EXPEDITE ▇▇▇▇ VOLUME ONE
━━ ❛ 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 ❜
chapter no. 024!
"I KNEW HE WAS A BITCH." All eyes in the large room swiveled to the redhead who was sitting in a wheelchair, an ice pack pressed to her side as she gaped at the monitors. "Am I wrong?!" she asked incredulously, raising a brow.
Barry smirked, amused.
"As I was saying," Harry spoke, giving the girl an annoyed glare, "Hunter Zoloman. That's the last public photo of him. Instantly recognizable. And people from my Earth— on my Earth, serial killers are an anomaly, so there was a lot of media attention to this. There was a podcast. When Hunter was eleven, his father killed his mother right before him. Father sent to prison, Hunter grew up in the foster care system."
Blinking, Joe looked away from the screens, rubbing his forehead. The detective had shown up five minutes ago and walked into a room where everybody was staring at a mugshot of what seemed to be a random man. Turns out that random man was a serial killer named Hunter Zoloman.
"Years later, he was convicted on twenty-three counts of murder," Barry whispered, his eyes widening.
Studying the shaggy and tangled beard that decorated Hunter's face, Piper sat up and narrowed her eyes. The man on the screen in front of her looked like Jay. Well, Hunter. It was mainly the eyes that gave it away. The shade of icy blue they were was unlike any she'd seen. She wouldn't have recognized him at all if he didn't have such cold eyes.
Caitlin ran her hands through her hair and sighed, closing her eyes.
"Twenty-three? That's, like, some real Hannibal Lecter type level." Cisco commented, glancing at Jesse, who nodded.
"After the trial, Hunter was sent to the Saint Perez Mental Asylum for the Criminally Insane. He was given daily electroshock therapy to cure him of his urges and then faded from view." Harry announced, looking around the room.
"Until the night your particle accelerator exploded," Caitlin spoke softly, all eyes sweeping to her.
Harry nodded as he cleaned his glasses. "That's right. The dark matter crept into the mental asylum. I had thought piping the explosion underground would limit exposure. I was wrong. All it did was create an unstoppable monster."
The room was tensely silent before Barry shook his head, stepping forward. "He's not unstoppable. Jay doesn't know that we know who he is. He thinks that his past is a secret."
Nodding, the scientist slid his glasses back on. "Exactly. Which is why we're going to use it against him."
Piper raised her brows and turned to look at him, wincing at the pain that shot up her back. "And how exactly are we going to do that?" she asked.
"I'm so glad you asked, Lita," Harry nodded, turning to face the rest of the team. "I found an abandoned hospital with the highest residual trans-dimensional energy levels here in Central City. One of the breaches used to be located there. Ramon, you have the same powers as Reverb. That means you can open breaches, just as he can. I recalibrated the goggles to the electromagnetic frequency of this Earth. It should help you access enough of the trans-dimensional energy to manipulate it.
"If you open up a breach, Zoom can come through, and we can catch him. Once he would come through, Barry and Piper would bring him back here and to the training room. We could set up cardboard cut-outs of his family, especially his mother and father, and use them to throw him off balance. While he's distracted, one of you can take him down physically while the other attaches a meta-dampening clasp to his leg, hindering his ability to run. Then, Detective West and I would come in and detain him."
Cisco raised his brows as he looked at the two speedsters, both of whom were glancing at the other with skeptical looks. "You make it sound so easy." He replied, crossing his arms.
"That's because it is," Harry deadpanned.
Piper furrowed her brows and placed her ice pack down on the desk beside her. The man had a good plan, but would it work? Could it? Surely Zoom wouldn't be that easy to take down, but then again, using his parents and past against him would make things easier. He'd be vulnerable and off-guard. Two things the team needed to defeat him.
Cisco sighed. "But what if I can't open up a breach? What then?"
"If Reverb can, so can you." Harry shrugged, and the latter huffed.
Clearing his throat, Joe stepped forward. "When exactly would we be doing this?"
Barry glanced away from the redhead and to his adoptive father, wondering the same thing. Not that catching Zoom wasn't important, it was extremely important, but all Barry's mind had been on was Piper and their date that was supposed to be tomorrow night. With her injuries, however, he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to still have it. He didn't want her to be in any pain.
