#barry literally killed eobard!!! and he saw it!!!

[reverseflashes]

i'll be real i really don't like it when half the fandom still thinks eobard hates barry for no reason and he spends his 24/7 just sitting in pure rage and thinking about how much he hates barry

[zeroducks-2]

Barry is so desperate for companionship that he just ends up creating homo tension with anyone is hilarious to me even if half of those people are villains who have traumatize him. August called himself Barry's partner and this poor sap didn't even bother refuting cause he's so happy someone can fill the Wally shape hole left inside him lol.

True! But let's be fair, it doesn't only come from Barry.

August had been pining for him for years when he was not a speedster yet, and being Barry an oblivious little thing, he didn't notice/didn't consider it important/thought August only liked him as a friend. Getting hit by lightning only made everything worse, because now August is a speedster and Barry's equal (in his mind), so how come Barry STILL won't admit that they're made for each other? And then lightning started striking people all over Central City, and so suddenly August wasn't the only one, and Meena Dhawan saw Barry being cute and she too decided they had a "special connection" which had to become something romantic.

The difference between Meena and August in that department is that Meena had more gumption and was open with Barry instead of waiting for him to be the first to confess, or whatever August was waiting for. And August's reaction was the most vicious display of violent jealousy that even Eobard's bs pale in comparison - he started killing the other speedsters, acting like they weren't even people to begin with (please note that most of those he killed were children), and when it comes to Meena he didn't even leave her body behind, quite literally erasing her. And then proceeded to insult Barry and tell him that Meena was actually nothing for him, and their love story didn't mean anything.

Didn't stop there though! Because the next speedster who attracted August's jealousy was Eobard of all people - who might I remind you, at that point in time was locked up in Iron Heights and had no agency over anything - insisting that "Zoom had to die", and that he was going to kill him while Barry watched. Funny that for the first time in the arc Barry's reaction was viciously protective, and in stopping August from getting into Iron Heights he very nearly pulled his neck. Guess August had finally found who he should have been actually jealous of the whole time.

And anyway, almost every single Flash villain acts like they want to fuck Barry. Beside known cases like Reverse Flash, we have the Turtle in Flash Year One, who acts so creepy Barry himself gets scared, then we have Abra who in the Silver Age had a thing for forcing Barry into non-consensual pet play sessions, we have Captain Cold that when Barry died slipped in a depressive state and said Flash was more important to him than his own sister, and I could go on. Oh and then we have half of the Flash family who acts like Barry is their property, especially Wally who seems to have a fuck/marry/kill roulette going on in his head at all times.

But anyway yeah, Barry does create homosexual (or just romantic) tension with people, and imo it's because he's the speed force. He's light and energy personified, there is NO WAY people are going to be normal about him, and this comes up in more or less violent ways. One of the reasons why Eobard made himself the negative speed force was that now he's Barry's equal - their powers are on the same level and are basically two sides of the same coin, and I believe this is part of why they are each other's lodestone.

Have the panels of Lightning Strikes Twice in which August got *this close* to becoming a statistic:

[velocity52]

It finally happened. After 9 years waiting it finally happened…

They finally showed us the other flash’s perspective! We finally saw the suit he wore that night.

My theory of why he’s blurry: from younger Barry’s (oh my god. I actually have to say younger Barry now!) perspective is because the flash over the seasons has gotten faster. (More or less.) so Barry is moving so fast in this scene that his younger self eyes can’t fully process this cause he’s not fast enough yet. Here my big theory on how time loop works and how this still fits Eobard story from season 1:

The timeline never changed. Everything that happened was supposed to happened. It makes sense! It slightly different than season 1 flashback but I’m letting that slide because that was on Earth 1! (Everyone else should think this too. Or not. I’m not the boss of you.) this is Earth Prime version of that night. But it still fits. In fact it fits with what eobard told us back in season 1:

Eobard: “Until I learned your secret. I learned your name. Barry Allen. And finally, I knew how to defeat you once and for all. Travel back in time, kill you as a child. Wipe you from the face of the earth. But then you, future you, that is, followed me back, and we fought. We both landed some pretty solid shots. And then you, future you, got your younger self out of there. I was so mad.

But then I thought... what if you were to suffer a tragedy? What if you were to suffer something so horrible, so traumatic that your child self could never recover? Then you would not become The Flash. And so I stab your mother in the heart, and I was free. Finally able to return to a future without The Flash, only to realize that in traveling back I'd lost my way home.

Lost my ability to harness the speed force. And without it, I was stuck here. Stranded in this time, unable to return to my own. And the only way back was The Flash. But The Flash was gone, and so I created him.”

Then during 9x10 eobard figure out killing barry’mom it’s a fixed point Everything he does was already supposed to happened. Which break him.

But The universe or speedforce couldn’t let him know that.

Which is why this happened!

some unknown entity(No idea yet possibly cobalt blue or the negative speed force?) had to make sure Eobard thinks he changed the past. So it’s teleport Barry away to somewhere( I have no idea. I’m literally typing this just right after it released. so part 2-4 haven’t came yet.)

But from Eobard perspective it look like as if the flash vanished from existence. This would give him the motivation to create the flash. Thus cementing his role for season 1. What do you guys think?

Other than that this was worth the 9 year wait! I can’t wait to see the rest.

[kitkatt0430]

The time has come!!!! To watch the final four episodes of the Flash. Starting here with episode 10. I've currently got some tasty pizza but I may make some popcorn later. Will definitely have to resist the urge to throw the popcorn at the screen because my house is soooo dusty right now. (mid home-reno, at the point where all the big stuff is done and everything is now covered in a thick layer of drywall dust and i will literally be dusting the house over this for weeks to come)

The opening with Eddie is cute. Looks like 'Malcolm' is a research scientist? Since, from what spoilers I've seen, the N!SF is what resurrected Eddie, I have to wonder if the Malcolm persona was crafted to fit what Eobard wished Eddie was like. The N!SF has been retconned so much since it was first mentioned, but it started as an artificial speed force the Eobard created and it took Eobard as its first avatar. So it'd make sense if it was trying to remake Eddie in an image more pleasing to Eobard...

Still, it's too bad Malcolm isn't a separate character from Eddie.

Lol, Allegra as Rainbow Brite. I do find that hilarious. And the suit is awful.

Chester is no Cisco when it comes to super suits, that's for sure. How about calling up Ryan. He's not as good at is as Cisco, but he's not rainbow bathrobe bad at it.

I still think Cecile should have moved with Joe and Jenna. She's a great lawyer when the show remembers that she's a lawyer, but there's a lot of tell-not-show going on with her being a super hero and she seems happiest when she's with Joe and Jenna. This season's biggest problem, I think, is that it hasn't handled juggling the main cast well and, much as I like Cecile... I think that having her go into semi-retirement with Joe would have been a good choice. She still could have been commuting for her defense lawyer practice, giving us that one episode with Becky, but otherwise it would have been one less character to juggle and opened up the opportunity for Barry and Iris to raise Nora in the same house they were raised in.

Khione's place is very plant-filled. And I love that she's named them all. She's definitely leveled up on her powers since last we saw her and I like that she writes her diary entries as letters to her sisters, Caitlin and Frost. I still don't know what her purpose is because she hasn't done anything that couldn't have been easily handed off to someone else, so... *shrug* I've given up on the idea that she has an actual purpose that only she can do - you know, right hero at the right time - at this point. Still, very sweet.

Also did she have to look at the camera directly while talking about Blaine?

Iris - Since when do you do things last minute. Me - Where have you been? This man is your husband, sweetie. If he isn't doing something last minute, then he's doing it five minutes late.

Pulitzer nomination!!!! YAY!!! Go Iris!!!!

It's 'cobalt' blue energy that takes Barry to the past. I like the person who walks by cupping a cd player in their hands. That's so funny, but very 2000.

Oh!!! the laundry van!!! reference to the pilot episode!!! love it :D

Barry being an awkward duck with not-yet-Captain Singh. David is going to remember this one day and wonder. Anywho, love that Barry's first instinct is to go to Joe for help when he can't get back home. Not surprising it doesn't work out - you're a stranger to him now, Barry - but still.

Next try, Professor Stein. Who, given the time travel shenanigans he's already played with his own timeline at this point, would probably believe Barry a little more easily. But still not surprising he didn't believe him over the phone. Bet if Barry had shown up in person and started talking about the Legends, that would have gone better.

Of course, Barry then sees his parents. And just. Gets so focused that the Reverse Flash blindsides him. Love that Henry saves Barry from being killed. Nora's first thought at seeing Barry is 'he looks just like my father'. Their shared concern about Barry even though he's just some stranger... it's good to finally see the people who raised Barry before Joe. And that Barry's kindness towards strangers and sense of duty to help is something that is as much from them as from Joe.

Henry - I'm Dr. Allen and this is my wife Nora and we were first on the scene after your accident. Barry - *internally freaking out because he loves his parents but he knows his mom is gonna die soon and his dad will go to prison and he wants to save them, knows he can't, and doesn't want to fuck up the timeline again because he actually didn't intentionally time travel for a change* O_O Umm.... hi... I'm... Bart.

Barry calling himself Bart will never not be funny to me.

Nora - Can we call family or friends for you? Barry - *No mom, you can't call yourself, sorry* Nope.

Gosh, I do love Henry and Nora so much. They save this guy on the street, take him to the hospital, and insist on taking him out for pizza. Knowing they're such kind and helpful people really highlights what a tragedy what happens to them are because... how many people would they have tried to help if Nora had lived and Henry hadn't spent fifteen years in jail? Not with super powers but with just kindness and an insistence on helping the people around them.

Joe and David wanting to help Barry now too. :D Mysterious voice growls Joe's name and there's a blue crystal that... possess Joe? Well. Would you call that shade of blue... cobalt? *snicker*

Nora - Well, what about your family? Where are they? Barry - *AWKWARD* They died.

Again. Nora and Henry being so very, very kind to Barry. Giving him something he's missed for so long. And he can't accept their offer to stay with them, much as he wants to.

Matt!Eobard shows up, with the ominous helicoptor noises! Of course Barry assumes this whole setup is his fault. But it isn't.

Barry could be having a nice evening with his parents, instead he's at a bar with the guy who is an evening away from causing Barry's childhood PTSD. And Eobard laying out the situation is interesting because there are more options than Eobard mentions and he genuinely doesn't realize that. It's just... kind of fascinating for Barry to see what's happening from the point of view of knowing how this will turn out in the end.

For Barry to have the life that Eobard is threatening to take away... he does kind of have to let Eobard win. Just not in the way that Eobard intends to at that moment.

Barry going back to Henry's office right as Henry and Nora at talking about how they wish they could have helped him... do love that timing. :D

Barry getting to tell his parents that their love made him who he is even now, so many years after their deaths... even if they don't realize his words really are for them. Very sweet.

Uh-oh, growling voice is back. I suspect it's trying to stop Barry from getting to Eobard in time to save mini-Barry from Eobard's evil plans. Though that begs the question of why it brought Barry back in time in the first place.

Joe - Hey, so I know everything. Barry - Oh? Not even gonna question this. Help me Joe.

Waiting since the dawn of time, huh? So if the N!SF's main color is red, then why is it using blue now instead?

I like the doctor who takes charge when the hospital is damaged - she's my hero now. Oh gosh, she's Ramsey Rosso's mother. Now his disdain towards his mother for dying of HLH pisses me off even more. Dr. Rachel Rosso was an amazing woman.

Seriously, why is the N!SF's main color suddenly blue????

Barry - I'm not here to save myself. I'm here to save you. Eobard - Bullshit. *it's in his eyes, okay???*

Oh yeah, he's not here to save himself. He just... carries himself... out... of the building.

Though I do appreciate Barry risks his own timeline to offer Eobard the chance to do the right thing. But Eobard can't see beyond his own ego to realize that Barry already knows what will happen if Eobard goes through with his plan.

And I do love that we finally get to have Eobard call himself the hero and Barry the villain. Eobard cannot see beyond his own selfishness to realize that not only is he the bad guy, but that he's the bad guy because of his own actions. Even in his personal future when he 'embraces' being the bad guy, Eobard still thinks that it's all Barry's fault and the real villain is Barry even if no one sees it.

And there's the big fight. S1 Barry!!!! aww, back when his suit looked like actual protective gear and not a Halloween costume made of moisture wicking fabric.

Eobard - OH NO NOT THE CONSEQUENCES OF MY ACTIONS CATCHING UP TO ME!!!! Barry - Told you so. Also thanks for the catharsis, asshole.

lol

Back to Malcolm!Eddie. Who gets the classic struck by lighting of destiny, but it's red. Like the N!SF usually is but hasn't been all episode - see this is why changing the color coding for the N!SF to blue suddenly was bad. Consistency is important!!

And apparently the N!SF can transport objects because it also brought Malcolm!Eddie a police dossier. On Eddie Thawne.

That was actually a really strong opening episode for the finale. I am glad that they're closing the loop before the end of the show. That said, I'm not sure how I feel about it being one of the focuses of the series finale. It's appropriate to revisit what started it all at the end of the show, but at the same time there's been an obsession with Nora's death throughout the whole show that, at this point, it does also feel like they're beating a dead horse. But I'm not sure when else in the show it might have gone... unless they'd done Savitar as the Flash from the timeline Eobard came from where Nora didn't die with Savitar causing Flashpoint towards the end of S3 instead of Barry causing it at the end of S2, but I've got a post about that fanfic idea somewhere. (I actually really want to write that at some point.)

The fact that this was such a well written and paced episode makes me worried the rest of the episodes aren't going to live up to it. Because I've been watching this whole season and, uh, this quality of episode really isn't what the season's average has looked like.

