Summary: Just because he knew it was coming, doesn't mean he was ready for it.

Author's Note: All that's left now is the epilogue, which should be out mid next week.


With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

-Present Day (One Year, Four Months and Two Weeks)-

Barry tapped his pen on his desk, frowning down at the half finished report in front of him. He should have been done an hour ago, but he was distracted. He was distracted because Oliver had implied the attack on Harrison would be happening soon, but had refused to elaborate.

Maybe instead of sulking, pouting, and being generally sarcastic, he should have realized it was hopeless and pretended to happily comply with their little plan, but he'd been too upset to really think it through and as a result, they wouldn't tell him anything.

He'd asked Len, but all he'd gotten was absolute silence and that dead-eyed stare until he'd been uncomfortable enough to just leave.

Lisa'd brushed him off.

Mick had hit him upside the back of the head for his efforts.

Felicity had stumbled over excuses that quickly turned into innuendos and then apologies and he loved her too much to keep pestering after that.

The threat Eddie had made on the other Earth still haunted him enough that he wasn't even willing to even ask. "Either you help me or I will kill myself." He couldn't give Eddie a reason to think he wasn't going along with it.

At least Oliver had been honest enough to tell him they didn't trust him not to change his mind and double cross them and, really, he'd be lying if he said the thought hadn't crossed his mind. If he thought, for even a second, that Harrison wouldn't kill every single one of them, he would, but he knew better and he wasn't going to risk that.

It was frustrating, but in the end, it didn't really matter. Barry didn't need the details. He stuck close to them or to Harrison so that when they decided to strike, he'd be there. Not to stop them, but to make sure no one got hurt in the process. Not them and not Harrison. After that, Barry had his own plans.

"Barry."

He looked up, a little surprised to see Oliver standing in the door to his lab, wearing a white t-shirt, leather jacket, and jeans. He was supposed to be laying low, not coming to visit Barry at the precinct. Not that there weren't fail-safes. Gideon was under strict instructions to cover up any footage Barry's friends happen to show up in if at all possible. If not… well, Barry would deal with it. Or at least try. So far so good. However the precinct was heavily covered in Harrison's little devices and that would make it harder.

Too late now. He forced a smile. "Hey, what's up?"

"I need you to come with me."

Barry considered saying no, but it was after five already and Harrison would be stuck at Iron Heights for another few hours. He grabbed his jacket as he followed Oliver outside where his bike was parked at the curb. "So, where to?"

Oliver started the engine and held out the passenger helmet. "Get on."

Barry hesitated, but it was probably better to play along. If things went south, he could always make a run for it.

It didn't take long for him to figure out where there they were headed, but he let himself relax against Oliver and enjoy the ride. It was warm out, but the sun was starting to set and the wind felt good.

Despite Len's offer to let Team Arrow use the warehouse, Oliver had insisted they find their own temporary headquarters. He'd made some good arguments – if they were compromised it was better not to have everyone at the same location, the warehouse was halfway across town, and there wasn't exactly a shortage of abandoned buildings in the greater Central City area.

The truth was they were both Alpha males fighting over the same territory and Barry was apparently part of that territory, so he'd backed off and let them do whatever it was they were going to do, regardless of how he felt about it. At least the rest of the team got along. Well, mostly. Mick was on the fence. He stood by Len in the power struggle, but he didn't seem to hate Felicity or Ray. Of course, he didn't seem to like them, either, but that was Mick.

The motorcycle slowed to a stop and Barry opened his eyes, expecting to see the abandoned storage units that had been the base of Team Arrow's operations for the last two weeks. Instead, he found himself staring at the side entrance of S.T.A.R. Labs. The entire exterior of the lab was dark. Harrison didn't see the need to waste their power on lighting doors they never used. He also didn't bother turning on what he considered unnecessary security measures, which meant most of the doors were unlocked, this one included.

He pulled his helmet off and frowned. "What are we doing here?"

"Felicity found something."

Shit. Felicity wasn't allowed to be in S.T.A.R. Labs. He'd made it very clear that he didn't want her anywhere near there. What if Harrison got finished early? What if there were safeguards in place that Barry didn't know about? It was too risky.

"We shouldn't be here."

Oliver opened the door. "It's okay."

"What if he catches you?"

"He won't."

Barry gritted his teeth in annoyance as he stormed past him, stopping long enough to glare with narrowed eyes, just in case Oliver didn't get that he was pissed about this. He followed wordlessly through the dark halls, illuminated only by the cell phone Oliver held in one hand.

