.:36:.

Return of the Reverse-Flash, Is He Fast Enough?

"I'm almost done with breakfast," Brady said as his mother walked into the kitchen.

He turned off the stove and carefully picked up the sizzling skillet with a glove. Twisting his wrist, a pair of eggs slid onto the plate next to him, completing the dish that was otherwise comprised of toast, bacon, and a yogurt parfait.

"Wow, bud, you really outdid yourself," Cadence said. She leaned over and gave Brady a kiss on the side of the head. "If I knew you were this good at cooking I would've had you making breakfast years ago." She sat down at her spot at the table, waiting for him to bring her plate over.

"I tried, but you wouldn't let me," Brady reminded her. He moved the dirty dishes to the sink and rinsed hem off before putting them in the dishwasher. Cadence's eyebrows rose as she watched him.

"That's because, somehow, you managed to get burnt toast stuck to the ceiling."

Brady sighed impatiently. "I told you that the maintenance man did something weird to that toaster. How was I supposed to know it was going to shoot toast that high?"

"Hey, as long as it was document as his fault and I got my security deposit back," Cadence said.

Brady smiled and picked up the two plates, bringing them to the small table. He slid his mother's plate over to her before sitting with his own. And Cadence continued to watch him, pressing her chin into her upraised palm. He'd only just turned ten but there was already so much that was different about him.

He'd gotten a little taller—she'd noticed that a few days before and it annoyed her how he was now, legitimately taller than her. He had lost some more of his baby fat. His normally bright eyes were starting to become more solemn as the days and fights with metahumans went on. But it wasn't just the physical things that had changed; he'd always been a sweet kid but now starting to make his own breakfast and lunch, do his own laundry, take responsibility for his school work.

That all had changed.

It was a pleasant change, but she also couldn't help but worry. He didn't talk to her as much as he used to. They used to tell her everything and while she understood he had his own friends and his own experiences in life that he'd be less forthcoming with, her intuition was telling her something was wrong.

"This is amazing, bud," Cadence said once she started into her parfait. "I didn't know you knew how to do this."

"I got a cookbook from the library," Brady explained.

"So you really like to cook, huh?"

Brady shrugged and nodded. The two ate in silence for a long while then said around a mouthful of toast, "I don't really get a chance to do it when Barry's around."

Ah, that was it. Barry had been trying to make sure he was 'earning his keep' so to speak when having stayed over. Mostly it was the speed of which he'd made breakfast while the mother and son were asleep. She hadn't realized it was a problem for him. Cadence pushed her plate aside and looked at her son seriously. They'd already had the conversation where Cadence pointed out that Barry was more likely to be around more often. That he was probably going to be there when Brady woke up. And Brady had seemed to be very receptive of it. He didn't say anything about not enjoying it.

"Does it bother you that Barry's here?"

"No. I like when he's here. He pays attention to me."

"I pay attention to you."

"Yeah, but you're my mom, you have to. And he's a guy, so we can talk about guy stuff."

"Since when has talking about guy stuff ever been a problem with us?" Brady gave a wry smile. "Don't worry, bud, I get it. It's what you have Ryder and Barry and even Cisco for. Still, I don't want you to ever think that just because I'm dating Barry again that you're not the most important thing to me."

"I don't know, mom, I don't think you're going to keep a boyfriend that way."

Figures, he'd still find a way to meddle into her love life. But it showed he cares and his was the only opinion she truly trusted about that sort of thing. "I'm being serious, bud." Brady's eyebrows rose. "I know you're getting older and you want to hang out with your friends more. And now you have a pretty big responsibility with this meta stuff. It's been hectic lately and we haven't had any time together just the two of us. I haven't forgotten that. So, what do you say, once things die down that we take some time for just us to hang out. Maybe go back to Coast City?"

Brady's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Really."

"That'd be fun! But maybe we can go somewhere besides Coast City? I'll think of something." He looked at his phone and shoveled the rest of his plate into his mouth. "I have to go or I'm going to be late for school." He grabbed the backpack that hung form the back of his chair and went to his mother, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Bye mom, have a good day."

"Bye."

Brady hurried from the apartment and down to the corner bus stop. Once it arrived he stepped on board and looked along the seats for Conner, then frowned when he didn't see him. Leah waved his way and Brady went to her, plopping down and resting his backpack on his lap. "Hey, Leah. Where's Conner?"

"He's not going to be in school today," Leah explained.

Brady nodded. "The Oliver thing?"

Now Leah nodded. She kicked her legs back and forth, looking out the bus window. "He says Oliver really wants to get to know him. But it's kind of weird because, he always wanted a dad but never figured it would be Oliver Queen."

Brady eyed her for a moment. He smiled a little. "When did he tell you that?"

"Oh." Leah's cheeks turned red. "We were still talking after you got off chat last night." She reached up and scratched the back of her head. "We were talking about the play and everything and it came up." Right. Peter Pan. She was playing Wendy and Conner had mulled over wanting to be in the play too, rather than working with most of the other boys to paint the scenery. Brady would've liked to be on stage but knew he couldn't risk it if he lost control of his powers. As it was, he was still trying to figure things out.

"I hope he's back in school soon," Brady said.

He let out a long sigh. He truly did hope so. He had gone with his mom and Oliver when he went to explain things to him. But Conner already had a feeling, after having found the check from Moira Queen that his mother was hiding. Then seeing the look on her face when Oliver came to her house, how she had reacted when he told her about Oliver being at their school, when they ran into each other…

Conner was quiet about the whole thing, not quite sure what to feel about it. Their conversation had been short before they started to play with his action figures instead. Though Brady did notice that Conner now favored playing with a Green Arrow toy rather than a Flash toy.

