65

I woke up to an empty bed, my side cold due to the absence of my boyfriend, who I didn't know his whereabouts. I sit up, my hand grabbing onto my phone, staring at the time on the screen that read 8:13 am.

I slip out of bed, rubbing my eyes, yawning, stretching fully, before losing all balance and falling back onto the ground, a groan leaving my mouth.

I lay there for a bit, in defeat and not wanting to get up, but force myself up to my feet after a while, walking into the bathroom. I take a quick shower and brush my teeth, before coming out, drying myself and my long hair, straightening it, before walking back into Barry's bedroom, slipping on a pair of black ripped jeans, propping on a gray hoodie, slipping on a jean jacket over it, putting on some converse.

I walk out into the cold, making my way to star labs, ignoring the fact that I could just take my car. It's a few minute walk, as the cold breeze blew, my cheeks slightly turning red due to the cold.

I walk into star labs, and up to cortex, greeted by Cisco and Iris, Cisco messing with some sort of controller and Iris shouting words back and forth, as I turn my head, seeing Barry running on a treadmill with things I had no idea what were strapped onto him.

"What- you just thought of this now?" Iris asked Cisco.

Cisco gives her a look, and is quick to defend himself, "I didn't think he'd actually try to outrun The Flash!"

"What did I just walk into?" I ask, walking behind Cisco, my eyes landing on the screen in front of him.

Cisco speaks, his eyes focused on the screen, "Oh- you know- the usual- fighting criminals- but The Flash- but instead- a holographic phony- to fool this criminals- but you know- same old, same old."

"Okay- I could go and catch up to th-" I start but Barry points at me from the treadmill, out of breath completely, panting, still trying to run at his full capacity, "No!-"

I put my hands up in surrender, as he speaks again, now to Cisco, "Lightning. Lightning toss-"

Iris follows, telling Cisco, "He wants to do the Lightning toss."

"Nope- no Lightning- its a hologram- remember?" Cisco tells them.

"Just-" Barry grunts, throwing it arm out, trying to explain what he was trying to say, but was too out of breath to explain.

My hand goes to Cisco's shoulder, whatever Barry meant clicking in my head, "He means the wind up. So you can block-" I start to say.

Cisco cuts me off, finishing my sentence, "-their field of vision- yes! Of course."

"All right Cisco, this is where all those countless hours of gaming in your basement are about to pay off." Cisco tells himself as he starts pressing buttons and moving the controls, "Fingers don't fail me now."

I watch the screen and Cisco's actions as he shouts while doing so, "Leroy-!" He drags out, causing my hand to go to my left ear.

"Give me a warning the next time you decide to shout very- loudly next to me?" I tell Cisco, before putting a strand of my hair behind my ear, shoving my hand into my jean jacket's pockets.

Cisco had done it, as he gives me a sly smirk in victory, Barry stepping out of the speed lab, strapping off the devices and putting them down, "I need a breather."

I walk over to him, as Iris spoke, high fiving Cisco, "I didn't think this hologram thing was gonna work, but so far, so good." She said proudly.

I stood next to the chair Barry was sitting in, my hand leaning against the top of the chair behind his back, as he laid his head against my arm.

Cisco laughs, "I mean, I figured if they could get 2Pac trapping against at a concert, we could definitely get The Flash running around Central City."

Harry walks in, "It's not gonna last."

"There it is." Cisco sighs.

Harry crosses his arms, "It's not gonna be long until someone figures out, "Oh, wait. You never say anything. You never touch anything. Oh, wait. You never go indoors."

I chime in, "Well, once someone does- actually notice, I'll just jump in, and be a substitute hero until we can figure out how to get The Flash back."

"The last time you "jumped in" with a meta human, you got crushed under a , Young." Harry shot back at me, as my jaw drops, somewhat offended in his lack of support.

Iris speaks up, stopping the both of us, "Okay well, without Barry's speed, this is as good an idea as any."

"Actually, I beg to differ. I think a better idea, instead of playing "Hoodlums and Holograms" would be to rebuild the particle accelerator to get Barry's speed back." Harry put out his idea.

"Yeah, Wells, that's what you keep saying." Barry says, his arms crossed, the side of his head nuzzling into my arm a little more, as I let him.

Harry responds, "That's right."

"Look at what that explosion did to this city." Barry fought back.

Cisco backs Barry up, "Not to mention, last time we tried something like that, we blew a hole in the universe and created, like, 50 portals to your Earth."

Iris follows up, "Which is exactly how Zoom and his henchmen got here in the first place."

I follow, "Harry, we don't another set of evil meta human's coming after the Flash- when he's not even here. Do you have idea how much destruction that can cause on this city?"

Harry turns, facing us all, "I told you. I know how to contain the explosion."

"Really?" Barry softly laughs in disbelief.

"Yes." Harry simply answers.

"You know how to contain a dark matter explosion that, last time, radiated all of Central City?" Barry asked, not buying that any of this would work. "You tried this on your Earth, remember? Didn't go so well."

Iris speaks up, "And even if you could contain it, I thought you said Barry couldn't tap into the Speed Force anymore."

"It wasn't connected the first time he got his powers-" Harry spoke, "Look, I have your Wells' data. The Harrison Wells from this Earth, I have his science. I know what chemicals need to be in your body, I know how the lightning needs to bond with the dark matter from the particle accelerator explosion. I can recreate the circumstances to get you your speed back. . Your subterfuge- is not gonna last. But more importantly, it's not gonna save Snow. It's not gonna bring your Caitlin back. You wanna be ready should Zoom return- if Zoom returns- Zoom returns- there is only one way to do it, and that's by getting your speed back."

With that he left the room, leaving us all in silence.

-

"If I knew you were going to drive me to your dads, I would've worn something else." I told Barry, referring to my outfit of chose from this morning, as he steered the wheel, driving up the road, as I seated in the passenger seat.

"Zee, you look fine." Barry told me, as he came to a stop at a stop light, turning his head and looking at me, "You look very pretty as you always do, and that's all that matters."