Hey, guys. Back with another chapter. Hope you like this one.
Now, to quickly address something. I've gotten multiple questions about who I'm pairing Pietro, Steve, and Sam up with. I have absolutely no idea who I'm gonna pair Sam with, or if I will at all. Too many romances can get hard to juggle. For Steve, I've already said I'm planning to have him get together with Caitlin. And for Pietro, I do have someone in mind, but I will keep that to myself for now.
Coolrod: Dude, you have serious problems. You're a toxic jerk who seems to get pleasure out of harassing people. Now that you know I'm not putting up with your Smallville crap, you're now finding other stuff to harass me about. What the heck is wrong with you? What's wrong with pairing Barry with Wanda? This is fanfiction. I can pair Barry with whoever I so please. And if you seriously think Iris is an angel, actually take a look at her, and you'll she can be a very manipulative and selfish person, and the fact she has ended multiple relationships of Barry's throughout his life, particularly Linda. And given what we've seen of her, I think her being this angry to Barry coming back after what was to her a week, and being married to someone else, well, I think that's realistic. But of course, you think your word is law and to disagree with you and do something you don't agree with is a crime. And for your information, there's plenty of MCU and Arrowverse characters who started off as villains and became heroes. Let's see, there's Black Siren, Loki, Gamora, Nebula, Wanda and Pietro, and Bucky as the Winter Soldier, just to name a few. Dude, seriously, just shut up and leave everybody alone. And to call me and others obsessed with Wanda because we choose to use her as a character? Do you realize how hypocritical it is to say that when you've been harassing me and other authors for months about including Smallvile. To quote a line from a TV show I once saw: "You're a delusional whackadoodle."
Chapter 6- One Storm Over, Another Begins
"So, what exactly did you find?" Steve asks Cisco.
"So, all my searching for a hyperconduit in the big laboratories or science centers near Central City didn't yield anything. So, after a little while, I thought that locating a hyperconduit might be easier if I looked in less likely places. So, after a little while, I had a hunch. So, my old college roommate, Sebastian Ollins, has been working on some new projects. Honestly, I don't know how that idiot is doing some of the stuff he claims he's doing. But apparently, one thing he's been working on is a really high quality hyperconduit," Cisco says, but in a tone clearly showing his dislike of Sebastian Ollins.
"Awesome. So all we need to do is get to it first. Where is he keeping it?" Sam asks.
"In a warehouse on the edge of town," Cisco responds.
"Awesome. I'll head over there and grab it first. Send me the location," Sam says as he hurries to put on his suit and the Falcon pack.
"Sam," Steve starts to protest.
"Cap, I'll be fine. I just need to get the hyperconduit first," Sam says before hurrying out of the cortex.
Everyone kind of stares after Sam for a moment before Caitlin shakes her head. "He's a little reckless and over confident," she says.
"Agreed," Steve says.
(Allen farm)
Wanda puts the last of the dishes into the dishwasher, sighing as she does. The whole day, after her argument with Iris, she's been in a rather foul mood, and has kind of kept to herself a bit most of the afternoon.
Suddenly, she feels a set of arms wrap around her, followed by a kiss on the cheek. In spite of her mood, she smiles.
"Thanks, babe," she says.
Barry comes around to where she can see him. He looks her in the eyes and asks, "Wanda, what's wrong? You've been in a bit of a mood since you came back this morning, and that's from the little I've seen of you. I may not have mind reading powers, but I can see that something's bothering you. Please tell me, honey."
Wanda looks at him for a moment, then sighs. "I didn't go into town for some errands like I said. I went because after this morning, I was tired of Iris' attitude. I went to go deal with it once and for all." She pauses, then says, "I found Iris in STAR Labs, and we had a big fight. She accused me of stealing you from her, and that when I died, it was her right to try and get you back. She also accused me of using my powers to coerce you into marrying me. Worst of all, she insinuated that she deserved to be Nora and Stephen's mother more than I did. She told me if I knew what was best for me, I'd leave this Earth and never come back, because sooner or later you'd leave me and go back to her, because you two are meant to be together." As she keeps talking, the anger in her voice continues to grow.
