(A/N) This timeline, Barry never went back in time to make Flashpoint. This will all be after Zoom, taking place when Barry was supposed to create Flashpoint. But I am going to edit the timeline a bit, Peter won't have the spider cave this time around. He will have some of his new gadgets and suits, but they'll be located in STAR Labs.
At Caitlin's apartment, she started waking up when something was tickling the length of Caitlin's left leg. She tried to push it away without opening her eyes, but it always came back. For a moment, she thought that it was her cat.
Only one problem with that, she didn't have a cat.
She pushed it away again before the cloud around her brain began lifting itself. It was definitely not a cat. It was a leg.
That's when she felt an arm draped over her waist, pulling her tighter behind. She heard a soft hum of contentment and that's when the memories came flooding back to her, like a dam had broken down.
Caitlin remembered her and Peter making it to her apartment and them making out like teenagers and him pushing her against her kitchen counter, bringing her closer to him.
She remembered unbuttoning his shirt and throwing it on the floor. She could still feel him chuckling in her neck when he had tried to take her sweatshirt off but she hadn't wanted to take her lips away from his in order to do that.
And she could still see the laugh twinkling in his eyes when he had managed to take it off.
She could still hear the happy groans and muffled moans as their mouths fused back together and their hands traveled up and down each other's bodies.
She could see flashes of herself taking his hand and leading him to her bedroom where a night of passion had followed.
She remembered him humming "livin la vida loca'" on their way to her bedroom where she had playfully slapped his shoulder, as he had to get his Spider-Man suit off.
She could still see them stumble on her bed, laughing like little kids and turning serious again just seconds later.
That's when she felt his breath tickling the back of her neck, bringing her back to the present and that's all she needed to let warmth spread from head to toe. Caitlin put her hand on Peter's which was currently lying on her stomach and he just spooned closer to her. She cracked an eye open and saw the sun come through her curtains. She had absolutely no idea of what time it was, and she definitely didn't care.
She felt Peter stir behind her as he was waking up. He moved up to place a kiss delicately on the back of her neck where he had been peacefully breathing just moments ago. She then turns her head to meet his still sleepy eyes.
"Morning, Snowflake," Peter whispered, a smile illuminating his whole face. The sight was breathtaking.
She let a hand run through his small stubble, go up to his ear, and then to the back of his head to bring his face closer to hers. He stopped just a breath apart from her, rubbed his nose on hers, and finally closed the distance between their lips. The kiss was sweet and short.
"Hmm…Morning to you, too." Caitlin whispered against his lips. She let her fingers play with his hands and turned completely on her back to look up towards him.
"How did you sleep?" Peter asked softly.
"Pretty good actually. I had my personal superhero blanket protecting me through the night. It even woke me a little around 3 am." She said, eyebrows lifting seductively.
Peter starts blushing at the mention and buries his face in the crook of her neck. Caitlin chuckled at his response and buried her hands in his hair, playing with it.
"You didn't seem to complain at the time," Peter mumbled, his voice vibrating against her skin.
"I wasn't and I'm not going to start now," Caitlin replied cheerfully while laughing.
She wished she could just freeze time, stay here like this forever, just the both of them, happier than they'd ever been. She felt her heart swell and herself turning into a puddle. Caitlin was on cloud nine, keeping the man she loved so close to her as he was pressing kisses along her neck after two years of sitting on their feelings.
"Hmm…I could get used to this." Caitlin whispered, closing her eyes, losing herself in the moment.
Peter immediately stopped, pulled back, and looked at her, surprise written all over his face. She opened her eyes, flushed under his stare, and tried to hide her face in her cushion. With one hand on her chin, he turned her face back to his.
"You really mean it?" Peter asks her.
She nodded softly and felt herself being pulled back towards him.
They met for a passionate kiss, tangling themselves deeper under the covers. When Peter broke the kiss, he whispered "Me too" against her lips. They both giggled and snuggled closer to each other.
She never thought that two people could be this perfect. When she was with Ronnie, she thought she was happy. But this was an even bigger feeling than what she felt with him, and she never wanted to stop feeling it.
"I can't believe it actually happened," Caitlin tells Peter while kissing him since she never thought she would be this happy ever since Zoom kidnapped her.
They start kissing once more when Peter's phone goes off and he sees its work.
"Oh, great. I gotta go. A meeting about transferring everything from Mercury Labs' name over to me." Peter explains to her. "So I gotta get to my place and get something nice for the fancy people."
"Well, you better get going, I'm gonna go to Star Labs since we're late," Caitlin informs Peter and she gets dressed and moves on with their day.
Peter had just finished getting dressed in his sharp black suit, feeling ready to tackle the day ahead. He walked over to the window of his high-rise apartment and opened it up, feeling the cool breeze blow through his hair. With a deep breath, he leaped out and swung gracefully through the bustling city, feeling as free as a bird in flight.
