This is where I grovel because I haven't updated in two months.

I'm so sorry! It took a fair bit to plan out this chapter; there's a LOT happening this chapter, so it was important to map everything out to make sure things flowed :) and then I had surgery early July for my torn ACL/meniscus, so recovery has been doing a number on me...

BUT THIS CHAPTER IS FINALLY DONE, HURRAY! I bring you a big update of 6.1k words in payment :) thank you to EVERYONE who has read, supported, left a kudo, or commented on this fic-I love to write and tell stories by nature, but damn if y'all aren't a huge incentive to get stuff done. Thank you guys so much. Really.

Summary: The explosion slammed into him and shattered him into a thousand pieces.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Flash/DCTV

Caitlin gripped the railing so hard she could feel it nearly twisting underneath her hands as a thin layer of frost coated the surface of the groaning metal.

"No! Don't hurt them. Let them go, please."

Everyone's heads whipped up in shock, and she caught Joe's surprised, horrified face when he saw her, gun still pointed toward Zoom, blue lightning crackling around the villain like a shield. Her hold on the rail tightened, and the thinnest sliver of self-restraint kept her uncontrollable ice powers at bay. It was imperative, now that she was back on her own Earth, that she kept everyone she loved safe. She made it home…but the price she had unwittingly paid was the price of putting them back into Zoom's hands.

Her petite frame shook a little; Caitlin hadn't eaten or rested much during her entire ordeal, just enough to nourish the little life inside of her. Even so, her weakness did not temper her resolve—looking down at them from above, she hoped Zoom could see the cold reminder in her eyes the deal they had struck before their arrival at CCPD.

Please, she had said. Don't hurt them.

Why? He asked, his tone toeing the line between curious and mocking. My destiny is to conquer this Earth.

Please. Spare them, and I won't try to escape.

Zoom still wanted her to be with him, still wanted Nora to be bait and hostage to twist Barry's arm and hold the two of them over everyone's heads if things didn't go the way he wanted them to.

The minute you try anything, he had growled at her. They die.

"Tell everyone that this city is mine. Anyone who disobeys me will meet their end."

There was a brief silence, then Singh nodded without lowering his gun. "All right. Clear out!"

Everyone backed away from Zoom without turning around, their guns still pointed at him as they retreated from the precinct. In the few seconds Zoom and CCPD had their tense stand-off, Joe only took his eyes off the villain long enough to immediately look Caitlin over, quickly assessing her for any damage. He was torn between wanting to make sure she was okay, to bring her back with them, and guarding Wally while trying to keep Zoom where he was at the same time. It was only at Caitlin's subtle nod that he gritted his teeth and wrenched his attention away from her, keeping his son behind him as he and Singh covered all the others leaving the bullpen.

Zoom turned his soulless black eyes to her then, and Caitlin swallowed hard, trying her best to control the frost and lightning she could feel bursting through her veins if she wanted to keep everyone alive.

"Caitlin's with Zoom."

That was the first thing Joe said when he arrived in the Cortex to see everyone already there, planning their next move. He hurriedly explained the situation to them, Barry's hand running down his face and resting at his mouth while Cisco and Henry's expressions became darker and darker.

"But why would Zoom bring Caitlin here?" Iris wondered out loud, hands on her hips and brain running at miles a minute. "He knows he's just bringing her home, and that we'd stop at nothing to get her back."

"To show power." There was no hesitation in Harry's voice when he answered. "That's exactly what he did on my Earth."

Joe looked at him warily. "What are you talking about?"

Setting his cup of coffee down, he turned to face the rest of the group, voice grave. "The first thing he did was murder people. Slaughtered a bunch of policemen, then recruited every metahuman he could find. And those that disobeyed, he killed too."

Barry spoke up for the first time. "Where are the police now?" he asked sharply, looking at his foster father.

"Outside the precinct."

"He'll kill them, Joe," Harry warned. "He'll kill them all."

But Joe wasn't convinced, still banking on the one ray of light he could see in the bleak situation. "Not with Caitlin with him. She talked him out of killing everyone when he took over CCPD."

