realizing there was a mass. "Boo!" Crimson Flash shouted.
Barry shouted in fright along with several other people who were all scrambling to get out of there from what might as well have been a ghost or some other supernatural creature haunting the store.
Barry got out of there as well and ran into the streets and hid behind a car where he hoped he could hide.
Something landed on top of the car, crushing it. Barry tentatively looked behind him to see a giant metal statue with glowing white eyes looming over him. The giant took off its head to reveal his face once again. "Hello Barry,"
Barry yelped in fright and got to his feet but stumbled. When he tilted his head, he saw a pair of feet in front of him. Looking up, he saw a decaying face with a ripped cowl snarling at him. The black suit it was wearing also bore a lightning symbol on its chest. The zombie growled and stared at him.
Barry shouted again and ran off, leaving the two behind.
"Ha! I like this version of my brother. I almost feel bad for what we have to do to him," Malcolm, who had come up with the moniker of Savitar for himself, commented to Black Flash, formerly the man known as Hunter Zolomon. Malcolm placed his helmet back over his head and his eyes glowed more fiercely than before. "Almost," he growled.
Lightning sparked across their bodies as they took off after their prey.
Barry made it one block before the face of the zombie greeted him and roared in his face. Barry froze in fear. The zombie tried to take a swipe at him, but Barry fell on his back and scurried away until something hard grabbed his head and lifted him into the air. There he was face to face with his metallic counterpart. "I've been waiting a long time to do this," Savitar spoke and put more pressure on Barry's head.
Barry almost thought his cranium was going to be squeezed into paste when his surroundings suddenly changed. Barry didn't know where he was anymore, another dark alley. But he wasn't alone. There was another version of him.
"Why are you doing this to me?" Barry cried out.
"What? Saving you?" A calm voice spoke this time, without any hint of malice. In fact, there was a bit of humor in this version's tone.
Barry blinked his tears away and looked at this new version of him that was dressed in red. He had a smile on his face that didn't seem malicious, but the lightning symbol on his chest made Barry hesitate. "You-you're wearing one of those lightning symbols. Which means you're probably another one of those evil electricity creatures trying to kill me."
His alternative raised an eyebrow. "I'm not trying to kill you. Honest,"
A crash sounded and the metal man appeared before them, but his attention seemed to be focusing on his other self now. "Flash." Barry could almost feel the glare coming from the statue. His presence seemed to be affecting Barry's rescuer as well.
"Malcolm. Don't do this brother," The Flash pleaded, but his revelation made Barry's eyes widen.
"He's your brother? I have a brother?!" Barry shouted.
"Not the time." The Flash harshly whispered to him.
"That boy is marked for death. Trust me, killing him now would be a mercy," Savitar said.
"Says you," The Flash looked sadly upon Malcolm. The Flash tried to push Barry down another path but it was blocked by the Nazi and the zombie. All three beings had lightning running down their bodies and Barry had a feeling that meant they were preparing to charge at him specifically.
"About being an electric creature. Sorry about this," The Flash whispered to him and picked him up like a baby and whisked the both of them out of there.
Barry screamed and squished his face into the red suit to avoid his face being torn apart by the winds. "Please tell me this is all just a dream and I'll be waking up any second now."
"Look, this is all just a bit too complicated for me to explain right now. But I'm going to take you to someone who can," The Flash told him and carried them both out of there.
"Are you sure the others won't be able to find us here?" Barry asked The Flash. They were currently in an abandoned STAR warehouse. STAR used to be a big company before its CEO, Harrison Wells went missing right before their particle accelerator was about to be unveiled around 5 years ago. The project was scrapped and the company went under after Wells disappeared. They might as well have been in the middle of nowhere, but these lightning creatures could travel hundreds of miles in seconds.
"We've got a little time. I managed to shake them off and this place is just too obvious, they won't think of it immediately. Adversaries always like to make things more complicated than they need to be," The Flash answered.
"So who are we waiting for?" Barry asked.
"To be honest, he's more of a what," The Flash responded, not answering anything.
"How long is this going to take?" Barry asked again.
