To say that the day had been full of surprises would be a major understatement: Joe being kidnapped by a cyborg bowman hired by Frost Star, and doing a half good job of it unbeknownst to Team Flash, to Barry near being killed by the Negative Bomb on an abandoned cargo ship on the sea that the bowman used to trick and trap the speedster in, to Killer Frost returning after the bomb went off, and finally to the shocking revelation that Barry had survived the Negative Bomb, but was now a lot more different, and not in a good way!

Currently, Barry was still unconscious from the recent events with the bowman and laying in the medical lab in S.T.A.R. Labs on a Stretcher Bed, and Caitlin was there with him whilst Cisco had gone to "make a call" as he had put it, though to who he had called Caitlin had no idea. Though as Caitlin stood by his bedside checking his vitals and making sure he was okay, she couldn't help but think of everything that had gone on in such a short time since that bowman showed up, who they knew had to have been working with Frost Star...though must have gone rogue just as the gunslinger with the frozen bullets had done.

First of all: the bowman had kidnapped Joe, stolen his phone and left him for dead only for someone to bring the CCPD Detective to Central City Hospital, lured Barry to an abandoned cargo ship in the middle of the sea just outside of Central City in an attempt to trap and kill Barry with a bomb with some sort of dark purple energy, Killer Frost had somehow returned and they along with Cisco tried to take down the bowman when he reached shore...and to top everything off: Barry was in fact still alive and had survived the explosion on the ship, but he had become more violent than before and had to be stopped from killer the bowman by her and Frost, mostly Frost.

She was certainly overjoyed to have Killer Frost back and that Barry was still alive, because she didn't know what she would have had Barry not survived...or what Killer Frost would have done anyway...but she was worried as well over Barry, and the vitals scans that she had on her tablet didn't help either as they seemed to be unable to tell what was going on with Barry!

She checked his vitals and meta-human stats, and was shocked by what she saw: His vitals were spiking a lot and were way out of sync...plus when she analyzed the particulates of Barry's Speed powers: she was even more shocked to see that there were two different elements of Speed Force energy within him, though neither were working with one another and each seemed like they were trying to combat one-another for supremacy!

"Any change?" Caitlin heard behind her, causing her to jump a bit in surprise and clutch her chest where her heart is from that sudden scare by Cisco, who was the one who had asked her the question. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you Caity." Cisco apologized, which she merely waved off with her hand before waving him over to the computer screens in the room, which the scientist complied to.

"He's still sleeping. But in this case it's a good thing to let him sleep...Look at these." she said as she indicated to the screen, and Cisco looked at everything that was on the screens, and he was shocked by what he saw. "It's as if his powers are attempting to tear apart his body from the inside, and trying to fight each other." he began in a whisper, loud enough only for Caitlin to hear.

"Whatever that explosion did to Barry: it affected the Speed Force within him as well, and even every cell in his body!" Caitlin continued, worry evident in her voice. "Whatever this is that is affecting Barry or was done to him is literally trying to tear his body apart from the inside and turning him and his speed into a destructive weapon!" Cisco's hands went to the back of his head, concern also with him as well. "Then how do we help him?" he asked.

"We need to remove the new Speed Force within him." said another voice in the background, causing both meta-human best friends to turn around and look behind them, seeing, to their own surprise, that an all-too-familiar face, in a good way, of a certain Speedster was standing in the entrance to the room looking at them with concern.

"Jay!" they both said surprised, and the Earth 3 Speedster in question smiled a bit as he walked over to them and hugged them briefly. "We thought you had retired from being a Speedster after the whole nuclear bomb/Flash Time ordeal?" Caitlin began, to which the Speedster smiled a little bit and placed a hand on Cisco's shoulder.

"You can thank Cisco for calling me over. He contacted me and told me that something was wrong with Barry, so I decided to come out of retirement this once to come and help out." Jay explained, and Cisco smiled a little as he rubbed the top of his head. "I figured...calling someone else to come and help would be of use as well. And besides, who else knows more about Speed Force than Jay Garrick?" he explained, which Cait nodded to in understanding and agreement...even if they did in fact know a few people other than Jay who knew about the Speed Force more than them...

