Sorry for the wait, been busy.
I didn't realize at first, but I may have also been inspired by Stand with Ward and Queen's "Torn Between Two Timelines."
I forgot that What If Universe already had Peter's parents be spies, i just retconned it so that they were agents of Argus and decided to use the reason behind their deaths be due to everyone's favorite government agent in the DC universe that we all love to hate: Amanda Waller!
The beginning of this chapter could have been the ending of the previous one. But I decided not to because of how long the last one was. I may go back and change these two later by the time i publish more chapters.
Chapter 3
Sometime later at the West House, Peter had just finished eating a whole large pizza. Joe and Cecile stared at him.
"Sorry." Peter apologized.
"Hey, I've had to deal with Barry's big appetite for the last 7 years. This is tame by comparison." Joe replied.
"Well, that's the cost of lots of superpowers, especially ones that exert a lot of energy."
After Jenna West had already gone to bed and a few moments of an awkward silence, Cecilie breaks the ice.
"Why don't you tell Joe what we know?" Cecile asked.
""Tell Joe what?" And why didn't you bring it up back at S.T.A.R.?" Joe asked.
Peter sighs. "It's nothing life threatening or anything, just personal. Barry and Iris don't need to know."
"It's okay, trust me." Cecile told her boyfriend.
Joe sighs. "Ok." He replies before turning back to Peter.
"Where I'm from, Barry and Iris weren't married to each other after the Crisis." Peter told him.
"They got divorced?" Joe asked, knowing that a divorce between his daughter and foster son would be messy.
"No, it was just one of the changes."
"Why didn't you say anything back with the Team?"
"You saw how she reacted to Peter telling us that there was a doppelgänger of Barry dating a doppelgänger of Caitlin, it pissed her off." Cecile pointed out.
"Yeah, I think Iris is scared to lose Barry as well as Eddie."
"Same Pre-Crisis. I didn't want to risk her knowing even though…well…" Peter awkwardly tried to say.
"Just spit it out!"
"Eddie was brought back after the Crisis and married to Iris."
"Well…Iris certainly would be shocked, unless the bigger shock for her would be who Barry married."
"Yes it would, Barry married Patty."
"Spivot?" Joe asked. Peter nodded. "Oh."
While it surprised Joe a little that Barry and Patty were married on Peter's world, he wasn't too surprised. Before Barry and Iris finally started to date, Barry dating Patty was the happiest he had ever seen his son. He almost wanted them to get together if Iris was still on the fence about Barry or if he was wrong and they were never meant to be. He also wasn't surprised that Iris would be jealous that Barry's doppelgänger was married to Patty's. In the past when new Team Flash members (like H.R., Ralph, Cecile, Kamilla, Chester, Allegra, etc.) would come over to the house and find pictures of the 2015 Christmas Party and ask who the blonde woman with Barry was, Joe would notice that Iris was not happy about the reminder of Patty. It could also have been that when Iris finally decided she wanted Barry, he already moved on and dated Patty. Though now that Joe thought about it, he hadn't seen or talked to Patty since she left six years ago. But he then figured that she must have discovered that Barry married Iris and perhaps thought it would be uncomfortable to get in touch with who was now the father-in-law of her ex-boyfriend.
Later in their dining room conversation, Joe told Peter what they discovered about him and his family. It did make him sad to hear his doppelgänger died with Uncle Ben. He was also curious where May was.
"What about Frankie and Miles? Hell, where's Ralph?" Peter
"No idea who Miles was until today. Haven't seen Frankie since the whole Magenta incident, five years ago. As for Ralph, last year he and his girlfriend Sue Dearbon left to take on other criminal organizations." Joe informed him.
Peter looked depressed, curious about the fate of his daughter's doppelgänger. Though happy to hear that Ralph and Sue are together.
"But hey, maybe Chester can help you look them up tomorrow." Cecile reassures him.
Sometime after, Joe and Cecile lead Peter to Barry's old room.
"Well, the bed's made. Barry has some extra clothes that look like they could fit you. If you're still not tired, he has some old comics and books here. Try not to wake Jenna." Joe informed him.
"Ok, thanks Joe." Peter says as Joe heads into the bedroom, but Cecile stayed for a bit longer to talk to Peter. "Everything okay?"
"A couple things. When you talked about Barry's trial I couldn't help but think I could have done more for him." Cecile said.
"I didn't mean to imply that you're a bad lawyer or anything, it's just the truth."
"Okay. Though related, a year ago I had to defend Frost for everything she did working with Savitar."
"You didn't have it documented that she was undercover as an informant and that any crimes she did were discharged and that any of her victims that were on Team Flash (such as Julian, since she kidnapped him) went on record to back up her undercover work? Hell, weren't you and Joe the DA and a Police Captain after she joined the team?"
Cecile's eyes were wide. Why didn't she think to do that?
"No, I didn't."
Peter then realized that he may have inadvertently insulted her quality as a lawyer again. "Oh, sorry."
"No, it's fine. Well before I bid you goodnight, one last question."
"Sure, anything."
"Did the team really bet when Joe and I would get engaged?"
Now Peter's eyes were wide. The bet had been one of Peter's biggest and probably one of his most embarrassing secrets.
"To be fair, no one noticed that you two weren't. Most thought you got married around the time Jenna was born or during your pregnancy. It wasn't until just after the Crisis when Ralph noticed."
"Ok." She says before heading to the bedroom.
"Wait! I'll tell you what. If you don't tell Joe about the bet or even hint to him that you're not married yet, you can take part in the bet too."
"That sounds an awful lot like bribery to me." Cecile pointed out.
"Not necessarily, you could lose the bet."
Cecile raised an eyebrow to this. She wasn't a gambling addict, but she did enjoy taking part in the occasional bet.
"Ok, 20 bucks on Christmas 2023." She said with her hand extended to shake his.
"How about $20 that he proposes just after Nora is born." He says before shaking her hand.
"Deal. Well then have a good night." She says before heading to her and Joe's bedroom.
A little while later, Peter lies on top of Barry's childhood bed, looking at the ceiling.
"Tommy, Tina, Frankie, Caitlin, Crystal, and future baby Snow-Parker, I'm coming home. I promise, I'm coming home." He whispered before closing his eyes and going to sleep.
Meanwhile, in the bedroom of the West-Allen loft, Barry and Iris were getting ready for bed. Barry couldn't help but notice that Iris has a scowl on her face.
"Are you ok?" Barry asked.
