— 𝒮 —

"𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄," uttered Caitlin.

Sophia was in just as much shock as she stared at the worn bones that lay in the middle of Barry's lab. Her grip on Barry's arm was tight, though her eyes couldn't bear to leave the skeleton that Joe and Cisco had found.

"Caitlin," Cisco said gently, "I ran the DNA test twice. It's a perfect match."

"This body is the real Harrison Wells," Joe told them as he slowly paced behind the table that carried the bones.

"If this is Dr. Wells," mused Caitlin as she walked up to it, "then who have we been working for this whole time?"

"Dr. McGee said that after the accident, Wells became a completely different person," Barry said as the group surrounded the table. "It's because he is a different person."

— 𝐵 —

Barry, Sophia, Cisco, and Caitlin stared in shock at the news article that was displayed at the back of the room.

They had found a room, hidden within the walls of STAR Labs—a time vault, they quickly realized. That wasn't where the surprise ended, however.

On the furthest wall was a mannequin that was wearing a suit—a yellow one that basically opposed Barry's. The Reverse Flash's suit.

A small, white podium-esque device sat at the front of the room, and upon Cisco messing with it while Sophia and Caitlin yelled at him not to, the hologram of a newspaper article was displayed. The picture was one of Barry, and the title read:

"'Flash missing, vanishes in crisis,'" Cisco read out slowly.

"'After an epic street battle with the Reverse-Flash," Barry continued reading as they walked closer, "our city's very own Scarlet Speedster disappeared in an explosion of light.'"

"Barry," Sophia said softly, "look at the date."

"'April 25th, 2024.'" Barry's eyes widened, and he slowly shook his head. The date suddenly struck a memory. "Guys, when I fought the Reverse-Flash at Christmas, he said that we'd be fighting for centuries."

"Wait, you can't really think that this is from . . . the future," Caitlin said cautiously, the wrinkles in her forehead becoming more apparent.

Cisco furrowed his eyebrows. "That would mean Dr. Wells, whoever he is, is also—"

"From the future," Barry finished, his eyes glued to the article.

"I have to say," Cisco interjected as he squinted towards the picture, "I'm really digging the brighter red suit. And the white on the symbol, that's dope. Wait a second." His eyes widened, and he gulped. "Suppose we now change the colour on your suit. Will it be because we got the idea from this picture? That would mean we're living in a causal nexus. This—wow, this is so trippy. Like 'Marty and the Polaroid' trippy."

"Look at the by-line," Caitlin called, and they all focused their attention to see that 'Iris West' was written as the author.

Sophia gave a small shrug. "Guess her journalism career goes pretty well."

"Mazel Tov to her, then," Cisco murmured.

Suddenly, a female robotic voice played overhead. "Hebrew, ancient language of the Jewish people."

The four of them flinched at the sudden voice and backed up.

"Uh-uh. What the hell was that?" Cisco questioned as his eyes darted around the small room.

"Is someone here?" Barry called out nervously. "Hello?"

Their gazes turned back to the front as the hologram of a large blue head appeared, causing their eyes to widen. The same voice played, "Good evening, Barry Allen."

"Uh . . ." Barry glanced at Sophia, who only shrugged, before looking back. "Hi. You—? You know who I am?"

"Of course," the AI replied coolly. "Barry Allen. Director of Central City Police, CSI Division."

Director? Since when?

Barry looked back at Sophia, his eyebrows furrowing as he whispered his thought aloud, "Director?"

"I guess you get a promotion," she whispered back. "Good job?"

"Also known as the Flash. Founding member of—"

"What are you?" Barry interrupted as he walked up to the white podium.

"I'm Gideon, an interactive artificial consciousness."

"AI," Cisco chuckled as they all crept closer. "Sick."

"You know Dr. Wells?" Barry asked.

"Yes."

"Do you know who he really is?"

Gideon shook her head. "I don't understand the question."

Barry pressed his fingers against his temples as he stammered, "I—I mean, what is he doing here? Wh-Why did he come here?"

Gideon's head shrunk until it was the size of their own heads, and a body quickly attached itself to it.

"To kill you."

Barry felt his heart drop to his stomach. After everything they had gone through together, it seemed that he knew absolutely nothing about his mentor—and his intentions. What he once thought was his purpose of advancing science, was really just a murder plot.

Cisco's phone buzzed, and he soon told them, "Wells is in the building."

"Wha—how do you know that?" Caitlin questioned with tightly knit eyebrows.

"I put a tracker on his wheelchair," Cisco answered before his expression became awkward. "Which, if we're wrong about him and he is paralyzed, I'm going to hell for that one." After a few moments of silence, he hurriedly said, "He's in the Cortex. Ask questions, fast."

"W-Why did he kill Nora Allen?" Barry asked, his voice loudening.

"Because he was angry."

"About what?"

"That you escaped."

