Hello! I'm back with another chapter.
This chapter should pretty much wrap up the Civil War. It will go all the way to the end of the clash in Siberia. The rescue from the Raft won't take place for another three chapters though. There will be at least two chapters before the Raft rescue. One of them, you probably won't expect.
Alright. Let's get down to business.
willdawg992003: I didn't mean that Barry hates Ross more than any of his other enemies. He just hates him in a way he didn't hate the others, mainly because his antagonism with Ross is different. As opposed to his other enemies, Ross hates him and has had him imprisoned for no other reason than Savitar followed Barry to this Earth and Ross got caught in the conflict, and because Barry wants to be able to actually save people. Their relationship is just different, and what Ross is doing just irks Barry in a way nothing else has. So, while he doesn't hate Ross more than the Reverse Flash, he hates him in a way he didn't hate the Reverse Flash.
Chapter 25- Siberia
Cisco shifts uncomfortably in his seat on the helicopter. Tony is sitting across from him and Jay, listening to a briefing by his AI assistant about a guy named Zemo, and somebody named James Buchanan Barnes.
Finally, Tony says, "Get this to Ross." Cisco finally sees a chance to get some information out of Tony.
"Okay. What is going on here?" he demands.
"Okay. Let me start from the beginning. A law was recently passed requiring superheroes to register with and work under the supervision of the UN. Barry decides not to. But, the signing of this law was bombed. We thought it was James Barnes, also known as the Winter Soldier. Now, it looks like it was this guy Zemo," Tony says.
"So Barry got thrown in prison why?" Cisco demands.
"He decided not to sign the law, and tried to go against it," Tony says simply. Both Cisco and Jay feel suspicious, knowing there had to be more to the story than Tony was letting on.
They fly on in silence, until a transmission comes over the radio. "Mr. Stark, this is Raft prison control. You are cleared for landing."
Cisco and Jay look out of the window of the helicopter. And they watch in amazement as a massive facility just rises out of the water.
Massive doors on the top of the facility open up, and the helicopter lowers through it, landing on a helipad inside the facility.
Tony opens the door and leads Cisco and Jay out of the helicopter. Ross walks up to meet them.
"Did you get the files? Let's get the satellites up, start facial scanning for this Zemo guy," Tony says.
"You seriously think I'm gonna listen to you after that fiasco in Leipzig. You're lucky you're not in one of these cells," Ross answers.
This chills Cisco, who quickly realizes this is not a guy to be trusted. He looks around at what he can see of the place, and does not like what he sees. Yeah, there's definitely more to the situation than what Tony is saying.
"Who are these two?" Ross asks suspiciously, looking at Cisco and Jay.
"You know that Allen is from another Earth in the multiverse. Well, this is Cisco Ramon from his Earth, and Jay Garrick, a speedster friend of Allen's from another Earth," Tony says.
Ross eyes both of them warily. Cisco can just tell that the fact they know Barry is enough to make him distrust them. He's liking this guy less and less by the minute.
"Why are you here?" Ross demands in a dangerous tone as he looks at them.
"Our friend. Barry Allen. We've come for him. To take him home," Jay responds confidently, unfazed by the threatening tone in Ross' voice.
Ross eyes the two of them, uncertain. Tony speaks up and says, "Come on, Ross. This is what you wanted. To get Allen out of the picture. We let him go back to his Earth, and he stays there."
Cisco looks at Tony. What does he mean by this Ross wanting Barry out of the picture?
Ross looks at Cisco and Jay. He seems to be weighing his options. Finally, he asks, "Can you guarantee that Allen won't come back to this Earth?"
"Without me opening a breach for him, it's extremely difficult for Barry to get to a specific Earth. And I promise to keep an eye on him," Cisco says.
Ross continues to look at Cisco and Jay warily. Finally, he says, "Very well. Stark, take them to Allen's cell. Mr. Ramon, Mr. Garrick, you make sure that Allen gets off this Earth within 24 hours."
Cisco and Jay both breathe a sigh of relief. Tony walks past Ross, and Cisco and Jay both follow him.
Tony leads them through the facility, then leads them into a cell block. As they reach the door, Tony hands them a key car and says, "That'll open his cell. I need to go talk to some other people in here. I'll meet you back at the helipad in 10 minutes." He then walks off.
Upon entering the block, Cisco and Jay freeze. The cells are relatively small, but larger than the ones in the pipeline. Although there's nothing obviously wrong with them as compared to normal prison cells, something about this place just doesn't feel right.
Cisco looks around at the cells. One contains a bearded man, who honestly looks bored as he bounces a tennis ball against the wall.