"That's what we're going to rely on, Snow talking him out of it?" Harry sniped back in disbelief, scoffing.

The captain held his ground. "From what I could see, she was mostly unharmed. If he didn't hurt her on Earth-2, he won't hurt her now that he's got her as leverage over us. Zoom knows we're the biggest threat standing in his way."

From the side of the room, Barry watched and listened as the two of them continued their heated discussion, his thoughts zipping back and forth.

First and foremost, the Flash was still out of commission. He didn't have his speed, and there was no way to actually help the police, much less Caitlin, in the state he was in now.

Then, there was Caitlin and the baby. Joe said she looked unharmed, but it had been nearly a week since she had been taken. There was no telling if they were really okay until he could see her for himself, until she was with him. The ache he felt the past week intensified, the sting of missing her and the worry that tore through him burned twice as hot now that she was so close and yet still out of his reach.

Finally, there was the need to get his speed back. So far, there was only one viable idea, and that was Harry's thought of causing another contained particle accelerator explosion. The risks they would be taking with that idea were enormous, and absolutely nothing could go wrong in the process. Everyone argued about it, about the possibility of causing another wave of dark matter exploding over Central City, about Barry's safety, about the what-ifs and hows, and Barry was feeling increasingly backed into a corner.

He looked at his father, permanently back in Central City and watching Harry and Joe argue with a frown on his face.

Dad…I don't know what to do.

A hand on his shoulder.

None of us do, son. Not in these times. You've got to believe in yourself. You're the Flash. And more than that, you're you, Barry. Your powers are a big part of you, yes, but they don't define you. You determine the man you want to become.

A small smile.

Well, I've had a lot of guidance from the people around me.

A sad, answering smile.

I'm sorry I've missed so much of it.

It's not your fault. I've missed you.

I've missed you, son.

Dad?

Yeah?

I hope…I'll be as good of a dad as you are.

A tight hug, the nostalgia of being tucked underneath an arm that he once believed could hold up the entire world.

You won't, son. You'll be better.

Despite the risks and the numerous things that could absolutely go sideways, Barry wondered, not for the first time, what sort of sacrifices being a hero required. What was he willing to give up, what was he willing to chance, and what was he willing to trust?

When his father was arrested for the murder of his mother, he never doubted his father's innocence. It took him a long time to work through his thoughts and his emotions, but he could see clearly now that his dad had tried his best to protect him in the wake of his mother's death. He had sacrificed everything he had to ensure Barry was taken care of when he couldn't care for him himself.

Would he, Barry wondered, be willing to make the same sort of sacrifices for his family? It went without question that his actions would have heavy and dire consequences, but when he thought about his parents, his family, his team, Caitlin's smiling face and their unborn child, his heart lurched forward, and there really wasn't a choice to make at all.

She had never been in the precinct when it was empty like this, the halls echoing with Zoom's growl and a few metas that had made the crossing to their Earth from Earth-2. Locked inside the bullpen with two metas standing guard at the door, Caitlin found herself with a hand on her slightly swollen belly and glaring at her captor on the other side of the glass.

"Don't even think about escaping through the windows," he warned her with a dangerous smirk on his face. "They'll hear you." He gestured to the two metas who didn't so much as turn toward her. "And then they'll let me know, and I promise, Caitlin, I will kill everyone in sight the minute I get their call."

Her fist tightened in anger. "You know they're going to figure out a way to stop you, right?"

Hunter let out a condescending laugh. "Who? Barry? Wells? The police? No," he scoffed. "Nobody can stop me now. Not anymore."

"Then why are you keeping me here?"

Immediately, Caitlin knew it was the wrong question to ask. Hunter flinched, as if he was in pain; his eyes screwed shut, his head bowed and he took a moment to collect himself before looking back up at her, his voice wavering slightly as he said his next words.

"Because I don't want to be alone anymore."

The woman before him that he loved so much had no idea of the horrifying and traumatic memories that flashed through his mind, the days and nights of blood and lightning and torture and unheard screams resonating within their mental prison, the horrible, drowning, cold, hopeless, helpless pit he sank into for far too long before she came along with her brilliant, intelligent mind and bright smile, the one that never offered more.

