(The Flash) Frozen Flashpoint: Chapter 24 - Open eyes

Chapter 24 - Open eyes

Summary: The Snow-Allen family emerges from their trip to the Speedforce to discuss what they saw. DeVoe's next move is revealed.

Caitlin and Barry slowly shook off the daze vibing can cause once you come out of it. Though something felt different this time.

Once their vision cleared, both of them could see Lyra having a little harder time shaking the daze off, but she was obviously awake and was already being checked on by Jesse, while the both of them got the undivided attention of the resident engineer.

"Hey, hey, are you guys okay?" Cisco asked frantically.

Caitlin raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "Why are you so worked up? We were just vibing, nothing you haven't done before."

There was a moment of silence when Cisco and Harry exchanged an uneasy look. Barry caught on to that and asked a little wryly, "Umm... guys, what's going on?"

Cisco looked uncomfortable? No, it wasn't that. Barry was having a hard time placing the expression Cisco had on his face, and his tone carried the same heaviness somehow. "Well, you were vibing for a long time, to the point I began to consider pulling you out, but just as we were about to make the choice, I felt you disappear."

Caitlin frowned at him and asked in a confused voice, "Disappear? As in our bodies were gone?"

Cisco nodded, and now it was confusion that was spreading over his face. "No. Not your bodies, your... presences." Caitlin began to look worried, so Cisco was quick to keep talking. "It's actually usual for that to happen when people I drag into a vibe leave. But until now, when that happens, the people usually wake up. You two stayed passed out."

Cisco's expression shifted back to that odd one Barry had a hard time placing, but now it was obvious to him—it was distress. Cisco's voice was filled with it as well. "I tried to vibe all three of you again, but I kept being blocked by some storm." Then his eyes shifted toward Barry, and he said, "The last time I felt something close to it was when..."

Realization fell on Barry, and a small grimace strained his face as he guessed, "You and Iris tried to pull me out of the Speedforce."

Cisco's eyes widened and he nodded. A side glance at his fiancée proved to him she managed to put things together as well.

"And how could you guess it, Allen?" Barry turned to see Harry scowling at him.

Caitlin let a small smile pass on her lips as she said, "Well, because it's sort of what happened this time as well."

Cisco frowned himself and asked, "Uh-huh, uh-huh... How?! Last time you just vanished after being struck by lightning again. This time you just transformed from vibing to a stroll around the Speedforce again?"

Barry shrugged, not sure what to say about that except, "What can I say, dude? We were inside the vibe seeing Lyra's past when suddenly all three of us were approached by the Speedforce and things went kind of weird from there, as per usual for the Speedforce."

Jesse seemed to jump from sitting next to Lyra, a pout on her face as she complained, "Wait... So all three of you were in the Speedforce for the entire time?" When she received a couple of nods from Barry and Caitlin, she complained louder, "Without me?!"

Barry chuckled a little sheepishly. "Well, it's not like we chose to..."

He was cut off when Jesse whined while pointing at Caitlin, "She isn't even a speedster! How is that fair?!"

Barry rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly; he really couldn't say anything to that. But then again, it's not like he chooses who and when visits the Speedforce!

Lyra sat up on her bed and patted the shoulder of the pouting speedster. "If it makes you feel better, Uncle Wally did mention you got to visit the Speedforce once before... well, yeah." The future teen trailed off.

There was a tense silence for a moment before Lyra seemed to jump on her bed and her gaze whipped toward her parents and she asked with a small edge to her voice, "Did you say Uncle Cisco vibed you to see my memories?"

Barry could feel his cheeks heating a little. While he felt they were justified to do that considering the circumstances, he could see how it could be an invasion of privacy.

Caitlin, on the other hand, seemed to have no issue with that as she retorted in a firm voice, "Nothing, little star. You were in shock and wouldn't wake up out of it. We had to do something, and it was obvious something about those two metas caused you extreme distress."

Lyra flushed and grumbled to herself for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh and asking tiredly, "What did you see?"

