.:14:.

Caitlin pursed her lips as she lifted her gaze from her tablet to Brady over and over. So far his vitals looked to be holding up well as he used his slingshot against the targets in the training room. With every bull's-eye that rose he barely blinked before shooting at it then turning to the next one, almost as if anticipating each move that was coming his way. His speed had improved from the last time they had worked on him. His accuracy as well.

When time was up, Brady reached up and pulled a pair of goggles from his eyes and pushed it up his forehead. He turned back to the others, looking at them expectantly. "Well?" He asked.

"Amazing job," Cisco said. He smiled and gave a thumbs up. "You're a regular Robin Hood."

"Your accuracy and speed have increased over %70 percent since the last time we tested you," Caitlin agreed. She turned the tablet around to show him, Barry and Cadence coming over to look as well. "And the only place to go from there is up."

Brady beamed, pumping his fist.

"You've really improved a lot over a short period of time," Caitlin said.

"Well, it only happened with Oliver's help," Cadence said. She shrugged before resting her hands on her hips. "I didn't think it was a good idea at first, but it ended up working out really well."

"Yeah, Oliver even gave him a complement," Barry agreed. "And you know he doesn't give them out too often."

"Anyone that's not a girl, anyway," Cadence said.

"Does that mean I get my suit now?" Brady asked.

Caitlin and Cisco exchanged a glance before doing their best to look away from Cadence. If they could keep their eyes off her then she wouldn't notice and wouldn't have to ask. Unfortunately, she and Cisco were as bad liars as Barry was and as soon as their eyes became averted, the fire metahuman knew something was up. Cadence sighed loudly; turning her gaze to the ceiling for a moment then leveled them at her friends.

"You already made a suit for him, didn't you?" She asked.

"Well…" Caitlin started.

"It's not like we thought he would ever need it, it's just in case," Cisco defended himself. He held up his hand and took a step backwards, just in case Cadence was about to launch herself at him. "Like how Dr. Wells talked us into making a suit for you after we met. We had no idea if you were going to be a friend or a threat but he said we needed it." Cisco paused for a second and rapidly continued with, "Of course we didn't know at the time that he was actually taken over by a murderer and that you were actually here to try and kill Barry…"

Barry frantically moved his hand across his throat in a cutting motion. Finally, Cisco noticed his gesticulation and cut himself off with a nervous laugh. "But, I mean, it all worked out in the end didn't it? So, maybe it'll work out here, too?"

Barry slapped his hand over his face, Brady rolled his eyes, and Caitlin grimaced. She knew Cisco was just trying to help but even that wasn't going to save him. Instead, she turned to Cadence and asked meekly, "You're not mad are you?"

Cadence glanced at her for a second. Her face was blank as she said, "No, I'm not mad."

That made Caitlin blink in surprise. She knew her friend had a bad temper and had a habit of showing it off at certain times. Usually they were justified, such as when they were all arguing over whether to go after Ronnie and Professor Stein or let them die, but other times she had seen her go off the deep-end for lesser things. Especially when it had to do with Brady. Come to think of it, she thought it was a little weird how she hadn't blown up at them for all knowing about Brady's suspension and not said anything to her about it.

But this was different.

This was putting him in danger all because of his powers. She had been the first to say she hadn't wanted him to learn how to fight or have a suit or any gadgets because of the idea of a young boy putting himself in danger like that. In private, Cisco had mentioned to Caitlin that Batman's sidekick, Robin, had started out as the "Boy Wonder" when he was about Brady's age. Caitlin felt it wasn't something that needed to be mentioned to Cadence. Though as far as Caitlin knew Cadence knew it as well, as Metropolis was close enough to Gotham that some of Batman's city-defending heroics were broadcasted through the Daily Planet.

"Y-you're not?" Even Barry looked confused about it.

Cadence took another deep breath, as if she was steadying herself. "No. If things are starting to get this bad with…Zoom and the rest of the metas he's bringing over from this other Earth that Jay has been talking about, he might help. Not to mention if there are other metas in his school he could help him that way, too."

"Have you heard anything else about Leah?" Caitlin asked gently.

"She hasn't said anything to me," Brady said. "But I haven't been at school."

"You're going back on Monday, bud, don't get too excited," Cadence said to him. Then she turned her attention back to her friends. "I haven't heard anything either. Then again I'm still trying to figure out the best way to go up to her parents and say, 'your daughter is a meta and I know some people at STAR Labs, which is supposed to be defunct', who can help her'. Cadence made a funny face. "I don't know about you, but I don't plan on being taken to an insane asylum or being arrested for potential kidnapping."

"Well, just keep an eye on that, okay?" Barry asked. "Let us know if there's anything that we can do to help. But for now…" he stretched his arms out in front of him and cracked his knuckles. "We have some training to do. If we're going to beat Zoom, I have to get faster."

"We've been training all afternoon," Caitlin reminded him. "Take a break, you deserve it. You're getting faster, Brady's getting better, Cade's getting stronger. Just don't push yourself too hard."

"I can't help it!" Barry's eyes flashed with emotion. Barry roughly ran a hand through his hair, then placed it over his mouth. Then he lowered his hand and let out a low, croaking chuckle. "You'd think by now I'd be used to it. I have metas coming left and right trying to kill me nearly every day. Or at least trying to stop me from stopping them committing their crimes by any means necessary. Having the Reverse-Flash want to kill me made sense; he killed my mother because he couldn't get to me, so he waited until he was strong enough to do it again. But Zoom? We still don't know what he wants and Jay's not back for us to ask him, we don't even know how to contact him or what he can do to help me get faster if he doesn't have his own powers!"

"He's got the knowledge to help us and even you know, as a scientist, that our knowledge is our best weapon," Caitlin said. "You're going to figure this out, Barry. We're all going to help you."

Cisco nodded.

Barry started to say something then stopped. He crossed his arms and kicked at the ground. "I guess you're right," he agreed, almost unwittingly.

