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.
Ferris Air
Barry was at the runway, running and dodging the gunfire from a drone controlled by Cisco as Wells and Caitlin observed.
"That was too close." Caitlin noted, worried about Barry.
"He told me to make it hard." Cisco reminded.
"Pretty sure he didn't tell you to make him dead." Caitlin argued.
"Remember, this is just supposed to be a training exercise to improve Barry's speed." Wells said.
"Cisco, you gonna bring it or what?" Barry called out.
Cisco hesitated before turning to Wells. "Bring it." Wells said.
Caitlin watched with her goggles as the drone fired a missile and it knocked Barry down upon hitting the ground and exploding as Cisco, Caitlin and Wells looked a little shocked. Barry groaned before getting up, facing the drone.
"Why isn't he running away?" Caitlin demanded. Unnoticing to them, Wells, seemed to be getting up slowly, about to intervene. "Barry, run away." She whispered, worried.
The drone fired another missile but Barry caught it and threw it at the drone, destroying it as they all relaxed and Wells sat down, while Barry came back to them.
"Very impressive, Mr. Allen. Your reaction to stimuli at super speed continues to improve." Wells said.
"It's still not enough." Barry grumbled.
"It will be." Wells promised. "Keep working like you are, you stay focused like you are, and you will be ready next time your man in the yellow suit comes around."
"I think you mean 'The Reverse-Flash'." Cisco said as Wells turned to him as Caitlin shot Cisco a look. "What? He said it, not me. And he's right. Yellow suit, red lightning, and evil. The reverse of Barry."
"Meh." Caitlin shrugged.
"Actually, I kind of like it." Wells said.
"I'm so ready for another round. How many drones do you have?" Barry said, ready to run again.
"Two, and they've got lasers." Cisco said.
"No." Wells and Caitlin said in unison.
Later, Central City
Barry, Joe, Patty and Eddie went to investigate the break-in into the garage with expensive sports car but to their surprise…
"Are you sure nothing's missing?" Joe asked.
"That's what the supervisor said." The officer confirmed as Joe, Eddie and Patty shot him looks. "I can check again." He walked off as Barry was examining the shattered "glass" on the floor.
"Bar." Joe said.
"Hey." Barry took a breath, examining the scene and looking at the shards on the ground. "Uh, well, the breakage indicates that the door somehow had zero viscoelasticity when it hit the ground."
"Somehow, the steel shattered like glass." Patty explained as Barry took a closer look at one of the fragments, noticing something familiar.
"It was frozen." Barry said as it hit him, Joe and Patty.
"Snart." Joe said.
"He's back." Patty added.
"I thought Snart was some world-class thief." Eddie seemed confused as he looked around. "All these expensive cars, he didn't take any of them? Doesn't make sense."
"Eddie, put out an APB on Snart." Joe ordered.
"Got it." Eddie walked off as Barry, Joe and Patty realized why did Snart break into the garage.
"Snart wasn't here after these cars." Patty said.
"He was setting a trap." Joe nodded.
"For me." Barry said. "And by me, I mean—"
"We know, Barry." Patty nodded.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
"Captain Cold is back." Cisco said as they entered the Cortex.
"And he was setting up a trap for Barry." Patty nodded.
"For a non-metahuman, Leonard Snart is proving to be quite the nemesis." Wells noted.
"He still has the cold gun, the one he stole from us. The one I built." Cisco said.
"You said he was setting a trap for Barry?" Caitlin asked as Barry and Patty nodded.
"If Snart wants a fight, then I'll give him one." Barry said as Wells, Cisco and Caitlin looked worried.
"Well..." Wells paused.
"What, you think Barry shouldn't take him on?" Patty questioned.
"I didn't say that, Detective." Wells shook his head before turning to Barry. "But, Barry, as fast as you are, you cannot be everywhere at once. And it becomes then a question of priorities. In the last month, you have made a commitment to increasing your speed, enhancing your reflexes and it's working. You're finally getting faster."
"OK, but what am I supposed to do? Just ignore Snart?" Barry demanded.
Wells took a breath. "The last time you had a fight with Snart, a train derailed. You were lucky to get all those people to safety. Now, if you don't give him that fight..."
"…he may just back off. And there'll be no casualties." Barry finished, considering.
"But how are we supposed to stop Snart without Barry's help, if he has the cold gun you built?" Patty pointed out as she turned to Cisco.
"Look, Patty, Cisco and I will work with Joe and the police and devise a way to catch Cold." Wells said as Cisco shot him a look. "Yes, I said it, Cisco. As soon as it came out of my mouth, I heard it."
