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.
Patty and Barry were in his lab, eating Thai food as Patty stared at the trash bin.
"How the hell did you manage to eat twelve of those?" Patty wondered.
"I burn a lot of calories." Barry said.
"Damn, even I wasn't that hungry, when I was a kid." Patty said. "And by the way, I heard that last night, Paulson miraculously caught a perp, who didn't even see him coming. You wouldn't know anything about it, would you?" She asked with a teasing voice.
"It wasn't him last night but me." Barry said.
Patty sighed. "Barry, don't you think you're dragging quite a lot of attention to yourself lately? The news and social media have been filling up with this mysterious streak who's been saving people and catching perps in a blur."
Barry sighed in frustration. "I know. It's hard enough that I have to keep it a secret from Iris—"
"I can't say I blame him. He's just trying to protect her." Patty said before Joe entered with a box.
"We've got work to do." Joe said as Barry recognized the box that Joe put down.
"The evidence from my mom's case." Barry said.
"I had it brought up from storage." Joe said.
"I've been through this box a thousand times." Barry said.
"Before your story about what really happened that night, the lightning storm, the man in the middle, I thought that was a kid trying to protect his father from prison." Joe said, gesturing to Barry's table of evidence "But now that I know it's true, we're gonna go through every scrap of evidence until we find something that helps."
"It took the jury 52 minutes to come back with a verdict of guilty." Barry pointed out.
"They moved too fast." Joe said. "Which is why we gotta take our time."
"But what are we even going to look for?" Patty pointed out as they turned to the box before Eddie entered.
"Barry, Joe, Patty, we got multiple homicides." Eddie said. "Do you know the Darbinyan crime family?"
Later, Central City
Barry was examining the crime scene, where the Darbinyan mob were dead in the restaurant.
"Signs of histotoxic hypoxia." Barry said.
"They suffocated from breathing in poison gas." Patty said.
"What kind of poison?" Joe wondered.
"I'll need to take a lung sample, see if I can narrow it down." Barry said.
"The only other exit was bolted from the inside." Eddie said as he entered. "They were trapped. I was thinking someone pumped gas in from the outside but witnesses say the street was empty."
"So it was from the inside? That means there should be a canister or a container left behind. The gas just didn't come in by itself." Joe said as Patty and Barry looked around.
"Unless that gas was thinking for itself." Patty said as Joe turned to them.
"Eddie, would you mind canvassing again? Somebody had to have seen something suspicious." Joe said as Eddie left before he neared Barry and Patty. "OK, explain."
"The way they died, it wasn't any ordinary poison gas." Patty said. "Look." She gestured to the corpses.
"The boss collapsed by the table. This guy made it ten feet away. That guy had a chance to move and fire three shots into the window trying to break the glass. But they all started in the same spot." Barry explained.
"It was as if that gas picked them off one by one, not all at the same time." Patty explained.
Joe realized what was going on. "My gut feeling, if we're gonna solve this one, we're gonna need backup."
"Yeah." Barry nodded.
S.T.A.R. Labs
"Fascinating. A metahuman that can manipulate poison gas." Wells said as Barry, Joe and Patty filled them in.
"Is it just poison gas or can he control all aerated substances?" Cisco said.
"And how is he able to formulate the connection? Is it physiological or psychological?" Caitlin added.
"This individual can create a mental nexus using gaseous substances." Wells said.
"You mean connect with gases on a molecular level? That is ridiculously cool." Cisco said, enthusiastic.
"They get excited about this stuff." Barry said.
"The only thing I'm excited about is putting criminals behind bars." Joe said.
"Uh, last I checked, we had to shoot Mardon and Black committed suicide. And how is Iron Heights supposed to contain metahumans?" Patty pointed out.
"Well, I guess it's fortunate the ones you've encountered so far, are no longer with us." Wells said indifferently.
"Are we really going to execute every metahuman criminal we meet?" Patty argued.
"Patty's right, you geniuses are gonna have to come up with some place to hold them." Joe said.
"A metahuman prison. Sweet." Cisco smiled.
"Until we figure a way to remove their powers." Wells agreed.
"There is one place here that might hold them." Cisco said as it hit both Wells and Caitlin, both of them looking at Cisco stunned.
