Cisco had never felt so much pent rage than when he held something belonging to Jay...or Hunter. "I really wish we didn't have to keep Jay's helmet around. I hate this thing. Just want to put a dent in it." He stared down at the silver helmet in his hands and wondered just how far away he could chuck it.
"Cisco, did you see Caitlin in your vibe?" Barry set him back on the topic. No one liked keeping anything of Jay's but it was the only thing connecting them to Caitlin.
"Zoom's got her in his lair. She's scared, but she's okay," Cisco let the helmet drop on the nearest table.
"Well thank God for that," Belén sighed. "So now we have to think of a way to get her back."
"But without his speed, there's no way any of us can get through that breach that Cisco found at the hospital," Joe discarded anything. "I just don't think there's anything we can do right now."
"Look, Shivhan and I are more than ready to go through that breach," Belén reminded them, frowning since they kept throwing the idea out. It's not that she didn't understand why but...time was really beginning to dwindle. Plus, she had a score to settle with Datura since the doppelganger had made a clean getaway to the other world with Poison Ivy. She took advantage of all the chaos and easily got her partner out of the pipeline. She'd also taken the siphoning device Harry had made for Barry's speed. For what, only God knew.
"It's too dangerous," Barry shook his head. "He's too fast, especially now."
"Not to mention it's far too dangerous," Veronica made sure her opinion on the matter was heard loud and clear. "You will not be going anywhere near a breach, Annah-Belén."
"Full name, yikes," Cisco made a joke at Belén who retaliated with a deep glare.
"Mom, we don't have the luxury of options here-"
"I'm sorry, I still can't get over the fact this is even on the table," Veronica took an accusatory glance at the others. "That doppelganger got her stupid partner out of the pipeline and we know she's coming right back for you, Belén."
"And I'm not alone, Mom. If you haven't noticed, I'm surrounded by people," Belén gestured to the group. "Plus, I have more allies in the Green. They're helping me train just as I'm helping them train. I'm not backing down."
"So far no one has opened up the breeches again. We think Zoom's probably basking in his recent glory. We still have time," Barry spoke up to ease some of the tension between Belén and her mother.
Veronica made a series of hand motions but her frustration didn't exactly get across. "This is stupid. You are in danger, Belén. We all are!" she told the rest but of course it wasn't big news anymore.
Belén softened and moved around the desk to meet her mother. "Mom, why don't you leave the city of a while? I would completely understand it. Maybe you can join Axel in Italy."
"If you think I am leaving you alone you've got another thing coming," Veronica outright refused the idea. "I want to see each and every one of you-" her finger went from Cisco to Barry to Joe, "-coming up with plans on how to stop these awful people."
"That we promise to do," Barry assured her.
"Don't see how," Harry came in with a hasty movement from one table to the next. He was gathering things up. "Allen here gave Zoom everything he wanted. Practically on a silver platter."
"Enough," Joe shut him down. "We're all suffering here."
Harry barely stopped to come back. "That's right. That's right, Detective. We're all suffering. We've lost Snow, you've-" he threw a sharp point at Barry, "-lost your speed, and now... now Zoom can come through that breach anytime he wants. And that, Allen... that's on you."
"You're acting like we wanted to do all this," Belén scowled. "You were there, you saw how things went down. What were we supposed to do, hm?"
Harry shook her words and grabbed his usual choice of weapons and slung it over his shoulder.
"Where are you going?" Veronica glowered. The man was not about to run off on them, oh no.
"I'm gonna go find Jesse before Zoom does... again."
"Wait, you found her?" Cisco blinked. "How?"
"Cellular dead zones, remote... People from my Earth vibrate at a different frequency than people from your Earth. They leave cellular dead zones wherever they go."
"That's why I'm always dropping calls around you?"
"Cisco," Belén made him drop all jokes in his mind. "So how exactly did these dead zone things help you find Jesse?"
"I track the dead zones created by Jesse since she got here and I follow the trail. It's easy."
"Mm, and is the gun just a decorative item there or…?"
"The gun is not for my daughter. She's not the only person from a different Earth hiding out on this one If I run into them, I'm gonna need this."
"Okay, but you're also gonna need some help," Cisco said with the actual intention to help him.
"Really? You know anyone with the speed to help me, Ramon?" Harry left with that sarcasm departure.
"Please don't even bother to listen to him, Barry," Belén sot him a warning look since he refused to agree. "He knows he has me, Cisco, Shivhan and Nina to help with anything meta related. He's not alone, he chooses to be."
"Excellent words," Cisco gave her a small smile. "I'll be in my workshop...trying to come up with ideas." He dared to believe as he walked out.
"We should go too," Joe waited for Veronica to (begrudgingly) agree.
"Fine," but she neared her daughter again before leaving. "You need anything you call me, okay?"
Belén nodded her head, deciding to just give that simple thing to her mother. "I will, thanks."
"You need a ride back to the station?" Joe asked from Barry but he was already heading for one of the side rooms with the intention of staying.
"No, I'm good. I'm gonna stick around, actually. Finished all my cases this morning," Barry languidly informed them.
"Damn, that was fast," Joe blurted and instantly received looks from Belén and Veronica. "That was a poor choice of words. You do know it's okay to ease back into the way you used to do things, right?"
The words didn't seem to register with Barry. "Well, this is the only way I can fight crime. If I'm not The Flash, that's what I got to do." He gave them a weak wave and finally disappeared into the room.
~0~
Caitlin felt her stomach rumble with actual pain but as much as she looked at the plate of food in front of her, the will to touch it never came. She took to staring at the rust cuffs binding her wrists together.
"You need to eat," Zoom appeared in the room, but Caitlin took no acknowledgement. "Caitlin."
"If you want to speak to me, then take off that mask," she muttered.
Zoom sped out of the room and returned all in the same second, but dressed in his regular clothes. "Does this make you feel better?"
Caitlin couldn't believe he was genuinely asking her that. "Nothing you could ever do would make me feel better."
"You don't need to be afraid. I'm not gonna hurt you. I care too much about you to do that."
