Barry's POV:

The Bat Cave. Never gets old in whichever earth, whichever corner of the multiverse, whichever timeline.

Here it's a little different. It is a large stone room that has a bronze light shining throughout the room. As you enter a little bit inside you could find long lights hanging down from the ceiling, that give off the gold radiance. The Bat Cave here too like any other I have seen is the basement of the manor with Alfred and his constructed machines to be fitted into the room.

How can one say it's Alfred's design? Well, it has his classic watermark.

The entry here is through something they call a zeta tube only.

Following the wall directly to the side of the tube is a staircase that leads to a large computer, with a keyboard extending outward from it. Above the computer there are large railings that surround the entire room. They hold large tubes with different chemicals and heating systems as well as vents. The basic structure of the room is across the tube which is an array of large shelves stocked with a variety of items.

There is another room behind the shelves, which is quite dark to see through clearly. With the design and secretive placement it appears to be an invention room. The room appeared to be dark from inside and since not being allowed by Bruce to check the room, it's assumed that the room is rarely used.

Batman calls for Alfred. Alfred approaches with his hands folded behind and walking in a typical military designed suit.

As soon as he looks at me he stutters.

Never seen a stuttering Alfred before to be honest.

Ever.

What exactly has happened here, on this Earth?

I smile as I try to make Alfred comfortable. Bruce gives a stern look as to remind Alfred to leave and to behave normally.

"What happened here Bruce? Why did Alfred behave in such a manner? As if he never expected to see me? Just tell me one thing. Your Flash also looks like me right? Assuming you look the same as mine Bruce Wayne, I think he must be the same. Isn't that right?"

Bruce does not respond.

"Bruce? Okay I may not be your Flash, but I am a Flash. You could trust me?"

Batman's POV:

"Flash," you died, but Bruce didn't say that. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to tell Flash the truth, or if he even should tell him the truth at all. He didn't know if it would ruin things or if it would create an irreversible paradox. To reply, Batman avoided Flash's gaze and turned his back to the array of shelves. "I think we should focus on the mission at hand. So focus." The last words of his speech were bitter and hard.

Bruce went to the stocked shelves and began to hastily pull different bottles and packages down from them. None of it was anything complex. It was just a few bottles of painkillers along with some bandages and hydrogen peroxide.

Bruce could tell Flash was staring at him in suspicion. There was a strange sense of eagerness that hung in the air, a certain urge to please. Bruce faced Flash again, looking into his eyes. He swallowed as Flash spoke.

"You are not sure? Bruce, I am the Flash of mine Earth and yes I am good enough that you could trust me."

Bruce lowered his shoulders back and tilted his head at Flash. His jaw was clenched as he remembered all of the blood from the scene. All of the tragedy that ripped his heart in two. He suddenly broke eye contact to gather his thoughts into a cohesive stream. He didn't want to tell Flash anything, whether he could be trusted or not. He didn't want Flash to see the monster that slept inside of him. He didn't want Flash to be pushed away. He didn't want anything bad to happen to this Flash.

He could only hide so many emotions behind his dark mask.

Bruce snapped his fingers and a table rose from the ground. He set the supplies on the table and stared at them when he lowered his voice for Flash.

"No one can be trusted."

Barry's POV:

Why is he behaving like this?

"You don't have to behave like this Bruce. If you want to help me. If we want to help each other then we need to trust each other."

I place my hand on his shoulder.

"What happened here Bruce?" I try my luck once again.

Batman's POV:

Bruce didn't want to let his guard down, but he felt a weight inside of his chest pull him down to the floor onto his knees. He was too tired to resist it. He was too tired to fight anymore. He felt weak as his stare focused on a gray tile. It was as if all of his strength was being torn from him the harder he stared at the floor.

And so Bruce gave up, while continuing to stare emptily.

"Well," he scoffed. What was he doing? He could just get Flash home. He didn't need these emotions running wild in his head and in the expressions on his face. He cleared his throat again and saw that Flash lowered himself onto the ground with him.

Bruce started again.

"This past year has been full of minor robberies and fires, just little stuff that we didn't pay much attention to. So we sent two members of our Young Justice team to go and investigate. Soon they went missing and we got a note from the burglars that confirmed our lingering suspicions that proved a larger force was planning something. They called themselves, the Complex of Heaven. They set a trap and led us to an abandoned war base where we fought and fought with all we had... " Bruce managed to stand up and faced the table. "You can see the results. The damage. But we have her." Bruce motioned to a clear case that held a young girl. "She's the monster of it all."

