Enter the Demon

by TrueHorror88

Seth Rogers, an experimented mutant and the host of a clone Venom symbiote has only experienced pain in his life. His life as an anti-hero prepared for much, but that didn't include being pulled through a wormhole to save his sister from an unknown world. Now in a new world with their own heroes and villains, he continues protecting the innocents and finding his sister.

37. Chapter 37: Rogue Time

Now another bedtime chapter for you true believers out there.

Once again, thanks for all the amazing reviews and awesome PMs guys. It means a lot to me. So once again, you guys rock!

And now…this chapter takes place after Barry's accidental time jump. And in doing so, he saved Seth's life and the lives of dozens of others along with the lives of his home.

So…without further ado…

ENJOY!

Chapter 37: Rogue Time

"Oh boy." Barry breathed out in shocking revelation at the familiar and relived sights in front of him.

…he had just time travelled by accident…he ran through time…JUST NOW!

"Hey, what's going on?" Cisco called out in confusion and worry via the communications device on the side of his cowl.

But the speedster was not responding at the call he got from him, his mind still reeling in what had just happened. Or what was going to happen anyway. His eyes going everywhere.

"What's going on?"

He turned his head around and saw Venom standing beside him with a curious look on his face.

"What are you doing here, Venom?" Barry asked his friend, his mind still overwhelmed from what he just did.

Gesturing around lightly with his right hand, he answered, "You've been standing around here like a belated slim Santa Claus with a thing for lightning. People are gonna mistake you for a prostitute if you're standing and looking around. What's wrong? You stopped all of a sudden, Cisco told us to check up on you."

"Yeah, why'd you stop?" Cisco added while he and his boss heard the conversation between the two heroes.

Barry slowly said, "I just…got a little disoriented."

Turning the tip of his index finger into adamantium, Venom lightly tapped the top of his head. The speedster grunting in response to the hurting tap and rubbed the back of his head. "Get your head in the game."

"Yeah hurry up." Cisco added.

"Hurry? What are you-" he inquired out loud, his question directing at both Cisco in the facility and the elemental beside him.

Cocking his head to the side, Seth reminded, "Don't you have a morgue to check out?"

"The morgue?" Venom nodded with narrowed eyes, the eyes of other civilians around them taking in the sight of the two heroes conversing and taking series of photos of them with their phones. "I was there. Yesterday."

"What in the world are you talking about?" The speedster gave an extending look of blankness. "The morgue? The one that's been robbed tonight? We just got an alert about it tonight at the bowling alley." None of the reminders that Seth fired off spiked his memory…like they didn't make any sense to him in the slightest…almost as though he had already done it and made him confused. "Just go!"

WHOOSH

Barry rushed at the order he received from the larger anti-hero who watched him run away with narrowed eyes of curiosity. "What's wrong with the speedster?"

"Something's definitely up." Seth thought back to him with a worried thought. "Let's keep an eye on the guy." His "other" nodding in agreement while the two of them looked around and saw various humans, young and teenagers, taking photos of him.

Feeling weird about just standing there and looking deep into his thoughts, he waved his clawed hand at them sheepishly, while underneath his mask…he was grimacing in embarrassment.

Not willing to submit himself to even more embarrassment, he lashed out a hand and fired of a tendril and yanked him into the air and swung away.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

The next day, the elevator doors opened up and revealed Caitlin and Seth walking together with Cisco, the three of them holding iced coffees with cream and chocolate syrup and crushed pieces of cookies. Frankie was with Matt and Olivia, the three of them making their way to the facility as well. The symbiote within the young girl getting excited as the thought of a morgue being robbed.

But as he was wondering what was happening with Barry before, but he chose to keep that to himself for the moment. Even though he hated lying to Caitlin of all people. Now they were talking about Cisco's brother Dante's birthday.

"And I really don't wanna go." Cisco said with a child-like whine.

"He's your brother, Cisco." Caitlin reminded her friend.

"Not by choice." He countered not at all willing to accept her point.

"She's right, Cisco. Come on, it can't be that bad." Seth chimed in, siding with his girlfriend. "And why don't you just bring Bette with you?"

"She's busy, still with her family." He explained to the elemental, "And I'm kinda glad that she's not here to see the crazy of my family."

"Crazier than you helping a group of superheroes, most of whom are from another universe?" Seth countered rhetorically.

Caitlin twirled around and looked into his eyes, "Well, how bad can a birthday party be?"

Mimicking her action, Seth said, "Yeah, it's with your family, and family should stay connected and be together. They should be there for each other. Me and Liv used to do that, especially since it was just the two of us. So stop whining and go."

Cisco then countered, "Um, my folks think Dante's stink don't stink. Doesn't matter how much he screws up, or how many times he gets into trouble. In their eyes, he can do no wrong. And yet, they never fail to remind me that I can do no right."

"Okay, I only had a one parent and that wasn't until I was teenager at least. But one thing I do know." They waited for the elemental to continue, "Parents are mostly wrong because they always compare the youngest to the elder one. Most of our colleagues kept comparing Liv to me back in SHIELD, thinking that she could do no better than me. But she proved the naysayers wrong by becoming better and better, and best thing was…our dad never compared us to one another, because he loved us, despite the fact we are so different from each other. And they might think it now, but so does your folks." He said supportively to his friend who broke into a smile.

Worriedly, Cisco wondered of his friend. "Hey, not to be a jackass, but…why does Olivia have different hair than you?"

"It's okay." He assured him through a chuckling voice. "Liv's always been proud of being a mutant, of being different than others. She always says, "What makes us different from us, makes us unique", and she chose to change her hair color back when we were kids. She always loved pink, so she chose to be different…and she's damn proud of it."

The two males laughed lightly and clanged their coffee drinks in agreement. At the words spoke by her boyfriend, an idea popped into Caitlin's mind. "What if we came with you? The two of us can be…your moral support."

Seth nodded and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "Yeah we could do that. Let us be there for you, old friend. Hell, maybe we can get Matt and Olivia with us…unless Liv and Frankie are going on another hellish shopping streak of theirs, then it might be just Matty."

"What? Seriously?" Cisco had to be sure of their decision to be there for him.

"Absolutely. You've done so much for me. Let me be there for you for a change." Caitlin started her good and honest intentions, before moving onto her even more honest intentions with a mischievous smile. "And I could look at old family photo albums and see what little Cisco looks like without long hair."

"Aww that sounds worthwhile. I might sneak a couple out and make a scrapbook out of them." Seth said slowly with a mischievous smile on his face.

Showing a not so happy face, mostly from their true intentions aside from being there for him, Cisco said bluntly. "I'm rescinding your invites. Maybe Matt's too." He finished off and walked into the Cortex.

With a curious pout on her face she looked at her boyfriend, "You make scrapbooks?"

"I needed a hobby back when I was a kid, and I had a bunch of pictures of me and Liv." He defended himself before kissing her lips and led her into the Cortex, where they saw the mugshots of the Mardon Brothers on a monitor. Seth saw that his sister and Matt and his daughter had come as well.

"Clyde Mardon has a brother?" Caitlin said before walking over to Seth's side.

Harrison wheeled into the Cortes and said, "So, Mardon brothers survived the plane crash and then the dark matter released by the Particle Accelerator explosion affects them both in-"

""Virtually the same way.""

Barry said at the same with the founder of the facility, finishing off Wells' thoughts. This got the elemental to narrow his eyes at the speedster in growing confusion. And the others gave him strange looks as well, Olivia trying to read his mind, but it was still very hard with his thoughts running faster than normal humans.

"How did he know that?" Venom wondered.

"Something's not right here." Seth said, knowing that this had something to do from last night when Barry was spacing around in the middle of street completely clueless.

"That's right." Harrison turned to the speedster with agreement.

"Only Mark's not like Clyde at all." Barry said slowly, his sense of déjà vu increasing with each second, "He can do things that you couldn't even imagine." he thought back to…the future events of the next days…when Mark Mardon used his powers to generate a gargantuan tidal wave that would flood and wreck the entire city.

Matt looked between them in slight confusion, "There's three of us who have never actually met this Clyde fella before. What was his powers." Olivia nodding along with that question, while her eyes and powers still trying to listen in on Barry's thoughts but to no success.

Seth who read into the files of their encounters before, told them. "Clyde Mardon had the powers of weather manipulation, or "atmokinesis", like Storm back in our world. So he was able to-"

""Control hurricanes, mists, typhoons and such."" Barry joined in and spoke the same as the elemental, much to the surprise of the mutants, especially since he had never met Storm.

"How?" Olivia asked of him.

Barry didn't answer and let them draw their own conclusions, while the paralyzed scientist kept narrowing his eyes on the metahuman. Cisco got them back on topic and said excitedly while feeling impatient, "You mean he's sort of like a-"

""Weather Wizard?""

The confused looks intensified once again at the speedster's strange…stranger behavior. "Yeah." Cisco said in confusion while he took a big slurp of his drink. "Mmh!" he grunted in pain.

"""Trigeminal headache?""" Caitlin, Seth and Barry stated at the same time, surprising everyone again, even more than before.

Frankie leaned to Matt's side and said, "This is getting weird." He nodded in agreement with his niece's surprise filled statement.

Harrison pieced together what was going on with the speedster and said, "Mr. Allen." The metahuman derived his attention away from the others' stunned expressions. "A word please."

"Yeah." The speedster went after the founder who rolled to another room. Seth narrowing his eyes at them while thinking that there was something more to what was going on now. Something he needed to know about.

X

When Harrison was sure that he and the speedster were alone, he immediately turned around and spoke, "You ruptured the time continuum, didn't you? You're experiencing temporal reversion."

"Yeah!" Barry exclaimed in agreement; his words of appreciation was fueled with how he was nigh insanity from reliving the same exact events of the same exact day he had already lived through.

"How long?" Wells demanded to know.

"A day and some change." The metahuman answered while his hands began rubbing together. "It's like I'm living it all over again."

"Yeah, well that's good." Harrison expressed his somewhat satisfaction with the answer he had just been given. "That means there's not too much you could've messed up yet." Inhaling a few times, he requested of the metahuman. "How did this happen?"