Jay's look soon turned a bit more serious and motioned to the screen with his head. "Show me what you've got." Both Caitlin and Cisco did so, and Caitlin explained everything that they had discovered from the results given and tests performed, and even told and showed him what had happened to Barry with their words and recordings they had retrieved.

Jay could tell that Caitlin was more concerned than normal, and could see her eyes wondering over towards Barry's unconscious form every-so-often. Garrick had seen the state Barry was in physically, as well as now literally inwardly, and this was concerning him a bit.

"So, what do you think? How bad is it?" Caitlin asked with a look that pleaded that it wasn't as serious as it looked. Jay sighed a bit as he continued to stare at the screen, lowering his head a bit as he briefly closed his eyes, rubbing his hand across his face before responding. "It's bad...and I know what that explosion was, though I really wish I didn't..." he began, causing the icy doctor and the breacher engineer to look over at Jay more concerned than they already were.

"What is it?" Cisco asked, and Jay slowly looked to them with a grim look on his face. "That explosion you showed me was caused by a Negative Bomb. Something I have heard of but never have seen in person, to which I'm thankful for." "A Negative Bomb?" both Cisco and Cait asked confused, neither liking the sound of that. "They were in production on Earth 3 as a means of defence against another Zoom after my capture, but the project was scrapped, and with good reason: because they didn't have the right energy source to use them. And only 1 Speedster that I know had the right energy to use to arm the bomb."

As Jay explained this, the two scientists in the room tried to figure out who could have possessed this power, before narrowing it down..."Thawne...Thawne had the right power source, didn't he?" Caitlin asked, and Jay nodded. "There were...rumors among other Speedsters I'd encountered that Reverse Flash had the power source, but it was always hard to prove until lately."

"Sooo...what is it that Thawne had that nobody else did?" Cisco asked, which Jay responded to as he pointed to the more chaotic Speed Force energies in Barry's system on the screen. "It's called the Negative Speed Force, a Speed Force that was created by Eobard Thawne by all of his negative emotions and all negative or destructive thoughts, that it creates something so impure, so dangerous, that it's deadly to anyone else who tries to use it whilst in control of the regular Speed Force!"

Jay soon pointed to each Speed Force energies on the monitor as he took out a S.T.A.R. Labs standard note pad and drew a small diagram to explain it to them. "The Speed Force and Negative Speed Force are polar opposites of each other, just as how the light and dark are different to each other, yet they are also similar in the sense that they grant a Speedster that has one or the other Speed Force energy within them their speed. The only difference is in what results occur depending on which you have."

Jay drew an example of both Speed Force's results and showed them to Cisco and Cait as he explained it more. "For example, we all know what a Speedster is capable of with just the normal Speed Force in their system: A Protective Aura that shields you from the drawbacks of your speed, Super Speed Healing, you name it...But with the Negative Speed Force it is the complete opposite of what you get with Speed Force!

"Imagine everything positive that the regular Speed Force can do, and the Negative Speed Force does what it does not: it creates a Destructive Aura instead of a protective one, that can destroy anything that comes into contact with it, like bullets or vehicles if a person should speed through one; it takes away any Speed Healing, and a number of other things as well!"

After hearing the explanation, and seeing the drawing of things being destroyed from the Negative Speed Force, Caitlin and Cisco became more concerned for their Speedster best friend, before Caitlin soon asked "If...If Barry has both of those Speed Forces within him though, the positive and the negative: what will happen to him?" Jay sighed at that, which filled them with dread at that alone before he spoke, before he responded with "Unless we remove one of the Speed Forces within him...then it will eat away at him from within until eventually it...kills him..."

"WHAT!?!" both Caitlin and Cisco shouted out shocked, both looking between the elder Speedster and their Speedster best friend in utter shock and disbelief...and all Jay could do was not his head with a grim expression to confirm what he just said. Truth be told he hadn't wanted to give them such bad news, especially since he had a great liking for them and Barry, but experience had taught him that it was never a good idea to hold information like this back.

