Chapter Text
EARTH-PRIME, STAR LABS, CENTRAL CITY
Barry, Iris, Nash, Cisco, Chester and Caitlin were staring at the magnificent sight. They couldn’t believe that they did it.
“Wow, I can’t believe we really done it... Late nights work finally worth it,” Cisco was in awe.
“I don’t think any of us can,” agreed Barry.
“Gentlemen, I think we just touched upon the holy grails of science,” announced Nash as Team Flash stares at their success, a working artificial speedforce.
“We really did it...” Caitlin said.
“Am I dreaming?” asked Barry.
“Well, if you’re dreaming Bar,then I think we all are,” said Iris leaning on her husband’s shoulder as they admire their success.
“Uhmm... I don’t mean to spoil the moment, but shouldn’t we let Barry test it?” asked Chester.
“I’m with Chester here,” Cisco agreed. “We can celebrate after we make sure that Barry can use it safetly, without any problems”
“Let’s get to work then,” Nash said.
Later, Barry was at the pipeline with the rest of his team, getting ready to test his speed. He was wearing his signature red Flash suit.
“Okay, Barry, you just need to take a few laps, go as fast as you can go,” reminded Cisco as they were preparing for the test.
“Be careful, babe,” Iris said, holding her husband’s hand, sounding a little unsure of the things going on.
“Don’t worry, I will just make a couple of laps, it will just be like the old times, Iris,” Barry assured. Iris was still not convinced. “Don’t worry, Iris, if anything happens to me, all you need to know is I will always come running back to you,” Barry assured, planting a kiss on her wife’s cheek.
“You two are being unnecessary dramatic, nothing will go wrong, with all the things that went wrong the past year, with McCulloch, and now this, I would have to say, luck will be with us this time,” Nash joked smiling.
“Since when does the ex-multiverse explorer believe in luck?” asked Cisco curiously.
“Well, I was just saying what you would say, Ramon.” Cisco rolled his eyes at Nash pathetic joke.
“Oh yeah, Barry, I almost forgot,” Chester said. Barry turned around and saw him holding the tachyon device.
“Oh yeah, thanks Chester,” Cisco said, taking the device and handling it to Barry.
“This is to make sure you really hit the limit during the test,” Cisco said as Barry puts it on.
“Alright, here I go,” Barry takes a deep breath and began running. It has been a while since he had the liability to use his speed freely.
The team looked in awe as Barry speeds went faster and faster. “Wow, Barry, these results are outstanding...” Caitlin praised.
“Chester, how is the artificial speedforce coming up?” asked Cisco loudly.
“So far so good...” Chester said.
“Guys, I think I can go even faster,” said the scarlet speedster over the intercom
“Then push it...” Cisco requested.
The speed on the reading machine went higher than ever before, surprising the team.
“These readings, no way... they are way off the charts!” Cisco exclaimed.
“Well done, team we did it,” Nash announced.
“Wait... something is not right, I am feeling... Woah! What is th...” Barry went quiet.
“Barry you there?” Cisco asked eyeing the screen to check on Barry’s whereabout.
“Barry? No, no... don’t tell me he...” Iris said trying not to think of the possibilities.
“What is going on?” asked Chester. “The speedforce is still stable,” he said.
“Then, where is my husband? Cisco?” Iris asked demandingly.
“Umm... I have to say, I have no idea.”
The team stood there, trying to process what they have just done.
EARTH 2, BLUE VALLEY, NEBRASKA
It was night, outside the theater, Yolanda and Henry were walking down the street, hand in hand, heading towards Henry’s car.
“Wow, I must say, you do have a good taste for films Henry,” Yolanda praised her boyfriend.
“Well, I just like to watch,” replied Henry smiling.
“That film was one of the best I seen in a while, thanks babe,” Yolanda thanked Henry.
“No need to thank me, it’s the least I could do,” said Henry as they approached the car.
Ever since the JSA managed to subdue some of the ISA members with the surprising last-minute help from Henry. He and Yolanda has been amending their relationship, both deciding to give it another chance. They have been together for 1 year now.
As Henry was driving Yolanda back to her house, they were chatting about the film they had just seen. Suddenly a bright light appears in front of them on the empty road, and from it a red blur with yellow lightning sped out from it before the bright light disappears. The couple noticed it.
