41

Megalomania

Savitar frowned as he looked at the inner mechanisms of his suit. Too much work to do, too little time. But he digressed. It wasn't the mechanisms of his suit that were bothering him anyway. Not even the fact that he had to work on what would happen if his suit were to break. He really needed to fix the points of the suit that rocketed across the clearing when he tried to summon it back to himself wasn't going to help anyone. Not unless the Flash was standing directly behind him managed to get caught in the crossfire.

There wasn't much more he had to do to improve his suit anyway. First to go was the way the suit was made. No more heat-resistant leather for him. It didn't breathe, his suit stank, and there was only so many times he had to continually patch his suit whenever it got damaged. Savitar was lucky when he engineered the metal he created his suit from. Too much static build up was too dangerous.

Too many times he had magnetized random pieces of metal that shot across the room and nearly impaled him to the wall. Too many times he launched what may have been shrapnel around him because he couldn't control it. Until he could. And Savitar only increased his suit from there. Retractable blades. A way to handle the immense amount of charge he generated while running.

He reinforced the suit to be extremely resilient and enormously durable. Bullets bounced off him. Shots of energy with any elemental medium hardly permeated his suit. And, of course, there was the mechanized parts, and other material that gave him strength. Even more strength than Barry could ever imagine. How easy it was to demolish their fight against him when he first encountered them.

Just to see how they fought back against him. Just to see where their power levels were at. Even with those new speedsters, there wasn't a way for them to break through his suit. No way to give him any sort of damage. His suit couldn't be burned. Couldn't be frozen. Couldn't be phased through and couldn't be breached. He watched the team long enough to know everything that would be used against him.

And, of course, he needed to add to his suit in a way they wouldn't see coming. His suit being able to move and attack on its own, when he needed it. Voice modifiers that kept anyone from recognizing his voice. So stupid, so primitive that Barry would continue to just 'Flash his voice' as the rest of his team called it. When it was still so obvious the voice he had wouldn't change no matter how many decibels it was distorted by.

A perfect suit for a perfect specimen.

Savitar smiled to himself, twirling his wrench in hand. The scarred side of his face barely moved, green eye shadowed over. A small price to pay, nearly being blinded in that eye. Just so that he was able to do everything he needed. And yet, there was a part of him that wasn't going to be completely satisfied, no matter what he did to enhance his suit.

A grunt of frustration escaped Savitar's lips. He gritted his teeth, clenching his grasp around the wrench. He stopped spinning it around, resisted the urge to hurtle it against the wall in front of him. He just couldn't figure it out. Why hadn't Barry taken the bait? Why didn't Barry go running after him?

How could Barry not go running after him?

They were basically the same person. If anyone would understand what Barry was thinking, it was Savitar. As if to prove his point, Savitar closed his eyes, focused on his mind's eye, focused on what Barry was doing. Same old, same old. Now, the only difference being that Barry was back at work. What a waste of time.

Savitar opened his eyes and pursed his lips, going right back to work. He needed to be invincible. If Barry wanted to squander away his potential, that was fine. It just gave Savitar the upper hand when they were to face each other again.

"What are you doing?" Killer Frost strutted over to Savitar, her head tilted to the side as her blue eyes roved over Savitar's suit. She reached out a hand to run her fingers over it, stopping only when Savitar transferred the wrench to his other hand and poised it above her hand.

"Don't touch," Savitar drawled. "I'll break your hand before you can even think about it." Killer Frost brought her hand back to her side. Savitar waited a beat then went back to fixing his suit. "I'm working on my suit."

Killer Frost's eyes shifted from Savitar to the suit. She nodded. "Pretty badass," she remarked, appreciatively. "Very God like."

"Well…" Savitar couldn't stop the smile that came to his face. Credit where credit was due. If he was going to do something right, it would be everything he put into his suit. If he was going to crush Barry into a paste, a red smear across the grounds of Central City, then he needed to have everything at his disposal. "Dress for the job you want."

Killer Frost hummed to herself. She walked in a large circle around Savitar and his suit. She folded her arms, tilted her head to the side as her hips swayed with each step. Savitar looked at her out the corner of his eye, not stopping his movements. Yet, he kept an eye on her every move. He sucked in an annoyed sigh and let it back out, all through his nose.

"Is there something I can help you with?" He asked.

"Mm?" Killer Frost lifted her eyebrows.