"He's on B level," Cisco warned. "He's coming this way."

Barry took a breath before querying, "What does he want from me?"

"For you to be the Flash."

Barry's eyebrows furrowed. Why would he want Barry to be the Flash? "What?"

"Well, maybe that's why Wells let the particle accelerator explode," Sophia chimed in with a small shrug. "So that you could become the Flash."

"Why?" Barry asked in bafflement. "I mean, for what reason?"

Cisco was shaking his head furiously by this point. "Guys, we gotta go. He's almost here."

"Hurry," Caitlin muttered.

"All right," Barry breathed out as they all turned towards the exit.

"Wait a second, wait," Cisco interrupted as he walked back to the front, a hand raised. "What if HAL over there tells Wells that we were in here?"

"That would be bad," Caitlin stated with a nod.

"If I can get into its operating system, maybe I can disable its memory core," Cisco said quickly.

As Cisco handed Sophia his phone, Barry clasped his hands together and questioned, "Uh, Gideon, can you show us where your operating system is?"

"Certainly."

The operating system opened from the wall behind Gideon's figure, and it only took Cisco a second to look at the depth of the blue interior before giving a nervous laugh. "Yeah. Nope, that's not gonna happen."

"Uh, Gideon," Barry pleaded, "could you just, like, not tell him that we were here?"

"Of course. I will accept any command given to me by you."

"Barry," Cisco urged.

"C'mon," Caitlin added, motioning for him to hurry. "We gotta get out of here."

"Wait, wait," Barry said as Sophia tugged his hand. His face scrunched up as he turned back to Gideon and questioned, "Why would you accept my commands?"

"Because," Gideon answered, "you created me."

— 𝒮 —

"Really? For four very smart people, including a person who is supposed to be a genius, that was really stupid."

It was now long after dark, and the four of them, plus Joe and Eddie, were in Joe's living room. And, clearly, the two additional weren't all too impressed with the morning adventure.

Joe continued as he tossed his coat on the couch, "What if Wells had caught you in that . . . ?"

He turned to Cisco, waving his hand for a couple of seconds before Cisco answered, "Time vault."

"Thank you."

"Okay," Eddie interjected, "I know we've seen a lot this past year, but time travel?"

"I did it," Barry pointed out as he leaned back against a chair that was tucked into the dining table. When everyone except for Sophia turned to look at him with furrowed eyebrows, he quickly corrected, "Or I will do it, I mean."

"Excuse me?" Eddie questioned.

"One of the two speedsters in Barry's house the night his mother died was Barry," Cisco began as he slowly stepped into the living room. "I mean, the Flash. He was there. Which means that one day in the future, Barry will travel back in time to that night."

Eddie licked his lips, though it seemed he wasn't all too believing as a doubting smile came to his face. "Okay."

"Actually, he wasn't talking about that," Sophia interjected, causing the furrowed eyebrows to make a reappearance on everyone's faces.

Barry glanced at the others as he gave a small shrug. "I kind of . . . already time-travelled. By accident."

"What?" Joe questioned softly.

"I was running to try and stop a tsunami from hitting the city—"

"When was that?" asked Caitlin, who was now sitting on the couch.

"A few weeks ago," Barry answered. He gestured to Cisco as he continued, "Right before you started getting those dreams."

"Oh," Cisco said lightly, though his fists were now clenched and his spine was stiff. "You mean the ones where Wells uses his super-speeding hands to shred apart my heart?" He slowly sat down on the arm of the couch as he clasped his hands together. "Those?"

Sophia walked toward him and rubbed his back. She was sure those dreams were nothing short of traumatic—though they were strange to have in the first place. And then, she realized:

"What if they're not dreams?"

"What else could they be?" Caitlin questioned.

She shrugged. "Memories."

Joe, who was now seated on the sofa chair, shook his head. "I'm not following."

"What if that day," Sophia began, glancing at Barry, who gave her a curt nod, "Cisco found out that Wells is Reverse-Flash, and then Wells killed him but when Barry ran back a day, he changed the timeline so that event never happened?"

"If it never happened, how can Cisco remember it?" queried Joe as he pointed towards the man in question.

"I don't know," Sophia admitted with a sigh. "I think the important thing is he does."

"Guys . . ." Barry began slowly. "I think I've got a really bad idea."

Sophia sighed as she sat down next to Caitlin. "Great. What is it?"

"Okay, so—" Barry paused as he noticed that Joe was gazing off at the side, his eyes glazed over and his finger stroking his beard, and he furrowed his eyebrows. "Joe? Joe, are you listening?"

Joe's attention snapped to him and he nodded. "Yeah."

Barry put his hands on his hips. "We . . . We have to access Cisco's memories somehow. Somewhere in his subconscious is the key."

"The key to what, now?" Joe questioned.

"Getting my dad out of prison."

"And how are we going to do that?" asked Caitlin.

