"There is a moment in time when the universe turns itself completely upside down and nothing makes sense anymore. It is a moment when facts become fictions and every truth you ever believed in instantly becomes a lie... It's when the present becomes the past, your life story becomes a myth and your dreams become little more than childish fantasies... Your reality becomes an illusion as your anxieties transform into fear because somewhere inside you realize that this is the moment you are watching everything dissolve away into nothing...... This is what it feels like to lose the love of your life."
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"My name is Barry Allen..."
"And I'm an innocent man..."
"I know that you'll find my fingerprints all over his body. And I know that you'll find his DNA on mine..."
"But I don't know who stabbed him. Or how he ended up in my loft. All I can tell you is I'm being framed for something I didn't do. I didn't kill Clifford DeVoe."
A sigh.
Barry sat across from Captain Singh and another officer, who both wanted to believe him. "All right, Allen. Let's run it back from the beginning."
STAR Labs
On the day of Barry's trail, he stood in the cortex, with everyone else, all of them wearing suits or dresses. "This is exactly what DeVoe wanted," Barry started. "I mean, we all played right into his plan, especially me."
"Why would DeVoe want to orchestrate all of this?" Iris asked.
"I don't know, but we know that this started when I was still in the Speed Force," Barry said.
"But why target Dominic?" Joe questioned.
"Dominic's power must have allowed DeVoe to inhabit his body. We should've been on top of this earlier," Harry said, mentally kicking himself that Barry was now in this position.
"What about the other metas on the bus?" Caitlin questioned. "Why create them?"
"Part of a larger plan?" Harry said.
Barry nodded before he itched his ankle with his foot, causing Ralph to notice the ankle monitor on him. "How are you even here right now, Allen?" He asked and Barry looked at him. "Aren't you on house arrest?"
"Yeah, well-"
"He's at Joe's actually. Either that or the courthouse. I managed to hack into the ankle monitor GPS," Cisco explained which caused Kara to think to herself.
"That's not the only thing Cisco hacked," she muttered, before she pointed at Barry, her eyebrows furrowed. "When you came out of the Speed Force, you were talking gibberish at CCPD. You said something about not wanting to kill anyone."
"That's right," Cisco said before he pulled up the footage. "I digitally scrubbed a video. Last thing we want is somebody hearing something we don't want them to hear." He then pulled it up on the screens for everyone to see.
"Your Honor, I'm innocent. I didn't do this. I didn't kill anyone."
"Yeah, I mean, I don't remember saying any of that," Barry said, looking back at everyone.
"You don't?" Harry questioned and Barry shook his head no. "We should look at everything else he said when he first came out of the Speed Force. Might give us a clue."
"That's a good idea," Joe said.
"Okay, guys, but remember, I mean, considering all the evidence they have against me, this trial is not even gonna last very long," Barry told them.
"Okay, but with Cecile taking a leave of absence to represent you, you got the best lawyer in town," Caitlin said, trying to cheer him up.
"Yeah, I mean, even if they did find you guilty, it's not like any prison can hold you," Cisco said, causing Kara to tense up, looking at her husband, seeing his calm reaction.
"I'm not gonna run," he said, causing everyone to look almost annoyed. Except Kara, because even though he's innocent, she wouldn't want that life for him or them. "I won't be a fugitive. If I'm convicted, I have to go to prison."
"We're not gonna let that happen," Joe said and Barry nodded.
"Right. Let's get to work," Harry said before everyone scattered out, except for Iris and Kara.
"Um, I'll meet you guys at the courthouse," Iris said before she also left the cortex, leaving Barry and Kara alone.
Barry looked at her, and saw she looked saddened, trying to seem strong, but was barely holding on. "Kara," he said and she looked up at him. "We should get to the courthouse too." Kara nodded before she got up from her seat as Barry wake around to her. "How are you doing?"
"They say the first year of marriage is always the hardest, but I never thought I would be beaten down almost to death by a Worldkiller or that my husband being on trail for murder would be some of the challenges," Kara said and Barry stiffed a small smile.
"We have been through so much. We'll get through this too," Barry said and she nodded before they leaned their foreheads against each other.
And even though being in Barry's arms, Barry could still tell that Kara was worried, as anyone would be in a situation like the one they were in. "Remember...we're SuperFlash."
"We're SuperFlash," Kara repeated.
———
Joe ran into the hallway, where he caught up with Ralph walking away. "Ralph, hold up," he said and Ralph looked back at him. "Listen, I'm not gonna let Barry go to prison. I failed his dad, I'm not gonna fail him. I need your help."
"My help, huh? As in the stretchy kind?" Ralph asked.
"As in the underhanded private investigator kind," Joe said.
"Oh, ha, no offense taken," Ralph said.
"Come on," Joe said before the two walked off together.
Central City District Court
A white lab named Mr. Slater stood before the jury that day, white Barry sat next to Cecile on the other side of the room. Behind the two was Joe, Iris, Kara, Caitlin and Cisco. "Your Honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, if you don't understand what it is I'm about to tell you today, you need to do something. I need you to believe in the impossible."
