Here we are, episode 18. Now that we are coming to the end of the season, expect the chapters to be about this length since everything is now about the attention to detail. Thanks to everyone who has shown their support for the story in anyway. Thanks to my co-authors Brightburn1985 and thomasmarieamell.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Arrowverse
Felicity and Ray had gone home and Joe finally had approval for a quick vacation to Starling City. He brought Cisco along to help with anything science related.
They had recently revealed their suspicions about Wells being The Reverse Flash with the two scientists. They couldn't move forward with their investigation without their help. Caitlin was unwilling to take part in this, so that left Cisco to assist the detective with the car accident in Starling. That meant Barry and Caitlin were watching Wells.
Joe thought of this as an opportunity. He and Cisco would be able to get to the bottom of what was going on with Wells, and without Cisco playing mediator, Caitlin and Barry would be forced to resolve their own arguments. Hopefully the two wouldn't kill each other before they got back.
That night, Caitlin was walking up to the door of Wells' house. She needed some answers, and despite it all, she felt Wells was the only one she could trust at the moment. They each had a special relationship with the esteemed doctor. He was a good person despite his flaws. There had to be a logical explanation to all this.
Before she could even touch the door, she was whisked away in a flash of lightning.
When everything stopped, she took a look around her surroundings. There was Barry in front of her. "Are you stalking me now? What's Iris going to think?"
"She already thinks we're dating," Barry told her.
"What?!" Caitlin yelled.
"It doesn't matter. Cait, what were you doing at Wells' house?" Barry dismissed her concerns and went straight to the point.
"I was going to ask him some questions. Get some answers of my own," Caitlin told him.
"Caitlin, you can't talk to him about this. If he even suspects we may be on to him, we'll lose everything." Barry said.
"You think I don't know loss? That's why I went to him, because I can't lose anymore than I already have," Caitlin replied. "You are potentially ruining this man's entire life. Everyone's life,"
"Who else would this ruin?" Barry asked.
"Mine," Caitlin told him. "Those nine months you were in a coma were the worst of my life. I'd lost everything. My career, my fiance, my family, and I was stuck taking care of a patient I hated,"
Barry snorted at that remark. "I thought we got past the whole 'you-hated-me-for-no-reason'?"
"Don't push me Allen because I am this close to shooting an icicle at you, and that's just for kidnapping me," Caitlin gestured to the small space between her fingers.
"I did not kidnap you Snow, I prevented you from making a huge mistake," Barry defended himself.
"This feels like a kidnapping Fleet Feet," Caitlin said.
"Just get back to your sob story Ms. Frosty," Barry waved off her concerns of being kidnapped.
"The point is, if what you're saying is true, then all this time, since the moment I stepped into that building, has been a lie," Caitlin summarized what she was saying.
"Look, I know this is hard, but we just got to keep up appearances until Cisco and Joe get back. Do it for my dad, who's sitting in his cell for a crime he didn't commit,"
"I can't believe you would bring your dad into this. It's a dirty pool Barry. Wells saved your life countless times. I don't know how you could ever suspect him,"
"Is that a yes?" Barry asked to confirm.
"Only until Joe and Cisco come back, and not a second more," Caitlin confirmed her silence.
"Thank you," Barry said, picking her up and taking them both home.
Whilst Joe and Cisco were talking with the SCPD, Barry was taking care of a jewelry thief. Or at least, he was in possession of stolen diamonds.
The man was about to walk off into the crowd, but Barry stopped right behind him. "Hey!" Barry called out. "You have something that doesn't belong to you,"
"I believe you've mistaken me for someone else," the man responded.
The supposed thief brushed his hand along the shoulder of a teenage girl who was busy staring at her phone. The next second, his body seemed to disassemble itself before reforming into the spitting image of the teenage girl.
"What the…" Barry trailed off as he watched the supposed thief get away in a dumbstruck expression.
Barry moved to keep eyes on it? But by that point he'd already lost it in the crowd, and with its ability, it could already have turned into someone else completely to avoid suspicion.
