Flicker ⌁ Barry Allen [1]

twenty-eight.

Barry and myself hurried to Jitters. I was dressed in my old Nightingale costume. I was surprised it still fit me after all these years. It made me well up with nostalgia, but I held it down. 

"Look at you, the Nightingale of Gotham!" Barry smirked.

I rolled my eyes. We were in the back of a plain, unmarked van a few blocks from Jitters. He was hooked up to a bunch of sensors. For the hologram. I, on the other hand, would be going in and using my natural 'hero power' as Cisco called them. Maybe a little bit of my damaged speed, if I can handle it.

Originally, I was going to be dressed in my Flicker costume. Cisco said it wasn't a good idea. If people saw Flicker without her speed, they would assume the Flash had lost his as well. That, or Flicker would inspire hope. Then Zoom would come back to finish the job of taking my speed.

So, I was dressed as Nightingale. Nobody here knew her well. Maybe a few older people from Gotham might remember her, but they'll just assume I came to help. Naturally, the Nightingale costume was a lot stealthier and identity-concealing. Nobody would recognize me, as long as I didn't use my speed in a noticeable way.

"I still don't like the idea of you going out there with no powers." Barry whined.

"Bartholomew Allen, back in Nightingale's days, I could kick your ass. Trust me. I'll be fine."

Barry rolled his eyes, and I kissed him on the cheek.

I left the van and shut the doors behind me. Barry's hologram materialized behind me.It nodded. I knew Cisco was controlling it, but just seeing Barry's body in a costume, with powers, made my heart jump out of my chest.

Then, to my surprise, someone hit me from behind. As I started to fade into unconsciousness, I saw Cisco.

"Sorry, Rory. Barry begged me." 

That little-.

I woke up in STAR Labs, laying on a bed. I sat up, and yelled. "Francisco Ramon!!" 

"Oh shit here she comes." Cisco said to himself. He was the only one in the Cortex.

He was watching the tv monitors, and had a joystick-esque device in his hand.

"What did you do?!" I demanded.

"Barry didn't want you getting hurt." Cisco said, apologetic.

"I'm literally going to kick his ass."

Barry returned just forty-five minutes later. 

He had managed to sneak past me to talk to Dr. Wells.

He came back out.

"Let's do it. Let's set off the particle accelerator."

Although I didn't like it, Wells' plan made perfect sense. Inject Barry with the same chemicals, set off the accelerator, strike him with lightning. Seems easy enough.

Cisco was sent up to the roof with the wand he had made for the Weather Wizard.

I was in the room where Wells had set up the mini-accelerator. 

As Barry was getting locked into the device, I went over to him.

"You don't need to do this, Bar. I don't want you to unless you want to, yourself." I said softly.

"The Flash is the best version of myself. Central City needs the Flash."

I nodded, forcing a smile. I backed over to Wells. He closed the protective door separating us from the machine and Barry.

Wells started the injection of the chemicals. I closed my eyes, trying not to tune in to Barry's cries of pain. Iris, however, wasn't doing so well. She called out to him. I thought it was jsut because he was like a brother to her. But I looked at her, and saw her eyes. The same emotion in them that I held for Barry. Love. My eyes widened in realization, but I didn't have time to dwell on it. Wells set off the accelerator blast and the lighting bolt traveled through Barry. There was an explosion and a blinding light. We couldn't see inside. Wells opened the wall. And then I saw it.

Barry's costume. Without Barry.

I sank to my knees, everything becoming muted around me. I didn't hear Henry yelling at Harrison. I didn't hear Iris crying Barry's name. 

"You thought you could give The Flash his speed back?"

My head snapped up. There was Zoom, holding Barry's tattered costume with a gloating voice.

"Well done." He sneered. "You killed him instead."