We now return to your (not so) regularly scheduled programming.

Sophie sat on one of the chairs in the Cortex with the lights switched off. Her knees were hugged to her chest with her feet on the seat. The lab was so empty without Dr Wells – sorry, Eobard. Sure, he turned out to be a massive evil jerk, but he had been a permanent fixture there for so long and a source of so much comfort and support that Sophie didn't know how she was meant to cope without him. Not to mention that he was the only person who seemed to have so much as a vague idea about her powers – where they came from, how to use them and where all of this was headed.

"Sophie?" asked Caitlin gently when the amount of time the younger girl had spent staring angrily at the wall was beginning to concern her.

"GAH!" exclaimed Sophie, her heart leaping into her mouth. Her entire body jerked, tipping her chair over so that it crashed to the floor sideways with her still in it. Panting, she looked at Caitlin over the back of the chair and yelled, "Don't you knock?"

Caitlin bit her fist to stop herself from laughing, "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"I was quite clearly miles away there, what did you think was going to happen?"

Caitlin didn't know how to respond to that; the younger girl's point was completely valid. Eventually she decided to change the subject. "Cisco got a hit on the metamonitor, apparently there's been a lot of explosions at the nearby skate park not caused by natural means."

Putting the chair back upright, Sophie asked, "Did Bar say if he had plans of handling it?"

"He and Detective West are busy at the precinct."

Sophie shrugged. "I guess the metas of Central City have no idea about timing." She sighed. "Don't you suppose they could have waited a few days?"

Caitlin held out Sophie's supersuit. "Come on. Kicking somebody's ass is a scientifically proven method of making you feel better."

Rolling her eyes, she said, "Scientifically proven method my foot."

"Don't knock it till you've tried it," said Caitlin. "Go knock this meta instead."

Despite herself, Sophie smiled and took the suit, running off to the workroom get changed. As she slid the familiar polyester on, it dawned on her how much of a beacon of hope the lightning bolt on her chest had become. Some days she was proud to wear it, others she struggled with the idea of whether or not she deserved to wear it.

"It's not exactly like anybody else is capable of saving the city from metas," she said to herself as she put on her mask. "Why do they all feel the need to be evil anyway? What does it say about our society that the first thing people do when they get powers is commit a crime? If I hadn't been in a coma for like a year after getting mine, I wouldn't have done anything illegal. To be honest, I probably would have used my speed to get up an hour later and still be on time for school, because I'm incredibly lame like that."

When she arrived at the front of the building, Thea was already there in her Speedy suit with a full quiver of arrows.

Cisco was sat cross-legged on the ground with a tablet in his lap. "Hey, Sophie." He turned the tablet to show her, cupping his hands around it so the sun would not reflect off the screen. "This is where the meta has been seen, and this is some blurry news footage."

Sophie knelt down and looked at the aerial view of an old, graffitied skate park followed by a grainy recording of a teenage boy in a grey hoody who waved his hand at a slab of concrete and caused it to explode into a thousand pieces mere moments later.

"Any idea how he's doing this?" asked Sophie.

"All we know is that he is doing something to the concrete itself since he doesn't have anything in his hand," explained Cisco. "If you get close enough to him to have a look, the camera in your lightning bolt will show us everything we need to know. Caitlin and I will be able to tell the two of you how to defeat him."

"I suppose we're going on foot?"

"Unless you have a problem with that?" Thea raised one eyebrow.

"It does seem a bit boring when we can do all this cool stuff. Race you!" Sophie raced off, briefly spiralling back to check Cisco's tablet to make sure she was actually going to the right place.

Thea jogged towards the back alley of a main street then fired a grappling hook arrow upwards. It wedged itself on the ledge of a nearby roof and she tugged gently to make sure it was stable. Satisfied, she pulled herself up and swung, firing another arrow mid-air and using the momentum she gained to travel quickly to the skate park.

"Remember, girls," said Cisco through their earpieces, "You are just observing for now. Do not attempt to engage the target." More quietly, presumably speaking to Caitlin, he added, "I've always wanted to say that."

Sophie smiled as she skidded to a stop behind a tree. Classic hiding place. If she leant to the side, she could see a concrete ramp covered in slogans such as 'Daz woz ere' and 'Jake loves Karen'. There were two boys there, one sat on the top of the ramp smoking, dressed in dirty trainers, dark trousers and a red T-shirt. Another was riding his skateboard up and down the ramp. When he got to the opposite end to his friend he did a trick that involved effectively jumping off the board, flipping it around with his feet then landing on it again and repeating the motion.

Sophie was really impressed; sports had never really been her strongest suit. She was slightly disappointed when Thea arrived because she would have loved to stay there and observe the skaters in their natural habitat, seeing if they did any other cool tricks.

There was a rustling of leaves, a few showering down around her, before a familiar red-clad individual swung down from the tree. "'Sup."

"What sort of greeting is that?" stage-whispered Sophie, scrunching up her nose in distaste.

"A good one!" argued Thea. "Are either of these individuals who we are looking for?"

Sophie shook her head. "Skateboarding is such a weird idea. Whoever thought 'hey, let's put wheels on a bit of floor and do dangerous things on them!'?"

"A bit of floor, really?"

"Is that not essentially what it is? Especially if it was invented way back in the past."

Thea shook her head, chuckling. "You're so weird."

"Actually, the skateboard was invented in California during the 1950s by a group of surfers who wanted something adrenaline-inducing to do when there were no waves," said Caitlin over the comms.

Sophie turned bright red and shook her hair over her face. "I forgot the line was still open!" she squeaked.