Barry was still slightly shocked, but he had enough mind to return to STAR Labs to tell the others about their new meta threat.
Caitlin was still giving Barry a hard time about suspecting Wells to be The Reverse Flash. She was certainly not silent in her thoughts about being forced to keep her silence.
"I don't like doing this," Caitlin said.
"Just until Joe and Cisco return with some evidence to determine if Wells is The Man in Yellow." Barry reminded her of her promise.
"If, Barry. If," Caitlin emphasizes that at this point, everything is just speculation and they didn't have any hard evidence that would point towards Wells being The Man in Yellow.
"What are we talking about here?" Dr. Wells wheeled in.
Startled, they both scrambled to provide an answer. Finally Caitlin comes up with a response saying, "We might have another metahuman case on our hands," she remembers their earlier conversation about Barry seeing their jewelry thief turn from a man to a girl.
"Ah," Wells exclaims. "Well, we're always here to help in any way Barry,"
"Thank you, Dr. Wells," Barry tries to show his appreciation, but it was restrained with his current feelings for the doctor.
"So, how about you tell us what we're dealing with here?" Wells asks Barry.
"I ran to respond a case of stolen diamonds, and when I confronted him, I saw a grown man morph into a teenage girl," Barry informs him.
"Interesting, a shapeshifter," Wells mused, curiosity sparkling in his eyes. It unnerved Barry about the particular interest Wells was showing in this meta.
"Yeah, so how are we going to find someone who can literally become anyone?" Barry asked.
"Was there anything else you noticed, something that might help distinguish it from the original, or help figure out how their powers work?" Caitlin asked.
Barry thinks back to his brief encounter and notices something. "Before he turned into the girl, that same girl walked in front of him. He touched her shoulder, and then he transformed into her," Barry notes.
"So, based on that, we can infer that its abilities rely on contact with the original. The question is how long it is able to maintain each form, and whether it can imitate more than just appearances," Wells said.
"You think it can copy other meta abilities?" Caitlin suggested. That was bad if it could. That meant, theoretically, it could stockpile powers. It might be able to utilise multiple abilities at once.
"It's a theory," says Wells. "So until we know more, if you confront this meta again Barry…"
"I got it. Hands off the metahuman," Barry says.
"Hands off the metahuman," Dr. Wells confirms.
"What are we doing here, Eddie?" Barry asked as they walked into the interrogation room.
Eddie called him and wanted him to come with him to track down a lead. They had it on video of a woman working in a jewelry store taking the stolen diamonds that were later attempted to be pawned off by the new meta.
Of course, Eddie didn't know about the meta part.
The woman pleaded innocent, that whoever was on the video wasn't her. She had taken a personal day to spend with her husband, she wasn't anywhere near work.
The husband and store manager confirmed her story, but the rest of the workers all said she was there that day.
"What do you think, Allen? This seems to be one of your impossible cases." Eddied asked as they repeatedly check the footage of the robbery.
"I think she believes she didn't do it, despite all the evidence stacked against her," Barry said, knowing what was really going on here.
Barry looked into other similar cases. There was a streak of identity theft cases where several people all claimed to not committing the alleged crime, despite being on camera.
It was all traced back to a case one month after the particle accelerator explosion. A bank robber claimed that he was being framed by his partner, Hannibal Bates. And ever since then, Hannibal Bates has been missing. There wasn't even a picture to tell what he looked like.
Seeing as this was the first case, it was likely Bates was their meta.
Barry informed Eddie of the new information and he thought it was worth checking into. Eddie had recently accepted the fact that Central City was home to the strange after Barry had attacked him as The Flash in a meta-induced rage. Since then, he's been more open to the idea of the impossible.
Barry didn't want to feel guilty, but Eddie still hated The Flash a little for that. He even tried to create a task-force in order to capture The Flash. Luckily, he was shot down. But he still held some resentment towards the speedster.
It was a good thing Eddie didn't know Barry was The Flash.
There was no current address to Hannibal Bates, but he did have a next of kin. His grandmother.
