.:25:.
Cadence ran a hand over her face as she tucked a towel over her shoulder. Shifting the baby carrier to her other hand, she reached into the bathroom and turned on the light before carefully setting it onto the ground. Brady looked up at her with his large eyes, sucking on his pacifier before turning his head away and pulled the towel that covered him up higher. He then spat his pacifier out of his mouth and brought the end of the towel into his mouth, running it over his gums.
Smiling a little, Cadence went to the bathtub and turned on the cold water. Then she perched on the edge of the tub and stretched out, crossing her legs at the ankle, resting her hands in her lap. She glanced over at the counter as her cell phone continued to ring, sending a peal throughout the bathroom. Thankfully the cascading water into the tub drowned it out or else she would get angry all over again. No matter if she turned off her phone, the phone in the apartment would start to ring and still wouldn't stop.
"You can call and ask how we're doing all you want, but I'm not answering the damn phone," Cadence said to no one in particular. It was the best she could do since she wasn't going to answer the phone and speak to her parents. Not when all they cared about as it was, was seeing Brady. "You have to let us see our grandson," they had said last time. Not when you don't want me around, Cadence had thought of responding but instead chose to hang up the phone.
Seventeen years old and living on her own in a city she hadn't had enough time to explore yet. And she needed to figure out how she was going to go to school. Getting her GED was always an option and so was finishing her degree online. But even then she'd need to go back to Metropolis at least once to get her transcript. Maybe I can teleport there and no one will notice me. Glancing into the tub, Cadence turned the water off then placed her hand in the water, heating it up to a good temperature.
Then she turned her attention back over to Brady and she smiled seeing he had drifted off to sleep. He clutched the towel tightly in his pudgy fists; head turned to the side and rested against the side of the carrier. His eyes shot open as Cadence moved to sit on the ground in front of him. He blinked at her twice then smiled an open mouth smile that was all gums. Dropping the towel, he reached his arms out for her, then turned back, picked up the towel with one hand and passed it to her. He leaned back in his seat with a satisfied smile.
"Aww, thanks bud," Cadence said, calling him by the name she referred to the baby as since she first found out she was pregnant. "Are you ready to get into your bath?" She reached out and gently ran her hand over his head and cheek, then ruffled his hair before stripping him of his clothes. She picked up an inflatable bathtub ring and placed it in the tub before carefully setting Brady down into it.
He squealed and immediately started splashing the water with his hands, laughing as he did so. Cadence stripped off her clothes and sat down in the bath with him, carefully pushing his inflatable tube back and forth, his legs churning through the water as she did so. He then turned his attention to the wash cloth that fell into the water and picked it up. He moved closer to Cadence and stuck out his hand, gently pressing the end of the wash cloth to Cadence's nose, muttering "Mama," as he did so.
Cadence leaned over and pressed a kiss to his forehead before picking up the wash cloth and started to move it over his head and neck. Other than the sounds of the splashes of water the apartment was quiet. Compared to her home in Metropolis where things seemed to be constantly going on, it was a bit eerie. A lump formed in Cadence's throat and she swallowed hard, blinking back tears. Almost as if he sensed her sadness, Brady reached up with his wet hands and placed them on her cheeks, gently patting them.
Cadence smiled and continued to clean his face and chest. "It's okay, bud," Cadence said, in a low whisper. "We can get through this on our own. We don't need anyone else."
...
..
.
Launching herself into the air, Cadence barely missed getting him by a fiery blast that Firestorm sent her way. Landing on the ground, she spun around on her heel and struck him with the heel of her foot then followed it up with a blast of fire sent his way. It struck him in the chest and he cried out before sending a blaze of fire back at her. Cadence deflected it with a quick flick of her wrist then clapped her hands together. A horizontal arc of fire shot out from her hands and struck Firestorm once more. What she hadn't anticipated was Firestorm using his power of flight to shoot over her head with a quick burst of speed and sent a blast of fire into her back, knocking her forward.
Cadence fell towards the ground then teleported to the other end of the hall. She reached a hand behind her and winced as her fingers pressed against the exposed skin that managed to get singed. Normally she had a sense of immunity against fire and heat, but this Firestorm's attack wasn't just from fire, it was nuclear thermal energy and she had never encountered that before. Cadence looked towards him once more and teleported right back to him then the two were locked in a heated battle of flying fists and flashes of fire.
Every attack Cadence sent his way was then blocked by his own attack and vice-versa. Pressing her lips together, Cadence continued to concentrate on her abilities, fending off Firestorm the best she could. Cadence teleported behind him and held out her hand, the flames that encircled her palms extended into a flame sword. She swung it towards the nuclear powered metahuman and Firestorm turned around, shooting a rush of flame back at her. The two attacks collided creating a large fireball with enough force that sent the two flying apart from each other.
Firestorm landed hard on the ground before he flipped himself upwards once more. He twisted around to face Cadence as she got up as well, and launched himself forward. He grabbed onto the front of her suit and lifted her off the ground, dragging her around like a rag doll as he flew through the twisting and twirling hallways. It took Cadence a moment to get her bearings, dealing with the sudden rush of wind around her and grabbed onto him just as tightly as he was. She teleported them out of the way and the two cried out in pain as they suddenly crashed into a wall.
Firestorm then lifted her up in another direction and they crashed into another wall before Cadence teleported once more. Then they were in a swirling dance with Firestorm's jet propulsion sending them through the hallways of Concordance Research, crashing into walls, the ceiling, and the floor as Cadence alternatively teleported them. Finally, the two twisted and twirled upwards at a high speed, fire shooting out in all directions, until they crashed into the rafters in the ceiling and fell back to the floor. The force of their crash to the ceiling caused the sprinklers and alarm to go off, dousing the metahumans, snuffing out the flames that surrounded them.
Cadence gasped loudly, feeling pain rush trough her body and the coolness of the water around her. That wasn't good. She needed to keep the water from getting too high. What I would wish to have Barry's healing powers right now, she thought. Looking across the floor, she watched as Firestorm groaned just as loudly, doing his best to push himself back up. But he couldn't support his weight, falling back down onto his chest.
