Absolute Flash #8 (2025)

Years ago at Keystone University, Barry Allen shows up late to his own lecture. He tries to talk to his students about the latest advancements in quantum mechanics but none of them have any idea what he's talking about and, mildly disappointed, he switches to more basic material. Elenore Thawne, who is sitting front row centre, watches with a smirk. Later, she meets with Barry in his office and introduces herself. She tells him that she was keenly following his work at Princeton until it was shut down five years ago; which she says was a crime as he had been on the verge of something special. Thawne offers him a chance to not only continue his original research but make discoveries beyond his wildest dreams. Barry claims that his research had been a dead end and Princeton were right to shut him down, and that he wouldn't continue it even if he had the resources. However, Elenore says that she can tell he's lying and that he still craves true discovery. She asks him to give her one day to convince him. Barry and Thawne fly out to Fort Fox, where Thawne shows him multiple chalkboards covered in equations and a room full of journals. She tells him that they are her life's work, and her grandfather's. Thawne tells Barry the story of her grandfather: Dr. Eobard Thawne. During World War II he was the head of a secret government research project called Blue Trinity which was attempting to make contact with an alternate dimension of pure exotic living energy. The military became concerned by his eccentric methods and shut the project down but Thawne refused to stop, convinced the could hear a voice calling to him from the other world. He build a machine in the desert which would allow him to access the other dimension. Just as he was activating it an army officer name Captain Jay Garrick drove out to try and stop him. Eobard successfully opened a portal through which they could see an alien landscape. Garrick tried to shut down the machine, believing it was too dangerous; and Thawne threw him into the energy field, where he disintegrated. The machine exploded and Eobard Thawne was never seen again and presumed dead. Elenore explains that she has spent most of life trying to fill the gaps in Eobard's research journals. Despite the fantastical story Barry is more interested in the equations on the chalkboards. His affable attitude disappears, replaced with total focus on the work. He erases the equations on the board, declaring them wrong, and immediately gets to work correcting them. He offhandedly tells Eleone he will need his equipment from storage at Princeton and, smirking, she tells him he will have it. Two years later, Barry has rebuilt Eobard Thawne's portal generator and is working on protective suits that will allow the wearer to safely enter the alternate dimension. Elenore brings Rudy West into his lab and tells Barry that Rudy will be leading security for their new military division. Barry is annoyed by this, believing that building weapons for the military will distract them from their true purpose, but Elenore says it is necessary to secure continued funding. She then asks him how close he is to a first attempt to enter the other dimension and he replies that he'll be ready to make lead the initial survey in a week. However, she tells him that he won't be leading the initial team as he is too valuable to risk until they know it is safe. Irritated and upset, Barry goes to the cafeteria for dinner and notices a teenaged civilian boy eating alone. He realises the boy is Rudy's son Wally West and goes to sit with him. He strikes up a conversation with Wally and tells him that he was also a military brat who moved around growing up. Wally says that he hates maths and science and prefers music. Barry replies that music, and indeed everything, is just math once you get down to it. He tells Wally that when he understands that, the whole world will open up to him. A week later is the initial survey into the other dimension, with they have termed "Still Point". Barry successfully opens a portal to Still Point and a three-person team wearing Barry's containment suits enter while Barry and Thawne monitor them remotely from the lab. The team make it across safely and Barry tells them to start collecting samples of the "Red Matter" that makes up the dimension. Before they can, the team spot a crashed alien spaceship. Project Olympus moves the ship back to their reality and starts work studying its alien technology and the corpses of the crew, allowing them to create genetically modified apes like Grodd and the Rogues' equipment. However, Barry does not care about any of it and is eager to go into Still Point and start collecting the Red Matter. He accuses Thawne of losing sight of their real purpose and her grandfather's work. Outraged, she yells back at him that the Red Matter is dangerous and they need more time to study it, which working on the alien tech allows them to do. Thawne tells Barry that she will not allow him to bring samples back to their world until they are absolutely sure it is safe, or else they may end up destroyed by it just like her grandfather was. Despondent, Barry goes down to the chamber with the portal generator. He hears a voice calling his name and red lightning snakes from the machine towards him. He asks the voice if it is Eobard Thawne and reaches out to the lightning. The lightning makes contact with his fingertips as the voice begs him to help it. Barry has a vision of himself in a swirling energy vortex wearing the containment suit. The other Barry tells him he must stop and it must be Wally West, then disintegrates before Barry's eyes.