"Cisco, we need power!" Barry yelled as he strode into the Cortex.

"Working on it," Cisco called back from who knew where.

"Nothing's working," Miles reported. "Not even phones."

Peter reached out and rubbed his hands through his hair. "This is what I was worried about," he muttered.

"It's happening, isn't it?" Joe said as he strode into the room, his arm around an incredibly pregnant Cecile.

"I don't...I mean, our plan didn't work!" Barry replied, on edge. "DeVoe replaced the satellite to set up the Enlightenment."

"Everything is going nuts out there," Joe said, jabbing a thumb towards the hallway and the outside world. "There's no power anywhere. Our car stopped working."

"Thank God we were close by. I mean, the hospitals another three miles away," Cecile added.

It was about then that everyone realized that Joe had his hospital bag draped over his shoulder. As if on cue, Cecile let out a cry of pain and doubled over. "Joe..."

"The sky turned purple, and she started having contractions," Joe said, wincing as he rubbed Cecile's back.

"Cisco, hurry!" Barry shouted.

"If we're not able to get her to the hospital, can you-"

"No," Caitlin said, cutting Joe off. "Barry can't run her. It's not safe for Cecile or the baby."

"Then what are we gonna do?" Joe asked, eyes a little wild.

Caitlin shrugged. "I have everything here you need to deliver a baby," she said.

The power flickered on. "Great!" she cried, as Cecile and Joe looked between them incredulously. "Uh...let's go see how dilated you are."

"Okay..." Cecile mumbled, looking a little alarmed as Caitlin took her arm and led her out of the room.

"You guys might wanna see this." Cisco tells the others.

Barry and Peter followed him into the Time vault.

"DeVoe must've predicted Harry would build his own thinking cap and power it with the dark matter that he collected and he siphoned like you thought before using it to infect the world." Cisco tells them.

"He was planning on rebooting Harry's brain." Peter sees.

"What about Gideon, can she take down the satellites?" Barry asks.

"Kilgore." They both tells him.

"What do we do?" Cisco asks.

"I have no idea." Barry admits.

"Well, it's a good thing we're here." Harrry says and they turn to see him, Fox, and Marlize.

-

They return to the cortex and see May has joined them now and Marlize tells them her plan.

"look, I love Inception as much as the next guy, but sending Barry into DeVoe's mind?" Cisco asks.

"His mind is the only one fast enough to survive the linking process without any harm." Marlize explains.

"How does that help us stop them?" Peter wonders.

"If we can find the good left in Clifford, and help him retake control of his mind, that good could overpower the bad."

"You really think there's good left inside him?" Barry wonders.

"I know this is hard to imagine, but there was a time when Clifford was nothing but good. When he truly wanted to help the world. It's the dark matter he infused in his brain that changed him. So, yes, I do believe that there is some good in him. Someway we need to find it." Marlize says.

"Why don't we just call someone we trust?" Barry asks. "Kara, Iron-Spider, Oliver, Wally."

"You could bring a legion of your friends, but they would pose no challenge." Marlize informs him. "Clifford created the bus metas and the combination of the abilities to ensure that e could defeat anyone whose assistance you might enlist."

"Kilgore, Iron-Spider. Supergirl, weightlifter. Oliver, literally any of them. Besides, they're all dealing with their own problems." Peter tells them.

"How long until our minds are wiped?" Cisco asks.

"Once the permeation grid hits 100%." Marlize says and at the moment, it's at 24%.

"A couple of hours at best." Harry guesses.

"How would we get me insid his mind?" Barry asks.

"We need to find a way to transfer your consciousness into his." Marlize tells them.

"You know what happens every time I try to vibe him. I can't do it." Cisco warns.

"I do. But it's not your powers we need. It's hers." Marlize says and looks to Cecile who's with Caitlin and Joe.

-

This whole plan rode on finding the good left inside DeVoe's mind and bringing it out to overpower the bad.

It was far-fetched. It was crazy.

It was their only chance.

"Everything ready?" May asked as she, Barry, Joe and Cecile joined Caitlin, Cisco, Marlize and Harry in the Speed Lab. DeVoe's chair was set up in the center, and Barry was directed to take a seat in it while Cecile laid down on the gurney.

Marlize pressed the cerebral inhibitor, modified for their use, onto Cecile's forehead, and everyone walked over to the computer layout.