There are a few more empty cells, then Cisco freezes. One of the last cells on the left holds a young woman, looking to be in her mid 20s. She looks like she would normally be very beautiful, but now she looks pale, and her hair is a little ratty. More than that, she's stuck in a straitjacket, with a collar around her neck that looks similar to the anti-metahuman collars they use on Earth-1.
Cisco stares at the young woman. He wants nothing more to let her go. But more than that, he just wants to get out of this place.
"Allen," Jay says. Cisco turns slightly, and in the cell next to the young woman's, Barry is lying on a cot, staring at the ceiling. He's also wearing a blue prison outfit.
"Barry!" Cisco calls out. Barry freezes, then lifts his head up, and to his shock, sees Cisco and Jay standing outside his cell. He quickly leaps to his feet.
"Cisco! Jay! What are you doing here?" Barry demands.
"We've been looking for you. Harry managed to figure out earlier today what world you were on, so me and Jay came looking for you," Cisco says.
Barry walks up to the bars. "Why did it take you so long to find me?" Barry asks.
"I don't know. But what I do know is that even though you've been on this Earth for a year, to us, you've only been gone for two weeks," Cisco explains.
"Wait? Only two weeks. Why is there such a big time difference?" Barry asks.
"I'm not yet sure why. But do you remember when you met Supergirl? You said you were on her Earth for a full day, but to us you were only gone for a few seconds," Cisco says.
Barry stands there, then slowly nods. "Yeah. You're right," he says.
"Come on. We need to get you out of here. A friend of yours, Tony, managed to convince this guy named Ross to let you out, provided we take you home," Cisco says.
Barry scowls. "Tony's not my friend. Not anymore," he says in a tone Cisco doesn't remember hearing from Barry before.
"Okay. Clearly there's a story there, and we can hear it later. For now, we should get you out of here," Cisco says.
Cisco swipes the key card, and cell door opens. Barry slowly walks out of the cell. He looks around, and to his horror, sees Wanda sitting in the cell next to his.
To Cisco and Jay's surprise, Barry runs, at normal speed, to the bars. "Wanda. Wanda!" he cries. Wanda looks up, and sees him standing at the door of her cell.
She slowly gets to her feet. "Barry," she gasps out in a tone of voice that scares Barry.
Barry puts his hands against the bars. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. And I promise. No matter what, I will come back for you," he says. She nods, tears coming to her eyes.
Barry wants so badly to kiss her. But he satisfies himself with just whispering, "I love you." She nods in response.
Barry turns back to Cisco and Jay. It pains him to leave Wanda behind, but he also knows Cap is gonna need all the help he can get.
Cisco and Jay are both looking at him, Cisco in serious confusion. Barry just shakes his head. "Another time. For now, we have to go," Barry says.
Cisco just nods, and the three walk out of the cell block.
They slowly make their way back to helipad, where they find the helicopter sitting there, and nobody else.
"Guess that Tony guy is still busy," Cisco says. Barry just nods, his face neutral.
"So, you said this Tony guy isn't your friend 'anymore'. What happened?" Cisco asks.
"I'll tell you after we're clear of this place," Barry says. Cisco can tell by his tone he's not gonna be persuaded otherwise.
A minute later, Tony comes walking up with a guard. The guard moves over to Barry and unlocks his collar. Barry feels much better, and lightning flashes in his eyes as he feels the Speed Force coursing through him again.
Tony thanks the guard, who turns and walks away. As he does, Ross walks up. "Stark. Did Wilson give you anything on Rogers?" he asks.
"Nope. He told me to go to hell. I'm headed back to the compound instead. But, you can call me any time. I'll put you on hold. I like to watch the line blink," Tony says as he smirks at Ross. Cisco eyes Tony, a little intrigued at his attitude.
Tony leads the three of them onto the helicopter, which takes off and begins flying in the direction of New York.
Barry stares at the floor of the helicopter, feeling very angry with Tony. Then, Tony says, "Allen."
Barry looks up at Tony, glaring. Tony feels a little uncomfortable, but says, "We don't have time for this. You're free to stay on this thing and get your stuff from the Facility. I'm off to Siberia. Cap was right. This guy named Zemo bombed the UN and framed Barnes. Cap needs all the help he can get."
Barry just looks at Tony, not sure what to say. After a moment, Tony says, "I wouldn't follow me. Don't give Ross another reason to hate you or change his mind."
Tony then reaches down and presses a button on the armrest. It opens up, and so does the body of the helicopter behind him as his gauntlet forms around his hand. Tony lays back, allowing the rest of the Iron Man armor to form around him. The bottom of the helicopter then opens up, allowing Tony to fly out and start flying in the direction of Siberia.
