Chapter 139 – Shattered Glass, Beating Heart
The hum of monitors. The sterile scent of antiseptic. The faint tick of a wall clock counting moments that could have been lost forever.
Dante opened his eyes slowly.
The world came back to him in blurry fragments. White walls. Fluorescent lights. The hum of tech. And a dull, persistent ache blooming across his chest like fire caught beneath his ribs.
He blinked hard. "What the hell…"
A familiar face leaned into view—Barry.
"Man," Barry said, exhaling with obvious relief, "you scared the hell out of me. I thought we lost you there for a second."
Dante furrowed his brows, his voice rough. "Do you really think I, who fought—well, literally everything—would die from some white speedster that looks like shit on a stick?"
Barry barked a laugh despite himself. "Good to know you didn't lose your mouth along with a few ribs."
Dante sat up slightly, wincing. He looked around. "Med bay?"
"STAR Labs," Barry nodded. "We got you out of CCPD as fast as we could."
Just then, the med bay doors opened. Cisco, Caitlin, and Wells walked in, each of them visibly relieved to see Dante conscious.
"Look who's awake," Cisco grinned.
"Don't try to move too fast," Caitlin warned gently, stepping over to check his vitals. "You took a massive impact straight to the chest. Two fractured ribs, one bruised lung—but you'll heal."
Dante looked past her. "Is she safe?"
Caitlin smiled softly. "Yes. Eva's safe. She spent the whole day here, actually. Refused to leave until we made her. She only just stepped out about ten minutes ago."
Dante let out a breath, closing his eyes for a second. "Good."
There was a long pause.
Then he opened them again and looked at the group. "Okay… now can someone please explain to me what the hell that thing was?"
Barry's jaw tightened slightly.
Cisco brought up a tablet and swiped through several readings. "What attacked you was Godspeed—well, a Godspeed. Technically a clone. They don't talk, they make these weird modem-screeching noises, and they're insanely fast."
"Godspeed," Dante repeated. "Sounds like a name someone wrote in a teenage comic book during detention."
Cisco smirked. "Funnily enough, yeah. But don't let the name fool you. These guys are lethal. We've dealt with them before."
Dante arched an eyebrow. "Let me guess. Speed lab accident. Time travel. Clones. Evil science experiment. Some freak trying to be a god?"
"Pretty much," Barry nodded. "It started with a speedster named August Heart. In one timeline, he created clones of himself—mindless, voiceless soldiers—using artificial Speed Force energy. We've faced them before, but they've never hit CCPD directly."
"They usually attack in packs," Caitlin added. "But this time..."
"This time they split up," Barry finished. "Four of them distracted me across the city. While the fifth one snuck into the precinct."
"To kill me?" Dante asked.
Barry shook his head. "No. They're erratic. Unpredictable. They attack randomly, searching for something—or someone. We're not always sure what triggers them. It could've been Eva. Could've been you. Could've just been chance."
Dante muttered under his breath. "Chance almost crushed my lungs."
Wells, who had been silent up until now, finally spoke. "They're evolving. These versions of Godspeed—while clones—are more dangerous than the ones we faced last time. Stronger. Faster. And we believe they might be searching for the original August Heart again."
Dante leaned back against the pillow, eyes narrowing. "Great. So Central City's being stalked by knock-off lightning zombies with a vendetta and no volume control."
Cisco nodded. "That's… not inaccurate."
Barry was quiet for a long moment, watching the monitors flicker. Then he said, "What I don't get is the red lightning."
The room stilled.
Barry glanced at Cisco. Caitlin looked puzzled. Wells' expression was unreadable.
"I remember," barry continued. "Right before I get a chance to do anything. something hit him. Red lightning. Fast—like, Flash fast. It sliced him in half."
Cisco scratched the back of his head. "Yeah. We saw the footage. ."
" who the hell was it?" barry asked.
Wells cleared his throat. "We don't know."
Dante smiled with a smirk
"That's… comforting."
"We've reviewed the footage," Caitlin explained. "The red lightning didn't match Barry's speed signature, or Thawne's. It's different. Unstable, but precise."
"And it killed the Godspeed," Barry said. "As in, completely vaporized him. I've never seen anything like it. Not even Reverse-Flash was that clean."
Dante looked between them. "So let me get this straight. You've got clone speedsters screaming in modems, a potential original August Heart roaming somewhere out there, and now a new red lightning speedster who's cutting people in half and ghosting?"
"Basically," Cisco said.
"I love this city," Dante said dryly, then winced as he shifted his shoulder.
Barry stepped closer. "I just want you to know… you were brave. You saved Eva."
"She would've done the same for me," Dante muttered. "Besides, I didn't do much. Just took a punch and flew across the room."
"You stood your ground," Barry said. "You didn't run. That matters."
Dante rolled his eyes but didn't argue.
The silence that followed wasn't heavy—it was thoughtful. Uneasy.
Caitlin changed the bandage over Dante's chest and ran a light across his pupils.
"You'll need to stay here at least until tomorrow," she said softly. "We just want to monitor internal trauma."
Dante sighed. "Fine. But if Cisco brings me one of those flavorless nutrient shakes, I'm going to throw it at him."
"Hey!" Cisco protested. "Those shakes kept you from dying."
"Still tasted like asphalt and battery acid."
"Accurate," Wells mumbled.
They chuckled lightly, but the tension lingered.
Something was coming.
Something worse than Godspeed. Worse than August Heart.
And they could all feel it.
The storm wasn't over.
It had just begun.
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