Savitar's eyes narrowed. "Don't make me ask you again," he growled.

Killer Frost nodded, understanding the not so subtle threat in Savitar's words. She stopped and stood next to him. So close he could feel the temperature next to him immediately drop. As she spoke her next words, released a sliver of vapor from her blue lips. "We're a team, right?" She asked. "Barry and Caitlin at it again?"

Savitar's eyes narrowed. He tilted his head back, regarding Killer Frost carefully. His eyes roved over her body, not admiring, searching. Finally, Savitar stepped back. One step. Two steps. Three. Four. Enough so that he was able to see all of her and not just her face. Savitar pointed at her with a menacing finger. "You're not Caitlin." He curled his finger toward himself. "And I'm not Barry."

Killer Frost twisted her mouth to the side. She folded her arms, jutted out her hip, watching Savitar as closely as he watched her. "You sure you're going to go through with this?"

Savitar's lower teeth covered his top teeth. A Bulldog ready to attack whatever came too close. And Killer Frost was coming scarily close to having her head beat in with the wrench in his hand. "What?" He spat, though his voice was entirely emotionless. A word he managed to say with much vehemence but continue to stay flat.

Killer Frost shrugged, slightly moving her shoulders up. "Killing Iris." She said it so calmly. So finally. "You're going to take her to infantino street and ram a metal spear through her back."

Savitar's lips pulled back into a smile. He tilted his head to the side, allowing his fringe to fall from his face. Something crossed Killer Frost's features then. Something that made her turn her head to the side and squeeze her eyes shut. Almost as if a wall of icy water had been thrown into her face. Savitar's smirk widened. "It's either her or me," he remarked. "If she doesn't die, I'm never born."

"You know Breathtaker can change that," Killer Frost pointed out. Her eyes were still closed, shoulders twitching ever so slightly. "Can make it so that you're completely unstoppable."

"I'm already unstoppable. I'm a God!"

"Right." Killer Frost took in a deep breath. She then let it out and faced Savitar once more. Her eyes, suddenly, didn't shine as brightly as they had before. "But…behind that pretty little face of yours,"—Savitar chuckled—"You know everything Barry does and has done. Your mind-meld—"

"—I never mind-melded with him," Savitar interrupted. "It's a primitive tactic."

"You're saying all the times that you had your hand around Barry's neck you weren't able to get anything from him?"

"I didn't say that," Savitar interrupted. He tossed the wrench aside, the loud clattering sound it emanated made Killer Frost jump. Savitar continued to stare at her. "I just said I never had to mind-meld. It's not needed when you're already a time remnant," he commented. "But…it's an interesting thought. Who's to say what would happen if a time remnant mind-melded with the original?"

Killer Frost tilted her head to the side. "So, you've never thought about it?"

"Of course I've thought about it," Savitar sneered. "I just never needed to put the practice in motion." He ran his fingers down the side of his scarred face. "I've already got a big enough reminder of my time with him. With Zoom…" He shook his head.

"But you remember everything Barry does," Killer Frost continued. Whether or not she noticed the frustration in Savitar's stature, she didn't react to it. She was getting to be too courageous, Saitar realized. He didn't like it. "So, you remember growing up with Iris. Falling in love with her…falling out of love with her…falling in love with Ca—"

"'Shut up!" Savitar snapped. The first crack in his armor. His lips trembled with the effort of his cry. A second passed and he was able to regain his composure. Casting a dismissive glance at Killer Frost. Almost as if he'd forgotten about her completely.

"You sure you're ready to end her life?" Killer Frost asked.

Savitar tilted his head. He slowly lowered himself into a squat, focused his attention on the legs of his suit. He needed to make sure they moved right, so that he was able to keep from short circuiting as he ran. Too much lactic acid within the body…to much lactic acid within a suit…There were only a few things he was able to keep from happening. Sooner or later, biology won out.

Savitar sighed. "What I remember…is being created as a disposable life. Something to be…thrown away, when Barry Allen,"—he practically vomited, at the mention of Barry's name. "Was done with me. He didn't care about me. Why should I care about his life?" His eyes narrowed once more. "You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

Killer Frost shook her head. As she did so, Savitar could swear some of it was starting to turn brown. Every time her hair shifted, it was like an Ombre was forming from the different shades within her hair. Then she winced, bringing a hand up to her forehead. Her eyes flashed. Blue. Brown. Blue. Brown.

