The Watcher has taken a bit of a backseat considering all that is going on in the Nexus. His world was beginning to shatter every time that Barry Allen traveled and shattered the barriers to the multiverse.
"Okay, you guys," Barry said, glancing around the dead, empty field he was in as he walked toward his starting mark. "I'm here. Do you have my location?"
"You good?" Cisco asked through the comm. "You don't need to, like, stretch or something?" Standing behind him, Iris shook her head fondly. He grinned up at her. "That's what I do when I go on a run."
"Oh yes, I can see that," Peter said, rolling his eyes.
"Hey! You callin' me lazy?" Cisco asks.
"If the Goggles fit." MJ snarked.
"Okay, no fair, no couple gang ups." Cisco decided suddenly.
"That includes Barry and Caitlin?" Bobby asks.
"He can try," Caitlin said with a grin. "But he won't succeed."
"Guys, can we focus?" Barry asks.
"Right, yes, sorry. Let's take this tachyon enhancer off for a test ride." Cisco said with an evil-looking excited smile.
"Alright," said Barry, loosening his arms and legs, and pressing the tachyon device to his chest.
It was the machine that they had built using the hard drive that Thawne had given them, the one that apparently held the ultimate answer to the speed equation. Whether it had or hadn't happened was what they were going to find out today.
The device glowed blue, and suddenly Barry was filled with more energy than he had ever thought possible. It was like drinking tons and tons of caffeine at super speed - back when his metabolism hadn't burned through it, that is.
"Ooh, yeah! I feel that!" Barry reported.
Caitlin said, "That is the tachyon device powering up the Speed Force within your cells, like a quick-charge battery." She asked, "How do you feel?"
"Different," Barry admitted, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Cisco said, "Let's see how long it takes you to return here." He counted down. "Three... Two... One! Go!"
Barry grinned wildly and sped off.
Cisco muttered, "Daaaang... This thing got you cruising!"
"How fast does he normally go?" MJ asked.
"Not this fast," Caitlin said, grinning.
"Not even close. Are his vitals okay?"
Caitlin looked down at her computer screen. "Yeah, they're perfect."
"Cool," Iris commented. "It's like having a pit stop attaching to your chest."
"Guys!" Barry yelled in through the comm, all of them watching as he zig-zagged all over the city. "I can go faster!"
He sounded completely exhilarated, and it made Caitlin smile. Cisco looked like a kid on their birthday. "Do it."
Barry pushed himself to his limits, his muscles straining as he picked up his pace. Suddenly, he spotted a small breach opening up ahead and made a split-second decision to go for it. With a burst of energy, he sprinted through the gap, not stopping until he was safely on the other side.
The Watcher felt the entire Nexus shaking and pieces of the world-shattering like glass. He panicked as he used his unlimited power to try and fix the cracks. He needed to keep the barriers strong, at least strong enough so that he could keep the HYDRA Spider-Man out of the Nexus and keep him within his own universe.
"I can't take much more of this," The Watcher sighed as he worked tirelessly to repair them. "If these barriers continue to corrode, then the entire universe could collapse."
The Watcher then felt the world shake and realized that Spider-Man is still trying to escape. "There's nowhere you can hide..."
The Watcher snarled as he blasted cosmic rays at the barriers to secure them. "That's what you think," he growled. Then he turned back to the universe, realizing that there was no sign of Barry Allen. "Where'd he go?"
In a flash, Barry vanished through a breach only to reemerge moments later and dart away. Back at Star Labs, Caitlin and their friends were startled by Barry's sudden arrival, as he whizzed into the room.
He whipped around to face them, tugged off his cowl, and looked at them in disbelief. "I- I- I'm back!" he exclaimed. "How long have I been gone?"
Cisco said, his voice edged with excitement. "Put it this way: you just annihilated your old record."
Caitlin looked at him as they both came around the desk, beaming. "You went four times faster than you've ever gone before!"
Barry's jaw dropped slightly. "Four times?! That's-!"
"As fast as Zoom," said Wells as he entered the room. "Well, faster," he added, raising his mug to Barry before continuing on his way.
Barry grinned wildly and finally gave in to the temptation to give Caitlin a huge hug. She kissed him, and he shut his eyes for a moment. "I missed you so much." He admitted.
Caitlin gave him a funny look. "Um... Barry, you were gone for, like, 4 minutes."
"I wasn't, though." He gave everyone serious looks. "I went to another Earth."