"Not sure. Time doesn't mean that much to this guy and isn't exactly easily measured."
A bright light appeared behind them and Barry turned to see a shining blue portal swirling that disappeared almost as soon as it came, but left behind a strangely dressed man in its place. Barry was wary about this being. He wasn't sure who to trust. This Flash character seemed to be helping him, but it could still be a ruse to make him lower his guard before stabbing him in the back.
"Nice of you to show up," The Flash said to the new arrival.
"Were you expecting otherwise?" The Man said. He strolled forward to offer his hand to Barry. "Hello there. We haven't met. Well, I have but you haven't. My name is Mar Novu, but I also go by The Monitor. At your service,"
Barry tentatively took his hand for a single shake before pulling his hand away. The Monitor seemed to be studying him closely, as though he were seeing into his soul before looking away.
"Amazing, a universe without superheroes. It boggles the mind," The Monitor said, taking a look around as if he could see the universe in its entirety.
"Dude, this is not making me any less confused," Barry said to his lookalike.
"Fair enough, but before we begin, you need to brush up on your quantum mechanics and string theory." The man said, and he let a little of his power show by creating illusions of planets, all resembling Earth. "There are many universes, many dimensions, many Earths. And thus, many different versions of The Flash across those dimensions."
"Making some sense now?" Barry's doppelganger asked.
"Not even a little bit," Barry deadpanned.
"Think of the different versions of yourself as this tree," The Monitor altered his illusions to become a single oak tree. "Down here is when you were born. Here is when you were 11. Right there is you at 25. And up here is where we are now." He pointed at different sections of the tree trunk. "The trunk is the main section where multiple events in your history are indistinguishable from each other.
"These branches represent when reality literally branches off, and becomes a new timeline. A new Earth with its own unique version of you. The problem is, something is working its way through the tree. Making its way here to this branch." The Monitor pointed to a specific branch that veered away from the main tree very close to the base; it might as well have been an entirely different tree.
"Why here? What's so special about this place? We don't have heroes. No speedsters like all those others." Barry asked.
"The Speed Force. Every universe in the multiverse is intertwined with that of The Speed Force, it connects them, it exists alongside the multiverse, no matter how distantly." The Monitor said. "Yours, however, is not. Hence, you are being targeted."
"But why? Why me?" Barry asked.
"You are an anomaly. Which makes you dangerous to others. Make sure to guard him until I come back with reinforcements," The Monitor addressed his alternate.
"I'll protect him like he was myself," The Flash jokes.
"Make sure to get that out of your system now. There won't be any time for humor later," The Monitor says before disappearing in a burst of light.
Once he was gone, Barry looked to his alternate. "So what's the deal with these superpowers? I mean, it's like you popped out of a comic book or a TV show."
"I was struck by lightning and woke up with these powers. I'm not sure how much I can tell you, but it's the greatest thing that ever happened to me," Other Barry smiled when he answered the question.
A sudden shift in the atmosphere alerted the two Allens to an approaching figure. The other Barry sensed something with his powers. Like a discharge…
He widened his eyes. "Get down!" he shouted and tackled Barry to the ground as the entrance exploded with a lightning bolt.
A streak of red lightning entered the warehouse and stopped to show a blurry figure in a yellow suit with glowing red eyes. "You're not the one I'm looking for," It pushed The Flash away and stalked towards Barry. "But you are. The one without The Speed Force. Difficult to find. Easy to finish off,"
The yellow figure raised a vibrating fist in the air before it attempted to plunge itself into Barry. At least it would have had Barry not been able to roll out of the way in time.
"Thawne, I was wondering when I'd be seeing you again." The Flash growled as he stood up and faced off against the yellow speedster, putting his cowl back on. "Find somewhere safe to hide!" he called to Barry before both speedsters sped off in a storm of red and yellow lightning.
Barry ran as well, trying to get away from the danger of the two speedsters.
He stopped behind a building to catch his breath, but a burst of light, similar to The Monitor appeared and out came a figure that bore the same armor as The Monitor, but was instead someone else entirely.
"Fear me Bartholomew Allen." The figure threatened.
