Friction

by DarkElements10

SEQUEL TO FUEL TO THE FIRE. Barry thought saving his mom would fix his life; but Flashpoint made things worse. His best friend is doomed to die. Cadence thought she could handle the Assassination Bureau's plan. But what's harder; your rival being your best friend or knowing the impending destruction of the world is your fault? -S3- Barry/OC

12. Guilt (2)

12

Guilt

---

Barry ran his hands over his face as he watched the group of his teammates and friends converse with each other in the few minutes they had before suiting up. Doubt rocked his guts more than he thought it could. Not just due to the threat of the Dominators, but of everything. Savitar and Alchemy. Flashpoint. His personal life, everything.

Now he was to lead an entire rag-tag team of misfits straight out of a John Hughes movie to fight against them and save the world from…whatever their plan was? The lack of information of what the Dominators wanted was throwing him off. Typically, their enemies bragged about what they wanted, their past lives proved their present endeavors. A common want of revenge against Harrison and STAR Labs. Take your pick.

But this plan, no, this plan had the possibility to be costly. It was like Oliver had said years before, they weren't taking things seriously; they had cute nicknames for everyone and made fun of those who's powers ended up being a bit wimpy. Such as Shade, whom they had imprisoned in the Pipeline. He whined and complained every time they brought him food, and worked hard to make him more comfortable. Otherwise they didn't get much out of him. Barry knew they had to let him go but…the re was too much risk behind it now, with the identities of his friends being known to him, knowing he wanted revenge against The Flash for a reason he couldn't fathom. The last thing he needed was to turn his back and receive a fist punching through him.

Slowly, Barry started to stretch his arms, continuing to watch everyone get suited and booted, ready to go. He let out a long sigh. Ray had told him about Snart. How he had sacrificed himself for his team and for the mission they had been on. Barry listened quietly, nodding throughout the story. Snart had died a hero, a legend, for what he had done. The realization had hit him then, that there was a chance they would lose people that night. It was what ultimately made him decide to leave Jesse behind. She'd started to protest, itching to get into a fight and help, but Barry quickly wore her down reminding her that he needed someone to watch Central City in the case that something happened to him.

Jesse grew pensive at that, nodding quietly before slumping back into her seat. He was sure she was watching and waiting for her time to help back at STAR Labs if she weren't fielding a constant barrage of questions from HR about her Earth and what 'her' Harrison was like. Intuitively, Barry knew the reason Jesse was throwing herself into everything was due to how much she missed her father and could commiserate. Nearly everything he did now his parents were the first that came to mind.

What would they think?

What would they do in the situation?

What words of advice would his father give before he went into battle?

What words of comfort would his mother give if he failed?

As much as failure wasn't an option, Barry knew he had to be prepared for it. Because, if things did end up going south, there was truly no one to blame but himself.

Barry turned his gaze upwards. He wasn't quite sure if he believed in there being a higher being out there, but he pleaded to someone as he said, "If anyone's looking out for me…please let me know if this gets easier."

---

Across the floor of the hangar, Cisco sat behind a computer, starting up the machines that would keep track of all of equipment needed to track of the vitals of all the metas and vigilantes that were going to be fighting. On another computer that he consistently turned his attention to and from, he watched the satellite scan the areas around Earth as well as Central and Star Cities. Nothing.

Beside him, he could see Felicity watching him out of the corner of his eye, tilting her head to study him. Cisco's lips pursed as he murmured, "You don't need to Vibe to know you're watching me," Cisco murmured.

"Just like you don't need to vibe to notice that things are a little tense," Felicity replied, bringing up her fingers to delicately shift her glasses up her nose.

Cisco snorted, keeping his eyes on the computer screen. His grasp tightened against his computer mouse, making the plastic housing make cracking sounds in warning against het pressure exuded on its body. "Is it against the law to be mad at Barry?" He shook his head, lowering his voice to a darker level. "Guess what, he screws up just like the rest of us."

"Yeah, and when he does, he feels bad like the rest of us, too."

"Felicity, he took it up on himself to change the timeline," Cisco said, pressing his lips together in a thing line, drawing his eyebrows down his forehead. "And because of it, a lot of things around here changed. With Savitar and Alchemy and Caitlin…"

"That can't be the only thing that's bothering you about it—"

"There's no amount of feeling bad that's going to make up for what he did," Cisco interrupted.

Felicity continued to watch him for a long moment before quietly venturing. "What did he do? He went and created Flashpoint and he came back, trying to fix things." She sat up straight, eyes widening when she realized what the problem was. "You're not upset because Barry created Flashpoint, you're upset because of something he did over there. What'd he do, Cisco? What happened?"

"Maybe he doesn't want to tell you what happened, Felicity," Cadence remarked as she walked over, pulling her fingerless gloves up over her hands. She wiggled her fingers at the end before clenching her hand into a fist, making sure they fit tightly. "God forbid, for once you want to stay out of someone's business."

Cisco leaned back in his seat, suddenly feeling the air around him increase in temperature. He glanced at Cadence and Felicity before reaching up to pull his collar aside, suddenly feeling very stuffy. "Is it hot in here or is it just you?" He held up his hand and backed away from Cadence and Felicity, who all but glared at each other. "I'm not going to be in the middle of this."

"You're not in the middle of anything, Cisco," Felicity said, her voice growing low with irritation. "Because we can be professional and still work together when it comes to saving the world again. Right?"

The corner of Cadence's lips turned up, but she didn't respond to the taunt. Instead, she turned to Cisco and said, "There's a meeting before we start to practice. They want to tell us something."

Cisco's eyebrows came together in confusion, but he nodded in agreement, standing up to follow them. He moved out of the way so that Felicity could move through him first—he certainly didn't want to be in the way of two fighting women and followed the group that gathered in the center of the hangar. Cisco fell in-step with Cadence and lowered his voice to say, "Thanks. I really didn't want to talk about that right now."

"Oh, I didn't do it for you, Cisco, I did it to piss Felicity off," Cadence admitted. "Call me petty all you want, but sometimes there are people you just don't get along with no matter how much of the world is at stake." She adjusted her goggles around her neck and added, "I would've done it even if we were on the same team."

Cisco let out a huge sigh of exasperation. He had been telling the truth when he blurted it out, that he, Caitlin, and Barry weren't sure if Cadence was fit to be on the team. It was back when they started; when fighting metas was a fun game they played and kept part of their secret lives. Before everything became so serious that there was a risk of death every time they stepped out the door of their apartments. He didn't know Cadence from any other meta they'd come across other than the fact that she had more energy and personality than any person he'd ever met; her admission she was a cheerleader in school was the best explanation.

Still, they hadn't known her and what she was capable of and in the end, their hesitation was proven right when it was revealed she was being brainwashed and controlled by the Assassination Bureau. But he had been hurt and scared for Caitlin the moment, scared something bad was going to happen to her, that they'd try to kill her if the time came as she was working through her Killer Frost persona. There was nothing in Cadence's words that reassured him nothing was going to happen to her.

In as many as a few conversations he'd managed to piss off one of his best friends and couldn't stand the sight of the other. It wasn't the ideal situation to go into when they needed to save the world but if they could push those things aside and work on fighting the Dominators then things would be hunky dory.

As hunky dory as Independence Day, Cisco thought. He came to a stop with everyone else, folding his arms over his chest as Oliver stood alongside Barry, bow in hand. Kara hovered aside, dressed in her suit. Cisco smelled Caitlin moving up to his side before he saw her, the light scent of coconut filling the air. Frosted Coconut if he were being specific. Sometimes she went a little too far with the whole 'ice' theme, even before they knew she was a meta.

Cisco glanced up at her and Caitlin gave a gentle smile back at him. He didn't know how she knew, but she knew there was something worrying him that only her comfort could fix. She'd always been able to do that, her own superpower, to know when Cisco needed time to be alone and when all that would help him was a comforting, warm smile. Killer Frost may have been Caitlin's icy alter-ego, but Caitlin Snow was the warmest person he knew.

Cisco smiled back at her before facing forward once more, sweat suddenly coming to his hands as it did of late when he was around her. How much longer would it be until she lost control of her powers and was taken away form him? Them? That had been the part that angered him the most, that caused his outburst in the Cortex. He knew there was a chance, a real possible chance, they'd need to take her down if Killer Frost ever became a thing again.

With a quiet sob, sadness washing over him, Cisco shifted his gaze to Barry, who stood in his suit, cowl down around his neck, face etched in an expression of determination. Cisco was mad at Barry. But he also was very impressed by Barry and looked up to him. He made tough decisions every day and took the blame when things fell apart.