"Another- another-" Peter stuttered in shock. "Come again?!"
"Yeah, and trust me, you're not going to believe how crazy it was over there," Barry said, knowing that was a story for another time. "But I'll tell you about it later; we need to focus on Zoom right now."
Cisco winced. "Yeah, um, it's just a minor issue. We, um, closed all the breaches and have no idea how to reopen them."
Barry frowned. "Wait, we- Wells?"
"I have an idea, Allen," Wells said without turning around. "Just keep the breaches closed, forever. Forget about the breaches; forget about Zoom."
Barry felt the telltale signs of annoyance starting to invade him. "I'm sorry, I thought you were on board with this," He said, approaching the scientist, frown deepening.
"No. No, I said I would help you get faster." Wells corrected. "I did not say I would give you the man who kidnapped my daughter and tortured her the chance to do it again."
Barry let out a frustrated sigh. He got where Wells was coming from- he did! But they needed to stop Zoom, especially before he hurt anyone else. There were other daughters like Jesse and other fathers like Wells, that could be hurt in the same way the two of them were.
"Hey, we are not going to let that happen!" Iris spoke up.
Wells turned back around, hitting his forehead in a mock-"duh" expression. "Oh, you're not going to let that happen...gosh, I wish I'd known that the first time...you don't understand. Zoom is different than us. Zoom is not tied to anything. Zoom doesn't care about anyone."
Barry and Caitlin exchanged glances, acknowledging that they both had loved ones who could be used against them by Zoom. However, they were confident in Peter and Bobby's ability to protect themselves.
"I do," Wells said. "My daughter's out there on this Earth somewhere, and I have to find her. We all have people that we care about. Zoom will use that against us. Allen -" he turned pleadingly to Barry "- think about it. If it was Snow. If he had kidnapped Snow and now you were giving him the chance to do it again. Would you?"
Peter winced when he saw Barry go tense, and glared at Wells. "Too far, Buddy," he said.
"Fine- Fine!" Wells cried. He opened his mouth like he would keep talking, but then shut it abruptly and turned around, walking out of the room.
"Maybe we should just leave it be?" Caitlin suggested hesitantly.
"No," Barry said. "No, look- no. Look, we're not turning our backs on another Earth." He was yelling at Wells's back now. "We're not gonna let Zoom get away with everything that he's done."
"Right now," Wells growled. "There is no way to another Earth, Allen. Let's keep it that way."
After some time, Barry had dinner with Joe and Wally while Iris had a date. Peter also needed to get some precautions set up around his house to prevent Zoom from coming and trying to harm his aunt. When Barry suddenly had an epiphany when talking to Joe, he made it back to STAR Labs. He found Cisco and Caitlin were still working on finding a way to Earth-2 to stop Zoom.
"Wow. I'm guessing you guys are running out of ideas?" Barry asks his friends.
"Well, the best we have come up with so far is to set off a nuclear warhead next to the city's electrical grid, so..." Cisco tells him.
"Yeah, we're not doing that," Barry tells them, stating the obvious. "But I think I thought of something."
Wells was working on something in Cisco's labs when the three of them went to talk to him. Barry was certainly ignoring his warnings to not open a portal back to STAR Labs.
"Tell us everything you know about Cisco's doppelgänger."
"Reverb. He could tap into the multidimensional energies between Earths. He could see through dimensions. Find breachers, like Ramon." Wells tells him.
"We saw Reverb do more than that though, right? I mean, we saw him shoot vibrational bursts out of his hands." Barry tells them. "Very painful ones."
"What do you mean?" Caitlin asks Barry.
"It means Reverb had the ability to somehow manipulated that multidimensional energy. If his powers are linked to the energy that ties together the multiverse and he can manipulate it. Maybe he can open to any earth he wants." Barry explains, and they see some ideas.
"So if Reverb could do it, maybe I can too." Says Cisco, seeing the idea.
Cisco is a little skeptical but decides to go ahead and see if he can.
Back with Peter, he was finishing the security system that was based on Wells' watch technology and placing it around Mary Jane's house while her aunt was out. MJ watched as he placed the last of the tech in place around the doorway and even fitted a security camera. This would alert them to any interference with the speed in the area or at least anything coming that was above 200 miles per hour.
"You're going all out on this whole thing, aren't you, tiger?" MJ commented as Peter was now testing the technology.
