He Got it.
“Detective, how are you?” Harrison Wells said from the 'entryway' to STAR Labs.
“I'm alright, Dr Wells, thank you. I was hoping I could enlist that huge science brain of yours to solve an annoyingly enigmatic case of mine, and catch a killer in the process.”
“Are you asking me because I'm a scientist or because I'm the biggest enigma you know?”
“Both actually. He is...one of the wild-world of weird cases we've been busy chasing down.”
“The reason you don't want Barry on the case taking down this particular bad guy with us?”
“The case is the murder of Nora Allen...Barry's mother.”
All calm and humor evaporated from Well's face. It actually took a few moments for him to speak again. “Why don't we get to the hands on science part of this building. We've some things we need to discuss, and hopefully to discover.”
Joe West wondered very much at this but he was not about to lose an opportunity to answer his many questions about the impossible killers, and messed up humans that had become part of his daily life... especially not if those answers were to come from the normally tight-lipped professor that led the team.
Wells led Detective West into the anteroom of the rather amazing STAR Labs facility and within an hour Joe West and Harrison Wells were consumed with analyzing the physical evidence from a murder that had brought Joe's family together. From the man who created the Particle Accelerator and the meta-human hero known as the Flash.
“Is it possible that someone with Barry's abilities killed his mother?” Joe asked bluntly.
“Now we reach the core.” Harrison said coyly. “You want to know if my particle Accelerator had anything to do with creating this monster. Do I assume correctly you've had this notion in your head the entire time we've been talking?”
“I didn't believe Barry's story. For 14 years I thought Henry Allen was guilty, because I couldn't believe that sort of impossible even exists. But Barry does,stuff right out of the Twilight Zone is a weekly occurrence now. I have to consider the possibility it existed back then.”
“But my Particle Accelerator didn't.” Wells said pointedly. “Someone or something impossible killed Nora Allen that night. He killed more than just Barry's family actually. And yes, my accelerator created the meta-humans we deal with on a daily basis. These freaks were my fault. I can't deny that and I don't. But my work is not the only source of trouble for this city, and not every wild and weird story comes out of my experiments.” His voice took on a dangerous edge. “I'm fairly certain that monster had nothing to do with me, no one knew who I was yet.”
“The timing is more than a little suspicious don't you think?” Joe said is a deliberate, slow tone, openly challenging the genius who wormed his way into their lives without a word of his own origins. A challenge that was met with a steely glare.
“Ask the man in yellow for why he showed up when he did, outta the blue. He thinks for himself and changed the world overnight. Whatever the heck drew him here, why we've never even seen him since...” Harrison Wells took a physical step back. “Yeah, the timing is less than coincidental. But if you're looking for explanations, I don't know the why. and as far as the how I'm as in the dark as you are....and searching for exactly the same answers...Almost exactly the same.”
Detective Joe West stared at the normally unflappable man who had unraveled before him. There was not a lot that could rile a self-possessed professionally restrained man like Harrison Wells. It was one of the reasons he'd felt safe coming to the man with his suspicions, that he knew sounded like accusations. Somehow he had a feeling that it was something way more personal than Joe's rush to judgment that had animated him so completely.
“You've seen him too.” Detective West realized aloud.
“Seventeen years ago.” Harrison replied sadly. “He's why I moved to Central City in the first place. Meting him that night is why I created started the foundations for STAR Labs when I did. What he took from me, is why it took 14 years to achieve my life's dream.” Sinking into a desk chair Wells put his hands over his face. When he did look up, Joe was staring at him with an expression he'd never shown the man before: a look of compassion. “Joe, Barry doesn't know my story. He has enough on his heart, he's been through enough trying to catch up with this creep. And I know him well. The fact that my masterpiece cause more suffering and more monsters is something I have to live with every day. But THIS monster, he's the one pulling the strings and I want answers as badly as you do. I don't have them Joe. To summarize my entire attitude and answer: If your chasing the man in Yellow, you cannot find a stronger ally than me. If you want answers about MY life story, look up Tess Morgan. More specifically, look up where she was December 15th 2002. Then decide if I have a good enough reason for keeping my past to myself.”
When Detective Joe West walked into the Cortex at precisely 7:03 pm that evening, he looked like he wanted to bury his head in a bag of potatoes. He didn't sit down, only tapped on the door-frame to signify his presence. Wells waved him in but did not verbally acknowledge his presence, until Joe placed a box of very expensive Irish Whiskey on the table.
“I take it you're not here to make more accusations.” Wells said briskly..
“Doctor Wells, I don't know what to say. I looked up Tess Morgan...I'm sorry I had no idea. When you mentioned adapting and evolving to a new life before...you weren't talking about after the accelerator exploded; you meant losing her, your wife.” Wells sat back in his chair, motioning for Joe to take the seat beside him. “Something must have created this monster, and the accelorator created a lot of them. I...I'm not trying to make excuses I just...I hope you understand why I squirel-brained. Finding answers based on what information I have...it's in my job description, as a cop...”
