Disclaimer: Based on characters and references owned by DC Universe and the CW, which I do not own. Enjoy!
"So, let me get this straight," Diggle interrupts again for the third time as Oliver and William place their suits in the display cases. "You're Oliver—"
"Yes," Oliver says once more while putting on a tan light jacket over his red long-sleeved shirt.
"And he's Barry?"
He points to Barry, still in his Green Arrow suit, climbing the salmon ladder with a big smile on his face.
"As we have explained repeatedly," William says in a tired voice as they walk over to the platform.
"Well, how come you and Shazam are the only ones who know that things have changed?"
"I have the Wisdom of Solomon," Shazam, who is on the platform with Mia watching Felicity work on one of the computers explains with a raised hand.
"As for me…" William shrugs his shoulders. "That is yet to be explained."
"Well, it can't be a coincidence that Barry and I were targeted," Oliver points out as they reach the computer where Felicity is. "We need to get to the bottom of this and find the person responsible for—" Hearing the sound of the salmon ladder once more, Oliver, with a frown, calls out, "Barry! Can you please get down?!"
Barry hops down from the ladder, wipes the sweat from his forehead, and takes a deep, satisfied breath. "What a total Freaky Friday!" Barry exclaims.
"It's a quantum leap actually," William interjects. "You and Dad didn't switch bodies."
"Oh, that's right!" Barry acknowledges, a finger pointing at William. "You guys have a mirror anywhere that I can—"
"Barry!" Oliver interrupts. "We have just switched lives and I would REALLY like to know why. So, can you please get over here and help us figure it out?"
Barry puts up his hands defensively. "Right, right."
As Barry rushes towards the platform, Mia whispers into William's ear, "That is definitely Dad."
William nods and agrees, "Yep."
When Barry finally joins the group, Felicity brings up multiple pictures of Oliver, who is in a wedding photo with Iris West-Allen, and Barry with William, Felicity, and Mia at the park.
Barry's brows furrow, his forehead wrinkling slightly. "Wow, this is weird and somehow disturbing at the same time."
"I looked through the records of the hospitals you were both born in," Felicity begins explaining. "There are no signs of you guys being switched from birth. Even if there were, someone would have to go through a whole lot of trouble since, you know, you guys were in separate cities."
"And the Time Bureau responded to a message I left them before coming to Barry's rescue," William adds. "They found no signs of anomalies. Which leaves one other option."
"Magic?" Oliver finishes.
William nods. "Very powerful magic. Possibly ancient. We can't get John Constantine's input since he and the other Legends of Tomorrow are in who knows what time period. There is another magic expert, but Ava Sharp restricts any visit to her, no matter what."
"I know someone," Shazam says with a grin. "The original Shazam. The person who gave me my powers. Goes by the Wizard now, but he's been around for thousands of years. If there's anyone who knows more about ancient magic than anyone, it's him. I can zip on over there and ask for his advice."
As Shazam explains this, William thinks on this for a moment, stroking his chin. That can work. But whoever had the ability to change reality might know of Billy's mentor. He or she could be monitoring the situation.
"Even so," William says after Shazam is done. "You'll still need someone to go with you in case our mystery villain set a trap." William turns to Mia and John. "Can you two go with Shazam and provide backup?"
"Hey! Look," Barry yells before either of them could give an answer. "I'm Mayor." On screen is a newspaper article with the words "Mayor Queen the Green Arrow?" on the side. Seeing Barry putting on a serious face feels unnatural to William.
As Barry points this out, Oliver interrupts with a controlled tone, "Barry, can just give us just 5 minutes of seriousness?"
"Come on Oliver. You gotta admit that this is cool."
"I'll find it 'COOL' when I'm waking up in my own bed in the morn—"
Oliver stops dead before he dares to utter the last sentence. He curls his lips in and bows his head, not meeting anyone's gaze, not even Felicity's. But it is too late. Everyone's attention is on him, including a shocked Barry and Felicity.
"You woke up in bed with Iris?" Barry asks, any enthusiasm in his voice swept away.
Oliver does nothing for a moment, eventually giving a small, disgruntled nod. William can tell that either his father is too ashamed to say what really happened or didn't want to hurt the feelings of an already shaken Barry and Felicity.
"We need to fix this right now!" Barry and Felicity exclaim in unison.
Suddenly, a single ring of a phone is heard originating from Oliver's pocket. He takes it out and looks at it quickly.
"It's Cisco," He says. "He and the others have been asking for Bar…me. They're wandering where…" Oliver's eyebrows raise. "Wait."
"What?" William asks.
"This text was sent about 10 minutes ago, just about the time we regrouped at Diaz's storehouse."