“What is that? Hey babe, you seeing this?” asked Yolanda nudging Henry.
“Henry, look out!” Yolanda warned loudly as the red blur races closer
“Brace yourself!” Henry tries to evade the red blur but as he turned the red blur hit the side of his car. Causing him to lose control of the car. Henry couldn’t stop the car as it ran off the road, he quickly shielded Yolanda trying to stop the car with his mind but he somehow couldn’t.
“Watch out!” Yolanda screams. A loud bang was heard then it was silent.
Not long later, a car passed by the same road. The driver noticed that there was a car facing the tree. He stopped the car out of curiosity. The man walked out of the car, realizing that the car has crashed into the tree it’s facing. The man walked closer, examining the wreckage. He soon noticed that there was two unconscious people laying on the ground beside the wreckage. Recognizing their faces, the man face turned into a look of horror and began moving the body into his car. After moving the 2 kids, the man turned on his car and immediately drove towards the town’s medical center. While driving he pulled out his phone from the pocket and dialed a number.
“Blue Valley Medical Center? This is Mr. Dugan here, there was an accident, I’m bringing in 2 people a boy and a girl...”
“Noted,” the voice said.
Pat hung up then dialed another number immediately. Waiting in frustration, finally his call was answered.
“What is it, Pat?” A girl voice answered Pat’s call.
“Courtney, listen to me very carefully now.” Pat began while thinking of how to tell her stepdaughter that her friends were found unconscious by the roadside.
EARTH-PRIME, STAR LABS, CENTRAL CITY
“How on Earth did this happened?” demanded Iris. Her voice sounded angry and worried at the situation.
“I have no idea, okay?” said Cisco. “I’m at lost here,” Cisco grabs his hair in frustration, trying to work out what had happened.
“Ramon!” called Nash. “I pulled up the cameras, there is a footage you guys might want to see,” said Nash.
The team gathered around the screen to see the security footage. As the footage played in slow motion, it clearly shows Barry running around the pipeline again and again until he seemingly disappears into a wormhole of some kind.
“What on Earth is that?” asked Iris, concerned about where on Earth her husband disappeared to.
“Seems like a breach of some kind,” observed Caitlin.
“A breach... Perhaps but to where,” Cisco wonders aloud.
“Okay, let me get this straight... My husband just disappeared into thin air and...” Iris began to rant.
“Okay, cool down Iris,” Caitlin tries to calm Iris down.
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Iris raised her voice a little. “I thought you said that thing was safe, Nash?” she demanded.
“Well, in terms of it not collapsing and destabilizing, yes, it is safe...” Nash defended himself.
“Don’t change the subject...”
“Everyone, cool down...” Cisco voiced up. “Barry is definitely alive, there are only two possible possibilities that I could think of, either Barry went so fast he time travelled by mistake, or he discovered a new ability to breach himself...”
“Or we are facing something new here...” Chester continued direly.
“Let’s hope not,” Cisco interrupted before Chester could say anything else.
“So, what now?” asked Caitlin, looking at Iris who was clearly worried about the entire situation.
“Nash, Chester and I will study the energy reading of the area where Barry breached away to see if we can find anything,” Cisco said, hurrying off, with Nash and Chester following him, leaving Iris and Caitlin.
“Are you okay?” asked Caitlin.
“It’s just... so unfair for him, every time one problem just got solved, another pops up, threatening his life...” Iris said, obviously worried about her husband.
“Don’t worry Iris, wherever he is, I’m sure he will always come running back to you,” Caitlin assured Iris.
“I definitely hope so,” Iris hoped softly staring at the screen blankly.
EARTH 2, BLUE VALLEY, NEBRASKA
“How could did this have happened?” Courtney mind was racing with thousand of thoughts as she was in her boyfriend’s car on their way to the hospital after school. “Yolanda and Henry are such good people, why...”
“Are you alright? Court?” a familiar voice called out to her, breaking her thought.
“Oh, Cameron. Yes, I’m fine, just hoping that they will be alright,” Courtney replied.
“We all are worried Court,” Cameron said.
Cameron looked at Courtney briefly, she was obviously worried about her best friend and her boyfriend condition. Courtney had been distracted for the entire day ever since her stepfather had told her that he found Yolanda and Henry unconscious body beside the wreckage of Henry’s car. Courtney immediately got the urge to head down to the medical center but Pat told her not to as she couldn’t help much, telling her that she can visit them once everything was stabilized the next day.
