Response to reviews:
Aragorn II Elessar: Thanks.
Yep, Barry's in for it.
Indeed he is.
Yep.
Oh yes they are.
Appreciate that.
Bl4ckHunter: You're welcome and thank you.
They are.
He did, yeah.
Yeah, August is a freak and Barry being framed is bad news for him.
Chloe (Guest): Thanks. Yeah, Barry should have done that but he didn't, so obviously, he's pretty screwed.
KevinAguirre8481: Thanks.
No, it won't.
"Wait what?" Sam said in shock, not believing what he was hearing.
"Allen," Natasha said grimly. "He's Godspeed. It's him, it's been him this whole time. He staged everything."
"He created the time remnants of Godspeed," Vision said in realization. "He masked his own white lightning with orange lightning from the speed serum he created."
"Cap," Clint said. "I know how this looks and sounds but this can't be it. Allen can't be Godspeed. We've known him for two years."
"As a vigilante," Rhodey argued. "We never knew anything about Barry until yesterday or something."
"Yeah?" Clint argued back. "Then explain all the lives he's saved. He stopped Thawne from killing us all and he helped us against Ultron. So what? He does all that, saves all those people only to become some psychotic serial killer with a vendetta against S.H.I.E.L.D."
"We can't just ignore the facts," Rhodey shot back. "We found all this here, in his base. We found Fitz tied up and unconscious!"
"So that's it?" Clint demanded. "We just assume that the man we've worked with for two years is a killer because we happened to find all this here."
"He's a vigilante, Clint."
"So were we. Or did we all just forget when Tony went up against a pair of F-16s going against him?"
"Hey!" Tony called out only to find himself being ignored.
"Alright, that's enough, both of you," Steve said, standing between a glaring Rhodey and Clint. "We don't know how this happened or why we found all this here. But we don't know if we can trust Barry. Right now, we need to get Fitz back and we need to talk to Barry."
"Cap," Sam said. "You don't seriously think this is true."
"I'm not sure," Steve replied. "I want to believe it isn't but until we can know for sure we have to assume that this is true," Steve then turned to Tony. "Tony, I want you to send a message to S.H.I.E.L.D., get them to try and hold Barry in one of the prison vaults. We need to hold him there until we can be sure."
"Way ahead of you, Cap." Tony assured.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Back at the playground, Barry quickly got out of the prison vault, closing and locking the door behind him. He didn't bother to turn the cameras and recorders back on after his meeting with Godspeed. He didn't have the time. As Barry moved down the halls, dressed in his suit, he noticed several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents staring at him due to the fact that he was dressed in his Flash suit. Barry ignored them. As he walked quickly down the halls, he could feel his speedster energy inside being suddenly dampened. The dampeners. Barry thought. The ones in the entire base. They've been turned on. This meant that the Avengers had told Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. what they had 'found' in Barry's base. It was happening. As Barry made his way over to his room, which had been given to him by S.H.I.E.L.D., he began formulating his plan quickly. There were only two entrances and exits into the building. The entrance through the couch-shaped elevator which led to the bar back on ground level (as the base was underground). Or he could attempt to steal one of the Quinjets and fly out, assuming that the plane entrance wasn't shut off or hacked by S.H.I.E.L.D. in their attempt to stop him.
Barry went into his room, locking the door behind him as he paced around the area, pulling off his mask. Rage filled him as he angrily chucked his helmet at the wall, leaving a dent on it as his mask remained without a scratch. He continued pacing around the area, a slight amount of panic mixed with the anger building up inside him. He didn't see this coming, how could he have not seen this coming. He should've known this. He should've anticipated that Godspeed had a back-up plan and it was a clever one. His fake identity of Steven Grant, framing Barry, pretending to be innocent and even managing to fool Natasha in an interrogation. It was all too clever, August was ten steps ahead and Barry was too far behind. As Barry kept himself locked in his room, elsewhere in the base, Coulson, Mack, Bobbi, Hunter, and May entered the medical bay as Daisy got up from the bed, standing on her feet.
"Guys, what's going on?" Daisy asked.
"The Avengers," Coulson explained. "They got a lead on Godspeed."
"They found him?" Daisy asked incredulously.
"He's here," Bobbi explained as Daisy's eyes grew large in horror.
"What?"
"It's Barry," Hunter revealed.
