Time for a new trick!

"What did you do, Barry?"

Everyone in the room stopped and looked at me like I'd grown a second head. Barry looked the most confused, but I didn't miss the flash of something—guilt, maybe—in his eyes. I motioned for him to follow me into the next room, away from the others.

Once the door shut behind us, I spun around. "Dude, I don't know what happened, but I'm reliving the day. I was chilling at home, tinkering around with some stuff yesterday, and now... it's all gone. Unfinished." I rubbed my temples, frustrated. "I finished it yesterday, Barry. After we caught the Weather Wizard."

Barry blinked at me, his confusion deepening. "Wait... how do you know that name?"

"Because I swear I'm reliving the day. And I think you are too." I paused, trying to make sense of the jumbled thoughts in my head. "After we made the Weather Wand... or, rather, when I helped Cisco finish it yesterday, I went home. I ran around the city, saved a few people from getting mugged. You know, the usual. Then I went home, tinkered, took a nap, and suddenly—bam! I woke up at STAR Labs again, like I'd never left. It's the same day, Barry. The only thing that feels different is this... aura around you. It's dim, but I can feel it. It's like a field, and it's slowly fading. So, what did you do?"

Barry hesitated for a moment before finally speaking, looking relieved that he wasn't the only one noticing something off. "So, I'm not the only one. Dr. Wells told me not to say anything because of how delicate the situation is, but I guess I can tell you, since you're in the same boat."

He took a breath, glancing back toward the others before continuing. "Yesterday, after Captain Singh got hit by lightning and Joe was kidnapped—"

"Wait, Joe got kidnapped?" I interrupted, incredulously. "Why didn't you call me?"

"I... forgot," Barry admitted sheepishly. "Anyway, the Weather Wizard created this huge tsunami, and I was running to block it—create a wind barrier to save the city. As I was running... I don't know how to explain it. I saw my reflection. You know, the one I told Dr. Wells about before? The reflection I thought I saw? Well, I saw it again... but this time, I think it was me. The me from the past."

I frowned, processing this. "So you ran back through time?"

Barry nodded. "Yeah. Dr. Wells figured it out. Whatever we do now, it could change things. Space-time is fragile. One little change could have big consequences."

I ran a hand through my hair, exhaling slowly. "Well, we're lucky it was just a day. Imagine if it had been a whole month. Shit could've gotten real bad."

Barry chuckled nervously. "Yeah, no kidding."

"Okay, so, does anything else happen before the whole tsunami thing?"

Barry's face grew a little more serious. "Well... Iris kind of told me she liked me."

I raised an eyebrow. "Dude, that's great and all, but... don't do anything stupid."

Barry looked at me like I'd lost my mind. "What?"

"Dude, that hasn't happened yet. If you go and act on that now—kiss her, or try to be all smooth or whatever—you'll screw things up. Eddie or Iris will be freaked out, trust me. Best play is to do nothing. Keep it cool."

Barry looked like he was about to protest, but I cut him off. "Look, just think about it. Like, if you were at home yesterday and made dinner at 7, but today you make it at 8, sure, that's a small change. But this... this is big. I'm going to do the same thing I did yesterday. I'll save the people I saved yesterday, no more, no less. Then I'm going home. And if you change anything—anything at all—let me know, so I can help."

Barry nodded, seeming to take my advice to heart. "Okay, got it."

---

As the day progressed, I made sure I saved the same people I had the day before. A few muggings here, a robbery there—nothing out of the ordinary. I handled it quickly, making sure everything played out exactly like yesterday. Once I was done, I ran home, hoping I wouldn't get a call from Barry saying he'd done something stupid.

But of course, my luck ran out. Not even half an hour later, my phone buzzed. Barry's name lit up the screen. I answered, already anticipating the worst.

"Dude," I said, rubbing my temples. "What did you do?"

There was a pause on the other end, then Barry's sheepish voice came through. "So... remember when Captain Singh got struck by lightning?"

I could already feel a headache coming on. "Yeah?"

"Well, I kind of stopped Marten—uh, the Weather Wizard—before he could make it to the CCPD and hurt everyone. And... I kind of... put him in the pipeline."

He said it all in one rushed breath, clearly trying to get it out before I could cut him off.