As he made his way to his office, Peter couldn't help but feel a little excited for the day ahead. He had an important meeting to attend, and he was eager to impress his colleagues with his ideas and expertise. However, his enthusiasm quickly turned to shock when he arrived at his office and found Lyla, the Director of ARGUS, waiting for him instead.
Peter's heart raced as he tried to figure out what could be so urgent that the director herself would come to his office. He greeted her with a polite smile, hoping to hide his anxiety, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong.
"Director Michales." Peter greeted her casually. "What can I do for you?"
"Cameras in the room were turned off, Peter. You can drop the act." Lyla tells him.
"Okay." Peter was starting to become scared. "What is going on?"
Lyla started to close off all light from the room and dimmed the windows so that only they could see what was going on. "There is one thing that I need from you, Peter." She then drew a gun on him, causing Peter to back off.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Peter cried in terror. 'What is going on here?"
"Prove to me you are not a Skrull," Lyla demanded.
"A what?" Peter asks. "What the hell is a Skrull?"
"The world is at threat here, Parker. I need to know who I can trust. And right now, you are on a thin leash." Lyla warned Peter.
Peter was not getting the answers he was looking for with that one. "What is a Skrull?"
"A duplicating alien. A shapeshifter." Lyla tells him. "Now, how can I trust you are not a Skrull?"
Peter stuttered and wondered what to say. "Wait, if shapeshifting aliens invaded, how do I know you are not a Skrull?" He then took his web shooters out and prepared to fight back. "How do I know you can be trusted?"
Lyla smiled when she heard that question and lowered her gun. "Good. That's two people I know I can trust."
"What?" Peter asks in shock. "What's going on?"
"Your powers identify any threat, right?" Lyla asks him.
"I-I-yes." Peter decided to just try and comprehend.
"I'll meet you at STAR Labs," Lyla said as she disappeared from sight, revealing that it was just a hologram form of Lyla.
Peter was just confused still. "What?"
Peter was now standing in the cortex of STAR Labs with Cisco, Wally, Joe, Iris, Caitlin, and Barry watching as Lyla showed off a video that was highly classified. They watched as what looked to be soldiers in black and white being attacked by green-skinned aliens with high-tech weapons that were worn on their palms up to their elbows and shot anyone in sight.
"Aliens?" Cisco asked in shock. "You're...you're saying that we're being invaded?"
"More like we've already been invaded." Lyla corrected him, pausing the video that showed a closeup on one of the aliens. "They landed here in the early 50s. They're a species of shapeshifting aliens that can disguise themselves as anyone."
"How do you know that?" Barry wondered.
Lyla then hit play on the footage, watching as a wounded soldier backed away onto a rock formation to escape the alien approaching. When the Skrul approached the soldier and raised its weapon, it took a second to twist its neck around before its entire body shifted into the soldier's face before shooting the wounded soldier, taking his place and shooting the rest of his battalion.
"I think that answers your question," Wally commented with horror.
"That was the Skrulls." Joe surreally pointed out. "Redmond, Oregon. The government tried to cover it up." He then saw the looks on everyone's faces. "What? I watch the SyFy channel."
"In 1987, they appeared under strange circumstances." Lyla went on to explain. "They sent a ship to land. Little to no communication was made. Then we learned that they were abducting humans for experimentation to gather intel on us. They attacked, and hundreds of soldiers lost their lives. And when their ship departed, we had thought they left. But we have recently discovered that one of my own men was a Skrull in disguise for...we don't know how long."
"Who was the alien disguised as?" Iris asks.
"John Diggle," Lyla informed them.
Peter and Barry both looked shocked to hear that. "What?" Peter asks.
"Diggle was an alien shapeshifter?" Barry was shocked to hear.
"Does Oliver know?" Peter asks.
"No. I thought it was smart to break the news to you guys first." Lyla tells them. "Because I don't know who I can trust with this news. These things, they are planning something. They're setting the stage for a war."
"Likely as a distraction," Peter muttered. "Let the humans fight themselves and let them finish what's left of us."
"I wanted to know if I can trust you guys, so that in case I confront Oliver, and it turns out...he's a shapeshifting alien." Lyla explained.
"You think Oliver is one of them?" Caitlin asks.
"We don't know the extent their shapeshifting goes. We don't know if it stops at changing faces, or if they can copy memories or abilities." Lyla explains why she visited them first. "The Diggle copy had his memories, or at least his personality."
That was when something came to Peter's mind. "Lyla, what did you tell me these things were called?"
"Skrulls." Lyla tells him. "Why?"
"That's the first anyone here is hearing about this, right?" Peter asks the room, watching everyone nod in confirmation But there was one person Peter was beginning to eye. "So, how did Joe know what they were called?"
