He did it. He wasn't too late. He was fast enough. He was able to save the girl before the arrow hit her.
"You should get back," Barry said to the girl before she started crawling away.
After making sure the girl was as safe as she could be, Barry made his move. Running in a straight line, Barry pulled his fist back and brought it forward, being careful to not take the woman's head off. When his fist made contact the woman didn't even flinch.
Flames danced around her eyes, she flicked her hand, and a wave of fire collided with Barry, knocking him back. The woman pointed her hand at him and fire emerged.
Barry ducked and felt the fire lick at his hair as the roaring flames flew over him. The moment the flames stopped spewing from the woman's hand Barry stood up and the woman was on top of him with her swords in her hands. When the woman was about to land on top of Barry, a red blur ran in front of him and blocked the swords. It was a girl with black and red hair in a red cape wielding a massive scythe, the swords caught on the haft. Spinning the scythe, the girl knocked away the swords and kicked the woman in the face. The girl backed towards Barry and stood next to him. The woman summoned her bow and shot two arrows, one towards Barry's face and one towards the girl. Barry caught them both and after a moment the arrows began to glow. Barry frantically threw the arrows in the air but they detonated before they could get out of range. Before the spheres of fire reached Barry or the girl, he carried her away. Putting the girl down, Barry attacked the woman again, running circles around her and spinning his arms, a tornado emerged and the woman waved her hand and dispersed the tornado.
Barry closed in but a ring of fire emerged from the woman's body, forcing Barry back.
Moving back to think about his next play, Barry's eyes widened when the woman was struck by ice, fire, lightning, and glass all at once, launching her off the tower.
Barry carefully looked over the edge and was rewarded with a fiery punch to the chin that pushed him backward. Tilting his head a little farther back, Barry saw a group of four men. A man in a blue and white parka, a man in a green cloak with yellow stripes on his shirt, a man in white and orange, and a man in green and orange. Sitting up with his vision spinning and head pounding, Barry saw the man in white and orange shoot flames at the woman who simply waved her hand and changed the course of the flames back onto him.
"Oh my god!" Barry shouted. However, none of the men who had just appeared on the tower showed any form of concern at their companion's incineration. Barry soon saw why. The flames were sucked into the man's suit before he pointed his hands at her and the flames were released from the confines of the suit. The woman was blasted back and flipped around before flying at the man who pointed his wrist at her and a blast of foam emerged, covering the woman's face with foam and blocking her vision. The woman missed the man in white and orange and flew off the side of the tower.
She scraped the foam off her face leaving tiny bits behind and flew back towards the tower.
The man in the blue and white parka pointed his gun at the ground and ice shot out, forming a wall that the woman slammed into face first.
Flying around the wall, the woman landed and launched a wave of fire at Barry and the other men. Barry and the man in green and yellow created tornadoes to blow away the fire while the man in the parka used his guns to vaporize fire headed towards him and the man in orange and green and the man in white and orange stood there and took it. While the woman was focusing fire on Barry and the other men, a bullet hit her back. The flames died down and gave Barry room to breathe.
"That was for Penny!" the girl yelled, cycling her sniper-scythe before swinging her scythe at the woman but was blocked by her sword.
At that moment, the man in the green cloak pointed his wand and a lightning bolt sprang from the end. The woman countered it with fire. At the same time, the man in white and orange started shooting her with fire. After a few moments, the lightning bolt overpowered the stream of flames and struck the woman. At that moment, the massive dragon-like monster that had been watching the fight roared, the terrible sound filling Barry's ears and bringing its tail down on the floor, shattering it and sending pieces of it and its inhabitants falling off the tower.
As he was falling Barry sped up his mind and by extension, his perception of time slowed. Looking around, Barry saw that the girl with the scythe, the girl he had saved, and the man in the parka were falling with him. Barry grabbed the man in the parka and fell towards the tower. Once his feet touched the side of the tower and he ran down the side and onto the ground.
"Slide into it," Barry muttered.
Setting the man on the ground, Barry prepared to run up the tower and drag the girls but he soon saw that he didn't have to. The girl in the cape grabbed the injured girl and enveloped them in rose petals. They flew down to the ground and the petals evaporated as they landed in a heap on the ground.
"Pyrrha, are you okay?" the girl asked.
"I'll be okay, Ruby," Pyrrha said.
"You're hurt, I can get you to a doctor, just tell me whe-" Barry started saying before he was interrupted by the dragon-like monster landing violently next to them.