I sighed, piecing it together. "So, no tsunami this time?"

"Right. Everything should be fine now," Barry said, sounding a bit too confident.

"Okay, great. No tsunami, but now what?" I asked, already sensing there would be more consequences to this than he was realising.

"It's fine, really," Barry reassured me, but I wasn't fully convinced.

I hung up the phone, not entirely sure what to make of it. It was good we stopped the tsunami, but messing with time like this? It felt off. I went back to tinkering with my project, trying to finish what I'd been working on before all the time-loop craziness.

Three hours later, my phone rang again. This time, I didn't even wait to hear the whole story.

"Dude, please tell me you didn't do something stupid," I groaned.

"Uh, it's not me this time," Barry said, his voice a mix of worry and guilt. "It's Cisco. He's been kidnapped."

I stood up, already moving. "Cisco's been kidnapped, and you're just telling me now?! Why didn't you call earlier?"

"I... kind of forgot," Barry admitted, his voice trailing off.

I let out an exasperated sigh. "Why am I even here?"

I bolted over to STAR Labs as fast as I could. When I got there, I found the team already scrambling.

"So, have you found him yet?" I asked.

Wells shook his head. "We've been looking, but we can't track him on the grid."

Before we could panic any further, Cisco's voice came from behind us. "There's no need. I'm back."

We all turned around, staring at him in shock. "How did you escape?" I asked.

Cisco looked down, his face grim. "I didn't."

Dr. Wells raised an eyebrow. "Did they let you go?"

Cisco shook his head. "No... they kidnapped my brother. They tortured him and said if I didn't remake the cold gun and the heat gun... and tell them who the Flash was... they'd kill him."

He looked devastated, clearly torn between loyalty to his friends and his family. The guilt was written all over his face.

Barry stepped forward, his voice calm and understanding. "Cisco, it's your brother. We get it. None of us blame you for what you did. It just proves you're human. Family comes first."

Cisco nodded, but it didn't seem to ease the weight on his shoulders. I sighed, realising just how deep we were in it now.

"Okay," I said, turning to the computers. "Let me see if I can find anything. I'll try hacking into their systems, see if I can locate something."

After a few minutes, I found something—a brief trace, a small blip on the radar. It wasn't much, but it was enough. "Guys, I found plans for a heist. I think it's Leonard Snart's crew."

Barry nodded, his jaw clenched. "I'll handle it."

He sped off, stopping the robbery in the middle of the action. He confronted Snart in the forest, trying to reason with him. I wasn't sure what deal they struck, but Barry came back later, looking like everything had worked out—for now.

"Everything should be sorted," Barry said, but the weariness in his voice told me he wasn't as sure as he sounded.

I decided to head home, hoping today wouldn't repeat itself. Again. I finished reworking what I'd been tinkering with, then crashed on the couch, hoping for some peace.

---

I woke up to the sound of an explosion. My heart immediately jumped into overdrive. "What the fuck?" I muttered, groggily getting up. For a split second, I panicked, thinking it was another time loop or some other time-travel shenanigans. But then I quickly realised it wasn't anything like that—thank God.

Pulling myself together, I threw on my suit and sped to the scene. When I got there, it took me all of two seconds to recognize what was going down. The Trickster. I vaguely remember this incident from the show, I think it was a teen trying to imitate a villain before the particle accelerator explosion.

As I scanned the area, I spotted small parachutes dropping from the sky. "Oh, great," I muttered. Bombs. Tiny ones, but still.

I jumped into action, evacuating as many kids from the park as I could. It was chaos. Screaming, crying, and frantic parents. But I worked fast, speeding from one group of kids to the next, getting them out of harm's way before anything worse could happen.

Then, Barry showed up. Finally, He zipped past me, saving a few more kids and scooping up a kid who almost touched the falling bomb, stupid I know, but it's a present from the sky and he is a kid but bruh, The rest exploded, not the brightest kid is he?

Anyway Once we'd cleared the area, I jogged over to Barry, still trying to shake off the grogginess. "Dude, I just woke up," I complained, rubbing my eyes.

Barry shot me a look. "Dude It's like 10 a.m.," he said, clearly unimpressed.

"I know," I groaned, "but after yesterday's freakin' time-travel fiasco, I'm beat. Had to rework everything I did before. But hey, at least it's done now."

