❛ chapter twenty six! ❜

twenty six | pray for me—the weeknd

       I jump into the breach that will take me to Earth-2, hardly caring about leaving behind a very confused Tracy Brand and H.R. Wells as well as the explanations to Cisco, for I need to get to Savitar as soon as possible and explanations from my part will have to wait. I arrive to the very same room I stood in two seconds ago, with the slight difference that this breach room is slightly cramped and has poor illumination, not that matters right now.

       The scene I find on the other side of the multiverse makes my façade falter for a second, quickly pulling myself together as the onslaught of emotions begins inside me when I see Wally thrown on the floor with his face contorted in utter agony, crying out in pain; the rest of the West family have their eyes on me, showcasing the affright and surprise that strikes them. As for Harry Wells, you could see the discombobulation obtruding upon his being when I take my place next to Savitar—who is now inside the armour, frozen in a kneeling position.

       "How many times do I have to explain that I am faster than a speeding bullet?" I question when I realize I'm staring down the barrel of the detective's handgun and also Harry Wells's eye behind that riffle of his, but I stay put, playing my part. All of a sudden, Savitar is speeding his way behind Iris—who jumps out of her skin at the sudden presence behind her, a frightened scream bubbling in her throat, "Surprise!" I intone with a grin on my lips, observing how Joe protectively pulls his daughter behind him. Nobody seems to pay attention to the mad woman I'm trying to pull off, I don't blame them, they're all taking in the lurid scene before them.

       "Oh my god. It's really true," the detective manages when his eyes fall on the familiar face before him.

       "It is," Savitar says, his voice dark, "aim that gun at me or her and I'll kill you," he orders to Harry—who drops the gun straight away. I begin to pace around the room as if keeping an eye upon them or making sure nobody does something stupid when I'm actually studying the entire situation in order to anticipate an outcome, however, the sight of Wally writhing on the floor like that is not helping. The urge to help him crawls under my skin, threatening my body to throw itself beside him to assist him with the little medical knowledge I have.

       "You were my son once," Joe West utters to the man that once upon a time was Barry Allen with unmistakable heartache in his voice, "whatever I did to make you feel this way, I'm sorry. Please, Barry."

       "That's not my name," the personage mutters, his teeth gritted. I find myself bemused by the scene while thinking that nobody will really understand how he's feeling. None of them, none of us, has been cast aside by our own family like he has, just because he was thought to be the time remnant and not the original. He's still Barry, though, the darkest parts of him that is. This man lives within the Barry Allen we know and doesn't get to take over because he has a loving family, people that keep him grounded and fill his life with light. It's saddening what losing that light can do to you, being shunned by your own family. I close my eyes when I hear Joe say his name once again, the tremor in his voice making my heart ache, "That's not my name!" The man yells enraged.

       "Please, stop okay?" Iris's brittle voice rises, "I will go with you, just please do not kill them—"

       "I'm not gonna kill them now. They need to watch you die first," he purrs and I feel my heart leaping wildly in my chest while debating what to do. I could inject myself with the V3-X now and take Iris to a temporal hideout, then again the girl's not the kind of girl to run and hide, that's obvious. Also, my actions could trigger a more violent response from Savitar, he could change his mind and kill every single person in this room in a blink and although I can fight him, I won't be able to protect all of them if I get hurt, just a punch from that armour could knock me out for days while on the speed drug; Savitar has locked eyes on me, a dangerous smile tugging at the corners of his lips, "Then, Violett will kill them, she's my executioner after all."

       "I'll be gentle. I promise," I wink at Harry—whose confused expression seems foreign on the usual know-it-all semblance of his. The brave girl takes a step forward, inching towards Savitar which causes Joe to protest once more.

       "Oh, look at that, Joe," Savitar's cooing voice follows, "she's accepted her faith. You should too," the god of speed snarls, glancing at me and I know it's time to go back to his fancy lair. He's probably going to keep her there until the team is together on our earth, he's got a plan for sure and since I am his executioner he's going to spill it to me, which without a doubt will help me to come up with a solid plan, for the one I had been sticking to has gone off the rails. Savitar grabs ahold of the pretty brunette, barely letting go of her when he flashes into the silver armour, the armour claws curling around her tiny waist to then continue with his disappearing act through the breach, leaving me behind, for he knows I'll follow. The breach has barely closed when I'm slamming my hands against the floor next to Kid Flash.

