This week has gone by so fast. Is everyone excited for summer? We'll finally be able to get out of our houses without fear. At least I hope so. For this chapter, I've done something a little different. I hope you like what I've done. As always, my co-authors are Brightburn1985 and Bartholomew Henry Allen.

Disclaimer: I don't have any rights to anything CW related.

Barry had brought Wells back to STAR Labs where they kept him locked in a room. He had a bed and a bathroom so it wasn't like they were treating him as a criminal. Still, it wasn't easy looking at the face of the man who tricked them all.

"It's strange how I'm reading my autobiography but don't recognize any of it. Even more strange considering I didn't write it," Earth-2 Harrison Wells commented after reading through the book.

"You think it's strange? You're the one who murdered Barry's mother," Cisco commented.

"Yeah, but that wasn't even Harrison Wells. That was Eobard Thawne who'd taken over the body of Harrison Wells, and posed as him for over a decade," Caitlin rambled on the history of their Harrison Wells, who they actually never even met.

"I didn't understand any of that. I'm my own person. The Harrison Wells that you know, that's not me. So don't associate him with me," Wells told them.

"You!" a voice called out from the hall. Everyone turned to look for the source of the voice who was revealed to be Jay. "How did you get here?"

"Jay Garrick. Why am I not surprised to find you hiding out here on this Earth?" Harrison taunted him.

"I'm not hiding. After my fight with Zoom I was pulled into a breach and lost my speed. I've been here ever since," Jay glowered at him.

"Fighting? Oh please, you spent your entire hero career running, running, running from Zoom. Because you were scared, because you could never keep up," Harrison glared at him.

"I risked my life to help the people of Central City. I tried to stop Zoom," Jay defended himself.

"You helped?" Harrison questioned him. "Please, I've seen the reports. I've done the calculations and Barry is three times faster than you've ever gone and he's only been a hero for two years."

Enraged, Jay punched Wells in the face. The slight discolouration made it clear it would be leaving a bruise.

Recoiling slightly, Wells launched back with a punch of his own, Jay not having any time to dodge the attack.

"Do everyone a favour Garrick. Leave the superhero work to the real heroes. You're just a washed up has-been," Harrison said.

With everything said, the two people from Earth-2 went their separate ways to lick their wounds, figuratively and literally.

"I guess they're not fans of each other," Caitlin murmured to herself.

"How'd we get stuck with coffee duty?" Caitlin asked the man next to her.

"Well with Wells back, Cisco doesn't want to leave the lab. Wells obviously can't leave and sometimes I'm not sure where Jay goes during the day," Barry answered her.

"Ever heard of a rhetorical question Fleet Feet? And can we not refer to him as Wells? Let's just go with Harry. Harry can be anybody," Caitlin rolled her eyes.

"You think this is easy for me Ms. Frosty?" Barry retorted. "The guy has the face of the man who crushed my mother's heart with his bare fist,"

"Wells, Thawne, whatever, pretty much ruined the Wells name for us, but let's not let Harry suffer the consequences of that." Caitlin said to him.

"Right. We're talking about an entirely different man that comes from an entirely different universe," Barry mumbled to both himself and Caitlin.

"What are you guys talking about?" a voice questioned the duo from behind.

Slightly alarmed that someone may have heard the conversation they were quietly having, they both turned around. The person behind them was a pretty blonde woman in her 20s. Caitlin didn't recognize her, but judging by the elated expression on Barry's face upon seeing her, he did.

"Patty," Barry exclaimed.

So this was the elusive Patty he kept mentioning and Iris was always complaining about. Caitlin took a harder look at the woman. She was definitely attractive, she would admit that. She could see why Barry would like her. And based on her constantly smiling face, she seemed like such a kind hearted person.

"Something about alternate dimensions?" Patty asked. "Because that would be pretty cool,"

"Did we say alternate dimensions?" Barry lightly cringed and looked to Caitlin for some help. Caitlin lightly shook her head. They needed to be more careful when discussing matters in a public setting.