"I-I don't know." Barry said through a ragged breathing and shaking voice while stammering. "I mean, I was running faster than I've ever ran, and the first time that I lived this day some really horrible things happened. There was a tidal wave and-"

"No." The foundered interrupted the speedster with a shaking head and held up hand. "Do not tell me. I do not want to know anything about the future you experienced. Nothing!" he raised his voice. "Nor can you tell anyone else."

"Okay, but Dr. Wells, I-" Barry tried to converse with him.

"Barry." The speedster was halted once again from Harrison's words. "Time…" his teeth began gritting and pursed his lips while he let out, in an almost frustrated tone. "…is an extremely fragile construct. Any deviation, no matter how small, could result in a cataclysm. Now here's what you're going to do."

Feeling like he was being scolded right now, Barry took a seat by the treadmill and listened as the founder instructed him in a harsh manner. "Everything you did before. Every word you uttered, every step you took, you're going to do again." The speedster began shaking his head in dismay, not willing nor wanting to do what he was ordered to do right now. "And, once again, you're not going to tell anyone this happened."

With that said, the paralyzed scientist wheeled out of the room and let the metahuman wrap his mind around what happened. His hands gripping his face in confusion that kept growing and growing.

"You time traveled?"

Barry gasped in surprise when he turned to the side and saw Seth looking down at him from his position, his back leaning against the wall and his eyes looking at the speedster with arms crossed over his chest. "You been there in the entire time? Were you eavesdropping the entire?"

Leaning off the wall, Seth walked over to him while answering, "For some reason our local, and only friendly, speedster was for acting stranger than usual, so yeah. I was eavesdropping. Invisibility has its perks, you know…something I have demonstrated many times already in all fairness. Must be like Groundhog Day?"

"I'm pretty sure, it didn't happen to make me a better person." Barry said.

"That wouldn't be impossible to be believe, you know." He joked.

His head whipping around from various sides to make sure they were alone before the metahuman admitted, "But yeah. I did. It just happened. I didn't do it on purpose."

"I know Barry." Seth assured him calmly, unlike how the founder was speaking to him while taking a seat beside his friend. "I have powers myself. When we as their bearers reach a fever pitch, like from an all-or-nothing situation…they open new doors, showing off new abilities."

"You think that's why I traveled through time?" Barry started, "Because it was all or nothing?"

"Yeah. Same happened to me when I was a kid. I learned how to make constructs of ice when I was eighteen back then after fighting against a certain someone with powers identical to Frankie's." Seth explained. "But you have to be careful now. This is a lot."

"Yeah." Barry felt like he should reveal what happened at the coast where he brought his family to intercept the humongous tsunami. But he knew that Seth wouldn't be too thrilled to learn that his friend had brought his teenage daughter to fight against it as well, and he feared for his life right now. "I don't know what to do. And you can't tell anyone else okay?"

"I can keep a secret." Seth said smugly. "And for now…try to not…honestly, I don't what to tell you, Barry. I have no idea what might happen if I tell you do something." Barry held the back of his head with both of his hands in defeat. "Take things step by step, and calmly. Not do anything rash."

He nodded his consent, "Okay, I will. Thanks."

"Of course, pal. And if you need to talk, you can talk to me. Not sure it's gonna make much of a difference, since I'm from another universe and all." Seth told him with an assuring voice.

X

After letting the speedster soak in what he had done, Harrison wheeled himself into his hidden vault. His body getting up from his chair and going to his white console. A hand swiping over it, and the bluish form of Gideon's face revealed itself. "Good day, Dr. Wells."

"Time will tell, Gideon." He took off his glasses, "Show me the future."

"As you wish." Gideon obliged to his command, and showed two large holographic newspapers beside each other. While Harrison scans the left one stoically before they filled with fear when his eyes turned to the right newspaper. "The future remains intact, Dr. Wells."

While the founder of the facility was relieved to hear that the speedster's sudden and accidental jump through time didn't ruin anything nor changed anything…in the back of his mind, he hoped that it would have changed the results of the secondary newspaper.

Because that very same newspaper was the one and only thing that caused fear to boil in his body. And the more he would think about it, the quicker the feeling of fear would evolve into a feeling of horror.

"If anything changes, alert me immediately." Harrison ordered while putting on his glasses again.

"Of course, Doctor." Gideon finished off before disappeared back into her core again.

Harrison slowly walked, and he while he walked…he couldn't help but revel in what happened in the other timeline…wondering what had happened to the demonic elemental…and what his own fate might have turned out to be in that timeline.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Despite all the warnings he had received from both Harrison Wells and Seth, Barry still went with his gut feeling and did what he thought was right. He had to change the timeline, he had to change the events, either the ones that have happened or would have happened. And he relived exactly what would have happened when he stepped into the precinct.

Using his superhuman speed, he ran to the old motel where the Mardon Brothers frequented and looked for the metahuman would cause a catastrophic event with his powers. To his luck, Barry found him and dragged him out of the building, and ran him right back into the facility's underground unit, to the Pipeline.

Where the rest of the group were, and took in the sight of the enraged metahuman who was put in a prison cell like an object put up for display. "I'm gonna break out of here!" Mark shouted at the Flash who smirked at him, while the heroes behind him looked with passive eyes while in suit. Caitlin and Frankie stood side by side, and Cisco looked confused with the others doing same. "I'm gonna create a tidal wave that destroys your entire city!"

Barry didn't respond and moved out of way, letting the door sliding down and took of his cowl. The moment the door shut down; the others got out of their individual suits to watch with their own confused pair of eyes. Seth looked between him and Harrison. "This ain't gonna end well." Venom couldn't help but think.

"I'm worried about what this might cause." Seth thought back his reply, worried that the butterfly effect might catch up to the metahuman's choice.

"So I still don't understand." Cisco said in confusion, the same kind that were washing over the faces of the others in the Pipeline. "How did you find him?"

"I just had a hunch." Barry explained before gesturing to the elemental. "And I thought I could handle this one alone. You know, surprise attack and all that." Seth raised an eyebrow when he took notice of his unconvincing tone.

"That's gotta be some kind of record." Caitlin said somewhat praising him with a suspicious look, "But next time, bring Seth with you. He knows how to handle with elemental attacks." She then gestured to the other mutants. "And so does the others for that matter."

"Thanks Caitlin." Olivia thanked her.

"She's right, Barry. Better be safe than sorry next time. We don't wanna end up putting you in a morgue and start cutting you open." Matt added as a joke.

Seth shot his hand up immediately. "I'm calling dibs!" the speedster stepped back in fear when he saw an evil smile growing on the elemental's mouth.

"Dad?" Frankie got her father's attention. "You remember why some of the teachers are afraid of giving me a bad grade for an assignment?" he nodded, awaiting her conclusion. "Yeah, that's because you accidently brought a very sharp scalpel to my school at a PTA meeting once. Most of them think you're a nutjob with a doctor's degree."

"I loved that!" Magenta said with a mental giggle.

"Love you too, honey." Seth said with a serious quip to his daughter who smiled back and leaned her head against Caitlin's arm that then snaked around her and hugged her in a motherly manner.

And despite how they captured just easily caught Weather Wizard, Cisco held his head down, and said, "Well, there goes my excuse for bailing on my brother's birthday."

Matt snapped around and said, "What's this about a birthday?"

"Cisco's brother Dante has a birthday party, and he doesn't want to go because his folks don't think he's not worth a damn." Olivia said bluntly with an enchanting smile. Cisco looked to her with a wonderous look in her eyes laced with worry. She tapped the side of her head and said, "I can read your mind, Cisco. But it's a bitch with Barry around."

The nanite mutant looked back to the mechanical engineer again, "Dude, why didn't you say anything about it?"

"Didn't want to bother you with my stuff." Cisco said politely.

"Oh please, I want to be there for my friend." Matt said assuring his friend immediately before looking to his girlfriend. "You want to come with us, Livia?"

"No sorry." She said before slipping her arms around Frankie's body. "I have plans to go on a shopping streak with this little one." The younger metahuman smiled happily at more loving times with her cool auntie.

Seth leaned over to Caitlin's ear and whispered in her ear. "Told you." She giggled when his lips nibbled on her earlobe.

The group then went to walk away but the founder rolled to the shut door and looked into it and called out, "Mr. Allen and Mr. Rogers, please stay for a moment or two." Barry walked immediately over and Seth kissed Caitlin's lips quickly and told her to go on ahead. "Do you have any idea what you've done?" he directed at the speedster.

"Yeah, I do." Barry said without any regret. "I just saved a lot of lives."

Curiously, Seth asked Harrison. "You knew I knew about Barry's accidently jump?"

"If any newfound abilities of any powers emerge themselves, I'd imagine you'd be the first one to be confronted about it, Seth. So yes, I knew you knew." The founder told the mutant who accepted the explanation with a nod of his head. His passive eyes then went back to the metahuman, "I warned you not to mess with the timeline."

Feeling like he was being scolded again, the speedster said defensively, "Dr. Wells, if you would just let me tell you what was gonna happen," he pointed at the Pipeline, "you'd understand why I did this."

"He's right, Brains." Seth chimed in. "Doing this might just have done a whole lot of good. Perhaps even the time might end up rewarding us." He said hopingly.

However, Harrison wasn't having any of that and dejected their thoughts of better results, "Whatever tragedy you think you've just averted, time will find a way to replace it and trust me, Barry, the next one could be much worse." He finished off before rolling off to let the two heroes sit and absorb his words like a pair of sponges.

"Do you think he's right about that? That time will find a way to kick his rear soon." Venom wondered of his host.

"I'm more curious as to his words." Seth began. "Before, he didn't know a single thing about temporal influence and now he knows all of a sudden. Something's definitely fishy." He continued before walking down the ramp and went to ready himself for Cisco's party with his girlfriend.

X

"Feliz Cumpleaños Dante!"

Those were the words written on the colorful banner above the doorway to the living room. When Seth, Caitlin, Matt and Cisco walked through the front door they couldn't see the words from being on the other side of it. The mechanical engineer was holding a gift-wrapped present for his brother, even though he didn't like it.

Seth and Caitlin looked around the room, and saw that it was decorated to fit the very occasion. Matt saw that there was a table with lots of food on it, most of which looked very exotic. Definitely something of Spanish cuisine and decorated to be pleasing to every set of eyes that placed themselves on them.

