— 𝐵 —

"𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘'𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 get on my nerves."

Barry glanced back at Cisco, who had just entered the Cortex.

Beside him, Caitlin, who had been chewing on her nail, pointed at the computer. "The silent alarm just went off at the Bank of Central City."

Barry looked over at the screen. "That's gotta be Dr. Light."

"Could be a trap," Cisco pointed out as Barry hurried around the desk.

"Barry, trust me," said Jay, "Dr. Light is not a killer. You can talk to her."

"Okay." He nodded.

With a swift change into his suit, Barry sped down to the bank. He stopped, just beside a tall stack of bills. Sure enough, Dr. Light was only a few feet away.

"Looking for this?" Barry called, leaning against the money. When she turned to him, he continued, "I know Zoom sent you here to kill me. Good news—you don't have to do that."

"Not if I can get out of town with that cash," she agreed.

"And then what?" he questioned, taking a couple of steps toward her. "Zoom's not gonna like that you ditched him, right? My friends and I can help you."

She shook her head. "Nobody can protect me from Zoom."

She outstretched her hands, and her palms flared with white light, making Barry wince and take a step back.

"All right," he tried to reason, squinting and raising his hands. "Why don't we take it down a lumen, have a normal conversation, all right?" And when she, thankfully, let the light die, he said, "Thank you."

She raised her hand to the side of her mask and touched it. The visor slid back, revealing her face—a face Barry knew.

"Linda?" he questioned in disbelief. "Linda Park?"

"How do you know my name?"

"I don't understand," he breathed out.

She shook her head, clearly just as freaked out as he was. "This was a mistake."

A burst of bright light caused his head to split with pain and his suddenly burning eyes to shut. He dropped to his knees, groaning.

But when he opened his eyes—there was no difference. He rubbed his face, his breath suddenly quick with panic. Why the hell couldn't he see?

"Barry, what's happening?" he heard Sophia ask over the earpiece. 

"I can't see," he realized. "Guys, I can't see!"

— 𝑆 —

"I still can't see," Barry groaned.

Sophia frowned, watching as Caitlin shined a red light into Barry's eyes. She put a reassuring hand on his arm.

"How long is this gonna last?" he questioned.

"You're suffering from solar retinopathy," Caitlin replied, putting the light down while Barry rubbed his eyes. "Your retinas are severely damaged. You're lucky you're not permanently blind."

"But with your rapid regeneration abilities, your sight should return soon," Jay assured him.

"Six-point-two-five hours," Sophia told him, caressing his arm. "Ish."

"All this could have been avoided if you'd just stopped Light," Harry pointed out; "instead of chit-chatting with her."

"She caught Barry off-guard," argued Jay.

"Always an excuse with you, right?" Harry scoffed, folding his arms. "He's the fastest man alive—how could she possibly do that?"

"Because Light looks exactly like Iris' co-worker," Barry told them. "Linda Park. And right now, I'm more worried about her—when I saw who was under the mask, I said her name. What if Light didn't even realize that she had a doppelganger here until I accidentally told her?"

"The first thing that Atom Smasher did when he crossed the breach was to kill his doppelganger," Cisco realized.

"Yeah, but Light's not like Atom Smasher," Jay pointed out.

Harry put his hands on his hips. "We should keep an eye on your Linda."

"All right. I'll go." Barry got up and immediately bumped into Caitlin. Then, despite everyone worriedly calling his name, he stepped toward the exit of the Med Lab, immediately crashing into the side of the metal column.

"Barry." Sophia hurried over, gripping his arm. "You can't do anything until your sight returns."

"I'll do it," Jay volunteered, and Caitlin raised a hand.

"I'll go with you!"

Sophia suppressed a chuckle. She was happy to see Caitlin with a crush—though Caitlin would deny it if she ever brought i

"Hey, Barry!" Iris rushed into the Cortex while Jay and Caitlin left. "I came as soon as I . . ." Iris stopped, her eyes wide as she stared at Harry. "You look just like him."

Harry sighed. "I'm guessing my counterpart did something to offend her as well?"

"Her fiancé died because of him," Cisco muttered.

"Oh."

— 𝑆 —

"Okay." Sophia sighed, guiding Barry toward the couch in her living room. "Sit here."

"This is so annoying," Barry groaned, fumbling to find the armrest before dropping into the cushions.

Sophia checked the clock. "Still got four hours and twenty-seven minutes to go, babe." She plopped down beside him, leaning into his side and pulling his arm around her shoulders until it rested there. "You're gonna have to get used to it."

