A/N: Before I begin, I need to address something regarding the last chapter. There seems to be a misconception that Steven Grant, as per this story, is Moon Knight. Well, he isn't, not in this story, at least. I know it sounds confusing but this chapter (or the next, probably this one) will explain it all. Also, shoutout to Bl4ckHunter for help with this chapter, thanks man, I appreciate it.

Response to reviews:

OmniBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla: Thanks for the correction. I just updated that chapter, so it should be good now.

Thanks.

*smirks* Didn't see that coming?

She is. Man I made quite a surprise on that, huh?

Thanks. Yep, all that is true.

Happy to hear that and thanks for the reviews.

Aragorn II Elessar: Thanks.

Josh is a great actor and I respect that. I haven't seen him outside of Arrow season 5 but that alone blew my mind away with how great of an actor he was.

Yes she is. *cues MCU Quicksilver* You didn't see that coming?

Thank you. Tell me about it on Barry. Can't say I blame him for that.

Happy to hear that.

Bl4ckHunter: Thanks.

Thank you.

Indeed.

Yep.

KevinAguirre: Yes that happened. Hooray indeed. A Metahuman/Inhuman hybrid. The baby will grow to be a more important character in future stories of this series. Actually, I'm not. The Steven Grant in this story isn't Moon Knight. He's just a normal guy played by Oscar Isaac, I'll explain more about him in this chapter. This arc is gonna go one for about five chapters at the most, maybe six. We'll see. Then after that will be the Earth-1 and Earth 199999 interaction arc which will be the rest of the story, which is at least twenty or so chapters. The Invasion crossover will happen but it'll be a variant of it, since I'll have to account for all our Marvel guests.

Chloe (Guest): Thanks.

"Daisy…you're pregnant." Barry whispered.

The words came quiet but they hit as loud and as powerful as a bomb. Barry remained still, he may have been holding Daisy's hand but he couldn't even look at her. Daisy was in a mix of shock and surprise, her jaw dropped as she found herself completely speechless. She couldn't speak, she could barely react. Barry was silent, looking away from Daisy. A grim look on his face. Daisy couldn't help but think as several thoughts crossed her mind. The thought of her and Barry raising a child together. The child taking his or her (depending on whether it was a boy or a girl) first steps. Saying their first words. The first bedtime Barry and Daisy would read to them. The child's first day of school. The child growing up into an adult, graduating from college, marrying someone, Barry and Daisy being there for the wedding. They had a chance to raise a child and it was here, already. Neither of them were truly ready. Daisy wanted it, however, she wanted the chance to be a mother, to be a better one than Jiaying. Barry, on the other hand, wasn't too sure and the look on his face said it all.

"Wow," Daisy said, leaning her head back on the pillow as Barry sat up straight. "This is…amazing."

Barry tensed upon hearing Daisy's words as she took notice.

"Barry," Daisy said, holding onto his hand. "Say something."

"I don't know if we should have this baby." Barry deadpanned, the words came as a soft whisper but struck as a powerful bullet.

Daisy blinked in confusion. "What?"

"How can we do this, Daisy?" Barry asked. "How can we let a child into our world, endangering it with the enemies we face?"

"We're not endangering our child, Barry."

Suddenly, tears began filling Barry's eyes as conflict filled his face. He shook his head, opening his mouth to speak but he couldn't find the strength to say anything. Barry leaned back in his chair, his hand and Daisy's intertwined with one another, loose grip holding their hands together. Daisy was shocked upon seeing the tears in Barry's eyes. For the last two years that she had known him, she had never seen past the mask and the look of seriousness that masked his face. Now here he was, showing emotion and it hurt Daisy to see him like this. He looked heartbroken and conflicted. Daisy tightened her grip on Barry's hand as he spoke.

"You don't know that," Barry argued, the tears sliding down his cheeks. "Say we have the baby. Then what? We spend all our time out there, saving the world or the city while it grows up alone? Or what if…what if Thawne finds out about it? What if he comes after it and I can't protect you? What happens then, Daisy? Or what if one day…what if one day, we fail, out there. What if we don't come back? Then what? Our child grows up, lives a lifetime without their parents the way we did?"

Daisy's filled with tears at Barry's words as she spoke incredulously. "How can you think like that?"

Barry burst out of his seat, pulling his hand away from Daisy's grip. "How can I not?"

"Barry, I thought you'd be happy about this." Daisy said heartbrokenly, tears filling her eyes.

