"If no pain, then no love. If no darkness, no light. If no risk, then no reward. It's all or nothing. In this damn world, it's all or nothing."
- Glennon Doyle Melton
————————————————————————
One morning, Kara was sitting behind the console at STAR Labs, watching her screens as The Flash zoomed throughout the entire city while Cisco stood by her, "We've got eyes on Cape Canaveral, Space X, and the Xivhang Space Center—"
WHOOSH!
The Flash zoomed into the cortex, speeding out of his suit and into regular clothes, putting his suit up, in under a second before looking back at the two, "And Blackhawk Island," he added, "That's every launch pad south of the 39th parallel."
"Good man," Cisco smiled.
"Okay, how are you so sure that DeVoe is gonna launch the satellites from an airfield?" Kara questioned.
"If he's shooting five satellites into synchronous orbit, that's the latitude he needs," Cisco told her, "And whether or not he's still moping around about his wife, ditching him, he's gonna resurface. And he's gonna do it soon. And when he does, I whoosh. You whoosh. She whoosh," he then handed Barry the shrapnel bomb, "She bangs."
"If I can get there in time," Barry said as Kara stared up at him, her head slightly tilted in worry, "I mean, I'm still not fast enough to make it to DeVoe's pocket dimension."
"That's why we split up," Cisco said as they all eyed him, "Yeah. Each one of us stakes out a different launch pad."
"You're serious?" Barry asked, "I mean you've seen DeVoe in action."
"Yeah, the guy's a one man Legion of Doom. So send the Super Friends," Cisco said, gesturing to himself, Kara, and Mon-El.
"Okay, but we're not a full super speed strength right now. I mean, Joe's got the baby on the way and Caitlin's looking for Killer Frost. Plus our other Super Friends...they're still recovering from Reign's attack."
"Reign attacked again?" Cisco questioned.
"It's a long story," Kara said.
"She's in custody now, and Ruby knows now—"
"Like I said, it's a long story," Kara cut in.
"Also, Harry's—"
Right then, Harry walked out from Caitlin's office, accidentally crashing into a chair, almost falling down. He caught himself as Kara quickly got up, walking up to him to make sure he was alright, "This chair came out of nowhere," he mumbled before spotting everyone staring at them, "So hey, Allen, Danvers-Allen," he then looked at Cisco, trying to remember his name, "...Ramon."
"Cisco," Cisco muttered.
"Cisco Ramon," Harry said before he turned back to the married couple, showing them his tablet. That had Kara's article on it, "Check this out, okay? Somebody has been blogging about the Thinker. About DeVoe and the bus metas, all of it," Kara and Barry slowly looked at each other before looking at Harry, frowned lines on their lips, "If we find this blogger, we can stop the Thinker—"
"Hey, buddy," Kara said, stepping towards, gently caressing his arm.
"Hey, buddy."
"That's— That's my article," Kara continued and Harry looked at her confused.
"But...But look at the website. It doesn't say CatCo, it says The K&I Citizen, look at it—"
"The K&I Citizen, yeah," Kara muttered before Harry mimicked an explosion.
"Mic drop," he said.
"Hold on to that mic," Kara began.
"It's imaginary," Harry whispered.
"K&I stands for Kara and Iris," Kara told him, before pointing at the byline, "Look. My name is under it. Kara Danvers-Allen," and Harry looked at the byline, his mouth dropped in shock, "Harry...I asked you to proofread this for me, remember?"
"You asked me to proofread this? When?" Harry laughed, but suddenly his face dropped, the memory hitting him like a train, "Two days ago. That's when. When you said, Harry will you proofread, will you—" He began to back up, embarrassed, when he suddenly crashed into the chair again as Kara watched him concerned.
"Let's start by finding him a room with less chairs," Cisco whispered over to the couple, who nodded, before he walked over to help Harry.
"Okay. Good," Harry muttered, heading towards Caitlin's office again when he bumped into a desk, "Is that power on the floor?"
"Okay," Kara muttered under her breath as Barry looked down at the tablet in his hand now, shocked by the views she was getting.
"You have four-hundred-thousand new views?" He questioned and Kara looked at him, a smile on her, "That's amazing."
