Y/N: Zoom?

Y/N perked his head up at that name. He thought back for a moment, trying to think why it sounded so familiar to him. The others continued to question the man who had entered without them noticing. Cisco looked at him with surprise, recalling Wayne doing the same thing when he had entered the lab undetected.

Cisco: Okay, do we really need to update our security again?

Joe: What do you know about him?

Hunter: He's a speedster. He's fast, possibly the fastest on any world. Many have given him the moniker the "speed demon."

Caitlin: I'm sorry, you mentioned other worlds? 

Hunter: Yes. Now, I know this is going to be a little hard to believe, but there are many other Earths, worlds parallel to-

Cisco: We know that much, Ethan Hunt. Just get to the good part.

Cisco made a circular motion with his hand, telling Zolomon to continue. Hunter looked at him, a bit taken aback by the idea that they already knew about other worlds. He continued with what he was saying.

Hunter: Zoom is a speedster from another Earth, all though which one nobody really knows. He visits worlds, challenging the speedsters there, and destroying their cities or even worlds before leaving for his next conquest.

Y/N: Zoom. I know that name. Barry said he faced him once. Barry from Earth-1, that is. He said he'd managed to defeat him, though.

Hunter: That was the Zoom of Earth-2, a maniacal psychopath bent on destroying the multiverse. This one is different. He's unrelenting. His place and origin are undefined. All I can tell you is that wherever he goes, he brings nothing but death and carnage in his wake. I know because that's all that remains of my world.

Wells: And what world would that be?

Hunter: Unlike most Earths, it doesn't have an official designation, although many simply know it as Earth-X. It's similar to your world except for one key inciting incident.

Barry: What?

Hunter: On my world, the Nazi Germany won the Second World War, although we know it better as the Great Conquest. 

The others all gasped. They had seen slight differences between Earths before, but nothing this major. What Hunter was describing was an entirely different timeline. Their minds all raced with ideas of what this world could be like, none of them good.

Hunter: It wasn't always like that, but we have reason to suspect that Zoom may have tampered with our timeline. 

Caitlin: What makes you believe that?

Hunter: Because he told us himself. It was an act of showing off, letting us all know that our world had been brought to near extinction because of what he had done. The death of Kal-El, the upbringing of the Dark Arrow into the new Fuhrer, the manipulation of Overgirl... It was all him. I was part of a small resistance of heroes who tried to stop him. In a last ditch effort, I followed him here. For the past two months I've been trying to track him down to stop him from whatever he has planned next. 

Joe: What does he want with our Earth?

Hunter: Him.

Hunter pointed directly at Y/N. The young man's eyes went wide.

Y/N: Me? 

Hunter: Zoom is obsessed with speed. He wants to take all that is in you to increase his own. Nothing will stand in his way until he has what he came for.

Cisco: Okay, so why not just kill Y/N now and get it done with? He's encountered him at least twice now in the past three months. Why wait?

Y/N: He's trying to test me. He wants me to get faster, build up speed so that he can take me at my strongest.

Caitlin: Like a fisherman waiting for the biggest catch. 

Joe: So why are you here? How did you know where to find us?

Hunter: My mission is the same as yours: to hunt down Zoom. He needs to be stopped or both your world and countless others will suffer the same as mine. When I heard the Flash was working in collaboration with S.T.A.R. Labs, I knew this would be the place to start to find him. I just didn't expect to locate him so quickly.

Hunter looked at Y/N. He stepped forward towards the young man.

Hunter: I can help you stop Zoom. If you let me help you, then we both may be able to find a way to stop him and end his path of destruction here and now. 

Joe: How do we know we can trust you?

Hunter: You don't, but you may need to take that chance. I know what I've presented may not seem trustworthy. I haven't given much to assure my story. But if you have any chance in stopping Zoom, you're going to need my help.

The team all looked around at each other. They were all contemplating whether they should trust this man or not. Y/N turned to Hunter and told him to stay put.

Y/N: Can you give us a moment?

Hunter: Sure. 

Y/N, Wells, Barry, and Joe all stepped out into the hall to talk. Joe was shaking his head while Harrison had his head down in a contemplative pose.

Joe: I don't know about this. I mean, are we just suppose to believe everything he just told as fact?

Barry: It's not the first time we've had visitors from another Earth.

