(A/N) So, now and then, I'm gonna add something to the beginning of the chapters going back to reveal how events went down in this new timeline. These will also be how Barry now gains these new memories as they are coming. These will just be a few times here and there, but Barry will gain more memories than what I am showing, and every now and then will be random moments to show the changes to this timeline.
New timeline:
Barry was currently working in the CCPD labs the day right before the accelerator was supposed to activate. While he was working, his sister Wanda Allen walked in. Wanda had been adopted by the Allen family when Barry was a child, as they thought it would be nice for him to have a sibling. Of course, that was a little ironic, considering a few years later Peter was born.
"Okay, I am ready to see this particle accelerator," Wanda said as she strolled inside. "What's been happening here?"
"There was a shooting today," Barry tells her and he starts going over more over more evidence. "Joe needs me to process some evidence, which means I don't know if we're going to make it to STAR Labs."
"But seeing this thing turn on was like your dream," Wanda said as she took a handful of her brother's fries. "You couldn't stop talking about it, even during its construction."
"Hey, couldn't you get your own fries?" Barry asks as he smacks her hand playfully. "Hands off my lunch."
Wanda ignored him as she took another handful of fries. "What's so important about this particle accelerator anyway?" she wondered, not understanding why her brother was excited about it. "I mean, they turn something on, and all I see is something is gonna go boom."
"Harrison Wells' work in quantum theory is light years ahead of anything they're doing at CERN," Barry explains to her and she doesn't follow anything he's saying.
"Pretend like I'm a normal human being," Wanda dared Barry. Science wasn't her strong suit; she was better at reading people than a test tube. "You forget, I make my living as a palm reader?"
Barry walks up to his whiteboard and draws a dot. "Imagine that dot represents everything the human race has ever learned until this moment," he explains, drawing a circle around the dot. "That is everything we could learn from the particle accelerator. It's a whole new way of looking at physics. It will literally change the way that we think about everything," he says enthusiastically with a huge smile on his face.
Wanda says while putting a hand on his shoulder. "We've really gotta get you a girlfriend, bro."
CURRENT TIME:
"I made a big mistake. I just couldn't take it anymore; you know? What happened with Zoom, my dad dying, my mom's death, and becoming The Flash? All of it. I wanted a new life. I wanted to start over. And that's what I did. But somehow, I... I made things worse."
That was what was going through Barry's mind as he was running through the streets of Central City and eventually exited the city limits, continuing to run. He ran until he found himself in the Arrow Cave, which wasn't much different to his relief. He found Felicity there, and she appeared to have been working on some papers that were scattered across the table.
Felicity gasped in dismay as she watched her papers fly everywhere. "No!"
Barry continued to ramble on as he paced around. "So I reset everything. I put everything back to the way that it was before. Except some things weren't the same anymore. Not even a little bit."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down," Felicity said as she tried to slow him down. "Take a breath. You were talking way too fast."
"I really screwed things up, Felicity," he told her in sorrow. "And I don't know if I can fix it."
"Okay, so let me get this straight," Felicity said as she tried to wrap her head around the whole idea of Flashpoint. "You went back in time. Stopped Reverse Flash from killing your mom, and then lived in an alternate reality where you and Peter got to live together, and both of your parents were alive?"
"Yeah," Barry confirmed she was getting it.
"And then you restored the timeline, came back to the moment that you left, and noticed that things were different?" Felicity asks.
"Exactly," said Barry in confirmation.
"Does that just happen when you travel through time?" Felicity wondered. "Do things just change like that?"
"No, I mean, not like this," he said. "I don't know. I don't know, Felicity. I don't know what I'm gonna do."
"Okay, why don't you just run me- walk me through what happened?" Felicity quickly corrected herself. "And we'll try and figure it out."
"When I got back, I obviously saw that things were different," Barry admitted as he thought back to earlier. "But before I could gather some more information, I had to deal with someone this morning."
The person Barry had to deal with was a man who was robbing a jewelry store. The kids had a school day, which meant they weren't available to help him this morning. While the cyclist was shooting at him, Barry was able to dismantle his motorcycle quickly. The bike slowly came to a stop as Barry halted it with his hand.
"You're not going to get too far on that thing anymore, are you?" Barry asked him as he took his bag. "I will be taking these back to the jewelry store you stole them from. But you can keep these if you'd like." Barry said and handed him the bullets as the police came up to arrest him. "You can take it from here, can't you?"
Then Barry sped off and made it back to STAR Labs. He asked, "What kind of idiot still thinks I can't outrun bullets?" as he entered the room to see Cisco, Joe, Iris, Wally, and Wanda.
"That guy is the poster boy for what you shouldn't try to do when fighting the Flash," Wanda joked, making Barry turn his head away from her. He was getting small glimpses of the life he lived with Wanda, but she was still quite a stranger to him.
"So what are we gonna call him?" Barry asked as he strolled in, removing his gloves.
"You mean like a nickname?" Wally asks.
"Yeah." Barry shrugged as he noticed Cisco looked upset about something. "Cisco does it for all of them, he's like the master of it. Can't just call him Suspect on a Motorcycle, Right? What do you think?"
Cisco however seemed to not be interested. "I don't know. I'll take this one. Uh, The Crook. Lame? A Five-Finger...How about Thief? He robs stuff. Let's just call him Thief." Barry was confused about his friend's attitude, but it seemed everyone was expecting it. "Gotta get to the gym. Excuse me."
