! Warning: This story may contain adult themes, such as nudity, sexual content, torture, mass murder etc. Reader discretion is highly advised. !
Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or the CW TV shows Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl or any other characters or elements pertaining to the mentioned franchises.
CCPD
"But, sir…" One of the detectives hesitantly spoke up. "Even if… what Luthor said, was true and the Flash really was someone from the force… why should we care? I mean… the Flash has always been on our side and he's as much an enforcer of the law as we are."
"I know. And most of the public agrees with you." Singh assured. "Look, I know that the Flash has gone rogue in the past before but remember, just because he has powers, it doesn't make him any less of a human than any of us. We all make mistakes and screw up and remember that he was under an influence of a mind-controlling meta at the time, just like one of our officers was. I am not going to point any fingers or ask any of you to confess to being the Flash. I believe that he is on our side and all I'm asking is for him and for everyone in the department, to be careful.
The public opinion on metas keeps getting more and more tense and I think it is best if we tried to avoid any incidents with metahumans and the Flash should keep a low profile to avoid being scolded by the public or us having to be forced to hunt him down. I want us all to be ready for a worst-case scenario."
There were murmurs in the room.
"What are we going to do?" Barry whispered.
"You heard him, the police may be on our side for now but Luthor is getting more and more supporters on his side every day. Like Singh said, it will be best if you lay low for now." Joe advised.
Barry entered his lab and picked up his phone, dialing a number. "Hey, Cait. I…" He took a breath, trying to find the right words. "Look, I get that Luthor's speech must have rattled you and I don't blame you. I… I just want you to know that you don't have to deal with this alone, OK? We're all here for you. And I'm honestly worried about you and if you need to talk… please, just let me know."
He hung up as Iris approached him, noticing the look in his eyes. "You OK?"
"What are you doing here?" Barry asked.
"I was on my way home and I went to drop by. See how you and Dad are doing." Iris said.
"Honestly…" Barry took a breath. "I'm worried."
Iris nodded. "Yeah. I don't blame you. Everyone is thinking that a meta is going to fry them right from around a corner and they keep eying each other with such—"
"It's not just that." Barry said quickly and Iris blinked. "It's Caitlin."
Iris nodded. "Yeah… she was pretty freaked out the other day, not that I blame her."
"She hasn't been answering any of my calls the entire morning." Barry said. "Has she shown up in S.T.A.R. Labs?" Iris shook her head and Barry wiped his face.
"Barry… maybe… it's…" Iris considered her words. "Maybe she has too much on her mind right now, I mean, with the whole Killer Frost thing and Savitar… maybe she needs some space."
"Something wrong is about to happen, Iris, I just know." Barry said. "I can feel it in my bones."
"Don't you think you're worrying too much?" Iris tried to assure him.
"I can't help the way I feel right now." Barry said. "Do you think that considering what's going on out there with Luthor right now, I don't have to be?"
"Well… I can't say that you don't." Iris admitted.
"There's a storm coming. I know it is. How am I supposed to shake that feeling off?" Barry demanded and Iris opened her mouth but she wasn't sure how to answer that question.
"Guys, something's happening in Petersburg." Cisco called out.
Central City
Elongated Man turned into a giant net as the thugs fired from a grenade launcher and Elongated Man wrapped himself around the grenade and contained the explosion. "You guys never learn, do you?" He quipped before he turned his hand into a giant fist, taking the thugs down.
"Can you disarm the bomb?" Cisco called out.
"I'll see what I can do." The Flash quickly dismantled the cover of the bomb and opened it to see the wiring and motherboard circuitry. The Flash vibrated his hand and plunged it into the bomb and it seemed to short-circuit it as it deactivated. "It's over. I took care of it."
"Phew. Score one for Team Flash, guys!" Cisco cheered.
But, suddenly, the whole building started to tremble.
"Oh, my God…" The Flash whispered. "What's going on?"
S.T.A.R. Labs
"I don't know…" Cisco then looked at the monitor as he scanned the bomb through camera in Barry's suit and then the building through satellite imaging. "Oh, my God—"
"What?" Barry called out.
"That bomb had a hidden failsafe. A low frequency pulse and another bomb under the foundation. You have to get everyone out of there now, the whole place is going down!" Cisco ordered.
Central City
The Flash sped the civilians and workers to safety as the building crumbled and dust started to spread but as he turned to the people…
"The Flash saves us…"
"Look at all the damage that has been done…"
"He's a hero…"
"Don't you see? It's because of freaks like him there's this havoc! You are not welcome here!"
"Hey, leave him alone! He's just trying to help!"
"He's just making things worse! Get out of this city! Ever since he showed up, these meta freaks have been popping up like flies!"
The people started to yell and attack each other as the police was trying to hold them off.
"Hey, enough!" A blonde woman in beige coat, with a police badge with a familiar voice stepped up and the Flash froze upon seeing her face. "He was just trying to help! Don't you see? He was just trying to help, like he always has, in the past four years! You can't condemn the whole kind for actions of few! The Flash has always been trying to protect this city! If you condemn him, who is going to protect us from other metahumans that you fear?"
Her speech made them all hesitate as the officers were trying to clear out the streets. "Go home and calm down. The Flash has always been on our side."
The Flash looked at the woman gratefully as she turned to him, smiling. "I wish circumstances were better but I needed to see how you were doing."
The Flash smiled. "Good to see you, Patty."
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
"You see, the incident with Haines Tower is a clear example that metahuman heroes are not a solution." Lex growled into the TV. "They are not omniscient or all-powerful, otherwise the building wouldn't have crumbled, would it?"
