Barry and Caitlin rushed back to STAR. They had left Felicity and Oliver back at the abandoned train yard as they sped back into the Cortex.
"Where is he?" The Flash asked Cisco
"The Facial recognition system just saw him go into an old apartment building at 13th and Vine. Be careful" Before Cisco managed to finish the two were out the door.
A few minutes later they were in the apartment both searching for Bivalo. There was nobody there much to their surprise.
"Cisco, you sure he's here?" Frost asked
"That is the building where we got the ping from. Maybe he isn't yet in his apartment?" Cisco managed to finish his sentence, the front door opened and they saw Bivalo. Before they could react, they were both hit with a flash of red disorienting them. When they have recovered their bearings, he was gone. Searching for him again yielded no results so they went back to STAR. They were both feeling dizzy so they decided to give themselves a checkup.
"That was weird" Barry commented while Caitlin was checking his eyes.
"So, I'm guessing you saw the same flash of red I did?" She switched places with him while he was doing the same to her.
"Yea, but… I don't feel any different. If we take the same timeframe compared to what happened at the bank, we should be already at each other's throat. So I guess our modified cells make us somehow immune to that effect" Barry responded. Joe entered the Cortex searching for the two.
"Hey, Joe. Did anything turn up?" Barry asked
"I put out the APB on Bivalo, even though Singh was really annoyed about it. I couldn't just tell him you got the name from the Arrow. Especially since the person that actually gave him that name turned up in a hospital with an arrow in his thigh" the detective answered
"I have to give it to Oliver. He knows how to get information out of people. Even though I don't agree with his methods" Barry replied to his adoptive father while he was concluding his examination on Caitlin while she got off the bed.
"I told you I don't like him" Joe continued with his Anti Arrow tirade
"And I told you, Joe that he is my friend and I trust him. Why the hell would you not understand that already? I am not a child" Barry could feel the rage building up inside him fueled by the annoyance at the old detective's preconceptions "I can make my own decisions; I really don't need you to try to control me or my life. At this point in time, your own preconceptions that were definitely fostered by bad reporting and stupid media outlets that only report murders but do not know the man and his reasons behind doing what he does, do not interest me. Please keep your comments to yourself, especially when my friends are concerned"
"Hey, Barry. Calm down" Caitlin put her hand on his shoulder. She could not explain it but she could feel the overwhelming anger that he was showing. It was almost like anything else was drowned out, but it wasn't hers. Her eyes went wide. She was feeling his anger. She almost immediately noticed the red tint in his eyes "Joe wants what's best for you "
"So you're taking his side…" he tried to raise his voice at Caitlin, turning toward her "What am I doing?" he asked himself. This was not him; he could feel the rage inside. At Wells for the particle accelerator explosion, at Joe for trying to control his life, even though he was already an adult, at Iris for dumping him at STAR and dating Eddie, but when he turned to Caitlin… he could not find something to be angry with her about. She had been with him and helped him ever since he became the Flash. She could have left him alone and lock up her powers, but then who would patch him up every time when they came back from a mission. She was more careful, but he came back injured most of the time. He had no reason to be acting like that toward her "I have nothing to be angry about. If anything, I should be thanking Caitlin for being here whenever I needed her. Helping me" he realized and calmed down almost immediately. The sudden change in his demeanor was obvious to everyone in the room. Caitlin, who was near him, saw the red tint disappear almost as fast as it appeared. Taking a deep breath, he spoke again with a normal voice "Scratch that. It seems that Bivalo at least had an effect on me" He took a hypo injector of horse tranquilizer and sat on the bed "This should put me out for a few hours. I hope you come up with something to counteract the effects. The others were so mad that they actually tried to rip each other's eyes out, I shudder to think what I could do to all of you if I got reached that stage" He laid down and shot the horse tranquilizer in his leg, turning on his side with his back to the group.
"What prompted that change of attitude?" Cisco asked "First he was enraged talking to Joe and then when he turned to Caitlin … "
"We hypothesized from the start that the power enrages the person exposed to it. I do not believe that do be the case anymore. I suspect this metahuman's ability is not actually to provoke rage, but to enhance the feelings that were already there. Barry was mad at Joe and me for telling him we don't want the Arrow around. However, when he turned to Dr. Snow, he couldn't find a reason to be mad at her. So the effect just dissipated" Wells concluded.
