Flashette(Book Three)

16

    "No it's not," I reassured Barry and I looked over at him. I interlocked my fingers with his and spoke: "This is all because of me, because of my weakness...."
     "And Flashpoint," said Barry. "And because of it, everyone's lives have changed....Everyone we love is suffering...This has to stop...I can't let anyone hurt anymore because of me.
No one else should have to pay for my sins."
     "And they won't. Barry, you're doing everything you can to keep me alive and it's not that what you're doing is wrong. It's just that you're putting my life before everyone else's while I'd rather you just let things happen how they have to happen. You know that I don't want more people to die just so I can live."
     "And never in my lifetime will I let anyone come close to hurting you or my babies like Savitar has been." Barry pulled me in for a tight hug and relaxed. After a while, Barry yelled Cisco's name. Cisco responded and came to the doorway. "Get the breach room ready."
    "Okay, for what?" Cisco asked.
     "I'm gonna save Wally."
    "How exactly are you going to do that?" I asked.
      "I'm going back into the Speed Force."
     "Not by yourself, you're not." I stood up from my bed and Barry tried to stop me. "You're not doing this alone. Did you think I'd just sit around and just watch as you did all the work? You know me, Bar."
      "Fine..." Barry gave in. "You just have to be cleared by Caitlin first."
      "I'm just trying to wrap my mind around you going into the Speed Force again," Cisco said as Barry helped me up.
     "Savitar said he was there for years. You said it was like being in space."
     "I know," Barry said as we transitioned from the med bay and Barry helped me down into a chair in the cortex.
    "So what are you gonna do? You gonna run in there and run around till you find him?"
     "It's endless. And this is the only way to save Wally. We need a plan."
     "I--I don't wanna lose both my sons," said Joe as he came out from the speed lab doors.
     "Look, gang, I don't understand the Speed Force, but there are plenty of people in this room who do," said HR.
     "Am I correct in assuming there's a point coming?" Cisco asked.
     "My point is why can't you use your knowledge to fashion some kind of safety precaution for young B and CA right here, so that, while they're in the Speed Force, they don't get lost."
     "Oh, so you're saying I can just whip up some kind of inter-dimensional tether to just anchor them to the Universe?" Cisco asked.
     "Yeah."
     "That's exactly what I can do."
     "Yeah! Now we're cooking with helium."
     "Yes, and I can I can add a biological component that will measure they're vitals when they're in the Speed Force," said Caitlin.
     "That's a great idea."
     "Thank you, Caitlin. Because if we can monitor they're vitals, we'll know if they fluctuate, and we can pull them out.
    "Me too...I wanna come," Jessie said as she walked over to her suit. "If you're going in there to save Wally, so am I."
      "Jesse, you're gonna stay here. If your father finds out you're lost in some negative world, the first person to get a broken schnoz is me. And I wouldn't want to get on Harry Welses bad side."
     "There's a negative world?" asked HR.
"Yeah. There's many worlds we haven't even discovered yet, HR," I said, rolling my eyes.
     "Really? They have Super Mario on Earth-29?" HR asked Cisco.
      "Chloe, you guys need help. A set of extra hands won't hurt. Plus, your shoulder is still broken," Jessie spoke, getting the conversation back on track.
     "It's okay...It's almost healed...Did you forget I rapidly regenerate?"
     "No, look, I can do this," Jessie said, stepping foreword.
     "I know, but I need you to stay here. Keep the city safe while we're gone. And this is something we have to do alone, okay?" I asked. Jessie crossed her arms and looked back and her suit. She gave every one of us in the room a glance before sighing:
     "Fine..."
      "Thank you."
     "Okay, let's go to work," Cisco said, clapping his hands together. Cisco, Caitlin, and HR went down to the tech lab while Barry and I remained in the cortex. We sat and talked up a plan for a while before Cisco called us down to the speed lab. We suited up and headed down.
      "I think that's gonna do it," Cisco said as he put the finishing touches on the equipment. "We should be able to use this to keep track of your vitals," Cisco said before walking over to us, lifting up our emblems, and placing the device under each of them.
