S.T.A.R Labs [Central City]
22 hours and 59 minutes until the Enlightenment
Barry could feel the sweat pouring down his face as he stood unstably in the Cortex. This was not how today was supposed to go. His eyes were burning as he felt his heart pumping as fast as it could. It was struggling to keep up with his speed, he realised after a minute. He took a couple deep breaths as he walked further into the Cortex, spotting Iris frozen still next to the console in the center of the room. Hesitantly, he slowly reached his arms up, placing his hands on her shoulders, gripping her as if she was preventing him from sliding down to the floor and most likely melting away-it did feel like that was what he was going to do.
"Oh, Barry. What-" She asked once she began moving. She looked around the room frantically, but her eyes landed on her boyfriend, her struggling boyfriend.
"Iris." He said, taking another deep breath.
"I'm-" She started, being cut off by Barry once more.
"You're moving with me okay," He reassured, but Iris heard it more like he was gasping for air instead.
"What-" She began once more, only to be cut off yet again by Barry.
"You're moving as fast as I am," He explained, "Like in the courtroom"
"Why didn't you?" Iris began, slowly rocking her and Barry unconsciously. They slowly moved their gazes to the monitors, and on the screens was what terrified her to her core. In the middle of this container, was this purple light, this purple light that hadn't been there before.
"I can't. I can't," He gasped out, his chest heaving for breath.
Iris stroked his hair with her left arm, trying to gain his attention. Her actions were futile though, as his attention seemed hard to gain.
"What's wrong? What?" She asked her boyfriend, trying to get him to just calm down and relax, but it seemed like he couldn't.
Tears were mixing with the sweat that was already falling down his face as he looked at her, nothing but guilt and regret in his eyes. Iris looked at him in confusion as he struggled to get a single decent breath in. She knew something was wrong with him, and she hoped it wasn't painful.
"I can't save us this time,"
S.T.A.R Labs [Central City]
8 minutes and 49 seconds earlier
Barry loved running. He always had, contrary to popular belief. That's why he was so motivated to want to learn how to become faster to enter breaches quicker. After they discussed a probable behavioural pattern with Jessie and his supposed employer, they set to work trying to figure out exactly who it was and why they wanted the world to become nothing but mindless zombies.
Iris and Cisco were also in the speedlab with Barry; Iris so she could see if her boyfriend needed anything; Cisco because, well he needed his best friend's abilities to help him. Iris looked around the room, seeing multiple glass boards, full completely with equations. Iris knew the real reason why he wanted to get faster though. Jessie still had his son, regardless of whoever instructed him to do it.
"Ready when you are, Barry," Iris said into the comm system, taking her gaze away from the glass boards and onto the scene playing out in front of her.
Cisco groaned from where he was standing. He looked worn out. Understandably so, it did take a lot out of him doing this as well.
"I'm ready" They both heard Barry respond. Cisco groaned.
"Are you serious?" He asked Iris in disbelief. How was she going to let this happen, she was the team leader after all.
Iris sighed, "come on, Cisco, just one more" She moved from the consoles in the room and began approaching the man standing in the center of the room.
"She said two hours ago," Cisco spat out. Iris looked at him with a tired look on her face herself.
"Look, you know he's not gonna stop until he makes it through," Iris commented, walking to stand next to Cisco, "Come on, you know how Barry gets"
Cisco did indeed know how Barry gets, they had been best friends for 4 years. He walked past Iris, walking towards the opening in the track entrance.
"One more," He commented, making Iris smile in success.
"Thank you," she said, turning around as he walked past her. She watched from behind Cisco as the lightning gave the room a yellow-ish tinge that made it feel really homely. He always knew how to make anywhere he went home. Maybe that's why he settled into the West household so quickly.
"All right, here we go," Iris called, letting Barry know they were getting into positions. She watched as Cisco got ready, preparing for a breach. The breach appeared seconds later. Cisco kept it open as Iris counted down to herself, her eyes wide open as she prayed that they would be able to get this.
"Three.."
"Two.."
"One.."
"Now!"
