4 YEARS AGO:
Julian, accompanied by two other individuals - Marc Specter and Abdullah El-Faouly - embarked on a quest to an ancient temple located in Egypt. Their goal was to find a precious stone that Julian had promised would be able to bring back their lost loved ones. For Julian, the stone would mean the return of his sister, while Marc hoped to be reunited with his brother whom he had lost as a child. El-Faouly, on the other hand, was in search of his wife.
The trio spent six long months scouring the temple grounds for the elusive Philosopher's Stone. Julian kept a detailed journal of their journey, documenting every step of their progress. One day, while he was engrossed in his writing, Marc walked into the tent.
"Julian, you might want to come look at this," Marc told him.
Julian followed Marc down the tunnels, and they found Abdullah El-Faouly already there. They passed a gigantic statue of some sort of bird god and came across a box in the center of the room. It seemed Marc had stumbled upon this room where the ancient Egyptians must have worshipped.
This is it." Julian said as he picked up the box. "I can feel it."
Abdullah El-Faouly seemed skeptical. "I think we should wait before we..."
"I've been waiting long enough," Julian said, trying to open it. "It needs to be set free."
Julian then opened the box, and a blinding light consumed them.
Whatever happened next, Marc couldn't tell you. But what he did know, he was the only surviving member of this crew. Everyone was massacred, and Abdullah El-Faouly's dead body lay just across from Marc's.
He was wounded and left for dead, but still breathing. He stumbled up to the statue so he could lie down on the steps and try to fix his wounds. When he saw that he was going to eventually bleed out, and he wasn't going to wait for that to happen. He took his gun and raised it to his chin, ready to end the pain now. Then something happened. He heard a voice call out.
"What a waste."
"Huh?" Marc asked as he looked around, wondering who had been talking to him.
"I feel your pain." The voice said. When Marc found where the voice was coming from, it was the bird statue. "Ah. Hmm."
"What the hell are you?" Marc asks.
"I am the god Khonshu, in search of a warrior," Khonshu explained to Marc.
Marc scoffed when he heard it, thinking it was just a figment of his imagination. "A warrior?" he replied. "You'll need more than luck to pull that off."
"To be my hands, my eyes, my vengeance," Khonshu explains further. "To be my final word against the evildoers. To bind your very being to me and eradicate only the worst, those who deserve it. Do you want death or life?"
Marc wasn't sure what he wanted anymore. "I don't know."
"Your mind, I feel it. Fractured. Broken." Khonshu tells the dying man. "Most fascinating. You are a worthy candidate to serve me. Julian Albert has stolen the philosopher's stone, and he must be stopped before he unleashes a great evil onto this world. In exchange for your life, do you swear to protect the travelers of the night and bring my vengeance upon those who would do them harm?"
Marc considered his options. Julian was out there, and he was now in possession of a powerful artifact. If he died here, nobody would even know what he had done. But he might be thought to be dead by Julian if he were anywhere, so maybe he could use that.
"Do you swear to protect the travelers of the night and bring my vengeance to those who would do them harm?" Khonshu asks him again.
Marc finally made his decision. "Yes."
"Then rise," Khonshu tells Marc. "Rise and live again. As my fist of vengeance."
Marc's eyes then began to glow as his wounds healed themselves with the help of Khonshu. The god himself was beginning to take shape as he appeared before Marc, raising him to his feet.
"As my...Moon Knight."
And the armor was beginning to morph around Marc's body. He was becoming something powerful. He was now the Avatar of Khonshu. Moon knight.
The Watcher kept his eyes on this reality two weeks after Barry reset the timeline, watching down at Barry. He tapped his fingers against the tabletop of his desk at CCPD and waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
He glanced at the door, then at the clock. It had only moved twelve seconds since he last checked.
Where was Caitlin?!
She was supposed to meet him at 7:00. It was currently 6:58 and 22 seconds. She was basically late. Except not actually.
He bounced his leg a few times and glanced at the clock. It was 6:58 and 28 seconds. Was time actually moving slower than usual?
Sometimes Barry Allen really hates being a speedster. Times like when he was waiting for his fiancé to come meet him for dinner. Barry was practically starving. Besides, he has been crazy busy at the CCPD lately, and he and Caitlin haven't been out to dinner just the two of them in at least a month and a half. Footsteps on the stairs made Barry look up. 4:59 and 2 seconds. He grabbed his coat, hurried toward the door, and-
"Allen!"
Barry let out a long, slow sigh and turned around. "Yes?"
"What are you doing? Your shift isn't over," Julian huffed, shuffling a few papers around on his desk. "The day is not over yet."
Barry glanced at the clock. 6:59 and 26 seconds. He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well it will be in, like, half a minute."
"Then you should use that half a minute wisely," Julian said. "Because your job hasn't ended."
Barry huffed out an annoyed breath and moved back to his chair, sending Julian a There you go, I'm doing what you asked, happy now? look that the other CSI sedately ignored.
A small, light knock came at the door. A large grin bloomed unconsciously over Barry's face. "Come in!"
Julian's mouth pinched. "No visitors in the lab-"
Caitlin poked her head in, and smiled when she saw her fiancé. "Hey, Barry! And uh, hi, Albert. Caitlin Snow, in case you didn't remember."
Julian grunted something and Caitlin exchanged a look with Barry.
He refused to let his bad mood be messed with and pulled her in for a quick hug. "How was your day?"
"Good," Caitlin said, sending an afterthought kind of wave at Julian as Barry pulled her out the door.
"Allen-"
"It's 7:00 Julian!" Barry called back. "Night!"
"You guys need to learn to work together eventually," Caitlin tells him.
"Not likely." Barry sighed.
"Now where are we going?" Caitlin asks.
Barry grinned, taking in her red, flowered dress and long ringlets of perfectly curled hair. "You look beautiful."
"Interesting restaurant name."
