Good day to you all. Was anyone else experiencing problems on this site yesterday? I'm glad that's cleared up now. I was worried I would have to postpone this chapter by a day. Last week we met Alexa. Now we get to start with her story.
Disclaimer: I claim nothing but the plot. The Flash is the property of DC.
Hi. My name is Alexa Rivera, and I am the strongest woman on Earth. I am The Brawn.
I guess I need to start somewhere. When I was young, my mother left my father and I. She told us she was going to get some groceries. It's been over 20 years. No warning, no goodbye, she was just… gone.
For a 5 year old, it was a hard concept to understand that your mother chose to leave and she wasn't coming back on her own accord.
My father tried to be there for me as much as he could, but it wasn't easy since he had to pick up a few more jobs to make ends meet. I never hated him for it. And besides, it gave me a lot of time to myself to come to terms with my abandonment issues.
Still, being without a mother figure, I had to figure some things out by myself. Like what was going on with my body in my teens.
That was an awkward phase, I'm not going to lie.
So I did what anyone would do in this situation. I went to medical school. Full scholarship to college too.
And then in an instant, the world changed overnight.
I was doing a last minute check in the hospital I was working out of when I was in an accident with some equipment. Nobody really knows how abstract-humans came about, or how the term even got started. Some hypothesized some underground experiment that leaked to the surface. Others said that there might have been an unreported meteor shower that bathed the world in radiation that created all these mutations.
The cause doesn't really matter, the fact is, there were people running around with powers right out of a comic book.
Then it turns out my father went missing the same night I gained my powers.
Not dead. Just missing. Nobody knows what happened to him. Somehow, it's worse news than if he were dead. At least then there wouldn't be this paralyzing sense of hope in the back of my head that my father will walk back through the door and wrap me in a big hug like he used to do when I was young.
He doesn't. Of course. I'm all alone now. Here comes the abandonment issues again.
So of course there I am, out in the streets looking for him in a new gigantic form, and okay, there might have been a little hero work here and there just because I could and I will freely admit it felt nice to help people before they reach the hospital where it might have already been too late.
Pretty soon my giant alter ego has been labeled as a hero with the name of The Brawn for her overwhelming size and strength and then my coworkers somehow figured out what I had been doing and started covering my shifts at the hospital and now I've got a team keeping an ear out for trouble and any hint to where my father could have disappeared to. So far nothing.
Now we're on a journey together to find out what really happened to my father. And I will go through every person who opposes me from the truth, whether they have powers or not. So long as I keep pushing, I'll be able to do it.
I will find out the truth about what happened that night, and with the help of all my friends and the power of The Strength Force by my side, there's nothing we can't do together.
Okay, truth be told, I had never had an interaction with The Strength Force. Like, in the back of my head, I knew it existed. I've actually been in The Strength Force before, I've just never interacted with any type of manifestation of the entity before.
Until last night.
I was the last one in the hospital, just making a few final rounds to make sure everything was in its right place when suddenly, I was given a vision. It was like being struck by lightning and then I was sent to the confines within my mind.
And there I remained, completely unaware of the world around my body, only hearing a distant mumbling with no way to discern the location of. It was more of a crackling sound, but I felt I could kind of make out words here and there so I would consider it mumbling.
Yeah, that's the extent of all my interactions with The Strength Force. I am really feeling the love here.
The world was dark, and I didn't know anything until I woke up again in a place I absolutely didn't recognize listening to Lady Gaga. And then there are the people who don't even know The Strength Force exists. That's actually the most normal part of all of this. It's been a really weird day.
"Excuse me? What force?" Barry asked, his mouth dropping to the ground at the revelation.
"Wow, ok. The Strength Force," Alexa said, as though the answer should be obvious. "You know, a multidimensional energy entity that connects every Earth in the multiverse. Don't tell me you guys don't know that,"
"No, I figured that's what it was. I'm just slightly freaking out about the fact that there is another Force." Barry was shell shocked. How was this possible and how could he not know?
"What other Force is out there? What are you talking about?" This time, it was Alexa who was confused.
"My name is Barry Allen. I go by The Flash. I'm a member of The Speed Force."
"The Speed Force? So instead of being gifted with strength, like me, you've been blessed with agility." Alexa realized. "But how can there be two Forces at once? How come I've never even heard about another Force? I've dealt with abstract-humans with heightened speed before and they've never claimed to be part of any Speed Force."
"Same with me with metahumans who have enhanced strength. I've never even considered the possibility that there might be another Force out there." Barry said.
"What am I even doing here? The last thing I remember is I was making my rounds at the hospital and then my powers flared up. After that, it's all a blank until I woke up here." Alexa recounted her story.
