Today marks the 10th Anniversary of the original air date for the pilot episode of "The Flash." Happy 10th Anniversary, Flash! I was originally planning to do a chapter for "We Made It," but the anniversary snuck up on me. The only reason I know now is because I follow Danielle Panabaker on instagram and I saw her post about the 10th anniversary a few hours ago.
I decided to take inspiration from Chapters 81, 84, and 99 of "Flash and Spider-Man" and take episodes where Barry gets affected by something and have Peter affected too.
RIP John Amos, aka Older Kunta Kinte in the original "Roots" miniseries and Cleo McDowell
Chapter 11
"Barry, we're in position to attack. Where are you?" Chester asked over the comms.
"Sorry! I-I still have a few things to take care of on the way." Barry replied.
Less than a minute later, Chester asked Barry again. "Flash, we're getting hit hard! We're not going to make it!
"Hold on, Chester, I'm on my way."
A few seconds later, Barry arrives…throwing a D20 die at the table…quite intensely too.
Team Flash had been playing Dungeons & Dragons at the West house, with Allegra as Dungeon Master.
"19! Critical hit!" Allegra exclaims with joy as the other players (Peter, Chester, and Cecile) cheer at their party's victory. The exception was Joe, who looked bored.
""Uvarkk the Cleric attacks with the Sacred Flame."" Barry said as his D character, with an exaggerated medieval accent.
"Way stronger than my glaive." Cecile stated, certainly getting into the game.
"Uvarkk vanquishes the Lich, saving our merry band of adventurers." Allerga narrated as DM.
"Radiant damage, am I right?" Peter stated as he gave Barry a fist bump.
Joe sighs in boredom. "What the hell is going on?"
To help Barry with missing Iris, Chester and Allegra did what they had previously done with Peter and invited them to join their Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Cecile decided to try it and considering it took up most of the first floor, Joe begrudgingly decided to try it.
"The Dungeon Kraken is awoken by Thodris' fear and pounces, pinning the warrior to the ground. There's no escape for him now." Allegra narrated to them as DM.
"Save him! Somebody-somebody save him!" Cecile exclaimed.
"Help me, Karash, the Orc! You're my last hope." Chester told Joe, in character.
"You-it's my turn?" Joe asked, still confused about the game.
"Yeah."
"Use your vorpal sword, use your vorpal sword" Barry recommended repeatedly.
"Wh-my what?" Joe asked.
"What do you do, Karash?" Allegra asked Joe.
"I-I tell the thing to raise its little claws, and read its Miranda rights."
Everyone groans at Joe's cop response.
"Oh, come on." Barry groaned.
"There aren't any Miranda rights in this universe." Peter pointed out.
"Guys, this game is not for me. I'm sorry." Joe apologized.
"Maybe we should have eased him in with a simpler game like "Fluxx," "Cards Against Humanity," or "Werewolf By Night." Hell, what about "Settlers of Catan?" Even the Green Bay Packers play that. Maybe we could use some D media to get him hooked." Peter suggested.
"Yeah, but the 2000s movie sucks and I doubt Joe will watch the cartoon." Chester stated. "Not unless we wait for the Chris Pine movie."
"While I don't want to be here for that long, it may work. It was a good movie. Though maybe the "Door Monster" sketches on YouTube might help."
"True." Chester says before realizing. "Wait, you've already seen the movie?!"
"That's right, you're technically from the future and have seen the movies released for the next few years." Cecile realizes about Peter.
"Oh yeah, you guys are gonna love Barbenheimer."
"What?" Joe asked.
"It's a meme, combining the names of the films "Oppenheimer" and "Barbie.""
"The biopic about the creation of the nuclear bomb and the film based on the toys?" Allegra asked.
"Yeah, they released on the same day, hence the meme. The cast and creators even said you should just double feature them. The meme even spilled over onto Ryan Gosling's (Ken in "Barbie") and Emily Blunt's (Oppenheimer's wife) next film, "Fall Guy."
"Like the '80s show with Lee Majors?" Joe asked.
"It's a movie adaptation and it was really good too. It was directed by David Leitch, who directed the first "John Wick" and "Hobbs and Shaw.""
"Yeah, looking forward to "Bullet Train."" Chester told him with glee.
"Yeah, loved that movie too. Though some of the actors remind me of Frankie, Miles' dad, my friend Wade, and an enemy of mine, Kraven."
"So, you enjoyed "Oppenheimer" and "Barbie?"" Barry asked.
"They were very good."
"Even "Barbie?" Joe asked.
"Especially "Barbie." Trust me, I was surprised too, but Greta Gerwig managed to do with Barbie just what "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" did for that franchise and find things for girls and boys to like."
"Nice. But, back to the game. Let's just take a break. Refill our goblets." Barry told them.
They all agreed and they started to leave the table, except for Joe.
"Sorry." Joe apologized.
"No, I get it, I get it. This is a little different for family game night."
"Yeah, a little." Joe said with a laugh. "It's got a 600-page instruction booklet."
"You said the same thing about a tech manual for the Roomba and that looked about as long as two Dr. Seuss books." Peter said
"Well, I read the instructions in, like, two seconds." Barry told him.
""Well, I read the instructions in, like, two seconds."" Joe mocked.
"Jesus! Were you a bully as a kid or something and adopting Barry and his life as the Flash is your karma?" Peter asked, shocked and angry that Joe would say that. Not to mention those thoughts had been deep in Peter's head for about a decade.
Everyone looks at him surprised and shocked.
"Peter?! We do not insult each other in this house. Now, apologize to Joe!" Cecile demanded.
"I will when he apologizes to Barry!"
"Peter, I was just teasing." Joe explained.
"No, it looked like you were feeling inadequate at the game and decided to lash out!"
Joe looks pissed at this and walks up to Peter, unafraid.
"If that's how you feel, maybe I don't want people who insult me living under my roof."
"Fine. I'll stay in the lounge." Peter replied. He's about to leave, but then whispers something to Joe. "I shouldn't be surprised from a West." He said with some venom at the end.
He then ran upstairs, grabbed any belongings in his room, changed into Spider-Man, and jumped out the window to swing throughout the city. He made his way to the top of the Mercury Labs building. Two months ago he told his doppelgängers that he didn't have anywhere to go to think about things, but that changed after befriending and losing Frost.
Joe's mockery made him think of bullies who made fun of him before the spider bite. In his universe, after Joe retired, Wally and Jesse got married and lived in Blue Valley, and Iris moved to Hub City with Eddie, he really hadn't seen the Wests as often as they did in the early days of Team SpiderFlash, with the exception of holidays and events…and he was happy. Sure, it was mostly because he had Caitlin and Frost, Tommy and Tina, Frankie and the upcoming baby. Peter then realized that his outburst earlier wasn't just about Joe's mockery. He could have been with his family, where any teasing was mostly from Frost and didn't have any mockery or insults. Instead he was living with the Wests and had to deal with their mockery and insults.
He needed a friendly face and voice. So, he took out his phone. "Hey, Frankie, is it ok if I stop by the donut shop? I could use that friendly ear that you offered."
"-after I packed, I left, stopped by a building that I once took Frost to to think, and then I called you." Peter reiterated to Frankie to get her advice.
