“You’re my wife, Chloe…”

Revive dropped the bomb.

Chloe carefully withdrew her hands from Revive’s grip and put them behind her back.

“No, I am not…” She weakly voiced.

“No, she’s not…” Grace reiterated.

“Didn’t you say dimensions and universes and multiverse?” Brandon thought deeply about Revive’s explanations. “Doesn’t that mean you were married to the Chloe of another Universe, not this one?”

“A sound argument,” Sheldon commented.

Walter also nodded his head, seeing the reason in the comment. “I have visited enough alternate dimensions to know that the same things are never the same things…”

Revive sighed. “In normal cases, you would be right but Chloe and I are far from the normal case.” He voiced.

“There is no we…” Chloe yelled.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Grace comforted her daughter, shielding the girl from the intensely staring Revive. “Let’s just hear him out for a bit.”

“Explain this non-normal case to me?” Sheldon insisted, rising from his seat once more.

Even Walter picked the side of his family.

Seeing that the hero's family was gathering to threaten him and given how weak he was, Revive decided to answer the question with complete honesty.

Not that he intended to lie to begin with.

“Time is alive and it wants everything to flow in one direction, always forward. But because Time is alive, it also has its favorites – things necessary to keep things moving,” Revive explained, rubbing the ring on his finger and remembering promises made five thousand different times to calm his emotions. “Time has a pattern… that it can’t help reliving…”

Revive gestured to Chloe and himself. “Different people, different worlds… always drawn to each other like… magnets. This is called an Absolute Point of Time.”

“And we are, what?” Chloe scoffed. “Absolute?” She drawled as if a scoff wasn’t enough mocking.

“Yes, we are…” Revive gritted her teeth, revealing a bit more information. “We are an Absolute Point in time but our love for each other is rarely eternal.”

“So, a waste of time?” Chloe reiterated.

“Far from it,” The Speedster defended. “But this is something we should talk about at home… and if you give me a chance to explain to you, I promise you’ll be better off for it.”

“I don’t think—”

Revive gritted his teeth. “And I can tell you how to keep this family together…” He revealed, not so subtly dropping a major hint into the works.

“Now, I have to take him to The Union,” Sheldon voiced. “He is possibly a wealth of knowledge.”

“I will talk to The Union but not before I am ready and there is nothing you can do about that…” Revive met Sheldon’s eyes, and the tension in the room was building.

“You’re a hero who has sacrificed a lot for the sake of humanity but you’re just a weak, insignificant person on a planetary scale and I am on a Multiversal scale. We are not equal even if you can punch harder,” The Speedster took a step forward, bringing such a natural momentum that Utopia was startled. “I know you… multiple versions of you and you’re simultaneously the strongest and the worst.”

“I agree…”

“What?”

Everyone turned their heads back to Chloe.

“I agree to give you a chance to explain,” She responded, something strange glistening in the depths of her eyes. “When do we leave?”

“I made a promise and I plan to keep it so let’s start with your father,” Revive sighed and met Sheldon’s eyes, a newfound warmth in his previously cold eyes. “In a universe without his powers, after the death of his father, Sheldon has a mental breakdown. Abandoned by everyone, his brother, his fiancé, and the company his father built – which did not collapse, Sheldon found strength within himself. Went to school, studied for a couple of years, and became a mental health doctor at a time when nobody knew what mental health is. He writes five best-selling books and donated all the money to charities and his Utopian Health Foundations. He spent his years traveling around the world with Doctors Without Borders, helping women and children in countries where rape and war is commonplace. Sheldon’s foundation helped millions and advocated for Mental Health reforms in Congress that saved millions more. He died when the war broke out in Asia – he refused to leave behind patients at a hospital that would soon be bombed. Sheldon took his patients outside, they all held hands, and when that bomb dropped, they all died. It sparked a movement that stopped World War III and from then on, every man who had the conviction to die with his cause was known as The Sheldon Effect.”

Grace had tears in her eyes.

