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Central City, then…

Wally had never had a fight like this before. To think the morning had started out so normal, the usual patrolling of the city with Barry, Jessie along with the radio aid of Professor Stein and Emily Sung/Elemental Woman from S.T.A.R. Labs to give them direction, but soon it had gone from zero to ten in the span of an hour. This day would certainly be one for the books.

It started with the breakout of prisoners from Iron Heights. All from murderers, rapists, psychopaths and even the super-criminals like Heatwave, Murmur, Rag Doll and the Trickster were released to spread chaos throughout the city. As if to add more wood to the fire Flash’s super-powered enemies that were locked away in the super prison run by A.R.G.U.S., which included Tar Pit, Girder, Magenta, and the Weather Wizard, had also been set loose to cause havoc. It was an all-out assault on Central City and the culprit was eventually discovered: Eobard Thawne/the Reverse-Flash.

With the city in turmoil it would take more than just the Flash to save the day this time. Barry, Wally and Jessie collaborated with Joe West who, along with Captain David Singh, led the CCPD to aid in recapturing all the escaped inmates. Along with them Elemental Woman and Jay Garrick, coming out of retirement for “one last run” as he called it, the Flash now had a small army to combat Thawne’s.

Through their combined efforts the heroes and police were able to subdue most of the escaped rouges; some slipping away in the chaos. In all the fighting however there had been one question that remained: where was Thawne? As it had turned out the entire attack on Central City was only part of the plan.

While everyone was distracted with the Iron Heights and A.R.G.U.S. inmates Thawne had gone to S.T.A.R. Labs to get his hands on Barry’s Cosmic Treadmill, a device designed by Prof. Wells to help Barry with his speed while also have the power to travel through time and dimensions. By the time Wells had managed to inform them the only ones closest were Barry, Jessie and Jay; Wally left to deal with the still rampaging Blockbuster. Only now having managed to beat him he put all his energy into making it to S.T.A.R. Labs in time.

Running all the way across Central City Wally had finally reached the labs, stopping just outside when he had seen someone lying at the entrance. He zipped over, shocked to see it was Prof. Wells himself, beaten and bruised but still breathing.

“Professor? Are you alright?” he asked, supporting him with his arms. “Who did this?”

“T-Thawne…” he groaned. “When he found out I sent a signal *ough* he nearly killed me.”

Wally, after taking a quick look around, asked him “Where’s Barry? And Jay? Jessie?”

A small hiss of pain came from Wells before he answered “They chased Thawne. *Augh* Into…the Speed Force. I don’t know where…”

“Damn.” Wally said to himself before realizing “I need to go after them. I need to help!”

As he stood Wells quickly grabbed his wrist to pull him back with “No! You need to listen. Thawne tampered with the Treadmill. He was trying to-”

Wells’ sentence was cutoff when a sound caught both his and Wally’s attention. They looked to see a crack in reality, a portal created by the Speed Force itself, manifest and spark with pure energy. A moment later something, or someone as they both realized, landed out of it huddled on the ground. A moment later the portal closed with Wally too preoccupied with seeing who had emerged to realize he could have gone through to aid Barry and his friends.

Upon discovering who it was who came through Wally, shocked, said “Jessie!?!”

Jessie Quick, the daughter of the Crime Syndicate’s Johnny Quick, was cradling something in her arms as she lay crying on the ground. She looked like hell, her costume torn in places, her mask gone to reveal a few small cuts on her face.

When Wally had asked what was wrong she tearfully replied “He….he killed him. Oh god, Wally….he killed him.”

With the fear that the one she meant would be Barry Wally carefully pried what was in Jessie’s arms. Managing to pluck it out he discovered it was a familiar wing tipped helmet, designed after Hermes the god of speed, with a spot of blood on the edge.

His heart sank and a tear drew from his eye as he realized “Jay…”

Another crack of sound and another portal began to appear. Everyone looked with Wally backing away given how close it was. With one was larger with the indication that more than just one was going to come through. Even with the helmet in-hand Wally braced himself for a fight should Thawne or someone worse come through.

