Here we go again. A much longer chapter today. I hope you all enjoy. It's been a pretty slow week actually. Much slower than the others. How are you all liking this season so far?
Disclaimer: I have no rights to The Flash for the simple reason because I cannot.
With the destruction of STAR Labs, everyone was in a state of disarray. Caitlin had holed herself up with her mother. As the owner of STAR, she usually would have been required to go through several legalities and explanations of what happened. Instead she had relegated those responsibilities to Cisco. He had previous experience and for anything extremely important, she would just scribble her name on a bunch of documents and hand them over.
Cisco was glad he was keeping busy. It kept his mind off of what happened. Now that all four Forces were walking among them, a new era would begin.
"The Era!" Cisco shouted at a very inconvenient moment. He was in a meeting with several important officials, shareholders, investors, etc. Everybody paused and looked at their temporary CEO with raised eyebrows.
Cisco coughed awkwardly and sunk into his seat. "Carry on." he silently pleaded for them to ignore what just happened. That wasn't very dignified. Honestly, the only thing he needed to do was sit quietly and nod at the right moments. He could review the information later.
But that encouraged daydreaming, which is what led to his outburst. The name, The Era, fits perfectly with the rest of them. The Flash, The Brawn, The Occult, and now The Era. That was a keeper. Definitely. He'd propose it to Deon when they eventually freed him. Priorities.
Julian had buried himself in work. If he wasn't spending most of his days at CCPD, he was running through virtual simulations in the hangar where they had set up base in the meantime.
Joe was getting ready to take over as chief. Singh had formally announced his retirement and his intention to promote Joe to take his place. The biggest change was that he was practically the primary caregiver to his granddaughter, Ramona. Carla would have loved to take in both her daughter and granddaughter, but she was already struggling to get one to eat. She didn't think she'd be up to two.
Joe and his girlfriend Cecile had basically moved into the Allen mansion, at least for the time being until Caitlin felt up to taking on some more responsibilities.
Caitlin still cried everytime a car passed by, making a rumbling noise that sounded like thunder. Whether it was because it reminded her of Barry or the thing that took him away, they weren't sure, and they didn't think it mattered much. Caitlin was upset, that was all they needed to be concerned about.
Every actual thunder and lightning strike they heard caused every one of them to flinch. They couldn't help but think it was one of the Forces, coming to their world. They were out there now, and they could come at any second.
Nothing was the same anymore.
It was a lucky day, and Cisco managed to get out of work early. Everything important he'd sent to Caitlin to look over. She'd get back to him eventually. It wasn't like she had anything else to do all day. Cisco made his way to the hangar. Staying in his apartment was just too quiet now for some reason.
Julian was there, as always. Several cups of coffee were discarded everywhere with an untouched sandwich on top of a computer. "What are you working on?"
Julian looked up at him with red eyes. Cisco doesn't know if he's blinked since coming here. "I'm trying to find a way to separate The Speed Force from Barry. The problem is, The Speed Force is the one at the wheel now, not Barry. I'm not even sure if it's possible to do that anymore. And even if we did, would that leave The Speed Force the one in control but powerless, or would we be splitting Barry from his body, leaving him an empty shell? I mean, there are so many unknown variables to this, I'm not sure where to start."
"We'd need to get to Barry first before anything else. It's not just The Speed Force we'd need to contend with. It's the other Forces as well. They're not going to let us do anything they don't want to them, especially trying to separate them from their hosts. They want this war, and they'll do anything to make sure it happens."
"Four gods. I miss the days when everything was more simple with simple metahumans." Julian commiserated.
"Simple?" Cisco said in indignation.
"In comparison. They were powerful, but they were humans. We knew their limits. We're dealing with beings that have existed since the dawn of time. Their only equals are each other. How are we supposed to contend with that?" Julian asked.
Cisco was silent. He didn't know. His vision had come true. All four of the Forces had taken possession of a host. Even though they were fighting amongst each other, they would band together if anything threatened to get in the way of their epic battle. And the one wearing his friend as a suit was gunning for him specifically for trapping them for over a month. A lot of good that month did them. They were nowhere near a solution to take any of them down. Let alone four.
"Maybe if we could just get one. Separate one from The Force, it could tip things in our favor." Cisco thought.
"That's going to be a challenge, considering we have nothing to do in the first place," Julian commented.
"We start with the most vulnerable." Cisco was trying to come up with a plan.
