Chaos on Earth-2

by TrueHorror88

He did it to save his new home. His family, to save his daughter and the woman he loves. But instead Seth Fury was flung into Earth-2 and became Zoom's prisoner. Now aiming to use everything in his powers to find his way back to his Earth and reunite with the ones he loves, he fights. But it won't be easy. How will Earth-2 fare against a true demon? A mutant? A Lethal Protector.

14. Chapter 14: Enter Zoom Enter The Truth

And now another bedtime story for you guys out there.

First chapter of the new year of 2020 and I am incredibly excited about this. I hope you guys have enjoyed New Year's Eve with your friends and families, they make all those moments more valuable.

Now to answer a question posted by a reader:

I will not reveal which chapter Seth is gonna return to Earth-1. Gonna have to wait for that chapter and read it yourselves, when it comes out.

Sorry guys, but wouldn't be much fun if you guys knew everything beforehand, right?

So without further ado…

ENJOY!

Chapter 14: Enter Zoom Enter the Truth.

Her brown eyes were focused on the picture of her and Seth Fury, both with their hands interlocked with a stickiness stronger than glue. Eyes locked onto each other and their lips latched onto each other with all of their heart's worth.

It felt like Caitlin Snow had done this every second of every hour of the day. Spending the time to relish in the feeling of being within the embrace of love in her would-be future husband's arms and lips. She would always look into the photo and tell the photographed image of Seth…

That she loves him… even in death.

"I love you, Seth." She longingly said to the photo of the loved one who holds her heart.

KNOCK KNOCK

Caitlin turned to her door at the sound of knocking. She instantly knew who it was. As she put down the photo, she called out to the person. "Come in, Frankie!"

The door opened and Frankie Fury walked into her mother's bedroom. "Hey Mom, heard you talking to yourself… again."

The mother smiled warmly and patted the side of her bed. "Come here, you." Frankie jumped onto the bed and landed beside her mother who wrapped her arm around her. She playfully tightened the hold on her child while Caitlin said. "What is it with you spying on your mother like this, sweetie?"

"Just curious, I guess." Frankie embarrassedly said with blushed cheeks.

"I just miss your Dad, Frankie." She put her head on top of Frankie's head. "It's weird without him here."

"I know, Mom. I feel the same." The metahuman told her with her hand touching the photo as well. "It really feels weird without Dad here."

"That's not what I mean, Frankie."

Frankie looked surprised and turned her shocked eyes to her mother's face. "What do you mean, Mom?"

Caitlin let her fingers drift over the bracelets on her daughter's wrist. "I don't know if its denial or not, probably denial at this point, but parts of me feel like Seth's not really gone. Even when we both saw him jump into the Singularity and saw it blow up in the skies… I still feel like he's not dead."

"I know Mom, I sometimes feel the same when I'm alone." Frankie confessed. "Maybe just hopeful wishes, or something."

"Could be." The doctor smiled and patted her hair. "You're ready to go and talk with Dr. Light?"

"Only one doctor I like, and that's the one that's my Mom." Frankie giggled.

"I'd hope so, you little rug rat." The mother tickled her daughter from all sides and caused her to fall down on the mattress on her back.

As the laughter of both daughter and mother continued to echo in the room, the photo on the bed continued to lie there and the face of Seth Fury pointed at them both… happily smiling at the sight of his daughter and the love of his life…

… together…

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, The Pipeline)

"Zoom sent me here to kill you, but I didn't want to." Dr. Light told the Scarlet Speedster on the other side of her cell. After having been acquainted with her new accommodation within the Pipeline, The Flash had decided to come and pay her a visit.

But he wasn't the one she was worried about. She was far more worried about the armored knight behind him. During their fight before, she heard all of his exclaims about having no qualms whatsoever with ending her life for the crimes she had committed while on this Earth.

And that scared her. The force of his beams was not something she wanted to mess with in an extended fight.

Iron Knight scoffed behind his helmet before walking closer to the cell. "Funny, you don't wanna kill him, but you had no problem with killing someone with your own face."

Dr. Light gulped and explained. "It was the best bad idea I could come up with. Leave her body for Zoom to find, he'd think I was dead, and I'd be free."

Barry looked confused at that explanation and asked. "How was he supposed to know where to find her body?"

"Just let me go." She didn't answer the question but pleaded for freedom instead. "Let me disappear."

Matt chuckled. "You killed a man; you don't deserve freedom like that. Not so easily."

The Flash gave him a look at the words he said and told the metahuman criminal. "You would spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder, never knowing when Zoom is coming."

"Okay. And what are your geniuses' great ideas?" Linda Park from Earth-2 asked as she pushed herself off the wall.

"Well mine is killing you and hang you in front of a breach to send Zoom a message to come and do his own dirty work." Matt revealed and the criminal stepped back in her cell again.

"No." Barry sternly said, but it did not have the slightest effect on the nanite mutant. The hate within Matt still remained strong and he turned to face the criminal again. "How were you supposed to contact him after you killed me?"

"I was supposed to get something… something I could only get if you were dead… and then throw it through the breach as proof."

"And then what?" Matt asked after the explanation.

"Then he'd come for me." Linda began. "Confirm the kill and bring me home. Why do you guys want to know?"

"Because I want to find him." The Flash told her.

"You really don't." Dr. Light countered.

Barry tried a different approach. "He's gonna 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 more people die."

"You can't stop Zoom. Not you." In her mind, she was comparing a demon of tyranny to a demon of protection.

"Yes, I can. Me and my friends can help us. We will, but we need your help." The Flash told her.

She nodded but she still said. "I'll help, but honestly I don't think you can do much against Zoom… you're not like him."

"Like Zoom?" Matt wondered.

"No. Someone else. Someone that Zoom might fear." Light moved back to the back of her cell.

"Who is that person?" Matt pressed.

"Trust me, you wouldn't believe if I told you." Light revealed and leant against the back wall. "Do a favor though." They both listened. "Keep that little pink one away from me. I don't want to see her…." "Not another one of him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Barry directed at Matt.

"Apparently, Magenta scared this criminal straight into cold heart-shivering terror." Iron Knight said and walked away. "She doubts we can fight Zoom… unlike someone else? Who is that?" he absently thought to himself as he and the metahuman walked into the corridors.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, The Cortex)

"Zoom wants Doctor Light to send him your new emblem?" Caitlin had to know she heard right as she and the others heard the speedster's plan.

"Yes. We need it for bait." Barry said. "If we can get Doctor Light to take my emblem, throw it through the breach, then Zoom will come to collect my body, and we can trap him."

Cisco appeared hurt by the words and voiced his hurry. "You know it took a lot of work to make that emblem, right?"

Olivia patted his shoulder. "Don't worry about that, Cisco. The guy wearing it is not that impressive or worth it in the first place." Barry frowned at the words said by the psychic.

And the frown continued its fall when Frankie detached from the ceiling and added, "We are talking about the woman who was willing to kill your ex in order to escape Zoom, but now she had a change of heart and she's willing to help us catch the bastard?"

"Anyone feel like it's a load of crap?" Magenta asked.

"This doesn't sound right." Matt voiced his thoughts.

"She knows it's the only way." Barry countered.

Olivia crossed her arms. "And how do we catch a speedster exactly? Last time we tried that; we were running around in his palm like chickens without their heads."

Harry walked into the Cortex and stated. "Before I left Earth-2, I worked on a serum to dampen Zoom's speed. All we would need is for Ramon and Stark to develop a weapon to deliver it."

"Again," Matt got his attention. "I don't take orders from you."

Caitlin added sarcastically. "Oh, great, that could be this year's cold gun. Maybe another criminal can get it, and then we'd have Sergeant Slow."

"I would never let that happen. Sergeant Slow is a terrible name." Cisco stated.

"Not the issue here, Cisco." Frankie looked to her mother. "But Mom, you might wanna stop thinking up meta names. Not your strongest suit."

The doctor poked out her tongue at her daughter before stated seriously. "Are we forgetting how much more powerful than Barry Zoom seems to be? I mean, if Barry can catch bullets, what's to say Zoom can't catch whatever you shoot at him?"

"Surprise… the element of surprise." Harry slowly answered and everyone looked to him. "All we would do is rig a projectile to fire as Zoom crosses into the breach. He can't stop what he can't see coming."

"That's great." Barry complimented the plan.

"Thanks." Harry thanked.

Frankie looked to her aunt. "What's wrong, Auntie?" she asked when seeing the unsure expression on her face, like something was bothering her within.

"Just a problem with that statement." They looked to her. "Experience. If Zoom is an experienced fighter, unlike the others he's sent after us, then it all comes down to experience. Intuition will lead him, preparing him to expect an attack from all sides or just the blind spots. A series of past fights can make up for future mistakes, would-be or not."

"She's right." Matt agreed with his wife. "We have to expect the unexpected if we want to take him out."

Caitlin hopefully turned to the detective at the doorframe. He hadn't said a single word since this discussion began. And the doctor asked him in hope. "Joe, voice of reason here?"

Joe didn't move a single muscle in his body as he plainly said. "We need a plan. That's as good as any." Barry nodded while he turned his head to the scientist from the parallel universe. "As long as he can deliver."

"Don't underestimate me, Detective." Harrison told him before walking away to work on the serum itself.

"I am." Frankie admitted, her uncle and aunt nodded in agreement.

Barry's phone chimed and he looked at it. "Oh, Patty needs us back at the station." He was already walking out of the Cortex before saying to his adoptive father. "I'll meet you there, all right?"

Once he was sure his son was out hearing distance, he directed his head to Caitlin, Olivia, Matt and Cisco. They saw the detective turning to them and with a nod of his head, he wordlessly told them to follow him.

Caitlin looked shocked and asked him. "Are you just forgetting everything Jay told us and supporting Wells now?" she looked to the mutants. "And you guys too? I thought you didn't trust Wells."

"It's gonna take more than a scary bonfire story about an evil speedster to get me to trust that weasel." The nanite mutant honestly said.

"Over my dead body." Olivia followed up.

"Oh, no, I don't trust Wells at all." Joe quickly added. He glanced to make sure the man himself did not listen in on their conversation. "I just want to see what he's up to. I figure we give him some rope; he'll hang himself."

"And we will tighten the noose." Matt cracked his fists.

Cisco nodded. "Yeah, I'm totally with you. I think he's hiding something."

"Yeah, it's like he's determined. Kinda like a homing missile set on a single target. And no matter what or where, its gonna try and find its way to him." Olivia said.

The detective agreed with a nod of his head. "Look, my hunch after interrogating suspects all these years… something's not right with this dude." He turned to the psychic. "Liv, your powers, they read into people's minds, right? Think you can…"

"Sorry Joe." She shook her head. "I can't or won't do it." She had her hand clutched tightly around her pendent. "It's… I can't." Caitlin and Matt rubbed her back calmly to cheer her up.

"Alright, I understand." Joe then turned to Cisco. "Barry told me about this you can do?" he whispered.

Caitlin looked excited with child-like big eyes. "Vibing."

"Oh, God, just relax." Cisco breathed out his response and held out his hand in front of his colleague.

Matt knew where the detective was going with this and looked to Cisco. "Think you can vibe Wells?"

The mechanical engineer shifted his eyes between the friends around him with uneasiness. "I can try." Even his tone and words were soaked with greater uneasiness.

Joe thanked him and walked away to attend to the matters at the police station. Twirling his head to the other engineer, Matt said. "What do we do if vibing the answer is not gonna work?"

Olivia looked to the scientist to the other universe. "In that case, I will gladly take harder measures."

"Well, if this Zoom is much stronger, then I'm gonna need Frost-Flame here." Matt said. "I'm gonna go and pick it up from the apartment."

"I'm coming too." Olivia added.

"Wait." Caitlin stopped them from moving. "Should we get Felicia to help us here? She's strong and will help us."

"Can't argue, she's been an enormous help to us all here for the last six months. But against a speedster she might be a bit out of her element." Olivia explained.

"She's right." Matt said. "Better keep out of this for now. What about Frankie?"

"Frankie's not gonna be in this fight." Caitlin adamantly said. "Zoom is dangerous enough to mercilessly send out more and more of his Earth's metas to fight The Flash here. I won't let my daughter face that."

"Agreed." Matt nodded. "Me and Livia will take care of this." He assured the doctor before walking away with his wife.

Cisco looked to Caitlin. "What are you gonna tell Frankie? She's not gonna be happy with being left out of the action."

"I can live with that as long as she's safe." Caitlin told her friend with an absolute decision. "I think it's your turn to get food for the metahuman prisoners this time."

"Oh yeah, it is." Cisco breathed out annoyedly as he had to go buy food for their newest addition of metahuman criminals.

Her hand wrapped around her necklace as she leant back against the wall. "We won't lose anyone else. Not again. Not against this enemy."

Her mind repeated the same horrific image of seeing Seth don his demonic alter-ego's form leap into the swirling mass that was the black hole. She envisioned her loved one sacrificing himself for the greater good of this entire city and the people in it….

