City of apes

Caitlin checked on Frost and it seems she's suffered from head trauma and sees she's in a small coma while Jesse explains what happened.

"It's been two weeks since he disappeared. I mean, no ones seen or heard from him since." Jesse tells them.

"Okay, why did your dad go to Gorilla City?" Peter asks, completely confused to why Harry would do that. Why anybody would do that.

"We received a mathematical cryptogram at our Star labs. It was highly complex. Took a week to decode it, but my dad and I did. It was an invitation from the gorillas to my dad." Jesse explains to them.

"Why Harry?" Barry asks.

"They wanted to meet him. So he mounted an expedition with ten other people, including Frost, and they went into the jungle. But they failed multiple check-ins, and a search party went in after them. But all they found were the bodies and the unconscious Frost...they were all beaten to death." Jesse explains and now they're worried about Harry.

"Oh! There you guys are." HR says as he exits the med lab. "Did anyone else see...Killer Frost in the med lab?" He asks when Jesse almost thought that he was Harry.

"So what are we gonna do?" Peter asks as they all remember the headline of the city and the gorilla attack.

"This can't be a coincidence, right? Harry lured into Gorilla City means Grodd must be planning something." Barry says.

"Seems like he's planning to come back to this earth." Caitlin agrees.

"And not alone by the sound of it." Cisco adds.

"Ha! If Grodd is coming to this earth with a monkey army, Peter Parker is not on this earth." Peter warns them, sick of the telepathic ape. Forgot an army of them.

"If we rescue Harry, maybe that stops whatever Grodd has planned, and maybe changes the future?" May guesses.

"Or maybe going there is what causes this." Peter says...but he isn't going to leave anyone behind. Harry's a friend. Yet again, he's in a city of his most feared animal.

"Harry's our friend, I'm not abandoning him. I'm going back to Earth-2." Barry tells them.

"And I suppose you'll want somebody to come with you who's gonna open those breaches for you?" Cisco guesses. "I'm in."

"Sorry, no thanks. My mind can't stand one overgrown monkey, let alone a city of them." Peter states to them.

"I'm gonna come too. I have a connection with Grodd. Maybe we can use that to get through to him." Caitlin tells the team.

Peter freezes for a second and now is completely on board with going. He wants to keep Caitlin safe, and he wants to save Harry. "Fine, I'm going. But if I don't get use the stinkin' paws line at least once, this whole trip is ruined." He warns them and Caitlin laughs at that pun. "I'll tell Miles I'm going out of town and ask him not to blow up the city while I'm gone.

-

Peter explained to Miles that he was going to a secret city of gorillas and he asked Miles to keep the city safe while he was gone.

"Okay, and make sure Wally doesn't-" Barry was telling Iris.

"I will." Iris promises.

"Because you know, sometimes he can be a little-" Barry was saying.

"Barry," Iris said firmly, rolling her eyes up at him. "I am very good at bossing my little brother around. Okay? Don't worry. Just don't do anything stupid."

"Okay," Barry sighed, giving her a hug.

"This is the dumbest thing we've done, and that's saying a lot." Peter tells May.

"Well, you've seen all of the Planet of the Apes movies, so you know what to look out for." May assures him.

"Yeah, and they say watching television doesn't save lives." Peter jokes when they turn and see Julian in some Indiana Jones style outfit.

"Oh boy." May says seeing this isn't gonna go well.

"Indiana Jones much?" Cisco asks.

"Cisco, my friend, this is not my first expedition, and believe me, this is the perfect attire." Julian tells him.

"Wait, Julian, what's going on? I thought you were covering for me?" Barry asks him.

"I spoke to Captain Singh. He thinks we're at a morphology conference up in Bludhaven." Julian tells Barry. "So if it's all the same to you..."

"All right." Barry agrees to let him come.

"You don't need to come, Julian. You don't even know Harry." Caitlin says as she knows how he's been making Peter feel. Let alone she's been feeling the same way with how he acts around her.

"A chance to travel to another dimension. I mean, I wasn't gonna miss that." Julian tells her.

"We're not going sightseeing." Peter informs him when Julian pulls out a gun.

"Neither am I." Julian states.

