Welcome to another chapter of 'I Hate You, I Guess That's Love'. So glad that people are still here. Summer has arrived, I hope everyone has plans after being stuck in their houses. Sorry this chapter is a little later in the day than usual. My co-authors are Brightburn1985 and Bartholomew Henry Allen.

Disclaimer: I have no rights to The Flash.

"He's not talking anymore," Barry stated once he returned to the Cortex with the rest of the team.

"Still, you got him to talk. And he gave us some useful information," Cisco said. "How he was supposed to tell Zoom when he killed you,"

"Yeah, but how are we going to use it?" Barry asked.

"We know how we're going to get in touch with Zoom. We'll set a trap for him at the breach he appears through once we figure out what to send through," Harry said, already getting his gun ready.

"Think we should talk with Sand Demon again?" Iris asked.

"He was a criminal before Zoom got to him. No way we're getting through to him if we can barely get Howlett to talk," Caitlin pointed out. "Anything less than torture and these guys aren't opening up,"

"Zoom knows how to get their loyalty and makes sure they won't squeal on him," Jay agreed.

"Then we need to figure out what they needed from me to get home," Barry said as he began to close his eyes to clear his mind and concentrate.

"Jay, you've gone up against Zoom. Tell me about him," Barry asked.

"Whenever we fought, he was always the dominant one. He wouldn't let me do a thing. Made sure I knew who was the fastest between the two of us," Jay stated.

"Okay, so we know he's always in charge, takes control. He'd need something to show his power over me. Something to say I was utterly defeated," Barry spoke aloud, eliminating a few possibilities on what could be missing.

"Your head?" Joe suggested.

"My head? Don't be ridiculous Joe. That's too simple, too messy. He's a speedster, a scalpel. He's clean and efficient. He wouldn't bother with taking off my head,"

"Your body then?" Iris added in her two cents.

"Look at the metas he brought over. Atom Smasher, Sand Demon, King Shark, and now Hypnotick. Atom Smasher and King Shark could probably do it. Sand Demon maybe, but not Hypnotick. His abilities are based on his mental prowess. He wouldn't be able to chuck my body through a breach, at least not without a lot of effort," Barry dismissed her theory.

"It would make sense though," Cisco said, not fully dismissing the idea of using Barry's dead body to send the message.

"It would make sense, but why my body?" Barry asked. "He has no use for my body. My body is human. Zoom doesn't want a human. He wants a speedster. What about me makes me a speedster?"

"It must be staring me right in the face." Barry contemplated as he delved deeper into his thoughts. "Zoom wants to prove himself as the only speedster. He'd showcase the entire world of the speedster he defeated."

"What could he pull off of me? Something he wouldn't be able to take if I were to put up a struggle. It'd have to be something on me at all times. Something to show without a doubt he'd beaten a speedster," Barry contemplated to himself.

Looking at his team, he asked them. "Imagine me lying on the floor, dead,"

"That's a pretty picture," Caitlin said.

Barry swiftly ignored her. "You're looking for something on me. Something to prove your power that you otherwise wouldn't be able to get,"

"Something that makes you stand out against all the other metas," Cisco listed.

"Exactly, something that proves beyond a doubt I'm a speedster. What would be on me that symbolizes that I'm a speedster? That I'm The Flash…?" Barry trailed off as he looked to his suit on display.

Barry's gaze was drawn to the centrepiece of the suit. The symbol of The Flash. "The lightning," Barry mumbled.

"The lightning?" Iris asked.

"My symbol. Once I was dead, they could easily pull it off the suit and send it through a breach, letting Zoom know I was dead," Barry told them.

"And then, Zoom will come and we can trap him." Caitlin continued. "Great thinking, Fleet Feet."

"I think it's a terrible plan. If you are thinking of luring and trapping Zoom, then count me out, I'm not looking to get myself killed. You should come with me, Cait, for your protection." Jay said, extending his arm towards the ice meta.

Caitlin glanced thoughtfully at the offered arm, but in the end she moved to the rest of her team. "We're a team Jay," Caitlin said. "We don't leave each other high and dry when things get tough. We stick together and go through it till the end,"

Jay just shook his head in disbelief and turned from the rest of the group. Everyone watched him leave with varying expressions. Caitlin was saddened to see him go, whilst Harry was elated. He wouldn't be able to slow them down with his cowardice.

