Hero of Central City

The Force is Strong With This One

The team stood in the Cortex watching as Barry handed Cisco Jay's helmet so he could vibe him.

"Might I suggest, this is a really really bad idea." Matty adds. "How do we know if Zoom is going to stay true to his word?"

"He will." Dakota murmurs. "He will."

Cisco vibes him and lets him know that he'll make the deal. Zoom appears not long after that with Wally in his clutches. Both Dakota and Matty aim their guns at him along with Harry.

"Let him go." Joe demands.

Zoom looks at Barry, "We had a deal."

"My speed for Wally's life. Hand him over and it's yours." Barry clarifies, making sure to disguise his voice to protect his secret.

Zoom shoves Wally over to Joe.

"You need to get out of here. Now." Joe hands him the keys to his car.

"Go. Fast." Dakota snaps. "Go with him Cisco."

Cisco leads Wally out of the Cortex.

"Let's get this over with." Barry grumbles.

****

Harry had a small vial in his hand, "This is how I sole The Flash's speed the first time. Now all he needs to do is transfer his speed force into this vial, but only as long as I calibrate it."

"Get to work." Jay orders.

"One day, I'm gonna knock that smug expression clean off your face." Wells threatens.

"So this was your plan all along?" Barry asks.

"Once I saw another world, another speedster,  I came here, figured out what I had to do." He replied.

"How are you still alive? We watched you die." Iris pointed out, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I went back in time, met a different version of myself and convinced him of my plan. Once he saw the genius in my plan, he was all for it." Zoom explains to the group.

"Who's the man in the iron mask?" Dakota asked.

Zoom chuckles, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

At this point, Harry had the vial ready and Barry made his way to the treadmill room.

"Barry." Joe said in an attempt to maybe stop him.

"It's alright Joe."

Barry ran on the treadmill until he finally stopped with the speed force no long in his body. Harry hands the vial to Jay and he stabs it into his arm. Dakota watched as Zoom pinned Barry against the wall, choking the life out of him.

"Stop!" Zoom continued, ignoring Dakota's pleas. "He doesn't have his powers anymore! But I still do! You want me?! You kill me! Don't hurt him!"

Zoom dropped Barry and turned to face her.

"Dakota....no...."

Zoom disappeared from the Cortex and Barry sighed in relief. Suddenly, Zoom had reappeared, shot his hand through Dakota's abdomen and rushed off again with Caitlin this time.

"NO!" Barry screamed. Dakota collapsed to the ground as everyone rushed to her. "She'll be okay right? She has the speed force in her system."

"No. She doesn't." Matty murmured. "A few months ago, I helped her take it out of her system. She entrusted me to hide it and not tell any of you. Dakota had never wanted to use it but to protect it, in case you needed it. She knew something was going to happen."

"Well where is it?" Barry put pressure on her wound.

Matty stood up, "Get her on a bed and keep pressure. I'll go get the speed force." Matty came back as fast as he could with the vial in his hand. "Hold her still." He stuck the needle into her neck. "I'm sorry it went like this."

Soon the speed force took effect and her vitals began to stabilize, "How come she didn't tell me? Why did she tell you?"

BOOM!

Lightning cracked above their heads.

"She wanted to protect you Barry. Dakota wanted to keep the speed force as far away from Zoom as possible." Matty explained.

More thunder boomed.

"Oh my god. I can't believe I didn't see it before." Cisco murmured. 

"What?!" Both Matty and Barry said at the same time.

"When you got hurt during your first fight with Zoom, there was thunder and lightning. Same as tonight. It's-"

"It was Dakota the whole time."