Barry and Eddie drove up to the house where they could hopefully find some answers. Or maybe assist in a missing person's case. One or the other.
The grandma easily let them in to have a talk. While Eddie was interviewing her, Barry took a look around the house. There were several pictures of Hannibal as a child, but none were very recent. "Ma'am, do you have any recent photos of your grandson?" Barry called out to the living room.
When no reply came, Barry headed towards the living room. Eddie was knocked out and the grandma wasn't in sight. He heard the sound of a door opening from the direction of the kitchen.
Barry ran towards the door. Looking outside, he saw the figure of the grandmother change shape into something more familiar. Eddie! This was Bates. He was impersonating his grandma.
Since this was such a public area, Barry couldn't use his speed to capture him, and they still didn't know if he could use his powers if he touched him, so Barry was forced to keep his distance.
That proved to be terrible as when Barry was running at a normal pace, he saw the figure of Eddie shoot down two cops before firing one more at the car where the camera would be.
Eddie was apprehended.
There was nothing anybody could do. They had it on video of Eddie shooting two cops. Barry didn't manage to get to Bates fast enough, leaving Eddie to suffer the consequences.
The only way to prove Eddie's innocence was if they managed to get ahold of Bates and demonstrate his shapeshifting abilities.
Barry was in the West house, getting cleaned up while on the phone with Iris. She called him in concern about how she knew Eddie was innocent, and was relying on him to get Eddie released.
Barry was promising to do everything he possibly could to prove Eddie was innocent.
Someone was knocking on the door, and it was revealed to be Eddie. "Eddie, how is this possible?" Barry asked.
"Captain Singh called in a favour," Eddie briefly explained.
"I just got off the phone with Iris, how does she not know?" Barry quickly questioned. "Hold on, let me call her back,"
Barry turned around to get his phone out and redial Iris when he was punched on the back of his head.
Maybe Caitlin was right. He really couldn't do anything when he had his back to the enemy.
Bates had tied up Barry and placed duct tape on his mouth. He was still unconscious, so nobody would find him any time soon. By now, he'd already transformed to resemble this Bartholomew Henry Allen. He'd taken the guy's wallet.
Going down the stairs, he was about to take his leave out in his new skin. Suddenly, the door burst open. Out came a pretty brunette woman. He had no idea who she was, but she was obviously well acquainted with Allen to just barge into his house whenever she wanted.
"Hey, answer your phone, I've been calling you," the lady said.
Taking out the phone he had also swiped, he saw the notification of several missed calls. "I'm sorry about that," he awkwardly replied.
"One would think you'd be more attentive, I mean, what if I had an emergency Barry?" she questioned him.
So this person went by Barry. It was better than Bartholomew. "Did you?" he asked.
"That's beside the point Fleet Feet, I need to talk to you about something," the woman told him. He really needed to learn her name.
"What is it?" he asked.
"What if I create a serum that would be able to revert our new meta's cells back to their original state? Therefore, making him powerless?" she suggested.
It didn't take a genius to tell that she was talking about him. Who were these people? Secret government agents that were tasked with hunting down people like him? He already knew one of them worked for the police.
Still, it was worrying that she may be able to take away his powers. "You can do that?" he asked tentatively.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," she responded.
That clinched it. He had to go with her, learn as much as he could in order to prevent his own capture. Plus, this lady talked about taking away someone's powers like it was nothing. He didn't even know if it would be permanent or temporary. He couldn't risk it.
"Anyway, I came to pick you up when you wouldn't answer my calls. I'm almost done and you can take it as soon as we find where this Everyman is," she said.
"Everyman?" he asked, entertaining the idea of a name for himself.
"Not good? Cisco's not here and I figured that someone needed to do it," she said.
"No," he denied. He dismissed the thought of asking who this Cisco was, he apparently wasn't a problem if he was gone. "No, I kinda like it,"
"You're agreeing with me? Are you okay?" she questioned him.
What was the relationship between these two? With the way she was acting, he figured these two were close people and knew each other intimately. But the way she was talking made it seem like the two didn't like each other at all. It was frustrating!