"You mean the anger … fizzled out?" Joe interjected
"Yes, that is precisely what I mean. You, Dr. Snow, must mean a lot to him "Wells moved toward the consoles to help Caitlin with a cure.
"She does. More than you will ever know" Barry muttered in a low tone from the bed while he fell into a deep sleep. Nobody was supposed to hear him, but Caitlin was near his bed checking the monitors. She heard it loud and clear "I mean something to him, more than they will ever know" she repeated that in her head not wanting to believe her ears. "What do I mean to him?" she asked herself somehow feeling butterflies in her stomach while she started to work on a way to reverse the rage effect.
A few hours later while Barry was asleep Wells and Caitlin came up with a cure. Cisco was hard at work building something that would send the required light waves into the optic nerve to cancel out the effects. They had discovered that a combination of light in the visible spectrum, plus a burst of EM energy directed at the person's head could negate the effects of the rage inducing Meta. As soon as Barry was awake and everyone told him what they had found, he flashed over to Cisco's lab. He had no quarrel with Cisco and he liked the man, so it was rather safe since the rage effect would not activate for him and Caitlin's presence had a soothing effect on him
"Hey, man. Cait told me you were working on a way to reverse the effects?" Barry smiled at the engineer.
"Yep, it's almost done" he said pointing at a small flashlight looking device on his desk
"I was pretty hard to make it as small as it is, but you know me, I love a challenge"
"Cisco, you loving a challenge is an understatement. You would play Dark souls on keyboard and mouse and complain it was too easy after a few playthroughs" Barry smiled
"I love doing what I do. I love helping you guys save people. I love being a part of the team. Flash and Frost and I'm the support" Cisco smiled widely as he said that. You could see on his face that what he was saying was the absolute truth. "FlashFrost. BINGO. That's the name of the team"
"Really, Cisco? You couldn't come up with a better name?" Caitlin asked walking behind Barry. She did not speed through liking to just walk around the lab sometimes.
"Why you have to be picking on the Cisco?" the engineer pouted
"Denied" Barry replied making the engineer pout even harder "So, after Cisco fixes me you want to go back to train with O… the Arrow?"
"Yeah. Sure. My back still hurts where he shot me yesterday though. So I intend to slow down a little" she replied
"I'm done. Stand still, Barry. Caitlin, move to the side. If you aren't affected I do not know what this might do to you" the engineer spoke while he pointed the flashlight at Barry's face. She stood to the side noticing the redness in Barry's eyes come back and then faded after a few seconds of exposure to Cisco's new toy.
"How do you feel?" she asked
"Definitely not angry anymore. Although, I didn't have what to be angry about. At you anyway" They both left Cisco's lab flashing toward the Cortex.
A few hours later, both of them were back at the train yard were Oliver was waiting for them, ready to deliver another lesson.
"Glad you two could make it" When he saw him, Caitlin's blood began to boil out of nowhere. She remembered the day before and she got angrier and angrier at the Arrow's methods. How could he even think to shoot them? Then she realized she didn't care that much that he shot her. She was getting severely pissed at the fact that Oliver shot Barry.
"Yeah. I hope you don't want to shoot us in the back again" Caitlin hissed between her teeth. Barry could feel her anger, but had no idea as to what triggered it.
"I might" Oliver smirked. As he was finishing his sentence Caitlin flashed around the training area and came back with a few crossbows, disarmed now
"No. I'm pretty sure you won't now" she continued with a smirk. At that moment, a crossbow that was camouflaged near his bike shot two arrows that pinned Barry to the ground. One of his arrows was already flying toward her. She managed to get out of the way of it hitting her chest, but hit her arm instead.
"You were saying?" Oliver smirked at her back. Seconds later an icicle flew millimeters from his face.
"You know I could just freeze you on the spot, don't you, Mr. Queen? On the other hand, do you prefer that I put a few spears through your gut and let you bleed on the ground? Whichever you prefer is fine with me, as long as it wipes that annoying smirk off your face" she hissed moving toward him while throwing icicles. He would have no chance of dodging all of them. Barry lunged forward after managing to get the arrows out of his back while passing her recognizing the red tint in her eyes.
"Oliver, watch out. She's been affected by Bivalo. She's angry out of her mind right now" Barry barely managed to get the icicles before they hit him.
