Barry held Nora by the shoulders, trying to reason with her.
— You're not going to face him, Nora. He's already taken down everyone.
— You trained me for this, Dad — she replied. — I'm your daughter. If I don't fight, then why was I born?
Cisco activated a new suit.
— The temporal armor will hold for 30 seconds in open combat. After that, the suit starts to fail.
— Thirty seconds will be enough.
---
Lucas appeared in the middle of the city.
— Come, girl.
Nora arrived in a whirlwind of violet and gold lightning.
— You came to the wrong time.
— You inherited your father's courage. It won't save you.
They raced between buildings. Nora tried to distract him with echoes, light holograms, magnetic charges.
Lucas tore through them all.
— You're not weak. Just too young.
Nora triggered a temporal trap and caught him for a second.
— This is for Wally!
She sped forward and struck Lucas in the chest with a concentrated blow. He fell — for a moment.
But only for a moment.
Lucas rose.
— I like you.
— Don't flatter me.
— I won't kill you.
— Why not?
— Because I want you to live… to watch the world kneel.
Nora froze. Lucas spared her.
She dropped to her knees, crushed by the weight of a defeat without death.
---
Barry was alone in the lab.
Everyone defeated. Hope hanging by a thread.
And then, he ran.
To the past.
To the future.
He searched for any flaw. Any crack. Any plan.
He found a rift in time: The Living Time, a domain of the Speed Force.
— I need an answer — Barry cried out.
And it came.
— You want to destroy Savitar. But to destroy him… is to destroy what you created.
— What I… created?
Images appeared.
Lucas. Wally. Barry's choice to save Iris. To change the past. The creation of the rift. The birth of Lucas as a distorted fragment of the Force.
— He is the consequence. The echo of your cowardice.
Barry fell to his knees.
— Then how do I stop him?
— There is no way to defeat him… only to replace him.
— What…?
— Become faster. More ruthless. Be what he fears.
— I can't…
— Then die with the others.
Barry screamed.
But the answer had been given.