CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
It felt as though time had frozen.
Sophia was glued to the spot in the middle of the secret lair, standing in front of a podium that projected a news article from the year 2024. At first, she was completely focused on the large title in flashing colour that spoke of the disappearance of The Flash after fighting it out in Central City with The Reverse Flash. But what caught her eye next, was something even more disturbing. It was the sort of discovery that first sent your heart hurtling in your chest, out of excitement and disbelief, then it had morphed into a feeling of dread and disaster.
It was the Obituary column, and the first name on that list… was her own. Or at least, sort of. In cursive writing, it was written there, Sophia L. Allen, date of passing, the 19th of April, 2024, a mere 5 days before The Flash's sudden disappearance.
She didn't know if she was in shock over the fact that she had died, that she knew the exact date of her death, that she had roughly less than a decade to live, or the fact that her last name was Allen, meaning that sometime in the future, Barry had proposed and she had said yes. She had married him. She wanted to jump up and down, to laugh and cry, but all she could do was stand there still, staring at the screen before her.
Cisco's words were drowned out by the loud pounding of her thoughts, and she was only brought out of her thoughts by Caitlin, when the red-head shook her shoulder as they tried to get her attention.
"Barry, look at the date," Cisco says and all their heads turn, to focus on what Sophia had already seen while the others admired the yellow suit on display.
"April 25th, 2024," Barry mumbled, moving forward to take a closer look. "Guys, when I fought the Reverse Flash at Christmas, he said that we'd be fighting for centuries."
"Wait, you can't really think that this is from the future…" Caitlin trailed off.
"That would mean that Dr. Wells, or whoever he is, is also from the future," Sophia finally spoke. That's why the DNA match on the other body was a perfect match for Harrison Wells. The real Harrison had been killed, and this man from the future had taken his place. "It does make things clearer."
"I have to say, I am really digging the brighter red suit," Cisco commented, admiring the new design of Barry's super-suit.
"I always did love Barry in red," Sophia mumbled in reply to Cisco who was staring at it in awe.
"That's dope," He hummed in agreement. "Wait a second. Suppose we change the colour on your suit. Will it be because we got the idea from this picture? That would mean we are living in a casual nexus. This is- This is so trippy."
They all hummed in unison until Cisco spoke up again.
"But not as trippy as that name I spot right there, is that Sophia L. Allen?" Cisco asked, pointing it out on the article.
"Trust me, what's above the name is scarier than the fact that I married Barry," Sophia said, trying to avoid the heavy gaze that she felt Barry directing her way. She stuck her hands in the pocket of her black jacket in an attempt to hide her shaking hands, and to retain some sense of control over the situation. She bit her lip, not hard enough to draw blood, but if she kept it up, she would end up tearing the delicate skin.
The team all looked to see what she meant, and Caitlin let out a loud gasp when she saw that it was indeed under the Obituary column, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth.
"Oh my god."
"What, no, no, that can't be true," Barry breathed out, with wide eyes, taking a step forward.
"I die. In 10 years, I'm dead," Sophia stated bluntly, her face void of any expression. "And married…"
"But, hey, you finally proposed," Cisco said trying to lighten the mood, and that just made Barry flush a bright red. "Mazel tov?"
"Hebrew," A voice suddenly said and then Sophia gasped, suddenly latching her hand onto Barry's, standing beside him with the hope that it would calm her nerves.
"Ancient language of the Jewish people," The voice spoke again. Sophia's eyes darted around the room. Where the hell is that creepy voice coming from? She felt like she was the star of the latest horror movie, and she was sure she would be the first one to die.
"Uh-uh. What the hell was that?" Cisco inquired out loud.
"Is someone here?" Barry asked.
"Good evening, Barry Allen," The female voice interface began, appearing before them with a computerised facial structure.
"H-Hi," Barry stammered, and Sophia tightened her grip on his hand. This was just all way too trippy. "You know who I am?"
"Of course," the voice said. "Barry Allen, director of Central City Police, CSI Division."
"Director?" Barry frowned in confusion.
"I guess you get a promotion," Sophia mused, carefully focusing on the voice that was speaking.
"Also known as The Flash. Founding member of…"
"What are you?" Barry asked the machine.
"I am Gideon, an interactive artificial consciousness. AI."
"Sick," Cisco breathed out.
"You know Dr. Wells?"
"Yes," Gideon replied swiftly.
"Do you know who he really is?"
"I don't understand the question," Gideon said.
"I, I mean, what is he doing here? Why did he come here?" Barry pressed on.
"To kill you," Gideon said bluntly, and Sophia's blood ran cold.
Just as Barry was about to ask more questions, Cisco informed them that Wells was in the building.
"What? How the hell do you know that?" Sophia asked, her eyes glancing over at Cisco who shrugged sheepishly, looking guilty.
"I put a tracker on his wheelchair. Which, if we're wrong about him and he is paralysed, I'm going to hell for that one," Cisco admitted, and Sophia wanted to crack a smile at his sarcastic comment, but now was not the time, nor the place.
"He's in the Cortex," Caitlin said looking over at the map on Cisco's tablet. "Ask questions fast."
"Why did he kill Nora Allen?" Barry asked, and Sophia rubbed her thumb on the back of his hand, knowing that pain it caused him to even utter those words.
"Because he was angry," Gideon said.
"About what?"
"That you escaped. Even after all his efforts, killing your wife Sophia Allen, you still evaded him," Gideon spoke and Sophia felt her heart squirm inside her chest. She was going to die at the hands of the Reverse Flash that was her destiny for the future. Her breathing was heavier and Barry could tell, hearing her uneven breaths as he stood next to her. All he could feel was the anger burning through his veins as he listened to Gideon speak.
"He's on B level. He's coming this way," Cisco warned. They needed to hurry up and get out of there, otherwise it would all be over, right here, right now.
"What does he want from me?"
"For you to be The Flash."
"Maybe that's why Wells let the particle accelerator explode, so that you could become The Flash."
"Why? I mean, for what reason?" Barry asked, his voice desperate for answers.
"Guys, we got to go. He's almost here," Cisco pleaded in an urgent voice, taking a step back as he looked at his tablet, frowning when he watched the tracker on Well's chair move closer and closer to their location. If Wells came in, it would all be over.
"Hurry," Caitlin urged.
"All right. Wait a second. Wait. What if HAL over there tells Wells that we were in here?" Cisco asked and they all froze at the realisation. Shit.
"That would be bad," Sophia said. "Like very bad."
"If I can get into its operating system, maybe I can disable its memory core."
"Gideon can you show us where your operating system is?" Barry asked hopefully.
"Certainly." A small device popped open from the podium, displaying a very confusing and futuristic looking mainframe.
"Yeah. Nope. That's not gonna happen," Cisco fake laughed. There was no way he would be able to hack into that sort of futuristic tech, at least not with the few seconds they had to work with.
"Guys, he's in the corridor."
"Gideon, could you just, like, not tell him that we were here?" Barry asked, and Sophia looked over at him incredulously.
"Of course. I will accept any command given to me by you," Gideon announced, surprising them all.
"Well that was easy," Cisco mused.
"Barry, come on, we gotta go," Sophia said, tugging at his hand. She was starting to come out of the shock of it all, and she knew that they needed to leave, like right now.
"Wait, wait. Why would you accept my commands?"
"Because you created me."
