A Flash of the Lightning

Previously on "The Flash" Photography was always my passion.

I figured, why not make it my job?

These are great.

Frost, you have always been there for me.

It never occurred to me that you might want to live a life.

Nice doing business with you.

This is a potential cure.

What's the bonding agent?

Dark matter.

S. T. A. R.

Labs has the dark matter I need to take the next step.

My cure will work.

Or turn them into meta-humans against their will.

You cannot avoid the coming crisis.

Just tell me what I can do.

The Flash must die.

I stared at that newspaper for so many years.

"Flash Missing, Vanishes in Crisis.

" First it felt like a guide.

You know, like proof that things were headed in the right direction.

Then it became a sword hanging over my head.

A part of me always felt like if I vanish in whatever crisis is coming Maybe I was still out there somewhere, looking for a way to come back to you.

According to The Monitor, that doesn't happen.

"To save the lives of billions, the Flash must die.

" What kind crap is that?

No, I'm serious.

I mean, The Monitor shows up here out of nowhere and says that you're supposed to die on December 10th?

The last I remember, that article said that you were in a fight with Thawne, not some cosmic disaster.

- The article changed.

- If that article can change, then that means that we can still change the future.

So what do we do first?

If a doctor told you you were dying, you'd get a second opinion.

So I'm gonna go see this Crisis for myself.

You bring the cash?

I thought Gat would be here.

Gat's busy.

Change of plans.

It's $5,000 now.

Gat said it was $500.

Okay, wait, please.

I will get you the rest.

It's a matter of life and death.

Please, I will get the rest of the money.

- I promise.

- Too late.

T-minus 30 seconds, people.

I knew this was a bad idea.

This was your idea.

I'm just the guy making dreams come true.

20 seconds, people.

Okay, fine.

Just do it.

Did it work?

I sound like Caity.

You sound like a non-meta, thanks to Ray Palmer.

As long as this nanite camouflage cocktail is active, your voice and eyes will allow you to blend in with any group of regular Joes, so you can, you know, live your life without scaring the ever-loving crap out of people.

And what about my hair?

Trust me.

You'll fit right in.

Welcome.

Now, you two behave.

I'm gonna go find our star curator.

What am I looking at here?

Your next lesson, Frosty.

Some of the very stuff that makes life worth living: art.

Wowsers.

Is this photographer extraordinaire Kamilla Wang?

- Hi.

- Hi.

- Thank you for coming.

- Mm.

Yeah, of course.

Mm, very classy shirt, by the way.

Oh, a very cute photographer got it for me.

She looks a lot like you, actually.

I hope she doesn't mind that you already got some schmutz on it.

I did not get schmutz oh.

Yeah.

Yeah, I definitely did.

You know, sometimes you just want your girlfriend to have a good turnout for her show, so you make everybody clean up, and who ends up with nanite juice on their shirt?

Wait, who'd you bring?

You really do blend in here.

Except this place is so lame.

I mean, come on.

This isn't art.

It's garbage.

Come on, Frost.

It's not all that bad.

There are used tissues on this.

Okay?

And this is just a plunger.

Oh, my God, look at the brushstrokes on this one.

All right Whatever guy made this has some real issues.

Right, but, Frost, that's kind of the whole point.

Art reflects how we feel, so connecting to art can help us plumb the depths of our soul.

Okay.

What I am connecting to in these photos is that the photographer is afraid to get a shot in focus.

Those are actually mine.

They're not all winners.

Look, I can take a note, but if this is how Caitlin's other half is gonna act, maybe she should skip my next show.

Thank you for walking me through this one, babe.

No problem.

The suspect is Allegra Garcia.

She's 20 years old.

She runs a carjacking outfit out of Keystone.

Thanks to her meta-human ability to control radio waves.

That's a new one.

How is that possible?

Key fobs run on radio transmissions.

Anyway, Garcia has been in and out of Iron Heights and juvie since she was 13.

Last week, she tried to hijack a car that belonged to some guy named Salvador Traversoni.

He lost control of the car, and, as you can see, he died in the crash.