Barry was confused when he heard that and Cisco walked out of the room. "The gym? Is he... is he, like, working out now or..."
Caitlin sighed as she strolled past her fiancé. That was something Barry was relieved to see was still there. "You know, Barry, sometimes your jokes just aren't very funny." She said to him as she left. "Wanda? You coming?"
"Yeah, sure," Wanda said as she and Caitlin headed out to go shopping for Caitlin's wedding.
Barry was seriously confused now about what he had done wrong. Then he noticed Joe and Iris
Iris said as she stood up, "I should get back to the paper."
"It's okay, I was just leaving," Joe told her, knowing she didn't want to see him.
"Hey, guys, look. I'm sorry," said Barry. "I know you guys aren't talking to each other right now, but I was just thinking maybe we could talk about why that is for a minute."
"Dude." Wally groaned.
"No, we can't," Iris stated.
"Okay. Look, I'm sorry. I just thought I don't know, it would be good for you guys to hear it said out loud." Barry explained, wanting to understand what had changed in this timeline.
"This is because of what he did, Barry, not me," Iris stated while pointing at Joe.
Joe tried apologizing, but as always, Iris interrupted him. "Iris."
"What? What could you possibly have to say?" she asked as Joe took Wally with him.
"I'll just see you at the station, all right?" Joe tells Barry. "Nice job with the...Thief."
"Can you drop me off at CCU?" Wally asks.
"So, you're still taking engineering classes," said Barry in relief.
"Yeah." Wally stopped to answer his question.
"Yeah, cool," Barry said. "Well, good luck with...that."
Then when Barry returns to work he meets his new CSI partner Julian Albert who is the metahuman expert for the CCPD while Barry is just the CSI. Wow, he demoted himself overnight to just a CSI.
Joe said, "We've found another one of those husks." He dropped the file on the table. "This one was found outside of a defunct fireworks factory that exploded during Green Goblin's terrorist attack."
"Husks?" Barry asks.
"Singh wants this processed ASAP," Joe tells Julian.
"Yes, the skin husks we've been finding around the city are the ones we think are attached to the meta-humans," Julian commented. "This is the fourth one."
"Well, let's figure out what's happening before there's a fifth," Joe stated as he left the two of them.
Later on, Barry talks to Cisco at the gym where he discovers that his brother Dante was killed. It seems as though Cisco has been asking Barry to go back in time to change things, and that the two of them aren't on good terms. Sounds like he and Peter have had similar arguments about the same thing.
"There's a whole new guy at work that you didn't even know about." Felicity struggled to wrap her head around this.
"Yeah," Barry confirmed. "And apparently yes worked there for almost a year. And he doesn't like me very much."
"Oh, now that's not possible." Felicity denied that. "You're like pudding. Everybody likes pudding."
"Well, not everyone," Barry stated.
"So, to recap, you altered the timeline, Joe and Iris don't talk anymore, and you now have two sisters." Felicity tried to recap everything. "You seriously don't remember Wanda?"
"You know her?" Barry was shocked to hear.
Felicity looks at Barry and says, "Barry, when we first met, you couldn't stop talking about her." She pauses, causing him to freeze. "Oh, god, I was affected too."
"Yeah," Barry confirmed. "And apparently I'm getting flashes, like memories helping me understand both timelines. Showing me both lives. But all I know is she was adopted by Joe same as me, after she was adopted by my parents so I would have a sibling before Peter came along."
"And where does...Teresa fit in on this?" Felicity asks.
"The Parker's adopted Peter because they couldn't have kids of their own. But when they adopted Peter, they discovered they were expecting, and Teresa was born not even a year later." Barry explained. "She and Peter had been raised together and are almost twins."
Felicity said, "I'm upset I never got the chance to meet her last time that I was in town." Then she went back to the topic. "Okay, so we have Joe and Iris, two new sisters, there's a new guy at work, a guy who doesn't like you, and Cisco's brother is dead. Admittedly that's an issue."
"And what if there's more?" Barry asks.
"Well, has anything here changed?" Felicity asks him and Barry looks around and grabs her computer to look.
He then finds that not much has changed in their lives and not much has changed in the way of Peter, Cisco, May, or Caitlin's lives except for the most obvious. While at it, he drowned himself with as much information as he could about his sisters. Everything seems fine with their lives until he comes up with a photo with Diggle and a little boy.
"Who's that young boy with John?" Barry asks Felicity.
Felicity said, "No way! Did he not have a kid before?"
"No. He has a kid, baby Sara." Barry tells her.
"Baby John," Felicity corrected him and Barry couldn't believe what he had done.
"Okay, you know what? I don't want to know anymore." Barry stated.
Felicity assures him, "I know this is a lot of pressure, but everything'll be fine."
"I screwed up their lives, Felicity," Barry reminded her.
Felicity suggests, "Maybe you should tell them."
"I'm not gonna tell them," Barry stated. "I mean, how is that gonna help? That's just gonna make everything worse. I mean... I don't know how to fix this."
"Okay, well, you're gonna figure it out. If there's one thing I've learned from you, is that with you, anything is possible." Felicity tried to assure him.
"Why? Because I'm The Flash?" Barry asks.
"No. Because you are Barry Allen." Felicity tells him. "And sweet, loving, kind Barry Allen that everybody likes, the Barry Allen who's just like pudding, can fix this. So go and fix this."