He frowned a moment before getting the joke. "Oh, haha, Miss Literal. Or should I say Mrs. Almost-Snow-Allen?"
Caitlin giggled, nudging his shoulder. "You could, but it wouldn't make much sense. Unless my last name is suddenly 'Almost-Snow-Allen'?"
Barry rolled his eyes. "You're in rare form."
"I'm happy," Caitlin admitted, taking his hand and squeezing it as they set off down the street. "We haven't done this since that whole thing with Zoom. We deserve this."
He smiled down at the top of her brunette head, swinging their hands. "Yeah, especially since it's been difficult to rebond with my sisters."
She shook her head, and he tugged her down the street a little faster, pulling her to a stop in front of a restaurant. The smell of fried food and french fries wafted out as Barry pulled open the door, and his stomach let out a terrific growl.
Caitlin giggled. "Can you wait until our food arrives to eat?"
Barry wrinkled his nose as the host seated them and handed them menus. "Um... maybe?"
"Don't worry; I got you covered." Caitlin reached into her purse and discreetly passed him a calorie bar. He gave her a grateful look and quickly ate it, trying not to attract any attention from the waiters.
"You are a lifesaver on so many levels," Barry told her, waiting for the food to make him feel like his stomach wasn't trying to eat him from the inside out. "Except you aren't the candy kind of lifesaver."
Caitlin's brow furrowed. "And you thought I was in a strange mood?"
They both looked over their menus and ordered, but Barry continued the conversation. "How was work?"
"Busy," Caitlin sighed. "We're trying to figure out those husk samples you sent, hoping Bobby look for schools to get into the medical field, and..." she paused, stopped herself, then hurried on. "Yeah, just a few other things."
Caitlin glanced down at her hands, hoping that Barry hadn't caught her slip. In truth, she hadn't just been working on the husk samples that much the previous day. She had been trying to figure out her powers. She had told no one about these abilities, too scared to face the fact that she was a meta and hoping to cure herself before anyone even knew.
There was a reason she was so afraid. She wasn't just any meta. She had ice powers, just like her doppelganger on Earth 2. Caitlin knew firsthand how evil that woman had been. She was afraid that if her powers took hold, she might turn bad, too.
She spoke again, trying to break herself out of her thoughts before Barry caught on that something was wrong. He had almost figured her out a couple of times, and she wasn't sure how long she could keep her powers a secret from him. "How about you? Good day?"
"Well, uh, Julian had me write up a carbon dating report, then a DNA sequencing report, a couple of chemical compound reports..." he trailed off. "So, he pretty much gives me all the work he doesn't want to do. I know - it's really boring."
Caitlin raised her eyebrows. "Boring? Barry Allen, science is never boring."
He grimaced. "I would have rather been working on the husks. Have you guys made any new advancements on what caused it?"
"No, not really," Caitlin admitted. "I've tried testing it for all sorts of different things, but..." She stopped and smiled at him. "But we don't need to talk to the team tonight; we can do that any day."
"Right! Yeah, of course," Barry said, nodding quickly. A sudden siren made them both look up, and Barry caught the attention of a passing waiter. "Uh, excuse me- what's going on?"
"Robbery across the street," the waiter reported. "Sorry, I've got to go."
Caitlin and Barry exchanged looks. Caitlin raised her eyebrow. "What are you waiting for?"
"Well, I just thought that it's our date night-"
"Barry," Caitlin groaned. "Go."
He nodded and quickly flashed away. A second later, he was back in his seat and the sirens had stopped blaring. "Sorry about that."
Caitlin shook her head. "Barry, it's our life, and I wouldn't have it any other way."
He smiled and was about to respond when both of their phones buzzed. "It's Cisco,'" Barry reported as he read the contact.
Caitlin sighed a little, staring wistfully at the other couples eating dinner inside the restaurant. But then she steeled herself, because as she had just said, this was their life, and she wouldn't want it any other way.
She glanced away from the screen and nodded at Barry. "We should go."
Barry and Caitlin appeared at the bunker, where the rest of the team was gathered. Cisco was among the Speed Force at the portal. Peter was dressed in his web-shooters and was ready for anything. MJ held the book and was ready to shoot it. Joe aimed his gun at the other end of the room.
"What is-"
"That!" Wanda interrupted, pointing to the swirling blue mass in the center of the room.
"Why did you open a breach?" Barry demanded as he came down the steps.
"I didn't," Cisco replied, eyes trained on the gun he was holding.
"What?" Barry asks
"That's why we called you," Peter said.
"Can you close it?" Caitlin asked, staring in alarm at the breach.
"Once again, wouldn't have called if I could," Cisco called back. "Sorry, I know it was your date night tonight."
The breach began to swirl more frantically, and Wally's mouth warped nervously. "Somebody's coming through."
"Step back," Joe commanded MJ, Wally, and Caitlin, holding his gun higher.
Barry squinted into the breach, prepared to break into the run at the slightest need. Then out popped Earth 2 Harrison Wells, panting a little, hands raised.
"Allen."
"Wells." Barry breathed in relief.
Then out came Angelica and Miles who joined his side. "Hey, guys." Miles greeted.
"Hey guys, did you miss us?" Angelica asked.
"Angelica?" Peter was shocked to see them. "Miles?"
"We need your help," Wells tells them
"With what?" MJ wonders
In the next second, another figure popped out of the breach and ran several laps around it in a stream of yellow lightning. Then the figure stopped, and Jesse Wells grinned at all of them.
"With that." Wells completed, gesturing at his very-speedster daughter.
"Hey guys," Jesse said, grinning.
"Jesse," Wally stared at her, looking shocked. "You're a speedster?"
Jesse shrugged, unable to keep back her smile. "Yeah, pretty cool, right?"
Wally looked down, and MJ hurriedly jumped in, "Uh, yeah! I would say so."
"When did this happen?" Caitlin asked, excited for the young Wells.
"A few days ago," Angelica answered.
