"He's Back"
"Hey, Barry." Cisco greeted, running his free hand through his long hair. "He's back... Meet me back at the lab." The engineer hung up, not explaining anything else. 'She'll be safe,' The engineer thought to himself, going to the now almost empty closest, another pain shot through his body, but compared to what he saw, this one was a pain of heartbreak, but Cisco ignored it and took one of the jackets that Bette had gifted him. His eyes filled with determination and rage that was ready to show itself.
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In Mercury lab, the night of the first of January, 2016:
The alarms were blazing, going off at maximum sound, alerting everyone inside and outside the place. Thankfully, the security of the lab was one of the best in the country, with S.T.A.R. Labs not even being its competition in terms of technology. But S.T.A.R. Labs didn't need those kinds of alarms when they have two heroes, and another two metahumans in their roster.
With the owner of the place, McGee, and a couple of security guards, they headed towards the source of the alarms, but before they could reach it, a yellow blur and red lightning streak snapped all the guard's necks before they could even blink.
Just to relish at the woman's horror, the man in yellow stopped right in front of Dr. McGee, her eyes slowly going wide in terror and fear. Before she could even register the man in front of her, with a gust of wind, she was gone from the place.
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(2 Jan 2016)
"You okay, Mike?" Joe asked the man who was spaced out, concern in his voice. Because instead of showing what Joe expected Mike would show, his foster kid had a deranged smile on his face, as if this was the best present he could get. He expected both of them, Mike and Barry to show concern and worry regarding this news that Cisco gave them. But only the speedster was showing the expected emotions.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, Joe. Just peachy." Mike answered back, the lunatic smile gone, and instead his normal smile came back on, though, that was worrying in of itself. When he turned towards Caitlin to ask her what was wrong with her husband, he found her spacing out as well, staring at her belly in confusion.
"What is wrong with you?" Joe asked him, bringing Caitlin out of her thoughts, "Oh, nothing. Just thinking about clothes and room color for Ryan." "Ah... sigh...." Joe let out an already exhausted sigh in the morning.
They had immediately come in when they received Barry's emergency text, telling them to meet up in the Cortex as fast as possible. And as expected, the speedster was the last person to show up. With that, the meeting had started and Cisco had told them of Eobard's return. Mike confirmed from his/Eobard's memory that he had stolen.
And when asked why he didn't tell them sooner, his reply was, "Because if I did, this timeline might've gotten deleted." Mike didn't need to further comment or explain to them.
Coming back to the present, "So, why is he even alive?" Joe asked in confusion. "He's not, he's a time remnant," Mike answered back, confusing Joe even further, while Harry, Cisco, and Barry nodded in understanding, albeit uncertain, other than Harry of course. "What does that even mean?" The detective asked, frustrated.
"It means-" Harry started, going to the table near the Cortex desk and catching a marker from Cisco and started drawing a circle on the board, a word inside of it. "This is present." He started, drawing another circle to the right of the initial one, a different word inside of this one. "This is the future." He explained and draw another circle on the left of the present one. "And this is the past."
Turning to Joe, he pointed at the future one, "This is where Thawne came from, the future." Harry turned back to the board and draw another circle in between the present and past, "And this is where he was erased from existence."
"But since Eobard is from the future, his starting line is at the future, not the past like us. That's why he's still alive, or at least. This version of him." Mike told Joe, who sighed. "This Thawne hasn't traveled back in time to kill your mother," Harry pointed at Barry and Mike. "Because he's here for the first time." Joe finished, finally catching up with the geniuses in the room.
"So, is it possible to save your mother?" Joe turned towards the twins once he understood what a time remnant is. Only for both boys to shake their heads, with Barry starting to explain. "Mom's death is a fixed point. Nothing can change it and if we do, all of us would be erased from existence."
"So then, why do you look so happy?" Joe asked, turning to Mike with a frown, only to see Mike's smile widening. "Because I am an anomaly."
At that, Joe frowned, his previous understanding gone in a flash. "What do you mean?" The detective asked, already annoyed with all this time travel talk. "Because I don't know if meeting him will separate our timeline again, or will it erase it."
Before Joe could repeat his question, Mike continued on. "The memory that I have of Eobard is from the man that mentored everyone here. In his version, I or Toxin didn't exist in his timeline. But this Eobard, it's different."
"Because you lived and are a hero." Joe nodded, slowly catching up, while the others were silent, letting Mike continue. "Which is why I can't meet him as Mike or Toxin." "Okay, I still have plenty of questions, but the most concerning one, why are you so happy with him being here?" Joe asked what everyone was thinking.
"Because I'll be kicking his ass so badly that he won't have time to wonder about me or my superhero persona," Mike replied, already knowing what they were going to say, but he let them. "But you just said that you can't meet him!" Caitlin finally spoke up, worry in her tone.
