"Dear God," said Jay, "I should have seen this coming."

The medical workers loaded dozens of hurt students into the ambulances, some more hurt than others. Most were still unconscious from the nasty wounds they sustained from Thawne's massacre, but luckily they were all alive.

Unfortunately, that didn't exactly ease Jay's mind.

"It wasn't your fault."

Aizawa walked up to Jay from behind, placing his hand on his partner's shoulder.

"Of course it was," said Jay, "I knew of Thawne's existence, I should have taken the proper precautions."

"You didn't know for sure," said Aizawa, "don't blame yourself and focus on how we're going to hunt these monsters down."

Jay looked back at Aizawa, "It's going to be difficult, Thawne is an exceptionally skilled and dangerous enemy."

"We'll figure it out." said Aizawa, "There's always a way these scumbags go down."

Suddenly, a new pack of medical officers burst onto the scene, carrying 2 very familiar students in on stretchers.

"BARRY!" shouted Jay, speeding over to the boy. The young hero was caked in his own blood, bruised all over, and sported broken bones poking out of his arms.

"Is he alright?!" said Jay, grabbing a medical worker, "Is he going to be alright?!"

"We don't know!" said the worker, frightened, "He has to be attended to first!"

Jay, realizing he was getting in the way, stepped back and allowed the workers to keep doing their jobs. Aizawa sighed, walking up to Jay's side.

"The students weren't the only ones hurt," said Aizawa, "Ragdoll is missing, though from the looks of the scene she lost a lot of blood. Vlad and Pixie-Bob were also beaten to hell."

"Did we at least catch a few of them?" asked Jay.

Aizawa nodded, "Moonfish, Mustard, and Muscular were all apprehended as well as Captain Cold, Weather Wizard, and Captain Boomerang of the Rogues."

Jay nodded, "Damn, I hoped Thawne would be caught."

Aizawa took a deep, albeit shaky breath, drawing Jay's attention.

"What's wrong Chum?" asked Jay.

"I've failed my students," said Aizawa, "I was charged to teach them, protect them, and now they're injured beyond belief."

Aizawa hid his face from Jay, but it was clear that he was in a state of guilt, "I just hope I can make up for that by helping put away the villains that hurt them."

Jay nodded, "We will Aizawa, we will."


The following weeks were chaotic, to be frank. News of the capture of Bakugou and the horrific injuries dealt against the students reached certain ears, and now the media has taken advantage of the story. Various news sources used the event as an opportunity to criticize and in some cases outright slandering the UA name. Jay watched it all unfold on the television in the teacher's lounge.

As much as I believe in freedom of the press, these people sure seem to want that rule ruined.

*Knock*

Jay looks to the lounge door, spotting Aizawa.

"We need you for a meeting." said Aizawa, "Come with me."

Jay nodded, speeding over to Aizawa's side as the two walked down the hall. Jay noted the lack of students on UA grounds, a result of the cancellation of all classes due to the villain attacks. Arriving at the meeting room, Aizawa grabbed a seat on the table with Midnight, All-Might, Snipe, Nezu, and Present-Mic.

"Mr. Garrick." said Nezu, "Please take a seat."

Sitting at the table, Jay watched as Nezu began the meeting, "Good news, we seem to have acquired the means to locate the base of our enemies. Explain All-Might."

All-Might stood up, "One of the students, Yaoyorozu, attached a tracking device to one of the Nomu during the attack on the camp. The plan is for her to construct a gadget that lets us track the device's location. It should lead us to their hideout."

Jay's eyes widened, "Then we can apprehend these monsters and rescue Bakugou."

Aizawa nodded, "However, there is the question of Eobard Thawne."

Jay straightened his posture, realizing why he was here, "You didn't just call me in to help. You called me in so I could inform you of everything I know about Thawne."

Nezu nodded, "While I hold a vast amount of faith in our heroes, the ease in which this Thawne dismantled my students worries me. We need to know everything you know, and how we might be able to stop him."