"I know, right? I mean, I've gotten more reads over at CatCo, but not this fast. The views have just gotten so high so quickly, it's...crazy," Kara told him, "People have been writing in from everywhere sharing their theories and reporting DeVoe sightings—"
"And Marlize sightings?" Barry questioned, seeing on the websites page something about Marlize DeVoe.
"Yeah," Kara softly said, "I've been trying to track her down for days. I know Harry thinks they split up, not that I don't believe him, but she's still dangerous."
"Right, so wh-why would we send citizens after her?" Barry asked and Kara stared up at him, her eyes narrowing confused, "I'm all for telling people the truth. I just don't know if it's the best idea to send people out there to do our jobs for us."
"No, that's not what I'm doing. I'm inspiring hope," Kara said and a soft smile appeared over his lips, "I'd never want to give anyone the idea to chase after a bad guy. Especially one like Marlize," and suddenly, her phone went off and she quickly pulled it out of her back pocket. The moment she looked over her phone screen, her expression dropped, "I just got a new lead."
"Hmm."
Kara showed him her phone, and his expression dropped as well once he saw it. Her screen looked like it was hacked into, with purple and black digits covering it, but in the middle of the screen, one word was visible: BORMAN
"Fallout," he mumbled before looking at her.
Doctor Sharon Finkel's Office
Meanwhile, Caitlin was sitting across from the therapist on the couch, while the doctor had her note pad out, "So you think your psychosis made a friend of yours disappear?" Sharon asked.
"Yeah, I mean, she's a really good friend of mine. Almost like a part of me," Caitlin told her.
"So your friend...is she with us here right now?" Sharon asked.
"Oh, no, I'm not schizophrenic, um, she's more like another personality," Caitlin quickly corrected.
"Dissociative identity disorder," Sharon muttered, "That is usually caused by trauma, and from your history you've had quite a bit."
"Yeah, I did see my husband die. Twice," Caitlin said, before she narrowed her eyes to herself, "And then my next boyfriend turned evil."
"I actually meant childhood trauma," Sharon said and Caitlin looked at her confused, "Tell me about your father."
"My dad?" Caitlin questioned, "He was the best. Loving, supportive, always pushed me to get smarter."
"And how did you feel when he passed?" Sharon asked, but Caitlin hesitated to answer.
"I...He had ALS, he was always hiding his symptoms from us. He never wanted us to see him suffer," she said.
"Sometimes when we're young, we repress things that scare us," Sharon said.
"Oh, I'm not repressing anything from my childhood. My missing friend just appeared a couple years ago," Caitlin said before her phone began to buzz, "It's my adult life that's got me like this," and she pulled out her phone to see it was an emergency back at STAR Labs, "I'm so sorry. I have to go...Do you charge by the hour?"
"For you and your friends, the quarter-hour," Sharon said, with an awkward smile on her.
STAR Labs
Caitlin, Cisco, and Mon-El came into the cortex once they got the alert on their phones. Caitlin from therapy, Cisco from his workshop, and Mon-El from the West Household. He was there during the morning with Iris and Ruby, helping them with anything Cecile and Joe needed. Until he had to leave.
"Hi guys, thanks for coming," Kara said, standing behind one of the computers with Barry as the three quickly walked up to them, "I got a tip about Fallout, but it's been scrambled by Kilgore's code."
"Hmm, not anymore," Cisco said as he began to quickly type away, quickly hacking into it, "Consider it unscrambled," and the digits quickly turned into a sentence: DEVOE COMING FOR BORMAN
"DeVoe," Barry muttered under his breath before looking at Kara, "Where's A.R.G.U.S. keeping Borman? Do we know?"
"I-I can't ping Lyla, but I can try Dig," Kara said.
"I'll just go get him," Barry said before he zoomed off, and panic filled Kara's eyes.
"Uh—"
"Trash can," Kara muttered.
The three scattered around, looking for a trash can that Dig could use, as Kara stared at the entrance of the cortex, worry overwhelming her when the two would run back in.
"How about recycling?"
"Nope."
"I got it!" Kara looked at Cisco to find him holding a trash bin with lots of holes inside it, "I got it..."
