At the heart of the bustling town square stands the grand centrepiece, an awe-inspiring clock tower that seems to touch the heavens. Its intricate design features a multitude of rotating gears, each meticulously synchronized to mark the passage of time with rhythmic precision. The clock face, adorned with ornate numerals, tells the time in both analogue and steam-powered digital displays. A majestic pendulum swings beneath the tower, its rhythmic motion captivating onlookers as it counts the seconds.
Radiating from the central masterpiece are winding streets lined with an array of unique shops and establishments. Brass-adorned storefronts showcase a variety of wares, from curious automatons and pocket-sized telescopes to vials of mysterious elixirs. A bookstore, with its gears turning as books mechanically shuffle on shelves, invites literary enthusiasts. Along the bustling roads, steam carriages adorned with polished brass and copper trims navigate through the crowd, emitting gentle puffs of steam and the rhythmic clatter of their mechanical engines. The air is filled with the hum of innovation and the unmistakable scent of coal-fired engines, creating an atmosphere that transports Y/n and Taylor into a world where Victorian elegance seamlessly intertwines with cutting-edge technology.
"Dad, what happened?" Taylor muttered as the two of them hid in an alley as the roads got busier and busier.
"I don't know," Y/n admitted as he studied the people walking past, a lot of men wore very tailored clothes with tophats and pocket watches while the women dressed in ankle-length dresses and boots and gloves. "We should leave but something's wrong..."
Silence fell between them before Taylor realized what her father was talking about. "Our speed is weakened," She stared at her father with wide eyes, but something caught their attention before anything could be said.
In the town centre was a flash of teal lightning as a figure dashed in at speed, He wore a pair of fitted trousers that were black, a crisp high-collared white shirt that was visible under a black vest and a long, tailored black coat with intricate teal piping and gears embroidered along the seams. Teal leather gloves with exposed fingertips, and a half-mask with intricate gear designs, covering the upper part of Y/n's face while leaving his mouth and chin exposed.
People just greeted him as they walked past but no one paid him a second look and it wasn't hard for the two Thawnes to realize who he was, especially when he stood there for a second before his eyes landed on the Alley the two had hidden in and in a teal blur, he ran into the alley and right up to them.
"Can I help you?" He asked as he got closer, freezing when he got a proper view of the two of them. "You're... Me..." The Speedster muttered before the intricate design of his mask showed to be more than just a design. The gear-like device at the back of his mask had begun glowing before the material split and whined itself into the gear device, the speedster looked like Y/n but he had a large scar that ran from above his left eyebrow down across his nose and ended just below his right eye.
"Yeah... Just not from this universe..." Y/n stated the obvious but that was only because he was distracted by the scar. "This is Taylor Thawne... But you already knew that..." Y/n pinched the bridge of his nose before shaking his head and looking at the Steampunk Speedster. "Listen, this was an accident and we're just as confused..."
"Okay..." The Steampunk Y/n muttered as he looked at Y/n and Taylor. "Come with me!" He told them as the mask unravelled across his face once again before he took off with a streak of teal lightning, Y/n and Taylor followed behind until they reached a massive Lab just outside the city.
"Did you find the disturbance?" A Voice called out as the three of them came to a stop in the centre of the room.
"Yip, sure did!" The Steampunk speedster chuckled as he got the suit off at light speed. "Small problem though, Dawn," he called out as the olive-toned woman looked up from her computer, her long brunette hair hanging loosely, framing her naturally round face.
Y/n and Taylor looked at each other and then at the woman who looked exactly like Nora, both confused for a moment. "Oh my god, that is so sway," She giggled as she came around to meet the two. "I'm Dawn West-Allen but I'm guessing you already knew that," She introduced herself to the older Thawne before turning towards the other. "So this is Y/n and you are?" She asked as she extended her hand out.
"Taylor Allen Thawne..." Taylor seemed confused as she shook the older woman's hand.
"Wait... Did you say, Allen?" Steampunk Y/n asked as he looked at Taylor who nodded in confusion.
