Chapter 115: The Fastest Man Alive

After several minutes, the pulse eventually ended. Supergirl stopped flying around the city, dismantling the refracting field, as everyone overlooked the carnage. Just as the Justice League hoped, every single Earth-2 meta had been knocked out, just leaving Earth-1 metas (which were a significantly much smaller group of people) and the general population of Iron Heights, who quickly surrendered instead of risking anymore punishment for the attack. Supergirl and Archangel began cleanup, capturing and restraining the criminals with their super speed.

The rest of the Justice League took a breather in the meantime, trying to recover their energy after so much time of furious fighting. Green Arrow checked in with the S.T.A.R. Labs team, feeling relief that everyone had made it out more-or-less intact (and had even found Amanda alive, which elicited extremely mixed feelings from him). Then… "Arrow?"

"Yeah, Vixen?"

"Flash and Zoom…" She seemed hesitant to say more. Now that she mentioned it, where were those two? Zoom should have been knocked out by the pulse, so Barry should have had an easy time restraining him and helping out with cleanup.

"Vixen," Oliver said firmly, catching the attention of Laurel and Green Lantern. "What's wrong?"

Vixen sighed. "I saw Zoom escape into a breach when the pulse went out. Flash followed."

Oliver grew cold. "Are you certain?"

"Positive. Should I go after him?"

The archer closed his eyes as he thought the question over. His gut reaction was yes, she should go after him, they should all go after him, but he stifled that down. As much as he would love to send the entire Justice League and their allies after Zoom, he couldn't. They still needed to deal with all the criminals here, including guarding the Earth-2 metas until the government could figure out how to deal with them after all the damage they caused. And even if that weren't the case…

"No."

He heard Vixen's breath hitch in the comms. "Are you sure?"

"Things are too uncertain here to risk going to Earth-2 now to deal with Zoom. As dangerous as he is, he's now only one man compared to thousands of hostile elements here. And besides, all of us with the exceptions of possibly Supergirl, Archangel, and Manhunter, would just get in the way. The Flash will have to deal with him on his own."

"… Alright. If you think it's for the best. Vixen, out." The comm buzzed off.

"Do you think he can win?" Green Lantern asked after Oliver's conversation with Mari finished. His tone was serious, a deep contrast to his generally cocky demeanor for most of the battle.

Oliver and Laurel exchanged looks, before nodding. "He'll win. He knows what is at stake if he doesn't. And that's when he's at his strongest. When all of us are at our strongest." He paused. "The real question we should be asking is what he'll do when he wins."

Upon hearing that, Laurel looked over the general area they were in — one of Central City's entertainment districts. A place where friends, families, and couples all congregated to shop, dine, play, and generally enjoy themselves. Laurel could just see the little children running around the quad, the adults laughing joyfully as they watched and shared treats like ice cream with one another, exchanging cuddles and kisses. Not unlike the dates Ollie and her had when they had free time.

Now it was a derelict wasteland. Each of the shops and restaurants had been completely wrecked, spilled out with broken glass and furniture and other merchandise. Some were on fire. There were bodies strewn everywhere, most unconscious, but a fair few dead. And the dead ones usually weren't enemy metas, but rather poor civilians that hadn't been able to hide effectively or escape the city in time. It made her stomach sick just to see them.

A lot of people would be passing the blame around when this was all over. But in the end, there was only one person responsible for this. For all of this.

"After everything Zoom's done, I don't think anyone is going to care what Flash does to him, as long as it hurts," she finally said, speaking her piece.

Judging by the looks on the faces of her companions, they agreed.

Barry hardly missed a step when his surroundings shifted to the art deco aesthetics of Earth-2's Central City. He didn't even so much as blink as he threw a knife in Zoom's general direction, and the man, only just now recovering from the dissonance of the pulse, barely managed to use his speed to catch it. Barry then drew another knife, and rushed forward to stab the bastard in the eye, but Zoom managed to throw himself to the side just in time, shaking his head and finally regaining control of his mental faculties. He got to his feet, and the two speedsters faced off once again.

"Your army has been defeated, Zoom," Barry started, twisting the knife in his hand in a threatening manner. "The Justice League should be collecting them right now. It's over."

"Then why did you follow me here?" Zoom demanded, curling one of his clawed hands into a fist. "I imagine your friends would like your help doing the 'cleanup', as it were."

"They can handle that on their own. But you?" Flash clicked his teeth. "Only I can handle you. After everything you've done to me, to them, to our earth, did you honestly think we would let you go that easily?"

Zoom remained silent, glaring.

