S.T.A.R Labs
18 hours until Enlightenment
Barry felt numb. This did not just happen. Nope. He could hear people screaming in the Cortex and through his comm system but he was just numb, unable to move or say anything. He slowly sat up, his mind switching to autopilot. He shakily approached the figure on the floor, collapsing next to the body.
"Hunt?"
S.T.A.R Labs [Central City]
2 hours before
Barry, Hunter, Blaine and Kurt were all walking around the building, taking in the size of it. After Barry had woken up from his coma, he had been given a tour around the building but he hadn't adventured around the building since then, and that had been almost 5 years ago. Kurt and Blaine were smiling as they listened to Barry ramble on about absolute rubbish, the pair glad to see him enjoying himself for once.
Kurt let go of his husband's hand once they ended up back in the Cortex, instead he pulled Barry back into the corridor, nodding and flashing a smile to both Blaine and Hunter before departing further into the corridor.
"What's going on?" Barry asked the man, confused. Did something happen between him and Blaine?
What shocked him the most was when Kurt embraced the taller man, squeezing him tightly in the hug. After a moment of shock, he hugged the smaller boy, resting his chin on his shoulder. When they finally pulled away, Kurt had tears in his eyes.
"I cannot believe I held a grudge with you for this long," He joked humorlessly, "You're a good guy, Bas. A good guy with a checkered past but yes, a good guy" Barry smiled innocently at the compliment, "How about we leave our grudge in the past? Start fresh?"
Barry nodded and stuck his hand out to Kurt, "Clean slate, Hummel"
"Clean slate, Meerkat"
They both chuckled to each other and headed into the Cortex, the pair smirking as they saw Hunter and Blaine admiring Barry's suit. Kurt glanced down at his watch after a second, they were all scheduled to go to a Karaoke bar and live for a little bit whilst everything was on the downlow. In fact, Caitlin and Cisco had already left to get ready.
"Take a photo, it'll last longer" Barry joked, walking up to the pair and standing beside Hunter, smiling as the taller man smiled down at him. To think, they had befriended the man that was the cause of his son's mom shooting herself in the head. Jeez it had been a weird few months. Kurt approached Blaine, kissing him square on the lips before lacing their fingers together and leaving the room, Barry and Hunter trailing behind them.
"I missed this," Barry said to Hunter, bumping shoulders with the man. Hunter stared at him, smiling back at the man as he laughed softly and gently shoved Barry.
Karaoke Bar [Central City]
34 minutes later
Cisco and Caitlin were waiting as Barry, Hunter, Blaine and Kurt all arrived at the karaoke bar. Barry eyed the amount of empty glasses in front of Cisco and sent a look to Caitlin, who simply laughed and shrugged her shoulders.
The quartet pulled up chairs at the table and they all sat down, smiling widely as they all began to diverge into some small talk.
"You did not, Barry" Caitlin laughed after Hunter had told them a story from High school.
Barry nodded in agreement, "I did. I told our english teacher that her son looks like the janitor and that I thought that the janitor was his father"
"Imagine the looks on Niff's faces as they heard him say that" Kurt commented to Blaine, making the man spit his drink out slightly and chuckle. Hunter threw back the remaining alcohol in his drink and motioned towards the vacant Karaoke machine.
"Let's throw it back to the good ol' days, Allen," Hunter joked to Barry, standing up and pulling the man up with him. Blaine and Kurt both cheered as they approached the stand, Barry pouting slightly as he noticed their whole table standing up.
"Throwback to Sectionals, senior year?" Hunter questioned the other man, "Say we bring back One Direction?"
Barry groaned and reluctantly nodded, allowing himself to get dragged onto the stage by Hunter. God, what did he sign himself up for?
Barry
Hey girl, I'm waitin' on ya, I'm waitin' on ya
Come on and let me sneak you out
And have a celebration, a celebration
The music up, the window's down
Yeah, we'll be doing what we do
Just pretending that we're cool
And we know it too
Yeah, we'll keep doing what we do
Just pretending that we're cool
So tonight
Barry rolled his eyes as he saw Caitlin and Cisco both singing along. Blaine just innocently smiled at the man as they made eye contact whilst Kurt was dancing and singing along with the other two. He turned his gaze onto Hunter, who simply smiled at the man before taking over for him. He was really enjoying himself.