Joe looked a little confused when he seemed to realize he slipped up and scoffed. "What's going on now, Peter?"
"You said that the government was trying to cover up the Skrulls. You said Skrulls. Which means you already knew their name." Peter explained why he was suspicious. "Nobody else knew what they were called."
Joe chuckled nervously as everyone in the room started to eye him. "Come on, guys. I know we're a little nervous right now, but don't you think this is..." then he saw nobody was buying his act now. "Ugh." He sighed and slowly reached behind him. "You just had to catch that?"
Joe then pulled out his gun, causing the room to freak out and duck for cover as Joe opened fire on the room. Barry used his speed to move fast enough so he could walk over and grab the bullets before they could hit Caitlin or Cisco. When he finished grabbing the bullets, he approached Joe and punched him in the face. When Joe fell over, he smacked on the ground and they were shocked to watch as Joe transformed into a green skinned creature with pointy ears.
"Oh, my god." Caitlin said in fear.
"Joe's a Skrull!" Cisco said in shock. "Joe is an alien!"
"This isn't good." Lyla whispered. "I thought Parker's ability to sense danger would give us a head in this situation, but..."
Peter then had an idea. "I know something that can help us." He then looked at Barry. "I need you to trust me. I need to go to New York."
Barry sped Peter across the water at lightning speed to reach his destination. When they reached a random alley in New York, Barry came to a stop with a sigh.
"Alright, so...where do we go from here?" Barry asks Peter.
"I'll handle this part alone." Peter promised Barry. "Not that I don't trust you, man, it's more they might not trust you."
Barry nodded as he pat Peter on the shoulder. "Right. Then I'll wait for your signal."
Barry flashed off and left Peter alone in the alley. He strolled off into the crowd of people and didn't seem to stand out. Peter walked down the street, where he came across the building he needed to locate someone he knew who could help them.
Nelson & Murdock
Attorneys at Law
Peter approached the door and tried to open it when he realized that the door was locked. He should have considered that as an option with the fact that it was the dead of night in New York. Peter looked left and right, knowing there was only one place he was going to find Matt now. And he wasn't going to be able to find him as Peter Parker. Yanking his shirt off, Peter was shown to be wearing the Spider-Man suit underneath.
In the dead of New York, there was a group of thugs having their first run-in with the Man Without Fear. They were running as fast as they could with three suitcases full of diamonds and jewelry. As they were running, cops were chasing them and tackled one of the robbers. The two got into a fist fight, ending with the robber smacking the cop with the suitcase. Before the robber could shoot the cop, a baton came flying and smashed the robber in the face with his baton. Then the baton returned to the darkness.
With the other two robbers, one of them was running, trying to get across a street when a car came to a stop and smashed him. He wanted to steal the car, so he demanded the driver exit the vehicle. But it ended with him being grabbed from behind and his head slammed against the roof, knocking him out.
The last robber was running, but noticed his partners had been taken out and grabbed a nearby woman from the street. Daredevil finally revealed himself because he didn't want to risk her life. "Let her go." He demanded.
The robber pointed his gun at Matt, and was preparing to fire, when a strong line of webbing latched onto the robber's gun and his face. Peter came out of nowhere as he came swinging and punched the robber in the face. The woman went off running in fear as Peter stood there with Matt.
"I had that." Matt informed him.
"Of course you did, but I needed to talk to you." Peter said as he approached Matt. "We've got a situation."
"What kind of situation?" Matt asks.
Peter knew he was going to sound crazy for saying this. "Aliens."
If Matt was surprised to hear that, he didn't show it. "Aliens?"
"Yeah, and they've been targeting high government officials." Peter tells Matt. "They already got John Diggle, a friend of mine, and we just discovered Joe West, another friend, has been an alien for some time."
"Okay, this sounds urgent." Matt commented sarcastically. "But why come for me?"
"I don't think that the Defenders are on their radar." Peter explained why he came to New York. "But we could really use your senses to help us pick out who are aliens and who aren't."
Matt nodded as he understood what he was saying. "Alright, who do we have so far?"
"Well, I've got you, and I sent Flash to Starling to try and recruit Arrow and his team." Peter told him. "We need to get the others before they do."
In Starling city, Ray Palmer was flying around in his ATOM suit, which looked like a computer he was inside. He flew around searching for something.
"This feels good, being back in the field." Ray said as he flew over a screw. "Not that this is a field, but...
"Ray, are you up for this?" Oliver asks as he was still at the Arrow Cave.
"Too late to turn back now," Ray informed Oliver. When he landed on a part of the computer, he noticed something confusing. "Huh, someone had removed the central processing unit."
"Are you sure?" Oliver asks.
"I designed the computer's CPU, so, yeah, pretty sure." Ray stated.
"Well, HIVE would only remove it if they knew..."
