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The city blurs by in streaks of gold and neon, but Bart Allen isn’t paying attention to the scenery; he’s too busy laughing.
“C’mon, Thad, you’re supposed to be fast!”
He calls over his shoulder. He skids sideways across the surface of the water.
“You run like Jay after three bowls of chili!”
A hiss of air snaps past his ear.
Inertia.
Teeth bared, eyes glowing with green lightning.
“You’re wasting my time, Allen.”
“Am I? I’ve got all the time in the world!”
Bart shoots back. He zips up a bridge girder, perched for a heartbeat on the cable.
“You want a rematch next week, or are you still mad I beat you last-”
Inertia’s fist slams into his chest before he finishes the sentence, sending him tumbling through a billboard. He hits the roof of a parked bus, rolls, and lands in a crouch, laughing breathlessly.
“You’ve really gotta work on your anger issues.”
Inertia storms up, static buzzing in his wake.
“You don’t take anything seriously.”
“Not true,”
Bart says, grinning.
“I take snack breaks very seriously.”
Then it happens.
A pulse.
Not sound. Not light. Just… a wrongness, humming into his bones. Bart straightens, grin fading. Bart learnt an old speedster trick from Wally, using his speed to feel certain vibrations, like the beating a heart makes against a chest.
“...Jaime?”
Inertia scoffs.
“What?”
Bart’s already gone, a golden flash ripping down the street, faster than before. The world folds around him as he follows the echo, the scarab’s energy signature tangled with something darker. He stops at what used to be a quiet stretch of industrial warehouses. The asphalt is scorched, with a crater in the center. Reach tech, melted and sparking.
“Jaime…”
Bart whispers, kneeling beside a half-crushed scarab fragment. The air feels wrong, vibrating like a half-tuned guitar string. He realizes it’s not just a signature, it’s a rift—a bubble out of sync with the rest of the world.
Behind him, a voice says,
“You gonna stare at that all day, or run away again?”
Bart doesn’t wait for Thad’s reply.
In a blink, he’s gone, the air snaps in his wake. Inertia’s hair whips around, eyes narrowing as he feels the pressure collapse inward again. Barely three seconds pass before Bart reappears, skidding to a stop in front of him, arms full of blue-and-silver tech.
Thad folds his arms.
“What did you rob a museum?”
“Kord Industries,”
Bart says quickly, setting the device on the cracked pavement. He fumbles with the controls, tongue poking out in concentration.
“They made it after the Reach left. It tracks residual energy signatures, y’know, just in case any alien jerks thought about coming back.”
The scanner whirs to life, beams of light sweeping the crater, static ripples through the air, a faint chittering hum like beetle legs scraping metal. Bart’s eyes darted over the readout, jagged green waves layered over deep blue. His stomach drops.
“...No way.”
Thad tilts his head.
“You gonna explain, or just make faces at it?”
Bart swallows.
“It’s... both of them. Jaime’s scarab signature and-”
He hesitates, voice tightening.
"Black Beetles. They’re layered. Like they were in the same place, same second.”
Thad’s eyes flick to the shimmering distortion in the air.
“You think that’s where they went?”
“I don’t think,”
Bart mutters as the scanner pulses faster.
“I know. He’s in there. And it’s out of sync by like half a second off reality. A pocket universe.”
Thad scoffs.
“And you’re planning to what, run into it?”
Bart looks up at him, serious now in a way Thad’s never seen.
“I don’t have a choice.”
For a second, there’s only the wind and the hum of the scanner fading out. Then Bart adds, quieter:
“Jay’s busy with Joan, Barry’s off-world... and Wally-”
His voice cracks.
“I can’t lose Jaime, too.”
Thad exhales sharply, rolling his eyes.
“Unbelievable. You’re actually serious.”
“Please,”
Bart says.
“You’re the only other one fast enough to help me.”
Thad snorts, shaking his head.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me. You think I’m gonna risk getting atomized in some alien science project for you?”
Bart doesn’t answer, just stares at him, eyes wide, desperate, no joke left in him this time.
Thad scoffs.
“Wow. Kid Flash begging me for help. Didn’t think I’d live to see the day. What’s next, you ask me to be your sidekick?”
Still nothing from Bart. Just that quiet, stubborn look.
“Ugh, fine…”
Thad mutters, crossing his arms.
“But if this goes sideways, I’m killing you.”
Bart grins weakly.
“You could try.”
Bart nods once, gripping the scanner tighter. The distortion pulses brighter now, like a heartbeat. The air hums with static, tiny sparks crawling along the asphalt.
He glances at Thad.
“On three?”
Thad rolls his eyes.
“You’re really gonna count down?”
Bart smirks faintly.
“It’s tradition.”
“Fine,”
Thad mutters, settling into a runner’s stance.
“But if this turns me inside out, I’m haunting you and your grandpa.”
“One…”
The scanner’s light flares to white.
“Two…”
The world starts to bend, sound slipping away like water draining from a sink.
“Three!”
They run.
Reality folds around them, the streets twisting into ribbons of light, buildings stretching like reflections in warped glass. The sound of their footsteps turns metallic, echoing from every direction at once.
