Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or the CW TV shows Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl or any other characters or elements pertaining to the mentioned franchises.
"OK, you guys. I'm here. You got my location?" Barry asked as he was outside Central City, testing Thawne's tachyon enhancer.
"You're good? You don't need to, like, stretch or something?" Cisco called.
"No, no, no, I'm good, I'm good." Barry said.
"Let's take this tachyon enhancer out for a test drive." Cisco said.
"All right." Barry took a breath and put on the enhancer as he felt energy surge through him. "Hoo, yeah. I feel that."
"That is the tachyon device powering up the Speed Force in your cells like a quick charge battery." Caitlin explained. "How do you feel?"
"Different." Barry said.
"OK, Barry, let's see how long before you get back here." Patty said.
"On my count." Cisco said as Barry was about to run. "Three, two, one. Go!" Barry sped off, running so fast that he knocked over the sign of Keystone city as everyone stared. "Dang, this thing got you cruising."
"How fast does he normally go?" Iris wondered.
"Not this fast." Caitlin said.
"He's running much faster than ever before." Patty noted.
"Are his vitals OK?" Cisco asked.
"Yeah, they're perfect." Caitlin confirmed.
"Cool. It's like having a pit-stop attached to your chest." Iris quipped.
"Guys, I can go faster." Barry said as he kept running.
"Do it." Cisco said.
Barry kept on running but suddenly, he entered a breach and a moment later, he went out from another one before returning to the Cortex in S.T.A.R. Labs, panting out, perplexed. "I'm back. What... how long was I gone?"
"Let's put it this way, you just annihilated your old record." Cisco laughed.
"Yeah, you went four times faster than you have ever been." Caitlin said.
"Four times?" Barry widened his eyes. "That's as..."
"…fast as Zoom." Harry said as he entered. "Well, faster actually."
Quickly getting ahold of himself, Barry took off the device and gave it to Harry. "Hey, uh, do we think that, um, we can get this thing smaller? It kind of sucks."
"If it sucks, then, yeah." Harry nodded, picking the device.
Barry took a breath. "All right, so now all we have to do is figure out how to get back to Zoom."
"Yes, uh, just a minor issue. We closed all the breaches and have no idea how to reopen them." Cisco said.
"We don't..." Barry turned to Harry. "Um, Wells?"
"Yeah, I have an idea, Allen. Let's keep the breaches closed forever. Forget about the breaches. Forget about Zoom." Harry said indifferently.
"Wait, I'm sorry, I thought that you were on board with this." Barry said, confused.
Harry neared Barry. "No. No. I said I would help you get faster." I did not say I would help you give the man who kidnapped my daughter and tortured her a chance to do it again."
"Hey, we are not gonna let that happen." Iris protested.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Oh, you're not gonna let that happen. Gosh, I wish I'd known that the first time." He turned to Barry. "You don't understand Zoom is different than us. Zoom is not tied to anything. Zoom does not care for anyone. I do. My daughter's out here on this Earth somewhere. I have to find her. We all have people that we care about. Zoom will use that against us. Believe me."
Harry was about to walk off as Caitlin considered. "Maybe we should just leave it be."
"No, no. Look, no." Barry turned to Harry. "Look, we're... we're not turning our backs on another Earth. We're not gonna let Zoom get away with everything that he's done."
"Right now, there is no way to another Earth, Allen. Let's keep it that way." Harry said before he walked off.
"We're getting back to Earth-2. With or without his help." Barry said.
"Let's go to work." Cisco nodded.
Iris took a breath and was about to leave before Barry turned to her. "Hey, where are you going? We could use your help."
"Uh, yeah, I would. It's just I have a date with Scott." Iris said.
"That's the editor?" Barry asked.
"Yeah, yeah." Iris nodded.
Patty looked at Iris, worried. "Iris, if you need to talk—"
"Look…" Iris sighed. "Does it freak me out that Zoom looks like Eddie. I'll admit, it does. But I keep telling myself that it's not him. Just a monster wearing his face. Just like how Thawne stole Wells's face. I appreciate your concern but I'm fine, really."
Iris walked off as Barry turned to Patty. "What do you think I should do?"
"Frankly, I'm not comfortable with the thought of you facing Zoom again, even though you may be even faster than him this time." Patty said. "I get that you don't want to leave another Earth at his mercy and even though you may have a chance at beating him this time… at what cost?"
"I can't just walk away from this, Patty. Can you?" Barry asked and Patty was silent.
"Look, even if I was onboard with you facing off Zoom, we still need a way to open a breach so that we get to Zoom or the other way around. And how exactly are you going to pull that off?" Patty pointed out.