"You think you're so smart, don't you. How about I show you how meaningless your life is and just how easy it would be for me to quench your worthless existence. You won't hurt Barry ever again" She hissed while she began speeding toward Oliver no doubt to hit him. Barry realized she was moving at full speed and a punch at that velocity would probably break Oliver's head off and managed to get to him just in time and move him out of the way.
"Barry, what the hell is going on?" Cisco asked through the com system.
"Cisco, Get over here as fast as you can with that flashlight thing. Caitlin is showing signs of being affected by Bivalo. She's actually trying to kill Oliver and she might succeed too if she keeps this up" the speedster yelled in the comms
"On my way. Try to keep her out of the city. Her ice blasts could literally kill hundreds of people" Cisco responded as he motioned toward Joe. Caitlin was at it again, this time running at both of them leaving a trail of dust in her wake. They all got in the STAR labs van and started racing toward the Train yard. Wells insisted to come with them in case her specific physiology would have issues with the cure. Barry sped to get Oliver out of Caitlin's way. Oliver already let go of an arrow full with tranquilizer. He was thankful that Felicity annoyed him to stop killing people so now he had Tranquilizer arrows in his quiver. Barry got to him just in time. Enough to get him out of there while the arrow hit her dead center in her chest.
"Tranquilizer Arrow. It should put her to sleep in a few minutes" Oliver told Barry. Caitlin stopped and turned around Running back at them while throwing large ice spears, they were impressed by the way she was using her powers in combination, but she was becoming slower as she did that.
"I will never lose anyone else in my life. Not to you, not to anyone else, Oliver. You should have stayed in your corner. Pissing someone off that can literally break your neck with a slap at high speed was ballsy of you, but also a mistake. I'm about to show you just how big that mistake actually is" Caitlin broke the arrow in her arm and pulled it out. She noticed that she was going slower, so she started vibrating. Barry looked as the bad reception silhouette in front of him was oozing green smoke out of her every pore. Before he could say anything, Oliver shot another arrow at her only to be met by a really thick ice shield which suddenly appeared in front of her. Barry was impressed; he would have never thought to use his speed to vibrate like that.
"Caitlin, calm down. Bivalo has affected you. You have no reason to be mad at Oliver, even if we did get hurt he taught us a very important lesson" Barry tried to get his partner to stop.
"I hate people that try to hurt those who I care about" Caitlin stated coldly almost with no emotion on her face. Barry felt cold anger coming from her and pain. She began forming a hail of icicles above her head as she fired them straight up. Barry was faced with a truth. He was someone that she cared about enough to provoke this kind of response at him being hurt.
"Damn. Oliver, hang on. This is going to be bad" Oliver nodded, but he already had knocked at least three more tranquilizer arrows toward her and two of them toward some barrels that were behind her. The arrows hit her dead center … and fell down stopping dead in their tracks when they were supposed to go into her, leaving holes in the suit. Under the suit, her skin had been covered with ice.
"Are you kidding me? Now she has impenetrable skin?" Oliver said worried looking at Barry who shrugged.
"First time I've ever seen her use that trick" Barry commented
"Anything else you might have… forgot to mention?" Oliver stated while pointing at Caitlin who was emitting a fog. Barry's leg was touched by it. He felt his leg being unable to move but with a last ditch effort he jumped taking Oliver with him a few meters away.
"We should not get hit by that fog. It has paralyzing effects" Barry spoke as he noticed the moment the leg was out of the fog he could move it again. Oliver activated his exploding arrows blowing up the barrels behind Caitlin, but she was too fast for him, in a second the explosion was encased in a pillar of ice. Much like the night, they caught The Mist, as Cisco so colorfully dubbed him.
"Any way to get rid of her ice powers?" Oliver asked Barry
"I could turn her earrings back on, but I don't think it's a good idea" the speedster replied.
"Why not?" the archer asked surprised.
"Her ice power saps the energy in her cells. If I would to turn it off sure, she wouldn't be throwing ice around. Nevertheless, she would be as fast as I am using her speed and I don't think I can stop her from hurting you if she is that fast. At least as it stands now we can dodge. Because she is slow" the CSI explained to his friend.
"Yes but it's also what keeps her impenetrable to my arrows" Oliver argued while sending two more arrows her way that did no better than the others. Then then it dawned on him, she didn't dodge at all, didn't even try to speed out of the way. "Barry, did you see that?" he asked while he was dodging icicles to keep his friend safe.