"Because I won't be meeting him as Mike or Toxin, bu-" He was interrupted, "But as Flash," Barry finished for him, his eyes shaking in surprise. "How? Barry's a speedster and you aren't." Joe asked, pointing out the obvious.
At this question, everything clicked in Cisco, Harry, and Caitlin's mind, catching up with the twins now. "You'll use V9." Caitlin was the first one to speak up. "But isn't that dangerous?" Cisco asked with concern, while Harry was frowning at this idea but still contributed. "For speedsters, yes. Because it's addictive-" As soon as Joe heard that, "No, you are not using that." He told Mike, glaring at him.
Letting out a sigh, "I've already worked on this and have finished the drug." Mike replied, already seeing Joe trying to shut him down with Caitlin also joining him, but Mike continued. "I've also diluted the drug to one-tenth of its original. The only thing I need is to make Eobard believe that I am Flash. Though a very slow one."
"Which he'll associate it with Barry getting his powers not too long ago," Harry answered, already knowing what Mike was thinking, making the spider hero nod at him. Joe, looking at the exchange and his foster son, "No! Are you kidding me?!" He asked sternly, glaring at Harry and then Mike. "There's no way you'll be doing this Mike!"
Walking up to Mike and stabbing him with his finger, "Get this stupid idea out of your head! No son of mine is going to use any drug for whatever reason! And especially not one that has two lives depending on him!" He ended, pointing at an angry Caitlin.
Seeing Mike avoid his glare, Joe fixed everyone with his glare, ending on Caitlin, "If he does anything like that or suggests anything like that again. Freeze him whole and call me. I'll be emptying my clip on him." When he saw Caitlin gave him a certain nod, "Good. First, McGee. And then, we'll figure out how to deal with Thawne after saving her." He told them, heading out of the Cortex.
But stopping at the doorway, "You'll stay put and won't move." Joe glared at Mike and then left.
After Joe left, everyone was going to scatter to do their own job. Of course, not before convincing Mike to reveal what Eobard wanted to do. "Right now, he's stuck in this timeline, because he's not fast enough to get back to his home," Mike told his eager listeners.
"If he's not fast enough to go back home, how was he fast enough to travel here in the first place?" Barry asked, making me sigh. "Because he's missing with time from ever since he has gotten his speed," Mike told him, moving on. "McGee is helping him build a speed launch or something like that to give him a boost," Mike explained, and at this, Cisco dropped in.
"But he'll kill her,"
"Yes, he will," Mike confirmed, making the team go tense for a second. "When will they be done?" Caitlin asked this time. "In about 8 days. Give or take. But I don't plan to give him that much time." Mike continued.
"What do you mean?" Caitlin asked again, worried that her husband was hell-bent on fighting Eobard with the help of the drug. "Giving him 8 days will be enough for him to dig up everything in this time period, meanin-"
"That he'll find out about Toxin as a hero." Harry finished for Mike. "Exactly. And as they say, curiosity killed the cat. If he tries to focus on me as well as Barry, things might get complicated." Seeing the confused expression on everyone's face, Barry decided to explain a bit.
"Toxin is far more mysterious than the Flash and there are speculation about his origin. The only time he has shown himself to the public was back at Flash day and when taking down that... Shark thing."
"And if he thinks that Toxin is a threat to his plans, he'll go after him." Harry continued off, earning two nods from the twins. "My plan is to disguise myself as Flash, and Barry as Toxin." Mike started, earning a glare from Caitlin but he simply ignored it.
"The reason I had suggested me taking the v9 and half was so that I could go toe to toe against his speed." Mike told them, raising a hand to stop Caitlin from talking, "And like I had said, I have adjusted the v9's dose. On nonspeedsters, it has no effect other than a short boost of speed. On speedster though, it doesn't work at all."
"Since when have you worked on v9?" Harry asked suspiciously. "Since my fist landed on Zoom and he still lived." Mike replied, "I underestimated him if I was honest. I thought he would die with that. But seeing him use his speed to survive, my nanotech would only be good enough in a surprise attack." He explained.
"The only reason I have suggested this is because I need to test my version of v9 against Eobard. If I can deal with him, then against Zoom, it shouldn't pose any problems."
"You really are planning to go against him aren't you?" Cisco finally asked, frowning at his friend who confirmed with a nod. "Then in that case, I'll help you. I have some... things to give you." The engineer stood up from his chair, exiting the Cortex, asking for Mike to follow him.
"You know, Joe will kill you, right? And if dad finds out, he'll use you to get unrusted..." Barry told him with concern, only for his older brother to smirk, "Then don't let them find out." When Mike was next to Caitlin, he tried to soothe her anger by pecking her cheek, but Caitlin dodged it. Standing up and going over to her workshop, completely shutting down her husband.