Cisco wasn't a hero, he was still learning how to control his own powers at the best of times.

Barry was a hero.s

And as mad as Cisco was at him, he was the hero they needed right now.

"This is going to be the toughest fight we'll have to face," Barry said once all eyes were on him. He slowly looked around to each of the heroes in front of him. "We may even lose some people going against these Dominators. But we're not going to let them come to Earth without a fight. We've come from different cities and dimensions to take down these aliens and we'll have to give it everything we've got. I know not a lot of you look up to me to lead this thing, but I have faith in all of you that we can do this. Together." He took one last pass over everyone's face then said with utmost confidence, "Suit up!"

---

Thwoom!

Ray went sprawling to the ground the second Kara grabbed a hold of him and flicked him away like a dirty tissue. He came to a rest next to Sara and Mick, who lay splayed on the ground, arms and legs outstretched like a starfish. His eyes blinked blankly towards the ceiling while Thea slowly got to her feet.

"She's badass," Thea said, her voice tinged with exhaustion.

"Yeah," Sara agreed, shaking her hair from her face. "It's kinda hot." A smirk forming on her face as she looked up at the blonde floating above them all. "You sure you don't want in?" Sara asked as she glanced over to where Deity was sat. She'd been watching the whole training session, quiet as a mouse throughout the whole thing, legs crossed at the knee with her hand on her lap, her gaze flicking down whenever someone looked her way.

"I'm good thanks," the teenager mumbled before the team reassembled to fight Kara once more.

Floating above them all, Kara couldn't help the smile that came to her face. Bullets, fire blasts from Mick's gun, and energy blasts from Ray's arsenal bounced off her with ease.

Bullets, fire blasts from Mick's gun, and energy blasts from Ray's arsenal bounced off her and Deity with ease. Oliver stood below them, his lips pressed together in a thing line, fingers twitching over the boy that rested in his palm. With every attack that was sent their way, they were knocked to the ground before getting back to their feet and charging again.

Barry stood aside, arms folded over his chest as he continued to watch their attack. He winced when Brady used his yo-yo as a tether to snap Kara's arms to her side, something he'd done against Ragdoll when they were fighting in STAR Labs. This time, however, was a better reaction, with the metal Cisco added to the tether it pinned her without much chance of escape. However, Kara wasn't human, and quickly countered it with a puff of super breath that sent him flying, releasing her from the yo-yo's tether.

He sucked in a deep breath between his teeth. "This isn't working," he murmured to Cadence, who stood by his side. "Kara's really helping but…this isn't what the Dominators were like."

"Well, if she were to use that super-screaming thing...maybe split some ear drums," Cadence said with a half-smile. She placed her hands on her hips. "No, it's not," she said, agreeing with him. "The Dominators didn't have these powers, bar the strength. It's not doing much other than…" She hesitated but Barry nodded for her to continue. "Distracting them as we try to find where the Dominators will attack next."

"Yeah," he agreed. Then he looked closer at her. "Why aren't you fighting them?"

"If I wanted to see who was stronger out of me and Kara, I'd do it over an arm wrestle competition." Cadence's joke fell flat, it didn't reach her eyes or bring warmth to the slightly forced laughter that came from her.

Barry thought he knew what was going on. "You don't want to fight a friend?"

Cadence lifted her eyebrows. "I would if I could." Barry started to question her then noticed the subtle clenching of her jaw. He looked closer and saw her hands were shaking with effort. Then he looked her in the eye and she nodded, giving a humorless chuckle. "I may have gotten a lot stronger since the last time they saw me, but Breathtaker…I'm not sure what we're going to do about him."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"One sci-fi issue at a time, Barry. Besides, this is a lot more important. Can't really worry about the Assassination Bureau if the entire world is going to be blown up. Even I don't think Breathtaker can handle the Dominators." Cadence thought for a moment then quietly admitted, "I got used to dealing with it by myself when you weren't around, you know. I guess I'm still stuck in that mindset. Especially now with Savitar and Alchemy."

Barry nodded. He could understand that. It hurt to know she didn't trust him enough to at least let him know she was struggling, but he understood. She wanted to protect him, felt she could handle it all on her own, felt she was at fault for what was going on. Just as Barry felt for Savitar, Alchemy, and Flashpoint.

And maybe the Dominators were now his fault, too.

Once again Barry scanned the training field they'd set up, watching as his friends tried and failed repeatedly to get the upper hand on Kara. His eyes then went to the young brunette off to the side who seemed somehow much older than the last time he met her. It wasn't in the way she looked or how she'd grown, but in her eyes. He'd seen that same thing in Cadence's eyes sometimes. Mostly when talking about her past with the Assassin's Bureau. She tried to hide it, knowingly or not, but Barry always saw it.

"You think that's why she's not joining in?" Barry asked, nodding towards Deity when Cadence gave him a confused frown.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think she's not training because she's scared of hurting them?" Barry explained.

"Would be a little strange considering the training session we had last time," Cadence said before tilting her head in serious thought. Barry guessed she was thinking over all the information she'd gotten from Deity since her arrival, trying to piece everything together the way she did when tracking a target. Her eyes staring upwards at the mental jigsaw in her head. "But it would make sense considering what she's been saying." Barry opened his mouth to ask, then remembered that Cadence had already said she wouldn't tell him until Deity said it was okay.

Instead he just said, "Either way we're going to need both her and Kara's help on this one. So hopefully she's been practicing on her own."

"Do you think one of my Kryptonite bullet or the kryptonite sensors in your suit will help much?" Cadence asked suddenly. "Against the dominators?" Barry wasn't sure how to respond. In fact, he was more curious about how Cadence had moved on in the conversation without him knowing. "I know they're not the same species of alien but…you never know."

"Do you plan on shooting them when they're not looking?"

"I've done a lot of bad things in my life, but even I have more morals than that. Only a coward would shoot someone in the back."

Barry continued to watch his friends fight off Kara as the hours passed, the sun going down, casting shadows around the hangar. Once Cadence fought off Breathtaker's hold, she went into the battle as well. He watched at every angle of every fight, zipping back and forth to get a better vantage point, mentally keeping track of what was working and what wasn't. There were only so many scenarios and outcomes that would come from this and, in his mind, all of them ended in failure. His mind wasn't conversing with his heart, which desperately wanted nothing more than for the city and its residents to be safe.

From what he'd seen of the Dominators when they first arrived, they wouldn't stand still long enough to be attacked like Kara was doing. No, they'd run forward, using their momentum like a steam roller to knock whomever was in their way out. And that had only been a few seconds of Barry seeing them, the few seconds that had him frozen with fear. This was going to be a big fight.

Barry continued to watch, mind going a mile a minute as he worked to figure out what their plan would be once the Dominators came back. They were going to come back. But what are they coming back for? Barry thought. What is it they want? The moment the doors to their ships opened and they streamed out liked sewer rats, they were gone. Were they looking for anything? Had they found what they were looking for? Was revenge really all they needed and what was their revenge plan?

Even with Barry's worries, he allowed himself the rare smile when Oliver practically begged Kara for a break after another round of thrashing. With one hand on his knees and the other holding his ribs, Oliver fought to catch his breath. Kara gently floated back to the ground as the others moved off the floor to get some rest.

"You feeling alright?" Kara asked as she approached Deity, gently rubbing her arm. Deity nodded, eyes still looking downward. Seeing she wasn't going to be getting a response that way, Kara decided to go with a different approach. "Did you enjoy the show?" she asked, allowing herself a little smug smile as she gestured back to the training area where some of her teammates were still lying on the floor.

Deity looked up at that, a small smile in return that made Kara's grow exponentially. "See, I knew you still knew how to do that," Kara said as she pointed at her daughter's smile with a winning tone to her voice. Deity giggled and visibly seemed to relax a little, thankful her mother wasn't bringing up the elephant in the room.

Meanwhile across the hanger, Brady was pushing his hood back from his head to tend to a wound on the side of his forehead. Caitlin went over to him with a First-Aid kit and immediately started to rummage through it for antiseptic and a bandied.

"So, what kind of talents do you have with your bedside manner?" Mick growled, sidling up to Caitlin's side. Caitlin lifted her head and glared at him so fiercely that Mick held up his hands and took a step back. "Just asking."

"Honestly, Mr. Rory, you need to work on your social skills," Professor Stein said once he and Jax were separated. He patted Brady on the shoulder, practically leaning against him, "Would you mind if stepped ahead to get some treatment. Older men like me…no matter how used to this life you become, your body is going to ache."

"You're not old, Professor Stein," Brady said, taking a step back. He tilted his head to the side and added, "Kind of gray, but not old."