Caitlin could almost laugh in his face if it wasn't for the shackles keeping her back. "You only care about yourself... Hunter."
He suddenly heard the echoes of his mother screaming just as she was killed. It was like a reflex when he heard his true name, it's why he didn't use it. He shook the images off. "I know you think that I'm a monster. I understand why. But that'll change. Please, Cait…"
"Do not call me that!" Caitlin snapped, almost disgusted. "Why are you keeping me here? You're cured. You don't need me for anything."
"You're here because I love you. It may take a while, but someday, you'll start feeling that way about me again, too." He approached her bedside and vibrated a hand through her shackles, breaking them. "Make yourself at home. You're gonna be here a while. Okay?"
Caitlin was glad when he left. If he thought she was just gonna stay put and be prisoner, he had another thing coming. She got up and started walking through the only available passageway. The sounds of distant tapping caught her attention and when she matched the noise to a prisoner behind a metal mask, she didn't know what to make of it.
"I-I don't understand…" Caitlin took a step back.
"Look at that, we've got a new prison mate," a familiar voice called out to her from behind.
Caitlin whirled around to find two additional prisoners stuck behind another glass wall. Datura and Poison Ivy sat on the ground side by side with identical smirks.
"But she gets benefits for sleeping with the enemy," Poison Ivy mirthlessly laughed with her friend.
Caitlin was frozen to her spot, unsure of her next move.
~0~
"Hey..." Iris barely knocked against the slightly opened door of Scott's office. The editor was already waiting for her. He silently motioned for her to come in and take a seat. She did so quietly and noticed the opened laptop in front of him. "Um, was there something wrong with my last article?" Iris asked when he turned the laptop around for her. Before her eyes could truly focus on the screen, Scott started talking.
"Are you aware of these videos that have been circling the internet?" he pressed the 'play' button before Iris could come up with an answer.
She was mighty surprised to find Shivhan - Black Orchid - staring back at her. She stood in front of the camera, God knew where. "Central City, my name's Black Orchid for those who still don't know me. I work with the Azalea and occasionally the Flash. Recently, a civilian posted an article concerning my botanical sisters and brothers. Her name is Belén Palayta. The article helped many of my sisters and brothers have recently been able to come together in the place we know as 'the Green'. It's the source of our botanical powers. There's so many new metas that have managed to find their way into this place and find the help they need. Some of them have trained with the Azalea, others have found shelters through connections. Many of them have been able to hide better from Datura. This reporter has helped us so much but instead of being praised for what she did, CC Pictures has suspended her indefinitely. She might be fired. She helped a whole community and this is what she gets in return. I ask you, is that fair? It that justice? Before you make that decision, I ask you to watch my sisters' and brothers' videos."
Scott paused the video there and pushed the laptop to the side. Iris swallowed when he met her gaze. He was searching for something but she didn't know what, not until he went directly for it. "Did you know about this?"
"I...no, not at all," Iris shook her head, eyes wide with genuine shock. She couldn't believe Shivhan would do something like this - she stopped. No, wait, she did. It was exactly something Shivhan would do. She just couldn't believe this is how they were finding out. Oh, what would Belén say about this?
"There's more videos like this one," Scott tapped the top of the laptop. "More of these...metas. All of them coming together for Miss Palayta."
Iris frowned immediately when she got what he was trying to say. "What...you don't think Belén made them do it, do you?"
"Well since she had the genius idea of going rogue on us-"
"The only reason she went behind your back and published the article is because she wanted to help those metas. And you heard what Black Orchid said. The article did help a lot of metas come together in that place. It's what Belén wanted from the start but you didn't see it. You couldn't!"
Scott's face hardened. "If this is about my views on metas-"
"No, actually, it's not. It's about the fact you didn't see what Belén was trying to do from the start. This city is under threat and we need to do everything we can to help out the metas. I mean, if the Azalea and the Flash do it why can't we?"
"Iris, this...this puts CC Pictures under fire," Scott brought the laptop between them. He turned it over for a moment to bring up a few more videos. "All these metas are shooting at us for putting Miss Palayta on suspension. There's already thousands of responses."
"I'm sorry if this puts you in a difficult position but I, for one, think that Black Orchid makes a point." Iris winced when Scott scoffed at her.
"Of course you do-"
"It's not because of my friendship," Iris snapped. "If I had the knowledge that Belén had at that moment...I would've done the same thing. I would've published the article too. People are in danger, Scott, and it's our responsibility as reporters to give out all the information to help our citizens. And that's exactly what Belén did. I suggest you go through Black Orchid's and the other metas' videos and hopefully see what they're trying to say." Iris got up from her seat and walked out of the office without looking back.
You've done it now, Shivhan.
~ 0 ~
"You need to stop watching the news," Belén sighed as she took the remote from Barry and turned the television off. He had taken to watching every news channel to see what the city was saying about the Flash's disappearance. He did at home and in the cortex.
"Everybody's gonna realize sooner or later that I don't have my speed…" Barry tried taking the remote from her again but she moved around the desk to dump it in a drawer.
"That's not the concern right now, alright? We just need to figure out a way to get your speed back, which we will do."
"Good news is the city isn't entirely alone," Barry felt some relief knowing that he hadn't left the city defenseless. Belén was doing everything she could to keep the city safe and it really helped having Shivhan too. Nina was even helping as well.
"Exactly," Belén smiled at him and walked back to his side. She draped her arms over his shoulders, leaning on him. "Please...relax, just for a bit."
Barry could barely chuckle at the joke. Relaxing was something far, far from their reach. "I know you're focusing on me but, are you okay?"
Belén knew what he meant. Had CC Pictures called her yet? They hadn't. She admitted that it was a little concerning that it was taking them this long to make a decision over her job status. Maybe they were gearing towards firing her. Belén preferred not to think about it so much. If she got fired, then she got fired. So be it. She wouldn't regret her choice even if that happened.
"It's fine, I'm fine," she assured him, going on her toes for a second to kiss him...when an alarm startled them.