"For very smart people, that was really stupid," Joe berated as they all sat in Barry's lab at the CCPD. Barry had recounted the story, telling Joe of every detail, not to just inform him, but to recap so that they could all digest the information.
It was a hell of a lot, and the two things that Barry kept thinking about the most were the fact that he had been married to Sophia in the future, actually married to her. Just the mere thought of spending the rest of his life with her was beyond blissful, but then finding out that on the 19th of April 2024 that she would die at the hands of the Man in Yellow made him sick to his core. He couldn't imagine how she was feeling right now. He glanced over to her, as she sat on a stool in the corner of the small area they were huddled in. He wanted nothing more than to just pull her in his arms, and whisper sweet nothings in her ear, to promise that he would protect her with his life, to promise that he would do everything in his power to make sure that this future never became reality, but they needed to set the facts straight first, and they needed to make their game plan, otherwise, things would just go down from here.
"What if Wells had caught you in that…" Joe started, but then stopped when he realised he had no words to describe the peculiar room that they had discovered.
"Time vault," Cisco supplied.
"Thank you."
"Okay, I know we've seen a lot this past year, but time travel?" Joe asked and that's when Sophia spoke up.
"Anna can time travel," Sophia said nonchalantly. "Well she doesn't anymore, but she can."
"What?!" Cisco exclaimed, and Caitlin crossed her arms looking over at Sophia with inquisitive eyes.
"Since when?" Joe inquired, jumping up from his seat.
"It's complicated, but the point is, time travel is possible," Sophia said, making her statement clear. She had never told the team of Anna's abilities, out of respect for her friend's privacy…that and with everything that was going on, she was sure that she wanted to keep Anna as far away from their drama as possible.
"I did it," Barry then blurted out, causing everyone's eyes to face him. "Or I will do it, I mean."
"Excuse me?"
"One of the two speedsters in Barry's house the night his mother died was Barry. I mean, The Flash. He was there. Which means that one day in the future, Barry will travel back in time to that night."
"Okay, so that must explain the whole The Flash vanishes article," Sophia said, scratching the side of her head. This was beginning to feel like too much, she was sure that any more talk and her head was going to implode. "That must have been the year that you ran back in time to the night your mother was killed."
"Okay…" Barry dragged the word. "Actually, I wasn't talking about that. I kind of already time travelled… by accident."
"What?" Sophia asked. "When?"
"I was running to try and stop a tsunami from hitting the city…" Barry said, hoping that by telling the truth, he wouldn't screw things up again. "I didn't want to say anything in fear of screwing up the timeline." And at Barry's words, her shoulders relaxed a little. She knew about this sort of crap from Superman, and dealing with Anna's situation. Time was one hell of a tricky thing.
"When was that?" Caitlin asked, she didn't remember that happening.
"A few weeks ago. Right before you started getting those dreams," Barry said, directing the second half of his answer towards Cisco.
"Oh, you mean the ones where Wells uses his super-speeding hand to shred my heart apart after he rips Sophia's out of her chest? Those?" Cisco inquired sarcastically, and Sophia brought her hand up to her chest.
"Yes, right," Barry nodded, remembering that day, and how Sophia's heart had stopped beating.
"So, what if they're not dreams?"
"What else could they be?"
"Memories?" Barry mused hesitantly.
"I'm not following," Joe threw in.
"All right, what if, that day, Cisco and Sophia found out that Wells is the Reverse Flash, and then Wells kills them? But when I ran back a day, I changed the timeline so that never happened."
"If it never happened, how can Cisco remember it?"
"I don't know. I don't know," Barry mumbled.
"I think you're onto something. That day, that would have been the day I had that heart attack. I remember how it felt, the pain… it was like someone was tearing my heart from my chest, it felt supernatural in a way…" Sophia trailed off. "What if I was feeling the mirror effect to the other universe? The same way that Cisco is remembering it? But we just experienced after effects differently?"
"Guys, I think I've got a really bad idea," Cisco announced, and they all gathered round closer to hear his thoughts.
After discussing it with Joe, they decided to go through with the plan. The four youngsters were getting ready to head back to Star Labs to complete some further research and investigation in regards to how they were going to access Cisco's memories without causing any damage to his brain, and retrieve the information they needed carefully.
"I promise, we'll talk about it later," Barry had said to Sophia before they left, pulling her into a tight hug and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'm going to keep you safe." She had nodded into his chest, trying her hardest not to cry, focusing on him, his touch, his scent, and his arms around her, his promise. And in a Flash, they were both sitting in Star Labs, now focusing on working with Cisco and Caitlin on how to proceed with their plan to induce lucid dreaming.
"The theory is that it will allow people to objectively enter their dreams and face their fears."
"Still working on the talking part."
"And you're sure this isn't gonna, you know, mess with my brain?" Cisco asked Caitlin, and she nodded.
"Oh, the amount of electricity required to trigger lucid dreaming is harmless."
"Probably," Barry whispered, to Sophia who bit down on her lip, trying to contain her wide eyes. She was starting to worry that Cisco's idea wasn't so great…or safe for that matter. She would have volunteered, but seeing as though Cisco was the only one who had seen the visions, and had the dreams, it was more likely that he would respond to the lucid dreaming, since the events were erased when Barry ran back and changed the timeline.
"Who's going to be lucid dreaming?" Dr. Wells asked as he rolled into the room, surprising them all. They hadn't even noticed that he was at Star Labs, let alone in the room over.
"Um…" Caitlin froze, unsure of what to say, her eyes comically growing larger by the second as her silence continued. She gulped before fiddling with her fingers for a moment, trying to come up with something to say. "With all of the meta-humans in Central City, some people have been seeing some strange things…"
"Things that they just don't understand," Cisco said.
"And it's really just a matter of time before psychological issues develop. We think that lucid dreaming will help health professionals better understand their fears, at least, that's where we were going with this experiment," Sophia jumped in, catching onto what Cisco was trying to get at.
"Intriguing," Dr. Wells commented. "Of course, you still need to guide the patient from the outside, right? Direct them to a specific aspect of the dream."
"We're still working on a communications interface," Barry said. Both he and Cisco had been trying to work on a way to communicate whilst he was under, so that he could relay information about what was happening and direct them through.
"When we dream, the middle brain lights up with electrical activity, whereas the higher brain remains dormant. Once we find a way to make both parts of the brain active, then it's just a matter of finding the frequency that will stimulate the language centre," Dr. Wells explained, as though he was giving a class. Sophia found it hard to focus on his words when all she could see was the lies and deceit that followed Harrison Wells like a shadow.
"Then the dreamer could speak. He could describe his dream."
"Exactly. Or her dream. It could be used for anyone," Barry fumbled with his words as he tried to cover up Cisco's mistake.
"Right, it's not gender specific."
"I would try a frequency of 45 hertz to start."
"Thank you, Dr. Wells," Caitlin said. Even though he was currently their number one suspect, he was quite useful, and she needed to keep up the impression that everything was normal.
"Well, you two girls never cease to impress me," Dr. Wells said before rolling out of the room and down the hall.
Sophia let out a sigh of relief when he left, slumping slightly against the back wall of the room they were in.
"I need some air," She said, avoiding the worried gazes thrown her way as she left the room. She flew down the hall, and made her way up to the roof, needing the fresh air. She felt claustrophobic in that room, after what Wells said. She remembered something from that day, even though it was in another timeline. That word, impress, it felt like a taunt, and it made her feel sick to her stomach.