Barry just stands there for a moment. Then, he wraps his arms around her and pulls her in for a hug. "Wanda. I hope you know she's wrong. I love you for you, not to replace Iris. And I realized a long time ago I never truly loved Iris. I was infatuated with her. I didn't love her. And I love you with all my heart. And I promise you, Wanda…I will never leave you."
Wanda smiles, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. "I know. But it's good to hear it," she says.
"And I promise you. I will make sure Iris never bothers you again," Barry says.
"How?" Wanda asks.
"I'm gonna go have a word with her. Now, why don't we go spend some time with the twins?" Barry asks. Wanda smiles, and lets Barry lead her out of the kitchen.
(Outer parts of Central City)
"Hey, guys. I'm closing in on the warehouse," Sam says over his comms.
"Copy that, Sam. Keep us updated," Steve says back.
Sam flies ahead for another few moments before he spots the warehouse apparently owned by Sebastian Ollins. He swoops down and lands right in front of one of the side doors.
"Alright, I'm here. Entering the warehouse now," Sam says as he opens the door and slips into the warehouse.
Sam makes his way among the various shelves and pieces of machinery, looking carefully for anything matching the description Cisco gave him. After a minute, he looks around a corner, only for a blast of energy to knock him back.
Sam scrambles back to his feet and looks to see Cicada stalking towards him.
"The Falcon. I have been waiting for this since I first met you," Cicada says.
"Really? You've been looking forward to getting you're a** kicked? Because that's what's going to happen," Sam says.
Cicada smirks to herself. "I doubt it," she says. She then throws her dagger at Sam. Sam tries to dodge aside, but the dagger slices across his left arm.
Sam growls in pain, but uses his right hand to draw one of his guns and fire a volley at Cicada. Cicada tries to deflect the bullets with her two kukri daggers, but she gets hit twice, growling in pain.
Cicada lifts her hand and summons her dagger back to her. As she does, she reaches out and picks up a device off the nearby table. With a start, Sam recognizes it as the hyperconduit he came here for.
"Soon, all metahumans will die. And then, I will come for you, Falcon, and you will die," Cicada says before taking off and flying up through the ceiling Sam growls, activating his wings and taking off after her.
As Sam gets up through the roof, he sees Cicada flying off into the distance. He fires his guns after her, but at this point, the range is too great. Knowing he now has just one weapon that can hit her, he presses a few buttons on his gauntlet, and two rockets launch out of the back of his pack.
The rockets streak out towards Cicada. But, before they can get close, Cicada turns around and throws her dagger, exploding the two rockets. She then throws her dagger towards Sam, who dives to try and avoid it. However, in a stroke of bad lock, the dagger hits one of the pack's thrusters. The uneven thrust causes Sam to start spiraling out of control.
Sam tries to regain control, but it's clear the pack is too badly damaged. So, Sam deactivates the thrusters and deploys his parachute. It takes him less than a minute to drift down to the ground.
Once Sam hits the ground, he looks up and sees Cicada has vanished. Scowling, he gets on comms and says, "Guys, we got a problem. Cicada was there when I got there. She got away, and the suit is temporarily down. And worse, she has the hyperconduit. Cicada has everything she needs."
(STAR Labs)
"So, what do we do now? Cicada could be releasing the virus right now and we probably would never know it," Pietro says, having just arrived at STAR Labs.
"Actually, we'll know where she is soon enough," Sam says.
Everyone looks at him in confusion. Sam smirks a bit and says, "I had a feeling I might run into Cicada. Ever since she showed up again, I've been loading my guns with bullets that have tracking nanites in them. It may take an hour or two for the nanites to start functioning enough for us to get a signal, but once we do, we'll be able to track Cicada's every move."
Everyone's quiet for a moment before Cisco starts to smile. "Great thinking, Sam. I'll get to work on tracking the nanites," he says as he walks towards the computers.
"So, we have a way to locate Cicada. We do still need to find a way to destroy her dagger," Steve says.