It says here an eyewitness puts Garcia at the scene, so open and shut.

Should be with you working on it.

- Mm!

- Mwah.

High five.

Your Honor, due to a preponderance of the evidence, the State intends to seek the maximum penalty against the defendant, Allegra Garcia.

Which is why the defense would like to plead out.

My client is aware that a jury would put her away for life and is willing to settle for, say, 15 years?

Is that true, Ms.

Garcia?

- I suppose.

- All right, then.

I guess we can save the taxpayers some time.

Ms.

Horton?

What the hell are you staring at?

Nothing.

Just, um Your Honor, the prosecution requests bail for Ms. Garcia.

What?

The defendant is pleading guilty.

I know, Your Honor, that it's a bit unorthodox, but we've discovered new evidence.

My office doesn't have the resources to find anything.

We just need a little bit of time to determine if the State wants to pursue a lighter sentence.

In the meantime, we request that meta-human dampeners be placed on Ms.

Garcia while we continue discovery.

Counselor Horton, this court appreciates your commitment to fair jurisprudence, but are you sure you want to go down this road?

Yes, Your Honor.

Are you sure?

Yeah.

Where will you go?

December 11, 2019.

It's the day after I'm supposed to disappear.

Maybe we should loop in the rest of Team Flash.

Not until we know the truth.

I just I don't feel great about you going in there alone.

I'm not gonna be alone.

I have this.

Hello, Barry Allen.

Preparing for temporal observational protocol.

Is that Gideon?

It's a mobile Gideon unit I built from salvaged parts of the plinth.

You'll come right back to this moment?

Right to this second?

I promise.

Approaching Mach 1.

Mach 2.

Now approaching November 30, 2019.

December 1, 2019.

Disruption barrier detected.

What the hell?

- Your wound is still not healing.

- Mm-hmm.

My readings indicate you were exposed to an extra-universal material that destroys positive matter on contact, a substance known as antimatter.

Antimatter?

That's new.

There's a wall of this stuff clogging up the Speed Force.

Gideon, how do I get past it?

Not without additional assistance.

Fortunately, there is an expert in the field, Dr.

Jay Garrick, formerly known as the Flash of Earth-3.

Good to see you again, Barry.

You too, Jay.

You were right.

You were hit with a dose of pure antimatter.

Lucky you have speed healing, or that scratch could've wiped you out of existence.

So is there a way that I can time travel past the barrier?

You want to tell me why the hell you were time traveling to begin with?

I needed to see for myself if The Monitor was telling the truth about what happened to me, and I know what you're gonna say about time traveling.

Actually, I was gonna tell you you made the right call.

For the past year I've been detecting antimatter signatures across the Multiverse.

Now, we don't know their origin, but if my algorithm is correct, all Earths could be in danger.

Then we have to find a way to break through that wall.

Ah, your body never could.

But maybe your mind can.

I built this thing years ago, the neural hyper-collider.

It harnesses neural electricity and transfers it across superluminal particles.

Therefore projecting human consciousness across space-time.

You could send someone's mind past the antimatter wall.

Not just anyone.

It's gotta be a speedster in his prime.

- You in?

- Yeah.

Then let's hustle.

I've already had to postpone my dinner plans.

Not any further, I hope.

Barry, I'd like you to meet my wife, Dr.

Joan Williams.

It is a pleasure to meet you, Barry Allen.

I've heard quite a bit about you.

Allegra Garcia.

Juvie offender from a criminal family, in and out of the system her entire life.

The night of the particle accelerator explosion, Allegra was caught up in a fight.

Next thing you know, she's got the power to control radio waves.

Then she gets transferred to the meta-human unit at Iron Heights.

- At 15?

- Mm.

Not exactly the justice system's finest moment.

Now here we are.

Allegra gets arrested again, but my powers are telling me that this time, she's innocent.

But the victim was killed by a radio wave attack, which is Allegra's meta-ability.

And an eyewitness placed her at the scene.

Even recognized her tattoo.

