My dear readers, I have a confession to make. I am a fraud. This entire plot of Crisis was not my own doing. This is actually heavily based on (read; a poor copy and paste job) of a two part episode from Ben 10: Omniverse as some of you have pointed out and I'm sure many others have connected the dots. This was not my original intention but the story plots worked so well that it ended up that way in the end. I hope that doesn't diminish whether you enjoy the story or not. So I guess what I'm saying is
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Barry walked through the empty streets. Everything was eerily quiet and Barry hoped that someone other than him had survived. The other residents were probably fine, just scared by all the speedster commotion and were hiding in their homes, hoping whatever was happening was some meteorological event that caused lightning to move through the streets. Or maybe that it was just a dream.
Still, Barry hoped to see some hint of a lightning bolt. He didn't want to believe what he saw happen.
Another bright flash of white light and The Anti-Monitor popped before him. Not the being he was hoping for, but he'd probably provide some answers for him.
"What did you do?" Barry asked in horror as all those people had been wiped from existence.
"What I had planned from the beginning. Since before the beginning of time, The Speed Force has had me trapped in the anti-matterverse. Forced to rule a land that contained nothing. Kept away from all others due to their close presence in the multiverse. But once I had discovered your universe, I knew I had finally found the means to rid The Speed Force and all those connected to it. And now I will recreate this final universe in my image. You are the last loose thread I need to pull." The Anti-Monitor declared.
Energy collected in his hand that he shot outward as a beam that very nearly could have killed Barry had Barry's new powers not allowed him to see it and dodge in time. He'd hoped he could keep his powers a secret for as long as possible, but he'd probably need to use them to get out of here.
"Oh, there you are." The voice of The Monitor said as a portal opened directly behind Barry and pulled him in, the portal closing behind him.
"Run for the rest of your life Barry Allen. That's all you're good for after all. Because now I am free. Free to do whatever I so choose. The universe trembles and bows to my whims."
Darkness surrounded Barry once he exited out of the portal that sucked him in. Taking a look around, Barry noticed swirling masses of energy floating around him, with some of them winking out of existence. One at a time, each one ceased to exist.
"Everything is gone but not all is lost," The Monitor spoke. Barry turned, finally having noticed him. Barry grumbled to himself, not really in the mood for vague explanations. "You and I are safely in a pocket dimension, as we watch the fall. The multiverse has been burned down."
Barry took another look around, realizing what it was he was seeing. Entire universes being wiped from existence. The entire multiverse was collapsing. All but one, Barry realized. Because they had failed. Everything was gone. Even his own universe wouldn't be spared. It would be recreated by that madman.
Barry turned back to The Monitor with a determined look on his face. "What do we do now?"
"The only thing we can do. We fix this. We need to go back. To the beginning. To where it all began." The Monitor opened another portal. Where it led to, Barry had no idea. There was nowhere left to go. "Will you help me?"
Barry gave a single nod as confirmation, which prompted The Monitor to respond with a nod of gratitude and a gift. A warm feeling encased Barry and when he looked down, he saw he was now sporting his own speedster outfit. Almost identical to the red suit of The Flash who saved him. The main difference was a brighter hue and gold boots.
Together, they entered the breach. It was all that was left to do.
"Where are we?" Barry asked the Monitor as they stepped out of the portal.
All at once, it felt as though he had been swept up with some kind of current. Lightning traveled beside him, in front of him. He was the lightning. Or at least a spark in a continuous cycle. Barry ran, and he saw several others running beside him as well. The birthplace of all speedsters. It was the only explanation. But that just led to more questions than answers.
The Monitor showed up beside him. "Okay, what's going on? I thought the Anti-Monitor destroyed all this. How is the Speed Force still here?"
"There are still some parts of the multiverse where the Speed Force exists. Fragments. It's an endless entity, it takes some time for the universe to catch up. Soon, this will be gone as well."
A sound interrupted them and Barry took a look behind him. A wave of red energy was decimating the Speed Force behind him. All the speedsters caught in the wave disappeared. Barry was frightened he too would disappear once the wave caught up to him. The Monitor must have noticed his unease.
