The Crimson Speedster

by choejhulkp9

Barry Allen AKA the Flash wasn't the only one who was affected by the particle accelerator. He and Star Labs find another speedster who has similar powers to Barry, yet he's a bit different. Watch as the Scarlet Speedster joins the Crimson Speedster possibly join forces and protect Central City. Naruto x Linda x ?

11. Things will never be the same

Rest in peace Chadwick Boseman. You've left behind a great legacy and the world feels your loss. May you rest in peace and Bast look over you. Wakanda Forever!

Here is Chapter 11 of the Crimson Speedster. Barry, Caitlin, Cisco, and Joe's odd behavior come to a head as Naruto and Linda finally learn a terrible secret that has consequences. Consequences that not only affect how the team will move going forward but the trust between Naruto and Barry. Secrets have weight and that weight will rupture the team dynamic. Will they be able to come back together to face a bigger threat? If they do, things won't be the same. Enjoy!

Things will never be the same/Season 1 Finale

My name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and I'm one of the fastest men alive. After I got my powers, I dedicated my life to keeping the people of my city safe to the best of my ability and while I'm not in the suit I work at STAR labs to help the planet and make a better tomorrow. My life got more complicated after I learned about the work my parents did for a group called the Nine and their deaths was not an accident. I've taken down one of the Nine but in doing so I've strayed from my path. Now, it's up to me to rebuild myself into someone else…something else…I am Impulse.

Late April 2015

Naruto was at his new penthouse condominium, moving in all his stuff and Linda's, getting new furniture, and decorating it. While that would normally take several days for people without powers but for one person who is a speedster, it was completed within a day. It was only getting all the furniture that actually took up any significant amount of time.

Brand new couches, recliners, a kitchen table set, some nice paintings and some picture frames filled with photos of Naruto, Linda, and their friends and family. The master bedroom had a large bed, TV and two closets for their clothes and an adjoining bathroom as well. They remodeled the second room into a guest bedroom and the third one was turned into a joint office/home gym where Naruto and Linda could work from home. Of course, Naruto being the tech billionaire, the place was filled with all the latest technology they needed. Naruto even set up a little alcove for Kurama complete with a nice and comfortable bed and a large play tower for him to run around and exercise.

Naruto had taken the day off to finish some last-minute adjustments to the apartment. Luckily, Dr. Wells would take care of everything while he was busy. If anyone had walked into the apartment they would have seen a blur racing around the entire place until it slid to a stop in the living room where it quickly set up a giant home entertainment system before it cleaned and stocked the kitchen before finally stopping by dining room where Naruto stood. He had a belt on with a bunch of hardware tools and cleaning supplies. Along with cleaning up the place and finishing all the moving and setting up, he also installed a state-of-the-art security and anti-surveillance system to keep him and Linda safe along with making sure no watchful eyes could disturb or spy on them.

He also got word back from Oliver and the others. Everything was going according to plan and Oliver was inducted into the League. Talia was closing ranks and preparing her legion while Diggle and Felicity were keeping watch over the city. They told Roy what was going on and he was looking after Thea. They'd tell her and Laurel what was going on when it was time for the next part of the plan.

Naruto took a drink of water as Kurama walked over and sat himself next to him. "So, what do you think of our new home buddy?" Kurama gave out a happy yip causing him to smile. "Yeah, I like it too. And the great thing about having super speed is how quickly we finished setting this place up. I told Linda I could do it before she got back from work. Now, I can make dinner. Come on, buddy."

Kurama followed Naruto into the kitchen to watch him prepare dinner. Naruto really got into cooking and had the kitchen renovated to fit that hobby. Linda wasn't complaining since all the meals he has made for her have been amazing. A few hours later, Linda walked into her new condo and was instantly greeted with an amazing smell from the kitchen where she saw Naruto and Kurama. He was getting something out of the oven while Kurama was patiently sitting on the kitchen counter.

"Hey, you got home just in time for dinner." He told her, setting the table for dinner while moving some food into Kurama's bowl.

"Wow, it smells good in here." Linda walked over and kissed him. "Now, what did you make?"

"Osso Buco with a saffron-scented risotto and roasted zucchini. Something a little different." Naruto said as he placed the two plates of food on the table.

"Are you sure that's enough food for you? With your metabolism that must be like eating a cracker." Linda pointed out.

"I may have had one of the speedster energy bars and a lot of cup ramen to tide me over, but this will be a nice way to end the meal."

"Ah, I get it." She replied, taking her jacket off, and putting her bag on the kitchen counter as she looked around at the nicely decorated and furnished apartment. "Nicely done in setting up the place and glad to see you followed my advice."

"Of course, and everything is completely set up along with the security system. Kind of a nice way to spend a day." Naruto replied. "I did call Caitlin and Cisco and asked if they wanted to help but they said they were busy. Have you noticed they've been a little weird lately?"

"Weird how?" Linda wondered.

"I don't know but there's something going on with them. Barry too." Naruto told her.

"What do you think it is?" She asked as they sat down for dinner.

"I don't know but I'm gonna find out." He said as the two enjoyed dinner together.

Unbeknownst to them, the rest of Team Flash were having their own secret meeting about Naruto himself and Dr. Wells. After taking out Brie Larvan and talking it over with Joe, he and Barry told Cisco and Caitlin about their investigation into Harrison Wells and their belief that he was the Reverse-Flash. Caitlin thought that was ridiculous, but Cisco was a little more open to the idea considering that he's been having weird dreams lately. Dreams of him being killed by Dr. Wells who revealed himself to be a speedster. That alone made Caitlin more pliable to the whole idea but when she mentioned why Naruto wasn't involved, that's when Barry and Joe told them that Naruto didn't need to know yet. Suffice to say that she wasn't happy about that.

Barry, Joe, Eddie, Cisco, and Caitlin had met up at Joe's house to talk about their next step in their investigation into Dr. Wells. Caitlin still wasn't happy to be there but decided to stay just to see what they knew and then she would make her decision after that. Joe got beers for Eddie and Cisco while Barry went to get food and soon arrived in a whoosh with boxes of pizza.

"Pizza time!" Barry shouted as he placed the boxes down on the table.

"From Coast City?" Eddie asked.

"Supposedly the best in the west." Barry mentioned.

"Oh, why did I not think of this before. Come to papa." Cisco said as he, Eddie, and Barry dug into the pizza.

Joe noticed Caitlin wasn't moving from her seat on the stairs. "Caitlin?"

"I'm not hungry." She told him as Joe cleared his throat to address the others.

"Ok. Six months of investigating Harrison Wells has led us nowhere, so we're going back to the beginning to see what we can find out."

"What does that mean?" Eddie asked.

"Road trip, baby." Cisco said, clinking his beer to Joe's.

"Joe and Cisco are going to go to Starling City." Barry explained.

"Starling City? What for?" Caitlin wondered.

"To investigate the car accident that Dr. Wells was in with Tess Morgan 15 years ago." Joe told her.

"I-I don't understand. Why?"

"Dr. McGee said that after Well's accident, he became like a complete stranger. Just a different person entirely." Barry told her.

"Because the love of his life died?" Caitlin answered. "Barry, you of all people should understand how grief can change a person."

"Caitlin, we believe that Dr. Wells is the Reverse-Flash and killed Barry's mother, and he may have done the same thing to Tess Morgan. We have to learn everything we can about that night. See where it leads us." Joe told her.

"Oh, by the way can you cover for me with Dr. Wells and Naruto?" Cisco asked.

"You mean lie?"

"Yeah…" Cisco replied.

"I don't understand, Naruto told me he told you everything that happened that night from his parents who knew Dr. Wells back then." Caitlin said. "And why isn't he here now with us? He knows Dr. Wells better than any of us. His parents worked with him for years, even before Cisco and I started at STAR labs. If anything strange happened than Naruto would know."

"Naruto's too close to this. You're right that he's known Dr. Wells the longest which means that he won't be able to see clearly on this. And after what Barry learned there's another possibility we have to consider." Joe told her.

"What did you learn?" Caitlin asked as Barry cleared his throat.

"Dr. McGee told me that despite what happened between the two of them, Naruto's parents were the only people from his old life that stayed with him after the accident. She said that he valued their relationship more than anything else and helped mentor Naruto from a young age."

"Yeah, we know that. Naruto and Dr. Wells have told us this before many times."

"Right, but knowing what we know now, we have to consider the possibility that…" Barry found it difficult to put it into words as this was a serious turning point for the team.

"Possibility of what?" Caitlin asked.

"A possibility that Naruto's parents…even Naruto is working with him." Joe finished and Caitlin was downright offended at that idea.

"You've got to be joking. Barry, how can you even consider something like that?" Caitlin asked, completely shocked that he had so little faith in Naruto. "You remember the countless times he's worked alongside you and us to keep the city safe?"

"I know, Caitlin, I know but the facts add up. Dr. Wells is the Reverse-Flash and out of all of us, Naruto and he share a bond that none of us can even come close to replicate. Dr. Wells is practically family to him, and Naruto looks up to him more than anything. Not to mention all the time the two spent together working and Naruto's drastic change the last couple of months." Barry told her.

"You mean overcoming the truth about his parents' death and their metahuman research that created nine super deadly metahuman criminals who control the worlds crime?" Caitlin asked rhetorically. "Barry, Naruto's entire world was turned upside down after learning a horrible truth. You can't exactly blame him for changing and trying to build himself back up."

"But it's how he's built himself back up. More and more he's becoming more like Dr. Wells and the two have never been closer." Barry told her.

"Caitlin, I know you don't like it. Naruto's helped everyone in this room, but we have to accept the possibility that he could be working for Dr. Wells." Joe told her.

"I need some air." Caitlin grabbed her jacket and left.

"Whoa—hey, Caitlin!" Barry's plea did nothing and she walked out the door.

"Doesn't look like Caitlin's with us." Joe commented.

"No, she's with us. I'll talk to her." Barry told him.

"What do you want us to do here?" Eddie asked.

"Business as usual while we're gone." Joe told him.

"Copy that." Eddie replied, taking a box of pizza while Cisco grabbed his jacket. Suffice to say that the meeting was over.

"Well, I want to wish you good luck over there, but I'm also scared of what you might find." Barry told Joe.

"Scared is a good thing. Scared keeps us alive." Joe told him.

"Joe…what if we're wrong and Naruto's not working with him? What then?" Barry asked.

"I'm honestly hoping that's the case and Dr. Wells has been hiding this from Naruto for years. I like the kid, I do, and he's done a lot to help you…but my gut tells me he won't like that we've been keeping this a secret from him." Joe told him.

Line Break xxxxx

The next morning, Naruto woke up early to get in his morning workout. A super sped run from Central City to Los Angeles then through the Grand Canyon before heading back to the condo loft where he finished his workout in his office. Push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and some sparring against a training dummy until he was nice and sweaty. Then he took a shower and got dressed in his regular clothes but added a sport's jacket to make him look more business-like. He made his way into the kitchen to see Linda dressed up and making breakfast.

She grabbed the coffee jug and poured it into two cups before grabbing a pack of bacon from the fridge. Eggs were already being cooked in a frying pan but rather than put the bacon in a pan and get grease everywhere, she put it on a plate with a paper towel and then fried it with a small light blast from her hand. The blast lasted only a second but, in the end, it fried up the bacon nice and crispy. She put the bacon onto plates before grabbing some wheat toast and doing the same thing. She plated the toast with the bacon and put the eggs on the plates when Naruto hugged her from behind and kissed her cheek.

"I knew I smelled the bacon." He joked, giving her another kiss and reached for a piece only to get his hand swatted with a spatula. "Ow."

"No touching just yet." She took the plates and put them on the table where they could eat. "How was your workout?"

"Good. Just becoming part of my regular routine and it's nice to do it without worrying about waking up anyone." Naruto said as he grabbed his water bottle from the fridge. "It's nice to see you're getting a better handle on your powers."

"You were right. Just enough practicing and it's like riding a bike. And better yet, I'm able to use them without burning my clothes or needing sunglasses." Linda said with a smile.

"Well, Dr. Wells and I figured that would eventually happen. Your body developed to the point where it adapted to withstand your powers." Naruto explained.

"Not only that but the general enhanced healing we have is amazing. I haven't had cramps with my period since my powers fully manifested and I am not complaining." Linda told him causing him to chuckle.

"Powers can work wonders." Naruto said as the two sat down to eat. "So, have anything big today?"

"Not really. Just finishing some stories. What about you?" Linda asked, sipping her coffee.

"Some more logistical stuff and patent filing. The only downside of being a scientist and co-owner of a large research and science center is all the paperwork you have to do for any new inventions, ideas, and breakthroughs. Honestly, it's getting to be annoying." Naruto said and she chuckled.

"Yeah for a regular person but to you that has to take you all of ten seconds."

"True…but it's ten seconds I'm never getting back." Naruto joked.

"But I have to imagine all the money you make and changing the world is a nice conciliation prize." She said and he conceded his pointed as the two ate their breakfast in peace.

He went to Jitters to pick up some coffee for the others before arriving at STAR labs. As he walked in, Barry had already arrived and went to the cortex to talk to Caitlin.

"Good morning." He greeted but she kept busy at her computer.

"Hey."

"Hey, look, uh…can we talk about last night?" Barry asked.

"There's nothing to talk about." Caitlin stood up from her chair and walked over to get some files from the medical lab.

"Yeah, there is actually. Caitlin, look I know after everything Dr. Wells and Naruto have done for all of us, it's hard to wrap your head around this but I need you to see the truth."

"The truth?" Caitlin asked. "The truth is that Dr. Wells has saved your life multiple times. So has Naruto and he has not only been there for you against the Reverse-Flash during Christmas, may I remind you, but he has been doing everything he can within this building to actually make a difference."

"Look, I know but if I'm right about this…" "If, Barry, if. And before I can believe any of this, I'm gonna need to see some proof." Caitlin told him.

"Proof of what?" They heard and saw Naruto walk into the cortex with a tray of coffees.

"W-we may have another metahuman case on our hands." Barry told him.

"Oh, well I was wondering when another would show up, but I'm open to the challenge." Naruto replied. "I'll fill in Dr. Wells when he arrives. By the way, is Cisco here? I have his usual."

"Uh, he has to help Dante, his brother. He might need a few days off." Caitlin answered.

"Oh, did he fill out the PTO request form?" Naruto asked as he handed Caitlin her coffee. Barry and Caitlin stammered with a response only for Naruto to look at them funny. "I was kidding."

"Oh, ha. Right. Funny." Barry muttered when his cellphone vibrated. "Eddie."

"Hey, I got a call about a guy selling some of the jewelry stolen from the bank last night. Could be the teller's partner. I think he's made me. I could use the Flash's help."

"Be right there." Barry grabbed his suit and super sped out of the building.

"Looks like our day is starting off with a bang." Naruto commented as he sat down at the computers. Dr. Wells soon arrived when Barry returned and filled them in on their new metahuman, a shapeshifter.

"A shapeshifter?" Caitlin asked.

"Yeah, I literally saw a grown man, like, morph into a teenage girl." Barry told her.

"That's fascinating. Today's physicists have always regarded programmable matter as nothing more than a theory, but I guess your shapeshifter proves it can be done." Dr. Wells said.

"Wait, so he, or she, or it—whatever. This person can actually transform into anyone they touch?" Barry asked.

"That would be the prevailing theory." Naruto said, showing them a computer simulation of programmable matter shifting. "Which is going to be its own headache to find this shifter, but we also need to be careful with how we catch him too."

"Naruto is right. If you or he are touched while you guys are suited up and he transforms into either one of you then we run the risk of him exposing who you guys are underneath the masks." Caitlin added.

"Because at this point, we don't know if this shapeshifter is capable of absorbing more than just physical characteristics." Dr. Wells postulated.

"Like he might be able to copy our speed?" Barry suggested.

"That would be bad." Dr. Wells told him.

"Got it. Hands off the metahuman." Barry said.

"But we have other options." Naruto walked over to the lab and took out an Icer pistol from a drawer and loaded it with a full clip of dendrotoxin bullets. "We can't touch him, but something tells me that these will still knock him out. Then we can slap a power dampening cuff on him, and he's done."

"Ok, but how do we find someone who can transform into anyone?" Caitlin wondered.

"Well, I guess like any problem you just go back to the beginning. In this case, that would mean finding the first person the shapeshifter morphed into when they discovered their powers." Dr. Wells theorized.

"Yeah, can you pull up the CCPD records of the cases where the perpetrator plead innocent even though they were caught on camera committing the crime?" Barry asked.

"Already on it." Naruto did some hacking and found a lot of reports. "Whoa, check this out. Multiple crimes just like the one with the diamonds dating back to about a month after the Particle Accelerator explosion."

"And the first one was?"

Naruto did some checking and brought up the file. "Jacob Fisher. A teller at the Federal Credit Union. He claims he's innocent and was framed by his best friend, a Hannibal Bates. Well there's a red flag right away. You never trust anyone with the name Hannibal."

"I'll pass this along to the CCPD, see if they can track him down." Barry said. "Thank you, Dr. Wells."

"Always here to help, Barry." Dr. Wells replied.

Barry put on his jacket and walked away when Naruto stopped. "Wait, Barry." He tossed him the Icer. "Just in case."

"Thanks." Barry put the Icer in his jacket and left, leaving Caitlin with Dr. Wells and Naruto. And knowing what she did, it was torture.

They didn't hear back from Barry for hours, guess the CCPD weren't able to get anything or they were busy with other stuff. Naruto and Dr. Wells spent that time working on other projects and patent filing as usual. Their Oxohydrine bacteria cleaned up Gardener lake and pretty much the entire city including the sewers and was now being used in research labs and treatment centers in over twenty states with more signing up by the week. The ARC reactor was purring like a kitten and no issues whatsoever with the city. Gaara got back word and the Manhattan branch facility was being cleaned and remodeled to Naruto's exact specifications. It would take a while but once the facility was ready Gaara had some new hires lined up. He was still in Los Angeles working on the Los Angeles Facility and then he'd scope out the competition with Kankuro and Temari.

Naruto heard back from Lucius and their partnership was making the Wayne Enterprises board of directors incredibly happy. And he was busy with the upgrade hard drive he gave Bruce. Lucius was working on some new gadgets and enhancements that Naruto designed. All in all, things were pretty good in Gotham. Their stocks had gone up along with their profits as their processing and distribution of Starium alone made them the fulcrum for the tech industry in the Western Hemisphere with the Eastern Hemisphere clamoring for a bit. Suffice to say that the STAR labs/Wayne Enterprises partnership made the rest of the business world very nervous and Naruto and STAR labs a lot of money.

If they were nervous now, Naruto's list of projects would make them cry in terror. He and Dr. Wells were working on technology, gadgets, and scientific marvels for the new century. Next-generation battery technology, STAR labs smart watches, Virtual and augmented reality glasses to go along with his holographic projection tables, artificial oil-substitutes that create clean gasoline and fuels, designs for next-generation planes and cars, and after the shapeshifter news he got to work on blueprints for programmable nanotech. But his biggest breakthrough was his neuromorphic matrix prototype. Essentially, he was trying to create his version of a Siri or Alexa but a thousand times better and more advance. He was using his own brain scans, makeup, and chemistry as a basis for an advanced computer system. It wasn't artificial intelligence, more copied human intelligence. But still it was just the barebones of a prototype.

Naruto took a coffee break to Jitters for himself and the others and walked into the Cortex to see Caitlin sitting at the computer but looked like she was deep in thought. She was gazing at the wall when she saw a coffee cup in her view. "Coffee break?" Naruto asked with a smile as Caitlin smiled and took the cup.

"Thanks." She replied, taking a sip as Naruto sat down next to her with a bag. "Bear claw?"

"Yup. Got the last one." Naruto told her as she opened the bag and took a bite.

"Thanks, I guess I needed that." She told him, putting the pastry down and getting back to work.

"Oh, yeah that was obvious. I imagine keeping secrets must be difficult." Naruto replied as he nonchalantly sipped his coffee while Caitlin went wide-eyed.

"Secrets, what secrets?" She played it off as best she could, but she wasn't the best at lying.

"Oh please, Caitlin. You're a terrible liar. You crinkle your nose when you lie which is cute but also a dead giveaway. Probably why you stunk at all our poker nights." Naruto told her. "So, what's Cisco really doing?"

"Uh, what?"

"Your lie before was about Cisco spending time with his brother. What's he really doing now?" Naruto wondered when he saw how off-guard Caitlin was and how she stammered to answer. She also looked conflicted and he instantly went to the worst-case scenario in his head. "Oh my god, did someone die?"

"What?"

"Did Cisco have to go to a funeral? Oh my god if that's the case he could have just told me. I'm a very understanding boss." Naruto told her, feeling horrible about this.

"No, no, no. Naruto, no one died." Caitlin assured him. "All of Cisco's relatives are fine. Don't worry."

"Oh, oh thank god. Whew." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief before taking a sip of coffee. "Ok, I'm good. Sorry about that little freak out."

"No problem." Caitlin chuckled a bit causing Naruto to smile.

"I haven't seen that smile in a while." Naruto commented. "Seriously, Caitlin is there something we need to talk about?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, getting up to get something from the med lab.

"I don't know, you tell me. You and Cisco have been acting really weird the past couple of days. And I mean a new kind of weird, not our new normal kind of weird." Naruto told her.

"No, we haven't." She replied but he saw her nose crinkle.

"Ah, I saw it crinkle. You're lying." He pointed to her nose as she quickly turned and covered her face. "Seriously, Caitlin. What's going on? Is it Ronnie? Or your mother?"

"No, Ronnie is fine, and my mother is still my mother." She told him.

"Then what's going on? I'm starting to get a little concerned here." He told her. "You know you can trust me with anything, right? I mean, I think of you like a sister so if something bad happened then I want you to know you can come to me for help with anything. Anything at all."

"I know, Naruto, I know." Caitlin assured him and gave him a hug which he was more than happy to receive. "Ok, I promise to tell you everything when I can. Just give me a little time."

Naruto gave her his patented smile and nod. "Of course. When you're ready to talk, I'm ready to listen. My door's always open. Not literally as my new condo's security system wouldn't let that happen but you know what I mean."

"I do." Caitlin smiled at Naruto and she knew in her heart that he couldn't be working for the Reverse-Flash. "So, why don't you tell me about this new condo of yours? I mean, moving in with Linda is a big step."

"It was but we're both ready for it." Naruto replied as the two talked for a few hours while working.

Later that night when Dr. Wells and Naruto had gone home, Caitlin was still wrestling with the information she had learned over the last couple of days. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt in her mind that Naruto wasn't working with the Reverse-Flash. She was sure of that, but Barry's other idea that Dr. Wells could be the very man who killed his mother was something she needed to sort out, so she went to Dr. Wells house to talk to him herself. She rang the doorbell and waited for him to answer when all of a sudden, she was grabbed and whisked away.

When she stopped, she found herself in the middle of an empty road with Barry in front of her. "What—are you spying on me now?"

"Caitlin, what were you doing at Well's house?"

"I was gonna talk to him and get some answers of my own." Caitlin told him.

"You can't! You cannot talk to him." Barry urged her.

"Oh, so I'm just supposed to stand by and watch all of you ruin his life? Ruin my life?"

"What are you talking about your life?" Barry asked.

"Those nine months that you were in a coma were the worst of my life. I lost my reputation, my fiancé, and through all of that, Harrison Wells stood by my side. He told me everything was going to be okay. If Dr. Wells is who you say he is, everything I've done since the minute I stepped foot in STAR labs has been a lie." Caitlin told him so Barry could see for his own eyes that even though this secret impacted him, it affected everyone else just as much.

"Caitlin. If I am right about all of this, and you tell him what's been going on, I'll never be able to get my dad out of prison." He begged her. "If not for me, just do it for him."

"I can't believe you're pulling the dad card. That's a dirty pool, Barry." She told him.

"Just until Joe and Cisco get back. Please." Barry begged and she agreed. He dropped her off at home when Eddie called with a tip on Hannibal Bates. While he thought she would have just gone to bed, she actually left to go to talk to someone else.

She made her way to one of Central City's most expensive residential towers and had to check in with the security guard at the front desk who called the occupant before she could take the private elevator up. She steadied herself in the elevator as it made its way up to the top floor until it stopped with a ding and the doors opened to show a nicely decorated and furnished condo. She walked in and heard some footsteps as Linda walked over, dressed in some sweatpants and a loose-fitting T-shirt. Clearly, she was relaxing.

"Hey, Caitlin." Linda walked over and the two hugged. "Welcome to our new place."

"Wow, this looks even better than Naruto described it. Is he here?"

"Yeah, he's just in the bathroom." Linda said just as Naruto walked down the stairs.

"Hey, Caitlin. What brought you over here at this hour? Is everything ok?" He asked but she nodded no. He could tell by her face that whatever was bothering her was important and a heavy subject.

"No, Naruto. There's something you need to know." Caitlin told him in a serious yet conflicted tone. Clearly whatever news she had to tell him was difficult. "Something that Barry and Joe have been keeping from you and you're not going to like what it's about."

Line Break xxxxx

The next day was eventful to say the least. Apparently, Eddie and Barry went to Hannibal Bates mother's house where he had shifted himself into her form to hideout. Eddie chased him but Bates managed to copy his form and used it and Eddie's gun to shoot two cops. That along with the dashboard video of the shooting didn't help Eddie's case as he was being arrested despite the pleas of Captain Singh and Barry. That meant Barry was spending every single spare moment to try and prove Eddie's innocence.

Naruto was sitting at his desk in his personal office, thinking over some things in his head. He had a lot to think about and honestly wasn't in the mood to work. He managed to drag himself out of his office and make his way to the cortex when he overhead a conversation going on between Iris, Caitlin, and Barry. He would have barged right in when he noticed that Barry was holding a gun behind his back in his left hand.

Naruto put on his best smile and walked in. "Hey guys. Hey, Iris. I wasn't expecting to see you here today. Anything I can help you with?" He asked, walking over to a drawer to get some things.

"Yeah, actually. I think I could use STAR labs help to prove Eddie didn't kill those cops. I think it might be someone with abilities like the Flash. Someone who can change himself to look like someone else. I mean, I checked the CCPN archives and there have been over 11 instances in the past year where a person was convicted of a crime but plead innocent despite there being video evidence. I think the same thing is happening to Eddie." Iris told him as Barry subtly readied his gun. "Do you think STAR labs can help prove his innocence?"

"Shouldn't be that hard. Barry can help me. He's been helping me a lot lately on projects. After all, he did manage to help me figure out my holographic workstations. This shouldn't be too hard. Right Barry?"

"Yeah. Of course. Just like that time." Barry replied with a smile.

"Good but before that." Naruto turned around and shot Barry in the head. Iris and Caitlin shrieked as Barry's body hit the ground with a thud and the gun he was holding fell to the ground.

"Oh my god, what did you do?!" Iris shouted.

"Relax, Iris. It was just an Icer." Naruto held up the Icer pistol as he walked over and placed a pair of zip cuffs on Barry's wrists before putting a power dampening bracelet on his left wrist. Once he did that and it activated, Barry's shape morphed until he took the image of a man with plain clothes, but his head was blank. He was bald and his eyes were covered in human tissue so there were no discernable features on his face.

"Oh my god, what happened to him?" Iris asked as Naruto put on some gloves and put the gun into a clean bag for evidence.

"Here's your proof. This is the person responsible for all those crimes including Eddie. I noticed something weird with Barry before I walked in. I saw from the hallway that this Barry had a gun in his left hand. First off, Barry never carries a gun and second, he's right-handed. This is our shapeshifter."

"Oh, I knew it." Caitlin said, drawing odd looks from all of them. "Never mind."

"Then this is him." Iris said and Naruto nodded. "I need to take him in to the police. If they can see what he can do, then maybe they'll let Eddie go."

"All right but we need to be careful. We'll take a STAR labs van. That cuff I put on his wrist should stop him from changing but it's a prototype. I'll be in the back to keep him company in case he wakes up. We can't let him escape." Naruto said, playing oblivious like this was his first time dealing with this stuff. "Caitlin, get the van ready."

"Right." Caitlin grabbed the keys and went to the loading bay while Naruto lifted Hannibal Bates and carried him down. He unceremoniously dumped him in the back of the van and hopped in while Caitlin drove with Iris in the passenger seat.

"There is a reporter at work who kept a file of these sorts of things. You know, all of the unexplained events in the city." Iris said as Caitlin acted interested but was internally worried about this. "This guy…definitely belongs in that file."

"That's gonna be a pretty big file." Caitlin commented.

"Well with the Flash and Impulse running around its fair to say that we should have expected weirder things to show up. But lucky for us, I dabble in the weird." Naruto said.

"So, you knew about these kinds of people? Like the Flash and stuff?" Iris asked as Caitlin looked at Naruto in the rearview mirror. He winked at her and gave her a subtle nod of assurance.