"You think I shouldn't?" Peter asks her sarcastically. "Barry finds a way to Earth-2, and Zoom gets here, then we need to be prepared. I already had Cisco place a Meta-Human bunker in my basement."
MJ wasn't entirely sure if he was kidding or not. "You're kidding, right?"
"No, it was one of the renovations that we sneaked in after Goblin blew up the front window," Peter confessed to her. "Thought it would be a smart idea, especially after learning about the multiverse and the BRANCHES."
"Would this work as a normal security setup?" Gayle wonders as she looked over the tablet.
"Yeah, basically the same thing," Peter confirmed as he finished the checkup. "So, you can tell your aunt that a friend of yours did it, or even say Cisco did it. I just wouldn't mention that I did it."
"You really go all out when it comes to protecting the people you love, huh?" Gayle commented as she placed the tablet down. She then looked at her sister and smiled. "I can see why you love him."
That word. That seemed to get both of them to blush a little, their cheeks almost coming a little pink. Peter began to stutter as he stood up and tried to keep eye contact with MJ.
"Okay, well, I-I am gonna go to STAR Labs and see if they have anything," Peter said as he backed off. "And I also promised Miles that I would get to training him."
"What about Harry and Gwen?" MJ wonders.
"Harry has a saferoom in his place he offered for us to use for when we need it, nobody can get in or out," Peter said as he made his way out the door.
Gayle wasn't entirely sure about what happened and was a little confused. "What was that about?"
MJ played with her hair for a moment before she explained it. "You mentioned the "L" word around him." She chuckled a little at his reaction. "Let's just come out with it and say that neither of us has worked up the courage to actually say the word yet."
Gayle had to admit that was actually kind of cute. "Wow, that is kinda cute. I figured he would have mentioned it at least once."
"He has...hinted at it, but he never used that word before," MJ explains. "The time just never really presented itself to actually, you know, say it."
Someone, let's call him Cisco, was attempting to use their abilities to create a portal to Earth 2. Despite trying for at least half an hour, they were becoming discouraged as their attempts had not yet been successful.
"I got nothing."
"Try again, okay?" Barry called over, sounding a mix between encouraging and impatient.
Caitlin leaned against the railing beside him, watching Cisco shift his feet against the Bunker's metal floor and roll his shoulder a few times to give his arm a break. "Barry... What if he can't do it, because he thinks he can't do it?"
"He can do it though," Barry said, not exactly answering her question. "You can do it, Cisco."
Cisco shut his eyes and raised his arm again. Barry and Caitlin waited, holding their breath. Caitlin crossed her fingers.
Cisco let out a frustrated sigh and his arm dropped. Barry walked down the steps. "It's gonna work, okay? Maybe we're just... not in the right place."
Cisco's jaw clenched. "Maybe I'm just not the right man for the job." He countered. "Let's go."
He turned and walked out of the Bunker. "Cisco-" Barry called after him, but Caitlin shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Barry."
Once again, the Watcher was repairing the Nexus of Reality due to Cisco's unsuccessful attempt to open a breach. Opening breaches is comparable to tunneling through a mountain; if done incorrectly, the mountain could collapse. In this scenario, the Nexus is the mountain, and Cisco only succeeded in opening a breach to the origin of all multidimensional travel.
It was clear to The Watcher that he couldn't continue to do this every time they opened a breach. The Nexus was still recovering from Morlun's attack just last year, which had torn numerous holes in the fabric of the multiverse and left it vulnerable to further harm.
Without finding a permanent solution to fix this problem, the BRANCHES and the entire multiverse could be at risk. Failure to do so could potentially put everything in existence in danger. This is a serious concern and needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
"This is getting out of hand." The Watcher knew the dangers of the multiverse collapsing. He saw fragments of HYDRA Spider-Man beginning to see into his world. "I need to keep the Nexus safe..."
Barry and Caitlin were about to go looking for Cisco, who had mysteriously not shown himself in a worrisome amount of time when Iris and Joe walked into the Cortex.
"Hey!" Iris said brightly. "We just came by to see if you guys needed some help."
Caitlin and Barry exchanged one of their infamous "couple looks". A detective and a journalist weren't going to do that much in a matter regarding scientific discovery, but neither of them particularly wanted to say no.
"Sure!" Caitlin lied.
"Uh, yeah." Barry agreed.
"Do you want to, um, help me in the med bay?" Caitlin invented.
Iris nodded eagerly, and the two women walked up to her lab.