Cisco stopped opening the breach when she said now, letting the energy begin to fade away. It slowly began to disappear, and Iris lost some hope along with it. There was no way Barry would be able to make it in time. Barry came to a stop in front of where the breach used to be as soon as it disappeared, and they both could tell how angry he was with the result.
"Damnit, " He commented angrily, "One more"
"Iris." Cisco said sternly, hoping that Iris would be able to get him to slow down for a moment and relax. Iris could tell she needed to diffuse the situation, so she crossed her arms and looked at her boyfriend, concern mounted on her face as she spoke.
"Uh, Barry, look," She began, "why don't we take 5?"
"No," Barry said in disbelief, "Not until I get this, alright?"
Barry turned around and began walking towards the ramp at the start of the track. He was going to get this, even if it killed him in the process.
"Listen, Miyagi," Cisco started, stepping back after he saw how annoyed Barry looked as he turned around to look at them both.
"What?" Barry asked annoyed, he let his arms hit his sides as he stared at them both.
"I've been here all day opening breaches," Cisco started once more, conviction in his eyes, "So unless you wanna rub your hands together and do some magic shoulder pop-"
"I'm not rubbing your shoulder, Barry commented softly, looking directly at Cisco.
"That's what I thought," Cisco exclaimed, beginning to walk out of the room, "I'm taking 5"
"Hey, come on," Barry tried, sounding desperate.
"I'm taking 5!" Cisco insisted, continuing to walk away from his best friend. He'd let Iris deal with him.
Barry sighed and put his hands on his head, looking distressed as he mindlessly walked around the room slowly. Iris could see how much he wanted this, how much he needed it. If only he knew when he needed to take a break.
"I don't understand why I can't get this," Barry voiced, walking towards the treadmill.
"Well, probably because you've been up all night," Iris said, clapping her hands together in front of her as she moved to face her boyfriend.
"But, that shouldn't matter," Barry sounded exasperated as he spoke, taking deep breaths.
He ended up standing in front of one of the many boards he had filled up. Iris was shocked at how much he had actually written. Sure, he could've used his superspeed but it still would've taken him hours to remember it all.
"Look, Barry," Iris said, standing next to him, "A breach closes in three picoseconds. What if Jessie uses his speed a lot faster than that?"
"Look, I'm just saying that this might not even be the best way to catch him," Barry threw his arms in the air, exasperated as he took a step back.
"It's a plan, you know," He reasoned with her, talking in a small, resigned voice, "It's the only one we have right now"
"And what if he uses his forcefield against you?" Iris questioned him. After Hunter had explained to them what the enlightenment was, they asked if he had any abilities he was keeping a secret. He told them everything, "You don't know how to get out of it yet"
"I don't know, Iris, I mean, we need something," He replied, keeping his gaze to the floor, "We have no extra leads on where he would be"
Iris sat next to Barry on the stairs next to the console area, eyeing her boyfriend in concern. It had been awhile since she last saw him this worked up, and she didn't like it. She preferred the happy Barry Allen, the man who came out of the speed-force without the heavy burdens of his parents' deaths.
"No way to track Jessie and his boss," He continued, "No way to stop him. I mean he can't be this smart"
"I'm sorry," He said, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger, "We've been at this for months and we have nothing"
"I mean, maybe that's the problem," Iris said, she looked at Barry as he ran his hands through his already messy hair, "You know, sometimes you have to take a breather and let the answer come to you. Do something else for a bit"
"Like what?" He asked her immediately, drawing his gaze away from the floor to look at his girlfriend.
Iris stayed quiet for a moment, taken by surprise by how fast he asked her. She knew he was the fastest man alive but she didn't expect him to be that fast at asking and answering questions.
"Like date night, for starters," Iris said, thinking. Barry nodded as he looked at her, taking his gaze back down to the floor after a moment. Iris remained silent as she watched his every move.
"You know, we haven't had quality time," Iris wrapped her arm around Barry's shoulders as she spoke to him, "just you and me, since you got back from the Lakehouse"
"Which was severely cut short," Barry reminded her, speaking quietly to her.
"I know we're also The Flash but.." Iris began, looking at the ceiling and then looking back at Barry. She smiled as he cut her off.