"Well, not at first until more reports of those speedsters began to become normal. Then more reports and stories about other weird things going on in the city made me realize something odd was going on and that there could be people out there with…abilities. It's what Dr. Wells and I have been doing at STAR labs all this time. Besides, trying to save the world, we're trying to play catch up to the growing weirdness. It's partially why we made the Icers and those upgraded vests for the police department. To keep them safe." Naruto told her. This wasn't how he planned on addressing STAR labs stance and promise on metahumans but there wasn't much he could do now. "It's why I'm glad I've got such a great team at STAR labs with a vivid imagination. We're playing catchup in the weirdest game imaginable. I just hope that power dampening cuff works."

"So that glowing bracelet will stop him from…changing into other people?" Iris asked.

"That's the idea. It's still a prototype but after the data I've collected the hope is it should work." Naruto replied.

"Should work?" Iris questioned.

"I'm 85% sure it will work. But if it doesn't, he gets to go night-night again." Naruto help up the Icer.

They arrived at the police station and parked at the front. Iris rushed in to talk to Captain Singh and to see if DA Cecile Horton was in there. Naruto and Caitlin waited in the van until Iris told them to come in.

"Naruto, are you sure about this? Revealing STAR labs and metahumans like this?" Caitlin asked.

"Honestly, I'm not sure Caitlin but we don't have much of a choice with Iris involved. And I'd rather have it in front of us now where we can adjust to it for our benefit then it comes out later and biting us in the ass. At least with this, we're acting instead of reacting." Naruto answered.

"But what about the other metahumans we have in the pipeline?"

"That's a whole new problem. At least they don't know about us or that they're in STAR labs but for them we're gonna need a whole new strategy." Naruto told her when she saw Iris wave to them, so he grabbed Bates and dragged him inside.

Captain Singh was talking to DA Horton about Eddie's case when Iris walked into his office. "Iris, what are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry Captain Singh but I have proof that Eddie didn't shoot those cops."

"Again, with this. Look, Iris I'm terribly sorry about what's happening with your boyfriend, but you have to look at the facts at hand." DA Horton told her.

"No, trust me Ms. Horton. This will prove it." Iris pleaded as they walked out of his office and saw Naruto, Caitlin, and a creepy looking man tied up in the lobby.

"Mr. Namikaze, what's going on here? And who is this?" Captain Singh asked.

"I'm sorry how this looks, Captain Singh but here is your proof that Detective Thawne didn't kill those cops." Naruto said.

"How is this man proof of anything?" DA Horton questioned.

"Allow me to introduce you to Hannibal Bates, the man responsible for the latest series of crimes in the city and of shooting those two cops in the recent case Detective Thawne and Barry were working on. It'd probably be better to show you." Naruto handed the Icer to Caitlin as Naruto cut off the zip cuffs and used his USB key to deactivate and remove the power dampening bracelet. The second the bracelet came off Bates tackled Naruto only to get a knee to the gut, ab elbow to the back and tossed to the ground where the impact caused him to change form until he looked like Naruto. Bates groaned in pain as every cop, clerk, detective, and bystander saw what just happened including Captain Singh and DA Horton. Bates tried to rush a cop in the hopes of assimilating his form, causing a distraction, and running away only for Naruto to grab him by the back and throw him to the ground where he twisted his wrist and put his boot on his head, keeping him on the ground. "Nice try, Everyman but that's not gonna work this time. And FYI if you really were me you wouldn't have lost the fight."

Naruto put the power dampening bracelet back on his wrist and it caused Bates to shed Naruto's form and resume his creepy blank face one. Two cops rushed over to handcuff and secure him. "Make sure that bracelet stays on. It'll prevent anymore shapeshifting shenanigans."

"Take him to an interrogation room and make sure he doesn't escape." Singh ordered as several cops escorted Hannibal Bates away. "Let's talk in my office."

Singh closed the door so he, Naruto, and DA Horton could talk in private but even with the door closed they could tell everyone outside was still shocked by what happened and they weren't alone. "I have to admit this is new territory for me." Cecile said.

"This is new territory for all of us." Captain Singh added.

"I certainly don't think the law is ready to deal with this kind of criminal. Hopefully, we can catch up fast." She said.

"In the meantime, we'll make do with what we have. Ever since the Flash's first appearance, Dr. Wells and I have been looking into the possibility of other…people like them out there. People with abilities that we've dubbed as metahumans." Naruto told them both.

"Metahumans? So, there could be other people out there like this Hannibal Bates?" Cecile asked.

"That's a probable certainty. Ever since then, we've been developing more research at STAR labs to combat metahumans should the need arise. The Icers and the improved body armor were our first attempts at that, and they'll keep Captain Singh's men safe but we're working on the next step currently." Naruto took out his phone and showed them a detailed schematic of the power dampening bracelet he used on Bates. "It's a power dampening bracelet. Our theory was that this bracelet would be able to dampen a metahumans abilities with a low-level amount of non-lethal radiation. Mr. Bates was our first test and it clearly worked. I'm ordering more into production for the CCPD and working out larger scale versions for Iron Heights. STAR labs is ready to help however we can."

"Thank you, Mr. Namikaze. I'll have to speak with the Mayor about this, but something tells me this decision will get a quick turnaround and we'll have caught up with these metahumans." Cecile said. "I'll get Detective Thawne released as soon as possible."

"You should also look into other cases similar to the diamond house theft. If Hannibal Bates has had these powers for a while, something tells me that a lot of other innocent people have been framed for his crimes." Naruto told her.

"I'll get to work on it. It's hard to believe we live in a world where this kind of crazy can actually exist." Cecile commented as she walked to the door.

"Well, lucky for us it's a world where The Flash, Impulse and STAR labs exist as well." Captain Singh said as they walked out of his office. Caitlin handed Bates gun to evidence and with everything that happened, Thawne would be released in an hour. Iris was beyond happy at the outcome and already the cops were talking about the shapeshifting craziness but also praising for STAR labs and everything.

"So, how'd it go?" Caitlin wondered.

"Went pretty well. The cat's out of the bag but it was inevitable. At least this way, it's on our terms." Naruto told her.

"How are you doing?" She asked.

"Honestly, I'm kind of glad I had this as a distraction, but I better tell Dr. Wells about what happened with Bates." Naruto said as Caitlin was a little concerned about what else he would tell her, but he gave her a small smile of assurance. "And that's all, I promise."

"Thank you, Naruto."

"I didn't do it for him. I did it because I believe in you and I want to talk to him first." Naruto told Caitlin.

"Speaking of Barry, I should probably find him." She said as the two left the CCPD.

She went to Barry's house where she found him gagged and tied up in his closet while Naruto returned to STAR labs to tell Dr. Wells about what happened with Hannibal Bates. "So, it would appear our desire to contain the situation has finally eluded us." Dr. Wells commented as the two sat together in the cortex.

"Unfortunately, so Dr. Wells but at least it was on terms I could adjust it to benefit us. We all knew it was only a matter of time before the city wised up to the idea of metahumans. At least with this, we avoided anyone finding out about The Flash or Impulse or our prison full of other metahumans." Naruto pointed out.

"And Captain Singh and the DA didn't dig further into how STAR labs figured everything out?" Dr. Wells asked.

"I told them that we've been doing research on the Flash and other people like him since he started showing up. We're probably not the only scientific research center investigating metahumans, but we are the only one that's currently making groundbreaking research in science. Once I told them that and our power dampening bracelet was a prototype, I don't think they were looking a gift horse in the mouth. I told them we were developing more for the CCPD and larger versions for Iron Heights which is true, but I think we're good for now."

"Well, the situation could have been better but regardless you handled it quite well. Your ability to go with the flow and adapt to the situation will make you a menace in the business world." Dr. Wells said with a smile on his face when he noticed Naruto was deep in thought. "Are you all right, Naruto?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." He told him. "This was just a lot to handle today. I'm kind of beat."

"I understand. I think we can call it an early day. I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto." Dr. Wells bid him goodbye and left the building. While Naruto kept a composed outside demeanor, inside was like a heavy-duty blender set on eviscerate. He wanted nothing than to scream until his lungs gave out or punch something until his hands bled. It was a tossup as to which one would win out in the end.

When Caitlin found Barry, she filled in him on what Bates tried to do and how Naruto saved her and Iris before taking him to the CCPD. Eddie was being released, Bates was in custody and now the whole city and probably the world would know about the existence of metahumans which means it wasn't going to be long before things began to escalate. Caitlin and Barry dropped by the CCPD just in time to see Eddie released and him to run into Iris's arms. Guess they patched things up. After that, they went to STAR labs to talk to Naruto and found him at the cortex working on something.

"Hey, where's Dr. Wells?" Caitlin asked.

"Went home. I told him it's been a long and stressful day, so we called it in early." Naruto told her, still working at the computer.

"Yeah, I can imagine. Thanks for doing everything you could to help Eddie and stop Hannibal while I was out of commission. I know he appreciates it." Barry said as Naruto saved his work before turning off his computer.

"No problem." He cracked his neck, arm and back to relieve himself of some aches before he stood up and faced them. "How about you? Hannibal didn't hurt you too bad, did he?"

"No, just caught me by surprise and knocked me out." Barry told him.

"Good. And I'm happy to help Eddie through what was going on. Any other things we need to discuss?" Naruto asked and got two head shakes. "Ok. Then I can do this."

Naruto then sucker punched Barry across the face so hard he hit the ground like a rag doll. Even though Barry had super speed and could have seen it coming Naruto had super speed as well, so they pretty much canceled each other out. Not to mention he was a little faster than Barry already. Naruto's calm and happy facial expression gave way to one of anger and hatred as Barry groaned in pain. He grabbed his jaw and spit out some blood as he leaned up and got back to his feet.

"What the hell was that for?" Barry asked only to get a knee to the groin and then another sucker punch to the face. This time the punch was hard enough to knock a tooth out. Barry groaned in pain as he held his crouch and spit out a tooth. "Why?"

"You deserve far more than that, you son of a bitch. I should fucking show you what Oliver and Jiraiya taught me and put you in a fucking coma again." Naruto warned him as Caitlin got in his way and kept him back.

"Easy, Naruto. He got the message." She told him, managing to hold him back but barely.

"What is going on?" Barry asked.

"You know what's going on you son of a bitch! How could you think I'd betray you and the Team like that?!" Naruto shouted as Barry looked at Caitlin who looked unapologetic.

"You said not to tell Dr. Wells, you didn't say anything about Naruto. And unlike you, I never lost faith in him." Caitlin told him. "He's not working for the Reverse-Flash."

"Yeah, I could have told you that in person if you had the courage or guts to actually talk to me instead of assuming the worst you bastard." Naruto was ready to beat him up again only for Caitlin to stop him. "And as for the rest of what Caitlin told me, the only reason I haven't gone to Dr. Wells is because she told me to wait and trust her. Barry, you better have a brain tumor or actually be suffering from that Lightning psychosis thing to even think that Dr. Wells could be the Reverse-Flash."

"Look, Naruto I am so sorry about this but if I'm right about Dr. Wells—" "IF, BARRY!" Naruto shouted. "That's the one word that Caitlin said that you think Dr. Wells could be the Reverse-Flash, but you have no solid piece of evidence to even back that up."

"That's what I told him." Caitlin said as Barry gave her a look.

"Do you have a single piece of evidence that can even support your stupid theory?" Naruto asked when Barry's phone rang with a call from Joe.

"Hang on. Yeah, Joe?" Barry listened and based on what Joe told him it was important. "Uh huh. Yeah, we'll be right there."

"What is it?" Caitlin asked as Barry hung up.

"We found something both of you should see." They went to the CCPD and made their way to Barry's lab where Joe and Cisco were waiting for them with a large tarp over a table. What Joe and Cisco weren't expecting to see was Naruto with them.

"Evening assholes." Naruto greeted in a less than cordial tone.

"What's going on?" Joe asked.

"Caitlin told Naruto what's going on." Barry said as he rubbed his jaw. "Suffice to say he's a little upset."

"That's the understatement of the century." Naruto told them.

"Look, Naruto we're sorry but given the situation we felt it was the best course of action. We were worried about the close relationship you have with Dr. Wells and couldn't risk it." Joe told him but Naruto still wasn't happy.

"I don't think that made him feel better." Cisco told him.

"You're damn right." Naruto threatened and he was ready to throw Joe across the room if Caitlin hadn't gotten in the way.

"Naruto, wait. Just wait." She begged and managed to stop him for now. "Barry said you had something we should see."

"Cisco and I went to Starling City, to the road where Dr. Wells had his accident with Tess Mercer years ago and found something." Joe removed the tarp off the table, and they were greeted to the sight of a dirty, decayed skeleton on the table.

"Oh my god." Caitlin covered her mouth in shock.

"Who is that?" Naruto asked as Cisco motioned them over to the computer where they managed to find a DNA match to the dead body, and it was Dr. Harrison Wells. "What the hell?"

"This isn't possible." Caitlin said.

"Guys, I ran the DNA test twice. It's a perfect match." Cisco told her.

"This body is the real Harrison Wells." Joe told them.

"This cannot be happening right now." Naruto said to himself as he let out a sharp exhale and rubbed his forehead and ran his hands through his hair. He mind and heart were like the Titanic and ready to break apart and sink but he had to try and focus as best he could. "Ok…if this is supposed to be Dr. Wells…then who have I known my entire life?"

"Dr. McGee said that after the accident, Wells became a completely different person. It's because he is a different person." Barry said.

"Oh, holy hell." Naruto grabbed the table and felt like his entire world was crumbling away. He honestly wished this whole thing was just a crazy dream, but he had already pinched himself to death and he wasn't waking up. He was trying to stay focused on the present issue, but it wasn't easy.

"Naruto, we are so sorry about everything, but you have to believe us now." Barry begged but could see he was still grappling with the revelation.

"We can have a lengthy discussion about all of that and everything when it feels like my world isn't coming apart." Naruto told him as he sat down in a chair. "Right now, I need some answers."

"We all do but how?" Caitlin asked.

"I've got an idea." Cisco stated. He, Caitlin, Naruto, and Barry returned to STAR labs while Joe left because he got a call from Eddie to meet him at Jitters. The four members of Team Speedster were in the Cortex as Cisco brought up a 3-D model of the STAR labs building. His idea was that if their Dr. Wells imposter was the Reverse-Flash, there might be a clue he's hidden somewhere in the building considering he designed it.

"Anything yet?" Naruto asked.

"No." Cisco replied, still going through the various 3-D reconstructions of the various parts of the building.

"What is all that?" Caitlin asked.

"After the Particle Accelerator exploded, I created a 3-D model of the building to try and pinpoint where everything went wrong." Cisco told her.

"And you never ran this test?" Barry wondered.

"Of course, I did. I just never had any reason to look at any areas outside of the pipeline or the cortex. It's a big building with lots of placed for Wells to hide something." Cisco answered.

"Can we not call him Wells since he's not really Dr. Wells? At the very least it'll help us keep things straight and might keep me from tearing my spikey hair off my scalp." Naruto commented when the scans detected a room built into a hallway that wasn't supposed to be there. "What the?"

"What is that?" Barry asked.

"That is not supposed to be there. Let's go." Naruto led them through STAR labs until they came to the hallway from the scans. Cisco brought along an energy scanner and when they got close to the spot in the hallway where the secret room was supposed to be, he picked up a surge of Tachyon particles.

"I'm picking up more activity around here. More Tachyons right here." Cisco pointed to the wall, but they couldn't see anything wrong. Barry pushed against it, but it felt like a regular wall. Naruto tapped around to see if he could find a loose panel or something with the seam that could reveal a switch or something but nothing. His hand eventually slid to one part of the wall where he pressed on a hidden button and the wall panel opened up to reveal a pitch-black room.

"Whoa." Naruto was not expecting to see that at all, and neither were the others. Barry walked in first followed by Naruto, Cisco, and Caitlin. When Caitlin made it all the way through, the door closed behind them before a light turned on the opposite wall and what they saw shocked them all. The light revealed a high-tech and futuristic display case, ordained with blue lights and advanced technology that none of them had context for but the thing that most shocked them was what was on display. Ordained on a podium like Naruto and Barry's suits was the yellow, red, and black suit of the Reverse-Flash.

"Oh my god." Caitlin had no other words for what she saw. Cisco was in shock as well, but Barry felt both vindication that he was right along with a determined sense of hatred that he was staring at the suit of the man who killed his mom and put his dad in jail. This was the final nail in the coffin for Naruto that Barry was right and that Dr. Wells…or whoever this man really was is their greatest enemy: The Reverse-Flash. The man who he's looked up to like a father-figure his entire life, the man who's mentored him, fostered his love of science and pretty much did everything he could to help him was the person who killed Barry's mother and who knows how many other people. Suffice to say that he was having a bit of a mental breakdown.

Barry looked around the rest of the room but there was nothing except for walls ordained with the weird brail-like pattern and a small podium on the far wall. He heard a weird beep and what he saw blew his mind even more. "Guys."

Caitlin, Cisco, and Naruto walked over to Barry and saw what he was seeing: a holographic newspaper projection with the headline: Flash missing vanishes in crisis, Impulse urges city to keep hope. And right below that were pictures of the Flash and Impulse but they were much older than they were now.

"What the frak?" Cisco blurted out.

"This just got a lot more complicated." Naruto added.

"Flash missing. Vanishes in crisis. Impulse urges city to keep hope." Cisco read the headline out loud.

"After an epic street battle with the Reverse-Flash, our city's very own Scarlet Speedster disappeared in an explosion of light." Barry read, still not believing what he was seeing.

"Following the conclusion of the city's recovery efforts, our city's Crimson Avenger Impulse urges its citizens to remain calm and collected. He has gone on record that he believes the Flash will return so long as the city keeps hope alive and until he does, Impulse has vowed to protect Central City just as he has been doing since he and the Flash first emerged." Naruto finished.

"Guys, take a look at the date." Caitlin told him and they saw it read April 25th, 2024.

"April 25th, 2024." Barry couldn't believe that this was true when he remembered something the Reverse-Flash said when he and Naruto fought him back in December. "Guys, when Naruto and I fought the Reverse-Flash at Christmas he said that we'd be fighting for centuries."

"Like he knew us for years when we only had our powers for a few months." Naruto added. "And considering what we know about one of our abilities, I think we found out how."

"Wait, you can't really think that this is from the future." Caitlin told them.

"Take a look around, Caitlin. This stuff is extremely advanced even for STAR labs and that newspaper doesn't look like a forgery." Naruto pointed out.

"That would mean Dr. Wells…whoever he is, is—" "From the future." Barry finished Cisco sentence.

"I have to say, I'm really digging the brighter red suit and the white on the symbol. That's dope." Cisco commented. "Wait a second. Suppose we now change the color of your suit. Will it be because we got the idea from the picture? That would mean we're living in a causal nexus. This—wow. This is so trippy like Marty and the polaroid trippy."

"You want to see trippy. Check out the name on the byline." Naruto told them.

"Iris West-Allen?" Barry said out loud.

"Mazel tov?" Cisco congratulated.

"Hebrew. Ancient Language of the Jewish people." They heard a woman's voice say out loud as they backed away in fright and the holographic newspaper article disappeared.

"Uh-uh. What the hell was that?" Cisco asked.

"Hello? Who's there?" Naruto asked out loud and a holographic projection of a woman's head appeared on the wall.

"Good evening, Naruto." The woman said in a familiar tone. To say that Naruto, and the others were shocked was an understatement but quite frankly it would likely keep happening. Caitlin, Barry, and Cisco looked at Naruto who looked confused and honestly unsure of what to say.

"Uh…hi there, pale blue hologram lady. Do you know who I am?" Naruto asked.

"Of course. Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze: CEO, operator, and owner of the STAR Labs Corporation. The largest and most influential international scientific research and development company in the world. Labeled as the smartest man on the planet and responsible for humanity's greatest development, milestones, and progress in the 21st century." She told him.

"Spoiler alert." Caitlin commented.

"Also known as Impulse, Central City's Crimson Avenger and protector working alongside his partner. Barry Allen, director of Central City Police, CSI division." She added.

"Director?" Barry asked.

"I guess you get a promotion." Cisco told him.

"Also known as the Flash. Together, the Flash and Impulse have protected Central City and were founding members of the Justice League."

"Justice League?" Naruto repeated before focusing back on the matter at hand. "Who are you?"

"I am Gideon, an interactive artificial consciousness." Gideon introduced herself.

"AI. Sick." Cisco commented.

"Just when things couldn't get any weirder." Naruto added as Barry decided to see if Gideon could give them some answers.

"Gideon, do you know Dr. Wells?" Barry questioned.

"Yes."

Barry looked at Caitlin who urged him on. "Do you know who he really is?"

"I don't understand the question."

"I…I mean, what is he doing here? W-why did he come here?" Barry asked as Gideon appeared in a full human form.

"To kill you." Gideon answered and they were not expecting that answer.

Cisco's phone vibrated and what he saw made him nervous. "Wells is in the building."

"He told me he went home. How the hell do you know he's here?" Naruto asked.

"I put a tracker on his wheelchair. Which if we're wrong about him and he is paralyzed, I'm going to hell for that one." He commented. "He's in the cortex, ask questions fast."

"Why did he kill Nora Allen?" Barry asked.

"Because he was angry."

"About what?"

"That you escaped."

"He's on B-level. He's coming this way." Cisco told them.

"What does he want from me?" Barry asked.

"For you and Naruto to be the Flash and Impulse." She answered, confusing them even more.

"Maybe that's why Wells let the particle accelerator explode, so that you guys could get your powers and be heroes." Caitlin theorized.

"But why? I mean, for what reason?" Barry asked himself.

"We're missing a component in all this." Naruto added.

"Guys, we got to go. He's almost here." Cisco warned them.

"Right." Naruto said when he realized something. "Wait. What if Gideon tells Dr. Wells that we were in here?"

"That would be bad." Caitlin commented.

"If we can get into its operating system, there's a chance we can disable her memory core." Cisco suggested.

"Right, uh Gideon can you show us your operating system please?" Naruto begged.

"Certainly." Gideon replied as part of the wall slid apart to reveal high-tech laser fields and a small piece of hardware that Cisco and Naruto had no idea to mess with. Even with Naruto's super brain, he might as well be drawing a blank.

"Ha-ha, yeah. Nope. That's not gonna happen." Cisco stated.

"Guys, he's in the corridor." Caitlin told them.

"What do we do?" Barry asked as Naruto decided to take a shot on a prayer.

"Uh, Gideon can you please just not tell Dr. Wells that we were in here? Pretty please?" Naruto begged.

"Of course. I will accept any command given to me by you." She told him which excited the others but made Naruto curious.

"Naruto, come on we've got to go." Cisco told him.

"Wait, wait, wait. Why? Why would you accept my commands like that?" Naruto asked.

"Because you created me." Gideon answered, further blowing Naruto's mind. She soon deactivated and closed everything in the room like it was before opening the door so Naruto and Barry could super speed out with Caitlin and Cisco and closing it right behind them.

Dr. Wells soon arrived in the hall and opened the door to the time vault. He entered and activated Gideon. "Good evening, Gideon."

"Good evening, Dr. Wells."

"Is everything all right?"

"Everything is fine."

Line Break xxxxx

The team plus Joe and Eddie met up at Joe's house so they could discuss what they learned. Naruto was sitting on the stair steps as everything he had experienced in the last hour had finally set in and he needed a moment to himself. Suffice to say that when they told Joe what happened, he wasn't happy.

"Really, for four very smart people that was really stupid. What if Wells had caught you in that…that…"

"Time Vault." Cisco told him.

"Thank you." Joe replied.

"Okay, I know we've seen a lot this past year, but time travel?" Eddie thought that was ridiculous.

"I did it. Or I will do it, I mean." Barry told him.

"Excuse me?"

"One of the two speedsters in Barry's house the night his mother died was Barry. I mean, the Flash. He was there. Which means that one day in the future, Barry will travel back in time to that night." Cisco explained but even with the explanation Eddie felt the whole thing was still ridiculous.

"Actually, I wasn't talking about that. I kind of already time traveled. By accident." Barry told everyone.

"What?"

"I was running to try and stop a tsunami from hitting the city—" "When was that?" Caitlin asked.

"A few weeks ago. Right before you started getting those dreams." Barry said to Cisco.

"Oh, you mean the ones where Wells uses his super-speeding hand to shred apart my heart? Those?"

"Yes, right. So, what if they're not dreams?" Barry theorized.

"What else could they be?" Caitlin wondered.

"Memories."

"I'm not following." Joe told him.

"Shocker." Naruto whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.

"All right, what if that day Cisco found out that Wells is the Reverse-Flash and then Wells killed him? But when I ran back a day, I changed the timeline so that event never happened." Barry suggested.

"If it never happened, how can Cisco remember it?" Joe pointed out.

"Because Barry, Linda and I weren't the only ones who were affected by the Particle Accelerator." Naruto said causing everyone to look at him. "The only way Cisco could remember a timeline that has been erased is if he is a metahuman like us and a simple blood test is all it would take to prove it."

"But if I was a metahuman, shouldn't have I started manifesting powers sooner?" Cisco asked and Naruto shook his head.

"Not exactly. From my research, not all powers manifest instantly or else we would have been dealing with a lot more metahumans. Some could need certain triggers like adrenaline or fear while others may just take time. Linda didn't start manifesting powers until months later. But it's the only explanation as to how Cisco could remember an erased timeline." Naruto answered.

"Naruto, are you ok?" Caitlin asked, addressing the elephant in the room.

"I just found out that my mentor, father-figure, and pretty much one of the people I've looked up and trusted my entire life is an evil time-traveling speedster from the future who killed Barry's mother and probably killed a lot of other people." He stated. "I don't plan on being ok for a long time. Right now, I just need something to focus on before I lose it."

"And I have a really bad idea. We have to access Cisco's memories somehow. Somewhere in his subconscious is the key." Barry said.

"The key to what now?" Joe asked for clarification.

"Getting my dad out of prison." Barry answered.

"And how are we going to do that?" Caitlin wondered.

"We're going to get Wells to confess to killing my mom." Barry told them.

"And how do you plan to do that because quite frankly that seems like an idea that pretty much ends with all of us getting killed." Naruto pointed out.

"I don't know yet exactly, but we need to find out what Cisco remembers from the other timeline. Naruto, do you think you can figure something out for that?" Barry wondered as Naruto just took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"We'll meet tomorrow at STAR labs. I might have an idea then." He got up and opened the front door when Joe got up to talk to him.

"Naruto, listen. About before and suspecting you were working with Dr. Wells…I'm sorry—" Joe was cut off as Naruto sucker punched him across the face and sent him onto the floor.

"Joe!" Barry and Eddie rushed over to help him as Joe held his jaw.

"Yeah, I deserved that." He commented.

"Unless anyone wants a sucker punch, leave me alone tonight." Naruto walked out the door and slammed it shut behind him before super speeding to his condo.

When he got home, he walked by Linda and Kurama who were on the couch. She asked him where he was, but his body was on autopilot as he walked into his shared home office and looked at a picture on his desk of him as a kid with Dr. Wells and his parents at his middle school science fair. The smile on their faces and good memories of that night made Naruto sick to his stomach as his shaking hand tightened around the frame until it cracked, and the glass cut his fingers. He threw it against the wall in anger before throwing more pictures of him and Dr. Wells one after another before flipping his desk and smashing his computer, subconsciously drawing on his speed force armor which encased his hands.

Linda and Kurama ran into the room to see Naruto tearing down all his pictures, mementoes, and reminders of Dr. Wells before he punched several holes straight into the wall in rapid succession before dropping to his knees.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The scream was likely heard from blocks away as Naruto just stayed there on his knees. Linda was about to say something when she heard sniffling and when she walked closer, she saw tear drops hit the carpet as Naruto was crying his eyes out. She knelt down to his side and hugged him as he just dropped his head onto her shoulders and continued to cry.

"It's ok…" Linda whispered. Kurama walked over and joined them. Right now, just both of them being there helped.

When Naruto managed to come down from that emotional high, he told Linda everything that happened, and she was just as shocked as he was. She honestly has difficulty believing all of it, but Naruto's reaction wasn't staged and was real. She didn't want to imagine what he must be feeling right now and wasn't quite sure how to help him except for being there for him which is all he needed. Safe to say that he didn't get a solid night's sleep because all he could do was think about everything Wells/the Reverse-Flash has done and why. Gideon said he wanted him and Barry to be speedsters but why? All his training and guidance, helping them stop metahumans and be heroes was for what? I mean, he could have killed them anytime he wanted but didn't and saved their butts on every occasion. Clearly, he needed them alive for something but what. Seeing as how he wasn't going back to sleep, he stayed up to try and figure out what he could be planning by going over everything Wells has done since they got his powers along with working out a way to access Cisco's memories.

