When Barry was truly back in his own world, he told Belén everything that'd happened to him. He told her about the other world he'd accidentally gone to — National City, Supergirl...Anais. Even if he hadn't been a speedster, Barry would've still rambled at light speed trying to retell the entire story from the moment he stepped foot into Earth 38 and the moment he returned.
Luckily, Belén knew him. She didn't interrupt his story; she silently listened from beginning to end. She would just snuggle closer to him each time he shifted as he made wild gestures during his story telling. She waited until the end to start sharing her reactions. "So you and I are married in this Earth-38 world and...and we adopted an-an...alien child?" Her face was warm and red just at the thought of it. Of all the things her doppelganger could have done, she chose to do all that...
Barry's face was just as red as Belén's. He stared at the ceiling until it would come down a bit. "We adopted Anais when she was a child. She's our daughter - well, our doppelgangers' daughter."
"Well, she sounds amazing," Belén tilted her head up at him, smiling when he finally met her gaze. "And it's not just cos she's an alien. It seems like our doppelgangers raised her well, loved her right." She couldn't imagine ever doing something like that but then again she hadn't really imagined herself being a mother. Those thoughts were still pretty far away.
"I wish you could've seen her," Barry lamented the fact that would probably never happen. Anais was as cheery as her adoptive mother was, definitely a fast-paced rambler too. He was sure that she and Belén would've gotten along so well.
Belén wished the same thing but she wouldn't dwell on the fact it would never happen. There was no point. It was a nice world but it wasn't their world. They would one day, hopefully, have something similar but absolutely their own. "Well, I could do without seeing an older me," she admitted with a chuckle. "Seriously, I'm over 40? How terrible!"
Yet Barry smiled from ear to ear. "You were hot."
"You don't have to kiss up, you already live with me and you get to share my bed," she rolled her eyes and made to turn away from him but he locked an arm around her waist, keeping her right where she was.
"I mean it," he looked down at her. "I get the feeling that no matter what version of you I meet, I'll always love them."
"But no more than me, right?"
Barry brought his hand up to her soft hair and ran his fingers through it. "You're my Bells. That other Barry got to marry his Bells and grow older with her. I want that opportunity too." He could vividly remember the way his doppelganger looked at his wife, the gentle touches they shared, they way they acted with each other. He would love to reach where they were, albeit at their own pace.
"And they were happy?" Belén asked after spending a few minutes in calm silence. "You know, despite all the alien nonsense they obviously go through?"
"Yeah," Barry grinned within the second. "She makes the chocolate amaretti cookies you do and he loves them. Anais was upset because he almost ate the entire batch that her mother brought."
Belén felt a warm tingle just hearing the word 'mother', but she did laugh at the cookie part. "Really?"
"Yup, I think that every Barry Allen in the multiverse loves chocolate amaretti cookies baked by Belén Palayta."
"Hm, well I'm sorry my batches aren't quite there yet. I imagine my doppelganger makes them better?"
"Yours are just as good too, Bells, I promise," Barry kissed the top of her head. "In fact, I wouldn't be opposed if you decided to make another batch today."
Belén playfully rolled her eyes. "Seriously, you already live with me, you clearly get me in every other world...you don't have to keep kissing up."
Now it was Barry's turn to roll his eyes. He shifted on the bed to see her sarcastic face. "I do love you, Belén. You have no idea what it was like seeing that other world, another world where you and I are married."
There was a brief grim look on Belén's face when she thought of Earth 2. "Well, it didn't quite turn out to be all sunshine and rainbows with our Earth 2 doppelgangers."
"One Earth, one different version," Barry said as he tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "But even then, it's true that we'd meet in any and every world."
Belén could smile at that. "It does seem that way, huh?" Their theoretical question of whether they would meet each other in a different timeline turned out to be real. It brought a rush of new warmth to her body, a happy warmth that she relished in. No matter what world they were in, they really would meet each other and fall in love. She draped an arm over Barry's shoulder and pecked his lips. "I love you my singing scientist."
"My dancer in the air," Barry chuckled as he gave her another kiss. He'd taken to watching her during her aerial dancing practices lately and he honestly felt like he would never get over her talent. "My beautiful dancer in the air," he started peppering her face with kisses, making her laugh. He lowered his arms to her waist and pulled her body against his.
He felt like kissing her for a much longer time now.
~0~
'I am truly content with your decisions as of late, Belén," the Green's voice filled the air around Belén. She rolled her eyes when it continued to go on and on about her latest choices regarding botanical metas, knowing exactly where he was headed with one precise decision she made. "Belén, you and Datura are doppelgangers who should have been working together from the very start."
"Kinda hard to do when she's been trying to kill me this whole time!" Belén exclaimed in full-on irritation. She was getting real tired of the Green acting as if this wasn't a fact. "And let's just be clear that I'm helping her because of humanity reasons. I nor like her, nor tolerate her."
"You were always going to be one of my most prominent child," the Green said as if Belén hadn't said her last statement. "The truth is, you and Datura are my most prominent children." Belén scoffed but the Green went on. "Belén, you and Datura will be intertwined for a long time. She is your doppelganger and while her choices are questionable, she will ultimately make sacrifices even she never saw coming."
Once again, Belén scoffed. She folded her arms and glared at the wide open forest. "And what's that supposed to mean to me? Is that why I should forgive her for everything she's done so far?"
"No. It is only to remind you that despite the different worlds you both grew up in, the different versions of people you had around you, Datura will return to her fundamental core in the end. She is you, Belén, just as you are her."
Belén rolled her eyes. "You know Barry just got back from another world where I don't have botanical powers. She's a scientist, and she's living nice and happily with her husband and their adoptive daughter. Are you telling me that evil, murderous Datura is just like her? And that Earth 38 Belén is just like Datura?"
"Choosing to ignore my words is not wise. The truth is when Time calls, you and Datura will work together. It's an inevitable event and when the job is finished, you will look back on the days of the Azalea fighting Datura, thinking of how times have changed and how it changed both of you."
Belén snorted and laughed thoroughly. "Right. The day I work with Datura is the day pigs will fly. I am choosing to help her but I don't expect promising results. Now if you'll excuse me, I do have to go converse with other botanical metas looking to hide from the very meta you foolishly think might be redeemable."
She thought for a moment that the Green would prevent her from walking away but she was able to make it to the spot where more botanical metas were gathering. She smiled at the group who already spoke so easily to each other; they were comfortable with each other despite the short amount of time they'd met.
"Hey, they're pretty much ready," Black Orchid was amongst the group, waiting for the Azalea to make her appearance. Shivhan had taken her role serious in guiding the newer metas in the world and Belén honestly didn't know what she'd do without her. She herself didn't know the Green so well. They all had things to learn.
"Alright," Belén called for the group only once and had the entire place silent for her. That was still pretty weird but Shivhan said it was normal that they would listen to her without protest. "Today we're just going to keep doing what we've been doing. We'll keep practicing and training, getting to know each of our powers because the more you know it, the more control you have over it. I'm curious, and you don't really have to answer, but...has anyone experienced any...darker sides of your powers?" Belén's eyes scrutinized as many of the metas as she could to get an idea but in the end she had full-fledged answers.