"We're also Barry and Iris." He looked up at her once he had finished, smiling softly at her. He could still remember how badly it had hurt to hear that she had known about his son before he did, but he was slowly getting there. He was going to be in a position for where he could forgive them all soon.
"No, you're right," Barry said, staring forward, "All right, I'm gonna make a reservation, tonight. Some place very romantic"
"Mmm" Iris raised an eyebrow as she looked at Barry. Where was he planning this date?, "Sounds perfect"
Barry smiled as he leaned his head against Iris' neck, feeling her wrap an arm around him securely. Iris' smile was a mile wide as she held her boyfriend, glad that the tension between them was finally disappearing.
"How is it we live together, work together," Barry began, "sleep in the same bed together, but it still feels like we don't spend any real time as boyfriend and girlfriend?"
Iris chuckled softly at that. It was true.
"Allen, West. Cortex. Now" Harry bellowed through the comm system. It was times like these that Barry wished Harry had gone with Jesse back to Earth-2.
"I have no idea," Iris told him, releasing her hold on him and standing up, offering her hands to him. He gratefully took them and pulled himself up, keeping their fingers laced together as they walked through the halls to the cortex.
Cortex [Central City]
2 minutes later
"What is this?" Iris asked as her and Barry entered the Cortex. They looked around the room and noticed that all of Team Flash, and Hunter, were all there. Even Oliver was there, which surprised both Iris and Barry. He had gone back to Star City a few hours after Hunter had explained the plan of the enlightenment to them.
"This is a signature field mapping every time Jessie has used any of his powers or force fields to get whatever he wants," Harry explained to the couple, putting the imaging on to the monitors in the front of the room.
"All of these?" Barry asked in shock. He saw how many little red dots there were on the map of Central City. There seemed to be hundreds.
"All of them," Caitlin confirmed grimly.
"So, how did you do this?" Iris asked them.
"I didn't do it," Harry explained, "Ramon did"
"But, all I did was just come up with a really complex and eloquent algorithm," Cisco boasted modestly, making Barry roll his eyes, "to track the different vibration frequency he gives out because he's from a different Earth"
"Don't do that, alright?" Harry turned to Cisco, slight anger in his voice as he addressed his concerns, "Don't do that"
Cisco looked at him in confusion, "Don't be modest, all right? It's unbecoming"
"You're unbecoming," Cisco retorted, holding the ice pack on his shoulder tightly as he stared at the Earth-2 version of Harrison Wells.
"You wish I was unbecoming," Harry responded, looking at Cisco.
"Are you sure that these are Jessie's and not his employer?" Barry asked, breaking up the argument.
"These are Jessie. All right?" Harry snapped at Barry. Hunter eyed the images, confused.
"These aren't Jessie's," Hunter began, making the room fall dead silent, "With Jessie, not only would you be able to track his location because of the different vibrational frequency he gives off, but because those are pocket dimension readings-not superpower readings"
Oliver stared at Hunter in shock, "And you know this how?"
"Before Jessie got employed, it was me and a couple other guys, one of them being the guard that was watching over Barry back at the warehouse," Hunter explained, "We had been tasked by this guy, who wanted us to track down Jessie and convince him to go to this location where we were told the mastermind behind this whole plan was going to meet him there. We had to track Jessie from his different vibrating frequency rather than his powers. As we found his location, a breach-better known as a pocket dimension-opened up, and took him. We were told that the guy who took him was the mastermind behind it all, the thinker, and that the readings we were getting were from him. Those are the same readings we got from the pocket dimension that opened up that day and took Jessie."
Barry nodded at Hunter, turning his attention back onto Cisco and Harry. Harry seemed amused whilst Cisco seemed annoyed.
"Has 'The Thinker' named himself yet?" Cisco asked Hunter through gritted teeth, making them all chuckle softly. Hunter nodded his head, smirking as he watched as Cisco chucked the ice pack onto the floor in anger.
"How long has this been going on?" Barry asked, his voice cold.
"Wait for it," Harry said, throwing his head back slightly. He turned to Cisco.