       "Oh my god, Wally!" I cry, my hands frantically touching his body, mine pouring with concern, "What is it? What hurts? Is it your leg? Did he hurt your leg?" I blurt, way too fast, not getting an answer either, for he's in too much pain, however, the way he refrains from moving his leg confirms my suspicion. My fingers have found the zipper on his boot and waste no time in getting rid of it, causing him to cry out in pain, my hand immediately touches the exposed, examining the injury, his tibia is broken, the bone almost protruding through the akin, his knee must be dislocated too. This will take hours to heal. I curl my hands tenderly over his skin in an attempt to speed his healing, "Come on, come on . . ." I mumble, trying to make him heal faster with all my might, but nothing happens. Why does it not work on others?! A frustrated groan leaves my throat, desperation starting to crush me, I need to go now; my eyes meet his dark ones, a shaky breath heaving on my lips, "I can't. I'm trying . . ." I fade from my explanation, giving it another go.

       "What are you doing?" I hear Joe's shaky voice and I look up at him, my façade slowly falling apart as a feeling of powerlessness sets in my chest, his brown eyes sparking with tears and confusion when he sees the total change of demeanor from my part as well as the desperation on my face.

       "I'm trying to trigger his healing, speed it up, but I can't. . ." I turn my attention to the boy, "Wally, you can do it, if I can do it on myself, you can as well."

       "I can't," he blurts, gripping at my hand, his voice frantic, "Vee, he took Iris, I should've stopped him, he took my sister—"

       "And I'm gonna keep an eye on her; focus on healing, alright?" I tell him with a small broken smile, my hand cupping his cheek. I look up and meet the confused faces of everyone, I get on my feet, feeling how fidgety I am as I walk up the steps and to the detective, "It's a plan, all of it, it's a lie, Joe. I'm on your side, always have. I needed to see what Savitar was planning. I know what he's going to do, but this changes everything," I rub my forehead nervously, knowing I should be leaving, "Cisco will explain you all of this, okay? I need to go back, don't let Barry know, he doesn't have to know any of this," the detective looks at me, nodding numbly, still bewildered.

       I feel my face cracking, being twisted by emotions. I'm slightly disappointed in me for not brushing aside my emotions like I should have, at the same time I feel relieved that they see every single emotion play on my face so that they see and know I am telling the truth. Them knowing will hopefully make all of this easier to bear, it's just Iris and Barry the ones who know nothing. A twitch sends the trembling corners of my mouth downwards as my feet propel me closer to the detective with pleading hands.

       "Joe, I'm so sorry for all I said and did, I'm really, really sorry. . .I never meant to be—" I'm cut off by him pulling me into a hug, I hesitate briefly before slowly reaching my arms up and hug the detective back, he might forgive me for this and yet a swirl of guilt still pools in my gut. What if Barry doesn't forgive me?

       "I knew you wouldn't truly do that to us," he tells me, causing my lips to quirk up.

       "I'm going to keep her safe Joe. I'm not letting him hurt her," I whisper into his ear, breaking the hug all of a sudden, my face expressionless, "Barry's coming," I tell him, sensing how the Speed Force radiating from him approaches, "he can't see me here, I have to go; please don't say anything about this to him," I barely catch a glimpse of the detective nodding when I jump into the breach again, vanishing through it.

⚪⚪⚪

       Killer Frost is waiting for me when I arrive, I know I should have rushed into the old factory alongside Savitar and his hostage and my delay has caught her attention. She looks at me through squinted eyes, her arms crossed over her chest as she leans against one of the columns that miraculously keep this place from collapsing on our asses. I don't say a word, instead I scan the room and I spot Iris handcuffed to a table on the other side of the room and Savitar fixing his armour while I plummet to the nearest—and honestly the only—chair in the place, opening the bag in my hands and starting to pull its contents.

       "Where were you?" The woman asks bluntly and I look up at her unexpressive, she lifts her dark eyebrows, waiting for my answer.

       "Big Belly Burger?" I rise the bag in the air, "I have blood sugar issues. I'm sorry I have to eat during our evil master plan, but," I pause, taking a big bite from my burger on purpose, letting the ketchup stain my chin, "I get hungry like all the time and if I don't eat when I have to, I end up as limp as a noodle until I get some food in me and these past couple of days I've been living from scraps, so unless you have three dozens of IV fluids standing by, let me eat," I stuff some fries in my mouth and I see her grimace, which makes me internally smile, "damn it, not all of us eat an ice cube and are ready to go," she rolls her eyes and walks away.