She knew that eventually someone would find her up here, and she didn't want to talk to anyone. For now, she just wanted to be alone with her thoughts. She shot up into the air, her body twirling and gliding through the clouds were she escaped for a while, feeling the sun on her skin, and the wind caressing her face, and for once, up in the sky, everything seemed like it would be alright, like the world wasn't going to come crashing down on her.
She felt at peace. She closed her eyes, relaxing her shoulders as she meditated in the clouds, floating away until she felt like coming down.
Barry watched as Sophia left, letting out a deep sigh of regret as he watched her go. He needed to speak to her about what happened this morning. But it never seemed like the right time.
He didn't know what to say, how to say it. He wanted to speak with Joe, get some perspective on it all. That's how he found himself back at the CCPD. What he didn't expect was to run into Captain Singh, who was upset with Barry's lack of work.
"Allen."
"Hey."
"The Owens case. I'm still waiting on the fibre evidence and the ballistics report," Captain Singh said, and Barry clenched his jaw, cursing internally. He knew that he had forgotten something this morning. He had planned to have done it the night before, but with all this Reverse-Flash drama, it had slipped his mind. "Are you on vacation or something?"
"No, I'm so sorry, I've just…" Just as Barry was going to come up with an excuse, Captain Singh's phone chimed, interrupting their conversation. The Captain quickly, pressed the ignore button, turning the tune off. "I've been distracted by another case. Which is no excuse, I just-." Barry continued but was cut off.
"Okay, just get me the reports when you can. There's…there's no rush."
"All right. Uh, Captain? Is everything okay?" Barry asked tentatively. The Captain sighed before replying.
"Yeah, since Rob and I have been planning the, you know, wedding, between the florist and the hundreds of kinds of cake filling and who can sit next to who…" The Captain trailed off, realising that he was starting to blab out all his problems. "Never get married, Allen."
"Right," Barry said, letting out a deep breath, trying not to think of the irony of it all. He knew that he someday in the future he had proposed to Sophia, and she said yes. There was a part of him that was just so elated that no matter what, they would be together… forever. But it scared him as well. Not because he would be married, but because he knew the exact day she would die. He clenched his jaw, trying not to think about it now, turning around only to bump into Iris.
"Oh, Iris," Barry said with a smile.
"Barry. Hey. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. No. Yes. That was… just really weird. Captain Singh was nice to me."
"Oh, well, he's in a good mood. He's about to get married," Iris pointed out with a smile.
"Lucky him. Yeah, I know it's…"
Iris had then asked him if they could talk in private, it was something work related, but Barry knew that he didn't have the time. A second later, Eddie had arrived on the scene, giving Iris a kiss on her cheek, and asking to borrow Barry quickly. Iris sighed, letting Eddie take Barry, letting them know she would be waiting by her father's desk when they were finished.
"What's up?" Barry asked and Eddie just smiled secretly before pulling out a Tiffany & Co. box from his pocket, popping the lid open to show Barry the diamond ring he had bought for Iris. Barry's eyes went wide, and he wondered if the universe hated him. With all this future wedding drama with Sophia, came wedding comments from everyone it seemed today. "Oh. Okay. What did she say?" Barry asked, looking at the ring and then back up at Eddie before realising that he wouldn't have popped the question yet, and have the ring still sitting in the box. "Or, wait, you still have it, so, duh, you haven't asked her yet. Or did you ask her, and she said…" Barry mumbled.
"I was gonna propose tonight," Eddie said, a grin sitting on his lips. He loved Iris West, and he wanted nothing more than to be with her. Since they had gotten over their fight, things were starting to run smoothly again in their relationship, and he knew for months now that she was the one. He was just jittery with overwhelming feelings of nervousness and excitement. He wanted to be with her.
"All right."
"But I went to Joe to ask for his blessing. He said no."
"He did?" Barry frowned.
"Well, at first. And then I kept pestering and eventually he cracked. But he wasn't all that enthusiastic about it at first."
"He'll warm up to the idea. I don't know what to say… good luck. You two deserve each other," Barry said to Eddie, placing his hand on his shoulder and giving it a light squeeze. He was happy that his best friend had someone like Eddie to love her.
"Thanks, Barry. And please, pass on my thanks to Sophia. She helped me choose the ring."
"I will. I'm actually going to go see her now."
Barry ran back to Star Labs, going up to the roof top where he knew that Sophia would be… well at least he thought that's where she would be. But he had found her back at her apartment, curled up in the middle of her bed, hugging a pillow tight to her chest, and holding onto a piece of paper. When Barry moved closer, he noted that it was the drawing that he had made for her on her birthday.
"Barry," Sophia said as she looked up, startled to see him here. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought it was time we had that talk," Barry said, plopping down on the bed next to her. She turned placed the paper on her side table, turning over to face Barry as she sat cross-legged on the bed now.
"What's up?"
"Your hair," Barry stated simply, watching her brown locks gracefully flowing.
"What?" She frowned in confusion.
"No, really, it's sort of floating."
She looked up to see that her hair was sort of levitating around her and she groaned, patting it down. She noted that sometimes when she got extremely stressed, her powers would prevent themselves. Whether that was with glowing eyes, or levitating hair or even her body levitating off the ground.
"Sorry, it happens sometimes."
"I've noticed," Barry said softly, taking her hands in his. "Where do think we should start?" Barry asked, and she looked down, trying to keep her emotions in check.
"I don't know…the fact that we get married in the future, or the fact that I die a few days before you vanish?" Sophia asked, gulping, hoping the pressure would keep her tears at bay.
"You're not going to die," Barry said firmly.
"Barry, you saw the article-,"
"Sophia, I don't care what some article from the future said. You, are not going to die. The future isn't set in stone, and I promise you that I will protect you," Barry's voice was full with such raw emotion, that she couldn't help it as a tear escaped, trickling down her cheek. He brought his hand up to her face, wiping away her tears. "And look on the bright side, in ten years, we'll be married."
"Talk about a spoiler alert." Sophia couldn't help but laugh, a smile breaking out onto her face. Knowing that their love was heading in the direction of being together for life, was a nice idea, and she had to admit that she had thought about it before, as they lay in bed at night, gazing up at his face, and wondering what it would be like to spend the rest of her life with him, and it was something that she was sure she wanted in the future.
"Sophia Allen. It has a nice ring to it doesn't it?" Barry said with a smirk, as he noted the pink blush that shaded her cheeks. Just the look on his face was enough to send her stomach erupting in butterflies, and all of a sudden she felt shy.
"You just like it because it's your name, and I didn't decide to hyphenate."
"Mmm, everyone will know you're mine," Barry said in a low tone, placing his hands on her hips, pulling her closer, as she practically straddled him on her bed.
"Yours?" She asked, leaning forward, her lips inches from his own. Her hand was splayed on his chest and she could feel his heart pumping beneath her fingertips, through the thin material of his shirt.
"Forever, and I'm all yours," He told her, gazing into her eyes with all the love and adoration in the world, melting away all her fears and worries.
With those words she had captured his lips in a loving kiss, slow and smooth, reminding them both of the love they shared. His kiss was like a promise to her that he would always protect her, that even though the universe was basically telling them they couldn't be together, he would make it work. He would cherish her. He would love her. He would fight for her.
"I love you," Sophia whispered against his lips, eliciting a sigh from Barry as he kissed her again, and again and again until they got lost in each other's touch, making sure to tell her how much he loved her.
