Chapter 6:

Author's Note: This is meant to take place at some point between "King Shark" and "Trajectory". However, it's not canon with The Flash, rather this is a similar universe to Arrowverse-Earth One where identical events occurred. This is done mainly to avoid any consequences from the various time travel shenanigans on The Flash, and because of the revelations about Zoom that occur in "Trajectory" are contradicted by this story.

The group was traveling through the vortex. As normally, it was rather chaotic, with the blur of colors all around them. Michael turned around and looked towards his friends. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a black blur before they reached the apex of the portal. A portal opened up in a nondescript, quiet street in Central City. Three figures tumbled out of the portal. Michael stood up and looked around, and noticed that a member of the group was missing.

"Rebecca!" Michael shouted.

"Where'd she go? She was just with us!" Sam said.

"Maybe there was a distortion in the portal and it opened up somewhere else." Cassie said.

"No, something happened in there. I saw... something in the portal. I don't know what it was, it was a blur... But I saw something, or someone." Michael said.

Meanwhile, at S.T.A.R. Labs, an alarm was going off. Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon ran to the computer station in the center of the Cortex. A red blur flashed by and Barry Allen, The Flash, stood in the center of the room, fully clad in his costume.

"What's going on?" Barry asked.

"We've got a... breach." Caitlin said, her voice dropping at the last word.

"But we closed them all, how is that possible?" Barry said.

"No idea." Cisco said. "The signal we picked up was at the corner of Aventine and Exeter."

"Could be Zoom. I'll check it out." Barry said, before disappearing from the Cortex.

He ran towards the intersection as the trio began looking around for their missing friend. He stopped in front of the trio.

"Holy crap!" Sam shouted. "That was so fast!"

"You!" Michael shouted and rushed towards The Flash. "You took her!"

He quickly placed himself behind Cassie. Michael turned around and ran towards him again, but Barry yet again ran faster than him and placed himself several feet away.

"Michael, what's going on?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that too." Barry said.

"In the vortex, I saw a blur when Rebecca went missing! And this guy shows up running real fast right after?" Michael asked.

"Wait, did you say you saw a blur?" Barry asked. "Was it black?"

"Yeah." Michael said, relaxing his posture.

"It wasn't me... But I know who took your friend." Barry said. "He's someone I've been chasing for a while."

"What's going on, Barry?" Cisco asked through Barry's suit.

"It seems like the breach has closed itself, if that's possible." Caitlin said.

"Give me a minute, guys." Barry said before turning back to the trio. "You three, we detected some sort of dimensional breach in this area."

"That would be us." Sam said.

"You created a breach?" Barry asked.

"It's a long story." Cassie said. "But you said you might know who took our friend?"

"Yeah. Give me a second." Barry said.

Just as he said that, he disappeared from the spot he was standing in. The trio looked around, puzzled as they waited.

Barry, just around the corner, watched them.

"Guys, we've got a problem. Three people came out of the breach, and they lost someone along the way. I think Zoom has something to do with it." Barry said.

"Are they metas?" Cisco asked.

"Don't think so, they seemed pretty shocked at my speed." Barry replied. "But they said that they created the breach. And they said that a black blur showed up in their breach before one of their friends went missing."

"Sounds like Zoom." Cisco said.

"Bring them back to S.T.A.R. Labs with you." Caitlin said.

"Got it." Barry said.

He rushed back to the trio, still standing around on the corner.

"Alright, so my friends can help you. But we've got to go to our base of operations." Barry said. "Do you mind if I take you there?"

"Not at all." Cassie said.

"Good." Barry said.

Barry grabbed Cassie and disappeared, running back to the lab. He returned and grabbed Sam, leaving Michael standing alone for only a few moments before Barry returned to whisk him to S.T.A.R. Labs.

The trio was very disoriented by the experience, as they suddenly found themselves in an elevator with Barry pressing a button.

"I figured you'd send a car or something, but that works..." Michael said, dazed.

"This is your base?" Sam asked. "Beats our dorm room."

"Beats Quinn's basement too." Michael joked.

"So you said you know something about the blur?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, the blur is called Zoom. He's a speedster, like me, but he's evil. We just locked him away on his world." Barry replied. "I'll be able to explain better with my friends. I'm The Flash by the way."

"I'm Sam." he held his hand out to shake Barry's. "This is Michael, and this is Cassie."

"Nice to meet you." Cassie said.

