Reverse Flashpoint, Chapter 6
Title: Reverse Flashpoint
Fandom: The Flash
Characters: Nora, Ralph, Cisco, Caitlin, Weather Witch, George Lockwood (Earth-1), Otis Graves (Earth-1), Mercy Graves (Earth-1), original characters
Warnings: Spoilers for most recent series
Summary: As George Lockwood's anti-metahuman rally begins, Lisa Snart's team plan to disrupt it by freeing other metahumans.
“Citizens of Central City,” George Lockwood began, “on this night, the 30th anniversary of the Battle for Central City, where ARGUS triumphed against Eobard Thawne and his army of enhanced metahumans…”
“Yeah, you triumphed so well that he got away from you that day, evaded you until ’46 and you still don’t know if the guy’s alive or dead!” heckled someone in the audience.
George Lockwood ignored the interruption. “Tonight we celebrate the victory of ARGUS, the end of the Metahuman Wars, the cleansing of our city. On that night in 2019, we saved this city.”
“The Flash used to save our city, asshole, a metahuman!” called out someone else.
Killer Frost waited for Lockwood to give the order to his security detail to find the hecklers and seize them. However, Lockwood instead chose to ignore them and continue with his speech, ignoring also the persistent rain and wind, courtesy of Weather Witch.
“I know there are some of you out there who still have your doubts,” he went on, “and believe me, I understand. When I was a young boy, not long after the Metahuman Wars began, I had my doubts too that my father’s methods were the right way to go. I foolishly believed that there could be some good in metahumans, that they could be helped.”
“Here we go again,” Weather Witch rolled her eyes. “How many times now have we heard the same old story about the time he found his mother dead killed by a meta? Guy brings the same story out every time there’s one of these rallies. Pass me a violin.” She stuck her fingers down her throat, pretending to vomit as someone else in the crowd started jeering. Killer Frost didn’t know who those guys out there were that were heckling him, but whoever they were, they were doing a good job of distracting Team Lockwood. Her splinter faction sent there to cause the distraction while Lisa Snart sent people in to free the metahuman prisoners almost wasn’t needed.
For a moment, Killer Frost thought back to the time when she had been part of Team Flash, part of putting some of those metahumans behind bars. Even now that she had turned her back on that life, she still wasn’t sure it was a wise idea to let some of them roam the streets freely. Then she saw Lockwood working himself up, ranting about metahumans, and Killer Frost knew she had to stop thinking this way. She’d made her choice, she’d chosen the metahumans.
“Lockwood’s getting a little hot under the collar there,” Weather Witch smirked as she watched him addressing one of the hecklers.
Killer Frost smiled. “Maybe it’s time to cool things down a bit.”
Was this the same route down which ARGUS had taken her mother, back when they first came for her? Jenna couldn’t really remember that time, had blocked it out from her memories. Mostly, she remembered trying to cling on to Cecile’s legs, hoping that would stop the ARGUS men from taking her, and Joe trying to tell her to be brave, but that it was only temporary and that they’d see each other again.
Jenna wondered if Joe had believed that in the moment he said it.
Instead, they had taken Jenna to the care home, still trying to tell her it was only temporary. She’d met Victoria and Michael there, spent her days planning how they would get out of there and overthrow the Lockwood regime, prove to people that not all metahumans were bad and that some wanted to use their powers to help people. She still remembered all the tests they had been subjected to in an attempt to establish whether any of them had inherited powers from their parents, how she had tried to hide her ability to read thoughts for so long until the day she accidentally let slip that she knew something that hadn’t been said aloud. She remembered how they had been segregated into those who had inherited some form of powers from their parents and those who had not; remembered the constant message that they were second class citizens, would remain so until they turned eighteen and were able to be given the cure.