"Ye-yeah of course I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" He replied, a hint of stuttering in his statement, not wanting this woman to know who he is.
"I don't know, but you're acting weird," she said. "Come on, let's go,"
She headed out the door, and Bates let out a breath of relief. She suspected him, but she didn't know. He'd have to try to start acting like this person, or he'd blow his cover.
Internally, he went over everything he'd learned from this short interaction. This woman came into the guy's house as if she did it all the time. She called him several times about work and came to see him when he wouldn't answer. She didn't say it, but he could tell she was worried about this person. She had a nickname for him, they worked together to the point of friendship, but with what she said, it seemed they argued all the time.
What, were they married?
When they arrived at the woman's workplace, he noticed that it was STAR Labs, not some secret government agency. They entered the labs and Hannibal was awestruck by all of the technology that STAR Labs has, which didn't go unnoticed by Caitlin.
"Come here, Barry. We can't waste anymore time, he's still on the loose." They made their way to a small part of the lab, so small that they are currently body pressing to each other.
"What are you doing?" Caitlin asked.
"I'm trying to get a good look at what you're doing," he replied.
"Well, you can do it just fine, way over there, out of my personal space," she shoved him away from her and out the door. The walls were still see-through, so he could see what she was doing just fine.
"So this serum," Bates said. "Will it take away their powers permanently or…"
"No, not permanently. Just enough time for us to bring them in." Caitlin answered, still looking down on the microscope.
"Will it hurt this person?" Bates asked. He wanted to know what he could be going through.
"Just a sting, once the serum kicks in it will stop. When did you ever care to the metahumans, anyways?" Caitlin asked, now looking at Hannibal through the glass.
"Well, I've just been so focused on stopping these metahumans, that I haven't really had the time to make sure they are okay," he replied. Did this Barry person not really care about these other metahumans?
"That's…" Caitlin trailed off as she thought to herself, "actually pretty sweet. Let me just get an equipment in the storage room, be right back." Caitlin walked away, leaving Bates to himself.
As soon as she was gone, Bates relaxed his shoulders. He hasn't had to maintain one form for this long since he first discovered his powers. It was exhausting. Still, he had to keep this appearance until he could figure out a way to get rid of that serum. She took it with her to the storage room. He needed a way to distract her.
He followed her way to the storage room, only for them to collide in the corridor of the labs, the serum splashed everywhere. She glared at him as if he had just kicked a puppy.
Bates looked at it in glee. But he didn't let it show on his face. Who knew how long it would take to make another? He was safe, at least in the meantime.
"You irresponsible, clumsy, jerk! What do you think you're doing?" Caitlin yelled at him.
"I'm sorry but I need to do something I should have done a long time ago." Hannibal pressed his lips against Caitlin's, he felt her body turn stiff at the gesture. She tried to pull away but he chased her lips, not wanting her to make another serum just yet.
What he didn't expect was for her to slap him across the face. The sting on the side of his face was burning and he was sure there was already a mark.
He resisted the urge to disassemble his body into a new form to heal the injury. He had discovered when he would turn into another body, all his physical wounds would disappear. There was still pain, and it wouldn't work for diseases, but it was better than nothing. He couldn't let her know, even if he probably already blew his cover by kissing her. He is completely reading their signals wrong. He thinks they're in love, but it turns out it isn't romance. What is their relationship?!
"Who the hell are you?!" Caitlin screamed. There was a chill in the air. Her eyes glowed white and her hair bleached in an instant. Her skin turned more pale than it already was and even her lips weren't spared from her transformation. They were tinted blue as if someone applied a healthy coating of blue lipstick in the moments when he blinked.
Mist was forming from her hands. In all honesty, he'd never come face to face with another metahuman, and if he had, he never realized it, so this was a new experience for him.
He was so shocked due to her transformation, he was just standing there, staring at her, not reacting when the mist started turning into ice that was being launched directly into his chest. He didn't react when she created daggers of ice from her hands, raised her foot to pin him to the ground and place the ice daggers against his throat.