There was no sound coming from the cortex, but he wasn't surprised to see everyone there, spread out through the room. Lisa and Shawna were hovering by the medical bay. Eddie was beside Caitlin's old lab. Mick and Ray had set themselves by another door at the back while Ronnie and Dr. Stein stood together by the side exit. Len was by the door they'd entered from, which left Felicity and Hartley, who were both at the computers, an empty chair between them

He didn't wait to be told to sit down. It was obvious what they wanted and he needed to get this over with. He needed to let them say whatever it was they needed to say so they'd leave before Harrison got back.

"So, what did you find? The blue print for his master plan? His questionable porn collection? His autographed copy of Fifty Shades of Grey? His diary?"

Hartley raised an eyebrow. "He keeps a diary?"

"It's more of an activity log, really, but it has its moments."

Before Hartley could ask, Oliver cut him off. "That's not why we're here."

Barry dropped his head back and to the left so he could see Oliver guarding the entry doors with Len. "Then why are we here?"

There was a whoosh of air to his right at the same time something closed around his wrist and even with his speed, he barely caught a glimpse of Shawna as she disappeared, back on the other side of the room. He looked down and god damnit! It was the spare set of cuffs Harrison kept at S.T.A.R. Labs, the ones Barry couldn't phase out of, linking his wrist to the arm of the chair.

Instinctively, he tried to pull his hand through them, but they didn't budge. He twisted in the chair, seething at Oliver and Len, who were slowly lowering their weapons.

Barry dropped his voice to a threatening rumble. "Let me go."

When it became obvious Barry wasn't able to get out, Len relaxed and shook his head. "Not happening, Scarlet."

"But…"

Oliver cut him off. "We're taking Wells down tonight and we need to make sure you're out of the way."

No. No, no, no, it wasn't supposed to happen like this. He was supposed to be helping them. He'd promised. He'd meant it even. Desperately, he looked around the room, hoping for some sign of weakness among the faces around him, but everyone had the same determined expression.

He stood, pulling at the chair. If he had to take it with him he would, but he wasn't letting them face Harrison alone. He wasn't losing anyone tonight, not if he had any say in it. Except the chair didn't budge and a closer look confirmed that it had been bolted to the floor.

With a frustrated scream, he yanked at the cuff, ripping at the skin of his wrist until it bled. Then he froze, because what if they were going back on their promise? What if they'd decided to kill Harrison instead and that's why they were restraining him.

Turning back to Len and Oliver, he took a shaky breath, trying for calm over the panic. "Don't do this. Oliver, Len, please don't do this. I'll help lock him up, but don't… You don't have to kill him. I want to help. Let me help!"

He could see the others shifting uncomfortably. Ronnie and Dr. Stein looked especially taken aback, but then he'd only seen them one other time since they'd made it into town and he'd been on his best behavior that day, doing a passable impression of pre-wave Barry. But he couldn't think about that. He had to focus on Oliver and Len. They were the leaders here, it was up to them.

"Please?"

Len shook his head once. "Not happening."

Felicity stood to touch his shoulder. "No one's killing anyone. We don't do that anymore, remember? We just don't think it's a good idea for you to get in the middle of it, okay?"

No, it wasn't okay. It wasn't okay at all. But they weren't going to listen to him.

Barry slumped down into the chair and Felicity gave him a smile that was probably meant to be reassuring. Under normal circumstances, it might have been, but Barry wasn't really in the mood to be reassured.

After a moment the rest of the room regrouped, pulling together at the far end of the room to go over the plan in hushed tones. Barry caught some of it. Len, Oliver, Mick, and Firestorm were going out to face Harrison, as previously agreed. Ray, Shawna, and Hartley would be on the roof, ready to jump in if necessary. If they failed and it looked like the Reverse Flash was going to win, it was up to Shawna and Eddie to make sure Barry, Lisa, and Felicity got to the safe house.

Idly, he wondered where that was. It couldn't be anywhere Harrison would think to look. Not Star City, not Eddie's apartment, maybe the warehouse, but he doubted Oliver would trust the Rogue's security enough to risk Felicity. It would be somewhere new that they'd set up, maybe somewhere with a cell to keep Barry from running.

"Hey."

He lolled his head to the side, giving Hartley his best dead stare. "What?"

"You okay?"

"Not unless you have the key." Barry rattled the cuff against the chair.

"He really got into your head, didn't he?"

"I'm not the only one, or have you forgotten your little vengeance spree? I haven't. Nothing quite like the feeling of your inside liquefying while you're still conscious. It's a singularly unique experience."

