Down in the basement, Cisco was setting up a course for Linda to practice with and it involved cardboard cutouts of each of us. One of him, Caitlin, Joe, me in my Hummingbird suit, and Barry in his Flash suit. "Dude. How long have you been sitting on this?" Joe asks turning a cardboard cutout of himself. Cisco then flips one of himself and I smile at him and shake my head, "It's important to have hobbies." Cisco says and both Joe and him laugh. "Yeah, and this hobby isn't freaky at all." I say looking at the cardboard cutout of myself then walk over to Barry and Caitlin as Linda comes out in the Dr. Light suit. "This is ridiculous." Linda says tugging on the sleeves of the suit. "No, it's not. You look just like Dr. Light." Barry tells her and we walk. "And with these gloves that Cisco rigged up, you'll be able to do what she does." Caitlin tells her. "Don't worry, they are totally safe." I tell her with a sweet smile. "-Ish." Wells says and I turn to him with wide eyes. "-Ish?" I ask in worry and Barry grabs my hand to keep me at bay.
"Oh, come on, it's gotta be believable, so they do fire and explode things. And you're gonna have to let her hit you with those blasts, once she gets the hang of it." Cisco says.
"Who exactly came up with this terrible idea?" Joe asks and I look at Cisco with a raised brow.
"Ok, it's not a terrible idea. The suit can absorb the blasts." Cisco says.
"For real or "ish?" Iris asks and I nod.
"What does a terrible idea look like to you, Cisco?" I ask him with furrowed brows.
"Ok, you know what? I like to think I can see the bright side of things, ok? Positivity, people." Cisco says and I roll my eyes.
Caitlin, Linda, Barry, and I walk over to the course and look at the cardboard cutouts. "Alright, alright. So, just hit the ones of me, ok?" Barry tells her and she nods. "Got it." she says and I can't help but bite my lip in worry. I see her get ready to shoot, but as soon as her hands go up, energy of light comes shooting out of the gloves hitting every cardboard cutout except Barry and it throws her back making me catch her with my telekinesis. I look back at Cisco with furrowed brows and I see him stand up from his chair. "Uh, you know what, I'm just gonna adjust those a little. Screwdriver." Cisco says and I nod. I levitate Linda to her feet as Cisco comes dashing over with the screwdriver. "Ok. So, um, do the opposite of that. And we'll have it." Barry says and I glare at him. "That's easy for you to say. You're not the one in her shoes." I say to him and he shrugs. Once Cisco was done with the modifications, he resets the course and Caitlin, Barry, and I follow Linda to make sure she gets the hang of it, and that she's safe. A cardboard cutout of Cisco comes down and she was about to shoot it, but doesn't. Then another one of Caitlin, but she doesn't shoot.
A cardboard cutout of Barry in his Flash suit appears and she shoots at it, but the glove catches on fire. "It's on fire!" Linda yells and I take it off with my telekinesis as Barry speeds to grab the fire extinguisher and sprays it at the glove. "My bad." Cisco says and I glare at him. After that fiasco, we continue with the course and a cardboard cutout of me appears, but she doesn't shoot. Then again one of Caitlin, Cisco, Joe, and me, but as soon as the one of Barry appears, she shoots and hits the cutout. "I did it! Did you see that?" Linda says excitingly and I nod with a smile. She lifts her hand for a high five and Barry was about to return it when light shoots out of the glove and to the others. I put a force field in front of them to protect them from the blast. "Y'all good? You ok?" Barry asks them as I take down my force field. "Sorry." Linda says and I smile at her nervously which she returns. "Why don't we head out of here now, Linda?" Iris says and they nod and head out.