"You have nothing to worry about. That wave is designed to destroy speedsters not from your universe. Even if it reaches you, you'll be protected along with the final sparks of The Speed Force within you."
That brought some comfort to him, but Barry knew he'd be haunted by the screams of the speedsters behind him as they had been erased from existence.
Something shoved past him as a yellow suited man with red lightning trailing behind them rushed past him. Quite rudely in fact. Barry turned around and saw the familiar red suit of The Flash who seemed to be following the Man in Yellow but unfortunately was caught and erased by the red destructive wave.
"What am I supposed to do?" Barry asked.
"Catch up. The Reverse Flash is about to make his exit. Follow him, and stop him."
Barry had to kick it into overdrive to try to catch up to The Reverse Flash. He was picking up speed and little tremors gave way for a hole in front of him and he'd jumped from the ramp and disappeared through another portal. Barry had just enough time to hop in as well before the portal disappeared as well.
Barry was chasing after the Man in Yellow, and he took a look around. He recognized this place. This was the street he grew up on. They were heading to his childhood home. What was The Reverse Flash doing?
As soon as they crashed through the window Barry saw them. His parents were in the middle of the room. Wine floating in the air above the glass. He wouldn't let anything happen to them. In the moments when they were airborne, Barry grabbed the Reverse Flash, trying to get him away from his parents, but he was persistent. Turning him around in the air, Barry sent his fist slamming into his face. The Reverse Flash fought back, using the momentum of his upper body falling to the ground, he used his arms to maneuver himself to kick with both of his legs into Barry's midsection.
Barry smashed into the wall where he spit up some blood onto the wall. Everything was going so fast and The Reverse Flash had already picked himself up and jumped into the air to grab a hold of Barry as well. Once getting a good grip, Reverse Flash tossed Barry to the side where he hit another wall with his shoulder. The impact knocked some pictures to the ground. Not letting up, Reverse Flash went to toss Barry again into the opposite wall.
When he did, Barry was ready this time. Barry angled himself so that instead of being slammed into the wall, he would be able to push himself against the structure and spring back into action. As Reverse Flash was trying to get away, Barry tripped him up by grabbing his leg. This caused Reverse Flash to bounce a little until crashing into the same wall where Barry was forced to spit up some blood with his face. A little bit of blood dripped from his nose, smearing onto the wall as well. Barry tried to get to The Reverse Flash but ended up tripping against some furniture. He needed to start watching where he was going.
Barry raced around the room. Their speed whipped the air around them, causing items to be cluttered on the ground. They used any surface they could find now, needing to get as much of an advantage against the other and a cluttered track wasn't helpful as much.
The Reverse Flash managed to get in another punch with enough force to knock him off course. As Barry was still recovering from the blow, Reverse Flash landed another hit. This one managed to send Barry flying onto his back. For now at least, but Reverse Flash was not giving him any respite and jumped, landing with both feet onto Barry's chest, knocking the wind out of him. Barry had to take a second to breathe there, but that was all the time Reverse Flash needed.
Reverse Flash had landed his sights on his true objective and rushed to it, passing his mother. A child. Barry was looking at himself when he was just a child. He really shouldn't have been so surprised, but he was. Barry pushed against the wall and slid forward underneath Reverse Flash and sent a punch with as much strength and speed he could put into it. Fortunately, it was enough as Reverse Flash sailed directly over the child. Time for some revenge. It was not okay to try to kill him and wipe him out of existence. Barry moved around his younger self and struck another blow on the Reverse Flash once again, pushing him away from his family.
For the briefest moment, Barry saw another version of himself behind a door. Another Flash. He couldn't get involved. Barry raised his hand to stop him from coming any closer and shook his head. Things were already delicate here, he couldn't let another speedster come in and mess things up, even if it was another version of himself that probably had more experience being a speedster than he did. This was his mission that he had to complete.
Barry peeled off and grabbed his younger self. He couldn't risk getting him caught in the crossfire, and maybe without his target, Reverse Flash will leave, which is why Barry did not stop until they were twenty blocks from the house. No way Reverse Flash would be able to find him now. Once he'd gotten a safe distance away, Barry stopped.