"I'm glad you're sticking with us Ms. Frosty," Barry patted her on the shoulder in thanks of staying with them.

"Like I said, we're a team," Caitlin said with a slightly forced smile.

"Okay, so we'll just set a trap at the breach downstairs and throw Barry's symbol through it and just wait until Zoom comes out," Cisco said.

"No, that won't work," Harry shook his head. "That breach leads to the basement of my STAR Labs. Zoom wouldn't have access to it, if he's even aware of it,"

"So we'll need to move it somewhere a little more public. Great," Joe grumbled at the realization.

"It would need to be in a controlled environment. A place where most people wouldn't go and we'd have control of the field for when Zoom appears," Caitlin pointed out.

"Pull up the map of the breaches you found," Barry asked Cisco. "We'll need to look over every one of them until we can find one with a good location to do this,"

The monitors changed to show a map of Central City with several white spots to indicate where a breach was in the city. They would need to review it to find one that would provide the best possible field advantage with the least amount of civilians as possible.

Whilst Cisco and Harry were meticulously inspecting each and every breach in the city that would provide a large enough area to set a trap for Zoom without the danger of any civilians, Barry took the time to phone Patty in order to cancel their dinner date. It was obvious this was going to go well into the night.

Barry phoned Patty, but ended up with her answering machine. 'Hey, this is Patty Spivot. I'm probably working on the job which is why I'm not answering. You know what to do.' *BEEP*

"Hey Patty, it's Barry. Look I'm just calling because something's come up at STAR Labs. I'm sorry about dinner. Rain check?" Barry hung up the phone and walked back over to the monitor.

"Have we decided on which breach to use?" Barry asked.

"Yes we have," Harry answered. "There's a breach on the pier near an abandoned district. Hardly anybody's going to be there at night. We'll set the trap there and send the signal tonight,"

"Yeah, sounds good. How's that going by the way?" Barry looked to Cisco. He was in charge of designing the trap that would at least even the playing field between the two.

"Let's just say I have created traps within traps and leave it at that,"

"Are you ready Barry? Zoom is unlike anything you will have ever faced," Harry asked.

"Just leave it to me," Barry nodded his head.

"Are you guys in position?" The speedster asked his team. He was currently standing in front of the breach while Cisco remained at STAR Labs to monitor any vibrational anomalies. Meanwhile, Joe, Harry, and Caitlin were on standby, ready to attack Zoom the moment he stepped foot into this Earth.

"Affirmative. Ready when you are, Fleet Feet." Caitlin responded through the comms. She was hiding behind the container, wearing her own suit.

"Here we go." Barry threw his emblem through the breach. Now all they have to do is wait. Nobody was sure how long it would take for Zoom to discover the emblem, but they were prepared to wait the entire night.

They didn't have to wait long as soon the breach opened once more and out came another speedster. This one was covered in a black suit with blue lightning sparking off of its body.

The moment Zoom touched the ground, it activated the trigger that would activate Cisco's trap. A large force field encased the area surrounding the breach, leaving Zoom trapped inside.

Slowly Joe, Harry, and Caitlin came out of their hiding positions with their weapons at the ready. In Caitlin's case, her hands were aimed directly at Zoom who was speeding around in the energy field trying to find a way out.

Zoom came to a stop after realizing there was no easy way out. He turned so he could stare directly at Barry. "Flash," he growled. "You thought you could trap me?"

"In case you haven't noticed, you are trapped. There's no way you're getting out of there," Barry scoffed that he actually thought he could free himself.

Zoom just growled menacingly as he started to vibrate his fist and punched the field in front of him. The force field instead discharged a large amount of energy and forced him to retreat.

Zoom screamed in pain as he cradled his arm which was covered in soot due to the energy backlash he experienced.

"This container was designed to hold speedsters. The more you struggle, the more pain you endure." Harry sneered at him.

Zoom just ignored him and began to vibrate his other fist and launched another punch at the force field. The result was the same and the force field exerted another massive blast of energy at the point where Zoom attacked, but Zoom didn't move an inch.

The power began to build up, the energy from the force field and the power exuded from within Zoom clashed together and a massive explosion incurred, sending everyone back.