"So, when I gave Allen his speed back, Wally and Jesse were hit by the Dark Matter. Turns out she was affected. She was totally affected." Wells babbled. He looked a bit stressed.
"But I didn't get speed," Wally spoke up. "So could it have been from something else?"
"No," Wells said, then reiterated. "I mean, I doubt it. Dark Matter affects different people in different ways at different times- and sometimes not at all, so you can be thankful. But she was affected, and I want to run some tests and find out just how much."
Caitlin grinned. "Well, then you've come to the right place. Let's go to the Speed Lab."
"Speed Lab?" Barry and Wells ask.
She led the way to the speed lab, a new addition to STAR Labs. It was something that Cisco had been working on in his free time in this new timeline, and it included a track around the perimeter of the room and spots to run drills and monitor vitals and speed.
"Whoa," Barry commented as he looked around. "This is insane."
"Something tells me you've never been here before," Wanda commented on her brother's behavior.
"I haven't," Barry stated.
Wells started to p the strange interactions together, as well as the new girl. "Ah, now it all makes sense. Allen, did you time travel again?"
"Yeah..." Barry admitted. "But-"
"How many times have I told you not to do that?" Wells asked.
"You figured that out quickly, didn't you?" MJ complimented.
"Yes, I did, Ms. Watson," Wells confirmed. "It was easy, considering we have never been here either." He gestured to Wanda. "Or know who this is."
"Nope," Jesse confirmed.
"Never met her." Miles agrees.
"I actually remember this," Angelica admitted.
"Right, she was still here when Barry went back in time." Joe guessed. "So, it means since there are other Earths, other timelines."
"Exactly," Wells confirmed. "So, you did it when we left for Earth-2."
"Look, Wells, only a couple of things are different." Barry tried to play it down.
"Oh, I'm sure, not," Wells replied.
"Is 'not' a thing on Earth-2?" Peter asked.
"Nope, that's all him," Jesse stated.
"Okay!" Caitlin said, smiling at the young female speedster as they and her father looked around the room in amazement. "Let's get Jesse on the track and see what she can do."
"Let's do it!" Jesse agreed excitedly, pulling off her leather jacket and sending a confident smile at Wally. "Check this out."
She flashed up the on-ramp and began to wiz around the room. Wally watched her, a wistful, jealous look on his face. No one seemed to notice but Iris, who patted his arm and gave him a sympathetic smile. She knew how much Wally wanted his speed, and how hard it must be for him to see that Jesse had gotten hers instead.
"Daaaang..." Joe let out a low whistle. "She really can move."
"Yeah, she can," Wally muttered. "Um, I gotta... go."
He turned and walked out of the room. Iris let out a sigh. "I'll talk to him," she offered.
"Yeah," Barry agreed. "But it's better this way."
"You don't have to convince me," Joe spoke up. "The last thing I need is both my kids zipping around at super speed."
"He looked pretty disappointed," Barry stated and Joe started to follow.
"Is this because of that other timeline?" Joe asks.
"I just think you should keep an eye on him," Barry explained his concern.
Peter watched Jesse run around before looking toward Miles and Angelica. "So, how are things on Earth-2?"
"Eh, could be better," Angelica commented. "We've been busy trying to round up the rest of all of Zoom's Meta-henchmen he left behind. A lot of work for the two of us."
"But it wouldn't be just the two of us for much longer," Miles said with a smile. "We've begun training recruits for our own superhero team."
"We call ourselves the Outsiders," Angelica confirmed with a shrug. "We're a small group, but we're growing."
"Yeah, man. They're so cool. There's this dude named Hal Jordan." Miles stated as he recalled the members they already had. "He has a green alien ring that can create anything just by thinking about it. I asked him if he could create a lightsaber from Star Wars and he did!"
"That sounds cool." MJ complimented him.
Anjelica nodded as she went over their recruits. "There's also this guy who has unbreakable skin. I'm not joking, nothing can penetrate his skin. Knives, swords, bullets, crowbars, anything we hit him with just slides right off."
"Oh, there's also this girl who can shoot glowing white daggers," Miles recalled the other members. "And a guy in a black cloak who can teleport everywhere."
"They're Metahumans like us," Angelica explains to them. "They've been hiding their powers and abilities to stay off of Zoom's radar. But we went public with wanting to build a team, and we've been training them since we've been back."
"Well, at least that means something is improving on Earth-2," Peter commented.
Across the city, in a small household apartment in the suburbs, a young girl named Skye was sitting down watching some television with her stepmother, Karen. While they were enjoying the moment, the door opened and her stepfather entered the apartment.
"Where's dinner?" John asks.
"It's almost ready, dear." Karen jumped and raced to the kitchen.
"I work hard to provide for this family, and this is what I get for it? An empty table?" John asks.
"Just five more minutes, John," Skye tells her.
"I'm hungry now!" John yelled at her, making Skye whimper and close her eyes. "And you should be spoken to." He then walked over and yanked her by the hair. "I saved you from that orphanage and I provide for you every day, so keep your mouth shut, Skye."
When John started walking towards the window, Skye kept her head down as she approached the rude stepfather. The entire apartment began to shake and spooked John. He looked over to Skye and saw that she wasn't affected by the strange shaking.
"Sorry, John. Baby Skye is gone." She said in a menacing tone as she raised her hands towards the sky. "The name is Quake!"
Then suddenly a light pole fell from the street and slammed into John. The named Quake smiled when she saw her work was done and smirked.
With that little stunt, it is no wonder the CCPD would get involved in the situation and Joe wants Skye's statement about what happened last night.
"So this says you were in the room when your father..."
Foster father. John." Skye tells Joe.
"Right. Foster father." Joe corrected himself. "You were in the room when he was struck by the street lamppost that flew into the apartment?"
"Yeah," Skye confirmed. "But I don't remember any of that." She then started to shutter in fear. "He came home and yelled at Karen, my foster mom, to get him dinner."