Hartley stiffened defensively and backed down, going back to the computers. Past transgressions were usually off the board, but Barry didn't feel like playing nice.

Out of the corner of his eye, Len looked over at them, but didn't move to intervene.

Barry sighed, swallowing the urge or apologize. It wasn't Hartley's fault, really, it was just strange having the cortex so full of life after so long. The other Earth had been different. It had felt like a dream – everything perfect and pristine, filled with all of his friends and family. It hadn't felt real, because it couldn't be. Those people were dead and that place, as it was, was gone.

This was his home with people that were alive and he didn't like it. It felt wrong. The cortex was too noisy and every nerve and neuron he had was screaming 'danger.' They shouldn't be there, but they were and he was cuffed to a chair, so there was nothing he could do about it.

Oliver broke away from the group and came over to put a hand on Felicity's shoulder. "We're ready."

She squeezed his hand, holding on a little longer before letting go. He nodded to the others and the group left, filing out of the main door and into the hall.

As soon as they were gone, Felicity took her phone out and Barry turned to her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm letting Wells know that we have you and that if he wants you back, he'll meet Oliver in front of S.T.A.R. Labs."

"Shouldn't you be trying to take him by surprise?"

Eddie took the seat Hartley had been in, shaking his head. "He's a speedster. If we try to sneak up on him and he hears us, he'll react faster than we can. Hartley says he likes to grandstand. If we set it up like a showdown, he'll take the time to make an entrance, monologue maybe. It'll start the fight off on even footing."

On the monitors, Oliver, Len, Mick, and a fully formed Firestorm stepped out of the doors and put themselves front and center. As soon as they were in place, Felicity took a deep breath and hit send on her phone.

That was it. It was up to Harrison to respond to the threat. Not that Barry had any doubt he would it was just a matter of waiting.

Unfortunately, Barry hated waiting. In the five minutes between Felicity sending the message and Harrison showing up, his brain ran through every worst case scenario at lightening speed. He hadn't felt this helpless in over a year, not since he'd given up trying to fight a battle he couldn't win, since he'd stopped fighting himself. He tugged at the cuffs in annoyance, more to give himself something to do than a real attempt at escape, but Eddie still looked at him, concerned and nervous.

Hm. Interesting. He raised his eyebrows at Eddie, wiggling them suggestively and Eddie turned away, face a pale pink.

He considered prodding a little more – he was bored, angry, nervous, and Eddie had earned it, putting him in this position – but he was interrupted by an unfamiliar alarm sounding through the cortex. Felicity immediately hit the coms with, "Incoming" and a moment later, Harrison appeared on the monitors, coming to a stop several feet from the waiting group, red lightening on the heals of his running shows, his hair wind blown, and his suit unwrinkled.

As he took in what was waiting for him, a grin slowly spread over his face. "Oliver Queen, you I expected. Ronnie, Dr. Stein, always a pleasure. However, I must admit, I never saw Captain Cold and Heatwave coming."

Barry could see Len's hand moving on the trigger of the Sub-Zero gun, ready to fire at a moment's notice, even if the rest of him was perfectly still. "And here Barry talks about how smart you are."

"Really?" Harrison's grin widened. "So, that's where he's been running off to. I'll have to remember to tell him how disappointed I am when I'm done disposing of you. Is your sister here? What did they call her in my time? Ah, yes, Golden Glider. I find it hard to believe she isn't here somewhere. And the lovely Felicity Smoak. I'm going to enjoy ripping her nosy little heart out and shoving it in Barry's face."

Barry couldn't help the desperate whimper that made its way from the back of his throat, or his redoubled efforts to pull his hand out of the cuffs. Maybe he could cut it off at the wrist? It wasn't like he couldn't reattach it, but there wasn't anything around he could use. Lisa put a staying hand on his shoulder and Barry tensed under it without pulling away.

On the screen, Oliver took one of the specially designed arrows out of his quiver and pulled it tight on his bow, aiming it at Harrison. "We're done talking."

"Good." Harrison held up his fist, ring aimed out and a moment later he was clad in his Reverse-Flash suit.

Barry watched helplessly, eyes moving over the monitors at a frantic pace as everyone burst into action all at once. Len fired at the ground, covering it in ice the moment Harrison took a step. It forced him to come to an abrupt stop, eyes glowing.

Len pulled back and on the other screen, Barry could see Oliver moving into a better position as Firestorm threw fireballs at Harrison's feet, keeping his focus away from the archer.