"Yeah," replied Barry as he sighed. "Okay, you're right. Yeah."
Felicity waited and noticed he wasn't getting the hint. "Now."
"Right now?" Barry asks.
"Yes!" Felicity stated.
"Okay, all right." Barry then got up and sped off back for Central City.
Bobby made it home and sighed; he was supposed to be graduating from high school next year, but now he was wondering if he should go to college. He had been given some advice on the subject and had even discussed it with Caitlin. She had come home after browsing for bridal gowns and other details for their upcoming wedding.
"So, have you figured out what you want to be after high school?" Caitlin was curious to know
Bobby sighed as he considered the options. "Well... at first, I haven't really decided on my future yet. But... ever since you took me in, you've been so nice to me, put food on the table, and put a roof over my head. After living with you for the last three years, I decided that I want to go to med school so I can study to be a doctor like my cousin."
Caitlin was shocked to see how much of an impression she had left on her cousin. "Like me? A doctor?"
Bobby chuckled when he saw her reaction. "Of course. Seeing you give me and the rest of the team medical attention, create serums, and figure out how the Meta's powers work. You've inspired me to follow in your footsteps and helped me become the man I wanted to be. You're like a big sister to the team, trying to keep them from doing something stupid. And also… you're my hero."
Caitlin smiled and shed a tear. "Oh, Bobby." She then hugged him and Bobby returned and chuckled.
Bobby said, "Man, you can be so emotional sometimes."
Caitlin rolled her eyes and smacked his shoulder. "You're ruining the moment."
Before Barry could begin to fix things, he was called in by Joe when they discovered yet another one of the husks at the bay. While he was trying to help Julian, he was brushed aside, but he still managed to get a small piece using his speed. Barry took a sample after sneaking it while Julian wasn't looking and took it to STAR Labs.
"You know, there's really not that much here," Caitlin said as she looked over the sample.
"Like...I've seen fossils with better sample sizes than this." Bobby had to agree.
"Yeah, no, I know. It's basically touch DNA. I had to steal the sample because our metahuman expert wouldn't let me take one." Barry explains.
"You mean Julian Albert?" Caitlin asks.
"You know him?" Barry asks.
That question gets some weird looks from the other two since he never stops complaining about him.
"Yeah, we've known him for a while," Cisco says. "He's the best. You need me?"
"I think we got it covered," Bobby promised. And then he saw Caitlin mentally asking for some alone time with her fiancé. "I'll go...do something else."
Barry watched Cisco leave with Bobby and was confused when he saw Caitlin sighing as she eyed her fiancé. "Cisco told me that you showed up at his bereavement group last night."
"Yeah, I did." Barry sighed. "He also tells you it didn't go so well?"
"It's only been a few months since Dante was killed by that drunk driver." Caitlin sighed, giving Barry some more insight into what happened. "I'm sure that he just needs some more time."
"Okay, but why? Why is he mad at me?" Barry wondered. "Why is he mad at Peter?"
"Oh, no, I'm staying out of that one," Caitlin stated.
"Cait. He'll...he'll barely look at me unless other people are in the room."
"Maybe it's just easier when the rest of us are around." Caitlin guessed.
Barry saw he needed to try and mend the wounds between the entire team. "Do you think you could convince Cisco to come to Joe's house for dinner tonight?"
"Maybe. But why?" Caitlin wonders.
"I just think...so I could try and fix things between us. Maybe even Joe and Iris. Just all of us together in one room, without some deadly attack or terrorist threat." Barry explains to her. "Think you can do that?"
Caitlin smiles and decides to do it. "Okay. But you do know you'll have to talk Peter, Joe, and Iris into it?"
That's a good point.
So after a bit of running between Joe and Iris to try and set them up to come back. It was a little difficult and even a little awkward, even with the hope of false promises to get Iris ideas on the husks for a story. But he managed to finally get things set between them. Caitlin was on Cisco duty, Bobby was likely gonna be there if Caitlin was going, now all that was left was to get Peter to be there. Bobby said last he saw, he and MJ were heading back to May's.
Quickly, he ran over to May's house and noticed her car was gone, which meant she was hopefully either at F.E.A.S.T. or the hospital. He wasn't sure if he remembered correctly if she still worked there or not anymore.
Barry sped into Peter's room without even knocking; his mind raced in every direction. "Hey, Peter, I-" he began, but then he immediately stopped when he realized what was happening and quickly turned around, covering his eyes. "Whoa!"
Peter and MJ are currently on his bed, with MJ on top of Peter and both of them half-dressed.
MJ shrieked and grabbed her shirt. "Oh my god!"
Peter accidentally shoved MJ to hide behind the bed frame while he got dressed. "Barry!?" He cried out in alarm as he grabbed his shirt.
"I didn't see anything," promised Barry.
"Dude, have you ever heard of knocking?!" Peter asks as he and MJ get redressed.
Barry was still covering his eyes. "Sorry, sorry, sorry." He waited a moment and then saw the two of them were finally dressed. "I just...I wanted to invite you to Joe's place for dinner tonight. We are bringing everyone together, trying to fix things between everyone."
Peter asked, "Is Cisco going to be there?"
"Uh...yeah," Barry said.
Peter groaned, clearly in a serious mood, and Barry could make a few guesses as to why. "Fine. Mind if I invite Teresa?"
"Sure. I was gonna text her anyway." Barry assured him.