"That shouldn't be possible unless…" William's eyes look to the ground and his hands are on his hips. After a minute, He looks back at Oliver. "Has there been any unusual weather patterns in Central City before you came here?"
Oliver nods. "Yeah. When I woke up this morning, there were red skies outside."
"Red skies plus a 10 minute late text could indicate a large amount of red light," Felicity explains. "It may be the source of all of this."
Barry claps his hands together. "Great! Then we can go to Star Labs, get my team's help—"
"It may not be that simple Barry," William interjects. "They may not believe us."
"They will. They've been through stuff like this before."
"And they were unaware that time changed until you shed light on it. Not to mention it brought about Savitar." Everyone looks at William with various looks of surprise. "Yes. I know of Flashpoint. But the point is that there's no telling what they'll do once we explain everything to them."
"Yeah, but…" Barry motions his hands towards himself. "I know them. They'll believe us. Besides, there aren't any alternatives. Remember?"
"Barry's got a point," Felicity agrees.
William lets out a subtle sigh and turns to Oliver. "Are you okay with this?"
Oliver nods. "I am."
William removes his hands from his hips and walks off the platform towards the suit display cases. "In that case, I'm going with you two."
He presses a couple of buttons on the cases with his and Oliver's, technically Barry's, suits. In an instant, they shrink down until they are small enough to fit into a pocket.
"That is awesome!" He hears Barry say in an astonished tone.
"My improvement over Palmer's tech," William explains as he turns back to the group. "Here." He throws the flash suit case over to Oliver. "I know it's not yours, but you're the Flash right now. So, make the most of it." William then turns to Barry. "And you'll need to get out of that and into normal clothing. Dad and I will wait for you."
"Got it," Barry acknowledges as he walks past them and towards the back of the cave to find some proper clothing.
"Felicity," William addresses as he gets back up to the platform. "Think you can stay here and monitor everything?"
"Can do," Felicity says with a nod.
"And we'll head off to find Shazam's mentor," John answers, remembering William's question before being interrupted.
"Great!" Shazam exclaims, placing a hand on the shoulders of Mia and John. "I can get us there in no time flat. You guys have another way out for speedsters?"
William points towards the back of the Bunker. "In the back. Can't miss it."
John takes a step back, but not enough to get away from Shazam's grip. "Wait. You're not going to speed run us there, are—"
"SHAZAM!"
In an instant, they are gone. The speed at which he disappeared is almost the same as the Flash's ability to get in and out of places quickly.
"John gets speed sick?" William asks, seeing the worried looks on his parent's faces.
"Yeah," Felicity and Oliver say in unison.
After a moment, William shrugs his shoulders. "Well, too late now."
"Hey guys!"
They turn and see Barry with a white shirt, blue light jacket, and brown pants. In his hand is a shrunken display case that he shows to everybody. "Good to go."
"Good," William says as he takes out his breach opener. He activates the breach beacon in Star Labs, opening up a way into the cortex. "Then let's get moving."
As he allows Oliver and Barry to go first, the last thing William thinks is, And let's hope Barry is right.
"So, let me see if my English is not, uh, rusty," Sheroque says, his French accent making the "u" in rusty sound awkward. "You think that you are not, in fact, Barry Allen, but Oliver Queen?"
All of Team Flash maintain blank stares, as they had since William, Oliver, and Barry explained the reality changing situation to them.
"Have you been time traveling again Barry?" Caitlin Snow finally asks.
"No, I haven't," Barry answers.
Caitlin points to Oliver. "I was talking to Barry."
"I am Barry!"
"Yeah, and I'm Wilddog," Cisco Ramon jokes with an amused smile.
"Easy Wilddog," Sherloque responds.
Cisco looks up to him with a frown. "That was sarcasm."
"Well, it was not GOOD sarcasm!"
"They're telling the truth," William interjects. "Look, test them if you have to, but we're wasting time."
Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon do just that, walking over to get devices that may yield some results. As they pick the devices up, William notices Ramon mouth "Temperamental" in an almost sarcastic way. Caitlin Snow goes over to Barry with a device that William recognizes as a brain scanner.
Caitlin hesitates at first. "Um, may I…"
"Of course," Barry invites with a nod.
She turns on the device and scans all over Barry's head. Within a few seconds, she concludes, "Brain wave activity is normal. Oliver's not under hypnosis or anything like it."
Cisco switches on another device William recognizes, one that scans the tacheon levels in a speedster's body. He scans all of Oliver's body, not even asking permission.
"Tacheon meters are clear," Cisco says before grimacing at Oliver. "No one's been messing with the timeline…AGAIN."