       I have to admit that I've enjoyed pestering Killer Frost, it's the only fun part of all of this, she's the only distraction I have around here. I see her join Savitar next to the armour while I eat, both looking very focused on doing whatever the hell they do to that thing because I never see the difference of it being 'fixed'. He doesn't look like he cares about me arriving late, besides the food excuse works on him, he's got the same needs I do. However, the hamburger deal was actually more of an alibi than a need this time. I hurry to finish my meal and get back to business—low key regretting not having added a drink to my order.

       With the hamburger still stuck in my throat, I rise and shoot a furtive look at Iris before making my way to the scamps, grabbing a screwdriver, tossing and caching it effortlessly as if it was a throwing knife in the process. The girl meets my eyes and I see the detestation gleaming in her dark eyes, detestation hinted with defiance. Stone faced, I turn my attention back to the nefarious duo. I notice the look on Savitar's face as soon as he lays eyes on me, the tools in his hands are set aside and to my surprise—not really—he steps closer in that stout way of his, running his eyes all over me as a predator to its pray would.

       "Our ascendancy is nearing," he tells me, getting dangerously close, his hand reaching for my face, caressing my cheek before moving to a strand of my hair, "I need you to be ready for what's to come."

       "Naturally," now it's my turn to forget what personal space is; my chest is pressed against his while my arms wrap around his neck, my breath on his face, "what are we going to do now my god?" He seems surprised my choose of words.

       "We're going to Infantino Street," I feel his hands going down my hips, getting extremely close to my derrière, "I will ram a metal spear into that girl's heart, then, you will kill the rest of the Flash's lousy crew in front of him."

       "Sounds marvellous," my voice reproducing the smokiness in his own, "can I ask you something?" I cock an eyebrow, burying my fingers in his hair, tickling his skin with my fingernails, "you could've chosen any of them, why choose Iris?" He blinks.

       "Because no matter how many people comes into your life, you never forget your first love," he replies coldly; she's his first love; well that explains a lot, "now, Violett Hale, have you forgotten yours?" My heart skips a beat, my jaw tightening at his question. Of course I haven't. I feel a frown setting on my face, realization kicking in.

       "But, that means she was your first love as well. Are you sure you're doing this?" I look in to his eyes, searching for the slightest of hesitation but there's none. Instead, he pulls me closer.

       "To archive greatness. . ." he fades, looking down for a moment and then locking his void of emotion eyes with mine, "sometimes you have to move on from everything, even from your first love," he tells me, a wicked grin on his lips as I force one on mine while trying not to strangle him for rubbing my ass like that. He is deranged without a doubt, "I have," my fingers stop his lips from touching mine and my other hand grips at his wrist.

       "You might be the god of speed," I say, "but if you try to kiss me again or touch my ass without my permission, I'm gonna cut off your friend down there while you sleep, understand?" His eyes have certain perverse gleam.

       "I guess you're the boss in that department, I would like to see what you can do with that pretty—" the sound of one of the blades sheathing back into the suit interrupts him mid-sentence, the dalliance in his voice disappearing when we spot H.R. and Iris running away; with a quick glance at Killer Frost, he commands, "Get her."

       My mind starts running a mile per second and slip from his grasp, following the white haired woman through the maze of junk in the warehouse. What is he even doing here? He's going to get himself killed. They seem to be arguing about something, probably the fact that he's got to be crazy to come here on his own. My heart leaps within my chest when I see Killer Frost sending a freezing blast to the man, knocking him off his feet and causing him to collapse behind a bunch of plastic containers of some sort and the brunette eyes us warily.

       "Dropping uninvited is rude," I voice, pacing slowly to the man on the floor, giving his leg a gentle kick, "you've come to the lion's den, not your best decision."

       "Don't!" Iris bellows, "I'm the one you want, please, don't hurt him."

       "Fair enough," I shrug, locking glances with Frost, "tie her down, I'll take care of him," I hurry to grab H.R.'s arm and throw it around my shoulders, helping him up and speeding my way out of the factory where I know it's safe to talk, honestly the first thing I do is slapping his arm, "You really shouldn't be here!" I hiss quietly and he shoves me to a side, "The hell is wrong with you? I just saved your life!"

       "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you! You betrayed us!" He cries out and I see his eyes shimmering with tears.

