Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or the CW TV shows Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl or any other characters or elements pertaining to the mentioned franchises.
Joe, Barry and Patty entered the crime scene which was an auto shop as they approached the corpse.
"What do we got?" Barry asked.
"Victim's name is Daniel Burge. Not exactly a Boy Scout, but managed to buy this garage two years ago. It looks like he was dipped in a volcano." Joe said as Barry lifted the sheet, examining the corpse.
"Oh, yeah." Barry nodded.
"I wouldn't say that it's volcano, though." Patty said as she took a closer look. "The depth and uniformity of the burn pattern suggests that it was some burning liquid like lava, for sure, but with a lower burn temp and added with another chemical for a good measure."
"The fire investigator didn't find a secondary accelerant." Joe said.
Barry and Patty nodded. "Yeah, he probably wouldn't with a meta."
"Let's take a sample to S.T.A.R. Labs and run some tests, that might help us ID our guy." Patty said.
Joe nodded. "Good, I'm gonna go meet Iris for lunch. She wants to talk to me about Wally."
"Yeah, how's that going, you and him?" Barry asked.
"Great. Well, good." Joe said. "I don't know, baby steps. I'm trying to give him space. I mean, he just lost his mom. Just met me and his sister. He's got a lot on his plate."
Barry chuckled. "Yeah, he just found the best dad he could've wished for."
Joe chuckled back. "Oh, you say that now, but you didn't always think that."
"What? Strict treatment?" Patty teased.
"That's for sure." Barry nodded, blushing. "But strict isn't always a bad thing, especially when you know it's coming from love."
"I'll talk to you later." Joe said as he walked off, while Barry and Patty took some samples.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
Barry and Harry were in Cisco's workshop as Harry was working on some formulas but Harry became frustrated with Barry due to reminding of too much of working with Jesse as Barry left, deciding to leave Harry alone to work.
Barry entered the Cortex as Cisco and Patty approached him.
"Everything OK, Barry?" Patty asked.
"I was..." Barry sighed. "Uh, nothing. What's up?"
"Two things, very strange. One, definitely meta-human cells in the oil." Cisco said.
"Two, cause of death wasn't the burns but suffocation." Patty said.
"Suffocation?" Barry took a closer look at the results. "That makes sense actually. The burns indicated that the body was covered in something."
"Cross-referencing O2 levels in the organic matter, I found a direct match to animals trapped and preserved in an asphalt seep. The guy was fossilized." Cisco said.
"Whoa. So whoever killed him is like a walking... tar pit."
"Tar pit." Cisco beat Barry to it. "Mmm, too slow. It's OK." He patted Barry on his shoulder.
"The meta is somehow drowning their victims in tar." Patty explained.
Barry sighed. "God, that's a horror show. Why did he target Daniel Burge?"
Cisco was about to speak up before some choir music rang from his phone. "Oh, that's my metahuman social media app. That's right." He looked at the phone. "There's an attack in progress. 6th and Bell, downtown."
Barry took on his suit and sped off but unknowing to him, Harry had planted a device in the suit that was extracting Barry's Speed Force.
Central City
The Flash saw a man, who looked like a zombie covered in tar facing a man with short hair approaching his truck.
"Remember me, Clay?" The metahuman asked as Clay paled.
"We killed you." Clay said, shocked.
"I bet right now you're not thinking... 'Yummy.'"
"Yo, are you guys seeing this?" Barry asked.
"Oh, yeah, we see it." Caitlin said.
In the metahuman's hand formed a ball of burning tar but the Flash pushed Clay away before the metahuman would hit him.
"All right, any ideas?" Barry asked.
"Viscosity of asphalt lowers as its temperature lowers." Caitlin said.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it hardens." Cisco nodded.
"Barry, you need to expose him to cold somehow." Patty said.
Barry saw a nearby hydrant as he neared it, taunting the metahuman. "Hey, barbeque! Hit me with your best shot!" He dodged, when the metahuman threw another ball of burning tar and the water spraying the metahuman caused him to melt into tar as he disappeared into the sewers.
"Oh, yeah! Team Flash!" Cisco, Caitlin and Patty high-fived as Barry apprehended Clay.
"Hey, buddy. I've got some questions for you. Let's go." Barry said.
Unknowing to them, Harry had extracted some of Barry's Speed Force into a vial. "You're coming home, Jesse. You're coming home."
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
"So, Clay Stanley, the guy Tar Pit was after. He's a suspected hitman that the CCPD has been after for a while, but we've found nothing that would stick." Patty said and Cisco chuckled. "No pun intended."
"Do we know why he was attacked?" Caitlin asked.
"No." Patty shook her head. "Stanley was too scared to tell me anything."
"When a hitman is scared, you know something's wrong." Cisco noted.
