Back at S.T.A.R Labs, Wally's speed trials were going extremely well-- better than Barry's. He had been blessed with speed for only two days and, already, he hit Mach Two. Wally was impressed with himself. He was overjoyed with himself and his speed.
Barry was impressed, too. He knew, before Caitlin mentioned it to him, that Joe and Iris weren't. She had explained that Joe and Iris' plan was to make Wally think he wasn't good enough to join Barry, that it would crush his urge to be out there saving the world.
It wasn't Barry's place to argue against Wally's father. He didn't agree with them one bit, though it wouldn't matter. Their plan wasn't going to work in the first place. Wally was like him; he yearned to be a hero. No amount of denial from his family was going to change the way he felt inside.
For several days, H.R. had been nagging everyone to join him in the Cortex for a presentation. He was struggling to find his value on Team Flash since he came to Earth-1. With the idea, he hoped the others would see the greatness of his idea, too.
His proposal was to open S.T.A.R Labs to the public, which was met with expressions of denial and skepticism. It didn't lower his enthusiasm about the idea. He suggested a Virtual Reality for those who couldn't make it to the building, complete with Particle Vision: The Particle Accelerator Explosion From the View of the Particle!
His explanation was interrupted when a satellite beeping started to come from the computer. Cisco warned of a meteor breaking through the atmosphere and heading for downtown.
Barry changed into his suit. He skidded to a stop at the door, turning and pointing at Melody. She was trying to roll over on the floor in the center of the Cortex. He begged quickly, "Someone be camera ready, in case I'm not back!"
"Don't you worry, B.A, I've got her!" encouraged H.R.
"Don't call me B.A," he muttered distastefully, then ran to save the city, yet again.
xxxx
Mere seconds later, aliens trampled him. Yes, aliens. The dozen or so that sprinted by him from their ship were massive and thin, with skin that was an off-grey and stretched thinly across their bones. If they even had bones. They were tall, clearly packing strength.
His earpiece wasn't on, due to the interference from their Space Ship, but he couldn't resist yelling, "Aliens!" and adding another phrase to the thousands of things he thought he would never utter.
xxxx
It was the following morning when the conversation about aliens went on. They decided to postpone it until Lyla came to speak with them. She had texted them the following night to see if they already investigated the meteor. For whatever reason, A.R.G.U.S was interested in the crash-landed ship.
"Aliens," breathed Cisco, life in his voice for the first time in a while. He swept Melody from the her high chair and bounced her on his hip, cooing, "Aliens, lovely girl! Do you think they're 'Alien' aliens or little, green men?"
"Both, sort of," answered Barry.
Lyla's response was delayed briefly as she waved kindly at Melody, reminded of her own baby boy at home. She smiled when Melody laughed. "You've got a cute kid, Barry."
Barry offered a slight smile, too immersed in the paperwork she had given him. He wanted to soak in as much information as possible about these intruders. His job was to keep them contained in Central City. He couldn't handle another failed issue on his shoulders; he needed to fix this as fast as possible.
"Since we've learned of them, we've been calling them the Dominators," explained Lyla.
"That is not the name of a species that comes in peace," noted Wally.
"No, no, it's very aggressive," agreed H.R.
"So, how long have you known about these Dominators?" asked Iris.
"Since the '50's," said Lyla. She pressed a button on the remote in her hand, projecting a black and white video to the television screen.
"That was them in Redmond, Oregon! The government tried to cover it up!" said Joe excitedly. He was met with looks of shock. "What? I watch the Syfy channel."
Barry lifted his head to the screen. It was them, indeed, fighting against mere humans in an abandoned piece of land. More than forty years later, and each Dominator shown looked the exact same as they had the previous night.
Melody began to whimper when she caught sight the screen. Barry took a step for her. He lifted his head, seeing Cisco already turning her away from the screen, and stopped awkwardly. He pursed his lips and went back to reading.
"In 1951, they appeared under the same sort of circumstances: a ship crash-landed, little to no communication. We learned they were abducting humans to gather Intel about us. They attacked, and hundreds of soldiers lost their lives. Then, for some inexplicable reason, they left. All contact had been lost until three months ago when the D.O.D received this..."
A rasping, low voice, a Dominator, spoke: "We pose no threat, human inhabitants. Understanding is our purpose. Any action against us, as shown to us in the past, will prompt swift retaliation."
"So when we discovered four ships heading towards Earth, we were concerned that it was happening all over again. One of them, obviously, landed here," continued Lyla.
Tiredly, Joe said, "Right, 'cause we ain't got enough crazy going on in here in Central City."
"Do you know what they want?" wondered Caitlin.
"They've ignored all attempts to communicate. We do know, just like before, that the drop-ships contain reconnaissance teams sent here to gather more Intel about us.
"Looking for our weaknesses," guessed Joe.
Wally looked around the room at everyone. Tilting his head, he prompted, "We need to do something."
"We are," assured Lyla. "Nearly every member state in the UN is in talks to coordinate a response. Acton is being taken."
"So, wait, you want us to just sit this one out?" asked Iris.
"These things are like 'World War Z' zombies. If they decide to attack, no military can stop them," said Barry.
"Neither could you, not by yourself, anyway. Just let us handle this, for now," ordered Lyla. She took the hard drive from the television, nodding to everyone as she left the Cortex. "I'll be in touch."
Silence fell over the Cortex, each person waiting to hear the sound of the elevator doors coming to a close at the end of the hall. Lyla's exit brought everyone's eyes to Barry, knowing he had a rebuttal to her order.
"The plan isn't to just stay still and do nothing, right?" asked Wally.
Barry closed the folder in his hand. "Nope."
"Barry, you heard Lyla," stressed Iris. "You can't do this alone."
He smirked. "I don't plan to."
YOU ARE READING
Within Seconds: Flashpoint Edition
Fanfiction[ based on season three of The Flash ] || book three of three || Finding and causing Parker Sylas to fall in love with him again wasn't going to be hard, Barry thought, as he had done it once before. What he hadn't planned on was being subjected t...
