Within Seconds: Sylas & Allen

Barry in the Middle

Parker's eyes opened; there sat the Cortex, in the same way she left it. Barry even went as far as to sit her in her designated chair again. She flashed a smile at her fiancé before she found Cisco, across the room, peering over Harry's shoulder. "Talk to me, Cisco."

"Welcome back," he said first. "Don't worry about Tar Pit, we're going to get him."

"By doing what?"

"With these," said Cisco. He motioned to Harry, who lazily threw a device in the air. Cisco panicked and lunged for it. "These nitrous grenades! Each of these has ten times the concentration of a hot rod's nitrous tank, and is triggered by extreme heat. We're talking six hundred and fifty degrees, that's the boiling point of asphalt, so, one of these puppies makes contact, you got a Tar Pit popsicle for dessert."

"All right. That's great," said Barry.

"And what about Barry's speed?" asked Parker.

"I was right?" asked Cisco.

Barry rubbed his hands together nervously. "I think. I felt slower tonight. You know, not by much, but enough."

"Do you think there's something wrong with the suit?" asked Parker.

"It's unlikely," chimed Harry.

"The reading's from the suit are normal. You know I take care of that thing," said Cisco, mildly offended by their lack of faith in his care taking.

"Am I sick?" tried Barry.

Cisco applied the back of his hand to Barry's forehead. He shook his head. "I don't know, dude, do you feel any different?"

"Not really. I mean, I know I'm slower in the moment, but I can't tell by how much."

"Two percent," said Caitlin, entering the room. "Hey, Park, welcome back. So, tests on the components of your blood show the Speed Force at 100% for the last sixty days. Until today. It dropped to 98."

"Zoom stole Jay's speed. Do you think, maybe, during your fight with Zoom, yours might have diminished?" asked Cisco.

"But that was weeks ago," said Parker.

"Why would I just be feeling those effects now?" continued Barry. He turned to Harry. "Dr. Wells, you've studied the Speed Force more than anyone. What do you think could have happened?"

"It could be any number of things," said Harry vaguely.

"Yeah. All right," muttered Barry. "I mean, just look, Iris could have died tonight."

"She's going to be okay, Barry," assured Caitlin.

"This time. But the fact is, she is hurt right now, because of me. I wasn't fast enough to protect Iris from a meta-human tonight. When Zoom attacks again, I need all of my speed and then some. I can't lose anyone else."

Harry's chair squeaked quickly across the tile floor as he stood, throwing his pen to the desk. "You won't. I did it," he said. He paraded to the suit, ripped the Flash symbol from the suit, and tossed it to Cisco. "I stole your speed. I gave it to Zoom."

"You're working with Zoom?" whispered Barry.

"No, not at first," said Harry.

"We trusted you, I trusted you," said Barry, his voice raising from shock to utter anger.

Parker stood from her chair, approaching her boyfriend carefully. "Baby, think for a second. What's the only reason he'd work with Zoom?"

Barry didn't listen to her voice, although it was all he heard. He pushed her voice of reason out, he refused to think past what he heard: Harry worked with Zoom, against him. A state of utter anger reached Barry. It passed to his fiancé, not due to Harry's actions, but to Joe's, who announced his entrance by punching Harry across the face.