Chapter Text
Barry sat on the steps to the West household. He'd just rejected Iris and he wasn't too sure why. He had an idea in his head of what he wanted to do, where he was going to go, but his sudden grief consumed him enough not to be able to stand up. He'd lost his mom so long ago and now his dad was gone; yes, he had his adoptive family and all his friends – back inside the house behind him actually – but he'd never at this moment felt so alone.
True, there was the doppelganger of his dad out there on Earth-3… or was it Earth-5 now? Jay might have called it Earth-3, but Barry had been to two other Earths before learning about Jay's Earth. This numbering was getting ridiculous, he really needed to talk to Cisco about what names to give these other Earths now so many were turning up. If Cisco was still working at STAR Labs after what he was about to do.
He stood, the sudden resolution of the task ahead of him laying heavy as his mind tried to fast-track to what he'd come back to: Save his mother, stop Eobard Thawne, and return to what? The real Harrison Wells alive, maybe with his own Jesse? His dad was sure to still be around, and with his mother now alive. Would Joe have sought out Francine again in this new timeline, without Barry to look after? Iris could have known her brother, her true brother, longer than in this current timeline. Yes, there were more pros to this than cons, Barry was sure.
"Harry left?!" The voice distracted Barry to the point of being a physical barrier, he collapsing as he turned on the spot with speed to the originator of the question: a blond in a black outfit.
Dressed like Alex had been when he'd said goodbye to her the first time, the clone of Kara Danvers stood a few feet away, arms crossed in indignation, her now short-cut-hair waving ever so pleasantly in the evening breeze, but there was a fierce look of anger in her eyes as she marched a few steps closer to Barry and asked atop of the previous question: "Why wasn't I informed? I could at least have said goodbye to him."
"Kara…" Barry swallowed, all previous thoughts drowned from his mind now as he looked her up and down once more, a hand flying to the back of his head to rub the nape of his neck in worry. He had nearly forgotten all about the clone in his single-minded vengeance against Zoom. "I… we… where were you?" It was a new thought, but it suddenly sparked a new well of emotions. A woman with powers like hers – super strength, laser eyes and freeze breath to say the least – could have saved his dad, could have helped him stop Zoom, would have prevented his friends locking him up for not having a clear head.
"My dad died and you… you weren't there!" He suddenly found himself shouting, pointing randomly behind himself in emotion, causing Kara to look to him in shock, obviously not expecting that. "Zoom killed my dad just to… to prove a point. You could have stopped him. We could have stopped him together!"
"Barry, I… I didn't know." Her anger at her foster dad leaving without her had lessened for the fact that Barry's real dad had left for good; the ferociousness of her features softened to a sudden well of tears herself as she moved over to Barry, whose own emotions had been held at bay since that fateful night and had suddenly come to a peak as he collapsed into her arms. "I didn't know." She repeated simply, softly and soothingly. She herself hugging Barry as best she could while supporting most of his weight.
Barry could hear movement and realised his shouting must have alerted the West household, for next thing he knew, he was being led back into Joe's house; Kara by his side, Joe on his other side, and was on the sofa long before he properly realised what had happened.
"Nice to see you again, Kara." Joe pointed out kindly as she sat next to Barry on the seat. "But maybe a phone call next time?"
"I don't have a cell," Kara replied simply, her eyes remaining on Barry as Iris joined them, perching on the coffee table.
"He's been through a lot. I thought he was doing okay…" Iris stared at Barry, who had a hand over his face now to hide the tears streaming from his eyes, the weakness he felt they shouldn't see, but didn't react to being talked about as if he wasn't there.
"Zoom killed his dad" Kara stated, somewhat bluntly, "he just told me. If I'd have known…" She looked around, taking note of Cisco, Caitlin and a boy she didn't know by the dining table, looking awkwardly at the new scene in front of them, before back to the shielded Barry. "I've been training, learning, becoming more human. Alex and Lyla have taught me a lot, but had I had known, had they told me…"
"ARGUS likes to keep their secrets." Cisco pointed out from behind her, Kara nodding silently as she locked eyes with Iris, both women concerned for the speedster now.
"They should have told me," Kara mumbled but knew Cisco was right as she looked at Barry, wondering what she could do to make him better.
Iris had never seen Barry like this, even after his mother died, even after stopping Eobard. He was still more-or-less himself when his back had been broken, even if he'd lost confidence then. He'd become a recluse after their somewhat-victory against the older speedster last year, but this time it was different, he had been involved so emotionally. He'd let the fake Jay Garrick into their lives, had trusted him with Caitlin and as a result had let Zoom into their very back pocket enough to know all of their weaknesses and exploit them in a way Eobard never thought to do, even up to his final moments.
