A/N: For those wondering, Zayne Nagle: Z-ane Nay-gul
Failure
June 25th
New Timeline
The Delta clothes factory near the border of Keystone and Central City was shut down in 1998 due to a combination of poor production and increase in oversea shipment from other manufacturers. When entering the old and abandoned building, Barry couldn't help but think of how hard the working conditions were for the employees during its time in business.
Very few windows, tables placed so close together that you'd feel catastrophic sitting at one, and the large fans scattered across the room told a story of hot and humid conditions. Even now, his lungs felt scratchy at the dust that coated the items and floated in the air.
"Ugh, it smells like a rotten shoe in here," Wally commented, a gloved hand covering his nose.
"Try not to focus on it," Barry said, "keep your eyes open for any movement."
"Should we clear the area? This place is big, he could be anywhere...it'll take a few seconds for us both to-"
"No. We stay together. Let him come to us if he wants...if he's even here." Barry's eyes scanned the building, from the floor to the high vaulted ceilings, looking for anything that might grab his attention.
"He can't be here...this isn't how it happened before." Wally scratched the back of his head, his confusion apparent.
Barry bit his tongue, daring not to speak his inner thoughts and theories on the now changing timeline. He needed Wally to concentrate, and explaining the obvious but ignored butterfly effect wasn't going to help him with that.
He pressed a finger to his ear, activating his com.
"Guys?"
"CCPD has an entire squad at the steel mill right now, Barry. Both places are covered." Caitlin answered on the other end.
Barry nodded his head, not vocally answering as he continued to stay alert. He paid attention to any noise or movement, ready to jump into action at any second.
The building remained silent, only the sound of his and Wally's breathing taking place.
"CCPD! Come out with your hands in the air!"
Joe's voice boomed through the steel mill, leaving an echo that faded away in the distance. His and the team's flashlights illuminated the walls of the cold and empty building, reflecting off the multitude of machines once used for the production of metal and steel. It had been shut down for decades, and the machinery was left to rust from lack of care and exposure to the elements.
The only sound that came in response was the drip of water from above, starting slow and picking up the pace as the time went on.
"Damn it," one of the officers cursed, "the forecast wasn't calling for rain. I didn't bring my jacket."
"Shh!" Joe hissed, gun raised in one hand with his flashlight tucked tightly under.
"Did we get a time-frame, West?" A different voice asked, the officer standing ground further away to his left.
Looking down at his watch, Joe caught sight as the large hand hit the number nine. While it was further downtown and away from them, the city's clock-tower rung its bell at the strike of the hour.
"No," he answered, "but it could be any moment."
He hadn't remembered being this nervous since he had first joined the force decades ago, his stomach flipping and turning with every breath he took.
His heart almost jumped out of his chest when he heard the clang of metal from across the building.
Wally turned around, his attention focused on the shattered and broken windows surrounding the walls of the factory.
"It's raining?"
"Pay attention, Wally."
He shook his head, perplexed. "It wasn't raining the first time."
Barry turned towards him, noting the confusion and possibly even fear that washed over Wally. Outside, the rain came down harder, hitting the ceiling with force and making its way through the exposed windows.
"Barry!"
"Yeah, I'm here," he answered.
"Sarah Kinsey was just rescued. They found her tied up at the steel mill; they're taking her in for questioning now." Cisco explained.
"And the meta-catcher?"
"They're still looking for him. Listen, Barry, I think I found a lead on him-"
The sudden gust of wind caught him off guard, forcing him to stumble back and hit one of the work tables. The familiar smell of ozone filled his nostrils, and the flicker of yellow lightning still flowed in the air.
"Wally!" he shouted, "We need to stay together, Wally!"
There was no response, only the pitter-patter from rain on the ceiling.
He cursed, looking around for a clue to where the boy could have gone. With a defeated sigh, he pressed a finger to his ear.
"Guys, I lost Wally."