"I'm not happy that "spider-guy" isn't in a cell but is free in our childhood home." Iris replied.
"Do you think he's a bad guy?"
"No, but there's something about him that I just don't like."
"Look, I love you, always will, so I know if there's something you don't like about him, I'll at least be cautious. Remember, we're the Flash, right?"
Iris smiled at that. Aside from marrying Barry, the happiest she'd ever been was when she was leading Barry and the team (it was also what she loved about starting her own newspaper). With her leadership skills and his powers, they were the Flash.
"Yeah babe, we're the Flash." She replied before giving him a peck on the lips.
"Besides, he just wants to go home. Hopefully The Legends, Deon, and/or Constantine will answer and he'll be out of our hair soon."
Three weeks later
Still no word from Constantine or the Legends. Deon did check Peter, but didn't know how to send him to another timeline and would have to figure out a way to help Peter. Meanwhile, Team Flash had have at least one person with Peter at all times. So he spent most of the time watching the others help Barry with crime. He wanted to help them as Spider-Man, but they still didn't trust him enough. Chester and Allegra were the nicest to him, knowing how hard it can be to be the new guy or even the odd one out, even inviting him into their Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Joe was nice enough, especially because Cecile trusted him. Barry wanted to trust him more, but he still had to side with Iris about trusting him. Caitlin avoided him as best as she could and Frost did still work with him in the Cortex if she had to.
Chester did indeed help him look up Frankie and Miles. Miles and his family live in Coast City. Frankie only had a stable foster family, but that changed after the metahuman bigotry she faced after all of Cicada's murders. She lives nearby in Keystone. Peter has been gathering up the courage to see her (as well as ask a member of the team to take him there).
Chester dug as deep as he could online, but found no sign of May in this world. His Defenders friends from his world were also different. While Matt was still blinded, his other senses were not improved, nor his father killed, so Stick couldn't train him. Carol Danvers was still Alex and Kara's cousin on Jeremiah's side of the family, but has never been a pilot, nor ever encountered the Kree (nor was it an alien species listed among those that Team Flash or the government knew of). Jessica and Luke were never experimented on and Danny's family plane never crashed (not even into K'un-Lun). Chester and Peter couldn't even find a digital footprint for Blade, Piotr, or even Wade.
Today, he had to return to the bar of the double date he witnessed and met Mark (O'Shaughnessy's). But he didn't come for the same reason as before, but because S.T.A.R. Labs was called to help the CCPD with a murder, which seemed to bother Chester.
"Is it that bad?" Barry asked as he walked into the crime scene.
"Well, let's just say if this were "CSI: Miami," I'd make a terrible heat pun and put on sunglasses before the intro played." Peter said.
Barry noticed that Peter seemed to joke a lot, something Ralph used to do and Barry hated that even then.
"Sorry, it's just that the fire kind of weirds me out, is all." Chester tells him before. He then clears his throat to recompose himself as best as he could. "The Vic's name is Stanley Mullen. Uh, he's the manager of this local watering hole." He says before using a device to scan the area.
"That's weird, the body's burnt through, but the ground underneath isn't even charred." Barry noticed while examining the body.
"Yeah, this was definitely a metahuman attack. Dark matter levels are off the charts."
"Well, whoever that is, they produce fire that ignores the laws of physics."
"Not sure if this is relevant, but this is where Frost's boyfriend, Mark, works and when I was still a ghost, he and Frost and Caitlin and Marcus had a double date just before I became corporeal." Peter pointed out.
"Are you trying to imply it was Mark?" Barry asked.
"No, but don't they say in Police work that there are no coincidences? Might not be relevant now, but it could be later. Like, what if this is a result of my time as a ghost."
"That wouldn't make sense, Peter. It was directed at Stanley specifically. Not to mention this is the first and hopefully only occurrence, and nothing like this has happened anywhere else you've been."
"Yet."
"Even so, why here and now? C'mon, let's keep investigating." Barry reassures him.
"Oh man, you know, this is giving me, like, "Goodbye Armageddon, but hello, Dante's Inferno," type of a vibe." Chester stated.
"I'm assuming you mean a regular vibe and not a Cisco vibe, because that would really be helpful for me."
"Sorry, Pete, just a regular vibe."
"Morning, Allen." Officer Daisy Korber greets him.
"Morning." Barry greets back.
"Runk and…new guy."
"Oh, sorry, Peter Parker." Peter greeted her.
"Find anything that can help us piece this together?"
"Uh, no. Not yet." Barry informed her. "Were there any witnesses?"
"Uh, the bartender, Donna Winters, didn't see the crime. But she said our victim got into a pretty nasty argument last night with a recently paroled ex-convict. Apparently, the guy had a bad temper." She tells them, before remembering. "Oh, and was wearing a L.I.P.S. concert T-shirt. You know, as in the rock band. I was gonna ask him some follow-up questions."
"Would it be ok if I showed her a picture of someone who could be our suspect?"
"Sure." she replied before waving Donna over. "Donna, this is CSI Barry Allen and CCPD consultants, Chester Runk and Peter Parker."
"Ms. Winters, the person you saw arguing with the victim, was this him?" Barry asks, showing a picture from a Central City Citizen news article about a paroled fire-meta.
"That's him. That's the guy." Donna confirmed.
"Jaco Birch." Korber confirmed. "I'll put out an APB. This way ma'am." She told Donna before leading her away from the crime scene.
"I remember him from when we had to deal with Melting Point." Peter said after looking at the picture.
"The Hotness did this? I thought he was all about the moolah, not cold-blooded murder." Chester asked.
"Believe me, it's possible to change like that. One of my enemies made it his life mission to dissect me, but he started out as a mentor and friend until one of his experiments drove him over the edge of his sanity. But the real question is how he killed Mullen without burning even a little bit of this place."
"Looks like we're not the only ones who leveled up this year." Barry stated.
"What?" Peter asked, confused.
"A few months ago, we had to deal with Thawne again. We added the gold boots to my costume, they help me go faster."
"Oh, ok."
Flash and the CCPD find Jaco at his place of work (security at a concert venue) and arrest him in front of his son. Seeing the desperation in Jaco's face as he pleads with them that he's not guilty reminds Barry of when his father was arrested because of Thawne. Barry now believes that Jaco is innocent and gets Cecile to be his lawyer. The evidence is not in his favor, so he escapes from CCPD to exonerate himself. Back at STAR Labs, Team Flash (Barry, Cecile, Chester, Frost, and Peter) uses their satellites to try and locate him.