Getting a glimpse of the N!SF's personality here does make me wonder just how much it may have warped Eobard's mind already by the time Barry first met him. Or if its personality was modeled off it's creator and it merely encouraged Eobard's worst traits. This Barry knows Eobard is capable of choosing to be a good person and caring about other people beyond his own selfishness, which is why I think Barry gave him the warning even knowing Eobard wouldn't take it. He still wanted to give that part of Eobard that genuinely wants to be a hero a chance to be one. Given what spoilers tell me the N!SF is gonna do to Eddie, I can't discount the idea that Eobard might have turned out very different as a speedster without the N!SF's corruption - and I think maybe Barry wonders that now too, having spoken to the N!SF directly through its possession of Joe.

That said, I do enjoy Eobard being an entitled asshole who cannot see beyond his own ego and cannot conceive of being wrong. We got a glimpse here of Eobard back when the character was still well written and fascinating to watch because he is a genius but his blind spots are so obvious to everyone but him. So when his well thought out plan falls apart, he doesn't see why until it smacks him in the face.

Anyway, one episode down and three to go.

[sharpe-lances]

The Flash 8.04 Armageddon, Part 4

i don’t normally do this with the flash but i felt the urge to do so tonight so 🤷🏽‍♀️

EOBARD THAWNE IS SICK

he’s a sociopath who’s a literal adult with nothing else to do but seek validation from barry allen lmao. making iris west fall in love with him and killing joe west and getting flash’s friends??? that’s low, even for him. i was so mad at him the whole ep lol. also, i think he should go after armageddon. i prefer his arc end already bc it’s already getting repititive - him hurting barry’s loved ones, barry motivated by love, barry defeating him. if he stays, maybe some new plot??? idk

BARRY (AS REVERSE-FLASH) KILLING SARA, NATE, AND RAY

lol i don’t really know how i feel about this bc the legends have lit rally defeated the legion of doom in s2 and there were three of them. i refuse to believe reverse flash alone was able to killed the legends lol (especially sara who’s a regenerative alien-human hybrid clone who’s as good as immortal and nate who’s a man of steel and ray who can shrink or embiggen). ik that it was flashpoint and things could have been different there and that he may have hit them at their weakest and that he may not have been alone in killing them but i also think there was no need to do that?? maybe it was the writers’ way of justifying why they weren’t in the crossover but it seems unbelievable. (or maybe i only find it unbelievable bc i’m kinda biased towards legends lol 😂) and if reverse flash killed sara, his biggest concern should not be eobard thawne, it should be ava sharpe coming for him lmaoooo

D*AD NORA?!

i kinda screamed when i saw nora’s picture !!!!!! at least, the writers had the decency to do damien’s backstory right (referencing to lot 3.18) but then again they killed off nora so i wasn’t happy about that. however i do think it was necessary for the damien plot (unlike the d*ad legends bit lol).

DAMIEN DARHK

damien darhk is definitely one of my most hated villain in legends but he was kinda redeemed for me when he did things for nora (bc i love nora so much she’s a babie i miss her) like in mr. parker’s cul-de-sac and then in tonight’s flash ep. his monologue about love and about nora got to me. he’s a man who kills people for fun but he draws the line at people hurting his daughter (as he should tbh !!). i think he made tonight’s ep more interesting for me - in addition to all the legends mention (no matter how bad its implications were lol) - so he’s totally the mvp of tonight’s ep iktr.

SOME MORE THOUGHTS

also ik the show’s main theme is probably ‘love’ but it was even amplified in tonight’s ep with cHESTER AND ALLEGRA (lmao i don’t ship them i’m sorry) and frost and chill-blaine lol and alex talking about her wife 🥺 and implying ryan and sophie are married and adopting and ryan wanting love and iris saying i love you too and shooting thawne instead of barry 😭😭😭😭

armageddon, part 4 is probably my fav so far mainly bc of the legends references made and the ‘love can conquer all’ thing they were going for

[austarus]

Harrison Wells (Eobard Thawne) x Reader - Integrated Revelations (1/3)

**A/N: The picture/edit/gif does not belong to me.

*I attempted a thing where I try to get back into the groove of writing for my murder speed husband... It’s probably shit, but here goes nothing. Sorta another theory I’ve had and had all these scenes connect together. I’m a shit writer so... Also, I’m dying and crying. Hahaha. I literally am dying. My uni work online is being ridiculously overwhelming along with my work hours for school. I really need a week with no deadlines or work just to get caught up with three weeks of work for certain classes. I really need to take a break. But I can’t, started to loose sleep. Can’t even have time to write or play Pokemon Reborn. Anyway, that a bit of an update from me. I wrote this back in July, hoping to have written a fic a week (which turned out to not happen, but hey, I tried) until October to post things. Also this most likely has grammer errors. I’m sorry. Once again, a shit writer. Please don’t forget to comment, like, and reblog. It means a lot to content creators of all kinds!

Word Count: 3584

Part 2  Part 3

“Well...” Eobard’s raspy voice didn’t seem to alarm the two speedsters that had phased into the Time Vault. The futuristic speedster had sat with a leg crossed over the other, and elbow resting on the arm of the chair. “Things just got a lot more complicated, didn't they?” Eobard pushed from the chair, standing up and taking a few steps forward. Nora and Barry looked on, one adorned a look of uncertainty and the other masqueraded his rage and pain through the years. “Barry Allen.” Barry nodded along, gauging the black-haired man’s façade. “But which Barry Allen? Clearly, you're… from a lot later than this one.” Eobard maneuvered his body and pointed to the unconscious form of an earlier Barry Allen.

“Way later.” Barry simply answered, looking indifferent.

“Way later,” Eobard echoed the response, putting emphasis on the word ‘way’. The scientist nodded along, pursuing his lips as his electric blue eyes flickered to Nora. Before anyone could speak, could even move the Time Vault door dematerialized. Nora watched as an earlier version of yourself entered the Vault hurriedly and out of breath. You had entered looking over your shoulder with a tablet in hand. You had been scanning for the supposed Time Wraith that had attacked Barry, but not your present time Barry.

“Eo, I traced-” You froze in place as you turned your gaze forward. Fear crippled your heart as you saw a version of Barry, much older through the years, and a woman not too far off his from his age. You swallowed thickly, clutching the tablet tighter. There’s three Barry Allen’s now?? Who the hell decided to break time? A small throbbing sensation erupted at the back of your head, but you dismissed it. Eobard had swiftly moved to stand in front of you. His eyes connected with yours for a moment.

“You knew?!” The young woman spoke up, stepping forward towards you which caused Eobard to hold out a subtle arm out to the side to keep you behind him. “All those years.” The older man narrowed his eyes at what the female had called out to you. You frowned at her words in confusion. Who is she? An image flashed through your mind of the woman, smiling proudly at Barry while wearing a dark purple and white suit with a yellow emblem. She clearly knows who I am, but… What even happened? Are they from a different future? You pushed away the image to the back of your mind. “How could y-”

“If you even think about touching her, either of you, then you’ll regret ever running back here,” Eobard steely replied. You took a step closer to your speedster boyfriend in case something were to happen and he needed to speed you away to safety. Not that you needed saving, but you were still working on defending yourself via your lessons with the futuristic speedster. So, they’re from the future, and I’m guessing far off from this other Barry, but not too far for him to age too much. You spared a small glance to the cuffed and unconscious Barry Allen on the ground. It hurt your heart to see him vulnerable like that, but Eobard had confided to you his suspicions regarding this Barry Allen. One Barry Allen problem at a time. Taking a breath in, you remained silent and studied the two speedsters that confronted your speedster.

“Let it go.” Barry grabbed onto the speedster’s shoulder, holding her back. Oddly enough, Barry’s words coldly cut through you. 

“Now,” Eobard’s cocky attitude returned to him as he established the safety of your presence. He had that kind of affect, putting himself on the air of superiority and intellect with his attitude and words to belittle the person in front of him rightly so to get the desired reaction he wants and anticipates. Eobard knows how to tug on Barry’s strings. “Who's your friend? Let me guess. Jesse Chambers- No. Maybe Lawrence. Wait- Danica Williams-”

“-It doesn't matter who she is.” Barry cut off Eobard’s rattling of names.

You eyed Eobard’s deceptive small smile as he held Barry’s gaze then turned to the young adult. The female remained silent, avoiding Eobard’s icy eyes. “She's your daughter.” You scrunched your face in confusion before the neurons clicked in your head after a few seconds. Lemme guess, she’s a speedster that ran back in time and met a younger version of her father. Weird flex bro, but whatever. You do you. If I was a speedster, I’d do things differently. Obviously not up to scale what with the tampering that Eobard likes to do with the timeline to get his way with things. “You've brought me your daughter.” Your eyes flickered back to Barry before taking another look at the female and seeing a bit of resemblance, other than the fact that she was a speedster like him. Then the article Eo’s been obsessing about did reveal something true. Barry does take Iris as his wife. The West-Allen family. “It's, um... Dawn, if I'm not mistaken.”

“Nora.” The young speedster forced out after briefly glancing at her father.

“Nora. Oh, that's nice.” Eobard turned back to Barry with a smirk, “At least you still have one.” That’s cruel, Eo. “What- Nora- time travel's so weird-”

“Why did you come here?” You found the nerve to speak up, moving to stand beside the man masquerading as Harrison Wells. I’m not going to be afraid; I can’t always cower behind Eobard if something unexpected happens. I need to take things in my own hands. Even if they do find out about- You cleared any evidence of distress at their sudden appearance from your throat, “What do you want?”

“I need him to fix this for me.” Barry held up a broken tube-like device in his hand.

A thought hit the genius scientist instantaneously, his blue eyes widening. Turning your body, you saw Eobard take a few steps backwards, “No...” The headache didn’t go away, instead intensifying slightly by the second. Negative emotions flooded your system at Eobard’s crippling composure. He shook his head at them. “No, if you're here...” Eo turned to face the unconscious Barry, cuffed to his motored wheelchair, pointing to them and him. “And he's here... that means-”

“-You don't get home.” Barry simply stated. Your heart shook, terror and dread feeding into your system at his words. Uncertainty of the future- your future with Eobard- plagued you. How does this all end?

“I get home!” The yellow speedster whipped his head around in agitation, his voice raising with every statement. Barry smirked cruelly as he shook his head. You held your breath at Eobard’s spiking wrath, you hadn’t seen him this angry since General Eiling’s interference with The Flash and Plastique. Even then he’d mask his resentment to pull the strings in the game strategically. “I get home. I go home! I get everything-”

“-You don't go home, Thawne.” The Scarlet Speedster halted the Man in the Yellow Suit. Eobard clenched his jaw. You reached out a hand to rest it on his arm in an attempt to calm him. His eyes met yours for a fraction of a second. You felt the tension hang heavily in the air. “Unless… you help me.” Barry held up his broken device once more, mockingly this time. Your eyes flickered to the ring on his right hand. Similar to Eobard’s. A future version of Cisco must have been able to figure out how to use microtech to compress Barry’s suit. He’s the greatest mechanical engineer that I know. Eobard’s shoulders sagged a fraction as Barry held his ground. Turning around, the genius scientist rubbed his face before kicking the spare Barry in annoyance. Barry, all clad in black, winced because he probably ended up feeling that kick. You and Nora remained silent, eyeing the exchange between both speedsters.

Eobard shifted his body back, hands on his hips and fueled hatred present in his eyes. “What do you want?”

“Like I said, you're gonna fix this for me.”

“To do what?”

“Drain dark matter.”

What could Barry possibly need with Dark Matter? Hasn’t it done enough damage? “Whose dark matter?” You crossed your arms with the tablet close to your chest, a frown on your face as Eobard stepped beside you once more.

“None of your business.” Barry sneered at you. You narrowed your eyes at his demeanor, the young man who you gradually grew close to and considered as another brother like Cisco.

“Barry-”

“-It is our business.” Eobard retorted, taking your hand in his tightly. Both men were frustrated at the others persistence.

“No, it's not.”

Eobard started, letting go of you and rounding heatedly on to Barry, “There's no chance that I help you-”

You reached a hand out. “-Eobard, don’t-”

- It's none of your business-”

“-Cicada's!” Nora blurted out. Silence filled the room between the four of your, outbursts settling. You blinked a few times, taking a step back and resting a palm against your temple. Grimacing, you cast your eyes down as images of a half-masked man in green stood with a dagger. A glowing dagger with a look of emptiness and death in his eyes. That man looks dead to the world, as if willing to kill for an estranged purpose. It’s so cold. You shook your head subtly and stood your ground, unwilling to show weakness, but you saw Nora’s eyes shift when she looked at you. Barry eyed his daughter with a sort of incredulous look while a calculating and analytical look flashed through Eobard’s eyes.

“Cicada's.” The name seemed so familiar to Eobard as it easily slipped of his tongue. The hushed tone in Eobard’s voice expressed a calm before the storm. A deceptive man full of secrets and knowledge of many, many years to come. Especially when it came to The Flash. “The one who got away. You want to destroy Cicada's dagger, don't you?”

“We want to save lives.”

A cynical laugh leaves your speedster’s lips as you pursed yours, trying to tease out the logics from Barry. “You want to save lives.” Eobard chuckled mockingly at Barry’s response. “I bet you do. I bet you do. Especially your own, right, Barry Allen?”

“Look, that me,” Barry pointed to the other version of himself in the room, “he's gonna wake up soon. He sees me standing here, your whole timeline is gonna be blown to hell. You're never gonna get home. You know that's true!”

“I know! I know!” Eobard sighed, his facial expression contorted, and his eyes held a different motive as he flicked his gaze to Nora, who hadn’t stop taking glimpses of you. “Where are my manners? Can I get you a cup of water?” You rolled your eyes at Eobard’s ploy.