Barry was broken.
-PowerFlash-
He hadn't argued when Joe had forced Barry to go to bed and rest – he'd exhausted himself far more than any speeding could. Emotional exhaustion was so much worse than the physical. This wasn't something Barry could outrun; this was something he had to accept.
Kara found she didn't want to leave his bedside, but with him falling asleep almost the moment his head hit the pillow, there was very little else for her to do, so found she joined the rest of the team in the living area, all with various expressions of worry on their faces. Hers joined the fray, but she couldn't keep quiet as she addressed Joe, speaking as formally as possible.
"Why did nobody call me? I honestly could have helped. I could have saved his dad and at least said goodbye to Harry before he left…" From the reactions of most of those gathered, it suddenly became very obvious that Kara had been the last person in their thoughts that fateful day, and Kara suddenly felt more deflated than before, letting off a simple "oh" as she sat resolutely on the arm of the sofa.
"It's not that we didn't think of you." Caitlin quickly interjected. "It's just we had a million other thoughts going on and you were still in training…" Caitlin stopped speaking, not really sure where she was going with this. Truthfully, there was no excuse for not calling Kara. Well, maybe herself being trapped by Zoom was an excuse for her, but she was unsure why no one else ever thought of it. When Barry was powerless and there were thousands of metas from Earth-2 rampaging the city they could have used the super powered clone even if she was still training.
"We didn't know if you would be up to facing off Jay – I mean Hunter – and Henry's death was so sudden. Zoom just took him…" Cisco's voice drifted off, he remembering just how sudden, how awful that had been. That day had started so well, too.
"I still could have done something. I hate to see Barry like this, it just reminds me of when I was created, of him being trapped in that place, so helpless." She bit her lip as silence fell over the room.
"I'm sorry, and I get the situation is dire, but who exactly are you?" The young black boy spoke up from next to Cisco, and Caitlin and Kara looked to him dumbstruck.
Joe and Iris however reacted quickly; one getting up and moving to the boy, the other clapping a hand of their forehead in realisation. "Wally. This is Kara," Joe stated simply, he being the one to move to him. "She a… friend of Barry's." That was the easiest explanation in the current situation.
"I'm a clone of a friend of Barry's," Kara corrected simply, not realizing Joe was trying to keep it simple. After all, she had long since accepted her start in life, blessing each day that was granted to her that she could simply exist. "He travelled to another Earth, as the Flash, and came into contact with that Earth's version of me, came back with a DNA sample and bumped into a meta-human who could clone others. I came from that DNA sample." She gave him a very polite smile, which he responded, if a bit confused.
"She's also an alien," Cisco pointed out, the same smile on his face as he always had when he thought of that.
"Ninety-five percent of one actually," Kara corrected to the sudden concern of Cisco and Caitlin. "I guess the five percent is linked back to Duplicate, my creator." She added the last for Wally's benefit, "but it hasn't stopped my enhanced abilities. I'm still super strong, superfast, invulnerable to practically anything, my eyes shoot laser beams and I can see with X Ray vision… yeah, the whole works." She couldn't help but grin at this herself; since training with her powers she had come to love them.
"And the freeze breath Barry admired?" Cisco asked simply.
"Yeah, that too," she leaned back on the arm of the chair as she added thoughtfully, "and the flying and enhanced hearing…" She then fell into silence.
"I can see how you would have been of great help against Zoom," Wally pointed out, almost admirably as Kara nodded to him. If he had managed to help, even a little, against the speedster, then this girl would have been a major advantage in the battle against Zoom.
"I still wouldn't have been able to save his dad, probably." Kara muttered sadly.
"I'm sorry." This was Iris. "I don't think Wells was truly thinking about you when he left." This caused Kara to glanced concerned to her. "Jesse was going to go back to Earth-2 regardless and Wells – Harry – didn't want to lose her again. He chose to go back with her. If it hadn't been so much of a rush and he had thought of you I'm sure he would have sent for you or at least done something for your benefit."
"Barry could always take you to Earth two, with my help." Cisco pointed out as he added, "I'm Vibe, yo, I can open portals to other worlds and that still sounds so weird even though I've done it a few times already."
"You're a meta?" Kara suddenly sat up, "why have you not told ARGUS?"
"I need to?" Cisco responded, worry in his voice.
"Their meta department keeps tabs on all known meta-humans, including those in the precinct and in your pipeline. Just in case, you know."
