AN: translations for Jaime's Spanish/spanglish at the end. Sorry if I overdid it. I just love that there is a bilingual character out there and Spanish was my first language so I like that I can put it in here a bit :) You should still be able to understand it if you skip that spanish stuff, because it's mostly either repeated in english or it just accentuates the other stuff he's saying, like how he talks in yj.


-Jaime-

11:53 PM

Jaime was flying around high enough that he would probably just be mistaken for a bird by anyone who noticed him. He hovered as close to the house as he could get, waiting as patiently as he could, given the situation. He wanted to just dive down and help already, but he had to wait. After what felt like ages, he finally heard Barry's voice in his comm.

"Alright, we're done here. I'm on my way. Disable the forcefield now."

Jaime let out a sigh of relief. Help was coming, and he would be able to join the action soon enough.

A few seconds later, Jaime heard Barry's voice in his comm again.

"You did say you only wanted to fight me, right?"

And after another few seconds, you guessed it, Barry's voice again.

"Thank you, Batman." Finally. That was Jaime's cue. It meant Zoom was thoroughly distracted.

"Got it. I'm going in." He responded.

With that, he swooped down closer to the house, and scanned for Bart. For some reason, his scarab didn't recognize any organic matter besides Zoom and his two adversaries. His heart skipped a few beats at the thought that Bart might not even be there at all. Then this will all have been for nothing.

After a few moments, the scarab began to pick up a faint disturbance in the attic, though, so Jaime decided to check there. He prayed that Bart would be there and that he would be okay.

"Try to keep Zoom downstairs. I'll be in the attic." Jaime warned into his comm.

He snuck into the house through a bedroom window on the second floor. He hoped Zoom would be too distracted by the fight to notice him come in. He crept out of the room and into the hallway as quickly and quietly as he could manage. The attic ladder was already down, so he rushed up. He quietly closed the access door behind him so that whatever happened up here would be harder for Zoom to hear. When he turned around, he almost tripped over himself in a mixture of excitement and worry at what he saw.

Bart was here, but he didn't look so good. He sat with his head slumped forward and his arms chained up above his head. He looked like he was unconscious, but it was hard to tell because of the blindfold over his eyes. Even if he was awake, he didn't react at all to the sounds of someone coming up.

Then Jaime noticed the bomb. Six minutes left.

Jaime sprinted towards Bart, but got the wind knocked out of him when he ran into an invisible wall that didn't budge. That must have been the reason he couldn't detect Bart from the outside. He immediately fired up his plasma cannon, making sure Bart or the bomb were not in his line of fire. He chose the plasma cannon specifically because it was quiet, but still powerful, then he shot it into the barrier in front of him.

The intense beam rebounded right off the wall and hit Jaime hard, knocking him several feet back and to the ground. If it wasn't for his suit, the powerful blast might have killed him, or at least left some major damage. He recoiled at the noise his body made when it hit the floor. Hopefully Zoom was still too distracted to notice.

Once Jaime got to his feet, he addressed his scarab.

"How can I get past this wall?" He asked while he frustratedly kicked the invisible barrier. The scarab scanned the area and identified the source of the force field, directing Jaime's attention to the key.

This device is the only thing that can disable the force field, Jaime Reyes. It appears to be of the Reach. Examining now for further information.

While the scarab inspected the key for any loopholes, Jaime noticed how bad Bart's condition was. He knew Bart had lost weight from the video they watched, but seeing it up close and in person was something different. His ribs protruded out, making noticeable imprints on his skin that revealed some of them to be visibly broken. His arms barely had any flesh between the skin and bone. Without an inhibitor collar on, his quickened metabolism must have been eating him alive. Even though Bart trained himself to not need as much food as other speedsters, he still looked like he hadn't eaten in weeks.

He didn't look like he had healed from any of the injuries he sustained from even the first video that Zoom sent. Bart's legs still looked broken, they were swollen at the ankles and knees and his left leg was bent in a weird way halfway down his calf. Deep cuts and bruises still covered most of his body.