"There is no way in hell I was going to risk letting you go and having you come back one day to wreak havoc on our lives again," Flash told him coldly, clenching the handle of the knife. "I followed you to this earth, and I'll follow you to every earth if I have to. I'll hunt you down until I can make sure you are never a threat to anyone else, ever again. And if you want to stop me, you're gonna have to kill me."

He then spread his arms in a 'come at me' gesture. "So come on, Zoom. We started this on my earth. It's only fitting we finish this on yours."

The other speedster roared at that, and slammed into the Flash with great fury. Flash, however, was ready for that, and locked their bodies together by blocking Zoom's arm and leg. The two exchanged angry snarls, before diving off the rooftops as one and into the streets below.

Central City of Earth-2 had a different atmosphere from its Earth-1 counterpart, ever since the death of its Flash, the well-beloved and still-missed Jay Garrick, at the hands of their tyrannical self-proclaimed dictator, Zoom. While they had eventually managed to move on with their lives after mourning their hero, a general pall of hopelessness now hung over the entire city. While Zoom appeared less frequently after Garrick's death, his metahuman underlings were more than willing to pick up the slack, and the police struggled to hold them off.

However, no stronger had that despair been when an entire army of metahumans gathered around the outskirts of the city, hostile and ready to wrought carnage on their already soul-battered city. Many huddled inside their homes, expecting this to be the end, until the army disappeared into some miraculously appearing portals. Even so, the entire city remained on edge. Years of living under Zoom had made them skeptical and suspicious of such reprieves, since they rarely lasted for long.

One such diner conveyed this perfectly. Despite being filled to the brim with late night customers, eager for a meal after all that stress, the atmosphere was subdued and quiet. People were whispering instead of talking, flinching at every shadow. It had only been a day since the army departed, and still they were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Of course, not even that sense of anticipation could prepare them for Zoom's body crashing into the front glass and rolling into the center of the floor.

People screeched and yelled as the main proponent of their nightmares growled and got to his hands and knees, shaking his head to clear it. They were further stunned when another speedster zipped in, crashing into Zoom and pinning him to the bar. He had a knife in hand and stabbed it down towards Zoom's head, which the bigger man blocked with his superior strength, and then slammed the other speedster off him, flipping their positions.

Zoom had a vibrating claw now aimed at the red speedster's face, only to grunt as the speedster began repeatedly kneeing him in the side, loosening his hold just enough for the speedster to kick him off and onto one of the tables. Not wanting to lose the momentum of the fight, the speedster slammed into him again, crashing them both into the floor, once again trying to stab Zoom in the face.

The supervillain retaliated by kneeing his opponent in the groin, causing the speedster to audibly groan and drop the knife. Zoom took advantage and grabbed the speedster by the neck, before pushing him off. He coughed and coughed, heaving deeply. The fight on this earth might have just started right now, but the Flash and him had already been at it for hours prior to that. Speed Demon or no, even he had his limits.

The Flash winced as he got back to his feet, still trying to recover from the dirty trick. When he finally did, Zoom was already there, crisscrossing his face with two, powerful right and left hooks. Flash quickly retaliated with slamming his own fist into Zoom's side, forcing the other man back, before using the leverage of one of the tables to push himself up to deliver a kick directly to his head. Zoom sped off after that one, and the Flash followed him.

So consumed in their fight, they quickly failed to notice that the denizens of the diner had been recording the entire confrontation. Already videos were being posted, and Central City of Earth-2 was becoming rapidly aware of another speedster that was now taking the fight to Zoom, far better than Jay Garrick ever did. Discussions were being had, as the people wondered what this meant.

Barry was well aware of how roughly he was fighting right now. The elegance, the sharpness of his movements had been traded for an, angry furious brawl with Hunter Zolomon. The skill was still there, of course, but he wasn't really thinking so much as reacting, fighting on instinct. All the anger, all the rage he had against this man was coming out into the forefront, and while Barry had smoothed out the edges so Zolomon couldn't take advantage of it and goad him into some sort of trap, he could still feel it emanating from every pour in his body. There was no suppressing his emotions today.

Thankfully, he wasn't the only person fighting out of fury and desperation. Zolomon was just as angry as he was but twice as desperate. His plan was in tatters, he no longer had any allies on either earth, and he was fighting an opponent that wouldn't hesitate to cut his throat if given half the chance. He was a cornered, wounded animal, and while that perhaps made him even more dangerous than ever, it also made him sloppy.

Because in the end, this wasn't just about killing each other. It was about hurting each other too.

Barry broke from his thoughts when he saw double in front of him — the man had just created a time remnant. He immediately stopped running, using the momentum to slide in between both Zooms. The moment he was in between them, he dropped to his stomach and dropped his hands to the ground, using them to pivot his legs into a sweep, the same kind he had used on Zoom in his old home.