The two of them watched through the window as Joe and Barry talked. Barry said something about pizza that made the both of them laugh, and Barry clapped Joe's shoulder as he grinned and made his way out of the Cortex.
"They really have a special bond, don't they?" Caitlin asked, a soft smile on her face.
"Yeah, they sure do." Iris agreed. "Kind of like the two of you."
Caitlin looked down at her hands, unable to fight her smile.
"Have you two done any wedding planning?" Iris asked.
Caitlin let out a sigh, twisting her ring around her finger and watching it sparkle in the sunlight coming through the window. "No. You know how busy we've all been with Zoom, and when we finally go home for the night we're too tired to do much else but find Barry 100,000 plus calories to eat and go to sleep."
Iris laughed. "Ah, the life of a superhero and his fiancé."
"I know, right?" Caitlin grinned. "Never thought it would turn out like this... but I'm happy it did." She paused and glanced at Iris. "There is one thing we were talking about, though."
Iris looked at her curiously.
"I know that you mean so much to Barry. You're his sister, and you're my friend. I don't- I don't have any girls in my family that I am close to and I- I was wondering... if you'd want to be my Maid of Honor?"
Iris's eyes went wide, and they filled up a little. "Oh my gosh, Caitlin, I would love to!"
She jumped off the table she had been perched on and wrapped Caitlin in a huge hug. Caitlin smiled widely, hugging her back tightly. "I'm really glad, Iris." She said. "It means a lot."
They then heard something crash on the ceiling and wondered what was going on when Barry did a quick check on the cameras. He was confused when he didn't see anyone there, but then saw Miles come out of the blue. Meaning that Peter was teaching him to use his invisibility, and it ended with Miles crashing into the roof. Peter luckily was quick to approach and helped the kid to his feet.
Angelica walked inside the room and gave them the context of what happened. "Sorry, Miles decided to try and swing while invisible. Despite both of us warning him not to do otherwise."
Cisco had figured out how to open a breach, and the rest of Team Flash had figured out what to do. There was a lull in activity for the first time in what felt like forever as the team finished setting the trap for Jay- or rather, Hunter Zolomon- and waited for him to arrive.
Caitlin and Barry took up camp in the Cortex, waiting for Cisco's alert to go off, signaling Zoom's arrival.
"Something on your mind?" Barry asked. "You've been really quiet."
"Huh?" Caitlin glanced up, trying to focus on what he had said. "Oh, oh, yeah, I'm fine."
"I know this whole Jay thing is... weird for you." Barry continued, reaching over to squeeze her hand. "If you want to talk-"
"What? No, it's not that." Caitlin cut him off, shaking her head. "I was actually... well, I was thinking about our wedding."
Immediately, Barry looked interested and concerned. "Uh, what about our wedding?"
"Well, we've talking a bit about who's going to be who, like bridesmaids and Maid of Honor and Best Man and groomsmen and such. And I asked Iris to be Maid of Honor and she said yes-"
"That's great!"
"Yes, yes, it is." Caitlin fidgeted a little. "I just have one thing- okay well 2. Well, a lot but two for right now."
Barry was starting to look a bit confused so she pushed on.
"The first is -okay, now I have three. The first is, who are you asking to be Best Man?"
Barry's eyes went wide. "Oh. Shoot."
"Yeah." Caitlin couldn't resist giggling a little. "I'm sure Oliver and Cisco would both be the happiest guys ever to be picked."
"What, Peter cant be added to that spotlight?" Barry asks.
"I'm good!" Peter said as he walked past. "You can go with either of them, I honestly don't care for weddings that much. Won't hurt my feelings. And besides, knowing both of our luck, I'll be needed in the crowd when the ceremony is attacked."
"Attacked by who?" Barry questioned.
"I don't know, man. Evil Space Nazis? Aliens? The writing is on the wall that anything could happen." Peter stated as he walked off.
"Sad to say, he is kinda right." Caitlin had to admit, with everything, she expects the same thing.
"I doubt it," Barry stated with a smile.
They later discover a building with the highest amount of trans-dimensional energy, which makes it an ideal location to attempt opening a breach with ease.
"For real? In this Patch Adams nightmare right here?" Cisco asks looking around the abandoned hospital.
"Look, if this doesn't work, I'll stop asking you to do this, all right?" Barry promises to him and he's ready.
Cisco's trying to use his powers and says he can't do it, but when Wells returns with Cisco's glasses he used to vibe.