"I don't" Cisco replied suddenly bluntly, "but I assure you I won't be going all Reverb on anyone anytime soon."
"This is giving me a headache," Wally suddenly pointed out.
"Me too" Joe stated, "all this doom and gloom. I know we need to grieve over all we've lost, but this is just insane. You're all welcome to stay here tonight, I have blankets and whatnot in the linen closet, but I'm heading to bed. Hopefully we can all think more clearly in the morning. Err, Kara and Iris… could I…?" He indicated the kitchen, so he could have a private word with the pair.
Kara and Iris exchanged glances but followed regardless, Cisco and Caitlin taking their place on the sofa quickly while Wally bid his goodnights to everyone and headed upstairs himself.
Once in the kitchen, Joe kept his voice down, but the urgency was still put forth. "I won't deny I'm concerned for Barry. He wasn't acting himself earlier and I have no doubt that he would have done something stupid had you not turned up, Kara. Iris you know him, Kara you're fast enough to match him. If he gets up in the middle of the night, please make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
"You think he wants to time travel, don't you?" Iris asked, her voice equally low.
"Possibly. Prevent Henry's death, hell maybe even break his own code of conduct and save Nora, his mother." He added that for Kara's benefit. "As much as I love the kid, neither should be accomplished, who knows what it would do to the timeline. Your dad sure as hell wouldn't agree to it, Miss Wells."
"Agreed," Kara stated simply. "I can watch over him. I don't need sleep, but if I need Iris –"
"I'm good to help," Iris stated over Kara quickly. "Barry needs all the help he can get, and to let him think straight. We need to let him grieve without doing something unexpected."
"Thank you" Joe stated fondly. "And if those two stay," he indicated Cisco and Caitlin outside, "make sure they don't put the TV on too loud this time?"
Iris laughed. "Sure."
-SuperFlash-
The morning indeed brought in a fresh perspective. Cisco and Caitlin had too stayed at Joe's – Caitlin on the sofa, Cisco on the rug – while Kara had stayed in Iris' room, although the Kryptonian clone hadn't slept. She'd found, along with her training, that she needed less sleep than a normal human; she didn't know if this was a clone thing or an alien thing, but it had proved helpful in her studies of Earth law and history. One thing was certain though: She had been able to attain a wider knowledge of her studies and take in more informative than was humanly possible. That was an alien thing, she was sure.
But despite not having slept, there was no reason for her to have stayed up. Barry had remained asleep from the moment Joe had put him to bed and only when she heard stirring, and used her X Ray vision to look through the wall, did she move with speed to Barry's side.
Joe's talk the night before had held some sentiment on Kara. If Barry did plan on travelling back, particularly to save his mother, she could cease to exist – events could unfold very differently and he may no longer have been the Flash in the new timeline. It was one of many streams of thought that had travelled around Kara's brain throughout the night, so making sure that Barry didn't act on this was tantamount.
It seemed Barry had temporarily forgotten the events of the previous night anyway, or the grief had overridden them, as when he groaned for Kara to come in after she had politely knocked on his bedroom door, did he gape at her. "Kara! I… Oh." The moment of brief forgetfulness lifted as his eyes darkened, but his smile remained, albeit weaker than when it started. "It's nice to see you. Bad dreams. Spectres of grotesque beings in black haunting me." He shuddered as he added more forcefully, "You stayed?" Looking at this Kara he remembered the other two Karas – despite being in dangerous circumstances, both had lightness to them that just didn't go out. Clone Kara definitely seemed to have inherited that lightness from whichever Kara the DNA had come from.
"I didn't want you doing something silly. Caitlin and Cisco are still here too. Seems the West household had quite the sleepover last night." She smirked as she talked.
"How do you know about sleepovers?" Barry rubbed his eyes as she he shifted position on his bed to get a better view of Kara, who remained by the door.
"Alex. I've learned a lot since we last parted over a month ago," she informed him.
"Really?" He yawned. "Sweet," he added with a stretch, and then he stopped, a thought seeming to cross his own mind before he turned to look at Kara. "And I was..."
"Was what?" She didn't know what he meant as she moved across the threshold finally, her arms folded still.
"Going to do something silly. I wanted to go back and save them, both of them." He looked down to his feet now in thought, sitting on the edge of his bed, almost ashamed at what he had nearly done.
"Your parents." It wasn't a question. Kara stated it as fact.
