#also Barry's a forensic scientist

[unreversedumbrella]

I know the show runners of MAWS want to focus on the superman mythos (and I agree) but if i were to choose one hero to make a cameo it'd be the flash only because i think the superman v flash race is the kind of silly fun this series has going for it

[thelesbianthespianposts]

hey btw every time you dumb down a superhero in order to make the resident Bat look smarter an angel fucking dies

[docgold13]

Heroes & Villains The DC Animated Universe - Paper Cut-Out Portraits and Profiles

Elseworlds Addendum - The Flash (Barry Allen)

Barry Allen was a forensic scientist who worked for the Central City Police Department.  Late one night when he was at his lab, a freak lightning bolt struck a nearby shelf dousing Allen with a strange concoction of unnamed chemicals.  In some bizarre fashion, the result was that Allen could connect to ‘The Speed Force.’  

As such, he could now run at supersonic speed, had matching reflexes and could heal rapidly from injury.  Furthermore, this Speed Force also protected Allen from the frictional velocity of moving at such extreme speeds.  With these newfound powers, Allen donned a crimson bodysuit sporting a lightning bolt and dubbed himself ‘The Flash’ becoming a crimefighter patrolling the streets of Central City.  

The Flash would go on to help form the first iteration of The Justice League and also married his longterm girlfriend Iris West.  Allen perished in a valiant effort to save the multiverse during the Crisis of Infinite Earths; at which point his former sidekick, Wally West, stepped in to become the new Flash.  Allen returned from the dead several years later thanks to some complex machination of The Speed Force.  Reassuming the mantle of The Flash, Allen returned to protecting his city and serving on The Justice League. 

Wally West was the main Flash of DC Comics at the time that the Justice League animated series debuted.  As such, Wally became The Flash of the DCAU continuity (with elements of Barry Allen’s backstory incorporated into Wally’s character).  Although a colleague of Wally’s at the Central City Police Department who resembled Barry did make a cameo in the Justice League Unlimited episode, ‘Flash and Substance.’ 

The Barry Allen version of The Flash first appeared in the pages of Showcase #4 (1956).  

[chaoticallyfluffy]

"What are you, a cop?" and "Now you see me now you don't" both sound interesting

For "What are you, a cop?"

Billy is deaged (actually deaged. He goes from 15 to 10 or something and doesnt remeber the league) during a mission. He suddenly woke up in the middle of a battle so he's freaked out. the Justice League take down the threat then try to calm the boy down, explaining that theyre heros and here to help.

Billy takes a moment to take that in... then bolts.

It takes a bit to catch the kid, he's surprisingly agile for his concerningly small size, but they manage to get him into the jet and hes pouting in the corner looking angrier than the league has ever seen him.

They try to ask questions. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Why are you so thin? Is there anyone we should call? But Billy stays silent and his glares stay intense until he finally speaks.

"I don't talk to pigs." he spits out, giving them the nastiest look as if his glare alone could poison and kill them.

They stare at him for a moment, processing that.

"We're not cops???" Clark says, unconvincingly. Hes never been more confused in his life and has definitely never been confused for a cop.

"Whats wrong with being a cop?" Barry, the forensic scientist, pouts.

They knew that Marvel had a bit of a weird relationship with cops but they didn't realize he hated them, and especially not with such a passion!

The league spends the whole jet ride back to the tower trying to convince Billy that not only are they not cops, but that cops shouldn't be something to be afraid of anyway.

Billy spends the whole trip explaining ACAB to them and that yes, they are in fact cops, and here's all the things that the police system has done wrong that the league have probably also done or been complicit in..

I just want to write Billy radicalizing the Justice League and the league helping to reform the police system.

---

For "Now you see me, now you dont"

In the original comics Billy can and will transform in front of anyone at anytime and they wont realize that it was a transformation. Why?because plot armor. They will just think that the boy ran away right as Captain Marvel appeared or something, and when Billy reappears they don't question it either.

In the fic, its a magic perk that came with the whole Champion of Magic package and its a perk he uses often and irresponsibly. He takes it to the extremes by transforming in front of large crowds (no one questions it), while being recorded (The camera shorts out and stops working completely), and even in front of villains (they curse when the captains escapes yet again, completely ignoring the little boy standing in the middle of their secret base)

The last one is how he figured out that even if he is very much Not supposed to be somewhere, he wont be questioned as long as the only people who see him there also saw Marvel transform in that area. If someone who didn't witness the transformation were to see him, they would realize he wasn't meant to be there and call him out which would cause the witnesses to notice it as well. Leaving the room and then returning would also snap them out of it and he would be questioned.

Its a pretty overpowered ability for a child to have access to and when your a street kid without any video games to play who gets chased out of public parks for being too 'dirty' and can't afford any toys, you have to get creative with your entertainment.

Billy wants to see just how far he can take this power, and decides to transform in front of as many people in one day as possible while on the most highly secure facility in earths orbit- the Watchtower.

Follow Billy as he stretches his powers to their limits by transforming in front of the Justice League while praying he doesn't get caught and see what pranks he's able to pull off in that time!

I really like both of these ideas and I definitely want to write them someday. I already have lots of ideas for ways Billy can abuse that particular power! For now I am focusing on a few other fics but these ones are somewhere in the queue.

[haveyoureadthisfanfic]

Summary: Straight guy worries he's being homophobic to gay roommate, realizes he's fallen in love with him. Plot twist: it turns out I don't have any problem with Barry kissing guys if it's me he's kissing. Len decides to renounce his life of crime and start a normal life, and ends up becoming roommates with Barry Allen, forensic scientist and total nuisance. For Leonard, Barry is just a mild annoyance who pays half of the rent - until he starts bringing his boyfriends home, and that's when things get complicated. Loosely based on this article that was floating around tumblr a while back.

Author: @coldflasher

Note from submitter: the series also features a 500+k season 1 rewrite, which is a deeply impressive feat of writing 

[thebisexualdogdad]

Earth 2-Barry Allen x Male!reader headcanons

*I'm currently doing a rewatch of the arrowverse and got to the earth 2 episodes and earth 2 Barry was so adorable I just had to write something for him. Anyways here's a quick recap for earth 2 for anyone who's forgotten because I surely did; Barry is still a forensic scientist, Iris is a detective, Joe is a lounge singer, Caitlin, Ronnie and Cisco are all evil metas and I brought Eddie back just for fun since Barry is with reader

● you're a new detective who fell for the adorable nerdy forensic scientist Barry Allen of earth 2

● when you originally asked him out on a date he thought you were just messing with him cause everyone at the station knew he liked you

● but why would the handsome detective (who was also his best friend Iris' partner) want to go out with him?

● Iris assured him that you really did like him and that date eventually led to you guys getting married 3 years later

● every morning before work you make breakfast while he makes the coffee

● it's a nice peaceful moment to start your day and spend quality time with Barry

● you also help him pick out a bowtie that matches whatever sweater and vest he's wearing that day

● double dates out with Iris and Eddie to see Joe sing at Jitterbugs

● as well as having dinner once a week with his parents

● you hear the "so when are we getting grandkids" question all the time

● "soon mom, soon"

● he's so pure and never swears

● he only says "what the heck" or "dang it" or "fudge"

● it makes you laugh at how sweet it is

● watching sci fi shows with Barry and not knowing anything that's going on

● he tries to explain to you all the sciency stuff behind it which still doesn't make any sense but he gets so excited and is so cute doing so you happily listen to him

● being impressed by your husband every time he creates new tech to help in your hunt for Killer Frost, Deathstorm, Reverb and other metas

● Barry keeps tracks of every meta you have put away and all of your other achievements to brag about how great of a detective you are

● one time you and Iris faced off against Killer Frost and Deathstorm and she nearly froze you to death

● Barry never left your bedside in the months you were recovering

● "Barry stop worrying I'm okay"

● "you're the love of my life Y/N I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you"

● "well it's a good thing you don't have to find out"

● when you get approved to go back to work Barry and Iris throw you a big welcome back party

● Barry is super romantic

● he plans something big for every anniversary from the anniversary of the day you met to your first date/first kiss and even the day you proposed

● you don't know how but he manages to get reservations at the most exclusive restaurants in Central city

● Iris "so what did you and Barry get up to over the weekend?"

