Legends of the Flash #10

[spiritofvengeance]

Legends of the Flash #10

“The Motivations of Running”

By Nikolai Peter Fomich
Edited by Mike Bowen


The Past
His brow furrows beneath the ill-lit college lab lights. She had called again — Charlene, his wife — but he had not answered. He couldn’t. The telephone ringing just broke his concentration for a moment, but the scientist had made no actual effort to answer it. That would have been a waste of time. It is the work that remains important, always the work. She could never understand that, as much as he had always wanted her to. Hugo would take care of her... he was the “good” brother.
Ha, he thinks, pondering his society’s conceptions. What a trivial notion. ‘Good’.
No, for Eobard Thawne, there was only room in his heart for hard, time consuming work. Work of science. His work. She loves him, God knows why, but his feelings were uncompromising, and remorseless. He had been working in the college lab for two days now, or maybe it was three, it didn’t really matter. His Speed Force theories were beginning to take fruit, and the excitement was so great he barely had time to eat.
Had he eaten? He could not remember. He was so close now, to accomplishing something truly extraordinary. With his limitless intellect, anything seemed possible. And there it was, his only love. Science.
Science! he exclaims in his thoughts. That is what will make me... make the world, that is, better. Yes, it is a selfless endeavor. Though of course my genius will undoubtedly be recognized. Imagine, when all will realize why I made the choices I made... when Malcolm will not be able to resent his father. I wasn’t there for him, but he’ll see why... he’ll learn to understand.


His musings are interrupted by caution knocking.

“Hi...ah, professor?”

“What? What, who are y- I’m very busy.”

“Yes, I’m sorry. I just saw the light on and came in. My name is Barry. Barry Allen. I was actually-”

There is no time for this nonsense.
“I’m very busy, very busy. I’m sorry, come back later,” Thwane said as he shuffles his notes and theorems, but they escape his weary grip. The older man’s face cringes, rushing to grab them with the same tenacity a mother would show to protect her child. But the kind young college student reaches them before he can.

“No worries, I’ve got these for you-”

“Yes, just please give them here. It’s all very important work, just...”

“Hmm. I never knew that the Standard Model could be used in conjunction with the GUT.”

“Yes, few do.”

“And this is fascinating — using Emergence to describe time? This is even beyond Laughlin, or even Palmer’s research over at Ivy.”

“Well, thank you. Yes it’s quite impressive. I mean, not to say that it is all me. I have another assistant who has helped me out from time to time and... wait. You understood all this?”

“Understand it? I love this stuff.”

For the first time, Professor Thawne actually looks at Barry, and suddenly it hits him. The young college student had sounded a bit familiar, and now seeing him, the professor can’t take his eyes off him. He looks so much like his son...

“Professor?”

“Oh, I’m sorry Alan. Yes, actually, come in Alan...I mean, ah...”

“Its Barry. Barry Allen.”

[spiritofvengeance]

Now

“Barry Allen.”
The name tastes like poison. His student, his protégé... the one person he had ever deemed worthy of discussing real science with. His science. There had been Desmond, but that ill-educated fool was a dreamer... always more interested in scientific fairy tales then scientific fact.
But Barry... Barry had been the future. He had understood Thawne’s greatness. He had understood what his achievements could have meant. It would have been wonderful. Eobard Thawne could have finally been able to prove himself. To the world. To his son...

The man wipes away a tear or two, and thinks about how it could of come to this. His work, the greatest work that had ever been thought by a human mind, was all for naught. All thanks to the petty, capitalistic poison Keith Kenyon had poured into Barry’s soul. Barry was nothing compared to Thawne’s genius, and he must of known this. That’s what led to the deception. How could have Thawne been wrong? How could the experiment have failed, his career with it? He was supposed to be somebody. He hadn’t given his life up for nothing. No... he hadn’t given it up at all. It was Barry. Barry Allen. And now, he would pay.

Racing through the streets of Central City, Barry Allen’s thoughts fly by in milliseconds. He thinks of his friends, the ones still with him, the ones forever lost. He thinks of Keith Kenyon, a crooked, selfish man, but one who did not deserve to die. He thinks of a poor girl, barely grown out of her youth. But most of all, he thinks of his dear Iris, and what Thawne and his insane schemes had almost cost him.
I’m coming for you, Eobard. So help me, I’m coming.

Halfway across Asia, a streak of red begins to overtake its yellow target. It takes all of Barry Allen’s humility not to throw the first punch.

“Thawne, stop running! You don’t know what you’re doing... it’s doesn’t have to be this way!”

“What’s that, Allen? Where would you have me Allen? As your lackey? Your subordinate?”

Barry edges closer, the two actually able to make out one another’s faces.

“Damn it, professor, that’s not what I mean! I never wanted to be better than you, I just wanted to...”

“LIAR!”

The violent yell is coupled with a punch at 400 miles per hour — faster than the speed of sound. Barry flies through the Antarctic, now buried underneath some snow.

“What are you talking about, you luna-”

Barry’s speech is interrupted by the flash of a red boot in his face. Thawne, the self-styled “Reverse-Flash”, doesn’t let up.

“You were jealous!”

Flash gets up to move, but the Reverse-Flash is too fast.

“You couldn’t stand being second anymore. You held me back from my accomplishments, you held me back from being more than I was! You!”

The Reverse-Flash hits Barry several hundred times in his rage. Blood stains the snow, as Barry finally manages to grab hold of Thawne’s torso, and he propels them both into more blankets of white.

“You egotistical madman! All my life, I’ve just tried to help you!”

Barry takes a swing, and knocks Thawne back a bit.