My powers have never been wrong before, and I do not want this kid going down for something she didn't do.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

She's not guilty.

Dude, come on.

Those are mine.

Sorry.

My bad.

See these burn marks on the vic?

They don't match a typical car explosion at all.

It's like he was burnt and toasty before the car crash.

We know that Allegra's powers give her the ability to control radio waves and not heat waves, so Allegra might not have done this.

And I told Judge Hankerson there was new evidence in Allegra's case.

Okay, guys.

All we have to do is find it.

CCPD already interviewed this guy.

You really think the eyewitness is gonna recant his story?

Well, eyewitness testimony isn't always perfect.

Plus, environmental factors, stress, even the order of lineup photos can effect memory.

So jogging his memory while he is at home, relaxed might bring something up.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Unit 37.

Here it is.

Uh-oh.

I always come prepared.

Oh, boy.

Allegra?

You're not going anywhere, okay?

We just want to talk for a second.

Freeze!

Freeze!

Allegra Garcia?

You're under arrest for parole violation.

I wouldn't touch that.

Sorry.

Jay told me he's a doppelganger of your late father.

Mm.

Do I remind you of anyone from your Earth?

Yeah, you do.

Hmm.

Who is she?

Someone very special.

Ain't she?

I never thought I'd settle down.

But I needed a neurological specialist to help with my depleting speed, and something just felt right between us.

You ready?

- Yeah.

- All right.

Come on.

Let's do it.

Jay's helmet will help channel the tachyons into your frontal cortex and ignite your synaptic pathways.

I won't lie to you, kid.

Beaming your mind past an antimatter wall is risky.

I know.

But right now, it's a matter of life and death.

Let's do it.

All right.

His biometrics are crashing.

I'm also picking up temporal energy readings.

His mind has broken past the barrier.

It's not just a new timeline he's found.

It's billions of them.

And Barry's mind is experiencing them all.

In order for billions to survive this coming crisis, the Flash must die.

You have to get him out of there.

"Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?

Like a fast-flittering meteor, a fast-flying cloud a flash of the lightning a break of the wave he passes from life to his rest in the grave.

" Barry.

You're with us.

William Knox.

I've discovered that poetry can stimulate collapsed neural pathways.

Lady Gaga usually works for me.

What's wrong with me?

The device overloaded your neural synapses, creating a near shutdown.

What you're experiencing now is called neural entropy.

It feels like my nerves are on fire.

They are.

Because you're a speedster, your synapses fire ten times the normal rate, so you're feeling ten times the amount of pain a non-speedster would.

You'll feel better in a day or two.

Okay, okay.

What'd you see in there, kid?

I saw Billions of possible futures.

Billions of deaths.

All their pain, their suffering.

And then they were gone.

I felt all of it.

Now I know The Monitor was right.

I have to die.

I need to go home.

Barry, Barry, you can't be moving.

Please, I have to see Iris.

Ow, ow, ow.

- It's not getting any less ow.

- I don't understand.

I thought Allegra controlled radio waves.

So did we, but she fired a heat blast right at Ralph.

It wasn't just heat.

It was ultraviolet radiation.

He got a sunburn.

Yeah.

From hell.

Look at his face.

Most UV light gets absorbed by the ozone layer.

This was entirely undiluted.

If it wasn't for his powers, that "sunburn" would've killed him.

So put some aloe on it.

Okay.

Can I just talk to Caitlin for a minute, please?

No.

I've got things to do.

What are we gonna do about this?

Don't even get me started.

Listen, even though UV rays have shorter wavelengths than radio waves, they're all part of the same electromagnetic spectrum.

So Allegra must be able to control all the different types of wavelengths, which means she could have killed Salvador and our eyewitness.

And I set her free.

Okay, help me understand why you pleaded guilty this morning and now you're suddenly innocent.

A girl can change her mind.

What were you doing at the witness' apartment?

Just needed to hash it out with him, prove it was wasn't me he saw.

That's something a detective would do.

I'm trying to be a reporter, okay?

Figured this was as good a time as any to get some experience.

Get a story and my freedom.