"What time?" Peter asks.
"Seven," Barry said as he looked between the two and recalled what just happened. "Should I be concerned about what's been going on in here?"
"Barry. We're 18." MJ stated as she pointed to Peter. "He has two months on me, but we are both 18. We both had the talk through our aunts."
"And Joe. And you. And Wanda," Peter said, going down the list.
"We know the risks," MJ says. "We know how to avoid them."
Barry then looked between the two of them and saw they were both sure of what was going on. "Alright." He then slowly walked to the exit. "Sorry. You should put a sock on the door or something next time."
Peter watched his brother leave and looked at his girlfriend's scuffed-up hair from her rushing to get her clothes on. "We should have locked the door."
MJ sighed as she said, "Live and learn."
"Should I have invited you?" Peter wonders.
"No, I'll hang with Harry, my sister, and Gwen tonight," she promised and pecked his cheek. "See you later, Tiger."
Then came family dinner at Joe's place. May couldn't make it, since she had a long day and wanted to take an early night. But to say that things were awkward would be an understatement. Everyone was basically eating in silence, while nobody dared to even talk.
Barry says, "This hits the spot."
"You can thank Grandma Esther," Joe says.
"No, I mean, it's good. I just meant, um... all of us, actually, just here, together." Barry said as he looked around the room. "You know, I was actually thinking, um, that maybe it'd be fun if we all went away together for a few days."
"And do what?" Bobby questioned.
"Bond." Barry gulped, actually interested in learning about these siblings he kinda brought to existence. "Reconnect."
"You mean like a retreat?" Wanda asks. "A superhero retreat? Is that a thing? Do superheroes take holidays?"
"Nah," replied Peter.
Cisco muttered, "Epic fail, party of six."
"I just... I just feel like we're not the team that we were or can be." Barry tells the team. "No one?"
"I'd be down for it," Wally admitted.
"Okay." Barry was happy to see one was up to it. "So other than Wally, I'm the only one that thinks that's a good idea?"
"I don't think The Flash really takes vacations," Iris stated.
"Yeah, I just think it's a bad idea to leave right now." Peter agreed. "Especially with all these husks showing up all over town."
"Speaking of husks, I'm glad you're finally ready to open up about them." Iris tells her father."
Joe was confused by that. "Iris, I already told you, I can't tell you anything about this case."
"Oh, really?" Iris asks. "Because that's not what I was told."
Now Joe was confused. "Strange. I was under the impression you had some things to say to me, too." He then eyed his adopted son. "Isn't that right, Bar?"
"Told you. Epic fail." Cisco stated.
"Okay, look, yeah. I arranged this." Barry admitted. "I put all this together. I'm sorry, guys. Look, I just... we're not acting like a team, and I just wanted things back to how they were. Just fixed."
"If you wanted things fixed, maybe you should have gone back in time and stopped my brother from dying," Cisco stated.
Now Barry finally started to see what Cisco was mad at him about. "You want me to change the timeline to save Dante?"
"Why would you do that? It's not like he's like your brother."
Then Peter put his fork on the plate and stood up because he'd had enough of Cisco's attitude. "Okay, you know? That's it! I tried not to say anything to you, but I have had it!"
Bobby tried to stop Peter by grabbing his arm. "Dude, let it-"
Peter ripped his hand away from his friend, knowing he needed to say this. "No, Bobby! It's time that I get something off my chest to jungle hair over here! Cisco, I am so sorry for what happened to Dante, and I know what you're going through.
Cisco now seemed to get mad about this and eyed Peter. "Do you really?! Do you really know what it's like to feel depressed and regretful for not saying the things to your relative that you wish you could've said to their faces before their deaths?"
"Yes! My uncle!" Peter yelled, missing the look of pain on Teresa's face. "The last time we talked, we argued. It was the night when the accelerator exploded. When I found out that I was adopted, and he didn't even tell me himself. I was so mad, and angry, that he lied to me for years. He had years to tell me the truth but he chose not to. So, we decided to take you and Teresa to a restaurant and we talked about letting him explain to me about my adoption, and maybe we could work things out. But... when we returned home, we learned that Ben had been shot. He was gone. Forever." Peter started to cry as tears filled Teresa's eyes. "The only thing I have left from him is his voicemail he left on my phone."
Peter put his phone on the table and played Ben's voicemail. That was a bit of a shock to learn that almost three years later, and he still kept that voicemail in his inbox. Yet again, Ben was one of his only father figures growing up, and he took his death personally. So it really wasn't that all of a surprise.
"Peter, I know things have been difficult lately, and I'm sorry about that. I can't even imagine knowing what you're feeling right now. Ever since you were a little boy, you've been living with so many unresolved things. And I know discovering you're adopted from outside the family didn't help. But take it from an old man, these types of things send us down a road. They make us who we are. And if anyone is destined for greatness, it's you, son. You owe the world your gifts. You just have to figure out how to use them. And know that wherever they take you, whatever you do, I'll always be there. So come on Peter...please come home. You're my hero...and I love you."
Everyone was sad because it was all Peter, Teresa, and May had left of Ben.
