Central City
Afternoon
"Barry!" Cisco exclaimed in horror.
Less than a second after Cisco spoke, Barry suddenly burst through the flames, the unmoving form of Dr. McGee in his arms. Barry skidded to a stop in front of them, his suit slightly singed from the blast.
"Dude, don't scar me like that!" Cisco exclaimed in relief.
"Dr. McGee, is she alright?" Steve asked.
"Yeah, just knocked out. Hopefully she'll be her old self when she wakes up," Barry said as he looked down at her. "And hopefully, we can get some answers."
Star Labs
Later in the afternoon
"She looks fine," Sam, the stand in medic with Caitlin gone, said after checking Dr. McGee. "All we can do now is wait."
"I hate waiting," Pietro muttered.
"That's because you have the patience of a five year old," Tony quipped and Pietro glared at him.
"Sam is right. All we can do now is wait for Dr. McGee to wake up," Steve said calmly.
"Hopefully, she'll know where Savitar is. And be able to answer some other questions," Barry said, thinking of her cystic answers before she'd tried to blow them up.
Unspecified location
Same time
Savitar was installing Venom, still in his tube, hooking him up to the machine's core as Snart walked up behind him.
"So how is this supposed to stabilize the machine again?" Snart asked curiously and Savitar chuckled.
"To put it in ways you can understand, have you ever see Star Wars?" Savitar asked and Snart nodded. "You know how Luke shoots a proton torpedo into the Death Star and causes it to blow up? Well, imagine that the Death Star had something to stop that deadly melt down once the torpedo went in. Something that could prevent it from blowing up. Venom is that something. He is what will prevent the machine from having a dangerous meltdown that will destroy it, us, and all of Central City. He is that rare substance that can stabilize the machine so it won't go critical. A coolant if you will. "
Savitar suddenly stopped, grasping his chest in apparent pain.
"You okay boss?" Snart asked.
"Fine," Savitar grunted. "If you're done playing twenty questions, go make sure Frost is doing her job."
Snart eyed him but didn't say anything. As he walked off, Savitar breathed heavily. Soon it would all be over, Savitar told himself. And then, he would truly be a god.
Star Labs
Not long after
Barry walked onto the Star Labs balcony, seeing Wanda staring out at the city.
"You okay?" Barry asked.
"You nearly got yourself killed today," Wanda said stiffly, a sure sign she was angry.
"I couldn't leave Dr. McGee there," Barry tried to explain.
"You didn't have to put yourself at risk like that to save her!" Wanda exploded, whirling around as her eyes flashed angrily. "We are having a daughter and I'd rather have you around to raise her."
"And I will be," Barry took her in his arms and her anger seem to vanish, burying her hand in his shoulder as he held her close. "We never finished our conversation earlier."
"We don't have to right now," Wanda muttered into his shoulder but Barry shook his head.
"I need to say something," Barry said and Wanda pulled back, looking up at him. "If you want to go back to Earth-66 with the others…I'll go with you."
"But this is your home," Wanda said after a stunned moment of silence.
"A city is just a city. It's not the place that matters; it's the people in it. And I don't wanna live in a world without you in it," Barry cupped her face. "Wherever you go, I'll go to. Wherever you run, I'll run with you. Because I'm not the best version of me without you."
Barry then reached inside his pocket and, to Wanda's shock, pulled out a ring.
"This was my grandmother's," Barry said to the shocked Wanda. "I've been carrying it around since last week. There was supposed to be this big surprise, Clint was gonna help me set it up, but Alexei blew it all to shit."
Barry took one of her hand as he knelt down on one knee.
"When I was lost and alone, you helped me find my way. You know me in a way no one else ever has. I never really knew love until I met you; I confused love for infatuation and obsession. I never want to be apart from you, wherever life takes me, on this earth or any other, I want you to be there. Wanda Maximoff, will you marry me?"
"…yes," Wanda breathed with a watery smile, tears that she was definitely blaming on the hormones rolling down her cheeks.
Barry grinned, placing the ring on her finger before he pulled his new fiancée into a kiss.
In Cisco's workshop, Steve had picked up a picture of the original Team Flash, staring at Caitlin's face as Natasha walked in. Seeing the state Steve was in, she didn't say anything. She simply walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. Steve did not respond except to silently reach his hand out and grasp the hand she had placed on his shoulder, a silent communication of gratitude and comfort.
"I have to believe she's still in there Nat. I'll lose my mind if I don't," Steve said shakily.
"You love her," Natasha noted knowingly.
"I don't know if I do or not, but I know I've never felt anything like this in my life," Steve admitted.
"Love is…complicated," Natasha said as she thought of Bucky. "But it's also undeniable. If you love her, you'll know it in your heart."
"Hey," the pair dropped hands, looking to the doorway where Sam lingered. "Dr. McGee is awake."
Not long after, Barry is sitting in a chair next to Dr. McGee, who is rubbing her head as she sat up in bed.
"I'm terribly sorry Mr. Allen, I couldn't fight him," Dr. McGee said remorsefully.
"It's not your fault, not even one of the strongest men I know could fight it," Barry assured her. "But I have some questions for you, if you're up to it."
"Of course, anything I can do to help," Dr. McGee said eagerly.
"You said Savitar needed you to cue his aliment. What did you mean by that?" Barry inquired and Dr. McGee sighed.
"Savitar…he's dying," she said and Barry stared in shock. "Long ago, a foreign substance entered his bloodstream, a chemical unlike anything I've ever seen. It's slowly been eating away at his body, causing his cells to break down while driving him mad."
"The Red Death," Barry muttered.
"That's what he called it, yes," Dr. McGee said with a nod.
"Great, this is just perfect. So, did you come up with a cure?" Barry said, trying not to freak out.
"With Dr. Snow's help, I was able to engineer a formula that will counteract the effects, give him a clean bill of health and purge the Red Death from his system," Dr. McGee said as she eyed him. "You've already been exposed to it, haven't you?"
"It's a KGB interrogation drug; I was injected with it around a year ago. And it turns out its killing me," Barry said, running a hand over his face.
"I remember the formula, I can create another dose of the cure," Dr. McGee assured him and Barry breathed heavily.
"Thank you Dr. McGee. Do you know where Savitar is now?" Barry inquired and she shook her head.
"I don't know where he is now…but I know where he will be. I know where he plans to set off the device," Dr. McGee told him.