Kara tensed while staring at the man defending the DeVoe's almost annoyed. "As children, we're taught that the police are there to protect us, to serve. We're told that our tax dollars go toward training them to be the champions of the city. But for some of us, it still seems impossible that a police investigator, one of Central City's finest, could betray that trust. And even worse, under the guise of upholding the law to commit the most heinous act that one person can carry out against another."
He then looked back at Barry, almost taunting him with a cold look. "But that is exactly what Barry Allen did. Now, the prosecution will prove beyond any doubt that he stood among us a wolf in sheep's clothing. But here's the thing. Barry Allen wears a mask, used his connection to the law, his experience as a police investigator, especially as a crime scene technician, to stalk a beloved professor and husband and murder Clifford DeVoe in cold blood."
———
The next day, Mr. Slater stood before the jury again, everyone in their same positions again, team SuperFlash watching as the lawyer showed the jury a piece of paper. "Ladies and gentlemen, the document in my hand, it's a court-issued restraining order. It's issued to Marlize DeVoe, the wife of the victim, on behalf of her husband against a Mr. Bartholomew Henry Allen. Now if you'd like a better look, I have a bigger copy," he then turned to a huge larger version of the restraining order on a platform. "And if you'll allow me to call out what's written underneath reason for order issue, harassment..."
"The defendant was seen just days earlier, illegally breaking and entering into the victim's house, searching through the victim's effects. A man obsessed..."
"Barry Allen's skin cells were found under the nails of the victim. Now imagine that? If you can, Mr. DeVoe, a man in a wheelchair, desperately trying to defend himself as Mr. Allen sound to overpower him..."
"And finally, this is the knife that was used to kill Clifford DeVoe. If it looks new, that's because it is. It was a wedding gift for Mr. Allen. Now let's just let that sink in for a moment. This was supposed to commemorate the most joyous moment in a couple's lives. But instead Mr. Allen used it to forever separate a couple from one another," Iris placed her hand on top of Kara's, who was trying to not cry in anger and fear. Hearing all the horrible things about her husband, that weren't true, it was making it even harder to keep herself together. "He used a wedding gift as a murder weapon. That is a special kind of evil."
Suddenly, Joe's phone started vibrating, which pulled Kara from her numb gaze, looking at Joe with Iris. "Defendant showed an absolute disregard-"
"Cisco," Joe whispered down the row, and Cisco looked at him. "There's a meta attack downtown. We gotta go." Cisco and Joe got up, along with Caitlin, but when Kara tried to leave as well, Joe pointed a finger at her. "You stay here, okay? Barry needs you here."
"Brazen callousness-"
"Okay," Kara whispered, tightening her hand on Iris for support. "We'll stay here with Barry."
Central City Bank
As Joe and Cisco walked into the bank, they saw many officers looking around, CSIs taking pictures, and Captain Singh barking around orders. "When you're done, could I get some coverage of the work stations? Detective, would you get a statement please?" He then turned to Joe and Cisco. "Mr. Ramon."
"Captain," Cisco said. "What happened here?"
"Well, vintage Central City. Aning another weird one. No data breach, nothing stolen. Everyone just collapsed. I have officers at the hospital interviewing people now, but so far, no one knows anything," Singh explained as Cisco pulled out his scanner, and went around the counter.
"Whoa," he muttered, looking back at Joe. "Dark matter city. We're definitely dealing with a meta here."
"You want to see what kind of perimeter we're dealing with?" Joe said and Cisco snapped his fingers.
"You read my mind," Cisco said before he walked off and Singh looked back at a distracted Joe.
"Hey, Joe, you sure you're okay to run this case?" He asked as Joe looked at him. "Because I totally understand if you need a little more time, uh-"
"I'm fine. Really. I may have to go over to the courthouse later," Joe said.
"Yeah, I'm uh," Singh said before awkwardly clearing his throat. "I'm actually heading over there myself." He cleared his throat again as Joe gave him an odd look. "The prosecution called me to testify. I'm sorry, Joe. You know how much I care about Barry, but I have to tell them what I know."
"I get it," Joe said, hesitantly nodding. "You got to do what you got to do."
Central City District Court
Now on the stand, Captain Singh eyed Mr. Slater hesitantly, truly not wanting to be where he was. "Do I need to repeat the question?"
"No, I heard it. The person standing over Clifford DeVoe's body was Barry Allen," Singh said.
"No further questions, Your Honor," Slater said before he walked away and sat back down in his seat.
With that, Cecile stood from her seat and walked over to Captain Singh. "Captain Singh, you stated that you interviewed Barry Allen six years ago for the job of CSI. I wonder, what was your first impression of him?"
"He was young. Had half the experience of everyone else interviewed," Singh answered.
"Hmm. Why'd you hire him?" Cecile asked.
"It was really something he said in the interview. Everyone always talks about going after the criminal, the guilty. But Allen said he wanted to help the victims. The innocents. I thought Central City deserved someone like that. Allen is one of the good ones," Singh explained and Cecile smiled before she looked at the jury.
"One of the good ones," she said then looked at the judge. "No further questions, Your Honor." She then walked back to her seat next to Barry.
"I'd like to redirect, Your Honor," Slater said, standing back up.
