I realized the first couple chapters have been a more serious tone than I had intended for this story. Expect a bit more humor from here on out. We are done with most of the exposition now and will be getting into more of the action in the next chapter! Thanks to new followers J. 586, LuckGoddess, blobfish3690, emenemdj, Jed-El, and Israel Pena. Don't forget to review! Enjoy Chapter 4!

Previously

"So if I run at the same frequency as my world-" Barry began.

"You will travel through a wormhole back to your universe, yes!" Stein finished. The mood had definitely lightened in the room. Maybe Barry would be able to get home with no problems after all.

Now

A red streak zoomed through the empty particle accelerator, lightning trailing behind him. A closer look revealed Barry Allen trying to reach the speed of mach 2 as he pumped his arms, digging his feet into the concrete, pushing him self to move faster.

"Can you pick up the pace a little, Pops?" Wally commented, sitting leisurely on the catwalk above were Barry was running. He took a huge bite out of an apple he was eating. Seriously, is he always eating? Barry rolled his eyes as he continued running.

"Pops?-" Barry sped past Wally, "We're-" he ran a lap, "-practically the-" another lap, "same age!" Barry slowed to a stop, breathing heavily as Wally zipped down to stand in front of him. Barry was doubled over trying to catch his breath. A huge crunch was heard as Wally took another bite out of his apple.

"Well yeah," Wally mumbled, continuing to eat his apple as he talked, "But if you were from this time, you would have been, like, almost 40. That's practically ancient," He took another huge bite from the apple.

"Why don't you keep eating that apple, it'll make you look like even more of an asshole," Barry commented, still catching his breath.

"Woah," Wally feigned shock the insult, "I didn't think that amount of sass could come from an Allen, even one from a different universe!" He chuckled as he finished his apple. Barry finally stood up straight again. He noticed Cisco and Wells enter the accelerator, the latter holding a tablet, furiously tapping on it.

"So what's wrong, Cisco? Why can't I hit the right speed?" Barry was concerned, he knew he was faster than this. He had barely even hit mach 1, and even when he did, he couldn't maintain that speed. Not to mention he felt completely drained, similar to how he'd felt before they found out about his hyper metabolism.

Cisco must have figured he was using a lot of energy, because he handed Barry some of his special nutrition bars. He had to say, they actually tasted much better than the ones the Cisco from his universe made. He thanked him and decided to sit down while they talked.

"It seems to me, Mr. Allen, that you just don't have enough energy to hit the speeds necessary to create and travel through the wormhole," Wells stated, scrolling through his tablet. Barry looked up at him, his expression a concerned scowl. "My theory is that traveling through the singularity exhausted most of your energy. It will take a day or so for you to get back to your top speed."

He finished typing on his tablet and shut it down looking down at Barry, noticing the resentful look he was giving him. He looked away, trying to avoid Barry's gaze. Barry shook himself out of his haze. He had to keep reminding himself that this Wells was not his Wells. This one wasn't Thawne.

"Hey, could you guys give us a minute?" Barry asked Wally and Cisco. Cisco nodded and motioned for Wally who looked back at Wells and Barry, but Barry gave him a nod, letting him know he wasn't going to go off on Wells again. Once they left, Barry was standing, he rubbed the back of his neck nervously as Wells just stood there, awkwardly.

"I'm— I'm sorry," Barry stuttered, this was going to be harder than he thought, "I— I just, oh man, I don't really know how to say this,"

"You're having trouble separating me from the Harrison Wells of your universe," Barry nodded, he summed it up pretty well. "I don't blame you though, considering what I, or what The Reverse-Flash, did to you in your universe. I can understand your animosity."

"That doesn't make it okay," Barry took a step towards Wells, who shifted his weight nervously. The way they talked, their mannerisms, Barry could tell that this Wells was the polar opposite of Thawne. "I've been treating you as if you were him, but you're not. I can see that. It's just-"

"—difficult," Wells finished as Barry nodded. " William Blake once said, 'it's easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend'. As much as it hurts to admit it, the Harrison Wells of your universe, or at least Thawne's portrayal of him, was your friend. That kind of betrayal leaves a deep wound that's not easily healed."

Barry stared at him, surprised at how close he was to the truth. Wells looked around the particle accelerator, lost in thought and Barry processed what he said. He did feel betrayed, in more ways than one. He was mad that Wells had lied to them, mad that he had killed his mother and countless others, he was mad that he had believed the lies. What hit him hardest was that Wells— Thawne— had thought of him as a friend, as a son, and had looked at him with pride. It made Barry feel dirty.