“Courtney, just calm down, everything will be fine, we must believe that...” Cameron tried to calm her girlfriend now, who was tense.
Cameron pulled up into the parking lot and they got down the car, hurrying into the medical center. As they entered, they saw Pat waiting for them.
“Hey, Pat,” Cameron greeted. “How is everything?” he asked the question that have been going through the entire JSA minds.
“Well...” Pat began, looking tense, figuring out how to break the news to Courtney and Cameron.
“They are not gone, are they?” Courtney asked hoping that was not the case.
“No, they’re fine, but heavily injured,” Courtney breaths in relief hearing the news that her friends are not dead. “Dr. Stone said that Henry seemingly received a great hit to his head... he is probably going to be in coma for quite a while,” Pat said. Courtney expression turned tense again.
“What about Yolanda? Is she okay?” asked Courtney concerned.
“She fractured her legs, that’s the only main injury she got. Oh, and she woke up last night, she wanted to tell me something about what happened to them,” Pat said remembering last night.
“And?” Courtney asked impatiently.
“Well as they were a lot going on last night, I told her to wait till today to tell all of you,” Pat said.
“Well, let’s go and see them,” Courtney said heading to the lifts.
“Alright, calm down, everything is fine...” Pat assured her as he and Cameron followed her. Courtney glares at him. “Okay, maybe not that fine but it could have been worse,” Pat said.
“So, Yolanda’s parents were informed?” Cameron asked as Pat pressed the button on the lift.
“Yeah, they seemed pretty worried, but they haven’t come to visit yet,” Pat said as the lift door opened and the three of them walked inside. Pat pressed the floor they were going to.
“Wait Pat, so you said that you found them lying side by side outside the wreckage of the car?” asked Courtney.
“Yeah...”
“How is it even possible for them to be like that,” Cameron began to see some holes in the story.
“I don’t know, but believe me, weirder things happened last night,” Pat said.
“What do you mean?” asked Courtney.
“I know it may sound far-fetched, but that night, there was reported sighting of a streak of... I don’t know... something that sped through the town,” said Pat as the lift doors opened and they walked out, the kids following Pat. “Sighting says that it was like a bolt of lightning.”
“Wait, what?” Courtney was curious.
“Wait, we will talk about it later in the ward,” Pat says gesturing Courtney and Cameron to register in as ward visitors first.
After registering, the three of them enters the room where Yolanda and Henry are in. The unfortunate couple were in the same ward as Pat requested. Yolanda was lying on the bed, eating when they entered the ward.
“Yolanda? I’m so glad the both of you are okay,” Courtney said rushing to her side as Pat closed the ward door, locking it, making sure the curtains were shut. Cameron stood by Courtney side as she talked to Yolanda.
“Courtney, I’m so glad to see you right now...” Yolanda said with relief. “I wanted to tell your dad...”
“Yeah, Pat told us about that part, so what happened last night?” asked Cameron curiously.
“Okay...” Yolanda took a deep breath before continuing. “Last night, we were coming home from the cinema, we were heading home, there was no one else on the road,” Yolanda said trying to remember the details of last night. “Then a bright light shined in front of us, then something red rushed out of it.” Pat seemingly became more interested in the story when Yolanda mentioned the same sighting that he had been hearing around the town last night. “It was travelling so fast down the road, rushing towards us. Henry tried to evade the thing but it hit the back of our car and...” Yolanda stopped. “He took the impact for me...” Yolanda sobbed as she remembers that Henry was in coma because of her.
“Yolanda, don’t cry, everything will be fine...” Courtney embraced Yolanda trying to comfort her, looking back at the two guys, motioning them to give the girls some privacy.
Pat and Cameron looked at each other knowingly and walked to the far end of the ward, Henry who was on life-support, was on the bed next to Yolanda, they were separated by privacy curtains.
“She seems traumatized by the entire accident,” Cameron whispered to Pat.
“I know, poor girl, things had been getting better for her and now this...” Pat agreed, speaking softly.
Cameron looked at his girlfriend’s stepfather, he was wearing that look again when he was thinking hard.
“Pat. Is there something?” asked Cameron.