"Oh, but there's some stuff I need to tell you," Brady said. He lowered his voice so no one around them could hear. Leah nodded and leaned closer to her, instinctively knowing it was something metahuman related. "You know how my mom and I were being asked a lot of stuff? From those Child Services people?"

"Mhm."

"And you remember that strange car Oliver saw that one time at school?"

Leah nodded again.

"Right. Well. It all goes back to the Registration Act. From what my mom said, some lady was pretending to be the woman that was really working with Child Services. We think they're people working for the government who are trying to figure out who are metahumans."

Leah's eyebrows came together. "What does that have to do with school?"

"A lot of things have been happening there. They're trying to figure out which one of us are metas and why things keep happening."

Fear took over Leah. Her face crumpled, hands moved to her cheeks. "Oh no. And it's my fault. I can't be found out, my mom and dad—"

"Nothing's going to happen," Brady promised. "Now that everyone at STAR Labs knows what's going on. We just have to be more careful with our powers and…we have to figure out who else at school might be a meta. To protect them. We already have more security being put up—"

"What's going to happen? If they find out who we are? What about your mom and Barry and the others?"

Brady shrugged. He didn't know. He could feel her anxiety starting to affect him. She had good questions. What was going to happen if they were found out? If they had been smart enough to pretend to be the Child Services person to get information on them, then that meant they must've known he was a metahuman. Or had an idea that he was. Brady chewed his lower lip, leaned over to look out the window. It didn't look like anyone was following them this time. But that didn't mean there was no one around trying to figure things out. How many of his classmates, who already thought he was weird, were trying to figure out why he was so weird? How he was always around when metahuman things were going on? With the security cameras that were being brought in, how much longer until they was finally caught?

Brady let out a long breath.

Now he understood how Barry felt every day.

The stress from having to keep the secret, not knowing when he was going to be exposed, was slowly going to kill him.

The world inverted as Cadence held her body ramrod straight. Her arms hung over her head, tightly grasping the bar that held over her head. She let out a long breath, her arms starting to wobble slightly. She hadn't done this in a long while, the muscles she hadn't used in as much time was starting to burn. But in a good way. She swung her body forward, doing a full rotation around the bar. Coming back to the top she moved hand over hand until she twisted to face her original position once more.

Rotate, twist.

Rotate, twist.

She let out another long breath to steady herself and on the last rotation, let go of the bar, and snapped her arms towards her ankles. She did seven full, fast-paced flips then landed on the ground in a crouch, feet placed firmly together, then stood up straight, bringing her arms above her head. Cisco, Caitlin, and Barry all clapped, making Cadence give an embarrassed chuckle and turned towards them.

"Okay, I already said you could watch, but I draw the line at clapping," She remarked.

"But that was so amazing," Cisco said. He shook his head in awe, resting his chin in his hands. "I mean, you see things like that in the Olympics."

Cadence lifted an eyebrow. She dusted chalk off her hands and "The Olympics is a little much, don't you think?" She thought for a moment. "The prelims, that's fine. But I doubt I'd go that far." She laughed along at her own joke then motioned towards the uneven bars. "Are you sure you don't want to give it a try?"

Barry's eyebrows rose. "And break my face open?"

"You can heal, Barry, I don't think that's going to be a problem," Caitlin pointed out. She nudged him on the arm then looked at Cisco. He nodded back and moved to push Barry forward. But then he and Barry reached over and grabbed onto Caitlin's arms, shoving up to her feet. "Hey! No, I don't think so."

"Oh, come on, Cait." Cadence reached out and grabbed onto her hands, pulling her to her side. Barry and Cisco were behind her, continuing to shove her forward. "You have to live a little. And a couple swings around a bar can do that."

"I'm in a skirt and heels, I can't do that," Caitlin continued to protest.

"So, take off your shoes. As for your skirt, that's not a big deal, either."

"I don't have the upper body strength."

"That's the beauty of having powers, Cait," Barry said. "Your physiology increases and you're stronger than you were before." He and Cisco looked at each other once more and the two stuck their arms underneath Caitlin and started to lift her up while Cadence continued to hold Caitlin's hands, keeping her from lashing out at the others. "Now, let's see what you can do."

"Yeah, I mean, you're a girl. You've got to be a little graceful, right?" Cisco teased.

Cadence gave him a look. "Being a girl doesn't mean you're automatically graceful," she pointed out.

"Oh, is that why you're such a klutz everywhere else?" Cisco asked.

"No, that's because I'm too busy being blinded by how much hair you have. Has Pantene called you yet?"

Barry laughed loudly. Then the four were laughing and screeching as they continued to try and force Caitlin up onto the uneven bars while she continued to wiggle to get out of the way. Back and forth they pushed and pulled until Barry lost his balance and the four crashed to the ground. Their laughter increased as they wrestled amongst each other, then piled on top of Barry, finding him to be ticklish. His laughter turned high-pitched, tears rolling down his cheeks as he continued to laugh.

It was one of the nicest moments they had in a long while.

Cadence groaned as her eyes fluttered open. She started to move to get up then stopped when pain exploded in her head. It was the first thing she noticed, the stars exploding in front of her eyes. Cadence brought her hand up to the back of her head, feeling for a lump. There was no lump but there was dried blood. She had really been cracked on the back of the head but healed it quickly. However, if the blood was still there it had been a pretty recent hit. Cold seeped into her body and Cadence flinched when it finally hit her.