"Yeah, that not gonna help you. Not against gorillas that can control your mind." Peter warns him.

"Wally, Jesse, Miles, you make sure this city's safe while were gone, all right?" Barry asks the teen heroes.

"We will." Wally promises.

"Try not to kill Julian." May asks Peter while kissing his cheek. "And keep Caitlin and yourself safe, I'll make sure Frost stays alive."

"Thanks." Peter says and walks up to them.

The team gets ready and Cisco opens a breach and they all go through it.

-

They exit the breach in the damp environment of Earth-2 Africa.

"Welcome to the jungle, baby." Cisco says as they look and see a temple with a gorilla face on it.

"I immediately regret my decision." Peter states as they start walking through the jungle.

"Earth-2 Africa. Not hot. Guess global warming's not really a thing here. But bugs are." Cisco says as he gets bit.

"Someone please help me out. How exactly does saving someone on this Earth prevent an attack on ours?" Julian asks them.

"Well, if Grodd is planning to attack Central City, he's gonna need a way of traveling the multiverse via breach." Peter explains to him. "And the only one capable of doing that is..."

"Harrison Wells." Caitlin finishes his sentence. "So if we save him from Grodd, he can't get to our earth."

"The attack never happens." Peter adds.

"And we change the future." Caitlin finishes cheerfully.

"They've officially reaches the finishing-each-other's-sentences portion of their relationship." Cisco tells Barry who also sees that, and it's creepy.

They keep walking as Cisco is tracking where the gorillas are or at least where Harry's watch is.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Caitlin asks as she sees Peter's thinking of something.

"Just remembering the last time we were here. When I met your doppelgänger and first met Killer Frost, now just Frost I guess. Then meeting my doppelgänger who was douche." Peter tells her. "And when I made a promise to you that you would never become her. At least the evil part."

"I remember it as when I finally came to grips to how I felt about you. If I was never taken, I might've never told you how I felt." Caitlin tells him.

"Well, good things always come out of bad sometimes." Peter says before kissing her cheek and they catch up with the others.

"We're getting close, guys." Cisco says.

They keep walking and come into a clearing when they hear something bleeping.

They look and Peter picks up Harry's metahuman watch.

"It's a trap." Barry realizes when suddenly darts come flying in and hits them but Peter catches his.

"A dart?" Peter asks looking at it and down to Barry. "The fastest man alive was taken down...by a dart?" He questions when suddenly he gets hit in the head as Grodd sunk up on him and knocks him unconscious.

"Welcome, Caitlin. Knew you two would come...Flash...Spider-Man." Grodd says as he's got what he wanted.

-

Later, the team starts waking up and sees they're in a gorilla prison.

"I should've stayed home." Peter states.

"We all okay?" Barry asks.

"I'm good." Caitlin assures.

"Yeah, me too." Cisco says.

"I've lost my gun, but I'm all right." Julian says.

Peter looks and sees that his web canisters are missing from his suit and his web shooters have been crushed.

"I've got no webs, but should be fine." Peter assures him.

"Well, looks like you're gonna need to phase or super punch us out." Cisco tells the heroes.

Barry starts trying to use his powers to phase and Peter tries to use his super strength but their powers are not working.

"Somethings wrong." Peter states as they're both powerless.

"Cisco, can you open a breach?" Barry asks him.

Cisco tries but it seems whatever they were hit with dampens their powers.

"We are official prisoners of the apes. I hate that I'm able to say that sentence and not sound crazy." Peter admits.

"Well, your quips are still working." Caitlin jokes causing Peter to laugh.

"It takes a lot more than being prisoner dampen my sense of humor." Peter says when they hear footsteps coming in and see Harry.

"Hello, Flash." Harry says and they know it's Grodd.

"Grodd." Barry states.

"What? That's Grodd the gorilla? He's talking through Wells?" Julian asks.

"What part of city filled with telepathic gorillas didn't you get?" Peter asks the man.

"Grodd, let him go. This is between you and me." Barry tells him.

"Not yet. I need him." Grodd tells them.

"For what?" Peter asks him. "Why'd you lure us all here?"

"Need your help." Grodd tells them.

"Help?" Barry asks.

