Chapter 24

Up the skies, Superman scanned them for any signs of the speedster. Out of the corner of his eyes, two dots zipped around. Those dots belonged to Jesse Quick and Kid Flash. After the mysterious speedster showed up at Galaxy Theater, Harry had been looking for any signs.

The moment the two speedsters stopped, Harry jumped down to meet them.

"The devices are all planted," Kid Flash said. "And we'll know if our speedster friend shows up."

"Anywhere, across the country, if someone uses their speed who isn't myself, Kid Flash, or Flash, we'll know," Jesse said. "The speed force is tricky to calibrate for. Lots of long nights, but it's worth it to find this person."

"Yeah, especially there's a sixty-five percent chance that this might be another evil speedster," Kid Flash tensely replied.

"You sure this number might be a little low?"

Whitney shrugged. They dealt with a number of evil speedsters over the years. The Speed Force had a sadistic sense of humor, triggering some sociopaths in the process.

Harry had an incoming message from Barbara. A note read he should really take a look at this. Harry's finger slipped in and a three-dimensional hologram of a video popped up on his display. Whitney and Jesse moved into position to get a better look.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Thunderbolts. Where the Justice League has failed us all, these new protectors come in like a bolt of lightning. Here we see them in action."

Three of the Thunderbolts showed up. Whitney's eyes bugged out when she recognized one of them.

"Hey, that's Captain Boomerang!" Whitney yelled.

"Yes, and Moonstone, and Songbird," Harry said.

The three Thunderbolts worked in tandem in dismantling a bomb and resolving a hostage situation. Harry had to admit, their team work was on point. Although that may or may not have to do with the individual who had been pulling the strings.

And whether or not the incident they were seeing was staged. That could be a problem as well.

"Another situation averted. The Thunderbolts will be there to save the day against the forces of evil. Call us, and they'll be there in a bolt."

"Oh, that's too close to infringing on the Flash Family's trademark!" Whitney snapped.

Jesse just patted her teammate on the shoulder, in a sympathetic manner. The commercial conveniently forgot to mention that these people were bad people.

"Well, that's...another problem," Jesse said. "Maybe we should focus on the task at hand."

"Maybe we should…."

Whitney had been interrupted. The scanner pinged. Their mysterious speedster was already on the move. Whitney put up the scanner. It had registered a bolt of speed lightning heading towards Metropolis that was not Whitney, Jesse, or Iris.

"And she's heading to LexCorp," Whitney said.

"Not if we don't get there first," Harry said. "Run, I'll wait for you."

The speedster known as Impulse averted all of the security traps and had a case in her hand. She was about ready to leave the room when suddenly a hand grabbed her and slammed her down to the ground.

Kid Flash stood over Impulse.

"Oh, crap," Impulse said. "You're….kind of not supposed to be here."

She jumped up to her feet only to find Jesse Quick snatching her and pin her down to the ground.

"Who are you?" Jesse asked. "Why are you breaking into LexCorp."

She tried to get away at least four more times. Jesse and Whitney had been a fair bit quicker than she thought and even now, she had been struggling to get away from them.

"Answer the question," Whitney said. "Wait...you're not Thawne are you?"

"What, no?" Impulse asked. "I'm not Thawne or Zoom or Savitar or Godspeed or….."

Whitney put a hand up to stop her. She might be there all day naming off all of the evil speedsters they had to deal with over the years.

"Wait, Goodspeed?" Whitney asked. "That one is new."

"Spoilers," Impulse murmured. "Oh, crap, the timeline is going to be totally crashed, if you two don't let me go. I'm running out of time."

"The only thing that's running out is my patience," Whitney said. "So, who are you and what are you doing?"

Whitney zipped in and blocked Impulse from leaving one more time. Kid Flash was not supposed to be faster than her. Impulse could not believe the Flash Museum would lie to her about such a fact.

"I can't...tell you who I am," Impulse said, almost pleading. "But, Lex and his allies, they're trying to replicate the Velocity 9 formula. They want their own speedster."

"So that's why Lex acquired all of those chemical companies."

Impulse jumped up and came face to face with a ghost of her past.

"Dad!" Impulse jumped up.