Instead, he just passed out. Whether from the shock or the cold, he can't tell. But there was one regret he had.
He never got her name.
Iris West!
Right now, the name of Barry's best friend and foster sister made her annoyed. If it wasn't for her desperation of freeing her boyfriend, Eddie, she wouldn't have convinced them to bring the unconscious body of Hannibal Bates to CCPD in order to convince the DA of Eddie's innocence.
No, when he was knocked out, she could have put him in the Pipeline where he wouldn't be able to steal anyone else's identity ever again.
If they never brought Bates out of STAR, he wouldn't have escaped and then she wouldn't have to create another copy of the serum that was currently all over the floor. It was a good thing that she already had the recipe on her computer, but the process of making it was so tiresome and delicate.
There was a silver lining if you wanted to see it, but they had a sample of Bates' blood from when she scratched his throat with her ice daggers.
She didn't know why the sight of someone else using Barry's body bothered her so much. Maybe it had something to do with the fact he kissed her.
Who did he think he was? He thought he was Barry, but what would make him think they were romantically involved? Was there something she was doing out of the ordinary that would insinuate that there was romance in their relationship?
Let's see, she went into his house with the key Barry gave her, talked about work, lightly insulted him with the nickname she came up for him.
She probably should have realized something was up when he didn't reply with a 'Ms. Frosty'.
She certainly showed her surprise when Barry actually agreed with something she came up with. That should have told him they argued consistently.
She drove them both to STAR Labs, where he then watched her work. She now realizes he was checking to see how she was making the serum to disable his powers. That was probably why he came along with her.
She pushed him out of her lab, went to obtain some equipment she needed, and the next thing she knew, he was knocking himself into her and kissing her, which she promptly slapped him for.
Nothing she did should have indicated anything beyond friendship. They were barely friends as it is. What would make this complete stranger think there was anything more between them?
She didn't have time to think of it, as she rushed back to the West House in search of Barry. If Bates was in the house, that had to mean Barry let him in when he didn't know who he was. Barry was probably still in the house considering Bates was still there when she got there.
Caitlin soon found him in a closet with tape on his mouth and rope on his hands and legs.
Not hesitating, she slapped him as hard as she could. Barry woke up and screamed into the tape which she promptly ripped off. Another scream of pain erupted from Barry, but this one could be heard clearly.
"For real? Why did you slap me?" Barry whined.
"You were unconscious, plus it was fun," Caitlin answered him.
"You couldn't just have me smell salt?" Barry asked.
"Then I wouldn't be able to slap you," Caitlin said. "Are you okay?"
"I will be," Barry said. "Wait Caitlin, Bates, he was here,"
"Yes I know," Caitlin told him. "He kissed me, as you,"
Barry paused in confusion. He seemed to be considering what she told him. "Why?" he asked slowly.
"Hell if I know," Caitlin revealed.
"Come on, help get these off and then we can head out of here," Barry asked for her assistance.
When they made it to STAR Labs, Dr. Wells pulled up an image of a group of cells on the monitor.
"While we weren't able to restrain Bates, we were able to obtain a sample of his blood, courtesy of Dr. Snow," Dr. Wells said. "It revealed a few questions we had. First is that his ability makes it so he can appear as anyone he touches,"
"So, hands on the metahuman?" Barry asked just to clarify.
"Hands on the metahuman," Wells confirmed.
"Nice work, Caitlin." Barry complimented, placing a hand on her shoulder. He didn't know where all of the sweetness towards Caitlin is coming from.
Caitlin immediately shrugged off his hand and took a step away from him. "Yeah, no need for a pat on the back or a hug or anything like that,"
"Did Bates harass you?" Barry questioned, genuinely worried for her.
"He just kissed me to try to distract me from my work," Caitlin reminded him.
"Good, what do you say we get back at him for kissing you?" Barry asked with a mischievous smirk
"I have just the thing," Caitlin walked into her lab.