"I did. She did not even try to evade. She feels invincible" then he smirked "How many of those tranquilizer arrows do you still have?"
"Four. Think they would be enough?" a smirk came from Oliver
"I will have to keep her from vibrating to get it out of her system, but they should knock her out quite fast. Maybe 10 seconds would be my guess" They saw the STAR van approaching and stopping quite close to the hail of icicles.
"Barry, here, take this" Cisco threw the flashlight out of the window and Barry managed to catch it, giving it to Oliver. Joe and Wells looked as the Flash worked with the Arrow to try to get Frost under control.
Caitlin was preparing one of her ice rain attacks and the two looked at each other knowing this would be the best time to put their plan into action. Oliver cocked all four arrows and let them fly, but losing his focus as an icicle went through his thigh making him wince in pain.
She did not even try to dodge, but as the arrows got closer, Barry turned to his bracer and changed her earrings to suppression mode. The ice vanished instantly; Caitlin returned to normal fast enough for all four arrows to hit her. Two in the leg one in the chest and one in the arm.
Giving out a shriek she started to vibrate only to feel Barry's hands on her stopping the vibrations. He had come up behind her and was holding her tight.
"Now, Oliver" he yelled. The people saw the Arrow get up as hurt as he was and move toward Caitlin shining the flashlight in her face. As she calmed down he fell bleeding and Caitlin fell asleep in Barry's arms, which were now holding her so she wouldn't fall.
"Remember me never to piss her off again… like ever. I don't want a repeat of this" Oliver winced while he pulled out the ice spike that was in his thigh.
"Some of the things she did here, I had no idea she could do. She never tried before. The ice rain, the fog" The speedster added
"The being impenetrable?" Oliver smiled. Barry flashed Caitlin back to the van instructing the men to take her back to STAR then returned to the injured archer.
"Come on. I'll take you to STAR and get you patched up. I already told Cisco to call Felicity and Dig. They are going to meet us there" Barry picked him up and ran to STAR as fast as he could. He knew that the Arrow's suit would not catch fire, being reinforced as his was. He put him on the table examining his wound. Using his speed he cleaned the wound, sewn the skin back put antibacterial powder on it and wrapped it real tight.
"You were lucky that spike didn't hit the femoral artery. You're not in any kind of danger. Except it's going to sting for a few weeks. Nothing for someone who literally has a roadmap of scars on his body" Barry had seen how scarred he was when he helped him back in Starling.
"Thanks, Barry. That was some fast work. Did you give me a painkiller? It barely hurts now" Oliver looked pretty impressed
"Yeah, I put some topical painkiller when I was sewing you up. It should dissipate in a few hours" Barry grinned
"Just out of curiosity… how do you know how to do this? I knew you were a CSI but not a medical professional" Oliver was surprised about how well Barry could handle a needle and thread
"When the lightning struck me and Cait… some of our knowledge got copied. Since she's the medical professional I became one and she became a CSI" the speedster explained with admiration in his eyes, something Oliver caught on to.
"You like her, don't you" the question hit Barry like a truck "Don't try to lie to me. I saw the way you were looking at her when she transformed yesterday. Or better said gawking "
"She is really a good friend and my partner. How could I not like her?" Barry tried to deflect the question
"Barry! Would you please not try to skirt the issue here? I asked you a question. I expect an honest answer without you trying to be a smartass" Oliver growled at him. It would have been probably much scarier with the voice synthesizer, but … Barry got the point
"Yes. I do" he raised his arms in surrender
"There we go. Finally a little candor. I have lived this life for a long while and it can be very lonely. In my case, everyone that is close to me can be hurt or killed. That is why I keep myself out of relationships" Oliver's voice calmed down, but there was a subtle pain in his tone that Barry picked up on.
"I would never let anything happen to her. Besides, you saw her today. She's a complete badass, it's not like she can't take care of herself" the speedster commented, feeling proud of what he had already seen.
"Precisely. Which makes this easier for me to say. If I can't get the girl, doesn't mean you can't. Think about it and do not let her slip through your fingers. She seems like a really smart and wonderful person, when she isn't trying to kill you that is, then she's down right demonic" Oliver offered an opinion which surprised the speedster
"Bloody great, I'm getting girl advice from a former Billionaire playboy that used to sleep with all women and their sisters. What is this world coming to" Barry smiled prompting Oliver to hit him in the shoulder, quite hard, but he understood what the archer was telling him as they both smirked at one another. Oliver might have been a vigilante, but Barry never saw him as a necessary evil. For him, The Arrow was a hero and he was proud to have him as his friend.