"Uncle Cisco!" Brady burst forward and grabbed onto Cisco's arm in a death-grip. "Can I see my suit now? Please? Please?" He tilted his head back to look at his mother and shot the question her way this time. "Please?"

Cadence looked at Cisco and smiled when she saw how much it looked like he was about to burst with excitement to say something, to show off his newest creation. She barely let the words 'go ahead' out f her mouth before the two were practically sprinting back to the Cortex where hers and Barry's suits were stored.

Caitlin laughed, hugging her tablet to her chest. "Boys and their toys," She remarked. "He's been working on that suit for so long now; I think he was desperate to be able to reveal it."

"I don't doubt it," Cadence said lightly. "Didn't you just see him? He practically skipped out of here like a little school girl."

"It's really not that bad," Barry reassured her. He reached out, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Actually, I think you'd really like it once you see it. He's put as much work into it as he has with yours and mine, so it's the safest thing he could wear."

"Okay, I know I can be a little bit of a Mama Bear, but I'm not that bad," she defended herself.

"You said you were going to kill Oliver," Barry reminded her.

Caitlin's eyes widened and Cadence held up her hands. "Not literally. Besides, it's not like I could actually do it, have you seen his arms? His biceps are like the size of my head." She held her hands apart to measure it.

Barry frowned and Caitlin couldn't help but bring her hand up to her mouth to stifle her laughter. Barry and Cadence hadn't said anything about getting back together but Caitlin could see it from a mile away from their interactions with each other. Even when they arrived at STAR Labs that day to get some practice in they were looking at each other differently; almost as if they couldn't help but see if the other was watching then they did something right. Then there was the bet they had said once they started their training; whoever did the best in their improvement would give the other person a task they had to complete. Cadence said Barry had to dye his hair any color she chose and so far Barry had't come up with one for her yet.

Cadence chuckled and looped her arm through Barry's. "Don't worry, Tholly, the big muscular type doesn't turn me on. I prefer the scrawny, scientific type."

"I'm not scrawny," Barry defended himself.

"When was the last time you lifted weights?" Cadence chuckled and stood on her tip-toes to give him a kiss on the cheek, then used her other hand to tousle his hair. Barry laughed, pulling his head away from her hand. Then Cadence stepped away from Barry and looped her arm through Caitlin's. "So, what should I be worried about with this suit? Are there rocket launchers hidden somewhere inside?"

Caitlin laughed. "Cisco can get carried away with his gadgets, but he knows what he's doing. I don't know how he does it. Every time he gets an idea he has to get it down. From the original drawing to the sewing, to the mechanics that go into it. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he ever made a suit for himself. You know, just in case."

"You think he's ever thought of making one for you?" Barry asked.

Caitlin came to a halt as they stepped into the Cortex, where Brady was marveling over the suit that Cisco was showing off on a mannequin smaller than Barry's and Cadence's. Her eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat. "No," she said quickly. "Why would he? It's not like I have any powers or anything. Why would I need a suit?"

Barry looked at her strangely and squeezed her shoulder. "I was just kidding, Caitlin. Relax."

Caitlin managed a slow, almost spastic laugh and followed behind Barry. She sat at her computer, resting her face in her hands. Barry was right. She had to relax or else she would do something she regretted. Maybe hurt one of her friends without meaning to. She didn't have a lot of control over her powers, doing her best not to use them at all since Cadence had stopped by her apartment to bring her coffee that morning. The supercooling excuse she came up with had been on the fly and if it hadn't been something she'd seen in real life, before getting her powers, she wasn't sure she could've convincingly come up with any other excuse.

She lifted her head and watched as Brady marveled over his new suit; a black cloak over a gray bodysuit with pockets for his slingshot and the ammo to go along with it. From what she had seen from Cisco's long hours working on it, he had also added a mechanism in his belt that would make it so that when he blended in with his surroundings his suit would as well. Not to mention that when he phased his suit would phase as well. It all came together with a dark gray symbol on the front of his suit. In some ways it was reminiscent to Oliver's suit, but there were many differences as well; starting with the hood that left a shadow over his face so no need for a mask and ending with the Comm. Link earpiece that connected to a scope to be moved over his eye when needing pin-point accuracy.

If Brady weren't so young—which worried Caitlin as much as it did Cadence—Caitlin would've been as outwardly impressed as the others.

"Don't tell me you made him a suit," Tess said. She and Harrison strode into the Cortex with long strides; her blonde hair flowing behind her as she did so. Her blue eyes widened when she caught sight of the fabric Cisco was holding in his hands.

Brady immediately shoved it back into Cisco's grasp and took a giant step back. "He didn't make me a suit," he said immediately.

"What's going on, Tess?" Cadence asked her mother, eyebrows coming together. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

"Or something," Harrison said grimly.

"Yeah, where have you guys been?" Cisco asked. He protectively folded the suit in his arms before walking over to the smaller mannequin, pushing it back into the alcove with Barry's and Cadence's. He then carefully draped the new suit over it, in case he managed to wrinkle it even further than the folds already pressed into the fabric. "Not that we haven't enjoyed being able to run STAR Labs by ourselves. We've managed to have a good handle on the metahumans without you."

"That's good to hear," Tess said. She sounded a little relieved, but her eyes held a sense of fatigue in them. "It's not as good as the news we have to give you but…"

"What's going on?" Barry asked. "Did Zoom bring another meta over?"

"This is something that's subject to Central City, I'm afraid," Harrison denied. He pushed his glasses up his nose. "For the past couple of weeks Tess and I have been doing all we could to keep what we've been doing at STAR Labs a secret from the general public. Unfortunately, that may be the least of our worries."

"Do you remember that one man who wanted to sue Flash and Flare for the damage done to his vehicle?" Tess asked.

Barry shrugged. "Yeah, so? It was dropped."

"He may have dropped his lawsuit but the city hasn't forgetting. With the sudden rash of metahumans that have been coming by, as well as what we know about Zoom, there have been more people coming forward to say how the presence of metahumans has done nothing but hurt the city. Including the presence of The Flash and Flare."