Bart's hands and forearms had also turned purple from the cuffs, and his blackened veins now trailed even further up his arms than before. If Jaime didn't get those cuffs off of Bart soon, they would probably kill him.

Jaime was momentarily pulled out of his thoughts by the undeniable sound of Barry screaming out in pain downstairs. He wanted to go down and help, but he had to trust that Barry(s) could handle Zoom. Jaime had to get Bart out first, then he could worry about Barry.

Finally, the scarab announced its findings.

Analysis complete. It appears that the device is the only thing that can move through the barrier while it is active.

"You mean there's no other way to get in? No puedo creer que that's the only way in! There's gotta be something!"

The device is the only thing that can move through the barrier while it is active.

"No! There has to be another way!" Jaime slammed his armoured fist into the force field. There was no way he got this close to saving Bart just to be told his only shot was barely out of his reach.

The device is the only thing that can move through the barrier while it-

"Yeah, I know, ya dijiste!" Jaime snapped, then kicked the force field again with enough force that his armour was once again the only thing preventing an injury. Bart's head twitched up slightly at the noise from the kick, he must have been awake after all, or maybe he was just waking up. Jaime's stomach twisted, he didn't want Bart to be awake if he couldn't save him. Jaime's knees gave out and he dropped down on them.

"No, no, no, no…" Jaime muttered to himself. He could feel tears beginning to sting behind his eyes. There had to be another way. He was so close.

Then it clicked. The device was the only thing that could move through the barrier while it was active. That's it! The key could be moved in and out of the force field!

"Ya lo entiendo! How do we get it out then?" Jaime tried to keep his voice down, but he was way too anxious to pay too much attention to his volume. It was a good thing Zoom was still fighting two Flashes, otherwise he definitely would have been found out by now.

The scarab didn't bother answering, instead it turned the fist of Jaime's suit into a special kind of magnet that made the key slowly gravitate towards it, the key moved faster as it got closer, and it finally flew right into Jaime's hand. Jaime almost felt bad for snapping at Khaji da before, but he was too focused. He disabled the wall as soon as he had the key, then ran towards Bart and fell to his knees in front of him.

He pulled off the blindfold, and saw Bart's eyes drooping like he was struggling to stay awake. That changed as soon as Bart saw Jaime, though, and his lids shot wide open in terror. He flinched hard and accidentally yanked on his restraints, which must have been extremely painful because Bart cried out hoarsely through the gag. Jaime noticed that the sudden movement caused something to visibly pulse through Bart's poisoned veins, and the black that filled them painted itself even further up his arms, halfway between his elbows and his armpits now. Jaime wondered how much longer Bart could have survived like this.

Bart's pupils were dilated so large that the emerald irises surrounding them were barely visible. Between the dilated pupils, and what looked like dried puke on the gag between his lips, Jaime figured Bart had a concussion.

The fear in Bart's bloodshot eyes broke Jaime's heart, and he realized there was no way Bart could have known he was off mode.

"It's okay! It's me, Bart, it's me!" Jaime pleaded. "I'm getting you out of here. You're going to be okay, I pro-" He cut himself off. The last time he made a promise to Bart, he ended up getting him kidnapped. Bart would probably never believe a promise coming from Jaime again. Instead, he finished his thought by saying, "You'll see."

Then Jaime reached out his hand to pull the gag from Bart's mouth. Bart flinched his head away when Jaime reached towards him, and let a raspy, muffled whimper barely escape through the gag before Jaime pulled it off. Bart just stared at Jaime, wide eyed and trembling.

Jaime swallowed the guilty lump in his throat, blinked back a tear, and focused on getting Bart free. He didn't bother trying to pick the lock on the chains connecting Bart's hands to the wall, he just aimed and shot out a thin laser from his fist, and the chain broke. Bart surprisingly let Jaime catch his hands as they fell from above his head. He hadn't stopped trembling, but he was at least not going to try to resist and make his rescue any harder than it already was. That either meant he believed that Jaime was really trying to help, or that he was too afraid to resist. Jaime wished it was the former, but he was almost sure that wasn't the case.