Barry looked at her for a moment, debating if he should say something or just dismiss the question, but he decided that his daughter at least had the right to know what they learned. "We saw the day Cisco lost his hands..." Cisco flinched and began rubbing his hands. "We saw the attack on Star City where you learned you are a speedster, and we saw the day you left to run back to the past." Lyra didn't react as badly as Barry expected; maybe she really needed that experience the Speedforce gave her.

Caitlin's voice was soft and with a tint of sadness as she said, "We saw your connection with Mia, and... we saw Dawn."

Lyra's eyes widened and she looked deep into Caitlin's eyes for a long moment before looking down and saying quietly, "I... I didn't say anything because..."

Caitlin stood up and pulled her daughter into a hug while saying, "It's okay, little star. We understand, and we are very proud of you and the bravery it takes to make the choices you did."

Lyra looked at her, not with tears in her eyes but not without sadness. "All this time I was stuck in that moment, thinking I was running away." The light in her eyes switched then from sadness to determination. "Now I know. I will stop the monster that broke my family and go back to them."

Everyone smiled at her, reassuring her that she would do just that. Well, everyone except one person. "It won't be so easy, kid."

Everyone turned toward Harry, who leaned back on his desk with crossed arms and stared at Lyra. Though his face wasn't in a frown or a scowl. Barry would say it was emotionless, but he could see the softness in the edges of his eyes and jaw.

Jesse frowned at her father and tried to protest, "Come on, dad, you don't have to ruin..."

Barry was surprised when it was Lyra that cut her off, saying calmly, "No, Aunt Jesse, I want to hear it."

She then turned to Harry and said in a firm tone, "I'm listening, Grunkle Harry."

Harry's eyes widened for a moment before he returned to his calm mask and explained, "Once you change the past here by defeating DeVoe and his minions before they rise to power, you will also change the future you will be returning to."

Barry wasn't sure how he could miss it. After doing the same thing himself and seeing the devastating consequences, he should have thought about that as well, but his mind was clouded by worry for his daughter that the result of her little mission didn't even register with him until now.

Barry hated to be the one to deliver bad news to his daughter, but it should be him, both as her father and the experienced speedster. So with a deep breath, he said, "Once you return to the future, it will be different, and only you will remember what was before."

Lyra frowned and asked a little too quietly, "Are you saying that everything will be different?"

Barry shook his head gently and answered her with the most comforting words he could think of, "Not everything, Snowflake. Some things will always stay the same. We will always love you no matter what..." He paused, knowing what his daughter really needed to hear, he added in a strong voice, "Mia will always love you; she is your lightning rod after all."

Lyra began to smile at the thought, and Barry hated that he had to add another worry onto her, but there was something he had to say. "When you go back, the burden of knowing what was will be yours alone."

Lyra took a moment to let those words sink in before she adopted a determined look on her face and said confidently, "I can do it. For all of them—for Mia, Mom, and Dawn."

"Don't listen to your dad, Little Star." Caitlin spoke finally, surprising all of them, Barry most of all.

Barry looked at her with wide eyes and began asking, "Cait..."

But he was ignored as his fiancée spoke straight toward their daughter with a fusion between a gentle and firm tone, something Barry dubbed long ago as her Doctor Snow voice. "Barry tried to do what he is suggesting, but it never ended well for your father. When he tried to hold back the truth the first time he ran back in time, it almost destroyed the city. And then by holding back and 'carrying the burden himself,' he almost ran back in time to create an alternate timeline."

"Am I never going to live it down? I didn't do it after all; should count for something," Barry grumbled to himself in what he thought was a whisper, but the look Caitlin shot him made it obvious she heard him just fine and was going to talk with him about it later.

The brunette then turned back toward her daughter and said with a small smile, "If you ask me, it will be much better if when you are back you talk with someone. Maybe us, or even Mia, so you won't have to feel alone."

Seeing the hesitating look on Lyra's face, Caitlin added, "You don't have to tell them everything, just enough for you to feel comfortable with and for them to understand what you went through so they could help you when you need it."