Nothing.
"Guys? Track his suit down, he can't..." Barry trailed off, the silence almost deafening him. He stripped his cowl with haste, his hands digging into his ear with panic.
His com was missing.
"Let me introduce myself, Flash." A voice spoke up, and he spun around to see a figure approaching him, hidden in the shadows.
"Or more accurately, re-introduce myself."
Wally had barely blinked. He hadn't run or even moved, but suddenly he was outside in the very rain he had been staring at.
"Barry?" he called out, the heavy downpour blocking his vision.
He turned around, taking in his surroundings with an unsettling sense of fear. He wasn't anywhere near the delta clothes factory anymore, or even S.T.A.R labs and the steel mill. Even more disturbing, he hadn't run here himself.
Deciding it was better to figure things out at another time, Wally sprinted forward with the intent of making his way back to the factory. The idea of having Barry be alone right now was disturbing enough, and his feet took off in a rush.
They splattered against the mud on the ground, but never lifted fast enough for him to flash away. He jogged through the rain, but the lightning never crackled around him.
"What the hell..." he muttered, stopping to examine his legs and arms as if they belonged to someone else.
Finger to his ear, he panicked. "Cisco, Caitlin - it's Wally. I don't have my speed, I-I don't know where I'm at."
The mud splashed below him as the rain picked up, but no one responded.
"Guys!?" he shouted, stripping his cowl and digging his finger into his ear to retrieve his com. It was with shock that he realized both ears were empty.
Looking up at his surroundings, he was even more shocked to see in front of him was the giant sign reading 'Welcome to Keystone city', the words almost taunting him.
"Wally? Barry? Guys, can you hear us?" Cisco typed frantically on the computer, his keyboard surrounded by used bloody tissues that he hadn't found the time to trash.
"Cisco, the com's just went offline." Caitlin darkly said, "both of them."
"Shit." He muttered, pushing away from the computer and wheeling back in his chair. "This is not good. This is not good at all..."
Just then, his cell phone rang, vibrating across the desk with force. He didn't even check to see who the caller was before answering it.
"Cisco!" Joe's voice boomed through, "They've taken Sarah Kisney back to the CCPD, but we have no sign of the meta-catcher here. It seems he dropped her and left."
"Yeah, that sounds about right." Cisco groaned, rubbing the knuckles of his hand against his eyes.
"What have Barry and Wally found?"
"About them..."
"What about them?" Joe's voice was threatening, the anger and worry he felt barely contained by the urgency of the situation. "Cisco!?"
"Both of their coms just went offline. We don't know what's going on."
"Where are they?" The heavy rain picked up most of the sound, his words muffled behind the weather.
Caitlin clicked away at her own computer, turning her monitor towards Cisco the moment she could.
"The suit trackers are still online. Barry is still at the delta clothes factory. Wally's...on the outskirts of Keystone." Her answer followed nothing but silence in the cortex, though Cisco's cell phone leaked the sound of the rainstorm Joe stood in.
"Did you catch that, Mr. West?" Cisco asked.
"I'm going to delta now." he didn't wait for a response, rather he hung up the call once his words were finished.
Cisco lowered his cell phone, looking over at Caitlin with fear.
"Forget the formalities," Barry scoffed, "I know who you are. And I'm not letting you get away."
His threats went unheard. The man kept his pace, walking forward and further out of the darkness that the enclosed factory provided him.
"I actually have a feeling that you know less now, than what you did before." He said, his hands stuffed in his pockets with nonchalance.
Barry didn't respond, his brows furrowed in confusion.
"I'd be happy to explain, Flash."
"You can explain once I take you into the police. A murderer like you needs to be behind bars." He planted his heels on the ground with daring strength, and he rushed forward to restrain the man; already prepared to flash him into a cell at the CCPD with ease.
Only his feet stumbled across the concrete surface of the floor, never once picking up and dashing away with his speed.