Barry was silent for a moment before he answered, "We're gonna get Wells to confess to killing my mom."

— 𝒮 —

Sophia, Barry, and Caitlin watched as Cisco welded a part of the glasses that they were making.

"So, this will allow Cisco to see into his dream?" Barry questioned as he lifted his welding goggles.

"I got the idea from a journal article on lucid dream therapy. They think it can be used to help people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder," Caitlin explained as she straightened up and walked over to one of the desks at the side.

"Traumatized, stressed?" Cisco chuckled. "Check and check."

"The theory is that it will allow people to objectively enter their dreams and face their fears," Caitlin continued as she typed into the computer. "Still working on the talking part."

"And you're sure this thing isn't gonna, you know, mess with my brain?" Cisco asked nervously.

"Oh, the amount of electricity required to trigger lucid dreaming is harmless," Sophia reassured him before pausing. "Probably."

"Who's going to be lucid dreaming?"

The group's eyes widened as they turned to the entrance to see Dr. Wells.

"Um . . ." Caitlin glanced back at them before slowly saying, "With all of the meta-humans in Central City, people have been seeing some strange things . . . Things that they don't understand. And it's really just a matter of time before psychological issues develop."

"And lucid dreaming will help the doctors better understand their fears. Intriguing," Dr. Wells mused as he rolled up to them. His eyebrows furrowed as he tilted his head and continued, "Of course, you still need to guide the patient from the outside, right? Direct them to specific aspects of the dream."

"We're still working on a communications interface," Cisco reassured him.

"When we dream," Dr. Wells began as he rolled over to the computer that Caitlin had been working at, "the middle brain lights up with electrical activity, whereas the higher brain remains dormant. Once we find a way to make both parts of the brain active, then it's just a matter of finding the frequency that will stimulate the language centre."

"Then the dreamer could speak. He could describe his dream," Sophia realized as she came to his side.

"Exactly."

"Or her dream," Sophia quickly corrected herself. "It could be used for anyone."

"Right, it's not gender-specific," Dr. Wells murmured. He typed into the computer as he recommended, "I would try a frequency of forty-five hertz to start."

"Thank you, Dr. Wells," Sophia said as he backed up.

"Well, you never cease to impress me, Sophia."

— 𝐵 —

Barry was about to head out of the bullpen of CCPD when he heard the call of his name.

"Allen!"

He looked up to see an exasperated Captain Singh coming his way. "Hey."

"The Owens case," Captain Singh reminded frustratedly as he came to a stop in front of him. "I'm still waiting on the fibre evidence and the ballistics report. Are you on vacation or something?"

"No, I'm so sorry," Barry said quickly as the captain's phone chimed. "I've just . . . I've been distracted by another case. Which is no excuse, I just . . ."

Captain Singh checked his phone before murmuring, "Okay, just get me the reports when you can. There's . . . there's no rush."

"All right." Barry's eyebrows furrowed as the captain began to walk toward his office. What had caused the sudden change of mood? And why had it caused Captain Singh to be nice to him?

"Uh, Captain?" Barry called as he set towards the walking man, who then turned towards him with a quirked eyebrow. "Is everything okay?"

Captain Singh lowered his phone with a sigh. "Yeah, since Rob and I have been planning the, you know, wedding, between the florist and the hundreds of kinds of cake filling and who can sit next to who . . ." He shook his head before placing a hand on Barry's shoulder and seriously saying, "Never get married, Allen."

Barry gave him an amused smile. "Right."

He turned around, only to bump into someone—Iris.

"Iris, hey," Barry greeted as he steadied her.

"Oh! Barry," Iris chuckled. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. No. Yes," Barry answered before gesturing back at the captain's office. "That was . . . That was just really weird. Captain Singh was nice to me."

"Oh, well, he's in a good mood," Iris pointed out with a shrug. "He's about to get married."

"Yeah, I know, it's . . ." Barry shrugged before brushing past her and heading to his lab.

Before he could get more than two steps away, however, Iris called, "Oh, hey, can I talk to you in private? It's . . . it's kind of work-related."

Barry glanced over his shoulder to see if anyone had arrived; Sophia, Cisco, and Caitlin were supposed to get there anytime soon to try out the lucid dreaming goggles.

"Okay, yeah, now's not a great time," Barry told Iris as he turned back to her. "I'm sorry, I've got . . ."

"Hi, beautiful."

Eddie brushed past Barry and gave Iris a kiss before turning to him. "Barry, can I grab you for a second?

"Absolutely." Barry nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay, well, can you call me when you're done?" Iris asked as the two men began to step out of the bullpen. "It's . . . it's really important."

"Yeah, yeah," Barry reassured her. He folded his arms as he and Eddie came to a stop. "What's up?"

Eddie then pulled out a small, teal box from the inside of his suit jacket and opened it to reveal a ring that had a square diamond in the middle.