"What am I supposed to do for five hours if I can't see?" he grumbled.

"Listen to the radio? Nap?"

He pursed his lips, considering. "I could go for a nap . . . but only if you nap with me."

Sophia grinned, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Deal."

She led him toward the bedroom, giggling as he bumped the doorframe.

The mattress sighed beneath their weight as they laid down. She curled against his side, tucking her face into his shirt, and wrapped her arm around his waist.

His hand found its way into her hair, fingers combing in slowly. The rhythm of his touch, paired with the familiar warmth of his body, lulled her. Her eyelids fluttered closed, the world narrowing to the rise and fall of his chest beneath her cheek.

But just as sleep began to claim her, his quiet voice cut through the drowsy haze.

"Snowpea?"

"Yeah?" she murmured, not bothering to open her eyes.

"I've been thinking . . ." His fingers stilled for a moment before resuming their gentle trail through her hair. "We've been together for a while . . . I love you, and you love me . . ."

"All true," she chuckled softly. "So what?"

"I think we should move in together," he said at last, his hand drifting from her hair to her cheek, thumb brushing the curve of her jaw. "I mean, we're together most of the time, anyway. We could stay here or find a new place . . . Whatever you want, as long as we're together."

Sophia's eyes opened, her heart giving a small, startled leap. She shifted upward and pressed a kiss against his lips.

When she pulled back, she was pretty sure her smile couldn't get any bigger. "I would love that."

— 𝐵 —

"I saw myself," a distraught Linda told Patty, Iris, and Joe while Barry checked beneath the nearest desk. "How is that even possible?"

Just as they had feared, Dr. Light had made a visit to Central City Picture News, with the purpose of killing Linda, Barry was sure. Jay had managed to drive her away before she could do so, but not before one of the other workers was caught in the crossfire. Barry cursed silently at himself; if only he hadn't been blinded, he would've been the one on lookout duty—and then there wouldn't be a body bag in the middle of the room.

"It sounds like you have an evil meta-twin," Patty sighed, her arms folded as the coroners wheeled the body out.

"And now Larkin's dead," Linda continued tearfully, "because someone who looks like me wanted to kill me?"

"Linda," Joe said gently, "none of this is your fault. We're gonna figure it all out. I promise."

"How you doing?" Barry asked, walking up to her.

"I'm alive." She braved a smile. "Thanks to Iris. Turns out she's as badass with a gun as she is with a pen."

"Yeah, she is," Barry chuckled.

Iris patted Linda's arm. "I'm just happy that you're safe."

"I've arranged a security detail," Joe told her. "Round the clock, just to be sure."

"I can take you to them if you're ready," added Patty.

Linda nodded. "Yeah."

Barry watched as Patty walked Linda out of the building before sighing and turning back to Joe and Iris. "This is because of me. I should have been here."

"Barry, you were blind," Iris pointed out. "There was nothing that you could have done."

In his hands, along with a couple of samples he had swabbed, he had Dr. Light's mask. He frowned as he looked down at it, the silver metal gleaming.

"You think this mask can help us find that woman?" Joe questioned.

"Any evidence on this is just gonna match Linda," Barry replied. "I'll think of something else. Light's not gonna kill again."

When he got back to the Cortex, Harry was pacing in the middle of the room, Sophia and Cisco were muttering to each other in the corner, and Caitlin was putting a bandage on Jay's forehead.

"Caitlin," Barry called, "are you guys okay?"

"Yeah."

"Barry, I'm sorry." Jay sighed as Barry came to a stop beside him. "Dr. Light's never killed before. I thought we could reason with her."

"You cannot reason with someone under Zoom's influence!" Harry exclaimed angrily. "And now a man is dead because of you, Garrick! This whole thing is because of you. He doubts himself" —Harry pointed at Barry, who frowned— "because of you. But believe me, Barry can do what you could not. Barry can stop Zoom!"

Jay stood up. "I spent two years hunting Zoom."

"Wrong! Zoom hunted you! You spent the last two years of your life running, running, running from Zoom!"

"Look, Zoom would have killed me, just like he will kill Barry if you lead him down this path!"

"No, because he is not like you. Barry runs towards danger, not from it. Because Barry's not a coward."

Jay punched Harry.

Harry grabbed onto the railing of the front desk, heaving. Then, he twisted, and returned the hit.

Barry pressed his lips together as the two men continued to beat each other, grunting as they punched each other's stomach and grabbed fistfuls of the other's shirt.

This was ridiculous. 

He sped between the two men, pushing Jay back. "Enough!"