● "Barry surprised me with dinner at that fancy French place downtown"

● "how?? Eddie and I have been trying to get a reservation there for months but they are booked until next year"

● even though you've been together for years Barry is still so nervous in the bedroom like it's the first time

● he's clumsy and always knocking things over, you've had to replace so many lamps in your home

● he gets embarrassed by how his body reacts to you and still apologizes for moaning too loudly or bucking his hips uncontrollably

● which you always have to reassure him that it's okay for him to enjoy what's happening and that you love how turned on he gets

● especially when you are role-playing and pretending to arrest him

● or when he sees you in your gym clothes after a work out

● he really can't help staring at your biceps it's his weakness

● when earth 1 Barry shows up to fight zoom he is shocked to find out you two are married (as you are Joe's partner on his earth that he's been crushing on) after you take him to an empty hallway at the station to make out when he was pretending to be your Barry

● your Barry finds out and is not happy about it, "he got frisky with my husband?? I have to find this guy and give him a piece of my mind"

● "you're so cute when you're jealous"

● Cisco "I've been trying to get my Barry to ask you out Y/N for so long now I have proof that you guys would be adorable together"

● Barry "maybe we are just meant to be on every earth"

[eway]

OK SO

I had a dream that Miles Edgeworth from Ace Attorney was close friends with Barry Allen from DC Comics. And knew he was The Flash. Like, Barry is a forensic scientist so he worked with Edgey who just figured it out. The two became as close as brothers. I think they met during Bratworth era but I'm not sure the dream did not let me know, only that they were as close as Phoenix is to Edgey (and I headcanon them being as close as brothers so...)

This is obviously after Investigations 2 because Edgey took in Sebastian Debeste. And yeah Barry basically became friends with him to, and Sebby became friends with Wally West but that isn't relevant.

Anyway, so Barry takes his two friends to the Justice League Watch Tower. There's only Green Lanterns. Then everyone passes out and a Lantern from another planet is DEAD and all evidence seems to point to Sebby.

So naturally everyone is warped to another planet. Edgeworth tries to contact Phoenix but this is taking place during the Professor Layton crossover so he's baking bread with Maya. So Hal Jordan, a Green Lantern, decides to defend Sebby but this guy is not a lawyer. Edgeworth acts as assistant to him, and Barry is forced to be the detective.

Hal messes up a bit by asking for the sentence to be reduced because his client is a minor. This makes people upset, but the prosecutor laughs. The judge reveals that the punishment is more severe if the person is a minor, and it was already execution so it's just like, painful execution so he thanks the defense and the Prosecutor laughs very hard.

I don't remember many details of the case but it was ridiculous, emotional, 3 days long, and gave final case of a game vibes

Turns out the prosecutor was the culprit, and THE REVERSE FLASH IN DISGUISE BECAUSE THIS GUY DECIDED TO USE HIS SUPER POWERS TO FRAME BARRY'S FRIEND FOR A CRIME THAT WOULD RESULT IN DEATH, AND MAKE BARRY TESTIFY AGAINST HIM BECAUSE THIS MAN HATES BARRY AND LOVES TO MESS WITH HIM.

He says he has a backup plan in case the trial was lost, but then PHOENIX CALLS EDGEWORTH. Edgeworth tells him not now but Wright stays on the line. Reverse Flash reveals he placed bombs all over this planet that will explode in one minute and as the Lanterns deal with that alongside Flash he kidnaps the two regular humans to make Flash do a "You can only save one thing"

Edgy drops the phone as he is taken and now Hal has to explain to Phoenix what the heck is happening while also diffusing bombs and then I woke up!

Also Phoenix apparently doesn't think superheros exist

[madametamma]

hay I had this idea for a flash appearance in maws. Basically Barry Allen a forensic scientist and a cop was temporarily transferred to metropolis for a while and his girlfriend Iris West a reporter for Central City who is in metropolis tried to get a scoop on Superman both end up meet Clark, lois, Jimmy and Kara and for Iris she knows that the 4 for them have info on Superman but they refuse to give it so she tries to look for it on her own and she's even a little competitive with Lois while Barry is just having fun with the rest of the group just chatting and having a good time. When a bad guy comes and both Superman and Supergirl make the scene they see someone's already dealing with it AKA flash the 3 of them team up, take down the bad guy then introduce themselves to each other and they end up being friends. They also accidentally reveal their secret identities to each other when they shout out Lois's, Jimmy's and iris's names. After they'r basically friends both inside and outside of their superhero lives. I see Barry as this really friendly and chatterbox type of person while Iris is this nice yet competitive reporter who has a friendly rivalry with Lois.

I want to add that Barry shocks everyone by being an incredibly good mystery solver. Like Sherlock Holmes level detective, he's REALLY good at picking up small details and putting pieces together. It's partly a thing he picked up from his job and partly because his eyes, ears, and mind works so fast so he can pick up on tiny clues that would normally pass an average person by.

He seems like such a chill, happy go lucky dude, who on the outset doesn't look like he's paying attention at all when suddenly while munching on a doughnut or whatever, He'll just casually explain how he's figured out Superman's secret identity with a big dopey grin on his face.

Iris loves to use his ability to get a leg up on whatever story she's working on. She bribes him with snacks, but they both know he'll help her whether she gives them to him or not, and she'll give him the snacks whether he helps or not because she knows he's useless when he gets too hungry.

[we-cross-universe-king-relate]

my adventures with Justice League part 3

as I've said in my previous posts this is a headcanon of what would happen if members of the Justice League would show up and how they would show up and it'll keep up with the themes of young adults and so appearance-wise they'll look young and have an age limit of either 22 or 23.

The next member of the Justice League is Barry Allen AKA flash.

To keep up with Barry's origins after the accident in his lab he spent most of his time studying to be a forensic scientist and work with the police. It's around this time that he makes a name for himself as the flash.

One day Barry gets stationed in metropolis and stays there for a while. For the most part his time at metropolis is somewhat boring to say the least but there are times when the excitement picks up and this excitement comes in the form of Clark and Kara battling the bad guys of metropolis. While Kara and Clark are busy Barry decides to deal with the rest as his superhero persona flash.

When Clark and Kara are done dealing with the bad guys they are dealing with they decide to deal with the rest that got away only to find that they've already been dealt with. Once they see the bad guys dealt with they hear or more like somewhat see a blur passing between them and decide to chase it when they surprisingly reach it they find flash. Clark and kara ask if flash is is the one who dealt with all the bad guys and he simply replies yes afterwards Clark and kara thank him and flash just bolts off without saying another word.

for Barry helping Clark and Kara actually gave Barry a reason to want to stay in metropolis a little longer than what he was originally assigned for he also out of curiosity wanted to know more about metropolis is to superheroes so he goes directly to the only people who know anything about him: Clark, Lois, kara and Jimmy.

When he meets the group it's by chance because they're all on an assignment from Perry to look into the mysterious flash who entered metropolis. Barry tells the group that he actually knows something about flash and agrees to help them if they give him information about Superman and Supergirl. Both groups reluctantly agree to a little info swap they're both cautious to not give too much information afterwards they simply spend time with each other the group gets to know Barry as the sort of chatterboxy, friendly and excitable person if I had to describe this version of Barry I would describe him as"The chatterbox friend you don't want to stop talking to"

Clark and Barry get along swimmingly, they are very good conversations and to an extent have a laugh.

Lois and Barry get along well due to their mutual sharing of info Lois also gets a kick out of Barry's excitability.

Jimmy is surprised to find that Berry is a fan of his flame bird stream. To say the least Jimmy and Barry get along fantastically due to both of them having a bit of a similar personality.

Kara does Tend to get annoyed with Barry because of his chatterbox personality but their friends nonetheless.

After a while of talking with one another something happens in the form of an explosion that causes Clark and Kara to split from the group and go check it out in their superhero identities when Jimmy and Lois turn around they see that Barry is gone too.

Explosion turns out to be a bad guy this time a bad guy from Central City where Barry is from. Because Clark and Kara don't know anything about this person he gives them something of a hard time but nothing they can't handle then out of nowhere flash shows up and handles the guy for the two of them the bad guy also reveals that he knows flash. When all of it is said and done and the bad guy from Central City is dealt with Superman, Supergirl and flash have another talk but because I'm sure this version of Cara doesn't understand privacy when flash refuses to reveal his secret identity Kara uses her x-ray vision and sees that it's Barry causing Barry to freak out but in order to calm him down Clark and Kara reveal that it's them getting very to freak out less but still enough because of the fact that the two people he just met are Superman and Supergirl.

After everything they meet up with Lois and Jimmy and Barry tells them that he's flash giving them a bit of a shock. they all decide to keep each other secret and from then on they decided to be friends after Barry's time in metropolis is up he has to go back to Central City before he leaves Clark Kara Lois and Jimmy decide to see him off and exchange information giving each other's phone numbers so they can stay in touch making barry another member of their group.