One figure came through first: Thawne. He did not land as Jessie did, more thrown from the other side while skidding across the ground when he made contact. He let out a loud groan and rolled about on the ground. Like Jessie his suit was torn but with blood seeping from the cuts. One very deep mark was across his right leg showing he was unable to stand on it properly. His nose bled and small tuffs of his hair poked from the torn scalp of his yellow costume. He looked about to see where and when he was before his attention came back to his wounded leg. That soon changed however when another figure came through the portal.

It was Barry. His whole body was vibrating to even his face, surges of yellow come from his eyes in a fashion similar to Thawne when trying to hide his voice and face when he first emerged as the Reverse-Flash; a scare tactic he used on those he met that was now being used on him. It was hard to make out if he was wounded at all but the fact that he was standing proved he was in far better shape than Thawne. As he took a few steps forward the portal closed behind him.

While he could not see his face properly Wally could tell Barry was more than mad. He was wrathful.

As Thawne picked himself up, pushing himself with his good leg and arms, he spat blood as he said “Come on, Allen! The old man was dying anyway. I just saved him and the rest of us time!”

Infuriated Barry zipped over and grabbed Thawne by the collar, lifting him up before punching him back down with a hard crack. With his enemy on the ground Barry knelt down and grabbed his collar again, holding him up so he could see his face. His body didn’t stop vibrating the whole time.

“That was for Jay!” Barry shouted, his voice vibrating and haunting in how he sounded. After another hard punch across the cheek he shouted again “For my mother!” Another. “My father!” Another. “For everything you did!”

Everyone watched as Barry wailed on Thawne over and over. Only Wally could stop him but he was too frightened. It wasn’t the fear that he would strike him or yell at him. It wasn’t even that this had been the first time he’d ever seen Barry this angry. What had scared Wally, and the others after which he would soon learn, was how much he was reminded of Thawne himself when looking at his uncle and hero.

After another crack Thawne spat blood and smiled “Oh, Barry. If I’d have known you’d feel this way….I’d have killed a lot more.”

It was clear this angered Barry even more as he raised his hand. Instead of a fist it was flat and began to vibrate in a violet manner. It was an all-too familiar move to his friends which made Wally gasp. He still couldn’t move out of fear but he could feel something build as he watched Barry ready to plunge his hand into Thawne to end him once and for all.

As Wally called “Barry, no!” there was no response.

Thawne kept his good eye locked with Barry’s as he breathed “So this is it then. Huh? Finally finding out what made you turn sour. What turned you into the Flash I knew from my time. My…hero.”

His words only enraged Barry more as his hand came up farther and father. No one knew what to do or say as the world seemed to stand still in the moment. Either it was moving so fast no one could see or it truly was that one point where time finally stopped.

“Barry!” a familiar voice called. “Don’t do it!”

It was Joe West, Barry’s friend and more-or-less foster father after his father’s incarceration; and eventual death. He had arrived on the scene with practically no one seeing his car pull up as he hurried out; the attention to drawn to Barry nearly killing Thawne.

Barry barley glanced at him while saying “I have to do it, Joe! I have to end it! He’s just going to keep coming back and hurt more people I care about. It has stop. It all has to stop.”

“Not like this, Barry.” Joe replied, carefully with his steps towards him. “Never like this. You know that. That’s the promise you made when you got your powers, remember?”

“What good has it done?” Barry retorted. “He’s taken everything away from me! He’s ruined my life!”

“Not everything, Barry.” Joe said with as much sympathy as he could express. “Look around. Look at what you still have. You think I didn’t feel like I lost everything was gone when I lost Francine? It hurt. It felt like nothing could make it better. And then I remember what we still had. What she left me. Think about Iris, Barry! You think she’d want to see you like this?”

“But she’s not here, is she?” Thawne teased. “Maybe when this is over I can pay her a nice little visit.”

Knowing it angered him Barry growled with the intent to end Thawne in that moment. He still hesitated but it was becoming all the more clear he wanted to do it. He wanted to make sure Thawne would never come back to hurt his family again.

“Barry…” Joe managed, now right behind him, “…if you do this…he’ll win.”

“I’ve already won.” Thawne insisted with a smirk.

Despite this Joe continued “Don’t let it all slip away because of him. This isn’t what anyone would want. But…if it’s what you really want….then do it.”