"Is that when you blacked out?" Joe asks,
"Yeah, I think so," Skye confirmed.
"Has that happened before? You blacking out?" Joe was a little curious about it.
Skye started to shake in fear. "Is John gonna be okay?"
"He's in Central City Hospital," Joe assured her. "He's pretty banged up." As she shook, Joe noticed that Barry had come back from the scene of the crime. "Skye, can you excuse me for a second?"
"Yeah, of course," Skye assured him she'd be okay.
"Thank you," Joe said as he walked over to Barry. "Bare."
"Yeah?" Barry wondered.
"What'd you find out?" Joe asks him.
"Okay, get this." Barry had to say it was a strange scene. "So, the outer layer of the lamppost is half an inch thick, but to bend even a quarter-inch of steel requires 177 tons of tensile strength, so..."
"So we're looking for a meta with superstrength?" Joe asks.
"Well, I'm not sure yet, but that's as much as I could find." Barry sighed.
"What? Why?" Joe asks.
Arrive Julian. "Because I showed up."
"Yeah," Barry confirmed.
"Yes, the only problem with Barry's little theory is there were no fingerprints found on the post," Julian stated.
"Again, Julian, not my theory, and the meta could've been wearing gloves," Barry replied.
"Yes, perhaps." Julian didn't believe that idea. "But the curvature on the post suggests that equal amounts of pressure were applied to the whole thing at the same time. So, unless our strong man has a wingspan of over 20 feet."
"Something else caused it." Joe followed Julian.
"Yes," Julian replied when he noticed Skye. "Who's that, sir?" That's Skye, the victim's foster kid. That poor girl's been in and out of homes for years. Listen, she said that she blacked out during the incident."
"Blacked out?" Barry asks. "Well, repressing memories is a coping mechanism for lots of foster kids."
Julian however didn't seem to bye that theory. "Is it?"
"It is," Barry replied, mocking his British accent.
"It could be something else," Julian said as he then began to approach Skye. "Hello."
"Hi." Skye greeted calmly.
"You okay?" Julian asks her.
"Yeah." Skye nodded.
"Can I get you some more water?" Julian asks, noticing her glass is empty.
"Yes, thank you," Skye said as she handed the glass over.
"Sure," Julian said as he walked off and passed the guys again. "Gonna need another glass, Detective."
Joe was lost on what he was doing. "Follow him." He tells Barry. "See what you can get."
"What are you gonna do?" Barry wonders.
"I'm gonna finish this up and convince my son that he's not meant to be a superhero," Joe stated, knowing he needed to talk with Wally still.
"Good idea," Barry said, remembering what happened in Flashpoint.
Meanwhile, at STAR Labs, they were keeping an eye on Jesse Jesse running around the labs and seeing nothing wrong with her. It was early in the day, so most of the kids were in school except for the Earth-2 members. Jesse came to a full stop in front of Angelica and Miles, who offered her some water.
"So, how'd I do?" Jesse asks as she takes a drink.
"Blood pressure, heart rate, and metabolic rate are all excellent," Caitlin tells her as she looks over everything from the monitors in the labs. "You have some serious speed, girl." She says happily. "I think you're good to go."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I still want to run a few more tests." Wells said.
"Like what?" Cisco wondered, having run every test known to speedsters.
"Like more... tests," Wells tells him harshly, but that's nothing new for him.
"Hey, is Wally here?" Jesse asked.
"No. Not yet." Caitlin tells her.
"Right. Well, I'm going grab some food." Jesse said as she walked off.
"Yeah, there's some power bars in my workshop," Cisco tells her.
"I'm gonna go myself," Angelica said.
"I'll leave because I don't want to be here to hear this conversation," Miles said as he left, taking them with him.
"Wells. What are you doing?" Cisco calls him out.
"Being thorough," Wells tells him.
"Wells, it looks like you're stalling," Caitlin tells him.
"Okay, fine. I'm stalling." Wells admits. "So what?"
"So what? So why?" Cisco asks him.
"Do I have to explain myself to both of you? Well, since none of you are parents, I guess I do." Wells says sarcastically. "That's my daughter. She spent weeks on Earth-19 watching Allen and Parker here defeat meta after meta after meta. Then there was Zoom, and Morales and Jones formed their team. Now she has speed and wants to join their little team. I think that's a great idea. Not!"
"Wells, we can help her." Caitlin reminds him. "We can help train her like we did Barry."
"I don't want you to train her, okay?" Wells explains to them. "I brought her here for you to talk her out of it, not talk her into it, all right, Ramon? You should talk to her. You're a meta."
"Yeah, which makes me the last person she should talk to about not using her powers." Cisco retorted.
"Okay, Snow. Caitlin. You two have had a special relationship. You talk to her." Wells asks calmly with pleading eyes.
"No, we don't," Caitlin says to him. "And I don't know anything about having powers, so I'm the last person you should talk to, so don't ask me." She stutters out and leaves in a hurry, leaving Wells and Cisco confused.
She turned the corner in the corridor and released her breath. The more powers were getting brought up, the more defensive she got. Eventually one of her friends was going to see that she was hiding something.
Caitlin looked down at her hand, biting her lip as she sent a small stream of frost out of her fingertip. Then she hurriedly cut it off. The less she used her powers, the better. There was still a chance she could fix this.
Julian brought the glass he had taken from Skye to his lab, where it looked like he was working on a DNA sample. Barry approached him, a little confused as to what he was trying to accomplish.
"What are you doing?" Barry wonders.
"I assumed you'd taken a DNA sample before," Julian replied sarcastically.
Barry sighed as this guy was really getting on his nerves. "Okay, yes. I know what you're doing. I mean, why are you doing it?"
"Why? Are you looking to steal another sample?" Julian replied, not answering his question. "I've isolated an element consistent in all of the husks that we've found, including Edward Clariss's.
"You mean the Rival?" Barry replied.
