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The team on the Waverider was still celebrating in the room adjacent to the main bridge when suddenly Gideon spoke up, startling everyone.
“Captain, I’m receiving a signal through the timestream. It seems to be from myself.” The voice of the AI sounded confused. “Or a version of myself. It seems to be far more sophisticated, leading me to the conclusion that it must originate from a point in the future.”
“What kind of signal?” Rip was surprised and curious. He could not think of a reason why someone from his own future would try to contact him now.
“It is trying to establish a video connection. I do not have more information,” Gideon said.
“Show it to us.” The others have moved to the table in the centre of the bridge and the huge video wall in front of it to see what was going on and who was trying to contact them. None of them however expected to see Caitlin looking back at them. She seemed worried and frustrated, her clothes were covered in grime and the right side of her face was bloody. She was looking down at something then back up, all the while talking to someone but they couldn’t hear anything. They could see that she was in a white room with walls covered in Braille. She suddenly looked back towards an opening in the left wall and when they could see her again she had a frantic look on her face.
Suddenly the bridge was filled with noise. They could hear her voice clearly as well as the sound of explosions and gunfire in the background.
“-ou hear me? Professor Stein? Ray, Jax! Anyone?” she sounded desperate. “Gideon, are you sure that you were able to contact them?”
They heard a woman’s voice answer, but unlike Rip’s version of the AI, this one did not have a British accent. “Yes Doctor Snow, there seem to be problems with the video however -”
“Caitlin we can hear you. Cait?” Stein was the first one to react.
“Oh thank god.” She sighed in relief.
“Wait, you know her? Then this can’t be from the future,” Rip asked before she could continue.
“Indeed, it is not,” the ship’s AI answered. “If my calculations are correct, the signal is originating from 2016 but the system that is being used is far more advanced than me. In fact, it should not exist at all.”
“Then how-,” Rip started asking but was interrupted by Caitlin.
“That’s not important right now! We need your help. Can you come back? There are new breaches showing up all over the city with metas coming through and attacking. They are invading our world and we can’t close the breaches fast enough, new ones just keep opening up.”
“What? What are you talking about? What breaches?” Ray voiced what was on all their minds. Central City was being invaded?
Before she could answer there was a loud noise. Caitlin looked at the opening expectantly but when no one showed up she turned back to the screen in front of her and they could see recognition in her eyes – the video problem was apparently resolved.
As she looked at each of them a surprised, “Kendra?” escaped her lips. She had heard from Clarissa Stein that Firestorm had left on some kind of mission through time and from Felicity that Ray and Sara were also involved in that same mission. But no one had stayed in contact with Kendra and Carter. Then she saw Snart and Rory and her expression turned sour. “And you have Snart and Rory with you? They are criminals!” She sounded indignant.
A chorus of, “you know them/her” sounded through the ship’s bridge before yet another loud noise, this time nearer, interrupted the conversation.
“What is this about breaches and metas coming through?” Rip asked before someone else could say something, but instead of Caitlin it was Professor Stein who answered.
“They are breaches in spacetime that lead to other earths. Parallel universes so to speak. They appeared after the singularity last year. There were 52 throughout the city and they all led to another Earth, Earth-2 we called it.”
“This is amazing! A parallel universe! Until now there have been only theories about the existence of other universes and now it is possible to travel between them. I mean, wow.” Ray seemed quite excited and was working himself up even more as he spoke. “This is so-,” until Snart interrupted him.
“Yes Raymond, we all know that you’re a giant nerd. What I am more interested in is the part of them invading us.” Caitlin seemed impatient and was glad that she had their attention again even if it was thanks to Snart of all people.
“As I said there are new breaches, we closed those 52 months ago. The ones that are appearing now lead to another Earth, Earth-3. We don’t know who is opening them or how they are doing it but we can’t close them fast enough.”
“This sounds serious. We should go back and help them,” Jax said. Rip opened his mouth to say something, but was again interrupted.
“Wait, months ago you said?” Professor Stein asked. “What’s the date on your side?”