"You can't be serious. We haven't been down there since..." Caitlin stopped, reliving the pain. "It's cordoned off.
"Cisco is right. It could be modified to act as a makeshift prison." Wells said.
"What could?" Barry inquired.
"The particle accelerator." Wells said, much to Barry's, Joe's and Patty's shock as Caitlin seemed to be reliving the pain.
Later, CCPD
Barry was analyzing the lung sample from the Darbinyan mobster's corpse as Patty was going over the evidence from Nora's death.
"We've been over this hundreds of times." Patty said. "Everything points back to your father. But knowing now what we know… how can we have been so blind?" She sighed.
"It's not your fault, Patty. It's not like any of you had any reason to believe me." Barry said.
"But I should've." Patty said. "All the times you were right, when case-solving… you know, I looked up to you."
Barry turned his head to her as the computer was analyzing the lung sample. "Really?"
"I mean, I found it impossible, the story about the man in the blur but… your enthusiasm. Your drive. Your passion for science. Sometimes I'd go over your CSI reports, to study more." Patty said. "You were my inspiration, when I wanted to become a CSI." Barry smiled. "I wish I had done more for you."
"You're doing more now, Patty." Barry said. "You're one of the kindest people I know. Selfless and compassionate."
"Not enough to listen to you. Looking back, I—"
"Don't." Barry held her hand. "What's done is done. Don't dwell on it."
Patty smiled as she held his hand. "From now on, I'm always going to be here for you. And we'll find the man in yellow and get your Dad out of prison. I promise."
Then, Barry's analyzer beeped as he and Patty turned to it as the results were printed out.
"That's strange." Barry said.
"No residue of gas in the tissue? How is that possible?" Patty wondered. "Evaporated, maybe?"
"I don't know but we'll need to get a fresh sample." Barry said.
"Wait, wait. Do you see this?" Patty said, pointing at the results. "It says that there were two strands of DNA inside the tissue."
"How did someone else's DNA get inside the victims' lungs?" Barry wondered before his radio went off.
"Available units, we have a report of a toxic gas attack in the Central City Shopping Mall." The radio announced as Barry got up.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're not going there, are you?" Patty intervened, getting in his way before Barry picked his suit from the locker. "Barry, we don't even know what are we dealing with."
"Patty, I have to go." Barry said before he sped off as she sighed.
S.T.A.R. Labs
"I patched into the mall security system. According to witnesses, the gas attack was in the elevator in the north wing." Cisco said.
"Which one is the north wing?" Barry asked.
"The one with the Big Belly Burger." Wells said as Cisco stared at him. "I eat." Wells shrugged.
Central City
Barry sped into the mall into the elevator and saw that the woman had been lying on the floor, dead as he sighed from his failure. Barry saw some green mist go into the fire exit as it formed into a bald man in Iron Heights inmate suit.
"Why did you kill that woman?" Barry demanded.
"She deserved to die." The man said. "Now, go run away. I still have one more name on my list. Don't make me add you to it."
Barry tried to punch the man but his fist went through him as the man evaporated before regaining his form. The man punched Barry, who groaned before he turned into the green gas, knocking Barry down and Barry suffocated as he inhaled the gas, falling on his knees.
S.T.A.R. Labs
"Barry. Barry, can you hear me?" Wells called out, when Barry did not reply.
"His vitals are weak, but he's alive, Dr. Wells. I'm sure he's fine." Cisco said before Barry sped in, suffocating.
"I can't breathe." Barry said weakly.
"He needs oxygen. Get the crash cart!" Wells ordered as Cisco got up and rushed away.
Barry was on the stretcher, the top half of his suit open as Caitlin rushed in.
"Barry." Caitlin called out.
"Cut me open. The poison is still in me." Barry choked out.
"He brought us a sample. We need to do a pulmonary biopsy. Extract an active portion of that gas." Wells ordered.
"I can't give you any anesthetic. Your metabolism will burn through it." Caitlin said.
"I heal quick. Remember?" Barry reminded.
"Do it." Wells ordered.
"Cisco, give me the syringe." Caitlin ordered as Cisco handed her the syringe. "This is gonna hurt a lot."
"It's a small needle. You probably won't feel it." Cisco assured him.