Professor Stein smiled as Jax and Caitlin laughed.

"Don't worry, Professor Stein," Caitlin said, taking his hand. "I'll take care of you."

Professor Stein patted her hand. "Thank you, my dear. With you, I always know I'm in good hands."

Barry smiled as he watched everyone take some time to themselves as the rested. Even Kara and Deity seemed to be enjoying themselves, smiling a little as they conversed with each other. Barry was sure they were being sure not to talk about Deity's reasons for leaving her Earth. It looked like they were actually joking about the training session and how Kara was whooping everyone's collective butts. He just hoped it wouldn't upset anyone, there was already enough tension between certain people in the hanger already, no need to make things any more awkward than they already were.

Barry was broken out of his thoughts when he felt a rough hand on his shoulder pull him around and found Cisco staring at him, dark eyes flashing with anger. Barry took in a breath to steel himself. What did I do now? Then he saw the small, white item in Cisco's hand that resembled an iPod and his blood went cold. He knew exactly what it was. Jax and Professor Stein had pulled him and Oliver aside earlier to listen to a message that Barry had sent them…from 40 years in the future. Warning them of what was to come, warning them to not trust Barry.

And now it was in Cisco's hands.

"Do you know what this is?" Cisco demanded.

Momentarily, Barry thought about lying. But then something his father used to tell him came to mind. "You know the value of a man's word if he looks you in the eye and tells you the truth. No matter how difficult it is." He'd heard it every time, when he was young, Barry tried to keep himself from getting in trouble with something he did. He took those words to heart and kept them in mind every time he was confronted with something. So, with a heavy heart, Barry nodded.

"This is really you," Cisco said, almost as if he didn't believe it. A confused smile came to his face and she shook the box. "Like, future you."

"Cisco, come on," Barry murmured, lowering his voice to not draw attention to themselves. "I—"

"You told them, right?" Cisco interrupted.

Put on the spot, Barry continued to refuse the initial thought to lie. "Yeah, I-I'm going to. When all of this is finished."

Cisco blinked in confusion, his head jerking back slightly. "When it's finished," Cisco repeated. Anger slowly mounted in his words, volume growing louder as the seconds passed. "After you're going to lead them into an alien war?" He licked his lips, shaking his head. "Even after Flashpoint. Even after you've messed up and ruined lives you've ruined."

"Cisco—"

"—I vibed it, okay? Flashpoint. I vibed all of it. I saw everything that happened there. You…you were living your perfect life with your mom and dad. They were alive and happy and wanting to dote on their little boy. You had…you had a love life that was thriving, you didn't have to worry about the stress of being The Flash. You didn't have to worry about anything."

Barry continued to breathe evenly. His heart thudded against his chest so fast it felt like blades of grass tickling his skin. Little flutters that were almost completely imperceptible. He felt warmth spread through his body, itch his skin. Wanted nothing more than to defend himself but knew the time for that had passed.

"You didn't look for us until things started to turn to shit. For you. We weren't a team and you didn't look for us. You only cared about yourself. Even when the Rival and the Reverse-Flash were problems you tried to handle it yourself instead of talking about it like a team. Like you were the leader of everyone."

"Come on, man—"

"—I get it. It's called 'Team Flash' you have to be the leader in some aspect. We all have our own roles. You and Cade work the field, Cait and I work behind the scenes, and we train everyone else that comes around. But over there, you lived your entire life with your mom being alive and you never looked for us. That's not a team, that's not friendship, that's not a family. And that's why I'm fucking pissed at you, Barry. Because you wouldn't know a friendship or family when you see it. And now you decided to take something else we all needed to know and decided not to tell us. Them. You still don't think you should tell them?"

"Tell us what?" Sara asked once silence finally broke between the two of them.

Cisco had been ranting so long that he hadn't noticed everyone turning to watch them. They were best friends, they couldn't argue at a time like this. And yet, Cisco had to get everything out there or else he'd continue to fester. Barry didn't blame him at all.

Cisco was right.

He was being selfish. So, with a heavy heart, Barry turned around and said while running a hand through his hair, "Uh, Jax and Professor Stein found a message from me in the future," he explained, voice cracking as he spoke. "Saying that…right now…I can't be trusted."

Sara's eyes narrowed in suspicion while Oliver's widened with Barry's revelation. Barry couldn't look either of them in the eye. Instead, he looked just over their heads. "And why would future you say that?" She slowly ground out.

"I think…because I went back in time and changed the timeline. Just like Cisco said. And now things here are different than before I left including some of your lives."

"Some of our lives?" Thea asked.

Ray tilted his head, looking partially fascinated and partially horrified. Even from the way he ran his hands over each other, Barry could tell he was mentally scrolling back through the life he knew before his consistent time travel to what it was like now. "Like who?"

"Cadence, Caitlin, Jesse, Digg…"

"Me?" Diggle's eyebrows rose. He clearly didn't expect anything in his life to have changed. And now to have it thrown out in the open like that? "What happened?" He looked over as Oliver cleared his throat, placing his hands on his hips.

Oliver took a breath before saying, "You had a daughter, Dig." Diggle started to question what he'd just been told, his lips moving to make the words, but found that they wouldn't come out. Oliver gently broke the news with, "Baby John was Baby Sara."

At that, Diggle blinked rapidly before bringing a hand up to rub at his mouth. He turned his back to everyone then turned back to Barry, his eyes blazing with a controlled fire. "So, you just erased a daughter from my life?"

"Yeah," Barry whispered.

Sara turned her gaze upwards before saying in a tight voice, "You can't just go back and change things like that, Barry!"

"You do it all the time," Cadence pointed out, immediately jumping to Barry's defense. "It's part of your job to change things about the past that have become different." She made a sharp gesture with her hand in exasperation. "He's already feeling bad about it, why make him feel worse?"

Sara ignored her, her eyes on Barry. "Do you know how hard it is for me not to alter events, to bring my sister back? But I don't. Because I know the implications."

"We spent the last eight months travelling through time trying to correct things that had gone wrong and…you thought it was okay to just go back and do it?" Ray asked.

Barry nodded with each question that was sent his way. There were enough questions that were going to come his way, about his time in Flashpoint, what their lives were like, what had changed. He was prepared for all of the questions but didn't get the chance to as Felicity's panicked voice broke in from the computers.

"Guys?" Felicity stood up, clutching her phone in hand. Her eyes were wide behind her glasses. "Guys, it's Lyla. The president's been abducted, she needs us now!"

Barry looked at her then looked back at everyone else. He decided quickly, not wanting to hear any of the negativity that was bound to come his way. If they didn't want him around, he'd say it first and prove that he understood. "Alright, you guys go. I'm going to sit this one out," he said with as much determination and conviction as he could. "Obviously, you have Supergirl, she's just as fast as I am. Get the president, we can talk about this later." The others turned and started to walk away. Barry walked up to Kara and asked in a low voice, "You still trust me, right?"

"I'll always trust you," Kara said immediately, her arms folded. She gestured with her head towards the others. "But…it might take more to convince them."

"If you need me, I'll be there," Barry replied.

"Barry?" Deity asked, her eyes boring into his. Barry could see desperation swimming in her eyes. Wanting an answer he wasn't sure he could give. "With people's lives changing because of Flashpoint…were our lives changed, too?"

He wished he could say 'yes'. That the pain she was feeling was because of him. So he could take that burden off her, but honestly had no idea. "I don't know if it reaches," Barry said slowly. "Harry and Jesse came back and saw what was different on our Earth but…from what I know, it doesn't affect other Earths, I'm sorry."

Deity nodded, lowering her gaze before jumping when Oliver's voice boomed out," Barry, you're going. Everyone is going including Barry! I'm not going without him."

"Then you be here, Oliver," Diggle said to him with such a finality that Oliver's eyebrows rose in surprise and slight offense.

"My money's on Robin Hood," Mick grumbled to Jax, who rolled his eyes.

"Okay." Kara held up her hands and stepped between the fighting groups. "Uh, you know what, Oliver, it's okay," Kara said. She motioned to Deity, who'd become sullen and silent. She'd been that way since their training began. It certainly wasn't like her daughter and while Kara was desperate to know what it was that was keeping her from being herself, she knew it wasn't the time to demand answers. "We'll go—"

"—I'll stay here," Deity said quickly, taking a step away from her mother. Kara eyed her for a moment, clear confusion flashing across her face as she stared back at her daughter's stone like mask. "I'll…be a line of defense if anything goes wrong." Still staring at Deity, Kara couldn't help but her the excuse in her voice. Almost like she was trying to get out of going to something as trivial as school.