"Nothing on the satellites yet." Chester tells them.
"Keep trying. We have to figure out where Birch is going before CCPD does. That's the only way we'll have a chance to prove he's innocent." Barry tells them.
"I'm sorry, are we talking about the guy who just burned his way through a CCPD transport convoy?" Frost asks.
"The fact that Birch ran away doesn't change the evidence. There's still nothing tying him to Mullen's death."
"Sure, Barry, sure, but he fleeing custody is not exactly exculpatory, and I'm saying that as his lawyer." Cecile points out.
"She's right Barr, if Jaco Birch is innocent, why run?" Chester points out.
""The Fugitive."" Peter says. Everyone looks at him confused. "The 90s movie with Harrison Ford? His character is already convicted of killing his wife, so he escapes custody to find the evidence to exonerate himself, believing nobody else will."
"Good point, Peter." Barry states. "That's what I think Birch is doing. Sometimes people don't get a fair shot from the justice system."
"Yeah, and as a former DA, I know. I know that sometimes, it's true. They don't." Cecile unfortunately agreed.
"Okay, but how do we know that Peter's theory is sound and Birch isn't the same hothead he's always been?" Frost points out. "I mean, he could be halfway across the country by now."
"No, he didn't skip town, not without his son." Barry states.
"And you know this…how?"
"I just do."
"Okay." She says, knowing she lost this argument.
It's then that the computer makes a notification beep.
"Uh, guys. Emergency dispatch is getting calls about a fire…right outside O'Shaughnessy's." Chester reiterates what his tablet says.
"What? Why would Birch go back to the scene of the crime?" Cecile asked.
"Maybe to look for any clues that we've missed." Peter points out.
"Either way, if it's him or not, I'll find out." Barry tells them.
Frost begrudgingly stands up. "I'll come with you as back up."
"I can come too." Peter points out.
"No, that won't be necessary."
"C'mon, Barry, I can be of great help out in the field if you give me a chance."
"We'll talk about this later." Barry says as he speeds himself and Frost over to the crime.
When they got there, they found Donna Winters, burnt to a crisp like Mullen. When Frost tried to freeze blast the remains of the fire, it bounced off the body like a sort of cold shield. They return to S.T.A.R. Labs to figure out what's going on. Frost makes her way to the lounge, where she meets Peter there.
"Oh, sorry, figured I'd chill here until Barry returned with the results for the second victim." Peter says.
"Is that a cold pun?" She asks.
"No. God no. Please don't hurt me." He says in exaggeration, hoping to get a chuckle out of her. He doesn't.
"Funny." She says, almost turns to leave.
"We should talk."
She sighs and turns back to him. "Fine."
"Look, I get it, it's fucking awkward. You and Caitlin have both started new relationships, when BAM! Your husband from another universe or timeline shows up."
"It is. Can I ask you something?"
"Shoot."
"When you were a ghost, tethered to either me or Caity, did you ever watch us get changed, bathe, or when I had sex with-"
"LA LA LA LA! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT!" He yells while putting his fingers in his ears.
"Ok, that rules out sex. But what about changing and bathing?"
"Though tempting as it was, you two were not my wives, so I didn't. Look, I'm sure Iris has still convinced you all I'm not to be trusted."
"Yeah, who am I to argue with the West-Allens: the perfect couple."
Shortly after saying that, Peter burst into a fit of laughter.
"Oh that was a good burn!"
"I'm not joking, I really think that-" He laughs again. "What?"
"I'm sorry, but they are not. In fact, they're very toxic. I mean she doesn't respect him, she bulldozered her way onto leading the team-"
"Well she's been doing that a lot less lately, with the Central City Citizen taking up a lot of her time."
"Well, that's all right then! But still, she's selfish, she made Barry saving everyone by going into the Speedforce all about her, and she's the only person I know who was a friend or family of Barry's who reacted to his secret identity in anger (not to brag, but none of my friends or family reacted in anger to my secret identity)."
"Is that why you're really here? To break them up?"
"God no. Barry has been obsessed with her for decades. If I thought I could have split them up by telling them to do so, I would have. But my Barry didn't see her flaws back then. It took the Crisis to rewrite the multiverse and magically divorce them."
"You didn't tell us that a few weeks ago."
"Like I said, they're obsessed with each other. To her, he's the kind, handsome, superhero that a future newspaper reassured her that she'd get married to and to him, she was his childhood crush, the girl who held him after his mother was murdered and father falsely arrested, the Flash's first fan, his perfect angel." He told her in disgust. "How would they react to discover that post-crisis, my Barry wound up married to Patty Spivot and Iris to a post-crisis resurrected Eddie Thawne?"
This surprised Frost. She did have some of Caitlin's memories of Patty and Eddie and they were mostly positive. As much as she liked Barry and Iris as a couple, she admits they might have been just as happy (maybe even happier) with Patty and Eddie.
"Sorry, just the topic of Iris West can set me off if I'm not careful." Peter apologized.
"It's ok." Frost replied.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Um, ok."
"Did you…really like going on all those extreme dates with Mark? Even skydiving?"
"Especially skydiving. Why?" She replied.
"It's just…I never really did anything like that with my Frost."
"Really? Why not?"
"Well, to surmise, after you joined the team, it was mostly fighting crime, the Devoes, the Cicadas, Reverse-Flash again, the Crisis, Battleworld, sparing, and sex."
"Hey, nothing wrong with sex, well except what it can lead to-"
""Kids, smoking, a desire to raid the fridge."" He joked in his best Sylvester Stallone impression. He then went back to being serious after Frost raised an eyebrow to his comment. "Sorry, my Cisco recently left, so I've made it a habit of referencing movies in his honor. Anyway, after the kids were born, you were basically their aunt/half mother, then you and Caitlin separated, we went on a Valentine's date that got interrupted by Amunet Black, we had valentines sex that lead to you getting pregnant, we started preparing until I was kidnapped and here we are."
"Look, I don't know if your Frost is anything like me-" she replied, trying to be sympathetic.
"From what I've seen, you're a lot like her. It's why I'm doubting if I did good by her or if I should treat her more like how Mark treated you."
"Don't get me wrong, I hated how he treated me when we first met and messed with my emotions. Have you ever done that to her?"