"I thought it would make everything right. One event could change the course of everything: Thawne wouldn't kill Harry – this world's Harry – who in turn could have had the family we knew from Earth-2; Joe may have reconciled with Iris' mum; Iris could have grown up with Wally as her brother from the start; Ronnie may not have died and he and Caitlin…" he swallowed, another death he took on his shoulders. "Eddie wouldn't have died, either." Barry paused at that. Would Eddie and Iris have been together then or would he and Iris be a couple, like on Earth-2? "Hell, we may not have opened the breach to Earth-2 which would mean no Zoom."
Kara remained silent. She wondered where Barry was going to go with this, wanting to point out that things happened for a reason, but she could almost see the cogs working in his brain, the realisation popping up like a jack-in-the-box when it reached its limit. Yes, Alex had shown her one of those too; she had taken a great pleasure in showing the alien clone the human world.
"But if I didn't breach universes in this new timeline, I would never have met Kara Danvers and in turn, wouldn't have created you." He looked up to Kara once more, a small smirk on his face. "If you hadn't turned up when you did I would have gone through with it. I don't think I could have lived with myself, even with my parents alive, to wipe the possibility of you from the world. Whatever Kara it may be; the world is better off with a Kara in it."
At this, Kara moved over to Barry, sitting on the bed next to him as she somewhat instinctively put an arm around his shoulder. She still needed to control her strength, so she let it rest around him instead as she said soothingly, "I'm glad you thought of me."
"Yeah" Barry stated. "And I'm sorry. I'm sorry that Harry left without telling you. Cisco can open breaches, maybe we could… I dunno…"
"It's fine, honestly," Kara lied. In truth when she'd found out from Lyla the events from Central City she had been devastated to know that the only other person who'd shown her affection from the moment she'd been made had left without even a second thought. She always had Alex who, despite being her superior, was almost like a sister to her, a guide in this strange world. It had been Alex who insisted Kara go and see Barry when she did, and now Kara was glad she hadn't counteracted that decision.
"Did I tell you I like your hair short? Very Cat Grant" Barry suddenly added, having stood from the bed to look around at her.
"Who?" Kara asked, having not heard the name before.
Barry smiled at the question and nearly laughed but was interrupted by Cisco's voice screaming his name. "BARRY!" A shiver ran down Barry's spine at the urgency of the cry, but before he could move, Caitlin was at the door.
"Sorry. Something… well someone… please, you need to come down, now," Caitlin's hair fluttered in the sudden breeze Barry created, speeding past her and down to the living area. Caitlin looked apologetically to Kara before adding to the girl, "If you're staying, I think you need to come down too."
In front of the bay window by the front door a man stood. He was slightly taller than Barry and of bigger build. He wore red. Particularly the jacket with the large lightning bolt going from waist to neck and the helmet he now supported as a relic to a tortured past that was tucked under one of his arms. He was looking seriously to Barry who stood frozen to the spot, the sight of his father's other Earth doppelganger still sending shivers through his entire body.
"Allen," Jay Garrick addressed Barry. "I'm afraid I'm not here on good tidings."
Barry shook his head, unsure of what he was seeing and hearing. It was bad enough that an alternative Flash went around wearing his dad's face, but to hear from those lips words so blunt and less than friendly was still strange to experience. He also didn't see Iris and Joe standing in the door to the kitchen or Caitlin and Kara moving down the stairs until petite fingers intertwined with his own and he gripped tight, Kara's own hands able to take the strength with ease.
"Jay…" Barry finally breathed, "What… what happened?"
"My earth is gone," Jay stated bluntly.
"G- Gone? What do you mean?" Barry remained shocked still.
"I left Harrison and his daughter," Kara's grip suddenly got painfully tight "on their Earth and went to return to mine, only to find it was gone. Nothing but a shell split in two. Everyone… dead."
"My vision," Cisco now moved into Barry's peripheral vision, next to Kara though, "of Earth-2 splitting in half. It happened? But to your Earth?"
"I fear I was gone too long." Despite his stoic disposition, a great sadness seemed to spread across his older features, "I have no home and I don't know why. I was hoping as a fellow speedster you could help me understand what happened."
"But we stopped Zoom," Cisco pointed out angrily, "he had a device that would destroy all Earths, Barry stopped him and the device –" In his surprise and anger, he moved forward again, his bare hand brushing Kara's free one and, in that second, he stopped. Everyone else in the room though, thought he had finished his sentence, indeed Jay continued to talk, but Kara no longer heard the words, she staring at Cisco in shock.
Cisco seemed frozen, paralysed, as he watched something Kara could not see, and only when she tugged on Barry's hand, still holding hers, did Barry look to her to see Cisco in his unfazed expression.
Everyone in the room seemed to follow Barry's gaze now as Cisco suddenly blinked, coming back to life, and his eyes found Kara. He swallowed.