… to save her, their child and the others…

And she could never not love him more for it… but she would prove that wrong… had he still been here with her.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, The Pipeline)

After a quick stop at the famous burger chain restaurant, Big Belly Burger, Francisco Ramon brought down a menu from fast food restaurant to give to the newest member of the metahumans in their care. But he did regret not buying some for himself as he felt himself growing more puckish by the minute as he held the paper bag of food.

Walking past the threshold of the entrance, he made his way up the small ramp to the Pipeline. But the moment he looked upwards to the cell… he came to a halt. His mouth gaped and his hand let go of the paper bag, letting it fall to the ground with a thud.

"Crap." Cisco said in dismay without blinking. He knew what he was seeing right now was reality. Seeing through the glass panel of the cell door, he saw that there were no one there in cell. The metahuman criminal wasn't there.

Rushing to the door itself, he investigated the internals of the cell again. This time looking around for signs of the criminal at all sides, worried that Doctor Light might be hiding in some of the blind spots of the cell.

Cisco looked to the floor of the cell, his eyes widening with shock when seeing the unmistakable objects on the floor. He saw the suit belonging to the metahuman on the ground. Breathing heavily from the confusion and dismay, he quickly walked to the panel on the wall.

Twisting his hand on the panel, he opened the cell door. He walked to the middle of the ramp…

But his ears didn't register the sound of feet clattering on the ground. He heard them intensifying and he heard a cry-

PUNCH

Before he could react to either of the sounds, he felt a punch slamming into the side of his face and knocked him on the ground. Raising his head up, he looked to the exit and saw paper bag with food… move by itself… or by something as though it was pushed.

"Oh shit!" he screamed in his mind when realization dawned on him as he shot to the panel again. Activating the coms device, he spoke into the microphone. "Doctor Light's gone invisible! Lock the doors!" he ran and looked up at the nearest camera. "Shut the doors!" he screamed as he ran out of the place.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, The Cortex)

Caitlin and her daughter shot to the computers on the main console. The mother already at work and but experienced problems. "The doors aren't responding."

Frankie then added in dismay. "None of the security protocols are responding. What's going on?"

"She's hacked the system." Harry stated after trying to help himself.

"Mom, I'm going!" Frankie stated and ran out of The Cortex, with her symbiotic partner enveloping her form and letting Magenta enter the fray.

She knew her daughter was a force to be reckoned with. But against a metahuman with blinding luminescence powers, it would be too dangerous for her alone. Caitlin reached for the microphone. "Barry, Doctor Light is escaping."

X

Magenta jumped outside of the building and used tendrils to swing into the air. Attaching a pink tendril to the one of the tree pillars on the rooftop of the facility, she swung around and landed on the roof again. She looked around from the high vantage point, but she did not find anything.

"Where is she?" she muttered to herself.

"Frankie, down there!" Magenta shouted and used a tendril to point in the direction.

Frankie looked in the direction and saw smoke emitting from the door. The lower half of her mask split opened before she launched two tendrils to the ground and pulled on them with augmented strength. With the speed of a catapult's fired projectile, she landed before the door.

A good chunk of the door had been blasted off, leaving it without a doorknob. Blasted with something with intense heat, able to leave scorch marks on the door.

Morphing both her hands into elongated blades, Magenta turned her head around. "Where are you, Light?" she snarled while her tongue moved around in the air like a serpent's.

"You really are like him…"

"Like who?" she asked out loud while snapping her head around for the source. "Like who, Light?!"

She didn't get a proper response as a light blast hit her in the back and threw her into the ground. Frankie grunted and spun around, lashing out her bladed arm after the source.

"WHOA!"

Cisco screamed out his response as the bladed tendril almost connected with his head. But instead it pierced into the wall. Frankie's white pseudo eyes turned comically large as the engineer looked at her. "You know, I'm kinda like your mother's brother. So you hurting me, might give her a reason to ground you for life, Little Fury."

"Sorry, Cisco. Thought you were Light." Magenta defended herself while her mouth pieced together again to reform her mask.

"Well, I'm glad you were wrong. Cause I was not looking for a haircut by you today." Cisco breathed heavily from the shock of almost being decapitated by his friend's daughter.

WHOOSH

Speeding into the scene himself, The Flash appeared and asked the two. "Where is she?"

Cisco shook his head and the symbiote-bearing metahuman said. "Looks like she was never onboard with your plan after all, Flash."

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, The Cortex)

Frankie brought her uncle and aunt back to the facility to notify them of what just happened. Neither of them looked the least happy about their missing metahuman thief. Nor was Joe when he heard their plan taking a swan dive.

Matt walked over to the suit belonging to the metahuman thief. The psychic shifted her head around and asked. "How the hell does a metahuman thief with powers over starlight break out of her cell like that?"

"My guess," Matt shrugged. "Light managed hacked into the lights in the cell of her cells."

Cisco nodded his agreement. "The whole building runs on fiber optics that operate on pulses of lights, so she turned off the dampeners and used her powers."

Frankie gulped with a pale expression on her face, completely drained of color. "I was just bested… by a naked… thief."

Olivia turned her head to niece with widely shocked eyes. "That's what you're focusing on, honey?"

"I feel like this is something Felicia should not hear about. She's never gonna let me off it." Frankie frowned.

Caitlin hugged her daughter from behind. "I'm just glad you're alright, sweetie."

Snapping his head in anger, Harry exclaimed enragedly. "I told you how dangerous she was. You should have listened to me and sedated her."

Barry replied, "I thought I convinced her that helping us was the only way she'd be free from Zoom."

"Well, you thought wrong." Harrison sniped at the speedster.

"Oh really, Captain Obvious?" Matt snapped back at the scientist. "Yeah, we made the mistake of trusting the bad guy again."

"Okay, look," Joe stopped the two from escalating into something far worse. "Doctor Light is gone, so instead of assigning blame, let's try to figure out what we're gonna do next."

Caitlin looked worried. "Do you think she's gonna try and take Linda again?"

"That might be possible." Matt said his thoughts.

"I had Iris bring Linda to the house, just in case, to keep an eye on her." Barry revealed.

"That's one problem solved." Olivia looked to the scientist from Earth-2. "What's the status on the speed-dampener?"

Harry didn't answer him, Caitlin was the one to answer that query. "I think we isolated the composite."

"And we're modifying the dart The Arrow used to take down Wells." Cisco added his follow-up.

Harry glared at them. "He's not Wells, I'm Wells." He reminded them harshly.

"Zip it, Harry." Matt said. "And my suit's loaded for this to happen."

"Our knight and angel are ready to take flight." Olivia smiled wickedly.

"But we don't even really know if this thing works." Joe reminded them and the others agreed.

Harry then told them informingly. "Until we try it, no. This will be a field test, so can we end this scintillating staff meeting and get back to work?" Barry was the only person to nod his agreement and went to work.

But only he and Harry were the ones to think like that. Joe had other thoughts brewing in his mind and he was more than happy to speak them. "Or how about I say what's everybody's thinking? Maybe it's a good thing that Doctor Light is gone." Caitlin agreed with a look and a wave of her hand. "Maybe it's the universe stopping us from doing something really stupid."

"Joe's right." Caitlin agreed, her daughter giving her a strange look of shock and confusion. "It's too dangerous for us to be trying to get a vicious killer in here. Even if we had a chance of defending ourselves or even fending him off, it'd be like luring a hungry and murderous wolf to a farm of sheep."

"That's dark, Caity." Olivia admitted but couldn't help but be impressed. But she knew the source of her feelings were based on the maternal instincts of her motherly side, the side wanting above all else to ensure her child's safety. "The lioness is the one to be feared in a family of lions." She thought to herself and knew that if Seth was still with them, he would be just as impressed by the woman he loves.

"No. No. Keep going." Barry dejected the thoughts of both his friend and his adoptive father. "I'm gonna figure out another way to get Zoom." The speedster walked away.

Joe walked after his son and so did Matt when the detective waved him over. The two saw Barry in the corridors and the adoptive father called out. "Hey, slow your roll. I want to talk to you."

Barry stopped. "Joe, look, I know what I'm doing."

"Just for the heck of it, we don't." Matt stated and said with crossed his arms over his chest. "How about you clue us in, you jackass."

"I'm trying to stop Zoom." Barry raised his voice. "I thought you were onboard with that. Even you, Matt, wouldn't you want to get rid of Zoom as soon as possible."

"Don't lump me in with you." Matt growled. "I'm here to make sure that your plan doesn't go downhill and end up harming my niece or Caitlin or Cisco here. And I'm willing to do anything to make sure that does not happen, but I'm keeping my options open."

"So am I." Joe agreed

The speedster shook his head in disbelief. "I don't understand why you guys think we have a choice. Zoom wants me dead. The metahumans that he's sending from Earth-2, they don't care how many innocent people get in the 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." He directed at his adoptive father.

Barry shifted his gaze to the nanite mutant. "Or even Liv or Frankie."

Matt saw red and held up an arm blade to the speedster's throat. Barry was afraid to even gulp, fearing that the swallowing itself would lessen the distance between flesh and weapon. "You… You of all people in this entire world, are the very last person to even care about my family. Not after what you did six months ago." He dematerialized his weapon and grabbed the metahuman by his collar.

Pulling him closer, the nanite mutant continued angrily. "And let's be clear about something, if this ends up hurting my family in any way, just like your other great plans, then I will make you beg for whatever bedtime story this Zoom is."

"Hey, calm down. Calm down!" Joe managed to get Matt's fist to loosen its hold on his son's clothing. "Matt, take a walk."

"Fine." Matt said and walked away with clenched hands.

Joe turned back to the metahuman, who was breathing heavily in relief. "I know Matt and I have different opinions on the matter, but I'm just wondering if going after him now is premature. I mean, we barely know anything about his abilities."

"Wells does." Barry reminded the detective while rubbing his throat.

The detective turned shocked with a reeled back head. "You're putting a whole lot of faith in the man wearing the face of your mother's killer." Barry looked hurt at the reminder of that fact. "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 get me killed, and we can't just sit around and wait for Zoom to make his next move anymore. We can't." Barry said and the detective wore a stunned face. "Aren't you the one who told me life isn't about playing defense, sometimes the only way to succeed is by working the offense?"

Joe chuckled in disbelievingly. "I think at the time we were talking about your high school football tryouts."

Pointing a finger at him and walking backwards, Barry stated. "You said you'd never bring that up again."

Rubbing his temples with growing concern, he turned around and saw the nanite mutant standing by the wall. "Wish you didn't have to threaten my kid again. But I guess it's pointless asking for that."

"What else did you expect? I'm not known for being kind to people who might endanger my family." Matt said.

"I think there's more to this than what Barry already told us." Joe revealed. "He's hiding something."

"Not particularly interested in that, Joe." Matt said and walked away.

X

Caitlin and Frankie walked through the corridors together. Her daughter looked up to her face and asked. "Mom, you know I'm gonna be here and fight with you guys right? I'm not gonna be sidelined for this."

"Sorry sweetie, but I have to ask you do that right now." Caitlin sadly admitted and her child gaped her mouth. "This is the one fight I don't want you to get involved in. It might be too dangerous for you to handle this. I know you have become much stronger than before, but against a speedster who's a bloodthirsty monster, is a whole other league."

She ruffled her daughter's long brown hair and lightly ran her fingers through the pink highlights. "I'm your mother, I can't let anything like that be put on your shoulders. Too much for you at the moment. Even more so for me." She regretfully stated. "But your uncle and aunt will be able to do this. So let's leave it to them for now, alright?"

"Okay." Frankie reluctantly said. "But if things get out of control, then I'll come and help with it."

"Maybe, let's hope your uncle and aunt will be more than enough instead." Caitlin kissed the top of her head lovingly.

X

Meanwhile in the workshop, Cisco was struggling with a problem of his own. He assured the others that he would be able to vibe the missing pieces of their puzzles. But the problem was that the pieces were inside the mind of Harrison Wells from Earth-2.

He was struggling to come up with a natural approach that would lead him to touch the man without arousing suspicion. Cisco had been standing behind the man who was working on his speed-dampener with undivided attention. Gulping almost inaudibly, he got the man's attention. "Hey."

Harry turned his head to see the native engineer behind him, but it merely a short glance before he turned back to his work again. "I just wanted to say using the, uh, tungsten composite to dampen vibrations, that was, uh…" he unsurely lifted his hand. "that was pretty brilliant."

He placed his hand on the other scientist's shoulder. Harry gazed at it shortly and went to work again. But he stopped himself when realization fell down on him and shot up from his chair. Wearing a blank expression, akin to that of an empty canvass, he turned to the native engineer and asked emotionlessly. "What are you doing?"

"I'm congratulating you." Cisco sheepishly said.

Harry didn't look the least bit convinced and slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me." He ordered.

"Wow," Cisco acted hurt. "try to give a guy a compliment."