Indignantly, Caitlin pressed her hands to her hips. She stood up, pushing her chair away from her computer, and rounded the desk so that she could speak to Tess and Harrison. "But without the two of them the metahumans would completely take over the city."

"And who knows how bad that would be," Cisco added. "Can you imagine what would happen if, say, Captain Cold ran the city? Or HeatWave? I can't imagine what disaster that would be."

Cadence winced and turned away at the mention of Snart and his accomplice. Caitlin wasn't sure she had seen it at first; Cadence had regained her composure very quickly. But there was still an air of discomfort that radiated off her.

"As far as some of the residents are concerned, metahumans need to be held accountable for what they've done in terms of the damage to the city," Tess said. There was an apologetic tone to her voice. She continued to deliver the bad news. "Including those who have been trying to save it. It's been enough of a problem that Harrison and I were called in to speak with Chief Paulson and Mayor Bellows."

"I'm sure as you've noticed we haven't been here at STAR Labs for the past couple of weeks and haven't been here much to aid you in your quests against stopping more metahumans," Harrison said. "We've been doing as much research and going to as many meetings as possible to make sure the worst doesn't happen," Harrison continued. He tilted his head over towards Tess. "Due to her background of research Mayor Bellows and Chief Paulson found it was enough to have a meeting to talk about."

"When did this happen?" Cadence demanded.

"Not too long ago. Long enough for them to get back to us with a decision soon. And it may be a decision that can affect all of us."

"What kind of decision?" Barry whispered.

Tess licked her lips. "Chief Paulson wants the metahumans and everyone who has powers, to have to make themselves known to have their abilities, to lower the risk of criminals that will target the city. Including wanting to know the identities of The Flash and Flare."

"What?!" Cadence spat.

"No," Brady protested.

"They can't do that," Barry said.

Caitlin's breath caught in her throat. Panic set in to her body. If they went through with this…she'd have to reveal she was a metahuman. She had to let other people know she had powers that other people didn't have. She had to admit she was different when all she wanted to do was fit in. And what was suppose dot happen after that? What happened to those that had to expose themselves? Were they monitored more often? Would they be sent away? Eradicated? Was there going to be some sort of a divide between the humans and metahumans, more so than what was slowly starting to grow? Would everyone in the city turn on them and The Flash, wanting to run them out of the city? Oliver already had enough people to deal with, people that didn't trust him and thought he was a menace until he managed to revamp himself and the Arrow's image time and time again.

Could they all do that?

Could they manage to brush off the scrutiny and act like nothing was wrong?

I don't think anyone can do that, Caitlin thought. She rubbed her hands together, looking around at her friends. They all had shocked and dismayed expressions on their faces as Tess and Harrisons' words sank in. How can they ask anyone to do that?

"Nothing is set in stone, we just wanted you to be aware of what's been going on with us," Harrison said. He cleared his throat. "I know it may be hard for you to trust me considering what we've recently been through with Eobard, but Tess and I are working hard to make sure everything we're doing with STAR Labs and the Flash is kept intact. Our safety as well as the work to our city is our number one priority."

"So they haven't come to a decision yet?" Caitlin asked. It was a brief moment of relief, there was still some time left for them to figure things out. She visibly relaxed, her shoulders slumping so far she had to reach out and grab onto the desk to keep herself steady.

"No, not yet. But it has to be something we're prepared for," Harrison said. He reached up and pulled his glasses off, rubbing his eyes. "Especially with Zoom around."

"We would've told you earlier," Tess apologized. "But there wasn't much to say until we knew what Chief Paulson and Mayor Bellows had to say."

"Maybe Joe can talk to him," Barry suggested. He reached up and rubbed his neck, working out the stress knots that suddenly appeared. "Being the lead of the metahuman task force, maybe he can show him that giving the chance for them to rehabilitate instead of…whatever it is their planning?"

"We won't know until we try," Tess said, tapping the tips of her fingers together. "Even then, we won't know as time will tell."

"So, what? We're just supposed to back to our regular duties and pretend like nothing's wrong?"

Harrison nodded. "That's exactly what we're going to do; we can't bring more attention to ourselves than we already have. Anyone that gets closer to us, to what we're doing, to what we are, is a threat. So we'll have to be careful."

Caitlin nodded. She turned back to her desk and sat down in her seat, running her hands over each other. So many things were going through her head, starting and ending with how much of her life was centered around her thirst for knowledge, her drive to learn new things and to fix things. She was fixing the quality of Central City, trying to help take out the fear the residents felt every day they left their houses. How was she going to do that if she was one of them? Her credibility would be lost and she'd had to face the hard truth that her life was never going to be the same and that she had to be careful what she wished for.

"Hey." Startled, Caitlin looked up to find Cisco sitting at his computer next to her. "Everything's going to be okay, Cait."

"Yeah, no, I know," She said. "I just…it's a scary thought. To think that everything we're worked for and have been working for could potentially be shut down all because of a man who doesn't understand metahumans."

"They're all just scared, Cait," Cisco said. "I think we can understand that. We've been put through so many jams lately that even I get scared a little bit." He smiled a little. "But I'm not so sure about you, you're not scared of anything."

Caitlin lifted an eyebrow.

"I really like that about you, Cait. You can go and face anything head-on, even if you're not sure how it's going to turn out. But trust me when I say this is going to be fine. No one can think that someone as badass as The Flash is a menace to this city." He snorted. "It's scarier to think of a city without The Flash than it is of my worst nightmares."

Caitlin braved a smile. "Your worst nightmare is having your comic book collection stolen."

Cisco wagged his finger in her face. "I can see you're about to laugh, Caitlin Snow. But that's okay; I know you're hurting right now. I'll let it slide that you just insulted my livelihood." Caitlin laughed. "You see? Everything's going to be—"Cisco abruptly stopped talking, his eyes darting down.