"Really?" Kara asked as Caitlin handed her a regular, sealed up, plastic trash can.
"Seemed like a good idea at the time," Cisco muttered.
Kara then sharply sighed before walking around the computer, holding out the trash can, right as Barry zoomed in with John Diggle, the two of them stopping in front of Kara.
"Sorry, man," Barry told him as Dig looked at him annoyed.
Immediately, Dig grabbed the trash can from Kara, throwing up, as everyone looked away, cringed, "I'm sorry," Barry continued.
Dig groaned annoyed, before gulping down from a water bottle Kara handed him, "Can we just— I'm sorry—"
"I hate you," Dig finally muttered out, looking at Barry sternly, "What is this about?"
"Neil Borman, the man we left with you, with A.R.G.U.S. Where you keeping him?" Barry asked and Dig stared at him taken back.
"Barry, that's classified information. I'm not the director of A.R.G.U.S., I-"
"Dig, we don't have time," Barry said, desperation in his tone, "Please."
Dig stared at him hesitantly before saying, "He's at a place called the Castle. It's a thousand miles away from anything."
"Please. Can you check it?" Barry asked, pointing at the computer.
Dig walked over behind the computer, before pressing a few buttons on the keyboard, getting him into the facility, "Okay, looks like everything's fine in A.R.G.U.S...except for me," Dig said and they all looked at him and the computer confused, seeing Dig's check in at the facility, "Um...says I checked in six hours ago."
"DeVoe can shapeshift," Caitlin said and Dig looked at her, "With Melting Point's powers, he can trick a DNA scanner and take over the building."
Suddenly, they saw the 3D version of the building, begin to glow red, causing them to stare at it panicked, "Uh, Diggle. Diggle, Diggle," Cisco muttered, pushing himself through to get behind the computer, "That's not good."
"Ten-thousand RADs and climbing," Caitlin read off the screen, "Borman's body gone critical already. We can't save him."
"If that chamber hits 100k, it'll start generating nuclear fusion. Like core of the sun fusion," Cisco said.
"Infinite fuel," Barry muttered.
"He's using Borman's body as a battery. That's the last piece he needs," Mon said.
"Wait, a battery?" Dig questioned, "Borman's containment cell is ten feet tall."
"And DeVoe has the power to shrink it down. He'll charge the satellites. All he'll have to do is launch 'em," Kara told him, a concerned look on her before looking at Cisco, "How long do we have?"
"At this rate of fusion," Cisco said before he typed it up on the keyboard, until the timer showed up, "We have twelve hours until the Enlightenment begins," and they all looked at each other sternly.
———
After Barry took Dig back to Star City, he zoomed back into the cortex, finding Kara and Cisco behind the console, with Mon-El standing by, and Caitlin standing behind a computer, "Okay, Dig's back in Star City," Barry said as everyone looked at him, "Now, I'm going after DeVoe."
"Don't go storming the Castle just yet," Cisco said before he typed a couple of things at the keyboard, pulling up a Digital blue hexagon on the screens, "You're looking at motion-activated electro-shock plates that A.R.G.U.S. installed in the facility."
"Seventy-thousand volts?" Caitlin questioned, looking at the plates information, "You hit one of those, you'll be knocked out for sure."
"So I'll avoid them when I go in," Barry said.
"Okay. Genius idea, if their placement didn't randomize every couple hours," Cisco said.
"So...DeVoe's basically charging his battery for twelve hours, completely protected by A.R.G.U.S. defenses," Caitlin said.
"And then he'll probably just jump into a pocket dimension, and he's out of there," Cisco added.
"What if I don't avoid the plates?" Barry asked, looking back at everyone, "What if I hit 'em? All of 'em," and they all stared at him confused and concerned, "I'm serious. I mean, if I go into Flash Time, I could use each plate's electric current as a fuel source. Then I'd be fast enough to follow DeVoe into his pocket dimension."
"You would get a serious boost," Mon said.
"Again, another genius idea, if hitting the plates didn't cause an electrical explosion," Cisco said.
"Yeah, but I'd be through the pocket dimension before the blast wave, ready to blow up the satellite on the other side," Barry said but they all continued to stare at him concerned and hesitant.