But what's the use?

You'll always see me as a criminal anyway.

You know what I see?

I see that scared little kid that I used to pick up for robbing liquor stores when she was 13.

That same girl that I would check on in juvie who would always tell me to leave.

This morning, I get a ping that you'd escaped from your meta-cuffs, and we find you in the location of the dead State's witness.

If you're a reporter, how does this story play out?

I didn't kill him or the driver.

I was trying to find out who did it.

I swear.

DA Horton.

I took a chance on you, Allegra.

So you tell me right now.

Who really did it?

Tell me who killed those people.

You wouldn't believe me either.

I want my lawyer.

This is insane.

This is insane.

All of the evidence says that she's guilty, but my powers are telling me that she's not just innocent.

She knows who the real killer is.

I just need her to trust me.

All you need to do right now is slow down.

No, what I need to do is find evidence to exonerate her before the trial, and I am running out of time.

Well, that's because you're trying to do the public defender's work and not your own.

You do realize how much trouble you can get in, right?

You let Allegra out of jail for an inexplicable reason, and now there's another murder.

But my powers are telling me Two people are dead, Cecile.

You know this kid.

You know her rap sheet.

It's petty crimes, robberies.

It's not double homicide.

That doesn't even add up.

I haven't known this woman in a long time, and the evidence adds up.

We need to recognize that unlike facts, feelings can be fallible.

Except when it's your gut.

- I've never said that.

- You didn't have to.

That is a scared kid with no one to stand up for her.

The Public Defender's Office is overworked and underpaid.

Joe I'm the only one who can prove her innocence.

Your job is to prosecute the cases that we bring to you using the evidence.

I mean, it's like you it's like you don't even want to be the DA.

Are you telling me I have to choose between using my powers and doing my job?

That is not what I just said.

No.

It's what you're feeling.

It was risky to move him here, but he needed to see you which we understand.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Your husband stared at me that same way when we first met.

I'm sorry.

You look just like Barry's mother.

- Oh.

- What?

Well, Barry's physical pain will go away, but the mental aspect some of that won't, not for a while.

But I know you'll keep an eye on him.

Thank you.

So they are going to scan our Earth for any other signs of antimatter and figure out a way to prevent whatever Crisis is coming.

It's not that simple.

Well, you said you saw a wave of antimatter destroy Earth.

All we have to do is come up with a plan to stop it.

We can't stop what's coming.

The Monitor was telling the truth.

We get Kara and Oliver and everybody.

We create an antimatter dampener.

I don't care.

We just find a way.

I saw you and Caitlin.

I saw everyone die.

The only timeline where you all survived was if I died.

No, no, that's not the future.

I saw a billion futures, Iris.

Okay, well, what about the billion and first or billion and second?

We control our destiny.

We can change the timeline for the better.

Maybe this is the reason I was given powers.

To save everyone.

You said this morning that you weren't giving up yet.

I have to accept this.

We both do.

And do nothing while you sit here and wait to die?

This is isn't you.

The Barry I know would never stop running.

He would find another way to fight.

It's open.

Hey.

Hey.

Iris wasn't answering her phone.

Is she here?

No, no, she's at work.

She's working.

What are you doing home?

You okay?

I got hurt running a Speed Force experiment, but I'll be fine.

Okay.

If you needed help with something from Iris, maybe I could help you out.

It's this case.

Allegra Garcia.

Cecile has some very strong feelings about it.

You want me to take a look?

Hmm.

How did you get hurt, Barr?

All right, look you don't have to share right now if you don't want to.

Just know that I'm here.

Always.

Something's coming, Joe.

I have to make a sacrifice.

But at the same time, I can't help but feeling like it means I'm giving up.

Giving up?

Yeah.

When I was a beat cop, you know, I walked the same patrol every day.

One morning, I'm responding to a noise complaint.

Out of nowhere, pop.

Bullet flies by my head.

I got pinned down.

I called for backup, but everything was telling me that's it.

Next morning Barr, I can't even tell you how scared I was to go back out in them streets.

But you did.