Harry glared at him only for a moment before trodding out of the room.

As Caitlin dragged Jay back to the stool and continued to fix him up (and Barry was happy to hear her scolding him), Sophia came up to Barry.

"Men," she scoffed, folding her arms. "Just a bunch of whiny babies."

Barry frowned. "I'm not a whiny baby."

"Not tonight," she corrected before sighing. "Iris and Linda are okay?"

He nodded. "They're okay. Linda's shaken up—though anyone would be."

"Right." Her lips were thin as she glanced to the side. "Maybe you should check on Harry."

"Yeah." He put his hands on his hips and shook his head. "I can't wait for this day to be over."

"Look on the bright side." She chucked him under his chin. "After this, we can go back to our place."

He grinned. "I like the sound of that."

Barry found Harry in the workshop. He wasn't necessarily doing anything—more just glaring at the table.

"You were pretty hard on Jay in there," Barry said, walking in.

"Maybe you should be hard on Jay, too." Harry put his hands on his hips, turning to face him. "I've seen what you can do, Barry. I've calculated how fast you can run. And you should be teaching Jay—not the other way around."

Harry turned back around to the table.

"You know, before I learned that the other Wells was the man who murdered my mom, I looked up to him," Barry said. "He was my mentor, actually."

"So, my doppelganger—a man who looks exactly like me—betrayed you."

Barry hummed as Harry turned back around.

"I'm sorry. I'm not him." He took a few steps toward Barry. "So you need to listen to me when I say you can take care of Zoom. And all we have to do" —he snapped his fingers— "is capture Dr. Light."

"I thought about testing the mask for Light's DNA," Barry said, walking to him, "but it would only have Linda's."

"The mask," Harry repeated. "What mask?"

"Light's mask."

Barry brought Harry back to the Cortex, and told Cisco to bring in the mask he had handed to him when he had first gotten there. Cisco, who had put it on a display on a cart, wheeled it to the middle of the room.

Harry stared at the mask. "How did you get this?

"Iris shot it off Dr. Light when she attacked Linda," Barry answered.

"You know how to use the mask to find Light?" Jay questioned.

"Yes, I do. All we have to do" —Harry turned to Cisco— "is give it to him."

"Why me?"

"Because you have powers."

Barry's eyebrows furrowed. Why on Earth would Harry think Cisco had powers?

Cisco had a look of disbelief on his face. "What are you talking about?"

Harry outstretched his arm, his sleeve scrunching up to reveal his watch. "I developed this watch to detect meta-humans."

A screen lifted from the watch as Harry moved his arm beside Sophia. The watch beeped, its screen turning red. He moved his watch beside Barry, and the same thing happened. Then, he moved his watch to Caitlin, and it went silent, the screen returning to its original blue.

"You never got an alert on your phone," Harry continued, his arm dropping back to his side as he walked closer to Cisco. "You never reprogrammed the STAR Labs' satellite." Harry turned to face the group. "And this is why."

He stuck his arm out.

The screen turned red. The beep was shrill.

What the hell?

Harry raised his eyebrows. "He's a meta-human."

"Cisco," Barry said incredulously, "have you known about this? And you didn't say anything to us?"

"I . . . I told Soph. And I was going to tell the rest of you—thanks a lot, Harry. I swear," Cisco said earnestly. "I was, but I didn't. I was just . . . I was afraid."

Barry's eyebrows pinched together as Cisco turned his back to them. "Afraid of what?"

"Dr. Wells said the dark matter gave me this—this gift. He said that one day I'd thank him for it. What if I become like him?"

"Cisco," Caitlin said gently, "I don't think any of us would become evil if we all of a sudden got powers—even if they were from Dr. Wells."

"Yeah." Cisco shrugged as he turned toward them, though it was obvious he didn't believe that. "Maybe you're right. I should have said something. That's my fault. I'm sorry."

Barry nodded—he wasn't going to be mad at Cisco for something like that. But before he could express that, Harry cut in:

"Well, you can be sorry later. Because right now, we have to use your powers to find Dr. Light."

"Cisco, your abilities—how do they work?" Jay asked.

"Uh . . ." Cisco sighed. "I get these feelings sometimes. These vibes. Visions of the breachers when they come to this Earth. I just—I'm not sure what triggers it. And sometimes it just happens. Sometimes, it's when I'm touching something of theirs."

"Touch the mask," Harry said. "You want to find Dr. Light, do it."

Cisco looked to Barry, who shrugged and nodded.

