"Barry! I'm so glad you and the rest of the team are safe after that train incident. The media is having a field day with it. Did you manage to find him?" Joe asked, as Barry hurried into the detective's office.
"Bates is locked up over at STAR Labs!" Barry replied in a low whisper.
"He's what?" Patty asked them, shocked. She had entered the office behind Barry and had overheard their conversation "Why is he there and not here in custody… Barry that's strictly against protocol, he should be over at Iron Heights."
Joe and Barry looked at her, they hadn't expected for her to walk in at that point and hear them.
"Bates is dangerous." Barry defended, "STAR Labs has the best facilities to keep meta-human criminals like him so they no longer pose a risk to the city."
"I'm sorry, but I don't agree. Look what happened with those two thieves, Leonard Snart and Mick Rory. It was all over the news, they were tied up at STAR labs… and then all of a sudden, they've disappeared and their criminal slates have been wiped clean." Patty argued.
"Wiped clean, Barry?" Joe asked. Barry looked at Joe puzzled, he had no clue in regards to this information. He knew that Patty was right, but at the same time letting out Everyman would be prove very risky.
"I'm going to report this to the Captain immediately." Patty said as she stormed back out of the office.
"No, no, no… Patty don't!" Barry pleaded.
"Why not, Barry?" she asked. "I got into this job to make a difference, to serve and to protect. That includes standing against corruption and doing the right thing… you know that this is the right thing, Barry. I won't let you stop me."
Patty stormed out of the office and found Captain Singh sitting at his desk "Captain Singh. Hannibal Bates has been captured, I demand that you allow me to make the arrest." She announced.
"What's stopping you, detective Spivot?" he asked, just as Joe and Barry arrived behind her.
"He's being held over at STAR Labs." she said.
Singh stared at them all. He knew that his hands were tied. "Okay, Patty. You can accompany detective West and bring Hannibal Bates into our custody."
Patty and Joe left the office, but Barry pleaded with Captain Singh. "Please, Captain… after the train today… after everything this man has done… I'm concerned that transferring him could be dangerous."
"Barry… I'm sorry, but my hands are tired. STAR Labs is not a prison. We can't keep criminals locked up there. Look what happened with Captain Cold and Heatwave. I get that the lot of you are doing a good job helping keep this city safe, but we still have to follow protocol. If you want, you and I will accompany them to transfer Bates. Prepare your friends, in case something happens."
"Yes sir." Barry replied.
"Let me get this straight… you want us to transfer a man, who is safely in the pipeline over into police custody?" Cisco demanded.
"Captain Singh requested it. Keeping him here is against the law." Barry replied.
"Cisco, Barry's right…" Astrid replied, "I worked for CCPD for years… I can't argue with protocol. But, let's just hope that they don't find anything else that could incriminate us."
"Yeah… like any other meta-villains that we have down there… Or that our guards don't mention anything about how they are made to feed the prisoners down below… because, you know… we could be shut down." Cisco said sarcastically.
He stormed away, and muttered under his breath, "This place will be the death of me!"
"Cisco," Barry called out to his friend.
"Don't worry… I'll talk to him after." Astrid replied.
"Sutherland, do you want me to accompany Barry and CCPD down to the pipeline?" Harry asked.
"No, I'll go. You and Caitlin just keep an eye on Cisco for me." Barry and Astrid headed down stairs to meet with the detectives down in the main entrance foyer.
"Well, you wanted her out of the cortex, Cisco." Caitlin said once they had left.
"Yeah… but risking STAR Labs secrets wasn't the way that I wanted it all to go down." Cisco replied, "Regardless… let's do this." He stroked his hair behind his ear, revealing that he had been wearing his neuro blocker gear to prevent Astrid from reading his mind. Fortunately, she hadn't noticed.
"I'm just glad you're taking my advice, Ramon." Harry replied.
Barry and Astrid met with Captain Singh, detective West and detective Patty Spivot.
"Hi, Singh, a pleasure as usual." Astrid said with a smile.
The captain led her away subtly so they couldn't be overheard. "I get that this is an inconvenience, and while I wouldn't generally do this… But, if any of you have anything else down in these cells… I would suggest you get rid of them immediately." He warned her in a whisper.