When the smoke cleared, everyone saw the force field begin to flicker before shutting down. Zoom stepped out of the area, the only indication of being affected was the soot on his suit.

"Pain is a mindset," Zoom snarled. "Pain is nothing but a distraction to the weak,"

Not wasting a second, Caitlin began to shoot several icicles at once to the black clad speedster. Zoom didn't even move. His body blurred for the briefest of seconds and the icicles passed through him.

Barry began building the power within him as well. Lightning crackled behind his eyes as his body covered itself with yellow lightning.

Seeing her initial attack having no effect, Caitlin went on a different route. She froze the ground around them. Now Zoom wouldn't have as easy of a time moving around.

Zoom managed to prove her wrong as his feet began vibrating as well. Every step he took, the large amount of kinetic energy in his feet instantly melted the ice wherever he stepped.

Joe and Harry fired their guns at him, but Zoom dodged them with ease, as if he wasn't even noticing there was any danger at all.

Barry took his own chance. He charged towards Zoom, covered in his lightning shield and gathered some of it into his hand, which he threw towards the demonic speedster.

It was all in slow motion to Zoom. The lightning bolt reached him first. Zoom stretched out his hand and grasped the bolt with utmost ease. The moment he did, the lightning transformed to blue.

Barry reached him in an instant, but when he did, Zoom thrusted the lightning bolt still in his hand like a dagger into Barry's midsection. Of course, it didn't draw any blood, but it burned through the suit, despite it being heat resistant. The lightning left a large wound and cauterized it at the same time. Barry grunted in pain as he was left skidding past Zoom like a puppet with its strings cut.

Zoom stalked towards Barry. "You thought you could defeat me?"

Zoom quickly lifted him up by the scruff of his neck and began focusing his attacks on the scorch mark on Barry's torso. Barry cried out in pain at each attack.

None of the others could do anything, lest they endanger Barry with their attacks.

"You are nothing," Zoom barked at him. "Not even worth the speed you've been given,"

Barry lifted his head to stare at Zoom with his bleary eyes. His defiance showing with the electricity that continued to flow within him. Quickly launching a punch, Barry managed to pry his way out of Zoom's grasp.

Zoom was swift to follow him. Barry needed to get out of there. Their plan failed, now he needed to lead Zoom somewhere he had the advantage.

Barry didn't have long before Zoom would catch up with him. Harry and Jay were right, Zoom was leagues ahead of them.

Barry managed to make it to STAR Labs before Zoom caught up to him and climbed his way to the top of the building.

Zoom was right behind him, which is what Barry was counting on. Reaching behind him, Barry grabbed what he could of Zoom's suit and jumped off the building.

In the air, the two were matched. Their speeds were equal without anything to run on, leaving the two caught in a fist match.

Unfortunately, Zoom proved to be superior in that area as well. Zoom connected his fist with Barry's face in a matter of seconds and positioned it so Barry would take the brunt of the impact from the landing.

Barry struggled to release himself once more from Zoom's grip. He managed to free one of his arms and used that to his advantage.

He aimed it at the ground and created a wind funnel that would hopefully soften the impact. When they landed, Barry was on his back, moaning in pain, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Barry had landed on his arm, and based on the way it was bent, it was probably broken. Zoom got up as Barry tried to fight through the pain but failed before Zoom grabbed him once more.

Barry was bloody and in pain. He was breathing deep, but he could see the obvious signs of the pain he'd inflicted upon Zoom as well with his wide eyes.

Zoom's laboured breath indicated he was tiring as well. The arm he'd used to free himself from his captivity was barely used at all, most likely due to the burns he received. The slight shaking of his body that was obviously not due to his powers were all clear Barry had done some damage. It just wasn't enough.

Zoom launched his final assault, several quick, but not any less powerful, strikes on Barry. Most were focused on his glaring scorch wound, but several left him reeling pain as he heard several bones snap. The last strike he felt was the most powerful against his back. There was a snap and all of a sudden he couldn't feel anything.

Zoom darkly chuckled as he looked to the carnage he inflicted on the fellow speedster.

Zoom carried Barry's broken body around the city. Stopping at CCPD, he ran up the stairs where everybody could see him. Raising The Flash's body up in the air for everyone to witness. "Oh my god," somebody mumbled.