The next morning, Cisco and Caitlin arrived at STAR labs at their usual times, both still reeling from what they've learned the past couple of days. More so for Cisco because like Joe and Barry, he lost faith in Naruto both of whom have received beatings curtesy of him, so it was only a matter of time before he got one. And considering that Naruto's the martial arts inclined of the group…it was going to hurt. They walked into the cortex to see Naruto busy at a workbench with a table of empty coffee and espresso cups next to him. He was using some precision tools and a soldering iron to adjust a pair of high-tech glasses/goggles while it was connected to a computer that was running some simulations and judging by how he didn't bother to greet either of them, he didn't notice they were here.

"Maybe another cup of coffee is a bad idea." Cisco whispered to Caitlin who nodded and put the coffee she got him in the trash.

"Hey, Naruto." Caitlin walked up to him, but he kept working.

"Hey." Naruto didn't lift his eyes from his work as he pressed some keys on his computer to adjust the calculations of the program that was running. "Do you need something because I'm kind of busy at the moment?"

"Um, just seeing how you're doing." She said as Cisco kept back, thinking it was smart to not piss him off given his current mood which seemed to be apathetic. "How many cups of coffee did you have?"

"Don't know." Naruto replied, using his soldering iron to weld a circuit chip into place. "I've been busy working."

"I see that. Did you get any sleep last night?" Caitlin wondered.

"I didn't feel like sleeping." Naruto told her. "Besides, I've had a lot on my mind. And are you just going to stand there with your mouth open Cisco or are you going to help?"

"Uh…are you sure you want my help? You seem to be in kind of groove there." Cisco commented as Caitlin ushered him to apologize. "Look, Naruto…I can't even begin to imagine how you must be feeling with everything about Dr. Wells…but I want you know how sorry I am."

"Whatever, Cisco." Naruto replied, keeping busy with the work.

"No, seriously dude. I am beyond sorry; in fact, I don't think sorry is enough to express how bad I feel." He told him. "Caitlin was right to not lose faith in you…something I should have remembered. You've always trusted me, and I didn't honor that. I'm sorry. If you want to take a swing at me or two then go ahead, I deserve it."

Cisco closed his eyes and braced himself for a punch only for one not to come. He opened his eyes and saw Naruto still sitting at his workspace and working on the device. "We've got our hands full at the moment with trying to capture the Reverse-Flash and I'm smart enough to understand that now isn't the right time to throw a childish fit over hurt feelings. But Caitlin can punch you in the ribs." Naruto said and Caitlin did that, landing a solid hit to his left side.

"Ow!" Cisco shouted as he rubbed his side.

"There, I'm good for now. Anyway, Caitlin run a blood test on Cisco and make sure he has the metagene. I don't want this work I'm doing to be for nothing if my hunch is wrong." Naruto told her.

"Right." Caitlin pulled him to the med lab and sat him on a chair. "You are very lucky with Naruto's mood. When he confronted Barry, he punched him twice and kneed him in the groin and don't forget he punched Joe in the face as well."

"I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I can't even begin to describe how bad I feel about everything." Cisco said as Caitlin stuck a needle in his arm rather forcefully, so it hurt more than normal. "Ow!"

"Good." Caitlin drew some blood into a vial before patching him up and putting it in a scanner. "And you guys are going to have to do some serious butt kissing if Naruto is ever going to forgive either of you."

"So, you never lost faith in him?" Cisco asked and Caitlin just gave him a look.

"All you had to do is talk to Naruto and you'd know he wasn't a bad person." Caitlin reminded him, making Cisco feel a little extra guilty. Naruto would literally die for any one of them and how was he paid for his loyalty? Barry and Cisco lost faith in him.

The computer ran a DNA test on Cisco's blood, and it confirmed he was a metahuman which proved Naruto's hypothesis that his visions were a result of his powers but as to what his powers were in their entirety was still up for debate. But they'd figure that out later so for now the focus was on how to use Cisco's powers to focus on what's stuck deep in his subconscious. Naruto's solution to that? A pair of goggles…well, a pair of high-tech ultra-frequency stimulant goggles but you get the point.

Caitlin and Cisco were grouped around Naruto who was putting the finishing touches on the goggles. "So, these things will allow me to see into my dreams?" Cisco wondered.

"Basically. From what you've told me about these visions of yours happening at random spots throughout the day, the chances of us triggering another one voluntarily is low, so we need to use another approach. Which got me thinking on an article Caitlin showed me when we were discussing one of STAR labs possible new medical treatments. It's the same principal as lucid dreaming." Naruto answered.

"I showed Naruto the article as another method for helping deal with post-traumatic stress disorder." Caitlin added.

"Traumatized, stressed? Check and check." Cisco said.

"The theory is that it will allow people to objectively enter their dreams and face their fears. Still working on the talking part." Caitlin said.

"So, I thought that since the brain is more receptive to memory creation and storage during sleep, it's probably the best time to try and access your old, stored memories in your cortex and allow you to view them via lucid dreaming." Naruto finished, putting his soldering iron away. "The principal should work while you're asleep and it will allow you to see what you remember."

"And you're sure this thing isn't gonna, you know, mess with my brain?" Cisco asked.

"Oh, the amount of electricity needed to stimulate lucid dreaming is harmless. Probably." Caitlin told him.

"Who's going to be lucid dreaming?" They heard and saw Dr. Wells enter the cortex, instantly putting them on alert but they played it off as best they could.

"Um…"

"We're just working on a new type of therapy treatment I'm hoping to start." Naruto said, putting on his best regular face and inwardly hiding all his pain and anger he was feeling at the Dr. Wells impersonator. "Despite all the medical treatments we're working on like Cancer research and things like that, psychological and mental health is equally as important so we're trying to work out something to help them.

"And lucid dreaming will allow doctors to help their patients with their problems. Intriguing." Dr. Wells came over to look at the goggles more closely. "Of course, you still need to guide the patient from the outside, right? Direct them to specific aspects of the dream."

"We're still working on a communications interface." Cisco told him.

"When we dream, the middle brain lights up with electrical activity, whereas the higher brain remains dormant. Once we find a way to make both parts of the brain active, then it's just a matter of finding the right frequency that will stimulate the language center." Dr. Wells told them, doing some calculations on the computer.

"That would then allow the dreamer to speak, essentially describing their dreams to the therapist. Brilliant." Naruto commented, wondering why he didn't think of that.

"I would try a frequency of 45 hertz to start." Dr. Wells suggested.

"And I missed that in my research. Thank you, Dr. Wells." Naruto said.

"Not a problem, Naruto. Your brain never ceases to amaze me. Continue your good work and let me know if you need any help." He said as he left and once he was out of view, Naruto's smile dropped immediately.

"How is the man responsible for Barry's mother's murder and who knows what else the same man we've been working with for over a year." Naruto said to himself. Caitlin and Cisco could see that he was having a serious internal conflict with this and they couldn't blame them. Out of all of them, he was the one who knew him the longest and having learned what they did…I doubt there's anything that could be said to make that go away. "Let's just get some answers."

The team met up later that night at Barry's lab since they didn't want to risk Dr. Wells seeing them at STAR labs. They set up some computers to monitor Cisco's vitals and everything while he underwent his memory recovery.

"Ok, so run me through this one more time." Cisco said.

"Yeah, you put the goggles on, fall asleep and start dreaming. Not that hard." Caitlin told him for the tenth time.

"Yeah, except I'm pretty sure I die in this dream. If I go back into it, am I gonna die in real life? I mean, what are we talking about here? Is this Inception or Dreamscape?" Cisco asked so Naruto just took out an Icer and shot him in the chest, causing everyone to jump in shock and for Cisco's body to thud onto the table.

Naruto put the Icer in his pocket and laid Cisco flat on the table before putting the goggles on his face when he noticed the looks he was getting. "What?"

"You shot Cisco?!" Joe said.

"He was jabbering so it was either a punch in the face to knock him out or shoot him with an Icer. I went with the quicker method." Naruto told him, activating the goggles so the lenses began to glow green. "All right, the goggles are emitting a low-level delta wave which is putting him into REM sleep."

Caitlin attached some sensors to monitor his vitals which indicated he was fine, and the monitors showed that he had entered REM sleep. "Ok, we're good to go."

"Cisco." Barry called out his name to see if he could hear him. "Cisco can you hear me? You're dreaming, bud."

While they couldn't see what was going on, Cisco entered his lucid dream which took the appearance of the STAR labs cortex. It was disorientating as he had never experienced something like this, but it was working and mad trippy.

"Whoa…this is mad freaky." Cisco told them. "Wait a minute, Naruto you shot me."

"That I did. Now we're even." Naruto answered. "Now, focus. Cisco, where are you in your dream?"

"Um…in the cortex. I mean, I know I'm just dreaming that I'm in the cortex, but it feels so real."

"Cisco, this is your lucid dream memory so it's everything that you experienced in the past as if you're there again, so it'll feel real but it's just a memory. Don't worry." Caitlin assured him.

"What is dream you doing?" Barry asked.

"Caitlin just left. I asked her to take Wells to Jitters."

"Why—why do you want Wells out of the lab?" Barry wondered.

"I think he might have tampered with my work. I need to check." Cisco told them as he followed his lucid dream memory. "Ok, I'm walking to the trap room now. Oh, I love this shirt. I thought the dryer ate it."

That caused Joe to laugh only for Naruto to roll his eyes. "Focus Cisco."

"Ok, ok." Cisco found himself at the speedster trap he made back in December when they tried to capture the Reverse-Flash during the whole Tachyon incident. "Now I'm running tests on the containment system. This data-it doesn't make any sense. All the supercapacitors—they were all still fully charged. There's absolutely no reason the Reverse-Flash should have escaped. Oh my god. It was just a hologram. He tricked us. Oh god, Wells is here."

"Cisco it's just a dream. He can't hurt you." Caitlin assured him.

"You better be right about that." Cisco told him. "Eobard Thawne."

"Thawne? Like Eddie Thawne?" Joe asked.

"You killed Nora Allen." Cisco repeated.

"Nora? What about my mom?" Barry asked.

"He's confessing." Cisco told them. "He didn't want to kill her. It was you, Barry. He was trying to kill you."

That's when the sensors picked up a spike in Cisco's vitals. "His blood pressure's 200 and his heart rate is 147. Guys, he's losing higher brain function. Cisco, it's just a dream. You're gonna be ok." Caitlin told him.

"His hand—it's vibrating. He's gonna kill me!" Cisco shouted in fear.

"Get him out there!" Barry told them as Naruto shut down the goggles and deactivated the program, bringing Cisco out of his dream just in time.

"Oh god. It felt so real." Cisco commented.

"The mind makes it real." Naruto quoted Morpheus when his phone went off and saw it was Dr. Wells. "Dr. Wells."

"Naruto, where are you?"

"Where am I?" Naruto repeated as they looked at him. "I'm at the precinct. I was helping Barry with a case. Why, what's wrong?"

"A huge fire just erupted at New Brighton. The Bradford Tower High-Rise." Dr. Wells told him.

"I'm on my way." Naruto super sped out of the precinct and went to STAR labs to grab his suit before rushing over to the building. The police and fire department had arrived to make a perimeter, but the fire was on the 21st floor so it wasn't going to be easy. He blew past the officers and made his way up to the floor where he was immediately met with a raging inferno that covered the entire floor. "Dr. Wells, the sprinklers aren't working, and it won't be long before this fire spreads."

"I know, just get everyone out of there." Dr. Wells told him as Naruto moved to grab some people only for part of the roof to come down and create a fire barrier he couldn't past. The fire began to spread more around the floor, essentially boxing him in.

"That's not gonna work here. The fire's got me cornered." Naruto told him.

"Make a vacuum. Just like when you rotate your arms to create wind funnels, move your arms fast enough to suck up all the oxygen and extinguish the fire. You can do it, Naruto…I believe in you." Dr. Wells assured him.

"Right. Everyone hold your breath!" Naruto shouted before taking a deep breath and began rotating his arms at super speed much like when he created wind funnels except, they were moving fast enough to act as vacuums and sucked up all the oxygen. With no oxygen, the fires quickly died out and were extinguished. "I'm gonna need to remember that one in the future."

He then super sped everyone downstairs to the ground floor where fire and ambulance workers met them. After that he returned to STAR labs to put his suit away and get changed. He sniffed his arm and smelled like smoke so he would need a shower.

"Naruto." He turned and saw Dr. Wells enter the room. "Are you all right? Tonight, at the fire, I could have sworn that you were hesitating and a little…afraid."

"Yeah, I guess you can say that. You'd think that after all the metahumans and criminals I've faced that a building fire would be easy but when I saw everyone trapped up there…it suddenly got real." Naruto said, sitting down in a chair. It was a half-truth: he was saying this to keep Dr. Wells none the wiser, but it was also partially true. "I realize now that I rushed in there because I thought it would be a simple fire only for things to quickly spiral out of control. I guess I forgot Oliver's advice and my own of not running into things blind."

"We all make mistakes. Given everything you've accomplished and how things ended up tonight, I believe you're allowed a misstep or two." Dr. Wells said with a chuckle. "But don't let this get you down. Watching you grow up I've come to learn a particularly important lesson that I'm sure your parents saw in you at a young age: the only thing standing in the way of you achieving everything you want…is you. As someone who's had the privilege of nurturing your talents at a young age, I can say for certain there is no limit to how strong you can be or how fast you will go. Everything that you need, you already have."

"Thank you, Dr. Wells." Naruto got up to the door but stopped and turned around. "You know, Dr. Wells…I couldn't have done any of this without you. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you."

"I feel the same way about you, Naruto. Get some rest." Dr. Wells told him as Naruto left but rather than return home, he returned to the precinct where the others were still waiting. They noticed that Naruto looked troubled and haunted as he walked in and sat down in a chair.

"Naruto, you ok?" Barry asked only for him shake his head no.

"No…no, I'm not." Naruto sighed in exhaustion as he was torn on how to feel. "I honestly don't know how to feel anymore. I look at him now and I know he killed your mother, killed Simon Stagg and who knows what else he's done but I can also see the man I knew growing up. The man who would come to my house for dinners, celebrations, and vacations. I mean, he was there for every single science fair trophy I won in high school and he practically made me the man I am today."

"Naruto, that's not true. Everything you are is because of you and your parents, not Dr. Wells." Joe told him only for Naruto to shake his head.

"Your wrong, Joe." He flat out told him. "I told Linda that when I was a kid, I had a problem with my temper. I was hot-headed even as a baby and my parents say I was a handful but believe me I was a monster. It's why I started my pranking phrase as something to help mitigate me from doing something a lot worse. But what no ones knows was that all that pranking, and rebelliousness was just my way of acting out."

"Acting out?" Caitlin asked.

"My way of dealing with my own insecurities about my intelligence when I was a kid." Naruto told them. "Hartley wasn't wrong in that my intelligence was an unfair advantage, but it didn't start out like that. In elementary school, I was barely smarter than the other kids in my grade, practically below them at multiple points and I almost had to repeat the second grade on multiple occasions. My parents were some of the greatest minds in the country and their son was an idiot. They told that it didn't matter I wasn't as smart as they were and that things would get better but as I was getting ready for middle school, I started to lose hope that they were right. So…I almost gave up on science all together. I was prepared make myself into someone else when Dr. Wells realized I was having so much trouble and personally tutored me from that point forward. He helped me get my wild side under control and dedicated himself to tutoring and teaching me when my parents were busy. He's the one who told me what science is really about and how it was about helping mankind achieve something better than what we've come to accept as normal and despite what people might say about us or our methods…history remembers us as heroes. If was after that, I changed into who I am now. With Dr. Wells tutoring, I picked up science a lot easier and everything else is history. Joe, despite what you might say, I know for a fact that the person I am now is because of Dr. Wells."

If the internal struggle and sheer torture Naruto was undergoing after learning about the Dr. Wells/Reverse-Flash revelation was still amidst among the group, now it was made clear. While Barry's life was changed because of the actions of the Reverse-Flash, so was Naruto's. Perhaps there was more that linked the two besides being speedsters and partners in crime fighting. Like two sides of the same coin, they could be polar opposites at times yet perhaps their differences are what complement their teamwork and would make them into the heroes of legend that Gideon foretold. Something linked the two and they would soon learn that it linked many others they would meet in the future but that's for later. For now, their attention was still on the Reverse-Flash.

"So, what do we do?" Cisco wondered as Naruto stifled a cry and rubbed the tear away.

"We nail his ass and take him down, that's what." He put it bluntly.

"Naruto's right. We now know enough that I think we have a plan." Barry said. "In Cisco's dream, Wells confessed to everything. If we recreate those circumstances then he'll do it again."

"Barr, I don't like it. Interrogating, arresting suspects. That's my job. I'm the cop." Joe told him.

"No, if this is going to work then it has to be with someone that Dr. Wells will let his guard down with and in Cisco's dream it worked with just him." Barry pointed out.

"All right. But if we're going to do this then we'll have to do a better job at protecting Cisco than I did protecting you." Joe said causing Barry to look at him confused. "Barry, this is all because of me. I never should have let Wells take you from the hospital. None of this would've ever happened."

"If you hadn't let him take me, I would be dead for sure." Barry pointed out.

"But even then, I knew something wasn't right." Joe said. "Everything in my gut was telling me not to trust him, but I did, because I was so desperate to see you okay."

"If you actually think that you're even more of a moron than I thought, Joe." Naruto put it bluntly. "You really thought that if you had just said no to the fake-Wells that this would be over? What, just because you're a smart detective and a police officer you think he would have listened to you? Need I remind you of what he did to those officers when we tried to capture him during Christmas? Or pretty much everyone else who has gotten in his way? He would have just killed you anyway to get what he wants which is Barry and I."

"Naruto's right. Every bad thing in our lives is because of him and we're gonna bring him to justice." Barry told them all.

Line Break xxxxx

The next day, the team plus Eddie and Linda gathered in the trap room they used back during Christmas when they first tried to capture the Reverse-Flash. With their new plan, they needed to use this room again. Cisco showed them all the Reverse-Flash hologram the energy field projected when it was turned on. Even seeing it with their own eyes they still couldn't believe it.

"Well, at least this explains how Dr. Wells was able to help us with our holographic projection workspace so quickly. He had an advance version." Naruto commented as they all saw the hologram Reverse-Flash.

"So, Wells set up a fake showdown with a fake opponent who was never really there." Eddie said.

"He figured if we saw both of them together it would prove he wasn't the Reverse-Flash." Barry told him.

"This all just keeps getting crazier and crazier." Eddie muttered. Cisco deactivated the hologram just as Caitlin arrived in the elevator.

"I just talked to Dr. Wells. He's attending a lecture downtown and won't be back until 5."

"All right, Cisco, you know when he gets here you need to be working on the trap so he sees you set off the hologram." Barry instructed.

"Hold on, isn't that in your dream when everything went all…"

"Kali Ma. Temple of Doom. Yeah, that definitely happened." Cisco said. "But this time, I'm ready for him. We originally designed the force field to keep a speedster from getting out but I reversed it. Now, it won't let one in."

He pressed a button on his phone and activated the forcefield before motioning for Naruto and Barry to come at him. "I'm not doing it." Naruto told him.

"Back up." Barry said as everyone took a few steps back to give him some space. He took a deep breath before super speeding forward only for the barrier to bounce him off and sent him head first into a tool cart with a loud bang.

"HA! Oh, that was good." Naruto chuckled while Linda hid her smirk.

"It works." Barry muttered as Joe helped him back to his feet.

"Ok, as long as I'm inside, Well's won't be able to get near me."

"And I'll be in the cortex, watching and recording everything that happens." Caitlin added.

"Once he makes that confession, Linda blasts him in the face with light and Naruto and I will be ready to take him down." Barry finished.

"Do you think you guys can take him? I mean, no offense but the last time didn't work so well and that was two of you against one of him." Joe pointed out.

"True, which is why I set this up last night." Naruto walked over to the control console of the containment field and removed a metal panel to reveal a high-tech glowing blue/purple generator. "The first ever metahuman power dampening generator. Based on the same principal as the metahuman power dampening cuffs but bigger. Once this thing turns on, it emits the same energy that neutralizes metahuman powers."

Naruto turned it on for a test and it began emitting the same glow the power dampening cuffs did. Barry and Linda tried using their powers but they weren't working. "Nice job." Barry said.

"Granted, it's not perfect. It'll only affect about a ten-foot radius which is why I had to put it so close to the forcefield. But should the Reverse-Flash try anything then I activate this before we take him down. His speed will be gone and we'll have the element of surprise." Naruto explained.

"So, what do I do?" Eddie asked.

"Wells also threatened Iris, so if something goes wrong here, we need you to keep an eye on her until Wells is neutralized." Joe told him.

"I'll always keep Iris safe, Joe." Eddie said before leaving. There was a not so subtle subtext with Eddie's response which drew an odd look from Joe so Barry motioned him to the hall.

"Meet me in the hall. We need to talk." Barry said as Naruto gave Linda a kiss on the cheek before he walked over to the power dampening generator to quadruple check it and make sure it was working right. "Hey, Linda can we talk for a minute?"

"What?" She asked, checking her email on her phone.

"I just wanted to thank you for doing this. I know it's dangerous but it means a lot that you're doing this." Barry told her.

"Yeah, well Naruto asked for my help and I'd do it for him no problem." Linda replied before giving him a hard right hand slap to the face. "And you deserved that."

"Yeah, I did." Barry replied. He held his stinging cheek as she left to go finish some work while Barry and Joe went to talk about whatever they needed to talk about with Eddie.

Caitlin walked over to Naruto who was finishing his check up on the generator. "So, are you ready for this?"

"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what my answer should be. I know I just want answers…and to punch his face repeatedly until it turns to goo. Or possible break his leg at the very least." Naruto told her.

"Well, hopefully things go our way tonight." Caitlin said.

"They better or else things are just gonna get worse." Naruto commented.

Hours later…

Dr. Wells returned from his lecture and strolled into the cortex to see Caitlin working in the medical lab. "Hello, Dr. Wells. How was your lecture?"

"Oh, boring, tedious."

"Platitudinous?" Caitlin joked.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Wells replied. "Um, where is everyone?"

"Oh, well Naruto is on a date with Linda and Barry is working on a case at CCPD." Caitlin told him. "And Cisco is over in the forcefield lab. He thinks he finally figured out what went wrong at Christmas. You know when we were trying to catch the Reverse-Flash."

"Yes, I remember that night. Well, did he say what he's found?"

"Nope, just that it was important." Caitlin told him.

"Hmm…good for Cisco. I'll wheel on down there and see what he's got." Dr. Wells said.

"Ok." Caitlin replied as Dr. Wells left the cortex. Once he was out of earshot, she activated the microphone by the computer. "Here he comes."

Dr. Wells had strolled down the hallway and turned a corner before stopping. He removed his glasses and rubbed his forehead while letting out a deep sigh. He seemed to be mulling something over in his brain before coming to his decision.

In the forcefield lab, Cisco was standing in front of the forcefield trap with the hologram of the Reverse-Flash running. The elevators opened and out walked Dr. Wells without his wheelchair or glasses.

"Hello, Cisco." Wells said in a mirror tone to the one from his memory. Cisco was inwardly freaking out but doing his best to try and keep it together.

"Don't worry, Cisco." Cisco heard in his earpiece buried deep into his left ear. Naruto and Linda were hiding with Joe and Barry behind some gas tanks in the far corner, watching over everything. Joe had his hand close to his gun, Naruto was wearing his repulsor gauntlets, and Linda had her mask shield and gloves just to be ready. "Just follow the plan. We're right here."

Wells took a few steps forward and clapped his hands a few times. "You've been busy. [chuckles] You really are incredibly clever, Cisco. I've always said it."

"You're him. The Reverse-Flash. Joe was right this whole time, wasn't he?"

"Good ol' Joe." Wells walked over to the desk and closed Cisco's laptop just like in his memory. "Joe West has his doubts all along. Even from that fight night in the hospital, Joe knew something wasn't right. Cops—as inconvenient now as they will be in a hundred years."

"You killed Barry's mother." Cisco said. "I want to know why."

"It was never my intention to kill Nora. But from my perspective…she was already dead. It just happened sooner than it was supposed to." Wells told him, taking a few steps forward while Cisco took some steps back. Barry looked at Joe who shook his head. That wasn't the confession they needed. Cisco kept walking backwards and tripped onto the forcefield platform. "Oops."

"You're not gonna get away with this." Cisco told him.

"I'm not gonna get away with it?" Wells asked as Cisco activated the forcefield. Everyone thought they had Wells on the run but only got a chuckle out of him. Something wasn't right. "Oh, you're smart. You're smart, Cisco." Wells then took one step forward and passed through the forcefield. "But you're not that smart."

"That's not possible." Naruto whispered, quickly taking out his phone and activating the power dampening generator but for some reason it wasn't responding. He kept trying but it wasn't working for some reason. "Come on, come on."

"Naruto, shut off his powers!" Joe whispered.

"It's not working! Something's interfering with the signal!"

Seeing Wells getting closer to Cisco, Linda and Joe decided to act. They stepped out from behind the gas tanks as Linda fired a light blast that momentarily blinded Wells while Joe aimed his gun and fired three shots.

"NO!"

Barry super sped forward and managed to grab two of the bullets in mid-air before he ran into the barrier and it bounced him back. The third bullet found its mark in Wells chest, where he slumped to the ground.

"He didn't confess!" Barry shouted as Caitlin arrived in the elevator.

"Cisco, you all right?" She asked.

"Yeah, but I've never ever sleeping again."

Caitlin knelt down and checked Wells pulse but didn't find one. "He's dead."

"He didn't confess. Joe, this was it. My dad's gonna be in prison forever." Barry said.

"Barry, I'm sorry."

Naruto wasn't sure how to feel, staring at the body of Wells but after the initial shock wore off…something seemed off. Wells is the Reverse-Flash and he's faster than both him and Barry yet it was the bullet from Joe's Glock that killed him? And considering the power dampening generator wasn't working how does that add up? Naruto took out his phone and brought up the program for the dampening generator and tried to find the signal interference. After a second or two, the scan showed that it was coming from inside the room, only a few feet away from the generator. He took a gamble and checked Wells' pockets.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Joe asked when Naruto pulled out a small high-tech device from his pocket, no bigger than a quarter. "What is that?"

Naruto stepped on the piece of tech and the signal interference was gone. "It was a signal scrambler. It was preventing me from activating the generator."

"Why would Wells have…Whoa!" Cisco was cut off as Wells body morphed into that of Hannibal Bates. "What the hell?"

"Bates?" Naruto said out loud and realized what was just happened. "It was set up."

"Right you are, Naruto. Quite clever but not clever enough." They heard over the loudspeakers. "And I've told you this before…I am always one step ahead…Flash. Allow me to reintroduce to you Mr. Hannibal Bates and his incredible ability to transform into any person he touches. I knew that ability would come in handy. I did not expect it to come in handy this soon. One quick stop to police lockup and everything else fell into place.

"You used him! Like you used all of us!" Barry shouted.

"Well, he served a purpose. Didn't take much convincing after I freed him from jail." Wells said. "Still, I'm was very impressed with the trap. You almost had me, Naruto but as smart as you are…don't forget who taught you everything you know."

"Well there's a lot you didn't teach me. So, it's really true. How could you do this, Wells?! I trust you…we all trusted you! YOU WERE LIKE FAMILY TO ME! TO MY PARENTS! WHY?!" Naruto shouted, wanting some answers. "EVEYRYTHING YOU'VE DONE HAS RUINED OUR LIVES! ALL OF OUR LIVES!"

"I can see how difficult this is for you Naruto and for that I truly am sorry. But believe me when I tell you that all of your lives, especially yours Naruto are so much better because of what I have done for you."

"You don't have to hide who you are anymore. We know you're not Harrison Wells. Just tell us who you are!" Joe shouted.

"A confession will get you nowhere, Detective. You've seen who I am. You know that I can do."

"You want to kill me, go ahead. I'm not gonna fight you. But just tell the police what you did. Get my dad out of prison!" Barry begged.

"I don't want to kill you, Barry. I need you. I still have plans for you and Naruto."

"Then face us now coward! Let's end this!" Naruto shouted.

"Oh, we will face each other again. I promise you, boys. Soon. Very, very soon."

Cisco's cellphone beeped as the tracker he put on Well's wheelchair went off with a signal. "He's in the time vault!"

The second Cisco finished that sentence he took off running. "Barry!" Naruto wasn't far behind him and they arrived at the time vault where they saw Well's wheelchair, the Reverse-Flash suit gone, and Gideon projecting various recorded camera feeds from all over the city. All over STAR labs, Barry's home, the shelter, and CCPD…Wells has been watching them for a long time.