She sat back on her heels and ran her hands over her face. Nothing else, no other blows that had hit her in the face or head. Cadence closed her eyes tight and shook her head, shaking off the last bits of dizziness.

"Well, well, Sleeping Beauty's awake."

With a start, Cadence looked over to find Mick sitting across from her, legs crossed at the ankle, hands behind his head as if he were lounging on a beach chair. A large welt stuck out from his bald head, almost like a horn.

Cadence glanced at him and sat back. "I thought I was Princess."

Mick frowned. "Isn't Sleeping Beauty a princess? I don't know. I don't watch that Disney crap." He let out a long sigh and brought his hands down to rest on his stomach. "I'd get comfortable if I were you. It looks like we're not going anywhere anytime soon."

Cadence stood up and looked around the room they were stuck in. It was a small room, not much bigger than that of a single bed hotel room. There was nothing in the room that showed any hint to an outside—of what she wasn't quite sure—other than the door that clearly had brought them in. She could see the blood trail that had to have come from her head. It had to have been a hard hit if she were knocked out so easily. Especially with her new healing powers.

"What happened?" She demanded. "How'd we get here?"

Mick lifted an eyebrow. "You think I know?"

"You didn't bring me in?"

"Why would I bring you in here and sit here with you?" Mick snorted. "I'm not that smart. I don't know if you noticed but Snart's the one that who decides what we're doing. I go along with it for the beer and whatever it is we're stealing." He brought a hand up and rubbed his chest. "I could go for a beer right now."

Cadence shot him a dismissive glance and continued to look around the room. She tried to think back to what had happened. She had finished up her breakfast after Brady left, cleaned up the apartment a little bit, and had gotten dressed to go to work. Then…nothing. She couldn't remember anything after that. She couldn't remember if she left the apartment and then had gotten mugged or clubbed over the head, couldn't remember if she were in the apartment when she had suddenly lost consciousness. Either way, it was something that she couldn't quite figure out and that frustrated her more than anything.

"Stand back," She finally said. Mick watched with calm fascination as Cadence clenched her jaw, shaking her hands. And waited for a few seconds when nothing happened. "Are you trying to take a crap or something? What am I supposed to be watching?"

"Oh no," Cadence gasped. She took a step back and shook her hands once more. Nothing happened. "Why isn't this working?" She leaned back against the cool metallic wall behind her. Her eyes shifted back and forth. The room had to have been solidified with meta dampeners, why else would her powers suddenly stop working. She'd been hit hard before, but not enough so that she wouldn't be able to use her powers.

Then an even worse thought struck her.

If her friends knew where she was.

Barry leaned back against the wall of the building behind him and looked up and down the alley. When he was sure the coast was clear he reached up and pulled off his hood. A long, relieved sigh escaped his lips as the cool air reached him. Sweat trickled down from his hair to his cheeks to his chin. No one really knew how much it took for him to be The Flash and a very hot suit was one of them. Especially when he was dealing with so many things throughout the day.

"Cisco." Barry brought his hand up to his ear, pushing the side of his hood closer to his hear but not putting it back on. "What else have you got for me?"

"What else do I have for you?" Cisco snapped back. "What do I-Barry, you've been running around the entire city all morning. Even the evilest of the criminal masterminds are asleep. Will you please take a break?"

"Because we can't afford to waste any more time. Barry needs to get better, faster, stronger, to prepare for Zoom," Harrys' voice came over the line. Barry pressed his lips together. The last thing he needed was for Harry and Cisco to start arguing again. It seemed that was the only thing they were good for at this point.

Not to mention Harry was right. Barry hated how right Harry was. Zoom managed to haunt him in his dreams and equally in real life, so much so it was making him sick. If there were going to stop Zoom he couldn't stop until he had to. Even if something as small as a bank robbery was what he was dealing with, then he needed to do it. Anything that had him running faster…

Barry took a deep breath, steeled himself for Cisco's response. "Sorry, Cisco, but Harry's right. If I'm going to get faster—"

"Please don't give him an even bigger ego than he already has," Cisco groaned. Barry couldn't help but grin to himself, he could practically see the smug look on Harry's face and the annoyed one on Cisco's. "Just because you're the one who has the fast legs doesn't mean you're doing everything by yourself. Do you know what it's like sitting back here and—"Cisco immediately cut himself and when he spoke again, Barry could hear the urgency in his tone. "We've got a runaway chemical truck, heading south on Kester."

"On it!" Barry replied.

In a flash, he pulled his hood back up and raced out of the alleyway. It didn't take him long to find the chemical truck and pulled himself inside. Barry got into the driver's seat of the truck and stamped his foot on the brake, groaning when he realized his foot went straight to the floor but the truck continued to barrel forward.

Crossing intersections and side streets, cars whizzed out of Barry's way save for the casualty of a car door that managed to get knocked off with Barry feebly crying 'sorry' as it went soaring through the air. He twisted the steering wheel back and forth, doing his best to keep it as straight as possible but felt the wheels start to skid as the truck moved out of control. His brain wracked with images of what could happen if he crashed. It was a chemical truck, if he hit anything at high enough speed, at the right angle…most of the city would be destroyed.

Frantically, Barry searched through the cabin of the truck and let out a gasp of surprise and relief when he found a car jack. Flipping it up in his hand, he shot out of the driver's seat and used the jack to loosen the bolts on the truck so the wheels fell off, making the truck slide to a quick and hasty stop.