"You had me shrink down and fly into their secret computer lab?" Ray was starting to guess what's happening. "My night's about to get a whole lot worse, isn't it?"
Oliver then got an alert as he saw armed men approaching Ray. "You can take them." He showed no concern for his friend, seeing them as no threat to him. "They have guns. You have a super-suit. Time to start growing."
"This is gonna get a little rough." Ray sighed when he saw what he needed to do.
Aah!
Growing back to normal size, he shattered the computer he was hiding inside, unleashing a barrage of quick punches and kicks, catching the thugs off guard. With calculated precision, he flipped and spun, using his size-changing abilities to his advantage. The thugs swung wildly, unable to land a single blow on the agile hero. As the dust settled, Ray stood tall, the thugs lying defeated at his feet, the city streets once again safe.
Then out of nowhere, he was sped out of the secret hideout and was ran across all of starling city to then end up in the Arrow Cave.
"Whoa." Ray became dizzy due to the action and became a little confused. "What?" Then he recognized it was Barry who moved him. "Oh, hey, Barry."
"Barry?" Oliver was a little confused. "Not that I don't appreciate the help, but why are you in my city?"
Barry knew this was going to be hard to say. "Aliens."
"Aliens?" Ray spun around, his suit whirring as he did so. "You-you're saying aliens are coming?"
"Uh...no, they're not coming. They're already here." Barry tells him. "Lyla came to us in Central City. Not knowing who she could trust."
"Lyla?" Oliver was still confused. "What does Lyla have to do with this?"
Barry knew now was the best time to say. "Oliver, Diggle was a alien."
Oliver froze in fear when he heard his friend was an alien. "What?"
"He...killed an agent that Lyla asked him to look into, and then these other agents killed him." Barry explains. "Then he turned green skinned alien thing they call Skrulls."
"Skrulls?" Oliver tried out the name himself. "Well, what can they do?"
"As far as we know, they are aliens capable of shapeshifting." Barry broke to Oliver. "They can hide as anyone, for as long as they want, and they have been here for years."
"How do you fight an enemy who can hide as anyone?" Ray wondered.
"Well, right now, Peter's in New York collecting some friends. You got anyone else we can call on?" Barry asks Oliver.
Oliver considered the options and nodded as he knew a few that had been hiding, and there's no way they could be Skrulls. "I can find a way to get in touch with Sara. She's been off the books long enough that she might not be a Skrull."
"Well, I sent Cisco to try and get word out to Vixen." Barry told Oliver. "Haven't seen her in a while, and it seems that these Skrulls can't adapt to use our powers, only steal our faces."
"And her animal instincts might be able to help us determine who's alien and human." Oliver saw that was the right call. "Wait, how many Skrulls have you faced?"
"Just the one who turns out was hiding as Joe." Barry tells them with sorrow. "We...we don't know how long he's been a Skrull. Or if he's..."
Oliver nodded and felt sorry for his friend. "Well, what do we do now?"
"Lyla said to meet her at the DEO, anyone know where that is?" Barry asked.
"I've had a run in with them as an organization. Never figured out what they were. They're this off the book government facility. I can have Felicity locate them for us."
Barry nodded. "I should hear back from Peter by then."
But what they didn't notice was that there was a camera in the cave that was recording their whole conversation. Two Skrulls were watching the video as it unfolded and saw they were coming close to discovering their plans.
"Does the Empress know of this?" The Skrull De'Lila asks.
Dzirot nodded to his fellow Skrull. "She is aware. She is watching everything from afar. She will inform us of when our time to strike is."
"But they are getting too close." De'Lila tells Dzirot. "If they find out what we're doing-"
"Do they suspect you?" Dzirot asks her.
"No." De'Lila confirmed.
"Then you should still be safe. They won't find out what we are up to if we all play our part. Now go...we don't want them to suspect you after losing Jash to the humans." Dzirot tells her.
"Should I find where he is and eliminate him?" De'Lila asks.
"For now, let's see if he talks." Dzirot replied. "Now...leave."
De'Lila nodded as she walked away and left their hidden underground ship. When she exited the ship, she was in an elevator headed upward and began to shapeshift into her human form.
When the elevator raised upward to the area where her human home was, it was Felicity Smoak who stepped off the elevator, not De'Lila the Skrull. Hair leaving the top of her head to reach the length it was supposed to be, she slipped on her glasses so she would appear to be the real deal her friends know her as.
As she strolled home, she got a call from Oliver and answered it. "Hey, what's going on?" Then she listened to what he had to say, and acted surprised. "Diggle was what?" Then she gasped when she heard that he was an alien. "Aliens?"
(A/N) Keep in mind, that everyone who are Skrulls in this story have been pre-determined in planning. None of these are for shock value. They were strategically located amongst the humans and took their placed. As the title of the story says: trust no one...