Pavol Matula (story) , DC Comics&CW (characters, past plot points)

The Flash:
Time Strikes
Back
Story written by Pavol Matula

Synopsis
After defeating Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash, by trapping him in the
darkness of time,
Barry Allen (The Flash) realizes that time itself may be against his decision to do
that,
as a new treat appears.
Pavol Matula (story) , DC Comics&CW (characters, past plot points)

2 months ago, Central Citys Speedsters Square (a place, where the future Flash
Museum is built).
The Flash (Barry Allen) is thrown on the ground. Kid Flash (Wally West) is already
lying nearby, theres blood on his face and costume. But he is healing.
Get up Barry and show this city what you have! says a provocative, entertained
and psychotic voice of Barrys long time nemesis Eobard Thawne, the Reverse
Flash.
Barry starts getting up, when Thawne runs to him and kicks him in the stomach.
Barry flies away a bit and grunts from pain when he hits the ground. Thawne is
laughing like if he lost his mind.
Wally is slowly getting up, when he and Barry hear in their ear comunication
devices a familiar voice.
I may have found a solution. says the voice of Dr. Harrison Wells, who is with
another scientist, Cisco Ramon, at STAR Lab - the scientific research facility,
where they help the Flash as well as CCPD with metahuman threats.
Im listening Wally whispers, so that Thawne can not hear him.
Cisco: Its dangerous, and I mean like life-threatening dangerous.
Wally: What is it?
Wells: You and Barry need to clash at top speeds, with Thawne in the middle of
you. This would create a time breach, but not a regular one.
Cisco: This one would act as a black hole and it would suck Thawne into the
darknesss of time.
Wally: So he would be trapped? Like in prison?
Wells: Exactly. Unable to return, frozen in the eternity of time.
Meanwhile, Barry manages to dodge one of Thawnes attacks and then punches
him, grabs him and throws him into a nearby wall. Then he says: Were on it.
Him and Wally get to other sides of the Square and Thawne goeas after Barry.
Now! screams Barry, as Thawne is right in front of him and Wally.
They both start running towards him and he runs to Barry.
First, Barry grabs Thawne as they clash and then he takes him to clash with Wally.
When they meet and clash, the speedforce energy that get out of them explodes,
throws the two away and opens the black hole-like time breach.
Thawne, who is on the ground trying to get up after the clash, gets slowly sucked
into the breach, screaming and yelling that he will be back.
When he is gone and the breach closes, Barry gets up and goes to Wally, who is
all bloody, with his suit torn apart and barely breathing.
Then he starts glowing and fading, which scares Barry, as it seems he is going to
die, or more precisely, get taken away by the speedforce.
Pavol Matula (story) , DC Comics&CW (characters, past plot points)

Barry the took him to STAR Labs and with Cisco and Wells helping, they were able
to save Wally, but Barry saw a glimpse of the Black Flash taking him away, which
haunts him ever since then.
Present day.
Barry is running through Central City and is having a good day. For the last two
months, his life has been getting just better. Without Reverse Flash, he felt
freedom and happiness a lot more than usually. His crime fighting activities have
been succesful and joyful as well. The Rogues are either in prison, or hiding, while
regular criminals are almost gone from Central City.
At least for now.
Barrys good day is interrupted by a message from Gorilla City - Grodd escaped
his cage, where he was held prisoner for Solovars murder by his son.
Barry decides to capture Grodd, as he is one of the few who can resist his strong
mind control - by moving his thoughts so fast, that not even Grodd can access his
mind. Wally wants to help, but he is not able to resist the mind control just yet, so
he has to stay in Central City, while Barry goes to the jungle to search for Grodd.
On his way there, he sees a glimpse of white lightning, which shifts his focus and
that results in him running into a tree. The tree explodes and Barry realizes that
Grodd can probably sense him and therefore he starts building his mind flow to
make himself resistant to Grodds mind control.
Not so long after that, deep in the jungle, Barry is attacked by Grodd and
manages to dodge the last minute. Grodd can not control him, but he still can
attack his mind with visions, or more often he hides himself from Barrys brain.
This makes it hard for Barry to fight him, but then he speeds his thinking even
more and uses a lot more of his possible speed, which results in him being able to
see Grodd clearly.
As he is accessing the speedforce more, his lightning gets brighter and, even
though Grodd is pretty fast himself, he becomes a statute in Barrys eyes. That is
how fast he becomes.
This way, Barry is able to speed punch Grodd enough to weaken him and then he
runs arounf him and throws lightning, that knocks Grodd out.
Barry stops, lets his mind to set on normal speed and sits down. This took a huge
toll on him. Running so fast and making his mind even faster was not only
exhausting, but also dangerous. But it was worth it - Grodd is defeated.
He then goes to Gorilla City to inform them where Grodd is and that they can take
him back t the cell. Solovars son thanks him and tells him that he owes him.
Barry replies with: And I hope I never have to all you on it, but thanks. Then he
goes back home, to Central City and his wife, Iris West Allen.
On the way back he sees the white lightning glimpses again, which makes him
worried. The last time he saw something like that the Black Flash appeared.
Pavol Matula (story) , DC Comics&CW (characters, past plot points)