Hunter
Let's go crazy, crazy, crazy till we see the sun
I know we only met but let's pretend it's love
And never, never, never stop for anyone
Tonight let's get some
And live while we're young
Nostalgia hit the pair as they danced and sang around the building, forgetting where they were as they imagined they were back on the stage at Sectionals, their adrenaline fuelling them as they showed off.
Both
Whoa oh oh oh
Whoa oh oh oh
Wanna live while we're young
Whoa oh oh oh
More people began to gather around their table and Barry could only just make out who it was and he wanted to scream, so he did-mentally that is. Joe, Iris, Wally and Cecile were all crowded around their table with their friends, singing and dancing as well. Why was his luck that bad?
Tonight let's get some
And live while we're young
Embarrassed, Barry looked down at his feet, trying to ignore the heat that had rushed to his cheeks as he made eye contact with his foster father. Just before that, he could see the look Iris had given him and his heart swelled in his chest.
Hunter
Hey girl, it's now or never, it's now or never
Don't over-think, just let it go
And if we get together, yeah, get together
Don't let the pictures leave your phone, oh
Yeah, we'll be doing what we do
Just pretending that we're cool
So tonight
Wally smirked at his older brother as he sang and danced his heart out, as if he didn't have a care in the world. His brother was good at singing, he'd give him that.
Barry
Let's go crazy, crazy, crazy till we see the sun
I know we only met but let's pretend it's love
And never, never, never stop for anyone
Tonight let's get some
And live while we're young
Both
Whoa oh oh oh
Whoa oh oh oh
Wanna live while we're young
Whoa oh oh oh
Tonight let's get some
And live while we're young
And girl, you and I,
We're 'bout to make some memories tonight
Hunter
I wanna live while we're young
We wanna live while we're young
Barry
Let's go crazy, crazy, crazy till we see the sun
I know we only met but let's pretend it's love
And never, never, never stop for anyone
Tonight let's get some
And live while we're young
Crazy, crazy, crazy till we see the sun
I know we only met but let's pretend it's love
And never, never, never stop for anyone
Tonight let's get some
And live while we're young
Wanna live, wanna live, wanna live
Come on, young
Wanna live, wanna live, wanna live
While we're young
Wanna live, wanna live, wanna live
Tonight let's get some
And live while we're young
Hunter and Barry stood on the stage, breathing heavily at the end of the song. Everyone in the building was clapping and cheering for the duo as they put the mics back onto the stands and walked towards their table.
Joe patted his son on the back when they were back at their table, chuckling as Barry threw his gaze down to the floor, avoiding everyone's looks, even Hunter's.
Just then, a phone ringing brought Barry's attention away from his embarrassment and towards his phone. He furrowed his eyebrows as he read who it was.
Oliver Queen
He answered the call and stepped away from everyone, heading outside of the bar to have some more privacy and peace and quiet. He stood with his back leaning against the brick wall of the building in this alleyway as he smiled.
"Hey, Ollie," Barry began, smiling widely as he heard Oliver chuckle, "What's up?"
"Jessie has made his mark in Star City," Oliver began and Barry's eyes darkened immediately, his whole body tense and on alert, "He's demanding the 'Scarlet Speedster heads up to Star and finishes the fight once and for all'"
Within seconds Barry had sped off, rushing to S.T.A.R Labs to grab his suit. He had ended the call with Oliver just before he rushed to S.T.A.R Labs and sent a group text to everyone.
Jessie in Star. Oliver needs help.
Seconds later a portal opened and out stepped Cisco, Caitlin, Hunter, Blaine and Kurt (who hesitantly did so, still unsure of the whole thing), Joe, Cecile, Wally and Iris.
Cisco and Caitlin ran around the Cortex grabbing various weapons and their suits as they got ready. Hunter stood dead center in the room, unsure of whether to follow or not. He still hadn't gone out into the field since Flashtime and they all knew how that ended.
"Hunter, I made you a suit for times like this," Cisco said as he bumped into the man, "It's in the closet with Barry's old suits"
Hunter turned around and faced both Kurt and Blaine, nodding curtly at the duo before speeding into the closet and grabbing his suit. When he ended back in the Cortex, everyone had frozen and stared in awe at his suit. It was a black version of Barry's, but instead of it being completely black, it had a blue emblem and instead of the gold on Barry's suit it had been replaced with a metallic blue. It looked amazing.
"You ready to do this," Barry asked, his cowl on his face as he looked at his friend, "You might get a little banged up"
Hunter chuckled softly and pulled his own cowl up, meeting Barry's gaze. If any outsider were to walk in, they'd call him Zoom-the speedster that had terrorized and tortured everything and everyone in his path, almost destroying Barry's humanity and demolishing Caitlin's sanity whilst he was at it.