***

The four of you had moved to the small lab, far from the Cortex in avoidance of Caitlin and Cisco. The timeline was a fickle thing to speedsters, Eobard had told you that. But oddly enough, when it came to Eobard it seemed to be malleable to his every whim. Tools and spare wires littered along the desk your speedster boyfriend was working at. The monitor held a camera feed of the Time Vault where Barry’s unconscious younger version was still unconscious.

How hard did Eobard hit him? Like, how the hell is he still asleep even through all that yelling and seething??

“Here,” you handed Nora a bottle of purified water.

“Thanks,” she quietly spoke, you nodded at her. You really didn’t know what to think about someone who knew you in the future, yet you had no idea who she would be until a few years later. Would I even still be in this time period by then? Or would Eobard had kept his promise? … Nothing’s making any sense right now. You felt frustrated for not really being part of their conversations. You were… just there.

“So, who made this?” Eobard examined the piece of teach as he started working on it.

Barry answered with pocketed hands, “Someone smarter than you.”

“I doubt that,” You snorted as Eobard laughed at Barry’s statement. Leaning against the dark blue beam of the side lab, you crossed your arms avoiding Barry’s gaze when he glanced over to you. You chewed on the inside of your cheek. “If so, then why come here? Why go through all the trouble to come here when you can get help from the person who made it? Why then would you need Eobard’s help?”

“We-”

“It’s… complicated,” Barry sighed before Nora could finish saying anything, pocketing his hands.

“I think that’s an understatement to the type of trouble that seems to find you, Barr.” You crossed your arms. “At least a Time Wraith didn’t follow you this time. Which I’m still having trouble tracking down.” You nodded to his former self on the monitor. Barry rolled his eyes at you.

“You know, Allen,” the yellow speedster wheeled around, electric blue eyes meeting Barry’s green gaze, “for your plan to work, you're gonna actually have to have his dagger in your possession...”

“We've got that covered.”

The villainous speedster raised an eyebrow at the forensics scientists. “You got that covered. How’s that?” He humored them.

“With this.” Nora pulled out a dark piece of metal, holding it out for you and Eobard to observe momentarily.

“What is that?” You piqued up, causing Nora to look over at you. An odd emotion flickered in her eyes. Eobard reached a hand out to it only for Barry to pluck it from Nora’s grasp. Your eyes flickered between the two then back to Nora. She didn’t seem to be cautious around you and Eobard at all. Revealing the reason for aid and showing Eobard exactly what he seemed to want to see. You weren’t a genius, but you obviously saw the pointed looks that Barry subtly gave his daughter. The cogs were turning in your head as well as in Eobard’s. He masked his growing speculation about the two speedsters.

“Is that-”

“It's a piece of Savitar's suit, yeah.” Barry stoically responded, since Nora had already shown Eobard the metallic piece, to Eobard’s oncoming question before he could even finish. Barry knew Eobard recognized the object, shaking his head that that cat was out of the bag for this secret too.

“Savitar?”

“Savitar. The Future Flash and the self-proclaimed God of Speed, kitten,” Eobard simply explained as he worked. Images of a metallic suit flashed through your mind as it hummed with energy; a familiar face shrouded in shadows and a hauntingly course voice. “A twisted time remnant of the man you know to be your friend. Another big bad that Barry’s had to face in the future, primarily due to the mistakes of his growing unhappiness. Isn’t that right, Flash? The pain you’ve caused the people around you just for you selfish wishes.” Barry rolled his eyes but remained silent.

“Eobard, play nice,” you scolded the older man, “they’re still guests here after all.”

“Hmph. You know what's funny about your dad, Nora,” the futuristic genius caught her attention, “is he hates me. Hates me with a passion, and yet a version of him, this Savitar, is a much bigger jerk than I ever was. Did you see the face?” Eobard gestured to his own face, primarily to one side of his face while snickering “Did you- did you see the, like, pizza face-” Nora awkwardly stepped from foot to foot, looking away.

“-Pizza face?-” Eobard Tiberius Thawne you owe me so many fucking answers when we get home because these images aren’t making as much sense as they should.

“-Can you hurry up?-”

“-Yeah, I'll hurry up.” Eobard smugly nonchalantly threw the tiny screwdriver onto the desk. He picked up a different on. “I gotta tell you, Allen, using Savitar's suit, it's a smart idea.”

Barry tilted his head to his daughter. “It was hers.”

Eobard gave her a hard look. His eyes flickered towards you then turned around. “Clever girl.” You picked up an odd indication in his tone. The speedster narrowed his eyes at the tech as he ignited it, illuminating in his hands to signal its functioning aspect. On the monitor, the four of you noticed that the other Barry was coming to consciousness. Eobard inhaled silently. “Oops.” Eobard swiveled his body around to hand them the piece of tech. “Gotta go.” Barry narrowed his eyes, quiet hatred behind them as he took the tech from his nemesis. “I still look forward to seeing how this all pans out. Nora. Kitten, make sure they see their way out,” Eo glanced at you one last time before speeding away in a torrent of red-lightning to the Time Vault. The three of you watched as the villainous speedster reclaimed his rightful place, crossing his legs once more. An analytical look across his features.

You spoke before the two speedsters sped away in a torrent of lightning. “Cicada’s the one with the lightning-shaped dagger, the one that glows ominously? Heartless eyes? Breathing problems?”

“Yeah? How did you…?” Nora trailed off. Barry figured that your powers were still manifesting themselves and it seems that their run back in time has triggered sporadic post-cognitive images to be revealed through certain key words.

“It doesn’t matter how-,”

“Your powers are still developing,” Barry interjected, pocketing the tech safely. “It seems that our visit has amplified what you can do. Let’s just what it doesn’t shift anything else”

He knows about my powers… Right, time travel. “Just be safe. I-I don’t know too much and I’m not sure what the future holds, but whatever trouble you two have run into just be cautious. Not for me, but for the ones you love. The past will always have some sort of domino effect to the future. I may not be able to time travel, but Eobard has taught me a thing or two about it.” You stopped, looking off to the side while rubbing your arm. “Barry?”

“Hmm?”

“Just answer me this one thing.”

“… It depends.”

“I know, timeline and speedster stuff. But…” You took a breath in, “Is he safe?” The speedster avoided your eyes. You swallowed thickly, moving your gaze to Nora. “Does he live?” She opened her mouth a fraction, moved by the desperation evident in your eyes

“I can’t answer that.” Barry whispered without hesitation, an alien emotion behind those eyes, replacing the kindness and warmth the Barry you knew had. It was bitter. “Nora, it’s time to go back to the night it all began.” Barry flashed away to the pipeline. Nora remained.

“I’m sorry,” She whispered, your body felt numb at the absence of answers. You turned back to the monitor, running both hands through your hair before picking up a spare tool and frustratingly throwing it at the wall. Picking up the tablet once more, you ran some algorithms and diagnostics privately on your powers as you made you way to the Time Vault.

Eobard’s head perked up in question at your entrance. He remained seated catching your troubled look. You only whispered, “We need to talk after this is over,” before leaning against the wall and tapping at the screen of your tablet. He hadn’t missed the embittered look in your eyes, the prominent frown on your face. A peculiar emotion hidden behind those lovely eyes of yours when the speedster had been so accustomed to seeing lights and twinkling of stars within your irises.

Eobard rubbed his wrist as he attained messy hair due to Barry and Nora’s revelations. You speculated he had been running his hands through it in thought as he tried to decipher the truth and what his next plan of action would be. King vs King. Eobard and Barry. It was a dangerous game and it’s clear that Team Flash are Barry’s pieces to move while Iris was by his side. From the future’s perspective. But you… at this point, you hazard a thought of what Eobard saw of you as. Queen… or Pawn. Pursing your lips, you shoved those thoughts away as your mind reminded you of all you and he had gone through since he had revealed himself and his truth to you. But right now, you were feeling so conflicted and insecure at how everything would play out. He promised to take me home with him… That we could start a life together. I don’t want to be used up and thrown away again. I’m tired of being broken and alienated.

The restrained Barry shifted once more in abrupt confusion as he found himself slumped against the cool metal of Eobard’s motorized wheelchair. A prop to his act. His mind felt foggy and arms felt heavy, particularly his right hand. You stopped tapping and eyed him indifferently because you really had no idea how to feel, but you realized you need to be cautious with how you act and what you say until you and Eobard clear things up from earlier events.

Barry’s eyes darted rapidly to the seated, smirking speedster in front of him then to you then to the metacuffs before lingering back to Harrison. The Scarlet Speedster assessed the guarded expression on your face. You saw this Barry feign confusion, eyebrows raised as he eyed the metacuffs and Dr. Wells. You cracked your neck as Eobard did a little hand-wave gesture to Barry. The young speedster looked baffled, probably at getting caught, as he opened and closed his mouth.

“Now, who are you?”

[fezwearingjellybananas]

imagine an ot3 in which each of the characters are completely convinced that the other two characters are dating (polyshipprompts)

I do in fact have a Barriscowest idea:

It's series one. We open the night Barry was taken to S.T.A.R. Labs. He's unconscious and no one knows what's going on and he keeps dying in Iris' arms and Cisco Ramon is an engineer, a genius but he doesn't know anything about medicine, he doesn't know how to help Barry but Iris seems like she needs a shoulder to cry on and he does know how to be that.

Cisco's a friendly person. But he doesn't have many friends. Iris is in S.T.A.R. Labs every day visiting Barry, she always asks Cisco how he is and what he's been doing and he never mentions friends. He looks up to Doctor Wells but that's his boss, he cares about Caitlin but she's mourning her financé and seems to be some distance between her and Cisco at the minute, Cisco is lonely. But he's been so nice, so Iris invites him out for coffee. It becomes a regular thing.

And then Barry wakes up. Things are weird. It's been nine months but that doesn't make sense in his head because it feels like no time at all and also he has superpowers. That's pretty cool. Also his best friend who he's been in love with his entire life is dating his new friend.

It's pretty obvious to Barry. Neither of them have actually said anything but they get coffee every week and have other plans and Iris always lights up when she sees Cisco and Caitlin tells him they started getting close while he was unconscious. She figured they were trying to keep it on the down-low, maybe Cisco was thinking about Ronnie and her, maybe now there's a part of it that's the two of them trying to spare Barry's feelings, he never told her but maybe they know, Caitlin worked it out very quickly. He's happy for them. He won't deny he's upset and a little jealous- he has been in love with Iris for years- but Cisco's nice. He likes Cisco. And he never told her and even if he had he was unconscious and no one knew if he would wake up, if Iris found someone who makes her happy then good, he's glad, he's determined to be glad.

Barry Allen is head over heels for Iris West. Cisco's known him a day and he can tell. And Iris never mentioned dating but the way she talked about Barry, there was more to it than him being her best friend, and the way she looks at him when he walks into a room, the two of them are clearly made for each other. Which is great! It's great. It's fantastic. He's just going to squash these feelings for Barry before they can get past a crush, Iris is his friend, he's not going to do anything to hurt his friend. Doctor Wells is right, it's more important he keeps his friend, and Barry needs him focused if they're going to help with this superhero thing.

Barry's dating Cisco. He's always at S.T.A.R. Labs, he's keeping secrets which he never does, and he's already really close to Cisco which never happens with Barry, him dating Cisco makes sense, she talked to Eddie about it and he agrees. But Barry seems happier than he has in years, Iris is just happy to see that. Whatever they're doing hasn't affected her friendship with Cisco, Barry's acting weird but that's because he's trying to keep it secret, he'll tell her when he's ready. Or maybe it was Cisco's idea, either way, neither of them could have realised she's been slowly developing feelings for Cisco, and if they're happy, she's happy.

Except:

Barry has dated people before but it never lasted. And Iris never liked them. She does like Cisco. Barry's relationship with Cisco seems to be lasting. She's having the same feelings about that as she did when Barry dated Becky Cooper. Which means it might not have been completely about Becky.

Barry woke up and turned out to be Cisco's dream guy. He's literally a superhero. But hanging out with Iris is so much fun, and she's so nice and she needed a friend and he wasn't going to put anything more than the offer of friendship on her shoulders but actually now Barry's awake and she's happier maybe a crush on Barry isn't the only thing he should be squashing.

Cisco's fun and made him a suit and loves hugs and they've already had multiple Star Trek marathons and Cisco quoted Spock to him and he's great and Barry absolutely should not fall in love with Iris' boyfriend but Barry might have fallen in love with Iris' boyfriend

And then:

Iris hears about what happened at Mercury Labs. She knows a few people want to pin it on the Flash, but Iris hears about a man in a yellow suit and she grew up with Barry, she knows exactly what he said he saw that night, it's why she started writing about the Flash. Only when Iris writes her article about another speedster in Central Mason Bridge pulls her aside and pulls out the big secret project he's been working on for months. So much evidence that the Man in Yellow is real. Evidence Harrison Wells is the Man in Yellow. And then Mason disappears.

Cisco hasn't been sleeping. Doctor Wells and Caitlin have both brought up what happened with Snart and Dante but that's not why Cisco can't sleep. Every time he closes his eyes he sees Doctor Wells standing in front of him, his hand vibrating, confessing to murder, claiming he sees Cisco as a son and then he kills him. And it makes no sense, but it feels so real. He needs to look at the trap again but he can't go down alone, but how can he explain this to Barry? What if he's wrong? What if he's not?

Barry's just generally having a bad time. The man who murdered his mother is back and wants Barry dead. The whole reason he was there was to kill Barry, it's all his fault, and then a few days later Joe maybe died, Caitlin said Cisco definitely did, and then he time travelled. Cisco being back is fantastic but they're not getting anywhere with the Man in Yellow.

Except:

Barry is a forensic scientist. He might not be a genius engineer or physicist or biochemist but he is very good at his job. He's been approaching this as the Flash, who is going to stop this man, and mostly as Barry, the boy who lost his mother and who wants his father back more than anything. What he needs is to take a step back and do what he's good at: find the evidence and put the pieces together to solve the puzzle. And he knows a detective who who knows metahumans exist and who might believe him.