“October 2016. Why?”
“We’ve only been gone for a few weeks,” Sara answered.
“Well for us it’s been months since we have heard that you have left on some kind of mission,” Caitlin said.
“Where’s Cisco?” Kendra asked out of the blue.
“He and Harry are-,” Caitlin started answering, but was interrupted.
“Behind you!” Sara shouted the warning as they all noticed that someone had entered the time vault. Caitlin turned around but before she or the masked man could do anything he was slammed into the wall by a pressure wave that was coming from the opening.
The figure lay crumpled on the ground as Harrison Wells stepped into the room carrying a big gun followed by Cisco who turned around as soon as he was through the threshold and put his left hand on the wall beside the entrance. The opening disappeared to be replaced by the same white wall as the rest of the room. He stayed there and slumped slightly forward putting his right hand on his knee as Harry knelt in front of the intruder and started searching him.
Caitlin went back towards the two of them as she saw blood on Cisco’s hand and the wall. “Are you ok?” she asked him but it was Harry who answered.
“He’s fine. Were you able to contact them?” He took a device out of the man’s jacket and smashed it into the ground. Then he hit it with the butt of his gun to make sure it wasn’t working any more.
“Yes,” she answered tersely before pointing at the screen and talking in a hushed tone with Cisco.
“Great.” He got up and walked over to it. “So, you going to help us?” he asked into the camera.
“Doctor Wells,” Ray said astonished.
“Yes, that’s my name,” Harry said with barely contained impatience in his voice.
“I think what Mr. Palmer is trying to say is that we are surprised to see you, since you are, well, dead,” Professor Stein explained.
Harry just sighed. He had thought that this was all over, but apparently these people also knew this world’s Wells.
“He’s from Earth-2,” Caitlin said as she and Cisco came to stand beside Harry. She looked worried and tense, more so than before. Beside her Cisco looked out of breath and haggard as he held his left hand to his right side, blood visible between his fingers. He wore a black shirt that had the lines 'The Angels have the Phone Box' printed on it and a long-sleeved shirt of a lighter colour underneath it. Now that he was in front of them the team could see blood on the sleeves and on the right side of his pants and if it weren’t for the black shirt they would probably be seeing it there as well. “He helped us out with Zoom and afterward he and his daughter stayed on our earth.”
“Cisco what happened? Are you ok?” Kendra asked worriedly and Cisco seemed to notice her only now, because his expression changed into one of surprise as his eyes found her face. “Yeah dude, that’s a lot of blood,” Ray added.
Cisco looked at Ray and his cut up face, “You don’t look so good yourself.” But his eyes wandered back to Kendra and the people standing behind her. He raised his right hand and pointed a finger at them. “Is that Captain Cold? And Heatwave? What are they doing there?”
Leonard just rolled his eyes. “One would think you are not pleased to see us.” He drawled. “I guess I should be insulted. Luckily for you, I don’t care.” At the last sentence he smirked at the screen.
“Yeah, lucky us,” Cisco replied sarcastically with a fake smile.
“Could we get back to the matter at hand? We don’t have much time. Are you going to help us?” Harry tried to steer the conversation back on track.
“Of course we will help you, right?” Jax said and looked at the others who nodded in agreement.
“Well, we are already on a mission to save the world and Central City is a part of it, so helping you would just be another day on the job,” Snart said.
“Alright, what’s your exact date?” Rip asked.
“No, don’t come to this day, travel further back to before the new breaches started showing up. Maybe sometime in September, or even earlier. That way you will have more time to figure out how to close them faster and there won’t be as many casualties,” Cisco said.
“But then we wouldn’t be helping you. That would create another timeline, your situation would stay the same,” Stein said.
“We know that, but so many people have already died, if you came now it wouldn’t make much of a difference, but if you travelled further back to a time before this all started with the knowledge that you have now, you could save so many lives,” Cisco explained.
“But what will happen to you?” Kendra asked and turned to Rip. “What happens with the old timeline if we change something in the past? Does it just cease to exist or does it go on as an alternate timeli-,” before she could finish she was interrupted by Harry.
