Episode 17 - Rouge Time

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T H I R D P E R S O N

"Oh, boy," Barry whispered trying to catching his breath.

"Yo, what's going on?" Cisco's voice called over the coms.

Barry was slightly disoriented. His mind was spinning. Hearing Cisco in his ear startled Barry to look around him for Cisco.

"Yeah, Cisco."

"Dude?"

"I'm here," Barry whispered trying to catch his breathing.

"What happened? Why did you stop?" Cisco called over concerned.

"Umm, I just got a little distracted." Barry fumbled around the street confused.

"Well, you need to make up some time man. You better hurry up!" he instructed.

"Hurry up... wh-" What was he talking about?

"Hurry as in... get to the morgue."

"The morgue? I was there... yesterday." Barry muttered.

"What you talking about? You got to GO" he yelled over to Barry.

Barry didn't question Cisco, finding his balance, Barry raced back over to the morgue.

~ City Morgue ~

Taking in all the surroundings, Barry fumbled into the morgue, knocking his kit against an officer. Barry mumbled a sorry and stepped further into the dimly lit room. Barry couldn't believe how much everything looked the same. How was any of this possible? He questioned as he looked around. Lost in his thoughts Barry was startled at the sound of Joe's voice.

"Why is it so wet in here? Did the sprinklers go off or something?" Joe asked.

Barry stared at Joe strangely. This all happened before. Don't you remember? This happened yesterday.

At the questioning expression on Joe's face, Barry cleared his throat in an attempt to seem normal.

"What? No. I checked the sprinklers they're all intact." He mumbled.

"But the water has ice in it and the bruises on the coroner aren't just on his face. Check it out. Look at his torso." Barry instructed Joe, stepping back knowing what he already knew to lay hidden underneath the coroner's shirt.

"Woah!" Joe gasped at the sight of the bruises.

Barry Allen bent down. He let his eyes roam everywhere. To him everything was exactly how it was yesterday but how?

"How the hell did you know that?" Joe asked him in surprise.

"He was killed by hail... We have to listen to the recording." Barry whispered in response as he recalled the memory of Martin.

"Recording?" Joe repeated as they both rose back up to their feet.

Barry looked at Joe. Right he doesn't know about it yet. He reminded himself. About to explain, how bizarre all this was, Eddie called out to them holding the recording of the coroner's murder.

"Joe! We got something. The coroner's office just installed an automotive dictation system... listen to this." Eddie said.

Barry watched as Eddie hit the play button. Internally, he felt his heart increase in speed. The memory of Joe in danger... Barry began to panic. It was all happening again. Barry couldn't wrap his head around what was happening. How could he be living the same day twice? As the recording began to play, Barry found himself knotting his fingers in his hair. Taking a deep breath Barry looked at Joe with concern.

"Please, no more."

"I'll stop when you tell me!"

"S-Stop."

"Who killed my—"

"That's Mark Martin," Barry stated immediately.

Joe turned to Barry catching his eye. Barry saw Joe's expression widen at the realization, that Mark Martin wasn't dead. Like his brother, he survived the plane crash and the storm.

"And he wants revenge," Barry states flatly as he looked pointedly towards Joe.

~ S.T.A.R. Labs ~

Caitlin watched Barry his eyes looked void as he looked deep in thought. Caitlin fixated her attention on him. Something was wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on what.

"So, Clyde Martin has a brother," Caitlin says surprised, her eyes never leaving Barry.

"And both brothers survived the plane crash and then the dark matter released from the particle accelerator explosion, affects them both..." Dr. Wells continued.

"...in virtually the same way," Barry said in unison with Wells.

Caitlin's scrunched her eyebrows in curiosity. Weird she thought.

"Expect Mark is not like Clyde at all. He can do things that you couldn't even imagine." He mumbled.

"You mean he's sort of like a—"

"—Weather Wizard." Barry finished together with Cisco.

"Yeah," Cisco says looking a bit annoyed that Barry named the meta.

Caitlin observed as Barry turned around like he was trying to hide something.

"Hmph" Cisco cringed at the sudden freezing of the brain causing Sophia to giggle.

Caitlin peeled her attention slowly away from Barry as she focused on Cisco's pained expression. Seeing him like that Caitlin stifled the urge to laugh.

"Trigeminal headache?" Barry says in unison with Caitlin.

