60 Months After the Destruction of National City
"Why did you save me Barry?"
"Because Maggie deserves a proper funeral service, and it wouldn't be one without you." Barry answered sadly, looking down at Alex.
She was bloodied, almost definitely had a broken bone or two despite the green pill. Stubborn idiot went toe to toe with Supergirl trying to find out if she was the one who ordered Maggie's death. Barry didn't want to think about it too hard. He knew that Supergirl was willing to kill, almost all of them were after five years. In one way or another, Barry had been able to justify every death Supergirl had caused, all the blood on her hands. He had told himself that she hadn't been left with a choice, that she had only killed when she had to, if there was no other option.
She vaporised J'onn with her heat vision because he was going to kill Mon-El, or so she had told them. Digg had been attacking The Fortress with the Insurgents in another attempt to kidnap Eliza and Jeremiah Danvers. Oliver…he was never going to stop trying to kill her. She didn't have a choice.
Ordering an assassination of a civilian though, even if Maggie had sided with the Insurgency, was something different. Not only that, it had been Count Vertigo who did it, allegedly after escaping from the newly built prison on Stryker's Island. What had been done to Maggie had been beyond brutal, beyond sadistic. Barry didn't want to admit that Supergirl was willing to go that far.
"She won't forgive you for this." Alex hissed, clutching her arm.
"Too bad for her."
"Be careful."
"You too." Barry turned to leave. "I'm sure I'll see you around—"
"Wait." Alex called out to stop him. "You're the only one with the power to stop this." Barry turned around. "You can use the speed force, go back in time and stop Merlyn before it's too late. Save Lena, National City…"
"You're asking me to go back and change history?"
"I am."
Barry would by lying if he said he had never considered it. When National City had been destroyed and they found out Kara had killed Merlyn, he had thought about going back to stop it. Oliver had been the one to talk him out of it, reminding him that there was no telling what else could happen, what other tragedy might be caused by saving National City. Kara herself didn't ask him to do it once, never even mentioned. Barry had always wondered why.
"Why now? Because of Maggie?"
"Not just Maggie. Too many dead." Alex hung her head. "And Kara…she's not Kara anymore."
"We don't know what changing history would do to the timeline." Barry countered.
"It can't be worse than what we have." Alex looked up to him. "Please Barry…you have the ace in the hole. At least consider it."
"I'll think about it." Barry answered. "And Alex, stop being so reckless. Next time I might not be there to bail you out."
XXX
"The way Prometheus was taunting me, I know he knows." Jefferson sighed.
"Of course he does. Creep." Barry replied without hesitation.
The two were sat atop the Golden Gate Bridge, a location Barry had chosen for them to talk. Of all the members of The League, Jefferson had been the one Barry found it easiest to talk to. He knew they shared some of the same doubts. Jefferson had even stood with the Insurgents in the beginning. But he had defected to the Regime and Barry had found someone he could talk to.
"I was going to talk to Vertigo can find out for myself…" Jefferson trailed off.
"Why didn't you?" Barry asked after a few moments.
Jefferson finally looked at Barry. "I don't know. How can you believe anything he says?"
"Or maybe," Barry drew in a breath. "You will believe him. And that means we're standing with a cold blooded killer."
The two drifted into silent reverie again. The stakes seemed to be getting higher by the day. The doubts finding newer and stronger footholds within them. In the beginning, things had been simple. Supergirl's vendetta had changed things.
"Did you hear about that Cadmus clan? Two hundred protestors found dead. At first I thought it was the Bizarro-Supergirl…"
"The timelines don't add up." Barry supplied.
The Cadmus clan had been one of the more worrying groups that had sprung up since the destruction of National City. They were one of a plethora, the Church of Rao, the Outsiders, all the others. The Cadmus clan was different. There were dozens of them, all from different walks of life, gathering because they wanted an end to Supergirl and her Regime. Gathering under the banner of Cadmus, of the woman who had tried to kill Supergirl…in the name of Lillian Luthor.
One of the things Barry could honestly say he was proud of helping to do with the Regime was the total equality between aliens and humans across the planet. Cadmus had done a lot of damage, but the incident in Metropolis was unjustified. Over two hundred of them, peacefully protesting Supergirl's leadership by all accounts, burnt alive.
"I talked to Holt, but he won't admit anything." Jefferson let his head hang for a moment. "Barry, what the hell have we become?"
"Unless you're going to do something about it…" Barry began. "Maybe you should stop asking."