"I'm the daughter of Y/n Thawne and Nora Thawne... Well, West-Allen Thawne but that's a mouthful to say," Taylor joked but the two seemed even more confused.
"Nora?" Dawn spoke up as she looked at the two new Speedsters.
"Yes... You... Or at least, a different version," Taylor explained. The two Steampunk characters looked at each other for a moment before the room was filled with awkward tension, the two shifting from looking at each other to doing everything to avoid each other's gaze.
"Tay, that's enough," Y/n stepped in since this timeline was far different to theirs and he couldn't have Taylor accidentally changing things here. "What happened there?" He asked, only noticing now that Dawn had a cast on the lower part of one of her legs, which in return caused him to notice the faint outline of a back brace under her shirt.
"One of our recent battles resulted in me getting a little bruised," Dawn joked as she tugged a strand of hair behind her ear. "Healing factor takes a little longer to do its magic here," She added.
"Honey, I'm home!" A Voice called out playfully as a new face entered the room, an olive-skin-toned man with long black hair, instantly reminding the Chaos Speedster of a certain mechanic back in his universe. "Everything okay?" He asked as he leaned in and gave Dawn a quick peck on the lips, well... Not quite a quick peck.
Y/n and Taylor looked at each other before looking at this universe's Y/n, who looked even more uncomfortable, the father and daughter combo let out a cough in unison as they looked around the lab.
"Kaleb, this is Y/n from another universe and his daughter, Taylor," Steampunk Y/n introduced the two Speedsters as the two stopped kissing and turned to them.
"That's cool," Kaleb smiled as he walked over to the two of them. "I didn't think you would have a child," He laughed as he looked at their Y/n while shaking the non-steampunk'd speedster's hand. "Kaleb, the engineer of this here lab," He grinned as Y/n just smiled, uncomfortably, he knew this was a different universe but that didn't mean that he wasn't somewhat affected by what he just saw.
"Yeah..." Taylor was even more uncomfortable as she shook the man's hand and unlike her father, she didn't really hide it all too well.
"So, like... I haven't seen you even try to get into a romantic thing so... When are you supposed to have a daughter?" Kaleb asked as he crossed his arms, arching a brow at their Speedster.
"What year is it?" Y/n asked as he looked at his Steampunk counterpart.
"2053,"
"Oh, shrap," Y/n and Taylor muttered as they looked at the Speedster. "So we also moved forward in time..." Y/n muttered as he looked at his daughter and then at the confused three. "We had been in 2019... Taylor actually is born in... Well, a couple of years,"
"A couple... So, two," Steampunk Y/n asked as he looked at his doppelganger and then the younger Thawne. "You look about... 21, so you would have run back in 2076 meaning you would have accidentally ran back 57 years, impressive," He didn't sound impressed though. "And lucky it was a time that your father was currently in..."
"What can I say... I've always been a lucky girl..." Taylor gave him a nervous smile, uncomfortable with the sudden interrogation.
"I guess so," Steampunk Y/n muttered before turning to Kaleb. "Listen, man, we need a set of powerful Tachyon Devices that could counter the Negative Tachyons and help them get back to their Universe," He explained to their engineer.
"We should still have one of those Tachyon Devices 2.0 that I could modify and duplicate, should take a few hours though," Kaleb explained as he looked at the two identical Speedsters, both nodding as they looked at him. "Weird..." He muttered before turning around, giving Dawn one more kiss before waltzing out of the room.
Silence filled the room, deafening silence as they just stood there. The silence was finally broken by a beeping coming from the computers, Dawn moved around as she looked over the signal. "His back," She muttered as she looked at the Steampunk Speedster.
"Great," He didn't pause to speak or anything before teal lightning dashed out of the labs.
"What's going on?" Taylor asked as she moved around the table to look at the monitors next to Dawn.
"Some wannabe Savitar that keeps showing up, he's some cheap rip of with good tech," Dawn explained as she motioned to one of the hanging monitors where a picture of a large suit, similar to Savitar except for colour, his suit was painted with the same colours as the Flash. "Y/n claims he's nothing and yet he has failed to capture him every time,"
"I can hear you!" The Speedster's voice came through the comms.