"Great, which one is that? From where I'm standing, they're all gods that could wipe us out with a blink of an eye."
Cisco thought about all the abilities each of The Forces possessed. The Still Force was immediately out. The ability to manipulate time was an ability only seen with a black hole. Cisco did not feel confident going up against a being that held the power of time in the palm of their hand. It would be the most difficult, but it would probably provide the most payoff if they managed to succeed. A large emphasis on the if. There was no chance that Cisco would be willing to take on The Still Force without the help of the other Forces.
The Sage Force was a bit more manageable. They'd dealt with psychics before, they had designed devices to block out a psychic's manipulation of the mind. Cisco wasn't sure about actually putting those devices to the test, but they at least had something to try to go against them. It might not work, Grodd had managed to short out the device, but that had been the first prototype. Cisco wasn't sure how much more power was needed to break this new version, but it would be something.
But that was just the manipulation aspect. What did they have to answer for the brute force of flinging them around like a rag doll? What if they were encased in a shell of psychic power like Bashir did to Barry? Did they have anything to counteract that?
Cisco decided to leave that on the backburner for now.
The Speed Force was the one they had been exposed to the most. They had spent years watching Barry develop his own powers, learning his strengths and weaknesses alongside other speedsters. They had a huge advantage in that department. But did they have enough to fight against that? There was a reason Barry was the primary hero of Central City. Caitlin was a natural counter for most of Barry's powers, but that was when they were learning their powers at the same rate. With Barry now embodying The Speed Force, his power had increased exponentially. Caitlin might last a few seconds against Barry now, but not the rest of them. And this was still Barry. Were they really willing to fight him like this?
That left The Strength Force. Easily the most simplistic in terms of abilities. Enhanced strength, something they could easily work around. And with that giant form, it'd be easy to land a few hits of their own as well. It wouldn't be easy, it'd be a downright struggle, but they would be the simplest to handle. And if they were to fight in their own multiverse, not The Strength Force's, it might diminish their powers, just the slightest amount. But something was better than nothing.
Making a decision, Cisco looked up to tell him. "We should try to focus our efforts on The Strength Force. It should be the easiest to take down."
"You think it'll be easy?" Julian asked incredulously.
"Not easy. The easiest." Cisco corrected. "If we can trap them here, our natural opposing energy of our multiverse should work to weaken them, just slightly. And with that giant form, it'll be a big target."
"You're simplifying it. It's not going to be that easy." Julian argued.
"It's a start. We need to start somewhere. Plus, if I manage to get in contact with Alexa's Earth, we could get some information about any weaknesses she has."
"Why haven't you?" Julian asked.
"I've never been able to vibe outside of our multiverse. The only time I tried I… got lost." Cisco said awkwardly at the end.
"You can vibe across dimensions. You can see into the future and alternate realities. You're telling me you can't vibe into another multiverse?"
"I'm not saying I can't do it, I'm saying I currently do not have that particular skill set. Give me a break, I never knew there was anything beyond the multiverse. Right now, all that is outside of my reach."
"But it's just reaching out to discover more. Your powers are not limited to a single multiverse. You can detect things from anywhere." Julian said, his tone not criticizing, but more like curiosity.
"It's like working with a database. Within this multiverse, I've been granted access with a password I have. To access more in another multiverse, I need another password. I'll figure it out, it's just going to take time."
"How much time? Because people are starting to notice The Flash hasn't been making any appearance for a while. There's been a sharp increase in criminal activity. CCPD has got it handled in the meantime, but they're going to get bolder." Julian said.
"It's a matter of working our way up. We start with The Strength Force, and with their help try to get one of the other Forces." Cisco tried to explain.
"No," a voice sounded behind them.
Cisco and Julian turned around to see Caitlin in all her glory, pushing a stroller that contained her daughter.
"Caitlin, you're here," Cisco was shocked. He didn't even know that Caitlin was up to leaving her mother's house. The sight of Ramona didn't surprise him though. He figured she would be the first thing Caitlin would go to if she ever went outside.
"It's good to see you. What are you doing here?" Julian asked.
"Joe told me you'd be here. I came to see what you're doing and heard what you were planning." Caitlin said. Cisco had already gone to grab his goddaughter out of her stroller and was bouncing her up and down.
"You disagree with our plan then?" Julian asked as Cisco was busy entertaining the 15 month old.