*~*~
As soon as Iris and Linda were gone, Barry and I changed into our regular clothes and the others soon come in. "Ok. No offense to Linda but there is no way she can pull this off." Caitlin says. "Same here." I say walking out of the suit room. "Well, maybe if she didn't scream every time she fired." Wells says and I nod. "Yep. Linda had a rocky start, but she can pull this off. I know she can. Alright, did you find someplace near a breach where we don't have to worry about civilians getting in the way?" Barry asks. "Yeah, there's a place by the docks that's usually deserted at night." Cisco says to him. "Awesome. How are we doing with the speed dampener?" he asks Caitlin. "My tests indicate that it should work." Caitlin replies to him. "It will work. I'll tune up Ramon's gloves, make sure they work better." Wells says and Barry nods as he grabs my hand and we start to walk out. "Hey, we're actually gonna go through with this?" Cisco asks and I had to agree with Cisco on this.
"Yeah, we're doing this. I'm gonna have Iris get Linda ready." Barry says and he drags me out with him.
"Barry, don't you think we need to talk about this before we go through with it?" I ask him as he presses the elevator button.
"I don't think we do." Barry says and I sigh.
I hear footsteps dash in the hall and I see Joe come wanting to talk to Barry. "Barry, hold up." he says dashing in the elevator as we walk in. "Barry, you saw what happened in there. Linda's not ready." he tells him as he pushes the floor button and the doors close. "She is. She's ready enough." Barry says and I frown at him. "Why are you pushing this?" Joe asks him as I lean on the elevator wall and stare at them. "Wait, why do you think? I wanna get him." Barry says. "Get who exactly?" Joe asks and I agreed with Joe on this. "Is that a real question?" Barry asks and I pull my hand away from his and cross my arms. "You tell us, Barry. I'm not sure this is even about Zoom. It's starting to feel like you're still chasing Reverse-Flash. I didn't have to read your mind to know that." I tell him and I see him roll his eyes. "Reverse-Flash is dead." Barry says leaning on the wall next to me. "Yeah, but after all he did to you, you weren't the one that stopped him." Joe says and I nod.
"We all worked together." Barry says.
"Yeah, and Eddie got him in the end." I say to him and he sighs.
"I mean, that doesn't make you feel cheated, like you didn't get your revenge, and stopping Zoom is the next best thing?" Joe says.
The doors to the elevator open and Barry grabs my hand again and we walk out. "Look, all I'm saying is, if you're gonna ask people like Linda to risk their lives, you better be sure of exactly why they're doing it." Joe tells Barry. Barry nods and we walk both walk away. "What're you thinking?" I ask him as we walk through the corridor. "I'm thinking that we should have a talk with Linda." Barry says and I smile at him and step in front of him. "I'm glad you thought that." I say and peck his lips. "I love you." he tells me and my smile grows wider. "I love you, too." I tell him and he kisses me again.
*~*~
Barry had sped us over to Iris' house in our suits to talk to Linda. He speeds inside the house and puts me down, then I look at Linda on the couch. "Look, I'm sorry I'm a terrible super-villain. I don't need you two to come and make me feel worse." she says turning back to her laptop on the coffee table as I turn on my voice modulator. "That's not why we're here." I tell her as Barry closes the door and I walk into the living room slightly. "It doesn't matter. I... I can't do this. I just don't have it in me." Linda says as I feel Barry come up next to me. "That's not true. You're one of the strongest women I've ever met." Barry says and I nod. "You can do anything." I tell her, but she looks at us confusingly. "And you both know that about me based on what, exactly?" Linda asks and I look at Barry with a frown. "Linda," Barry starts to say with a sigh as he grabs my hand and we sit on the steps, "you are trusting us. So, we need to trust you, fully." he says. "I know that you can do this..." he says and he let's my hand go and takes his mask off. "Because I know you." he finishes saying looking up at her.
"Holy crap. I've made out with the Flash." Linda says and I smile and turn off my voice modulator.
"You're not the only one." I say taking my mask off and I look at her.
"How?" she asks us and I look at Barry, then back at her.
"He got his powers when he got struck by lightning. I happened to be there with him, but a force gave me my powers." I explain and she widens her eyes in amazement.