But this time Zoom was prepared for it. He grabbed the Flash's leg and hauled him up, slamming his fist deep into his opponent's gut. Flash winced and gagged slightly, and then felt his arm hooked by Zoom's time remnant. He could Zoom preparing to impale him with a vibrating hand, so he kicked the other man in the chest, and then bent his legs, kicking out the knees of the time remnant. This caused him to loosen the hold on Barry's arms, allowing Barry to slip out and stab him in the heart with his knife.

He ripped out the knife, leaving a small trail of blood afterward, and then stabbed into the time remnant's throat for good measure. Then, he felt a change in the air and left the knife lodged in there while he shifted his head to dodge the punch Zoom had aimed at the back of his neck, grabbing the man's arm and twisting it. Zoom winced, but didn't hesitate to strike Barry several times in the arm to break the hold.

Barry eventually did, which Zoom quickly took advantage of to speed away. The Flash followed, again, and the chase continued.

And that's how it went, for several hours. Running around Central City. Clashing in small, brief scuffles, that one would get the better of and causing the other to flee to regain their footing and try to shift the tide in their favor. Barry was grateful he had the foresight to keep calorie bars in his suit. He had expended so much energy tonight, and if it hadn't been for them he was certain he would've collapsed from malnutrition already. He had already spotted Zoom having to do the same with stolen food from several grocers and restaurants, just barely managing to avoid Barry's many, many attempts to kill him during those rare opportunities.

They were stalemating. This fight was going nowhere.

The simple fact was that while Barry was a more skilled fighter, Zoom had more experience as a speedster. He was more willing to use his speed in a constant fashion, and while Barry no longer feared his powers, that didn't mean he necessarily knew how to use them. At least, not the way Zoom and Thawne did. He might be able to go faster, and he was more willing to use his speed to power his blows, but he had always been an assassin and a warrior first, and a speedster second.

… Wait a minute. That was an idea.

It was a gamble, certainly. There was no guarantee if it would work. But Barry was willing to do anything to make sure this battle ended soon. He needed to get home, help out the others with the rest of the battle. Or the cleanup, at least.

So, he ran. And Zoom followed.

S.T.A.R. Labs wasn't open yet, especially since Harrison Wells was currently on Earth-1 helping out the Justice League, but that was fine. This time, the Flash had no intentions of sneaking in. He was breaking right through the front door.

It was easy to phase through the glass. It might be of a different earth, but it was not carbyne, and that meant little to no resistance to his powers. Of course, that was true for Zoom as well, but that was the point, after all. He went in, Zoom followed, and then… he searched.

He tried to randomize his path as much as possible, tried to make sure Zoom didn't realize his plan. And it worked. The man just kept running, kept chasing after him. He wanted this battle to end too. Because the longer it dragged out, the likelier his death became. All it would take is one little misstep, and he would have Barry's knife in his throat.

But he was so blinded by that fear, that he didn't see what Barry's real plan was.

If I'm right, it should be right… here! This was the main office of Harrison Wells, the office that Eobard Thawne used while impersonating the man's Earth-1 counterpart. The office Barry occasionally appropriated for his own personal use when he wasn't working on inventions or vigilante work and needed some peace and quiet.

And… the place where he had installed the building's manual lockdown function.

The place where he hid the activation switch to the building-wide metahuman dampener.

Check… He thought as he located the hidden partition in the wall where the switch was and opened it. Barry smiled, for the first time since returning to Central City, and quickly ran through all the possible codes with his super speed. And… mate!

Barry closed the partition, hiding it once again within the wall as he heard the S.T.A.R. Labs of Earth-2 go into lockdown. Already, he could feel the dampener working to negate his speed, and judging by how Zoom didn't speed in himself, it had worked on him as well.

"What did you do?" Zoom hissed, ripping off his mask to reveal Hunter Zolomon. Without his powers, he couldn't change his eyes into those heartless black orbs. There was no point trying to keep it on.

The Flash took off his own mask in return, revealing a grimly satisfied Barry Allen. "Tipped the odds in my favor. Right now, S.T.A.R. Labs is in lockdown, with a building-wide metahuman dampener activated to its highest setting. And since you and I are the only metahumans in here…" he shrugged.

Immediately, he could see his enemy pale, and resisted the urge to smile. He flicked his knives back in his holster, and then cracked his knuckles. He didn't need them anymore. Not for this, at least.

"If you give up now, I'll make it quick," he offered.

Hunter glared at him, threw his mask to the side, and lifted his fists.

Barry gave in. He smiled.

Oh, I'm going to enjoy this.

This fight was supposed to be one chapter. Now it's going to be two. Yay!

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