CHAPTER NINE
"Zoom sent me here to kill you, but I didn't want to," Doctor Light told Barry.
Sophia was sitting in her chair in the cortex, sipping on a frozen coke as she listened to Doctor Light go on about Zoom. Sophia hadn't even met Zoom yet, but she was already sick of hearing his name. She wondered if what they were doing was right. Were they in over their heads? She remembered the danger and disaster that was the Reverse-Flash and if it meant they could stop it before it happened, then that would be great, she was all for it. But her doubts were beginning to get the better of her at this present moment. Especially since it had been days since Jay had left them.
She thought that Jay's anger and frustration would have faded away and that he would be back to help them, but once it had hit the third day mark, she knew that he had truly been serious about this whole situation. He wanted nothing to do with them putting themselves in danger, and it made her really think about it. What if they weren't able to stop Zoom? What if Zoom was much stronger and faster than they had previously thought, after all, they had never met him to form their own opinion or idea. He was just this image in their head, and she was worried that they were underestimating his power.
"But you were fine with killing Linda Park," Barry countered, crossing his arms.
Ah. Linda Park.
The poor girl had been traumatised after the near brutal murder that had come from her very own doppelganger. Iris had been an angel and had taken her to the West household, keeping her company and making sure that she felt safe. Sophia was glad that at least Linda was out of the way for now, and wouldn't be targeted again. She didn't deserve to be attacked, or have to witness the murder of one of her colleagues.
"It was the best idea I could come up with," Doctor Light defended as she paced the small space of her cell in the pipeline. "Leave her body for Zoom to find, he'd think I was dead, and I'd be free."
"How was he supposed to know where to find her body?" Barry asked, continuing the interrogation smoothly. He was glad that Joe had let him sit in on so many over the years, finding it easy to question Doctor Light. She was different compared to their usual villains, and he found he was making more progress with her than he had with most they had come across.
"Just let me go," Doctor Light said exasperatedly. "Let me disappear."
"You would spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder, never knowing when Zoom is coming."
"Listen," Doctor Light sighed. "I tried everything on my Earth. If Shadow couldn't even help me, then how can you expect to? She was the most powerful of us all, and even she fell under Zoom's reign."
"You mentioned her once before, who is Shadow?" Barry asked with intrigue, taking a step forward. Sophia and Cisco who were sitting upstairs had leaned a bit closer towards the screen, Cisco's hand automatically moving to turn the volume louder on the speakers to see what was up.
"She was someone who thought she could take on Zoom, just like you and your merry little band of friends are trying to now. She disappeared and according to most, she's either dead, or Zoom barely left her alive enough to live what a crappy life we have left on that pathetic excuse of an earth." There was a sliver of fear and resentment in her voice as she told the tale, but she shook her head, realising they were getting off topic.
"We're different. We can help."
"Okay. And what's your great idea?"
"How were you supposed to contact him after you killed me?" Barry asked, an idea coming to the forefront of his mind. He admitted that hearing the tale of this other Meta failing put him off a little bit, but then again Jay hadn't been able to stop him either and he was a speedster. But he was The Flash, and he had Sophia by his side as well as the support from the rest of his team. He was prepared to take Zoom down and end this. He just needed to stay positive.
"I was supposed to get something…something I could only get if you were dead, and then throw it into the breach as proof," Doctor Light said.
"And then what?"
"And then he'd come for me. Confirm the kill and bring me home," She said, a heavy feeling in her gut as she realised that the next time Zoom crossed her, it would most likely result in her death. "Why do you want to know?"
"Because I want to find him."
"You really don't want to do that."
"He's going to keep coming for me. He's gonna keep kidnapping people like you, forcing them to do what he wants. I have to stop him before he kills more people," Barry said.
"You can't stop Zoom." Doctor Light stared carefully at the man in front of her, and his next words actually had her believing him, hoping this would be the case.
"Yes, I can. We can, but with your help."
After a lengthy meeting, a minor bit of cursing from both herself and Cisco, it had been decided that they would be accepting Doctor Light's help in taking down Zoom. Barry had come up with an elaborate plan with the help of Doctor Wells, but things had gone to shit when Linda had blind sighted him and escaped, leaving them with no Linda Park to aid them in their rouse.
Barry had called Iris and told her to take Linda to their house to keep her out of town and safe from Linda in case she decided to go after her again, but they had a feeling that now that Doctor Light had escaped, she wouldn't be returning. Harry had yelled at Barry quite a bit, leaving him frustrated as he tried to get the situation under control. The doppelganger from Earth 2 had then moved to the other side of the room, keeping quiet and muttering to himself about how he needed to finish working on the speed dampener that they were making in preparation for Zooms arrival.
But it seemed as time went on, and things kept going wrong, Sophia's nerves were moving towards the edge of a very dangerous mountain top. She wasn't so sure their plan was solid anymore. She was anxious and fearful of what Zoom's arrival mean, unsure if they would be able to pull it off.
"So what's our next move?" Joe asked to no one in particular, wondering where they would go next.
"Well considering that Jay walked out on us, and we've got no Doctor Light to help us trick Zoom, I'd say we figure out a way to close the breach for good so we can all go back to our normal lives," Cisco suggested. "Not to mention that Harry is terrifyingly similar to Dr. Wells and I still don't trust him."
"Cisco!" Sophia mused to herself that Caitlin sure did have a way of berating people by only using one word.
"Since when were our lives ever normal?" Sophia asked.
"Before the Particle Accelerator," Cisco muttered under his breath as he fiddled with the bottom of his shirt. Sophia let out a sigh at his deflated form. She knew that he was scared, they all were, especially considering the horror stories that Jay had thwarted them with before his dash away from their lab not long ago.