"Caitlin managed to create a serum that would temporarily disable Bates' ability to shapeshift. There were a few complications when Bates was here, but Caitlin was able to complete it in no time," Wells explained to him.
"Well, do we have a location for our… Everyman, you say?"
"We managed to pin the location of the phone he swiped from you. GPS places him at the airport," Caitlin tells him.
"He's trying to leave the country," Barry realized as he grabbed the serum from Caitlin and sped off to the airport with his suit on.
When Barry got to the airport, he had a bag that carried his suit and put on a hat to try to conceal his identity from Bates if he were to see him. It was most likely Bates would see him before Barry even realized it was him.
"Cait, can you track the specific spot where Bates is? The airport is packed."
"The GPS puts him in the airport, that's the only lead we have," Wells tells.
"Yeah, but guys, he could be any one of these people," Barry looked around at the sheer amount of people in the airport. "I'm not seeing him,"
"Look for anyone suspicious, like someone that doesn't belong there." Caitlin advised.
Barry turned to look at anything he could. Something caught his eye though. An elderly woman was in a metal detector. The image on the x-ray showed her body, but it seemed to glitch for a second to show another body before correcting itself.
Barry kept his eyes on the woman closely. It was the only thing that could indicate towards the meta. The woman approached a security officer and lightly tapped his shoulder. She then immediately became the man, clothes and all, and ran away before he could be spotted.
"Got him," Barry mumbled, both to himself and his team at STAR Labs.
He immediately followed Bates into a room but he was not the security guard anymore. He was using Iris' body.
"Hannibal Bates!" Barry shouted.
"Hey sweetie, do you need something?" Bates asked.
"You're coming with me," Barry said. He approached her and tried to restrain him peacefully.
But that was what Bates was waiting for. He raised his hand and revealed a can of pepper spray. He spritzed his eyes which immediately started burning.
When Barry was distracted with the pain that immediately healed itself with his increased healing, Bates sweeped him in the leg, causing him to fall to the ground.
Barry let a bit of his aggression towards Iris for somewhat abandoning him as his best friend in favour of being a girlfriend to Eddie. He didn't blame her for that, but it still hurt him when it seemed that Iris wasn't making as much time for him as she used to.
He punched Bates in the throat.
Bates stumbled back and transformed into the body of Eddie, still clutching his throat, but he removed it, seeming fine.
"Not very hero like. Treat all your women like that?" Bates asked him.
It was weird seeing his friends as enemies, but he didn't let it deter him.
"Barry, what is taking so long?" Caitlin questioned him. "His ability is shapeshifting, he has no combat abilities he can use against you,"
"It's not easy hitting the face of my friends, he knows how to manipulate his opponents," Barry said.
"Whoever you are looking at, forget about it, he's not them, just get him!" Caitlin yelled at him.
Barry charged at Bates once more but had to pause at the new form he took. It was Caitlin.
"Please don't hurt me." He begged.
It took Barry too long to realize the person in front of him wasn't Caitlin, because the moment he did, Bates had punched him. Barry realized it when Bates punched with Caitlin's hand, because he had mock battles with Caitlin all the time, so he knew exactly how her punches felt. This was not it.
"What's taking so long, Fleet Feet?! You literally have super-speed!" Caitlin yelled through the comms.
"Be quiet Ms. Frosty, I'm working on it," Barry replied.
Somehow, hearing Barry say his nickname for her made her somewhat happy. She doesn't know why but it did.
Barry charged at the form of Caitlin and punched him in his midsection. He'd dueled against Caitlin to know every one of her weaknesses and which points to hit. He wasn't sure if it held true with Bates, but it was worth a shot. If nothing else, it was easier to hit him now.
Barry slammed him against the wall, and Bates transformed once again. It was him in his Flash suit.
"Look at that, I'm the Flash," Bates smirked with his face.
"Uh oh, guys…" Barry called out to his team back at STAR Labs, "He transformed into me."
"Well don't let him go now, we can't let him reveal the Flash's identity," Caitlin said.
