Escape Velocity // The Flash

Chapter One: Stuck in the Past

As soon as Thawne twitched, Barry followed. The world around them was once again rendered into a mess of incomprehensible lines, lights and shapes as they shot through the centre of existence once more.

Thawne was crazy. Delusional. He was willing to tamper with time itself just to exact some kind of twisted revenge on The Flash...or, more specifically, Barry Allen. Revenge for something he'd yet to do, nonetheless.

Barry managed to wrap a hand around Thawne's arm and pulled him out of the path they had tunnelled through time. The rift closed almost immediately and the two were sent hurtling across the ground at an incredible speed.

Everything within his sights began to jumble, including Thawne. He felt his body being sent crashing through a whole layer of trees, snapping the thick bark in half like they were merely twigs. The speed force protected him from any real danger until he spiralled to a halt, laying on his back and staring at the stars that dotted the night.

Wait... stars? The Flash jumped to his feet, eyes wide and searching for any sign of Thawne. There wasn't even a smudge of yellow within his sights. Barry's whole posture slumped. He could probably swear to himself now if he wanted... but he decided instead to check his surroundings.

Small houses littered most of the area to his right, looking a little too structurely unsafe for his liking, and on his left were slabs of wood fused together to create a market. The people around him stared in disbelief, eyeing up his tight costume and shuffling away. Being stuck in a sea of people wearing multiple layers of loose material, he could already see the problem. He had gone a little further back in time then he cared for.

The thing that brought him to realisation was the temple that stood just a short distance away. Japan. He knew that for certain now, but what era?

"Well...this is just dandy." The Flash sighed as he felt a sudden surge of energy. Barry surmised that since Thawne was the one time jumping, and he was just freeloading in his slipstream, the Reverse-Flash's connection to the speed force was temporarily weakened from the extreme speeds needed to break time itself.

In more simple terms he was stuck in this period until the link regenerated, and fortunately for Barry, that gave him a chance to prevent Thawne from damaging the timestream further.

Barry turned his head to a nearby villager. He was an older man, staring frozen as he gripped a bucket of water. "Uh...excuse me... What year is it?"

The man muttered to himself, in Japanese. Barry thought that he said something along the lines of 'Rikai dekimasen', but what that was suppose to mean was lost on him.

Barry groaned. "It was worth a try." He sent his eyes to the horizon once more, trying to spot anything that could help him track down Thawne. He knew it was a fruitless gesture. Thawne had the whole world to hide in until he recovered. He may not be able to time travel, but he could still break the laws of physics.

Not only was his psychotic nemesis hellbent on screwing up everything, but Barry was in the same position. Anything he did, including showing up in a public space right now and talking to that guy, could harbour potentially disastrous consequences for the future. He wasn't going to forget that time he went back in time and tried to save his mom...

Barry flicked over a hundred miles in an attosecond, and appeared on the edges of a forest. He leant onto one of the many tall trees and rubbed his chin. He'd have to fit in if he wanted to not screw stuff up. It would be easier if he went over to England or America...if either existed whenever this was. Even then, language had changed a hell of a lot in the last two hundred years... Barry knew that he needed to think first, run later. It didn't look like he'd have the opportunity though.