Hello everybody! We're here in part two of the Invasion. We're not finished just yet, but I have changed some things around for this chapter. You'll see how it goes. Shout out to my co-author Brightburn1985 and ThomasMarieAmell2.0.

Disclaimer: I don't have any rights to the Arrowverse

Being forced into having a conversation with Howlett as they ate wasn't the worst thing in the world. And Barry took the time to finish some things that were demanding his attention for some time.

It was almost an hour before any of the others began to wake up. Ray was actually the first to begin to stir. It was possible his helmet shielded him from taking the full effect of Howlett's powers since it obscured his view slightly, but it was nice to see they were coming out of it.

Caitlin, Cisco, and Felicity were waking up as well. They weren't directly targeted so it made sense they would wake sooner than the others.

Soon, it seemed everyone else was waking up from their trances. Blinking their eyes as if they weren't sure what they were seeing or feeling.

"Oh man, that was surreal. Like, going in, I knew nothing was real, but the longer I stayed, the more real it all seemed." Jax commented.

"We'll just have to keep practising. Barry, how did you get to be immune?" Oliver asked.

"I realized that whatever I was being shown, it wasn't what would make me happy. You need to remember it's not real and choose to live your life instead of the fantasy," Barry answered.

"We're going to have to go through this again. This will be good exercise to get our mental shields up to protect against the Dominators." Oliver said.

So the team began alternating their training. While at times they were fighting against Kara, other times they were trying to fight against the mental invasion Howlett's powers caused. To be able to resist the temptation of your every desire. It was a stressful mental workout.

In the end, nobody was sure which they preferred. Getting stuck in their minds for hours, or getting their asses handed to them by the new girl.

Dig had just gotten off the phone with Lyla. "The Dominators have made their move. They've kidnapped the president,"

"We'll organize a team to retrieve him. Do we know where they took him?" Barry asked.

"Satellites tracked them to an old warehouse on the outskirts of town." Dig reported.

"Well, the sun's going down. We'll use the cover of the night to our advantage. A small team will go and save the president," Oliver suggested.

"Why not the whole team?" Ray asked. "If all of us were there, it would give us a better chance,"

"Too much risk. We can't risk collateral with the president in the line of fire," Barry shook his head. "A smaller team would have a better chance of getting in and out with the president without anyone getting harmed."

"So, who exactly would partake in this rescue mission?" Prof. Stein asked.

Barry mentally went over all of the members and decided on which would be the best to operate on this small team. It'd need to be covert. The better they can sneak in, all the better. There were only really a few members who could accomplish that.

"Oliver, Thea, Sara, Ray, Kara, and Cisco, would you be okay going with them as well?" Barry declared.

"Wha-why me?" Cisco asked. He was confused. He wasn't experienced with going out into the field. At least, in this sense. Cisco was only ever called if there were little choices remaining.

"Because with your powers, you can get all of them out of there if things go sideways. Much faster than I could," Barry answered. "They would see me coming a mile away with my lightning trail."

"And the rest of us?" Thea asked eagerly.

"You, Oliver, and Sara have been trained by assassins. You know what you're doing. Ray can shrink and go undetected, and Kara is just a powerhouse in every sense of the word. Plus she has x-ray vision. Could prove useful on a stealth mission." Barry relayed. "The rest of us will wait here planning a counterattack. The Dominators have issued war. There's no going back now,"

The rest of the team was planning in the hangar, going over what they could possibly do to these aliens.

"They're not built for muscles. Their strengths lie in their psychic abilities. We just need to build something that can block them. One solid hit on them should put them down for the count," Stein planned after taking a careful look at the Dominator's physique.