Wells: Right, but that was your doppelganger, Barry. That was someone we already knew and were well acquainted with. This is brand new. For all we know, he may not even have a doppelganger on this Earth. Hell, we don't even know if he really is from another Earth.

They all stood together, weighing their choices.

Y/N: Look, we may not have to believe everything he's told us, but he seems to know a lot about Zoom. Guys, we're dealing with a threat bigger than any of us have experienced before.

Wells: Oh, if that's the case, why don't you call up some of your super friends to help?

Y/N: Can't. The League's preoccupied. Last I heard, Victor was helping Professor Stein and Jackson with their new team. Diana's busy with diplomatic relations between humans and the Amazons, and Clark is far off in space helping the new guy. 

Barry: And I'm sure Bruce has his hands full with the recent fear toxin epidemic over Gotham.

Y/N: We're on our own with this one. This is something we need to do. We need to catch Zoom and Hunter may be able to help us with that.

They all saw the look on Y/N's face. He was serious, looking like he was weighing every word that came out of his mouth with importance. Something seemed to be bothering him on a personal level.

Joe: Y/N, this determined optimism of yours isn't personal, is it?

Y/N: Joe, this guy is responsible for the death of my parents and the murder of Nora. He's the reason all our lives are like this. Catching him is the only thing that matters right now. It could be our chance to get Henry out of prison. 

Barry looked at his foster brother with a look of relief and slight surprise. He was glad Y/N was putting Barry's father up as the main idea to focus on. It was bugging him too, the idea of finally, maybe being able to prove his father's innocence once and for all. 

Wells: Y/N, we don't even know what we're fully dealing with here. What you and Barry experienced was a legend, a boogeyman at a time when all we could describe it as is a myth.

Y/N: Which is exactly why we need Hunter's help. He's faced Zoom before. He can tell us what we need to do. If we work together, keep our heads up, we can stop this before it even begins to get worse. 

They all looked around at one another. Joe exhaled. He saw how much catching this guy meant to both of his boys. If they were going to trust Zolomon, then so would he. For Henry, he told himself. Wells was still questioning about the whole thing. He wanted to interject, but his hands were tied behind his back. With a sigh, he nodded.

The group all stepped back into the cortex chamber. They found both Caitlin and Cisco already doing tests on Hunter. Caitlin held up a needle full of blood that had been drawn. Cisco was wearing a pair of specialized gloves with nodes that hooked up to a digital read-out. He scanned over Hunter with his palms. When he was done, he checked the readings and walked over to Y/N and the others.

Cisco: I checked his geometric vibrations. His cells and atoms are vibrating at a slightly different frequency than our own. It's similar to Earth-1 Barry's vibrations, only this one showing a slightly different p-wave.

Joe: What's that supposed to mean?

Wells: Barry-1 told us that people and items from different Earths vibrate at different frequencies. If Mr. Zolomon here was actually from our Earth, then his atomic structure would be the same as ours.

Cisco: Right, but it's not. If this guy is lying, he's doing a hell of a good job at it.

Caitlin walked over to talk with the group.

Caitlin: I just checked his plasma readings and white blood cell count. Everything seems normal. No metahuman physiology or mutations. However, I did find a slight trace of carbonic isotopes and radioactive decay elements.

Barry: Like those found after a breach. 

Caitlin: Right. With all our tests, his story appears to check out, at least the part about being from another Earth. 

The group nodded, accepting that part of the story. They all turned towards the man from another Earth. Hunter was pulling down his sleeve and rubbing his arm after having his blood drawn. He hopped down from the medical table and looked at everyone.

Hunter: Now do you believe me?

Y/N nodded.

Y/N: Alright, we'll work with you. You tell us what you know and help us, and maybe together we can take down Zoom. We can capture him and bring him in.

Hunter: Capture him? No, you don't understand. Zoom cannot be reasoned with. He's beyond any moral understanding. No code, no values, nothing. He needs to be killed.

Cisco: Yeah, that's not how we role on this Earth.

Y/N: We need him alive. We need a confession out of him.

Hunter: What for?

Barry: For the murder of my mother, seventeen years ago.

Hunter paused at that. He put his head down in sympathy.

Hunter: I see. I'm sorry. He must have chosen to target this Earth a long time ago.

Wells latched onto that sentence. "Chosen" this Earth? Had Zoom done this before? 