"Okay, can we go over this one more time?" Cisco asked, looking down at his shaking hands. He was feeling jittery the whole way to the CCPD. Not that he didn't have a hundred and ten per cent faith in his friends, but they had never done this before, and the risk of brain damage was only slightly discouraging.
"Yeah, you put the glasses on, fall asleep, and start dreaming," Barry explained. "Not that hard."
"Yeah, expect I'm pretty sure I die in this dream, and of course, not before witnessing the brutal murder of Sophia," Cisco said through gritted teeth.
"Well, considering everything that's happened today, and the fact that I apparently die in an alternate timeline, and in the future, I'm not entirely phased by that comment, and I hope that doesn't mean that I'm going slightly insane," Sophia said, rubbing her temples. Barry walked over and sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and placing a lingering kiss on her temple.
"If I go back into it, am I gonna die in real life? I mean, what are we talking about here? Is this inception or dreamscape?" Cisco rambled.
"Cisco, breathe. We're going to be guiding you through, and monitoring your vitals the whole way, if there's a risk, we'll pull you out straight away," Sophia tried to reassure him.
"Okay," Cisco sighed in defeat. He needed to get over his fear. He had to go through with this one way or another.
"Here, drink this," Joe said, passing Cisco a drink. "You're gonna be fine, Cisco," Joe told him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, okay."
"The glasses are emitting a low-level delta wave which should help you fall asleep," Caitlin explained as she passed the glasses to him, Cisco looking at them one last time before placing them on and laying down on the metal bench in the middle of Barry's lab. Sophia then moved and pressed a button on the side of the glasses, turning them on, and making sure that Cisco's vitals were normal before they began.
"I got to warn you, though, usually it takes me a long time… I mean…I'm not saying I'm…an insomniac…" Cisco drifted off into sleep within seconds, causing them all to giggle lightly at his behaviour.
"He's entering REM," Caitlin informed as she looked down at her surface tablet, examining the data. "It's working."
"Cisco, can you hear me?" Barry asked as he stood on the other side of the table, near Cisco's head. "You're dreaming, bud."
"Whoa, guys this is mad freaky," Cisco said, his words slightly slurred at first. Sophia figured that was just because of the fact that he had just registered he was dreaming.
"Okay, um, where are you?" Barry asked.
"Um, in the Cortex with Sophia. I mean, I know I'm just dreaming that I'm in the Cortex, but it feels so real." As Cisco went on, his words became clearer, and sharper.
"What is dream you doing?"
"Caitlin just left. I asked her to take Wells to Jitters."
"Why do you want Wells out of the lab?" Sophia asked, her voice as light as a feather in an attempt to keep Cisco in a relaxed state.
"I think he might have tampered with my work. Sophia and I are going to check it out. Okay, okay, we're walking to the bunker," Cisco said, describing what they were doing. "Oh, man, I love this shirt," Cisco said, telling them how dream him was wearing it, and he hadn't seen it in a while. "I thought the dryer ate it."
Sophia snickered at his comment and Barry shook his head telling him to focus on his surroundings.
"Focus, Cisco."
"Okay, okay. Now I'm running tests on the containment system. This data…it doesn't make any sense. The super capacitators were all fully charged, even with Sophia's energy. There's absolutely no reason that the Man in Yellow should have escaped," Cisco said and they all looked up, glancing at each other with wary eyes.
"Oh, my god. He tricked us," Cisco suddenly gasped, and they could see him squirming on the table in fear. "Oh, god, Wells is here. He's gonna hurt us."
"Cisco, it's just a dream. He can't hurt you," Barry reminded him.
"You better be right about that," Cisco said. He then described how Sophia had pushed him back into the containment shield, protected from Wells, and how she then threw up one of her own in front of her.
"Eobard Thawne," Cisco mumbled.
"Thawne? Like Eddie Thawne?" Joe asked, and Sophia shrugged her shoulders, unsure of what it could mean.
"You killed Nora Allen," Cisco said, repeating what he was in the dream.
"Nora? What about my mom?" Barry asked, more alert than before.
"He's confessing," Cisco clarified and Joe watched carefully as he continued.
"Cisco?" Sophia asked, softly.
"He…he didn't want to kill her. It was you Barry. He was trying to kill you. And Sophia, he…he said he was impressed by you, that he created you, that he won't let you get in his way."
"His blood pressure's 20 and his heart rate is 147," Caitlin informed them and Sophia's eyes went wide.
"We need to pull him out," Sophia warned, if they didn't soon he could go into cardiac arrest, or worse, have a stroke.
"He's losing higher brain function."
"Cisco, you're gonna be okay. It's just a dream. You're gonna be okay," Barry reassured, trying to calm him down, but whatever he was seeing in the dreamscape was traumatising enough to keep him on edge.
"He's going to get through the shield. His hand, it's around her neck, he's going to kill her," Cisco started to panic, his blood pressure rising even higher than before, his breathing faster and heavier to match. "Oh, god, he killed her, he ripped her heart out. Oh, god, he's gonna kill me." Barry froze at Cisco's words, hearing that he had ripped her heart out of her chest was more painful than anything, and as he turned his head slowly to look up at his girlfriend, he wished he could say something, he wished that he could apologise, promise her that he would protect her. He had done so only an hour before, promising her that she wouldn't die in the future. But if he couldn't even protect her in the alternate timeline, what made him think he could do that now.
"He's gonna have a stroke. Get him out of there."
"Help me, please!" Cisco yelled out.
"Quickly," Sophia urged, and Caitlin typed away as fast as she could trying to disconnect the device safely before she could remove the glasses.
"Help me!"
"Aah," Cisco gasped as he jumped into a sitting position on the table, his chest heaving. Caitlin pulled off headset and brought Cisco into a hug, holding onto him tight.
"You're okay, it was just a dream. You're okay," Caitlin comforted Cisco.
"Oh, God. It felt so real," He said, dragging a hand down the side of his face.
"Barry?" Sophia called, trying to get his attention as she saw the void look in his eyes.
"My mom. That's why it's my fault," He choked out. He had been the reason his mother was in danger. Because the Reverse-Flash wanted to kill him, not his mother. He had been the cause of her death. He felt this enormous weight sitting inside his chest. Not only had he been the one to cause his mother's death, but in the other timeline, he had let Sophia and Cisco get killed. He had let the one person he loved more than anything in this world, murdered by the same man who had killed his mother.
"Bar," Sophia reached out to him, to comfort him, to tell him it wasn't his fault. "It's not your fault. It's not, I swear to god-" Sophia didn't get to finish her sentence when Barry's phone went off.
"Hello?" Barry picked up the phone, still dazed from what had transpired only moments ago.
"Barry." It was Harrison Wells Eobard Thawne. "Barry are you there?" Dr. Wells asked, as he was met with silence.
"Dr. Wells," Barry said aloud, causing everyone's eyes to follow him. "Yeah. It's…sorry, yeah. It's…it's a bad connection right now."
"Where have you been? And, Sophia too. I haven't been able to get a hold of her either."
"Uh, we're together. Why? What's going on?" Barry asked.
"A fire. A huge fire just erupted."
"A fire? Where?"
"Bradford Tower High-Rise," Harrison informed.
"I know that building. That's where Captain Singh's fiancé works. We're on our way."