"Come on," Iris West-Allen speaks. "There's no way I can be married to Oliver Queen." She, ironically, looks at Barry when saying this before turning to Oliver and saying. "I'm sorry babe, but you know Oliver's not my type."
"You are NOT married to my dad," William exclaims, his hands motioning from Oliver to Barry. "You are married to Barry Allen!"
"Well, how do you know? How are you the only one who can tell them apart?"
"I just…can. If I had an answer, I would give it to you."
"Iris," Barry begins to say, his voice trembling a bit. "You really don't recognize me?"
Iris shakes her head, only making William more worried.
Oliver then says, "Look, the point is that something is VERY wrong with reality. Right now, you're all our best hope of finding out what's going on."
They do not say anything for a moment, looking each other in the eyes as if trying to find answers from each other. Unfortunately, they find none.
"I propose Team Flash meeting!" Sherloque breaks the silence. "Without ze Flash." He points towards Oliver, but he doesn't correct Sherloque, probably knowing as William does that it is pointless.
Team Flash starts to exit the lab and towards the exit in the cortex. As they do, Iris stops for a moment, places a hand on Oliver's arm, and says, "You know I only have eyes for you babe."
Acting fast, William lets loose one of his bugs onto Iris's shirt, assuring that they have eyes and ears on the meeting.
As she left, Barry frowns and points at Oliver. "If you TOUCHED her—"
"I didn't…touch her." Oliver quickly raises his hands defensively.
"If you even thought about it—"
"It's fine," William assures. However, deep down, he can tell that Oliver is lying, both about waking up with Iris and that he never touched her. More likely SHE touched him. Most likely kissed him. But that is just a suspicion William hoped is not true.
For now, William takes out his phone and opens an app that lets him look through the camera of his bot.
"William," Oliver calls. "Don't tell me you just bugged Flash's team."
"Bugged?" Barry asks, firmly gripping William's shoulder. "I told that I believed in them."
"And you were here for the conversation, right?" William asks back rhetorically. "They were uncertain, which means there's a 50/50 chance that they will betray us. If they do, we'll need to react quickly."
"They won't betray us!"
William pulls his shoulder away from Barry's hand. "And that's exactly what you want to believe Barry. That's how you keep getting burned. You're too trusting. And if there's one thing my mentor taught me, it's to not have too much trust in anyone, or else you'll be vulnerable. A lesson you keep neglecting."
Suddenly, William hears a beeping from his phone. On it is a black screen with white text that says, "Signal interference."
Dang it, William thinks. It must be because of the red-light sky above us. It's getting stronger.
William takes a long, frustrated sigh before putting away his phone and saying to Barry in a controlled tone, "But…I guess we'll have to pray to the Lord that your trust is well placed."
As William sits down in the stool Cisco was previously in, he can hear Barry whisper, "Do we know who his mentor is?"
"No," Oliver whispers back, thinking that William is not listening.
William sighs again, this time more subtly. Only because Bruce made me swear not to tell anyone.
It had been a minute since they got to the rock of eternity. And for all that time, Shazam and Mia have been waiting for Diggle to recover from him throwing up every 20 seconds in a paper bag that he conveniently had the moment they stopped. Diggle's heavy breathing slows down, his eyes opening to see again.
"In hindsight," Shazam begins his apology, "I probably should have asked if you we're a speed sick kind of guy."
"You think?!" Diggle yells. He finally gets up and takes one last deep breath. "I have never had such an upheaval in my life."
"Guys!" Mia calls to them. "Can we focus? We're kind of on a clock here."
"Right." Shazam walks over to the center of the empty platform surrounded by a circular formation of mountain peaks. It's hard to tell where they are from here.
Shazam kneels on one knee and places a hand on the floor. "SHAZAM!"
Suddenly, the platform starts to move downwards. As it does, statues are slowly being revealed. Statues of what look like mythical Greek figures. A couple are recognizable to Diggle and Mia, such as Zeus with the lightning bolt, Hercules with the muscular build and wearing a bear pelt, and the man with all the armor and exposed heal is Achilles. The other three are unfamiliar to them.
As they get closer to the bottom, a figure is seen sitting on a stone throne. His face is hard to make out with the hooded cloak he is wearing. He slowly takes it off, revealing an old, dark-skinned man with short hair and an overgrown beard, none of which are very kempt.
When the platform touches down, the man sits up and walks down the stairs that elevate the throne. He greets them in a thick African accent, "Welcome back, Billy Batson."
"Hello Wizard," Shazam greets back. "It's been a while."
"It has. And I see you have brought friends."