Savitar watched with a hint of curiosity and barely concealed disgust. "Good," he said. "Because you know what you need to do. And when the time comes, I expect you to be ready."

"I…I know…" Killer Frost continued to rub her forehead. "Breathtaker…"

"Believe me," Savitar murmured. "Breathtaker isn't anyone you should take too seriously. You shouldn't take anyone too seriously. Except me. No one can make things happen. So he can pass powers around…so he can make people stronger…he's not a God."

"He's going to let you do what you want," Killer Frost reminded Savitar. She brought her hands down from her forehead. "All we have to do is help him."

"And we have been. We want the same thing."

"Really?"

"Really." Savitar tilted his head to the side. "What's wrong with you?"

"She's trying to break out again."

"So, let her. I'm starting to get bored. You ask too many questions. At least she's quiet." Savitar started to stand, then fell back to his ass as something flashed across his mind. He sucked in a sharp, painful breath between his teeth. "Gah!" Savitar grasped his forehead, sure it was going to explode out into his hands. Then, the pain subsided.

He blinked his eyes open, blinking back the tears that formed from the pain.

"What is it?" Killer Frost asked. Her chest heaved, working hard to catch her breath after the pain that moved through her.

Savitar chuckled. "Let's just say…Barry's a little bit dumber than I thought a future CSI Director should be." He picked up his wrench and started to tinker on his suit once more.

If anyone were to look at him, they would've thought he was positively happy.

Barry watched as Wally's lightning circled the Speed Lab repeatedly. Without turning his head, he continued to track Wally's movements. Knew what it was Wally was seeing. Knew how the world seemed to warp away the faster he went. How everything blurred until it stopped, until he forced himself to move in a slower speed so he could react to anything coming his way. It was the mistake he consistently made, relying too much on his speed.

And it was the same mistake Wally was making…as he threw himself into the wooden wall once more. Barry winced at the sickening thud of Wally's body crashing into the wall. He slammed his eyes shut and turned away, not wanting to see what may have happened to Wally's face. Barry'd broken his nose running straight into walls multiple times before and he still wasn't quite sure his nose was as straight as it was supposed to be.

Finally, Barry looked over, seeing Wally roll back and forth across the ground, groaning quietly. Barry ran a hand over his face, sucking in a deep breath. That has got to hurt! They were going to be doing a lot of work if they were going to get Wally up to speed, literally, if he was going to be fast enough to help take down Savitar.

"Oh, that hurt," Wally gasped. He pushed off his hood, rubbed at the growing knot on his forehead. Despite how quickly he could heal, that painful reminder was going to last longer than any of his visible injuries. The embarrassment and mortification would last a long time. Just like Barry caring so much about the time he basked in the citizen's glory for him that he ran face first into a street light. "That hurt like hell."

"Well, it should," HR said frankly. He stood aside Barry, noisily slurping from his coffee mug. He swallowed loudly and pointed at HR with the tip of his drumstick. "You just ran into a wooden wall." He, again, slurped noisily, ignoring the glare Wally sent him.

"Not just any wooden wall," Cisco pointed out from, standing on the other side of the Speed Lab before his tracking equipment. "That wall is made of the strongest stuff on the planet."

"That's great, Cisco," Wally breathed.

Barry shook his head. "Well, it doesn't matter," he remarked. Wally took HR's outstretched hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. He turned, waiting for Barry's words. Barry sucked in a deep breath and stood up, brushing off the seat of his pants. "If it's wood or steel or stone, if you're moving fast enough, you can phase through anything."

"Even molten lava. If you, you know, end up in a volcano." HR nodded to Barry. "And, that stuff has got to be hard. Let me tell you, I've seen Candace throw out a doozy of a fire wall before but that…that really took the cake. It certainly made great use of our sprinkler system. And Cisco's handwork with a suit." He grinned proudly, finishing his mini spiel.

Barry, Wally, and Cisco looked at him for a long moment, silence stretching between them. HR, however, didn't notice as he continued to smile at his memories. Finally, Barry tore his eyes away when Wally spoke up.

"Okayyy." Wally continued to rub his forehead before pleading to Barry. "But I…I still don't get it. How do you do this?"

"Okay, just watch." Barry got up from the steps he'd perched on, watching Wally, and strode to the wall that was set up. He held up his hand, thumb tucked in to rest against his palm. Palm facing the wall. "When you vibrate, the natural frequency of air, your body, your cells, will be in an excited state,"—he ignored HR's giggling at his choice of words—"to allow you to phase."