"Look, I agree that he was lashing out because he didn't understand and felt like a loser. Hell, John used to insult and bully me. But, you know him. Joe and Barry are one of the better examples of foster parent/foster kid relationships. He loves Barry and would never bully him." Frankie reassured him.
"Yeah, they're foster dad and foster kid and in-laws. Ugh." He groaned.
"Ok, that is weird."
"But in all seriousness, the mockery felt like it was bordering between love and bullying."
"You don't think you overreacted a little?"
Peter sighs. "Maybe. It's just that his mockery brought up some bad memories of being bullied as a teen."
"Well, tell him that. He seems fairly reasonable."
Before Peter can agree or disagree, his phone rings. He sees it's Chester and answers.
"Hey, Chester." Peter answers.
"Pete, think Spider-Man can help? Mercury Labs was robbed." Chester tells him.
"What!? I was just there?"
"Oh, not recently. A while ago. Barry was just contacted about this case from former police Captain, David Singh."
"Oh, I remember him. Nice guy."
"He says that the thieves stole a Gamma Absorption Array."
Having already met Bruce Banner and Jennifer Walters from Earth-616, Peter knows what a Gamma device could potentially do. "That doesn't sound good."
"Barry believes the thieves are hiding somewhere near the shipyard, he's about to search the warehouses, but could use backup."
"I'll be there in five minutes. Bye." Peter says before hanging up. "Sorry, work emergency." Peter told Frankie apologetically.
"It's cool, go. Just please talk to Joe soon."
Peter gives her a thumbs up before rushing out.
A few minutes later, Peter is swinging towards the shipyard. On his way, his suit notified him to refill his web shooters soon.
"I think I found something." Barry says over the coms.
"I see you on my GPS. Meet you there in 30 seconds."
Less than a minute later, Peter finds Barry near a van.
"It's definitely the vehicle from the robbery, Spidey. Tire treads match those from the crime report." Barry tells him as he bends down to check the tires. He then opens the back doors, revealing a device.
"Great gamma gadget! Flash, Spidey, that van must have been shielded, 'cause as soon as you opened it up, the radiation readings spiked through the roof." Chester tells them over the coms.
"It's the gamma array. Whoever stole this made some seriously advanced mods."
"Hopefully, this thing won't turn the city into Hulks." Peter muttered.
"I'm gonna run it back for a full analysis."
"Probably soon, in case the robber returns. I'll check if they're nearby or if the van has clues to their whereabouts. Also, hopefully, it's not remote activated."
Before either hero does anything, they hear menacing laughter coming from behind them. They turn to see a middle aged, bespectacled man in white lab coat step out of the warehouse he was in.
"A mad scientist. Why am I not surprised?!" Peter says sarcastically.
"Oh, you won't be running anywhere much longer, Flash. Nor will you be able to do everything a spider can, Spider-Man." The scientist exclaimed.
"Did you intend for that to rhyme?"
"You wanna save the three of us some time and tell us what these mods do, before we take you to prison, or after?" Barry asked.
"Why don't I show you both." The Scientist told them, before activating the Gamma Absorption Array from afar with his special watch.
The device creates a wave that hits Peter and Barry, knocking them away and unconscious.
The two wake up the next morning in The Cortex, rescued by the Team. The two are now each in S.T.A.R. Labs sweats.
"Ow, what hit us?" Barry groaned in pain
Chester scans them with a device, before asking Barry's AI. "Gideon, run a full diagnostic on Barry and Peter."
"Commencing full-body diagnostic scan on Barry Allen and Peter Parker." After a few seconds, Gideon has finished scanning. "Multiple biological abnormalities detected."
"What?!" They both exclaimed.
"In both of us?" Peter asked in shock.
"More importantly, what kind of abnormalities?" Barry asked
"Moderate signs of arthritis, hearing loss, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, and heartburn." Gideon replied.
"That's what that is?" Peter asked as he was massaging the part of his chest over his heart.
"Holy Benjamin Button, guys." Chester exclaims as he sees more of their scans on the monitor.
Dude's lucky that Dick Grayson isn't like Jameson and didn't patent that saying to make some extra money. Peter thought.
"Every cell in both of your bodies has deteriorated suddenly. It says here that you have aged 30 years overnight, while Peter has aged 40 years"
Peter and Barry then look at each other.
"I don't know about me, but I guess you're like Paul Rudd and don't age physically." Peter jokingly compliments Barry
"Yeah, you still look like you're in your 30s." Barry replied.
"Yeah, they look exactly the same." Allegra pointed out.
"It looks like the blast that hit them was mostly absorbed by their internal biology. Organs, cardiovascular system, bones, joints." Chester listed before turning to Barry and Peter. "You two may look young on the outside, but on the inside, things are very different.
"But why is Peter older than Barry?" Allegra asked.
"My guess is that Barry's regenerative cells are faster than mine, thanks to the Speed Force." Peter replied.
"Can we reverse it?" Barry asked, not wanting this to be permanent.
"Maybe, but I'd need the device that whammied you both to even try."
"All right, let's find Dr. Creep Face and get it." Allerga stated before asking, "Why build an "old gun" anyway?"
"We'll probably find out after we retrieve it, cure us, and analyze the device once we win…or when the guy monologues. Bad guys always love the sound of their own voice." Peter replied.
"Whatever the reason, the "old gun" is probably dangerous. I'm gonna go back to his warehouse and search for more clues." Barry tells them as he's about to leave.
"Hang on, hang on. Do you really think it's safe for you or Peter to go out in the field like this?" Cecile pointed out. "Do we even know-has this affected your powers?"
Barry wants to argue, but realizes she may be right and relents. "Uh, Gideon, run a meta efficiency test."
"Test initiated." Gideon replied.
"We'll start with phasing."
Barry then vibrates his hand like he normally would when he's about to phase through something. He tries to phase through a nearby coffee cup, but ends up knocking it off the table and breaking it. Hitting it also causes Barry to groan in pain.
"Phasing unsuccessful." Gideon stated.
"Leave it to a computer to point out the obvious after the fact." Peter muttered.
"Well, Phasing's pretty advanced. Ok, uh, let's try something easier: Wind arms. Wind arms are easier." Barry said. Barry tries rotating his arms to generate wind, but he's at the speed of an average human, barely causing a breeze. "Come on! Ah!" He groans in frustration. He stopped and then bends down with his hands resting on his thighs, exhausted.
"Test complete." Gideon tell them.
"I almost had it."
"Meta ability has decreased by 29%."
"Okay, Barry, honey, why don't you come sit down?" Cecile asked with concern.
"I'm fine." Barry said in denial. "I'm fine. I can, uh-I can feel the Speedforce inside me. I just need to stretch my legs." He says as he tries to stretch his arms and legs. "Get them moving." Panting from all the exercise. "Figure out how I can still handle-" He says before speeding out of the Cortex and crashing into the Med Lab. He groans in pain before replying back, "I'm okay."
"You're sure, honey?"
"Yeah, I'm good. I'm alright, I'm alright."
"Why don't we try testing me now. And I promise not to exert myself and get hurt like…that." Peter you told them.
"Good, because I am not throwing knives at you to test your Spider-sense." Allerga stated.
"Okay. And just so you know, my senses activate if I get harmed at the least. So chucking bagels at me won't do shit."
