Surrender: The Flash (2)

21.1

21.1 the walking dead

B A R R Y P O V

I run. I run and run; so much that I'm not sure where I am anymore. Iris. I look around, panting and notice I've reached a beach, I look behind me and see a restaurant. I recognize the beach to be the one that Keystone and Central City both shared.

I walk forwards, looking around to see Olivia. "Livvy," I sighed, my heart warm and beating a little faster at the sight of her. She was wearing a white sundress with flowers on it, one that hugged her in a way it showed off her curves perfectly.

"We're glad you made it, Barry," She says and I sigh, the feeling in my heart gone.

"Not Liv," I scoff. "It's just you again."

I watch as she walks closer to me, plopping herself down on the sand, her feet out in front of her. "Sit, Barry," She says gesturing next to her. "Sit. You're always on your feet."

I sit down a respectable distance away from her, mirroring her position. "You remember this place, where you first told me you loved me?" She asks as I recall the memory, hiding the smile that started to grace my face.

"Yeah, of course, except that wasn't you," I say coldly, giving her a glance.

"We thought you'd find this place and our appearance less upsetting. Yet you seem upset," She says.

"My friends, my family, my city... my whole world is in danger," I say, anger bubbling inside me. "Zoom is on a rampage with the power that he stole from me, and you are keeping me here."

"You were given a rare and precious gift, and you rejected it," She says. Her voice is soothing but I force myself to be angry, knowing it isn't her. "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," She says.

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

"Because you're The Flash, Barry," She says and I look at her confused.

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O L I V I A  P O V

"We got a new problem," I say as we enter back into the room Jesse was in. "Our accelerator experiment seems to have reanimated one of the dead metas in our morgue."

"Reanimated," like brought back to life?" Joe asks.

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

"Which one?"

"Tony Woodward," I say.

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

"History repeats itself," Wells says. "First as tragedy and then as farce."

"Wells, as a parent, believe me, I have nothing but sympathy for what you're going through," Joe tells him. "Listen to me closely when I say to you, we 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. Let Henry take care of your daughter. Me and Iris will handle this Girder situation, but you, Liv and Cisco are the scientists. You're the only one who can bring Barry back from wherever the hell he is right now."

"Ramon... give those medical records to Henry, and both of you, meet me in the Breach Room in five minutes," Harry says standing up, "We've got work to do."

He says as we start to head out. I pause, looking at Joe and Iris. "Tell me when you find Tony. Taking him out will be something I'll do," I say. "It won't be that hard."

"Okay," Joe says with a nod as I follow after Harry.

"So how do we know this is safe?" I ask as we work on the machine.

"Well, define "safe," Harry says.

"Safe, as in my brain's not gonna melt," Cisco says.

"No. It's a simple feedback loop, Ramon, all right?" Harry asks, clearly frustrated. "When you vibe on Barry, your brain waves send me the necessary data to pinpoint whatever dimensional pocket or corner of the universe that Barry is stuck in. And then we electrically stimulate your prefrontal cortex while opening a breach, which gives you physical access to Barry and lets you be the beacon to guide him home. Simple feedback loop."

"I'm sorry. Did you say electrically stimulate?" He asks.

"Ramon, do you want to bring Barry back or not?" Harry retorts.

Cisco grabs Barry's suit, the machine on his head. "Okay," I sigh. "And we have a lock."

B A R R Y P O V

"I don't understand. If I'm The Flash, then why are you doing this to me? Why do I have to catch this... this thing before you let me go back?" I ask angrily. "Please, look, I will do whatever you want. Just let me go back right now, so I can help my friends."

"Barry!" I hear a familiar voice say. "Barry, turn around! Barry!"

I look out into the ocean to see something resembling a huge water tornado form, electricity sleeping through it. "What is that? What is that?" I ask standing up.

"Those are your friends," Liv tells me, standing up. "They want you to come back."

"Can I?" I ask.

"Of course. But if you do, it'll be without your powers," She says. I look at Cisco who's asking to take my hand. I look at the figure lurking behind me.

"The choice is yours, Barry," Liv says as I look at her. Hesitantly, I turn away, heading after the figure after hearing Cisco yell my name one last time.

O L I V I A P O V

"What is going on in here?" Iris asks walking in.

"Just hang on a little longer, Ramon... A little longer," Harry says,

"Hey, you're killing him!" Iris yells.

"No he's not," I say. "Cisco is one of the strongest people I know. Harry isn't killing him!"

Harry then turns off the machine and Iris runs to Cisco."Cisco! Hey, Cisco, can you hear me?" She asks.

"I saw him. Barry... he turned to me," I hear Cisco say as a hopeful smile falls across my face. "I'm sorry. I lost him." I sigh, but my smile doesn't waver. He'll be back. I know he will.