"I would hope so... That's how comms work," Dawn fired back.
"Was he the one that..." Y/n muttered as he looked at Dawn's leg and midsection.
"Yeah, lost my focus and gave him the upper hand," Dawn laughed as she looked at the monitors again. "You are about to engage, talk to me," She spoke into the mic but received radio silence. "Y/n..." She leaned closer to the mic but nothing. "Y/N!" She screamed as she frantically tapped away at the computer system, opening all her necessary tabs.
"I'm here,"
"Dammit, Y/n," She let out a frustrated sigh as she leaned against the table. "Don't go silent like that... I need to know what's going on," She scolded him.
"Agh!"
"Y/N!!!" Dawn paled as the Speedster's scream echoed through the comms. "Y/N!!! This isn't funny!" She partially screamed as she looked at his vitals which seemed normal and yet there was nothing after the scream.
Dawn looked up at the Y/n still in the labs and he felt something in him snap, he could see the fear and pain in her eyes and he knew he had to do something, teal lightning spun as he quickly shifted into his suit only to find that Taylor had done the same and was currently standing in a suit similar to XS, except the purple was black and the white was teal.
"Tay..."
"Dad, clearly this guy has something set up... I'm going with you," Taylor looked at her father, almost pleading with him to trust her.
"Fine," Y/n growled, looking at Dawn one last time before dashing out of the room, teal lightning followed closely by purple and teal.
The two arrived on the scene to find that 'Savitar' had the Steampunk Speedster pinned to the wall with a strange device around his waist, draining the teal lightning from Y/n. Taylor didn't wait for a second before dashing past her father and towards the two, 'Savitar' turned to look over his shoulder but it was too slow as Taylor phased through him, grabbing the Steampunk Speedster and phased him through the wall with her.
Just as the large suited man realised what had happened, a hand grabbed the back of his head and slammed it into the wall before throwing him back, Y/n watched him stumble before getting to his feet. "You dare touch the great Zoomdini?!"
Silence... The town square was filled with silence as Y/n just stared at the not-so-terrifying man... "The what?" Y/n refused to believe what he just heard.
"The great Zoomdini..." His low voice growled again and was met with even more silence as Taylor phazed through the wall again, joining her father.
"I'm sorry... One more time?" Y/n asked, turning his ear towards the read and gold Savitar.
"The... Great... Zoomdini..."
And for the third time that was met with pure silence form his opponents. "Is he serious?" Taylor asked her father as she looked at the villain.
"I hope not..."
The two Speedsters looked at each other for a moment before nodding and running forward, Y/n taking the lead as he went to throw a punch that 'Zoomdini' went to grab only for Y/n to phaze through him and Taylor to hit him with a lightning bolt before knuckles slammed into the back of his suit, sending him tumbling forward, allowing Taylor to go for a leg sweep to take him down but he become a red blur before dashing across the field and looking at them again.
"Did you think it was going to be so easy?" He chuckled as he lowered himself to the ground.
Y/n and Taylor looked at each other and then back at him. "Yeah," They muttered in unison as they heard him growl before dashing forward.
Y/n watched him charge at Taylor and before he could react, Taylor became two copies of herself and moving away from each other, 'Savitar' froze for a second to look at the two female Speedster but that was when a purple and teal lightning lazzo wrapped around his waist as the 'real' Taylor used her massive momentum buildup to yank the lazzo, flinging the 'Speedster' across the field and slamming him into a building.
Y/n dashed forward, high running knee had driven him even deeper into the wall before Y/n started punching the speedster repeatedly, aiming to destroy as much of the suit as possible but that was proving to be harder than he had thought.
Zoomdini had gathered enough strenght to shove Y/n back before booting the black-suited speedster but as Y/n flew back, purple and teal lightning phazed through him before Taylor tackled 'Savitar' into the wall again, starting her own barrage of punches and kicks.