"Everybody fire!" Captain Singh ordered the rest of the police force to try to shoot down the evil speedster.

Despite his injuries, Zoom's arm was just a blur as he caught every single bullet sent his way. When everybody was finished, he just let the bullets fall to the ground.

Everyone was left in shock. Seeing his work done here, Zoom moved on.

His next stop was at CCPN. Despite the fear everybody was feeling, they were still reporters. Several cameras were instantly aimed at the speedster on instinct.

"People of Central City," Zoom bellowed. "I am Zoom, and this city belongs to me. The Flash will no longer save you. Here's your hero," Zoom shoved the broken body forward for the world to see.

Zooming into STAR Labs, he lifted Barry's body in victory. Only Cisco and Iris were in the labs, but the cameras transmitted everything to the van the others were in.

"You thought he could stop me?" Zoom sneered at the STAR Labs crew. "He won't be stopping anyone anymore,"

In fear, Cisco shoved his hands forward in protection of himself and what happened surprised everybody. Out of his hands came a vibrational blast of energy. Luckily it only ever hit Zoom, which caused Zoom to let go of Barry. Cisco reached for a spare gun and fired a tranquilizer while he still had the chance.

Cisco was no longer thinking rationally, he was just acting on instinct as he fired the gun. His aim proved true as the tranquilizer wedged itself into Zoom's shoulder, pumping him full of drugs that were designed to hinder his speed, at least for a short time.

Enraged, Zoom fled from the scene.

Iris cried out for Barry as she rushed to his side. Searching for any indication that he may still be alive.

With a small moan escaping his lips, Iris and Cisco set into action, carrying Barry as gently as possible into one of the beds as the rest of the gang entered.

Caitlin soon went to work. There wasn't any time to spare. Every breath might be his last.

Barry's eyes slowly fluttered open as he saw Cisco and Caitlin standing over his bedside, reminding him of the day when he woke up from his 9 month coma. Cisco was sporting a big grin while Caitlin just looked tired, he understands that she did everything she could do to keep him alive.

"The Flash lives." Cisco said gleefully, reminding Barry when Kyle Nimbus almost killed him. "How are you holding up?" The mechanical engineer asked, worried for one of his best friends.

"I'm fine. And I have to thank you guys for that, so thank you." He looked to Caitlin as he said this though, weakly smiling at her.

"We might argue a lot, Fleet Feet but I also consider you as a friend. I'm glad you're alive." She said with a worried smile as she put a hand on Barry's knee, making him frown.

"Is something the matter?" Caitlin asked, seeing his concerned expression.

"Stop talking Ms. Frosty," Barry said as he tentatively touched his legs in disbelief.

"Excuse me?" Caitlin shouted.

"Stop talking!" Barry yelled at her. He was taking heavy breaths as he clenched his hands as tightly as he could.

"I can't feel my legs," Barry gasped. "I can't feel my legs," he cried out in despair.

It all went downhill. He's in a wheelchair. Caitlin has been kidnapped by Grodd. There's nothing he could do without his legs. He's useless. He remembered the last time he spoke, or rather yelled at Caitlin. She didn't deserve that, he was just so in shock about finding out that his legs are now useless, at least for the meantime. Now she's god knows where and they're only hope is Harry dressing up as Eobard Thawne or Reverse Flash.

"Are you guys there?" Barry asked as he looked at the map.

Harry and Cisco went to a clock tower where they suspected Grodd was keeping Caitlin. It was the last place that they needed to check.

"Yeah. I just need to get Harry set up." Cisco said as he and Harry left the van and Cisco gave him some script. "Read it again. I need to check if you can sound like our late literal mad scientist."

Harry just sighed before rereading the script provided by Cisco. "Cisco, in many ways, you have shown me what it's like to have a son."

"Again. You don't have any emotion. Say that to me like you really care for me and treat me like a son but you're gonna have to kill me anyways." Cisco said as Harry sighed once again.

"Cisco," Harry gasped out, putting as much emotion behind his words as he could without conveying any. "In many ways, you have shown me what it's like to have a son,"

Cisco could only stare as he felt he was right back in that room with their own Harrison Wells. "Yeah, that'll do it."

The two of them approached the tower with Barry on standby, still stuck in his wheelchair. He hated himself on how he was just letting Caitlin be taken by a deranged gorilla.