The female doctor even took in the sight of the three-level stacked cake, and she were left in awe. "Wow. Your parents really went all out with the cake."

Seth followed her gaze and commented. "That's one impressive cake." He pointed a finger at the cake, and Cisco followed the finger.

"Seen better." Venom quipped in disagreement, mostly because of how there wasn't even an ounce of chocolate on the cake.

Cisco formed a frown and said, "Oh, well…it is Dante's birthday. The most important day of the year." His voice filled with nothing but annoyance, and a small amount of venom.

"I don't know about that." Matt started. "Christmas is my important day of the year. All about family and spending time with them and not about a single person."

"Thanks man." Cisco said while lightly tapping Matt's chest with a chuckling voice.

"Mi hijo was invited to play Carnegie Hall when he was just 13 years old." The group heard an elder woman speak in a bragging tone when she talked about the birthday boy. And the mutants were able to guess that it must have been Cisco's mother.

And beside her was a guy, same traits as Cisco, but wearing a tux, who said. "They invited the entire band, Mama."

The mother then said, "That doesn't make it any less worthwhile."

Matt leaned to Seth and whispered, "Looks like we have one proud mother."

"Too proud to notice the hero in their family." Seth countered while nodding his head to the mechanical engineer who still looked down. Matt nodded in agreement, liking the Ramon of their team even more than any of the others in this residence. "Wanna get so food?"

"Sure."

The two mutants told Caitlin and Cisco that they'd get some food for them and walked over to the table. While they were gone, Dante noticed the presence of his younger brother and the attractive doctor beside him and walked over to them. "Hey. What's up, man?" he directed at his brother with wide grin.

Caitlin looked between the two awkwardly while Cisco greeted back, "Hey." His tone still indicating that he didn't want to be present here.

"Glad you could make it." Dante said appraisingly.

"Of course." Cisco said brotherly with a slight nod of his head.

The female doctor kept shifting her eyes between them with curious eyes, seeing that Cisco's face wasn't getting any better and kept frowning. A somewhat intrigued smile formed on Dante's mouth and turned into a flirtatious smile when he caught sight of Caitlin beside his brother. "Hi, I'm Dante."

Before Caitlin could say anything, Cisco introduced her. "This is my friend, Caitlin."

"Hi, Caitlin." He smiled and held out his hand for her to shake.

Caitlin slowly shook his hand and said politely, "Happy birthday, Dante."

"Thank you." he said back while taking in her form, making her slightly uncomfortable actually.

"This must be the birthday boy."

And thankfully, her demonic and lethal protector came to her side in her time of need.

Dante snapped his head around to meet the two mutants, taking him by shock as though he was meeting the prince of darkness and guy in all red. "Uh, hi. Who are you guys?" he asked of the two strangers, he didn't know of any Cisco's friends, especially those who aren't from this corner of the multiverse. He couldn't help but notice that some of the women were looked intrigued by their presences and kept pointed to them.

Holding out his hand, Seth said, "Seth Rogers, friend of the wonderful Cisco Ramon." Dante grabbed it and shook it. "And I see you met my girlfriend, Caitlin." The birthday boy winced when the elemental squeezed his hand a bit too tightly, a statement of his to make sure that he didn't try anything with Caitlin.

"Nice to… meet you." Dante said weakly while rubbing his hand slightly from the pain, Cisco's lips turned upwards and formed a bemused smile.

"I'm Matt Almond, another friend of your wonderful brother." Matt said with a smirk, but didn't see a need to shake his hand, especially since his hand must be in pain from his friend's handshake. Dante nodded his consent.

Cisco cleared his throat after his happy smirking ended and showed the gift in his hand, "Here, I…I got you this."

"Oh." Dante let out while taking the gift in his hands, and Seth were surprised by the reaction, like the elder brother didn't even care about his younger brother's gift.

"I think you'll really like it. it's-"

"Thanks, man." Dante interrupted his brother with a bored look on his face.

"Yeah." Cisco breathed while crossing his arms over his chest. Right now, he both wished for Bette to be here with him and not be here to see how uncaring his brother was.

"Excuse me." Dante walked over to a table before talking to his other guests, leaving Cisco to feel hollow by himself.

However, that feeling of hollowness were short-lived when he felt the two mutants and Caitlin stand near him, tightly enveloping him into a group hug. They pulled away from each other and Seth said, "You're with your family right now, Cisco."

He raised an eyebrow and looked at his parents and Dante who seemed to enjoy themselves, just the three of them anyway. Matt saw his eyes in that same direction and elbowed him lightly against his arm, "He's not talking about those."

Caitlin hugged her co-worker gently, showing her love and comfort to her friend. "We're your family, Cisco. And we love you, no matter what."

Feeling his mood cheering up greatly, he began laughing genuinely out of happiness as he felt his friends be there for him right now. He enjoyed how they were willing to look at him and offer him warmth and comfort, "Thanks guys. It means a lot." He told them, like his real family was right there for him now.

After a while now, the party within the house filled up with the sound of the piano playing once Dante took his place before it. His mother was so proud of her elder son that she began asking him repeatedly to play for her and the guests. He folded after another coercion of his mother and chose to play finally. And when he did, it was like he was being worshipped like a god. The guests' undivided attention aimed directly at the birthday boy.

While he was slowly being worshiped by the others, Cisco felt like crawling into a hole, away from anyone's eyes and out of sight. But his friends kept his mood with funny grimaces or funny and subtle movements with their powers. It did bring a smile over his face, but it was only brief as the others kept listening to how his brother was being worshiped.

And once he finished, everyone kept clapped to appraise the birthday boy. But Seth and Matt didn't, Caitlin did though. "Que linda, Dante!" Cisco's mother exclaimed to her elder son, she then directed to the others. "Well, here is one who was touched by God." The applause of the guests amplified with the hostess' words.

Dante walked over to the group of his brother's friends and said, "Ah, I was a little rusty. I haven't played in a while."

"Oh, well…" Caitlin then complimented politely, "If that was what you sounded like rusty, I can't imagine what you sound like when you've practiced." She said kindly while her hand was intertwined between Seth's hand after he took hold of it.

The elder Ramon brother was about to speak flirtatious words to the female doctor, but then he saw Seth's cold blue eyes looking at him without a hint of emotion in them. It made him gulp in fear and he said, "Maybe I should start…gulp…I'd practice morning, noon and night."

Cisco then laughed hollowly and jabbed, "That means you'd actually have to get up in the morning."

Seth saw the elder brother inhale deeply, and being an elder brother himself, he knew that he wasn't exactly okay with being outwitted by his younger sibling. And he was right to assume so, because Dante countered.

"So, Mom tells me you're still working at S.T.A.R. Labs, huh?"

"Yeah. Why?" Cisco asked back defensively, not liking the tone his brother was using right now.

"No reason, man." Dante started, "Guess it was just hard to find another job, huh?"

"Oh, I wasn't looking. I actually like working at S.T.A.R. Labs." Cisco countered defensively.

"And we couldn't do what we do without Cisco." Caitlin added.

Seth nodded in agreement, "S.T.A.R. Labs isn't the same without Cisco."

"He's kinda our rock." Matt followed up immediately.

Cisco's smile broadening as he took in each other of the words spoken by his friends. However, the next words spoken by his brother…crushed him.

"Oh, he's loyal. Just like a dog." Sadness began building up in Cisco's eyes, while Caitlin gaped her mouth in surprise. Matt and Seth grit their teeth in anger at his words aimed at their dear friend. "Oh, come one. Why are you so serious, mi hija?" the mechanical engineer didn't want to hear anymore and stormed off in sadness.

Caitlin looked and was about to move off to find him, but she stopped and spoke to the birthday boy again, "Happy birthday." She said before walking after her friend.

Matt glared at the elder Ramon brother hatefully and growled like an enraged animal, which got Dante shivering in his pants before running after his friends. Leaving Seth to…educate a fellow elder sibling, "Cisco didn't deserve to be treated like that you know. Cisco's a wonderful person, and I can only imagine that he's an even better brother. And from one big brother to another, you're supposed to give your sibling strength and courage to overcome their weaknesses and choose their own path." The elemental was about to move, but then spoke, "Oh yeah, ever hurt Cisco again or even talk to him like that again, I'll give you hell. Happy birthday."

He finished off before walking out of the house to find his friends, and left the birthday boy shaking like a leaf out of pure fear.

X

After the events of what happened at the Ramon's house, Cisco didn't want to spend any time with anyone and chose to have a drink for him at a bar. He thought about going to Seth's improved and reconstructed workplace, especially since it was getting a lot of great reviews ever since the reopening.

But honestly, he didn't want the workers there to call Seth and tell him of his current whereabouts. So he chose one of the bars in the further areas, where he now sat and slowly drank his beer all by his lonesome.,

He thought about inviting Barry, but he had apparently been having a great day…which involved him breaking up with his girlfriend. However, he did accept the call of one friend who walked through the entrance doors right now.

Walking over to clap Cisco's shoulders from behind to get his attention, Matt Stark said, "Hey."

"Oh, hey, man." Cisco greeted to the mutant who took a seat by his side. "Thanks for meeting me here. Even though…you can get drunk, right?"

"Yeah, I can. Don't worry, I'm not Barry or Seth." Matt answered through a chuckling voice. "But it's gonna take a keg or two to get me under the table."

"I'd like that. Heck, I could use that right about now." Cisco said with a disappointing voice, his disappointment mainly aimed at himself.

Knowing that he was still feeling down from his brother's birthday, Matt ordered a beer for himself and moved on to better things. "So how's things with you and Bette then?"

A smile formed on the mechanical engineer, "Things are really great. She's been sleeping over a few times already. And…" he trailed off with blushed cheeks.

Matt heard him pause and a got a shit-eating grin on his face as he realized what he was getting at. "And…" he recited his words, just as he got his drink of alcoholic beverage.

"And…I've been thinking of asking her to move in with me."

Laughing lightly for his happiness, Matt clapped his shoulder while saying. "So…when are you going to pop the big question? You need help?"

"I'm asking her to move in with me, not proposing to her." Cisco reminded the mutant with a smile.

"Yet." He teased the mechanical engineer. "Well…" he took hold of his drink, and raised it high, "To good things and Bette moving in with you, dear friend."

