"Cisco? What do you want?" Oliver growled into his earpiece. He and Felicity had escaped the bunker, but Chase was long gone and the leads had dried up. Prometheus wouldn't be caught anytime soon it seemed.
"I need you to come to Central. Barry needs help, and I think you could help." Cisco explained.
"I've kinda got my own problems here." Oliver informed him.
"Look, we don't need you to fight anyone, at least I don't think so, but we really need you, Felicity and Diggle here ASAP." Cisco said.
"Alright, we'll come over there, but you and Barry better give us a damn good explanation when we get there." Oliver stated.
"Alright, we'll see you soon. I've got a few more phone calls to make."
/
"Cisco!" Kara happily called as she heard her friend's voice through the wormhole. "What's the matter?"
"Hey, annoying question, but can you get over to Earth-1 for a bit?" Cisco asked.
"I should be able to get away for a day, we've got everything handled here for the moment." Kara said. "Why, what's up?"
"It's better if you see it for yourself, you probably wouldn't believe it if I told you. Bring anyone along if you want, it's Barry."
"Alright, well I'll be there as quick as I can, I'll grab Winn if he wants to come but the others might be too busy to come."
"Anyone you want to bring who has met Barry, I'll explain soon." Cisco promised as he hung up. Kara frowned and headed off to the DEO to track down Winn, it seemed Barry needed their help, and Winn would probably love to see his dimension travelling buddy again.
/
"Finally, we're out of that distorted timeline and back into our own." Sara proclaimed as the rest of the Legends cheered.
"No more screwing up the timeline though." Ray warned as the rest of them laughed.
"You know we'll manage it, somehow, Mr Palmer." Stein chuckled before Gideon suddenly appeared before the crew.
"What's the matter, Gideon?" Sara asked.
"Message from Central City, 2017." Gideon supplied before Cisco's voice was heard.
"Is this on, Gideon?"
"Yes, Mr Ramon." Gideon prompted.
"Hey everyone." Cisco said.
"Hey!" They chorused back to him.
"Can you guys get to Central City? It's an emergency and Barry needs pretty much everyone. I've already called Team Arrow and Supergirl and they're on their way." Cisco stated.
"Mmm, I wanted to see Kara again." Sara winked as Jax shook his head at her antics.
"What's Red gotten himself into now?" Mick asked.
"It's better if you just see, because I'm not sure if you'd believe it." Cisco said before he cursed. "Damn, I've got to go, quickly get here, please? Barry, No! Don't touch that!" He yelled before the transmission ended.
"Gideon, set a course." Sara ordered.
"STAR Labs, May 2017." Gideon supplied as the Wave Rider headed off once again.
/
"Alright, Cisco, we're here. What's the problem?" Oliver asked as he walked into the cortex with Felicity, Diggle, Stein, Sara, Ray, Mick and Jax.
"Oh good, you're here." Cisco said as he walked over to them, Julian and HR in tow.
"Where's Barry?" Felicity asked.
"Iris and Joe are watching him." HR said.
"Where's Caitlin?" Dig asked.
"Thar's part of the issue." Cisco said. "I was just waiting for Kara so we only have to explain this once."
As he said that, a portal opened behind him and out stepped Kara and Winn.
"Hey everyone." Kara beamed at them. "This is my friend, Winn. He's like my Earth's Cisco or Felicity."
"Pleased to meet you all." Winn smiled at them as Cisco and Felicity smiled back at him especially. It was always nice to meet a fellow techie.
"So, what's up?" Jax asked seeing everyone was there.
"Short answer, Caitlin went full Killer Frost, sided with Savitar, Barry found out who Savitar is, we tried to stop Savitar, it backfired and Barry has lost all of his memories." Cisco said.
"Wait, what?!" A few voice chorused as everyone looked at Team Flash in shock.
"Yeah, Caitlin went evil and B.A knows nothing anymore." HR frowned as Julian and Cisco glared at him.
"I think I know why we're here, you're hoping we could jog Barry's memory?" Ray asked as Cisco nodded.
"Precisely." Julian said.
"We'll do it." Oliver said as Team Arrow, Legends and Supergirl nodded their assent.
"Thanks guys." Cisco smiled.
"So, who is this Savitar and how does defeating him involve accidentally wiping Barry's mind?" Winn asked.