The elevator opened and a man in glasses, wearing a black long sleeved shirt held his wrist out, flicking open a watch. He looked at the trio as they stood next to Barry.

"They're human." the man said, before turning and walking back down the hallway.

"What was that?" Cassie asked.

"That was Harry. Zoom kidnapped his daughter, and he just got her back, so he's a little on edge about anything involving breaches." Barry replied.

They continued walking down the hallway until they got to the Cortex. Caitlin and Cisco stood up and watched the newcomers as they walked in.

"These are our new breachers. They're not metas, and they create their own breaches." Barry said.

"How is that even possible?" Cisco exclaimed. "Zoom can't even do that! As far as we know, at least."

"With this." Michael said, pulling the timer out of his pocket. "We call it a timer."

"A timer... that's... actually a really good name." Cisco said. "How does it work?"

"It's a really long story, maybe I'll explain it later but right now I need to know everything about this Zoom guy and how I can get my friend back." Michael said. "You said you locked him away on his world. How do we get there?"

"That's the thing... We can't. We closed all the breaches between his world and ours." Caitlin said. "There's no way to re-open them that we've figured out."

"But then how did this Zoom guy get into our vortex and take Rebecca?" Sam asked.

"Your timer thing, must have breached into his Earth as well." Cisco said. "That's amazing."

"Do you think it could do it again?" Barry asked. "Make it open a breach?"

"Can't do that. As the name implies, it's set on a timer. We can't use it again for... three days, six hours and seventeen minutes. And when it goes off, it's random." Michael said.

"Can I..." Cisco started. "Actually, can we have a minute? Can you wait in the hall?"

"Sure." Cassie said.

The three sliders walked out into the hallway. Harry and a girl, presumably his daughter walked past them into the cortex.

"So, do we trust them? I want to start working with them to re-open the breaches." Cisco asked. "But we've had a bad track record of people showing up in breaches."

"I think they're on the level but..." Barry started.

"They're not metas, but that doesn't mean that they're not trying to trick us." Harry said. "We can't risk anything."

"We trusted Jay and, he helped us a lot." Caitlin said. "If it wasn't for him, you'd all be stranded with Zoom on Earth Two."

"I say we do it." Barry said.

"Fine." Harry said. "But if they betray us..."

"All right." Caitlin said, walking to the threshold to call back in the sliders, who returned to the Cortex.

"Can I take a look at your timer?" Cisco asked. "I might be able to copy the design and create our own breaching device."

Michael looked at Sam and Cassie, who affirmatively nodded.

"All right. But be careful, if we don't get to leave when it times out, we're trapped here for the next thirty years." Michael said, handing the timer to Cisco.

"I'll be very careful then." Cisco said, carefully looking it over in his hands.

Meanwhile, Rebecca woke up in a dark cell. She stood up and steadied herself on the bars.

"Hello?" Rebecca shouted.

She looked at the cell across from her, and saw a figure standing in a mask. He started tapping on his cell. Suddenly, a black figure rushed into the cell, pushing Rebecca up against the wall.

"Tell me how you breached." the figure ordered in a raspy tone.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Open the breach again!"

"I can't. I don't have the device to do it. My friends do."

"Very well." the figure stepped back and dropped Rebecca to the ground. "Flash and his team will likely re-open the breach soon enough..."

Michael finished his demonstration at the white board in Cisco's workshop as Cisco looked over the timer.

"Okay, so you're saying that this timer just finds the weakest point in the dimensional barrier and breaches it?" Cisco said.

"Essentially, through the use of Einstein-Rosen-Podolsky bridges." Michael said.

"Wormholes..." Cisco said. "I'm sorry but this is just so cool!"

"Yeah, I'm not the foremost authority on it, I didn't invent the timer, a friend of mine did, but I managed to replicate his work." Michael said.

As they continued looking over the equations, Detective Joe West walked in, but he jumped back when he saw Michael. He reached for his gun and removed it from the holster.

"Cisco! Get back!" Joe shouted. "You! Hands up!"

"What the heck is going on?" Cisco asked.

Michael put his hands up as Joe stepped towards Cisco.

"This guy's been on our radar for a week." Joe said. "Been knocking down electronics stores."

"But he just showed up in a breach less than an hour ago." Cisco said. "He's not from this Earth."

"I can explain... before Rebecca went missing... we were tracking down our evil doubles." Michael said.