"You sent me here! Remember?" Grodd asks Peter as the memories flash in their minds of sending Grodd through the breach when Peter kicked him into the portal. "To live in this hell! Where I am forced to serve under the rule of Solovar."

"Who's Solovar?" Peter asks him.

"Leader of Gorilla kind. Ruler of Gorilla City. And now...he wants to rule the humans. He will bring war to your Earth." Grodd warns them.

"Why would he do that?" Barry asks Grodd.

"He has seen many conflicts between gorillas and humans. He is afraid the humans will attack, but now that you're here, he will bring the fight to you." Grodd explains.

"So you roughy us here to stop him?" Peter says.

"As trespassers...you will be sent to the arena and executed." Grodd tells them.

"You know, a sign at the door wouldn't take too much time. Like a cross this point, you will be executed warning maybe." Peter tells him.

"It will be Solovar's great honor...to kill you...himself. But, Flash...if he were to be defeated, the other gorillas would see his weakness and would no longer follow him." Grodd tells him.

"Well, I'm not gonna kill anyone, not even a gorilla." Barry states.

"Kill or be killed! This is the only law gorilla kind understands." Grodd tells him.

"What do you get from this?" Peter wonders knowing Grodd isn't just doing this to save humans.

"Solovar falls. I take his place. I rule gorillas, and I promise to keep them in Gorilla City." Grodd promises.

"And why should we take your word for that?" Peter asks since he knows this gorilla should never be trusted.

"Because...even though you sent me away, your Earth is still my home. And there are those among you I will never forget." Grodd explains while looking at Caitlin when Harry drops to the floor and Grodd enters the room.

"Kill Solovar, and Central City will be spared." Grodd tells them as he approaches them. "Fail, and see your home turned to ash."

-

Barry was standing with his fists wrapped around the bars of his cage, absentmindedly rubbing his forehead against the metal. Caitlin finally decided to break the silence and walked over to him. She laid her hands against the bars, tilting her head.

"Barry, do you really think you could kill this...Solovar?" Caitlin asked softly. He glanced over at her, then back down at his hands. "Do you think you could take a life?"

Barry opened his mouth a little and was about to respond when the sound of loud, thudding gorilla footsteps echoed down the corridor.

They all glanced up to see a giant, light colored gorilla come heavily down the dungeon steps. He was closely followed by Grodd, who walked behind him in a respectful way.

"It is just as a feared," the light-colored gorilla said in their minds. They presumed him to be Solovar, though they couldn't be certain. "Humans sport war with gorilla kind. Why did you not tell me that more humans had entered the city?"

"I was about to inform you, Solovar-" Grodd started, but Solovar backhanded him roughly across the chest.

Caitlin flinched and looked away as Grodd crashed to the floor and even Peter felt bad for him.

Barry eyes widened, suddenly seeming to realize how dangerous an angry gorilla was when there wasn't a pretty young scientist that could calm him down.

"Why?!" Solovar growled. "Why are you here? To study us like animals? To make us your pets?"

"No," Barry said quickly. "No- I- no. We came here in peace. We entered your city by mistake...we mean you no harm. Please." Barry looked up at gorilla with his trademark earnestness, hoping that Solovar would see he was telling the truth. "Just let me and my friends go. I promise we'll never come back here again."

Solovar's eyes squinted, and suddenly Peter began to speak.

"My brethren have seen you," Peter said, and Caitlin jumped, realizing that Solovar was now speaking through him. "Your fate is sealed. You will all die by my hand...in the arena." Slowly, Peter rotated to look out the small window in the dungeon. "So that all will know that Solovar's justice is wise and swift."

Barry nodded a little bit, eyes turning hard. He walked up to the cage, turning back to the gorilla. "Alright, I'll make you a deal," he said. "I'll fight you in the arena, just me. But if I beat you, you let my friends go, and you leave us alone for good."

But Peter spoke for Solovar again, sealing his fate.

"I accept." Peter says. "Humans And their arrogance. First you will suffer. Then I will grant you each...a horrible death." He says as the gorillas leave.

"Never thought I'd hear Peter say that." Cisco jokes.

"What? What'd I say?" Peter asks, unaware the gorilla entered his mind.