“Look it doesn’t matter, you need to stop this before it starts. You have to.”
“But-,” Kendra started but Harry wouldn’t let her speak, knowing that their enemies could show up any moment. “Gideon will send you all the information on the breaches that we have gathered. Our past selves with the help of Professor Stein and Mr. Palmer should be able to come up with a more efficient way of closing the breaches. Or maybe you could even stop them from forming in the first place.”
“Wait, how come this didn’t come up when you told us about Savage, ’cause to me it looks like this attack is just as bad as what you have described will happen if we don’t stop Savage,” Jax interrupted and asked Rip.
“I-, that’s a good question. Gideon, do you have any information on this.”
“No Captain, there are no records of such an event occurring,” came the smooth reply.
“But, how is that possible? We are seeing it happening right now,” Rip asked the AI and gestured toward the screen.
“Because it didn’t happen,” Cisco whispered lost in thought.
“What do you mean?” Jax asked, looking as confused as the rest of the team.
“You don’t have any records because it didn’t happen.” Harry took over explaining what Cisco and he himself had just realised. “It didn’t happen because someone,” at that he pointed at them, “knew about it and was able to prevent it.”
“So, what does that mean?” Heatwave asked.
“It means that you will succeed,” Cisco answered and this time a real smile appeared on his face as he looked back at them with relief. But a moment later he had a vacant look on his face and started blinking slowly, eyes not focusing on anything. He let out a slight gasp as he lifted his right hand to the wall beside him.
Harry was suddenly at his side, a hand on Cisco’s shoulder as he turned him away from the camera to look him in the eyes. “What did you see?” he asked urgently. When Cisco didn’t answer immediately, he shook his shoulder and repeated the question more loudly.
This seemed to bring Cisco out of his daze and he looked up at Harry as he answered. “Plastique. She knows where we are, she’s on her way.” The name didn’t mean anything to Harry. “Who?”
“She is a meta that can turn anything she touches into a bomb,” Caitlin answered. “We need to leave, this wall won’t stop her.”
“No we don’t. If we leave now we will just run into her, she’s almost here,” Cisco said.
“Then what do you suggest we do?” Harry asked as he stepped away from him.
“We let her come to us and use this,” Cisco said and reached for something in front of them beneath the monitor. When he stepped back they could see an even bigger looking gun that he handed Caitlin. “As soon as the dust clears aim at her legs,” he told her before turning to Harry. “There are three others with her, aim at them not her.” Harry just nodded when they all heard an explosion close by that shook the walls.
“She’s here.” They turned their backs to the camera and raised their weapons as they waited for Plastique to show up. Only Cisco didn’t have a gun. He wiped his left hand on his thigh, trying to get as much blood off as he could before raising them both in front of him.
“What is he doing?” Ray wondered aloud. The people on the Waverider could only look and hope that nothing would happened to their friends.
“What are they going to do if the wall explodes? The blast will kill them,” Jax asked concerned and voiced a thought that was on all their minds.
“Piece of cake. This will work just fine,” Cisco whispered, his voice shaking.
“Have you ever done this before?” Harry asked.
“Stopped the blast from an explosion right in front of me? Yeah sure Harry, I do this sort of thing all the time, didn’t you know?” At his sarcastic answer Harry just looked at Cisco, annoyance clearly visible on his face.
“Guys!” Caitlin got their attention and pointed at the far corner where a dark purple patch had started forming, getting bigger by the moment. They tensed and waited as it grew until the entire wall opposite them was covered in it. Cisco only had a fraction of a second to react as the colour changed from purple to blinding white and the wall exploded. But instead of hitting the three people standing right in front of it, the shockwave collided with a pressure wave coming from Cisco, causing yet another explosion. The blast was directed solely in the opposite direction as Cisco’s powers kept pushing it away from them.
Caitlin and Harry had shielded their eyes while Cisco had averted his gaze and pressed his eyes shut. Only when the blinding light started to dissipate did they dare to look again. Dust was all they could see as Cisco lowered his hands and slumped against the wall to his left, panting, “Oh thank god it worked.” Caitlin and Harry however stood still and didn’t move a muscle as they waited for the dust to settle.
