── ⚡ ──

"Flash missing. Vanishes in crisis," Cisco read out as Barry tightened his grip on Haylee's hand, her heart racing as she read the same sentence over and over again in her head. "The Glitch's identity was revealed as Haylee Allen due to her death in a crisis," Caitlin read out with a shaky voice as Jesse watched his sister closely. "After an epic street battle with The Reverse-Flash, our city's very own scarlet speedster disappeared in an explosion of light," Barry read out as Haylee took slow and steady breaths. "Barry, look at the date," Caitlin told him.

"April 25th, 2024. Guys, when I fought The Reverse-Flash at Christmas, he said that we'd be fighting for centuries," Barry explained to them. "Wait, you can't really think that this is from..." Caitlin trailed off as Jesse sighed. "The future, possibly," Jesse stated as he looked at Caitlin. "That would mean Dr Wells, or whoever he is, is also..." Cisco trailed off as Barry finished his sentence, "From the future." Haylee felt a pit in her stomach as she read the newspaper over and over, her grip on Barry's hand had tightened.

"I have to say, I'm really digging the brighter red suit," Cisco said. "And the white on the symbol. It's dope," Jesse added despite the slight glare from Caitlin. "Wait a second. Suppose we now change the colour of your suit. Will it be because we got the idea from this picture?" Cisco asked the others within the room. "That would mean we're living in a causal nexus," Jesse replied to Cisco, the two sharing a look. "This is trippy," Jesse stated with a breath. "Not as trippy as the name on the byline," Caitlin said as she looked at Jesse.

"Iris West-Brager?" Jesse read out, his heart rate picked up heavily at the knowledge that in the future he is married to Iris. "Not just that... Haylee Allen?" Cisco voiced pulling Haylee's attention from the newspaper to the others, Barry smiled at her as she turned the ring on her finger. "Hold on! When did that happen?" Caitlin asked with wide eyes once she noticed the ring. "Last night," Haylee answered with a fond smile on her face. "Mazel tov," Cisco said with a smile when suddenly something came to life. "Hebrew," An automated voice echoed through the room startling the five occupants.

"Ancient language of the Jewish people," The automated voice continued. "Uh-huh. What the hell was that?" Cisco asked with wide eyes. "Is someone here?" Caitlin asked next as she looked around but Haylee rested her hand on the wall. "Hello?" Barry questioned. "Good evening, Barry Allen," The automated voice greeted as a head formed. "H-Hi. You know who I am?" Barry asked as he looked at Haylee, the woman could feel the strange electric charge the room held. "Of course. Barry Allen, director of Central City Police, CSI Division," The automated voice answered.

"Director?" Barry questioned while Haylee smirked at him impressed. "I guess you get a promotion," Jesse said with a firm nod. "Also known as The Flash. Founding member of..." The automated voice trailed off as Barry spoke, "What are you?" They all listened while Haylee moved from the wall toward Barry again. "I am Gideon, an interactive artificial consciousness. An advanced version of Lavera AI," Gideon answered sparking Haylee's full interest. "You know Dr Wells?" Haylee questioned.

"Yes," Gideon answered. "Do you know who he really is?" Barry asked Gideon as he grabbed Haylee's hand and pulled her closer to him. "I don't understand the question," Gideon replied to Barry. "I... I mean, what is he doing here? W-why did he come here?" Barry inquired. "To kill you," Gideon answered causing everyone to freeze. Haylee's hand sparked as her eyes lit up blue, Barry noticed instantly and pulled her into his chest. "I'm right here," Barry whispered to her, running his fingers through her hair to calm her down.

"Wells is in the building," Cisco warned everyone after his phone vibrated. "What? How do you know that?" Caitlyn asked while trying his best to keep Haylee calm. "I put a tracker on his wheelchair. Which, if we're wrong about him and he is paralyzed, I'm going to hell for that one," Cisco explained before looking down at the phone. "He's in the Cortex," Cisco added. "Ask questions fast," Jesse warned Barry. "Why did he kill Nora Allen?" Barry asked. "Because he was angry," Gideon answered. "About what?" Barry asked. "That you escaped," Gideon replied.

"He's on B level. He's coming this way," Cisco warned while Haylee prepared to glitch them all out of there, nodding at Barry to assure him that she'll get them out. "What does he want from me?" Barry asked. "For you to be The Flash," Gideon answered while Haylee and Jesse shared a look. "What about me?" Haylee asked. "You would've died, he needed to save you," Gideon answered. Haylee looked down as she took in that information. "Maybe that's why Wells let the particle accelerator explode so that you could become The Flash," Caitlin expressed.

"Why? I mean, for what reason?" Barry asked with an anxious look. "Guys, we got to go. He's almost here," Cisco warned feeling slightly panicked. "Alright," Barry spoke before Haylee's eyes began to glow as she prepared to glitch them out. "Wait," Cisco spoke gaining the group's attention. "What if HAL over there tells Wells that we were in here?" Cisco asked while Caitlin and Jesse looked at each other. "That would be bad," Caitlin added. "If I can get into its operating system, maybe I can disable its memory core," Cisco explained.