I smiled at her sweetly feeling a weight being lifted off of my shoulders for telling her about this, but then again, it's just one more additional person knowing about mine and Barry's secret. Both Barry and I talk to Linda about how the plan would go down and she seemed to be in. After the talk, we just went home and laid in bed. "You ok with not being on the field tomorrow?" Barry asks me as he turns to face me and I do the same. "I'm fine with it. You need to deal with Zoom on your own. He wants you not me. The only reason he wants me dead is because he probably knows about you and me." I say and Barry wraps his arm around me. "I love you." he tells me and I smile at him. "I love you, too. But be careful tomorrow night. For me." I tell him and he nods. "I will." he says and I kiss him.
*~*~
I was in S.T.A.R. Labs just watching the footage of Linda by the dock in the Dr. Light suit. "I'm here to kill the Flash, and no one can stop me." she says and I bite my lip and shake my head. "Uh, it's a little too much. Uh, stop messing with the ear piece." Cisco tells her. "Yeah, you don't want to dislodge it." Caitlin says to her and I look over to Iris, who was on my left, and look at her worriedly. "Right. You... You told me that. I'm sorry." Linda says and I lean down on the table. "No, no. You're doing great, Linda." I tell her and suddenly, Barry zips in and looks at her. "And now comes the tricky part." I say and the others nod. "Alright, Dr. Light. Here I am. But we're gonna skip the part where you say you're gonna kill me and go right to the part where I don't let you." Barry says and I pinch the bridge of my nose. "I'm here to kill you, Flash. Wait, what are you doing? We're skipping that?" Linda asks him and I sigh in disappointment.
"I am loyal to Zoom, so get ready to fry." Linda says lifting her hands.
"Next time we're doing this, I'm writing better dialogue." Cisco says.
"Next time?" Caitlin, Iris, and I ask together.
I see Linda shoot light out of the gloves, but misses Barry, so he just falls to the ground. "Gotcha." Linda says and I furrow my brows as I watch them. "Yeah, you did." Barry says and I just shake my head and lean down to the mic. "Could you two make it any more obvious?" I ask and the others nod. Barry stands up and speeds up to Linda, but she shoots light out at Barry and it hits him. She dodges him when he comes close to her and shoots his back making him fall to the ground. Linda walks over to him as he falls on his back acting dead, "Told you. Zoom always wins." Linda says and she grabs Barry's emblem off his chest. "You're ok, right?" Linda asks him and I shake my head. "Yeah, yeah. I had to make it look good." Barry says and I just wanted to scream at him to not talk. "Here it is, Zoom! I did what you wanted. Now bring me home." Linda says and she throws the emblem in the breach and all we can do at this point is wait.
An hour has passed since Linda threw the emblem in the breach, but Zoom still hadn't shown up. I suddenly see Barry move around and I glare at the footage and lean down to the mic. "Hey, stop fidgeting." Linda says to him in a whisper yell. "Took the words right out of my mouth." I say in the mic as I watch. "I'm sorry. It's been an hour and I landed in a ridiculous position. My foot fell asleep." Barry says. "He's probably waiting to see if you're really dead. Any minute now, he's gonna strike." Cisco says. Suddenly, Barry sits up and I know what he's thinking. "I'm sorry. I probably screwed up somehow." Linda says and I frown. "No, Linda, you did great." I tell her sweetly. I see Joe and Wells walk up to Barry and Linda, but Wells has a bit of a tantrum and swings his guns at cans and a barrel to take out his frustration. Cisco shuts off the com system and the surveillance. Soon, they all come back and I wrap my arms around Barry and his go around me. He changes out of his suit and he leans on the wall in disappointment. I walk up to him and wrap my arms around him then his arms go around me. "You ok?" I ask him and he nods slightly. "I just wish we could've caught Zoom." Barry says and I sigh as I give him a sad smile. "I know." I tell him and he leans in and kisses me passionately not caring if Cisco and Caitlin were there.