"Savitar calls himself the God of Speed, the first speedster and apparently he's Barry's greatest enemy, even more than Zoom or Thawne ever was." HR said as the rest absorbed the information.
"Barry figured out who he was when Joe was talking about what can happen if we lose love apparently, and confronted him." Julian said.
"He told us what he found out and we suggested temporarily removing Barry's ability to create new memories, we tried, it backfired and wiped all his memories." Cisco admitted sadly.
"How would stopping memories stop Savitar?" Mick asked.
"You all know Barry is like the most loving person ever, I'm sure he's 90% love." Cisco said as the others nodded. Barry was usually the eternal optimist after all. "Well, take all of that love away, and he'd become warped, in the future sometime that happens, Barry, we don't know why or how, he loses his connection to love and reason it seems. Savitar is a future version of Barry." Cisco informed the others as their faces betrayed various expressions of disbelief and shock.
"So, Barry in the future is a bad guy?" Kara asked, not wanting to believe it.
"A possible future version of him it seems is, yes." Julian said.
"He's one step ahead of us as he remembers doing what we're doing to stop him." HR said.
"So if we removed his ability to remember, temporarily, Savitar would be blind and could be stopped." Felicity surmised as Cisco nodded.
"Yes, but it backfired and now Mr Allen has no memories whatsoever?" Stein asked.
"Nothing from above the age of 5 it seems, he remembers things like dentists, but our faces, our pasts, nothing." Cisco stated sadly before a noise came from behind them, turning around they all saw Tracy Brandt walking with Barry.
"Oh, hello." Tracy said to the newcomers as Barry looked at them all in confusion.
"Who are all these people?" Barry asked and everyone felt their hearts break a little at Barry not recognising them.
"Well, you see, um." Winn started.
"We're your friends." Oliver stated, taking in Barry's shocked look and the general unknowing look on his face as he took them all in.
"All of you are my friends?" Barry questioned as everyone nodded except Mick.
"Well, I'm more of an acquaintance." Mick grumbled as Sara nudged him.
"And you are?" Stein asked, looking over Tracy.
"Oh, I'm Tracy Brandt, from CCU, I'm here to help stop Savitar." She said as the others looked back at Cisco.
"Barry travelled to February 2024 to find out how to stop Savitar last week, Tracy invented the tech in 2020 that stopped Savitar in that timeline, she won the Nobel Prize in 2021 for her work on it and becoming the new foremost expert on the Speed Force." Cisco informed them.
"February 2024? That's just before he vanishes, isn't it?" Oliver asked Cisco who nodded as the others looked confused.
"Who vanishes?" Jax asked.
"When the Dominators took over you all, Barry took me to a secret room in STAR labs that Team Flash have known about for a few years, it has a news article from April 25th, 2024." Oliver explained as the others nodded.
"What's the article about?" Mick asked.
"Flash vanishes, missing in crisis." Cisco states as the rest looked stricken. "Battling against Thawne with the help of the Green Arrow, Hawkgirl and the ATOM, The Flash and Reverse Flash vanish in a bright light, we don't know if either are ever seen again." He sums up as those who didn't know about the article look horrified that they could lose Barry, even if he beats Savitar and stops Iris from dying.
"Basically, that future was a hellhole where Team Flash was gone, Savitar had been gone for four years but had won, and Barry was a wreck. Barry saved it before he left, getting the 2024 Barry hopeful again and reformed Team Flash, but we want to stop all of that from ever happening in the first place." Julian said.
"So, you're here to build it three years earlier?" Winn asked Tracy who nodded.
"I'm here to help save the day, and we have three weeks to do it."
"Three weeks?" Dig asked.
"May 23rd, 2017. The day Savitar kills Iris West." Cisco said as the others looked shocked. They hadn't heard about this from Barry.
"That's why you're so determined to stop him as soon as you can." Ray said as Team Flash nodded, except Barry, who just looked confused by all of this talk of the future and Savitar.
"Wait, future Barry kills Iris?" Kara asked, unbelieving that the woman that Barry loved so much could be killed by him. Everyone else looked shocked as well. Barry was devoted to Iris, anyone could see that, what could possibly make him want to kill her?
"Savitar always gloated that he was the future to Barry, that's what starts him on the path to becoming Savitar, the death of Iris, by his own hand." Cisco grimly said. "As we've heard from Savitar, Abra Kadabra, an enemy who showed up the other week, he's one of Barry's enemies in the future, came from the 64th century and the 2024 Barry, the death of Iris does what Zoom and Thawne never could, it truly breaks Barry."