This version of Barry is similar to other versions of him having blonde hair and blue eyes, but and I'll only go into a little detail, a little lean as well but not muscular.

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

Tiny Not Sober AUs for DC/DP to encourage my hyper fixation:

1) Jack Fenton is the time traveling clone/son of both Superman and Batman. An organization mixed their DNA. A scientist felt guilty about raising a baby to be a weapon so they stole the baby. Would have given them over to the heroes. Didn’t happen. Baby got lost in time to become Jack. He’s thrilled learning this when it comes out after the organization is exposed and the heroes look for the baby.

2) Okay so I read a fic where Maddie is the one gunho about dissection and stuff while Jack FREAKS out, saving his son. I wanna use that idea and have Jack discover Danny is Phantom when he was walks into the lab to find his wife HURTING THEIR KID. He stops her, learns everything, tries to help his son and is forced to knock Maddie out. He takes Danny and Jazz, running to Gotham to protect them because Jazz was also locked up because Maddie learned she is liminal. Jack meets a very nice man who runs a club he works as a bouncer for while keeping his kids safe. His kids were making friends and his boss was awesome about the fake ID stuff. Now if only that furry wasn’t breaking things at the club and his son’s ghost enemies didn’t follow him

3) I latched onto Jack. I don’t know why. But okay so Jack and Maddie get divorced after the portal thing because they found Danny going into it, freaked and Maddie didn’t take it well. Jack refuses to let her hurt him and divorces her. Her claiming her son is half ghost, evil and must be destroyed gets held up in court.

Then Phantom shit happens and everyone figures it out really early. Maddie is keeping the portal open and shit. I’m a little not sober as I write this so… I will expand later if asked. Jack decides he needs to call up his old friend from college he made before he got into ghosts: Barry Allen, forensics scientist. Why? “Oh he’s the Flash. The guy was BAD at hiding it. Like super bad.”

*proceeds to not see that Vlad is evil until Danny spells it out* “ah. Oh maybe it’s cause we dated.”

Cue record scratch and insanity.

4) Ellie out of nowhere rapidly gets sick. Trans!Danny needs to mix her DNA with someone else’s or she’ll die. He panics and uses a random DNA sample from the ghost zone cause there’s a ghost there with an obsession for science he was visiting. The DNA is of either: Tim or Dick.

Ellie gets deaged to newborn and Danny freaks out. Of course now he’s aware he needs to tell the other parent cause it’s be fucking rude otherwise. Luckily, he had slept with the other ‘parent’ long enough it fits. Danny has some help acting as if it was a pregnancy out of nowhere. As in ‘didn’t notice at all’. Mostly doctors help faking it and some illusions.

He then contacts the other dad.

Or: Ellie’s orb gets absorbed and now Danny has to give birth so he seduces the other person so Ellie can have two dads. Or he just has to find someone to do that with?!?

5) … I have a thing about pregnancy fics and kid stories but like: some rouge kidnaps trans!Danny cause his DNA was in the system after his parents had him and Jazz be put into it before he went ghost. Why? Cause Jack was worried that his connection to his cousin Clark would be discovered. Because Jack knew Clark was Superman and worried. (Also: this AU has the parents knowing from the get go cause I keep trying to find a fic like that, with good parents.)

But so like I did some bitty gritty research on this but fuck it its a world with ghosts and superheroes. I don’t care if it doesn’t match with reality. Danny’s DNA has him being riven to be a genetically compatible person to one of the bat kids. Like any child born from them would be the ‘perfect’ specimen or bled or whatever. So now Danny got snatched and pregnant and the Batfam saves him cause Jack calls up his cousin. They find out and it’s chaos.

6) Trans!Danny is the twin of Damian cause I’ve only seen it once but the sentance: you picked a name for yourself but go by another is stuck in my head and also the shenanigans of Damian learning his twin survived, is really a boy and all is fun. Bonus: Ellie is a baby so Damian is convinced he’s an uncle.

He’s not wrong.

[ofheroicspeedster]

@donotcallmeelsa

We save innocents; but how come it’s harder to save those we care about. The ones we love. 

Barry Allen he was the fastest man alive. He had no limits. He would race against time, alter the universe in order to protect his own future and those he loved. He wasn’t the same dork he was years ago. He had a big heart; someone who was willing to sacrifice himself. For the greater good. He was hero in his own nature. He worked daily as a Forensic Scientist. He was the guy that found the answers; the dug through the scut; the finger marks, he was the one that had to solve the mystery. Not that it was a humor that he always needed to save others in danger when he wasn’t strong enough. He wasn't fast enough to save his own mother; the night that haunted him to this day. The yellow lights; the red flashes that consumed him. Barry was a saver, he tended to lean into the hero methods. He had formed a family within Star Labs since he became the impossible, the remarkable the Flash. The man that ran faster than life. He had people he called family outside of Joe and Iris. Cisco was his man; the man that came up with the name. The look; the red suit that I wore each night or day when crime came knocking on my door. I was consumed with the heroics. But I also noticed the people around me. I noticed that Caitlin had been silent, she’d been shaky as they say. 

We were friends; but I could tell she was hiding a secret. What secret I had asked myself a billion of times. But each time I tried to fumble my words out to ask I felt frozen on the spot. I felt like my heels had hit the ground and instead I just nodded lamely. I realized I couldn’t be a helping hand if the redhead wasn’t able to let me in herself. She’d been a helping hand for me; through my years of being a hero. I was okay because of her. Which is why last night when I was laying in bed I impulsively sent a text. One I thought but never thought I’d send. It was asking for coffee; a meet up this morning. 

Was I nervous? Yeah but not because I liked Caitlin in a more friendly manner. It was because I felt uncertain for the first if she’d show. If she’d want to be seen here today. I could feel her pain; that she was hurting. All I wanted to do was help her. But I was left in the dark. I had changed rather quickly this morning; into a plain blue shirt; and jeans. Casual as I paced the sidewalk leading into jitters; a place of comfort; a place where the male was able to be himself. Barry Allen the dork; not the mask he wore at night. This was the version he wanted for Caitlin a trusted friend in the storm. Pausing his pacing at the bench; he slowly lowered himself down to the bench pending her own arrival if the female decided to show. 

And that was huge if; all I knew was I wasn't giving up now; not on her.

[ricisidro]

#OTD today 25 April 2024, #TheFlash (#Arrowverse tv series) will vanish in the midst of a multiversal Crisis - as reported by Iris West-Allen. Coincidentally, Central City police forensic scientist Barry Allen was also reported among those missing in this event.

#DCComics #DCUniverse

[thwackk]

You know I've always found it weird that out of all people, Barry is the character DC chose to make their copaganda tool. Because if anyone has a backstory that would make someone hate and distrust the police it would be Barry. Like his mom was murdered and the cops immediately arrest and put away his dad for life and refuse to reopen the case. Barry goes into the forensic field in the first place because he acknowledges the flaws of the justice system and wants to make sure it never happens again and to prove his dad innocent. It's just a really hypocritical backstory to his "cops are good" mentality nowadays.

Someone correct me if I get some of my facts wrong:

Well in the original silver age comics none of that happens to his parents, he’s just already a cop and scientist and suddenly gets superpowers. Giving him that type of backstory instantly gave him more depth and made him more intriguing as a character and I actually disagree, I don’t think he would “hate cops” seeing as he was practically raised by one (if we’re going with this story). I think moreso he would hate the system and how it works. I also don’t believe he would think “all cops are good” either because he’s a logical person with common sense but alas. the writers hate using their brains. anyways,

It makes complete sense why he himself would want to dive into that world and actively be a part of it because after witnessing such an event go down so unfairly as a child and wanting more than anything to know the truth abt his own mother’s murder, he would of course want to learn to do it himself so he can help other people going through the same thing, and find the truth because he knows exactly what it’s like and how frustratingly unfair it is. he knows how much it sucks. He doesn’t trust the system to do it, he trusts himself. But unfortunately, he is not given that type of depth, the execution is not handled very well half the time

[taxi-cab-to-slowtown]

Core Disaster Week-- Day 5

Mission Report: May 25, 20XX

Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne, Robin

Mission Completed: Young Justice Mission XXX

Summary: Look, weird things happen in our line of work, but this was weird even for that. We got transported to a universe where there was no such things as superheroes or superpowers, and let me say, it was trippy as all fuck. 