"Tomorrow night. That way, we have time to set everything up and ensure nothing goes wrong."
Piper's eyes snapped up from the ground and widened. Tomorrow? Seriously? The one time that I finally have a date with Barry, this happens.
"You've got to be shitting me."
"Seriously?!"
The two glanced at one another, equally annoyed and disappointed expressions making themselves quite clear on their faces.
Caitlin raised her brows, and Cisco chuckled, looking between the two. "What? Do you two have a date or something tomorrow night?" He asked jokingly. Piper pressed her lips together, and Barry scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, neither of them confirming nor denying the fact that they did.
Jesse's mouth dropped, and she looked over to Caitlin. "You owe me ten bucks," she hissed, causing the brunette to roll her eyes. The two had made a bet at the club last night on whether Barry would ask Piper out within the next week or month, seeing as how the two seemed to be growing closer and closer. Jesse had bet a week while Caitlin had bet a month.
Cisco gasped and covered his mouth, his eyes widening. "Oh, my God. You two are finally— wait, you stole my girl?" His voice was high-pitched, and he placed his hands on his hips.
Barry smirked as he remembered his words from last night, and Piper seemed to remember them too as he saw her cheeks become a rosy pink.
"Look, I don't care about your love life. Reschedule the date because we're bringing Zoom down. Tomorrow." Harry declared, stalking out of the room.
Sighing heavily, Piper rested her chin on the palm of her hand. "He really is a buzzkill," she mumbled.
"You have no idea," Jesse sighed.
────
ADJUSTING THE PILLOW BEHIND HER, SHE CURLED HER LEGS UP AND LEANED THE RIGHT SIDE OF HER BODY INTO THE COUCH. The lights in the West living room were turned down low, and playing on the TV was a rerun of Friends. Caitlin had stated that Piper was okay to go home as long as she iced her side and adjusted the wrap she had around her torso before going to sleep. Most of her bruises had already faded thanks to her meta-human healing abilities.
Erin was staying the night at Iris's, and the redhead wasn't too keen on the idea of staying home alone after everything that happened the night before. So, Joe had offered for her to stay the night at his house. Wally and Barry both lived there as well, so she wouldn't be alone, which was a comforting thought.
Tonight would actually be the first night Wally was spending at the house. He finished moving all of his things from his college dorm over to the house earlier in the afternoon.
While staring at the TV, completely zoned out, Piper had failed to hear the sound of approaching footsteps and notice that Barry had placed a bowl of popcorn on the coffee table. It wasn't until the feeling of someone picking her legs up and placing them over their own that snapped her out of her soundless bubble. Barry rested his arm on the back of the couch where she was sitting and looked over at her. Turning her head, Piper first noticed how close their faces were.
The universe is really trying to give me a heart attack right now.
Ignoring the butterflies in her chest, she smiled shyly.
"So," Barry started, reaching over with his other hand and laying a blanket over them, "what do you want to watch?"
Piper shrugged, and she felt sparks race down her spine as Barry's arm wrapped around her. "It uh, it doesn't matter. You can pick," she replied nervously, silently praying that she didn't say anything stupid about how close they were.
Nodding, Barry pulled up Netflix and began scrolling through random titles, his eyes scanning the screen. The redhead couldn't help but observe him, noticing how his eyebrows moved upwards ever so slightly when he saw something that caught his eye and how he licked his lips.
Look away, look away.
"Uh, what about The Breakfast Club?" Barry asked, glancing at her.
"Sure," she answered, noticing how his cheeks turned pink when she smiled at him.
Clinking on the movie, he put the remote down and grabbed the bowl of popcorn. "Since we can't go on our date tomorrow, do you want to consider this a date? I know it's really boring, but—"
"It's perfect, Barry," Piper cut him off. "It doesn't matter what we do for a date or are just hanging out. If I'm with you, it's perfect." Her words seemed to freeze time, and Barry closed his mouth, impulsively looking down to her lips, his eyes lingering on them longer than they should've. Noticing where his gaze was directed, she gulped. She could feel the hammering of her heart against her rib cage as she looked down at his lips.
Barry placed the bowl on the empty space on the couch next to him and turned his body. Bringing his hand up, he placed it below her ear, caressing her cheek softly with his thumb. All thoughts of watching the movie playing on the screen in front of them were gone as their faces grew closer.