The other him hadn't given Barry all that much detail on how the battle between him and his Reverse-Flash had gone. When Barry had asked, he'd simply said Oliver and Firestorm had helped. The plans he'd sent back with Eddie had been much more detailed, giving them a slight upper hand, but that wasn't going to be enough, not without Barry there helping.

He twisted his hand in the cuff, agitated. He was supposed to be helping.

As soon as Harrison's back was turned, Oliver took the shot. It lodged itself in Harrison's thigh, but he barely spared it a glance, before using his arms to create a wind tunnel that threw Firestorm through the air.

Felicity hit the mic immediately. "Firestorm's airborne."

On the other monitor, Ray shot off in his suit to fly after Firestorm, leaving Shawna behind with Hartley. Not good. Not good.

As he disappeared from the cameras into the distance, Harrison pulled the arrow from his leg and held it up. He studied it with a frown as his body stopped vibrating and the red in his eyes dulled out to a natural blue.

Oliver stood straighter. "The arrows are loaded with nanites. They cancel out your speed."

Harrison sneered. "I don't need my speed."

The mask obscured his face, but Barry knew that tone. Harrison was pissed that Oliver had made the shot – that someone had gotten one up on him. A pissed Harrison was a dangerous Harrison, with or without the speedforce.

He looked up at Lisa, who still had a hand on his shoulder, but she was fixated on the monitor where Oliver and Harrison had started fighting. Even at a normal speed, it was difficult to follow. Len and Mick had pulled back to stand side by side, guns at the ready. They couldn't interfere without hitting Oliver, but it didn't look like they needed to.

Oliver was getting the upper hand, slowly, but surely. Barry had known Oliver was a skilled fighter, but he hadn't thought…

Harrison flipped over, landing hard on his back, clearly winded and Barry froze, half hoping, half fearing it was over. He didn't want Harrison locked up. He didn't want to hurt him like that, but he didn't want to lose everyone else, either, and this way he wasn't losing anyone. Not really. Eventually, Harrison would come around and then it would be different. It would be okay.

Oliver's guard dropped, just a little, Len and Mick relaxed their grip, not lowering their weapons, but waiting. The three of them looked at each other, a silent question of whether that was it, but the moment their eyes were off him, Harrison started shaking. No. No, he was vibrating. He was throwing the nanites off.

Felicity noticed, as well, but she'd barely managed to yell, "Oliver!" Before Harrison was up, wrapping a hand around Oliver's neck as he ran the short distance between them and the Rogues. He let go of Oliver at the last moment, throwing him into Mick at full speed. They tumbled over each other to the ground, stunned while Harrison continued forward. He ducked under the beginning blast from the Sub-Zero gun and knocked the weapon out of Len's hand. It skidded across the parking lot, coming to a stop somewhere in the dark.

Lisa's hand on Barry's shoulder tightened. Her nails bit into his skin through his shirt as they watched Harrison's hand close around Len's throat and drive him back into the wall, his head hitting the metal with a sickening crack. Through Len's com, they heard the deep, vibrating voice of the Reverse-Flash. "Where's Barry?"

Len smiled, teeth stained red. "Safe."

Harrison's free hand rose, vibrating dangerously as it rested over Len's chest. "Tell me where he is."

Barry's throat close. His heart was beating too fast, even for him. Harrison was going to win. It was the tidal wave all over again. Everyone he loved, everyone he cared about was in the same place at the same time and disaster was coming. Shawna could maybe get some of them away, but maybe not, and Barry was handcuffed to a chair, unable to do anything again and it wasn't fair. Not again. Not again.

Not again.

His body vibrated at a frantic speed, instinctively pulling from that deep place Barry didn't quite understand, the place that let him keep going when he didn't actually have anything left in him. There had to be something he could say or do, something to make them let him go, because if they didn't… if they didn't…

Barry took a deep breath and yanked at the cuff, ready to beg if he had to, only to feel his hand pull free, phasing through the cuff.

Holy shit. That shouldn't be possible. That wasn't…

Lisa's eyes went wide, Eddie cursed, Felicity froze, and Barry… Barry ran.


[]


There wasn't time to think. He was faster than Harrison knew, but he wasn't faster than Harrison. At least, he didn't think he was. He might be. Harrison implied it was possible. Here and now, though, Barry couldn't be sure. What he was sure of, though, was that if he hesitated for even a moment, he'd be too late.