Barry ran over to Bates as he punched him in the face many times, each punch he transformed into someone new. Eventually, when Bates was in a daze, he used the serum that Caitlin made and knocked him out cold.
"Barry? Barry come in," Wells demanded. "Are you there Barry?"
"The one and only." Barry replied, still slightly panting from their fight.
At the precinct, Barry showed security footage of his fight with Bates to the DA. In it, The Flash was fighting against someone who transformed into multiple people, one of which was Eddie Thawne.
"This… this is impossible. The court will have no other choice but to drop the charges with this kind of evidence." Cecile Horton said, the DA of Central City.
"Impossible is just another Tuesday for us in Central City." Barry lightly joked at the fact that Central City defied the laws of science on a daily basis.
"And that is why we are lucky that The Flash is there to save us from these kinds of criminals." Iris interjected, hugging the life out of Eddie.
"With that, I think our business here is concluded," Cecile said. Taking all her papers and a copy of the footage and left the room. "You know, I saw the Flash once. It was just a brief second and he rushed past me on the street, but it was pretty cool." she revealed.
"Let me out of here!" Bates yelled, now in the form of Iris.
Nobody reacted. They were all getting used to the idea of someone else being able to wear their faces.
Changing tactics, Bates turned into Caitlin. "Hey Fleet Feet," he addressed towards Barry. "Wanna let me out of here?"
It felt wrong to hear Caitlin say that nickname towards him in a flirtatious sense. It felt wrong to have Caitlin flirting with him at all. Bates clearly didn't understand their relationship with each other if he was flirting with him.
Barry looked at Caitlin and shared a chuckle with her. Bates may be able to look like them, but his acting skills needed some work.
"I've seen a lot of what you are capable of, but who are you, Hannibal Bates?" Dr. Wells wheeled himself up to the glass cage.
A tense moment passes, and then Bates once more turns his body to clay before reforming into… something.
The man before them bears no distinguishable marks. No hair, no skin colour. There are no eyes. Even his clothes are just a shade of white. He almost seems like a fetus that aged too rapidly.
He chuckles. "I uh… I don't remember,"
Caitlin looks slightly concerned. How could you not remember what you look like? Not even your eye colour? Caitlin's not even sure if the voice is his as well.
It suddenly seems as if Bates realizes the meaning of his words. "I don't remember," he says in disbelief.
"Well then, I think it's time to lock up shop," Wells decides to end this slight revelation. "Good work everyone,"
They close the accelerator, and Dr. Wells wheels away. Caitlin and Barry stay behind.
"What about Dr. Wells?" Caitlin asks.
That reminds Barry that Cisco and Joe had recently returned from Starling City, with something that could help break their case.
"Come here," Barry offers his hand toward her's, which she takes.
Barry and Caitlin entered the room Joe and Cisco indicated in their text to see the two men hovering over a decayed body.
"Who is this?" Caitlin asked.
"See for yourself," Joe answers by handing over the autopsy report.
Caitlin thumbs through the file, quickly scanning for the answer she was looking for. When she found it, her face showed a variety of emotions at once. Confusion, anger, fear, disbelief. "This is impossible," she whispered.
"Caitlin, I ran through the DNA tests, dental records, everything three times. They all say the same thing," Cisco assures her what she's seeing is true.
"This is the body of the real Harrison Wells," Joe voices it outloud.
"But if this is Harrison Wells," Caitlin gestures to the decayed body. "Who have we been working with this whole time?"
Barry remembers something that was said to him a few weeks ago by Tina McGee. "Dr. McGee once told him that after the accident, Wells seemed like a completely different person." Barry pauses for a second for the rest to let the information sink in. "That's because he is,"
The big reveal. The real Wells has been found and identified. I tried to add in some humour this time since last chapter was a little sad. As you can see, Caitlin is pretty pissed when someone tries taking away her Barry. They just have a deep understanding of each other that no one else can hope to have.
Hope everyone is enjoying their time in quarantine and staying safe. I know I am.
As always, message me about anything you want, leave a review. Tell me what you thought and I will see you all next week.