"Don't bother," The man insisted, "You see, I strive to learn from my mistakes. I know what to do this time around."
Barry withheld his expression of shock, slowly stepping backward one foot after the other as he hid in the same darkness that the man walked out from. Suddenly, his courage was drowned out by the fear of the unknown.
"Whoever you are, you've taken the lives of innocent people. That's not something you're going to get away with."
"All accidents." he brushed him off, hand waving at the air. "They didn't have what I needed. Of course, I couldn't let them ruin my plans, so they…unfortunately…needed disposed of."
"And what's your plan?" The statement had provoked a spiteful hate within him, and Barry clenched his fist tightly, his fingernails digging into the palms of his hands.
"Same as last time, 'lil scarlet."
The man crossed his arms over his chest and leaned casually against a metal post, his persona radiating a sense of composure and assertiveness. As lightning struck outside, Barry took notice that the stranger wore nothing to hide his identity; no mask, no wig, no cover-up. He was completely out in the open.
Barry shook his head, "I have no idea what you're talking about. Now, who are you?"
The chuckle that echoed through the building sent a shiver down his spine, though not because it was menacingly but rather, it was completely ordinary. The man was just that, a typical average citizen wearing street clothes. After having defeated the monster that Zoom was, Barry didn't quite understand why this man – so average as he was, made him feel such frantic intimidation.
"You do. You're a good liar, but you do - and so do I." The man tapped at his forehead, "Your friend Cisco has an amazing ability. I've enjoyed using it. Even more so, I've really enjoyed fixing the errors I made before."
He stepped forward, "My name is Zayne Nagle. You knew that before, it's unfortunate that you didn't discover it this time around. But that's okay, I have nothing to hide from you."
"You know about the other timeline." Barry dryly stated.
"I do. And that…" he let out a long whistle, "that was not how I planned for things to go. Whatever time warping travel nonsense that took place, I am grateful – you can count on that."
Barry took relief in the fact that Nagle didn't know about Wally's time travel, comforted that he remained out of immediate danger from the situation. Unfortunately, the relief was short-lived at the other knowledge that was now exposed.
Before they had the upper hand, a roadmap that they could alter how they wanted. But now he realized they had been on leveled playing fields with the bad guy all along.
"How do you know? What did you do to Cisco to find out?" Barry demanded.
"Calm down, 'lil scarlet." Nagle insisted, "It doesn't work like that. Your friend is safe – both of them. In fact, I would have had no way of finding out if I didn't need a carton of milk yesterday, and Cisco ten cases of Gatorade – which, by the way, is a lot of sugar to consume at once."
"What can you do? And why are you killing other meta's?" Barry was angry and impatient, resisting the urge to start beating the man to a bloody pulp with or without his speed.
They remained where they were though, standing across from each other and only illuminated by the lightning that would strike down from the sky. Part of Barry told himself that he needed answers before lashing out, but he knew that Wally's story remained forefront in his mind. The part of him that wasn't seeking answers was paralyzed by the tale of another Barry Allen, one who acted so rashly that he never got to see another day.
For now, he'd keep his distance, daring not to repeat the same mistake.
"Well, I use to be a doctor. Navy physician to be accurate. I had the power of healing touch back then. Now, I just have the power of touch." he wiggled his fingers around in the air, a large smirk on his face. "That fancy explosion a couple years ago? I found out shortly after that I could take the abilities of others. At first, I thought I could just see through things, an x-ray vision of sorts."
He continued, "But then other things started happening. I could see through things, teleport, become invisible…I realized I was taking from others, like a leech. I didn't have one ability myself, not like you, Cisco or that wannabe sidekick you got. I became a living sponge, absorbing all sorts of special powers."
Barry clenched his jaw, "And the people you take from?"
"I consider it more of a loan. I don't steal because they always get their ability's back – at some point. I've watched people go for days, some for hours. What that explosion did, it's too difficult to completely strip us of these powers. It's embedded in our DNA. Once the metabolism readjusts, they're back to normal."