"Savitar got her to join him by tricking her that I didn't care. Later, after they separated I was confused how to be with her and Caitlin, especially since I started dating her after we defeated Zoom, I didn't know you until a few months later. My confusion about you and her benign two people made her doubt if I had feelings for her during our Valentines date"
"Did you ever apologize? Does she know you love her?"
"Oh, yes." He replied. "To both."
"Then I'm sure you can talk to her about what she wants."
"Thanks, Frost."
"You just unloaded a lot of emotional baggage just now."
"Because, I'm not your enemy. I'm not that asshole Zoom or that idiot Thawne. This is me." He says as he pats his chest. "This is Peter Parker, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. I just want to get home to my family, but until then, I will live up to the family motto, "With great power, comes great responsibility." I'd like to help this city and this team as Spider-Man. But until Barry says I can, I'll help on the monitors as Peter Parker."
She certainly started to look at Peter differently. Not romantically, she still loved Mark (though she did admit that she found Peter attractive). She was starting to think that Iris' mistrust was unfounded and that Peter really was a good person and a hero.
"What did you mean earlier by "especially skydiving?"" She asked out of curiosity.
"Well, I often travel the city by using my web shooters to create web lines to help me swing around like Tarzan. Often to get momentum, I dive off tall buildings. I've even taken my Caitlin and Frost on rides throughout the city."
"So you're saying that your web swinging is the equivalent to skydiving?"
"Mmmmmmaybe even better. I mean, skydivers open their parachutes between 3,000-5,000 feet to the ground. I've shot a web line while free falling from a skyscraper around 500 feet to about 10-20 feet from the ground." He bragged.
"Ok, tell you what, the sooner you get your web shooters back, you take me web swinging so I can compare."
"It's a deal."
Shortly after, Chester and Cecile join them.
"Everything all right?" Frost asked them.
"Didn't you get the text? Barry wants to meet us here to go over the results about Donna Winters." Chester told them.
"Why here in the lounge? Why not the cortex?"
"I don't know why?"
"Uh, just find it odd. Then again, the couches here are more comfy than the swivel chairs there." Peter replied as he sat down on one of the couches. "I can see why Joe liked to nap here."
A few minutes later, Barry returned with a file.
"I got the tomography reports from the crime lab. Donna Winters, the bartender who died? The thermal lesions on her body match the marks on Stan Mullen's body exactly. Too exactly." Barry tells them as he puts the report on the coffee table. "I mean, there's no pyrokinetic meta who could replicate burns like that even if they tried. I-I-I told you something about Birch's case just wasn't adding up."
"Barr, we're the ones who told Birch that Donna blamed him for the first murder, and now Donna is dead. She's dead!" Cecile reiterates. "You've got to see how that looks, right?"
"I didn't, Cecile. For all we know, there is a real murder who either killed Donna out of coincidence (maybe the killer really hates the employees of O'Shaughnessy's) or they want to frame Birch." Peter points out.
"But more often than not in cases, there's no such thing as coincidence and it is the guy we first suspected. I trust that you're a good person, Peter. But are you trying to earn brownie points with Barry by siding with him?"
"I don't think he's wrong about Birch and I wouldn't lie about something like this just to get him to like me." He tells Cecile. "I remember facing Birch back during the whole Melting Point situation. My senses could tell the power he used then and what happened to Mullen's body were completely different. So, yes, I trust Barry about this."
"Thanks Peter." Barry replied. "The facts are still on Brich's side. Neither crime scene has any direct evidence tying him to it. No DNA, no fingerprints, no witnesses-"
"That are still alive." Frost points out.
"Barry, Peter, you gotta admit Birch has motive…and the more emotional he gets, the stronger his powers are. Like, you know, earth-shattering." Chester points out.
"Thank goodness he wasn't in a bad mood today." Frost quipped.
"That doesn't make him a killer." Barry replied, a little exasperated that he still hasn't won this argument.
"Okay, look, we know that you're just trying to do the right thing here." Cecile tells him. "We do, but Barry, we can't help but wonder if just maybe you're not thinking clearly about this case."
"Oh, so that's it. You-you've already decided you're giving up on him."
"We're just looking at the facts, man." Chester tells him.
"So am I. The two exact fire signatures makes me think Birch is not our guy. Chester, could you please at least take a look at this, and see what you can find?"
Chester gives him the benefit of the doubt and agrees to at least find evidence that could help Birch. "Yeah, okay."
"Look, I know that you all thought Birch was guilty from the start-"
"No, we haven't, that's not true." Cecile tries to explain. "Each of us have been trying to help him from the beginning. But then Birch ran off."
"Again, I think he's trying to solve the case himself since he believes that the law has already declared him guilty." Peter argues.
"And he was just trying to protect his son." Barry argued. "I mean, what about other suspects?"
"There are none." Frost points out.
""Yet," we don't know yet if that is or isn't the case." Peter replies.
"Both victims worked at O'Shaughnessy's. Maybe they owed money or pissed off the wrong person." Barry continued to argue. "I get Birch is a known fire meta and ex-con. And like Peter said earlier, that also makes him the perfect fall guy."
"Okay, now you think he's being framed?" Cecile asked.
""Now?" "NOW?" He's made it obvious that he thinks that Birch isn't the killer. Of course he thinks it's someone else! I've been saying for hours that he could have been framed and Barry has just said that agrees with me on that!" Peter tells her.
"Yes I have. It could be possible!" Barry also tells her.
"Look, Birch is the freaking Hotness and a bad guy." Frost points out.
"THIS COMING FROM THE GIRLFRIEND OF CHILLBLAINE?!" Peter yells.
Frost then looks at him in anger. "What's that supposed to mean?!"
"I was at O'Shaughnessy's during your double date. I heard you say he apologized for all the bad things he did to you and the crimes he's done. If you can believe that he's changed, then why is Birch any different?" Peter argued. "I'm surprised you're not more sympathetic considering you were framed (by him) last year."
Barry tries to make sure that the two don't fight. "Ok, Peter, a little uncalled for. But, sorry Frost, he has a point. You feel that Mark changed and I feel that Birch has changed."
"It still seems impossible to me." Frost points out.
"Is this your first month on Team Flash or mine?" Peter asked, wondering why they're so rigid on this subject. "'Cause this is coming from a woman with cryogenic powers, who used to be a second personality from another woman, arguing with a guy who can do almost anything a spider can and another guy who is so fast, he can travel through time and has messed with the past, which may or may not have created you. Not to mention this team has dealt with things in the last seven years that were once considered concepts of both science fiction and fantasy fiction. To quote Shakespeare, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." "Impossible?" That's Barry Allen fucking middle name…aside from Henry."
