Revive examined the room for what felt like an hour.

Eventually, the music from the racket reached his ears but The Speedster didn’t care.

There was a mystery in the room and it was causing a sinking feeling to develop in his gut.

It almost felt as if…

“The Speed Force was here?” Revive muttered.

He had been in Chloe’s house many times but he was smart enough not to leave such a blatant Speed Force trail everywhere he went – enemies would find him by the dozens if he did.

“Is that what happened here?” The Speedster mused. “An enemy came while I wasn’t here?”

“But there is still a disturbance left behind… right,” He spun around, hand vibrating with the flickers of a familiar dimension – the quantum dimension. “—Here!”

And he struck.

A barrier popped and while the world slowed around The Speedster – he was ready to snap the neck of anything that appeared at superspeeds.

But what… no, who came out of the pocket barrier was familiar.

All three of them were.

After all, The Speedster had hired them for a job a week prior and while the job went sideways, Hutch still kept his end of the deal due to encouragement from his friends.

And his friends were currently there… but Hutch wasn’t.

UGH

They slammed into the ground one after the other.

And the weighty feeling in the atmosphere only thickened, ensuring Revive could feel what was being held back in all its potent glory.

“A Jumper… no,” He vibrated his body to match the familiar feelings and came to a startling realization. “The Speed Force?”

The Speedster flickered in lightning and the next instant, Jacinda and Gabriella were pinned to the wall, wheezing as their throats were being crushed by the Speedster.

Jack had yet to regain his wits but given his cowardly nature, Revive knew he was more likely to run than aid his friends.

‘Always deal with the combatants first…’ The Speedster mused.

“I am going to ask some questions…” Revive explained, lessening his hold on their throats. “If you tell me anything but the truth, I will vibrate my hand through your throats… it will mess up everything inside of you.”

“S..”

“S…”

“Speak the fuck up!” Revive growled.

“Si, si!” Jacinda growled, trying to get Revive’s hand off her throat. “Just let her go! Gabriella isn’t used to this!”

The Speedster glanced at Gabriella and noticed she was getting blue in the face – she was frozen in fear and not even bothering to fight back.

“Trauma?” Revive muttered.

“Yes…” Jacinda shook off Revive’s grip and rushed to cradle the frozen Gabriella. “Her father controlled her life… he raped her until she was sixteen years old.”

The Speedster sighed. “Well, I am not her father so what are you guys doing here?” He inquired, leaning against the wall.

“We came with Hutch…” Jack sat up, trying to control his heaving breaths. “And then things took a turn for the worse.”

Revive’s eyes arched. “Describe worse?”

“Time Freezing, massive claw that seemed to come from hell and grabbing everyone… that kind of bad,” Gabriella spoke, sitting up a bit now that she had calmed down.

“I need more details…” Revive replied, gesturing around. “Like where is Hutch? And why is this place so thick with The Speed Force.”

“The way Hutch describes it,” Jack stated. “And I am speaking on the summary here,” He clarified. “—the way Hutch tells it. Everyone died against Blackstar, even him. Then, they were slowly put back together by you. Only, some of the lightning reflected off your body and into The Power Rod, and it melted in his bones, making him a—”

“Metahuman…” Revive frowned.

“Nope, a Super Teleporter?” Jack shrugged. “He was still thinking about a name… but, now he was able to jump anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye. He became The Power Rod in a sense…”

“But the way he made it sound was like,” Gabriella sorted the words in her mind. “He was fueled by something huge and it meant he could go anywhere… not just on this planet. The Power Rod always had an energy source problem but now he didn’t have that problem.”

“We completed one or two of the bigger jobs in a couple of days,” Jacinda continued. “Then Hutch said he started feeling weird like something was aiming at him. We did a final job to secure a pouch of some chemical mix. Then, Hutch panicked and teleported us into his apartment… he said he needed you to train him urgently.”

“Yeah, you were the source of his power and he always planned to find you but—”

“He was afraid I would take the power away?” Revive guessed, not that he could take the power granted by The Speed Force without a better reason than I don’t want you to have it. “What happened next?”

“We were too late… or too early,” Gabriella groaned, lifting her shirt to sort a dark sort of black markings – something Revive immediately recognized.