"The past three years,"
"3 years?" Oliver asked in shock. His eyes were wide open as he looked at Team Flash. How has he managed to keep silent for those 3 years?
"Jessie and whoever his employer is have orchestrated everything that's been going on in Central City for the past 3 years undetected," Caitlin explained, "and these all link up to the night your dad died, Barry"
"We've got a planner," Cisco said sarcastically, "Just like Thawne"
Harry nodded and said quietly, "Just like Thawne"
"So how do we use this?" Iris asked, changing the subject. She knew how quickly Barry's anger could grow, especially with Thawne, so she wanted to diffuse the situation before it escalated further.
"All we can do right now is just wait for the next marker to appear," Cisco told them both, smiling sadly at the pair. He looked at Barry for a moment, he could see the darkness that had started to grow in his eyes very slowly, "Try to get the jump on him"
"That, and keep an eye on Mr. Clarington over here, we can't get betrayed once more but at the same time, we don't want him to wind up dead"
"Which, I know that none of you trust me, especially you, Barry, but I'm not going to doublecross you guys and thank you for the protection, even if you don't want to do it," Hunter said, "I am scared that Jessie will find me and kill me, because I'm with you guys but I promise I will not leave you guys,"
"Why are you scared though?" Cisco asked him, "You're a speedster!"
"Yeah, and Jessie's an alien. How am I supposed to beat the crap out of an alien if I can't even get a hit on him when he flies away?" Oliver shrugged his shoulders at Hunter's response. The kid had a point.
"People with powers should be ready for anything," Cisco said to himself, backing away from the console and walking backwards to the main doorway of the Cortex.
Cisco turned around and yelled, surprised to see a person there, "Son of a breach!"
Everyone looked over at him, surprised at who was there.
"Jesse?" Cisco asked after he fixed his composure.
"Just came in through the breach room," She told them. They all saw that she was holding a cube, and it confused them. That looked like the same cube she sent to Wally to break up with him.
"Hey, Jesse," Caitlin began, very confused, "Welcome back. What are you doing here?"
Caitlin, Iris, Oliver, Hunter and Barry all looked at Wells expectantly, whilst Cisco continued to keep looking at Jesse. After a second he turned around though, also looking at Harry expectantly. Jesse and Harry made eye contact for a moment before Barry spoke up, leaning his head out from behind Cisco so he could see Jesse better.
"Wally's not here," Jesse rolled her eyes and dragged her father into a separate room, leaving Team Flash, Oliver and Hunter to themselves.
Airport [Central City]
The same time
Blaine smiled as he walked through the Central City airport to grab his luggage. His manager had made him fly out to the city so he could try and perform at the Central City show but he never managed to get booked so instead, his manager allowed him to use the time as a little vacation before he next had a job. It had been awhile since he last saw Barry, so he was hoping to see the Scarlet Speedster and check in with him.
As he arrived at the baggage claim, his phone started vibrating. Smiling, he reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone, glad to see that it was Kurt who was texting him.
Kurt my plane leaves in an hour. I'll be there soon :)
Blaine quickly typed his response.
Blaine Okay have a safe flight. I love you
He quickly stashed his phone away and grabbed his suitcase, lugging it towards the outside world.
Warehouse [Central City]
30 seconds later
Joe was currently crouching behind a police cruiser as bullets whizzed all around him. He and other officers were stuck in a gun fight after an ARGUS drop had been raided. The glass on the top of his cruiser shattered within seconds, making glass fall down on top of him, slicing his skin in multiple places. His other officers' weren't looking too good, Joe noted as another one got shot down by the masked assailants.
Joe stood up from his spot, seeing one of his men stuck in the firing line. He ran towards the cop, yelling, "Get down!"
He and the officer made it to the cruiser that was closer to them both. Whilst the other officer remained behind the car, Joe was still on show, firing bullets at the men. Joe watched as another one of his men took a bullet to the arm. Although his mind was at odds, he ran towards the officer, sitting beside him against the car as the officer sat up and held the bullet wound on his arm. Joe pulled out a tissue from his pocket, handing it over to the officer.