Half an hour later Felicity and Dig along with everyone from STAR had come back. Caitlin was sleeping peacefully on one of the beds in the medical bay with Barry monitoring her. If before Joe and Wells were not trusting of the Arrow, after what they saw him do in helping Barry they had no more problems.
"Thank you for helping them" Joe came up to Oliver and shook his hand
"Anytime. They are my friends" he replied while shaking Harrison Wells' hand as well.
"So Oliver Queen is the Arrow huh?" Cisco smiled while stating the absolute obvious, because Oliver was in the bed next to Barry in his full Arrow get up only without the mask "Man I should have put two and two together. I'm such a numbskull "
"Too many people already know my identity. I would appreciate if you keep this to yourselves. If the secret got out, then all of my family would be in danger" The archer told them with a pretty serious voice.
"No worries here. We know how to keep secrets" Cisco pointed to the two speedsters.
"Your secret is safe with us" Joe added
"Oliver, if you ever need any kind of help, you know you can call us, right?" Barry interjected from his chair
"Same goes here" Oliver and Felicity spoke in unison.
"This is a different kind of hangover" they saw Caitlin wake up and speak softly
"You all right, Cait? How do you feel?" Barry was by her bedside in an instant
"Like someone shot me with 4 tranquilizer arrows" she pouted and looked at the Arrow. "Thank you, Oliver." she told him with a voice that held no sarcasm or other undertones. She was sincerely grateful for his help.
"Anytime, Caitlin. Hope you`re feeling better and next time you feel the rage coming, how about you go punch a bag or throw icicles at some dummies and not try to turn me into Arrow kebab" the archer gave her a faint smile
"She needs to rest. The sensors show that she severely depleted her cells while fighting us" Barry stated while looking at his bracer. When he turned his gaze back to her he noticed that she had fallen back asleep. He flashed back to storage and got 30 or so IV bags with sucrose and dextrose and hooked a line up to her arm letting them drip slowly.
"I still cannot get used to that" Diggle commented "Why so many bags?"
"Because of our sped up metabolism. This is the minimum required to get her energy stable again at least until she can eat" Barry replied sternly. "Where the hell do you think you`re going?" he asked Oliver seeing him get up from the bed
"No offence to your setup here, but I would rather spend the night in a hotel rather than a hospital" The Arrow replied while Diggle came to help him move.
"This was fun. We should do this more often" Felicity replied prompting a glare from Oliver "I mean this was fun, not you getting shot. Because that was not fun. I was not implying that you getting shot is fun in any way" She ranted
"We're going back to the hotel. I should be fine by tomorrow to help you catch your bad guy" Oliver said as they were moving toward the exit. "Unless you and miss frosty over there want to handle it all on your own?"
"You are always welcome to help, Oliver" Barry replied "Take it easy until tomorrow and if anything happens call me. I'll come patch you up if Dig can't handle it. Goodbye Dig. Goodbye, Felicity" After the trio left, Joe spoke up.
"I'm sorry for doubting your friends, Barry. You are right. He is a good guy, but I still don't approve of his methods"
"That's fine Joe. Neither do I, but whatever you might say, he is a great friend" The speedster replied "You can go home now. I'll grab myself a bite to eat and stay and keep an eye on Cait until she heals "
"I'll see you tomorrow then" Joe took his leave from the group and walked out followed by Wells
"Anything I can help with?" Cisco asked looking at the two
"No, it's fine Cisco. You did more than enough with the earrings and the rage countering gizmo. Go home and rest" the reply came
"Are you sure man? You know I can take the watch shift anytime you need a breather, right?" the engineer replied
"I have gotten used to watching her sleep while entrenched in my own thoughts. I've been doing that for the last 6 months. It gives me … peace of mind, I guess"
"Somehow, if that would be coming out of anyone else's mouth it would be extremely creepy" Cisco replied "But not from you. All right then. Good night, Barry. I'll see you in the morning"
"Later, Cisco"
After the engineer left, the speedster went and bought himself some food, a couple of pizzas and some donuts that were gone instantly. The fight with Caitlin had drained him especially because he had to carry Oliver around while trying not to get him killed. After the large intake of food, he suddenly felt better as night was falling on the city.