Firestorm lifted his head, blowing his stringy hair from his face. "Wait," he gasped, holding out his shaking hand. "Wait. I don't…I don't want to hurt…I need help…"
Cadence raised her fist and slammed it back to the ground. The ground rose up in a wave, cracking open as it went. As the wave rolled towards Firestorm it illuminated in the reddish-orange fiery glow from underneath. Then the wave reached him and erupted in a fireball and rocky shrapnel into his face, the force of the blow rocketing him backwards into the wall behind him.
Cadence let out a sigh of relief, using both of her hands to push her hair back off her face. She lifted her goggles and wiped the soot away, glancing over at Firestorm once more.
They did say to fight fire with fire, but whoever said that clearly hadn't seen two fire metahumans pitted against each other.
Barry came skidding to a stop outside Rathaway Industries as glass came raining down upon him. Bringing up his arms he fended off the falling glass before turning his attention to the person that was creating the glass rain dance. The cloaked figure continued to thrust his hands forward, sound waves shoot out of his palms and struck the glass of the building. For a moment, Barry tilted his head to the side, studying the picture. That's it, Barry thought. He's using his gloves to project the sound; he's not making the sound of his own volition.
Smiling to himself, Barry raced forward and struck Hartley to the ground with a strong punch from his fist. Hartley cried out in pain and surprise as he pitched forward. He caught himself with his hands and flipped around, staring up at Barry with a moderately impressed expression.
"It's over, Rathaway," Barry said to him. "You're not going to hurt anyone else."
If Hartley was worried about The Flash being there to stop him, Hartley didn't show it. Instead he chuckled, squinting against the sunlight as he tilted his face up towards Barry. "I see you know my name," he remarked. "I'm assuming you know Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, and Harrison Wells as well. I can hear the radio waves coming from your suit. They're listening from the other end, aren't they? They're going to hear you die."
Barry's smirk widened. Apparently Hartley had never dealt with him before, or knew about his abilities or else he wouldn't be so excited to face him. He had to move faster than the speed of sound waves as it were. "They're going to hear you get your ass kicked—"Barry grunted in pain and soon he found himself flying through the air, straight through the decorative glass statue that held the Rathaway symbol. He quickly got back to his feet and raced around as quickly as he could, catching Hartley off-guard. Then he zoomed up close and grabbed Hartley's gloves, tearing them off his wrists.
And yet Hartley's smirk remained. He looked right into Barry's eyes then turned away, shoulders slumping in resignation. Barry grabbed him around the neck and dragged him back to STAR Labs. Instead of pulling down his hood as he typically would, he kept it up, afraid that revealing his face would make things harder for them. Hartley spoke up as he was dragged through the halls of STAR Labs.
"Boy does this place bring back memories," he commented. "It wasn't that long ago that I worked here, y'know? But I'm sure Caitlin and Cisco have told you all about that. Or maybe Dr. Wells did." Hartley twisted against his restraints to look at Barry. "How well do you know Dr. Wells, by the way? I'm sure not as much as I do. You see, I know his secret."
"Shut up!" Barry shoved him forward and kept walking him towards the Cortex.
As he turned the corner, right before walking directly into the Cortex, Barry paused, recognizing a shadowy figure standing nearby. His eyes slowly started to widen as he recognized the Black Flash. It stood with its arms crossed, chest heaving up and down as it took deep breaths. When it realized Barry was staring at him, the Black Flash opened its mouth into a grotesque grin, showing off its graying gums and blazingly white fans. Against its gray-green skin and white eyes its fangs seemed to be glowing from its own power source. Its mouth opened even wider and lizard-like tongue slithered out.
Barry's blood pressure skyrocketed and his temples pounded, throbbing almost as if they had a life of their own. He turned back to Hartley and found that he wasn't moving, almost as if frozen in time.
"Don'ttttt worrrry about him, Barrry. He'ssss not the one I'm afffterrrr," the Black Flash hissed, voice as dry a brittle bones. He took a step towards Barry, hand outstretched towards him. "I'mmmm not going to hurrrt him. I want youuuuu."
Well that seems to be the recurring theme of my life, Barry thought. He clenched his hand into a fist and barked, "What do you want?"
"Yourrrr lifffffe," the Black Flash replied. He shot towards Barry with an insurmountable amount of speed—a white trail of lightning shooting behind him—that Barry didn't anticipate. He let go of Hartley's arm, even more confused to see that Hartley continued to stand in his position, and raced along the corridor as fast as he could.
Yellow and white lightning raced around and around STAR Labs as Barry and the Black Flash tried to outpace each other. Barry ran faster and faster but the Black Flash continued to hang on his tail. At one point he felt a razor sharp hand rake down his back with enough force that he flew forward at a turn and crashed face-first into the wall. He rolled over and found the Black Flash standing over him. It tilted his head to the side before kneeling down in front of Barry.
Shrinking back against the wall, Barry watched as the Black Flash watched him for a long moment. Finally it reached out a hand and pressed his fingertip to Barry's chest, he winced, already feeling the sharp claw against his skin despite the thickness of his suit. "I'mmmm not going to kill you yettttt, I haven't finissssshed with you. I'm not going to killlll you until you've run to the end of the Earth and can't run anymorrrrre."
Barry closed his eyes and when he opened them again he was walking into the cortex with Hartley by his side. His back itched and burned as he felt his wound close up and heal. Turning his head to the side, he watched as Hartley took a step towards his former co-workers.
"Caitlin and Cisco. Never thought I'd see you again," Hartley commented, his eyes slowly shifting back and forth between the two. Noticing his former co-workers were staring at him without an inch of emotion in their faces he seemed to become even more amused.
Cisco's eyebrows twitched upwards as he crossed his arms. The tension between the three was certainly palpable. Barry couldn't ever remember seeing either of them so cold. Well, not since Caitlin had lost Ronnie, it took her a while to understand she was allowed to feel emotions of happiness and excitement through her work with STAR Labs and the flash despite still grieving for her lost husband.
