Flicker ⌁ Barry Allen [1]

thirty-five.

"Are you okay, Joe? Rory?" Caitlin asked.

"I'm fine. Let's just do this." I said, brushing it off. Everyone knew that I was good at keeping my feelings out of this vigilante/hero business.

"That was just a little harder than I anticipated." Joe sighed.

"Yeah. And locking Barry in there, that was the easy part. Defeating Zoom without him is gonna be the hard part. Luckily we have another speedster on our side."

He turned to me.

"No way. She can't go up against Zoom like Barry can!" Joe said protectively. He had only known me for a year and a half, but he was just as protective of me as he was of any of his other kids. That and he probably knew that Barry would literally kill him if I got hurt.

"Why can't I? In case you've forgotten, I've been a hero way longer than Barry has, even without my powers. And I've gone against metas way deadlier than Zoom." 

"Barry was barely faster than him. It's too dangerous." Joe says.

"She's not going up against Zoom. She's our backup plan if our current plan fails." Wells assured Joe.

"Well why would it fail?" I asked, unsure of the 'current plan.'

"That depends on Snow's acting skills."

"I got it!" Cisco yelled. "He's at the industrial park on Leawood."

"Alright." I said, fixing Barry's mask around my head. "Let's do this."

~

Caitlin was hooked up to the hologram setup, similar to how Barry was after he lost his speed.

I was standing next to Cisco who was on a nearby rooftop, preparing to open the breach.

"If this doesn't work out, or something bad happens, I hope you know that I'm glad you didn't break my arm when we first met." Cisco whispered. I hugged him, which was rather uncomfortable in Barry's suit, which felt bulky on my body.

"Me too, Francisco."

"Watch it, Winters. I'll vibe-blast you." He warns, with a teasing glint in his eye.

"Vibe-blast?" I crunched my nose up.

"Yeah, youre right. I need a better name for it." Cisco says, turning his attention back to the ground below.

"Good job, Cait. Just a couple more steps." I whispered under my breath. Zoom was a few short steps away from her. Then the unexpected happened. He drove his speeding hand straight through her shoulder, but it simply caused her hologram to disappear. He looked around confused, and he was then shot with the boot, suppressing his powers.

Cisco opened the breach, while I looked around rapidly, anxious to do something other than be backup.

"Tranq him, Joe!!" Harry yelled, running to get into position to shoot him back into the breach.

"Gun's jammed!" Joe yelled. Then I saw the tranq bullets in his hands. Not thinking things through, I ran down, took the bullets from his hands, and plunged them into Zoom. He pulled me into the breach as it closed behind me. I knew I was royally screwed, but at least Joe was safe.

~

"I will say. If anything, Barry sure has an ample number of loved ones to kill." Zoom said.

"Piss off, Jay." I rolled my eyes.

"Why were you wearing Barry's costume, hm? Thought you could fool me? I could tell you weren't him. For one thing, your lightning is like mine. Dark blue." 

I stayed silent. "That's the only reason I am permitting you to keep your speed, you know? When I tried to take it the first time, it didn't mix well. It didn't transfer into my own speed. Yours is something different altogether. It simply left both of us and returned to the speed force. Pity poor Emmy had to die for nothing." He sneered.

"Keep her name out of your god-damned mouth, Jay." I hissed.

"Anyways, if you're going to kill me, kill me. It doesn't matter. We're both stuck here. You're not racing anybody." I said, calmly.

"I could always use you."

I laughed. "I'm not nearly as fast as Barry, what makes you think I'd be fast enough to power up your world-crusher?" 

His eyes widened in surprise.

"I'm not an idiot. As soon as we heard the Magnetar was taken, I figured out your plan. I've dealt with villains with more complex plans than yours." I said, sighing.

He didn't know what I meant, seeing as he knew nothing of my past, or even of Gotham for that matter.

"Come on, Aurora, you know Barry better than that. He'll say yes to racing me if he thinks he can save you."

"Not this time." I laughed. "I made sure of it."

He huffed, but I wasn't sure if it was in amusement or frustration.

I looked over to the guy in the cage with the metal helmet. 

"So are you gonna tell me who that is?" I asked, still curious.

He went into this elaborate story of how he became Zoom, and then, later, how he became Jay Garrick.

Hey guys! I had planned on posting this chapter on Wednesday, but I got so busy, (Wednesday was actually my birthday!) And then yesterday I had Thanksgiving, and this morning I went Black Friday shopping with my mom and sister! I got a little carried away with this chapter, so it was longer than anticipated. That means we have a few more chapters! I was hoping to make it end on an rounded number (thirty-five or forty) but itll be fine either way! I'll be saving my feels for the ending author's note, but thank you guys for sticking with me through THIRTY-FIVE whole chapters!