“And finding answers to life's greatest mysteries is in mine...as a scientist.” Wells offered. “I understand the need to understand everything Joe. Detectives who follow leads and geniuses who need answers both have a tendency of getting obsessed. But this was personal for you. And however little emotion I show in my daily life...I do understand trying to keep your family safe.”
“What was she like?”
“Strong, brilliant, the most musical laugh. We were married to the work as much as to each-other. Making a facility like STAR Labs was something we were thinking about anyway, we just couldn't find a place to put down roots that wouldn't turn into a media-government circus if we ever got it up and running. I later learned the car accident...wasn't an accident. Someone or something r wanted me out of the way...tried to kill me that day...She died instead. So I decided to move here. The best place I can think of to build our dream...even if she couldn't see it.”
“You're chasing him to.” Joe said stoically.
“Ironically, I think if I ever met him I owe him a thank you. If I hadn't moved here, I wouldn't have been around to help take care of Barry. I would never have had a team to help make that dream a reality.... I wouldn't have had Sisko and Caitlyn to help build the accelerator, or to stand beside me when it blew up in everyone's face. Until the accelerator exploded Barry was the only person to believe in the impossible, and I imagined he got teased pretty regularly for it. Now because of my failed experiments, the world has a man in red to help deal with the crazy. Ultimately though, unless the man in yellow was messing with Tachyons there's no way he could have originated from my work, from something we...I...hadn't even built yet.”
“Okay...what's that look on your face?”
“Tachyons, little bits of time-travel THAT'S how he did it! I...Barry and I need to find this creep and kick his speedster ass. Failing that we need to train him, Barry I mean, to be the hero this city needs right now. Are you with me, Joe?”
“Taking down metas who abuse their powers, helping innocents deal with getting them, that's what I signed on for. It's my job and my duty. Raising a hero like my son for people to look up to, making him fast enough to kick this creeps ass if we ever see him again? That's a bonus! I am totally in!”
“Barry is lucky to have you on his side Joe.”
“He's lucky to have you too.”
A brief conversation between devastating revelations:
“Doctor Wells, can I talk with you for a minute?”
“I'm always here to help Barry, what's up?”
“You seem different, like something's weighing on your heart that wasn't there before. And if this is because of Ronnie...what happened to him.”
“Barry, Ronnie's death was a noble sacrifice and a freely given choice. I don't feel anything for him other than he should be an example we all aspire to emulate given the opportunity. But before he...the last conversation we had together was very different...and, well you know how people regret 'never having the chance to say things' or to 'take them back'. Because of his death, I will never get the chance to tell him I actually heard what he said!”
“Do you mind telling me what it is he DID say?”
“The people who died or were changed in the accelerator are my fault. Even if I couldn't have seen it coming. But there is one death that can be placed ENTIRELY at my front door, from long before you and I ever met. Ronnie found out my 'deep dark secret' and told me to stay away from you. Something I actually admire him for, he wanted to protect you. And I can't help thinking that he had a weird sort of a point. If keeping you safe meant keeping my distance.”
“I'm the one who decides if I want you in my life Harrison. And I want you in my life. If YOU want to leave fine. But don't leave because someone who barely knows you...barely knew you... thinks you don't belong here anymore.”
Fully cognizant of the irony of his advice. “One day I might. And if I do, I just don't want you to think I'm leaving you out in the cold.”
Blissfully ignorant of the uncomfortableness of the conversation. “You do what you gotta do Doctor Wells. Just do it for yourself and no one else, a'rigte?”
“We did it...It's over.” Barry Allen sighed with relief.
“Not yet. You still need to end it.” Harrison Wells said from behind him. Barry turned around and saw the man he'd called his mentor standing beside him quiet and still, with his hands at his sides in a gesture of surrender. For a moment he didn't know what to think.
“What are you doing?”Harrison actually seemed surprised at the question.
“You said when this was over and the city was safe, you'd kill me. And I promised I wouldn't fight you. I wasn't lying when I said I cared about you Barry, and I know what I've done. If this is what you need...” To Barry's lasting shock Wells actually lowered himself to his knees. “Then finish it.”
“Why, why would I do this?”
“That'd be stating the obvious. I don't think either of us need the remi...not what you meant is it?”
Vibrating his right hand Barry Allen, a hero known as The Flash, approached his nemesis. “I want to hear you say it.” He said strongly and softly.
“I killed your mother and I've done nothing to free your father. This may sound ironic coming from me but I'm tried of running, of trying to forget or deny my past. For the past 3 years I've done what I could to make you better than the Rival and stronger than Zoom. After this you will be.”
“...You're wrong about that.” Barry said lowering his hand and his voice. “Killing you wouldn't make me better than zoom it would make me the same as him. Killing anyone in cold blood would just make me as petty and self-absorbed as the Rival. I refuse to be either one. Get Up.”
Later Harrison Wells stood in the cortex, standing alone in front of Sisko Ramon, Caitlin Snow, Detective Joe West and young Eddie Thawne, Joe's partner on the Central City police force. He didn't seem willing to say anything more, he just stood there as The Flash filled his friends in on what he'd learned, and what happened 17 years earlier. “There's one thing I need to show you...then we can finally be out of each-other's lives. “Gideon, bring up file ninety-four-thirty-one Zed please.”