"Wow... That's the coldest shoulder I've ever seen." Harry commented, with a brow raised in amusement. Mike, shaking his head, turned to Harry, "Where's Jesse, I don't sense her in the lab."
"Shopping with Iris," Harry answered back with a frown, his amusement gone, and instead he walked away as well to Cisco's workshop in the Cortex. Not questioning it, Mike exited the lab, heading towards Cisco's lab. Behind him, Barry was gone from the room as well, heading towards his day job, doing his best to not go on a wild hunt after Eobard.
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<POV Change>
"What'd you got for me Cisco?" I asked as soon as I entered his lab, though I could sense something was wrong, I let him have some space and come to us willingly. But seeing him pace back and forth in his lab made me reconsider my words and thoughts. "What'd you see?" I corrected myself and hearing that, he stopped and turned to me. He looked unwilling to talk about it even now.
"I saw Thawne..." He started, unsure if he should continue. But I didn't speak, letting him finish. "He killed Bette." Hearing it was shocking, because I didn't remember anything like that in my memories. The only reason I could deal with Zoom was because he was mentioned in the Flash museum as someone that killed dad, which I would correct it.
Bette was supposed to turn into a bad metahuman since no one was there to help her, but thankfully, we avoided that route. Before my thoughts could go further, "But I saved her. I vibed her just in case, but she really left Central City."
"She left? What do you mean?" I asked him, confused but also relieved that she would live. "We broke up." Came his reply, going back to his desk and trying his best to appear nonchalant about it, but I could see him hurt. I didn't know what to do in this situation, Barry should be here right now. Emotions and I never went well.
Nonetheless, all I could say was, "Her loose," with a shrug. |YOU IDIOT!| Toxin shouted in my head, making me flinch. Hearing a chuckle, I ignored my partner, "Hahaha, you need practice," Cisco muttered, thankfully not taking offense to my words. "I noticed. But are you okay?" I asked him back.
"Yeah, though it hurts. It's better this way. First Zoom, then the Eye, now Eobard..." He replied, shaking his head and letting go of a sigh, "This is better. She'll be away from the warzone." Hearing the end of the sentence, I asked him again, "What did you see Cisco?"
It took him a bit of time, but finally, he managed to squeeze it out. "I am... Not sure, but this morning..." He started, taking a pause before continuing. "I had a vibe about your doppelganger from another earth." He spoke, making me freeze, "Earth 2?" I asked but he shook his head. "No, I don't know from where exactly, but you were supposed to lose your arm this morning in the shopping district." As soon as I heard that, my world stopped, remembering this morning's event.
"Caitlin..." I whispered in fear, thinking about everything that could go wrong if my doppelganger targeted her. Just by sheer imagination of the scenarios, [SPIDEY SENSE], my sense alarmed me, the hair on my arms and back stood up. Everything in my view disappeared and instead, I felt like I was standing in front of my wife's corpse.
In front of Caitlin's corpse and that was my worst fear, losing my family all over again. My world shattered and only one man stood in front of me. Me. Me with an evil smirk on his face, looking at me, taunting me. Before I could react, my body moved, my hand reaching to take the man in front of me by his neck.
But surprising me, my hand moved by itself, and before I could react to that, my body was stopped by my partner. |Mike! Wake up!| He warned me from the inside and as if I had a migraine, my world turned into black, before colors came back into view along some spots of black. "Huh? Wha..."
|You were hallucinating and almost killed Cisco.| Toxin Told me, making me realize where I was. And with everything cleared, I was face to face with a terrified Cisco in front of me. Taking a step toward him, "Cis-" He took a step back, his eyes not leaving mine. "I'm sorry. I... Thought I saw Caitlin..." I told him, taking back my step, trying my best to explain myself. Which I think worked if his eyes widening was anything to go by.
"Sorry," I apologized to my friend again and in exchange, he gave me a weak nod, his eyes not leaving me. Seeing that he needed time to recompose himself, I was going to head out, but, "It's okay." He muttered loud enough for me to turn back to him. Though his eyes looked like he had figured out something.
"Let's finish with what I saw, you will need it with Eobard and maybe even Zoom." I nodded at him to continue. "Anyway, you were supposed to become handicapped this morning. But somehow, in the middle of my vibe, everything fell apart." He spoke, starting to pace comfortably again. "Instead of the vibe that I was seeing, it showed me Eobard fighting a slower Flash, but now that I think about it. It was you."
He pointed at me with a frown, shaking his head, "The first vibe showed me him fighting Barry and Barry got the shit beaten out of him and went back to his time, not before killing Bette just to mess with me as well." At that I frowned, already thinking of something that I shouldn't do. "But when that fell apart, it showed me Eobard again, fighting you and after that, nothing." He told me, making me nod. "And after that?" I asked back, only to receive a shake of head.
"I see... Thanks," I told him, leaving him alone because of my earlier behavior. 'Thanks, Tox.'
|Don't mention it.|