"Let's do this" He said to Barry, smiling at his friend before following behind him as he flashed out of the room and towards Star.
This was going to be interesting.
Verdant (Star City)
5 minutes later
Barry, Hunter, Oliver and Diggle were all watching the security cameras Felicity had hacked into. Barry was tense whilst Hunter kept a straight face and whilst Diggle remained stoic. Oliver, however, continued to send Barry concerned glances every now and again.
"When does he want to meet?" Hunter asked, hearing Cisco and Caitlin chirping away in his ear through the comm system. They were going to be the back-up, only because they could always contact Kara a lot faster than what any others could.
"I'm not waiting for him" Barry spoke, his voice an octave lower than usual, and it held anger behind it. Hunter grabbed Barry's wrist, tightening his grip when Barry attempted to pull away.
"It could be a trap, Barry" Oliver began, nodding at Hunter and then looking back to his best friend, "Who knows what could happen if you don't abide the time he set"
"None of us want to see you hurt, Barr" Hunter whispered to him, wrapping his right arm over Barry's shoulders, keeping him tucked into his side and securely trapped there if he tried to run.
"I just want my son back," He whispered back to Hunter, sagging in the older man's grip, his head lying tiredly against his shoulder.
Oliver sighed and turned his attention back onto Hunter, biting the inside of his cheek.
"It's almost 10," Oliver informed him, "He wants to meet at 10"
Hunter nodded and continued to watch the security feed in case anything were to happen before. Barry kept his gaze focused onto the monitor, not exactly paying attention to the footage at all.
It had been 15 minutes and still, not a single thing had changed in the feed. Barry had remained watching the monitor in a daze, not paying attention at all, even as these two kids ramped their motorcycles into the fountain in the center of the city, making them both dash away. It made Hunter and John laugh, hell even Oliver laughed.
It was officially 10 when Barry was finally pulled out of his daze by Oliver. He blinked in confusion to the Vigilante before his hearing returned, making him look around the scene in confusion as well. He really hadn't been paying attention at all.
Hunter had sped off to the scene first, claiming he was more than willing to be used as bait at this point. Diggle had also gone to the scene as well, wanting to make sure no civilians got caught in the crossfire before the cops turned up. They couldn't let it end up like Dalton all over again.
"-arry?" Oliver was calling him again, shaking him by the shoulders time to get his attention. Barry jumped at the sudden movement, focusing his attention back onto Oliver.
"Hey, you with me?" Oliver asked him, keeping his grip on the man but moving his hands down to the top of his arms instead. Barry nodded and smiled unconvincingly but Oliver just sighed and pulled his hood up and walked away from the man, nodding at him before he vanished from the room.
Barry turned his attention back onto the screen, his stomach dropping as he saw Jessie come into view.
This was it. This was how it was all going to end.
At the site [Star City]
Same time
Hunter stared at Jessie as he sauntered towards him, smiling big as he made sure his face was on full display. He wanted everyone to know who he was, how fitting.
"Clarington," Jessie nodded at him, smirking as he heard the purr of multiple vehicles approaching the scene. John and Oliver.
He looked around the area though, his face contorted as he saw Barry was nowhere to be seen. He continued to approach Hunter, even as Hunter stepped back a few steps, clearly uncomfortable by the close proximity with the alien.
Oliver shot a warning arrow at Jessie, making him look around, still surprised he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe this was part of their plan, but if not, then fair play to them.
"You got the Arrow to help you?" Jessie scoffed at them, no longer approaching them. Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Hunter, eyeing him up.
Barry sped to the scene seconds later, his cowl up and anger radiating off of him. Oliver and Diggle both came out of hiding seconds later, Oliver's bow trained on Jessie the entire time. Barry was trying so hard not to punch him, Hunter noticed so he charged forward and grabbed Barry's arm, keeping him from starting anything.
"You're not the only one to bring your friends" Jessie commented, smirking as something floated down from the sky in this chair, making Barry pale whilst Oliver and John just shared a look. Hunter didn't bother looking up though, he knew that it was Jessie's employer.
"Who are you?" Barry yelled at the object, making Hunter yank his arm back.
"Hello, Flash" The object said to him, smirking at the man clad in all red. The chair continued to float down until it was a full foot away from the floor. The man sitting in the chair just smiled at them all innocently.
