"You can't help me! Don't you see that? I'm a monster, and there is no helping a monster. No matter how much you want it, a leopard can't change its spots. Face it, Flash. There is. No. Helping me." He couldn't see her, the way she hung back in the shadows like that. She didn't want to be seen clearly, so he couldn't make out the extent of her condition, couldn't see what she was. In the gloom of the warehouse he could make out that her back wasn't normal anymore, but that was about it.

"I can't help you if I don't try. Just let me try." The Flash said, trying to calm the girl down. She just laughed.

"That is exactly why heroes have such hardships. Why they are always so... so... so hurt. Because they can't face the fact that they can't save everyone. Like you didn't save me. And you just can't let the go, can you?" He frowned. What was she talking about? When did he fail to save her? He hesitated. Usually for a speedster like him, hesitating wasn't a problem. But in this case, things didn't work out so simply. Her back opened up.

"No!" He yelled, but then the leathery sound of wings filled the room and she was gone, clinging to the roof, and then glass shattered, sprinkling to the ground with a harsh, ringing sound. He ran. It was what he was best at. But he couldn't find her once she was outside. He couldn't run through air, and in the dark night outside, there was no chance of being able to find her. Not like this.

A few weeks prior

Hellen skipped down the stairs, her black hair falling in waves down her back, slightly messy from a good night's sleep. She was still in her pyjamas, pale blue ones with darker blue flowers on them. Her bare feet slapped quietly on the tiles floor of the kitchen as she snuck over to the pantry to snaffle up a couple of biscuits before breakfast. The sun had risen maybe three hours before, and considering what time dinner had been last night, Hellen was rather hungry. Curse her dad's late night meetings that meant an early dinner is necessary. She snuck into the dining room, a man's back facing towards her. She would recognise that unruly blond hair anywhere. She grinned and snuck forward, covering her dad's eyes with her hands and making him jump, which caused some of his coffee to splash out of its mug and soak the table cloth.

"Morning, Daddy." She laughed. Her dad scowled, lowering his newspaper and glaring at her.

"You gave me a heart attack!"

"Call it payback for what you did to me yesterday." Hellen retorted. Her dad paused for a moment, thinking.

"Yeah, in that case I suppose I deserved that." He lifted his paper up again, flicking it so it settled right. Hellen looked at him, sadness in her yellow-green eyes. She wished that for once her dad would talk to her at the table instead of reading some stupid bit of paper. She sighed and sat down, shoving one of the biscuits she had stolen in her mouth. Chocolate chip. Her second favourite, her favourite being cinnamon biscuits. But she wasn't about to complain. She got a couple of biscuits for pre-breakfast. So far the day couldn't get any better for her. One of the maids came in with a plate for her, a pile of pancakes with maple syrup dripping down the sides on it. In her other hand was another plate for Hellen to place them on before eating them. She knew just how Hellen liked it.

"Thank you." Hellen said quietly as the two plates were set on the table before her. She felt kind of bad about how her dad treated the staff, felt bad about having the staff here, period. It wasn't the 1800s anymore, she felt that she and her dad could look after themselves perfectly well. She looked up at the paper her dad was holding in front of his face as she helped herself to her first pancake.

"So how's work?" She asked. It was about the only thing that could get her dad talking. His job. It could get a bit annoying, but she just wanted her dad to talk to her. The way he used to. She missed the days of being a kid, five and running away from her dad who was chasing her around the apartment trying to persuade her to get dressed for school. Now that she was at college, things had changed. She was nineteen, studying music, somehow fumbling her way through it. Her dad lowered the paper, peering of his glasses at her. She looked nothing like her dad. Many times she had been asked if she had been adopted, but she always gave the same answer. No. She took after her mum. No one could have a live comparison, not anymore. Her mum and younger brother had died in an accident about five years before. Her brother, Korry, had been eleven.

"We're a bit stuck on the prototype." Her dad said.

"Prototype for what?"

"You wouldn't understand." Her dad said, returning to his paper. Hellen raised an eyebrow at him, unimpressed. Just because she was doing a music degree didn't mean she understood nothing of science.

"If it's the prototype for the engine that runs off less electricity, then try rerouting the direction the electrons have to go. You're sending them – "

"We tried that, Hellen. We'll manage."

"I'm only trying to help." Hellen muttered, shoving the first part of the pancake in her mouth. She wished she could cook, but somehow she always managed to burn everything. Her mum used to manage to get everything perfect, beautifully golden potatoes, roasts that almost melted in your mouth... you name it, she could make it. She also made the perfect soufflé.

"No offence, but I am the head of several teams of highly educated scientists. You are part way through getting a music degree."

"So? I still understand science."

"Not as well as we do." Hellen threw down her fork, annoyed. This was generally the way conversations with her dad went. Her trying to start a conversation, him finishing it with insulting her intelligence. She looked away out the window at the view over the city, all the cars busy zooming around the place, the lights, the buildings... the smog. She didn't like the city too much. But it was her home. Just... too many people. She was, as she would admit freely, rather socially awkward. She sighed, flicking her hair back over her shoulders and then stood up.

