Trajectory stared at Jack Kadere with burning eyes. She didn't care who he was, what his purpose was, or why he'd chosen her. She only wanted to know one thing: how she could keep this power. The Speed Force was addictive.
"Follow me."
Jack grabbed her by the back of the neck and vanished in a blur, reappearing at Aerie.
Caitlin Snow stared at the completely naked Trajectory and froze. "Who is she?"
"A test subject," Jack said. "Are there any serums left?"
"Yes."
"Keep injecting her." He beckoned to Trajectory, and she walked over without hesitation, still boldly nude. "Your only task is to use nano-shrinkage technology to upgrade this spaceship again—using the Speed Force."
"And then?" Trajectory asked. "After I've upgraded the ship, can I keep getting more?"
Jack didn't answer. He simply opened the nano-shrinkage equations for her to study and had Caitlin monitor her vitals to test the serum's effects.
Regaining her speed, Trajectory devoured the equations and immediately got to work.
Yellow lightning streaked through the ship. She seemed tireless.
"Something's wrong," Caitlin said, frowning at her readouts. "Her cells are still dying off rapidly. If this continues, after another two or three injections, she might..."
"We have to stop," Caitlin said firmly.
"Keep researching. Find a solution." Jack stepped out of Aerie and began running through the villa's courtyard.
Caitlin could only continue her work, worry gnawing at her stomach, while Trajectory kept running and upgrading the ship.
"You can't inject anymore, or you'll die." When the serum wore off again and Trajectory came for another dose, Caitlin stopped her with a grave warning.
Trajectory seemed to sense the problem herself. She hesitated.
Is this really the end?
No. I won't accept that!
She'd finally gotten this power. She refused to go back to being some meek, submissive scientist.
She snatched the syringe from Caitlin's hand and injected herself before anyone could stop her.
The Speed Force flooded through her again. Trajectory grinned, tight-lipped and feverish with excitement, and started running once more.
Faster. She was getting faster, as if she were about to break through some kind of limit.
Caitlin's eyes widened at the monitoring results. Her speed—her speed was already far beyond Barry's.
The lightning turned blue.
Still running, Trajectory let out a shriek—hysterical, exhilarated—and her entire body disintegrated into ash and vanished.
"No!" Caitlin cried out.
Whoosh.
Jack reappeared.
"She—she's dead," Caitlin said, grief and anger warring in her voice.
"I saw."
He'd watched the whole thing—watched Trajectory's lightning shift from yellow to blue, watched her turn to ash.
"How can you be so cold-blooded?" Caitlin glared at him. "She was a human being!"
"Did you figure out a solution?" Jack asked calmly.
"She's already dead!" Caitlin snapped. "Even if I had a solution, it's useless now."
"Tell me anyway. What was the solution?"
"The serum accelerates cell death, but the Speed Force accelerates cell regeneration. For a normal person, regeneration can't keep up with the decay. If there were some kind of cell or substance that could balance the two, it should solve the problem."
"I see." Jack's mind immediately went to someone. He looked up. "Gideon. Where is Vandal Savage on this timeline?"
"He just took the Staff of Ra from the St. Mark's Museum."
Swish!
The moment Gideon finished speaking, Jack vanished.
Caitlin assumed he'd gone after this Vandal Savage person.
He hadn't.
Jack was running—running hard through the villa's courtyard, pushing himself. The Speed Force flooded every cell in his body, and his speed climbed higher.
BOOM.
A time wormhole tore open before him.
Jack dove straight into it, locked onto a specific point in time, and unleashed a massive burst of Speed Force energy.
A silent, colossal roar rippled through the void.
The spacetime tunnel seemed to snap at a certain node. The exit appeared abruptly before him.
He burst through.
---
Mercury Labs.
Wind gusted through the laboratory, scattering papers off desks.
"What—such a strong wind." Eliza Harmon blinked in confusion, bent down to gather the papers, and straightened up to find a stranger standing in front of her.
"Who are you?" she asked, startled.
Familiar scene. Familiar words.
Looks like it worked.
He'd traveled through time without encountering himself on this timeline. That meant the new method had succeeded—using the Speed Force to disrupt temporal continuity, overlaying his arrival rather than looping it, ensuring his independence and uniqueness across timelines.
Looking at the nervous, frightened Eliza Harmon, Jack chuckled softly, grabbed her, and returned directly to Aerie.
---
"This... what?" Caitlin stared at Eliza Harmon—still wearing her lab coat, still utterly bewildered at being suddenly snatched from her workplace.
"The serum killed her. Her Speed Force regeneration couldn't keep up with the cellular decay." Jack spoke quickly. "Study her cells. See if you can find a way to accelerate regeneration. I'm going to find someone."
He vanished again.
Eliza Harmon and Caitlin Snow stared at each other, both completely lost.
---
St. Mark's Museum.
Jack arrived just in time to see Vandal Savage holding the Staff of Ra, clearly about to leave.
Their eyes met.
Vandal Savage's expression twisted into fury.
"You!"
"1986. I have been looking for you since 1986!" Vandal Savage snarled. "You ruined my plan to create Firestorm, and now I have finally found you!"
1986.
Jack had taken Firestorm—Lilah and Valentina—from the Gulag Camp. Destroyed Savage's operation. Killed him twice.
"God is fair," Jack said with a light chuckle. "Since He gave you an ugly face, He must have given you an empty head to match—wouldn't want you looking uncoordinated." He tilted his head. "I found you, idiot. Not the other way around."
---