"We actually have something like that here," Barry recalled. He ran to the storage in STAR Labs to retrieve what he had in mind. "It's a device Caitlin and Cisco fashioned to protect me against any mental images another psychic meta might try implanting in my head,"

Stein looked over the device Barry had handed to him. It was in pieces, but it was still recognizable as a helmet. "We're going to need to fix and tweak it. We're not even sure if it'll work, but it should be able to defend our minds, at least for a few moments. Not to mention we're going to need a lot of material to build more for the rest of us,"

"Great. I'll provide all the material we'll need. Just get to work as soon as possible. As soon as Cisco returns, I'm sure he'll help, but in the meantime, Caitlin can help as well." Barry said.

A breach opened up in the middle of the room. Nobody immediately came out, but everyone knew it must be Cisco returning from his mission with the rest of the team.

"That must be him now. Hope everything worked out well." Barry said.

The breach widened and several people jumped out and landed on the ground. In an almost mechanical fashion, all of them stood up with blank gazes on their faces.

"What's up with those guys?" Mick grumbled.

"Flash…" They all groaned. Their gazes transfixed onto Barry.

Everyone soon noticed their glowing foreheads and realized that something must be controlling them to act this way. And it seemed they were after Barry for some reason.

The mind controlled team members sprung into action. Oliver and Thea notched their arrows and fired directly at Barry. Sara pulled out her bo staffs, and Ray had shrunken down to miniature size. Cisco had remained at the back, but his fists were glowing with energy he was prepared to use at any time. Kara, which brought the most worry to Barry, fired her laser vision to add along to the twin arrows.

Barry was forced to dodge the projectiles and push everyone out of harm's way. The rest of the heroes readied their weapons or powers and aimed at their former teammates.

"What's happened to them?" Felicity shrieked.

"The Dominators must have gotten into their minds. They seem to be targeting Barry for some reason though," Caitlin said.

"This is all my fault. I shouldn't have sent them alone," Barry said.

"If you had, we'd all be like them right now. For the time, we need to think about how we're going to stop them," Dig said, his gun trained on the mind controlled group in case they made a move.

"We should just burn them all and be done with it," Mick said, readying his gun to fire the flames within.

"They're still our teammates. We don't want to hurt them," Barry said.

The body of Ray Palmer suddenly enlarged right in front of Barry and sent an uppercut to Barry's jaw, sending him through the air and onto his back.

Barry groaned in pain as he rubbed his jaw. He was just glad he hadn't bitten his tongue off.

"Somebody better tell them that," Jax said, already having merged with Stein.

"Felicity, can you track down whatever signal is causing them to act this way?" Barry asked.

"Just give me some time. I'll have a location soon, as long as nothing blows up around here." Felicity said, tapping on her keyboard.

"Alright, you heard her. I'll lead them outside. I'll handle Supergirl, you guys take care of the rest." Barry ordered, running past the brainwashed heroes and into the outside. Making sure they could still see him.

Like robots, they followed him outside. Kara and Ray flying after him and Cisco stepped through a breach. Everybody else was running outside to continue the fight until Felicity would be able to provide a location to where the signal controlling their friends was originating.

To be honest, Kara was the only one that was worrying him. She had a wide variety of abilities to choose from, while Barry could run circles around her. Barry could dodge attacks all day, but if he were to get in close to try to land a hit, Barry would be caught. Kara may not be as fast as him, but she was close enough that it would be negligible in close quarters.

Kara and Ray both shot their beams of energy at him, which Barry managed to dodge. In response, he charged up both of his arms and launched two lightning bolts at his foes.

The fliers were hit in the chest. While Ray's suit was trying to regain control after the shock, Kara was able to immediately get back up.

Firestorm sent his own fireballs to distract them as they were the only meta who could fly to aid them. The rest of them were stuck on the ground.

Firestorm could probably hold off Ray, but Barry would be forced to take on Kara head on.

Cisco had breached in, and was taking aim at Barry's back when he was distracted. Caitlin moved in front of him, blocking his view.

"Cisco, I don't want to do this. Stop," Caitlin raised her hands in defence, but her glowing eyes were indicating she was ready to fight.