"Well done. You've accomplished what you needed to do." The Monitor appeared.
"Reverse Flash was going to kill me. I couldn't let that happen." Barry said.
"Of course you couldn't. But you're not done yet. There's still something else you must do. Are you ready?" The Monitor asked.
"Bring it." Barry said, wiping away some of the blood coming from his mouth. "I think I'm getting the hang of this hero stuff."
Barry's elated feeling was soon cut off when he heard the familiar scream coming from his old house and the sound of a speedster getting farther away. "Mom?! Mom!"
Barry was about to run off, but the Monitor held him back. "What are you doing? That's my mom back there. I didn't think he was going to hurt them if I got myself out of the way. I need to make sure she's okay."
"Let it go." The Monitor said with a stoic face. "You've done your part. There's nothing else for you to do."
"But my mom. Is she…?" Barry trailed off.
"Yes," The Monitor replied and opened a portal for them to go through. "Believe it or not, this is supposed to happen."
Barry somberly entered the portal. He'd just let his mother die. What had he done?
They stepped out of the portal once more in a new setting. Barry took a look around and immediately saw the giant sign. This place, this didn't exist. "I recognize that name. This is the place where STAR Labs had been built."
"Evidently, it still does here." The Monitor gestured to the building. A little further up, there were people crowding the area. Some reporters, some people with excited faces. Others with posters warning to turn off some kind of 'particle accelerator'.
"So what are we doing here? Looking for another me?" Barry asked, looking around as if he would see another alternate self.
"Your other self is currently at CCPD. You won't see him, not anytime soon anyhow."
"So what are we waiting here for?" Barry couldn't help but ask. There seemed to be no reason to be here.
Suddenly, all the lights turned off. A city wide blackout occurred and Barry looked around confused. What was he supposed to do?
An explosion cut off his train of thought as the STAR Labs building exploded. Dark clouds formed and sparks of electricity appeared, striking at random parts of the city.
"That is what we're waiting for. This is the night The Flash will be born and The Speed Force rises. You need to make sure it will."
A particular lightning bolt that Barry could feel contained the Speed Force appeared in the sky. The Monitor must have known that as well. "These storm clouds have been infused with the Speed Force, but its location is wrong. It will not strike anywhere near Barry Allen unless something leads it away."
"Any suggestions?" Barry asked.
That was why Barry was on the rooftops, racing down to CCPD. The lightning trail he produced did not draw any attention from the masses below. It seemed to be a combination of panic from the explosion of the labs, as well as the fact that there was now an actual thunderstorm, so lightning wasn't uncommon right now. Plus he was gone so fast, nobody put together that this one streak of lightning wasn't several lightning bolts appearing throughout the city. And metas weren't a thing yet, so why would they think of supernatural forces?
Barry had to let his senses go wild. He had to draw enough lightning to himself. Enough that the strike would connect his alternate self to the Speed Force. The lightning he generated was just a fraction of his connection, not to mention it wasn't permanent. Even now, he could feel the power draining from his veins. He just hoped he'd have enough to see this through.
CCPD was within his sights, and lightning strikes seemed to be drawn to him. They followed him before fizzling out, but more were added to replace each one. CCPD was the next roof so Barry jumped high into the air. He had to make this one shot count. He had his eyes set on the skylight where he could see himself trying desperately to close it. With a metal chain of all things. Hopefully that would only make his job easier.
All the lightning bolts he'd collected struck him at once, their power flowing through him, but he didn't let the pain or power overwhelm him. It was with one final lightning strike through him that he channeled all that power into his arm, yelling a shout of triumph, and released it straight to the window. The lightning struck and he could see himself convulsing with pain at being electrocuted before being hurled back into a shelf filled with volatile chemicals. That couldn't be good, but at least he knew he'd get out of this better than ever.
It was at that moment that Barry realized where he was. In the air, plummeting to the ground and he couldn't feel the strength within himself as he could previously. That scared him the most to be honest. His powers were running out, soon they'd be completely depleted. That was his last thought as he crashed onto the roof of the CCPD building right next to the hole in the roof where he fired the lightning to.