Then silence.
When they stop, everything is wrong.
The sky is a dull gray-green, frozen in a permanent dusk. The ground beneath their feet is cracked metal instead of asphalt, humming faintly underfoot. Half-formed silhouettes of buildings hover in the distance, glitching at the edges like corrupted data.
“Okay…”
Bart breathes, looking around.
“This is officially creepy.”
Thad flicks his wrist, static arcing between his fingers.
“You weren’t kidding. Feels like we’re running through a computer’s trash bin.”
The scanner flickers, then stabilizes. A faint ping echoes through the air, like sonar, two signatures. One faint, one blazing bright.
“Got him,”
Bart says. His tone is sharper now, focused.
“Jaime’s that way.”
Thad squints into the haze.
“And the other one?”
Before Bart can answer, the ground trembles with a low, vibrating growl reverberating through the metallic surface. From the shadows, green light pulses, rhythmic, deliberate.
Thad grimaces.
“Please tell me that’s your friend.”
Bart swallows hard.
“...It’s not.”
A silhouette steps from the fog, massive and unmistakable, armor scarred but functional, mandibles flaring.
“Children?”
Black Beetle’s voice boomed; the metal giant towered over them, armor humming with leftover Reach energy.
Thad glances sideways at Bart.
“Still think this was a good idea?”
Bart grins nervously.
“Ask me again in five minutes.”
Before Bart can take another step, a sharp crack splits the air.
He doesn’t even see it coming, just a blur of green lightning and the impact exploding across his jaw. The world tilts sideways.
Bart hits the ground hard, skidding through metallic dust. The scanner clatters out of his hand, spinning to a stop in front of Black Beetle’s feet.
“Thad?” he manages, dazed, “What the…?”
Thad stands over him, crackling with kinetic energy, eyes narrowed.
“Sorry, Allen. Turns out I like breathing. And he’s.”
He jerks a thumb toward the towering figure.
“Looking like the better deal.”
Black Beetle’s mandibles flare, voice cold and precise.
“Wise choice, Thaddeus Thawne. Cooperation ensures survival.”
Bart groans, pushing himself to his knees.
“You can’t be serious, Thad, he’s gonna use you!”
Thad shrugs.
“Yeah, probably. But at least I’ll be alive long enough to complain about it.”
He turns toward the Beetle.
“You can get me out of here once this is done?”
“Assist in the completion of the Reclamation Protocol,”
Black Beetle rumbles,
“And you will be released unharmed.”
“Sounds peachy.”
Thad cracks his knuckles.
“So where do you want me?”
Bart forces himself up, vision blurring.
“Don’t do this! Jaime’s in there, he’s-”
A metallic platform rises from the ground behind Black Beetle. At its center, Jaime Reyes floats, suspended in a web of luminous cables, armor crawling over his body in erratic, twitching waves. His eyes flicker between blue and green, the scarab’s voice stuttering in broken syllables.
“On-Mode initialization: pending.”
Bart freezes.
“No…”
Black Beetle spreads his arms.
“The Reach’s finest weapon, reborn. The Blue Beetle shall serve again.”
Thad glances at Bart, expression unreadable.
“Guess we’re on different sides again today. Too slow as usual, Allen.”
Bart grits his teeth, electricity buzzing under his skin.
“Then I’ll just have to run faster.”
The platform hums higher, light crawling up the cables that hold Jaime.
Bart doesn’t wait for a signal; he bolts.
A flash of green lightning cuts across his path-Thad’s already moving, matching his pace.
“Not this time, Allen!”
“Still jealous I make it look easy?”
Bart fires back, darting between half-formed walls that shimmer like glass.
“You don’t even know what you’re running into!”
Thad snaps, streaking beside him.
Bart glances over, grin thin and sharp.
“You really think he’s gonna let you walk away once he’s done?”
“Better odds than with you!”
Thad growls.
They zig-zag through the metallic maze, echoes chasing them. Each turn flashes with color, gold against green, colliding, splitting, vanishing again.
Bart keeps talking, voice cutting through the distortion.
“Wally trusted me. Jay trusted me. Guess you just don’t trust anyone.”
“Don’t you dare bring them up-”
“Why? Because you know I’m right?”
Bart edges closer, forcing Thad to look at him instead of the path ahead.
“You don’t have to be like him, Thad. You don’t have to-”
Thad snarls.
“Shut up!”
Thad lunges and slams straight into a wall of black metal. Black Beetle himself.
The impact rings like a bell. Black Beetle catches him by the throat mid-stride, tossing him aside without even turning his head.
Bart skids to a halt, eyes wide. The machine behind the Beetle flares, and Jaime convulses, light flooding his armor.
“On-Mode: activation—”
“No!”
Bart sprints, every atom of him vibrating. He doesn’t think, just moves. He phases through the platform, through the tangle of wires, the world strobing around him. He grabs Jaime’s shoulder…
…and the surge hits.
Electric agony sears up his arms. The world explodes in static. Bart’s body is thrown back, crashing to the ground, smoking, trembling.