Notes: I find it really interesting that in this universe Bart was Barry’s son and not his grandson, it lends credence to my developing theory that Bart might be from the future, but his true intended time is the present. It would explain why Kon and I are his soulmates despite being from what would seem to be his past. If in a universe where time-travel does not exist he ends up in this time period anyway, maybe this is the period he’d meant to be in. 

Tw: Dick, don’t read this. You don’t want to know some of the stuff that happened. For everyone else, TW for child abuse. 

Notes For B: This is going to be weirdly sentimental and you can completely ignore it if it’s out of line, but that you for being my dad. I just got a look at a world where I never ended up becoming Robin or a part of your family, and it sucked. Robin, and this family, is such an intrinsic part of who I am that I wouldn’t be the same person without it. So, thank you. 

Report: I woke up this morning in my old bed in Drake manor. At first I thought it was some kind of prank– Jason has been known to randomly move me when I sleep and put me in weird places to take pictures on my phone and then make fun of me for being such a deep sleeper– but then I noticed that there were things off about the room. 

A lot of my current hyper-fixations and special interests were laying around the room. Books about coding that I didn’t own before now,  and a few time-travel theorem books. Turns out I always end up researching that, even if my soulmate isn’t a time traveller. There were other things there too. There was a Deadpool poster on my wall, which was weird because I’ve always had trouble getting into comic books because of how different they are from reality. There were also multiple school awards on a shelf that I was never able to get because I was always so busy. There was also a photo of me kissing a blond kid that I faintly recognised from school. 

Anway, really, really trippy. 

I grabbed my phone to call Kon or Bart, but didn’t find their names in my contacts. That was okay because I had their numbers memorised anyway, so I called them. 

Bart, it turned out, was the son of Barry Allen and Iris West. Iris was still a reporter, but Barry was just a normal forensic scientist who never had a lab-accident involving lightning. He also told me that he didn’t have superspeed. His soulmark was still on his chest– as was mine– and everything else seemed the same, but neither he nor Barry had powers, and it seemed that he hadn’t travelled through time. 

Upon further searching, we discovered some more discrepancies, the worst of which being that Wally West had never gotten out of his abusive household and had been beaten to death when he was a teenager. I guess that without super-speed and realising that Barry was the Flash, Wally would never have survived. Bart cried for a while after that, demanding that we find a way to get back home. 

Then I called Kon. Who, in this universe, was still the son of Lex Luthor and Clark Kent, but Clark was trans and the two of them were together. His name was also Conner Luthor and he was the Lexcorp heir. He said that it was really tripping, and that when he’d first walked in and saw Clark and Lex being lovey-dovey in the kitchen he’d almost died of shock. He also didn’t have his powers at all. 

We got Kon to steal a jet from his father and pick us both up so we could find a way back into our universe. I broke into Wayne manor in hopes of finding the Batcave, but it wasn’t there. I did discover though that Dick Grayson suffered from severe depression and was labelled insane after he murdered a man in cold blood when he was eight. Apparently, he’d lost both his parents, killed Tony Zucco, was confined to the manor for the rest of his life, his little brother was murdered– not by the Joker, but by some guy trying to get to the Wayne fortune– and then figured out that either his soulmate didn’t want him or was dead. I couldn’t exactly tell him that I knew who his soulmate was and exactly what had happened to him. 

We got out of Wayne manor and managed to track down a device that Lex was making to try to travel through universes. We broke into Lexcorp in order to use it, but Lex caught us. He asked Kon what he was up to. Kon told him that his machine worked and we were from another universe, before flipping the switch. We got back to our bodies just fine, but I’m sort of worried that Lex Luthor from that world might be in the body of our Lex Luthor. 

Follow Up: Keep an eye out for any weird behaviour from Lex.

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 2: A Ghost World

Pairing: Barry Allen x OFC  // Fandom: The Flash

Story Masterlist ● Previous Stories: Rise Up • It Had To Be You ● Belén’s Masterlist

• Can also be found on Fanfic and Ao3 •

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @arrthurpendragon​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @anotherunreadblog​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @maaaaarveeeeel​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @stareyedplanet​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @foxesandmagic​​​ 

The incessant knocking on the Palayta residence made Rayan scream at his sister to get it.

"You're so lazy!" Belén shouted from downstairs and went to go answer the door. She was mighty surprised when she found Barry on the other side.

The man was nervous as hell. Her face was indescribable yet fear worthy.

"For the record, my brother says I should punch you in the face," Belén warned. She leaned her head on the side of the door, refusing to open it completely.

Barry rubbed the side of his neck, accepting his fault. "Yeah, I deserve it. Probably deserve a lot more to be honest."

"Why'd you stand me up? If you didn't want to go out with me anymore, you only had to say," she spoke quietly, and fraily. Barry knew that was her voice when she was just despondent.

"I didn't mean to, I swear, I just…" Barry paused to think we'll how he was going to explain. "Can we talk, please?"

Belén nodded. She thought she deserved an explanation and she was going to get one. She stepped out on the front porch and closed the door. "So, what happened?"

Barry had Wally's full consent to divulge his secret. He figured after being helped, Barry deserved to clear things up with Belén. So, that's exactly what Barry did. Belén listened and never spoke until Barry was finished.

"I know it must be hard to believe but—"

"Actually, no," Belén cut him off. She moved to sit down on the front steps of the porch. Barry followed and sat down next to her. "I mean...Iris has given me such ridiculous excuses that...her brother being the Flash is really the only logical explanation for everything."

"Is it?" Barry was a little doubtful that this was going to so easy.

"Yeah," Belén passed a hand down her hair in thought before nodding. "It does. And so...you just...got yourself entangled with it?"

"Well, basically…" Barry left his speed out of the story for the moment. "And I'm so sorry. I just...I was on my way for our date, I swear, and...it just happened."

"So...you didn't stand me up?" Belén asked, just to make sure.

"No, no! Of course not!" Barry quickly shook his head. "I couldn't - who would stand you up?" He gestured to her, making her blush and smile. "I mean, really?"

"It's happened," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "My last date said I wasn't up to his level. He's this brilliant scientist at Mercury Labs. Carlton."

Barry physically cringed at the reminder of her ex. He was sure he would despise that man in any reality. That was the price someone paid if they kidnapped his Belén.

"I mean...you're this top-notch forensics so I just thought…" Belén shrugged again, "...you'd rather be with someone like that. It's totally fine if you do…" she added much to quickly and failed to look nonchalant about it too.

Barry smiled at her. "I know who I want to be with." Belén slowly looked at him, actually a bit nervous to hear the answer. "Bells, it's always been you!"

"Bells?" she repeated, reminding Barry that nickname had never come into play for her in this time line.

"Sorry…"

But Belén ended up smiling after a moment of thinking about it. "I like it," she bobbed her head.

Barry smiled at her too. He scooted closer to her, hoping his nerves weren't too obvious right now. "Okay then, Bells, would you please consider giving me another chance at a date?"

Belén seemed to be thinking about it until she took pity of Barry's nervousness. "Mm, one condition."

"Anything!" he swore.

"No Chinese food. I hate Chinese food."

Barry laughed and remembered that was the first thing she had said to him after—

He stopped suddenly when he realized he couldn't remember. He knew there'd been a moment with those same words, involving him and her, but…

"Barry?" Belén noticed his frantic face. He snapped out of it and saw her concerned look. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah…" he slowly nodded. "Just...happy...that we're okay again." She scrutinized his face for any giveaway so he quickly moved onto the prime topic. "Um, so listen, Iris and Wally...they have this idea, of, um...meeting with Cisco...Ramon...but they said they need an access card or something to get into his building."

Belén smiled only so lightly. "So did you only apologize to get my help?" She truly enjoyed seeing his widened alarm.

"No! Absolutely not!"

"Mhm," she playfully rolled her eyes. "But since I'm such a good person, I'll help."

"Belén, it's not—"

But Belén got up from the porch ground and motioned him to wait. "You don't move, got it?"

"Yes, fine, but can we just clarify that I didn't apol—" Barry was forced into silence when she once again warned him to stay put. She walked back into the house and kept him waiting for all of two minutes. When she returned, she held a pass key in her hand. Barry was surprised to see her name written on it. It was very official. "How do you have one of those?"

Belén chuckled. "It's a long story. Well...not long, but...embarrassing. So, ready to go?"

"Uh, yeah…" Though confused, Barry gestured her to walk first. "Bells, you do know that I didn't apologize just to get your help, right?" Belén stopped walking and turned around. She purposely stayed silent to hear what else he would give her. "I don't want to ruin this," Barry stepped closer to her.