"What did you see? Was it another Earth being destroyed?" Barry asked worriedly.
"N- No… It's Jesse. She's…" his eyes flickered from Kara, to Barry and then to Joe, "she's dying!"
"We need to go! We need to get over there and save Jesse now!" Kara demanded, looking between Cisco and Barry; poor Jay was left in the dark about his doomed planet now as Kara added, "do your thing, that Vibe thing and we can go to her!"
"I can't just… I don't…" Cisco spluttered, put off by Kara's sudden eagerness and need to travel to Earth-2 and save Jesse. Truth be told this vibe of his had been more unusual than that of his past ones – he hadn't got nearly a full picture, just Jesse lying in a bed, Wells over her in a somewhat panicked state and he couldn't be sure, but Jesse seemed to have been vibrating at inhuman speeds. "Maybe dying was an overstatement," he finally stated uselessly, looking to Barry for help.
Normally Barry would have been on Kara's side, or at least in her mind-set, desperate to go over and save Jesse, but two years of experience had finally caught up to him, urging him to err on the side of caution instead of go in and get lost. After all, hadn't this helped himself and Earth-3's Kara defeat Livewire and Silver Banshee? Plan ahead, get to know your enemies, or at least get to know the situation. Running in with no plan never solved anything and in fact, tended to make a situation worse.
Barry needed to speak, Kara was looking at him indignantly and, in fact, most of the occupants of the room were staring to either himself or Cisco now. "You reached for me in the speed-force, right?" The thought had occurred to him and Cisco raised an eyebrow, already realising where Barry was going here, "then you got Iris to pull me back to this world. Couldn't the same be implemented here, to cross the boundaries of this world to Earth-2 without actually going there, to make sure your vibe was right?"
"Yeah, that's feasible. Caitlin knows how to work the technology. And I told Harry I might poke my head into his lab to check on him from time to time, so if things aren't as bad it wouldn't be as much of a disruption into their new lives." He smiled at this, feeling more confident doing this than making a breach back to Earth-2; a breach he couldn't reopen from the other side and one he didn't know how long would stay open either. If they had to go to Earth-2 though, at least Barry would then be quick enough to pick both of the Wells' up and take them through before being potentially trapped on Earth-2 again.
"What? You want to appear to Harry as a vision instead of going there and actually doing something?" Kara now turned to address Cisco, agitation in her voice. She clearly could not understand why they didn't just go. "Jesse may not even last that long!"
"It's better than running there for no real reason Kara." This was Caitlin, she had moved forward; riskily putting a hand on Kara's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. She understood where Kara's need to rush into things came from – she was young and had little experience when it came to being the hero. "If you want, Cisco can send you across so you can see for your own eyes."
"And if Jesse is…?" Kara asked, trying to remain calm as she smiled weakly at Caitlin.
"Then Allen and myself will go over there and bring them straight back" Jay Garrick said. He'd since given up trying to get the attention of anybody to tell him what had happened to his Earth and figured once Jesse was safe they would once again turn their attention back to his Earth. Besides his superhero side was taking over: Saving a dying girl was more important than a dead world at the moment. Afterwards he could find a purpose in his life somewhere, especially if Earth-2 had no heroes without their fake Flash, maybe he could utilise his skills there instead.
It was literally ten minutes later when Caitlin, Cisco, Barry, Kara and Jay stood in the lab where Barry had gotten his powers back – Joe had to cover for Barry at work, or at least inform Captain Singh that Mr. Allen needed another personal day, and Iris had been called into work on desperate, apparent life-or-death need. Wally had left before Barry had even woken, having to get to college and not wanting to deal with the speedster-drama going on in the home for once.
Kara was itching to get on, taking in the room, the equipment that had survived, scattered throughout but still listening to what Cisco was saying. There was a podium of sorts set up in the middle of the room with some wires attached, which Cisco apparently needed to help boost his Vibe powers, and all Kara needed to do was hold on to the meta and concentrate on who she needed to get through to, and since she had never officially met Jesse, she had decided her dad, their dad, would be the best target.
She was right.
-PowerFlash-
The moment the real Jay Garrick had landed them back on their true Earth, Harry knew something was off. Somehow the city had miraculously survived Zoom's attacks; he could tell even from the front of his STAR Labs that there was major construction going on, Zoom's attacks having ceased and a lot of the metas obviously gone, being trapped on Earth-1 in fact, but it was with Jesse that Harry's concentration lay.
