Current Timeline, Caitlin Snow, 2014

Caitlin waited quietly at her desk as she waited for one of the machines to finish its part of the process. Lost in her own thoughts, she almost didn't notice Dr. Wells enter. "Dr. Snow," he greeted kindly. "How goes the energy project? Anything progress?"

"I'm taking a break while the machine does its part," she answered him in the same manner. She tried to smile at him but she simply couldn't find the will to do it. Lately, all she could do was think about what happened to them all today. Every time she had a moment to stop, her mind wandered back to the collapse and Cisco's story. Was all of this truly worth it? In the end, did it really change anything?

"Dr. Snow? You seem distant," Dr. Wells said, seeing her state. "Would you care to chat?"

"I'm just worried about Jay and Barry, that's all," she replied. She could hear how drained she sounded as the words slipped from her lips.

"You've been worrying about them for nine months," he started. He wheeled over so they sat face to face with the desk in between them. "Perhaps you're too involved to look at this objectively. I'd imagine if it were only Mr. Allen who'd been struck by lightning, you would find yourself in a different situation."

"That may be but we'll never know because Jay was struck and we're here," she told him simply.

"I surmise Dr. Garrick often complicates things," he politely challenged.

"Mmm, you weren't there when he complicated life for my childhood bully or when he complicated my sixteenth birthday and gave me one of the best days of my life," she defended. "In all my life, I've never met another man like Jay."

"Not even Mr. Raymond?" he questioned.

She paused at that remark. No one had uttered his name in the building since before he died. He was just one of those things that you respected and left alone. She rather appreciated that because whenever anyone said his name, a lot of that old pain rose to the surface. "Ronnie was a remarkable man. If he were still alive today, I would happily be his wife. However, he and I had a different kind of relationship," she went on to explain. "When I met Ronnie, I wasn't in the same place as I was when I met Jay. You saw what things were like between him and me. If we had met before I met Jay, I don't think Ronnie and I would have ever been together."

"I think you give Dr. Garrick more credit than he's due," Dr. Wells told her.

"No, I'm not," she promised him. "It was the second week into seventh grade. My dad had died at the end of my sixth-grade year. My mom had thrown herself into work. I saw her maybe once a week for a few minutes. Not only did I have no friends, but I also had a bully who made my life her prank show. I hated everything. Jay reminded me that there was more to my life than I could have imagined. What it meant to have a friend again. That even if I felt alone, I always had someone there for me. Whenever I needed it. I believed in people again. I was able to believe in Ronnie."

"Hmm," he pondered at her words. "It sounds like he was a big part of your life. I wonder if he felt the same way."

"What do you mean?" she asked him.

"Well, obviously he meant a great deal to you during that period of time in your life," he started. "I just wonder if you had the same impact on him. Were you as instrumental in his life as he was in yours?"

The timer on the machine went off.

"Ah, I'll let you get back to what you were doing," he told her, wheeling his way out of the room.

Emptiness swelled in her chest. She took the serum out of the machine and placed it into the final one. She sat back down in her chair. Her heart felt like it was submerged underwater, slowly sinking towards an unseeable bottom. She must have meant something to him. Maybe it wasn't as big as he was to her but she had to mean something to him. Why else would he have stayed around all those years? Why else would he have gone out of his way to help her all those times? She knew this was true. Wasn't it? Then why did she still feel like she was drowning?

Current Timeline, Jay Garrick, 2014

As he woke up for the second time, he felt much better. His headache was completely gone. He felt more energized than ever. All the little pains were completely gone. He felt so alive. He checked to find that the IV drip had been taken out of his arm with a bandage over the area. He stretched out and looked to see Barry was still sleeping on the other bed. Best to leave him for now. He looked around to see if anyone was nearby. Over in the main area, Cisco was tweaking away at some kind of machine. He slipped on his shirt and headed over to see if he could lend a hand. "Hey Cisco," he greeted lively.

"Hey," he greeted back the same. "Glad to see one of our sleeping beauties are awake. How ya feeling?"

"Much better, thanks. What'cha working on?" he asked him, taking a closer look at the invention. It looked like a paintball gun.

"I've been thinking about your fight and I noticed some things," he began. He motioned Jay to follow him over to the console. "So here's a map of the general area where the fight took place," he pulled the map up onto the big screen. "We were here," he pointed using a laser pointer, "At the IHOP. The behemoth was over here, in the center of the park. Now while the park isn't anything special itself," he then overlayed the map with one of everything underneath it, "it is over a lot of underground piping ranging from the sewers, clean drinking water, and the most important one, radioactive material."

