(The Flash) Frozen Flashpoint: Chapter 33 - The Heart of the Matter

Chapter 33 - The Heart of the Matter

Summary: Marlize confronts her husband while also thwarting his plans.

Barry watched as the blue barrier around DeVoe collapsed. There was no sound beyond the usual one of the explosions; it looked like the barrier turned into a net that collapsed into itself.

Barry could have sworn that if DeVoe's eyes grew any further, they would fall out of his skull. When he screamed, his voice was filled with both confusion and fury, "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

His eyes then turned into a sharp glare straight at Barry as he screamed, "How have you done it, Flash?! How could you destroy my protection sphere? What other secrets do you hold that I am unaware of?!"

For someone smart, that was a very stupid question. It's not like Barry would tell him; after all, what would be the point of it? That said, this time Barry couldn't answer even if he wanted to, because he himself wasn't sure what the hell just happened.

First DeVoe tried to teleport away and failed; that was according to plan. But the blue flash of light that always accompanied DeVoe's sudden appearance and disappearance was not.

It shouldn't have happened, and still it did, and DeVoe stayed, with his chair exploding a moment later. That was when all the dots connected in Barry's mind, but before he could actually confirm his suspicions himself, a familiar voice said calmly, "It wasn't their doing, Clifford. It was mine."

DeVoe spun his chair in an angle that allowed Barry to see the woman with long dark hair, a lab coat, and pale skin who was standing there.

Marlize was still holding up what Barry could swear was the gun Wally made for himself out of Harry's blueprint. Her face was calm despite everything going on.

DeVoe's voice did a 180 and turned from full of fury to a wistful one, though it still held the same amount of confusion as he called out, "Marlize? Has my body begun to decay my mind?" The latter question was asked in a mumble under his breath.

Marlize narrowed her eyes at him and replied dryly, "Despite your best attempt... Dear husband..." Even Barry felt the need to cringe at the amount of sarcasm the woman managed to put on that word. "It's still really me standing here."

DeVoe frowned, and there was a familiar flicker in his eyes, something that Barry came to associate with a failing plan. It was like each time this light flickered in his eyes, his rationality lost another layer and he became more of a madman.

Barry saw it when they met outside of Mercury Labs, he saw it just a few moments ago after Barry defeated his entire army, and here it was again. But that worried Barry, because how much further could DeVoe go? How long would it be before innocents lost their lives every moment so DeVoe could get what he wanted?

Barry resolved himself again to end that monster here and now; the problem was that his body didn't seem to cooperate with him. His muscles still ached, his air was still coming up short, and he could still taste iron on his tongue.

He looked to his sides to see Jesse was in even worse shape than him, barely managing to keep her eyes open. Lyra on the other side seemed to have lost less power than him, but she recovered much slower. Was that because of her cold powers? Barry couldn't be sure, and now wasn't the time to dwell on theories.

Right now, all he could do was focus back on the conversation between the husband and wife in front of him, hoping it would go long enough for him to recover at least some of his energy to end this.

DeVoe seemed at a loss, and he didn't look like he enjoyed the condition much, but he found it within himself to ask calmly, "How are you here?"

Marlize looked blankly at her husband and replied with the same accented emotionless tone, "Did you forget who created your transportation mechanism?"

DeVoe leaned back in his chair and hummed in realization before he spoke smoothly, "So you have rerouted the teleportation so it would bring you to my location rather than pull me to the default beacon. As impressive as I would expect of you."

Marlize frowned and retorted, "You are saying it now, and yet each time you keep neglecting my contribution to an operation."

DeVoe kept his relaxed pose while his voice remained calm. "And yet here you still stand, my dear."

Marlize rolled her eyes and shot back at the madman, "Oh, will you stop with the theatrics, Clifford? It was never your strong suit."

DeVoe's composure faltered, and he frowned for a moment, but before he could reply, Marlize spoke again. "You poisoned me because you thought I had no more value to your plans."

DeVoe's stare tried to penetrate the woman across from him, but Marlize remained calm and unconcerned. Barry would even say defiant. So the madman tried pleading with her. "You are wrong, dear. You have never lost your value, but I could not bear the thought you would betray me. Alas, my calculations showed me it would be inevitable..." DeVoe looked like he tried to give her a charming smile that actually looked like an upside-down grimace before finishing, "It was as we promised each other on our wedding day... to support each other until death do us part."

Barry could feel his stomach turn at the excuse the floating crazy man gave. Seriously?! In what world would this be an acceptable reason for the murder of your wife? Even by the usual standards of crazy, Barry thought DeVoe just took first place, and he had to deal with nutjobs like Zoom and Thawne who defied the laws of space and time just for some petty reasons.