He loved her so much, and if she didn't offer, then he simply just took—even with the stark reminder that she was carrying someone else's child, someone he had defeated time and time again, and wasn't worthy of her, wasn't worthy of being a father.

Her question had thrown him straight back into the pit that he had crawled out from, and when he next opened his eyes answer her question, he was the most vulnerable he had ever been in front of anyone since his mother was murdered in cold blood by his father right in front of him.

Caitlin looked at him, eyes hard, and he couldn't hear her thoughts, no, but if he could, he would have seen the way she might have felt so sorry, so awful for him if he hadn't been so twisted in every way. All he had done in the name of power, of fear, of his so-called love was turn her and everyone else against him.

The moment was broken when another asked meta holding a scythe approached them. Hunter pulled the grotesque gray mask back over his face before turning to the newcomer.

"And?" he demanded.

"He got away, but I'll find him."

Zoom's eyes narrowed. "Later."

"He needs to pay for what he did to my brother!" The meta suddenly exploded, his hands tightening around his scythe. Zoom was completely unperturbed.

"And he will. Later, Rupture!"

That seemed to cause the meta—Rupture—to remember his place. "What do you want me to do?"

"The police have gathered again," Zoom rasped immediately. "They think I've spared their lives. Tonight…show them they're wrong."

Rupture nodded and walked away as Caitlin's stomach sank, the chill she felt inside of her bursting to life and tempered only by the purple lightning beginning to involuntarily crackle around her. Zoom turned back to look at her, ripping his cowl off again.

"You disapprove?" Hunter sneered.

Caitlin glared right back through her fear and anger. "You said you would spare them!"

He bent down a little to look her in the eye through the glass. "I need to teach them a lesson."

Without another word, he sped off in a blur of blue lightning, and Caitlin looked around frantically, the two metas guarding her door paying her no mind. Nora's powers kicked in full force then, slowing time down as she whirled around inside the room, looking for something, anything to help. She couldn't escape and she was pregnant, but she wasn't helpless.

Spying an evidence box underneath a nearby desk, she took a step and sped over, roughly opening the top to dig through it for anything she could use. An almost savage grin of triumph appeared on her lips when she found her prize, and when she was certain her guards couldn't care less about her, she pulled a sliver of controlled lightning into her palm to spark the phone battery to life, then proceeded to do what she had always done—try her damnedest to save everyone's lives.

"And what if it did work? I mean, what then?"

Barry stopped just before the doorway, hearing Harry, Joe, and his father's raised voices.

"Joe? He goes up against Zoom, the monster that snapped his back and almost killed him, and then took not one, but two, three things that he's convinced now that he needs in order to make him whole? His speed, and then Caitlin and the baby on top of that?"

"This is the way," Harry replied hotly, tone low. "This is the only way. The people of Central City need the Flash."

"Guys."

He must have accidentally stepped into view, because Joe's warning tone directed everyone's attention to where he was, apparently, not very good at lurking. Barry took a deep breath, then fully walked into the room, looking at all three of the men he so respected.

"I know that you care about me, each of you, in your own way. And you all have your own point of view on this, but this decision is mine." He looked at each of their faces. "I have to make it on my own."

He was no longer the child who needed someone else to look after him, even though he knew they always would; the people who loved him would always look after him. But it was truly his turn to look after others too. Barry, as the Flash and as himself, could not stay the protected, not when other people were in need of his protection. Not when he now had a family of his own who needed him, who were still in danger. As a hero, as a friend and a son and now, a father, he had strength enough to risk everything, to make the sacrifices he needed for the chance to save them.

"Barry!" Cisco's voice came over the comms. "Barry, Cortex, now!"

An hour of restless pacing and hearing about Rupture's abrupt attack on Cisco and Dante later, Barry narrowed his eyes over at Harry. The contained particle accelerator explosion wasn't just a possibility anymore, it was the only option that Barry could see. Zoom was by far the most dangerous villain they've ever come across, and he needed to be dealt with, and dealt with quickly before it was too late to save everyone in Central City and Earth-1.