"He's right…again." Barry tells them. "It does seem impossible, 'cause if anyone had thought that when I was a kid, my dad wouldn't have gone to jail."
"Barry…Barry, honey. Look, we're sorry. We-we-we weren't thinking." Cecile stammerly apologized.
Oh, now they get it! Peter thought sarcastically.
"Look, here's the deal. I believe Birch is innocent. So with or without your help, I'm gonna do everything within my power to clear his name." Barry replies before speeding out of there.
"So, his judgment is compromised because of his dad?" Frost bitterly muttered.
But Peter heard her. "Maybe, but that doesn't mean he's wrong…or that I am." He tells her before leaving the room.
After the meeting, Cecile asked Joe to talk with Barry. It turns out part of the reason he was very adamant about Birch's innocence wasn't just because of the similar situation his father was in, but today just so happened to be Henry Allen's birthday and he was already on Barry's mind today. A few minutes ago, Chester and Peter discovered something.
"Chester, Peter, what'd you find?" Barry asked as he sped into the cortex.
"You were right." Frost apologized.
"Yeah, check this out." Chester agrees as he shows Barry science data on the monitor. "So, Peter and I cross-referenced the heat signature from O'Shaughnessy's to the one in the alleyway from the second victim like you asked. Guess what I found." He says before pushing a button on his keyboard to reveal some more science data. "Both signatures produced an anomalous heat effect created by non-composites reacting to hydrogen isotopes…nuclear fusion."
"Or more accurately, cold fusion." Peter said.
"But, Birch's powers come from absorbing heat, not nuclear fusion. Meaning-" Barry realized.
"He's innocent." Chester admitted.
"Don't you dare say "I told you so!"" Frost said to Peter, who then nodded in agreement and then mimed zipping his mouth shut to appease her.
"We get this data to CCPD, you can clear his name."
"Okay, Chester, put everything you have on a drive. I need to get this to Captain Kramer fast. I need to find Birch." Barry replied and Chester complied with his request.
"Let's just hope he doesn't do anything else stupid before we can clear his name." Frost pointed out.
"He's going Harrison Ford on the situation, of course he is. Bet you box of donuts that we'll get an alert regarding him in less than ten minutes." Peter replied.
"YOU KNOW?!"
"Know what?"
"You don't know?"
"I am completely lost. How did my wager come to this confusion in the conversation?"
"Nevermind. But as much as I love donuts, you don't have any money to pay for it if you lose."
"Actually, Peter, you've done a lot of good these past few weeks. How about you work here until you get back home. I'll even give you back pay for everything you did this past month." Barry told Peter.
"Thanks, Barry." He thanked, before turning to Frost. "Nine minutes now, deal?" He says, offering his hand.
"Deal." She replied, shaking her hand.
Seven minutes later, the crime alert rings.
"CCPD scanners have Birch at Hastings Avenue and Nicola Lane." Chester tells him as he hands Barry the drive he finished with the evidence.
"Damnit." Frost muttered, having lost the bet.
"Oh, man. Satellites just picked up a city vehicle at the exact same spot, it's a social services SUV."
"He's trying to get his son." Barry realized.
"Barry, CCPD still doesn't know that Birch is innocent. If he tries to take his kid by force-" Frost points out.
"We have to stop him…all three of us. Before he does something he'll regret."
"Wait did you just say-" Peter asks.
Barry then speeds out and back in again with the Spider-Man suit and web shooters. "I upgraded a few months ago, maybe Team Flash should too. It's time Central City was introduced to Spider-Man."
"Barry, are you sure about this?" Frost asked.
"I know he got you angry with that argument earlier, but has he said or done anything yet to make you doubt he's a hero?"
Barry was right, while he did insult her earlier, though he was right about it. "Yes, he's a hero."
"Then let's suit up." Barry proclaimed, before unlocking Peter's bracelet, took it off his wrist, and then sped dressed the three of them in their respective suits and sped them to Birch the SUV. As they get there, Birch is about to throw a flame blast at Officer Korber and a social worker, trying to reunite with his son, Harold. But, Barry puts out the fire by spinning his arms to create wind tunnels to blow them out.
"Who the hell's the new guy?" Birch asked.
"Hi, I'm Spider-Man." Peter replies, waving at him.
"And why do they call you that?"
"Well, for starters…" he says before shooting webs at Birch's fists. "Insulation webbing, and that's just one of many types I can shoot. But this one will prevent you from trying to shoot fire at us, at least for a while so we can talk. We can prove that you're innocent, you didn't kill anyone."
"He's right, your lawyer found evidence to prove that you're innocent. But you have to stop what you're doing before anyone gets hurt." Barry told him. Then turns to Korber, who agrees and lowers her pulse rifle. Just then, the ground starts to quake.
"Oh, come on!" Frost complains.
"I'm not doing anything." Birch explains.
"It's not what you're doing. It's what you already did." Barry realizes. He then turns back to Korber and shouts, "Officer, get them to safety!"
They comply with the Flash's request, just before a geyser of lava comes out of a manhole and pushes the cover and car it was on top of into the sky. The car hits the ground. The lava almost hits Peter and Frost, but Barry speeds them to safety
"Thanks for the save!" Frost said gratefully.
"Yeah, thanks, Speedy Gonzalez." Peter said.
The lava that fell starts to melt the ground it was on and goes back underground.
"Birch, your heat abilities, they're connected to the Earth beneath wherever you're standing." Barry tells him.
"Uh, yeah, science is not my strong suit. But yeah, okay. I'll buy that for a dollar." He replied.
"Dude, did you just reference "RoboCop?"" Peter jokingly asked. Everyone looked at him like he's crazy. "Ok, not the time and place. But, Flash means it's connected to your emotions."
"Ooh…right."
Barry then puts a hand to his ear to talk on coms. "Chester, can you scan for thermal activity below us?"
He should really give Chester or just the monitor people code names so no one realizes that Chester is connected to us and could discover our identities. Peter thought. Like Overwatch for Felicity or Oracle for Barbara.
"Yeah, yeah." Chester replied, before exclaiming, "Merry Mac Gibson Jr.! Kay, there's a volcano's worth of magma erupting beneath the city's lower crust. When Birch was upset, he must've absorbed so much heat from the planet's core that he opened up a lava channel. Flash, if you can't stop this in the next 30 seconds, Central City's gonna turn into Mount Doom."