They had eventually succeeded in escaping a few months before Jenna’s eighteenth birthday; turned their backs on the home, made their way to the hideout where Ralph had already started founding their resistance, leading the mission to prove that there was good in metahumans. Sometimes she still thought about that moment when Victoria had asked her to slice into her flesh, to remove the power dampening chip the home had inserted once it had become clear that she had indeed inherited powers, fearing the whole time that her shaking hands would cause her to nick an artery, and then when Michael had held her down so Victoria could do the same to her, opening up that world which the home had been denying to them. And when Jenna was out of there, she had immediately changed her name from West to Horton-West, as a way of honouring the memory of her mother.
She’d made a vow to her mother once, promised that she would do whatever it took to fight the oppression of metahumans. Now as Otis Graves drove them to their destination, she knew she had lost her final chance to keep that promise.
Most nights, Ralph still dreamed of Kamilla.
He still remembered Cisco, that day the news had been brought to him that Kamilla was dead, killed by a piece of stray shrapnel while helping Iris cover a story on the Metahuman Wars, turning on him, punching him in the face and yelling at him that it was all his fault, that if he hadn’t pushed so hard for Kamilla to be part of the group and got her that job in the first place she wouldn’t be dead, and Ralph couldn’t argue with that fact. He’d killed Kamilla just as much as if he’d been the one behind the attack.
Barry had broken up the fight in the end, tried to say to Cisco that Thawne and his team, and not Ralph, were responsible, but Ralph had known in his heart that he was wrong, that he couldn’t stay. That was when he’d first started his resistance group, determined just to survive the Metahuman Wars at the start, then their goal became to prove to the likes of ARGUS and President Lockwood that there was some good in metahumans and a future worth fighting for. It wasn’t long afterwards that he had learned that Cisco had also turned his back on what was left of Team Flash, turned towards ARGUS, believing that was the way for him to deal with his loss.
This was going to be the first time he had seen Cisco face to face since the day of the fight, and whatever Cisco had planned for him, Ralph still didn’t think he could say he didn’t deserve it.
“This isn’t STAR Labs holding cells,” Victoria said as Otis Graves dragged her out of the van.
“That’s your next stop,” Graves growled. “First, we’re gonna show the city how we get results.” As Graves started leading Victoria away, a woman who, judging from her nametag was his sister, grabbed Nora and bundled her out of the back of the van, heading towards what appeared to be some sort of rally. A placard outside the Central City Square read “President George Lockwood Addresses the City”.
“What is this?” Nora asked, struggling to break free from Mercy Graves’s hold even though she knew it was futile. “Are they doing public shaming of metahumans now?”
“Welcome to ARGUS rule,” Mercy snapped as she manhandled Nora through the crowds, towards where the ARGUS people were clearing a path for them.
“And tonight,” President Lockwood announced, “I have a very special announcement. The latest drone technology, as created by my father’s right hand man Cisco Ramon, has led to the capture of one of the metahuman groups operating in the area, including Public Enemy Number One, the metahuman who helped Eobard Thawne in his rise to power, Nora West-Allen!”
There was Cisco, in the crowd standing next to a man who had to be President Lockwood’s father, and as Nora watched, he locked eyes with Ralph, and an expression Nora couldn’t quite identify crossed his face…
“So tonight we celebrate the fact that we’re one step closer to discovering the whereabouts of Eobard Thawne!” Lockwood roared. Nora almost wanted to laugh; if Lockwood thought that capturing her was going to bring him closer to that, he obviously had no clue: if Thawne really had been missing since 2046, Nora had no way of knowing where he was now.
“You think so?” came a new voice. Nora spun around to see a group of people making their way towards the rally; although she had never met the leader, she recognised her as the woman from the newscast, Lisa Snart. “You’ll have to get through us first!”
“Is that Livewire?” Jenna turned to Victoria, looking at one woman behind Lisa Snart, as the newly arrived group of metahumans surged forward towards the podium where President Lockwood stood.
Nora didn’t know, but she’d just seen a face she did recognise, one she hadn’t seen since before she first went back to 2019: Godspeed.