Yeah.

'Cause of this.

Our badges, your emblem, they're symbols of the strength that we're charged with to get back out there.

And we don't make the choice to die.

We would never choose to do that.

But when we hear the call of duty We're willing to make that sacrifice.

And that's not giving up, Barr.

That's what you call resilience.

And I know you to have plenty of that.

Hey, Frosty.

Earth to Frosty!

What mainstream MC can take Raw beats and bless them Calling all White Walkers!

You know what?

Frak it.

Hey!

I was listening to that.

Maybe you should be listening to Chester's molecular monitoring system so he doesn't, you know, turn back into a black hole!

Relax, okay?

I put the freaking alerts on my phone.

Oh, you mean these freaking alerts?

Yeah, see, I handled the situation and prevented us from being sucked out of existence by a giant death vacuum.

What did you do with your Tuesday?

Nothing.

- Is that - Nope, nope.

No, no, no, no, no, stop it, stop it.

No, no, no.

Were you drawing?

No.

- You were drawing.

- No.

Because drawing is for losers.

Mm!

Looks like you were drawing.

It's really hard, okay?

This is giving me, like, minimalist reductionism.

I was trying to draw this.

I've been working on it forever.

And it's not getting any better.

All right, that's Is this why you've been all cranky pants since Kamilla's show?

You've just been trying to express yourself.

I stink, okay?

I don't know why I thought I could plumb the depths of my soul.

Hey.

You do not stink.

You want to go off and be Vincent van Snow?

You want to show the world what's inside of you using art or paint or dance, do it.

But you gotta understand that other people are trying to do it too.

I feel like a Yakuza baddie is stabbing me in the stomach.

Repeatedly.

Is this how I made everyone feel at Kamilla's show?

Yep.

That's a feeling we like to call guilt.

It's a little stabby.

But it can also show us when we need to make something right.

I told you, I want my lawyer.

Steven's still on his way.

Look, I understand what you're going through.

Do you know what I see when these cuffs are off?

I see radio waves and microwaves and gamma waves, and I can't stop seeing them.

So how could you possibly understand what I'm going through?

You have to let me help you.

- So you can put me away?

- No, that's not why I'm here.

Then why are you?

Because I Because I am a meta-human too.

I can sense other people's feelings, and, honey, I can't turn it off either.

That's how I know that you're innocent.

If there is anything that can help me convince everybody else please you gotta tell me.

I told my arresting officer.

He said I was crazy.

I feel crazy.

Try me.

Back at juvie the night that particle accelerator exploded, I wasn't alone.

My cousin was there at the same time.

Esperanza.

Talk about bad influences.

I wanted out of her gang, so she jumped me.

She died in the explosion.

Esperanza!

Or at least I thought she did.

You think she's still alive?

Esperanza made me get the same tattoo as her.

The witness ID'd you off that tat.

But Esperanza's dead.

There's no way it could be her.

I mean, it's impossible.

Right?

Hey, did you get those juvie records?

Oh, yeah.

Took a bit of stretching, but we got about five years' worth here.

Good.

Is there a file on a girl named Esperanza Garcia?

Yeah, there is.

And I smell a mystery.

"Inmate was discovered in a vegetative state.

She has been taken out of our custody.

" Out of custody into the hands of a very redacted organization.

Esperanza's alive.

Cecile, did you hear that?

Cecile, you got get there.

That's not me.

Bring me Allegra Garcia or burn.

We gotta get you out of here.

Come on.

Come on.

Get out of my precinct!

Damn it.

Hey, what's up?

Barry, we were talking to Cecile about her case.

Turns out that Allegra had a cousin named Esperanza with the same powers as her.

Everybody thought that Esperanza was dead.

Esperanza must've killed the witness, not Allegra.

Now Esperanza can't let anyone know she's alive.

CCPD is in a total blackout.

She's going after Allegra.

I am going to send Ralph there right now and No, no, no, there's no time.

I'm going.

Barry, no.

You're still recovering.

I'll be fine, all right?

I'm going.

Esperanza.

Hmm.