Marlize didn't seem to be impressed by the reasoning either and replied, calm as ever, "Have your brilliant mind considered the fact that those calculations were mere possibilities, but by choosing the course of action you did, you have ensured those possibilities came to pass?"

DeVoe scoffed at the mere idea of him making an intentional mistake and asked back with a taunting voice, "If so, do tell me, Marlize, how did you survive and come to work with those who will stop progress?"

Marlize clicked her tongue before replying, "You didn't even consider that your pet wife would dare to defy you, so you missed when on one of my market trips I met Doctor Snow, and she pointed out some interesting things to me. It was a matter of placing a phone call after I figured out what you did to me, and they came to save me without question, knowing that it might be a trap. Do you see the irony here, Clifford? My husband, who I trusted, killed me, while the ones who I considered enemies saved me without a second thought. Maybe this is one lesson that you must learn yourself first."

DeVoe's calmness evaporated away at that, and he said with rage, "Have you forgotten why you have helped me all this time? Your team members who lost their lives while trying to help improve the world. This is humanity, and it must be purged. I am the only one who could see and act on it; my plan is the only way for salvation to humanity!"

Marlize shook her head sadly and spoke in a soft voice, "I was blinded by my anger and hubris; I can see it now. Yes, those who killed my team were evil men that should have never existed in our world, but then there are people like those I lost. People who chose to help because of the love and compassion in their heart. Your plan will still allow the former to come and be, but the latter could never be if you rob them of their hearts. This is why I now see that your plans must be stopped."

"So, you will betray your husband with no shame." DeVoe growled out the challenge, apparently trying to draw Marlize back to his side using their marriage.

Marlize let out something between a sigh and a snort before saying with a grave but resolute tone, "My husband died during the night of the particle accelerator. He was your first victim... Thinker."

Barry was surprised when Marlize used the nickname Cisco jokingly assigned to the floating madman during one of their sessions.

DeVoe's fists clenched, and he leaned as much forward in his chair as he could with the cords attached to his head and body while he screamed, "Insolent, wretched, weak! I thought that you had the strength to see humanity for what it is, to see the disease that I must cure. But you are weak-minded like the rest of them!"

DeVoe stopped himself and took a deep breath. Barry could feel his strength coming back to him, at least enough for him to stand up, so he began to get back to his feet while watching DeVoe leaning back in his chair and saying smugly, "And so little minds like yours could never defeat someone of my intellectual caliber."

Marlize smirked right back at him, which seemed to cause her husband to snap in anger. With an aggressive push of a few buttons, four metal arms extended from the chair; at the end of each was what looked like four sharp talons and a cannon in its base.

DeVoe could only challenge back, "The Flash outsmarted me one too many times; this will never be allowed to happen again! You might have built this chair, but I am the one in control, and even you cannot stop me from bringing an end to this era."

Barry could feel sudden energy spikes next to him, and he could feel something odd happening inside the Speedforce, but his eyes remained locked on the still smirking face of Marlize, as he kept hoping he could gather enough energy to use his speed to save her when DeVoe attacked.

He was a little surprised when her voice was smug itself as she said, "Who said anything about me defeating you? Unlike you, I am aware of my limitations. No, the one who will end your madness is the one you dismissed all along, and let me tell you how big a mistake that was. After all, you have taken everything from her, and now she is here to get it all back at every cost."

DeVoe's eyes once again looked like they were about to escape their sockets when what Marlize said sank in, and he realized what was about to happen. He spun his chair to Barry's direction, arms ready for a lethal attack while he snarled, "I do not make miscalcula... AHGHGA!"

Before he could even finish his delusional declaration, a bolt of orange and blue lightning hit him square in the chest, causing DeVoe to scream in pain while sparks began flying in every direction from his floating chair. The screaming ended a moment later, and the chair that just a few seconds ago floated a couple of meters off the ground with menacing blue lights was now barely a couple of centimeters in the air, with sparks still shooting out randomly instead of menacing lights.

But what was more important was the man who was controlling the chair and was snarling threats was now sitting slumped inside of it, only holding his position thanks to all the wires still connected to his body.

Barry turned his wide eyes toward Lyra, who was standing there with narrowed eyes and both arms stretched out in DeVoe's direction. She was panting, and he could see that now she had used all of her energy, and there was no way she would be able to use her speed until she got some rest, same as him if he was being honest.

The simple fact was that the fight was over; DeVoe was defeated. Barry could see the man's chest was still rising and falling, so he was still alive, though with his health, Barry would bet it would take him some time to wake up, and when he did, Barry would make sure it would be in a place he would never be able to hurt anyone again.