"What is that?" Barry looked around to see if anything came up on the screens.
"It's mine!" Cisco came rushing in from the hallway. "It's mine! It's mine!" He plopped down at the desk and opened up the specific page with the alarm.
"Uh, you installed a new alarm?" Belén raised an eyebrow. "I'm losing count for all the different ones you have, Cisco."
Cisco made a face at her small joke and searched through the computer for the origin of the alarm. "It's Harry. The camera in the lab van recorded an accident." He pulled up the video to the screen for them to all see. "See, this is my version of crash assist. It's like those Russian dash cams, but, you know, without attack helicopters and bad pop music on the radio."
In the video they could see Harry apparently crashing and then being yanked out of the car by some man.
"That does not look like an accident," Barry frowned after they saw the man pull the car door off the van. "First Caitlin's taken, now Wells."
"This is where he got taken, but there aren't any traffic cams in that area," Cisco said after looking through the angle of the location.
"I'm gonna head out there, see what I can find," Barry went to grab his jacket off a nearby chair.
"I'll come with," Belén offered herself. "Unless Cisco wants to go…?" She thought perhaps the more qualified person would want to go but Cisco shook his head.
"I need to analyze this footage and see if we can figure out who this is."
"So you're stuck with meee," Belén gave Barry a big smile.
"Not quite a punishment," Barry smirked. He allowed her to walk out first but he stopped by the desk where Cisco was already deep into work. "What was the last place the van stopped?"
"Woodmen and Shore for about 15 minutes before heading back to Central City. Why?"
"That's where Jesse must be. She should know if something's happened to her dad," Barry left that task to Cisco.
~ 0 ~
Caitlin knew there was no way in hell Datura was ever like Belén, and yet she couldn't look away…
"If it wasn't for the carbine wall between us, I'd wipe that look off your face," Datura was still sitting on the ground next to Poison Ivy.
Caitlin blinked, becoming self conscious, and looked away. "Sorry."
"I can't believe this is Killer Frost's doppelganger," Poison Ivy gave a condescending stare-over at Caitlin. "It almost makes me miss the icy bitch."
Datura lightly chuckled and glanced sideways. "I'm right here," she said with Killer Frost's voice and blue eyes.
Poison Ivy laughed louder.
"How do you do that?" Caitlin asked, knowing the wall would keep her safe, she inched closer to the prison.
"Afraid, Caity?" Datura mocked her with Killer Frost's voice again. But just as she asked, she gasped and shook her head. She brought a gloved hand to her forehead and took a moment to gather herself again.
All this Caitlin saw and added to her mental notes for the cure. "You're sick…"
"Tell us something we don't know," Poison Ivy glowered. She put an arm around Datura and gently laid her head against the wall. "You're getting a nose bleed. Move your head low."
"I know," Datura harshly pushed Poison Ivy's hands away from her but followed the instruction nonetheless. She lowered her head and gently squeezed her nose.
"She needs help," Caitlin knew that help wasn't exactly being offered at the moment.
"We know that, idiot," Poison Ivy stood up and walked up to the wall. "But Zoom's punishing her for not siphoning the Flash's speed."
"So why are you in there?"
"I defended her."
Caitlin thought she could at least respect the loyalty between the two metas. "If she would have listened to my friends, they're working on the cure. It doesn't look like she's got time to waste."
"I know that. I know everything about it!" Poison Ivy snapped, obviously frustrated with the repeat of information. "So here's where we strike a deal, Caitlin. Get us out of this thing-" she pointed at their cell, "-and we'll take you right on home."
Before Caitlin had time to process the deal, Datura gave a loud 'hell no!' in return.
"I am not getting their stupid help!"
"Be quiet," Poison Ivy snapped at her. "We're making a deal so that you can live." She returned her gaze to Caitlin and waited for an answer. "If the cure's still on the table, we'll definitely get you home. Do we have a deal?"
Caitlin's eyes flickered from the ginger woman to Datura behind. She knew these women were dangerous and yet...they were her only option to get home.
~ 0 ~
"You are so dead," Iris met Shivhan at Jitters just as the latter was about to drink from her cup.
Shivhan lowered her mug to shoot Iris a look. "It's normal for people to just 'hey' when you meet them."
Iris rolled her eyes and sat across her. "My editor just showed me your little video stunt."
"Ah," Shivhan actually beamed. She put her mug down on the table. "What did he say? Is he mad?"
"Yeah, kinda!"
"Good! Maybe now he'll realize what an ass he was!"
"Shivhan, what were you thinking?" Iris shook her head at the woman. She respected Shivhan's brash way of doing things but she couldn't see this one ending well with Belén. "When Belén finds out what you did, she's going to kill you."
"What for? I'm helping her! Have you seen all the responses our videos have gotten?"
Iris sighed without answering. She had. After leaving Scott's office, she went searching for those videos. Black Orchid had gotten so many botanical metas to do the same types of videos asking for the public to help Belén out. They told their stories of how Belén's article had helped them out and how it was unfair what was happening to her. "Look...it was...moving, but I don't think this is what Belén wanted. She didn't do it to get noticed."
"I know that," snapped Shivhan, almost offended that Iris thought she believed that. As if she didn't know Belén already. "That's why I didn't tell her anything. It's why I also made the second video telling them why I kept the Azalea and the Flash out of the loop. I didn't want it to seem like they were playing favorites. I thought about it, Iris, and I knew that this would end either two ways. Both ways benefit Belén."
"How?" Iris was curious to hear of Shivhan's conclusions. She had an odd way of thinking that sometimes made things slightly more interesting.
"Well, path 'a' ends with CC Pictures offering Belén her job back. She gets to go back to work with you and the others, blah, blah, blah. Path 'b' has CC Pictures terminating her job-"
Iris' eyes widened. "Shivhan!"
"-and some other newspaper publisher will hire her," Shivhan said in a matter-of-fact tone that Iris almost felt the need to laugh. She was so casual about things despite all the rumble she was causing on the internet.
"You're sure about that?"
