"You think my uncle kidnapped me?" Beca asked, fighting back giggles. On the inside, she was letting out a high-pitched scream that could possibly shatter windows if she opened her mouth. "Wow, I think that bourbon's messing with your head. Not that I know you drink bourbon. You just seem like a bourbon kind of guy."

All it took to shatter her feigned show of confidence was Wells staring at her, his hands folded in his lap. He had not spoken a single word and yet it felt as if he was listing all kinds of damning evidence to support his theory. She struggled to stop herself from even touching the back of her ear, remembering how he believed it to be a sign of a lie.

She glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. "Oh, it's almost nine. I should start heading downstairs. My uncle's all about being punctual. I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing here. It was nice seeing you outside the—"

Before she could turn the handle, her cheek was pressed against the smooth wood of the door and both of her arms were pinned behind her back. Her first thought was that her attacker was an invisible metahuman until she smelled familiar cologne, a scent that she only encountered at STAR Labs. Wells was standing behind her, his fingers digging into her wrists. Beca, at first, thought that he had rigged the seat of the wheelchair to move higher or lower but the wheelchair was at least a foot behind him, meaning he was somehow standing on his own two feet. With all the time she spent around geniuses, she expected some plausible explanation to pop up in her head but nothing was making sense.

"Y—you're not in the wheelchair."

"Very astute observation. I don't believe I gave any indication that this conversation was over." There was a knock at the door ("Miss Pierce, your uncle sent me to check on you. Is everything alright?" she heard, recognizing that the voice belonged to one of his goons) and Wells' grip tightened on her wrists. "Answer him," he hissed.

"Everything's fine, Paul. Mr. Bard just likes it rough."

"He was given clear instructions not to cause any visible damage. Let me talk to him."

The moment the handle began to turn, Beca was suddenly thrown to the floor. Paul, a man who towered over most people and looked like he ate nails for breakfast, entered the room and immediately pointed his gun at Wells.

"Dr. Wells?" His eyes flickered between Wells and the empty wheelchair. "How the hell—"

He was cut off by Wells' hand, vibrating back and forth, piercing his chest. As Wells moved his hand, Paul collapsed to the floor, his lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry it had to come to that, Beca, but I can't have people knowing that chair is all an act. Now, where were—"

Beca silenced him with a swift blow to the head. Leaving Wells and the shattered remains of the vase behind, she dashed out of the room with one goal in mind: find Barry. She waved down a passing cab and jumped into the backseat the minute it pulled over to the curb.

"Out for a fun night?" the driver asked with a smile, seeing her revealing dress in the mirror. "Are you okay, miss?"

She repeatedly locked the door. "Yes. I'm just in a hurry, sorry. I really need to get going."

After telling him Barry's address, she silently cursed herself, realizing that her purse was still in the hotel room. Fear of running into Wells was enough of an excuse for her to use her good looks to get out of paying, something she hated under normal circumstances. She pretended to be listening to the driver, nodding every so often, as he asked about her plans for the night.

"Heading to your boyfriend's place?"

"None of your business."

She jumped when the driver appeared beside her in the backseat, unconscious. Wells was now driving the cab, a trail of blood trickling down the left side of his face. One minute, she was unlocking the door (hoping that she would survive a tuck and roll onto the street) and the next, she was back at STAR Labs, trapped inside one of the holding cells.

"No more running, Beca. If you try that again, I may have to use force and you don't want that," he said, taking off his glasses.

"How are we—you're fast like Barry. Did the particle accelerator give you powers too? Why have you been pretending to be in a wheelchair all this time? What, did you use it so no one could kick the crap out of you for hurting all those people that night?"

"Technically, I had my powers before the accelerator incident. I've been biding my time, waiting for the moment that Barry Allen would get his own speed. I had to keep the timeline intact. Messing with it could have disastrous consequences but you are right. The wheelchair is merely a ruse. Who would suspect me of anything when they think that I can't even walk?"