Barry nodded, understanding. "Alright, let's head back to STAR Labs and figure out what's next."

With that, we both took off, and quickly came to a stop as we headed inside the building.

We made our way to the Cortex, where the team was already gathered. The atmosphere was tense as we looked at the screen, watching the video the Trickster had just posted. Cisco pulled up the feed, and there he was—crazy as ever, making his usual threats.

Joe leaned over, narrowing his eyes at the screen. "I remember something like this happening years ago... before the particle accelerator explosion. There used to be another guy, called himself the Trickster. He was the most dangerous criminal in Central City back then."

Cisco's fingers flew over the keyboard as he pulled up old records. "Yeah, got him. The old Trickster's been locked up in Iron Heights for over 20 years now. Not a Meta, just a regular psycho."

Barry glanced over at Joe. "Think it's worth paying him a visit?"

Joe nodded. "Couldn't hurt. Maybe he knows something about this new guy."

Barry and Joe wasted no time. They were out the door in minutes, heading off to Iron Heights to talk to the original Trickster. Meanwhile, I figured there wasn't much I could do right now. I wasn't fast enough to do a whole sweep of the city like Barry, so I made the call to head home.

Back at my place, I fired up my laptop and started poking around, scanning for any weird activity. I wasn't expecting to find much, but after a while, something caught my eye. A bus. A seemingly normal bus, but when I dug deeper, I realised there were insanely high concentrations of... something dangerous. My mind raced as I tried to pinpoint exactly what it was.

"Shit... that's not good." I muttered, recognizing the chemical as ammonium nitrate, a major component in explosives.

My heart jumped into my throat. That amount of ammonium nitrate could cause an explosion that would flatten Central City. Without wasting any time, I bolted back to STAR Labs. I burst into the Cortex, phone already in hand, dialling Barry and putting him on speaker.

"Guys, we've got a problem," I announced, my voice loud enough to grab everyone's attention. Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells turned to face me, curious.

"What is it?" Caitlin asked, concern already creeping into her tone.

"I've been scanning the city for anything suspicious," I said, glancing at the screen. "And I found something... pretty bad. There's a bus travelling through the city with ridiculously high concentrations of ammonium nitrate. I tracked it from an old, abandoned storage warehouse, but the signal got cut off halfway through."

Cisco's eyes widened as he pulled up the Trickster's feed. "Hold on, guys... you need to see this."

On the screen, the Trickster's face appeared again. His crazed grin was plastered across the screen as he gleefully announced, "Central City, you're in for one BIG boom!"

"Well... shit," I muttered, realising the bus was part of the Trickster's plan. "That's our bomb."

Barry's voice came through the speaker, calm but urgent. "Looks like we're on a clock. I'll head back to STAR Labs, and we can figure out our next move."

…

For the next few hours we couldn't find anything which was worrying, but things continued as normal, but about 7 pm, there was another broadcast from the Trickster, and it was getting annoying.

But we had a lead now, he had said that the bomb was between 2 specific streets, so Barry and I quickly sped off and frantically looked in the areas. Barry covers more ground than me, but I was actively searching for a thermal signature As well.

"Guys, we can find anything! I'm not picking up any abnormal thermal activity!"

"Barry! It's a trick, this is a distraction, the bomb is probably in another area, to keep you away!" Wells said to Barry. "I'm still going to keep looking," he says Ignoring Wells' words.

I on the other hand somewhat remember what would happen and say. "Guys, this guy obviously idolises the previous trickster right? Then I think I have an idea what he could be doing." I say before speeding off to Iron Heights. "Guys i think the new trickster is trying to break out the old trickster!" and not even a few seconds later I hear an explosion sound and I think the rest of team flash hears it too, as not long after Barry shows up.

Barry quickly took out his phone and made a phone call.

Soon Barry was on a call, a sense of urgency clear. "Joe, the bomb isn't in the city, it was a diversion. They've gone to Iron Heights to break out the old Trickster."

Joe Replied quickly and said. "Yeah, we know, Barry. We just got the surveillance footage."

Barry paused. "Wait, what? How did they pull that off?"

Joe's voice dropped, heavy with concern. "Barry, they have a hostage."