"Mr. Allen, put the cap on your head," Marlize instructed briskly, and Barry raised DeVoe's silver plating and put it on his head. Immediately, thick, arm-like cables reached up and connected to it.

"Once Cecile has locked onto DeVoe's brainwaves, we'll transfer your consciousness to his amygdala, that's the part of the brain that connects emotional significance to memories," Caitlin said.

"Where the good memories are," Marlize added. "We will find the good part of Clifford. Here we go, Miss Horton."

She pressed a button on her tablet, and Cecile and Barry's eyelids slipped shut in unison. After giving it a moment, Caitlin leaned toward the com. "Barry. Barry? Is everything okay?"

"Guys," Barry replied after a stiff second. "I'm in."

"Paint a picture," Cisco instructed. "What do you see? What's around you?"

"For starters, the Thinker," Barry said, his voice tight. "I'm in the 405 bus in the middle of the street. I just came out of that same portal from before."

"This is where it all began," Marlize said. "It is the Nexus of Clifford's brain. Once you find him, get him through it, and he can regain control of his mind."

"What does he need to look for?" Peter asked.

Marlize considered. "Our house," she said, glancing over at the rest of the group.

"Alright..." Barry breathed, and flashed out of the cover of the bus.

Barry reached the house with relative ease, only to find it completely empty. When he began to ask where to go next, the com connection glitched. At the same moment, Cecile let out a pained gasp and jolted forward on the bed.

"Cecile's powers are connected to her pregnancy," Caitlin realized with dawning horror. "Her contractions must be putting a strain on her transcranial link!"

If Cecile had her baby, Barry would be stranded in DeVoe's mind. So Caitlin used the terbutaline in the special inhaler she'd given Cecile to help her with her mind-jumping to slow down her contractions. It wasn't a permanent fix, but it would give Barry a little more time.

Hopefully, it would be enough.

But Cecile grabbed Caitlin's hand and talked about Thomas being like this all the time, whatever that means. But what's strange is she said it in Crystal's voice.

-

Turns out that Ralph is alive.

Unfortunately, the Team didn't have much time to celebrate that particular plot twist.

Cecile suddenly broke out of her mind-link with DeVoe. "He's coming," she gasped. "I-I read his thoughts. He's coming here."

"We need to leave," Marlize said, striding down the steps towards the bottom landing of the Speed Lab.

Joe looked at her incredulously. "And go where?"

Marlize bit her lip and grabbed for her tablet, there was a flash of light up the ramp on the first floor, and DeVoe slowly walked down. "Good!" he cried. "We are gathered here today to worship in song. I suggest Kumbaya."

He took another step and his hand hit a latticework red force field. "Ah," DeVoe sighed, effectively stopped by his own creation.

"Force field," Miles said. "Force fields sucker?"

"I should have never let you built this chair without my oversight," DeVoe said to Marlize. "It was my first miscalculation."

"You've made many miscalculations," Frankie replied, her voice hard.

"Really," DeVoe sighed idly. "And have you ever wondered why I never pursued the Flash? Never needed his speed or his mind? His connection to the Speed Force? Access to all of time- past, present, future True knowledge!" DeVoe yelled. "And now that you have placed him inside my mind, I'll have it all."

Marlize stepped forward, her jaw tight. "You'll have to find us first."

With that, she pressed a button on her tablet and all of them were sucked into a pocket dimension.

-

They ended up in a blue-tinted room with bands of futuristic, electric lights. Cisco took one look around and wheeled on Marlize. "DeVoe's lair? Are you crazy?"

"Could he find us in this pocket dimension?" Fox asked.

"I've bought us some time," Marlize sighed.

"Cecile," Iris said, stepping up the the gurney. "We need you to try and link up with Barry again."

Cecile swallowed nervously. "I'll try," she said.

A few moments later, they were regaining connection. "Barry?" Caitlin asked anxiously. "Barry, can you hear me?"

"Yeah," Barry replied, sounding subdued.

"What's wrong?" Peter asks, hearing his voice.

"The good DeVoe, we found him," Barry said. "He's dead."

Their plan was ruined.

What were they going to do now?

-

While the Team was desperately trying to come up with new ideas and getting more and more on edge, Barry had figured out his plan. Their only chance to stop everything was to get Ralph through the Nexus of DeVoe's mind. Without Ralph, DeVoe didn't have a body. Without a body...