"Where are you going? You haven't finished your breakfast."

"Mm not hungry." She lied. She was starved, but she wanted to get away from him. She'd had enough. She missed her mum and Korry as much as he did, but he seemed to handle it worse, seemed to just lock himself into his work, lock himself away from her. Hellen wasn't sure what she wouldn't give to have her old dad back.

"Aw, come on, Barry. You should go." Joe tapped Barry's arm in an encouraging manner, but Barry shook his head, smiling.

"I dunno. I just don't think now is the best time, what with the breaches and so on." He said, waving his hand around. He didn't feel quite ready to put himself out there. It was nice of Joe and Iris to try and find him someone who he could hang out with for things other than work and hero stuff, someone who he could be more... romantically interested in, but he didn't want it. He ducked under the police tape and looked around at the mess. It seemed like a mini tornado had crashed through the place, it was in such an unbelievable mess. Joe gave a low whistle as he looked around.

"This place is a mess." Barry nodded.

"You said it." He looked around and sighed, his bag of stuff in his hand, black latex gloves already on. They had been put on when they first arrived on the scene. He put the bag down and started sifting among the mess, trying to find something that could shed some light on what was going on. It would take a while to sort everything out. Sometimes this job really sucked, the things he had to do, the things he saw. He crouched down, peering curiously at something he had spotted. Some sort of goo, as though some kind of oversized slug had passed through. He took a sample of it and tucked it into his case. Maybe he could get Cisco or Caitlin to have a look at it if they got the time, if he didn't get the time, but his work at S.T.A.R Labs was important. He had to find a way to close the breaches, before they got worse.

"Do we know anything about the vic?" Joe was asking one of the lower officers in hushed tones.

"Tobias Michael Jones. He worked at Finch Labs."

"Finch Labs?" Barry asked, stepping forward. He had heard a couple of things about that place. It was fairly small, but the things that they researched had some rather large impacts when they were actually working. They were fairly wealthy too, somehow. At one point they were sharing research with S.T.A.R Labs, or that's what the rumours said. At that stage Barry was simply obsessed with S.T.A.R Labs and the work they did, he didn't have a base of operations there. The officer nodded.

"Yeah. That's right."

"There have been other cases to do with Finch Labs. You think it's connected?" Joe asked. Barry shrugged.

"Could be. The sites were similar to this one, considering they were trashed."

"There's something different about the body this time." Another officer said, a woman, as she walked over.

"What do you mean?"

"We found this on him." She said, handing over a sheet of paper in a plastic bag.

The labs are next.

Barry looked at the note. It wasn't hand written, looked almost like it could have been typed up on a type writer. He frowned. What was it about people warning the police of where they were going to hit next? Most of the time it was just them being stupid.

"We have to warn Dr. Finch." He said. Joe nodded.

"I'll get on it." He said, heading off while pulling his phone out of his pocket. The media were being dealt with currently. Perhaps Barry could get news to the public about this, telling them about the threat? It might be a good idea to keep them away from the building just in case anything did happen.

Hellen was sitting in one of the armchairs in the living room, her feet pulled up next to her. She was staring at the TV, a slight frown on her gentle features. There was a story about one of the old workers for Finch Labs having been killed. It was the third within the span of three weeks. Why was someone picking off workers at her dad's lab? Sure, he had enemies, but his work was supposed to be trying to help make the world a better place, why would someone want to slow the progress they were making? It made no sense. She couldn't help but think that there was something else going on, something bigger. Her dad would have just put it down to her being a conspiracy nutter. There were so many opportunities for aliens to be hiding in the community, within the government and the media, she was certain of it. But right now that wasn't what mattered. Something was going on, and it was related to Finch Labs, which meant her dad was (quite possibly) neck deep in shit.

"Right, I'm off. Be a good girl." Her dad walked over to her and kissed her on top of her head. She looked around slightly as he started moving away.

"Hey, Daddy, you seen this?" She asked. The footsteps paused and there was a moment of silence. Hellen could imagine her dad's big, black briefcase hanging by his side as he watched the TV screen, could imagine him shrugging before answering.

"He was a good guy, Dr. Jones. Remind me to send a card to his family."

"Your missing my point," Hellen moved her knees under herself and turned around, resting her chin on the back of the chair, "Yes, he was a good scientist, but he's the third one in a comparatively short period of time. It doesn't take a genius to notice the pattern. Sooner or later this guy is gonna kill you, Daddy. Or try to."

"We'll deal with it when that happens."

"Let me go with you to work today. I don't have any lectures, and you can try and teach me something sciencey. Or you can set me to desk duty."

"Look, Hell – "

"Please?"

"I'm already late and you're still in your pj's. "

"I can get dressed in two minutes."

"I'm sorry, kiddo. You stay here and be good for the staff."

"Dad – "

"I'm going to be late home, so don't wait up. Love you." And then the door shut, leaving Hellen staring at the wooden patterns running down it. She collapsed back around in her chair just as the person being interviewed on the News changed. It was some forensic scientist with slightly spikey brown hair and greenish eyes.