Cisco's face remained expressionless. He raised his hand and shot out a vibrational burst point blank at Caitlin. Caitlin was sent flying, but managed to push herself back up. "I guess we're doing this," Caitlin muttered.

Caitlin's transformation went underway as her hair was bleached and her skin turned pale. Thrusting her hands forward, she started at Cisco's feet, hoping to immobilize him. Working her way up.

Cisco let loose another vibrational blast to intercept Caitlin's frost. The two collided together and remained at a stand still.

"Guys!" Felicity's voice called out to all of their comms.

"Felicity! Please tell me you have a location!" Barry shouted as he was forced to swerve out of the way of Kara's freeze breath.

"Got it! It's coming from an abandoned iron works building in Keystone. Tony's Iron Works. That building is emitting a serious amount of exotic energy, that's probably the reason we are having a freaking civil war on a parking lot." Felicity said.

"Yeah, I know the place," Barry said before dodging Kara's heat vision once again. "Hey Supergirl! Let's see who really is the fastest between us." Barry took off running while Supergirl followed him.

Back at the base, slowly, but surely, the heroes were being pushed back by their friends. They might have been able to hold them off, but they were holding themselves back to try to minimize the damage to themselves and their friends. The mind-controlled didn't share that sentiment and capitalized on their foe's reluctance to attack.

"Superheroes fighting against each other? I feel like I've seen that in a movie somewhere." Killer Frost commented, blasting the mind-controlled's feet to slow their movements.

"Don't lump me in with you self righteous bastards," Mick grumbled as he fired another stream of flames from his gun.

Barry was leading Kara through the city. He had to take several different routes in order to avoid capture from Supergirl, but he finally managed to arrive in the warehouse. Right there on the ground was a giant glowing crystal that was emitting the same colour of light from the foreheads of their mind-controlled foes. That must be what was controlling them. But how to destroy it with Supergirl on his tail?

Did he have enough time to generate a lightning bolt? A look behind said no and Barry had to jump out of the way of another strike from Supergirl. There was enough force that Barry could feel the wind where he stood. And Barry wasn't even sure if he could destroy it himself anyway.

But she can. If Barry can position himself in line for Kara to destroy the machine herself, she can break it.

"Hey Supergirl, you're getting slow! Are you sure you can beat me? 'Cause not gonna lie, you're really sloppy at being a superhero, let alone being a reporter."

"Barry, you do know that it isn't advisable to get on an alien's bad side, right?" Felicity asked.

"Depends on who you ask," Barry whispered so as not to draw attention away from Kara.

Barry evaded Kara one more time and felt it was time to get into position. Always keeping his eyes on Kara, Barry skidded to a stop right in front of the device. His front was always facing Kara so she would pay attention to what was behind him.

"Is that all you got?!" Supergirl flew towards him but he was able to vibrate himself at the last second, allowing her to pass through him and to the machine, crashing right through it.

"Barry?" Kara asked once she was free from being mind-controlled. "What happened?"

"You didn't kill me, so my day's looking up." Barry smiled at her before hugging her out of relief. "Sorry if you heard anything I said."

Back at the hangar, the glow from their friends had faded as well and they all fell to one knee to shake off the confusion and disorientation. "Ughh, my head feels like it's been split open. What happened?" Cisco groaned.

Everybody sighed in relief as they welcomed back their teammates with open arms.

"I want to minimize your involvement in this." Oliver said while walking with Kara.

"Why? Because I'm an alien?"

"No, that's not it-"

"Except that's exactly how it feels!"

"Look, I started this life alone and I could handle that, then I found out there are metahumans and I can handle that. Now my best friend just got captured by an alien race that we are fighting-"

"Barry is my friend too!" Kara declared. "I care about him too. You don't think I'm not blaming myself for that? If I had just been a little faster. Maybe I could have called out for Barry to run away sooner, but I didn't. Barry's gone, who knows where and you're asking me to take a back seat?"

