Central City
The decided plan was to travel back to 1951, to Oregon, where the Dominators were last seen, and capture one. Nate, Mick, Amara, Cisco, and Felicity traveled back in time to do so.
Meanwhile, the President wanted to speak with the remaining members of the conjoined heroes, which prompted Sara, Ray, Oliver, Kara, and Barry to ready themselves to leave for the rendezvous. Barry was in the midst of calling Caitlin to drive over and take Melody.
"Don't bother; Kara's staying behind," said Oliver as he walked past Barry, bow gripped a little too tightly in his hand. "Come on."
Barry reacted similar to the famed Mr. Krab meme. He asked, "What, why?"
An answer didn't come from Oliver. He said a quiet word to Ray, already dressed in the A.T.O.M suit, then the two were flying off into the air to get a head start on the rendezvous with the President.
Aggressive stomping alerted Barry to Kara. Her eyebrows were almost indistinguishable by how deep her forehead was crinkled in complete anger. She said no words to Barry when she approached. She scooped Melody from the floor and stomped away again, having no reaction to Barry's squeak of worry. He was terrified, for a moment, that Kara would accidentally use her strength and crush his baby.
Kara didn't bother walking. She floated through the air aimlessly, holding Melody carefully in her arms. She twirled, levitated up and down-- entertained Melody, who was having the actual time of her life while in flight. She didn't understand the situation, though it was the last of her worries. She couldn't stop muttering happy words of absolute nonsense.
Barry watched with intense care, terrified. He vowed to never run with Melody once she grew older, nor would he ever, in case it would do something to her health, or, worse, generate the Speed Force inside of her.
"She might be an aberration, but your love for her is real," muttered Sara.
Barry shook his head. "She is real."
Sara huffed a slight, "Uh-huh."
I trust Kara, he told himself in his head. My only child, my only tie to my late wife, the love of my life is perfectly safe with an alien from Earth-38.
"Right. Right, okay, we'd better go," decided Barry. If he watched any longer, he wouldn't be able to depart.
"Diggle said the last time you did this to him, he puked," said Sara.
Barry shrugged his shoulders. He grabbed her by the neck carefully, then told her to hold her breath. When she inhaled, he took off through the streets of Central City.
Sara didn't have much of a reaction when they came out of the Speed Force. She wobbled, but that was the extent. She looked around, then asked, "Where's the President?"
"She's late," said Oliver.
"Well, you gotta figure she's got a lot on her plate, with the whole Alien Invasion thing," defended Ray thoughtfully.
"And her Predecessor getting killed," added Sara.
Barry nudged Oliver. "Hey, what'd you say to Kara earlier? She seemed pretty angry. I didn't know she was capable of being angry."
"We've got movement," warned Sara.
Black vans came from all directions of the abandoned runaway, suddenly. There were, at least, six vans that closed in the heroes. Men dressed in suit and tie hopped out, guns clear on their person.
"I'm sorry," said the oldest man. "President couldn't make it."
"Who are you?" asked Barry suspiciously.
"If I tell you..."
Menacingly, he had his henchmen cock their guns.
"I'd have to kill you."
"Uh, I think we have a misunderstanding. See, we're the good guys! The President invited us here," said Ray cheerfully.
"Barry, I think it's time we do something," whispered Oliver, during Ray's speech. "And fast."
"On it," chimed Barry.
He moved an inch, drawing slight attention to himself, then he zipped to the two closest guns and rid them. His movement caused the others to react, which resulted in a battle between Sara, Ray, Oliver, and the henchmen. Barry sprinted for the sniper, then he returned to the scene, where the only man left standing was the elderly man.
"We're trying to help you, and this is how you thank us?" snapped Barry.
He yelled, "You don't understand! The only reason the Xenomorphs are here is--"
"Because they have a beef with the meta-humans. Tell us something we don't know," said Sara, bored.
"Like what exactly have we done to them?" asked Barry.
"Nothing, yet. But they see individuals with powers, such as yours, as a future threat and, frankly, so do I," admitted the old man.
"If you're such BFF's with the Dominators--" started Sara.
"Why don't you call them off?" finished Oliver.
"We know you sent them packing once before in 1951," reminded Ray.
The old man waved his hand. "That was just a reconnaissance mission."
"What brought them back?" asked Barry.
"You did, Mr. Allen."
Ray looked between the old man and his friend, speaking through the stunned silence. "He knows who you are."
"You threatened the universe when you used your powers to upset the normal course of time," continued the old man.
"You're talking about Flashpoint. How would you even--"
"They told us!"
"I made a mistake, okay?" stuttered Barry, gaining his speech back. "I'm not gonna let it happen again."
"For the past sixty years, we have enjoyed a truce with your so-called Dominators. You broke the truce," explained the old man.
"What do they want?" asked Oliver.
"I've negotiated a deal wit them. If Mr. Allen surrenders himself... They will leave us in peace," said the old man. He looked to Barry, challenging him. "You really want to save the world? Here's your chance."
xxxx
When the Waverider came back from the past, having saved an alien, a message was waiting for them from that same alien. They waited to gather the majority of the team, excluding Barry and Oliver, before they started to dive into what happened back in time.
Nate, through juggling Melody's weight in his arm, explained simply, "They're gonna kill all the meta's if Barry doesn't turn himself in."
Barry's daughter, for whatever reason, was obsessed with the Legends' new team member. Her love for Kara had been postponed the second her eyes landed on Nate Heywood. She had leaned all of her weight towards him several times until Kara passed her off to him.