“Well, you’re fucked…” Revive sighed and took a couple of steps away. “You have been marked for death by a very crazy god.”

“A-a-a go…god?” Jack stuttered. “With a capital G?”

“If it was the capital ‘G’—” Revive snorted. “She would have already been dead… think about it as a god with an upside-down g twisted in dark, shit mud that even prisoners wouldn’t use to shank each other in prison.”

Gabriella paled the more Revive spoke.

“And you’ll help her, right?” Jacinda spoke quickly, rising to her feet and standing protectively in front of Gabriella. “I mean, you are the fucking reason for all of this!”

“You mean Hutch?”

“No, you!” Jacinda yelled, becoming more frenzied by the second. “You told us your power is amazing and dangerous. Then why would you let Hutch possess that power with no training? This is your fault.”

‘She is not exactly wrong…’ Revive thought, though he would never admit it.

It would have taken a simple five-minute meditation to find anyone else linked to The Speed Force in this world… and Revive had done so many times already, confirming that there was no one linked to The Speed Force.

But…

He hadn’t checked since the battle with Blackstar so Hutch was able to evade his notice.

‘Would I have taken the power away if I knew?’ The Speedster questioned himself. ‘but Hutch was chosen by The Speed Force so… he just has to earn the power wherever he is. For now…’

The Speedster glanced at Gabriella.

There was a need to get rid of the girl permanently – she was tainted by extra-dimensional power… one that could act as a beacon to many monstrosities.

And he would be doing her mercy, lest she becomes something grotesque and eats her comrades in a week or two.

“I can’t help her…” Revive voiced. “And if I can’t, nobody can. You need to let her go.”

Jack’s and Jacinda’s eyes widened.

“What are you saying?” They inquired.

Gabriella cowered a bit but also stumbled to her feet, eyes wide in horror at what Revive was implying.

“She is tainted by something that will make her a monster,” Revive explained. “Killing her now would be a mercy.”

“but the code?” Jack muttered, grasping onto the last hope.

He had never been so grateful for Utopia than in this moment.

“My code is to kill things before they become problems,” Revive shrugged, flickering with lightning as the world around him slowed.

Sound waves erupted from Jacinda’s body.

But The Speedster was moving at a pace where sound was a physical quantity – a physical quantity that could be avoided with some acrobatics.

Revive pushed off the ground, took a couple of steps on the ceiling, and flipped once more until he bypassed Jacinda altogether.

Then, his hand reached for Gabriella’s neck.

Jack was unable to do anything, especially in a world of speed where the barest molecules of his gathering frost were still forming.

Gabriella’s body shrunk rapidly.

The Speedster was inches away from clutching her neck when Neutrino’s body went into overdrive.

Could have been her instincts…

Could have been something spontaneous…

She shrunk faster than she ever had before and by the time Revive reached the girl, she was already the size of a dust mite, sinking into the quantum dimension.

But she had underestimated Revive’s dimensional attunement.

The Speedster joined both of his hands, pressed his fingers against the microscopic opening to the quantum realm and he became lightning.

Gabriella and Revive disappeared from the room.

…

Revive spun uncontrollably in a blue world filled with large neutrino particles.

It was a space made of no emptiness – only pure blue beads.

Gabriella similarly spiraled through the world ahead of him, leaving a trail of darkness wherever she spun.

Her eyes were filled with horror.

‘At least she will see…’ Revive comforted himself. ‘Anywhere she goes will be tainted.’

The Speedster stepped on a bead and lightning trailed behind him as he caught up with Gabriella in an instant.

It was no trouble exiting The Quantum Dimension but… that would leave a trail so it was best to exit with someone else’s power.

Revive grabbed Gabriella, cradling the girl in his arms. “Get us out of here before you completely corrupt this dimension,” He warned.

Gabriella clenched her jaw and pulled on her power and the next second…

…

Revive and Gabriella appeared in the living room, colliding with the north wall before bouncing to the ground.

The party stopped.

Chloe shot up from her seat.

Jay and Austin wore confused expressions.

Ruby and Janna were already moving to help Revive.

Kaitlyn and Vera were high enough that it didn’t matter what was happening.

Alyssa rushed to Chloe’s side, preventing the Amazon Princess from doing something rash.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Janna reached Revive first, placing a hand on The Speedster’s shoulder and inquiring about his injuries.