Barry and Ralph found out pretty quickly that the multitude of DeVoe clones could read their minds. "We'll have to do this Dibny style," Ralph said.

Barry, who's back was currently against a pillar as they took cover, looked over at him in bewilderment. "What?"

"We don't think," Ralph said with a faint smirk. Barry raised an eyebrow. "Just...fill your mind with something else. Something you love."

To demonstrate, he got to his feet and strode towards the nearest DeVoe guard. "Shrimp buffet!" he cried, and threw a punch. Instead of DeVoe ducking, like the last time they had tried to attack, his fist connected and DeVoe stumbled backwards. Ralph turned around and grinned at Barry.

Barry took a deep breath, filling his mind with the only thing that could possible distract him at a time like this. "It's you and me, Iris," he whispered, and threw himself to his feet.

The new method took some time to get used to, but after Barry had landed half a dozen quick strikes on one of the DeVoes, he was feeling more confident. That was when a positive flood of DeVoe-clones came marching out from behind the Nexus portal, headed towards them.

Ralph and Barry exchanged glances and prepared themselves. They were going to have to fight their way out.

-

Meanwhile, Cecile had gone back into labor.

DeVoe had managed to find them, and now everyone was frozen on the ground besides Joe, who was being forced to hold his own gun to his head. "You should mind where you point your weapon, Detective West," DeVoe said softly, walking towards them with his hand behind his back.

Joe's face tensed, his gaze turning into a glower. Then, slowly, impossibly, he began to fight against the mind-control and turn his gun back towards DeVoe. "Stay away from my girls!" he growled.

DeVoe lifted a hand and threw him back against the wall. "Joe-!" Cecile cried, but DeVoe let his hand fall and Joe crashed to the ground again.

-

Barry and Ralph had a new plan. "Hey, attack of the clones," Ralph called to one of the many DeVoes patrolling the street. "Come and get me!"

As the DeVoes began to walk slowly towards Ralph, he stretched his arm around the pillar he was half-hidden behind. Barry, on the other side of the pillar, grabbed onto his wrist.

At just the right moment, with both of them filling their minds with things completely opposite to their plans, Barry tightened his grip on Ralph's wrist and used his arm to fling him into the DeVoes. They tumbled down like dominos and Barry kept spinning. Every DeVoe that tried to attack got knocked backward by Ralph, until they were all sprawled across the pavement.

Finally, Barry let go of Ralph's wrist and he rearranged his body. "That was awesome," he muttered, staring around at the spread of bodies.

Footsteps made them look up, and Barry saw a new wave of DeVoe clones headed towards them. Without waiting for another moment, Barry grabbed Ralph and shot forward, making for the Nexus. Even with his super speed, by the time they made it close the streets were thronged with clones. Barry broke through them, his eyes locked on their way out.

-

Back in the pocket dimension, DeVoe was slowly crushing Cecile's windpipe as the rest of the Team were completely unable to move.

Just as Cecile was losing consciousness, a frown line appeared between Barry's eyebrows, and he opened his eyes. If Caitlin hadn't been frozen, she would have gone limp with relief.

Barry took the helmet off of his head and slowly stepped towards DeVoe, who began to shake very oddly. He let out a scream of rage and pain in the same moment that everyone felt the hold release them. Cecile regained consciousness and gasped for air, and DeVoe collapsed and tried desperately to crawl to his chair.

Barry slowly strode towards him, his face expressionless. "HOW...DID...YOU...BEAT...ME?!" DeVoe yelled, confused as his voice coming out garbled as his legs thrashed and seized.

"I didn't," Barry replied calmly. "We did."

A moment later, Clifford was giving a last cry and Ralph was sitting in his place.

Marlize stopped the satellites, the Enlightenment stopped, and they were all returned to the Speed Lab. "There's no more dark energy anywhere in the city," Iris said, looking up from the computer monitor with a large smile on her face. "We did it."

-

While Caitlin was helping Cecile give birth, the rest of the team was repairing and rebooting everything.

"The power's back on everywhere," Cisco reported, striding purposefully across the room.

"The world can finally get back to normal," Peter said with a smile when his and Miles' senses go off.

"Oh, come on." They both complain as the next second, the Thinker's chair was appearing in the Cortex, DeVoe sitting sedately in it.

Barry ran forward but the image of DeVoe flickered.