But they had a plan. Apparently, psychic gorillas are normal on Earth-2. In fact, they created an entire city for them in Africa, and it just so happened that one of the breaches in Central City leads directly to the outskirts of the gorilla city. There, Grodd would have a more normal life.

Harry entered the tower with Cisco on standby. He didn't know how to control his new powers, but he was loaded with a gun in case something happens.

In the tower, Caitlin was slowly working on the serum that created Grodd to be who he was. Apparently, he felt extremely lonely ever since Eobard 'disappeared.' So he kidnapped Caitlin for her to make more psychic gorillas.

In a way, Caitlin felt bad for him. He was really the only one of his kind. He didn't deserve what happened to him. He'd already had a terrible life with being a test subject and pumped full of drugs. People didn't care whether he lived or died as long as he served his purpose as being a guinea pig. Still, that didn't mean she wanted anymore of him.

Grodd immediately took notice of Harry, who he obviously assumed was his 'father.' It helped that the mere sight of Wells was enough to make Grodd falter, but then came the little mistake they never saw coming.

Harry said 'please.' That was apparently never something Wells said. Wells always demanded and Grodd granted. There was no question on who was the boss in their relationship.

Luckily Cisco managed to sneak Caitlin out of there whilst Grodd was preoccupied with Harry.

On their way out, they picked up Harry from where he was slumped over so they could drag Grodd's attention to them.

Caitlin created an ice slide for them to travel on so they could outpace Grodd and lead him to the breach that would take him to his new home. Caitlin wanted him to be happy, because in the end, he was just being manipulated by an evil person.

Once they'd reached the breach they set into motion. Grodd would be right behind them so they didn't have much time. Caitlin would have to be out of sight. Cisco and Harry would be on the frontline to hold Grodd's attention while Caitlin would sneak behind and push Grodd through the breach. Hopefully he wouldn't notice her.

It was close. When Grodd's back was to her, Caitlin launched her icicles at him with one hand and covered the ground in ice with the other so Grodd wouldn't have any traction to prevent him from moving. Grodd was almost through the breach, but at the last moment, he pulled himself back up. He was just too heavy.

Barry had witnessed the entire thing on the screens in front of him. He was frustrated that he was supposed to be the superhero yet they were doing all the work. His back still hurt, and his legs were weak after not much movement for the past several days.

His body was healing, but it was still very much broken. On the other hand, his spirit stayed strong. There wasn't a thing on any Earth that could stop that. Barry chanced a glance at his suit that remained on display, and with a surge of confidence he lifted himself off from the chair and ran to put on the suit and head to the scene to help out.

He was slower, he noticed. The dull pain in his back was limiting his movements and he was still getting used to the feeling of using his legs again, but he was running. He was running with a goal, a destination.

Unwillingly though, doubt began to creep back into his mind. Images of his brutal fight with Zoom caused him to stumble in pain and fear, but he managed to catch himself in time. There was no way he was going to fail his friends.

It wasn't long before he made it to the site. The breach was open and Grodd was standing at the precipice. One good shove would finish the job, and that's just what Barry was aiming for.

Speeding over, he put all his speed and weight into the impact. Grodd didn't even see him coming.

With a great howl, Grodd was sent through the breach where he would hopefully have a better life than the one he led here.

Barry was taking deep breaths after that. He had no idea how tiring it was traveling like that. And his back was killing him.

"Barry! You did it!" Cisco exclaimed and rushed forward to hug the speedster for saving them.

"Ow!" Barry yelped. "Watch the back. It's still healing,"

Cisco quickly let go in fear. "I'm so sorry,"

"Well it's a good thing Cait is a doctor because I'm going to pass out now," Barry's eyes rolled into his head and he promptly fell over.

Caitlin was quick to come over and examine him. "He'll be fine," she assessed. "He just overdid it. Some rest and he'll be back on his feet. It's his back that still worries me,"

"But it's going to heal isn't it?" Cisco asked.

"His back was shattered when we first saw it. It's just a couple of bruises to the bone now. In a few days it'll be as if it never happened, but he'll need to get used to it again," Caitlin reported.

"I'm just saying, you should ask Patty out again. You like her and she clearly likes you back. That easy." Cisco said as they stood in the line in Jitters, about to order their coffee. "She understood that you had to cancel last time. She'll say yes again."