"What was that for?" I ask him with a smile.
"In the video, Wells told me that I'd never be happy." he tells me as he leans his forehead on mine.
"Are you happy?" I ask him.
"I'm trying. But all I know is that when I'm with you, I'm always happy." he says making me blush and he kisses me again.
We pull away when Cisco walks up to the suit and puts a new emblem on the suit and he looks at Barry. "There you go. It's like you think these things just grow on trees or something." Cisco says and I feel Barry shrug. "And we threw away the last one for nothing." Barry says unwrapping his arms from around me and slipping his hand into mine and we walk over to Caitlin and Wells. "You've been going over this footage dozens of times, everything went exactly according to plan." Caitlin tells Wells. "If it had, Zoom would have shown up." Wells says as he keeps watching the footage. "Maybe Light was wrong. Maybe he can't see through the breaches, or maybe he finally decided to give up." Barry says. "First part is a probably, second part is a definite no." I say as I feel my phone vibrate and see that it was Iris. "Hey, Iris." I say answering the phone. "Tori! Zoom came to Picture News. He took Linda!" Iris says and I widen my eyes. "Ok. I'll tell them." I say as Wells' meta-human detector watch beeps and Cisco's computer does the same. "Zoom has Linda." I tell Barry with a frown and he looks at me with wide eyes. "He's on the roof." Cisco says and Barry speeds to put his suit on and zips away. I dash over to my suit, only to be stopped by Cisco grabbing my arm. "It's too dangerous. Zoom already has Linda, if he takes you, who knows how Barry will react." he says and I nod knowing he was right.
Cisco and Caitlin pull up the surveillance cameras outside of S.T.A.R. Labs and I see Barry and Zoom standing a few feet apart. I look at Zoom seeing him dressed in all black with blue lightning around him. "Zoom cannot be human." Caitlin says as I stare at the black figure with wide eyes. "He is. Or was." Wells says and I feel my heart pounding in my chest worried for Barry. "How the hell is Barry supposed to defeat that?" Cisco asks and I put a hand on my chest where my heart is supposed to be. Barry zips and I look at his streak in confusion, but soon get his strategy. "Why's he running away?" Wells asks. "He's not. He's not scared." I say as his streak spins round and round. "Oh. He's gonna thunderbolt him." Cisco says and I just look in anticipation. "What?" Wells asks in confusion not knowing what Cisco meant. "Jay taught him how to throw lightning." Caitlin responds to Wells. Wells then walks away and Cisco and I just watch as Barry throws his lightning. Zoom speeds up to the lightning, grabs it, and throws it back at Barry making me cover my mouth as it hits. "Did you guys see that?" Barry asks us and I was just speechless. "See him catch a bolt of lightning with his demonic claws? Yeah, I saw that." Cisco says.
"Jay was right. He cannot do this alone." Caitlin says and I nod in agreement.
"He's not alone." Wells says and I look at him, seeing him set up a gun with the speed dampener.
"Run, Barry!" I say to him.
"No. I'm going to see if Well's speed-dampening serum works." Barry says and I widen my eyes. "What do you want from me?" he asks Zoom.
"Everything." Zoom says in a deep scary voice that sends shivers down my back and giving me goosebumps.
"You want to be me? Is that it? You want to be a hero?" Barry asks.
"Heroes die." Zoom says.
"Only if you can catch them." Barry says and he speeds off. We see Barry and Zoom speed around and along S.T.A.R. Labs and I just bite my lip and chew on it in fear and in worry. "How is Barry gonna match Zoom's speed?" Caitlin asks and I wondered the same thing. "Genius. He's not gonna match it, he's going to take it out of the equation altogether." Cisco says and I look at him confusingly. "What're you talking about?" Caitlin asks him confused like me. "Terminal velocity. The highest velocity attainable by a falling object." Cisco says dashing to the other computer. "Falling through the air?" I ask him as I walk over to the two scientists. "Yeah. Free-fall fight. Their drag force equals the downward force of gravity, making the net zero, making..." Cisco motions to Caitlin for her to finish the explanation. "Equal velocities. That is genius." she says and I look between the two. "Ok, I think I get it. But don't explain it to me any further unless you want to explain this to me any more." I say and we watch Barry and Zoom.