The others looked shocked and saddened to hear that the Flash, a man who inspired hope wherever he went, could be broken and so soon, some of them sent pitying glances at Barry, who continued to look confused by it all.
"What can we do to stop it?" Stein asked.
"I was hoping just seeing you guys would jog Barry's memory, but it hasn't." Cisco stated sadly. "I'm not sure what to do next to try and recover Barry. We need him to stop Savitar, it can't be anyone else."
"Why not?" Mick challenged. "We could all attack Savitar, put him down."
"Barry entered the Speed Force to save Wally, just before Kara was last here." Cisco stated. "The Speed Force tormented Barry, appearing to him as Eddie Thawne, an old friend of ours, Ronnie Raymond, another old friend and Caitlin's fiancé, the first Firestorm with the Professor, and as Snart. It told him that he always lets others make the sacrifice, that Barry had to stop Savitar and save Iris, nobody else could do it."
"Poor Barry, I had no idea." Felicity breathed as the rest looked on more in pain. The Speed Force was wrong, it was always Barry who made the sacrifices, always Barry who would lay down his life for a friend in a heartbeat. He'd proven that time and time again.
"We can take Barry on the Wave Rider, let Gideon look him over with the future tech and see if she recommends anything for getting his memory back?" Jax asked.
"That's a great idea, Jax." HR smiled, before his smile dropped, turning around everyone saw Joe and Iris enter the Cortex with Wally.
"Hey everyone." Iris said sadly as they looked at her awkwardly. What could they say now that they knew she was marked for death? They couldn't be upbeat but they also couldn't be negative, Barry would find a way to save her, or if not, they would. Iris was one of them and she wouldn't die if they could help it.
"Is that a rock on your finger?" Mick eyed Iris as the others looked shocked.
"Barry re-proposed?" Kara asked as the others then looked at her in shock.
"You knew about this?" Oliver asked her.
"Yeah, they'd just broken up when I came here last month, but they got back together as I left." She smiled. "I'm glad to see he proposed again."
"Yeah, this time it was because he wanted too, not because he thought that marrying me before May would save me from Savitar." Iris said. "So I said yes, he sang to me as he proposed, it was romantic." She blushed.
"How is everything going with Barry?" Joe asked as they looked at him sadly.
"Seeing everyone hasn't jogged his memory." Cisco admitted. "I'm not sure what to try next to try and help him."
"What about if I take him for a run?" Wally asked.
"Wally, he doesn't remember being the Flash or anything, he could hurt himself or others." Iris rebuked him.
"I can watch him if Wally wants to see if it'll help?" Kara offered. "I can travel as fast as they can."
"Well, alright." Cisco said, looking worried. "But if he falls or something, straight back here. We need to make sure he'll be alright." Cisco said.
"I'm on it." Kara smiled as she and Wally herded Barry out of the room after Kara quickly grabbed Barry's suit.
"So, why was Kara here the other week?" Dig enquired.
"Somebody called Music Meister attacked her on our Earth, then ran here so her boyfriend and our boss followed him here, bringing Kara to get her help." Winn said.
"He also got Barry, he put them in a coma where they entered a sort of musical dream world apparently." Cisco said. "They followed a script singing and dancing inside their shared dreamscape whilst we tried to help them out here by stopping Music Meister, somehow he was draining them so whilst they were unconscious, they had no powers at all and he had use of all their powers, so he could use the Speed Force, fly, use heat vision, the works. It ended with them both being shot and rescued by Iris and Kara's boyfriend, Mon-El. Apparently love conquers all, they were rescued and Music Meister appeared, told them it was to teach them a lesson about needing love and how it's about being rescued by the other person sometimes, even if you're a superhero, that Barry and Kara did everything themselves and needed to let Iris and Mon-El in, then he vanished into thin air before Kara, Mon-El and their boss, J'onn went back to their Earth."
"How did he vanish into thin air?" Stein asked, astonished.
"He wasn't from our plane of existence, even said we couldn't comprehend where he was from, so I get the feeling he was saying he was some sort of god, or at least from a different reality altogether." Cisco explained.
"So Barry and Kara did a few musical numbers together?" Ray asked.