"You're not gonna stop, then I'm gonna do what I can to make sure you don't get you all killed," Wells tells him and hands Cisco the glasses. "I recalibrated these to the electromagnetic frequency of this earth. It should help you access enough of the trans-dimensional energy to manipulate it into a breach."
"Just like Reverb. All I'm missing is the guyliner and the transformations complete." Cisco states.
Cisco donned the equipment and attempted once more to open a breach. The Watcher and Zoom could sense the effort to create a portal connecting the two worlds, and a breach began to form, gradually offering a path to Earth-2. However, Cisco abruptly ceased his attempt.
"No, I can't do this. Don't ever ask me to do this again. Please." Cisco begs and leaves them.
Peter and Gwen were walking through the park, trying to make their way toward Harry's place to see if his safe would be a good place to hide. They decided to take the shortcut through the park to save time.
"So, are we sure this is a good idea?" Gwen asked. "From what I've heard, everyone is heading over to that safe room at STAR Labs."
"Well, if Zoom thinks to look there, we thought it would be better for everyone to be scattered in several places," Peter explained to her.
"I guess that's-" said Gwen as she bumped into someone and backed off. "Ooh, sorry." When she got a better look at who she had hit, her eyes widened in surprise. It was Jay! "Ahh!"
"You okay?" Jay asked as he noticed Peter getting tense and preparing to fight him. "Sorry," he said. "Are you guys okay?"
Peter wasn't entirely sure if this was some sort of trick; he recalled there was no way to Earth-2 and no way Zoom could be there. He looked at Gwen and noticed she seemed to have come to the same conclusion.
"Uh, sorry, yeah, we were just taken aback that's all," Peter said and looked to Gwen.
"Yeah, sorry, you looked like someone else," Gwen explains why she reacted.
"Well, my name is Hunter Zoloman," said Hunter as he introduced himself to the two of them.
Peter said, "My name is Peter." He looked at Gwen and added, "That's Gwen."
"Well, nice running into you guys," Hunter said as he walked off. "But I've got to go."
Peter was still a little surprised, so he took his phone and quickly snapped a picture of himself. He needed to send it to Cisco and Barry to see if they could find anything on this man. He then sent them the photo along with a quick message.
Wells had finished placing the smaller tachyon device underneath Barry's logo on his suit, allowing him to run with it out of the way. Barry saw they now had everything they needed. Cisco was now talked into giving it a second chance to open a breach back to Earth-2, so they just needed to open the breach.
Hey, Caitlin, I know that this is going to be hard for you, but we have to stop him. Barry knew Caitlin wasn't exactly on board with going up against Zoom again.
"I know you have to try and save that world, but I just have this image playing in my head when he broke your back," Caitlin explains why she was skeptical about their plan.
"I get it, and I promise you, we will beat him," Barry said as he gave her a peck on the cheek. That was when his phone went off and the message from Peter came through. "Wait, what?"
"What is it?" Caitlin wonders.
Barry explained, "It looks like Peter and Gwen found Jay's doppelgänger." He showed her the photo. She looked at it and noticed the message that was attached to the photo.
'Jay Garrick? Hunter Zoloman?'
"Jay Garrick?" Caitlin was a little confused. "His doppelgänger's name is Hunter Zolomon?"
"Hunter Zolomon?!" Wells jumped in shock when he heard him. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, seems that they met him in the park," Barry said, not understanding but seeing Wells's expression becomes serious. "Why?"
"Because on my Earth, Hunter Zolomon was a convicted serial killer," Wells explains and pulls up articles from his killings.
"That's Jay?" Caitlin asks seeing the long hair and beard the man in the footage has.
"No, that is Hunter. Last public photo of Hunter Zolomon. Instantly recognizable. And on my Earth, serial killers are so anomaly, so a lot of media attention to this." Wells starts explaining to everyone in the room. "There was a podcast. When Hunter was 11, his father killed his mother right in front of him. Father sent to prison. Hunter grew up in the foster care system."
"And by the look of things, fast forward years later he is convicted on 23 counts of murder," Barry states.
"23? That's like some real Hannibal Lecter-type levels." Cisco comments, seeing that Zoom was always a psychopath.
"After the trial, Hunter was sent to the Saint Perez mental asylum for criminally insane daily electroshock therapy. Cure him of his urges and then faded from view. Until the night the accelerator exploded. The dark matter crept into the mental asylum. I had thought...piping the explosion underground would limit exposure." Wells explains as he knows everything is his fault. "All it did was create an unstoppable monster."