"Hey, did you get an ID on our metahuman?" Barry asked Cisco.
"Yeah, I'm running it through five different facial recognition systems right now, so it should take a minute." Cisco said before the computer pulled out a profile. "And there it is. Who's the best hacker in the world, people?"
"Felicity Smoak."
"Felicity Smoak."
"Felicity Smoak." Barry, Caitlin and Patty said in unison.
Cisco glared at them in betrayal. "What is wrong with you, guys? That's not friendship."
"Our metahuman's name is Joseph Monteleone." Caitlin read.
"Oh, he looks friendly." Cisco noted, looking at the photo.
"Monteleone was reported missing…" Barry read.
"…on December 11, 2013. The night, when the particle accelerator exploded, well, what a surprise." Patty finished, not hiding the sarcasm in her tone.
"And what's the connection between Monteleone and the two victims?" Caitlin asked.
"I'll head back to CCPD, see what I can find." Patty said.
Caitlin nodded. "OK, I'm gonna run some tests on the tar samples. See if I can find his weakness."
Barry and Patty were about to leave as Cisco followed them. "Hey, are you feeling OK?"
Barry turned to Cisco. "Yeah. Why?"
"You're going slower than normal. You clocked in at 1,450 miles an hour." Cisco said.
"How fast does Barry usually run?" Patty asked.
"1,500. Are you getting enough to eat?" Cisco asked.
"Yes, yeah, dude, I'm fine, seriously. The difference seems negligible." Barry assured. "Fast is fast, right?"
For a moment they all considered before deciding to let it be as they left in their respective directions.
"See ya."
"Yep."
Barry and Patty were working on some formulas in Cisco's workshop as Harry entered.
"Just going over some research." Barry said.
"Ten-year-old determination." Harry muttered under his breath.
"Come again?" Patty asked.
"When my daughter was ten, she..." Harry took a breath. "Science teacher had her do a project, you know, and this project... I spent every waking hour tinkering and perfecting her solar-powered oven. Anyway, ten-year-old determination, you remind me of her." He said as he turned to Barry.
"Did you scold her as well?" Barry asked.
Harry sighed. "Yes."
"Listen, we understand that this cannot have been easy for you but you're not in this alone." Patty pleaded.
"Yes, I am. Hell yes, I am. I... as much as you all want me to be part of your team, that's never going to happen." Harry said. "I'm always going to be a father first. And one day, Zoom is gonna make me choose between you and my daughter, and every time, unblinkingly, unflinchingly, I would choose my daughter. I will betray you."
"That's binary thinking. It doesn't have to be either/or." Barry said.
"Life is either/or... yes/no, black/white, love/hate... from the dawn of time to this moment right now." Harry said coldly.
"Maybe you just don't see the light we see inside you. You're a good person, Harry. Even if you don't want to admit it to yourself." Patty said.
Barry showed Harry a pile of papers. "By the way, I came up with an idea or... a notion rather, on how we could close the breaches for good."
Harry went over Barry's idea. "This is... This... who wrote this?"
"You did." Barry said as Harry raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, the other you. Evil, not stupid. I think the answer might be in the electromagnetic insulator of the quark matter."
"We're in this together, Harry." Patty said.
Harry considered before going over the paper. "I'm gonna take a look at this."
"We're going to stick around and run some computer sims on the formula." Barry said.
"I'll see you tonight." Harry said as he walked off.
"Later." Patty said.
Later, Central City
In an alley, Zoom went out from a breach as Harry handed him an injection pistol with a vial of Speed Force. "Drink up."
Zoom injected himself with it as he felt satisfied. "Aah."
"Had enough?" Harry asked.
"Not even close." Zoom said.
"Give me back my daughter and I'll get you the rest." Harry said.
"You're not in the position to negotiate." Zoom warned.
"You won't kill me and you won't kill my daughter because if you do, then you won't get what you want." Harry said.
"I don't need to kill your daughter." Zoom buried his claws into Harry's shoulder, as he groaned in pain. "I can torture her. Bring her right up to the edge of death, so I can do it again the next day and the next. Bring me the rest of Flash's speed." He let go and Harry knelt down, clutching his shoulder as Zoom sped off.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
"Hey. I ran background checks on everyone involved in this Tar Pit mess, came up empty." Joe said.
"They do have records but we can't read them because they're sealed." Patty said and Joe nodded.
"Well, that's because you're bound by ethics, detectives." Cisco smirked as he typed away.
"How many felonies are we committing breaking into sealed court records?" Joe asked.
"Five at least." Patty said as Cisco pulled out the records and showed them on the monitors.
"Well, they were sealed because the records are all juvenile offense." Barry read.
"They weren't arrested together." Joe said.
"No, but look at this. They served in the same juvenile detention facility. Actually, Monteleone and victim one were bunkmates." Cisco read.