"Tay!" Taylor had stepped out of the way just as her father came flying in with both his knees raised, driving the large suited speedster through the wall.
Y/n's momentum had carried him over the speedster but instead of slidding or tumbling, Y/n felt him grab his ankle and with a growl, fling him back through the hole they just made but it wasn't a perfect throw and Y/n felt his head smash against a piece of the wall, flipping him in the air before slamming into the ground.
"Dad!" Taylor ran over to her father as she watched Zoomdini stand up. "He isn't taking damage," She growled as she watched the suit roll its shoulders.
"We need to dent that suit," Y/n muttered as he stood up. "But we don't have enough speed," He added with a sigh as he looked at the suited man slowly walk towards them.
"Something like GB did with the satellite?" Taylor asked as she watched her father think about it for a second before nodding. "Then I have an idea," She beamed as she saw the curious expression on Y/n's face. "You're going to thow me at him," Her smile never faltered.
"What?"
"We run and then you throw me, like GB did with Supergirl," She explained.
"But why must I throw you?" Y/n emphasised the 'you' part.
"Because you are faster so you can generate more power on the throw than me," She explained, watching her father calculate before dropping his head, clearly realising she was correct.
"I'll keep him occupied," Steampunk Y/n muttered as he joined the father and daughter, the device from earlier was completely gone and his speed seemed to be stable. "Before you say anything, if no one does, he can easily avoid it," He added before charging forward at Zoomdini.
"Dad..." Taylor called out as the older Thawne nodded before dashing as far back as they could.
"Ready?" Y/n muttered as he watched Taylor nod before taking off at top speed, Y/n waited a second before taking off himself, seeing the purple and teal lightning a distant away, hoping that this was far enough.
Soon enough, Y/n had reached his top speed in this universe as he started gaining on the younger Thawne and once they were close enough to the great Zoomdini, Y/n placed his hand on Taylor's back and channeled all his power into it, watching her jump just before he pushed her forward, watching as she rocketted through the air which gave Steampunk Y/n moments to start phazing while Zoomdini didn't have the same chance.
Y/n heard a cracking sound before the large figure was launched through the air, crashing into the ground with force before tumbling to a stop. "Dad!" Taylor cheered as Steampunk Y/n dashed over to Zoomdini while Y/n dashed over to Taylor, checking her arm before letting out a relieved sigh. "I did it!" She cheered as she hugged the black-suit Thawne, who just chuckled before wrapping his arms around her.
"That's my little girl," He chuckled as he looked at this worlds Chaos Speedster who pulled a skinny, pale looking man as liqiud poured out of the broken suit, liquid that he recognised as Speed Serum, Steampunk Y/n gave him a nod before dashing off. "I'm proud of you, Tay, you did amazing today," Y/n smiled as he pulled away from her so he could look at her as he spoke, watching the massive grin as she listened to him.
"Thanks, dad," Taylor had to fight back her giggle and at least look professional. "Now, let's get back home," She added before the two of them dashed back to the labs.
||~~~~~||~~~~~||~~~~~||~~~~~||
"And here you go," Kaleb muttered as he handed the two devices to them. "It's only good for one use so try not fuck it up," He joked as he walked over to Dawn.
"Sorry, he can be a real ass at time," The Mechanical-inpired Speedster apologised as he walked the two of them down the stairs and into the tunnels.
"No sweat," Y/n chuckled as he clipped the device to his suit, watching it power on as Taylor did the same. "And I am sorry if we made things awkward between you two," He added, refering to Dawn.
"Nonsense, she know's how I feel so I already made things weird..." The second Thawne joked as he looked at the two. "But hey, as long as she's happy right?" He gave them a genuine smile, there was hurt in his voice but he was being genuine with his words.
"As long as she's happy," Y/n muttered as he held out his hand. "Thanks for helping us," He added as he shook the other Y/n's hand.
"No, thank you for helping us today," He muttered before turning towards the steps again. "Have a safe trip home," He waved before making his way back to the others.
"Funny, in every universe I choose your mom," Y/n joked as he watched his Steampunk counterpart.