"So what, now you're going to keep me trapped down here because I know your secret? Damien knows I was in that hotel room. If I don't text him back within the hour, he'll know something's wrong and then he'll go there, find the dead bodyguard, and have his men search the city for me, along with the CCPD. It won't take long for Barry to find the blood stain on the carpet or some skin flakes. He'll figure out that you're a match and then come straight here to kick your ass."

Wells smirked at her from the other side of the glass. He was not the least bit rattled by her grim prediction.

"I've seen you've been paying attention to his CSI babble. For someone who spent more than half her life sheltered, you pick things up very quickly, Beca. I have no intention of keeping you locked in this cell…or killing you. I know that was your next train of thought. You're far too useful to dispose of just yet. Your powers could be the key to getting what I've wanted for a very long time."

"I'd rather die than help you. I'll do it myself if I have to," she said, glaring at Wells. "I know firsthand just how hard to run at a wall to break a bone. Shouldn't be that hard to find out what it'll take to crack my skull wide open."

"Then you'll be doing Damien's dirty work as you've always done. A bit too early, I might add."

Behind her back, she moved her hand in a circular motion, attempting to draw energy from the lights within the cell. She directed her movements to the bottom lights, farthest from his view, to prevent him from discovering her plan.

"What does that mean?" she asked, only partially pretending to be confused.

"You see, Beca, I'm not from this time. I was born many years after you and your friends will be long gone. I traveled back in time to do some quality damage to my foe and in doing so, I ended up stuck here. I already knew Barry and who he would become…how Cisco and Caitlin would shape history themselves with their brilliant minds but you? Not a trace. Just before I traveled back, I was fighting against Barry Allen and his allies yet you weren't among them. Considering how close you've become, I wondered how that was possible. How could I never have encountered you, the stunning blonde with incredible gifts? At first, I thought you simply took your heroics somewhere else but then I found out the truth. You weren't by his side because you have no future."

Reaching into his pocket, Wells held out a small device. A hologram of the front page of Central City Picture News emerged, with a picture of Beca under the headline Local Artist, 24, Found Dead in Apartment. After the shocking title, she noticed the date of the article: July 7, 2015.

"That night, you were going to display your latest work at a gallery. Joe was the one who found your body in the bedroom, stabbed over fifty times with a particularly gruesome cut that went from one ear to the other. The police believed that you had come home in the middle of a robbery and that led to your unfortunate demise. It wasn't the biggest leap, with your apartment torn to pieces, but they failed to realize that nothing was missing. Joe did and he kept up the case for a few weeks but then by some miracle, your attacker was caught. He was a local thief who claimed that you were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was sentenced to prison for your murder, except he wasn't the culprit. Damien was your murderer."

Her eyes skimmed over the article, searching for proof that the actual murderer was mentioned at least once. "You're lying. Damien would never—"

"Because he's in love with you? Call it a crime of passion. I was already familiar with some of his past crimes, ones that he pinned on others, and the photos of your apartment matched them perfectly. Seeing as he was never caught, I don't know the reason but you must have upset him greatly. It's tragic, isn't it? A promising young girl's life ending just when it seems to be beginning."

Wells offered her the chance to prevent that possible future from becoming reality. In exchange for her help with his plans, which likely involved hurting Barry, he would ensure that Damien never had a chance to harm her. He claimed to have a mountain of evidence to implicate Damien in several crimes over the years, including her kidnapping.

The tiniest giggle escaped her lips. "Is this you trying to scare me? You're wrong. How can you kill someone that's already been dead inside for fifteen years? Maybe I provoked him to finally put an end to the suffering he's caused."

"Perhaps I was wrong to show you proof of your impending death. You'd see it as a sweet release from all that torment. I wonder how you'd feel if your dear friend Mr. Rayner suffered a similar fate?" he asked, a malicious gleam in his eyes. Her left hand clenched into a tight fist. "No, that would devastate you. All it takes is a little visit to that convenience store late at night when he's tired from a long day at work, a quick shot to the head, and CCPD would easily believe that he had an unfortunate run-in with one of Central City's less reputable citizens. What do you think of that?"

