Second Chances: Flash

Chapter 32

"What the hell was that?" Barry asked Iris when they all returned to the Fortress.

"Yeah, who was that guy and why did it seem like he could counter all your abilities?" Cisco asked and Iris sighed.

"That was Cyrus McAdams, my piece of shit former commanding officer." Iris said angrily.

"Okay, that explains why you have the same look on your face that I get everytime I think about Thawne, but how did he fight you like that?" Barry asked.

"He has the hell totem." Iris said.

"The what?" Caitlin asked.

"My totem's power comes from heaven. That's why my power is so closely associated with angels. But the universe requires balance." Iris said.

"Like how the negative speed force exists to maintain balance with the positive one." Barry said.

"Exactly. That's why when the heaven totem was created, a second one was created from its polar opposite. Hell. The hell totem is the inverse of my totem. It draws its power from hell and it can only be used by someone who's already bound for hell when they die, which is why it makes sense that McAdams has it. It's the only weapon that can truly match my totem." Iris said.

"So, whoever has the totem literally becomes your Thawne." Cisco said.

"Pretty much. Which is why it's appropriate that the totem wound up in the hands of that monster." Iris said as her parents came in.

"We came as soon as we heard about your fight. What happened?" Cecille asked.

"Cyrus McAdams has the hell totem." Iris said.

"I'd heard about the totem, but I didn't know it was real." Cecille said.

"Wait, hang on, I'm still not completely following here." Ralph said, reminding them that he'd just returned to the city.

"In this reality, my family is kind of like Vixen's. This necklace I'm wearing is a totem." Iris said.

"I've read about the Zambezi totems in the Argus Archives, but I've never heard of your totem." Ralph said.

"That's because my family has done a better job of keeping our totem off Argus's radar than the Jiwe family did. This totem was a gift to my ancestors from the angels themselves and it's powered by heaven itself. The ax that McAdams was using was the polar opposite, the hell totem and the reason I hate him so much is because in this reality, before I went to college, I served in the navy and McAdams was my commanding officer, but he was a racist and a misogynist. Especially after he sold out my unit to the enemy and let us go into a trap. My totem helped me survive, but the rest of my unit wasn't so lucky." Iris said.

"So he's basically your Thawne." Ralph summed up.

"I'm pretty sure we already established that, but yes." Cisco said.

"But how did McAdams even know about the Hell totem or that you had the heaven one for that matter?" Joe asked.

"I can answer that." Barry said as he typed something into the computer to reveal footage of the fight, particularly how Brimstone escaped.

"Thawne." Joe said upon seeing that red lightning.

"Yep. I guess Thawne wanted a partner who hates Iris as much as he hates me." Barry said.

"What are you thinking?" Caitlin asked.

"I'm wondering why Thawne would take on partners in the first place? He always seemed to prefer working as a solo act." Barry said.

"You think he's changing tactics?" Joe asked him.

"I don't know, but what I do know is that Thawne wouldn't rescue anyone without an ulterior motive." Barry said.

"Wait, didn't the Legends tell us that one of their big bads was a time remnant of Thawne who recruited others to help him find the spear of destiny?" Cisco asked.

"That was only because he was a time remnant who was constantly trying to outrun being erased. Trust me, if it weren't for that, he would've done it himself. Something else is going on here. I don't know what it is, but the fact that Thawne went out of his way to find the hell totem and use it to recruit McAdams proves that it's bad news." Cisco said.

"What if he's trying to take a page from Zoom's book? Build an army from all the metas in this city?" Caitlin asked.

"I wouldn't put it past him. I think the only reason he didn't do that originally is because he was too focused on going home. Now that he's back at full speed, he wants to resume his war with me and I guess that instead of continuing to fight it solo, maybe he's trying to build an army." Barry said.

"Makes sense. He's already found an opponent for Iris. If he finds soldiers to keep the rest of us busy, then it becomes one on one." Cisco said.

"I don't know. Something about that still doesn't feel right. I don't know what he's up to, but we need to find him and stop him before he pulls it off." Barry said.