They were finally at the front of the line and Caitlin turned to give their orders and provide Barry and Patty with some privacy.

For some reason, she had to fight the urge to turn around or lean in closer so she could hear what they were saying. Why was she doing that? It wasn't like she was interested in Barry's object of desire or Barry himself.

Still, she caught herself slowly turning her head in their direction more than a few times.

The barista noticed her troubled expression and offered her a muffin that she didn't order. "Here. On the house. I'm sorry about your troubles,"

Caitlin just glared at the barista. "I swear if you are about to say the man behind me is my significant other, I will scream,"

The barista blinked once. Twice. Thrice. Her mouth opened. "He's not?"

"Ughhh!" Caitlin groaned. She tilted her head back and squeezed her eyes in frustration. "Why does everyone keep thinking that?"

"Maybe it's because it's so obvious you two should be together,"

"In case you haven't noticed he seems pretty occupied with his pretty little blonde over there so obviously he's not interested in me," Caitlin said as she was forced to stay for the rest of her order to arrive.

"Do you want him to be?" the barista, Hillary, asked.

"I don't care. He can like whoever he wants. I'm not going to stand in the way of his good time," Caitlin said, a little more anger in her tone than she meant.

"What if his idea of a good time is spending it with you?" Hillary asked.

Caitlin just scoffed at the idea of Barry actually wanting to spend time with her and vice versa. "Please, now I know you are delusional to think that,"

"Well, this is just my opinion, but I think he really likes you," Hillary said as she dropped off the last of Caitlin's orders on the counter.

Caitlin just rolled her eyes as she picked up the tray of coffee to head back to where Barry was, who was still speaking with Patty.

Uggh, she felt like she just drank poison by thinking that name.

"Come on, let's go," Caitlin dragged Barry away from his conversation.

"Oh, I'll see you tomorrow night then?" Barry called out to Patty.

"It's a date," Patty smiled and waved at him as she went to place her own order at the counter.

Barry offered his own smile and gave a quick wave before Caitlin pulled him out the door.

"A date?" Caitlin questioned him.

"Yeah, I asked Patty out. Got a problem with that?" Barry confirmed.

"No. Nope. Absolutely no problems here," Caitlin gritted her teeth as they both got into her small car to drive back to STAR Labs.

"There's a robbery at the Gold City Bank. The cops are still five minutes out." Cisco said from the comms while he watched Barry raced over to the said bank.

"What do you see in there?" Cisco asked when Barry finally reached the bank.

All of the people at the bank were just staring off into space, even the staff which made Barry remember when they first encountered Rainbow Raider, except instead of them killing each other, they would just stand there with smiles on their faces.

"Everything is calm. The people are just standing around with happy expressions on their faces," Barry relayed back to the team.

Barry continued to look around, trying to find what could have caused these people's strange behaviour. He noticed some movement within the open vault. The robber must still be here and they might have some answers. "I'll be right back,"

Barry cautiously stepped into the vault. He saw a man clad in a spandex suit with a large mask. The mask showed the face of a clock. The man was still stuffing his bags with wads of bills. Barry needed to get this guy's attention.

"So, you like stealing?" He asked while leaning on the vault's entrance, successfully getting the meta's attention.

"Flash. Yes, stealing is my desire but you, what do you desire?" The man lifted his mask to show his face and suddenly Barry felt a pang of hurt in his head before everything became a blur.

Once everything was back into focus, Barry was back in his childhood home once again. He was screaming at his mom that was trapped within the lightning storm. The wind was blowing in all their faces, but just as soon as the lightning appeared, it vanished as well. Aside from the displaced items in the room, it was as if the lightning was never there in the first place.

The family of three let out a sigh of relief that nothing had gone wrong and they all embraced each other. Suddenly it was as if everything had gone fast forward.