"Oh. O-okay." Barry put his hands to his temples as he tried to process this while Eddie put the box back. "W-what did she say? Or, wait, you still have it, so, duh, you haven't asked her yet. Or you did ask her, and she said . . . ?"

"I was gonna propose tonight," Eddie reassured him, bringing a stop to his rambling.

"All right," Barry sighed.

"But I went to Joe to ask for his blessing," Eddie continued. "He said no."

"He did?" Barry questioned with furrowed eyebrows. He had thought that Joe was warming up to the pair, but apparently not.

"Repeatedly."

"Uh, weird," Barry commented.

"I need you to talk to him, find out why," Eddie requested.

Barry sighed. He was already so busy. Last thing he needed was for Joe to spill his feelings to him (which he did not see happening anytime in the near future). "Uh, Eddie—I . . ."

"Look, I know me asking you like this, it's a little awkward," Eddie sighed.

Barry glanced over to the opening elevator doors and watched as Sophia, Cisco, and Caitlin stepped out. "Yeah."

"But you know how heartbroken she's gonna be if she finds out that Joe's not on board."

"Yeah. Yeah, all right," Barry said quickly, seeing the three waiting by the stairs. "Yeah, I'll talk to him, man."

"Oh, thanks," Eddie sighed as he grabbed Barry's shoulders, a grin now on his face. "I appreciate it so much."

"Yeah."

"And so will the future Mrs. Thawne," Eddie chuckled. "Iris Thawne. Sounds pretty good, huh?"

Barry gave Eddie a grin before the man left, and, hurriedly, he headed over to the three and ushered them upstairs.

"So," began Sophia to Barry as the other two began to set up, "what were you and Eddie talking about?"

Barry leaned back against the table as he folded his arms and answered, "He's going to propose to Iris tonight, but Joe didn't give him his blessing. He wants me to find out why."

"He's going to propose?" gasped Sophia with widened eyes.

Barry nodded. "That's the plan."

She then narrowed her eyes and peered into his face. "You aren't jealous, are you, honey? I know you used to like her."

"Of course I'm not." Barry shook his head, giving her a soft smile as he used his index finger to lift her chin up. He planted a kiss on her lips before murmuring, "I have you now."

"Yo, lovebirds!" called Cisco, causing them to turn to him. "Y'all done yet?"

"Yeah, yeah," chuckled Sophia as the pair walked over to the other two. "Let's start."

Their attention was drawn to the entrance as Joe walked in, and he gave them a nod of greeting.

Joe tucked his hands into the pockets of his pants as he examined the glasses. "So, you guys are gonna use these glasses to . . ."

"Lucid dream," answered Caitlin. "It'll let Cisco look into his nightmare, and he'll be able to talk to us at the same time."

"Okay, can we go over this one more time?" Cisco asked nervously to Caitlin.

She raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, you put the glasses on, fall asleep, and start dreaming. Not that hard."

"Yeah, except I'm pretty sure I die in this dream," Cisco pointed out, his nerves clearly only growing higher as he glanced around at them. "If I go back into it, am I gonna die in real life? I mean, what are we talking about here? Is this Inception or Dreamscape?"

"Here." Joe handed Cisco a glass of milk. "Drink this."

"What, am I five?" Cisco scoffed as he took the glass and examined the small amount of milk.

"Just drink it."

"Okay, I'll drink it."

As Cisco swallowed the milk, Barry gave him an amused smile and reassured him, "You're gonna be fine, Cisco."

"Mm." Cisco laid down on the makeshift bed that he and Caitlin had previously set up. "Okay."

Caitlin picked up the glasses, which were now glowing emerald green, and as she placed them on Cisco's face, she informed him, "The glasses are emitting a low-level delta wave which should help you fall asleep."

"Okay. I got to warn you, though, usually it takes me a long time," Cisco said, though his speech was starting to slow. "I mean . . . I'm not saying I'm, like . . . an insomniac or any . . ."

Barry exchanged a humoured grin with Sophia as Cisco's head lolled to the side.

"Ah," Joe chuckled, "so that's how you get him to shut up."

"He's entering REM," Caitlin, who was watching the laptop that was showing his brain visuals, said. "It's working."

"Cisco," Barry said tentatively as he stepped up next to the bed. "Can you hear me? You're dreaming, bud."

After a few moments, Cisco spoke, "Whoa. Guys, this is mad freaky."

"Okay, um, where are you?" asked Sophia nervously.

"Um, in the Cortex. I mean, I know I'm just dreaming that I'm in the Cortex, but it feels so real."

"What is dream-you doing?" Sophia questioned.

"Caitlin just left. I asked her to take Wells to Jitters."

Barry's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Obviously, dream-Cisco didn't want Dr. Wells in the lab . . .

"Why . . . why do you want Wells out of the lab?" Barry asked, apprehensively watching Cisco's face.

"I think he might have tampered with my work. I need to check."