"Hospital? Are you a doctor?" Caitlin asked from where she was resting.
"Nurse," Alexa lightly corrected her. "But this is so weird. How did I get here? I know I have the capability to punch through dimensions, but I've never done it without me knowing,"
"Wait, you can do that? I can run so fast that it breaks the dimensional barrier. What is that like? Being able to actually feel the barrier between dimensions?" Barry asked.
Alexa just shrugged. "I don't know how to describe it. What about you? You literally crash through the barrier. What does that feel like?"
Barry took a moment to try to answer the question and found that he couldn't. There was no feeling when he crossed worlds. There was just the knowledge that he did. In the end all he could do was shrug as well.
"So what happens now?" Alexa asked. "Can I leave?"
Barry was just about to release her when Cisco cut in. "Hold on a moment there. We still need to investigate to figure out what happened. Both of you went into some kind of trance and duked it out on the street, leaving a bunch of rubble behind. We need to know why to make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Can I at least get out of these things?" Alexa gestured to her wrists.
"I'll get you off the gurney, but the cuffs stay on. We don't trust you enough to have your powers back." Cisco said, unlocking the restraints.
"What about him? He's done the same things I have. Why isn't he getting his own pair?" Alexa looked incredulously at Barry.
"Because we trust Barry. We don't know you. All we have is a story that we have no way to confirm. We've been through this before with other people from different worlds." Caitlin pointed out.
"Well how long do I have to stay here? I've got people who are probably worried about me back home."
"We'll keep you here overnight. In the morning, Cisco here will open a breach to send you home," Barry decided.
"Fine," Alexa relented. "But you're all going to see that you're wasting your time. I could be back home right now figuring out what happened to me with my own people. Figure out what happened with your own person of interest."
"So what happened out there?" Cisco asked when they were all alone, away from prying eyes. "What do you remember?"
Barry took a moment to collect his thoughts. "I remember the meta-alert going off. We paid for dinner and got out of there as soon as possible. It was calm when we got to the location, but then all of a sudden she comes crashing down in a ball of blue lightning and that's when everything goes blank."
"That's where I come in." Caitlin spoke up. "The two of you were literally growling at each other. Your eyes were glowing. And the screams… it was like there was a storm forming within you that was screaming to be let out. You really scared me, Barry."
"I don't remember any of this." Barry shook his head.
"Regardless, that does coincide with what I saw of the video footage." Cisco said.
"How did you get footage? Our fight leveled that block." Barry asked.
"Oh, the amount of energy the two of you were generating shorted out the cameras long before any of that happened. But I saw it all through the camera I installed into your suit. I designed it to be able to withstand the power you output when you run. It was able to last long enough for me to get an idea of what was going on," Cisco informed them.
"You have a camera in the suit?" both Caitlin and Barry asked at the same time.
"It's really cute how the two of you can do that," Cisco commented. "And yeah, I put a camera back in your first suit. I never took it out."
"I should be annoyed, but right now I'm just grateful. Show us what happened," Barry demanded.
Cisco shrugged. He didn't really see the point. He'd already gone through it all and didn't see anything left to reveal. It was broken before anything interesting happened, but he acquiesced to the request. "Alright," He pulled up the footage he managed to receive onto his computer and moved to allow Barry and Caitlin a better view of the video.
Caitlin showed no reaction. Not surprising since she'd seen the events unfold firsthand but she was hoping for something to reveal what happened from Barry's perspective. Barry was watching the screen intensely. Was there something he was seeing that they weren't?
When the shouting match between the two Force wielders happened, Caitlin saw Barry's eyes visibly widen. "Can you replay that?"
"Yeah sure," Cisco immediately did as asked. He recognized when Barry realized something.
Hearing the shouts again and again, Barry closed his eyes to hear every crackle and explosion that should not have been humanly possible. "What is it?" Caitlin asked after listening to it for the fifth time.
"I can understand that," Barry admitted.
Both Cisco and Caitlin looked at him with shock in their eyes. The loud sounds in the recording… were a language? And how did Barry know what was said? "How? What are you saying in there?"
Barry shrugged helplessly. "I don't know how. I just know. I hear the sounds and I just know the meaning behind each sound and intonation."
"There's intonation?" Cisco couldn't help but ask. He didn't know how anyone could understand what was in there but every language was weird in some way. "Okay, what's being said?"
"Well, it's not so much as words, but knowledge of what is being conveyed. Here, I'll show you," Barry pushed Cisco out of his seat and took it for himself, rewinding the recording back to where the stormy language began.