I'm only Ultraviolet now.

No!

I won't let you do this.

Then you'll die too.

Keep them safe.

Get up, hero.

I want you to die on your feet.

How did that happen?

Ultraviolet light travels at 186,000 miles per second, which is 80 times your top speed.

I suggest a hasty retreat.

Our badges, your emblem when we hear the call of duty we're willing to make that sacrifice.

And that's not giving up, Barry.

That's what we call resilience.

And I know you to have plenty of that.

That's better.

Cecile, call the medic!

You know what they say.

In a few days, it'll be tan.

Yeah, well, I'm just glad to be alive.

We were right.

Esperanza Garcia was hired to kill Salvador Traversoni.

Then she offed the eyewitness.

She tried to kill Allegra so nobody would know she was still alive.

And you skipped over the part where this Ultraviolet person might've been trained in the art of assassination by a secret organization.

Yeah, that's on my to-solve list.

Yeah, well, it's on ours now.

If there's a group out there exploiting metas, then they're gonna need our protection.

Yo.

What'd you put in these painkillers?

Oh, you're not hallucinating.

That is art.

And some people might think it's weird.

But I think it is a beautiful expression of the artist's inner life.

Even if it's a weird inner life.

But you bought all this stuff?

I mean, how'd you pay for it?

With Caity's credit cards.

All of them.

Maybe our next life lesson will be in personal finance.

Actually I've got one more piece to add to the bunch.

From a very daring young talent.

I think it ties the room together quite nicely.

Well, there's no accounting for taste.

You know, my mom dated an artist once.

He was a trapeze artist, though.

No-Net Nick, they called him.

Two books and three bedtime songs but little Jenna is finally asleep.

She is persistent.

She gets that from her mother.

Look, you stood up for Allegra when nobody else did, including myself.

Well, you are the badass that charged a light-wielding hit woman in order to save all of our butts.

What's wrong?

I just keep thinking.

I'm not doing everything I can to help the city as the district attorney.

The justice system doesn't always work for metas which is why I want to become a defense attorney for meta-humans.

I know.

I know.

You can tell me that I'm crazy, and we were not on the same page about Allegra today No, no, no, that's not crazy.

- That is incredible.

- Really?

Babe, do you know how many people you could help in this city?

Yeah.

And I know right where I want to start.

Um, hi.

I'm looking for Iris West-Allen.

I'm here about the internship.

Hi, yeah, Cecile Horton told me to expect you.

Welcome to "The Citizen.

" Just don't touch the vegan doughnuts.

You can put your things right over there.

So what now?

We'll keep scanning the Multiverse for antimatter from my lab, okay?

But I think, for now, we should get going.

Yes, we should.

Ah, the intrepid reporter.

I thought you had a story to put out.

Well, I couldn't let you leave without saying good-bye.

And I know it hasn't been under the best of circumstances, but I hope we will see you guys again.

- I hope so.

- Yeah.

Till next time, Flash.

Yeah.

It was a pleasure to meet you, Barry Allen.

You keep being the hero we know you are.

I will.

You ready?

Yes.

I know she's not your mom, but Still nice to have a little hope on a not-so-great day.

Yeah.

I'm sorry about earlier.

Don't be.

You were in pain and shock, and I was scared too.

But seeing you at CCPD, fighting with your all, it reminded me that no matter what this Crisis brings no matter what you choose I know that you're never gonna give up.

I'm not choosing to die.

I could never make the choice to leave you.

But if my death is the only way to save the universe, to save you I'm willing to do that.

Then whatever we do next, let's make it count.

We can start by preparing the team for this Crisis.

Maybe even a world with the Flash.

So what do we tell them?

Beginning biopsy examination on Patient 1-A, Mitch Romero, male, 40s.

It is my hope that this procedure will help to illuminate the effects of my cure when exposed to another subject.

The body presents no obvious signs of hemorrhaging.

But it appears the victim's blood Has coagulated with an unidentifiable biological substance.

Will run analysis on substance.

Substance could have been absorbed into victim's veins prior death.