Barry looked to Joe, who then raised his eyebrows at him.

"Okay. Okay, I'm walking to the bunker." He paused for a moment before letting out a small gasp. "Oh, man, I love this shirt. I thought the dryer ate it."

Joe used his hand to cover his small giggle, though Barry remained serious as he demanded, "Focus, Cisco."

"Okay, okay. All right. Now I'm running tests on the containment system. This data . . . It doesn't make any sense. All the supercapacitors . . . They were all still fully charged. There's absolutely no reason that the Man in Yellow should have escaped." He was quiet for a moment before breathing out, "Oh, my God. It was just a hologram. He tricked us. Oh, God, Wells is here."

Sophia placed a reassuring hand on Cisco's shoulder as his breathing became laboured. "Cisco, it's just a dream. He can't hurt you."

"You better be right about that." After his heavy breathing stabilized, he scrunched his face. "Eobard Thawne?"

"Thawne?" Joe repeated as he leaned forward. "Like Eddie Thawne?"

"You killed Nora Allen."

Barry's back stiffened at the mention of his mother's name. Hurriedly, he leaned forward and asked, "Nora? What about my mom?"

"He's confessing."

"Cisco?" Barry muttered, his heart rate then picking up.

"He . . . he didn't want to kill her. It was you, Barry. He was trying to kill you."

A beeping drew their attention to the laptop, and, rushedly, Caitlin said, "His blood pressure's two hundred and his heart rate is one-forty-seven. Guys, he's losing higher brain function."

"Cisco, you're gonna be okay," Sophia said quickly, her grip on his shoulder tightening. "It's just a dream. You're gonna be okay."

"His hand . . . It's vibrating!" Cisco spluttered out, his entire body trembling and his voice shaking. "He's gonna kill me!"

"Oh, God," Caitlin breathed out as she typed on the laptop. "He's gonna have a stroke."

"Get him out of there!" Barry exclaimed. He took a hold of Cisco's other shoulder and held it tightly, attempting to stop Cisco's jittering.

"Help me!" Cisco pleaded. "Help me, please! Help me!"

Barry put all his force onto keeping Cisco still as he began to shout. He glanced nervously at Caitlin, who seemed just as agitated as he.

Cisco suddenly shot up, panting, and ripped the glasses off.

"You're okay," Sophia immediately breathed out as she patted his shoulder. "It was just a dream. You're okay."

Barry put a hand over his mouth as he stepped back, realization then settling over him. He sat down on one of the chairs, and he cast his gaze towards the ground.

Reverse-Flash had been trying to kill him. Not his mother. And because he wasn't able to kill him, his mother had faced the consequences.

It really was his fault. He was the reason she was dead.

"Oh, God," Cisco breathed as he rubbed his face. "It felt so real."

Seeming to notice his silence, Joe questioned, "Barry?"

"My mom," Barry answered with knit eyebrows as he looked up. "This was my fault."

He felt his phone buzzing in his pocket, and before he could elaborate anymore, he grabbed his phone and brought it to his ear.

He stood up and walked forward. "Hello?"

Dr. Wells' voice came through the speaker. "Where are you?"

Panic immediately flooded Barry. Did Dr. Wells know what they were doing?

"Barry. Barry, are you there?"

"Dr. Wells," Barry greeted, turning to the others and seeing their heads shoot up in alarm. He scratched the back of his head as he stammered, "Yeah. It's . . . sorry, yeah. It's . . . it's a bad connection right now."

"Where have you been?"

Barry's heart rate spiked. "Uh, we're . . . Why? What's going on?"

"A fire. A huge fire just erupted."

Barry put him on speakerphone as he asked, "A fire? Where?"

"New Brighton. Bradford Tower High-Rise."

"I know that building," said Joe as he stepped forward. "That's where Captain Singh's fiance works."

Barry nodded. "On my way."

Barry sped to the Cortex to change into his suit before heading towards the building, trying to put aside what he had just figured out as the wind blew past his face.

It was easy to spot the building; intense flames were wrapped around one of the top floors and gave heavy booms as flames erupted. There were police cars and firetrucks surrounding the area, their sirens blaring and their lights flashing.

Barry sped past the officers and into the floor that was victim to the flames.

He came to a stop and immediately felt himself become overwhelmed by the heat. Fires sat atop desks and chairs, and there were some people who were still cowering behind what remained.

Barry looked around, trying his best to ignore the drastic heat as he shouted, "Dr. Wells, the sprinklers . . . They're not working!"

"I see that. Just get everyone out of there, Barry."

Barry stumbled back as a fire burst. "No, I can't. I can't save them all. Dr. Wells, please, what do I do?"

"You create a vacuum. Rotate your arms at super speed. That'll create a wind funnel that will suck the air right out of the room."

Barry swallowed before heeding his orders. He began to rotate his arms, and wind burst from them. Screams erupted as the wind hit the fire, causing it to grow larger.