Menacingly stepping towards Cisco, Harry said. "You're not trying to give me a compliment. You're trying to meddle into things that are none of your business. What did you vibe about me?" he held up one of the dampener's components in front of his face like he would hold a weapon.

"Nothing." Cisco assured him, his arms in front of him in fear of what the scientist might do. "God, why? What's there to vibe on?"

Holding up the component higher up to the engineer's face, Harry stated bluntly. "Don't touch me. If you have questions, ask them." He lowered the component. "Otherwise stay away from me." He returned to his work by the desk.

Cisco walked back into the corridor and met Frankie and Caitlin. The mother asked him hopefully. "So?"

Glancing back into the workshop, Cisco admitted. "God, you'd think the serial killer version would've been the bigger jerk."

Frankie raised an eyebrow. "I think Mom meant what happened when you touched him? What did you vibe, Cisco?"

Nodding his understanding, he confessed. "Oh, I didn't see anything."

Caitlin with a blank look herself said. "Go touch him again."

"No, he's onto me now." Cisco informed his friend.

Frankie gently slapped him. "Well, you have to keep trying."

"Frankie's right." Caitlin nodded. "I mean, I think Joe's right. Something must have happened between Wells and Zoom, made this personal."

Cisco looked to Frankie in hope. "Frankie, can't you symbiote bearers determine if someone is hiding or something like that?"

"No, we can determine if they tell us a lie or not. But if they don't actually say anything, then there is nothing for them to determine. That's out of our league." Frankie admitted.

"That's not exactly true, Frankie." Both Cisco and Frankie looked confused to Caitlin. "Your Dad's partner, Venom was able to sense that someone was hiding something, even if they don't speak. But Seth had been an agent for years and had grown with Venom like that. It might have just been the combined efforts of them both."

"Yeah, maybe. I don't have the same experience as Dad. Not yet anyway." Frankie admitted.

All three of them sighed and walked away, leaving the otherworldly scientist to continue his work by himself all the while wearing a heavy expression on his face.

X

(West Household)

After the events of the day at the facility, Barry returned home. Having walked through the front door, he saw Iris placing a pot on the dinner table. "Hey."

"Hey." Iris greeted him back.

Barry took off his jacket and looked at the table's contents. "Are you guys having a dinner party?" he had to ask as he saw various dishes on the table. The entire table was filled with untouched dishes that were still piping hot with steam emitting from them.

"You would think." Iris chuckled with a gesture to the table.

The answer to the speedster's hidden questions were then revealed when Linda walked into the room with yet another pot. "I know, I know." She put the pot on the table and explained the reason behind her cooking. "It's just, sometimes cooking helps me to relax."

Barry looked shocked and nodded his understanding… he did consider bringing in the mutants and their niece in case of additional food needing to be eaten.

After the events happening with Doctor Light, the doppelganger of herself, Linda was beyond distressed and needed to calm down. Especially since the woman with her face was the one killed her boss's life… she felt responsible to some extent.

Linda looked to Barry and asked. "Have you heard anything about Doctor Light? Am I still in danger?"

Barry had to be the bearer of bad news, especially with all that happened at S.T.A.R. Labs. "We're not really sure."

She groaned. "Come on. I'm going crazy here, Barry."

Iris nodded and quipped. "Yeah, she is."

A timer in the kitchen chimed and Linda realized what it meant. "That is the cake." She shrugged her shoulders embarrassedly. "Hope you're hungry."

Iris saw her walking away to the kitchen and said. "She's not kidding. There's enough food in there to feed an army." She quipped with a finger pointing to the kitchen while she and Barry walked to the couch. "Think we have to get Matt and Frankie to join us, if we want any hope of getting rid of all this food."

"You might be the one to call them, they both hate me." Barry said and Iris turned saddened by the information. She had a feeling that the feelings of the Furys had not changed regarding any matter involving the metahuman speedster. The speedster looked to the direction of the kitchen and said. "Linda must be terrified."

"Uh, more like furious." Iris clarified for him as Barry took a seat. "Larkin died trying 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 har Doctor Light's powers right now…" she stopped herself when seeing an inspirational look dawn over the speedster's face. "What?"

Barry then revealed. "I just, uh, Linda and Light… They're identical. So identical that Light even thought she could fool Zoom." Iris gave him her full attention. "Now we have Light's suit." He saw the same realization fall over Iris's face and he told her knowingly. "You don't even have to say anything, I know. It's a terrible idea."

However, terrible was not the opinion of the reporter. "No, no, no, it's not." This time Barry turned surprised. "We make Zoom think that Linda is Doctor Light and use her to draw him out."

"It's too dangerous, right?" Barry wondered of her in concern.

"Let Linda decide." Iris told him. "I mean, she's desperate to catch the person who's responsible for Larkin's death, and she deserves the chance to help us."

Barry nodded his understanding. After everything that happened at Central City Picture News, the speedster knew that the sports reporter was feeling responsible for what happened. And Iris was right… Linda Park does deserve the chance to help them out.

And she would… as Doctor Light.

X

"Please, tell this is beyond stupidity." Olivia groaned as she and her husband put down the life-sized paper figures of Joe and Cisco.

"You talking about this omega-level ridiculous plan of Barry's or the fact that Cisco…" Matt pointed to another set of figures. "has figures of the two of us."

Olivia looked to the figures. One of her looking she jumped into the air and clicking her heels like Peter Pan wearing a creepy cartoon-like smile. The other was of Matt who was posing with his arms crossed and a smoldering a gaze.

"His… items are a close second." Olivia said. "But the plan is the one thing that pisses me off the most here. Dangling Linda to Zoom… is not smart at all. She's not Doctor Light, she's not a bad person, and now we are fucking using her as bait."

"You gotta admit, it's pretty brave of her to offer herself to do this." Matt told her.

"Yeah, I commend her for that. But Barry or the others didn't even stop her from doing this. It's idiotic." Olivia turned her gaze to the figure of her husband. "But that's definitely worth looking at. Damn, it's creepy that Cisco does this, but I can't argue with the results."

"Yeah, he did pretty good." Matt had his gaze on the figure of his wife. "Don't know how I feel about him having a figure of my wife though."

"I hate that thing; I look like a frigging overenthusiastic cartoon woman." Olivia complained and walked away with her husband.

They walked over to Joe was laughing at figure of himself in his black coat and black hat. "Heh, dude." He looked up to Cisco who was attaching a figure of himself to the ceiling via a hook. Turning the figure to the engineer, the detective asked. "How long you been sitting on this?"

Cisco smiled and turned the figure of himself to the detective and the two mutants. "It's important to have hobbies." The three of them laughed at the figure of him taking a photo with a gaped mouth and his tongue sticking like a bulldog.

"This is ridiculous."

They all looked to the other side where they saw Linda Park wearing the suit of her criminal doppelganger without the visor-like mask. She was looking angsty as she donned the suit of the woman who killed her boss.

She walked over to Frankie, Caitlin and The Flash. With his vibrating voice, he masked his identity as he said. "No, it's not. You look just like Doctor Light."

Caitlin handed a pair of gloves to the sports reporter. "And with these gloves that Cisco and Matt rigged up, you'll be able to do what she does."

From the platform in the middle of the large area underneath S.T.A.R. Labs, Iris stood there beside Harrison Wells from Earth-2. The reporter saw the worried look on her friend's face and assured her calmingly. "Don't worry, they are totally safe."

"Ish." Harry stated bluntly.

"Ish?" Iris asked, hoping the scientist was joking.

"Why didn't we hear an "ish" before now?" Frankie asked rather loudly.

Cisco looked at them like they had two heads and said. "Well, come on, it's gotta be believable, so they really do fire and explode things." Matt looked like Cisco was the one with two heads now… both of them clearly not thinking clearly in his thoughts. The native engineer turned to The Flash. "And you are going to have to let her hit you with those blasts when she gets the hang of it."

Olivia looked to her husband and leant to his ear. "You might wanna help her with this, Matt."

"That was my plan to begin with." He assured his wife.

Joe looked up in disbelief at them all and asked out loud. "Who exactly came up with this terrible idea?"

Caitlin glanced at the Scarlet Speedster himself from the corner of her eye. She knew that if this went sideways, if could very well spell Linda's death. But that fact does not appear to dawn on the Flash whose mind is dead set on the terror that is Zoom.

"Okay, it's not a terrible idea." Cisco stated adamantly to them. "The suit can absorb the blasts."

"For real or ish?" Iris asked both Cisco and Matt.

Frankie then asked the native engineer. "What does a terrible idea look like to you, Cisco? I know my Uncle Matt's feelings on this."

Linda looked curiously to him and the nanite mutant saw the gaze from the reporter. He then explained. "I tweaked them so your body can handle the blasts. I have a bit more experience with fighting with lasers, so to speak."

"Okay, you know what? I like to think I can see the bright side of things, okay?" Cisco told them all.

"Pun intended?" Matt wondered with his finger pointing at the sport reporter's gloves. The native engineer glared at him. He looked to Linda again. "Don't worry, we'll be there and help you all the way, Linda."

"Thanks." Linda said and breathed out. "I'm ready. I guess."

They all nodded to her. Joe and Olivia walked to the platform where Iris, Harry and Cisco were residing. Caitlin and Frankie stood in front of the platform. Ready to jump in at a moment's notice if anyone were to get hurt. The doctor however was given a tablet by Cisco before walking after the others.

Matt and Barry were the ones to walk beside Linda. "All right. All right." The Flash said with his vibrating voice. They stood in front of a series of various figures of people from the team. "So just hit the ones of me, okay?"

"Got it." Linda said. Her ears perked up at the sound of a large mass moving around quickly behind her. She turned around and widened her eyes at the source. Matt's entire form was being enveloped by nanites that attached together and formed the Iron Knight suit. "You're Iron Knight?!" she screamed out in shock.

"That I am." He said after removing his helmet. Feeling the eyes of his other friends on his form, he told them. "She trusts us with her life, I'm gonna trust her with a secret. And this way," he clenched his hands and the repulsors shined. "you have a professional on your side to show you the ropes."

"Cool." She said impressively and stepped forward. Linda began flexing her body, relaxing her muscles as she looked at the gathering of targets before her. "Doctor Light." She muttered to herself before exhaling deeply. Raising her hands, she then uncurled her fingers.

She lashed out her right hand. "Oh!" Linda gasped when feeling a powerful recoil from the fired blast. "Oh!" Another fired out of her left hand, penetrating a hole in the figure of Cisco in middle of his torso. "Oh!" She then blasted a shoulder off Joe's figure. "Oh!" She then blasted a hole into a figure of Caitlin. "Oh!" Finally she shot the head off Mat's figure. The individual blasts pushed her further back till she was pushed into the front of the speedster.

"Uh, what the hell was that about?" Olivia called out in shock.

Matt walked over to the reporter and formed his mask again. Using his HUD screen he ran his scanners over the gloves. He groaned and turned to Cisco. "Cisco, you calibrated them so I could use them and for my body, not for Linda."

"Sorry." Cisco apologized and sheepishly threw a screwdriver to the nanite mutant. "Think you can fix it pal? You're a bit closer to it."

"Sure." He said and turned to the reporter. Taking her hands, he took the tool and used it on the gloves. "Just a bit of adjusting."

"Okay, so, um, do the opposite of that, and we'll have it." Barry sheepishly told Linda.

Matt saw Linda's unsure face. "Want me to give a demonstration?"

"Yeah, just something simple. Don't show-off, okay?" Linda begged him.

The nanite mutant chuckled and walked forward. Without putting on his helmet, he raised his hand and uncurled his fingers slowly. Pointing his repulsor at the figure of his wife, energy gathered into it and then he flexed the appendage. The energy blast responded to his action and was fired off. It tore into the figure of his wife and burned it to ashes.

He turned around to face Linda. "All in the wrist, Linda girl. Just relax your entire body and flex your hand with a clear and body. And try not to shoot any of us." He failed to notice the sea of stunned looks on the faces of his friends and family. "What?"

"You just shot a figure of your wife? Your wife?" Linda asked in shock, repeating the word for empathize.

"Babe." He looked to his wife. "Shoot the rest of my figures, please. I'll be able to sleep better at night without those things on God's green earth."

"Deal." He agreed and turned to Linda. "And Linda, you're gonna help me with it."

Linda knew that this was gonna be one nasty workout.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

And what a workout it definitely turned into.

Linda was to ensure the safety of the non-Flash figures. But it did prove to have its problems, such as Linda's hand catching on fire once. And accidently shooting the guys on the platform… more than once.

Sometimes she did manage to successfully shoot a Flash figure, and the success would cause her to shoot up her arms in happiness, accidently leading to shooting Matt… a dozens of times.

Because of her less-than-stellar success rate, the team went back to the Cortex to rendezvous and talk about strategy.

Caitlin was the first one to voice her thoughts as she entered the Cortex. "Okay, no offense to Linda, but there is no way she can pull this off."

Harry cleared his throat. "Well, maybe if she didn't scream every time she fired."