"Actually, I think I have that already figured out," Cisco says from his seat at the computers, drawing everybody's eyes. He looks back at everybody and says, "I got a call from Felicity about an hour ago. She was able to get through McCulloch Technologies' firewalls, and find out about some of the weapons they've made with wreckage from the STAR Labs satellite. And she found one that may fit our purpose. She called it a mirror gun. Basically, it's a gun built using the satellite's solar panels, and it's capable of destroying anything down to its atoms. If anything besides one of the Infinity Stones is going to be able to destroy the dagger, this mirror gun can."
"Okay. That answers one question. Next one: how do we get it?" Steve asks.
"Felicity found that all of the weapons built using the satellite's wreckage have been held at one of McCulloch's buildings here in Central City. In that building, the room where they build and test their most secret weapons is called the Forge. It's only capable of being opened from the inside, and the only other ways in are small pipes leading in from other rooms," Cisco explains.
"Great. How do we get in then?" Sam asks.
"We don't. I called up an old friend. They'll be able to get it easily. In fact, it shouldn't be much longer," Cisco explains.
(McCulloch Technologies, the Forge)
Inside the Forge, it's completely quiet. Nobody has been inside the Forge for a few days. However, the employees at McCulloch aren't concerned. The design of the room make it almost impossible to get in except for metahumans, and the powerful metahuman power dampener inside the Forge makes it impossible for metahumans to get out.
Outside the Forge, an old security guard with a white mustache and wearing glasses is humming a tune to a song, trying to get through the boredom of his shift.
"Anything going on?" his superior calls over his radio.
"Nothing to report. Boring as usual," the old guard says.
However, inside the Forge, something is happening. Right above the table where the mirror gun is resting, a circle of orange energy appears out of nowhere and starts spinning. It widens into a small portal. A moment later, a hand reaches through the portal, grabs the mirror gun, and pulls back through the portal. A moment later, the portal closes.
(STAR Labs)
"Who is this friend?" Steve asks.
Cisco just smiles. Then, an orange portal suddenly opens up in the middle of the cortex. And a moment later, Dr. Strange steps through the portal.
"Hello, Doctor. Nice of you to stop by," Cisco says.
"Mr. Ramon," Strange says with a bit of a smile before holding up the mirror gun and asking, "Is this what you asked me to get?"
"Yes, it is," Cisco says with a smile as he walks up to take the gun from Strange.
As Cisco takes the gun from him, Strange looks around and says, "Good to see everyone again."
"You too, Strange. I'm a little surprised to see you though," Steve says.
"Team Flash helped me stop Ilan and his Zealots, and all of you helped reverse the Decimation. The least I can do is help when you need my help," Strange responds.
"Alright. Let's go test this out," Cisco says before heading down towards one of the labs, where they've been keeping the core of the satellite.
As they all enter the room, they see the core standing alone at the other end of the room, with a hole in the shape of a lightning bolt right in the center of it, where the dagger came from.
"Alright, everybody. Let's see if this thing could take out the dagger," Cisco says. He takes a few deep breaths, then raises the gun. He aims it right at the core, then fires. What looks like a ball of energy, but completely made of flat sides rather being round, shoots out of the end of the mirror gun. It hits the core, and a surge of energy rushes across the core. Then, a moment later, the core seems to fold in on itself until it vanishes.
Everyone just stares at the spot where the core vanished. Then, Cisco starts to smile. "Well. That's it. We have everything we need but a location on Cicada. Once we have that, we'll be ready to go."
"I'll remain here. I have a feeling you may need my help," Strange says.
"Thanks, Strange. We appreciate it," Steve says.
"Alright. Let's go find Cicada," Cisco says as he heads back up towards the cortex.
(West House)
Joe smiles as he takes a sip from his beer, watching a baseball game on TV in the living room. Right as the man at bat hits the ball, a breach suddenly opens next to him.
Joe turns to look at it. Then, a moment later, Barry steps out of it.
"Barry! What are you doing here?" he asks in surprise and concern.
"It's okay, Joe. I can be up on my feet like this for a little while. I'll be fine," Barry says placatingly. Joe's worry about Barry's physical well-being subsides, but his curiosity as to why remains.