"I take it there's a story there." Chester figured.
"Later. Gideon, run a mutant efficiency test"
"Test initiated." Gideon replied.
""Mutant?"" Cecile asked.
"Yeah, since I didn't get my powers from the Particle Accelerator explosion like most people in this city, I fall under the classification of mutant. Same went for Frost in my timeline." Peter explained, a little depressed to have mentioned Frost. "Anyway, let's start with my "stick-em powers.""
""Stick-em powers?"" Cecile asked.
"My wall crawling abilities. Sorry, thought I was being funny."
"Well, Yoda would say that in this case, you're not." Chester replied.
"Well, don't actually wall crawl, just in case." Allerga told him with worry for her friend.
"Ok, uh." Peter replies as he looks around. "I'm gonna stick my fingertips to this pen and Gideon will time how long it sticks until it falls."
"I will start timing as soon as you are ready to stick your fingertips to the pen. I will inform you of your time as soon as it falls." Gideon informs him.
He then does so. After a while, the pen continues to stick.
"While we're waiting, perhaps Barry and I should run more tests in the Speed Lab."
In the Speed Lab, Barry runs around the track while Peter uses a hydraulic machine that he and Chester built from schematics that Alex Danvers gave them based on a machine that her father made to originally test Clark's strength when he was starting out as Superman. After a while, Cecile comes in to check on them.
"Hey!" She tells them as she enters.
"Hey." Barry replies after stopping next to her.
"Hello." Peter says after he stops lifting the weight of the strength machine.
"You two look better. How do you guys feel?" Cecile asked.
"Um, just a little tired." Barry replied. "But as long as I keep it under Mach 10, I can maintain my speed. And that's more than great enough to catch this guy.
"Right, but we know that Allegra can handle herself out in the field, so when the crazy scientist guy comes back, then she and Chester can handle it, and I can even help with-" Cecile tells them before Barry interrupts.
"Cecile, I can't risk any of you getting hit with that machine. And you heard Chester, the only way to cure me and Peter is to get the gamma array back, and the fastest way to do that is with my speed. Sorry, Peter."
"Seriously? You still worried about the others taking risks? Barry, it's a good idea to have back up, just in case." Peter tells him, a little angry that he's being left out. "At least let me use a tele-sphere, so I can back you up."
"Barry, are you sure that this is the right way to do it?" Cecile asks him. "It just feels like you're reaching past some red flags here. I mean…is everything okay?"
Before either of them could reply, Chester interrupts them with news over the coms. "Guys, we've got a break in at Magnus Labs."
"Another tech facility. Guess we found our guy." Peter states.
"Guess so." Barry replies before heading over to a computer terminal. "Uh, Chester, get ready to adjust that gamma array when I get back. I won't be long." He replies over the computer microphone before speeding away.
"Damn it." Peter mutters as he takes off his clothes to reveal his Spider-Man suit. He and Cecile then jog out of the Speed lab and head to the cortex (Peter to get some tele-spheres, Cecile to help Chester and Allegra on the monitors).
"I assumed correctly that you would recognize a thermal detonator, Flash." The mad scientist told him, which could get heard over Barry's coms.
"Barry, that's no ordinary grenade." Chester tells him. "It's got major bad energy emanating from it. He modified it to pack a serious punch.
"And something tells me he's not going to use it to negotiate Chewbacca's bounty with Jabba The Hutt." Peter quipped as he grabbed a couple tele-spheres and used one to teleport next to Barry.
"I see Spider-Man has finally joined us. I guess you can't run him everywhere now, can you?" The scientist stated.
"All the crimes you're committing, it isn't the answer to getting what you want." Barry tells him, trying to talk him into surrendering.
"There is only one way to get what I want, and it's in here." He replies, gesturing to the case he's holding, containing what he stole. "I'm going to obtain a power more precious than any ever welded buy a superhero."
"Doubtful, met many superheroes in the past decade. Some have powers that could surprise you." Peter replied.
"Well, how's this for power?" Barry asks before he tries to throw a lightning bolt at the villain, but he soon can't, much to Barry's shock.
"Cute." The scientist retorted. "My turn." he says before throwing the Thermal detonator at them.
Peter tries to web it away, only to discover that he has run out of web fluid and forgot to load in a new cartridge.
"Shit!" Peter exclaimed.
The detonator hits Barry, causing him to pass out. Peter tries to run after the villain, only for him to throw another detonator at him. Peter can sense it coming and does bend backwards to dodge it like Neo in the first "Matrix" film, only to exclaim in pain and fall onto his back.
"My back! My back!" He exclaimed in pain, writhing on the floor.
"Their heart rates are spiking." Chester says over the coms, seeing on the monitor how the detonator has affected Barry and Peter's back pain is affecting him.
Peter slowly crawls towards Barry. He can hear Cecile calling out for them over the coms. Peter then reaches Barry and grabs ahold of him before activating the tele-spheres, transporting the two back to S.T.A.R. Labs.
Later in the med lab, Chester, Allegra, and Cecile check on Barry and Peter's injuries from the fight. Peter is currently wearing a back brace and he and Barry are back in their civilian clothes.
"Well, there's no permanent damage, but you're near sighted now." Chester tells Barry, before turning to Peter. "And Peter, your back is healing, but slower than usual."
"Hopefully not as long as when Zoom did" Peter stated.
"Should be fine in about an hour."
"But it's still slow for something like that. I've never injured myself when dodging."
"As for Barry, why did your vision go bad? You didn't have this problem earlier." Cecile asked Barry.
Before Barry can answer, Allegra interrupts. "That's not the only new thing." She says before putting a mirror up to Barry and Peter. Their hair is starting to go gray on the sides of their heads. "I thought they were supposed to be old on the inside?"
"Nobody tells Ralph about this!" Peter exclaimed.
"Hey, Chester, run Peter's and my scan results through Gideon's bio-algorithm, and let's just-let's take a detailed look." Barry asks.
"Done, and if I'm reading this right, um you've both aged another ten years." Chester informed them after reading the results.
"What? How?" Cecile asked. "Was it the grenade blast? Because Peter dodged his."
"Unsuccessfully." Peter pointed out as he rubbed his aching back.
"I don't think so. It looks like the-the gamma radiation inside Barry's cells is activated by his Speed force energy. As for the gamma radiation on Peter, his cells were activated by the radiation already in his body, especially trying to heal him." Chester explained.
"Wait, Chuck, are you seriously saying that the more The Flash runs-" Allegra is about to ask.
"The more he ages." Cecile finished his thought.
"But what about Peter?" Allegra asked.
"I'm guessing it's anything to do with my powers. Healing, wall crawling, my acrobatics, my strength, even my spider-sense could trigger it." Peter hypothesized.
"Barry, you need to stop using your speed. Peter, you need to take a break from being Spider-Man." Cecile tells them.
"Cecile, Peter and I have to find this guy." Barry states as he leaves the room and goes into the Cortex to one of the monitors in order to find the mad scientist, followed by the others.
"Hold on. Maybe Cecile's right. You almost had a heart attack and Peter broke his back at Magnus Labs." Allegra pointed out.
"Plus, if your aging's starting to show on the outside, I can't even imagine what's going on inside of yours and Peter's bodies." Cecile tells them.