"Of course. After all this passes, another site will think Belén did the right thing and they'll want her working for them. So you see, either way Belén wins. Bonus if she gets another offer and CC Pictures is offering her the same job at the same time. She gets choices."
"Alright, fine," Iris raised her hands to show she was defeated. "But you get to tell her what you did. I'm not getting anywhere near close to that."
~ 0 ~
Belén tired of staring at an empty roadside that just screamed metahuman attack. She could see from around the crushed STAR Labs van that Barry was getting something off the yanked driver's door.
"There's nothing around here that could've caused that-" she pointed at the front part of the van which was just totaled, "-sort of accident. Not even a single car!"
"Well it had to be something strong enough to exert an equal amount of force back on the van," Barry went over to examine the front part of the van. As soon as he ducked he saw a splatter of dry blood. "Someone was definitely here, though!" He rushed back to his kit to retrieve the required tool.
"Not a detective, nor a forensics, but I knew that," Belén promised and nodded her head. "I also know it was a metahuman."
Barry smiled for a split moment before he returned to take some of the blood off. "If it's a meta that's after Wells…"
"Then they could be from Earth-2," Belén quickly sobered back. "But why wait this whole time? Or...do you think they were sent?"
"I don't know," and it really killed Barry being at such a disadvantage. "We've got to get Jesse, though. She needs to know."
"Yeah," Belén agreed. That should be interesting.
~0~
Finding Jesse was no big deal, bringing her back to STAR Labs and showing her what happened to her father was.
"I never should have left," Jesse wiped away some tears at the corner of her eyes. She looked away from the computer. "Do we know what took him?"
Cisco stood across the cortex, indicating them he had found something. "That fingerprint that you guys brought in, the one from the van, belongs to this guy." He pulled up a picture of a young teen on the computer.
Belén instantly made a face. "Griffin Grey. A senior at Central City High School?"
Even Barry was making a similar expression. "No, wait, I've seen this kid's picture before. He went missing, like, six months ago."
"But he's not the guy from the video," Belén waited for someone to say she was right.
Cisco was gleeful with the discovery he had made earlier. "That's what I thought at first, but feast your eyes on this." He pulled up a screenshotted picture of the kidnapper and meshed it with that of the teenager. It was a perfect match.
"It's the same guy?" Jesse tilted her head and raked the detailed information on the side of the screen.
"Yeah, the blood sample confirms it."
"I need a scientific explanation and I need it now," Belén crossed her arms, endlessly staring at the picture.
"I wish," Cisco sighed. "Without Caitlin here, I can't really analyze the cells on a molecular level to see what we're dealing with here."
Jesse cleared her throat, attracting the looks of everyone else. "You know, I might actually be able to help. Bio-chem was one of my majors in college."
"One of your majors?" Barry caught on fast. "How many did you have?"
"Five," Jesse answered and became self-conscious of the gaping stares she got. "What, is that not common here?"
"That is not common anywhere," Belén patted her arm and tried not to laugh.
"All right, let's search for that Grey, see what we come up with. I'll see if facial recognition brings him up and I'll have Joe check CCPD's database," Barry made a motion to the side room he'd taken as refuge after giving up his speed.
"Cool. See what you can do," Cisco took Jesse back to the main desk.
At the same time, Belén heard her phone go off inside her bag. She went to the desk after the other two and saw it was a text.
"Uh…" she made a curious face at the sender.
Cisco was the first to notice and purposely made a 'yikes!' out loud. She then shot him a look to calm down.
"Is it someone we need to worry about?"
Belén rolled her eyes. "It's Wally."
"Wally?" both Cisco and Jesse repeated, equally confused.
"I don't even know how he got my number," Belén looked over the text again. "But he wants to meet me, apparently."
"What about?" asked Cisco.
Belén shrugged. "Wish I knew." She leaned in the direction Barry was in and saw he was concentrated in his work. "Will you let me know if you find anything?" she quietly asked of Cisco.
"For sure," the meta nodded.
"Thanks," Belén grabbed her bag and waved them goodbye.
~ 0 ~
Poison Ivy handed Datura a silver device that the brunette quickly hid in one of her pockets. Caitlin returned with a thick wire in hand that was presumed to be able to break down the carbine wall.
"Tick tock, tick tock," Poison Ivy urged her keep working.
Caitlin rolled her eyes. "I'm going as fast as I can."
"Well, you better go faster. Zoom will be back any minute."
"I could just leave you in there, you know."
That was where Datura interrupted to laugh. "But we both know you wouldn't because 1) you want to go home so badly and 2) I have your family's face."
Caitlin hated she was right. As evil as Datura was, she still had Belén's face and that stopped her from any killing thoughts. "You should count your blessings Zoom didn't just kill you already."
"Only reason I'm still alive is because of these powers, honey," Datura rolled her eyes. "I'm nothing but an asset to him."
"But if you don't get cured you'll die," Caitlin made a face at the logic.
"He's punishing me. I promised I would siphon the Flash's speed and I didn't follow through. Now he's toying with my life to show who's in charge."
"Men and their dominance," Poison Ivy growled Caitlin had to agree there. "Hurry up!" Ivy hissed when we saw Caitlin just staring at her friend.
Caitlin flinched and did just that, but her eyes kept flickering to the two metas. "You two are close, right? Did what happen to both of you happen in the same place?"
"No," Poison Ivy responded, finding no point in this conversation but since Caitlin had returned to work she would let it slide. "I was a botanist, tricked by my own boss and nearly murdered."
Caitlin froze for a second but seeing the woman's glare she set right back to work. "I'm sorry for that."
"Bastard thought he could get rid of me by poisoning me but instead I was given powers," Poison Ivy devilishly smiled. "Boy was he surprised."
Caitlin gulped, knowing exactly how that story ended. "So then your powers didn't come from the Particle Accelerator…"
"No, she was known way before that," Datura smiled at her ginger friend. "I used to be scared of you. Barry would come home and tell me of the newest crime you would do."
"I was bored, sue me," Poison Ivy shrugged ever so casually.