Brandon and Chloe had a newfound respect for their father, even if the latter didn’t show it.

Walter scrunched his nose and sighed. “I guess you were meant for great things either way,” Brainwave commented.

Sheldon shook his head. “That’s not me and it will never be,” He stated.

Revive turned to Walter. “In a world without powers, after the death of his father, Walter inherited the company and became the go-to man of Wall Street. His company became the next best thing, and he felt as if he was entitled to everything because he struggled so hard to get it. Walter started working with politicians and the big players in the world, and when he found the right woman, they had a child. Bringing a child changed something in him and the money and company no longer mattered as much, everything started to run itself. His son wanted to visit Kenya for his tenth birthday and the entire family went along. They drank the village water and a couple of days later, Walter’s son and wife died along with every other villager who got sick. And it was ironic since his family died from the same contamination that his company dumped in the rivers of Kenya. He had forgotten where all the bodies were buried, I guess. But bad things happening to bad people sometimes lead to good things. Steel Works Inc. shifted overnight and with the power it held and the anger of a mourning man, it overthrew policies, sent countless corrupt politicians to jail, and supported echo-friendly small businesses. Within four years, Walter was the president of the United States. Completely unmatched in politics and diplomacy. When war broke out in Afghanistan and women and children were being slaughtered by the dozen… The US couldn’t intervene due to China and Russia so Walter called for an early election, retired on the spot, and spent his life savings to take a militia into Afghanistan. He died on the battlefield three years later, escorting twin girls from an arranged marriage with an Al-Qaeda captain. His statue was placed in the spot where he died after the war ended, and the girls he saved went on to become the president of Afghanistan.”

“When a politician followed the promises they made, it became known as The Walter Effect. Guess they knew the perfect name for it after finding out he was Sheldon’s brother.”

Walter didn’t let any emotions show on his face, at least no emotions he did not want the others to see.

But he was touched.

“Brandon in a world where he didn’t try to be like his father would become a hero in his own right. He revolutionized what it meant to be a superhero by introducing a system that made heroes formally responsible for protecting more than just their neighborhoods. He invented the villain rating that classified heroes into grades, telling them when it was permitted to kill a villain and when it was not. But his most praised feat was researching a middle ground between his father’s code and the no-killing policy. Brandon created an enzyme that could sap Villains of their power for two years, and he tested it on himself first, losing his powers for a full two years. During this time, he became a soldier for America. His legacy encompassed not just America, but the Milkiway galaxy, and when it came time to battle The Darkness, he was on the frontline with his son and daughter… because his code was Noblesse Oblige. Privilege begets responsibilities. He didn’t return home after fighting the darkness – he was trapped in a Dark Dimension battling the Beast forever… I imagine he is still there sometimes, with how time works. His children made it home and they were great friends of mine…”

“Were?” Brandon voiced.

“I wouldn’t be here if there was any other place to be,” Revive replied bluntly.

“And me?” Grace inquired.

“World-renowned journalist. Never got married but you were rumored to have three children. Because of the work you did and the secrets you held, a lot of people wanted you dead. You brought down four major corporations and were a champion for reparations to African Americans. You spearheaded diversity in America, making it the beacon of Hope other countries would turn to. You brought humanity’s space age forward by a century, avoiding severe global warming effects altogether.”

“And me?” Chloe raised a brow.

Revive shook his head. “That’s for only the two of us to know,” He replied.

“Is it something bad?”

“No…” Revive hesitated before he answered.

“We need to take you to The Union,” Walter voiced, rising from his seat. “The information you can provide us is immense. And you did say a war is coming.”

“Did I say coming?” Revive scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “It’s already here… it started the day one of you guys was selected as The First Hero.”

“What you should be asking is this—” The Speedster took turns staring into each person’s eyes. “—if the war has already started and you guys,” He pointed to each of them. “—the seemingly most powerful family of heroes in the world, then who is fighting the war?”

The thought chilled them.

A war was being fought on such a grand scale and till today, they remained completely unaware of it.