"You all right, Jonesy?" Joe asked the officer, seeing his face going pale.
"I'll live," He replied tightly, clenching his eyes shut as he fought off a tense wave of pain.
"Help's on the way," He told the younger man, sitting on his knees as he attempted to look through the windows of the car for where the armed men might be.
"Who the hell are these guys?," Jonesy asked Joe, grabbing the tissue and applying as much force as he could to his arm, feeling the blood seeping down his arm and spreading through all of his clothes, "They came out of nowhere"
"I don't know," Joe replied honestly, "But they want whatever is in that container"
S.T.A.R Labs [Central City]
The same time
Cisco had managed to hack into the security feed once they had gotten the distress signal from Joe's cellphone. He was currently playing it on the monitors whilst Barry, Jesse and Oliver were preparing themselves for a fight.
"Where is that?" Iris demanded as she paced around the Cortex.
"One of the hangers out at Wade airfield," Cisco said, starting to rush around to grab his Vibe gear.
"My dad said C.C.P.D was escorting ARGUS there for something this morning," Iris explained, looking at the monitor once she finally stopped pacing. Barry looked over her shoulder once he stopped rushing around, placing a hand on her back to try and soothe her anxiety about the situation.
"He's there, Barry," She told her boyfriend, tears trying so hard not to build in her eyes as she didn't dare look back at Barry.
"Yeah," Barry said nodding, "We gotta go,"
And just like that, he had flashed away, his red suit vanishing from the mannequin it usually rested on. Hunter stayed in the room awkwardly, not exactly sure what or where he should be/doing. He wasn't a superhero like they all were, he was more of a villain; the same villain who had been the one to kidnap Patty all those months ago.
"We'll meet you there," Caitlin said, nodding to both Jesse and Hunter, although he still remained confused. They trusted him enough to go out into the field?
"Cool," Jesse replied, making her way out of the room, following after Caitlin and Cisco.
That only left Hunter and Iris alone in the room, the only noise being the security footage of the gun fight happening at that very moment.
Iris ignored Hunter as she watched the gun fight continue, the windows of the car her dad was hiding behind being blasted to pieces as it shattered from the bullets flying through it.
Back at the Warehouse
"Come on, Flash," Joe whispered, looking at the broken window. His hope was slowly dying out with each passing moment as the Scarlet Speedster had still not shown up yet.
Two of the armed assailants dropped their weapons, falling back towards the containment trailer. One of them pressed their watch against the keypad of the trailer, waiting until red lights appeared before they took it off, stepping away from the doors as they swung open moments later.
Once inside, they removed their mask, revealing their long hair. She continued to walk until she was just centimeters away from whatever was in the trailer. She placed this device against the control pad, letting it work its magic as it tried to gain control of whatever was in the trailer.
"Come on," She groaned to herself as the device began to try once more, successfully unlocking the machine. She watched in amazement as the crate opened, revealing a very powerful energy source.
"It's ready," She said softly. She felt her chest tighten with disgust as she heard the familiar whooshing around.
She walked out of the trailer, noticing that all of her men had been taken down, Team Flash all standing beside them.
"Stand down!," An officer yelled at her, "Hands, head!"
She briskly continued to walk, ignoring all of the yells around her.
Flash sped around until he was behind her, putting more distance between herself and the device inside the trailer.
"Just you and us now," He told her, his face expressionless as he stared at the back of her head, "It's over"
She turned around to face the Scarlet Speedster, her face scrunched up as she stared at the 'hero'.
"For all of Central City," She said to him, hearing the countdown begin to go off. She pulled up the device she had planted on the device inside the container earlier and that's when Flash moved towards her.
Everything slowed down for Flash as he tried to grab the device, but his blood ran cold at what was being displayed on the device.
'Nuclear detonation; activated'
Flash looked around as everyone remained perfectly still for him, none of them moving an inch. He turned to look at the trailer, his mind in disbelief over what had just happened. He walked towards the trailer, ripping his cowl off of his face as he began to walk ever closer to the nuke. He could feel the heat radiating off of it. His heart was in his throat as he looked at the design of it.
