Joe arrived at STAR Labs in under ten minutes to be debriefed by Cisco, over Barry's peculiar behavior. "Where is Cupid's latest victim now?" Joe asked.
"I may have sent him out on a fake emergency, while we figure out how to reverse whatever is going on with him." Cisco replied.
"A fake emergency, while he is acting unstable? Probably not your best plan, Cisco." Joe replied, "but I can understand why. But as I said earlier, he was acting fine when I dropped him off here this morning. How did all this happen?"
Astrid reentered the room holding up both the arrow that Barry had been working on and the one that he had been struck with and said "Before Barry was struck, he said that he had found something besides blood on this arrow. I'm guessing that it is some sort of love potion that Carrie Cutter, aka Cupid got a hold of. My question is how? When I encountered her in Sterling City her arrows were just ordinary. But these ones are somehow potent enough to affect not only meta-humans, but also Barry, who normally has such a remarkable healing ability."
"We found out how it was created…" Joe replied, taking one of the arrows and examining it, "There was a scientist in one of the apartments. She must have shot him after he made her the chemical. I expect that she has been following since you left Sterling City. Would you know why?"
"Revenge," Cisco answered on Astrid's behalf, "Astrid said that this girl was obsessed with Oliver… that would explain it."
"The question isn't why she is doing it. It's how are we going to cure Barry and apprehend a woman who has already escaped police custody?" Astrid told them, "I sent Barry out to find her earlier. He got distracted and came back with a bunch of flowers. Right now he is a liability, and while Caitlin is MIA we need a doctor who specializes in meta-humans to help us find a cure."
"I'm so sorry, you guys! I'm here!" a familiar voice entered the room. It was Caitlin. "I heard everything that you just said and I'm back and ready to get down to work!"
Cisco and Astrid both felt a sigh of relief and rushed to hug their friend. "No time for hugs!" she told them, "Hand me those arrows and let me get to work!" she said. She took both the arrows and ran to her medical bay, and begun analyzing the arrows instantly. Cisco and Astrid were thrown a little off guard at the abruptness that their friend was displaying. It was unlike the Caitlin, that they knew. But they also knew that they needed to be vigilant for Barry's sake.
After a few moments Caitlin had gained an analysis of the red compound. "It looks as if it is a concentrated chemical, made from ingredients caused by the radiation from the meteor shower at a very potent level. Whoever created it knew what they were doing. The upside is, that Barry's body should still fight off the potion a lot quicker than an ordinary person. The downside is… I'm guessing it will take about a week."
"A week?" Astrid said in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me! So I am going to have a love sick Barry Allen on my back for a week. There has got to be a way of curing him!"
"He could always run?" Caitlin shrugged, "It's just a theory, but we need him to break a sweat…"
"But Barry never breaks a sweat…" Cisco replied.
"That's because he doesn't run fast enough," Caitlin exclaimed. "We get him to run faster than ever before and he should break a sweat. If he sweats enough, the chemical should leave his body quicker. Though it will still take possibly three to four days."
"It's better than a week." Astrid suggested.
"Well, while the lot of you take care of Barry…" Joe began, "I will tell Captain Singh that he has gone home with… food poisoning? That sounds fitting enough… We will catch this Cupid, don't worry!" Joe left STAR Labs and headed to CCPD.
"In the meantime…" Astrid began, as she hurried over to Cisco's computer, sat on his chair and pulled up a browser. Within moments she had opened a full profile on Carrie Cutter and had shown Caitlin and Cisco. "This is the girl we are after!" she told them. "If we see her, we restrain her, whatever means necessary!"
"She is cute." Cisco replied, "I don't normally like it when villains nickname themselves, but she has done it right, this time…"
Astrid glared at her friend… "Cisco. This is not a joking manner. She has managed to turn our greatest asset into a lovesick lapdog. She has excellent aim and she is seeking revenge. We cannot be too careful!"
"You don't need to worry, Astrid. I won't let her harm you…" Barry said, entering the room, giving her a kiss on the cheek and making her flinch. "Oh hi Caitlin. How was your honeymoon? Wouldn't it be amazing if we could go..."
Astrid glared at him, making him stop mid sentence.
Caitlin was just as unsettled with the new Barry as Astrid and Cisco were, "My honeymoon was great… but you, Barry. Who would have thought… You and Astrid would end up together?"
Astrid stood up from where she was sitting. "Barry. I think it's time for you to work on your cardio. What's your latest record?" She was desperate to get her friend back to normal.
Cisco agreed with her. "He made a new record this morning. I think he can beat that."
Barry was unsure as to why. But he obeyed to keep her happy, and began running as fast as he could on his cosmic treadmill.
"Come on, Barry. You need to break a sweat," Astrid told him after ten minutes. Barry had indeed broken his record, but was still bone dry. Her words of encouragement made him push himself harder than ever, until something that he saw threw him off guard. He tripped and fell off again. This time causing an even bigger dent in the wall than he had done so, earlier.
"I can't do that again!" he demanded.
"What why?" Astrid asked. "Are you feeling different? How do you feel?" She placed the back of her hand over his dry forehead. Still no perspiration.
"I saw something!" He told his friends, as Caitlin and Cisco had joined them.
Caitlin was now all ears. "What did you see, Barry?" she asked excitedly.
"I think I was hallucinating. It was like I was at one of those nerd conventions. There was a man all dressed in black with a black animal mask. He looked like a human-sized bat and he was driving this expensive looking black car. There was another man wearing a red and blue suit... with a cape! Caitlin, you and Cisco were fighting. But you were Killer Frost again and Cisco had some sort of power that I have never seen before." Barry explained.
Astrid brought Barry over a seat, made him sit down and checked his pupils with her light-up keyring. Everything looked normal. Barry gazed up at her lovingly again.
"This isn't working, you guys." Astrid confirmed, "We can't risk Barry's sanity for a theory that may or may not work."
Caitlin was frustrated and tried to protest. "We need to get him to..."
"Caitlin. This isn't like you." Astrid said firmly, "we are not risking Barry's health and that's final!" Cisco and Barry were speechless.
Caitlin and Astrid never argued, particularly over Barry's health. But here they were.
Astrid looked back over at Barry and smiled as if he were a child. "Why don't we go for a walk Barry. We can go visit Iris." She told him. He agreed and held her hand as they left STAR Labs.