"Dad?" Whitney asked.

Impulse collapsed almost to one knee, getting rather dizzy. Oh, this had been too much for her. Especially since she never had to get too fast and she did the one thing.

"Oh, unschway, I screwed things up totally borked the mode," Impulse said.

Guards moved in to search for the thief. Given their mysterious speedster could barely even stand, they needed to get her out of there and soon. Harry grabbed her, gently cradling her in his arms.

"Meet me back at Star Labs."

Harry disappeared with a pop and was already there before Whitney and Jesse could get there at their top speeds. This little encounter answered no questions and raised so many more that it was entirely frustrating.

"She's suffering from time dysphoria," Jesse said.

"Oh, yeah, this is Star Labs, like in its Prime, so schway!" the speedster babbled.

The medication they gave her had some side effects. They will fade in seconds. Harry, never one to waste any time, cleared his throat.

"You mentioned something about Lex and the Velocity Nine," Harry said.

"Oh, yeah, I'm a ditz, totally completely a ditz," Impulse said.

"Oh shit!" Whitney snapped.

"Wayne Industries was working with Star Labs, when the imposter took over Bruce Wayne's life," Jesse said, picking up for Whitney. "The Velocity Nine formula is in the system, and Wayne Industries has access to it."

"But, only Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne could...they could right?" Whitney asked, hopefully.

"We don't know what happened with Fox, he's gone on extended holiday," Jesse said. "Let me check."

She really hoped they did not hand Lex Luthor a dangerous speed formula. Who knows what could happen. Jesse's hands worked like a blur as they accessed the system.

"Anything?" Harry asked.

"Accessed, they found a way in," Jesse said; "I can restrict their access, but it's like closing the barn door after the horses already left the stable at this point."

Well, preventing them from accessing anything else was a start, Harry supposed. Although the damage had been done.

"Lex has his hands on it," Harry said. "What's your name?"

The speedster looked at it. Despite all of the deception, she could not, under any circumstances, lie to her father.

"My name is Nora, and I made a huge, huge mistake going back in time," she said. "I'll fix it."

"You called Harry Dad so….."

Impulse's mask opened up. Whitney had been taken aback. She saw pictures of her Aunt Iris as a teenager and Nora looked like a carbon copy of her. Only with Harry's eyes. Nora brushed a lock of her red hair back and closed her eyes.

"Everything's changing, that's good," Nora said. "Well, if history doesn't try and erase me."

Suddenly, the alarms in Star Labs went completely and utterly insane. Harry stepped back, as did Jesse and Whitney. A portal opened up and at first, Harry thought that a Dementor of all things appeared on this new world, far away from his old one.

No, Harry recognized it from his studies of the speed form. It was a time wraith. Sinister and terrifying. It's gaze focused on Nora and Harry at the same time.

"You should not be here!"

"RUN!" Whitney and Jesse yelled.

Harry grabbed Nora by the arm and blasted away. Like a terminator, the Wraith sought out it's target with a single minded obsession.

A blur arrived, zipping as fast as she could. Iris West sensed something wrong. And the moment she came face to face with at time wraith, who appeared to be targeting a younger version of herself, with speed powers, and Harry.

"No," Iris said.

The Flash zipped in front of the time wraith.

"Iris, get out of the way, I need to fix this!" the voice bellowed.

This caused Iris great pause.

"Barry?"

A blast of cold from one of Captain Cold's guns caught the distracted time wraith and sent it packing. Jesse walked out of the picture.

"That thing wants to kill you," Jesse said.

"Oh, no, much worse," Iris said. "Much, much worse."

Iris turned to the new speedster. She thought some kind of time insanity might be going on. But, the eyes, the eyes were different. Harry's eyes.

"Hey Mom," Nora said. "I'm Nora West-Kent-Luthor, your daughter from the future."

"Wow, that's...a mouthful,' Whitney said. "Congratulations."

"So, you called it Barry," Harry said to Iris. "Your ex turned into a demented wraith and is trying to kill me and our daughter."

Well, that did sound bad now that Harry said it.

"Well, he's dead, I saw him distigrate before my very eyes, he saved many lives," Iris said. "There's still a small part of him inside, twisted, but that thing's really not Barry, even if it has some of his memories."