"Yes, because you're an unknown threat. The team and I need to make a plan to recover Barry, you don't need to stay here."

"Of course I do. The rest of you may not trust me right now, but Barry does. Barry would want me to help you rescue him. You need all the help you can get, and I'm the most knowledgeable in alien space crafts. I can help you. You just don't want it,"

"Look, stay if you want to. I'm not doing this for you but for Barry." Oliver said.

Oliver walked off to converse with the rest of the team, leaving Kara behind with the tech support. Mostly just Felicity and Caitlin. Cisco was off with Stein helping to create another helmet that would block the Dominator's psychic powers.

"Kara, do you have any idea about what's happening with Barry or what the Dominators want with him?" Caitlin asked tentatively.

"No, not really. But I bet that whatever they're doing with him, it's not good."

"Also, don't take Oliver's daily dose of broodiness personally, he's like that with everyone." Felicity said, tapping Kara and Caitlin's shoulder.

"No, I understand some of the grief he's given me. He doesn't know me aside from what little time we've spent together. I can't expect him to instantly trust me, but I had hoped that we could work together to rescue Barry."

"I wonder what Fleet Feet's doing now." Caitlin offhandedly said, staring out into nowhere.

"Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful and since we've no place to go. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. It doesn't show signs of stopping…" The music faded on Barry's ears as he saw his wife walking down the stairs.

"What's with the Christmas music sweetie? I didn't think it was that time already." she said.

"I can't just love the song?" Barry chuckles, and a smile lights up his face when he sees her.

But when he really starts looking at her, there's confusion on his face. He can't really make out what she looks like. Not that it was a blur, but it was as if she had a thousand different faces at once. She had blue eyes, then brown. Other times she had thick black hair, but then there were purple highlights. That wasn't supposed to happen.

"What's wrong, baby?" His wife asked, confusion dripping from her words.

Barry shakes off his inner confusion. This was his wife. The woman he promised to love for the rest of his life. The mother of his future children. He was going to get his head checked out and laugh about this in the future. "I'm sorry. I think I need to change my contacts or something. I can't seem to see properly."

"Yeah, I'll take you to the doctor myself tomorrow. Now though, we have to get to your parent's house before we're late." His wife said, grabbing her handbag and Barry's hands.

Barry grinned and held the door open to her. The whole time they were walking, Barry kept looking at his surroundings. Everything seemed in place. If anything, they looked better than he remembered. Everything looked perfect. What was there for him to look out for?

When they reached his parents' house, they just unlocked the door with the key his parents had gifted him.

"Hello?!" Barry called out.

"Barry is that you?" a motherly voice responded.

Barry smiled at the sound of his mother's voice. It always managed to brighten his spirits.

"Yeah mom, it's me. Happy birthday," Barry pulled his mother in for a hug.

"Happy birthday Mrs. Allen." His wife received a hug from his mother as well.

"Well thank you Mrs. Allen. No need for such formality sweetheart. Especially on my birthday. It's Nora," Nora winked at her daughter-in-law.

Barry smiled as he looked at the interaction between his wife and his mother and can't help but feel lucky about his life, it was perfect.

Just then, he was suddenly hit by a migraine, he felt his head splitting in half while his vision getting blurry by the second.

"Barry? Honey, are you okay?" His wife reached out to comfort him.

Barry swatted her hand away. "I don't know you. You aren't my wife. I don't have a wife. My parents are dead. This isn't real. None of this is real," Barry realized.

"Oh Barry, we don't need to be real. This is your other life. The life you always wanted for yourself. Anything you could possibly desire. You just need to stay with us," They had said.

"I've gone through this before with Flashpoint. My life isn't perfect, but it's mine. I never should have tried to change it." Barry shook his head. "I'm getting out of here, just like I did before,"

Barry turned away, but a hand grabbed his shoulder to pull him back. "You don't need to leave. Stay for awhile. Rest. Enjoy yourself." His 'wife' said to him.