"It's making it worse!" Barry exclaimed as he lowered his arms.

"Barry, listen to me. You need to move your arms faster. I believe in you, Barry."

Barry took a deep breath and took a step closer to the nearest flames. He steadied his breathing and set his gaze on the fire before beginning to rotate his arms. He willed them to go faster than ever before and gave a shout as he felt his energy drain him.

The fires were starting to die down, and Barry only spun his arms faster until they were fully extinguished.

Panting to regain his breath, he mumbled his "Your welcome"'s as the workers thanked him and headed towards the stairs.

Barry followed them down, and as he reached the landing, a soft smile appeared on his face as he watched Captain Singh embrace his fiancé.

As the pair stumbled towards the ambulance, Barry sped back to STAR Labs.

Once he had finished changing back into his normal clothes, he headed into the training room, still buttoning the last few buttons of his shirt.

"Mr. Allen," came Dr. Wells' voice from behind him, causing him to turn and see that the man had rolled into the room. "Tonight, at the fire . . . I saw hesitation. I saw you doubting yourself. Why is that?"

"I don't know." Barry shrugged as he slipped his suit jacket on. "Uh, I guess I was afraid I couldn't save everyone."

"Right. But if there is anything that I have learned in our time together, Barry, it is that the only thing standing in the way of you achieving every goal that you set for yourself is you." He chuckled before continuing, "There is no limit to how strong you will get or how fast you will go. Everything that you need, you already have."

Barry's eyebrows furrowed, though he tried to ignore the strange feeling in his stomach as he nodded. "Thank you, Dr. Wells."

"Yeah."

Barry began to head towards the door but paused at the door frame. "You know," he started as he turned back to the man, who raised his eyebrows. "I couldn't have done any of this without you."

Dr. Wells smiled. "I feel the same way about you."

— 𝐵 —

"So, Wells set up a fake showdown with a fake opponent who was never really there?"

Barry, Sophia, Cisco, Eddie, and Joe were at the bunker, standing in front of the force field generator that had 'failed' them back at Christmas.

In front of them, stood the hologram of the Reverse-Flash.

"He figured if we saw both of them together it would prove that he wasn't the Man in Yellow," Barry answered Eddie while staring at the hologram.

"This all just keeps getting crazier and crazier," Eddie remarked.

The elevator doors opened as Cisco shut the hologram off, and Caitlin walked out.

"I just talked to Dr. Wells," she told them as she came up. "He's attending a lecture downtown, won't be back until five."

Barry shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he turned to Cisco, who looked quite stressed—and rightly so. "All right, Cisco, you know when he gets here you need to be working on the trap so he sees you set off the hologram."

"Hold on," Joe cut in, "isn't that, in your dream, when everything went all . . ."

"'Kali Ma,' Temple of Doom. Yeah, that definitely happened," Cisco confirmed as he nervously nodded his head, eliciting a pat on the shoulder from Sophia. "But this time, I'm ready for him. I originally designed the force field to keep a speedster from getting out," he began as he stepped onto the platform and dug a remote out of his pocket. "But I've reversed it. Now, it won't let one in."

He pressed a button on the remote, and they watched as the force field showed up, though it quickly became invisible. With a small smirk on his face, Cisco used a finger to challenge Barry to test it out.

Barry gave a small smile and nod. He put a hand out towards the other three and muttered, "Back up."

Barry took a few steps backwards, steadying his breathing as he stretched his arms. He bent his knees and waited for Cisco to return his nod before speeding towards the trap.

The next thing he knew, he was on the ground; he had bounced off the force field and hit the metal cart.

"Barry, are you okay?" questioned Sophia worriedly as she and the others crowded around him.

"Ah," Barry grunted, panting a little as he tried to ignore the pain in his side. "It works."

As Joe gave Barry a hand to his feet, Cisco took a few steps forward and said, "Okay, as long as I'm inside, Wells won't be able to get near me."

"And Sophia and I will be in the Cortex watching and recording everything that happens," added Caitlin.

"And as soon as we get the confession we need to free my dad," Barry said with a nod, "I'm moving in."

"So what do I do?" asked Eddie as he glanced around.

"Wells also threatened Iris," Joe said reluctantly. "So if something goes wrong here, we need you to keep an eye on her until Wells is neutralized."

"I'll always keep Iris safe, Joe," Eddie reassured rather firmly before turning away.

— 𝐵 —

The next morning, Barry entered his lab to see Iris pacing around in the back. She had a red folder clutched tightly in her hands, though Barry had no idea of its contents.

"Hey," he greeted, causing her to whip around and send a breathy greeting in return. "What's going on?"

"Look, Barry, I know it's not a good time," she began as Barry took his coat off. "I mean, lately, it never seems to be a good time, but I need you to listen to me right now. Like, really listen to me."