"Well, now we know all about the history of skateboards," said Cisco happily. "You learn something new every day."

"Guys, shush," muttered Thea.

She leaned to the side slightly so she could get a clear view of a skate park, Sophie following her lead. A young boy, about 5' 7 if she had to guess, wearing a grey hoody walked up to the ramp and thrust one of his hands out. Immediately fragments of cement rained down like snow, causing the boys to pick up their boards and high tail it out of there.

"You getting this?" whispered Sophie.

"Crystal clear," replied Caitlin. In the background there was the familiar clacking of her typing on a keyboard. "It looks like he is extracting the elements from the ground to make explosives. He's still a kid, maybe he was in a chemistry lesson when the Accelerator exploded."

"The Chemistry Kid!" cried Cisco. "Whoa, that was like instantaneous my dudes. Clearly naming these metas is my superpower. Who cares what Dr Evil said, this is my true calling."

"Any ideas on how to defeat him?" Another explosion went off and Sophie ducked behind the tree. "Now would be nice."

"Working on it," said Caitlin. "We can cook up a neutraliser here and Sophie can come and grab it?"

"Perfect."

"We'll be fast," promised Cisco. "Not as fast as you, but we'll do our best."

…..

Caitlin used a pipette to add the correct dosage of chemicals into a glass vial, lips pursed in concentration. As soon as she had done it she made a quick mental calculation to determine the acidity of the concoction. "It should work. Can you run a simulation?"

Cisco nodded, typing the values into the computer and hitting enter. The screen was filled with a virtual Dash in her turquoise suit throwing a tiny object and stopping an explosion in its tracks. "Good job."

"Thank you." Caitlin put the vial in the large circular mixer in the workroom and pressed start.

Cisco spun in his chair. "So why do you know so much about skateboards?"

"My cousin was really into it at one point and educated us all," she said. "I thought it the science and engineering aspect was very interesting."

"You're such a nerd."

Caitlin looked at him. "That coming from you?"

"Eh."

The machine beeped and stopped spinning. Caitlin removed the vial and set it on the desk in the Cortex before switching on the line and telling Sophie it was ready.

…..

"On it like a car bonnet." Dash vanished in a purple-tinged breeze, stole the vial from the desk and returned before Thea had brushed the hair out of her face. "Got it." She held up a small vial filled with a yellow-orange liquid.

"Just throw it at the explosion to stop it," explained Caitlin. "The glass will smash and release the substance."

"Ok." Sophie peered round the tree and saw the meta. "Now or never." She ran out into the bright sunlight of the skate park. "Hey, look at me!"

The Chemistry Kid looked coldly at her and aimed his hand at the ground in front of her. dash activated her speed and watched as the ground rippled in slow motion. Tossing the vial, she saw the cracks decorate the sides of it before shattering. The liquid splashed onto the concrete and the ripples stopped.

"What?" cried the meta. He thrust his hands out again, but Thea caught him on the chest with a perfectly-aimed net arrow. It bound up his limbs and restricted his movement.

"That's my girl!" said Sophie happily. "We make such a good team – Wonder Girls forever!" she held her hand up and Thea high-fived it.

While the Chemistry Kid was too startled to try his powers again, Sophie scooped him up in her arms and ran him back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

…..

The metahuman had been temporarily put in the pipeline while Caitlin contacted child services, since he was still a minor, and worked out a way to permanently neutralise his powers so nobody else would be put in danger.

Sophie was sat in her usual spot on the desk, next to Iris who had brought them all treats from Jitters. Caitlin and Cisco were working on the computer while Thea texted her friends in Starling City.

"Hey guys," greeted Barry as he entered in his civilian clothes. "How was your day?"

Still in her supersuit, Sophie shrugged and swallowed her mouthful of muffin. "Saved the city, as per usual. How was the day job?"

"Boring. I was stuck in my lab all morning analysing everything under the sun."

"Imagine how bored I was then," said Joe from behind Barry. "Stuck behind a desk doing all the paperwork under the sun."

"That's unfortunate for you both," said Thea politely. "When I had a day job it was running a night club. Ollie's taking care of that now. Hopefully." She pulled a face.

"Speaking of emo older brothers," began Sophie, "I just remembered, Barry, I'm mad at you."

"What have I done now?" he asked tiredly.

"It's what you've not done."

"What haven't I done now?"

"You didn't tell Thea and me about how I have a really important future and your crazy-ass plan to get yourself killed helping an evil dude."

"Oh, that."

"Yes that!"

"Actually, Sophie, you weren't exactly a stellar example yourself," said Joe. "Does leaping into the ring and putting yourself at risk ring a bell?"

The young girl paled. "That wasn't putting myself at risk! I knew I could do it."

"Now ask yourself: was that confidence or arrogance?"

She didn't move, tears glistening in her eyes. Thea put an arm around her comfortingly.

Joe rubbed his face. "Look, all this superpower stuff is completely new to me and I'm not even gonna pretend to answer it – but I know what somebody disregarding their own safety looks like and I'm disappointed in both of you."

Cisco made an uncomfortable noise, "This doesn't sound like any of our business. Maybe Caitlin and I should go?"

"No," said Joe. "You are all equally involved in this. From now on, we are all going to be completely honest with each other. Promise?"

"I promise," they all said in unison.

"I promise too," said Joe. "This isn't going to be easy, but we all have each other."

AN – coming up soon: trips to Earth-3 and National City. Thank you to highlander348 for the review and Guest for the idea – it will be making an appearance very soon!