"Boo-ya!" Cisco cried. "Nice going, Barry!"

"It was a little close," Barry reminded him, jogging away from the crash site. "But I think I did a good job." With that, Barry raced back to STAR Labs, placing his hands on his hips. He turned back to Cisco and Harry. "Usually, I can figure out the motive behind things like this but a chemical truck? Can't fathom it."

"Was there a driver inside?" Cisco asked.

"Who cares?" Harry asked. He continued to stare down at the notepad that rested on his lap. From Barry's vantage point he could see scribbles of equations but couldn't quite figure out what they were. "He stopped it and in good time. It won't be much longer until the next thing comes up so he needs to get ready."

"Maybe we should be investigating you instead of the whole 'Death to Metas' thing," Cisco dead-panned. "I totally get that you want to go home. But, dude, there are lives at stake here." Then he paused, bobbing his head back and forth. "Though I am a little curious about that. Where was the driver and where was he going with that much chemicals in his truck?"

"Hopefully nowhere we really need to worry about," Barry said. He brought his hands up to his head and looked around the Cortex. "Where's Caitlin?"

"She and Jay are having their daily stroll along the Pipeline to feed the metas we have inside," Cisco explained. He and Barry glanced at Harry when Harry let to a low snort and muttered something under his breath, shaking his head. "Allergies?" Harry ignored him. "But speaking of the MRA we're still trying to get confirmation on what was going on with the CPS. Iris mentioned it to Joe and he's looking into things. Oh, by the way, don't you have to go there? You know, your real job at the CCPD?"

Barry waved a hand. "I can get there later. I got a lot of work done yesterday and Captain Singh says I can come in when there's more for me to work on." Barry cleared his throat, scratched the back of his neck. "Or he just wants to get rid of me."

"I'm betting on the latter. That guy is more tightly wound than a grandfather clock."

"Yeah, speaking of which have you seen Cade around? Usually she comes to help me out but I haven't seen her. She hasn't been answer her phone, either." Barry had tried calling her between every one of his saves and went straight to voicemail each time. Part of him worried that she was mad at him for having lied so much. Though wanting her not to worry he didn't necessarily see as a lie by any admission. But she hadn't said anything in the days since the Turtle had been put in the Pipeline.

He'd start to worry if it was for the nature of their jobs continuously making communication difficult. Talking about dinner plans wasn't easy when paperwork needed to be done and conversations inevitably turned to meta stuff.

"She's probably up to her elbows in guts or something," Cisco said. He thought about it for a moment then shuddered. "On paper, it sounds like a really cool job, but in real life it's disgusting."

"Can we get back to stopping Zoom?" Harry demanded.

Barry ran a hand up over his face. He could see Cisco was gearing up to start a fight once more. "Okay, maybe instead of worrying about my speed we should think about different ways to stop Zoom. Think outside the box, maybe? We haven't figured out how to close the breaches, maybe we should start there."

Harry jolted for a moment. As if lightning had suddenly struck him. "That's a good idea," he admitted. He said something else under his breath and started to scribble on his notepad once more. "That's a very good idea."

"It's like Einstein's Riddle," Cisco pointed out. "It can't be done."

"I solved that when I was 10," Harry snapped.

Cisco clenched his teeth and lifted his hands as if he were strangling Harry's neck. Barry smiled to himself at Cisco's exasperation. Then Cisco lowered his hands to his lap and sucked in a deep breath through his nose. "No. Nope. You're not going to get it out of me this time. Mhm. No, sir. You're not going to make me lose my cool this time though I really, really want to punch you in the face right now."

"And what would that do to help anything?" Barry asked.

"It'd make me feel better, that's for sure." Cisco rolled his head back towards his computer as it started to beep rapidly. His eyebrows lowered and he leaned close to the screen. "Whoa, we got something moving fast. Too fast, looks like it may be—"

"—Zoom," Harry interrupted.

Barry looked at the two before racing out of the Cortex, leaving one of his strongest gusts of wind behind. He raced back and forth along Central City, running aimlessly until he saw a red lightning trail in front of him. It darted back and forth until it came back towards Barry, realizing the speedster was behind him. Red? Zoom's trail is blue. Barry thought. Then a sudden, horrifying thought entered his head and he screeched to a halt, sucking in a deep breath.

The other speedster stopped and Barry's eyes widened in surprise. His heart dropped to his feet and bounced back up into place. No. No way. It couldn't be. But the Reverse-Flash stood in front of him, slowly bringing himself up from his crouched position, red eyes boring into Barry's.

"Eobard Thawne," Barry gasped.

"You know who I am?" Eobard's eyes slowly stopped glowing. He took a step towards Barry, eyes shifting in confusion. Then his face cleared with recognition. He nodded to himself.

"You died!" Barry gasped.

Eobard's eyes closed. A low, malicious chuckle escaped his lips. He wiggled his finger in the air. "Good to know. And guess what Flash? I know what time period you're from." Barry took a step back. "So that means, very soon…you will die." With red lightning crackling around him, Eobard raced forward and lifted a fist, punching Barry in the face. He was too slow to stop him, receiving the punch and fell to the ground.

"Barry, what's going on?" Cisco's voice came to his ears.

"It's…it's the Reverse-Flash," Barry whispered.