"What about you?" Caitlin directed the same question now to Datura.
"No one's told you?" Datura quirked an eyebrow upwards. "I thought I was the major story in your group."
"I want to hear it from you," Caitlin bit her lip. "So I know how best we can help you."
"I don't need your help-"
"But you're gonna get it!" Caitlin, frustrated, shouted out. "Have you been so far gone out that you forgot what it's like to have people who care about you?"
Datura did not like where this was going and made a move to stand. "Hey-"
"I don't want to hear it!" Caitlin dropped the second wire she'd brought over. "Now you listen to me, you want me to help you escape? Fine. But here's my end of the deal. You're gonna come back with me and you're gonna let us cure you."
Datura laughed purposely loud. "You're joking-"
"I don't have to joke about someone's life!" It was her oath she took as a doctor. This woman was sick, she had Belén's face, and she was dying. She couldn't let that happen if she had a way to stop it. "And if you don't agree then this entire thing stops here." She stepped away from the tools as a show that she wasn't kidding.
Datura raised an eyebrow at her, expecting her to back down.
Caitlin never did.
~0~
"Hey, Wally," Belén greeted the younger man outside Jitters. He looked nervous, too nervous, and it made Belén wonder what was going on. She'd never met Wally without Iris around. She was so confused why he had called just her.
"Hey, Belén," Wally gave a weak wave with her hand.
"Do you wanna go in?" Belén motioned to the shop.
"Uh, actually this won't take long," Wally said, still withholding his nervous smile.
"Is something wrong, Wally?" Belén began to worry there was something he was hiding, maybe even from his family. "Do you need help? Should I call Iris!?"
Seeing her panic, Wally quickly shot down the idea. "I'm okay! I just...I read your latest article...and…"
Belén swallowed. "Yeah."
"Yeah, it made me realize that I think I need you," Wally put his hands together, rubbing his palms together. "I want to speak with the Flash, and...since it's pretty much established you know him...I thought you could help me."
Belén was speechless for all of two minutes. She assumed he had already tried this with someone else because they weren't that close for him to be asking this sort of favor from her. "Um...I don't...I don't know if I can do that, Wally. I...I haven't even, uh, seen him anymore…" she thought the lie would make her look more convincing.
"I would imagine. He saved my life, and I know he saved yours too. I owe him a thank you."
"I'm sure he knows that," Belén said softly, though she was beginning to see this was a lost a battle. He'd hit close to heart.
"Look. I've been reckless my whole life. Racing cars, pushing limits. I did everything at full speed without a care in the world," Wally said, pausing, actually feeling the wasted time. "But it wasn't until Zoom took me that... that I really thought I was gonna die. And I was going to die, if the Flash didn't do what he did. He gave up his powers to save me. A guy he didn't even know. No one's ever done anything like that for me before. I need to tell him how much that means to me."
"He has a way of getting to you, that one," Belén mumbled under her breath. She gazed at Wally again and couldn't take his pleading look. "Agh, fine! I'll...I'll see what I can do."
Wally beamed. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome. But if your Dad kills me I'm putting you on the front line," she playfully warned and Wally chuckled. Hearing her phone, she motioned she needed to go and turned back for her car. As she walked, she pulled out her phone to see the probable S.O.S and, instead of being upset she promised she would scold.
Oh, she would scold.
~0~
"Where the hell is he?" Belén strode right into the cortex and planted her bag on the desk, causing Jesse beside her to flinch. "And why the hell did you lie and say you would call me if you found anything?" she found Cisco first as he walked out the side room.
"Hey, I tried doing my job but he-" Cisco pointed to Barry coming out behind, "-said we had it."
Belén wasn't even surprised. "And did you 'have it'?"
"It...no, we did not." Cisco made a quick beeline for the main desk.
"You might as well save it because I said the same thing," Joe admitted and Belén did notice the similar annoyed look on his face.
"It's done, alright?" Barry said for everyone's benefit. "It was supposed to be a quick in and out plan."
Belén moved towards him, the scolding gone and replaced with concern. "What happened to you? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just bruised…" Barry thought over his statement and added, "... everywhere."
Belén tried to hug him but he indicated his ribcage was one of those bruised parts. She got on her toes and simply placed a kiss on his lips. "Try anything like that again and I will go full-on poison on you."
"Message received," Barry tried to hide his smile as best he could.
"Guys, I got the results from the DNA sample I ran through," Jesse called them back to the main desk. "His genes have actually mutated. The functional myostatin in his cells is essentially gone. I mean, giving him super-strength."
"And there's something else," Barry admitted, his eyes just a bit wide as he remembered his brawl with Grey. "Um, I saw him age. Right in front of me."
Jesse knew exactly what the reason for that was. "He's suffering from oxidated stress. It means the protein in the DNA in his body are being ravaged by oxidants."
"So, what, he needs to up his blueberry intake?" Joe carelessly asked since her statement had made no sense.
Jesse chuckled lightly. "No, it means, uh, the more he exerts himself, the faster he ages."
"So, theoretically, if we can get him to exert too much energy...he'd become old and weak?" Belén was already thinking on how to make that possible.
"So how exactly do we do that?" Joe went again and stopped Barry when he saw him opening his mouth. "I can't watch you be a human punching bag until he turns into Grandpa Simpson."
"It's simple, actually," Belén spoke up with a small smile. "I call Shivhan and we make it a ladies' night."
"Bells, you haven't seen this guy, he's really strong," Barry shook his head at her.
"No offence but I think I would bear less injuries than you at the moment," she patted his arm and turned to Cisco. "Shivhan and I can be in the field. Can you guys monitor?"
"We can, yeah," Cisco nodded though threw a cautious look to Barry.
Belén of course noticed it and sighed. "Hey, if you three can go without powers then I sure as hell can go with Shivhan to get this guy. It's not up for discussion." And even if she sounded rude, she didn't care. At the moment, no matter how grim things were, this was the only way. "Cisco?"
"On it, yeah! I'll get Shivhan down here!"