"Barry?" Jesse gasped from behind him. He turned around, coming face-to-face with the other speedster. He shook his head at her, his eyes telling her the entire story.
"We're too late"
Jesse and Barry were standing next to each other, looking directly into the heart of the nuke. There was no way of turning it off, no way of overriding it.
"That's a nuclear bomb," Jesse said, more to herself than to Barry but that still didn't stop him from replying to her.
"Yeah, I know,"
"And its core's already gone critical," she said once more, staring at the frozen electrical bolts.
"I know," Barry gasped out once more, his throat losing its moisture from the heat radiating off of the bomb. Why did this have to happen?
"What are we going to do?"
S.T.A.R Labs [Central City]
A minute later
Barry and Jesse flashed into the Cortex, the whole room still and silent. Barry's gaze trailed over to Iris for a moment, making his heart stop before he saw Hunter, staring at both him and Jesse in confusion. The duo walked towards the other speedster, sweat pouring down all of their faces as they did so.
"What happened?" Hunter questioned the duo, concern leaking through his stoic expression he had plastered onto his face.
"It was a nuke," Barry gasped out, his gloved hand reaching up to the zipper on his suit, undoing it a little bit, "They were after a nuke"
"Crap" Hunter commented, his eyes widening. He turned his attention away from the other speedsters and onto the security footage, dread building up in his chest as he looked at it all unfolding in slow-motion. This was not looking good.
And if that wasn't enough to send a shiver through his body, the words that Jesse uttered next definitely made that happen.
"The core's already gone critical"
"We need to cool it down," Hunter immediately said, making the others look at each other. It was a good shout. Something clicked in Barry's brain and soon he was smirking, as was Jesse, it kinda creeped Hunter out.
"Luckily we've got the ice queen on our side" Barry commented, making Hunter's eyes widen.
"You know Elsa from Frozen?" He questioned his friend, making Jesse roll her eyes and snort at his stupidity. Hunter stared at them both incredulously as they sped out of the room, suddenly coming to a stop on the security feed once more.
"Yeah, let me find my own way there" Hunter growled to himself, speeding out of the Cortex and around Central City.
Back at the Warehouse
Barry approached Frost's still body, looking at Jesse for confirmation. Once she had nodded her head, he grabbed his friend's shoulders, bringing her to their speed. She looked around confused for a moment, before her eyes settled onto Barry's swaying form and she was suddenly ready to do whatever she needed to.
Jesse and Barry silently held onto Frost as they walked towards the container, their breathing increasing as they were hit with a blast of pure heat and energy. Frost grunted softly from the heat but powered through it, keeping the speedsters upright. She looked back and forth between the speedsters when they stopped just near the bomb, letting her take a look at it herself.
"We need you to cool it down," Barry told his friend as they all heard the sound of whooshing behind them. They all looked and were shocked to see Hunter there, his body not as affected as theirs were. Jesse walked towards him, standing with him as they let Barry and Frost handle this.
They didn't hear Frost's comment, but all hope died when ice never came out of her hands. She tried once more, desperately wanting to fix the issue. It was when she started to dangerously sway on her feet that Barry realised the situation. Her body wasn't used to moving at these extreme speeds like his, Jesse's and Hunter's were. Her body didn't know how to function properly at hyperspeed, nor did her powers. Hunter watched in discouragement as Barry walked Frost out of the container and back next to Cisco, holding her steady for a few seconds before letting her go, her body going still once more.
"That was our only plan" Jesse said grimly, making an idea pop into Barry's head once he was situated in front of the duo. Hunter just remained silent as he admired Barry's little thinking face, he made that exact same face back in Dalton. Maybe there was more Barry Allen in Sebastian Smythe then what anyone realised.
"What if we negate it?" Barry asked the duo, making Hunter's eyes widen. Okay, it was official. Barry had lost his goddamn mind.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Jesse asked Barry, both of them forgetting Hunter's existence entirely as they mumbled to each other a bunch of science terms and what not.