"What is radioactive waste doing anywhere near the city's water system?" Jay asked. "The radiation could be contaminating the drinking water. Not to mention whatever else is in those pipes."

"The pipes were established back in 1946 when the city was just starting to grow. The government had a nuclear weapons program that was later repurposed as a nuclear power plant. They built their pipes seven feet above the water ones before knowing the potential fallout," he answered him. "Here's the part that's really interesting. The road that got destroyed runs right along the radioactive line. I checked to see if anything happened the night of the particle accelerator explosion and I found something really interesting."

Jay watched as Cisco pulled up an article with a smaller version of the man that attacked him. "That's him," Jay assured him. "So, he's a meta-human now?"

"According to this, during the time of the explosion employee, Al Rothstein was working that night when the explosion knocked him off the second floor into a pile of untreated waste. He was presumed dead as the fall and waste would have killed anyone almost instantly," Cisco explained as he pulled up a video of the battle.

"Except, we know that he's alive. All the dark matter must have fused at the same time the waste and fall occurred. So how did that make him a giant able to beat up Barry and me?" Jay asked him as he continued following along.

"My best guess is he ended up like the Hulk," Cisco started.

"You mean from the Marvel Movie with Lou Ferrigno?" Jay questioned.

"Pretty much," he concurred, showing the video. "Except our guy doesn't turn green and lose all his clothes. His abilities are also not permanent. He draws his powers from the radioactive waste. That's why he stopped fighting. Do you see how he's slowly getting smaller as the fight goes on?"

"I see it," he answered as he watched. "Did he have our same problem or is his problem connected to something else?"

"That's how the park came into play," he pulled the maps back up. "He absorbs the radiation like you do protein and carbs. Also, I'm calling him Atom Smasher because, well the name speaks for itself. The reason why he was at the park is because beneath it is a small reservoir of incoming toxic waste that gets held there until it's pulled for treatment."

"So why didn't he just go to the treatment center? It has to be easier than digging underground for it," Jay questioned, justified.

"Normally he would, but the center hasn't been active since the accident," he showed him another article. "They had to stop until the whole place was up to date which hadn't been done in years."

"The reservoir is the closest place to get that amount of untreated radiation," he nodded. "The plant is way on the other side of the city. That's why he was smashing up the ground and that's why he'll likely go back there."

"Exactly," Cisco confirmed. "So now that we know where he's going to be, all that's left is how to stop him. Which is where this baby comes in handy." He brought him back over to the gun and lifted it up to show him. "I'm making some upgrades to this paintball gun. Instead of the gun shooting a ball, it will shoot a stream of it. You'll also have a couple of extra hoppers to store more paint."

"You want to use Prussian Blue paint to detoxify him, but that only works if it's taken internally and then possessed by the body," he pointed out a flaw. "That takes a lot more time that we won't have."

"That would be true, however, this is my own personal blend of Prussian Blue and knock-out serum," he showed him a batch. "If you get this in him, this will knock him out and treat him at the same time. Shrinking him until the police can obtain him and get him back to Iron Heights where there isn't anything remotely radioactive in a 25-mile radius."

"Wow," Jay said pleasantly surprised. "Cisco you've got everything ship-shaped and ready to go. Nice work."

"Thanks man," he smiled proudly. "The only thing you need to be careful about is if he does make it to the reservoir, do not let him go down more than nine feet or the waste will break into the city water supply. So best to keep him on the other side of the park."

"I'll do my best," he promised. "Now, If I give you a hand, how long do you think this will take?"

"You finish this one, I'll start on the next one and we'll be done in less than an hour," he answered, revved up ready to work.

Current Timeline, Caitlin Snow, 2014

Caitlin watched Jay and Cisco through the glass walls as they worked on the paintball guns for the upcoming battle. She'd watched as Cisco caught him up to speed. They walked Barry through the process when he woke up about a half-hour later. Barry had to take off to do his day job but they promised they'd call him as soon as Atom Smasher showed up. She watched Jay and Cisco talk about their likes and dislikes as they worked on the paintball guns. It looked so natural. Jay and Cisco barely knew each other yet they were getting along so easily. She should go and just forget about what Dr. Wells asked. Jay was her oldest and best friend. Yet for the life of her, she couldn't manage to pull herself out of her little lab. She'd finished synthesizing the first two batches of nutrient supplements. She'd cleaned up all the machines. She'd even finished cleaning all the medical equipment. She had nothing better to do. So why couldn't she get up and go over there?

"Dr. Snow?"