Belén thanked him but noticed Barry silently dispersing from the group. She felt guilty for her outburst and glanced at the others, asking for a moment without actually saying it.
"Barry, I'm sorry for that…" she went after him. He'd taken to staring at his suit, one hand gently rubbing his ribcage since it still hurt. "I didn't mean to sound...well, rude. I know it's hard right now, I just...I'm sorry."
Barry briefly looked away from his suit and saw her genuine sorrow expression. He reached for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "It's not your fault."
"I should be more cautious though…"
Barry shook his head and held onto her hand. "It's not you, Bells. It's me." Belén withheld the fact that she knew it was about him. "You know, after I woke up from the coma, I didn't know what the hell was going on. All I knew was that I somehow had saved Iris from a car crash and that I moved pretty fast. It wasn't until the night where I told you that I would help you that I realized what I could do. We started because of that suit…"
"We didn't start because of the suit," Belén corrected quietly. "We started because of you."
"But helping you is what made me realize what I could be," Barry amended his mistake. "You gave me my purpose but now...I don't even know who I am anymore or who I'm supposed to be."
"You know who you're supposed to be," Belén smiled to herself. She couldn't count the many times she had to repeat something like this to him. "That-" she jabbed a finger of her free hand on his arm, "-is also not up for discussion. It's your drive to help people that made you who you are." When she saw his usual smile on her face she knew he would be alright. "I love you, Barry Allen, but you need to stop saying gibberish, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am," Barry said without hesitation. His reward was a nice kiss.
~ 0 ~
"You know, even though you're not Killer Frost, you have got something like her," Datura had not given Caitlin a rest since she'd been practically forced to agree to the new deal.
"Don't insult me, please," Caitlin mumbled.
"She hated you, you know. Despised you…"
Caitlin ignored her and plugged in the last bit of wire. "I think it's done."
"And what exactly is this going to do?" Poison Ivy stepped up beside Datura.
"The electrical current in the cable should heat up the carbine, which in turn should speed up the electrons and the faster they go the weaker its molecular structure becomes," Caitlin stepped around the wires on he ground. "And when it gets hot enough, it should make the carbine as fragile as glass."
"And then we can all get out of here," Poison Ivy smiled. "What do you know, you might be more useful than your doppelganger."
"That I will take," Caitlin smirked. "Stay away from the wall. Let's give it a whirl."
Datura and Poison Ivy stepped backwards until they were against the wall. Caitlin moved back to the small device she had found and (hopefully) turned into what they needed. There was a loud whir coming from it and an electrical current that zipped through the wires and shattered the glass of the prison. Caitlin couldn't help laugh at her work. She'd done so much with so little...and now she would finally be going home!
"Not as stupid as you seem," Datura remarked as she walked over the btis of glass. "Now that cure, then? Do you have a way already?"
Caitlin made a face indicating she wasn't all the way there. "Not exactly. I have your blood that our Belén got from you during your last fight. I was just about to look at it and compare it to hers."
"You wouldn't have to," Poison Ivy remarked. "They're a perfect match."
Datura began to pull off her gloves then, attracting a curious look from Caitlin. "Except for the part where my cells aren't stabilizing. With each new power I take, the more unstabilized my body is."
"What are you…?" Caitlin barely got the words in when Zoom sped into the room, startling her. She whirled around, scared but not for her. "Don't you hurt them."
"He won't hurt us," Datura said, completely calm despite having the speedster's murderous glare set on her. The woman had dropped her gloves and held her bare hands out. "You might be fast but I have the power to freeze your ass now, literally."
"You want to test me?" Zoom growled and stepped forwards.
"I just want my cure," Datura stood her ground as well. "And I already have a way to get it." Caitlin gaped when Datura took out Harry's siphoning device from her pocket. "Poison Ivy and I can turn this so that I can use it against my doppelganger. And then, we might even be able to turn it so that you could get more speed."
"What are you doing?" Caitlin frowned.
"There are other earths and we know that," Datura continued on like Caitlin wasn't demanding questions from her on the side. "If we get this device to work on my doppelganger and I stabilize myself, then I can siphon Reverb's doppelganger's powers and open up portals to the other Earths. More Earths mean more speed. How would you like to rule planets now?"
"We had a deal!" Caitlin exclaimed.
"A deal you stupidly thought I agreed to," Datura rolled her eyes. "So, what do you say, Zoom? Take me back to Earth 1 and let me open the doors to the rest of the Earths for you."
Caitlin had hot tears in her eyes as she looked between Datura and Zoom.
~ 0 ~
A figure gracefully flew over a ferris wheel and stayed in place as she called the area out. She then raised a white gloves hand to her ear. "I don't see anything from my end," Nina reported.
Below walked Belén with keen eyes on the turned-off amusement rides. "Same here. Although some light wouldn't be so bad. Did you guys get ahold of Shivhan?"
"No, sorry," Cisco said. Shivhan hadn't answered their calls to come help so they had to ask Nina instead. She wasn't all that willing but knowing there was no one else, she came in.
"Well looks like you'll be getting it soon," Barry's voice rang in both women's earpieces. He and Cisco were monitoring them from the STAR Labs van parked not too far away. Jesse was with them as well since she refused to stay back this time.
"Grey's headed your way, Bells," Barry quickly added.
"Show time," Nina quickly dove to hide behind a ride.
Belén stayed put and allowed herself to be caught. Griffin Grey was a middle aged man and looked absolutely normal for those who didn't know his deal.
"I know you," Grey stated. "You work with the Flash."
"Always nice to meet a fan," Belén regretted those words as soon as they left her mouth. Truthfully, Captain Cold was a man smooth with words. Funny, he'd sort of disappeared as of late. Belén shook her head. This was not the moment to think about that. She took a step forwards and called back. "I just want Dr. Wells. You had a run-in with some friends of mine and while I'm unhappy with the results, I'll let it go so long as you give me Wells."
"I wanted him to fix me but apparently he can't," Grey bitterly returned. "So once I finish you, I'm gonna finish him."
"No," Belén calmly said like she was turning down a coffee.
