"I knew I should have gone with you!" Oliver shouted at Captain Hunter. "You put Laurel at risk, and you let an evil speedster escape!"
"Despite what he has done, Mr. Allen was once considered a hero; and your close friend," Captain Hunter deflected. "I thought it prudent to at least give him the opportunity to see the error of his ways."
"Well he didn't. You said that he was so dangerous that you needed to have someone with Laurel's abilities at your side. Why didn't you just shoot him when Laurel stunned him?"
"We need him alive; he plays a key role to the future timeline."
"Unbelievable."
"You weren't there, Ollie," Laurel interjected. "He seemed like a normal, happy guy until we told him he had to give his happy life for the greater good. I probably could have tried harder to stop him, but even I'm not sure if I really want to change things back."
Laurel looked over at Sara, and shared a solemn look with her sister.
"I wish we didn't have to either," Sara agreed. "But if I hadn't seen for myself the kind of damage changing the past can do, I wouldn't be asking you to."
Ring! Ring!
A cell phone ring broke the tense silence holding everyone hostage, and Oliver stepped away from the group to answer it.
"How do we track a speedster anyways?" Mari asked, bringing the room back into focus. "He could be anywhere in the world by now."
"I don't think so," Dr. Stein answered. "I know Barry; he won't just abandon his home without a fight. If anything he'll try to convince us to stand down just as much as we try to convince him."
"Okay, so we narrowed it down form anywhere in the world to anywhere in this city. That's helpful."
Oliver finished his phone call and returned to the group, looking even more grim than before.
"That was Speedy," Oliver disclosed. "Thea was spotted crossing the bridge in Star City early this morning, flipping over any cars that got in her way. The police intercepted her before he could make it over there. They opened fire, and wounded her before she killed them all. He's trying to track her down following the blood trail, but he's not sure if she could have survived even with the mirakuru in her system."
"Oh my God, Ollie," Laurel consoled.
"You said that if we get this Flash guy to go back and fix the timeline, everything gets reverted back to how it was before?" Oliver asked.
"Yes," Captain Hunter answered.
"And in the other timeline Thea is still alive?"
"Yes, she is."
"I'll find him. And I'll make him fix everything; whether he's willing to or not."
He stomped over to the table and grabbed his bow and headed to the exit, nodding at Mari and Laurel to follow him. Laurel followed suit, and Mari sighed and did the same, eyeing the Legends as if they somehow had something to do with the sudden turn of events.
"You're just going to let them go?" Jefferson asked.
"Good riddance," Mick grumbled. "The green guy was a real buzz kill."
"All we're doing is widening our search area," Captain Hunter explained.
"I should go with them," Sara suggested. "Something tells me they're not going to give us a call if they find him."
The look in Sara's eyes conveyed the rest of her intention; she wanted to spend as much time with her sister while she still could.
Captain Hunter nodded his head in agreement and Sara ran out to follow Team Arrow.
"Should we all split up and look for Barry?" Jefferson asked.
"No. While they look for Mr. Allen, we will pursue the other solution to our problem."
"So let me get this straight," Wally contended. "You went back in time, kept this Reverse Flash from killing your mom, and now these, Legends, want you to go back in time again and let it happen?"
"Yep," Barry confirmed. "And later on that timeline my father is killed as well."
"But why would they want your parents to die?" Iris asked.
"They think it will cause a disruption in the timeline. But I've gone back and changed the past a couple of times before, and I sincerely believe that each time it was for the better."
"I don't know if I'm comfortable with the idea of changing the past. Not just you, but human beings in general. I think there are some things that we just shouldn't mess with."
"One of the times I changed the past it was to save the entire city; including your father."
Iris blinked as she ran the scenario in her mind, and then looked away as she failed to come up with a counter-argument.
"Look, guys. I'm confident that whatever consequences the Legends are worried about, if we all worked together we could solve it. I just need your help to be able to keep them from ganging up on me and have that conversation with them."
Iris and Wally shared a brief look between them.
"Can Wally and I talk for a second?" Iris asked
"Yeah, sure," Barry agreed.
The brother-sister crime fighting team huddled at one corner of the room and whispered to each other. The occasional glance at his direction made Barry feel nervous, and he prayed that they would be willing to help him out.
After what felt like an eternity, the two siblings broke up from the huddle, and rejoined Barry.
"Alright, we'll help," Wally proclaimed.
"Yes! Thank you!" Barry cheered.
"But on one condition," Iris cautioned. "You have to be completely honest with us from here on out. We don't want anymore surprises like you being a speedster or knowing who we were already."
"Okay," Barry promised.
"Now, with that being said: is there anything that you haven't mentioned that we need to know about?"
There were only two major details Barry had left out so far: Barry steadily losing his memories, and holding the Reverse Flash as a prisoner in the warehouse district. He wasn't sure exactly how Iris would react to him keeping someone imprisoned indefinitely, especially given her moral apprehension to him changing the timeline.
