A/N: Chapter four! This will be the chapter where our main characters unite (as the name implies). For the location of the hero headquarters, just think of the same location they used for the actual CW Invasion crossover, that's what I'm trying to imply in this chapter.

HEROES UNITE

Earth 1

Central City

0700 EST

"Nice facility you got here," Thea commented as she and Barry walked around the inside of a building that would serve as the allies' base, observing the structural surroundings within. "How'd you get it?"

"It's part of the STAR Labs facilities under the STAR Labs properties," Barry explained. "It was written off to me along with numerous other properties and assets when Eobard Thawne was posing as this world's Harrison Wells."

"Doesn't that technically make you a billionaire?" Thea inquired.

Barry shrugged. "I guess."

"You should do something with all this, you know," the younger Queen sibling suggested. "A guy like you could probably do wonders with all this."

Barry chuckled light-heartedly. "Yeah, well, when you spend the last two years fighting evil speedsters who either want to destroy the timeline or the multiverse, being rich doesn't really cross your mind too often."

"And now we're about to go to war against a race of aliens that want to conquer our planet," Thea deadpanned as she nodded her head. "Not trippy at all."

Barry smiled lightly. "You get used to it."

"Really?" Thea wondered.

"Yes and no," Barry replied. "You get used to it in the sense that you just stop caring much and just jump in."

Kara and Hal remained inside with Barry and Thea alongside Rene, Curtis, Rory, and Evelyn. A few feet outside the doors, Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle were waiting as Felicity looked into the skies with a pair of borrowed binoculars. The trio had been waiting for only a few minutes, but with the current situation, they'd grown rather impatient relatively quickly.

"You sure they're coming…like at all?" Oliver asked.

"This is the time and place I gave them…" Felicity said as she checked her watch. "They should be coming right-"

Before she could complete her sentence, the Waverider appeared in a quick, small flash of orange light in the clouds as it flew smoothly through the skies and headed towards the ground for a landing.

"-now." Felicity finished.

Diggle stared intensely as he breathed deeply, his chest puffing. "You know why I never did drugs? I always thought I'd see weird shit."

"You already have seen…weird shit, John." Oliver retorted.

A few minutes later, the Batplane followed as it landed beside the Waverider at the roof of the facility where the heroes were gathering. Inside, Barry met with the entirety of Team Arrow, the Legends, Kara, and Batman and his other allies. He approached Arthur and Diana.

"News on Grodd's army?" Barry asked. "Give me something."

"We held them off as long as we could," Arthur said regretfully, a tone Barry recognized more often than he cared to. "But there were too many."

"They've taken downtown Central City and have countless hostages," Diana stated. "Millions at the least."

"Grodd could kill any number of innocents at any time," Barry sighed. "I need to get there now."

"Bad idea, Allen," Batman warned. "Brainiac is scouring this planet for you. If he spots you this soon, there's no telling what hell he'll unleash. We'd lose more and more innocent lives."

"We can sit around doing nothing." Barry pleaded.

"We're not," Hal insisted. "Besides, we both know Grodd needs those hostages for bargaining power. What for? We don't know, but we do know he needs them alive."

"For now, we focus on our group together," Diana advised. "Train, prepare, strategize, then we attack."

Barry sighed once more. "Alright, let's just speed this up."

"Barry!" a familiar voice called out to him.

The young speedster turned as he noticed a few additional familiar faces walking in. Wally, Cisco, Caitlin, Joe, Iris, H.R., Jesse, and Harry. Aside from Jesse and Harry, Barry was surprised to see the others at this location.

"What're you guys doing here?" Barry asked in confusion.

"We're here to help," Cisco said immediately as he put a hand on Barry's shoulders. "Look, we're way past Flashpoint and all of it. And I know you said no more Team Flash, but this is different. You need all the help you can get and we're here."

Barry knew better than to argue. With everything at hand, this was an all-hands-on-deck situation. He gave his former teammates a grateful nod as he stood before the entirety of the team before him.