Daisy reeled back in shock, her hand shooting up to her flat stomach as part of her could even feel the baby's shock. Clearly the result of a mother's instinct which seemed to have had already. It couldn't be true. It couldn't. Barry was Godspeed. But how, he had been there when the two Godspeed time remnants attacked him, her, and the Avengers. He even healed and helped her when she was injured. Daisy had been pregnant with Barry's child and now the father of her child was a murderous speedster? Daisy couldn't breathe, she could feel the walls closing in on her, preparing to crush the way her heart had been crushed. This couldn't be happening. Not again. First, it was Ward, a person she thought she could love, who lied to and betrayed her. Then, it was Jiaying, her own mother. Now, it was Barry? The man she loved. The father of the child in her womb. It couldn't be. Daisy was frozen, she couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't do anything.
"I'm sorry, Tremors," Mack said regretfully.
"No," Daisy said instantly, shaking her head in denial.
"Daisy-" May tried to say, reaching her hand towards the girl she considered a daughter.
"No," Daisy repeated, slapping May's hand away. "You're wrong. You're all wrong. I-I-I know you all think you're right but you're wrong. Barry wouldn't do that, that's not true. Alright? So just cut the crap."
"I'm sorry, Daisy," Hunter said, him and everyone else knowing how hard this was for her.
"This isn't true, dammit!" Daisy yelled.
"Daisy, hey," Coulson said as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "I know this is hard for you. Believe me I do. That's the father of your child, the man you love and I'm sorry, but he's not who you think he is. He's not who any of us think he is. I'm sorry, Daisy, I really am. We have to stop him."
Daisy panicked as she ran her hands through her hair. Coulson turned to Mack as May spoke to Daisy, trying to calm her down and get through to her.
"Mack," Coulson ordered. "Where are we on the dampeners?"
"All of 'em are set," Mack replied. "As long as Barry is still in the building, he won't have his powers."
"Good," Coulson said. "Bobbi, Hunter, you two take point with the agents, I want every agent we have in this building on us. We sweep the entire building, everything. Rooms, ventilation shafts, Quinjets, we do it over and over again if we have to. Lockdown the building, no one - nothing goes in or out without my permission."
"On it," Hunter said as he pulled out his pistol, checking the magazine before pushing it in with a click and running out through the door.
"Bobbi, I want you leading the search," Coulson continued. "Like I said, search the entire building. Don't stop until you've found Barry."
"Copy that," Bobbi replied, pulling out her batons as she left the medical bay.
"Mack, you go with Bobbi," Coulson said. "Might wanna take that shotgun ax."
"With pleasure," Mack growled, desperately to go after the man who killed Fitz, at least the man he thought had killed Fitz.
As Mack left the room, Coulson turned to May, a serious, red-eyed Daisy.
"Barry might try to come here," Daisy said as she loaded a gun in her hand. "We need to stop him if he does."
"Daisy, are you sure about this?" May asked, concern was clear in her voice, something that was heavily rare.
"Let's just get him down," Daisy gritted, her grip on her gun tightening. "Then, we'll talk about my feelings."
Inside a locked storage room, Barry, fully dressed in his suit, paced around the area. He was careful to avoid being tracked to the room and he had to make sure that he didn't bump into some mops or equipment and create enough sound for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to track him down. Barry continued pacing around the room as he held up his arm, the technological, metal gauntlet on it emitting a blue, three-dimensional, holographic image of his suit. The hologram showed how many pieces of tech, gadgets and other equipment Barry had in his suit. He had a few smoke bombs, some miniature tranquilizer darts, a few lightning bolt-shaped throwing knives, one small EMP device, a short-range, high-powered laser on both of his metal-tech gaunlets, which rested on his arms. Then, there was his technological visor. Barry sighed in disappointment.
"Well, that's not much," Barry sighed. "Gideon, what's the range on the EMP device?"
"The range of the device expands as far as the entire building," the A.I. answered.
"Will it take out the dampeners?" Barry questioned.
"No," Gideon replied as Barry sighed in disappointment once more. "All power-dampening devices in the building are specifically routed to a set of back-up generators hidden within the base. Taking out the generators with the EMP device will temporarily disable the power-dampeners but will not affect anything else."
"That's all I need to hear. Where are the generators located?"
"Right here," Gideon said as Barry saw an x-ray scan of the storage room, seeing the generators behind a certain door in the storage room.
"Coulson, you really need to step up your security," Barry muttered under his breath.
Barry made his way over to the door as he tried to open it only to find that it was locked. He lifted his arm as he aimed it in the direction of the small, thin gap between the door and the door frame. A thin, high-powered red laser shot out from the arm gauntlet as it struck the gap perfectly, burning through. Barry lifted the laser up and down a few inches, burning through the lock. After a few seconds, he stopped as he opened the door with relative ease. Barry entered the room as he saw several generators spread out through a relatively massive room. He pulled off his mask as he kneeled beside the generators. Barry pulled out the EMP device as he began adjusting the settings.