"And we were hoping you might have died," Cisco replied. "I mean, that'd be the best news I think I'd ever hear in my life other than Superman wanting to talk to me."
Hartley made a ticking sound with his teeth. "Oh, I don't know, being able to meet the Flash seems to be something a lot of people deem to be worthy of their time." He turned to Barry and looked him up and down. "Though I can't imagine why."
"You're the one that just got beaten by him, Hartley," Caitlin pointed out.
"And yet, here I am speaking to you two." Hartley lifted his cuffs and shook them back and forth. "This doesn't particularly seem like jail to me, does it to you?" He pushed his glasses up his nose. "So you call him the Flash? That's an interesting name; I've called myself the Pied Piper."
That's not bad, Barry thought. But he didn't dare say it out loud. Instead he looked over at Cisco and noticed that despite the glare on his face, he had a begrudging expression in his eyes. He thought the name Pied Piper wasn't too bad either.
Then Hartley turned his almost blank gaze to Caitlin and he tilted his head to the side. "I never got that wedding invitation," he commented. "I was so sure it was going to be the event of the season too."
Caitlin's eyes flashed and she started to take a step forward, but Barry held his arm out, stopping her. He looked at her and shook his head. Caitlin looked back at him, staring right into his eyes before she turned away. Barry then grasped Hartley's collar and pushed him towards Cisco. "We need to put him into the Pipeline."
"I'm on it," Cisco said. He shoved Hartley once more, pushing him in the direction of the Pipeline, where the rest of the metahumans that were too destructive were kept. Before he could take him further out of the room, Hartley turned back to Harrison, who calmly sat to the side.
"Dr. Wells," Hartley greeted him.
"Hartley Rathaway," Harrison responded in the same, cool tone. A half smile appeared on his face. "It's good to see you again, though I wish it were under better circumstances."
Hartley tilted his head back as he laughed. The laugh started off as a chuckle before extending into a full blown explosion of laughter. When it faded he turned back to Harrison. "None of these people know who you are. Who the real you is. I wonder what they would say if they ever figure that out. Maybe I should be the one to tell them."
Harrison's eyebrows rose. "I'm sure that would be plenty interesting as I do manage to keep my life very, very private." He looked up as the doors to the Cortex opened and Cadence walked inside, looking worse for the wear. "But as it is, there are other matters we have to speak about. So we'll come back for you later." He nodded towards Cisco and watched as his current and former co-workers left the room.
Once they were gone Barry reached up and pulled off his hood. He turned towards Cadence and looked her over. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked her. He placed a hand on her shoulder before reaching over and giving her a hug, glad she hugged him back. He wanted nothing more than to make absolute sure everything was okay but knew it wasn't the time to talk about it. It wasn't the time to sit down and talk about everything that had happened between them. Not when so much was going on. But once thins died down…
"I was about to ask you the same question," Cadence replied, eyeing him warily. "What's up with your back?" Barry reached behind him and felt around the back of his suit, feeling that the material had been torn open despite his skin being intact.
"It was Hartley that was attacking Rathaway Industries," Barry explained. "Obviously trying to get some revenge against his parents." He took a deep breath and looked at Harrison. "But the Black Flash came back for me." Caitlin and Cadence both exchanged confused glances and Barry explained the other times he had run into the black clad speedster. "This time, was weird. He chased me around STAR Labs, but nothing around us was moving, like we were moving so fast everything stood still. I've never run that fast before. When I've gone my top speed everything slowed down, but never froze. And we were running around and around, I knew he could catch me but he didn't try. It wasn't until he trapped me that he said he wasn't going to kill me yet but was waiting until I ran 'til the end of the Earth."
"So this Black Flash that you're speaking of can run as fast if not faster than you," Caitlin said. "And wants to kill you like the Reverse-Flash does? You don't think it's possible that the Reverse-Flash is behind this too, do you?" She asked.
"I don't think so, there might be another person based on the fact alone that Barry mentioned his lightning streak was white," Cadence pointed out. She ripped off her goggles and rested them around her neck. "I mean, there can't be one Speedster that has it out for him. He's the one saving all of Central City, the one people are all trying to go after because with their powers they want to do as much as they can because the CCPD can't stop them. The question is if this is another speedster, how and when did they get their powers?"
"Precisely the right questions to ask, Cadence," Harrison pointed out with a nod. He lifted his hand and started to rub his thumb over his fingers. "Precisely the right questions indeed." Then he took stock of her appearance. "And what was it that you were up against?"
Cadence seemed to have remembered she was mad at him because she turned to and spoke directly to Barry and Caitlin. "We've got a problem," she announced. "Another metahuman popped up and not the kind we're used to seeing." She cleared her throat, briefly closing her eyes. "There was a meta in Brady's class and he lost control and accidentally attacked some people. Brady had to reveal his powers to Conner to try and stop the other meta. I've got to get him from school."
"There was a meta in his class?" Caitlin repeated.
Barry let out a curse, bringing his hand to his forehead. He started to pace back and forth, bringing his hand to cover his mouth before bringing it up into his hair. "Honestly, it's not that surprising," he admitted. "I've thought about it before…after I started to learn how to use my powers…after running into Blackout and the Mist…The Particle Accelerator explosion was very widespread, it killed so many people, it hurt so many people…there's bound to be a chance that anyone is a metahuman. Brady's one and he's nine years old. There's a kid in his class that created havoc because he lost control of the powers he didn't knew he had."
"So what are we supposed to do?" Caitlin pointed out. "We can't put them in the Pipeline. We can't really watch them either, how are you supposed to go up to a parent and say 'Excuse me, your kid has special powers that are really dangerous and we need to take them to our facilities to test them'."
"Or you could always do what my parents did?" Cadence suggested dryly. "Act like they don't exist and leave the kid to figure them out on their own. It's a wonder I was able to figure things out." She raised a finger. "I may be speaking about them in a negative way but rest assured y parents raised me just fine…as well as two insane people can."
"What's your point, Cadence?" Harrison briefly closing his eyes.
Cadence nodded and walked over to an empty computer. She typed on the keys a few times before pressing another button and brought up the feed of a camera in the medical bay. She pointed to the screen. "That." She pointed.