Joe made it clear he wouldn’t stop Barry now. He recoiled his hands and stood where he was as everyone else held their breath. Whatever choice would be made would come down to Barry.

His hand still raised and Thawne held in the other Barry still vibrated with all his energy and hate surging through him. The pause felt like an eternity of heated contemplation. The hero of Central City had to make his choice here and now.

With a heavy motion Thawne was thrown to the ground. Barry’s body finally stopped vibrating as he dropped to his knees; his suit torn in places like the others who had gone through the Speed Force but clearly not as harmed. His fists hit the ground as he let out a painful scream that sunk into everyone’s hearts. He pulled off the top of his outfit, revealing his tear soaked face as he could no longer hold his emotions back from anyone; not even Thawne.

Joe finally laid a hand on Barry’s shoulder, the broken hero looking up and confessing “I wasn’t fast enough, Joe. I guess…I was never fast enough.”

“No, Barry. It’s not your fault. It never will be your fault.”

As the calm moment seemed to be the end of it in truth it was not as a louder boom could be heard overhead. Everyone looked as a portal much like those into the Speed Force ripped open over Central City. It started small but was growing larger and large, winds picking up and bolts of energy blasting like lightning down to strike at the earth.

“What the hell is this?” Jessie asked as she finally got to her feet.

“It’s the Speed Force!” Wells had exclaimed to gain everyone’s attention. The heat of the moment had distracted him from warning what he tried telling Wally before, finally remembering “Thawne tampered with the Cosmic Treadmill’s systems and then used his own speed to power it into a generator. It’s been running this whole time with the reserve energy and now it’s building into a vortex that could take all of Central City with it!”

“Finally putting an end to all of it.” Thawne added with his usual, unsettling grin. Looking to the Flash he said “You see, Barry. Like I told you I already-OOF!”

A hard smack from Wally using Garrick’s helmet across his face, along with an added “Shut up!” had finally silenced Thawne for now.

Despite Thawne’s condition his words were still true. The portal was growing more and more and the bolts became more violet, striking the ground before hitting sides of the skyscrapers and buildings where the debris would fall for a moment before being taken into the unknowing Speed Force.

Upon hearing Joe say “Someone has to stop it.” Wally already jumped into action.

Zipping through with all his speed he went into S.T.A.R. Labs and made his way down into the underground area where the Cosmic Treadmill was kept. Finding it and seeing how it was running on its own, thanks to Thawne, he quickly used his super speed to not only unplug it from the source but to dismantle it in the process, hoping it would destroy any and all chances of Thawne’s plan succeeding. When he returned to the surface however his hopes were dashed aside when he looked up.

“It’s not stopping?” he asked. “But the Treadmill!”

“The vortex is sustaining itself.” Wells explained as Jessie helped him to his feet. “Thawne’s thought of everything.”

“So what do we do?” Jessie asked with desperation. “We can’t get everyone out in time.”

Wells could only shake his head and answer “I….I don’t know.”

“I do.” Barry had now said, getting back on his feet. “We need to send an equal amount of inertia energy back into the portal. It’ll reverse the process and close it before it gets too big.”

“How?” Wally asked. “No one’s that fast.”

Barry, pulling up his mask around his head, replied “I am.”

Hearing that everyone looked with a growing shock, Joe insisting “No! Barry, you can’t!”

“I’m the fastest man alive, Joe.” He replied, looking at him with a smirk that was both reassuring yet insistent. “I can do whatever I have to.” Joe could not bring himself to respond which made Barry look back to Wally, giving a final “Take care of your aunt for me, kid. She’ll need you. The whole city will.”

Wally tried to say “But, Barry…I…”

“You’ll do great, Wally. I know you will.”

There were no more words after that. Barry had only given final looks to both Jessie Quick and Prof. Wells, the former doing her best to hold back tears while the latter could only nod and wish his friend the best. Barry turned to face the portal above, still growing both in size and violence.

There was one final, deep, and ultimate sigh that escaped Barry before he said to no one nearby “I love you, Iris…”

The Flash sped off with all haste towards the portal. From S.T.A.R. Labs his friends watched as a red and yellow streak disappeared into the city streets before going up the side of one of the larger skyscrapers. He bounced from one side to the piles of debris, using each as a base to further jump from until finally reaching the rim of the growing black hole.