"EMP time set," the device echoed with a robotic voice. "Eight hours and counting."
Barry placed it in the thin space between two generators as it latched itself onto a generator. The device then cloaked itself as it appeared invisible.
"May I understand the plan, Barry Allen?" Gideon asked through the mask.
"I'm trying my attempt at a breakout," Barry explained. "But if I don't make it. S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers are gonna lock me up in a prison vault and dampen my powers. When this device goes off, I'll have my powers and I'll be able to escape."
"Wouldn't other enhanced individuals placed in imprisonment also have their powers as well?" Gideon asked. "Eobard Thawne among those individuals."
"That is something I'll take care of then," Barry replied. "If I can escape, I deactivate the device and nothing happens. In the more likely situation that I don't, I'll need my powers. Plus, Godspeed is too smart and he's too fast. As much as I hate to admit, I'm gonna need Thawne's help on this."
"You will be requesting the assistance of Professor Thawne?" Gideon asked.
Barry sighed. "Yeah, unfortunately…" Barry then spoke his next words regretfully and forcefully "Gideon, activate the Babel Protocol."
"Commencing self-destruct sequence," Gideon said.
Suddenly, Barry's mask began frying and flinging with bits of sparks and electricity. Gideon's system broke down and was destroyed as Barry's fried mask laid on the ground. Barry regretted having to destroy Gideon, but he didn't have a choice. If S.H.I.E.L.D. stopped him and got their hands on Gideon… Barry didn't even want to consider the thought. He had the Babel Protocol in place for a while in the event that an opponent or an enemy would try to get their hands on Gideon. Barry had never thought or expected that S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers would be the opponents and enemies that he'd be doing it against. An unmasked Barry took his fried and damaged mask as he left the generator room. He left the storage room as he tossed his mask away, making his way through the hallway. As Barry prepared to run down the hallways a bullet struck the wall a few feet away from him. Barry turned and faced the direction of the origin of the bullet.
"Move and the next one goes in your head," Hunter growled, aiming his pistol towards Barry.
"Hunter, I know how this looks-" Barry tried to say as he raised his hands in a surrender position.
"It was you all along, wasn't it?" Hunter sneered. "You sneaky bastard. We trusted you for two years and this is what you did."
"Hunter, I didn't do this-" Barry said as he stepped forward.
A bullet flew from the hole of Hunter's pistol as it struck a window, breaking and shattering the glass. Barry remained stoic and still, unaffected by the sound of the glass breaking. He tilted his head as he could hear voices from not too far away.
"Shots fired. Shots fired!" an agent yelled.
"Stay right where you are," Hunter ordered as Barry lowered his hands. "And put your bloody hands up!"
"Hunter, this is your last chance," Barry offered. "Lower your weapon. I'm not Godspeed. I'm not your enemy."
"Yeah," Hunter sassed. "And I'm the bloody King of England."
In the blink of an eye, Barry, despite only being able to move at human speed, grabbed one of his small, lightning bolt-shaped, throwing knives as he chucked it towards Hunter. Hunter, in a reflex, fired his gun as the bullet struck Barry's armor in the chest. Barry staggered backwards from the shock of the shot as his throwing knife struck Hunter's gun, sending it flying five feet away. Barry, at human speed, ran towards Hunter, who ran back at him. At two feet apart from one another, Hunter swung his fist at Barry, who ducked under before grabbing Hunter's arm, trapping him. Barry then used his foot to strike the back of Hunter's ankle, sweeping his foot off the ground as he fell on his back. Barry quickly dropped to his knees as Hunter lifted his head in time to meet a punch to his face, knocking him out instantly.
"You'll forgive me for this, someday, I promise." Barry whispered before he rose to his feet.
Barry didn't have time to play games, he had to get out of the base as quickly as he could, without harming or fighting many agents. The more agents he fought, the less his case was helped, and the less energy or stamina he had. Barry quickly ran through the hallways, avoiding the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that were coming to Hunter's aid. He found his way to the large hangar door that led out of the main area of the Playground. Barry stopped in his tracks as he saw a certain blond-haired woman in a black, leather suit with two batons in her hand. The woman stood in front of Barry, who let out an exasperated groan.
"Bruce, those martial arts styles you taught me better be worth it," Barry muttered under his breath, recalling his training with a certain bat-vigilante.
"Going somewhere?" Bobbi demanded.
