Yes, I'm back again! Rather a long one this time, but I do hope you'll enjoy.

"Whoah!" Ned breathed as he looked around. "It's bigger on the inside!"

"Transcendental dimensions?" Peter asked, and the Doctor threw him a grin.

"Well done! Yes!"

"Okay, this is pretty awesome," Michelle agreed. "So you guys travel through time and space in this thing?"

"Yup!"

"And it looks like an old police box because…"

"Oh, it's supposed to blend in wherever it lands, but the circuits broke centuries ago. Landed in a junkyard in London, 1963, and, well…"

"He probably could fix it if he wanted," Barry put in. "He just doesn't want to."

The Doctor shrugged. "It's a box where people can call for help. How could it be better?"

"So how did you get here?" Michelle asked.

"I don't know," the Doctor shrugged. "Accident? Should've been impossible. Now we're trapped. We're not meant to be here, see. The TARDIS draws its power from the universe, but it's the wrong universe. It's like diesel in a petrol engine."

"So you can't actually travel to alternate worlds? I mean, not normally?" Peter asked.

"No," the Doctor sighed, gaze distant and unfocused. "Used to be easy, mind you. When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could hop between realities, home in time for tea. Then they died, and took it all with them. The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed. Everything became that bit less kind."

Barry threw his friend a glance.

"But now it's out of power?" Ned asked, running a hand along the console.

"Yeah," the Doctor sighed. "Kaput. All gone. If we had even a little left, I could do something, but…"

"Completely gone?" Michelle said.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Then what's that over there?" she asked, pointing. Under the deck grating, so faint it could almost be a reflection, a tiny spark glowed.

"A single light in the darkness…" the Doctor breathed. "Sometimes, that's all you need!"

He dove for the panel, levered it up, dropped into the pit below, and snatched up the tiny crystal.

"Oh man," Ned gasped. "Is that…"

"One tiny little power cell," the Doctor grinned up at them. "That's all we need. We've got power! Barry, we've got power! Ha!"

"What is it?"

"It's nothing," the Doctor replied, voice muffled by the grating. "It's tiny. One of those insignificant little power cells that no one ever bothers about, and it's clinging onto life, with one little ounce of reality tucked away inside."

"Enough to get us home?"

"Not yet. I need to charge it up."

"Well, hey, we've got a big ol' arc reactor at the Tower, I bet Mr. Stark could…" Peter started, but the Doctor waved him off.

"Nah, wrong sort of energy. It's got to come from our universe."

"So what do we have?"

"There's me."

The Doctor cradled the green light in his hands and blew on it. Like a campfire, it flickered and grew into brightness.

"I just gave away ten years of my life," he grinned. "Worth every second."

"It's going out," Barry frowned. "Is that okay?"

"It's on a recharging cycle. It'll loop round, power back up and be ready to take us home in, ooh, twenty four hours?"

"Awesome!"

"Hey, so why don't you guys come hang at Avengers Tower?" Peter offered. Barry and the Doctor grinned at each other.

"Like we're gonna say no."

"Before we do, though…" Barry raised a hand. "I have someone to talk to."

And he was gone in a burst of lightning, leaving the Doctor's shout behind.


It didn't take him long to find the person he'd been looking for. He stood across from Barry's childhood home, half-hidden by a stand of trees, simply staring. With how still he was standing and the shadows, he would've been almost impossible for a casual observer to spot. But then, Barry had an excellent insight into this person's mind.

"Hey," he said, and his double turned to face him.

"Hey," he echoed, and stepped out of the trees.

"So, got your feelings back, then?"

"Yeah. I presume that was due to you and your team?"

Barry shrugged slightly, grinning. "Guess you could say that, yeah."

"What happens now? Have you come to take me into custody?"

"Custody? No, man. Look," Barry sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know what you did for Lumic. But I'm not your judge or jury, and I'm definitely not gonna be your executioner."

"I did…many things," the other Barry began, before looking at the ground. "Of which I am not proud. And not all of them are on Lumic."

"Like I said," Barry told his counterpart. "I'm not your judge. I don't know what you did. But I wanted to check in on you. I felt, well, responsible, I guess."

The other snorted. "Taking responsibility for someone you barely know? Very us."

"Isn't it just? Thing is, man, I do know you. Whatever circumstances made your life different from mine, we're still the same person. In genes…and I think more than that."

For long seconds, the only sound was the rustling of the wind and the distant howl of sirens.

"Maybe."

"You could…"

"Mom and dad are dead," his other self stated flatly. "I have nowhere else to go."

"The Avengers…"

"They wouldn't welcome me."

"Our ship is almost ready to go," Barry offered. "You could come with us, into our own universe. Find you a place. Be a hero again."

For the first time, his other self smiled, and it transformed his face. "Who says I need a ship?"

He cracked his neck. "You'll want to stand back. Good luck to you, Barry Allen."

Electricity crackled around his frame, and the speedster blurred into motion. He ran in a circle, faster and faster, creating a whirlwind of lightning that spun around and around, then launched itself into a portal, which snapped shut behind him.

