"What happened to the electronics?" Iris asked walking in cutting my conversation with Jay off. "And why are you smoking?"
"I was teaching." Jay said proudly. "Your friend is a quick learner."
"He always has been, that's why I was okay with Nora giving him Velocity. I knew it wouldn't corrupt him like it did Hunter and Eliza." Barry said smiling at me. "Besides, your family and every member of the Flash family has had speed at one point."
I smiled and looked at my feet with all the high praise going around. "What's your plan, Barry?" Jay asked.
My mind drifted off. We hadn't had word from Cisco, Frost, or Thea since they left hours ago. Were they okay?
Of course they were, what am I thinking?
"Ever since this war began we've been outfought and outnumbered." Barry said. "That ends now. For all their speed, our opponents, no matter how fast they are, they can't outrun a force of nature."
Thunder cracked and electricity danced as the speed force exploded into the room.
"Big Nora. It's so good to see you." XS said running forward. "Yeah, we already met." She said to Barry. "Remember when I first saw you? I was like, oh my gosh the freaking speed force. And I was just so amazed and- and nervous. And I just kept rambling on and on and on and totally embarrassing myself because she.."
Nora rambled on like she always did, glad to see that never changed across time.
"It's good to see you too, little Nora." The speed force said to her. She looked at me. "You too, Luke."
I nearly choked on my spit again. Wow I do that a lot.
"Excuse me?" I asked but was immediately ignored. First Bart, then Nora and now the speed force? What were they keeping from me?
"This is a rare pleasure, ma'am." Jay said to her. "And if I may, you look a whole lot like someone very close to me."
The speed force nodded. "I get that a lot." She turned to Barry and Iris. "Barry, Iris. It's good to see you again."
"Are the others coming, too?" Iris asked hopefully.
"No. With me here the others are all working overtime to keep the universe in balance. I've seen what you've all been facing. I've Jr. fighting it myself within the speed force. Now, you all need to be at full strength in order to defeat this threat, which is why whether you're a full speedster, an artificial one, or even have just a spark of the speed force inside of you." She said looking at me and Iris. "I'm going to give you all a boost." The Speed Force said. "That is if everyone's okay with that."
Jay looked at me from across the group and nodded to me.
We all nodded our heads giving the Speed Force our permission.
She snapped her fingers and lightning began to dance around us. Jay and Barry's a dark orange, Nora and Iris's their classic purple, mine blue.
"Schway." Nora said looking at me.
"Yup." Jay said. "That works."
I didn't feel any different besides the warm glow that went through my body.
"Barry. Bart's still." Iris said.
"I know." The Speed Force said. "Oh, my impulsive boy."
The Speed Force closed her eyes and within minutes a flash of gold appeared in the room and a silver suit slid in next to me.
"Whoo! I'm back." Bart said clapping his hands.
"Bart!" The family said giving him a hug which I successfully ducked myself out of.
"Hi, did you miss me?" He asked. "Did you miss me?" He asked fake pouting. "Oh, thank you for the reboot, S.F.N." He said pointing at the speed force. "Woah, Lukas nice suit. It's definitely the coolest suit.. next to mine of course."
I nodded at him.
Barry looked at Bart confused as he stretched.
"Speed Force Nana. Uh, it's.. it's our little thing." Bart said. "Oh, somebody redid my nails. It must've been Caitlin."
Bart looked up and his face immediately fell as he saw Jay.
I connected the dots right there, Godspeed killed Bart's Jay.
"Uncle Jay. You're- you're here." Bart said.
"Uncle?" Jay asked. "That's new. Um, yeah I kinda like it." Jay said fumbling over his words. "It's good to finally meet you, Bart."
"Yeah." Bart said regaining his composure.
Nora nodded at him for support.
"All right. What's next, pops?" He asked Barry.
Barry stood tall and I felt another one of his attempts at a pep talk coming on. "We end this Civil War. Once and for all."
"Sorry to kill your thunder, but I gotta make a call quick." I said to Barry.
Barry nodded and smiled. "I figured you'd be the last one ready."
***
I looked at my phone. Nine missed calls from Thea.
"Oh lord." I said to myself. "This may have been worse than missing calls from my dad when I was in high school.
I dialed her back and waited for her to pick up.
"Oh look who decided to answer." Thea's voice said as the sounds of arrows and ice whistled through the air.
"Yeah sorry, there's a lot happening back here at base. Something you'll never believe happened." I said to her.
"I've seen some crazy things, Luke. Nothing surprises me anymore."
"How's it going out there?" I asked her.
"Well besides mopping up these Godspeeds and apprehending these fugitives that broke out of Iron Heights." Thea started. "It's going fantastic, turns our Frost is super cool. Not as nerdy as Caitlin. Can we stay in Central City when this is over? It's growing on me."
"Yeah, of course we can. We still have my mess to figure out."
"Ope, gotta go." Thea said as the line went dead.
Well at least she was alright. She had some serious crime fighters helping her out.
Bart strolled into the lounge.
"Oh hey, Lukas." Bart said to me as he went behind the counter and opened a bottle of tequila.
"Um, aren't you a little young to drink?" I asked him.
"There's no drinking and running rule is there?" He asked setting out two shot glasses. "Besides it doesn't affect us anyway. I just like the taste."
I raised my eyebrows at him as he poured the shots. "You are crazy."
He shrugged. "I got my dads impulsive side. It is what it is."
I rolled my eyes at him. "To victory."
"To victory." He said as we threw back the shots. I winced and almost gagged shaking my head.
Bart did too and I knew that wasn't what he had thought it was but I didn't bring it up.
"So, are you going to be the one to tell me why you, Nora, and the Speed Force have been acting so strange around me."
He shook his head rapidly and put a finger on his nose. "No can do, I called not it."
The alarms began blaring.
Bart shrugged.
"Time to get to work."