"Well, we're not exactly here for a visit. We need your help because—"
"I know why you are here. The shifting of realities. But…" The Wizard bows his head. "You have come in vain. I cannot help you."
All three of them are taken aback by this. Shazam asks for them, "What do you mean you can't help us?"
"It is because all of this and the events to transpire. They have been foretold by God. Written in the Book of Destiny. All of this was to come after his arrival."
Shazam raises an eyebrow. "Whose arrival?"
"The arrival of the Chosen," an unfamiliar voice from behind them says.
They quickly turn around, Mia aiming her bow, John his pistol, and Shazam readies himself to shoot a lightning bolt. They see another dark-skinned man, who is much younger and sporting a light mutton chop beard. He is wearing some kind of high-tech armor, which is green with solid gold streaks.
The man does nothing, looking at them with an unnerving stare. "And I will not let you hinder his test."
Shazam begins to say his signature phrase. However, the stranger shoots out a what looks to be blue energy out of his hand, hitting Shazam and sending him flying towards the stairs leading to the Wizard's throne.
When Shazam gets up, he sees Mia and John being knocked back by the same energy, which is shot just at their feet and pulses from the floor. Unlike him though, they both fall unconscious as they hit the floor.
Shazam tries to get up, but the stranger shoots another energy blast, this time to the head. It does not kill Shazam, but he feels as if a sledgehammer being wielded by 100 men had bludgeoned him.
The last thing he sees before finally losing the strength to stay conscious is the man walking towards him and saying, "Fear not, Billy Batson. My intention was never to kill any of you. You all still have a role to play in the Chosen's test."
The results of Team Flash's meeting did not go well. Apparently, everyone was indecisive and broke off the meeting to process the information and come to a vote on their own. That was 5 minutes ago.
While William went to convince the others, Oliver is led by Barry to a room in Star Labs he has never seen before. It looks like a lounge. A platform with a few tables, chairs, and a couch are on his right. To the left is a table with a silver pot, cups, and a coffee machine plugged in.
"Look Barry," Oliver says as they reach the narrow path between the platform and table. "If they can't decide, then maybe William's right. They can't help us."
"Yes, they can," Barry disagrees. He then points towards Oliver's right, showing Iris on a balcony just across from the platform. "We can start by getting her on our side."
"Well, how are you going to do it?"
"I'm not. You are."
Oliver, upon hearing this, immediately shakes his head profusely. "No, no, no! Barry, she's your wife!"
"I know! I don't like this as much as you do. But she thinks you're me. You're the only one she can confide in."
Oliver takes a minute to think. While he thinks doing this is a bad idea, Barry is right. If this is their last shot, they must take it.
"Okay," Oliver reluctantly agrees. "What do I do?"
"Just talk to her," Barry says. Oliver nods and starts to walk off. But Barry grabs his arm. "Just…one more thing. If all else fails, just tell her…she's your lightning rod."
Oliver doesn't know what to say to that. That line sounds so stupid and corny. He just waits for Barry to say that he was just joking around. Not hearing anything more from him, Oliver laughs and shakes his head. "I'm not saying that."
Oliver walks away, hearing nothing but Barry's silent, slowly fading whispers saying something about how it works every time.
Oliver stops at the doorway to the balcony, placing a hand on the frame.
"Mind if I join you?" Oliver asks Iris.
"Sure," Iris answers, motioning her head invitingly.
Seeing a lone Champaign glass on the railing, he grabs it and takes a large sip after saying, "This might help."
"Then either you are Oliver Queen, or you've forgot that you can't get drunk."
Oliver breathes a heavy sigh. "This day is getting worse by the minute."
Oliver notices Iris eyeing him all over. Her fingers fiddle with the stem of her glass and her lips are slightly parted. It's as if she wants to say something but does not know where to begin.
"You know something is wrong, don't you?" Oliver asks.
"Maybe," Iris asks with a flat voice. "Thinking this over, having time to just process this…a part of me, a part of all of us, somehow believes you might be right. Especially…especially when you were standing side by side with William."
"Then what is stopping you from helping us?"
"What's stopping us, Barry, Oliver…whoever you are, is that time changed twice because of you!" Her voice is now louder, almost cracking. "One of those times created Savitar and…and took the man I loved away. Not to mention Devoe tricked us into getting you out of the Speed Force to achieve his master plan! In all those times, we've been one step behind."
"And we won't be. Barry and I are here. William is…is…"
Suddenly, Oliver's head starts to spin. He tries to move, but his legs are moving in multiple directions at once. He tries to reach for something, anything. His legs, now feeling like jelly, give out. At the last minute, he catches the railing, preventing himself from hitting the floor.