When a beeping came from one of the computers, Cisco got up from the console and quickly headed over, "Satellite results came in," he said, getting behind the computer as everyone walked over as well, "Okay! — oh, frell me."
The images that came up at the facility, was that DeVoe had six hostages. Five of them were in the hallway, leading up to the room DeVoe was in, and the sixth one was in the room with DeVoe.
"What? What is it?"
"We got six plates and six heat signatures about them," Cisco told them. "There are A.R.G.U.S. agents still alive in there," Kara concluded.
"He has hostages," Barry muttered annoyed.
"You can outrun an electrical explosion. They can't," Cisco said to Barry.
"How's he keeping them suspended like that?" Caitlin asked.
"I think I know how," Kara mumbled, in which she told them. Null's powers.
West Household
Meanwhile, Cecile laid out on the couch in the living room, in comfortable sweats, while Ruby sat in the lounge chair across from her, "I haven't moved from this spot in three days," Cecile whined as Iris came out from the kitchen, handing Cecile a mug of tea, "Thank you, honey— Baby, you're gonna have to carry me into the hospital."
Right then, Joe walked out from the kitchen, towards the front door, with a hospital bag in his hand as Iris sat with Ruby, "Okay, so, I got snacks. I got clothes for you. I got clothes for the baby," Joe listed off, "Damn, I forgot something," he then began to walk off as Cecile read his mind.
"Joe...we're not gonna need a katana at the hospital," she said and Joe looked at her.
"Okay, so you're in my head again and it's entirely possible that we get attacked by a samurai at the hospital," Joe said.
"This is kinda cool," Ruby whispered to Iris, a smile on her, and Iris just smiled that Ruby was able to enjoy herself. To not confuse the girl, Iris had told Ruby ahead of time that Cecile had developed meta-powers, being able to read people's thoughts. Iris thought Ruby would freak out, and found it amusing that Ruby thought it was cool.
"Most of the time," Iris whispered back.
"You have repacked that bag fives times," Cecile continued on, "You've read ten different books on birthing methods."
"By the way, I love the one about Lamaze," Joe said before pulling out his phone.
"Yeah, but—"
"Damn, where is this boy?" Joe asked.
"Wally?" Iris questioned and Joe nodded.
"You have already left Wally a dozen voice mails," Cecile said.
"He's literally on a time machine, so he has no excuse not to show up on time to meet his new baby sister," Joe said before Cecile sighed annoyed as Ruby looked at Iris confused.
"Long story," she whispered.
"I'm sorry, it's just nerves," Joe continued, rubbing his temples worried.
"We've both done this before. Not gonna be any surprises, okay?" Cecile said before gesturing to Iris, "I mean, come on. Iris and Wally turned out completely fine. This is gonna be...totally sick."
The three of them all looked at her, that last tone of her's confusing all of them. It sounded almost...frat boy surfer.
"Sick?" Joe stammered, "Are you feeling sick?"
"Nah, brah, nah. This delivery is gonna be sick," Cecile said and they all tilted their heads confused why she was talking like that, "Having this baby is gonna be like one epic wave," she then chuckled.
"You okay? You're scaring me," Joe said before someone knocked at the door.
"Far out!" Cecile exclaimed as Joe walked up to the door, "That's the 'za I ordered. 'Chovies and pineapple. Tubular."
When Joe opened the door, a pizza delivery man was on the other side, who looked in some's definition, a frat surfer boy, "Tubular, brah!" He exclaimed, pulling the pizza box out from his bag, "There's your 'za!"
Joe looked back to find Cecile smiling as Iris and Ruby stared at her oddly, "That'll totally be 8.50."
"Thanks...brah," Joe said, handing him the money.
"Hey, this house is—"
"Bitchin', yeah, everybody says that," Joe said.
"No. Hard to find. Those are some gnarly bushes outside," he said before he and Cecile started laughing together.
The delivery man then walked off as Joe closed the door, looking at Cecile concerned, "Let's crush some 'za, brah!" She said.
"What is wrong with your step-mom?" Ruby whispered.
"I don't know," Iris whispered back.
"Dude! Dude?"