“Oh, shrap,” she whispered to herself. “This can’t be good.”
Fandom: The Flash
Characters: Nora, Ralph, Cisco, Caitlin, Weather Witch, George Lockwood (Earth-1), Otis Graves (Earth-1), Mercy Graves (Earth-1), original characters
Warnings: Spoilers for most recent series
Summary: As George Lockwood's anti-metahuman rally begins, Lisa Snart's team plan to disrupt it by freeing other metahumans.
“Citizens of Central City,” George Lockwood began, “on this night, the 30th anniversary of the Battle for Central City, where ARGUS triumphed against Eobard Thawne and his army of enhanced metahumans…”
“Yeah, you triumphed so well that he got away from you that day, evaded you until ’46 and you still don’t know if the guy’s alive or dead!” heckled someone in the audience.
George Lockwood ignored the interruption. “Tonight we celebrate the victory of ARGUS, the end of the Metahuman Wars, the cleansing of our city. On that night in 2019, we saved this city.”
“The Flash used to save our city, asshole, a metahuman!” called out someone else.
Killer Frost waited for Lockwood to give the order to his security detail to find the hecklers and seize them. However, Lockwood instead chose to ignore them and continue with his speech, ignoring also the persistent rain and wind, courtesy of Weather Witch.
“I know there are some of you out there who still have your doubts,” he went on, “and believe me, I understand. When I was a young boy, not long after the Metahuman Wars began, I had my doubts too that my father’s methods were the right way to go. I foolishly believed that there could be some good in metahumans, that they could be helped.”
“Here we go again,” Weather Witch rolled her eyes. “How many times now have we heard the same old story about the time he found his mother dead killed by a meta? Guy brings the same story out every time there’s one of these rallies. Pass me a violin.” She stuck her fingers down her throat, pretending to vomit as someone else in the crowd started jeering. Killer Frost didn’t know who those guys out there were that were heckling him, but whoever they were, they were doing a good job of distracting Team Lockwood. Her splinter faction sent there to cause the distraction while Lisa Snart sent people in to free the metahuman prisoners almost wasn’t needed.
For a moment, Killer Frost thought back to the time when she had been part of Team Flash, part of putting some of those metahumans behind bars. Even now that she had turned her back on that life, she still wasn’t sure it was a wise idea to let some of them roam the streets freely. Then she saw Lockwood working himself up, ranting about metahumans, and Killer Frost knew she had to stop thinking this way. She’d made her choice, she’d chosen the metahumans.
“Lockwood’s getting a little hot under the collar there,” Weather Witch smirked as she watched him addressing one of the hecklers.
Killer Frost smiled. “Maybe it’s time to cool things down a bit.”
Was this the same route down which ARGUS had taken her mother, back when they first came for her? Jenna couldn’t really remember that time, had blocked it out from her memories. Mostly, she remembered trying to cling on to Cecile’s legs, hoping that would stop the ARGUS men from taking her, and Joe trying to tell her to be brave, but that it was only temporary and that they’d see each other again.
Jenna wondered if Joe had believed that in the moment he said it.
Instead, they had taken Jenna to the care home, still trying to tell her it was only temporary. She’d met Victoria and Michael there, spent her days planning how they would get out of there and overthrow the Lockwood regime, prove to people that not all metahumans were bad and that some wanted to use their powers to help people. She still remembered all the tests they had been subjected to in an attempt to establish whether any of them had inherited powers from their parents, how she had tried to hide her ability to read thoughts for so long until the day she accidentally let slip that she knew something that hadn’t been said aloud. She remembered how they had been segregated into those who had inherited some form of powers from their parents and those who had not; remembered the constant message that they were second class citizens, would remain so until they turned eighteen and were able to be given the cure.
