— 𝐵 —

"𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍."

Barry panted as he straightened up. He grit his teeth.

Learning how to throw lightning was just as hard as it sounded—harder, even. And the fact that there was a ticking clock was no help, either. And the more he failed, the more discouraged he became.

Barry took off his mask as he turned to face Jay. "I've been doing this for an hour. It's not working."

"It's because you're trying to rush it," Jay said coolly, his arms crossed. "This is the one time you need to slow down. Let the energy pass over you, then simply direct it to where you want it to go."

"All right, Jay," Barry said in frustration. "I don't know if I'm gonna get this in time."

"You'll get it. I believe in you."

"The last person that helped me like this was a man that I looked up to. Idolized," Barry admitted. "He taught me how to get faster, how to get stronger, how to use my powers to save people. That same man murdered my mother."

Jay took a few steps closer to him. "It's a tough break, but I'm not him."

He pursed his lips. "Yeah."

"I know where they are!"

Barry turned to see Sophia and Cisco rushing toward him.

"The abandoned Woodrue grow house," Cisco continued, a little out of breath as they skidded to a halt. "That's where Slick's keeping Patty."

"Dude, great job," Barry sighed in relief, giving Cisco a hug. He wasn't sure how he knew this, nor did he care. As long as he knew.

"And I was thinking," Cisco continued, "if I were Sand Demon and I were attacking a speedster on two fronts, I would probably want to slow you down, like, by using a concussive bomb or something like that."

"That's a good thought," Jay remarked. "He's actually used one on me before. His body absorbs the blast so it doesn't affect him." He looked at Barry and shrugged. "Well, kid, gonna have to think of something."

"You know what?" Barry narrowed his eyes, putting his hands on his hips. "What if we give Slick a diversion? He knows you, right? You said you went up against him."

"Yeah, but, Barry, I don't have my speed."

"He doesn't know that," Barry pointed out. "You got your suit?"

"Sure. Well, except my helmet."

"Silver kettle helmet?" Sophia asked, her eyebrows raised. "Gold wings?"

Jay's eyes widened. "Don't tell me you guys found it."

Cisco gestured for them to follow him.

"So," murmured Sophia, falling back to walk in step with Barry as Jay hurried forward. "How's the training going?"

"Not good." He sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "I only hit the dummy once. I tried six times."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," she patted his back, though her tone didn't seem to be as sure as her words.

When they reached the Cortex, Cisco prompted Caitlin to get "That weird helmet with the Red Bull wings on the sides," which she almost instantly understood.

As she handed it to Jay, he murmured, "Never thought I'd see that again." Jay turned to face the group, now joined by Joe, and stared at his helmet. "It was my father's, from the war of the Americas."

"Did you just say war of the Americas?" questioned Cisco.

"I wish you would have just told us you lost your helmet," Barry pointed out while Caitlin took the helmet from Jay's hands and placed it on his head. "Would have saved us all a headache."

Jay adjusted his helmet before looking up at them. If Barry didn't have that lingering feeling of distrust in him, he would've said that Jay looked cool. But he did have that feeling, so he would never say that.

Still, there was something about seeing Jay more in his element. He could see the feeling on his face as he gazed at his helmet. It was the same feeling Barry got when he looked at his suit: pride. 

Barry quirked an eyebrow. "Well, sure you want to do this, Flash?"

"Yeah. Let's go see what you're made of . . . Flash."

— 𝐵 —

"I'm in the security feed. Go, Barry!"

With Cisco's approval, Barry sped into the abandoned house, choosing to stop behind a metal shelf. He knew the wind that followed him would tip Sand Demon off—but he wasn't expecting two speedsters, anyway.

Barry peeked out from where he was. Sand Demon had his back turned toward him, and he was standing in front of Patty, who was tied to a chair.

"Is that you, Flash?" Sand Demon turned around, where Jay was waiting a few feet away. "Found your way here."

Jay raised his head, and confusion immediately appeared on Sand Demon's face  upon the reveal. "I came quite a distance."

"I thought you were dead."

"You were wrong. Like usual." Jay took a few steps forward. "Let the girl go."

"Have at it," exclaimed Sand Demon, walking toward him. "But you touch her, she goes boom. And I think even you aren't fast enough to save her."

