Mon-El slowly walked into the cortex from the Med Lab, finding Barry sitting behind the console. The alien had a stern look, with his arms crossed, "You figure it out?" He asked and Barry looked back at him for a moment before back to the screen.
"No, I-I shut down the generator. I can save the hostages, but DeVoe still gets away, and then, you know," Barry said.
"Actually, I meant," Mon began, walking out in front of the console, facing Barry, "Have you figured out why you've completely lost your mind?"
Barry looked up at Mon-El, a confused expression on him, "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just—"
"You're just trying to keep them safe. I know. It's starting to feel real familiar coming from you," Mon said.
"They're not ready to use Flash Time. Not like that," Barry said.
"They will be ready if you train them," Mon argued.
"It takes more than ten hours to learn Super Speed, okay? Not all of us are born with it just because of the sun. They could die out there," Barry argued back.
"And if you don't take them with us, they'll die anyway. They're brains get wiped, and that's it. That's the end of the world," Mon said.
"No!" Barry snapped, "Loosing my best friends and it being my fault— That's the end of my world!" And Mon-El stared down at him tensed, "You may think it's worth it, but I couldn't live with myself."
"Barry..." Mon sternly said, "You cannot sideline your team because of what happened to him," and he pointed at Ralph's picture on the bus meta board.
"I don't need another therapist," Barry said, getting up from his seat, beginning to leave the room.
"We all lost someone, okay? But that never gives us an excuse to shut each other out," Mon said as Barry turned back to him while Caitlin and Cisco stepped out of the Med Lab, watching the two argue.
"I said drop it, alright?" Barry said.
"You think you're the only one who feels bad about Ralph dying?" Mon asked.
"Guys..."
"You know, he came to see me at Iron Heights?" Barry said, walking up to Mon-El, "He told me he was afraid. He warned me he wasn't ready. But I pushed him anyway. I said go back out there and do my job. My burden," and right then, Kara, Harry, and Iris walked in together, confused expressions as to why Barry and Mon-El were arguing.
"We made the bus metas. We have Ralph his powers. You wanna talk about burdens? DeVoe didn't start his evil twisted plan until I got here, that I'm somehow a part of it, that he needs me. If I never came back here, there would be no plan," Mon told him and Barry scoffed, "Cisco? He shot the bazooka that opened the Speed Force. Caitlin, she figured out the math and science to keep the Speed Force from opening back up. We all have burdens, and we don't keep those with us so you can stand here and tell me you're going to save the world alone again."
"I-I know that," Barry stammered, as Kara stared at him with worried eyes, "And I know we're running out of time and...I can't do this by myself, but...Everybody I've tried to teach has ended up wore than when I found them."
"And what about Ralph? Was he worse?" Mon asked and Barry hesitated, "You taught him that when his back was against the wall and the world was ending around him he could always make the choice. Make the choice to be a hero. Your team deserve that same choice. All they need is someone to show us how."
Barry sighed before glancing over at Caitlin and Cisco, "You guys really want to do this?" He asked.
"It's not a burden if we shoulder it together," Caitlin softly said and Barry hesitantly nodded.
Caitlin and Cisco then walked over to a computer together as Barry and Mon-El faced Iris and Kara. Iris softly smiled as Mon-El stared at her softly.
Kara softly frowned, walking up to Barry, with Harry following, Iris staying in her place, she and Mon-El continuing to keep eye contact.
"We found her," Kara said.
"You found Marlize?" Barry asked.
"I think so," Kara said, stopping in front of Barry, "She's in England."
Barry sighed as Kara's eyes gleamed up at him, "Alright," he muttered, grabbing something off the desk, handing it to her, "This is our last extrapolator. You set the coordinates, it'll breach you there," Kara fiddled with it in her hands before looking up at him, a worried look in realization. She couldn't help him, "I have to stop DeVoe. By the time you get back—"
"Barry," Kara gasped, pulling him closer to her, pressing a longing and passionate kiss on him. When they parted, their foreheads pressed against each other, "Please come back to me...as you. It'll be so lonely without you."
"I promise," he whispered, "I love you."
"I love you, too," Kara softly said, "Go save the world."
