Belén understood she was awake, that she was fine, and that she was probably somewhere she knew...but her body felt like it had been hit by a truck. Every part of her body was so incredibly tired. It was like she couldn't move yet she knew she could if she wanted to.

"Belén? Belén? Can you hear me?"

Languidly, Belén followed the source of the voice and found a brunette at her side. It took a moment to register who she actually saw and spoke to. "Caitlin!" But her hand failed to meet Caitlin's.

Caitlin was sitting by her side and was trying to help her sit up. "Hey, listen, listen, you're okay, just…"

"Drugged?" Belén assumed. She rubbed her face but still felt like she could sleep for a thousand years.

"Yeah," Caitlin smiled apologetically. "I don't think it's harmful but... you can't use your powers."

"Meta-dampener?"

"Yes…" Caitlin uselessly tugged on the cuff binding Belén to the desk.

"Move," someone else gave the order. Belén was too tired to try and figure out which one of their enemies was commanding them.

Caitlin refused to obey and stayed right beside her friend. "What are you going to do?"

"Release our mutual friend, of course. We've got to get to work, don't we?" Poison Ivy moved Caitlin aside by force and uncuffed Belén. Soon as she did, she placed the cuffs on both of Belén's wrists then pulled her up.

"Screw you," Belén released a yawn, not quite the appearance she'd been going for. The wobbling feet she was on wasn't helping her case either.

"That's the attitude," Poison Ivy pushed her forwards.

"Where are you taking her?" Caitlin demanded to know and went after them. "You won't be able to hide her forever, you know. They'll find you."

"You mean like they found you?" Datura walked right into the room. Even with her snark, Caitlin noticed a stark difference in the woman beginning with the blood stain right under her nose. Datura followed her gaze and quickly rubbed the stain off her skin. "Haven't you ever stopped to think maybe they just don't want to save you, Caity?"

Even under the effect, Belén came in to defend her friend. "She speaks of experience, Caitlin. No one has probably ever shown her what it is to be a friend."

Poison Ivy shoved her forwards again. "Your friends will be dead by tomorrow. We already started with the most important one anyways."

"What do you mean?" frowned Caitlin.

"The lightning storm earlier? It wasn't ordinary, honey. That was your stupid friends trying to give the Flash his speed back," Poison Ivy wickedly smiled, giving Caitlin a shiver down her back. "And they failed. Massively, I should add. He's dead."

Caitlin nearly fell over and Belén pushed through her sleepiness to react. "You're lying!" She exclaimed and started pushing herself from Poison Ivy. "You wish Barry was dead!"

"True," Poison Ivy gave a bob of her head.

"Let's go," Datura ordered, though she seemed a bit more focused on the headache she was sustaining. She incessantly rubbed her temples but nothing worked anymore. The voices screamed too loud in her head and she couldn't shut them up as much as she used to.

"No! I'm not going anywhere with you!" Belén shouted. She wanted to use her powers or at the very least kick but her body felt too tired. Poison Ivy had an easy time taking her out of the room.

Datura swiped syringes off the desk then grabbed onto Caitlin's arm and pulled her behind. "Dr. Snow, your knowledge of my doppelganger is essential for all this to work so let's go."

Caitlin would have argued against it but all she knew was she would be out of Zoom's grasp and that was all she needed to want to go. "Is Barry really dead?" She quietly asked though.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw Datura's lips quirk into a smirk. She swore there was a light red glow in the meta's eyes. "The fool isn't such a fool after all."

Caitlin didn't know what to be more surprised by, the fact that whatever experiment her friends did worked...or that Datura so willingly revealed the truth?

~0~

Barry thought he was in a dream because he sure as hell hadn't been in his old childhood bedroom last time he remembered. Everything was intact and that included his old fish tank with a bright orange fish in it. When he came downstairs, he saw the ugly yellow piece tape barricading the dining room. Joe was there...yet something told Barry things weren't quite what they seemed.

"Joe?" He cautiously approached the man.

'Joe' straightened up on his feet and gave a warm smile. "Good to see you, Barry. But I'm not Joe."

Yup, there it was. Barry braced himself for whatever came next. "If you're not then... this-" he waved an arm at the house itself, "-isn't real either, huh?"

The answer was in Joe's face. "How do you feel, being back here?"

"I...feel awful," Barry admitted.

"We thought you'd be more comfortable talking to someone who looked familiar and in a place you knew."

Barry stopped looking around after hearing the key word. "We"? Who's "we," exactly?"

"That's a little hard to explain. How much do you know about the Speed Force?"

"It's the source of my power. It's what makes me a speedster."

"Yes... and no. When the first subatomic particle sprang forth from the Big Bang to form reality as you know it, we were there. When the last proton decays, stops vibrating, and plunges the universe into heat death, we'll be there too."

The light bulb went off in Barry's head. "I'm…talking to the Speed Force? Isn't that like saying I'm having a conversation with gravity or light or…"

"You need a minute. It's okay if you do. It's a lot to take in."

"Yeah...not really," Barry brought a hand to the back of his neck. "I know about the Green. Belén told me all about it. She said that the Green and the Speed force are aware of each other's existence. The only difference is that Belén said the Green has never manifested itself. You...clearly have," he made a gesture to 'Joe'. "You chose to look like my adoptive Dad."