But Jaime gasps awake, eyes flickering blue again.
“Bart?”
He struggles against the restraints, still trapped.
Black Beetle steps forward, mandibles twitching.
“Interference detected.”
Thad drags himself upright, blood at his lip.
“You said unharmed-”
The alien backhands him, hard. Thad hits the ground, lightning sputtering out.
“You have failed, boy.”
Black Beetle intones, advancing on Bart.
“The Reach requires no weak links.”
His arm transforms, blade gleaming. He presses it under Bart’s chin.
Jaime thrashes, panic breaking his voice.
“Please- don’t! He’s not your enemy!”
“Incorrect,”
The Beetle says.
“All resistance is the enemy.”
A sound cuts through the hum, a rising whirring behind him.
Black Beetle turns just as a burst of emerald lightning arcs across the room.
Inertia.
Barely standing, Thad channels every spark left in him into the machine. Circuits explode, cables snapping free.
The surge hits Jaime like a detonator. His armor ignites with pure energy, wings flaring wide.
“Mode Override!”
A shockwave rips outward, hurling Black Beetle backward through a collapsing wall.
The air stills. Jaime drops to his knees, restraints falling away. Smoke rises from the wrecked chamber.
Bart lies motionless a few feet away. Thad collapses beside him, coughing.
Jaime looks between them, eyes wide, the last traces of green light fading from his scarab.
The air fractures with a sound like shattering glass.
Cracks of light rip through the metallic sky, each one widening, pulling chunks of the pocket realm apart. Gravity flickers in and out, up becomes sideways, debris drifting like smoke.
Jaime blinks through the chaos, heart pounding.
“Khaji status!”
“Dimensional integrity: failing. Evacuation recommended immediately.”
He doesn’t need to be told twice.
Jaime stumbles toward Bart, smoke curling off the speedster’s suit. He crouches, sliding an arm under him.
“C’mon, hermano, up you go.”
He hefts Bart up, bridal style, wings snapping open with a sputter of light. The whole realm groans as if something enormous is breaking apart behind the walls.
A green streak cuts past.
Thad, wild-eyed, trailing sparks.
“You’re insane! He’s dead weight!”
Jaime launches into the air after him, wind and static roaring past.
“Stay if you want!”
Thad glances back, furious.
“Drop him or we all die here!”
“Not happening!”
Jaime grits his teeth, pushing higher, Bart’s weight dragging against his armor.
“You want to bail, go for it!”
“You can’t outrun this collapse!”
Thad shouts, voice warping through the distortion.
Jaime smirks, small, defiant, exhausted.
“Funny. That’s what he’d say right before proving you wrong.”
Thad curses, veering ahead, streaking toward the only stable fissure left, an oval of flickering light that leads back to real space.
Jaime’s wings strain, the edges flickering, every muscle screaming.
“C’mon, Bart… don’t make me carry you all the way home.”
The void folds in behind them.
Thad bursts through first, tumbling onto cracked concrete. Jaime dives after, the portal collapsing the instant his boots hit solid ground. A concussive boom rolls through the night sky, and then…silence.
Jaime drops to one knee, gently lowering Bart. His armor hisses, venting steam.
For a moment, everything is still.
Thad sits a few feet away, breathing hard, glaring at them both.
“You’re both idiots.”
Jaime gives a weak grin.
“Yeah. But we make it look good, huh?”
Thad rolled his eyes and slowly stood.
“You’re as bad as him.”
Jaime exhales, turning back to Bart, brushing soot off his hair.
“You’re gonna owe me so many dates, cariño.”
Bart’s eyes flicker open, dazed but smiling. “You… carried me?”
Jaime laughs softly.
“Don’t get used to it.”
Above them, the sky clears, stars cutting through the clouds. The last shimmer of the pocket realm fades like static.
Thad scoffed off to the side.
“That’s why you took me on a suicide mission, Allen? A booty call?”
Bart chuckled and slowly stood with Jaime’s help.
“No Thad…for the best boyfriend a boy could ask for~”
The two shared a sweet kiss.
Thad scowled and raised his cowl and put on his goggles.
“Barf. So mushy.”
He turned to leave.
I’m getting you next time, Allen.”
Thad glanced back over at the still-kissing couple. He gained a hesitant smile, small and uneasy, almost as if he was happy for his rival.
Bart and Jaime didn’t even take note as he left, still enamoured with one another.
As they parted, Jaime chuckled.
“You risked it all for me, huh?”
Bart shrugged, his face red.
“Well, duh. It’s us. You’d do the same for me.”
Jaime leaned in, resting their foreheads together.
“Yeah, I would…”
Jaime smirked.
“Is it just me, or was Thad happy for us? I think I saw him smiling.”
Bart cringed, scrunching his nose.
“Ew, Thad smiling? Maybe we’re still in that crazy place?”
Jaime raised an eyebrow.
“He did save us.”
Bart scoffed lightly, but with no bite behind it.
“He betrayed me first…”
Bart smiled softly. The two started walking, both still injured. Bart laughed.
“Maybe there’s hope for him yet.”