“You okay?”

“I am fine,” The Speedster groaned and shook his head to stabilize the pounding headaches.

Just as Ruby arrived and was about to help Gabriella to her feet, a loud blast of noise slammed into her body, sending the hero spiraling.

Luckily, Ruby was no slouch when it came to hero training.

She flipped in the air and a red armor covered her figure, forcefully halting her in the air.

Jacinda slid to Gabriella’s side, placing the girl protectively behind her.

Jack ran into the room last, raising his arms to show surrender but the time for surrender had long passed.

Vera phased from her seat, appearing behind Jacinda, and delivering a punch to Shockwave’s face.

Jacinda tumbled.

Jack tossed a ball of frost toward Vera but Chloe appeared in front of him, smacking his arm away and slamming him into the wall as if he was a ragdoll.

Gabriella's body started to shrink but heeding Revive’s warning, she remained in place until Ruby restrained her.

“What the heck is happening?” Jay rose from his seat finally.

Austin and the others joined him.

Alyssa rushed to Revive’s side, tending to stay closest to the person who was the most rational.

The party dispersed.

Everyone else quickly departed the scene, lest they become casualties in a superhero vs supervillain battle.

“What is happening?” Ruby questioned.

Revive walked up to Gabriella, much to Jack’s and Jacinda’s animalistic rage.

“Woah, woah…” Austin noticed something in Revive’s eyes and quickly put himself between Revive and the trembling Gabriella. “What are you trying to do?”

“Move, before you get us all killed,” Revive ordered.

Janna placed a hand on Revive’s shoulder and inquired. “What’s happening? Explain it to us,” She urged. “Or we can’t allow you to get closer to the girl.”

“Fucking villains’ man!” Jay spat. “Always fucking villains. I say, let him do what he wants to them.”

“You’re heroes, right?” Jack was grasping at straws. “You save people… well, we have two people who need saving.”

“Who?” Ruby inquired.

“Her… from him,” Jack gestured to Gabriella and then Revive. “He is going to kill her… trust me, he will.”

The others froze.

Jay shifted his standing position, keeping an eye on Revive just in case.

“What? Don’t be crazy,” Janna voiced. “What about the code.”

“I already broke the code,” Chloe chimed in, but she was quickly pulled back by Alyssa.

“You’re high… just be quiet,” The Manager warned.

“Listen, Hutch is an idiot kid, okay?” Revive proceeded to explain. “These guys are his friends. Petty little thieves. But Hutch caught the attention of something… now that thing has marked her,” he pointed to Gabriella. “And this is the type of thing that would kill The Utopian.”

Everyone sucked in a cold breath of air.

“We need to get rid of her before she corrupts this area enough for it to come through,” The Speedster voiced.

“What thing?” Ruby frowned. “The code says no killing. We can take her to The Union and figure things out from there.”

“We are due back there anyway,” Chloe shrugged, marching forward and raising Gabriella and Jacinda by their collars. “I am sure my dad will know what to do with them. We have an archive and know a couple of mages.”

“That won’t be enough,” Revive growled.

“Then you should explain to let us get a clear enough picture,” Austin insisted.

The Speedster was slowly realizing that, though they didn’t like it, they still adhered to the code with exacting obedience.

“You have to listen to me—”

“It’s true,” Gabriella interrupted.

“No, Gabby!” Jacinda tried to free herself from Chloe’s grip but she couldn’t. “Don’t say anything… we can figure this out.”

“Just now…” Gabriella started to tear up. “Just now, I was in the Neutrino Stream and I made everything black… and I could feel something dark digging into my skin. It is disgusting and terrifying. I don’t know what it is but I know it’s bad news.”

Jacinda started to sob.

“Relax, nobody is killing anybody—”

Chloe started to speak but soon, she withdrew her hand with lightning speed – a black flame was running up and down her finger.

“Fuck, it burned me…”

Revive flickered and appeared holding Chloe’s hand. “Step back!” He yelled in Kaitlyn’s and Vera’s direction.

The two women leaped backward.

Lightning danced on Revive’s fingers as he pinched the flame on Chloe’s finger, ripped it away with a popping sound, and tossed it toward the couch.

The couch turned to ash in an instant.