There was a long silence. But Barry didn't care. He had to take Eobard down. With a jolt of electricity, he raced forward and slugged Eobard in the cheek. Eobard stumbled back then punched Barry. Then the two raced through the city, red and yellow lightning bolts shooting back and forth along the city. Punch after punch, kick after kick was traded. Barry flew through a window and rolled along the ground, crashing out the other side of the building. Then Eobard had him around the neck and threw him to the ground. Blood pounded in Barry's ears as he continued to fight Eobard, using as many of the recent tactics he learned in combat to strike him.

Still, Eobard managed to come out on top and strike Barry so hard in the face that he spun to the asphalt, landing hard. When he tried to get back up his arms were too weak, making him collapse once more. Finally, Barry managed to bring himself up, only to find Eobard had raced away. Barry gritted his teeth and raced to the Cortex, ripping off his hood as he did so.

Cisco and Harry were now joined by Jay and Caitlin, who appeared just as unnerved as the others. Barry paced back and forth, unable to help himself before spitting, He…he died! I watched him die! He should've been erased from existence."

"Not necessarily," Harry spoke up. He thought for a moment before explaining, "It's possible he was in the speed force, protecting it like a bomb shelter. Keeping him and his timeline intact. It's known as a time remnant." Confused glances turned his way and he rolled his eyes. "Eobard Thawne is from the future so when you erased him from existence, it wasn't the same Thawne. This Thawne hasn't traveled back to kill him, it's the first time he's here."

"It explains why nothing's changed," Caitlin remarked.

"Or that he didn't know my name or that we met before." Barry shook his head. "That…that doesn't matter. I'm going to end this…him. In this time. Once and for all."

"Are you sure about that?" Snart strolled into the Cortex, his eyes stuck on Barry. His lips pulled back into a smirk. "Because it seems to be that you tend to be a little slow on the uptake about these kinds of things."

"What are you doing here?" Caitlin demanded.

Snart glanced at her. "I see you've come to have a frosty demeanor but this conversation has to do with me and Barry, in particular what's happened to Mick."

Barry's eyebrows came together. First the Reverse-Flash and now Mick? What did he have anything to do with Mick? "What do you mean? What happened to him?"

Snart lifted his hands, leaned back against the computer console that Barry stood in front of. Ignored, the glares that both Cisco and Caitlin shot his way. "We were minding our own business, knocking down some liquor stores—"

"—Liquor stores?" Cisco repeated. "Don't you have anything better to do than knock down liquor stores?"

"What can I say? When Mick has his vices…" Snart shrugged. "We were doing our thing when lo and behold, Mick's swept away by this icy cool gust of wind that, from my experience, only a speedster can make. Now, correct me if I'm wrong…" Snart pressed his finger to his temple then pointed at Barry. "We had a deal. We helped you with your metas, you didn't get in our way."

"We do have a deal," Barry said reluctantly. "I haven't done anything to Mick."

"Then we've got a problem. If it wasn't you who zipped in and took him then who did?" Snart's eyes traveled around the room as recognition slid over everyone's faces. "Looks like I've stumbled across something. And my prize would be…?"

"The Reverse-Flash," Barry whispered.

Snart's eyebrows rose. "And here I thought Zoom was the one who was tickling your fancy now."

"What would the Reverse-Flash want with Mick?" Caitlin asked. "That makes no sense." She shook her head. "If he can move that fast, if he's still faster than Barry, then why not just take him out in the first place?"

"That seems to be the million-dollar question," Snart said.

Barry didn't respond. A terrible thought came to mind. He hadn't been able to get into contact with Cadence all morning. And if Mick was missing to…it had to be a coincidence. What else could it be? This Reverse-Flash didn't know anything about him. He wouldn't know the connection he and Cadence had. So why would he want to take her. It's just a coincidence, I'll call her and she'll pick up. She was probably in a meeting or something. Barry whipped out his phone and punched in her speed dial number and put the phone to his ear.

It rang once, twice, three times.

And rang and rang.

Finally, it went to voicemail and Barry closed his eyes. He tilted his head back, removed his phone from his ear. It looked like everything was falling into place in the worst way. Barry turned back towards Snart, who nodded. "Looks like the little Fire Bug has been taken, too."

Cisco snapped his fingers. "Fire Bug! I should've thought of that." Caitlin glared and elbowed him in the side. "Which is, seriously, the worst time I could think of that. Yeah…"

"Where is she?" Barry snarled.

Snart gave him a funny look. "Flash…don't you think if I knew that I would've gone there first instead of coming to accuse you? Now, I may be a bit of an impatient man but I'm not unreasonable. Nor am I stupid."

"I'm sorry, who is this guy?" Jay asked.

"Leonard Snart," Barry said.

"Captain Cold," Caitlin said.

"One of the most annoying creatures on the face of the planet," Cisco said.

Snart waved his hand. "Oh, you're all too kind." He turned to Barry. "Now that we know who, what, where, and how, we need to figure out the when and why." His face screwed up in a comical expression of disdain. "Is this where we do that 'go team go' deal and have a team up?"

"What did you have in mind?" Barry asked.

"Don't you have that…thing where you can track the signatures from my gun or something?" Snart asked. He reached over and dropped his hand on the computer behind him, patting it gently. "Or however else you've managed to find me and Snart the last couple of times we've been in Central City. Can't you do that now?"

Caitlin tapped frantically at her keyboard. Then she shook her head. "I'm not getting anything at all over the city. In comparison, I can track Brady and while he's not exactly using his powers at the moment, all you do continue to put off energy of your powers. His still tracks him at school, yours is tracking you here at STAR Labs along with me and Cisco. I'm not getting anything from Cade."