"I need to leave. I don't want to, but I can't stay." Barry shrugged off the hand.

"But we need a yes. It's the only way," They said ominously.

"I'm not falling for your tricks. This is the Dominators, isn't it? They've gotten into my head, trying to manipulate me. It's not going to work," Barry snarled.

"Barry," a soft voice called to him. "Don't you want to stay? With me?"

Barry slowly turned around. He could scarcely believe what he was hearing. The figure of his wife had finally taken hold of a definitive appearance. Brown hair, pale skin, caramel eyes that Barry seemed to get lost in.

"How?" Barry whispered. "How are you here?"

"I know you, Fleet Feet. I know everything there is to know about you. Every dream, every fear. What's waiting for you out in the real world? Pain and struggles. Just say yes, and you can stay here forever. You don't need to worry anymore," Her smiling face drew him in.

"You don't understand, do you? You'll never understand. That's why I have to leave. I want to stay, but I know I can't."

"Why can't you? It would be so easy for you to just say yes. Just say yes," she said.

"Because I can't trust a thing you say. Because you're not her. You're not my wife. You're not Caitlin. Caitlin would never say these things." Barry revealed. "Caitlin, my Caitlin, is waiting for me. And no matter what, I'm always going to come home for her,"

"You think she's waiting for you?" The image of Caitlin seemed to say, but the voice sounded as if it was coming from the whole world. "After you left her standing like an idiot? You think she'll take you back?"

"That doesn't matter. What matters is that I love her. I'm escaping this prison and my friends are going to rescue me. And we're going to beat you.

"I don't know what you wanted from me, but you're not going to get it. I'm not going to let you." Barry declared and finally got out of there.

There was a stinging in his head, but Barry pushed through it. He needed to find a way to get out of here.

"You can't do it, you know. You're never getting out of here," Barry's own voice sounded to him.

"I'm not listening to you. You're just trying to get in my head," Barry grumbled.

"Oh, but I'm already inside your head. I am you. I'm the part of you that's already accepted this is where we're going to spend the rest of our lives."

"That's not true. I'm going to get out of here. No matter what, I'm getting out of here."

"Do you even deserve to return? After everything that you've done? Their lives would be better off without you. You ruin everything you touch," Barry's disembodied voice whispered to him.

"Shut up. You don't know anything," Barry shouted quietly.

"I know Cisco's brother is dead. Iris has abandoned you. Dig's daughter has been erased from existence. You can't even remember the life you are supposed to be leading. And for what? Your parents are dead, again."

"That… that's not…" Barry stuttered.

"Fate has been cruel to us. But if we stay here, we can avoid all that. Why would we want to leave? Everything we could ever want is here."

"This isn't real. I'd rather die in reality, than live in a fantasy. And if you were me, you'd understand that."

"But this place can be real. You just need to accept it. You just need to say yes,"

"I don't need this," Barry mumbled to himself, trying to remain strong. "I don't want what I want. Nobody really does,"

"But you want to stay here. If you continue to resist, they can just as easily change this fantasy,"

"It doesn't matter. I'm not staying. What kind of life is it if I have everything handed to me? It doesn't mean anything. Mirrors are never to be trusted."

The voice disappeared, and the world changed around him. What was once a sunny utopia, was a dark nightmare.

Voices creeping up all around them. Each of them groaning out, "Flash,"

A sense of panic rose up within Barry. He was surrounded. He didn't know how, but he knew there was no escape. There was something here waiting for him.

The sky took on a red hue. Evil was in the air. The shadows licking at his back wherever he turned.

Barry vibrated his body to create his lightning, casting a light, but it always seemed the darkness was there to fill the space wherever his lightning couldn't reach.

Little sounds surrounded him wherever he couldn't see. Little creaks, skittering of tiny feet. The voices whispering louder and louder. Barry had to get out of here.

