9 years ago

"I assure you ladies and gentlemen, my revolutionary idea and design will stop these metahumans from taking over our city," I hear Dr. Weston preach, speaking to the large crowd. It made my blood boil. "Crime rates will drop and no one will live in terror again."

A woman reporter in the audience shouts a question. "Even the speedster Zoom and his new partner Silver Trickster?"

"Even those two," the doctor says, making me snicker. He thought he was going to put an end to Jay and I, but he was far from right. "I promise you that this will work."

You see, for the past month in Central City, this Doctor Weston has been all over the news talking about a new serum he had that would reverse all metahuman powers and abilities. Not only did his mouth piss me off, but so did the fact that he became the top news rather than me. Silver Trickster started to get covered up, and it aggravated me. So, of course Jay and I decided to take action. We decided to let it play out for awhile, but then we decided that tonight would be the best night to end it...since it would be all over the news.

I watch Doctor Weston from above as he walks over to a sheet, throwing it away to reveal his handcrafted design, as he called it. Cameras snap and flashes blind him as he stands beside it, a grin on his face. Too bad he didn't realize it would be gone soon.

My eyes trail away from him for a moment before looking over at Jay, seeing him shaking his head. Anger was in his eyes, and I didn't blame him. However, when I was glancing over at Jay, I saw movement behind him that caught both of our attention. We both race off after the person before stopping, Jay pinning them up against the wall.

It was Dust Storm. I haven't seen her in a while. "What are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too, kid," she half smiles, Jay releasing her. "I'm here for the same reason as you; to put an end to this."

Jay speaks in that demonic voice of his as lightning bounces around his skin. "We don't need help-"

"I don't care," she snaps back. I admired her bravery, because no one ever talked back to Zoom. "I'm making sure this thing is destroyed and along with everything else with it. This all ends tonight."

Jay looks as if he was about to put an end to her right then and there; at least, until I stepped forwards. "She can help. The more the merrier."

"Just follow our lead," he snaps before racing back into position, leaving the two of us standing here. I look back at her as she fixes her black jacket, sighing.

I raise my eyebrow at her. "I'm surprised to see you again. I thought you were in hiding."

"Was in hiding," she breathes. "At least until this idiot came out and decided to put an end to metahumans."

I glance back over at Jay, watching him closely. "Well you heard him; follow our lead."

I don't give her a chance to reply before I'm dashing back into my spot, watching the crowd below closely. Jay was waiting for a good time for him to grab the doctor while I could grab the serum, so I waited for him to make the first move. I had no clue how Dust Storm could help us, but at least we had back up if we needed it, which we wouldn't.

"How are you going to track down the metas and inject them?" another reporter asks as I hum under my breath, wondering the same thing. Not like the guy could catch us anyways.

The Doctor smiles, pointing down at the serum. "Ah, the key question here. Injecting won't be necessary. I designed this to go into effect in the metas, not humans. After testing it, I found that just by breathing it in, it will reverse anything that Doctor Wells had done by creating the particle accelerator. Instead of tracking them down and using a needle, we will make it airborne."

I could tell that that was the question that triggered Jay to act. The moment I looked up at him to see what he was thinking, he is flashing away down below, blue lightning streaking behind him. I act fast as I follow him, watching him grab the Doctor as I stop in front of the serum.

Cameras snap wildly as I watch Jay, waiting for him to act first. "Sounds like a neat idea, Doctor. Too bad it won't be a reality."

After he says this, I quickly grab the display he had and shove it into my pockets. I grin as I look up at the crowd, cameras continuing to snap as a few gasps fill the room. "I think I speak for every meta out there when I say that these power aren't something to be afraid of; they didn't create this madness. If you really want to point fingers, point them at Wells, but don't ever do this again. You'll never be able to stop us."

The Doctor mumbles while Jay chokes him, holding him up off his feet so that they were dangling there. "Y-You t-thought I didn't s-see this coming?"

I narrow my eyes, but the moment after he says this, I hear something that sounded similar to a gun shot. Of course with my speed ability, in that time frame, I looked around and found what appeared to be a sniper on the farther uper level, his gun aimed right at me. Something that looked similar to a bullet, but wasn't actually a bullet soars towards me, but right before it reaches my forehead, I grab it and laugh.

"Doctor, I think you forgot that we're speedsters," I grin. "Bullets are like child's play to us."

He shakes his head. "I didn't forget."

In that moment, the bullet in my hand explodes. A scream leaves my lips the moment it does, but not because it scared me or anything along those lines; whatever was in the bullet was what made me scream. A liquid bursts from it as it lands on my skin, feeling as if it was burning me. My skin turns red as drop to the floor, barely able to process what was happening. Something in me was changing...I could feel it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jay looking down at me, wanting to help. As he does this, the doctor in his arms pulls out a gun, aiming it at Jay before I cry out for him to watch out. Luckily, Jay notices and takes it from him and throws it to the ground, it landing by my head.

He screams at him. "What did you do to her!"

He smiles; something that reminded me of darkness. "You know why you're here...What else w-would it be?"

I could barely hear him over my screams, but I knew what he was talking about. He shot me with that damn serum.

By this point, most of the crowd was fleeing the area, and I had no idea where Dust Storm was. She probably fled the scene the moment it went south. However, after hearing him say those words, utter rage fills my body. He was taking away my powers.