As their feet touched on the ground and Jay sped off to make a portal back to his own Earth, Jesse had instantly collapsed, feigning the speed of travel as a means to her dizziness, but barely an hour later Harry had found her unconscious in their family home. He didn't have the heart or strength to take her back to STAR Labs, and the medical services weren't as helpful as he'd hoped so it had been up to his own genius to figure out what was wrong with Jesse; he'd had a hunch from the word go though, and his hunches were normally correct.
Jesse had started phasing in and out of focus about twenty minutes ago; she was covered in sweat and moaning, despite being completely unconscious. Harry hated to see her like this and knew she couldn't stay on this Earth much longer, but he couldn't find a replacement for Barry or even Cisco to take him back to where he knew, just knew, Jesse would get better. Harry couldn't believe he was missing having an Earth-2 version of Cisco. If Reverb hasn't been killed by Zoom, maybe he could have gotten Jesse to safety.
Maybe it was his delirious, terrified state or maybe he was just losing his sanity, but he swore he could see a blond woman reflected in Jesse's cabinet mirror…
He jumped up and span around, his mind suddenly clear and his worries gone. Kara was in the doorway. Only she wasn't quite there. She was like a ghost, staring at Harry, a look of shock on her face as her eyes lingered on Jesse.
"It's true," was all she said looking around.
"I need to get her back to Earth-1, Kara. I need Barry and Cisco's help." He knew exactly what was happening, what was about to happen. He could have punched the air in delight if he wasn't so tired from the stress of the last twenty-four hours.
Kara didn't wait around; with a gust of wind she had vanished, Harry turning back to Jesse who was now tossing violently. He moved back to her side, trying to grab hold of her hand, but her vibrating was getting too quick, too violent – if Barry didn't hurry she could phase through the bed and he couldn't help her then. He definitely couldn't even hold her hand now as she passed right through his skin.
There was flash of red light and the bed was suddenly empty. Harry barely had time to react when Jesse's room became a whirl of nothingness, there was a burst of blue energy, and he was suddenly in STAR Labs; not his Earth-2 STAR, but the Earth 1 one, the slightly shabby, run down Labs that had come to feel as home over the past seven months. Jesse was already on the hospital bed she had been in so recently when exposed to the speed-force, and Harry was again by her side in a matter of seconds, barely taking in Cisco and Caitlin or Barry and Jay in their Flash outfits, or even Kara. He still only had eyes for Jesse.
"What happened? We need to know everything before we can even begin to help her," Caitlin instructed Harry, not even welcoming him back yet due to the dire situation.
"It's not what's happened to her since we parted, Ms. Snow, it's what's happening to her now that you need to know," Wells stated, his voice forced calm as he finally managed to grab hold of his daughter's hand. Already her juddering and phasing was subsiding and he couldn't help but smile at this improvement. She was getting better.
"Well, what is happening?" Caitlin barked at Harry, not in the mood for any of his mind games and surprised he would want to play them with his daughter's life on the line.
"She was exposed to the speed-force a few weeks ago when we brought Barry's powers back, the speed-force of this world, Snow. None of us knew it, although I suspected when Barry woke her, but she cannot exist on my world, her world, while she hasn't completely embraced what she is." He said this in one breath, causing Cisco to whistle in a somewhat impressed state.
"You mean she's a speedster, like Barry and Jay?" Cisco asked looking at the girl and wondering why he had never suspected it.
"That's exactly what I mean, Ramon. The moment she landed back on our Earth she no longer fit in and the speed-force knew it. Look, she's already calming…" Indeed, she no longer vibrated at all now, and her breathing was returning to normal without anyone's help.
"But Jay can come and go to other universes and not be like this, and Barry" Cisco pointed out, a little confused.
"Indeed. But they have both embraced their powers, Barry more-so." Wells pointed out, moving now to grab a blood pressure monitor and some other supplies. "Undoubtedly if she accepts who she is, the speed-force will allow her to exist back on her home Earth, but until that moment she's trapped here. I doubt she can visit any other Earth either. But you know Jesse, she's a brave and determined girl, this could make or break her. We cannot force her to do what she doesn't want to do, but trying to remove the speed-force from her could be tricky. Like Barry she was chosen; rejecting the gift could be dangerous."
"Wally was hit too…" Barry breathed, standing back from Jesse, Harry, Caitlin and Cisco; he, Kara and Jay watched from a safe distance, although Barry could tell the super-powered woman was just itching to speak to Harry herself, likely wanting answers on why her adoptive father left without a goodbye.