"Have it your way," Grey reached over and picked up a miniature amusement ride car and threw it directly at her.
Belén disbanded into vines and disappeared. Nina then shot up into the air and produced a blast of energy from her hands that zipped down. Grey was hit and rolled on the ground to a stop, but that didn't prevent him for much long.
"Come and catch me," Nina mocked a salute and purposely stayed put. She watched as he grabbed a barrel of trash and chucked it her way.
"Wow, you missed twice in a row," Belén had reappeared behind Grey. "Let me guess, you weren't a baseball player?"
Grey growled with annoyance and grabbed the closest thing possible. Belén smiled to herself when he threw a construction piece her way. Her vines entangled hin and brought him to her.
Soon as he was close enough, Belén punched him across the face. "Now catch us!" She let him and disbanded in vines again. Nina waved in the air and flew off in the direction Belén had gone off in.
"He's definitely following you guys," Cisco informed the two women from the monitors. "And he's definitely aged."
Belén had regained her figure and now walked alongside the shut-off ferris wheel. "Yeah, well, I don't feel pretty good about making him mad."
"Oh, but that wasn't a problem yesterday when you swore I moved your cell phone," came Barry's bitter remark.
"I apologized for that," Belén calmly said, although half of her did regret cursing at him for the cell phone. She found her bag had a rip inside and that's where her cellphone decided to hide out.
"Three words after a whole paragraph of cursing?" Barry scoffed.
"Do you want to do this maybe at another time?" Belén had spotted a figure not too far away from her. "Maybe when we're not dealing with Mr. Incredible?" Cisco laughed in the background.
"Sorry, Bells. He's coming over to you," Barry saw the man (or teen) passing the Ferris Wheel on the other side. "Nina? You ready?"
"Ready!" Nina exclaimed.
He flicked on the lights of the Ferris wheel and momentarily blinded Grey with it. Nina started pelting him with repeated wind blasts. She stopped when Grey got over the lights and prepared to receive his attack. Just as predicted, he threw her the actual control panel of the Ferris wheel which she barely avoided.
Two lassos made of vines snapped on either side of Grey, alerting of the second meta presence. He whirled around, revealing to be a white haired man now.
"Definitely almost there," Belén said, instantly taken aback by it.
It was the second of distraction Grey needed. A metal piece of fence from the ferris wheel was his next choice of weapon. Belén tried avoiding it but it managed to hit one of her knees and forced her to collide to the ground.
"Hey!" Nina quickly dove back into appearance. "You want a cure? I'm the doctor in this group. Get me!"
Grey didn't even think about his cure anymore. He only wanted her to disappear. He started throwing anything in his vicinity. Nina dodged more monitors, fences, barrels, but the last two went consecutively fast and knocked her down. She crashed onto a wooden weight game.
Even if her leg did hiss with each step she took, Belén got back on her feet. Her vines helped her hover just above the ground to avoid further pain. She shot a different vine and it wrapped around Grey's legs. "You could have had the help you wanted if you had just asked!"
"This is my fault?" Grey laughed and grabbed onto the small platform of a wack-a-mole game. "You're no martyr. You're trying to put me away for something I didn't do! You'll be dead and so will your partner!"
Belén narrowed her eyes on the man. She pulled harder on the vines gripping his legs but Grey knew his next move long before. He purposely yanked the game platform and chucked it her way. Belén yelped and swished to the side but did not let go of him. It angered him more and pushed him to keep throwing her whatever he found. She could see that with each hit he aged more and more…
"I'm so sorry," she said and let go of him, not even attempting to avoid the final attack.
An empty barrel of trash crashed right into her. She hit the fence of a ride behind, stopping her from rolling any further. When she raised her head she saw Grey go still on the ground.
"Bells!? Are you okay!?" Barry repeated his question at least three times before Belén could finally answer.
"Yeah," she groaned and turned flat on her back. "Grey's dead. But we should really get Nina…"
~0~
After finding Harry safe and sound, the group returned to STAR Labs to get the other metas checked over.
"Nina, maybe you should be the one lying down," Belén allowed her doctor friend to conduct the studies. "I just got some bruises after all."
"I've got a concussion, so I should really not be lying down," Nina playfully looked at her.
"You fell at least twenty feet from the air, take it easy girl," Cisco stepped into the side room. "Oh but might I say: completely badass tonight. Well done."
Nina and Belén exchanged glances and chuckled. "It was pretty cool," Nina admitted first. "We could be a team all on our own."
"I just wonder where Shivhan got into," Belén wondered with a shake of her head. "But yo're right Nina. Imagine you, me and Shivhan?"
"Hey, I thought you liked working with me," Barry came over to Belén's side and kissed her temple. He was glad to see there were only just bruises from her battle.
"I do, but, think about it this way. It's the dream team-" Belén made a gesture to the women, "-featuring the Flash."
"But just so you know," Nina began, dead serious too, "We'd totally kick your ass. And Cisco's too if you became a team."
Barry playfully rolled his eyes but Cisco took a mock offence. "Oh! That's how it's gonna be, then?"
Nina's lips stretched into a smile bordering a laugh. "If you disagree with my theory, practice and come back to challenge us."
"Woman, you are so on," Cisco pointed at her and backtracked out of the side room.
"He's unbelievable," Belén lightly chuckled.
"He's your friend," Nina made sure to clarify of her relation to him. "Anyways, we all look pretty fine. I'm gonna go home and keep myself awake."
"Do you want to stay over at our place?" Belén offered, knowing that was a tricky task to do when you lived on your own.
"I'll be fine, trust me," Nina assured her as she went to gather her things.
"Thank you, Nina," Barry stopped her with his seriousness. She stopped and sideways glanced at him. "Really."
"I know I'm unofficially part of this team but I will always be here to help whenever you need me. Flash and Azalea featuring Tempest?" she made a grinning motion that made the two metas in question laugh. "Goodnight, guys," she waved.
"Goodnight," the others chorused.
"I'm tired," Belén admitted but would never say her pain.