       "What are you talking about? You know it wasn't real, didn't Cisco explain it to you?" I see his face flicker and my jaw drops, if I wasn't a speedster I wouldn't have noticed that little and rapid flicker across his face, I've seen that before with the transmogrifier tool from H.R.'s earth, "Except you're not H.R.," I mumble, "Iris, I can explain. Okay, so first Barry wouldn't let me save you because the Speed Force told him he had to be the one, but I was sent here to help, I'm helping all of you not to get killed by that psycho. I came up with the plan of joining Savitar's evil clan like he's been expecting me to after we discovered that he was in fact Barry and like future Barry said I could be one stepaheadfromthegodofspeedif I—"

      "Alright, stop," she shakes her head, "you're talking way too fast, I didn't get any of that; so you planned all of this?" I nod, feeling rather guilty when she crosses her arms over her chest.

       "I did. All I said was a lie, if I was going to make Savitar believe I was really betraying you it had to look real, especially for Barry," I tell her, slower this time, "I came up with the plan thanks to future Barry."

       "You did it with future Barry's help? You mean when you went to the future and he kept you prisoner?" I nod again and see her nod numbly, eyes squinted, "Alright. Who else knows about this?"

       "First was Cisco—who's better at explanations—then H.R. and Tracy. . .your dad and Wally. . ."

       "Everyone but me."

       "And Barry—" she's the one slapping my arm now, a soft "ow. . ." heaving on my lips.

       "That's for not telling me."

       "It had to look real and your reactions helped a lot," I sigh, placing my hands over her shoulders and coaxing for her to walk, "it's not safe here, if Savitar discovers H.R. took your place he's gonna lose it and you don't want to see that. Go somewhere safe until all this is over, I'll keep H.R. safe. Is the bazooka ready?"

       "Yeah, we got the Dominator's tech to get it running. What's you plan exactly?" I bite my lip.

       "It was actually stabbing Savitar with a blade I stole from him, sink it real deep into his neck through one of the openings of the suit, grab you and run you to a safe place and then return to fight him," I grimace, "yeah, it sounded better in my head; now I just have to grab H.R. and run him into safety instead—"

       "You don't have to, the bazooka will work," she assures me, "it's too dangerous anyway."

       "Then it will be our backup," I look over my shoulder to make sure nobody's following us, "don't tell Barry," with those words she slowly comes to a stop.

       "Oh my god, Barry's right," she utters, studying my face, "you go looking for danger even when there's a less dangerous way to do something. Vee, you could die out there, when Savitar learns you lied he's not going to hesitate, he'll kill you!"

       "I will have put up a hell of a fight by then, enough to wound him badly so you can finish him," her face contorts into despair as a soundless gasp leaves her lips.

       "Are you listening to me? You could die! There are another ways to do this, why to stick to the most dangerous one?"

       "Because it's our best bet," I snippet, growing impatient and annoyed, "I am your best bet and it doesn't matter if I die; I was sent here to help you defeat Savitar and that I'll do, I'm doing all this to keep all of you safe, alive and well," I stress, "this is what I do, I took an oath to protect all of you, this is my job," I gush, "why won't any of you just let me do it?"

       "Because we don't want to lose you!" She bellows.

       "Iris, this is what I do. I've said it a million times!" My voice rises, "It is my duty. I am a Guardian and we do dangerous things to keep the ones we're supposed to protect safe and sound and if I have to sacrifice my life for yours or anyone's in the team, then so be it!"

       "Violett. . ." she breathes, almost as if I had said the scariest thing ever as she shakes her head lightly, a mournful shadow crosses her face.

       "Then so be it," I repeat softly, "and not because I'm compelled to do it, that's is how I want it to be," she'll never understand the things I would do for them, "I can't let my friends die, I can't let any of you die, Iris, no matter what," the hopelessness on her face might as well be on mine; her questioning ceases and silence wraps us instead and I can't stand it, "Now, go, you're not safe here, we're putting an end to this tonight," she hesitates, faintly nodding before taking off in a quick pace when she's ready, the girl disguised as H.R. twirls suddenly, perking me up.

       "Sometimes you have to let yourself be saved, Vee," she utters in a wobbly voice, a pensive look set on her face, her cheeks and gleaming with tears, "all heroes need saving once in a while, think about it."

       And I see her disappear.

▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

iris is safe now and vee has a plan, but will she be able to save h.r.? i know the answer to that question because i already wrote that part, you'll have to be a little patient. and i'm so sorry for the lack of updates, my life equals hell rn.