After letting the recording go for a few seconds, he paused it. "That right there is when Alexa says something along the lines of 'Motion. Fight.'"
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Caitlin asked. All that screaming and it boiled down to two words?
"That's what it comes out as. At least in a literal translation that I can say. I think this is her challenging me. 'Motion', I believe, is meant to be in reference to me being a speedster, a member of The Speed Force. This next part," Barry let the sounds continue, "is where I reply in turn. And that's when I shoot out the lightning."
They watched the video for a little longer before pausing at the part where The Brawn released another scream. "What did she say there?" Cisco implored, utterly lost in what was an entirely different dialect. It all sounded the same to him like the growls of an animal.
"From what I can understand, that's something about 'Having chosen a container.'"
"What container?" Caitlin questioned him.
"I'm not sure, but the next part is where I say, 'Yours and mine. Go away.' I am completely lost in this discussion." Barry admitted. "Maybe if I had more context, but that's where the video ends."
"Right," Caitlin let her brain process what she was hearing right now. "So you and Alexa became possessed by something with its own language that you can somehow understand? And you have no idea what they're talking about?"
"None. I'm just as clueless as you,"
"Let's think about this. What could have possessed you and Alexa? Obviously they'd need to be related to each other somehow since Alexa is directly challenging you and that's when the thing takes you over. So what would connect you and Alexa?" Cisco asked.
"I've got no idea. We couldn't be any more different. Different sex, ethnicity, occupation, different Earth, different powers." Barry listed off the differences between the two.
"Could it be your powers? You're both members of The Force. Different Forces, but that could be why they want to fight." Caitlin suggested.
"Why would The Speed Force want to fight The Strength Force? If such a thing even exists," Barry dismissed her suggestion.
"We'll run some tests, see what we find. I'm not sure what we would find in terms of The Strength Force compared to The Speed Force, but if they are even slightly similar, it'll lend some credibility to there being another Force out there." Caitlin said.
"That'll have to wait until tomorrow though." Cisco said. "For now, let's sleep. Caitlin still needs to rest and I'm sure you're tired after the day you've just had, Barry."
"Yeah, good idea. Maybe things will become clearer in the morning. Goodnight Cisco," Barry waved him goodbye before picking both himself and Caitlin away for a good night's rest.
Caitlin was analyzing the DNA sample Alexa had offered them and was astounded by what she found. Aside from the obvious differences, her mutation was almost exactly like that of all the other speedsters they had encountered. Comparing her's with every other member of The Speed Force, if she hadn't seen it before, she would swear they were all the same.
The same radiation, same energy output, same bond with the DNA. Minor differences here and there that could account for the different powers, but could also just be nothing. Caitlin had never seen a mutation so similar to Barry though. Even the other speedsters weren't this similar.
"How's it looking?" Alexa asked from where she was still chained up.
"This is amazing," Caitlin bluntly spoke.
"Well, thank you, but how so?"
"Your mutation is so similar to my husband's, it's uncanny. I didn't even know it was possible for such different results to come from such similar components." Caitlin said. Every metahuman they'd managed to observe, there were clear differences in their DNA that made up the different powers. A fusion of biotic and abiotic factors. But here… "If you don't mind my asking, how did you get your powers?"
"I was working late in the hospital when there must have been some technical errors because I was handling some equipment that shocked me with a giant charge. When I woke up, I was the strongest woman alive." Alexa briefly explained. "I don't know if there was anything else happening in the background, but that's what I can remember."
"If there was some kind of wave of radiation that happened at the same time, that's almost exactly what happened here." Caitlin said that mostly to herself. It was strange how closely this woman's history mirrored Barry's. "Looking over your charts, I'm not seeing anything that could be the cause of your blackout. I can't find anything in Barry's either, so I'm not that surprised. How do you feel?"
"I want to get back home, so I'm slightly annoyed. But physically, I feel fine. There isn't actually much that can harm me, not that seriously anyway. I've got tough skin,"
"Alright, I think we don't need these anymore," Caitlin took out her key and unlocked the cuffs on Alexa's wrists. Once gone, Alexa rubbed her wrists, embracing her freedom and flexed her arms. Sparks of blue electricity crackled around them and Alexa breathed a sigh of relief.
"It feels good to be back. Thanks for everything Doc. I'll be on my way. Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope we don't need to see each other ever again."
Caitlin shook her head with a smile, but inside she felt uneasy. It wasn't just that Alexa was an unknown, literally from another dimension. It was the feeling that she didn't belong here at all. As though her very presence was invading something sacred.