"Hmm?" she turned to find Dr. Wells a foot or two away from her desk. "Sorry, Can I help you, Dr. Wells?"

"I can't help but notice what Dr. Garrick and Mr. Ramon are doing out there and I thought we'd decided we weren't going to be doing that anymore," he told her as he came in a little more. "Now, since they won't listen to me. I thought they might listen to you. I need your help to get them to stop doing this. Luck only lasts so long before it dies along with those who trust in it."

"Dr. Wells, I can't even get Barry to stick around for a check-up. What makes you think I could get them to listen to me any more than they would you?" she asked, the self-doubt as evident to her as it was to him.

"Because unlike me, Dr. Garrick listens to you. He trusts you completely. Barry doesn't trust either of us because he doesn't know us well enough but Dr. Garrick does and so does Mr. Ramon. Dr. Garrick seems to be leading this suicide parade. If you can get through to him, he can help us stop this before the floats go over the cliff," he explained.

"Honestly Dr. Wells, I don't think I even want to. The police can't capture this guy. The only chance of saving our city from people like him are Jay and Barry. As much as I hate them going and risking their lives, after really thinking about it, I don't think that I could live with myself if I stopped them. They are natural heroes and we need them to be ready when something comes up that the everyday man can't handle," she told him, for the first time believing in every word she said.

"Well, I see where you side," he said very disappointedly. "I hope for their sakes and the sakes of those we could be able to cure that they make it through this."

She sighed as she watched him wheel out of the lab and towards the hallway. She hated taking sides, especially when it seemed to hurt Dr. Wells the way it did, but this was the way it had to be. One day maybe he would join their side and see that this was better. Until then, she would do her best to mend what she could. It would probably be best to start with prepping Jay and do a little more planning with Cisco.

She stood up confidently as she walked over to the guys and started chatting with them. Whatever doubts she had, she could put them aside to do her best to make sure that Jay and Barry came back in one piece. That was the most important thing.

Current Timeline, Jay Garrick, 2014

The sound of an alarm sent the crew into action. It was time.

"All right guys," Cisco called to action as he slid into the main console chair. "It's showtime."

"Let's do it," Jay said as he grabbed his suit to go change. He was excited this time around. They were fully prepared and the mission was really simplistic. He zipped back to see Barry zipping in to change himself.

"Jay, wait one second," Caitlin asked him. She brought over a little bottle of pills. "Take one of these. These will give you and Barry all the extra protein and carbohydrates you'll need for your new typical day."

"Thank Caitlin," he replied as he took one of them.

"One last thing," she stopped him one last time. She took his hat from his hands and placed it on his head and kindly reminded him, "be careful."

"You have my word," he promised her before he and Barry grabbed their paint guns and sped their way to the park again.

"Jay, do you copy?" Caitlin called in to test the coms.

"Loud and clear," he answered as he and Barry stopped in the middle of the park. Atom Smasher was waving his fists around, smashing the ground around him close to where the reservoir was. People were screaming and running in fear as the ground beneath their feet collapsed and shot up. People were being cast about left and right into the air. Atom Smasher even decided to throw a few people out of his way.

"I hear you Cisco," Barry responded into his own com. "Right now, he's scaring the civilians around the reservoir."

"I got the civilians," Jay told Barry as he slung the paintball gun over his shoulder. "You get his attention and start leading him away from the reservoir."

"On it," Barry agreed as they ran towards their targets.

Jay darted from victim to victim, catching person after person, before getting them far enough away. Barry had started spraying him in the back and Atom Smasher was none too pleased. He dispensed with getting people out of the way and started running straight for Barry. A few more seconds and Jay had cleared the area and was heading back to join Barry. While it chased Barry around, Jay got into position and started shooting his own paint at him. Atom Smasher went back and forth between the two until Barry landed some of the paint in his mouth. They ran around him as he started swaying back and forth before falling to the ground with a heavy thud. Both he and Barry finally came to a stop. They took some time to breathe for air as they'd become free to stand still. They stayed as they celebrated that it was over. They looked at each other; the smiles growing on their faces. They'd won. They looked back at Atom Smasher. He laid there sedated, at his normal size, unable to hurt anymore souls. They looked around to see they weren't the only ones celebrating. Civilians were cheering from the sidelines for them.

The police started coming forward to arrest Atom Smasher. The police looked at each other, debating on how to arrest the criminal covered in an unknown substance.

"Go ahead and arrest him. He's just covered in paint," Barry told him. Jay couldn't help look at him in shock as Barry's voice sounded completely different. "All he needs is to intake Prussian Blue Paint and his powers will go away. Just don't let him near anything radioactive."