"How are we doing with the speed dampener?" Barry asked, ignoring the previous comments as he paced around the well-lit cortex.
"I think we isolated the composite," Caitlin replied.
"And we're modifying the dart The Arrow used to take down Wells," Cisco said.
"He's not Wells. I'm Wells," Harry huffed, a frown settling on his brow.
"Whatever, Harry," Cisco scoffed.
"How do we know if this is even going to work? It took two tries on Wells-sorry, Eobard, before it took him down." It was obvious that Sophia's doubts were getting the better of her and she tried to ignore the sympathetic look that Barry was giving her. She wasn't backing down, she wasn't abandoning him, but she was terrified as hell.
"Until we try it, no. This will be a field test, so can we end this scintillating staff meeting and get back to work?" Harry asked from the other side of the room as he turned around and started to write furiously on the white board, scribbling down formulae.
"Or, how about I say what everyone's thinking? Maybe it's a good thing that Doctor Light is gone," Joe said from his spot, where he had previously been silent-mostly. "Maybe it's the universe stopping us from doing something really stupid."
"I'm gonna figure out another way to get Zoom," Barry said, shaking his head. Regardless of their setbacks, he was still determined to see this through.
"Hey, slow your roll, I want to talk to you," Joe said, pulling Barry aside, leaving the others to help Harry finalise the dart that would be their only defence other than Barry's speed and Sophia's energy against Zoom.
"Joe, look, I know what I'm doing," Barry said as he straightened out his jumper.
"Okay, I don't, so why don't you clue me in?" Joe asked exasperatedly. He was scared about what this was doing to Barry. He knew that Barry had a kind heart, and that he would do anything to protect innocent people, but Joe knew that this wasn't what had to be done. Yes, Zoom needed to be taken out, but they needed to get their game plan straight. They didn't have enough information on their opponent and Joe knew that they were going to be blind sighted, and judging by the things he had heard, Zoom seemed to be far worse than the Reverse-Flash.
"I'm trying to stop Zoom. I thought you were on board with that?" Barry asked, an expression of hurt evident on his face.
"I'm keeping my options open."
"I don't understand why you think we have a choice," Barry said to Joe. "Zoom wants me dead. He want's Sophia dead."
"Ah, so that's what it's about. You're trying to protect her." Joe knew that after Barry lost Sophia those months ago that he had been a wreck, truthfully, they all had. But to think that Barry was throwing caution into the wind just to keep her safe made him nervous. It was a valid reason to go after Zoom since the man seemed hell bent on killing both Barry and Sophia, but he didn't want either of them getting hurt in the process.
"So what if it's because of her, I can't lose her again, Joe," Barry said with such pain in his eyes that Joe almost didn't want to continue arguing with him. "It's not just her. You know that. The meta-humans that he's sending from Earth 2, they don't care how many innocent people get in his way. Look at what happened to Iris and Linda's boss. He was just collateral damage in Zoom's war. The next time that could be you or Iris."
"I'm just wondering if going after him now is premature. I mean, we barely know anything about his abilities," Joe told Barry. He was trying to look at it like a cop heading into a hostage situation. Without knowing the background information of the criminal, it would be nearly impossible to predict or deduce what their next move would be, and it would only result in more people getting hurt.
"Wells does."
"You're putting a whole lot of faith in the man wearing the face of your mother's killer." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Joe regretted them. But they needed to be said. "I think we should find Jay, get him to help us on this."
"Yeah, Jay made it pretty clear that he doesn't want to help me get killed, and we just can't sit around and wait for Zoom to make his next move anymore."
"I guess we can't," Joe sighed.
"Aren't you the one who told me life isn't about playing defence, sometimes the only way to succeed is by working the offense?"
"I think at the time we were talking about your high school football tryouts," Joe teased, earning a strangled laugh from Barry, both of their chests rising up and down in laughter.
"You said you'd never bring that up again," Barry said with a playful frown. Joe pulled Barry into a tight hug, wrapping his arms around his shoulders firmly.
"Whatever you have planned, keep me filled in. If you're gonna do this, we're gonna do it together."
"Together." Barry nodded.
"Hey," Sophia greeted, leaning against the wooden doors of Barry's lab at the CCPD. With nothing to do at Star Labs but watch Cisco try to sneakily touch Harry to vibe, and between sitting and watching Caitlin work with Harry trying to finish creating the speed dampener, she was bored out of her mind.
She had then decided to go for a quick flight and had suddenly found herself at the doorsteps of the CCPD. Well, a few streets away considering she couldn't make such a grand entrance, but she knew that she wanted to see Barry. They needed to talk.
"Hey," Barry said with a smile as he looked up from his computer. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be at Star Labs."
"I was, I guess I just needed some air," Sophia said. "Sorry to bother you, I know you're working." Her hair was windswept after her flight over, and her button up flannel hung of her shoulders carelessly and Barry admired the sight before him, almost laughing as he noticed that she was wearing a pair of his old converse, the shoe laces done up so tight to keep them on her feet.
"Don't worry, I'm nearly done, just give me a sec." Barry sent her a wink before running around the room and finishing up the last report, delivering it to the Captain's desk while he was busy filling up his empty mug of coffee.
"All done?" Sophia asked as he stood before her, his hair ruffled and shirt slightly skewed.
"All done." He gave her a small smile.
"Good." She moved forward, wrapping her arms firmly around his mid-section, holding onto him tight. She took in a deep breath through her nose, inhaling his scent, the usual traits of musk and burnt leather from running tying in well with his natural aroma.
"Is everything okay?" Barry asked softly, bringing his arms around her as she nuzzled her head in the crook of his neck. One hand rested on the small of her back, the other softly brushing through her wavy hair.
"Are you sure about this? All of this?" Sophia asked with a tone of uncertainty. "Do you think we're making the right choice?" She mumbled into his shirt as she tilted her head.