"Yeah, I've been thinking about this all the time. Thinking about how we're going to defeat these guys and their weaknesses. And I figured out that The Speed Force is the most vulnerable of the four." Caitlin declared.
Both Cisco and Julian stopped, the only sounds were the cute little giggles Ramona was producing. "Explain. Where's the evidence?"
"When we had The Speed Force locked up, they mentioned how they can't actually possess us because we have free will. They can influence their children, but they can't have any direct involvement." Caitlin said.
"Yeah, that was the entire reason why Barry wasn't taken over the first time, because while he let the influence of The Speed Force take over, once he was finished fighting, he instinctively pushed them away, regaining control of his body. It's why the other two came to this multiverse, to try to escape their own Forces and prevent them from convincing them to actually submit. Lot of good that did them, but still." Cisco said.
"We already know Deon gave his permission before we even met him. As for Alexa and Bashir, even though it was reluctant and they were coerced under duress, they still voiced their agreement. Barry didn't. The Speed Force circumvented their need for actual compliance by taking advantage of the fact that Barry was in a coma at the time, trapped in his own head." Caitlin explained.
Julian thought he was starting to understand her thought process. "So we don't actually need to defeat The Speed Force to stop them, we'd just need to wake Barry from his coma and then Barry can banish them from his mind himself."
"Yes! Great! Question though, how do we do that?" Cisco asked.
"We enter his mind and snap him out of it," Caitlin explained simply.
"Right, of course. That's what I figured. Are there any steps leading up to that plan, or…?" Cisco cocked his head to the side in a questioning manner.
"Entering his mind psychically will provide its own challenges. The Sage Force might be working against us on that." Julian said, picking up Ramona and giving her a hug. It had been a while since he'd seen her. It had been a while since he'd seen anyone really.
"Oh, they definitely will. They won't want anyone interfering in their epic battle." Cisco mentioned.
"How do you know that?" Caitlin asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
Cisco hesitated for a moment before giving his answer. "I had a vision. The Forces talked to me, saying that they might be at war with each other, but they would work together to prevent others from stopping them from ripping each other apart."
"You had a vision and didn't tell us? And about something so important?!" Caitlin glared at him, her eyes glowing white like a dwarf star.
Cisco raised his hands in surrender. "I didn't mean to hide it. It didn't seem important at the time. It was just a threat, it didn't really provide us with any information that would be useful to stopping them. It would have just needlessly stressed us out. I sure did."
Caitlin glared at him for almost a minute before letting her eyes fade away. "We'll be talking about this later,"
"Just, don't kill me?" Cisco winced.
"I'll think about it," Caitlin's jaw tightened. "Anyway, I'm not thinking of entering Barry's mind. Not technically. We're going to try to get in contact with Barry himself."
"What do you mean by that?" Julian asked. Now he wasn't following along. Barry was trapped within his own body that The Speed Force was residing in. How were they supposed to get in contact with Barry without The Speed Force interfering?
"We use the term 'possession' to refer to what happened to Barry. We should start thinking about that literally." Caitlin started to say.
"We know that, how else are you supposed to describe what happened to Barry?" Cisco asked.
"You're interrupting me. Can I finish?" Caitlin glared at him, clearly not finished speaking. Cisco put his hands up in surrender. He didn't feel like pissing off his friend, especially when she was already very cross with him. "The Speed Force is an extra dimensional being that has possessed Barry. Forget about the power, forget about what we know about The Forces. If we were to look at this with fresh eyes and see this completely out of context, what's the first thing that would pop into your head?"
Julian and Cisco both had contemplating looks on their faces. Ramona was gnawing on her teething ring. "He was being possessed by a demon?" Julian tentatively guessed.
"Exactly!" Caitlin shouted. "And demons can be exorcized."
"Hold on, are you really comparing The Speed Force with a demon?" Cisco waved his hands around, feeling completely out of his depth right now. He was a scientist and now they were talking about exorcisms.
"Yes, we're not going to enter Barry's mind. We're going to try to get in contact with Barry's soul. And I already have a person in mind who can help us."
"Who?" Julian asked. He couldn't think of anyone who possesses the power to commune with a soul. Legitimate ones anyway.
"John Constantin at your service, love." Constantin gave a small salute with a smirk on his face.
"This is the person who is going to help us contact a soul?" Julian asked dubiously. Actually, he frowned on the study of magic in general. There was just nothing scientific about it at all.