"No one is perfect, Mr. Luthor and with all due respect, even the Flash sometimes fails to save civilians, as much as paramedics in the field or doctors in the hospitals sometime fail to save their patients or when the police officers fail to stop criminals." The anchor argued.
"But the doctors are bound by Hippocratic oath and policemen by law to help and face consequences for failures. What gives the Flash the right to help us? And how does he pay for the failures? Scolding of the public? Expressions of disappointments on media? Who chose him as the protector of Central City from these metahumans anyway?" Lex pointed out.
"The public did, when the police were not capable of stopping metahumans and most of them were abusing their powers, there was one, who decided to use his powers to protect people and that was the Flash."
"And do we truly want to rely on the man, who in theory, can go so fast that he could time travel? What if one day, he decides to change the past and creates a worse future? People with such powers are too dangerous to be left unchecked and lack a failsafe against possible misuse of their powers. I mean, science should be the key to metahuman threat, not another metahuman on our side. It's all about genes. With the right people and theory and proper experimentation, we may be able to solve the metahuman threat, once and for all."
"By stripping them of their powers, if I understand where you are going with this?" The anchor asked.
"All I'm saying is, can we trust the people next to us, when for all we know, they could burn us into crisp with a snap of their fingers? Or… phase through a wall and rob a bank and bypass any possible security measures? I think people would be safe if they were sure that no metahuman could potentially threaten them." Lex said calmly.
"And how exactly are you planning on doing that, exactly? Taking away metahuman powers?" The anchor asked.
"Well, LexCorp has offered any metahuman to come forward to undertake series of tests and experimentations, so that we could help them find out how to get rid of their abilities. I am sure that there are many, who would like to go back to their normal lives, not afraid of how their powers might harm others. I am certain that there are some of them out there, wanting to be normal and not constantly worry about hurting a wrong person."
Cisco scoffed. "Cure the metahumans, is he serious? Few days ago, he practically screamed, 'Metahuman, help! They will kill us!' And now he's offering an olive branch?"
"He's up to something. Guy that changes colors like that… I don't like it." Harry said, when they heard footsteps and turned to the door to the Cortex.
"Thanks for the help, Patty." Barry said as he entered with Patty, while putting on his jacket.
"Hey. Long time, no see." Cisco smiled, hugging Patty.
"You remember Cisco." Barry said as Patty pulled away from Cisco and turned awkwardly towards Harry.
"Harrison Wells. From Earth-2." Patty said uncomfortably, considering that their last encounter wasn't exactly friendly. "Barry had filled in the blanks. I… haven't had the chance to say it but I'm really sorry for shooting you."
"No hard feelings. I understand why." Harry assured her.
"And this is Ralph Dibny." Barry said and she and Ralph shook hands.
"Enchante, my lady." Ralph kissed Patty's hand as she blushed.
"Where's Caitlin?" Patty asked as she looked around.
"I don't know. We couldn't reach her. And just out of curiosity, what brings you here?" Cisco asked.
"I saw the news and I figured you could use all the help you could get." Patty explained.
Outside S.T.A.R. Labs, a man was in his car, observing. "Do you want me to take them out?"
"No. Not yet. Doing it now would make them all martyrs. Right now, the public is questioning the Flash, if he is the hero or he just makes things worse. We have to make sure they won't be so fond of the Central City's heroes. Break him, humiliate him, show them that he's not the hero they can rely on and believe in and then, we can take them out." The voice said to his earpiece.
"What if Queen tries to stop us?" Kane questioned.
"Are you worried, Kane?" The voice asked.
"No. Of course not. This would be much more interesting if he and his merry band came to help." Kane smirked.
"And speaking of Queen, it's time to move onto the next phase of our plan." The voice said.
Mayor's office, Star City
"So, I double-checked the regulations onto the construction site…" Laurel told Oliver before Thea burst into the office.
"Ollie, I'm sorry, I really tried to stop them—"
"What's going on, Thea?" Oliver asked, not understanding before into the office entered a group of agents in suits.
"You can't do this, you have no right!" They heard Quentin yell as he followed the agents.
"Laurel Lance, I need you to come with us and we would appreciate if you did not raise your voice." The man said, showing a sonic dampener and Oliver and Laurel paled. How did they find out?
"What's going on?" Oliver asked.
"Do not make this harder than it has to be." The man insisted.
"Wait, you can't do this!" Quentin protested.
"We can. She is not Laurel Lance, she is an impostor associated with the Throwing Star Killer. We dug out Miss Lance's grave and her DNA matched with the records. We also took a sample of this woman and while her DNA matches with Miss Lance's, there are some differences that add up with metahuman DNA. Your District Attorney is a fake, Mr. Mayor. And also, we have evidence that Captain Dinah Drake is a metahuman, too." The man said bluntly before Oliver and Laurel paled, realizing they had her.
"Hey, wait, this has to be some kind of a misunderstanding—"
"If it is, Miss Lance will come back unharmed but she needs to come with us for now." The man said before they restrained Laurel with power dampening cuffs and walked away with her, while Oliver gave her a pleading look, not wanting her to fight back.
"How did they find out? Who gave them the information?" Oliver whispered to Thea as the agents left.
"I don't know." Thea shook her head.
"They have evidence. Photo and video of Laurel talking with Prometheus and a footage of Dinah using her sonic cry at Vigilante." Quentin explained. "And it looks like we're about to have another impeachment going on, since you took into the city's administration two metahumans."
Oliver and Thea tensed.
Elsewhere
Laurel, Dinah, Caitlin and multiple people were wearing black bags and metahuman cuffs as they were being boarded onto a plane with a group of soldiers.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.