Piper let out a shaky breath, her thoughts failing to function properly as the moment she'd been dreaming about forever finally arrived.
Feeling his breath faintly fan over her lips, she raised her hand and cupped his cheek. Their noses brushed, and her eyes fluttered shut right as she felt his lips graze over hers.
Before they could fully kiss, the front door swung open, and Joe and Wally walked in laughing. Quickly breaking apart, both of their faces burned red as Joe gasped. "We just ruined something, didn't we?" He asked, glancing at Wally, who was trying not to laugh at how flustered both of them were.
"Kind of," Barry grumbled, shooting the detective a pointed look, darting his eyes between him and the staircase, silently praying he got the message.
"Hey, you know what? It's starting to get late. Wally, let's go upstairs and unpack some of your stuff before I go to bed." Joe suggested, glancing at his other son, who nodded, a small smirk lining his face.
Piper bit down on her bottom lip and turned her head to look at the TV, hearing their footsteps fade away. Barry sighed quietly and glanced over at her. "I'm sorry about that," he muttered quietly.
Looking back over at him, she giggled, shaking her head. "It's fine," Piper replied, leaning over and kissing his cheek twice. She smirked at how red Barry's cheeks turned. "You're cute." She poked his cheek.
Swatting her hand away, Barry rolled his eyes as a small smile crept up onto his face. "Yeah, yeah, let's just watch the movie."
────
THE RUN-DOWN HOSPITAL WAS ONCE A BEACON OF ITS AGE BUT NOW RESEMBLED SOMETHING THAT HAD BEEN THROUGH A WAR. What was once a mansion of steel and locked doors were now a ruin; roofless in some areas, windowless, had cracks lining the walls and old blankets covered the furniture. Stepping inside the place was daunting enough; continuing to wallow in it just made it more nerve-wracking.
Following behind the other two slowly, Piper glanced around nervously, her eyepiece randomly zooming in on objects and rooms that were far away and dimly lit.
Barry had a tablet held out in front of him, his brows scrunched together as he followed the glowing dot on the screen. Turning left, he entered what seemed to be an old room for children. Painted flowers lined the walls, and a ladder was standing randomly in the center. The dot began to beep louder, and the scarlet speedster stopped, standing next to the ladder. "This area has the highest levels of residual trans-dimensional energy. We should be able to open the breach that used to be here. It's right here. This is it." He turned around and handed the tablet to Cisco, who stuffed it into his bag.
Walking forward, the long-haired boy took the place of where Barry was previously standing and turned around. "For real? In this Patch Adams nightmare right here?" he asked, raising his brows exceedingly high. Barry nodded, and Cisco pressed his lips together tightly. "Love it." Pulling out the goggles, he slid them on and shrugged back his shoulders.
"Are you guys in position?" Harry asked over the comms, his voice ringing in all three of their ears.
"Sadly," Piper mumbled, glancing around the room apprehensively as she made her way over to Barry's side.
"We're ready whenever you guys are," Joe added.
"I know basically nothing about Reverb or his, and also my, powers, so this will be interesting."
Piper snorted and rolled her eyes lightly. Harry had told the team all he knew about Reverb earlier that day, but his knowledge was limited, which didn't help Cisco much at all.
Rubbing his hands together, the long-haired boy breathed in deeply and held out his right hand, his eyes closing shut. Moving her head to the right so she could see around him, the purple speedster watched as nothing happened. Exhaling sharply, the long-haired boy squeezed his hand and lowered it.
"What's wrong?" Barry asked, furrowing his brows.
Frowning, Piper watched as the boy struggled to answer, his hands now on his hips. "I can't do it," he breathed, refusing to look up at either of his friends.
"Just try again," Barry pushed, gesturing forward.
Nodding solemnly, Cisco held his hand back out, but this time it was curled into a tight fist. Looking around his shoulder, Piper watched as a cloud of luminous blue dust spurred from his fingers and engulfed his hand. A blue and white mist flew from it effortlessly, and the redhead glanced at the other boy next to her. Barry's eyes were wide, and he was watching in amazement.