"Still seems to have a soft spot for you," Whitney commented.

"I don't think that's going to work again," Iris said. "I have no idea how to combat it, because it will come back."

"Well," Whitney said. "I know someone who might know more about the speed force than anyone else."

Whitney's suggestion did not go over well with certain people in the room.

"Yeah, I figured you might not like it. But it's not like we have many options."

"What?" Iris asked. "No, no, no, no!"

"I know, Iris, but he knows about the Speed Force," Whitney said. "Do you want him to kill Harry and Nora?"

Jesse realized what was happening and highly disapproved of it.

"Whitney, you can't trust anything he says at face value," Jesse said. "He stole my father's life, wore his face, tried to manipulate everyone."

"I say we try, but take the necessary steps as a back up," Harry said.

The entire room went silent. All of them tried to rack their brain for any other options, other than the nuclear one they considered.

"Yeah, we...don't have any options, do we?" Nora asked.

"No, we don't," Iris bitterly replied. "I'm guessing you have a plan."

The portal to the Phantom Zone opened. Iris, Jesse, Nora, Whitney and Harry entered the Phantom Zone. To a specially created prison. The crystals which Harry collected from the Fortress, helped blind them from the Phantoms.

"We shouldn't stick around for too long."

"Yeah, good idea," Whitney said.

They entered the prison. Damper fields still had been erected. And inside of the prison, sat one Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash, who leaned back in the cell.

"Have you done it?" Thawne asked. "Have you come to put me out of my misery? I envied Barry. He was the lucky one, being wiped out, destroyed...but every minute of my life, is agony now. Just end it all ready."

Iris thought about playing Thawne a sad song on the world's smallest violin, but now was not the time nor the place.

"You expect me to feel sorry for you after all you've done."

"No," Thawne said. "What do you want?"

"We need….your input on a problem," Iris said.

Thawne threw back his head for a pained round of laughter.

"Oh, it's the most bitter irony," Thawne said. "The shards of dark matter is the only thing that is keeping me alive but it prevents me from using my powers. If you can call this a life."

Thawne leaned back and closed his eyes.

"And where are my manners," Thawne said. "Iris, Whitney, Jesse…..and oooh...this is an honor."

Thawne's smile widened as he locked Harry.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. Your first meeting with me and my last, if it comes for me. And it's going to come for me. Especially since the presence of our little visitor stirred it up."

With that, Thawne's eyes locked onto Nora. She remained defiant and ublinking.

"Barry suffered a fate worse than death," Iris managed. "He's the time wraith."

Iris almost wanted to strangle Thawne on sheer principle due to how amused he looked on this.

"Oh, this is...this is rich!" Thawne chuckled. "After everything, you need my help against Barry. Because he's a worse menace than I can ever be."

Iris vibrated her hand through the cell and stuck it close to Thawne's chest.

"Don't toy with me, Thawne," Iris said.

"Do it," Thawne said. "It will feel good. For both of us."

Harry grabbed Iris's shoulder and pulled her back. The two breathed heavily.

"I've had plenty of time to think," Thawne said. "And I can stop the wraith. But, it means destroying the one piece of Barry which lingers in the timeline. Are you willing to cut all times and admit defeat?"

"Tell us how, or I'll show you an eternity of suffering," Harry said.

Those eyes glowed red and despite having nothing left to lose, Thawne showed just a tiny bit of fear. The cold aura Harry emitted pushed dark and painful memories to the surface.

"Anyone else, and I wouldn't believe it. But from you I would buy it."

Thawne just smiled.

"Oh, only if you knew what you would become."

"I'll let you out and find a way to get the dark matter out, if you help us," Iris said. "My daughter….."

"Oh, well, I do admire a bond between a mother and a child," Thawne said. "After all, after I killed Barry's mother, it gave him the motivation so I could become the Reverse-Flash."

"Don't test me Thawne!" Iris snapped.

"Let me out and we'll proceed!"

Iris had to make a deal with the devil to assist both Harry and Nora against this time wraith. Of course, she fully intended to use Thawne as bait, not caring if he lived or died.