Then, Melody hadn't stopped staring at him. Her hands continuously rubbed against the stubble on his cheek and over his jaws, giggling, because it was a new feeling to her. None of the men she had been held by shared that.
"His kid's got a thing for superheroes already," said Mick, squinting at the baby. "She hasn't experienced bad guys. What do you say--"
"No," chimed everyone in the room.
"It's a trap!" continued Sara, steering everyone in the right direction.
"If they're that threatened by meta-humans, it's hard to believe they'd be satisfied by just one," said Ray honestly.
"If I know Barry, he's gonna want to be that one," said Cisco. He nodded towards his godchild. "Regardless of her in the equation."
"Well, Oliver's trying to talk him out of it," said Sara hopefully.
"And if he does, what's the collateral damage of the meta bomb?" wondered Nate.
Cisco paused to check his computer. "Projected casualty count is around two million non-meta's."
"So what if we negotiated with them?" suggested Ray.
"I don't know if you noticed, but our last chat with them didn't go too well," shot down Cisco.
Nate shook his head. "What do we have to lose?"
"Maybe we should contact them," decided Sara.
"Then make it fast," said Diggle, entering with Jax on his tail. "We've got incoming. Dominator ships are coming in from all over the world."
"Including Central City," said Jax.
Cisco pointed to the projected screen, showing the dozens of Dominator ships stationed over the world. "Yeah, but, look, they're not moving or anything. They're just sitting there."
"For now," said Diggle.
"So much for the truce Secret Agent Man negotiated," muttered Ray defeatedly.
"They're trying to leverage us into handing over Barry," said Sara. She pointed to Nate and Cisco. "Contact the Dominators."
Calling the Dominators through vibing didn't do much other than give Cisco a new idea: he pulled the same exact move as Barry. He changed the timeline, too, when he and the others saved the Dominator, who was now on their way to destroy them if they didn't hand over their friend. He messed with time as well. He had no room to be upset with Barry any longer.
Gathered with everyone, Barry took Melody from Nate.
"Was she good with you?" he wondered quietly.
"I didn't have to do much other than have stubble," joked Nate.
Barry forced a smile. He cuddled his daughter tightly in his arms, speaking to her in soft and loving tones. He bounced lightly with her, his eyes glued on her with utter love, as if it was the last time he was going to touch her.
As if his friends weren't already against the idea of letting him go, watching him about to abandon his daughter sold them all.
"This isn't up for debate," said Barry. He didn't have to shout, nor look their way. He felt their eyes, he knew they were listening. "This isn't even a close call. I mean, give myself over to the Dominators, and they leave the rest of the world alone. Simple."
"No, it's not simple," snapped Felicity.
"Barry, it doesn't matter what you've done," tried Diggle. "You can't do this."
"Don't do this to her," said Felicity.
"She has a family, whether or not I'm included in it," said Barry, decided. He looked at Cisco, first, then let his eyes wander against the crowd of his friends. "It's been an honor to know all of you, to fight alongside of you. Now, it's up to you to keep our home safe."
Barry pressed a kiss to his daughters forehead. He whispered, "Mommy and I love you," then passed her to Cisco. Despite being in safe and familiar arms, Melody began to whimper. He found it odd, considering she was never one to cry when he left. He didn't notice Cisco, Kara, Ray, and Felicity urging the baby to continue crying, as they hoped it would change his mind.
Barry continued to walk away. It was the only time he had ever needed physical effort to walk. He struggled to leave, as though a force was pushing against his body and sliding him back towards his daughter. It was a shoving, almost mystical, but present. He didn't know what, or who, it was, at first.
"Barry!" shouted Oliver, halting Barry's steps. "I'm not letting you leave!"
"No offense, Oliver, but you and what army?" asked Barry. He turned.
Kara gestured to her new friends. "This one."
"Listen, Red, I don't like you," said Mick honestly. "But when you got a crew, you don't take a hit for the rest."
Barry looked to his feet, taking a small step. He felt the force previously pushing against him, only it pushed back towards his friends, now. He whispered, ever so softly, "Parker?" and was greeted with another shove in the right direction. He smiled. "Park."
"Barry?" asked Felicity hopefully.
"That was actually kind of inspiring. I mean, up to the point where Mick compared us to a bunch of criminals, but..." joked Barry.
"According to the Dominators, we might as be," said Amara, the other addition to the Legends.
"And maybe they're right. Maybe we do more harm than good, but this our chance to find out," said Nate positively.
Cisco chuckled, drawing the attention to himself. He grinned, raising a question to Barry as he closed the gap between them: "WWPD?" he wondered.
Barry shared his best friend's smile. "Not let me go."
"We're not letting you sacrifice yourself. There's no way. I don't care if that what it means to be a hero. You're not a hero to me. You're my friend," said Cisco. His voice softened, to speak only for their ears when he continued. "This is what she would have wanted. I know it because I can feel her here. Don't tell me you can't."
"I can," whispered Barry.
They shared a smile, one filled with every emotion under the sun, because they finally understood that no matter what happened between them, they couldn't let it be damaging enough to kill their friendship. They had to be bigger than that. They owed it to Parker to continue on together, for her, if not for themselves.
"Hey!" shouted Jax, running into the hangar. "So you know that ship that landed in Central City?"
"It's opening up," warned Sara.
"Here we go."