Disclaimer: The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; The FLASH and all related characters are owned by DC comics, the CW and anyone I may have missed

The Flash: Moving Forward

Chapter 6: Rescuing Caitlin

Dr. Elias walked down an old road to an apartment building. He looked down at the slip of paper Paradox had given him to affirm the address.

He walked up to the door and pressed the buzzer

"Who is it? What do you want?"

"Is this the residence of William Hand? My name is Dr. Elias. I have a business proposition for you."

"I want none of it. Go away."

"What if I was to tell you if you help me with my running problem, I'll help you with your light problem?" Elias' proposition was met with silence but after a moment the lock on the door clicked and Elias entered the building.

When he reached the apartment the door opened ominously and Elias walked in.

The first thing the doctor noticed with the strong scent of death hovering in the room. Glancing around through the darkness he could vaguely make out the shapes of what appeared to be stuffed animals.

"That's far enough." Elias stopped when he heard the voice.

"You are William Hand correct?"

"Yes. I am William Hand."

"Could we please turn a light on? I can hardly see a thing."

"I prefer the dark. The light keeps me awake, and I cannot stand it."

"Well then my name is Dr. Darwin Elias and I need your help in dealing with a little pest."

"Why should I care?"

"Because, my pest is working with the Green Lantern."

"Just give me a moment here." He said shuffling around some large chart paper. Through the darkness Elias barely noticed several words on the leading sheets of paper; Black Hand's Brilliant Plan, Black Hand's Clever Plan And even Black Hand's Grandiose Plan

Apparently Paradox had not mentioned that this guy was a total buffoon. Who the hell writes out their plan on visual aids like that?

"I was working on this brilliant plan to defeat my nemesis Green Lantern just before you arrived. OW! Damn it!" William Hand said before turning the lights on. Turns out he bumped his shin into the corner of his coffee table causing him to drop all his plans.

Elias rolled his eyes, could this seriously be the man Paradox was talking about?

"CAITLIN!" Barry yelled as he jolted awake. His vision was flooded by a blinding white light and it slowly came back into focus, when it did he realized that he was on a med bed back in S.T.A.R. Labs.

"He's awake!" Cisco cried out as he Hal and Dr. Wells rushed over to Barry.

In a heartbeat Barry was ripping of all the instruments attached to him and swung his legs over the side of the bed and tried to stand up, immediately his legs gave out Cisco and Hal caught him before he hit the ground.

"Whoa Man! Take it easy you've been unconscious for the last week!" Barry turned to Cisco shocked.

"What?"

"After you fell into the ice I pulled you out." Hal said "Your body was so cold that I thought you were dead."

"You had mild hypothermia, exhaustion and you ended up going into shock." Cisco finished.

Barry looked around hoping what had happed was a bad dream, but he could not find Caitlin anywhere. "Caitlin…Where's Caitlin?" He was starting to panic.

"Barry calm down." Barry turned to see Hal over him, forcing him to remain in bed. "Calm down buddy." Barry wouldn't he kept asking for Caitlin. He resisted them and fought back when they tried to force him still, he even punched Hal in the face knocking the Green Lantern to the ground.

"He's going into shock! Cisco, get me the tranquilizer!" Cisco tossed the paraplegic scientist a syringe which Dr. Wells caught and jammed it into Barry's leg. The speedster's leg jerked and he ended up kicking Well's in the jaw, knocking him out of his wheelchair. Barry began to convulse and soon fell unconscious in Hal's arms.

Ten minutes later Barry woke up once more, this time much more calmly.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." Cisco said as he came into focus

"Ugh…" Barry groaned "What the hell happened?"

"After you woke up the first time, you went ape shit on Hal and Wells." Cisco said "Hal's got a black eye and Wells, you cracked his jaw."

"Damn." Barry said holding his hand "I don't remember doing that."

"What's the last thing you do remember?"

"I remember chasing after Caitlin, and then…Oh my god…" Barry's eyes widened with realization. "Caitlin's gone isn't she?" Cisco's silence answered his question. Barry put his face into his hands and began to cry to himself. He failed to save someone important to him; it was like his mother's murder all over again where he was once again powerless to do anything. "Damn …I couldn't save her…"

"Barry, it's going to be ok man." Cisco said. He wasn't really all that great with giving Barry emotional support. That was more of Caitlin's job in that she was simply better at it than him. "We're going to find Caitlin. We'll get her back."