They had eventually succeeded in escaping a few months before Jenna’s eighteenth birthday; turned their backs on the home, made their way to the hideout where Ralph had already started founding their resistance, leading the mission to prove that there was good in metahumans. Sometimes she still thought about that moment when Victoria had asked her to slice into her flesh, to remove the power dampening chip the home had inserted once it had become clear that she had indeed inherited powers, fearing the whole time that her shaking hands would cause her to nick an artery, and then when Michael had held her down so Victoria could do the same to her, opening up that world which the home had been denying to them. And when Jenna was out of there, she had immediately changed her name from West to Horton-West, as a way of honouring the memory of her mother.
She’d made a vow to her mother once, promised that she would do whatever it took to fight the oppression of metahumans. Now as Otis Graves drove them to their destination, she knew she had lost her final chance to keep that promise.
Most nights, Ralph still dreamed of Kamilla.
He still remembered Cisco, that day the news had been brought to him that Kamilla was dead, killed by a piece of stray shrapnel while helping Iris cover a story on the Metahuman Wars, turning on him, punching him in the face and yelling at him that it was all his fault, that if he hadn’t pushed so hard for Kamilla to be part of the group and got her that job in the first place she wouldn’t be dead, and Ralph couldn’t argue with that fact. He’d killed Kamilla just as much as if he’d been the one behind the attack.
Barry had broken up the fight in the end, tried to say to Cisco that Thawne and his team, and not Ralph, were responsible, but Ralph had known in his heart that he was wrong, that he couldn’t stay. That was when he’d first started his resistance group, determined just to survive the Metahuman Wars at the start, then their goal became to prove to the likes of ARGUS and President Lockwood that there was some good in metahumans and a future worth fighting for. It wasn’t long afterwards that he had learned that Cisco had also turned his back on what was left of Team Flash, turned towards ARGUS, believing that was the way for him to deal with his loss.
This was going to be the first time he had seen Cisco face to face since the day of the fight, and whatever Cisco had planned for him, Ralph still didn’t think he could say he didn’t deserve it.
“This isn’t STAR Labs holding cells,” Victoria said as Otis Graves dragged her out of the van.
“That’s your next stop,” Graves growled. “First, we’re gonna show the city how we get results.” As Graves started leading Victoria away, a woman who, judging from her nametag was his sister, grabbed Nora and bundled her out of the back of the van, heading towards what appeared to be some sort of rally. A placard outside the Central City Square read “President George Lockwood Addresses the City”.
“What is this?” Nora asked, struggling to break free from Mercy Graves’s hold even though she knew it was futile. “Are they doing public shaming of metahumans now?”
“Welcome to ARGUS rule,” Mercy snapped as she manhandled Nora through the crowds, towards where the ARGUS people were clearing a path for them.
“And tonight,” President Lockwood announced, “I have a very special announcement. The latest drone technology, as created by my father’s right hand man Cisco Ramon, has led to the capture of one of the metahuman groups operating in the area, including Public Enemy Number One, the metahuman who helped Eobard Thawne in his rise to power, Nora West-Allen!”
There was Cisco, in the crowd standing next to a man who had to be President Lockwood’s father, and as Nora watched, he locked eyes with Ralph, and an expression Nora couldn’t quite identify crossed his face…
“So tonight we celebrate the fact that we’re one step closer to discovering the whereabouts of Eobard Thawne!” Lockwood roared. Nora almost wanted to laugh; if Lockwood thought that capturing her was going to bring him closer to that, he obviously had no clue: if Thawne really had been missing since 2046, Nora had no way of knowing where he was now.
“You think so?” came a new voice. Nora spun around to see a group of people making their way towards the rally; although she had never met the leader, she recognised her as the woman from the newscast, Lisa Snart. “You’ll have to get through us first!”
“Is that Livewire?” Jenna turned to Victoria, looking at one woman behind Lisa Snart, as the newly arrived group of metahumans surged forward towards the podium where President Lockwood stood.
Nora didn’t know, but she’d just seen a face she did recognise, one she hadn’t seen since before she first went back to 2019: Godspeed.
“Oh, shrap,” she whispered to herself. “This can’t be good.”