-

Now Barry stood in the middle of a stadium filled with cheering, roaring, stomping gorillas.

Solovar was in front of him, while back in the cells Cisco was monitoring Barry's vitals from his phone.

"Speedster vs. Super Gorilla," he murmured. "Best-Worst video game ever."

"Do you really think Barry can beat Solovar?" Caitlin asked Peter.

"I hope so," Peter said. "For all of our sakes."

"Oh, it's starting." Cisco tells them.

Back in the arena, Solovar gripping his spear. "After you die, your friends will follow you into the black."

"We'll see." Barry said calmly.

"Okay, Barry," Cisco called into the phone-comm. "I got a plan for you. It's all about the speed punches."

Barry nodded, then ran at Solovar.

"You've got this, Barry." Peter cheers his friend on.

Solovar deflected him with his shield, and Barry's shoulder hit hard against it, flying over Solovar's body. He crashed to the ground, and felt it begin to shake as Solovar ran towards him, punching him in the face.

Barry smashed back into the dirt, tasting blood.

"Forget that plan, Barry," Cisco yelled nervously. "It's all about the running away."

"Run, Barry, run!" Peter tells him.

Solovar thundered toward Barry again, and slammed his spear down toward him. It hit the hard dirt and sent a crack running through it, right where Barry had been a second ago.

Now he was running, zipping in circles along the perimeter of the arena.

"What about a lightning throw?" Caitlin suggested to Cisco, gripping the bars of her cage and nervous watching the fight through the opening the gorilla's had provided.

"Yes, Barry. Lightning throw." Cisco tells him.

"Worth a shot." Barry agrees.

Barry continued to speed around the arena, but before he could throw the bolt, Solovar moved, ran toward the center of the arena, jumped at in the air, and slammed his spear back toward the ground.

A giant wave of impact traveled out from the hit. The wave of dust slammed into Barry and he tripped, tumbling vertical along the wall before he stumbled and did a face-plant on the ground.

"Come on Barry, get up," Peter whispered, starting to get nervous.

"This is definitely reverse of our fortunes." Julian states.

"You're not helping!" Peter informs him.

Barry struggled to his forearms but cried out in pain, dropping back down to the ground.

Cisco frowned a little bit, looking like he might have an idea. "Wait, maybe he actually did help." He states. "Barry...it's time to pull a Reverse Flash."

Caitlin and Peter looked at him, confused, just as Barry pushed himself from the ground.

Solovar leapt into the air, flying towards him, and Cisco screamed, "DO IT!"

Barry vibrated his hand, and as the gorilla flew towards him, he slammed it into Solovar's stomach.

Solovar crashed back, landing heavily on the ground, spear clattering out of his hand.

"He actually did it," Julian breathed, arm dropping. "He bloody well did it."

All around Barry, gorillas were grumbling and shifting. "I won't kill him!" Barry yelled between pants. "I WON'T! I know you all fear humans! You think they want war with gorilla kind. We don't! We're not all murderers and killers! We only want peace! WHICH IS WHY I'M SPARING YOUR LEADER! We call it mercy." He tells the gorillas.

Abruptly, a small, sharp pain in Barry's calf made him look down. A feathered dart, just like the one he and his team had been hit with before, was sticking out of his leather pant leg.

The world began to spin and Barry's dropped to his knees. He was awake just long enough to feel his head bounce of the hard packed dirt as he landed.

-

Barry later wakes back up in the cells with the others.

"What happened?" Barry asks.

"Congratulations. You beat a super gorilla." Peter informs him.

"What about Harry?" Barry asks.

"He's still catatonic." Caitlin tells him when Harry stands up.

"Flash." Grodd greets through her Harry.

"I won. Solovar promises to let us go." Barry reminds him.

"No." Grodd tells him.

Peter looks to the man in anger as he should've known. "You never intended to release us, did you?"

"I told you I needed you. I could not defeat Solovar in combat, but you could. You did, and now I am ruler of Gorilla City, and all the gorillas will follow me." Grodd tells them as now they see what his plan was.

"Solovar never wanted to attack Central City. You do." Barry realizes.