Back in Central City, Barry spends the evening with Iris, just enjoying her
company, trying not to be worried. But the next morning he gets to STAR Labs,
where he informs the team (Wally, Wells and Cisco) about the white lightning he
has been seeing.
The team thinks it may be the Black Flash coming, which scares Wally - he may
be coming for him. Barry says that if that is the case, he will do anything to stop
him again. But Wells reminds him that when Max Mercury tried to bargain for his
life again, Black Flash took Jesse Quicks father instead.
This led their friends from Earth 3 to seek help from the most experienced
speedster, Jay Garrick of Earth 2. But even he could not have saved Johny Quick
from the hands of the speedsters grim reaper.
This reminder does not help Wally to feel safer, or Barry to not feel worried and
scared of what is going to happen.

But nothing does. For the next few days, nothing happens, the Black Flash does
not come and even though Barry is seeing the glimpses of white lightning more
frequently, everything seems normal.
Until one day, when a bank is robbed and it seems like the work of Captain Cold
and four other Rogues. It would not concern Barry as much, if he did not put them
in prison few weeks ago.
So he goes to check the Iron Heights, but what he finds out shocks him - these
Rogues were never supposedly in prison this time, they have no records or
recollection of The Flash bringing them there. Which is weird, because Barry did
that.
He tells his team about this and they are shocked as well. After some research on
the internet, they find out that it seems like only they know that the catching of
Rogues happened, but no one else. As if they were in a bubble, while the history
was altered.
As if someone time traveled and the changes didnt affect us. says Wells and
the team agrees that it seems like that is the case. But who could do that?
The white lightning... says Barry with realization and continuous: ...it is
a speedster of some sorts and he, or it, changed time with only us remembering
the real way things happened.
They start thinking about how is that kind of change in time possible and the only
plausible explanation is that the speedster, or whatever it is, wanted them to
notice these changes.
This means also good news, as Cisco says. This action of their mysterious white
lightning speedster means that it is not the Black Flash, but a person, who they
can fight and defeat. But they have to find him first and possibly before he
changes other things. Plus, they still have Rogues back on the streets.
Wells suggests to take on the Rogues first, since it would be easier for them to
trck those down, instead of this mysterious speedster. Him and Cisco will be
Pavol Matula (story) , DC Comics&CW (characters, past plot points)