"It was all a set-up. We thought we set a trap for him but he set a trap for us. He was toying with us." Naruto muttered when Barry saw a lot of the camera feeds had footage on Iris.

"Oh my god. Iris." They super sped back to the cortex and past the others while they grabbed their suits. "We have to find Iris. Wells has been watching us. He has surveillance footage set up everywhere. Our homes, all over here, my lab at the police station…Central City Picture News. Cisco, call us when you get a location!"

Barry and Naruto super sped out of the lab cortex in a hurry when Cisco managed to track down her location to the walking bridge near Central City Stadium. They raced there as fast as they could but when they got close, Wells just super sped away while carrying Eddie. Barry stopped to reassure Iris but Naruto kept running and chased after them. They raced throughout the city and despite Naruto's recent speed boost that made him faster than before, Wells was somehow still faster.

Wells led Naruto on a wild choose chase throughout the city and it was honestly starting to piss him off. He fired repulsor blast after blast but Wells managed to avoid them at every turn so he needed a new strategy. Barry soon joined in on the chase and that gave him an idea. "Keep chasing him!"

Naruto turned down a street and began heading west while Barry kept chasing Wells throughout the city. They neared downtown and made their way down main street when Naruto zoomed down main street from the opposite direction and was heading straight towards them. He vibrated his fists and go ready for his attack but just as he closed in, Wells vibrated his body and Eddie's and passed right through Naruto. The close distance ended with Naruto and Barry crashing into one another and tumbling on the concrete until a parked car stopped their momentum. They quickly got back to their feet but Wells and Eddie were gone.

"Where'd they go?!" Barry shouted.

"SHIT!" Naruto slammed his fist into the parked car and dented the hood in frustration before the two took off in different directions to try and track them down. If only they knew how fruitless that would be. Wells would only be found if he wanted to be and it wasn't time yet.

Wells arrived in a secret room he had prepared in advance for situations like this and where he would be staying until the next part of his plan. He dumped Detective Thawne onto the ground who was worried but hiding it as best as he could.

"You might as well take that mask off. I know it's you, Wells. Or whoever you really are." Eddie said.

"Well, allow me to introduce myself." Wells stopped vibrating and removed his mask. "My name is Eobard. Eobard Thawne."

"I don't understand. Why do you have my name?" Eddie asked.

"Why?" Eobard repeated as he looked at the engagement ring Eddie had in his pocket. "Well, 'cause we're family, Eddie."

"Funny, I haven't seen you at any reunions or weddings." Eddie commented making Eobard chuckle.

"That is funny. And the reason for that is because as far as those guest lists are concerned, I haven't been born yet."

"So, that's why you didn't kill me that night at STAR labs. This whole thing—it's been about me?" Eddie asked.

"Not a chance. You, my friend, are simply my insurance." Eobard told him. "I have big plans…and I don't need them getting ruined because of a stupid coincidence. So, sit tight and shut up."

After searching all over the city, Naruto and Barry returned to the cortex where the entire mood was solemn. Naruto sat down in a chair as he mulled things over in his head while Barry paced back and forth.

"Anything Cisco?" Barry asked, hopeful.

"No, man. The satellites have nothing. Wells and Eddie could be anywhere." Cisco told him.

"So, what do we do?" Linda asked.

"We keep looking for him. We'll find Wells and Eddie. They have to be somewhere in the city." Joe told them. "We'll get him.

"I don't think so." Naruto said as they all looked at him. "I don't know if you've been paying attention Joe but our losses are greater than our wins at this point. Wells has had us playing catch up with him the entire time and just when we think we're close, it turns out he's playing an entirely new game. We're back at square one."

"So, you're just gonna give up?" Barry asked as Naruto stood up.

"I never said that but we need to be realistic with our options and our chances. The only reason none of us are dead right now is because he still needs us for whatever he's got planned." Naruto reminded him.

"So, we find him and stop his plans before then." Cisco said.

"And you think it'll be that easy? Cisco, the guy is from the future. He's been watching us for over a year and who knows how long he's been planning whatever it is he's planning. Do you really think there is a single plan we'll be able to come up that he hasn't already figured out how to beat?" Naruto pointed out. "I'm ready to fight him tooth and nail to end this but I'm not deluded enough to think it's gonna be easy. If Wells is gonna show his face it'll be on his terms."

"So, then what do we do?" Caitlin wondered.

"The only thing we can do. We wait, bide our time, and prepare as best we can so when he shows up again, we'll be somewhat ready for whatever he has planned." Naruto answered. "The only silver lining in all of this is that Wells clearly needs us and Eddie alive for something."

"What do you mean he needs Eddie?" Joe asked.

"Wells took Eddie instead of just killing him then and there. He needs him for something and I've got an inkling as to what that is. I'll go see if I can find some answers." Naruto walked over to the door and Barry walked over to follow. "I'd rather do this alone, Barry."

"You don't need help?" Barry wondered.

"No, I'll be fine." Naruto said as Barry let out a heavy sigh.

"Naruto, look I know we haven't really had a chance to talk about this so let's just do it now." He told him, getting Naruto to stop before he left. "There's nothing I can say or do to make up for what Joe and I did. You've been by our side for pretty much the entire year and I should have trusted you like Caitlin did."

"It's fine, Barry. I get it." Naruto told him in a relatively calm and neutral demeanor.

"Excuse me?" Linda said out loud.

"I understand. After thinking everything over, I can understand how you and Joe had some trepidation about my loyalty given how close I was to Dr. Wells. You had to be careful and you couldn't take the risk. I understand." Naruto said.

"So, you forgive Barry and I?" Joe asked.

"I didn't say that but basically." Naruto flat out told them.

"Wow…uh, I wasn't excepting that." Cisco muttered.

"But that doesn't mean we can go back to the way things were. Far from it. Just because I understand why you did what you did doesn't mean everything's fine." Naruto told them. "You lost faith in me. I've fought by your side through everything both in and out of the mask. I would give my life for this team but you lost faith in me and that's something I can't forgive."

"Naruto, we're sorry." Barry told him.

"Well, you can save your apologies because this isn't something you can fix by just saying sorry." Naruto said. "As far as our work relationship is concerned, nothing's changed. I will help you find Dr. Wells; I will help you stop him and I will help you free your dad as best I can. But as far as our personal lives are concerned…you and I are done."

"Naruto…" Barry called out.

"We're done." He walked out of the cortex, leaving the team speechless as to what just happened.

"Oh man." Barry grabbed his forehead and let out a heavy sigh.

Naruto made his way through STAR labs until he came to hallway where the Time Vault was located. He pressed his hand on the wall switch and entered the vault before making his way over to the console. He held his hand over it and activated Gideon.

"Hello, Naruto. Good to see you again."

"Likewise, Gideon. Dr. Wells left STAR labs, I don't suppose you can tell me where he is or what he's planning?" Naruto asked.

"I'm afraid that's impossible. Dr. Wells wiped my knowledge of his plans before he left as a safety precaution. He anticipated you coming to me for help and acted accordingly." Gideon told him.

"Dammit. Here I was hoping we got lucky." Naruto said to himself.

"Is there anything else I can help you with? I have an extensive library and information regarding many things STAR labs, metahumans, or related to your adventures." Gideon told him.

"Do you have information on the Reverse-Flash?" Naruto wondered.

"Yes, I have detailed files on the Reverse-Flash otherwise known as Eobard Thawne. What would you like to know?" Gideon asked.

"Everything." Naruto told her. "Tell me everything, Gideon."

Line Break xxxxx

May 2015

A couple of days had passed since everything went to shit and the Team was trying their best to move forward. True to Naruto's point, Barry searched all over the city multiple times but couldn't find any trace of Dr. Wells or Eddie. He hated to admit it but they might have to wait until Dr. Wells shows his face again. Still, Barry spent all his free time trying to find Eddie and Dr. Wells while he and Joe covered for Eddie at work. Despite everything that happened, Naruto did his best to keep things moving at STAR labs. He informed Gaara and Jiraiya of what happened and told them to be careful. It could be nothing but it pays to be cautious. Gaara was doing his job and would be back in Central City in a week or so but all things business wise at STAR labs were going great. The company was already making millions and expanding would only make them more money. Naruto even met with the board of STAG industries. They were doing horrible with their CEO dead and talks were open about STAR labs buying majority share and he was considering it. If anything, it would be a way for him to expand quicker in Central City until the secondary site was built and that would still take months. As much as it seemed like a bad time, Naruto had a business to run and they needed to keep busy. Caitlin had a project to do while Naruto and Cisco were working in the cortex. Cisco was taking apart the cameras that Wells used on them. They managed to find all of them so now he was taking them apart. Naruto was working on something secret when Barry walked in.

"Hey." Barry said when he noticed what Cisco was doing. "You're not really gonna keep those cameras Wells used to spy on us, are you? That's kind of creepy, don't you think?"

"First rule of mechanical engineering, dude. Never waste good tech." Cisco told him when the computers picked up an emergency signal. "Central City Gold Reserve's under attack."

"Gold? That's the case Singh wants us on. I'll be right back." Barry grabbed his suit and super sped out of the lab in a hurry.

"Are you gonna go with him?" Cisco wondered.

"For a gold robbery? I think he'll be fine." Naruto replied as he kept working on something. Cisco looked over and it seemed like Naruto was upgrading the computer system. He then got up to go get some stuff and while he was gone, Barry returned to STAR labs. He told them what happened and Caitlin gave him a once over but he seemed fine.

"Your pupil movement seems normal." Caitlin told him. "I can't see anything else wrong."

"Do you think the thief may have been a metahuman who put the whammy on you or something?" Cisco wondered.

"I don't know. When…Rainbow Raider got in my head, all I felt was anger. But this was not that. This was just overwhelming fear." Barry said as Cisco did some digging and pulled up security footage.

"Hmm." Cisco showed them the footage which showed that when Barry was hit with whatever he was hit with, the thief got wobbling as well. "Looks like when you went down, the thief got disorientated too."

"Maybe we both got whammied." Barry suggested.

"Then you know how it feels." They heard and saw Iris walk in with Naruto escorting her. Naruto seemed passive and neutral with the whole thing but Iris's facial expression showed she was kind of pissed. "Hi Barry…or should I say the Flash?"

"Iris is here, by the way." Naruto joked as the others went wide eyed.

Iris and Barry went to the Cosmic Treadmill room to talk in private while Caitlin and Cisco watched via security cameras. Naruto got back to work, now synching his phone and suit to the STAR labs system along with adding in some additional hardware to both.

"This is one of the few times I'm happy I'm not Barry Allen." Cisco muttered.

"'I wonder what he's going to say." Caitlin added.

"If you two want to eavesdrop just do it and stop acting all innocent." Naruto commented as he focused on his work.

"How did Iris even get in here? I thought you upgraded the security system?" Caitlin asked.

"I let her in." Naruto replied, adding in some new tech to his suit. He was adding in miniature computer system relay on his left wrist. "She was pissed and lucky for me it was at Barry. Besides, she said she knew he was the Flash and wanted to talk to him and I wasn't going to get in the middle of that. I'd recommend not getting involved to avoid the drama."

"Fair point. It's Barry's business." Cisco said.

"But Barry is the Flash and the Flash is our business so by the transitive property, Barry is also our business." Caitlin stated, pressed unmute on the camera so they could listen. Iris left a little later with Cisco and Caitlin acting none the wiser but it wasn't very convincing.

Later that night, Iris was staying late at CCPN to do her own personal research on Harrison Wells and the death of Barry's mother. She was so busy working on her research she didn't notice the sound of heels closing in until she found a coffee cup placed down in front of her. She looked and noticed it was Linda who had her bag slung over her shoulder. "I figured you could use something to keep you going."

"Thanks." Iris took the coffee and sipped it.

"No problem." Linda said as she looked at all of Iris's notes. "Still hard to believe after everything, huh."

"You know?" Iris asked and Linda nodded.

"Naruto told me when he found out. It…it wasn't easy, even more so for him." Linda explained.

"How's he doing?" Iris wondered.

"As good as could be expected. He's keeping himself busy but don't worry about Eddie, Iris. He's alive." Linda assured her.

"You can't know that Linda. Eddie's been gone for days."

"True but Dr. Wells took him instead of killing him when you were with him that night. He needs him alive. Naruto's confident that Eddie's alive. When it comes to things like this, he's never wrong." Linda told her and that did little to ease Iris's worry. "But I know he'll do everything he can to find him. And if it make you feel any better, we're kind of on the outs with Barry too so you're not alone."

"I was wondering why Naruto let me in so easily at STAR labs. What happened?" Iris wondered.

"Let's just say that keeping who is he a secret from you is just one of Barry's questionable decisions. Naruto should really tell you this if you want to know." Linda said and Iris nodded. "Still, I'm kind of glad you know now. It's nice to not have to keep this from you."

Iris smiled when they heard the door open and in walked Joe. "Thanks, Linda. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night, Iris." Linda got up and left leaving father and daughter to speak alone.

"I heard you talked to Barry." Joe said only for Iris to say nothing and keep working. "So, this is what my cold shoulder treatment feels like. Look…baby, the way I went about things, maybe—no. I was wrong. I was just trying to keep you safe."

"You know that excuse is getting really old. First it was the police academy and then it was dating Eddie, and now this."

"Sweetheart, you know what The Man in Yellow is capable of. He killed cops. He killed Mason Bridge." Joe told her and that shook her to her core.

"Wells killed Mason. And you're covering that up?"

"No, no. No, no, no, no, no. If the world finds out about Wells, they find out about Barry, Naruto, and STAR labs. I'm trying to keep them safe too." Joe explained.

"Did you ever stop to think that looping me in would keep me safe?" Iris pointed out. "That if I knew what was going on out there, I could prepare for it? Maybe I could've helped you and Barry put the bad guys away instead of being in the way."

"Believe me, I asked myself that question every single day. Every time you posted something new about the Flash on your blog—" "Dad, it's not just about Barry being the Flash. You knew how he felt about me for God knows how long, you didn't tell me that either!"

"That wasn't for me to tell, Iris." Joe told her.

"Well, you know what, if any of you had been honest with me, maybe Eddie would still be here. He wouldn't have gotten involved in all of this if I hadn't been dating him." Iris said to him.

"Are you saying if you had known how Barry felt—" "What I am saying is that what happened to Eddie is your fault." Iris told him when his phone went off.

"This is work. We can talk later." He told her.

"Talking. Yeah, that'll be new." She said, sitting back down in her chair to get back to work.

The next day, Barry and Joe stopped another gold theft attempt by their mystery attacker. Luckily, despite a landmine disabling their transport and the heavy fire of a SAW light machine gun, no officers were killed thanks to the STAR labs body armor they were wearing. Joe managed to shoot the robber in the arm before the Flash knocked him out with a super speed tackle. But what they saw confused and shocked them as the attacker was General Eiling who wasn't acting like himself.

They brought him to STAR labs where they put him into a pipeline cell. Caitlin removed the bullet from his shoulder but he was pretty much a walking zombie. No reaction whatsoever. Barry, Joe, Cisco, and Caitlin watched him in his cell, just standing there like a mannequin.

"What is wrong with him?" Barry asked out loud.

"I pulled a bullet out of his shoulder."

"Which should hurt like hell."

"And it didn't even seem like he felt it." Caitlin said. "I did a complete body scan and otherwise, General Eiling is perfectly healthy."

"So why is he standing there like a robot?" Joe wondered.

"Anyone else getting serious zombie vibes from him? Maybe I should make us some heavy duty helmets incase this guy has a hunkering for brains." Cisco remarked as Naruto walked into the pipeline.

"I just got off the phone with Jiraiya. Officially, General Wade Eiling has been dishonorably discharged from the military service but that's just the army wanting to save face. He got word from his CIA contacts and Eiling has been missing for the past three months. They think he fled the country but they haven't made any progress with finding him." Naruto told them.

"Makes sense. Last time we saw him was during the whole Firestorm thing. I just figured the military court took care of him for us." Barry commented.

"I got the number for one of Jiraiya's contacts. When we're done here, they'll take him into custody. There's still a lot he needs to answer for." Naruto said, looking at the zombie-like Eiling.

"So that leaves us with where he's been for the past three months." Joe walked in front of the cell to talk to him. "General Eiling, why were you trying to rob the gold reserve?"

They waited but there was no response. "Maybe he's in some kind of a trance?" Caitlin suggested as Naruto walked up the cell door and banged on it three times with his fist.

"Hey, General? Remember me?" Naruto shouted, trying to get a reaction out of him. "You know, the smart ass kid who duped you and knocked your ass out with an arm rest?"

"Impulse…" Eiling growled.

"Whoa, how does he know you're Impulse?" Joe asked.

"Eiling figured it out. General—" "Eiling not here. Eiling bad."

"Maybe it's some kind of psychotic break presenting itself as dissociative identity disorder." Caitlin theorized.

"Caitlin." Eiling said, shocking everything that he knew her name. "Caitlin good."

"Oh, uh, thank you."

"Mm, forget multiple personalities. You guys have seen the Exorcist, right?" Cisco asked.

"You and your movies. Keep talking to him. He seems to respond to you." Joe said to Naruto.

"Uh, ok. Rhetorical question but why is Eiling bad?" Naruto asked him.

"Eiling hurt me. I hurt Eiling."

"Ok. If you're not Eiling…who are you?"

"I…am…Grodd. Fear…me." That response confused Naruto, Joe, and Barry.

"What is a Grodd?" Barry asked.

Line Break xxxxx

They put Eiling under before returning to the cortex where Caitlin showed them old footage of who Grodd is…and he was a large gorilla.

"Oh…Grodd is a gorilla." Barry said.

"Five years ago, Eiling and STAR labs were working on a project that they thought was going to be for enhanced gene therapy treatment for soldiers but as we know now was instead a project to expand soldier's cognitive abilities during battle." Cisco said.

"What we didn't realize was that Eiling was trying to create soldiers with psychic abilities." Caitlin added.

"What do you mean psychic?" Joe asked.

"Eiling was trying to create these super-soldiers with telepathic and telekinetic capabilities." Cisco explained.

"But when Naruto's dad found out what was going on and went to Dr. Wells who found out about the terrible experiments that Eiling was doing, he shut down the entire project." Caitlin told them.

"So, our psychotic killer has a soft spot for animals. That's sweet."

"What happened to Grodd?" Barry wondered.

"We don't know." Caitlin answered. "After the Particle Accelerator exploded, I went to check on him and his cage was empty."

"So, he could have been affected by the same energy that hit Barry, Naruto and Cisco?" Joe suggested.

"When the dark matter hit Grodd, all the drugs and serums that Eiling injected him with could've activated. Maybe the accelerator explosion created a meta-gorilla. And I think we know what happens when a super-intelligent ape who's pissed off at humans escapes captivity." Cisco said, going full nerd moment on them.

"Cisco's right about the first part. This is the first brain scan that I did on Grodd." Caitlin showed them and it was unusual to be exact.

"Whoa, his primary motor cortex and Broca's area are lit up like a Christmas tree." Barry commented.

"From Eiling experiments. And this is the brain scan that I just did on Eiling." Caitlin showed them and they matched. "His brain is lit up in the exact same way."

"So, Grodd and Eiling are connected somehow." Joe said.

"It's Grodd's meta ability. We're dealing with a telepathic super gorilla who can not only mind control someone but also render a speedster immobile with a psychic attack." Naruto said, referencing Barry's struggle with Eiling the first time. "And Cisco's not too far off on the last part either. Grodd's gonna be a big pain in the ass in the future so we find him now and stop him."

"You sound like you know a lot about him." Joe commented.

"Well, I got a history lesson from someone we know." Naruto told him.

"Who?" Barry asked.

"Gideon." Naruto said and Gideon's holographic head appeared from a hologram projector by the cortex computers.

"What the hell?" Joe stumbled back in shock at seeing the hologram appear out of nowhere.

"Good afternoon, everyone." Gideon greeted.

"Whoa, what's Gideon doing here?" Barry asked.

"I've spent the past couple of days in the time vault, going through all the tech in that room as best I could. While Gideon's general design is still way too advanced for me to understand she managed to catch me up on the basics so I could install her into the STAR labs system." Naruto explained. "She's completely patched into the building so anything we need she can do.

"And you're sure you can trust her?" Cisco wondered. "I mean, Dr. Wells has been using her this entire time."

"I created her, Cisco. Or my future self-created here…anyways, she's got a base protocol to accept any of my commands and I told her to not to accept any command given to her by Dr. Wells or as she informed me of he really is…Eobard Thawne from the future. Specifically, the 2170s." Naruto told them.

"Come again?" Caitlin remarked.

"Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash is from the future. And the reason his name sounds familiar and he took Eddie is because he's Eddie's descendant." Naruto explained. "It's why he took him and why some of the hidden cameras he had were set up at Eddie's place and at the police station: to make sure his ancestor stays alive."

"Right, because if Eddie's his ancestor and something happens to him then the Reverse-Flash ceases to exist." Cisco realized.

"So, that's one positive to come out of this. Eddie's alive for sure." Naruto said.

"Does Gideon know where Eddie and Wells are or what he's planning?" Barry wondered.

"I would have led with that if I knew." Naruto pointed out. "He erased Gideon's memory of his plans before escaping as a safeguard from me using her to stop him. And for the record, we can stop calling him Wells and call him Thawne. Anyway, Gideon has an extensive knowledge and database of everything STAR labs and metahuman related. I've been going over all the information she has and found some stuff on Grodd. Gideon, give them the condensed version."

"Of course." Gideon replied, putting a picture of Grodd on the main screen but this Grodd was different. He was wearing a cape and had some kind of high-tech headpiece. "Grodd, or as he would come to be known as Gorilla Grodd is one of the deadliest adversaries the Flash, Impulse and his allies will encounter. Affected by the dark matter from the particle accelerator explosion granted Grodd with immense telepathic abilities from reading minds to controlling the thoughts and actions of others and eventually telekinetic abilities as well. Fueled by his hatred of humanity for the horrible experiments he suffered at the hands of humans, Grodd led attacks on Central City in efforts to eradicate as what he saw as the human problem. But this early after his exposure to dark matter, Grodd is rather simple minded in his abilities. Over time, his abilities and intelligence will grow considerably."

"So, yeah. Cisco wasn't that far off with the whole Planet of the Apes thing. The only silver lining is that based on the simple sentences Eiling could string together, Grodd's intelligence hasn't escalated that far yet." Naruto stated.

"So, why do you think Grodd showed up now? Revenge?" Barry wondered.

"I do not like the fact that Wells—" "Thawne" Naruto corrected Joe.

"Right, Thawne rescued Grodd. I don't think it's a coincidence that this gorilla shows up the same time we're looking for him." Joe theorized.

"Grodd and Wells, sorry Thawne always did have a special bond." Caitlin told them.

"It wouldn't surprise me if Thawne were using Grodd to distract us. If he is from the future and knows about us and what's happened then he'll have planned this out. If we find Grodd, we find Thawne. If we find him—" "We find Eddie." They heard as Iris walked in. "And I'm gonna help."

"Know anything about Gorillas?" Caitlin wondered.

"I just might." Iris said as Naruto let her use the computers to bring up the information she needed. "There have been reports of some sort of animal down in the sewers."

"Mm. Alligators. C.H.U.D.s." Cisco said as they all looked at him funny. "R.O.U. ? Am I the only one who watches movies around here?"

"Well, I've already dealt with one giant alligator. It has to be Grodd." Naruto commented. "Anything recently?"

"Uh, a few months ago two sewer workers went missing. The search party reported hearing strange animal like noises down in the tunnels." Iris answered.

"Where exactly did they go missing?" Barry wondered.

"Uh, fifth avenue and Tenth street."

"There's an access point to the sewers about two blocks east of that intersection." Cisco mentioned.

"Then that's where we start." Barry said.

"Not alone, I'm coming too." Joe told him.

"Huh, wading through miles of rates, roaches, and human excrement—count me out." Cisco commented only for everyone to look at him. "Count me in."

"He's your monkey." Joe muttered.

"All right, but before we go in, we need to be ready. If Grodd was able to disable Barry with a psychic blast and can mind control Eiling then he'll know when we're getting close. Not to mention he's been down there for over a year so we could be walking into a trap." Naruto pointed out. "And I'd rather prevent a whatever circumstance that prolongs this fight into a third act later tonight."

"Ok, so what do we do?" Caitlin wondered.

"I'm gonna call Linda and see if she's willing to help us out down in the sewers. And I'll upgrade some Icers to take down a gorilla but first things first Cisco and I are going to need to build something to keep Grodd from messing with our heads." Naruto explained.

"How long with that take?" Joe wondered.

"I might have something in a couple of hours but we don't go down there until we're ready." Naruto told him and they all agreed. He and Cisco got to work while the others did what they could. Upgrading the Icers wasn't hard so they spent most of their time working on devices to prevent Grodd's telepathy from messing with them. Some goods news is that Naruto called Jiraiya's contact who picked up General Eiling so he was out of their hair but he had a sinking feeling that this wouldn't be the last time they'd see him.

A few hours later just before dark, Linda arrived just as Naruto and Cisco put the finishing touches on several high-tech silver headbands. "Is that it?" Joe wondered.

"Yup. Anti-telepathy headbands. Uses magnetic resonance to neutralize any foreign neurological stimulus." Cisco explained as he handed one each to Barry, Joe, and Linda.

"So, it'll protect you guys from being mind-controlled?" Iris asked.

"That's the idea. It'll regulate our brains normal neurological activity and the magnetic frequency should be able to prevent anything from interfering but be careful. These aren't indestructible so watch what you hit and how you move down there." Naruto warned everyone.

"Right." Joe put it on his head as Naruto handed him an upgraded Icer shotgun model. "Damn, this is nice. This will take down Grodd?"

"Yeah, that model has enough dendrotoxin to take down an elephant. Unless the Particle Accelerator mutated Grodd even further from a regular gorilla, it should work." Naruto assured him before handing Barry and Cisco the pistol model of the Icers. "And these should at least slow him down a tiny bit but failing that…"

Naruto slipped on his repulsor gauntlets and Linda made her hands glow bright. "We go with the direct approach." Linda finished. "And I never was a fan of monkeys."

"That's my girl." Naruto looked at her with a smile and she smirked back. "All right, let's go monkey hunting."

They took the STAR labs van to the manhole by Fifth and Tenth which is where they made their entrance. Joe took point with the Icer shotgun with Linda right next to him, lighting the path with her powers. Other than the smell, there wasn't any sign of a large gorilla. As they made their way through the sewers, Naruto dropped special flares/sensors so they wouldn't get lost and to map out the area more clearly. The sensor flares were letting out small subsonic frequency waves that mapped the subway like sonar and feed everything back to STAR labs so Gideon, Caitlin, and Iris could let them know if something was coming.

Cisco adjusted his safety helmet that held his flashlight and camera so the girls back at STAR labs could see what was going on. He clutched a banana in his hands as Joe led them down another access tunnel. "Is the banana really necessary, Cisco?" Naruto wondered.

"Hey, better to be safe than sorry." Cisco told him.

"I can't believe I'm down here looking for a supernatural gorilla. I'm terrified of regular gorillas." Joe commented as Naruto placed down another flare. "Naruto, you getting anything?"

Naruto checked the sensors on his phone, and they weren't picking up anything except for them. "No, nothing yet." He replied as he stepped through the dirty sewer water. "You know, I'm kind of glad that my Oxohydrine bacteria was able to clean up the city so much but I'd still suggest we all burn our clothes when were done here."

"No argument here." Barry told him.

"And you owe me a shopping spree for making me come down into the sewers, Naruto." Linda told him.

"I know and my credit card is ready whenever you want it. Thank god I'm rich now." Naruto muttered as they turned a corner and heard a clink. "What was that?"

Joe held his gun up as Linda lit up the wall only for them to see a rat crawling along the pipe. They kept moving forward down a tunnel that led to another street access point. Naruto placed another sensor flare when they began to notice some odd scratches on the wall.

"Whoa. Hey, guys look at this." Cisco pointed to the wall that had various scratches and carvings that spelled out the word Grodd. Linda lit up the wall so they could all see better and the carved words were all over the place.

"Looks like we're in the right place." Barry said. As they kept moving down the tunnel, the carvings seemed to undergo a transformation from crude and caveman-like to more refined and intelligent. Along with the word Grodd carved all over the place, drawings of Grodd along with other words like father, bad Eiling, Flash, and Impulse began to show up more frequently. "Grodd. He's evolving. He's getting smarter."

"Getting smarter, great." Joe commented as they stopped in the access area when they heard a snarl coming from the tunnels. Barry and Cisco held up their Icer pistols as Linda readied her light blasts. "If he's getting smarter does that mean he's getting bigger too? Naruto, you sure Gideon is right that he's still kind of simple at this point?"

"Um…not as certain as I was before but still 90% sure." Naruto replied, getting a little nervous.