Caitlin followed his gaze and her blood ran cold. He had reached out and put his hand on hers. But she hadn't noticed because her hands had become so numb. Numb because she had been using her powers without knowing it. She watched, tears starting to well up in her eyes as Cisco visibly tried to move his hand away from hers but became stuck. The skin on his fingers stretched until he finally managed to rip his hand away. Grasping his wrist, Cisco looked at Caitlin, whose eyes darted around the empty Cortex—she must've been deep in her thoughts if she didn't notice everyone had left to do whatever—before landing on Cisco's questioning eyes.

"Cait," he started.

"Please," Caitlin whispered. "Don't say anything."

"But Cait, you…you have…how did you do that?" Caitlin motioned for him to lower his voice. She reached up and brushed her hair from her face and took a deep breath. She knew she had to say something eventually, but not this soon. Not when she didn't know how to admit it to herself. "Cait, you're…you're meta?"

"I don't know," Caitlin whispered back.

"Well, unless you've invented some sort of a pocket freezer—"

"—Cisco, I don't—"Caitlin broke off, closing her eyes.

"How long has this been going on?"

Shame rolled over Caitlin as she lowered her head. "For a while," She whispered. "Since…since we were dealing with the Suicide Squad. I noticed it then, for the first time." She risked a glance up through her bangs to watch Cisco react.

Cisco's eyes widened. "Cait, that was months ago! Like…like months!"

"I know."

"How could you keep that from us?"

"I'm scared, Cisco! I don't want any of this. I don't want these powers. I don't want that responsibility." Caitlin hugged her arms to her body. "What am I supposed to do if someone attacks me? What if I kill someone?"

"You aren't going to do that," Cisco protested. He reached out and brushed Caitlin's hair behind her ear. He gently rubbing her shoulder. "You don't have a killer bone in your body. You don't even like to kill bugs."

"Those are bugs, Cisco. They can't hurt me more than a person can. I can't control it as well as I'd like. What if…what if someone was attacking me or I'm trying to help someone and I accidentally freeze them? I'm scared to touch anything; I'm scared to get too close just in case…"

"Does anyone else know?" Cisco asked.

"Harrison does." Her eyebrows came together. "Or maybe it was Eobard."

She expected Cisco to be upset to not be the first to know. They were best friends, they told each other everything. Still, even with Barry, Cadence, and Brady all having abilities as well…she never felt so alone. They all had the drive to want to go out in the field and help people…she just couldn't do that.

Cisco reached out towards her hands and she instinctively pulled them back. But Cisco reached out and grabbed onto her hands, forcing his larger ones around hers. She lifted her head and he gave her a tiny smile, which she matched with her own. Things were going to be okay, he was going to keep her secret as long as she needed him to.

"Hey, do you want to help me make sure these suits are up to code?" Cisco asked. "If we're going to show the city that we mean business, they'll have to look good while doing it."

Caitlin laughed and nodded. "It's good to know where your priorities are, Cisco."

"I may get a lot of entertainment out of it, but I care about this city as much as anyone else," Cisco said. "It's my home and Barry and Cade are my friends. I'm not going to let anyone tear them down when they're the best things that's ever happened to all of us." Caitlin was about to remark how sweet it was until Cisco reached out and lovingly ran his hand over the front of Barry's suit. "I'm sorry; do you want to be alone?"

"There's nothing wrong with having good enough sense to know when a job has been done well," Cisco defended himself. "Besides, I'm checking the durability. Leather can only hold up for so long and I wash these suits by hand."

Caitlin nodded. She reached out to Cadence's suit and picked up the leather jacket. She turned it this way and that over her hands, admiring the craftsmanship that Cisco had put into it. She had to admit he did an amazing job with it, all on his own time and dime, too. She stated to say so then stopped when she noticed two large holes at the bottom of the jacket, almost as if someone stabbed it with something.

"I know you can be attached to these things so don't freak out okay," she said to him.

Cisco's eyes narrowed. "Why? What'd you do?"

"I didn't do anything." Caitlin handed the jacket over to Cisco. He gave her a suspicious look as he took the fabric and looked it over himself. He twisted his mouth to the side.

"Huh." Cisco then pursed his lips. "I'm going to have to have a talk with her. First Barry blows up my suit and now she pokes holes into hers. I swear they don't appreciate all the hard work I put into these things." Caitlin tilted her head to the side, chewing her lower lip. "What?"

"What?" Caitlin replied.

"You're doing that worry thing when you chew your lip," Cisco pointed out. "I was just kidding; I'm not actually going to kill anyone over a suit." He sniffed. "No matter how precious they are to me."

"When would this hole have gotten in there, though? You check the suits after every fight they go in and Cade hasn't used her suit since…" Caitlin slowly trailed off. A strange energy shifted through the air, her mind racing a mile a minute. How ironic that they had been talking about how she wouldn't ever have killed a bug or a spider. Where she had even mentioned during their run-ins with the meta-spiders that there wasn't any venom to worry much about if they hadn't been affected by the Particle Accelerator. And Cade had been knocked down…Caitlin thought.

Caitlin looked over at Cisco, who looked back at her, eyes widening at the same time hers did. ""It looks like it could be a—"

"—Spider bite," he whispered.

Barry closed the pod door to the cell and walked back to the food cart that held numerous bags of Big Belly Burger. He looked over at Cadence, she kicked towards the ground, looking everywhere but at the pods to the left and right of the one they were currently at. Barry waited until she turned to go back to the hallway before he reached out and tapped her on the left shoulder, moving to her right side.

After flinching at the sudden touch, Cadence glanced to her left then shifted to her right in time for Barry to lean in and press his lips against hers in a sweet kiss. Cadence made a sound of surprise before happily kissing him back, her smile contagious when she pulled away.

"Smooth," She commented.

"Sorry, I just, I, really wanted to do that," Barry said.

Her smile widening, Cadence reached out and placed her hands on Barry's cheeks. "Just a tip, don't ever apologize for kissing someone. More often than not they're glad you did it." She patted him on the cheek, took a step back, and pointed at him. "Just as long as you get the signals."

"The signals?" Barry repeated.

"Smiling, welcoming you into their space, wanting to spend time with you…" Cadence trailed off as she started down the hallway with Barry pushing the food cart alongside her.