Smiling happily himself, Cisco took his drink and clanged it against the weapons expert's drink and both said,

""Cheers!""

The two engineers each took a large slurp of their drinks and laughed together as they continued to enjoy the night. They ordered a second round of beers for themselves and enjoyed them while enjoying their time together. When the two were feeling like they needed to go, they got on their feet and paid for their tabs and walked out of the bar. They only had a couple of beers, so they weren't overall drunk.

However, as they walked out of the bar via the exit, Matt looked around and saw and heard that there wasn't anyone there beside them in the parking lot, and even though it was night, there wasn't any sounds coming from afar, only from the bar they just came out of. It worried him a great deal.

Seeing that the mutant began steeling himself, like he was readying himself for a battle, Cisco wondered, "Are you okay? You look like a police dog sniffing for drugs in a crack den?"

"Thanks, but it's just…weird and worrying." Matt said while looking around. "Guess it's the agent in me, who's still on alert."

"Never gonna change even though, you're not in your home universe." Cisco quipped seriously but then went to as-

SHATTER

The sound of glass shattering in front of them got their attention, diverting them from seeing the two persons in the back of them shooting a couple of silencers at their necks. Cisco felt the tranquilizer bullet penetrate his skin and he falls down to the ground when his consciousness faded. Matt didn't fall down because the bullet hit a bulge on the back of his neck, and because of his adamantium skeleton, the bullet didn't get the chance to break his skin and bounced off his flesh.

Feeling the bullet bounce off his neck, he looked around for the shooters while forming a gun behind his back with his nanites digging their way out of his skin, making it look like he was pulling out of his back. Taking a stance, he pointed his gun around like a professional and looked around while keeping his gun high. "Who's there?!" he called out.

When he didn't get a response, he slowly and cautiously crouched down and checked Cisco's pulse, making sure that his friend wasn't dead from the bullet. Once he felt his pulse beat, he got back on his feet and looked around.

SHATTER

Another bottle shattered, this one closer to him, and he turned to it and saw that a gas was emitting from its fragmented pieces. Matt saw it and pulled the collar of his red jacket over his mouth and nose, keeping him from inhaling the gas, most likely a knockout gas. "Nice try." He called out with a muffled voice.

"Guess, I'm gonna have to go a little harder than usual."

Matt snapped around to the sound of the feminine voice that spoke and saw a brunette standing there with a gun in her right hand and a gas mask over her pale face, keeping herself from sniffing the gas. "You're more fun than I expected. Maybe we should bring you along with us."

"How about you and your friends walk away, and I won't end up getting angry, cause trust me…you won't like me when I'm angry." Matt continued speaking through his muffled mouth.

"Sorry, pal. Not this time." The brunette said before pointing her gun at him. "How about you be a doll and move away from him? You won't get hurt. I promise."

"Lady, I don't' give a damn about getting hurt." Matt removed the safety of his gun. "Now you're gonna go away NOW!"

"No." she said simply with a tilted head while nodding her head to behind him.

When he saw the nod, he snapped around to see who were behind him, but there wasn't anyone.

His back stiffened when he felt an array of bullets shoot at his back and break through his skin. "Shit..," he breathed out when he felt his entire body turn drowsy before falling down as he knew that the bullets had penetrated areas of flesh and no adamantium bone to stop them from getting through. His eyes fluttered and blurred before closing shut, while two new sets of footsteps echoed in his head as he faded.

X

When Cisco's eyes began stirring lightly, they snapped right open when he recalled the events of the night. He looked up and saw that he was now in a whole new house, one that was nothing like any houses he's been in before. The house looked to be very expensive if the architecture was any indication as well as the furniture around him. Even with the light turned off, he could see some of the decorations.

While he rubbed the back of his head on the stop of the tranq arrow, he got onto his feet again and looked around in confusion. His eyes searched for the nanite mutant who had spent the night with him, and celebrated his decision to ask his girlfriend to move in with him.

"Sorry, but three's a crowd. Your friend's okay. Just not here right now." The mechanical engineer looked up and saw a feminine figure with very attractive features looking down at him from her seat on top of the table. She got off the table and twirled around with her hands gesturing around the house, "You like it? Me and my brother is just squatting here."

"Your brother?" Cisco recited worriedly.

As his question escaped his mouth, the lights around them turned on and illuminated the entire room. When the internals of the house were fully lighted up, a voice spoke behind the engineer.

"Hello, Cisco."

He really hoped that he was wrong but Cisco's worst fears came true when he snapped around and saw the unmistakable head of Captain Cold, Leonard Snart looking at him with emotionless eyes from the staircase. Moving away from his spot, he moved to stand in front of their captive. "See you met my sister, Lisa. Glad you didn't have to kiss him, Sis." He directed at her with a tilted head.

"You're not dad, Lenny. And he's into someone else." The Snart sister snipped back at her brother.

"I know. Dad's in jail. Sterling role model." Snart said emotionlessly.

Cisco then angrily asked the formed wielder of the Cold Gun, "What do you want, Snart?"

"Guns." He said to the engineer's worst worries. "Heat and cold, to be precise."

He wasn't going to fold that easily, even in the face of a criminal, even a sibling pair. Cisco wasn't going to make those weapons again, knowing what they did before in the past. He wasn't going to let Snart and his partner, even his sister now, run around with those elemental guns again. No matter what, he wouldn't make that mistake again. "There's no way I am making weapons for you. Never again." He said steadfastly with an angry tone.

Not finding his tone funny or worth taking into consideration, Snart called out. "Mick."

The sound of the slide door behind them opening got their attention…and Cisco saw to his horror-filled surprise…Mick Rory, Heat Wave, going through the door…with none other…than his elder brother Dante Ramon… gagged and tied…thrown to the floor.

When Dante looked up to meet his younger brother's eyes, he let out a series of whimpers that came out muffled because of the gag in his mouth. And while Cisco was melting the sight of his tied brother into his mind, Snart spoke slowly, "I know I would do everything in my power to my family. The question is…will you?"

Cisco began inhaling deeply repeatedly while turning around to meet Captain Cold's eyes, and Snart recognized the determination within his eyes. The same kind of determination he showed whenever his father would dare to hurt his sister, making him stand before him and try to stop him from hurting her.

He had the mechanical engineer right where he wanted him…running around in the palm of his hand.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Within the Cortex of the facility was Caitlin and Seth and Harrison Wells who were sitting around the main console with Frankie and Olivia as well. The young metahuman was latched onto the ceiling and looking down at her father…and his girlfriend.

She still had problem deciding whether or not to call the female doctor for her mother, wondering that she would end up rushing her dad's and Caitlin's relationship. Magenta heard her thoughts and rolled her eyes mentally, "This ain't one of those cheesy TV shows where the couple break up after finding out about an offspring belonging to one of them. This is real life, Frankie!"

"I know, I know. And I know Caitlin's better than that." Frankie assured her "other". "I'm just worried that it might be too soon for me to call her "Mom". I…never had one before."

"No, neither have I." Magenta reminded the host. "But we both have amazing fathers, and Caitlin loves them both with all of her heart. She will love us just as much, she's always been close to us every so often already. She wants to move in with and become a parent to you. Trust me, she's gonna love you no matter what. Stop doubting yourself now."

"I will. Thanks, Magenta means a lot, hearing you say that."

"What else am I here for? Aside from the free meals, of course." Magenta quipped with a giggle.

Frankie rolled her eyes while crouched on the ceiling when she registered the playfulness in her partner's words. "Honey?" she looked to see her father's eyes pointing up at her. "Are you okay? You seem a bit distracted."

Loosening herself from the spot on the ceiling, Frankie landed in front of her father with a spin to land on her feet. "No, nothing. I'm okay. Just thinking to myself I guess, and Magenta." She added shyly at the end. She changed the topic when she looked around, "Where's Uncle Matt?"

Turning to Olivia, he asked, "Liv, do you know where your beau is? Is he sleeping in after last night?"

"He wasn't in the loft in the morning. I think he might be with Cisco." Olivia said calmly.

"Are you worried about him, Liv?" Caitlin asked worriedly.

She shook her head. "Matt can take care of himself and he's able to take care of Cisco as well."

"Yeah and after his brother's party yesterday, Cisco could use the company since Bette's not here." Seth added. He noticed that from the corner of his eye, Harrison kept drifting his eyes over to him in a suspicious manner.

The group heard a clapping and thudding sound against the doorframe, and they turned around to see to their surprise, Barry Allen…walking…through the entrance to the room. The two doctors shared a look of confusion and Caitlin asked, "What? No whoosh-in?"

"Don't take it the wrong way, but we're used to seeing you dash in like the devil's on your ass. Not like this." Seth added, while taking in the speedster's worried and saddened expression.

"I needed the walk." He breathed out sadly.

Harrison took in the metahuman's expression as well and while he walked around the main console, he asked him in concern, mainly for the sake of the timeline. "What happened?"

"Nothing…" he said unconvincingly before continuing, "Linda…Iris…I don't want to talk about it, actually."

"Trouble in….whatever he's got going on?" Venom inquired mockingly.

"I would imagine so, yeah." Seth thought back before recalling what he had told he and the founder before, "And I'd imagine that it's got something to do what happened in that timeline he ran from."

"Okay." Harrison said, accepting the speedster's words and will to not speaking about it.

Caitlin then asked him, "Have you talked to Cisco? I've been trying on his cell, but he's not answering. Kind of…worried about him. He had a rough night."

"You haven't heard from Matt, have you? He and Cisco went out for drinks, but neither of them had gotten back us." Olivia added, her mind slowly filled with worry and concern for her girlfriend.

"No I haven't. I'm sure they're okay." Barry said, "Maybe they're just nursing a hangover?"

"The only one who can actually drink Matt under the table, are the two of us, Bar." Seth pointed between himself and the speedster, who nodded his agreement. Knowing and hating his inability to get drunk.

The sound of thrusters blasting through and echoing through the air got their attention to point upwards, and then they saw Matt jumping down the skylight in his Iron Knight suit. Opening up his helmet, he looked at to the eyes of confused and shocked eyes that looked at him. "Cisco's been kidnapped."

When he said that, the expressions on everyone's faces fell down while Olivia walked over to him and hugged him tightly. "Who did? And how did anyone get the drop on you?" Seth asked of his best friend.