It dawned on Barry. "You took Cisco's. You saw the other timeline by taking his."
"Bingo." he smiled. "He should be more aware of his surroundings. You never know who you'll bump into."
The words hit Barry hard, and his stomach dropped while his heart fluttered.
"You just took mine."
Zayne didn't answer, but his smile didn't flatter either. He raised his hand out of his pocket, and the vibration shaking off him left a buzz that resonated their ears.
"Not only yours, Flash. Having that kid here was unexpected, but certainly not unwelcome."
Barry laughed, though the humor was absent. He turned to look at the door, the very one that he had thought Wally ran out of. Now realizing it was just the two of them in the building and no backup on the way, he bitterly shook his head.
"So now you're going to kill me? Get rid of me and keep doing whatever the hell you want to do?"
"Oh no no no." Zayne disagreed. "I do not want to kill you. That was an unfortunate accident that I am happy to be able to fix."
Before Barry could react, Zayne had flashed over in a second, the acceleration he had obtained from two speedsters catching him by surprise. He had him gripped in a choke hold and forced down to his knees before his eyelids had even opened from a mere blink.
"I need you, Flash. You're going to help me stay alive."
He was in the midst of trying to escape Nagle's grip when a sudden pain radiated his body, shutting down his thoughts and any attempt to get away. He bit his tongue to keep his cry in his throat, waiting for the burning sensation that flooded through his veins to pass.
It only grew stronger, stealing his breath and crushing his lungs. When he couldn't contain the yelp that came through gritted teeth, he looked up and over at his shoulder where three syringes, each at least 30mm each, pushed a vial yellow goo into his body.
"What did you do!?" Barry's voice struggled through the fire that burned him inside, the anger apparent but not reaching over the volume of the rain outside.
It was then they could hear the screeching of tires approaching, bringing with it red and blue lights that came flooding into the building. Barry's attempt to keep his exposed face hidden was ruined by the emergency lights that eliminated the darkness, their presence followed by the loud slam of a car door.
He looked up to see a flashlight coursing through the building, his instincts to scream 'get away!' buried beneath his diminishing strength not to express his physical pain.
"CCPD! Put your hands in the air!"
When the flashlight shined on Barry, his face exposed with his cowl down, Joe's heart stopped. Down and his knees with the stranger's arm wrapped around his throat, there was a glisten of emotion in his son's eyes that couldn't be hidden. A part of him conveyed his implore for him to leave, get out of danger and warn everyone else. The other part screamed for help.
His grip tightened around his gun, finger trembling on the trigger.
"Let him go or I'll shoot!" he shouted, his voice booming through the factory, only to be followed by the roar of thunder.
Barry didn't move, not even a twitch. With force, Nagle ripped the syringes from his body, and they listened to them as they clattered and rolled around on the floor.
It happened before Joe could react. The man waved to him as if to say 'goodbye' with the smart-ass smirk on his face. His finger pulled the trigger one, two and then three times. When his eyes opened back up, barely closed for a second from a blink, they were both gone, having only left a trace of sparks in the air.
"No!" Joe's voice was hoarse as he screamed, running forward to the empty space.
"Goddamnit, NO!" he collapsed to his knees, staring at the bullets on the cement ground.
He had dropped his gun to switch to his cell phone, though the shaking in his hands made the action take longer than needed.
"Where are they? Did you get the meta-catcher?" Cisco's voice answered.
"I-I don't…" Joe stumbled, disbelief coursing through him as he brushed his hand against the ground, the cement hot with gunpowder. "He's a meta. The guy's a metahuman."
There was no response on the other end, only the silence that the devastating news brought.
Joe cursed, slamming his fist down. "He took Barry."
The rain continued outside, the storm getting heavier and the rumbling thunder speaking the words that he couldn't