They heard more growling and rumbling that sent a small ripple through the sewer water. "If I hadn't seen Jurassic Park I wouldn't be nearly as freaked out as I am right now." Cisco commented as Naruto checked the sensors and they picked up a signature.

"I got him. 11 o'clock!" Naruto shouted as Linda lit up the tunnel at their 11 o'clock and they all saw a glimpse of the black furred gorilla. Joe fired two shots but Grodd hurried away down the tunnels letting out a growl with the loud thuds of his feet and hands. "He's moving. Coming around to our 4 o'clock!"

Barry held up his Icer as Linda illuminated the tunnel so he could fire three shots that managed to hit the gorilla in the arm. [ROAR!] And judging by the loud roar that was let out, Grodd was pissed. The large gorilla ducked back into the tunnels as everyone was ready to take him down once he showed himself again.

"Where is he?" Joe shouted, darting his eyes through the various tunnels to keep watch for the gorilla.

"He's moving quickly all around." Naruto told him when the sensors began to fail one by one. "Oh man, that's not good."

"Naruto, talk to us. What's going on?" Joe shouted as one by one the sensor flares were destroyed so he couldn't pick up anything. Guess was Grodd was smarter than he though.

"The sensors are down. We're blind down here." Naruto told him before slipping on his repulsor gauntlets and powering them up. "Group up!"

They all got close together with Joe, Naruto, and Barry setting their sights on the three tunnels that led to the access point they were in while Linda used her powers to light everything up and Cisco cowered behind them.

"Where is he?" Barry shouted all they could hear were growls and the loud rumbling of Grodd's movements.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Cisco muttered before throwing the banana down one of the tunnels in hopes of appeasing the large gorilla.

"Really, Cisco?" Linda looked at him like he was crazy.

"Hey, it could work." Cisco told her only to get the banana thrown back into the face. "Or not."

Joe, Barry, and Naruto unloaded at the tunnel the banana came from and after a barrage of Icer bullets, shells, and repulsor blasts they stopped. Joe and Barry reloaded their guns at Linda lit up the tunnel but there was nothing there. That's when they heard growling…coming from right above them.

"Oh, crap." Linda muttered. She quickly aimed her hands up to blind Grodd only to get bashed aside by a large gorilla hand and knocked into a wall.

"Linda!" Naruto and Cisco rushed over to her as Joe fired several Icer shells in the air only to get knocked into Barry. Naruto turned Linda so she was on her back and she was fine. Probably just knocked unconscious. Barry and Joe got back to their feet just as Grodd dropped down onto the floor and stood up straight so they could all see him with their own eyes…and he was scary. While an average gorilla was about 6ft tall when standing up straight, Grodd was easily 8ft-9ft tall and probably 800 hundred pounds of primate muscle. Grodd looked at the humans and his sneer clearly showed he was angry.

"I…am…GRODD!" Grodd shouted before letting out a loud roar that pretty much ensured that all of them peed their pants.

"So…he can talk now?" Cisco muttered. "That's bad right?"

[ROAR!] Grodd threw out a punch that would have squished Cisco's head if Naruto didn't superspeed him and Linda away and back up to the street. Barry did the same with Joe and dropped them off in the alleyway.

"Stay here!" Barry told them as he and Naruto raced back down into the sewer. Grodd threw out his arms in wild attempts to grab the speedsters but they were too fast and they managed to confuse him for a bit.

Barry picked up his Icer pistol and fired the remaining bullets at Grodd which hit him in the arm and face but they just pissed him off even more. It did get his attention so while Barry super sped around Grodd to keep him occupied, Naruto picked up the Icer shotgun and blasted Grodd in the back. The gorilla roared in pain before slumping face first onto the ground. Naruto slowly walked up to the gorilla with the shotgun still trained on him as Barry stopped next to him.

"Did that do it?" Barry wondered as Naruto gently nudged Grodd with his sneaker and the large primate didn't move.

"I think so." Naruto pumped the spent shell and breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm with Linda. I hate monkeys."

"You know he's technically an ape, right?" Barry corrected him when they were both kicked in the gut which sent them into a wall. The gut kick and impact knocked the air out of them even for being speedsters but then they were grabbed around their necks and hoisted up in the air. Their feet dangled as the large hands that grabbed them belonged to Grodd who looked at both speedsters with an angry glare.

"Humans…bad…Humans…die!" Grodd spun them around before throwing them through a wall. They smashed through the brick wall and landed on the subway tracks in pain and disarray but the worst part was that the impact knocked their headbands off and damaged them.

"Guys, the headbands aren't responding. They're offline!" Caitlin told them just as they managed to get back to their feet only for both of them to hear a loud high-pitched ringing in their ears before their brains were assaulted with Grodd's psychic attack that rendered them vulnerable.

"Humans…weak." Grodd sneered at them like they were insects as his telepathy turned the two superhero speedsters into helpless humans.

Back at STAR labs, Caitlin and Iris watched helplessly as Grodd rendered both Barry and Naruto incapacitated. "Gideon, is there anything we can do to help them? Grodd has them incapacitated." Caitlin asked.

"Theoretically, you should be able to shock them out of Grodd's psychic attack. Speedster's brain chemistry make them heavily resistant to mental manipulation and mind control so if you get them to focus enough, they should be able to block out Grodd's mental attack." Gideon told them.

"Guys, listen to me. Fight through this. Grodd's psychic attack is powerful but so are your minds. Just focus!" Caitlin told them but even with the words of encouragement their brains felt like they were getting dissected on the table and overwhelming fear controlled their bodies. "It's not working."

"Incoming service trains. ETA, 7 minutes." Gideon told them as the computers showed a train on the way to the tracks that Naruto and Barry were stuck on.

"Caitlin!" They heard over the comms. Linda had woken up from her unconscious state and spoke into her earpiece. "Patch me in as well. Let's try again."

"Guys, listen to our voices!" Caitlin and Linda said as Iris joined them and all three were now speaking to them. "You have to fight it. Just listen to our voices. You are stronger than this. You guys have saved the city countless times and stopped a lot of bad people. Everything you have been through, everything you've fought, all the hardships and tragedies have made you stronger. Fight for us, fight for yourselves. Your heroes…fight back!"

Their voices and words managed to get them to focus enough and their speedster brains did the rest, allowing them to focus their accelerated neurological pathways and block out Grodd's psychic barrage. They still had a massive migraine but they were able to control their bodies again and got back to their feet. Grodd growled at the two humans who somehow were able to resist his mind control.

"Nice try, bananas but you're gonna need to be smarter than that to take us down." Naruto told him, trying to bait Grodd into make a mistake which the animal did. Grodd roared and charged forward, jumping through the hole in the sewer and onto the tracks only for the speedsters to race around him to safety while he got hit and ran over by a train. "Guess he wasn't that smart after all."

"Yeah, and I agree with you. I hate monkeys." Barry told him as the team headed back to STAR labs where Caitlin looked at them along with Linda and Joe.

"Ok, well Linda's got a mild concussion but one quick light absorption and she should be fine." Caitlin said, handing Linda a high-powered lantern.

"Thanks." Linda put her hand on the lantern and absorbed the light into her body, extinguishing the lantern but healing her body and mind of her injuries. "Wow, that's better. I love my powers."

"Joe should be ok with some rest but try not to do anything strenuous. You've got some bruises that need time to heal." Caitlin told him and Joe nodded before she moved onto Naruto and Barry. Naruto put his shirt down over some bandages he had over his ribs while Barry kept his icepack on his head as he sat in a chair. "You guys should take it easy for a few hours. Grodd hit you both pretty hard."

"Yeah, no kidding." Naruto rubbed his side while Barry leaned back. "Suffice to say that the dark matter from the Particle Accelerator did a lot more to Grodd then just make him smarter."

"Yeah, I was not expecting him to talk at all." Joe commented. "But he's taken care of and we made it out of there alive."

"I still can't believe that Grodd became so violent." Caitlin said. "He was always so kind."

"Well, being tortured and experimented on by Eiling has a habit of bringing out your angrier side." Naruto told her as he swallowed some Advil for his headache. "I have an inkling as to what that's like and I understand. Still, at least Grodd's taken care of."

"Thanks for helping us today." Barry said to Linda, Caitlin, and Iris.

"Don't mention it." Linda replied. "Now I think we can call it a night and get some rest. We'll pick things up tomorrow when we're rest and not smelling of sewer."

"Amen to that." Joe added as Naruto grabbed his jacket and walked with Linda to the exit.

"Naruto…" Barry called out, getting him to stop before leaving. "Thanks for your help today."

"Don't mention it." Naruto replied as he and Linda left.

"Well, at least he didn't punch you again." Caitlin pointed out as they all left.

Line Break xxxxx

A week had passed since the team had dealt with Grodd and while they were happy about not worrying about a psychic pissed off meta-gorilla, they still had nothing on the Reverse-Flash and Eddie. Still, they kept themselves busy as best as they could. Naruto spent his time learning and going over everything from the time vault and familiarizing himself with Gideon's mainframe and technology. While going through the time vault, he found Gideon's neuromorphic matrix which was essentially her operating system. It was more advance than anything on this planet for at least a half a century and it was able to fit in the palm of your hand so he decided to install it in his phone so he had Gideon with him at all times.

But what he found next was very interesting. Hidden in a compartment on the display case were three small rings with a lightning bolt insignia and according to Gideon they were called Flash rings in the future. Used by Speedsters to hold their suits so they could use them whenever. It was future STAR labs technology but these ones Thawne got his hands on and used them to hold spare versions of his Reverse-Flash suit. Which is what Naruto was working on in one of the labs. On the table was a spare Reverse-Flash suit which had popped out of the Flash ring so now he was analyzing the ring and the suit to figure out how they worked. Along with analyzing the suit, he was trying to figure out the miniature holographic interface built into the palm. This was like the ultimate puzzle to figure out for a growing super genius: future tech.

He was looking at the suit's structure underneath a high-powered microscope and scanner and it was both intriguing and frustrating. It was made of similar material to his and Barry's suit but way more advance and it was also combined with some kind of compressible micro-fabric that was able to shrink the suits molecules. Naruto was so wrapped up in his work that he didn't hear the footsteps enter the lab which were of Barry, Caitlin, and Joe.

"What the hell is that doing here? Did you catch him?" Joe asked as none of them were expecting to see the Reverse-Flash suit on the table.

"No. When I went through the time vault, I found a hidden compartment on the display case that held those." Naruto pointed to the spare Flash rings on the other table. "They're what holds his suit. I'm just trying to figure out how."

Barry walked over and picked up a ring to see the lightning bolt insignia. "What are they?"

"Future STAR labs tech. They're called Flash rings and essentially holds a speedsters suit so you have it wherever whenever. I'm just trying to figure out how these damn things work." Naruto replied, jotting down some notes on the computer.

"You think you can figure that out because it would be a lot easier than having to carry my bag with me everywhere or racing back here to get my suit?" Barry asked.

"Hmm…possibly given enough time but it wouldn't be figuring out how they work. With enough time, I think I'll be able to get a handle on that. It's creating the technology in order to do it that's the problem." Naruto said as he picked up the empty Flash ring from the table and put it on the middle finger of his right hand. While a part of him hated it because it belonged to Thawne, it somewhat felt natural to wear it. "Seeing stuff like this and Gideon just astonishes. Future us must really be geniuses. Anyway, what is it?"

"Cisco said he has something to show us." Caitlin told him and Naruto nodded so he got up and followed her while Joe and Barry hung back a bit in the lab.

"Well, things between you two are getting a little better. He's not nasty or has punched you again." Joe pointed out.

"I think Naruto's just doing what he said he would. Keeping things strictly business between us." Barry replied, putting the ring down on the table and letting out a sigh of exhaustion. "With everything we're dealing with, it'd honestly be a lot easier if Naruto and I weren't on the outs."

"You can't exactly blame him. If you were in his shoes how would you feel?" Joe pointed out and Barry agreed. "Just give him some time. You and Naruto have been through too much to let it end like this. Hopefully…when we manage to settle things with Thawne…then you and Naruto can repair your friendship."

"Yeah." Barry said as he and Joe went to the cortex where Cisco, Naruto, and Caitlin were waiting for them. "What is it, Cisco?"

"I've been thinking over a lot of things recently and I kept asking myself why would Thawne pretend to need a wheelchair?" Cisco asked them.

"Sympathy, I suppose." Caitlin suggested.

"That's what I thought at first, but he's the Man in Yellow. He's the Reverse-Flash. He's much smarter than that. Sympathy can't be the only reason."

"Yeah, it was a misdirect. Just like everything else Thawne has done. I mean, the last person we'd suspect to be the Reverse-Flash is someone who lost the use of their legs." Joe pointed out.

"That's exactly right, Joe. Which is why I started messing around with the wheelchair. And that's when I found this." He turned the chair onto its side to show them the bottom and slide a compartment back to reveal a small future power generator. It was round, with various rings of high-tech components with interconnecting wires that were glowing green and blue while the center rings were glowing orange…and it was about the size of a donut.

"Damn. You can't get that in Radio Shack." Joe commented as they all got a better look.

"That looks like the tech inside Gideon." Barry said when Naruto realized something familiar about the design.

"Is it me or is there something familiar about that thing?" Naruto asked out loud.

"Oh, it's familiar all right. I used a hologram scanner to analyze the structure and it's based on the ARC reactor we have in the accelerator ring. Same chamber set up, energy alignment, ring structure…almost 75% of the design share similarities to the ARC reactor only this thing is way more advanced and powerful. I measured the output and this thing is kicking off serious juice. I mean, we're talking enough to power all of Central City."

"Seriously?" Naruto didn't think that was possible. "I always thought we could miniaturize an ARC reactor but that's not feasible for decades."

"What do you think Thawne was using it for?" Barry asked.

"I think with the other components on the device that I couldn't identify, he was using this thing as some kind of battery to boost his speed. And that's why he's so much faster than you two." Cisco theorized when an alarm went off.

"Gideon, what's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"The Particle Accelerator reaction has been initiated."

"How is that possible?" Joe asked as Naruto and Cisco went to the computers to check and Gideon was right. "It blew up."

"Yeah, components of the ring structure were destroyed in the lower levels." Naruto explained.

"It had to have been rebuilt." Cisco suggested.

"Thawne. It's probably what he's been doing all year in secret and hid it from us. Even from the scans we ran of the place. I'm getting really sick and tired of him screwing us over." Naruto stated.

"Even it's been rebuilt, how did he even start it?" Caitlin wondered as Naruto and Barry realized the same thing.

"He's here. That's why we couldn't find him in the city, he's been in STAR labs the entire time. Or under us." Barry said.

He, Joe, Naruto, and Cisco went to the accelerator ring while Caitlin stayed behind. They took it slow to be careful and approached the reactor ring entrance.

"Cisco, why'd you bring that orange soda for?" Joe asked.

"Whenever something happens with the Reverse-Flash, liquid floats in the air. You know, Barry's fish tank, Well's champagne, Lance's coffee, remember that? If this does the same thing, we'll know that Wells is in there." Cisco told him as they arrived at the reactor entrance.

"Do it." Barry said so Cisco activated the door. Joe walked in first followed by Barry giving them their first look at the massive reactor ring along with the cells of the metahumans they had there.

"Man…this…is…big." Joe commented.

"Plenty of places for Thawne to hide and seeing as how he built it, a lot of places he knows about that we don't." Naruto suggested when he and Cisco saw the orange soda float out of the cup. "He's here."

Soon enough, a red lightning blur pushed past them in a whoosh of air and Barry was the first to race right after him.

"BARRY!" Joe shout of caution did nothing and Naruto was about to chase after him when he heard one of the metahuman cells move from its position.

"Prisoner release. Protocol Initiated." Gideon reported as Peek-a-boo's cell was moved into position.

"Oh, no." Cisco muttered.

"GIDEON, CANCEL RELEASE AND INITIATE LOCKDOWN PROTOCOL NOW!" Naruto shouted which kicked in just before Peek-a-boo's cell opened.

"Lockdown protocol initiated." Gideon replied as all STAR Labs systems were immediately frozen and locked down. Doors, windows, security entrances, air-condition vents and such were shut and locked while all systems went into secure mode including the buildings internal security system. The reactor ring door shut which locked them in and Peek-a-boo's cell doors along with the other metahuman cells were secured, preventing escape and the lights shutdown, and were replaced with the dim red emergency lights. "Lockdown protocol activated. All STAR Labs systems are secure."

"Dear lord." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and pat himself on the back for creating that security protocol first. Joe and Cisco then looked at him both thankful but a bit confused. "When I installed Gideon into STAR labs, I created security protocols for her just in case of an emergency. That was the first one in case something happened and they got out or someone tried to get in. The entire building is locked downed and all STAR labs servers are secured. Even the air condition vents are locked down."

"Thank god for your super brain, dude." Cisco told him as his phone got a ring from Caitlin. "Yeah?"

"Cisco, what happened?" She asked. "Everything's shut down."

"What happened is that Naruto's super brain saved us and prevented one of the metas from escaping. Bad news, we're also locked in." Cisco pointed out.

"Hang on." Naruto took out his phone and activated Gideon. "Gideon, open the reactor ring door and release STAR labs systems from lockdown except for the containment system. Authorization: Naruto Namikaze."

"Authorization recognized." Gideon replied as she began reactivating the STAR Labs system one by one. The lights turned back on, the door opened and the computer systems powered back up while Peek-a-Boo's cell moved back into position and all their cells were secured.

"Nicely done, Naruto. How the hell did Thawne almost open her door?" Joe wondered.

"I'm not sure. Gideon, bring up Peek-a-Boo's cell and run a system diagnostics check." Naruto said as the cell came up on the nearby monitor so they could look and the system check highlighted a short-circuit in the computer system. "He short-circuited the system for her door. Luckily, the lockdown protocol affects everything. I'll have to fix that."

"Wait, shhh…do you hear that?" Joe whispered as he and Cisco stayed quiet but didn't hear anything.

"According to Gideon, all the other cells are secure, and no one escaped." Naruto told him.

"Shh…" Joe quieted them and listened when they heard finally heard something.

"Someone…help! Down here!" They heard a voice coming down from the ground. Joe was first down the ladder to the reactor ring floor and they all listened to see if they could locate the source. They eventually found a hidden entrance and ladder that led to a secret room underneath the building where the voice was coming from. They made their way down and managed to find Eddie who was a little weak and dirty but other than that he was fine, so they got him back to the Cortex where Caitlin gave him a once over and some IV fluid.

"Your vitals are normal you're just a little dehydrated. The IV should help with that but drink some fluids and stay off your feet. Ok, Eddie?" Caitlin told him.

"Thanks, Caitlin." Eddie replied just as a whoosh of air hit the cortex and Barry arrived, doubled over, and trying to catch his breath.

"He got away. He was too fast. He's always too fast." Barry said when he saw Eddie. "Eddie!"

"We found him under that emergency hatch in the pipeline." Cisco told him.

"I'm so sorry. Naruto and I looked everywhere for you." Barry said.

"Hey, it's not your fault. Sometimes you just can't see the clues. Even if they're right in front of you." Eddie replied with a not-so subtle undertone that seemed to be directed to Barry and Iris.

"Um, well you know all that's important is that we're all safe, and back together, right?" Iris asked, holding his hand.

"Eddie, do you know why he took you?" Joe wondered, wanting to know if Thawne told him anything useful.

"He wanted to keep me safe. He said that we were family. Said his real name is Eobard Thawne." Eddie explained as Joe pointed to Naruto who nodded. He was right and Wells/Thawne took Eddie as an extra security measure in case something happened.

"Did he say anything else? I mean, anything that could help us with what he's really after?" Joe asked.

"I—he didn't say much. Just stuff about trying to get back what was taken from him." Eddie said which drew some odd looks from Naruto who kept that in the back of his head. "Other than that, he spent most of his time just working on some kind of metal tube."

"What kind of tube?" Naruto wondered.

"It was metallic, futuristic and about the size of a cigar tube." Eddie said. "He said it was the key to him getting back everything that was taken from him. Yeah, I don't know. Look, I just want to go home. Is that ok?"

"Yes, of course." Caitlin removed the IV tube while Iris helped him walk and escorted him out.

"What do you think Thawne was talking about?" Barry wondered as Naruto began to pace as he mulled over everything, they learned in his super brain to try and figure out what Thawne's end plan was. "Naruto, anything?"

"I'm thinking." He told him only for the computer to beep. "Gideon, what is it?"

"I've detected the source of what's causing the Particle Accelerator to reactivate." Gideon said as Naruto walked over to the monitors before super speeding to the reactor ring to find the metallic blue tube Eddie was talking about. It was somehow plugged in to the reactor ring and restarting the reaction process. He video called everyone back in the cortex to show them.

"Hey, guys. Found the source. This is it." Naruto showed them with his phone so they could see. "This must be the tube Eddie was talking about. It's some kind of future power source and it's starting the ionization reaction in the reactor."

"Can you shut it down?" Barry asked.

"I can't. I had Gideon scan the tube and it's locked into position and the only way to unlock it and shut it down is with a biometric coded release key which Thawne most likely has. Not even Gideon can shut it down. He's really starting to piss me off with how he's prepared for everything. If I try to screw with this at all, we could blow up the entire city." Naruto warned them.

"Yeah, that wouldn't be good." Caitlin commented.

"Well, how long before it's fully functional?" Barry wondered.

"By my calculations…36 hours." Naruto answered before super speeding back to the cortex so they could talk.

"That's when he'll be backed." Barry said.

"Why would he want the Particle Accelerator to turn on?" Joe asked.

"Yeah, it's not like it was such a big success the first time." Cisco commented.

"I'm not sure but whatever Thawne is planning it must involve the Accelerator. And if he's been secretly rebuilding the entire thing then who knows what happens when it turns on." Naruto said. "I mean, that night gave us our powers so who knows what he wants."

"Not just us though." Cisco referred to the metahumans they had locked up. They brought up the camera footage for the cells that held Weather Wizard, the Mist, Peek-a-Boo, Death Bolt, Rainbow Raider, Pied Piper, Darkforce, and Python.

"So, what happens if the Particle Accelerator turns on while the metahumans are in their containment cells?" Caitlin asked.

"They're toast." Cisco told her.

"We put them down there and now they're lives are in danger because of us." Caitlin stated.

"Look, I think you all know I've never been a fan of this arrangement here. I thought the whole plan was to rehabilitate them and set them free." Joe said.

"It was. We've just been a little busy." Caitlin told him.

"And I'm not sure how successful that plan would have been anyway. Did you really think we'd be able to rehabilitate criminals like Weather Wizard or the Mist? They were criminals before they got powers which made them even deadlier and more unhinged." Naruto said as he sat down in a chair and let out an exhale. "Still…we've got a problem.

"Well, if they stay in there, they die. And if we let them go, they destroy the city." Cisco postulated their problem.

"We could do the thing we did with Bates. Hand him over to the police with the power dampening cuffs." Caitlin suggested and they all mulled that over as a possible alternative.

"That's not a bad idea if we work it right. We could knock them out and release them in the city then take them down one by one and dropped them off at CCPD. I already shipped power dampening cuffs to Captain Singh so they'll be able to take them into custody but that's not gonna work for all of them. Marcus Daniels is too dangerous and Kabuto and Hartley know we are. If we give them to the police then we're screwed." Naruto pointed out and they had to concede that point. "But for others that could work. The power dampening bracelets will prevent them from using their powers until I send over the power dampening generators and they start building a designated Metahuman wing at Iron Heights."

"All right, you drop off the metahumans at the CCPD but what about the others?" Joe asked.

"We're gonna have to move them." Barry stated.

"Move them where? No other place in Central City can hold metahumans." Joe reminded him.

"You're right but Lian Yu can." Barry said which Caitlin, Cisco, and Naruto realized was true and could work while Joe was the only one confused.

"What the hell's a Lian Yu?"

"Lian Yu is the island where Oliver was stranded for five years. ARGUS built a cover military prison on it." Barry explained.

"It's where we sent Captain Boomerang." Cisco added.

"Right. Oliver keeps his worst criminals there. They won't be able to escape and more importantly, they won't be able to hurt anybody." Barry said.

"Something tells me they'll fit right in with Captain Boomerang and Deathstroke." Naruto commented.

"Great. So, we ship them from one illegal black site to another?" Joe asked, rhetorically. "And how do we move them to Oliver's own private Alcatraz?"

"I'll call him. Maybe he can help with transport." Barry suggested.

"Uh, he's kind of occupied at the moment with the League of Assassins." Naruto told him. "But I'll call Diggle and see if he could use any of Lyla's old contacts to help us. Failing that…we'll have to take them ourselves. Cisco, go check on their cells and work out small trackers you can put on them so we don't lose them in the city."

"I'm on it." Cisco and Caitlin left leaving Naruto and Barry to talk to Joe who still wasn't happy about second half of the plan that involved transporting three metahumans to an island in the North China Sea.

"Guys, this is insane."

"Joe, we have to do this." Barry told him.

"I'm with Barry on this one. It's the only option we have." Naruto added.

"Really because this whole thing doesn't sit right with me. We're breaking a whole lot of laws on this one. Unlawful imprisonment, human trafficking…at what point do we start to become the bad guys here?" Joe asked and Barry looked offended at that question.

"We are way different then them."

"How?"

"We only break the rules to help people." Barry told him.

"Not exactly the best defense you could use their Barry but Joe, what other option do we have? If you can give me one, I will gladly hear it out." Naruto said and Joe tried to think of one but couldn't. "We have no other moves on this one. Daniels is too dangerous to be locked up, Hartley knows who we are and Kabuto could report to the Nine if he gets the chance. If any of that is done then we're screwed, end up prison, have every single criminal in the city after us or we end up dead. So, like it or not, we have to do this. But your frown and arguments will be on record."

Naruto walked out of the cortex to go back to the lab to do some more work on the Flash Rings and the suits. What he didn't know was Barry chasing after him because he wanted to talk to him.

"Naruto!" Barry shouted, getting him to stop in the hallway so the two could speak. "You sure this will work?"

"More than likely. At the very least, they'll be safe when the accelerator turns on and we can focus on Thawne." Naruto told him.

"What do you think he's got planned?" Barry wondered only for Naruto to shrug his shoulders in response.

"I'm not sure. I'll try and think of some stuff but something tells me that we won't figure that out until he tells us."

"Still, thanks for the backup in their with Joe. He's being kind of stubborn on this one." Barry said.

"He's just looking out for you, Barry." Naruto said which drew a confused look from his speedster partner. "Let this be one moment of our old brotherly bond in these desperate and dangerous times. Joe's just looking out for you and making sure you stay the hero you're supposed to be."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Barry, despite the fact that our powers are pretty much the same…we are not the same person. You've dedicated your entire life to proving the impossible and helping people because of what happened to your mother. Joe then took you in and fostered that into a drive that makes you the hero you are. Like Oliver said, a symbol of hope for the city. You care about people, right and wrong, light and dark, and you stick by that. It's why you had such a hard time when Oliver tried to train you or when we went to Starling and you had to follow his lead. I said this to Oliver after my own personal crisis of character but we're different. My experiences, my upbringing…" Naruto clicked his teeth as he struggled to say the next few words. "…and I can't believe I'm going to say this but Thawne's influence in my life helped me embrace a side that I know you have a hard time with. I'm willing to embrace my darker side and do things that others won't…that you won't and that's fine because I don't think you could. And I don't mean that you couldn't do them, I mean it would change the hero you would need to be. As someone who's gotten a look at the future, The Flash is a hero not because he saves people but because he inspires people to be better."

"And what about Impulse?" Barry asked.

"Impulse is a hero who's been forged through pain to avenge the wrongs of the people he's lost. And to make sure that never happens to anyone ever again." Naruto told him. "The world and the future needs us both. Don't change."

Naruto gave him a nod before turning to walk to his lab. Barry was a little shocked to hear all that from him but it gave him clarification and some confidence for the trials they would face. "Naruto…" Barry said, getting him to stop for a second. "Thank you." Naruto gave him a slight nod before walking back to the lab.

Naruto called Diggle who talked to Lyla and ARGUS would be sending a plane and a crew to pick up the metahumans and take them to Lian Yu. Dig also informed him that Oliver and the League returned to the city to take Nyssa back to Nanda Parbat. Luckily, Oliver managed to sneak word to Dig and Felicity and tell them of the plan and how he fake-kidnapped Lyla. They managed to sell it and according to Oliver's last transmission, Nyssa was still alive, but things were moving fast and not at all like they planned. Something must have changed.

Their plan with the metahumans that could go to Iron Heights went into effect. They gassed the metas to knock them out before they were let out of their cells and dropped off in various points around the city with trackers on them. Once they woke up and attempted their escape, Naruto and Barry tracked them down and incapacitated them quickly. They took them to the CCPD, removed their trackers and the police took them into custody. They all had outstanding warrants and once the power dampening bracelets were put on, they were back to being human. Mardon would go back to jail, along with Bivolo, Shawna, and Simmons while Nimbis would probably go back on Death row for his execution that he survived.