Jay frowned, taking off his tin helmet, "Thawne is Barry Allen's greatest enemy."

"Allen?" said Midnight, "But he's just a boy, how could he make a mortal enemy at that age."

"He didn't," said Jay, "because Thawne is from the future."

The rest of the room was taken aback by the statement, sporting faces of disbelief.

"The future?" said Snipe, "He has a quirk that involves time travel as well?"

"It's part of the speed force." said Jay, "Barry, me, Thawne, we're called speedsters since we tap into the speed force for our powers. The fastest speedsters can generate enough velocity to break the time barrier and move through the timestream to a point in the past or future."

Jay's eyes hardened, "But doing it on your own is an unreliable strategy since more often than not you won't know where you're going in the time stream and get dumped in a random time. That's why you need what's called a cosmic treadmill."

"A cosmic treadmill?" said Nezu.

"It's a device built by Barry, at least my dimension's Barry built one." said Jay, "It allows a speedster to funnel their energy into a device that, with the proper time inputted, would take them down the right paths in the time stream and arrive at the point in time the speedster wanted to go to."

"That explains how Thawne arrived," said Present Mic, "But why the hell does he hate Allen so much?"

"The inciting incident is usually on Barry's end," said Jay, "Though it's never an act of villainy or evil. It's always Thawne's own muddled mind that perceives it as such. He's insane, and that's all that matters."

"Not exactly," said All-Might, "We need to know how to stop him."

Jay nodded, "On my Earth, Barry was always fast enough to stop Thawne, but that isn't the case here. He's too young."

"I agree, we can't put any students at risk, especially considering the media's reaction to the attack." said Midnight.

"That's why we need to think outside the box." said Nezu, "I have an idea, but it'll take a few hours to execute. We meet back in 3 hours."


You broke my heart Barry, so now I'm gonna break you!

Barry's eyes shot open in the hospital room, a variety of casts and blood bags littering his body. The sun was setting through the window as Barry checked around the room.

Where...is everyone?

Then everything caught up to Barry. The camp, Thawne, the Rogues, everything.

Oh no, Thawne.

Barry began to panic, where were his friends? What did Thawne do to them? Barry sat up, seeing that he was the only person in the room. As he began to pull out the blood bags, the door creaked open.

"B-Barry?"

Barry turned to find Mina had peeked her head inside, though most of the top of said head was bandaged up.

"Mina?" said Barry, "What are you doing here, where is everyone else?"

"Most of us are stuck here." said Mina, "The villains got us good."

Barry stared at Mina's head, noting the lack of horns, "Who did that?"

"The horns?" said Mina, "It was a fast Villain, he called himself the Reverse-Flash."

There it was, Barry's worst nightmare realized. Turning away from Mina, Barry began to tear up.

"I-I'm sorry." said Barry.

"Sorry for what?" said Mina, "Barry?"

"I did this." said Barry, "Reverse-Flash's doing all of this to hurt me."

"Barry." said Mina, "Don't say that."

"I should have at least told you." said Barry, avoiding Mina's gaze, "You're my friend, I should have trusted you with what I was hiding."

"Barry, slow down." said Mina, "I know he's somehow involved with you, he told me while we were fighting."

Barry whirled around, tears falling down his eyes, "What did he say?!"

"Barry-"

"What did he say?!" shouted Barry.

Taken aback by the aggression, Mina responded, "H-He said that everything that was happening to us was your fault."

Crestfallen, Barry slumped back into his bed, "He's right."

"What?!" said Mina, "Barry, you're being ridiculous. Whoever this guy is you can't be responsible for his actions."

"But I am!" said Barry, "You don't understand he showed me where he came from, what happened to him!"

"Stop it!" said Mina, grabbing Barry by his hospital gown, "Just stop!"

"Mina?!" said Barry, surprised by the sudden accostment.