"But you just said we're all able to put off a little bit of our powers," Cisco said. He lifted his hand and pointed towards Jay. "Which makes sense as to why we're not getting anything form him."

"Thanks for the reminder, Cisco," Jay said.

"You're welcome."

Harry smirked. Then he snapped his fingers. "It has to be a meta-dampener, just like the one that the Turtle used when he held her captive at the Policeman's Ball."

"You think the Reverse-Flash was working with the Turtle to get the meta-dampeners?" Barry asked, eyebrows rising.

Snart gave him a funny look. "That's one of the most self-centered things I've ever heard you say. You know, not everything's about you, Barry. As a matter of fact, a lot of the things that go on in Central City don't have to do with you but all of meta-kind in general." He rolled his eyes. "No, the meta dampener isn't connected between The Turtle, as you call him, and The Reverse-Flash. It's being peddled throughout the Network."

"The Network?" Caitlin and Cisco repeated.

"Cadence has mentioned it numerous times in terms of what chemicals and other compounds can be used to make a serum for Zoom to get slower," Harry explained. He ran a hand through his hair. "I never got the chance to follow up with her on that."

"You know about The Network?" Barry asked.

"Most of us criminals do. Rumor has it, that the Network is receiving these mechanisms from the government. Of course, that's not anything that has been proven but you know what they say about little birds." Snart flittered his fingers in the air. "There are those who are desperate enough to not be found out by the general population that are using The Network to receive pieces of jewelry and other forms of meta-dampeners to make themselves appear normal."

"And you think it's what's keeping Cade's powers from being tracked?" Barry asked. His mind raced. It made sense. The only way they had been able to track while in The Turtle's clutches had been because of their deducing of where The Turtle would have been hiding her. They had trouble tracking her down then, too, from her powers. And she had said she couldn't use her powers when trying to break out of her restraints.

As soon as she was free she was abel to heal the injuries she received.

"So how are we going to find her?"

Snart raised a hand. "I might have an idea. That is…if you're not going to get too gushy on me with this whole teammate attitude."

"Mhm, yeah, and why should we trust you?" Cisco asked.

"Yeah, why do you want to help us find Cadence?" Jay asked.

Snart brought up a hand and wiped it over his mouth, equally wiping away the smirk that had been ever present on his face. Then he reached up and ran his hand over his head before crossing his arms, looking the most vulnerable than any of them had ever seen. "Mick Rory may be a loose cannon to anyone who knows him but I owe him my life. He's my partner and I'm not going to turn my back on him." He leveled his gaze at Barry. "I think you have a lot of experience in that area."

Barry took a step back.

How many times had he and Cadence said that back and forth to each other. They were partners. Reverse-Flash or not he wasn't going to keep her locked up. If Eobard had taken them for any reason, then they had to figure out what it was and how to get them back. But if there were met dampeners…

"Their heat," Barry finally realized. "He's going to use their heat powers to make himself go faster. Without tachyons that's the only way it can be done. He must've figured that out, found out the two sources in the city…"

"Then that means he's been around longer than we thought," Caitlin whispered. "And watching us."

Barry took in a deep breath and looked firmly at Snart. "What's your plan?"

Snart started up his cold gun, the familiar whirring sound filling the air. "I'll tell you on the way."

"You know where they are?"

"There haven't been many places that I haven't broken into or out of that some shady people aren't able to figure out how to use for themselves. Like I said, I have an idea and it's going to be your quick feet that'll get us to check out each and every one until we find them."

Wham! Wham! Wham!

Cadence continued to throw herself against the walls and door of the room. Each slam made her ricochet back to the other side before she steeled herself to start all over again. Finally, one hit against the door was strong enough for her to cry out in pain, grabbing her shoulder. She stumbled backwards, falling over Mick's legs to fall into his lap.

She scowled when Mick brought up his arms to catch her. An expression of pleasant surprise came to his face. "I always knew you'd fall for me. I mean, really, why stick with someone who can do everything fast than stick with someone who can bring the heat?"

Eye twitching, Cadence brought up her hand and punched him hard in the face. She scrambled off his lap and Mick chuckled, bringing up a hand to rub the side of his face. Blood trickled down the corner of his mouth where his lip split. "Don't fucking touch me!" She hissed. "Ever again!"

"Princess really packs a wallop," Mick said. He continued to sit lazily on the ground. "It's not going to do anything to keep ramming yourself into the door like that. Don't you know how this works? You get kidnapped or put away in jail and wait to see what everyone wants with you. That's the point that you try and bum rush the door. And whoever this guy is that took us, I don't think he wants to deal with a fire bug and a guy that looks like me, so…"

Cadence hunched on the ground, bringing her hands up to rest on the side of her face. She pushed her hair back from her face, trying to ignore the sting in her shoulder. There had to be something she could do to get out of there. Even if there was nothing that could be done with her powers she wasn't one to give up that easily. Besides, she needed to stay alive long enough for her friends to, at least, figure out what happened to them. And, as much as she abhorred him, she couldn't let Mick die.

"He's got a pretty good security system going on around here," Mick continued. "It was a cake walk when we got that tech crap from your guys' hideout."

Cadence started. "That computer stolen from STAR Labs…"

Mick spread his hands. "That was the easier ones to get. Who knew the security in such a high-tech place was so bad? You might want to get that looked at." He sniffed loudly. "Goes for a pretty penny, too."