Sophia sent a wave of energy into the window of the building on the 21st floor, shattering the glass, leaving shards littering the floor. She flew inside, picking up as many civilians as she could at once, placing them in a bubble and flying them down to the ground outside safely. She continued to do this whilst Barry spoke with Wells, trying to figure out what to do. The sprinklers weren't working, and there were too many people up here. They needed to eradicate the fire.
It was so widespread that Sophia wouldn't be able to do much, but help those that were stuck, escape.
"Dr. Wells, please, what do I do?" Barry was desperate and he felt sick that he had to ask this man for help. But if it meant that these people would leave here alive today, then he would do it.
"You create a vacuum. Rotate your arms at super-speed. That'll create a wind funnel that will suck the air right out of the room."
"It's making it worse," Barry yelled as he did what he said. He had moved his arms at an inhumane speed, creating what looked like a horizontal tornado to try and get rid of the fire, but it just wasn't working.
"Barry, listen to me. You need to move your arms faster," Dr. Wells instructed. Sophia had just sent down another person, and as she was about to fly across the hall to grab another woman who was crying by the water-fountain, she listened in on the conversation. She looked over at Barry, sending him a smile.
"Barry, you can do this. I believe in you," Sophia said. "I believe in you."
Her words seemed to ignite some sort of faith inside of him, and he tried his best, moving his arms faster, rotating them clockwise as he created the vacuum again, this time, and successfully putting out the fire as Sophia brought down the last person stuck in the building, landing on the ground safely.
He met her on the ground, and she threw a proud smile his way before they made their way back to Star Labs.
Barry was back in Star Labs, changed out of his scarlet suit, and donning a pair of dark wash jeans and his signature blue plaid shirt, one that Sophia loved oh so much. And he smirked as he noticed her ogling. If had been anyone else he would have reacted with a shy smile or flushed cheeks, but at this point in their relationship, it was very much welcomed and he sent a wink her way once he had noticed, taking the time to also check her out. She was now dressed in tight fitted black jeans, ripped at the knees, and she wore a simple denim blue button down on top. It was simple and effortless, but it made her look like she was a goddess in his eyes.
And just like that, his good mood had disappeared as soon as Wells started to speak.
"Mr. Allen. Tonight, at the fire, I saw hesitation. I saw you doubting yourself. Why is that?" Dr. Wells inquired.
"I don't know. Uh, I guess I was afraid I couldn't save everyone."
"Right. But if there is anything that I have learned in our time together, Barry, it is that the only thing standing in the way of you achieving every goal that you set for yourself, is you. There is no limit to how strong you will get or how fast you will go. Everything that you need, you already have," Dr. Wells said, and just as his last sentence rolled off his tongue, Sophia walked into the room and Barry couldn't help but think that it was perfect timing. As though she was the reminder, that he was doing this not just for himself, not for the safety of others, not just to avenge his mother, not just to release his father, but for her. To protect her, and in turn, protect his future life with her.
"Thank you, Dr. Wells."
"You know, I couldn't have done any of this without you," Barry said as Sophia came to stand next to him.
"I feel the same way about you. Both of you."
Sophia did her very best to crack a smile, and make things seem normal, but all she could see when she looked at Harrison Wells, was a murderer. She didn't know how Barry was fairing right now, and she prayed that his strength would be enough for the both of them.
"It's so strange. I mean, I look at him now, and I know that he killed my mom and he sent my dad to jail, but I mean, sometimes he's just so kind in the moment, I actually like him," Barry said. It felt weird, to say it out loud, but he knew that deep down, once things moved further he probably wouldn't see things this way. "But you never did." Barry's words were directed at Joe, who had his arms crossed, and a frown on his face.
"No," Joe stated simply, causing Barry to grin.
"No," Sophia laughed joining in. "At least, not anymore."
"Well, at least we know how to trap him. In Cisco's dream, he confessed to everything. If we can just recreate those conditions, he'll do it again."
"Man, Bar. Taking down bad guys, pulling confessions. I'm the cop. I'm the one that's supposed to be doing this," Joe said, keeping a light tone, but the heavy weight of his words, let Barry know that Joe was feeling slightly guilty.
"Look, if we're gonna get him to confess, it has to be with someone that he truly trusts, someone that he'll genuinely let his guard down with."
"He thinks of Cisco as a son, it has to be him," Sophia suggested.
"Well, then we need to do a better job protecting him than I did protecting you."
"I'm not sure what that means," Barry said, his brows furrowing in confusion.
"Barry, this is all because of me," Joe said.
"No." Barry shook his head in disagreement.
"I never should've let Wells take you from that hospital. None of this would have happened."
"If you hadn't let him take me, I would be dead, for sure."
"But even then, I knew something wasn't right. Everything in my gut was telling me not to trust him, but I did, because I was so desperate to see you okay."
"Joe, this isn't your fault. It's not your fault," Barry pressed.
"Everything bad that has happened to us, all of it… it was him. None of you are to blame," Sophia finally spoke up, and the two looked at her. "And I promise you both, now that we know who he really is, he's gonna pay."
And with that, Sophia stalked out of the room, ready to go make some preparations, she wasn't going to let Wells get away again.
Sophia practiced for hours on end down at the abandoned air strip, wielding her energy, practicing different techniques, manoeuvres and more in an attempt to push herself to her limits. She now knew that Wells had been able to phase through her shields in the alternate universe, according to Cisco's tales. She wasn't going to let it happen again. She was going to make sure that he stayed down.
With sweat trickling down her forehead, and her body sore from the extensive training, she sat down for a quick break, downing a full bottle of water. She panted as she tried to bring her heart rate down, taking a look at her watch and seeing the time. It was just after 11pm at night. She wondered what the team was doing right now. She knew that they were planning something to get Wells to confess tomorrow, by recreating the scene with Cisco, but she wondered if she would be involved. She knew that she wanted to be there regardless, but her brain kept replaying the pain of having her heart ripped out of her chest, and the fact that she died in the future and at the hands of the same man struck a sense of fear in her heart that she hadn't felt before.
It made her feel weak. It was a feeling that she never wanted to have to endure again.
So she continued her practice and training into the early hours of the morning, flying around, exploding things, creating shields and barriers until she was tired to the bone. The alarm on her watch went off, indicating that it was now two am. She groaned, lying flat on the concrete ground of the airstrip, her eyes staring up at the starry night.
She didn't realise how exhausted she really was. And not just physically, but emotionally. The last few weeks had been a constant tirade of death and destruction, secrecy and silence. She wasn't sure how she was coping with this. For any normal person, it would have been debilitating at the very least, but then again she wasn't exactly normal, not anymore. She didn't realise that she had been a meta-human for so long now, that it was nearing a full year of being different. Sophia was brought out of her thoughts when her phone rang. She reluctantly pushed herself up off the ground to go grab it from her backpack that was a few meters away, flying towards it as she was too lazy to actually use her legs and walk over there.
She opened it up to see that it was Clark calling. She sighed, picking up the phone, hoping to hear some good news. She had spoken to him a few days ago in the hopes that Anna's condition would have improved, but he hadn't been able to tell her anything, leaving them both down as they waited for Anna to come back.
"Hey, Clark."
"Sophia, how are you?"
"As well as I can be, I guess. The last few days have been quite… insane," Sophia said, running a hand through her hair, realising that it had grown quite a bit in the past few months, and was now at least a good two inches past her shoulder. It reminded her that after all this mess was dealt with she needed to get it cut, preferring the short locks over the longer look she was running with now. "And you?"
"It's been quite the day actually, and that's why I called," Clark said. "I'm coming over for a quick visit, I've got a surprise for you."