"Gideon, can you show us where your operating system is?" Barry asked the AI. "Certainly," Gideon replied before showing the operating system, the design felt familiar to Haylee and Jesse. "Yeah. Nope. That's not gonna happen," Cisco spoke up as he turned away from the holographic AI. "Maybe you don't need to worry about that," Jesse told the others before looking up at Barry. "Yeah, Jesse's right," Haylee added with a nod. "Guys, he's in the corridor," Caitlin told the group as she looked down at Cisco's phone.

"Gideon, could you just, like, not tell him we were here?" Barry asked as he kept his eyes on Haylee, she nodded at him. "Of course. I will accept any command given to me by you," Gideon replied which confirmed Haylee's thinking. "You made Gideon... An advanced tech of Lavera, an AI that Jesse, Cisco and I created. She'd answer to you," Haylee explained to Barry who smiled softly at his fiance. "Mrs Allen is correct. You created me," Gideon added while Haylee bit her lip, she really liked how that sounded and so did Barry. Haylee focused on everyone's energy and glitched them out of the room right before Wells headed in.

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"Really?" Joe asked after the five adults explained what they had found in Star Labs and the information they had learned; excluding a few minor details. "For five very smart people, that was really stupid," Joe scolded. "What if Wells had caught you in that..." Joe trailed off as he held out his hand motioning for the right term. "Time vault," Cisco answered back. "Thank you," Joe told him as Haylee leaned into Barry's side, she looked up at him knowing how this was affecting him more than the rest.

"Okay, I know we've seen a lot this past year, but time travel?" Eddie questioned making the Brager siblings laugh quietly. "We've kinda already been on this topic," Jesse explained to Eddie who looked from Jesse to Barry with a raised brow, Haylee nodding at him. "One of the two speedsters in Barry's house the night his mother died was Barry. I mean, The Flash. He was there," Cisco explained to Eddie while Haylee grabbed Barry's hand in her own, she squeezed in reassurance gaining a smile and kiss on the head from him.

"Which means that one day in the future, Barry will travel back in time to that night," Cisco finished off explaining to Eddie. "Okay," Eddie replied but Barry shook his head. "Actually, I wasn't talking about that," Barry stated with a sigh, he stood up straight and pulled Haylee along with him as he walked closer to the others within the living room. "I kind of already time travelled. By accident," Barry told the others. "What?" Joe questioned, Haylee let out a slow breath. "I was running trying to stop a tsunami from hitting the city--" Barry was cut off.

"When was that?" Caitlin asked. "A few weeks ago," Barry answered while Haylee ran her free hand through her hair. "Before my coma... This confirms my theory that whatever happened in that timeline affected me in this timeline," Haylee explained as she looked at Barry, he looked down before looking at Cisco. "And right before you started getting those dreams," Barry said to Cisco specifically. "Oh, you mean the ones where Wells uses his super-speeding hand--" Cisco was cut off by Haylee, "--to kill me. After I glitched you to the side, saving you."

Everyone went quiet at the words, Cisco's face paled slightly at the realisation that he had been having dreams about the previous timeline. "So, what if they're not dreams?" Jesse asked openly after the silence became too much. "What else could they be?" Caitlin asked. "Memories," Barry and Haylee said in unison. "I'm not following," Joe spoke up from where he was now seated. "All right, what if, that day, Cisco and Haylee found out that Wells is The Reverse-Flash, and then Wells tried to kill him but Haylee saved him?" Barry inquired.

"But when I ran back a day, I changed the timeline so that event never happened," Barry finished off as Haylee nodded. "And my abilities are heavily affected by energy, especially the speed force that runs through Flash and Reverse-Flash. Maybe the timeline alter saved me but that foreign energy of another timeline affected me like a parasite that was feeding off of my power; therefore, I needed time to fight it off," Haylee explained, the others all watching her in worry as she let out a breath and looked at Cisco.

"Wait. If the event never happened, how can Cisco remember it?" Joe asked, he didn't want to think about Haylee being dead even in a heroic way. "I don't know," Barry replied while Jesse shrugged and smirked at Cisco. "I mean, you were inside Star Labs when the particle accelerator exploded. How do we know if it did or didn't affect you? Maybe it's only beginning to take effect now?" Jesse inquired with a shrug while Haylee nodded in agreement. "Jesse's right," Haylee said before sighing, "It took some time after the explosion before my powers showed."

"So anyone could have been affected by the explosion but signs don't have to show straight away for them to be meta?" Eddie asked as he ran his hand down his face. "Pretty much. This means that there could be more Meta's out there that haven't shown any signs yet," Jesse answered Eddie before sitting down on the couch. Haylee looked up at Barry with a worried expression. Joe looked at the couple with a frown of his own, he wished that they could just live normal happy lives instead of this chaos. "Guys, I think I've got a really bad idea," Barry said after a beat of silence.

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Author Note
Every time I try to compress the number of chapters left, I always end up with more than less. With that being said, there are still many chapters for this book to go but I will be releasing most of them together in batches.

Also, I started working on Wednesday the 17th of August which slowed down my writing significantly, so please be patient with me. Unless you are reading this book completed then most of the Author Note's don't affect you.

Rosemary <3
[ 2012 ]