"What?" Cisco said.

"Brain freeze," Barry says in unison with Sophia.

Now, this was getting weird. Barry and Caitlin were usually in sync... but not that in sync. And it couldn't be a coincidence that Barry knew how to finish everyone's sentence. Something was going on and he wasn't sharing. Before she could pull Barry aside for them to talk, Dr. Wells ushered Barry aside.

"Mr. Allen. A word please."

Barry followed Dr. Wells until they were alone in the treadmill room. Barry could feel his heart racing a million miles a minute.

"You ruptured the time continuum, didn't you? You're experiencing tempera reversion." He stated bluntly, swiveling around in his chair.

"Yeah," Barry replied relieved that he could finally talk to someone about this.

"How long?" Dr. Wells interrogated his voice heavy with concern.

"Um, a day... It's like I'm living it all over again." Barry breathed.

"Good... there's not much you could have messed up." Dr. Wells mumbled under his breath as he drew his hands to his mouth.

"How did this happen?"

"I don't know... I was running faster than I've ever run and the first time this happened some horrible things happened there was a tidal wave and-" Barry blurted out fast, as he began to pace up and down the room.

"No. Don't tell me anything... I don't want to know anything about the future you experienced. Nothing!" Dr. Wells yelled stopping him.

"Dr. Wells I-" Barry began to argue.

"Barry. Time is an extremely fragile construct any deviation no matter how small could result in a cataclysm. Now, this is what you're going to do. Everything you did before. Every word you uttered every step you took you are going to do again. And you are not going to tell anyone this happened." Dr. Wells said leaving the room without another word.

Barry stared after him until he was out of sight. Sighing, he let his head fall into his hands. What am I going to do? He questioned himself.

Now they were in the Pipeline after Barry had caught Mark in an old abandoned warehouse. "So, I still don't understand. How did you find him?" Caitlin asked.

"Uh," Barry glanced nervously at her and she frowned. He shouldn't be nervous around her. "I just had a hunch."

Sure, Barry, sure. "That's gotta be some kind of record." She smiled at him. Maybe if she showed him that she wasn't upset with him in any way, he would open up to her.

"Yeah!" Cisco agreed with a laugh. Then he turned around with a grimace. "Well, there goes my excuse for bailing on my brother's birthday."

"Why don't I come with you? I'd love to meet your family, and see how little kid Cisco looked without long hair." Caitlin smiled putting an arm around his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'll come too. I wouldn't give up a chance to look at little baby Cisco." Sophia said.

He shrugged. "You guys can come if you want. But trust me, you do not wanna meet my family."

"Oh, come on they can't be that bad," Sophia responded.

Caitlin kissed Barry as he walked past them, and smiled at her, though his eyes still looked distant. She really wondered what the hell was up.

~ Much Later ~

"What no whoosh in?" Caitlin glanced over her shoulder as Barry walked slowly through the doorway and around their desks. His head was down and his shoulders slumped.

"I needed the walk." He muttered.

"What happened?" Dr. Wells asked, just as she was about to.

"Nothing, uh-" He glanced at Caitlin, but his eyes flicked away quickly, over to Dr. Wells, then to the ceiling. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay, I understand." Dr. Wells allowed.

She raised an eyebrow, searching his face. His phone rang and he took it out.

"Hey, Joe. What's up?"

"Guess what Snart's back!" He replied over the phone.

"Wait... Captain Cold is back?"

"Yeah, he was seen at the Santini crime family casino. If he's hitting the Santini's we're looking at the beginning of a mob war.

"Alright be right there."

Before he could get all the way out of the room, Caitlin ran after him. "Hey, Barry!" She called. He turned around, eyes shifty. "Okay, what the hell is going on with you?"

"What... do you mean?" He asked, not meeting her gaze.

"Did I do something wrong?" Caitlin demanded. "Ever since we came back from our honeymoon... You've been avoiding me all day, and you're acting really strange, and-"

She was cut off by his lips on hers. Her back hit the wall and he ran his hands down her sides, his mouth attacking her's with more rough force than usual. She responded with her own raw anger; anger at him pushing her away; anger at him not telling her what was going on; and was left in a weak-kneed, breathless mess when he pulled away.

"I'm going to take that as... no, then." She breathed.

