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.
Barry and Patty were on the couch, watching the film on TV as Patty laughed. "Let me get this straight, it didn't occur to those guys that the cylinders are dangerous?"
"Prequels. You can expect inconsistencies. Have you ever seen 'The Thing'?" Barry asked.
"The original from Carpenter was better. Frankly, the prequel didn't impress me." Patty said as Barry shot her a look.
"Come on, I mean, yeah, it was messy but you gotta admit, it explains a lot of things." Barry said.
"How's the training going?" Patty asked, changing the subject.
"I'm still not fast enough." Barry said as she held his hand.
"Barry, we're gonna take down the man in yellow." Patty promised and they were about to kiss before their phones went off.
"It's Joe."
"And Singh."
"That's never good if both of our phones go off at the same time." Barry said.
Later, Iron Heights
Barry and Patty entered the prison cell, investigating how did Clay Parker escape before Joe entered with a prison log in his hand.
"How did half of the cameras in the prison shut down?" Patty wondered. "You'd think someone would've noticed Clay Parker somehow getting out."
"But according to this log, he was still locked in his cell." Joe said.
"Not completely." Barry said, showing Joe some vial with particles floating inside it.
"What's that?" Joe asked.
"It's a kind of organic particulate residual." Barry said.
"It was here on the floor here in the cell and outside in the hallway. Like a trail of breadcrumbs going all the way outside." Patty added.
The guards then passed by the cell with cuffed Henry. "Dad." Barry smiled as Henry smiled back before they both held each other's hands as Henry smiled at Patty and Joe.
"So word around here is Parker pulled a Shawshank?" Henry asked.
"Yep. And none of the other prisoners heard or saw anything." Joe confirmed.
"They wouldn't talk to you about it." Henry said.
"Leaves us with not a lot to go on." Barry said.
"Well, if there's anyone who could figure out how Parker got out of here, it's you, son." Henry said before turning to Patty with a smile. "And you."
"Come on, Allen. Let's go." The guard said.
"Duty calls." Henry said as the guard escorted him as Barry and Patty smiled at Joe.
"So my dad just happened to come by?" Barry questioned.
"The guard owed me a favor." Joe shrugged.
"Thank you." Barry said.
"You're a good man, Joe." Patty said.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
Barry showed Wells, Cisco and Caitlin the residue they had found in prison as they analyzed it in the computer.
"Not even Barry's cells move this fast. I've never seen anything like it." Caitlin said.
"So Clay Parker is a metahuman?" Joe questioned.
"Not so fast. The particulate residue that Barry and Patty gathered at Iron Heights does contain Clay Parker's DNA but also DNA of a woman." Wells said.
"Whoever's DNA it is, it must be the one, who got Parker out of prison and it's likely that she's a metahuman. If it was Parker, you'd think they'd notice it in prison." Patty realized.
"Run her DNA against the CCPD criminal database. See if you get a match." Barry suggested.
Cisco typed away as he pulled up a profile. "Yahtzee. Her name's Shawna Baez. Mostly petty crimes, and this girl likes to party, apparently. A long list of disorderly conducts at bars."
"So I'm guessing we find her, we find Clay Parker." Joe said. "Barry? Patty?"
"Yeah."
"Coming." Barry and Patty followed him.
"In the meantime, let's track these particulates and see how they work." Wells said.
Later, Iron Heights
Barry and Patty were in the visitor's room, talking with Henry.
"What do you mean, you've been asking around?" Barry asked.
"Do you know a Marcus Stockheimer?" Henry asked as Barry handed Patty the receiver.
"A gangster. Not really high class." Patty shrugged. "He's from South Side. Why?"
"Word is Clay Parker was a runner for Marcus." Henry explained. "When Clay got pinched, Marcus lost a lot of money. Marcus doesn't like losing money.
"So Parker can't leave Central City until he's paid off his debt?" Barry realized.
"From what I'm told, if you're a member of the Stockheimer crew, you get out, first thing you do is pay them a visit or suffer the consequences." Henry explained.
"All right. No more playing cop." Barry warned. "Promise me." He said with a pleading look in his eyes.
"I hear you." Henry nodded with a reassuring smile.
"All right." Barry nodded.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
Caitlin was drinking from her mug as Barry and Patty entered.
"I was analyzing the particulates that Clay Parker and Shawna Baez left behind. I found something very interesting." Caitlin showed them the cells on the screen. "When Clay's cells come into contact with Shawna's, they adopt her properties."