"Ruin what?" Belén asked. "Barry, I stapled you! If that didn't ruin things I don't know what would."

Barry smiled at her. "You are one of a kind—"

"And that's a nice way of saying I'm the only woman who's ever stapled you."

"And you are the only woman I'd like to be stapled by."

Belén laughed and gave him a hug. "Mm, we're definitely going on a date."

"I really hope so," Barry kept hold of her for a minute longer. It'd been far too long since he could have just one moment with her.

He really missed her and he wanted nothing more than to get back to where they were...just in this world of course. He brushed some hair from her face and felt her warm skin from a probable blush. Belén watched him come closer to her and didn't do anything to stop it. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't imagined what a kiss would be like between them.

And it was way better in real life.

It was a small kiss but a fulfilling one nonetheless. Belén slowly opened her eyes to meet Barry's gaze.

"Please tell me this is just the first of many?" She bit on her bottom lip.

"If I get lucky," Barry blurted and immediately regretted it. "Not that I-I—no! I meant—"

Belén laughed and pulled him down for a second kiss. Barry managed to remember that he loved when they cut each other's sentences off in this way. But for some reason, he was having trouble remembering some of those too.

"I'm sorry," Belén murmured against his lips.

"You? What for?"

Belén looked up at him with a matching apologetic smile. "Because you're not going to like the reason I have a pass key to see Cisco Ramon."

~ 0 ~

As it turned out, Cisco now worked in what used to be STAR Labs. Though once they were at the building, Barry realized Cisco didn't exactly "work" there.

"He owns the place," Barry repeated after listening to Iris' explanation.

He had learned from the very beginning that there was no STAR Labs in the new reality, and that Cisco had made himself rich with tech apps...he just never learned how filthy rich Cisco was.

"Cisco Ramon is the richest man in America," Belén said just as the elevator doors opened up.

"And you've got him wrapped around your finger," Iris nudged her.

The group were met with a fun, careless atmosphere inside the building. People bustled about fufilling duties, creating quite the ruckus with the music in the background. Of course, there was one voice that went above the rest, one that everyone in the group recognized instantly.

"LogicFrame is a relatively small startup," an older man was in the middle of conversing with Cisco himself. "The I.P. is expected to be in the low teens."

Cisco, rather carelessly, motioned the man to quit talking. He seemed much more interested in the tall brunette, dressed sharply, beside him. "Offer them 20 mil."

Barry was quite frankly in awe of what Cisco had created. The man himself was stark different from the Cisco he knew. He was in a blue suit and tie - something the old Cisco usually hated - and his hair was neatly tied back in a low pony tail. There were thick rimmed glasses framing his face...overall, this Cisco was the utter opposite of the old Cisco.

Belén cleared her throat and immediately caught Cisco's attention. She gave a meek wiggle of her fingers as a wave.

A new light flashed across Cisco's eyes when he saw her. He waved the brunette woman behind him to leave. "I got business to attend to." Before the brunette woman could even respond, he walked off towards Belén. "Your brother's not in today which means you have to be visiting me."

"I hope you're not busy," Belén began, rather embarrassed about his undivided attention.

"Mm, for you, never," Cisco gingerly took her hand and gave it a kiss on the back.

Barry's face went flat. He now understood perfectly how it was that Belén got a passkey to the building without actually working there. In this reality, Cisco Ramon still had a crush on Belén like he did in the previous time line. Only in this time line, he never got over it because he and Belén never got to know each other. They never got close enough to decide that they were better off as friends...and so Cisco was left with his initial image of Belén: she was a pretty, young woman.

Hell no.

It seemed like Iris was reading his thoughts because the moment his foot stepped forwards she grasped his arm. She shook her head at him.

"We need your help, Cisco," Belén went on with the plan without noticing the green-eyed speedster behind her.

Cisco looked past her and frowned. Things could never go his way, could they?

~ 0 ~

Cisco, very annoyed, led the group into a conference room, practically shouting at them. "I make you a friction-proof suit so your clothes don't explode at mach 2, and you leave me out of your brother/sister war on crime! That was the deal!" He turned, pointed fingers at Belén, and with a new bright expression for her. "Definitely not shouting at you, sweetheart."

Belén was, at this point in her life, very accustomed to his ways so she just smiled. "Cisco, they really need your help. You've seen the Rival and what's he's done so far."

"Yes," Cisco came up to her, hoping she would see his perspective and get a clue. "And it is exactly why you should not be near them, sweetheart. It's too dangerous out there for you."

Barry balled his fists but somehow kept it together.

Belén raised an eyebrow at Cisco and very kindly responded with, "Don't patronize me, Cisco."

"Sorry," Cisco retracted from his statement. He cleared his throat and walked away from them. "But I still stand by my view. You know what happens when you mess with a Speedster?" He made the gesture of a shaking hand that slashed through something. "That. That's what happens. You get a vibrating hand going right through your ribcage. No thanks. My money needs me!"

Barry rubbed his forehead and got it together. He needed to remember this wasn't the Cisco he was accustomed to. "Cisco, please, you need to help us."

"Oh—" Cisco leaned on a hip, "—that reminds me. Who the hell is this?" He directed a finger at Barry. "I don't appreciate you bringing these folks—" he addressed Belén but waved a finger at Iris and Wally, "—to my place already, and then you go ahead and bring this one—" he moved his finger to Barry again, "—too? And suddenly everyone knows who the Flash is? Belén, sweetheart, what's your plan?"

Belén apologetically glanced at Barry. She probably should have explained that before coming to the building but...he did leave her hanging for a date so he owed her a little bit. Still, if they wanted to push through their agenda, he'd need to suck it up and leave the matter alone.

"Cisco—" he made his attempt but was immediately cut off.

"Uh-uh. I don't know you, string bean."

"Stri... Mr. Ramon?" Barry tried again, having to bite his tongue.

"Oh, yes?"

"I do know what kind of person you are. Deep down, you care about helping other people."

Cisco rolled his eyes. "Please, tell me more."

"I heard a story about how, when you were 15, your brother Dante owed a bookie and he couldn't pay back what he owed, so you gave him all the money you earned that summer delivering pizzas to help him…"

Everyone ended up staring oddly at Barry, all wondering how he knew that...but no one more than Cisco.

"How do you know about that?"

"I have a feeling that... we would work really well together as partners," Barry replied honestly. "Taking down meta-humans together. I mean, it's what we're supposed to do. We're a team. We're friends." But the moment he started to think about all those times where they'd worked together to solve a meta case...it came crashing down on him.

"Barry?" Belén grew worried again and rushed over to him. He'd stumbled back against the conference table and ultimately had to take a seat.

"I'm okay. I'm okay, I just... What was I…" Barry came to the realization he'd forgotten what he was talking about, completely. He had no idea what just happened in the last minute. "What was I just saying?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Belén bent down in front of him.

"I'm...I'm not sure…" Barry admitted.

~ 0 ~

Barry stormed into the warehouse demanding answers from the only man who could possibly know. But of course, Thawne loved to play the game. He was sarcastic in the beginning, only fueling Barry's anger. "And here, I was starting to think you'd forgotten all about me."

"But I am forgetting!" Barry continued to shout. "What's happening to me?"

"I was wondering when you'd notice…"

"It's like I'll be thinking of a moment from my past and then it...it vanishes. I can't get it back!"

"Flashpoint. It's a side effect," Thawne got up from the cruddy floor of his prison. "See, I told you before. You don't know what you're doing. This new reality you've created is starting to overwrite the reality that you and I know. So your original life...your friends, your family... Pretty soon, all of that will just fade away."

"Why isn't it happening to you?" Barry spat. Why was it only affecting him?

"Not sure. Unless…" Thawne trailed off, and it annoyed Barry thinking it was another part of his game.

"What? What?"

Thawne began to laugh.

"What the hell's so funny?"

"Your speed! The more you use it, the faster you lose your memories!"

"No, you're lying!" Barry snapped, speaking louder than the laughter Thawne had going on. "You just want me to let you out of here. That's never gonna happen."

Thawne slowly sobered and gave a condescending stare in return. "The you I know from the future, he's not this stupid. Pretty soon, you won't even remember that you're The Flash. And when that happens, this world will become permanent. Time will set like concrete, and nothing will be able to change it back to the way it was."

"That's fine by me," Barry shrugged, giving the fact he didn't care. He wouldn't need to in a couple of days as it seemed. So he would forget about the other world, but in this world he would create a better life. He already had his parents and Belén. He was starting to get to know Iris, Wally and even Cisco. He'd only need to find Caitlin to have the group back.