“Just thinking about what you said earlier. You’re right, the conditions they were in couldn’t have allowed them to crawl out of the car themselves,” said Pat. Cameron nodded in agreement.
“There was another thing, I hauled in the car and checked the damage last night,” Pat continued. “The radio system on the car was completely fired, plus by the way I look at it, there was no way, Henry couldn’t have used his powers, unless something interfered with his powers, or the car went too fast to be stopped in time, ” Pat explained his thought to Cameron.
“That’s what I thought too, I agree, something doesn’t add up here,” Cameron agreed. “Wait, are you saying that it was not intended?” asked Cameron.
“I... don’t know,” Pat said looking at the comatose Henry.
The two of them were silent, the sounds of Yolanda sobbing and Courtney comforting her filled the silent ward.
After they left the medical center, Courtney and Cameron followed Pat to the Pit Stop, where Rick and Beth where already waiting for them. They entered the garage Pat closed the door to make sure no one intrude on their meeting.
“How is Yolanda and Henry?” Beth asked as Pat closed the garage doors.
“Yolanda is awake but Henry is in coma,” Cameron revealed to the couple.
“Oh no...” Beth said in horror.
“Don’t worry, they will be fine,” assured Pat as he walked over the group.
“Wait, how did the entire thing happen?” asked Rick.
“Yolanda and Henry were on the road, when they were hit by a speeding red blur,” Courtney explained, shortening the story.
“A red blur?” asked Rick. “I thought there was chatter in the town that talked about something like that last night?”
“Apparently yes,” confirmed Pat. “Not a lot of people saw it, but I’m sure it was something,” said Pat.
“Pat, do you have any idea what it could be?” asked Beth.
“Well... the last time I saw something like that was the time of the old JSA, we had someone called the Flash,” Pat explained.
“The Flash? Some name...” Rick said.
“Hmm... If I were to guess, his power was superspeed?” asked Cameron.
“Yeah, I never fully understood his powers, but it was somehow connected to a universal force or something...” Pat went on.
“So, you are saying that the red blur that appeared last night was him?” asked Courtney.
“Of course not, Court, he died with the old JSA,” said Pat with a hint of pain in his voice, remembering the night his friends were killed by the ISA. He paused for a while before continuing, “the sightings that I heard were quite similar to him.”
“But you said that he was dead,” said Rick.
“Perhaps, there is another person who is like the Flash, connected to this special force you said her was connected to,” Beth proposed.
“Perhaps so, we aren’t going to find any answers tonight,” said Pat.
“Well, we will keep on a lookout during our patrol,” said Courtney.
The others agreed with Courtney.
Later, after the group went on their separate ways after dinner at the diner, Cameron was at Courtney’s house helping her with her schoolwork. Ever since Cameron went against his father, he had been welcomed as family by Courtney’s family. The past few months have been peaceful for them and Courtney began officially dating Cameron. He has joined the JSA too, as Icicle Jr, but mostly referred as Icicle by his teammates.
Cameron looked at Courtney, he knew that she was thinking about something.
“Court, you look even more unsettled than just now, are you okay?” asked Cameron.
Courtney looked at Cameron, “Cam knows me so well,” she thought to herself before answering. “I’m just thinking, what if the red blur is with the ISA, I mean, you know how the latest confrontation with them went,” said Courtney as she stood up and walked around the room thinking of all the possibilities.
Cameron nodded. He remembered the situation then so clearly. It was not a complete victory for the JSA then as some of the ISA members had evade capture and went into hiding.
“Court, I get where you’re going but you need to calm down,” Cameron comforted her, massaging her shoulders softly, embracing her back.
“I can’t help but think about it,” Courtney said. “I’m worried.”
“We all are, but there is nothing much we can do for now… you need to relax,” said Cameron as he wraps his hand around Courtney.
“You’re right, Cam, I need to relax.” Courtney could feel something going hard against her.
“Are you kidding me~ now?” Courtney laughs.
“Well, I know you love it,” said Cameron smiling as he moved his hand down to Courtney’s breast, caressing them softly.
“Oh, you tease~”
EARTH 2 UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
A hooded figure as looking at the screen, suddenly an alert appears on the screen, showing unusual energy levels in the areas near Blue Valley.
“Hmm… how interesting,” the hooded figure said to himself.
TO BE CONTINUED