Wally nodded. Then he frowned. "Yeah, it's not…it's not really helping. What exactly do I do?"

Barry's face twitched in visible frustration. They'd been at it for days now. How much longer was it going to take for Wally to get it? I can't make this any simpler, Barry thought. "Connect with the body. Right, connect with the air. Be pure electricity. You have to feel everything that's around you."

Wally blinked blankly at him. "So, go fast and feel things. Right. No worries."

Barry sighed, slapping his hands over his face.

Cisco tilted his head back to look at the ceiling.

HR, on the other hand, cheered loudly as Wally's lightning trail whipped him from the floor of the Speed Lab. "You can do this, Wallace!"

"You can do this," Wally repeated…seconds before slamming into the wall once more. Once again, he found himself lying on the floor, groaning quietly.

Barry, however, felt no sympathy for him. He stood over Wally, arms folded, tilting his head back to the entrance of the Speed Lab. "Alright, again." And again, he watched Wally shoot himself into the wall. Barry blinked once. "This isn't working."

"This isn't working," HR agreed.

"You've been training him. What works?"

"Vocal encouragement." Which led HR into another hollering session to encourage Wally to run as fast as he could. And right back into the wall, over again. Barry was starting to really hate the sound of Wally's body smashing into the wooden wall. He was sure Joe was going to be on his ass when he saw how bloodied and bruised Wally would be when he turned up for dinner.

"I don't know why you ask him," Cisco murmured, successfully retrieving Barry's attention.

Barry huffed, tightening his arms over his chest. He grasped his elbows. "What did Wells do with me?" He asked. "How did he get me to phase so quickly?" He remembered hearing Well's voice in his ears. Remembered running fast enough to take off the bomb that had been wrapped around him.

"His plan was more methodically constructive," Cisco admitted. "He had a bit more time to work it out by, give or take, fifteen years!"

Barry's eyes fell shut. Fifteen years. Fifteen years where the man who was supposed to be his mentor was nothing short of an imposter. Who wanted nothing more than to kill him. That very same motivation thrusting him into a life he wouldn't have known without it. "We don't have fifteen years…" Barry murmured. "We,"—he paused, feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the ID on the screen. "I have a crime scene to get to."

"Must be fun to have your job back," Cisco called. "Instead of spending every day running through the city, stopping bad guys, staking out metas, sleeping on my couch…" He grinned, chomping on an end of a long Twizzler, eyebrows rapidly raising and lowering.

Barry gave him a look, pointing directly at his best friend. "I'll get you that," he said before taking off to the crime scene he'd been called to. Barry slid through the front doors of the bar, nodding towards the police officers that milled around, speaking to witnesses and the owner of the bar.

Joe and Julian stood aside, a body under a tarp nearby. Joe grinned as Barry approached, his bag of CSI supplies hanging off his shoulder. "How does it feel?" Joe asked. He grasped Barry's shoulder, squeezing it tightly. "To be back at work?"

"Better than ever," Barry said honestly. He really did miss his job. It was much better than sitting around, wondering when a meta or a criminal was going to stir up some trouble. Especially when he worked so hard and fast to take them down that there were many days where criminal activity stopped by noon. What else could he do as The Flash then? He worked hard to clean up as many destroyed sites as he could, but he needed to let people keep their jobs. "I really missed it."

"Well, let's hope you feel the same way after you see this," Joe said, directing him to the tarp on the ground.

Curiously, Barry walked over to Julian, who stood with a mask over his face. Barry took a few more steps before immediately coming to a stop. Had he run face first into a wall and hit so hard he didn't realize it? The permeating smell of decay and death sucker punched him in the face. Heaving, Barry turned away, bringing a hand up to cover his mouth, doing his best not to breathe in.

Julian, who knelt by the body, the source of the smell, lifted his eyes to Barry. "I should've warned you, mate," he apologized. "But this is a pretty ghastly body."

"I'll take your word for it," Barry gasped. He covered his mouth with his arm and watched as Julian carefully pulled back the tarp to reveal a shriveled, brownish-green body lying on the floor. Its mouth dropped open in a silent scream.