This…this is impossible…She…she said…Unless…
His slightly blurry vision can see Iris bowing her head down, refusing to meet his gaze.
"N…nanites?"
Iris keeps her head down, her echoing, cracking voice saying, "I'm sorry."
He looks to where Barry is, who starts to head for the exit. Unfortunately, he is knocked out by Ralph Dibney with a punch to the face.
Unable to fight off the nanites, Oliver's vision blackens, but not before he utters, with all his strength, "Run William." Hopefully, somehow, even if it was just a whisper, William has heard him.
William, after what seems like an eternity, finally finds one of Flash's teammates, Caitlin Snow. She sits in front of one of the tables of the smaller lab, seemingly talking to herself. Expecting a trap, William walks in cautiously, emptying his mind except for the important observations he is making.
Passing table to my left. Faint sound of fingers tapping on metal. Impatience. Anticipation. Nearing Caitlin Snow now. Head of Cisco Ramon peering slightly from right side of the elevated platform. Doesn't suspect a thing. Waiting to ambush me. Empty seat with wheels next to Snow. If all goes wrong, be prepared to escape.
William stands over Caitlin, who still talks to the empty air in front of her, "But what if they're right? We might be making a—"
"Hi."
Caitlin Snow jumps a bit and turns around. "Oh! Hi. Sorry. I didn't hear you come in."
"It's alright," William assures. He gestures to the empty seat next to them. "May I?"
"Of course," Caitlin Snow says with a nod.
William sits down and looks Caitlin right in the eyes. "You're still deciding?"
"Uh, yeah," she says, her eyes subtly shifting away from William to the table across from them. No doubt, she is stalling for Cisco to grab him. "I…want to believe you. But Frost doesn't really trust people she barely knows."
"Frost?" William asks with a raised eyebrow. "Your metahuman persona? That's who you were talking to just now?"
"Yeah." Her eyes stop shifting. Cisco must be getting ready to grab him. "I know it sounds weird."
William quickly shifts his seat to face the table, deterring Cisco's attempt to grab him. "You're at least not crazy."
He briefly glances at the platform, seeing no Cisco in sight. He can hear the slight mummer of him saying "damn it" under his breath just near the stairs.
He places his arms on the table and leans in a bit, keeping his attention on Caitlin Snow. "But tell me, Ms. Snow—"
"Please, call me Caitlin."
William nods. "Right, Caitlin. I just want to know that you aren't going to do anything…irrational."
Caitlin shifts her eyes away from William again, this time without any subtlety. "What exactly do you consider irrational?"
William leans in a bit closer to her. "Thinking that because you you've been one step behind in the past, you think that you're one step ahead now. To think that the only way to deal with the problem is to contain it. It's not! You would be acting out of fear. And trust me, I KNOW what it is like to make judgements based on fear. They NEVER end well. Whichever part of you, Caitlin or Frost, is experiencing that fear, don't let it rule you. Do the right thing!"
Suddenly, Caitlin slowly frowns. Her eyes turn from natural blue to icy, her voice becoming as cold as them, "We are."
Anticipating Cisco Ramon charging after him, William places his hands on the edges of the table and pushes away. Luckily, Cisco indeed was there and falls onto Frost's lap.
William quickly turns around, seeing Sherloque in a boxer's fighting position. William quickly gets up, slipping under the first hook Sherloque employs. He then immediately grabs Sheloque by his torso and throws him over the table on their right.
Hearing Cisco coming at him with a battle cry, William employs a spinning back kick to his stomach, following it up with a hook that forces Cisco to turn around. William then sees Frost's palm surrounded by a snowy mist, indicating a possible ice blast. Acting fast, William grabs Cisco in a chokehold before Frost can get a shot off from her icy hands.
"STOP!"
Frost stops just as her arm is raised. She does not fire her ice blast but does not lower her arm either.
"I'm leaving," William starts demanding. "I'm taking Barry and my dad with me. You try and stop us, and I will ensure that Mr. Ramon is in for a world of hurt."
Cisco turns his head as much as he can, his eyes widening in fear. "Dude! Would you seriously think about hurting a fri—"
William tightens his hold over Cisco's neck, making him choke a little. "Says the 'FRIEND' who just tried to AMBUSH me."
Suddenly, William hears something elastic coming towards him. He turns his head, seeing Ralph Dibney, aka Elongated Man, already employing a stretched-out punch that is gaining towards William fast. Being too close to react to, William takes the blow, forcing himself to let go of Cisco. At that moment, a blast of ice shoots out from Frost's hand, sending William hurling halfway across the room.
William slowly tries to get up, but Ralph Dibney shoots his hand out again, this time knocking William out for good.