"You know what you have to do," Thawne taunted. "You have to take me back to that night and let me finish what I started."

"You go to hell!" Barry screamed and stalked off, leaving Thawne to shout after him.

"You're taking both of us there! Now who's the villain, Flash? Now who's the villain!?"

~0~

It was a long thought to decide but ultimately Barry thought it was the only way to do things right this time before he lost his speed. And so, one by one he sped Wally, Iris and Belén into Cisco's main room - used to be the cortex.

"Don't do that! I told you it freaks me out!" Cisco shouted at the first person sped into his premises.

Wally looked around in confusion. "It wasn't me."

Cisco paused when Iris was suddenly in the room with them. The woman seemed just as frazzled as the other two. Finally, they heard Belén's deep gasp from across. In less than a second all eyes were on the red suited figure.

"Who are you?" Belén leaned forwards on a table, actually feeling a little motion sickness.

Barry pulled off the hood of his suit and gave everyone the surprise of their lives. "The man who's gonna help you stop the Rival." It took Barry all but five minutes to explain about the timeline being changed and who he was...that was the easy part. The hard part was getting the rest to actually believe in it. "Okay, so... I can tell from the 'I don't believe you' looks on your faces that you don't believe me. "

"Sure you're not Sherlock under that too?" Belén asked, and it worried Barry that he couldn't tell if she was joking or dead mad.

"We believe you're a speedster, but you're gonna have to explain that part about Flashpoint again," Wally said.

"All right, look. This is as simple as I can put it," Barry grabbed a nearby marker and headed for the nearest wall. "I'm gonna use this glass, Mr. Ramon. Okay?" Cisco barely had time to disagree before Barry began to write on said wall. He drew a straight horizontal line. "Imagine that this line is time, okay? I went back in time—" he drew a second line jumping back to the beginning, "—and stopped the Reverse Flash from killing my mom. In doing so, I created an alternate timeline." He then drew another line going outwards from the original, "A whole new existence where you're Kid Flash."

Wally almost didn't care about the time line explanation when he heard the name again. "The Flash."

"Kid Flash," Belén, Cisco and Iris corrected much to his dismay.

"And Cisco's a billionaire," Barry finished with.

Cisco raised a finger. 'So you're saying there's a time line out there where I'm not rich? Boy, that's a glitch in the universe."

Wally shook his head at it all. "No, not buying it. Um, my life is my life! Didn't just start three months ago, okay? I've always been me."

"But it's like on those TV shows," Belén quietly spoke up. "Um, you know, where they change the timeline and suddenly all of us have something different in our lives but no one knows except…" she slowly directed a gaze on Barry, "...for the one who changed it."

"But this isn't a TV show!" Wally exclaimed.

Iris raised her hands to get the room quiet. "Okay, look. Even if we did believe you, why are you telling us this now?" she asked Barry.

"Because...I've been hiding here for too long. The Rival needs to be stopped. I stop the bad guys. And...we can all take him down together."

Wally frowned. "I can get him myself."

"Then why haven't you?"

"Well, I'm not interested. I don't know how many times I gotta tell you freaks, I already did my bit for queen and country," Cisco for up from his chair but almost immediately Belén moved in front of him.

"No one leaves until we figure this out," she warned.

Cisco smirked at her. "Whatever you say, sweetheart."

"Okay—" Barry made a move towards them but Iris called him back.

"Argument here? We'd like to hear more of it."

Barry rolled his eyes at her. This was probably the part where Caitlin would get them to settle down. Caitlin. He rushed to the nearest computer and began doing some research.

"Hey!" Cisco went after him only to have Belén pull him back. "Don't touch that!"

But Barry finished the job quick and sped out. He returned a mere second later with Caitlin Snow. The slender brunette had a mouth in the shape of an 'o' from the sudden trip.

"What just happened!?"

"Stop bringing strangers into my lab!" Cisco frantically shouted.

"Who is this?" Iris asked, eyeing Caitlin curiously.

"Dr. Snow?" Belén was the one to recognize, much to everyone's surprise.

Caitlin relaxed only a little bit when she saw the familiar face. "Belén?"

"You know each other?" Iris made a face.

"She's Axel's eye doctor," Belén explained then looked at Barry for an explanation. "Did you just kidnap my nephew's doctor?"

Barry was now the one confused. "No, I didn't...well, yeah, I guess, I…" he stopped and tried again. "In my timeline she's a scientist."

"But I'm not a scientist," Caitlin gently reminded. "I'm a pediatric eye doctor."

"And...we're done," Wally wrapped a finger in the air.

Belén watch as everyone began a commotion with disagreements. She pulled Barry to the side and asked for a word. The two easily slipped from the room into the hallway.

"Look, I'm sorry. I know that this is hard to believe...and a lot to dump on, but…" Barry stopped when she turned to face him.

"In that other world, you knew me, didn't you?" Her question caught him off guard. Belén looked dead serious, and a little annoyed.

"I, uh, what?"

"That's how you knew about my almost going into journalism, my twin brother, and the fact that I hate eating alone," Belén stepped closer to him. "I don't tell anyone that last one because it—"

"Embarrasses you," Barry finished with her, basically confirming her suspicion.

"Just like in the shows," she whispered. "So...in that other world, who am I? I mean, are we friends? Were we friends?"

Barry sighed. He pondered shortly of what to tell her and what not because it really wasn't necessary to put her through that kind of pain.

"Were we…?" she frailly pointed between them. "You know...?"

"Yeah," he ultimately nodded.

"So then...right now, this..." she pointed again, "Is it real? Or is it just a ghost of a relationship I have no memory about?"

"It's real, you know it is," Barry promised her. "Do you think I just crash into a revolving door for a 'ghost relationship'? No, because I love you." Belén's eyes widened. "And that will not change no matter what reality I'm in." Seeing her stunned face was a heavy indicator of his mistake. He shouldn't have dumped in the 'I love you' far earlier than needed, but it wasn't a tactic. It was the truth. It was a truth that would follow into whatever world he was in. "I am so sorry I'm telling you all this." Barry was fully conscious in the fact he could potentially be scaring her off for good but he was willing to work for the ending they deserved. "I know it's...I would understand if you're scared or something—"

"You would think that…" Belén's eyes darted to the side, "Any normal person would have run out that door—" she pointed at the door behind them, "—and never ever speak to you again. And yet…" A nervous smile crossed her face, "I'm weird as hell because instead all I want to do is hug you."

Barry chuckled. "You're not weird, Bells."

"Yeah, I am," she nodded. "I've never been normal. I guess it was only fair that I find the only man who could change timelines. Yeah...I deserve that." Her nervous smile widened. "Actually, it makes me feel all giddy inside."

Barry pulled her into a tight hug and set a kiss on her hair. He couldn't believe his luck at all. He thanked God he met Belén - in this world and the last. He couldn't ever think about living in a world where he didn't end up with Belén.

~0~

After a phenomenal argument between the group regarding kidnapping and timelines, actual work got done and there was a realization that they actually could work together. Caitlin had taken position at a single computer desk and was able to find a way to track the Rival.

"I have always wondered why no one turned the speed cameras in the city to register near sonic velocities," the brunette remarked while she waited for a scan to be done. "Seems like a ready-built early warning system. So I reprogrammed the cameras, and…"

The light alarm going off indicated her scanning was done. Cisco peered to the screen beside her.

"Babadook! There's your rival! The old sawmill out by Williamson."

"All right. Follow my lead?" Barry looked over to Wally, thinking they'd work together but Wally was more than ready to go on his own.

"The Flash doesn't follow anyone."

Iris rolled her eyes at her brother. "Listen to him, Wally. He's the Flash."

Caitlin had been (not so) discreetly staring at Cisco and finally worked up the courage to tell him "You know, you would be an excellent candidate for Lasik."

Cisco settled a rather snarl-like glare on the woman in return. Caitlin then knew never to bring that up again.

~ 0 ~

Both Barry and Wally - each in them respective suits - had arrived at the location where the Rival was meant to be.

From Cisco's building, remained the others without much to do. Belén circled the desk Caitlin had used to search for the Rival in the first place.

"Shouldn't there be some sort of way to communicate with them?" She finally gave her thought up to the others. She shyly smiled at the uncommon group. "I don't know, it just...it feels like we would have one."

"You mean in this other world where we're supposedly all friends?" By Cisco's tone of voice, everyone knew he wasn't planning on becoming friends with any of them.

"It sounds fun," Belén maintained her cheery attitude. "But seriously, do you have a way to see what's going on?"