Barry was attending and graduating school with both his parents there to congratulate him. He'd gotten into the university he'd always wanted. Moving out of the house with his mom and dad helping to pack up. Introducing various girls to his parents that they welcomed with open arms. Getting his dream job at CCPD.

Everything was as it should be.

"BARRY! BARRY!" Caitlin worriedly yelled to the comms, watching Barry's vital go haywire.

"We need to go there ourselves." Caitlin said before standing up and walking to her lab, where she kept her suit.

"I'll go get the van ready." Cisco said but before he could exit the Cortex, he was stopped by Caitlin who was already in her suit.

"There's no time." Caitlin used her powers to create an ice slide to get there faster.

By the time Caitlin arrived on the scene, the meta must have already escaped because there wasn't anyone moving. It was just as Barry described. The bank was filled with frozen statues of people showing varying degrees of happiness.

There were a few people that were blinking rapidly as if they weren't sure what they were seeing. They seemed to be the people that were beginning to awaken from whatever trance they were put in.

Caitlin made her way to the vault to find Barry standing there with a dopey expression on his face. "Barry?" Caitlin asked to see if he was even aware she was there.

She waved a hand in his face repeatedly but there was still no reaction. Deciding to just get the heck out of there, Caitlin encased her fist in ice and clonked him on the head. That promptly knocked him out as he collapsed to the ground. Caitlin caught him and began dragging him away and back to STAR Labs. It was a hassle and not easy but she managed.

Caitlin placed him on a bed and hooked him up with the regular monitors they used whenever something like this happened. They would help to determine anything that was wrong with him, at least on a physical level. If it was anything mental, they would just have to wait for him to wake up.

In the meantime they would look into what happened at the bank. A few of the people were already waking up from whatever happened to them when Caitlin left. The police should already be on the scene and interviewing witnesses. They'd call Joe and see what he could tell them.

When Barry finally awoke, they gathered a sufficient amount of data on their new meta in the time between.

According to Joe, many of the witnesses they met were still under a trance and the ones they could talk to were dealt with much confusion. They couldn't seem to recall what they were doing beforehand and talked with much insanity. Some of the things they said made no sense. There were the few that weren't that far gone, such as being married whilst still single. But there were accounts saying they had been living underwater and the like.

Based on that, it seemed as if all these people experienced something that made them truly happy.

Then what about Barry? What was it that he experienced? Most likely it was about his parents. Maybe falling in love. With her. AND BY 'HER' CAITLIN MEANT PATTY! That's exactly who she was talking about.

Caitlin decided to take a chance and talk to Jay about this. Being a more experienced hero from another Earth, he may have experienced something similar.

It turned out Jay had encountered a meta very similar to this one. So similar it may in fact be the same one. Charles Howlett. Nicknamed 'Hypnotick' for his powers of hypnosis and the irritation he caused to the people of Central City like a bug.

With one look into his eyes, he triggered the reward centres in the brain that would showcase the victim's greatest desire.

After doing a search on their own Charles Howlett, they concluded the man did not exist on their Earth so it was looking more likely this was another meta from Earth-2.

So when Barry finally opened his eyes, nobody was surprised when the first thing he said was, "Give me five more minutes mom,"

Everybody was slightly depressed at the fact Barry would have to come to the realization that his mother was long-dead again.

Once Barry was fully awake and no longer under the influence of Howlett's powers, the team explained the situation to him, about the new meta and the powers he wielded, as well as the fact this most likely was another meta from Earth-2 since Charles Howlett doesn't exist on Earth-1.

"Listen Barry, I've dealt with Hypnotick before. He's a robber, not a killer. You can talk to him," Jay advised him.

"He didn't seem up for conversation when I met him," Barry said.

"Just avoid looking directly at him. Howlett was once a normal citizen, but when his powers came he went on a crime spree. Try to remind him of who he used to be,"

"I'll give it a try," Barry agreed. "Seeing as how you have the most experience with him, where do you think he'd go now?"