“Of course Doctor Wells.” A soft, feminine voice spoke from literally thin air. A film projector, or the screen for one appeared and pages of information scrolled down the 'page' two fast for anyone but Barry to read. “Download complete Doctor Wells, will there be anything else?”
“You get to fulfill your original purpose now Gideon, Barry Allen will need your help.” He pulled a thumb drive from the interface. “This is a database, I discovered when we first laid the ground-work at Star Labs. It seems to deal primarily with a hero called the Flash and his two closest allies: The Arrow, and the former villain Frost. When I first found it, I started following the history it presented like a script, trying to make sure the world had these heroes. It's why I fast-tracked the Particle Accelerator, why it blew up in everyone's face, why I'm so convinced Killer Frost will one day just be a part of you Caitlin and...it's why I see such hatred in your eyes right now Barry. Seeing the man in the yellow suit kill you mother as a child...it's what inspired you to investigate the impossible and is why you became a hero when you got your powers not a criminal or swollen with pride like most meta-humans. I know that sounds trite but take it from the expert here. “The world doesn't need another speedster, it needs the Flash.” That's what Gideon told me not long after I uh...activated her. I didn't realize what she meant until I started working with you. When you look at me and I looked away, it's not that I was afraid of my feelings, but that I was afraid of yours. Afraid of your anger, your scorn...and I'd lose any chance of calling you my friend.”
“Prism, Firestorm, Robin's Heir, Cicada, Overlord, Pestilence...any reason we haven't heard of any of those bad guys yet?” Sisko Ramon asked in his traditional lightly sarcastic voice.
“You're not there yet.” Harrison answered. “The record covers 10 years of heroism and equality; we're on year 3. Firestorm's not a bad guy, just messed up...another victim of my hubris.”
“One question Harrison,” Joe West said peaceably. “What have you been doing since then?”
“I stopped following the pages like a script and started seeing them as guideposts and mile-markers. Until one of these creeps showed up I tried not to rely on it too much...or dwell on it. The ship where I found Gideon and this record, might have belonged to the Reverse Flash. It's where I found the Yellow Suit. It wasn't until Joe confronted me on something that I put it together.”
“What you told me about Tess, that was real?”
“Yes, Joe. I was more or less hunting the man. He DID take my wife from me. I've not seen a thing of him since the accident. He must've returned to his own time. After I read Gideon's records, I took it upon myself to fulfill his role in history when the time came. Barry is the hero the world needs, because of that tragedy. He's not just another meta-human: he IS the Flash.”
Detective Thawne spoke. “Okay time for the obvious question, who the hell were you talking to?!”
“Why don't you ask her, she's interactive you know?”
“Ma'am...Gideon did he call you?” Eddie said uncertainly. “Who are you?”
“I am Gideon, an interactive artificial consciousness.” The soft female voice that had sounded once before answered almost instantly. “Forgive the otherworldly effect of my disembodied voice, the visual circuits of my matrix were severely damaged. Doctor Wells has done his best to repair me..”
“Just tell them your manufacturing origin Gideon.”
“I've never understood your reluctance Dr. Wells. You are a genius by the human standards of this time. But in response to your prompt: Star Labs, research and development March 18th 2024.”
“You mean to say, seven years from now, Doctor wells invents you, here at Star Labs?”
“Incorrect Mr. Allen, You do.”
“In Gideon's original records I died tonight, supposedly helping you fight your newest 'big bad'. But I knew that was just the official story, a cover-up. I knew you'd killed me, for what I'd done to you. Anyway six years from now you discover something called the time vault and within it purely theoretical plans from an inter-active artificial consciousness that takes you less than a year to bring into reality you call her 'Gideon'. The ship I found had a copy of her program.”
“And you integrated her into the Star-Labs mainframe.” Caitlin said in a strange voice.
“I figured it would be helpful having a future computer around, help interpret and analyze any threats, meta human or otherwise we come across. You can do the same thing if you want. Now can we get down to it please...What happens to me?”
“We record your posthumous confession, get my dad out of prison, burn your house to the ground, make an official report that you were inside of it...perhaps that one of your experiments quite literally blew up in your face, you leave Central City and NE-VER come back.” Barry said as calmly and emphatically as if he were rewriting history by sheer force of will. “Doctor Wells, you were doing what you thought was needed, to protect me and the city. And you didn't delude yourself into thinking it was justified. I don't know anyone else who could have made such a sacrifice and not lied to themselves about it. Also, I read Gideon's original report, just now. The one you must have read as your mile-marker. Originally when we went out to fight Clariss today HE revealed your secret, and I killed you in blind rage, feeling all betrayed. That's why you 'needed to tell me now' isn't it? Not just to rob him of that victory...but spare me from that regret.”
“On this much you must believe me: Since I've gotten to know you, I would never do anything deliberately to hurt you.”
“And on that score, I do.” Barry Allen answered.
“....Me too.” Joe West said in a strong voice.
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