Iris knows Wells is involved. Mason’s computer was wiped, this isn’t just him getting distracted chasing a lead, all his evidence about the Man in Yellow and Wells is gone, that is not a coincidence, especially since Iris knows he was ready to publish, he even told Eric he was almost done with something he was expecting would make the front page, Iris knows there is something going on. She also knows her dad knows more than he’s been telling her, and that probably means Barry and Cisco do too. But all the evidence is gone. Or maybe not, because Linda Park might be the sports reporter, but she had the desk next to Mason, he likes her (even if he refuses to admit it), and she knew him well enough she has a feeling she knows where Iris can find that evidence.

Cisco has to check the trap. He has to. His dreams are getting worse and worse, they’re happening when he’s awake now. The other day he fell asleep in the Cortex and when he left he could have sworn he saw Doctor Wells walk through a wall. He doesn’t know if he should talk to Barry about this, maybe he could talk to Joe, or Caitlin is worried about him. She wants him to talk to her. He has a very strong feeling she won’t be able to distract Doctor Wells long enough for Cisco to take a look and he can’t explain why, but he does know he can trust her.

Eddie Thawne became friends with Iris while Barry was in his coma. He’d considered asking her out, but she seemed to be getting closer to Cisco, and she’s Joe’s daughter so he figured it would get complicated, he’d wait for her if she wanted to. Which she didn’t, and won’t, because he’s talked to her and knows she has complicated feelings about Barry and Cisco, who are both dating each other. He’s just trying not to get involved. What he didn’t expect was Barry coming to ask him for help with everything that’s going on.

Caitlin Snow has been friends with Cisco for a long time, she could see how he felt about Iris, she’s now realising he feels the same way about Barry, and she’s really glad he told her what’s been bothering him, she just really wishes it was complicated realationship things and not how he’s been having nightmares about how their boss is the guy who murdered their friend’s mother. She might have an idea about his dreams though.

Linda Park did not date Barry. They tried one date, it didn’t work out, but they are friends, and she’s friends with Iris too. She might not have known her very long, but she seems nice, and Linda does like Mason, if Iris has an idea that might help find him, wherever he is, of course Linda’s going to help.

In Cisco’s dream, Doctor Wells calls himself Eobard Thawne and kills Cisco after confessing he killed Barry’s mother, that he was there to kill Barry. He’s from the future he says. Time travel. That also explains how future Barry’s blood ended up at the crime scene, Cisco found that. He needs to talk to Joe, Joe will know what to do.

The Reverse Flash was there that night to kill Barry. He vanished for fourteen years until Barry gained his superpowers and they fought, and he left Barry alive. Barry knows he very easily could have killed him, so they have a theory. Barry saw red and yellow lightning that night. He’s replayed the events in his head a thousand times, more, he knows he saw two colours of lightning, and he knows when he faced the Man in Yellow he only has red lightning. Someone else was there that night who saved Barry, the Reverse Flash needs him alive more than he wants him dead, and it has something to do with his powers. Eddie also knows Joe asked him to have a poke around Doctor Wells’ when Hartley Rathaway showed up. Joe might know something.

Mason has so much more evidence than Iris expected. Doctor Wells is a speedster, the one who calls himself the Reverse Flash who broke into Mercury Labs. The one whose description exactly matches the one Barry gave to Iris. And it doesn’t make sense because Doctor Wells didn’t even know Barry until he showed up at the hospital but also he showed up at the hospital claiming to be the only person who could help Barry and they were desperate so they accepted but no one else even came to S.T.A.R. Labs and maybe they should have questioned how he knew about Barry more. Iris needs to ask her dad more about him, and there’s someone else who might know something useful.

Joe West is a good detective. He tries to be a good dad. He knows he screws up sometimes, but Iris is his whole world, and everything he does is because he whole-heartedly believes it’s to keep her safe. Possibly this time he made a mistake telling Barry not to tell her anything, because Iris just showed up at his door with her friend Linda and pages of evidence that Harrison Wells is the Reverse Flash and made her mentor disappear.

They’re barely two pages in when Cisco and Caitlin knock, Cisco spouting something about dreams and Doctor Wells killing Nora and time travel being real.

Cisco hasn’t had time to even start explaining when Barry and Eddie burst in in a swirl of lightning with Barry saying they have some theories about the Man in Yellow.

It’s a long night. There are plans to make and apologies and explainations to be had, and at the end of it all when Caitlin’s offering Eddie a ride home since Barry ran him and Linda’s making sure there are several copies of this article and it is going to make it to Picture News, Iris pulls Barry and Cisco aside and brings up one more thing she learnt today:

“Henry seems to be under the impression Cisco and I are dating,” Iris says.

“You went to see my dad?” Barry asks.

“He thinks what?” Cisco asks.

Henry only knew what Barry had told him about Wells when Iris went to ask him. But if Wells is actually from the future and was there for Barry not Nora then that makes sense. Sort of. Eddie already brought up what Doctor McGee said about Tess Morgan’s death and they’re going to look into that some more. Henry also mentioned Barry thinks she’s dating Cisco which she definintely isn’t because Barry’s dating Cisco. Which Cisco denies because Barry and Iris are dating.

Either this is a really bad time for Barry to tell them he’s in love with the both of them or a really good time. This might explain why Linda has brought up polyamory a few times. To Barry and to Iris apparently.

(When Linda walks into Picture News the next day, Mason’s article on the front page with her and Iris’ names on the byline, there’s a bunch of flowers on her desk. There’s still a lot to do with this Reverse Flash but at least the miscommunication she’s been listening to has been sorted out)

[gorogues]

Spoilers for Flash #762 in this post!

maswartz replied to your photo post: I'll admit, good ending.

It was.  I love Eobard and Barry and everyone in this story, but I'd honestly be satisfied if their adventures ended here even though I'd miss them.  I think the ending works that well.

waterwindow replied to your photo post: Hnnng 😟❤

I hope you enjoyed what was done with him!  Nice to not see him horribly killed and bloody like the cover implies, and it seems like he's found happiness...for however long it lasts.  I'm glad for that.

purplecyborgnewt replied to your photo post: I've been pretty happy about all this all day yesterday. No matter how long it will last, for some while he's happy, does what he likes, isn't traumatised, doesn't kill anyone, has a chance to come back (possibly, thoough unlikely, even as a hero if someone will want to write it this way one day)... Barry never got over "no fun" remark though, LOOOL (like, literally laughed at *that*).

I'm glad you enjoyed it!  The more I think about it, the more I like it, as sometimes it takes a while to figure out exactly how I feel about something.

I think Barry's at least slightly sensitive about being the less-fun Flash, although he's undoubtedly well aware that Eobard is a highly biased source.  He probably takes the opinions of the Flash Family and Justice League a tad more seriously, but I'm sure it still stings a bit!

purplecyborgnewt replied to your photo post: There's no way to satisfy *absolutely* everyone, but people who were tired of him are getting some time to breath, and for those of us who *aren't* there's an opportunity for him to maybe eventually return. (I'm actually almost fine if that's the last I've seen of him, but I doubt it'll stick.)

Yes, I think so.  I do think he'll benefit from some time away to make people eager to see him again, and it's good that he wasn't taken off the board to be permanently unusable (although let's be real, this is comics and even a "he's totally dead and never coming back" doesn't really mean much).  As I said above, I think this would be a great permanent ending for him even though I'd genuinely miss seeing him as a villain.  But again, comics, so he'll be back eventually.  That's one good aspect about self-contained stories that never plan to continue, because you can have a real ending and assume no one will ever try to undo it.  Just imagine how explosive this issue would be if we never saw these characters again or never saw Eobard return to villainy.

[deyrts]

Halbarry Week Day 2: Power Swap/Role Reversal

omg i’m suuper late 

I had so much fun designing this! i feel like if their powers and roles were reversed they would look a lot different to the original ones. I based hal’s cowl in his god of light design and the rest the same lmao. With barry, oh man that was something, didn’t want him to have the typical one so yeah. I gave up with the background so there’s that. Also anatomy?? Never heard of.

The AU! (still working on it)

So Barry’s mother was actually killed by his dad but they didn’t put him in jail because there wasn’t enough evidence, at the time the police came to arrest him, he was long gone, but like Barry saw everything and shit, so now he works in the CCPD to do justice for the victims that didn’t get the chance at the time, like his mother. Fear? What’s that? He feel’s remorse for not stepping out when his mother was killed so now he always defend the inocent, even if his life is in danger by doing that. Literally.

Hal’s dad dead it was actually a murder, done for not other than Eobard Thawne (yeh he now has the crazy one, poor man) but everyone thought it was a weird accident, except for hal who saw a man doing something to the engine early but didn’t say anything. After his dad died he was overwhelmed by the guilt and the what if’s, his mom reassured him that he just imagined that until he ultimately believe it. He becomes a pilot and his mom isn’t an ass about it (surprisingly) and is always careful and suspicious when someone other than him touch the engine until he meets Tom Kalmaku, who later becomes his best friend and makes the Flash uniform!

The relationship with other heroes are almost the same for some minor changes, so now barry is a reckless fuck and Hal is a prankster but less hot heated, Batman is soo done.

Sorry for my English by the way! Not a native speaker 

[cheryls-blossomed]

Honestly, the continued disrespect to Iris West-Allen, The Flash’s black leading lady in the sixth season of the show, is absolutely appalling and unacceptable. Meanwhile, the network never fails to capitalize on Iris and Westallen’s popularity in order to gain buzz. (Remember how the entire promotion of Crisis on Earth-X was Westallen wedding, including their own promotional poster, despite how they were shafted in that crossover? Remember how the very first Elseworlds promo was Iris and Oliver, and the first full preview clip was of Barry freaking out over Oliver waking up with Iris, despite the fact that Iris was not even allowed to cross-over? Remember how Eric Wallace went on a whole press run when it was announced that we’ll see Iris in her natural curls in 6x05, even though she and Barry are relegated to the episode’s D-plot?) Showrunners constantly make false promises about her journalism, about The Central City Citizen, about Westallen, and about Iris’s POV being explored, because they are aware that that is what people want to hear, even though they have no intention of following through. They utilize Candice’s talent by giving Iris highly emotional scenes, but they don’t extent her POV outside of these isolated moments, nor do they have characters check up on her. I generally love the Broken Hero trope, but only where the character’s strength and resiliency, despite their trauma, is frequently acknowledged by other characters, so as to allow the character to also be vulnerable and have ample POV about what they’re going through. The application of the Broken Hero trope to Iris over the seasons has resulted in her being relegated to a strong black woman archetype time and again, and it’s utterly disappointing. 

In season 1, the three men whom she trusted most were lying to her. Her father infantilized her frequently. Eddie lied to her face, dismissed her journalistic endeavors, but then cold-shouldered her when she rightfully became angry with his lies. Barry, her best friend and the person she loved most in this world, chose not to tell her that he was the Flash for non-existent reasons which of course he couldn’t even articulate, and this naturally broke her heart when she found out.

Her promising journalism arc with her mentor, Mason Bridge, where they were poised to investigate Harrison Wells together and hopefully discover that he was really Eobard Thawne, was cut short, when Mason was unceremoniously killed off, and Iris’s investigations were handed off to Barry and Joe.

Iris had to put up a strong front for Barry and the Team in season 2 and was never allowed to really grieve Eddie onscreen. The only time we ever saw her have a moment to grieve is in 2x17, when Barry stops his entire mission to retrieve the video message for her. 

Iris again had to be strong for Joe, after she found out that he lied to her about her mother. She was given little to no time to process the fact that her mother was alive, but was dying, and Barry was the only person to ask her if she was okay, but even then, she is not given the chance to vocalize how hurt she is. 

Francine and Iris are given one scene, on Francince’s death bed, to reconcile. Nevermind that Francine abandoned Iris as a child or that Joe lied to Iris all these years about Francine or that Iris has had no time to get to know her mother, but nonetheless has to now say goodbye to her. And nobody comforted Iris during this time. Absolutely no one. She and Wally barely got moments to grieve Francine together.

In season 3, Iris had a death sentence hanging over her head for the better part of a year. She put aside her own fears and trauma in order to prevent Barry from going over the edge in his desperate attempts to save her and also to be strong for her father, who was becoming increasingly traumatized as the season progressed.

The writers even had Iris value Gorilla Grodd’s life over her own. Let me reiterate: the show had Iris tell Barry that her life wasn’t worth Barry compromising his humanity by killing a gorilla. The strong black woman trope is utterly dehumanizing. 

In the wake of Barry entering the speedforce, despite her grief and trauma, having just witnessed the joy of being alive with the love of her life stripped from her once again, Iris kept her promise to Barry and steps up to the mantle to help Team Flash. She bottled up her grief to be strong for the Team, before finally breaking down to a recently returned Barry before she gave herself up to the Samuroid to restore Barry’s mind.  

Despite Killer Frost being complicit in attempting to murder her just months ago, Iris was forced to advocate for Frost during her own bachelorette party.

Her wedding ceremony was interrupted by Nazis, but the only person to ask her if she was okay in the aftermath was her fiancé. Furthermore, no one, outside of Joe and Wally, who attended Barry and Iris’s wedding checked up on them, and instead Iris was relegated to having to comfort Felicity, who was having relationship drama.

We learned in 4x16 that Iris had PTSD from having had a death sentence hanging over her head, and she had quit her job at CCPN as a result. Her PTSD had not been explored at all up until that point. Meanwhile, Ralph was cruel towards Iris, taking out his own cowardice on her, while she was internally plagued with self-doubt. 

Iris attempted to reach out to Caitlin and expressed concern for her in 4x20, but Caitlin coolly dismissed her in Iris’s own home.