Bent over the console, Harry and Joe answered a quick call from Wally and Jesse while Henry stood on the opposite side, giving his son a look that made him sigh. The computer to the right of the console started beeping, a normal enough sound in the Cortex that it didn't immediately put all of them on alert. Joe looked over at it as Harry opened whatever was causing that sound.

"From CCPD," he murmured. Joe straightened, a chill creeping down his spine in both anger and frustration when he saw the warning.

RUPTURE ATTACK JITTERS 2NITE.

"That's Caitlin."

That finally caught Barry's attention. "What about Caitlin?" he asked, approaching the console to peer over at the message on the screen, his stomach dropping immediately when he registered her words. His fear for her safety came back threefold, warring against his pride that she was still putting everyone's safety ahead of her own, no doubt taking a big risk in warning them.

"She sent us a message," his foster father replied, eyes still glued to the computer. "Rupture is going to attack Jitters tonight. We gotta move, Barry."

All three men turned to look at him then, his dad giving him a small, confident smile. "What are you going to do, slugger?"

The worst part, Caitlin decided, was the waiting.

She was used to helping out in one way or another, whether on comms or on the sidelines, but always contributing to the cause and taking down the bad guy. Being trapped and not knowing what was happening, not being able to help—that was the hardest thing she'd done. And with the lightning coursing through her veins and placating the frost that she could feel was swirling inside of her, her powers made it twice as hard for her to sit still, knowing she had the power to help. Caitlin put a hand on her stomach, rubbing in gentle circles.

"Are you okay, Nora?" she asked quietly. "You've been through so much. And you've been such a big help to mommy. You're going to be so amazing, baby. You are already so amazing."

She wrenched her hand away from her stomach, straightening immediately as one of the metas guarding her walked into the bullpen and, to her surprise, opened the TV in front of her.

"Zoom wants you to see this," he said. Even with his mask covering his face, she could hear the mirth in his tone, and she glared at his back when he retreated, locking the door behind him.

"Breaking news coming out of Jitters coffee shop," the news anchor said on screen, Caitlin's heart leaping into her throat as she listened and read the headline—Horror Unfolds at CC Jitters. "CCPN has learned that a metahuman was just apprehended after an altercation with the Flash."

With each word, she could feel relief seeping back into her upon receiving confirmation that everyone was safe. She paused then, thinking hard. Had Barry gotten his speed back? How?

The bullpen doors slammed open, blue lightning announcing Zoom's arrival. He stopped a foot in front of her. Caitlin's eyes widened, feeling mist seeping from her hands again when her fear returned full-force. "You told them Rupture was coming," Hunter snarled, ripping off his mask and backing her up until she hit the corner of a desk. "How. How?!"

His eyes roamed the room wildly, and both of their gazes landed at the same time on the evidence box Caitlin had forgotten to stash back in her haste to get the message out. She let out a strangled breath, closing her eyes only to have them fly open again when he grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"Oh, you…are smart, aren't you? You betrayed me!"

Roughly letting go of her, he donned his mask once more, his cold, black eyes staring down at her for a moment before he sped off. Caitlin didn't have to wonder where he was headed; the TV lit up again as Central City News flashed back onto the screen, and then she felt bile rise in her throat as she was violently thrown back to the Velocity 9 incident all over again. She just wanted to help, but her actions led to the horrifying events unfolding before her eyes.

"Make sure you get this," Zoom hissed at the camera, and Caitlin watched as he ran around the room at the height of his speed, Nora's powers showing her exactly what he was doing. She heard the resounding cracks when Zoom broke the necks of the policemen standing before him, the doctor in her screaming at the blatant disregard for life he showed though she was only able to let out a whimpering, terrified sob.

The camera fell and she flinched when it hit the ground, showing only feet.

"I told you what would happen if you disobeyed me." The villain's voice came through loud and clear, and someone gurgled and choked in the background before a new voice joined the fray.

"Hey, stop! Stop! You've made your point!"

It was then that Caitlin finally let herself break down in enormous, wracking sobs, the so-familiar voice tearing through any defenses she had left after the adrenaline and fear and she sunk to the ground, her arms encircling her belly. She pressed her cold hands against her mouth in an effort to stop her wails, watching the screen as Zoom lifted the camera to face them and there he was, oh God there he was, desperate and frustrated and angry and helpless and scared.