“Are you prepared to discuss these matters with The Union?” Sheldon questioned, though his voice made it clear it wasn’t much of a question.

“Seeing you didn’t know about the war before I got here,” Revive sighed. “The Union might not be the people I have to talk to about this war. But as soon as you can gather them, I am willing to point you guys in the direction of something meaningful.”

Sheldon and Walter shared a look before they both nodded.

“And that’s my cue to leave,” Chloe rolled her eyes and made for the door, then she paused and glanced back at Revive. “You coming… uh, I don’t even know your name.”

“Revive… the name is Revive,” He quickly admitted, limping his way to the door.

“Don’t you have super healing or something?” Chloe questioned.

“Chloe!” Grace raised her voice in warning.

“Fine!” Chloe stomped over to Revive’s side, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him a couple of inches off the ground as she began to float.

“Chloe!” Grace’s voice echoed once more.

Chloe floated to the ground, put Revive’s arm over her shoulder, and started to walk, heading toward the door.

“We need him in a week and preferably uninjured…” Sheldon voiced.

“Preferably?” Revive exclaimed.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

--------------

Chloe and Revive exited the house.

“Hey, hey, wait!” Brandon rushed out after them. “Is it okay if I come and talk to you sometime?”

“Slow down,” Revive requested but Chloe just kept walking faster.

The Speedster could do nothing about it without his power.

“Hey, hey!”

Chloe finally relented just before she was going to soar into the skies. “What, doofus?” She growled.

“Can I come over to your place and talk to him sometime?” Brandon requested. “I want to know what I am like… elsewhere?”

“He won’t be staying with me.”

“I won’t?”

“NO, you won’t…” Chloe corrected. “Tonight, you can take the guest room but, in the morning, I have work and I want you gone. The best I can do is talk to The Landlord about renting you a place on another floor.”

“Hmm,” Revive shrugged. “That’s good enough for me. I just need one conversation so that you understand. After that, if you never want to see me again, that’s fine.”

“And you’re welcoming to where I am staying at any time,” The Speedster told Brandon.

“Okay, we need to go…” Chloe announced, gripping Revive’s arm a little tighter. “And you need to keep your balance in the air so hold me as tight as you can.”

Now that they were so close, Revive could smell the liquor and several other scents on Chloe’s breath.

‘Am I in one of those Universes where she is self-destructive?’ He thought.

The Speedster had seen countless Universes so it took him five minutes of sitting with the family to get the gist of which universe he had ended up in.

It was one of the more messed up Universes.

“You have to fly a bit slower this time around,” Revive explained, snuggling closer to Chloe as he positioned his body in a way to ride the wind. “And definitely don’t go Supersonic, it would kill me in this injured state.”

“A fly on the windshield?” Chloe chuckled.

“A fly on the windshield,” Revive smirked, relishing hearing the familiar words.

Chloe floated off the ground for a couple of seconds, finding her balance with Revive in tow, and the next second, the duo was rising at an incredible speed, cutting through the clouds above.

------------

The wind…

The clouds…

The stream of air pressing him from both sides…

The sensations were familiar to Revive.

Although his feet rarely left the ground, The Speed Force granted him the power to run on plasma, earth, in space, or anywhere that materials existed.

Seeing that Revive could handle the flight, Chloe slowly increased the speed.

“You seem familiar with flying,” She shouted, voice reaching The Speedster over the rushing wind.

“We always fly together,” Revive replied, vibrating his vocal cords with utmost precision so Chloe could hear him. “I can show you some tips and tricks sometime.”

“Teach me, how to fly?” She chuckled.

They flew in silence for a couple more minutes.

“When you break through these clouds, you need to dip into the lake below,” Revive ordered.

There was an authority in his voice that Chloe had heard before – when he was talking to her dad.

She wanted to retort but the words were caught in her throat – Revive was emitting a pressure greater and different from Utopia.

The clouds cleared.

Chloe dipped down, flying into the lake in the blink of an eye.