"You are lucky you are you," Cisco pointed at her then motioned her to step aside from the computer. Belén of course did and backtracked until she was beside Iris.

"When do you think he'll realize you're going on a date with Barry?" the woman whispered fairly low.

"Shhh…" Belén waved the question off. For now, that information didn't need to be known.

Cisco managed to break into one of the cameras on the location where indeed they saw both Barry and Wally and the Rival all together in deep fight mode.

The Rival - who had minutes before he revealed himself as Edward Clariss - was going head strong against Wally first. Just like many of their previous fights, however, he flipped Wally over to the ground. Wally would not give up, and more so when he was sure the others were monitoring him for real. He jumped back on his feet and went straight for the Rival. The latter, however, had a different plan that he set in motion. He passed by Wally and came up behind with a piece of a metal that he struck right through Wally's left side.

Wally crumpled to the ground and moved no more. From the building, Iris cried for her brother but Cisco pointed that the suit entailed Wally was still partially alive.

"That one was never my rival. You could be, though," the Rival now faced Barry, quite smug from his victory.

"You want to find out?" Barry angrily stalked towards him.

The Rival laughed shortly. "Defeat me, and I'll let you take your little friend for help."

"No. You're the one who's gonna need help!" and Barry set loose on a chase that consisted of a roundhouse kick and a series of punches across the face.

The Rival escaped his clutches and started swirling in a circle, creating not one but two hurricanes. Barry stepped back, getting flashes of Mark Mardon and - oh Lord, he was forgetting again. He felt the memories of his early days begin to slip away and even caused a momentary balance problem.

"God. It's like "Twister" in there, the movie, not the game," Cisco stared at the computer with alarmed, widened eyes. "The satellite's picking up two distinct funnel patterns. Tornados measure at F3 on the Fujita scale. This guy's like a Weather Wizard or something."

"Nice name, but terrible moment," Belén remarked quietly.

"Guys!" Barry called in frantically. "I can't stop him!"

"Cisco, move it," Belén now waved him to leave the seat. She gained easy access and plopped down on the chair. "Okay now listen to me, Barry, you brought this entire - admittedly weird - group together because we're a team."

"Did she just call us weird?" Iris mumbled to Caitlin who hummed a 'yes'.

"Which means you've done this before, I'm sure, in that other world," Belén continued. "Just...just think about what we do if this was still your world."

"A little easy to say. In the other world you were here with me - you had meta powers too," Barry said in his frantic thinking.

Belén's face went flat at the prospect of having 'cool' powers too. "I'm gonna kick you for that because I could've worked with Solar...but it's not the point. You're the Flash, Barry, so...what does he do? It's not giving up, right?"

Barry managed to smile a little. "No. I'm the Flash…" He supposed he'd forgotten what that meant in these months he spent basically hiding.

He sucked in a deep breath and stared at the two hurricanes that gained more force with each second. He knew exactly what to do, and so that's what he went on. He charged for the left hurricane and started running counter-clockwise. It took some extra energy that perhaps he could have had easier if he'd spent more time keeping up with training.

"That's impossible!" the Rival practically screeched as he saw both of his hurricanes dissolve into nothing. He barely had time to process Barry coming straight for him before his body had already met a series of construction poles on the ground.

Barry went back to check up on Wally who was barely raising a finger. He still felt a vital, a weak one, but a vital nonetheless.

"You really are the fastest man alive—" the Rival had barely extended forwards a vibrating hand when a gunshot went off.

Barry internally scolded himself for being so careless, but Wally's life was on the line. Still, he relaxed when he saw that it had been Joe who fired at the Rival. Joe wasn't sure of what he'd done, but Barry was hoping that seeing his son in need of help would stir the man back to life.

~ 0 ~

Caitlin had been nice enough to extend her abilities to see that Wally was properly taken care off. Barry had thought about finding Nina Clarke - Belén's close friend from the other reality - but had the good sense of asking her if she knew Nina in this new timeline. He was given a very harsh 'unfortunately'.

Apparently, this world's Belén and Nina did not get along. It didn't matter in the end because, much like Caitlin, Nina turned out to be a school teacher in this world.

"Wally's vitals are low, and he's lost a lot of blood," Caitlin felt sorry to inform both Iris and Joe.

"He should be rapidly healing. It's one of the gifts of being a speedster," Barry kept staring at the unconscious Wally in his bed.

Caitlin shook her head. "He's not. I'm sorry." She coughed, rather awkwardly before asking, "Am I free to go?"

"Dr. Snow, you weren't kept against your will," Belén gently informed, though she could see why Caitlin would think that.

Caitlin smiled only slightly due to the circumstances. "Axel is due in another month."

"I'll tell Maritza," Belén assured and watched the brunette leave.

Cisco passed right by her, this time not even her presence was enough to pull out his playfulness. "This is why I didn't want to get involved. Crime fighting sucks!"

"I thought I could just make things better, but everybody's been paying for my happiness," Barry slowly came after the other two and walked with Belén into the main room. "Will you help me?"

"Anything I can do," Belén immediately said, though she thought he was talking about simple strategies to get things better.

Barry had made his decision - yet again - about the timelines. He needed to stop being selfish and let...life take its course, even if it meant excruciating pain. "I need to make things right," he stated with the heaviest heart possible.

~ 0 ~

Normally, meeting the parents of the guy you liked was nerve wrecking but the situation gave nothing but despondence for Belén. She walked into Barry's home and soon heard the light laughter of his parents.

"Hey, guys," Barry greeted quietly. He'd already begun to take in the last images of his parents.

"Hey, slugger," Henry smiled and stood up from the couch with his wife.

Nora was the first to spy Belén just a little behind. "Who's this?"

"Belén, remember?" Barry took Belén's hand to bring her up to his side. He needed all the support he could get in order to do this.

"Oh, yes. We loved your show," Nora's praise elicited a light pink blush from Belén.

"Thank you," Belén kept her words short and brief. She wanted to give as much time to Barry as possible.

"You okay, Barry?" His father was the first to notice the expression sitting on Barry's face.

"Yeah, I just... wanted to see you both one more time…" Barry decided to go with the simple truth. It wouldn't matter soon enough...

"What does... that mean?"

"Nothing. Nothing. I, uh…" Barry paused, hoping to find the right words, yet they didn't come. He would just have to continue with the truth. "These last three months have been the best. Just getting to spend time with you. I just...wanted you to know how grateful I am, to both of you, to be your son."

"Barry, you're scaring me," Nora's eyes flickered to Belén as if the woman would give some clarification. Belén wanted no part in that explanation.

Barry went up to both of his parents and have them a last goodbye hug. "No, there's...there's nothing to be afraid of. Promise. I just...I love you both."

And though neither understood, Henry and Nora hugged their son back just as tight.

Barry honestly wasn't sure how he managed to walk out of the house after that...but the image of an almost dead Wally was a good pusher. Just as he walked down the front porch steps, he felt another rush of memories leave his system. He nearly fell over if Belén hadn't grabbed onto his arm.

"What exactly is that!?" Belén had made her conclusion that his small episodes were a result of his changing the timeline.

"Memories are disappearing," Barry grunted as he took one last step to the pavement. "It's getting worse. We have to hurry before it's too late."

He used his last bits of energy to bring them to the warehouse where Thawne was already waiting for them. Belén had to help Barry walk now but she hoped it was just a temporary weakness.

"Having a bad day, Barr?" Thawne called out in a tainting voice until he spotted Belén walking beside Barry. "Well...if it isn't the future Mrs. Allen?"

"You even sound annoying," was all Belén had to say to him.

Thawne had a small laugh before he set his eyes on Barry who was reluctant to do the same. They both knew what was going to happen but Thawne was going to exploit it for as much as he could. "All you need to do is ask me, Barry," he spoke calmly, yet the smug look on his face spoke volumes.

Barry still didn't look at him. "We need to go back in time. To that night."

"To do what?" Belén couldn't understand how there could be someone so sinister like him. "You know what I need you to do. But I want to hear you say it," Thawne basically commanded.

Barry gritted his teeth together and glared in the man. "I need you to kill my mother."

The smile on Thawne was automatic. "With pleasure."

Belén watched with utter disgust as the man was let go from his prison. There truly could not be any justice in the world if this was truly about to happen.

"If you can, punch him a bit," she told Barry afterwards. She knew her words weren't valuable at the moment but it was all she had. There were absolutely no comforting words for this type of situation. "I'm so sorry. No one...should have to do things like these."