So Chester really is a Cisco stand-in. Peter thought.
More cracks of lava start to spew near them, but Frost sends freeze blasts to cool them.
"Officer, get them back!" Barry tells Korber, before another crack heads towards Korber, Harold, and the social worker, they comply and run further away.
"Flash, you gotta do something." Birch tells him, scared for his son's safety. "I know this is all my fault. You and everyone in this city, my son, he can't die because of me. You gotta save him."
"No, you have to save him. Look, I got an idea. If it works, there's gonna be a huge release of pressure forming beneath us. When that happens, I need you to absorb the remaining heat."
"I've never done anything like that before." Birch stated, nervously.
"You can do this, I know you can." Barry assured him.
"Hey, ten seconds. Time to ride or die, people." Chester told them over the coms.
The ground starts to rumble more than before. Birch looks at his son, giving him the confidence he needs.
"Let's rock." Birch tells the Flash, the. Turns to Spider-Man. "Gonna need my hands back."
Peter then, presses a button on his web shooters, and then shoots web dissolve on Birch's hands. Barry then phases underground.
"Where'd he go?" Frost asked.
"I'm guessing he's gonna use his speed to get all the heat to come up from this spot so the Birch can absorb it. Perhaps cooling the lava with the water table under the city, but all that steam needs to go somewhere." Peter theorized.
"That could be the case, I'm detecting new activity right under the surface, 50 meters down." Chester tells them. "No, no, wait. 90 meters down. 110 meters. 120 meters. Whoa, you're right, Peter. Flash is doing his thing underground. Get ready."
A hole before Birch appears, causing a lot of steam to escape. Birch steps forward towards the hole and starts to absorb the heat into his mouth until it's all gone.
"Yes! Yes. Yes!"
"You don't see that everyday." Frost points out in disbelief.
"Honestly, I don't know why anyone would still be a skeptic in this city after all these years." Peter states.
Flash soon speeds back to them in one piece, but still a little winded.
"I-" he starts to say.
"Yeah, Spidey just told us. Water under the city to cool the lava, but there would still be steam that Birch had to absorb." Frost tells him.
"Yeah, otherwise everyone within it's ten block radius-"
"-Would have been fried like a bananas foster in the French Quarter." Frost states.
The specific dessert causes Peter to tilt his head at that. "That's oddly specific."
"Mark and I are goin' to Mardi Gras next year."
A good thing about being able to wear a mask that covers his whole face, Peter can hide his eye roll to that sentence.
"Wait, so saving hundreds of lives-" Birch asks.
"Try thousands." Barry corrects him
"Saving that many lives is what I just did?"
"Pretty cool, huh?" Peter replies.
"Looks like you're the father Harold deserves after all." Barry tells him
Harold is proud of his father for saving everyone with his powers and embraces Birch in a hug.
The evidence Team Flash found did exonerate Birch, who got custody back of Harold, who chose him anyway since he was almost 18 and the judge let him decide. That night, on the front porch of the West house, Barry, Iris, Joe, Cecile, and even Peter drank light beer in honor of Henry's birthday.
"Shouldn't we be toasting with champagne?" Cecile asked.
"Mm-mm. Plain old light beer. That was Henry's favorite." Joe explained. "I used to give him hell about it. I'd say, "You're a doctor, you should have better taste," and he'd laugh, and he'd say, "Oh, I'll drink something more expensive when you buy it.""
Everyone chuckles at that, even Peter. Tina McGee left Peter Mercury Labs just before Henry's death. He always wondered if he had known this then and if Zoom never killed them, would he have bought Henry some expensive alcohol, like scotch or something. Though Joe teasing Peter see where Iris got her teasing of smarter friends from.
"Do you guys remember when Henry filled in on Dad's softball team?" Iris reminisced.
"Oh, my gosh. What a disaster." Joe remembers in embarrassment for his late friend.
"What? What happened?" Cecile asked.
"Well, even as a kid, I knew that you're not supposed to catch a ball with your face." Iris told her, Joe and Barry laughed, Peter pretended to smile.
Peter had heard this story before from Barry, but coming from Iris, it just sounded like, "the nerd had a sports injury. As a jock I find that funny." It again reminded Peter of hearing Iris' response to Barry's enthusiasm for the Particle Accelerator with, "you need a girlfriend."
"Oh, no! No, really?"
"Yep, right in the nose."
"Good thing, as a doctor, he was able to reset himself." Joe said.
""Physician, heal thyself."" Peter quoted.
All the talk about his father got Barry lost in thought.
"Hey, babe, you okay?" Iris asked her husband.
"Yeah, no, it's-it's just nice to hear everybody remember him this way." Barry replied, with bittersweet happiness.
"What do you remember the most?" Cecile asked.
"Oh, the little things mostly." He replied before letting out a chuckle. "Uh, he never made me clean my plate at dinner, even when all I'd eat were carbs, like mac and cheese or those Hawaiian dinner rolls."
"How dare you not eat your veggies, young man. You're grounded, mister." Peter joked. Everyone (though Iris tried to deny it) laughed at his joke.
"Anyway, I kept asking him to read me the same bedtime story over and over. It was the one about the hippo who went to school and made cookies for everyone and then became their friends. I can see how ridiculous that must have been now."
"I'm sure he enjoyed it." Peter replied, remembering when Uncle Ben would read him books like "Corduroy" and "The Bionic Bunny Show" after his parents death.
"Thanks. Mostly, I just remember being loved. I still miss…everyday." Barry said with melancholy.
"And that is okay." Cecile assured him.
"Yeah." He agreed, before grabbing his beer and raising it in a toast. "Well, um, happy birthday, Dad."
Everyone else did the same and clinked their cans together before taking a sip.
"Okay, can we now discuss the elephant in the room…or well, on the porch." Iris asked, pointing at Peter.
"Iris, he's been a great help and even helped us with Birch." Barry stated.
"Really? I feel like a hindrance. If I hadn't webbed his hands, you could have helped him a lot sooner."
"You did the right thing, you had no way of knowing what could have happened next. Plus, you had my back when I believed he was innocent."
"I still feel off about you." Iris stated
"Iris, I get it. Hell, I wasn't exactly buds with your doppelgänger either. But we are on the side of justice, so we'll have to tolerate each other." Peter stated.
"Ok, though a little awkward that you're celebrating Henry's life with us."