"You're definitely going to feel it." Caitlin said before she pierced Barry's lung as he gasped in pain and passed out.
Barry came to as Cisco and Caitlin were at his side.
"The Streak lives." Cisco said.
"You'd be dead if your lung cells didn't regenerate quickly." Caitlin said.
"Oh, my chest feels like that one time I had a cigarette." Barry said as Cisco and Caitlin stared. "Yeah. Teen me lived for danger."
"Is he here?" Patty called out as she rushed in and hugged Barry tightly and he groaned. "Oh, thank God. You had me scared to death. Are you OK?"
"He's gonna be fine. He's lucky he heals fast." Caitlin said.
"Jesus, don't ever do that to me, Barry. I was worried you wouldn't make it back alive. What… what happened?" Patty asked.
Barry looked sad as he remembered. "That meta killed her."
Patty sighed. "I know. Joe and Singh and the rest are going over Judge Howard's old cases, see if there might be a suspect."
"It's too late. I should've been faster." Barry said weakly as Patty held his shoulder.
"Barry. What happened is not your fault. You may have powers but that doesn't make you all-powerful." Patty said as Barry considered. "I've been there. Trust me. Cops deal with this every day." She took a breath. "When I was a rookie detective, I got a call about a stand-off in a shop. My senior partner and I tried to talk them out of shooting each other. It didn't work. And I saw them shoot each other, right in front of me." Barry saw how was she reliving the pain. "I kept reliving it for weeks. But they told me that I needed to accept that…"
Patty took a breath. "Some people you can't save, no matter how hard you try. Blaming yourself is not going to help. The worst thing is living with that your best wasn't enough or that guilt over messing up. Look, Barry… I know it's hard to hear… but sometimes you have to accept that even your best might not be enough. And you'll have to find a way to love with it."
Barry stared and considered as Patty held his hand.
As Barry recovered, he and Patty went out before they saw Caitlin on edge at the treadmill.
"Hey." Barry said.
"Are you OK?" Patty asked.
"You were freaked out when Wells mentioned the accelerator. Is it about Ronnie?" Barry asked as she nodded. "My mother died fourteen years ago." Barry said. "I used to think that the further away I got from it, the less it would hurt." He sighed. "But some days, the pain… it's worse than the day it happened. Some things you can't fight."
Caitlin took a breath as they sat next to each other. "For so long, I've been terrified of going into that hole." She said, referring to the pipeline, where she had lost Ronnie in the explosion.
"What if we go with you?" Patty offered to console her.
"I'm sorry you have to go through all of this." Patty said as she and Barry were accompanying Caitlin. "I can't even imagine—"
"He was a hero." Caitlin said. "He saved so many lives that day and no one will ever know what he did."
"We do." Patty said.
"He was a hero." Barry said.
"I didn't want him to be a hero." Caitlin said as she turned to them, her voice breaking. "I wanted him to be my husband."
Barry and Patty hugged her, trying to console her before Cisco called out through P.A.
"Guys, you down there? You gotta come look at this." Cisco said.
They returned to the Cortex as Cisco showed them the 3D molecular model on the computer.
"Hey, check this out. It's a 3D molecular model of the gas from your lungs." Cisco explained.
"We have identified the toxin." Wells said.
"Hydrogen cyanide?" Barry asked.
"What's interesting is what's mixed in with the cyanide. A sedative." Wells explained as it hit Barry and Patty.
"Of course. The night of the explosion, was anyone executed?" Barry asked as he turned to Patty and she paled upon remembering.
"Oh, no." Patty said, horrified.
"What?" Wells and Cisco turned to them in confusion.
"That sedative is given to the inmates before they are executed on the death row by inhaling cyanide gas." Patty said. "And I think I know who it is. Check out if any inmate was executed on the night of the particle accelerator explosion."
"Kyle Nimbus." Caitlin said as she pulled out the profile.
"That's him." Barry said.
"I should've known." Patty groaned. "He was a hitman for the Darbinyan crime family. They testified against him and Judge Howard was the one, who sentenced him to death."
"He must have been affected by the explosion while he was being gassed." Wells realized.
"We thought he was dead, the execution was complete. That's why we couldn't ID him." Patty said.
"The database only has records of the living." Barry said as Patty nodded.