"That's the body?" Joe asked. His eyebrows shot upwards, looking over the body himself. His darkened skin turned green and he took a step backwards, removing the page cap from his head to cover his mouth. "He died less than eight hours ago."

Julian's eyes widened. "Eight hours?"

"He was a chef here. The owner said he was working last night." Joe's cheeks ballooned. He turned away and swallowed hard, breathing heavily through his nose.

Barry, recovering from his own wave of nausea, suddenly wondered how Cadence would've reacted if she were still working as a medical examiner. Considering all the gut churning stories she'd casually told him and Brady over dinner—with Brady continuously demanding more and more disgusting stories—of her times working residency in the doctor's office and hospitals, she would've been able to handle the crime scene like a champ. And laugh at his reactions every few seconds.

Barry glanced around the bar. There were enough officers around, his co-workers, that he knew he was being watched for a report back to Captain Singh. To ensure he was doing a good job on his first day back. Barry forced himself to hold his breath, examining the body himself. He knelt by the body's side and looked over it.

His accelerated perception kicked in, just as it had when he was first tracking down the Mardon brothers. This time around, he couldn't quite figure out what it was that had happened. Nothing mathematical or scientific related. It had to be a meta. But which one? "That's a lot of damage in a short amount of time," he murmured.

"A meta?" Joe asked.

"Possibly," Julian said slowly. His gaze shifted to Barry, holding it for a long moment, then dropped back to the body. He removed the gloves from his hand with a loud snap, tossing them aside. "Although certain chemicals can cause a similar reaction."

"Yeah, any acid with a pH below 2," Barry agreed.

"Precisely."

Barry's eyebrows furrowed together. Any other time, Julian would've done everything eh could to make sure he knew how stupid Barry's ideas were. Then again, there was also a time where Julian wanted nothing more than for Barry to be completely gone from his life. He practically jumped for joy when Barry had no choice but to quit his job, and then to offer it back?

Julian tilted his head back and forth. "We could be looking at an aggressive variant of a necrotized facititis." He noticed Joe's confused expression. "A flesh-eating disease."

"In a restaurant?" Joe blinked rapidly. His eyes darted around the bar, as if he could little microbes squirming and sliming around every surface. Joe stepped back, keeping another officer from running into him. "I'm never eating out again."

"So an autopsy might help us find out what really did this," Barry suggested. He was already thinking about how to get the body to STAR Labs and have Cadence looked it over when she got the chance. There were many things Caitlin could do with a living body, but dead ones certainly weren't her forte. And, honestly, he was itching to see Cisco's reaction to it.

'I agree," Julian said.

Barry did a double-take. He agreed? Julian Albert actually agreed with him? Firstm he kicked him out from his job while blackmailing him about Caitlin, then Julian got his job back. And now this? Is the sun going to blow up next? Barry thought. It'd be just his luck. He looked to Joe, who raised a skeptical eyebrow as well.

Joe had been excited to hear Barry had his job back, when Barry got the chance to tell him during their breakfast with Cecile. And that had only been after Cecile left. Joe had been so nervous during the breakfast that he could hardly sit still, stammering whenever Iris peppered him with questions.

How long had you two been going out?

Why didn't you say anything?

What was your first impression of him?

What was your first impression of her?

Even Wally got in on the questions. What are your intentions with my dad?

That was the one that threw Joe over the edge, chocking on his mimosa while Cecile gently patted him on the back. Even Barry got one in that made Joe blush harder than a tomato and threaten bodily harm to the speedster. Are you guys, like, an official thing?

And Cecile looked at Joe expectantly as he tried to stammer out an answer. Finally, the conversation topic changed, and Barry made his announcement. Joe crushed him in a hug so tight that it made all Barry's pre-first day jitters melt away. Now they were back and bigger than ever.

"Unfortunately, the county denied my request for a 3d medical image scanner," Julian continued. "It'd make short work of the process." He stood up, bringing his bag up over his shoulder. An ambulance arrived, backing up to the doors of the bar so that the body could be transported. "But, as they say, it's not work if it isn't hard work, yeah?" He looked Barry in the eye. "Do you think you're ready to be back in this, Allen? I wouldn't blame you if you backed out now."

Julian's eyes flashed.

Barry's eyes narrowed. "I think I can handle it," he replied.

"Too right." Julian tilted his head towards the doors. "Let's get back to the lab. I want to get these specimens dealt with sooner rather than later."