Cisco stares after Tony. "Okay. That was flipping cool. Did he design that suit? That is awesome!" he says.
"Yeah. Tony built it. Thanks to it, he's called Iron Man," Barry says.
"Okay. That's an awesome name," Cisco says.
"Now, are you going to explain what has happened to you, and how you know this Tony, and why you're no longer friends?" Jay asks.
Barry takes a deep breath, then launches into an explanation of his arrival on Earth-99, joining the Avengers, beating Savitar with the help of the Avengers, the incident in Lagos, the Accords, and everything that happened since then. By the time he finishes, they're nearing the coastline. The only thing he leaves out is his relationship with Wanda, not wanting to tell them about that yet. He slightly changes the story of beating Savitar to leave that out.
Cisco and Jay just sit there, both surprised by everything that has happened to Barry on this Earth. Finally, Cisco says, "Okay. Thank goodness we found you when we did."
"Yeah. But, we're not done," Barry says.
"What do you mean?" Jay asks.
"What Tony was talking about. Cap and Bucky went to Siberia to find Zemo, and stop him from unleashing 5 super assassins powered by a serum very similar to the Mirakuru," Barry says, and Cisco pales.
After a moment, Barry says, "I feel that Zemo still has one twist to his plan. They're gonna need help. I'm going to Siberia to help them out. I'd like you guys to come, but if you don't want to, I'm going anyway."
Cisco and Jay just sit there for a moment. Then, Cisco says, "I'll come with you." Jay nods too.
"Great. We'll leave as soon as the helicopter lands," Barry says.
The three wait as the helicopter flies over the coastline, heading straight for the facility. While waiting, Cisco hacks in Tony's systems and acquires the coordinates for the facility he's headed to.
As soon as the helicopter lands, the three exit the chopper. Barry then turns to Cisco and asks, "You think you can breach us there?"
"Yeah," Cisco says. Barry nods, then says, "Now, we need to be ready. If what Bucky said is true, these guys are incredibly dangerous. We need to be ready to do whatever is necessary to take them down." Cisco and Jay both nod.
"Alright, Cisco. Breach us there," Barry says. Cisco raises his hand, and opens the breach. Barry puts an arm around Cisco and runs him through the breach, Jay right behind them.
When they merge on the other side, they find themselves outside a bunker, surrounded by snow.
"Yeah, definitely Siberia," Cisco says, shivering violently.
"Okay, you two, stay out here. Wait for my signal," Barry says, putting in the earpiece Cisco gave him.
"Wait. Don't you think we should go with you?" Cisco asks.
Barry stands there, hesitant, not wanting to put his friends at risk. Finally, he says, "Fine. Cisco, come with me. Jay, stay out here, just in case Zemo or any of those assassins escape."
"Alright," Jay responds. Barry then turns to Cisco, then runs him into the facility.
When they arrive in the main chamber, Barry expects to see Steve, Tony, and Bucky doing battle with the Winter Soldiers, and maybe Zemo laughing from the sidelines. What he doesn't expect, and he does see, is Tony fighting Steve and Bucky, going up a big silo extending up towards the surface, with the Winter Soldiers dead in their tubes.
"What is going on?" Cisco asks.
"I don't know. But I need to stop Tony," Barry says before racing up the silo.
He finds Steve lying on a platform. Barry tries to help him up, asking, "Cap? What happened? Why's Tony attacking you guys? He told me he was coming to help."
"He did. But the doctor played us. He killed the Winter Soldiers, then showed us a video of Bucky as the Winter Soldier killing Tony's parents. Tony's gone crazy and is now determined to kill Bucky," Steve says.
Right then, they hear an explosion above them. They look up to see the silo lid falling back into place, having had its supports blasted by Tony, and cutting off Bucky's escape.
Barry knows he has to protect Bucky. He races up the silo wall and punches Tony, forcing him away from Bucky.
"Stop this, Tony!" Barry shouts. "Move!" Tony says angrily.
"Tony, you have to stop. I know how you're feeling. To lose your parents, and to hate somebody because of that. But that doesn't mean you have to be a killer," Barry says.
Tony pauses for a moment. Barry thinks for a moment he's gotten through to Tony. Then, Tony raises his arm, and a dart shoots into Barry's chest. Barry looks down at it, right as he gets woozy.
"Tranquilizer powerful enough to stop you," Tony says simply before flying right at Bucky, as Barry collapses, being overcome by the tranquilizer.