"I've been thinking about this very moment, you know" The man in the chair began, leaning forward slightly, "Well I've been thinkin about every moment in all honesty"
Oliver moved towards them both, his bow now trained on the man in the chair whilst John had his pistol loaded and aimed at Jessie.
Barry just squinted his eyes, staring intently at the duo.
"I want my son back" Barry managed to grit out to the duo, his fists clenching at the reminder that his son's life was on the smirked whilst the man in the chair just smiled innocently and pulled a hologram up on his floating chair. Barry stopped breathing at the photo being displayed.
It was of his son. Just, sitting there, smiling and reaching to grab something off camera. Oliver held his drawn back bow in position, aiming at Jessie's head whilst Diggle switched to aiming at the man in the chair.
"As I was saying gentlemen," Jessie began as the photo vanished, "You're not the only one to bring friends"
Jessie flew straight at Barry, grabbing him by the throat and flying him up into the sky whilst John, Oliver and Hunter dealt with the man in the chair.
In Barry's comm system, he could just make out Cisco saying: "I'M CALLING HIM THE THINKER. SUCK ON THAT ALIEN SCUM"
"Can't breathe there, Smythe?" Jessie asked him, tightening his hold on Barry's throat. Barry was completely red by the time Jessie let go of his neck. Black was clouding the edges of his vision as he fell to the ground, his body twisting and turning in the sky. Just then, something grabbed him and kept him in the air. Barry's vision was slowly coming back, and it was back just enough for him to realise that it had been Jessie to grab him and not someone else.
Back on the floor, Oliver had begun firing his arrows once 'The Thinker'-as Cisco had called him-had vanished in thin air, as if he had retracted himself from the situation entirely. They knew he was still there though, the humming of his chair as it flew was very loud and recognisable.
John had taken shelter seconds later, bullets began flying past his head as they were under attack by an invisible force in a chair. Hunter remained still though, calculating every move and every bullet fired, he did have the time to do that after all-being a speedster did have a few perks.
Hunter raced around the scene, collecting the bullets as they were soon seconds away from hitting Oliver. He grabbed the 5 bullets that were scattered around him and then grabbed the three heading directly to his heart, grabbing them before they even had the chance to hit the Vigilante.
Jessie flew to the ground moments later, chucking the Scarlet Speedster across the pavement, smiling as he struggled to get to his feet.
The cops had arrived 5 minutes ago, setting up a perimeter on the fight, and making sure no civilians were in the area, so when Jessie turned towards the cop cars, Oliver did everything he could to make sure he didn't hurt any of them. Quentin Lance watched in shock as Oliver tackled him out of the way of Jessie's heat vision, keeping him on the ground even as Jessie aimed in a different direction. When he felt Oliver climb off of him, he looked at him, thanking him with a simple nod. Oliver returned the sentiment.
Hunter ran to Barry, grabbing his arm and helping support him as he unstably climbed to his feet. John had come out from hiding seconds later, supporting Barry's other side as Oliver joined the trio, standing in front of Barry with his bow drawn as he aimed at Jessie.
The Thinker revealed himself seconds later, flying down so he was beside Jessie as they moved towards the heroes.
Hunter knocked Oliver and nodded for him to continue supporting a dazed Barry as he stepped forward, ready to defend the people he cares about. Barry looked up from the floor, his blurry vision landing on the form of his friend. Fear bubbled away in his chest as he began to piece together as to what Hunter's plan was.
"Stand down, Jessie" Hunter began, taking another step forward, "This doesn't have to end like this"
"But it does" Jessie replied, his eyes turning red, "You and I both know how this is going to turn out"
Just give him back his son" Hunter reasoned, his arms lifting up to show he wasn't posing as a threat, "Let him see his son"
Jessie chuckled and shook his head, approaching Hunter slower. Hunter remained standing still, his hands still raised up.
Barry had fully woken up as Jessie's eyes glowed red, making his heart sink.
No..no..no
Suddenly, Jessie, Hunter and The Thinker had vanished in a bang, a bright light making them turn away. Barry let go of Oliver and ran to where they used to be, doing a full circle as he tried to determine where they had just gone. Oliver looked to Quentin, who had a knowing look on his face. Lance jogged over to the trio, speaking to Oliver directly, although his gaze was on the Scarlet Speedster.
"Where do you think they took him?" He asked Oliver, patting the man on the back as he finally looked at him.