"Who are you?" Barry asked in fear as he tried to back away from the intimidating figure.
"My opposite has chosen to name me The Anti-Monitor. And I will be the new ruler of your world, once I dispose of you."
Twin lightning bolts appeared, one standing protectively in front of Barry, and the other standing beside The Anti-Monitor. "Don't you mean we? We are partners in this." Thawne said.
"Of course. How could I ever forget the help you've provided for me in assembling my army of speedsters." The Anti-Monitor said as several other bolts of lightning appeared. The zombie, the metal man, the Nazi. Two more speedsters came as well, a woman in a flash of blue and a black clad speedster with spines on his suit appearing with red lightning.
"It was a long process collecting speedsters across the multiverse, finding the right moments to pull them from. But we had plenty of time," Thawne said.
"So what do you want with me? I'm not a speedster. I don't have any powers." Barry asked.
"Yours is the only universe without a connection to The Speed Force. Which makes it an unpredictable wild card." Thawne pointed accusingly at him.
"And in my future, there is no room for wild cards." The Anti-Monitor growled.
"But why me? Obviously there are other speedsters who are not me," Barry asked, gesturing to the woman as the prime example.
The Anti-Monitor scoffed at that remark. "Not all Allens are speedsters and not all speedsters are Allens. But the majority are connected in some way that the odds are, if The Speed Force would be able to make a desperate attempt here, it would be through you. And I won't stand for that."
Barry looked around to view the different speedsters surrounding him, all with some form of expression that implied they would kill him if given half the chance and all he had to defend himself was a single alternate version of himself that had barely been able to hold one of them off. That wasn't counting the extra dimensional being that had brought them all here. Where was their extra dimensional being?
"Charge!" The yellow clad speedster announced as all the speedsters broke out in a sprint, ready to mow him down. The Flash had a hand on Barry's shoulder, ready to rush them out of danger at a moment's notice, but it wasn't needed when a portal opened up right in the middle between the opposing forces.
"If this is all you were able to amount to it's a good thing I brought back up." The Monitor's voice sounded through the wormhole as multiple other streaks of lightning exited the portal.
Another yellow clad speedster, but this one was of a young African American. He couldn't be more than in his early twenties. Another woman that wore an eerily similar outfit to the other woman. The main difference between the two was this new woman styled her hair in a ponytail, there was a lightning symbol on her chest that the other woman lacked, and her lightning was yellow.
Finally, another speedster came out that looked exactly like his father. This version of his dad wore the traditional speedster outfit, but instead of a mask or anything that obscured his face, he wore a silver helmet that somehow didn't fall off when he ran. His lightning was also yellow.
Barry was starting to see what The Anti-Monitor meant by The Speed Force being strongly connected to his family. Alternate versions of himself, his brother, his father. He wouldn't be surprised if a few of these other speedsters had some kind of connection to him in some way.
"Alright you sorry excuses of speedsters, prepare to get curb stomped," The young yellow clad speedster spoke, taking off and taking one of the opposing speedsters with him.
As the other two speedsters who came to assist went off to face their own opponents, The Flash turned back to him and waved his hand in a large arc. "Go. Get somewhere safe."
Barry didn't need to be told twice. He didn't want to be anywhere near them when the fighting would break out. The odds had been somewhat evened out by the new arrivals, but it was still six against four with the odds against him. Two of the speedsters could break away easily to chase him down while the other 8 were occupied.
Barry ran as far as he could but was soon tripped when a streak of red lightning passed him and a fast moving body collided against him. Something sharp seemed to poke out at him and when Barry looked to see who it was, it made sense. It was that spine covered speedster.
"What do I call you?" Barry picked himself up, looking for any means of escape.
"I am The Rival! There is no one who can stand against me!"
Already, Barry could tell this man was very self absorbed. He seemed to be the type who thought highly of himself, comparing himself on par to others vastly superior than him.
Barry's train of thought ended when a bright flash of yellow landed a punch in The Rival's gut showing the yellow speedster who came to help.
"Thanks," Barry spoke.