"He's not unstoppable," Barry says. "Jay doesn't know that we know who he really is. He already knows that we know who Zoom is, but now we know who Jay really is. He thinks his past is a secret."
They hide Wells, Iris, Joe, Caitlin, and May in the Time Vault so that Zoom can't get to them. Gwen, MJ, Gayle, and Harry were hiding in the vault in the Oscorp family house. Luckily Harry's mother was still in Europe, meaning she wasn't going to be an issue with her being kidnapped. Peter, Miles, Bobby, and Angelica were all waiting in the training room of STAR Labs ready to take down Zoom with the Boot, courtesy of Cisco when Barry gets him and they use the trap.
Cisco starts opening a breach when Zoom leaps out of it and Cisco runs off.
"Reverb's doppelgänger has increased his powers." Zoom states to Barry.
"Hatred is a strong motivator, Jay," Barry says to him, readying himself to end this man.
"You were unwise to reopen the breach," Zoom informs him.
"I'm not gonna let you terrorize another world anymore," Barry informs him.
"Without your speed, you won't be able to stop me," Zoom states when Barry speeds off with Zoom on his tail and they head straight for STAR Labs where Peter is waiting for him.
Barry picked up speed and was running even faster than Zoom now, making it to the labs first. He came to a stop in the hallway right next to the elevator and watched Zoom come to a halt in front of him.
"You have gotten faster. Good." Zoom says, happy since the faster Barry gets, the faster he becomes. "There'll be more for me to take."
"You want my speed?" Barry asks, playing around by pretending to speed off, but that only irritates Zoom. "Catch me."
Barry then sped around the training room as he began their little game of cat and mouse. Meanwhile, Peter waited for the right moment and released the cardboard cutout of Hunter's father.
Zoom stopped to look at it and started having a flashback to the day he watched his father kill his mother. But his little flashback was interrupted by Angelica as she flew in from above and released a giant blast of energy that sent Hunter flying into the wall. She released all of the anger she had built up against the monster that had led her friends into a trap that cost them their lives.
Before Zoom even had a chance to get up and try to fight her, Barry came speeding in and punched Hunter across the room into the railing. He forgot about Angelica, who surrounded herself with a ball of fire to protect herself and flew into the roof. Zoom just then went and began fighting Barry again, when Peter showed the cutout of his mother. That then caused Zoom to once again lose focus, allowing Miles to sneak up on him. Using his invisibility to his advantage, Miles webbed down Zoom's feet and charged up a Venom Strike, and punched him right across the face.
Zoom didn't even realize what had hit him, thanks to the fact that he never even knew Miles had such abilities. That didn't end there, though, as Bobby came out and then blasted Zoom with a giant mist of ice to slow him down enough for Peter to come in. Peter came swinging in and carried the Boost with him as he then shot Zoom in the leg, causing the Boost to strap him to the ground. Zoom fell to the ground, shocked, and all of the heroes approached him and removed his mask.
"It's nice to see we all wore our best suits for the reunion," Peter quips to the speedster. "But I recall the name being Jay, not Hunter."
Hunter was shocked when he realized that they all knew who he was. Angelica approached and punched him as hard as she could, causing her to hurt her own hand a little in the process.
"That was for Peter and Bobby," Angelica snarled.
"How did you figure out who I was?" Hunter questions them all.
"Peter learned who your doppelgänger was," Barry tells him, gesturing to his brother.
Ah. You're a smart kid, Peter," Hunter admitted. That wasn't something he had seen coming. "I should've known someone would have pieced it together; just never thought it would be the baby of the group."
"Hey, Miles is a few years younger," Peter stated.
"Why bring that up?" Miles asks him. "And I am a few months younger. In a few months."
"How'd you know I was Zoom?" Hunter wonders.
"Your lighting. Turns out a Speedster's lighting turns blue after taking Velocity-9," Peter explains how they learned that part.
"It didn't take a genius to put the pieces together." Angelica scoffed.
"It...it took five." Bobby reminded her.
"Shut the hell up," Angelica tells him.
"You were a hero." Miles snarled as he looked at Hunter. "You were supposed to stop the criminals."
"I'm DYING, Spider-Man!" Hunter remembered him.
"Caitlin found you a cure!" Barry reminded him.
"A temporary one!" Hunter proclaimed. "I'm dying, Barry. I'm getting desperate, and only your speed can save me now."