"And in every universe... She chooses you," Taylor pointed out as Y/n followed her gaze, seeing Dawn step away from Kaleb who was busy on his phone, stepping closer to the Speedster and nudging him and whispering something at caused Y/n to start laughing before nudging her back and shaking his head.
The two then looked at the father and daughter, waving with smiles on their face, Y/n and Taylor returned it before turning towards the tunnel. "Well, let's get home," Y/n smiled as he clipped his mouthpiece back on and watching Taylor smile and nod before the two of them took off at full speed.
The Tachyon Devices had started glowing brightly as it shared the energy unevenly, giving Taylor more Tachyons so that she could keep up with Y/n as they went faster and faster, returning to their usual speed before it happened, the world around them began warping and twisting before there was a massive blue flash and they were in a tunnel.
Y/n and Taylor ran through a tunnel that seemed to have walls made of water that flowed and swished as they ran, the outside of the walls were slightly visible and looked to be the Chaos Domain again. 'I've looked everywhere,' A familiar voice seemed to echo through the tunnel. 'They aren't in the Chaos Domain,' Mirabelle explained, irritation filled her voice.
'Well, they aren't here,' Nora's tired voice filled the tunnel and the two Speedster's realised how close they were.
'Maybe they went back to their times or something,' Ralph's voice suggested but that was where the Speedsters stopped paying attention because the walls seemed to get denser and they realised that they were close to the 'exit'.
Y/n and Taylor looked at each other before running with everything they had and were rewarded with another blinding flash before stopping and blinking, eyes readjusting after that as they looked around the room.
"Y/n!" Mirabelle gasped as she pulled the Speedster into a hug.
"Taylor!" Nora did the same with her daughter as the rest of the team gathered around, Barry and Iris moving to Taylor as Ralph and Cisco joined Mirabelle.
"Y/n," Nora practically yanked the taller Speedster out of Mirabelle's arm and hugged him, barely giving him time to hug her back before breaking the hug and pulling him into a kiss. "Where were you?!" She asked, voice shaky as she looked at him and then at Taylor.
"Well..." Y/n paused as he looked around the room. "Can I explain later?" He asked as he pulled away from her.
"But..."
"yeah," Barry cut his daughter off as he grabbed Y/n's shoulder. "You should go, she's in her office," He added before watching Y/n nodded and leave the cortex without another word.
Knock! Knock!
"I'm busy," Caitlin called out, her voice was shaky as she had her back to the door, Y/n ignored her words as he walked into the office and gently placed his hands on her shoulder. "I'm..."
"I don't really listen," Y/n cut her off, listening to her gasp as she jumped to her feet and spun around.
"Y/n..." Caitlin muttered as she looked at the young Thawne, her eyes were red and there were wet streaks down her cheeks.
"Aunty Katy," Y/n shrugged before being pulled into a bone shattering hug from the doctor. "Aunty katy, I'm fine... I'm back," Y/n whispered as he hugged her back.
"I was afraid that monster had done something to you..." She whispered, Y/n felt wet stains form on his shirt and his heart broke. "I was worried we lost you," Caitlin cried as she hugged her self-adopted son.
"Aunty Katy, I am so sorry that I made you worried but I'm fine," Y/n reassured her as he rubbed her back, resting his head on top of hers. "You aren't getting ride of me so easy," Y/n joked and it did earn him a weak laugh from the doctor as she held on to him. "I'm here, Aunty Katy... I don't plan on leaving you guys anytime soon,"
"You better not," Caitlin whispered as she tightened her hug even more...
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A month... It took me a month to actually get another chapter up... I am so sorry!!!
I am rather happy with this chapter, we got a father & daughter moment and then the closing scene with Caitlin, I haven't written this book for so long that I'm not sure how much of their relationship I've shown, I know that everyone knows their Mother/Son like relationship but I'm not sure how well I've shown it...
Should Mirabelle show up more in the story? I'm not sure...
What was your favourite part of this chapter?
Are you enjoying the book?
What's your thoughts on Y/n and Taylor?