Here is the first official chapter of Running Home to You!!! I hope you all enjoy it and as always please share your thoughts in the comments.
Damian's POV
"Damian?" I smile just hearing her voice. I grab the tray of food and walk into Mother's room.
"I have nourishment, mother." I announce with pride. She smiles at me, and I can't help but notice the bundle in her arms. "Is this..."
"This is your sister Nora." Mother smiles brightly at me, and I place the tray down. I slowly approach her as she gives me a better look at my sister, but I step back as the baby's face is blank. "Damian? Is there something wrong?" I am lost for words, and the loud screeching sound is back.
"Ahhh!" I scream in pain. I drop to my knees, unable to stand.
"Everything is going to be alright." Mother smiles at me, and the baby is no longer in her arms. "Everything will be alright." I scream again as a sword pierces through Mother's chest.
"NO!" I cradle her lifeless body.
"Love is weakness." I look up with tears in my eyes at myself dressed like I used to in the League.
"What is this?" I mutter.
"You don't know?" This old version of myself circles me like I'm its prey. "You were once the most feared warrior no one dared to face."
"Still am."
"No, you're a weak and pathetic child who cries for his mother!" I run to attack myself but hit the wall instead, as they are no longer there.
"Too afraid to fight me like a man?"
"Never." He reappears, but this time dressed in Robin's uniform.
"What the fuck are you wearing? Why are you dressed like bird shit?"
"You could have been greatness. You could have been someone more than just Bruce Wayne's son. But instead, you threw that all away for what? So you could pretend that you're not a killer."
"I never forget what I am." I fire back, and he hits me with the end of his bo staff. I wipe the blood from my lip. "Is that the best you've got?"
"No." I stiffen as I hear that voice. I turn to find a version of my grandfather behind me. "My heir, how far you've fallen."
"You're not real. Neither of you are." I try to walk away from them, but they keep blocking me.
"You cannot outrun your past."
"Try me." I take off running, needing a moment to think, but they keep appearing all around me.
"You can run all you want, Damian." I stop and turn to face Eva as she speaks to me from a monitor. "But you'll never find your way out of here.
"Sounds like a challenge." I fire back. She smirks at me.
"So much fire in such a tiny form. Don't waste your energy. You're going to need it." She taunts me.
"You know you're not real." I fire back at her. She looks at me with a shocked expression.
"Wh..." I pull out my tablet and show her the footage I found of her human form dying so her mirror image could live.
"You're living a lie while keeping us prisoner here. Your mind is fragile, Eva. You try and intimidate me with my past, but I'm not the one afraid of who I am." I step closer to her. "I'm coming for you, Eva; when I do, there will be no mercy." She shatters the glass. A message appears on my tablet from Iris telling Kamilla, Singh, and myself to meet her in the Speed Lab tonight. "I'm coming home, Mother, and I'm bringing everyone with me."
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3rd Person's POV
"You were what?" Chester is losing his mind as Anna explains to him the complicated story that is her life.
"I know." Anna nods her head.
"But that is insane."
"Most people would agree so."
"How could you not be a Star Wars fan?" Chester exclaims.
"I'm a Trekkie. Always have been, always will be." Anna confirms.
"Well, that is just wrong. It's just wrong." Chester exclaims just as alarms go off. "Ohhh...you know the drill, Chester P." He tries to calm himself down. "Been prepping for this for weeks." He looks on the coms looking for Eva.
"There she is." Anna states as they find a location of fractal energy emission.
"That is not good." Chester comments.
"Dealing with an evil villain never is." Anna smiles as she presses the wake button, the cryo temp pod releasing Barry from his slumber. The door that once held his suit opens, revealing Barry, who gasps awake.
"Where's Eva?"
"Satellites have her at 2nd and Walczak." Anna informs her husband.
"Make that 3rd and Certo." Chester corrects. "You doing okay?" Barry turns to look at Eva's detected location. "I know the Cryo Pod keeps your residual speed forces in stasis, but waking up can be pretty disorienting."
"Call Joe. Tell him I'm heading downtown." Barry instructs.
"But you only have 1% of your speed left." Anna cautions Barry. Barry touches the side of his ear, allowing his suit to appear over his whole body.
"Then I better hurry." Barry speeds off to fight Eva once again.