"Well, like Caitlin and Cisco, I just knew him after Barry saved him from the Trickster and the few times I met him after his release. He seemed like a nice guy. I think he and Aunt May liked each other. I wonder if there was a universe or something where we could have been step-cousins." The two men chuckled at that.
"Can I ask you something?" Barry asked.
"Sure."
"Why did you believe me about Birch when the others didn't?"
"Well, I already figured by then it was related to Henry, especially because I already knew today was his birthday. But like I said before, I knew you weren't lying when you saw him get arrested."
"How'd you know about his birthday? Did my doppelgänger tell you?"
"Sort of, it's a bit of a story."
"C'mon tell us." He said encouragingly to Peter.
"Well…it was a few days before my wedding to Caitlin (and technically, to Frost too), I went to the pipeline to have a bit of a cry because it just hit me out of nowhere: Uncle Ben's never got to live to see me get married, he didn't even get to meet Caitlin. Yeah I know, I already said that his death was why I moved to Central and got to meet her, but still. It even occurred to me that it had been years since I last visited his grave. I told your doppelgänger when he came to check up on me and we swapped stories about Ben and Henry. He even offered to take me to New York as a second bachelor party to cheer me up. We went to his grave where we discovered…Ben and Henry share the same birthday."
Everyone looked at him with surprise. Barry then looked at him with sympathy, now knowing that he made the right decision by giving Peter more freedom, as he was staring at a fellow soul who has lost parents and guardians in his life like Barry and like Barry, he became a good person and hero in spite of that.
"After that, I introduced him to the best pizza in the world, Eddie's Pizza. Then we saw "Beetlejuice: The Musical" and then spent the night drinking a six pack of light beer, telling more stories about Henry and Ben while we sat on the eagle statues of the Chrysler Building." Peter continued. "Of course, with either of our metabolisms, not even fifty of these do anything to us." He said as he slightly rattled his beer can to illustrate his point.
"Ok, I know New Yorkers think they have the best pizza-" Joe said, confidently.
"Joe, I've tried every pizza place in Central City and a few in Coast City, National, Metropolis, and Gotham, Eddie's Pizza in New York is the best."
After hearing that, Barry sped away and back with a couple boxes of Eddie's Pizza.
"You didn't-" Peter asked.
"It's your uncle's birthday too." He replied before handing his family a slice each, before handing one to Peter and then grabbing one himself.
"Well then, here's to my uncle, Benjamin Franklin Parker."
They all look at him with surprise.
"He's named after Ben Franklin?" Iris asked, in an almost teasing tone.
"Hey, my grandparents were immigrants and damn proud that their children were first generation Americans." He defended.
"It's a good name, Peter." Barry assured him.
"I bet with a name like that, he encouraged your love of science." Cecile said.
"Yes, he did." Peter replied. Joe and Iris looked a little guilty and each took a sip of beer in unison (though they both didn't realize they were).
"Tell us something about him." Barry asked.
"Well, he was a big fan of the New York Mets."
"Boo!" Joe said jokingly.
"Yeah, yeah, I know you support the Central City Diamonds." He replied, knowing Joe was jesting.
"Damn right." Joe replied with pride.
"Yeah, well go back to Jersey, you mook!" Peter replied, imitating a stereotypical New York accent in jest. Everyone laughed, except Iris who was mostly confused.
"What?" Joe asked, more happy than insulted.
"It's what he'd always say to people who insulted him or the Mets. He'd take me to games when he could afford to or if a buddy of his at the NYPD would give us comp tickets. I used to get annoyed because I wasn't a sports fan. But he got me to root for them and made them a life lesson. Sometimes it's okay to lose every once in a while, it makes winning all the sweeter."
Barry and Joe nodded, it was good advice.
"I think they won the world series around 2004." Joe said.
"Yeah, we spent the day watching it. It was a great day." He said before getting a little somber. "A few days later, the burglary that he was shot at happened."
"I'm sorry." Barry said.
"It's okay. The world series was still a great day."
Barry raised his slice of pizza. "To Benjamin Franklin Parker."
Peter smiled at Barry's niceness and joined the others, they raised their slices, toasting his uncle. They then each took a bite of their pizzas.
"Damn, you're right. Best pizza I've ever had." Joe admitted. Everyone nodded in agreement. Even Iris, much to her chagrin.
"Told ya." Peter said.
"So, your main flaw is that you're a Mets fan." Joe jested.
"Well, not as big as Jimmy Fallon's character was for the Red Sox in "Fever Pitch," but a decent enough fan."
"Did my doppelgänger ever invite you over when they played the Diamonds?"
"All the time."
"Oh, it's on, next baseball season!"
The next day, Barry takes down Birch's photo from a crime board in the cortex he made about the murders.
"So if Birch didn't kill those two, who did?" Frost asked.
"I've checked every fire-based meta-human in here." Chester said, carrying Cisco's "Who's who" binder and Crisis changes. "Everyone's either still at Iron Heights or alibi'd up. So, what do we do now?"
"It could be a new threat." Peter pointed out.
"I know what Joe would say. "No suspects? Then shift your focus to where it matters: the victims."" Barry stated.
"But Stan and Donna were different ages, races and genders." Chester pointed out, before realizing. "But they both worked at O'Shaughnessy's."
"So the killer's a disgruntled employee?" Frost pointed out, finding the idea ridiculous.
"Or a disgruntled customer. Perhaps someone who used to be a regular, until something happened to make him or her kill two employees." Peter pointed out.
"Or they were chosen at random, and we're still missing something." Barry said. He then looked at the board for a while and realized something, which Frost noticed.
"What are you thinking?" She asked.
"Chester, Peter, the cold fusion data we pulled off the bodies…could you program those variables into the satellites?"
"Sure, what are we looking for?" Chester asked.
"More victims."
"You think there are more that the police haven't been notified to?" Peter asked.
"If there's a meta serial killer out there, we need to find them…before somebody else gets hurt."
Several hours and nothing from the satellite. Barry had to go back to CCPD to do some CSI paperwork. At one point, Frost went to the lounge for a drink. Peter soon entered.
"Can we talk?" He asked. She was silent. "Look, I'm sorry I insulted you and Mark. But you were being a hypocrite when it came to Birch's case."
She then took a big sigh. "You're right, I was unfair to him. It's just…when we first dealt with him, it was during when we dealt with Devoe."
He nods. "I remember. It was a few weeks before…" he realizes, "...before Devoe trapped you in Caitlin's head."
