Short on Time

Chapter 69

"It's impossible," Iris said when Barry explained how his confrontation with Savitar went, with his time remnant. "I don't understand. How could Savitar be you?" Joe asked.

"He's not me. Not really," Barry said.

"He's all the worst parts of you," I said sadly.

"It's like in "Star Trek" when the transporter splits Kirk into good Kirk and bad Kirk. Please tell me you at least have "Star Trek" on your Earth," Cisco said looking at HR.

"Voyager."

"I hate spinoffs."

"That explains why Caitlin was willing to follow him. He has a face that she trusts," Julian said.

"Half of one anyway," Barry agreed making me wince at the thought.

"So when the Legends found that message in the Waverider from old you saying "Don't trust Barry Allen," it was talking about Savitar Barry Allen. It's all coming together in the worst way," Cisco said.

"You said you made Savitar? How?" Joe asked.

"Peep this," Cisco said writing on the board. "Four years from now, future Flash creates a time remnant to fight Savitar. But Savitar lets that remnant live so that it can later become Savitar. So once Savitar is imprisoned in the Speed Force, this remnant starts to go crazy. And he goes back in time to the past and becomes Savitar."

"Creating the lie that he was the first speedster, spreading the myth and recruiting acolytes throughout the ages," Julian said.

"That doesn't make any sense. Which came first, Savitar or the time remnant?" Iris asked.

"It's a closed loop," I said pointing at the infinity Cisco made. "No beginning, no end. It's just one endless cycle."

"Classic chicken and the egg scenario, I think, eh?" HR said.

"A time remnant, it's, um it's like a duplicate of you, right? So it has your feelings, your memories. So why would he want to hurt us? Why would he want to kill Ginger?" Wally asked.

"H.R., how's Tracy coming with the Speed Force trap?" Barry asked ignoring Wally's question.

"Good, yeah, good. Slow," HR answered.

"Get her to speed up, all right?"

"I'll do that now. Can do," HR said walking out and Barry followed.

"If Savitar is a version of Barry from the future and he remembers everything that Barry does, how are we ever going to come up with a plan to stop him?" Wally asked.

I sighed, "I don't know."

"Ginger, we'll stop him. He won't her you, or those kids," Iris said.

I smiled at her, "I know." I walked out looking for Barry and I eventually found him in the speed lab. "What was he like?"

"Broken," Barry sighed.

I walked over to Barry and sat next to him, "you know, all of this time I thought that Savitar was this monster. It's hard to picture what might happen, or even fathom it, and it being your time remnant that I-I know it's not you, but-"

"Part of him is. He said it was like looking in a mirror, and he was right. But not just the way that he looked. It was it was his eyes. The pain that was inside them. I've seen that in myself. When I think about how my parents died so violently sometimes I want to repay that violence with more violence. I want to make someone else hurt as much as I do," Barry said.

"But you don't ever do that," I told Barry grabbing his hand. "You're not him. You're a good person."

"But it's in there, you know. That's in me. That power, that pain, that's where Savitar comes from. From loss. From losing you," Barry said looking at me sadly.