"His powers haven't manifested? I suspect it's different for different people. You, Allen, slipped into a coma for nine months, Jesse would have done the same without your interference. Wally however is an adventurous kid, he wouldn't take anything lying down, not even his new destiny. Give him time though."
"Joe suspected…" Barry muttered now, remember Iris telling him about Joe breaking his favourite cup in an effort to get Wally to catch it with speed, only for nothing to happen and the cup to indeed, break.
"A father always knows," Harry stated simply, now putting an IV line into Jesse's arm before sighing satisfactorily. "She's stable." He looked up at Caitlin, who nodded in agreement before he turned to look at Barry and Kara.
Kara could see Wells was tired, he probably hadn't had any sleep since he'd left the first time, but she had to know, she had to ask him –
"I didn't have time," Harry spoke before Kara could. He knew what his adoptive daughter wanted to say, and suddenly felt guilty for leaving. He had to explain. "Jesse was going to go back no matter what and I didn't know if I wanted to go with her until the last minute. I should have written or called or, I don't know, anything but I didn't and I apologise. I should have thought more of you, and I didn't. Jesse is my daughter though, my flesh and blood. I know you don't have anyone like that, maybe the closest person being Barry or the alien from the other Earth you're cloned from or maybe even Duplicate herself…" he talked himself into silence, seeing the battle being played out behind Kara's eyes, the thoughts colliding in her brain.
He hoped she could forgive him. Harry had liked the clone when she was first made and wanted to get to know her now that she had obviously grown up just a bit and help her grow even more to the potential and the hero she could become. Harry hoped when Jesse finally accepted who she was she would want to stay on this Earth too, so Harry himself could stay.
For Kara it had been so easy to hate on Harry for leaving her, but he raised a valid point; if Barry had to go away, if there was only one chance to go with him, to wherever, she would follow without hesitation, without thought to her adoptive father or sister. Barry had cared about her before the word go, had already known what she was, who she was and who she could be. He had put so much love in her that Kara wouldn't want to leave him forever.
She moved forward and wrapped her arms around Harry before he could protest. Of course she hadn't mastered her strength properly yet, but somehow she knew the exact pressure she should put in the hug that didn't break Harry's ribcage or back. "I'm sorry about Jesse," she whispered in his ear as she held on to her dad.
-PowerFlash-
Iris strode into the Central City Picture News' office, a disposable cup of CC Jitters coffee in hand and not paying attention to what was going on around her – her thoughts were still on Harry and Jesse. True she had never really got on with Jesse, barely having spoken to her in the time she was on this Earth, but her father had proved a daring individual, risking life and limb for his daughter, and loathe as she was to admit it, she actually had liked Earth-2's Harrison Wells. She hoped Team Flash could save Jesse for his sake.
She had actually wanted to stay with the others, especially after finding out about Jay's home world in ruin, but calling in sick or working from home wasn't going to work today, especially by the call from one of her overly fussy co-workers at the paper. Scott, her boss and one-time-date, seemed to have been fired that morning according to the colleague (not that Iris really cared, she'd never really felt for Scott in the way she had for Eddie, or even Barry of late), and everything was up in the air – no one could be away from the office today.
So, coffee in hand and some fifteen minutes after the panicked call, Iris had walked into the office and stopped in sudden shock. Now she knew where the fear had come from, and why all her co-workers were gathered near the editor-in-chief's office.
"Ah, finally. Glad you could join us Miss. East." Cat Grant stood in high heels, in a remarkable and probably expensive dress, seeming to tower over everyone else in spite of her smaller stature compared to some of the others gathered around her.
"It's 'West' actually," Iris found herself correcting the CatCo Media boss before she could stop herself. She found herself staring at the woman in shock as well as everyone else. She had never thought she would actually meet the Cat Grant.
A small smile curled on Cat's lusciously red lips at this remark to which she responded, "Whatever. You're late anyway and your co-workers have been dying to know what the top-boss is doing here in Central. Now that I have everyone gathered I can tell you all that I'm here on a semi-permanent basis, to bring order and sanity to this branch of CatCo that your previous bosses seemed to have neglected
"Mr. Evans was a bad choice in replacing the late Eric Larkin, rest his soul, considering he didn't know what sells a story" Cat seemed to be loving having an audience to speak to, but her eyes lingered on Iris longer than any of the others as she continued, "and that is hope. Hope and heroes, to be precise. Larkin didn't last long enough to garner a true feel for the main Central City meta-human here, the Flash, but Evans wanted to villainise him from the get-go, in spite of all the heroic deeds he has thus far done. That will not do. This city needs a hero and the Flash is it."
