S.T.A.R Labs [Central City]

47 hours and 52 minutes until Enlightenment

"There's gotta be something we can do to stop it from happening, right?" Barry asked as he stared at Hunter.

After they had released him from the pipeline, he had been held under surveillance in the Cortex, no-one wanted to let him go. Oliver watched the scene, silently surveying the situation.

Hunter shook his head, "Jessie made sure that no-one would be able to stop it,"

Barry groaned and ran his hand through his already messy hair. This was not how this day was supposed to go at all. He was supposed to be at work, trying to distract himself at the nagging thought on his son's condition. He wasn't supposed to be letting out the guy who almost got him killed. His head was all over the place.

"Well, where is he next gonna attack? When is it? W-what does he plan to do?" Barry asked Hunter frantically, his whole body seemed like it was vibrating. It didn't look good.

"Bear-" Joe began getting cut off by a distressed Scarlet Speedster.

"My son's life is on the line, Joe!" He yelled at his foster father, "I can't afford to make any more mistakes!"

"I'm all that kid's got now!" He yelled once more, storming out of the Cortex. Hunter looked down at the ground whilst Joe looked like he had been shot. He knew Barry was scared for his son, they all were, but he didn't realise how much more this was affecting him. Iris looked at her father, prepared to go talk to Barry when Oliver beat her to it. Caitlin and Cisco looked at each other, they knew why Oliver was the better choice at talking some sense into Barry. He had been in the same position as him. He knew from his own personal experience the anger and the distress Barry was feeling.

"Let me talk to him," Oliver said softly, leaving the room.

Hunter, Caitlin, Cisco, Iris, Wally and Joe all remained in an awkward silence after Barry's little outburst.

"Why didn't you guys tell him?" Hunter asked curiously, making Wally's eyes perch up. Since when had he cared about the reasoning behind it all?

"In all honesty," Joe began, sighing, "He-he had just lost his dad when I was going to tell him. He was under so much pressure already, I didn't think he could handle being a dad after losing his own"

Iris nodded her head, tears in her eyes as she looked at her brother. She had never meant any harm, she just didn't know how Barry could handle the stress. None of them had any bad intentions with it all, they just didn't want Barry to become a ticking time bomb, they didn't want to see him explode from even more stress.

Wally nodded but he still looked annoyed at the answer whilst Hunter just looked at them all, like he was questioning their true intentions. He had no right to judge them though, not after what he did to Barry.

Time Vault [Central City]

The same time

Barry eyed the photo of his son from what Hunter gave him. He still couldn't comprehend the idea of having a son, and now look at him, he was fighting for him like he had helped raise him.

"Barry, you okay?" Oliver asked, startling Barry. He didn't realise someone had snuck in after him.

He just sighed and looked at the photo once more. All he could see was Patty, he could see Patty's last moments before she put a bullet through her own brain for the safety of her-their-child. Oliver walked towards his friend, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Gideon, turn it off," Oliver commanded, trying to do his best 'Barry' impression considering Gideon only responded to his commands. He was surprised when the image vanished from the system.

"Barry, you gotta stop blaming yourself over this," Oliver said to him, his voice gentle and caring.

"How can you say that?," Barry choked out, his eyes tearing up, "It is my fault.. If I had never become the Flash then my son wouldn't have been put in harms way"

Oliver chuckled softly, pulling Barry in for a hug. He was shocked again when he didn't feel Barry reciprocate the motion, instead he stayed huddled up with his friend. Oliver whispered kind things into Barry's ear over and over again, until he felt long arms wrap around his waist. They stayed in the embrace for a while, letting Barry soak up some of Oliver's strength.

When they pulled away, Oliver guided them both to the floor, leaning his back against the bubbly surface. Barry sat next to him, his knees drawn towards his chest but not the full way there. Barry watched as Oliver dug into his back pocket, pulling out his wallet. Oliver invited Barry closer, letting him rest his back against some of his chest, as he wrapped his left arm around the man's shoulder, grabbing the other end of the wallet. He felt Barry lean his head against his jaw and he smiled, glad that Barry finally felt comfortable around him. He opened the wallet, letting Barry chuckle softly at some of the receipts and cards he had in there.

"You own a Big Belly Burger card?" Barry questioned softly, a smile on his face as Oliver just let him laugh at all the weird things in his wallet. Oliver used his thumb to lift up this flap, and there was this photo. It was of him and William, both of them playing with figurines that somewhat resembled Barry and Leonard Snart, they were making them fight each other.

"He's a good kid, Ollie," Barry said softly once again, "He's lucky to have a dad like you protecting him from everything"

Oliver sighed and put his wallet back in his pocket, this time he grabbed his phone. Barry watched in silent curiosity as Oliver unlocked it and went onto his camera roll, searching for a video. What Barry saw made tears fall down his face. At the video Oliver had stopped at, it was of Patty and his son. They were in her apartment, and she was showing him photos above the fireplace. It took some zooming in, but Barry saw the photos on there. They were photos of him and Patty back when she lived in Central City. Back when everything was simple, well simpler.