"If you mean have we lost control then yeah," a younger female meta had raised her hand. She couldn't be older than sixteen, least that's what Shivhan had guessed the first time they met her. She was one of the metas who didn't have a suit but, like everyone in the group, her face was covered with a mask of vines. "I-I have like this...this other side of me that comes out without me wanting it. It's like...it's like it is in control of me. It's why I ran away from home. I was afraid that I'd hurt my family."
"I'm sorry you felt like you had to do that," Belén sympathetically looked at the girl. "The same thing happened to me, and I'm sure it's happened or is still happening to more of you. It's okay if you don't want to share but I would like to work with you, even if it's one-on-one. That other side of your powers you feel? It's not 'another side', it's part of your powers."
"But it feels wrong," the girl brought her arms over her chest and shuddered. "I'm supposed to be connected to nature but instead this side makes me a reckless, dangerous meta. Not to mention it's what can get me outed and make me an easier target for Datura. I don't want it."
"You saying that, is only gonna make it worse," Shivhan flatly said, making Belén roll her eyes. Their training styles differed even in their personalities. Shivhan wasn't the type of cover up the clear dangers of things while Belén preferred to ease the newer metas into the truth. "The Azalea went through the same thing, so why don't you be that first one-on-one?"
"I guess," the girl shrugged.
Belén offered the girl a warm smile as she motioned for the girl to follow. "C'mon."
Shivhan waited for the two to be gone enough to where they wouldn't hear, to where Belén wouldn't hear. "K, anyone else who has the same problem as that girl needs to meet with the Azalea at some point. You don't want to be outed because you couldn't control your powers."
"Easy for you to say," muttered a young man. "It'll take eons for us to learn how to control our powers."
"It doesn't have to," Shivhan rolled her eyes. "That's why the Azalea is doing this - that's why that reporter made the article."
"You mean the reporter who got fired over it?" went another man who appeared slightly older than the first. It was hard to tell when everyone was wearing their masks.
"Yeah," Shivhan crossed her arms, her tone taking on a tinge warning the others to watch their next words.
"I heard the same thing," a blonde woman said, shaking her head. "Is that really true? Did she get fired because she published the article for us?"
"She's not fired but...she could be," Shivhan looked from one meta to the next and was pleased to see that they had the decency to feel a little guilty. "But it doesn't have to end like that. Now the Azalea cannot get involved in what I'm thinking of because it's an established fact that she knows the reporter. It would look like she pulled some strings for the civilian."
"What do you mean?" the older man from before asked.
"This reporter has risked her life countless times to help the metahuman community and this last article she published is what brought all of you to this place. Without her and that article, you would all still be clueless about your origins."
"So what do you want us to do?" the blonde woman genuinely smiled, as did many of the others.
~ 0 ~
"So your powers are kind of interesting because you can willingly change anything into plant matter," Belén sounded just as awed as she truly was. It was the first time she met a botanical meta with that specific ability and the fact this girl, who was so young, already had a hold on those powers was amazing. But it also meant she was an easy target for Datura and since the girl held a special type of power that could, possibly, be linked to what Datura would need to survive, it was urgent for the girl to get a tighter grip on her powers.
"Sounds cool but it's not," the girl said with a flat tone. "I accidentally changed my cat into a frikin mess of vines. I didn't know what to do so I told my Mom that he ran away." She shook her head and sighed. "I'm a mess."
"No, you're not. You just need to train more," Belén said. "Now, first thing's first, what can I call you?"
"What, like...my meta name? Or my real name?"
"It's your choice."
"Kinsley. That's my real name. I don't...really have a meta name," Kinsley awkwardly shrugged her shoulders. "I...don't really have anything but my name actually."
"It's nice to meet you Kinsley," Belén offered the girl another kind smile.
"Believe me, it's really good to meet you," Kinsley's eyes slightly widened, making Belén chuckle. "I have read everything about you, I've watched you fight. You're good."
"If I am then it's because I've practiced and I've had some really good friends helping me. It's what I'd like to do for you and anyone else who wants it."
"Why? I mean, why bother teaching someone like me?" Kinsley gestured to herself. Her outfit was ruddy enough, showing signs that she truly had been on the run and no doubt on the streets for a while. "I'm no one important. So what if Datura finds me?"
For a moment, Belén wondered if that was how she sounded to her own friends when she made comments like that about herself. If it was, then she truly understood now how ridiculous it could sound. Sure, she didn't know Kinsley but she didn't have to in order to know that she had great power and was incredibly smart. Kinsley had been one of the first metas to get into the Green after the article was published.
"It matters because the world needs a Kinsley in it," Belén walked up to the girl and put her hands over her shoulders. "My Dad used to tell me the same thing when I put myself down and I didn't really believe him, but now I do. You don't know all that you might do for this world in the future, and you'll never know if you don't let yourself grow as a person and a meta."
"You sound like a mom," Kinsley playfully rolled her eyes and missed Belén's reddened blush on the parts of her exposed face. "Hey," Kinsley suddenly garnered a smirk, "Are you a Mom? Is the Azalea a Mom!?"
"God no!" Belén waved her off and walked a few steps away. "Let the record show that I am not a mother and that I'm just here to help you train. So—" she clapped her hands together, "—let's see what we're working with."
~ 0 ~
When Iris walked into the cortex, she was mighty surprised to find a gleeful Barry while Caitlin and Cisco looked ready to bury their heads in the piles of papers on the desk. "What is going on?"
Cisco didn't answer with words but instead with a groan. "Mr. Allen over here thinks we can crack the code to get back to Earth 2 today!"
"I did not say today!" Barry frowned at him. "I just said if we could work on it to get some progress—"
"Yeah, yeah," Cisco waved him off.
Iris' eyebrows raised but if she was being honest, and she would be, she had zero interest in continuing with that conversation. She turned to Caitlin instead to talk about why she came. "Caitlin, are you free tonight?"
"Uh, yeah..." Caitlin slowly nodded. "Why?"
"I'm trying to do this girls' night out to sort of help cheer up Belén. It's stupid but it's all I got at this point."
"Any word what the verdict is going to be?" Barry came up to the desk, forgetting all the work they had spread out around them.
Iris shook her head. "No." She felt terrible seeing his face drop, just like when Belén would 'casually' ask the same question. There truly was no obvious sign of what direction CC Pictures would take concerning Belén's job status. "How is she?"
Barry shrugged. "I mean...she's just being Bells. She's focusing entirely on the Green and the metas she's managed to meet through the article. She and Shivhan are in the greenroom right now."
"At least she managed to do what she wanted," Iris pointed out. Belén made it very clear that she was ecstatic to see the article working. "So girls' night...?" she turned a hopeful glance on Caitlin. "I'm trying to get Nina too and it should be no problem getting Shivhan."
"Why? You got booze?" Cisco asked with a smirk.
"Shut up," Iris waved him off.
"I'd love to, Iris," Caitlin smiled.
Iris beamed. "Great! You—" she pointed at Barry, "—are going to stay at my Dad's place because girls' night is going to be at Belén's."