Soon they were able to discern silhouettes, but Caitlin wasn’t sure which one of them was Bette. Beside her Harry took a shot at the person on the far left. The man fell with a shout and the figure beside him turned her head and Caitlin could see long red hair. She took aim while at the same time Plastique raised her hand to throw something in their direction. As she pulled the trigger she could see Harry do the same, taking out another opponent. Plastique writhed as something clasped her calf and sent electric shocks through her body. They soon stopped and she started collapsing when the object in her hand suddenly detonated. The blast wasn’t huge but Caitlin, Cisco and Harry stepped back out of surprise and Caitlin, horrified at what had just happened, covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh my god,” she whispered before turning her head away, not wanting to look at the gruesome sight.
“You said there were three others, I only got two,” Harry addressed Cisco, who was still leaning against the wall. At Harry’s words he looked up and said, “The last one must have gotten away. We need to leave, he’ll probably come back with reinforcement.” Harry nodded and turned to the camera and the stunned people who had witnessed what had just happened.
“We need to go. Gideon, have you sent them the data?” he asked.
“Yes, the transfer was successful,” the smooth voice of the AI replied. He nodded and turned back to Cisco who hadn’t moved from his spot while Caitlin had gone to the gaping hole and was looking around. “We should destroy Gideon.”
“Yeah, I know. We can’t let them have her,” Cisco agreed with him. Without asking or saying another word Harry took Cisco’s left arm and slung it over his shoulder. “Come on,” and with that they turned away from the monitor and headed toward the exit.
“Wait,” Kendra called out and took a step forward as if it could bring her nearer to them. They stopped and turned back, but she didn’t know what to say, she just knew that she didn’t want to leave them like this.
“I guess we won’t see each other again,” Cisco said when she didn’t go on. “Or rather, I won’t see you but you will see me again, but it will be another version of me. This is weird,” he trailed off.
“Yes, that’s very fascinating but we need to leave. Now,” Harry told them.
“Just, be careful. And take care of each other,” Kendra said.
“A little late for that,” Cisco smiled weakly. “Good luck.” Then he raised his right hand toward the monitor and let loose his powers. “And goodbye.”
They saw the pressure wave coming towards them as the air in front of the camera seemed to waver before there was only static. Silence reigned over the bridge as they processed what they had just seen.
“How did –? What did he -?” Ray searched for words but couldn’t form a sentence. He turned to the others. “Did you know he could do that?”
“No. He said he could see things, that he had some kind of visions sometimes but he never mentioned something like that,” Kendra said.
“Yes, as far as I know that was the whole extent of his powers. They must have grown over time,” Stein remarked.
“So he’s a meta, like the Flash?” Sara clarified and Stein and Kendra nodded. “And you all know him and Caitlin?”
“Seems so,” Ray said.
“I don’t know them that well actually. Caitlin convinced me to give this Firestorm stuff a try when I didn’t really want to have anything to do with it.”
“They seem like good people,” Sara said. They knew that no help would come to them and yet they had made the effort to reach Professor Stein and the others so that they could create a new timeline where none of this would take place. This seemed so unfair to her.
“They are. And we should do what they asked us to do,” Stein said.
“It seems that we must,” Rip agreed.
“Wait, so does this mean that we are in a closed loop?” Ray asked. “I mean, in your past there was no invasion and instead Savage took over,” he said to Rip. “But that is only possible if we succeeded in the past. If not, then your past wouldn’t be what it is, and you wouldn’t have come to us for help which means that we wouldn’t have met and wouldn’t therefore be doing this ...” he trailed off. “Never mind.”
Suddenly the ship shook. “What was that?” Sara asked.
“We have been struck with an explosive projectile,” Gideon answered.
“No kidding,” Ray said as everyone scrambled to their seats.
Another missile hit the ship and the Waverider was knocked out of the timestream, crash-landing in place and time.