There was another reason Barry wanted to be alone with Caitlin. During her episode, he saw much more than rage in her. It was as if her personality shifted to being cold and ruthless. It would have not been obvious to anyone else that knew her if they weren't there, something was wrong and he could feel it. He got comfortable in his chair, took Caitlin's hand and drifted off to sleep.
He found himself at his father's cabin again, only this time the landscape was severely changed. Everything was frozen, the lake, the forest, the cabin and a cold wind howled across the silent valley. Almost like a banshee was wailing on the horizon. She was nowhere to be found. He saw a light from the cabin and he entered it. Inside he found an almost frozen Caitlin Snow still wearing her regular attire. He touched her and her clothes changed instantly to a thick winter jacket complete with thick pants and fur boots.
"Cait?" his voice trailed off making the figure jump up
"Oh god, Barry, what have I done. I almost killed Oliver" she started to cry "I was so angry, I saw everything I did, except I could not stop it "
"It's all right, it wasn't you. It was Bivalo making you angry. You aren't like that" Barry hugged her tight
"No, but I am" a voice could be heard from the outside as a powerful wind almost tore through the cabin apart leaving them out in the open. Barry could see Frost standing there. He was shocked, Caitlin was in his arms, so why was Frost out there. Then he realized something was off so he decided to play the game.
"Who are you? And how did you get here" he inquired with an annoyed voice.
"Oh, come on, Barry. You don't know who I am? I am part of her and my name is Killer Frost" The person replied giving him a dark smirk.
"Killer Frost, well aren't we grandstanding. You aren't a killer just as much as Caitlin isn't. Would you like to try again?" Barry told her
"Oh but I am. Why do you think you had to save Oliver from getting murdered? Those icicles had specific targets" Killer Frost replied while Caitlin was looking at her.
"Yeah, right. Can you cut the crap, most of the icicles that were thrown were aimed at non-lethal spots. I should know that, because I have the same knowledge she does. So please, do tell me how badly you wanted to kill him, while making sure that the icicles you threw missed vital areas by millimeters" Barry hissed back at her and pointed at Caitlin, making Killer Frost wince. He was perfectly right, the icicles were supposed to damage him, but not kill him. The frozen persona was extremely surprised that the speedster managed to read the trajectories so well. Caitlin was terrified; she took ahold of his hand and started gripping it tightly. Barry responded by simply taking her in his arms and kissing her forehead. He could feel her calming down.
"My, my, aren't you the smartass" She growled "Let's see how you handle this then" she put out her hand and a few ice spears flew toward the two that were sitting ducks, but by the time they were near them, they disappeared.
"Aren't we cocky" Barry answered. "You are in OUR dreamscape. You might be her, but you are not in control of this environment, because I'm not letting you. The only person who is allowed here is Caitlin Snow. While you might be a part of her, you are not her. Do not try that again, next time I will have you tied and gagged so I don't have to listen to you anymore" Barry responded actually threatening the person in front of him, but also asked himself who would she be. By looking at Caitlin he was holding in his arms, even though she was cold, although she was wearing winter gear, her gaze was soft and warm. Her demeanor was gentle and she even tried to smile through the tears. Then it dawned on him "I know what you are. It's so damn obvious, I wonder why I didn't see it the moment the forest started freezing" = Barry stated bluntly looking at the grimaced figure of the woman that was now dawning Caitlin's Frost costume.
"Oh ho ho. Pretty boy thinks he has me all figured out doesn't he? I'm so anxious to hear what you have to say" she smirked at him trying to rain icicles on both of them. Barry stood up and motioned toward them, like being commanded by a higher power the spears and the flurry of icicles that came with them vanished into nothingness.
"I told you what would happen if you try that again. Don't say I didn't warn you. Just stop. You have no power here. But since you don't seem to believe I would actually do that, how about we show you" He looked at Cait next to him and she nodded, putting her hand into his. With a wave of Barry's hand Killer Frost's hands were tied behind her back with chains and she was stuck to the ground. The storm had subsided to just a light snow coming from the sky "It's pretty obvious what you are. You are every hurt feeling, every pain and sorrow, every failure and disappointment that Caitlin Snow has ever had. The feelings she thinks she needs to bury under the surface. Every one of us has those feelings, the moments we really just want to kill people, when we want to hurt them or just play with them. Some of us get rid of them by venting. Caitlin however never vents to anyone" Barry continued.