As for Daniels, Hartley, and Kabuto who were going to be taken to Lian Yu, they still needed to get them across the city to the old Ferris Airfields hangar. To do that, they rigged a truck with a power dampening generator along with putting power dampening cuffs on them just to be safe and they were all knocked out by Icers so they would be asleep the whole trip. Naruto would drive the truck while Barry would patrol the route and make sure nothing bad happened. Caitlin, Joe, and Cisco wanted to come but Naruto told them to stay back at STAR labs. The less ARGUS knew about STAR Labs being involved the better.

Kabuto, Daniels, and Hartley were put into the truck in the cargo area before Naruto secured the door and activated the power dampening generator. "Naruto, are you sure that generator will keep them from using their powers?" Caitlin asked.

"With no signal interference, yeah. And if it fails, they're also cuffed with power dampeners and taking an Icer induced nap so we should be fine." Naruto told her.

"I still think we should come with in case something happens." Joe pointed out.

"We can handle it. Besides, the less ARGUS knows about STAR labs involvement the better. Barry, let's go!" Naruto shouted as he climbed into the driver's seat and turned the ignition on.

"Naruto, do you even know how to drive a truck?" Cisco asked. "You don't have a Class-A driver's license."

"Gideon gave me a brief rundown. I'll be fine. Anything happens, Barry will get involved. Wish us luck." Naruto drove out of the cargo area with Barry speeding ahead to make sure their ride was as smooth as possible. Cisco hacked into the city's traffic cameras and lights to give them a clear and steady path through the city while Barry quickly removed any pedestrians and created mini-roadblocks or traffic jams, so no one got close to the truck. It took about fifteen minutes, but they managed to arrive at the Old Ferris Airfield hangar.

Naruto parked the truck in the hangar and stepped out before quickly changing into his suit where he and Barry waited for ARGUS to arrive. "Ferris Air. Interesting choice for a pick up." Barry commented.

"Yeah, well most of their sites are shut down other than the ones in Coast City after a test pilot disappeared. Figured no one would be around to ask questions." Naruto pointed out. He checked the time and the plane was due to arrive in a few minutes. "It should be here soon."

They heard the rumbling of a plane engine and saw a cargo plane in the sky. "There they are." Barry said.

"All right, let's get them ready." Naruto and Barry opened up the truck and made sure the prisoners were still unconscious and had power dampening cuffs on. The plane touched down on the runway and stopped near the hangar where the ramp opened up to show several ARGUS agents in tactical gear, some technicians, and doctors with one agent in a suit who must have been the point man. Said agent walked over to Naruto and Barry and shook their hands.

"Impulse, Flash, I'm Agent Chang." Agent Chang shook their hands and signaled the other agents to take the metahumans into custody. "We got your message. Don't worry. They won't be harming anyone."

"Good. Make sure those cuffs stay on and install the power dampening generator in their cells." Barry told him.

"Trust us. They'll kill you the first chance they get. They're dangerous." Naruto added.

"We'll take care of it. Don't worry." Agent Chang assured him as he saw his agents put the metahumans onto gurneys where the doctors checked their vitals before wheeling them onto the plane while the technicians took the power dampening generators onto the plane. "Best of luck, you two. Keep the city safe. ARGUS is betting on you guys."

Agent Chang got onto the plane as ARGUS quickly got the plane up and left almost as quickly as they arrived. "Naruto, are you getting that sinking feeling that we might have made a mistake?" Barry wondered.

"Yeah but we have enough problems to deal with. Let's just hope it's not a mistake that comes back to bite us in the ass later." Naruto wished.

The ARGUS plane quickly flew up into secured airspace and began making way to its destination. Agent Chang used the planes secured phone network to make a call. "Director Waller, this is Agent Chang. We've got the two metahumans."

"And the power dampeners?"

"Secured as well, Director. Our technicians are going over the technology as we speak." Chang told her.

"Good. Drop off Rathaway at Lian Yu and return to base with the two metahumans. Begin their preparation for Task Force X as soon as you touch down." Waller ordered.

"Yes, Director. And the other metahumans in Central City?" Chang wondered. "Should we being sending agents to collect more assets?"

"Not until we get our two new ones under control and things run smoothly. The Flash and Impulse can keep Central City safe for now." Waller told him.

"Yes, Ma'am." Change said as he hung up.

Naruto and Barry returned to STAR Labs shortly after the exchange. Some worried thoughts lingered in their heads with handing over the metahumans to ARGUS but like Naruto said they didn't have many other options. Still, they're taken care of and Joe got word from DA Horton that the metahumans the Flash and Impulse dropped off at CCPD were secured in cells and waiting their trials. They managed a win over Thawne trying to screw them over but now it was time for them to face him.

When the Accelerator was fully charged and operational, their security cameras picked up Thawne casually walking through the gates and up to the building. "Barry, don't even think about it." Joe warned him. "Barr, no."

"You can't go out there by yourself." Caitlin told him.

"He won't." Naruto assured her as he and Barry looked at the screen. "Let's end this."

"Amen to that." Barry replied as the two raced outside and stopped in the courtyard in front of STAR labs, standing across from Thawne."

"Looks like you boys have been busy. Making deals with ARGUS and the such. Tsk-tsk…you both should know better." Thawne scolded them.

"We didn't have much of a choice." Naruto told him.

"All apart of your plan, I presume?" Barry asked.

"Actually, that didn't factor into my plan at all, but I'm impressed you went to such great lengths to keep those people from harm. Ever the hero, huh boys?"

"You've hurt enough people." Barry told him.

"I know. You see me as the villain, but if you two were to look back, look back carefully at everything I've done, every wheel I've set in motion you would realize I have only done what I had to do. Nothing more. Nothing less." Thawne told them.

"And the Particle Accelerator? How does that fit into your grand scheme?" Naruto wondered.

"Well, why don't we go on inside and let me show you." Thawne suggested.

"You know after everything we've been through I think I've learned enough not to trust the bad guy so no." Barry told him.

"And yet, I've showed you time and time again…that even together you can't be me." Thawne reminded him.

"Then it's a good thing we didn't come alone." Naruto said as the sound of a roaring fire was heard followed by the red glow. Firestorm hovered through the air before landing down next to Barry. They then heard the rustling and whistling of dirt as a large pile of moving sand flew through the air before landing down next to Naruto and riding said cloud was Gaara. He was wearing long-sleeved crimson coat and full-length black trousers with a pair of heavy duty combat boots. Over the coat was a heavy duty combat vest and two buckles and straps that held a large sand gourd over his back. He had a face mask covering everything from his nose down and a pair of goggles on his forehead. Gaara nodded to Naruto who nodded back while Barry smirked at the reinforcements.

"Oh, looks like you two brought some friends." Thawne remarked with a smirk when they heard the zip of a zipline and Oliver dropped down in his League of Assassin's gear next to Gaara. "Welcome, Mr. Queen!"

"Hope we're not too late." Oliver said.

"Just in time." Naruto told him.

"I don't care how fast you are Thawne. You can't fight all five of us at the same time." Barry stated.

"Oh, I can't? Trust me…this, this is gonna be fun." Thawne held out his Flash ring which began glowing. Firestorm ignited, Barry and Naruto slipped on their masks, Gaara began swirling sand around him while Oliver drew an arrow. Thawne's Reverse-Flash suit shot out of his ring and he super sped forward, suiting up as Naruto and Barry charged at him as the three engaged in a super speed fight. They swirled around in a circle at super speed, throwing out speed punches and kicks as Thawne was still super-fast that he was able to keep up with both of them. Oliver and Firestorm stood by, ready for their opening but couldn't do anything as they didn't have clear shot. Gaara gathered his sand under his feet and flew into the air as he waited for his chance.

Naruto managed to grab Thawne's arm and throw him to Barry who speed punched him in the face and then the gut before Thawne blocked his third punch and headbutted him. Naruto threw out a right hook from behind but Thawne vibrated so it phased through him and he hit Barry instead. Thawne threw his head back and hit Naruto in the nose before turning around and slugging him in the gut and throwing an elbow to the face. Naruto recovered from the elbow to the face and grabbed Thawne which was a big mistake as Thawne's red lightning seem to come alive and electrocute him. Barry rushed over to help him but Thawne grabbed him by the neck and hurled him into the STAR labs sign. Thawne's lightning attacked Naruto's lightning like the two were prey and predator and Thawne was winning. The two stopped in place long enough for everyone to see Thawne's lightning seem to eat and corrupt Naruto's lightning like it was a parasite and judging by Naruto's cry it was painful.

Firestorm took off into the air and fired a fireball at Thawne which knocked him away from Naruto who dropped to his knees in pain. Gaara fired several strands of sand at Thawne who super sped all over the place, avoiding them with ease while Firestorm added to it with various fireballs. Oliver rushed over and helped Naruto back to his feet.

"Are you all right?" He asked as Naruto grabbed his side in pain. He held up his hand and tried vibrating it but for some reason it wasn't working as his lightning flickered around his body with a low dim instead of its usual glow. Something was wrong.

"I'm fine. Go." Naruto told him as Oliver rushed over to help with the fight. Naruto leaned onto the fence to catch his breath as he felt weak and drained even though they had only been fighting for a few minutes. "Gideon, what's happening to my powers?"

"You're suffering the aftereffects of Thawne's speed force negation. Your powers are temporarily cut off to you." Gideon told him.

"Great." Naruto muttered as he stood himself up to go help.

Thawne kept running laps around Firestorm and Gaara who weren't able to land a hit on him. Gaara then sent a tidal wave of sand that covered the ground and slowed Thawne down before surrounding him in a large dome of sand. The dome slowly shrunk around Thawne only for him to blast it with his lightning and turn it to glass which he promptly busted out at super speed, sending shards all over the place. Gaara covered his face from the shards of glass was a bad idea as Thawne raced out and threw a red lightning bolt at the sand pile beneath his feet which turned it into glass. That sent Gaara falling to the ground but Firestorm flew by and grabbed him, placing him down on the ground safely before flying at Thawne who spun his arm and created a wind funnel that sent him flying away but got hit by a special arrow in the back of the leg. Barry saw Ronnie/Stein get hit by the wind funnel and sped after him to make sure he was safe while Thawne took the arrow out of his leg.

"Nanites, curtesy of Ray Palmer and Naruto. They're delivering a high frequency pulse that's disabling your speed." Oliver told him which actually proved true as Thawne stopped vibrating. "You're not gonna be running around for quite a while."

Thawne smirked, undeterred as he charged at Oliver. He ducked under his bow and lifted his leg to avoid a knee hit only to get punched in the face three times, bow punched in the gut and then bow smacked into a trashcan. He got back up as Oliver then knelt down only for Naruto to jump off his back and hit him with a flying punch to the face, a left cross to the jaw, his leg kicked out from under him and then a knee to the face before he was thrown into a stone bench.

"You may have taken my speed but I'm not useless." Naruto and Oliver marched over as Thawne picked up a shard of glass and swiped at them only for Oliver to disarm him and break his wrist and punch him in the gut. Thawne threw out a kick but Naruto blocked it and punched him across the face before Oliver smacked him in the gut. He then kicked Thawne in the chest as Naruto blocked Thawne's punch and followed that up with four chain punches to his stomach, blocked Thawne's right cross and threw him to Oliver who kicked out his left leg and then kicked him in the back setting him up for Naruto to jump forward and land a tornado kick right to Thawne's head that sent him spinning to the ground in pain.

Oliver quickly drew an arrow but before he could fire Thawne vibrated the nanites out of his body and super speed slammed Naruto away before grabbing Oliver and slamming him onto the ground. "The history books say you live to be 86 years old, Mr. Queen. Well, I guess the history books are wrong." Thawne vibrated his hand, hellbent on driving through Oliver's chest only for Barry to super speed slam him from the side and send him into a fence. "Ha, that's the spirit. You can't stop me, Flash. And you never will."

Thawne took off running up the side of STAR labs with Barry giving chase. Gaara pulled more sand out of his gourd and flew after them, hovering in the air as he watched Barry race after the Reverse-Flash. Naruto watched the light show from the ground floor when he felt his side injuries begin to get better and saw his lightning flicker back to normal. He closed his eyes and concentrated to summon his speed force armor as it coated his hands in crimson and white energy. "Let's end this. Get ready to put him to sleep." Naruto told Oliver who nodded as he raced away.

Barry chased Thawne around the roof of STAR labs and managed to land a solid gut punch that got Thawne's attention so he led him across the rooftop and up one of the three building spires for their trap. Once they arrived at the top, sand encased and trapped Thawne's feet curtesy of Gaara who then spread and tightened it around his whole body to keep him from moving and to make it hurt. Gaara clenched his hand as the sand surrounding Thawne like a coffin, effectively trapping him.

"Now!" Barry shouted as Firestorm flew by and shot a huge fireball that hit Thawne and sent him off the building. As he was falling to the ground, a sonic boom was heard as Naruto super sped back to STAR labs and leapt into the air performing a flying super sonic speed forcer armor punch that hit him right in the gut and sent him crashing into the side of STAR labs.

Naruto slid to a stop as he saw Thawne's body stuck in the wall before he slipped out and fell to the ground with a loud thud. Despite the pain and injuries, he must have sustained he somehow managed to get back onto his knees only for Oliver to shoot him in the back with a specialty arrow. It had an attached power dampener along with enough tranquilizer and dendrotoxin to knock out a herd of elephants. Thawne had no chance and slumped face first to the ground. Oliver fired a grapple arrow and landed on the ground as Barry slid next to Naruto. Firestorm and Gaara hovered down and landed next to them.

"Thanks, fellas." Barry said to them all.

"No problem." Ronnie/Stein replied.

"Nice haircut." Barry said to Oliver. "And I see we've abandoned our traditional green."

"Trying something different." Oliver told him.

"It's a long story." Naruto said. "Thanks again for coming. I'll repay the favor."

"Something tells me it'll be sooner than expected." Oliver said and Naruto nodded as he left while Ronnie/Stein headed inside.

"Thanks, Gaara." Naruto said as they shook hands before fist bumping. "We appreciate it."

"No problem. It was nice to use my powers for good. I'm only glad my flight wasn't delayed." Gaara told him as he looked at his reflection in one of the STAR labs windows. He looked good. He gave Barry a nod before joining Ronnie and heading into the building.

Barry looked down at Thawne's body and smiled. "I got you."

Line Break xxxxx

Nanda Parbat, Hindu Kush

At the ancient castle home of the League of Assassins, Ra's Al Ghul was sitting a large dinning table with his heir apparent Oliver. Two League of Assassin members escorted Nyssa into the room who was wearing some very regal and fancy clothing. The reason for the little family dinner? Ra's Al Ghul planned to do more than just secure his heir but secure his bloodline by having Oliver and Nyssa in an arrange marriage.

"My daughter." Ra's greeted her as she sat down because she had no other option. A platter was brought over to her but she ushered it away.

"I am not hungry."

"Ah, yes. Many a bride have skipped a meal or two before their wedding day." Ra's commented.

"I would rather die than wed this pretender." Nyssa told him.

"Well, you speak as though they are the only two options before you, my daughter." Ra's said as Nyssa looked at him.

"Daughter. And to think, I once wore that title with pride."

"Perhaps mother will suit you better. After your betrothal to Al Sah-Him, you will extend my lineage by having a child of your own." Ra's told her and Nyssa stood up in anger.

"If you think I will bear his child—" "Yes! I do!" Ra's looked at his men who forced her back into her seat. "And you will have no more say in it than your mother was given." Ra's said when he noticed Oliver hadn't said a word. "You're quiet."

"I'm prepared for my ascension to Ra's. But I'm still…coming to grips with marriage. Perhaps a walk to clear my head." Oliver stood up and walked to the door.

"I will send a guard to accompany you." Ra's told him as Nyssa slipped her food knife into her sleeve.

"If I can't protect myself, I don't deserve to inherit your mantle." Oliver remarked as he left. He walked out of the castle and made it about three miles away to the old stone gateway arches that were nothing more than ruins. It was far enough out of earshot and visual range from the League's scouts. As Oliver walked past the ruined archway, a figure came at him from behind but Oliver just disarmed him and threw him to the ground. "You're late."

The figure took off his mask to reveal himself to be Malcolm. "Sorry, Nanda Parbat's not exactly the easiest place to get to and I was feeling some motion sickness from the speedster."

Naruto then stepped into view in his regular clothes along with Talia who was wearing her armor. "What's wrong? Why the emergency meeting?"

"Things are worse than we thought." Oliver told them. They started a fire as Oliver told them about what was going on and why the emergency meeting. "Ra's plans to transport the virus to Starling on a plane."

"That is oddly modern for the league. Do you think Ra's suspects you?" Malcolm wondered.

"He has no reason to." Oliver commented.

"Perhaps my father is moving things along quicker for your marriage to Nyssa?" Talia suggested. "The sooner his new heir marries his daughter the better."

"Which would be sweet if it wasn't horrible." Naruto let out a sharp exhale as he ran his hand through his hair. "And it screws us over in the long run. We don't have enough time to dismantle more of the League from inside."

"So, what do we do?" Malcolm asked and they all thought of what they could and there was only one answer.

"We'll have to adjust our plans. Instead of two separate attacks, one consolidated one here at the League's headquarters." Naruto suggested and Oliver agreed.

"Many armies have tried and none have taken Nanda Parbat." Talia told him.

"Well, those armies never had a speedster." Malcolm pointed out.

"It's the only plan we have. We stop Ra's here before he ever makes it to Starling but we'll need help." Oliver said and Naruto thought it over for a minute.

"I've got some ideas." Naruto told him when Talia and Malcolm perked up.

"Someone's coming." Malcolm said.

"We'll keep in touch. Talia, assemble your legion." Oliver told her as Naruto grabbed Talia and Malcolm and super sped away before Maseo arrived and saw him sitting there alone.

"You were gone quite a while. There was concern."

"I was thinking." Oliver told him, getting back into his role.

Starling City

Dig, Felicity, Roy, and Laurel got word from Naruto that they needed to meet so they were waiting for him and Malcolm at an old, abandoned building. Felicity looked around the place and wiped her finger on an old desk to see it was covered in dust.

"Egh, Naruto could have picked a better place for us to meet." Felicity wiped the dust off her finger as Dig suppressed a chuckle.

"Any idea what this is about?" Roy asked.

"No, just that Naruto said he needed to meet us immediately. Whatever it is, it's important. Merlyn's coming as well." Dig told him.

"I still don't like that Merlyn is apart of this." Laurel commented.

"Well Naruto assures me that Merlyn is waving the white flag." Dig said as Merlyn arrived.

"I'm sorry, I forgot the flag." Merlyn said.

"That's too bad. I would have told you where you could put it." Laurel told him, earning a chuckle from the Dark Archer.

"What's this about, Malcolm? Where's Naruto?" Dig asked.

"I'm here, Dig." Naruto walked in followed by a woman the others didn't know. A Japanese woman who was an old friend of Oliver's, Tatsu Yamashiro. "Sorry for late notice but it's an emergency. Oliver needs our help."

"Who's this?" Roy gestured to the mystery woman.

"This is Tatsu Yamashiro and she's here to help. She's an old friend of Oliver's and was the one who helped Oliver recover from his battle with Ra's back in December. Oliver trusts her which is more than enough for me and she knows firsthand of the danger we're facing." Naruto explained. "As you know, the final part of the ascension of the new Ra's al Ghul is the destruction of the heir's home to remove any part of their past and Oliver found out how Ra's plans to do that. Ra's plan for the culling of Starling city is releasing a virus, a virus so deadly it'll wipe out everyone in this city."

"How did the League of Assassin's get their hands on a virus?" Laurel asked.

"One of their members took a sample of it from its use in Hong Kong fives years ago. Oliver was there with Tatsu." Naruto said.

"My son was killed by the virus Ra's intends to use on your city." Tatsu said as Diggle realized something.

"Are you—you're Akio's mother?"

"Oliver was with me when it happened. He knows that the danger you all face is very real." Tatsu explained.

"So, what's the plan?" Dig asked Naruto.

"We stop Ra's before that virus leaves Nanda Parbat. They plan to use a plane to deliver the virus, so we take it out first." Naruto handed Felicity a small case which she opened to reveal small vials of a clear liquid. "I took a blood sample from Oliver and managed to isolate the vaccine he was injected with years ago and I replicated it. Make sure you inject yourselves and pack everything you have for a fight. Meet us at the Ferris Air Field before sunrise."

They left the warehouse soon after that and got ready for a fight. Dig packed up his T-visor helmet, pistol, and an assault rifle in his bag along with Laurel's gear and canary cry choker and Roy's Arsenal gear. Felicity packed a tablet for her hacking skills and went to the airfield where Malcolm, Naruto and Tatsu were waiting for them. Tatsu had a bag with her armor, mask, and a special Katana in a red scabbard. She unsheathed the blade so Naruto and Malcolm could see with their own eyes at the blade's beauty and knew it was special.

"Is that a Masamune blade?" Naruto asked in awe. Those were legendary. He had only seen those in museums.

"A katana. Passed on for centuries within my family. The first son of each generation." Tatsu replied.

"You're not a son, Tatsu." Malcolm commented.

"No, I am not." She replied just as Diggle, Felicity, Laurel, and Roy arrived.

"All right, we're ready." Diggle said.

"All right, follow me." Naruto told them as they all followed him to a small hangar with the STAR labs logo on the hangar door. "I bought the hangar. One second."

Naruto pressed a button on his phone and the hangar opened itself slowly to reveal their plane which wasn't really a plane or what they were expecting at all. It was an unique, hybrid-wing aircraft with angled wings folded for storage. The front of the aircraft held the cockpit with an angular single design for the pilot while the back of the aircraft were two powerful jet engines but along with those engines were two large, angle-adjustable rotors, one in each wing making the aircraft capable of unprecedent maneuverability and incredible speed.

"Whoa…" Roy muttered as Naruto pressed another button and the aircraft powered up.

"Naruto, what is that?" Diggle asked.

"Your ride. Say hello to the first ever STAR labs Quinjet. Highly advanced VTOL hybrid-wing aircraft. Two powerful jet engines more advanced than anything on the market, with two adjustable rotors and wingtips grant this aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capabilities along with making it more maneuverable than any other aircraft on the market, fixed winged or not. Capable of speeds up to Mach 3 and equipped with the best navigation system, counter-surveillance, and auto-pilot, it'll get you to Nanda Parbat with ease and faster than any other plane." Naruto explained as they all looked at him funny. "It's my first prototype and I had a weekend off. Anyway, there's enough room for all of you and the autopilot will take care of everything."

Naruto pressed another button on his phone and the power ramp in the back opened up so they could get in. Diggle moved some gear onto the plane when he noticed Naruto wasn't moving. "Naruto, are you coming?"

"Not with you guys. There's still something I have to do. I'll meet you there." Naruto told them before super speeding away.

Once everyone got into the quinjet, the ramp closed and the aircraft's engines powered up and the rotors began spinning until it hovered in the air and maneuvered out of the hangar. It then flew away like a helicopter before the engines ignited and the quinjet changed into jet mode and took off with speed with the autopilot setting course for Nanda Parbat.

Nanda Parbat, Hindu Kush

True to Naruto's work, the quinjet got them to Nanda Parbat without any problems and faster than a normal plane would have and it was able to hover and land without a proper runway. They landed by the mountains which made their climb up a lot easier. They got dressed up in their gear and Malcolm led the way to the plane. Tatsu had also gotten dressed up in her gear and unique mask with a red circle on it.

They kept their eyes open but there didn't seem to be anything but rocks, dirt, and mountains for miles. "So, this is Nanda Parbat."

"Next time, we should really look into getting some horse. You think they rent horses here?" Felicity asked, huffing and puffing from the long hike.

"There won't be a next time." Dig told her.

They climbed over a hill and made their way past some ruins to a relatively flat area littered with nothing but dirt and trees and saw the plane parked at the bottom. "There's the plane Ra's intends to use to spread the Alpha and Omega over Starling."

"I need to be within 50 yards to breech the plane's internal mainframe and navigation software, but then I should be able to remote ground the thing." Felicity told him when Malcolm adopted a serious face.

"Quiet."

"I don't see anything." Laurel said as Malcolm fired an arrow to their left and hit a League scout.

"There'll be more." Malcolm said as they climbed down the hill in a hurry. He quickly shot another league scout but he was only one of many as assassins popped up all over the place, surrounding them. Dig opened fire with his assault rifle and took out some assassins as Roy fired some arrows at assassins he could hit. "Get to the plane. We'll cover you. Go!"

Felicity hurried to the plane as Malcolm engaged three League assassins by himself and easily took them down. Roy switched to his escrima sticks and teamed up with Laurel as the two fought off against four League assassins, covering each other's flanks and they held their own fairly well against these low-level members of the League. Felicity made it about 50 feet from the plane as the engines powered up and quickly got to work. "Close enough."

Diggle kept up the heavy barrage of gunfire that took out some of the league members from a distance until one assassin got close and disarmed. Diggle quickly blocked his sword strike and pulled out his pistol before shooting him three times in the chest and tossing him to ground. He kept up the barrage of bullets while also knocking around and throwing some Assassins. His training with Oliver was really playing into effect. Tatsu sliced through assassin after assassin with her katana, showing off extreme proficiency with the blade. While the League members were highly trained, she was a master in Kenjutsu, Kendo and other sword based Japanese Martial arts so she handled herself very well. She took down assassin after assassin until she found herself standing in front of her husband, Maseo.

"Surrender now, and you might live."

"Maseo."

"Maseo is a memory."

"Our child was gone, and you left me when I needed you most. But you can still come back to me. It's not too late." Tatsu told him.

"Yes, it is." He told her before removing his mask and unsheathing his katana. "Your husband is long dead. If Sarab must die as well, then so be it."

The two engaged in an emotionally fueled sword fight with neither one wanting to fight but having to. Both were fairly even during the fight with excellent form, skill, and experience on both sides but one way or another a victor would be claimed and one would die. While the others were still fighting, Felicity was almost done with the override at 97% but the plane was a minute from taking off. "Oh, Frack!" She tried to speed up the hacking only for an arrow to hit her tablet and render it useless. "More frack!" She quickly pulled the arrow out of the table and threw it behind her like a frisbee, nailing the assassin who shot the arrow in the throat. He grabbed his throat in pain and Felicity smiled, thinking she got him only for the assassin to fall dead with an arrow in his back curtesy of Merlyn. "Oh, that makes more sense."

With Felicity unable to hack the plane, it hovered in the air ready to take off. Dig shot another assassin point blank in the face before unloading the rest of his clip at the plane but it wasn't able to stop it from flying away.

"Can you bring it down from the sky?" Merlyn asked as he rushed over.

"They destroyed my gear, but I had some insurance come along."

"What kind of insurance?" Merlyn asked as they saw something fly in from the east and it was Ray in the ATOM suit.

"The atomic kind." She told him as Ray flew through the air and trailed after the plane. He locked onto the plane's energy signature and fired a compressed light beam which damaged it a little bit and caused it falter in the air but wasn't enough to take it down as it quickly recovered and was now set on taking out the enemy combatant. It locked onto Ray's heat signature before firing a missile that managed to hit him but he was able to recover with his suit able to keep him alive. He tried to fire another energy beam but his suit was damage so he resorted to smashing straight through it which took it down but also sent him to the ground. "RAY!"

"Get down!" Malcolm covered her as Ray smashed into the ground and carved out an impact crater.

"Ray?!" She rushed over and afraid he was dead but he was alive.

"Ha, you should see the other guy."

Laurel, Roy, and Diggle kept fighting as Tatsu's battle with her husband seemed to have no end in sight. Parries, blocks, swipes, swings, slashes, and strikes from both of them but no clear winner until Maseo countered her downward swing and tossed her onto her back. Maseo stalked around his wife and readied his sword.

"Tell Akio…I love him." He raised his sword for a finishing strike but Tatsu spun onto her knees and impaled him through the gut.

"You tell him for both of us." She said as she pulled out the sword and held him close, crying tears of sadness.

"Thank you…for releasing me…from my prison." Maseo whispered before his heart stopped beating and he died. Tatsu held her husband close and recited the same Japanese nursery rhyme she sang to Akio when he died before crying out in sorrow.

Felicity helped Ray back to his feet as Laurel, Roy, and Diggle defeated more of Ra's men but they were getting tired. "Enough!" They heard and saw Ra's standing on the hill with his legion of followers and Oliver at his side. "You have failed. Any further attempt to undermine our cause would be futile."

"Uh, you see that burning plane over there?" Ray wondered.

"We destroyed your city threatening bioweapon." Felicity told him only for Ra's to hold up the Alpha/Omega vial.