Below, Cisco watches as Tony takes out Barry. He wants to join in the battle, and try and save Barry and his friends, but doesn't want to interfere too much. He also doesn't want Tony to get super pissed at him.
He watches as Tony attacks Bucky, then as Steve tries to rescue Bucky, and he and Tony go falling to the base of the silo. Bucky soon recovers and leaps down after him.
Cisco looks up at Barry, who's still lying on the platform. Unable to stay out of the fight any longer, he breaches up to the platform. Barry's half-concious, trying to snap out of it.
Cisco reaches down and pulls the dart out of his chest. He then slaps Barry across the face a few times to try and wake him up. "Come on, Barry. You gotta get up. Your friends are in trouble," Cisco says.
After a few moments, Barry gets back his feet. "Ugh. Thanks, Cisco," he says, before looking down at the bottom of the silo, where Bucky is lying on the ground, his arm blasted off, and Steve fighting Tony.
(Outside the facility)
On a ridge outside the bunker, T'Challa stands behind Zemo, looking at him. After talking to him, and hearing his story and reasons for going after the Avengers, he has realized his mistake.
"Vengeance has consumed you. It's consuming them. I'm done letting it consume me," T'Challa says before retracting his claws.
"Justice will come soon enough," T'Challa says.
Zemo smirks. "Tell that to the dead," he says, adjusting his grip on his gun. He then starts to raise it to his chin, and T'Challa starts to move to stop him, when there's a sudden flash of lightning, and Zemo is lying back against a rock, his gun disassembled next to him, and all of the bullets lying in a neat row next to the gun.
Zemo and T'Challa look up, and see see a man in a uniform, with blue pants, a red jacket with a lightning bolt, and a winged helmet standing before them.
"Sorry to interupt you. But you need to face justice for your crimes," the man says, before leaning forward and delivering a speed punch to Zemo's face, knocking him out.
The man turns to T'Challa, who looks at him warily. "Who are you?" he asks.
"A friend of Barry Allen's. The name is Jay Garrick. The Flash of Earth-3," Jay responds, extending his hand to T'Challa, who looks at Jay for a moment in hesitation before taking the offered hand.
(Back in the facility)
Tony raises his hand, ready to blast Steve after Steve refuses to stay down. Then, a blow hits him on the side of the head, knocking him to the side. Tony turns, right in time to see Barry punch him again.
"Thanks for everything, Tony. Thanks for not even trying to defend me from Ross. Thanks for treating the woman I love like a common criminal when she hadn't even gone against the Accords. And thanks for going back on your word," Barry says, punctuating each sentence with a blow.
Tony tries to blast Barry, but Barry easily dodges it, then delivers another high-speed punch to the side of Tony's head. He then delivers several more powerful blows before pinning Tony against the wall, then vibrating his hand and using it to tear Tony's mask off.
"Thanks for tearing all of us down just to build yourself back up," Barry says angrily before phasing his hand into the chest of Tony's armor and ripping out the arc reactor.
Barry holds Tony against the wall for a second longer, then releases him and throws him to the ground. He then turns and walks over to Steve, who has picked up his shield.
"Come on, Cap," Barry says. Steve looks at Barry and slowly nods.
Cisco comes walking down. "We need to get out of here. Jay says he just stopped Zemo outside, and he's waiting for us, with some other guy," he says. He then looks between Steve and Barry before saying, "I'll get our one-armed friend here. Let's go."
As Cisco helps Bucky to his feet, they hear Tony say, "That shield doesn't belong to you. You don't deserve it. My father made that shield!"
It's clear to Barry that Tony's just trying to hurt Steve at this point. He's about to yell at Tony, when Steve loosens his grip on his shield and lets it fall to the ground before walking away from it. He helps Cisco get Bucky to his feet, and together, the four of them walk away, not sure what the future holds.
I'll end there. I hope I did a good job with this chapter. I hope you're not disappointed with Cisco not joining in the fight. But, I felt Barry was enough reinforcement there. But, as for Jay stopping Zemo, I thought of that scene when I first decided to have Jay come to Earth-99, so I went ahead with it.
Now, we're officially gonna start winding down this story. Unless you guys would like me to do some one-shot chapters of episodes from Seasons 3 and 4 before I do the epilogue at the end of Season 4 that I'm planning, there won't be too many more chapters.
Just so you know, Barry isn't going back to Earth-1 for several chapters, and he isn't going back alone. Not all of the Avengers will be going with him, but a few will. I've already decided which ones. Let me know your guesses, as well as any episode of Seasons 3 and 4 you'd like to see me do before the epilogue chapter.
Until next time! Review, and stay tuned.