Drums. Pounding. Wind. Lighting. Metal. These were the only things Cisco Ramon could hear. Decked out in his Vibe gear, Cisco was searching the area for whatever was the source of the noise that haunted him. Checking back alleys and streets, Cisco had no luck.

"Guys, I got nothing." He relayed into his comms to the rest of the team. He only heard static in return. "Guys?" he tried again, but to no avail. "Gotta fix these when I get back." He muttered to himself. He was about to breach back to the lab when he heard the noise again. This time louder than before, the pounding of the drums reverberating inside his skull. He could smell the air becoming charged with ozone as flashes of light started to appear all around him.

"What the hell?" he said aloud. He raised his hands, ready to blast whatever it was that was watching him, when suddenly he was grabbed. He didn't know where he was going, couldn't get any sense of direction. All he could see was a trail of white lighting behind him. It was only when whatever grabbed had stopped and Cisco was rolling on the ground that his thoughts caught up with his body.

"No, we beat you. WE BEAT YOU!" he yelled out to his captor. Looking up, Cisco saw, clad in a demonic metal suit and white lightning arcing around him, Savitar.

"You can't beat a god." He rasped out before running to Cisco, who started to scream.

"NOOO!" Cisco yelled, springing up in his bed in a terrified sweat.

"Babe, what's wrong?" Cynthia asked, sitting up beside him.

"Nothing… just a bad dream…" Cisco said, trying to reassure her.

"Cisco, you're sweating." She said.

"That's cause you're just so hot." Cisco said, grinning, making Cynthia hit his arm.

"I'm serious. I don't have to remind you that we're connected."

"Yeah, you're right. It's just… I saw Savitar… I'm pretty sure he speared my heart, which I'm so tired of, by the way." Cisco explained, making Cynthia chuckle.

"What else?" she asked.

"Nothing. Started out as recon, like the team and I was running a mission, then Savitar showed up. I woke up when he killed me… you don't think this means anything, right? I didn't Vibe the future, did it?" Cisco hesitantly asked.

"I'm sure you didn't. We beat Savitar, he literally got erased from existence." Cynthia assured, rubbing his arm.

"I mean, the same thing happened to Thawne and we're still dealing with him, sorta… I hate time-travel!" Cisco bemoaned.

"Yeah, it's a bitch." Cynthia agreed, confusing Cisco.

"You've dealt with time travel?"

"Yeah, we have our own Speedster, remember?"

"Oh, yeah! You told me about that, 'The Accelerated Man'… gotta say, not the best name he could've chosen."

"And like The Flash is any better? Sounds like the name for a Meta-Pervert." Cynthia said.

"Nope, we're not having this discussion again." Cisco said, trying not to grin.

"You better?" Cynthia asked.

"Yeah, thanks."

"You're welcome. Now, go back to sleep. It's 3:23 in the morning." Cynthia said, laying back down.

"Yeah, you right, you right." Cisco agreed, laying back down next to her.

After getting out of prison, Barry Allen was rediscovering how glad he was to wake up in his own bed. There was no role-call, no mandatory bed checks, and he could wake up whenever he wanted. And the fact that when he went downstairs he was greeted with home-made breakfast ready and waiting didn't hurt either.

"What's all this?" Barry asked.

"Can't a wife make breakfast for her husband who just got out of prison?" Iris asked playfully.

"I love it when you say that." Barry said, pulling her close to him.

"You being out of prison?" Iris asked.

"You being my wife." He answered, giving her a quick kiss.

"Yeah, that does have a nice ring to it." Iris said. The two of them sat down at the table and started to eat.

"When do you get back to work?" iris asked.

"Today, actually." Barry answered, finishing his seventh pancake.

"This soon? You just got out. I can't believe captain Singh would bring you back so quickly."

"He didn't. I did."

"Why? I thought you'd want some time off after everything, you certainly deserve it."

"I thought about that, but I wanted some normalcy back in my life. Getting back to work is the best way to do that." Barry said.

"If that's what you want, Barry, then you should do it."

"What are you going to do?" Barry asked. Iris shrugged.

"Me and the rest of the team are still trying to figure out what DeVoe is planning and Cisco came up with a training regime for Ralph. Speaking of which, you have a training session at 5:00." Iris said. Barry smiled.

"I don't know if I can make that, I don't get off work till 6:00 today. Plus, someone told me to take some time off, and I think I should." Barry said playfully. Iris played along.

"Barry Allen, are you not gonna listen to your boss?"

"Technically, I'm your boss. Or at least your landlord." Barry informed.

"What do you mean?" Iris asked.

"I own Star Labs, remember? Eobard left it to me in his will, along with all of its properties and the rights to his patents and whatnot." Barry said, mouthful of food.

"Chew, Barry. I didn't know that. What exactly does that mean?" Iris asked.

"Well, Eobard came up with a lot of next-gen inventions that are still being used today. Since he left me everything, I get everything that comes with those. It's actually how I can afford this place." He explained, eating his now 23rd pancake.