Barry and Caitlin stepped around her and the three looked at the screen. Barry's eyes widened when he caught sight of the familiar face sitting of the person sitting on the examining table. He hadn't gotten to know the person the way Cisco and Caitlin had but he recognized him. Part of what he was working for was to figure out what happened to him and how he became a metahuman.
Barry glanced at Caitlin as she sucked in a sharp breath, her jaw dropping.
"Ronnie," she whispered.
Caitlin speed walked into the Pipeline and found Cisco and Hartley in a cold conversation. She picked up the tension between the two of them and immediately sighed, crossing her arms defensively. She couldn't help it. Wherever Hartley was concerned, there was always tension between the three of them. As long as she knew him he always had to be right, he always had to be the best, and he always had to be the one right underneath Harrison's thumb. It was no surprise he harbored grievances towards those that were left once he was terminated, she knew something had happened between him and Harrison but not sure what exactly.
If there was one thing Harrison always had, it was his secrets.
Hartley's gaze turned towards her and his ever present smirk widened slightly. "Well, I was wonder when the Snow Queen would find herself down here." She pressed her lips together at the annoying nickname he had bestowed upon her ages ago. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"I have something I need to stay to Cisco," Caitlin replied stiffly. "Something between us and Dr. Wells."
"Yes, now I remember. You seemed to have been vying for Dr. Well's attention as well. But not the same sort of attention I was looking for. I mean, I already had someone who had my eye and last I checked you had a fiancé so I don't know how that worked out." Hartley then looked over at Cisco and said something in Spanish that caused Cisco to frown before responding in Spanish as well. Then Hartley turned to her, looking her up and down. "This has to do with Ronnie," he commented.
Caitlin held her breath, eyebrows coming together. How had he knows that? She didn't say anything to anyone. Couldn't have said anything to anyone, she had only just found out about him still being alive, being in STAR Labs from Cadence a few moments before.
"You only have something to say about your precious fiancé when you rub your finger like that." Hartley nodded towards her hand and Caitlin looked down, finding that she was rubbing her empty ring finger with her right hand. He was right; she always did that when she thought about Ronnie, as she always had since he had proposed to her, since before he had proposed to her.
She couldn't help it, by that point she was biding her time, waiting for him to finally pop the question. Day after day they went to work together and returned to their apartment together and enjoyed each other in only the ways a couple in love could. She hinted and goaded and suggested and he kept quiet, taking her mind off her empty finger to whatever it was he wanted to show her. The last time he had faked her out, tricking her into thinking he was going to propose, he had taken her SCUBA diving, something she had initially refused to do.
Those were the memories she tried to push away, to keep from dwelling on when he had downtime. But now here Ronnie was again, sitting right in STAR Labs…with Harrison. She hadn't thought about that either. She had just told herself to get over Ronnie not being there anymore, to allow herself to open up to someone else and she had done that. She had done that in the only ways she knew how—which she didn't regret at all—and now here he was, back from the dead.
"And yet you're still acting like nothing bothers you, because you don't like to deal with emotions," Hartley continued. "So how would you react if you knew that Ronnie isn't the same Ronnie you remember? As a matter of fact he's like me in so many ways. But so different."
Caitlin shook her head. "How did you know we were here?" She asked.
Cisco sighed, turning to her. "He studied the Flash and crime scenes. According to him, he realized that the Flash always ran in this direction from each and every encounter." He shook his head. "It was only a matter of time until he found it."
She glanced back at Hartley, eyes narrowing with barely concealed fury. Her hands shook, she could feel herself . She mulled over what Hartley had said to her; her brain filled with millions of memories she and Ronnie had made over the course of their relationship…and how she had then turned and made new memories with Harrison. She knew almost everything about Harrison, everything about Ronnie and yet she had a different relationship with both of them that made her feel special. Face it, Caitlin, both of them made you feel like you were alive, like you were someone, something more than the bioengineer who wanted to change the world.
For a minute a rush of cold zoomed through Caitlin's body and she shuddered, rubbing her fingertips together. It wasn't the first time it had happened but it hadn't become more frequent than it had been before. Caitlin took a step towards his pod in the pipeline. Hartley continued to pace back and forth, bringing his hand up to his ear every now and then. "What do you mean?"
Grabbing her arm, Cisco tried to pull her back. "Caitlin, don't. He's just trying to upset you."
"If only that were my main priority," Hartley murmured. He sucked in a breath through his nose and turned back to Caitlin, pressing his glasses up his nose. "No, my main priority is Harrison Wells. Though I'm sure he's listening to our topic of conversation at the moment. I've already gotten through with Cisco, so why don't I torture you for a while?" He steeled himself as if preparing for a difficult math equation. "Your precious Ronnie was seems to have taken on a new identity of sorts. I've already said the frat boy was a completely different person when drunk but this just takes the cake. You see there was another person here the night of the explosion, a Dr. Martin Stein. You see, he went in, but he didn't come out. There is a sign of his existence amongst the outside wall here, an imprint if you were and yet his body is missing. His wife, Clarissa has been searching for him. I'm sure you can understand her pain, Caitlin."
Caitlin swallowed hard and turned her head away for a moment. "Tell me what you know, Hartley! I'm getting sick and tired of your runaround."
He smiled, continuing to bring his hand up to his ears, rubbing them. "You see, the CCPD took away everything from STAR Labs after the explosion. Pretty commonplace. But you see, Martin Stein's disappearance has to do with STAR Labs and the CCPD don't even know it. He specialized in transmutation."
Transmutation. Caitlin and Cisco exchanged a glance. They had heard that exact phrasing before when speaking about project F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M.
"Or Quantum Splicing, whatever you want to refer it as. In laymen's terms, taking two things and making them one. He was here working on something with his project and while he was here, the Particle Accelerator blew and…" Hartley raised his hands and pressed the palms together. "Martin Stein meet Ronnie Raymond."
"Caitlin!" Cisco grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back a few steps. Hartley smirked at them and turned away as the lid to Hartley's pod closed. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Why would you let him get to you like that? Why would you-?"