"Guys, I won't let this guy get away." Barry said to them.
"Barry, quit acting like Batman or how Oliver did when he started as a hero. It's okay to ask for help. Strength in numbers and all that." Peter told him.
"Even so, We still don't know what he's planning. What if he uses this device on someone else?"
"And what if you and Peter die of old age before you two can stop him?" Cecile asked, worried for Barry and Peter.
"But I won't." He replied, stubbornly. "Look, we just need to track this guy down as soon as possible and end this. And I think I know how to start." He says, after pulling up a bio about the villain on the screen.
"You found out who he is?" Allegra asked.
"Yeah, he wiped the security cameras at his first crime scene, but Peter and I showed up before he had the chance to do it again. Pulled this photo from the footage and ran a background check.
""Dr. Pytor Orloff. Former technician at a small R lab, Corbin Taft Industries." Says here he was fired for using company resources in unsanctioned research."
"I'm gonna check his old lab at Taft, see if Dr. Olsen left any clues."
"Barry, it's Dr. Orloff. Remember?" Cecile corrected.
"That's what I meant. And I'm gonna need those contacts, Chester and Peter."
"Yeah." Chester replied.
"I don't know if I can be of any help." Peter replied.
"Why not?" Allegra asked.
"I couldn't save Barry from that grenade because I forgot to refill my web shooters before going out into the field and I haven't done anything like that since I was a rookie. I'm going to the Med Lab and have Gideon scan my brain with the M.R.I."
"Ok, take care, man." Barry replied before starting to head to the hallway.
"Okay, I'm gonna go with you." Cecile told him before he could leave the room.
"Cecile, I-"
"Look, this guy has surprised us a couple of times already, and my powers will feel him coming if he decides to show up while we're at his lab.
As much as he wants to argue, Barry sees that she has a point and relents. "Okay."
"Great." She says before remembering. "Oh, uh, real quick. This time, we're gonna take my car."
They found Orloff's laptop, but it scanned Barry's face to discover it wasn't Orloff and threatened to wipe the drive in sixty seconds. Barry wanted to get Chester to hack it to stop the wipe, but then he accidentally took Cecile and the laptop to the Great Wall of China, with no memory of how they got there. They later manage to get back to S.T.A.R. Labs and have Barry's brain scanned by Gideon like Peter's.
"Connections in the hippocampus are showing gradual decay. While cognitive functions have returned to normal levels, Barry Allen and Peter Parker's memory loss will likely be a recurring event." Gideon informed Team Flash.
"Barry, Peter, how are you two feelin'?" Cecile asked.
"Well, I'm a little scared about forgetting things, especially important things." Peter replied.
"I feel like we don't have time for this. I'm fine now." Barry replied.
"Barry, I didn't think you get how serious this is." Chester told him. "According to your latest bioscan results from Gideon, if you use that much speed again, it could kill you."
The rest of the team look at him, hoping their fear of losing their leader and friend will help him understand.
"Okay. Then we need to find Orloff more than ever. All right, getting his gamma array is still the only way to cure me and Peter and stop whatever he's planning." Barry told them defiantly. "Chester, were you able to save his laptop?"
Chester sighs that Barry is so adamant, but replies. "I managed to stop the countdown. But it's going to take some more time for me to hack inside."
"Okay, well let me know when you do. In the meantime, everyone watch satellites for gamma ray spikes in the city. Right now, that's our only other means to find Orloff. I'm gonna visit the Starchives, see if I can find anything to safely hold the gamma emitter when I bring it back." Barry ordered before leaving the Cortex.
"I did it! I found Peter's timeline!" John Constantine exclaimed to Team Flash.
"Can you create a portal there?" Cecile asked.
"Absolutely, luv."
He then creates a portal like one of Cisco's breaches. Soon, the Barry, Caitlin, Frankie, and a heavily pregnant Frost of that timeline exit the breach.
"Whoa, so weird to see Frost again…and pregnant." Chester stated, getting a slap on the chest from Allegra.
"Barry! It's good to see you again, son." Joe exclaimed.
"Thanks, but I'm confused. Why did you contact us?"
"We're an alternate timeline of yours. A few months ago, your Peter Parker got stranded here. We only just managed to find you." Allegra explained.
"Where is he? Where's Peter?" Caitlin pleaded.
Cecile sighed with depression. "I think you should follow me."
She then led their visitors to the morgue, where the bodies of Peter and Barry were on slabs. Both now looked like old men. They were dead.
"No. No!" Caitlin cried out as she ran to his body, holding his head in her arms.
"Dad!" Frankie exclaimed, running over to her parents. The two women cried over the loss.
"What happened?" Frost asked, rubbing her stomach containing her now orphaned son.
"A few weeks ago, we came across a mad scientist named Pytor Orloff. He used a machine that started aging Peter and our Barry. It was destroyed before we could figure out how to cure them." Cecile explained.
Barry looked at his doppelgänger with shock, seeing the corpse of another version of himself. Frost then knelt down and cried at the loss of the man she and Caitlin loved.
Peter then woke up from his nightmare. He fell asleep with his head resting on his crossed arms, laying on a workbench as he was sitting on a swivel chair. His whole body felt stiff. He then thought about his dream. He might actually die…by old age of all things…so to speak. He might never see his friends and family again, never see Frost give birth to their son, never see Tommy and Tina grow up, never see them and Frankie get married to their respective fiancés. But he also thought of things he couldn't do here, like see Chester and Allegra finally admit their feelings. But at the very least, he thought of something he needs to do right now.
Peter found himself at the front door of the West house, carrying a six pack of Joe's favorite brand or beer. The lights were off, so no one was home, yet Joe's car was still out front. He knew Cecile was with Barry and he remembered that Jenna was visiting her half-sister, Joanie, so they were accounted for. He decided to wait on the chair on the front porch for Joe to return. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long as he only had to wait three minutes, only to see Joe park up front in a different car as he and former Police Captain David Singh exit it.
"Joe, Captain Singh." Peter greeted them, a little awkwardly.
"Hi." He replied a little awkwardly. "Uh, David, this is Peter Parker, our latest Teammate. Peter, I'm assuming you already know who David is."
"Yes, I do." Peter replied. "Hello." He said to Singh as he shook his hand.
"Parker, huh? Let me guess, you're that new hero that's been working with The Flash, Spider-Man, right?" Singh asked.
"Yes, I am."
"What, you're not gonna BS me?" Singh asked in surprise.
"Let's just say that I trust you." Peter replied to Singh before turning to Joe. "Uh, Joe, can we talk?" he asked awkwardly.
"I think that's my que to leave."
"No, you don't have to." Joe assured Singh. "You can stay in Barry's old room." He offered, which even Peter nodded in agreement.
"No, I already paid for the hotel room and my things are there. I'll see you both tomorrow." Singh said before going back into his car and drove away.
Joe and Peter entered the house and made their way to the living room, sitting on the couch. Peter put the six pack on the coffee table.
"I see you brought beer." Joe noted, trying not to show any emotion.
"Yeah, thought you'd be more inclined to talk if I brought a peace offering." Peter said.
"Well, glad you got my favorite brand. Well, you wanted to talk, so talk."
