Shield

Seventeen

"Who are we seeing?" Izzie asked as they walked down the street. She noticed buildings with broken windows. People walking around with carts full of what she could only put together as stolen goods. People living on the sidewalk in tents. She wondered how she could have possibly done this. It looked like the new Gothom.

"Iris," Finn stopped at a car and unlocked it. She realized it looked like an old car even for her time probably to stop from it being stolen. She got into the passeneger seat and watched as Finn drove off. Everything she passed was guarded with bars. Abandoned. Even on fire with no one to put them out.

Her heart ached. She couldn't imagaine how she could have done it. No matter how much pain she was in. Something else had to be the cause of it. She glanced over at Finn.

Many questions plagued her mind about him but one was his age. And how he knows about her. It didn't help that she felt like she'd seen him before. "How old are you?" She asked.

"You're wondering who I am, aren't you?" He glanced over before returning his eyes to the road.

"I mean...Yeah. How do you fit into this? Why do I feel like I know you?" She held onto the bar above her head as he made a sharp turn. "Really?"

"Sorry," He said continueing on. "I'm twenty-seven. You reconize me because we go to school together. In your time at least. We share a class." She thought back to school Remembering before she left and returned. She struggled to find it but soon his a bit younger face popped into her mind in Mathmatics. She talked to him once for a group in class project. She didn't like that it took her that long to figure it out, she should know her classmates. She's to busy trying to not participate but the bare minimum she didn't notice even the good ones, apparently. "I'm called Mimic," He made another turn making her grip the bar above tighter and this time not let go. "I can see something and copy it perfectly. Not just with body movement but with powers too. I met the team just before...Just before Barry died." Izzie looked back at him.

"I'm the one that killed him." She knew he was avoiding saying it. She could hear it in his voice. He put her head to the window feeling the shame and guilt. She cared for Barry...She was growing more connected to him than she wanted to admit. She could never hurt him. How could she have killed him?

Fin fiannly stopped at a familiar building. The loft. She waited for Finn before walking in. She wondered what she be met with. Fear? Anger? She hoping the Iris today wouldn't hate a past her. She suddenly wanted Iris to see her for her. Not just the broken girl she knew and felt like she was but the Foster daughter she made a room for. The foster daughter she helped calm nightmares for. "She's going to hate me isn't she?" Izzie asked before they reached the floor the loft was on.

"She's...different than what you probably know." Izzie stopped. "What?"

"I don't understand..." Finn leaned on the wall crossing his arms. "I don't understand how I could have done this. No matter how much pain or angry I was I would never hurt them."

"I can't help you understand. My job was to get you, help stop this future, and get you back home safely at the correct time." Izzie let out a frustrated sigh.

"You're no help at all." He just shrugged his shoulders. "I'm going to slap you when I get back in my time. Even if you don't know what it's for, I'm slapping you." Finn just smirk before standing up straight again.

"Then I'll have no choice," he whispered as he passed her.

"To what?" Izzie laughed off.

"But to fall in love you," He walked to the loft door and opened it with ease. Izzie felt not just her cheek but her whole body burn. She even felt the tips of her ears on fire.

After a breath and As Izzie walked in she was met with a gun pointed to her and she quickly put up a shield. After a moment she realized it was Iris. She didn't look much different but she had a gun pointed at her.

"Iris! It's okay. This is past Izzie." Finn said. Iris realized it was the truth so she dropped the gun. Izzie dropped her shield.

"Izzie?" Iris asked. Izzie nodded then watched as Iris ran to her pulling her into a hug. "Thank god you got  here," she said. Izzie was surprised at the reaction but returned the hug. A moment later she pulled back "Are you okay? Did Finn fill you in?"

"Unfortunately." Izzie said. "I'm sorry," Izzie looked down to the floor. Iris put her hand under Izzie's chin.

"You didn't do anything yet. Let's stop it before you do, okay?" Izzie nodded. Iris turned walking to the living room. It wasn't like the last time she saw it. It matched the city outside. She reconized Cisco who's hair was now up in bun but mostly it was new faces. She didn't reconize anyone but Cisco and Iris. All the looks she was reciving told her they reconized her and it wasn't pretty.

She started hoping it was all a dream. She slipped and hit her head. All of it a dream. She was using faces of people she's seen before. She couldn't believe any of this. How could she? It all seemed so imposible. She'd never hurt anyone innocent.

Izzie watched as Finn stayed near her while Iris moved around looking for something. "I don't fully understand why I'm here." She admitted growing more anxious. The hair on her neck continued to stand tall knowing she was being watched. A type she was used to doing not reciveing. "How could this have happened?"

"That's why we brought you here," Iris sat down a small box in her hand."We need to have a long talk." Izzie sat down with caution and listened to Iris. Izzie couldn't help but read the sadneess written all over her face. Something she wondered just how much was her fault. "After the whole Oliver-Barry mixup, where we plucked you from, you told us you wanted to go through with the emancipation. You were and left us." Izzie dropped her head. She saw disappointment. She didn't like seeing that look on Iris. She wanted to see her smile again. "We heard from you every now and then and you helped us when you could then until you vanished." Izzie finally looked up." It was months before you surfaced but this time...you were...different."

Izzie leaned back. She couldn't put together what could make her hurt others. She listened to how it started more after she killed the men who killed Ryan. Then moved to anyone connected to them. Then the police who just closed the case. It moved all the way to the judge who let several of the men go days before Ryan died. It was like she was a completely different person. From what Iris was telling her, it didn't even sound like herself. "I still don't get it. I would never let innocent people get hurt. This city is...falling apart." From what she could see she wasn't over exaggerating. "No matter how much pain I would never let innocents get hurt."

"That's why we think something happened to you when you went missing for those few months." Izzie turned to Finn. "The second time not the first." Izzie looked back to Iris. She watched as Iris read her like an open book.

"What color does your shield appear as?" She asked.

"Like a bright blue colour why?" Finn took a seat next to her.

"The Izzie today...her shields appear red. Beside the colour change your power has grown a lot stronger and a lot more deadly." Izzie stood up. "You don't just create a shield anymore. Your power can kill people now."

Izzie stood frozen in fear of herself. She'd already hurt people with her newfound powers with what Cisco called a power burst even after Caitlin insisted I'd be called something else as it was a mere self defense power. Even that she didn't mean to do. She's still getting used to her own power. Besides being infected by something she'd never hurt others...at least those who didn't deserve it or hurt her. "Then why bring me back now?" She asked. "I've heard enough about Barry's screw-ups with the timeline, you've even bickered at him about it plenty."

"Barry was going to the past messing with things he shouldn't have in the first place. We're talking about hundreds of thousands lives gone or destroyed." Iris answered. Izzie felt her eyes water making her take a deep breath and leave the loft. She ran down the stairs and didn't stop until she reached the outside where close enough to fresh air met her and she let out her breath in a scream. If anyone was around they would have looked at her like she lost her marbles. Running her hands through her hair she took another deep breath. Tears fell from her eyes and they didn't seem to stop.