"No. You merely think you did."

Several assassins surrounded the group with no way to escape and they were outnumbered. "Surrender…or die!" Oliver shouted and they had no choice but to surrender. Their weapons were taken along with Ray's suit before they were shackled and marched to the castle. Oliver was escorting them through the castle to be brought before Ra's in the central room of the castle.

"Oliver, what's going on?" Dig asked.

"Oliver? Oliver, talk to us." Felicity said to him.

"If any of you speak, we're all going to die." He told them before slipping a note into her hand. "I need you to trust me."

They continued their march until they arrived in the room where Ra's and some Assassins were waiting by the Lazarus Pit. "The Chinese have a saying. Stir the grass, and you startle the snake. My ruse with the plane was meant to reveal any traitors among me. How did you know of the virus? Of the plane?" He asked but no one spoke as Felicity tucked the message into her sleeve.

"Maseo told me, and I told them." Tatsu said.

"So, a dead man told you. How convenient." Ra's commented.

"He said only three men knew about your plan. You, him, and Oliver."

"Oliver Queen is dead. I am Al Sah-Him." Oliver stated.

"This would not be the firs time Sarab has betrayed me to Maseo Yamashiro's weaknesses. And though your timing was a function of my gambit, it was nevertheless fortuitous. You see, by tradition, Ra's would contemplate mercy upon his enemies on the eve of a wedding." Ra's said and Ray scoffed.

"You are getting married? Guess there really is a kettle for every pot."

"The wedding is mine. I am betrothed to Nyssa al Ghul." Oliver corrected Ray which threw everyone for a loop except for Merlyn who was playing along with how things were working out now.

"Take them below." Ra's orders as his men took everyone to the dungeons.

Once they were locked up, chained to the ground and the guards left the realization of what happened hit them hard. "I can't believe he's going to marry her." Felicity muttered.

"Worry not, Ms. Smoak." Merlyn assured her. "If you wouldn't mind, what was the message Oliver slipped you."

Felicity took out the note she hid in her sleeve and unraveled only to see the words, wait for the thunder.

"Well, what does it say?" Roy asked.

"Wait for the thunder." Felicity said and as she did, they heard a loud crash of thunder in the distance.

Surrounding Nanda Parbat, the League scouts kept at their usual duties of keeping an eye out for any enemies or anyone who closed in to Nanda Parbat. Their attentions were momentarily caught by the sudden clash of thunder that echoed from afar with no clear sign of thunderstorm clouds which was odd. That was enough of a distraction for each League guard to get a tranquillizer dart in the neck and fall down one by one. Then Talia's acolyte's dressed in black clothing with masks and hoods covering their face appeared before dragging their bodies away, taking their weapons and securing them. Two League members were walking down the main path to deliver some food to the scouts when a silent figure dropped down behind them. The assassins quickly turned but the figure took out both assassins with quick strikes and knocked them out with electrical shocks. The figured stepped forward so the light from a nearby torch illuminated him to reveal the black domino mask and blue and black armored suit of Nightwing who used his escrima sticks to take down the assassins. He removed their weapons and tied them up before tapping his ear comm.

"Nightwing to Oracle. Eastern and Northern Scouts taken care of. The door is open."

"Roger that, Nightwing. Good job not getting yourself killed." Oracle replied. She was back in Gotham, watching over everything via Waynetech and STAR labs satellites. "Gideon, how are we doing?"

"Scans show the Southern and Western fronts are secured. Mr. Wayne and Ms. Al Ghul are unharmed and everyone is clear to move in." Gideon told her.

"You heard her. Time for some fast delivery." Oracle replied as another thunder boom was heard and Impulse raced from far away to enter Nanda Parbat. On the way, he took out several assassins in the front and tied them up before knocking out some more and heading to the living quarters where he stopped in Oliver's room, speed slamming one of the guards by the door into the wall while Oliver quickly disarmed the other guard and put him in a sleeper hold. Once he was done, he tossed the assassin to the ground as Naruto walked over with a duffel bag.

"Scouts and guards taken care. We'll draw the attention of most of them leaving you and Talia to take care of Ra's." Naruto said as he handled Oliver the duffel bag. "Figured you had enough of the black and could go back to green with a new suit. Time to gear up."

"Thanks." Oliver replied as he quickly got changed while Naruto super sped down to the dungeons, taking down the assassins along the way and stopping at the cell door where Felicity, Diggle, and the others were trapped.

"Hey, guys. Having a little trouble down here?" Naruto joked as he vibrated the door which disabled the locks and opened it. "Are you guys ok?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Dig replied as Naruto vibrated his hand and broke their shackles. "What happened? What's going on?"

"Backup plan in case that plane turned out to be a dud which was right. We need to draw their attention away from Ra's and let Oliver and Talia deal with him." Naruto said as he broke the rest of their shackles.

"We'll need our weapons for that." Malcolm told him.

"One second." Naruto super sped away and then returned with his arms carrying their gear and Ray's ATOM suit. "Gear up and let's raise some hell."

The League finally caught on that they had intruders and began their counter attack. They diverted their forces to the entrances and the dungeons while four of Ra's most loyal and fiercest warriors, his horsemen stay with him to defend him. In one of the hallways, several League assassins were caught up in a losing fight against one opponent. This opponent was strong, fast, brutal, and trained in their ways and ways to beat them. Even with their superior numbers and swords, the assassins weren't much of a challenge as their opponent brutally and effectively took them down. The figure caught the leg of one of the assassins and took him to the ground before breaking it and then throwing his body into the others to reveal himself to be Batman. The assassins quickly got back to their feet and charged but Batman was able to keep up, using the spikes on his forearms to catch and block their blades. He right crossed on assassin in the face before throwing him into the ceiling and then doing a spin kick to another assassin. Several flashbang batarangs were hurled that concussed the assassins before Batman quickly moved, disarming, and brutally taking them down with effective strikes, grapples, and bone breaking takedowns. The League were good but he was Batman. After taking down those ten assassins in the hallway, he threw two batarangs at the far wall. Several assassins came around the corner only for the batarangs to explode and concussive force of the explosion and their close proximity to it knocked them out.

Naruto and the others were fighting the league in the dungeons and making their way up where they saw Nightwing and some of Talia's acolytes deal with some stragglers in the hallway. Nightwing's agility and acrobatics made him hard to hit as he took down another assassin with a tornado kick before throwing his sticks at the walls which ricocheted and hit an assassin in the jaw. The assassin stumbled allowing Naruto to grab him from behind and throw him to the ground before ending it with a left cross to the face. He sidestepped a sword swipe and disarmed the assassin before delivering two knees to his chest and slamming him face first to the ground.

"Who's the guy in blue?" Roy asked.

"A friend. I'm a people person." Naruto told him, seeing an assassin lean up off the ground so he kicked him in the face to knock him out. "How are things here?"

"Not too bad. We've managed to draw their attention down here." Nightwing said.

"And Batman?" Naruto wondered.

"Last I checked, heading up."

Talia, dressed in her black armor and armed with her sword walked through the halls of what was once her home until she arrived at the Lazarus pit room where she saw her father. He was standing before the water with her back turned to her and his four guards standing guard.

"In all my years of life, I have experienced betrayal. I've been betrayed by someone I once called a friend…I've been betrayed by those who have sworn their life to me…yet your betrayal hits deeper than all, daughter." Ra's commented as he turned to face Talia and step down from the Lazarus pit.

"If you wish to understand the cause of my betrayal then you just need to look into a mirror." Talia told him. "I was your eldest daughter, your heir yet you cast me aside for an outsider."

"Al Sah-Him has proven to be a worthy heir, one who is willing to act out my will. Something you weren't strong enough to do. I let you leave this place and live your life out of the memory of your mother. But if you stand before me now then you stand as a traitor and an enemy. One who cannot defeat me and is all alone." Ra's said as he ordered his men to kill her. Two of the assassins marched up to her only to get hit by arrows and fell to the ground. Ra's looked and saw it was his heir, Al Sah-Him who fired those arrows. He walked into the room with another arrow drawn on his compound bow and was wearing his new suit. It was dark green like his old one but instead of looking like a mish-most of green leather, this one was of a singular design. It was made up of a special Kevlar-weave composite material with a hood and mask but he had distinct shoulder and forearm/hand guards to make up for the lack of sleeves. On his back was a large quiver and attached to his hips were small fletchette holders.

"She's not alone." Oliver told him.

"Al Sah-Him! What do you think you're doing?!" Ra's shouted.

"Standing against you and the league like I always have!" Oliver told him.

"You were delivered by the prophecy! You name is Al Sah-Him and you are Wareeth Al Ghul!"

"My name…is Oliver Queen!" Oliver proudly declared.

"Oliver Queen is dead. And soon you will be too!" Ra's shouted as he and his remaining horsemen engaged in a three on two fight. The two horsemen fought against Talia while Oliver fired an arrow at Ra's who deflected it. Oliver charged forward and swung his bow but Ra's deflected and parried all his attacks before kicking him back and pointing his sword at his face. "I handed you my crusade! My only mission!"

"I already have one!" Oliver said as the two continued their fight. Oliver engaged Ra's in bow-to-sword combat before quickly picking up a sword from one of Ra's horsemen to make it a more even fight. With Oliver's training in the League the past couple of weeks, he was a much better match for Ra's. Talia dueled against the two Horsemen when two more League Assassins arrived to help their master. Before they could intervene and kill Talia, one received a sword through the back curtesy of Nyssa who entered the room and got in the fight. She attacked the assassin, before moving back to avoid an attack and would have gotten a sword to the back of the head if Talia didn't cover her flank.

"Watch your back, little sister." Talia told her, disarming one of the assassins and ending him with a neck slash. She and Nyssa stood back to back against their two opponents.

"I did not expect to see you again, Talia." Nyssa commented.

"Life is full of surprises, little sister. Let us see what you've learned in my absence." Talia replied as the two got back in the fight.

Oliver continued his sword fight with Ra's, using all his training to his advantage but Ra's had centuries of experience on his side. Ra's pushed Oliver back until he hit the wall and the two locked swords. "Something has changed within you, boy. You will to live burns brighter and yet you rejected my offer of eternal life!"

"What you were offering wasn't living!" Ra's threw Oliver to the ground but he quickly got back to his feet to block and parry Ra's advancement before his leg was kicked out. Ra's brought his sword down on his head which Oliver blocked at the last second but it broke his sword in two and left him open to a kick to the chest which knocked him back but Oliver rolled from the impact and threw a fletchette which Ra's deflected just as Talia engaged her father while Oliver dealt with the League assassin she was fighting using his bow.

"You disappointed me, daughter! You dare betray your blood! And for what?!" Ra's shouted, pushing her back as Talia spun on her knees and blocked all her father's strikes before locking their swords down on the ground.

"For freedom against your tyranny and my birthright!" Talia shouted, kicking him in the stomach and pressing the advantage. "I share your blood and I am the demoness!"

"But you will never be the Demon's head!" Ra's punched her across the face and threw her to the ground before plunging his sword down onto her face but she rolled at the last second and it pierced the ground. Talia spun onto her knees, kicked her father in the face and threw him to the ground but he quickly recovered and threw her down even harder. He saw more of his assassins enter the room through the door and knew Talia, Oliver, and Nyssa were outnumbered. "Your betrayals warrant torture of a thousand deaths but I shall end your lives now!"

Before Ra's could do that, something whooshed into the room with a gust of wind and blur of light as it knocked the assassins onto their backs and sent Ra's flying into the wall. The blur then stopped in the middle of the room and it was Naruto.

"I've been wanting to do that for a while." Naruto said before parrying the attacks of the assassin that fought Nyssa and knocking him out with a flying knee to the face. "Sorry, I'm late. My invitation got lost in the mail. Good think I have penchant for sticking my nose into others people's business. Especially when it involves some very bad people."

Naruto stood ready to fight against the League and Nyssa joined him at his side as they fought against the League reinforcements while Oliver and Talia fought Ra's. Naruto's enhanced speed made him more than a match for the assassins but he was fighting at about twice the speed of a normal person to make it interesting and to test his skills. Even though he was probably the least trained person in the room, he had some skill…and a lot of anger to let out. When Nyssa would spot a glance at his fighting, she was pleasantly surprised at his skill. Then the assassins by the door began getting taken out and everyone looked to see Batman had finally arrived. Batman threw an assassin into a wall before doing a leg takedown and breaking a knee. He grappled another assassin and push kicked him back into Naruto who grappled him and threw him to the ground before stomping on his face. Naruto and Batman shared a nod before the two kept fighting.

Oliver and Talia fought Ra's but even with it two on one, it seemed pretty dead even. Ra's had more training than both of them combined but they were holding themselves fairly well. Oliver resorted to using his bow in the fight, but it was sword fight and Talia covered his side. Ra's kicked Oliver back before punching Talia in the throat, kicked out her leg, and slicing her in the side before throwing her into a stone statue. Ra's then advanced against Oliver, slashing him in the arm and then throwing him to the ground before kicking his bow away and holding his sword at his neck.

"Power serves you no interest. What then? Love?" Ra's chuckled at the mere thought.

"A man who condemns one daughter to death and another to run away wouldn't understand."

"Unlike you, thousands of honorable men will mourn my death when I leave this earth." Ra's proclaimed.

"No." Oliver said as Ra's raised his sword to end him only for Naruto to kick Oliver's bow back across the floor to his hand where he quickly pressed a button on his bow handle and it shot out a flashbang pellet that distracted Ra's long enough for him to pull out an arrow and stab him in the gut with it. Ra's looked at the arrow in his stomach before kicking Oliver away and raising his sword to take his head off only to quickly block Talia's attack at his back and fight her. Even with an arrow in the stomach, Ra's continued to fight. Oliver quickly fired another arrow and hit him in the back, leaving him open to a sword through the chest curtesy of Talia and another arrow through the back by Oliver. Both the heir and the daughter of the demon ended Ra's al Ghul at that moment.

"They will kneel…before the neck, Ra's al Ghul." Talia proudly proclaimed.

"Forgive and have mercy on him. Protect him from the punishment of the grave and the torment of the fire." Oliver and Talia said in Arabic as the League members in the room stopped once they saw Ra's al Ghul take the sword and arrow. Talia removed her sword from her father's chest as he clung to life long enough to crawl his way to the Lazarus pit but stopped just short of it. He turned onto his back to see Oliver and Talia look at him and for Batman to walk up as well.

"Detective…save me…" Ra's sputtered as he coughed up blood. "You…swore…not…to…kill…not…even…me…"

"Your right, Ra's. I swore to never kill, not even you." Batman said. "But I don't have to save you."

Ra's chocked on his blood before he went limp and just like that, Ra's al Ghul was dead. Talia walked over to her father's corpse before kneeling down to close his eyes and remove his ring. There was a glimmer of sadness in her eyes for the man he once was…not the person he turned into.

She put the ring on her finger and stood in the center of the room. "Kneel…before Ra's al Ghul." Talia proclaimed and the league assassins did as they were told.

Oliver looked over at Naruto and both nodded in respect and a job sort of well done and then at Batman for his help. Bruce gave a nod back but had some internal conflict at how things ended. Not at all like how they originally planned but it worked out in the end. Talia commanded the League and her acolytes to bury the dead and clean up the castle. Naruto recovered the Alpha/Omega bioweapon and would dispose of it safely back at STAR labs. He, Oliver, Nyssa, Batman, Nightwing, and the rest gathered outside the castle to talk over everything. A lot happened but it was over.

"Is everyone all right?" Oliver asked.

"A few scrapes and bruises but we're ok. Had some backup." Dig said, referring to Nightwing. "How are you man?"

"Ask me that when we're not here." Oliver commented. "All of this…hasn't been easy."

"We both knew it wouldn't be." Naruto pointed out and Oliver agreed. "Even the best laid plans can't plan for everything. Let's just be glad we managed to keep this from spilling out onto the streets of Starling. A lot of people could have died today."

"But they didn't. We survived the worst castle in history and lived to tell the tale. I think that warrants a victory in our book." Felicity pointed out.

"You planned this all with my sister?" Nyssa asked and Naruto and Oliver nodded. "She killed him. I wanted to be the one to do it."

"I'm sorry, Nyssa." Oliver told her.

"It was the only play we had." Naruto added. "If you have an issue with your sister, you can take it up with her. Something tells me you have a lot of catching up to do."

"That we do." They heard as Talia walked over flanked by two of her acolytes now dressed in League armor. "It was pleasant to see my training didn't go to waste."

"If you think that I'll will sit happily by as you take father's place then you are sorely mistaken." Nyssa pointed out.

"And I would expect nothing less, little sister." Talia replied as Nyssa walked back into the castle. "I didn't ever expect to see this day. You have my gratitude, Oliver. I trained you well."

"Just remember our agreement, Talia." Oliver reminded her.

"And I will honor it. From this day forth, the League has no business in Starling, Central, or Gotham City. You have my word on that." Talia swore as she spared a glance at Batman. "Unless it is for conjugal circumstances."

Nightwing stifled a chuckle while Batman remained a neutral as possible. "Not gonna happen, Talia." Batman told her.

"Oh, never say never, beloved. As the new Ra's al Ghul, I shall make amends for the actions of my father." Talia commented before handing Oliver an antique dagger. "This is a Horchis Dagger, in the league of assassins it symbolized the cutting of marital bonds. I have annulled your marriage to my sister."

"Thank god for that. That was not going to be a happy marriage." Felicity whispered as Oliver accepted the dagger.

"Thank you, Talia." Oliver replied.

"Second, for your part in this endeavor…I will uphold my father's decree of mercy on you, Al Sah-Her."

"Really? That's all I get?" Malcolm asked.

"What, were you expecting a fruit basket?" Naruto asked rhetorically. "It's your life. Just say thank you and shut up."

"Oh, somethings got the speedster in a twist. Clearly you didn't get out all your anger." Malcolm joked as Naruto was noq very tempted on running him into a volcano. Malcolm chuckled seeing Naruto's reaction before stepping away. With him gone they could continue as Talia looked at Naruto.

"When you came to me at my monastery, I never expected your plan to get this far. I underestimate your mind and your skill. You promised a lot yet you kept your word and delivered. For my aide in this endeavor you swore to honor a promise of anything I should require of you. For my last act, I absolve you of that oath and instead I grant one to you." Talia promised which honestly surprised him and everyone. "If there is anything you wish of myself or the League, I will honor that to the best of my ability."

Naruto thought over that promise, and it was very good gift that could come in handy but…he probably wasn't going to be the one who needed it. "Thank you, Talia but I'd rather you give that promise to Oliver and the others."

"Are you sure?" Talia asked as everyone looked at him.

"I didn't do this for a favor from you or anything like that. I did this to help a friend and I don't need anything for that. And besides, considering their luck…they'll need it more than me anyways." Naruto joked. "If you wish to honor that promise, I ask you to grant it to Oliver and the others."

"Very well. Your wish will be honored. Should our paths cross again I pray that we be allies and not enemies." Talia said as she nodded and left with her followed back to the castle.

"Naruto, you sure about that?" Oliver asked and he nodded.

"I am. I'm hoping you'll never need it but I have super powers and a giant laboratory. This evens things a little bit." Naruto told him before looking at his phone to check the time. "Well, I think I've spent enough time in Nanda Parbat to last a life time."

"Amen to that." Laurel commented.

Batman nodded to Nightwing and the two headed out. "Batman!" Naruto walked over to them as they left. "Thank you for your help."

Batman nodded and shook Naruto's hand. "Just honoring a promise." Bruce said as Naruto shook Dick's hand. Bruce then gave a nod to Oliver who nodded back. No more words need to be said between the two as Bruce pressed a few switches on his gauntlet and the Batwing descended from the sky and landed on the ground. Batman got into the pilot's seat with Nightwing in the passenger and the two flew away.

Naruto took a deep breath as he thought about Thawne back at STAR labs. Time to finally get some answers. "Naruto?" he heard and turned as Felicity walked over. "You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He assured her. "The quinjet's autopilot will take you guys back to Starling City. Take care and try not to get yourselves killed."

"You don't want to come back with us? If this isn't an occasion to celebrate then I don't know what is. And you of all people deserve to celebrate." Roy commented.

"I'm sorry, but I can't. I'm needed back in Central City. I have my own demons to deal with now." Naruto told them and Oliver understand what it was as he walked over and the two shared a heartfelt hug. "Take care of yourself, Oliver. You've got a second chance. Don't waste it."

"I won't." Oliver promised. "I will never be able to thank you enough for what you've done, Naruto."

"Don't mention it, Oliver." Naruto assured him it was no big deal. "The thing you just found out about me…is that when my friends or family are going through hell, I'm the first one there to bail them out."

"If you or Barry need anything, just call." Oliver told him.

"Likewise, man." Naruto replied as he hugged Diggle. "Keep an eye out for Oliver and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Easier said than done." Dig joked as he hugged Felicity.

"Take care of yourself." Felicity told him.

"I will, Felicity." He told her before hugging Roy. "Watch out for Thea, Roy."

"Don't worry, I will." He said as Naruto then hugged Laurel.

"Nicely done, Black Canary. I think your sister would be proud." Naruto commented as Laurel smiled.

"Thank you, Naruto." She said as he hugged back.

Naruto then shared a hug with Ray as well. "Not bad today, ATOM."

"Thanks, Impulse." Ray said back as Naruto cracked his neck and took a deep breath.

"Also, Oliver…don't ruin things with Felicity. Seriously, you two lovebirds need to get keep this straight and not needlessly breakup only to have hot makeup sex later! It's just confusing!" Naruto shouted causing Felicity to blush. Before anyone could retort, Naruto just laughed and took off running at super speed back to Central City.

It was time to face Eobard Thawne and get some answers.

Line Break xxxxx

Central City, STAR Labs

The day was finally here. They captured the Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne and had him locked in the pipeline with a power dampening generator keeping him from using his powers. The team consisting of Barry, Naruto, Cisco, Caitlin, Linda, Ronnie, Professor Stein, and Gaara with Joe, Tsunade, and Shizune showing up for emotional support. Barry steeled himself and went to the pipeline to finally get some answers and talk to Thawne.

The pipeline cell was moved into position so Barry and Thawne could talk. "What? No Big Belly Burger? It's one of the few perks of living in this time. We're out of cows where I come from. You don't care about that. You have questions. Go ahead."

"Not sure where to start…Thawne. That is your real name—Eobard. Thawne."

"Since the day I was born."

"And when was that?"

"136 years from now. That's not what you want to know." Thawne said as he walked up to the glass. "Go ahead, Barry. Ask it."

"Why did you kill my mother?" Barry asked.

"Because I hate you." Thawne told him. "Not you now. You years from now."

"In the future."

"In a future, yes. We're enemies, rivals, opposites, reverses of one another."

"Why? Why, why were we enemies?" Barry wanted to know.

"It doesn't matter." Thawne told him. "It doesn't…matter anymore. What matters is that neither of us were strong enough to defeat the other. Until I learned your secret. I learned your name. Barry Allen. And finally, I knew how to defeat you once and for all. Travel back in time, kill you as a child. Wipe you from the face of the earth. But then you, future you, that is, followed me back and we fought. We both landed some pretty solid shots. And then you, future you, got your younger self out of there. I was so mad. But then I thought…what if you were to suffer a tragedy? What if you were to suffer something so horrible, so traumatic that your child self could never recover? Then you would not become the Flash and so I stabbed your mother in the heart, and I was free. Finally, able to return to a future without the Flash only to realize that in traveling back I lost my way home. Lost my ability to harness the speed force. And without it, I was stuck here, stranded in this time, unable to return to my own. And the only way back was the Flash. But the Flash was gone, and so I created him."

Barry took a moment to let all that sink in and it was a lot. To learn that his mother died because he was the real target and his future-self saved him. Thawne's act of killing Barry's mother was just because of anger and rage. "Why train me? Why help me save so many people?"

"Because I needed you to get fast. Fast enough to rupture the space-time barrier and create a stable wormhole through which I could return home." Thawne told him.

"Why would I ever do that?" Barry asked.

"Because Barry Allen, if you give me what I want, I'm gonna give you what you want. You can go back and save your mother. You can prevent your father from going to prison. You can reunite the Allen family." Thawne offered as Barry let that sink in.

"No. No, I don't believe you." He then smashed his fist into the glass in anger. "I wanna kill you right now."

"I know that rage. I used to feel that rage whenever I looked at you, but I now realize that the person I hated from the future and the person you are now are two different people." Thawne told him. "I've giving you the chance to undo all the evil I've done. Don't you want that chance?"

Barry just looked at Thawne before turning to leave. His cell was moved back into the pipeline as Barry returned to the cortex to tell everyone of what Thawne told him and of his offer: time travel and help him go back to the future but allow him to go back to the past and save his mother.

"The rare opportunity to go back in time and right a wrong and save your mother's life—quite the paradox Eobard Thawne has presented you with, Mr. Allen." Professor Stein commented.

"The chance to be with someone you love? Seems pretty cut and try to me." Caitlin said as she walked over to Ronnie who held her close.

"At first blush, Dr. Snow, it would appear so, but this gift has unparalleled risk." Stein informed her. "Barry, the night your mother died, the night you saved yourself from being killed, that event altered the timeline you were already on and changed the course of history."

"So, what you're saying is we're living in a parallel universe?" Cisco asked for clarification.

"Just like when I time travelled before."

"But he—he only changed one day that time." Joe pointed out.

"Yes, exactly. Now imagine 15 years of compounded experiences. One different decision, no matter how big or small, impacts everything that follows. Moments upon moments, choices upon choices. No relationships, nothing would be as it is today, and you'd never know the difference because you'd never remember any of it."

"So, if I go back and save my mom, my dad doesn't go to prison. I never live with Joe and Iris."

"You might never meet me. Or Caitlin and Ronnie or Naruto." Cisco added.

"Truth it, there's no real way of knowing what your life will be." Stein told him.

"There's no choice in this, Barry. You've got to change the past." Joe told him.

"Well, a lot of Thawne's actions are starting to make sense." Naruto muttered as he sat in his chair by the computers.

"What do you mean?" Tsunade wondered.

"Traveling back in time to kill the Flash only to create him so he could get his powers back and go back home. Paradoxes suck." Naruto commented.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Joe asked.

"Thawne traveling back in time to kill his sworn enemy but instead changed his future so he wouldn't be the Flash. But if Barry was never the Flash, then it wouldn't lead to the circumstances that gave Thawne his powers which is why he's stuck here. He changed his past as well and why he needs us to get back." Naruto explained. "All those times he told us about the dangers of time travel is because he learned from person experience."

"Naruto, what do you think about all this?" Barry asked and Naruto scoffed.

"You honestly don't want to know what I think about this, Barry."

"Naruto, come on. You're probably the smartest person in this room. You've fought by my side all year and I trust your judgement. I want your opinion." Barry told him as Naruto took a deep breath.

"Ok, truthfully…I understand wanting to change the past. Believe me, I get it. You can go back and save your mom, keep your family together and maybe save mine…but I don't think you should do this." Naruto told him.

"Naruto, this could bring your parents back." Linda pointed out.

"I know and believe me I'd love nothing more but it's too dangerous." He said. "Time travel itself is far too dangerous. We're living proof of what happens when a speedster messes with the time and Barry himself knows what can happen when you just change one day. This is going to be 15 years."

"Thawne is the one who messed with time in the first place. This would put things back." Joe told him.

"But it wouldn't put things back like they were before, Joe. If Barry time travels again but back that far, the timeline could get even more screwed up. Thawne's time travel adventure that started all this changed up everything from how it happened. The timeline that Thawne's from, his history…none of this happened like this." Naruto said only to see he was confusing everyone. "Ok, just so you all understand. In Thawne's history, the Particle Accelerator was turned on by Dr. Harrison Wells and Tess Morgan on December 13th, 2020."

"What?"

"Exactly. In Thawne's timeline, we didn't get our powers until five years from now." Naruto told everyone. "I checked with Gideon and in Thawne's timeline before everything changed, that's when the Accelerator went off. And from what she told me, all of us were vastly different and things were not the same. Most of all, me."

"Naruto, what do you mean?" Linda asked.

"Everything I am, and everything my parents did is because of Thawne decision to change the timeline and his involvement. In Thawne's timeline, my parents were still scientists, but their work didn't create the Nine. The Nine didn't exist in his future which means that his time traveling created 9 super deadly metahuman criminals and caused their death." He told them. "Barry, you time travel again into the past and you could screw things up even more with no way to fix it. Keep that in mind."

Naruto got up and left the cortex leaving Barry to mull over his decision. Naruto said his peace so now it was Barry's decision if he took it or not. Something he'd have to talk with some people to get their advice before making a final decision. As for Naruto, it was time for him to finally talk to Thawne and get some answers.