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Barry is feeling defeated once again as he was unable to stop Eva as she hit nine more Black Hole locations. "Eva hit nine more spots last night." He shares with Joe and Cecile. "I missed her every time."
"How much speed do you have left?" Cecile asks the daunting question on everyone's mind.
"A few days. Maybe a few hours." Barry answers.
"Eva's targeting Black Hole tech, right?" Joe asks. "So why go after Scudder and Dillon?"
"They were working for Black Hole." Barry pulls out evidence from the scene. "I found this in Scudder's remains." He shows Joe and Cecile the Black Hole pin. "I'm guessing they've been on Carver's payroll since breaking out of Iron Height's last year."
"And when they got in Eva's way, she moved them off the chessboard?" Joe asks, which Barry confirms with a nod.
"Well...they are not the only ones." Cecile shows them the paper with Sue's face all over it. "The whole city thinks that Sue killed Carver. She and Ralph are staying way off the grid."
"And Caitlin and Cisco are still gone, too." Barry adds. "And Damian...and Iris." He looks to the floor.
"One good this is you're going to be a dad again very soon." Joe tries to look on the bright side of things. Barry smiles weakly at the compliment.
"How is Anna handling being officially on maternity leave?" Cecile asks.
"She hates it." Barry laughs, just thinking about how Anna wants to do so much, but she can barely walk without a waddle. "She hates the mood swings, the indigestion, swelling of her hands and feet, but..."
"She can't wait to hold that sweet baby." Cecile finishes, and Barry nods.
"I..." He rubs the back of his head and smiles. "I should get back to S.T.A.R. Labs. If we're gonna stop Eva and fix this, I need the Artificial Speed Force up and Running."
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"Connecting Fusion Sphere." Nash announces to Chester and Anna. "Fusion Sphere Connected. Activate."
"Uh...activated." Chester follows Nash's instructions, and the sphere turns on.
"Oh, it's working." Anna comments, and Nash gives her a look. "What?"
"Did you think it wouldn't work?"
"There was a high chance of failure."
"This is off your calculations." Nash argues.
"That I made late the other night after I ate a bunch of food. I could have calculated anything." Anna defends. "And you're welcome because my math was correct." She smiles at them.
"Well, now we just have to find a fuel source to put in it." Nash comments.
"And then we can power the Artificial Speed Force."
"Exactly." Chester yawns loudly.
"No, you can't st..." Anna now follows him in a yawn.
"I know it's con..." Chester yawns again.
"See, you keep doing it, and now I can..." Anna yawns again.
"Uh, one of the sphere plates doesn't' look fully magnetized." Chester informs Nash as he goes to touch the sphere, but Barry speeds into the lab pushing him out of the way.
"Whoa! You can't touch that." Barry tells them.
"Oh!"
"If you touch the Fusion Sphere while it's activated, the Fusion Sphere thinks you're the fuel source." Nash pieces together.
"Yes." Barry looks at Anna, who is eating pickles and chocolate. "Babe, I told you to remind them."
"When?"
"This morning?"
"No, I distinctly remember you telling me to tell the..." Anna stops and thinks about the conversation. "You might have told me." Barry nods. "I...no one should rely on me for important things. I'm eight months pregnant, and...my brain is no longer my own." Anna defends.
"Sorry, I'm just trying to get your speed back." Chester apologizes.
"Don't hurt yourself trying to do it." Barry tells him. "I'd never want you to do that."
"Allen." Nash calls Barry's name.
"What?" Nash points to Nash, who can't stop yawning.
"Can you get this guy a coffee? Wake him up?"
"Me too." Anna stays as she continues to yawn.
"You stop."
"No, you." Chester and Anna argue back and forth with one another.
"Yes, let's..." Barry grabs both of their hands. "Hey, come on. Let's get a coffee."
"Whoa, can I use that cappuccino maker you guys have in the lounge?" Chester asks.
"Um..."
"Knock yourself out." Nash waits for them to leave before addressing one of the Wells. "What? What?"
"Well, it's nice to see you, too." Harry greets him with the same amount of sass, if not more. "So it turns out we cracked the fuel problem for this A.S.F. of yours."
"Pas facile non. Not easy, not great." Sherloque joins them.
"But so much fun, huh?" H.R. smiles with joy. "I love all the brainstorming. Plus, we got all the Welles back together again." Nash looks at him annoyingly.