Killer Frost was speechless. Which was a first for her because ever since the pretty boy made his appearance she would not shut up. It was weird for her how this one managed to read her so well even though they had just met. While Killer Frost was shocked by Barry's reply, Caitlin spoke from behind him
"How do you know I kept them bottled up?"
"Come on, Cait. What do you take me for? Your father died and left you with your mother who didn't know how to treat you right. You didn't really tell me much, but I could see a lot of pain in those words. Then there was the boyfriend you loved and he died in your arms. Then Ronnie died and you kept acting all calm and collected even though I was pretty sure his death was tearing you up inside" he replied quite sternly to her question "You haven't been the only one who experienced loss. I have told you that before. I know what you do with those feelings because I used to do it too. Nevertheless, I have learned to live with my pain. Make it work for me; turn it into passion for my work and the superhero stuff we do on the side. Under all that cold", and he pointed toward Killer Frost "You're still you. Killer Frost is still you, just a part of you that instead of accepting, you buried under 50 feet of snow"
"I don't know how to do that, Barry. I have not had someone to talk to in my life except Cisco and to be honest these problems are stuff too heavy even for him to handle. I know he's my friend, but he has no idea what I'm going through" Caitlin replied while Killer Frost tried to get herself free from her binds
"Then why don't you talk to me? Hmm? You know very well what I have been through. Why do you keep it all inside, to the point your powers get their own evil personality who wants to kill people. What are you trying to do, turn into the Hulk? Not that you probably won't look hot in green, but come on" Barry snickered
"You have your own issues. I don't want to burden you with mine. I want to be able to handle my own problems" Caitlin raised her voice at him
"I never said you can't handle your own problems, Cait. But sometimes you need someone with you when you need to shovel something out of 50 feet of snow" a shovel appeared in his hand, making Caitlin chuckle "I am your partner and your friend, you can talk to me about anything and I will listen, maybe offer advice or just a tub of cream and a Disney movie because I suck at advice" her eyes lit up at that remark "I would rather you talk to me about your problems than keeping Ms. Hyde here. Actually, I would rather make you tell me about your issues rather than having her running the show. No offense to you Frost, but you seem a bit cold for my tastes. I would rather have the warm and gentle Dr. Snow back, if you don't mind" Killer Frost was shocked at the speedster who simply called her a bitch in not so many words.
"She did almost kill Oliver. Even though he did nothing wrong, he was just trying to train us, the fact that we got hurt, that was on us for not being careful. Maybe…" Caitlin considered the possibility that her keeping bottled feelings inside could turn her into a monster. A killing machine, someone that would have no restraint and would hurt everyone that she cared about. That she would hurt Barry, which would be something she couldn't live with. Her heart started to race at hearing him say that he would rather have her than Frost. She knew she was cold, but Barry had seen another facet of her and was not willing to let that go. She felt his hand giving her a little squeeze "Maybe I kept my feelings bottled up for too long. It might be time to face the music. You can go Barry. I think I can take care of her now." she told him as she stood up
"You`re kidding, right?" Barry smiled and tightened his grip on her hand. "Did you seriously forget what we just talked about? I'm your partner. I'm here to stay whether you like it or not" She didn't object. She wanted him here and she knew it now.
"Take care of me?" Killer Frost hissed at Caitlin "You are afraid of me. You shoved me aside and, later on, hid me because you couldn't face your pain. Just a crying little girl who wants to run home to mommy. Now you needed a white knight in tattered armor to come save you" Caitlin moved with Barry hand in hand closer and closer to where Killer Frost was pinned.
"Frost, tattered armor means he has seen battle. Whoever has a shining piece of armor means that he is more interested in keeping his appearances than fighting. You got that right, Barry is a fighter. You might be correct in what you have just said. Yes, I am just a crying little girl, one that had to be strong for her own sake. One that had to hide her feelings and pain not for the sake of others, but for her own sanity. I was always alone; I always had to be the tough one. But not anymore" She looked at Barry and he smiled brightly. She left his hand, went back to Killer Frost, and embraced her. "You are me and I am you. Maybe it's time we both deal with what the other is carrying, hmm?"