"You think I don't want this?" Barry asked, pouring all his emotion into the words as he turned to face Daisy. "I want this more than anything, Daisy. You, me, our child, a life together. But what good is it if we're constantly having to look behind our shoulders to see what threat is coming next? Tell me I'm wrong. Look me in the eyes and tell me I'm wrong."

Daisy sighed, the tears pouring out of her eyes. "Shouldn't we at least try? Shouldn't we try to live the life we want? To raise our child?"

Barry shook his head as he sighed, wiping the tears away from his eyes. "I'd be putting you in danger. With Thawne, Savitar, and now, Godspeed. I want our child to live its life but I'm not going to bring any danger to you."

Daisy understood what Barry was saying. She wished he wasn't saying but he was. Part of her wanted to believe that he was lying, that he didn't mean what he was implying. Could he have meant it? Was he serious?

"W-what're you saying?" Daisy stuttered for a mere second.

"I can't be a part of our child's life," Barry said as Daisy's eyes grew in shock, feeling as if she had been stabbed in the heart. "Not if it means I'm endangering it and you."

Barry then stuttered as the tears in his eyes accelerated.

"I'm sorry." was all he said, emotionally, before walking out of the room, leaving Daisy alone.

For a moment, Daisy was still, unmoving, her face was blank and expressed no emotion. It took her a few moments to process what had just happened and what Barry had just said to her. Then, Daisy pulled herself up inside the bed. She sat up straight as she brought her knees up to her chest, letting her head down as she sobbed, heartbroken by what Barry had just said to her.

Meanwhile, an hour or so later, Barry was sitting in the living room by himself. He was seated behind a small, round table, a half-full bottle of scotch and a quarter-full glass sitting on it. There were four other empty bottles, lying in a small trash can at the edge of the door. All of them finished by Barry. Courtesy of having an enhanced metabolism. For several moments, Barry was sitting still, alone in the room as he stared at the bottle of scotch. He kept thinking about what he had said to Daisy, how he wouldn't be there to help raise their child. He regretted it but he had to do it. Barry couldn't have possibly beared to see Daisy and his child (son or daughter) be hurt at the hands of Thawne or whatever enemy Barry would go on to fight. At the same time, he wanted her and their child, more than anything. The conflict of it tore him apart and tore him down at the same time. Barry's thoughts caused him to lose more and more awareness of the world around until he heard two knocking sounds on the door of the living room. Barry didn't bother to look, he already knew who it was.

"Quite a bottle you got there," Clint noted, walking into the room as his eyebrows raised in surprise upon noticing the four empty bottles in the trash can. "Damn. You got quite a record."

"I can't get drunk," Barry said lowly as he tilted his head, maintaining eye contact with the bottle.

"Like Steve?" Clint inquired.

Barry let out a short, emotionless laugh. "Better actually. A lot better."

"Hmm," Clint hummed as he stood by the table. "Mind if I sit with you?"

Barry sighed as he gestured his hand to the chair opposite of him. "That's what this is for."

Clint chuckled as he turned the chair around, the backside facing the table before sitting down, resting his arms at the top of the chair. He eyed Barry, who simply continued staring at the bottle.

"Bobbi told us about you and Daisy," Clint said. "Congrats, kid."

Barry huffed.

"Though from what I can tell, you're clearly bothered by something."

"No, really?" Barry said sarcastically. "Had no clue, huh?"

"Alright kid," Clint said, letting out a breath. "Let's skip the bullshit and get down to it: what's bothering you?"

Barry kept his head straight as he eyed Clint. "Do you love your family?"

Clint stared at him blankly, thinking of Laura, Cooper, and baby Nate. "Yeah. Of course I do."

"And if…if something happened to them? If they were hurt or worse…because someone you knew wanted to make you suffer…would you ever forgive yourself?"

Clint looked down, haunted by the idea of his family being hurt or killed. He looked back up at Barry as he spoke. "No. No, I wouldn't."

"Then there's your answer." Barry said, pouring more scotch into the glass before drinking it and setting the glass down with a thud.

"So that's what it is, huh?" Clint asked. "You're afraid that what - someone's gonna come after your family and just…hurt 'em?"

"No," Barry said, shaking his head. "I'm afraid that the woman I love and my child are going to have to live in constant fear. Fear of whatever psychopath I end up fighting, fear of whatever danger or threat that I bring to them. That's what I'm afraid of."