"I don't know who, but I know it's a woman. Brunette." Matt explained, "She and two others used tranq bullets and knockout gas. They hit the soft spots on my back, where my bone isn't behind the skin. Lucky shots for them."

"You've been looking for him the entire time?"

"I have." The weapons expert answered Harrison Wells' question. "I've been looking but no luck so far."

Barry's phone began chiming and he took it out of his pocket and placed it on his ear. "Hey, Joe. What's up?"

"Yeah, Snart's back."

The speedster's expression fell immediately when those words were registered in his mind. And he felt like, the time was now looking to pay back, just as the founder warned him. "Wait, Cold is back?" When loudly stated question got the attention of everyone in the room.

"Yeah, he was spotted at the Santini crime family casino." Joe continued, while the others continued and waited impatiently for the speedster to speak to them. "If he's hitting the Santinis, we could be looking at the beginning of a mob war."

"Well, this day just keeps getting better, doesn't it?" Harrison quipped emotionlessly, while directing his hidden meaning to the speedster.

"That's cruel." Seth thought while he walked over to the nanite mutant who held his head down in regret. "It's not your fault, you know."

"It is." Matt denied the elemental's words of encouragement to cheer him up. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, "I got taken out so easily and Cisco ended up being taken hostage. And I'm betting all of my money on Snart's got something to this."

"And I think we both know why." Seth said as he recalled Cisco's part in the creation of the two elemental guns that Snart and Rory used to try and take on him and The Flash in a showdown. The other male mutant nodded, "The Heat and Cold Guns are going to come back."

"And with someone else in their little Rogues band." Olivia chimed in. "We're gonna go and give them a hand? Or a bit of a beatdown?"

"No." Matt denied them. "This is my mess, and I'll fix it. I'll go with Barry and help him with the criminals." He finished off before shooting up and through the skylight again.

X

(Santini crime family casino)

The moment Leonard Snart walked in through the door and into the casino with his hand clutched around his newly revived Cold Gun, his large blue winter jacket put on and the hoodie pulled over his head, and his blue-tinted goggles equipped over his eyes, he took in the sight of the crowded establishment.

People around each other or around various tables and played games, either with cards or at the machines. Roulettes spinning around with the ball waiting for the device to halt and place itself on a spot. Dealers handing out cards to the various players waited for their chance to make it big. Waiters and waitresses walking around with trays on their hands with drinks to the plethora of guests. Guards stood ready to take care of any inconvenience who may befall upon their guests.

And Snart knew that this was a great play for him to take on and mark his return in his hometown. Knowing that his unwelcome presence, especially after he killed a member of the same Santini crime family, he walked down the steps and immediately he was spotted.

"You killed my brother." The owner of the casino called out loud to the criminal, the guests standing between the two moved to either side to stay safe. "You shouldn't have messed with my family."

Snart didn't respond with nothing more than a smirk. While a familiar feminine voice spoke behind the Santini crime members. "That's funny." Said Lisa Snart who walked forward with her hand gripped tightly around her newly received weapon. "I was gonna say the same thing about ours."

A guard pulled out his gun and pointed it at the female Snart who saw his action and mimicked it. Lisa Snart pulled out her gun, a unique gun that's like the Cold and Heat Guns. However, this one is smaller than the elemental guns, and was bearing the colors of black and yellow, and pointed it at the guard. Pulling the trigger, a small whirring emitted from it and lit with yellow colors, and she fired off a gold-like liquid substance.

When the substance hit the guard, the gold-like substance began spreading over his entire body like he was being washed over from the top by the substance. When he was fully encased in a gold-like cocoon, Lisa smirked and cheekily said, "All that glitters…" The moment her words escaped her mouth, screams and exclaims of fear filled the entire casino. And the guests scrambled to the exits in hopes to escape the fate that the guard met.

Leonard pointed his gun upwards and pointed it at a chandelier, and shot off an ice blast. Because of it's now frozen state and increased weight, it fell down and landed on top of a couple of guards, ice shattering on their heads and they fell down. His little sister flipped a table over and he followed after her and covered themselves behind their cover to shield themselves from the incoming bullets.

Feeling her excitement go through the roof within a second of being held in this situation, a sick smile graced over Lisa's face while she looked to her brother. "This is sick."

Talking over the storm of firing lead projectiles, Leonard told his baby sister. "Well, you wanted us to spend more time together." The kept hiding behind their covers and Lisa leaned over and shot a gold blast, that was aimed at a firing guard, but instead turned a part of a table into gold.

The elder brother of the criminal sibling duo leaned over as well, and fired off a stream of cold that swiped left and right to hit guards.

WHOOSH

However, they were looking enough to escape that fate when a red streak with yellow lighting ran into the casino and pulled the guards and anyone else out of the establishment. When he was sure that he had gotten everyone, he ran back in and turned to the make-shift shield, knowing that Snart and another brunette woman was behind it.

"How many times are we gonna go through this, Snart?" The speedster called out to the two.

Registering the Flash's voice, Snart grit his teeth and anger, while hoping that he'd be able to get his chance to fight against the large elemental again, knowing that he didn't find his challenge worthy of being accepted before. Shooting up to his feet and snapping his active Cold Gun at the hero, he shouted, "Until the best man wins!"

Before a cold blast was fired off, the speedster sped over and used the female Snart member of the two as a shield, holding her in front of him while forcing her gun to point at her face. Her struggles were for naught, as the hero's grip on her was too strong to break through. "Drop the gun!" he ordered the other Snart member while turning on the Gold Gun, the gun shining up with yellow lights as it was turned on.

With his sister now in the hold of the Scarlet Speedster, Snart pulled out both of his hands up and said, while moving to the front of the make-shift shield, "We both know you're not going to do anything to her. You're not Venom." The metahuman grit his teeth as he was being compared to the larger hero. "Oh, by the way, meet my baby sister. Lisa, Flash. Flash, Lisa." He introduced them quickly with amused tone as though he was introducing his best friend to his sister.

Lisa slowly and quite seductively ran her eyes up and down the speedster's form after the two met with their eyes. Barry didn't pay any mind to those eyes while the other Snart sibling said, "Cisco has been very, very busy." This got the metahuman's attention… as was the attention of the other person were listening on their conversation. "Unless you want me to mail small, frozen pieces of him back to his family…I'd take your hands off her."

Barry would have done anything to get Snart and his Rogues back in prison, but he would never do it at the expense of his best friend. Cisco's life was way more precious and more important than the lives of two criminals who deserved to rot in prison cells. And…this was his fault… and no one should pay for that.

With an unfriendly jerk of his arms, he pushed the female Snart out of his arms while keeping his angered eyes on the other criminal. "Let him go, Snart." He said through a raised voice…that drowned the sound of a fired projectile latching onto Leonard's hoodie.

Emotions not even crawling over his face, as Leonard said, "I'll think about it. Say hi to Venom for me." He finished off before moving away. Lisa remained in her spot and blew the Scarlet Speedster a kiss before following her elder brother.

All the while the Flash was hating that he was unable to take on the two siblings…and knew that this was his fault…

…but while he was unable to move…he wasn't the only hero in town anymore…and one of the others were looking for some good old fashion…revenge.

Pressing onto his earpiece, he told the one on the other side of the communication line, "You taking over?"

"I am. Stay away from this."

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Seth exhaled a withheld breath while he wrapped a bag of ice around in Caitlin's private lab before walking out of it and over to Barry, to hand it to him. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Barry said before holding the bag of ice and pressed it against the side of his face, from where his adoptive father's partner, Eddie Thawne punched him out of anger.

Eddie had given the CSI scientist a well-deserved punch back at the crime scene of the Santini casino when he heard that Barry was trying open up about his feelings for Iris, to Iris. And after that the other officers had to keep them from each other, holding them from each other. And Eddie threatened Barry to stay away from his girlfriend.

Now, after he had returned and gotten an ice bag from Seth, he and Harrison along with himself watched the footage of Cisco and Matt being attacked. It was recovered and sent to the S.T.A.R. Labs database, so they could watch it without the knowledge of anyone else knowing it.

"So there's Cisco and Matt going out of the bar exit and stopping for a moment and looked around." Harrison started. "And there's no evidence whatsoever to indicate that they had been assaulted."

"Doesn't help with how there's not a single outside database aside Jarvis with Matt's DNA sequence." Seth added. "Even if there was a blood spill, not a single database could recognize it. And because of those tranq bullets, Cisco's in trouble now."

Barry slammed his hand against the surface of the computer table enraged, gaining the surprised attention of the other men in the Cortex. He then in defeat, told the founder. "All right, Dr. Wells, Seth, you two were right. I-I-I screwed with time and now time is screwing with me. Cold is back, he attacked Cisco and Matt, and kidnapped Cisco, and Iris-"

Harrison stopped him, "Stop right there before you cause another disruption to the timeline."

"Please guys."

Seth was surprised to hear the metahuman pleading to them with so much regret in his voice. He knew that he was feeling bad, even horrible about running back in time even though it was an accident. But now, he was feeling anger that was aimed at himself, because he was the sole reason for this, for Cisco being kidnapped and forced to rebuild the two elemental guns, and now Iris and Eddie hating him because he tried to surface the mutual feelings between her and him.

"Please, I have to talk to someone." He begged of them again.

Seth felt like Dr. Wells would not agree with that request and told the paralyzed scientist. "Brains, Barry needs to get this off his chest. He looks like he's gonna lose his mind from not being able to say anything. These kinds of things can't be withheld by one person, he needs to talk to someone about it." Harrison didn't respond and let the elemental continue. "He needs this. And right now, I say, screw the timeline. Let's help our friend now, instead."

Harrison contemplated the consequences briefly. It might cause devasting results if the Scarlet Speedster were to actually lose his mind from holding back the information. And worse, he might end up being permanently stuck in this time. He didn't want that in any way. "Go ahead." He told the speedster after agreeing with the mutant.

Looking around with a gaped mouth, the metahuman told slowly and hesitantly and stutteringly, "In the previous version of today, Captain Singh is seriously injured, Joe is in danger," this got Seth's attention, "and Iris said she had feelings for me."

"And now Cisco's life is on the line." Harrison deduced.

"And now Iris has no idea she ever confessed those feelings, thinking that you were a little too late." Seth deduced after.