She continued down when Revive didn’t give the order to stop and suddenly, their roles were reversed.

Revive manifested the brace he had channeled the corrupted Speed Force energy into, snapped it around Chloe’s arm, and quickly pivoted onto her back to grab her mouth.

She struggled but found herself sapped of strength – the bracelet had rendered her power inert.

The Speedster panicked due to Chloe’s panic.

He hadn’t even thought this would be the first time she lost her power.

Revive spun their bodies, bringing himself and Chloe face to face.

‘Listen…’ was the signal he gave her.

The girl stopped panicking for a moment and raised her head, listening to the whooshing sounds coming from above and watching the shadows of hovering people.

They were being followed and she didn’t know.

‘We can’t detect her signature… maybe she has new powers?’

‘we regroup! They’ll pop up somewhere!’

‘We can’t allow Utopia to join the war… not now.’

Chloe’s eyes widened as she listened to the conversation; soon, silence came from above.

Revive removed the bracelet from Chloe’s wrist and the next second, they shot out of the water and onto the shore.

The Speedster rolled across the sand, hitting his back on a piece of log.

Then he felt a hand clutch his throat.

“Now, you’re going to tell me exactly what you have gotten me mixed up in!” Chloe ordered.

Revive chuckled even as his throat was being clenched.

Chloe released him.

The Speedster sucked in a breath of air.

It took a couple of seconds for his breathing to regain normality.

“Over coffee?” He suggested, pointing to a bed and breakfast a couple of miles south. “They won’t recognize you there. And even if they did, they wouldn’t care.”

“I thought this was a new dimension for you?”

“New Universe but some things don’t change and that place happens to be one of them,” Revive shrugged.

Chloe scooped The Speedster into a bridal carry and shot into the skies.

Ω

“Thank you.”

Chloe took a sip of the black coffee the waitress had brought.

“So?” She raised a brow.

“May I?”

Chloe pressed the coffee forward. “Be my guest,” She shrugged.

Revive downed the coffee in one gulp. “Sorry, my metabolism is messed up,” He explained, licking his lips.

“Well, my dad is The Utopian so I know a thing or two about what that’s like…”

“Must be hard—” Revive frowned. “Having a version of your dad that’s so mentally unfit. Guess that tends to happen when you get your powers in the early stages of schizophrenia.”

“What do you mean?” Chloe frowned. “You’re saying my dad is crazy?”

“No… do you understand your powers?” The Speedster frowned and raised three fingers to indicate order three from the menu.

The waitress caught on and rushed into the kitchen – chances are she recognized Chloe.

“I heal, I am tough, and I can move things around,” Chloe shrugged. “What’s there to know?”

“Well, for one… you have a scream equivalent to an atomic bomb and you’re not even using it properly,” Revive rolled his eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“That power that comes from your body and you channel it through your voice?”

Chloe nodded.

“It is meant to be built into conduits called Bracelet of Submission, and—” The Speedster mimicked bringing his hands together in a cross and tapping his wrists. “—you get a directed burst of power that can even put your father on his back.”

Chloe’s eyes widened.

“I could take on my dad?” She questioned.

“With a bit of training,” Revive leaned closer and whispered. “What I didn’t tell you earlier was the fact that no matter the universe, you’re always a hero. Even when none of your parents have their powers, you always have yours. And that’s because you’re an Amazon.”

“And not just any Amazon, a princess to boot.”

Chloe chuckled. “You’re saying I am a princess?”

“In a sense…” Revive shrugged.

A bout of small conversation followed… and Chloe was growing twitchier by the second.

Of course, Revive noticed.

“You’re an addict, huh?”

“Ugh, another sermon…” Chloe rolled her eyes. “If I wanted to hear about how I messed up my life, I would stay at home.”

“Touché.”

The waitress brought the meal and stared into Revive’s eyes for a couple of seconds.

The duo shared a secret nod.

Chloe and The Speedster shared the meal, eating slowly since neither was in a hurry to go anywhere.

The small talk continued.