"Or accidently shoot my husband like he's a frigging target circle." Olivia stated. Her husband walked in after her and took off his Arc Reactor. "Think you can get it ready for deployment soon?"

"Just needs TLC and she's back to her usual beauty. Just need an hour or so." Matt said as he walked over to the private lab to retrieve a few tools.

"Yeah, Linda had a rocky start, but she can pull this off. I know she can." Barry said as he was no longer wearing his Flash suit and put on his jacket. He turned to Cisco and asked, "All right, did you find someplace near a breach where we don't have to worry about civilians getting in the way?"

Cisco nodded, "Yeah, there's a place by the docks that's usually deserted at night."

"Awesome." Barry was still set on the plan of using Linda as a Doctor Light lure for Zoom. "How are we doing with the speed-dampener?" he directed at Wells and Caitlin.

"My tests indicate that it should work." Caitlin doubtfully said while her eyes looked to the side where her daughter stood.

"It will work." Harry adamantly said with confidence. "I'll tune up Ramon and Stark's gloves, make sure they work better." He went to work.

"Okay, great." Barry stated happily at what he just heard and walked around the main console to reach the exit.

Olivia looked in disbelief as did her niece who looked to her mother. "Hey, are we actually gonna go through with this?"

"Yeah, we're doing this, Frankie." Barry told her and Joe crossed his arms in disapproval behind him. "I'm gonna have Iris get Linda ready." He walked away.

Olivia saw the disapproving expressions on the faces of the other natives, including the shocking face on her niece's face. She scoffed and turned to Joe. "Joe, you might wanna go and talk to that Speed-Freak of a son of yours."

Joe didn't wear a single emotion for a few moments. But he did agree with the psychic and said so, "Yeah, I'll go talk to him." He walked after his son.

Frankie turned to her aunt. "Think this is a good idea, Auntie?"

"Honestly, Frankie. I have no idea." Olivia spoke honestly. "None of us have ever faced Zoom, and yeah me and your uncle have fought speedsters in the past, but they're nothing like the ones of this universe."

"What do you mean by that, Liv?" Cisco asked her curiously.

Matt heard the question and listened while his wife answered. "Unlike the speedsters we know from our universe, the ones here tap into the Speed Force. I don't really understand it all too well, but it gives them more power than the ones we face." Olivia said. "The ones in our universe are usually beings that got their powers from The X-Gene or something else inside of them. Maybe even artificially giving themselves speedster powers."

"So it's not pure?" Caitlin wondered.

"Good question. But who can say that the Speed Force is pure, for that matter?" Olivia continued. "Let's just hope this plan doesn't bite us in the ass. A lot of Barry's plans does that."

Cisco looked at her with a gulp swallowed. "You know… you guys could ease off him, a bit."

"No chance in hell, Cisco." Olivia stated determinedly with hate in her eyes. "Not after what he did." Her hands clenched as did the hands of her both her husband and her niece….

… even Caitlin's hands clenched as well…

X

Barry pressed the button on the elevator. When the slide doors opened up, he walked into the elevator itself with his right hand pressing the button for the elevator to go down.

"Barry, hold up."

He turned around and saw Joe sprinting after him and getting into the elevator. "Hey, what?" The speedster asked him curiously.

Joe gestured to the internals of the facility again while the doors closed. "You saw what happened in there. Linda's not ready."

"She is. She's ready enough." Barry surely said.

The detective saw a haste sparking inside his son. Like he was trying to force a flame to be ignited through intense measures. "Why are you pushing this?"

The speedster was in disbelief from hearing that question. "What… why do you think? I want to get him."

"Get who, exactly?" Joe quickly asked.

"Is that a real question?" Barry asked him with narrowed eyes.

"You tell me." Joe stated and saw his adoptive son shaking in disbelief. "I'm… I'm not sure this is even about Zoom. I'm starting to feel like you're still chasing the Reverse Flash."

Leaning against the elevator wall, Barry reminded him. "Reverse Flash is dead."

"Yeah, but after all he did to you, you weren't the one that stopped him." Joe told him.

Stuttering his response, Barry said. "W-We all worked together."

This time, Joe reminded him. "Yeah, and Eddie got him in the end." Barry leant his head against the wall as his adoptive father continued. "I mean, did that make you feel cheated, like you didn't get your revenge… Seth did with Carnage…" the speedster widened his eyes. "And stopping Zoom is the next best thing?"

At the mention of Seth Fury's name, Barry gained a darkened and saddened look while the elevator reached the right floor. The doors opened and Joe told his adoptive son. "Look, all I'm saying is, if you're gonna ask people like Linda, to risk their lives, you better be sure of exactly why they're doing it."

The doors closed as Barry walked away from the lift. But the question stuck in his mind, was he doing it because he subconsciously felt cheated as he wasn't the one to deliver the finishing blow to his arch-nemesis. That honor was reserved to Eddie Thawne.

And he wasn't like Seth who delivered the final blow himself to the man who tormented his life.

X

After a while, the group had separated and went to do their own tasks. They had to be ready for the trap that was gonna be set tonight. Ready to take on Zoom. Cisco and Harry were seated in the workshop and working on various items.

Harry worked on the Light gloves and Cisco was fine-tuning some programs on the computers.

Thinking back to his task given to him by the detective, Cisco turned an eye to the scientist from Earth-2. The answers for them to find, the missing pieces of the puzzle… he had to find them.

He got up from his chair and walked over to Harrison. While the otherworldly scientist kept his eyes on the gloves he was working on, Cisco told him in a calm tone. "Listen, I just want to bury the hatchet and say…" he extended his hand to the scientist' "thank you for all your work."

"You're welcome." Harry replied monotonously.

"Okay." Cisco withdrew his hand. He had a feeling that the scientist from the other world wouldn't come into contact with the vibing metahuman. Harry removed the screwdriver form the gloves and sighed. Cisco looked to the other end of the cart and saw a can of oil.

An idea sparked in his head. Taking it in his hand, he unscrewed the lid and suggested helpfully. "I think maybe the trigger mechanisms are just sticking."

"It's not the trigger mechanisms." Harry told him while Cisco leant over with the can of oil. The two began bickering back and forth in an argument.

"It's just a little bit of oil." Cisco said and was accidently pushed by the scientist and it caused oil to spill over the device. Harry recoiled his hands and sighed in enclosed anger. "Ugh, I'm just gonna clean this up really quick." He placed his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Do not touch me." His hand was pushed away instantly when Harry shot up to his feet.

"I'm just trying to help." Cisco defended himself and he was pushed back. His hand accidently pushing the can of oil and spilling more oil on the table. Both men went to wipe the oil away with a cloth.

But Cisco's hand accidently touched Harry's hand… and then it happened again in a series of flashing lights… another clearer vibe…

X

Cisco found himself in… a forest.

He didn't have to look around as his field of vision was already covered by an ocean of sky tower-like trees.

His attention was diverted from the trees when he heard a panting and gasping voice… he turned around and saw a young woman running. Short light brown hair swinging around in the air as she was running hastily in escape.

Cisco saw her running through the forest and she then began to sob uncontrollably as she rushed through the branches and trees. Leaves falling on her body as her hastily movements rustled the trees and their limbs.

She tripped on a root and looked up, Cisco followed the direction and widened his eyes as did hers.

A pitch-black figure walked over to her while the lapis lightning continued to course over each inch of his black and grey suit. A black symbol with a reversed lightning bolt on his chest. Black eyes locked onto the form of the girl. His scarecrow-like masked face breathing out menacingly.

"You will never escape from me." He said to the downed girl. Cisco knew that this must be Zoom. Jay was right, he truly looked like death, like a demon. "I know Wells went to the other Earth." He twitched his head around. "Why?"

"I don't know, I swear." She sobbed out her answer she crawled backwards to escape whatever wrath he had in store for her. Cisco looked horrified and didn't dare to imagine the hell this monster could bring forth with his hands along.

Zoom groaned. "Your loyalty is admirable…. Jesse." He raised his claws.

Jesse opened her mouth and screamed out in terror as she feared the claw was about to be brought down on her.

X

The scream echoing from Jesse was the last thing remains of the vibe that Cisco registered.

Harrison didn't appear to recognize the gaped mouth and wide eyes of shock as the aftermath of a vibe on Cisco's face. He merely thought the expression was a result of the accident that was clearly his fault.

As Harry was wiping his hands, Cisco looked to him apologetically. "I'm sorry." He walked away from the scientist who threw down the cloth after having wiped his hands clean of the oil before returning to his work again.

Cisco had a curious look on his face as he continued to watch the man himself.

X

The time had come.

The time to capture Zoom. Everyone had taken their place. The two mutants suited in their suits and hovering in the air above the docks and looking down at the docks themselves. Iron Knight turned his eyes to the rooftop of a ship and saw Harry on his stomach with a special rifle. His fingers ready to pull the trigger and fire the speed-dampener.

Angel Fury looked around and saw Joe beside the scientist from the other world, wielding the same type of weapon with the same type of dampener. "Looks like mission's a go" she muttered loud enough for the others to hear her via the comms device.

"Yeah. When you guys are ready." Matt followed up.

"I'm here to kill The Flash, and no one can stop me!" "Doctor Light" exclaimed loudly as she impersonated her villainous doppelganger and walked around. She quickly put her fingers to the side of her mask and asked the team. "How's that?"

"Uh, it's a little too much. Uh, stop messing with the earpiece." Cisco offered his notes back in The Cortex.

"Yeah, you don't want to dislodge it." Caitlin followed up as she, Iris, Frankie and Cisco.

"And don't accidently shoot off your own head, okay? Gonna be one mess to clean up." Frankie jokingly added.

"Right, you… you told me that. I'm sorry." Linda apologized.

Matt and Olivia were listening on their conversations from above and both couldn't believe how much she was sounding like Seth. "It's kinda worrying that she's so much like Bro."

"She's a mini-Seth in pink." Matt chuckled. He rubbed the back of his helmet his armored right hand. "I feel weird talking about him when he's not here. I hate it actually."

"Knowing him, he wouldn't mind it. It's okay to miss him… but it's goddamn hard moving on." Olivia admitted.

"Yeah." Matt added his own thoughts. "But I think he'd be proud of us now."

Olivia looked to him. "Until we give Frankie permission to date, then he's gonna haunt our asses till kingdom come."

"…You're doing great, Linda…" they heard Iris tell Linda.

Matt got a notification from Cisco. "And enter the hero."

x

WHOOSH

Entering in a flash of yellow lightning, The Flash came and stood in front of "Doctor Light". He made eye contact with her. "All right, Doctor Light, here I am." The two of them began walking around in a circular motion. "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." Came the response from "Doctor Light". Linda lowered her voice and whispered loudly for the speedster to hear her only. "Wait, what are you doing? We're skipping that?"

"Yes." Barry whispered back just as loudly.

As she walked, Linda had to recall her lines and said. "Uh, I am loyal to Zoom, so get ready to fry." She threatened.

X

"Okay, who the hell wrote these lines?" Olivia exclaimed.

"Yeah, right. Next time we're doing this, I'm writing better dialogue." Cisco spoke from the Cortex.

"""Next time?""" came the united shocked response of both Caitlin, Iris and Frankie beside the native engineer.

"I sure as hell hope there's not a gonna be a next time. Cause one of these is enough for this guy." Matt remarked while he turned his attention back to the fight underneath him.

X

A light blast was shot out of "Doctor Light's" hand and missed The Flash. It connected with a small warehouse behind them.

The speedster turned to the reporter dressing as her villainous doppelganger. Lina shook her hands, showing her shining palms to him as though there was a wordless message to be shown. Realizing what she meant, he emitted a groan of pain and fell down to the ground as though he was hit by the blast of light. "Oh!" Barry exclaimed.

"Gotcha." Linda smirked while impersonating her doppelganger.

"Yeah, you did." The Flash mimicked a pained voice like he was experiencing the pain of the beam.

"Real good." "Doctor Light" said with a smirk.

"All right. Ugh." Barry got up again while mimicking a grunt of pain.

"Bring it on." She challenged him with her hands beckoning him to her.

Greatly reducing his speed, he sped to him. "Doctor Light" lashed out her hands and fired another beam of starlight. It connected with his shoulder and he groaned in pain. Another beam connected with his other shoulder.

But as The Flash neared her, Linda spun around and fired another laser of light into his back. He groaned once again in pain and was brought down to his knees. "Doctor Light" smirked and watched as the yellow lightning continued to course over his being.

She watched as The Flash was brought down to his back. Smiling evilly, as best as she could, she walked to him. "Told you, Zoom always wins." Bending down to the speedster's form, she yanked the emblem off his chest. Worry came over Linda and she leant to him and asked. "You're okay, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I had to make it look good." He told her and resumed his dead faint.

Linda nodded and got up again, she walked to closer to the transparent form of the breach and talked into it. "Here it is, Zoom, I did what you wanted. Now bring me home!" she called out and threw the emblem into the breach.