As it was, he barreled into Harrison, knocking him back just before the vibrating hand of death entered Len's chest cavity. It was a sloppy hit, too much force with not enough aim. They slammed into the ground hard, Barry flipping over Harrison's head and skidding to a stop several feet away and owe. He'd forgotten to put on his suit.

His entire left side, from just under his arm to his hip, was on fire and both elbows had cracked against the pavement on landing. He didn't think he'd broken anything and a quick look confirmed that while his side had been shredded, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Of course, that didn't mean it didn't hurt, but he'd deal with that later.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Harrison starting to get up. Barry pushed past the pain to stumble to his feet to put himself between Harrison and the others.

Harrison took his time. He let Barry get his feet under him, and then looked him up and down appraisingly. "There you are. I was beginning to worry."

"They're mine. You don't touch them."

"Our agreement, Barry, was for Team Arrow, not the Rogues, and it was entirely dependent on them not interfering with my plans. I believe abducting you and attempting to kill me counts as interference."

Barry didn't dare take his eyes off Harrison, but he could hear movement behind him, slow and with a lot of grunting and groaning, but movement. He needed to buy them time to get a head start. It wouldn't be much, but it was the best he could do for now. Crouching half down, Barry let the lightening roll over him to make sure Harrison knew he was coming. When Harrison smiled, Barry took a moment to half turn his head, still not taking his eyes off Harrison, but enough to let them know he was talking to them. "Get out of here!"

Harrison hit him in the chest and Barry slid back on the balls of his feet, then launched himself forward into the fight. He managed to block most of the more devastating blows aimed at his face and sternum. His arms ached from the force of the punches, but he'd had worse. So much worse. Harrison was barely even trying and that was bad. Bad bad bad, because it meant he was toying with Barry.

A fist landed against his shoulder, knocking his off kilter and then and kick into his rib cage threw him back. He wasn't sure what he'd hit at first, only that it was hard and knocked the air out of his lungs.

He rolled onto his hands and knees and coughed into the ground, forcing air into his lungs. Harrison was definitely playing. A kick like that should have done more damage.

It took him a second to clear his vision and when he did, Harrison was kneeling over him, staring down with contempt. Past that, he could see Len standing, gripping the wall for support, his gun somewhere else in the dark parking lot. Mick and Oliver were getting to their feet as well, steadier than Len and they still had their weapons, but they needed more time. He should have put on his suit so he could communicate with Felicity and tell her to get Shawna to help extract them faster.

More time.

He dove forward, knocking Harrison to the ground.

It was hard to tell exact time. Minutes felt like seconds, especially when he was fighting Harrison. It took all of his focus to maintain a careful balance between winning and losing. Fight, but not too hard. Defend himself, but not too well. He had to keep Harrison interested, but he didn't want to hurt him.

When Barry went down again, Harrison's foot followed, slamming into his ribs with enough force to make him see white. He blinked it away and looked across the parking lot, hoping he'd bought them enough time, only to see them still there. Len had managed to retrieve his gun and was braced with his back against the wall, ready to fire. Mick stood firm, face set in an angry frown that said he wanted to kill someone. Oliver's head was tilted to the right, listening to something Felicity must have been saying in his ear. Firestorm was next to him. Ray must have gone back up to the roof, or was miniaturized somewhere nearby.

What did they think they were doing? The nanites didn't work. They needed to run, regroup, live to fight another day, but they weren't. They were standing there like they were preparing to give it another try.

"You can do better than that."

He looked up at Harrison, who was standing over him, hood pulled down so Barry could see his face, his expression, the amusement and annoyance twisted together.

Barry licked the blood off his lip and returned Harrison's smile with one of his own. "But I don't want to. Performance anxiety. Not used to having an audience. Now, if you wanna take this somewhere more private…"

The boot connected with Barry's ribs again. "Get up!"

The smile widened. "Make me."

Harrison reached down and grabbed Barry by the throat, pulling him up to his feet and then higher, until his toes barely touched the floor. "I'm disappointed, Barry. I thought I made it very clear what would happen if you brought your friends into this."

The humor left at the mention of his failure. "I tried."

"Clearly not hard enough."

"Please."

"Don't worry. When I'm done cleaning up your mess, we'll get back to what's important and before you know it, you'll be back home, with your real family and your real friends."

Your mess. Like it was Barry's fault this was happening. Like he hadn't begged and pleaded and lied and done everything he could possibly do to keep them away. He'd tried. He'd tried so hard.