“Revive Aionios… is that right?”

…

“And your parents died in the crash when lightning struck but you got powers?! That’s so sad and epic, you must be a great hero.”

…

“And we did what?”

Revive burst into a laugh. “We laid down and the train ran over us – we were so drunk that we didn’t even realize we were saving those people’s lives.”

HAHAHAHAHA

…

At some point, the duo made it to a room at the bed and breakfast, and they sat on the floor, passing a bottle of wine between themselves.

“You just had to pick the shittiest wine,” Chloe sighed and raised the bottle to take a big gulp.

“Because it’s supposed to be a punishment,” Revive chuckled, retrieving the bottle and taking a gulp of his own. “I just want to keep you from shaking and liquor does the deal… besides, for someone like you – the addiction really is just a matter of mind.”

“So, I can’t get addicted?”

“You can’t overdose…” Revive replied. “There’s a difference.”

“Okay, okay…” Chloe floated onto the bed and clapped her hands in an overenergetic manner. “So, you know everything about me but you can’t be sure which is true for this me, right?”

“The gist of it.”

“Then, ask me something I don’t want others to know and I will say if it’s true or not…”

Revive shook his head. “Trust me, you don’t want me to tell you your own secrets… it never ends well.”

“I am an open book, come on!”

“Okay, okay…” The Speedster thought for a couple of seconds and his eyes narrowed. “You slept with your friend Jana in High School.”

“I fucking loved her man,” Chloe announced, taking another sip of the wine she floated to herself. “Took me my first dick to realize I liked men more.”

They both chuckled.

“You don’t get your period anymore so you’re afraid that you can’t have kids…”

“What’s up with that anyway?” Chloe tipped her head back and covered her eyes in frustration. “I asked my mom about it once and she seemed horrified so I just pretended it was a joke.”

“Well, your body is Amazonian so your eggs stay viable for longer periods, probably four months or more,” Revive explained, blatantly gesturing to Chloe’s waist. “Whenever you’re ready to have kids, your body will know it and start releasing eggs again. You can only ever have female children though.”

“Good to know,” Chloe drawled. “Wouldn’t want a Brandon exiting me anyway.”

They joked for a few more sentences.

Sentences turned into paragraphs that became stories that took up hours.

The duo didn’t even realize when the night had faded and the sun peeked from behind the mountains on the horizon.

“Chloe! Chloe!” Revive kicked the girl’s legs twice.

He didn’t have to worry about hurting her, especially with how weak he was.

URGH

Chloe groaned as she awakened, floating off the bed and landing on her feet.

“SHIT! It’s already morning,” She exclaimed.

“Yeah, your phone keeps buzzing,” Revive passed the phone over to Chloe.

She took one look at the screen and blurred through the door of the room.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” The Speedster yelled.

The Amazon Princess blurred back into the room, scooped The Speedster into her arms, and blurred into the dining room of The Bed and Breakfast.

“First we eat breakfast, then we leave,” She announced.

They ordered…

The meal was brought…

The waitress brought something else for Revive.

“Your crystal-bond superconductor, sir!”

The Speedster took the roll of wiring without batting an eye and when Chloe raised a brow, clearly asking for an explanation, he simply shrugged.

“Science stuff… wanna know?” He questioned.

The Amazon shook her head negatively.

Ω

They floated down into Chloe’s apartment through the skylight windows that automatically opened when she was near.

“I have to hurry!” Chloe declared.

Revive didn’t even have time to prepare before he was dropped five feet to the ground, and it was only combat experience that saved him from the worst of the injuries.

“Here…” He tossed up the black bracer to Chloe.

The darkness of the bracer had faded.

“You’re going to a photo shoot, right?” Revive noted all the professional magazine photos framed on the walls. “Then you need to match – the bracers will add to your image.”

Chloe eyed the bracer for a couple of seconds before snapping it back onto her wrist.

“What can it do?” She questioned.

“For one, it can become transparent, and for two…” Revive gestured for Chloe to float down and she did.