As the emblem passed through the breach, everyone around it saw the breach take on its real form. A swirling energy mass resembling a smaller version of the one that they've seen underneath S.T.A.R. Labs.

But now… they all waited with bated breath… afraid to even blink… because they knew that a speedster could cause havoc in that same span.

…

…

However, they all expected to see a speedster with a face of death… an unstoppable demon with the abilities to steal another speedster's speed. Alas… they got none… so far… for an hour of waiting.

Harry and Joe removed their eyes from their scopes for a few moments and watched the breach, expecting to see a speedster erupting out of it like lava from a volcano. "Come on. Come on. Come on." The otherworldly scientist chanted.

Liv and Matt kept themselves airborne and had their weapons ready. One wielding a razor whip, the other wielding shining repulsors. The nanite mutant turned to the psychic. "What's going on? This is everything he wants, right?"

"Yeah, why else would he be sending metas like they're fan mail?" The psychic rhetorically replied.

"Hey, stop fidgeting." Linda scolded Barry when she saw him moving around, as he was supposed to play dead.

Barry returned to his dead fainted position. "Sorry, it's been an hour. I landed in a ridiculous position, and my foot fell asleep."

"He's probably waiting to see if you're really dead. Any minute now, he's gonna strike." The mutants heard Cisco suggest through the comms.

Matt put his finger on his comms device. "Cisco, he's a speedster. An hour for a speedster is like an eternity."

"Oh yeah, good point." Cisco said back agreeingly.

He wasn't the only one to agree with those words. Barry sighed and got up from the ground. "No."

Harry and Joe took their weapons back and the mutants lowered themselves closer to the ground as they knew that the plan had failed. Linda felt guilty and walked over to the speedster. "Sorry, I probably screwed up somehow." She said out so everyone could hear her.

"You did great, Linda." Olivia told the doppelganger of the villainous metahuman as she landed on the ground.

Matt walked over to the sports reporter with his wife. The detective walked to his adoptive son who took off his cowl. Harrison was wearing an angry expression and with the back of his rifle, he began pushing things off the crates to the ground. Joe turned to Barry. "So Wells ain't taking this well."

Barry hummed. "Mm-hmm."

"How about you?" Joe asked the speedster.

"Yeah, it just sucks, you know." Barry defeatedly said. He looked back saw that Linda, Harrison, and the two mutants had gone away. "You were right, a little bit, about this not being just about Zoom… about it being about the Reverse Flash."

"Okay." Joe was right.

"But not for the reason that you think, not because I didn't beat him." Barry revealed everything. "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?" Joe inquired.

"He knew me. He knows future me." Barry reminded of his origin yet to be, or to never be again.

"That's future you. This is the you here and now." Joe gestured to the speedster.

"I still think that Wells is right. 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. You know, I just feel like that is always gonna be there." Barry gained a saddened expression. "For better or worse, Wells… He knew me."

"Better than I know you?" Joe asked with a small smile. "He may have stalked you for 15 years, but I raised you. Look, Wells said what he said to you to mess with you, to get in your head one last time. If you listen to him, you let him win."

"I know. I don't want that." Barry told him.

"You're responsible for your own happiness, Barry. Forget about Wells. Think hard about what you want and what makes you happy. Go out and get it. Simple as that." Joe told him. "All right?"

"Yeah."

The detective stepped back and crossed his arms and gained a stern look. "But I feel like there's something else going on Barry, what's it about? Like there's something more going on with you? What is it?"

Barry chuckled. "You really are a master detective."

"Well, takes years and years to be good as me." The detective bragged.

"You know, I heal fast, right?" Joe looked confused to hear that well-known fact about speedsters. He turned his eyes to him. "You don't. But still, you rush into every fight there is in the city. Metahumans or not, you're always there, Joe. Against metas, against things like Atom Smasher, you're still there to fight them no matter what."

"I'm a cop." Joe felt like he had to remind his adoptive son. "It's in my job description."

With a shaking of his head, Barry disagreed. "Yeah, not fighting against things like these metas of Zoom's… that's definitely not in in your job description. That's my job. Seriously, your whole task force that day could have been killed by Atom Smasher. We were lucky more people weren't hurt."

"It wasn't luck, Barry. Not that day. You were there. Matt was there. Even Frankie was there." Joe told him after fastening the strap of the rifle. "The three of you were there to protect them."

"You just don't get it." Barry scoffed and watched as an inquiring look came over the detective's face. With a gesture of his hands, gesturing to the docks, the city itself even, he continued. "I am the reason that all these people have been in danger, in harm's way ever since the Singularity opened up in the skies. All the people that the metahumans have killed since getting here… they did it for me, to get to me. I've put them all in danger, again."

He looked around with a guilty look. "Ronnie and Eddie? They're dead. Because of me. And Seth too… he's dead because of me. The city praised me, and even gave me, me, a key to it. Because they think I saved this city. But I didn't. Eddie stopped Wells. Ronnie and Seth stopped the Singularity. Those three… were the heroes of this city, and they didn't deserve to die, not because of my mistakes, my greed."

He turned to face his adoptive father again, this time tears stinging his eyes and wetting the surfaces of his eyes. "Iris was a fiancée… and she never even got the chance to be married to Eddie. Everybody close to me, old and… new…" Joe widened his eyes. "ends up either, hurt, heart-broken or dead."

"Olivia lost her brother because of me. Matt lost his best friend because of me. And Frankie… like Matt said, I'm no better than Thawne. Just like he's the speedster responsible for ruining my life when he killed my mom, I'm the speedster responsible for running her life when she lost her father. Her, Olivia and Matt… they all hate me. And I don't think they're the only ones. Caitlin lost the love of her life. The guy who made her warm again. The guy who fought her, willing to risk his own life thousands of times for his loved ones and this city. The guy even took a sword through his heart and still kept fighting. Seth Fury was a friend of mine, a close friend, a real hero who swore to help me get my dad out of prison and back to me… and he still sacrificed himself because of me, because of my mistake." He looked at his adoptive father. "You must hate me a bit too for that, right? You lost your best friend because of me."

"I don't hate you, Barry. I will never hate you." Joe assured his son and cupped his face. "Remember what I said before? Seth and the others that day… they all made their choice of their own free will. They did that for this city, for you. And I don't know about Eddie or Ronnie, but Seth? I know he would really pissed at you for taking responsibility for his actions. He was a grown man, demon in his case, he can take the heat of his own choices."

"I know, but…"

"Stop." Joe interrupted. "Zoom sent these metahumans, yeah. But that's not on you. You can't take the blame of whatever any of the metahumans psychos says or does. That's on them." He saw the face still sour on his face. "Wanna know what you can do?"

"What?" Barry asked in hope, expecting an answer that was Joe-like.

"Keep fighting. All the sons of bitches that wanna rampage in our neighborhood, you stop them, in a flash." He quipped with a smile and managed to get his adoptive son to laugh as well. "Pun intended. But you do that, at every corner you run. And you keep running and get what makes you really happy… and don't let go of it." Joe smirked. "Cause that's what Seth did, and he didn't let go. Think you could learn from that guy."

The detective walked away. But he didn't even have to look at his son's face to know that a smile was forming on his face. One out of pure happiness. And that only led to a smile being formed on his own face. "God, I miss you, Seth." Joe had to admit in his thoughts with the rifle pushed against his shoulder.

X

(Central City Picture News)

After the disastrous plan of trying to capture Zoom with a well set trap, Linda returned to the newspaper publisher where she worked at. She felt absolutely responsible for this plan's failure. Even though the heroes of Central City, Barry and Matt, had revealed their identities to her… she felt like she had betrayed them, their trust.

She thought the sole reason behind Zoom never arriving was her horrific acting as her villainous lookalike. "It's not good to be bad." Linda Park muttered to herself in a chuckle. Her head perked up when the sound of clattering bottles reached her ears.

She laughed softly when seeing Iris walking over to her with a pair of beer bottles. "Hey." Came the greeting from her colleague.

Linda accepted the bottle. "I wish I could have kept the gloves at least."

Leaning against her colleague's desk, Iris asked curiously. "What would you have done with them?"

"Raves, duh." She and Iris laughed.

As the sports reporter drank from her beer, Iris's laughter fell, and she stated knowingly. "That is not what you were talking about."

Putting her bottle on the desk, Linda asked. "I was thinking about a lot of things. 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 knew where she was coming from.

The two clanged their bottles and Linda asked seriously, but also inwardly worriedly. "Do you ever get used to it?"

Swallowing an intake of beer, Iris answered. "Keeping more than a few secrets that big? No."

"It's pretty heavy." Linda chuckled nervously. But Iris could see herself in Linda right now. There was more than nervousness under the surface of her. She saw that the events of the night were gonna feel like a new burden on her shoulders. One that the sports reporter would have to shoulder herself.

Getting up from her chair, she took her jacket off the back of her chair and admitted tiredly. "I need a good night's sleep." Iris chuckled while Linda took on her jacket. "I'm gonna heat out."

"I'll see you tomorrow." Iris bid her farewell before drinking from her beer again. Before the sports reporter walked out of the door, Iris called out to her. "Oh, hey, if we're gonna be Central City's heroes' sidekicks, we should probably join CrossFit or something, you know?" she joked.

"Oh, yeah, girl." Linda fastened the belt around her jacket as she joked.

"Yeah." Iris and Linda both flexed their arms like strongmen in a circus.

"Bye." Linda called out to her colleague as she pushed the door open. The door closed-

WHOOSH

A frightening form met her and stopped her from moving onwards to her home destination. The form of a demon with the face of death… riddled with blue lightning running over each part of his body. Linda gasped in fear as the speedster bent his head closer to her face.

Zoom growled in her face… and Linda imagined that death had reached her doorstep… for it was her time to be taken to the afterlife.

WHOOSH

And just as quickly, she was pulled away… in a flash.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"Cisco here." Matt threw a new white Flash emblem to the native engineer. "Got it from your spare sets."

"Thanks, man." Cisco expressed his gratitude while he walked over to the Flash suit itself. Olivia watched the man attach the emblem to the chest plate of the suit. "There you go. It's like you think these things just grow on trees or something." He told the speedster.

"And we threw away the last one for nothing." Barry remarked in defeat.

Caitlin and Frankie were standing behind Harry who was watching the footage from the docks multiple times. After standing behind and watched his eyes go over the footage for a while now, the mother asked. "You've been going over this footage dozens of times."

"Everything went exactly according to plan." Frankie added shortly after her parent's words.

"Not exactly, Frankie." Magenta told her from within.

As if on cue, the otherworldly scientist stated in a monotone voice. "If it had, Zoom would have shown up."

"Maybe Light was wrong." Olivia suggested. But she schooled herself mentally and said. "No, she was right. Why else would they be pissing their pants so much whenever they hear his name."

"Yeah, you're right." Matt agreed with his wife and rubbed his chin. "Or maybe he can't see through the breaches. Or maybe it was the wrong breach. Speedster or not, he can't be everywhere at once."

"Or maybe he finally decided to give up." Barry suggested afterwards.

Harry didn't feel assured of these reasons. He felt his anger spike and felt his guilt diving deeper and deeper into his heart. He has to get Zoom no matter what. For Jesse… he had to do it.

To finally end the suffering that's she's been put through because of him.

A chime began emitting from the main console and the mutant looked to it. "Jarvis, what's going on?"

"Appears to be an urgent call from Ms. Iris West." The AI informed them. "Transmitting the call to Mr. Allen's phone."

Barry thanked him with a nod and took out his phone as it began vibrating. Putting it to his hear, he replied to Iris. "Hey." He heard her distressful words. "Iris, slow down. I can't understand you."

A bad feeling spread within the pits of the two mutants. Both of them holding their armors to their chests in case of emergencies. They then heard Harry's watch beeping loudly, his metahuman alert app. Another alarm beeped from the computers.

Cisco and Matt shot to it and checked it. "Zoom has Linda." Barry informed them.

"He's on the roof." Cisco stated.

WHOOSH

Barry disappeared in a flash and put on his suit.

Matt turned to his niece. "Frankie, you stay here. I mean it." Frankie nodded to her uncle's orders. He turned to his wife and saw the nanites form her suit. "Let's go, Angel."

"Right behind you, Knight." The psychic replied as the nanites on his body attached to his body and formed his armor.

The two flew out of the Cortex through the skylight and into the air with incredible speed.

X

Barry was the first one to arrive on the scene on the facility's roof. He saw the sight on the roof, the menacing form with blue lightning sparking all over the pitch-black speedster's form, holding onto the fragile and terrified form of Linda Park. A dark and ominous chuckle came from his scarecrow-like mouth.

"Put her down." The Flash told Zoom.

"You like to fish with bait?" Zoom started. "I do too." With a lightning fast movement, he twisted her around and held Linda up with a single hand. Holding her over the edge of the roof and making his point very clear. The gasps and whimpering from her mouth did not reach the psychotic mind of the pitch-black speedster.