“But you’ve proven to me that you’re beyond that help, and that you don’t even deserve it!”

Barry swings again, thoughts of a tied up Iris, suffering at the hands of this madman, churning in his mind.

“Help?!? Your help is what made me this in the first place!”

Thawne eludes the Flash’s next blow, and begins to race towards his foe. The two speedsters begin to run. Faster and faster they go, across the globe.

“There’s nothing left for me, not in Central City, nowhere! My life is gone. So now I’ll use whatever I have left to destroy yours!”

The two men run while struggling with one another. Several punches are thrown Barry’s way, though only two land. Barry repays in kind, getting off a hundred before the Reverse-Flash manages to grab a hold of his arms.

“Life? You want to talk to me about life, Thawne?! Let’s talk about the waitress you murdered! She was Iris’ friend! Let’s talk about Kenyon! I had no deal with Kenyon, but your delusions and your ego allow you to see me as nothing other than a scapegoat for your own failures! Was he a bad man? Yes! Did he deserve to die? No damn it, he didn’t! But you killed him anyway. Just. Like. You. Almost. Did. With. Iris!”

Barry knocks Thawne so hard he is thrown far across the ocean waves, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. On a beach, the older man spits up some blood, as he props himself on one forearm, and looks up to Barry.

“You want to talk about life’s value Thawne? First take a look at your own. You’ve never cared for anyone. Only yourself. Science was only a means to an end. A means to satisfy your ego.”

The words sting because they’re true. “You...aghh...you care about life so much, Barry?”
Thawne slowly gets up. “Then let’s see you save it.”

[spiritofvengeance]

Suddenly, the Reverse-Flash runs past the shoreline, and begins to move around all the waves in a particular pattern. Within seconds, a tidal wave bigger than any special effect appears.

“Oh my God Thawne...”

Barry runs faster than he ever has before. Grabbing a young mother and her baby son, Barry runs as fast as he can to the Midwest. He then goes for another group, and another. Back and forth, he evacuates hundreds of people in seconds. There are so many... so many people. Stop Barry. Stop and think. Stay close by.
As the tidal begins to descend, the immediate area is clear. Then he moves on to the neighboring communities. It had been his instinct to run to Central City. But he realized now that staying on the West Coast was more pragmatic. Coast City... Seattle... San Francisco... thousands of refugees appear instantaneously in these cities without warning, a gust of wind or a streak of scarlet is the most of what they can make out of their saviour. The hospitals are harder. Carefully moving the patients, Barry makes sure they end up in places where each individual can be attended to. He counts himself lucky in not having to move anyone undergoing a major operation. Yeah, he thinks, grimly observing the destroyed homes around him. Real lucky.

Racing above the water, Barry uses his speed to turn back as much of the gigantic tide as best he can. He sees his old professor, racing around and around to create a new one. It had taken a total of five minutes for all of this destruction. Barry isn’t willing to see what Thawne can do given any more time.

[glow=red,2,300]Crack![/glow] The Flash’s blow interrupts the villain’s momentum. “You’re done, Reverse-Flash!”

“Never, Allen!”
The yellow-clad figure grabs his enemy’s uniform, taking him underwater. Both struggle to breath, as their powerful blows disturb the Pacific even further. Thawne begins to choke Barry as they become entangled in a huge patch of coral. The coral, along with the two super-powered beings, begins to be sucked into an underwater whirlwind — a side affect of the second wave the professor had been conjuring up. On top of him, Barry can see the hatred gleaming in his arch-foe’s eyes. He doesn’t even care if he makes it out of this alive.
Barry continues to struggle, and the thought of never holding Iris again gives him the strength to break free of his twisted enemy’s grasp. Using his super-speed to escape, he manages to propel himself away from the danger. The hero begins to become dizzy, though he remains consciou from the fighting... the loss of blood... the evacuation... The Flash looks back to see his opponent trapped within the deadly parade of circling waves. The evil man holds on to some of the stronger coral, not overtaken yet.His face is a unholy form of unbridled hate. He screams at Barry, though the weary young man cannot make out the words. So tired... have to get above to the shore... have to...
He looks back at his professor. However much he hated who Eobard Thawne had become, whatever he had tried to do to Iris, he could not let the man die. He couldn’t let that happen to anyone. The Flash approaches his old mentor and tries to free him, but is refused. In a final gesture of hate, Thawne grabs a hold of Barry’s uniform, trying to take him with him to his doom. All the Reverse-Flash gets is the Flash’s insignia, ripped off the young hero’s chest in a fit of rage. With that, Eobard Thawne is gone, lost to the mysteries of an angry sea.

“And that was the last you saw of Thawne?”

Twenty four hours and a lot of rest later, Barry lay in bed with his beloved Iris, simply happy to be able to feel her hand holding his. They were both tired after the ordeal, after the previous few months of craziness.

“Yea, Iris. He just disappeared into the sea. I went to search for him later, but there was not trace of him anywhere. He could be dead.” Barry turns his head to look at Iris. She didn’t believe it. And neither did he.

“Barry, Thawne was never a good person. But because you always see the good in people, it’s hard for you to accept what an evil man he actually is.”

“No, I know that now. I feel a little bit of guilt, but Thawne’s own choices led to what happened.” A smile crosses his face. “But it doesn’t matter.”

Iris’ eyebrows spring up, in her distinctive, playful manner. “Why’s that?”

“Because even if he does return, I’ll win. I’ll always have something worth more to fight for than Thawne.”
Iris smiled, knowing the answer. Kissing, they turn off the lights, and dream about their future.

The End

Next Issue:

GORILLA GRODD!
GREEN LANTERN!

Need we say more?