"And you just don't care how many lives you destroy trying to get it?" Barry asks the maniac.
"You don't care how many people you kill in the process?!" Peter cried.
"No, I don't!" Hunter screeches at them. "That feeling was taken from me a long time ago." He tells them and Barry walks away from him.
"You know, the five of us aren't so different. What happened to us all when we were all kids." Hunter states and that makes the heroes angry. "All of you could have just as easily become me."
"I almost did," Angelica said as she looked at Miles, happy that she had found him. "But I'm nothing like you."
"And we're not like you. We used our pain to make us stronger." Peter stated.
"I got kicked out of the house and got a supporting relative, I got the upgrade in this end." Bobby shrugged. "Or did I get the worse of it?"
"I got to say...that was smart. Using my parents against me." Hunter congrats while looking at the cutouts. He let out a sigh as he then sat down on his knee. "Family. Such a weakness."
"Not for all of us," Barry stated.
"Well, that's where your wrong," Hunter says while trying to stand with the Boot on him. "And now, I think that it's time I get what I came for."
"You mean your backside being beaten across the city or Barry's speed?" Bobby asks him
"Because I can promise you the whooping," Peter stated.
"You're not getting anything from anyone ever again," Barry states to him since now he's their prisoner.
Hunter whispers, and they didn't hear him as he said. "You can't lock up the darkness."
"What did you say?" Peter and Barry ask him.
Hunter looks up to them and his eyes go pitch black.
"You can't lock up the darkness." Zoom repeats and Miles and Peter got their senses going off.
To their shock, Zoom was able to phase the boot off and took off running. Angelica and Bobby both used their powers to try and fight, but they were all standing still compared to him using all his energy at once. Barry began chasing after him, but he wasn't able to keep up this time as Zoom used all of his speed to run down the street and escape.
"You know, in hindsight, we should have knocked him out," Bobby commented as he got back to his feet.
"That could have been a better comment about five minutes ago," Peter stated. But then he got an alert on his systems, saying that the alarms have been tripped at every location. "Oh, god!"
Peter came bursting through the doors to Harry's place and found the entire place was distraught and destroyed. He ran through the apartment and saw how every corner of the place had been ripped apart and the entire place was smashed to bits. It seemed as if someone was looking for something in this place.
"Harry!" Peter cried as he ran around the place. "MJ?!" He was beginning to worry for the entire group when he didn't hear anything. "Gwen!"
"Peter!" Someone's muffled voice came through.
Peter followed the cries and found the secret bunker under a rug in the living room. Not the most original of places, but it was a smart idea. He quickly removed the rug and opened the door to let them out. When he did, he saw they were hurt and quickly helped them all. But that was when he noticed that someone was missing among them all.
"Gwen?" Peter called into the chamber. "Where is she?"
"Zoom..." MJ whimpered as she held her arm.
Gayle finished her sister's statement. "Zoom took her."
Peter got a message from Barry and answered it. "Barry, I have a problem."
"Well, double it," Barry tells his brother. "Zoom took Wally."
Earth-2
Wally gasped as he looked around and found himself in some sort of prison. He looked and noticed that he was wrapped in chains that connected him to another person; he was trapped with. He recognized her from Peter's group of friends, but he wasn't exactly able to recall what her name was.
"Hey." Gwen greeted him. "Looks like we're cellmates now."
"What are we doing here?" Wally asks.
That was when Zoom came speeding into the room, spooking both of them as they were worried about what this monster was going to do to them. "You are here because I need the Flash's speed. And the only reason you're not dead is to get me what I want."
Earth-1
Peter sat on the front steps of Joe's house, unsure of what he should do next. The thought of Gwen being tortured or hurt by that monster was becoming too much for him. The last words from Captain Stacy played over and over in his mind. He had warned Peter to stay away from Gwen, saying that something like this might happen.
Barry came over and sat down next to his brother. "Worried about Gwen, huh?"
"How can I not be?" Peter asks his brother. "She's a friend, my ex, and not to mention that her father literally told me to keep her out of this." He sighed and pulled his knees closer. "I know you can't give up your speed to that monster, but we have to get her back."
Barry sighed a little when he heard that. "Actually. I decided to give it up."
"What?" Peter asks.
"I have to. If this is what it takes to save them, then I will do what I have to do." Barry stated.
They went through with the deal and Zoom returned Wally and Gwen while they prepared to drain Barry of his speed.