In season 5, because it’s totally fine to just put Iris through more trauma and strife for no reason, the writers constructed an arc where Nora was cold and rude to her mother, because of their fractured relationship in the future, a fact which traumatized Iris for a good chunk of the season.

In 5x05, Iris vocalized self-hatred (“I would hate me too”), because that’s how devastated she was over hers and Nora’s relationship. All she wanted to do was bond with her daughter, because Iris is such a sweet and caring person, and motherhood is something which came naturally to her. And yet, the show chose to put her through inordinate amounts of trauma over her motherhood. 

In 5x12, we find out that Nora’s anger towards her mother has warped some of her own memories completely, and the false memory only served to traumatize Iris further. The real memory was sweet and poignant, and just the fact that Iris went through all that trauma in the present for no real reason is absolutely disrespectful and appalling. 

Barry and Iris’s child disintegrated in their arms, but nobody except for Joe and Cecile offer them condolences and follows up to ask them how they are doing. While Iris is shown grieving Nora in 6x01, after that episode, we never see her linger on photos of Nora or be allowed to vocalize how her grief has now been magnified by the impending Crisis.

After Barry and Iris learned that Barry has to sacrifice himself, Iris was given one episode to come to terms with this, and we have not once seen her POV nor have we seen her struggle with her grief over losing Barry, her husband and the person whom she loves most, especially just months after she lost her daughter. 

Instead, the narrative diminished her importance in 6x04, and even had Ralph behave rudely and dismissively towards her. They had a character like Frost ask Iris is Ralph was going to be okay, but no one has a care in the world for Iris’s well-being. But she is always expected to be there for everyone and help everyone and run errands for everyone.

In an arc about Barry dying, Iris, the most important person in his life, has been sidelined and treated like an after-thought. She is now playing support to literal supporting characters. It’s beyond egregious. 

Furthermore, her journalism arc has been disrespected yet again. She hired Allegra, but Allegra’s entrance into the narrative was via Cecile. Iris and Allegra had little narrative space to build any sort of mentor and mentee relationship in 6x03 (because supporting characters’ side stories had to take precedence), and instead the show resorted to Allegra telling Iris off. We have yet to see Iris commanding her team at the Citizen, and her journalism arc was most prominent in 6x01, before we even saw her Team.

This is racist writing. This is misogynistic writing. This is absurdly disrespectful to Iris and to her fans, and this has been a tired pattern since season 1. I am sick of false promises; I am sick of being lied to. This is the sixth season, and to see Iris treated like this is infuriating beyond belief. Showrunners and the network capitalizing on Iris’s popularity and Candice’s talent for viewership is disingenuous and wrong, when it’s clear that the show continues to adamantly refuse to give Iris her due. Enough is enough.

[waterwindow]

@bloodshadow213  Okay! This is actually the second ask I’ve gotten about Al in the last couple days.

 So I guess hopefully I’ll be able to help the Anon as well with the information.

    Al’s story is complicated. And 90% of it took place in V1 which means it’s laced with campy jargon, continuity errors, stories being told out of order and.... “””comics logic”””

WARNING, THIS IS REALLY LONG.

  It doesn’t help that a lot of Wiki data and other online sources on him are completely false. Most of them confuse him with his Astral Twin Alvin and they can’t even get his actual height correct EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE THE INFORMATION IN COMICS CLEAR AS DAY

if you’re going to WRITE THE ARTICLE could you please at least---   

 read the comics (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

  ahem.

   Despite that he’s one of my favorite characters, and so I’ve spent a LOT of time (YEARS) thinking about him so I’ll be the first to admit my interpretation of events is completely biased. I’ll do my best to separate concrete information from my headcanons.

anywho here’s Albert, HE’S..... HANDSOME.....

   Okay so Albert- he’s got a few split personalities. Mr. Element and Doctor Alchemy. He’s also got the power to transmute elements. Yes- another misconception is that Albert’s gun or the philosopher’s stone is where he gets his powers. And where it was apparently retconned that Al needs the Philosopher’s Stone for most of his existence that wasn’t the case. 

(and personally I still don’t believe that’s the case, because we’ve only ever seen ALVIN actively loose his powers when the stone is taken from him. And that might make sense once I get into who and what Alvin is. But let’s focus on Albert for now)

  Anyhow, yes Albert is a metahuman.

He got his powers from meteoric radiation beamed into his brain as an infant. And his powers and split personalities are linked somehow or somewhat with celestial activity.

Anywho, the Element Gun at the very least is more like a magic wand that he can use to channel his power through. And it’s actually useless in the hands of someone else.

  (I have a few headcanons that the Philosopher’s Stone might also be a meteorite- if not a larger piece of the meteorite that originally mutated him as a baby. Or it could be a figment of his imagination (link to headcanon).)

One thing that does seem consistent is that Albert’s powers are more or less suppressed and he has to assume one of his undesirable personalities to “unlock” them. 

BUT EVEN THAT’S NOT ALWAYS TRUE. Here’s Al saving a firefighter as Mister Element.  

(This isn’t the first time Mr. Element has been heroic, So it’s my headcanon that the Mister Element personality isn’t necessarily ‘split’ with Albert’s. It’s just a more intense version of himself. Because out of Costume, Albert is quiet and mild-mannered.)

ENTER THIS ASSHOLE

So there’s a plot where Eobard needs Albert’s help to get his speed back. But Albert won’t help because his powers are ‘locked’ behind his ‘Evil’ personality. So Eobard makes Albert go and steal stuff (with the random ability to hypnotize people by vibrating that he magically obtains for this single story) And spends the entire adventure trying to impress Al and gaslight him into thinking he likes crime.

And poor Al is just

he’s so done. It’s horrible I ship it

 OKAY ANYWAYS

My ultimate point here before I got distracted fangirling is that despite Barry’s efforts to help, Eobard wins Al over and convinces him that he IS ultimately Evil.

The story ends with Albert momentarily betraying Eobard right as he was commanded to kill Barry. (using the power of self-hypnosis to counter-act Eobard’s influences.) Though convinced he is forever and permanently evil at that point, Barry knocks him out and uses the cosmic treadmill to take Albert to the future where he can be um

‘cured’

of his evil tendencies forever.

COUGHS this isn’t a lobotomy at all

So yeah! Al is ‘’’’cured’’’’

ENTER THIS STINKY BOY

Albert’s been a good. So Alvin shows up and starts running around as Doctor Alchemy COMMITTING CRIME. This is the first story we see him in so everyone thinks Albert is the one running around in costume, of course.

 (Barry, Iris, and Rita are all part of Al’s life but I haven’t gone into them in depth for brevity- because holy shit this is long....)

(yes you read that right, Rita keeps tranquilizers on hand for Albert- for... obvious reasons- earlier in this post you saw he wigged out and caught their car on fire while they were in it. SHE PUTS UP WITH A LOT....)

( Headcanon-talk though. It couldn’t have been easy for Al either knowing he could be called a liar or drugged by his spouse at the drop of a hat. Of course Rita has every right to fear for her life. And she’s done a lot for Al, at the risk of her own safety. But that being said... they do get an off-screen divorce, and I believe it was 100% mutual. 

   This has got to be an unpopular opinion, since the fandom loves Rita and of course I’m sad they wrote her out of the story as well. I love her too! But it couldn’t have been easy for Al either. Living with a mental illness and a distrusting spouse who keeps a weapon on hand to use against you. And it’s clear later on that Albert literally has such an awful time keeping his shit together that he needs much more help than just Rita can provide. RAH RAH BLAH BLAH-)

Anywho,

 they cart Albert off to jail, but Alvin kidnaps him. With every intent to frame him for all the crime he sees fit to do.

According to Alvin, he is Albert’s psychic/astral twin. Born at the same time and with an identical childhood to Albert’s.

Again according to Alvin, they sit on some sort of moral Teeter-totter. Where whenever Albert is good- Alvin feels an uncontrollable urge to be evil. and vice-versa.

Anyways he invented this potion called Desmodium where the fumes can cause people to be susceptible to hypnotic suggestion (Wow Alvin knows about hypnosis too, his entire life is so coincidentally similar to Albert’s) - which is how he was able to use Rita to lie about Albert’s alibi and frame Albert for Alvin’s crimes. He explains that because of their psychic connection, Alvin was able to locate where Albert hid the philosopher’s stone and used it to take up the mantle of Doctor Alchemy.  (in this scene Albert is also under the influence of Desmodium which is why he’s just sitting dead-eyed like a doll)

  So Alvin leaves to try and kill the Flash, and once he believes he has won, he reveals himself to Barry- and obviously he doesn’t succeed, so now Barry knows the truth of what’s going on and is on Albert’s side. Meanwhile, Albert escapes and feels the uncontrollable urge to don the Mr. Element costume to combat his evil twin. (Wigging out from the stress probably- which is why I headcanon that the Mr. Element personality is just a stronger-willed and decisive version of Albert.)

SO THEY FIGHT. It’s glorious. 

Albert saves a firefighter, Barry sees the whole thing. Also Rita and Al meet up off-panel where he explains everything to her and she in turn explains everything to Barry and that’s completely convinced him that Albert is completely innocent and is in fact trying to do the heroic thing.

  SO Albert, Rita and Barry work together and ultimately defeat Alvin. And from there on Alvin takes up the mantle of Doctor Alchemy permanently, becoming an honorary Rogue while Albert goes into retirement.

 (Alvin seems to be the only one who ever hung out with the Rogues at all and had a relationship with them. He seems to have got along well with Lisa - or at the very least she seems entertained by his antics. Whereas she has no patience for perverts, and yet she’s bemused by Alvin’s flirtations when he’s drunk. Also Alvin being in consortium with the Rogues is why I believe Hartley much later comments on how ‘Freaked out’ the Rogues are of Albert. 

Because whO IS THIS GUY? WHERE’D THE FUN REDHEADED AL GO.... Also all things considered, of course he laughed in their faces.)

I’M NOT DONE YET.

VOLUME 2

  So somewhere along the line, Alvin discovers that he isn’t in fact Albert’s astral twin. That he’s actually a completely artificial construct born by the philosopher’s stone (or Albert himself depending on your interpretation) Personality completely made up of Albert’s ‘Dark Side’.

 (WHEN or HOW Alvin came to this realization isn’t explained, but if I had to headcanon it might have been when he somehow survived his ‘death’ in his Blue Beetle cameo.

He attempts to merge with the Philosopher’s stone and it leads to his demise... AND THEN APPEARS AGAIN FOUR YEARS LATER IN THE FLASH. WE CAN READ INTO THIS- THEY DEFINITELY DIDN’T MAKE A MISTAKE.....)

Anyways, back to Flash v2. In volume 40 and 41 Alvin has completely lost his mind- likely due to his identity crises and tries to take over Albert’s life completely. Convincing Wally and Linda (and himself apparently) that he is ACTUALLY Albert Desmond, and not the evil twin.

But Wally figures out that it’s actually Alvin and defeats him.

   And finds Albert locked up in the closet (FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG....)

Hopefully not long, Wally postulates that Alvin had been listening to Albert’s phonecalls and wanted an opportunity to get the Flash once and for all. 

 Alvin is taken to jail, but escapes almost instantly, leading to a fight with Wally that doesn’t look like it will end well for him. BUT GUESS WHO SHOWS UP JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME

butt

Fake memories you say, Wally? Would certainly explain why Alvin’s life was so identical to Albert’s.

And that is the end of Alvin, killed/absorbed by his own brother.

....

hey- remember this?

It’s almost like Al’s story could be read as a metaphor for neurodiverse repression to the point of self-destruction. Instead of working with him, they literally lobotomized the ‘evil’ out of him and gave birth to a physical manifestation of how he felt himself perceived by the outside world.

i’ve been reading these comics for too damn long

Anyways! After that, Albert vanished into the wind. He became Doctor Alchemy permanently and denounced the Mr. Element name- calling it an ‘embarrassment’. He became solitary and committed crimes much darker than his previous. (notably, a cop-murdering spree in Gotham).

  Albert is literally unstoppable and the only reason he’s not wreaking havoc is  He’s now characterized by his unhealthy obsession with books and escapism and finding ‘Peace and Quiet’. 

Not only that, he seems to have developed a something of a grudge against Wally. (Either that or he’s too far gone to care about anything any more)

And that’s..... basically the end of the story. There’s some loose ends that got nuked out of existence right before Flashpoint. Something insinuating that Albert may have a larger role to play or knows more than he’s letting on- but it’s literally so vague it could be interpreted as anything. The plot is lost in the wind, unfortunately.

  But If you made it all the way to the end, thank you for listening to my dramatic summery of Al’s story

 Believe it or not, but I wasn’t even half as thorough as I could have been. So I definitely encourage you to read v1 and draw your own conclusions.

[mozart-the-meerkitten]

Heeeyy, okay, so I finally saw Endgame tonight. I’ve known what happens in it for months, but this was the first time I actually saw it. Yeah, stuff happened, moving on.

So, let’s get right down to the biggest problem in Endgame, and the one thing keeping it from being one of the single most epic movies of our time; the time travel shenanigans.

This post is gonna get long, so read more below the cut.

To illustrate precisely how Endgame went wrong with time travel, I am going to compare it to the time travel in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow TV show. Specifically the final two episodes of season 2, “Doomworld” and “Aruba”. Yeah, I’m comparing Marvel and DC, there’s a good reason, I promise.

Okay, so Endgame’s plotline is pretty well known, but in case you don’t know it, here’s a brief summary; Thanos kills half of the population of the universe, the Avengers (what’s left of them) freak and kill Thanos, who has unfortunately already destroyed the Infinity Stones, the only things that could fix the universe. 5 years pass, and Scott Lang (Antman), previously presumed dead, comes out of the Quantum Realm and tells everyone that time travel is possible and that they can use it to reverse what happened. They go back in time to get the Infinity Stones before Thanos, they do, and, long story short, one epic battle later they kill Thanos and his army. They put the stones back, and almost everyone lives happily ever after.