"Yeah, we can definitely come up with ways to neutralize Snart." Cisco promised.
"Listen, Barry, whether or not you go after Snart, that's your choice. We here, we will do whatever we can to support you." Wells stopped at the monitors. "But after this past Christmas, after the events with the Reverse-Flash... I just think he poses a greater threat to all of us." He finished with a dark look in his eyes.
"So, what, he should put the people of the city in second place?" Patty argued.
"Look, Patty, I understand your concern but…" Wells took a breath, seeming calm. "The other speedster is a metahuman as I've said, I think he poses a bigger threat than a thief with a cold gun that we built. I am certain we can devise a way to stop Snart without putting the force and Barry in danger."
Patty shook her head in disapproval as she left.
Later, CCPD
"Do you think it's a good idea for Barry to be focusing on the man in yellow and not Snart?" Joe asked Patty as Cisco was demonstrating his newest invention, the heating ribbon on the ballistic shields of the police force, while he was holding a sprayer with liquid nitrogen.
"Honestly, I'm not sure." Patty said. "But I trust that Cisco, Caitlin and Wells will find a way to figure something out."
"So, Dr. Wells and I, we took your ballistic shields and…" Cisco stopped as Singh gestured for him to lower the sprayer. "…and we lined them with a pretty sweet compacted heating ribbon designed to repel temperature attacks especially those reaching absolute zero, like Captain Cold's gun."
"That's supposed to keep us from getting turned into popsicles?" One of the officers questioned skeptically, crossing arms.
"Um, yeah. Yeah, they will." Cisco nodded.
"How are we supposed to trust anything from S.T.A.R. Labs after you nuked the city?" Another officer questioned.
"You're right." Cisco sighed after a moment. "You're right. You shouldn't trust us. What happened a year ago, that was our fault. And we can't change the past, as much as we wish we could. But tomorrow is a different story. Tomorrow's a different thing." He walked down, while nearing the shield, aiming the sprayer. "We just want the chance to make things better. Observe."
Cisco sprayed the nitrogen onto the shield but it quickly melted, leaving the officers impressed.
"Nicely done, Cisco." Patty smiled.
"Dummies are one thing, my officers are another." Singh warned.
"You seem pleased with yourself, doctor." Joe said as Wells smiled.
"Well, I'm just happy to help the police catch Snart, Joe." Wells said.
"Barry might be able to help too." Joe pointed out.
"I think Cisco's heat shields are up to the task." Wells countered. "Joe, if Barry feels he's gonna endanger lives by taking on Snart and feels he's gonna save lives by training to take on the man in yellow, that's his call."
"You know, Barry said the exact same thing to me." Joe countered. "I thought, "Doesn't sound like him." I guess because it sounds like you." He eyed Wells with suspicion.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
Caitlin was searching "Firestorm" on the Internet as Barry approached her. "Hey."
"Aah!" Caitlin gasped, startled.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." Barry said apologetically.
"It's OK. I was just kind of focused." Caitlin said.
"Gotcha." Barry nodded before turning to the screen on the computer. "What's Firestorm?"
"It's one of the last things Ronnie said to me before he flew away." Caitlin said as Barry looked sympathetic. "My dead fiancé can fly. Haven't broke that to my parents yet. You doing OK?
"Yeah, yeah. I just..." Barry took a breath. "Wells thinks I should focus on getting faster after what happened during Christmas. Joe and Patty believe that I need to help them."
"And you're not sure what to do." Caitlin realized and Barry nodded. "When Ronnie and I started dating, everything started to change. I wasn't sure what to prefer anymore but… together, we were able to work through it. He wanted to scuba-dive, I wanted to talk, stuff like that." She took a breath. "Look, it's not my place to tell you whether it's more important to help the police catch Snart or get faster to stop the man in yellow but—"
"Scuba…" Barry trailed off.
"What about it?" Caitlin asked, confused.
"Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. It's an acronym." Barry said as Caitlin caught up to his thoughts, typing away.
"What if Firestorm isn't a word?" Caitlin said before she got a result. "Fusion, Ignition Research experiment and Science of Transmutation Originating RNA and Molecular structures." She read as she went over the article briefly. "It's 800 pages." She turned to Barry with a nervous chuckle.
Barry chuckled back nervously too as he leaned onto the computer, speed-reading the article. "There's a lot of stuff in there, but it mostly focuses on transmutation, which is the process of altering the structure of an element by unzipping atoms..."
"…and rebuilding it to create an entirely new element." Caitlin finished.