It was like the wave all over again and it wasn't his fault. It hadn't been his fault then, either. He hadn't really needed the other him to confirm what he already knew. If Harrison hadn't stopped him, he could have saved them, but they were gone now and there was no getting them back. Even if he did what Harrison wanted and reset the timeline by saving his mother, they wouldn't be his friends and his family. They would be different and he would be different and nothing would be the same.

Barry closed his eyes against the long buried anger swelling to the surface, but it was too late. It was a physical thing crawling over him, over his skin. It hurts, like burning, but worse. It made him see red.

This was all Harrison's fault. All of it. If he hadn't stopped Barry, he'd still have his friends and family. He'd still have his home and he wouldn't be stuck with this twisted wrong version of the world, of himself, and it was all. Harrison's. Fault.

Barry moved without thinking, striking out to slam the heel of his hand into the bridge of Harrison's nose with a satisfying crunch.

"It's your fault!"

His kicked out, catching Harrison's knee then again, getting him in the chest and throwing him onto his back. He didn't give Harrison a chance to react before jumping on him, straddling his waist with fists already flying at lightning speed, catching the other speedster off guard.

"You did this!"

"It's your fault!" He threw punches, one after the other. Some distant part of him realized he was using the speedforce, realized that Harrison had stopped fighting back. "It's your fault!"

From somewhere very far away, past the roar of blood and anger and speed in his ears, he heard someone yell, "Kid!" but he was too far gone to care. A hand touched his shoulder and Barry turned, swinging his fist at the source of the contact without thinking. The moment it connected, he froze.

Shit. That wasn't Harrison. Harrison was on the ground under him. So, who had…?

Oh, god. Mick was laid out several feet away, blood pouring out of his nose. He hadn't meant… he'd just… and he'd been so angry.

Len knelt down beside Mick, asking if he was okay. Mick nodded and lifted his hand to press it over his face.

Oliver moved a step forward, then hesitated and Barry hated that. He hadn't meant to hurt Mick, he'd just reacted. He hadn't meant to. He could hear Lisa's words in his ears, 'We're just worried you'll get mad enough not to realize what you're doing until you've already done it.'

The front door of S.T.A.R. Labs opened and Lisa came running to her brother and Mick. Felicity and Eddie close behind her. Eddie hung back, but Felicity didn't.

She took a moment to check on Oliver then moved over to Barry, not touching him, but standing close to. "Barry?"

He blinked, turning his head to look at her and she visibly relaxed. Slowly, she put a hand on his shoulder and he felt… tired. He was really tired and confused. And hungry.

"Barry, it's over. Let's get you inside, okay?" He looked down at Harrison, unconscious under him and frowned. There was another arrow in Harrison's leg. When had that happened?

Felicity knelt down next to him and gently touched his arm to get his attention. "Don't worry. They'll take care of him."

"Don't hurt him." He wasn't sure why he'd needed to say that, except take care of sounded like something out of a movie, just before they dragged the guy off and shot him in the head.

Felicity shook her head. "They'll just take him to the pipeline, Barry. He'll be fine. You can see for yourself after we finish looking you over."

He still hesitated, but she tugged on his arm and he was really tired. Reluctantly, he stood to let her lead him into S.T.A.R. Labs, trying not to look at the others as they passed.


[]


"Next person touches me, loses a hand."

"Mick…"

"I ain't kiddin', Len."

"But…" Shawna stopped with her hand hovering dangerously close to Mick's face. "It could be broken."

"No could be. It is."

"Then let me…" His narrowed eyes and she backed down with a sigh. "Fine."

Barry watched her storm off through the window of the medical bay. It should have been funny, but he wasn't really in the mood to laugh. Felicity had led him inside and made him sit on the bed before going to check on Oliver again. Shawna had popped her head in shortly after, asked if he was okay and when he'd said yes, she'd left without another word.

He looked down at the melted rubber on the bottom of his shoes, the torn out knees of his jeans, blood soaked into the frayed edges. His knees were already scabbing over, sealing in the little rocks and debris that had dug into the wounds. Absently, he picked at it, tearing off the scab to dig the dirt out with his finger nails.

Thankfully, everyone was more or less okay. Len had taken the worst of it. He'd needed two stitches on the back of his head and he'd bitten his tongue. His voice was gravelly, but there wasn't any permanent damage.

Firestorm was fine, thanks to Ray catching him before he could hit the ground. Oliver had been a little bruised from his collision with Mick and might have a mild concussion, but nothing he wouldn't recover from. Mick had his broken nose. All told, they've gotten off lucky.