"Yes," the Speed force gave a nod.

"Look, I'm... I'm not sure why you brought me here, but you need to send me back. My friends are in danger from Zoom - Belén was kidnapped!" But Barry stopped when a shadowy figure zoomed past the window. "Did you see that?"

The Speed force was quiet and dead serious. "You're not going back. Not until you catch that."

Barry followed the motion to the open window. He ran to it and saw the same shadowy figure speeding down the street. He glanced back and saw it wasn't a joke.

~ 0 ~

"Cisco says Barry's still alive! Where is he?" Henry demanded from Harry but the latter was staring hopelessly at his comatose daughter.

Both Jesse and Wally had been hit by the Particle Accelerator, but Jesse had taken a worse blow. She was under a mysterious coma. Since then, Harry hadn't moved from her side.

"Harry, I vibed him in the center of a storm. It was, like, in, like, a vortex or something…" Cisco recalled the swirling blue light that had surrounded him and Barry in his vibe.

That had made Harry's head snap up. There was as realization in his eyes that gave Henry a surge of hope that his son wasn't truly gone. "He's in... He's in the Speed Force."

"Well get him out, damn it!" Henry commanded but Harry gave a small shake of his head. "You can get him out...right?"

"I don't know if I can."

"Henry, come here," Joe took Henry back to the cortex before an argument ensued. He saw Veronica intently staring at the main desk's computers. "Listen, you are the only one that can help Jesse. Let me sit on Wells till he figures out what the hell he did to Barry. I think we can get him back."

Henry's gaze softened. "Joe, I know you love Barry, okay? But you have Iris, and you have Wally. Barry's all I have left."

And Joe understood that. He really did. "I promise, we'll find him."

"Cisco?" Veronica called from the desk. "The computer, it's blinking again!" Cisco came running to her. "Is that her, then? Did it find Belén!?"

"Uuuuh…" Cisco drawled as he quickly searched the computer. "N-not exactly-"

"What does that mean!?" Veronica nearly shouted.

Cisco flinched but kept it in control. "Well-well Belén's suit kept the tracker in place up until an hour ago…"

"Cisco!"

"Alright, alright! The suit's tracker was deactivated and the last location it gave a signal from was the precinct."

"Which means Zoom doesn't have her there anymore?"

"Could be, or not," Cisco shrugged and leaned back on his chair. "Most likely not, though. Zoom's not interested in Bells, that much we know."

"Yeah, that psycho doppelganger does," Joe remarked.

"And right now who knows what could be happening," Veronica rubbed her face, her anguish radiating off her. "I would go myself but-"

"Don't you even dare," Joe warned her.

"Then we need Barry to come back with that speed of his," Veronica dropped her hands then crossed her arms.

"Harry's going to work on it," Henry shot the man in question glance in the side room. Neither he nor she were going to permanently lose their children.

~ 0 ~

Mercury Labs had been taken over by Poison Ivy's pheromone controlling powers. Belén had seen the power when Poison Ivy used it on Barry - and she'd rather forget it to be honest - but at least in this case, no employees were harmed. They were simply told to stay clear of the floor level and not to divulge their presence to anyone.

"Draw blood," Datura ordered Caitlin and pushed her towards one of the tables.

Caitlin slowly walked to the table but glanced back to see Datura rocking on her feet. The metahuman looked ready to fall back if she hadn't been using the desk near her for support. Belén followed Caitlin's gaze and kept a serious look on her doppelganger. She really was getting sicker.

"Hurry the hell up!" Poison Ivy clapped at Caitlin to get the tools she needed. She went over to Datura and tried getting her attention again. "Datura? Hey?"

"Leave me alone!" Datura, enraged, pushed the ginger backwards. Her eyes were glowing a bright yellow, her voice not her own.

"Datura, it's me!" Poison Ivy tried again, gesturing at herself for Datura to take another look.

Datura's lips quirked into a smirk. "You are not my friend," she spat with an overlapping voice. "You are the accessory to the thief that killed me!"

Poison Ivy's eyes lowered to Datura's hands crackling with golden electricity. "Datura...snap out of it!"

"What exactly is going on?" Belén took a large step backwards and pulled Caitlin with her too.

"She's never done this before - turned on me," Poison Ivy said with a distinctive fear. However, the fear wasn't of Datura, it was for Datura. It was a testament to her declining health.

"Well, how do we snap her out of it?" Belén urged for the solution. "You genius dampened my powers so it's up to you now."

"Well…" Poison Ivy began but stopped when Datura fired at them. The ginger jumped to the side in time. Caitlin pulled Belén with her behind a table. "Datura, come back!" Poison Ivy rolled to the side and hid as well. She didn't dare use her powers against her best friend.

"I'm not Datura. Don't you remember me?" Datura roamed the aisles, her hands dragging over the tables on either side of her. "You called me a coward. You called me a-" but she stopped suddenly with a deep gasp.

Poison Ivy peered around the table to see her friend's eyes flickering red. "Datura!?"

The woman in question stumbled against a table with a hand on her head. Blood began to pool over her upper lip. "That bitch…" she mumbled.

Poison Ivy quickly got up and rushed up to her. Caitlin and Belén slowly raised their heads to see if everything was better now.