"Yeah. Well, the article was co-written by Jason Rusch, who was a grad student here at Hudson University." Barry explained. "So, if anybody knows what happened to Ronnie..."
"…maybe he does." Caitlin finished as Barry nodded. "Thanks."
Central City
Osgood and Rachel Rathaways went out from the plane with one of their servants carrying the painting "Fire and Ice" before Snart appeared, firing with his cold gun.
"Someone better call 911!" Snart said and a few moments later, Joe, Eddie, Patty and the police appeared with Cisco's shields.
"Snart, freeze!" Joe ordered.
Snart fired from his cold gun but it had no effect before he turned his head. "Mick!" He called out and a moment later, a bald man wearing goggles with some hi-tech gun just like Snart's cold gun appeared.
"What the hell?" Joe demanded.
"Why do they call you people 'the heat'? I'm the heat!" Mick roared before he fired from his flamethrower, forcing the police to retreat as Snart fired from his Cold Gun.
"Forget them, Mick. Get ready for him." Snart said.
"It's beautiful." Mick said, actually admiring the fire.
"Mick. Mick. Mick!" Snart yelled as Joe pulled out his gun and fired, hitting Mick's flamethrower as it stopped spraying fire. "We go, now!" Snart ordered as he and Mick retreated.
Later, CCPD
Barry entered and saw the officers being treated as he approached Joe and Patty. "Hey. Hey, are you OK?" Barry asked, worried.
"We're fine, don't worry." Patty said as Joe hung up.
"Snart's new partner, he's got this handheld flamethrower." Joe explained. "Almost everyone was treated on the scene, but we got two in the Burn Unit though."
Barry sighed, realizing he could have stopped Snart and his partner. "I'm sorry. I should've listened to you."
"This isn't your fault, Barry." Patty held his hand. "But the next time Snart and that pyromaniac show up, kick their asses."
Barry nodded.
Central City
"The cop's bullet ruptured the secondary internal fuel chamber." Mick said, fixing the flamethrower. "Could've been worse. You were right to get me to learn every part and circuit of this thing. Repairing it was…" He aimed at Snart, who aimed his cold gun back at Mick. "…a snap."
"Give me one reason I don't kill you right now." Snart sneered.
"It's gonna be hard to find someone else to listen to your winning speeches." Mick smiled.
"You lost it out there just like the last job. You lost focus, became obsessed." Snart said.
"I'm obsessed?" Mick snorted. "What about you? You're usually counting the seconds. Got the whole thing planned out. Dotting T's, crossing I's. But all you care about now is the Flash."
"We have to put him down." Snart said.
"Why?" Mick questioned, turning to the painting they had stolen. "We got the finger painting, it's worth millions, it's ours. We're rich. Job done."
"What about the next job, Mick, and the job after that?" Snart pointed out. "With weapons like these, no one can stand against us. No one except the Flash." He took a breath and closed his eyes. "If you want out, take the painting and go." Mick lowered his flamethrower, considering. "But if you want Central City to be our home, where we can do and take whatever we want, this is our chance. Your chance."
Mick considered before he burned the painting. "Very motivational. How do we get him?"
"The Flash isn't so different from us. He's got partners too." Snart said. "I have a tip on where one of them is going to be." He pulled out his phone to show a picture of Patty.
Central City
"Listen, I haven't seen Snart in months. I've got no clue where he's hiding." The man said as Patty interrogated one of Snart's old associates.
"Are you sure?" Patty asked, showing Snart's photo as the man nodded. "He has a new partner. Tall, bald, likes fire. Ring any bells?"
Patty came to her car, calling Joe. "Joe, I think I've got an ID on…" She stopped, when the car door was frozen with a beam and she paled and slowly turned around to face Snart and Mick.
"Car trouble?" Snart chuckled.
S.T.A.R. City
Barry stared at the treadmill as Wells entered.
"I hope we're not enemies." Wells said as Barry turned to him in surprise.
"What? No, of course not." Barry assured.
"I thought you might blame me for pushing you to pursue your training rather than help the police." Wells said upon entering.
"Look, I'm an adult. I make my own choices, my own mistakes. And I'm glad you push me to be better." Barry said as Wells crossed his arms, intrigued. "It's so weird. There was a time in my life that I would have paid money for your autograph. And now we're..."
"…partners." Wells finished.
"I was gonna say 'friends'." Barry corrected as Wells smiled.
"In case you doubt it, you push me to be better too." Wells said.
Barry smiled back before Cisco entered. "Guys, you have to come look at this." They followed him into the Cortex as he and Caitlin showed them the blueprints on the heat gun.