"You took my home from me, and now I will take it back!" Grodd tells him. "The gorillas all saw what you did, Flash. They saw you defeat Solovar, and now they are afraid of humans and will do anything I order, and I will order them to invade your earth, and your city will burn. Father taught me well. Always think ahead. Ann I had plenty of time to think in cages built by you and then by Solovar."

"Then why not just kill us?" Cisco asks. "Since we already did your dirty work for you."

"Still need you." Grodd says.

"He needs you to open a breach to our earth." Peter puts together.

"Spider-Man smart. My army will cross that breach, and all the humans in Central City will burn before Gorilla Kind!" Grodd tells them.

"Grodd, you're smart enough to know you can't do this." Barry states. "Intelligence and violence, they're opposites of each other. What you want to do, it's not logical, not for someone as wise as you."

"You forget, Flash. I am an animal. I am a gorilla. Kill or be killed!" Grodd tells him.

"We're gonna get out of these cells and stop you." Peter promises as Harry drops to the floor and Grodd approaches them himself.

"No, you won't. You will die." Grodd states.

-

Harry had woken up, but Barry hadn't reacted much. He had been trying to vibe through the bars of his cage for the past ten minutes, but now he slumped back on the ground dejectedly.

Peter has also been trying to regain his powers but whatever he was hit with was seriously strong. Either that, or they have a power dampener strong enough to dampen even his powers.

"I still can't phase through the bars," Barry reported needlessly. "We have to find a way out of here so we can stop him."

"You keep saying that, but what if we can't get out?" Julian said, his face pinching. "What if we're stuck here? What if-"

"We can't think like that." Barry cut him off sharply. "While there's life, there's hope."

Cisco let out a sigh, leaning against the wall. "And if there isn't life?" He asks.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Peter asks him, not liking the tone.

"Grodd needs me to open a breach so he can attack Earth-1," Cisco elaborated flatly. "What if I wasn't alive to do that?"

Caitlin's eyebrows shot up. "You planning on dying?"

"Only if you kill me." Cisco tells her.

She squinted, trying to figure out if he was serious. Peter huffed out a disbelieving laugh, shaking his head.

"Look," Cisco said, backing up his point. "This is something we have to consider. Right now, I can't think of any other way to stop them. They'd have no other way of getting to Central City."

"He's right," Julian mumbled absently. "Cisco's death would change the newspaper headlines in the future."

Harry frowned. "Headline?"

"It's a long story," Caitlin said, not wanting to get into the whole future mess they were in at the moment.

"But it could also make another one come true," Peter said softly, looking at Caitlin. "The one about...Killer Frost."

Caitlin's eyebrows shot up once again, and she got her adorable deer-in-headlights look Peter loves, sending it at Cisco. "You want...me to kill you?"

"Think about it," Cisco murmured dismally. "Grodd doesn't know you have cold powers. You might be able to use them."

"Cold powers?" Harry wrinkled his nose, pointing at Caitlin. "She-you have cold powers?" Caitlin sighed a little and nodded and Harry curled his hand into a fist. "I knew it, I knew that you and I didn't get Barry out of that mirror."

"Wait, Caitlin," Peter interrupted, and she turned her gaze on him. "If you kill someone...I don't think there's any coming back from that. You'll be Killer Frost, and I don't know if I can talk you out of it this time." He warns her.

"And I didn't come all this way to see that happen." Julian states and now Peter and Caitlin look at him.

"Did you come here because you live for danger or to protect me?" Caitlin asks him and gets silence from him.

"I just don't want to see you become something you're not." Julian answers.

"Okay, what's happening? You do realize I'm dating her, right?" Peter asks Julian.

"Well, I was thinking that someone needs to worry about her safety." Julian tells him.

"Oh. You did not just say I don't care about her safety." Peter states while looking at him with anger in his eyes.

The two start arguing back and forth until Barry yells at them, "guys, stop!" He tells the two and they quiet down.

Caitlin bit her lip, looking down, then back up at her friend. "Okay Cisco, I'm not gonna kill you, and neither is anyone else, okay? So let's come up with the next best plan that doesn't involve murdering one of our friends."

Cisco shrugged, and Barry got a strange look on his face.