"Well since he's gotten away with the cash, he'd probably look into spending it as soon as he can, but if Zoom sent him here, it was obviously with a purpose."

"To kill me," Barry said.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Jay told him.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna get myself some coffee. Anybody want to come with me?" Caitlin called out to the team.

"I'll come. Always up for stretching my legs. I seem to spend all my time cooped up in this lab," Jay responded as he made his way over to her.

The two exited the lab and proceeded to head to Jitters.

"Those two seem to be hitting it off," Barry said, glancing in the direction they left.

"Are you jealous?" Cisco asked with a little hopefulness in his tone.

"What? Are you kidding?" Barry asked. "I feel sorry for the guy. He has no idea what he's getting into with her,"

"To think you used to hate him," Cisco said.

"I didn't trust him. There's a big difference," Barry corrected him.

Suddenly a notification went off on Barry's phone. When he pulled it out, he saw several messages that needed his immediate attention now that he was the CEO of STAR.

"Where's the printer? There's a few files I need to print out," Barry asked Cisco.

"There's one in my workstation. You know the way?" Cisco told him.

"Yeah. Thanks," Barry headed out in the general direction of where he knew Cisco made all his inventions.

Cisco sighed, trying to relax himself. There was so much going on. The revelation of infinite dimensions, a demonic speedster that was reaching to become the only speedster. The fact his two best friends that were supposed to be together, were now pining after two different people, and now this meta they had absolutely no idea what to do about.

At the most, he focused on finding Hypnotick. That was a lame name in his opinion. If he was in charge of naming these Earth-2 metas, he would have gone in an entirely different direction. Like 'Mesmerize'. That was a decent name. Hypnotick just sounded lazy.

Suddenly it was like he was transported to an entirely different world. Almost as if he was sent into a TV and was watching what was happening in the flesh.

Taking a look at his surroundings, he saw he was in some kind of alleyway, but there was nobody there.

A breach appeared out of nowhere that spit out two people. One of them was sprawled on the ground while the other was looming over the other. The blue lightning that was covering the standing figure indicated they were a speedster. Could this be Zoom?

"Kill the Flash," the black clad speedster growled. "Or you will never go back home,"

The speedster returned through the breach, leaving the other trapped on the other side. Cisco went forward to get a better look at the person since it was so dark. The man didn't even seem to notice him, which wasn't that surprising. Cisco still got a good look at him before he donned his clock mask to cover his features, but the few brief moments before he did, Cisco got lost in his eyes. In them, he could see the happiness he could have experienced had his brother and he gotten along at all in their lives. It was over soon and Cisco was brought back to the present.

What was that?

"Mesmerize is at Keystone City Bank, he's slowly expanding his range. I think that he's trying to escape from Central City. Or more specifically…" Cisco trailed off.

"From Zoom." Jay continued with a nod.

"It's Hypnotick, not Mesmerize." Harry told the engineer, who cringed in return.

"Okay, new rule. All metahumans that go to Earth-1, this earth, or Central City, I name them." Cisco said, turning to the doppelganger of Wells.

"Either way, we need to find a way to stop him before he causes anymore trouble." Barry said before an argument between Cisco and Harry began.

"What if we use Charles Howlett to bring out Zoom?" Caitlin suggested as all of them turned their attention towards her. "I mean, we can lure Zoom out and stop him, as well as stop Howlett. That way we can kill two birds with one stone."

"We already tried that with Slick, it didn't work," Barry reminded her. "He wouldn't talk. What's to say this guy won't be the same?"

"Just gonna have to ask him." Caitlin responded. "Jay said he was once a normal civilian. Who's to say he won't be more willing to lend a hand?"

"Let's focus on Hypnotick-"

"-Mesmerize!" Cisco cut in with his own name for the metahuman.

"-Before we start looking to pick a fight with Zoom." Barry continued to say. "We still don't even know how to find Zoom, so that's still a long ways off,"

Barry flashed to his suit and ran out to the bank in the hopes of being able to stop the Earth-2 meta.