"Yes," Barry replied without hesitation. "I know that it's scary right now, that there's a chance things might go wrong, but there's so much more to gain from this than ever. We have to stop Zoom, it's the only way to keep everyone safe, to keep us safe." The unspoken to keep you safe hung in the air and she held her arms around him tighter, pressing a kiss to his neck before arching back enough so that she could gaze up at his face.
"Okay."
"You don't have to do this you know, I-I can do this on my own," Barry said after a moment. He knew that after everything she had been through, she had the right to back down. They had discussed this before, but he wanted to give her the option once again. He wouldn't force her to do anything she didn't want to.
"No, I-uh, I'm scared of what could happen, but there's no way I'd ever abandon you. We're going to do this together," Sophia said, mustering a brave smile. Barry leaned down and captured her lips in a lightning quick kiss, the pressure sending the butterflies in her stomach reeling as she moved her arms to wind themselves around his neck, clinging to him desperately as she tried to remind herself that they weren't just two superheroes, they were a team, and they would take down Zoom together.
A short while later, Sophia found herself standing on the doorstep of the West household, waiting by Barry's side for Iris to answer the door. Barry had yet again misplaced his set of keys, and the ones that were usually hidden under the pastel yellow flowerpot had gone missing.
Iris came running a moment later, swiftly opening the door after jiggling the worn out brass handle in the right direction, greeting them with a warm pink-lipped smile, inviting them in. Linda Park was sitting on their couch, wrapped up in a warm tangerine blanket, with a cup of coffee in hand, and countless sweets and treats set out on the coffee table in front of her. Sophia's eyes then found the kitchen table that was also covered in pots and casserole dishes filled with enough food to feed an army.
"Are you guys having a dinner party?" Sophia asked.
"You would think," Barry said, biting back laughter as he looked at the mess all around.
"Stress cooking?" Sophia asked Linda who just laughed in response from her seat on the couch. She noted that there was also a little bit of flour in her hair from when she must have been baking.
"Don't even get started, I think she's used up everything in our kitchen," Iris said.
"It's just, sometimes cooking helps me to relax," Linda defended.
"Oh," Linda said, her fingers tapping away on the nearly full cup of coffee. She was too anxious to eat or drink anything at this point, and was just holding onto the cup for the warmth and comfort that it offered her hands. The cooking and baking had been a release, but short lived once she had finished. "Have you heard anything about Doctor Light? Am I still in danger?" Linda asked, firing her questions away at Barry once he had walked further into the room.
"We're not really sure," Barry said and he felt guilty when he saw Linda's deflated expression.
"Come on, I'm going crazy here, Barry," Linda said.
"Yeah, she is," Iris said, interrupted as the oven timer went off with a ding. Linda jumped off her seat on the couch, the blanket falling around her to reveal that she was wearing an apron on top of her dress that had been splattered with bits of flour and chocolate.
"That is the cake. Hope you're hungry," Linda said as she disappeared into the kitchen.
"She's not kidding. There's enough food in there to feed an army," Iris commented. She was just happy that she didn't have to cook for the next few days. But she was desperate for any information on Doctor Light. Ever since Larkin died, she noticed that Linda had been on edge, and she couldn't blame the poor girl, only hope that she could do something to help her.
"She must be terrified," Barry said, leaning against the back of the couch.
"Uh, more like furious," Iris corrected. "Larkin died to protect her, and it only makes it worse that the person who did it looks just like her. I mean, trust me. If Linda had Doctor Light's powers right now…" Iris trailed off and Sophia could practically see the lightbulb on top of Barry's head turn on.
"No, Barry," Sophia said, crossing her arms. She wasn't going to let him do something this stupid.
"Why not? It's a great idea," Barry said and she shook her head once more.
"What?" Iris said looking between the both of them, trying to figure out what was going on.
"I just, uh, Linda and Light… they're identical. So identical that Light even thought she could fool Zoom. Now we have Light's suit," Barry explained and Iris held up her hand cutting him off.
"You don't even have to say anything, I know. I also agree with Sophia when I say that it's a terrible idea," Iris said.
"You can say that again," Sophia muttered.
"No, no, no, it's not," Barry said, trying to convince them. "We make Zoom think that Linda is Doctor Light and use her to draw him out."
"It's too dangerous, what if Linda gets caught in the crossfire?" Sophia asked. "She won't be able to protect herself, we can't put her in that position."
"Let Linda decide," Barry said and Sophia let out a long sigh. "I mean, she's desperate to catch the person who's responsible for Larkin's death, and she deserves the chance to help us."
"Fine, but if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it the right way," Sophia said.
"What did you have in mind?" Barry asked, and he noted the glint of mischief in her eyes.
Sophia worked on creating the gloves with Cisco as Barry and Iris brought Linda into their training room at Star Labs. They had explained what would happen to Linda, and the plan was to see if she would be able to handle the heat.
It was agreed that if they were going to throw Linda into this situation then they needed to give her something to use to protect herself, and that's where the gloves came in. Cisco was retrofitting some of the old tech from Doctor Light's suit into a new set of black metallic gloves that Sophia would charge up with her energy, to allow Linda to fire short disperses of blasts from them, in order to re-create Doctor Light's powers, and give her a weapon to protect herself with should the need arise.
Sophia was dressed in her suit when Barry came running in beside her, also clad in leather as Iris walked Linda over.
"I still don't understand why we're here. I thought your dad said not to leave the house," Linda's voice travelled through the hallway as they moved closer.
"Someone wants to talk to you," Iris said, a gleeful tone in her voice.
"Who?" Linda asked as they reached the mouth of the room, her jaw dropping as she saw the two superheroes standing in front of her. She blinked once, then twice, then once again as she tried to come to terms with the situation.