Barry ran for all he was worth. There is something here. Following him. Everywhere he went, eyes seemed to be locked onto him.

Up until now, the city seemed to be devoid of all other life since the sky turned red. But now there was something up ahead of him. Another person standing upright.

Barry cautiously stepped forward, but he sensed there was something amiss with this figure. When Barry could finally see the figure, Barry leapt with a start. It was him with The Flash suit. But his head was missing. The colour of fresh red blood glistened on his neck, dripping down onto the pavement where his head lay, severed from the body.

The torso collapsed to the ground.

Behind it, Barry could see several other bodies. All of him, dead in various ways. Those with heads left had their expressions fixed in horror. Blood drenched the street, seeming to glow in the light.

The sound of rushing wind behind him drew him away. Looking behind him, Barry saw the terrible figure of God. The metal speedster who played with him like a child's toy. His blades stained red with the blood of all the previous Barry's. He was coming for him. There was no escape.

Barry was paralyzed with fear at the inevitable. This was the end.

"Look at me," Savitar demanded. "This is my favourite part. I like to watch as it happens. To see the look of utter hopelessness when you realize you've lost."

Barry unwillingly tilted his head upward. The second his eyes made contact with the metal helmet, he could feel the blade soak itself in his blood by piercing through his flesh.

"Maintain eye contact. Don't look away," Savitar kept his blade firmly wedged into Barry's chest.

Barry could feel the life slip from his body. The blood seeping through his clothes. But he didn't dare turn his gaze away. Even as his legs gave out, Barry didn't look away from the face of his doom. But despite all this going on, Barry could feel a sense of peace within himself.

The Dominators growled in fury. Despite having the speedster in their custody, they were getting nowhere.

The Flash threatened their entire existence. With his powers, he could wipe them out of existence, whether he intentionally tried or not. Their psychic abilities allowed them to see through the minds of beings lightyears away. The Flash's powers were increasing, and with his power, would bring the scourge of their world. A crisis that would destroy the multiverse.

But if The Flash were to cease to exist, they could avoid their destruction.

But The Flash wasn't cooperating with them. Simply killing him wouldn't work. His death wouldn't prevent the crisis. He would only be sent to The Speed Force where he could return. He needed to be drained of his powers, but it wouldn't work until he relented. The Speed Force was a stubborn entity. It was a slow process without The Flash's cooperation.

If they couldn't get his consent, then perhaps his mental demise could provide them with the time to drain him of the rest of his powers without interference from his conscience.

Oh well. As soon as they escaped from the Earth's atmosphere, they would have all the time they needed to drain The Speed Force from The Flash. Once that was achieved, they would destroy the vessel for insurance.

They had The Flash. They could leave and save the multiverse from destruction.

Like I said, a bit different. I still had the fight between heroes. And for those of you who might be wondering where Wally is, he's still in his cocoon. The way I see it, Joe did this in a moment of weakness when he saw Caitlin's powers overtake her and worried the same would happen to Wally, so tried to get him out earlier before that could happen. Obviously Caitlin is in full control of her abilities here so I didn't have that happen. Wally will be returning down the road for some proper training with Barry.

I had Barry be the sole victim of the Dominator's capture. It just made sense since he's the reason the Dominators arrived to Earth. Which is another reason why I had Flashpoint be a thing, although it was a minor reason. They've placed him in a fantasy world, but he was quick to catch on to what was really happening so the Dominators changed his dreams into nightmares. Who can guess what I based that on? I even took some direct quotes to help.

And the Dominators are aware of Crisis. I'll be honest, I didn't plan on that happening, but I didn't feel the whole time travel thing was a good enough reason to warrant a full scale war, especially when Barry has no way of travelling through space and doing anything to them.

By the way to Guest from last night: Hahaha, I know. I loved that show. I was wondering if anyone else caught that but so far, you're the only one that's told me so.

Anyway, this has gone on for long enough. I'll see you all next week.