Barry groaned in pain. That irritated some of the wounds he still had from his fight with Reverse Flash so that wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling. Barry rolled onto his back to catch his breath. "Somehow I thought being a hero would be a bit more glamorous."
The Monitor appeared, looming over him in the rain. He really liked making a dramatic entrance.
"Please tell me I'm done," Barry begged. He was so tired right now. He didn't know how his alternates did it.
"On the contrary, your work is only beginning." Novu said. "You've rebooted the multiverse. The Speed Force once again exists, but it's simply set in motion to all the events leading up to its demise."
"So we still need to stop The Anti-Monitor to permanently restore The Speed Force and the rest of the multiverse." Barry realized. "So what was the point of all this?"
"We bought ourselves some time. With The Speed Force back in place, at least for now, we have some time to figure out our next move."
"You don't know our next move?"
"I haven't the foggiest." The Monitor opened another portal that they both stepped through.
The duo stepped out of the portal again to land on a familiar street. "Weren't we just here?" Barry commented, seeing that they were back in front of STAR Labs during the daytime. The only difference being the red skies that spelled their doom the first time. "What are we doing here? Shouldn't we be looking for ways to stop what happened?"
"In a manner of speaking," Mar Novu confirmed.
At that moment, twin lightning bolts, red and yellow, shot out of the research facility. The Monitor pulled him into a deserted alley so they wouldn't be seen. The yellow lightning bolt had been slammed into a building, releasing a pained groan. "I should've expected you here Thawne,"
"You know who I am? Well then it seems you have me at a disadvantage. I have no idea who you are," The man in the yellow suit covered in red lightning.
"How can you not? You murdered my mother. You manipulated me into making a wormhole for you," The Flash accused the other speedster.
"Actually, I believe you have me mixed up with your Thawne. I'm from an entirely different Earth. One where nobody has ever heard of you, Flash. What kind of name is that? What are you, some kind of camera? I'm Locomotion." Reverse Fl-Locomotion said. Barry had been pretty sure The Monitor had called him The Reverse Flash, but he supposes this is an entirely different person from the other person Barry had encountered.
"So what you're saying is, you're loco," The Flash smirked.
Thawne sneered at him. "You know, my partner wanted me to spare the speedsters who agreed to join our cause to rule the cosmos. But I think I'm going to make a special exception for you."
"If your partner is who I think it is, you can count me out," The Flash said.
Thawne lightly scoffed. "Goodbye speedster," Lightning violently enwrapped Thawne's body before being shot off directly enroute toward The Flash. The Flash just raised his hands, lightning coating his arms as some defense against the attack.
Barry was about to step forward from their hiding spot but The Monitor held him back. "Thawne cannot know of our presence. If he does, our task of collecting the other speedsters I've amassed will be more complicated than it needs to be,"
"I can't just stand here. That's what I did last time, and everybody got wiped out. I need to do something," Barry insisted. He couldn't let anybody else down when he could do something to help.
"Thawne cannot know," Novu insisted.
Barry sighed in frustration as they watched the red lightning being held back by the coat of yellow sparks, but they were slowly being overwhelmed. As the red lightning was slowly breaching the lightning barrier The Flash had raised, Barry suddenly got an idea. "So what you're saying is; I need to be able to help without anybody realizing that I am helping,"
Barry could do this. He just needed to wait for the right moment to jump in, pull The Flash out of there and take his place. Hopefully Thawne wouldn't notice the subtle differences in their suits when Barry substituted in.
Just as the yellow lightning veil had been pierced, there was a large explosion that obscured both side's field of vision. Barry quickly jumped into the smoke to find The Flash before Thawne could. Barry soon found him lying on his back, bruised and some light charring, but otherwise okay.
"Come on, let's go," Barry urged him.
"Huh?" The Flash blinked wearily. When The Flash got his bearings back, he looked upon Barry with confusion. "Malcolm?"
"No, I'm you, but not the you that you think I am. No time to explain. I'm with The Monitor. I've come to bring you to him. I'll take care of everything here," Barry quickly explained.
"The Monitor? He's here?" The Flash asked.