"Cool," Barry breathed.


Barry looked around the room, almost literally vibrating in excitement. He, the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and the Last of the Time Lords were all gathered together in Avengers Tower.

"So, uh, where's everyone else?" Barry wanted to know.

"Thor's off planet," Steve told him. "Helping Captain Marvel and the Nova Corps with an interstellar dispute. Wanda's back in therapy with Professor X, Bucky's at Sam's VA group, and Vision's doing some investigating in Latveria."

"Underoos said to tell you he'll be coming by later," Tony added. "He, MJ, and Leeds are back with their families."

"So what happened to you lot?" the Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Earth's Mightiest Heroes?"

"Yeah," Tony coughed uncomfortably. "Lumic and I meet up every once in a while, trade insults, compare stock market prices, share ideas, that kind of thing. He wanted to know if I would support his Ultimate Upgrade project, I said no. Next thing I know, he's pressed this button on his wheelchair, there's this loud noise, then…nothing."

"Mr. Lumic used hypnosound to knock you all out," explained an artificial female voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.

"Oh, this is FRIDAY," Tony waved a hand vaguely. "The Tower's newest AI."

"He was able to gain access to our systems and lock me out," she continued. "He worked with one of your employees, a Mr. Quentin Beck, to install a backdoor. Ms. Potts is currently dealing with Mr. Beck, and I am instituting a full reboot and security scan to ensure that there was no malware left behind."

"I'll be checking up on Lumic and his associates," Natasha promised. "See if he had any other allies we should know about."

"So Peter says you're from another world?" Bruce asked.

"Yep," the Doctor nodded. "No superhero teams on Barry's Earth."

Was it Barry's imagination, or did the Doctor's eyes linger on him for just a moment?

"At least not these days. There was a Justice Society of America back during World War Two…"

"Yeah, I worked with them!" Steve exclaimed excitedly. "They mostly joined SHIELD or retired after the war."

"Hmm," the Doctor raised his eyebrows. "No Captain America in our universe, though. Pity. We could've used a guy like you."

"I have a feeling your universe has plenty heroes of its own," Steve responded gently.

"Well," the Doctor shrugged. "I just do the best I can."

"Don't we all?"

"So, Doctor, what do you do?" Bruce asked him.

"Oh, I…I travel. Mostly just for fun, though it never seems to work out that way. Help out where I can."

"Yep. Regular trouble magnet, that's him," Barry smiled. "Since I met you, I've been chased, shot at, knocked out, tied up, struck by lightning and woke up with superpowers…"

"Superpowers?"

"Yeah." Barry held up his hand and vibrated it.

"Incredible," Natasha mused, leaning forward. "Super speed?"

"Yeah. Got struck by lightning, went into a coma, and when I woke up, my whole metabolism had been accelerated. Which is pretty cool when it comes to healing, let me tell you."

"Nice," Tony said, raising his eyebrows. "How long have you had your powers?"

"Uh…" Barry looked at the ceiling as he did mental math. "I was in a coma for a few months, ish, and after that…it's been a week or so?"

"You were very impressive out there," Steve said, and Barry had to work hard not to squee again. Captain America was giving him a compliment! Sure, as a kid, he'd looked up to Iron Man as a scientific genius, but Captain America had been his idol. He'd fought some of the darkest, most evil men in human history, seen some of the very worst of humanity, and never stopped being kind.

A lot of that about, he thought, glancing with a smile at the Doctor.

"So, do you have a superhero name?" Clint asked, shaking him out of his thoughts.

"I'd…never thought about it, to be honest," Barry shrugged.

"Quicksilver?" Tony suggested. "The Blur? Zoom?"

"Definitely not Zoom," the Doctor broke in, with an almost panicked look. "Really not you. Anyway! Something to think about. Tony, Bruce, I'd love to see your lab, we could share some ideas? Barry, why don't you get some combat training in? If you wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all," Steve rose. "Barry, have you learned how to fight before?"

"Yeah, I mean, my dad—I mean, my former, foster dad, it's complicated—was a cop, so he taught me a little self-defense, and the other day the we landed on Venus, and we spent a few weeks learning this really cool martial art, it's a bit like a mix of karate and aikido."

"Well, I think we can teach you a few things," Cap nodded. "Natasha, Clint, want to join us?"

"Can't," Black Widow shook her head. "I need to get to SHIELD and talk to Fury. Clint, they'll need you too."

"Be there in a bit," Hawkeye nodded, smirking. Barry gulped. On the one hand, he was going to get beat up by a super soldier and a trained assassin. On the other…this was Captain America and Hawkeye!


"Right," Hawkeye announced once they'd entered the training room. "Barry, you said you heal fast, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Great," he said, unlimbering his bow. "Listen, the first thing you need to learn is the difference between having powers, and having precision."

"What do you mean?"

The archer gained a predatory look which made him look more than ever like his codename.

"Tell you what. Run over there, come at me, and I'm going to hit you with an arrow."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Barry laughed. Clint just raised his eyebrows.

"Go on."

Steve rolled his eyes.

"Okay fine," Barry shrugged. "I will humor you."