"I have an idea." Barry said.
"Tell me everything that you know about Cisco's doppelganger." Barry asked Harry, who was in the workshop, tinkering with the tachyon enhancer.
"Reverb." Harry said.
"What were Reverb's powers on your Earth?" Barry asked.
"He could tap into the multi-dimensional energies between Earths. He could see through dimensions. Find breachers, like Ramon." Harry explained.
"I mean, we... we saw Reverb do more than that though, right? I mean, we saw him shoot vibrational bursts out of his hands. Really painful ones." Barry remembered.
"What do you mean?" Caitlin asked, not understanding.
"I... I mean, Reverb had the ability to somehow manipulate that multi-dimensional energy." Barry said.
"What are you trying to say, Barry? You think that Cisco, our Cisco, might be able to do the same thing?" Patty asked.
Barry nodded. "If his powers are linked to the energy that ties together the multiverse, if he can manipulate it..."
"…then he can open a breach to any Earth he wants." Caitlin finished, catching up to his thoughts.
Barry nodded, turning to Cisco. "Exactly. And if Reverb could do it..."
"…I could do it too." Cisco said, looking a little disturbed, though.
"Cisco, I think that the way back to Earth-2 is you." Barry said as Cisco suddenly looked very uncomfortable.
In the Speed Cannon room, Cisco raised his hand, trying to open the breach but nothing happened. "I got nothing."
"Try again, OK?" Barry asked.
"Barry, what if he can't do it because he thinks he can't do it?" Caitlin pointed out.
"He can do it though. You can do it." Barry assured. Cisco again raised his hand but nothing happened as he sighed before Barry neared him. "You... it's gonna work, OK. Maybe we're just not in the right place."
"Or maybe I'm just not the right man for the job. Right?" Cisco snapped before sighing. "Let's go."
"Cisco." Barry pleaded as Cisco left.
"I'm sorry, Barry." Caitlin said as she followed Cisco.
"I think we need to find another way. We've tried your way, there's nothing we can do anymore." Patty said, leaving as well.
"It's gonna work." Barry sighed.
Later, Central City
Barry and Cisco were in a half-constructed hospital wing as they found residual dimensional energy in the wing. "This area has the highest levels of residual trans-dimensional energy. Should be able to open the breach that used to be here. It's right here. This is it."
"For real? In this Patch Adams nightmare right here?" Cisco said dryly.
"Yeah." Barry nodded.
"Love it." Cisco said sarcastically.
"All right. Look, dude, if this doesn't work, I'll stop asking you to do this, all right?" Barry said, holding Cisco's shoulders.
"OK." Cisco nodded, reaching out with his hand but nothing happened as he sighed.
"What?" Barry asked.
"I can't do it." Cisco said.
"That's right. You can't." Harry said upon entering.
Barry and Cisco looked at him, confused. "What are you doing here? You said—"
"I know what I said. But you're not gonna stop, are you?" Harry gave them a pointed look.
"No." Barry said.
"OK, Barry Allen, then I'm gonna do what I can to make sure you don't get killed." Harry said, handing him some hi-tech goggles. "I recalibrated these to the electromagnetic frequency of this Earth. It should help you access enough of the trans-dimensional energy to manipulate it."
"Just like Reverb. All I'm missing is the guyliner and the transformation's complete." Cisco said dryly.
"Take them out for a spin." Harry handed Cisco the goggles as he put them on.
Cisco reached out and clenched his fist before his hand glowed and opened a breach as Barry smiled. "It's working."
Earth-2
Zoom was in his lair and smirked as he saw the breach open. "Reverb's doppelganger's powers have increased. Come on, open the breach. Let me into your world."
The breach closed as he sighed in disappointed.
Earth-1
Cisco pulled away, freaked out as he put down the goggles.
"Hey, what... what happened? You were doing it." Barry said.
"No, no, no, no. I… I can't do this." Cisco protested, handing Barry the goggles.
"What?"
"Don't." Cisco stepped back, frightened and shaking his head. "Please, don't ask me to do this. Please."
Cisco ran off.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
Cisco was in his workshop, clearly freaked out as Barry neared him. "Hey, man. Look, um... I know what it's like... Zoom, getting in your head, how scary that can be."
"It's not Zoom." Cisco sighed before turning to Barry. "It's me."
"What do you mean it's you?" Barry asked, confused.
Cisco turned to him. "It's like right now I'm Anakin Skywalker. I got the midichlorians. 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..." He looked worried. "…what if this is how I become Vader?"
"Dude, you're never going to become Vader." Barry assured.
"You don't know that. That is what happened to Reverb. He learned how to use his abilities, and when he felt that…" Cisco tapped his chest. "…when he felt that power, he succumbed... to the dark side."