"I understand. Don't worry. Hannibal Bates is all that we have down there." She replied.
"I hope your right, Astrid… because Detective Spivot will not let it slide otherwise."
Astrid smiled, and approached Patty with her hand outstretched. "Hi, I'm Astrid."
"Oh, I know who you are… which is why I want to apologize for all this inconvenience. In fact, I love what you do. You're an amazing woman… A real inspirational icon… and the work that STAR Labs does on meta-humans it's just amazing." Patty said rambling.
"Wow, Barry… she reminds me of you when you first started up at CCPD," Astrid said with a laugh. She led them to the elevator and completed the security scan to take them down to the lower floors. "Okay, let's go. I hope that you're all prepared, because the minute the glass opens… he will try and trick you all."
When the elevator opened back up, Barry and Astrid led them to the pipelines and completed Gideon's access pass. The security systems had been upgraded and required two employees to complete their scans at the same time.
"So this is him?" Patty asked when they arrived at Hannibal's cell.
"This is him." Barry said.
"He doesn't seem so bad."
Captain Singh and Detective Joe readied their weapons, as Astrid pushed the button to open the cell. Patty stood with the cuffs at the ready.
The glass slid open and Everyman instantly took the form of a man that none of them recognized, except for detective Spivot.
"Dad." Patty gasped.
"Oh, Patty. I missed you." He said.
"It's a trick, Detective." Captain Singh said.
"Right… a trick…" Patty said, clutching the cuffs. "Hannibal Bates, you have the right to remain silent…" Before she could cuff him, Hannibal charged for her, knocking her to the ground. He then took the form of the Flash and knocked Joe over, retrieving his gun in the process.
He took hold of Astrid and held the gun at her temple. Singh aimed the weapon at the Flash imposter who had Astrid at gunpoint.
While the attention was on the two of them, Barry disappeared and returned as the Flash, retrieving the handcuffs from Spivot and cuffing Everyman into custody. Barry redressed into his regular clothes and found his original place.
"That was really the Flash!" Patty gasped, as she noticed Barry standing beside her.
"And people call me a master of disguise!" Hannibal Bates said, looking over at Barry.
"Alright, take him away!" Captain Singh said as he, Joe and Patty led him out of the pipeline and out of STAR Labs.
Barry and Astrid took their time closing up the pipelines to have some time to talk. "You know… I actually apologized to you today, Barry." Astrid said with a smile.
"You apologized to me? Really? When?" he asked.
"Well, I apologized to Hannibal who was in your body… so that counts."
"No it doesn't… it doesn't count. What were you apologizing for, anyway?"
"Well, it's no secret that you and I haven't been seeing eye to eye for a while… since…"
"…Since you told Captain Singh my secret… and I kept you in the dark about Kent."
"Yeah… but, today when you saved us on the train, I actually doubted that you would save us in time. But, you proved me wrong… I apologized for that too."
"You actually apologized… Damn, I'm so annoyed that I missed it!" Barry replied with a grin planted on his face.
"…Oh, it was a good one… but, seriously… Just before... we both know that I could have taken Everyman down… but I left it up to you. Because I knew that after everything… that you would have my back." She explained.
"Yeah, I will always have your back, Astrid… You, Caitlin, Cisco… even Harry."
"Good… and that goes both ways." It was good that they were finally seeing eye to eye again.
"So what did Bates say when you apologized?" Barry asked.
"Dude… that creep kissed me! I thought I was going to vomit. And then he turned into Cisco and smashed me over the head with my laptop…"
"Wow… he actually fooled you."
"Shut up, Barry. Let's go join the others. But first… you're a guy. I want to do something romantic for Cisco… You seriously just surprised Caitlin with a trip to Paris… I need tips."
"Can we mark this in our calendars? You've both apologized to me, and now you're actually coming to me for advice in one day… Are you sick?" He placed the back of his hand to her forehead to check her temperature.
"No, I'm not sick... But either you give me some advice… or we'll forget that this ever happened."
"I guess I can't argue with that." Barry agreed and continued to give her advice.