      "You play astronaut, and we'll play Houston," Caitlin joked. I chuckled.
      "Right, but how exactly are you gonna track our location when we're in the Speed Force?" I asked.
     "Well, this is just a simple modification from what we used to get you out last time, using the electrode halo. Remember?" Cisco asked as I nodded.
      "Julian doesn't know, though. He wasn't part of the team last time."  
     "Right," Cisco recalled. "You know that thing we used to talk to Savitar?" Cisco asked Julian.
      "Yes..I know very well what you're talking about," Julian said, looking up from his computer at Cisco.
     "Meet the electrode halo," Cisco said, holding it up. "So basically these two are linked electromagnetically - via Goldtooth."
     "Gold-tooth?" Julian asked.
    "Let me educate you...It's kind of the Cisco Ramon inter-dimensional equivalent of Bluetooth...Kind of proud of it. Anyway, it gives us all the relevant locus information no matter what corner of the multiverse they're stuck in-"
      "And, if they need our help, it'll stimulate Cisco's prefrontal cortex-"
      "And I'll open a breach and send them back in."
     "Good Lord, multiverses, breaches, halos, easy bloody peasy..." said Julian.
    "By George, I think he's got it."
    "Cisco, you about ready?" I asked, getting impatient.
      "Born ready," Cisco replied before he walked over to his panel and pushed buttons. He came back over to us and hooked up all the gear we needed to go.
      "Okay...Here's to winging it."
      "Winging it? Wait, what do you mean?" I asked.
      "Well, I mean, I don't really have a map of the Speed Force, so when I vibe you into it, I have no idea where you'll land...But the good news is, if they gets stuck on the wrong side of the tracks, now we can fish them out."
      "Find my boy," Joe said, walking up to us and engulfing us in a hug.
     "I'm gonna do whatever it takes."  
     "Thank you..."
      "I love you, Chloe," Barry said, giving me a kiss on the cheek.
      "I love you too," I replied before Cisco interrupted.
     "Are we ready?" He asked up on his pedestal.
      "Good to go..." I replied before I grabbed Barry's hand and we stepped onto the platform. "To infinity and beyond," I quoted. Cisco joined us back on the platform. Caitlin was in Cisco's booth, managing the switches and dials.
     "Okay, once I let go, you're on your own."
      "Do it, Cisco."
        "Good luck guys," Cisco said before he place a hand on Barry and I's backs and vibed. When we were in, Cisco let go of us and we were taken back into the familiar scene of a blue tornado, with occasional yellow flashes of lightning. When all the lightning went away, we were transported to a familiar place: CCPD. We were in our lab. Everything looked the same, but the atmosphere wasn't. The building seemed colder and it had been storming outside, similar to the affect when we had gotten our powers in the lab that night. When we looked closer, we noticed that the "storm" like appearance of the speed force could be seen.
      "Wally?" I asked as I walked down the stairs of the building.
     "Chloe, stay with me. Don't just-" Barry said before we stopped at the bottom of the stairs. We examined the first floor and everything looked the same. We stopped exploring when we saw someone standing by Captain's office. He had familiar blonde hair and figure that looked too good to be true. He turned around and I was shocked to see that it was an old friend: Eddie Thawne.
      "Hey, Bar...Chloe.." Eddie said as looked our way and flashed a smile.
     "I know you're not him...You're not the real Eddie.."
    "You're right, I'm not. Now tell me, why are you here? Why did you come back to this place? You didn't learn your lesson last time?"
     "I guess we didn't. We're here to save Wally West."
      "Ever the hero, huh, Chloe?"
       "It's our fault that he's trapped here..." I said, lowering my head.
       "Is it?" Eddie asked.
      "Where is Wally West?" I asked, gritting my teeth.
     "He's not exactly here, per se," replied Eddie.
      "What do you mean?" I asked, agitated.
      "He's in the prison you created...Well, your future selves, that is."