Now, on to the plotlines of Legends’ “Doomworld” and “Aruba”. Before I go any further, let me just say that season 2 of Legends came out in 2016, several years before Endgame OR Infinity War. Alright, so there’s this thing called the Spear of Destiny that can change reality. The bad guys, called “The Legion of Doom” manage to get it from the Legends and use it to create their perfect reality, which turns out to be a Doomworld for everyone else. The Legends exist in this world, but at first don’t remember who they are. I’m not gonna get into how they get their memories back, but most of them do, and they decide that they have to go to the past to steal the Spear of Destiny from themselves to stop the Legion from getting it. They manage to do this, but they all die, except their leader Sarah, who uses the Spear to 1. Revive her friends, 2. Get rid of the most annoying member of the Legion (Eobard Thawne, long story, watch The Flash) and 3. She uses the Spear to remove the power of the Spear, making it useless. Everyone lives, they return the Legion to their proper places in time (did I mention they’re all time travelers?) and decide to go on vacation in Aruba. Unfortunately, they do not land in Aruba, they land in Los Angeles in 2017, which is covered in dinosaurs and features Big Ben and a number of other buildings not from LA in the background. The season ends with Sarah saying, “Guys, I think we broke time.”

Okaaaaay, still with me? Good.

So, to give you my thesis statement; Endgame’s time travel was wrong because there are no consequences. This also happens to be what Legends does right.

The problem with Endgame is that you have so many people who get taken out of their proper times and not returned. A few examples; Loki stealing the Tesseract after the battle of New York, Gamora from 2014 just chilling now in the future somewhere. The Thanos that was defeated in the big battle was from the past and therefore him dying then creates a massive paradox. Like, what the heck? Other noteworthy additions; Nebula shot her past self and didn’t die. Steve Rogers went and apparently lived an entire life in the past with Peggy???? (Without telling her about Hydra, rescuing Bucky, saving the Starks, meeting young Tony, or doing a whole host of other things. Steve Rogers who in Civil War said, “If I see a situation headed south I can’t just ignore it.” Yeah, right, Marvel, that’s exactly the kind of life Steve would live in the past.)

Now, literally all of this (except the part with Steve, but that’s another post) would be fine if Endgame had shown us that there were consequences to these actions. Like, for instance, Loki leaving after the battle of New York completely changes the next two Thor movies at least. Gamora never meeting Peter Quill in the past but him still remembering her is also a paradox. But no, Marvel leaves us with the sunny, cheerful ending where everyone but Tony’s family and Bucky Barnes live happily ever after. No consequences to time or anything.

Meanwhile, Legends of Tomorrow (and The Flash, for the record) is all about consequences. It is made very clear that the Legends going back in time to meet with their past selves will have consequences, and the show delivers those consequences when the group crashes in LA and finds dinosaurs and Big Ben there, and with Sarah’s line “I think we broke time”. To diverge a little, every time Barry Allen (the Flash) has gone back in time and changed something, there have been massive consequences for his friends and family and city that he then has to deal with (black holes, portals to other universes, his friends losing family members, his friends gaining superpowers, ect.). Another way to handle this is demonstrated in Doctor Who season 3, where in the final two episodes the villain makes a “Paradox Machine” to remove the consequences of humans from the future coming back in time to kill their ancestors. 

So, by all rights we should have a third movie titled, “Avengers: We broke Time” that deals with the consequences of Endgame. Because there are consequences, even if Marvel wants to ignore them. (Also, if you’re not looking at my comparisons of the plots of Legends and Endgame and wondering of Marvel blatantly ripped off DC then, well, I don’t know what to tell you. I could be wrong, but I can’t unsee the similarities.)

In conclusion; what the flippity heck, Marvel?

[robininthelabyrinth]

Fic: An Internal Affair - Chapter 22 (Ao3 link)

Fandom: The Flash Pairing: Leonard Snart/Barry Allen

Summary: Leonard Snart, the CCPD Captain of Internal Affairs, is known as Captain Cold for a very good reason: He hates corrupt cops with a merciless vengeance, and once you’re on his list, you’re in serious trouble.

His next target?

A CCPD lab tech named Barry Allen who’s developed a suspicious habit of disappearing at random intervals.

—————————————————————————————————

Barry's not fast enough.

He's not sure he even can be fast enough, ever - the thought that Wells might've deliberately sabotaged his development as a speedster, ensuring that he's always going to be second best, has gone through his mind more than once - but he knows he's not fast enough now.

And now is when it matters.

He comes to a brief stop, panting for breath, for the fourth time in the last two minutes. He's being worn down, just trying to keep up with Wells' superior speed, and he knows it.

He wonders if Wells is trying to run him into exhaustion, and only when Barry can no longer move his legs, when his will to move is utterly broken, will Wells destroy everything Barry has ever loved.

His dad.

Iris.

Len.

Wells will kill them all.

He'll kill them all because he knows that promise or no promise, Barry would agree to anything Wells wanted if Wells showed him how to get them all back.

Or maybe - maybe Wells doesn't know that.

Maybe he'll just kill them because he can.

"Slowing down again, Mr. Allen?" Wells tsks, coming to a stop a dozen feet ahead of him. "For shame - and you were so promising when you were under my guidance."

"Still happier not to be," Barry spits at him. He can feel his muscles recovering, happy for the break. "You murderer."

"You take it all so personally," Wells says. "The deaths of these unimportant people. You’re always taking it to heart, even though they lead uninteresting, unimportant lives that ultimately mean nothing. You always have. That's a weakness, you know - a weakness that will always be your undoing -"

The wall behind Wells' head explodes.

Even when you can move at speedster speed, you still need a second to process shock.

Barry, who's further away, gets thrown back a few feet, skittering onto his feet and looking around in confusion - Wells is buried in the rubble, too surprised to dodge it properly, but that's temporary, Barry knows -

"Barry! Come here!"

Iris!

He's at her side in a moment.

"You need to run around Iron Heights," she tells him, breathless. "All around the outside corridors; Snart has a plan. It might hurt you, you can't know what it is, but it has to be done and he's sorry and he loves you."

"Why didn't he tell me himself?" Barry asks, surprised.

Iris smiles. "Because I'm your best friend, Bar; I'm your anchor and he knows that. He knows I'll always be there for you, even when you go and fall in love with the second hottest guy in Central City -"

"Eddie being first?"

"Pssh, Eddie, I'm talking about Rory. Have you seen those muscles?"

"Iris!"

She laughs - Iris, beautiful and wonderful as always, and at last, at last, he can love her whole-heartedly without any jealousy or resentment or longing; Iris, who is his anchor, his lightning rod, and of course Len would know whose voice Barry would be automatically drawn to, of course he knows - and Barry can hear the crackle of lightning that is Wells back on his feet and before Iris even finishes laughing, Barry's off again, twisting to tackle Wells right around the midsection before he goes anywhere near Iris.

And then they're running again.

Only this time, Barry's leading - not because he's faster, no, but because Wells saw him heading away and followed, drawn after him like a moth to the flame.

"Where are you going, Barry Allen?" he calls, mocking, darting in front of Barry's path to try to trip him up. Barry dodges and keeps going. "I never took you for a coward!"

Barry grits his teeth and focuses on running. He's not as fast. He needs every ounce of willpower just to stay ahead.

Not that Wells is trying to stop him, not really.

Clearly mockery is much more fun.

"Run, Barry, run," Wells calls, his voice jovial, "Yes, run away from me! Just like you always have - from the very beginning!"

The man who murdered Barry's mom.

The man who put Barry's dad into a cage – into the prison where he spent half of Barry’s childhood and into the cage where he is right now both.

The man who is going to kill everyone if Barry doesn’t find a way to stop him.

Run, Barry, run.

"I'm not stupid, you know," Wells says conversationally, only a foot or two behind Barry now. "I know what you're up to."

Crap. How?!

"You can't hide anything from me," Wells says. "I've been studying you my whole life - even in the far future, before I ever met you."

"Creep," Barry can't resist saying.

"And once I met you, well, that just made it easier," Wells says, the flash of red lightning from his eyes the only sign he heard what Barry said. "For someone who lies as much and as effectively as you do, Barry Allen, you really are an open book to anyone who knows you."

Wells - Eobard Thawne - is probably right.

He knows Barry.

But Barry never knew him - not until it was too late.

Just the way Wells wanted it.

And yet -

And yet -

Wells is still running.

So the plan, whatever it is, is still on.

Barry focuses on running.

"I know you," Wells says again. "You'd never run from me, not really. You've been running to me your entire life, Barry. The Man in Yellow, the genius of STAR Labs, your mentor...I'm everything to you."

Seriously, does Wells not get how creepy he sounds?

"And you, Barry Allen, are everything to me -"

Yeah, no, he's definitely doing the creepy thing on purpose in an attempt to get under Barry's skin.

It's working pretty well.

"- because you're my only way home. And you're going to get me there."

"I'm really, really not," Barry says. He's panting again, damnit. He really hopes whatever plan Len's working on won't take much longer. "Why would you think I'd help you? After everything you've done?"

"Because that way we'd both win! Yes, I killed your mother, but I also give you a chance to get her back!"

Those things are really not equal and Barry has no idea why Wells thinks they are. A lifetime without his mom, versus a chance to destroy every important relationship he's built during that lifetime and possibly himself to save her?

Okay, Barry's not going to lie, he's super tempted.

But they're not the same.

Only a psychopath who doesn't actually understand that the worth of a person is in the time you get to spend with them would think that they were.

And anyway, Barry promised Len he wouldn't.

He's really glad he did, too, because otherwise he might've fallen for Wells' bullshit the way he always has, and then Wells would get everything he'd ever wanted.

Everything he's done, all of that horror and death, would actually have been worth it, in Wells' eyes.

And there'd be no reason that he wouldn't just keep going.

Keep killing.

For all of time.

"Know this, Barry Allen," Wells says. "You will help me achieve what I want. Whatever stupid little plan you and your friends have concocted -"

He doesn't know what it is!

...probably because Barry doesn't know what it is.

Good plan, Len.

Barry knows that there’s probably something bad at the end of it, but he also knows that Len is cold enough to make the call he needs to. He knows that Len knows him well enough to know that Barry would agree to anything, anything at all, if it meant stopping Wells.

Stopping Wells is worth anything, even Barry's life.

Barry just really hopes it doesn't end up killing him before he can tell Len that it would be worth it, because Len will feel awful about it, just the way he felt awful about Mick, and that would suck.

“- just know that it won’t be enough to stop me,” Wells continues. “It will never be enough.”

Is he still talking?

Ugh.

Can’t a guy have a minute for some introspection about his boyfriend right before he potentially dies? Seriously.

They keep running the endless loops around Iron Heights. It's all vacant, now, with all the cons having slipped out and most of the guards safely evacuated as well, so the only time Barry sees anyone is when he passes by the room his friends are in.

Even in that room, though, the speed he's running at makes it seem almost unreal - a series of snapshots, separated by a few seconds, like one of those spinning visor toys that mimics video.

Snap: Mick raising his gun as Nimbus looms above him.

Snap: Mick's gun blasting out a giant wave of flame, all at once.

Snap: Nimbus alight, screaming, a gaseous form lashing out with tentacles aflame.

Snap: Mick ducks.

Snap: One of Nimbus' now-partially-solid 'arms' whips into Mick's belly.

Snap: Mick goes flying, his midsection aflame.

Snap: Kara catches him.

Snap: Mick's midsection is somehow covered by a thin layer of frost.

(Yeah, Barry has no idea how that happened either - he's clearly missed something.)

Or take Iris, instead -

Well, no, it's not quite the same thing. Barry got one snap of Iris standing triumphantly over Tony Woodward's semi-conscious frame, that's basically going to be his mental screensaver from now until he heals from his middle school trauma.

So, like, forever.

After that, though, Iris ran over to help Eddie fight Mark Mardon, which Barry personally thought was not exactly good news. Mardon hates Joe West, might know who Iris West is, and he literally caused a tsunami.

As much as Barry loves Iris, neither she nor Eddie has powers. They shouldn't be fighting Mark Mardon.

Except apparently they should be, because less than ten rounds later they're no longer fighting - he's helping them move wires around or something.

No, Barry has no idea what’s going on there.

He doesn't even know where those wires came from!

Maybe they have something to do with the plan?

Maybe Len is off getting more wires.

That would explain why in all the snaps so far, Barry still hasn't seen him - not since he started running.

Barry would really like to see him.

Especially if he's going to die.

Damn, Barry's a superhero, he should get a dramatic last moment. Ideally with a nice goodbye kiss.

Ideally with magic resurrection happening five minutes later, while he's daydreaming.

Which he shouldn't be, because he's in the middle of a supervillain boss battle against the guy who killed his mom.

Bad time to let your mind drift.

Personally, Barry blames the running - he's always found it easy to daydream while he's running -

"In the end you will come to understand -"

Holy crap, Wells is still talking!

"Seriously?" Barry demands, not breaking pace. "Could you can the monologue already? It doesn't matter what you say -" Like Barry was even listening. "- it doesn't change a thing! I'm never going to help you get back to your time period!"

"Oh, you will," Wells says. "You see, because of your refusal to help me, I'm going to brutally murder every one of your friends - and it'll be your fault that they die."

Ouch. Right in the sore spot.

"And because I'm a speedster, too, I can keep you from going back to save them - let the timeline settle - make it permanent - or, at least, permanent enough for you to only be able to change it if you agree to aid me. What do you think about that, Barry Allen?"

"Honestly," Barry says, "it's about what I thought you were going to say, so - mostly bored?"

"Bored?!"

