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Reset!: Blackout - Chapter Seven: Legacy

Thad didn't have enough time to blink before he felt Wally's hands clamp down on his throat. At first, he thought the rush he felt was adrenaline, but then the hum of his vibrating molecules filled his ears and he slipped out of the murderous grasp. Pushing through the car door, Thad put his feet on the pavement. Now, it was Thad's turn to smile as he reveled in the restoration of his world.

"You're Rival," he stated to being under Wally's skin.

"Aren't you the smart one?" Rival sneered, "You were a little small. I had to throw you back. This one suits me much better."

Thoughts blazed through Thad's mind in a rapid-fire sequence of review and extrapolate. Rival's nemesis was Jay. The last time Rival showed up, he aimed to kill Jay using Max's body as a host. Now that Max was gone, it was likely that Rival now sought to use Wally's body for the same purpose. However, it seemed that Rival's hit list had grown since their last encounter. This fight was going to be more than a simple sparring match.

Thad darted away from the road, leaving a gust of wind in his wake. There was no need to be seen by passing eyes. Just as he predicted, Rival followed after him. The younger speedster had to push as hard as he could to stay out of arm's reach until he arrived at more favorable terrain just north of Manchester. He had no idea where Kon was at the moment and there was no time to wait for him to show up and apply his telekinetic trap. His best hope for any real leverage was that Bart would stumble upon them. He didn't want to try calculating the chances of that happening.

A strike to his back sent him flying forward and knocked the wind out of him. Thad rolled and kicked out, expecting Rival to be within range. He was not disappointed as his feet connected solidly with one knee. He smirked with the realization that Wally was going to be feeling that when this was over. Popping back onto his feet, he swung at Rival, connecting solidly with the stolen face. Rival staggered back a step, and then grabbed Thad's hair and slammed a hard punch to his gut. Thad felt his knees buckle, but he did not drop. He had been hit by Bart before and thought that he was tough enough to take the punishment of this fight, but Wally's body had far more mass and muscle. He gasped for breath. Rival took advantage of that pause to hammer his fists down over the back of Thad's head. The next Thad knew, damp grass and hard earth pressed against his cheek.

He tried to push himself up, but a boot stomping down on his back slammed him back down. A burst of fury blazed through him, tunneling his vision and numbing his pain. Thad made himself intangible and sank into the earth to escape the next pounding. Crawling through the dark, suffocating dirt, he popped up behind Rival and landed a solid kick to one of his kidneys.

The attack did not have the expected result of slowing Rival. He spun around and launched a flurry of strikes at Thad. Again, the younger speedster hit the ground. The next thing he knew, a familiar voice behind called out, Get up, Thad!"

Thad shot to his feet and twisted around, despite the flare of pain. "Max?!" Was he hallucinating?

Max Mercury had Rival in joint lock, struggling all the while to maintain control. Despite his injuries, Thad smiled. He moved in for the finishing blows, but a hand gripped his arm and pulled him back. Turning his head, he saw Bart beside him. The golden glow and errant sparks of lightning from Bart's eyes brought him to a stop.

Max was having difficulty restraining Rival without injuring Wally. "Barry! Now!"

Bart nodded and pressed his palms against Wally's chest. "You're coming with me."

Rival screamed as the gold lightning pulled the violet energy out through Wally's skin. It struck Thad as so discordant, that he covered his ears to block it out. That dampened the sound of Wally's voice, but not the disturbing hum that Thad felt in his bones. Gritting his teeth, he forced his eyes open to watch with a sort of double vision. He could see the physical forms of Wally and Bart, but over them the ghostly figures of two other men battled. He had to wonder if he was in the grip of a concussion. Soon, the discordant scream became so unbearable that Max called for a stop. Rival slumped in Max's grip and Barry braced his borrowed hands against his knees.

Max did not slacken his grip on Rival. "Barry? Are you still there?"

Bart's head nodded. "It was worth a try, Max, but I can't pull him out from here, either." Barry squirmed uncomfortably in Bart's skin. "I don't like this. Even with permission, it doesn't feel right."

Thad's eyes widened to stare at the possessed Bart. "Barry... Allen? Bart's, our, grandfather?" He turned to Max, "What is this?"

"I'll explain the details later," Max replied, "Rival won't stay down for long and we need a way to extract and contain him."

The serious solemnity on Bart's face was foreign. "Bringing Wally into the Speed Force itself is risky. It could take him." He shook his head. "It's not his time."

"We don't have much of a choice," Max countered, "Wally's strong and he has Linda. He has a chance."

Thad squeezed his eyes shut against the dizziness that overcame him and clenched his fists in his hair. His aching brain was refusing to cooperate with him. Hypothesis after hypothesis ran in jagged leaps in his mind as he tried to put the pieces together. "Was Rival behind our getting cut off from the Speed Force?"

It was Barry who answered with Bart's voice, "Yes and no. Max and I cut it off to keep him from getting out."

"If you put him back in, you'll just have to cut us off again," Thad deduced, "We'll be back where we started. No. I don't want to keep living like that. There has to be another solution."

Max was still struggling with Rival. "If you have any better ideas, make it quick!"