"I'm just going to ignore that. So as I understand, we're dealing with all four of The Forces. No easy feat, mind you. But just for you darling, I'll make an exception," Constantin winked at Caitlin.
"Moving past that, I understand why he's here. I even get why we had to call in the rest of the Legends," Julian looked at the time travelers that had been gone for months. "But why are the rest of them here?" Julian gestured to the heroes from Star and National City.
Cisco shrugged. "It's about that time of the year. I figured we should call in the cavalry."
"Like we weren't going to be here for this. Barry is our friend, he needs our help, and we're going to help him," Kara said stubbornly.
Oliver nodded his head. "No way after all we've been through. We stick together, and as I see it, this is about more than just our friends, this is about all the worlds in existence."
"Barry's in trouble, and we need to save him because we know he'd be there for us if we ever needed it." Felicity said.
"So what are we planning?" Caitlin asks.
"What you're asking of me is fairly simple. We're going to be conducting a seance to contact the bloke you need. Mind, I've never done this with a soul who is still alive, but the same principles should still apply." Constantin said.
"Wait, you've never done this before?" Cisco asked ludicrously.
"Not with a living soul. The ones I've made contact with have all been dead. Ripped from their bodies." Constantin mildly corrected him. "From what I'm told, the one I'm trying to find is trapped in their own body. One that is still living."
"What do you need?" Caitlin asked, not beating around the bush.
"I've got everything I need to perform the ritual, I just need something from the bloke himself. Genetic material. I'm assuming you've got blood samples I can use?" Constantin asked.
Everyone from Team Flash paused at the thought. Of course they'd taken blood and skin samples from Barry and stored it for later use. But that was all in STAR Labs and that had been destroyed. They shook their heads.
"A strand of hair? I'll settle for an eyelash." Constantin suggested.
They shook their heads again. Any hair Barry shed was immediately lost. Hair in the bathroom was cleaned out immediately. And Barry found combs strange. He never used them, he just washed his hair in the shower and however it turned out he would wear the hairstyle until he took another shower. Stupid perfect genes.
"His clothes? Probably has some skin in them, don't they?"
"I've been doing laundry. I finished cleaning all of Barry's clothes weeks ago." Caitlin said.
"His toothbrush? Surely it must still have his saliva on it?"
They all looked at Caitlin. She would have the best idea of that situation. She shook her head again. "Barry doesn't like leaving DNA out, even in his own home. He makes sure to thoroughly clean his toothbrush after every use. He has the time for it."
Constantin sighed and everybody else was feeling a little dejected. As a superhero, it was normal to be extremely paranoid, but Barry being a neat freak was doing them no favors right now. "Alright, alright. Milk teeth? Do we have any of those?"
This time, everyone looked toward Joe. If anyone would have kept Barry's baby teeth, it would be him.
Joe shrugged helplessly. "Barry was 11 when I adopted him. He'd already lost his teeth. I have no idea what he did with them."
Everybody sighed, dejectedly.
"What if we used a DNA sample from another Barry? From another Earth?" Cisco suggested.
Constantin shook his head. "No, it needs to come from the soul I'm trying to contact. Or directly related. The difference between dimensions would probably make the spell backfire. Magic can be very specific like that."
"But maybe you're onto something Cisco," Ray Palmer pointed his finger. "We could go into the Waverider and travel back in time to collect some DNA from Barry in the past. Cut off a strand of hair when he was a baby or something."
"Sounds like a plan," Constantin exclaimed. "We'll be right back then,"
With that, The Legend boarded their ship and prepared to take off. They didn't even really need to go back that far. Just the past year when Barry was still among them. Collect a hair sample and get back in a jiffy.
Everybody else watched as the Waverider floated into the sky and flew off. But strangely, it didn't enter any portal. It was still visible for the longest time. The ship seemed to be completely fine, it was just flying. The time machine must still be working, they have just gotten here. The Legends wouldn't have been able to get here if it wasn't.
"What are they doing?" Caitlin asked impatiently. This was supposed to be the easy part. They just needed to go back in time to collect a DNA sample from Barry and get back. It should be a simple task, but apparently even just going back in time was a strenuous task for a group of time travelers.
Nobody had an answer for Caitlin's question, and they just looked at each other with questioning gazes. Eventually they saw the Waverider turn back, but not for a single moment did the large ship leave any of their sights. Or perhaps they had disappeared and reappeared at the exact moment they left. Still, they could usually tell when they entered the flow of time.