Barry tilted his head, watching Julian leave the bar. He addressed Joe. "I'm getting a feeling of déjà vu," he remarked. "Remember, Eddie?"

"Like when you thought he was going to beat you up?" Joe asked, cracking a smile.

"Yeah, that."

"I don't think Julian's going to beat you up. Let alone could. He doesn't look very strong."

"You don't think I look strong either, and I'm the Flash."

"Yeah, but you've got the speed on your side."

"True."

Joe laughed and clapped Barry on the shoulder. "Have a good first day, Bare. I'll see you later."

"Later, Joe." Barry flashed him the peace sign before leaving the bar. He looked around, taking a few steps to the side. Started to run. Started to feel the speed force enter his body, ready to rocket him to the lab where he could get a head start on the initial resting. Ready to tell the others at STAR Labs what was going on.

He started off at a jog, pumped his legs to—"

"Going somewhere in a hurry, Allen?" Julian's voice made Barry stop on a dime, almost falling over. He casually stood on the street corner.

How had Barry not noticed him before? Always be aware of your surroundings, Barry reminded himself. Oliver told you that! That reminded him, he needed to catch up with Oliver before he left Central City. There were a few things he needed to figure out. Like how he knew to be there to help out with the Gorillas. "Julian. I, uh—I was about to head back to the lab."

"So was I," Julian agreed. "I was waiting for you."

"You were?"

"It's your first day back. I reckoned it'd be best if I checked to see how you were doing." Barry regarded him suspiciously. Since when does he care how I'm doing? "You know, after being away from the force for so long." The two fell in step with each other, heading in the direction of the CCPD.

"Things are going fine, I guess," Barry said quietly. "It's my first big case back. I'm not too surprised it's meta related. But I never expected to see something like that."

"Yes, I guess it's not quite your speed," Julian remarked.

Barry's nose wrinkled. What was that supposed to mean? He looked at Julian out the corner of his eye. Julian continued to keep his face forward, not reacting to Barry's reaction. "Anything that moves too slowly seems to bore you. Even Captain Singh couldn't help but notice the decline in speed of the result reports while you've been gone."

A days' worth of work finished in an hour, giving Barry more time to come up with excuses to run from the CCPD whenever a meta made an appearance. "Right…" Barry said slowly. "Well, I work hard when I can."

"Which his hardly at all."

Okay. That was it. Barry stopped walking, prompting Julian to stop and face him as well. "Okay, man, what's the deal?" Barry asked.

Julian blinked innocently. "I don't think I know what you mean, mate."

"I mean, you got me my job back." Julian nodded. "You got me my job back after blackmailing me to quit it because of…" Barry lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. "Because of Caitlin. Why, all of a sudden, would you want me to take my job back?"

For a long moment, Julian didn't respond. Instead, he smiled a scarily serene smile at Barry. The sounds of Central City's busy streets stretched between them before Julian finally spoke again. "I never liked you, Allen," he remarked.

Barry rolled his eyes. "Yeah." Tell me something I don't know.

He got just that. "And I hope you know that no matter what you do, nothing is ever going to change that. Especially because I didn't think I could hate you as much as I hate metas. And here, to find out, that you are a meta."

Barry's blood ran cold. Froze. Rooted him to the ground. His heart stopped beating. He died and came back to life. All because of Julian's last four words. You are a meta. Barry did his best to laugh it off, but it came out strangled. Wheezy. "What?" He asked. "That's…that…that's ridiculous. I'm not a meta."

"And I'm not stupid," Julian continued. His voice turned flinty, expression still pleasant. "I know everything about you Barry Allen. I know what you're hiding. I know more than you'd want me to know."

"Julian…" Barry swallowed hard. "I don't think you know what you're talking about. I'm not a metahuman. I can't be a metahuman."

"There's a lot of things, in my eyes, you can't be. But there's nothing you can say that will change my mind." All of a sudden, Julian let out a yelp, his head twisting hard to the side. Then, his face went blank. He turned back to Barry with a sinister gaze. Much more sinister than it had been seconds before. "Hello Barry," he said, voice distorted. Once again, Barry's blood ran cold. "It's been a while."

Barry knew whose voice it was, the second Julian started to speak. He should've been used to it, finding out there was someone who was close to him that was actively trying to hurt him. Harrison…Eobard. Jay…Zoom. Julian… "Alchemy?'