"Because it all makes sense, Cisco!" Caitlin shot back. She reached up and grasped his arm, staring him in the eyes. "Ronnie, he's…Cadence went to stop the disturbance at Concordance Research and it was Ronnie. He's here at STAR Labs."
Cisco took one look at her, realized she was telling the truth, and grabbed her wrist. The two raced off to the holding cell Ronnie was sitting in. Harrison, Barry, Cadence, and Brady all standing outside it, arms crossed. Caitlin walked over to the window and raised her hand, pressing it against the glass. Ronnie looked back at her, but didn't appear to recognize her at all. Then he seemed to look closer and something flashed in his eyes, something familiar.
Caitlin took in another breath and looked over at Harrison, surprised to find he was looking back at her. There was something in his eyes she couldn't quite place but had an idea of what it was. And yet he continued to look at her before gently, discreetly reaching out his hand and grabbing hers. A couple of pills were placed into her hand almost as if he were passing her illegal contraband. As far as she was concerned, he was. Caitlin swallowed hard and he nodded to her. She nodded back and walked over to the door, separating them, and grasped the doorknob. Then she released it and took a step back, turning towards Cadence.
"Do you think you could help me?" She asked.
"Yeah, no problem, Cait," Cadence quickly agreed. She took a step back away from the group, ruffling Brady's hair, before joining her in the room. Caitlin quickly cleared her throat and went into her 'doctor mode'.
"We're not going to do anything more than examine you," Caitlin said as the two snapped on some gloves. "Check your vital signs; make sure that everything is in tip-top shape."
Cadence stepped up to Caitlin's side and looked him over for a minute. Then she tilted her head, continue to stare at the young masculine body sitting in the open in front of them. "I don't think we have to worry too much about everything being in tip-top shape. Though he could use a haircut. " She commented, causing Cadence to laugh lightly. Cadence smiled, glad to have made her friend see a little bit of humor in the situation.
Ronnie's lips twitched before he turned towards her. "Young lady, while I do understand the female species finding the physique of a male species, such as this, to be highly attractive, now is not the time to note it."
Cadence blinked twice, looking moderately confused. "I feel like I just got scolded by my Dad."
"That must be Professor Stein speaking," Caitlin said. She quickly explained to her what Hartley had said to her and Cisco. "Which means that…Ronnie is in there somewhere, but that Martin is the driving force at the moment. Professor Stein, I hope you don't find this intrusive, but we're going to check some things out now."
"Please, be my guest," Ronnie agreed.
Caitlin and Cadence stepped forward and quickly got to work checking his vital signs, as well as his reflexes, his senses, and mental capabilities. Finally, Caitlin gave him the pills that Harrison had passed her which he took with some provided water. Once everything seemed to check out, they quickly moved to clear things up and let the others in on what was going on. Caitlin waved for them to come into the room as Cadence said, "When I found him, he mentioned that he—they needed help."
"Yes," Ronnie said. He closed his eyes, nodding. "I need help. To split us apart."
"Is that possible?" Brady asked, tilting his head to the side. "I know they were put together but can you take them apart?"
"In theory, using nuclear fission," Barry pointed out. "Which is possible but…we're talking about two men here. Not a few atoms."
"That's what I was thinking," Harrison agreed. "There are many ways to go about this however many of those ways result in…ideas…consequences none of us may be ready for." He shook his head then took off his glasses to rub his nose. "Though that's not to say any of this hasn't been impossible to those who didn't believe. That was the imagining behind my Particle Accelerator as it were."
"If I may interject," Ronnie suddenly said, holding up his hand. "But what did you give me?" He brought his hand up to his head, gently pressing his temple with the lightest touch. As if expecting to wince in pain as soon as his fingers came in contact with the skin. "My mind…it—it feels clearer than it ever has. It's simply remarkable. What did you give me?"
"A cocktail of anti-psychotics, anti-depressants, mood stabilizers," Harrison explained.
"The same ones used to treat dissociative identity disorder," Ronnie commented.
Caitlin lowered her gaze as he said that. It was then she knew for sure. That was wasn't Ronnie, not the same Ronnie she had come to know and love with all of her heart. He was smart, able to fix nearly anything that went wrong in STAR Labs and come up with his own construction ideas. But he wasn't well versed in the area of medical sciences. It truly was Martin Stein who was speaking through Ronnie's body. Her Ronnie was gone.
"Very clever, Cait."
With a start, Caitlin's head jerked back up. She looked Ronnie in the eye, seeing something familiar in them. But it was gone just as quickly as it appeared. Caitlin gave a small, crumbling smile before she whispered, "Don't call me that, please."
"I apologize, Dr. Snow. I don't mean to upset you." Ronnie tilted his head and looked at her for a long moment. "Though I do have something to say that I hope will bring you some solace. I can't exactly figure out how to get it so that you can speak to your Ronnie, though there are memories that I have…memories that aren't mine that I know are attributed to you. Your trip SCUBA diving for example…" he lowered his head for a moment. "Then there's Piedmont State Park…famous for the Hudson Falls. I've never been there myself but…I can remember them perfectly .The mist across my face, your hand in mine…"
Finally Caitlin's resolve broke and she turned her head away. A lone tear trickled down her cheek. "That's where he proposed to me," She whispered. "Excuse me, I just need a minute." Caitlin turned on her heel and hurried to her office, ignoring Cisco's outstretched hand. She went into her office and dropped down into her chair, placing her face in her hands as she cried.
Everything she had kept bottles up over the past year came out of her in those loud, body wracking sobs. The grief she felt and had to push away so she could be there for Dr. Wells, the time she had to spend with Cisco being there to support him as he tried, in vain, to convince his parents that his job at STAR Labs was the best thing that had ever happened to him, working on getting STAR Labs up and running again, helping test out Barry's powers and become part of his team and every thought and feeling of worry and grief that surrounded each moment came spilling out. She was supposed to be strong for everyone else, why couldn't someone be strong for her?
