"Unexpected? Surprised?" Jack Kadere asked with a light smile, watching the Reverse-Flash's incredulous expression. "You thought that as soon as Grodd appeared, the situation would turn in your favor, didn't you? That you could use its psychic powers to control me and force me to help you get home? I have to admit, it was a clever plan. A creature of Grodd's size is difficult to hide, so you must have had him lying in wait nearby after I took Caitlin. You knew I would come, especially once Barry Allen got his speed back."
"Your own speed isn't enough to outrun me, and you knew I had uncovered your true identity, so hiding was no longer an option. You changed your strategy."
"Your plan was to use me to help you return to your time, and then have Grodd kill me. A perfect outcome: you successfully go home, Barry Allen is no longer directly threatened and can continue his career as the Flash, and you retain your connection to the Speed Force. A win-win scenario! It's just a pity you miscalculated one crucial thing: Grodd's telepathy is useless against me."
The Reverse-Flash stared at Jack, not wasting his breath asking how or why Grodd had failed. Red lightning flickered around him as he prepared to run!
He had to run!
The moment he moved, Jack Kadere shifted to block his path.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two nearly identical streaks of red lightning flashed violently throughout the lab. Every single time the Reverse-Flash tried to bolt for an exit, Jack was there first, anticipating his moves despite the Reverse-Flash pushing his speed to its absolute limit.
"Just how fast is he?!" the Reverse-Flash cursed internally. He turned sharply, his eyes locking onto a nearby solid wall. He began to run in a tight circle, building momentum.
He took a deep breath, focusing on the air, the wind whipping against his mask, the solid feel of the earth. His feet propelled his body forward at an impossible velocity. Lightning—he felt the lightning, its raw power, the current pulsating through his veins, electrifying his entire being and spreading through every nerve ending like a continuous shockwave. He was no longer just a man; he was a vessel for a greater power, an extension of the Speed Force itself!
Now!
The Reverse-Flash's eyes gleamed with triumph as a concentrated bolt of red lightning shot from him toward the wall. By vibrating his molecules at the precise resonant frequency of solid matter, he could phase right through it! This was another power granted by the Speed Force.
Whoosh!
His body became a blur of high-frequency vibration, on the verge of passing through the wall. But at that critical moment, Grodd's massive form suddenly lurched into his path.
Pfft!
The Reverse-Flash phased directly through Grodd's body and into the wall beyond.
"Success!" he thought, emerging from the other side and immediately accelerating again to make his escape. But suddenly, a red light passed through him from behind and materialized directly in front of him.
It was Jack Kadere.
Phasing was a technical skill, not solely dependent on raw velocity. While mastering the Speed Force, Jack had naturally practiced and perfected these very techniques. He just hadn't expected the Reverse-Flash's own phasing to be so… clumsy.
"What a pity. I was hoping to play with you a little longer," Jack said, looking at the Reverse-Flash with genuine regret.
THUD!
On the other side of the wall, Grodd's massive body hit the floor with a sickening finality. The moment the gorilla fell, the Reverse-Flash, who stood facing Jack Kadere, also shuddered and collapsed.
When a speedster phases through a wall, the wall remains intact. But phasing through another living being was a catastrophic miscalculation. The complex biological structure of a person required a completely different vibrational frequency, a fact the Reverse-Flash had discovered too late.
"No…"
A streak of yellow light announced Barry Allen's arrival as he rushed into the room. His eyes widened in horror at the sight of the Reverse-Flash's motionless form. "No, no… if you're dead, how can I prove my father's innocence? No…" He looked up at Jack, his voice sharp with desperation. "Why did you kill him?!"
Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow arrived moments later, their expressions a mixture of shock and sorrow as they looked down at the fallen speedster. Despite the betrayal, the history they shared with the man they knew as Harrison Wells was real; without him, neither of them would have the careers or lives they had today.
"He was too slow. He phased through Grodd and just… stood there. I didn't even mean to hit him, but he was right in my path," Jack Kadere shrugged, his tone laced with a hint of genuine disappointment. He had been looking forward to the dramatic reveal of Thawne's identity, and now that fun was spoiled.
"Look!" Cisco Ramon suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the body.
Before their eyes, the familiar features of Harrison Wells began to shift and melt away, reforming into the sharp, angular face of a blond man.
Eobard Thawne.
This was his true face, the man behind the mask all along.
Jack seemed unimpressed, like a child who had broken a new toy too soon. He shook his head, and red lightning began to crackle around him as he prepared to leave. But just as he was about to speed off, he noticed a faint, ethereal red glow emanating from Thawne's corpse. Within the glow, a spectral essence seemed to detach and suddenly surge toward him.
Jack didn't move.
A sudden, intriguing thought stayed his hand.
The next moment, the red energy merged into him, vanishing from sight. Jack felt it clearly—it hadn't been absorbed into his physical body, but rather into a separate, conceptual space connected to his being.
The Speed Force dimension?
Whoosh!
Under the bewildered gazes of everyone present, the lightning arcing around Jack Kadere flickered and shifted, its color changing from violent red to a steady, brilliant yellow.
"What… what's happening?" Caitlin stammered, voicing the question on all their minds.
'A post-mortem assimilation? When a speedster dies, they return to the Speed Force, becoming part of its fabric. But Thawne's connection was parasitic, stolen from Barry. Even in death, his energy should have reverted to the Flash. Did it come to me because I was the one who killed him? Because my own connection to the Speed Force is… unique?' Jack pondered.
The Speed Force was too complex and enigmatic for any single mind to fully comprehend, and Jack's own connection was an independent conduit. He had no definitive answer for this unexpected change.
However…
As he looked at the yellow lightning dancing around his fingertips, a slow, predatory smile spread across his face. He had found a new game.
Hunting speedsters.
His eyes, sharp and calculating, slid from the yellow energy to land squarely on Barry Allen. The gaze was intense, and the eager, predatory intent behind it was completely undisguised.
Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin froze, first in confusion, then in dawning horror.
"Jack, what… what are you going to do?" Caitlin Snow asked, her voice tight with fear.
Glancing at her, Jack offered a charming, yet deeply unsettling smile.
Whoosh!
A burst of yellow lightning flared, and Jack Kadere vanished from S.T.A.R. Labs.
He would let Barry Allen live. For now. A living Flash would inevitably attract or create more speedsters for him to hunt.