When an electronic beeping went off, Barry pulled himself away from Kara, and over to Cisco and Caitlin, "Where're we at?" Barry asked.
"Borman's almost at 100,000 RADs," Caitlin said.
"Alright, we got to go, come on," Barry said, walking up to his suit.
Kara gathered herself, before walking out of the cortex, Harry following her. Iris sent Mon-El one last smile, before turning to leave, "I need to get back to Ruby—"
"Wait...Iris," Mon called out, beginning to walk after her but stopped when she looked back at him, "...Stay safe."
"Be careful," she softly said and he nodded before she turned back around, leaving the room.
The Castle
The facility was in the dead drop middle of nowhere and it was already dark out. A breach opened up in front of gates of the facility, where Vibe, Caitlin, and Mon-El jumped out of.
Once their feet touched the ground, The Flash zoomed up next to them, "Perimeter's secure," he told them, "Once we're inside, we'll have less than a second. I'll activate the plates, draw their charge."
"I'll lay the breachlings," Vibe said. "And I'll protect the A.R.G.U.S. agents from the blast with this," Caitlin said, before glancing down at a small shooter attached to her sleeve, "...ice shooter."
"Ice shooter," Vibe said.
"Do I have to call it an ice shooter?" Caitlin asked.
"I thought Frostbite sounded good," Flash said.
"That's a good name," Mon said.
"Guys, it solves the friction offset problem by shooting ice, therefore it's an ice shooter. You call it an ice shooter," Vibe argued.
"Relax," Flash muttered.
"It's just not that hard," Vibe said before they all turned back to face the building, almost feeling the heat from inside it.
"DeVoe must shrinking Borman's chamber," Caitlin said and The Flash huffed.
"We can do this," he said.
———
Inside the facility, the four were zoomed inside the hallway. The actual hallway. Where the actual hostages were, and underneath all of them, was yellow hexagon power surges. The Flash raided his speed onto his three friends, yellow lightning encircling each of them and then fading away. They were in Flash Time.
The Flash then stepped forward, his friends following him, before stopping before the first agent hostage. The Flash bent down, pressing his hand onto the plate, absorbing all of its energy, "I've got the charge," he said before Vibe created a small breach underneath the agent.
"Breachling is go," Vibe said before Caitlin created a ice surface above the breach.
"He's iced," she said.
"Five more to go. Remember, stay focused," Flash said before he speed off, taking each plates power, even one of the female scientist inside the tech room.
He zoomed into the room where Borsman was being placed, to find he was actually gone. But a pocket dimension portal was there. He zoomed right for it as Vibe and Caitlin were finishing up.
Vibe and Caitlin finished the scientist, right as The Flash entered the portal. Time went back to normal, the hostages went through the breaches right as Vibe opened up his own breach. Mon-El grabbed his friends and speed them through it, escaping right before the wave of explosions could hit them.
Streets of Central City
A pocket dimension opened up on the wet night streets of the city, and DeVoe walked out from it. He extended his hands and five baby satellites floated up from his hands, before expanding into regular sized satellites, floating into the sky.
As they were getting closer and closer to the atmosphere, about to complete DeVoe's plan, a red blur zoomed out of the pocket dimension, right before it closed.
That blur zoomed up a top a building, jumped onto another building, then pushed himself into the air. With the shrapnel bomb in hand, he threw it at a nearby satellite with all his might. And just like Amunet promised, upon hitting the satellite, the bomb caused it to explode.
The Flash then zoomed back down, slowly down once on the streets. He looked up above, seeing the one satellite was in pieces. But it was all they needed, "We did it," he whispered to himself.
"Once upon a time..." The Flash spun around, seeing DeVoe was standing behind him, "...in some remote corner of that universe, there was a star upon which clever beasts invented knowing."
"You're quoting Nietzsche at me?" Flash asked.
"You destroyed a satellite. Top marks, quick boy," DeVoe said, "You can destroy a thousand more and you will still march closer to the Enlightenment."