They saw the worried look in Caitlin's eyes. "Is everything OK, Caitlin?" Patty asked.
"Why would you ask that?" Caitlin asked nervously.
"You're doing that biting-your-lower-lip thing you do when something's bothering you." Barry noted.
Caitlin cleared her throat. "I'm fine."
"You sure?" Patty questioned.
"Cisco says I don't have a life." Caitlin suddenly snapped, crossing her arms.
"You don't, do you?" Barry asked.
"I do." Caitlin blushed, getting awkward. "I cook and I eat. And I read and I help you."
"Does that sound like a 'normal life' to you?" Patty raised an eyebrow.
"Hey." Caitlin protested.
"So, why don't we hang out?" Barry suggested. "The three of us, getting a drink, tonight?"
"That's… not a bad idea. Go for a club, chit-chat, who knows what else." Patty chuckled.
Suddenly, the computer bleeped an alert as Caitlin turned to it. "There's an armed robbery in progress. Two suspects. Male and female. In their 20s."
"Bonnie and Clyde strike back." Patty quipped.
"Time to ruin their social life." Barry quipped.
Central City
The Flash sped to the scene as he faced Shawna and Clay, with Clay having the guards of an armored van at gunpoint, while Shawna teleported with bags of cash before the Flash appeared.
"Oh, I've read about you. You're the Flash." Shawna smiled as the Flash chuckled back. "I've heard you're real fast. Let's see if it's true." Suddenly, she teleported herself, appearing behind the Flash as he turned around. "Catch me if you can."
The Flash quickly caught her, wrapping his arms around her. "I can."
Shawna stepped on his foot, causing for him to let her go as he groaned before she teleported herself onto the stairwell. "You've gotta be kidding me." The Flash groaned.
The Flash attempted to catch her but Shawna teleported herself up again. The Flash again caught her but as she teleported herself again, the Flash was holding onto the railing, about to fall down.
"Not too many men can keep up with me." Shawna smirked before she teleported herself to her car. The Flash sped towards her but as he heard the gunshot, he barely caught the bullet at the back of his neck that Clay fired at him from behind with his gun but the sudden stinging pain forced him to fall down as Shawna and Clay managed to escape.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
"This is a bullet wound. You're lucky it just barely broke the skin." Caitlin said, treating Barry's wound.
"Guess I'm a lot faster than a speeding bullet." Barry said.
"And at least you heal fast enough that broken bones will recover within hours." Patty added.
Barry then noticed Wells entering. "Shawna Baez. She can teleport."
"As in, 'Beam me up, Shawna.'?" Caitlin asked.
"Yes. Of course. Quantum entanglement." Wells realized as they turned to him. "The ability to manipulate interconnected particles over an infinite distance. Or as Einstein put it, 'Spooky action at a distance.'"
"Every time I got close, she'd disappear." Barry said. "It was like we were playing a game of..."
"Peek-a-Boo." Caitlin said suddenly as they turned to her. "Come on, can't I name one?"
"There's no way Barry can catch someone, who can move from one place to another, if he doesn't know where is she gonna go." Patty said.
"Everybody has limits, Detective. Now that we know Shawna's powers, we'll focus on those limits." Wells assured as he left.
"So, are we still in for hanging out tonight?" Patty asked, turning to Caitlin.
Later, Central City
"Well, he doesn't really have pipes." Patty shrugged, observing the man on stage singing karaoke.
"Would you do better?" Barry asked.
"I'm not really much of a singer." Patty said before they saw Caitlin enter, wearing a black dress.
"Hey." Barry said.
"Nice dress." Patty said.
"I don't always dress like a high school principal." Caitlin shrugged as Barry and Patty chuckled before Caitlin sat down.
"According to their former associates and friends, Shawna Baez and Clay Parker used to hang out in this club." Patty said.
"I thought we could kill two birds with one stone." Caitlin said. "Look for them and get ourselves back out there."
Then they saw how sad Patty looked as she sighed. "Hey. What's wrong?" Barry asked.
"Nothing, it's just…" Patty took a breath as she looked around. "Bad memories, that's all. I'm sorry, this was a mistake, I shouldn't have come here."
"Patty. Patty!" Caitlin called out as Patty waltzed out before Caitlin turned to Barry in confusion. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know." Barry shook his head.
Patty went into an alley, as she was pacing and taking deep breaths.
"Patty. Patty!" Caitlin called out.