“Well fuck me sideways…” Ruby murmured.

“Yeah, as I was saying,” Revive reiterated once more. “Very bad stuff.”

“I see what you mean,” Jay slowly started to back away. “I change my mind… maybe quick is the best solution.”

“You okay?”

Chloe's euphoria disappeared in that instant and she started to take everything seriously.

“That flame was…” The Amazon Princess frowned. “Something anti-divine.”

“Anti-divine?” Vera questioned.

“This is a Utopian and Lady Liberty problem,” Austin voiced.

“They won’t do what needs to be done.”

“Fuck, if only we hadn’t met that Nick guy sneaking into this place. But Hutch wanted to play hero…” Jack cursed under his breath.

Revive flickered to stand in front of The Popsicle. “What did you say? Nick was here… and he interacted with Hutch? In what way?” The Speedster’s foreboding increased.

“What’s happening?” Alyssa questioned.

Everyone shrugged except Revive.

“What is the nature of Nick’s powers?” He turned to Chloe.

“He told me he could stop time,” Chloe revealed immediately.

“Not manipulate time a little, not make cancel vibrations but stop time completely?” Revive asked for clarification.

“Is that important?” Chloe shrugged. “I have seen him stop time for small things like a ball… what does that have to do with anything?”

“Because…” Revive walked around the room, touching the surface of everything he could. “What happens when an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object.”

“That’s a paradox,” Janna voiced, walking forward and intimately placing a hand on Revive’s shoulder. “Unideal, they would cancel each other out.”

“Think physics…”

“They would vent the power somewhere else,” Austin was the one to provide an answer.

Everyone was caught up in the moment.

Janna leaned forward and gave Revive a pec on the cheek since he was getting frustrated. “Don’t worry,” She comforted. “You’ll figure it out…”

Then, everyone froze.

“What? What is happening?” Chloe laughed and tilted her head to the ceiling. “Why is Janna touching my husband like that?”

Her eyes scanned the room, but everyone avoided her gaze, except Alyssa who looked as startled as she was.

“And did all my so-called friends know about it?” she growled.

“Chloe, this is not the time for thi—”

“SHUT UP!” Chloe roared, her bracers glowing with divine radiance. “You betrayed me… even after we talked about everything…”

“I didn’t betray you!” Revive growled, pushing Janna behind him. “You slept with Nick last night and I slept with Janna and Ruby! I told you I slept with two girls this morning. You’re mad that Nick was an asshole – an asshole who snuck back into your house and opened a breach in the fucking apartment!”

Chloe had never seen Revive mad… and had it been before, she would have cowered away.

But it was as if The Speedster had created his downfall.

Amazon Women bowed to no man… and as someone who was maturing into her Amazon nature, Chloe’s rage at being corrected by a man roared to the surface.

“Chloe…” Ruby dawned her energy armor.

Janna’s body flickered with multi-colored particulates, ready to phase at a moment’s notice.

“Chloe, listen to me…” Revive ordered, his authority was overwhelming.

He no longer spoke with kindness but with the knowledge of five thousand worlds.

“We need to get out of there… Nick and Hutch interacted here. One can stop time and one wields The Speed Force. They probably punched a hole in reality,” Revive explained, slowly walking toward Chloe. “If we stay here, we might get pulled into—”

The Speedster didn’t get a chance to finish his explanation.

Chloe blurred and her fist rocketed toward his face.

The world slowed and Revive clutched Chloe’s fist, intending to disperse her moment, turning the punch into the normal punch of an angry girl.

But The Speed Force was siphoned at the last moment.

The Speedster had forgotten the breach lurking in the apartment and he had just provided it with the activation energy it required.

“No!”

The sound of bone breaking.

Everyone was shocked… even and especially Chloe.

She understood Revive’s ability greater than anyone so she knew the punch would not meaningfully hurt him.

But it did.

Revive’s bone jotted out of his arm and the bloody limb sagged to one side.

The Speedster mechanically turned and met eyes with everyone in the room.

From Vera to Kaitlyn…

From Ruby to Janna…

From Austin to Jay…

From Jacinda to Gabriella…

From Jack to Alyssa…

And finally, to Briggs and the Landlord who just walked in.

“Brace yourselves!” He warned.