"Ms. Park we need your help."
"Woah."
After Linda's star struck moment had passed, they soon got to work. Sapphire showed her where she could get dressed into Doctor Light's costume and made sure to tell her the plan one more time, making it clear that she could back out if she wanted to at any time. Linda was a civilian and she wasn't going to make her do anything that she wouldn't make Iris, Caitlin or even Cisco do.
"This is ridiculous," Linda commented as she walked back into the room, now dressed head to toe in Doctor Light's costume. She found the mask itself was the hardest thing to wear, being with how it sat on her head, as well as the fact that once it was on, it was hard to see underneath. She mentioned this to Cisco and he explained that the contrast in the darkness of the mask, with the illuminating light of the blasts cancelled each other out, and that if it changed it would only make it harder for her.
"No, it's not."
"You look just like Doctor Light," Iris said, trying to encourage and support her friend.
"And with these gloves that Cisco rigged up, you'll be able to do what she does."
"Don't worry, they are totally safe," Cisco reassured Linda as he handed the gloves to her. "Ish."
"Ish?"
"Well, come on, it's gotta be believable, so they really do fire and explode things," Cisco said, noting that Linda looked slightly paler than before.
"And you are going to have to let her hit you with those blasts when she gets the hang of it."
"Who exactly came up with this terrible idea?"
"Okay, it's not a terrible idea."
"The suit can absorb the blasts," Cisco said, but it didn't sound too convincing.
"For real, or Ish?" Barry asked.
"Guys, seriously," Sophia said, pushing them aside. "Linda won't be hitting The Flash, she doesn't need to. She can hit me," Sophia said, using her energy to create a round shield almost like that of Captain America's, holding it in front of her in a protective stance. "This way, we all stay safe and don't have to worry about any unplanned injuries."
"Great."
At first, Linda had been apprehensive about the whole thing, and she missed more than just a few times, but once she got one hit in, the rest seemed too flow, and she flew through the training. The first shot she had tried to fire had resulted in her screaming because the gloves had a slight malfunction and they erupted into flames that were quickly put out by Sophia. She didn't know whether to laugh or bang her head against the wall, but she knew that they had to do this so she helped Cisco quickly finish fixing it before giving it back to Linda who was getting pointers and tips from The Flash, nodding enthusiastically as he gave her advice.
They were all impressed with the progress that Linda had made in the last few hours for a beginner. Sophia had even upped the ante and flew around the room as a moving target, her shield held out in front of her as Linda hit it, blasting her. She was glad that Linda was able to get in a few hits as she moved as this is what would happen when she attacked Barry as they lay out their plan to capture Zoom. It needed to look believable.
Once Sophia was done, she let Barry take the reins, running around the room, taking a few blasts to his suit in order to allow Linda to feel comfortable in actually hitting him seeing as though that is what would be happening soon enough.
"Okay, no offense to Linda, but I don't think she can pull this off," Cisco said as they all met up in the cortex, leaving Iris to keep Linda company.
"Well, maybe if she didn't scream every time she fired," Caitlin pointed out.
"I think she can do it. She was getting the shots. We just need to get her comfortable enough not to freak out each time she throws a punch, otherwise it won't work," Sophia said.
"I'll talk to her," Barry said.
"What could you possibly tell her to make her feel more comfortable, all she sees when she looks at you in the suit is The Flash."
"That's it, thanks for the idea!" Barry exclaimed, a bright smile lighting up on his face. The rest of them gave him looks of confusion, Cisco and Caitlin watching on with mirth as he moved forward pressing his lips against Sophia's in a chaste kiss before running out of the room.
"What just happened?" Sophia asked, earning a shrug from Caitlin and a laugh from Cisco.
"I don't even want to know."
"That makes two of us."
"I'm here to kill The Flash, and no one can stop me!" Linda yelled out as she threw out another blast of energy that Barry dodged. Sophia was watching from the sky, using her cobalt encrusted vision and a new pair of lenses woven in her mask by Cisco that allowed her to see them from down below from her vantage point. She had the perfect aerial view, seeing exactly where everyone was. She was waiting for the moment that Zoom came through the portal. Her job was to immobilise him in any way she could using her powers, whether that was creating a barrier to trap him on or shock him with a bout of energy was completely up to her. She just needed to distract him long enough for Harry and Joe to be able to fire the speed dampener at him and make the shot.
But as she flew up high above watching the scene take place she could visibly see Cisco cringing as Linda asked how that was.
"Uh, it's a little too much," Cisco told her, then moving to berate her as she tapped the ear piece once again. "Uh, stop messing with the earpiece."
"Yeah, you don't want to dislodge it," Barry told her.
"Right, you… you told me that. I'm sorry," Linda muttered under her breath.
"No, no, you're doing great, Linda," Barry reassured her quietly before running around her in circles, then presenting himself in a prime target position. It was almost comical the way things were playing out, which was ironic considering it wasn't going to be this way for much longer if Zoom ever came.
"All right, Doctor Light, here I am," Barry said, using his Flash voice as he played his part. "But we're gonna skip the part where you say you're gonna kill me and go right to the part where I don't let you."
"I'm here to kill you, Flash," Linda's spoke, projecting her voice as loud and dramatic as possible. Sophia wanted to face palm, obviously Linda hadn't gotten the double meaning of Barry's words as the speedster tried to save them all some time and worry.
"Wait, what are you doing? We're skipping that?" Linda whispered.
"Yes," Barry whispered back and Linda cringed, taking a quick breath as she tried to gather her courage once again.
"Uh, I am loyal to Zoom, so get ready to fry," Linda yelled out, pushing both hands out in front of her and firing away at Barry. He moved around a little bit, pretending to actually fight with her.