Barry took her hands and gently squeezed them. "This was...always meant to happen." And yet it sickened him that it actually wasn't. Thawne had already messed with the timeline before and made his mother's death a fixed event in time.

"When you get back to the other me, in that other world, let her comfort you."

Barry managed to smile at that. "I look forwards to that. You're all I look forwards to, actually." It was true. With his parents dead, Belén was all he had. Sure, there were his friends but...he loved Belén, and she was the most important thing to him.

"And you owe me that date, with other me," Belén added, just to give some humor.

"Promise," Barry said.

She smiled at him as best as she could. She didn't want to say that she didn't want to see him go. It would just make things harder for him. She brought her hands up to his face and pressed a kiss to his lips. She wished it could've lasted longer but Thawne decided to cut things short. "STOP!" Belén screamed when Thawne gave Barry an unnecessary throw to the ground. "If there's any justice in the world, you'll die too!"

Thawne picked Barry up like a ragdoll and chuckled. "The Missus always had a way with words, huh?"

"Don't." The last thing Barry wanted to hear from that man were his thoughts on Belén.

"God, I wish I could kill you. But today, I get to be the hero," Thawne actually laughed before speeding off.

They entered the cursed night in the past, and Barry willed himself to let the event run as it once had. His mother was dead, yet again, and with it the chain of reactions were set off.

Thawne dropped Barry just in front of the West residence, although there was a knowing smile on his face that Barry wasn't liking. "There we go. Things are back to how they should be. Well, for me, anyway. For you…" he chuckled, "Well, I guess you'll just have to wait and find out."

Barry frowned. "What? What does that mean?" His demand went unnoticed.

"See you sometime soon, Flash," Thawne saluted and sped off.

Barry wasn't going to stand there and wonder what the hell Thawne meant. For all he knew it was just another trick. When he entered the place he was surprised to find only Wally and Joe inside. He wondered if the celebratory party had already finished. He went straight in and hugged both Wally amd Joe. At least they were back in order.

"Are you okay?" Joe thought it was a redundant question but nonetheless an important one.

"Yeah…"

"You just lost your father, Barry. You don't have to be okay."

Barry sat down on the couch and accepted a beer from Wally. "Actually, I feel closer to my parents than I ever have."

'Well, good, son. To your pops," Joe clinked the beer with his and Wally's.

"To Henry," Wally agreed and took a sip.

"To my Dad," Barry said with a bitter-sweetness. He looked around the house and saw it was exceptionally clean for a place that had meant to be having a party. "How did Iris get this place cleaned up so soon?"

Joe's face went flat in an instant. "That ain't funny. I'm gonna chalk that up to grief." He put down his beer and decided to call it a night. "I'll see you both in the morning."

Barry was left in a state of confusion. He turned to Wally with the intention of asking what was wrong but instead met with an incredulous Wally.

"Are you kidding me? You know Iris isn't here!"

"Wait—"

"They don't talk, Barry. You know that," Wally shook his head at Barry. "Don't pull that again unless you feel like sleeping on the streets."

"Why would I...sleep on the street…?" Barry was dreading the answer. The timeline wasn't setting in correctly was it?

"Grief can be bad, I know it," Wally went about it in another way. "And maybe that's why you and Belén had that argument—"

Yup, there it was.

"Wally, what!?"

Wally still chalked it up to the aftermath of their battles but Barry was in a real despair. He wasn't understanding anything!

"Just...get some rest," Wally patted his shoulder. "And tomorrow you'll probably have a better idea of what to say to Belén." He left Barry alone in the living room.

Barry fell back onto the couch with a horrified face. Iris no longer talked to Joe? She didn't live with Joe? He argued with Belén? That meant they weren't on speaking terms either, but why? "Oh, God. What did I do?"

~ 0 ~

Belén went back and forth in the cortex while Caitlin continued their search on the computers. It was already a long night but Caitlin doubted that Belén would ever give up so easily. And truth be told, she wanted the search to come up successful too. She needed it.

"Anything?" Belén asked once again. Every fifteen minutes or so she would do the same thing.

Caitlin shook her head. "No. She's not coming up on the scanners."

Belén groaned. "She's an Earth 2 metahuman! It shouldn't be this hard finding her, dammit! Where the hell could Datura have escaped to!?"

[painofhumanity]

NAME: Zackary Henry Allen NICKNAME(S): Zack, Blondie, Twiggy ALIAS: Lightspeed D.O.B: February 21 AGE: 18 ORIENTATION: heterosexual SPECIES: meta-kryptonian FAMILY: Barry Allen (dad), Kara Danvers-Allen (mom, deceased), Eddie Thawne & Iris West-Thawne (paternal aunt and uncle), Wally West (paternal uncle), Esther "Echo" Thawne (paternal cousin), AJ Thawne (paternal cousin), Clark Kent & Lois Lane (maternal aunt and uncle), Jon Kent (maternal cousin), Jordan Kent (maternal cousin), Alex Danvers (maternal aunt), Lane Danvers (maternal cousin), Sophie Danvers (maternal cousin), Henry & Nora Allen (paternal grandparents, deceased), Joe West (adopted paternal grandpa, alive), Zor-El & Alura Zor-El (maternal grandparents, deceased), Jeremiah & Eliza Danvers (adopted maternal grandparents, alive)

Zack was never a normal kid. His father was a speedster who could travel through time and space, and his mother was an alien from a planet that was nothing more than rubble long before he was born. As far back as he could remember, he was always different from the other kids, and he had to learn early on how to keep a secret. That was okay, though. 

He was faster and stronger than everyone at school, and his family was full of some of the most amazing people in the world. Auntie Alex was a secret agent, Grandpa Joe was a cop, and his parents were friends with all kinds of superheroes. 

Zack was exactly what one would imagine the son of Barry Allen and Kara Danvers would be like: he had a big, goofy smile, an even bigger heart, he was always willing to help, always trying to do the right thing. His parents did everything they could to teach him how to control his powers and use them safely. Some things came easily to him, like his super speed. Other things, like flying, were a lot harder for him; Zack tried flying once and it didn’t go well, and he’s all but refused to fly ever since unless it was absolutely necessary. As he grew, so did his powers. Much like his voice changing and starting to grow body hair, some powers developed as he got older. 

While he was born in Central City, his father’s hometown, his parents ultimately decided to raise him in National City. Barry went to work for the NCPD as a forensic scientist (officially), while also helping out at the DEO, both as a scientist and as The Flash. He also made frequent trips back home throughout the week, not wanting to leave the people of Central without their personal hero. Weekends were spent with Grandpa Joe and the rest of their extended family back in Central City. 

While Zack loved his world, it wasn’t without its flaws or problems. There were plenty. Not the least of which was a sudden uprising of powerful villains when he was in high school. Even though he could fight, his parents wanted him to have as normal a life as possible at least until he was out of high school. That plan didn’t work so well when an alien hate group kidnapped his mom halfway through his senior year. 

The DEO had everyone searching for her. His dad barely rested, let alone slept, while he ran all over the city, the state, the country, desperately trying to find his wife. As the weeks went by, new weapons appeared on the black market that seemed to give normal humans the powers of a Kryptonian. Eventually, Zack couldn’t take sitting idly by any longer. He suited up (literally, since Uncle Cisco had made him a suit for his sixteenth birthday) and joined the search for Kara.

They eventually caught a lead, someone who'd been involved in taking Kara, and the man spent the entire time making smartass remarks about how she was getting what any alien deserved. Enraged at the idea that his mother was not only being held captive, but hurt, Zack felt himself losing control. Before he even realized what was happening, the man was dead at his feet. Barry told him over and over that it wasn’t his fault, but he didn't really believe that, not when he didn’t actually remember what happened. 

Aunt Caitlin called it repression; his subconscious was protecting his conscious mind from whatever happened, whatever he had done. He got flashes, sometimes, when he was asleep, but he always woke up screaming soon after those dreams began. 

He wanted to go back, fix what he'd done--not that the man deserved saving--and maybe even get the information they needed to find his mother, but Barry told him it was too dangerous. They weren’t supposed to go back in time to change big events, his dad said. The ripple effects were too great and dangerous. Well, screw that. He tried doing things the “right way”, and it hadn't done anything. So one night, Zack snuck out of the house, and started running.

He ran faster than he’d ever gone in his life until he saw that portal open up, then he dove through. In hindsight, he thought maybe he should have paid more attention to his dad’s stories about traveling through time; mainly the part about how long it had taken his dad to actually master it. He assumed the portal would take him back in time, but he ended up in another universe. Now he's stuck hopping from one Earth to another until he gets back home.

Terrific.