"More doppelgangers... I hate all this multiple Earth stuff. I thought once we closed those breaches it'd be over." Joe sighed, putting his gun away. "Sorry, but I have to think about protecting and serving before I think about all this crazy stuff."

"No problem. I think you're the first person to point a gun at me that's ever apologized for it." Michael said. "And I apologize for my double."

Sam and Cassie sat in the Cortex, as Caitlin, Barry, Harry and Jesse walked around, doing various activities.

"I just feel so useless." Cassie said. "I don't know the timer so I can't help Michael and Cisco and I don't know anything about this world so I can't help them."

"Don't feel useless." Sam said. "They'll need us soon enough."

Suddenly, Michael rushed into the room, as Cisco followed, holding a device that looked like the timer, only larger.

"You did it?" Caitlin asked.

"Yep!" Cisco exclaimed. "It was awesome, once I figured out the equation, I was able to copy nearly exactly what they have in their timer. But... ours is pre-programmed with Earth Two's coordinates."

"We're keeping that name?" Harry asked.

"Yes, we're keeping the name." Michael replied.

"So, how early can we go save Rebecca?" Sam asked.

"The thing is, Barry needs to be here. Last time we left, metas almost laid waste to the city, it was only with Jay's..." Cisco started, before seeing Caitlin bow her head. "Someone has to protect the city."

"Then we'll go." Cassie said. "Leave Barry here."

"Out of the question." Harry slammed down the tool he was holding. "Zoom is faster than Barry. He will kill you instantly, because once he has your device, he will take over every world he finds. If you want your friend to be rescued, leave it to the professionals."

"How long have you guys been dealing with other-dimensional threats? Six months? Maybe a year? We've been doing it for a lot longer than you. I think we can handle ourselves." Michael walked up to Harry. "We took out an entire race of being bent on dominating the multiverse."

Harry scoffed and picked up his tools. He walked towards the door of the Cortex, turning around before he walked through the threshold.

"Ramon, Snow, show them Zoom's death toll." Harry said.

"He's not wrong. Just not going about it in the nicest way." Caitlin said. "Even with powers, Zoom can kill you. He killed Jay, he could have killed Barry."

"I can't just sit here and let Rebecca be tortured by this Zoom guy." Michael said.

The entire room seemed to quiet down as everyone started thinking deeply. Cisco was the first to speak up.

"I've got an idea." Cisco said. "I might be able to get some help to protect the city this time. Maybe Star City can lend us some protection."

"And I think we can arm you guys with something that can handle Zoom." Jesse said. "Right, Cisco?"

"Yeah, I can retrofit some meta equipment for Zoom." Cisco said.

In Zoom's prison, the other prisoner kept tapping on the cell. Rebecca slowly stood up and walked towards the edge of the cell.

"I don't understand the code!" Rebecca shouted. "I wish I did but..."

The figure kept tapping. Rebecca looked around the cell, not seeing anything that could help her escape.

"Never thought I'd be wishing to be back in a Kromagg prison..." Rebecca mused. "Michael, Sam, Cassie... where are you?"

Later, Barry rushed back into the Cortex, catching his breath as he took off his mask. The trio were mildly surprised to see that, much like the rest of Team Flash, he was relatively close to their own age, yet gave off the air of experience.

"All right, are we all set?" Barry asked. "Team Arrow lent us some help temporarily in case something happens when we're gone."

"The timer is set. Thanks to the geographic stabilizer in it, we could pinpoint in a small enough radius that if we go there, we'll stay in relatively the same spot we are here, give or take. We go in, and using the element of surprise, we can attack Zoom's base." Cisco said.

"Who's coming?" Barry asked.

"Us." Michael said, as he, Sam and Cassie stood up.

"And me." Cisco said.

"I'll sit this one out. In case something goes wrong I'm the smartest one here." Harry said.

"Then I guess it's just the five of us. Can the vortex sustain that?" Cassie asked.

"Quinn's could, so we should be good." Michael replied.

"Let's go to Earth 2." Barry said.

Cisco activated his timer. A vortex appeared in the middle of the Cortex. Everyone stood and marveled at it.

"Okay, we've got to be back here in three days, cause our timer only works from this Earth." Michael said. "With Rebecca."

"That's the plan." Barry said.

The speedster, sliders and viber leaped into the portal. It closed after they entered it as Caitlin, Jesse and Harry watched on in the Cortex.

"They're doomed." Harry said, flatly.

To Be Continued...