"They're so...loud…" Datura struggled to speak. "I'm so tired, Ivy," she met her friend's eyes, "I'm really tired…"

Belén understood that 'tiredness' was a sign that the end was coming and it stirred her stomach. How the hell could she be feeling any type of sympathy for a woman who'd done nothing but hurt her since the moment they met? She groaned and rose up on her feet. "Take my blood already."

Poison Ivy's head snapped in her direction, her suspicion mounting by the second. Even Datura was eyeing her doppelganger warily.

"It's not a joke," Belén spoke calmly. "Cait, take some of my blood and help her. Please."

"I…" Caitlin closed her mouth and set to work on the task. It was no surprise that after the spectacle, Belén would definitely want to help Datura.

"And you," Belén stared at her doppelganger as she took a seat, "You better be damn thankful when you get live again."

Datura's eyebrows knitted together in utter confusion.

~ 0 ~

Barry stopped running in what appeared to be the same park with the fountain he'd visited so many times. There wasn't a sound in the street except for the gushing fountain. He straightened on his feet and began to search the shadowy figure. It definitely was fast. He happened to turn around and saw the one person that could either make him swoon or scare him half to death.

That was the thing when your girlfriend's doppelganger was evil.

"We're glad you made it, Barry," Belén gave a polite smile, the one she usually wore when she trying to be nice.

"You're not Bells, and you're not helping me help her," Barry scowled. "What you're doing is cruel."

Belén's smile widened a bit. She walked up beside the fountain and put her hands inside her beige coat. "This is more than a fountain for us, huh? More like a ...romantic, or pre-romantic site, right?"

"Don't use her voice, don't use her memories, just don't!" Barry's voice rose with anger. All this was just a plain reminder that he had no idea where Belén was nor if she was alright.

"We thought you'd find this place and our appearance less upsetting. Yet-" she tilted her head, "-you seem upset."

Barry pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to keep his voice at a calm level. "You chose the representation of my girlfriend who, at the current moment, is kidnapped and probably near death, so yeah...I'm a little upset."

"Imagine us when you rejected the rare and precious gift we gave you."

Barry pursed his lips together and settled a pretty deep glare on her, one that not even Datura had been on the receiving end of. "No, I did not reject it! I gave up my powers to save someone's life... To be a hero. I nearly killed myself trying to get them back, when you brought me here, wherever here is!"

"That's not what we meant."

"Okay. If you would rather have given these powers to somebody else, why did you give them to me?"

"Because you're The Flash, Barry."

~ 0 ~

Cisco and Iris came bustling into the cortex where the current task was looking over Jesse and Nina.

"We got a new problem! Our accelerator experiment seems to have reanimated one of the dead metas in our morgue!" Cisco still couldn't believe he was actually saying there was a zombie in the building but yes...today was that day.

Joe gave the man a doubtful look. "'Reanimated' like brought back to life? Life-ish?"

"This is not the time for jokes," Veronica scolded the young man.

"I wish I was a joke!" Iris shivered as she remembered Tony Woodward in his zombified state.

"You ever seen The Walking Dead? It's "The Walking Dead but without higher brain function and with major rage issues," Cisco clutched his chest. "Still unsure if our brains are on the menu, though."

"Alright well which one?" Joe just went along with it. What else could they deal with at this point, honestly?

"Tony Woodward," Iris replied.

"The bully from school who turned into the metal man? That's not good, Cisco."

"History repeats itself. First as tragedy and then as farce," Harry mumbled by his daughter's side.

Veronica looked ready to implode. "That's enough," she stalked over and pulled the man up to his feet. "Now you listen to me. I have lost my ex-husband, my son to death and my eldest daughter to prison. My remaining child is at the hands of murderers. So believe me when say that I have nothing but sympathy for what you're going through. We've got a lot of fires burning at the same time, and if we all work together, we just might be able to put them out. But we need to divide and conquer here. Let Henry take care of your daughter. Joe, Iris and will handle this Girder situation, but you and Cisco are the scientists. You're the only one who can bring Barry back from wherever the hell he is right now. And so god help me if you stay here feeling sorry for yourself I will shoot you...again!" There was a moment t of silence where only Veronica's hard breathing was heard.

"We finally know where Belén gets her fast talking from…" Cisco whispered and Iris whacked him on the chest. This wasn't the time to point that out!

Harry thought Veronica was right. Divide and conquer, that's what they needed. "Ramon... give those medical records to Henry, and meet me in the Breach Room in five minutes. We've got work to do."

"Now we just need to find Tony," Joe looked at his two partners now.

"New...meta…?" Nina's frail voice cut into the room. Nina was languidly blinking as she slowly woke up. Henry moved over to see how her condition was going. "How much...trouble are...we in?"

"On a scale of 1 to 10...11," Iris answered her.

"Mm, business as usual, then."

~ 0 ~

"You're bleeding," Caitlin handed Datura a cloth. The dark-brunette suspiciously eyed the cloth in Caitlin's hand. "It's just a cloth," Caitlin reassured. "Nose bleeds are tedious."

Datura snatched the cloth from her and dabbed the blood away. "What do we have so far?"

Caitlin ignored the obvious fake commanding tone and walked back to the microscope she'd left. "I used a sample of your blood and Belén's and fused them together to see what the results would be. As predicted, there are some errors but having both sides now allows me to go in and find the right sequences for a brand new stabilized DNA tailored to your siphoned powers."