"I think you're insane."

"I'd like you to consider that I personally have no problem with keeping you locked in this cell, Beca. It wouldn't take much to convince the others that I will take all meals down to the other metahumans and as far as your sudden disappearance, CCPD would never be able to find you. They're too incompetent even with the simplest of cases. Your powers don't work as long as you're inside there and the only alternative is to accept my offer."

Beca's eyes darted around the confined space. Biting her bottom lip, she nodded her head ever so slightly.

"F—fine. I won't tell anyone who you really are and I'll help you…as long as you promise not to hurt Kyle. He has nothing to do with this."

The moment he opened the cell, she had no time to move before he zoomed in front of her. He snatched both of her wrists, any semblance of the Dr. Wells she thought she knew gone. She winced when he tightened his grip on the wrist that had been behind her back.

"You're clever, Beca, but not that clever. Agreeing to my offer just to strike me when the door opened? After all these years of being forced to work for Damien, I assumed you'd be a better actress. Did you honestly think you'd be able to hit me?"

"If you're really as fast as Barry, not a chance. That's why I made it obvious."

A ball of energy emerged from her hand and struck his chin, the blow knocking him up to the ceiling. Once she was outside the particle accelerator, she threw another energy ball at the keypad to seal the doors shut and continued towards the main control room, resisting any urge to turn her head. She stopped halfway down the corridor, abandoning her plan to use the computers to send a message to Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin when she spotted a fire alarm.

Willing to be lectured by the police for a false alarm if it meant that the real Dr. Wells would be exposed, she pulled down the lever. As the alarm blared throughout every part of the lab, a sharp force tugged at her waist and slammed her into the wall.

Wells' arm was firmly pressed against her throat. "I may have the same abilities as Barry but make no mistake, I'm far more advanced. I can do things that he can't even imagine. A simple locked door isn't enough to keep me trapped. I've already called off the fire department. Now, are you ready to cooperate or do I have to bring Mr. Rayner here to make certain that you understand that this is no game?"

A week had passed since that night and his threats were still fresh in her mind. No matter how much she wanted to warn Barry, she felt as if Wells was watching her every move, whether she was in STAR Labs, at home, or even just shopping at a random store. The only reason she kept quiet was Kyle, who Wells could kill at any moment without a second thought and his death would be on her hands. It reminded her of how she felt when Damien first snatched her, threatening to harm her friends if she attempted an escape.

Just looking at Wells, with everything she knew, made her sick to her stomach. It was made even worse by the fact that she was the only one aware of his true nature.

Beca paced in front of the police station, keeping the hood of her coat up in case Wells hacked any nearby cameras. Her gut was telling her to return to campus and continue to keep Wells' secret but there was a fierce determination inside her, one that pushed her to not become a victim again. When Damien kidnapped her, she was too young to fight back and maybe her newfound powers were giving her such confidence but she believed that she finally had a choice.

A police car pulled up to the station and both Detective West and Eddie stepped out, having just left a crime scene. After Wells gave his permission for her to help him against dangerous metahumans, Barry begun texting her about recent crimes with metahumans as possible culprits. The latest was a bombing, which would have been strange enough if it did not seem like the building blew up by itself.

"Detective West, can I talk to you?"

"It's okay to call me Joe, Beca." He indicated the hood covering her face. "What's going on? Are you feeling okay?"

"Avoiding a stalker from my genetics class. I uh was hoping we could talk in private," she said, lowering her voice.

Eddie crossed his arms. "Anything you have to say in front of Joe, you can say in front of me. We're partners."

"Or you can just leave and go check on your Malibu beach house." She reached into her purse and handed Joe a dollar. "De—Joe, please? It's important."