"So I expect I need no introduction, but yes, it is I, master of stage and screen, Harrison Orson Wells." Another new Wells introduces himself to the group.
"Okay, you're new." Nash comments.
"Nash, as I know you know, when our worlds died in Crisis, particles from our brainwaves were drawn to you like..."
"Like a moth drawn to a cosmic flame. Orson Wells explains.
"Whatever happened to show, don't tell?" Harry states, annoyed. "H.R.?" Harry tosses a notebook to H.R.
"Yep." H.R. catches the notebook and cheers for himself.
"Nice catch."
"I love this part." He shows Nash the drawing.
"So there are multiversal particles inside you right now, Nash, made of synaptic energy." Harry explains. "Now, we take those particles, and you put them into the Fusion Sphere theoretically; they could power the A.S.F. Forever." H.R. flips to the last drawing with pride in his work.
"Not only would Allen get his speed back, but I'd be rid of you lot forever." Nash looks wearily at them.
"No, you'd be gone, too; I mean, because of the whole organic receptor thing." H.R. argues, which causes all of the Welles to look at him. "What?"
"What's he talking about?" Nash demands.
"Multiversal particles are just...they're very volatile." Harry begins to explain. "Right? And there's no way they'll stay in that sphere long enough to be charged unless...unless we have an organic receptor." Nash looks at the sphere with worry.
"The organic receptor...is me." Harry nods his head.
"For the Flash to run again, Nash Well must die." Harry confirms.
"No." Nash shakes his head and puts his hands up, being done with the conversation.
"Whoa."
"What?"
"No way!" Nash declares.
"Nash, you're our organic receptor. You're the only one that can contain us inside the Fusion Sphere." Harry tries to get through to Nash.
"By dying?" Nash asks.
"Ye..."
"By dying, Harry?!"
"Yes." Harry confirms Nash's fate for him.
"How stupid do you think I am?"
"Come on."
"I have a life here now. I have people that I actually don't hate. And I'm kind of hoping Allen and Wayne-Allen somewhat name their child after me, but you know what, I'm not gonna give all that up so Barry Allen can run fast!" Nash declares.
"Nash, you're the only one of us who can help Allen."
"And I will, Harry; by figuring out another way to save Allen, that doesn't mean I have to commit suicide!"
"Nash!"
"Where he's going?" Sherloque asks while Nash walks away from the Welles.
"Bozos!"
"Didn't see that coming." Sherloque comments.
"And scene." Orson Wells states.
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Anna's POV
"Hey!" Barry rushes to my side. "I can help you with that."
"I'm just working on a device to bring everyone home."
"But you're lifting..."
"It's a hammer, babe. It's not that heavy."
"But the doctor said to take it easy." He reminds me.
"And it is. I'm not doing the salamander or intense training. Light walks or runs. I am not overexerting myself." I reassure him.
"I just...after the fight with Eva, I've just been worried about you." I smile at my sweet husband.
"And I love that you care so much for my well-being, but let me remind you. I'm eight months pregnant, but I am very capable of building a fractal energy dampener."
"You are so hot when you speak about your inventions." Barry leans down and kisses me.
"You know, even if we aren't able to bring them back, it's not your fault."
"Why..."
"I still believe we will bring them all home. I really do because we always find a way. It's just this time...things are different. There are more people that we love that need to be saved, and...you're without your speed. I can't help but fight Eva because about to give birth to a watermelon-sized baby any day and..." I take a deep breath and look at Barry. "I just don't want you carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. Every bad thing that happens is not because you weren't fast enough to stop it. Some things just can't be stopped or fixed."
"I'm always letting some bad guy take my speed and...I'm never fast enough to stop them before someone gets hurt." Barry shares with me.
"Bad people will do bad things no matter if there is someone to stop them. Your speed wouldn't have stopped Eva from wreaking havoc on our lives. She would have found another way. Just like how we will find a different way to get your speed back. You need to believe in yourself just like you believe in others." He smiles back at me.
"If anyone can bring our loved ones back, it's you." I look at Barry ins shock. "You're the most brilliant mind I know, and...Damian hears you and believes you will bring him home." I don't realize I'm crying until Barry wipes the tears from my cheek. I cling to my husband as I find comfort in his embrace.
"When I have my abilities back, I'm going to kill Eva McCulloch." I declare.
I can't wait to have Damian back with Team Flash for good!!! Thank you all for supporting this series.