"Thanks guys," one of the officers said.

Jay nudged Barry telling him it was time to go.

The two speedsters zipped their way back to Star Labs and were met with a hero's return. Cisco and Caitlin came over, congratulating them on the well-executed plan.

"Dr. Garrick," Dr. Wells interrupted their celebration. Everyone turned to face him as they waited anxiously to hear what he had to say. "You had a good plan. Now, if you both are quite finished getting yourselves into life and death situations, I'd like to start looking more closely at your cell regeneration capabilities in the lab."

"Dr. Wells, We need to talk," Jay stopped him. It was now or never. "I'm not going to stop doing what we're doing. None of us are. There's no doubt that what you want to do is important. But this, us, is even more important. Not only do we need to do this, we want to do this. This is what we were meant to do."

"Jay's right," Barry stepped in. "This city is about to change for the worst. Everywhere there will be people scared, afraid, and terrified that any minute they could be under attack by people who can't be stopped. Those people will take over the city if they go unstopped. Destruction will be everywhere. We're the only people that can stop them."

Caitlin took a few steps closer to Dr. Wells, "Dr. Wells, I didn't want to do this either. I didn't like the risks or the situations, but they're right. What you want to do is like healing wounds. They want to stop the wounds from being there in the first place. We can do both. Help us, Dr. Wells."

They watched him mull over the idea in his head. The internal conversation could be seen vaguely on his face as they waited patiently for the answer. Seconds felt like they couldn't be longer. If they didn't convince him to help, the operation would become far more complicated.

"Fine," he said grudgingly. "I will join the fight with you."

"Yes!" Cisco and Barry cheered as they high-fived.

Caitlin smiled elated and crossed the distance between herself and Dr. Wells. She leaned down and hugged him. "Thank you," she told him.

He gave her a small pat on the back before saying, "You're welcome."

Jay could see the awkwardness in Dr. Well's face as he was unused to this kind of attention. He made note of his facial expression as it stayed for a few seconds after Caitlin let go. He watched as Caitlin made her way over to Cisco and Barry. The three of them overjoyed at the prospect of their new team and mission put a smile on his face.

"Hey guys," Cisco called as he went over to the main console. "Check this out. You guys are on the news."

They all watched as a newscaster was brought up onto the main screen.

"I'm here at the sight of our first official superhuman battle here in Central City Park," she told them as she showed them the police-taped park. "Apparently, Star City's vigilante Arrow isn't the only hero anymore. The previous rumored Red-Blue-Blue made their second debut right here. Police arrested a man named Al Rothstein, who was presumed dead until today. Witnesses say that they were rescued and brought to safety by the blue part of the Red-Blue Blur as the red part engaged in combat with the giant. We now know that the Red-Blue Blur is actually two people. We have an officer with us," she gestured to the officer that Barry had talked to. "Officer, what can you tell us about the altercation?"

"I really don't know what we would have done without them today," he began answering. "For starters, there would be a lot of people in the hospital right now, not to mention Al Rothstein himself. I got to speak with the red one for a second and he told me about how all the guy needed was some special paint and not to let him near anything radioactive and that would keep him from rampaging. I'd like to thank them personally for their help today."

"There you have it, folks. It seems that our newest superheroes, Blue Bolt and Red Racer, are the beginning of a new age," she started back up again. "From all of us here at Channel 52, I'm Naomi Norris saying, Thank you and we can't wait to see what you do next."

The group turned to each other and congratulated themselves. This was great. He wasn't crazy about the names but everything else was just going swimmingly. The public liked them, the police liked them, they'd taken down another meta-human in a clean battle, neither of them were hurt. Things were just great. He turned back to say something to Dr. Wells, however, he wasn't there anymore. He couldn't have gotten that far so he decided to go look for him.

He wandered down the hallways until he spotted him turning a corner. "Doctor Wells," he called but it went unnoticed as the doctor made his turn without looking in his direction. Jay jogged down to the corner to try to catch up with him. When he got to the corner, he was gone again.

Where did he go? This hallway was a straight shot to a storage room for parts. It was much too far for him to get all the way there and inside the room, at the speed his chair went. He hadn't been all that far ahead of him in the first place. So, where was he?

He walked down the hall and went inside the room to see if he could find him inside. He searched around the room but he was nowhere to be found. Confused and empty-handed, Jay made his way back to his friends; taking the time to keep an eye out for him. He entered back into the main area and nearly jumped.

Dr. Wells was right there. He was chatting with the group like he had been there the whole time.