Jaime tried to break the cuffs the same way he did the chains, carefully aiming the laser between Bart's wrists so it wouldn't cut through his skin. Even so, Bart writhed in pain as soon as the laser touched the metal and managed to get out a wounded whisper-scream.

"Stop! Please stop!" His hoarse pleas were all it took for Jaime to immediately shut off the laser.

"I'm sorry! I don't want to hurt you! I don't know how else to get these off. I'll figure out something else, don't worry. Khaji?"

There is another way, but there is not enough time to free the Impulse before the bomb detonates. I recommend strategic retreat.

Jaime's eyes darted to the timer. Two minutes.

Just then, they both heard the sound of a loud crash downstairs. Jaime panicked, if the bomb went off, would Barry be able to get out of the way and still catch Zoom? Would he be able to get away at all if he was injured? He had to believe their plan would work. His responsibility was to get Bart to safety, he couldn't worry about anything else. Not yet.

"Bart, I can't get these off you in time, we have to go, now!" Jaime said in a panic.

Bart couldn't speak, but he shook his head, staring at Jaime with wide insistent eyes. At first, Jaime thought Bart was just afraid to go with him, but then Bart turned his attention to the bomb, and Jaime realized they must have been worrying about the same thing. Bart didn't want Barry to get caught in the explosion.

"Don't worry." Jaime knew Barry should be fast enough to get away, but given the screaming he heard a few minutes ago, he was likely to be injured, or maybe Zoom was able to contain him somehow.

Bart didn't want to leave unless he knew Barry would be safe. Jaime understood that, he wanted to make sure everyone was safe too.

"Pues… maybe I can diffuse it?" Jaime rushed over to the bomb, unsure if that was even possible.

One minute.

Jaime frantically fidgeted with the bomb, trying to make sense of the scarab's directions. Even with the help of his scarab, this was much more complicated that he imagined. Jaime didn't know how Robin made this look so easy. He noticed Bart was drifting off, and he scolded as firmly as he could without making too much noise, cutting wires between his words.

"Despiértate! Bart, por favor, you have to stay awake!" Jaime was afraid Bart might slip into a coma if he fell asleep right now.

30 seconds.

Just then, Jaime got an idea. He picked Bart up in his arms and rushed him to the other end of the attic. Then he held out the key, making sure Bart could see him press a button to activate the barrier around the bomb.

"That should contain the explosion, right?"

Affirmative, Jaime Reyes.

"Gracias a dios! Happy?" He looked at Bart. Even though Bart's eyes were glassy and he looked like he was only vaguely aware of what was going on, the corners of his mouth twitched up slightly. It wasn't really a smile, but given the situation, it was more than Jaime could have ever hoped for.

Jaime used his communicator to let Barry know they were okay.

"Bart's safe. We're getting out now"

He quickly grabbed a blanket from the floor and laid it gently over Bart, then blasted a hole in the ceiling, and flew away with Bart in his arms.

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Translations: no puedo creer que- I don't believe that

ya dijiste- you already said that

Ya lo entiendo- now I get it

Pues- well

Despiértate- wake up

Por favor- please

Gracias a dios- thank god


AN: What do you want to go down in the upcoming chapter(s)? You'll definitely find out in the next chapter how Barry doubled himself and got faster than Zoom. What else do you want besides that? There's going to be some intense stuff coming up with Bart healing. I know there has to be a confrontation between Bart and Wally, and another one between Bart and Jaime. Do you want Bart to forgive everyone? Should he be angry? Anything else you want to see before this comes to an end?

Also I feel like I should explain, since Zoom was being electrocuted at the time that Jaime blasted through the ceiling to escape with Bart, he didn't hear it.