The meta-dampeners, Cadence realized. It must be form the same things that we use at STAR Labs. Whoever he sold the computer to, they got the schematics from the Pipeline and are using it here. Her eyebrows came together. But what did that mean, though? Who was the one they sold the computer to and who was the one that created the bunker. She tried her hardest to figure it out but found herself quickly distracted.

Mick continued to talk, almost to himself or to an imaginary voice than to her. His voice shifted back and forth in tone, almost like there were two versions of him that were talking. "I doubt it'd take too long for him to realize the mistake he's made once you get to him. There's always mistakes made. And it does nothing but cause grief and loss."

Cadence closed her eyes, a fresh wave of grief for her father coming over her. She curled her fingers into her palms, hard enough that her nails dug into her skin, sending stinging pain up her arms.

"I know about loss," Mick said. He crossed his legs the other way. "I lost my mother…my father…my sister all on the same night. A house fire. The thing is, I'm the one who set them all on fire. You see, I heard this little voice in the back of my mind telling me that if I were to make them gone, then I wouldn't have to suffer pain anymore."

Cadence looked at him through her hair. "Pain?" She repeated. A little alarm went off in the back of her mind.

A slow smile came to Mick's face. "Discipline, he called it. But either way you slice it, being knocked around like a rag doll isn't quite fun times." He laughed to himself. "If only the man knew what he was doing." His eyes shifted. "If only I knew what I was doing…what it'd mean for the rest of my life. How many people believe you accidentally killed your family when you've already been put on a list with the police. Excuse me for enjoying the way things burn. You'd think I said I wanted to beat their heads in with a baseball bat."

Mick cut himself off when there was a low thudding sound that reverberated from the hallway. Then slow footsteps came their way. Cadence got to her feet at the same time as Mick. But he loaded up his gun, it created a high-pitched squeal as it took on power, stepping in Cadence's way. He nudged her back with a gentle push of the heat gun and aimed it straight for the door.

The door pushed open and Cadence's eyes widened in shocked surprise. The Reverse-Flash… the thought flittered across her head, her body moving before she could stop herself. It was the man that had caused so much pain to Barry for his entire life, somehow come back from the dead. She didn't need to think, just needed to act.

But whatever it was the room was reinforced by didn't affect him as he used his blinding speed to knock her to the ground. Mick rolled his eyes. "Do you not recognize a chivalrous gesture when you see one?" He demanded. Without waiting for a response, he shot a blast of fire towards the Reverse-Flash.

Snart stumbled as he felt Barry come to a stop. He turned to the side, pressing his hands to his knees. "I don't know how you manage to do this every day without throwing up. That must be a superpower."

Barry placed his hands on his hips, nodded towards Mercury Labs. "You sure they're being kept here?"

"I'm sure. Like I said, there haven't been many places I've broken in and out of that I haven't realized could be used as something else." Snart bobbed his head back and forth. "Case in point, this place seems to be the direct competition to STAR Labs, am I right?"

"Well…" Barry trailed off. He wasn't sure if it was a direct competition, but close. Dr. Christina McGee had said she and Harrison used to be the ones who worked closely and against each other as their scientific studies went on. And Mercury Labs had as many accolades under their belt as STAR Labs. Caitlin said she'd seen a lot of the improvements in technology while working there and Mercury Labs had a been targets of a few metahumans every now and then.

Snart continued. "I don't doubt this guy would try to find a place that would have the same sort of technology at his fingertips to do whatever it is he's trying to do. As you said, he wants to use their heat for his speed…"

"He wants to go home," Barry murmured. It was the only explanation as to why he hadn't been killed yet. Just like Harry wanted to go home. He understood the need for it, home is where the heart is and all that. But, he had some unfinished business with Eobard Thawne and intended to have a very important conversation with him.

"And so, if he's from the future as you guys say, he wouldn't be dumb enough to allow himself into your base of operations." Snart slung his cold gun over his shoulder. "And I sincerely doubt Mercury Labs is sitting back and letting STAR Labs do all of the metahuman research they can get their hands on."

Barry nodded. Snart made sense. He brought his hand up to the lightning bolt by his ear. "What have you got?"

"We're getting a reading from Eobard's powers," Caitlin said. "He's in there, somewhere."

"Would I ever lie to you, Flash?" Snart drawled.

Barry's lips curled back into a smile. Instead of replying, he reached out and grasped the hood of Snart's parka, his smile widening at the sudden choking sound Snart made before glaring at Barry. With that, Barry raced the two inside. He looked through the entirety of the laboratories before stopping when he heard what sounded like rapid vibrating. He recognized that sound anywhere. Snart started to ask what it was but Barry raced over, just in time to flatten himself against a back wall when a rush of flame shot in front of Eobard.

Eobard bent to the side moving out of the way of the flames and shot forward. He grabbed Mick by the throat and slung him around. Mick crashed into the wall behind him and slid to the floor. Cadence took the chance to take a running leap, striking Eobard in the chest. He stumbled back then turned and did the same to Cadence. She cried out, falling heavily to the ground.

Mick stood and pressed his heat gun flush into the side of Eobard's head. "Let's see what a melted head looks like. I didn't get a chance to see my father's up close."

Eobard smirked. "My, aren't we sick in the head."

"Don't flatter me, bub."

"Fine."

Eobard turned to attack as Mick pulled the trigger on the heat gun. Using his superspeed, Eobard ducked his head out of the way and brought up his hand to take on the fire blast. Barry could see red electricity crackle through Eobard's eyes as he took on the power. Barry gritted his teeth. No. This wasn't going to happen again.