"He is the reason why I became Spider-Man in the first place," Peter told Cisco as Teresa comforted her brother. "So, you see, Cisco, yeah, I do know what it's like to feel depressed and regretful because of what happened to my uncle. He's gone forever! And he's not the only one. George Stacy, Eddie Thawne, Ronnie Raymond, Francine West, and both of my biological and adoptive parents, and yes, Dante." He went down the list of names that came to mind of people he lost. "They're all gone, and they are never coming back! And I know this is very hard, but we have to accept they're gone. That's the only way to move forward, otherwise, you'll be stuck in the same place like cement. And that's exactly what's happening to you, man. You are stuck, way behind us, and refusing to accept your brother's death. So, refusing that you are trying to force my brother to do the ONE thing that he's not supposed to do! Since he refused to do so, you decided to shut the door in his face. Hell, you even tried to get me to convince him to time travel to save your brother! And when I said no to you, you said 'I thought best friends were supposed to be there for each other. First, Barry wasn't and now you refuse to do the same for me.' I mean, seriously, Cisco, Barry, and I tried to be there for you, but every time we did, you kept shutting the front door in our faces and being absolutely selfish! Do ever stop to think that Barry couldn't do it to himself?! Saved our family? Well, he almost did but chose not to save our mother. If he did, then he and I wouldn't be separated. We would grow up together and still be with our parents."
Barry had to look away from the table for a moment. Oh, if Peter only understood the irony of what the was saying.
"But he didn't. I would give anything to have just one more day with my uncle." Peter said as he began to break down, settling back in his chair. "To tell him how sorry I am. To tell him how thankful I am that it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be the man I am today. We don't get second chances, Cisco. All we can do is move on. I hope you can too."
After that small outburst, a lot of the silence became more dreadful than awkward. Peter poured his heart out after that and there was not much any of them could say after that.
Cisco actually finally started to feel bad. "Oh, Peter I'm-"
That's when the Meta-human app goes off. Bobby seemed to be the most relieved as he pulled out his phone. "Oh, thank god, an emergency."
Barry was the first to move on it as he ran off to deal with it. He didn't want to interrupt the dinner and ran to deal with the emergency alone. But when he arrived there, he was shocked to be met with the Rival, Edward Clariss from Flashpoint.
"Clariss?" Barry asks as Clariss removes the mask.
"Oh, you do remember, Flash? Good, yeah. Because I remember everything, too." Clariss tells Barry in anger. "Because I remember everything, too."
"How are you here?" Barry asks.
"It doesn't matter. Because I know your little secret." Clariss informed him. "You changed the timeline. Because if I recall correctly, the only speedsters in my other life were me and that smartass Kid Flash. That is until you showed up and stole everything from me!"
Barry sighed as he didn't expect this to be happening.
"I didn't steal anything from you. I was just trying to put things back to the way they're supposed to be." Barry says.
"This is how my life was supposed to be! For years, I felt something was missing. And now I know why." Clariss states as he raises his arms to gesture to his outfit. Then he placed his helmet back on to try and look intimidating. "Your Rival, back again. And believe me, Flash, this time, you are not going to steal my life so easily."
Rival then went speeding off into the night with Barry right after him. He chased him through the streets as they tried to outmaneuver the other. But Barry has better experience as he then runs around and takes a quick shortcut to tackle Rival and sends him flying into the river. Barry groaned when he tried to find him and couldn't see where he vanished.
"We finally get rid of Zoom, and there's another evil speedster?" Joe asked as everyone made their way to STAR Labs while Barry sped to tell them everything.
"Is anyone else getting sick of these constant Speedsters every year?" Bobby wonders.
"Who is this guy?" Wally wonders.
"Hey, so I got the test results back from that husk Barry gave me this morning. Is weird because there are no traces of dark matter, but there are traces of the Speedforce." Caitlin tells them.
"So this husk belongs to the speedster?" Joe asks.
"Seems that way. From the DNA that we discovered, his name is-"
"Edward Clariss." Barry interrupted, getting everyone to eye him in confusion.
"And somehow Barry knew his name," Caitlin commented.
"Hey," Peter called Barry's attention. "Can we talk?" Barry walked off and followed his brother into the hallway. "Hey, what has been going on with you lately? You seem to be...distant to Wanda, it's like you forgot about Teresa, and you are constantly trying to amend the relationships between all of us."
Barry sighed and knew that there was only one way to fix everything. "I'm sorry. I...I need to do something."
Peter was about to interject, but Barry had already gone speeding off into the distance and vanished from STAR Labs. Barry was running to open yet another portal to try and escape this reality and set things right. But as he was running, an ankh symbol appeared and then scooped Barry out of running back in time and he vanished.
When Barry was flung out of the Speed Force, he had no idea where he was but was surprised when he looked up and recognized the person who stopped him. "Fate?" He asks.
"Barry Allen." Dr. Fate nodded as he reached up removed the helmet and allowed Kent Nelson to take control. "We need to discuss your mistake. Because you were about to make an even bigger one."
Kent then transported Barry to what appeared to be a normal diner, but he could tell that something was wrong. He looked around and figured that something was wrong with everyone in the area acting like NPCs. Kent didn't even seem to care as if everything was normal.
"Where...where are we?" Barry asks.
"This place? One of my favorite places. Chunky Chicken. They closed in the early 2000s, such a shame, I have many memories in this place," Kent explained as he sighed and placed the Helmet down on the table. he then grew a little upset as he recalled a memory of the place. "It's where I met my wife, Inza."
Barry noticed that there was a boombox in the back of the diner. "What year is it?"