When Sand Demon got close enough, Jay took a few swings at him, though the other man managed to dodge them all.

"Quite a bit slower on this Earth, aren't you, Flash?"

Jay punched him square in the jaw, and his face melted into sand before swiftly reforming. Sand flew as Sand Demon landed a few punches on Jay, who took them all with a grunt.

Sand Demon grabbed Jay's jacket by the shoulder and lifted him. "You don't have your speed, do you?"

"Slick's distracted,' said Sophia in his ear. "Go, Barry!"

Barry sped off toward Patty, whose eyes were focused on the fight happening a few feet in front of her. He rounded to the back of her chair, noting the bomb that was strapped to the bottom of the chair—the concussive bomb that Cisco had mentioned earlier. There was no way of freeing her without setting that bomb off. He just had to get her out of there fast enough.

He untied the ropes and grabbed her shoulders. He had only managed to get a few feet away until his heart lurched and his feet were off the ground. He tried to keep his grip tight on Patty as they flew through the air, but her shirt slipped from his grasp and he fell to the ground.

He groaned as his head hit the cement. That was one hell of a bomb.

Patty was on the ground beside him, unmoving. He hurried over to her and checked her pulse—it was faint, but it was there.

"Patty's alive," he said into his earpiece.

"Must be my lucky day," Sand Demon called out, and Barry looked over to see him standing in the middle of the room, his arms spread out. Jay was behind him, slowly getting to his feet. "Zoom sent me here to kill you. Now, I get to kill The Flash from two worlds before I go home."

He stuck his arm out backward, and it quickly turned to sand as it shot out toward Jay. It wrapped around his neck and was relentless despite Jay beating against it with his fist.

"He's choking Jay!" came Caitlin's voice.

"Barry," said Iris, "you gotta do something now."

This was it. He had to throw lightning.

He drew a deep breath. He wasn't sure he could even do it. But he had to try—there were no options left.

Jay knew what he was thinking, and gave him a reassuring nod. Barry nodded back.

He pushed back all the negative thoughts that rushed into his mind. He tried his best to not think about how he had hardly succeeded in doing this when he was training. He had to focus on here and now. People's lives were at stake.

He began to speed around Sand Demon and Jay, accelerating faster and faster with each step. The wind whistled in his ears and his heart pounded more and more, and he continued running.

Sand Demon let Jay go, spinning in circles as he tried to follow Barry with his eyes. "Come on!"

Barry had to go faster. Faster. Faster.

Now.

He slowed down just in front of Sand Demon, channeling all the lightning that was pumping through him into his hand. He had to get this right. He had to aim perfectly.

He let out a yell as he threw the lightning.

It hit Sand Demon square in the chest. He flew back, turning into sand, and then clay. And as he reached the ground, he shattered.

Barry panted as he stared at the remains. He had done it.

Jay groaned as he got to hit feet.

"You okay?" Barry asked as he walked toward him.

"Yeah. I'm okay," Jay reassured him before analyzing the Sand Demon's pieces. "Nice shot, kid."

— 𝐵 —

"You're sure you're okay?"

Barry chuckled as Sophia cupped his cheeks. "For the millionth time, I'm fine, Snowpea."

"You're laughing like this is funny." She glared at him, and he tried his best to pull a straight face, though that only earned him a slap to the arm. "That blast must've been strong. It's a miracle Patty's okay."

"I'm fine," he reassured her, leaning forward and kissing the tip of her nose. "And starving. You wanna get Chinese?"

She pursed her lips, and then shrugged after a moment. "Yeah."

"Okay." His eyes shifted over to the Med Lab, where Caitlin was fixing Jay up. He had taken a lot more hits than Barry today—and he didn't even have his accelerated healing to help him.

He frowned. Admittedly, he had gotten a bit dramatic over Jay. He was just trying to play defensive—they didn't have a good record with strangers—but it turned out, he had been wrong. It seemed like Jay really was there to help.

Which meant Barry owed him an apology.

"You should go talk to him," Sophia murmured, following his gaze. "He helped you a lot today."

"He did," Barry sighed. "Yeah, I'll talk to him. You gonna stay here?"

"No." A strange expression came over her face—one that was a mixture of worry and wariness. "I need to talk to Cisco. Just meet me outside the workshop."