"Another use of Mr. Deacon's powers," DeVoe explained calmly. "Technological reincarnation."

"Cisco?" Barry asked.

Cisco's face was drawn and grave. "He's taking over."

Marlize was able to destroy the hologram by ripping out a piece of technology from the back of the chair, but they still weren't safe yet.

"The satellite's in a decaying orbit," Cisco said, reading from his tablet after it gave off a warning blip.

"Wait, so Marlize deactivating him just triggered a literal Dead Man's switch?" Ralph asked incredulously.

"It's falling fast," Fox realized, eyes on the screen.

Marlize looked frantic. "Clifford must have increased its mass by a thousandfold! The impact of something that heavy and that fast-"

"We know," Barry said, gritting his teeth.

Frankie glanced over her shoulder. "How much time do we have?"

"Three minutes if we're lucky." Harry says.

"Okay," Ralph brainstormed. "How do we stop something that's gonna send us back to the Stone Age?"

Everyone stoped and realizes that the metal is completely metallic.

They all look over to Frankie.

It's time Metalla shows herself to the city.

-

Everyone is running away from the falling debris when a breach opens and Frankie steps through it in her costume.

It's a complete silver and blue outfit with an eye mask and she starts to slow down the falling debris from the satellite.

Everyone starts to slow down as they see her doing, but she can't stop the large debris.

"Guys, I can't stop the big one!" Frankie warns when the Flash passes her and is speeding towards the satellite.

Barry landed his eyes on the largest piece of satellite, gauged the distance, and then took off. While Cecile was lying in a gurney, Caitlin in front of her, giving her last giant push, Barry was using a building as a launch point and shooting towards the satellite. Using the surrounding buildings, he launched himself through the air and extended a fist.

Right before he made contact, a flash of purple caught in his sight. Everything was happening too quickly to concentrate, but Barry was almost positive there was another speedster beside him as his fist connected with the machine.

Then the satellite exploded, and Barry was sent hurting back down to Earth.

Before he could hit the ground however, Peter came in swinging and saved him.

As they make it to the ground, everyone stops and cheers for them and Metalla.

-

They return to the labs and see arrays suit got torn up and they start to hear baby cries coming from the labs.

Cecile was sitting up, holding a tiny bundled baby in her arms, Joe in back of her. Caitlin saw Peter and let out a relieved smile, and he put his arms around her in a hug. Not only had they managed to save the world yet again, but Joe had his new daughter now.

After that, everything took a bit to get settled. Marlize left the city, Joe and Cecile hosted a newborn baby party at their house and the gang reassembled where Wally returned after his time with the Legends, in a normal, happy setting for the first time in what seemed like awhile.

Caitlin found Peter in a chair in the corner. "Hi handsome," Caitlin said, sitting down on the arm. "How're you doing?"

"Pretty good," Peter said, smiling at Frankie from across the room. "It seems the city's already loving her."

"You trained a good hero." Caitlin says. "Both of them."

Peter smiled and looked up at her. "Listen, no matter how long it takes, we're going to get Crystal back. And when we do, we can have our family back together again. A family of our own one day."

Caitlin smiled. "I like that thought."

There was a knock at the door. Frowning a little, Barry got up and opened it.

There, standing on the porch, was a girl in her late teens with long brown hair. "Hi," she said, pushing into the room. "We need to talk."

"What?" Barry asked, bewildered at her sudden entrance.

"Wow," the girl said, looking around her. "This house is bitchin."

Cisco and Peter almost spit out their drinks to that.

"I've seen you before," Caitlin realized. "Didn't you spill coffee all over Harry and me?"

"Weren't you the server at Barry and Caitlin's wedding?" Wally added confusedly.

"Wait, yeah," Barry realized. "You were. And...where did you get this jacket?"

"Ummm..." the girl bit her lip and looked at Iris, who had just come in with a drink. "From her."

"Uh." Iris blinked. "No...Mine is one of a kind."

"So was this, when you let me borrow it," the girl said, smiling slightly.

Barry blanched. "I'm sorry. Who're you?"

The girl turned back to him, her face grave. "I'm your daughter, Nora," she said, letting out a deep breath as she looked between Barry and Iris. "From the future. And I think I made a big, big mistake."

Everyone looks shocked by this knowledge and Peter looks down at the drink in his hand.

"Yeah, I'm gonna need something a lot stronger than this."