"How are you so certain Caitlin is even alive?"

"You've got to have a little faith man." Cisco said "Caitlin is tough. She'll pull through."

Barry exhaled loudly before leaning back into the bed. "It's all my fault." Cisco turned to his friend "I shouldn't have suggested that we tell Iris. Maybe if I didn't we wouldn't have been there when Paradox attacked."

"Dude, there was no possible way you could have known that Paradox would do the things he did."

"Still…If I was faster Caitlin would still be here…" Barry sighed "So Cisco, what exactly happened after…it happened?"

"After Caitlin was pulled into that worm hole you fell into the river. I got you out but you were going into shock and you nearly suffered from hypothermia. We almost lost you." Barry and Cisco turned to see Hal enter the med bay.

"What happened to Paradox?"

"Locked away in a special cell downstairs." Cisco replied smirking before he returned to a more solemn expression. "Not the point."

"No, it's good that that psycho is locked away." Barry said. "He can't hurt anyone anymore."

"So, what's the plan now?" Hal asked

Barry looked up at his friend with a serious face. "Now, we find a way to get Caitlin back."

Caitlin's eyes fluttered open. Sitting upright she clutched her head trying to figure out what had just happened to her. She looked around to see that she was still on the deck of the ship, but everything around her was completely different. Endless streams of golden energy raced around her, like a golden tunnel and every now and then there were flashes of red electricity.

"Where am I?" Caitlin asked aloud to herself as she stood up. Looking around she caught glimpses of images surrounding her. She couldn't make them out at first but soon she realized exactly what some of them were.

She saw two blurs of red and yellow racing around a living room, specifically around a woman. Her hands subconsciously covered her shocked mouth when she realized she was seeing the murder of Nora Allen. She saw images of High School life, College life and even a first person view of the inside of the Central City Police Department.

Suddenly she heard the sound of a large explosion, whirling around she saw an image of a large column of energy shooting skyward from a large building, STAR Labs. The image changed and from her and from her new perspective she was looking up at a skylight just as a bolt of lightning crashed through it and struck what ever was seeing the image. The images then shifted once more and she saw Herself and Cisco in STAR Labs the day Barry woke up. All the scenes then seemed to montage all of Barry's exploits as the Flash and all his experiences as Barry Allen, seeing him do his super sonic punch, seeing her and Firestorm kiss before he waas separated, her in that dress from that night in the Karaoke bar.

Caitlin had no idea where she was or how this was possible, but she knew exactly what she was seeing. She was seeing the past, specifically she was seeing Barry's past through his eyes.

And Caitlin did something she didn't think she would do, she sat down and cried into her knees.

"How long has it been?" Barry asked as he and Hal flanked Cisco to his computer.

"About a week." Cisco said solemnly as he sat down.

"A week!?" Barry was deeply troubled by this. "What about Joe and Iris? Do they know I'm here, and what happened?"

Cisco typed a few things into his computer and an article from a week ago appeared on the screen. "You may want to read this dude." Barry leaned into the screen and his eyes widened as he read the article.

Why Central City doesn't need the Flash Anymore

By: Iris West

Barry stopped reading and turned to Cisco with a confused look on his face. Hal and Cisco gave Barry apologetic looks and motioned for him to continue.

The Flash, our cities resident guardian angel, battled against a meta-human, a person super powers, with the ability to move superfast, manipulate ice and project energy. Though he and another hero called Green Lantern saved the majority of those caught in the cross fire of their duel, they failed to save two of the brightest, smartest and most caring people in all of Central City. But to me these two were two of my close friends; their names were Bartholomew Henry Allen and Dr. Caitlin Snow.

"Iris thinks I'm dead?" Barry asked turning to his two friends.

"Yeah…" Hal confirmed while folding his arms across his chest."Like Cisco said everyone thinks you and Caitlin are dead, well everyone except us, Dr. Wells and Joe."

If the Flash weren't around Central City would be a better place, no more of these Meta-humans that seemed to come out of the wood work in response to the Flash's heroics.

"And Iris…she now hates the Flash?" Barry asked not bothering to finish the article.

"Yeah…" Cisco said "She totally blames you for your death, which is really weird to say out loud."

"Her article exploded everywhere. Everyone wanted to know what could possibly make the Flash's number one fan turn on him in a heartbeat. Apparently many of the readers sympathize with Iris and her sense of loss." Hal added

"I should have told her sooner…" Barry said

"Told her you're the Flash? I'm sure that would have gone over well." Hal folded his arms over his chest.