The mist moved forward and began to shake relentlessly until it burst into a small, baby breach. Once it grew wider, Cisco gasped and ripped off the goggles, the blue bubble disappearing.
"Hey, what— what happened? You were doing it." Barry stuttered, stepping forward.
"No, no, no, no. I can't do this."
"What?"
"Don't. Please, don't ask me to do this. Please." Cisco spoke shakily, tossing the goggles at Piper. Turning around swiftly, he walked out of the room.
Sighing, Piper looked to Barry. "Here," she handed him the goggles. "I'll go talk to him. Just wait here."
Cisco had only managed to get halfway down the hall when Piper appeared in front of him, a concerned expression on her face. Lowering his gaze, he attempted to walk around her, but she grabbed his hand, stopping him in his tracks. Reaching up, she turned off both her comm set and his. That way, the team couldn't overhear them.
"I know this isn't about Zoom, so I won't even bother to ask, but I can tell that you're scared of something. That's why you stopped, isn't it?" she checked, raising a brow, and he nodded. "Look, whatever it is that you're afraid of you, I'm right here with you to face it. So are Caitlin, Barry, Joe, Iris, Erin, Jesse, and even Harry. We're all right here with you. We've got your back. I've got your back."
Adverting his eyes to the floor, the long-haired boy sighed. "It's me. I'm scared of myself or what I could become." Cisco looked up from the floor, locking his eyes with hers. "It's like right now I'm Anakin Skywalker. I got the mid-chlorians. I've got the goods. The force is strong with me. That is something I can feel." He brought his hand up to his chest, and she nodded. "But if I start opening breaches into other worlds, doing all this other crazy stuff Reverb was apparently doing, then... what if this is how I become Vader?"
Bringing her hands up, Piper cupped his face and forced him to look at her. "If Barry saw this, he'd be pissed," Cisco mumbled, causing her to roll her eyes.
"You're never going to become Vader, okay?" she started, but he cut her off.
"You don't know that. That is what happened to Reverb. He learned how to use his abilities, just like I'm trying to, and when he felt that power, he succumbed... to the dark side."
Piper sighed and pulled him into her arms, burying her head into his neck. "You'll never become Vader because I won't let you. None of us will, okay? Look, I know how it feels to have an ability and feel the magnitude of how powerful it is inside you. Every time I learn a new skill or power, I panic because I know how easily it could make me a God. Any speedster could become one, metaphorically speaking, of course, it wouldn't take much. So, I know how fearful you are of using your powers, fearing it changing you. It does change you, I'm going to be honest, but it's up to you whether or not you want that change to be good or bad. It's up to you whether or not you allow it to consume you," she stated, feeling his arms wrap around her tightly.
The two best friends rested peacefully in the other's arms before Piper pulled away, placing her hand on his cheek.
"Let's do this," Cisco whispered, a determined look gleaming in his eyes.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
Grabbing onto his arm, she raced them back to the room, and he landed on the spot where the energy was the strongest. Cisco took the goggles from Barry and slid them on, turning his comm set back on as well. Mimicking his behavior, the purple speedster switched hers back on too.
Looking between the two, Barry raised a brow. "Are we good?" He questioned, and they both nodded. "All right, let's do this."
Turning back to face the empty space in the room, Cisco held out his fist confidently, allowing the feeling of water running down his skin to take over.
Coming up to Piper's side, Barry reached for her hand, squeezing it for a split second. Glancing away from Cisco, who had started creating the breach again, Piper smiled when her eyes rested on Barry. Squeezing his hand in return, they both let go once the breach had fully formed.
Nearly immediately, the easily recognizable black speedster jumped through the whirling bubble. It disappeared once his feet touched the ground solidly. Cisco quickly followed what they had planned and dashed off, disappearing down the hall. Blue lightning crackled off the speedster as he glared at the dynamic duo standing before him. "Reverb's doppelgänger has increased his powers." He growled.
"Hatred is a strong motivator." Piper spat, stepping forward.
"You were unwise to reopen the breach." Zoom's voice echoed.
Barry came up to the redhead's side and narrowed his eyes. "We're not gonna let you terrorize another world anymore."
"Without your speed, you won't be able to stop me."
Raising her eyebrows, Piper crossed her arms. "Oh, yeah? Let's see."
That was it. That was the cue.