"Next time we're doing this, I'm writing better dialogue," Cisco groaned.
"Next time?" Caitlin questioned.
"Next time, Cisco can stay away from writing the fanfiction when he clearly has no experience," Sophia remarked.
"Fine, I'll leave it to you, J.K. Rowling," Cisco scoffed through the comm.
"Better than letting you take control of it," Sophia threw back with a sweet smile.
"Uh," Barry fake groaned as he finally took a hit from Linda's blasts, figuring it was a good time to get caught off guard and stage the scene.
"Oh!"
"Gotcha," Linda said. This time Barry moved slower and she took the opportunity to make a big show of her final hit, the illuminating bright light almost blinding Barry as he dropped to the ground, collapsing unceremoniously onto the cold and wet floor of the docks.
"Told you, Zoom always wins," Linda declared as she stood above Barry's body, her shadow covering his form. She whispered to him quickly to ask if he was fine, her shoulders releasing a bit of the tension that had built up when he told her that he was alright.
"I had to make it look good," Linda whispered her apology before leaning down, and tearing the red, white and yellow lightning insignia off his red suit. She turned around swiftly and moved to the breach that hung in the air by the docks, glowing a bright azures colour, wisps of energy floating off it.
"Here it is, Zoom, I did what you wanted. Now bring me home," Linda threw the insignia into the breach with all her might, watching as it was swallowed up by the blue energy.
The first few minutes had been the worst. Everyone was on guard and high alert as they waited. Then it dwindled down into half an hour, then an hour and everyone was on edge, unsure if he was coming, or what he was playing at.
"Come on, come on," Harry whispered through the comm. "This is everything he wants right?"
"Come on, Zoom," Barry muttered from his spot on the floor, attracting Sophia's attention from above. She glared down at him from her spot on a nearby roof. She had grown tired of floating in the air and figured she could still keep her high vantage point if she sat atop the roof opposite to the one that Joe and Harry were hiding out in.
"Stop fidgeting, Barry," Sophia told him through the comm. and he struggled to keep a grin off his face. It was the first time she had spoken in an hour and he was both bored and missing her. But he figured that this was not the time nor place to voice this so he kept those thoughts to himself.
"Sorry, it's been an hour," Barry said, his lips barely moving, as to keep up the pretence that he was in fact deceased. "I landed in a ridiculous position, and my foot fell asleep."
"He's probably just waiting to see if you're really dead."
"Any minute now, he's gonna strike," Cisco said.
"No."
"Sorry, I probably screwed up somehow," Linda muttered from her position with Caitlin and Cisco in a nearby van. She had moved there about fifteen minutes ago after giving up waiting for Zoom. Barry also figured that it would be better for her safety.
"No, Linda, you did great," Sophia said across the line.
It was then collectively decided that they would all head back to Star Labs, where Iris would escort Linda home, and the others would disperse and keep an eye out in case anything new happened. But at this point their plan had failed.
Each member of the team took their failure differently. Iris was comforting and supporting Linda, explaining that it wasn't her fault as the two made their way to CCPN, now dressed in their normal work clothes and ready to dive straight into some journalism to drown out the disaster that the night had turned out to be.
Harry had reacted the worst out of them all, throwing his gun to the side upon arrival back at Star Labs, leaving the cortex in a hurry as he headed down to Cisco's lab for some space, the rest willingly giving it to him considering the angry condition he was in.
The rest of them had also followed Harry back to Star Labs, Cisco and Caitlin moving out of the room, leaving Joe, Sophia and Barry sitting in the cortex, the two superheroes still dressed in their super suits.
"So Wells ain't taking this well," Joe commented to the two as he leaned up against the table.
"Yeah." Sophia let out a long sigh, rubbing the side of her face.
"How about you?" Joe directed to Barry.
"Yeah, it just sucks, you know," Barry said as he plopped down in a chair, Joe and Sophia nearby. "You were right a little bit about this not being just about Zoom… about it being about the Reverse-Flash."
"Okay."
"But not for the reason that you think, not because I didn't beat him," Barry said quickly. He hadn't told either Sophia or Joe this yet and he was grateful that he had the opportunity to tell them both now. "It's… Wells… he said something to me on that video before he confessed to my mom's murder. He said that even if he was dead, that he still won because I wasn't happy, that I'd never really be happy."
"How the hell would he know?"
"He knew me, he knows future me."
"That's future you, this is the you here and now," Joe said.
"You don't think you could be happy?" Sophia voiced quietly as she looked down, trying not to let her emotion show, and how hard Barry's words had hit her. It made it seem like he couldn't be happy with her.
"No, no, that's not it. Not about you," Barry said to Sophia, then turning to Joe. "Or you, and Iris…" He took a deep breath before continuing. "Ever since I went back to that night, and I didn't save her… I didn't save my mom, I just… there's just been this void in me. I just feel like that is always gonna be there," Barry said.
Sophia walked over to him and took his hand in her own, waiting patiently for Joe to finish talking before she would.
"Wells may have stalked you for 15 years, but I raised you. He said what he did to mess with you one last time, to get in your head. If you listen to him, you win."
"I know, and I don't want that."
"You're responsible for your own happiness, Barry. Forget about Wells," Joe said, giving Sophia a nod before leaving the room. "It's as simple as that."
"Why did you never tell me you felt this way?" Sophia asked. She wasn't crying, she wasn't that upset but she could feel her eyes water from the hurt. She didn't care about his insecurities in that moment, it was the fact that he felt as though he had to hide it from her, that he hadn't come to her before this to express it.
"I just didn't know how to say it," Barry said after contemplating it for a moment.