Just as Oliver opened his mouth to answer, Barry had flashed away, making all of them confused. It was when Felicity's voice in their comm systems erupted to life that they ran to their own vehicles and began driving off, leaving the S.C.P.D confused and beginning to trail behind them.
S.T.A.R Labs [Central City]
58 seconds before
Caitlin, Cisco, Iris, Joe, Cecile, Wally, Blaine and Kurt were all standing in the Cortex, watching the security footage Felicity had sent them a link for when the bang happened. They all looked at each other, confused until their security alarm started blaring, making them all on edge. Cisco pulled up their own security footage, his blood running cold at one of the images from a camera in the speed-lab.
It was of Hunter, being held by Jessie as The Thinker was staring intently into the camera, waving at it.
Caitlin raced to the comm system, telling Barry their location immediately and within seconds he had raced from Star back to Central City and was in the speed-lab with them, his cowl coming off as he was in his own building.
Cisco and Caitlin ran towards the speed-lab, leaving them all alone in the Cortex to watch the footage.
Speed-Lab [Central City]
The same time
The scene was too familiar. Someone who he cares about being right in front of him, put right into the crossfire. He had ripped his cowl off the moment he entered S.T.A.R Labs, no longer wanting to keep his face-that was portraying every single emotion known-hidden. He wanted them to see his hurt and his fear perfectly.
He could hear the echoing of footsteps in the many halls of the building, the sound of them running making some sort of hope appear in his chest, but it was slowly melting away as Jessie grabbed Hunter's throat, tightening his grip as Hunter's arms flew to his neck, trying to free himself from the grip.
"Let him go" Barry whimpered out, taking a step forward. The Thinker just remained in his chair, not advancing to the speedster whilst he had the chance, the man did have his attention somewhere else after all.
Caitlin and Cisco ran into the room seconds later, both of them prepared for a fight. They walked to Barry's side, standing with him as they took in the scene.
Cisco shot first, firing a vibe blast at The Thinker, his chair flying backwards from the blast. Caitlin and Cisco continued to face the Thinker as Barry stayed in front of Jessie, his chest heaving for breath as his chest tightened up from looking at Hunter, he had no idea how much longer he'd be able to live.
Hunter's face was varying shades of red, much like his was when Zoom had pinned him to the wall in the treadmill room, which is now the med-bay, 2 years ago. Barry took another step towards the alien, his body trembling as he reached an arm out, much like he had done with his father's death.
He remembered that incident as if it were yesterday. That was the day the old, happy Barry Allen had died, and instead, a more sad, broken man replaced him.
Cisco and Caitlin had gone flying seconds later, both of them being thrown back by the Thinker's telekinesis. Barry had been thrown back into a wall seconds later, being pinned down on the floor by the Thinker.
Then it happened. A crack. Hunter's body on the floor, lying lifeless as Barry screamed. He screamed and he screamed until he couldn't anymore, until he had lost his voice entirely. Caitlin and Cisco let their tears fall in their dazed states at the sound of their best friend screaming.
All of the weight that had been pinning him down to the floor had vanished, and so had The Thinker. Jessie though, he remained where he was, enjoying the sight of the speedster on the floor, vulnerable and hurting. Harry Wells ran into the room seconds later, obviously coming from the breach room, his tranquiliser gun in hand. He fired a few shots at Jessie, surprised that the alien didn't even try to fight it, instead, he allowed himself to be sedated and he fell to the floor, collapsing in a big heap.
Barry felt numb. This did not just happen. Nope. He could hear people screaming in the Cortex and through his comm system but he was just numb, unable to move or say anything. He slowly sat up, his mind switching to autopilot. He shakily approached the figure on the floor, collapsing next to the body.
"Hunt?"
Hunter's eyes were wide open, his face still red but paling by the second.
Tears leaked out of the speedster's eyes as he remained next to his friend's limp body, his throat hoarse and painful from all of his screaming. He was trembling horrifically, he realised as he reached out to close Hunter's eyes for him.
"I forgive you,Hunt" Barry cried out, not hearing the sound of footsteps rushing into the room, "I forgave you for that a long time ago"
He remembered how he felt in Flashtime before he got the chance to tell Hunter his answer, and he had felt awful for it, and now, this just made him feel even worse.
Joe approached Barry, crouching down beside his son and pulling him into his chest, tears in his own eyes as he felt Barry begin to cry in his arms. They'd get Jessie back for this, if it was the last thing they ever did.