While he took hold of his hands together, Barry told the others…or rather, he asked hopefully. "But she still has them, right?"

"Oh boy." Venom breathed out.

"That's…that's a tough one, Bar." Seth said through gritted teeth and rubbing the back of his head, not knowing what he could say.

"The unconscious mind, Barry, it's- it's a powerful thing." Harrison said slowly. "It sounds like it took this apparent disaster to jar those feelings loose-"

"And now…" Seth continued, having an idea of where this was heading, "without this horrible disaster, those feelings might have been pushed deeper down than before."

"Unaccessed." The foundered continued.

"I don't understand." Barry said after taking in the words spoken by his mentor and his friend. "I thought that I was helping people by stopping Mardon."

The founder then answered, having more of an idea of this newfound ability than the speedster himself, "Yes, but new ability of yours, Barry, is dangerous."

"He's right, Barry. You basically have the power to disrupt the natural flow of time itself, right in your hands…or feet." Seth quipped in the end.

Harrison nodded with a small chuckle, "You only traveled back in time one day. What if you traveled back decades?" he took off his glasses. This got the powered beings' attention, worry filling the metahuman's face. "Centuries? Imagine the havoc you could wreak."

Seth felt like there was more to the founder than meets the eye when he said those words. His knowledge of temporal manipulation going from zero in a single moment till the next moment, and he suddenly turned into an expert.

Barry however, felt memories of what Joe had told him of his mother's case before and he worriedly and hopefully asked, "But I will have the opportunity to travel back in time in the near future…and save my mom." Seth held his hands up defensively, not knowing what to say to his friend that could cheer him up or even give him and advice. The founder bit his lower lip slowly, and withhold feelings. The metahuman saw it and asked, "Or…you're saying I shouldn't?"

The elemental listened in closely and awaited Harrison Wells' answer, wondering what answer might be given from the intelligent founder of this incredible facility. "I'm saying…how many more people could die…if your mother lives?"

The moment that answer was spoken, Caitlin, Frankie and Olivia walked into the Cortex and looked around, while the elemental's girlfriend asked them, "Did you guys find Cisco?"

"No…but don't worry, Cait." The elemental assured her. "We got it handled."

Frankie looked around the place herself and saw that there was someone missing from their group, aside from Cisco obviously. "Dad, where's Uncle Matt? He's not here."

"He's got it handled."

X

"Most people think the hottest part of the flame is the white part." Mick Rory said out loud with a crazed admiration in his eyes as he focused them on shot glasses of lit alcohol in front of him. Heat Wave blew out the flame of one of them. "They're wrong."

Dante and Cisco Ramon were the ones he spoke to as the two brothers were tied by their hands, and wrapped around the table legs. The elder sibling countered, "You gonna admire those or you gonna drink 'em?"

Their kidnapper drowned the shot and answered gruffly, "Both."

The mechanical engineer held his eyes on the criminal's back in the other room while his brother said, in Spanish, "If they were gonna let us go, they would have done it already."

"Yes, I know." Cisco said back in Spanish.

Dante looked down, deep in thoughts before he said, or rather, he confessed, continuing in their mother language. "Remember Melinda Tores?"

"Your high school girlfriend…" Cisco remembered her and felt saddened, "…and the love of my life." He continued, though a happy smile formed over his face when he remembered Bette.

"Before we started dating…" the elder brother began his confession, "…she told me she had a crush on you."

"Melinda Tores had a crush on me?" He wondered if he heard correctly, how his old love interest had a crush on him and was actually interested in him.

He nodded his agreement, before continuing in English. "I told her you wanted to become a priest." His brother's face opening up in shock at those confessed words. "Broke her heart."

"Why'd you do that?" Cisco asked him seriously.

"Because I was jealous of you, man." Dante revealed with a shaking voice. "I mean, even then I…I knew exactly where my life was headed. Nowhere."

Cisco didn't think that for a second and spoke, "Dante. That's not true."

The elder Ramon then said, listing off his reasons for him being wrong. "I live at home. And I work a crap job for no pay."

"Yeah, but you still manage to be Mom and Dad's favorite."

"I don't even know why." Dante replied with a shaking head. "It's because they- they still think of me as their son, the concert pianist." Cisco was shocked to hear about this, hearing his elder brother, his parents' favorite son, not finding his title worthy, not finding himself worthy of that title. "But you, man, they never understood your talents. Never understood that you pursued your passion no matter what. And me, I was just too scared to even try."

Dante Ramon then adamantly and willfully spoke in Spanish, with a steel-like determination behind his eyes. "I've never fought for anything in my life…" those same determined eyes looked directly into his younger brother's pair. "Until now." Putting every single form of strength of his body into his hands, he slammed and twisted them around the table leg, forcing the wooden object to slowly and violently to dislodge, bit by bit as he continued. He added the additional force of his leg slamming into it at the foot.

Cisco saw it and with a stammering and fearing voice told him, "Dant- Dante…" With one last kick, Dante broke off the leg. "No!" the younger brother exclaimed at him, even more so when he took hold of the table leg with his tied hands and ran over with the intentions of batting the criminal down.

Mick heard the incoming attack and got up from his chair and dodged the attack, his hand grabbing hold of a bottle and slammed into Dante's head. The Ramon brother lost his grip on the leg and his head turning dizzy when the glass shattered against his temples. Rory shoved him to the ground angrily.

The remaining brother couldn't stand by and see his elder brother be attacked, and wrestled his hands off the table and rushed to meet Mick Rory. Using his bound hands, he swung them like a hammer at him. The criminal crouched to dodge the attack.

When he got back up to his feet, he slammed his clenched fist against the brother's head, knocking him down and to the floor. And he didn't stop there. Taking hold of Cisco's collar, he began unleashing punch after punch down on him without any mercy.

A small blessing, or even more trouble, showed itself when Leonard Snart walked down the stairs and his partner's actions, "Mick!" he exclaimed at him to stop him, but to no success while walking around to stop him. "Mick calm down! Mick! We need them!" he activated his Cold Gun and pointed it at the hothead who didn't even flinch and continued beating the mechanical engineer.

Lisa Snart then walked down and with ease, spoke to the wielder of the Heat Gun. "Mick? Baby?" she took hold of one of his shoulders and gently raised him up to his feet, much to his disagreement. "It sounds like you're hungry. How about you and I grab some dinner in the next room?" she directed him to the other room while Cisco was holding his face in pain.

When he saw that his partner and his sister was away and out of the room, Leonard Snart placed his elemental gun against his shoulder and directed at Cisco. "I like you, kid." He started circling around the hurting captive. "You're smart. You pulled yourself up from humble beginnings. You seem like a good brother."

As he spoke, Cisco got on his knees to look up to the cold criminal. "You too."

"Debatable." He countered immediately, before bargaining. "You answer one question for me, I'll let you and your brother walk."

He knew there was more to the question, way more to it, it was too good to be true. It couldn't be a simple question, but for the sake of his brother, he agreed. "What's the question?"

And then it came.

"The Flash and Venom. Who are they?"

His entire body froze and he began shaking and he lied his way out. "I swear…The Flash always wears a mask and Venom never sticks around and never shows his face."

Without flinching or even a facial expression, he lashed out his Cold Gun and fired off a cold stream at Dante's bound hands, making him scream out in pain when he felt his hands be frozen by the elemental gun.

Cisco saw it and screamed "No!" and lunged over to his brother's side when the cold stream stopped. "No! Stop!" His brother began panting and whining because of the frozen joints in his hands.

Not even fazed by what he had just done, Snart spoke. "This is first degree frost bite. Your brother could recover with proper treatment. If not, all his tendons, blood vessels, and nerves will freeze." He crouched down to meet Cisco's eyes. "His fingers will need to be amputated. No more concertos for the Ramon family holidays. Now tell me, who are The Flash and Venom?"

Taking in the sights of his hurting and agonizing brother and the words of what might happen to Dante from the criminal, Cisco nodded… his willing to save his brother above all else showing itself.

Chuckling as he got his desired result, Snart flipped his gun around before slammed the handle into Dante's head, knocking him out and ordered his brother to spill. "Time for Truth and Truth. Who is the Flash? And who is Venom?"

With tears streaming down his face, the engineer told, "…Barry…Allen…" the tears turned into a waterfall as he was forced to reveal the true identity of the hero.

"Good boy, now for the second truth. Who's Ven-"

SMASH

The sound of a wall being opened up made the two look in that direction. And they saw a metal gauntlet sticking out of the hole it made. Twisting it around, it grabbed the wall and ripped it off like it was mere paper and threw it to the open space outside.

Stepping through the hole, he just made, revealed to be the Iron Knight in his Frost-Flame armor. When Cisco saw him, a grateful smile formed on his face while the criminal stepped up and pointed his charged gun at him. "Don't recall inviting you for a late-dinner."

"You made a mistake, Snart." Matt said before charging up his elemental guns on each gauntlet. Using the thrusters on his feet, he launched himself forward and hit the criminal in the stomach with both of his arms slammed into his stomach.

"Argh!" Leonard let out a painful grunt when his body was hit and sent flying into the wall.

Matt readied his guns again, this time aiming to burn the criminals in this house. "Knight!" but he stopped when heard the sound of a distraughtly voice calling out to him. Turning his head around, he saw his friend looking at him with tearful eyes. "My brother needs help. Please!"

'

Iron Knight didn't even hesitate to walk over and scan the unconscious brother's state, seeing that he was in dire need for treatment.

As his back was turned back to the cold criminal, his hotheaded friend and little sister walked back into the room and found the room being totaled by the hero who had just joined them. When he saw that hero again, Mick let out a growl. "Robocop!" he lashed out his gun and fired of fire stream.

Knowing of what happens if the two opposite guns were to cross streams, Matt blasted an ice stream from his minigun over his shoulder in a short blast. That was all that was needed for the streams to overlap with each other and exploded, sending out a pulse that knocked out the two criminals. The armored mutant formed foot clamps to hold him in place.

Not willing to waste another moment, Matt took the unconscious brother under his arm and grabbed Cisco by his bound hands, before shooting out of the building and let the criminals relish in their defeat.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"There's nothing on the satellite thermography." Caitlin replied as she watched the satellite scan over the entire city from above but with no results.

