After Kara returned to National City, Barry threw himself back into the murder investigation. He, Caitlin and Cisco did everything they could to identify the victim but still continuously came up empty. Eventually Iris got involved as well when she came back from Metropolis but between her and Joe, they were stymied as well. Now they’re all sitting around the control desk at Star trying to figure out their next moves.

“Barry, we may have to face the facts here. This guy’s a nobody. No record, no fingerprints, he’s a ghost.”

“He can’t just be a nobody. He was in Central City for a reason. Whatever that reason was, it got him killed. There’s got to be more at play here, Joe. And we’ve still got his killer on the loose. There are dozens…maybe hundreds of meta-humans in Central. Some of whom haven’t revealed themselves and are just living their lives. We can’t let them live in fear. What good is the Flash if he can’t protect the people?”

Barry’s words had all four of his companions worried. All of them knew after Thawne and Zoom that any time he spoke about himself in the third person he was beating himself up because the thought that he wasn’t doing enough to protect Central City would hit him like a ton of bricks. In those moments he would often suit up and take out his frustrations all around the city. Granted he never crossed a line, but sometimes he would get reckless. The last time he wound up with a bullet in his leg and one in his shoulder. Before he could take off, Joe spoke up again.

“Listen Barr, you can’t let this consume you. This situation is nothing like Thawne and Zoom. You know this. And you know we will figure this out. It’s only been two days, go home, and get some rest.”

“Joe, you know I can’t do that. What if…”

“Barry, we’ll call you if we need you. Joe’s right. Go home and get some rest. And if helps, I’ll put in a call to Felicity over in Star City. When she and I put our brains together, there’s nothing we can’t figure out.”

“Thanks Cisco. Caitlin…”

“I’ll keep running our victim’s face and fingerprints through all the usual channels. Someone out there has to know something about him.”

“Thanks guys, you know I appreciate this.”

Barry was about to speed off, when Iris pulled him back. She had been gone visiting the Daily Planet for a week and she was glad to be home. But she knew Barry needed a friend at the moment who could take his mind off the investigation and she really didn’t want him to be alone.

“Barry, how about we go get a cup of coffee at Jitters. I could tell you about my trip. Besides, I know you, and you need someone to talk to right now.”

“Thanks Iris, but I think that right now, I just need some time to myself. I know you’re here for me as a friend and that’s what matters. I’ll be okay.”

Barry sped off without another word, heading back to his apartment. His plan was to find anything that could take his mind off of everything going on. After turning on the television, the news report he saw was not what he had expected.

“If you’re just joining us, this footage was recorded earlier today in National City. It’s still unclear as of this moment who the man attacking Supergirl is, but he caused quite a bit of damage before she confronted him. At one point it seemed as if the assailant was getting the best of National’s resident superheroine, but in the end, she did manage to subdue him and he was taken into custody. In other news…”

Barry flipped the channel to catch the story again on another news station. He was transfixed watching Kara fight, but worried as the footage of her being thrown back by a blast of what appeared to be high intensity energy hit her square in the chest. Instantly he found himself reaching for his phone, and looking up Cat Co. Media’s website. He could only hope that she had some sort of messenger and was on-line. He almost stopped himself, thinking this was a serious breach of their building trust, but he quickly put that aside as he found her page and typed out a message.

“Hey…”

Kara was working on the story about Reactron and chatting with Clark who had just returned home and saw the news report. He was telling her how proud he was of her when the message from an unknown number popped up on her screen.

“Sorry Clark, I have to go, someone else is messaging me right now.”

“I’ll talk to you later then, Supergirl. I’m really proud of you.”

As soon as Clark signed off, Kara stared at the message for a good five minutes before deciding to respond. Lois had told her once that usually unknown numbers were people wanting to spread gossip or false leads to reporters, but this one did none of that, whoever it was just waited for a response.

“Hey, who is this? Do I know you?”

“Kara, it’s Barry…Barry Allen.”

“Oh my God, Barry! How did you find my profile? I didn’t even give you my number when we talked.”

“You’re not mad are you? I know this could be a breach of our trust but…”

“No…no Barry it’s perfectly fine. Did you need to talk?”

