Sherlock meets The Flash and Arrow

Chapter 23

Oliver

I've never seen a more broken, desperate man.

Barry sets us down outside the city limits. Sherlock is fighting Barry, struggling to get back into the city that's already doomed. He's screaming and crying one name, over and over. "John!"

Slowly, he stops fighting as he realizes that John's gone. He quietly says, "It was supposed to be me." Then, even quieter, he whispers, "Whatever it takes, whatever happens, from now on I swear I will always be there."

Then, so silent I barely catch it, he says, "I never told him."

Barry murmurs, "Whatever you want to have said to him, you should say it. Maybe there is another world...Maybe he could hear you."

Sherlock looks too broken to argue. He quietly says, "John Hamish Watson, I love you."

Cisco

Unfortunately for me, I can't shoot myself like John. So I do the next best thing and back up against a wall. If I'm unconscious, I can't feel the pain of death. Quickly, I slam my head into the wall, hard.

My vision fades to black, and amazingly, the burning in my legs fades to nothing.

Oliver

Barry sighs. "Never thought you'd get around to admitting it."

I smile. Wrong move. Sherlock is on his feet and he pins me to the wall. There's a lot of force to Sherlock's wiry body, and I can't move. He quietly says, "How can you smile now?"

I look at Barry, and say, "Let's go back."

Sherlock's eyes narrow, then he glares at Barry. "You can turn back time?"

In response, Barry runs.

John

The phone crackles. "I always had a special thing for bombs, but today it'll have to be fire."

I gasp quietly. I can't help it. Bombs and Moriarty make me think of the night at the pool. Fire makes me think of Guy Fawkes day. Together... As people say, history repeats itself.

Barry and Cisco both look at each other and huge smiles cover their faces. Cisco mutes the phone calmly.

Cisco laughs. "You did it! And you got the timing right!"

Barry smiles.

Sherlock glares at them both. He obviously gets what's happening, but I don't. "Okay, what's going on?"

Sherlock looks at me. "The only reason they wouldn't want to hear the message is if they'd already heard it. Don't you see?"

"No..."

Sherlock sighs. "This is an alternate timeline. Something happened in another version of this. Something awful. So Barry turned back time. Cisco knows since he can see through dimensions."

Cisco looks at Barry, and then says, "Can I talk to you in private?"

Barry looks at Cisco, and a look passes between them. "Yeah. 'Course."

Cisco

Barry looks at me again. He looks like he's wondering if he interpreted it correctly. "Okay. Did that actually happen with you too?"

I cock my head. "Depends on what you mean by that."

"Sherlock admitted that he loved John. You?"

"Yep. John admitted it too."

Barry sighs. "Now what? Because last time I told someone about love in another timeline, Iris rejected me."

I laugh harder. "Yeah, well. Iris didn't love you before the alternate timeline. Sherlock and John obviously love each other, just neither will come out and say it. The question isn't their feelings. The question is what we should tell them."

Oliver

I pipe up. "So, the only two people who know what happened are in there, talking. D'you think they're deciding what to tell us?"

Sherlock sighs. "Of course that's what they're doing."

Diggle laughs. "But is that their information to hide? 'Cause I think we deserve to know."

Caitlin says, "Um...wait. If we hear about another timeline, it could seriously mess this one up."

I say, "How serious are we talking?"

"Like...end of the world, serious. Black hole opening over the city serious."

"How likely is that?" I ask, skeptically.

"It's happened before," Caitlin says, calmly.

I know this, of course, so I push her. "How likely is it?"

"...Well...Time doesn't like to be messed with. It might be something worse than a singularity."

Sherlock scoffs, reaches over and taps the computer. A security camera's footage pops up and Barry's voice crackles through the speakers. "The question is what we should tell them."

Cisco

Something's wrong. I can hear two versions of Barry talking, and one is a low-quality echo, filled with static.

Suddenly, I remember spying with Caitlin on Iris and Barry. Caitlin will remember the cameras in here.

I storm out of the room and glare at them. Caitlin, John, Diggle, Felicity, and Oliver have the grace to look ashamed. Sherlock just looks curious.

I say, annoyed, "You guys were spying on us."

Caitlin mutters, "We need a new shipment of the computers in here."

I glare at her. "That was different! Besides, it didn't work that time anyways, so why would you think it would work now?"

Barry looks startled. "Wait. You spied on my conversation with Iris? Guys! I thought you were my friends!"

I look at the ground. "Sorry...?"

John asks, "What were you talking about?"

"We can't really tell you," I say.

"Why not?"

Barry says, "End of the world confessions are only for...for the end of the world."

Caitlin asks, "Iris-esque?"

Barry winces. "Pretty much."

Caitlin makes a face, and Barry quickly adds, "Not like that!"

Sherlock glances between Barry, Caitlin, and me. Suddenly, his eyes widen. I know he's figured it out. "Seriously? I did that?"

I nod.

"Are you sure it was me? Not a look-alike?" He looks horrified.

Barry laughs, "Well, you pinned Oliver to a wall for a minute. Which I've never seen anyone do before, so I'm going with that it was you."

Sherlock quietly groans. John looks between the three of us, then comments, "I get the feeling you three are having an entirely different conversation than the one I'm hearing."

Barry laughs and I smile. Sherlock just closes his eyes, obviously trying to process whatever it was that he realized he said in the alternate timeline.

Oliver sighs. "Don't you think we should work on the whole saving-the-city thing?"

I nod. All traces of a smile drain from my face. I think carefully about what I can say without destroying the timeline, and settle on a short description. "Rupture, Vandal, and Trickster will be there. Rupture has his scythe. Trickster knows about our plans. Vandal is perfectly willing to carry out his threat if we don't show. Or if we don't carry through with the jump."