"It doesn't matter what this guy's shown you!" shouted Mina, "He's making his own decisions!"

"I-I have to avenge you!" said Barry, "I-"

"Don't! Just don't." said Mina, pulling Barry into a hug, "With everything that's happened, this isn't the time to blame ourselves or jump into action."

Barry couldn't even say anything back, a look of pure shock on his face. Is she really forgiving him after what happened to her?

Mina pulled away, pointing at the area where the horns were snapped off, "It hurt a lot when they came off, but they'll grow back eventually!"

Barry felt touched by Mina's words, surprised that she had chosen to forgive him.

"I...thank you Mina." said Barry, "I'm thankful to have a friend like you."

Mina smiled, "Me too Barry, I just don't want you jumping the gun. It's clear you've been through a lot lately, we all have."

*Creak*

The door swung open as a doctor walked into the room.

"Sorry Miss," said the doctor, "but I have to give Mr. Allen his analysis."

"Oh, I see." said Mina, clearly disappointed.

"If it's any consolation, your friend Midoriya woke up down the hall." said the doctor, "Everyone's seeing him now."

Mina's face lit up, "Someone else is awake too! Great!"

Mina got up and walked over to the door, waving goodbye to Barry as she left. The doctor smiled, walking up to Barry, "You're lucky to have a girlfriend like that."

"Oh she's not my girlfriend," said Barry, "Just my friend."

"Well, whoever she is," said the doctor, "it's probably best she didn't hear what I have to tell you now."

Barry's expression darkened, "What is it?"

The doctor pulled out a sheet of paper, "Your wounds were extensive after the attack, you were on the surgeon's table for 3 days straight. Luckily, with the expertise of one Doctor Miracle, as well as assistance from Recovery girl and your own quirk, most of your body has healed over these past weeks."

Weeks? Have I been out that long?

"Broken bones, open wounds, it's all been fully healed." said the doctor, "All except one thing."

Barry reached his hand backward, feeling his back.

"Your spinal cord was severed, most people never recover from that." said the doctor, "Somehow, we were able to miraculously reconnect your spine, likely due to the healing quirks working in tandem. However, it's not fully healed as of right now. Walking and maybe a little running should be fine, but considering your speed quirk I'd suggest caution. If you go too fast before you've fully recovered, you could easily end up a paraplegic."

Barry looked down, "I'd be paralyzed."

"Yes," said the doctor, "that's it for now. You should see your friends, they'd be happy to see you."

"No...I think I'll stay here for now." said Barry, looking away.

The doctor reached out, only to rescind his hand and exit the room as Barry looked out the window from his bed.

If I run too fast, I could end my chance at being a hero.

Barry looked back at the door, knowing that his fellow students walked its halls, wounded by Reverse-Flash. Despite Mina's words, Barry was still extremely torn up by Thawne's actions.

I'm thankful for Mina forgiving me, she's always been the best of us, but I can't let what Thawne did to me and my friends go.

Barry's fists tightened.

I swear that when I get out of this bed Thawne, I'm going to hunt you down to the ends of the Earth and bring you to justice.

A small spark of lightning dashed across Barry's eyes.

I promise it.


Hey guys! Back with a new shorter chapter! The rest of the Hospital scene will play out next chapter I swear!

In addition, we've reached 150 favorites! Thank you guys so much!

In other news, my first issue of CYBORG on DCNext has dropped! Read it if you wish but know that there are other great series including but not limited to Flash, Aquaman, and Gotham Knights!

Reviews:

Jose Ramiro: Thanks for the feedback as always! :)

DCDGojira: Thanks for the feedback as always! :)

Aztec 13: Glad someone picked up the reference to Red Death!

Thanks for the feedback as always! :)

Deadcool14: The JSA ideas are great! I'll have to see what I can do with them!

Thanks for the feedback as always! :)

Vault Hunter: Glad you picked up the Flash issues!

Thanks for the feedback as always! :)

Next Chapter: Consequences