The sealed door hissed as Firestorm's hands began to heat up, glowing orange-white with nuclear intensity. The steel creaked, then popped at the hinges with a heavy bang. One final blast, and the barrier caved inward, molten edges dripping down like wax.
Barry stepped through first.
Dust swirled in the stale air. The corridor beyond was narrow, the walls reinforced with layered concrete and insulated metal—a forgotten passage dug into the bones of STAR Labs Earth-Two.
Dr. Light lit the space ahead with a calm glow from her palm. "It smells like burnt circuits," she muttered.
Cisco brought up the rear, muttering, "Yeah, and death."
They descended fast, past warning signs and ruptured pipes. The further they went, the more distorted the ambient energy became—like walking through the veins of a dying machine.
They reached the lower chamber.
It was massive. Wide as a stadium, with cracked tiles underfoot and dark tech humming on the walls—an old experimental lab now hijacked into something sinister. At the far end, tangled in machinery and decaying wires, a faint blue pulse shimmered.
"That's the conduit," Caitlin whispered. "Pure Speed Force… but corrupted."
Before Barry could respond, a low hum filled the room.
Then a sound.
Whumph.
A ripple split the air behind them—a controlled breach snapping open like a slow eye.
They turned just in time to see three figures step out.
"Please tell me that's not us," Cisco said under his breath.
It was.
But twisted.
Standing at the breach was Reverb, Earth-Two's version of Cisco—dressed in black, energy rippling around his fingers like liquid glass. Beside him stood Killer Frost, hair ice-white and lips painted the color of dead roses. On her other side, Deathstorm, a darker mirror of Ronnie—his chest reactor glowing a sickly blue, flames blackened at the edges.
Reverb smiled. "The boss said you'd come."
Barry narrowed his eyes. "Zoom sent you?"
"Of course he did," Reverb said, his voice calm and sure. "He watches everything."
Barry's gaze flicked to his team, jaw tightening. "Handle them."
Cisco stepped forward. "Never thought I'd be throwing hands with an evil version of myself. Guess this trip really is full of surprises."
Killer Frost's lips curled. "You always did talk too much."
Then she flicked her wrist.
A spear of ice burst from the ground—Caitlin barely dodged, then stumbled back, her eyes already changing. She closed them, took a breath, and when she opened them again, the warmth was gone. Her skin paled. Frost cracked across her arms like tattoos.
"You want Frost?" she said coldly. "Fine. You got her."
She hurled a jagged wave of ice at Killer Frost, the two of them launching into a vicious duel—mirror against mirror, frost against frost, every blow laced with years of buried emotion neither would admit.
Firestorm clashed with Deathstorm, their fusion energies colliding in midair with a deep boom that made the room quake. Ronnie and Stein fought with precision, while Deathstorm's movements were wild, erratic, and cruel. Black flame met orange fusion, and every strike sent sparks in every direction.
Dr. Light spun around Reverb, sending arcs of focused solar blasts. Reverb dodged smoothly, his eyes locked on Cisco.
"I can feel your vibration," he said. "Every hesitation. Every thought. You're soft."
Cisco held up his gauntlet. "Then let me show you what hard mode looks like."
The two launched into a blur of energy pulses, mirror soundwaves, and multidimensional bursts, their duel lighting up the air in rings of clashing resonance.
Barry didn't stay.
He turned and ran.
Not out of fear—but purpose.
Because if Reverb was here… that meant Zoom wasn't.
The room shook behind him as the battle raged, but Barry moved like a current—slipping through corridors, running not just with speed, but memory.
He closed his eyes for half a second as he ran.
Where would Zoom hide?
He remembered Season Two.
The way Zoom moved through shadows. The fact that he never truly relied on brute strength—he planned, observed, controlled. Always two steps ahead. Harry said Zoom was feeding on Speed Force conduits beneath STAR Labs… but Zoom would never stay this close to his prey once exposed.
Barry darted up a wall, launching himself into a broken ventilation shaft.
If this version of STAR Labs was built with the same structure, there would be a fallback server core four levels up. A rarely-used backup—quiet, cold, isolated. A place to monitor everything.
Barry sprinted up, his lightning crackling faintly. When he burst through the final grate and into the chamber, he found…
Empty.
But not clean.
The walls were scrawled with strange calculations. Speed equations. Fractured timeline models. Strings of numbers that meant nothing at first—until Barry saw his own name embedded within them.
Zoom had been here. Studying him.
And the writing wasn't all in marker.
Some of it was clawed into the metal.
Barry walked toward the main console.
It was still warm.
Active.
But the feed was scrambled. Static rolled over the display.
Then—
A flash.
For just a second, Zoom's face appeared.
A blur.
Then nothing.
Barry exhaled slowly.
"Damn it," he muttered. "Where are you…"
He tapped into the console. The feed gave him a location tag—buried deeper, off-grid.
Something called Sector 12-B: Singularity Node.
"Not listed on the blueprints," Barry murmured.
Then his comm clicked.
Cisco's voice, strained: "Yo, little help?! Reverb just leveled half the damn floor and Caitlin's in full Frost mode!"
Barry smirked faintly.
"Hold them. I think I found where Zoom's really hiding."
"Coordinates?"
"Can't risk breach tech. I'm going on foot. Tell the others to finish it fast and regroup."
"You sure?"
"Yes," Barry said.
He disconnected, stepped back, and took off again—faster this time. Not as a soldier.
But as a hunter.
---
Back in the lab…
Frost collided with Killer Frost mid-air, their blasts canceling each other out in a shriek of ice. Their eyes met—both the same shade, both filled with loss.
"I would have been you," Caitlin said, landing in a slide. "But Barry helped me."
"You didn't fight it. You ran from it," Killer Frost hissed, summoning a whip of ice and hurling it.
Caitlin caught it mid-spin, then shattered it with a cold pulse of her own.
Behind them, Firestorm and Deathstorm slammed each other into the walls. Ronnie grunted, "This guy fights like he hates himself."
Stein answered in his head, "He probably does."
On the other side of the lab, Dr. Light and Cisco had pushed Reverb back.
"He's syncing with the breach!" Cisco shouted. "If he finishes the sequence, he'll open a door straight to Zoom!"
"I got it," Dr. Light said, and let out a burst so bright it blinded the room for half a second.
Reverb stumbled, covering his eyes.
Cisco launched a resonance spike straight into his chest, sending him crashing into a console.
"That felt weirdly satisfying," Cisco muttered.
Then the floor shook.
The battle paused for a breath.
Frost looked up. "Barry…"
They all turned toward the sealed corridor.
Somewhere deep in the foundation…
The real war was just beginning.
And Zoom…
Was waiting.