"Why are you here?" Joe asks.
"I need to talk to Iris," Barry says.
Instantly, Joe understands. "Barry, are you sure? I don't want to stress you out. If she keeps acting up, I can handle it," Joe says.
"I know you probably could. But, I want to make sure she doesn't cause any more trouble at all. Where is she?" Barry asks.
"In the kitchen," Joe says, recognizing that he's not going to dissuade Barry from this.
Barry nods once before heading towards the kitchen. When he gets into the kitchen, he sees Iris taking a tray of bread out of the oven. He waits until she's set the bread down before saying, "Iris. We need to talk."
Iris jumps at the sudden noise, then turns around to face Barry. When she sees him, her expression turns briefly to one of panic, then to nervousness.
"Barry? What are you doing here?" she asks.
"I'm here to have a word with you about Wanda. She told me all about the argument you two had earlier today," Barry says.
"Barry-" Iris starts to say, but Barry raises his hand to cut her off.
"Don't try and tell me she's lying Iris. I have more reason to trust her than you. And honestly, with all your behavior since I first told you about her after I came back from Earth-99, are you surprised I believe her?" Barry demands.
"She stole you from me, Barry," Iris says desperately.
"No, she didn't, Iris. I love her, and I love her for who she is, not because she was a replacement for you. And truth be told, Iris, I never loved you. I was infatuated with you. There's a difference. And I let you have too much control of my life. You caused two of my girlfriends in the past to break up with me, and you were with someone else both of those times. Why would you do that? Ever since I've had time away from you, and time to actually think deep about your actions and behavior, I realized you weren't someone I wanted to be with. You didn't respect me the way Wanda does. And I think you loved the fact that I was the Flash more than you loved me," Barry says.
"Barry, that's not true. I love you. And what about that newspaper article? Iris West-Allen?" Iris says desperately.
"And how many times over the last few years have we seen that the future isn't set in stone? What the Legends do is proof enough of that, without plenty of other evidence. We can make our own future. Wasn't that the argument you tried to use against Eddie when he tried to break up with you after seeing the article for the first time?" Barry shoots back. Iris freezes, caught off guard by that.
Barry keeps going. "And Wanda told me what you said about Nora and Stephen. Even with how angry you've been with Wanda, I never thought you'd cross that line. Telling Wanda you deserve them more than her? Do you have any idea what she went through during her pregnancy and the first 16 months after Nora and Stephen were born? Yes, she was thrilled to be a mother, but it was hell for her too. You don't get to say something like to her after everything she has been through," he says, a little angrily. Iris looks ashamed of herself. Barry understands she didn't really mean that when she said it, but it doesn't change his displeasure at the fact she said.
He continues. "I'm sorry, Iris. I am. I'm sorry for the pain you've been through. But I'm not sorry for falling in love with Wanda. Being with her has made me happier than I ever was when we were together. I don't mean to be mean by saying that, but just to tell the truth. I'm sorry, Iris, but this can't go on. Until you can get over your anger, and apologize to Wanda, I don't want you coming near her or the twins, and I don't want to hear from you again unless its an apology. I don't want to do this, Iris. We've been friends for so long, and we grew up together, but I won't tolerate anyone treating my family like this."
Barry then turns and walks out of the kitchen before using his extrapolator to open a breach back to his house. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Iris just remains standing where she was, frozen, a few tears running down her cheeks as she finally starts to accept that things are over between her and Barry.
And, I'll end there. I hope you liked it.
So, yes. I decided to bring Dr. Strange back. I liked how I did with his first team up with Team Flash, so I decided to bring him back for this. I thought his sling ring was the best way for Team Flash to get the mirror gun out of the Forge. I originally planned for them to call in Scott to get into the Forge to get the gun, but then I decided to use Dr. Strange. He'll be helping a bit in the final battle with Cicada. I hope you approve of my decision.
And I hope you noticed this story's Stan Lee cameo. I felt this was the best place to include it, and I thought it somewhat of a throwback to his cameo in Winter Soldier.
The final battle will be next chapter. It'll be up this week. Until then, leave a review and stay tuned.