"Barry," she barely managed to whisper, praying with everything in her that Zoom would let him live.

"Central City," Zoom said directly into the camera, panning it to show the damage he had done inside of Jitters. "The Flash you've seen in your streets is a fake, a hologram meant to give you hope."

He almost sounded pleased with himself, even through the growl of his changed voice. "But there is no more hope, there is no more Flash, and there's no one left to protect your city from me."

His warning done, Zoom threw the camera to the side, but his every word was still audible from the microphone.

"Tell the rest of your force, Captain, that their policing days are over."

A pause.

"You're only alive because of Caitlin. Try something like this again, and my affection for her won't stop me from killing you…or the rest of this city!"

What Barry had realized at that moment, listening to everyone in the Cortex squabble and snap and debate, was what he had known all along—there was no other choice. He needed his speed back, and from the beginning, Harry had come up with the option that seemed most likely for them to achieve that goal.

"I want to do it," he said, cutting through the thick tension and bringing everyone's attention to him. "One of the cops that Zoom killed tonight, he had a son. Same age I was when mom was murdered, and now, another kid has to grow up without one of their parents, because—" Barry's voice broke, Iris startling and almost reaching for him before she put her hand down. He needed to get this out.

"—The Flash wasn't there to stop that monster."

It was clear how much guilt he carried on his shoulders. Henry, Joe, Harry, his father figures and mentors, silently shouldered the worry and concern that was mounting in the room with each word, knowing that none of them in the room would blame Barry for what he was saying, convinced it was his fault.

"I left this city unprotected by giving up my powers to Zoom. I enabled him to rule this earth. I need my powers back."

Cisco was the first to move after that, uncrossing his arms and standing at his full height, nearly staring his best friend down. "What about your own kid?" he challenged fiercely, surprising everyone in the Cortex. Barry flinched, but he didn't look away. "What if something happens to you, what's your kid gonna do?"

For a moment, no one breathed. Barry hung his head a little, but the determination in his green eyes never wavered. "My kid is going to have a future," he finally said. "And that's only going to happen once we take Zoom down."

From the side of the console, Harry hefted the speed canon onto his shoulders.

"Let's do it."

Losing his speed was bad enough, Barry knew, but this here? It almost felt like he was swimming in molasses. The air was fraught with tension and worry, and Harry's detached, scientific personality was almost like a lifeline; it grounded him to the moment, with the doctor spouting out commands left and right and inputting line after line of code into the computer.

It wasn't until he felt the metal cuffs around his wrists and ankles did his heartrate begin to pick up. Barry felt his mouth go dry, and forced himself to take deep breaths through his nose and out his mouth, careful not to alert the others in the room to his anxiety. Iris and Joe were on edge enough as it was, and he had to go through with this, he had to. Central City, Earth-1, Caitlin was at stake.

"You're going to feel these clamps, but they're necessary," Harry said softly, making last-minute adjustments.

"You good?" Joe asked from the side. It was all Barry could do to keep from breaking.

Instead, he just nodded at his foster father. "Yeah. You?"

Joe's eyes were shining already, but it was a look Barry had seen many times over growing up. He knew that the words were right at the tip of his tongue, Joe was never one to shy away from difficult conversations after all, but he held them back if only to keep this moment while they still had it.

"I'll be fine," Barry tried to say, but Joe only gave a tiny smile in response. With a nod of finality, he stepped back, not thrilled about the situation, but seeing Barry's resolve come through like it had so many times before, he had to let him go. Iris was next, her hands clasped tightly together in front of her. They had been the best of friends all their lives, and in this moment, he was grateful for her steady presence and support.

Then came the familiar, smiling face with eyes that held worlds of worry and pain, the face that he had missed so much over the years.

"Son…" Henry started, then trailed off without knowing what to say. There was nothing he could say to make the situation better, or to shake the fear that he would lose one more person he loved.