"Barry, he's going after the people that put him into prison." Patty said.
"He said there was one more person on his list." Barry remembered.
"I know who it is." Patty breathed out, horrified. "The lead detective who arrested him."
"Who?" Barry asked.
CCPD
Eddie's phone rang as he answered it.
"Eddie." Barry called out.
"Barry, what's up?" Eddie said.
"Hey, do you know where Joe went? He's not picking up his cell." Barry said.
"I'm not sure." Eddie said.
"Eddie, it's important I speak to him. I need to know where he went." Barry pleaded.
"He went to Iron Heights to see your dad." Eddie said, leaving Barry horrified.
S.T.A.R Labs
Caitlin handed Barry a syringe with some red liquid.
"Barry, I reverse-engineered an antidote to the toxin. I hope you won't need it." Caitlin said.
Iron Heights
In the visitor room, Joe was talking with Henry, promising to get him out of prison before the guard behind Joe suffocated as the green gas entered and Joe and Henry stared before the gas formed into…
"Nimbus?" Joe stared in disbelief. "You're supposed to be dead."
"Same to you." Nimbus said before turning into gas as Joe inhaled it and suffocated as he collapsed to the floor, getting a seizure as Nimbus disappeared through the vents.
"Joe! Guards! Somebody help!" Henry yelled, banging on the glass.
Barry sped in and injected Joe with the antidote and as he turned to Henry, Barry vibrated his face, so that Henry would not recognize him.
Joe breathed normally as Barry relaxed.
"Go get him." Joe said weakly as Barry sped off.
Barry sped outside the prison, facing Nimbus.
"So, you come to finish what the gas chamber couldn't?" Nimbus challenged.
"You're going somewhere you can't hurt anyone ever again." Barry said.
"Wrong." Nimbus said before turning into gas.
"You need to stay away from him, Barry. Do not breathe him in." Caitlin instructed.
Barry started to run away from Nimbus. "I'm not sure how that helps me, guys." Barry tried to catch Nimbus but passed right through him.
"You can't fight him, Barry. Just keep him coming at you. That should zap his strength." Caitlin suggested.
"Gas is the least stable form of matter. This metahuman will not be able to stay in his mist form for long. His particles will need to reform." Wells advised.
Barry sped off down the road as Nimbus turned into the mist again, chasing him before he turned into his normal form, exhausted. Nimbus again turned into the mist as Barry dodged before Nimbus again returned to his normal form, panting out in exhaustion.
Barry rushed at him, knocking him out.
"Barry?" Wells called out.
"We win." Barry said.
Later, Central City General
"He's gonna be fine." Barry said.
"Thank God." Patty sighed in relief. "And Nimbus?"
"S.T.A.R. Labs will hold him." Barry said and Patty narrowed her eyes. "What?"
"Barry, I… get that… Iron Heights will not hold them but the idea of metahuman criminals locked up in underground cells with no trial and inhuman conditions…" Patty trailed off.
"It's the only place that can hold them." Barry pointed out.
"I know. I know. But… we have laws. Metahumans aren't some… pile of trash you can just ditch away. Besides, locking them in small spaces like that one, who's going to feed them? What about their rights?" Patty pointed out.
"Well, then, what would you have me do?" Barry questioned. "Like you said, it's not like Iron Heights can hold them. And even if S.T.A.R. Labs could help them with the means to contain metas, they don't trust Wells anymore. Am I supposed to put them all down or let them die?"
"I didn't say that." Patty protested. "But, Barry… with what we've seen, I understand that our options are limited but… honestly… I'm probably never going to be as fine with them as you or Wells or Cisco or Caitlin. I get why but—"
Barry nodded. "Patty… if there will ever be another way to contain metahumans, we're gonna find it. I promise."
Patty nodded and smiled. "That's what I like about you. You always try to find a way to do the right thing. Even if there may not be one. Sometimes I wish I had your heart, Barry."
They both chuckled and then the atmosphere was filled with some tension neither of them could explain as they neared each other and kissed for a moment before pulling away.
"Sorry." Barry said. "I didn't mean to—"
"Me either." Patty said. "But… it felt… nice."
"Did you like it?" Barry asked.
"We might need to try that few more times to find out." Patty teased as they left, holding hands.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.