The Flash watched Zoom hold her and though a smirk formed on his mouth, invisible to the eyes of the many… right before… he released his grip on Linda.

SCREAM

Her screams reached the high heavens as she was falling through the air.

Barry sprang into action, speeding down the side of the facility and lashed his arms upwards. He spun them around with lightning fast speed and formed two wind funnels and connected with the woman's form. "Come on. Come on." The wind funnel decreased the force of her fall and she fell into his arms.

Iron Knight landed on the ground with a clang and the psychic touched down next. Angel Fury turned to Linda who was being brought down to the ground. "Linda, get out of here. We'll take care of this."

Linda was shaking her head in disagreement. "No, you guys can't fight that thing. It's a monster."

The nanite mutant faced her. "So are we. Go!" he exclaimed to the sports reporter who ran away from them.

The sound of wind whooshing caught their attention and made the three heroes face the direction of it. Walking and speeding closer till they all stood in front of Zoom, they made eye contact with him.

"So you're Zoom? Gotta admit I'm not impressed." The nanite mutant spoke his thoughts.

"Who… are you?" he growled his question.

"Name's Iron Knight." He introduced himself.

"And my name's Angel Fury." The psychic stated her own name.

Zoom faced her. "Angel, huh? Gonna be fun to pluck off your wings."

Behind her mask, Olivia showed a wicked smile. "Trust me. I'm not that innocent and easy to deal with. I'm a whole lot tougher than that."

"We… will see about that." Zoom growled menacingly.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"Zoom cannot be human." Caitlin remarked in fear of the pitch-black speedster who was facing the two mutant heroes on the live camera footage.

"He is… or was." Harry said as he also watched the footage.

"How the hell are they gonna defeat that?" Cisco worriedly asked.

"Uncle Matt and Aunt Liv can defeat him." Frankie stated honestly. "I hope…" she thought to herself with a growing wave of soothing emotions.

X

Barry stepped backwards a few steps behind the mutants. Iron Knight turned his gaze to the Scarlet Speedster. "Really lousy time to be running away, Flash."

"You forget, Knight." The Flash smirked. "Running is what I do best." With those words escaping his mouth, the Flash ran away and around in very large circle movement.

"So that's his plan." Matt muttered in realization as the light of his yellow lightning touched the reflective surface of his armor. "Not bad."

"What's his plan, exactly?" Olivia wondered while her entire form was being enveloped with her psychic energy. "Running around scared with his pants shaking?"

"Can't believe I'm saying this now, but he's not scared." Knight turned to his wife again. "As Cisco would say, he's gonna thunderbolt him."

"Toss lightning huh?" Olivia realized and saw the pitch-black speedster still standing there. "What's our plan then? Wait and let Speed-Freak take him on?"

"No, not this time." Matt cracked his fingers and flexed his hands, more nanites swarmed over his limbs and his. As they adapted to his arms, they formed into long semi-circular blades with repulsor energy shining through them both. "While he charges up a spark, we're gonna kill this fucking speedster."

Angel Fury smirked happily at the answer and used her powers to take out her razor whip. "Perfect." She pressed the button, unleashing the adamantium whip and watched as it cracked into the ground with a loud whipping sound.

Zoom's face was touched by the bright lights emitting from the yellow lightning on the other speedster, but he was focused on the two other heroes in front of him. "Bring it."

Iron Knight jumped and flew forward with the thrusters on his back blazing. Nearing the pitch-black speedster, he swung his right blade for Zoom's head. But in a quick blue flash, the pitch-black speedster stepped out of the blade's reach.

Matt was momentarily surprised by his action and swung his other arm for the metahuman. The pitch-black speedster used his black claws to grab the large blade. Iron Knight made eye contact with the speedster, both of their heads close enough to each other, close enough that their foreheads were about to touch.

The mutant opened the palm of his right hand and fired a blast of repulsor energy into the side of his body. Zoom's hands were released from the blades and the speedster heard a cracking sound again. He turned around and saw the razor whip coming his way.

Speeding out of the way, he dodged the whip as well as another series of repulsor blades from the armored hero. Zoom stopped and sped forward. Knight looked around and saw that Zoom had disappeared again. "Where are you, Zoom?"

"Knight, behind you!"

Hearing his wife's call, his thrusters on both hands and feet blazed, launching the armored mutant into the air. With a spun, Matt saw the evil metahuman there and the shoulder pads opened, allowing path for his missile launchers to fire missiles.

All of the missile came flying and Zoom saw them coming, but only in slow motion in his eyes. Jumping into the air, he grabbed them both and twirling the air, he threw them back into the armored hero's body. An explosion shooting him far into the air and down on the street behind the gate.

"Knight!" Angel Fury screamed.

Zoom turned to face the female hero. "Your turn."

She saw red and lashed out her whip, swinging it for him. But he grabbed the whip by the tip of it and yanked on it. However, Olivia's hand was strengthened by the powers of her psychic powers. Her entire form was enveloped by her energetic aura before she concentrated a sphere of psychic energy in her left hand.

Thrusting it out, she tossed the psychic blast at the pitch-black speedster. But the metahuman released his hold on the metallic whip and let go of it, with both of his hands free he dodged the blast.

The speedster gathered a large amount of blue lightning and he sped forward to meet the psychic. Angel Fury crossed her arms over each other and increased the psychic energy in them. Launching his fist forward, Zoom slammed into the woman's arms and the force pushed her back a few feet.

Olivia jumped into the air and retracted her whip with a spin of her body while airborne. She landed on the ground and slammed her hands together, forming a dozen of small psychic spheres around her conjoined hands. Disconnecting them from each other, and with a wave of her hands, she shot the spheres forward at the speedster.

Zoom sped around in a circle and dodged the small orbs before coming near the psychic. Before she could even notice it, he slammed his foot into her stomach and launched her off the ground. And sent her rolling on the ground.

The pitch-black speedster was about to move and finish the downed woman. But stopped when seeing the ring of yellow lightning around the facility vanishing and saw The Flash stopping himself and threw out his hands, the lightning he generated latched on his limbs before being launched in his direction.

Resisting the urge to chuckle, Zoom sped forward again to meet the lightning bolt. He jumped into the air and spun above the bolt…. His hand stretching down to the bolt…

And wrapped around it… and as he straightened himself up, like a javelin… he threw the lightning bolt right back at The Flash with a growl. Barry was hurled off his feet from the force of his own lightning attack, and he groaned when his body smashed into the sign behind him.

He was bounced off it and into the ground while Olivia got up on her feet again. "What the hell did I just see?"

The others heard her question and Cisco was the one to answer. "Depends? Did you see him catch a bolt of lightning with his… demonic claws? Yeah, saw that."

"Guess you were right Caity, this guy can catch whatever we throw at him, surprise or not." Olivia spoke into the comms devices again.

"Kinda wish I was wrong. But Jay was right. Even with you and Matt out there with him, he cannot do this. None of them can." Caitlin fearfully stated.

Looking to the speedster, Olivia called out. "Flash, get out of here! Let me and Iron Knight take care of this."

The Flash couldn't help but feel his mind retract to the times when the Furys have saved him from his own mistakes, or even fixed them. He couldn't let that happen again. Not after Seth sacrificed his life for this city and his family. "No." Barry called out to the psychic whilst he withdrew the speed-dampener from his suit's pocket on his thigh. "I'm gonna see if Wells' speed-dampening serum works."

"Not the best time to test that!" Angel Fury called out while she saw energy sparks coming from the other side of the gate. "Get here soon, Matt."

Barry walked closer to Zoom. "What do you want from me?"

"Everything." Came the ominous response from the evil speedster.

"You want to be me? Is that it? You want to be a hero?" Barry asked.

Zoom chuckled villainously. "Heroes… die."

"Only if you can catch them."

WHOOSH

Just as quickly Barry spoke his words, he sped away and ran up the side of the facility, with Zoom following him right behind him.

"Let's go!" Iron Knight said and the psychic nodded.

"Wait!"

But both of them stopped. Harry ran out of the door with the specialized rifle from before. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm telling you to not go after them!" Harry roared his answer to the psychic. "I have a shot, and you two are not gonna ruin it."

"Problem for later, after he's figured out how to fucking match Zoom's speed!" Olivia roared out to the otherworldly scientist.

"Sometimes I forget that Barry's a CSI scientist." Matt got their attention despite how he was looking directly upwards at the speedsters running up the side of roof pillar. "Right now, he's not gonna match it. Rather, he's gonna take it out altogether."

"Honey, I'm not a science nerd, explain so I can understand." Olivia told her husband.

"Terminal velocity!" they jumped at the sound of Cisco's booming voice in their heads when it traveled through the comms device. "Yeah, I was listening to you guys talking. The highest velocity attainable by a falling object."

"Falling through the air?" Caitlin asked the engineer.

Matt's mind sparked. "Freefall fight. Their drag force equals the downward force of gravity, making the net force zero, making it… equal velocities. That is genius." He had to admit.

"Yeah, then stay out of it!" Harry ran away to find a spot to shoot from.

"What do you think, Matt?" Olivia asked.

"We'll stay here and make sure that none of the end destroying this place." Matt said.

X

The two speedsters rushed up the pillar like speeding demons straight out of hell. Both of them reached the end of the pillar and was shot further up into the air from the combined forces of their running.

Barry swung his fist into the other speedster's face and pushed him away. While still falling through the air, The Flash got closer to Zoom, who swiped with his claws, scratching the hero's hand and pushing the speed-dampening dart away and let it spin in the air.

Zoom was met with another punch from the hero. But the force of the strike caused them both to spin uncontrollably. However, it was short-lived bliss because the pitch-black speedster wrapped his legs around the Scarlet Speedster.

As the force of their fall increased, Zoom managed to grab the speed-dampening dart in his hand… just as Zoom used Barry's body to cushion their fall… resulting in the Scarlet Speedster to throw up blood.

But Zoom wasn't done with him. Slamming both of his hands down on him, the pitch-black speedster forced him to his feet. Growling in The Flash's face, he unleashed a series of lightning charged fists into his body. One slamming into the face, another one came into his stomach. In a flash, he repeated the same attacks on the same spots.

Harry found it difficult to hit the evil speedster because of the speeding movements. Matt and Olivia gathered energy into their palms and fired at Zoom.

But underneath the thick black mask on his face, Zoom smirked and grabbed hold of the other speedster's body his neck and twirled him around. And used his body as a shield to take on the two energy attacks from the mutants.

Matt's, Olivia's and Harry's eyes widened in terror when they saw Barry's body take on the force of the energy attacks. And it was though the smile on the evil speedster's face became visible to them all through his cowl. Cold exhaled air came out of Zoom's mask as he reeled back a hand with lightning running through its claws.

CRACK

It was though the cracking sound… from Barry's spine… came before Zoom's hand connected with his back and broke his spine.

The mutants and Harry felt the sound of the cracked spine echoed through their heads and into their comms devices, allowing those in the facility to shiver at the sound themselves. Barry groans with pain that was unlike anything from this pain. The pain that brings him down to his back, allows causes him to hope that the pain is over

But Zoom was only getting started. He raised a hand high up and above to bring it through the hero's chest and embed his claws into his heart.

Alas, Harrison saw an opening and he took it. He pulled the trigger of his rifle and heard the dart flying through the air and making its way to Zoom.

However, despite how much they wished for it to be on their side… fate was a stickler for following the script it's given.

Zoom caught the dart with his hand and made eye contact with the scientist from his world. "Never forget, I am the fastest man alive." With now two speed-dampening darts in his hands… he turned back to the downed hero and without hesitation, thrusted them both into his chest with no compassion whatsoever. And Barry felt his entire system within weaken.

Matt's HUD screen scanned the hero's body. "He's killing him!" Iron Knight gathered energy into his arc reactor in the middle of his chest and crossed his arms.

"Knight, hurry!" Olivia called out to him in urgency, fearing the speedster had actually run his last race.

Despite the shouts or attack preparation being heard, Zoom only faced Harrison Wells after yanking the darts from The Flash's chest. "You're next."

"Get away from him!" Matt screamed and fired an unibeam at the evil speedster. The ground blew up in smoke and caused pieces of it to fall all over the area. Smoke disappeared and none of the speedsters were there to be found.

"Where the hell…"

"Zoom has him." Matt stated to his wife's short query with dismay in his voice.

X

None of the cars in traffic noticed the black blur with blue lighting trailing behind it as it ran past the dozens of vehicles.

But he eventually came to a stop…. Because Zoom had a plan to dismantle the heroic image of the Flash through the eyes of the media.

Speeding into Central City Picture News, wind blew up and caused papers on all desks to fall off as the pitch-black speedster slammed The Flash into the table on the other side of the establishment. All the employees turned to the sight of it with gaped mouths.

None of them, however, had widened their mouths as much as Iris West who saw the bloodied form of her best friend's form there. "Barry." She whispered horrified to be witness to that. To see the hero that have saved this city so many times from nigh destruction and so much more… no a bloody ragdoll in the clutches of a demon.