Iris couldn't believe what she was hearing. The media mogul of National City was praising the Flash, was praising Barry. If her reputation really did precede her, this was nigh on impossible, even for the woman who once put Perry White in his place. "Central City needs hope in its dark days. When this Zoom character seem to claim the city as his and unleash all hell upon you, Evans still didn't want to light the spark of hope, Miss East here had to write her own article in spite of his orders…"
"Actually…" Iris was about to correct Ms. Grant on several factors there, but it seemed Cat wasn't listening.
"I have come to right some terrible wrongs and I may be here to stay if this city proves interesting. I have a young son whom I refuse to let in harm's way however, so if any Zooms return…" Cat Grant didn't finish her sentence and she didn't have to; everyone knew what she meant. "Anyway. Now I have said my piece, I expect you all to get to work. I think a new headline is in order: 'Cat Grant Comes to Central City' no, actually 'Media Giant Makes History' yes, that will work better." She clapped her hands and the others quickly dispersed; however Iris remained. She had an unusual feeling Cat wasn't done with her.
"Eileen," Cat finally spoke to Iris, the girl beginning to realise that Cat made a purpose of getting names wrong so decided not to correct her this time, "come, I have to discuss with you something that may interest you." She turned on her five-inch heels and moved quickly to the office so recently occupied by Scott, only to stop as she opened the door, and groaned. "Oh so small and dank. I expect open plan, television screen on all news channels, a large desk, oh no, no, no, this will not do!"
However, she moved over the threshold and over to the window, muttering something about 'ground floor living' and 'appreciating the city' before she turned to Iris once more. "I have great plans for this newspaper, Eileen; I mean to turn it into the biggest cornerstone of this city and that all starts with you."
"Me?" Iris breathed, nerves erupting in her stomach. Barely two years ago she had been writing articles in a blog and working in a coffee house to make ends meet, dreaming of a life in journalism and now she was speaking to one of the biggest journalist in American history, even if she hadn't quite yet made a name for herself outside National City.
"You are my meta-human correspondent after all" Cat stated, somewhat airily, "It's what I got you hired for to start with. No one wanted to write about 'The Blur' when he first turned up, and yet your little blogs proved different. I have an eye for talent, Eileen, remember that."
"You were the one to get the Picture News to hire me?" Iris breathed in disbelief, shocked at the information she was being given.
"Mr. Larkin was hardly willing to bring you on board" Cat responded reasonably, "surely you had to know there was a reason for him hiring you, for keeping you. I thought you had a smart head on that body."
"I did… I – I mean I do!" Iris quickly agreed, her mind racing. Indeed, Larkin had seemed resistant to hire her, but still had done so, keeping her on in spite of her concentrated articles on The Flash, and had even passed her on to the reluctant Mason Bridge to learn more of the paper and build up a status. It would have been easier to have fired her, or got someone else at the newspaper to write about The Flash altogether, but he had leaned on her to write the articles, expected her to know the Flash's moves.
Because Cat had insisted.
"Good," Cat was saying, moving around the small desk to take a seat, "because from this moment on you are my number one meta-human correspondent here. Whatever acts these extra-normal human beings do, whether it's with The Flash or not, you are to write them. I get final approval of course, but no-one else touches the topic apart from yourself. I see big things for you. The first of which is getting me a dairy-free latte from that coffee house you used to work for."
"I – what?!" Iris shook her head, trying to make sure she had heard her boss right.
"On second thought, there's that 'The Flash' beverage I keep hearing about. I would like to try that" Cat wasn't exactly listening to anything besides her own voice. She had pulled out a tablet from her bag and was already typing something on it.
"I'm your meta-human correspondent, you said, not your Personal Assistant!" Iris protested.
"Well, until I get someone, you'll have to do both," Cat stated simply, not looking up from the screen, "I would have so liked to have brought Siobhan here with me," she lamented now, "but she was much better taking over running the place than staying on as my assistant…" She looked up and her eyebrows raised at seeing Iris standing there, still. "Well, what are you still doing here? A Soya Flash drink from the Jitters and make sure it's hot when you get it to me!"
Agitated and slightly dumbfounded, Iris retreated from the office. No doubt Cat would be asking her to find a proper assistant soon, but until then it looked like she was serving tables again, albeit one table and one highly arrogant customer. Walking out of the office doors and back onto the street, she only just comprehended what Cat had revealed to her; she had been the one to get the paper to hire her, to keep her, and it made sense. It wasn't like her work was outstanding, even now, but if she had that connection to The Flash that no one else did, she was pretty much indispensable to Cat Grant and the paper.
Perhaps she could use this to her advantage…