In Iris's car, Berni took the time to absorb the surroundings she was too weak to notice on the way there. As different as Berni's entire world seemed to be, it was a small comfort to see that Central City was for the most part just the same as it was, at least in broad strokes. Iris was speaking but Berni was completely tuned out trying to figure out what small details may be present just waiting to explode and put the world in peril. That's the way Flashpoints work: When you arrive, you may not notice many differences, it may even lull you into thinking its a better world than the one you left behind, but something is always bubbling under the surface waiting to boil over and take everything with it. Barry had a theory that it was time's way of punishing you for tampering with the natural order, giving you what you look for then snatching it away in a way a million times worse than it had been the first time.
It had been a long time since Berni had seen her Father, before he was a casualty in the apocalypse that befell the old timeline. Visitation procedure seemed still the same, the guards seemed more involved in escorting Berni than they had Barry, she hoped it was because she was a young woman and not after looking at hardened convicts all day, a pretty young woman would seem like an ice cold glass of water in the middle of a heatwave. She then had wince at the fact she was even referring to herself as a pretty young woman internally now. She straightened her back up and tried to deepen her voice as if trying to compensate for the lost masculinity as the guard pulled out her chair for her and pushed it in after she sat down as if she weighed nothing.
Henry Allen was brought out, already in tears, mouthing the words "my little girl" over and over as tears started running down Berni's cheek as well. They picked up the phones on each side of the partition to hear each other as they both instinctively put their hands on the glass. "My little girl" he said again. Berni wanted to tell him to stop saying that, she was an adult, and she wasn't even supposed to be a girl. But the only sound she could make through the crying fit was a high-pitched squeal and a sincere
"Dad!" she sniffled.
"I was so worried about you." He said. Berni hadn't considered that he probably last heard about her when she went into a coma. "I wanted to come and see you, I couldn't get out, E.O. fought for it but they didn't approve. I'm so sorry."
"It's OK, Dad. I wasn't, you know, awake to notice who visited." She attempted to joke and ended up making both of them cry harder. The two of them talked and caught up, Berni explained that she was taking some time before going back to college, when asked what was new with Henry he shrugged and said they replaced the nets on the basketball hoops in the yard. It felt like mere moments but before either knew it, the 30 minute visitation was up. Berni promised to come back every week, Henry nodded. As they were leaving, a guard asked her to speak for a moment, a bit apprehensive, she followed him into a break room near the main hall.
"Hey, uh. I know this is none of my business. But is that E.O. guy like your Husband or something?"
"Foster Dad." She said with disgust at his inquiry.
"Ok. Ok. Whenever he's in here he tells Henry he's gonna do all kinds of stuff but he never asks. I don't know what he's doing, but I was here the day he told Henry that he was going to get him out of here to see you at the hospital. He walked straight out the door after that conversation."
"I see. Thank you." Thawne still being Thawne. Berni turned to leave but the guard cleared his throat.
"Ahem. So, does that mean you DON'T have a husband?"
"Come on, dude." A little Barry slipped out of Berni's mouth.
"You're right. Sorry."
Back in Iris's car, she cleaned her face up and practiced reapplying her make-up in the mirror. Iris waited to start moving until she was done.
"Hey, Iris." Berni said, finally breaking the silence.
"Yeah, baby?" She asked, keeping her eye on the road as she pulled out of the penitentiary parking lot. Her eyes quickly darted to Berni with a look of sympathy and love that was only on her face for a second. Berni's ability to alter her perception of time was coming back little by little, but it wasn't something she could control yet.
"Do you think you could drop me off at the library?"
"Yeah, sure. Do you need anything?"
"I just miss it. I'll be going back to school in a few months, I'd like to do some research, figure out what I might want to do." That was a lie. She wanted to look up what happened to the rest of the superheroes without worrying about Thawne tracking the search history on her phone. She entered the library and found her library card tucked right behind her ID, just like Barry's. She settled in at the computer while Iris ran some errands and she quickly got to searching for the other superheroes. Barry liked to consider himself an expert on other heroes, keeping mental scrapbooks of their powers, identities, origins. All things he picked up through regular, friendly conversation and the instincts of a professional investigator. It was time to put that information to use.
No news about Green Lantern missing, but Hal was often off-planet and didn't have much about him that wast traceable. No apartment. No car. No job. It's like he vanished off the face of the Earth as soon as he got that ring. To be fair, aside from a few visits, that literally is what happened.
Superman was missing, he went after a mysterious craft that started to orbit Earth, but the craft disappeared and Superman along with it. Berni went to a different computer, ran a VPN, and looked up Clark Kent to avoid anyone connecting the dots. The official story was that he was on assignment overseas, his socials are still being updated, but its often about movies, video games, or general topics such as coffee. The profiles read like they were written by Jimmy Olsen trying to cover for Big Blue.
Searching for Gotham brings up multiple articles about a crime wave. The usual suspects, Harley & Ivy, Black Mask trying to make moves to take over for the millionth time, Clayface having escaped Arkham again, multiple sightings of Nightwing but none of Batman. Bruce Wayne was reclusive and unpredictable, so she didn't bother looking that up, no way he didn't have contingencies on contingencies to cover for him in an absence and engaging them would only slow her down.
No results for Aquaman, he must not have debuted publicly yet. A search for Arthur Curry turned up a result that listed him among the casualties in a flash flood that struck a small harbor town called Tempest Keys. Further searching show that there were conspiracy theories about the events that night, some claim they saw aquatic soldiers emerging from the waves to destroy property and snatch people off of the streets. Definitely sounds like Arthur's royal Atlantean family were involved somehow.
Wonder Woman was the one she had the least faith in, Diana grew up on Themyscira, an island of beautiful Amazon women who had no contact with the outside world. Berni was confident she remembered the location and could perhaps investigate when she regaintedt he ability to run on water, but right now, even the slightest difference in history would stop Steve Trevor from crash landing there in WWI and convincing Diana to return with him, introducing the world to Wonder Woman. Had Steve not crash-landed there and survived, it's possible that she never would have left that island. Berni couldn't help but smile and do a happy dance in her chair when the term "Wonder Woman" offered millions upon millions of results.
But this wasn't Wonder Woman. At least not the one she knew, she was blonde and had a completely different face. She still had the warrior's spirit and the look of noble wisdom, but that face wasn't Diana's. Berni considered that it's possible Hippolyta just decided she preferred the Daughter she made of clay look like this Wonder Woman and not the one she was used to. But what if this was part of the Flashpoint boiling over, what if she was a villain parading around as Wonder Woman in an attempt to gain Berni's trust?
No, assuming everyone is out to destroy the world isn't what Wonder Woman would do. It isn't what Superman would do. It isn't what The Flash would do. Her path would cross with this Wonder Woman's soon, but she had to focus on getting her powers back for that to happen. She logged out, headed for the exit, and sat outside, breathing in the fresh air and attempting to slow her perception while focusing on passing cars until Iris arrived. It worked off-and-on and was difficult to control, but Berni is hopeful that she'll be able to get back in her suit soon enough, especially since she knows all of the tips and tricks that come with a connection to the Speed Force already.
A sudden realization hit Berni before Iris pulled up to take her home, she ran back inside and logged back into the library computer to fill all of her gaps in knowledge on feminine hygiene, pretending not to notice the librarian that was looking over her shoulder. She then looked up a few pointers in cosmetics and hair care, Berni always considered herself a more technical learner than one that gathers skills by watching, though once she had her full powerset back those two were more-or-less one in the same.
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