"That's what the papers are calling him, yes." Julian retorted.
"What's the element?" Barry questioned.
"I don't know," Julian replied as he looked at the sample. "But it's not one that I've found in any other meta-human samples that I've studied."
"So you think that Skye, the girl downstairs, has the same element in her DNA?" Barry clarified.
"Well, I wouldn't be comparing samples if it wasn't a possibility, would I, Allen?" Juliana asks.
Barry was getting a little sick of this guy.
"It's a good thing for both of us I did." Julian said as he walked towards the door without another word. "Come on."
"What?" Barry questioned, following Julian.
"Where is she?" Julian started hunting for Skye.
"Calm down, okay? Julian?" Barry tried to stop him from causing a scene.
"You! You, girl! Stop!" Julian cried when he spotted Skye heading out.
"Hey, ease up, Julian." Barry tried to stop him.
"Me?" Skye realized she was being talked about.
"you did it, didn't you?" Julian asks Skye. "You pushed your father out of the building."
"What?" Skye asks as she starts to panic. "No! No! No!"
"You're a liar!" Julian cried.
"Julian!" Joe cried.
"You're a meta-human," Julian told her.
"Stop, no, stop!"
"You put your foster father in the hospital, didn't you?"
"No, no!"
"Didn't you? Didn't you?"
That's when Skye stopped shaking. She stood up with a chuckle and swayed around. She clutched her fists and small tremors started to shake the building.
"Oh, I wanted to do more than hurt him," Quake said. "Now I'm gonna do the same to you."
"Skye?" Joe wondered what was happening. "Skye, stop!"
Quake then turned around as she then sent out shockwaves from her palms. Barry reacted quickly as he zipped upstairs to change into his spare Flash suit and made his downstairs while slowing time down enough that he could beat the shockwave and save Julian. He moved Julian out right before the shockwave could hit and vibrated his face so he wasn't recognized.
"You okay?" Barry asks Julian.
Julian nodded while Barry turned and saw Skye was already gone. Running out of the building, Barry saw Skye was already on the street and walking away from the station.
"Skye!" Barry called her out.
"Skye is gone!" Quake tells him. "My name...is Quake."
Barry was starting to put together what was going on here. Skye and Quake are likely due to a split personality, followed by how she got her Flashpoint powers. "You're like this because of Alchemy. He changed you, didn't he?" He noticed a strange change in her eyes. "This isn't you. Just come with me. Tell me what happened."
Quake went back into control. "I don't need any more help, Flash!"
"I just don't want anyone else to get hurt." Barry tried to stop her.
Quake snarled. "It's too late for that!"
Quake then used her powers to send out shockwaves on both of the nearby buildings, causing glass to shatter everywhere and people to freak out. Barry reacted quickly to keep the people safe and ran around to either move the civilians or cover those who were trying to hide from broken glass.
When Barry finished saving them, he turned back to Quake and watched as she was using her powers on the ground, followed by her shooting herself into the sky and flying away. Leaving Barry on the ground as he wondered what to do now.
Back at STAR Labs, Bobby, Peter, and Teresa arrived at the labs after a few odd events had happened at the school. Peter had a bruise on his head, Bobby was rubbing his shoulder, and Teresa looked as if she'd been in a car wreck. But what occurred was a story for another day. Harry, MJ, and Gwen were out to help fix the car before May found out.
"You can have May's car fixed, right?" Teresa asks Peter.
"You're lucky Harry offered to pay for it. And promised it would be ready for when May got off work." Peter commented as he strolled into the Cortex. "Still can't believe what happened."
"That car hit me!" Teresa defended herself.
"It was parked," Bobby stated. As he strolled forward, he was almost hit with a fireball that went flying past his face. "Whoa!"
Angelica happened to be there and was shooting fireballs at a mannequin to keep her skills sharp. "Oh, Bobby, hey. I missed you guys."
"Luckily for me!" Bobby exclaimed as he panted in fear. "You almost turned me into a puddle!"
"Hey, Angelica!" Teresa was surprised to see her.
"Teresa." Angelica was happy to see her as she hugged her friend. "You keeping your brother safe?"
"It gets more challenging every day." Teresa joked.
"Hey, I saved you from Ock earlier." Peter reminded her.
"What's this about Ock?" Caitlin asked as she strolled into the room.
"It's a bit of a long story." Peter sighed. "It's fine, everyone is safe."
"What was he doing at your school?" Cisco questioned.
"I don't wanna talk about it." Peter said as he walked around. "what's going on?"
"Barry said we might have found another Metahuman," Caitlin explained as Barry sped into the room. "But I'll let him explain from here."
Barry pulled up the police file and showed everyone the photo of Skye. "This is Skye. But she's calling herself Quake."
"Meh," Cisco commented on that name being mid.
"And Quake is a whole different person than the scared, kind girl I was interviewing," Joe commented.
"She's dissociative." Wells took a guess.
"According to her medical records, it's a condition she's been dealing with her entire life." Caitlin took notice of this. "I'm sure all of the yelling at CCPD is what triggered it."
"So, we're stuck with a psycho Metahuman who can go mad at any second," Miles commented. "Better your earth than ours."
"We're gonna help, you know that, Miles," Angelica tells him.
"Yeah, I figured." Miles sighed.
"What kind of powers does she have?" Peter wonders.
"From what it seems, she can create shockwaves from her fists." Barry tried his best to explain it. "They looked like literal shockwaves."
"Oh, Quake, now I get it." Cisco was following along now.
"You said she was raised in the foster system?" Iris asks as she sneaks onto the computers.
"Yep, all her life," Joe confirmed to his daughter. "She went home to home."
Wanda leaned in and noticed them with Iris. "Wow. And maybe not so good ones."
"Yeah. She's right. Her current foster father, the one who got hurt, he's got some disorderly conduct." Iris agreed with her. "He might have some information we can use."