This wasn't like her daughter, her daughter had always wanted to get involved and help people. Why was she now backing out, trying to avoid it? Kara began to wonder if maybe it was her, if Deity was backing out because she was going. She could offer to stay but then Deity would just go instead and truthfully, considering the stories she'd heard, she'd rather have her daughter here than out fighting dominators without her. Even so, she desperately wanted to know what was going on in her fragile head. She took a step towards Deity, readying herself to argue.

"Deity-"

"You haven't got time for this," Deity cut in with a cold stare to her mother. "Go." Kara tried to say something but her voice caught in her throat as her lips opened to speak. She knew Deity was right, they had to go. And at least if she was here with Barry and Oliver she knew she'd be safe until she returned.

Kara nodded and quickly corrected herself, trying to act as if the conversation hadn't fazed her. "I'll go with them and get the president. You stay here with Barry."

Cadence looked to her son and tilted her head to the side, Brady nodded and stepped back as well, knowing it was better for him to stay behind with the others. Then she looked at Barry who silently nodded at her, encouraging her to go. "You sure?" She asked.

"Do you trust me?" He asked in response.

"With my life," she said immediately.

Barry smiled. "Then I'm sure. You're my partner, Cade."

Cadence matched his smile with a sweet one of her own. "Not your sidekick," she agreed.

"We work the best together, but sometimes we need to work on our own. You've proven many times that you can handle things on your own." He managed a laugh. "I worry for anyone who decides to go up against you."

Cadence laughed and pulled her goggles up over her eyes. "I'll be back as soon as I can." She thought for a moment. "Keep an eye on Caitlin for me."

"What about me?" Brady demanded, indignantly pressing his hands to his hips.

"You haven't need anyone to watch you since you got your powers, Brade, I wouldn't dare worry about you. You can handle whatever comes your way." Brady smiled, straightening himself with pride. With that, Cadence nodded to those that were staying behind; Barry, Oliver, Deity, and Brady, and left with the others.

Barry waited until they were out of sight before collapsing into the seat behind him. He leaned forward, resting his face in his hands. Felicity, Caitlin, and Cisco went back to the computers with Caitlin placing a hand to his shoulder in silent comfort. He didn't need her comfort, didn't deserve it. Not when he'd given her powers she couldn't' control and was terrified of.

Deity, Brady, and Oliver sat in other chairs around him, all waiting quietly, pensively sitting in their own thoughts. Barry continued to take in as many deep breaths as he could let out without hyperventilating. If his father was there, he'd be proud he told the truth.

"The truth is hard to hear, Slugger. But I'd rather you face those consequences than make it worse with a lie."

So Barry told even more of the truth, speaking so quietly that, at first, Oliver wasn't sure he was being spoke to. Then he sat up in rapt attention, looking down at his partner, his protégé in rapt silence.

"I didn't think about anything," Barry murmured. "I didn't think about the future, I was so focused on the past, I didn't think about it until now. I didn't know what would happen. I changed so much. There's an article from the future at STAR Labs, written about my vanishing in a fight. It used to be written by Iris but now it's written by someone else." Barry noticed Oliver's and Deity's confused glance.

"We have a room in STAR Labs called the Time Vault that holds an AI that knows things from the future," Brady explained.

"Oh," said Deity as she stared at him for a moment. "Me and Kara have a secret alien fortress underneath the Atlantic Ocean with an AI that looks like Kara's dead mom." Now it was Barry's turn to stare at her.

"Oh... That's weird..." Barry said slowly as the Meta and Hybrid alien stared at each other, both confused by their respective stories.

"Anything meta or...alien, related is weird," Oliver pointed out with a sigh. This used to be so much simpler before he met Barry.

"Anything meta related is weird," Oliver pointed out.

Barry gave a sad smile. "I checked the Time Vault when I came back from Flashpoint and noticed things were different. Something's changed with our future. I know it." As the weight of the words landed on him, Barry felt himself started to break. He pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes. "God, what did I do?"

"Barry, a newspaper article from the future?" Oliver's voice dripped with sarcasm and disbelief. "I can believe a lot of things, but I'll believe that when I see it." Then his voice hardened as he said, "You've got to stop beating yourself up over these things."

"How can you say that? I'm responsible for all of this!"

"Maybe, maybe not. Barry, you made a choice." Oliver waited for the words to resonate with Barry before he continued, speaking each word with as much conviction. "You wanted to see your parents alive again. Do you know anyone that, if they were in your shoes, that wouldn't make that same choice? Do the exact same thing? I would."

"I would," Brady piped up. "If something happened to my mom and dad. Or you."

Barry smiled.

"If something happened to Kara," Deity said. "I would, too."

"Barry, when the Gambit went down it was me and my father in a life raft. Enough food and water for one person, maybe. My father took the gun, shot the crew member, told me to survive, then shot himself. He shot himself in the head. He sacrificed himself so that I could live. Nothing I could do, it was a choice. Slade Wilson drove a sword right through my mother's heart in front of my sister and I. I was there, I was helpless on the ground, I was powerless to stop it. No choice. You do not think I would give anything to go back and make things different?"

Barry lifted his head and looked his friend in the eye. There was a passion in his eyes that proved to Barry he really meant what he was saying. Really felt it. He was reliving the pain of both of his parents passing away. If there was anyone that would understand it, it was Oliver. "You never told me that," Barry whispered.

"Barry, the world isn't different because you change the timeline," Oliver continued, acknowledging Barry's surprise statement with a brief, second long blink. "Change happens, tragedy happens, people make choices and those choices affect everyone else. You're not a God, Barry."

"Cade said the same thing."

"Cade's smart. And I would know, because she's constantly being giving me advice and help about Connor that I never thought I'd needed until I needed it. And she's right about this. You're not a God. You have to stay saying 'what if' and 'why me'."

"Oliver, you don't understand—"

Barry was cut off by a sudden explosion that rocked the floor of the hangar, nearly sending him to the ground. Then there was another explosion that rocked the hangar. Oliver lifted his foot and kicked at Barry's chair, grabbing onto Brady's at the same time to use the momentum to push himself and Barry apart. A chunk of the ceiling crashed to the ground between them.

Barry's eyes widened as he looked at the whole in the ceiling, trying to see what was attacking them. His heart raced. The Dominators?

Cisco's frantic rang out across the floor, "Guys, you have to see this."

"You're not going to believe it!" Caitlin added. The four hurried over to the computers and leaned down to see, mouths dropping open when they saw the destruction around the hangar and Central City.

The moment Barry saw who was causing it, his heart sank even further, drowning below the grief and guilt that slowly flooded his body as the days passed. "Oh, things just got so much worse," Barry murmured, watching as his friends created havoc upon Central City.

---

Of those that left Barry back at the hangar, their footsteps crunched over the gravel as they walked towards the coordinates Felicity had given them. Mick looked around the dilapidated area with disdain. "Are we in the right place?" he asked. He waved a hand towards the building that stood before them. "There's nothing to steal from here unless someone wants some coal for Christmas."

"Wouldn't that be ironic," Thea teased.

"This is the last place the president's tracer gave a signal," Kara said, swooping down from the sky and landing along with the rest of the group. "Must be nearby." Her eyes narrowed as she used her x-ray vision to scan the building in front of her. A human shaped mass stood out to her in a second. She looked to Cadence for clarification, whose eyes shone orange as she used her thermal vision to scan the building. Cadence nodded, her eyes turning back to its normal color behind her goggles and Kara popped her lips as she said, "Yep, he's in there."

"Let's go," Cadence said.

"Wait." Mick held up a hand, making the group stop. Twisting his hand, he leveled his finger towards Kara and asked, "How does she know he's in there?"

"I saw him," Kara said as if it were obvious, pointing in the direction to prove herself. Then she noticed the confused looks and clarified with a casual, "Oh, I have x-ray vision."

"Oh!" A smarmy smile came to Mick's face and he wiggled his fingers in excitement, eyes growing wide with a wild fire. "You can see everyone's bits with those little peepers, huh?"

Kara's head jerked back in surprise. "No! I mean, I—"

"—Ignore him," Sara said.

"The rest of us do," Cadence added. Mick turned to say something to her and as quick as a flash, she pulled her thigh strapped gun out of its holster and had it pointed directly between his eyes. "Don't think I won't," she warned.

"Whoa," Kara said, eyes widening in surprise. "That's new."

"Keep away from me, and everything will be fine," Cadence said with an authoritative edge to her voice. She waited for Mick to nod, studying him closely before lowered her gun, placing it back into her thigh holster. She had no patience to deal with Mick at the moment, not when Dominators were threating their livelihood and the livelihood of the president.