"Contain him here," Thad started, "Draw him out of Wally and contain him here. Mechanically."

"Like a battery?" Barry asked. His borrowed voice threatened to crack and he coughed against it.

The rest of the plan started to fall into place for Thad. "Yes! Exactly!"

"Hold Rival here," Barry told Max, "I'll help with the machine."

Thad lead the way back to Helen's garage in Manchester, where he cleared off his workbench and set a large stack of paper on it. Using their combined scientific knowledge, Thad and Barry developed the device that would capture Rival in detail. Not a single spoken word passed between them as they drew and refined their plan on sheet after sheet of paper. Instead, rapidly written notes and diagrams served as their primary means of communication. Thad went as far as to write out where to obtain the supplies and materials and who would work on what part of the machine. It wasn't until they were assembling the device near where Max was struggling with Rival that they spoke.

"Why did you possess Bart?" Thad asked, "Why didn't you come out like Max did?"

Barry pushed up the dark lensed welding goggles to examine his handiwork. "Max still has his body. I don't. I'm dead. I exist only as energy now." He picked up the welder and moved to another part of the machine. "It's not like I can magically recreate my flesh and blood body out of the essence of going fast," he remarked with a wry grin, "As much as I would like to."

"Wally can make his pants out of goes fast, as Bart would say, although I don't understand how."

"He does?" Barry paused for a moment, thinking it over. "I didn't know that. Wow. How is that possible?"

Thad raised an eyebrow. "So, you're not watching us from Speed Force?"

"No. All I know is when you're using a great deal of energy," Barry answered as he slipped the welding goggles back over his eyes. "Besides, even if I could watch, I wouldn't want to." He sheepishly grinned, "People should be allowed their privacy."

"So, you don't know about what I-we've done?"

"I know what Max has told me," Barry answered. The bright light of the welder blazed as he fused two sections of the machine's frame together. "And I know that you managed to escape the storm. That had to have been a very difficult time for you. To have your mind in so much disarray and still find the focus to survive... I'm not sure I would have made it, if I were in the same situation."

"You saw that?"

"You were in the Speed Force. It was a little hard not to."

"You saw that I almost killed Max and Bart?"

Barry nodded, "But you didn't."

"That was what... my other grandfather wanted me to do," Thad explained, "He said that was the Thawne legacy. I thought I had to do it."

"There's been a lot of talk about you kids getting hung up on legacies lately," Barry remarked as he put away the welder and goggles. "Max told me about Wally's troubles too. Even Bart might get caught up in it. We've been a little worried about what it all might lead to." He started helping Thad with the last of the wiring. "Legacies are more than a name and costume," Barry continued, "I don't want the future generations to get locked down in hidebound traditions and stuck running the same races over and over again. I don't want you to become people you aren't. What I do want is for all of you to open new doors for yourselves and to lift the generations that come after you to new frontiers. You should be free to make your own legacies." He settled into a crouch over a junction box. As he made the last few connections, he said, "Life passes too quickly. Live it so you don't have any regrets."

Thad couldn't help but recall all of the mistakes he had made. "Do you have any regrets?"

Barry sighed and closed the junction box. "I won't be there to grow old with Iris." He stood and brushed off the dust from his borrowed knees. "But, she's still alive. That's worth it."

"You can't be near here when I activate the machine," Thad warned in a sudden change of subject, "I don't think you want to spend forever stuck in a jar with Rival."

"I left the bad roommate phase when I graduated college," Barry remarked, "I'm not about to go back to it. I'll put Bart back where I found him after I tell Max that you're ready." Tensing to run, he added over his shoulder, "Good luck."

Max brought Rival to the machine and quickly knocked him out again. He laid him on the metal plate as Thad indicated. Once Rival was in place, Thad raced away from the machine, signaling to Max to follow him. No speedster would want to be nearby when it activated. Once he was certain he was at a safe distance, he stopped and held out the remote control. As soon as Max stopped beside him, he pressed the button. A simple click heralded an electric lightshow. Lightning crackled and arced around the machine as it was drawn into the device. A single massive burst erupted from Wally's body and into the machine. After that, only the hum of the machine told Thad that it was still working. He clicked the remote again to shut the machine down.

Max dashed to Wally and helped him to his feet. Thad examined the containment unit and grinned. A single glowing LED was all that indicated that the unit was occupied. Thad tapped on the surface of the unit. "I wonder how long you'll last in there?" he quietly asked Rival, "I suppose we'll find out."

Wally swayed and grimaced. "I feel like I've been trampled by a herd of elephants," he groaned. Spotting the blue gloves that held him up, he turned to see whom they belonged to. "Max?" His green eyes finally settled on Thad's machine. "What is that?"

Max grinned. "I'll explain everything once you get home. Can you run?"

Wally shook his head. "My speed's not back yet. Even if it was, I wouldn't be running very fast."

Max frowned towards Thad. The blond boy shrugged and crossed his arms. "His speed should recover on its own, if he still has a connection to the Speed Force."

"Do you?" Max asked Wally.

Wally closed his eyes for a moment, and then nodded, "Yeah. I think so. It's a little faint right now, but it's there."