"Alright everyone," Barry addressed. "Welcome and thank you for coming. What's happening right now is bigger than all of us and we need all of your help if we're gonna stop it."

Rene cleared his throat before awkwardly raising his hand. Barry was quick to notice.

"Don't wanna interrupt or nothin', but I just got a question." Rene commented.

"This isn't a school, man," Barry shrugged. "Just say your thing."

Small levels of snickers went around as Rene cleared his throat. "If we're gonna be doing this, I just wanna ask…who exactly is in charge here?"

"Yeah," Curtis added. "Like who's our…our…our guy? Our leader? Our captain?"

"I'd take my chances with Batman," Thea commented as everyone's eyes went to the Dark Knight. "I mean - it's Batman."

"Appreciated, Ms. Queen," Batman responded before his eyes went to a certain speedster. "But I'm going to insist that Barry takes on this role. He knows everyone here the most, he brought all of us together, it's his city and his facility we're in. I trust him for this."

Barry furrowed an eyebrow in confusion before turning as he looked to Hal, who sheepishly responded with a thumbs-up, a nod, and smile. He then looked to Oliver, who gave him a confident nod. He inhaled a breath as he nodded.

"Alright, to get started…" Barry began. "Just suit up, everyone. Get to know each other, start training. We'll debrief you on the situation within the hour."

Inside the facility, the Legends and Team Arrow trained as they fought against a suited up Kara as well Hal. Despite their weapons and skills, they were no match for either. Kara's kryptonian durability and the power of Hal's ring negated any and all of their attacks as they flew a few feet above ground, looking down at the rest of their sparring mates. A few feet away, Arthur and Diana traded blows as they trained both hand-to-hand and with their weapons. Atlantean strength and Themysciran physiology were more neck-and-neck than either of them had anticipated, despite having known and even fought each other for years. Batman was testing his gear and weaponry as well as training his fighting style and skill against a dummy.

All the while, Barry set up a large, circular table as he relayed and prepped a holographic, two-dimensional display of Earth on it. Cisco and Caitlin showed up beside him as they watched in a mix of awe and surprise at their friend's work.

"Did you make this?" Caitlin pondered.

Barry whirled around after adding some finishing touches as he let out a quick laugh. "Yeah, started the design just before Batman left to get Ollie and his team."

"Where did you even learn the skills to make this?" Cisco asked.

"An hour ago," Barry deadpanned, anticipating his friends' looks of surprise. "What? I have a fast brain too, you know."

Barry approached the two of them as he nodded.

"I know I said we can't do Team Flash anymore," the speedster admitted. "But I'm glad you guys are here."

"Think we can all get drinks after this?" Cisco asked as Caitlin and Barry chuckled. "Three of us? I'm buying as long as we go."

"If we all live through this…" Barry promised.

"When we live through this," Caitlin insisted. "You're making it out of this alive too, Barry Allen."

Barry pursed his lips and nodded. "When we make it through this."

Cisco smirked.

The trio's moment was suddenly interrupted as Wally, Joe, and Iris caught Barry's eye. Wally walked angrily towards Barry while Joe and Iris watched in disbelief.

"I wanna help," Wally stated bluntly. "And I know you're gonna say that it's too dangerous or that I'm not ready, but I am. You need me helping you, not sitting around doing nothing. I've been training with H.R., I'm almost as fast as you are. Let me help."

"Wally-" Barry tried to say before Wally cut him off as H.R. appeared beside him.

"I'm fast enough, Barry," Wally pleaded. "Jesse's gonna help when she feels better, I can join you guys. Why only have one speedster out there when you can have three? Imagine what we could do."

"Wally, you're not doing this," Joe ordered as he and Iris came over. "It's too dangerous."

"You're not ready." Iris said.

"I'm not asking you guys," Wally retorted. "I asked Barry."