When the Waverider landed, everybody crowded around the entrance, but upon the Legends walking out, they all had a look of confusion. "So, what happened?" Joe asked. "Did you get some DNA?"
"We never made it back," Nate Haywood confessed. "We're stuck here."
"How?! You got here, barely an hour ago." Caitlin shouted. "It was obviously working when you got here. How did it break?"
"We don't know. This has never happened before." Sara Lance said, trying to calm the situation. "We'll need to run a full diagnostic, but that'll take awhile."
"I don't think it's going to work guys," Cisco spoke up. Everyone turned to look at him where he was at the back of the crowd. "We're dealing with primordial forces. One of which controls time. I don't think they're going to let anyone go back to mess with it until they settle their war."
"So what? They just blocked off time travel? That's a possibility?" Zari Tomaz's eyes widened in shock.
"No, they wouldn't have just blocked all time travel. If that were the case, you all wouldn't have been able to get here at all. You'd be trapped where you were when The Still Force first came into possession of their host months ago to prevent you from changing that." Julian corrected. "This would have to have been recent. Literally the moment you arrived here."
"Well what changed between then and now?" Oliver asked.
"We made the plan to go back in time." Ray said.
"But we just made that plan. How did they know?" Thea asked.
"Daddy!" a happy little girl shouted.
Everybody's eyes were slowly drawn to the little girl who was smiling and staring up at them all with wide bright eyes in her stroller and blowing bubbles with her saliva, drooling all over herself. The girl who was quite literally, the daughter of The Speed Force right now.
Instantly, everyone's suspicions were raised. "You think there's enough of a connection there that Ramona is relaying everything we're saying back to The Forces?" Felicity stage whispered, but everybody could hear her. Even Ramona if she understood it.
Caitlin helplessly shrugged. "Ramona has never shown any sign of a connection with The Speed Force. She takes after me in terms of powers. But The Speed Force is so much more than a few changes in the DNA code. It's a living entity. We don't know how much Ramona got from Barry."
"We can't take the chance," Oliver declared. He motioned for Caitlin to take her daughter away from them, back into the hangar. As soon as she was inside and out of earshot, everybody leaned close so they wouldn't run the risk of being overheard. "Now that time travel is out of the picture, how else are we going to get Barry's DNA?"
"What if we go to another Earth and time travel from there? It's a different timeline, maybe The Still Force didn't block the other ones." Cisco suggested.
"We've already established this. I can't use the DNA of another Barry from another Earth. That would just confuse the magic." Constantin reiterated.
"No, we go to an Earth that Barry has already been to. Like Earth-38," Cisco gestured to Kara. "Travel back in time to when Barry visited, get a DNA sample, and come back."
"Each Earth vibrates at a different wavelength," Prof. Stein said in a scholarly manner. "That includes the timeline. The Waverider has been designed to travel through this timeline. It is unlikely to work with a different timeline, not without major changes. It'll take too long, and that is even if it is possible to travel through time anymore. If The Still Force were clever, they would block off all means of time travel except for its own."
"So time travel is not an option. We don't have access to any of Barry's DNA. Is there anything else we can do to make this work?" Joe asked Constantin.
"This is not ideal, but I can still make this work. In place of something coming from Barry, instead we need blood, this is nonnegotiable." Constantin looked at them to make sure they understood. When they nodded, he continued. "Blood from a blood relative."
Everybody's shoulders shlumped. Barry had a large family, but that was the family he chose. The one he was born into was severely lacking.
"Parents?" Constantin asked. He didn't really pay attention to the backstories of his fellow comrades.
"Dead," everybody replied.
"Aunts or uncles?"
"His parents were only children." Joe answered. That ruled out any cousins as well.
"Siblings? I think I heard mention of an identical twin brother. That'd be perfect, their DNA is already close to equal."
"Barry was the one who killed him." Cisco said, his voice barely a whisper.
"The only blood relative Barry has that's still alive is…" Julian trailed off, his gaze going to the large building where Caitlin and Ramona were currently being kept away.
Everybody followed his gaze and gathered back inside. They explained what was needed to Caitlin when she realized what everyone was thinking, her response was immediate. "No! I'm not letting my daughter get involved in this. You're not taking her blood."