"And that's why, even though it's your turn to feed these guys, that I'm the one that's doing it?" Barry asked.

"Haven't you heard? I'm great company," Cadence teased. Her smile faded after a few seconds. "No, I just…I really don't like being down here. Not knowing that Breathtaker and Stratos and Mindboggler are here."

Barry frowned, continuing to push the cart in front of him. "They're in the Pipeline, Cade; they can't come after you anymore."

"You don't know that." Cadence stopped and leaned back against the wall behind her. She looked around for a moment before chuckling to herself. "Hard to believe that when we first met you all locked me in here. Even harder to believe it was for a good reason."

"None of us knew what was going on," Barry reminded her.

"I'm not trying to get your sympathy, Barry; I'm trying to explain how insanely strong these people are." Cadence's eyebrows lowered. "The Assassination Bureau, I don't know who they work for or how they got together but they can do more than any other meta I've seen. Breathtaker…he gave Mindboggler her powers."

"Did he give Stratos his, too?" Barry asked.

Cadence shook her head. "I don't know. I don't even know how he or Incognito got theirs either. The Pipeline may be able to block the ability for them to use their powers, but that's not going to hold them for long. Breathtaker…he can do much more than anything you've ever seen. He can kill someone without even lifting a finger."

"Is that why he's called Breathtaker?"

She nodded. "He literally sucks the life out of you. I've seen him do it; it just looks like the person died of natural causes. The fact that he could do that to any of the rest of us at any moment…I think they may have given themselves up too easily, may be working on something to learn all of our secrets and get out of here."

Barry tilted his head to the side. He studied Cadence hard, noticing she did her best not to look him in the eye. Noticed how she had nearly jumped out of her skin when he tapped her on the shoulder. Noticed how she seemed to slowly be turning in on herself. Of course he had noticed that Cadence hadn't been mad when she found out that everyone else knew things about Brady that she hadn't before. It was possible that it truly didn't bother her but all the same…

"Cade, what's going on?" He took a step closer to her, but stayed far enough away so that she didn't feel like he was crowding her. He didn't want to push her too far if she didn't want to talk. "You've been acting kind of weird lately."

"Nothing," Cadence said after a second. She smiled. "I guess I'm just worried about what Dad and Tess were saying about Chief Paulson and Mayor Bellows." She pushed herself off the wall and started walking again.

Barry moved with her, keeping pace. "Cade, listen to me." Barry reached out and gently grasped her face. "Nothing's going to happen with them. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Cadence warned him.

"I don't think we have much to worry about considering there was just an entire day in my honor." Barry placed his hand against his chest, basking in the afterglow of Flash Day. Then he shrugged. "And, you know, your little drink thing." Cadence made a sound of offense and reached out, pushing him hard on the arm. He laughed, deflecting her shove with a flick of his elbow and stopped at another pod. He laughed when Cadence took a large step back away. "How are you supposed to feed spiders anyway?"

"They're giant, mutant spiders, Tholly. Who cares?"

Chuckling, Barry opened the pod door then frowned, noticing the Meta-Spiders moving erratically. They scrambled over and under each other, racing around the pod. Their legs clicked across the glass as they did so, louder than the humming sound of the electrical energy floating into the Pipeline. Then they were attacking each other, rearing up on its hind legs, fangs dripping with venom as they lashed at each other.

"What the what?" Barry murmured. "Hey Cade, come look—"he looked over his shoulder then stopped, noticing the strange look on Cadence's face. "Cade?" She glared at him, her eyes suddenly blazing with fury. She lifted her hand and shot it forward.

Time slowed down around Barry as the tunnel of fire spiraled towards him. He looked at Cadence's face, recognizing the fury in her eyes, then everything sped up again and he barely managed to throw himself out of the way. He crashed to the ground, lashing out his foot to close the door of the pod just in case the fire melted the metal framework and glass to let them out. Then the flipped back around to face Cadence, just as she sent a cloud of steam towards him.

Barry cried out as his hands were burned seconds before she reached out and kicked toward his face. He shot back to his feet and blocked a few more attacks she sent her way then grabbed her wrists, keeping her from hitting him again.

"Cade, what are you doing?"

Cadence snarled back towards him. Then she relaxed, her lips curling back into a smirk. Faster than Barry could bring his hands back, she sent flames up around her hands, burning him. The smell of burning flesh hit the air and Barry gagged, immediately dropping her hands. He backed away and turned his hands over, finding the skin on his palm blistering and popping, some skin melting away from his fingertips and dripped to the floor, while other parts were bright pink and fleshy. He watched, horrified as his hands started to heal themselves.

"Don't get in my way, Flash, unless you want to get burned," she said.

Barry looked up at her. "There's something wrong with you. Let me help."

Cadence tilted her head to the side, looking at him curiously. Her eyebrows twitched upwards and she said, "You'll have to catch me, first." With that, she teleported out of the Pipeline.

Barry raced up to the Cortex, skidding to a stop so fast he nearly fell over. "Guys! Something's going on with Cade."

"We know, we just found some holes in her suit," Cisco said. He motioned towards the empty mannequin where Cadence had grabbed her suit through her instantaneous teleportation. "They were left there from when you were fighting against the meta-spiders."

"We think she was bit," Caitlin explained.

"Bit?" Barry repeated. "By the Meta-Spider?" He ran his hand through his hair. "W-what does that mean? What do we do?"

"It means the venom from the Meta-Spiders are working differently than we thought it would." Caitlin quickly tried to explain. "We saw the venom and how it reacted against you when the spider web hit you, right? Well, this was injected into her so it's basically poisoning her." She grimaced, noticing Barry's hands. "And it's affecting her control over her powers."

"Sort of like when you were whammied," Cisco said. "But one hundred times worse. Because, you know, this could kill her."

All of a sudden, a warning siren started to blare, bringing Harrison, Tess, and Brady from other parts of STAR Labs. Caitlin and Cisco quickly filled them in on what was going on. Harrison immediately jumped into his chair, pushing his glasses up his nose as he leaned into his computer screen. The light illuminated him, casting shadows along the planes of his face that suddenly made him seem sinister. Tess stood behind him, resting one hand on the back of his chair, the other brought up to her mouth.