Many of her colleagues did not feel the same as her and saw this chance as a God-given scoop. They picked up their phones and cameras and turned them to face the two. Capturing the sight on footage and watching as the menacing speedster spoke all the while camera shutters clicked as photos of the event was captured.

"Look at you your hero." Zoom held up the unconscious speedster with one hand. Cameras shutters clicked faster and faster to capture the bloodied form of The Flash, the hero of Central City. "This man is no god. He is nothing!"

The very hero who was now… before their eyes… turned to nothing.

Iris gasped as the evil speedster sped out of her workplace with Barry in his hand still.

X

He wasn't done. People still had to learn of what the hero of Central City was under the claws of Zoom. And so should the police that was willing entrust their city's safety to The Scarlet Speedster.

Speeding into Central City Police Department, Zoom ran up the stairs to the upper floor. His eyes looking down at the lobby of officers who noticed his menacing form and sudden intrusion. All of them pulling out their guns and training them on his form.

Amongst them were Patty Spivot and Joe West. The latter forming a horrific face equal to match that of his daughter. Unlike the others, he knew that it was his son underneath the mask. And in that state, he would not be able to catch a misfired speeding bullet, which could easily penetrate its way through the suit.

"The days of The Flash protecting this city are over." Zoom once again held the speedster's bloody form to them all.

"No, hold your fire!" Joe screamed to his colleagues.

"Put him down." Patty called out to the evil speedster.

"Now what will you do without your precious hero?" He shook the hero speedster for empathy.

"Shoot that thing, now!" Captain Singh ordered his officers.

And so began… the gunfire…

GUNFIRE

GUNFIRE

GUNFIRE

GUNFIRE

A hailstorm of bullets flew through the air and went to touch the black speedster's form. But they came at him in slow motion, and with one hand alone, he plucked them all out of the air. The gunfire stopped when the officers found their magazines empty of ammunition.

Zoom, the speedster who didn't have a single scratch on his body, held his left hand and opened it… releasing the hundreds of bullets from his hand and let them fall down to the ground. Showing the officers the result of their futile attempt to hurt him. "Nice try."

WHOOSH

An ominous dark feeling was left in the officers' stomachs when the menacing speedster sped out of the department… still with The Flash in his hand.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, The Cortex)

Olivia and Matt jumped down the skylight and turned to the guys at the console. "Bastard's too fast for us." The nanite mutant informed them.

"Where were you guys?" Cisco asked while Frankie rushed to her aunt's side and hugged her.

"I'm okay, honey. Don't worry." Olivia petted her niece's head while she looked to Cisco. "We tried following them, but that speedster's out of our league."

"Guess, all we can do is wait now." Caitlin said.

"Yeah." Matt nodded and called out lout to the AI. "Jarvis, scan everything you can, with anything you can. Right now!"

"Affirmative, Mr. Stark." Jarvis replied and the monitors showed his progress.

"Anything?" Harry asked as he ran into the facility.

"No." Caitlin was the one to answer.

"Do you have him?" Harry directed to Cisco.

"No." came the response.

"We gotta go out again." Matt suggested to his wife, who nodded.

"That will not be necessary, sir."

"Why not, Jarvis?" Olivia asked the AI.

WHOOSH

They all got their answer when Zoom sped into the Cortex in a storm of blue thunder and held The Flash in his hand. "Shit!" Matt exclaimed and aimed his ion cannons at the evil speedster. But he didn't blast a single time. A misfire could end up hurting Barry or his body could be used as a shield again like before.

"Frankie, get back!" Caitlin called out to her daughter. Reluctantly, Frankie agreed but she reformed both of her hands into blades.

Zoom turned to Harrison Wells. "Harrison Wells, you thought you could defeat me with this?" he forcefully pulled the cowl off Barry's face and his bloodied head hung. The evil speedster kept his claws at the collar of his suit.

"Put him down!" Olivia said and her energy wrapped around her fists, ready to engage in a close ranged fight.

"I made a mistake." Harry told Zoom.

"Yes, a costly one." Zoom agreed and held The Flash's head closer to his own, looking deeply into his eyes with his own black pair. Barry gasped as he was brought back to the realm of consciousness, but only because a single claw of the other speedster's pierced his flesh.

Everyone around them watched the finger embedded into the side of his stomach. And then pulled out a second later.

Frankie's hands clenched again, this time her entire clothes shifting and turning into a different color.

Zoom looked deeper in the other speedster's face. "Goodbye, Flash." He raised him higher up and prepared the next attack, one that would end his life once and for all. "You, too, weren't fast enough."

"Piss off!"

Magenta leaped over the main console and swung her large jagged sword for Zoom. The speedster dodged the attack, but had to let go of The Flash with a throw. Putting distance between them and letting Magenta stand between them. "You're not gonna kill anyone here!" she sneered at him with an large and angry howl through her open maw.

"Frankie!" Caitlin shouted in dismay of her daughter entering the fray now.

However, even though his eyes were pitch-black and without any emotions at all, he widened his eyes with shock at the sight of the small pink demon. At a first glance, he thought he saw the familiar sight of the large elemental demon on his Earth. But as his gaze lingered on her, he could clearly see that this one was nothing like the one he's been facing on his home turf.

But she still caused him to feel shocked and he twitched his head around.

Harry was shocked to see Zoom paralyzed by shock, a sight he had never seen before. Cisco used that chance to walk behind Caitlin and Olivia. His head pointing to Matt and nodding a wordless response to him, the nanite mutant understood and let him proceed with his plan.

Zoom growled and said to the small demon. "You… look like him."

"You too? Who the hell do I look?!" Magenta screamed in frustration.

But Zoom was unable to respond to the question because a stinging pain emitted from the side of his neck. While he pulled out the projectile stuck in his neck, he turned around and saw Cisco being the one to have fired the speed-dampening dart.

The enemy lost his balance and was forced down to the ground. Everyone saw the same and hoped for the same, that the evil speedster was down for good as a result of the serum's powers. But their hopes were misguided because Zoom sped back to his feet and ran out of the facility.

Harry looked horrified that Zoom was gone. "No." he rushed to the exit of the Cortex and screamed out. "NNNNNOOOOO!"

Caitlin rushed to Barry with Frankie as well, the young metahuman's symbiotic form retracting into her. Cisco followed as did Matt and Olivia with their masks opening up. "Stay with us. Stay with us, Barry." The doctor spoke softly to the downed speedster.

"Don't you die, Flash. Not now!" Matt called out to him.

But to the speedster himself, their voices drowned out… faded like echoes.

X

After a while, Barry had bene put on a gurney by Matt and is currently being treated by the doctor. Frankie was doing what she could to help out her mother with whatever she needed. Olivia watched beside Cisco, none of them able to help out with the medicinal whatsoever. Iris and Joe had been informed of the speedster's situation and came quickly to see the state of Barry Allen.

"This is all you!" Joe shouted into Harry's face. "If Barry dies, you die." Caitlin and Frankie turned to face the angry detective.

"Uncle Joe, stop!" Frankie called out to her uncle.

"Joe, Barry's vitals have been stabilized." Caitlin followed up. "Let's let him go."

"No, Caitlin." The detective dejected.

"Why? What good does that do for Barry?" Cisco pitched into the heated conversation.

"It's gonna help me." Joe growled like an animal.

"Dad, stop!" Iris stopped him.

"Joe, chill!" Matt added loudly when the detective pushed Harry into a wall.

"Joe, stop." Cisco put a hand on Joe's shoulder. He turned his face to look at Harry. "Who's Jesse?"

"How do…" Harry stopped and pushed Joe's hand away. "Jesse's my daughter." He put his hands on Cisco's shoulders. "Zoom has her. You've… you did vibe me."

"Yeah." Cisco nodded.

"What did you see in your vibe, Cisco?" Olivia asked wonderingly.

He faced the otherworldly scientist, "I saw your daughter. Running through a massive forest, running from Zoom." Cisco answered.

"But she's alive?" Harrison wanted confirmation of his daughter's well-being.

"Yeah." Cisco nodded and the scientist released his grab on him before stepping backwards.

Matt turned to Harry. "So what's deal, Wells? Zoom sent you here like the others under his thumb?"

"Kill The Flash, and you get your daughter back?" Olivia asked after her husband.

Harry faced the two mutants. "The only way I get my daughter back is, I capture Zoom. Do you understand?" He faced the detective. "You love Barry. Snow loves Frankie. I love my daughter." He growled his words after hitting the doorframe. "And none of these children are safe as long as Zoom is here. I tried on my Earth to capture him. I failed. I thought I could bring him down here with Barry's help."

The eyes of the many around him, pointed at him and he said. "I was wrong."

"Wait." Matt looked Cisco. "Cisco, vibe him again."

"He's not gonn-"

"You lost the right to make a choice when you decided to use us like pawns!" Matt interrupted him and Harry staged back in fear. He turned back to the native engineer. "Cisco, please."

"Okay." He inhaled deeply and raised his hand. Cisco saw the look on Harry's face but paid no attention to it and thrusted his hand forward.

He inhaled sharply as he felt the vibe coming… in flashing lights.

X

He didn't know how or why… but he was brought back to the same sight as before. Watching Zoom about to bring down his fearsome claws down on Jesse, in the middle of this beautiful forest. Eager to dye the entire green forest red with her blood.

The sound of Jesse's frightening scream returned to Cisco's ears and his eyes registered the blue lightning running over the pitch-black demon's claws. He feared that he might have to remove his hand because he dreaded to see the image of her dying.

"Knock knock!"

Zoom, Jesse and Cisco widened their eyes at the voice and their expanded further when a metal fist slammed into the side of the pitch-black speedster's face and pushed him off his feet and into a tree, away from Jesse.

Cisco widened his eyes as though he recalled that familiar voice… but how… it couldn't be. He turned to Jesse again, seeing a smile on her face and then looked to the direction of the fist.

A familiar… and most unbelievable form revealed itself. Standing tall before Jesse… with spiked brown hair stood proud and his blue eyes looked at Zoom and his mouth smirked.

"You!" Zoom growled.

Reeling his head back and rolling his eyes, he responded jokingly. "You're supposed to say, "Who's there?". Come on, Zoom!"

Seth… Fury spoke… as he has never been dead…

X

In another series of flashing lights, the vibe ended, and Cisco was returned to his friends with a wide smile of happiness.

Everyone looked confused at the smile on his face. Caitlin saw his smile and walked over to him and got his attention by grabbing his shoulder. "Cisco, what's wrong? Are you okay? What did you see?"

"Caitlin!" Cisco abruptly hugged her tightly with his smile. "He's alive!"

"What?" Frankie asked in shock of the engineer hugging her mother.

Unwrapping his arms from Caitlin, Cisco quickly hugged Frankie, causing her to gasp in shock. "Frankie, he's alive!" he dislodged her arms and turned to the others with out thrusted arms. "Guys, he's alive!"

"Cisco." Matt stopped him and asked him. "Not that I don't mind the entire boost of joy and happiness in you like a drug, who the hell's alive?"

"Seth's alive!" Cisco exclaimed.

…

…

No one in the Cortex spoke. Harry didn't know what was going on. But he did witness an array of various emotions going through both the eyes and faces of the ones in the room. A few wearing mixed emotions. Others wearing confusion. Another wearing hate and rage.

"Cisco…" Olivia sneered. "That's… not… funny."

Matt then stated. "What kind of a joke is that, Cisco?"

"No, guys. I'm serious." The native engineer shouted again. "I just vibed Seth, he was with Jesse."

"Who is Seth and why is he with my daughter?" Harry stated his question.

"He's not. Seth's dead." Joe looked to Cisco. "Cisco, he is dead. It can't… be"

Frankie looked to him as well. "Cisco… are you sure? Is my… Is Dad really alive?" both she and Magenta looked hopefully. Their hearts even beating as hopefully as that, both hoping for the chance to see their fathers again.

"He is, Frankie." Cisco spoke honestly, and Magenta could hear it too. "I just saw him, guys." He faced everyone around him.

"But how?" Iris asked.

"I don't know, but he is." Cisco said. "I don't know how to make you guys believe. But Seth Fury is alive."

"There is a way." Matt received their attention and looked to his wife. "Livia, I know you hate it. But… if there is even a small chance of it… you can show it to us."

"I know." Olivia looked down at her pendant. She clutched it tightly and looked with cold dead eyes at Cisco. "If this is some kind of a cruel joke, Cisco. Then you will not like me very much after this."

"I promise you guys, I'm telling the truth. I saw Seth in my vibe." Cisco said adamantly.

"I hope so, for your sake." Olivia said.

"Guys be ready for a pulse." Matt's suit materialized from his reactor on his chest. His levitating ion cannons shot out and levitated over the heads of the natives. They shot out a beam that formed shields in front of their bodies.

"What's going on?" Iris asked, curious about the nanite mutant's actions.

"If Livia's telepathic powers are suppressed for a long time, and then released again, they unleash a pulse that pushes everything and everyone around them. Six months' long enough for everything here to be pushed." Matt explained. "Take it off."