"And you can make the alterations," Datura smiled proudly. "This might just work. Lucky for us we got the Killer Frost with the brains."

"I'm not her," Caitlin spat. She almost shuddered thinking about her 'dead' doppelganger.

Datura walked past her. "We're all our doppelgangers. In fact, we-" but she stopped when her eyes flashed a scarlet red.

Poison Ivy saw it and jumped to the save. "Datura?"

"That bitch is gonna take my place," Datura mumbled, but it was definitely her.

"You saw something?"

"Black Siren. S-something...she wants to replace me…"

From her forced chair, Belén observed the outright fear in her doppelganger. "Let me guess, big bad meta wants to be Zoom's second in command?"

Datura's fear was quickly replaced with anger. "Shut up!"

"Why care? Let her take your place so you can be free."

"You don't get it," Datura snapped. "The only way to be free of Zoom is to die, particularly by him. This may come as a surprise to you, but I don't want to die. If I have to keep making myself useful for him, I will."

Belén stared for the longest, at least that's how it felt to Datura. "You're not even into this anymore," Belén remarked quietly as the realization came to her. "The whole taking over the world thing... it's just a ruse for you. You're just trying to survive."

"Save your sermon," Datura rolled her eyes and turned away, though she did stagger a bit on her feet.

"If you don't want to do this, then don't," Belén insisted. "You lost everything, I get that. Don't let Zoom do that to our other doppelgangers."

"You think I care about my other doppelgangers?" Datura laughed to herself.

"Maybe, maybe not, but I'm willing to bet you care about the other Barry's."

Datura scoffed. "Try again."

Belén took that as a challenge. "You know we have a daughter with Barry in another world?" The question froze the doppelganger in her tracks. Belén couldn't see the reaction on Datura's face but she assumed it had to be big because even Poison Ivy was now giving worried glances at her friend. "Earth 38. Belén marries Barry Allen in that world and they adopt a child. She's half alien-" Belén afforded a light laugh at the crazy notion that was just another reality, "-and she's theirs. She has their name. Anais Allen. They're all happy as a family. You're really going to tell me that you'll let Zoom destroy their world too?"

For the longest time, Datura said nothing. Poison Ivy had only started reaching for her when Datura whirled around. "Not my world, not my Barry and most certainly not my daughter. I don't give a damn." She snapped her fingers then brandished her fist towards Caitlin, letting electricity crackle around it. "Get back to work, Dr. Snow. Time is of the essence."

Caitlin gulped. Belén, however, narrowed her eyes on the doppelganger, certainly not about to give up.

~0~

"I don't understand. If I'm the Flash, then why are you doing this to me?" Barry angrily demanded from the Speed Force who still refused to leave the guise of Belén. "Why do I have to catch this...this thing before you let me go back? Please, look, I will do whatever you want. Just let me go back right now, so I can help my friends."

But the Speed Force allowed no such thing. At least not yet.

"Barry! Barry, turn around!"

Barry stopped for a second to make sure he'd heard right. Cisco was calling him? Then he spotted the distant vortex of blue.

"What is that!?"

"Those are your friends. They want you to come back," the Speed Force had no trouble answering.

Barry thought it was too easy of an escape. "Can I?"

"Of course." Now Barry definitely thought it was too easy. All the sermon for nothing? "But if you do, it'll be without your powers."

Ah, there's the catch, Barry thought.

"The choice is yours, Barry," the Speed Force remained perfectly still, allowing him to make the decision.

No.

~ 0 ~

"You can isolate the coding errors fast right?" Poison Ivy towered over Caitlin.

"In my better days, yes," Caitlin answered just to get the woman away from her. "But since I've been kidnapped for a while now I'm a little rusty."

"Darling we saved you from Zoom, least you can do is work a little fast."

"How did you get her away from Zoom?" Belén thought to ask...with a purpose.

"Made it essential to his gateway to other worlds," Datura took the bait without realizing. "Caity here is the smartest woman on this world from what I've heard so I thought why not kill two birds with one stone?"

Caitlin couldn't help the confusion on her face. Had she just been complimented?

"So you saved her," Belén said, struggling not to smile.

"No-"

"But you did. You could have had anyone in this facility do your work. You could have stolen my profile from STAR Labs easy peasy...but you didn't."

Datura rolled her eyes. "Right, so I owed her one. Happy?"

"Owed me?" Caitlin repeated, still confused.

"Despite my reputation, I maintain honesty. You risked your life to help me -"

"In a bogus deal-"

"A deal that nonetheless got me free," Datura overpowered Caitlin's words in a second. "Zoom's a psychopath, you think I don't know that? If I had no powers like you I would be just as afraid of him."

"That's…" Caitlin crossed gazes with Belén, the ombre-blonde smirking. Caitlin understood. "That's humanity. You have it in you after all."

Datura flexed her hands with a sudden pale face. "Do...not…"

"Don't let them get to you like that," Poison Ivy came to her aid. Datura was rapidly blinking, her eyes flashing a multiple set of colors.

"I'm only getting to her because she knows it's the truth," Belén continued on. "Underneath that pesky evilness, she still has the capability to do something good."