Flash was about to ask about the girl, but Bruce held up a hand to stop him. Bruce motioned Barry to come to the table with him.

Barry's POV:

Okay, that's interesting.

"So basically Bruce, your earth is just like mine but kind of a reflection. On my earth there was a certain manipulation going on in the background, an unfortunate accident caused the government to pass on The Superhuman-Vigilante act which was a direct voice from all the globe. They wanted it so that the heroes needed to get permission from the government first and then carry out any mission. This divided the heroes and the villain community, even amongst themselves. Even though it was someone else's play who orchestrated the whole event. But still. Now don't you think your earth, it's like a reflection to that of ours or rather like an echo? Which starts exactly the same way like that of ours but slight modifications are added to it once it reaches the end. So I think I would name your earth as Earth-Echo?"

Bruce froze in astonishment. "I told you all that, and you just came up for a name for my world?"

Flash shrugged his shoulders and gave his witty grin.

Bruce grunted. "Well that's a stupid and childish name," but he paused and almost gave a smirk, trying to watch for Barry's reaction, "but I guess it suits you doesn't it? Let's call it that then."

Batman's POV:

Bruce grabbed the peroxide and began to clean the wounds on Flash's arm. There were multiple open gashes that were somewhat healed. There were also scratches that were starting to have bruises form around them. Bruce wondered how he got all of these injuries. He glanced up and saw Flash wince at the stings, but continued rather forcefully, bandaging any wounds he saw. Bruce was surprised that Flash wasn't in more pain.

Soon there was a long, and strange quiet pause between them. Flash looked uncomfortable standing in the silence, but Bruce stood calm, fixated on the wounds.

"Hey, can I ask you something? Are you dating Selena Kyle too? Or is there any chance that you have sweet little and pretty tough kids with her here too? You know, just asking?"

Barry smiles with a wink.

Bruce scoffed and released Flash's arm.

"I guess you never change, no matter what world you're in."

"Nah. Barry Allen can never change. You know Bruce, we've undergone the same tragedy when we were young. But no matter what. No matter where. Barry Allen and Bruce Wayne can never change."

Barry changes his expression and places his right arm on Bruce's shoulder.

"Listen, as much as I can stand here talking to you, I know you have to leave and get back to your world. I'm sure they want you back." Bruce's thoughts wandered, but you'll never get him back. Bruce hid the affliction in his eyes by gathering the medical supplies and putting them back on the shelves.

"Yeah. It's very important that I reach it soon. It would be very difficult for Bart and Legends to face him. Given how much he has improved his speed and tactics."

"I have a few ideas of how to get you back, but they may involve some effort." Bruce gestured for Flash to follow and so the two went into the darkened inventions room.

"Thank you, Bruce." Barry speaks as he follows Bruce.

"Hey, wait. Take this." The two stopped.

Barry hands a small chip to Bruce.

"I know you must be thinking, what is this? This is an interdimensional contactor. Whenever you need me, you just have to press the center button and I will be there to help you. I know I may not be able to help lessen your pain and conflicts going on here. Whether it's about the world or your inner conflict, but maybe as a friend I could do something which you might feel I am capable of doing for you."

Bruce stared at the chip in his gloved hand. It was so fragile and delicate. How strange this all was. He'd opened up more to this Flash more than he had to Alfred or anyone else that existed. But he supposed that courage and heroism came from the strangest of places. Bruce looked back at Flash, and pulled off his mask.

"Thank you."

"It's okay." Barry smiles as he puts his hand back behind and other hand nursing his back hair. He was never used to such sentimental talk with anyone. Especially not Bruce Wayne.

"So what's the plan exactly, Bruce? Due to my regenerative cells and faster healing ability, I think I may have reached about seventy to eighty percent of my speed. So is this idea of yours anything related to about speed?"

"I'll get to that later, but for now let me explain." Bruce motioned for Flash to follow as he flicked a nearby switch on the wall.

The dark room that Batman led Flash into began to flood with the same golden light, revealing a multitude of objects under tarps and cords littered on the floor. It was quite a large room for such a chaotic use of space.