Seeing his uncertainty, Barry put on an even braver face. "Being the Flash…" he whispered, his eyes roving over each of his loved ones. The dam inside of him was about to break, and when the floodgates cracked open, there wasn't a torrential wave like he thought there would be—instead, there was just one tear that slipped down his cheeks, weighed down with everything spoken and unspoken. "That's the best version of me. That's the version that can protect Central City and the people I love in it. If I don't have my speed, I'll never be that person anymore. I have to do this."

There was an understanding in his dad's eyes, fear layered with love and pride. "Okay," Henry said softly. "Okay."

Would he, Barry thought, be as good of a father someday? Would he be able to let go when he needed to, like in this moment now?

"You ready, Allen?" Harry's gravelly voice spoke from the console when everyone had stepped back. He took a breath, then nodded once, sure in his decision. His pseudo-mentor gave another nod in return, his own salute. "All right, then. Here we go."

The containment doors slid shut.

There was a moment of silence, the moment teetering on the edge of a precipice, the deep breath before the plunge, and then Barry was hit by the first onslaught of pain, several needles stuck into him all at once and injecting chemicals he knew didn't belong inside a human body. He could hear Iris' panicked voice, but there was no way to make out what she or Harry was saying behind the pain. He just knew he needed to find some way to reassure them.

"I'm okay, Iris," Barry managed to grit out, his breathing ragged and words stilted. Beyond the doors, Joe and Henry's voices joined hers, but then the lightning came through, and all of a sudden, his whole body was crackling, every muscle spasming against the pain as his body writhed against the force of nature. He felt the cuffs that kept him into place, forcing him to withstand it all as he let out scream after scream after scream, lightning no longer his ally, no longer under his command, but harsh and wild and unforgiving. His every nerve was on fire; everything was burning, everything inside of him was burning and boiling, and then, finally, finally…

After a lifetime, Harry's level-headed, falsely calm tone cut through, a last lifeline.

"Initiating collision."

The explosion slammed into him and shattered him into a thousand pieces.

Barry's body had given out, every muscle exhausted by the lightning, and there was nothing he could do except hang limply in his cuffs as one force of nature replaced another, golden flames consuming his body completely and thoroughly, slowly burning him alive. It was the last thing he was truly aware of, the explosion tearing him apart, and he felt every single second of it.

Darkness came too late.

The two metas who guarded her in the bullpen directed her up the stairs into one of the forensics labs Caitlin had been to so many times before, the one that was just down the hall from Barry's. They unceremoniously plunked her into the stool, then promptly left the lab, leaving her to stare out the window and glare at her own reflection in her new prison, her hands twisting around a glass vial she found on the desk to keep busy. Her mind was hard at work though; between keeping the frost in her hands at bay and Nora's buzzing powers under control, she could barely concentrate on her own train of thought.

She gnawed at her bottom lip as she went over her encounter with Killer Frost again and again. There were so many things the woman said that bothered her, but Caitlin hadn't had time to unpack all of them until now, when Zoom was no longer terrorizing the rest of her team or the citizens of Central City…for now. She had to take advantage of every moment she had before the war truly began.

If you're still brunette, that means your powers haven't come in yet, right?

Caitlin grabbed at a lock of her brown hair just to check, and sure enough, it was the same chestnut color it had been all her life. But her powers had started manifesting on Earth-2, and if she had to guess, even before she met Killer Frost. That burst of pain she felt coming from Nora when she first arrived on Earth-2 and was chained to her cot—maybe something had happened there. Nora's powers were first triggered just before then, so maybe her own had something to do with her daughter's?

The minute she got away, the doctor vowed, she was going to get her hands on every metahuman biology and physiology and baby book she could find. If there were even any in existence.

Perhaps the baby was developed enough for her powers to come through, but given that Caitlin still had another full trimester to go, she had her doubts. She couldn't rule out the possibility that Nora was going to be one powerful speedster, but another theory was very quickly forming in her mind.

You look cold, Caity, Killer Frost had said almost immediately after meeting her. Could Killer Frost have seen her powers for what they were, even before she herself could? She confirmed indirectly that they weren't hit by the Particle Accelerator explosion, even in her timeline, so that meant…that meant Caitlin's powers came from something else inside of her.

