Kara knocked on the door of the West house feeling aphrensive. Barry had asked her to meet him and the team there after their little misadventure exploring the secret room they'd found, and she found herself dreading whatever awaited them all now. She was left with her thoughts for only a moment before Barry answered the door and waved her inside.
"For three very smart people, that was really stupid," Joe was saying to Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco as Kara entered the house. "What if Wells had caught you in that…" He trailed off.
"Time vault," Cisco supplied, noticing his struggle to find the right term for the room they'd found.
"Thank you," Joe said.
"Okay, I know we've seen a lot this past year, but time travel?" Eddie asked skeptically, making Kara flinch with surprise, noticing his presence for the first time. Somehow, when Barry had asked her to meet him and the team here, she hadn't realized that, this time around at least, "the team" included Eddie.
"I did it," Barry said. "Or will do it, I mean."
"Excuse me?" Eddie asked.
"One of the two speedsters in Barry's house the night the Reverse Flash tried to kill him when he was a kid was Barry," Cisco answered. "I mean, the Flash. He was there, which means that one day, in the future, Barry will travel in time to that night."
"Okay," Eddie said, though he still sounded skeptical.
"Actually, I wasn't talking about that," Barry spoke up. I… kind of already time traveled. By accident."
"What?" Joe asked.
"I was running to try and stop a tsunami-" Barry said.
"When was that?" Caitlin interjected.
"A few weeks ago," Barry said. Turning to Cisco, he added, "Right before you started having those dreams."
"Oh, you mean the ones where Wells uses his superspeeding hand to shred apart my heart?" Cisco asked sarcastically. "Those?"
"Yes," Barry said. "Right. So, what if they're not dreams?"
"What else could they be?" Caitlin asked.
"Memories," Barry replied.
"I'm not following," Joe put in.
"All right, well, what if, that day, Cisco found out that Wells is the Reverse Flash, and then Wells killed him?" Barry asked. "But when I ran back a day, I changed the timeline so that event never happened."
"If it never happened, how can Cisco remember it?" Joe asked, voiceing the question on Kara's mind before she could.
"I don't know," Barry replied. "I don't know, but I think the important thing is, he does." There was a long pause, then he said, "Guys, I think I have a really terrible idea." Everyone looked at him curiously, and he filled them in on the plan he'd just come up with to find some way to access Cisco's memories of the alternate timeline.
"Somewhere in his subconscious is the key," he said.
"The key to what now?" Joe asked.
"Definitively proving, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Wells is the Reverse Flash," Barry replied.
"And how do we do that? " Caitlin asked.
"By getting him to confess to trying to kill me when I was a kid," Barry said. After the explanation was over, Kara pulled him aside.
"Do you need me for this?" she asked. Barry shook his head.
"We'll use whatever information we get from this to make a plan for our next move," he said. "I'll fill you in then."
"Alright then," Kara replied, and went on her way.
Some hours later, she stood in the room the held the containment field meant to trap the Reverse Flash- which they now knew had never held him at all- listening while Barry recapped what they had learned Cisco's dreams for those who hadn't been present and they all discussed the plan for what they did with that information.
"I just talked to Doctor Wells," Caitlin said, entering the room. "He's attending a lecture downtown, won't be back until five."
"Alright, Cisco, you know that when he gets here you need to be working on the trap so that he sees you set off the hologram," Barry said, turning to the person in question, who nodded.
"Hold on, isn't that when everything went all-"Joe cut in.
"Kali Ma Temple of Doom," Cisco finished for him. "Yeah. That definitely happened, but this time I'm ready for him. I originally designed the force field to keep a speedster from getting out." He stepped into the center of the trap and went on, "But now I've reversed it. Now, it won't let one in." He tapped something on his cell phone screen, and the force field switched on with a buzzing sound. He beckoned to Barry, who gestured for everyone to back up and then charged at the trap in a flash of yellow lightning. A moment later he reappeared off to the side, slamming into a metal cabinet with a loud clang and then falling to the ground.
"Barry!" Caitlin and Kara cried in unison, running over to him.
"Are you okay?" Kara asked. Barry nodded.
"It works," he groaned as Kara and Caitlin helped him to his feet.
"Okay," Cisco said. "As long as I'm inside, Wells won't be able to get near me."
"And I'll be in the Cortex watching and recording everything that happens," Caitlin said.
"And me?" Kara asked. "Where do you want me?"
"Circling the building from the air and keeping an eye on things," Barry replied. "We'll need you as backup in case everything else goes wrong." Kara nodded and made for the front entrance, the sound of her boot heels striking the concrete floor as she went seeming to echo ominously, the statcatto tap of a soldier's march.
Once outside, she leaped into the air and began her task of watching over STAR Labs, banking occasionally to keep herself in a wide loop above the building, feeling like nothing so much as a hawk circling prey. She had to keep reminding herself that nothing she was doing was nearly so predatory as all that. She continued in her slow, careful loop over STAR Labs, keeping an eye on the people and cars passing by below and, so far, spotting nothing out of the ordinary, nor anything that indicated danger.
Kara had long since lost track of how long she'd been circling when she felt her comm buzz in her ear.
"Barry?" she asked, pulling up suddenly.
"Kara, listen," Barry said on the other end, sounding breathless, on the edge of panic. "It was a set up. Wells had us all under surveillance. He knew what we were doing all along."
"Oh no," Kara mumbled fearfully.
"And now he's going after Iris," Barry went on. "And I need your help to stop him before he hurts her."
"I'm on my way," Kara said, and pulled out of her circular course, angling herself downward until she was directly above the red streak that was Barry, following him into danger as she had so many times over the last year. They ended up on the bridge across from the stadium just as the Reverse Flash was about to vibrate his hand through Iris' chest, the very same method by which he had killed Cisco in his memories of the alternate timeline. Barry charged toward him, Kara just behind, and he disappeared in a flash of red lightning, taking Eddie with him. Iris fell to her knees, and let out a startled yelp when Barry moved in front of her.
"Hey Iris, it's okay, it's me," Barry told her soothingly, vibrating his voice so that she wouldn't recognize it, kneeling in front of her and grabbing her arms to ground her.
"He took him," Iris said breathlessly, trying to pull away from Barry and run after Eddie and the Reverse Flash. "The man in yellow. He took Eddie."
"I promise I will find him okay?" Barry replied, pushing her back, clearly desperate to keep her from throwing herself into danger.
"What is happening?" Iris asked, glancing back over her shoulder as Kara touched down on the bridge behind her.
"Just go home!" Barry cried instead of answering her, getting to his feet. "Don't say anything to anyone. I swear to you, I will bring Eddie back, alright?"
"Wait, stop!" Iris said, grabbing his hand as he turned away. Electricity crackled between them,and Iris jerked her hand back in shock and pain.
"Barry," Kara heard her murmur breathlessly as the person in question vanished in a bolt of yellow lightning.