As soon as Barry arrived, he rushed everyone out of the bank. Howlett's powers may not be combat oriented, but that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous.

"Howlett!" Barry shouted to the bank.

"Flash," a voice drew. "You found out who I am. Colour me impressed, you must have a little secret Earth-2 agent on your side. Did you like what I did? Enjoyed yourself in your little fantasy?"

"Return the money you stole and come with me quietly. I don't want to hurt you," Barry demanded.

"It's funny that you think you can." Howlett chuckled. "Let me tell you something, do you think it's strange that someone with my abilities actually managed to stay out of the hands of the police for so long? How do my skills make me on par with those in league with Zoom?"

Barry remained silent. Mostly because he didn't have an answer. He didn't know this man's past, they didn't even have a doppelganger to base his history off of. He really wasn't provided much in terms to who Charles Howlett was.

"It's not just because my powers paralyze them with ecstasy. It's because they let me go," Hypnotick briefly explained. "And you're going to do the same,"

"Not this time," Barry mumbled loud enough so it could be heard by him.

Barry rushed forward. If he could get him before he unveiled his mask, he wouldn't be affected by his powers. Luckily he did. Barry managed to punch Howlett in the gut.

Howlett staggered forward in order to comfort himself.

Barry was an idiot to ever let him have a moment of rest.

As Howlett straightened himself, he removed his mask to reveal his tantalizing eyes. Barry tried to look away, but the extreme calmness he was experiencing made him keep looking. It wasn't just his eyes that held power it seemed. It was as if Howlett's entire being radiated a wave of pleasure. The feeling was addictive, and he had still yet to experience his vision.

This time he was being cheered by the whole city. His team stood behind him as the crowd applauded them for being the heroes they were.

Barry liked to think he was fairly modest compared to Caitlin's view of his arrogance, but he will admit it was gratifying to see millions of people cheering his name with memorabilia of his insignia everywhere. Before him was what he would like to call 'The Flash Sea.'

"FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!" Everyone cheered his name.

Barry smiled to the crowd and raised his hand high in the air. This only prompted the people to cheer even louder.

"Thank you! Thank you everyone! I love you all too!" Barry shouted to the crowd.

There was something in the back of his mind that was telling him he should be focusing on something else at the moment. He dismissed it though. What else could be on his mind other than the fact that everyone he loved was with him cheering his name?

"BARRY! BARRY! BARRY!" Wait. When did they start to chant his actual name? And this time the cheers weren't encouraging. These sounded of desperation.

Barry took a look around, but could find no source of the person who called his name. Those who actually knew who he was stood behind him and they all had cheerful smiles on their faces.

But still, the voice persisted. He frowned, and that was when he felt an impact on his face that caused him to stumble.

What was that? What just hit him? That only caused him to become more concerned. Which only served for him to feel more pain.

There was something he was supposed to be doing. But what? Come to think of it, he couldn't seem to remember what he was doing here or how he got there.

Seeing himself on a stage with tons of people in front of him reminded him of the last time he was in a similar situation. On Flash Day where everyone convinced him to make a speech. This isn't what he wanted.

"Being a hero is about doing what's right just because it's right. By putting other people before yourself no matter what. It's about making a difference. That's what I strive to be," Barry spoke into the microphone.

As soon as Barry came to that realization, his focus came back and he found himself lying on the floor with a man, Charles Howlett wailing on his face.

Not letting him continue any longer, Barry pushed him off and landed several speed shots that left him incapacitated.

"How?!" Howlett shouted. "How did you break free? Nobody ever breaks free,"

Barry just stared at the defeated man before him. Looking into his eyes, he didn't feel anything. That feeling of ecstasy disappeared and he was shown nothing. "I'm already happy," he answered before delivering the final blow to his head.

Howlett woke up at the pipeline, he was greeted with four blue walls, there was no door. He tried to search for anything but he failed, there were only four walls. It was like Peek-a-boo's cell.