I see Barry land on the ground after their free-fall fight and Zoom had him pinned to the ground. Zoom picks Barry up and starts beating the crap out of him. I wanted to dash out and help Barry, but Cisco grabs my arm and keeps a firm grip on it. I see Zoom punch Barry's back and I hear him scream in pain and he falls to the ground. "No!" I yell as I feel tears form at the brim of my eyes. Wells shoots the speed dampener at Zoom, but he catches it. "Never forget. I'm the fastest man alive." Zoom says and I see him stab Barry with the speed dampener. "He's killing him!" Caitlin says and I feel the tears run down my cheeks. "Cisco, let me go! I gotta help him!" I sob struggling to get out of Cisco's grasp. "And let him kill you? Nu-uh. And not in your condition either." he says. "You're next." Zoom tells Wells and he speeds away with Barry. "Cisco, find him, now!" Caitlin tells Cisco as I feel my chest tighten up. Wells suddenly dashes in and stands in between Cisco and Caitlin. "Anything?" he asks, but the two scientists shake their heads, not being able to track Barry down. I feel a sudden gust of wind and see Zoom in person with a scary mask and he holds Barry by his throat. "Barry!" I yell as I stare at him looking all beat up.
"Harrison Wells. You thought you could defeat me with this?" Zoom asks Wells as he takes Barry's mask off.
I wanted to run up to him and punch him, but Cisco still held a grip on me begging me to stay in my spot. "I made a mistake." Wells says to him. "Yes, a costly one." Zoom says and next thing I know, he vibrates his hand and stabs Barry with his index finger in his abdomen. I cover my mouth to keep from releasing a scream, but tears flowed down my face like a river. "Good-bye, Flash. You too weren't fast enough." Zoom says and I expected him to kill Barry, but someone shoots Zoom and I turn to see Cisco with the tranq gun. Zoom falls to the ground, but soon gets back up and speeds out. Once he was gone, I dash over to Barry as Wells screams in the background, but all I cared about was Barry. I kneel in front of him as Caitlin and Cisco come up next to me and Caitlin applies pressure to his wound. "Stay with me. Stay with me, Barry. Stay with me. Please, Barry. Please." I sob as I cup my hands on his face that was almost covered in dried blood. "We gotta get him to the medbay, Tori." Caitlin says and I turn to her and nod.
*~*~
After everything that happened tonight, I stood by Barry's bed and held his hand still sobbing. I had called my dad earlier and told him that Barry and I would be home late because of the Zoom incident. My dad was worried just as much as me. He had considered Barry a son when he moved in with us and Joe did too. Barry seemed to have all the fathers in the world, but he cared for my dad, Joe, and his own dad. "This is all you. If Barry dies, you die!" Joe yells as he glares at Wells. I would usually pull this apart, but I was too focused on Barry. "Joe! Barry's vitals have stabilized. Let's let him go." Caitlin says and I turn to see Wells look away from Joe, but Joe keeps his glare. "No, Caitlin." Joe says and I just feel more tears run down my cheeks. "Why? What good does that do for Barry?" she asks him and I had to agree, but I kept my mouth shut. "It's gonna help me." Joe says and I see Wells get up in Joe's face only to be slammed into the doorframe making me jump. "Joe, stop!" Cisco says putting a hand on his shoulder and I look at Barry. "Who's Jesse?" Cisco asks Wells and I look back at them with a confused look. My feet suddenly shuffle over to where the action was and I stared at Wells waiting for him to answer Cisco's question. "How do... Jesse's my daughter and Zoom has her. You've... You did vibe." Wells tells Cisco and he nods.