The video was silent for a couple of moments, well the only thing you could hear was Patty speaking to her son but then Barry heard the best thing ever. Patty had pointed to a photo of her and Barry and he said something. The video was suddenly reversed, not by Oliver, and then it was made louder. Barry's heart clenched upon hearing it.

"Dada" Oliver tightened his hold on Barry, feeling his body begin to shake from the sobs that wracked his body. Oliver had tears in his eyes himself as he listened to Barry's son repeat the same word over and over again. He was going to thank Felicity for this.

"Thank you, Oliver," Barry whimpered out, turning around in the hold to place his head in the crook of Oliver's neck. The older man happily let him, holding him tightly as he cried. He knew Barry needed to see that.

"Anytime, Barr" He replied, squeezing him.

Lima [Ohio]

45 hours and 32 minutes until Enlightenment

Stacey, Thad, Nick, Jeff and David were concluding their meeting for the day when Alan walked in; he seemed distressed.

Stacey stood up and walked towards her father, her concern shining on her face. Thad motioned for him to sit in one of the many seats in the office, hoping that maybe with him sitting down he wouldn't lose it completely.

"Are you okay, Dad?" Stacey asked her father, sitting on one of the arm-rests beside him. She had her arm wrapped around his shoulders and she was leaning her head on top of his.

"You know how I saw your mother the other day?" He asked his daughter, peeling away from Stacey so he could look at her. She nodded her head.

"Well, we may or may not have hooked up again," Stacey's eyes bulged out of her head at the news. Were her parents getting back together?, "Your-Your mother is pregnant.. Stace"

The room was dead silent at the news. Holy crap. Alan Smythe and Emma Smythe were having a child together. Holy crap.

They all looked at each other, shocked with the news.

S.T.A.R Labs [Central City]

The same time

"Hunter, what is the enlightenment?" Barry asked Hunter, staring at his former best friend.

Team Flash were in the Cortex with Hunter, as he decided to finally share what the enlightenment was and what it was going to do to them all.

"The Enlightenment is going to restore everyone's minds," Hunter started grimly. Caitlin and Cisco looked at him with curiosity whilst Oliver, Joe and Iris looked at him with confusion. Only Barry seemed to understand what they meant by that.

"That's why you gave me that photo of my son," Barry spoke, "You said it was because I would never remember him again.."

Hunter looked down whilst the others all looked at each other. The plan they had formulated was confusing.

"Why do you want to wipe everyone's minds?" Caitlin asked.

"I didn't want to, Jessie did" Hunter answered truthfully, "he wants the world to forget that Sebastian Smythe even existed so he could become the most feared guy in America"

Barry scoffed. So this whole plan was based on a high school grudge. How pathetic.

"I cannot believe that he went through so much trouble just for people to believe he's worse than me," Barry muttered to himself, "What was the point?"

"And I thought I was a pathetic person," Oliver grumbled, "What did you ever do to Jessie? Besides clearly pissing him off for being an even more arrogant jerk then he was during High School?"

Barry just shrugged his shoulders and chuckled softly to himself. There was no way that this was Jessie's plan.. unless. .

"This cannot be Jessie's plan," Barry said in disbelief, "He was much more smarter in High School"

"Unless it's not his plan," Harry caught on, "What if it's someone else's plan and he's doing what they're saying?"

Hunter looked startled himself at what they were saying. If this was true, then it would explain why this whole thing seemed a bit extreme for just a all started to piece itself together in Hunter's brain, and soon, he understood why Jessie worked the way he did. Whoever was controlling him, seemed to be blackmailing him to do it all. Barry was right, Jessie was a lot smarter than this. If he wanted to make himself known, he would just sing and dance and be a complete control freak.

"Looks like we gotta figure out who he's working for, and fast" Oliver concluded, nodding at them all. They all looked at each other, the atmosphere tense. Game on.

Unknown Location

The same time

A man watched the screen, confidently smiling as he saw all of Team Flash in the Cortex. This was going exactly as he predicted.

"Excuse me, sir?" A woman questioned. The man turned around, smiling as he made eye contact with his wife. She flirtatiously smiled back, a warm feeling spreading across her chest.

"In just 45 hours, the Enlightenment will be in full gear," He spoke slowly, his voice soft, " Is everything at the safehouse prepared for our arrival?"

His wife nodded and gave him a kiss. He smiled in the kiss. Soon, the world would be his oyster. He could not wait to screw it up.

"Now, now, Marlieze," He began again, linking arms with her, "It's time we go deal with the last part of the plan"

"Very well, Clifford" She replied.

The couple walked out of the building with a bounce in their step. This was it. They were about to create a new era.

This better work out.