“No, I just saw the report on your fight today. You were amazing.”

“Thanks, Reactron gave me quite a fight, but in the end he was no match for Supergirl.”

“Reactron?”

“It’s what he called himself. Sometimes I think these supervillains get too literal with their monikers. I…”

“So you’re okay? I got worried when I saw that blast of energy hit you. Seemed pretty violent.”

“Why Barry Allen, you were worried about me? That’s actually kind of sweet. Yeah, I’m okay. What about you? Has the Flash had any luck on the meta-human victim?”

“Unfortunately no. We’ve got nothing. Caitlin and Cisco are still working on it but…hang on…”

Barry paused mid-sentence as a meta-human alert came through to his phone. In the next instant Cisco was texting him about a new unknown speedster tearing up downtown. He was hitting speeds that not even Thawne or Zoom could match, prompting Barry to turn the television back on to see a white and gold streak of lightning leaving a path of destruction in his wake.

At that same moment the chat connection Kara had with Barry went off-line and she worried briefly about him as she attempted to reopen the window.

“Barry? Barry are you there?”

Suddenly Cat was calling every reporter into her office as a live feed was playing on her multiple screens. Everyone could see two burning streaks of lightning tearing through the city, though only Kara could tell who they were. The white and gold lightning bolt she instinctively knew was a speedster and she saw the red blur she knew was Barry chasing behind but not gaining any ground. Cat’s voice broke the tense silence but Kara wasn’t listening, lost in her thoughts about her new friend.

“Come on Barry, come on! You can get him.”

“Okay people, it looks like the Flash, first reported on by Keira has a new adversary to deal with. With the reports of the alien on meta-human killing from two days ago, I know this isn’t coincidence. This could even be the killer Supergirl and Flash were looking for, so…Keira?”

Kara was out the door faster than anyone could see. While the rest of the staff was paying attention to Cat, she had her eyes fixed on the screen and saw both speedsters stop running and the one in white was doing something that had Barry falling to his knees. She didn’t know what was happening, but she wasn’t going to let him face this enemy alone.

As she flew through the city, she listened for the sounds of battle and heard Barry’s anguished screams. That was all she needed to pour on the rest of her speed reaching the battle in seconds and landing in between Barry and the unknown.

“Hey, why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

Barry knew that voice and struggled to look up. The red cape was a dead giveaway that she had somehow seen what was happening and though she had just been in her own battle for her life, still came to help him.

“S-Supergirl…don’t…”

“So Flash has a hero of his own come to protect him? I’ll tell you the same thing I told him as he made a feeble attempt to catch me. There’s only room in this city for one speedster, and from this moment on I’m it.”

The voice Kara heard was ice cold. There was no compassion, no honest desire to use his abilities for good. She remembered how Barry spoke of the Reverse Flash and Zoom, and this one was just another threat that had to be dealt with. She stood her ground, not giving an inch to this speedster threatening her new friend. He too was hesitant to fight, not knowing what she was capable of. But when he did throw a punch, he put some of his power behind it. It didn’t even connect as Supergirl caught the punch with one hand, and with barely any pressure, broke his hand.

The unknown speedster screamed in pain before his powers kicked in, healing the broken bones. At that moment he knew he was outmatched in terms of strength, but before running off, issued a warning to Barry.

“Next time Flash, your girlfriend won’t be here to save you. Next time I will take your power. Then Central City will see that Godspeed is the true hero they need.”

Kara watched this Godspeed run, and for a moment considered chasing him, but turned around upon hearing Barry’s groans of pain. He was struggling to get to his feet, falling back to his knees every time he attempted to stand up. She knew she had more important matters to deal with and since Barry couldn’t catch his adversary, she wouldn’t have any better luck.

“K-Kara? You-you…”

Barry couldn’t even get the words out as he passed out from the pain. A softer look entered Kara’s eyes, replacing the anger she had been feeling just moments ago. She really didn’t know what had happened to Barry, but she wasn’t going to get any answers standing in the street where he fell. Carefully she picked him up and flew as fast but as safely as she could towards Star Labs. As soon as she arrived, Caitlin was already waiting with a gurney. She explained to Kara that Cisco had been monitoring Barry’s vitals through the whole fight and rushed him off to the medical wing with Kara following behind.