      "How do we get him out?" Barry asked. Eddie stood there in silence and ignored him.
     "How do I get him out?" I reiterated, this time, yelling.
      "I think you'll find we're not gonna be as accommodating as we were the last time you visited us."
      "What the hell does that mean?" I asked, stepping closer to "Eddie."
      "It means things have changed...We gave you your speed back because you said you'd come to terms with your mother's death, but you lied to us."
      "I-"
     "You went back in time, and saved her. And, in doing so, you created Flashpoint."
      "Zoom had just killed my father," said Barry, stepping foreword to meet me. "How was I not supposed to. The only member of family had left..."
      "We know, and we understand, which is why we allowed you to do that, but choices have consequences.
And I'm afraid we can't let you make any more choices like that."
    "But Wally's just a kid," I stepped in. Eddie snickered:    
     "He's a Flash...He made his choice...Now he has to live with it, just like you do."
      "I'm not going anywhere until Wally's free," I said, getting into Eddie's face.
     "Then be prepared to spend an eternity in here...Eddie Thawne's life was almost so different...Iris was about to be his wife...Joe was about to be his father-in-law...But things didn't turn out that way, did they, Chloe?" At that moment, a gunshot went off and I turned around. When I thought it was clear, I looked back to see Eddie remaining in his same spot. The only difference being that he had a gunshot in the same place our Eddie had his and the spot had been stained red with blood. "Instead of that life being his legacy this is...So you're telling me the only reason you came back is to save Wally."
     "Yes."
     "There's no other reason?" Eddie asked.
      "No."
    "All right then...If you want Wally, all you need to do is go through those doors." Eddie pointed to the elevator and the elevator opened. "But you're gonna have to outrun that thing first," Eddie said before pointing to our lab. A creature came out from our lab. It snarled and made noises as it flew down to the first floor.
    "Time Wraith...C'mon!" I exclaimed before we sped into the elevator. We were close to being caught by it, but the door closed before the creature could catch up to us. We clenched to the elevator and anxiously waited for the door to open. When it opened, we were taken to another familiar place: S.T.A.R Labs. We walked down the hallway to the cortex, looking for some form of normality, but we're distracted by the singing that was heard:
      "Hush, little baby, don't say a word, Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird." 
     "Caitlin..." I whispered as we rounded the corner to the cortex. Caitlin stood in the mouth of the cortex as she cradled a baby in her arms. The baby began crying and she rocked it back and forth slowly while continuing to sing:
     "And if that mockingbird don't sing, Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring" I looked at Caitlin and became wrapped up in this version of her I wasn't used to seeing. Too distracted to see who came into the cortex.
     "That baby...Isn't she beautiful?" asked another familiar lost friend of ours. One I'd love to see in the flesh and not this way. "Just like her mother," Ronnie finished.
      "Ronnie..." I said, standing in disbelief.
      "Hello, guys. Long time, no see, huh...I'm noticing some discomfort between you two. Does this bother you? Another life that could've been and never was."
      "Caitlin and Ronnie should've had that...A family, a future--"
   "The future doesn't always turn out as we want it to. You know that firsthand. Ezr-"
     "I see what you're doing...First Eddie, now Ronnie, showing me all of the people who sacrificed themselves for the greater good."
     "No, Chloe, their sacrifices were for you, as was Wally's when he attempted to stop Savitar."
      "No, Savitar tricked Wally."
      "And now he's trapped...Wally doesn't belong in the Speed Force...You have to let me take his place."
     "Chloe, I thought-" said Barry before he was interrupted.
    "That's why I'm here."
     "Are you sure there's no other reason?" Ronnie asked.
     "I wanna sacrifice myself for Wally."
     "We can't allow that."
    "Why not?" I asked.
     "Because where Wally's gone is a hell all his own...You remember Savitar's words: 'One will suffer a fate far worse than death'. That wasn't for you. You have you're own special fate as you've seen. Leave while you still can."
     "No...Whatever hell Wally's trapped in, I'm gonna set him free, and I'm not leaving here until I do," I said, standing my ground.