"Mind if I come along?" Wanda asks.
"Sure," Iris said.
"There's something else," Barry told them. "She got her powers from Alchemy. When I said his name, she knew who he was, so Quake must've existed in the other timeline too."
"Who is Alchemy?" Wells asks them.
"Dr. Alchemy is a magic man in a cloak who can somehow restore the powers people had in Flashpoint," Cisco informs him.
"And what's Flashpoint?" Miles now asks them.
"It's what we call the alternative timeline Barry created when he went back to save his mom," Teresa explains.
"So, Quake is another side effect from your time trip," Wells put it together. "Genius, not."
"Is there something in Earth-1's atmosphere? He didn't do this on our Earth." Angelica comments.
"Yeah, it's a little weird." Miles agreed.
"Look, anyone with those powers and as angry as she is needs to be tracked down fast," Joe says to them as they all scatter to do their jobs.
"Great, well, fast I can do it," Jesse said. "Hey, Angelica, Miles, how about o go get a carb-load, and maybe you guys can take me on patrol?"
"Hey, he didn't- I didn't-" Wells couldn't get the words out as he watched his daughter walk off. He then looked to Caitlin. "Snow. Please."
Caitlin gave in and sighed. "Alright. I'll try but I don't know what I'm gonna say."
Peter was a little confused as he watched his soon-to-be sister-in-law leave. "What was that about?"
"Wells doesn't want Jesse to be a hero," Cisco told him.
"What?" Peter wasn't exactly surprised, but still sounded that way. "Okay, I get the need, Wells, trust me, that was a whole conversation I had with both May and Teresa."
"Not much of a conversation more of an explanation," Teresa said as she strolled off. "I'm gonna hang with Miles and Angelica."
"Wells, you do know that parent or not, you can't expect her to listen to what you say her whole life," Peter told Wells.
"He's got a point." Bobby agreed. "Nobody wanted us doing what we're doing, but we still did it."
"You two aren't parents, you don't understand," Wells tells the two kids.
"you're right, but we are on the other end of the spectrum," Peter informed Wells. "You're the parent side, we're the side who's been through this. I have super strength. She has super speed. Compared to me, she's more prepared to fight crime."
"And he was first doing it out of vengeance," Bobby commented.
Wells ignored Bobby's comment but seemed to be considering what Peter said. "What would you have me do, Parker? Let my daughter run into danger?"
"Rather than assume that these powers will get her killed and talk her out of it, maybe you should help her understand what is happening to her and instead of turning away from you like she's doing right now, she'll turn to you for help," Peter suggests, having been through this before. "This was one of the many reasons I kept my identity a secret from May. I didn't want her to try to talk me out of it."
Wells considered that and knew Peter did have to keep who he was hidden from the people close to him for some time. And that was definitely something he didn't want to do with Jesse.
As Harry Osborn drove May's car back home after fixing it, he couldn't help but feel relieved that he managed to get it up and running again. The car had been giving them trouble for a while, and he was glad to have finally fixed it. As he walked into the complex where he and his mom lived, he noticed her sitting on the couch, deep in conversation with someone. Harry couldn't quite make out who she was talking to from where he stood, but he could tell that it was an intense conversation.
"Oh, hey, Mom." Harry greeted his mom, wondering who she was talking to. "I didn't know you were going to have..." Then the man stood up and fixed his suit, but it was when he turned around and caused him to freeze. "It...no. It can't be you."
The man who was standing there was none other than Norman Osborn. He wasn't crazy, he didn't have that crazy tint in his eyes, and he didn't even look at all insane. "Hello, son." He greeted Harry like it was normal. "I'm home."
"Dad?" Harry was ready to hit the Panic Button on his phone. "How are you..? Why are you...?"
"I came here to see you," Norman said as he approached his son with a smile. "I missed you, son." He then got close enough so that he could pull his son in for a hug. "I've missed you."
Harry wasn't sure how he was supposed to react so he just accepted the hug. He had so many questions about how his father was back, but he was just happy to accept the hug.
Back at STAR Labs, they all started to hear what sounded like an alarm and all came running into the Cortex. Barry walked in last and seemed the most confused while everyone was concerned about what was happening.
"What is that alarm?" Barry asks.
"It's Wanda's panic button," Peter said as he saw Wanda's name and location being pulled up.
"What?" Barry asks, confused about what he's talking about.
"The panic button," Cisco explained. "The thing we put on everyone's phones because we kept getting kidnapped."
"Well, at least something's an improvement in this timeline," Barry states when they get a location of where they were.
"That's the hospital Iris said she was going to visit, Wanda went there with her," Joe stated.
"And it seems they weren't the only ones." Teresa pointed to the shockwaves being eliminated from the area.
"She is going to cave in the entire hospital," Wells said in shock.
"We gotta go," Barry tells Peter.
"What are you gonna do?" Caitlin asks him. "How do you fight shockwaves?"
Peter came up with an idea. "Well, if you run fast enough, you should be able to create a sort of barrier to stop them, like you did with the shockwaves against the amplifier we used to stop Zoom."
"That could work." Wells agreed.
"Alright, you do that, and we will save the people," Peter stated.
Barry gave a nod of reassurance as he quickly sped off with the kids ready to save the hospital. He sped them to the hospital with urgency, dropping them off at the entrance before he sped off toward the outskirts of the building.
As Barry started to run around the hospital at lightning speed, the group of teens sprang into action. Angelica, a skilled flyer, took to the air and began to survey the area, quickly noticing the roof crumbling. Without hesitation, she flew towards the falling debris to rescue the doctors who were in danger of falling.
Miles and Peter, two agile young men, swung into action with their web-slinging abilities, skillfully maneuvering through the rubble to help secure the hospital's structure. Bobby, a talented ice manipulator, used his powers to freeze the damaged areas of the building, preventing further destruction and keeping the structure from collapsing.