"Look, Bobbi," Barry said calmly, walking closer to her. "Listen to me-"
Barry was cut off as Bobbi jumped in the air, throwing a front kick as the bottom of her foot met with Barry's face. Barry staggered backwards as Bobbi landed back on her feet, her batons in her hands as she grinned for a quick moment. Barry stumbled onto his feet as he pulled his hand away from his nose, noticing a few drops of blood on the side of his fingers. Barry wiped the blood from his nose off as he and Bobbi traded glances.
"Never mind," Barry said, cracking his neck.
Bobbi charged at him as she threw one of her batons at him. This time, Barry was ready for the attack as he caught the baton, tightening his grip on it. As Bobbi came at Barry, she readied her other baton, swinging it at him. Barry quickly dropped to his feet and front-rolled, ducking under and avoiding the strike. Bobbi overshot her swing as Barry landed back on the ground, one knee meeting the floor, his other leg extended as the bottom of his met with the ground. Just as Bobbi turned around, Barry jumped to his feet, throwing a punch towards her face. Bobbi ducked as Barry missed his punch, she got back onto her feet as she swung her baton at Barry, who countered by bringing the baton he had taken from her in front of him. The two batons met as a clang echoed through the halls. Quickly, Barry overpowered Bobbi's strength as the two of them turned around one eighty degrees, facing away from the door. Barry disarmed her of her remaining baton as he held her in a chokehold, he held back his strength. He made sure not to choke her, just to restrict her movement. Bobbi struggled under Barry's chokehold grip, the man was incredibly strong, possibly even stronger than Mack.
"I'm not your enemy, Bobbi," Barry argued, trying to reason with his ally. "You have the wrong guy. It's Steven Grant. His real name is August Heart. He's from Earth 1. He's Godspeed."
Bobbi ignored him as she jumped, kicking her legs in the air as Barry's chokehold position broke. As Bobbi landed on the ground, she grabbed Barry's arm and rolled her over her back and her shoulder before he fell face-flat to the ground. Bobbi grabbed both of her batons only for Barry to kick her legs, causing her to trip as she fell to the ground. Barry got onto his feet as Bobbi lunged at him, he simply stepped to the side, extending his leg as Bobbi once again tripped over his feet landing face-flat onto the ground, her batons rolling away from her on the ground. Bobbi tried to get up as Barry kneeled beside her, wrapping his arm around her neck, holding her in a chokehold position once more. This time, however, she couldn't escape. Bobbi struggled against Barry's grip.
"If I really was Godspeed," Barry said as Bobbi began slipping into unconsciousness. "and if I wanted to get out of here by any means necessary, I wouldn't have held back, especially not on you. I could've gone for your knee brace and fought with any methods necessary. But I won't. Because I'm not Godspeed."
Barry released Bobbi as her head dropped to the ground, her unconscious form remaining still. He carried the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in his arms before placing her by the wall, allowing her to sit down. During the entire fight, Barry had to hold back while Bobbi didn't. Had Barry wanted, he could have ended the fight in a single-digit seconds even in spite of fighting someone as skilled as Bobbi. However, that would have involved seriously harming and injuring Bobbi, something Barry wouldn't do. Not without an extremely valid and thorough reason. Barry quickly pulled out Bobbi's ID card from her pocket as he held it to the technological panel. The panel glowed green as the door opened, allowing Barry to go through. He made his way through the final halls before finally reaching the Quinjet area. The large doors on the ceiling were open as Barry sighed in relief. However, his relief was wiped away upon seeing Tony, Clint, Sam, Steve, Natasha, and Rhodey in front of him.
"Hey Allen," Tony said coolly. "Where do you think you're going?"
Before Barry could say or do anything, Tony fired a repulsor blast from both his metal hands. Barry quickly lifted his arm up, the two repulsor beams striking his gauntlet as his armor protected him. For a few seconds Barry's armor held out against Tony's repulsors when suddenly, a second beam of yellow energy struck Barry in the chest, sending him flying several feet as he crashed onto a wall before falling on the ground. Barry groaned in pain from the fall as he looked up to see a certain android looking down on him with a slight hint of guilt and sorrow.
"Forgive me, Mr. Allen," Vision said.
The last thing Barry saw was the stone on Vision's head glowing with bright yellow light and energy as the world around him went black, forcing him with the knowledge of one thing: he had failed and the Avengers had captured him, thinking he was Godspeed. August had won this battle in his war with Barry.
A/N: I'll end that right here. This arc is coming to an end. The next chapter will focus on Barry's capture at the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the continuation of Godspeed's plan. This arc should only be another three to four chapters. I don't really see it going on longer than that. Then, there will be the Earth 1 meets Earth 199999 arc, then there will be the Savitar arc.