Without even thinking, I grab the gun at my side and sit up onto my knees, holding it up before aiming it at his forehead. He doesn't even have time to wipe the smile off of his face before I pull the trigger, the bullet finding it's way into his brain. Blood spouts from the hole as Jay looks down at me, completely baffled.

As I lower the gun though, a feeling that I hated fills my body, and I couldn't explain it. It was like...I regretted what I did. I felt guilty for taking his life. It was the first time I've taken a life...w-what was I thinking?

Jay quickly drops the doctors body as he lands completely still, already dead. His eyes are wide as the smile stays imprinted on his face, never fading. Before I know it, Jay is picking me up off of my feet and racing me out of there, never stopping until we get back home.

Out of all of my years of being a villain, I never once...never could I end a life. Sure, it didn't bother me to watch Jay do it, but me...it was a different story. Seeing the life fade away from that man did something to me, and I didn't like it.

I killed him.

-*+*-

Present

I couldn't sleep all night. I just kept tossing and turning, staring at the wall in front of me as I tried to clear my thoughts, but of course, unable to. Barry had kissed me...how could I stop thinking about that?

I hated myself for enjoying it. Why did I? I hate Barry Allen...I hate him with all of my heart. Jay hates him, every villain hates him, and I am a villain. I'm not a hero. I couldn't understand what the problem was with me.

But something I did finally understand was that Barry changed something in me. It was like he was teaching me everything that Jay told me not to do, and it was working. Every time I tried to tell myself that it wasn't right, I still believed it. He was...making me a hero.

After sitting all night basking in my thoughts and regrets, I decided to find at least one answer that didn't involve Barry Allen and the rest of these people. I was still curious about my doppleganger, so I thought I'd ask Cisco to give me a location so I could find out for myself what became of her.

"I searched Raven Volt and didn't find anything," Cisco frowns at the computer screen. "Your last name is Volt, right?"

I chew on my nails. "Try searching Raven Black."

"Well isn't that ironic," Cisco breathes before tapping away. "Wait, why Black?"

"The lady in the past had said it," I say quickly, not telling the truth obviously. "Maybe she was married, I don't know."

Cisco nods before a picture of me flashes up onto the screen, only it looked like a younger version of me. I step forwards as I quickly scan little details about this Raven, reading things like birth date and full name until I spot a tab marked location. It reads Gateway 294, giving me an address.

"Bingo," I say before looking back at Cisco, nodding at him. "Thanks Cisco. I'll be back."

He starts to say something, but I don't stick around to hear it. Soon I'm flashing out of the room and leaving S.T.A.R. Labs, not really thinking this out as I sped along. It didn't take me long to find a place called Gateway, but the moment I reached it, I stopped and took a deep breath.

It was a cemetery.

Tombstones line the area in almost perfect formation, names etched across each individual stone. The air was crisp and cool as I take a step forwards, the leaves whistling in the wind. I take a moment to gather myself before I remember the number, realizing that it must mean where she was located here.

It only takes me a few seconds to find 294. It was located under a nice shady oak tree in the back corner of the lot, next to a couple of other Black family members...people like my grandparents, who had both died from a car accident back on my earth, and my parents. You know how my parents died...it made me wonder if they got to live out their lives a little bit longer here than mine did.

I keep myself together as I stop in front of the tombstone with my name written across it, it starting to chip away just a little bit. My long fingers run over the carved in dates of February 5th, 1990 to September 24th, 2015 before I stop, realizing that this Raven had died not even a month after that date Barry and I had gone back to.

A burning sensation fills my throat for some odd reason as I read the words daughter, sister, friend, and a fighter. She must have died from cancer...that had to of been it. However, after I realize this, I realize that the word sister was etched across the stone as well.

I wasn't a sister on my earth. I was the only child...

"Raven?"

I jump up when I hear that, turning and looking to find Iris standing there. She was holding a few flowers in her hand and she had a grim look on her face, but I could tell she was hiding it. Her eyes managed to light up when she saw me, and I admired her for that.

"What are you doing out here?" she asks me, walking over before stopping and looking down at the tombstone. "Is that your..."

"My doppleganger," I finish for her. "She died from cancer."

Iris looks back up at me, a real and actual sympathetic look on her face. "Raven, I'm sorry. You can have one of my flowers if you want...for her? I'm sure Eddie won't mind."

I pause for a moment, trying to understand Iris. Here she was, out here to see her deceased ex boyfriend, yet she stopped to talk to me and offered me something that no one really ever did: kindness.

"That'd be...thank you," I half smile, finding a tear rolling down my face. If this would have been happening a year ago, never would you have seen me cry or actually caring. I guess Barry unlocked that part of me too.

She hands me the biggest and pinkest flowers of the four of them, a half smile on her face. I carefully take it from her before kneeling down next to the grave, placing the flower right next to it. I feel Iris' hand on my shoulder then, somehow giving me some comfort about this.

I realized then that I wasn't crying because this was me I was looking at. This wasn't a realization for me that things happen and that I would someday die; but no, I was crying because I realized something else. I realized in that moment that soon this would be Barry in the ground, and I wouldn't have the right to cry.

All of it would be my fault.

It was my fault.

-*+*-

Probably my favorite chapter so far ngl, but the next one will be just as good..things will certainly be "heating" up *wink wink*

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