"I'm not-"

"Yes you are! God if you would just admit it this whole cure thing would be a lot easier!"

"STOP IT!" Datura shouted, clutching her head. She pushed Poison Ivy away from her and stalked towards Belén. She swiped a syringe on the way.

Belén wasn't an ounce scared. She knew for the time being she couldn't be hurt. She was the embodiment of the cure after all. Although it did make her curious of how she would be taken care of.

Datura plunged the syringe into Belén's arm. "Hope you can sleep with the lights on. I can't."

Only a minute later did Belén start to feel the effects of the sleeping drought in her system. Smart move, she thought. Datura can't admit to the truth if she didn't hear any of it. Belén slumped against the table to her side, knocked out within the minute.

"You didn't have to do that," Caitlin rushed over to make sure Belén was alright.

"She's got a big mouth," Datura tossed the syringe to the floor. "I should know, I had the same one."

"Had?" Poison Ivy covered a smile behind her mouth.

Caitlin sent both women glares. "You know, you had her family kidnapped, you then had her kidnapped, and she's still trying to help you. I'm trying to help you out of goodwill."

"Be real, if I didn't have you under lock you would've been gone a long time ago," Datura set a hand on her hip.

Caitlin walked up to her with a straight face. "I was helping you long before Zoom kidnapped me. Belén's right. You forgot what it's like to have real friends." She went around the woman and set straight back to work.

Datura blinked and remained right where she was. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Caitlin truly setting back to work. She's got to die, she heard in her head. Datura screwed her eyes shut and hoped to God Killer Frost's voice would go away. She's weak. She'll escape at any chance she gets.

"Go away!" Datura pleaded with fists on either side of her head.

This time Caitlin didn't look up from her work. She felt utterly sorry for the woman who seemed to worsen by the minute.

~ 0 ~

Barry was stumped when he came to a stop at a cemetery. His lungs heart from all the running he did and now he was once again coming to see the Speed Force in the guise of a man.

"Oh, who are you pretending to be now? I don't have time for this!"

The representation turned out to be his father. "Yes, you do, Barry. You have all the time in the universe... literally."

"No, I don't," Barry flatly answered. "And how can you stand there in judgment and accuse me of rejecting my gift? Do you have any idea how much I've done since I was first struck by lightning, how many people I've helped with the power that you gave me... what I've sacrificed?"

"Of course we do. You've saved countless lives. And now you're the only thing standing in between your world and unspeakable evil. And yet, for all of that, you've never been here…" the Speed Force stepped aside to reveal a gravestone with the name of Nora Allen.

It took a moment for Barry to process what he was seeing. Even if it wasn't real, he knew somewhere in the real world it was. There was a gravestone belonging to his mother...one he never visited.

"Why did you bring me here?" his voice unintentionally broke. He walked up to the gravestone and bent down in front of it.

The Speed Force watched him from behind. "Your mother's death happened to you, Barry. It made who you are, but have you accepted it, really accepted losing her? Maybe that's why you couldn't come here... 'cause that would make it real."

"I know it's real. Every day I know it," Barry argued, though his stance didn't seem strong as the emotions hit him all over again. "I had a chance to save her. You saw what I chose."

"And you're at peace with that decision?"

Barry scoffed at that. "At peace? How could someone ever be at peace with letting his mother die? Deciding that his life was more valuable than hers?"

"Do you really think your mother would've wanted you to die for her? And out of all the people the Flash saved as a result of that decision, what about them? Do their lives have value too?"

From the corner of his eyes, Barry saw the shadowy figure zoom by them. "I don't have to listen to this," he got back on his feet. "I have to get home."

~ 0 ~

"Cisco!" Iris was the first one to reach Cisco's workshop. She was out of breath after running from her street with Tony behind her.

Cisco looked up from his MRI scanners turned weapons. "Is that zombie still behind you?"

"Good news is we lured Tony back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Bad news is…" Iris paused for a breather, "...we lured Tony back to STAR Labs."

"No, no, this is good!" Cisco motioned her and Joe to get back. "Okay, sidenote... You both might want to be on this side of the room, especially if you're wearing any jewelry or you have any metal plates in your body."

Iris' eyes nearly popped from her head. "Huh!?" she made a wave at her earrings dangling.

Even Joe was holding out his gun. "Excuse me?"

"The stray energy from the accelerator reactivated Girder's brain... Well, parts of it, anyway. So I disassembled our MRI machine to set up these... Electromagnet!" Cisco went behind the machine and once again motioned for the others to follow his instructions. "So, when Girder walks through that door and gets caught in the field that they generate, it should disrupt the energy wave that turned him Abby Normal. Like wiping a hard drive."

Tony came bustling through the door right on time for them to set the machine off. Cisco let everything run its course but the power seemed to die off and Tony was left standing rather confused by the moment of wind.

"Why don't it look like it's working?" Joe wondered with full dread.

"Because it's not…" Cisco started taking steps backwards towards the other door, "Uh, let's get out of here!"

~ 0 ~

"Just let me at him," Nina told the group again even despite the fact Henry and Veronica were helping her get into the breech room. The woman refused to make them pull her down in her bed like they had to do with Jesse.

"You were stabbed hours ago, you must be kidding me," Veronica rolled her eyes. They sat Nina down on a chair and was warned to stay put.