Barry rolled his eyes but since it was for Belén's well-being, he wouldn't protest. "Fine."
"Eight p.m," Iris told Caitlin before taking off.
~ 0 ~
Belén returned from the Green to discover Iris' plans sent to her in a quick text, the same text that Shivhan had on her phone.
"Cool, booze," Shivhan punched the air with a fist. "I'm in!"
Belén sighed. She knew there was no talking Iris out of it. She appreciated the attempt of 'cheering her up' but she honestly didn't see the point of it. She wasn't sad. She wasn't upset. She stood by her choice whether or not the article did its thing...and it had.
"I say just have fun with it," Barry told her while they watched Caitlin draw blood from Belén's arm. "But, uh, not too much fun. Don't want you doing things you'll regret."
"Yeah, right," Belén rolled her eyes while Caitlin chuckled. She looked at the brunette just as the needle stopped poking her arm. "So, are we done with that?"
"Ow," Belén winced when Barry pulled the needle out from her forearm. She watched him carefully bring the new syringe with her blood to a table. "Is this really necessary to save her ass?"
"Yes. Your DNA is the basis for the cure so this is where we need to start," Caitlin carefully moved the syringe over to a table.
"Okay, but why do I have to do this twice?" Came Belén's grumbling question. Caitlin had first extracted a blood sample while Belén was in her "green state" and then proceeded to ask her to return to normal for a second withdrawal.
Barry patted Belén's hand, offering her a warm smile. "We need to focus on the differences between your two states and then compare them to Datura's."
"Wouldn't that mean you need some of her blood too?"
"Yeah, but...since we haven't seen her yet, we'll start with you."
"How romantic," Belén playfully rolled her eyes. Sometimes, she still couldn't get over the fact she was truly trying to help the evil doppelganger. "So, have you two thought about a way to get the breaches open again?"
"Well..." Caitlin turned around to fixate a sharp look on Barry. Yes, they had but it wasn't a very welcomed one.
"What I miss?" Belén blankly stared at the two until someone answered.
"I thought that maybe Cisco might be the key," Barry ultimately answered. Belén's eyes widened in shock. "I just thought that his doppelganger could do it-"
"Because he was evil, did we forget that?"
"But his powers are the same as Cisco's so that means that Cisco can do it!"
"So what did he say?" Belén asked even when she had a pretty good idea of how it all went down in her absence. Caitlin's face behind Barry confirmed it.
"He wasn't all that for it. And neither was Harry."
"Mm, shocker," Belén slid off the medbed. "So I guess I know what you'll be doing tonight: trying to convince Cisco to open a breach. Yeah, I'll definitely take Iris' girl night out plans."
"Yeah," Barry released a breath. That would take a lot of convincing but he just knew that Cisco could do it if he really tried.
Belén would let him figure that out all on his own. She had other issues to resolve herself and right now Caitlin was holding onto one of them. "So this cure, how is it going to work exactly? Will I have to give blood like some transfusion or something? Or like... swapping things in general?"
"We'll figure out how to pass it on when we actually have the cure," Caitlin smiled at her. "For now, we have to really study your DNA. Although, I may have a theory that could really help us."
"What is it?" Barry was quick to ask. Leave it to Caitlin to help solve their problems quickly.
"Well, like I said, it's just a theory right now but I was thinking about Belén's 'green side'. You had trouble controlling that part of your powers so maybe the way you got control over that side is what we might need to help Datura gain control of her powers."
"Is there like a specific gene for that, then?" Belén folded her arms over her chest. "Because it took a long time to get that under control and you're telling me this whole time I could've just let you switch it on?"
Caitlin shook her head with a light laugh slipping through. "Not exactly. It could've been biological for you but it was more of the mind mixing in with that. I suspect Datura's case is a lot more biological than the mindset. I'll have to really look into your blood before I keep making up more theories. The only other problem right now is that we don't have any blood from Datura."
"I know Cait," Barry sighed. This wasn't the first time the subject was brought up and he had nothing for her. It was why they really needed to open up the breaches.
"Great, so we really need the breaches to open up soon," Belén said. "But even then, where are we going to get a blood sample from Datura? Every time we see her she's trying to kill us. You'd think she'd be more grateful that we're trying to save her life." Oh. She's always busy trying to kill me. Belén smirked. "Oh, wait a second. It would just be hilarious if we got a blood sample from her without letting her know."
"What do you mean?" Caitlin asked with natural confusion.
"Let's say when we get the breaches open, Datura comes to fight me - which she really will - and I just happen to punch her little nose or something. I can get her blood.
"I don't like the idea of you fighting her to get blood off her," Barry shook his head but Belén grabbed onto his hand with a mischievous grin on her face.
"But this time I'll be one step ahead of her. I wouldn't be fighting her to win, I'd just be hitting her until I get blood. And I am very willing to keep hitting her until she bleeds."
"Bells..."
"Oh shut it, I am trying to save her life so the least she could do is let me punch her on the nose!"
~ 0 ~
After much insistence - and there really had been a lot of insistence - Cisco agreed to give the breach opening another go. He had tried it in the breach room of STAR Labs without success so of course Barry would come up with another alternative.
"You know, I can't think of a lot of guys who would prefer to go to an abandoned warehouse in search of a multidimensional portal instead of hanging out with his girlfriend," Cisco made sure to say loud and clear when Barry brought them inside a horrible, smelly warehouse.
Barry just rolled his eyes. "To be fair, Belén kicked me out. She's having a girl's night and I'm not allowed."
"Can I kick you out too?"
Barry sucked in a sharp breath and side-glanced his friend, none too pleased with his sarcasm. "Look, I know this is hard but we really need to find a way. And this-" he raised the handheld scanner he was holding onto, "-says that this area has the highest levels of residual trans-dimensional energy. We should be able to open the breach that used to be here." He walked into a long room, probably a room for dozens of people at one point, and came to a stop in the center when the scanner beeped again. "It's right here. This is it.
"For real? In this Patch Adams nightmare right here? Yeah. Love it," Cisco grumbled. It was a place of horror movies!
"All right. Look, dude, if this doesn't work, I'll stop asking you to do this, all right!"
Cisco would take that deal any day. "Fine," he exhaled deeply and struck a hand forwards, intending on letting out that power to open the breaches...but nothing happened. "What? Look, I can't do it!"
Barry frowned. There had to be something missing for this to keep failing!
And if he heard him, Harry strolled into the room. "That's right. You can't."
"What are you doing here?" Barry raised an eyebrow at him. "You said you weren't going to help!"
"I know what I said. But you're not gonna stop, are you?"
"No."
Harry inwardly groaned. Joe was right. Barry would keep doing stuff like this and get himself hurt or killed one day. He needed supervision, as did everyone else in the team. "Okay, Barry Allen, then I'm gonna do what I can to make sure you don't get killed." He came up to Cisco with a pair of black goggles for Cisco. "I recalibrated these to the electromagnetic frequency of this Earth. It should help you access enough of the trans-dimensional energy to manipulate it."
Cisco didn't look that impressed. Actually, he wasn't. "Just like Reverb," he muttered as hr took the goggles into his hands. "All I'm missing is the guyliner and the transformation's complete."
