It was chaos. As soon as Avery had gone through the doorway of the courtroom, everything had spiraled into disaster. People practically jumped up from their seats and started running towards the door, then realized that's where the shapeshifter had gone, so they changed their minds. Now the room was in a panic.

"She's a killer! Murderer!"

"How could we not have seen it before?"

"That madwoman is walking free in our streets as we speak! What do we do?"

The judge banged his gavel upon the desk.

"Order! Order in the court!"

His words did nothing to calm the frenzy, however, and the fear only began to escalate.

Barry turned in his chair, intending to ask Cecile what their next step was. However, just as he started to speak, a shriek came from just outside the room.

"Run!"

A fierce snarl could be heard, followed by more screams from outside.

"Guys, we gotta go," Barry said as he and Cecile shoved past the wooden divider. "We don't know what she's going to do."

"I'm still trying to figure out how she's still alive," Cisco stated angrily as he followed them out of the room. It went without saying that he felt just as betrayed as everyone else, if not more so.

Barry, Cecile, Cisco, Caitlin, Joe, and Iris all rushed out of the courthouse to the front steps, and their jaws dropped. Avery had left the room as a human, but once outside, she had chosen a much larger two-legged form. Towering over the city with a maw full of 50 teeth and a thick tail for balance, Avery had chosen the reptilian shape of a t-rex.

The dinosaur turned its head, as if suddenly aware of their presences. If it was possible for a t-rex to smirk, that was exactly what she was doing. Avery parted her jaws and took a step forward as a thundering bellow echoed through the streets. Dozens of windows shattered, both from cars and buildings, and clueless pedestrians scattered in panicked flocks.

Of all the meta-humans that had been roaming Central City's streets, Avery York was by far the most terrifying. The massive silver t-rex whipped around, her tail knocking over a light post, and she began to move at a fast pace down the road.

"Where is she going?" Caitlin shouted.

"I don't know!" Cisco replied.

"I do," Barry said solemnly, causing everyone to look at him. "She's going after Devoe."

"How is that possible? Avery doesn't even know where he lives," Joe pointed out.

Barry shook his head. "Don't you guys get it? Avery never died! She's been in Central City this whole time, watching and helping us."

"And when Devoe tried to take you out of the picture – " Iris began.

" – Avery came back to stop him." Barry finished.

"Oh my god," Joe muttered in shock.

"So what do we do? Just let her go after Clifford and Marlize?" Caitlin asked. She didn't exactly sound opposed to the idea, and at first, nobody made any objections. Barry sighed heavily.

"I have to stop her."

"Why? Devoe almost succeeded in destroying our lives. Maybe we should just let her go," Iris said coldly. The image of Marlize taunting her in the courthouse hall appeared vividly in her mind.

Barry shook his head. "It's not about Devoe or Marlize. It's about Avery," he explained. "If we let her do this, everything that we've done to help her since she came to Central City will have been for nothing."

The group exchanged glances, a silent sense of resolve settling over them.

"Barry's right," Cisco conceded after a few moments. "We can't let Avery go dark-side again."

"But how do we stop her?" Joe asked. "CCPD doesn't exactly have dinosaur-fighting resources at its disposal."

"We use the hydro-electric guns," Caitlin said.

Barry stared at her with unease. "We can't. Last time we tested those, she couldn't walk for a week."

"We don't have a choice," Cisco muttered.

"There's no guarantee Avery is going to stop with Devoe," Caitlin added. "If she goes on a hunting rampage, she could level the entire city."

Barry nodded. "Alright. You guys go get those. I'll try to keep her distracted for as long as I can."

"Be careful, Barry," Iris said, stepping forward to kiss his cheek.

The group split up. Joe and Iris headed to CCPD to warn the police force about the new threat while Cisco and Caitlin were brought back to Star Labs by Barry to find the hydro-electric guns. Barry changed into his suit, and then went back towards the courthouse to track down Avery. It wasn't difficult. He just had to follow the sounds of screaming in the neighborhoods.

Once he found her, Barry realized he had to watch his pace. With every step Avery took, the road shook and disrupted Barry's speed. The silver t-rex was storming down the middle of a road, knocking over vehicles every chance she had. The speedster dodged through a couple yards to get ahead of the dinosaur, then ran out into the street in front of her.