"After my mother died, I felt the same. Empty and hollow inside, like nothing could fill the spot that she left behind," Sophia told him, her voice soft and soothing. "But I soon realised that the longer I sat there and let it consume me, the harder it became to feel normal again. It's not going to be easy, but we're here for you, Joe and Iris, Cisco and Caitlin…I'm here too," Sophia told him, as he stood up, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in a tight hug.
"I love you, and I want you to know that you don't have to feel like you're alone, or that you're never going to be content with your life again, or that you can't be happy," Sophia told him. "The only one who can stop it from happening is you."
"Okay," Barry whispered as he held onto her tight, swallowing the guilt he felt when he saw her face after he told her about Wells message, and how it had lingered. He pulled back slightly so he could see her face, bringing one hand to cradle her freckle spotted cheek, slowly brushing his thumb back and forth. "And I just want you to know, just because I felt empty because of losing my mom and not being able to save her doesn't mean that you don't make me happy, that I can't be happy with you. You're the one thing keeping me together, my life is a whole lot darker without your smile," Barry said causing her to bury her face into his chest, a shy smile on her lips.
"You're a real charmer you know that right?" He pressed a kiss to her lips in response, leaving her feeling light and fuzzy inside.
"I love you, Sophia Lang, and nothing will change that." He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and held her tight, the two standing in the warm embrace for a little while longer.
"I was thinking about a lot of things," Linda said to Iris as she sat at her work desk, her fingers absentmindedly playing with a ballpoint pen. "Like how everything that's happened to me the past few days is the best story I can never write."
"Ooh, tell me about it," Iris laughed. She couldn't even begin to tell Linda of the stories and adventures she had been on, of all the insane and impossible things she had witnessed, only to realise that she would never be able to voice it to the public, and only cherish it as a personal memory.
"Do you ever get used to it?" Linda asked, looking up at her friend to see Iris shake her head.
"Keeping a secret that big? No. It's pretty heavy," Iris confessed. It felt nice to chat to someone other than the people whose secret she was keeping she had to admit.
"I need a good night's sleep," Linda said, throwing her phone into her bag. "I'm gonna head out. I'll see you tomorrow."
Iris nodded goodbye before calling out for Linda. "Oh, hey, if we're gonna be The Flash's sidekicks, we should probably join CrossFit or something, you know?"
"Oh, yeah, girl."
"Yeah."
"Bye," Linda waved, just about to head out the door when a dark shadow loomed over her in a suit that she wished she had never seen with her own two eyes. Head to toe covered in a dark charcoal, with the eyes of the devil. Zoom grabbed at her throat, his gloved fingers like claws as they grasped at her pale skin as she gasped desperately for air.
"Linda!" Iris yelled out, eyes wide in panic as she watched Zoom take her before she could take another step forward.
"Shit, shit, shit," Iris cursed as she fumbled for her phone, dialling Barry, and praying to god that they hadn't just entered the Lion's nest with no way out.
Sophia was floating in the middle of the cortex, trying out some new training techniques with her abilities whilst Barry, Cisco and Harry discussed the footage from the scene once more, replaying it yet again to see where they went wrong when Barry's phone started ringing.
"Hey," Barry said as he picked up his phone. "Iris, slow down. I can't understand you."
Sophia sat up straighter upon hearing those words, and not a moment later Harry's watch started to beep furiously, indicating another breacher, and then the Star Labs alarm had gone off, blaring in their ears. Sophia flew into action, moving to see what was happening. Cisco tapped the screen, pulling up the CCTV footage up on the roof of Star Labs to show Zoom standing there in all his terrifying glory with Linda in his grasp.
"Zoom has Linda, he's on the roof," Cisco said.
Barry ran out of there and Sophia panicked, rushing out as fast as she could, flying through the hallways of Star Labs til she too was standing side by side with Barry as they stared down Zoom.
"Put her down," Barry ordered, his body tense as he waited for what would happen next. Linda watched the two heroes with wide eyes, tears trickling down her cheeks as she stood there terrified of what would happen to her. She didn't want to die, and she couldn't stop the constricting feeling in her chest at the thought, trying to flood her mind with thoughts of hope that they would get her out of this safely.
"You like to fish with bait?" Zoom asked, his deep voice sending shivers down Sophia's spine, but she moved before Barry could. "I do too." She shot out into the sky, flying after Linda who Zoom had just pushed off the edge of the building. She caught her in a bubble of energy her body bouncing inside. Sophia carefully brought them down to the ground, picking Linda up in her arms and flying her as far away as possible from Star Labs. She felt terrible for leaving Barry to fight Zoom on his own for the moment, but she needed to get Linda as far away as possible. She was a target now and she couldn't leave her defenceless.
"Cisco, what's happening?" Sophia asked through the comm. as she quickly dropped Linda off at the West household, telling her to lock the door and stay hidden until someone returned to get her. Linda nodded, trying to calm herself down as she watched Sophia fly back up into the night sky, like a bullet darting through the air as she rushed to get to Star Labs.
"He's not running away," Cisco said. "Ooh, he's gonna thunderbolt him!"
"What?" Harry asked.
"Jay taught him how to throw lightning," Caitlin explained.
"Barry what the hell are you doing?" She whispered to herself as she rounded the curve landing on the forcefully on the ground, her two feet almost stomping as she came to a stop. Just as she landed, Barry had completed his last turn, curving in the air with perfect form, the lightning bolt that had formed in his hand now travelling through the charged air with a forceful speed, heading directly towards Zoom. Sophia's eyes held a look of hope only to be crushed when Zoom caught the god damn lightning with his hands. Her heart fell into her stomach and she knew that their worst nightmare had come true.
"Shit."
"Did you guys see that?"
"See him catch a bolt of lightning with his demonic claws? Yeah, saw that."
