From the clone's memory, Edwards saw what had happened. A black, undead-looking creature immediately attacked the clone after entering the Speed Force; the creature was extremely fast, and as soon as it touched the experimental subject, the latter disintegrated.
"Time Wraiths," muttered Edward as he knew of these creatures. These creatures are similar to the Time Guardians in his universe, tasked to prosecute any Speedster who time travels and messes up with the space-time continuum.
"Now we know for sure the Speed Force has a consciousness and is trying to prevent our works," commented Morgana. "Do you want to use drastic measures and attack it?"
"Are you crazy?" Edward rolled his eyes. "The Speed Force runs through the Multiverse. In other words, it's a Tier 11 Entity, which might be the bare minimum."
In the comics, Speedsters have done many things that regular Tier 11 could never do. And now that this world was being fused with the comic, who knew how powerful it was?
"So, what do we do?"
"We will send as many subjects as needed. We can gather much data from their confrontation with these Time Wraiths," replied Edward. "Plus, we still need Barry."
Time passed, and Edward returned to the team, holding a metal briefcase in his hand. Everyone just looked at him, waiting for him to speak first.
"Wow, you guys are truly a bundle of joy," said Edward with a smile, only he and Morgana knew what was on his mind. Using Legilimency, he knew these people were secretly investigating him but had not found anything yet. Sadly, he still could not read Barry and Wally's memories.
"The tech support team has a gift for you," said Edward as he opened the case.
"A new suit?" asked Barry, not hiding his confusion.
"Yes. This suit absorbed the excess heat and kinetic energy you released when running."
"My suit already does this," he immediately said.
"Why don't you let me finish?" said Edward, looking helpless. "Not only absorb it but redirect the energy to increase your speed. According to them, your speed will receive a boost between 20 to 40%."
"Thanks," said Barry, but his face showed no gratitude or interest in this new suit. Edward did not say anything.
"Now, we can begin our work."
"We have nothing to do yet," said Cisco. "This is not a job, and most of the time, the city is peaceful."
"Is that so? In that case, I'll be in my office."
Edward stayed in his office for the next few hours, only leaving for lunch or bathroom break. Meanwhile, Barry and Joe attended their job at the police station while Iris continued her career as a journalist. Harrison Wells was absent, leaving only Ralph, Caitlin, and Cisco.
The Elongated Man had a day off from his job, so he spent the day with Cisco and Caitlin.
At 8 PM sharp, Edward walked out of his office and said his goodbye to Caitlin and Cisco, who only nudged their heads to acknowledge his existence. Then, they immediately reported to the others.
"We need to give them something to do," said Edward back in his hiding place. "Plus, we can also prepare for the future."
"What do you have in mind?"
…
The next day, the team had to deal with a new meta-human.
"You guys seemed in a hurry," asked Edward as he walked in.
"A new meta-human," explained Cisco. "And it's a Speedster?"
"How is that possible?"
"That's what we are trying to figure out."
"Let me see."
They showed him a video of a speedster robbing a bank, and Edward frowned, "Why did he only take 5,000$?"
"Why does that matter?" asked Cisco.
"No, it does," chimed Iris. "Such an act screamed desperation instead of a criminal mastermind."
"Are you saying our perpetrator did this out because they believed they had no choice?" added Joe.
"Most likely."
"Then, we can start from there."
The team soon began to work, trying to discover the identity of this new Speedster. However, even with Edward's help, nothing was discovered until two days later when the latter struck again, stealing more than 50,000$ this time.
"He or she is escalating after getting a small taste," commented Joe. "It won't be long before things get out of control. We need to stop them."
Then, the next day, they tracked the perpetrator while they were in the midst of committing the crime, and Barry rushed to the scene. Sadly, in his first encounter with this [Dark Flash], as the media called this Speedster, he failed to capture his opponent.
"Barry, what happened?" asked Joe. With the new suit, he should have captured his opponent.
"He was not only a speedster but also had this ability to clone himself. He distracted me with the clone, and I lost his track."
Time passed, and it has been two weeks since this new Speedster showed up. Unfortunately, Barry has never succeeded in capturing his opponent; he did stop a few of the latter's crime attempts, but that's all. This speedster would display a new power in every confrontation, rendering the team's plans useless.
Meanwhile, Edward was over the moon as he gathered almost all the data he wanted from his experiments and mainly from Barry's confrontation with the opponent he chose for him.
Today was a Tuesday morning, and he walked inside the Lab as usual. However, he immediately noticed something was wrong. From these people's memories, he knew Barry told them he discovered something about me but refused to say anything until I was present.
He saw everybody staring at him, including Harrison Wells, who returned to this Earth.
"Do I have something on my face? Or maybe on my shirt?" asked Edward as he checked his appearance.
"Enough with the charades," said Barry. "Tell us who you are and what your true purpose is."
"Excuse me?"
"I saw what you did to Wally in the alternative reality I left behind and all the other cruel experiments," said Barry with gritted teeth.
"Interesting," uttered Edward. "So, the Speed Force directly contacted you? I should have expected this after what happened last year."
"So, you're not hiding it."
"Since the truth is out, what's the point of doing that?"
Barry controlled his emotions, "Are you going to answer my question? Who are you, and what's your purpose?"
"You can think of me as a scientist whose latest research topic is the Speed Force."
"The new Speedster — that's your doing?" asked Iris.
"Correct."
"Since you can already create Speedster, why must you infiltrate our team?" asked Harrison Wells.
"I don't merely want to create Speedster — I want to create the Speed Force itself," replied Edward before gazing at Barry. "Of all the Speedsters in the Multiverse, you have the deepest connection. Only through you can I truly understand the Speed Force to be the point of recreating it."
"That's simply impossible," persuaded Cisco.
"Maybe for you."
"I won't let you," said Barry.
"You can't stop me."
Time suddenly slowed down as lightning encased Barry and Wally; he rushed forward with maximum velocity toward Edward.
"Do you think this was enough to stop me?"
"I expected you to be a Speedster, but this won't change anything," said Barry.
"I've got your back," added Wally.
Edward only smiled before the two realized they were also moving in slow motion; the world suddenly felt very difficult to move in, like they were underwater. Then, Edward calmly walked to each of them and placed a bracelet on their wrist.
Crash!
Barry and Wally fell on the floor, and time began to move normally.
"Barry!"
"Wally!"
Iris and Joe rushed to the two of them.
"What did you do to us?"
"It's a simple seal that blocks your access to the Speed Force," calmly explained Edward before looking at Caitlin and Cisco, who were prepared to use their powers. With a single look, they discovered their powers were also blocked and became useless.
"Here is what's going to happen," continued Edward.
"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.
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