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After extensive negotiation, Wally secured the building at $15 million per floor, bringing the total to $450 million for all 30 floors. Once the agreements were signed, he officially acquired ownership of the skyscraper and gained full rights to modify it as he pleased.
Later, he joined Cisco to work on a machine designed to enhance Cisco's vibe abilities—allowing him to glimpse a fixed future and any potential changes in that timeline.
"So, what should we call it?" Wally asked, his attention still on fine-tuning the machine and eliminating errors.
Cisco shrugged. "How about 'Time Hacker'?"
Wally froze at the suggestion. "Time Hacker?" he repeated, the name stirring vague, foggy memories. He recalled an obscure clip from his past life. Though details were hazy, he remembered watching Barry interact with individuals who pulled off a string of robberies across time. The memory unsettled him, triggering a wave of insecurity that shattered the sense of safety he usually felt in his pocket dimension.
He wondered uneasily: Could beings with space-time manipulation find their way into his sanctuary? Could someone like Mar Novu, the Monitor, appear uninvited if he wished?
"Wally, you okay?" Cisco asked, noticing his friend's distracted look.
Wally snapped out of it, chuckling to mask his unease. "Yeah, just got lost in thought, that's all." He forced a smile. "We're almost done. How about I go get Barry and the others?"
Cisco nodded, and as Wally left the breach room, he called out to HR, "Hey, HR, could you pass me the multimeter?"
Making his way to the Cortex, Wally's mind was spinning. Is anywhere truly safe? he wondered. Even with Dominator technology at his disposal, he knew it had limits. Eventually, he'd outgrow it.
If true safety exists, perhaps it lies in cosmic power, he mused. Something akin to becoming a force of nature, like the Speed Force itself.
Was this how the idea of becoming a universal force began to take root? The question lingered as he reached the Cortex, where he informed Barry that the machine—now dubbed the Temporal Launcher—was ready.
Back in the breach room, Wally rejoined Cisco, Barry, Caitlin, and Iris. He noticed Cisco and HR shaking hands, a silent acknowledgment that something meaningful had passed between them.
"Hey, are we good to go?" Barry asked.
"Yep, ready when you are," Cisco replied, guiding Barry to one of the two seats wired up to the machine. "This is gonna be one intense vibe."
"All you have to do is sit back, relax—or try to—and concentrate on the exact date you traveled to," Cisco instructed as he equipped Barry with the neural headgear.
"May 23rd, 2017," Barry murmured, settling into the chair.
"Barry, whatever happens, I'm right here," Iris said, giving him a reassuring smile before glancing briefly at Wally.
"I know. I'm ready," Barry replied.
"Let's do this," Cisco signaled to Wally to power up the machine.
Wally counted down, "3... 2... 1…" and flipped the switch, activating the Temporal Launcher as it hummed to life, carrying Barry toward the visions of the future.
"What do you see?" Iris asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"An empty street… a bus stop," Cisco replied as he and Barry took cautious steps forward. Suddenly, a blue flash of light appeared, and Barry, in his suit, dropped out of the Speed Force, tumbling a few meters before coming to a stop.
Barry and Cisco exchanged a glance and hurried closer.
"The me from Christmas just came out of the Speed Force," Barry said quietly.
They continued moving forward, catching snippets of an ongoing news report.
"In other news," the announcer said, "the highly publicized trial of Jared Morillo…"
"He's watching the news," Cisco relayed.
"…Morillo was found guilty of grand theft and aggravated assault," the reporter continued.
"These are the headlines," Barry said, prompting HR to grab a marker and hurry to the transparent board.
"Call them out; I'll write them down," HR instructed.
Barry focused on the news and began reading aloud.
"'Music Meister gets six-figure book deal.'"
"'Luigi's reopens after murder,'" he continued.
"'Joe West honored at City Hall,'" Barry read.
"Good for you, Joe," HR snickered.
"Killer," Cisco's face fell as he read the next line. He hesitated, glancing at Barry with a look of shock and worry.
"What does it say?" Caitlin's voice came over the comms, tinged with fear.
Cisco hesitated before finally answering. "Killer Frost still at large."
Barry immediately followed with the next headline. "'S.T.A.R. Labs museum closes…'"
"'City still recovering following gorilla attack,'" Cisco added, his voice trailing off. Just then, Barry's voice cut through their concentration.