"Barr, tell him he's out of his damn mind." Joe sighed as he glanced at Barry.

Barry paused for a moment as he thought to himself. His glance quickly flickered to H.R., who gave him a look that practically spelled 'give the kid a chance.'

Barry looked back to Wally. "No Joe, I think he's right. We need all the help we can get and desperate times call for desperate measures."

"You can't bring him out to the field, Barry," Iris insisted. "He's not ready."

"And who decides that?" Barry retorted as he looked at Joe and Iris. "You two?"

"Barr," Joe began. "People like you and the rest of them have been doing this for years and this is gonna be the greatest challenge yet."

"All the more reason for Wally to come with us," Barry replied. "Like I said, we need all the help we can get. Wally's gonna be a lot more useful out there than rotting away here."

Joe sighed as he conceded with a nod. "Okay, you say he's ready, then he's ready."

Iris, on the other hand, looked repulsed. "What?!"

"It's my decision, Iris," Barry said, not bothered to address her seriously. "You don't have to like it. Swallow it. Move on."

Barry left the conversation, leaving everyone in it perplexed and confused. The Barry Allen they know was rarely ever so…hard on people. Especially in his most heated moments. There was almost some sort of context or explanation, but now, there was nothing. Just utter confusion. As he headed to meet the rest of the team, Barry noticed a black car driving in through the entrance. Only one person: the driver, who got out as the speedster recognized her instantly.

"Lyla, hey…" Barry greeted.

"Barry…" Lyla greeted back as she took a look around the facility. "So this is the team you've gathered."

"It's all we got." Barry stated.

Lyla sighed. "It's something. Besides, the whole world's literally gone to hell out there."

Barry nodded. "What can we do to help?"

"Legally? Not much," Lyla deadpanned as Barry furrowed his eyebrows in reaction. "Higher ups in DC want to minimize involvement of metahumans and vigilantes. Some bullshit about letting the military handle this and doing it the American way."

Barry shook his head. "We don't have time for that. No human military is gonna leave a dent on the Dominators, you need us and you need us now."

"I know…and between you, me, and your gang here, you'll have ARGUS' full support and resources. There's also something else."

"What is it?"

Lyla looked hesitant as she looked around the entire facility before looking back to Barry, who frowned in a hint of confusion.

"Not here," Lyla advised. "Somewhere private, just you and me."

Barry and Lyla were inside a STAR Labs trailer within the facility as they listened to a message on a computer through a hard drive Lyla brought. The message also showed a certain alien speaking as he addressed the audience through it.

"Citizens of planet Earth," the alien addressed. "I am Brainiac, the Collector of Worlds. And your world is mine for the taking…"

Barry couldn't help but clench his jaw and first upon hearing the last bit of the introduction. This Brainiac person was going through an awful lot of trouble to damage this planet when it was simply Barry he wanted.

"I come from several universes away in the multiverse," Brainiac continued. "I have conquered and collected countless worlds as well as wiped out billions of species and races. You, planet Earth, are my next target. Do not attempt to resist or fight back against my forces. Any such attempt shall and will be crushed under the might of my armies and their technological weaponry, which advances yours by an immeasurable margin.

This world will be conquered, its inhabitants, unlike most, will live. But you will live as my servants. Those who die shall only be those who resist or are in the casualty of any battle. I have conquered this planet, I have crushed the strongest of its militaries and by the minute, my Dominators occupy and secure more and more of it.

There is an individual among you who I seek. He may look human, he may have been born human…but he is not. This individual goes by The Flash, but his name? His real name…is Barry Allen."

Barry stared in a mix of horror and rage, watching as Brainiac unmasked and revealed his identity to the entire world. Anyone and everyone watching, anyone who'd seen the news or this very footage knew. Billions of people knew. The whole world knew his identity. It was over. The time of The Flash's identity being kept secret had come to an end. Barry was exposed out into the open.