"I'll take you home, then." Max turned to Thad. "I'll ask Jay to have someone from the JSA pick up the device. Stay with it until then."

Thad nodded and lay down on the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut against the throbbing ache in his skull.

Some time later, Bart heard the door to the garage open and shot to his feet. "Thad? Is your speed back too?"

Bart spotted Max and a bright smile beamed on his face. Tackling Max with a hug, he nearly knocked the older man down. "Max! MaxMaxMaxMax! You're back! You got out of the Speed Force! How'd you do that? That's awesome! I missed you so much! Your room is starting to smell weird because you haven't been in there for so long and it's leaking into the hallway!"

Max was starting to run out of breath thanks to Bart's squeeze. Patting the boy's back frantically, he gasped, "Okay! Okay! Let go and I'll tell you everything!"

Bart loosened his grip. "And your fishing stuff is starting to get all dusty and I've been wanting to make it undusty, but you told me not to touch it!" Behind him, Thad was quietly facepalming.

"Let's go sit down first," Max suggested, "I'm going to need a little coffee before I begin. Is Helen in bed still?"

Bart nodded, "Do you want me to wake her up?"

"No, let her sleep. I can repeat all of this after she gets up."

In the morning, Bart found Carol alone outside her house. She held a full garbage bag in her hand. Grinning from ear to ear in the rain, he stood in front of her. "Guess what! My speed came back and Max came back and Rival's in a jar, so he won't possess anyone anymore! Wanna go out? You wanna get yakisoba? Or a burrito? Ooh! I know! Let's go get..." His voice trailed off as he realized that she was still in the process of blinking. His shoulders slumped and he watched her eyes slowly open again. "You didn't get any of that, huh? That's okay. I can start it over for you." He watched every little movement she made as she reacted to discovering him standing in front of her.

"I am normal, it's the rest of the world that's weird," Bart quietly repeated to himself as he waited for her to adjust to his presence. The first syllable of his name started to emerge from her lips.

Finally, she said, "Bart! Your speed is back!"

He nodded slowly, falling back into old habits. "And Max is too. We won't have to worry about Rival any more."

"That's great! How is Max?"

"He's fine," Bart answered.

The raindrops hung in the air over Manchester like thousands of tiny gems catching the light. Bart wished that he could show it to her. It wasn't fair that she could show him the mesmerizing fall of the rain, but he couldn't show her his world. Not even a picture could do it justice.

He returned to Helen's house, where he found Thad standing in the yard with Dox. Bart couldn't tell yet if Dox was just sniffing around, playing, or looking for a place to make a puddle. Thad's unhindered movements looked out of place as he approached Bart. "This is how it's supposed to be," he said to his darker haired twin.

"It's kinda lonely," Bart admitted, "I forgot what it was like to have to wait for Carol."

Thad seemed surprised at that. "Oh?"

"It was nice to have her at my speed."

"I see."

The boys went back inside the house after Dox was done. The phone started to ring and they raced for it, breaking Helen's rule about superspeed in the house in doing so. It was Thad who picked it up first. "Hello?"

"This is Wally," the voice on the other side answered, "Which one is this?"

"Thad."

"What the hell did you do to me?!" Wally demanded loud enough for Bart and Max to hear, "I've been peeing blood!"

Thad's eyed widened and he started to giggle, which quickly turned into ripsaw maniacal laughter.

Bart sighed to Max and shrugged. "You know how it is; two steps forward, one step back. He's getting better, though. He really is."

Max absently nodded and reached out to put a hand on Thad's shoulder. "You really shouldn't laugh about that." He took the phone away from the boy.

"I know," Thad managed to say as he wound down, "But it makes the concussion he gave me worth it."

Max listened to Wally. "Hospital trip? Well, that's to be expected after a fight like that and a slower healing speed. If it's expected to clear up in a day or so, then that's fine." There was a pause, and then Max added. "That reminds me, Wally, there's something Barry wanted to tell you. I'll come up there and we can talk."

After Max left, Thad remarked, "For a dead man, Barry Allen was rather chatty. He had plenty to say to me."

"So, you got to talk to Grandpa?" Bart sat on the floor in front of the couch settled his chin on his knees. "Lucky."

Thad crouched down next to Bart and rubbed Dox's ears. "You don't remember any of it?"

Bart shook his head. "Nope."

"I think there's a lot he wanted to say to you and Wally, but we didn't have the time. I've been thinking a lot about what he said. Obviously, I got my intelligence from both of our grandfathers. Pity that it means that there wasn't any left for you."

Bart sighed and tucked his head against his crossed arms. Thad kept rubbing Dox's ears. "Do you want to hear what he said?"

Jerking his head up, Bart nodded. "You would do that?"

"What kind of evil twin do you think I am?" Thad huffed in mock offense, "I only beat you up and ridicule your intelligence, not withhold precious words of wisdom that can be thrown in Wally's face whenever he gets his tights in a wad about you not being the perfect little sidekick." He treated Bart to a wicked grin. "Legacies are more than a name and costume."

A/N: Yay! Arc done! Reset is now archived at my journal, which you can find with the homepage link on my profile. Thanks for reading!