I might just keep that one last detail to myself, Barry thought.
"I've slowly been losing the memories from my old life. There's a risk that eventually I won't remember that I'm a speedster and I could lose my connection with the Speed Force."
"The what?" Wally wondered.
"It's this kind of universal energy that gives us our speed," Barry explained. "I'll try and teach you everything I know about what we are capable of before my memory goes away entirely."
"Cool!"
The smile on the young speedster reminded Barry that the two siblings didn't have their father as a role model in this timeline.
There's so much work I need to do to fix everything, Barry thought. But it will all be worth it if I can keep my parents alive and well.
"Well, if there's nothing else you need to tell us," Iris noted. "Then we should start coming up with some kind of plan to find these Legends."
"All we need to do is let them find us," Barry proposed.
The warm summer day drew out the residents of Central City. Crowds of people walked along the streets towards their random destinations in their goal of having some fun in the sun. Team Arrow was the only exception; while they too were wandering aimlessly outside, it was not out of enjoyment, but a grim sense of duty. The Sisters Lance trudging along the boulevard was a prime example. Both of them stayed close together, but the knowledge that whatever reprieve they've been given was temporary weighed on any desire to speak to each other.
"I think I finally know how you felt earlier," Sara began to speak.
"What do you mean, earlier?" Laurel asked.
"When I came back to life in that other timeline. All you kept saying was the girl you brought back was not the same sister you grew up with. When I look at you now, I can almost see my sister; but there's a certain spark that's missing."
"Are you saying I'm boring?" Laurel joked.
"No… well… maybe," Sara laughed. "You were always kind of serious. Before you started dating Ollie, I used to be the only one to get you to have actual fun. But what I really mean is-"
"That it doesn't feel real. Like this is a dream you're going to wake up from any second."
"Exactly," Sara agreed. "I wonder if Barry feels like this when he looks at his parents."
The two sisters stopped for a second, and Sara wiped away a tear.
"I'm going to check down this street," Sara croaked. "Maybe he was dumb enough to try and hide out at Jitters. Want anything to drink?"
"No, I'm fine," Laurel declined the offer.
The younger Lance darted down the side street just as Oliver turned around from the front of the pack and met up with his girlfriend.
"Are you okay?" Oliver asked.
"It's a little weird seeing her again," Laurel admitted. "But in a way, it's almost exactly what I needed."
"That's good," Oliver trailed off.
"What's on your mind?"
"I guess I wanted to apologize. I got so worried about everything with Thea that even the remote possibility of going back to a world where she is okay left me blind to everything else. I never even thought to ask you about how you felt about what happens to you on the other timeline."
"There's nothing to apologize for. I love Thea just as much as you do, and would do anything to get her back. Besides, she's not the only sister that gets to live when we go back to that timeline."
Laurel looked over and watched Sara walk back towards them, sipping a cup of ice coffee through a straw.
"Hey guys," Mari called through the comms. "You better head to Park Plaza."
Mari floated above Park Plaza, dumbfounded at the sight below her.
"Did you have a lead on the speedster?" Oliver asked Mari through the comms.
"You could say that,"Mari replied.
Directly below her was a man in a red suit, standing next to a row of stones that literally spelled out I'M HERE!
"I'll go and take a closer look," Mari offered.
"No. We don't know what he's capable of. Just wait until we get there. ETA five minutes."
"Okay" Mari lied, and proceeded to descend anyways.
Although Mari was curious to find out for herself just what kind of person this speedster was, she was no idiot. She remained a good twenty feet off of the ground, knowing a speedster was not as agile in the air as she was.
The man in red looked up at Mari and waved hello.
"Hey there, Mari," Barry greeted cheerfully.
"Hi. Barry, wasn't it?" Mari replied. "Not very good at hiding are you?"
"Does it look like I'm trying to hide?" Barry noted and emphasized his point by waving his arm towards the stone-writing.
"Suppose not. But then that leaves me no choice but to ask: why not?"
"I just want to talk to you all and explain."
"Yeah, we heard all about what happens to your parents from those Legends. They say unless you let nature take it's course it'll tear the universe in half or something."
"And you believe them?"
"Honestly, I don't know who to believe. They're strangers to me just like you are. That's why I'm having this conversation with you."
"Well, I appreciate it," Barry thanked.
"I'm just doing what I think is right," Mari said.
"It doesn't have to be as black and white as they say it is. I think if we all worked together we can-"
"STAY RIGHT THERE!" Green Arrow boomed through a voice distorter from the edge of Park Plaza.
Green Arrow, Black Canary and White Canary all stood in a row at the edge of the park. Green Arrow already had his bow drawn.
"Back to work," Mari remarked as she flew towards the rest of Team Arrow.