"Take 'em out for a spin!"
With a sigh, Cisco put the goggles on and tried again. He struck his fist forwards and this time, it was engulfed by a blue energy that sprouted into a breach. He had done it.
~0~
Zoom was in his lair, going crazy just waiting. He wasn't alone, though, for he still had his 'loyal' follower, although she was acting like her usual self.
A weary Datura leaned over a table. Her eyes struggled to stay open but she fought to keep them so. Across her was Zoom, perched at a chair waiting expectantly for her...and for something else. The two went hand in hand.
A small gasp slipped through Datura's lips. Her eyes flashed a menacing red and when she spoke, it was someone else's voice. "He's trying to open a breech."
Zoom stood up, pushed the chair out of his way, and stalked towards her. "Where?" he demanded to know.
There was a distant look on Datura's face as she focused on the spur of images in her head. The power was all too new for her and she was still struggling to keep it under control, but Zoom couldn't know. This one was actually taking a toll on her more than the others. She really shouldn't be on the hunt for new abilities. Poison Ivy would tell her that.
"O-over by the old hospital…" she said and Zoom wasted not a second in speeding to the location.
As soon as she was alone, Datura deeply gasped (and struggled too). The redness from her eyes faded and she slowly came back as herself. She rubbed her gloved hand across her face and hope to God the weakness plaguing her was not as noticeable as she felt. Once Zoom found out she was progressively becoming useless, he would not hesitate to kill her.
~ 0 ~
Cisco sucked in a sharp breath when he started to feel the true power of the breaches. He could feel it, creeping up from his fingertips, up his arms, to his head...to his mind. Suddenly, he ripped the goggles off him and the breach disappeared.
"No! What happened!?" Barry whirled around to Cisco. "You were doing it!"
But Cisco was dead scared of what he'd been doing. "No, no, no, no. I-I can't do this!"
"What-"
Cisco chucked the goggles back to Harry, shaking his head fervently. "Don't. Please, don't ask me to do this. Please!" He ran out of the room without looking back once.
~ 0 ~
"It's mine!" Shivhan exclaimed once she saw the bottle of wine Iris was bringing over to the living room.
"It's called 'sharing' Shivahn, geez," Iris cautiously set the bottle on the coffee table thinking that she might lose a hand if Shivhan decided to go for it.
"How did you work as a bartender?" Caitlin chuckled with amusement as Shivhan hurriedly poured herself a glass of wine.
"Flawlessly," the woman in question smirked as she saluted with her glass.
"I don't think I should be drinking," Belén apologized when Iris offered her a glass. "I'm undergoing certain medical tests..."
"What? Like pregnancy ones?" Shivhan carelessly asked but took great pleasure when Belén's face flushed red.
"I really hate you!"
Shivhan smirked. "It's just too easy sometimes," she told the others while Belén continued glaring daggers at her. "And plus, you did tell us about that weird adopted alien child you have in another world."
"Yeah, now I'm regretting that."
"It's so weird that you keep bumping into your doppelgangers," Nina remarked as she accepted her glass from Iris. "But then again, so completely you."
"Well this version sounded a lot nicer than Datura. Hell, if she was here, I'm sure she would've found the cure already and put the rest of us out of our misery," Belén grumbled. She eyed the remaining glass of wine on the table meant to be for her. It was a lot more tempting as she got to thinking about her problems. She shook her head. She couldn't get drunk and then let the Azalea have a hang over the next day.
"I think it would be completely weird to meet a doppelganger," Caitlin admitted especially since she knew that her doppelganger had existed on Earth 2, an evil doppelganger as well.
"I think it would be cool," Shivhan leaned back on the couch. "You know, if they weren't evil. Think of all the shit you could pull."
"Okay, maybe let's not talk about doppelgangers...?" Iris made a discreet nod towards Belén who was growing distant with thoughts. "Or anything meta related. This is meant, after all, to be just a fun and casual night. Belén, take a glass." She picked up the last wine glass from the table and held it out for the ombre-blonde. "I'm sure Dr. Snow wouldn't get mad over one glass." Caitlin playfully rolled her eyes. "C'mon!"
Belén took the glass and immediately drank from it. Shivhan laughed. "Oh shut up!"
"I didn't say anything!"
"Thanks Iris, for setting this up," Belén looked at the woman in question. "Maybe I do need just a little bit of a distraction. But I'm sorry you had to give up a night for me when you could be going on another date with Scott."
"Oh, um...actually..." Iris made a face. She could've sworn she told Belén this but now that she was thinking about it, she had told Barry instead. "That's not really happening anymore."
"Why not?" Belén blinked. "It's not because of me is it?"
"No, no, of course not! I just..." Iris' shoulders shrugged purely because she couldn't put her thoughts into words at the moment.
"Did you guys break up?" Caitlin then asked just to see if she could help Iris find her words again.
Iris exhaled and shook her head. "No, well...can't really break up if we were never really together. Actually, I kind of did it when Barry showed me this video of Eddie wishing me a happy birthday. He said all these nice things about me…" Iris smiled to herself as she remembered the video. "And I thought it was time to move on but...I guess it's easier to say it than actually do it. Plus, I can't really see myself 'moving on' with a guy who can't really appreciate what metahumans do for us."
"Still, sorry," Belén said and offered her glass to clink with. "But I'm sure there's someone else out there."
"Well when you find one, let me know cos I want to find one too," Nina said suddenly, making the others laugh. "What? I'm past thirty. I need to find me a man."
"Me too," Shivhan said, then added, "Or a woman. I'm bisexual and I still can't find someone."
"Cisco said you had a girlfriend in college," Caitlin pointed. They were all now aware of Shivhan's backstory and her terrible time in her early metahuman days. "Have you ever thought about maybe calling her up now that you've gotten control over your powers?"
Shivhan shook her head. "Nah. What's the point? I almost hurt her. I don't think I could face her."
"Never say never," Belén smiled encouragingly at her. "Because hey, what if she's still waiting for you to call her?"
"Yeah, right," Shivhan rolled her eyes. "Someone just serve me more wine. I've got a lot more comments about that adoptive daughter Belén has!"
Belén's face fell flat but the blush creeping up her neck was all the motivation Shivhan needed to follow through.
~ 0 ~
"Soo...a little birdy told me you almost opened up a breech last night," Belén took the stool across from Cisco in his workshop. She smiled proudly, because it was a really big thing to be proud of, but Cisco didn't pay her attention.
"Almost," he stared hard at his goggles like the conversation was coming from it and not Belén.
"Barry thinks you're scared. Zoom has a way of getting into your head, but...I don't think that's the fear. Or at least that's not where the fear comes from."
Cisco briefly looked up to see Belén studying him intently. "It's not?" he asked.
"Cisco, I had a hard time getting my powers under control and to this day it still scares me that I could succumb to the dark side of them. It's a unique sort of fear, and... it's kind of like the one I'm seeing in your eyes right now."
"What do you mean?" Cisco tried playing dumb.
"You're scared of your powers, or at least something along those lines." Belén saw the shift Cisco gave in his spot. She stood up and walked up to him, placing a comforting on his arm. "What is it?"