"Of course, yeah," he reassured her with a nod. "Whatever you need to tell me, I'm listening."

"Okay, I mean, I know this is gonna sound really crazy at first," she began excitedly. "But" —she shoved the folder in his direction— "everything strange that's been going on in Central City, it all goes back to the night that the particle accelerator exploded."

Oh, shit.

Barry began to stammer, though she didn't let him say anything as she tapped the file.

"I've gone through every bit of information that I've collected since I started my blog—every tip, every rumour, every strange sighting," she continued as Barry began to flip through the file, which held exactly what she was saying. "Nothing predates the explosion. Whatever was released into the atmosphere that night . . . I think it changed people, caused them to have powers."

Barry began to walk around his desk, throwing her an occasional side glance before returning to the file. Whatever lie he was going to come up with, it had to be good.

"And I think that STAR Labs knew about it. I think the Burning Man worked there. And I think that that's how the Flash got his powers, too."

As she leaned against the desk and Barry passed her, he looked up with wide eyes. Goddamn her journalism skills.

He opened his mouth to say something as he turned to her, his mind panickedly going all over the place as he tried to come up with something, anything that would turn her thought process.

"So, what do you think?"

"I . . ." Barry looked back down to the file and closed it. "I don't know. I mean, it's interesting. Yeah, it's interesting. There's just a big hole in your theory," he tried to reason as he began walking towards the windows, his face rather hot. "Um, you know, I was affected by whatever was released by the explosion, and . . . I don't have any powers."

Iris' face broke out into a grin. "Obviously."

"Right," Barry chuckled awkwardly, "yeah."

"Look, I mean, I know that it's—it's really mind-blowing, I mean, I haven't even talked to Eddie about it yet—"

"Yeah, you and Eddie," Barry quickly interjected, hoping to both steer the conversation away from powers and get more insight as to why Joe denied the proposal request. "How are . . . um . . . Everything's okay with you and Eddie?"

"Uh . . . Sure, yeah, we're great," Iris answered, clearly baffled. "Why?"

Barry's eyes widened and he gave a big shrug. Quickly, he turned towards the file he had placed on the desk and stammered, "Yeah, okay, look, I'm gonna—" He grabbed his jacket and began to put it on as he continued, "Let me read over all this stuff, and we'll definitely talk about it later, I promise. Just—I mean, this is crazy." He picked the folder up and made his way towards the door as he continued to stutter, "Yeah, okay, let me just go through it and we'll talk later, all right?

— 𝒮 —

Sitting next to Caitlin in the Med Lab, Sophia glanced over her shoulder to see that Dr. Wells was coming in, and she nudged the woman on her side.

"Hello, Dr. Wells," Caitlin greeted, keeping her eyes on the computer in front of her. "How was your lecture?"

"Oh, boring, tedious," he answered as he rolled up to the entrance of the lab.

"Platitudinous?" Sophia added with a forced grin as they turned to him.

"Couldn't have said it better myself. " He smiled. His smile faded as he craned his neck and asked, "Um, where . . . ? Where's Cisco?"

"Uh, he is in the bunker," answered Caitlin as she and Sophia walked over to the main desk.

"He thinks he finally figured out what went wrong at Christmas," Sophia informed him, trying to keep steady on her nerves. "You know, when we were trying to catch the Reverse-Flash?"

Dr. Wells had an expression she couldn't quite read as he replied, "Yes, I remember . . . that night. Well, did he say what he's found?"

"Nope," Caitlin answered, "just that it was important."

"Hm." The corner of his lip tugged upward as he slowly nodded. "Good for Cisco." He looked towards the door and sighed. "Um . . . okay. Well, maybe I'll wheel on down there, see what he's got."

"Okay," replied Caitlin as he began to head towards the entrance.

As soon as she was sure that Dr. Wells was out of earshot, Sophia leaned down, and, into the microphone, murmured, "Here he comes."

She shifted her gaze to the computer as Caitlin put on the live footage of the bunker, and she held her breath as she watched the mirage of the Reverse-Flash vibrate in the trap, Cisco in front of it.

A few moments later, the elevator doors opened. Dr. Wells was inside—standing on his own two feet, the wheelchair nowhere in sight.

The mirage powered down as Dr. Wells stepped in, and Cisco turned towards him.

Dr. Wells had an uncanny smile on his face as he greeted, "Hello, Cisco."

Cisco didn't respond, and, from what she could tell by the grainy video, he was holding back tears.

Dr. Wells began to clap as he walked toward him. "You've been busy." He put his hands together as he came to a stop, and chuckled. "You really are incredibly clever, Cisco. I've always said it."

Cisco's eyes were damp as he muttered, "You're him. The Reverse-Flash." As Dr. Wells wagged his finger and walked towards the laptop set-up, Cisco continued, "Joe was right this whole time, wasn't he?"

