Soft Than Hard Threat

"In the next few days, Joe and Barry will be suspended from their job at the station. Joe will be for a pending investigation on an old case, and Barry for the mistreatment of evidence. Iris will be demotivated to a non-writing job for whatever reason. Your credit cards and bank accounts will be either closed or limited.

"The media will focus on this new Speedster that is bent on committing robberies and other crimes," said Edward in a calm tone, ignoring the scared and confused look of the team. He tapped his hands, and a flash of lightning rushed into the room, showing the new Speedster that Barry had been having trouble catching.

Then, to the team's horror, the Speedster removed his mask, and his face was the same as Barry's. They would have thought it was him if the original had not been lying on the floor. Edward looked at him in the eyes:

"If you cooperate with my research, I guarantee you will never see me again afterward, and you can return to your previous life as if nothing had ever happened. However, if you make things difficult, even the slightest?"

Edward paused, "The story in the media is you became disgruntled after being fired and began drinking and gambling. Then, one night after a stay in the hospital, you acquire your powers. In need of money to live and pay your debt, you used your powers for crime. Believable story, isn't it?" asked Edward with a creepy smile. "You should thank me for preserving your legacy as the Flash."

He glanced at Iris, "I know what you're thinking. The Dark Flash appeared a while ago, so it's easy to prove Barry's innocence. Unfortunately, you will discover that all records of his firing are from a few days before the appearance of the Dark Flash. Every individual involved in the situation will have vivid memories of that day and be able to testify that Barry was fired on that specific day."

After saying these words, Edward calmly walked out of the room. To the team's sadness, things proceeded as he said. First was Joe, followed by Barry, then Iris.

"I have checked the Central City Main Hospital," said Iris, her eyes red from tiredness and worry. "There are records of Barry staying in for an alcohol overdose. Apparently, one of the interns made a mistake and injected him with an experimental drug."

"So, that's how his powers will be explained?"

"Yes," sighed Iris. "It's truly scary. I talked to the nurses, the doctor, the receptionist, and even the hospital administrators. They all have memories of talking or treating Barry. And it's not him. Many people have heard of it since the hospital tried to avoid a lawsuit."

The room quieted briefly before Cisco spoke: "It's the same for the casino. Barry has a paper trail of his debt, and guess how much it used to be?"

"5000$," replied Joe. "The same amount the Dark Speedster stole in his first crime."

"Bingo," said Cisco in a dejected voice. "How are things going on your side?"

"I tried talking to the captain, but it was useless," replied Joe.

"So, what do we do?" asked Ralph; he did not know how to feel about being ignored by Edward. Happy? He was since his life was not affected. Dejected? Also, he felt the latter did not value him at all and treated him as if he did not exist.

"Yes, what should you do?"

Everyone turned their head to the voice and immediately expressed anger and hatred.

"What do you want?" asked Barry.

"I never hid my desire," replied Edward. "You help me with my experiment, and everything will return to how it used to be."

"How can I help you with that damn bracelet?"

"You just need to be willing."

Barry looked at his team before sighing, "I'm willing."

"That's the spirit." Edward did not hesitate to link him and Wally to countless machines and collect data.

[Still missing something.]

[You're right. Even if we only created a Tier 10 Speed Force, we are still missing the key point,] nodded Morgana through psychic communication.

[Let's run a test into the Speed Force.]

[Are you sure? That could cause problems.]

[As long as his family's financial and social life is in my hands, he should know what to and not to do.]

Edward ran his test, and as expected, there were complications. The bracelet and all the other tracking marks he secretly left on Barry stopped working.

[What should we do?] asked Morgana.

[Since that thing loved its Speedster, we will blackmail it with the life of one.]

[What do you have in mind?]

[We will put a powerful curse around Barry that is linked to Wally. If the consciousness tries to remove our marks or the curse, it will activate and kill the Kid Flash.]

[This might work. However, for a curse to work on a Tier 11 Entity, it must be unstable or volatile, highly complex, or versatile. But even then, it will only buy us a short amount of time.]

[Not necessarily,] replied Edward. [Although the Speed Force is a Multiversal Entity, it cannot use much of its power in one timeline.]

[Hopefully, you're right.]

Edward immediately began concocting this curse, in which he mixed into all his learned or mastered Rules. Over the past five hundred years studying the Soul Limit, he made many accomplishments in mastering rules or Rules.

As such, he now wielded all elemental Rules except Light and Darkness, Soul Rule, Destruction Rule, Death Rule, Space-Time Rule, and Curse Rule. The final product of this curse was a black bracelet, and after taking some of Wally's blood, it was finally completed.

Edward's plan worked as the Speed Force did not remove his marks, thus allowing him to gather more data. Things were proceeding smoothly for a whole month until….

Edward calmly watched Barry finish today's test as he walked out of a portal.

"This should be enough for today, right?"

"Do you think I didn't detect your little movement?"

"Excuse me?" asked Barry, not showing any hint that something was wrong.

"The Time Remnants you send out: do you think I wouldn't find out?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

In fact, Edward did not see or detect when Barry created a Time Remnant since the Speed Force blocked his view or senses. However, the remnant —who is something like a clone—tried to traverse the Multiverse, mostly trying to get help from other Earths. Sadly for this team, Edward had already used Rick Sanchez's technology to block this timeline.

"It seems that soft threats won't work, so let's do this the hard way."

The team's heart skipped a beat. Then, before they could react, they discovered they were inside some kind of shield in space.

"Is this Earth?" asked Caitlin as she looked at the blue planet underneath her feet. They could not believe how fast they teleported outside of the planet's atmosphere.

"Beautiful planet, isn't it?" said Edward, his tone eerily calm. "It would be a shame if it was gone." He pointed his finger to shoot a small purple energy orb.

Boom! The entire planet exploded, and no one—including Harrison Wells, who is the usual calm and composed one—knew how to react.

"A beautiful yet cruel sight," uttered Edward calmly. "7.9 billion people died just like that."

"Im…Impossible," stuttered Barry.

"You're…a… monster."

"Calm down: there is no need to be so dramatic," he said, still eerily calm. He snapped his finger, and a large clock appeared. Its handle moved backward, and the team watched as the destroyed planet returned to its former state. Before the team could process what had happened, they were already back in the lab.

"Next time you pull another stunt like this, it will be permanent," said Edward as he gazed directly into Barry's eyes. He then slowly walked out, leaving them alone to process everything.