"Technically, 1978." Kent sighed. "But in reality, this is all an illusion off of my memories." Barry was amazed to hear that this was all an illusion with how realistic everything looked. " Care to get something to eat?" He asks the Speedster. "I trust you, it all tastes real."
"This is why you pulled me out of the Speed Force?" Barry asks Dr. Fate. "To buy me a meal?"
"No, I pulled you out because you were about to reset the timeline after screwing it all up once before," Kent tells him as he looks over the menu, noticing Barry's shocked expression. "Oh, yeah, I know about that. I let it happen. I told you that I'd keep my eye on you and your friends for a bit." He then looked over at the Helmet of Nabu. "For whatever reason, Fate decided that Flashpoint needed to happen." He nodded sympathetically. "Now, having suffered a loss like that in your life, I see why you'd wanna erase it. I understand that Mr. Allen, completely."
"Well, if it was supposed to happen, why stop me?" Barry asks him. "I was trying to change things back to the way things were supposed to be."
"And who is to dictate what happened was supposed to be? You?" Kent asks Barry. "If I recall correctly, Thawne's actions already changed the timeline. You and your group of friends were all living a parallel life to the ones they were supposed to be living and didn't even seem to care that much."
"Yeah, but this is different. I did this, I can fix this." Barry tells him.
Kent sighed got an idea and picked up a cup. "Let me show you something."
"Okay, you know what?" Barry was getting a little tired of this.
Fate however had different plans as he forced Barry to sit back down. "This coffee cup right here.
Barry sighed and knew he couldn't leave if he wanted to. "Alright, yeah."
"Think of it as the space-time continuum," Fate explains and then uses a glowing light to warm it up and cause it to shatter. "Whenever you go back in time it breaks." Then he used his powers to reconstruct the cup but left dozens of cracks. "Now...you can reset the timeline, you can try to fix it, but no matter how hard you try...
it's never gonna be exactly how it was."
Barry sighed. "Look, I've learned all this stuff that I didn't know before, okay? I am not gonna make the same..."
"Mistakes?" Kent asks, hearing this dozens of times before. "You don't know how many times I have heard people say that, Mr. Allen. Nabu has shown me all of his history, I have seen many beings with powers like yourself make the same mistakes. You are not a god. No more than I am a god. We are men who make mistakes. We must learn how to live with those mistakes, or we will never learn."
Barry seemed to finally grasp what he was saying and sighed. "So, what happens now?"
Kent smirked as he picked up the helmet and placed it on top of his head, allowing Fate to take back control. "That would spoil the ending of this story. Now, wouldn't it?"
And with a wave of his hand, Barry found himself back in the halls of Star Labs like he never even left. But there was a small distance when Bobby was on his phone looking over a video that Harry sent.
"Uh, you guys seen this?" Bobby asks and shows Peter and Teresa a video of what appears to be a blue-suited person cutting a bus in half with blue Forcefield lasers.
"Whoa. That is cool." Peter commented.
"Is that supposed to be a beetle?" Teresa wonders.
"Has anyone seen Barry?" Caitlin wonders where he went.
That was when Barry sped into the room and sighed. He knew that they needed to know the truth and that he couldn't hide from it anymore. "I need to tell you all something," Barry tells them. "The truth."
"Truth about what?" Wanda asks.
"After Zoom killed my dad after we defeated him...I wasn't in a good place and I felt like the only way I could fix that was to run back in time and save my mom." Barry explains to the entire room.
"You stopped Thawne from killing your mom?" Caitlin asks.
"So is she alive?" Bobby asks as well.
"She was. For a few months. I lived with them and even Peter. I had a completely different life. I wasn't even the Flash for most of it." Barry explains to them.
"You created a whole other existence?" Teresa asks. "Like Back to the Future 2?"
"Something like that." Barry sighed as he walked over and drew a line on a board. "This is the timeline. This is the point that we exist on it right now. This point is where my mom was murdered. So when I saved her, I created a new reality."
"A new timeline." Peter understood.
"It's called a Flashpoint, apparently," Barry explains.
"And why would you leave?" Wanda wonders since he had the life he always wanted.
"That life started to spin out of control," Barry explains to them. "This guy, Clariss, he was a speedster there. He was known as the Rival. He caused a lot of problems. Peter...he wasn't Spider-Man in that world, but he...he died."
Peter froze when he heard there was a parallel world where he was killed. Again. Earth-2 and Flashpoint, wow, he doesn't have the best luck. And let's not even bring up the fact that Thawne killed him in the future because he is not aware of that one.
"Yes. Either way, I decided to run back in time again and let things happen as they were supposed to, in hopes of resetting the timeline." Barry explains to them. "But when I came back, things weren't the same."
"You mean people. Like us." Caitlin says.
"Yeah, I created another timeline." Barry drew a third line on the board. "It's the one we're in now. Not as different as the last one. Not in large ways, but in some ways, smaller ways, anybody that was close to me and I can't fix it perfectly again," Barry finishes and slightly eyed Teresa and Wanda.
"I couldn't help but notice we were absent during most of that," Wanda commented for her and Teresa.
Barry sighed and knew that was gonna come up. "Yeah, in neither life, Flashpoint, or the old timeline, I never knew you guys. The Parker's never could have a kid, that was why they adopted Peter in the first place. And, you, Wanda...I never grew up with another sibling. I am starting to get memories, flashes, of the life that we lived in this world. But...I am at a loss right now for both of you."
