Second Chances: Flash - Rough Draft

Chapter 3

Sure enough, Eobard Thawne was in the Time Vault, trying to figure out how the hell Barry's speed force level was already so high.

"Gideon, how is this possible? Barry's speed shouldn't be on this level for at least another 6 years." Thawne said.

"I do not know Professor Thawne. There is no record in my database of anything like this, since no speedster has ever become this fast so soon after gaining a connection with the speed force." Gideon said.

"If Barry realizes the extent of his speed, I won't be able to beat him in my current state. My connection to the negative speed force is too unstable." Thawne said, right as he heard electricity crackle.

"What's going on?" Thawne asked.

"I do not know why, but I am detecting a large surge of negative tachyons in the time vault." Gideon said.

"The negative speed force. Something has reawakened it." Thawne said with a grin, since if that were the case, then it meant that he could restore his full connection to his speed force and once again be a complete match for the Flash.

However, what he wasn't counting on was the red lightning bolts appearing out of nowhere and blasting everything, one bolt taking out gideon.

"What the hell is going on?" Thawne demanded, only to be blasted in the head with a huge surge of red lightning that sent him flying backwards and landing near the pod that contained his suit.

"What was that?" Barry asked, since they could all hear the explosion from the time vault all the way from the medbay.

"That sounded like it came from the Time Vault." Cisco said as they all looked at each other before Cisco tossed Barry a sweatshirt.

"Caitlin, call Frost and Joe, tell them to get here as soon as possible. Cisco, see if you can do anything to lock down the facility. I'll figure out what's going on." Barry said.

"I'm coming with you since I have my powers back and this time I'm not giving them up." Cisco assured him and Barry grinned.

"Okay then, let's go see what Thawne blew up." Barry said.

"If we're lucky, maybe he blew himself up." Cisco said as they headed towards the Time Vault.

Once they arrived, Barry opened the door and the three of them were surprised when they found Thawne smoking, sitting against the back wall and the time vault looked like it had been blasted.

"What happened here?" Caitlin asked as she cautiously knelt down to Thawne's body to check for vitals.

However, they were all stunned as his head shot up and looked at them.

"Hello Barry, Cisco, Caitlin." Thawne said.

"Dr. Wells?" Cisco asked and Thawne just chuckled as he shook his head and Caitlin quickly backed away from him.

"Please Cisco, don't insult me. We both know that all of you know who I really am." Thawne said as Barry was the first to realize what was happening.

"You're like us. You're the Thawne from the old reality." Barry realized.

"That's right. And now that my connection to the negative speed force has been restored, there's nothing to stop me from killing all of you." Thawne said as he got up.

"You really want to try that now?" Barry asked him as his eyes crackled with electricity.

"It looks like you got lucky in this world Allen, since your daddy managed to avoid jail time." Thawne said.

"You won't be so lucky." Barry said through gritted teeth.

"You really think you can stop me?" Thawne asked him with a grin.

"How about we find out." Barry said and before Thawne could do anything, Barry blasted him back with lightning.

"Impressive." Thawne said.

"You really want to do this now?" Barry asked him and Thawne grinned.

"No, not yet. Not when you still have so much I can take from you." Thawne said with a grin as before any of them could react, he triggered a localized negative speed force detonation that blasted the trio back, allowing him to make his escape, since now was not the time to finish this.

"Any luck tracking him?" Barry asked Cisco as the three of them stood at the computers in the Cortex trying to track Thawne.

"Nope. Knowing Thawne, he likely uploaded some kind of future malware into the satellite's system to prevent from tracking his negative speed force signature. Until I'm able to find it and remove it, the satellite can't find him." Cisco said.

"Do what you can." Barry said and Cisco nodded.

"Well, we clearly missed all the fun." Frost said as she, Joe and Iris entered the Cortex.

"Iris." Barry said as they kissed.

"Looks like this whole time we were about which of us would die in Crisis, though luckily, this was temporary." Iris said with a grin as she kissed Barry again.

"Anyways, where's Thawne?" Joe asked, his gun at the ready.

"Gone. Somehow he remembers the old reality just like we do and his connection to the negative speed force has been stabilized and he bailed, saying that now wasn't the right time." Barry said.

"Yeah, probably because he knows there's still so much he can take from Barry before he kills him." Cisco said and Barry nodded in agreement.

"So, what do we do?" Frost asked.

"We prepare for Thawne to return. Including exposing that the real Harrison Wells is dead." Barry said and they nodded in agreement.

"But Frost, how does it feel to have your own body?" Cisco asked her, curiously.

"First off, it's Crystal. Frost is my superhero name, not my actual name. And second, it's actually very nice to be able to live my own life the whole time instead of only being able to live it half the time. Especially since Caity's still got her fiance." Frost, or rather Crystal, said.

"Wait what?" Barry asked and Caitlin nodded with a happy grin on her face.

"Yeah, in this reality, Ronnie never became Firestorm. He's still alive and the only reason he's not here is because he's visiting his parents in Coast City." Caitlin said and Barry smiled.

"Speaking of which, have you told your mom that you're engaged?" Barry asked.

"Yeah, I have, though we're still estranged." Caitlin said.

"Because she chose me over mom." Crystal said.

"Wait, what?" Iris asked.

"While Caity was the family success story, following both of our parents' footsteps as a scientist, I'm kind of the black sheep, since instead of becoming a scientist, I became an artist." Crystal said.

"One of the most successful artists in the world and you're also the richest person in this room." Caitlin said.

"You know mom doesn't care about that. Even though I do use my fortune to fund charity projects all over the city, I now know what my next one will be." Crystal said.

"What will that be?" Joe asked.

"A community center that's specifically tailored to metahumans. To give them a place to learn to use their powers safely and find ways to contribute to society aside from lives of crime." Crystal said.

"I think I like this new you, since you've already done a ton to cut down on crime with your relief programs." Joe said, since several of Frost's charity projects had been education programs for adults to help them gain skills to help them find jobs and community centers for troubled kids to find safe places to hang out, help them stay out of the system.

"What can I say? I want to help keep people from making the same mistakes I did." Crystal said.

"So you've gone from reformed criminal to humanitarian, nice." Cisco said with a grin as they continued talking and making plans.