"Well, if that were the case she wouldn't be saying why the city doesn't need me or think that I'm dead."

"We thought about telling her, but we decided not to." Barry turned to Cisco "That's your secret man, and it isn't ours to tell."

Barry ran his fingers through his hair and a digested the whole situation "So Barry Allen and Caitlin Snow are officially dead…"

"According to official records yes they are Mr. Allen." Wells said as he rolled into the lab. Aside from the ice pack he held against his left cheek he looked fine.

"On the plus side, you two had beautiful funerals. They even buried your empty caskets and next to your mother's grave. This makes things awkward because I gave you a real nice eulogy." Hal said trying to lighten the mood. Barry, Cisco and Wells gave him now-is-not-the-time looks before Wells spoke up. "Again, not the point."

"Because of this situation, I think it would be unwise for you to leave S.T.A.R. Labs without your suit on." The doctor said to the fastest man alive.

"So I need to stop being Barry Allen and take up being the Flash full time in a City that might just hate me now?"

"Pretty much." Cisco summed up.

"Until we find a way to rectify the situation, yes." Wells affirmed. "The world thinks Barry Allen is dead. For now it's for the best if we comply and continue with our mission."

"And what about Caitlin?" Barry asked "We can't just leave her god knows where."

Wells took off his glasses. "The problem with wormholes Mr. Allen is that we know virtually nothing about them. All we have is hypothetical theoretical ideas."

"We could use Paradox's arm." Cisco said. Barry Hal and Wells turned to him. "I've been studying that thing endlessly for the last week. And I think we could jerry rig it to open another wormhole and get Caitlin out."

"Even if it works-"

"I can use my ring to stabilize the wormhole long enough for Barry to Get Caitlin out." Hal said holding up his green ring. "Can you do that ring?"

-Affirmative-

"How?" Barry asked

"Like I told you, this bad boy is limited only by my imagination and my willpower. I can will it to stabilize the wormhole and-"

"We don't even know if the wormhole we open will be connected with the one Caitlin went through. For all we know Caitlin is…" Wells interjected, but he stopped talking as he neared his sentence.

"What?" Barry demanded, his expression turning more serious and angry. "Caitlin is what Dr. Wells?"

"We don't even know if she's still alive Barry." Wells explained seriously. "That wormhole could have taken her anywhere, anytime, or it could have broken her down atom by atom. I'm sorry Barry, but as much as we all want Caitlin to be back here and safe, it's just not probable."

"So that's it? You're going to just give up on Caitlin?" Barry demanded as his anger rose. "If that's how you truly think of Caitlin, or Cisco, or even me, then I don't want to be any part of S.T.A.R. labs."

"I don't want to give up on Caitlin Barry." Wells said "We all want to see her back home safely, but we cannot risk your life to save one person. Caitlin is a sacrifice I don't want to make, but we need to make." Barry, furious at what Wells was saying, sped over to his uniform, changed and was about to leave. "Where are you going Barry?" Wells demanded

"I'm going for a run." The scarlet speedster replied before turning off his com link. "I need to clear my head." And with those words Barry left STAR Labs.

The Flash soon made his way to the West household. Looking in the window he saw Iris sitting on the couch, her eyes were red and puffy as if she had been crying an awful lot. In her hands he could barely make out it as a picture of him and Iris smiling widely. On her right was Joe, comforting his daughter on the 'loss' they shared. Eddie walked into the room carrying a tray with three steaming mugs of hot could only watch as the girl he's been in love with since he could remember mourned his death. Out of the corner of his eye Joe saw Barry, but didn't alert neither Eddie nor Iris to his presence. He said something to the young couple and stepped outside after grabbing his coat.

"Joe…I…" Barry was cut off when Joe embraced him in a tight hug. Tears of joy trickled down the older detective's cheeks.

"Damn, you had me worry worried there son." Joe said as he released his grip on Barry. "Oh, god we thought you weren't going to wake up."

"I've been told that several times today." Barry replied "How's Iris holding up?"

Joe sighed heavily before responding "She's devastated, been cooped up in here for since the attack. Eddie's been trying to comfort her, but she just doesn't want to accept that what happened."

"It's taking every fiber of my being to not run in there and tell her I'm alive."