Peter sighs, looks at Joe remorsefully. "I'm sorry. I know you would never intentionally insult Barry. It was just a combination of bad memories of the bullies in highschool who used to insult me and the thought that I could be home with my family and instead I'm listening to you mimic Barry."
Joe sighed and started to also look remorseful. "You weren't wrong. I was a bully." Peter looked at him, shocked by this revelation. "I was a mediocre basketball player in highschool who barely made it onto the team. I didn't get any scholarships to colleges and I took out a lot of my frustration on insulting and verbally abusing kids who liked fiction like "Dungeons and Dragons" or "Star Trek" or anything my old man said was gay or just impossible. So yeah, Iris befriending Barry as a kid, adopting Barry, everything since the Particle Accelerator exploded, including befriending you, Chester, and even Cisco, Ray, and Felicity has been my Karma."
Peter let out a snort and smirked, but then tried to look serious again, hoping to not insult Joe. But Joe started to laugh too and the two laughed at the situation.
"I was just talking to Singh. He made a point about how stubborn I can be (especially about technology) and it got me thinking about how I reacted to you. So, I'm sorry too." Joe replied, patting Peter on the back. "One last thing though, what did you mean by "I shouldn't be surprised from a West?""
Peter sighed. "I know she's your daughter, but I have not had the best experience with Iris. She's been pretty selfish and a terrible leader of Team SpiderFlash or Team Flash. Like not agreeing to rescue Barry from the Speedforce and believing if they retrained an amnesiac Barry, he'd defeat Savitar. Not to mention how she treated Nora in that possible future. I've heard her call Barry's dream to see the Particle Accelerator turn on "sad" and "nerdy" and when he showed enthusiasm for the science about it, she said that he needs a girlfriend, even though we both know beautiful women who love science."
"And my mimicking Barry made you think about that and considering I'm her father…" Joe realized.
"Iris and Barry get some of your good qualities, but also some of your bad ones. Hell, the recent case has brought out a lot of Barry's stubbornness."
"I can understand why you don't like her and I hope that changes, but that is an entirely different Iris. My baby girl is good, I love her and I am damn proud of her."
"I'll admit, I don't know your Iris as well as I did mine. I mean, for the most part, everyone I knew in both timelines are mostly the same, but with a few differences. Hell, I was surprised to hear that it was Iris that got Barry to try D . Honestly, as much as I didn't like her counterpart from my universe, I hope she proves me wrong." Joe then takes one of the beers and opens one. He offers one to Peter. "Ah, what the hell. Why not?" Peter said before taking the beer.
"Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" Joe asked.
"Have-have you heard about the current case?" He stammered.
"Cecile has been keeping me up to date with texts…and I've noticed your gray hairs. So, you're an old man now?"
"Yeah. I-," he starts to say before starting to tear up, "I'm afraid."
"Of dying?" Joe asked sympathetically.
"A little, and of old age of all things. And it's not Doc Ock, The Reverse-Flash, or the Batman Who Laughs that got me, but a new mad scientist who got lucky on his first try. "This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper."" He quoted before looking sadder. "But mainly, I'm afraid of dying before seeing my family again or worse, forgetting them before I die."
"You're not going to forget them."
"I don't remember what Tommy and Tina look like." He stated. "I remember Caitlin, Frost, Frankie, Barry, Ronnie, Cecile and you because I've seen you all recently. But it's been so long since I've seen Tommy and Tina, or May and Harry, or Patty and Dawn, or Eddie, Felicity, or Oiliver."
Joe took in what he was saying and felt bad for him and Barry. God knows if Barry feels the same with Iris in the Still Force. But he then realized that Peter just brought up someone he hadn't mentioned before.
"Who's Dawn?" Joe asked, confused.
"Barry and Patty's daughter, your granddaughter."
Joe looked shocked at that. "What about Nora and Bart?"
"He never knew of Bart, nor I until I came here. He once told me when Dawn was born that she wasn't a replacement for Nora."
"Huh." Joe replied before taking a sip of his beer and then standing up and heading to a shelf in the living room.
"Can't help you with children from an alternate timeline, but I can help with old friends of yours." He said before taking some photo albums and taking them to Peter. "Here, the 2014 and 2015 Christmas parties and the rehearsal dinner for Barry and Iris' wedding." He pointed out.
Peter looked at the photos happily, glad to see his old friends again.
Soon, his phone rang and he saw that it was Chester calling him.
"Hey, Peter, I finally broke the encryption code on Orloff's laptop." Chester told him.
"Ok, see you at the Cortex." He told Chester before hanging up and turning to Joe. "Sorry, Joe, duty calls!" He then gets up and is about to use a tele-sphere to get to S.T.A.R. Labs.
"Hey," Joe says before Peter can use a tele-sphere, "If you survive this, you still have your room here."
"Thanks, Joe." He thanked before teleporting away.
In the Cortex, Chester explains to Team Flash what he found.
"So I took a look through Orloff's notes on the gamma array. He is a next-level genius, no doubt, but unfortunately, he's planning something seriously dangerous." Chester told them, before starting to type something on the keyboard to show them a device on the monitors. "This is what he stole from his second lab raid. It's an energy amplifier that could boost his machine's output a hundred fold."
"So, he wants to make everyone old? Why?" Allegra asked.
"His research is obsessed with finding the scientific equivalent of a fountain of youth. He just wants to be young again and I think he's figured out how."
"He's gonna suck the youth out of the city. I feel like another villain was going to do something similar to that." Peter said, trying to remember the villain and plot.
"You mean DeVoe?" Cecile asked. "But he was trying to make everyone else blank slates, he was already smarter."
"I think it did have to do with knowledge, but I don't think it was DeVoe and I don't think it was in Central City."
"Either way, Chester, can you pull up the security footage I used to run his background?" Barry asked. Chester complies and Barry notices something about Orloff. "Look at his hair." Barry noted.
"He's not grey anymore." Cecile realized.
"I thought he looked different when we encountered him again. He took our youth." Peter realized as well.
"His machine works…only it needs to absorb a lot of energy just to make him even a few years younger, which is why he stole the amplifier." Chester tells them.
"Chester, what happens when he finishes connecting the amplifier to the gamma array?" Barry asked.
"I'm guessing something good for him and something very bad for everyone else." Peter figured.
"Peter's right, he becomes immortal. And the city, everyone in it, all age hundreds of years in an instant." Chester replied solemnly. "We'll all be dust."
Everyone contemplates what this news will mean for everyone, but soon the alarm blares.
"We've got a massive radiation spike. I'm reading 2,000 millisieverts-wait, no, 3,000." Chester tells them as reads the results from the monitor, the jump in radiation scaring him.
"Orloff just activated his machine." Barry realizes.
"Okay, we know where he is. Let's take him down. Pull the plug." Allegra stated.
"No, it's not gonna be that easy." Chester tells her. "I mean, look at these readings. If we shut it down too suddenly, there would be a cascading degradation cycle in the gamma isotopes."
"Meaning we can't just shut it off." Peter realizes what Chester meant. "It's already built up too much of a charge. Shutting off now would cause the gamma rays to explode out, affecting hundreds of people."
"We better think of something quick. In a few minutes, it'll be charged enough to affect the whole city."