"Oh, hell," the man in the parka groaned, aiming his pistols and shooting the monster, covering parts of it in ice but nothing having too much effect.
Ruby also tried to hurt the enormous monster by shooting it and bolting around its body and slashing it in various places but her efforts were in vain.
As goo was dripping off of the monster, Barry darted around phasing through the newly spawned monsters improperly and causing them to explode. With a guttural roar, the monster's tail rose up and slammed on top of the man but was stopped mid-swing and covered in ice.
"Hey!" the man called.
"Yeah?" Barry asked.
"I have an idea," the man said.
"What is it?"
"You run away, build up as much speed as possible, then you knock that thing's head off."
"I can do that," Barry said, nodding.
Running off, Barry could feel the blood pumping through his body. People were counting on him to stop that monster. Turning around and sliding to a stop, Barry took off back in the direction he came. His feet thundered against the ground and lightning flew out of his eyes, arms, legs, and back. Suddenly, Barry couldn't hear anymore.
I must've broken the sound barrier.
As Barry approached the monster he jumped into the air and brought his fist back and slammed it into the monster's head, making it reel. It wasn't enough. Two of the monster's eyes were hanging out of its sockets and a handful of its teeth were ruined but it was still alive.
"Dammit," the man said, frustrated that the monster didn't die, before turning to Ruby, "Ruby, I want you to pry open that thing's mouth. Can you do that?"
"Why?"
The man briefly showed her what he had in store and Ruby looked at him and then the monster before saying, "I think I can manage that."
Ruby ran towards the monster and stuck the blade of her scythe under its mouth and burst into petals, flying up and dropping on the scythe's shaft, forcing its mouth open before taking it out and planting the speartip on the bottom of the monster's mouth while the roof of its mouth rested on the top of her scythe.
Not a second was spared in pulling the pin and throwing the grenade down the monster's throat. Once the grenade disappeared the man and Ruby backed away and waited. After a tense moment, the monster began to violently spasm until it was covered by ice from the inside out. Walking up to the monster, the man held his gun by the barrel and smashed the ice-covered monster with the handle, shattering it into thousands of tiny pieces. Holstering his gun, the man turned to Barry, Ruby, and Pyrrha, who after finally having time, were looking at Barry in wonder.
"We should really get you to a doctor," Barry said, looking at Pyrrha's bleeding ankle.
"I suppose we should," Pyrrha said, trying to stand up, but fell back down after putting pressure on her leg. Barry raced over to catch her.
"C'mon, let's get you out of here," he said, picking her up and running off to find a doctor, eventually ending up at the school's evacuation point.
As Barry slid to a halt and set Pyrrha on her good foot and wrapped his arm around her back to help her walk, a boy in green and a girl in pink perked their heads up.
"Pyrrha!" the girl called, trying to stand up but falling and clutching her side.
Pyrrha started to hop over to the duo on her one good leg, causing Barry to change course.
"Pyrrha, we're so glad you're okay," the girl said.
"Likewise, Nora."
"Where's Jaune? And who is he?" the boy in green asked, looking at Barry.
"Jaune is in Vale and… I never got your name did I?" Pyrrha asked, looking at Barry.
Barry looked down for a moment thinking about whether or not to use his real name.
"Call me Flash," Barry said.
"What's wrong with your face?!" Nora asked, shoving her finger in Barry's face.
"Nora! That's rude," the boy in green scolded.
"It's fine," Barry said before explaining, "I'm vibrating my face at super speed to distort my facial features and protect my identity,"
"Well, Flash, thank you for saving my life," Pyrrha said.
"You're welcome," Barry said before they all heard a voice call, "Pyrrha!"
It was Jaune.
Jaune ran to Pyrrha and embraced her as if he would never let go again. He had tears rolling down his face as he sputtered "Why did you-? How are you-?" before he broke down.
When Jaune and Pyrrha finally split apart, Barry was nowhere to be seen.
Looking out over the city he had recently learned was called Vale and watching the sunrise from the tower, Barry started thinking about his own problems instead of others. From the stress of the experience of the future and this new world as well as the idea that he'd never get home. Never get to free his father. Never bring his mother's killer to justice. Never do so many things he had wanted to do. As all these thoughts raced through his mind, Barry broke down in tears.
How the hell am I gonna get home?
Thanks to Punisher143 for editing this chapter!