"It's the running," Barry says, faux-apologetically. "I'm so used to daydreaming, my mind drifts if there isn't anything worth paying attention to -"

Why yes, Barry can do some damn good passive-aggressive bullshit if he does say so himself.

(He might be an Allen, but he was raised a West.)

Wells looks murderous, which to be fair is how he normally looks when Barry is tweaking his nose, so Barry takes the moment to leap onto the wall and catapult himself forward for a little speed advantage.

That gets Wells' attention back on the race.

But he's still scowling, still murderous, and if Barry doesn't keep his attention, he's going to stop and Len's plan, whatever it is, will be ruined.

He has to keep running.

All his life, everything he loves, comes down to this race.

He runs.

"Faster, Barry!" he hears Iris shout.

He stops daydreaming, puts his head down, and runs faster.

Faster and faster, till he's going as fast as he can go -

"Faster, Barry!"

That was Len.

Huh, look at that.

Looks like Barry can go faster.

Even Wells is concentrating now, mockery gone as he focuses on keeping pace, his eyes crackling red lightning, his steak of light besides Barry's.

Faster, Barry.

Faster.

"Run, Barry," he hears his dad say. "Run."

(Run, Barry! his mom shouts in his mind. Run!)

Barry puts everything he's got into his legs.

His heart, his soul, his mind -

Everything he's got.

He runs.

He doesn't even see snapshots of his friends anymore - it's all blurring together around him, streaks of light turning into smears of color. It's beautiful and unearthly, an impressionist painting gone mad, and it's something Barry knows at once he'll never be able to show anyone who isn't a speedster, that this is their secret alone. This is how it looks when he's about to travel in time, but there's no other-Barry running beside him to signal that he's broken that barrier, no sign of any time travel, of any anomaly.

Just Barry.

"The Speed Force!" Wells hisses behind him, his voice half-awed, half-jealous, and Barry realizes that this is what Wells couldn't achieve on his own: this detached euphoria, this moment where his mind is empty, his heart is at peace, and everything he is has been given over to the pure act of running.

Where everything, everything at all, is speed.

There's no space for other people here. No room for fear, no room for care - no room for anything at all.

It's suddenly easy. The running, the movement - it locks into place, a runner's high like no other, and suddenly Barry feels like he could do this forever. It's all clear now: how he could run through time if he wanted, how he could return Wells to his time or to go back and rescue his mother in hers, how Barry could do whatever he wanted, but why would he ever want to?

Why would he ever do anything but keep running?

Keep running.

Keep accelerating.

Keep moving.

No one can touch him here. No one can hurt him, or disappoint him, and make him vulnerable. No one to make him care about them. No one to disturb his perfect equilibrium, no one to knock him off his stride, no one to make him stop.

Perpetual motion.

Perpetual speed.

Perpetual peace.

And no one can touch him again, not even another speedster, because Wells is trapped in his own euphoria just beside Barry - visible but separate - distant - and who cares, anyway? This is why Wells doesn't care, Barry suddenly understands, this is why he murders with impunity those people who could never understand this, because what's it worth, what's any of life worth, in comparison to this bliss, this unending perfection? Nothing else matters, not anymore. All that matters is here and now.

All that matters is the speed, the joy of running, the ecstasy of acceleration, because he's left everything else behind.

He couldn't leave this place even if he wanted to, but why would he want to? All there is for him outside of here is pain -

"Barry!"

Len.

Len's voice, not strong but certain, splitting through the indifference of perfect, empty, vacant bliss like a lightning bolt.

Len, who is waiting for him; Len, who is counting on him; Len, who hurt him -

Len, who loves him.

Love.

Love.

That's what this place is lacking, this 'Speed Force' that Wells wanted to reach so much, this place of pure joy.

It lacks love.

Because love isn't all joy, no, it's terrible and wonderful, painful even when it's good: it's the heartbreak and the reconciliation, the cold loneliness of missing someone and the fireworks of seeing them again, it's the inside of your lungs being squeezed out of you because you're so happy to see someone, it's your throat catching and choking on emotion so thoroughly fused that you don't know if it's good or bad, it's every tear you've ever shed for love coming back all at once - the agony and the ecstasy both.

Love.

Barry loves Len.

And if he stays here forever, he'll never see him again.

No!

"Barry!"

That's not Len - that's Iris.

Iris, his best friend, his past love, the one who he first began to love when he was a child and never stopped. The person who knows him best, the one who'll always be there for him, the one who has his back even when she's breaking his heart.

Love.

"Barry!"

Dad.

God, Dad. Barry might have lost his mom for good at age eleven, but he lost his dad as well - every holiday soured by their absence, every birthday bittersweet. Speaking to him only through glass, sadness drowning him but unwilling to give it up because the joy of seeing his dad, even like this, was so much greater. Telling him the best and worst parts of Barry's life, telling him about school and becoming a CSI and the hope that burned in Barry's heart - burned hot and ugly and painful, but a fire he tended to faithfully no matter how it hurt him - the hope of putting this wrong right one day.

Love.

"Barry!"

His friends. Friends already made and held dear; friends only in potential - Cisco, Caitlin, Kara, Mick - people he knows and people he can't wait to get to know. The fear of the unknown warring with the excitement of discovery.

Love.

Barry's anchors are all here.

So is Barry.

And suddenly, leaving the Speed Force behind is the easiest thing Barry's ever done.

Suddenly he’s just running again – strong and without pause, suddenly filled with more energy than he’s ever had before, but he’s not trapped in that blank trance, the nothingness and emptiness and loneliness of being utterly alone.

“Barry.”

That’s Len’s voice again.

Len –

“I’m sorry, Barry,” Len says, and his voice is anguished. “Ramon, Rathaway, hit it!”

Ramon is Cisco, yes, but Rathaway? Isn’t that Hartley Rathaway, the one Cisco’s been calling the Pied Piper? What is he doing here?

And why did Len say he was sorry –

The world explodes.

It’s like being hit by lightning all over again. Not pain, exactly, just shock: every synapse blazing at once, every sensation - good bad mediocre - all bleeding together the way the light had earlier, hitting every single sense - touch sight sound smell taste - all at once as if the sensitivity of every single input in his body suddenly got turned up to eleven and he can feel it but at the same time his brain is just unable to process it all and opting to just give up, shutting down, going from color to black and he can't see and he can't hear and -

And suddenly he's tripping and falling and the world is spinning, spinning, spinning and everything in his body - mind belly brain - all seized by the strongest sense of vertigo he's ever experienced.

His stomach roils, his brain screams, his muscles spasm -

And then it's over.

Whatever "it" was.

Honestly, Barry couldn't give a damn what it was; he's just happy that it stopped. He's still dizzy, still a little nauseous, but it's fading; he's still shivering and shaking a bit, but that overwhelming shockwave of sensation is gone; and sure, he's a bit sore all over but hey, he's not falling anymore.

So, in summary: he's sitting (well, lying) still, he's not about to throw up, he sees nothing but darkness behind his closed eyes, and his brain isn't on fire.

All good important things that Barry really hasn't appreciated properly up until now.

He’s going to appreciate them now. At length. While continuing to lie down and not move, because not moving sounds great right about now.

At least until his ears stop ringing.

" - arry!"

Someone needs him.

Ugggggh.

They always need him. Barry really needs to learn how to say no to things.

Maybe Len could give him lessons.

Sexy lessons.

Mmmm.

"Barry!"

Oh, okay, fine. He's getting up already. Stop yelling.

Barry cracks an eye open.

The world is blurry at first, which is a bit concerning, but then it all stabilizes back into a depressing blank grey slate roof. Very prison decor.

...because he is, in fact, in a prison.

It all comes back to him in a rush: Iron Heights! His dad! Wells! The Speed Force! Wells about to murder everyone!

Barry's eyes shoot open and he starts trying to scramble to his feet, except he feels heavy and slow and clumsy and -

"Barry, are you okay?" Iris demands. She's kneeling beside him, Len right next to her, and they're both pushing him down from getting up.

His two favorite people, yay.

"I'm fine," Barry says, though he's pretty sure it comes out as something more like "Mmfin."

"Are you in pain?" Len demands, looking pale and guilty and -

Oh, right, the plan.

The "it might hurt."

The "I'm sorry" that Barry still doesn't entirely understand.

"I'm fine," he says again, forcing himself to enunciate clearly. "What happened? Was that the plan?"

"Yeah," Len says, still looking distressed. "But you're sure you're okay? No pain?"

"Just dizzy," Barry assures him. "Wells..?"

"He's waking up!" Cisco yelps. "Guys! Someone! Do something!"

Len and Iris turn immediately, Barry forcing himself up to a sitting position - with some help from both Len and Iris - to see as well.

Wells is, in fact, waking up. Worse, he's getting up - grimacing with an expression that suggests he's got some of the same nausea and vertigo that Barry had, but that he's powering through it.

"Whatever you did," he rasps, his eyes fixed on Barry, "it won't be enough. You can't stop me."

And then he runs straight at Barry.

Except -

He isn't moving at super speed.

He's just - running.

At regular speed.

He stops the second he realizes, coming to a half only a few steps away from them. "What have you done?" he shrieks.

"Holy crap that actually worked," Cisco marvels.

"Of course it worked," Hartley sniffs. And then, begrudgingly, he adds, "When we put our heads together, everything we do works."

Cisco looks thunderstruck. "Uh," he says. "Yeah. Definitely."

"Can someone catch me up to what happened?" Barry asks.

"You remember how Ramon installed a miniature version of the Accelerator in Iron Heights to keep the metas in?" Len asks.

"Yeah?"

"We exploded it."

"You what?" Wells shouts. “You did what?!”

"Technically," Hartley says, smirking at Wells, "we just followed your lead, O captain - after all, you were the one who designed the Accelerator to explode if it got overpowered."

"Say, by two speedsters racing through an environment not built to tolerate it the way STAR Labs is," Cisco says. "Barry, remember how your powers disappeared when Blackout hit you with his lightning drain? Like that, just - bigger."

Barry blinks. "So - my powers - they're gone?"

"Theoretically, yeah," Cisco says apologetically. "We needed you and Wells to over-power the Accelerator, so we couldn’t shield you from the blast. We theorized that the second blast would nullify the dark matter in your system -"

"Or blow your head up," Hartley says cheerfully. "One or the other."

"They're gone," Barry repeats blankly. "I'm - normal again."

He doesn't feel like he's normal again.

He doesn't really see no-powers as "normal" for him anymore.

Wait. If his powers are gone -

He looks over to where Wells is standing, his mouth hanging open in shock.

"Wells' powers should be gone, too," Iris confirms.

"Now we can arrest him," Len adds. "Bring him to justice - free your dad -"

"No!" Wells shrieks, and then he moves - not a speedster, but fast and unexpected, darting down to the ground and back up and suddenly he has Cisco's discarded vibration gun in his hands. "I'll see you all dead first -"

Len brings his crutch down on Wells' head.

Wells collapses onto the floor, unconscious.

Everyone stares at Len.

"What?" he asks. "I told you they make good weapons!"

Kara starts laughing first, but Barry's right there behind her, and it's only a few minutes before everyone else is cracking up, too.

"Not to interrupt," Barry's dad says archly. "But as funny as this is, could someone please let me out of this cage?"

"On it!" Caitlin says, grabbing the vibration gun from where Wells dropped it and heading over.

"On that note," Mardon says dryly, "I'm gonna duck out before you decide to put me back in prison. I wanna get in a few hits on the Families before I leave town."

"Just keep it to Families," Kara warns. "Or we'll find you and stop you."

Mardon snorts. "Whatever. You already took my powers. What more you gonna do?"

"Iron Heights's regular wing ain't that much fun, either," Len drawls. "Go on, get."

"How come he agreed to help?" Barry asks as Mardon jogs out of the room. "Didn’t sticking around mean he'd lose his powers, too?"

"He really hates Wells," Hartley says dryly. "And he's not alone." He shakes his head. "I'd better catch up with him; I'm probably his only means of transportation out of here."

"It was - weirdly fun working with you," Cisco offers hesitantly. "Like, when it's too much of an emergency for you to be a dick. So, you know, if there's another emergency - not that I want another emergency -"

"I'll call you," Hartley interrupts. "Maybe we can see how we work together when Wells isn't playing us against each other."

"Yeah! Yeah. That."

"See you around, Ramon."

He leaves.

"All things considered, leaving's not the worst idea in the world," Mick says, reaching down and scooping Wells over his shoulder like an unwieldy sack of potatoes. "City's on fire, the people are rioting, the Families and the Feds are brawling in the street, and I'm pretty sure the boss authorized all of it."

"...on second thought, maybe I should’ve let Wells get me," Len says, looking mildly horrified.

"You're not dying," Kara says. "Not after all this effort!"

"Wait, we have to do more?" Cisco asks. "But we already defeated Wells!"

"The city's still going crazy," Eddie points out. "Our job doesn't end until peace is restored."

"That's why being a pig is a shit job," Mick says wisely.

"I'm going to recruit you into the CCPD," Eddie tells him.

"Don't you fucking dare."

"You did good work here -"

"Stop!"

"- probably great with scaring kids straight -"

"Kids?!"

"Mick, he's pulling your leg," Len says. "Stop letting him."

"I don't know," Iris says thoughtfully. "If he’s not going to be a thief anymore, he does need a new job now -"

"That can wait till later," Mick says quickly. "City to finish rescuing, remember? Besides, this guy needs to go somewhere secure 'till the boss can read him his rights."

"Detective Thawne can do that," Len says hastily. "I'm sure it'll be cathartic and all, what with him being his ancestor."

Eddie looks at him, his lips starting to curl up into a grin. "Captain, I hope you don't mind me asking -"

"That ain't a good way to start a sentence."

"- but have you ever read anyone their Miranda rights? Do you even know what they are?"