"Security cameras have her locked along the main streets. She's moving fast, so she must be teleporting all over the place," Harrison explained. He shook his head, eyes narrowing. "There doesn't' seem to be any sort of rhyme or reason to her pathway."

"It corroborates their idea of the venom making her lose control of her powers," Tess said.

"But if she loses control and she uses too much, wouldn't her body temperature get too high?" Brady asked. His voice trembled as he watched the footage of his mother.

"Yes," Caitlin said grimly.

"I have to stop her," Barry said. He started towards his suit then stopped, turning back to the others. "Can you make an antidote?"

"If we can knock out and get the Meta-Spiders and use their venom sacks as an initial starting point to concoct one, yes," Caitlin said. "But we'll need to move fast. Because of the properties of her powers, because of the heat, it may exacerbate the venom and make it move through her body faster than we can make an antidote."

"You need to bring her back here as fast as you can," Cisco said.

Barry nodded and ran to his suit, changing into it and then raced back out onto the streets. He found Cadence setting an office front on fire. Barry quickly stopped behind her.

"Flare! Stop!" Cadence turned Barry's way and raised an eyebrow. She turned towards him, crossing her arms. Barry stretched out his hand, slowly walking towards her. "You don't want to do this."

"I don't?" Cadence blinked rapidly, almost as if she was confused. "That's news to me."

"You're not this person, this isn't you," Barry said. "You're being affected by the Meta-Spiders. You were bit." Because of her powers it must've taken a while before it started to manifest since she had been bitten, Barry suddenly realized. Her body had to have been trying to fight it off as long as possible before it became too strong.

"Huh." Cadence used her tongue to suck her teeth dismissively. She turned her back on him. "It's no wonder I never liked spiders."

"Let's just get back to STAR Labs. They're making an antidote to help you."

"Nothing can help me, Flash. There's nothing there to help." She turned back to Barry, holding out her arms. "Mick was right. We're not better than anyone else. We just think we are with these powers and abilities that no one else has."

"Mick?" Barry repeated. He clenched his hands. They hadn't seen Mick and Snart since they had rounded up the metas Eobard had set free and put them back into the pipeline. Since then they had continued on their crime sprees with Barry unable to stop them, as per his agreement with Snart to keep his identity secret. "When did you see him? What did he say to you?"

Cadence lifted her hand, watching as flames flickered around her hands. "You want to stay on the good side of the tracks. Hate to break it to you, Flash, but in this life, with what we can do, there's not so much that's different between right and wrong. Just our motivations."

Barry swallowed hard. "Come on, Flare."

"Catch me, Flash."

They moved at the same time. Cadence teleporting out of the way as Barry hurried towards her. Plowing through the cloud of smoke, Barry turned back around to search the streets, looking to see where Cadence had gone. He saw her atop a nearby fire escape, looking down at him, resting her chin in her hand, watching him curiously. Barry raced towards her, but she teleported once more.

Over and over they swirled around the streets with Barry chasing after Cadence who teleported just as he was about to reach her. Then they were fighting. And while Barry's speed helped get multiple solid hits into Cadence, her teleporting ability made it easier for her to get the upper hand. If Barry moved to punch her in the stomach Cadence would teleport, but then appear in the air above him, knocking him the ground before teleporting again to kick him in the back. Barry backed up against a concrete wall, shifting back and forth as Cadence aimed flaming punches towards his head.

She struck towards the left and Barry shifted to the right, making her punch directly into the concrete wall. Cadence cried out in pain, bringing her hand back away from the wall. Barry rapid-fire punched her in the chest, enough so that she backed away from him. Cadence suddenly bent backwards into a flip, catching Barry under the chin. Once Cadence landed on her feet she teleported and sent a strong punch to Barry's jaw, knocking him onto his back into the concrete wall behind him. Cadence leapt up and wrapped her ankles around his neck. Twisting her upper body to the side, her momentum brought Barry with her, slamming him to the ground. Barry coughed, rolling onto his side. He looked up, hearing Cadence's footsteps come closer to him.

She started to walk in a circle around him, not breaking eye-contact as she did so.

"It's so funny how you think you know what everyone else wants when you don't even know what you want yourself," Cadence said. She eyed him coldly. "You constantly go back and forth over everything in your life; do you want your mom back or do you want to leave her dead? Do you want to kill Zoom or merely get answers from him? Do you want to be there for Central City and for your friends or do you want to wallow in your own misery?" She clasped her hands together, hugging them to her chest. "Poor, poor, poor Flash. Everything is always about him. Not like everyone else is suffering from his selfish decisions. You know those six months weren't just bad for you."

Barry rested his hands on his stomach, trying to catch his breath, willing the pain to go away. "Cade," he breathed. "Let me help you."

A 'duh' look came over Cadence's face. She turned to a pickup truck that sat nearby and winked. Immediately, the windows blew out and flames shot into the sky as a raging inferno engulfed the car.

"Okay." Barry slowly got back to his feet. The pain was going away, but this fight was lasting longer than he wanted. "That's new," he breathed.

At his words Cadence whipped her head towards him as quick as a rattlesnake. "Pop quiz!" She teleported in front of him and punched him so hard that his head whipped to the side and he fell to the ground. Barry tasted the metallic tang of blood as it filled his mouth. Seconds before he was kicked hard in the stomach, knocking him across the street. "What is The Flash's greatest weakness? Is it the cold?" She teleported and kicked him again. "Or is it that he always relies on his speed and has no other tricks up his sleeve to back up his confidence?" She grabbed him by the collar of his suit and lifted him off the ground. He could feel the uncovered skin of his face start to singe from the exposure of heat close to his face. If it weren't for his suit, he was sure he'd be badly burned from being in such close proximity.

With a hard throw, Barry was flung across the street and Cadence teleported midway through his flight to strike him once more, immediately slamming him to the ground.