Barry hissed as he ripped another large chunk of scab off and dug out a small pebble that felt larger than it was.

"What're you doin'?"

Mick standing in the doorway, nose swollen and red. The cortex was empty. He stared down at his bloody fingers and reopened wound and shrugged. "It scabbed over before I could clean it out."

Mick silently went to the sink and soaked a rag in water, then grabbed a chair and pulled it across the floor, sitting in it next to the cot. He pulled Barry's leg across his knee.

Barry raised an eyebrow, cocking his head to the side curiously as Mick took the wet rag and pressed it to the scab. After a minute, he rubbed the clothe gently over the scab, pulling it off less painfully than Barry would have expected.

"You don't have to do that. I can get one of the others if you…"

"Shut up." Barry snapped his mouth shut and Mick sighed deep, ending it with something like a growl. "I was EMT certified, part of bein' a firefighter."

"Oh." Barry didn't say anything for a while. He watched, fascinated, as Mick use gauze and tweezers to clean one knee before moving onto the other. Mick always looked like he was one wrong word away from started a fight and his hands were rough and callused, but he was surprisingly gentle. It barely hurt at all.

When he'd finished with the knees, he had Barry hold up his arm so he could get to his elbow and Barry finally broke the silence, reluctant, but determined. "I'm sorry."

Mick glanced up from his work for a moment. "For what?"

"Hitting you?"

That got him a grunt of laughter. "Kid, I had worse in juvvie."

Barry frowned. "You're not mad?"

Mick shrugged and dabbed the cleaned elbow with antiseptic, moving onto the next one. "Knew gettin' between you two was a bad idea. This ain't nearly as bad as I thought it'd be."

"Then why do it?" Because that didn't make sense. Mick may have been the brawn to Len's brains, but he wasn't stupid.

"'Cause you never wouda forgiven yourself if you'd killed him." Barry went cold at the thought. It hadn't occurred to him, but… but he would have. In that moment he'd been so angry, if Mick hadn't stopped him…

Barry swallowed down rising bile. "Thank you."

Mick shrugged. "Just promise you ever decide you really do want to waste that sorry sack of shit, you let me watch."


[]


When the last of the bandages had been stuck on – with protest, because Barry insisted infection wasn't possible and with his healing rate, it would be fine in the next ten minutes, while Mick insisted he would drag Barry's ass to Lisa and that Felicity Smoak chick and let them handle him – he went to change into the clean clothes he left in the office, the one he shared with Harrison.

It looked exactly like it always did. The collection of Funko Pop figures he'd been buying to irritate Harrison were lined at the front of the desk, turned to stare with soulless black eyes at the cot they slept in when they were both too tired or horny or hurt to try and make it home for the night.

With a sigh, Barry flicked Dumbledore in the head, knocking him over onto his back and picked up Vader, taking it with him. He found Hartley, Felicity, and Ray in Cisco's old lab, looking over one of his computers. Len was standing by the door, quietly listening.

He stopped in front of Len, just out of sight of the others and held Vader up. "Come to the dark side."

Len raised his eyebrow. "I did. They lied about the cookies."

"Maybe you're going to the wrong dark side."

Len smirked. "That an offer, Scarlet."

"I'm just saying my dark side has cookies."

"That's what they all say."

It wasn't much, but the light banter was enough to let him know Len wasn't mad. "What are they doing?"

"Your boyfriend's awake. They're making sure the cell's holding up."

Harrison was okay. Barry let out a breath and the tension he hadn't realized he was holding melted. "Can I see him?"

Len seemed to consider it for a moment before looking over his shoulder. "Hartley, we good?"

Hartley held a thumb up, not looking over from his animated conversation with the other scientists. Barry couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Hartley that enthusiastic. Maybe never.

Len turned back to Barry. "Bay 52 and don't try anything, we revoked your access to the cells."

Barry wanted to feel hurt by that, but in truth, he was relieved, because he couldn't say he wouldn't be tempted. He wanted to think he was stronger than that, but he knew enough to never underestimate Harrison's ability to manipulate people.

He made an 'x' over his heart and smiled as he backed down the hall. "Cross my heart and hope to die."


[]


Eobard leaned his back against the cell wall, glaring at the empty bay and its open door, mocking him.

He'd woken there some time ago, ten or twenty minutes perhaps, to find himself stripped of his Reverse-Flash costume. They'd left him in his black slacks and dark t-shirt, but had not given him the dignity of shoes or socks.

He should have seen this coming.