"When the heat gun was fired, it increased the surrounding temperature of the air dramatically. Sort of like an extreme heat wave." Cisco said before he realized he had come up with a new name for Snart's partner. "Heat Wave."
"Stop doing that." Wells snapped as Caitlin shook her head.
"OK. I measured the temperature output of both the cold and heat guns, right? And while the cold gun achieves absolute zero, the heat gun reaches absolute hot, or the hottest temperature an object can reach." Cisco explained.
"Planck temperature." Barry nodded.
"So potentially, these two guns could cancel each other out." Wells theorized.
"But in order to do that, we'd need to force Snart and his partner to cross the streams of their weapons." Caitlin said.
"You mean like Ghostbusters?" Barry questioned, intrigued.
"That film is surprisingly scientifically accurate." Cisco chuckled.
"And really quite funny." Wells muttered, shaking his head as Barry's phone went off and he answered the call.
"Hey, Joe. What's up?" Suddenly, Barry looked alerted as he sped off.
Central City
The officers and CSI's were examining the crime scene as Barry saw Patty's car with the door frozen, realizing what happened.
"Joe. Anything?" Barry asked.
"There's no sign of Patty." Joe said.
Barry wiped his face, worried before he turned to Joe. "We're getting her back. We have to find Snart.
"Damn right we do." Joe nodded. "Come on, let's go."
Later, CCPD
Barry and Joe entered the precinct as Eddie approached them, showing them a file.
"Joe! Joe! We got a hit. Second pair of prints. They belong to a Mick Rory." Eddie said as Joe and Barry read the file.
"Who is he?" Barry asked.
"Big-time arsonist. He and Snart worked a job last year that went bad. Half of Rory's body was burned in a fire that got out of control. He escaped from an ambulance on the way to the hospital, hasn't been seen since." Eddie said as he looked puzzled. "What would they want with Patty?"
"Joe. Thawne. It's on every station." Singh turned on the TV as they saw Snart and Mick with restrained Patty on live TV.
"Greetings, citizens of Central City. I am Leonard Snart, but you can call me 'Cold'." Snart said as Barry and Joe had worried looks as they saw Patty trying to struggle out of Mick's hold. "I'm gonna make this very simple for everyone. That red streak you've been hearing whispers about. The one mysteriously saving people these past few months? Well, surprise, he's real. He calls himself the Flash." Barry glared at Snart and Mick. "Porter and Maine. Tonight. Sundown. Come out, come out, wherever you are, Flash. Show the whole world you're real. Or this woman dies."
"Don't listen to them! It's a trap!" Patty cried out before the feed ended.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
"Hey." Barry answered the call.
"OK. You're on. Good luck, son." Joe said.
"Thanks." Barry nodded.
"Barry, after tonight, everyone's gonna know that the Flash exists." Joe cautioned. "Are you ready for that?"
Barry took a breath. "I'll see you soon." He hung up before putting on his suit.
Central City
The police established a perimeter at Porter and Maine before they saw a bolt of lightning pass by them.
"Did you see that? That was him." One of the officers said. "That was the Flash."
"I don't believe it." Singh was perplexed as he saw the speedster.
"Believe it." Eddie said.
"The scarlet speedster." Snart called out as he and Mick showed up. "Any preference on how you'd like to die? The flame? Or the frost?" The Flash neared them as Snart chuckled. "Not in the mood for chitchat. Gotcha. Ready when you are."
Snart and Mick aimed their weapons as Barry dodged the beam from the cold gun and the fire from the flamethrower, passing by them.
"Cover me!" Snart ordered. Mick fired torrents of fire that Barry dodged. "Run on this." Snart froze a hydrant and Barry crashed towards the frozen geyser as Barry took cover behind a car.
"Barry, you OK?" Caitlin called out.
"I'm fine." Barry groaned.
"You know what you have to do." Wells said.
"Yeah. Get them to cross beams and cancel their guns out. I know." Barry said.
"Mick!" Snart shouted as Mick fired at the car behind which was Barry hiding as it exploded. "Ah! Gotcha!"
Barry sped away from Snart and Mick, panting out in exhaustion. "Yeah, not as easy as it sounds!"
Cisco and Joe drove in as they both went out, driving into warehouse district.
"Are you sure Patty's here, Cisco?" Joe asked.
"Starting from Patty's car, I pieced together surveillance footage that lead us to this area." Cisco said as he looked at his tablet.
"But there's over a dozen warehouses." Joe said.
"But only one of them has had the heat on the last three nights. And I'm betting Mick Rory likes it hot." Cisco said as Joe pulled out his gun.