Nina gave the group weary stares. "Barry is still a no-show and Belén isn't coming back right now. I'm your option."

"No," Iris came in with her father and Cisco.

"Plans A through G did not work," Cisco shook his head and skipped down the steps down. "And unless somebody's figured out how to pull Shivhan out of the Green, we're thoroughly screwed!"

"Do we have anything in here that can stop him?" Joe locked the door as best he could then joined the group.

"Helloooo," Nina waved a languid hand in the air.

"Is she kidding?" Joe made a gesture at the woman. Veronica shook her head in return.

"Barry could stop him if we could bring him back," Henry remarked, hoping someone would come up with another attempt to bring Barry back.

"Somebody needs to try something because that door's not gonna hold for much longer," Cisco stared at the metal door with wide eyes. Tony was outside and he was banging.

~ 0 ~

Barry hoped that him coming back to his childhood home meant the chase was finally going to come to an end. He pushed open the door and cautiously made his way through the foyer and into the living room. A stop was mandatory when he saw his mother sitting at the dining table.

"Mom…" he sucked in a breath.

The Speed Force smiled. "Hi, Barry."

"You're not my mother," Barry said it for his sake. He couldn't stop the tears in his eyes even when he understood what she really was. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"We're not doing anything to you, sweetheart. You're just so tired," the Speed Force gestured to the chair next to her. "Sit, Barry. Sit."

Barry felt his feet move without his command, and yet he didn't fight it. He slowly sat in front of the woman. "You were right all along. I haven't accepted it... not for a second," he spoke the words he'd been denying for such a long time. "I don't think I ever will."

"My beautiful boy...you have to find a way."

"How?"

"I don't know. But I know this. What you've become...it's wonderful... a miracle even, but it won't make bad things stop happening to you. Even the Flash can't outrun the tragedies the universe is gonna keep sending your way. You have to accept that. And then you can truly run free."

It was difficult to separate the Speed Force from the image of his mother, and then Barry just couldn't do it anymore. "I know. I just miss her. I miss you so much."

The Speed Force merely smiled at him. "What if I told you that she's proud of you? And of the man that you've become?"

"Who's telling me that... the Speed Force or my mother?"

"Both."

~ 0 ~

She's no good.

You'll be better off.

Datura shook her head hard. Her face was scrunched up with stress and possible pain but she would never tell.

"Datura?" Poison Ivy's voice brought the woman back from her visions. "You saw something?"

"I shouldn't have left," Datura shook her head and turned around. She saw Caitlin was still working and Belen still fast asleep under the drugs. "She's finishing up the army that I started."

"Who?"

"Siren bitch," Datura swallowed hard. She rubbed her forehead and screwed her eyes shut. "I keep hearing voices, Ivy. They're not leaving anymore!"

"It's okay, it'll be okay," Poison Ivy brought her hands from her face.

"No, it's not," Datura refused. "I need to see him. I need to." She swatted Poison Ivy's hands away from her.

"I'm still trying to come up with the right sequencing," Caitlin announced. She went up to the women with a straight, professional face. "Your gravitational abilities are a bit tricky but I think I might-"

Datura stopped her with a hand in the air. "Save it and just do it. I'm going to see Zoom. Have a message you want me to send?" The color in Caitlin's face drained drastically within the second. "Or do you want to come back with me?" Datura smirked with her taunt.

"N-no, please don't take me back!" Caitlin shook her head and stepped back. "Please!"

"Don't cry me the river, princess," Datura waved Caitlin off. "Right now I need you to go work on that solution thing. But mess up and you'll be back faster than the lightning that struck your friend."

Caitlin accepted that deal in a heartbeat.

"Are you sure about this?" Poison Ivy quietly asked Datura after Caitlin had returned to work.

"No, but it's the only way to stay on top," Datura strode out of the room.

~ 0 ~

"Do you remember this book?" the Speed Force waved a small, child's book at Barry next to her. "It was always your favorite."

Barry recognized his all time favorite book in a heartbeat. "Yeah…"

The Speed Force opened up the book and leaned back on the couch. "Once there was a little dinosaur called a Maiasaur, who lived with his mother. One day, he told his mother, 'I wish I were special like the other dinosaurs. If I were a T. rex, I could chomp with my ferocious teeth!' 'But if you were a T. rex,'said his mother, 'How would you hug me with your tiny little arms?'"

Barry knew the words by heart, and if this was the only chance he would get to ever read with his mother one more time, he would take it. It was the end after all. "I wish I were an Apatosaurus,' said the little dinosaur, 'So with my long neck I could see high above the treetops.' 'But if you were an Apatosaurus,' said his mother, 'How would you hear me in the treetops when I told you I love you? What makes you so special, little Maiasaur?' said his mother. 'Is it your ferocious teeth or long neck or pointy beak? What makes you special is out of all of the different dinosaurs in the big, wide world, you have the mother who is just right for you and who will always'"

"Love you," finished both of them.

The Speed Force closed the book and set it down. "You're ready."

Barry thought he was. He believed it too. He got up just as the shadowy figure zipped in. He reached out and grabbed it which turned out to be himself. Instantaneously, he felt the same course of power rush through him. Not a moment later did the same swirling blue vortex sprang to life right across him. He could hear voices again, and it was definitely Cisco again.