Barry nodded at Snart then started running. Snart lifted his cold gun and shot off a blast, freezing Eobard's leg to the ground. Eobard growled in fury and turned Snart's way before he sent out another cold blast, striking him in the other leg and his waist. Eobard turned in time for Barry to send a strong punch to the side of the face. Snart finished the job, freezing Eobard up to his neck.

Cadence gazed at Barry in disbelief as she painfully pulled herself from the floor. "Geez, how do you always find me? I don't have GPS..."

"I never stop looking," Barry replied. He bobbed his head. "Though, I think I'm more likely to find you at the top of a tree, maybe…" He laughed. He held out his hand and Cadence clapped hers into his, allowing him to pull her to her feet and out of the doorway. The moment she was outside of the room, she felt her healing powers return and rolled her shoulder to test it.

The four turned to stand in front of Eobard who was still stuck in his icy tomb. He started to laugh; a low, hollow laugh before it was loud, using everything in Eobard's lungs. Finally, he calmed enough to look at Barry and say, "You really think you're fast enough to stop me?'

"We'll find out," Barry replied.

Eobard's eyes narrowed. His grin slid into a frown. His eyes glowed red. "Catch me if you can," he whispered in his demonic voice. Eobard rapidly vibrated until the ice melted and blasted off down the hall with Barry chasing after him.

Once again, they raced around the city, taking sharp turns and shortcuts as the seconds passed. Eobard's arms flung back and forth as he speeded ahead of Barry. Every few seconds Barry would reach out his hand to grab onto Eobard's shoulder. He was faster, he knew it, he could still feel the boost of Velocity 6 in his system. He was running faster. But to his dismay, Eobard looked over his shoulder, saluted towards Barry, and put on another burst of speed. Eobard was still faster.

Suddenly, Eobard veered off to the side, down another street. Barry kept racing forward, periodically watching as streets passed, seeing Eobard a little ahead of him. Then the thought struck him, the perfect way to take down Eobard. Barry turned on his heel and raced back up the street then took a sharp left. And continued to go straight. Then he took another left and another.

He ran as hard and fast as he could; blood pumping through his veins, forcing him to pump his arms and legs faster. "Come on," he whispered to himself. "Come on."

He saw a flicker of red lightning and put on an extra blast of speed. Lowering his shoulder, Barry leapt forward and felt his shoulder ram into Eobard's side. The two crashed into an alley wall and fell to the ground. This time, Barry immediately got to his feet and grabbed Eobard by the cowl of his suit and slugged him across the face. Eobard stared to fall and Barry pulled him up, punching him again. He hefted Eobard and threw him across the alley, sending rapid-fire punches into his gut with the use of his speed.

It was for his mother.

His father.

For him.

For all the pain that Eobard had caused upon his life.

And it felt good.

Barry grabbed Eobard and pulled him up once more. "You're not fast enough, Thawne," he hissed into Eobard's bleeding face. "I will never lose to you again. This way between us, it ends now." A lightning encased punch to the stomach this time.

Eobard fell.

Barry pulled back his fist.

"Barry, stop!" Cadence suddenly teleported at his side, chest heaving from her exertion to find him. She grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Eobard slumped to the ground with Barry standing over him. "Don't kill him, just bring him in."

Barry nodded, but he gave one last punch for good measure.

This one knocked Eobard out.

A/N: Yeah, Cade got caught twice and stuck in a similar position. But it was needed for a few reasons; one) I had this chapter planned out before The Policeman's Ball was completely worked out. Two) It continues to bring forward the MRA plot. Three) it's the catalyst for the Rogues' redemption plot and, again, I had this chapter/Reverse-Flash plots figured out for a while. But I think this is one of my favorites to write out of this whole story apart from upcoming chapters I've worked out already, too. Namely some Earth-2 stuff. :)

Don't forget to check out my new one-shot Barefoot Summer.

Please remember to review; any feedback helps me become a better writer and motivates me to write more. I respond to every review, even anonymous ones.

For those wondering our stories are updated every week (generally the same day) at the least. So this'll be updated again next Wednesday.

Cheers,

-Riles

Review Replies

Josephguy217: Thank you so much as usual. Your encouragement is always, always, ALWAYS appreciated.

Ethan: Well, Henry's got to get through the fact that Barry's not just his son anymore. If he can, anyway. It can't be easy, he's been gone long enough that even Barry calls Joe dad and having to share that role now can't be easy for Henry since he already lost so much time. Iris could get in trouble, but on the show it's proven that she's done it enough that no one's the wiser about it. Look back into season 1 with Everyman and it shows she's done it before. And I don't think Cade's 'fairly' good looking considering her faceclaim is Kristin Kreuk, I think she's very attractive. Lol.

yummers: And it's going to come to a head in the next chapter.

DarkHelm145: Finally coming up to the Reverse-Flash thing you were wondering about. Hope you liked it.

Guest: Thanks! I'm glad it worked out well.

WinterRain36: Already responded to this in PM but thanks again for taking the time to review. I'll have the next part to Buried Decadence up soon.

Spinquin142: Yeah, I wish it was longer, too. They deserved to have some time they could enjoy. But more moments of that is coming soon, even if they're few and far between because it's getting into the back half of the season. Thank you, I really do like working on everyone's relationships and giving them characterization.

Babyj: No, Team Flash don't know about Velocity 6 yet, but it's coming in the next one. A lot of stuff is. You're not wrong with it being a blow up. But it may work out differently than you think. ;)