To Melt a Frozen Heart

Chapter 5

Barry

Woosh! Barry skidded to a halt in an alleyway outside of Rathaway Industries. Peeking out of it, he could see his past self squaring off with Hartley. 

"Are your friends going to hear you die?" Hartley taunted the past Flash.

"No, they're going to hear you get your ass kicked," both past Flash and future Flash asserted.

Suddenly, a painful shriek pierced his ear. His coms were giving off feedback, and he noticed his past self experiencing the same discomfort. After quickly correcting the issue, Barry's past self looked at him in bewilderment.

With no time to spare, he dashed away from the scene, aware that his past self was following him. He swiftly took refuge in the nearest alley to confront his past self. He skidded to a stop, as did the Past Flash.

"Who the hell are you?" Past Flash panted as he looked at future Flash.

"Sorry, but there's no time to explain," He answered, slowly bending down to draw the tranq from his boot. He saw his past self stare at the dart before rushing him.

Barry ran from his past self. This wasn't the plan. This was supposed to be a nice, safe, quiet takedown.

"Oomph." The past Flash tackled him from behind, and they flew, running up and down walls, trading blows for blows. His past self knocked the tranq from his hand and sent it flying. They both watched it as it sailed through the air. The past Flash took off, as did the future Flash. The Future Flash grabbed the tranq and injected it into his past self's leg.

"Agh," Past Flash gasped as he grabbed his leg, looking mortified at the dart sticking out of it, "Who are you?"

"Shhh, just go to sleep," Future Barry replied, watching as his past self fell limp. This felt so weird and felt so much like a crime. Even if it was against himself, he quickly switched the emblems on their chest. His white one for the old red one. He had a job to do,

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Barry led Hartley into the Cortex, feeling so much Deja Vu that it was unreal. 

"Alright, come on," Barry said, leading Hartley to the holding cells.

"You know, it was always my fantasy of being grabbed up by a man in leather, so thanks," Hartely snarked as he was pushed into the cell.

"Yeah, Yeah, get in there," Barry said as he gently shoved Hartely in and closed the door.

"Scanners are detecting a foreign metallic object in your ears. Take them out," Cisco instructed.

"I can't. If I take them out, I experience the most unimaginable pain ever," Hartley replied.

"Cisco, scan the devices for any low-level electromagnetic pulse," Barry said, looking at him. Remembering the first time when they caught Hartley, the hearing aids were actually explosives. Also, who in their right mind would wear explosives in their ears?

"You want me to scan for E-bombs?" Cisco asked, looking at Barry confused.

"They could be the reason for the malfunctioning coms," Barry hastily added, hoping that Cisco would accept his reasoning and not question it.

"Alright, man," Cisco said as he clicked a button on the screen before the holding cell, "Well, would you look at that? Trying to go Mission Impossible on us?"

Just then, Wells rolled in, speaking Latin to Hartely, and instructed them to treat Hartely's tinnitus and make his new hearing aids. It took all of Barry's self-control not to attack the man right there and then. To hurt him, to make him feel the pain he felt at losing his mother and his father being condemned to prison. He wanted to ki- he shook his head, clearing that thought.

He walked after Wells. He was here to get faster, after all.

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He awoke to being handcuffed to a wheelchair and in the time vault. Looking around, he saw Dr. Wells sitting in a white chair, giving him a little wave.

"Dr Wells? What is this?" Barry asked, trying his best to sound confused and a little frightened.

"Who are you?" Wells asked bluntly, "I mean, who are you really?"

"It's me, Barry," He said with a weak chuckle. 

"You're good," Wells replied with a chuckle," I would believe you except,"

At this, a burst of red lighting and Wells stood over him, "Nothing,"

Barry tried to phase his way out of the handcuffs but could not as he heard Thawne chuckle again.

"And you're from the future; do you know how I know that? I haven't taught my Barry Allen to Phase yet," Thawne said, looking down at Barry.

Thawne sat in his white chair, "Why are you here?"

"Because I want to go faster, and you're the only one who can teach me," Barry said bitterly, looking at his arch-nemesis.

"You're the only one who's figured out the equation, the Speed Force. You manipulated it; how did you do that?" Barry continued. 

Thawne stood up and walked around the room, muttering to himself. Barry knew something was wrong. Thawne was agitated, so he began brainstorming ideas on how to get out of there in case the situation went south.

"You'd only come here if something went wrong. If you're still alive. I haven't beaten you, and if I haven't beaten you, that means that I don't go home." Thawne said, getting more and more worked up and kicking the chair over, "and if that's the case," He yelled, vibrating his hand as he walked over to Barry.

"Woah, woah, wait, wait," Barry yelled, holding his hand to stop Thawne. Thankfully, it worked, as Thawne stopped moving and stared down at him intently.

"You won, you won, ok?" Barry wildly invented it, praying that this worked, "You tricked me. We turn on the accelerator, and you harness my speed to go home. Only after that a singularity opened up, and the only way to stop it is for me to go fast enough to close it,"

"Well. That's good to know," Thawne said after a beat, "But just one thing occurs to me. I don't need you, certainly not this you," Thawne laughed as he smirked at Barry, "Oops, should've thought of that. You ran all this way to die,"

Barry stared him down as Thawne moved closer to him, clearly intent on killing him. But Barry was about to play his trump card.

"You kill me, and Barry, Your Barry, learns it all," Barry bluffed with clear conviction in his voice, "There's a letter hidden that explains it all to him. If anything happens to me.  You never go home,"

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Barry returned to the future, or was it his present? Time traveling was super weird. He and everyone else fought off the Time Wraith, returning it to the Speed Force. He led Ciscos, Caitlin, and Frost into the Time Vault.

"I got it," Barry said as he put the drive into the console, "Thawne gave me the key to my speed problems,"

Frost looked over Barry's shoulder, "What is this place,"

"This is where Thawne hid out while pretending to be Harrison Wells," Barry explained to her, "It's also where our AI Gideon is," 

"Gideon?"

"Not important at the moment," Barry said. He looked for any way to turn on the console but couldn't. In frustration, he slapped his hand palm down over the circle, activating the device and showing the Speed Equation.

"This is it, guys, this is how we take down Zoom," 

"Yay," Frost remarked sarcastically.