"Run, Barry. Run," the Speed Force rose up from behind.

With the knowledge that he could now, Barry reached out to Cisco and accepted his hand. It was an instant yank to the real world.

"Barry!" Cisco exclaimed cheerfully with the others right behind him.

He was hugged by his father then Iris and Joe...and so on...until Cisco spoke up.

"I'm so glad you're back, 'cause we're about to die!"

Confusion settled on Barry's face, and yet somehow he wasn't surprised. "Wait, what!?"

"So... Girder. Girder came back to life, and he's all Young Frankenstein now, and he only recognizes Iris, and she lured him to my workshop so we could demagnetize him, but the machine shorted out, so he's about to come through that door and smush us all into chunky salsa and possibly eat our brains out. I don't know. Jury's still out on that!"

"A-alright, I got it," Barry said, even though half of it didn't make it through his still-buzzing head. "I-I will lure him to your workshop, and we figure out a way to turn the power back on, okay?"

"Plan H!" Cisco and Harry pointed at each other.

Tony finally brought the door down with a strong kick. Barry took Iris by the arm and sped her just behind the hallway.

"Hey, Tony!" Iris shouted for his attention.

Girder turned around and followed the bait. Cisco and Harry went the other way for the workshop. Now the two worked fervently and as quickly as possible, but when Barry and Iris met them there a short time later, there was still much to do.

"Power needs at least two electromagnets... Too much for this wiring to handle!" Harry rushed with a wire in hand. "We're gonna need a really big extension cord!"

Barry saw it was time for improve. "All right, I'll... I'll see what I can do…"

Tony burst into the room ready to get his target. Barry brought Iris back behind Cisco's machine then attempted to fight off Tony. He dodged a couple punches and then attempted to knock Tony over. Tony easily withstood the attack and threw Barry back against the wall.

Iris, Cisco and Harry winced at the cracking sounds they were sure was all Barry.

Barry staggered up on his feet. He shook himself to get ready for a last round. "Tony... look, you were never my favorite person, but let's end this... so you can finally rest." He started speeding around Tony.

"He's using spin to charge the magnets. Like an electric turbine," Cisco gaped.

The speedster managed to knock the magnetic exterior off Tony, essentially returning him to a corpse.

~0~

After Tony's corpse was returned to the morgue, Jesse and Nina were returned to the cortex so they could finally get some needed rest. Barry, however, started moving to Jesse like he just...needed to. The girl was fast asleep and yet something told him he needed to…

His hand slipped forwards and with the briefest touch electricity transferred to Jesse's hand. She gave a soft breath of awakening no a second after.

"How did I get here?" Jesse lazily blinked at her father.

"How did you do that? Are you, like, magic now?" Cisco was dead serious with a hand over his chest. Barry almost chuckled.

"Did you know that was gonna happen?" Henry asked

"Maybe," Barry admitted. "It's hard to explain."

"It's... It's the Speed Force," Harry concluded with the biggest smirk on his face.

"Well, could you pass that super healing over here?" Nina waved a hand from her bed. "I'd appreciate it."

Barry smiled at her and moved to her side. "How are you doing?" he kindly asked.

Nina returned his smile with her own. "I'm gonna be just fine. Your Dad's a hell of a doctor. Please don't put me out of a job," she then added for Henry.

Barry took it all with more smiles and one nod, but he could only do it so well. "I'm going to get Belén," he told Nina and the others.

"Woah, right now? You need to rest," Harry was the first one to respond.

"I said I would get her back first thing. That wasn't for show," Barry started for the cortex and could hear the multiple footsteps behind him. "Cisco, the suit's tracker? How's it going?"

Cisco made a run for the desk to check for any updates. "Last time we checked it clocked at the precinct."

"We think she's with Caitlin," Veronica informed quietly. "But we haven't dared to check." The guilt was evidently killing her.

"Don't worry, we're bringing them both back," Barry promised.

"That's funny," Cisco's voice called them back in.

"What is?" Barry went over to see what Cisco was staring at.

"Belén's suit tracker is marking her on the street. She's...three blocks down the precinct…"

"Barry, wait-" Henry barely got the words out before Barry sped out of the room.

~ 0 ~

"You have the cure?"

Datura stepped in with the bravest stance she could muster. She could not let Zoom see that her condition was still getting worse. It was a one way ticket to death. "Not yet. It's in the works. About the metahumans-"

"Black Siren is finishing it up," Zoom turned around. Datura barely hid the twitch of anger. "You need to get that cure."

"I know, but I c-"

"You have one job and I don't want to see your face until it gets done."

Datura gritted her teeth behind closed lips. "I'll need Caitlin for a few more days."

"Fine," he said without a care in the world.

Datura watched him carefully and turned to leave but at the last minute, she stopped. There was a questionable expression on her face that Zoom saw from the reflection of a window.

"Did you need something else?"

"Caitlin, what are you planning on doing with her?" as Datura asked the question she berated herself. What the hell was she doing? This time there was no voices telling her this was what needed to happen. It was just her.

"I don't see how that's any of your concern."