"You shall provide this individual to my custody where he will remain," Brainiac ordered. "Your world will still be conquered and you will still live to be my servants and slaves. But after the very end of this message, for every hour that passes where this individual is not turned over to me, I will slaughter ten thousand of your people. Your time starts now."

The message came to a close as Lyla turned to Barry.

"How long ago was this sent?" Barry asked hollowly.

"Barry-" Lyla tried to say, hoping to reach him as a friend, knowing he was going through a million different kinds of emotion at the moment.

"How long?" Barry asked, raising his voice and sounding more stern.

"An hour ago." Lyla confessed.

"Jesus Christ," Barry sighed. "He's already slaughtered ten thousand innocent people because of me and I'm just realizing this."

"You don't know that."

"Ten thousand people for every hour that I don't surrender myself, Lyla. That's what he said. That's two-hundred forty thousand people in a day. Almost two million in a week. He will wipe out the entire human population of this planet just to get me."

"And he might do it anyway even if he does get you," Lyla pointed out. "I don't know why he wants or for what, but you cannot blame yourself for this, Barry."

"I can and I will because this is my fault," Barry spat. "All across the world, soldiers and innocent people are dying. Men, women, and children are dying. On top of that, ten thousand will die every hour. And all those people could be saved if I just go. I'm supposed to be the hero, Lyla. I'm supposed to be saving lives, not being the reason they're taken."

"Barry, say you turn yourself in," Lyla said. "Say you do. What if Brainiac experiments on you and tries to mind control you against the team or Earth? Or against other planets? Other universes? Imagine the kind of damage he could do if he has you in his grasp. He's playing with your mind, Barry, and he's not gonna stop. You need to think about the bigger picture."

"What am I supposed to do then, Lyla?" Barry asked.

"Stop him," Lyla advised. "Gather your team, lead, and stop Brainiac yourself."

"If I just turn myself in, I could be saving millions." Barry said.

"And if you stop him as well as the Dominators without turning yourself in, you'd save billions." Lyla said. "Look, for now, this stays between you and me. We don't need your team learning about this. Especially not when the whole world already knows."

Barry swallowed a small lump in his throat as he opened his mouth to respond. He was cut off as the door to the trailer opened, revealing Cisco to be behind it. Barry and Lyla shot their glances at him.

"What is it?" Barry asked, trying to cover his reaction from earlier.

"Batman's mapped out some war fronts across the world," Cisco said. "He thinks we should split up. He has a plan."

Barry nodded. "I'll be right there."

Cisco nodded back as he turned and left. Barry turned back to face Lyla.

"You can't tell them, Barry." Lyla said. "Turning yourself won't benefit anyone or anything. Brainiac will kill regardless."

Barry sighed. "Let's just get this all over with while we still can."

He left the trailer as Lyla watched him leave. Something about Barry told her that he would try surrendering himself regardless. If he did, Earth would lose her greatest defender.

"I've mapped out the most concentrated battle fronts between human and dominator forces," Batman said, pointing to the holographic map on the circular table that all the allies surrounded. "The closest front occurs roughly around the US-Canadian border, reaching all the from the northwestern area of Canada to Niagara Falls. The Dominators have been vastly outnumbering and outgunning both US and Canadian forces. Like all other human militaries, they won't last very long without our help.

"The next major front is in Europe, reaching from the southwestern tip of Portugal, stretching across France, Germany, Poland, the Balkans, and all the way to Moscow. Another front we have is closer to Southern Asia, reaching from Kazakhstan, across the Indian border with Pakistan and China, moving across China, and reaching all the way to Tokyo. The South American and African continents have been gridlocked and isolated from the outside world by the Dominators.

"We're also getting huge energy readings from Egypt, specifically in the pyramids. Those readings match what we're getting from Brainiac's mothership and other Dominators subships and dropships. We don't know why, but it could be worth investigating."

"Is there any country or place that isn't-" Thea tried to ask.