A moment of silence.

"...I've had them read to me a bunch of times?" Len offers.

That sets them all off laughing again.

"I know what they all are!" Len is protesting when Barry finally manages, with the help of Iris, to get up. "I know them inside and out - probably better than any of you - it's just that saying them feels weird, that's all -"

Barry taps him on the shoulder.

Len looks at him.

"Barry," he says, levity suddenly gone. His eyes are intent on Barry's face, his expression solemn, and suddenly Barry can barely breathe with how much he loves him. It's like the entire world just shrinks down until there's no one there but them. "Barry - your powers - I -"

"Screw my powers," Barry says, interrupting. "We did it. We beat the bad guy. Together."

"But -"

"You didn't betray me," Barry says, because he knows Len well enough to know what's bothering him. "You knew how I felt about defeating Wells and I trusted you to do what needed to be done - and you did."

"You trust me," Len repeats.

"Yes," Barry says. "Because I love you."

Len breaks into a smile. "Yeah," he says. "And you ain't too shabby, either."

Barry laughs, pulls him into his arms, and kisses him.

Len kisses him back.

And it's - perfect.

Not the empty vacant perfection of the Speed Force, but a real perfection: love and joy and relief and pleasure and the hope of a future to come, a future together, a future untainted by the threat of Wells.

That sounds pretty much perfect to Barry.

Someone clears their throat.

Barry ignores them.

Someone clears their throat a second time, and this time taps Barry's shoulder, too.

Barry really doesn't want to stop kissing Len.

But then again, if he stops just long enough to tell whoever it is to buzz off, he'll be able to get back to kissing Len in an uninterrupted manner.

Barry pulls away reluctantly.

Then he turns his head and -

Oh.

It's his dad.

It's his dad!

His dad just saw him making out with his boyfriend!

"So, Barry," Henry Allen says, his eyes dancing with mischief. "Are you going to introduce me to Mr. Snart here, or am I going to have to call on our previous acquaintance from back when he was a fellow inmate?"

Oh god.

His dad just saw Barry making out with his boyfriend before Barry's even introduced them and he thinks Barry’s boyfriend is a felon!

"I'm a police captain now, actually," Len says.

"Really? That's nice."

"Yeah. Your son's pretty nice, too."

"I know he is. I'd offer to shake your hand, but you seem pretty reluctant to get it off his ass."

"He has a very nice ass," Len says, even as Barry buries his head in his hands. "One of the many nice things about him, really."

"Please," Barry says. "Both of you - just stop talking."

He considers.

"Also, erase the last five minutes from your memories," he instructs. "I refuse to let this be how you two meet."

"Too late," Iris cackles. "We've all seen it now. This is already filed, documented, and going into the Barry Allen File Of Embarrassing Moments forever."

"No!"

"Is that a real thing?" Mick asks.

"We're breaking it out for his wedding rehearsal dinner," Iris says.

"Really. Say, boss, would you consider -"

"Mick. Finish that sentence and I punch you in the face."

"Yeah," Barry says, unable to resist. "Because as an unquestioned authority in the subject, I can tell you that that would definitely be moving too fast."

Len kisses him again, just for that.

[xswestallen]

Nora saw Iris shoot Savitar. Right after she wanted to ask Barry something about Savitar but he wasn't listening because he was worried about where they landed in time. Do you think Nora was mad at Iris for killing a version of Barry or impressed that Iris killed him?

I don’t think Nora is angry at Iris for shooting Savitar. Nora knows that Savitar was a villain, and while waiting behind the tree, she heard him say how he was going to kill everyone. Iris shot Savitar in third-person self-defense to stop Savitar from getting Barry. 

I think witnessing that did effect Nora. She looked somehat shaken, like she didn’t know her mom was capable of something like that. Remember, she never learned about Iris’ journalism, fighting metas with the team, or any of the other cool stuff growing up. 

It also may have rattled Nora to see a version of her dad being so evil. Even if Nora knew that Barry was Savitar, it’s one thing to read about that in a book and another to see a literal version your father, who looks and sounds just like him, threaten to kill your loved ones.

Every time Nora makes a serious face on the show: She’s evil!!! That’s not really WestAllen’s daughter!!!.. So on & so on, ugh! This fandom! The writers would never do that, it’d be a waste of a season imo if they did.. Especially Nora’s storyline with Barry & Iris but mostly with Iris. Question do you this there’s another spin off in the works with Nora & the rest of the Arrowverse future kids? More & more are appearing.

I agree. I don’t think Nora will turn out to be a villain. Possibly, she could be a morally grey anti-hero. But, I really think she’s just been manipulated by Thawne and was another victim in his scheming, just like Barry was back in season 1. 

If the writers did make Nora into a villain, or if they went for a ‘twist’ ending by revealing Nora isn’t actually Iris and Barry’s daughter, it would be a massive disappointment. There would be no emotional payoff. It would essentially make season 5 a waste of time.

I would love a spinoff about the Arrowverse kids, but sadly, I don’t think The CW is planning to do one anytime soon.

I think Nora will keep working with Eobard, at least for now. My guess is, specially after that “time is malleable”, that her goal working with him is to save her dad so even after learning everything she’ll see him as a necessary evil. And I mean technically all the bad things he’s done to team flash must happen anyways to maintain the timeline so I get why she would, saving Barry is more important to her

You could very well be right. Nothing matters to Nora more than saving her dad and we know how talented Thawne is at lying to trick people into thinking doing what he wants is in their best interest.

[areyouscarletcold]

super spoopy prompts :D flashvibe vampires please?

I literally planned this to be cute and fluffy but then Barry made it sad and angsty so…sorry.

9. Vampires

“You gotta stop squirming, babe,” Cisco scolded, swatting Barry’s hovering hand away. The action earned him a petulant pout, a look so utterly pitiful that it made him snort and shake his head.

At least he’d had the forethought to tie his hair up before treating his ridiculous boyfriend. He loved Barry and there were many things he tolerated, but blood in his hair - ew.

Just. No.

“It wasn’t my fault,” Barry grumbled. Cisco was tempted to try and pinch his cheek, if only to tease him, but they both knew Barry was a lot faster. “Had to help Wally.”

“I didn’t say that. But seriously, this is the third time this month - and we’re barely two weeks into November!” Cisco paused in opening the ziplock baggie (thank goodness for modern age technology and tools, amiright?) to waggle a finger at Barry’s oncoming protest. “Nuh-uh, I’m being serious right now, okay? I get that you’re worried about them, believe me, I do, but Joe and Iris and Wally have been taking care of themselves a lot longer than you’ve known ’em.”

Barry sighed and leaned back on the sofa, his eyes drifting to the ratty cushion’s edge where his fingers picked at the seams. Which reminded Cisco, he really needed to talk to Iris and Caitlin about going furniture shopping because god knows Barry (bless his heart) was never going to remember to do it.

As much as he loved drinking blood to his heart’s content, having to plant your ass in multiple bloodstains to watch reruns of Star Trek episodes was…no bueno.

“He’s still a newborn,” Barry said after a minute, not meeting his eyes.

“Wally’s been taking care of himself for a while,” Cisco repeated slowly just to watch Barry’s mouth twitch. His nostrils flared when he opened the baggie, his mouth already watering. Cisco heard Barry’s small sigh as well. Fuck, that never got old. “Before Joe and Iris, even. If anything happens he can take care of it. Or they’ll call, you know they will.”

Barry nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

“That sounded convincing.”

That got Barry to meet his gaze for a mock glare, which really looked too much like his signature adorable pout to intimidate him. “It’s just - when I turned, I had you and Caitlin to help me.”

“And calm you down,” Cisco recalled with a snicker. Barry hadn’t taken the whole “undead” thing well. Caitlin’s insistence on having Barry drink right away so he didn’t pass out (again) probably hadn’t helped, come to think of it.

Still, after the state Barry’s Sire had left him in, the horror of coming back to the apartment to find -

Cisco suppressed a shudder. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts.

If he ever saw Eobard Thawne again, he was putting that stake through the asshole’s heart himself. (Technically Iris had first dibs as his ass-kicking best friend, but he was the ass-kicking boyfriend, okay?)

Barry chuckled, though if he knew what Cisco’s train of thought was veering determinedly away from, he likely wouldn’t have looked so amused. “Yeah, exactly. And I know I had it worse than Wally and not all turnings are like that, but…” A shadow passed over his face, an all-too-familiar melancholy that Cisco wanted to smooth away with a wave of his hand. His voice softened. “I keep thinking about that night. How I should’ve been there, should’ve known something was wrong before Iris called - ”

“Whoa, whoa.” Cisco held up a hand. “We’re not playing the blame game here, Barr. That wasn’t your fault.”

“Cisco - ”

“It. Wasn’t. Your. Fault.” He jabbed a finger into his boyfriend’s chest to punctuate each word, refusing to look away when Barry winced. “We had no idea Wally was gonna get turned. You had no idea, least of all that it’d happen when you left them alone. Iris doesn’t blame you, Wally doesn’t, and your loving, awesome boyfriend definitely knows it wasn’t your fault, so cut that shit, ya got it?”

Barry sighed. “That’s just it, though. No matter whose fault it was, Wally still got turned. I know it’s been years since you or Cait had to deal with it, but it’s not a fun experience. Relearning your body and your…instincts, I guess.”

Cisco remembered. He remembered waking the day after his brother’s murder, terrified and certain he’d died when a stranger had ambushed him in an alley.

He remembered his mother’s look of horror when he came home covered in blood after his first kill, his father hurrying for the gun when he’d tried to comfort her.

“It’s not easy. I don’t want him to go through the whole process at all.”

Cisco set aside the blood baggie. Clearly feeding time was going to have to wait. “None of us do, babe.”

“I don’t think it’s sunken in yet,” Barry whispered, as if he were sharing some great conspiracy theory. “That he’s…immortal. That he’ll…”

That he’ll have to watch them die.

He pulled Barry closer and his boyfriend came willingly, burying his face in Cisco’s neck. Cisco brought his hand up to run it gently through his hair, pressing his nose into the shorter strands. For a moment he was reminded of when Barry had been turned, how he used to cuddle against Cisco when the nightmares grew too painful to deal with on his own. Iris had mentioned that Barry hugged her more once his fear of accidentally biting her began to fade, but he knew it was less due to fear and more for his own comfort.

It was habit now, to snuggle like this, almost as if Barry believed by hiding his face from the world, Cisco could somehow protect him from its horrors.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Cisco assured him.

“I already went through it with - ” He could feel Barry swallow hard, his skin prickling at the deep exhale that followed. “I don’t want to watch him go through it too. He lost his mom, and now he’s gonna - ”

“Hey, Wally’s tough. Besides, it’s like you said, he’s got us. Me, you, Cait. Iris and Joe aren’t going anywhere just yet. We’ve got years before we need to worry about it.”

Barry’s arms wound around his waist and Cisco shifted to kiss the top of his head. He gave Barry a squeeze to the side and couldn’t help but smile at the sound he made. Ticklish as ever.

Before he’d meet Barry, before he’d even run across Caitlin, Cisco never would’ve imagined being able to sit in his apartment like this, never would’ve thought he could settle somewhere with someone who wouldn’t mind living with a vampire. He’d never told Barry - though sometimes he suspected the other knew - but it took over a century for him to come to terms with and stop trying to drinking himself into a stupor over his immortality. People weren’t exactly accommodating to vampires in any time period, even if they were little more than myth now.

It didn’t bother him as much anymore. Well, it did, if he took time to contemplate the bigotry, but with Caitlin, Barry, and now Wally with him…

He glanced down at Barry, whose hands were starting to rub the small of his back. As if Cisco was the one in need of solace.

Yeah, things were gonna be okay.

[pinkletterday]

"I never knew I could care for anyone the way I care for Nora."

*wince* Wow, I can hear the Westallen fandom shrieking with outrage from here.

I saw this in the Olicity fandom. Oliver said "William is the most important thing to me" and someone got real butthurt "BUT WHAT ABOUT FELICITTYYY". Like it's inconceivable that a man would put his child first over his wife. *facepalm*

But here it still rang false. For one thing Barry has been dead gone on the woman in front of him since he was ten so he does know how much he can love. For the other, they never managed to sell this whole father-love thing between him and Nora the way they did the mother-love between Iris and Nora.

Also, Barry has wanted to kill enough times by now. Eobard earned his hatred, so did Zoom and Savitar. I can see him be more enraged with protective anger over his child than anyone else because that's what it means to be a parent. But again, Barry and Iris only know Nora as an abstract, not as a child that was born to them and raised over time.

This is such a rich storyline and they're not selling it. I kinda feel like they should really have given it to Iris rather than Barry.

No, they definitely should have given it to Iris. She's always been the iron-spined pragmatist. She could throw Barry in the pipeline, keep the breaches sealed and shoot Savitar for the greater good. If she decided to kill Cicada it wouldnt just be from misplaced rage but the same rigid determination and cold calculation that would drive her future self put that chip in Nora. And Barry would be the one who would be disturbed and have to pull her back.

Nora could have seen firsthand how her mother's love for her would set her to do unthinkable things; see that its not from a desire to control but to protect at all costs. It would have ended in an epiphany for Iris, how far her own righteousness and pragmatism could end in her becoming the mother that hurt Nora.

WE COULD HAVE HAD THAT STORY ALL ALONG WTF I AM SO MAD NOW

Also a proper protracted fight scene where Killer Frost actually beat Cicada's ass.

This "everything must be about Barry" mentality this show has ruins organic stories and natural narrative symmetry. The fact of the matter is that he and Orlin just do not have parallel storylines and trying to make it seem like they do is manufactured and forced.

The theme of the season is "how far would you go to protect your child" and "what are the ethics of suppressing someone's powers?" The writers literally set up Iris as the focal point for both of those, not Barry.