Aflame: The Flash (1)

20.3

20.3 the trap

—REWRITTEN—

"Here he comes," Caitlin says, in my earpiece.

I hide farther as the elevator behind Cisco opens to reveal Dad, standing. 

"Hello, Cisco," Dad says, as Cisco turns around. He claps, walking towards him."You've been busy. You really are incredibly clever, Cisco. I've always said it."

"You're him," Cisco says. "The Reverse-Flash. Joe was right this whole time, wasn't he?"

"Good ol' Joe," Dad says. "Joe West had his doubts all along. Even from that first night in the hospital, Joe knew something wasn't right. Cops aren't as inconvenient now as they will be in a hundred years."

"Come on, Cisco. We need a confession," Barry whispers from next to me.

"You killed Barry's mother," Cisco says. I want to know why."

"It was never my intention to kill Nora," Dad says. "But from my perspective, she was already dead. It just happened sooner than it was supposed to."

"No. That's not an admission," Joe says. I start to get up, but Barry pulls me down.

He shakes his head. "Not yet," He whispers.

"You're not gonna get away with this?" Cisco says as he turns on the force field.

"I'm not gonna get away with it?" Dad says, and walks through the force field. He chuckles. "Oh, you're smart. You're smart, Cisco. But you're not that smart."
Joe then gets up and shoots as I teleport to Cisco and get him away from Dad.

"No!" Barry yells, as he tries to stop the bullets. But one goes in and it hits him, as he falls down. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to not think about him as a father figure. I then open them. "He didn't confess," Barry says.

"Cisco, are you okay?" Caitlin asks.

"Yeah. I'm never ever gonna sleep ever again, but, yeah, I'm okay," Cisco replies.

"He's dead," Barry says, as I sit down next to Dad. "He didn't confess. Joe, this was it. My dad's gonna be in prison forever."

"Barry, I'm sorry," Joe says.

"Hey, uh- Whoa," Cisco says, as Dad slowly turns to Hannibal Bates. I instantly move away from him as Cisco says, "What the hell?"

"I told you this before," Dad's voice says.  "I am always one step ahead Flash. Allow me to reintroduce to you Mr.Hannibal Bates and his incredible ability to transform into any person he touches. I knew that ability would come in handy. I did not expect it to come in handy this soon."

"You used him! Like you used all of us," Barry yells.

"Well, he served a purpose," Dad says."Didn't take much convincing. Just the simple promise of his freedom."

"You ruined my life! All of our lives! We stood by you after everything that happened," I yell.

"I can see how this must be difficult for you to understand, but trust me, your lives now are so much better because of what I have done for you. You don't have to hide anymore," He says, making me scoff.

I stand up. "We know you're not Harrison Wells. Just tell us who you are," I say.

"A confession will get you nowhere.
You've seen who I am. You know what I can do."

"You want to kill me, go ahead?" Barry says. "I'm not gonna fight you. But just tell the police what you did. Get my dad out of prison."

I hear him chuckle. "I don't want to kill you, Barry. I need you. And I also did not anticipate, as difficult as the past how much I would come to love working with you. With all of you. And yet, that does not change what needs to happen."

"Then face me now!" Barry says.

"Oh, we will face each other again. I promise you. Soon. Very, very soon," He says.

"He's in the time vault!" Cisco says. Barry runs us there to find no one there. We walk in to see a surveillance of all of our lives.

"It was all a set-up," Barry says. "We thought we set a trap for him, but he set a trap for us... Oh, my God. Iris."

🔥⚡️

"We have to find Iris," Barry says, as we enter the Cortex.

"Why?"

"Wells," I say. "He's been watching all of us. He has surveillance footage set up everywhere. Our homes, Barry's lab at the police station, Central City Picture News."

"Cisco, call me when you have a location," Barry says, after getting in the suit. I head for my suit, but Barry stops me. "Please don't. I can't risk losing you too."