"Permanently run over or taken over by the Dominators?" Cisco hesitantly asked.

Batman sighed. "No. Not to our knowledge. As far as we know, the Dominators have occupied and secured every continent on the planet. Our goal now is to liberate the planet from them, one major front at a time."

Barry nodded. "If we split up, we can cover more ground."

"Agreed," Batman responded. "How do you want to proceed, Barry?"

"What's the most critical front?" Barry asked.

"Based on our readings, Cisco, Felicity, and I have deemed it to be the one in Europe." Batman said. "It has the strongest and most amount of Dominator firepower, dropships, and the most amount of Dominators. It also has the highest casualty rate."

"How much?" Oliver asked.

"Confirmed? Seventy million." Batman revealed as silenced gasps and sighs circled the room. "There's still a large margin of error in the casualty calculations but that's the lowball."

"We can't let this loss of life continue," Barry said. "Kara, you're one of our biggest guns. I want you, Arthur, and Diana in Europe at the war front. Focus on eliminating the Dominators and their artillery instead of pushing them back. We don't want the fronts in Europe and Asia merging into one, that'll make our lives even harder than they already are."

Kara, Arthur, Diana, and the Legends nodded in agreement.

"Batman, you, Hal, and Team Arrow are gonna be in the war front here, at the US-Canadian border." Barry continued. "The Legends are gonna go to the one in Asia. Wally, Jesse, I want you guys with Cisco and the others back at STAR Labs in Central City. You guys need to take care of Grodd. He's here with an army and he has hostages in the millions as far as downtown."

"What're you gonna do?" Mick asked as everyone turned their eyes to Barry.

Barry inhaled deeply. "I'm heading for the Dominators' mothership. Catch the son of a bitch responsible for this shit and we can stop it all right here."

"On your own?" Caitlin asked worriedly.

"I'll be in and out of there quickly enough," Barry insisted. "When I am, I'll join the fight against Grodd in Central City. Once that's done, my team and I will split and help out the rest of you at the fronts."

"We should also look into the energy reading in Egypt," Batman reminded.

"I'll look into it after I handle the mothership," Barry said. "You know your positions, you have your teams. Good luck and save as many as you can. Go."

The teams for the war fronts in Asia and Europe had already left. Batman had taken Oliver and Team Arrow on the Batplane as they headed for Niagara Falls to work their way up the war front in Canada. Barry had stayed back with Hal as they tracked Brainiac's skull-shaped mothership. He stood at the tall entrance doors of the facility as he met with his former team.

"You're really doing this on your own, B.A.?" H.R. inquired.

"This time I have to," Barry said. "If I can reach the mothership, I could stop all of this right then and there. If not, then we need to have the others fighting either in Central City or on the war fronts. This is the best way to proceed with things."

"Where's your suit?" Cisco asked.

He and the rest of the team had just realized. While the rest of the allies had suited up, Barry had relatively normal clothes on. Dark blue sneakers, black cargo pants, and a dark blue, long-sleeved Henley t-shirt.

"Not this time," Barry said. He couldn't take it with him or wear it, not after seeing and hearing Brainiac's message to Earth or the fact that he had to hide it from almost everyone around him.

"Why not?" Caitlin asked.

Barry shook his head. "I'll explain later."

"Just be careful up there, son." Joe pleaded, patting Barry's shoulder as he nodded.

Barry said his goodbyes to the rest of his friends and family. Just as he prepared to leave, Harry stepped in front of him as the two spoke privately. A habit Barry was starting to grow quickly tired of.

"You still have that knife I gave you?" Harry asked.

Barry revealed the black metal-bladed knife before sheathing behind him at his waist and covered it with his shirt.

"What is it?" Barry asked.

"Nth metal," Harry explained. "The most powerful metal and material in the multiverse. Even the Dark Multiverse. It's powerful and rare. I'll explain later, just keep it with you."