Cisco sighed. He saw no point in hiding it anymore. "It's like... It's like right now I'm Anakin Skywalker. I got the midi-chlorians. I've got the goods. The force is strong with me. That is something I can feel. But if I start opening breaches into other worlds, doing all this other crazy stuff Reverb was doing, then... what if this is how I become Vader?"
"You're afraid of becoming like your doppelganger?" Belén would have laughed had it not been a serious matter. "Cisco, that could never happen. Literally."
"You don't know that. That is what happened to Reverb," Cisco said. "He learned how to use his abilities, and when he felt that, when he felt that power, he succumbed... to the dark side."
"I get that fear. Let's not forget my doppelganger still lives to create evil," Belén sighed. "And I was scared too, until Barry made me see something. Those doppelgangers of ours had no one. Those they had... wasn't the same relationship. Your doppelganger, as far as we know, had no Caitlin Snow, no Barry Allen, no STAR Labs team. My doppelganger had Barry but it wasn't the same relationship. She didn't have enough confidence in him to share with him what was going on. Let's not even get into what Earth's 2 Caitlin was missing. My point is, we-" Belén pointed between them, "-have the best family on this Earth. They are what keep us grounded. We are never going to turn into our doppelgangers. You are Vibe and you are a whole lot better than Reverb."
"You didn't even meet Reverb," Cisco remarked but Belén detected traces of his usual humor in his tone.
"Yeah but I didn't need to. I just know it."
Cisco chuckled. "Thanks, Bells."
"Well I figured since you've given me a thousand ways to get back on my feet, I owed you one," Belén secured him in a tight hug, refusing to let go until he promised to again with the breeches.
Once she was clear, she left the workshop to find Barry lingering just a tad too close to not be able to hear what she said. He was smiling strangely at her, making her laugh.
"What?"
"I forgot to pass on a message from your Earth 38 doppelganger."
"Oh? What was it?" Belén wondered if it was a tip for the future like, eat more of this and less of that. She could do with those cheat sheets.
"She said that you are the best version of all the Beléns in the multiverse," Barry came closer to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "You're the bravest because you fight every day against metas, put your job at risk for people you don't know. You're the best."
Belén actually felt a few tears trying to come up in her eyes. "She really said that?"
"Mhm, she just missed one thing..."
"Like what?"
"That you are such a good friend."
Belén blushed under his intense gaze. "You think that's true?"
"I know it's true. I see it every day, I just saw it right now. You're the best, Bells." Barry lowered down to press a soft kiss over her lips. Belén wrapped her arms around his neck just to keep them close for a moment.
They still had plenty to do afterwards.
~0~
Harry had added onto Barry's suit's emblem proposed to help Barry stop Zoom. He placed the emblem back on the suit and turned the others in the cortex. "You're all set. He won't even know it's there."
"Cause whoever said aesthetics aren't important," Cisco meant as joke but Harry retorted with a sarcastic 'not me' and walked away from him.
Barry noticed how Caitlin was throwing uncomfortable looks all around the room. "Hey, Cait, I know how hard this is gonna be for you, but we have to stop him."
"I know, and I want to be supportive," Caitlin promised and scooted closer to Belén. "I just... I can't face Jay. Or whatever his real name is."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, you remember when I was looking for his doppelganger, right?"
"Yeah. And you couldn't find him."
"Because there is no Jay Garrick on this Earth. His doppelganger's name is Hunter Zolomon."
From across the room, Harry stopped. "Hunter Zolomon? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, why?" Caitlin dreaded yet another lie of 'Jay' would come out.
Harry flipped the lid of his watch and started pulling up images. "Well, because on my Earth, Hunter Zolomon was a convicted serial killer."
Two conviction pictures of Jay - or Hunter Zolomon - faced the group. He had long, messy hair and an equally messy long beard.
"Is that really Jay?" Belén nearly had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing something else.
"No, that is Hunter," Harry pointed at the pictures. "Last public photo of Hunter Zolomon. Instantly recognizable. And people from my Earth... on my Earth, serial killers are an anomaly, so a lot of media attention to this. There was a podcast. When Hunter was 11, his father killed his mother right in front of him. Father sent to prison, Hunter grew up in the foster care system. Years later he was convicted on 23 counts of murder."
Cisco gawked at the number. "23? That's, like, some real Hannibal Lecter type level."
"Well, with that kind of background, there was always a potential risk for something like this to happen," Belén crossed her arms and received odd glances from her friends. "What? I took an elective Child Development course."
Harry continued with the story for them to know the ending. "After the trial, Hunter was sent to the Saint Perez Mental Asylum for the Criminally Insane... given daily electroshock therapy. Cure him of his urges and then faded from view."
"Until the night your particle accelerator exploded," Belén realized.
"That's right. The dark matter crept into the mental asylum. I had thought... piping the explosion underground would limit exposure. I was wrong. All it did was create an unstoppable monster." Harry grumbling took the images down and closed the lid of his watch.
Barry had began to think of the new information and wondered if he could use it against Jay/Hunter. "He's not unstoppable. Jay doesn't know that we know who he really is. He thinks that his past is a secret."
"You've got your thinking face on," Belén noticed, her curiosity growing by the second. What had he thought of?
Barry smirked. "I think I have an idea of how we can stop him."
~ 0 ~
Harry and Cisco led Belén, Caitlin, Iris, Veronica and Joe into the safe room. Caitlin held onto a handheld tablet recording the future movements of Barry. They couldn't risk Jay getting to them as using them as bait. And since they would be inside, they made sure that Shivhan and Nina would be far away as well, just in case. 'Jay' was never close to either woman but it didn't mean they wanted to risk them, so Shivhan took Nina to the former's old neighborhood in the lower parts of the city for a while.
"Are you sure Jay can't get in here?" Iris looked around the safe room with some bad memories seeping through.
"Pretty sure, but just in case," Harry handed Joe a large gun-like weapon.
Joe secured the weapon in his arms. "How do you use this?"
"All right, so you aim it, and then you pull the trigger," Harry said, dead serious.
"Smart ass," Joe spat but Harry smiled nonetheless.
"Barry and Cisco are in position," Caitlin looked up from the tablet.
Belén made sure to be right next to Caitlin. Since she wasn't allowed to help, she would at least know what was going on at all times. "Let's hope this thing works."
~ 0 ~
"You ready, buddy?" Barry stopped in the middle of the abandoned hospital.
Cisco stood next to him, nervously putting on his goggles. "Yeah. You guys always believed in me. Thank you."
"You got this," Barry assured.
Cisco nodded and got ready to open the same breech.
~0~
Datura's eyes flashed red as a rush of images passed in her mind. Each one hurt more than the last. "He's going to open another one…" Zoom turned on her expecting much more than she was giving. She swallowed hard and focused more. "U-uh...the hospital, again. But…" her eyes drifted to the side, "... you're gonna need my help."
"I don't need anyone's help," Zoom towered over her.