"Eddie and I just have to catch up Captain Singh on what we found at the crime scene and then you and I can go talk in my office or anywhere you want. Come on," he said, leading me up the steps despite Eddie's skepticism.

Inside the police station, Captain Singh was speaking to a grey-haired man, dressed in a military uniform, in his office while two other men, likely in the military themselves, guarded the door. As they left the office, Singh introduced Detective West to the man, General Eiling, and told him that the army was taking over the bombing investigation. Beca suddenly felt a tightness in her throat, unable to shake the feeling that she had met Eiling before. Detective West was curious why the army had any interest in a civilian matter but his curiosity was only piqued more when Eiling claimed that the bomber was part of the military and insisted on taking all of the evidence at that very moment.

"My partner Detective Thawne can get everything ready for you."

"Thank you for your cooperation, detective," said Eiling, his grin more disconcerting than comforting. "I hope I'm not being a bother but we like to handle our own. I'm sure you understand."

"Beca? What's going on?" she heard as Eiling followed Eddie over to his desk. Barry walked towards her, carrying a box filled with evidence from the crime scene.

"Don't know but I don't think it's good."

Detective West, the two armed guards standing beside him, filled Barry in on the army taking over the investigation, subtly hinting his suspicions. Barry, using his super speed, managed to snatch an empty folder, sealed in a plastic bag, from the box as the guards headed towards the elevator.

"You and a few civilians from STAR Labs might want to look into that. If I find out anything here, I'll let you know. Looks like now isn't a good time for a talk, Beca, but you can stop by the house anytime."

Beca left the station with Barry and sneaked into a nearby alley. "You were here to see Joe? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, it's nothing. Just—I thought he could help me out with this guy who's kind of been stalking me. He doesn't like to take no for an answer and campus security wasn't much help."

"If you want, I could—"

"No, it's not that serious, Barry. I just thought Joe could scare him a little since he's a cop. I can handle myself. You're not the only one with powers, remember?"

"I know that but if it gets worse, you'll tell me, right? We're friends. We have each other's backs."

"Always."

In the blink of an eye, they were back at STAR Labs. Beca tried to take her mind off her failed attempt at exposing Wells by playing a game of solitaire on one of the computers. Her paranoia skyrocketed the second he entered the room at the mention of General Eiling. The two of them had a past working relationship where Eiling contracted STAR Labs to make gene therapy for his soldiers but his real interest was in creating soldiers with mind reading capabilities. Hearing how Wells stopped the program after witnessing Eiling's underhanded methods, it was like a light bulb switched on in her head.

It was the first night after her parents were murdered and Damien had her stashed away in a hotel just outside her hometown. She had refused to leave the bathroom, afraid that he planned to kill her next or worse. If she was not on the top floor, she would have taken a chance at jumping out the window and hoping that she survived though a small part of her would not mind if it led to her death.

"You haven't eaten all day. I know you're hungry. I can practically hear your stomach through the door. Come out and eat as much as you like and then we can get you cleaned up."

She looked at her reflection in the mirror, with her tear-stained cheeks and the dried blood of her mother all over her floral printed dress. Her ears perked up at the sound of a knock at the door, hoping that it was someone from the hotel staff. It would take less than a minute for her to run out and tell them that she was not his daughter but a hostage and he killed her parents. Listening to his retreating footsteps, she opened the door just a sliver.

"I see you got the message. Would you like to come in for a drink?"

"Don't have time for a drink. I just want to make sure it's done."

She was unable to see the man standing out in the hallway but he sounded tough and authoritative. Damien leaned against the door frame.

"If it wasn't, I wouldn't have contacted you. As you asked, Tristan and Amelia Kingston are taken care of and the police have no idea they were murdered. They think a tragic fire took their lives, along with their sweet daughter's. I called in a favor to get a body from the morgue to put in her place and I'll call in another to make sure the DNA comes back as hers. It's an open and shut case. I'm curious why you wanted them dead."

