17.1 early
"Okay, you're gonna go back to the time when Wells was distracted by the return of the major jackass, Hartley Rathaway," Cisco explains.
"This is the first time we found out Dad knew the accelerator might explode, and we were all angry with him, so anything that might seem odd about your behavior Wells should attribute to that," I say.
"Also remember: Do not underestimate Hartley. He almost killed you," Cisco adds.
"This is a tranq dart that should knock "old" you out for about six hours, which lines up perfectly for when you're going back, because not much was happening until Hartley attacked the Cleveland Dam that night, so that should give you time to learn what you need and return," Caitlin explains.
"One more thing. You cannot tell us the truth about Wells, no matter what. You must keep the timeline intact," I say.
"It's gonna be hard to course correct if anything gets altered, so get what you need and come back, preferably to this moment, this exact time you're leaving, or else you might set off some kind of "12 Monkeys" time loop you'll never get out of," Cisco says.
"Mm-hmm."
"No pressure," Cisco says.
"Yeah. Cool."
"So, we'll see you in, like, two seconds," Cisco chuckles. "Time travel's so weird."
Cisco hugs Barry and then Caitlin hugs him saying, "Godspeed, Barry."
"Godspeed," I repeat as he comes to hug me.
"I'll be fine," He says, before giving me a kiss. I brace myself, my hands gripping his arms before I pulled away. I sighed kissing him on the cheek. "What could go wrong?"
Giving Harry one last look, Barry runs out.
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B A R R Y P O V
I look around to see myself in an alley and to see myself, Liv and Hartley fighting. "Oh, no. I'm too early," I say looking around.
"You know my name? I know some names too. This is not a good start. Caitlyn Snow. Cisco Ramon. Harrison Wells..." When Hartley goes to say Liv's name, feedback from the comms squeals in my ears.
"Gah! Damn it," I say running back when I see Young-Barry looking at me.
"I can hear the radio waves..." I hear Hartley say.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember this," I say.
"...Emanating from your suit. This could still work. About 1,900 megahertz. Are they on the other end listening? Will they hear you die?"
"No," Young-Barry says. "They're gonna hear you..."
"Get your ass kicked," I say with Young-Barry. I run and speed young-Barry out of there, leaving Hartley to be handled by Liv.
"Who are you?" Young Barry asks.
"I don't have time to explain this to you right now," I say. I go to inject him with the serum but he runs away.
I go after him and when I finally catch him, he falls on the ground. "I don't understand. You're me," Young-Barry says.
"I'm sorry, but I have to do this. This'll all make sense eventually," I say objecting him.
I run back to Hartley and Liv to see Hartley on the ground, Liv over him. I grab him by the chest and say, "Got ya again."
Hartley and Liv look at me confused as I continue, "Looks like you're not as smart as everyone says, huh?"
"Smart enough to have figured out who Harrison Wells really is," He says making me look over at Liv, who looks confused. "Smart enough to figure out things about him not even you know." He then turns back to me. "You see, I know his secret."
"Barry, are you there?" Cisco asks from the comms.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm back. We're bringing Hartley in," I say.
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"Scanners picking up foreign metallic objects in your ears. Take 'em out," Cisco tells Hartley as I remember what happened last time.
"I can't. I suffered head trauma when S.T.A.R. Labs exploded. My hearing was severely damaged. Without these, I am in pain you can only imagine," Hartley says.
"Cisco, see if the devices in his ears are generating any low level electromagnetic pulses," I say.
"You want me to scan for E-bombs?" Cisco asks.
"I just... I mean, don't you think that could've been what was interfering with the comms?" I stutter, looking for an excuse.
When he finds the bombs, Cisco scoffs. "Well, well. Trying to go all "Mission: Impossible" on us? Use those things to bust out of here?" He asks.
Someone speaks something in Latin behind me and I turn to see Harrison Wells... or Thawne. "Pump in some sound stimuli to counteract his tinnitus," He says: "Then we'll make some nonexplosive replacements for him. Deal with you later."
He then wheels away as I walk out to follow Thawne. "Dr. Wells," I say, stopping him.
"That was quite an observation you had about Hartley in there, Mr. Allen," He says.
"Yeah, it just seemed too easy taking him down, you know?" I ask.
"Mm-hmm, well, the likely reason for that is you're getting faster," Thawne suggests.
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that," I say as we enter the Cortex.
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"It occurred to me that maybe we've been going about improving my speed the wrong way," I say, writing the equation on the board,
"How so?"
"Well, I've been learning different techniques involved in running, and I was thinking that there's just as much science involved in speed as anything physical or technical," I explain. "I just can't figure out how to apply it to me when I run. Thought if anybody could help me, it'd be you."
"This is quite the... speed equation you've concocted here, isn't it, Mr. Allen?" He asks.
"Yeah, I've been doing a lot of reading in my downtime," I say.
"What on earth inspired you to adopt such a... what should we call this... unorthodox approach?" He asks.
"I just know that I'm not the fastest man alive, and I need to be faster, a lot faster, if I'm ever gonna be able to take down the Man in Yellow," I say as he takes off his glasses. "So what do you think? Can you help me?"
I watch as he adjusts in his seat and then grabs a marker. "Let me see what I can do."