"We should wait until he wakes up before speaking further. What should be said next should also be heard by Barry." Jay explained, and the others nodded slowly whilst Caitlin kept her gaze at Barry, all the whilst they tried to catch up in the process on recent events.

According to Jay: he had been training a student on Earth 3 who also had Speedster powers, her name was Meena Dhawan, a scientist just like Barry, and according to Jay she was doing incredibly well in such a short amount of time! Apparently she was doing so well that Jay had entrusted her to protect Earth 3 whilst he was helping Team Flash on Earth 1, though he did promise that one day he would introduce them to Meena.

As for what he was told from Cisco and Caitlin about what had occurred since he had last seen them during the Nuclear Bomb/Flash Time ordeal. He's was surprised when he heard everything, especially when he they mentioned Caitlin losing her powers and Killer Frost to Devoe on the same day Ralph was killed by said Meta-Human, though he was relieved to hear that both Ralph and Killer Frost were back alongside Caitlin's powers.

Though what shocked him the most was everything they explain about Frost Star, about said Speedster being the son of Savitar and Killer Frost from a Parallel World, about every ordeal they had gone through in the time since Frost Star arrived...but what surprised him even more was these 3 things:

1. Frost Star was technically the son of Barry and Caitlin, even if it had been their alter egos who had conceived him: 2. The fact that Barry and Iris's daughter from the future, Nora, had come back in time and helped defeat Devoe alongside Barry without him knowing: And finally 3. That Frost Star had trapped Nora within a Speed Force Prison more powerful than the one Savitar, Wally, Jay and Barry had all been trapped within, and the result had caused Iris to divorce Barry.

"Wow...I go away for a little while and all this happens?" Jay asked rhetorically. Cait had not left her gaze off of Barry much whilst her and Cisco explained everything, or if she did it wasn't for very long. Soon Barry began to shift and stir a bit, and immediately the three Meta's came over to him, Cisco and Caitlin repeating his name a few times and asking if he was okay...before Barry suddenly shot up into a sitting position and gasped heavily!

"Barry! It's okay, we're right here!" Caitlin shouted, though in an attempt to calm him down, which seemed to work as he looked towards her and began to pant and breath normally as he looked towards the three others in the room...though he was definitely surprised to see Jay.

"Cait...! Cisco...! J-Jay...!?" he managed to say as he caught his breath, and they all nodded...though with Caitlin and Cisco had sad smiles on their faces which unnerved Barry a bit. "It's been a while Flash." Jay said to Barry, and both Caitlin and Cisco helped Barry to sit up since he was still out of it a bit. Barry was able to form words once he was aware enough of his current surroundings.

"What...what happened to me? Last I remember was..." he then gasped as he looked to Caitlin with a look of shock. "Killer Frost...you got her back!" he said, and Cait managed a small nod before Frost's eyes briefly appeared, signaling that Frost had taken control for the time being.

"It's been some time, Flash." she said in a more echoed version of Caitlin's voice, before she returned control to Caitlin as the latter's eyes replaced Frosts. "But...how!?" was all Barry could say, and then the others went silent for a while. "Guys!?" he asked, this time more concerned than before. Jay was the first to break it to him, cautiously in fear of his reaction.

"Do you recall being caught in an explosion on the ship you were trapped on?" Barry nodded in response slowly as he closed his eyes to help remember the details fully. "Yeah, that uh...that archer trapped me in the bottom of the shop with a strange bomb. It went off and I was caught in an explosion of dark purple energy, and then...and then..."

The others didn't fail to notice his stumble in the explanation, or perhaps his hesitation in explaining. Caitlin slowly placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a gently squeeze. "It's okay, Barry. Take your time." Caitlin was aware in the irony in her choice of words, considering time was something Barry might not have with what was going on inside of him, but given how Barry was and the emotional trauma he already was in from before the Negative Bomb; well let's just say it felt like the right way to go right now.

Barry soon got on his feet though, though he was a bit shaky on his feet, and moved around the room with his hands on his head. "Oh god! What...What's happening to me!?!" The others become increasingly worried for their speedster friend now. "Barry...?" Cisco and Jay said cautiously yet quietly, but Barry didn't seem to hear them as dark purple lightning sparks started to coarse throughout his body...and then he suddenly screamed out scared before smashing his electrified fists into a nearby table, causing it to smashed into two, and causing Barry to fall on the floor and back up horrified and scared.