"I forgot what Nietzsche said about wiping minds. I must have skipped Philosophy class—"
"Did I teach you nothing this year?! Has nothing pierced you thick cowl?!" DeVoe snapped and The Flash narrowed his eyes at him, "Think of it? Or rather don't. You'll just end up hurting yourself, so let me explain. A world enlightened. Within a day, all soldiers will lay down their arms. Every nuclear weapon will be disarmed within six months. Poverty, famine, disease. Eradicated. We will clean up the streets. People will put down their idiot phones and become curious again, and I will be there to teach them. I, not you, will save this godforsaken world."
"No, you'll just control it. Manipulate it. You want to take away free will," Flash said.
"A pittance for humanity to pay to know peace," DeVoe said.
"But we wouldn't know each other. Parents wouldn't remember their kids. Husbands wouldn't remember their wives. Brothers wouldn't remember their sisters. People wouldn't remember the people they were in love with," Flash told him, almost shaking in fear at the thought of it. He wouldn't remember Kara, Iris wouldn't remember Mon-El. They would be separated again, with the aliens forever in emotional anguish.
"Good," DeVoe practically spat and The Flash looked at him taken back, "You hit upon precisely the point. Emotion is the father of all error. Chemicals in our brain that distract us, impede progress. And the most destructive and ridiculous imbalance of all is that thing you feebles call love. I learned this from experience, Mr. Allen. And soon you will too," he backed up, then disappearing when his pocket dimension engulfed him up, leaving The Flash breathless on the street.
The Castle
Outside of the gate, the hostages were being loaded into a vehicle to be taken away from the facility when the scientist approached Mon-El, utterly scared how one moment she was inside, the next, she was outside, "What happened in there?" She asked.
"All that matters is that you're all safe, Miss," Mon told her.
"But DeVoe. Where's DeVoe?" She asked.
"Hey, don't worry," he softly said, "The Flash is on it."
"Thank you," she said before she joined the other agents.
Mon-El softly smiled to himself before turning back to Caitlin and Vibe, to find a concerned look on her, "What's wrong?" He asked, walking up to the two.
"I need some help," she said and they looked at her confused, "Back when we were training, I had this fragment of a memory. I think it's something that I've been repressive for a long time. I don't remember much, just that I was young and I was terrified."
"Caitlin...are you sure you want me to give you there?" Vibe asked, "I mean, maybe your brain kept this memory under lock and key for a reason."
"I need to know what it was. I can handle it," Caitlin said and Vibe nodded.
"Then focus on it and hang on," He told her before he held out his hand for her. Caitlin grabbed Mon-El's hand, wanting him to be there for her as well before grabbing hold of Vibe's. They all closed their eyes, the memory inside Caitlin's mind, flickering before them:
———The three found themselves in the middle of a street, where a man called out, "Caity!" The three focused their eyesight to find a truck in the middle of the street, in front of a girl, knocked over on the ground, her ankle stuck in her bike tire, "Oh, no! Caity! Caity, are you okay? Stay still! We're gonna get you help!"
The three stepped out, seeing the little girl on the ground, "That's me, right there," Caitlin murmured to her friends.
Younger Caitlin reached out on the ground, trying to pull herself up, but her hand landed on broken off rear view mirror. She grabbed it, and pulled it up, looking at her reflection to see — bright platinum blonde hair, crystal blue eyes.
"Caity, honey, don't!"
Younger Caitlin's froze over the mirror before she screamed in terror, the mirror breaking——
Vibe, Caitlin, and Mon-El gasped out from the vibe, staring at each other shocked, "Killer Frost...she was part of you...even then," Vibe whispered.
"The particle accelerator hadn't exploded. How is that possible?" Caitlin asked as Mon-El stared at her absolutely worried and shocked at the same time.
Oxford, England, UK
Unlike Central City, England was bright-eyed, with the sun glimmering down beautifully, but upon the beautiful city, a cute small flat stood. A breach opened up inside it, and Kara and Harry jumped out of it. The breach closed up as the two began to glance around the flat.
"Empty," Harry said, gripping onto his large blaster.
Though it seemed abandoned, the furniture stayed the same. Kara just had a gut feeling that Marlize was there, she knew it, "This was their first place together. She would come here. I can feel it," Kara told him before she spotted a tea pot on the dinner table. She grazed her palm against it, and it was almost burning hot. It was fresh, "The pot's still warm," and she looked back at Harry the same time he looked at her, "That means..."