"Look, I get it. I... I really do. Every time I've learned a new ability, I've been terrified about what it might mean for me. What it could do to me, you know?" Barry said.
"But you were there with me when I learned how to run on water, when I ran up a building, or traveled through time. Just like I'm gonna be there every step of the way with you." Barry assured. "You got something that Reverb never had, and that's Caitlin and Joe and Iris and Wells and Patty and me. Friends who are gonna look out for you. And we're more than just friends. We're your family. So what do you say? Ready to put those things on again, and go another round?"
"Let's do it." Cisco said after a moment.
"All right." Barry said.
Harry was ready with Cisco to retrofit Barry's suit as Barry, Iris, Caitlin and Patty talked. "Ready to take down Zoom?" Patty asked.
"Yeah, I just wish Jay was here to help me out." Barry said.
"Or if he had a doppelganger that could help us out." Iris noted.
Caitlin sighed. "I couldn't find one. There is no Jay Garrick on this Earth, his doppelganger's name is Hunter Zolomon."
Harry turned to her in alarm. "Hunter Zolomon? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, why?" Caitlin asked.
Harry opened his watch and typed away. "Because on my Earth, Hunter Zolomon was a disgruntled scientist of S.T.A.R. Labs that I had fired."
On the screen appeared a photo of a man with long hair and a beard and face that they recognized and his cold stare was very familiar.
"Is that…" Patty trailed off.
"…Eobard Thawne. But he needs a haircut and a shave." Barry noted.
"That is Hunter Zolomon. A former employee of mine. On Earth-2, he was one of the scientists leading the project of building the particle accelerator. Brilliant scientist who was an expert in many areas, engineer, surgeon, chemist, biologist and so on, one of my top employees but he was unstable. He came to me with suggestions about harnessing dark matter and use it for… interesting exploits. He also studied interdimensional energies, trying to find a way for humans to harness them." Harry said.
"Like metahumans." Cisco realized and Harry nodded.
"We had a disagreement, I had him fired. His wife Ashley Zolomon left him not long after that. When my people were going to escort him out of the premises of S.T.A.R. Labs, he killed six people, four guards and two fellow scientists in a fit of rage before the accelerator exploded. I hoped that he had died during the explosion. I was wrong. All I did, was create an unstoppable monster." Harry said.
Few years ago, S.T.A.R. Labs, Central City, Earth-2
Hunter Zolomon was about to be escorted by the guards outside before an explosion of energy surged through the labs, knocking them all on the ground. When Hunter got up, he saw his hands vibrating.
Present, S.T.A.R. Labs, Central City, Earth-1
"If this is Zoom, then why does he look like Eddie?" Iris questioned, pointing to Hunter's photo, who had the face of bearded Eobard Thawne.
"You said that he was surgeon too." Barry said, turning to Harry.
"Wait. The Singularity, when Eddie killed himself to stop Thawne from killing you." Patty remembered.
"Eddie's body got sucked into the black hole, and it opened on Earth-2 when Jay and Zoom were fighting." Iris realized.
"He must have altered his face to look like Eddie, just like how Thawne stole Earth-1 Wells's face and killed him." Barry realized as he seethed.
"That sick bastard." Iris growled, her blood boiling.
"We're gonna stop him. Zoom doesn't know we know who he is. I think I have an idea." Barry smirked.
To get a better imagination of the photo, imagine Captain Harrison Love, one of the main villains of The Mask of Zorro film, played by Matt Letscher too. I used to love that film, when I was younger and it took me years until I found out that Thawne and Captain Love are one and the same person, I didn't recognize him because of the long hair and beard missing, in case you're wondering why wouldn't Harry recognize Thawne in the part, where the Reverse-Flash returned.
Frankly, the twist with Jay being Hunter Zolomon was stupid in hindsight, if Earth-2ers had taken a closer look at his face and the photo, remove the beard and shorten his hair, they could recognize him, plus, like I've said, too much of a rip-off of Season 1 with Wells turning out to be Thawne, Barry's mentor turning out to be the main villain of the season.
This felt like a fitting place to stop. I'm guessing you guys were not expecting this, huh? Hope you liked this twist and Zoom's backstory. All I did confirm was that Zoom wears Eddie's face. I never mentioned that it was Earth-2 Eddie Thawne or anything like that, what Zoom did is basically plastic surgery of his face, like what Tommy Elliot, also known as the Hush does in comic books. And considering the doppelganger stuff, Zoom wearing Eobard's face felt fitting and his backstory is inspired by the comic book versions of Eobard Thawne and Hunter Zolomon.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.