"This is how we were gaining Barry more speed, but I reconfigured it so now all Barry has to do is run, and the Speedforce will transfer into this vial. But only as long as I calibrate it." Wells tells Hunter and none of them wanted to be in this position.
They thought they've finally seen the last of him and now he's getting what he wants.
"So this was your plan all along, huh?" Harry asks Hunter.
"Ever since the skies parted and showed me another world, with another speedster. Once I saw you, I came here, and figured out what I had to do." Hunter explains to them all.
"Who's The man in the mask?" Barry asks, referring to his prisoner in his cave back on Earth-2.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Hunter states to him.
"Try us." Peter dares, getting an angry stare from Hunter.
"Why the charade? Running around dressed like the Flash?" Joe asks since nobody understands why he would pretend to be a hero.
"To give people hope, detective," Hunter tells them and now that's confusing. "So that I can take it away from them. It's so fun pretending to be a hero."
"You're no hero," Caitlin states to Hunter. "You're nothing but a monster." She says as she prepares to start draining Barry's speed.
They couldn't do anything but go along with it. So Hunter stood in the Cortex with the rest of the team as Barry attached Wells's new speed-stealing device to his chest and stepped onto the treadmill.
"Barry-" Joe started.
"It's alright, Joe," Barry cut him off, and Caitlin could see him drawing in a deep breath. He locked eyes with her. "I love you."
"I love you, too," Caitlin whispered. "With or without your speed."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hunter tense. "Get on with it," he growled.
Barry began to run, faster and faster, as the Speed Force lightning flickered around him. The vial that Wells had created slowly began to fill up with tiny bolts of lightning. Caitlin put a hand over her mouth, feeling sick. This was really happening.
By the time the vial was almost completely full, Barry's speed began to slow down. His arms and legs, which had been moving so quickly, suddenly appeared and disappeared, becoming visible once more.
"He's slowing down," Caitlin gritted out, her heart hammering.
"The Speed Force is leaving my body," Wells whispered quietly.
The treadmill began to slow down in sync with Barry, who was now only lightly jogging, looking drained and exhausted.
Cisco whispered, "He's becoming human again."
The computer beeped, and everyone looked over. The vial was full. All of the Speed Force that had been in Barry's body was gone.
Barry tripped and tumbled off the treadmill, looking as if he might pass out. Caitlin leaped up and started for the door, Peter and Bobby close behind her.
"Barry," Caitlin said, kneeling down beside him and helping him sit up. She brushed his sweaty cheek with her fingertips, letting her hand linger on his face. "Are you okay?"
"You good?" Peter asks his brother in concern.
"I- I'm okay," Barry insisted, though she could tell he really wasn't.
She wanted to pull him into her arms and just cry for a while. She wanted everything to go back to what it had been just a few hours ago, sitting in the Cortex and talking about their wedding.
What was going to happen now? There was nothing that could stop Zoom. They were completely powerless against him, and he knew it.
Wells unclasped the vial of pure Speed Force and slid it into the syringe. Zoom grabbed it from his hands, and with a look of pure mania on his face, jammed the needle into his arm.
He began to hyperventilate, swirls of lightning slicing across his body. Zoom let out a terrible scream and threw his head back, turning blue. Then he was off, and before anyone could blink, Barry's back was against the wall, Zoom at his throat.
"Thank you, Flash," Hunter growled.
"Jay, stop!" Caitlin yelled, tears streaming down her face. "Please."
"Let him go, Hunter!" Angelica cried as she prepared to attack.
Bobby got ready to fight back. "Now!"
Miles and Peter joined as they all got ready to fight the monster. Hunter stood where he was, squinting his eyes at each of them. Barry wheezed for breath. Wells held up his gun, loading it and keeping his finger hovering over the trigger.
Barry's eyes were shut, his face pale. Hunter let out a breath of air, hissing it through his teeth, and then tossed Barry to the side. He landed on his hands and knees, wheezing, and Caitlin started toward him.
But before she could, Jay's face had turned into a mask of rage and he ran out of the room. Peter's senses alerted him, and his reflexes were so quick that it seemed like time itself had slowed down as he watched Zoom run across the room. But it wasn't him that they were focusing on; his senses were alerting him that someone he loved was in danger.
When his senses stopped alerting him, Zoom vanished and grabbed both Caitlin and Mary Jane on his way out.
"CAITLIN!" Barry screamed.
"MJ!" Peter and Gayle cried in terror.