He arrived at the pipeline and pressed some buttons on the monitor, bringing Thawne's cell over so the two could talk. Thawne just stood there in his cell like nothing was wrong. "I was wondering when you would show up."

"You were expecting me?" Naruto asked and Thawne chuckled.

"Come now, Naruto. You forget who you're talking to." Thawne told him.

"I honestly don't know who I'm talking to anymore. All my life I thought you were Dr. Wells and instead you just took his body." Naruto commented.

"Semantics. While I did take over his body, the process did transfer over Harrison Wells memories and some lingering emotions. He felt quite a sense of pride in you which I guess I inherited. It's been me this entire time helping you all these years, Naruto. Whatever my real name is, it's been me." Thawne said as Naruto just glared at him. "I know you hate me, Naruto, I know. But if Barry listens to me then you can get your life back."

"The life you stole from me." Naruto told him. "I have to ask you one thing: I watched your exchange with Barry, and you hate him with a passion, but you never once mentioned my name. Why not? You hate the Flash but what about me? What are we in the future?"

"[Chuckles] We're nothing because where I came from…my time…you weren't worth mentioning." Thawne told him and that hit Naruto in his core. "Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze from the noble Uzumaki Clan of Japan wasn't very special at all. Just an average person born to a good name and loving parents. Nothing remarkable about you at all but you weren't a disappointment so just…regular. You were a barely competent scientist and the only note worthy thing you ever did was being in the right place at the right time when you were struck by lightning and turned into Impulse."

"So, I still fought with Barry in the future?" Naruto asked only for Thawne to chuckle.

"If you can call what you did fighting. You may have been a speedster, but you weren't worthy of the powers. Impulse was nothing more than one of the Flash's many sidekicks and not even that memorable compared to the others. I took you out of commission before I time traveled back to kill Barry's mother until the timeline changed. In all honesty…you were nothing special."

"Then why would you help me? You tutored me from such an early age to make me better, smarter but if I was such a failure then why waste your time on me?" Naruto wanted to genuinely know why. Thawne had no reason to help him and make him a better person, scientists, and speedster.

"Honestly, when I found out that Dr. Wells had such a close connection to you and your parents, I was tempted to end you right then and there. But you don't waste an opportunity when it presents itself. If my future showed you to be an incompetent and laughable speedster than with my grooming you could have been something much more. And…it always pays to have a backup plan in case Barry wasn't fast enough on his own." Thawne answered.

"That's how you justify what you've done? You needed a backup in case something happened to Barry?!" Naruto shouted as he slammed his fist into the door. "Your being here killed my parents, created the Nine, and ruined my life!"

"I GAVE YOUR LIFE PURPOSE!" Thawne shouted back. "YOU WERE NOTHING BEFORE ME! I ALONE GAVE YOU THE MEANS TO CHANGE YOUR DESTINY!"

"Well destiny can bite my ass and go screw itself along with you!" Naruto shouted as he turned to leave.

"You know I'm right, Naruto!" Thawne shouted, getting him to stop momentarily. "Hate me all you want and curse me out, but you know I'm right. The you that faces the world now, that races through the city saving people, that helped Oliver stop the League of Assassins, you are you because of me. I alone, forged you into something worthy of your powers and to be remembered by history instead of the weak, pathetic fool of my time. Remember that from this day forth as Impulse wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Eobard Thawne. Remember that…son."

"Minato Namikaze…was my father." Naruto told him. "He and my mother are dead because of you."

"I didn't force your parents to do the work they did that made the Nine. I didn't pull their strings or such just as I didn't force you to work with me. You all came to me because deep down inside you know that you all were nothing before me. And no matter what you do or how far you run…I will always be there, Naruto. Hate me as much as you want but you wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me. Remember that as you live your new life…that it was given to you with love." Thawne proudly declared while Naruto just left without another word.

Line Break xxxxx

Barry spent the entire day getting the opinions of everyone he respected to help him with his dilemma of traveling back in time to save his mother. Joe said to do it, but Henry said it was too much of a risk and that it could change him. He also spoke to Iris to get her opinion and it wasn't easy.

Naruto sat in his office at STAR labs the next day, thinking over everything he learned from Thawne. Was he really the person he was now because of Thawne? Gideon did tell him that Thawne's time travel affected his life drastically, but does that mean that everything he's done has been for nothing? Was he just a product of Thawne's manipulations and if so…what now?

"Naruto?" Linda walked in and saw him sitting at the desk. "Are you ok?"

"I'm not sure." Naruto told her. "Linda…do you believe in destiny? That our lives are predetermined to go one way, or do you think we have a chance to change our fate?"

"Oh, that's a hard question." Linda said as she sat down on his desk. "I'd like to think that we make our lives what they are. Why?"

"I just found out some things that are a little disconcerting. In Thawne's timeline, I was nothing special and now I just found out that everything I am now in this timeline is because Thawne made me this way. It's hard to live your life when you know it's the result of someone else's machinations." Naruto commented.

"Yeah, that could be hard but just because Thawne helped change you doesn't mean you don't have any control over your life." Linda told him. "Naruto, if Thawne really could control your life then you would be just as evil as him and working with him against us but instead you chose to stick by Barry and the others. That's not Thawne's influence but good old Naruto. When you learned what your parents did with the Nine you took it upon yourself to find their killer and vowed to stop the rest of them. That's not Thawne, that's you. He may have helped changed you into the man you are but who you are deep inside is good old Naruto."

Naruto smiled at hearing her say that as he pulled her close so she could sit on his lap and the two shared a tender kiss. "One thing I am grateful for in this timeline…is meeting you that day at Jitters. That I know was destiny." He said as Linda kissed him again. "I know it sounds hypocritical but after learning from Thawne…a clean slate sounds kind of nice."

"So, you wouldn't be opposed to Barry time traveling?" Linda asked and Naruto shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm prepared to live now to the fullest, no matter what. But if Barry does decide to go through with it, living a new life without Thawne's influence would be nice." Naruto told her. "And I pray that if anything happens to the timeline that we meet each other again."

"We will. Always." Linda assured him with another sweet kiss when they got a call from Cisco that they were needed in the cortex. Barry made his decision and Thawne told him how this whole time-travel thing would work. A simulation was brought up onto the monitors to show them as Professor Stein explained it.

"According to Thawne's calculations, Barry and Naruto super speed inside the accelerator ring together. Their combined speeds and close proximity will allow them to harness more of this so-called Speed Force energy that Thawne says Speedster's generator when you run. Once Barry reaches optimum speed, Naruto will stop running and then we launch a hydrogen proton into the accelerator. Once the collision happens, a wormhole forms, opening a gateway into time itself. It's at that moment I plan on shouting something along the line of Eureka or possible Excelsior, I'm uncommitted." Stein explained.

"Naruto, what do you think?" Barry asked as Naruto looked him.

"The science makes some sense and it could work. But this is dangerous Barry and won't be like the last time you time traveled. The margin for error is zero here. We're not gonna get a second chance." Naruto told him and Barry nodded.

"So, for this to actually work how fast would Naruto and Barry have to go?" Caitlin wondered.

"Anything less than Mach 2.5 is death." Naruto answered.

"You guys have never gone that fast." Caitlin said as Barry and Naruto agreed.

"So, what happens if they don't reach that speed? I mean, I'm imagining a bug hitting a windshield. How far off am I?" Joe asked.

"Not very far, I'm afraid." Stein told him.

"Let us worry about how fast we have to go. We can do it." Barry said before looking at Cisco. "We're gonna need something else too."

"Really? And what's that? Because I don't know about you guys, but I'm not at all interested in helping you get yourself killed." Cisco commented.

"I need you to build a time machine." Barry told him which peaked Cisco's interest.

"Go on."

Barry took Cisco and Ronnie to the engineering room where Thawne had hid the parts for his time machine so they could start on building it. Naruto would join them after he and Professor Stein finished some calculations in the cortex. Honestly, Naruto would have preferred to keep Thawne locked up and let Barry travel back in time anyway but then again if Barry changed the time then this timeline would cease to exist. Barry was being merciful in letting Thawne go back home and Naruto just wanted to kill him or keep him locked up but then again if the timeline changes then perhaps Thawne would be erased anyway, so here's hoping.

Naruto was working on some calculations along with Gideon as Professor Stein walked over to the computers where Eddie was sitting. Joe told him to keep an eye on things. "I'm sorry, but I'm told this is the only station with enough power to run these calculations. If we make the slightest error in creating the wormhole—"

"Say no more. Joe told me to stick around in case I was needed, it seems I'm only in the way." Eddie said.

"Everyone has a contribution to make. Perhaps you just haven't discovered yours yet." Stein told him.

"No. Dr. Wells made it pretty clear when he told me about the future. I don't matter. As far as history is concerned, I don't save the day or get the girl."

"And you believed him?" Stein asked.

"He had a newspaper from the year 2024." Eddie told him.

"And I have a mug that says World's Best Boss. I doubt my teaching assistant would testify to its authenticity." Stein said. "We're dealing with a lot of big scientific ideas today. But you, Mr. Thawne, might be the most interesting thing here at STAR labs."

"Me?" Eddie thought the Professor was joking.

"What are the odds that Dr. Wells would travel back in time and get stuck in the exact same city as his great-great-great-great-grandfather? Working in the same profession, the same building? And that part of his plan to get home would mean that he'd have to preserve and protect your life. That makes you this rare thing that no scientist can plan for." Stein said but Eddie was still confused.

"Coincidence." Naruto said out loud.

"There is no scientist to coincidence. You, sir, are an anomaly. A wild card, as it were. You are the only person in this whole story who gets to choose his own future." Stein told him. "At least, that's my opinion."

"Naruto, there is something you should see." Gideon told him as Naruto walked over to Professor Stein so they could see the simulations they ran ending with a singularity being formed so they rushed to find the others and tell them.

"We have a problem." Stein told him.

"What?" Barry asked.

"The calculations, there is a danger."

"I know, I'm ready to take the risk." Barry said.

"No, Barry not to just you. Thawne withheld some information from us, yet again. Barry, even if you manage to reach the right speed and open up a time portal, colliding with the hydrogen particle could turn that portal into a singularity." Naruto told him.

"What's a singularity?" Caitlin asked.

"A black hole." Cisco answered.

"We could destroy Central City?"

"Just to begin with. If we create a black hole here and can't control it, then we could destroy the entire planet." Naruto explained.

"So long and thanks for all the fish." Cisco commented.

The group wasn't sure what to do so they decided to see what Thawne had to say. "Well of course, there's a bit of risk."

"I would hardly refer to possibly causing an extinction-level event as a bit of a risk." Stein corrected him.

"Yeah, and your accelerator's been about as reliable as the beater I drove in high school." Joe added which earned a chuckle from Thawne.

"That's funny. Let me ask you a question. How many metahumans—how many dangers have we faced this year together? Or did you forget that was me fighting alongside each and everyone of you? I have been planning this for almost two decades. It will work."

"And how do we make sure we don't open a black hole in the middle of Central City?" Cisco asked.

"So, once the wormhole appears, Naruto will have to race around it and use his speed and the speed force to keep it contained giving Barry 1 minute and 52 seconds to alter the past and return to this time. If and when he does that, you can close the wormhole and we can all live happily ever after. Almost two minutes. More than enough time to save Nora."

"But not enough time to stop you from going home with Naruto keeping the portal contained?" Barry pointed out.

"Everything's a choice."

"And what if I'm late?" Barry asked.

"You won't be. I believe in you, Barry. Always have. So, I guess the question is, do your friends and family believe you as much as I do?" Thawne asked as Naruto shut the monitor off.

Barry took his time to think over his decision with these new variables but after a talk with Joe, he stilled himself and he was ready but before that there were something that needed to be done. Caitlin and Ronnie's wedding which was going to be held outside of STAR labs.

Professor Stein would officiate the ceremony with Naruto, Barry, Cisco, Joe, Linda, Iris, Eddie, Tsunade, Shizune, and Gaara to act as witnesses. Naruto had some nice music playing on his phone for the occasion as Caitlin got dressed.

"Is this actually binding?" Ronnie asked Stein.

"My father made me become a rabbi before he would send me to MIT. This will be legit as the kids say." Stein told him.

"No kids say that."

"Let's not fight on our wedding day." Stein told him as everyone got ready. Caitlin walked over in her dress and it was amazing. The one she was going to wear for their wedding, and it was a good thing she kept it. She joined Ronnie up front as everyone gathered around. "If it's all right with everyone, I'd like to skip all the Hebrew. I've learned a lot about merging one's life with another this past year. Yet, for all the incredible advancements in science we've all be party to, the mystery that brings two people together through love is still the province of magic. The rings, please."

Kurama trotted over carrying a small a pillow in his mouth that had two silver nut and bolt ring acting as makeshift rings. Everyone chuckled as Ronnie picked them up and scratched Kurama on the head who trotted over to Naruto who picked him up. Caitlin put the ring on Ronnie's finger while he put one on hers.

"I owe you a real ring."

"I don't need one." She told him. "I have everything and everyone I could ever need right here. And…if all the events of the past year have led us to this moment, it was worth it. I love you, Ronnie."

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." Stein proclaimed.

"Stop telling me what to do." Ronnie kissed Caitlin as everyone cheered at the happy celebration.

Now…it was time.

Line Break xxxxx

Everyone gathered in the hallway to the pipeline to wish Naruto and Barry good luck. Barry hugged Caitlin as Cisco walked over to him. "Okay. There are going to be three yous back there—the you from the future who saved younger you from the Reverse-Flash and now you you. Remember, wait until the future you get younger you out of there, and then you can go and save your mom."

"Piece of cake." Barry said as Cisco pat his arm.

"May the Speed Force be with you." He said as the two shared a hug before Barry walked up to Joe.

"Good-bye, Dad." Barry and Joe shared a heartfelt hug.

"Good-bye, Son."

"Iris—" "You don't have to say anything. I already know." Iris kissed him on the forehead. "I hope whatever life you get, it's enough for you. That it makes you happy."

"You too." Barry said as he gave a nod to Eddie.

Naruto hugged Shizune and Tsunade as they held him close. "Naruto, we are so proud of you." Shizune told him.

"You have done amazing things for all of us. And I can tell you that our home never felt complete until you arrived." Tsunade smiled at Naruto before kissing him a kiss on the forehead. Naruto and Gaara then shared a heartfelt hug.

"Be careful." Gaara told him.

"Always." Naruto said. "Gaara, if something happens promise me on thing."

"Hey, don't talk like that. You'll be fine." Gaara assured him.

"Just promise me to keep STAR labs going. Gideon can help but…just keep it alive." Naruto told him.

"I promise." Gaara swore as Naruto kissed and scratched Kurama on the head before hugging Linda close.

"Come back to me." She told him.

"I will." Naruto promised before giving her a kiss on the head. "I'll always come back to you, my lightning rod."

Cisco then opened the pipeline allowing Naruto and Barry through while they returned to the cortex. They climbed down the ladder and stood in the reactor ring. "Remember, Mr. Allen. Assuming you achieve the proper velocity and open the wormhole, you will only have 1 minute and 52 seconds to save your mother and return. Naruto, once that portal opens, you must contain it."

"Roger that." Naruto and Barry put on their cowls as they looked at Thawne's cell.

"Well, you hold all our futures in your hands now, Mr. Allen. And I know you can do it. Now…Run…Barry…Run…"

Naruto and Barry took a deep breath before they took off running at super speed through the accelerator ring. Blurs of their lightning could be seen as they raced around the reactor ring as fast as they could, pushing themselves harder than ever before.

"Gideon, how are we looking?" Cisco asked.

"The accelerator's structural integrity is holding." She replied when they heard some louds booms and the building shook.

"What the hell was that? Are they ok?" Joe asked as they all checked the monitor.

"Yeah, they both passed Mach 2 and are getting faster." Cisco told them as everyone felt a little better.

As they were running, their visions began to blue shift a bit as they were tapping into something. Both Naruto and Barry began seeing visions surrounding them. Naruto saw memories of his childhood, then of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Caitlin shooting ice from her hands, Cisco wearing some kind of suit with goggles and shooting shockwaves from his hands, some kind of Flash museum, him and Barry along with a league of other heroes like Bruce, Oliver but other people he hadn't met yet, him in the command chair of some kind of space ship and then him along with Gaara and seven other people facing off against figures in black and red cloaks.

"Boys, what you're seeing is the Speed Force: your past, your present, your future all at once. So, Barry you need to focus on where you want to go. So, think about that night. Think about your mother." Thawne told him as Barry did, remembering everything from that night as Naruto's Speed Force began to add onto Barry's Speed Force. "It's working. It's working."

At the cortex, Stein reached for his coffee mug and saw the liquid float up into the air. If that wasn't enough proof that it was time, Gideon told them. "Sufficient Speed Force energy collected."

"Inject the hydrogen particle now."

"Commencing." Gideon replied as the hydrogen particle was released into the reactor ring.

The particle was released as Naruto touched Barry, giving him all the speed force energy he had before stopping just as Barry ran into the particle in a bright flash of light that made him cover his eyes. When he opened them, he saw the wormhole, so he began racing around it to keep it contained and stable while the others started the countdown.

Cisco and Joe released Thawne from his containment cell as Gaara used his sand to carry the time sphere down to the reactor. Joe kept his gun ready and Gaara had his sand ready as well, both of them not trusting Thawne at all but Thawne didn't care. He was in his suit and looking at the sphere in joy.

"It's beautiful. Rip Hunter would be impressed. He built the first one of these. Interesting man." Thawne said as the portal flashed with light before it spit out a silver kettle helmet with gold wingtips.

"What the hell is that?" Gaara asked.

"That's my cue to leave." Thawne said before looking over at Naruto still racing around the portal. "Thank you, Naruto." Thawne got into the sphere and activated the systems as the sphere closed around him and began hovering in the air and made its way to the portal. "Home."

The portal flashed with light again and Barry flew out, delivering a supersonic punch that destroyed the time sphere and knocked Joe, Cisco, and Gaara away. Naruto saw Barry stop Thawne from leaving but the shakes and energy fluctuation from the portal began to destabilize so he had to keep it contained until the others deactivated it.

Thawne looked at Barry and realized what he had done. "You didn't save her. Why? Why?! You could have had the life you wanted. You could have had everything you ever wanted!"

"I already do." Barry told him as Thawne slipped on his mask and began vibrating.

"Not for long." The two engaged in another speedster fight in the accelerator ring while Caitlin and Ronnie worked on shutting down the internal generators to collapse the portal. Despite Ronnie getting hurt, they did it just in time and the portal collapse so Naruto could stop when he saw Thawne had Barry up against the wall by the neck. "Just so we're clear, after I kill you, I'm going to kill them. And then I'm going to kill your father. I always win, Flash!"

Naruto raced forward and speed slammed Thawne away, saving Barry but Thawne recovered and raced at Naruto, aiming a vibrating hand at his chest when they all heard a gunshot. Thawne stopped dead in his tracks as Naruto turned and saw Eddie shot himself in the heart with his gun.

"Eddie! What did you do?! What did you do?!" Joe caught him before he felt and placed him on the ground.

"No such thing as a coincidence." Eddie managed to say as he struggled to breath.

Thawne just stood in place as his vibrating began to fluctuate. "What's happening?" Barry asked as Naruto helped him back to his feet.

"Naruto, help me." Thawne said before he finally stopped vibrating and slumped to his knees, managing to remove his mask in the process.

"Eddie's his ancestor. If Eddie dies, then he'll never be born." Naruto said as they saw Thawne's face shift from Dr. Wells to that of his original face. "He's being erased from existence."

"Eddie!" Iris arrived in the accelerator ring and rushed over to her boyfriend.

"He was wrong…it turns out. I'm a hero after all."

"You are, Eddie. You are my hero." Iris told him as tears ran down her face.

"That's all I ever wanted to be…y-your hero." Eddie smiled before gasping for breath until he stopped breathing.

Thawne looked over at Naruto and Barry as he began to crack apart and disappear. "I've controlled your lives for so long, boys. How will you get along without me?" Thawne smirked before his entire body cracked apart into light and disappeared. "AAAAAHHHH!"

And just like that, the Reverse-Flash was gone except their problems were only beginning. The wormhole reappeared and began expanding in size until it turned into a black hole.

"Guys, that's not good!" Cisco shouted.

"Professor, what's happening? I shut down the generators!" Catlin told him.

"You did but something's wrong. The wormhole appears to be reopening!"

The singularity got bigger and bigger and began sucking up part of the accelerator ring. "Iris, we need to go now!" Barry told her.

"I'm not leaving him." Iris said only for the Singularity to shake the entire building.

"We need to go now! Now!" Naruto shouted as he and Barry super sped Joe, Iris, Cisco, and Gaara away with Eddie's body being sucked into the black hole. It soon broke free of STAR Labs and appeared high in the sky above ghd city now even more massive than before. Everyone raced out of the building to see with their own eyes at the destruction they unleashed.

"So, that's what we didn't want to happen." Cisco said.

"What's it doing?" Caitlin asked.

"Feeding. The singularity won't stop, not even after the earth is gone." Stein said as everyone in the city saw the black hole that threatened them all, sucking up cars, parts of buildings, and anything it could. "I'm afraid the accretion disc has already assembled."

"What?"

"The diffuse material that's in orbital motion around the singularity." Naruto told them.

"What does that mean?" Linda asked.

"We have to disrupt the motion. Basically, it's just like the tornado, only upside down. And bigger. And scarier." Barry said.

"Barry, that event has an energy level of a least 6.7 Tera Electron Volts. It cannot be stopped." Stein told him as Barry and Naruto shared a look.

"We have to try." They said as slipped on their masks and gave everyone a final look before taking a deep breath. Lightning flickered in their eyes as they raced forward through the city's destruction to find a path to the black hole. They raced up the side of a building that was being torn apart by the black hole and used the flying debris as foot stools to keep running up until they made it to the black hole where Impulse and Flash raced around it as fast as they could. While it seemed hopeless, their efforts weren't futile.

Stein looked and saw their actions were working. "Brilliant! They've contained the singularity by adding to its angular momentum!"

"Guys, it's stabilizing. Keep doing what you're doing!" Cisco shouted into his phone.

"We can't do this forever!" Naruto told him.

"Now what?" Tsunade asked.

"We have to merge the inner and outer event horizons." Stein said.

"How do we do that?" Ronnie asked.

"By separating in the eye of it. The amount of energy from the fissure should do the trick." Stein said as everyone realized how dangerous this was. "It's our only hope, Ronald."

"Ronnie, no! It's too dangerous." Caitlin pleaded with him. "What if you can't escape the inrush?"

"Cait? We have to try." Ronnie gave her one last kiss before separating. He and Stein merged into Firestorm and took off towards the singularity. Once they were inside the singularity, they stilled themselves before removing the quantum splicer which created a nuclear fissure explosion that caused it to collapse in itself and save the city. Debris rained down on the city as Stein fell through the air, but Barry saw him as he raced down a building and grabbed him, sliding to a stop at STAR labs.

Stein was all right, but Ronnie was no where to be seen. "Ronald?"

Barry shook his head no as everyone rushed over only to see Professor Stein had made it. Joe and Cisco helped Stein up but when Caitlin didn't see Ronnie, she broke down crying. "I'm so sorry." Barry said as he held her close.

Kurama wrestled out of Tsunade's arms and began yipping everywhere, dotting his eyes all over the place. Linda looked around and realized they were another short. "Barry, where's Naruto?"

Everyone looked around but he wasn't here. "Naruto?!" Barry shouted.

"Naruto?!" Gaara shouted.

"NARUTO!" Linda shouted at the top of her lungs.

Cisco tapped his phone and activated Gideon. "Gideon, activate the tracker in Naruto's suit. Where is he?"

"I'm afraid that's not possible, Mr. Ramon. I'm not getting a signal on his tracker and his biometric readings stopped transmitting. I'm sorry but he's not here." Gideon told him and everyone felt that gut punch.

"No…" Linda dropped to her knees, but Iris managed to catch her as she cried her eyes out. "NOOO!"

End of chapter 11. The End

Not Quite…

Epilogue

With Naruto

Naruto was blown away by the explosion that collapsed the singularity and was falling through towards the ground. He saw Ronnie falling as well and quickly steered himself over to grab him.

"Gotcha!" Naruto then saw they were heading for the roof of a building. "Ronnie, hold on tight!"

Naruto spun his arms quickly and made wind funnels that slowed him and Ronnie down so they didn't die when they hit the roof of the building, but it still hurt as the two crashed and rolled from the impact.

"Oh, son of a bitch." Naruto held his pain inside as he glanced over at Ronnie who was in pain but alive. "Ronnie, you ok?"

"Yeah, but I think I broke something."

"Me too." Naruto replied as he managed to stand up and didn't see a black hole in the sky. "I think we did it. Gideon, did that do it?"

"Yes, it did but you have another problem." She told him.

"Problem? What problem? Another black hole?" Naruto asked.

"No, but I'm not able to connect to STAR labs given the circumstances." Gideon told him.

"Circumstances?" Naruto asked as Ronnie tapped him on the shoulder to turn around. "Oh."

He realized the problem as they were in Central City, given by what was shown on the blimp but from what he knew, there wasn't supposed to be a blimp in Central City. And the entire city looked different. The architecture, design, even the railway system they could see in the distance wasn't right. It honestly looked like a city that belonged back in the 40s. He did see STAR labs in the distance but the building looked different.

"That's a big circumstance." Ronnie commented as Naruto removed his mask.

"Where the hell are we?" Naruto asked. They weren't in Kansas anymore and definitely not the Central City they knew.

End of chapter 11

I hoped you guys liked the season 1 finale of the Crimson Speedster. A lot happened and I got all that I could in the chapter. Obviously, I've managed to condense a lot of things with the chapter. Obviously with the show things play out a certain way but with Naruto there things happen differently and more effectively. For example, Naruto solved the issues with Bates and Grodd a lot easier and Barry wouldn't go to Snart with Naruto's involvement. Things have changed but also stayed the same in some circumstances. He helped Oliver deal with the League and we got some awesome team-ups with Batman but I didn't put him in too much since it was about Oliver and Talia. And trying to include Batman in a way that would make it ok he would be with Ra's death was hard. He doesn't like killing or killers but I made it work the best way I could. Hoped you guys liked it. Also hoped you guys liked the fight with Thawne.

I know the end of season 1 took forever and I apologize for that. When I first started this I was in college which hampered my writing schedule and even after college it was hard to get into a rhythm but I'm proud of where this story has gotten to at this point and I look forward to see it continue.

Naruto and Barry's relationship took a turn this chapter and obviously it's not going to be able to fixed anytime soon so we'll see what happens. As Naruto said, their work relationship hasn't changed but personally they're done. We'll see how that gets fixed but Naruto's got his hands full as he and Ronnie are stuck somewhere familiar but different.

Next chapter, Naruto and Ronnie had to adjust to a brave new world and learn as much as they can to get back home while avoiding a whole bunch of new enemies. Until next time.

Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze AKA Impulse: Age-23/Date of Birth (10/8/1992)

Actor appearance: Lightly Blonde-haired Kento Yamazaki.

Casual outfit: friction-proof sneakers, dark blue jeans, a dark red or black shirt, black button up and jacket.

Uniform: (New 52 Crimson and Silver Kid Flash suit)

Reinforced tri-polymer composite/Kevlar weave friction proof battle suit with built-in sensor system and belt to hold gadgets and items

Safety googles owned by Minato Namikaze/modified by Cisco Ramon

Empty Flash Ring

Phone with Gideon's neuromorphic matrix

Resources: Co-owner of STAR labs with vast access to cutting edge technology and millions of dollars.

Current top speed for Naruto Namikaze AKA Impulse: Mach 2.5=1918.17 mph.

Current abilities in bold are unlocked now

Super Speed/Speed force Aura

Training in combat by Oliver Queen and Jiraiya

Accelerated healing

Superhuman endurance

Superhuman reflexes & agility

Improved homeostasis

Enhanced strength/durability

Enhanced mental capabilities to speed read and process information quickly

Heavily resistant to mind control and most psychic attacks

Superhuman/infinite intelligence

Current Genius level: Professor Martin Stein

Speed punches: Mach punch

Speed force constructs: Draws power directly from the speed force to create solid constructs like armor or even weapons (Drains stamina quickly)

Speed force armor: increases speed, strength, resistant to damage, and generates lightning

Speed force weapons: weapons made up of pure speed force energy, highly destructive

Molecular Oscillation: Vibrate molecules at high frequency

Accelerated Mass/Force punch

Physical disruption

Air solidification

Intangibility/phasing

Time Travel

Temporal Awareness: ability to detect any alterations to the time-stream and remember multiple timelines

Multiple Pairings: Naruto x Linda Park

Eventually: Lena Luthor, Sara Lance, Kara Danvers

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the Flash, both belong to their respective owners, I'm just a big fan.