Caitlin had finally stopped crying and was sniffling quietly, head pounding and heels of her palms pressed against her eyes when she heard a tinny, mechanical sound coming her way. Bringing her palms up to her forehead Caitlin muttered, "I don't want to talk, Harrison."
"No, I don't doubt you do," Harrison remarked, stopping his chair beside her. "But I feel this is something that needs to be addressed or else keeping things in will make things difficult for you. I know you're not one to speak about your feelings until it becomes too much to bear but keeping this inside is something that will be detrimental more than helpful to keep in."
Caitlin tilted her head back and stared at Harrison with a look that was almost completely of contempt. "Do you really want me to let out everything I'm feeling?"
"That would be helpful to give the rest of us an idea of how to go about acting around you," Harrison said. He looked towards the ceiling as Caitlin slapped her hands on the table and backed up a little.
"Why do I have to be the one that has to have everyone figure out how to act around me?" Caitlin demanded, raising her voice. She ran her hands through her hair, closing her eyes at the cool sensation running over her scalp. "Why am I the only one that has to always keep everything inside all the time?" She shook her head. "Why…why did my Mom do that to me?" She found herself asking. She was always told to be seen and not heard unless she was speaking to someone in an authority figure. She was always a studios kid, preferring to read and learn than go to the sleepovers and pajama parties the girls in her class were holding.
Maybe that had been a bad thing for her.
Shaking her head, Caitlin allowed another tear to fall down her cheek. Harrison reached out to wipe the tear away and made it as far as resting his fingers on her face before she pulled back. "No, don't do that."
"You're confused and hurt," Harrison said. "Not thinking that you'd ever see Ronnie again, working on the feelings that you've had and for him and how to move on. And with what we've had—"
"What did we have, Harrison?" Caitlin whispered. She briefly closed her eyes. "What do we have? Are we a couple? Are we just with benefits? Pretending that we're not doing anything wrong while everyone else slowly finds out?" Harrison cocked an eyebrow. "Cisco is still the only one who knows about us. Or is your relationship with Cadence at such a standstill that you don't fell you can talk to her about your love life as well unless it has to do with Tess."
Harrison reached out a hand and placed it on Caitlin's cheek, this time she allowed it to stay there. There was a warmth that combated the cold she was giving off. His eyes narrowed for a moment and he leaned closer to her. "Have you had any further instances with—"
"No, Harrison I haven't. Nothing other than a few bursts here and there and don't patronize me and change the subject." But Caitlin turned her cheek into his palm, letting out a low sigh. She wanted the warmth of his hand to stay within her, to warm her bones to make her feel something again. And yet she felt nothing but empty. "I don't know what to do."
"Talk to me," Harrison insisted.
"I don't know what to say."
"That's fine, too."
Cadence suddenly teleported into the office and Harrison immediately dropped his hand, moving his seat backwards. If the fire metahuman noticed how close the two were sitting, she didn't show it. "There's something going on," She explained to Caitlin. "Cait, his body temperature is sky-rocketing. Very high. My temperature is already really high but this is getting worse by the second, I think you should check it out."
Caitlin exchanged a look with Harrison.
What else could go wrong?
Barry waited as Harrison maneuvered to his computer, gently pushing Cisco to the side, and pulled up what looked like two atoms. Cisco leaned over his shoulder and stared at the screen, eyes narrowing. Harrison then brought his hand up and covered his mouth, shaking his head. "Ronnie's body is rejecting Stein's atoms. The exothermic reaction is potential to set off a chain reaction."
"What sort of reaction?" Brady asked.
"He could go nuclear," Harrison explained. "Like a nuclear explosion. Have you ever heard of the Chernobyl disaster?"
Brady's nose wrinkled. "I'm only nine years old," he pointed out.
"It seems that Ronnie's fight with Cadence has exacerbated the Firestorm matrix and made it unstable." Harrison shook his head. "Much like how Cadence has seizures when her body-temperature gets too high,"
"The consequence of this one getting to high is that the unstable atoms are going…" Cadence trailed off and made an explosion sound with her mouth and wiggled her fingers in the air before crossing her arms and cocking her hip. "Great, another thing I've messed up."
"You didn't mess anything up," Cisco reassured her. "This could've happened if he was fighting Barry. The amount of time the two have spent bonded together has already caused means for their atoms to reject each other. It was only a matter of time until something like this happened."
Barry scrubbed his hands through his hair. Great. They managed to find Ronnie and the missing Martin Stein, who they didn't even know was missing until Hartley—whom he wasn't entirely sure he could trust—was entrapped within his pipeline pod brought it up—and now what should've been an amazing reunion for Caitlin and Ronnie was about to, literally, go up in flames. It was one of the few times in his life he didn't know what to do. "But you can separate them before its too late, right?"
"Any attempt we try may hold even more dire consequences then we could ever imagine," Harrison replied. "The nuclear explosion coming from it, if we do something wrong, could level this entire city not to mention the nuclear fallout in the aftermath. Not unless the host body was no longer functional."
Caitlin whipped her head around and glared at him. "You want to kill Ronnie?" she spat.
"If we kill Ronnie we'd kill Stein," Cisco pointed out.
Cadence let out a low sigh before admitting, "He has a point." All eyes turned to her, Barry's eyebrows furrowed together as he looked at her. He felt like he had been punched in the stomach, the same way he had when Cadence pointed out to him how Starling City operated differently than Central City and they needed to follow Oliver's way of doing things. "Thinking of it on a grander scale it comes down to would you rather risk two lives…or the millions of people within the city? The best course of option, at this point, is to limit the fallout as much as possible and if that means disposing of the host body—"
"Do you even hear what you're saying?" Caitlin demanded. "This is Ronnie we're talking about. And Martin Stein." Her voice shook as she continued with, "As my best friend I thought you would know how I would feel about something like this."
Cadence closed her eyes for a moment before bringing up her hands. "I do understand, Cait. But I'm trying to get you to understand that if Central City goes up in flames, it's not just those two who will be gone. You'll be dead too. And Cisco and Harrison and Barry and Brady and Iris and Joe and Eddie and your parents. Me. Everyone you have ever loved, your friends from school will be gone like that." She snapped her fingers. "If there's a way to contain that—"She took a deep breath. "Two against two million? That's not a choice for me."