"OK. Stay behind me." Joe said as he opened the door. "Patty?"
"Patty, are you here?" Cisco called out as they heard muffled screams before they saw Patty restrained to the chair and gagged. "Patty, we're gonna get you out of here."
Patty shook her head, letting out muffled screams as Cisco rushed to her and triggering a tripwire.
"Cisco. Cisco, down!" Joe pulled him back and rushed to Patty, tackling her down as the floor under her exploded.
Cisco put down the gag from Patty's mouth as she panted out. "Patty. Are you OK?"
Patty nodded. "A little in shock but I'm fine." She turned to Joe. "Thanks. Both of you. Thank you."
"We're not gonna let anything happen to you, Patty. I let down one friend, I'm not gonna let down another." Cisco promised as he hugged her, while she chuckled.
The Flash kept dodging the beams from Snart's and Mick's weapons as he rushed up the windows before he jumped down but the beam from Snart's cold gun sent him flying back.
Snart and Mick were about to finish Barry off as he groaned in pain, lying on the ground. Suddenly, Eddie appeared, shielding Barry from the cold beam and the torrent of fire with one of Cisco's shields. "Hold on! I got this. Go, go, go!" Eddie shouted before Barry sped him away to safety and then faced Snart and Mick again.
"I can't get them to cross streams. Speed isn't getting it done." Barry said.
"You're right. Maybe the way to do this is not by going faster." Wells realized.
"It's going slower." Barry said.
"Yes." Wells said as Barry took a breath. It was a risky move but it was the only one he had left.
Barry rushed forward, groaning in pain as Snart's cold beam and the torrent of fire from Mick's flamethrower hit him until the streams crossed and the impact sent Snart and Mick flying away. Mick was knocked out the moment he hit the ground, while Snart groaned, trying to take the cold gun before Barry stepped on it.
Snart laughed. "I didn't see that coming. I guess you win this time."
"There won't be a next time." The Flash sneered before Eddie approached him, aiming his gun as the Flash vibrated his voice. "Thank you, detective." He sped off as Eddie and the officers apprehended Snart and Mick.
Later, CCPD
The officers applauded, while dragging in Snart and Mick, while Mick was fighting back violently, trying to struggle out of the cuffs and the officers' grip.
"We'll burn every last one of you pigs! Get your hands off me!" Mick roared before Joe aimed a gun at him and Mick roared again as the officers dragged him away.
"Your partner's a real hothead." Joe said.
"That's funny." Snart said calmly.
"It's over, Snart. You're finally going to prison." Patty said, glaring.
"Don't tell me you're sour, Detective." Snart said.
"How did you know to look for me, anyway?" Patty demanded but Snart was silent before the officers took him in.
"Nice work, Eddie." Barry smiled at him.
"It wasn't me. It was the Flash." Eddie said before he handed Snart's cold gun and Mick's flamethrower to Cisco. "We're not gonna be needing these for trial. You'll make sure...
"…they'll never hurt anyone ever again." Cisco finished as he put the weapons into the box.
"Mr. Ramon. Thank you." Singh shook his hand with Cisco as Barry and Patty walked off.
"You hear that? The Flash is a hero." Patty teased as Barry chuckled before they both had worried looks. "I guess they knew about me from the train station but how did they find me? Do you think they've been stalking me, Cisco and Caitlin? Snart saw our faces."
"Someone might have tipped him off about you." Barry said.
"But who? And why?" Patty wondered.
S.T.A.R. Labs
Wells looked at the photo of Patty before turning off the screen. Well, that plan didn't work out as he expected. No matter, there were other contingencies in motion.
Central City
Snart and Mick were on their way to Iron Heights in the prison transport as Mick glared at Snart, who had his eyes closed, smiling and seeming calm.
"I should have burned the entire city block down, but instead, I listened to you." Mick growled. "We had the painting. We had the guns. We could have had everything. But you had your stupid plan. How's that stupid plan working out for us now?"
"Everyone's seen the Flash now. This changes things, again." Snart said calmly.
Suddenly, an explosion and tremors followed as the van shook.
"What the..." Mick was startled as he turned to Snart, while gunshots ran out. "Snart!"
"Relax, Mick." Snart said calmly.
"What's going on?" Mick growled as Snart leaned forward.
"The plan." Snart smiled as the door opened to reveal a long-haired brunette woman with blue eyes and black leather jacket with a gun. "Hey, sis."
"Nice." Mick smiled.
I think you all know who tipped Snart and Mick off about Patty.
Well, things are getting a bit more complicated for her and Barry.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.