"Let's just throw lightning at it?" Hunter asked Barry, making him have a sort of lightbulb moment. That might just work. Both Barry and Jesse nodded rapidly at Hunter's solution and they all walked towards this invisible start, getting ready in their running positions. They took off seconds later, Barry speeding ahead of the other two, both of them being barely able to keep up with Barry's new profound speed. They ran around the container a couple times before Barry slid to a stop and launched a lightning bolt at it, Hunter following shortly afterwards and then Jesse slid to the floor, her whole body crumpling as she struggled to gain enough energy to pick herself back up and do it again. Barry ran to her side, holding her upright as she shakily stood up, her whole body trembling in his grip.
"I-I think.." Jesse gasped, "I-I think it's time"
Barry and Hunter both nodded their heads at the younger speedster, the pair moving her so she was laying down next to Frost and Cisco. They said their goodbyes before parting with her, watching in numbness as her body stilled and matched those around her.
"Looks like it's just the two of us" Hunter told Barry, walking around the site, his eyes landing on Joe's frozen figure, making Barry approach him and stare at his foster father in shock. He placed a hand on Barry's shoulder, gently guiding him away from Joe and back to the main issue at hand; the already gone nuclear reaction.
"W-what if we get Cisco to breach it to a dead earth?" Barry asked Hunter desperately, tears building in his eyes as he stared at his former best friend. Hunter had guilt written all over his face as he stared at the taller boy, wanting to just pull him in for a hug and apologise profusely for everything that had happened.
"Barry, you and I both know that there's a very high chance the explosion will detonate quicker if it's introduced to those X-elements," Hunter told the speedster gravely, placing both of his hands into Barry's arms, trying to calm him down, "Everyone else would survive but we wouldn't"
Barry nodded softly, tensing when he felt Hunter's body begin to sway. This was not happening right now. Nope. He needed Hunter more than ever right now, he couldn't lose him. Not like this.
"We haven't got a lot of time left," He reasoned with Barry, slowly taking his hands away from the younger man, "So, i just want to apologise, for every single thing I've ever done"
"I'm so sorry this is all happening to you, I can't believe I wanted to be a part of it. I hope that one day, not now but somewhere in the near future.. You'd-you'd be able to-"
Hunter stilled in front of him and Barry let a few tears out, hugging the man. He knew what Hunter was going to say, and he already knew his answer to the question.
He wiped his tears away and looked around the whole room, feeling crushing weights on his chest. He couldn't do this. Everyone was going to die and it was going to be his fault. He couldn't have that burden on his shoulders. Barry needed something to calm him down.. More like someone.
Barry ran.
S.T.A.R Labs [Central City]
Barry's speed stopped when he reached one of the many corridors in S.T.A.R Labs, his whole body tense as he felt his stomach churn. He collapsed onto the wall, breathing rapidly as he felt his head go all fuzzy. No..No.. this was not happening to him now. It took him a moment, but sure enough, he had managed to get on to his legs and stumble his way into the Cortex, his eyes landing on the one person who could talk him down; Iris.
Barry could feel the sweat pouring down his face as he stood unstably in the Cortex. This was not how today was supposed to go. His eyes were burning as he felt his heart pumping as fast as it could. It was struggling to keep up with his speed, he realised after a minute. He took a couple deep breaths as he walked further into the Cortex, spotting Iris frozen still next to the console in the center of the room. Hesitantly, he slowly reached his arms up, placing his hands on her shoulders, gripping her as if she was preventing him from sliding down to the floor and most likely melting away-it did feel like that was what he was going to do.
"Oh, Barry. What-" She asked once she began moving. She looked around the room frantically, but her eyes landed on her boyfriend, her struggling boyfriend.
"Iris." He said, taking another deep breath.
"I'm-" She started, being cut off by Barry once more.
"You're moving with me okay," He reassured, but Iris heard it more like he was gasping for air instead.
"What-" She began once more, only to be cut off yet again by Barry.
"You're moving as fast as I am," He explained, "Like in the courtroom"
"Why didn't you?" Iris began, slowly rocking her and Barry unconsciously. They slowly moved their gazes to the monitors, and on the screens was what terrified her to her core. In the middle of this container, was this purple light, this purple light that hadn't been there before.
"I can't. I can't," He gasped out, his chest heaving for breath.