"Proceed."
"Would you cover for Mr. Allen if you had to?" Slater asked.
"No, of course not," Singh answered.
"No. It says here in his personnel file that he took a seven-month sabbatical to the Czech Republic. Did he get approval from you first?" Slater asked.
"Not exactly. He said it was for something personal, I'm sure he had a good reason to go," Singh answered.
"Is saving the world a good reason?" Iris muttered to Kara, causing a small smile to muster on her.
"It also says in here that he was late seventy-two times in the past three years. Did you ever ask him why?" Slater asked.
"No, because regardless of what time he got in, he always did his job," Singh said.
"I was just curious to imagine what he does with his time instead of being at work," Slater said as he slowly headed his way up towards Singh. "It's almost like he has this secret life. So in spite of all these infractions, you never thought to discipline him?"
"What are you suggesting?" Singh asked.
"That whether you realized it or not, you've been covering the ugly truth about Mr. Allen for years now," Slater said.
"That is not true," Singh sternly said.
"Is it true that he was targeting and harassing Mr. DeVoe? Yes or no?" Slater asked.
"Yes, which is why I granted DeVoe the restraining order and told Allen to stay away," Singh said.
"But that didn't stop him, did it? He kept going after him right up until the night that Mr. DeVoe was killed," Slater said.
"Objection!" Cecile snapped as Kara's fists gripped around the railings in front of her. "Conjecture."
"Withdrawn."
"Captain, now, you said that Mr. Allen what's to help the victims, or the innocents. But disappearing for months at a time and being seventy-two times doesn't sound like he wants to help or care for anybody but himself," Slater continued, causing Kara's grip to tighten, her rage rising. "Now, do you still think that he's one of the good ones?"
DeVoe Household
Sitting in a parked red impala, Joe and Ralph watched the house carefully, waiting for the perfect moment to get what they need. "Hope you're right about this."
"Oh, trust me, I'm very good at reading body language. Right now, you're tense. Huh, now you're annoyed," Ralph said but when he saw Marlize walk up to Dominic inside the home, and kissed him, he gasped. "Ooh, here we go." He quickly pulled out his camera and took many photos of the two kissing. "Yahtzee."
"Did you get that?" Joe asked, and Ralph handed him the camera.
"Oh, Ralphie got it. I smell an acquittal," Ralph said.
Central City District Court
Sitting in a back room, Barry and Kara sat across from Cecile, who could tell the trail was going the wrong direction. "As we thought might happen, we are in trouble. David's testimony hurt us, but we still have a few options."
"What are they?" Kara asked.
"I can go Slater, I can ask for a plea deal, maybe get you a shorter sentence. Or we could use an insanity defense," Cecile said.
"No, both those options are admitting I'm guilty, and I'm not," Barry said.
"Fine, then the only other way out of this is for you to testify," Cecile said.
"Cecile, I'm sorry, I won't do it," Barry said.
"All of the evidence, every bit of it, it points to you. If you're not wiling to take that stand and defend yourself, then this is an impossible case," Cecile said.
"I'm not taking a stand," Barry said.
"Barry, even if that means turning the case around and not going to jail?" Kara asked, and he looked at her.
"Kara, if I testify, I have to lie. I commit perjury, I become exactly who they think I am," Barry said.
"Then don't lie," Cecile said and the two of them looked at her.
"What?"
"What?"
"Tell the truth. Tell everyone you're The Flash," Cecile said but Barry scoffed. "Barry, if the court knows you're The Flash, then you can explain everything and they'll believe you. Prosecution's gonna wrap up soon. I need your answer today. This is the only way, Barry. Tell the city you're The Flash."
STAR Labs
"This is all we got?" Harry asked, as he stared at horrible footage from the bank in the cortex. "This isn't a lot to go on."
"I know, okay?" Cisco said while sitting at the computers. "We're lucky we even got this footage."
"Why?" Harry asked.
"For some reason, all the security cameras were fried," Cisco said before Caitlin walked in, holding a file.
"Hey, guys, I was just at the hospital going over the medical records of everyone who was at the bank. I know why they passed out," Caitlin said as the boys walked up to her.
"Why did they pass out?" Harry asked.
"Well, they all suffered from fatigue, vomiting, abdominal pain, skin rashes," Caitlin listed.
"So everyone ate a bad burrito?" Cisco asked.
"No, radiation poisoning," Caitlin said and they looked at her surprised.
"That's why the security cameras are fried," Cisco said.
"We got to find this guy before he poisons the whole city," Caitlin said.
"Yeah, or worse," Harry said.
"Hmm?" Caitlin hummed, looking at him.
"Guys, if this meta can cause these levels of radiation in these patients, that means this meta has a similar makeup to a nuclear bomb," Harry explained.
"So, like, enough to blow us all up? What are we talking here?" Cisco asked.
"The fallout from a nuclear explosion could be catastrophic," Caitlin said, keeping her eyes on Harry.
"Exactly," Harry said before looking at Cisco.
"Fallout," he muttered.
"Great name," Harry said.
"Terrible power. Okay, I'll see if the satellite can track his radiation signature," Cisco said before he walked away, scratching his head stressfully.