She watched as Alexa flexed her arms again and reached forward, seemingly grasping something. Caitlin watched as Alexa pulled back, revealing the increasingly obvious hole in the air. She watched as Alexa readied herself to plunge forward and jump back to her Earth. And then she watched as instead of going in, something came out.
A ball of yellow lightning shot out of the portal and crashed into Alexa before she could enter it.
"What the…?!" Caitlin shouted in surprise.
The yellow lightning was on top of Alexa, pinning her down to the ground. The figure, a speedster, was quick to launch a punch into her face again and again.
"You muscular scum are not welcome here. I am going to kill you for what your kind have done," the speedster spoke with a vibrating voice, but Caitlin could still recognize it.
"Wally? What are you doing?"
"What I must do. This is a war Caitlin. One that doesn't involve you." Wally said, his eyes never leaving Alexa.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Alexa grunted. She twisted her lower body to kick both feet into Wally's chest to get him off of her.
Wally had the air knocked out of him as he went flying and needed to second to regain his composure. "I'll never forgive you for what you've done,"
"You're the one who attacked me, speedster."
The two were getting ready to square off again when Barry came crashing in to prevent that. Caitlin had called for him while the two were distracted with each other. "What's going on here?"
"That speedster freak just came out of a breach and went crazy, started attacking me." Alexa explained.
"You don't know what they've done Barry. The things I've seen. They killed Jay,"
"What? Jay's dead?" Barry stumbled at the news. The man might not have been his father, but he'd been there for them when needed and he was so much like his own father, the little things he did. It was like having lost him all over again. Barry kind of wanted to curl up into a ball and sob. It had been so long since he'd seen him, and that was partly his own fault, but there was always the knowledge that Jay was out there and it was like the thought that some part of his dad was still out there. Now that part of his heart just felt empty.
But now wasn't the time to think about that. He had to keep a brave face. "How did it happen?"
"They were the ones responsible," Wally pointed an accusing finger at Alexa.
"I don't know what he's talking about. I don't know anybody named Jay." Alexa raised her hands in defense.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about! The war! The other Force users. The multiverse was attacked by you and the other muscular. Jesse and I went to help, along with other speedsters, but Jay was killed and then I was sent back only to find you here."
"Wally, Wally. Stop! We have no idea what you're talking about!" Barry shouted.
"You really don't know? How could you not know?" Wally asked in silent contemplation. "The other Force users. The Omniverse War. The people we've lost."
"Wally, you need to explain what's going on. You're not making any sense," Caitlin said to him.
"Fine, I'll explain. Right after I get rid of this filthy Strength Forcer."
"Try it, speedster," Alexa challenged him with a glare.
"You will die! You and the rest of your kind!" Wally sent a murderous look her way, grit his teeth, and then his eyes were subtly glowing with lightning flowing behind them.
Wally let out a shout and tried to get to Alexa once again, but Barry held him back. Alexa flinched at the sudden movement but stood her ground. She wasn't making any moves, trusting Barry to handle things, but obviously was ready to dive in should the situation call for it. Luckily her interference was not needed.
Barry grabbed Wally by his shoulders and was forcefully shaking him. "Calm down. You are not going to kill anyone. No more blood should be spilled. So let's take a moment and just breathe."
Wally had a look of betrayal behind his glowing eyes. "You're a member of the Speed Force too. My brother. You should be with me no matter what!"
"Usually I would. But not like this. Talk to me Wally. Tell me what I don't understand."
Wally huffed, his body vibrating with energy, but eventually he stopped. "Fine,"
Wally took a seat, but he kept his eyes on Alexa, like he was just itching for the chance to get over there and strangle her with his bare hands.
"Alright, what's this all about? What's this war you were talking about?" Barry asked.
"You really don't know? Where do you think I've been all these months?" Wally asked.
"Iris mentioned that you took off suddenly, but you have to admit, you go off to travel a lot. We didn't think much of it. And there was no news about Mad Dash anywhere, so we assumed you were fine,"
"I was contacted by the Speed Force. Told of trouble off world. A bunch of other speedsters joined as well. Jesse and Jay were there. I saw a lot of other versions of you as well. When we got there, it was an all-out war. There's no other way to describe it. I didn't know where we were, but everything about the place just screamed to me that we were somewhere we didn't belong." Wally started to explain. "And these others, they were just like us, but different. People like her." Wally pointed at Alexa at that.
"Members of the Strength Force? You attacked other people from the Strength Force?" Alexa called out in anger.
"Not just yours. There were two others." Wally revealed. "They called themselves the Sage Force and the Still Force. Psychics and time manipulators."