"Is there any way we can charge it down?" Cecile asked
"No. We have to speed it up." Barry realizes before explaining his theory to the team. "Guys, the gamma radiation siphons energy from human cells, speeding up the biological aging process. Like what's been happening to me and Peter all day. But if we feed it more energy than it can handle…"
"The amplifier would have to kick into overdrive to match the high energy consumption rate. It would burn out the machine." Chester realizes what Barry is telling them.
"Classic "overfeed or overload the bad guy in order to take him down" tactic. I feel like we've done it before, years ago." Peter said, struggling to remember one of their past adventures.
"Okay, what have we got that can put out that much energy?" Cecile asked.
"Me." Barry tells them.
The others, save for Peter, look shocked by what he is implying.
"No. Barry, you remember what Chester said. If you use your speed again, it could kill you this time." Cecile tells him before turning to Peter.
"I have to try. If I die or it ages me to 100, I'm not afraid anymore. You're right, Cecile, I can't outrun time, but I can embrace it, and I can choose to spend every moment I have left trying to save innocent lives." Barry says before turning to Peter. ""With great power, comes responsibility." Right, Pete?"
Peter heard what Barry said and realizes that he should face his fears too. He then takes off his shirt to reveal the torso portion of his Spider-Man suit. "That's right, Barry."
"You're going too? Peter, using your Spider-powers will age you further too. And…Barry's right that he's needed. But you…you don't have to go." Cecile points out.
"We don't know if Orloff has a trap or something. It's always better to have back up. But just in case," he replies before checking his web-shooters as he puts his gloves on, "Web-shooters are full."
"Fine, go get 'em Spider." She tells him, relentingly, before turning to Barry. "Run, Barry, run."
Barry then speeds out of there as Peter finishes suiting up, checking the monitor for the gamma array's location and then teleporting there with a tele-sphere.
The two heroes find themselves at a dock in Central City, where Orloff and his van, with the gamma array (which is still powering up) are. Barry keels over to pant for a bit before facing Orloff.
"You don't-you can't-" Barry struggles to say while out of breath.
"Yes, I can, and I am." Orloff replied.
"Why? So you can be forever young?" Peter asked. "If there's one thing fiction has taught me about the concept of immortality: it's boring."
"Maybe, but that's for me to find out."
The gamma array starts to whir louder than before.
"Orloff's machine just hit 100,000 millisieverts of radiation-that's fully charged, guys. Whatever you're going to do, you gotta do it now." Chester tells them over the coms.
"You're out of time, Flash, and slower than ever. It looks like everyone in Central City is running out of time, except me." Orloff stated before pressing a button on a detonator that he was holding.
Peter sends a web blast to knock it out of his hands before impact webbing him to the ground. The gamma array starts to create a dome of blue colored energy, which Barry starts to run around to overload it and prevent it from expanding any further. Peter just watched with awe.
"If this machine wasn't gonna kill everyone, I'd say this looks cool." Peter stated.
"I don't understand. What's Barry doing?" Peter heard Allegra ask over the coms.
"He just matched the gamma machine's energy output, stopping it from expanding, but if he's gonna overcharge it, he's gonna have to hit some savage velocity." Chester explained.
"Don't worry, if there's one thing I learned over the years is to never doubt Barry's speed." Peter told them.
Peter then hears an alert from the coms. His lenses show that Barry's vitals are starting to fail.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He's having a heart attack."
"How much longer can he hold out?" Peter heard Allegra ask from their side of the coms.
"Biologically, he's over 100 years old."
"Come on, Flash, you can do it." Peter whispered, mostly to himself.
Soon, Peter notices that Barry was starting to get faster and faster, until his lightning started to envelope the dome and turn the energy the same color as Barry's lightning, which was also affecting the gamma array and causing the dome to shrink.
"No. No. Ah-" Orloff exclaimed, angry that his plan had been foiled. "No!" He screams as energy made from the gamma array hits him, Peter (who gets blown back by it, but does a superhero landing when he hits the ground), and Barry.
"He did it!" Chester exclaims over the coms. Peter also heard Chester, Allegra, and Cecile laughing with joy.
"Wait, what-what's-what's wrong?" Allegra asked.
"Wait." Chester says before (what Peter assumed) checked the monitors for their vitals. "I can't believe what I'm seeing."
As Peter gets up, he notices how the energy affected him. "My joints don't hurt when I move. Holy shit." At that moment, Barry speeds in front of him. "Flash, you didn't just stop the gamma array, you undid the aging it originally did to us. God, I'm glad to be back in my 30s."
"He's right, my readings say that you two are-"
"Better than ever." Barry states with pride.
"Thanks, Flash." Peter says with his hand raised for a high five, which Barry reciprocates.
The two heroes head to the webbed up Orloff, who is no longer the middle aged man he was a minute ago, but the old man he once was, maybe even older. Peter uses his web-dissolve on him after scanning him with his mask for any hidden surprises.
Orloff looks at his hands, sad at how old he became. "My years, my time! It's all gone!" He exclaimed in sadness. "What do I do now?!" He asked the heroes in desperation.
"My advice: embrace the time that you have left in prison." Barry told him.
"'Cause you wasted what time you could have by committing crimes in your obsession with immortality. Like I said, it's often depicted as boring or as a curse. It doesn't matter how long you live but what you do with the limited time we have. It's what makes life precious: that it eventually ends. Hell, Flash and I had a friend who lived more in few months before her death than most do in their entire lives." Peter tells Orloff before looking at Barry, who looks solemnly back at Peter for the nice reminder about Frost.
Later in the Med Lab, the two heroes (in their civies) examine themselves in the mirror, noticing that the gray hairs are gone. The two don't notice that Chester, Allegra, and Cecile are watching them, looking at themselves in the mirror.
"They look…good." Allegra notes before asking Chester, "Are they good?"
"Oh, yeah. No, those boys are doing better than good." He replies after looking at the results on his tablet. Hearing that they're talking about them, the two stop admiring themselves in the mirror and walk over to the three, to join in on the conversation. "Barry forcing the gamma array's field backwards completely inverting its energy charge. So, young man Orloff became old, but not only did old man Barry and Peter become young again, you two have completely regenerated and then some." He tells the two heroes.
"Hold on, are you saying that Peter and I-" Barry starts to ask.
"Sorry to break to you, kids, but Barry, you are not in your 30s anymore. As for Peter, you're not in your late 30s anymore."
"How old are we?" Peter asks
"Peter, you're 31. Barry, you're 29. But, y'all know what that means, though, right?" He asks before starting to sing,
"30th birthday party next year!"
Cecile and Allegra join in on the singing,
"30th birthday party next year!"
"Just because we're biologically younger does not detract from the 32 years of memories Barry already has or the 39 years that I have." Peter stated, dampening their celebration…for ten seconds.
"30th birthday party next year!
30th birthday party next year!"
"Ok, whatever you want, you mooks!"
"But guys, I gotta tell you both, a party is the least we can do for the man who saved us all today." Cecile told Barry.
"She's right. Thanks man." Peter said as he put a hand on Barry's shoulder.
"I just stopped being stubborn, found the best way to use the time I had left." Barry stated.
"Well, you'll be happy to know Dr. Orloff is gonna spend the rest of his time in Iron Heights." Allegra told him.
"That's thanks to you guys. You watched it for me and Peter, even when I wasn't watching out for myself."