Y/N: We will help you take down Zoom, but only so far as we will not kill him. You agree, you can stay.

Hunter nodded, hesitantly agreeing to the terms. He didn't like it. He knew what Zoom could do and what he was capable of. But if this is how these people wanted to do things, then they may have to learn about what they were up against the hard way. 

Hunter: I may know of a way to do that. 

Hunter unlocked the door to his apartment. He pushed open the door which stuck for a moment before leading in. Y/N, Barry, and Cisco followed him in. They took in the small apartment. Stacks of papers were placed on every table. The walls were laced with dried, yellowing wall paper and exposed pieces of wood. Other papers and documents were hung up and posted to the walls. It looked like something out of a crime drama.

Cisco: Nice place.

Hunter: Yeah, it's all I could afford at a time like this. Apparently this Earth doesn't accept money with the Third Reich plastered on it. 

The group looked around the room. They looked at all the papers and photographs plastered around the room. There were various articles showcasing the Flash and his exploits. Other photographs showed Zoom racing by, blue lightning trailing behind him. There were blueprints and chemical formulas written down on note sheet paper thrown about everywhere. Barry noticed a stack of electric bills. He looked at them, noting a peculiar detail about them.

Hunter: I've been trying to track down Zoom ever since I came here. I was a scientist for the Resistance on my Earth. They brought me in to try and help take down metahumans loyal to the Fuhrer. When we encountered Zoom, we went through various plans and ideas.

Zolomon walked over to a desk and pulled out a small blueprint. Y/N looked inside the desk. It was at that moment he noticed something. A marriage certificate. He then noticed something he'd never spotted before on Hunter's finger. It was a small gold band.

Y/N: Hunter, are you married?

Zolomon looked at the certificate inside the drawer. He sighed and shoved the desk close. He cleared his throat and pulled out the blueprint device. It looked like a large, metal ring. Various coils and a set of antennae were set on each side across from one another like a football field.

Hunter: When Zoom made his presence known, we thought speed was the answer. We tried to find other speedsters who could help, maybe anyone who could rival him. We came close with one person, but...

He trailed off, refusing to finish his sentence. Hunter shook himself back to reality and pointed down at the blueprints. 

Hunter: Eventually, we thought we were going about it all wrong. We didn't need to make ourselves faster. We needed to make him slower. That's when we came up with this.

Barry: What is it?

Hunter: It's a speed trap. It works by vibrating the air molecules around the area in a frequency that latches onto a speedster. It slows them down, targeting the lightning and energy they tap into to move fast.

Y/N: Like lowering the temperature to slow down a chemical reaction.

Hunter nodded.

Hunter: We were going to build it on my Earth, but Zoom found out what we were doing. He ambushed us before we could finalize the project. We never stood a chance. But I guess we managed to frighten him in some way, because afterwards he fled to this Earth. I followed him, needing to avenge my comrades.

Cisco: How? Did you have your own version of Vibe open a breach to get here? How did Zoom get here in the first place?

Hunter walked over to the kitchen cabinet. He opened it. Digging through a hidden compartment he had installed, he pulled out a small device, about the size of the top of a soda can. It was a small disk with three arms that stretched out into a larger ring. It almost looked like a tiny steering wheel.

Hunter: I'm not sure how Zoom does it. Some of our men believe that he could vibrate his cells at such a frequency that he could literally cross through the barrier between worlds. I used this. It's an interdimensional extrapolator. It can open a small breach that allows me to jump between other Earths. I tracked Zoom to this world and followed through.

The others nodded. Cisco took the device. He held it up, admiring the tech.

Cisco: Hello, baby. Oh you can tell me so many wonderful things, beautiful.

Hunter motioned back down to the blue prints of the large ring device.

Hunter: We might be able to build this device on your Earth.

Y/N: We should have all the components at S.T.A.R. Labs. We just recently got a few new toys from Wayne Tech. I'm sure they can be used to construct this thing.

Hunter: If we do this, we need to do it right. We can't afford to take risks. If Zoom finds out what we're doing, all bets are off. He'll throw away all of his plans and kill us right where we stand before targeting another Earth. We need to be careful.

Y/N and Barry looked at one another then back down at the plans. Both nodded their heads.

Y/N: Let's catch ourselves a speed demon.