"And what would that accomplish?" Joe asked "It'll probably make things worse considering you'd also be letting her in on your little secret."

"I want to tell her so bad." Barry said "If she knew about me being the Flash sooner Caitlin, Iris and I wouldn't have been down on the river when Paradox attacked."

"Son, somethings cannot be changed." Joe said "I know what you're going through but maybe this is the way things are meant to be."

Realization swept over Barry as he listened to his foster dad "No Joe… this is something I refuse to let be. I'm not just going to confine Caitlin to her fate where ever or whenever she is."

"What're you going to do Barry?"

"I'm going to rescue Caitlin."

It took them another week but eventually Barry, Hal and Cisco managed to jerry rig Paradox's arm into a portal gun that ran off of both Barry's speed and Hal's willpower. It took them awhile mainly because they were trying to get it done without Wells knowing.

Hal had received several notifications from his Green Lantern buddies to get back to some place called Oa but he just ignored them, hell he even asked his boss for another week off and it sounded like she was really pissed at him. Barry and Cisco could hear her yelling at Hal through the phone.

Iris was working late at the Central City Picture News finishing up some last minute edits for an article she had been writing.

A familiar whoosh and rustling of papers snapped her out of her thoughts. Turning around she saw the Flash. His face was still blurred so she couldn't see who he was beneath the mask.

"Iris…"

"Oh, so now you show up after two weeks?"

"I'm sorry." He said sorrowfully "I'm sorry I let you and this city down."

"Yeah, you really did let me down when you didn't save Barry and Caitlin." Iris retorted. "Where have you been the last two weeks?"

"I been recovering and trying to get even faster, so that nothing like this happens again. But What I need to know is why'd you write that article?"

"Because it's true." She replied simply. When she continued to speak her voice rose with emotion. "Without you, there'd be none of these meta-humans. Without you Barry and Caitlin would still be here!"

"I wasn't around there would be no one to protect the City and there would still be meta-humans, the bad ones." The Flash said softly. "You're friends are gone because I wasn't fast enough. But I have been getting faster. I've been pushing myself to my limits and beyond so that nothing like this happens again."

"You say things like that a lot." Iris turned away from the crimson super hero. "Things just cannot go back to the way they were."

"Maybe they can."

"I lost two good friends that day, one of which was close to you." Iris said "And the sad thing is you don't seem to even care that Caitlin is gone."

"That's not true!" Barry tried to defend himself but Iris shut him down.

"I don't want to talk someone who claims he wants to help people and yet he doesn't seem to care about those he's close to." Iris said to him as tears welled up in her eyes. Seeing her so broken, Barry felt like he had been shot through the heart. "Let me know when that Flash comes back."

The Flash began to turn away from the love of his life. "I'm sorry…but I promise I'll make things right." With those words Barry disappeared in a blur of red and yellow.

"You think we could use this to find Caitlin?" Barry asked as he Cisco, and Hal converged over Paradox's mechanical arm. They had moved their operation to the air strip that STAR Labs hand been loaned by Ferris Air.

"Paradox used it to open the wormhole that sucked her up initially so we have reason to believe that it'll work." Cisco said as he finished some last minute tweaks. "We just need to figure out how this thing exactly works.

"So, open a wormhole, reach in, grab Caitlin and get out." Hal summarized "Not a bad plan except for the tiny details."

"Hey, it'll walk work out." Barry said flashing his best friend a cocky grin.

"Alright, I've got a theory on how this works." Cisco explained "Paradox used his super speed to make this thing work. Now, here's the interesting part. He used Blackout's DNA to make this arm project the energy outwards. So Barry, you'll need to vibrate it at an extremely high speed."

"How fast?"

"As fast as you can." Cisco explained

"Ok" Barry took a deep breath. "Let's do this." Barry placed his hands onto Paradox's arm and began to vibrate his arms and the device. Hal jammed his ring into the back of the device and lite it up with emerald light. a beam of green screeched from the opening of the gun and struck open air about twenty yards away. The Wormhole roared to life and began to pull everything in towards it.

Hal proceeded to create a solid green wall in front of him and Cisco so they wouldn't get sucked in.

Barry got into a starting position when Hal's voice stopped him. "BARRY!" The Flash turned to Hal. "Once you get Caitlin you get your asses out of there! understand?"

Barry just smiled before running into the wormhole and disappearing in a flash. Now sooner had Barry entered the wormhole that the entire thing began to distort and collapse on itself. In mere moments the Wormhole was acting like a mini black hole, sucking up everything much fiercer than initially.