"Tristan backed out of a deal he made with me...didn't finish what he promised and I don't need loose ends. What I'm doing has to stay in a very tight inner circle. Where's the girl now?"

"Here. Hasn't left the bathroom since she woke up but she'll come around. She has to eat sometime."

"I'll take care of that. She'll be coming with me."

"That wasn't part of our deal. We agreed that if I got rid of your loose ends, I get to keep her," he said, sounding like a petulant child. "I'm a man of my word and you assured me you were as well."

"Plans change. I'm not going to kill her, if that's what you think. I've got people working on his encrypted files and one of them thinks that she may know more about his work…what he did with it. I've got a meeting to attend to so I'll give you two hours to clean her up, make her look presentable."

Shutting the door, she grabbed a trash bin near the toilet and banged it against the window until the glass shattered. She had barely gotten one leg through the open space, ignoring the pain of shards of glass piercing the back of her thigh, when she was forcefully pulled her back inside the bathroom by the back of her dress.

"I assume you learned that trick from your mother. I heard she was quite resourceful," said Damien as she frantically kicked her legs. "If she wasn't so busy protecting you, perhaps she would've lived. Did you hear all that? He wants to turn you into a little lab rat."

"Let me go!"

"Oh, I don't intend on doing that." He glanced up from her frightened face to the shattered window. "And I've just thought of a way to make sure that doesn't happen. We're going to need more blood on that pretty little face of yours but don't worry, I'll keep you safe…always."

"Beca?"

Caitlin's voice snapped her out of her daydream. "Sorry. I was um thinking about a test I have to study for later."

Barry had left the lab to search for the bomber, Bette Sans Souci, who was a former bomb specialist for the military. He had just managed to find her when his comms disconnected, seconds after a loud explosion.

"Why can't we hear him anymore? Should I go out there? What if she hurt him?"

"He's fine, Beca," said Cisco.

"You don't know that. We don't know anything. All we know is there was a loud explosion and then nothing," she said, anxiously waiting to hear Barry's voice. "Can't you at least track him?"

"There must be a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he's not answering," assured Caitlin. "Barry!"

Beca turned her head at the sound of a loud whoosh and was surprised to find Barry in just a pair of boxer briefs, pulling a STAR Labs t-shirt over his head. She threw her arms around his neck before Caitlin could even ask what happened to him. As he explained how Bette somehow blew up his suit by just touching it (Cisco too freaked out over the loss of the suit to care about another metahuman), his own arms wrapped around her small waist. Wells theorized that Bette was able to turn any object into a bomb through touch.

"I'm okay, Beca. I don't think she meant to hurt me," said Barry as Cisco's rage towards Bette subsided after seeing a picture of her.

Detective West arrived at a lab, wanting to speak with him. Beca quickly darted her eyes to the floor when Wells caught her staring at the detective, then suggesting that she help him down in the pipeline.

"You made an interesting face when I brought up Eiling. Why is that?" He sighed at her silence. "Beca, partners need to have honesty with each other."

"Partners?" she asked, with a scoff. "You're blackmailing me. It's not the same."

"I do wish you'd see things my way because as it stands, I am the only one who can ensure you have a future. You have no hope of stopping Damien without my help. I could ask another way, one that would require a little more force."

She stopped halfway down the hallway, making sure that they were not within earshot of the main control room. "I think he's the one who killed my parents. Damien did it but Eiling might've paid him to..."

"And why would he do that?" he asked, intrigued. "Your parents weren't in the military. From my research, your father was a surgeon and your mother owned a boutique."

"I don't know. I thought he sounded familiar when I saw him at the police station and it didn't hit me until you said his name. The night after Damien kidnapped me, someone named Wade met him at the hotel we were staying at and he sounded a lot like Eiling. He said that my dad backed out of some deal and that's why he wanted them dead. He was going to take me with him because he thought I knew about my dad's work."

"And yet he didn't. How did Damien manage that?"