The streak now sped counter to the direction the portal did. They could see as the Flash’s streak became more and more blurred with every lap he took until it was a complete yellow and red circle. For Wally he could only imagine the stress that such speed was doing to his mentor, likely tearing at him with every second.

Despite knowing it would mean his end all Joe could say was “Run, Barry… Run.”

In moments energy began sparking from the portal thanks to Barry efforts. It seemed to shrink little-by-little until it was clear that everything the Flash was doing was proving to be effective. As the Speed Force’s power was pushed back into itself it came closer and closer to the great black hole in the center where Barry still ran. A moment later it all swelled in on itself until, in one glorious and final flash of brilliant and unforgotten colors, it was gone.

And so was Barry Allen…

**********

Central City, Flash Museum. Now…

“That’s how it happened.” Wally said to Bart Allen as they both stood in front of the museum exhibit. “That’s how your grandfather saved the world.”

Both of them were standing in front of a mural, in their casual citizen clothing, painted in one of the main exhibition rooms of the Flash Museum, which had been built a little over a year after the Flash’s sacrifice; a testimony from the city to its hero and protector. The mural itself depicted a swirling vortex above the city with a small rendering of the Flash running into the center with a swirl of colors and lines depicting his use of super speed.

“And that was it?” Bart asked. “They built all this without even knowing he was dead?”

“As far as the city and the rest of the world needed to know, the Flash survived that day and he’s still out there protecting everyone.”

“You mean YOU are.” Bart pointed out.

“Maybe. But every time I’m out on the streets taking on Grodd or the Rouges. Or anytime I’m with the League dealing with whatever alien invaders or giant monsters come stomping through. Anytime I put on the outfit…and I remember why I admired Barry so much.” Looking to him he then coyly said “I bet that’s something they don’t teach in your future history books, kid.”

“What? Still don’t believe me when I said I came from the future?” Bart asked.

“No. I’m just saying I don’t believe you came back all this way just to get a story from me about your grandpa.” Fully facing him now Wally pointed out, quietly enough so no one nearby would hear, “I’ve dealt with time travel before and I know the consequences can be dicey when you fool around with it too much. Just ask Rip Hunter or Booster Gold. But if you really wanted the truth you probably would’ve gone back to that moment yourself. So I think you’re not just here for the story. I think you came to this time period for something else.”

At first Bart had laughed off the notion and tried to wave it off with a “Come on, Wally. You acting paranoid. I mean I bet you would in this time. But you’re…” The look on Wally’s face proved he wasn’t falling for it, making the young speedster of the future eventually sigh and confess “Okay. You win. It turns out….Grandpa Barry might not have died the way you think.”

Wally perked with hope before grabbing Bart’s shoulders, asking “You mean he’s alive? Did he come back from the Speed Force?”

“Well….sort of. Maybe…. Not the way you’d think.”

“Explain.” Wally insisted.

“Barry did come back….but he wasn’t himself. He wasn’t even human anymore.” Bart began to tell with a growing grim tone to his story. “It turns out his trip into the Speed Force altered him. Some unknown part of the energies that he used to stop the portal affected him. When he came back he wasn’t himself. He tore through everything in his path. Villains. Heroes. Innocent people. Even his own family. Whatever was left of my grandfather was gone, all that was left was a monster everyone started calling ‘the Black Flash’.”

With every passing sentence Wally’s heart sank more and more. To know that was Barry’s reward for saying all of Earth was a horrifying revelation, one he feared to experience should it truly come to pass.

“So what are you saying? That Barry’s going to kill everyone?”

Bart was quick to insist “Not if we save him. I know the way but that’s why I need your help, Wally. Only we can do it.”

“Really? Who told you that?”

With a coy smirk Bart replied “You did actually. Right before you were the one who sent me back here in the first place.” Seeing Wally’s reaction Bart then said “In case you still don’t believe me…”

Bart had leaned in to whisper something in Wally’s ear. When he finished Wally darted his head back with surprise at what was transferred in secret between them. It seemed enough as he nodded, accepting his new mission to save his mentor from a horrific fate that awaited him.

“Okay, kid. You’ve convinced me. So what do we do?”