"Name's Wally. But call me Mad Dash. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm sort of in a hurry," Mad Dash, and boy was it nice to get the names of these guys to differentiate. It was tiring to constantly describe them in different ways since they all dressed so similarly.
Mad Dash and The Rival ran off to continue their brawl, vanishing in a tornado of red and yellow lightning.
Barry turned and ran, but was soon face to face with the metal behemoth that was apparently his brother. "You cannot escape Savitar,"
The metal man, Savitar, reached forward to grab him but Barry was shoved aside and the elderly speedster in a helmet took his place in Savitar's grasp.
"Garrick. You have interfered for the last time," Savitar seemed to glower at the man in his grasp.
"Run! Get out of here!" Garrick, who Barry swore was definitely… probably… maybe his father's doppelganger shouted at him before both speedsters disappeared in a crack of light. That was scary. None of the others seemed to hold that much speed.
Barry still heeded the man's commands, running as fast as he could, but was soon cornered once again with a wall to his back. This time by two speedsters. Whose idea was it to leave him by himself, with nothing but his regular legs, against 6 people who could travel the world in seconds?
This time, it was the zombie and the blue lightning woman. "Finally got you," The woman smirked. The zombie just growled at him, sending a shiver down Barry's spine.
The woman must have noticed because she peered at her comrade with a disgusted look. "Yeah, Black Flash creeps us out too. But he's got enough mental functions to work with us so I'm not going to be the one to complain."
The zombie, Black Flash, seemed to grumble in response but was ultimately ignored.
Black Flash rushed forward and stopped uncomfortably close to him. Enough that Barry could feel its breath on his face. Barry flinched and pulled back as much as he could, but Black Flash shot an arm forward and touched him with those surprisingly cold hands and forced him to look at the creature's horribly disfigured face. Barry spat in his face, but Barry honestly isn't sure if he even noticed the extra saliva.
As the Black Flash widened his jaw, Barry honestly thought the thing was going to eat him but the woman shouted, "Incoming!" and two new speedsters arrived. The other girl tackled the woman who was on lookout and The Flash wrenched the zombie off of Barry.
"Jesse, keep Trajectory and Zolomon occupied. I've got to get Barry out of here. He's a sitting duck on his own." The Flash announced.
There was a moment of confusion on Jesse's face before she remembered what they were dealing with. "Got it,"
She got out of her crouched position on Trajectory and went after Black Flash, or Zolomon, which was probably the name of the human he once was. Keeping a foot on Trajectory's body, Jesse shot off a lightning bolt in the direction of where The Flash threw Zolomon's body. That was all Barry was able to see before he was whisked away again.
"Do you know how weird it is to be rescued by an alternate lightning speedster version of yourself?" Barry screamed.
"Do you know how weird it is to be rescuing myself?" The Flash responded.
Barry huffed. "I wish I had powers. I wish I could be able to help,"
"Speed isn't what makes a hero, Barry. Powers are just a tool to be used. A hero depends on the character of a person." The Flash said, dropping him off on a water tower where The Monitor was already waiting for them. The Flash gave them a two fingered salute and rushed off to rejoin the fight. Bright flashes of many different colors filled Barry's eyes from where he was as he looked on in envy.
"Without any powers, I'm powerless to help?" Barry asked helplessly to Mar Novu.
"Yes," Mar Novu curtly replied.
"Hey! AM!" Thawne shouted his abbreviation of The Anti-Monitor. "You gonna join the fight or what? Could really help to pin down these other speedsters."
"That's why I hired you. To get the grunt work done." The Anti-Monitor grumbled.
The dark sky suddenly took on a red hue, just like the rest of the multiverse. The red skies had finally stretched across the multiverse.
"Ah. It's finally done." The Anti-Monitor commented.
"What's done?" Thawne questioned.
The Anti-Monitor ignored him and opened a tiny portal. Reaching in with one hand, The Anti-Monitor pulled out a large device with a ticking clock. "This will do the rest for me. Doing it myself would be too draining."
"What are you planning? We're partners in this. I don't recall a bomb being discussed." Thawne asked, angry over not being informed of any changes in their plan.