Tentatively, Cisco reached out to the mask. He inhaled deeply. Shutting his eyes, he touched the mask and exhaled.

After a moment, Cisco's eyes opened for a brief second before squeezing shut again, and he groaned. He opened his eyes again, repeatedly putting his hand on the mask.

"I don't think it's working," Cisco muttered.

"Try again," Sophia coaxed.

Cisco swallowed.

"Try again!" shouted Harry.

"Yo," Barry chided, furrowing his brows. Stressing Cisco out was not going to help.

Cisco reached out and touched the mask. This time he didn't bother to close his eyes.

"I'm sorry. It's not—"

"Again!"

"I can't control it!"

"Because you're afraid," Harry scolded, grabbing the mask.

"I'm telling you, I don't know how it works! I can't just make it happen!"

"I'm telling you, yes, you can!"Harry thrust the mask into Cisco's chest, and Cisco gasped.

Barry held his breath, watching as Cisco's face muscles twitched. 

When Harry pulled the mask away, Cisco told them, "South Plaza Train Station, Platform fifteen."

"What are you waiting for?" Harry turned to Barry.

Barry changed into his suit and sped toward the train station. Despite it being nearly nine o'clock in the evening, the place was packed.

"Oh, guys, the platform's crowded," Barry said into his mic. "Are you sure she's here?"

"She should be wearing a black trench coat," Cisco replied.

"Black trench coat," Barry muttered, scanning the people. Then, he spotted her—near the front of the line to board the train. "Found her." He raised his voice to a shout, "Everybody, get out of here! Go! Go, hurry!"

The crowd broke into chaos, screaming and running away—leaving only Barry and Dr. Light.

"Why won't you just let me leave?" she questioned incredulously, taking her coat off as she walked toward him.

"I can't let you leave. You killed an innocent man."

She tossed the coat to the side. "That was an accident!"

"Trying to kill Linda Park wasn't," he pointed out.

"It's the only way that I can be free from Zoom." She slowed to a stop, now only ten feet from him. "Unless I kill you."

He shrugged. "Can't let you do that, either. So, we've got a problem."

"We'll see."

As two beams of light were blasted toward him, he sped behind a cart stacked with luggage. "Guys? Should've talked about this before I left, but how should I stop her?"

"Keep trying different angles, Barry," said Jay. "Find her blind spot."

Barry peeked out around the side, but immediately shot back as a blast passed him. He sped to the front of the train, hearing the clacks of her heels slowly grow closer.

"I can't get close enough," he panted. "What should I do?"

"I don't know," answered Jay, and that was not reassuring in the least.

"Oh, I gotta tell you," Barry groaned, "that's not exactly the answer I was looking for."

"You need to confuse her," came Harry's voice. "Give her more than one target, so she does not know who to fire at."

"All right." He moved to the side of the train as Dr. Light neared the front. "How do I do that?"

"By running so fast, you create multiple afterimages of yourself. You create a speed mirage."

"Oh, speed—" Barry stuttered, continuing to move behind the side of the train. "I've never run that fast!"

"Well, from what I've been told, you've travelled through time. You'll be more than fast enough."

"Okay." Barry took a breath. He still wasn't so sure he could do that.

Dr. Light spotted him. Well, it was now or never.

As another blast of light came his way, he sped to the side. He pumped his arms, speeding across the entire platform, praying that he was going fast enough.

It was working—copies of him were scattered all over the station. Dr. Light was throwing blasts toward random Flashes—but not him.

She let out a cry, dropping to one knee and spreading her arms out and Barry flew back. He hit a column, pain flaring up his back as he slid down with a groan.

His speed mirages were gone. Dr. Light was staring him down. It was over.

"Barry?" Sophia asked nervously.

"I can't do it!" Barry shouted.

"Yes, you can, Barry," Jay said. "Hey, Dr. Wells is right. You are fast—faster than I ever was, and better than I ever will be. Don't let fear and doubt hold you back, like it did to me. You're the Flash, Barry. Show Light what that means."

Barry exhaled. One last chance.

He began to speed around the platform again, leaving images of himself everywhere. Dr. Light began to shoot blasts, again only hitting the duplicates.

"Where are you?!" she yelled.

Barry sped behind her, hitting her hard enough to send her flying into a column. She fell to the ground, unconscious.

He walked up to her, panting. "I'm right here."

— 𝐵 —

"Dr. Light is safely locked away in the Pipeline," announced Caitlin, walking into the Cortex.

"Nicely done." Cisco fist-bumped her.

"Wells," Iris called to the man sitting in the corner. "Thank you for helping Barry put away Dr. Light."