"Don't—"
They both rushed to the source, finding Barry standing before Iris and Savitar.
"Savitar has Iris," Barry informed the others.
"Don't do this," future Barry pleaded.
"Now, finally, I am free of you," Savitar sneered, ignoring Barry's plea.
"Look, up on the roof," Cisco whispered, noticing a figure aiming a rifle at Savitar from the building above.
"You weren't here before…" Barry muttered.
"The future's changed since then."
"You lose, Barry," Savitar taunted as he plunged a dagger into Iris's heart.
The fear in Barry's eye was visible. Cisco quickly instructed Wally to pull them out.
"Guys, it's not just my future we have to change," Iris recapped, glancing at Caitlin with worry.
Caitlin quickly forced a smile that quickly crumbled under the premonition.
"No, these headlines, though they tell us what happens in the future, where Caitlin becomes Killer Frost and Iris dies."
"If we can change the headlines, then we can change the future."
---
Back in Wally's pocket dimension, he took a deep breath, grounding himself in the stark, metallic calm of the space he'd created. He was safe here, or so he hoped. Trying to shake off the lingering sense of vulnerability, he focused on the present.
"Alfred," he called out, voice steady. "Enact all possible safety protocols, make sure only I am permitted to enter, maximum level," he added. Though it might not be able to keep cosmic-level beings out, he recognized that even the strongest of things were once weak and vulnerable. "Also, prepare the intellectual enhancement procedure, stage one."
Alfred's voice resonated with calm efficiency, echoing softly off the walls of the pocket dimension. "Affirmative, Sir. Preparing stage one of the intellectual enhancement procedure. Would you like a preliminary scan?"
"Yes, that'd be perfect," Wally replied, rolling his shoulders as he mentally prepared for the first phase of his own enhancement journey. The procedure would be intensive—an uncharted merging of human intellect with technology. He aimed to make sure there were no mishaps and side effects.
"Bio and cognitive readiness are optimal," Alfred reported after a pause. "Procedure can commence at your discretion."
"Understood," Wally said, staring at the vast interface screen in front of him. He'd programmed this procedure himself—built specifically to push the boundaries of his metahuman mental capabilities. A thinking cap of sorts, with a large circular slot at the center.
This enhancement would allow him to process, retain, and adapt to knowledge at an accelerated rate, surpassing what any other humanlike being could achieve, though he wasn't sure if the first stage could help him reach DeVoe's level.
"Initiate," Wally murmured, instructing Alfred. Alfred quickly inserted the energy harvester into the thinking cap slot, and suddenly the surrounding tech pulsed to life. Cool, blue lights danced along the walls, their faint hum growing in intensity as circuits engaged and systems calibrated to his neural patterns.
The sensation hit him gradually, like slipping into a warm, lucid state of hyper-awareness. Thoughts sharpened, details he'd previously struggled to recall blossomed in his mind with vivid clarity. He could sense memories stored in layers, information parsing itself like a perfectly organized database, allowing him to access any piece of knowledge at will.
"Alfred, proceed carefully," he warned, his voice calm but filled with an underlying tension as he awaited the system's response.
Wally felt his mind expanding—first like a gentle stretch, then a flood of awareness that surged through every thought, every memory, every skill he'd ever acquired. Complex equations he'd struggled with became clear, and he saw how different theoretical models fit together. The world around him, the universe itself, felt smaller, more within his reach.
He could see why, in a future where he became more than human, the potential for growth would be limitless.
This went on for several minutes, when suddenly the hum stopped abruptly. The increasing discomfort he had begun to feel suddenly died down, but it was still present and lingering.
"Alfred, how high was I able to handle in the first stage?" he inquired, sitting and waiting for the migraine to die down.
"The procedure is currently at 22%. I couldn't proceed further without guaranteeing there wouldn't be a mishap, so I decided to halt it for now and prepare calibrations to enact stage two."
"Well, it's better safe than sorry," he responded. He now saw why the original plan they had would have taken a week; the brain was very delicate, and performing such stages too fast could be detrimental. If not for his enhanced speed healing, the procedure might have had to be divided into ten stages instead of five.
Wally shook his head, snapping his focus back to Alfred. "You said you had important information for me," he inquired, his tone edged with curiosity.
Alfred's eyes held a glint of urgency. "Yes, sir. I believe you'll find it rather... intriguing." He paused before continuing, "It appears there's a new speedster in Central City."