Caitlin quickly ran over to Barry's side, kneeling down next to her speedster crush and gently placed a hand on his, even despite his hands being buried into his now messy and scruffy hair. She also noticed him panting a little and a bead of sweat on his brow. Upon her hands slowly even brushing his hands alone, he instinctively looked towards her quickly, without using his speed, like a lost child looking at their long-lost mother.

Upon seeing the look on his face, Cait slowly sat down next to him as she did when she found him in the Time Vault and pulled him into a hug, laying his head on her shoulder and planting a comforting kiss on the top of his head, which took Barry and Cisco by surprise at that simple gesture.

"Shhhh. It's okay, Barry." Cait whispered to him without the others hearing, and Barry felt himself slowly relaxing out of the frightened state he was in. It was then that he began to think 'How is it that Cait is able to make me feel like this...?'

After some time, Barry had calmed down enough that Caitlin and Cisco were able to help move him to the stretcher bed again, before Jay, Caitlin and Cisco began to explain to Barry everything that Jay had explained to the others before Barry had woken up. To say that Barry didn't take it well was an understatement, but at least he was managing to control his reactions and his emotions better than he had not too long ago.

After a while, Barry was able to form a response through words, though his facial looks looked anything but positive right now. "So...my connection to the Speed Force is corrupted...and if we don't find a cure for it soon to remove one of the two Speed Forces from within me by a certain point...then...I will die, most certainly..." The others didn't know what to say at the moment, but Jay slowly nodded. Barry though seemed to be in thought though.

"Though...that does kind of explain it..." The others looked to him confused, causing Cisco to ask "Explain what Barry?" Barry slowly looked over, his face holding a serious yet thoughtful posture. "When I used my speed earlier when I went up against that archer...I...I don't know I...I felt myself getting easily tired, weaker and more exhausted than before. That's never happened to me before! The...The same thing happened not too long ago when I used my speed in frustration on that table."

This caused the three other meta's to have a concerned look. Jay was the first to speak. "That sounds like one of the first stages...easily getting tired from even the most simple of uses from the Speed." Barry rubbed his hands into his face briefly, before slowly asking. "So...what do we do now? I mean...I can't go out into the streets with my powers as they are now. You guys all saw it: if I use my speed powers for any reason at all I will cause destruction and/or damage!"

"Well then, it's a good thing that you've got us to help you out Barry." said a new yet easily very familiar voice as someone entered the Cortex...it was Wally! "Wally!?!" Barry said surprised, getting up as soon as he said those words. Wally smiled a bit and came over, before hugging Barry in a brotherly way. "I'm sorry about Nora, Barry..." Wally whispered to his fellow Speedster.

When the two parted from the brotherly hug, Barry immediately asked confused "But...how, when did you arrive!? How did you know!?" Wally managed a small and brief laugh before pointing to Cisco lazily. "Cisco called me, told me what had happened. And I just got here."

Cisco, Jay and Wally explained to Barry why they Wally was here, with Jay leading off for the trio: "When Cisco contacted me regarding your...condition, Barry; I suggested to Cisco that he find a way to contact another Speedster that has had close connection to you and that would be more than willing to help us in the event of a worst case scenario."

"So I contacted Wally..." Cisco continued, as he pointed to said Speedster with the thumb of his left hand. "...and I told him everything that had happened as well...within reason. I figured it was best not to tell him about...well, you know..." Barry nodded to that slowly as he looked to the three meta friends of his with his arms crossed across his chest. Wally was next to speak as both Barry and Caitlin listened, as Caitlin was equally as interested to hear this as Barry was.

"As soon as Cisco contacted me and told me everything: I knew I had to come back and help you out. I mean, you've helped me out in the past with my speed when we were dealing with Savitar, so I thought it was only right to return the favor for a friend. Plus, truth be told, I did miss being at S.T.A.R. Labs with you guys too." Caitlin and Cisco both smiled at that, as truth be told they had missed Kid Flash too. Barry nodded with a small smile in gratitude, not yet knowing what to say.

