Brave New World: Flash

Chapter 11

"So wait, the speed force is dying." Jesse asked Barry after he told them all what he'd learned in the speed force.

"If it isn't already dead. That's why it kept you and Harry in the speed force dimension for so long Jesse. It wasn't just trying to protect you from the anti matter wave, it was also." Barry said.

"Draining my powers in order to try and keep itself alive." Jesse said and Barry nodded.

"And I'm sure that while it didn't keep me in there for nearly as long, my powers have got to be weakened." Barry said.

"There's got to be something we can do? With Thawne back, we need the Flash now more than ever." Cisco said.

"I know. And I think that's why he took out Gideon. She knew something that could help us." Barry said.

"But what?" Harry asked.

"She likely knows something that can help me restore my speed." Barry said.

"But what?" Jesse asked.

"Wait, you think that Thawne might've put his plans for creating an artificial speed force into Gideon?" Cisco asked.

"Wait, an artificial speed force?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah, we found out why I could never sense Thawne coming. Instead of tapping into the speed force to access his powers, he created his own. A negative speed force. That's why his lightning is red and why he's always able to conceal himself from other speedsters." Barry said.

"That would also explain why he's never been affected by any timeline changes or been hunted by the speed force's enforcers, since from what you've told us Barry, the speed force does not like it when speedsters mess with time and considering everything Thawne's done." Harry said.

"Anyways, lets focus on the problem at hand which is figuring out a way to fix the speed force so that Barry doesn't lose his speed and Jesse can get her's back." Cisco said.

"Okay, the only question is, where do we begin? None of us know how to build an artificial speed force and even if I was willing to start making Velocity X, which I'm not, Barry shouldn't be dependent on speed steroids, especially since we have no idea how it might affect his biology and that goes for Jesse too." Caitlin said.

"Too bad we still don't have Gideon at our disposal." Cisco said.

"Actually, we might." Barry said as he started typing on the computers.

"What are you doing?" Cisco asked.

"I always suspected that there was a possibility that our Thawne would return somehow, since he's managed to survive extinction level events before, so I started taking precautions." Barry said.

"Like what?" Cisco asked.

"Well, after Novu fried Gideon in the original reality, I managed to build a mobile version of her from pieces of the plinth." Barry said.

"You think you can rebuild her?" Cisco asked.

"Actually, I'm hoping we won't have to." Barry said as he finished his work.

"Hello Barry Allen, it would appear that my backup unit has been successfully activated." Gideon's voice said from the main console.

"You backed Gideon up on the Cortex's servers without Thawne or any of us knowing so that way if he busted us, we'd still have an advantage over him, since he'd think that Gideon was destroyed, but we still have her. Genius." Cisco said, impressed.

"My time as the Green Arrow taught me many things, including the values of misdirection." Barry said.

"How can I be of service?" Gideon asked.

"Gideon, I need everything Thawne had on creating artificial speed forces uploaded to our servers immediately." Barry said.

"Done. However, I should advise you that Professor Thawne felt that the Flash should not draw his power from an artificial source." Gideon said.

"She's not wrong about that." Harry said.

"What do you mean?" Barry asked.

"What I mean Allen is that an artificial source, while it may give you your powers back, using it could also have unforeseen side effects." Harry said.

"He's right. It was connecting to the negative speed force that truly turned Thawne into the monster he is today. If we're not careful, we could end up turning you into something similar." Caitlin said.

"Okay, so maybe we don't build an artificial speed force, but maybe these plans can at least give us somewhere to start, maybe bringing back the actual speed force." Barry said and Jesse and Harry nodded.

"Actually, we might not have to pull a complete resurrection on the speed force after all." Harry said.

"What do you mean?" Cisco asked, but Jesse caught on to her father's train of thought.

"No, dad's right. The speed force is an elemental part of the multiverse, meaning that it can never truly be destroyed." Jesse said.

"Even if that's true, the spectre energy has corrupted it. It's unusable, so how can we fix that?" Barry asked.

"I don't know. Yet. But I think that the first step is to build the machine that Gideon has given us the plans for, since that does seem like a good place to start." Harry said and Barry nodded.

"I'll get in touch with Lyla, see if she can have Argus help set us up with any hard to acquire materials we'll need." Barry said and they all nodded.

"In the meantime, Cisco, Caitlin, you both better start training, since until I can get my speed back, Vibe and Frost are Central City's primary protectors since Ralph is already off the grid." Barry said.

"Where is he?" Harry asked.

"He's working a case, though he wouldn't tell us much about it." Barry said and Harry nodded.

"Speaking of Frost, Harry, there's something I wanted to run by you." Caitlin asked.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Frost and I want to have a separation if you know what I mean." Caitlin said.

"You want to separate from her. Why?" Harry asked.

"Because now that Frost has started to live her own life, it's not fair to either of us if we can only live our lives half the time. This arrangement worked when I was in full control all the time and Frost just came out when I needed her, but now." Caitlin said.

"Now you both want to be able to live your own lives all the time." Harry said and Caitlin nodded.

"I will look into that, but for right now, I'm devoting my time and focus towards restoring the speed force. Splitting you and Frost will be my next project after that." Harry said and Caitlin nodded.

"Alright guys, let's get to work." Barry said.