Lyra seemed to consider her mother's words for a few moments before giving a small smile that seemed to copy the one Caitlin wears and said, "Thanks, Mom. I will have to think about it."

Caitlin patted Lyra's shoulder with a wide smile before shooting Barry another sideways look that had him sweating a little.

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Caitlin was standing in her medical bay over the sitting form of her daughter, shining a bright light into her eyes, moving her arm slowly and slightly.

"Mooomm..." Lyra whined like a five-year-old. "I am fine; you don't have to keep checking up on me."

Caitlin let out a sigh, thinking what it was with speedsters and medical treatment that made them so impatient. She shook her head and with a stern voice countered, "I will be the one who will decide when you are fine or not. You were in a state of shock for over three hours and had to be woken up by the Speedforce."

Lyra seemed like she was about to argue, but just then a voice from the cortex called out, "Caitlin, are you in here?"

Caitlin shot her daughter a look that promised they weren't done yet before turning toward the door and calling back, "Yeah, here, Cisco."

Her best friend appeared a moment later with a concerned look and said a little hesitantly, "Umm, can you come out to the cortex for a moment? There's something you need to see."

Usually, Caitlin would admonish him for interfering when she is with a patient, but Cisco was never this timid, and that had her worried. She could even feel Frost getting a little on edge at the back of her head, ready to jump in and take over if needed. Caitlin let out a sigh and nodded.

From the corner of her eyes, she caught Lyra mouth 'thank you' to the engineer who looked at her confused before going back toward the cortex.

Caitlin sent a small glare toward the future teen and said, "Don't think I missed that, young lady. We will be back here straight after I see what Cisco needs."

Lyra gulped a little and nodded her head quickly.

When they arrived at the cortex, there was a simulation of an odd chemical structure on the big screen.

Caitlin took a moment to scan the components that made the structure in front of her, and as she went on to recognize most of them, she became both confused and alarmed.

While Caitlin was scanning the screen, Cisco asked, "Where is Barry? I couldn't find him."

Lyra shrugged and answered easily, "He said something about a surprise and that he will be back in a minute."

She looked at Cisco with a hard look in her eyes and demanded, "What is this?"

Cisco flinched a little, but before he could recompose himself, Harry stated bluntly, "DeVoe's next piece of the puzzle."

Caitlin's dread halted in place and gave way to confusion again. With a frown, she asked, "Some of those components are counterproductive when reacting to others within the structure as a whole. If anything, I would call this thing a poison, so why does DeVoe need it?"

"Actually, Mom, you're only half right," the voice of Lyra said from behind her, though Caitlin was surprised hearing it shake a little.

When Caitlin turned toward her daughter, she saw her with a pale face, and before she could even ask, Lyra kept talking in the same shaky tone, "It will kill any ordinary human, but not a meta. To us, it works like an enhancer."

Caitlin felt herself frown again and asked, a little afraid of the answer, "What kind of enhancer?"

Lyra's pale face regained a little color, and she explained, "Well, each meta reacts differently, hence the large variety of components in the structure. To some, it increases the output of their ability..."

Cisco jumped from his chair and shouted, "Like that velocity drug Zoom used!"

Lyra nodded with a little frown. "Same result, but this drug doesn't have any drawbacks other than a little tiredness when it wears off. Other metas can find their body better adjusting to their ability and eliminate its drawback like..."

That's when Caitlin realized the meaning and let out in a horror-filled, breathless tone, "Like increases brain wave outputs in an intelligence ability so the muscles of the body won't have to make the difference by shutting down."

Harry was scowling in the corner, as per usual. He stared at Lyra and asked, not harshly, which surprised Caitlin, "How do you know that?"

Lyra shrugged and said casually, "Dad had to deal with an outbreak of this drug a couple years before DeVoe rose to power. And after... some got their hands on it."

Caitlin turned back to the screen to restudy the chemical and asked absent-mindedly, "Who would ever develop something like this?"

A voice Caitlin recognized but most certainly didn't expect answered her, "That would be us, or more specifically me."