After he was set as comfortably as possible and connected to the various machines. Caitlin began running every test she had when Barry was first in the coma after the accident. She was explaining everything to her companion as she proceeded, but Kara was barely listening. She’s only known Barry for a whole two and a half days now, and her emotions were a raging thunderstorm at seeing him like this. She couldn’t understand why she was feeling anger, sadness, guilt and fear all at the same time. She had hope that he would wake up and be back in his top speedster shape in no time, but she also wanted to find Godspeed and beat him to within an inch of his life for hurting her friend. It wasn’t until Caitlin placed a comforting hand on her shoulder that Kara snapped out of her internal conundrum.

“Kara, did you hear anything I said?”

For a moment, Supergirl forgot that she had introduced herself by her real identity to Caitlin and Cisco the last time she was here. That’s when she realized just how unfocused she had been. Upon looking down, she noticed her boots had left furrows in the floor, and she knew she must have been pacing at super-speed.

“I’m sorry Caitlin; I’m just worried about Barry. The floor…”

“Don’t worry about the floor. The damage is minor considering everything else we’ve seen here at Star. I think you should go home. I’ve taken care of Barry when he was like this before. He bounces back quickly; I know he’ll be fine.”

“I’m sure you do know that. I just don’t want to leave him. I feel like he’s already a friend and I want to be here when he wakes up.”

The way Kara said the word friend had Caitlin already knowing that Barry meant more to her than that. She knew that Supergirl consumed a lot of the young woman’s life and she really didn’t have anyone to relate to in the world besides Superman so getting attached to Barry was only natural. In time he would be able to understand a lot of what Kara was going through, if he didn’t already. As such, Caitlin made an offer that she wouldn’t have if she wasn’t heavily involved in the word of superheroes.

“Look, I’ll need some time to run some tests. Whoever this…”

“Godspeed, he called himself Godspeed.”

“…Godspeed is, he won’t be able to get into Star, or get to Barry. I can promise you that. But I’ll tell you what, give me your phone number and I’ll keep you updated on what I find out.”

“You’ll do that? You trust me enough to…?”

“Barry trusts you, and that’s more than enough for me.”

“But what about Godspeed? He’s still out there. With the Flash out of commission, someone will need to protect Central City.”

“Don’t worry about that either. We have a plan in place for situations like this. Cisco, can you come to the labs?”

In an instant Cisco vibed himself from the control room to Caitlin’s main lab. To Kara, he appeared out of thin air with his portal closing behind him. After her initial shock, she realized he was also a meta-human.

“Cisco, I-I didn’t know you could…?”

“I go by the name Vibe. I can open portals, mostly just here for now, and sometimes other places I’ve been. I’m still learning to control my powers. I can also vibe someone to see where they’ve been.”

“Caitlin said you guys have a contingency plan for situations like the one Barry is in now.”

“We do, and we need a speedster. Luckily, I know just where to find one.”

Cisco opened another portal, jumping through it before it closed behind him. He was only gone for five minutes as another portal opened and he jumped back through with a companion. Kara quickly appraised the older man, noting his red and blue uniform, the lightning bolt on the chest of his jacket, and the battered metal helmet under his arm.

“Kara Danvers…meet Jay Garrick.”

“Umm…hi?”

“Nice to meet you Supergirl. Cisco told me what happened to Barry. I’m here to help.”

Kara looked to Cisco, more confused than ever. He knew what she was thinking and immediately voiced an answer to her question.

“It’s called the multiverse. Our earth is just one among a number of infinite earths. Jay is from what we dubbed Earth-3.”

“Don’t worry Ms. Danvers, Barry can explain it better than I can. But I’ll do what I can to protect Central City from Godspeed in his absence.”

Kara looked in Jay’s eyes and knew she could trust him. But it still didn’t help that she was more confused about the concept of the multiverse and other earths that she hoped Barry woke up soon so he could explain it all.