"She's scared out of her mind. You really think keeping her prisoner is going to make her love you?" Zoom took the question more close to home than he would've liked. He sideways glanced at her, threatening her to be quiet with a single look. And yet Datura couldn't seem to hold herself. "You know why I never bothered to explain things to my husband after I became…" she motioned at herself, "...this? Because I would rather he be in love with the innocent, sweet version of myself than be afraid of the real me. It's a foul play, but it's better than seeing the person you love look at you with fear in their eyes." She gave a light shrug of her shoulders. "If there's one thing about me is that I don't force people to love me. Either they do or they don't. Adding fear to the equation...makes you weak."

The moment her last words were spoken, Zoom sped to her and pinned her against the wall. "You want to keep pushing your luck with me? You're not in the condition to put up much of a fight." Datura felt his hand squeeze her neck but she still did not squirm. "You're becoming disposable and you dare say I'm weak? What I do with Caitlin is none of your business. Return her as soon as you have the cure or I'll end you." He pushed her to the side and allowed air to fill her lungs again. "Go."

Datura rubbed her neck and kept her furious glare out of his vision. She stormed out of the lab and down the stairs only to stop when a new image came to mind. Her eyes flickered to the offices downstairs and without a second thought rushed in to retrieve something.

~0~

Barry had listened to Cisco's guidance as he made his way down the streets. Belén's tracker was up and active and he was going to find her. He came to a stop when he spotted a familiar curly, dark-brunette walking down the sidewalk.

He sped right up to her, forcing her to stop. She didn't look remotely surprised to find him there, in fact she looked pleased. "Oh, wait till Zoom finds out you got your speed back."

"How dare you walk around showing your face while you commit crimes?" Barry couldn't get his voice to sound angry with her. He scanned the area for his Belén, or at the least Poison Ivy holding her.

Datura raised a closed fist in the air. "Don't bother. I knew you'd be coming," she moved her fingers a bit to reveal Belén's suit tracker in her hand. "I saw it before you decided it. In fact, I saw you coming when I was the precinct."

"And you didn't tell Zoom?"

"I'm mad with him."

"Why?" Barry was genuinely curious. There was a small open window of opportunity and he was going to reach for it.

Datura's lips stretched into a smile. She wagged a finger at him. "No, no, what happens between me and Zoom stays between us."

Barry visibly cringed. "Please don't say…"

The smile faded from her face, and on some level it brought Barry some pleasure. "Don't you ever imply that again." She pushed the suit tracker to him. "You can have that back. It's not required and it certainly won't help you find her."

"Please, we're trying to help you. We've been working hard -"

"I know that. Caitlin and Belén won't stop telling me that. It's annoying."

"You've got Caitlin too," Barry realized, and yet it sounded like a better place for her to he than in Zoom's clutches.

"I felt sorry for her so I decided to bring her along for the ride. See, I can be good once in a while." she jabbed a finger to his chest.

"Yes, you can," Barry agreed with much more sentiment than he had planned on. "Tell me where Belén is so we can get her and then help you."

"Nope," she purposely popped the 'p' and backtracked from him. "You want the place, you'll have to fight me for it."

"Belén, don't…" Barry was hitting that wall of indecision he foresaw the moment he learned who Datura really was. He couldn't fight her. He knew he couldn't.

"C'mon," Datura extended her hands to her sides. "I'm angry as hell right now, too bad it's not with you or else this really could be fun."

"Belén, just-"

"-you want her-"

"-I can't, Belén-"

Datura's eyes brightened with baby blue as anger washed over her. "That's not my name!" she roared as the frosty energy pushed forwards.

Barry quickly sped out of the way but did not fight back. That didn't stop her. She kept firing at him with frost, followed by familiar electricity. As much as Barry would avoid the hits, one of them managed to get him from behind.

"Dude, not to sound rude, but you're getting your ass kicked," Cisco's voice came from the comm. as Barry rolled on his back.

"As long as you're not being rude," Barry groaned and put a hand over his stomach.

"Fight back!" he heard Harry command.

"She's sick! I can't!" Barry had sat upright and noticed the way Datura was wobbling on her feet. She had a distant look on her face, like if she had taken a sudden pause from reality. "She's Belén, I-I can't…" And it crushed him. Because if he couldn't fight this woman, then he wouldn't be able to find Belén.

"Stop it! Stop!" Datura began to shout. She clapped a hand to her head and repeated the command over and over.

Barry pushed himself up to his feet and cautiously approached her. "Hey…what is it?"

"Be quiet, be quiet…" the woman told herself as it would appear. "I'm...in control…"

"It's the others' powers, isn't it?" His hand reached for hers, hoping that maybe now she would accept his help. He barely grazed the leather of her suit when she snatched his wrist and pushed his hand backwards till a cracking sound ripped between them. Barry screamed and fell to his knees.

Datura's eyes were a bright white, and when she spoke to him it was no longer with her voice. "We'll let you know when we're done with Belén. You'll have her corpse to bury in a couple days." Just like her doppelganger, her original vines entangled around her body until her figure was no longer there.

For that night, the STAR Labs team would have to take two wins out of the three.

Author's Note:

There are just 2 more chapters before this story finishes and I'm so excited! I think the 3rd story is probably my favorite so far, followed by this one!

As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "noble-crescent" and the tag I created for any posts having to do with my work is # noblecrescentedit.

For the review:

LMarie99: Thanks so much! These last chapters are my favorite tbh because of everything that's going down and because it leads directly into the 3rd story!