"We don't know for sure who this guy is, or who he is going to hit next, but we have reason to believe that they're heading for Finch Labs. It's advised that you stay away from there if you can. We have no idea what is planned, or for when, but please, stay away from Finch Labs. For your own safety." Hellen stared at the screen in horror, then ran to her bedroom to get dressed. She needed to warn her dad. He would have to listen, he'd have to. She'd make him. Somehow. She wasn't going to lose him too.

"Well, it's certainly not something you would come across in normal circumstances." Caitlin said calmly.

"Metahuman?" Barry asked. She shrugged.

"Could be. From what I can tell it has traces of human DNA in it." Barry ran a hand down his face. Terrific. He had to deal with the breaches and now there was a new metahuman to deal with on top of that.

"Does the DNA match up with anyone's?"

"I don't know. I'll check."

"Thanks, Caitlin." She smiled and walked off. Barry sighed and ran a hand through his scruffy hair, making it scruffier. When one thing went wrong, it seemed like everything did and it was impossible to get to grips with the situation and fix everything. Sometimes he wished that things could be back to how they were. Just then his cell phone rang and he jumped to answer it.

"Hello?"

"It's going down now, Finch Labs. It's being attacked." Joe's voice came through the cell phone. Barry nodded, not that his adoptive father could see it, and made his way towards his suit.

"I'm on my way." He said, hanging up. He was changed and at the scene in a matter of seconds, not even out of breath from his run. It was chaos, terrified workers running around all over the place, screaming and crying for help. There was one person who stood out more than others. He wasn't panicking, he was causing the panic. It was like he could control the winds, but that didn't explain the goo that Barry had found at Dr. Jones' apartment.

"Flash!" A girl called out from behind him. She had a cut on her head, blood trickling down her cheek. Her dark hair was tied in a couple of braids that hung over her shoulders and she was holding onto her friend, a reasonably tall guy who was as thin as a twig.

"My dad's in there, I can't... He's all I have and I know I have no reason to ask this of you, but I can't find him. He's all I have left." She said. She was terrified, but not for herself. Barry could tell she didn't care about her own safety. He nodded.

"I'll see what I can do. What does he look like?"

"He's James Finch. Blond hair."

"James Finch? You're kidding." He muttered the last part.

"Let's stay on task here, Barry. No fan girling just now." Cisco's voice came through the radio and Barry nodded.

"Right." He said before sprinting off. He searched everywhere he could, but there was still no sign of Dr. Finch. He stopped and looked around. Perhaps the best plan of action was to remove the metahuman from the equation and make it safe for everyone else? He ran back to where the metahuman was still busy influencing the air, throwing objects at people, somehow making walls cave in and damaging the structural safety of the building.

"Hey!" He called out, making the guy stop what he was doing. Why did they always stop? Sometimes the 'bad guys' seemed like they had little or no brains. And yet they still packed a punch and could be quite difficult to get down. This guy looked like he wouldn't be smart enough to know how to use a spoon, let alone come up with a plan to bring down Finch Labs.

"You talkin' to me?" The tornado guy asked. He sounded about as dumb as he looked.

"Yeah. Do you mind?"

"Yeah, I do. I was told to bring down the building, so I am."

"I don't think so," Barry shook his head, spotting the girl he had been helping find her dad sneak past and enter the building, "Oh, shi –" He started to say before he felt himself being picked up and thrown against the wall. He felt the wind being knocked out of him and staggered to his feet, coughing while trying to catch his breath.

"You OK?" Cisco asked.

"Yeah, I'm good."

"There's a reason they call me Wind Lance." Barry's new friend said, rather gleefully. Cisco's voice came over the radio, completely unimpressed, slightly disgusted.

"Really? That's a horrible name! This is why we don't let the bad guys name themselves."

"Cisco, stay on topic." Caitlin scolded.

"Sorry."

"Guys!" Barry snapped. Sure, it could be really helpful to have the others chatting away in his ear, but at other times it was a bit annoying. They both apologised and Wind Lance gave Barry a funny look. Barry shook his head.

"Don't worry about it."

"OK then..." Barry zipped forward and a started running in circles around Wind Lance, who tried to watch him but ended up getting dizzy. Then a strong wind picked up in the opposite direction to the way Barry was running, it was a stronger wind than most and Barry found it harder to run, not that he couldn't manage. He moved to pick up speed and ended up getting punched in the face. How could someone so stupid pull something like that off? Wind Lance looked up and a grin spread across his face.

"Sorry to cut this short, speedy, but I got somewhere to be." He said, a small tornado forming itself around his legs and carrying him off. Barry watched him go, scowling, then looked back at the building. It was coming down.

"She's still in there, I gotta help her!" The boy who had been with Dr. Finch's daughter was struggling against a policeman, trying to get through the barrier so he could enter the building and get his friend out. Barry looked back in and without a moment's pause entered the building.