"Whatever you say, Princess," Mick said, folding his arms. One thing that could be said about Mick was that he certainly didn't care what anyone else thought of him. "It's only a matter of time until I burn down your defenses."

"How did you get the name Heat Wave, anyway?" Kara asked, curiously.

"I burned my family alive and like to set things on fire," Heat Wave said.

"Prince Charming, right?" Cadence said sarcastically.

"Oh!" Kara blinked in discomfort. She chewed her lower lip, unsure how to keep the conversation going. Honestly, she couldn't figure out how Mick was able to be considered a legend, a hero, when he was so…rough around the edges. "Well, that's a colorful backstory."

"My shrink thinks so," Mick said with a careless shrug. "And by the way, I'm not going to call you Supergirl. It's stupid."

"Well, you can call me Kara."

"That won't work either."

"So what are you going to call if you need my help?"

"Skirt."

A snort went through the entire group at Mick's casual admission. Thea was the first one to regain from her laughter to look him in the eye and ask, "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Mick replied, not finding any humor in the situation. He turned his back to the group, lifting his Heat Gun and started to charge it with each step he took. "And I won't need your help. If I need anyone's it's—"

"—Walking on thin ice, Mick," Cadence snapped before leading the group inside. Her eyes narrowed behind her goggles as they went in. She shifted her gaze just slightly, allowing the blueprint mapping mechanism to kick in. Within seconds she got a 3d render of the building around them. No weak spots, nothing that would prove the area around them was dangerous.

But it was too quiet. Way too quiet, Cadence mused. She'd been trained to use silence as a cover to sneak up on her victim. Trained to know when the silence was being used against her. She stood still, allowing her other senses to take over, determining if the fight or flight response was needed. No, there would've been foot soldiers or someone waiting for them, should have been. Something was wrong.

"Look, it's the president!" Jax cried, pointing to a figure that ran towards them, tripping over the broken pieces of wood that were scattered over the floor. And yet he kept his balance, running towards the heroes as fast as his legs would carry him.

"Oh God," the president cried, holding up the hands that were tied together by rope. His eyes were wide with fright behind his glasses, looking like glass marbles in the moonlight. "Please, help me!"

Kara hurried towards him with long, quick strides.

"This doesn't feel right," Thea murmured, eyes scanning the building through her red domino mask.

At those words, Cadence immediately stopped walking, listening hard. She heard it then. Almost imperceptible, the sound of something dragging across the ground. Not a body or a tarp, but the sound of a heavy-footed person. With a questioning glance, Ray turned her way. Cadence held up her hand, motioning for him to be quiet.

"Something's coming," She reported. Her eyes shifted to her thermal vision and she gasped, seeing something coming towards them from a high rafter. How had it managed to sneak up on them like that?

There was a sound that sounded like a mixture of a water sliding down a drain and a cat purring, making all eyes turn towards the same high rafter Cadence had been watching where a Dominator stood alongside a red, egg-shaped jewel. It stared down at them, sharp teeth dripping drool as it opened its mouth to screech loudly.

"Release, the president!" Kara demanded.

"We knew you would come," the dominator said. Its voice didn't come from its mouth, but rather wafted through the air around them, dancing on an invisible wind that pirouetted around the heroes.

"Did you hear that?" Ray asked, turning his head this way and that to determine where the voice came from. "Because I heard it in my head."

"Yeah, we heard it," Sara said.

"You don't need to hurt him to get whatever you want from us," Cadence said firmly, walking closer to the Dominator. She kept her hand at her thigh, wiggling her fingers along the butt of her pistol. "Let him go and nothing will happen to you."

"He's not who we want," The Dominator said, lifting his arm. What appeared to be a watch on his wrist suddenly shone as bright as an emerald. The light continued to increase in luminosity until it twisted and turned in a vapor. That vapor came down from the dominator's wrist and landed on the president.

The president didn't have a chance to widen his eyes with fear before his body disintegrated in front of the heroes. There one second, gone the next with the wispy vapors of the energy dissipating as fast as the president's body. There was nothing left of him.

"It's a trap!" Diggle cried.

Too late. The Dominator reached out his hand and slammed it onto the red-egg, releasing a wave of red energy into the room that rained over the heroes, sending them all to their knees as they pressed their hands to their ears, groaning in pain.

Cadence sucked in a sharp breath, pressing her teeth together so hard she was sure they'd crack. She curled her hands into fists, doing what she could to release the pain that continued to mount in her head. The pain increased, running from one side of her brain to the next, twisting and turning as it filled every inch, nook, and cranny of her mind. Then as it filled her head it continued to grow outward, pressing harder and harder, pressing into her skull.

Fight it, Cade, fight it, she growled to herself. You've gone through worse than this, you've fought of Breathtaker before. She sucked in a deep breath and continued to concentrate as hard as she could. Her head suddenly wrenched back as if someone grabbed onto her hair and pulled hard. Felt as if a hand reached down into her skull and grabbed hold of her brain, immediately taking it over as it did so.

Whatever it was that the red egg emitted encroached upon the brains of the heroes. After a few seconds, their bodies jerked upright and before they knew it, they were running and flying back to Central City, to the hangar their friends were in and started to attack, hoping to draw out those that would oppose them.

It took only a few moments before Oliver, Barry, Brady, and Deity raced outside to face the attack head on. "Guys," Barry said as he looked at all his friends that moved towards them like a hungry pack of wolves. They all turned towards him as soon as he spoke. "Can we talk about this?"

"What happened to them?" Brady asked. His fingers twitched over the handle of his slingshot, just waiting for him to snap it into place and extend it into a bow staff.

"They're being controlled," Deity growled, seeing the red glow on each of their foreheads. She'd seen it before, back when she was on War World. One of the Dominators had attempted to escape using a small red egg like device on one of the guards. She'd begged for help but the creature ran. She never found out if it got away or not, but she never saw that guard again.

"You think it's Breathtaker?" Brady asked, tightening his grasp on his sling-shot. He took a deep breath to steady himself. Facing down criminals, metas, even aliens was different than having to take down any of his friends, his family.

"No, it's the Dominators. They have this thing that allows them to control people's minds."

Brady sighed. "Can it ever be anything other than mind control?"

"Guys," Barry tried again, slowly holding up his hands. "Let's talk this out."

Thea drew her bow and shot an arrow at Barry that he caught before it could pierce him. Despite the situation, Barry was almost smug as he looked over at Oliver, having deflected an arrow. Oliver, on the other hand, immediately sensed the danger they were in. "I guess they don't want to talk," he said.

To further prove his statement, Mick sent out a wave of fire to them while Sara started to throw shuriken towards the group. Barry and Deity grabbed Oliver and Bray and quickly moved them to safety behind a nearby STAR Labs van that immediately blew up from the force of heat against the vehicle. The walls of the vehicle twisted and ripped apart from the energy of the explosion, rocketing sky high and to all sides. Oliver flung himself to the ground and brought his hands up to cover his head as a chunk of metal flew by.

Barry quickly used his superspeed to bend out of the way, watching as a chunk of metal nearly struck him upside the side of his head. He straightened himself just in time to see he had moved a little too slow. Didn't process how vulnerable he had made himself when he saw what was coming towards him. Kara, Ray, Cadence, and Jax combined an attack of heat vision, a fire blast, and an energy blast from his exosuit created from photon and ion energy and threw it towards Barry and Oliver. Once again, Barry superspeeded Oliver out of the way while Diet and Brady moved in another direction. Ducking behind a concrete wall, Barry took a deep breath, trying to figure out what to do.

His mind was blank, and Oliver wasn't going to let him get away with it.

"Okay, Barry, you really did it this time," Oliver growled.

"What?" Barry practically yelped. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously!" They ducked aside as a wave of heat vision started to melt through the wall between them. "What is that?" Oliver practically yelped, his frustration betraying his views on the situation.

"That would be heat vision," Barry replied. How many times had he seen it in action? A thousand. How many times had it been directed towards him? More than he would've liked, honestly.

A sudden blurry movement of yellow light made Barry jump on the spot and Oliver turned ready to swing his bow until he saw it was Deity and Brady had moved to join them. "Please, tell me you have a plan," Brady said as he looked to Barry.

"Eh...yeah..." Barry stammered nervously.

"You've got nothing, huh? Great," Brady groaned as he leaned his head back against the concrete wall. He felt the wall shake behind him and his head swiftly turned when he saw Deity shoot forwards, hand heading to her shoulder. There was now a scorching hole were Deity had once been sitting and the material on the back of Deity's suit had been ruined as well. She'd been hit by Kara's heat vision. "You alright?" Brady asked as he moved to inspect Deity's injury only to find nothing but undamaged skin.