Iris stroked his hair with her left arm, trying to gain his attention. Her actions were futile though, as his attention seemed hard to gain.
"What's wrong? What?" She asked her boyfriend, trying to get him to just calm down and relax, but it seemed like he couldn't.
Tears were mixing with the sweat that was already falling down his face as he looked at her, nothing but guilt and regret in his eyes. Iris looked at him in confusion as he struggled to get a single decent breath in. She knew something was wrong with him, and she hoped it wasn't painful.
"I can't save us this time,"
Iris stared at him, hoping, praying, that it was all one big joke and that he could save the entire city. But as she watched him closely, seeing the way he could barely get any oxygen into his system and how he seemed to be very unstable, she knew that he was telling the truth, and that he was not making a joke out of a very intense situation.
"It's a nuke," He began, half-crying, half-laughing it sounded like,"and it's already gone off"
She felt her heart plummet at the words. The whole city was going to be wiped out of existence, and none of them could do a damn thing about it.
"I'm so tired" Barry cried out, placing his overheating head against Iris' shoulder, making her gasp at the heat radiating off of her boyfriend. She stroked the back of his neck, trying to soothe some of the pain and guilt that was currently eating him alive. If she listened close enough, she could even hear him mumbling 'I'm sorry' over and over again, shattering her heart.
"You're burning up" She stated, feeling his skin turn even hotter than before. She felt him nod against her but he didn't move his head back up, instead he let it rest on her shoulder, soaking up some energy from her.
"I've been at this for awhile," He cried out, "Well for me"
Iris chuckled humorlessly as she held her boyfriend, her own tears spilling down her face. Barry slowly lifted his head from Iris' shoulder, placing it directly against her forehead instead. That was when Iris realised she was the only thing holding him up. His eyes were heavily dilated and severely out of focus, making him sway against her as his body struggled to find balance in-between the spinning room. He had never looked so disoriented in his life.
"I love you" He whimpered out, his grip slackening slightly. Iris tightened her grip on him squeezing extra hard just so she could see his blurry eyes struggle to focus on her. When they did focus on her, she smiled and he reciprocated the notion, the pair swaying together now.
"Every moment with you, Barry, has always been nice" Iris cried out to Barry, tears leaking out of her eyes and sliding down her face.
"We-we tried to cool it down," Barry whispered to her, sounding desperate, "We-we tried to use lightning"
An idea sparked in her head and she found herself very intrigued by Barry's incoherent mumblings. She smiled at him softly again as he attempted to focus all of his attention on to her.
"Lightning, how did you try to use it?" She asked him, this time she was desperate.
"We-we tried to n-negate the bomb but it-it didn't w-work" He stammered, pulling his face away from her.
"I can't g-generate that k-kind of energy though" He whimpered out, his whole body starting to tremble.
"No, you can't," She agreed with him, "But the speed-force can"
Barry stared at her with curious, yet tired, eyes as she explained to him what they had done. They had gone to great lengths to get him out of his speed-force prison. The cork-sphere.. That was the key to the whole thing. He just needed that and then the speed-force storm will chase it. It was fool-proof.
"It's like you said," She started, dragging him out his thoughts, "A lightning rod to bring out the lightning"
She was surprised by how much force and passion went into the kiss that had smashed against her lips in seconds but she didn't care, she just wanted to live to see tomorrow.
He had gone within seconds again, leaving the tears that were streaming down her face to come to a stop as she was back in normal time once more, no-longer in Flashtime.
Back at the Warehouse
Barry could feel the speed-force humming through his system as he ran, allowing his instincts to take over as he succumbed to the overwhelming power, no-longer himself.
When he opened his eyes, he was in the heart of the storm, the cork-sphere in his sights as the speed-force storm began following him, speeding up once he had officially left the speed-force, the cork-sphere in his arms.
As he ran, he got the chance to see everyone's motionless faces as he blasted past, his whole body ready to shut down within seconds. His vision began to blacken as his exhaustion caught up with him, wanting to swallow him entirely. The last thing he remembered was throwing the cork-sphere in the direction of the container before everything vanished.