Barry zipped over to the far side of the room and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Ready?"

"Ready," Clint called back, drawing and nocking an arrow in a single, smooth moment. Barry blurred forwards. Clint released his arrow, which flew straight towards Barry's chest…and was caught by the speedster.

"Nice try."

And just then, the automatic crossbows behind him discharged, sending a pair of bolts into his back.

"Yow! Whoah!"

"Didn't see that coming, did you?" Clint smirked. "Like I told you," he added, shouldering his bow as Steve moved behind Barry and yanked out the arrows, eliciting a further yell. "Power, and precision. I knew a speedster once. Name of Pietro. He died, ran straight into a hail of bullets, because he didn't look where he was going, and because he assumed that he was fast enough to dodge anything."

"Right," Barry swallowed. "I take your point."

"Now that's done," Steve said, "Why don't we get down to why we're here?"


As it turned out, the training wasn't as brutal as he might have imagined. There were leg sweeps, punches, kicks, and joint locks, to be sure, but Steve also taught him stances, footwork, how to take advantage of a human body's weaknesses. One side benefit of the lightning strike had been gaining an eidetic memory, and once he got past the initial hero worship, Captain America was, unsurprisingly, actually a really good teacher. Both of them had stamina well beyond the human norm, meaning that they could, and did, work for a few hours at a time before taking a break.

"Moving at a few hundred miles per hour, you'll build up a lot of kinetic energy," Steve told him. "And I'm pretty sure you're stronger than a normal human as well. If you can channel every ounce of your own body's power into one spot, combined with the kinetic energy of your super speed…well."

"Like the other day," Barry nodded, understanding. "When I smashed that window on the spaceship leading to the eighteenth century. Uh, long story."

"Okay, anyway…"

It had, Barry decided, been one of the most incredible afternoons of his life. Following hours of intense combat training, building on what Joe, Iris, and the Venusian masters had taught him, interspersed with pressure points (a chart of which he memorized) and how to take advantage of them, combat tactics ("first rule: always move to the outside"), and strategy ("always get civilians out of the way before engaging the enemy"), they had taken a break to eat, drink, and rest. Even super-powered muscles needed a break after a while. Barry and Steve (yes, he was on first-name terms with Captain America!) had bonded over their times as school kids fighting bullies, while Clint and Natasha had gone to SHIELD headquarters to discuss the fallout and prepare teams to take down the other Cybus factories.

"I ran from mine a lot," Barry had confessed.

"I usually couldn't," Steve smiled. "Ninety pound asthmatic, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, right."

"I usually fought them. Well, Bucky fought…I usually got beat up."

Barry snorted out a sympathetic laugh. "Yeah. I think the reason the Doctor fights monsters so much is because he started out fighting bullies. Both of us, actually."

"Three of us," Steve said quietly, looking the younger man in the eye. "The important thing is that at the end of the day, you stand and fight. No matter how scared you are. At some point, you have to choose to turn around, or else keep running forever. Even if you know you're going to lose, sometimes you have to fight anyway."

Barry smiled. "I think the Doctor would agree with that."

Steve nodded. "Wonder what they're up to?"

An explosion rocked the tower.

"The usual, it sounds like," the super soldier added without batting an eye. "Back to training?"

"Sounds good to me," Barry sighed, pushing himself to his feet. His muscles were not going to thank him tonight, he knew. On the other hand, one-on-one training with Captain America…


"So this is it, then."

All of the Avengers were gathered at the TARDIS, along with the Doctor and Barry.

"Off into time and space in your dimensionally transcendental sentient time-space machine," Tony said, with more than a hint of envy. "If I find out any more, I might just turn as green as Bruce."

"My people invented black holes," the Doctor told him, straight-faced, then turned to Barry, who was sharing Peter's secret handshake. Tony gaped like a fish. "Don't expect I'll see you again. We only got here by accident through a crack in the universe. I've got to close it."

"Then good luck to you. And you, Barry," Steve said, shaking both their hands.

"Thanks," the speedster beamed.

"You got it."

"Be well," the Doctor said. "Stick together."

"Keep fighting the good fight."

"Oh, we will."

"Watch this," Barry smirked. A round of handshakes later, he waved and stepped back into the TARDIS, followed by the Doctor. They grinned at each other

as they set the ship for dematerialization, on their way back home.

Yes, Clint got to pull the Oliver trick. I thought it would be appropriate, for a variety of reasons. Also, PLEASE NOTE: I've been a practicing martial artist for many years. Barry is NOT an expert hand-to-hand combatant now. True mastery, as with anything else, requires years and years of practice. However, Barry has an eidetic memory, he has one of the best teachers in that universe, and he's already gotten a good foundation laid. Think of it like Karate Kid-Mr. Miyagi didn't teach Daniel a bunch of moves, just a few blocks and strikes, and had him practice them over and over again. Now, Barry's learned the moves to practice, and just as importantly, he's learned strategy and tactics. Also, pressure points-very useful if you know what you're doing, and (if you're a speedster) you have all the time in the world to hit them.

Please, PLEASE review. Thank you.