He used the opportunity to place a hand on each bracer and they both pulsed with purple light.

“I just linked your bracer with my signet ring so we can always locate each other,” Revive explained. “Dimensional Barriers or not… doesn’t matter.”

“And if you think bracelets…”

Chloe quickly thought of the cute bracelets she had seen a week ago but couldn’t purchase since it was two million and her dad would never give her that kind of money.

And the bracers became those bracelets.

“Super cute,” She gushed.

“Yeah, take care of it,” The Speedster warned. “Especially the right bracer – I need it when I meet with The Union in a couple of days and that bracelet is a part of what I am proposing.”

“I don’t care and I need to leave!”

The next second, Chloe’s was gone – having blurred through the skylight window above.

“Well, what do I have to sort now?” Revive muttered to himself.

------------

An hour later, The Speedster had finished his bath and relaxation.

Revive made two meals from whatever was in Chloe’s refrigerator, and he wrapped both meals carefully and stored them in the fridge.

The next two hours were spent intimately with the television, switching from news channels to discovery channels to history channels and everything in between.

The Speedster was trying to learn as much as possible.

It was difficult to memorize everything without his accelerated thinking but a bit of focus and with the memories of countless universes, Revive was able to make sense of most things.

“The code, huh?” He muttered. “Don’t kill and don’t seek personal fame?”

Revive had seen a thousand different versions of the rules and sometimes, they worked and sometimes, they didn’t.

‘With a war coming, the rules need to change…’

Of course, The Speedster was not at ease being in one place for too long, especially since he had already made enemies in the new Universe.

He was through the door not long after.

------------

The stairs were long.

Chloe had chosen to live on the top floor but it was a bad choice for the current Revive.

Still, The Speedster walked down the stairs with no complaints, even when the Landlord halted him for five minutes to complain about Chloe.

Revive was able to learn exactly how many boyfriends Chloe had had over the past couple of weeks.

The manager stopped counting after the number fifteen.

“That’s going to be an awkward conversation to have with Chloe,” Revive muttered to himself but he knew it was a conversation that needed to be had.

Usually, he would only meet Chloe after her divorce but it just so happened that they met earlier this time.

That didn’t bode well for their relationship.

‘She’s an addict… sex and cocaine… likes to party and doesn’t bathe much…’

The Speedster was counting the problems he’d have to fix inside his mind and running away and coming back in two years was gradually becoming an option.

‘I still need to rely on her though… if not because of our history, then because I won’t survive without her…’

Chloe and her family had yet to understand just how powerless Revive currently was.

Tapping into The Speed Force would be easy enough – Dark Matter, an explosion, and lightning was all he required.

But…

That meant there had to be a Speed Force to tap into – Revive suspected there was none in this universe… not yet anyway.

And he couldn’t wait.

…

The streets merged in Revive’s mind.

Still, he marched on.

An ATM across the street caught his eyes and he was already noting the positions of the camera as he crossed the street.

A blind spot was determined and he bumped into someone on the street, snatching the man’s wallet in a swift, smooth flick of his wrist.

When he arrived at the ATM, Revive had a card, a wallet, and the camera timings memorized.

Someone exited the ATM at the moment The Speedster walked up and he was able to slip inside the air-conditioned room without leaving any fingerprints behind.

Not that he had an identity in this world.

There was always only one Revive… at least, that he knows of.

Revive entered the card, pressed a bunch of random buttons, and then pressed his palm against the machine, channeling the last bit of electrical energy in his body.

A flicker ran across the machine.

The Speedster quickly entered the monetary value - $50,000.

The first ten thousand went into the wallet.

The second ten thousand went into the right-side pocket.

The third ten thousand went into the left-side pocket.

The last twenty thousand went into the back pockets respectively.

The money was packed and Revive exited the ATM as if nothing had happened.

The complicated machinery outside hadn’t even detected his wayward activities because his abilities didn’t register with the standard of the world.

The Speedster disappeared into the crowd… into the noise.

He was completely undetectable.