"You will. They're going to pull something. Retribution. I'm good at that." Datura failed to look the speedster in the eyes. "Let me come...please…"
~0~
Cisco felt the familiar strain of opening the breech but this time he did not fall back. He was determined to help put an end to Zoom's reign of terror. This was his part and he would he damned if he let his friends down. The blue energy circled in the air until it formed a direct breech into the next world. Almost immediately Zoom jumped out but he was not alone.
Cisco let out a small noise at the sight of a maskless Datura behind Zoom. She was getting braver. "She's not supposed to come!"
Barry was stunned with her presence but he had to force himself not to pay her the attention that would inevitably hurt him.
"Well I have," Datura did her best so that her voice resembled nothing but strength. "And I'm ready to play...but you're the wrong players." Thick green vines entangled themselves around her body until she was no more. The vines made a beeline for the cracked window and disappeared.
"She's heading to STAR Labs…" Cisco didn't need any clue to figure that out. Barry gave him a nod to get going. Cisco ran out of the building and intended on breaching as fast as possible to STAR Labs.
"Reverb's doppelganger has increased his powers," Zoom took notice.
Barry directed his fiercest glare at him. "Hatred is a strong motivator."
"You were unwise to reopen the breach."
"I'm not gonna let you terrorize another world anymore."
"Without your speed, you won't be able to stop me."
Barry almost laughed. " Let's see," he began the game and sped out.
Zoom followed after him.
~0~
Caitlin didn't mind the fact Belén was gripping onto her arm to the point blood circulation was close to shutting down, it was justifiable. Caitlin held the tablet in her hands and was following every movement of Barry's, which now showed the speedster running downtown.
"Zoom's gaining on Barry," she informed the rest.
"He can't catch him!" Belén exclaimed. "Oh my God, what if he does? What if—"
"He won't," Iris put a hand on her arm, reassuring her with a small smile.
Cisco walked into the safe room with an urgent look on his face. "She's coming!" Everyone else gave him confused stares. "Your—" Cisco threw a finger at Belén who merely blinked, "—doppelganger. She's here — I mean, she's coming! Now!"
"What? What for?" Iris made a face.
"We have her cure and her redhead friend locked up in the same building…" Belén said slowly, exchanging a knowing look with Caitlin. "Looks like we're doing this right now."
"Doing what?" Harry narrowed his eyes on her, pretty sure where this was about to go. "You are not leaving this safe room!"
"She is coming!" Belén snapped, already backing away. "And do you really think she'll just come in and take Poison Ivy and just leave? No. Not in a million years! She's not leaving until she finds me so I might as well just go out!"
"Belén, she's a killer!" Veronica was terrified of the idea of her daughter fighting that doppelganger.
"Yeah, I know, which is why I have to go and stop her! I just said that!"
"I hate to agree but she is Datura so she can access the pipeline system and any of our other security systems," Cisco scrunched his face when everyone's gazes turned to him. "In retrospect, I should probably try to find a way around that already."
Veronica wished he would shut the hell up already.
"Zoom's almost got Barry!" Caitlin suddenly shouted, too startled to have kept it down. Everyone crowded around her to see how the speedsters were doing outside.
"He's getting away again," Iris relaxed when she saw Barry's track-dot getting farther and farther from Zoom's.
"They're almost to the building," Caitlin told the others.
"Guys…" Cisco's voice drew their gazes from Caitlin's tablet. He made a motion for them to notice that Belén was already gone.
"Belén!" Veronica shouted incredulously.
"Dammit," Harry gritted his teeth. "She's just as crazy as Allen!"
"What do we do now!?" Iris frantically waited for someone to say something.
"We can't do anything…" Caitlin said, looking up from her tablet. "This thing just detected a visitor and it's not a speedster."
"Great," Harry muttered.
~ 0 ~
The pipeline room was dead empty and far too easy to get into. Datura hummed as she made her way up to the access controls. She was about to pull off her black glove when a vine grabbed her wrist and spun her around.
"You didn't actually think you were just going to waltz in and get what you want, did you?" Belén swallowed hard now that she was face to face with her doppelganger. It was so weird seeing her own face, herself, standing across her.
Datura got over her initial agitation and smiled, amused with Belén's reaction. Fire erupted over her arm, burning away the vine on her wrist. She refit her glove over her hand, her brown curls bouncing with the movement. As soon as she did, Belén froze in her spot. Her eyes were wide but her fists were balled for a fight.
"What's the matter?" Datura's voice was mocking. "Take your breath away?"
It was hard for Belén to see her face on someone else, and much more on a person who looked ready to inflict pain on anyone. There was no getting used to that.
"When did he get the courage to tell you? Did you cry? I bet you cried," Datura slipped a smirk between her words. "Are you as much of a crier as I once was?"
Belén's jaw tightened. Datura lived to make her life miserable whether it was with violence or the old fashion word jabs. She couldn't keep falling for it and give Datura what she wanted. She raised a threatening hand towards Datura. "Zoom and Barry are downstairs and when Barry catches Zoom, you and him are going to go in the pipeline."
Datura raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?" she laughed. "It's funny you think that's going to work. Now please, go back into hiding or something and let me get my friend, alright? You're actually second on my list tonight."
Belén almost laughed when she was waved off. Belén thrust forwards a vine that knocked Datura to the side. "You are not getting anyone!" she stalked towards her doppelganger.
Datura peeled herself off the wall and glowered at her. Eyes flashed blue and a familiar voice rang through her mouth. "You're an idiot if you think you could ever win against me!" Her hands billowed with icy smoke.
"Caitlin?" Belén's eyes widened. She would recognize that voice anywhere, even if it was on someone else. Datura pulled her hands back and shot icicles forwards. Belén had to throw herself on the ground to avoid being hit. "How are you Caitlin!?" she asked after being able to raise her head off the ground.
Datura was smirking with eyes still flashing blue. "I'm Killer Frost," she said in the icy meta's voice. She threw more icicles at Belén who rolled to the side just in time.
Belén picked herself up and blew her strongest breath outwards, poisoning the air in the room. She didn't expect to make a strong blow since poison was probably nothing against Datura - just like she was - so she was mighty surprised to see Datura wobbling on her feet for a second. The blue in her eyes faded rapidly and, if Belén had to describe it, the woman looked far too pale to be "normal".
But then Datura pulled herself together and a yellow hue swirled in her eyes. Electricity crackled around her hands and she didn't waste a second shooting at Belén again. "Run, birdy!" Datura's voice was overlapping with a male's voice.
Belén dismantled into vines and disappeared from Datura's sight. Her figure formed behind Datura and easily kicked her on the back. Datura rolled on the ground and Belén jumped at chance to keep her down. She wrestled with Datura to keep her on the ground and was subjected to various power changes from the siphoner. There was frost, electricity, energy beams, light and more but Belén wouldn't give up. She delivered two punches across Datura's face - a very satisfying moment - and got blood on her hands.
Datura's head lulled to the side but she was not unconscious. There was a visible weakness in her face that Belén took into consideration. This didn't exactly look like the killer siphoner she'd been fighting this year. Granted, she was vicious in a fight but there was an unaccounted new weakness lacing her movements. Her overall strength seemed to falter after one blow.