"Good old Joe," Dr. Wells sighed before closing the laptop. He walked back to stand in front of Cisco. "Joe West had his doubts all along. Even from that first night in the hospital, Joe knew something wasn't right. Cops. As inconvenient now as they will be in a hundred years."

This wasn't what they needed, Sophia thought as she nervously tugged at her sleeve. They needed a confession.

Cisco seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "You killed Barry's mother. I want to know why."

"It was never my intention to kill Nora. But from my perspective, she was already dead." He began to walk towards Cisco, his hand raised and his finger bound tightly together. "Just happened sooner than it was supposed to."

Cisco, stumbling backwards to avoid the wrath of the hand, fell back against the trap.

A smirk on his face, Dr. Wells muttered, "Oops."

Cisco quickly recovered, and as he stood, he reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone. He shook his head. "You're not gonna get away with this."

A grin came onto Dr. Wells' face as he stepped onto the platform. "I'm not gonna get away with it?"

Cisco pressed the button on his phone, and, immediately, a force-field appeared before becoming invisible.

Dr. Wells, his hand still raised, gave a malicious chuckle as he looked around. He lowered his hand, still chuckling, "Oh, you're smart. You're smart, Cisco." His eyebrow raised, and, slowly, he stepped through the force field. "But you're not that smart."

"What the hell?" Sophia muttered, her eyes wide as she watched him continue towards Cisco.

"Come on!" Caitlin exclaimed, turning towards the door and rushing towards it.

With one last glance at Dr. Wells raising his hand, Sophia turned and followed Caitlin in sprinting towards the bunker, her heart racing.

Their pace quickened as they heard gunshots, though they were sure that it was Joe shooting. The question was, did he shoot before or after Cisco was killed?

They entered to see Dr. Wells laying on the ground of the trap, Cisco standing over him, Joe with his gun lowered, and Barry rushing over to the body.

"Cisco," Sophia immediately said as she jogged towards him, "are you okay?"

"Yeah," he reassured her as she grabbed his arm, his eyebrows furrowed as he stared down at the dead body, whose eyes were still open. "I'm never ever gonna sleep ever again, but, yeah, I'm okay."

Caitlin knelt down next to the body and pressed two fingers against his upper neck to check for a pulse. "He's dead."

"He didn't confess," Barry, who was now crouched, muttered, tears in his eyes. "Joe, this was it. My dad's gonna be in prison forever."

"Barry, I'm sorry," Joe whispered.

"Hey, uh . . ." Cisco murmured as he nudged Barry's side.

He didn't get to finish, however, as the body suddenly transformed into the body of a meta-human they had recently captured. Hannibal Bates—a shapeshifter.

"What the hell?" Cisco exclaimed.

"I told you this before," taunted Dr. Wells' voice over the speaker, causing their eyes to look up. "I am always one step ahead, Flash. Allow me to reintroduce to you Mr. Hannibal Bates . . . and his incredible ability to transform into any person he touches. I knew that ability would come in handy, I did not expect it to come in handy this soon."

"You used him!" shouted Barry furiously, stepping around the body. "Like you used all of us!"

"Well, he served a purpose," rebutted Dr. Wells with a slight chuckle. "Didn't take much convincing, just the simple promise of his freedom."

"You ruined my life!" Barry yelled as he stepped off the platform. "All of our lives!"

"We stood by you after everything that happened!" added Caitlin angrily.

"I can see how this must be difficult for you to understand, but trust me, your lives now are so much better because of what I have done for you."

"You don't have to hide anymore; we know you're not Harrison Wells," called Joe. "Just tell us who you are."

"A confession will get you nowhere," chuckled Dr. Wells. "You've seen who I am. You know what I can do."

"You wanna kill me, go ahead," spat Barry. "I'm not gonna fight you, but" —his voice raised to a shout— "just tell the police what you did! Get my dad out of prison!"

"I don't want to kill you, Barry. I need you. And . . . I also did not anticipate, as difficult as the past fifteen years have been for me, how much I would come to love working with you. With all of you. And yet, that does not change what needs to happen."

"Then face me now!" roared Barry.

"Oh," breathed out Dr. Wells, "we will face each other again. I promise you. Soon. Very, very, soon."

Cisco's phone buzzed, and he raised it to check the notification. "He's in the time vault!"

As a flash of red followed Barry out, Joe shouted, "Barry!"

Seeing that he wasn't coming back anytime soon, the four of them quickly made their way back to the Cortex.

Sophia, Cisco, and Caitlin situated themselves at the main desk as Joe leaned on the front of it.

A minute later, Barry came rushing in, out of breath as he told them, "We have to find Iris."

"Why?" asked Joe as Barry marched over to the suit.

"Wells has been watching all of us," Barry answered. "He has surveillance set up everywhere—our homes, my lab at the police station, Central City Picture News. Cisco, call me when you have a location."

And with that, the suit and Barry disappeared.