Barry nodded as the two shook hands.

"Stay safe, Allen." Harry wished.

The young speedster then turned away as he and Hal stood side-by-side.

"You ready?" Barry asked.

"We got the location of Brainiac's mothership," Hal said. "Run me through this plan one more time."

"Just drop me off on top of the ship and join Batman and the others at Niagara," Barry instructed. "I'll phase through the ship and take care of everything else on my end."

Hal nodded. "Alright, brother. Let's do this."

Suited up, with his ring charged, Hal constructed a green bubble around Barry as the two of them began levitating a few feet into the air. In a sudden dash, they flew and took off into the skies at high speed. Mere minutes later, Barry could see the large skull ship of Brainiac's hovering high in the air and in the atmosphere. Hal took him through a cloud before they reached the very top of the ship as they both landed on the metal plating, the bubble dissipating around Barry before it disappeared. Hal and Barry stood on top of the ship as high speed winds blew at the both of them due to their high altitude.

"Go!" Barry yelled to his friend. "Join the others. I got this."

Hal nodded hesitantly as he gave Barry's shoulders a tight clutch. "Take care of yourself, dumbass!"

Barry nodded as he gave Hal's shoulder a firm grip. The Green Lantern flew off into the skies heading for Niagara Falls to join Batman and Team Arrow in the fight against the Dominators in Canada. Barry looked around the skies and then down at the damaged and chaotic remains of Central City. The high speed wind blew ruggedly at his hair and his shirt as he stood atop Brainiac's mothership. With his feet sturdily on the ground, Barry vibrated his body before he started phasing as he fell through the metal walls and into the ship. He stopped vibrating as he landed inside the ship, crouching to soften his fall as he appeared to be in some sort of hallway. Barry slowly got up as he walked down the halls of the mothership before stopping at a door. There appeared to be some sort of access panel via hand scan.

"Well that's not gonna work." Barry muttered.

Vibrating his body once more, Barry phased through the door as he ran into the room that was sealed behind it. By the very complex and articulate design, Barry could tell this was the control room of the ship. The several advanced, alien supercomputers on his left and right, the throne-like chair at the very center of the room with numerous alien tentacles attached to it, and the large glass cover that was at the very front of the room, which allowed for a transparent look to what was outside. Barry immediately sped over to the chair, ready to attack, only to find the chair was empty. He turned around and saw the glass window at the front of the room as he approached it. Barry turned around in a 360-degree fashion as he looked around the main control room before stopping to look at the glass. He looked down at Central City, admiring the beauty of it while being heartbroken to see the damages and the destruction spreading through it.

"Welcome," an alien voice said as Barry whirled around to see the figure that was at the source of it. "I trust you have found your daring entrance into my ship satisfying."

Barry instantly recognized the being in front of him. "Brainiac…"

"An honor to meet you in person at last, Flash," Brainiac stated. "Or do you prefer Barry Allen? I imagine there's no difference anymore. The whole world has seen who hides behind the mask. They know the identity of The Flash."

"I don't need a mask," Barry spat. "Not to kick your ass."

Brainiac chuckled. "My dear speedster…we're just getting started."

A/N: I know that got a little lengthy but now, we've got our heroes united and they're off to war. I am of course going to have Barry address Flashpoint and the reason for Brainiac and the Dominators' arrival soon enough, but not right now. This story may be a little less lengthy than I anticipated. I'm thinking a total of 20-30 chapters at the most for this. Shouldn't be too long, but each chapter itself might be this length regularly.

I chose not to have Barry suit up for character reasons as he's still battling all his guilt from Flashpoint and his identity's been revealed, so it kind of defeats the purpose of having him suit up at all. I want Barry to deal with more guilt from Flashpoint b/c Flash season three did a terrible job of this. Especially after the canon Invasion crossover. Not saying I'm a professional writer, but I'm almost certain I can do something more character accurate and likable in this story (and series overall).