"And do we know who was victim number two's bunkmate?" Patty asked.
"Bronwen, Clark. Good luck finding him. He has a ton of addresses and I can't seem to find anything current. I'll run his picture through facial recognition." Cisco said.
"That won't be necessary." They turned their heads to see Iris enter. "In this case, I am facial recognition. I know exactly where we can find that guy, and, Dad, you are not gonna like how."
"OK, you can tell me about it on the way." Joe said before they saw Harry enter with some device in his hand. "What is that?"
"Breach implosion reactor." Harry said.
"Sorry I asked." Joe said.
"You ready?" Harry turned to Barry.
"Yeah, let's do it." Barry said as they left.
"Have fun fixing the universe." Cisco said.
"You OK? You look like in pain." Patty asked, noticing how was Harry grinning.
"What? No, no, I have a… headache." Harry lied.
Later, Central City
Barry, Patty and Harry were preparing the breach implosion device.
"If our calculations are correct..." Harry started.
"And they are." Barry said.
"And they are. When this device detonates, it will collapse the event horizon on this side of the breach, thereby shutting off any connection to Earth-2 permanently." Harry said.
Barry yawned as Patty turned to him. "You OK, Barry?"
"Yeah, I'm just a little tired. I don't feel like myself. I'm good though." Barry said.
"Yeah." Patty nodded.
"It's gonna work, Harry." Barry said as he picked the breach implosion device.
"Yep, yep. OK. You ready?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, give it to me." Barry picked the device and threw it at the breach. It seemed to vibrate before it close upon itself. "Come on." They neared the breach as Barry tried to go through the breach, assuming it was there but wasn't.
"Yeah!" Patty cheered.
"We did it!" Barry cheered as they hugged each other and Harry, whose only reaction was staring. "Come on! You just rewrote the laws of physics!"
"I thought you'd be happy." Patty said.
Harry shrugged. "I guess that was pretty cool."
"Yeah, I'd say so. One down, 51 to go." Barry said.
"Yeah." Harry nodded. "Allen..."
"Yeah?" Barry turned to him.
"Thank you. And you too, Spivot." Harry said.
"It's just the first step in getting your daughter back. Come on!" Barry said as he and Patty walked off but they didn't notice how guilty Harry looked due to betraying Barry for Zoom.
Iris and Joe observed as Wally was about to race in a street race before Tar Pit emerged from the ground, causing for the cars to skid. Iris dialed Barry's number as people ran off.
Barry left Patty to drive the van before suiting up as he got Wally out of his car and pushed Bronwen, the race organizer out of the way before the car would crush him. Barry tried to catch the debris flying towards Iris but was too slow as a glass shard hit her in the shoulder and she collapsed into his arms.
"Iris!" Joe cried out. "Get her to the hospital!"
The Flash sped off as Wally stared in shock.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
"Joe called me. Iris is stable, she'll be fine." Patty assured. "But how are we gonna stop Tar Pit?"
"We're gonna get him with these." Cisco said as Harry threw towards him some small device. "With these nitrous grenades. Each of these has ten times the concentration of a hot rod's nitrous tank and is triggered by extreme heat. We're talking 650 degrees. That's the boiling point of asphalt, so one of these puppies makes contact, you got a Tar Pit popsicle for dessert."
"All right, that's great. Um..." Barry took a breath. "Hey, look, I think that maybe you were right. I felt slower tonight. You know, not by much, but enough." Harry stiffened. "Well, do you think there's something wrong with the suit maybe?"
"It's unlikely." Harry said.
Cisco nodded. "The readings from the suit are normal. You know I take care of that thing."
"Yeah, what? Am I sick?" Barry asked.
"Do you feel something off about you?" Patty asked.
"No, not really. I mean, I know that I'm slower in the moment, but I can't tell by how much." Barry said.
"2%." Caitlin said, showing them the readings on the tablet. "Tests on the components in your blood show the Speed Force at a 100% for the last 60 days until today, it dropped to 98."
"Zoom stole Jay's speed. Do you think maybe, during your fight with Zoom, yours might have diminished?" Cisco deduced.
"That doesn't make sense. That was weeks ago, why would Barry be feeling the effects just now?" Patty questioned.
"Dr. Wells?" Barry asked.
Harry turned to them. "Yeah."
"You've studied the Speed Force more than anyone. What do you think could have happened?" Barry inquired.
"It could be any number of things." Harry said.
"Yeah. All right." Barry nodded as Harry looked away.
"I just looked, I mean, Iris could have died tonight." Barry said.
"She's gonna be okay, Barry." Caitlin assured.
"You know, this time, but the fact is, she is hurt right now because of me. I wasn't fast enough to protect Iris just from some metahuman tonight. When Zoom attacks again, I need all of my speed and then some. I can't lose anyone else." Barry said.