"I get it. Trust me, I do. I have three kids and my girlfriend back home and not a day goes by where I don't think about 'em. Not a day goes by where I'm not afraid that something might happen to 'em."

"How do you live with it?"

Clint sighed. "To be honest, kid, I never really have. There are some things that you can never make peace with. We're not invincible, Barry, we can't stop every threat that comes our way. But there are many things that are more important than that. My kids, my family, that's part of it. They're my whole world and every time - every time…I look into their eyes, I know. I know that I will do anything to protect them, to keep them and make them feel safe. And it'll happen with you. You're gonna look in that baby's eyes and in that moment, you're gonna make that promise - that you'll do anything for it. Not just to yourself, to Daisy, and to the baby."

Barry had a look of realization and emotion on his face as he absorbed everything he was hearing. Clint had one hell of a speech, the kind that could've challenged Joe West's. As Barry continued thinking about what Clint had said, Clint got up from his seat, walking over to Barry as he looked down at him.

"I get it, Barry," Clint said. "You think by leaving you're gonna protect your kid. But think about it for a moment, are you really gonna let your kid grow up like that? Not knowing anything about their father except that he left?"

Barry was in silence, knowing the question was rhetorical. It was meant to make Barry think rather than having him answer. Clint turned around to leave until Barry spoke.

"Going somewhere?" Barry asked.

"Yeah," Clint replied. "Tony got a lead, another dark matter signal. We're gonna go see if it's Godspeed."

"What about the guy we caught?"

"Steven Grant? He's all clear. Bobbi ran thirty tests on his DNA and blood samples. Nothing."

"I'll come with you," Barry said, getting up from his seat.

"No, don't," Clint said sternly. "You need to sort out your shit with your girlfriend. We'll take care of this."

"Clint-"

"No buts, we got this handled."

Clint left the room as Barry found himself standing alone. He dwelled and continued thinking about Clint's words. Barry knew he was in the wrong. It wasn't right of him to leave the girl he loved and their child behind. Sure, he was doing it to protect them. Or so he thought. Wouldn't they have had a better chance of being protected if he was with them? And was he really going to let his child grow up without a father? Without both of its parents? What would the child think? What would Daisy say? Barry tried to shake the thought away from his head, attempting to focus on another topic. Clint had mentioned that Steven Grant was clear, implying that he wasn't Godspeed. Barry believed that they were wrong, they had to be. He needed something to distract him from his complication with Daisy and this was it. In a flash of orange lightning, Barry sped out of the living room area, grabbing his suit as he headed to a certain prison vault.

Dressed in his black Flash suit and mask, Barry walked down the stairs of one of the prison vaults. Behind the invisible force field, Steven Grant had gotten up to his feet as he stared at Barry.

"You," Steven said in surprise, his British accent clear as day before he spoke in desperation. "Please, you have to let me out of here. I haven't done anything wrong! I'm innocent."

Barry ignored him as he pressed a few keys on the iPad on the stand in front of him. After a few clicks, all the recording devices and cameras went dark.

"The cameras are off," Barry explained. "So are the recording devices. You can lose the cover-up."

"Please, I - I have no idea what you're talking about." Steven begged.

"The Runaway Dinosaur. It was the same story I knew."

Suddenly, 'Steven' dropped his begging look as his lips curved into a smile, not a pure or happy one, an evil one. 'Steven' had gotten rid of his cover-up.

"Well," Steven said, his British accent replaced by a natural American one. "Here we are."

Barry clenched his fist as he spoke his next words in a grit. "Godspeed."

"Please…call me August."

In a different area of New York City, the Quinjet landed as Clint, Natasha, and Steve walked out from the hangar door before arriving at the ground. A few moments later, Tony, Vision, Sam, and Rhodey landed with their powers and suits. The Avengers met up with one another as they looked out to the building-like area ahead of them.

"You're sure this is where you tracked the dark matter signal?" Steve asked.

"I checked and re-ran it almost a hundred times." Tony confirmed.

"This is Barry's base of operations," Sam said, him and the rest of the Avengers instantly recognizing the Flashcave.

"Means Godspeed's in there." Clint said, tightening the grip on his bow.

"We must proceed carefully." Vision warned.

"He's right," Steve said. "Stay sharp. I want everyone on high alert and we stick together."

"Man I don't like where this is going," Rhodey muttered as the Avengers made their way into the base, searching it for Godspeed.