"What?" Sophia asked in confusion, and a moment later, she felt the rush of wind, and two pairs of feet landing on the ground behind her. She turned around slowly, to see Clark in his suit, as Superman, and Anna standing next to him, with tears in her eyes and a bright smile on her face, and a look of recognition as she saw Sophia.
"Soph, it's me," Anna said, walking towards her.
"You remember?" Sophia nearly yelped in excitement, rushing towards her friend despite her lack of energy, and wrapping her in a tight hug, the two girls holding onto each other and crying tears of happiness. Sophia placed a kiss on Anna's cheek, smiling widely.
"I remember," Anna replied. She had a lot of explaining to do, and she wanted to do it in person. Knowing that Sophia was dealing with a lot lately, she had made sure to ask Clark to bring her to Central City, finding that it would be better than dragging Sophia to Metropolis yet again. Anna would have come on her own, but as she was still recovering, she knew that she shouldn't exert herself too much with her powers.
"How about we take this, somewhere a bit warmer?" Clark suggested. It was freezing out, and though it didn't affect him, he knew that Anna and Sophia would start to feel the cold soon.
"Sorry, yes, we can go back to my apartment," Sophia said and within a few minutes, they were up in the air, Sophia leading the way as Clark flew with Anna in his arms, downtown through Central City and into Anna's apartment.
Upon arrival, Sophia apologised for the mess that was her apartment. She had found that in between all the craziness going on, she hadn't had enough time to tidy up. She made a quick dash into her bedroom to wash off the smell and sweat of training whilst Anna and Clark sat in her kitchen, enjoying a hot beverage, and Anna getting reacquainted with Chewie, who seemed to be excited that Anna had returned.
Walking back into the room, now dressed in a comfortable pair of track-suit pants, and a grey jumper, Sophia sat across from the two, pouring herself a cup of tea.
"So, when did this all happen?"
"This morning actually. I woke up, and something just felt different. I remembered… everything," Anna said. Clark had a smile attached to his face the entire time, he seemed to be enamoured by Anna's happiness, and Sophia's eyes twinkled as she watched the two interact with their quick glances, and their secret smiles.
"That's such a relief," Sophia laughed, wiping a stray tear from her eye.
"It really is," Clark threw in. Both Lois and Jimmy had also been desperately worried about Anna, always trying their best to help her remember, and before that, doing everything they could to aid in the capture of Ellain and Amara. Clark was just glad that those two were locked up, leaving Anna to heal in peace, not having to look over her shoulder in the fear that they would be lurking, ready to pounce.
"Well, I think you have a lot of explaining to do, missy," Sophia said, as she crossed her arms and looked over at Anna.
"Hey, there now, no need to be so haughty, you didn't tell me you had powers either," Anna pointed out in a teasing tone.
"Yeah, but let's be real, you had them way before I did, plus, you disappeared for months and I had no way of communicating with you, so it was a bit hard," Sophia threw back at her friend with a grin.
"You know what, I'm going to let you two have this conversation in private. Just let me when you're ready to leave," Clark said to Anna, placing his hand on her shoulder as he walked into Sophia's living room and sitting down on her couch, giving them enough privacy.
"So, who goes first?"
"You," Sophia said, leaning over the bench as Anna got into the detailed story of her insane life. She spoke of how she was born with her powers, and they only developed once she hit a certain age. She was a bit vague when it came to telling the story of her going into travelling back and forth between the past, present and the future. Anna said it was mostly hard to understand, so she would go into depth later when they had more time. Anna mostly spoke about why she had gone to the future in the first place. Apparently she came from a long line of time travellers, though her parents didn't have the gene, but her great grandmother did, and that's where she got it from. It was her destiny to travel through time to protect people. That's how she found herself in the future, receiving tutelage from a man named Ellain Knight. But, something had happened between the two, he had changed sides, and he decided that he wanted to use his power for something greater than helping people, at least in his eyes. He desired Anna's power and ached to have her work alongside him, but when she refused, and travelled back to the past to live her life as normal, and hide from him, he decided otherwise, and thus began his hunt for her with his new companion Amara, who had an affinity for technology and invisibility.
Anna then went to explain how in the future, she had met Superman, and how he had helped her along the way, and in escaping Ellain the first time around. It was when he made an appearance in the 21st Century, at her home in Central City that she knew she had to flee. That's when Anna had faked her death, reaching out for the help of Superman in this century, hoping that she would be able to convince him to help her. And from there, Sophia knew the rest of the story. How she had been attacked, lost her memory and more. The puzzle was starting to form together, piece by piece as Anna continued to speak. Anna even explained to Sophia how her powers worked, the fact that not only was she able to travel through time, she was able to teleport as well, moving from one distance to another, as long as she could picture the place in her mind, she was able to go there.
Sophia's mouth was agape most of the time, unable to picture Anna of all people with such power. But nonetheless, she was impressed with the strength Anna continued to emit through her behaviour, especially after all that had happened to her.
Sophia then took the opportunity to tell Anna everything that had been going on in Central City. And she meant…everything. Of course, she had omitted the names that were associated with the vigilantes, and heroes that she knew, but she had told Anna mainly of what was happening with Dr. Wells, how they thought he was from the future, how she had seen an article that had said she had died…everything. Anna hadn't known any of it, having been way past 2024 when she travelled, and was surprised to hear of the news.
"Wow, that's…" Anna trailed off, unsure of what to say after she heard all the drama that Sophia had been suffering through.
"Confusing, I know," Sophia sighed, taking a sip of her drink. "I'm just glad that you're alright."
"Likewise. I missed you," Anna said, giving Sophia a soft smile. Anna's eyes then drifted to the clock sitting in the corner of the room, indicating that it was nearing four am. They had been sitting and chatting for just over two hours even though it felt like much longer.
"I better be going, I need to rest up. Doctor's orders," Anna told Sophia, standing up and moving over to her, to bring her into a hug.
"Promise that you'll visit again soon?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."
And with that Anna went to wake up Clark who had snoozed off on the couch while he was waiting. The two left, waving goodbye as they flew off into the night and back to Metropolis. Sophia sighed, turning the lights off in her apartment and trudged back to her bed, belly flopping in the middle of the soft mattress and drifting off into a peaceful sleep in an instant, finally feeling a bit of the weight lifted off her shoulders, ready to get some sleep and tackle the day ahead with an open mind.
Sophia's alarm had blared at eleven am, and with closed hers, she felt around for her phone, tapping the snooze button yet again. She knew that she didn't have to be in Star Labs for a while, and it was a great feeling being able to sleep in.
After getting up and making some breakfast for herself, she was greeted with a lovely phone call from Barry, giving her the quick download of today's plans. Cisco had already set up the trap down in the lab, and everything was coming together. She could hear Barry's nerves over the phone, and she reassured him that everything would be fine.
"We've come this far, we can do this." She told him, receiving a sigh in response. "I've got to get changed. I'll meet you there in an hour."
"See you there, sweetheart." And with that Barry hung up and Sophia was on the move.
"I've reversed the force field to keep a speedster from getting in," Cisco announced, proud of his work. Sophia admired the force field, appreciating it in every way possible. It looked very similar to that of her own, the bright blue contrasting against the dark metallic colour of the room.
"Back up," Barry told them, and everyone took a step back to the left, while Barry ran at it in full speed, his body rebounding off it and flying backwards onto the ground.