    "Very well, but you were warned," Ronnie spoke before I heard snarling and another familiar figure came into view. It was Zoom...Well...Black Flash. He had the black suit, red and white emblem, and the exposed face, similar to how he was when we last saw him during our race.
     "Hunter Zolomon..." I whispered. Hunter sped towards us and we fought back. Ronnie stood back and watched as he caught with us, sometimes us winning, and sometimes Zoom. He eventually pinned us down and Ronnie came to our side.
     "We warned you..."
    "Why are you doing this?" I asked, still continuing to resist. Zoom had a hand on my neck and I began gasping for air.
    "You speak of sacrifice, yet you still let others bear the burdens that should be on your shoulders." I began to feel weak as Hunter began to suck the speedforce out of both of us, similar to how the time wraith creatures did.
     "O-kay-okay, you're-right...." I managed to get out. "You're right..."  
      "I never should've asked Wally to save Chloe," said Barry. "It should've been me," Barry said before he ripped off his device under his emblem and held it against Hunter's chest. I turned away before it blew up, and Barry and I stood up quickly when Hunter let go and the expulsion was finished. Hunter was distracted temporarily and we spoke to Ronnie:
     "Please, let us save him..." I said before Ronnie and S.T.A.R. labs faded away. We were now in another familiar place. We were taken to Central City hospital. There, lights were flashing and all rooms were empty, except for one. There was one room where Wally was standing in. He was staring at a hospital bed. I shed a tear before placing a hand on the glass window portion of the door. "He must be in so much pain" I thought to myself.
     "Wally......Wally..." I called. I got no response.
     "There's only one way to free Wally West from his eternal torment," said another voice: Leonard Snart. "You must free yourself first."
      "What's happening to him?" I asked as I turned to see Lenny, coat, gun, and all.
      "Wally West is caught in an endless temporal loop, just like Savitar after you imprisoned him here in the future...No wonder he hates you both."
      "What's he seeing?" I asked. Why can't he hear us?"
      "He's reliving the single most painful moment of his life over and over again: His mother's death."
    "That's awful....He doesn't deserve this..."
      "I know you've already seen the future...And I'm guessing you don't like it, do you?" asked Leonard. "Do you know what you do if you don't like the future? You change it."
    "I can't! Haven't you seen that I've tried?" Barry asked, angrily. "I'm not fast enough! What do you think I've been doing this whole time? Everything I've been doing up to this point has been attempts to change the future. Don't you see that? Wally is the only one fast enough to save her, and if Wally saves her, the future will be changed for sure. That's why you have to let me take his place...Wally can save Chloe."
      "Not learning your lesson, Barry. You keep telling us one thing and then doing another....You wanna know what inspired Leonard Snart to sacrifice himself?" Kenny asked, admiring his gun. "It was you two. You inspired him to be better. You inspired him to be selfless, to sacrifice himself for others, to be a hero, just like you."
     "I'm no hero....Not lately..."
     "So what? You've had enough, Pink princess? Time to hang up the cowl and give it all up? Well, if you're out you're out," Leonard said before taking his cold gun and pointing it at us.
     "I'm done fighting."
    "We know, and that's exactly the problem. You think seeing Chloe's death is hell? You ain't seen nothing yet," Leonard said before he fired a blast at us. At that point, a breech opened and we noticed it was our friend, Jay. He whipped off his hat and used it to deflect the blast. The blast was shot back to Leonard and he flew back into the wall at the end of the corridor.
      "Let's get you out of here," said Jay before I stopped him.
    "Is this really you, or is this just another Speed Force test?" I asked. Jay placed a hand on my shoulder.
    "Yeah, kid, it's really me."
     "How? How did you find us here?" Barry asked.
       "As soon as the team lost contact with you, Cisco came to my Earth and told me what was happening...I came here to help."
     "Let's get Wally."
      "I'm afraid I can't let you do that," Leonard said, freezing Wally's hospital room door. "Getting a little slow in your golden age there, Garrick."     