Together, the group of teens worked tirelessly to save the hospital, demonstrating their bravery and resourcefulness in a time of crisis. But Quake was still working relentlessly to bring the building down.
"Guys, I don't know how long we can keep this up!" Peter cried as he swung to grab another doctor with his web, passing her along to Miles who grabbed her and placed her on the ground level. "We need to stop her before Barry gets too tired."
"Already getting there now," Barry admitted he was getting tired.
. There was a long silence, and then Wells sighed. "He's right," he said softly, before turning toward his daughter. "Go help him."
"Dad..." Jesse started.
Wells' jaw was tight, his face resigned. "Get out there. Now."
"You sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure." Wells smiled a little, walking toward her. "I know you can do it. You're more than fast enough. Now run, Jesse. Run."
A giant grin crossed Jesse's face and in a couple of seconds, she was running by Barry's side, still in human clothes. "Hey," she said, beaming. "Thought you could use a little help. I got this- you go take care of Quake."
Barry nodded as he sped off toward Quake, but when he got too close he would get hit by some sort of barrier shockwave around her. 'Okay, can't touch her. Gotta have to find another way.' he thought.
"Skye!" Barry called, holding out his hands in a calming gesture when he saw Quake confused by the second Speedster. "I got a little help, so I could help you."
He really didn't want to fight her- a girl who was only a teenager and seemed to be not entirely in her right mind was not someone he wanted to harm.
"Okay, killing your foster father and everyone else inside that hospital isn't going to give you what you need," Barry continued, stepping a little closer.
"You have no idea what I need!" Quake growled, her hands still out, fingers splayed and trembling as she was sending shockwave after shockwave. "It's not just John I want to get rid of. I want them both gone."
The ground began to shake as Barry watched the floor begin to crack underneath him leading to the hospital. "Barry, you gotta stop her! We can't keep this place held together much longer!"
"I know you're still in there, Skye," Barry said, refusing to be distracted. "Don't let John destroy the good that's still inside of you."
"He said I was weak," Quake seethed. He saw so much pain on her face, pain of misuse and abuse, and things that a girl her age should never have to go through. "That I was pathetic! He said I was a horrible person."
"He's just blaming you for all the bad things he's caused in his life," Barry said, taking another step closer. He could see Quake's resolve weakening, he saw that the shockwaves were becoming less frequent from her palms as tears swam in her eyes. "It's not your fault. This isn't because of you."
"I just want him to stop hurting me," Quake whispered, her voice trembling.
"This isn't the way," Barry insisted, pointing up at the barge. "Your foster father never forgave himself for his mistakes. That's why he took them out on you. He couldn't face who he really was- couldn't move forward. But you can."
Quake released a shaky breath, a tear running down her cheek. And that's when Barry knew he had gotten through to her. Skye seemed to finally take back control as she dropped her hands and stopped the quakes.
She looked around in shock, then dove forward into Barry's arms. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed, burying her face into his suit.
"It's okay," Barry breathed, stroking her hair as people began to stream out of the hospital. "It's going to be okay."
Barry and the kids arrived back at STAR Labs with a tired, scared, pitiful figure. He passed her off to Caitlin, who met them in the hallway, and she quickly wrapped Skye in a hug.
"Hey, sweetheart," Caitlin said softly, an overwhelming maternal instinct taking over and making her want to hug Skye until all of the hurt she was feeling dissipated and stopped looking so lost. "How about we get you a chair, okay? Maybe a glass of water?"
Skye nodded, tucking her head against Caitlin's shoulder as the doctor led her into the Cortex. Bobby chuckled as he saw just how quickly Caitlin went to being the sister figure for another kid with nowhere to go. He was lucky to have been found by her after his family kicked him out.
Once she was settling, Skye handed the glass of water to Cisco and looked up at them. There were still tears on her cheeks, pooling in her eyes and making some of her makeup run.
"So no one else got hurt?" she confirmed shakily.
"Luckily, no," Caitlin told her, smiling gently. "You don't have to worry about that."
"What about John?"
"The DA is prosecuting him for what he did to you," Wanda told her. Being a foster kid herself, she wasn't going to let that one go. "So I think he's gonna be serving time, and he's not going to be anybody's foster father ever again."
Skye nodded, another tear traveling down her cheek as she shut her eyes for a moment.
"It's just so... strange being responsible for all of this," Skye said softly. "and not remembering any of it."
Peter tilted his head, watching her. "What do you remember? About how you got your powers. How this all began."
Skye let out a sigh. "Um... I started having dreams. At night. Of Quake."
"Dreams?" Wally spoke up, slowly straightening from his lean against the desk.
"They were more than dreams," Skye continued. "I dunno- it was- it was like I was living another life or something. And then I started getting them all the time. During the day. And the more it happened, the more painful they became. Then I started hearing a voice."
"What voice?" Teresa murmured.
"It was a man," Skye said. "Named Alchemy."
Barry exchanged glances with everyone as this was confirmation it was Alchemy that created Quake.
"He said he could give me what I wanted," Skye continued. "That he could make me powerful again. I didn't understand. I thought I was going crazy." Her voice broke and Barry gave her a soft smile.
"Trust me; Quake is not here because of anything that you did," he said soothingly. "There may be a darkness inside of you, but if you face it, it'll make it easier for the good side of you to win."
Caitlin glanced at her feet. It was impossible- Barry didn't even know about her powers- but some small part of her felt like that message was directed towards her.
"You're letting me go?" Skye asked in a soft voice, breaking Caitlin out of her thoughts.
"None of this is your fault, Skye," Barry said again. "Wanda found you a good home in Keystone. People that will never hurt you."
Wanda nodded in agreement and Skye smiled a little at her. "I was a foster kid myself once upon a time."
She turned back to Barry. "But what if Quake tries to come back?"
"Fight her," Barry said. "And if you need help, we'll be here. We have faith in you, Skye."
More tears welled up in Skye's eyes, but this time, they didn't seem quite as sad.