Without hesitation, both speedsters took off and down the hallways. Jumping through a busted window, Piper raced down the side of the building and down the street, her and Barry heading in opposite directions. Knowing that it would be easier for him to catch Barry first, Zoom chased after him on the narrow roads of Central City.
"Zoom's gaining on Barry," Iris spoke into the comm set.
"He can't catch him, Piper," Joe warned.
Turning left down Leawood Avenue, Piper's eyepiece picked up on two streaks five miles away. Sighing, she sped up and was in no time running beside Zoom, making sure she was going slow enough to where he would notice her.
"Hey man, what's up?" she yelled in the wind casually. Glancing over, Zoom narrowed his eyes. "It must get tiring, huh? Chasing after someone so slow? It'd be way more fun to go after someone who is as fast as you— perhaps someone faster. After all, haven't you heard the saying? Pick on someone your own size?"
Leaving the conversation at that, she kicked off the ground hard, leaving him and Barry behind.
As she flew through the parking lot of S.T.A.R. Labs, she noticed a ball of blue lightning trailing after her. Smirking, she entered the building while Barry entered through the back. Once she got to the open corridor in front of the elevators, Piper skidded to a stop.
Luminous lightning flooded the room. Standing across from one another, the two speedsters glared at the other.
"Barry's gotten a little faster," Zoom observed, curling his hands into fists.
"And you've gotten a little more annoying." Piper bit back, her eyes beginning to glow lilac with anger. He growled, stepping forward. Snapping her fingers together twice, she opened her palms and chucked four orbs of lightning at Zoom. They all came together and struck the monster square in the chest, sending him flying back into the wall.
He stood up and ran towards her at full speed. Piper set off down the hallway and towards the training room where, hopefully, Barry had set everything up.
Shades of blue and purple coated the space as Zoom chased after the redhead, his speed nowhere close in comparison to hers. Running past a stand, her movement activated the motion sensor, and the cardboard cut-out of Hunter's father shot out. Ducking behind the square stand in the center of the room, she watched as he came to a halt. He stood there frozen, and the blue lightning around his body began to fade.
That was the next cue.
Jumping out from behind a shelf, Barry ran up to the speedster and began throwing punches left and right.
"Get him, Barry." Erin cheered into the comms.
"It's working." Iris followed up.
Piper watched with cautious eyes as Zoom froze again, the cardboard cut-out of his mother now staring back at him. All lightning around him disappeared, and that was when she hit him with the meta-dampening clasp. The silver metal circle wrapped around Zoom's thigh and attached itself to the ground.
Letting out a grunt of pain, he fell. Appearing from behind the stand, Piper walked over as Barry strutted up to Zoom and yanked off his mask. Bringing his hands up, he shoved the blonde back to the ground.
Hunter panted heavily, trying to catch his breath as he looked between the two. "How did you figure out who I was?" he asked, his eyes resting on Barry, who had pulled off his mask.
"I didn't. She did."
Hunter glanced at the redhead, narrowing his eyes. "I'm assuming she also told you I was Zoom?"
Barry nodded. Crossing her arms, Piper stood firmly behind the scarlet speedster.
"We would have helped you. We would have done anything we could to save your life." Barry whispered, the two now at eye level.
"Not everything."
"Caitlin found you a cure!" Barry bellowed, and Piper visibly flinched. She didn't like seeing him like this; she didn't like how angry he was getting, but she couldn't blame him. She was just as angry as he was. The only difference between the two was that she was keeping herself in check.
"A temporary one! I'm dying, Barry! There's only one thing that can get me what I need." Hunter roared back.
"And you just don't care how many lives you destroy trying to get it? How many people you kill?!" Barry shouted, his hands clenched into fists.
"No, I don't! That feeling was taken from me long ago," Hunter yelled, watching as the scarlet speedster stood up and walked to Piper's side. "We're not so different, you know. The three of us. What happened to us when we were kids? Both of you could have just as easily become me."
Stepping forward, Piper shook her head. "No. We'd never become like you."
Hunter shook his head, laughing maniacally. "That's rich coming from you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she retorted, uncrossing her arms.
"Doppelgängers are mirror images of themselves. Sometimes they even possess the same personality. Your doppelgänger is a killer. She's killed dozens of people, almost as many as I have. Just hearing you say that... it's quite amusing, honestly."