Sophia tuned out their conversation in the lab as she focused in on Zoom, trying to find something, any form of weakness or spot that Zoom had been favouring to give her some idea of what to do next. But every blast of energy she threw at him, he had easily dodged. She found that he was practically ignoring her, focusing on attacking Barry more than anything, the two moving too fast for her to keep up.
"What do you want from me?" Barry yelled at Zoom in between punches, speed talking. In the corner of his eye he could see Sophia almost frozen in place as they were moving much faster.
"Everything."
"You want to be me? Is that it? You want to be a hero?!"
"Heroes die," Zoom taunted.
"Only if you can catch them."
Barry then ran towards the opposite side of the building, the yellow lightning flowing off his body just as fast as the blue trailed off Zoom as the two entered a race.
"What the hell is going on?" Sophia asked on the comm. pressing onto her ear piece.
"They're racing around the city, at the rate their going you won't be able to catch up. Stay above Star Labs, it'll give you the perfect vantage point to dart off once they stop moving so fast," Harry instructed and she did so, hovering above the roof as she watched the streaks of lightning move across the streets of Central City.
"How is Barry gonna match Zoom's sped?"
"Genius. He's not gonna match it. He's gonna take it out of the equation altogether."
"What are you talking about?"
"Terminal velocity, the highest velocity attainable by a falling objected."
"They're gonna freefall through the air?" Sophia asked, as she saw them approaching Star Labs.
"Yeah, freefall fight. Their drag equals the downward force of gravity, making the net force zero, making…"
"Equal velocities. That's genius."
Zoom and Barry were on the roof a moment later, Barry rolling on the ground, groaning in pain as Zoom stood over him. Barry was sure that he had multiple broken bones and he couldn't even begin to describe the throbbing that came from the gaping wound on is head as he felt the blood trickle down his swollen face.
"Stay down," Sophia yelled at Barry, twisting her body around so that a ring of energy blast in all directions, the circumference of the energy larger than the roof of Star Labs. It had been enough to catch Zoom off guard because he had ran around the roof only to be hit by the energy regardless, sending him tumbling in his step. It only distracted him momentarily before he ran towards her. She focused her eyes, using her heat vision to hit Zoom, barely scorching the back of his suit as he once again moved out of the way. He was just too fast, and she was nowhere near fast enough to keep up with him just yet.
Zoom ran towards her from the side this time, moving faster than before as he pressed his flat palm against her chest, sending her reeling backwards and crashing to the ground. Zoom had then run over, speed kicking Sophia in the ribs on all sides, leaving her gasping for air as her lungs felt like they had been crushed by his boot.
"I've been watching you, Sapphire Knight, but alas this visit wasn't for you, but for The Flash." With one final blow to her back she was laying on the ground, gasping for air, eyes wide as she clutched at her chest, winded from the hit. His words would later be played over in Sophia's head and she would realise that he was indeed the dark hooded figure that had been following her for the past few months.
"Never forget, I am the fastest man alive."
From the time it had taken her to get back up on her feet as she pushed back the aching pain, Barry was gone and so was Zoom. Her heart was racing in her chest, the adrenaline in her body on a high as she flew out into the city, aching to follow the streak of lightning to find Barry.
"Cisco, where is he? Where did he take Barry?!"
"He's killing him!" Caitlin yelled out, and only the worst of images were flashing across Sophia's vision. She could hear her blood pumping in her ears and all she could think about, all she could feel was the need to protect him, to save him, to stop Zoom and she was terrified because she knew that she couldn't.
"Where is he?" She yelled in panic. "Where's Barry?!"
"W-we don't know," Cisco said softly and Sophia stopped in the middle of the city, hovering high in the sky, her breathing erratic and the pain in her chest throbbing as she tugged at her hair painfully, eyes darting all around. "W-What do I do?"
"He's heading towards Star Labs," Harry yelled, informing them as his watch beeped. He had specifically set it to match the frequency at which Zoom ran, to alert them upon his arrival.
Sapphire had never flown faster, her cape billowing behind her as she kept her body slimline, like a dart in the night, eyes glowing bright as she made her way back. She landed inside the cortex just on time it seemed as Harry had the gun aimed at Zoom. With all her might and power, Sophia formed an energy barrier around Zoom, encompassing the entire space around him as she captured him in a bubble. She sent shocks of electrical energy through it, causing Zoom to twitch uncomfortably as he tried to phase through the barrier. It had been 30 seconds tops, but the longer she held it, the weaker she felt. She could feel something wet drip from her nose and she had a feeling that if she were to touch it, her fingers would be stained red with her blood. She held it for a few moments longer, just enough to give Harry and Joe on opposite sides of the rooms to fire at Zoom as she released the barrier.
Zoom caught the bullet charged from Harry's gun, but he hadn't known that Cisco had been lurking on the side, and he howled in pain as the needle struck his back, the speed dampening serum injecting into his system instantaneously. Sophia then formed one last bolt of cobalt energy, feeling a sense of triumph as it hit Zooms chest, the dark speedster exiting the scene and making a run for it as they exploited his weakness. But that sense of triumph was quickly squashed when her eyes found Barry slumped on the ground, lacerations across his face and blood pouring from a wound on the side of his head.
She wobbled over as best as she could, trying to ignore the shouting of Harry and Joe from above her. She barely concentrated on the conversation, only picking up key pieces that Zoom had Harry's daughter Jesse and that was the reason for him coming to this Earth in the first place. Weakly she created a thin layer of energy underneath Barry's body and levitated it, lifting it up and into the med-bay where Caitlin got to work quickly, patching him up. If she hadn't felt so light headed she would have helped, but she was seeing doubles and she wasn't sure that was a good sign.
"Do you understand? You love Barry. I love my daughter, and none of these children are safe as long as Zoom is here," Harry yelled at Joe. "I tried on my Earth to capture him. I failed. I thought I could bring him down here with Barry's help. I was wrong."