"Avery!"

As she noticed the Flash, Avery came to a thundering halt, lowering her head to roar a warning at him.

"Avery, stop! You can't do this!" Barry begged.

The t-rex snorted, unamused by his plead, and resumed her fast pace down the road. Barry had to duck out of the way as Avery ran by, as she had intentionally tried to step on him on her way past.

"Damn it," Barry muttered to himself.

As soon as he turned to follow her, he suddenly found himself flying across the road as the wind was knocked out of him. Avery had smacked him with her tail before continuing down the street. Barry landed roughly in someone's front yard, smacking into a tricycle that had been left in the grass. With a groan, he got back to his feet.

"Barry! You alright?" Cisco's voice came in over his earpiece.

"Yea, I'm good," Barry grunted. "I just learned what it's like to get smacked by a dinosaur tail."

"I do not envy you for that," Cisco replied with slight sarcasm.

"You guys are gonna have to hurry. I don't know how else to stop her," Barry said quickly.

"We're almost there," Caitlin's voice chimed in.

As soon as Barry pulled himself back to his feet, a breach opened next to him as Caitlin and Cisco jumped through.

"You guys ready?" Barry asked.

"Let's go catch us a dinosaur," Caitlin stated.

Neither she nor Cisco looked as confident as they normally did, and their hesitation was echoed on Barry's face. After all this time, the teammate they had presumed dead was suddenly back in their lives in the worst way possible.

Barry scooped up his friends in his arms and ran down the street to where Avery was standing. She had successfully tracked down Devoe's house, and had changed forms from a t-rex to a massive dragon. Avery balanced herself on her back legs in a seated position as another roar shook the block. The windows on the front of the Devoe's house shattered into thousands of pieces that scattered across the lawn.

"How does she even know they're inside? Marlize was at the trial!" Cisco shouted over the noise.

"I don't think they are," Caitlin responded with confusion.

"She's not thinking straight. She just wants to destroy whatever belongs to them," Barry said.

Their conversation was interrupted by an explosion from inside the Devoe's house. They looked up and realized that Avery had set fire to the house before they arrived. She opened her maw, and a jet of searing flames was blasted towards the second floor. The roof was completely blown off as the interior went up in smoke.

"Hey! Traitor!" Cisco shouted.

Avery looked down, an angry glare in her eyes. She leaned down, causing the ground to shake as she resumed a four-legged standing position. Her wingspan reached across the entire yard, blocking them from the sun's glare.

"You dare call me a traitor, Cisco Ramon?" her voice rang in their heads.

"Is she using telepathy?" Barry asked in exasperation.

"Guess so," Caitlin replied.

Cisco ignored them, keeping his eyes on the dragon. "Yea, I am, because you lied to us Avery!" he shouted accusingly. "We thought Savitar killed you!"

Avery's scaly lips spread into a wide smirk. "Central City has managed just fine without me."

"What does that even mean?!" Cisco yelled, his cheeks flushed red. "You were our teammate, our friend. Friends don't stab each other in the back, Silverwings!" he snapped.

The dragon flinched at the sound of her old name. A plume smoke slipped past her jaws as she snarled. "Don't…you dare…think you have the right to call me that. Silverwings died the same day as the Teen Titans."

"Good! Then that leaves plenty of space for the real Avery York to come back to her team," Cisco retorted.

Avery's eyes narrowed, and she was suspiciously silent for a moment. "It's not that simple."

Cisco took a step forward, shaking a finger in the air. "Nope! No mam, you are not pulling that crap all over again." The dragon bared her teeth at Cisco, but he only took a single step back. "Unless you give us a damn good reason to suddenly go dark-side, you're getting blasted," he warned.

Avery's brow furrowed with confusion, but quickly changed to anger as Caitlin tossed a hydro-electric gun at Cisco. He caught it, immediately turned the barrel towards the dragon.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me."

Avery lifted her head high into the air, her azure gaze never leaving the gun in Cisco's hand. "You want the truth to why I didn't come back?"

"Yes," Cisco said. "I'd like to know how the hell you survived, too."

[WIP]