"Well, I mean, technically speaking, Wanda could have still existed, but never adopted," Peter muttered. "Or you could have still had your parents going off of this strange timeline logic."
"I mean... technically." Barry shrugged.
"That's a lot to take in, Barry," Joe states.
"We got along in that other life, my dad and I, didn't we?" Iris asks him. "That's why you've been trying to get us to talk again."
"I can tell you what's different, all of you if you want to know." Barry offers to them. "But you need to live with those differences because I can't risk doing it again."
"So you decided it's okay to change things when someone in your family dies?" Cisco asks in anger. "So, when it comes to your family, it's okay. But when it comes to mine..." he stormed off and Barry chased after him.
It took some time, and the entire group came together to discuss everything they were told. Everyone was minus Gwen, Harry, MJ, and Gayle. But they didn't really need to be told everything that they learned about Flashpoint just yet.
"So?" Iris was the first to speak.
"He changed our lives, Iris," Wally stated. "And he kept that secret from us. You really just want us to just be okay with that?"
"All I'm saying, Wally, is that he made a mistake." Iris defended her adopted brother.
"Yeah, he did." Wanda agreed with her. "Look, I get that he doesn't know me, but I grew up with Barry, and I know that he didn't do any of this on purpose. I mean, we all make mistakes to protect the people that we love." She then went to examples and gestured to Cisco. "I mean, you told Captain Cold that Barry was The Flash to protect your brother, Cisco."
"Okay. Not my finest moment." Cisco agreed on that one.
"That's my point. It was one decision made in one moment." Iris stated as she looked off towards Joe. "One very heart-wrenching moment."
"Look, guys, we're like a family here, okay?" Peter agreed as he looked at everyone. "Whether it be through blood, relations, or whatever we are, we are a family here. We make mistakes, we are there for each other. When I wanted to kill Sandman for what he did to my uncle, it was Barry who helped stop me."
"Wow, I get no credit for that one." Teresa felt offended.
"Okay, you get my point." Peter snarked back at his younger sister.
"I get the point I am an anomaly to the timeline," Teresa replied.
"Or was Flashpoint the universe's way of correcting a mistake?" Peter asks her.
Caitlin sighed as she seemed to agree with them. "Guys, they're right. We all have secrets. We've all screwed up, but this is Barry we're talking about." Then the computer went off, causing her to jump. "Who is apparently in trouble."
"Huh?" May asked as they saw he was injured. "Where is he?"
A MINUTE AGO:
Barry left everyone to sink in everything that he had told them and was focusing on how to stop the Rival himself. He got some information about the Rival being at the waterfront from Julian and made his way there to try and stop Rival.
"You found me again, Flash." Clariss scoffed from atop the railing. "I wondered how long it'd take you this time to figure it out."
"Wasn't too hard." Barry stated.
"I see you didn't bring your little sidekicks with you, though." Clariss noticed.
"Nope," Barry said as he circled the area. "Just me."
"That's too bad," Clariss said as he pointed somewhere. "I brought one."
Barry was hit with some sort of energy blast and sent flying. When he got back up, he looked and saw someone wearing a dark hood and outfit while covering his face with a strange mask while he was holding a glowing stone. He shoots Barry once again with the stone and he goes flying. He
"Oh, Flash, a little quaking in your boots wouldn't be inappropriate." Clariss quips what Barry said in Flashpoint.
"And who are you?" Barry asks him.
"I am...Alchemy." He tells Barry who's seriously confused now.
"Okay, and what do you want?" Barry asks while getting up.
"To help people achieve their true potential..such as he has," Alchemy says pointing to Rival as he hears a motorcycle from somewhere.
"And why are you doing this?" Barry asks him.
"Because I'm preparing this world," Alchemy says when Rival speeds and slams Barry into the wall.
"Remember what happened here last time, Flash?" Rival wonders. "It's where I died. And I'm not gonna waste this second chance I've been given."
But then out of nowhere, two strands of webbing yanked Rival backward, and was hit with a blast of ice, only to then get hit with one of Cisco's vibe blasts. Clariss was sent flying and crashed into a pile of rubble.
"No one gets to throw him around when we are around." Peter proclaimed as he ran over to help his brother. "You good?"
"Thanks for coming," Barry said as he took his hand.
"What's family for?" Peter asks.
The group made their way back to STAR Labs where Barry told them what he found out and about meeting Alchemy. They worked on finding any leads that could tell them anything that they could about him, but found nothing.
"Nothing. No mention of Alchemy anywhere." Cisco reported. "No mask-wearing monk metas. Not even close."
"I didn't find any known aliases in any of the records at CCPD." Joe reported. "And Clariss won't say anything either."
"All right, well, keep at him. Alchemy is the one that gave Clariss back his speed." Barry told them.
"He's kinda like a doctor, that way, don't you think?" Cisco asks, getting his groove back. "Come on, don't pretend like "Doctor Alchemy" doesn't have a nice ring to it."
"Okay, well, that explains why he didn't have any traces of dark matter in his cells," Caitlin told them.
"Because he didn't get his powers from the particle accelerator, he got them from Alchemy." Bobby was following his cousin.
"What was that?" Cisco asks him.
Bobby sighed and knew he wasn't gonna let it go. "Doctor Alchemy."
Peter laughs at that. "But how could he do that?"
"I don't know, but we need to figure it out," Barry told them.