The team had gathered in the facility to await any news from Matt, who had placed a tracker on the cold criminal's clothes to get the location of their hideout. But they haven't received a single news from the nanite mutant yet, making them wonder if the Iron Knight hadn't been able to get their location.

Caitlin turned to her boyfriend, "Are you sure that Matt were able to find them? Maybe he's taken hostage, too."

"Matt is a weapons expert, Cait. Even without his suit, he's almost impossible to take down. He's not someone who can be defeated that easily." Seth explained. "Hell, if he wants to he can rip off the skin of his hands to escape."

"Yeah, he is actually considered number three of the strongest agents in SHIELD." Olivia stated proud of her boyfriend.

Seth gave her a dry look, "We both why he's only number three, Bubble." She poked her tongue out in mock retaliation.

"You guys were right. This is all my fault." Barry said to himself while guilt and regret were riddled all over his face.

"How is this your fault, Barry?" Frankie asked from her spot beside Caitlin. Olivia took that moment and used her powers to sneakily peek into her brother's mind, her eyes shining pink momentarily, looking for the actions that led to his guilt.

"Brave heart, Barry. We'll get Cisco back." Harrison assured the speedster.

"Then why the hell did I go through the trouble of wrecking a house then?"

Seth, Frankie and Olivia felt his presence return to the facility, but they still turned their heads in unison with the others to watch the sight behind them.

Matt wore his Frost-Flame armor with Cisco, unharmed aside from a few stitched scratches on his face. "I'm back." He said slowly while regret was filling his voice and head, the mutant siblings took notice of that.

"Oh, my God. Are you okay?" Caitlin said grateful to see her friend safe and sound again and rushed over to hug him. "We were so worried."

Olivia walked over to her boyfriend and hugged him tightly as well before leaning up and kissed his lips. "Glad to see you're okay, babe. I was getting worried."

"Worried for little old me? I feel so loved." He teased which got her to playfully slap his chest before hugging him again.

"What happened?" Barry asked worriedly.

"Mr. Almond was able to rescue you in the nick of time, it appears." Harrison directed at the two engineers who stood beside one another.

"A little…too late." Matt muttered; the others heard the words.

Seth shifted his eyes between them in confusion and directed at the kidnapped one. "What happened, Cisco?"

Matt clapped his shoulder, assuring Cisco that it was okay for him to confess, knowing that no one amongst them would hurt him. "He…he tortured my brother." He revealed hurtfully with loads and loads of pain that kept swarming over his heart. "And he said he was gonna kill him if I didn't…if I didn't tell him…"

"Tell him what?" Caitlin recited his words.

Tearfully, he confessed, "Who The Flash and Venom really are." Both of said heroes looked surprised. "Matt stormed in before Seth's name could revealed…but I already…told….him…" his eyes went to Barry. "I, honestly, man, they…they could've killed me." More tears gathered in his eyes and streamed down his face. "But they were gonna kill my brother. I couldn't let him do that." The speedster slowly walked over to his saddened friend, "I'm sorry, Barry."

"No." Barry placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry." He said back with tears.

"I put you in that position." Barry tried to assure him, but only brought confusion over the others aside from Seth and Dr. Wells who knew what he was talking about while Olivia found what she needed to know and got wide eyes. The speedster wrapped his arms around his shaking friend, "I'm the one who's sorry." They remained in the hug for a little while until Cisco pulled away and walked around the main console.

"Where are you going?" Matt asked him.

Stopping himself, Cisco explained the shock of everyone else, "I don't deserve to be here. I won't be the one to put you guys in jeopardy. Not again. Never again." he finished off before walking out of the Cortex's exit.

Olivia took hold of Seth's forearm and directed him to Caitlin's private lab, and making sure that they were alone she whispered. "I looked into your mind, found about…Barry's ability. That's one scary thought to be honest. Time travel, really?" Back in the Cortex, Harrison rolled after Cisco.

"Looks like it, yeah." Seth said back in a whisper, "He's been feeling like he's having a major case of déjà vu right now. And he was able to finish our sentences perfectly before. It all points to that direction but I gotta say...I'm not liking it one bit."

"I get that, yeah." Olivia nodded her head in agreement. "You think Cisco's going to be alright?"

"Knowing Cisco, he's putting himself through the wringer right now. He's that kind of guy, putting himself through hell for one single mistake that he caused, if it's intentional or not." Seth explained. "But he's going to be alright. I know that. He's strong enough to overcome these kinds of situations."

"Just like my boyfriend." Olivia quipped and her brother rolled his eyes at the comment. The two siblings wrapped their arms around each other and walked back into the Cortex.

Caitlin saw them and smiled happily to them, her arms subconsciously wrapped around Frankie's smaller frame from behind. Surprise filled the younger metahuman when she felt her father's girlfriend all of a sudden wrap around her body from behind, but she didn't recoil from her touch. Rather, she accepted the hug and leaned back again her body. "I like this." She thought to herself while enjoying the mother-like hug she got from her.

"I told you." Magenta said in a sing-songy voice which got her host to roll her eyes but she loved the feelings from both Caitlin and her partner. Feeling like she was special.

"Guys get up here." Barry told Cisco and Harrison through the speakers and got them back to the Cortex. When they did, he told them, "The casino wasn't the target."

"Then why did he do it?" Cisco asked the group, referring to Captain Cold's actions.

"His way of making a comeback?" Frankie said while tilting her head up to meet Caitlin's eyes.

"No, honey." Caitlin said, surprising her mutant father again even more. "Casinos keep tons of cash on hand to cover their markers, not to mention the money that they make."

Seth knew where she was going with her words, and deduced the rest, "But in case of attacks, the protocols that orders them to relocate the money outside the casino."

"That must have been Snart's plan all along." Olivia said when her mind pieced the stuff together.

"To trigger the move." Harrison added.

"Okay, where is it now?" Cisco asked.

"Jarvis!" Matt called out to the AI system to track the location.

X

Outside of Central City, were a very large and long truck driving up the lane of the country road with their highly valuable cargo, consisting of loads of money from the Santini crime family casino. The cargo was occupied with both money and armed guards, ready to fire off at a moment's notice as they drove.

Along the side of the road was a pair of motorcycles. One of them being ridden by the criminal, Heat Wave. And the other one, a Ural GearUp motorcycle ridden by Captain Cold and his little sister, Lisa Snart. The three of them ready to hijack and steal the money within the truck.

And their plan began the moment the truck passed by them, and they drove off their place and drove after the truck. The wind blowing against their heads as they drove after the truck. The back of the truck opened up and the four guards within held out their firearms before pulling the triggers, shooting out a dozen of lead projectiles.

While the three criminals dodged the bullets, Lisa took out her Gold Gun and pulled the trigger, shooting out a gold blast. The shot covered the targeted gun with a layer of the gold-like substance, rendering it utterly useless. The substance hit the guard's hands and he had to get down because of the growing pain.

Mick held up his Heat Gun and was about to fire off a flame stream, intending to roast those guards mercilessly. But it didn't happen…

ROAR

The criminals turned their heads upwards, to the skies and saw Venom swinging through the air before jumping down and land on top of the cargo's roof and made eye contact with the criminals.

"It's him!" Mick let out a cry and pointed his gun at him and fired off a fire blast. Venom gathered a wind mass in his right hand before swiping it forward and sent the fire attack back, hitting and burning a hole in the pavement.

The criminals swiped to the side to dodge the pieces of molten road pieces that were flung their way from the wind and fire blast that stroke the road. Grabbing hold of the cargo back entrance with both hands, Venom sent out a cold wave of ice that formed a wall of ice to keep the guards within safe and sound, along with the money.

"Arggh!" Heat Wave let out a angry cry again and fired off a long stream of flames that Venom countered with a lightning coated flames that erupted from his open mouth. The elemental's flames overpowered the criminal's flames, and powered through them and hit the ground again, melting it with powerful flames.

Running from the other end of the road came the Flash in a cloak of yellow lightning.

WHOOSH

In a flash, he pulled Captain Cold away from the motorcycle, intending to have a conversation with the criminal alone.

Smiling happily, Venom jumped into the ground and with his arms turned into adamantium, he slammed them into the ground and split off into dozens of tendrils that dug their way through the ground. Digging through the pavement, the tendrils slashed into the tires of the motorcycles. The criminal riders lost control immediately and ended colliding with one another, and were thrown off their vehicles quickly.

Retracting the tendrils back into his arms, Venom looked to the criminals and considered killing them. But he promised Barry that he'd let them live, mainly agreeing to that out worry for Cisco's family. Thinking that they might had contingencies in place in the events of their murders. It wasn't a stretch to think that as they involved East Streets Skulls loyalists to guard Caitlin after her kidnapping.

"Gonna leave it to you, Streak." Venom said before jumping into the air again and lashed out tendrils to swing back to the facility.

X

(CC Jitters)

Caitlin and Seth sat at a table with Iris and Eddie who shocked to hear the reason behind Barry's strange behavior and the even stranger words he has spoken when he talked to the journalist earlier. Frankie was at the counter and ordered drinks for her, her father and Caitlin.

After Seth had returned to the facility, he pulled Caitlin aside and talked to her in private, formulating a plan on how to…better and straighten out Barry's unusual status before. When they reached a verdict, the elemental jumped out of the skylight along with his mate in his arms. Frankie thought it looked and sounded fun and jumped out along with them.

While they explained to the other couple about Barry's condition, Seth called the speedster and had him meet up with them at Jitters. Barry was already at the front door and opened it up, Eddie saw it and shot up to meet him.

Barry saw Joe's partner rush over to him and defensively said, "I-" he was interrupted when Eddie all of a sudden to hug him. The metahuman's eyes widened to the size of saucers while he hugged him back and looked to the two doctors who waved at him, Seth, of course, waving with an evil smirk that brought a chill to his spine as dark thoughts entered his mind.

Pulling away from him, Eddie said apologetically, "I am so sorry, pal. It's not like me to hit anyone. I don't know what came over me." The others came to join in on their conversation while Barry was still holding a gaped mouth.

"Damn it. I would have paid you good money to see him get a fist to the head again. While recording it, of course." Seth joked with Caitlin slapping against his shoulder playfully.

"Thanks, Eddie. It's- it's okay." Barry said to him.