Olivia nodded and yanked the necklace off her neck. The moment it did, her eyes shined with psychic energy and her body unleashed a pulse that pushed against the shields, the ones protecting her friends and family from harm. Blinking a few times, her eyes returned to their normal blue color.

"So your telepathy is back?" Frankie asked her aunt.

Matt looked curiously to Frankie's mother, while his ion cannons returned to his suit. He saw Caitlin wearing a shocked face. It looked she did not allow a single emotion cross her facial features, afraid to even show the single shred of happiness of what could possibly be the greatest news in her world… or perhaps the cruelest joke to ever been said out loud.

"Yeah, it is." Olivia said as she felt her head booming with the thoughts of the others flooding into her mind. "Let's go. Vibe him again."

"Alright." Vibe held his hand close to Harry's chest again.

"Livia, connect us all. We have to see this," Matt faced Caitlin and saw her gulp in fear. "All of us."

"I…" Caitlin Looked unsure, afraid to think this was real or not. That Seth could be alive. "I…"

"Caitlin." Olivia got her attention. "I don't know if this is true or not, but… we have to know about this. Even if there is the smallest, miniscule chance of Seth being alive again, we have to know about this. And my inhibitor is off right now, I can hear your thoughts right now. And you really don't want me to give your thoughts a voice."

She was right. Ever since she heard Cisco say that Seth might be alive… her heart began racing and her old thoughts of spending time with the man she loves again resurfaced with a vengeance unlike anything she's ever felt before. All other sounds vanished, and she felt the eyes of the others on her form. Fear creeped into her core because she felt as though her friends and family could hear her heartbeat…

… which was beating even more like a crazy bull in a rodeo…

Caitlin felt like her heart was trying to force its way out of her chest to prove to everyone around her that it was beating even without a body anchoring it. And right now… her thoughts increased because of her growing love and hope for see Seth again, and her heart… couldn't stop beating.

"Okay." Caitlin nodded. "Let's go, Liv."

Olivia smiled and turned to Cisco. Raising her hand to his head. Exhaling a few times, the psychic calmed herself and her hand on top of his head. Her hand lit up with psychic energy and unlike in the past, it easily entered his mind and latched onto it.

Her eyes sparked with more energy and she thrusted her head upwards, blasting a psychic wave out and hitting the minds of the others.

At the same time it did, Cisco's hand reconnected to Harry's chest… and this time all of them... felt it…

… the vibe…

X

The flashing lights ended as quickly as they begun, and the entire group found themselves in a blurry forest, the same one that Cisco have vibed repeatedly.

"That was… freaky." Joe said.

"And really, really weird." Iris said.

Frankie looked around in confusion at the forest. "Where are we?"

"Earth-2, I'd say." Matt said with his eyes looking around their surroundings.

"It is." Harry confirmed.

"Yeah." Caitlin looked to Cisco. "Where is… Where is Seth?"

Olivia used her psychic powers to say their minds, "Cisco, time to see if you were telling the truth."

"Guys…" Joe got their attention again with his hand pointing to the other end of the tree and saw Zoom crouching by a tree, a damaged tree, the bark cracked from something hitting it. "Zoom's here."

"Come on, Jesse. Up you go."

They all turned to the sight on their other side and widened their eyes. Extending his hand to the downed young woman, they all saw the familiar sight of Seth Fury pulling Jesse Wells up to her feet again. "Seth…" Caitlin said longingly at the blurry version of the man she loves.

"Daddy…" Frankie said just as longingly.

They all saw Jesse look at Zoom and then back to Seth. "Sorry, I ran off."

"And?" Seth asked.

"For doing it, again."

Seth crossed his arms. "And?"

Matt and Cisco couldn't help but chuckle as they saw a smile of mischief form on the elemental's face.

Despite having been under Zoom's clutches in a long time, Wells saw Jesse huff with annoyance. "And thank you for saving me…?"

The elemental chuckled. "And?"

"Yeah, that's definitely Seth, all right." Joe couldn't help but laugh as well.

"Oh my God, you're a pain in the ass." Jesse knew what he wanted to hear. "And I will listen to you from now on."

"There it is!" Seth clapped her shoulder and said. "Now get out of here, I'll take care of him." He casually pointed his thumb backwards at Zoom behind him.

"Sure thing, be careful." Jesse worriedly warned him.

But Seth waved off her concerns. "Nothing to worry about that, he's teddy bear on speed who's been dipped in tar repeatedly before taking an acid trip in a monster truck with one wheel."

"Sure… weirdo." Jesse stated before running off.

"Weirdo? Really?" Seth rubbed his eyes, and everyone watched it. "I really hope I don't meet her father, cause that guy might need a fine-tuning of what parenting is." Harrison looked shocked to hear his words. Turning around to face the angry speedster, the elemental thrusted his arms out to the sides. "Zoom, where you been? You never call, you never write anymore, you don't even send cookies. Are we on a break? Are we seeing other people?"

"Is he seriously acting like they're a broken-up couple?" Olivia asked them all.

Caitlin laughed. "Yeah, that's him alright."

Zoom growled at him. "You!"

"Yeah, I'm a Santa Claus's bad replacement. And you're on the naughty list." Seth joked and walked around the trees. "You not gonna chase after Jesse? Expected a bit more, Zoom. You've gone soft." He clicked his tongue.

"I was expecting to find you again… Seth." Zoom stated the mutant's name and the others looked shocked at that. Seth himself stopped. "I've been to your Earth a bit now. It's gonna fun breaking it to pieces." He flexed with his claws. "With my own two hands."

"You've been to my Earth?" Seth asked and laughed briefly. Shocking the evil speedster and the others seeing through the vibe. "Sucks for you, my people on that end. They're some of the toughest sons of bitches there is. And yeah, that goes double for my sister and my brother-in-law."

Matt looked up, knowing his wife was listening and watching. "Agree to not let him know that we got our asses handed to us by a speedster?"

"Fuck yeah. Bastard's never gonna let us live it down." Olivia agreed. But she was inwardly happy that her brother hadn't forgotten either of them, or any of them.

"You will… never see them again!" Zoom roared his words at the mutant.

The smile on his face faded and his eyes… turned lifeless. A familiar sight met the eyes of the elemental's friends and family. The sight of the one being that this city and its citizens… missed.

The Lethal Protector.

"You still I'm that weak, huh?" he asked while the black mass of Venom stretched around his right arm. "I told you once, didn't I? That I would never lose to any of you." The black mass expanded over his hand and elongated, the tip bursting and revealing a massive sword with a colorful crystal blade. The sword's guard was that of a demon's maw.

Harry recognized the sword and looked horrified.

"That's one badass sword." Cisco muttered impressed by the blade.

"No kidding." Matt agreed.

Seth pointed his blade at him and with cold eyes said. "No one in this entire world is gonna keep me from my daughter…" tears from Frankie's eyes when hearing her father's determined voice. "And no one is gonna keep me away from the woman I love."

Caitlin found herself lost for words. She just heard the man of her life, the love of her entire life, declare that he was gonna get back to her and nothing on Earth-2 was gonna stand in his way to get back home.

Home to his daughter… and home to her.

They saw the mutant leaping and swinging his sword for the metahuman. Lightning erupted around his form and he charged the evil speedster. He swung his blade for him but Zoom dodged and Seth followed him.

Zoom charged the mutant again with his fist and the mutant changed his fist into adamantium. The two fists slammed into each other and unleashed a shockwave.

The shock of their fists colliding somehow shook they all… and the vibe ended.

X

As they were all brought back from the vibe, they were all gasped as Olivia and Cisco jumped from each other.

Joe breathed in and out repeatedly and said. "How about… we don't do that anymore." The detective smiled with a chuckle. "Seth, you son of a bitch." He turned to Frankie with a short laugh. "Frankie, your old man is like the world's most annoying cockroach."

"And he's alive!" Frankie jumped up and down and looked to her mother's face. "Mom, are you okay?" she asked.

She was referring to the rivers of tears streaming down her face and to the ground. Caitlin looked at her daughter and hugged her tightly. She ruffled her hair. "Seth… he's alive. And he's gonna come back."

Both mother and daughter clutched their bracelets and necklaces tightly, as they remembered the man they both care about, the one they love with all of their hearts.

Matt laughed a lot. "Fucking bastard, can't he even die right?"

"That's Seth, alright." Iris admitted.

"Can't believe he's alive right now, and on another Earth… again." Olivia added strangely with a tilt of her head.

"Gotta admit, your brother has the worst kind of lucks when it comes to portals or wormholes." Cisco said with a chuckle. But he shifted his gaze to Caitlin and Frankie. "But how long do you think he's been on Earth-2?"

"Oh My God, it makes sense now!" Matt shouted and got everyone's attention. "This explains why all the Earth-2 metas have been pissing their pants whenever they see Frankie as Magenta."

"What do you mean, Matt?" Olivia asked her husband.

Matt then explained. "All the metas were scared are Magenta. But not because she looks scary as hell. But because she reminds them of the scariest demon they ever fought against. One that scared them just as much as Zoom, if not more. She reminds them of Venom!"

"That makes… more sense." Caitlin admitted with her arms wrapping around her daughter's form. "My daughter's not scary."

"Hey, I'm scary." Frankie pouted.

"Wait?" They all turned to the scientist from Earth-2. "Who is Seth, and why is he with my daughter right now?"

Olivia chuckled. "Well, Wells, your Earth is in more trouble than you thought… because Earth-2 turned into the temporary residence for one massively annoying demon."

"But who is he?" Harrison asked.

"Seth Fury… a hero." Matt said. "And a demon, who's a giant pain in the ass. Who's gonna do more chaos than good on your Earth."

That vague answer caused the man's eyebrows to raise in confusion…. which would lead to a long explanation.

X

The next morning, only Frankie, Caitlin and Cisco were there. Although, the mechanical engineer had to repeatedly tell the women to pull their heads out of whatever cloud they got stuck in. They were still reeling in the shock of Seth's aliveness and enjoying it immensely.

When something in the corner of his eye moved, Cisco turned to the gurney and said. "Hey, I think he's waking up."

Caitlin got up from her chair and walked over to the downed speedster. "Barry. Barry? Can you hear me?" She asked for his responsiveness.

His eyes closed to slits and his voice weak, but Barry managed to say. "Hey." Opening his eyes again, he saw the sight of his two friends and the daughter of one of them.

Cisco chuckled. "You scared the crap out of us. You were gone for a long time."

"How bad is it?" The speedster asked

"Bad." Caitlin started. "If you didn't heal so quickly, I'd be very worried."

"Linda… how is she?" Barry asked,

"She's fine." Frankie said. "She's staying with some friends out in Coast City."

Barry noticed a constant and freaking smile on both Caitlin and Frankie's faces. "What are you guys smiling about?"

Caitlin smiled wider than before and answered. "We just found about something really, really incredible."

"Zoom?" Barry wondered.

Both mother and daughter didn't know how to respond to that with words, but instead they shook their heads in unison. Cisco then added comfortingly. "Let's… Let's worry about Zoom when you're up and about, okay?" he patted Barry's leg.

But Barry expected to feel something from his friend's tap on his leg. Something. A feeling resembling a shockwave traveling up his leg to his brain, to register it. But instead… he felt nothing?

Raising his head a bit higher from his pillow but was stopped when Caitlin pushed him back down again. "Oh, no, you're staying put."

Barry ran his hands over his legs while Cisco said in agreement with the doctor. "Yeah, seriously, you got your ass kicked."

"No, guys, I can't feel my legs." Barry said.

Everyone shared looks of confusion and Frankie asked. "What do you mean?"

Barry, with a look of despair, shook his head. "I can't feel my legs." He repeated.

This time his despair washed over them all… because a speedster might have lost their biggest and most valuable asset…

To be continued…

Following the aftermath of the horrific fight with Zoom, Vibe demonstrated his powers and it led to the most wonderful revelation of all. They saw him fighting and protecting as he's always done. Fighting like the Lethal Protector.

The truth has been revealed to all now.

Seth Fury never died and is still alive and roaming within the limits of Earth-2. Fighting Zoom and searching for a way to find a way back home to his friends and family.

And everyone are excited to hear that their favorite demon is doing everything he can to get back home.

Through the vibe, everyone saw him again. Olivia saw her big brother still alive again. Matt saw his best friend again. Joe saw his best friend again. Iris and Cisco saw their friend again. Frankie saw her father alive again, swearing that nothing would keep him from returning to her again, to be her father again. Caitlin saw the love of her life once more, swearing to return to the love of his life again.

Zoom would have one hell of a fight to deal with.

The only one who was confused… was Harry who saw his daughter with… a stranger wielding the same sword that a well-known and infamous criminal known as Blackfire once wielded.

But another tragedy has occurred… Barry Allen, The Flash… the protector of Central City has suffered a devasting loss… as he can't feel… his legs now.

Stay tuned and until next time, peeps!