Wally's face then soon took on a more serious yet apologetic look, as said Speedster walked over to Barry and placed a hand on his shoulder for comfort as he spoke slowly. "And...I'm sorry about what happened to Nora...and what happened between you and Iris. I found out myself through Dad..." Barry breathed a sigh as he closed his eyes and looked to the ground, before pulling Wally into a hug, no words spoken by the Scarlet Speedster at all.

Wally, understanding the meaning for the hug, hugged Barry back as well, patting his hands on Barry's back as he did so.

Frost Star's personal observation:

I was standing in my cold little piece of "haven", if you could ever call it that, to me personally I thought of it as a place to get away from everything...but it was the farthest thing from haven to me...it was more like my own personal piece of "hell". And why was it hell, you're probably wondering? And even if you're not, I'll just tell you anyway because I can.

The reason for this being wasn't because of this Earth's version of my parents, even if my Dad was part of the problem, or the fact that I was trapped on a world that may as well have been foreign to me, it wasn't even the fact that I had to work with a load of trigger happy idiots minus 1 person who would just as easily turn on me if they were either paid enough to do so or got bored enough to try to assassinate their employer, aka me...

No...the reason to why I thought of this place as "hell", was because of two things: 1. Because I was forced to live out a wretched existence on a world that I barely recognized trying to ruin the life of a man that I hate with every fiber of my being, even if he's technically not the same as my real dad yet is at the same time...and 2, the other reason I considered this place as hell...was because every time that I was in this place, I was and am forced to replay the most painful of memories that are engraved into my brain that just will not leave me be!!!

And these memories, these...curses and plagues upon my mind...they never leave me alone when I'm in this infernal room: day, night, through sleep or through me being awake: despite the fact that I need to be here in the slim chance that she returns, I will always be forever cursed with the foul tricks that my memory forces me to go through every moment I am in here in, quite possibly, fates sick little idea of fun and games!

Memories of me being torn away from my mothers grasp when I was mere hours old before they dragged her away to Iron Heights Prison, even if I had no clue who "they" were at the time; memories of all the people who took turns to beat me to mere moments of breaking mentally or near death when I grew up because I was the son of a "criminal", of a meta-human, or because I was labelled as the "ice-cold freak"!

Hell, even memories of every person I had ever taken down, every person that I have killed in self-defense or willingly, without fear or remorse, regardless if I was a "hero" or a "villain", regardless if I knew the meaning of the words at the times or not...or, worst of all...every memory of me either fighting the Savitar of my world and nearly dying so many times, because I wasn't strong enough to stop him...or the one time I shot right in front of my mum as I broke her out of Iron Heights one time....

I still had ever single scar, every single physical and mental reminder of those times engraved into my memory...but you know what the worst part about it was? I actually enjoyed every moment of suffering the memories brought me! I enjoyed the fact that the memories made me want to fall into the depths of despair, or the fact that they drove me to a near hysterical screaming state almost all of the time when I was in this accursed room!

I ENJOYED it...and THAT was something that scared me. And yet at the same time, it fueled me: gave me the will to continue to fight on, to continue to go on with my plans to make 'dad' suffer for every terrible thing that he, on my Earth, let happen and, technically, made happen! And at least now, I didn't have to hold in that nightmare alone anymore...not since 'dad' absorbed the Negative Speed Force into his body!

Although I had no idea what he was doing, even though I could easily figure it out by hacking into S.T.A.R. Labs's security feeds, which is easy by the way even despite Felicity Smoak's "helpful advantages", I knew that Flash was going through a nightmare of, what I hope will be, a short existence. I knew that the two Speed Forces were literally tearing him apart from the inside...

All I can say now is: Good luck, Flash...because you're going to need it if you want to survive....

Author's Side-Note: With Jay and Wally now back, and the severity of Barry's condition has now been revealed! Now, in an attempt to help keep Barry's speed from causing damage to the city he cares about: Wally and Barry train to find a way to control the damage...but what will happen when Barry ends up staying at Caitlin's place for his safety: will the truth and hidden secrets be revealed....?