Chapter 98: Fast Enough

The Flash growled as he ducked under another ice blast. He did not have the patience for this tonight. After getting the crap beaten out of him by Zoom again (and twice for that matter!), being stranded on an alternate earth and finding out about the whole Jay Garrick/Hunter Zolomon mystery, Flash was seriously starting to get pissed off.

Calm, Barry, calm… he thought to himself as he slid across the ground, his fingers trailing against the coarse surface to bring him to a stop before he swung his legs with practiced ease, knocking Killer Frost to the ground. Before the metahuman could react, he flicked out one of his patented knives and stabbed her hand, then her shoulder, mentally calling out an apology to his Caitlin. Then he finished it off with multiple high-speed kicks to the face, leaving the woman knocked out with a bloody, broken nose. He then flicked out a pair of meta-dampening cuffs and restrained her.

He then turned around and watched the other fights, seeing both Firestorm and Deathstorm dance against the sky while Vibe struggled against Reverb. Quickly making a split decision, he rushed towards Reverb, intent on stabbing him as well, but it seems Cisco's doppelganger was smarter than his compatriots. The very moment he saw Flash eying him, he kicked his doppelganger away, opened a quick breach and threw himself into it, quickly closing it on the way out. Flash tsked beneath his breath before speeding over to Vibe and helping him back on his feet.

"Asshole," Vibe groaned, and Flash couldn't help but agree.

"We still gotta deal with Deathstorm. Call Firestorm over here — I'll handle him."

"NO NEED!"

"Shit," Vibe cursed as Flash sped him away from an imminent Deathstorm, aflame and furious. Behind him was a desperate Firestorm chasing after him.

"Fuck Zoom! I'm killing you right now, Flash!" Deathstorm roared as he started firing blasts a mile a minute.

"What the hell did you do?" Vibe whisper-shrieked.

"He's probably pissed about what I did to his wife," Flash admitted candidly as he set Vibe down and began leading Deathstorm away.

Deathstorm, for his part, kept roaring up a storm, trying to chase the Flash while fighting off his doppelganger. A particularly lucky shot managed to catch Firestorm in the chest, and he was blown back and started falling to the sky. Caitlin, still watching from the sidelines, held up a hand to her mouth in shock and against her better judgment, let out an abrupt scream of "RONNIE!"

Flash, hearing her, looked back and saw what happened. He quickly flashed towards the falling Firestorm in a burst of speed and began spinning his arms, creating two small wind funnels that slowed his teammate's descent, lowering him to the ground gently. Before Firestorm could thank Flash for the assist, they were nearly blasted again by Deathstorm, forcing Flash to grab his friend and speed him back away to Vibe.

"That's it!" Flash snarled, before speeding away again into another area of the docks. He began running in a tight circle, speeding up until he felt the energy coursing through him. Then, with apt skill, he aimed the lightning bolt right at Deathstorm's chest. The rampaging meta was unable to dodge, and he fell, impacting the ground a lot less softly than Firestorm did. He let out a groan, grunting as Flash sped over one last time and snapped a pair of meta-dampening cuffs on him.

Flash hauled him up, dragging him to where he left Killer Frost, and then picked her up as well, throwing her over his shoulder. "I'm taking these two to A.R.G.U.S. Vibe, you take Firestorm and Caitlin back to S.T.A.R. Labs."

"What about Zoom?" Caitlin asked, hand to her chest. It was a valid question.

Flash flared his nostrils. "We can't do anything about him for now — we don't know where he is, and we don't even have a tentative plan to subdue him. If we continue to act in response to something he might do, then we'll never get anything done."

"But…" The doctor bit her lip.

At the sight of it, Flash sighed, stepping forward and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, look at me. We shouldn't have anything to worry about him for now — if he wanted to kill us, any of us, he would've done it right after having us replaced by these guys. So, just go back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Try to figure out what your doppelgangers have been up to while they've been on our earth."

Still slightly unconvinced but knowing he was right, Caitlin nodded, allowing Ronnie, having separated from Stein in the interim, to take her by the hand and lead her into the breach Cisco made. Once they were all gone, Flash hauled Deathstorm onto his other shoulder and sped away.

"You really did a number on these two, Allen," Amanda smirked as she watched Killer Frost and Deathstorm were wheeled into the infirmary. "What did they do to you to piss you off so much?"

"Well, as it turns out they've been replacing the real Caitlin, Ronnie, and Stein for weeks now and I didn't notice. That pissed me off."

Amanda blinked. "Wait, what?" She demanded, whirling around on Barry, hands on her hips.

"According to the actual Caitlin and Ronnie, those two jumped them and Stein the night before Cisco came home from Detroit, attacking their car and knocking them out. Then Zoom took them to their earth and had these two impersonate them for the next couple of weeks."