"So," Joe said, "what now?"

Barry sighed. "We do what Dr. Wells said. We use her to lure Zoom here—end this, once and for all."

"You can't be serious," incredulously said Jay.

"More breachers are gonna come," Barry pointed out. "More innocent people may die. I—I can't let this happen anymore."

"Well, you're making a mistake, okay? Zoom is a nightmare you can't wake up from."

"I've already had my worst nightmare," Barry rebutted, walking to the other end of the room. "His name was Reverse-Flash. I spent a long time being afraid of him. I'm not gonna be afraid anymore."

"Okay." Jay scoffed. "Barry, you may be faster than me, but you're not ready to fight Zoom by yourself."

"That's just it, Jay. I'm not gonna fight him by myself. I've got all of them to help me." He gestured around the room. "I've got Dr. Wells, I've got you."

Jay's eyes lowered, and he shook his head. "No. I can't in good conscience help you when I know it'll only lead to you losing your speed—or even worse, your death."

Cisco frowned. "Optimism must be an Earth-One thing."

Jay turned to Harry. "You all need to ask yourself why this man" —he pointed to Harry— "for years, wouldn't admit that he was responsible for the particle accelerator exploding underground. He may not be Harrison Wells from your Earth, but he has just as many secrets as the one you knew."

As Jay began walking toward the exit, Caitlin pleaded, "Jay, please don't go."

"I'm so sorry, Caitlin."

And with that, he left.

— 𝑆 —

Another perk of dating the Flash was that rather than spending a whole day hauling boxes and another day unpacking, he had fully moved all his stuff in within five minutes.

And although this certainly wasn't the first time Sophia woke up beside him, this time felt different—special. A step further into guaranteeing that she'd be waking up to this every morning.

"Good morning, roommate," Barry murmured when he woke up, pressing her closer and kissing her forehead.

She rested a hand on his jaw, kissing his lips. "I'd hope I mean a little more to you than that."

He chuckled. "I'd say you mean a lot more, gorgeous."

He smiled at her for only a moment before drawing her lips back to his. Her fingers tangled into his hair, and his quickly lowering touch started a small fire in her stomach.

"Barr," she giggled as he began to kiss her neck. "We gotta get up."

Between kisses, he whined, "Why?"

"We told Cisco and Cait we'd meet them at nine," she replied, though she sure wasn't helping her own case as she tilted her head back and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He raised his face level with hers, pecking her lips before whispering, "Let's cancel."

"As much as I would love to," she whispered back, "I think we need to check on Cait."

He frowned. "Shit. I forgot."

Caitlin and Cisco had already grabbed a table when Sophia and Barry got to Jitters.

"I'll grab the coffees," Cisco volunteered, getting up. "The usuals?"

When everyone nodded, he set off toward the counter. Sophia noticed that the barista was the same one he asked out.

She watched Cisco as he talked to the barista, totally tuning out whatever Barry and Caitlin were talking about. A little creepy, yes, but she was interested in seeing how it went.

When the barista smiled and held her hand out toward him, Sophia raised her eyebrows in surprise. It seemed like Cisco had charmed her.

She tuned back into the conversation.

Barry was squinting his eyes at Caitlin, his arms crossed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I just . . ." She pressed her lips together and wrung her hands. "I was getting used to Jay being part of the team."

Sophia was sure Caitlin felt a little more than that, though she knew it was better not to push.

Barry shrugged. "Well, look, Jay is a hero. They always seem to show up just when you need 'em."

"Yo." Cisco set down the tray of four coffees and flashed the receipt at them—at the top was a scrawled phone number. "Peep that."

"Wow," Sophia laughed, grabbing her coffee. "Look at you, hotshot."

"That's how it's done, young Padawan." Cisco placed the receipt on top of his coffee. "We're going on a date next week."

"Things are looking up for Cisco Ramon." Barry grinned.

"I guess so. Still stuck with these powers, though," Cisco added glumly. "I just don't know how to feel about them."

"Well, you don't have to go through it alone." Sophia patted his back before nodding her head toward the other two. "Not only do you have me, you have them now."

"And now," Caitlin added with a grin, "you need a cool name."

"Oh, snap." His eyes widened. "You're totally right. Oh, I gotta think about this one. Well, you know me—it's gotta be perfect. Something that really sings, you know? Something like . . ."

"Vibe?" suggested Barry, his eyes squinted.

"Vibe," Caitlin repeated with a smile.

Cisco's lips slowly spread into a grin. "Vibe."