"Let's go home," Barry took her hand and let her hop off the bed, which in reality turned out to be a bad idea since her bruises reminded her of their presence.
"Oh, no, wait, I need you to do me a favor," Belén made a round so that she faced him. "It's about Wally."
"What about Wally?"
"It's not bad. Um, he just...he feels really bad about you giving up your powers for him. He wants to thank you."
"He doesn't have to," Barry tried being modest but Belén wasn't having it.
"He needs to," Belén said softly. "He feels like he has to."
"You mean it's guilt?"
"I don't...think so. It's...just something he feels he has to do. So, will you?"
Barry wasn't sure what he would get from this visit but he knew he had to do it. "Alright. When and where?"
"I know the place," Belén smiled in thought. "Rooftop at Jitters."
~0~
"Wally West?"
Hearing his name, Wally scoured the rooftop for the man he'd been searching for. He found the Flash standing across him, just as was promised to him.
"You wanted to see me?"
"Yes," Wally croaked. He took a moment to swallow and gain some composure. He had thought about what he would say if Belén managed to pull it off and get the Flash to come but now that he actually had the meta in front of him, he had no idea what to say. "I, uh, I...wanted..."
Barry could see the struggle Wally was in but instead of cutting him, he gave Wally the time he needed.
Wally drew in a deep breath and hoped to God that he would get this right. He had messed up too many times before in his life and that needed to stop. He wasted too much time doing stupid things but it was only until he had been kidnapped by Zoom did he realize just how stupid the things really were. "I just wanted to thank you for saving my life. And I know that that came at a huge price for you. And I don't know how I'll ever repay that. I guess, what I wanted to say was that... I'm not gonna waste this chance that you've given me. Thank you."
He didn't really know what he would do, but Wally knew that he would do something. No more wasting time, no more being reckless. Somebody else had paid a huge price for him to stay alive and he wasn't going to let them down.
"You're welcome, Wally," Barry said with all honesty. He finally understood why Belén wanted him to do this. Something was going on through Wally's head, promising to be akin to change. He was aware of all the choices Wally made weren't exactly the best so he hoped that this was the moment things would really begin to change for them.
~ 0 ~
Belén was focused on her phone when Barry returned to her car. She looked up and waved her phone. "Shivhan says she's busy doing something. I have no idea what she's doing but I get the feeling we'll be figuring it out soon."
"She's weird like that," Barry felt like that pretty much summed their friend up.
Belén dropped her phone inside her purse, making sure it didn't fall into the rip again. Barry would never let her live it down if she lost it and it turned out to be in that thing. "So, how did it go?"
"Yeah, it went... good," Barry nodded. "You were right."
"I always am," Belén smirked at him. "Make sure to remember that for future arguments."
Barry laughed. "Yeah, I'll...make sure to take note of that."
Belén smiled softly at him. He was holding his mask tightly in his hands. "I'm sure Wally isn't gonna forget it."
"Yeah," Barry leaned his head back against the seat.
Belén reached over for a hand of his. "This isn't forever. We will find a way."
"I mean, will we?" Barry couldn't help the feeling of hopelessness fill him up. As the days passed by, he saw the possibility of getting his speed back slipping away form him.
"Yes, we will," Belén reassured him. She touched his face and leaned over to kiss him. It was an intended short kiss but Barry relished in it. His hand moved to the back of her head while the other traveled down the side of her figure. Belén hissed and pulled away when one of her bruises was accidentally touched.
"Sorry," Barry immediately apologized but Belén chuckled.
"I think we should go home and probably rest," she said, finding their current appearances ironic. "Plus, it wouldn't be so good if someone caught us in the act. I'm supposed to be going out with a forensics and you're supposed to be going out with the Azalea."
"Good point," Barry nodded, though couldn't help smirk.
~ 0 ~
Datura was sitting on a wooden chair calm and easy, but within was another story. The voices in her head were beginning to get louder, louder than they usually were. It made her, in a sense, tired, and she knew the only way to stop them - to get back in control - was to get back to Earth 1 and get her doppelganger. She just had to play her cards right and not further test the speedster in control.
She raised her head when Zoom sped into the room. "Where's Poison Ivy?" she asked but with no real demanding from her part.
"She's in charge of Caitlin now," Zoom replied and took off his mask. "We're going back to Earth 1 and she's coming with me."
"And me?" Datura swallowed hard.
"I have another task for you," he started coming towards her so she got up from her chair. "Poison Ivy will gather the ingredients you require for your cure and when it is ready, you will get what you want and open the portals for me. But, in the meantime, you're staying here to gather my metahumans."
"What for?" Datura cluelessly asked.
"It's time to bring the other world to its knees."
Datura took that as a pre-final round to the ending of all this mess. If it meant she could keep her life, then she would make herself ready. "Whenever you're ready."
~ 0 ~
Harry didn't expect to see that Barry was already in the cortex looking ready to get to work.
"You're here early," he remarked to the ex-speedster and took a sip of his coffee.
"Yeah. I couldn't sleep," Barry confessed. He had woken up hours ago and decided not to bring Belén down with him. He thought maybe having an empty, silent cortex to work at would provide with good results.
"Yeah, me neither," Harry gave a casual shrug of his shoulders.
"I know that we just took down Grey without my powers, but... I have no idea how to get Caitlin back without them."
"We can't, Allen."
"Then what are we gonna do?"
Harry slowly put down his mug on the desk and decided to just come out with the crazy idea he'd thought of. "You know, Grey... Grey kidnapped me because he thought I was the Harrison Wells from this Earth, and I know he was talking about another guy, but I just... I can't help but think... I still haven't paid for what I've done."
"What does that mean?"
"I thought, you know, when you... When we closed the breaches, I could just forget about everything I've done, but I can't. I realize what I can do. You are gonna get your speed back, Allen. And I'm gonna help you do that."
Barry still felt confused about the big speech. "How?"
"By creating another particle accelerator explosion."
Author's Note:
As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "noble-crescent" and the tag I created for any posts having to do with my work is # noblecrescentedit.