"And how do you know this?"

Barry gave her a flat look. "Because I just got back from Zoom's earth after the bastard jumped Laurel and I yesterday with Laurel's doppelganger and kidnapped us. Whereupon we found out that he also had Cisco replaced by his doppelganger a few days ago."

"Okay, okay," Amanda took a deep breath, "Start from the beginning. Don't leave a single thing out."

Barry sighed and did exactly that.

"Oh my God," Amanda rubbed her temples, and normally Barry would enjoy seeing the great Amanda Waller completely out of her depth, if he wasn't feeling exactly the same way. Forget everything else, even S.T.A.R. Labs — Barry wasn't resting until he had his hands around Zoom's throat and was choking that son of a bitch out.

"Ma'am, you've got a call waiting on the Starling City line."

"And I take it that would be Black Siren?" Amanda asked dryly, and Barry nodded. "Wonderful, just wonderful. Thankfully, both facilities now have fully-working meta-dampening fields over their entire compounds. Not only will those three be contained, but Zoom and whatever other lackeys he has won't be able to get them out."

"We need to start interrogating them."

"And we will, when they're awake and have had some time to stew in their cells," Amanda's voice brokered no argument. She glanced at Barry with something that resembled concern. "You should get rest, Allen. You've been running on fumes for the last couple of hours. I can tell."

"But—"

"Allen. I get it, you're angry. But your anger will only be a detriment right now. Go back to S.T.A.R., get some rest, clean that lab of yours up and reinstate the security. Then, when it's time to start the interrogation, we'll give you a call and you can speed over here to watch."

Barry bit his cheek. "Is that an order?"

Amanda raised an eyebrow. "Do I have to make it one?"

Barry scoffed, and walked away.

When Iris walked into S.T.A.R. Labs the following afternoon, fresh off her morning shift, it was to an unusually silent Cortex. Which was really saying something, considering everyone was present: Barry, Caitlin, Cisco, Ronnie, and Stein. They were all, however, working silently and separately on different computers and desks, with Barry taking the main one in the center.

"Bare?"

"Iris," Barry sighed and turned around, giving her a weak smile.

Iris wasn't fooled. "What happened?" she crossed her arms.

"Zoom kidnapped Laurel and I yesterday and brought us to his earth to keep us captive."

The cop felt her jaw drop. "What?"

Barry proceeded to rehash all the events of the last forty-eight hours, leaving Iris aghast and in even more shock. When he was finished, Iris had a gentle hand on his shoulder and was rubbing it comfortingly.

"You're all okay now though, right?"

"For a given value of okay," Barry said, shrugging. "Black Siren, Killer Frost, and Deathstorm are in A.R.G.U.S. cells, but Reverb is God knows where and Zoom…" the speedster shook his head, looking uncharacteristically severe.

Iris eyed him speculatively, before glancing up at everyone else, who were each trying to focus on their own work but couldn't help looking in their direction occasionally.

"Come on, Barry," she said, catching his attention. "Let's go to the Time Vault for some privacy."

"Iris… what are we doing here?" Barry asked the moment the vault door closed.

Iris shrugged. "Like I said before. Privacy. You know, to talk."

"Oh. Well, what do you want to talk about?"

"About what's getting to you."

Barry froze, then exhaled deeply. "Iris…"

"Barry, I'll admit I don't know you as well as I thought I did, but I do know you well enough to know that's something been bothering you. You're a lot less… you."

"Me?" Despite himself, Barry couldn't help but sound amused.

Iris hit him on the arm playfully. "You know what I mean. There just seems to be this dark cloud around you now. You don't joke around, you don't smile as much, it just… it reminds me of…" …when you first came to live with me and dad.

Barry seemed to have read her thoughts, because he met her eyes with a certain familiar sadness to them. Then he hardened them into something more serious and even angry, though it wasn't directed at Iris. "It's Zoom, Iris."

"I figured. He's gotten to everyone, but after what he did to you…"

Barry shook his head. "It wasn't just the beating Iris. It was bad, sure, but that's hardly the first time I've endured that kind of pain, and I doubt it'll be the last. It was…" he trailed off.

"It was what?" Iris prompted him.

"… when I met Wells, Thawne, you know who I mean — when I met him, I was suspicious of him from the beginning. I never trusted him, I observed him, and when I finally figured out his game I outmaneuvered him and if it weren't some interloper, I would have had him for good. And… that's been the case with everyone else I've matched wits with since I first joined the League. I outsmarted them, outwitted them, and had them all dancing to my tune by the end of it."

"And when brains didn't work, brawn did. Ra's al Ghul is many things, many of them terrible, but make no mistake, he is an amazing teacher. If you survive his training, you're nothing less than the best of the best."

"Like you?" Iris guessed, though there was no doubt in her voice.

