The breach snapped shut behind them with a sound like a thunderclap sucking back into itself. Silence rushed in to fill the void, thick and heavy. They stood in the gloom of a vast, circular chamber—Earth-Two's breach point. The air was cold and smelled of ozone and old dust.
Barry took a slow breath, his red suit a vivid splash of color in the monochrome dark. Beside him, Caitlin hugged her arms, her breath misting slightly. Firestorm's internal glow cast shifting shadows on the walls. Dr. Light held a hand palm-up, a soft, ready light shimmering over her skin.
Harry Wells, now back in his own world, didn't even look at them. He just straightened his jacket, a weary familiarity in his movements. He walked towards a heavy, sealed door.
"Welcome to my home," he said, his voice flat. It wasn't a warm greeting. It was a statement of fact, heavy with unspoken history.
He pressed his palm against a scanner. A line of light traced his handprint, and the door hissed open, revealing a corridor lit by sterile, blue-tinged lights. Without another word, Harry turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing down the hall.
"Hey! Harry!" Cisco called out. "A little direction here?"
Harry didn't break stride. "The cortex is that way," he tossed over his shoulder, pointing vaguely ahead before turning a corner and disappearing from view. "I have something to check. Don't touch anything."
The team exchanged looks but followed the direction he'd pointed. The corridor opened up into a wide, multi-level space that made Barry and Cisco stop dead in their tracks.
"Whoa," Cisco breathed.
It was STAR Labs. But it was… off. Like a dream of a place you knew well. The layout was identical to their home—the central console, the sweeping ramps, the medical bay alcove. But the technology was visibly older. Monitors were bulkier, their frames beige and boxy. The holographic displays flickered with a lower resolution, and the gentle hum of advanced electronics was replaced by the distinct, low whir of spinning hard drives and cooling fans.
A few lab-coated staff members milled about. Their faces were pale, their movements subdued. They looked like people who had been working under a prolonged siege.
One of them, a young woman with tired eyes, spotted Harry as he ascended a ramp towards his old office. "Dr. Wells? You're… back? We didn't know—"
"Sabbatical's over," Harry cut her off, his tone leaving no room for questions. He didn't slow down. "Carry on."
He vanished into the cortex, the door sliding shut behind him.
Meanwhile, Barry and Cisco slowly walked further in, their heads on a swivel.
"It's like a time capsule," Barry murmured, running a hand over a console. The surface was clean, but a fine layer of dust came away on his glove. "Our world, but… a few years behind."
"Dude, this is the monitor we threw out in, like, 2014," Cisco said, tapping a chunky screen. It flickered ominously. "It's creepy. It's like walking through a black-and-white photo of your own house."
Caitlin approached the medical bay. The equipment was the same model she used daily, but older, more worn. A chart left on a counter was filled out in a handwriting that was neat, precise, and utterly unfamiliar. It was a reminder that this was not their home. This was a reflection, twisted by a different tragedy.
"Everyone seems so… tired," she observed softly.
Dr. Light nodded, her own light dimming as if in sympathy with the grim atmosphere. "This is a world that's been broken for a long time. You can feel it."
---
Up in the cortex, Harry stood in the center of the room. His staff—a skeleton crew of the loyal, or perhaps just the desperate—watched him nervously. He ignored them, his eyes fixed on the main bank of monitors. His fingers flew across a keyboard that hadn't been touched in months.
Welcome back, Dr. Wells, a prompt blinked on the screen.
He didn't acknowledge it. He was pulling up old access logs, security bypasses, and energy signatures he'd spent years trying to forget.
"Tracy," he said, not turning. The young woman who had spoken earlier stepped forward. "The localized seismic activity in the city center for the last six months. Correlate it with the residual Speed Force energy readings from the particle accelerator's failure year one. Overlay it on my screen. Now."
His voice was a low, focused command. There was no warmth, no greeting. There was only the mission.
Tracy hurried to obey. "Right away, Doctor."
On the main display, a complex, three-dimensional map of the city began to render. It was slow, the older computers struggling with the load. Harry watched, his jaw tight, as a pattern began to emerge. A spiderweb of energy lines, all converging not on the ruined accelerator chamber, but deep beneath it. In the sub-levels.
The sub-levels he had designed. The ones Zoom had stolen.
One of the male technicians finally dared to speak. "Sir, we've run diagnostics on that sector a dozen times. The radiation levels are off the charts. Structural integrity is at twelve percent. It's a death trap."
Harry finally turned, his eyes cold and clear behind his glasses. "I know what it is." He looked past them, out the large window that overlooked the main lab floor. He could see the bright specks of color that were the Earth-One heroes, looking small and out of place in his grey world. "He's down there. And he's not just hiding. He's feeding."
---
Down below, Barry's comm crackled. It was Harry's voice, sharp and clear.
"Allen. Get your team to Sub-Level 4. The main access shaft is behind the western stairwell. It's been welded shut. Your friend in the metal suit can handle it."
Barry looked towards the west side of the lab, spotting the discreet, sealed door. "Copy that. What's down there, Harry?"
"The heart of it," Harry's voice was grim. "Where he twisted my work into his throne room. The raw Speed Force conduits run directly beneath it. He's been siphoning the energy, using it to create his remnants, to keep himself powerful. To keep himself… sane. Or whatever passes for it."
Firestorm stepped forward, the two voices speaking as one, Ronnie's determination tempering Stein's caution. "We'll get the door open."
"Move fast," Harry said. "The second you break that seal, he'll know you're here. The subtle approach is over."
Barry nodded to his team. "You heard him. Let's move."