"How have we never heard of them before? How could there be other Forces out there that we've never heard about in the multiverse?" Caitlin asked. While she wouldn't really call herself the most knowledgeable about the multiverse, she felt it would have come up somewhere with all of their activities involving parallel worlds. In everything they'd learned, only the Speed Force seemed to be in play with other speedsters across the multiverse. Though they'd never encountered a meta with the ability to manipulate time outside of other speedsters, those with enhanced strength or psychic capabilities never once mentioned being part of their own Force.
"It's because the other Forces don't exist in our multiverse. Jay was the one to figure it out. We live in an omniverse. An infinite set of universes, but it's been divided into four multiverses. Each one controlled by their own Force. The Speed Force, Strength Force, Sage Force, and Still Force. We live in the Speed Force multiverse. She comes from the multiverse controlled by the Strength Force." Wally told them. "That was the last time I talked to Jay, before a Strength Forcer turned him into paste."
Barry and Caitlin sort of understood what Wally was saying. Alexa was completely lost though. "We come from different multiverses but live in the same omniverse? What's the difference? Aren't they all just infinite amounts of Earths?"
"Yes, but not quite. Yes, they're all infinite, but the omniverse refers to every universe, whilst a multiverse refers to many. So while they're both infinite, a multiverse is just one set of infinity," Caitlin tried to explain.
"You lost me. You just said they're all infinite. How could one infinity be multiple infinities? Isn't it still infinite?"
"Try to think of it as numbers." Barry suggested. "While there are an infinite amount of numbers, there are different sets of infinity within it. Like the amount of even and odd numbers. There are an infinite amount of even and odd numbers, but they're both two sets of infinity within one infinity; numbers. Or just the amount between two numbers. There is an infinity between 0 and 1, and another set of infinite numbers between 1 and 2. There are an infinite amount of positive and negative numbers, but they're still all part of the same infinity, even if they're distinctly separate from each other."
"Okay? That kind of makes sense? I think? I'm just not gonna think too hard on it,"
"That's probably for the best," Wally nodded along.
"So that's why we haven't heard about any of the other Forces. They're literally separate from us from another multiverse. But what about this war? Why is it happening?" Barry asked.
"I'm not clear about the details, but some of the other speedsters talked about a broken contract. The four multiverses were supposed to be separate, but one Force user either ventured outside their own multiverse or siphoned power from a Force not their own. Either way, it sparked the war that's happening right now." Wally explained to the best of his ability. "Now each Force wants to wipe out the others."
"Could that be what happened to us?" Alexa asked. "Did the Forces take control of us and make us fight each other?"
"That never happened to me," Wally shook his head. "I knew what I was doing the entire time. The Speed Force told me what to do and I did it. I was in control of my actions the whole time, I could have stopped whenever I wanted."
"That's completely different from what we experienced," Barry pointed to himself and Alexa. "She doesn't even remember arriving in this multiverse and the entire fight scene I just watched is a blank to me."
"Hmm, why are you two so different?" Caitlin thought to herself. "Could the Forces have a different plan for you two? And what would it be?"
"I have no idea, we're just lowly foot soldiers. We follow orders. But it's weird that you both didn't even know that the war was going on. Or that it even existed. What's going on here?" Wally asked.
"I have no idea. Just don't try to kill me again," Alexa pointed an accusatory finger at the younger speedster.
Wally glared at her. "No promises. We're still at war here, but if Barry trusts you, I will too. For now,"
I basically just laid out the plot of the rest of the season. We're going to be dealing with an all-out war between the Four Forces, and I just explained how. They all live separately to each other in their own multiverse. As for what sparked this war, if you go back and read 'And Then There Was One', when Flash-less Barry reverses time, you'll see I mention there was a green tinge to his lightning. Yeah, that was him using The Still Force, which prompted war.
Last week, I got several guest reviews, most of them talking about the same thing; Jesse. As for my response, this is Barry and Caitlin's story. Jesse is involved, but she's living an entire world away, dealing with her own things. I could make a spin-off detailing her own journey as Jesse Quick, but I currently have no plans for that. As for why she's Jesse Wells and not Jesse Chambers, that's just how the show depicted her. And why there's no Jesse on Earth-1, again, that's due to the show. As for why there would be no Jesse on the Earth from Crisis, it wasn't mentioned, but in an early draft of the story, it was stated how both Wells and his daughter had gone missing, so Jesse did exist there. But I decided to cut it because I felt that I would have to make more elaborations when a family goes missing rather than a single person, even if that person is a CEO. So blame my own laziness for that one.
Oh yeah, and Jay is dead. Are you happy random reviewer? You know who you are.
Thanks to everyone who has favourited, followed, or left a review. I treasure every single one of you. Thanks. See you next week.