Barry smirked bitterly. "Like me," he confirmed. "He trained me to be one of the greatest assassins in the world, had me tutored so I'd be a scientist and strategist with almost no parallel. I was dangerous before I got my speed, to the point that half the time I think I don't even need it."

"Except now, you do," Iris said, voice adopting a slow tone of realization.

"Yeah," Barry shrugged, looking severely put out. "I know I'm a better fighter, Iris. I know I'm better than him. But just because he's faster, none of that matters. Everything I am, everything I made myself to be in order to survive and protect my family and get home, to you and dad and Joe — it all doesn't matter now just because this guy has a bit more speed running through his veins!" Finally feeling the rage boil over, Barry walked over and kicked the stand that once held Thawne's Reverse-Flash suit.

Iris watched him, mind occupied with his words. Now she could see what was going on — Zoom was getting to Barry because he seemingly invalidated all the suffering he had gone through the ten years he was gone. All those years of pain, of gradually destroying his soul for the sake of surviving, all rendered meaningless because a speedster super villain from another world had decided he wanted this world too, and wasn't afraid to threaten Barry's loved ones to get it.

All of this… it was because, for the first time in a very long time, Barry felt powerless. The same kind of powerlessness he no doubt felt the first time he arrived on that island, all those years ago.

"Everyone is telling me I need to go faster, and I am, I've been trying to increase my speed but it's just not fast enough!" Barry laid his back against the wall of the Time Vault and began sliding down, gradually bringing his knees to his chest. "I'm not fast enough."

Iris' breath hitched. Her best friend… he just looked so defeated. She had never seen him like this, not since he had first gotten home, not until Zoom came along and broke his back and his pride. It looked wrong, it felt wrong. Because Barry… Barry was probably the strongest person she knew. He had survived an island hell, suffered immeasurable losses, and still made it back home, still fought his way through all the doubters to get back to her and her dad, to free his own father from his wrongful imprisonment. How could he be anyone else but the strongest person she knew? How could even think, for one moment, that he couldn't win?

"Barry," Iris finally said, collecting her thoughts. She went over to him, crouching down and seating herself next to him, against the wall. Absentmindedly, she took one of his hands and laced it with her own, and the two looked at each other, really looked at each other. "None of that was meaningless. None of it will ever be meaningless, could ever be meaningless."

Barry glanced at her, silently asking her to continue.

"Barry, do you think anyone could've gone through what you went through and turn out as well as you have? Could even survive what you have? If I had lived even through a fraction of those ten years, I would've died, no questions asked." Iris gripped his hand a little tighter, and she subconsciously reached over with her other hand to caress his cheek. "You're the strongest person I know, Barry. You always will be. And I know, deep in my heart, that you can beat this guy. You've beaten others like him before, after all. So what if he's faster? It's like you said, speed isn't everything."

Barry was really looking at her now, something unreadable in his eyes. Iris pressed on. "You're the strongest person I know, and you've got people just as strong behind you, every step of the way. Oliver, Kara and the rest of the Justice League, the people right now in that Cortex, helping you figure this out… you've got them all in your corner, all ready and willing to support you. Zoom might be faster, but that's all he's got in the end. So don't you dare say you can't do this, that you can't win — because I know, better than anyone else, that you can."

They met each other's eyes, and Iris, for the life of her, could not look away. And neither could Barry. They just kept staring at each other, something electric in the air that had nothing to do with Barry's speed.

The moment was broken, however, by the familiar sound of Barry's phone ringing. Both looked away as Barry took out his phone and accepted the call, speaking rapidly into it. Then he stood up, offering his hand to Iris so she could get to her feet as well. She gratefully accepted, dusting her pants off.

"I need to go. Killer Frost and Deathstorm have finally woken up, which means they're going to start the interrogation soon," Barry explained, pocketing the phone.

"Okay. What about Black Siren?" Iris asked, suddenly remembering Laurel's evil doppelganger.

"She's over at Starling. We figured it'd be safer to keep them separated for now. You know, in case Zoom does want them back — if he gets one, the other base will have time to prepare."

"Right, right. That's smart," Iris agreed, while inwardly cringing. What was wrong with her? Why were things so awkward now?

Barry turned to leave, but not before looking back at her one last time. "Iris… thank you," he said gently, the smile this time much more genuine.

Iris smiled back, and it remained there even as wind brushed against her face as her best friend disappeared in a trail of lightning.

This was originally supposed to be an interrogation chapter, but somehow morphed into a WestAllen ship tease chapter. I'm not exactly complaining.

And, we get some insight onto how this whole Zoom thing is getting to Barry! Oh, but Zoom is gonna give you a lot more reasons to hate him later on, my dear Flash. You know, cause he's Zoom and all.

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