Summary: Ficlets belonging in the alternate universe established in From There to Here that didn't fit into the original fic itself.
Oh, and remember, don't let the pigeon drive the bus. –Mo Willems-
-Eleven Months After the Tidal Wave-
Barry came to a stop in the alleyway and gave himself a moment to catch his breath before he stood straight, crossing his arms over his chest.
It was too hot to be running, especially in the Flash suit, but Harrison had nagged him into it, because Barry could have cared less about the sudden surge of energy in the historic district and what did he care if there appeared to be an ongoing temporal disturbance. All that meant to him was the quiet night he was supposed to be spending at the lab, distracting Harrison from working on the accelerator, was now being spent in an alley, staring at a weird, wobbly, distorted… shiny… thing.
Okay, actually, that was kind of interesting.
"Harrison, are you seeing this?"
"The camera in your suit hasn't been functional in nearly a year, Barry."
"Why not?"
"We haven't needed it."
"Well, that just feels like poor planning on your part."
The reward was in the belabored sigh on the end of his headset. "Describe what you're seeing."
"Or, you could get off your lazy ass and come see for yourself."
"Barry…"
"No, seriously, what's stopping you?"
"I'm busy."
"I was busy too."
"You were watching pornography on your tablet."
"Yeah. Busy."
In the pause that followed, Barry could practically see Harrison's eye twitching. "If you're attempting to annoy me in the hopes that I will punish you later, congratulations, you have succeeded. Now, what do you see?"
"It's a weird, wobbly, distorted, shiny thing. Also, vaguely circular."
"How descriptive."
"Oh, I'll take a picture!"
"Do that and then come back. I've got some equipment I want you to take out there."
Barry refrained from groaning and went with a simple, "Peace out!" which was sure to annoy Harrison even further, before turning off his coms and pulling his hood down. There wasn't anyone here to see him.
This was going to take all night. Well, all of Barry's night. Might as well get started. He'd just pulled out his phone and started trying to focus on the distortion when a dark blur shot out of it. He pulled the phone away, but there wasn't anything there.
Although, there was the sound of heavy breathing come from behind him.
Barry whirled around, his heart leaping into his throat at the sight of a… well, he couldn't be sure exactly what it was. By physical build alone, he'd say it was a man, but the black suit covered the entire body and face, making it impossible to be sure. It could be a really tall, muscular girl. It could be a robot.
Oh, that would be cool. "Are you a robot?"
The thing tilted its head a fraction. "I am Zoom."
"Does that mean you're not a robot?"
"No."
"Damn." The voice was too guttural to be strictly human. It was almost monster like, but with the same vibrating quality to it that Harrison and he could do. "Speedster then?"
"Yes."
There was a strange hum surrounding him. Barry closed the distance between them, trying to get a better look. The eyes were black. The mouth of the mask was separated and stretched, like it had been torn.
"That is so creepy. Who made your suit?"
In the next second, Barry was against a wall, a clawed hand wrapped around his neck. That was faster than Harrison. Barry grinned, the hand wasn't tight enough to cut off his air, but it definitely made it a little harder to draw breath. "Careful there, big guy. Around here, that's what we call foreplay. I kind of have a thing for asphyx…"
The hand tightened, cutting off his air entirely and Barry really hadn't been kidding about asphyxiation. If this kept up, things were gonna get really awkward really fast.
The black mask moved in closer until it was inches away. "I will kill all other speedsters."
Barry's feet hit the ground hard as air rushed into his lungs, causing his knees to go weak. He gripped the wall to stop himself from falling, but couldn't stop the bubble to laughter. There were black dots spotting his vision. Here, there, everywhere. He laughed again and stood up fully, leaning back against the wall.
"That…" he held up a hand and took a few more seconds to catch his breath. "Could you do that again? Only this time, don't stop. I was almost there."
Zoom stared at him with black eyes. The mask made the expression unreadable, but Barry could read the confusion and incredulity in the body language. It was in the way Zoom took an actual step back, the way he didn't move to touch Barry again, not to hurt him and certainly not to strangle him.
Barry's eyes dragged up and down Zoom, openly appreciating the overall physique. He wasn't bad. A bit nightmare for Barry's tastes, but, "Hey, you have white lightning! How'd you manage that?"
Zoom growled, his fingers stretching out, like he was thinking about striking out with his claws and Barry licked his bottom lip and dragged his eyes back up. Just a little more time. "So, you're from another universe?"
"Yes."
"What's it like?" Zoom growled again and Barry raised his eyebrows. "Laying it on a little thick, aren't we? I'm the Flash, by the way."
"You're not the Flash."
"Excuse me?"
"You're a shadow." Barry stiffened, anger pulling at his gut. "You're broken."
He clenched his fists against his sides. Who the hell was this Zoom to accuse him of not being the Flash? Who was he to call Barry…
Red lightning filled his vision and then yellow as Harrison came to a stop between them. Barry felt the anger drain away as quickly as it had risen. "Harrison!"
Harrison ignored him, his focus on Zoom. "You don't belong here."
Zoom didn't flinch. "Reverse-Flash."
"This is not your world."
"I will kill all the speedsters in all the worlds."
Barry chuckled, "I like him. His plan is a lot less complicated than yours."
They both turned to stare at Barry, glowing red eyes and soulless black. The Reverse Flash's subtle buzz with Zoom's nightmare shudder. It really shouldn't be a turn on, it should probably be pretty far from it, but Barry had long since given up reasoning with his body.
Barry shrugged, "Whatever. Are we fighting or are we just gonna stare at each other all night? Or! Threesome? Anyone? No? Got it."
Zoom growled softly, drawing the words out slowly. "I will be back."
Barry winked, "Hasta la vista, baby."
Zoom shot back through the breach and Harrison turned on Barry, the red bleeding out of his eyes as he pulled his mask down and stopped vibrating. "Was that really necessary?"
"Did it piss you off?"
Harrison's mouth twisted into a scowl. When Barry grinned in response, Harrison sighed and wiped a hand over his face. "We'll have to monitor the breach closely. In case anything else comes through."
"So, definitely a breach then?"
"Hm, and no running through it, either. It's unstable. It could collapse at any time and you'd be trapped on the other side."
Panic instantly lurching up into Barry's throat at the thought of being separated from Harrison. No. No no no. Breach bad. Bad breach. No breach. "Do you think any other metas will come through?"
"Perhaps. That's why we'll be spending most of the night setting up monitoring equipment."
"Aw, man!" He'd had plans for the night. Naked plans.
Unfortunately, Harrison was right, Zoom had been fast. Faster even than Harrison and he'd said all speedsters, which included Harrison and not that Barry minded dying himself – he wasn't suicidal, but it wasn't the worst thing that could happen to him – it was just that Zoom hadn't exactly specified who he'd kill first and the idea of watching Harrison die, of seeing his body, like he'd seen Iris and Joe and his Dad…
No. He wasn't letting that happen. He needed to get faster. A lot faster. Couldn't tell Harrison that, though. Couldn't let him find out. He might get his hopes up and Barry liked to tease, but he wasn't cruel. Luckily, Barry had ways to keep him distracted.