"Barry, are you okay?" Caitlin asked.
"Ah," He groaned, sitting up. "It works."
"In the other universe, Sophia had actually managed to alter it so that no Meta could get in at all, but I forgot how we did it. It was fun to watch her fly at it as well," Cisco mused and Sophia whacked him on the back of the head.
"Thanks for enjoying my pain," Sophia said sarcastically, crossing her arms.
"No worries, sister."
"Okay, as long as I'm inside, Wells won't be able to get near me."
"And I will be in the Cortex watching and recording everything that happens," Caitlin said.
"And Barry and I will be on stand-by, in case something goes wrong. We're not going to let anything happen to you, Cisco," Sophia said. She had found that her training had paid off. She had asked Barry upon arrival, to try and phase through one of her shields, and he hadn't been able to, so she hoped that was the same for Eobard Thawne. Cisco and Sophia had discussed it earlier, and decided it would be better to have only Cisco there for Wells to confront, and though Sophia disagreed with this, Barry had supported the idea as well, not wanting her in harms way. She figured it was just because of the dream, but she knew that there was no way she wasn't going to be in the room. If they didn't want her by Cisco's side, that was fine, but she was going to stay regardless.
"And as soon as we get the confession, we need to free my dad," Barry said.
"So what do I do?" Eddie questioned, feeling quite useless at the moment.
"Wells also threatened Iris, so if something goes wrong here, we need you to keep an eye on her until Wells is neutralised," Joe told Eddie. He was trusting his daughter's life with Eddie, and seeing as though the detective was going to propose, Joe thought it was fitting.
"I'll always keep Iris safe, Joe," Eddie promised, before walking out of the room, ready to go and do just that.
Sophia walked over to Barry who looked anxious. She couldn't even begin to wonder what was running through his head right now.
"You feeling nervous?"
"Yeah, I just want everything to go according to plan, you know," Barry said, wringing his hands together. Sophia looked down, noticing this and grabbed his hands, holding them with her own.
"It's alright to be nervous, but remember what I said to you earlier. We can do this," Sophia told him. "After all that's happened, all that is still happening, I believe in us, as a team. We have the power to stop him, all you have to do is believe in it," Sophia said, letting out a breath. Barry didn't say anything for a moment, just continued to gaze into her eyes, a smile slowly peeling away on his face.
"I think with you by my side, anything is possible," Barry said, and she laughed, pulling him in for a tight hug, resting her head against his chest, as he tucked her head underneath his chin, holding her close and breathing in her scent.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
"Hello, Dr. Wells," Caitlin greeted as she watched him roll into the room. "How was your lecture?" She asked, trying to keep the conversation casual, hoping he wouldn't suspect a thing.
"Oh, boring, tedious."
"Platitudinous?" Caitlin supplied.
"Couldn't have said it better myself," He replied with a smile. "Um, where… where's Cisco?" Dr. Wells asked, looking around to see that it was only Caitlin in the cortex. He had been informed that Barry and Sophia would be taking the day off, but he had expected to see Cisco lurking around as per usual.
"Uh, he is in the bunker," Caitlin said. "He thinks he finally figured out what went wrong at Christmas. You know, when we were trying to catch the Reverse-Flash?" Caitlin said, watching his expression carefully.
"Yes, I remember that night," Dr. Wells replied stiffly. "Well, did he say what he's found?"
"Nope, just that it was important," Caitlin continued, hoping that the vague words would peak his interest.
"Hmm. Good for Cisco."
"Um… okay," Caitlin was unsure of what to say to that.
"Well, maybe I'll wheel on down there, see what he's got," Dr. Wells suggested, moving out of the room before Caitlin could even utter the word Okay.
"Here he comes," Caitlin warned through the ear piece that only a select few could hear.
Sophia was crouched behind one of the super capacitors, with Barry and Joe by her side, watching carefully as they expected to see Dr. Wells wheel into the room, but alas, they had been wrong. He zoomed into the room, leaving a rush of air in his wake, waking towards Cisco who was just in front of the force field, ready to jump in when the time called for it.
Wells started to clap, and Cisco was eerily brought back to his dream where this had all happened once before.
"Hello, Cisco. You've been busy," Dr. Wells said, causing everyone to watch him with careful eyes. "You really are incredibly clever, Cisco. I've always said it."
"You're him. The Reverse-Flash," Cisco managed to squeak out. Even though he knew that he was pretty safe in this situation, with the force field behind him to protect him in a moment's notice, and two superheroes on stand-by the fear, was still there. "Joe was right this whole time, wasn't he?"
"Good ol' Joe. Joe West had his doubts all along. Even from that first night in the hospital, Joe knew something wasn't right. Cops…as inconvenient now as they will be in a hundred years."
"Come on, Cisco. We need a confession," Barry whispered to himself and Sophia placed her hand in his, holding onto it tight for support as he threw a worried glance her way.
"You killed Barry's mother. I want to know why," Cisco asked directly, his words coming out stronger than before.
"It was never my intention to kill Nora. But from my perspective, she was already dead. It just happened sooner than it was supposed to."
"No. That's not an admission," Barry cursed under his breath.
"Oops," Dr. Wells said with a light tone.
"You're not gonna get away with this."
"I'm not gonna get away with it?"
"Oh, you're smart. You're smart, Cisco," Dr. Wells said as he watched Cisco from the inside of the force field, taking a step forward. "But you're not that smart." Wells walked through the force field, leaving Cisco shaking in fear, with wide eyes as he watched him to what was meant to be the impossible.
"Cisco!" Sophia yelled, getting up from her position. Wells had just breached the field and she wasn't going to let her friend die.
"No!" Barry yelled out as Joe fired his gun at Wells, to prevent him from attacking Cisco. Barry ran at super-speed, catching two of the bullets in the palm of his hand, throwing them to the ground, but one last stray bullet had just flown out of his grasp and he yelled out shock as Wells collapsed to the ground, the bullet wounds bleeding out as his body lay on the ground, eyes glued shut. "He didn't confess," Barry whispered out in a voice of defeat.
"Cisco, are you okay?" Sophia asked, as they turned the force field off, gathering around the dead body of Dr. Wells.
"Yeah. I'm never gonna sleep ever again, but, yeah, I'm okay," Cisco told her, as she pulled him into a quick hug.
"He's dead. He didn't confess. Joe, this was it. My dad's gonna be in prison forever," Barry cried out, punching the wall in anger, pain crying out in his knuckles.
"Barry, I'm sorry," Joe said with a solemn tone. This was the last move, and they had just lost the game.
"Hey, uh… Woah, what the hell?" Cisco yelled out, causing them all to glance over and see the body that was Harrison Wells, morph into Hannibal Bates original form.
"I told you this before. I am always one step ahead… Flash," The voice of Harrison Wells, aka Eobard Thawne, rang out in the room, sending shivers down their spines. They thought they had caught him in a trap, when in reality it had been the other way around.
"Allow me to reintroduce you to Mr. Hannibal Bates and his incredibly ability to transform into any person he touches. I knew that ability would come in handy. I did not expect it to come in handy this soon."
"You used him!" Barry yelled out into the void, knowing very well that Harrison could hear him. "Like you used all of us!"
"Well, he served a purpose. Didn't take much convincing. Just the simple promise of his freedom."
"You ruined my life. All your lives! We stood by you after everything that happened."
