From the clone's memory, Edwards saw what had happened. A black, undead-looking creature immediately attacked the clone after entering the Speed Force; the creature was extremely fast, and as soon as it touched the experimental subject, the latter disintegrated.
"Time Wraiths," muttered Edward as he knew of these creatures. These creatures are similar to the Time Guardians in his universe, tasked to prosecute any Speedster who time travels and messes up with the space-time continuum.
"Now we know for sure the Speed Force has a consciousness and is trying to prevent our works," commented Morgana. "Do you want to use drastic measures and attack it?"
"Are you crazy?" Edward rolled his eyes. "The Speed Force runs through the Multiverse. In other words, it's a Tier 11 Entity, which might be the bare minimum."
In the comics, Speedsters have done many things that regular Tier 11 could never do. And now that this world was being fused with the comic, who knew how powerful it was?
"So, what do we do?"
"We will send as many subjects as needed. We can gather much data from their confrontation with these Time Wraiths," replied Edward. "Plus, we still need Barry."
Time passed, and Edward returned to the team, holding a metal briefcase in his hand. Everyone just looked at him, waiting for him to speak first.
"Wow, you guys are truly a bundle of joy," said Edward with a smile, only he and Morgana knew what was on his mind. Using Legilimency, he knew these people were secretly investigating him but had not found anything yet. Sadly, he still could not read Barry and Wally's memories.
"The tech support team has a gift for you," said Edward as he opened the case.
"A new suit?" asked Barry, not hiding his confusion.
"Yes. This suit absorbed the excess heat and kinetic energy you released when running."
"My suit already does this," he immediately said.
"Why don't you let me finish?" said Edward, looking helpless. "Not only absorb it but redirect the energy to increase your speed. According to them, your speed will receive a boost between 20 to 40%."
"Thanks," said Barry, but his face showed no gratitude or interest in this new suit. Edward did not say anything.
"Now, we can begin our work."
"We have nothing to do yet," said Cisco. "This is not a job, and most of the time, the city is peaceful."
"Is that so? In that case, I'll be in my office."
Edward stayed in his office for the next few hours, only leaving for lunch or bathroom break. Meanwhile, Barry and Joe attended their job at the police station while Iris continued her career as a journalist. Harrison Wells was absent, leaving only Ralph, Caitlin, and Cisco.
The Elongated Man had a day off from his job, so he spent the day with Cisco and Caitlin.
At 8 PM sharp, Edward walked out of his office and said his goodbye to Caitlin and Cisco, who only nudged their heads to acknowledge his existence. Then, they immediately reported to the others.
"We need to give them something to do," said Edward back in his hiding place. "Plus, we can also prepare for the future."
"What do you have in mind?"
…
The next day, the team had to deal with a new meta-human.
"You guys seemed in a hurry," asked Edward as he walked in.
"A new meta-human," explained Cisco. "And it's a Speedster?"
"How is that possible?"
"That's what we are trying to figure out."
"Let me see."
They showed him a video of a speedster robbing a bank, and Edward frowned, "Why did he only take 5,000$?"
"Why does that matter?" asked Cisco.
"No, it does," chimed Iris. "Such an act screamed desperation instead of a criminal mastermind."
"Are you saying our perpetrator did this out because they believed they had no choice?" added Joe.
"Most likely."
"Then, we can start from there."
The team soon began to work, trying to discover the identity of this new Speedster. However, even with Edward's help, nothing was discovered until two days later when the latter struck again, stealing more than 50,000$ this time.
"He or she is escalating after getting a small taste," commented Joe. "It won't be long before things get out of control. We need to stop them."
Then, the next day, they tracked the perpetrator while they were in the midst of committing the crime, and Barry rushed to the scene. Sadly, in his first encounter with this [Dark Flash], as the media called this Speedster, he failed to capture his opponent.
"Barry, what happened?" asked Joe. With the new suit, he should have captured his opponent.
"He was not only a speedster but also had this ability to clone himself. He distracted me with the clone, and I lost his track."
Time passed, and it has been two weeks since this new Speedster showed up. Unfortunately, Barry has never succeeded in capturing his opponent; he did stop a few of the latter's crime attempts, but that's all. This speedster would display a new power in every confrontation, rendering the team's plans useless.
Meanwhile, Edward was over the moon as he gathered almost all the data he wanted from his experiments and mainly from Barry's confrontation with the opponent he chose for him.
Today was a Tuesday morning, and he walked inside the Lab as usual. However, he immediately noticed something was wrong. From these people's memories, he knew Barry told them he discovered something about me but refused to say anything until I was present.
He saw everybody staring at him, including Harrison Wells, who returned to this Earth.
"Do I have something on my face? Or maybe on my shirt?" asked Edward as he checked his appearance.
"Enough with the charades," said Barry. "Tell us who you are and what your true purpose is."
"Excuse me?"
"I saw what you did to Wally in the alternative reality I left behind and all the other cruel experiments," said Barry with gritted teeth.
"Interesting," uttered Edward. "So, the Speed Force directly contacted you? I should have expected this after what happened last year."
"So, you're not hiding it."
"Since the truth is out, what's the point of doing that?"
Barry controlled his emotions, "Are you going to answer my question? Who are you, and what's your purpose?"
"You can think of me as a scientist whose latest research topic is the Speed Force."
"The new Speedster — that's your doing?" asked Iris.
"Correct."
"Since you can already create Speedster, why must you infiltrate our team?" asked Harrison Wells.
"I don't merely want to create Speedster — I want to create the Speed Force itself," replied Edward before gazing at Barry. "Of all the Speedsters in the Multiverse, you have the deepest connection. Only through you can I truly understand the Speed Force to be the point of recreating it."
"That's simply impossible," persuaded Cisco.
"Maybe for you."
"I won't let you," said Barry.
"You can't stop me."
Time suddenly slowed down as lightning encased Barry and Wally; he rushed forward with maximum velocity toward Edward.
"Do you think this was enough to stop me?"
"I expected you to be a Speedster, but this won't change anything," said Barry.
"I've got your back," added Wally.
Edward only smiled before the two realized they were also moving in slow motion; the world suddenly felt very difficult to move in, like they were underwater. Then, Edward calmly walked to each of them and placed a bracelet on their wrist.
Crash!
Barry and Wally fell on the floor, and time began to move normally.
"Barry!"
"Wally!"
Iris and Joe rushed to the two of them.
"What did you do to us?"
"It's a simple seal that blocks your access to the Speed Force," calmly explained Edward before looking at Caitlin and Cisco, who were prepared to use their powers. With a single look, they discovered their powers were also blocked and became useless.
"Here is what's going to happen," continued Edward.