"We just need enough to perform the ritual, and your daughter is the only candidate that can make a donation to get in contact." Constantin said.
"There has to be another way." Caitlin insisted.
"None that can be accomplished in a timely manner." Constantin shook his head. "Time we don't have a guarantee of."
Everybody else had a mixture of expressions. Some were hopeful, others were solemn. The most prominent though, was one of concern. They would all understand if Caitlin didn't want Ramona involved. And the fact that Ramona was a potential mole made this highly risky. But this was the best option they had to get in contact with Barry. To contact him through his daughter.
Caitlin bit her lip in contemplation, chewing off any loose skin. She finally sighed in defeat. "How much are we talking about here?"
Everyone sighed in relief at her acceptance. "We'll use a needle. It won't be any different than any shots she's taken. I don't even need the full tube. Just the barest amount." Constantin told her.
"Fine, but I'm doing it," Caitlin pointed to herself.
Constantin nodded. If it would get this moving along, he'd agree to anything.
When Caitlin retrieved her medical equipment and sterilized it, she put her daughter on a table. She gave a big smile that did a terrible job of hiding her sadness that her red eyes gave away. "Okay, sweetie," she said in a shaking voice. "Mama's just going to need to poke you with a little needle. It'll be over before you know it. Just a little pinch."
She brought the needle to her daughter's arm with a little bandage ready to cover it in an instant. With careful skill, Caitlin stabbed the needle into Ramona's arm, drew some blood, and pulled out, pressing the bandaid where she made the wound. It was about two seconds later that Ramona let out a shrieking cry, only just registering the small pain.
Caitlin immediately took her daughter in her arms and bounced her up and down, whispering calming words into her ear. "There there, it's all over. You were such a brave little girl."
Cisco plucked the needle off the table and handed it to Constantin. "I hope that's enough,"
Constantin studied the vial, measuring the amount of its contents and did some mental calculations. "Since it's from a direct member, it should give us 20 minutes for contact. Better make them count."
Constantin set up his ritual, a circle of sand and various items in the middle; some twigs and leaves as well as sage. He sat cross-legged beside the pile and held out his hand for Caitlin. "I'm assuming you're going to want to come along?"
Caitlin nodded her head and passed her daughter to Joe, who cradled the child in his arms.
Caitlin sat across from the man and waited impatiently to start. Constantin took in a deep breath, reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of salt. He closed his eyes like he was praying and tossed the salt over his shoulder. Caitlin raised an eyebrow at the motion. She was pretty sure that wasn't part of the ritual.
"Okay, before we start, I feel I should warn everybody that the moment we make contact, it'll alert The Speed Force of what we're doing. So be prepared because there is no way the rest of the Forces aren't going to be making an appearance." Constantin warned them.
Everybody nodded and tensed, clenching their fists and weapons to be used at a moment's notice.
Constantin turned back to face Caitlin and pulled out a match. He lit a flame and dropped it into the pile, which immediately caught on fire. He pulled out the vial of blood. Just as he was about to tip it over, he faced Caitlin one more time. "You ready?"
Caitlin nodded without hesitation and Constantin poured the blood into the flames. Instead of the fire being doused, they actually rose. Constantin was mumbling to himself, but as the heat from the fires rose, his voice got louder.
"Slleps live ykoops! Egassem sdrawkcab! Slleps live ykoops! Egassem sdrawkcab! Slleps live ykoops! Egassem sdrawkcab! Slleps live ykoops! Egassem sdrawkcab!" As Constantin continued chanting, his eyes seemed to bleed into darkness. His eyes turned into pitch black marbles like a rat's.
Thunder roared and lightning flashed outside and everybody flinched at the sound. It could only mean they were getting closer.
The flames took on a bright yellow hue, almost golden and Constantin let out a large sigh like he was breathing onto the fire. Eventually, the little embers and wisps of flames took shape above the inferno, forming a familiar body that was lying on its side. One that was eerily familiar to Caitlin.
"Barry!"
So this is the setup to the crossover this season. Obviously since I drastically changed the entire season, the crossover is different as well. Particularly because Oliver is still alive. It's strange because the crossover last time was supposed to be Crisis, but I kept it in house with the use of speedsters across the show, but this season, there was no crossover in canon. Moving on.
Depending on how I space out the chapters, we've got 6, maybe 7, chapters left. So we've still got about two months of content left to get through. I cannot wait to get through it all. Then I can stop stressing about this.