Redness passed through Datura's eyes as she gasped. New images were delivered to her mind, ones that delivered several painful jabs to her head. "Your plan... it's going to fail. The shackle… it's going to break" Belén was taken aback from the certainty in the woman's face. Datura smiled through her weakness. "And Barry's going to give it up."
Belén's eyebrows knitted together with further confusion. "Take what back?"
Datura merely chuckled. She latched a hand onto Belén's arm and quickly said, "Tell Ivy I'm coming back for her soon." The electricity passed onto Belén in aggressive shocks, making her scream until she fell to the side and lost consciousness.
~0~
The next time Belén was awake and looking at things, she was in a side room of the cortex with Caitlin acting as her overprotective nurse. Her mother was on the other side of the bed. It took a couple of minutes for Belén's ears to start working again but she could pretty much make out the scold her mother was giving her.
"...it was unnecessary! She could've killed you! What were you thinking!?"
Belén lazily blinked at her mother. "Please, my head doesn't already hurt. Caitlin, tell me you got the blood?"
Caitlin came over with a sigh. "Yes, but your mother's right. You shouldn't have gone off like that without backup."
"Bells, you're awake," Barry came right in. He was back in his regular clothes but Belén couldn't dismiss the pure disappointment in his face. "Cait, is she going to be okay?"
"Well, never mind the fact she received a massive surge of electric shocks-" Caitlin began in her reprimanding tone.
"Caitlin," Belén warned her to simply stop.
The brunette sighed as began again. "Yes, she'll be fine."
"That doesn't mean you can just keep doing that!" Veronica huffed as she got up from her seat. "Can you please tell her that?" she asked Barry on her way out.
"Hey, guess what?" Belén smiled at Barry despite her mother's scold, eager to tell him what she'd gotten for the cure. "I punched my doppelganger enough to get blood for your samples. Tell me I did good."
Even though the night hadn't turned out like he wanted, Barry smiled back at her. He'd been extra scared after learning what she'd done while he dealt with Zoom and seeing her frazzled body in the pipeline hadn't been any better. He leaned closer to her and grabbed her hand. "You shouldn't have faced her like that. Who knows what she could've done."
"She can't kill me yet," Belén said matter-of-factly. "And with how she looks now, I doubt she'd ever be able to."
At that comment, Barry straightened in his chair. "What do you mean?"
Belén pushed herself to sit upright. "She looks...sick. Like, pale face and weak. She's supposed to be this big, bad siphoner but I nearly took her down with minimal poison from my system."
"It is possible that her illness is advancing and affecting her stamina," Caitlin offered as a reason. "It's natural."
"Which means if we want to cure her, we have to work fast," Barry nodded. "But with Zoom still out there I don't see how that's supposed to happen."
"Zoom is still out there?" Belén blinked. She hadn't yet been informed on how the original plan had gone.
Barry sighed and looked down, almost ashamed to see her in the eyes. "I let him get away. I had him - I was so close - and he...just got away."
Belén gripped his hand already around hers. "It's not your fault."
"I lost again and now he's out here again," Barry couldn't stop feeling guilty.
His words, however, made her think of Datura. She was just about to speak of that when Cisco came running in to tell them Iris had called with devastating news. Despite Caitlin's caution to stay in bed, Belén followed them to the cortex to where Cisco and Harry were. They had pulled up the image of a text Iris had sent them.
'Your speed for Wally's life.'
"He took Wally," Caitlin covered her mouth in horror.
"Iris said the whole house is thrashed," Cisco filled them in. "Wally's nowhere to be seen."
"Speed…give it up…" Belén mumbled, her mind replaying what Datura had said. "That bitch warned me."
"What?" Barry looked at her oddly, for a second thinking Caitlin had missed a possible concussion.
Belén faced her friends with a frustration she had for herself. "When I was fighting Datura, she said something like this," she motioned to the phrase on the screen. "She said Barry would have to give something up and I-I didn't make much of it but... I'm so sorry," she said with devastation. Her eyes met with Barry's and he could see they were filling fast with guilt. "If I had paid more attention I could have seen it coming and I-I…" Barry took her into a hug, his face expressing deep confusion much like the rest in the room.
"No, sorry," Cisco laughed sourly as he grew more and more outraged, "Are you implying that psycho siphoner can now see the future?" All Belén could do was shrug unsurely. "No! She can't have all these powers! That's just not fair!"
"Calm down," Harry ordered him. "Datura must have just known the plan Zoom had."
"She knew you were going to use the shackle to keep Zoom put," Belén told Barry. "She laughed at it. She knew our plan. Not even Zoom knew it right?"
Barry thought back to his fight with Zoom. The way he had reacted when he saw the cutouts of his parents was far too raw to be fake. He couldn't have known. "So she siphoned psychic abilities recently…"
"She's crazy," Belén declared. "You know she said she was Killer Frost at one point during our fight? She even sounded like Caitlin…" she threw her friend in question a look.
"Me?" Caitlin didn't even want to think of her dead doppelganger.
"She talked like she was actually Killer Frost and...and these other people," Belén crinkled her nose. "She's really is sick."
"She's deranged and she needs to be locked up," Harry put it into simple terms. "No cures, no anything but right now, we need to focus on getting Wally back. Come back to your psychiatric profile later."
He parted with those words that did ring truth for the moment.
~0~
As Wally began to wake up, his ears picked up a slur of an argument from a distance. It took him only a minute to realize he'd been put in a worn out cell somewhere far and dirty. He picked himself up and the first thing he saw was a second prisoner hidden behind a thick, metal head mask.
"You lied to me and that is lethal to your condition," Wally then heard from the side. He turned to find the black-masked figure who had taken him in the first place. He was arguing with a smaller, female figure.
"I had to get Ivy! I need her!" The voice sounded familiar albeit with traces of a...cold? Who knew.
Zoom snatched her by the neck and pulled her towards him. "You begged me to take you with me and this is how you repay me?"
"I-I can't...siphon...without her!" Datura struggled to say it one go with the lack of oxygen she was getting.
"You're going to siphon the speed force out of Flash and if you don't I'll kill you on the spot," Zoom unceremoniously let Datura fall on the ground.
The woman coughed violently the moment her lungs could extract air from outside. It was then that Zoom noticed the newest prisoner had awoken and was watching them.
Wally stepped back when Zoom started coming towards his cell. "Scared?" Zoom taunted him.
"Someone's gonna get me out," Wally said with some level of determination. Someone would have to notice he was kidnapped right?
"There's only one person who can help you now," Zoom neared the bars of the cell. "The Flash."
Wally blinked. "The Flash? Why would he help me? He doesn't even know who I am."
"Someone he cares about... cares about you."
~ 0 ~
Everyone had re-gathered in the cortex with the intention of getting word to Zoom he had a deal. It only took one vibe of Cisco to get Zoom ready.
"Barry, are you sure?" the speedster kept hearing over and over in the meanwhile they waited for Zoom to show up.
And over and over, Barry kept tell them that he was. He wasn't happy about handing over his speed to a monster but it meant saving Wally's life. He was definitely sure about that. He was also sure this wasn't over. It was a bump in the road, admittedly a big bump, but they would cross it and come back with something big.