     "I'm taking Wally," Barry spoke.
      "We can't let you do that, Barry."
       "Yeah? Try and stop me," I said before I placed my hand on the door and vibrated all the ice off. I opened the door to find Wally standing in the same place infront of the bed.
    "Hey, Wally.." I said, walking up to him and placing my hand on his shoulder. He had tear stains on both cheeks, his eyes were red and puffy, and his nose was a light pink. He turned to us slowly.
    "Chloe, Barry, Jay...I saw my mom..She was-"
     "I know--I know--"
      "My mom--"
      "I know. Look at me now, okay? It's over. You're free now, okay? We're going home, all right? It's okay.
We're going home....Jay, let's go." We all walked out of the room, except for Jay.
     "Jay, aren't you coming?" I asked.
       "Sorry, kid, this is where I stay for a while."
     "What? What are you talking about?" I asked.
      "We both know that a speedster needs to take Wally's place...That's why I'm here."
     "No, no, Jay, you already lived your hell when you were Zoom's prisoner. And you set me free, and I owe you for that."
      "Jay-"
      "I've run a hell of a race, but every marathon has a finish line. Time's finally come for me to cross it, but you you, Chloe, need to put an end to this once and for all and Barry needs to stop Savitar."
    "How?" Barry asked.
      "Do what you do best."
      "Be The Flashes..."Jay handed us his hat. Cisco said that he could use this to track you and bring you home."
     "I'm gonna get this back to you again, when I break you out of here," I said, placing the hat on top of my head.
      "See you soon, Flashes," Jay said before we closed the door to the hospital room after giving Jay one last hug and goodbye. A portal was opened in the corridor of the hospital and we jumped through.
      "Barry!"
    "Chloe!"
      "Wally!"
      "Oh, my God...Are you ok?" Caitlin asked.
      "We will be..."
       "Hold on a second," Cisco said, standing in thought. "Three speedsters go in, and only two come out."
      "Jay stayed back to save Wally."
      "Come on, Wally, let's get you checked out," Caitlin said before she took Wally to the medical bay.
    "So glad to have you back," said Joe. "I thought I lost my three speedster babies."
     "We're here. As weird as it was, we made it out alive."
     "Did you see any more crazy people in your travels?" asked Joe we we transitioned into the cortex.
     "Just some of our dead friends...Ronnie...Leonard...Eddie...All there to teach us lessons."
     "Which was what?" Cisco asked.
     "Saving Chloe is my responsibility alone," said Barry. "It's why the speed force didn't let us stay. They wanted me to save Chloe, and they wanted Chloe to suffer. Jay sacrificed himself to do this. So I could finish this."
    "Too many of our friends lives have been put at risk and no more are going to sacrificed...Jay, hero among heroes," I said, holding up his hat.
      "We can't just leave him in there..." said Jessie.
      "We won't...I'll beat Savitar...We'll get him out," said Barry.
       "Good, 'cause it seems to me the Speed Force is a little bit of a crazy place...Just ask Wallace," said HR. We looked over to Wally who was sitting in the medical bay, staring blankly at the wall.  
     "What Wally saw--it's gonna haunt him for a while...So until he can get past it, and he's really ready to go back out there, Kid Flash is gonna need to take a break for a while."
     "So, fun fact uncovered by our intrepid Jesse Quick, in her latest dust-up with the so-called "God of Speed," guess who feels pain," said HR.
      "What-what exactly are you saying? Are you saying that underneath the suit of armor that's he's--"
      "He's not a god....He's just a man, baby."
     "A man?" I asked.
      "Yeah." HR said, standing proudly. Barry shot up from his seat:
     "We're one step closer, Chlo. One step closer to defeating him and saving your life!"
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ANOTHER CHAPTER FOR YOU! Two more chapter-content updates are on the way, as well as a short or two. The question book has been updated, as well as the weekly question book. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you in the next chapter! -Flashette1
***Read the previous chapter for information on my new contest!***