The room was related to the first, however instead of computers and shelves aligning the walls, there were just large, grey metal boxes that had cords running from them to the masses under the tarps. Above them, was a massive red platform that extended from the wall across from them. A ladder led up to desks on the platform and on them you could see that the desks were scattered with papers. A hollow, circular machine stood next to the desks, tall enough to create a shadow over the objects.

Batman cleared his throat. "This is my invention room. I haven't been here in years."

"Okay... but what does it have to do with me returning back to my universe and specific time?"

Bruce pointed to the machine on the platform. "See that circle over there?"

"Aha."

"That's how we're going to get you back." Bruce ascended the ladder and began to approach the grey metal. He put a hand on it and opened a hatch. Clearly visible, was an array of multi colored wires that criss-crossed over one another that connected to a bronze square in the center.

"I don't know if you have a Mister Mxyzptlk in your world, but he was one of Superman's enemies long ago. Before we got rid of him we took some of his technology, hoping that we could use it to travel more effectively across the world. This was before zeta tubes."

Bruce pointed at the chip.

"I started building this machine using that metal as power, because Mxyzptlk had time traveling capabilities with his powers. Though, no matter what I tried, the machine wouldn't work."

"And like a true Batman. You made it work?"

"For a split second." Batman shrugged his shoulders, he knew he should've gotten it working. He continued his thoughts. "Once powered, the metal should give off an electrical field that tampers with the time stream. This should open a rift for you to travel back."

"Okay even if it is able to create a rift for me to travel through, it still ensures that I get the access to the time stream. But given how the quantum is related to this we might need to boost its power to help me by giving some time for me to focus on that particular time and universe."

"I suppose I haven't considered that. There should be enough power from the metal to make the whole machine work. Maybe you could try fixing the connection?" Bruce gestured for Flash to take over.

Barry's POV:

I look at the connections thoroughly. I know every Bruce Wayne is supposed to be genius but this one is surely unique. He not only understood the usage of that enemy of Clark but also manipulated it to his own desire.

The connections seem to be right just increasing the thermal resistance of the machine should enable it to be stable. Given the heat generated when I run and the friction between the machines rotation and my speed it should be able to withstand it with the given increase or rather boost in thermal energy.

Bruce stared at Barry's work while keeping his arms folded. "I'm hoping that the metal will give enough power to open the stream, but the question is knowing, or rather having enough power to shift the stream to the right time so that you go back to the correct world."

"Exactly. That's why I changed the thermal resistance here. Even though I travel between universe or time with my speed only but this machine could do something which I could never achieve."

Batman's POV:

"I see. So increasing the thermal resistance will give you enough stability to find the right time stream to get back to and then you can use your remaining kinetic energy you have as an extra power boost."

"Okay, so when we put the machines thermal resistance at full capacity and combine this with my kinetic energy. I think I could go exactly where I want to with no repercussions to either your earth or the speed force."

Instantly, the machine hummed to life and in the center of the blank space of, a large opening appeared. A purple light poured from the rift and overpowered the light in the room. The furniture began to shake and the lights began to swing violently back and forth before flickering black. Somehow a gust of wind blew the paper from the desk everywhere. Batman raised his arm over his face as protection.

Bruce gritted his teeth and yelled over the roaring wind. "Go now, Flash! It can't stay open forever!"

Barry starts running at his full pace. His body focused in an upright position and hand besides his waist.

Bruce looked over his arm to see Flash vibrating his arms and legs. All he could see was a blurring figure, but somehow he knew Flash was looking back at him and so Bruce nodded as if to somehow show acceptance for his help and for his perceptions.

The blurring image of Flash disappeared into the void and the machine began to smoke and rumble. The light vanished and everything went still. Just darkness remained in the room as Bruce breathed heavily from the rush of adrenaline. Bruce let out a sigh as he crouched.

"What a hell of a guy."

Barry's POV:

You are one hell of a man Bruce. The world thinks Clark is an alien. But they miss something which only we know. It's you who is an alien. So much knowledge, so much eagerness and compassion to help people even after going through some of the worst things in your life. You were my role model when I joined the League, Bruce. The person whom I could look after every time I felt that I was going to fail. I know I can't stay here for long. But I remember this place now. I will always remember this place. I know I cannot help you with what you are going through now, but I promise we will meet soon.