Looking at this Wells, he began to feel what he felt when he was in the middle of the charade: respect for the man standing in front of him, even the beginnings of trust. Barry gave Wells a smile and held out his hand to the doctor. He looked at the hand perplexed.

"Why don't we start over," Wells took his hand and Barry gave it a shake, "I'm Barry Allen, from an alternate universe."

"Doctor Harrison Wells— the real Harrison Wells— from this universe," He shook Barry's hand firmly. They let the moment hang in silence, mutual respect replacing the tense atmosphere that had previously enveloped the two.

—-

When Wells and Barry entered the Cortex, it seemed as though all hell had broken loose. Wally was pulling on his mask as Ronnie, or Firestorm stood at the ready. Cisco, now wearing a black, yellow, and red armored suit, was pulling some goggles down over his eyes. Barry looked at Cisco, dumbstruck. Since when does Cisco run around in a suit? Then he remembered about what was happening to the Cisco in his universe, that he was a metahuman as well.

"Where's the fire?" Barry inquired as Cisco looked up.

"We got two robberies in progress," He began buckling on some gloves, "It's the Rogues."

"The who?"

"Come on, don't you have a Rogues Gallery in your universe?" Wally sped next to Barry holding a tablet. It displayed different mugshots as Wally talked. "Heatwave, Weather Wizard, Captain Cold?"

The Rogues Gallery? Barry couldn't believe Snart had actually liked the name he had given them. Great, I named a super villain team… and it carried over across multiple universes…

"We've got three at each location. Wally, take Keystone Reserve and Ronnie and I will take Central City National," Cisco announced. They turned to leave when Barry put on his mask.

"I'll go with Wally," at hearing this, Wally looked at him uncertainly.

"Look, not that I don't want you to help, but don't you think you should stay here and rest? Gather your strength for the trek home?" Wally was grasping at straws, and Barry knew it. He gave Wally a look.

"Just because I'm not at top speed doesn't mean I can't still help," Barry countered. Cisco shrugged as Wally gave him a pleading look. He finally huffed and gestured for Barry to follow him. The two speedsters took off in the direction of Keystone City as the other two heroes made their way downtown.

—

Leonard Snart stood in the middle of the Keystone National Reserve bank. He glanced down at his watch, counting the seconds that had gone by since the silent alarm was triggered. His associates were hard at work collecting the cash, but Snart didn't care abut that. He was more concerned about the big score. Money was good, but what he had the rest of his Rogues working on was much bigger, and much more valuable.

He knew they had at least 47 seconds before Kid Fla— he shook his head at his mental slip up— The Flash, or one of the other heroes on his little team, showed up. He did hope it was the Flash, though. It didn't take a genius to figure out Kid Flash had taken up the mantle of the Flash when his mentor had disappeared; changing race wasn't part of the Flash's abilities, at least as far as Snart knew. He would never admit it, but he hated the fact that the original Flash had disappeared last year. He was a challenge and he forced Snart to be a better criminal. He just didn't get the same kind of challenge from the Kid. Snart pulled up the hood on his jacket and pulled his goggles over his eyes. A soft whine emanated from his cold gun, the icy blue glow growing brighter as it powered up.

"12 seconds boys," Snart called out to the other two rogues in the vault. He continued standing in the center of the lobby, loosely gripping the cold gun. He let a smirk creep onto his face as he aimed the gun at the floor in front of the door. Pulling the trigger, he spread a thin but sturdy layer of ice covering the tile of the entrance. Releasing the trigger, he held the cold gun up, admiring his work. A familiar whooshing sound filled the air, Right on time.

Snart heard two voices outside the door. Both he recognized, but one he couldn't place. He heard one of the people shout as the other ran into the bank at full speed. Snart's grin grew as he saw the Flash speed through the entryway and immediately loose his footing on the ice. Snart had expertly stepped out of the way as the Kid's momentum caused him to go careening into the wall behind Snart.

He chuckled at the Flash peeling himself from the wall when he heard another whoosh from behind him. He turned around and froze. It was him. It was the Flash, the original Flash, just 5 feet in front of him. They both looked at each other for a moment, time slowed as hero and villain took each other in.

A scowl took over Snart's features. Something was wrong, this man was different from the one he had fought over the years, foreign even. His body language was off, and the costume—

"You're not the Flash," He whipped his gun out and fired a stream of glacial energy at the imposter.