"What did you see?" Wells asks.
"I saw your daughter. She was with Zoom." Cisco replies.
"But she's alive?" Cisco nods.
"Zoom sent you here like the others? You kill the Flash and you get your daughter back?" Joe asks Wells angrily.
"The only way I get my daughter back is I capture Zoom. Do you understand. You love Barry. I love my daughter. And none of these children are safe as long as Zoom is here. I tried on my Earth to capture him. I failed. I thought I could bring him down here with Barry's help. I was wrong." Wells says and he walks away.
I turn back to Barry and lean on the wall feeling destroyed just by seeing him like this. I had cried so much today and I didn't know that I could cry this much. "Tori, I think you should go home and get some rest." Caitlin says, but I shake my head. "No. I'm not leaving him." I say as I keep my eyes locked on Barry. "He'll be fine, Tori. He's with us. Zoom won't get him again." Joe tells me and I look at him quickly, then at Barry. "I can't just leave him." I sob as I cross my arms. "If he were awake, he'd tell you to go home, Tori. He wouldn't want you to be like this." Cisco reasons and I look down. "I'll take you home." Joe says putting his arms on my shoulders and escorting me out and to his car. I stayed quiet the whole ride home and just leaned back on my chair looking at the city pass by. It was a beautiful night, but I couldn't enjoy it. Not with out thinking about Barry and Zoom. When I get home, I thanked Joe blankly and walk up to the house, open the door, and see my dad still awake and sitting on the couch but standing up when he sees me. "Tori?" he calls me and I shut the door behind me and dash up to him embracing him tightly as I sob. That night I just cried myself to sleep.
*~*~
I wake up in to the sun shining in my eyes and I look to my left expecting to see Barry, but I then remind myself that Barry was still out cold. I stand up from my bed, head into the bathroom, and look at myself in the mirror. My eyes were pink and puffy and I hadn't taken off my makeup last night so mascara ran down my cheeks and eyeliner smudged from crying last night again. My hair was a tangled mess and I looked like I had escaped an asylum. I washed my face to get rid of the makeup and any grime and dirt, then I take a quick shower. I put on a floral dress with a jean jacket, beige pumps, and accessories. After rehearsal, I went straight to S.T.A.R. Labs to see how Barry was doing. Things seemed a little quieter than normal in the city since Zoom made his appearance, but it wasn't that quiet. While Barry was out cold, that had left me to take care of the crime fighting. News reports about the Flash being defeated swarmed all over Central City and how this new masked speedster came out of nowhere and scaring most of the city. Hours passed and I felt Barry's hand move while I was holding it. "Hey. I think he's waking up." Cisco says and I nod in agreement. "Barry." Caitlin calls him and I squeeze his hand. "Barry, can you hear me?" I ask feeling the tears start to come back. "Hey." he says and I smile at him resisting the urge to just kiss him. "You scared the crap out of us. Tori mostly." Cisco says and I nod. "You were gone for a long time." I tell him as tears managed to slip from my eyes again.
"How bad is it?" Barry asks and I look down.
"Bad. If you didn't heal so quickly, I'd be very worried." Caitlin says and I nod.
"Linda, how is she?" he asks.
"She's fine. She's staying out with some friends out in Coast City." I tell him.
"Zoom?"
"Let's... Let's worry about Zoom when you're up and about. Ok?" Cisco tells him patting Barry's leg, but I see Barry's brows furrow and he sits up.
"Oh, no. You're staying put." Caitlin says pushing him back down, but he puts his hands on his legs and I knew something was wrong.
"Yeah, seriously. You got your ass kicked." Cisco says.
"No, guys. I can't feel my legs." Barry says and I look at him with wide eyes and cover my mouth. "I can't feel my legs."