He'd known Barry still harbored a great deal of anger toward him. It surfaced occasionally, when Barry's incessant 'I won't let you leave me' turned to 'you have to live with this,' but he'd thought he had enough control over the boy to keep it from becoming a problem. He should have realized that threatening his only remaining friends would bring it out, but Eobard had been angry himself – at Barry for failing to keep his friends in check, at the Rogues and Team Arrow for thinking they could interfere with his plans.

There had been so many setbacks. He should have been home a year ago, but there had been the tidal wave and then he'd been forced to accept a position on the Anti-Metahuman Task Force, limiting the time he had to work on the accelerator. What little time he did have was often interrupted. Barry was… demanding was putting it nicely. The boy's entire reason for living seemed to be to distract Eobard was getting work done and he was unfortunately good at causing those distractions.

It was the primary reason he hadn't looked too far into where Barry was going when he disappeared. He'd assumed somewhere quiet to pull himself together and seeing as Barry had always come back to him saner, calmer, and more focused Eobard had taken the reprieve and been glad for it.

He usually wasn't so negligent. It was unbecoming of a man of his intellect. He hadn't spent sixteen painstaking years planning this only to have it ruined by Oliver Queen and Leonard Snart.

No, they weren't ruined, not entirely. This was merely another setback and while infuriating, the fact remained that as long as Barry was still alive and his accelerator was functioning, he could make it work.

Of course, he'd have to convince Barry to let him out of this godforsaken cell, but that shouldn't prove too difficult.

As if on cue, he felt the lightning in the air a moment before the yellow streak of Barry Allen flashed into the room, coming to a halt at the door. He had one of those ridiculous, top heavy figures in his hand and a grin on his face.

"Harrison!"

"Barry."

Barry toyed with the dark dome head of the figure, his smile faltering only slightly. "You're okay."

"Of course."

Barry bit his lip and nodded, more to himself then Eobard. "Good, that's… good."

"Open the door, Barry."

Barry shook his head, still holding the figure tightly in both hands. "Can't."

"Barry, I'm not angry with you." A small lie, but a necessary one. "You're afraid of what changing the timeline will mean, I understand that and I understand that you don't feel you can trust me at the moment. Open the door so we can talk about this. I'm sure we can reach an… understanding."

Barry raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side in clear disbelief. "For real?"

They both knew the only understand that was going to be reached was at the end of the literal whip Eobard intended to beat Barry into submission with. It had, perhaps, been too much to hope that Barry would fall for that again.

Eobard walked forward to stand less than a foot away from the glass, eyes narrowed. "Open the door, Barry."

Barry tensed, but didn't move. "I said I can't."

"Open the door!"

"I can't." Barry stormed to the control panel and pressed his palm to the pad. The buzz of the rejected print was audible, even from that far away. "I don't have access. They don't trust me."

"Then you'll gain their trust."

Barry rocked on his heels and looked at the ceiling for a moment before shaking his head. "Nope, I'm not doing that either."

"Barry…"

"Remember when you had me locked in here, after I found out who you really were? Remember what you said you wanted."

Eobard's eye twitched, but he forced himself not to lash out. "I wanted you to listen."

"Exactly! So, now it's your turn. Your turn to listen to me. Your future is as dead as my past."

"Your past can be changed."

"No, it can't. Not like that. The other me told me. He said the universe replaces one disaster with another, sometimes worse one. So how do I know it's better, Harrison? How do I know that if I go back, if I save my mother and avert the tidal wave, it doesn't make things worse?"

Cold dread filled the pit of Eobard's stomach. "I told you…"

"Uh uh." Barry interrupted with a scowl. "Do you know how I know you're lying, Harrison? Your mouth is moving."

Barry took a deep breath and stepped away from the glass, setting the Darth Vader figure on the ground, facing Eobard, who found himself at an uncharacteristic loss for words.

"It won't be so bad. You'll see. I can't give you your future back, Harrison. I won't. But I can make you a new one. Whatever you want, I'll do it. Well, almost. I won't let you hurt my friends, but anything else. I'll challenge you when you want me to, defy you when you need it, and if you ask me to, I'll stand with you."

When Eobard still failed to speak, Barry smiled with a renewed smile, too wide to be honest. "I'll bring back dinner, yeah? Thai food, or big belly burger? Oh, I know! That place that does the chocolate malts you like."

"Be right back." Barry's eyes twinkled in amusement. "Don't go anywhere."

With a wink, Barry shot off into S.T.A.R. Labs, leaving Eobard alone in the pipeline.