"I'm fine," Deity said as she waved him off, though she still held onto her shoulder.

"We'll just have to take them down, carefully," Oliver pressed as he looked between what allies he had left.

"Wait, you want us to fight them? There are friends, our families," Deity said with a strained voice as she glared at Oliver.

"I know, my sister's out there too. But we don't have much of a choice now do we," Oliver said in a low voice, in no mood for another argument with the teenager. But then he hesitated in continuing, seeing something flash through the girl's eyes. Uncertainty.

"I can't," Deity said quietly.

"Yes. You can," Oliver growled.

"No, I can't!" Deity snapped before refining herself. "I can't risk killing them."

"Is this normally a problem for you?" Oliver asked. There was still bite in his voice, but substantially less than before.

"No, I... It's just..." Deity's eyes darted to Barry and then she looked over her shoulder at Brady. She couldn't say it. Saying it to Cadence had been hard enough but she couldn't stand to see Barry or Brady look at her differently. "I'm scared," she finally admitted as she looked back to Olvier.

"Scared of killing? Because of your powers?" Oliver asked and Deity nodded. Then he fixed her with a serious yet warming look, a look that told her before he said anything that he had the answer she needed. "Then don't fight." Deity stared at him for a second, not sure what he was getting at. "You're invulnerable, so take the hits. Take everything they have. Distract them, cover us do whatever you can to help without fighting back. You can do that right."

Deity nodded.

"Right." Oliver turned back to Barry who nodded before running away from the concrete wall at top speed to draw those that could fly after him.. Jax, Ray, Kara, and Cadence followed his movements as Barry continued to run back and forth along nearby streets and around the warehouse before he ran to the roof. Once they were close enough, Barry ran in a tight circle and threw a bolt of lightning that struck Jax and Ray out of the air before Kara and Cadence retaliated with a double blast of heat vision, sending him tumbling.

He got back to his feet in time to duck out of the way of a thermal hit that Jax and Professor Stein sent towards him. He darted back and forth from their attacks to Ray's, who phion energy shot through a nearby tree so cleanly it left a cartoon-esque hole in it, making Barry gulp loudly. If it could move through a tree like that…he didn't want to know what it'd feel like to heal that mess. Kara continued to float above him, her eyes sending out an continuous stream of heat vision that followed him wherever he went. Barry continued to run back and forth before he felt the ground wobble beneath him.

"What the what?" He breathed, moving his foot and seeing the ground ripple once more. Barry shifted to the side and windmilled his arms, seeing a red glow come from beneath the slab of rock he stood on. If he wasn't the impossible, Barry wouldn't have believed Kara was able to use her heat vision enough to reach the magma below the crust of the Earth.

Barry lifted his head once more to see Cadence propelling herself towards him with a blast of fire. She flipped once through the air and Barry started to move to the side, expecting her to do one of her go-to moves; using her teleportation to bring her closer to her opponent with haste to catch them off-guard. This time she caught him off-guard by using an extra propulsion of fire from her arms to twist herself around in a buzzsaw fashion where she struck him below the ear.

With a loud crack of his breaking jaw, Barry was flung to the ground. He brought up his hands to push himself upright when he felt a heavy weight land on his back of Cadence landing atop of him. She grabbed the back of his suit with both hands and flipped him around before lifting him up by the collar of his suit with one hand. With the other, she conjured a flame at her finger tip, a straight, strong soldier that elongated into a tip. She brought her hand forward, sweat immediately popping up on Barry's face as the flame grew closer. His mouth dropped open in a scream as she slowly, agonizingly slow across the planes from his face, from cheek, across his nose, to his cheek.

The smell of burning flesh, sweet and smoky filled Barry's nostrils as the pain forced him to scream his guts out. She followed it up with a crushing, equally flaming punch to the side of his head. She followed it up with one beneath his jaw, hard enough to snap his head back and send him flying through the air, generating a crater of his likeness beneath him the moment he struck the ground.

On the ground, Oliver had his hands full with Sara, Thea, Diggle, and Mick. Sara, Diggle, and Thea were the toughest opponents of all of them, having trained each of them specifically. They knew the moves he'd use against them as easily as he knew the moves to take them down. But with three of them on one, Oliver soon found himself at a disadvantage. Whether or not they had the Dominator's strength as well, Oliver wasn't sure, but found himself coughing painfully each time he was struck in the stomach from a crushing blow of Mick's fists and feet.

Blood spurted out of Oliver's mouth after a particularly savage kick to the stomach. He spat it aside and brought up his bow to block the punch Diggle sent his way. With a twist of his wrist, Oliver entangled Diggle's hand in the string of his bow, giving Oliver the chance to leap upwards. Twisting his body around, Oliver landed on Diggle's back and, still holding onto his bow, leaned backwards, using his weight to make Diggle fall. They landed on the ground and Oliver rolled over so that he pinned Diggle beneath him and punched him straight in the face.

A streak of fire burned across Oliver's back when Sara cracked her long staff against him. Oliver flipped away and ducked under his bow staff to protect his face, giving him the chance to knock Sara's arms upwards and punch her in the stomach and flip her over his arm. It was when he came to Thea he hesitated. He'd faced Thea before, when her bloodlust had been something that plagued her, but that had been when she was an entirely different person. This Thea was his campaign manager, someone who gave up the life of a vigilante and came back to save the city.

She was his sister again, could he really fight his sister?

Thea scowled and laced an arrow—an exploding arrow—and shot it directly behind Oliver. It crashed to the ground and detonated, knocking Oliver off his feet, directly towards her. With an arching sweep of her foot, Thea's feet caught Oliver in the side of the face and he crashed to the ground.

Clearly, she had no problems fighting him.

In STAR Labs, Cisco, Caitlin, and Felicity, who had traveled there via a breach Cisco opened, watched their friends fighting on screen with differing levels of horror. Even Cisco, who would've enjoyed a fight like that on a good day, could only watch in silence. Behind them, Joe, Iris, Harrison, HR, Wally, Tess, and Jesse frantically rushed into the Cortex, having been summoned by the metahuman apps on their phones.

"What the heck is going on? Joe demanded.

"Some of the guys went to take on the Dominators while the others stayed back and now everyone's going crazy and going Kill Bill on each other," Cisco explained all in one breath.

"The Dominators have some of them mind controlled," Caitlin explained.

"They can't hold each other off so long," Iris murmured, eyes sweeping over the fight going on in front of her. She winced, seeing Oliver receive a roundhouse kick to the side of the head.

"I have to get out there," Jesse said firmly. She didn't give anyone time to talk her out of it. "They can't beat them by themselves, not especially with Supergirl there."

Cisco nodded and stood up. "We'll have to go, too," he said, surprising himself. The excitement and exhilaration of the thought of fighting equally scared and embolded him. "There's too many of them to take on their own." He turned to Caitlin, who shook her head, taking a step back.

"I can't," Caitlin murmured. "Not when…not if…" her mother's words entered her head. "If you keep using your powers…well, I'm not sure what could happen but it's progressing faster than I've ever seen anything."

"Caitlin, we're going to save our friends," Cisco said. Caitlin gave him a meaningful look. "I know we're kind of split apart right now, but we'd want them to help us, no matter how mad we are. You have to help them." He paused. "We'll do it together," Cisco promised. He reached out and grabbed onto her hand. "I'm not letting go, alright?"

Caitlin smiled. "Alright." She looked to Jesse, who nodded back and grasped their shoulders before running them to the battle field. Cisco and Caitlin both swayed on the spot as they waited for the dizziness to pass while Jesse ran off. "So not going to get used to that."

"So not," Cisco agreed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Jesse smiled to herself as she ran around Oliver, knocking out those that started to get too close to him. She came to a stop when they were all down and looked over to Barry, who lay curled up on the ground, obviously having been thrashed by those that attacked him.

"Jesse?" He asked.

"Call me Jesse Quick," she replied with a bright smile.

Suddenly, Kara arched down behind her, arms outstretched and punched her in the back, sending her flying. Barry raced over and caught her before she hit the ground. Her head lolled to the side and she moaned quietly. Barry let out a sigh of relief, seeing she was still alive. He cradled Jesse in his arms as she started to stir, her healing already kicking in.

Barry looked up and saw Kara coming back around to attack them again and braced himself to start running once more. Deity swooped in front of Barry and took a deep breath, blowing out a strong super breath that knocked Kara backwards out of the way, flipping head over heels as she went. Unfortunately, she didn't have long to catch her breath as next thing she knew Ray and Jax were shooting her out of the sky, chasing her as she flew off around the air strip.