"I so wish there was video of it." Sara smirked.
"Yeah, apparently it was very Wizard of Oz, they had to sing whilst stopping a gang war. The gang leaders were Malcolm Merlyn and his son Mon-El on one side, Kara and Barry as well as myself and Winn worked for him apparently, and Joe and his partner, in every sense of the word, Professor Stein, and their daughter, Iris, Mon-El's forbidden love on the other side." Cisco explained as those who had been mentioned as being in the musical looked shocked as those who hadn't sniggered, except for Oliver and Mick, who scowled.
"It was sweet, creepy at times, but sweet, and Barry and I even made our own song up." Kara said as she came back in, followed by a resigned looking Wally and a shocked looking Barry.
"Barry just found out he can run faster than he thinks is possible, and started to freak out, but no memories." Wally ruefully said.
"You made a song together? What?" Sara smirked.
"It was called Superfriend and it talked about our powers and friendship, like I said I'm your Superfriend, one part near the end I said if you ever need a hand, and Barry said I'll be there in a flash, I yelled Barry! He said it was funny, then it finished with both of us saying-"
"-I'm your super, it has a double meaning, friend!" A voice sang from the back, turning around they saw Barry starting to smile.
"You remembered!?" Kara exclaimed as the rest looked in shock. It seemed something had jogged his memory a little.
"I got flashes, Kara, right?" Barry asked her as she rushed over and hugged him tightly.
"Yes!" She yelled as she held him close still.
"Do you remember any of us?" Iris asked hopefully.
"Iris…" Barry breathed, taking her in.
With tears in her eyes, she rushed over to Barry as Kara quickly untangled herself and moved aside, and leapt into Barry's arms, holding him close and kissing him over and over again.
"We're not trying anything that stupid ever again, you hear me?" Iris said to him as he held her tight.
"I promise, Iris, I promise." Barry said.
"What about the rest of us?" Cisco grumbled, as Barry looked at him blankly.
"I'm sorry, I don't know who you all are still." He pouted, as Oliver quickly took his bow and an arrow to hand and aimed it at Barry, firing it at his leg.
Barry yelped and quickly dodged out of the way. "Alright, Jesus Ollie! I was kidding! I remembered all of you when I hugged Iris, don't shoot me!" Barry whined as some of the others grinned and Oliver glared at Barry.
"Don't mess with your memories ever again, Barry." Oliver said to him. "You will find a way to stop Savitar, without losing yourself or anyone else, do you hear me?"
"Loud and clear." Barry winked at him as everyone smiled. It seemed they'd be ok, Barry had his memories back and he was ready to take the fight to Savitar. He wouldn't let himself become the warped shell of Barry Allen that Savitar was, he'd stop him, and they knew it.
"Touching." A voice remarked with an icy tone as Caitlin entered the Cortex.
"Caitlin, please, let us help you." Julian said as he took her in, moving towards her as the others got their weapons ready and aimed at her, lightning crackled in Barry and Wally's eyes as Kara floated into the air and her eyes turned red, in case Caitlin attacked.
"Why would I need help? Savitar has shown me the way, the way to rid myself of pathetic Caitlin Snow forever." She smirked as Julian looked as if he had been sucker punched.
"Why would you work with him, knowing who he is, what he will do?" Barry implored Caitlin, hoping that some of his old friend was still there to fight off Killer Frost.
"Why wouldn't I? He overcame his weakness, and can help me defeat mine." Caitlin said before a flash of white lightning appeared and Savitar stood before them.
"She's quite right, Barry." He grated.
"We all know who you are, you may as well stop hiding in the armour, Barry." Cisco growled at him as Savitar knelt down and the armour began to retract. Standing up, they all looked at the badly scarred face of Barry Allen.
"Oh, Barry." Kara whispered, horrified at what had happened to her friend.
"Hello everyone, very long time, no see." Savitar smirked.
"What happened to you?" Mick asked.
"The Speed Force is unforgiving, Mick." Savitar said. "Perhaps one day you'll find out how unforgiving I can be as well."
"Why would you become this, Barry? Why would you do this to the ones you loved?!" Oliver barked at him, holding his bow even tighter.