How? How was this possible? Jay had followed him down to the storage room and there were no other rooms down that hallway. How had he managed to beat him back here or even get past him without him noticing? This didn't make sense. Unease spread inside his chest whenever he interacted with the man. What was going on?

"Dr. Garrick, where did you go off to?" Dr. Wells asked, drawing attention to him.

He knew something was wrong. He was sure that there was more going on here. What had he said? There is something far greater at work here than you seem to understand. Was he toying with him? He didn't know but he did know that he couldn't play right into his hands. Whatever this was, he would find out soon enough.

"I needed to use the restroom," he answered nonchalantly. He didn't want people to start questioning his state of mind. The only way to reveal everything was to beat him at his own game. To do that, he would have to play for a while.

"Well guys, I need to get home," Barry told them all. "I'll see you all tomorrow?"

"Yeah man, See you tomorrow," Cisco waved as Barry headed for the door.

"Wait before you go," Caitlin stopped him as she went over to her desk in the lab. She grabbed two small bottles and came back over with them. "I finished creating the high-calorie protein supplements that will keep your metabolism stabilized without the hangover side effect. Take one once a day and you won't have any issues like that again."

"Thanks guys," Barry said as she handed him the bottle and then handed Jay the other one. "Alright guys, I gotta get home. Joe's ordering pizza and if I'm not there I'm going to get another game of 100 questions that I can't answer. See you guys tomorrow," he bid farewell and with that, Barry sped home.

The team meandered around for a little bit, doing some final touch-ups on projects before it was just Jay and Caitlin. The two of them were moving around the lab while they worked. It was almost like a dance, the way they walked around the objects in the lab without bumping into the other. There was always a calmness that washed over Jay when she was around. This gentleness and gracefulness that filled the atmosphere when they were together. He stole a moment to ponder why this was but the answer seemed to elude him. He paid no more mind to the question as he soaked in the lovely feeling. Although, he couldn't help his scientific mind wondering if she felt that way too.

"Caitlin?"

"Yes?" she answered.

"I was wondering, um," he fumbled. He knew if he asked her what he wanted that things could become extremely awkward. He really didn't want to mess up what they had but at the same time, this was something that friends could do. "See, there's this thing, a convention of sorts, in five days. My branch at Mercury Labs goes every year, we're required to anyway. We go and we look at the newest innovations to help inspire us for new projects. It's a lot of fun actually and, I um, well I was wondering, if perhaps, maybe you would like to, uh, go with me?"

That was sad. That was so sad. Why couldn't he just ask her like a normal person? Now it sounded like he was inviting her on a date. He wasn't. He knew she still wasn't over Ronnie yet and he didn't want to be insensitive to that. He just wanted to invite her as friends. Just do something outside the hero business. Why was he so nervous about this? Now she would be thinking it was a date and that's not what he wanted.

He watched as she practically stilled when he finished his question. She was looking at him with her own nervousness. She turned away back to her work. Was she planning to just pretend that he hadn't asked her? He would have been okay with that so long as they both said something. The silence was killing him. He didn't know what to do. How could he have been so….

"Are you sure you want me going with you? I am part of the team that destroyed part of the city. Aren't you worried that your co-workers are going to think less of you?" she asked him as she turned back around to face him once again.

He suddenly felt like he could breathe again. A grin was quick to grace his worried face as he realized that she was worried about him and not about the fears he thought she'd have. "Caitlin, I'm the guy who got struck by lightning and was in a coma for nine months. Trust me, all they're going to be wondering about is how I got someone as awesome as you to come and hang out with me. Besides, If you'd rather, you could just tell people you're my private doctor or something like that."

He saw her pause for a second before asking less nervously, "Are you sure you want me going with you to this?"

"Absolutely," he reassured her. "We'll look around at a bunch of cool things and hang out like we used to."

He watched as she relaxed and said, "then it sounds like fun. What time do you want to go?"

"How about I pick you up at around 9:30? It's pretty casual there so you can wear whatever you want," he told her.

"Sounds great, let me give you my address," she pulled out a post-it note and wrote it down for him. "That's on Thursday right?"

"Yep, It's an all-day convention but we can leave whenever we want to," he added as she handed him the post-it note.

"Alright," she looked down at her watch. "Oh, it's late. We should both head home for the night."

"Yeah, I suppose so," he sighed. They stayed there for another moment and Jay let that feeling wash back over him again. It really was such a lovely feeling. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," she promised him.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed it, let me know by posting a review. Also, I wanted to post today because it's Cisco Ramon's Birthday! Well, it's the guy who plays him but either way. See you all again soon!