Cadence then took Kara's place and pulled back her fist to send fire towards Barry, but stopped a she was repeatedly struck in the forehead with multiple pieces of ammo that Brady send out from this slingshot.

"Do we have an ETA on that mind control or what?" Oliver demanded into his communication piece as he ran aside, dodging a blow from Mick.

"There's a signal coming from the salt mines," Felicity replied.

"Can you jam it?"

"…No."

Oliver growled and started to send out as many arrows towards the others as he could. Almost mechanically he'd bring his arm behind his head, grab an arrow, string it, and shoot it towards those that converged on him before doing it again.

Brady did the same, stretching the band of his slingshot back as far as he could, fingers pressing into the piece of ammo he held in the pocket. He glanced over at Oliver as he continued to shoot off arrow after arrow. "How many do you have left?"

"Probably not enough," Oliver growled in response.

"You haven't learned to bring more arrows yet?"

"Brady, I don't need your commentary right now!"

Barry thought quickly, eyes shifting back and forth over everything that was happening around him. Then he decided as Deity landed next to him. "You'll have to hold them off as long as you can," he said, turning and dumping Jesse into Deity's arms.

"Wait, what?" Deity said as she eyes jumped back and forth between Barry and Jesse, having just lost Ray and Jax.

"What are you doing?" Oliver demanded, noticing his movement. "Where are you going?"

"If they can't shut it down, maybe she can," Barry said, nodding to Kara, who had come back from being struck by Deity. "Hey Supergirl!" He shouted. Her head whipped to face him like a rattler's, eyes narrowing. "Let's finally see who's faster." Barry started to run with Kara right on his heels.

Without Oliver, on the other hand, had a more difficult time. The moment he noticed all eyes turn to him, he was screwed. Deity gently hoisted Jesse over her shoulder and looked towards Oliver, unsure of what to do. Oliver looked at her and nodded before holding up his bow and ran into the fight once more.

Deity backed away as Mick turned his attention to her and started to charge up his gun. Just as the first lick of flame started to appear, a breach opened behind her and Caitlin jumped out, throwing an ice spear towards Mick that embedded into his shoulder. Then Jax and Professor Stein took his place to attack. Caitlin turned and sent a sheen of ice up his fire trails, slowing him down. Cisco jumped through the breach behind them and punched at the air. A vibrational blast shattered the ice that covered him and beat his body senseless.

The fire went out and knocked him to the ground.

"Get Jesse to safety," Cisco called. "We can handle her."

Deity looked back at them, nodded and turned to get Jesse out of danger while Cisco and Caitlin continued to fight. She took flight and made it a few meters before stopping as Ray flew out in front of her. Raising both his arms, he fired, knocking Deity out of the sky, losing her grip on Jesse as both girls hit the ground. Luckily for Jesse, she landed on top of Deity and the force seemed to be enough to wake her from her unconscious state.

"Huh... What's happening?" Jesse groaned as she lifted her head, hand running along her brow.

"Nothing good," Deity said from beneath Jesse who quickly began to apologize for landing on her. However, Deity was more concerned with the man in the high-tech suit floated down, readying to blast them again. Grabbing onto Jesse once more, Deity dove to the side in a blurry motion as the blasts from Ray's suit hit the spot where they'd been.

Coming to a stop, now standing up, Jesse gasped as she brushed her hair out her face. "Whoa! You're almost as fast as me," she said in astonishment.

"Yeah, not really the time to get into that argument," Deity said as Ray swung around for another attack. "How smart are you?" Deity asked quickly, turning to Jesse.

"I graduated high school three years early and have five majors," Jesse said with a look that said she still didn't understand what was going on.

"So, you can take that apart if I hold him down?" Deity asked as she pointed to the man flying towards them.

"Yes! I can do that!" Jesse said eagerly with a gleeful smile on her face, excited to finally be allowed in on the action. Or rather asked for help. True it was coming from someone she barely knew but she was willing to take it.

"Great, run off and wait for my signal," Deity ordered before Jesse nodded, going serious as she ran off out of sight while Deity stood her ground. She stared down Ray as he flew at her, arms stretched out in front of her as he fired two bolts of energy. The first caused her to stubble and the second made her fall back right as Ray rammed into her, shoving her into the ground as the ground beneath her gave way, leaving a trail behind as Ray continued to shove her until finally he lost momentum.

Then with Deity pinned beneath him, he raised his fist to delivery another heavy blow. He threw his fist down towards Deity but she caught it with hand, holding it in place as Ray tried to pull his fist free. Deity then rolled over, using her strength and weight to force Ray beneath her as she pinned him down, holding his arms in place. "Jesse! Quick!"

Yellow lightning quickly arrived and flashed around her and Ray as piece by piece suddenly vanished from Ray's suit like an expert was taking it apart. After a mere five seconds the entirety of Ray's suit was gone, leaving just a man behind that Jesse then knocked out with swift punch to the head.

Deity let go of the limp arms in her hands and sighed as she looked up to Jesse who was far more excited that Deity was. "That was awesome!" Jesse squealed as Deity let out a tried laugh in response. It'd been far too long since she felt like that, the way Jesse was feeling right now. She missed that feeling.

Brady noticed Cadence heading towards Oliver and swallowed hard. He faltered for a second, arm dropping to his side. Then he brought it up once more and produced a flash ball of ammo and sent it flying. Cadence turned her head to shield her eyes from the brilliant shock of light and glared when she could see clearly again.

"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you've got," Brady said to her, steeling his voice.

Cadence flung her hands out to the side, fire encircling her arms. The shadows that planed her face made her glowing eyes appear demonic as she walked towards her. Her pace increased until she was running directly towards Brady and he ran back to her, twisting his bow staff in hand, ready to attack her with it. When he was close enough, Brady slammed the end of his bow staff to the ground to steady himself. He lifted himself up just as Cadence tried to knock his feet from below him.

Arm muscles straining, Brady held his body off the ground in a freeze. Cadence lifted her foot higher and kicked him in the back. A grunt erupted from Brady's lips. The momentum of her kick spun him around on the bow staff, crashing him into his mother. Cadence reacted quickly and placed her hands on the staff, immediately warming the metal. It stung under his hands and Brady quickly let go, falling to the ground. Twisting he bow staff in her hands, Cadence drove it towards Brady. Brady rolled to the side to evade and rolled back onto his shoulders, bringing his knees towards his face, then elongated his body once more. With a snap, he brought himself back to his feet in a kip-up and ducked when Cadence swung his staff towards his head.

He phased through her then reached back, grabbing onto the bow staff and pulled hard. The sudden shift in weight made Cadence slam face-first to the ground. Growling, she whipped around and glared at Brady, who looked back at her, ready for her to attack once more.

Oliver struggled in his fight against Sara. Their mutual background in training made it hard for either of them to get the upper hand in their fight. Every proactive move he would make, Sara could counter it and move to knock him over. Then Oliver would do the same to Sara. Over and over they tried to come out on top. All the while Sara worked hard to kill him, chest heaving with her effort, Oliver used just enough energy and power to fend her off. Every time he would strike her upside the head, making her hiss and turn her head away, he'd falter slightly.

Was that the blow she wouldn't come back from? Was that the one that would cause irreversible damage?

And still, he fought, hoping to give Barry as much time as he could. Around him, his friends and family fought as hard as they could, screams and grunts of effort growing louder and louder. Sara swept her staff below Oliver's legs, bringing them out from beneath him. Oliver crashed to his back and Sara slammed the end of her staff into his chest, holding him still while Diggle and Thea slowly walked towards him, menacingly holding up their arrow and pistol, pointing directly at his heart.

Suddenly, Sara's weight dropped towards him as if her hands slipped. She gasped, pushing herself up into a standing position, removing the staff from Oliver's chest. "Ollie?" She asked. She looked around. "What? What happened?"

Oliver felt a smile stretch over his face as the others stopped and looked around in confusion. He took a deep breath, relief washing over him in a moment. "Guys," Oliver said quietly, pressing his fingertip to his ear. "They're back."

---

Barry ran through Central City towards the salt mines with Kara streaking after him, sending out blasts of her heat vision to stop him as she went. Barry ran his fastest and Kara wasn't fast enough, staying a few feet behind as she trailed behind him. Finally, Barry reached the salt mines and stopped, waiting for Kara.

She finally arrived, eyes glassy as she glared at him. The red swirl on her forehead continued to increase an dim like a strobe light, growing brighter at its maximum as the seconds passed. Barry watched the glow that resembled a pulsing brain, expecting it to sprout veins and stretch even further in her body. Barry's lips twitched as he lowered his gaze, staring Kara down. They stared at each other for a long moment, the mounting challenge between them growing.