He wasn't sure what that was about, but he'd have to ask her later. He kissed the top of her head. "Got it."

She walked away, and Barry sighed. It was time to suck up his pride.

As he walked toward the Med Lab, he was there just in time to hear Caitlin say:

"And, speed or no speed, in my book you were still a hero today. I'm just sorry we didn't all realize it a little bit sooner."

Barry raised a guilty hand as he entered the room. "Especially me."

Caitlin smiled. "I'll leave you two speedsters alone."

"So," Jay began after Caitlin left the room, "I hear they call you 'the Scarlet Speedster.'"

"Yeah." Barry chuckled. He wasn't too fond of that name. "What about you?"

"'The Crimson Comet.'"

Barry hummed, scrunching his nose as he laid his jacket on the metal shelf beside him. Both of these names sucked.

"What is it with alliteration and nicknames?" Jay chuckled.

Barry laughed softly as he took a seat on the bed. "Hey, look, Jay, um . . ." A few hours ago, he'd never even dream of having a normal conversation with Jay, much less thank him. But things changed. "So, thank you for all your help. And for being so patient with me."

"Nah, anytime, kid." Jay shrugged, his hands on his hips. "You're a quick study. Took me a lot longer to learn how to toss lightning, believe me."

"Then I suppose I had the right teacher."

Jay frowned. "It's going to be a lot harder to take down Zoom."

Zoom. He had heard that name so much—yet he hardly had any clue about who he was. All he knew is that he wanted Barry dead, for whatever reason. "Who is this guy?"

"No one knows." Jay shook his head, sitting on the edge of the desk. "He showed up around the same time as when I got my powers. Killed a lot of people in my world. I spent about two years tracking him down. But he was too smart, too quick—he's always one step ahead."

"You really think he's just bringing these guys here to kill me?"

"Zoom is obsessed with destroying me." Jay nodded. "Now he wants to destroy you."

"Yeah," Barry muttered.

"He needs to be the best. And he will do whatever it takes to ensure he's the only speedster. In any world."

— 𝑆 —

Cisco's back was facing Sophia as she entered the workshop. He was staring at the computer screen, which showed a rendering image.

He didn't seem to notice as she walked up behind him, and her eyebrows furrowed as she noticed that he was biting his nail—he only did that when he was worried about something.

"Any progress with the electrophotography?" she asked.

Startled, he put his hands on the keyboard—he didn't want her to see him doing his usual nervous tick. "The satellite picture of the city's still rendering."

"Well, then, while we wait" —she sat on the edge of the desk— "what's going on with you?"

"What? Nothing," he said, a little too quickly.

"Two hunches in one day," she pointed out. "Slick's hideout, and the concussive bomb. I don't need to be a genius to know that that's next to impossible, Cisco."

The tough expression that he had been putting on quickly broke. "Something's happening to me," he whispered to her. "I'm starting to perceive things—horrible things. It started after Wells killed me in the other timeline. It came back when Atom Smasher attacked on Flash Day, and then again when Sand Demon showed up. I get a vibe, and then a vision of something that's already happened, and then it's gone. That's how I knew where Slick was."

Sophia chewed on her lower lip. She had a feeling it was something bad that was going on—but never had she thought that Cisco had powers. She wasn't sure how the alternate timeline had anything to do with it—maybe Wells killing him had awoken something in his brain.

Whatever the why was didn't matter. It only mattered that it was happening.

"I'm seeing things I don't want to see," Cisco continued, his voice cracking. "And knowing things I don't want to know. I just want it to stop."

She took his hand and squeezed it. Her power, Barry's power—they were almost like gifts. Who wouldn't want intelligence or super-speed? But Cisco clearly had no control over what he was seeing—and she was sure he had seen some things he would never want to speak out loud.

"What do you want to do about it?" she asked softly. "I'm sure Stein or Caitlin—"

"No, no, no." He shook his head. "I don't want anyone to know about this. Not yet."

"It's okay to be afraid, you know."

"Wells told me this was my future. That he gave me this power. But everything he did was evil." His eyes lowered to the desk before turning back to her, pleading. "That's what scares me, Soph. You have to promise me you won't tell anyone about this."

She squeezed his hand again. "I promise."