"Of course it's not a choice for you," Caitlin hissed. "You've already killed more people than the rest of could ever imagine. What's two more?" Cadence looked taken aback and turned away from Caitlin. She made the mistake of looking over at Barry and he saw the hurt, confusion and guilt in her eyes.
"Caitlin," Barry started slowly. "I think that's a little too—"He broke off as Caitlin turned her glare to him. Barry pressed his lips together and exchanged a glance with Cisco, who looked just as surprised to see Caitlin so emotional. But on the other hand he understood how Caitlin felt. If his mother ever was revealed to be alive in some unfounded way, he would do anything to make sure that she wasn't taken away from him again.
"I'm not going to lose Ronnie again," Caitlin said firmly. She turned to Harrison, who leveled his gaze at her, waiting for her to lash out at him as well. "I'll do everything I can to stop this from happening. I just need you to tell me what to do."
Cadence took a step away from the group and, shaking her head, started out of the room. Brady looked up at her and reached out for her wrist, starting after her. "Mom?" He asked voice tiny as if he had crawled into her bed after having been scared by a late night movie or creepy shadows on the wall. Barry reached out and grasped his shoulder and Brady turned back to him, dropping his hands to his sides. He looked up at him and pressed his lips together. "Will you help my Mom?"
"Of course," Barry replied. He patted the young boy on the shoulder before hurrying out of the Cortex after her. "Cade," he called. She kept walking though noticeable slowed her pace. "Cade, come on. You know that's not what Caitlin meant."
"You know something that's really good about being a metahuman that has powers of heat and fire?" She asked, turning to him. "It makes me a really good lie detector. You see, when people lie their body temperatures rise due to the fear of being caught in said lie because of the adrenaline running through your body. So I can tell you don't believe in what you're saying to me. She meant what she said. And you know how I know?" Barry slowly shook his head. "I can sense other people's body heat. She was angry, she meant it." A frustrated sigh escaped her lips, blowing her fringe off her forehead. "I can't say I'm not surprised; anyone who knows what I did would be wary around me. I mean, you don't even trust me."
"Yes, I do," Barry insisted. He reached out a hand and pushed her chin upwards so he could look directly at him. "I do trust you. I trust you 100%. It took me a while to figure things out and yeah you made a choice you thought was the best for you that other people may not have made. But that's the point of morals and ethics, the grey are in our decisions are always hard to justify. But you've proven time and time again that you're on our side and are doing your best to prove it. She's just upset. Her fiancé isn't really dead and now she's being told she has to kill him."
"I know that. I had to deal with the same thing for you; you became my friend and then I had to kill you."
Barry flashed her a warming smile, hoping to get her to at least laugh. "I know and I'm still here for better or worse. Which may prove that you just have bad aim or at least are a bad shot."
Cadence shook her head, turning her head aside. "But there is truth to what she's said. I've done some pretty terrible things—"
"—when you were brainwashed and the Assassination Bureau made you feel like you didn't have a choice, Cade," Barry insisted. He removed his hand from her chin and placed them on her shoulders, holding her still. "You're not a bad person and you shouldn't define yourself by the things you've done in the past." He gave her a funny look. "Do you know how much of a nerd I could've been?"
Finally, Cadence laughed and gave him a funny look. "Could've been?" she repeated. "How much of a nerd you could've been? I haven't seen anyone get so excited about a scientific journal arriving in the mail than you."
"You have your hobbies," Barry defended himself. Cadence smiled and Barry leaned in, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I know this is a hard decision to make up—"
"It's not hard enough," Cisco said, hurrying up to the two of them. He paused for a moment, looking back and forth between the two. "Alright, Imma ask about this later, but there's some more important going on. Ronnie and Stein are gone. They got out of STAR Labs and they went somewhere. Come on!" He turned and raced back to the Cortex with Barry and Cadence right behind him.
"They're gone?" Barry asked, turning to Harrison and Caitlin, who were both standing over an x-looking contraption. "Is that the Tachyon device?"
"Yes," Harrison agreed, leaning over it with a sodder in his hands. Smoke arose from the device as they watched. "This is what is going to be used to help Ronnie and Stein control their atoms as well as be the way for them to figure out how to separate." He paused. "In theory, anyway?"
"How'd they get out?" Cadence asked.
Caitlin shook her head, wringing her hands together. "While we were figuring out what to do about them it seems that they made the decision themselves." She shook her head. "I have no idea where they would've gone, too. The safest distance away from Central City to reduce the chance of the nuclear fallout is our best bet, but that's only if they went at least that far."
Cadence hummed for a second before going over to Cisco's empty computer. She sat down in the seat and pulled up the tracking program she had seen the others use many times before. Pressing her lips together, she tapped her fingers on the keys and looked over as Brady moved to her side, resting his chin on her arm. "What's up, bud?"
"Are you feeling better?" He asked.
"Much. Right now I'm trying to figure out where Ronnie and Professor Stein could've gone." One of the things she was glad to have learned from her time in the Assassination Bureau was her ability to track people simply from hours to days of watching. With the short amount of time she had to see Ronnie and Professor Stein it was obvious Professor Stein was in control. As he was the one in control he was the one to direct Ronnie's body where he wanted to go. "And these guys don't want to be found," she murmured. Eyes narrowing for a moment, Cadence turned towards her son. "Whenever you don't want to be found, where do you go?"
Brady shrugged. "Somewhere no one would be able to find me." He paused. "But you always find me."
"Because you never pick a place that's one hundred percent easy to hide in," Cadence pointed out. She tilted her head to the side, thinking hard, then her eyes widened. "In Central City where's the best place to go to by completely by yourself, away from electronics and city life where you think no one would find you?"
Barry thought for a moment then lifted his chin. "The Badlands," he said. "Just outside of Central City about thirty….miles…away." Cadence nodded and navigated through the tracking system, smiling when it came back with exactly what she had been expecting. At the sound of the beeping on the monitor, Caitlin raced over.