"I can see how this must be difficult for you to understand, but trust me, your lives are now so much better because of what I have done for you. Especially, you're girlfriends, she was nothing in the future, I made her," Wells said ominously.
"You don't have to hide anymore," Joe called out. "We know you're not Harrison Wells."
"A confession will get you nowhere."
"You've seen who I am. You know what I can do. You want to kill me, go ahead. I'm not gonna fight you. But just tell the police what you did, get my dad out of prison." The desperation in Barry's voice alone was enough to break Sophia's heart.
"We know who you are Eobard, there's no escaping it now. Just help Barry," Sophia pleaded. She knew that he was a psychopath for sure, but she hoped that deep down, there had been some sort of humanity inside of him, that it wasn't just an act.
"I don't want to kill you, Barry. I need you. And… I also did not anticipate, as difficult as the past 15 years have been for me, how much I would come to love working with you all," He said, and Sophia clenched her jaw at his words. "With all of you. And yet, that does not change what needs to happen."
"Then face us, stop being a coward," Sophia yelled angrily into the distance, and Cisco watched her with admiring eyes, noting how in this moment she was the definition of "Fight me".
"Oh, we will face each other again. I promise you. Soon."
Cisco's phone vibrated, and as he looked down he saw the location of Wells.
"Very, very soon."
"He's in the time vault!" Cisco yelled and Barry rushed over there in a second, leaving the others behind, meeting them in the cortex.
"It was all a set-up. We thought we set a trap for him, but he set a trap for us."
"Shit," Sophia cursed, her eyes glowing cobalt out of anger. She wanted to hit something, preferably Wells, but she knew that wasn't going to happen. He wasn't ready to fight them, not yet.
"Iris," Joe breathed out. "We have to find Iris."
"Why?"
"Wells. He's been watching all of us," Barry explained. "He has surveillance footage set up everywhere. Our homes, my lab at the police station, Central City Picture News."
"Cisco, call me when you have a location," Barry said, rushing out in an attempt to find Eddie and Iris in the city, with Sophia along his side.
Sophia took to the air, flying over to the location that Cisco had directed her to, landing on the bridge where Iris stood, only to see Barry run past them both, leaving a trail of yellow electricity behind as he attempted to follow the red that was sparking across the city, in an attempt to retrieve Eddie who had just been kidnapped.
"Are you alright?" Sapphire asked, placing her hand on Iris's shoulder. Her eyes travelled across Iris, relieved that she wasn't injured, but the girl's face said it all. Confusion, anger, despair, it was all evident on Iris's face.
"I'm fine, b-but, the Reverse-Flash, he took Eddie. He took my fiancé," Iris whimpered, looking down at the diamond ring on her finger. He had just proposed only a moment ago, slipping the delicate piece of jewellery on her finger and within seconds, he was ripped from her grasp, taken away by the man this city feared the most. Sophia let out a shaky breath as well, but she looked Iris in the eye, trying to comfort her as best as she could in this form.
"I promise you, we'll get him back, I promise."
A / N – The cat is out of the bag.
Wells knows that they know that he isn't the real Wells. GAH.
I've been waiting for this moment for so long, I am so excited as we reach the final chapters of this story. There are approximately 3 more chapters to go til this wraps up tight. I will try my very best to have them out on time. I can't believe that I have managed to get this story out without any delays. Always a new update once a week. It's been hard, but I am so glad that I stuck to it.
Also a reminder, don't forget to follow NEW ROMANTICS it's an AU series of one-shot stories for Barry and Sophia, and the rest of the Flash gang. I will be posting short stories there to keep you all occupied while I work on the sequel.
Also a massive shout out to every single follower, favourite(r) and reviewer. You are all amazing, beautiful people and I love you. This story has over 30,000 hits, 150 reviews and an amazing 189 follows. I never thought in my wildest dreams that this story would be such a hit, and I am so glad that you've all come along for the journey.
Love you all. Keep reviewing!
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Turtlekier42: Thank you for the support. I mean I liked that chapter and all but felt it was lacking something… anyways, this one was much more exciting to write, hope you like it!
CuteGlasses: I actually laughed while writing that. It clicked in Sophia's head that it wasn't really Barry when he smirked at her. She knew that if the REAL Barry had done that, regardless he would say something not just stand there. PLUS with Hannibal Bates on the loose, it wasn't that hard to connect the dots. I'd like to think that she was taking her frustration out on him when she knocked him out so violently. Like there were plenty of ways to "disable" him of sorts, but she went ahead and blasted him with energy and punched him into unconsciousness. Oh the feels. Yeah, I mentioned it like in the first few chapters of the story, that her godmother was the D.A. I didn't mention names, but then that was revealed this time, with Cecile in the episode. Glad that you enjoyed it! Thanks for the review, as always.
Natalie: GIRL. 4 Reviews from you this time round. Always supportive and exciting as ever. Thanks love. For sure, I'm going to be introducing another villain in the sequel SPECIFICALLY for Sophia. Still working the logistics, but I'll probably end up having that villain team up with Zoom. I haven't actually thought about a face-claim for Sophia, but if it had to be like anyone, probably Chloe Bennet. NOT that Sophia looks exactly like her, but they share similar features, so that's sort of a picture you could use, if you wanted to. But Sophia's probably a bit taller than her, and she has freckles… and there are a few differences. BUT she is the closest.
RHatch89: Thanks for the review! Loving all the support, you guys are too great.
CRAZYJAMES1: Sarry is their ship name indeed! All abort the Sarry ship. Glad that you enjoyed the chapter, hope you like this one.
Kindleflame5: I haven't had them move in together yet, because I want to save that for the sequel, but they pretty much spend all their time together. Barry is at her apartment most nights because she has the privacy of her own place, and they don't want to intrude on Joe all the time, but occasionally she will have a sleepover at the West household.
Witchbaby300: I am screaming too! I missed your reviews, glad to see you're still here and ready to fangirl about Sarry! (P.S. I have fallen behind in my writing as well because of UNI work and also Netflix (which is bad) but I can't help it, so no judging here girl). YES, HOW INSANE IS THAT, ALSO I really am eager to see what you think about my alterations to the timeline! I WOULD TOTALLY but I didn't want to get Barry/Sophia in an angsty fight again, there's so much drama going on, I didn't want to add to it, plus I thought it would be a super cute scene where he reassures her that he would never do that. More superman this time round! Yes, I started writing this story before the crossover had aired, and I didn't realise, but I don't really care, and I wanted to have them all in the same universe, so that I can introduce JUSTICE LEAGUE elements later on. Hope you loved this chapter, and thank you for your review, it seriously made me smile!
Shadowhunters12: Again, thanks for all your support with this story. And the drama continues… and its basically not going to stop. Iris did frustrate me in that episode, but then I put myself in her shoes. She doesn't know what's going on, so it's not her fault for being upset with Eddie, after all he is keeping a secret. But don't worry, she is definitely going to redeem herself. I also changed things so that Eddie does actually get the chance to propose, and she has the ring on her finger. Yeah, I wanted to bring that side out in Sophia, to show case how much she actually loves Barry, that she's terrified of losing him in any way, shape or form. Well, he did, but I decided not to write it… the chapter was getting quite long, and I was getting lazy, but yeah. Also I thought it was hilarious that she asked that question. Hope this episode answers some of those questions, ALSO it's not completely revealed what exactly is written on the article as they don't have enough time, later on in another chapter or two, more information is discovered, and let's just say… it's a bit devastating.
Heroherondale. X