"I never knew that." Iris frowned.

"Never came up before." Barry said, finishing his breakfast. "Oh, hey, I think I'm actually gonna be late for work. I'll try to finish early and head to the lab, ok?" Barry said, kissing Iris on the cheek and heading to the door.

"Alright. Love you." Iris called.

"Love you, too." Barry answered before closing the door and speeding to work.

Walking into CCPD, Barry took a moment to take in the room. The last time he was here, he was on the opposite side of the law, being taken in by the very same people he'd worked with. The evidence was damning, yes, but Barry still had a bit of irritation in him when it came to this place. That feeling went away when Joe West came towards him and buried him in a hug, which he happily returned.

"It's so good to have you back, Barr." Joe said.

"Good, to be back, but you're crushing me…" Barry wheezed out. Joe chuckled as he let him go.

"I'm surprised you're back so soon." Joe said.

"Iris said the same thing, but I just had to get back to my life, you know? Move on." Barry said, heading to his lab, Joe walking with him.

"I get that. What are you going to do now?"

"Well, I'm sure captain Singh has a stack of case reports he wants me to get through."

"Actually, no. Captain did them himself."

"What? Why?"

"He believed you were innocent and you still got locked up. He did your work as sort of an apology." Joe explained.

"I appreciate that, but he had to follow the evidence. I get why it happened."

"That's good. But, Barr, before you go in, you should know something." Joe said, as Barry opened the door to his lab.

"What, Joe?" Barry asked before he saw a man in his lab.

"Him." Joe said, pointing at the man. Said man noticed the two come in and walked towards them.

"Oh, hi! You must be Barry, sorry if I left a bit of a mess in here." The man said kindly as he shook his hand.

"What's going on…?" Barry asked.

"Barry, this is August Heart. After you got sentenced, he took your place as head CSI." Joe explained.

"I got replaced?"

"Only temporarily. Now that you're back, I'm headed back to the crime lab. I was actually just packing up my things."

"Oh, no, you don't have to go. I've shared my lab before, it's not an issue." Barry offered. August shook his head.

"Thanks for the offer, but I prefer the lab. Don't get me wrong, having your own space is great, but I kinda run things down there. It's fun to be in charge." August explained.

"Oh, well, if you're sure. Though, there's a lot of stuff here that isn't mine."

"Yeah, in my defense, I didn't think you'd be back so soon so I kinda got comfy here. To be honest, no one was expecting you to be back till a few more weeks. Should only take a couple days for me to move out."

"Barr, if you want, I'm sure you can take off, let August take care of his business for now."

"You sure?" Barry asked.

"Yeah, I'm actually in the middle of a couple cases, too. Take your time, Allen." August said.

"Alright, guess I'll, uh, go to my… other lab" Barry said, walking off.

"See you around, Allen." August said, waving him off.

"Wally met Joan of Arc?" Barry asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, he sent me this picture yesterday." Iris said, showing Barry a picture of Wally standing next to a woman clad in armor and wielding a sword.

"Looks like he's having fun with the Legends." Barry said.

"I'm still warry with a speedster travelling through time." Harry said, clearly referencing flashpoint.

"Fair enough, but the Legends know what they're doing… most of the time." Barry answered.

"Legends' huh? Sounds a bit pretentious if you ask me." Ralph said.

"Good thing no one asked you." Cisco said.

"You know, sometime your words hurt, Cisco." Ralph said, mock hurt in his voice.

"Yeah, that's fair. Sorry, just didn't sleep well last night." Cisco explained.

"Wanna make a coffee run? I'll actually pay this time." Ralph offered.

"Now that, I will take you up on." Cisco said, when alarms started going off.

"What is it?" Caitlin asked.

"Alarms going off at 34th and Lex… now 45th and Jackson… Rudy and Brown!" Cisco informed.

"Multiple bad guys?" Ralph asked.

"Good thing we got a team of Heroes." Iris said.

"No, wait. Pulling up security footage. It's just one guy…" Cisco said.

"One guy at all those places?" Caitlin asked.

"Teleporter?" Ralph guessed.

"No, guys, look. Pulling it up on the big screen." Cisco said. Everyone looked at the big monitor and saw sparks of light-blue lighting trailing behind someone moving at super speed.

"Another speedster?" Caitlin asked.

"Bound to happen eventually. We go through one every year." Cisco said.

"Can you run facial recognition?" Iris asked.

"Doesn't look like it, dude's wearing a helmet. Full body view coming in now." Cisco said. The team looked back to the screen to see some clad in what looked like, slim silver armor, a black swirl on their chest and spikes curing up on their shoulders. Their helmet looked vaguely like a cobra's hood curving inward.

"Great. What's the plan, boss?" Cisco asked Iris.

"Short version, suit up and roll out."

"I like it, short, simple, right to the point." Ralph said, pulling out his suit.

"There a long version?" Harry asked.