Eventually, Zoom arrived to the cortex with Wally in hand. His other hand was latched onto Datura's covered arm. As soon as Wally saw his family he tried going to them.
"Let him go," Barry ordered him.
"We had a deal," Zoom reminded just in case they tried anything with him. Both Veronica and Joe were aiming at him with guns and who knew what else they had hidden around.
"My speed for Wally's life. Hand him over, and it's yours."
Zoom let Wally go with no questions. Wally rushed to hug Iris and was promptly rushed away with car keys in her hand. They were not taking a second chance.
"Let's get this over with," Barry had nothing left to say.
Zoom tore his mask off and smirked. "Indeed." He pushed Datura forwards, the woman threw him a hidden glare but dared not to actually back. "Siphon him," he gave the order.
"I can't," she said quietly, surprising the others.
Zoom looked nowhere surprised like them. He expected it, and he didn't care. "I said siphon him."
Datura pursed her lips and looked down. "I told you I can't!"
"And I said do it!"
Datura lost her patience and whirled around. "You had me siphoning left to right just to find a metahuman with similar abilities to Reverb and I told you it would weaken me! I siphon one more person and I might not make it. You are not gonna do me like you did with Killer Frost — I know what I can do with her powers!"
There was a tension-filled silence in the room and no one knowing what would happen next.
"She doesn't...she doesn't have to do anything," Barry was the one to speak up and was grateful to have Jay's attention.
Datura, on the other hand, shot him a glare. "Contrary to your usual routines at home, I—" she gestured to herself, "—don't need your help."
"Shut up if you want to live," Belén said through gritted teeth. This only infuriated the doppelganger even more.
"We've got the way to get the speedforce out of my system," Barry went on, acting as if Datura had never spoken in the first place. "And no foul play. Harry?"
Begrudgingly, Harry stepped forwards a familiar device in hand. "This thing is how I stole The Flash's speed the first time. Now all he needs to do is run, and his Speed Force will transfer into this vial. but only as long as I calibrate it. "
"Get to work," Jay gestured for them to get to work then. He didn't care how he got the speed he just wanted it and he was gonna get it.
Harry despised the man already but with the smug face of Jay, he nearly lost it. "One day... I'm gonna knock that smug expression clean off your face."
Jay smirked as Harry was forced to go get things ready.
"So this was your plan all along, huh?" Barry couldn't take his glare off Jay for anything.
Jay, on the other hand, was gleeful as ever. "Ever since the skies parted and showed me another world... with another speedster. Once I saw you, I came here, figured out what I had to do."
"How the hell are you still alive?" Belén had to get the answer for that mystery everyone was still questioning about. "We literally saw you kill yourself."
"Yeah, you did," Jay said, quite proud of his action.
"So what was that? A speed mirage?" Cisco wondered.
"Speed mirage?" Jay laughed as he leaned back on the desk. "Uh, no. Even I'm not that fast. I knew that I couldn't be on two Earths at the same time, so I went back in time and, uh, met another version of myself."
"Your time remnant," Caitlin blinked. "Like the Reverse-Flash."
"I also knew that the only way to make Barry become faster was if you all witnessed your old pal Jay die."
"When did you decide to do that?" inquired Iris, although she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the answer.
"Oh, once you closed all the breaches, went to Earth-2. Believe me, getting my time remnant to agree to me murdering him took a bit of convincing. But once he saw the... well, the genius in my plan, he was all for it."
"Who's the man in the iron mask?" Barry recalled the prison who he still had a promise to keep.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Jay answered, giving the face that was all they were going to get over that.
"But why the charade?" Joe asked. "Running around dressed like The Flash?"
"To give people hope, Detective."
"Hope?
"So I could rip it away from them. It's so fun pretending to be a hero."
The last statement frustrated Caitlin to no point's end. She worked with actual heroes and Jay was certainly the opposite of that. "You are no hero. You're nothing but a monster!"
At the same time, Harry returned and was angry to say everything was ready. Jay was the first one to go for the training room.
Belén nudged Cisco and motioned him with her head to look at Datura. The woman was standing sideways, her face distant yet calculating. Belén recognized the flicker of red in her doppelganger's eyes.
"Quite the new power you got there," Cisco spoke up. Datura slowly looked at them, however there was no describable emotion on her just yet. "Shame you can't use it all, though," Cisco smirked. "There's no way you can master that ability in the condition you're in."
"We can help you…" Belén had to force herself to say it with a straight face. She glanced at the training room where she could see Harry explaining to both Barry and Jay something.
Datura laughed shortly. "How romantic. A twisted, romantic story but an interesting one nonetheless. I know what I need to survive and I'm looking right at her."
"You can't take her anywhere," Cisco stepped forwards. "You won't."
"We'll see," Datura briefly gave her doppelganger a lookover before her eyes laid on Barry. "His neck is going to hurt." She walked towards the training room with a devious smirk on her face.
"Watch her," Belén mumbled to Cisco as the two followed her.
~ 0 ~
The group was forced to watch Barry glumly get on his special treadmill. Jay was closely standing next to Harry over the controls. Barry began to run in his normal, speedy manner but as the seconds ticked by it progressively became slower.
"He's slowing down…" Belén said quietly. On the computer, she could see the speed force filling the syringe Harry had plugged in.
"The Speed Force is leaving his body," Harry registered.
"He's becoming human again," Cisco mumbled. He noticed Datura silently stepping back. She was planning something alright.
Eventually, Barry's speed vanished and he toppled over the treadmill and fell on the ground. The others bolted into the training room to help him up.
"Barry, are you okay!?" Belén helped him sit upright on the ground.
"I'm okay. I'm okay," Barry tried to say amongst the commotion.
Jay was intently watching Harry put together the syringe and snatched it out of his hands the moment it was ready. He didn't hesitate to plunge it into himself. Blue and yellow smoke hissed out from the action. His eyes darkened in blue for a second until everything vanished. He then sped into the room and snatched Barry by the neck off the ground.
Datura smirked and ran out the other direction. Cisco tried stopping her by grabbing her by the arm. "You're not going anywhere!"
Datura raised an eyebrow. When her smirk widened, Cisco knew he was about to get it. She pulled the same trick of electricity that shocked him to the ground.
"Cisco!" Belén didn't know in what direction to go to. Datura had ran out to no doubt get Poison Ivy, and this time she would succeed. On one side, Belén had Cisco on the ground, probably unconscious, and on the other side was Zoom threatening to choke the life out of Barry.
"Jay, stop! Please!" Caitlin ran up to the two speedsters. She was in tears but determined to save her friend. "If anything you ever said to me was true, or anything we ever shared was real, then please just let him go. Please!" Zoom did not move and Barry grew paler and paler from the lack of oxygen. "I know some piece of you did care for me, so if you have any humanity left, then please, let him go!"
Zoom dropped Barry to the ground and zipped out of the room...with Caitlin.
Author's Note:
This was a monster to write for some reason. I kept writing scenes and then rearranging them. Like, it just didn't fit so I hope that my supposed editing came out well in the end!
P. S: As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"