impossible | barry allen

84

"As Francisco threw back his lustrous locks and laughed, I outlined my plan for neutralizing the rampaging creature-" I read off the ipad I held, staring at the chapter that went on for pages and pages, as we all stood in the cortex, "It goes on like this for pages."

My finger swipes up as I scroll through the chapter, pausing, my eyes scanning over the paragraph, as I read out loud, "As young Detective Zee Young offered her skills, wanting to do the best she could to help with the best of her abilities, I quickly denied her offer, not wanting the tiny girl to get hurt out in the crossfire."

My head snaps up, looking at HR, a small snicker coming from Barry, his eyes on me, "Excuse me? Tiny?"

"You're not even- 5'5", I mean-" HR points at me with his stick, "You're tiny."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you shrunk since I saw you this morning." Barry walks over to me, wrapping a arm around my neck, pulling me into his side.

"Not funny-" I shot him a look, as he simply just smiles.

Cisco takes the ipad away from me, "The point is, he's been broadcasting without our knowledge or permission, all while making himself the hero."

"Yeah, every book needs a central protagonist that the audience can invest in." HR grabs the ipad.

"I would've gone with Barry." Caitlin shoots him a look.

"Barry?" HR repeats, baffled.

I wrap my arms around Barry, nuzzling my face into his chest, Barry keeping his arm around me, as Caitlin spoke, "Cisco, what was that down there? First Golden Glider, and now her?"

"I can't help who I'm attracted to." Cisco scoffs, "Even if it is the sexy, intense, deadly ones."

I roll my eyes at Cisco, looking at HR, "So, she takes you back to Earth 19, and what- you pay a fine?"

"The punishment for an unauthorized breach travel on my Earth-" HR sets his sticks down and grabs his coffee, sighing, "It's death."

"Death?" Barry and I repeat in unison, the anxiety in my chest increasing.

"About 24, 25 years ago, a neighboring Earth invaded our plant through a breach and almost destroyed the place." HR explains, "So to prevent it from happening again, they banned all inter-dimensional travel. And then they put the collectors in place to punish the ones who violated the ban. I didn't think she'd track me down."

"So why would you risk your life by coming here?" Caitlin questions.

"I-I gotta get packing. It's time for HR to face the music." HR avoids the question and leaves the cortex.

"Guys, I know HR can be annoying, but he doesn't deserve to die." Caitlin reasons.

"Different Earth, different morality." Julian spoke.

Barry speaks up, "But, he doesn't go back, I saw him. With me, Iris and Savitar, in the future. He was there. I mean, that must mean we don't let her take him back."

"Maybe we do." Julian reasoned, "Maybe by letting him go, it changes your future, and prevents Iris' death."

I look up at Barry, seeing the look on his face that practically screamed consideration causing me to back away, staring at all of them, "No."

"Zee-" Julian starts, setting his pen down.

I cut him off, "Listen to me. No matter how much I love Iris- we can't trade a life for a life." I shook my head, leaving the cortex right as I said that.

I heard footsteps behind me, causing me to walk faster, feeling annoyance rush through me. "Zee-" Barry calls out my name, catching my forearm, forcing me to stop in my tracks and look at him.