It had been an hour or two and Sophia felt more awake than she had before and she had Cisco to thank for that. He had been a saint in fetching her a bottle of water and a change of clothes. She hadn't wanted to move, but after Caitlin had stabilised Barry, the doctor had insisted on checking Sophia's wound on her chest as well.
She had told Caitlin that her chest and stomach area looked like a Jackson Pollack, with splatters of blue, green, yellow and purple wrapped around her previously clear skin. Caitlin glowered at her, clearly not in the mood for such jokes to which Sophia apologised, closing her eyes as she felt Caitlin's gloved hands apply a cream after cleaning up the blood and grime and then wrapping it in what white gauze and bandage she could find around the lab. It seemed as though they had been running out of supplies lately, and Caitlin made a note to get some more.
"How's he doing?" Sophia asked, not opening her eyes.
"He's stabilised. Vitals are normal, we're just waiting for him to wake up before we can assess any other damage," Caitlin said in a very professional voice, one Sophia was used to hearing and it kept her calmer than she should have been in that moment.
Once she had been done there and changed into a pair of black workout tights she kept at Star Labs with one of Barry's old blue jumpers she had curled up on a chair next to his bed, sitting opposite Joe who hadn't moved from Barry's side since. Over the time they had worked together, seeing him go through all the dangers and risks, she had never seen him this banged up before. There were cuts and bruises across his face and his neck was supported by a white brace.
"You okay there, Soph?" Joe asked as he noticed Sophia staring off at Barry with an empty look in her eye. She turned to look at him with a tired face, giving him a nod.
"I'll be okay," She said, but she couldn't find the strength to muster a smile for him, not until she knew that Barry would be okay. Every moment they spent by his side that he was unconscious was another moment filled with worry and dread. She hadn't watched the footage of Zoom's relentless and savage attack on Barry but Joe had filled her in on most of it. She was scared that the damage that had been done to his back and spine was going to be something permanent or worse.
It had been a few more hours and she had started to drift off into a sleep when she felt Barry's fingers twitch against hers. She instantly sat up in her seat, her eyes blinking the sleep away.
"Bar," She whispered. "Joe I think he's waking up."
"Hey, he's waking up," Joe called out into the other room, Cisco and Caitlin both rushing into the room, their footsteps loud as they bounded in.
"Barry, can you hear me?" Sophia asked, moving to get a closer look at his face as he blinked his eyes open. He had a look of panic and fear on his face, but he relaxed a little at the sight of her face.
"Hey," He breathed out and she held back a sob.
"You scared the crap out of us," She told him, giving him a wobbly smile, her eyes tearing up.
"You were gone for a long time," Caitlin told him, her eyes darting to the clock to see that it had been nearly eight hours.
"How bad is it?" Barry groaned out.
"Bad."
"If you didn't heal so quickly, I'd be very worried," Caitlin said.
"Linda…how is she?" Barry asked, turning to look at Sophia.
"She's fine, I dropped her off at Joe's during the fight. She should be in Coast City by now, I sent her there for a while to stay with some friends. She'll be safe," Sophia assured Barry.
"Zoom?" Barry asked, unsure if he wanted to hear the answer. Joe shook his head, looking down.
"Let's… let's worry about Zoom when you're up and about, okay?" Joe said. Barry nodded as he pushed up on the bed using his arms as he tried to get up.
"Oh, no, you're staying put," Joe said, pulling the blanket back over him.
"Yeah, seriously, you got your ass kicked," Cisco said and Sophia was glad that he was there to kill the serious mood, even if it felt slightly inappropriate at the time.
"No, guys, I can't feel my legs," Barry's voice cracked as he looked down back at his legs and then back up at his friends and family standing before him, shocked expressions on their faces.
"I can't feel my legs."
Maybe it had been the exhaustion from staying up for so long, the poor physical shape her body had been in due to her injuries or the trauma that Zoom had scarred them all with but once those words had passed Barry's lips, Sophia had promptly fainted, Joe catching her in his arms just as her eyes rolled back into her head, leaving her vision dark.
This chapter was a monster.
Thank you again for all of your lovely reviews guests, and users alike. You're always making my day and making me smile by leaving your thoughts and comments on the chapters and the story in general.
My finals are starting soon, so the next chapter will come in 2 weeks, and then after that they might be every 3 weeks, just for a month or so, depends how much writing I can get done. It's been a struggle to get anything written down with my busy schedule.
Don't forget if you want more Sophia/Barry go check out New Romantics on my page, it's one-shots and AUs of the couple and other characters alike to keep you entertained while you wait, and it's honestly so much fun to write/read, so please check it out and leave a review.
Replies:
Natalie: Thank you for your review. I'm excited as well, but let's get season 2 out of the wa first haha and we'll see how it goes.
AmyRoxx123: Awww thank you for your review.
.2016: Thanks, hope you enjoyed this one too.
Shika93: Thanks for the review!
Grace003: I might write a one-shot about how E3 Sophia died. Plus, you guys will be seeing E2 Sophia soon when Barry and Cisco travel to E2 to stop Zoom. Not to mention that there was actually a clue hidden in this chapter, something referring to E2 Sophia.. anyone want to take a guess?
Guest: Thank you so much, they are so adorable, writing about them makes me so happy.
Riana Chere: Thank you so much for the lovely review.
-Queen: Thank you! Yes, everyone is excited for E2 Sophia, maybe you can spot a clue about her in this chapter?
RHatch89: Thanks for being such a loyal reviewer, loved hearing from you again. I'm excited to write E2 Sophia as well.
Hope you're all having a great day, and Happy Halloween!
Til next time.
Heroherondale. x