working on tracking and finding him, but meanwhile Barry and Wally can catch
the Rogues and put them back in prison.
Barry goes back to the bank they robbed to investigate and hopefully find
something, that would lead him to them. Wally goes searching through the city,
checking all of their known hideouts. But as predicted, they are not staying there
anymore.
Barry does not find anything useful, so he and Wally go on a searching run-
going through the streets, watching and looking for any signs of the Rogues.
But they do not find anything and therefore they decide to lay low, to let Rogues
have a chance to do something and that would be a chance to catch them. The
usual strategy.
But Rogues know the drill and so Captain Cold came up with a stratedy of their
own. He wants to set up a trap inside a trap, because The Flash knows their traps
but will not anticipate two of them at once.
That is what he believes and the Rogues are with him on it.
The plan is simple. Captain Cold freezes the next bank, as he usually does, while
The Trickster sets up motion sensitive bombs and to top that, Heat Wave, Plunder
and Captain Boomerang are there as additional firepower.
They choose the Star bank of Wealth, which is owned by a prestigious
organization of a rich family from Ivy Town. The bank offers great financial
products and services to middle-class citizens as well as the not so fortunate
ones. A very popular institution, a great place to rob and set a trap for both The
Flash and Kid Flash.
And so they go and after they enter the bank, Cold freezes the floor, the walls
and the ceiling, so that Flash would slip and slide while running. Trickster plants
his explosives all over the place, mostly near the entrace area. Heat Wave,
Plunder and Boomerng get into their positions - behind tables, so they would
remain unseen.
Both CCPD and STAR Labs team are informed about this Rogue robbery and Barry
knows it can be a trap. So he and Wally suit up and go to the bank, being careful
and aware of their surroundings.
They are ready for the ice, so they partially phase through it, making their feet
stable in the enviroment as they get in. Tricksters bombs sense Barrys arrival,
but are not fast enough to explode near him and so Wally gets hit. He tries to
dodge the first explosion, but thesecond one and thid one get him. He gets
thrown away a bit and lands on ise, hitting himself in the head, shoulder and
back.
Barry stops and quickly looks around, then sees Wally and that is a cue for
Plunder to shoot him with his electric riffle that shoots special plasmatic
projectiles. These projectiles lock on anything that emits any kind of energy
(especially electric/electric-like), making it difficult for a speedster to get rid of
them.
ButBarry is experienced and so he finds a way to get them off of himself,
exposing himself to Boomerang and Heat Wave. These two try to get him,
Pavol Matula (story) , DC Comics&CW (characters, past plot points)

Boomerang by throwing his special stun-boomerang and Heat Wave with firing
his gun. Barry succesfully catches the stun-boomerang and throws it back at its
owner (who gets stunned by it afterwards), but the heat blast hits him in the left
shoulder and mask, which throws him off balance and he slips and falls.
Meanwhile, Wally gets up and goes to help Barry, still a bit shaken. He knnocks
Heat Wave out and then searches the place for Cold and Trickster. He finds both
of them, hiding behind a wall of explosives and ice. He could phase through it,
but it would set off the bombs anyway and that would lead into hurting him
and/or Cold with Trickster.
Then Barry gets there and tells Wally that they can phase the two out of the
room, making them safe against the explosion. That would require Barry vibrating
them so fast, that they would be phasable and then Wally would have to stabilize
both Barry and the Rogues, because an action like that could lead into them
dispersing in the air.
So they do that and all safe and sound they put the Rogues back to prison. Barry
is still shaken by vibrating two people through a wall, but is happy that it all
worked out. Wally then helps him back at STAR Labs, where they rest for a while.
Cisco tels them how awesome their resolving of the problem was and adds: Hats
off to you guys., while Wells reminds them that the Rogues were the smaller
problem. They still have the new mysterious speedster to defeat.
They check if anything else was changed and are shocked that Grodd is now the
king of Gorilla City. This means he will attack us at some point. says Wells and
Cisco agrees. It is a big change from Grodd being a prisoner and even a recently
caught one.
This reminds them that Thawne once mentioned that Grodd is known as the King
of Gorilla City, but they just asumed he meant in the future, not now. This is bad.
But it also gives Wells an idea on why is this all heppening.
He claims, that what if what the mysterious speedster is doing, is more like
correcting time than changing it? What if he is putting the timeline back in its
place after it was messed up?
Both Cisco and Barry ask: But how and why would the timeline be messed up?
Then Wells presents them a theory. What if Reverse Flash being in the darkness
of time is the reason for all of this? He didnt end his jurney and so the timeline is
trying to correct itself by making changes that would otherwise happen naturally.
So we get rid of the Reverse Flash and the time strikes back? Thats rich. says
Cisco as they all think about this possibility.
Then Barry speaks up: So, let me get this straight. We trapped Thawne and
therefore he can not finish his personal timeline and that is why this new timeline
driven force is changing the time? And as Cisco said, it doesnt just correct it, the
time strikes back to punish us for doing that?
After a short silent moment Wells says: It seems like that. It would make sense.
Barry grunts: Yeah, Thawne is allways protected from being gone permanently...
Wells: Yes, but you are as well. Black Flash spared you as well, remember?
Pavol Matula (story) , DC Comics&CW (characters, past plot points)