"We can have tea," Harry smiled.
"No!" Kara quietly snapped before she looked out in front of her, "Marlize!"
"Kara, she's not here," Harry said.
"Come out!" Kara continued.
"Kara—"
Suddenly, a small pocket dimension opened up, Marlize storming out of it, holding a katana, it closing up behind her, "It's rude to breach into a person's home uninvited," Marlize spat, Kara staring at her tensed while Harry gripped his blaster, "And dangerous when that person is holding a grudge and a katana."
"You can't hurt me, so it doesn't matter, Marlize," Kara sternly told her.
"Why are you here?!" Marlize shouted.
Kara opened her mouth to speak but Harry stopped her, "I got this," he whispered and Kara looked up at him as he looked at Marlize, who continued to hold up the sword, "We're here, Marlize— We're here because you...because— Wait, uh, you— You have— You, you've," he then looked back at Kara with a nervous look on him, "I can't. I can't—"
"He can't verbalize it," Marlize realized, Harry and Kara looking at her again, "Not anymore. Just like we hypothesized but never observed before. You're experiencing the penultimate stages of the Enlightenment," and she stepped towards him, lowering down her sword as Kara tensed up, getting ready to attack at any moment she needs, "Your mind is being rebooted. Soon you will be without memories, without relationships. Just a blank slate so that Clifford may re-educate you," she then looked away from him, pained tears forming her eyes, "Soon we'll all be just like you," she then glanced over to Kara, "Except you, of course."
"Marlize," Kara stepped towards her, "We have to stop him. Your husband has gone too far, and I think you know it, or you'd be with him right now."
"Yes, I left my husband. But that doesn't change the fact that he's right. If anything, his betrayal proves his very point. Man corrupts even the best of ideas," Marlize told her.
"Pessimism isn't smarter than optimism. In this life the bravest thing you can be is optimistic," Kara said and Marlize narrowed her eyes.
"Familiar words," she said.
"You said them when you were at Oxford. Two weeks before you met Clifford DeVoe," Kara told her.
"I made a speech on technology and the elimination of world hunger. I truly believed it could be done," Marlize said, scoffing it off her past thoughts like they were a mere child.
"He tried to change you, Marlize. He tried to manipulate you," Kara sternly said and Harry looked at her surprised, "But I think deep down...you are still an optimist. You still believe in humanity. And I believe in you. You asked me once what I was willing to do for my husband. And now I'm gonna ask you: What are you willing to do for the world?" And Marlize stared at the blonde girl tensed, her breathing becoming heavier. With optimism.
Central City, USA — STAR Labs
Cisco, Caitlin, and Mon-El rushed into the empty cortex, the night sky beaming into the windows, as they looked at the screens, seeing what Barry did, "Barry shot down one of his satellite," Mon said as they all smiled.
"He did—"
But when The Flash zoomed into the cortex, standing behind the three, they all looked back at him, to see his cowl was off, "DeVoe didn't seem to care," he said.
"I'll try and see if I can track it," Cisco said, but right as he turned to the console, the alarms of the facility began to blare.
They all looked at each other confused, "I don't like that sound."
Caitlin pulled up on the screens where the alarm could be coming from as Barry and Mon-El peeked over her shoulder, "This says the STAR Labs satellite's been activated," she said.
Both Barry and Mon-El's expressions dropped, realizing what was happening, "It's DeVoe," Barry muttered.
"He's using our satellite to replace the one you destroyed," Mon said.
"Well, can you stop him?" Caitlin asked Cisco.
But at that moment, all the screens, computers, all devices — they turned purple. The four tensed up, knowing exactly what was happening.
"He's here," Barry muttered before he zoomed out of the cortex. He came to a stop in front of the only place Barry could think DeVoe would be. The Time Vault. He pressed his hand up next to the door, but it wouldn't open, "No, no, no..." He pressed his hand up against the door, beginning to phase it, but nothing happened, "DeVoe!" Barry began to punch the door repeatedly, over and over, "DeVoe! DeVoe!"
Everything black out in purple.
"DEVOE!"
"He did it."
"The Enlightenment..."