Back at the Playground, the base of operations of S.H.I.E.L.D., Barry was in one of the prison vaults with August Heart, who had masked under the fake identity of Steven Grant. The cameras and recording devices in the vault had been switched off by Barry. Only he and August could hear their ongoing conversation.

"So you're him," Barry said, his voice modulated through his mask. "You're August Heart."

"It's good to see you again…" August said, a smile on his face. "…Barry. My old and only friend."

"I'm not your friend, August. Not anymore."

"Oh I know you don't mean that."

"Why would I be friends with a murderer?" Barry spat.

The smile on August's face disappeared and was replaced with a look of rage as he growled. "Innocent? Innocent?! Those bastards were liars, part of an organization that fed off of war, corruption and death. They were anything but innocent!"

"They didn't deserve to die. Fitz had a girl he loved, he had friends and a mother. Agent Amanda had a child, an eleven-year-old boy."

"The way your mother did?" August taunted, his evil smile returning as Barry was silent. "Nora, wasn't it?"

"Keep my mother's name out of your mouth, you son of a bitch." Barry gritted.

"I still remember when she died," August continued. "I read about it in the local paper. It happened not long after I moved away. 'Doctor Murders Wife In Front of Child'..." August scoffed. "Everyone was talking about it…"

Barry looked down as August continued speaking.

"All anyone could talk about was you…" August said. "Poor Barry Allen. Poor, poor Barry Allen. Mother murdered. Father sent to prison to rot for the crime. At eleven years old. Oh god…" August made a fake sympathetic face. "At that age? Tsk, tsk, tsk. It's a shame."

August suddenly chuckled as he looked over at Barry, who lifted his head to face him.

"You know it's almost funny…" August said. "On this earth and back on Earth 1, all anyone wants to do is unmask you…but I already see the real you…"

August walked closer and closer towards Barry until he was standing mere inches away from the force field between the two. Barry remained still, unmoving from his position.

"This is the real you," August said, gesturing at Barry's suit. "I'm looking at the real you right now. See, your friends think they have it the right way. Barry Allen is the secret identity, the Flash is the mask…" August then shook his head sideways in a slow manner. "No…no, it's the other way around. The Flash is the secret identity. Barry Allen…now that, that's the real mask. Isn't it…Flash?"

Barry ignored the question. "S.H.I.E.L.D. searched your DNA and your blood-"

"Let me guess," August interrupted, pacing around his side of the prison vault. "You found nothing. No dark matter traces, no speed force energy, nothing."

"And your alias? Steven Grant. It already exists as an identity. How's that?"

"You'd be surprised what a little tech from the twenty-fifth century could do for you," August said with a smile as Barry frowned in confusion. "Masking dark matter within your blood, changing and inserting new identities in databases, the list goes on."

"Twenty-fifth century? How-"

"Barry, please. You're not the only speedster who can time travel. Isn't that right, Mr. Flashpoint?"

Barry stopped in confusion, staring at August in horror of the man's knowledge of him.

"I could feel it, you know," August continued. "When you created and undid Flashpoint, I could feel it in the speed force. I spent years planning this day, Barry and now - now it's finally here. I did it. We did it. Together."

"We didn't do anything," Barry snarled.

"Of course we did," August insisted. "We did this together. I couldn't have done any of those without you. When I came to this earth, you showed that all it takes is a good mix of violence and fear. You were my sole inspiration. And now, now we can do this together. You should join me. Think about it…together we'd be unstoppable."

"You're out of your damn mind."

August frowned in confusion as he stared at Barry. "What?"

"This is all in your head," Barry spat. "You're psychotic and delusional."

"How could you say that?" August demanded, a visible amount of emotion in his words.

"You think you'll be remembered for any of this? You're nothing but a pathetic psychopath…"

"No." August whispered.

"…begging for attention."

"No!"

"…you're gonna die alone and stuck here in S.H.I.E.L.D."

"NO!" August yelled, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"…forgotten like a failure!" Barry taunted.

"NO!"

"…a nobody!"

"NOOOO!" August screamed as he yelled and yelled. "This was not how it was supposed to go! I - I had it all planned out!"

Barry watched as August screamed and yelled, the man was truly insane and delusional. Not just for how he was yelling but for thinking that Barry would ever join him. If he had truly spent years tracking down and studying Barry, then what exactly made him think he would join August's crusade? The fact that they had once been friends? No. August had lost and given up that right when he chose to be a murderer. Barry didn't side with killers and murderers, he stopped them and put them behind bars. Just like August was right now.