"The little girl finally is not a little girl anymore, even with a little help, she is finally ready to grow up" Killer Frost smiled, something Barry would have never thought he would see, but more than that he could swear that the so called murderer was crying "Good work. I'll see you around, pretty boy" There was a blinding blue light and when Barry could finally see there was no more Killer Frost, just Caitlin Snow, dressed in her Frost Outfit smiling back at him. Barry did notice however that the environment did not change.
"I would like to see you smile more like that" Barry thought to himself but the dreamscape made it so that it was said out loud "I guess, you`re finally ready to talk, huh?" he smiled back to her.
"I am now that I know someone wants to listen. But first ..." she smiled and moving toward him she took his hand in hers. The moment she did that, her Frost outfit started to shimmer, wave after wave it started to disappear leaving way to a beautiful dark blue sleeveless dress with black heels. His changed as well, from the hard winter coat to a simple black blazer with a white shirt and a pair of jeans. Rings of color started to radiate outwards from them changing the landscape, melting the ice and clearing the air of frost as the rings went further and further away. They were back to their perpetual summer afternoon at his Dad's cabin. The landscape they had gotten used to some while ago. "… There we go. I like the cold, but I like the warmth better" she smiled as they sat in the swing, Caitlin finally feeling able to talk about the problems in her life with the one that was sitting next to her, her partner and friend, Barry Allen.
The next morning Cisco had come early to work to see how Caitlin was. When he saw the two sleeping hand in hand, he decided to take a picture for blackmail purposes and left to buy food and coffee knowing they would both wake up hungry. When he came back both of them woke up at the smell of fresh coffee.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. How are you feeling?" Barry asked as he got up from his chair wincing from pain.
"Like a bad hangover. Next time you want to hold my hand while we sleep, sleep in a bed. Not a chair" she smirked looking at him wincing from pain while his neck was kept all night in a weird position "For someone with super healing, you don't seem to heal that fast from sleeping in a bad position"
"Why … would he want to hold your hand when you sleep?" Cisco made a surprised face "You know I said that you watching her sleep is not creepy, well … starting to change my opinion right about now"
"Should we tell him?" Barry's eyes were asking Caitlin as she nodded.
"Keep this to yourself Cisco, all right? It's a bit crazy" she started.
"Remember how Wells used to ask me why I was so calm about Cait's coma? Like the fact that I never really worried about her being brain damaged or brain dead?" Barry continued
"Yea, I was asking myself that. We were worried and you were just so …. Calm and collected. It was almost like you knew she was going to wake up" Cisco replied
"Yeah… that is because I was talking to her. Every night. She helped me come up with new ideas for tests and other stuff, like the poly vitamin serum that I used to keep her body up to speed and other things" the speedster replied with a serious face.
"Say what now?" Cisco looked dumbfounded "How could you talk to a coma person, you told me yourself that they have most of their brain shut down"
"We figured it was because the lightning hit both of us. When we sleep, if we touch, we end up in a dreamscape where we can talk. Don't ask why or how or even how it works. The best we could figure is the fact that our brainwaves are synchronized leads to the creation of said world" Caitlin said and Cisco's eyes widened
"So you`re telling me if you touch you can speak, in your heads ... while sleeping" the engineer looked at them with a face that was the epitome of shock.
"See now that just … sounds crazy" Barry added. "But that was the reason we needed to hold hands, nothing creepy or whatever else you were thinking about Cisco, because you would be the one that would think something like that. Call it our own way to check if the other is all right"
"That is some weird shit man. However, it does explain why you were so chill about Caitlin's coma. You knew all along she was alive in there" Barry nodded "That is nuts. What else now? Are you going to start reading each other's minds or feel each other's feelings. Vulcan mind meld style" He started fanboying out while Caitlin and Barry looked at each other and smiled.
"Thank you" she mouthed toward Barry without actually speaking.
"You are welcome" he answered feeling his hand being held tighter by her.
The next morning, Barry and Caitlin managed to apprehend Bivalo. This time the metahuman not even managing to realize when he was in the cell. Barry didn't want to take any sort of chances, so they knocked him out and before he woke up, they had already put him in a cell in the Pipeline. They did want to call on Oliver, but they found out that the injuries were indeed painful and without a hefty dose of painkiller, he wouldn't even be able to stand, so they just told him that they caught him and told him to rest. He wasn't really happy, but Felicity was thankful and so was Diggle since he was the one who had to patch the archer up when he got trashed out in the field.