"Oh really? When was the last time you asked a girl out?" Barry playfully retorted as Cisco just smirked while he eyed the barista behind the counter.

"Watch and see, young padawan." Cisco said as they approached the barista.

"Hi, what can I get you?" The barista said with a smile as Cisco smiled back. Barry just looked between his best friend and the barista while trying not to laugh.

"Hi, there." Cisco greeted awkwardly while Barry tried his best not to lose his composure and laugh.

The barista eyed Cisco with an awkward smile. "Hi...again."

"Uhh…"

"Do you want some coffee?" The barista asked, hoping that the awkward encounter will pass along with the tension in the air.

"No, uh, no, I don't want coffee. You know what I do want though? I want to ask you this. Do you want to go out with me?" Barry looked at Cisco, impressed at his boldness as well as his bluntness.

The barista frowned at him and replied with, "No,"

Cisco had a crestfallen look on his face at the rejection. "Oh,"

"I'm sorry, but I'm just not at a place where I'm looking for someone to date," she said.

"No, I understand," Cisco sighed and walked away from the counter to let the next person place their order.

"Hey you okay man?" Barry walked up to him and patted his back in comfort.

When Cisco didn't say anything, Barry assumed the worst. "Hey, she doesn't know what she's missing out on. There are going to be other girls out there,"

"Are you sure? My track record speaks otherwise," Cisco mumbled.

"If it's any consolation I think Lisa Snart was really into you," Barry offered.

"That's great. So my only options are criminals," Cisco said sarcastically.

"No, you know what I meant," Barry said. "You know what? I'm going to take your advice. I'm going to call Patty right now and ask her for another date,"

"I'll go get us a table," Cisco gestured to the seating area while Barry pulled out his phone to contact Patty once more.

Two rings later and someone answered the phone. "Barry?"

"Hey, Patty," Barry said. "Listen I'm sorry I had to bail on our date last week. There was a kind of experiment I had to supervise at STAR Labs and it just came out at the last second,"

"Hey, no. Don't worry about it. At least you had the decency to call. You don't know how many dates I've had that stood me up in the past," Patty told him.

"What? Who would ever do that to you?" Barry lightly laughed.

"Well apparently one of them was being arrested for illegal possession of drugs, so there's that," Patty openly laughed at that.

Barry laughed along with her.

"But seriously, don't worry about it. If you didn't cancel, then I would have had to. Zoom broke into CCPD that night and we were on lockdown for the rest of the night." Patty said.

At the reminder of Zoom, Barry frowned. The thought of the black speedster still plagued his mind with nightmares. How did he ever think he was ready to take him on?

"So I haven't seen you at the station for the past couple weeks. Have you been avoiding me?" Patty asked suspiciously.

"No! No," Barry denied. "Um, that experiment I was talking about before sort of went awry and I got injured pretty badly."

"Oh my god. Are you okay?" Patty asked in concern.

"I'm fine now. Practically good as new, but that's the main reason I haven't been at the station. I'm sorry if I worried you," Barry said.

"Don't worry about that. Worry about yourself. I just wish you told me earlier," Patty said.

"I didn't want to worry you about any of that, and I was still healing from my more serious injuries." Barry smiled at her concern. "But I'm better now so I was wondering if you would consider going on a date with me tonight?"

"Name the time and place," Barry could hear the smile on her face as she said that.

"I'll swing by your place at around 8. It'll be a surprise where we're going," Barry told her.

"Any hints?" Patty asked.

"Wear something nice," Barry smiled as he hung up the phone.

mike (Guest): I will say Lucifer had some influence in creating Howlett's personality, however the original inspiration I had for Howlett was The Mirror of Erised from Harry Potter. You can see that in the fact that the people experience their dreams rather than admit them like in Lucifer.

So Zoom has arrived. I tried to make the fight as brutal as possible in order to show how Zoom is going to be in the future. He's a cold blooded machine that will do everything in his power to emerge victorious. The only thing that he cares about is himself.

I skimmed over the return of Grodd. I never really felt he was that important to the story, and anything with him in the show was just so boring. Barry and Patty are finally going on that date. Next week for sure.

Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you all next week. Tell me what you thought and anything I could add or change.