"He beat me within an inch of my life and then gave me a muscle relaxer. When one of Eiling's men showed up, he said that I had jumped out the window to escape and the fall killed me. I guess Eiling believed it."

It was telling that Wells was more surprised by my father's possible dealings with the military than Damien beating up a child. That painful trip down memory lane was cut short by a text on her phone, reminding her of her shift at Jitters in twenty minutes.

Beca managed to get there with a minute to spare and moved behind the counter, tying an apron around her waist. She began working on a series of orders given to her by Stacy.

"Iris, did Peter move the cinnamon again?" Iris was leaning against the counter, lost in her own little world. "Iris?"

"Sorry, Beca. I was—I've got a lot on my mind. He hid it in the cabinet on the left, like always. You'd think he would change his hiding spot after the tenth time."

She grabbed the cinnamon from the bottom cabinet. "What's going on? Boyfriend trouble?"

"More like Barry trouble. He's on my dad's side about my blog. I've kind of been writing about The Streak."

Beca almost dropped the cup in her hand. After handing it over to Stacy, she feigned surprise, knowing that Iris was completely unaware of Barry's superhero activities.

"Really? That's…isn't it just some gag? Like photoshop or something?"

"No, he's real. I saw him on the night of that bombing, Beca. He saved someone's life. My blog has a bunch of posts about sightings of him around the city. The posts are anonymous so no one knows that it's me. I started writing about his partner too. You know the one that everyone is calling Blonde Bombshell?"

"I think I heard about her, yeah."

"I mean, the name's totally sexist but until someone comes up with a better one or we find it out from her, it's the best I've got. Barry thinks I should stop writing about both of them. I don't get it. Ever since what happened to his mom, he's been trying to convince people of the impossible and now that it doesn't seem so crazy, it's like he's done a complete 180. What do you think?"

"Me? What do I—well, it's…I guess Barry and your dad are worried that writing about those people could put you in danger. What if some criminal reads it and decides to go after you? How long does something stay anonymous? There's always a way to trace it back to you and if something happened, they'd never forgive themselves. It's cool that you're writing about them but I see their point too. I can't tell you what to do but just be careful."

"I will be. Oh, by the way, I found this outside when I was coming in for my shift." She handed Beca a small box, her name written on the top in black marker. "Guess they know you work here. Maybe you've got a secret admirer…like Kyle?" she teased.

"He's not really the anonymous type but if it was him, there's an 85% chance something will pop out of the box. I'll be right back."

Beca headed into the employee bathroom and carefully opened the box. As she reached inside, she pulled out a braided leather bracelet with an infinity pendant. With trembling hands, she tilted the box upside down, expecting a note to fall out but it was empty. Her phone vibrated in the pocket of her jeans.

"Hello?"

"Beca, I found Bette and brought her to STAR Labs but Eiling tracked her there," said Barry. Wells is holding him off while we take her somewhere Eiling won't find her. He said it's safer if you're with us in case Eiling checks the security footage to see who else goes into the lab. Can you get out of your shift? We're waiting around the corner."

"Yeah, shouldn't be a problem. I'll be out in five minutes, tops," she said, hiding the bracelet in her pocket.

It did not take much convincing for Stacy to let her leave work early. Considering she was a massive germaphobe, the tiniest cough was enough to send her into a panic. Beca found the STAR Labs van parked around the corner and opened the door where Caitlin was sitting with Bette, a redhead in her mid-twenties. Cisco, who was avoiding any glances in Bette's direction, drove down the street.

"Bette, this is Beca. She's another metahuman."

"It's nice to meet you," said Beca, holding out her hand.

Bette looked reluctant. "Probably not a good idea."

"I know the feeling. If I touch someone without these gloves, they could turn into a skeleton but don't worry. We'll be able to help you."

"Are you guys always this optimistic?"

They stopped at an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city. Once they finished setting up the equipment, Cisco placed several items, including a frisbee and a football, on the table to test Bette's abilities. She picked up the frisbee, causing it to emit a purplish glow, and seconds after tossing it in the air, it exploded.