"Are you ready to talk now, Howlett?" Barry asked. He was standing in front of Howlett's cell, watching him try to escape the containment cell.

"Is that you, Flash?! Why don't you be a good hero and show yourself?!" Howlett yelled at one of the walls.

"I need to know more about Zoom. What can you tell me about him?"

"What? Thinking of taking him down yourself?" He scoffed. "You wouldn't even last a minute with him. He's a demon. He terrorized my Earth alone. You wouldn't stand a chance against him." Howlett told the Scarlet Speedster.

Barry sighed before closing the entrance to the pipeline. Howlett is a lot more reluctant than Jay said he would be, they need to think of another plan. He walked back to the Cortex, where everyone heard his conversation with Howlett.

"He's not talking. He won't."

"Maybe you didn't try hard enough." Jay said to him, glaring at the speedster.

"I think we need to go about this in a different direction," Caitlin suggested. "Try talking to the human side of him instead,"

"Howlett wasn't always like this. It wasn't until he developed his powers that he showed who he truly was," Harry reminded them.

"Okay, I'll talk to him again," Barry agreed, nodding his head as he headed down to the pipeline to confront the meta again. He was really the only one who could since his powers no longer worked on Barry.

Barry brought the cell containing Hypnotick, which Cisco still insisted was Mesmerize, towards him as he opened the entrance to the Pipeline once again.

"Back so soon? Finally came to the realization of what you need to do?" Charles taunted him, but he was still looking in a different direction.

"Why did you join Zoom?" Barry decided to ask. Questioning him upfront about Zoom wasn't going to get them anywhere. They needed to slowly transition the conversation to that topic.

"Because I'm a meta," Howlett said, as if that one sentence would explain everything.

"On my Earth, if you're a meta you've got three options. Die, sell yourself to the highest bidder, or join Zoom," he explained.

"When I learned about my powers I was beaten and stuffed into a bag. A lot of people pay big bucks to witness their greatest desires come to life, even if it's just for a few minutes," Howlett continued to say. "I was smuggled from border to border. My powers were addictive, I was better than drugs, they said."

"I hated every second of it. I was nothing more than a tool. A quick way to make a few bucks for my kidnappers. That's when I truly learned about people. They're all nothing but trash, just thinking about themselves. Selfish bastards who'd do anything for a good fix,"

"What about Zoom?" Barry asked. "When did he come in?"

"Two years in, Zoom was on the hunt for every meta he could find to join his cause. Agreed to set me free if I pledged my loyalty to him. I didn't look back after that,"

"You called Zoom a demon, now he's your saviour?" Barry asked.

"He took us in. Gave us a home, a purpose, a new chance at life. If the world was gonna turn their back on us, we aren't going to play by their rules," Howlett said. "People say he's a demon. Evil incarnate, Lucifer on Earth. But to us, he's a hero,"

"He left you stranded on an Earth where you don't exist, some hero," Barry said.

"New chance at life," Howlett smirked in the direction he was facing.

"How were you going to get in contact with him?" Barry asked. "You're not getting out of here either way. Just tell us,"

"I was to send him something I could only obtain by killing you. I would send it through a breach to signify whether the deed was done," Howlett said.

"What was it? What could you only get once you killed me?" Barry questioned him, but Howlett once again turned silent. He wasn't going to talk anymore.

I've written out Linda and created an OC. Well, not exactly. If you've read my co-authors story, Another Life on Consolidated Planets, you'll realize Charles Howlett is a character we created together. Fun fact, he was supposed to be evil in the original story but that got scrapped and he turned out to be a good guy. If anybody is interested in how that was going to turn out, you can message me.

Hope everyone's having a good Friday. Caitlin's mind is starting to wander to the possibility of Barry being in love with her. Also, I'm wondering if anyone knows where I got the inspiration for Howlett's powers. Tell me your thoughts. Anyway, I'll see you all next week.