August breathed a deep sigh as he straightened himself. "Fine. It doesn't matter now. This was going to happen anyway."

"What?" Barry demanded.

"Just know this, Barry," August taunted. "You brought this on yourself."

"What did you do?"

Elsewhere in New York City, in the inside of the Flashcave, Tony, Steve, and the rest of the Avengers slowly made their way around the main area of the base. They had been searching the area for a while. So far, they hadn't found Godspeed but they were still looking. If the dark matter signal was here, then so would Godspeed.

"Tony, you getting anything?" Steve asked.

"Dunno Cap," Tony responded. "Only heat signatures I'm getting are us."

Tony then paused as he stood in front of a door, scanning it. However, when he did so, he could see nothing past it. It was as if something was counteracting the sensors in Tony's suit, preventing him from seeing anything beyond the door.

"Hey guys," Tony called. "I think I got something."

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"I'm not getting any readings beyond this door," Tony said. "I can't see a damn thing past it.

"Let's open it up," Clint said as he grabbed the door knob, trying to turn it, the door was locked, however.

"Stand back," Steve ordered as everyone obliged.

With a strong kick, the door broke upon impact from Steve's foot, his super strength from the super soldier serum allowing him to do so. The Avengers entered the room as they saw a bed with several grids and sheets of paper spread out on it, an opened, small, matte black vault. There was also a closet that leaned on the wall, a mere few feet from the bed. Tony stared in confusion at the closet, his sensors and suit picking up something behind it. He went to the closet as he opened it when suddenly, a certain man tied up in ropes, his hands and feet duct-taped together fell on the ground. The Avengers, aside from Vision, stared in shock and horror upon seeing who it was.

"Fitz?!" Clint said incredulously as Vision kneeled beside the engineer.

"He is alive," Vision informed. "But his condition is critical. He needs immediate medical attention."

"How the hell is he still alive?" Rhodey demanded.

"I thought Godspeed blew him to Hell." Sam muttered.

"Hey guys," Natasha said, standing in front of the bed as she observed the papers. "You might wanna see this."

As Vision remained by the unconscious Fitz' side, Tony, Clint, Rhodey, Sam, and Steve stood by Natasha, observing the papers that were spread out across the bed.

"What is all this?" Sam asked.

"Look," Rhodey said, pointing towards the map. "This map as the murder sites of Fitz and Agent Amanda."

"And this," Tony said, holding a piece of paper from the bed to his teammates. "This looks like some sort of drug. A speed drug."

"What's it supposed to do?" Steve asked.

"Turn white lightning orange," Tony responded as everyone raised their eyebrows in confusion. "Temporarily."

"I don't get it," Clint said. "Why would Barry have all this? And why is Fitz here?"

"Guys," Rhodey said, grabbing something from the vault.

Everyone turned as they stared in shock at what Rhodey was holding.

"Godspeed's suit?" Steve said incredulously.

"Wait a minute," Tony said. "We find Fitz tied up and unconscious here. We find Godspeed's suit, we find these and a paper of equations for a speed drug that covers up white lightning and turns it to orange."

"Tony, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Sam asked.

Back at the Playground, in the prison vault, August and Barry were ongoing in their secret interrogation.

"What did you do?" Barry gritted.

"I found your little base," August taunted as Barry's eyes grew large in shock. "All I had to do was plant some details for your friends to find. I mean, where do you think their dark matter signal took them?"

"What're you saying?" Barry demanded, clenching his fist tightly.

"Who do you think they're gonna blame for being Godspeed?" August demanded as Barry stared in shock. "The speedster in a mask with all the evidence pointing to him…" August then put on his fake British accent and his timid personality. "Or the innocent Steven Grant? Who's just an ordinary man?"

"Remember when Allen told us about time remnants?" Tony asked. "You run fast enough to create a duplicate of yourself and like that, you can appear in two places at once. Allen said he did it before. What if he did it again?"

Sam stared at him in horror. "You don't mean-"

"Yes he does," Steve said grimly.

"You framed me for being Godspeed." Barry realized as August stared at him with an evil smile.

"Barry is Godspeed." Steve deadpanned as the Avengers looked grimly around the room, knowing they had the evidence they needed to prove it.

A/N: I'll end that right here. Once again shoutout to Bl4ckHunter for help with this story. Couldn't have done it without you, my friend.