"I hated him for that. I try not to think of him or that time."
"I get it, but there is a reason for the saying, "those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it." It's why you all were cautious of me because of everything you've all dealt with with Thawne and Zoom."
"Yeah, I owe Barry and Birch a big apology."
"Speaking of apologies, let me make it up to you for yesterday. Barry gave me my suit and web shooters back and I promised to take you web swinging."
Frost raised an eyebrow at this. She was tempted to see if his claims were real. But she does worry about what this could lead to. She was pretty close to leaving Caity's life for Mark because she loved him. But ever since she met Peter, her feelings about Mark have been murky and unsure. But at the very least, she can't say no to an adrenaline rush.
"Ok, Spider, show me what you got."
Frost looked down from the top of the Mercury Labs building that Peter brought her up to. Peter was changing into his Spider-Man suit behind some air-conditioning unit. She was starting to regret her decision.
"Are you sure this is safe?" She asked.
"As long as you keep your arms around me. Besides, I thought you liked the hint of danger." He replied, now suited up, wearing a backpack with his clothes inside.
"Yes, it's just…"
"What? You fell from a greater height than this."
"Exactly!" She yelled.
"Don't worry, I have never lost anyone I ever swung with." He reassured her. "Now, put your arms around my neck." She complies. "And I'm going to put my left arm around your waist." He does so. "Now, you can either run and jump with me to the edge or you pick your legs up and I do it myself."
She sighs. "Might as well jump."
He chuckles at her Van Halen reference. "Ok, on the count of three and I mean three, I hate that cliche of people arguing when to start. Ok?"
"Ok, one…two…THREE!"
The two then run and jump off the edge of the building. Then free fall for a bit. Frost yells, more scared than anything she has ever done, scared that she's going to die as a pancake as the ground gets closer and closer. Around fifteen feet from the ground, Peter finally shoots a web line and swings them to safety. As he continues to swing, Frost has now become less scared and starts to enjoy the wind on her face and through her hair. She even starts laughing.
At one point without noticing, they pass by Mark's car. He had previously told Frost that he was working late today at O'Shaughnessy's, but due to Stanley and Donna's deaths, the bar was going to be closed for a while. So he decided to go and surprise his girlfriend. He sees a man in red and black, with a woman with white hair swinging by the car. Frost had told him about Peter, but he wasn't sure if it was him. But he couldn't shake the coincidence that this guy was swinging with a woman with white hair. All in all, he had a bad feeling about this.
Peter and Frost then finished their swing, landing on the roof of Jitters.
"Wow! Just…Wow!" She said with joy.
"Fun, huh." Peter pointed out, taking off his mask to catch his breath. "So, verdict?"
"Definitely more fun and dangerous than skydiving." She replied. "Thank you."
He took a bow. "My pleasure."
The two looked at each for a while, longer than either realized. They start to lean closer to each other. But soon they realize what they're doing.
"We can't do this." They said in unison. Both then realize what the other said.
"Look," Peter said before she could, "I like you, you're a lot like my Frost. But that's just it, you're not my Frost. This would be unfair to her and Caitlin."
"I get it, you miss them. But I'm not either of them." She replied.
"It's also not fair to Mark. I saw how much you love him and he loves you that night at O'Shaughnessy's."
"You're right, we only started dating a few months ago. This would have been a mistake. It's just the adrenaline getting to us."
"Yeah."
They stay quiet for a while.
"You know, I owe you a box of donuts from our bet yesterday." She points out.
"You don't have to."
"Hey, I don't welsh on bets."
"Fine, you want to head downstairs and get some cronuts?"
"Actually, there's a really good Donut place in Keystone."
"Seriously? Even if you don't want Jitters, there's a Krispy Kreme two minutes away."
"Trust me it's worth it."
"There aren't really any good swinging points between Central and Keystone."
"I can call for an Uber."
He sighed. "Fine, just let me get dressed." He replied as he took off his backpack and started taking out clothes to put over his suit.
A few minutes later, they arrive at a donut shop in Keystone City.
""MM Good Donut Shop." With a name like that, the donuts had better be worth the journey." Peter remarked as he saw the sign for the store.
"Trust me, you'll be glad we came here." She said as they started to enter the empty shop.
"Just a sec!" Said the voice of a familiar female voice from the back room behind the counter.
Peter wasn't sure why until said female came out the door of the room. Peter looked at her with wide eyes. It was Frankie!
"Frost! Good to see you again. Who's this? You and Mark break up?" Frankie jested.
"No, this is my friend, Peter Parker." Frost told her.
"Hello, Peter." She said with one hand extended to shake his and the other on her stomach…her pregnant stomach.
A/N: Dun dun DUN! What a twist! Yep, Frankie's back (though I'm assuming What If Universe did it in his story and I agree with him, because her actress, Joey King, had become more famous after her episode on the Flash ("Bullet Train" being one of my favorites")). Why is she pregnant? Well I'll tell you next time, but will it be the truth? Like I've said at the end of "Four Peters Vs the Sinister Six." This is Earth-1, but now things are different. But there is a reason that she's pregnant.
For any baseball fans (I'm not, sorry, but don't begrudge anyone for being one), it was the Boston Red Sox who won the world series in 2004, not the Mets. But I changed it for this universe.
Not dissing super fans of baseball either. God knows I have too many action figures in my room.
Captain Marvel aka Carol Danvers being related to Kara and Alex Danvers is a reference to Thunderstrike16's stories where the MCU and the Supergirl universe are in the same universe. In them, she's their aunt (Jeremiah Danvers' sister), but since she went to Midtown High School with Peter, Flash Thompson, and Jessica Jones in What If Universe's origin story, I retconned it that Carol is Kara and Alex's cousin.
With Caitlin missing for over two episodes, I wanted Frost to start to like Peter and cause a kink in her relationship with Mark, especially how terrible their relationship is. Also wanted Peter to doubt his relationships with how different Mark and Marcus treat them on the show.
I don't know what the writers were thinking when they were writing Frost this episode. I get that they wanted Team Flash to be against Barry and Birch, but all of them (even Frost who was in a similar situation last season) are adamant that he escaped custody equals he's guilty. Barry brings up when Frost was framed, but no one thinks he could have ran to exonerate himself. It definitely makes the team look pretty stupid.
MM Good Donut Shop is a fictional donut shop in the DC universe, but it's in Gotham City, so I've made it a chain, like Jitters and Big Belly Burger.