"You won't." Harry said as he got up, while everyone turned to him. "I did it."
"What?" Barry asked, all of them looking confused before Harry pulled the emblem out of Barry's suit and showed them some small device attached to the emblem, pulling it out.
"Whoa, whoa, what is that?" Cisco asked as Harry threw the device to him.
"I stole your speed. I gave it to Zoom." Harry revealed.
Barry shook his head, all of them feeling betrayed as Joe entered. "No, no, no, this isn't... What... you're working with Zoom?" Barry demanded angrily.
"No, not at first." Harry admitted.
"We trusted you. I trusted you!" Barry glared.
Next thing they all knew, Joe punched Harry, knocking him down.
"Joe, stop!" Caitlin exclaimed.
Joe picked Harry, getting him on his feet and dragging him into a cell in the Pipeline, locking him up.
"Why did you put him in there?" Caitlin demanded.
"Because if I didn't, I would've killed him. Let's go find this tar freak." Joe growled.
Later, CCPD
Joe and Patty dragged Clay out from the precinct.
"I thought I was being transferred." Clay said.
"No. We're using you as bait." Patty said.
"What?" Clay asked, confused before Tar Pit emerged from the ground and Clay paled.
"This is for two years ago, Clay." Tar Pit said, forming in his hand burning ball of tar. Joe and Patty ran off as the Flash ran in, throwing the nitrous grenades that froze Tar Pit, who was reduced to his human form.
"Stay." Joe warned Clay, nearing Tar Pit and knocking him out.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
Barry, Joe and Patty were facing Harry in the Pipeline. "You know, it's ironic. I was just saying how much you remind me of the old Wells, and now, here we are, just like I did with him, standing on either side of this glass with me asking you, 'Why?'."
"I'm doing what I have to do to save my daughter." Harry said, not a hint of regret in his voice.
"Even if the cost is Joe's daughter's life?" Patty asked.
"I told you I would betray you. I told you I would have to choose." Harry reminded.
"You chose wrong." Joe sneered.
Harry glared. "Really, did I? Because I just sacrificed my daughter. Because I just sentenced my daughter to death to save your son."
"You want a pat on the back?" Joe asked sarcastically.
"I want you to send me home. Send me back to Earth-2." Harry turned to Barry. "Think about it. Zoom wants you to get faster. He wants you to have more Speed Force in you, for when he finally takes it, send me back, use the implosion reactor to shut down the breach. Shut down all the breaches. Close them all and Zoom will never be able to cross over, ever again, and that'll be the end of it."
"What about your daughter?" Barry pointed out.
"Jesse's my battle to fight, not yours." Harry said.
They considered before closing the Pipeline.
"This is a sample of Barry's cells after whatever Harry did to them." Caitlin said, showing them the results on the computer. "As you can see, not only is it drained of the Speed Force, but it's also presenting itself as chromosomal damage. If Harry kept doing what he was doing, he could have taken your powers permanently."
"Even Evil Wells couldn't figure out how to do that one." Cisco noted.
"Well, look, somebody better send his ass back to where he came from or I'm gonna shoot him." Joe growled.
"Not stopping you there." Patty said.
"No." Barry protested.
"What do you mean, no?" Joe demanded.
"What would we have done if we were in his position?" Barry asked, facing them. "I mean, what would you do if it was Iris, Joe? And Cisco, when Snart kidnapped you, threatened to kill your brother unless you helped, you did, and none of us judged you for that. We still don't because when it comes to family, when it comes to the people that we all love, we're all vulnerable. None of us are above making a wrong decision." He pointed out as they all considered. "He could have done it. He could have stolen my speed, gotten away with it. None of us would have even known, but he didn't, and now his daughter's gonna die and we're OK with that?"
"He has a point there." Patty nodded.
"I can't just give up on her. I can't give on a world. I can't give up on a world. This is a world full of people who are facing death. I don't know, I may not be fast enough to beat Zoom yet, but I'm not gonna just close the breaches and forget about it. We have to help Wells." Barry said and they had to admit Barry had a point. Joe, Cisco and Patty especially did understand. While Caitlin had not felt that vulnerable before with family, she couldn't blame Harry for what he had done, considering Barry's points.
"Look, guys, I... I was the one that trusted him first. I own that. I let him stay when literally all of you told me not to, so everything that's happened up until this point, it's on me, but this has to be a group decision." Barry said as everyone looked at each other.
Barry opened Harry's cell. "Come on."
Harry went out, taking a breath. "Well... I guess this is goodbye."
"No, it's not. I told you, we're a team. Now you're a part of it. We're gonna help you save Jesse. We're not sending you through alone. We're going to Earth-2." Barry said.
Next chapter, Earth-2 and I have some minor changes prepared for that one.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.