"Don't sweat it boss. Why didn't you keep getting some rest, and we'll see you later?" Allegra says before she, Chester, and Peter leave the room.
"I'm glad to have my memories back. I just remembered what I was thinking of earlier. The guy I was thinking of who tried to steal knowledge was the Riddler. A few years ago, he tried using these devices for TVs, computers, and phones that he sold under an alias to get people's knowledge, such as credit card numbers, bank records, info to black mail the 1% and try to discover the identities of the Justice League. Batwoman had me and Barry help her stop him." Peter told Chester and Allegra.
"Whoa! Never happened here, but now we can keep an eye out if he does here." Chester replied.
"What about that adventure where Barry had to overload something like he did today?" Allegra asked.
"Back in his first year as the Flash, an electricity based villain (Farooq or Blackout, as Cisco dubbed him) stole Barry's speed by absorbing his electricity. He wanted to kill Eobard Thawne disguised as Harrison Wells, because he lost his friends when he first got his powers from the Particle Accelerator explosion. He caused a citywide blackout, where Team Flash had to stop him, while I had to deal with a hostage situation at C.C.P.D. and rescue a bunch of people, including Joe, Iris, and Eddie." Peter told them.
"I remember that black out. I was in the middle of a Livestream when that happened." Chester told them.
"Yeah, didn't you say that it was there that you revealed your identity to the team?" Allegra asked.
"Yep, after Barry defeated him by getting his speed back and having him feast on his energy again, now knowing that he had more than he realized, I revealed my identity to them. I can't believe I forgot, especially because it was after that…" Peter replied, the last part started to get him to tear up. "...it was the start of Caitlin and I getting even closer than before." Allegra sees that he's starting to cry and hugs her friend, with Chester following suit. "Thanks guys." He said, accepting the hug.
"You gonna be okay, man?" Chester asked, sympathetically.
"Yeah, I'm gonna head to Joe's."
"You guys made up?" Allegra asked.
"Yes, just before Chester unlocked the laptop."
"Glad to hear that."
"Yeah, see you guys tomorrow."
A few minutes later, Peter arrived back at the West house.
"I'm guessing that because you didn't "beam in," that you guys undid the aging thing." Joe enquired.
"Yeah." Peter replies, deciding to tell him tomorrow (and avoid Joe getting annoyed) that he and Barry are now biologically younger. "Wait, did you just reference "Star Trek?" I thought you made fun of guys who liked it?" Peter teased.
"I'm human. Not to mention, you can't be friends with Cisco without him making you watch "Wrath of Khan" with him at least once."
"That's true."
"Well, I'm gonna head to bed." Joe says as he starts to get up.
"Actually, before you do, I just remembered that my suit's computer has pictures from my timeline."
"Why didn't you look at them earlier."
"I forgot."
"No, before you were aging."
"Because I didn't think I'd be here long. Anyway, wanna see pictures of my kids and your granddaughter?"
"Sure. Do I need to wear your mask or something?"
"No, I can just connect my A.I. to your TV via Bluetooth."
"Um, sure…do that." Joe replied, not sure about the techno jargon that Peter just said.
Peter then sat next to Joe and had his AI connect to Joe's TV. Peter started with a picture of his family, few months before Peter was originally abducted by Doctor Strange's botched spell. The Snow-Parkers were having a picnic and posing for the photo. Peter was sitting next to the pregnant Frost on her right, while Caitlin sat next to her left. Frankie sat next to Caitlin and the twins sat on the laps of the parents.
"You have cute kids." Joe told him.
"Thanks." Peter replied.
"My God, I don't think I've seen Caitlin or Frost that happy."
"You think so?"
"Absolutely. You send a copy to Caitlin. Maybe it'll cheer her up that not only is she capable of getting this kind of happiness, but so was Frost."
"Yeah, maybe."
He then brought up a picture that was shot after a recent school play that Dawn performed in. Joe held her as Barry, Patty, Cecile, and a tween Jenna stood next to them. Joe looked at the little girl with blonde curls that his doppelgänger was holding with tears of joy.
"She's beautiful." Joe stated.
He also noticed how happy Barry and Patty were together. It wasn't until seeing this picture and looking at the picture of them back when they dated during Christmas 2015, that Joe had been in denial for a long time: Barry was happier with Patty than with Iris.
The two looked at pictures from the other timeline for another half an hour.
"Hey, do you think that you could please help me with the vacuum tomorrow?" Joe asked Peter.
"Sure." Peter replied.
"I wasn't sure about a robot vacuum. Jenna should learn to use a regular vacuum or she'll get lazier."
"You know, I bet our ancestors said the same thing when vacuums started replacing brooms and dustpans."
Joe realized what Peter just said. "Damn. You and David are right. I need to stop fearing the future."
"It's like the song says, "The times, they are a changin'.""
A week later
The Team (minus Caitlin and Iris, plus Singh) reunite as the West House for another game of Dungeons & Dragons. Singh is having a conversation with Allegra, Barry, Chester, and Peter.
"So, you're a meta, too?" Singh asked Allegra as she was setting up the game.
"Yeah, I used to be like a human lightbulb-" Allegra replied.
"Kinda like, Zach from "Sky High." Always had a crush on Layla from that movie." Peter quipped.
"Ok, thanks for that info, Peter." She said, a little confused by Peter. "Anyway, now-"
"She's a hell of a lot more." Chester stated, causing Allegra to smile and blush a little.
"So, what's your code name?" Singh asked her.
"Uh-" She started to reply, but then didn't say anything since she didn't have an answer.
"You know, Barry used to be the Steak, and then he became the Flash. What do people call you?"
"I don't know. I-I've never really thought about it before. But I like to keep a low profile, so-yeah." She replied awkwardly.
"I'm honestly surprised that Cisco never came up with one before he left." Peter pointed out. "We gotta come up with one for you…and a super suit…and-"
""A mask!"" Allegra, Chester, and Barry said in unison.
"Hey, it's important. Don't want the bad guys to know who we really are."
Soon, Cecile enters the room from the kitchen with a glass of wine and sits at the table. Allegra then looks over at the foyer and the stairs.
"Uh-okay, Joe, I'm thinking we tweak the quest. We can set it in C.C.P.D. Maybe we solve a homicide?" Allegra called out to Joe.
"Wouldn't be surprised if there is an R.P.G. for playing as a cop." Peter stated.
"We could do that, or-" Joe called from the kitchen, before coming out dressed like Gandalf The Gray. Everyone gasps and exclaimed with joy at his cosplay attire. "What if Karash the Orc used root-induced barbarian rage…and his vorpal sword…to kick some Dungeon Kraken ass?!" He told them in character. The team laughed at the fun of it all.
"Yes!" The Team proclaimed with joy.
"I've been doing a little light reading in that handbook, there, children, and once I show y'all how to play this game, I'm gonna teach y'all Spades, and y'all gonna need a manual for that." He said in his normal voice as he sat down at the table.
"Joseph West, welcome to the dorkside, my friend!" Peter proclaimed.
Everyone laughs again. Barry looks at his phone for an incoming call. Peter gets a slight tingle from his Spider-sense as he sees Barry look at his phone.