"We're friends. You don't need that," Barry pointed at the bow. "I just want to talk."
"You don't know me," Oliver refuted. "And you don't know the consequences of your actions. Worse, you know them but refuse to do anything about it."
"What exactly is so bad about this place?"
"Someone very close to me is either dead or dying, and from what they tell me she's alive and well on the other side."
"But it doesn't have to-"
The rest of Barry's spiel was cut off as an arrow flew towards him, and he easily caught it in his hand.
"That's not going to work on me," Barry scoffed.
"Sure it will," Oliver objected.
The arrow Barry held suddenly let out a high pitched whine and a shock of electricity coursed all throughout his body. While he may generate lightning around him when he runs, his body was not immune to the effects of a direct electrical attack.
He let out a yell and dropped to one knee.
Whistle!
Barry cried out in pain again as an arrow went into his foot, pinning it to the ground. Barry fell on his back, bewildered that even though they never fought before in this timeline, Oliver was still somehow on equal footing with him.
"Little help here!" Barry called out.
Whoosh!
A yellow blur cut across the park and Oliver was knocked back. Wally loomed over the vigilante with a wide grin on his face.
"I can't believe I get to meet the Green Arrow!" Wally beamed.
Screech!
The young speedster covered his ears and fell down on the ground due to the Canary Cry emanating from Laurel.
Sara leapt forward and hit Wally with her metal staff, the clank of metal hitting skull replacing the shrieking.
"Barry told me all about the Man-in-Yellow you son of a bitch!" Sara seethed.
"That's…not…Thawne," Barry panted in between spurts of pain.
"Oh," Sara said. "Who is he then?"
"That's Kid Flash," Laurel answered as she recognized the suit.
"The Flash," Wally groaned.
"Kid Flash," everyone but Sara corrected.
Mari broke away from Team Arrow as they surrounded Wally, slowly approaching the wounded Barry.
"Look, Barry," Mari spoke. "From what I can tell, you don't seem like a bad guy. I know because I met plenty of bad guys growing up in foster care. Just like you I lost my parents, and even though they died before I could really remember them, I always felt like there was a big part of me missing. So believe me when I say that I understand your pain.
"But the only reason I turned out halfway decent was because I found some great foster parents. While they didn't completely fill that missing part of me, they sure as hell made it easier to bear. I can tell by how nice you are that you grew up in a pretty good family too. Do you really want to throw away the life you built with them? What's going to happen to them without having you in their lives?"
By now Mari had reached Barry, who was now using his arms to prop himself up slightly. He thought about Joe, who was probably still passed out on his couch from drinking too much the night before; probably this morning too.
Several thoughts began to race through his mind as her words sank in. No, there has to be a way to fix everything in this world and-
There was a gust of wind, and Mari suddenly let out a gasp as an arm with sparks of lightning protruded from her chest. Barry watched horrified as she collapsed to the ground, revealing The Rival standing directly behind where she was.
"No one so much as touches another speedster. Not until I have the chance to prove to the world that I have NO RIVAL!" Edward Clarence shouted.
"Are you sure this is the correct way, Gideon?" Captain Hunter asked as he squinted at the path marked on the tiny holographic map in front of him.
"Yes, Captain. I'm quite sure," Gideon responded. "After analyzing traffic cameras of Barry Allen for the last three months, this is the one location where he has consistently visited at least once everyday, carrying a bag of food."
"So what?" Mick wondered. "Maybe he likes eating his lunch in a dark warehouse? Snart and I used to do that all the time when we were hiding out from the cops."
"Barry doesn't have to hide from the police. He works for the police," Dr. Stein stated.
"Really? No wonder I never liked that guy."
"We're here," Captain Hunter announced.
The group fell silent as they approached an inconspicuous warehouse. Captain Hunter nodded at Ray, who shrunk the A.T.O.M. suit and scouted the location. Jefferson and Dr. Stein used the moment to merge into Firestorm, prepared to take on anything that may come racing out.
"Boo!" Ray shouted in Firestorm's ear just before returning to normal size.
Firestorm launched himself into the air with a yelp.
"Don't do that man, I almost had a heart attack!" Firestorm complained.
"Sorry, I couldn't help it," Ray laughed.
"What's the status, Mr. Palmer?" Captain Hunter wearied.
"Thawne is in there alright. He's in some kind of cage equipped with a metahuman dampener."
"Excellent. Let us proceed."
Captain Hunter threw open the door and sauntered into the room.
"It's about damn time! I'm starving!" Thawne barked from within the cage.
The incarcerated speedster looked over and did a slight double-take at the sight of the group before him.
"You're not who I was expecting," Thawne wondered. "How may I help you?"
"Actually," Captain Hunter said. "I came here to make a proposition that will help both of us."
"Oh? What sort of 'proposition'?"
"Your freedom…in exchange for killing Nora Allen."