A bright blue portal appeared in the middle of the room and everyone disappeared in a stream of blue light, sucked into the depths of the dimensional breach.

α

Everyone was spinning.

They felt their bodies spun thin for an instant before reorienting and recombining to form what they considered themselves.

They were three-dimensional.

Then two-dimensional.

Revive closed his eyes for the first moment of the dimensional transition, knowing he couldn’t allow his mind to drift lest nobody survive the journey.

Ruby had instinctively shut her eyes… and that saved her from the brunt of the dimensional strain.

Everybody else was out of it.

The Speedster stabilized his spin, opened his eyes, and found himself in the void of the Multiversal transition.

It was a nebula of billions of stars, each star an unexplored universe.

Ruby’s eyes watered as she saw stars rapidly blinking out of existence – she could instinctively tell what that meant.

Her understanding had increased.

Luckily, though not as quickly as the stars were disappearing, more and more were being born.

Revive maneuvered his body to Ruby’s side, covering her eyes and stabilizing her spin. “Never look too deep into the multiverse,” He warned.

When he released the hero, Ruby heeded his advice and never paid attention to anything in particular… but the beauty of the nebula was undeniable.

“Wha—”

“What?”

Chloe and Briggs were the next to awaken.

“Do not try to fly!” Revive yelled, drifting from Ruby’s side. “We are being pulled to a specific universe… if you try to fly, I can’t be sure where you’ll end up… there are more bad places out here than good.”

“Revive?” Chloe struggled against her instincts. “What the heck is happening?”

“Wake the others!” The Speedster ordered. “Tell them not to fly. Everybody should hold onto someone else!”

Ruby drifted to Vera and Kaitlyn, linking their hands even as the two women remained unconscious.

Chloe first went to Alyssa then Austin and Jay – they were the only people she could barely tolerate.

Revive drifted to Janna, Jacinda, and Gabriella – then, he drifted to the others since he was the fastest person present.

The Speed Force protected him from an untimely dimensional exit.

Briggs grabbed Jack and The Landlord, drifting next to Revive’s side and joining hands with The Speedster.

There was no hesitation in his actions.

Revive once again realized that Briggs was a hero above the rest – at least, Tectonic was such a hero ever since his brush with death.

…

Everyone touched someone else.

Then, the others started to awaken.

“What?”

“Fuck!”

“Don’t fly!” Chloe and Ruby yelled.

Apart, the women did not possess enough authority to keep Jay and the others under control, but together, everyone acquiesced to the authority of The Utopian’s daughter and Paragon’s on-and-off girlfriend.

Just as the chaos was being dispelled…

“What is this?” Chloe questioned.

Countless images were flowing out of her body, dispersing into the Multiverse Void.

It felt as if pieces of her soul were being chipped away.

Panic ran through the group of heroes anew.

They were all experiencing the same thing in one way or another… everyone except Revive.

“Don’t panic…” The Speedster yelled. “Your possibilities are branching. As long as you keep the course, the possibilities will never solidify… but if you give legitimacy to the countless possibilities, you will—”

ARRRGGHHHHH

A squeal of terror, pain, and infinite bitterness.

Briggs recoiled on instinct, releasing the unfortunate Landlord who had submitted to the possibilities, causing his soul and presence to split across multiple dimensions.

The Landlord became particles that became infinitely smaller until there was nothing left…

“—I guess that happens…” Janna murmured.

“Fuck, I don’t want to die!” Jay yelled.

Revive cursed under his breath – the person with the loudest mouth was the first to break under pressure.

“Brace yourselves!” Revive yelled, clutching the hands next to him. “We will get separated at first but we mustn’t separate until the last moment… you will be able to feel it!”

“What is… ha-ppening?” Chloe’s voice was warped.

Revive, thanks to The Speed Force, didn’t have any problems with communication.

“We are going to fall into the light below… then, we’ll fall through many dimensions until we can breathe again,” The Speedster instructed. “The moment we can breathe again, let each other go. It will take some time to adjust so do not use your abilities immediately and for god-sake. Do not go splat!”

“What?”

Everyone’s eyes widened but it was too late to consider the matter too deeply.

…

There was the sound of puffing air.

Then, solid air.

The rumbling air and solid air fighting for dominance.

The hands held in hands became ethereal one moment and liquid the next.