"I'm sorry, I gotta take this. You guys keep-" Barry told them. As he goes off to the side to answer it, Peter looks at him intently. His senses tell him that Barry's phone call is very important. After thirty seconds, Barry ends the phone call and turns back to the group. "I'm afraid I'm gonna have to call it a night." He told them.
Several of the team exclaimed in disapproval. "What? Come on!" A lot of them basically said. Peter remained silent.
"I'm sorry. I'll see you all tomorrow." He said before leaving.
A few seconds later Peter spoke up. "I actually have to go too."
"Seriously, Pete? We watched "The Lord of Rings" trilogy to get me in the spirit." Joe stated.
"I-I have an errand I need to do. Don't wait up for me." He lied to them as he left the house. He soon made his way to an alley and changed into his Spider-Man suit before heading onto a rooftop. "Karen, track Barry's phone." He asked his A.I. His lenses then display where Barry's phone was on a map of Central City, which showed that Barry was at Caitlin's apartment.
Peter makes his way to Caitlin's apartment. He spots a bright light coming from her windows. As he gets closer, he sees that one of them is open and crawls inside of it. He sees that her entire living room is much different that it was nearly two months ago, since there was destroyed lab equipment. He sees Caitlin on the ground, clutching Frost's flannel shirt.
"Are you okay?" Peter asked with concern as he removed his mask.
"What do you want?" Caitlin asked with venom in her voice, angry about what happened before Peter arrived.
"Believe it or not, but I do care about you. Tell you what, I'm gonna get a broom and dustpan, sweep up the broken glass, and when I'm done, you can tell what happened or to fuck off."
Peter did as he said and cleaned up the glass on the ground. As he did, Caitlin thought if he should tell him or not. Maybe he'd be more sympathetic than Barry. After all, he helped when they thought that they were going to bring back Ronnie. She had considered bringing him in to originally help her with resurrecting Frost, but she trusted Mark more. She doubted if they would get along, even if it meant saving Frost. Another reason why she couldn't tell Peter was because he was still working alongside Barry and she didn't want him to know (and if her mess of a living room was any indication, she was right not to tell him).
"Okay, what's it going to be?" Peter asked after finishing bagging up the broken glass.
"I was trying to bring back Frost." She told him.
Peter is silent for a while before finally responding. "Excuse me?"
She then explained her plan to use the duplication gun to create a new body for Frost, using any latent D.N.A. that was still in her.
"So…you're going to clone her?" Peter summarized.
"I suppose that's one way of looking at it." Caitlin shrugged.
"The problem with that is she won't be the same as she was before her death. She still died and her soul has moved on. Even if you have any of her memories deep inside your brain, it'll be from before she separated from you. She won't have any of her memories from the past year."
"Still, I had to try. I can do this!"
"To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum, "You're so preoccupied with if you can, you forgot to think if you should.""
"Of course I should. It's our fault that she died. If we had just let Barry capture the black flame when he could, she never would have died! Wouldn't you do the same if it were your parents? God knows, Barry doesn't."
"What do you mean?"
"A few minutes ago, I asked Barry to help and to sympathize with me by saying what if we could bring back his parents. But instead he destroyed all this equipment."
Peter then face palmed. "Tell me that you didn't actually say that?!"
"Yes, I thought he would be sympathetic-"
"ARE YOU STUPID OR DID YOU FORGET ABOUT FLASHPOINT?!" He yelled at her.
"Excuse me?" She asked, offended.
"He tried to bring back his parents by stopping Thawne in the past, creating a new timeline-"
"I know what Flashpoint was!"
"Then you know that Frost was a consequence of Flashpoint."
"We don't know that, it could have been my trauma from Zoom kidnapping me that finally brought her out after decades inside my mind."
"Maybe, but the timing is highly suspect. But either way, he undid it because he learned that there are consequences for playing God like that. It's why he destroyed your equipment. Hell, when Allegra confused us saving Ronnie with resurrecting him, she thought it wasn't right."
"Please, Peter!" She pleaded. "She was going to have a life with Mark."
"She was going to dump Mark." He replied bluntly.
"No she wouldn't. After our fight at O'Shaughnessy's, she was so adamant about him." She replied, in denial of what he just said.
"Caitlin, she was falling for me." He said. "I turned her down, but it made her reevaluate what she wanted. You were right about how toxic he is, so she realized she wanted a nice guy, like me." Caitlin starts to look at him with an unreadable expression. "Frost died so that you could live. She even said it was why Thomas created her, to protect you. Cloning her/trying to resurrect her would be a dishonor to her sacrifice. Barry did the right thing, even if I think it was overly harsh." He stated, trying to sympathize with her and help her understand.
She's silent for a bit, before looking at Peter with anger. "Get out."
"Caitlin-"
"GET OUT!" She yelled, pushing him back against his chest. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! I'M NOT YOU'RE FUCKING WIFE, SO LEAVE ME ALONE!"
She then fell to the floor and cried. Peter left her there, knowing that she didn't want his help.
"You're angry, so I'll forgive you. I'll leave you alone. But please, live your life. Find a great guy or girl, have kids, see your mom, go back to Team Flash. Hell, I'll let you know when I finally return home. Just please live your life. You promised Frost not to shut yourself off from the rest of the Team and to trust me." He said, trying to sound sympathetic, before taking the bags of glass and jumping out the window to swing away, leaving Caitlin alone (and throwing the bags of broken glass into a dumpster). Neither knew that would be the last time either of them would see each other again for a while.
A/N: If you haven't already, check out the YouTube channel, "Door Monster." They do a ton of comedy sketches based on all things nerdy, especially D .
A line in this made me laugh. "Iris made me give it a try." Iris made Barry try d . Iris has never shown any interest in fiction.
I like Joe and think he's the best of the Wests. He still has some negative qualities that Iris inherited. But seriously, if Cecile was with Team Flash, where was Jenna while Joe was having coffee with Singh? It's never said in the episode, hence my explanation.
For those who didn't get the reference, "stick-em powers" are what Amazing and Ultimate Peter refer to their wall crawling abilities in the video game, "Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions," aka the game that inspired the "Spider-Verse" comic, movies, and inspired "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
When Barry runs around the gamma array, I got flashbacks of Johnny Storm going supernova on Doom in the 2005 "Fantastic Four" film. I considered having Peter go like Ben Grimm and something like "Flame on, kid." But the closest is "Run, Barry, run" and Cecile already said before Barry left to stop Orloff.
For those who don't know, "Bullet Train" has Joey King (Frankie's actor in the original episode) as Prince, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Who's playing Kraven the Hunter in the Sony film of the same name) as Tangerine, Ryan Reynolds (who is of course known for playing Deadpool) cameo's as Carver, and Brian Tyree Henry (who voices Miles' dad, Jefferson Davis, in the Spider-Verse films) plays Lemon. Also, just saw "Transformers One" and Brian Tyree Henry was awesome as D-16 aka Megatron.
Barry said he was 25 in the first half of season 1, which took place in fall of 2014, making him born in 1989 (a year younger than Grant Gustin actually is). I made Peter, Ronnie, and Caitlin born in '88.
Since Peter is older in this story, I figured that he'd still be older after the gamma array is reversed at the end, but not by much.
With Danielle Panabaker as a member of the main cast of a superhero show, of course I had to mention her role in Disney's "Sky High," especially after the recent announcement of a sequel.