Cisco: Yeah, seems like you and him are really destined to do this forever...
Wally: Not really, Thawne is gone now and it is for good this time. We just need
to stop this... whatever is trying to change the timeline.
Wells: Wally is right. Thawne is not coming back.
Barry: So how do we stop this? This new speedster or whateer it is. Timeline
cerroctor...
Cisco: Now that was a bad naming attempt. And its simple, you challenge it to
combat. Just like with Black Flash the first time.
Wells: It could work. You and Wally both.
Barry: Im not sure. But it may be the only choice we have.
Wally: We could let it to correct the timeline. I mean, it is sent by time itself,
which means it wont screw it up.
Cisco: Theoretically, this would be a solution two.
Barry: If this thing was just correcting the timeline, then yes. But this looks like
attack on us, reversing all we did after we stopped Thawne.
Wally: O.k., so how do we challenge it?
Wells: By changing the time ourselves. A small change to lure it out of the
shadows.
Wally: Sounds fun.
Barry: Lets get into it. Wish us luck.
They agree on the change they are going to do - a really small alteration, just
taking a flower bouquet from random person, leaving him just with the chocolate,
that they replaced the flowers with, for his girlfriend. Wally knows the person and
knows, that his girlfriend will be happy for the chocolate (maybe even more than
the flowers) and therefore they are not ruining a relationship.
But when they get back to the present, they find out that it was enough, as the
mystrious shadow with white lightning is waiting for them. Barry and Wally starts
running towards it and it starts to run towards them. Wally dodges the last
minute (or more likely second), but Barry clashes with it and it creates
a speedforce explosion.
In a bright lightning, the shadow starts to take shape and it starts to look as
a person. A person in a suit. Then the lightning gets darker, yellow and then
orange. Then it goes all the way to red and the person is revealed to have yellow
suit.
To Barrys and Wallys surprise, the person that emerges from the shadow and
the lightning is no other that Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash himself. And he is
grinning, like if he just won a lottery.
Barry, still shocked: How?
Thawne: It seems like we are destined to fight forever Barry. But I needed a pure
speedforce enrgy to return properly. And you gave it to me with the clash.
Pavol Matula (story) , DC Comics&CW (characters, past plot points)

Barry: You planned all of this?!

Thawne: Of course. And while doing that, I corrected some of the glitches in the
timeline. Youre welcome.
Barry gets up and grunts: Youre done here Thawne! I defeated you multiple
times and so...
And so you will try again. interrupts him Thawne, still grinning and then
continuous: But as I told you once before, I am the one thing you can not stop,
Flash.
Before Barry can react in any way, Thawne says: See you soon. and runs away,
disappearing in a time breach. The regular, time traveling one.

Later at STAR Labs, Barry, Wally and Cisco are talking about the fact, that Thawne
is back.
Barry, kind of sad and angry at the same time: Is it really impossible for me to
get rid of him?!
Cisco: As Dr. Wells said before he left home, Thawne is integral to who you are
and he has spread all across the timeline. Maybe he isnt supposed to go away.
Which sucks big time...
Wally: I still remember how he held me captive. I had been Kid Flash for just few
weeks and so I could do nothing to him. I was terrified to death.
Barry: Me too Wally. He is extremely powerful, but we can beat him. We did it
more than one, so when he gets back here, we can defeat him.
Cisco: At least for a while.
Wally: Better than nothing.
Barry: We are giving him too much attention now. We shouldnt. Hes back, so
what?
Wally, with huge optimism: Yeah, we will beat him again.
Somewhere in the future, in what used to be the time of Eobard Thawne.
Reverse Flash comes through a time breach and finds a desolation, a dead
planet.
He gets scared and furious and he turns on his in-suit/pocket AI.
Thawne: Gideon, what happened here?
Gideon: It seems like this time does not exist anymore. Im sorry professor.
Thawne gets even more furious and grunts: Allen...
Then he goes through the desolation and disappears in another time breach.

The End.