"Not just any bomb. This is my Multidimensional Chronal Bomb, outlawed in 17 galaxies. The red skies are a byproduct of this device charging over the previous days. And with enough power, could erase entire universes at once from existence. Timelines are gone as if they never existed in the first place. Now that they're finally here," He gestured to the bloody sky in this dimension. "It's ready," The Anti-Monitor explained.
"Ah, you could wipe out this universe from existence. If we could keep those other speedsters trapped here, they'd be gone as well when we make our escape." Thawne said, catching onto the plan.
"On the contrary. This universe will be the only one untouched. It's been set to destroy every other universe. Any being not belonging to this timeline will be wiped from existence as their own timelines cease to exist. I will remain unaffected as I belong outside of the timeline." The Anti-Monitor smirked.
"But I'm not from this timeline. What is going to happen to me?" Thawne asked with a sinking feeling in his gut, already thinking of ways to disarm the bomb, but this bomb was beyond anything he'd seen. Anything he could do may cause it to detonate prematurely.
"Thank you Eobard. Your assistance is no longer required," The Anti-Monitor said as the clock struck 0. A red energy began to emit, and it was expanding with each passing second.
Thawne widened his eyes and ran. He ran as fast as he could away from the energy that would erase his timeline, and therefore him. But try as he might, the energy caught up to him and encased him in its power. Once inside the bubble of energy, Thawne's body was fading from existence. "Ahh-!" Thawne let out a scream but was cut off when his body disappeared.
Unaware of the danger, the rest of the speedsters continued their fight. Wally was currently going up against Savitar. Wally ran at him, but the metal figure body slammed him to the ground. Savitar was faced away from the red bubble, but Wally was directly looking at it.
Wally's eyes widened and picked himself from the ground and ran away. Savitar still had yet to notice and so he didn't move when the bubble encased him. When Savitar finally did realize something was happening, he was already too late as his body vanished.
The bomb detonation was now large enough to be noticed from all over, and the speedsters had paused their fighting to gaze upon their supposed destruction.
"What is that?" Jay Garrick asked in bewilderment.
They all watched as Wally was inevitably caught by the energy, and they all watched as his entire being ceased to exist.
"What do now?" Black Flash snarled in worry, the first time he showed any hint of emotion.
"Every speedster for themselves!" Trajectory exclaimed, but was soon punched in the face for her comment by Jesse.
Still, all the speedsters heeded Trajectory's declaration and ran away from the bubble in a crack of thunder in opposite directions. But no matter how fast they went, each of them were caught and erased from existence. Their screams cut short as their very existence had been wiped from reality.
"Novu, what's going on?" Barry asked as he saw all those speedsters vanish when they had been caught by the mass of energy.
When he received no answer, Barry looked to his side to see about the silence. "Novu?" Barry exclaimed when he saw he was alone.
The Flash stopped beside him, the only speedster that managed to escape for now, but there was nowhere left to run if the dimensional traveler had abandoned them. "Where's The Monitor?!" The Flash asked in a panicked voice.
"I don't know. He was just here, and then he wasn't…" Barry stammered, but didn't get to finish his sentence as the mass of energy had finally caught up to them. The doppelgangers braced themselves for what was to come, but after a moment, Barry had realized he didn't feel any different than before. He wasn't being erased like all the others.
The same couldn't be said for his alternate self. The Flash grunted in effort as his body was beginning to fade as well. In a last ditch effort, The Flash pressed his palm against Barry's chest and let loose a powerful electric shock that somehow caused no pain in Barry. If anything, it seemed to enhance Barry's senses. At that moment, Barry knew. His body had been connected to The Speed Force. The Flash had given him the last of his powers.
"It's just a tool. Be the hero!" The Flash shouted his last words before he too had been erased from existence.
Barry just stared in shock at watching himself disintegrate and he squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for whatever this was to be over.
What did you all think? Are you intrigued? We've come to an Earth where the Speed Force does not exist. If the Speed Force can die, there can be an Earth where it doesn't exist. I'm just saying.
And how about that ending? Everything else has been erased from existence. How's that for a Crisis? It was definitely exciting to write and I have no regrets. See you all next week for part 2.