The vial she had been holding shattered onto the floor as she dropped it, the revelation rolling around her head in shock. Nora's purple lightning started to crackle the air around her, Killer Frost's words on a continual loop.

Now that I know your kid has powers, and with what it's done to your powers?

Your powers have started leaking, and now, it seems that they've been tampered with by your baby that's apparently half a speedster.

See? We're not so different from each other.

If you're still brunette, that means your powers haven't come in yet, right?

You look cold, Caity.

Now that I know your kid has powers, and with what it's done to your powers?

Your powers have started leaking, and now, it seems that they've been tampered with by your baby that's apparently half a speedster.

See? We're not so different from each other.

If you're still brunette, that means your powers haven't come in yet, right?

You look cold, Caity.

Now that I know your kid has powers, and with what it's done to your powers?

Your powers have started leaking, and now, it seems that they've been tampered with by your baby that's apparently half a speedster.

See? We're not so different from each other.

Oh, Caity. You're in for a ride.

Suddenly, her theory didn't seem so crazy anymore. Nora's powers could have been kickstarted by their interdimensional travel, and both that and her body now housing her baby's powers could have then jumpstarted her own, if her powers had originated from inside of her rather than thrown onto her by the biggest scientific catastrophe of the millennia. Oh, God, her powers had originated from inside of her. What did that make her then?

A loud crack of thunder and a long streak of lightning caught her attention, the streak headed straight down to where she knew S.T.A.R. Labs was. Nora kicked then, hard, against her stomach and Caitlin nearly doubled over as she put one hand on the windowsill to steady herself and the other over her baby, the purple lightning now a tangible field around her. Something was wrong.

She didn't even have enough time to straighten and throw up her defenses before Zoom ran into the room, wrenching his mask off and tossing it carelessly onto the table. One of his hands stayed behind his back, as if hiding something from her. Caitlin eyed him warily, pulling herself together and trying to amplify Nora's lightning as much as she could in a clear warning to stay back. Hunter's enormous smile, however, remained on his face.

"I brought you a gift," he said excitedly, gesturing for her to sit on the stool. Caitlin pulled the stool farther from him, but lowered herself onto it anyway, her nerves now at an all-time high. "Guess what, Caitlin?"

Biting the inside of her cheek, she pushed some of the frost she could feel on her fingertips to join Nora's lightning in an effort to keep her powers from bursting forward. She didn't have to wait long until he broke, the maniac grin once more on his face. "I killed someone today."

"You've killed a lot of people today," she spat, unable to help herself or contain her fury and disgust, her stomach heaving as she recalled the police officers at CC Jitters with their snapped necks.

Hunter shook his head. "No, no, this is someone really special, Cait!"

Caitlin glared harder at him. "I told you not to call me that!"

Her outburst was ignored though, and when she opened her mouth to say something else, he finally pulled his hand forward and thrust something red and tattered and smelled of burnt meat and metal onto her thigh. She automatically reached for it to keep the object from falling off her lap, and still, it took Caitlin's mind a second to catch up with her eyes, and before she could even fully process what she was holding, she was already choking back tears.

"The Flash is dead," Hunter then said, tone quieter than she'd heard it in a while. He stood up, pacing in front of her. "Caitlin, you know, I've always measured my success by counting the number of victims I've had. But now, I think I'm going to widen my scope. Start counting the number of Earths I conquer instead."

He barked out a laugh, and with a loud woop of excitement, he grabbed his mask off the table and sped out of the forensics lab, leaving her stricken and in shock on the uncomfortable stool in the middle of the room.

One heartbeat.

Two heartbeats.

Caitlin ripped the trash can from underneath the desk and emptied the nonexistent contents of her stomach into it, knowing she hadn't eaten since the scraps she had in Earth-2 only to keep Nora alive. When she was finished, she dropped the trash can unceremoniously onto the floor, causing it to tip over and spilling everything inside underneath and around the desk. She stood up, and when she looked out the window to see S.T.A.R. Labs in the distance, her back hit the wall, her legs gave out, and then she could feel the cold floor against her cheek as everything went dark.