"Oh, Ollie. Thawne had it right. He once idolised me, and then he realised that he needed to be my enemy. Being a hero is good, but being the villain of the story is sometimes necessary in history. But you'd be better addressing your version of Barry that question, after all, in my eyes at least, he's the villain, he's the big bad." Savitar growled as everyone else looked at him in disgust. Barry was the hero, he was the good guy and Savitar would never defeat Barry, would never turn Barry into himself.
"Why did you come here? You know we'll stop you." Barry challenged his future self.
"I came because I recovered my memories as well, and realised what had happened. You cannot defeat me, Barry. It is better to give up now, bow before your God. Iris must die, I said before, it is her or me, but if you pledge yourself to me now, I will spare you from further misery." Savitar promised.
"We'll trap you, like we do in the future." Tracy said from behind Barry as Savitar glared at her.
"Tracy….you will not survive my wrath. You know this. I know this. I will have my revenge, and I shall never be imprisoned. I shall rule the Speed Force forever, I am the Speed Force, embodied. I am the God of speed."
"Whatever happened to you, it drove you insane…I'm sorry, Barry." Oliver said as he released his arrow, and everyone else took their cue to attack, Dig firing his gun, Kara shooting heat vision towards Caitlin as Barry and Wally surged forward. Sara ran forward to attack with her fists as the others moved away from the entrance to the cortex and where the fighters were gathered.
"Time to go." Savitar stated as he rushed into his suit and threw Barry and Wally to the ground, Oliver's arrow harmlessly bouncing off of him, Caitlin used her powers to block Kara's heat vision before she turned and ran from the room, Sara stopping when she realised that she couldn't hit an armoured Savitar. Savitar glared hatefully at everyone in the room as they looked at him in shock, fear and disgust.
"You will come to see the truth one day, Barry. When that day comes, you WILL become me."
Savitar raced from the room, grabbing Caitlin and flashing out of STAR labs before the rest of them could make a move to stop him.
"Damn, she's gone again, we have to save her." Julian said as HR patted him on the shoulder.
"We will save her, we'll free her and get rid of Killer Frost, and we'll have good old Caitlin back again one day, you'll see." HR smiled at Julian.
"What about Savitar?" Ray asked.
"Nothing we can do about that today, we haven't made the tech that can trap him again yet, until we've got it, we can only defend against him and try and save Iris and Caitlin." Barry ruefully said.
"Trap him again?" Winn asked.
"He's from the future, the me of 2020 trapped him in the Speed Force in a speedster prison as it was, Wally was in it for a while as there must always be a speedster in it, and Jay Garrick is there for now until we can capture Savitar, he sacrificed himself for Wally. Once we have Savitar, he's going back, he can spend eternity being tormented by the memory of the worst day of his life. If anyone deserves it, it's him." Barry growled as the others looked worried. Tormented forever by his memories? This wasn't Barry, Barry wasn't dark.
"Are you sure you're ok, Barry?" Kara asked, worried for her friend.
"I'll be fine, Kara, thank you." Barry smiled. "He just makes me so angry. I can't believe a future version of me would ever harm Iris, no matter the reason."
"You'll discover it, and you'll stop him, we all have faith in you." Jax said as the others nodded. Barry would save the day, he always did after all.
"You sure you don't want us to stick around and help?" Kara asked Barry shortly afterwards as her and Winn prepared to head back to Earth-38.
"Nah, I've got to do it, like the Speed Force said. Besides, I think we've all had more than enough excitement for now, and we all have our own problems to take care of." Barry told her as she nodded. That was true, Cadmus was still out there, and with how Rhea had acted, she doubted the Queen of Daxam had just given up and left without a fight.
"I'll see you soon, Barry." Kara and Winn both promised as they left, before Team Legends also bid everyone else farewell and took off once more to protect the timeline in the Wave Rider.
"Oliver, Felicity, Dig. Thanks for coming." Barry smiled at them as he hugged Felicity and shook hands with the other two.
"Anytime, Barry." Dig promised.
"Take care, Barry." Felicity smiled.
"If you need help with Prometheus, just call me." Barry informed them as they nodded and walked back to their car, leaving Barry alone with Oliver.
"Look, Oliver, I appreciate you coming and I mean it, you need help stopping Chase, just ask."
"Thanks, Barry, but I've got a plan to stop Chase." Oliver promised him. "Just make sure that you never become Savitar, and when you do defeat him, tell him that its love, not hate that makes you strong, that is why Barry Allen, and not Savitar, will ALWAYS win."