At one point, they were all falling into the sky.

Then, the momentum shifted and they were sucked into a black hole, dancing along its accretion disk for what felt like a millennium.

They were in a tunnel of light.

Some of them were unmoving while others were not but Revive ensured nobody had released anyone.

But such an outcome was inevitable so he had to be prepared – The Speedster was charging The Speed Force inside his body.

…

Mountains of deep humming.

Vera flickered away by accident, teleporting herself to the ground.

But one could not simply shift their momentum when exiting The Multiversal currents…

Just before the girl could shatter her body into a thousand pieces, a flicker of Speed Force lightning snaked in her direction, wrapping around the girl before Revive and the other shifted dimensions once more.

Vera had been pulled along.

A dimension where space never stabilized… everyone was sharper.

Janna slipped from between Revive’s fingers the moment the group broke into another dimension and The Speedster was forced to quickly key his vibrations to the other dimension, re-shatter the barrier, and wrap his lightning around Janna.

Such a task… the calculations involved were near impossible and even The Speedster had to fry a portion of his brain to get it done in a split-second.

A dimension of water.

The group existed as water…

Lightning held no form, forcing The Speed Force to become a crystal sort of ice.

Janna and Vera were loose once more.

Luckily, existing as water combined with the instinct to survive forced the girls to grab onto Revive of their own will.

Everybody regained a physical form.

Janna and Vera had wrapped their legs around Revive, clinging to The Speedster for dear life.

…

A dozen more dimensions.

A dozen more shifts.

Just as everyone thought it wasn’t going to end, air filled their lungs once more.

“Fly!” Revive yelled.

Chloe was the first to react, trying to pull up and take the others with her but she barely managed to fall a bit slower, and even more surprising, she didn’t have the strength to carry more than herself.

Hands unlinked with relief… it didn’t take everyone long to realize their abilities were severely weakened.

Even Revive felt The Speed Force take a sudden dip… and that was a dip based on the diminished power he possessed ever since coming to Chloe’s universe.

The Speedster was running on a fraction of a fraction of a fraction.

The spinning started.

“FUCK!” Austin couldn’t fly so he had taken a fair share of skydiving classes.

It helped him at this time.

The Wind Hero grabbed onto Jay, and manipulated the little wind currents he could to bring him closer to Jacinda and Gabriella – he grabbed them both.

Briggs maneuvered his body to grab Jack and Alyssa, then utilized his sky-diving technique to push himself toward Ruby.

Revive vibrated his arms causing a burst of wind to send him forward, snatching Chloe into his arms.

But The Speedster had to leave Janna and Vera behind to do so… neither Janna nor Vera could fly.

And their abilities would not bode well with the approaching ground.

Chloe recognized this. “You need to save them!” She voiced.

Revive held his wife closer, whispering into her air. “This is not your universe. You will feel weak at first. If you fall from here, you will get hurt!” He insisted.

“Hurt, not dead,” Chloe gritted her teeth.

The truth of the matter was that she didn’t even want to get injured but Janna and Vera would surely die.

“I have thick skin, remember?” The Amazon Princess smiled crookedly, ripped herself free of Revive’s arms, and tossed The Speedster in Vera’s and Janna’s direction.

…

Another minute of scrambling and…

The ground approached with a vengeance… thankfully, the ground had shifted into a three-mile span of the lake.

Austin created the largest updraft he could generate, allowing himself, Jay, Jacinda, and Gabriella to hit the water with a survival impact.

Of course, it still pained them.

Under Briggs's instruction, Jack had started to freeze the lake below them into a snow-like consistency, and Ruby quickly tossed up a red dome to protect them from the worst of the impact.

Sadly, all of them were superhuman but one – Alyssa.

Chloe didn’t allow her friend to face the danger alone – The Amazon Princess swooped down in a blur, cradling Alyssa just before the final impact.

The manager barely survived.

Janna moved according to Revive’s instruction – she twinkled as they entered the water, sinking below the calm waters with no resistance at all.

Then, The Speedster sent a flicker of lightning to reverse the pressure as soon as Janna shifted their states into the material universe.

Now, instead of sinking deeper into the lake.

Revive, Janna, and Vera were shot up and out of the water.

Everyone sunk into unconsciousness following the brutal crash landing.