"Thank you."
Caitlin and Barry saw Skye out. Joe was going to drive her to her new home, and Caitlin gave her a long hug before she left. "Let us know if you need anything, okay?" she said, slipping her phone number into Skye's hand. "I know a guy who can get me there in a second."
Skye smiled, and hugged Barry, too. "Thank you," she said again. "For everything."
They watched her go, and Caitlin rested her head against Barry's chest. "You did good tonight, Flash," she said softly.
"Skye's a good person," he responded, sliding his arm around her shoulders. "The light side of her can win- I can feel it."
Caitlin nodded, before turning suddenly to Barry. "I know that we've... I know that we've never really talked about it before, but- Would you- I mean, would you like to ever have kids? The two of us?"
Barry's eyebrows went up and he glanced at Skye's retreating back before looking down at Caitlin with a soft look in his eyes. "Yes," he said, vehemently. "Having a life with you- with kids, with a family, with a house that we can call our own- that's all I've ever wanted."
Caitlin nodded, smiling at him as he leaned down to kiss her.
"But," Barry continued. "I don't know if we're ready for that yet. There's still a lot of things that I need to sort out, and not only that, we haven't even gotten our wedding completely planned yet."
"Yeah," Caitlin agreed quickly. "Yeah, totally."
Her mind flashed to her cold powers, how the demon inside of her was growing every day, and she wondered if that would affect a child. She shivered a little, tucking closer to Barry.
"Someday, we'll make those dreams happen," Barry told her softly. "I promise."
But that wasn't the end of the tale.
Skye was sitting in the back seat of the car when she felt what was like a headache catching on. "What was that?"
"Ms. Skye," Joe said almost like a robot. "Please do not be alarmed."
Skye spun to face Joe and was a little confused. "What? What is going on?"
"Not to worry, Mr. West is perfectly fine," Joe said, confusing Skye even more. Then she noticed she was being taken off course. "I was just hoping that the two of us could have a little chat."
"Who are you?" Skye asks. "Did you kill him?"
"I assure you, Mr. West doesn't even know what is happening to him," Joe said to her as the car came to a stop. "I just want to talk with you. If you don't like what I have to say, then you can do whatever you want."
"Why would I want to talk to you?" Skye asks.
As she stood there, she couldn't believe her eyes. She watched in amazement as the car door opened without anyone touching it. It was as if a force that was invisible to the naked eye had opened it. She was startled to see a bald man in his later years sitting in a wheelchair, accompanied by a teenage girl with an athletic build. The girl was of Caucasian descent and had long, flowing red hair that cascaded down her back. She seemed to be in her mid-teens, and her features were strikingly beautiful.
What was even more surprising was that behind them was a massive black jet that seemed out of place in this isolated location. She couldn't help but wonder how they managed to get here with a wheelchair and a jet. It was an extraordinary sight that left her wondering about the story behind it.
"Because...you're not the only one with gifts." The old man said with a smile. "My name is Charles Xavier, this is my associate Jean Grey. We want to talk to you about your powers."
Skye was left bewildered and wondered what was going to become of this meeting.
Back in the city, Peter was with Teresa as they had finally got May's car back. They were mostly joking around with one another as they were making their way home. On the way, they missed the strange figure that seemed to be watching them from afar.
"I will go down on the record the car hit me," Teresa stated. "Why don't you get your license?"
"Haven't had much of a need to take it." Peter guessed was the only explanation. "I mean, swinging is faster, more efficient, and I don't get stuck in traffic."
"And yet you're never on time for anything." Teresa quipped.
Peter laughed and gave his sister a little push when he felt his senses alert him of something. He looked around and noticed a fee people in the area, who seemed to be minding their own business. But that's not what his senses were saying.
"T?" Peter called to his sister. "We might be in trouble."
"What makes you think that?" Teresa asked when someone came out of the shadows and grabbed her by the waist and mouth.
She shrieked to get Peter's attention, only to have the same treatment meted out to her. They were both being dragged off to some unmarked van, but something remarkable happened. A small taser gun appeared out of nowhere and shot one of the abductors.
Peter fought back and punched his abductor before grabbing Teresa and running down the street. Several unmarked cans blocked their path just when a Cadillac Series 62 Convertible came speeding to a stop next to them.
When the car door opened, they watched as a strange woman who almost looked like she had materialized from the sheet, like she were a chameleon in camouflage.
"Get in if you want to live!" She demanded them.
Peter and Teresa knew much better than to get into the car with some strange woman. But then again, if they stayed they were likely to be abducted by this group of people rather than the one woman.
Peter jumped in the front while Teresa ran into the back of the car. When they got in, the woman drove off down the road to get them away from the kidnappers.
"Computer." The woman called out as a small screen came out of the dashboard. "Activate oil slick."
The back of the car where the license plate was then morphed and was transformed into an exhaust for oil to exit the car and hit the roads, followed by the cars currently chasing them to crash.
"What the heck is going on?!" Teresa asks in fear and terror.
"You're being targeted." The woman said as she swerved to the left, pushing her foot against the gas pedal. "They work for the Kingpin."
"Who is the Kingpin?" Teresa asked.
"Teresa, I'd like to answer your and Peter's questions. But can we please survive this car chase?" The woman asks as she notices an approaching motorcyclist. "Gah, I hate these guys."
Peter however was focused on another detail. "How'd you know our names?"
The woman realized she had messed up and sighed. "Because I know you." She confessed as she reached up and yanked off her hood. Revealing the face of Mary Parker. "Considering I raised you."
Peter and Teresa looked at each other, both of them in complete shock and confusion.
Mary Parker was alive?!
They also heard constant cars behind them and turned to see dozens of black vans chasing them.
What did she get them in the middle of?
Ciara Riley Wilson as Skye/ Daisy Johnson / Quake
Evan Rachel Wood asJean Grey / Phoenix
Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier / Professor X