"Long version? Cisco breaches himself, Frost, Barry, and Ralph to where this guy is. Frost tries to blast this guy with ice to slow him down."

"A speedsters kryptonite." Cisco said.

"Exactly. Barry runs circles around him, keep him distracted so Frost can get him, and Cisco provides back up. Ralph, use your powers to watch out for civilians and debris, make sure everything bounces away from them."

"Sound plan. I like it." Harry said.

"Alright, we breach in 2 min- woah. Barry, you ok?" Cisco asked.

"Yeah? Why wouldn't I be?" Barry asked.

"Your hand… it's vibrating." Cisco said. Barry looked at his hand and saw that Cisco was right. His hand had been vibrating for some time now, lighting arcing around it.

"Barry?" Catlin asked.

"I don't know… something about this guy… it's rubbing me the wrong way." Barry said.

"What do you mean?" Iris asked.

"I don't know, I feel like… I'm being drawn to him… no, like he's drawing me to him."

"Could be the Speedforce." Harry said.

"The Speedforce?" Ralph asked.

"Hm. It could be drawing these two together, like a positive and negative charge." He explained.

"I think… I think I gotta do this one on my own." Barry said.

"Barry?" Iris said. He turned to look at her, a knowing smile on his face.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm faster than I've ever been. This is just something I've gotta do, speedster to speedster." Barry said.

"Alright… you come back to me, alright?" Iris said. Barry smiled.

"Always." He said before speeding away.

"Cisco." Iris said.

"Already on it." He answered, bringing up street cam footage of this new speedster. Soon, Barry was in view too.

"Finally, the one I wanted. Or are you?" The armored figure said.

"What do you mean by that?" Barry asked.

"All will be revealed, Flash."

"Who are you?" Barry asked.

"Right to it, then. I am Raijin, God of Lightning." Raijin announced, lighting arcing around him.

"Great, another 'god'." Barry groaned.

"And now it's clear you're not who I wanted either." Raijin said.

"Really? And who would that be?" Barry asked.

"I wanted the fasted among us."

"You're looking at him." Barry said.

"I suppose you're right, in a matter of speaking, Barry." Raijin said, startling Barry.

"He knows…" Iris said, back in the cortex.

"How is that possible?" Caitlin asked.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Cisco said.

"How do you…" Barry asked.

"I know everything about you, Barry. I know your past, your present, your future." Raijin taunted.

"Who are you?!" Barry demanded.

"That's not important right now." Raijin said.

"Enough of this." Barry said, speeding towards Raijin. Raijin took off, trying to outpace Barry. The two speedsters raced throughout Central City.

"Look at them go." Cisco said, monitoring them through the screen.

"Is Allen really that fast?" Ralph asked.

"Sometimes we forget just how fast he can be." Harry said.

"But peep this. Barry's catching up on metal-man. He's faster than Raijin." Cisco announced.

"That's a first." Harry said.

"Is it? Isn't Allen supposed to be the 'fastest man alive?' that's his whole thing." Ralph asked.

"You'd be surprised." Cisco said.

Barry sped towards Raijin, catching up with every step. Soon he overtook him and stuck his leg out, tripping Raijin at mach-23. Raijin tumbled and was going for blocks but before he could crash into a building, he phased through. Barry stopped before the building and waited for Raijin to come out. Barry heard thunder rumble and looked up just in time to dodge a lightning bolt.

"Impressive, Flash. Truly, the title of 'fastest man alive' is finally fitting. It only took 4 years." Raijin mocked, phasing through the building to face Barry.

"I'm glad you're impressed." Barry retorted, speeding towards Raijin.

As Barry tried to punch Raijin, he went right through him as Raijin phased his body.

"So impulsive, Flash." Raijin said. Barry turned to face Raijin again but found a trail of lightning connecting the two. Raijin snapped his fingers and the trail of lighting engulfed Barry, shocking him to his core.

"GAHHHH!" Barry screamed out and collapsed to the ground.

"But you forget, I'm the God of Lightning" Raijin said approaching Barry, storm clouds gathered above Central City with each step he took. "And you, Flash, are just a man. Not worthy to face me. But Barry Allen has the potential to be so much more." Raijin said.

"What do you want!?" Barry demanded to know, struggling to get up from the lightning blast.

"I want to prove my superiority! Prove that there is only one God of the Speedforce. But I can't do that with you, Flash. I told you before, I want the fasted among us. I want the one you fear most, the God of Speed." Raijin snarled through his mask. Barry's face went pale, knowing who Raijin was talking about.

"No…" Barry said weakly.

"I. Want. Savitar!"

(A/N. I've had the idea for this story for the longest time and I've been meaning to upload it for just as long. Savitar has always been one of my favourite villains in the show and it really intrigued me that since he was Barry, Savitar still has the potential to exist. That's something that will come up in this story along with exploring Barry's darker side, and all the bad that's happened in his life. If you like this story, don't forget to leave a review!)