"Yes. Go with him. You're needed elsewhere," Barry quickly ran to where he left Mar Novu. Novu waved his hand and a portal appeared behind him that he stepped through. "He'll explain more. Hopefully,"
"Thanks. I'm guessing I'll see you soon?" The Flash commented.
"More like yesterday. You'll understand," Barry said at The Flash's confused expression.
Once The Flash and the breach were gone, Barry quickly returned into the smoke before Thawne could notice.
Thawne was still outside the smoke cover, desperately trying to peer in. He could have blown the smoke away, but the flashes of lightning within the smoke made him pause. The speedster had to be planning something.
When the smoke settled, there was the speedster, looking no worse for wear. Barry dashed forward to launch a punch at his head, but his fist was caught, halting his momentum. Barry grit his teeth in frustration but didn't let that stop him. He reared his head back and crashed their foreheads together. Thawne, in shock, released his arm and fell back. Barry just ran away to put some distance between them. He was going to have a splitting headache, but it was totally worth it to see Thawne's expression.
"Ugh," Thawne clutched his head in pain. He wasn't expecting that. "That hurt like a bitch. This one's going to pay."
Barry shook his head to get rid of any lingering dizziness and jumped back into action. Thawne stood back up and simply waited for Barry to come to him. At the very last second, Thawne reached up and grabbed ahold of Barry's face and used the momentum to drive Barry into his knee, knocking the wind out of him.
The hit launched Barry into the air, Thawne went after him and upon catching up to him, sent a sharp chop aiming at Barry's neck that slammed Barry back to the ground. Barry was left feeling weak and wheezy. His vision was swimming and pain shot up from his side where Thawne kicked him in order to roll him on his back to face him.
"You surprised me back there. But not good enough." Thawne said in a menacing voice. He raised a vibrating fist in the air but before Thawne could use it, Barry swept his feet from right under him, causing him to stumble. Barry got out of there before Thawne could react.
It wasn't long before Thawne was chasing after him. Barry was out of his depth here. He'd battled the Reverse Flash before, but that was mostly close quarters and Barry was defending. That was different from actively attacking. Barry just didn't have the experience in these speedster battles now that they were in a more open space.
But that's when Barry realized, the objective here wasn't to win. It was to survive. He just needed to get out of here without Thawne being able to follow him.
Barry ran through everything he'd seen the other speedsters could do in his head. There didn't seem to be anything that allowed them to disappear without the others being able to follow. Even Savitar, who disappeared before his eyes, had simply just been moving too fast for Barry's naked eye to see.
Then Barry remembered something he'd recently witnessed. The Reverse Flash in The Speed Force had been able to make his own portal out of The Speed Force to his desired location. Barry tried to recreate what he'd seen in The Speed Force, how the Reverse Flash managed to create his own portal to get out and reach another destination. Barry just needed to do that for himself. Make a portal for himself to escape. It didn't matter where. Into The Speed Force, back in time, to another reality. It didn't matter, he just needed to get out of here. And he needed to do it soon.
Thawne was catching up to him. Soon he'd be in arm's reach and Barry would be truly screwed. He couldn't let it end here. There was too much he still had left to do.
Barry imagined a hole opening in front of him, but it was kinda difficult considering he wasn't staying in one place long enough and his eyesight was shaky. He thought of the fabric of reality, how his speed was causing little ripples, but he wanted it to punch a hole right through it. The Monitor would be able to find him wherever he ended up. He just needed to get out of here. He needed to get out of here right now!
Thawne took a swipe at the speedster but Barry disappeared before Thawne could touch him. "Hmph. Coward. Oh well, a speedster that's that spineless wasn't going to be much use anyway. There must be easier ones to persuade or kill," Thawne abandoned the chase with no way to know where his prey had disappeared to.
As some of you have probably figured out, this was what was going to happen but I still enjoyed writing it. Like I said before, I have no regrets. If anybody has a problem with that, you can feel free to skip Crisis and wait until the week after to resume the plot of the season.
Next week will be the final segment of Crisis where who knows what Barry will have to do in order to restore the multiverse. And I hope you all liked it regardless of where the source material came from. That's actually the whole point of fan fiction. Ciao.