"No. Cisco's right. It's the only way," Barry said thoughtfully. "One of us has to die."

"What?" Peter asks, not liking his plan.

-

Later, Grodd comes back and sees Barry is dead with his face frozen.

"He started coughing...violently. And then he clutched his side and keeled over. The injury...it must have ruptured one of his kidneys. He went into shock. His heart stopped. I couldn't resuscitate him." Caitlin lies as he'd opens the doors and feels Barry's face.

"Cold." Grodd says.

"He's dead." Caitlin says.

"He was no use to me anyway." Grodd says as he drags Barry's body out of the cell and drops it in a garbage pile.

As soon as Grodd left, they waited for Barry to start moving and he starts phasing the cold off of him and he's back.

"Yo, it worked!" Cisco cheers and everyone shushes him. "It worked."

"You okay, Barry?" Peter asks him as he stands up.

"Yeah. I'm good." Barry assures him.

"I didn't feeeze you too much, did I?" Caitlin asks.

"No. I'm good." Barry says as he opens their cells.

They start making their way out and Barry speeds them off away from the city.

"We should be far enough away for our powers to work." Barry tells them.

"We need a breach open right now." Harry says.

"Guys, we gotta get out of here before they realize..." Peter was saying when his senses go off. "Hallelujah, my powers are back. Bad news, my powers are back!" He states as they hear the gorillas roaring.

"Run!" They all say and start running away.

"Open a breach!" Caitlin tells Cisco.

"Time to warp out of this madhouse." Cisco says as the gorillas are coming and they all run into the breach just in time before Grodd could catch up.

-

"A city of apes. I'll stick to our city if you don't mind." Fox tells Peter after telling him about the city.

"Yeah, word of advice; never volunteer for these things." Peter says as he lays down in a comfy chair in the Spider Cave for the first time all day. "We outsmarted super gorillas and changed the future. Score one for team Spider-Flash."

"Yeah, and I was able to use Frost's blood to see if I could work out what makes her and Caitlin different." Fox says.

"Anything interesting?" Peter asks.

"No, not anything you want to get into right now." Fox warns him.

"Okay, I'll take your word for it." Peter says and heads off to meet Caitlin.

What Fox didn't tell him was he found something but he can't make any sense of it.

Earth-2 Killer Frost was created by the particle accelerator explosion, which should mean Caitlin should be the same way.

But Caitlin's Frost was...there. After doing some research, he learned that her father was working on something and he needs to leave the city to talk to her mother and to gain some more information about it.

-

As for Caitlin, she was walking home and wanted to talk to Julian about what happened.

"Listen, if I overstepped, then I apologize." Julian tells her.

"You were willing to risk your life for me knowing that I was seeing somebody?" Caitlin clarifies to him. "I like you, Julian. But Peter...he's been there for me for the past four years. He knows about me, wasn't even that interested in dating me until recently. We are happy and he knows that these powers I have are dangerous but he's willing to help me through it. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I understand." Julian says and sees he did overstep and leaves her be.

-

Peter and Caitlin were spending the night alone and were preparing for their movie as Peter lays down and Caitlin snuggles up close to him.

"You were amazing out there." Peter tells her.

"Same goes for you." Caitlin replies. "This mean you're over your fear of gorillas now?"

"Oh dear god, no. I think it's increased." Peter states and Caitlin laughs at that. "But we did it, we changed the future without loosing anyone. And I will always protect you." He promises while playing with a bit of her hair.

"How do you constantly do this?" Caitlin asks him.

"Do what?" Peter asks her, not understanding.

"Stay positive even when the odds are against you?" Caitlin wonders.

Peter just smiles looking at her. "Because I've got no reason for being negative. It's just not something I'm good at." He states and starts kissing her and she kisses back before she pushes herself away from his lips.

"Hey, are we watching the movie or continuing this?" Caitlin asks referring to their activity.

"Fine." Peter surrenders and plays the movie, the original Planet of the Apes.

"You're upset you didn't get the chance to say the line, aren't you?" Caitlin asks Peter.

"Get your stinkin' paws off me, you damn, dirty ape." Peter says just to say he said it and Caitlin just laughed at the silliness of her boyfriend.

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