"Well, you guys said that you found at least eight of those husks, so there are at least eight more of those Flashpoint metas out there," Wanda told him. "Kinda makes me wonder what kind of powers I would have. Mind reading wouldn't be too bad."
"You say that now, but then when you hear everyone's thoughts..." Cisco muttered.
"Well, Alchemy... Doctor Alchemy said that he is preparing this world." Barry told them.
"Preparing the world?" Peter asks. "For what? Like, the second coming or something?"
"I think everyone who had powers in Flashpoint is going to get them back," Barry says and gets a little worried about what it could do if it happen to his family.
Could Peter be turned back into the Lizard? Could Wally become Kid Flash again? What about Gwen? She was Spider-Woman in that world, what if she got those powers again
Joe adds on. "I got to get to the prescient." He adds before leaving.
"Stop by Jitters oh the way?" Iris asks and Wally joins them and leaves.
You know, I've just been thinking it was pretty cool having you out with us, Cisco." Peter says to his friend.
"Hey, I'll always be there for my guys," Cisco says before he starts leaving and looks back at them. "Maybe one day all three of us could fight bad guys together. It'd be pretty bitchin'." He then takes his leave.
"I am gonna get these kids home," May said to Peter and Teresa. "Come on, kids."
"See ya later, Barry," Peter said as they made their way out.
"Mind giving me a ride?" Bobby asks, seeing Caitlin isn't ready to go.
Caitlin smiled and was happy to see things were going to a sense of normalcy around their work environment now. "Glad to see everything's starting to get back to the way it was."
"Yeah. I mean...mostly." Barry shrugged, knowing that he needed to make things up with Teresa and Wanda. He needed to relearn almost two decades' worth of information on two siblings in his life. "You have nothing to worry about, Cait. I think out of everyone, actually, you're the only one who wasn't really affected when I messed with the timeline. I mean, unless you're secretly moonlighting as an ophthalmologist."
Caitlin was confused by that. " A what?"
Barry laughed when he saw her confused look. "Kidding, nothing."
"Just a Flashpoint joke. I'll see you later." Barry said as he pecked her lips. "Need a ride?"
"Nah, I got a few things to sort out here before I leave," Caitlin tells him.
"Alright, see ya then," Barry said as he sped off, leaving Caitlin.
Caitlin then raised her palm and watched as frost began to form and flow off of her palm. She was gaining powers of her own. She was becoming Killer Frost.
On the dim and creepy streets of Central City, a very peculiar masked vigilante, clad in mummy-like wrappings, soared through the shadows. His white cape fluttered like a crescent moon, billowing behind him. Eyes glowing with determination, he relentlessly pursued a group of criminals who had been spotted in the city.
The criminals ran frantically, their hearts pounding with fear as they realized the relentless guardian of the night was closing in on them. He was known throughout the world by many names: Mr. Knight, Knight of Moons, Cowled Avenger, and Moon Demon. But you can call him by his most common alias: Moon Knight. They knew exactly who this man was, and it was said that those who crossed his path never escaped unscathed.
With each leap and bound, the oddly dressed vigilante closed the gap between himself and the criminals. His fists clenched, ready to deliver swift justice. As he cornered them in a dimly lit alley, the criminals trembled, knowing their time was running out.
Moon Knight's voice boomed through the darkness, commanding and authoritative. "Where is Alchemy!? I know you're working with him. Give me the information I seek, and I might let you walk away with just a broken jaw."
The criminals exchanged nervous glances, their resolve wavering under his unwavering gaze. Their loyalty to Alchemy was unwavering too, and they refused to break. As the first criminal lunged at Moon Knight with a knife, the vigilant hero effortlessly dodged the attack, his reflexes honed to perfection. In a blur of movement, he retaliated, striking with precision and power, incapacitating his assailant.
The remaining criminals watched in terror as their companion fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Moon Knight then turned his attention to them, his voice low and filled with intensity. "Your friend here made a grave mistake. Don't follow in his footsteps. Tell me where Alchemy is keeping the Stone, and I might show mercy."
Fear etched itself across their faces; the criminals hesitated. Moon Knight's reputation for justice was both feared and respected, but loyalty to their leader ran deep. One of the criminals, more desperate than the others, lunged forward, attempting to overpower the hero. However, his combat skills were unmatched, and he swiftly subdued the attacker, leaving him dazed and defeated.
Moon Knight stood tall, his white costume reflecting the moonlight that seeped through the dark alley. "Time is running out. Tell me what I want to know; perhaps redemption is within your reach."
"Bring him to the roof." A mysterious voice echoed.
"Right." The vigilante seemed to agree as he went upward and dragged the follower along him. He then reached and dangled him off of the ledge. "Where is the Stone?!" He then shoved him to try and prove that he would drop him. "Tell me where it is, and I might let you live."
"You can't stop what's coming, Avatar of Khonshu." He proclaimed and then cut his own shirt to fall.
He would rather die than talk. The Avatar of Khonshu watched as he fell and splatted onto the ground. Aside from him appeared to be what looked like a humanoid man with the boned head of a bird.
"I thought he would talk," Khonshu admitted.
The man then retracted his Egyptian armor and sighed. "He was our only lead to Alchemy."
"We are running out of time, Marc," Khonshu tells him. "If we are not swift, Savitar will be unleashed upon this world."
"Don't worry, we'll stop him before he unleashes Savitar," Marc promises. "We just need to find him."
Oscar Issaic as Marc Spectr / Moon Knight