Groaning, Barry rolled onto his back just as Cadence walked over and stepped onto his chest. Her fists flamed, making her image shimmer as she leaned down towards him. "But I know his real weakness," she hissed. A groaning cough and pathetic wheeze escaped Barry's lips when she increased the pressure on his chest. "That he won't ever do anything to lose the ones he loves; his friends, his family…and sooner or later that's going to get him killed."

Barry coughed pathetically. He looked up into Cadence's face, the shimmering of the heated air around her along with her glowing eyes made her look possessed. He had to think fast, what was going to get her to stop. He thought to what she said and immediately figured out what to do. They'd fought enough side-by-side that they knew each other's strengths and weaknesses. And what could easily take each other down.

He just wished they never had t use it. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

Barry superspeeded to his feet and started to run in a large circle around Cadence, going faster and faster as the seconds passed. Cadence gritted her teeth and shot fire streams at him, but he moved so fast that each blast missed him. Then she tried to send a cloud of smoke towards him, but the wind whipping around from his tight circle around her sent it back into her face. Choking, Cadence turned away, grasping at her neck. Finally, Barry slowed down enough to throw a bolt of lightning her way.

Cadence turned and held up her hand. The lightning shot towards her and right as it was about to reach her, it crackled with fire before dissipating completely, a fire aura surrounding her to protect her. With Cadence distracted, Barry halted in his running and started to rapidly windmill his arms. Blasts of air burst from his hands and struck Cadence, immediately snuffing out the flames in the vicinity and around her hands. Cadence gasped for air, struggling to bring in a good breath, but Barry's wind attack robbed her of the air in her lungs.

She collapsed to her knees before falling onto her side, making terrible choking sounds as she did so. Barry hurried forward and scooped her up into his arms, racing back to STAR Labs.

Cadence's eyes fluttered open, immediately closing at the harshness of the light above her. Then she felt something against her eyelid, pulling it open. First the right then the left.

"Mom? Are you awake?" She could hear Brady's voice muffled above her.

"Shh, Brady! Let her rest." That was Caitlin's voice.

"But she's awake, I can tell." Her eyelids were pulled open again and Cadence reached out, batting his hand away. Then she shielded her face with her hand, finally able to open her eyes. Cadence started to move to sit up, quickly finding she was sitting in a bed in the medical bay, the top half of the mattress raised so she didn't have to move too far. "Mom!" Brady threw his arms around Cadence's neck and hugged her tightly, causing Cadence to chuckle and gently pat him on the back.

"Easy on the neck, bud, I still need it," she said.

"Sorry." Brady sat back on his heels.

"Welcome back, Ms. Nash," Caitlin said, standing by the other side of the bed.

Cadence glanced at her. "Do you guys always say that to people who wake up?" She asked in a low mumble.

"Only those that manage to survive a near-death experience," Cisco said from her other side. He reached out and gently nudged her on the arm. "Though hopefully next time it's not from another Meta-Spider. I think we can handle Zoom better than that. Mostly because it was a pain in the ass to try and catch these spiders once we let them loose from their pods in the Pipeline."

Cadence laughed quietly. Hearing rapid footsteps coming towards the medical bay she sat up straighter as Barry, Tess, and Harrison came through the door. "Hey," she said quietly to Barry."

"Hey," he replied. "It's good to see you in here, Ms. Nash. You seem to have missed many appointments."

Cadence smiled, instantly catching on. "I've just been really busy," she replied. She brought her hand up to run her fingers through her hair, finally looking around at her friends. "What happened? I remember talking to Barry about the Assassinaton Bureau and then…"

"Long story short, back when you and Barry were going to save Captain Singh, you got bit by one of the Meta-Spiders," Cisco explained. "And instead of being cool and turning you into Spider-Man it basically turned you into a demon."

"What Cisco means is that the venom inside the Meta-Spider bite, the same venom in the web that only affected Barry when it was on him rather than Captain Singh and the others, affected your powers, ultimately making you lose control. If Barry had been bitten it would've been like when he was whammied. Same with Brady or…" she glanced at Cisco. "Or any other meta."

"So how did I…?" Cadence started. Barry looked away and she took in a sharp breath. "Did I hurt you? What happened?"

"Sweetie, relax." Tess reached out and smoothed Cadence's hair back from her forehead. "Everything's oaky now. Caitlin and Harrison created an antidote for you and Barry brought you back here safe and sound to make sure it was administered in time."

"But…" Barry licked his lips. "When you were out…you said something weird. You said something about Mick."

"Mick?" Cisco repeated.

"HeatWave?" Brady asked.

"Have you seen him?" Harrison asked with such sudden ferocity that it made the others stare in surprise. "Mick. Have you seen him recently?"

Cadence lowered her head. "Yes," she said quietly. Reaching out, she bunched up the blankets of the bed in her hands. "Every now and then he'll show up wherever I am. He says he wants my flame, that he wants my fire."

"What?" Barry reached up and ran his hands over his hair. "Why didn't you say anything?"

It took a few moments for her to come up with the answer. There were a lot of reasons why. 1) She was a hero to the city; she should've been able to handle things herself. 2) She was a woman and as much as she could do with her abilities, she was scared. Mick was a lot bigger and stronger than she was, able to pick her up with one hand with little effort. And number 3, the reason she said out loud, "I didn't want to bother anyone," when what she really meant was 'I didn't want to be called self-centered again. "I thought I could handle him myself."

"So HeatWave's showing himself again?" Cisco asked. "That's funny I didn't hear of any banks being knocked over. Snart must be getting antsy."

"He said he and Snart haven't been working together recently," Cadence said.

"What else did Mick say?" Barry asked.

"That we're really no better than any of the other metas of this city. That we think we're on such high-horses even though we'd do the same thing they would, anything for our own personal gain." Barry's eyes widened as he recognized the words that had been snarled to him earlier. "And he wants what made me a meta."