"Catch me if you can," he murmured before he blasted down a long hallway with a crack of lightning. Kara's lips pressed together in determination. With an evil glint in her eye, she elongated her body, sticking her feet behind her, and put on a burst of speed, chasing after him. Pumping his arms and legs, Barry heard what sounded like a sonic boom and looked over his shoulder.

Kara streaked behind him, coming closer as the seconds passed. But not close enough. With a low laugh, Barr turned forward once more and put on an extra burst of speed. He didn't need to go at maximum, not yet. He just needed to make sure she'd follow. They twisted and turned through the salt mines, with Barry edging himself out of Kara's way each time she came close, grunting as she brought out an arm, trying to swipe at him.

Barry leapt into the air and Kara continued to fly forward. Seeing him no longer in front of him, she turned around and Barry shook his head.

"Too slow," he taunted.

Kara didn't say anything in response. A scowl came to her lips and she abruptly changed direction to race after him once more. Barry ran. Faster, faster, faster, taunting her as he went. If it wasn't her invincibility—and that she could probably kill him—he would've been having a blast. Finally, when Barry knew she was angry enough, he ran and stopped in front of the red egg he located seconds after arriving at the mines. Kara hovered in front of him, her eyes locked on his before stretching out her arms to shoot directly towards Barry, bloodlust in her eyes.

At the last second, Barry started to phase and closed his eyes when Kara equally passed through him and the egg, destroying it in seconds. Immediately, Kara tumbled to the ground as if the wind had been let from her sales. She struggled to her feet, swinging her hair back from her face before looking around in confusion.

"Barry?" She asked him.

Barry grinned, shoulders slumping in belief. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"What happened?"

"You didn't kill me, so my day's looking up."

Kara brought her hands up to cover her mouth. Then she dropped them as her lips open and closely soundlessly. Barry's smile widened. She was back to herself. "I'm so sorry," Kara quickly apologized.

"You're not the first superhero to be mind-controlled," Barry replied, placing his hand on her shoulder. "And you won't be the last."

---

Caitlin smiled as she looked over Jesse who lay quietly on the examining table. "You're going to be fine," she said. "But you'll have a headache for a little while. That's one thing you can't heal so fast, I'm afraid."

"Then what's the point of having healing powers," Jesse asked quietly before joining in on Caitlin's laughter. She twisted on the bed to get more comfortable, wincing as her head moved in an odd angle. "Ow. How does Barry do it?"

"He's had a lot of practice." Caitlin's eyes shifted to the EKG then to the tablet she held in her hands. Jesse's vitals were holding steady. "I'll let you get some rest. Just call me if you need anything." She patted Jesse's foot. "You did a great job, Jesse. Don't ever be disappointed at your lack of field work. You'll have your time soon enough."

Jesse smiled and closed her eyes. "Thanks, Caitlin."

"You're welcome." Caitlin moved the tablet back to its holder to charge and left the medical bay so Jesse could have some quiet time. As she stepped out of the room, she looked down at her fingertips. She was able to fight, able to use her powers without turning into Killer Frost. Without feeling that need to rip anyone apart. Maybe her mother had been wrong.

"You know," Professor Stein said, walking up to her. "Having powers isn't a death sentence, my dear."

Caitlin gave him a gentle smile. She should've known he'd understand her deep-seeded thoughts and worries. With a low sigh, she brushed her hair behind her ear. "I attacked my friends."

"From what I understand of this night, so we have we," Professor Stein said with a small smile. There was a twinkle in his eye that made Caitlin smile back. "We could've hurt Barry or Oliver, but you stepped up along with the others to help us."

"I said, horrible, horrible things to them."

"But that wasn't you. And coming from someone who shares their own body with someone else, I would know for sure."

Caitlin laughed. It faded as quickly as it begun and she looked at those gathered in the Cortex. Her friends. The ones she loved. "I'm just so scared she'll come back and I can't stop her," Caitlin admitted. "That eventually she's the only one that'll…that maybe I won't…"

"We'll all be there for you, Caitlin." Professor Stein looped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to his side. "That's all you need to know." Caitlin smiled and rested her head against Professor Stein's shoulders. She'd been without a fatherly touch, hug, comfort for so long she didn't realize how much she missed it.

Caitlin disengaged herself from Professor Stein and went over to Barry, who quickly waved her off. "You know I need to get a full body check on you, Mr. Allen," she reminded him.

"You can do it once I'm sure everything's been tied up," Barry replied. "Then, I promise, you can do as many tests as you want. I promise I'll tell you if anything's wrong." With that, he zipped back outside of STAR Labs where Felicity, Mick, Oliver, Thea, Jax, Diggle, Cadence, and Brady were gathered.

"So, what was it like to be mind-controlled and stuff?" Felicity asked Mick, who looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"I didn't know he had a mind to control," Jax teased.

"Barry," Ray called to the speedster once Barry arrived outside, pulling his cowl down from his forehead. "Message or no message, we're with you."

"Thanks," Barry replied gratefully.

"So, where's Supergirl?" Thea asked.

"She and Deity are scanning the city to make sure there aren't any more orbs that whammied all of you," Barry said, twirling his finger in the air. He ran a hand over his face, removing the rain water that dropped around them. Then he glanced at Cadence who was as dry as a bone as she stood in the rain, the water droplets drying around her long before it even reached her. "Show off," he said.

Cadence smiled and winked to him. "It really comes in handy sometimes." She held her hand over Barry's head to prove her point as the rain water immediately stopped dripping through his hair. He grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it, making her laugh.

"So now what?" Brady asked, twirling his bow staff in hand.

"Call Lyla, and tell her the dominators aren't here peacefully," Oliver said. He leapt backwards when, in a blast of in a blast of yellow light, Sara was gone, zapped up into the sky. Oliver tilted his head back, following her path, trying in vain to see through the heavy cloud coverage.

"Sara!" Oliver called, desperately.

Within seconds Ray, Thea, and Diggle were the next to go. All taken in blasts of yellow light, completely with a thunderclap accompanying the blast seconds later. Cadence reached towards Thea when the yellow light started to take her, the second her hand touched the light, she was knocked off her feet where she landed on the ground in a heap.

"Mom!" Brady cried.

"Everybody inside!" Barry shouted frantically and as the others all started to run, Mick grabbing Cadence as he went. Barry turned to look at Oliver. Oliver looked back at him and in a move that made Barry take pause, subtly shook his head. Then a light shone down on top of Oliver.

Barry took off running, everything around him coming to a stand still as the light beamed onto Oliver. He ran as fast as he could, eyes stayed locked on Barry's. Then just as Barry was about to reach him, Oliver was gone. Barry tripped and fell over onto his knees before collapsing onto his front. He twisted around and looked up towards the sky but found nothing but storm clouds, water dripping into his face.

His friends were gone.

The night was still.

---

A/N: One part of Invasion left. It was originally going to end with this one, but there some interpersonal things I needed to bring up in this one, namely what was up with Cisco that made the chapter too long and I don't want to have anyone read too much. I've been told it makes people skim rather than read in-depth so I'm being careful with chapter lengths. Anyway, I hope Cisco's anger with Barry made sense now that it's out in the open.

And what did you think of the fights, huh? Pretty good, right? Sorry, but that was my favorite part to write. Some of them, namely Brady's and Cadence's, will be extended in the next chapter. Don't forget to check out my oneshot Henry Allen was Here, my sister's one-shot He Testified and the update to her Flash OC story, Out Of Focus they're all great!

Please remember to review; any feedback helps me become a better writer and motivates me to write more. I respond to every review, even anonymous ones.

Cheers,

-Riley

Review Replies

Yummers: It's coming, I promise. Glad you liked it.

Ethan: It said on the show that Jesse has 5 degrees. On Earth-2 it's not so weird for them. Not charging up Wally's powers, just reacting to another Speedster being nearby. Like how it's possible to take on a speedster's speed like Jay and Barry do later in the season. As far as I know, Brady doesn't have Cade's ability of enhanced strength, so apart from the fact that Cade is very light, he probably can't fly with her yet.

DarkHelm145: I hope you liked Oliver in this chapter as well. There's more original stuff with him in the next one that pertains to some things in Arrow in the next chapter I'm sure you'll enjoy.

Guest: Yeah, that new character is a OC from my co-writing partner when it comes to crossovers. All of the backstory is on his profile: PowerHero432. I'm sorry it was so confusing.

spinquin142: There's more to the crossover when it comes to the Arrow/Legends part, but the Flash part needed to be the same considering Barry's story arc so far. I hope you continue to enjoy.

babyj: I hope the focus of Cisco in this chapter made it worth it.