"Who?" Barry asked, confused. "Is it one of the wardens or a guard?"

"No... it's your dad."

…

Barry and I get back to STAR Labs, and honestly, neither of us has a clue where to start looking. Joe's there, looking a bit tired but trying to keep it together.

"Don't worry, Bear," Joe says, using that nickname he reserves for Barry. "We'll find him."

We start scanning through all kinds of data, running searches, and doing everything we can think of. But we've got nothing so far. And it's getting frustrating. Then Joe's phone rings.

He picks it up. "Iris?" he asks. No response. His expression shifts, but he stays calm. "Iris?"

We hear a voice, and it's not hers.

"Guess who, Central City?"

Joe's face drops. "shit... it's the Trickster's voice."

I look over at Barry, who's already in action mode. "fuck."

Without thinking, I jump onto the nearest console. "Hang on, let me ping the call. Gimme a sec."

My fingers move fast, and before long, I get something. "Got it! It's coming from City Hall."

Joe rubs his head. "Great... That's where the mayor's re-election rally is happening."

Barry's gone before anyone can say another word, racing towards City Hall. I follow, but... well, you know, not quite as fast.

…

By the time I get to City Hall, Barry's already there. But then, over the loudspeaker, the Trickster's voice echoes through the building.

"Hey, Flash! Hope you like surprises... like your new wrist accessory!"

I catch up just in time to see Barry looking down at his wrist in horror. There's a bomb bolted to him.

The Trickster chimes in again. "It's simple! Keep running above 600 miles per hour, or... boom! Hope you've had your cardio today!"

Barry gives me a look, and then, he's off, running before the thing explodes.

Meanwhile, I notice it's just Trickster and his backup hanging around. Of course they were in cahoots.

I run in, knock the two of them out before they even know what's happening. "Should've seen that coming," I mutter. Then I glance around at the people staring at me. "Do people forget I exist or something?"

Everyone's staring at me, but I shrug it off. "What? I might not be as fast, but I'm still useful!"

I grab the two unconscious thugs and decide to haul them back to STAR Labs. I've got no clue what else to do with them. "Hey, guys, I'm just gonna stick these two in the pipeline, okay?"

I toss the Trickster and his backup into the pipeline and seal the doors. Caitlin's already there, holding a vial of something.

"You got the antidote ready?" I ask.

"Yep. This should counter whatever they drugged everyone with," she says.

"Sweet." I grab the antidote, and before she can say anything else, I'm off again, running back to City Hall.

By the time I get back, things are still a mess. People are panicking, and whatever the Trickster drugged them with is making them freak out even more. I move from person to person, administering the antidote as fast as I can.

"You're all good now," I tell them. "You've got the antidote, so don't worry."

Once everyone's sorted, I wipe my forehead. "Man, that was a workout."

Just as I'm catching my breath, Barry shows up, out of breath, more From stress than anything, the bomb gone, which is good.

"Dude, you missed everything," I say, smirking at him. "Handled it."

"Nice job, and I was able to get the bomb off."

"I phased."

"you what now?"

"it's where i vibrate my molecules the a natural frequency allowing me to pass through objects"

"dude, you've got to teach me how to do that"

"Yep. You guys keep forgetting I can actually help, huh?"

Barry laughs. "Not gonna forget that again."

—

We both head back to STAR Labs, even though I can tell Iris wants to talk to Barry—and, yeah, probably me too, since she recognizes me from before. But we've got bigger stuff going on.

As soon as we get back, Barry starts piecing everything together. Suddenly, his face lights up. "I know where they're keeping my dad."

He's gone in a flash (literally) before I can even ask what he figured out.

---

Not too long after, Barry comes back, and this time, he's got his dad with him. Everyone's gathered around—Caitlin, Cisco, Wells, and Joe. It's a nice reunion moment. Barry introduces his dad to everyone, and his dad gives Joe a solid handshake. Then he looks at me.

"You're just a kid."

I can't help but smirk. "A graduated kid, thank you very much. I'm out of college. Might not be as fast as Barry, but I can hold my own."

Barry's dad just shakes his head, probably wondering how someone like me got mixed up in all this.

After all that craziness, I head home and crash. I don't even bother thinking about what's next. I just hope nothing else happens.