He puffed out a laugh, hands cupping her face. "Cait, I'm sorry. I've been so... distant lately. I just- I did something that I can't tell anyone about, and..."

She blinked at him. "Oh my gosh. You time traveled!"

He took a step back, eyes wide with shock. "How did you- what- when did-?"

"This makes total sense!" Caitlin was on a roll now, sure of her theory. "You knew exactly what Cisco and I were going to say because it already happened. That's why you were so confused when you had to go to the morgue." She stared at him, eyes huge. "How did you do it? What was it like? Do you think you can do it again?" She asks excitedly.

"No, I- I can't." He muttered. "I- Caitlin, I changed things and the consequences... Dr. Wells said that there are consequences, and I'm scared that I'm going to wake up tomorrow and the world is going to be in ruins, all because I time traveled and wrecked everything."

She wrapped him up in a tight hug "Whatever happens Barry, we're going to figure it out together. Just... next time, if there is a next time, tell me. Okay? I'm your wife you got to tell me these things."

He nodded. "I know and I'm sorry."

"It's okay," She said giving a sweet kiss.

"I have to go."

"Yeah, yeah, go." She smiled at him and turned to go back into the Cortex.

"Time travel. That is pretty damn cool, Mr. Allen."

He grinned. "Yeah, it really is Mrs. Allen."

~ Underground Casino ~

Barry arrived just in time to speed almost everyone out of the casino. Barry raced back into the room confronting Snart.

"How many times are we going to go through this Snart?" He yelled out.

"Until the best man wins." He snickered, rising up behind the desk shooting at him.

Barry raced around the table and grabbed the woman he was with.

"Drop the gun!" He threatened, holding her weapon to her throat.

"We both know you're not going to do anything to her. By the way, meet my baby sister. Lisa. Flash. Flash. Lisa. Cisco's been very, very busy. Unless you want me to mail small frozen pieces of him back to his family I'd take your hands off her." Snart responded arrogantly.

Barry's lips pressed into a hard line. Snart was right. Even with his sister, he didn't have an upper hand in this situation. Furious that he couldn't do anything, at least not with Cisco in danger... Barry thrust Lisa back towards her brother.

"Let him go Snart," Barry ordered.

"I'll think about it." He teased as he walked casually out the front doors with his sister.

After uncovering Snart's real plan, Barry actioned after him, speeding down the deserted highway, spotting Snart, Heatwave, and Lisa... Barry pushed himself faster after them. Yanking Snart away, Barry stopped in the middle of the woods throwing Cold to his feet

"Good to see you... Barry" He seethed.

Barry stepped out of the shadows of the trees, pulling off his mask so he was face to face with Snart.

"We have to talk," Barry said bluntly.

"I know Cisco told you who I am." Barry continued.

"You can't really blame the kid for giving you up. You or his brother... Come on I put him in a tight spot. The same kind I got you in right now. Can't really stop me now I know who you are." He toyed.

"I could speed you to my own private prison where you'll never see the light of day." Barry threatened.

"You could but then I won't be around to stop my own private uplink that will broadcast your identity to the world." He fired back.

"So, the million-dollar question... What to do with me now, Barry Allen?"

"I won't let you continue to steal whatever or whenever you like it. It needs to end."

"I won't let you continue to steal whatever or whenever you like it. It needs to end."

"Can't do that. It's what I do."

"Then find a new line of work," Barry suggested aggressively.

"Don't want to," Snart replied sharply.

"Why's that?"

"The same reason you keep running after guys like me... the thrill of the chase. I love this game. And I'm good at it."

"Then go play it somewhere else. Leave Central City." Barry breathed out through his teeth.

"Can't do that either. I love it here. This city is my home."

Stepping forward Barry leaned into Snart's face, his voice low and bold.

"You've seen what I can do. You know that I can stop you... you want to keep pushing your luck... go for it. But from here on out no one else dies. If you're as good as you say you are you don't have to kill anyone to get what you want."

"That's true."

"And if you... Or anyone in your crew of... Rogues gallery goes near any one of my friends or family. Especially my wife and sister. I don't care who you tell my identity to. I'll come after you." Barry threatened.

I guess your secrets safe Flash... for now." He replied harshly.

Smiling, Barry pulled back his mask.

"I don't suppose you'd give me a ride back to town would you now?" He smirked.

Barry eyed Snart dangerously before speeding away, leaving him to figure his own way back.