"Does it look like I'm Efficacy? No. I'm nothing like her, and I never will be. I see the world in color while the two of you see it in black and white." Piper seethed, watching as he stood slowly.
Dismissing her words, Hunter glanced between the two. "I got to say... that was smart, using my parents against me. Oh, family. Such a weakness. So is love." He stated, gesturing to the two.
Glancing over at Piper, Barry felt his heart race. "Not for all of us."
"Well, that's where you're wrong. She's your greatest weakness, aside from Joe and Iris, isn't she?" Hunter remarked, gesturing to Piper, whose brows were furrowed. Moving her eyes from him, she looked to Barry. His jaw was clenched. "If I took her, your world would end. If I harmed her, you would be on the verge of wanting to kill me. If I did anything to her, it would destroy you. You're blinded by love, and that's what makes you weak. That's what will stop you from stopping me."
Blinded by love? Wait, just a frickity frack—
Piper's eyes widened, and she glanced back to Hunter. He was watching her with a smirk. "The same applies to you. Other than the team, Barry is your greatest weakness. You're blinded by love, just as he is, and you'd do anything for him, wouldn't you?" He asked, raising a challenging brow. Piper pressed her lips together, feeling her blood boil. "Now, it's time I get what I came for." Hunter finished, nodding.
Walking forward quickly, Barry grabbed Piper's hand and pulled her behind him, shielding her from Zoom's view. "You're not getting anything from her or me. You're not getting anything from anybody ever again. On any Earth." Curling her hand around his arm, Piper peered over his shoulder, watching as Hunter's face darkened.
"You can't lock up the darkness."
Barry stepped forward, his hand falling back to subconsciously hold Piper's. Without hesitation, she intertwined their fingers. "What did you just say?" he asked, brows drawn in.
Looking up from the floor, Hunter's eyes were coated in the color of coal, and he smiled wickedly at them. "You can't lock up the darkness." He growled, his voice sounding just as it did when he was fully dressed as Zoom.
Piper watched as his left leg began to vibrate. Blue lightning spluttered from his fingertips and soon traveled up his arm and over his whole body.
Uh, I think the fuck not.
Phasing through the clamp, Hunter grabbed his mask and raced out of the room. Piper's fight-or-flight instincts activated without hesitation, and she ran after him.
"Piper!"
It took less than ten seconds for her to search all of Central City, but she came up empty-handed. Coming to a stop in an alleyway, she screamed loudly in the lonely darkness of the night. There was not a trace of him being anywhere. Hunter Zoloman was gone.
Zoom was gone.
────
"HE WAS RIGHT THERE," Piper whispered, her hands stuffed into her sweatshirt pocket as she followed everyone up the front porch steps. Looking up, she stopped as Joe pulled out the key to the front door.
"I know," the detective muttered, unlocking it. Stepping inside, Iris flicked on the lights and took three steps in before coming to a halt.
Sighing, Barry ran his hands through his hair. "I mean, we had him. We had him. I can't believe it," he groaned, closing the door before noticing how everybody had frozen. Averting his eyes to the living room, he saw that it was ruined. The entire place was.
It looked like someone had picked up the house and jostled it around like a toy. Furniture was broken and scattered everywhere, the TV was lying face-down on the floor, and books were tossed to the side.
Holding his finger up, Joe pulled out his gun and signaled for everyone to be quiet, nodding to Barry to check the house. Disappearing in a blur of red, the brown-haired man checked the house.
Erin latched her hand onto Iris's and pulled her close, her stomach uneasy as she stared at the chaos surrounding them.
Walking into the living room, the detective held up his hand, motioning for the three girls to stay back. "Wally?" he called, eyes roaming the dining room.
"Up here!" Barry called, and Piper wasted no time in speeding upstairs and into Wally's room, noticing that the furniture had been destroyed too.
Appearing at Barry's side, she turned to look at where his eyes were directed at. In letters scratched into the tan-painted wall, there read: Expedite for Wally.
Her heart dropped as her eyes reread the words, color draining from her face. Gulping, she stepped back and shook her head, her hand covering her mouth as the others entered the room.
Expedite for Wally.