Julian's held tilted back, looking down his nose at Barry, despite being shorter than him. "You're not on your knees," he growled. "It's a smart move to bow before a deity."

Barry shook his head. "You're not God," he murmured.

"I'm not, but Savitar is. To be a God you just have to make people believe you are." Julian stepped closer to Barry, his eyes starting to glow a bright blue. A sinister blue. "You should, Barry. I hold the power of life and death over you and all those close to you. I know you, Caitlin, Cisco, Joe, Wally, the fake Wells, Cadence, Brady. I know your fears, I know your weaknesses, I know you better than you know yourselves."

"How?" Barry demanded. He could feel his blood start to boil. He was tired of this. Tired of not knowing who he could and couldn't trust. Now he knew how Cadence felt with Breathtaker and the rest of the Assassination Bureau. The cold and horrifying realization that, no matter what he did, there was a higher power held over him. One that seemed to watch every move, breath, and step he took. "How do you know so much about us?"

Julian smirked, ready for the question. "I know your destinies," he rasped. "I know your futures. And what a future it will be. One shall betray you. One shall fall. One shall suffer a fate far worse than death. This is the knowledge I have for you. About your everlasting damnation."

Barry stepped forward. He got into Julian's face. "Who are you?" His eyes searched Julian's, looking for any sign of familiarity. This time, however, instead of that pinched, smug look Julian could only master, Barry saw nothing but pure evil. "How do you know so much about all of us?"

"I am the Future Flash."

"What do you want."

Julian reached out his arm and grasped Barry's neck. He lifted him off his feet and slammed his back into the wall behind him. Barry gasped in pain, feeling the bricks of the store behind him rub against his back. "Everything. Everything you took from me, I want it back. And I'm going to take it back. Then, I will. Destroy. You."

Barry swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbed painfully. It pressed flat, almost choking him as he tried to breathe. "Then why haven't you already? If you're so powerful, then why don't you just kill us all now and be done with it?" The realization struck him within seconds of asking the question. "Because you can't."

His taunting words did the trick. Julian tightened his grasp along Barry's neck. He gasped, sucking hard, trying to get a few mouthfuls of precious air into his lungs. He could feel the edges of his vision tunnel in.

"You did this to me," Julian rasped. "You trapped me in this eternity! Your future self, you did this to me, Barry. And now my freedom is at hand. You will feel my wrath!"

Barry chuckled, entertained by Julian's rage. Some God. "You're just a man," he continued to taunt. "A man like me."

Julian's lips pulled back into a snarl. "I'm nothing like you, Barry. You're cruel, you're selfish. From my perspective, you're the big bad." Barry desperately grasped at his neck now. Everything was starting to turn black. He thought back to his training with Wally. Phase. Come on, Phase! He tried to focus, couldn't tap into the Speed Force. Needed to breathe.

"Only one of us can live. You thought Thawne and Zoom were your biggest foes but, it's me. It's always been me. You took everything from me! I never asked for any of this. I am only this way because of you. Your team! I'm closer to my freedom than I've ever been. Every step, every move you make only brings me nearer to it. I only need one thing. And despite your feeble efforts to change the future, you can't. Because I am the Future Flash, Barry. You've had to suffer worse than anyone. You've endured pain your whole life. Your mother…your father…"

"Zoom and Thawne tried to break me," Barry gasped. "They couldn't do it. I'm stronger now."

Julian smiled, showing all his teeth. "Trust me…you'll never get over this."

A bright flash of light was the last thing Barry saw before everything went black.

A/N: Guys, you have no idea how excited I'm getting now! We're getting to the final wind down parts of the story and I'm so excited for you all to see what's going to happen; how Brady's plot with the Top and Mirror Master merges with Barry's and Cadence's as well as how it affects him, the reveal of Savitar (I bet you didn't expect Barry to find out this soon, ;) ) as well as some other stuff.

Again, I apologize for the chapter not being uploaded yesterday, but I got very into some stuff for the next story which, story title reveal coming soon! Can anyone guess what it'll be? (Honestly, with what I've done so far it won't be hard, and no, Storm isn't it, but it's still reserved for a story title within this series).

Cheers,

-Riley

Review Replies

Ethan: Your alarm bells are right…for all of it.

DarkHelm145: I hope things are clearer this time around. And I had to push back the Oliver explanation one chapter.

Noblecrescent: Glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Yummers: That we know of, yes, she has two ways to die.