Hal struggled to keep himself and Cisco out of the suction of the wormhole but they both helplessly watched as the jerry rigged portal gun was sucked up along with most of their equipment and notes.

"SHUT IT DOWN!" Hal and Cisco turned to see Dr. Wells rolling up to them with his chair going full speed in the opposite direction. "IF THIS REMAINS OPEN ANY LONGER IT WILL TEAR EVERYTHING APART!"

"NO!" Hal fired back "I CAN DO THIS! I CAN KEEP IT OPEN LONG ENOUGH!"

Wells grabbed onto a metal poll. "YOU HAVE TO STOP!"

"I'VE GOT THIS!" Hal frustratingly shot back.

In that moment Wells made a desperate move. He grabbed a loosened pipe and as he was pulled past the portal device he swung hard, leaving a large dent in the machine that sent nuts, bolts as well as some spare wires flying. He had hit it so hard that he actually smashed it through the stand it was on and once it came into contact with the ground the energy beam stopped and the portal collapsed on itself.

Hal fell to the ground exhausted while Cisco ran for the broken machine.

"Oh, man…no, no, no, no." Cisco said over and over.

"I applaud you two for managing to make a wormhole gun but I must say that was extremely reckless and stupid!" Wells chastised them like children. "What exactly were you trying to do?"

"We were doing what you wouldn't." Hal said to which the wheels in Wells' head began to turn.

"Dr. Wells because you broke the wormhole generator and stopped Hal from keeping it open; Barry's now trapped in there!"

Barry skidded to a stop, or at least he attempted to since he was in a bizarre place that seemed to be made completely out of yellow lightning.

"Whoa…" Barry wondered aloud as he looked around at his surroundings. "What the hell is this place?" All around him he saw images of not just his life, but those of Iris, and all his friends. He saw the day his mother was murdered, Hal watching his father's plane crash, Oliver seeing his father commit suicide, young Cisco, young Caitlin, young Felicity and even a young Ronnie. He could see it all.

"CAITLIN!" Barry cried out. If she was her she should be able to hear him. "CAITLIN CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

"Barry?" He heard her scanning the entire dimension, thing place they were in he saw Caitlin. She was sitting against what could have been a wall hugging her knees to her chest.

"Oh my god, Catlin!" Barry was by her side in an instant.

"Barry?" Caitlin looked up as Barry pulled off his cowl. "BARRY!" Almost immediately She leaped into his arms and wrapped her arms firmly around his neck. "Oh my god." She began to cry into his shoulder. "I thought I was going to die here alone."

"Hey, Hey it's OK Caitlin." Barry said as he began to rub her back. "Hey" He pulled back sightly. "We're going to get you home now." Barry said with a smile that gave her some reassurance. She smiled and wiped away a stray tear. Barry noticed that even though she had been trapped in this place for about two weeks she looked like she had barely been here for a day.

"Ok, let's go home." She said as Barry Lifted her into his arms bridal style. He turned around and then turned around again trying to find the way he got in here. "Barry what's wrong?"

"I have no idea how to get out of here." He said seriously before an idea crossed into his head. "Caitlin do you trust me?"

"Of course."

"Then hold on tight." She complied and her grip on the collar of his suit tightened "I'll get us out of here even if its the last thing I do." and Barry began to run. He started going faster and faster pushing himself further and harder than he ever had before. He felt this place calling to him as if he was a part of it, it wanted him to stay here away from all the sorrow and unhappiness of the outside, but one thought kept him going; He had to get Caitlin home.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Barry screamed and Caitlin's grip tightened even more to the point she was probably drawing blood under his suit but neither of them cared as Barry broke free from this place and the pair disappeared in a flash of light.

"Gideon show me the future." Dr. Wells demanded as he sped into his secret room.

-Certainly Dr. Wells- the large computer face blurred away revealing an article, an article that was different from the one Wells had seen before.

June 26 2025

The Flash is Back! Saves the City from Crisis!

Those words nabbed the undivided attention of Eobard Thawne as he removed his glasses "My, God…Barry changed the Future."

Here ends the chapter

Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, look forward to/think will happen, or your general thoughts and comments, this'll help me make this story better, I would like legit reviews. I'm a big boy so I can take criticism.

Thank You, and if you sneezed while reading this Bless you.

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