A few hours later, after Cadence finally convincing Caitlin that she was well enough to go home, Cadence lay on her bed, gently brushing back Brady's hair as he slept soundly beside her, insisting on staying in her room to make sure Mick didn't attack her that night. Apart from momentary headaches that came and went, she didn't feel any sort of reaction to the antidote that had been injected to her. As it was, she hadn't felt any different when the Meta-Spider venom had been working through her. But it gave her enough time to wonder about Zoom, if there was anything that could make him lose control of his powers, rendering him vulnerable, just as the venom had done to her.

It was something she had to remember to bring up to Jay the next time he was around. Not to mention getting a final answer as to what Zoom was doing on their Earth, where he was constantly going, and what his real identity was.

There was a light knock on her windowsill and Cadence looked over to find Barry climbing in through her window. "Checking up on me again?"

"Am I that obvious?" Barry asked.

"In a good way," Cadence replied. She brought a finger up to her lips, motioning towards Brady. Barry nodded and sat on the windowsill, facing her. "I mean, I'd feel a little upset if my partner didn't come to check on me. If the roles were reversed I'd probably send a bouquet of flowers."

"Flowers?" Barry laughed.

"So I'm a little bit of a romantic, so sue me," Cadence said. The two laughed quietly. "About everything I said today—"

"—You don't need to apologize," Barry said quickly.

"I know. I just…I wanted to explain something." Cadence took n a deep breath through her nose. "The thing is, if I had to choose to be someone's sidekick…I wouldn't want to be anyone else's. But the reason I'm so against being known as one is because I'm insecure. I'm insecure of my abilities, of what I can do for this team, of letting go of my past with the Assassination Bureau. I've said it before, but I'm not as smart as you guys and I often wonder if you'd ever get bored of me because I don't know as much as you do. Not only that but because there's only so much I can contribute." Cadence licked her lips. "As a woman, I'm already on the lower end of the totem pole; in my career, in life…and being able to do the exact same things that you do as a hero, being able to save the city so many times…it's hard when you know that you're not going to be recognized or treated the same way for it.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't want the glory and major media attention or anything, that's not what I'm after. I just want to be acknowledged. And when I see that Brady worships The Flash so much it makes me wonder if I'm not doing enough for him to see me as a hero too, and not just his mom. Then there's Leah. She's a big fan of mine…but how can I be a hero, a role model to her when I don't even know if I deserve it or if anyone else in this city will see the same things in me that she does? Especially now that there are those that are opposing us being here?"

"I already told you nothing's going to happen," Barry said firmly.

Cadence smiled a challenging smile. "You sound very sure about that."

"There aren't many things I'm 100% sure about, but I have a lot of faith in what we're doing," Barry said. He thought for a minute. "Even if there are those that think we're no better than the bad ones."

Cadence grimaced, her stomach clenching with the pain of knowing how much she allowed Mick's words to get to her."I'm sorry I hurt you like that. I don't ever want to do that again."

"You won't." Barry sounded so sure about that it made Cadence jerk her head back in surprise. He smiled, eyes flashing with challenge. "Because you can't catch me." Cadence rolled her eyes and Barry walked over to her, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. When he started to pull back, Cadence reached out and grabbed onto his shoulder, holding him still. Just to make sure he knew how sorry she was. Finally, she let go of his shoulder and he backed away. "I'll see you tomorrow."

He started towards the window.

"Hey Barry?"

Barry stopped, one foot outside the window.

"Do you mind staying a bit longer?"

"Sure."

Barry climbed back through the window and climbed onto Cadence's bed on the other side of Brady. He rested his cheek against his palm, wondering what was in store for the rest of them when things inevitably came crashing down.

Harrison looked over his shoulder as Tess walked into his office. "So?" She asked.

"So, I was correct in thinking it was Mick who had stolen the computer from the packaging shipment that came in," Harrison said. "He and Snart must've needed it to figure out the blueprints of STAR Labs as well as the information we have on numerous metahumans. It's the only other way he would know that Cadence's powers didn't come from the Particle Accelerator."

"He probably won't stop until he gets it," Tess warned. "We've already established he's not in the right state of mind for most of the decisions he makes." She paused, eyeing Harrison warily. "Do you remember how it was possible she was made into a meta?"

Harrison lifted his chin and rested it on his hand. "I remember it perfectly. But the question is, are they my memories or Eobards?" His body stiffened when he heard a soft scraping sound outside of the office. "Who's there?" He demanded.

Harrison and Tess watched as a shadowy figure slowly walked into the room.

It wasn't until he reached the light that Harrison realized he was looking back at himself.

"Hello there," the other Harrison said.

A/N: I knew I wanted to have this chapter/plot but it took me a while to figure out where to put it. I had some clues foreshadowing this was going to happen, so I hope that with everything else that had been going on it made sense? Plus, it ties in with Mick and the Rogues a little bit. Any guesses on what that plot is yet? Since the next chapter goes into Family of Rogues you'll see it more then.

Let me know what you think; if you have anything to comment about or are confused about anything, I would love to hear it and it motivates me to write more. I respond to every review.

Review Replies

Ethan: Yeah, they were practicing without their powers. It seems like I tricked a lot of people with that so I'm kind of glad, haha. Cadence would probably make good on the promise to give bodily harm to Oliver if he did something to Brady but who knows. Oliver tends to be very in-tune with young kids so he knows how to keep them safe. I hope this chapter was as good as the last two.

DarkHelm145: There's another part that's going to be added to it soon. Though for me 'soon' is a relative term as things usually get switched around while I'm writing.

Josephguy217: Exciting, isn't it?

PowerHero432: There's actually still going to be some more with Oliver and Conner as things go on that's not just what had happened with the crossover. I've always wanted to have that expanded on and it'll definitely be shown in this one. Again, there's still going to be stuff with Barry/Patty though, but probably not in a way that people would expect.

yummers: Glad you like it.

babyj: I'm glad you liked that emphasis as well as showing it's difference from the way Caitlin feels.

Spinquin142: I'm glad you liked it. I hope you liked this one just as much.

For those wondering this story is updated every week on Wednesday. I'll let you know if I ever change the day.

Cheers,

-Riles