"Her Trauzl rating is around 45," said Cisco, checking his laptop. "That's the same as any plastique. Plastique! Ha, first try."

"Seriously?" asked Beca, wiping the grin from his face. "And you still can't come up with one for me? This is so unfair."

Caitlin was equally unamused by his name choice. As Bette continued to throw random objects, Barry left for another talk with Iris, who was now putting her name on her blog. Beca and the others waited for Wells to message them that it was safe to return to STAR Labs.

"You think Eiling is still there?" she asked Cisco, trying to keep her mind off of the bracelet.

"He could be there all night if he thinks Wells is hiding Bette. It's a big place. Speaking of Bette, you're both girls."

"Cisco, if you just realized that, we might have a problem."

"Say I hypothetically wanted to ask her out. What do I do? If I go all Say Anything, she'll think I'm crazy. That kind of stuff only works in movies. I'm sure plenty of guys have tried to sweep you off your feet."

"Just be yourself and if she doesn't like that, then it's her loss."

"There has to be more than that. Come on, what do they buy you? A car? An island? Two islands?"

"I'm serious," she said with a giggle. "You don't need to be all flashy. Be yourself. You're telling me the girls aren't begging to date a genius like you?"

"You know I've been thinking it for a while but now I know you're definitely crazy."

The team's hope to help Bette were dashed by Caitlin's findings. After the particle accelerator explosion, the shrapnel in her body had merged with her cells, making it impossible to reverse her powers and give her any semblance of a normal life. Beca was willing to give Barry's suggestion of making her part of the team a chance but the others disagreed, considering her powers too dangerous. She argued that her powers were just as dangerous and if she could find a way to use them to help people, Bette could do the same.

Beca slid into the backseat of the car parked outside her apartment building. She had not gotten any sleep, stressing out over Bette and the mysterious gift left for her at Jitters.

"Why do I need to get driven to school?"

"You know not to ask questions," said one of Damien's goons in the driver's seat. "When he wants something done, I do it. It's temporary. Are you ready to go?"

"Su—"

She spotted a text from Cisco, warning her that Bette was on her way to confront Eiling and she needed to help Barry. He sent her the location of the military's base in Central City.

"We need to stop somewhere else first."

"My orders were to take you to school, that's all."

She moved up to the passenger seat and grabbed his chin, gazing directly into his eyes. "You're taking me to the waterfront and then leaving. If Damien asks, you drove me to campus and that's all you remember. Got it?"

"Yes."

"Then drive."

On the way to the waterfront, she changed into her makeshift disguise, still waiting on Cisco to finish her suit. Barry was waiting for her at the edge of the waterfront, where military jeeps were parked and Bette was facing off against Eiling and his men.

"What if he tells someone that you're—he saw your disguise," he said, watching the car drive back towards the city.

"I used my powers to make him forget. What's the plan?"

"Stop Bette from hurting anyone and bring her back to STAR Labs. I'll keep her away from Eiling. Blast away their guns so they don't shoot her."

They jumped at the sound of several explosions. Dark smoke billowed around the jeeps and a determined Bette walked towards Eiling, who was laying on the ground. As Barry moved in front of her, pleading to not hurt anyone, Beca used small energy blasts to knock any guns away from the soldiers then moved her hands back and forth to clear away the smoke. Eiling suddenly shot at Bette, hitting her in the chest.

Kneeling beside her, Barry removed his mask. "I'm gonna get you back to STAR Labs."

"Barry, Dr. Wells…he…" '

Beca wondered if she learned the truth about Wells, just like her, but she never got an answer. "Can you try to get out the bullet? Maybe if you touch her, you can heal her wound and that'll be enough until we get her back to the lab."

"I can try," she said, reaching for Bette's shoulder. Her body began to emit a purplish glow, similar to when she turned objects into explosives. "I don't think we have that much time. What's happening?"