"It's exactly the middle of nowhere," Caitlin said. "Where no one would be able to get to him in time. Which means—"
"—He, well, they, are going to take care of the problem themselves," Cisco explained, having taken over for Caitlin and finished off the Tachyon device. "We have to get moving. There's not much time left for them to be out there."
"Good job, bud," Cadence congratulated her son, giving him a high-five. "You really helped us figure out where they are." Brady smiled back before going to Harrison's and Cisco's side to watch them finish their experiment.
"Pinpointing them to the best place to access in a short amount of time yet the safest distance away is genius," Harrison said. He looked at Cadence over his shoulder with a proud smile. "Why Miss. Nash, I do believe you've found where you belong on this team," Harrison commented. He pulled the sodder away and turned it off. "We're done. This Quantum Splicer needs to be placed on Professor Stein and we need to get out of there as fast as we can."
Barry looked over at Cadence and the two nodded before changing into their suits. Once suited up, Barry walked out to the Cortex, hand outstretched to take the Quantum Splicer from Caitlin but she held onto it firmly. "W-what are you doing?" He demanded.
"I'm going with you," Caitlin said firmly. "I'm the one that knows how to get this to work and you're going to need as much time as you can get, rather than have the information relayed to you."
"Cait—"Cadence started.
"I'm going!" Caitlin insisted, eyes flashing. She looked back and forth between the two. "Now, am I going to have to hope I can get there myself or are one of you going to take me?" Barry pressed his lips together and nodded. Reaching behind his head, he pulled his hood into place before taking Caitlin's hand and pulled her into his arms. Cadence teleported out of STAR Labs and Barry was right behind her, off at top speed.
Please don't let the Black Flash show up at a time like this, he thought as he raced to Ronnie's exact location.
They arrived at the Badlands within seconds and found Ronnie holding a gun to his head. "Professor Stein, stop!" Barry shouted. Ronnie whipped around to glare at them. "You don't know what you're doing, we can separate you." Barry set Caitlin down on the ground and she started to inch towards him.
"That's impossible!" Ronnie shouted back. "You need to get out of here. You and the rest of Central City, you're all going to die. I'm not going to let that be my fault!" He put the gun to his head once more before reacting with surprise when Cadence teleported beside him and disarmed him with speed. "Give it back!"
"We have this device that'll split you apart," Caitlin cried desperately. "This Quantum Splicer will bombard your atoms with as much energy that you experienced during the Particle Accelerator explosion and it should split you apart." She reached out her hand to place it on Ronnie's chest. "It will stop the explosion and split you apart. It'll save you and everyone else in Central City."
Barry held his breath as Caitlin continued to inch towards Ronnie. He stared at her as she approached, obviously torn between letting her put the device on or continue to push her away. Finally, Caitlin got close enough to plant the device on his chest. She backed away as the arms opened and attached to the front of his chest. Heart pounding in his throat, Barry watched as Ronnie looked down at the device then smiled back a Caitlin, seconds before his hands burst into flames.
Startled, Caitlin took a few shaky steps backwards.
Ronnie let out a cry of pain as the fire encompassed his body. "It's not working," Caitlin cried. There was a bright flash of light as the pain took over Ronnie's body, making him write in pain. "Ronnie! No!" She reached out her hand and recoiled as a blast of fire moved her way. Barry raced down the small slope and grabbed onto Caitlin's arms, pulling her backwards.
Cadence immediately leapt in front of Caitlin and reflected the fire blast back at Firestorm before holding up her hands and shot fire back at him. Her teeth gritted in concentration as she held him off. Caitlin continued to writhe against Barry's grasp and he held onto her as tightly as he could, pulling her up into his arms once more.
"No! NO!" He shouted towards Cadence. "Cade, what are you doing?"
"You can't outrun the blast!" Cadence called back. "I'm going to bide you some time. Get Caitlin out of here."
"You don't have to do this!" Barry shouted. His heart leapt into his throat as he watched the fire around Ronnie increase in size, mixed along with Cadence's. In his ears he could hear Cisco and Harrison shouting at him to get out of the blast area combine with Caitlin's cries of despair.
"If I don't do this, all of us are going to be caught in the blast," Cadence explained as calmly as she could, though he could hear her voice shaking. "Get her out of here, Barry!" She turned and gave a half smile to Caitlin. "Seems to me that I'm always protecting you from something," she said. "I've always got your back, Cait."
"Ronnie!" Caitlin shouted. "Cade!"
"GO NOW!" Cadence shouted. "RUN!" She turned back to Ronnie and sent another surge of fire towards him, causing the combining flames to tower in the sky.
Barry closed his eyes and turned away from Cadence. He clutched Caitlin tightly against his chest before taking off across the ground. He ran as fast as he could, but seconds later heard the loudest explosion he had ever heard and made it a few feet before the cloud of energy caught him from behind. It struck him in the back, enveloping him in a dark cloud before the energy of the explosion struck him and he went flying, losing his hold on Caitlin.
She tumbled out of his grasp and Barry blindly fell through the air before crashing to the ground and everything went black.
A/N: Huh, I've been ignoring Barry's plot with the Black Flash for a bit so here's an update with that, which is why Cade's fight with Firestorm was reduced. Just like my last story, this is the point of the story where more of my original plot starts to take over from the show's plot; however the show's plot does continue to come in. And here's for those who may have noticed that Caitlin's plot with her growing powers have taken a step back.
So what did you guys think? A bit of a shocking end, right? Well, it brings in more BarryCade with the next chapter, but it also brings in more of her familial relationships with Brady, Ryder, and Harrison as well. But also has a lot to do with Cisco.
Also, this chapter title and the next one are very significant.
I've got a question for you guys about Legends of Tomorrow: do you think Sara is getting a lot of screen time? Honestly, I want to see more of Mick (why did they do that to him) who is already the least favored over Snart, and then Sara seems to have a big part in every episode so far. I'd like to see more of Ray and some background/characterization for him (other than the shoehorned thing with Kendra) as well as Rip and Stein. But that's just me. What do you guys think?
Thanks for reading!
-Riles