I promised myself I wasn't going to start this until I finished some of my other works first, but this was one of this ideas that wouldn't leave me alone until I started it.
This was an idea I got from watching Judgement Day last week. I haven't planned the whole thing out yet but, as I said, it was an idea I just needed to get out for my own sanity.
And I'm going to say pointblank that this is not going to be a WestAllen fic nor will it feature Iris in a huge role. So don't come whining to me about how Iris is the love of Barry's life or what not. Don't like, don't read, it is that simple.
Central City, 2034
Night
In an underground bunker, Barry Allen sat in a chair, facing his team, his council. The High Council of the resistance, as they were known. Barry took a moment to assess each and every one of them.
Cisco Ramon, his best friend. Long gone was the excited young man Barry had first met, the last ten years having stripped all the joy away from Cisco. As Cisco looked at Barry, Barry reflected that Cisco had never been the same since Judgement Day, which had claimed the lives of his parents and girlfriend.
Caitlin Snow, the love of his life. After his divorce from Iris a few years prior to Judgement Day, Barry never thought he would find love again. But Caitlin, as she so often did, surprised him. Over the last ten years, she had been his confident, his rock, kept him on the straight and narrow path. Which is why it hurt him more than he could say that they were on opposite sides on this.
Ralph Dibny. The man who sat across from his bore little resemblance to the one Barry had known all those years ago when he and Joe walked into his PI office. Gone was the cheerful jokester, in his place a hardened soldier. Ralph had always been willing to do what needed to be done in a way he and the other members of what had once been Team Flash had not. Barry just hoped that this would be one of those times.
"I can't believe you two are even suggesting this," Caitlin was saying hotly, breaking Barry out of his thoughts.
"You know we wouldn't if we had any other choice, but Skynet forced our hand," Cisco argued.
"How'd you two even get this thing?" Ralph asked, speaking for the first time since Barry and Cisco had told them of their plan.
"That raid on the Skynet base a few weeks back," Barry said with a sigh. "We found it damaged. We're hoping to reprogram it to use against Skynet."
"And now you wanna use it to change things," Caitlin pointed out.
"Skynet is the one that changed the rules Cait. If we don't do this now, none of it will matter," Barry argued. "I don't like this anymore than you, it makes my skin crawl just thinking about it. But if we don't, then everything we've fought for over the last ten years will be for nothing."
"Why don't you just go back and stop it yourself?" Ralph inquired.
"Yeah, he does that, then six months later I realize the suit I've been making looks exactly like the one he's wearing? We're messing with time enough, let's not make it any messier than we have to," Cisco argued.
"Every moment we spend here arguing is another moment that Skynet's plan has a chance to succeed. So enough talking, we put it to a vote, now," Barry said in a voice that left no room for argument. "All in favor?"
Barry and Cisco immediately raised their hands. After a moment, Ralph raised his as well and, looking like she'd swallowed a lemon, Caitlin raised hers as well.
"Looks like we're all in agreement," Caitlin said darkly.
"Yeah. Doesn't mean we have to like it," Barry said, his face showing he agreed with his lover's feelings on what they were about to do.
"Well, we need to suck it up. Like you said, every moment we waste here is another that Skynet can change history," Ralph said.
Central City, 2014
Night
In downtown Central City, a police cruiser pulled up, an officer responding to reports of strange electrical lighting and interference. As he got out, he walked over to a fence and stopped, staring. Somehow, the fence had a huge hole in it, large enough for a man to walk through. What was even weirder was that the fence glowed hot, like it had been heated and melted down.
As the officer processed tis strange development, he was unaware of a naked man sneaking up behind him. By the time he realized this, it was too late. The officer fell to the ground, dead.
A little later, the naked man, no longer naked and dressed in the officer's uniform, got into the man's police cruiser and drove off.