Realizing that she was about to detonate, he asked the team what to do with her body. The plan was for him to dump her body in the middle of the lake to prevent the explosion from destroying the city but if he was not fast enough, the blast would kill him.

"Wait here. I'll be back."

"Barry, wait. There has to be a way that I can help. What if you can't outrun the blast? You'll—"

"We don't have time to come up with another plan. I'll be fine."

He sped into the lake, carrying Bette's lifeless body. Not willing to take any chances, Beca waded out into the water.

"Beca, what are you doing?" said Caitlin, the panic in her voice ringing through the earpiece.

"Giving Barry more time."

"Miss Pierce, you are getting dangerously close to the blast radius. Even at the edge, the force alone could damage your body beyond repair. Get out of the water now," said Wells.

"Barry and I are a team. We have each other's backs. I'm not letting him do this alone."

Wells was interrupted by a blast in the lake, sending water gushing high into the air. Just as the water came crashing back down, Barry already beginning to run back towards the shore, a ring of water dispersed from the site of the blast, nipping at his heels.

"Beca, please get out of the water!" begged Caitlin.

Bracing herself, Beca placed her hands in front of her. "Come on, this'll work," she muttered.

A burst of energy emitted from her hands then split in half, surrounding the entire shore in a partially visible shield. Barry scooped her up once he was within reach and brought them safely back to the shore, the energy shield holding back the blast. His head leaning against her stomach, he panted heavily.

Less than an hour after returning to STAR Labs, they discovered that Eiling was already running damage control. He passed off the explosion as nothing more than a underwater weapons testing.

"You put on a really good act," said Beca, following Wells out of the room as Barry left, guilt-ridden over Bette's death. "I almost believed that you were sorry about Bette."

"Excuse me?"

"They're not even questioning why she would suddenly decide to confront Eiling like that but I heard her. She said your name…she was going to tell Barry something about you and I bet it was that you're a manipulative psychopath. You convinced her to go after Eiling. Why?"

"I'm afraid you're wrong, Miss Pierce. I said nothing of the sort. Perhaps it was her own twisted way of seeking justice for what happened to her."

"You're lying. You wanted her to kill him. Why? Because if he knew that you had been hiding Bette, then he'd probably find out about Barry and me and that would ruin your plans. You let an innocent person die all to protect your own selfish interests."

He clasped his hands together, resting them in his lap. "True but you should be thanking me. As I've said, Wade Eiling is a dangerous man and we do not want to make an enemy of him. If he learned the truth about you and Mister Allen, what do you think he'd do? He'd capture you and turn you into weapons, just as he planned to do with Miss Sans Souci, and likely force Cisco and Caitlin to help him since they know all about your abilities. His experiments would be far from kind and you'd be wishing that you were back with Damien. I did you a favor."

"Don't act like you did the noble thing. You don't give a damn about anyone but yourself. You're a monster just like him and someday, I'll find a way to expose you and this little game of yours will be over."

"Beca! You coming?" shouted Cisco.

Before joining them at the bar to help comfort Barry, she decided to stop by her apartment, fearing that Damien knew that she skipped her classes for the day. She was relieved when he left her a voicemail that he was stuck in meetings all day and quickly changed out of her wet clothes and into a pair of skinny jeans and a black tank top with a lace back. Fixing her hair in the bathroom, her phone vibrated, with a call from Barry.

"Hey, are you on your way? You're missing out on Caitlin trying to get me drunk."

"Yeah, just trying to fix my hair. Not every day you stop a human bomb from destroying an entire city and your really fast friend."

"I'm sure you look great." Beca heard the door creak behind her. "You there?"

"I'm leaving now," she said, conjuring a ball of energy in her hand as she tiptoed out of the bathroom. She checked every inch of her apartment but there was no sign of an intruder. "Don't let them get started without me. Tell Cisco I'm—"

A searing pain coursed through her, like being struck by lightning ten times. She collapsed to the floor and before everything went black, the last thing she heard was Barry calling out her name.