"You poor thing." Iris said while rubbing his arm soothingly. "I had no idea." Frankie joined them and handed her bought drinks to Seth and Caitlin.

"Is that right?" Barry asked, still having no idea of what was happening. His eyes went to the doctors in the back, "What exactly did you have no idea about?"

Caitlin then took over and gestured to her and Seth, "I was just explaining to Iris and Eddie about your Lightning Psychosis."

He drew a blank. "My what now?"

"Your Lightning Psychosis." Seth recited his mate's words. "You know, how your recent odd behavior, or borderline loony tunes, is a side effect of being struck by lightning."

Caitlin listed off the symptoms, "Mood swings, sudden outbursts of affection, and other lapses in judgement." She explained while holding sheepish smiles.

"Yeah, and that's why I was brought into this, because of my experience with dealing with…unique conditions. Hell I considered strapping you in a straightjacket and throw you into an asylum. Heard there's a good in a place, called…Goatham, I think it was." he said jokingly, honestly not remembering the name of the city. Frankie laughed while leaning against Caitlin's arm.

Iris was shaking a bit from the mutant's words before saying, "Think that might be a little over the top. But yeah, he has had all of those things. He told me that he had ESP."

"What does he think is? A psychic?" Venom wondered mockingly.

"Yeah, it's a very uncommon neurological phenomenon. That's why we brought Seth in on it." Caitlin clapped his shoulder. "We're really only just now starting to research in kerauno-medicine."

"Or shock therapy that re-stimulate his brain back to default settings again. Worked in the past with one of my patients. That or have tried to use and, or, consider some…out-of-the-box ideas to help him." Seth said evilly, and once again Barry wondered who the hell gave the elemental a doctor's degree.

"That's why Barry's been spending so much time at S.T.A.R. Labs." Caitlin further added.

"These humans will listen to anything that comes out of a doctor's mouth?" Magenta wondered, her child persona shining.

"You do know Lightning Psychosis is not a real thing, right?" Frankie asked her partner.

"I know, I know. But, I'm surprised how the others ate it right up!" Magenta said with a hungry look within Frankie's mind. When she recognized the look within her, she began drinking her chocolate covered drink in big slurps.

Iris turned sadly to Barry, "I just- I wish you would've told me."

Barry shook his head, before assuring her. "I didn't- it hardly feels real sometimes."

Eddie then said, "We're just glad you're getting help. Even his kind of help, I guess." He pointed a finger at the elemental.

"Yeah. So we're good?" the speedster asked the group.

"Yeah, we're good." Iris told him with an assuring voice while Eddie nodded in agreement.

"I gotta get a coffee. Wanna join me guys?" Barry directed at the two doctors and Frankie, who accepted the offer and walked with him. Leaning his head over to them, he whispered to them in gratitude, he said, "Thank you."

"You are welcome."

"No problem."

Caitlin and Seth told the speedster back in respective whispers while the two held Frankie between them.

Seth looked between Caitlin and Frankie and thought back to what he and his daughter was talking about in the past…asking his mate to move in with the two…and in time…accept the role of his daughter's…mother.

"Ask her!" Venom demanded of his host who merely smiled back his agreement.

Turning his head to her, he asked, "Hey, mind talking alone for a moment?"

"Sure. Sounds serious." Caitlin said back and let him direct him to a corner of the coffee shop. Frankie smiled at their closeness and walked with Barry. "What is it?"

"I was…wondering…if you…" he couldn't continue, he was speechless. He didn't know how to continue. He was frozen in a state that not even absolute zero could froze him. It was exactly like the time when he was about to ask Stefanie to move in with him, she had lightly slapped the sides of his face to get him out of his trance. Bucky even threw dirt at his face for added help. The elemental didn't know if that would happen with Caitlin now, but he so desperately wanted to-

"Get on with it! You're even more pathetic than the speedster now!" Venom added his own demonic words of encouragement.

"Shut it!" Seth thought back with a mental exclaim before shaking his head again. Caitlin held his hand and squeezed it repeatedly for comfort. Inhaling again and again, he tried to speak again. "I was…wondering if you…would…"

Seeing him pause, Caitlin assured him with a romantic peck on his lips. When she pulled away from him, she saw him relish in the aftermath of the loving feeling of her lips on his mouth. "Tell me, Seth. I'm not going to laugh or anything, you should know that by now."

Chuckling to himself, he revealed his long-awaited question, "Move in…with me and Frankie. Move in with us." A shocked expression washed over her face at his words. "Me and Frankie have talked about it before, and…we both want you to move in with us. We'd love for you to become part of our family…we love you that much. I love you Caitlin Snow, and I want to spend my time with you as much as possible. I want to be with you every moment of everyday, from day to night. Every hour, every minute, every second of my life, I want to be with you…the woman I love. I want to wake up and see your beautiful face every day."

Caitlin couldn't keep her smile from forming and she stepped forward and kissed him while her arms slithered around his body and hugged him tightly. Her lips placed themselves on his cheek, extending the connection of skin with few moments. When she was sure that he was close to turn into a glowing mess of fire red, she pulled away and answered, "I love you, Seth Fury, and yes…I would love to move in with you. and I would love to get to know Frankie even more. You're that amazing and worth spend every moment with. You wonderful hero." the two shared a kiss. But it was short when the female doctor said, "But isn't your room kinda of…smoked?"

"I'm blaming you." He shot back with a smirk before leaning to her ear, "And we both know it's not going to be the last time." He nuzzled against the side of her neck and she giggled instantly. "I love you."

"I love you too." Caitlin said back before they kissed again, this time longer and more passionate.

Frankie watched them and got happy while her "other" mentally raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Does this mean they're going to start mating again?"

"Ew!" Frankie grimaced at the images that slipped into her mind from that thought. "Stop it Magenta! It's gross to think of Dad and Mom like that…I mean, Caitlin…I think?"

Unbeknownst to them, Seth had got his wish fulfilled…the same wish that he told Caitlin…before his demise. And now his mate would not bear the name of his.

X

Cisco Ramon, after a hard day, full of nothing good, walked back through his apartment door and looked around his home. His heart still heavy from what happened. How his brother and himself had been kidnapped, Dante being the one to be tortured in front of him…forcing him to spill the secret identities of both The Flash and Venom. Thankfully, Matt came crashing through the wall and helped save them before Seth's name could be revealed. Barry's name was the one who was revealed however, regrettably.

And after bringing his brother back home, Cisco was surprised to find his elder brother defend him in front of their mother, who almost berated him and blamed him for Dante's injuries. It was surprising to say the least, especially that he picked up the old guitar and played it in front of his family. They were happy to see their youngest member briefly return to an old habit.

After that he went straight home to his apartment. He was happy to find himself in his home again, glad to be in his home again…though even though it was a good home, he did feel like it was missing something.

KNOCK KNOCK

KNOCK KNOCK

A series of persistent knockings got the mechanical engineer's attention, his body turning around and walking to the door again. "I'm coming!" he called out loudly as walked. He didn't want to deal with anyone right now, feeling tired and exhausted right now from the day's events.

KNOCK KNOCK

KNOCK KNOCK

The knocking continued again, even more rapidly now and he rushed to it now. "Coming!" he called out to the other person on the end. Opening up the door, his eyes widened at the sight….

Standing there in front of him, was the familiar sight of a woman he was enamored with. Her hair still as beautiful as always, looking like it was shining from the slight moonlight that hit it even though it was disheveled from all the running she did. A black leather jacket over her blue T-shirt while her legs were clothed in a pair of dark jeans. Eyes full of worry looking right at Cisco.

"Bette? What are you doing here?" Cisco asked her curiously and in shock.

Bette San Souci didn't say anything at first, but she walked forward and hugged him tightly. "I heard what happened to you today. Are you okay? Snart and his posse kidnapped you and your brother." She pulled back slightly, her eyes running over the scars and stitches on his face. "God, I wish I could have been here. Then it might not have happened."

"Hey." He gently took his hand and squeezed it, "I'm fine, don't worry. Wait? Did Seth give you the news?"

"No, Matt did. He said you wanted to say something to me?" Bette asked.

Cisco, not wanting to be interrupted again, straightened his arm around her, and closed the door. While he did, he thought.

"Thank you, Matt Almond."

The door to Cisco Ramon's apartment closed shut, and the owner walked to his girlfriend.

X

(CCPD)

After Barry had been to S.T.A.R. Labs and he went to his CSI lab, flipping open his board with the pieces and other evidence from his mother's murder. He was going to ask the founder of Simon Stagg, an old acquaintance of Harrison Wells, who had been missing for a while now, but he stopped when…he saw a news line showing the image of Mason Bridge, Iris' editor along with the words:

"Reporter Mason Bridge Missing."

After that news report had been told to him, he recalled how the reporter himself thought that Harrison Wells, the paralyzed founder of S.T.A.R. Labs, had something to do with the Stagg Industries CEO's disappearance in the previous timeline.

With Bridge's disappearance and how he was being investigated by the detective, he called Joe West to the precinct again to talk to him in private, knowing that he didn't trust Harrison anymore and even tried to compare his DNA to the blood sample found in his old house.

When Joe came to the crime lab, he said, "Bar, what's up? Why do you want me to meet you up here so late?"

Barry kept his eyes to the sights of the darkened night city through his window and said, "I think that maybe you were right…about Dr. Wells."

"Which part?" The detective wanted clarity on the matter.

Finally, the metahuman turned around to his adoptive father.

"All of it."

Barry has seen the light, perhaps only parts of it now though. Flickers of him knowing the truth resided in his mind and…now none of his dear friends, from his world and beyond, were to suffer a fate that results in their deaths.

To be continued…

Now that's a chapter.

Barry has finally seen the light now, that there truly is more to Harrison Wells that what meets the eye.

Cisco might have been forced to do something bad, revealing the identity of The Flash, but things looks too have turned out for the better as he and Bette have now gotten closer to one another.

Seth and Caitlin have now gotten closer to one another again, feeling like it is time for them to move in together. And Frankie might finally get over her insecurities and finally get a mother, the only one that she imagine in that role, is Caitlin Snow.

Now what's going to happen in the future now, now that Barry's time jump hasn't changed Harrison Wells' fearful future, whatever that might be.

Stay tuned and until next time, peeps!