"Are you OK?" Barry asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Patty said, breathing out, making it apparent to both Barry and Caitlin that she was far from fine.
"Patty." Caitlin said, raising her brows. "What's wrong?"
"I shouldn't have…" Patty breathed out. "It's just bringing back my Dad, you know?"
"What do you mean?" Caitlin asked.
"When I was 17, I used to help my Dad in a little shoe shop after school, because we had little money. Except, one day, I decided not to show up because I was being stupid and silly with my friends." Patty breathed out. "I didn't even call to tell him that I was ditching."
Barry then relaxed, remembering how she had told him about her father being mugged, and how it was hard for her to talk about it and now he knew why. "That day he got mugged and killed, did he?"
Patty nodded, breathing out, her eyes getting wet. "It was supposed to be me. He brough the deposits to the bank but it was supposed to be me."
"Patty…" Caitlin trailed off, not sure what to say.
"Come here." Barry said, hugging her tightly as Patty sobbed into his shoulder, while Caitlin then joined to give the embrace, doing the little she could to comfort her.
"It's gonna be OK, Patty. It's gonna be OK." Caitlin assured.
Later, they accompanied Patty back into her apartment.
"I'll take it from here. Thanks for the backup." Barry whispered to Caitlin, who nodded.
"I'll see you both tomorrow, OK?" Caitlin said as she walked off, while Patty entered the apartment as Barry turned on the light and closed the door behind them, while she was taking off her coat.
"Barry… I'm sorry for ruining—"
"No. You don't have to apologize." Barry interrupted her. "It's not like it's something you want to talk about. We get it, really."
"It's just been so long that I miss my Dad so much sometimes…" Patty sniffed. "Sometimes it feels like yesterday… other days it feels like a lifetime ago."
"I know what that's like." Barry nodded, remembering his mother. "Look, Patty, whatever you need, you know I'm here for you, do you?" He assured, holding her hand with a comforting smile.
Patty took deep breaths as they stared into each other's eyes. Neither of them was sure, who moved first but then they kissed as she took off Barry's jacket and he took off her top, while they laid down on the couch, giving into each other.
The alarm on Patty's phone went off as she picked it up. "Damn."
A moment later, Barry came to as well. "What the—"
"Barry, we should head back." Patty said, quickly looking for her clothes as Barry scrambled to his feet as they both got dressed.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
"Look, I'm sorry about last night, I should've considered you might get bad memories from—"
"Don't apologize, Barry. If anyone should be sorry, it's me." Patty said. "I just—"
"Sometimes it's easy to forget what you've lost, I get it. I'm not blaming you for anything." Barry said as she smiled.
"Thanks. You always have a good heart." Patty said.
"Hey." Caitlin smiled as she entered. "Are you—"
"I'm fine, really." Patty said before they entered the Cortex as they saw Wells glaring at Cisco with crossed arms as Cisco seemed sheepish.
"What's wrong?" Barry asked.
"Cisco… has something he needs to tell you." Wells said, the situation reminding Barry, Patty and Caitlin of parents visiting the school principal after their child had done something very wrong.
"Hartley's gone." Cisco said.
"He escaped from the pipeline?" Barry demanded.
"What? How?" Patty asked.
Cisco swallowed before confessing the truth. "I let him out."
"Why would you do that? After what he did to Barry and how many innocent people he hurt? Cisco, have you lost your mind?" Caitlin demanded, glaring.
"Hartley said he knew what happened to Ronnie." Cisco explained.
"I told you to let it go. I didn't want you looking into that for me." Caitlin reminded.
"I wasn't doing it for you. I..." Cisco paused and sighed. "I sealed Ronnie into the accelerator before it blew. He told me to wait two minutes. And I waited, but he didn't come back." Caitlin looked away, clearly reliving the pain but amplified by the new facts coming up to the surface. "And I can't stop thinking, 10... 20 seconds... and Ronnie wouldn't be like he is right now. I've wanted to tell you so many times. I'm so sorry."
"So you carried that around this whole time?" Caitlin asked as she neared Cisco. "Do you know what Ronnie would say if he was here? He would say that you did the right thing. It wasn't your fault. What happened that night wasn't anybody's fault." She assured him. "Come on. Don't we have a teleporter to catch?"
"We do have a teleporter to catch and fortunately, we do have a promising theory." Wells said as he approached the computer, where were Shawna's particles on the screen. "Take a look at this. Now, this is the normal behavior of the particulate that Shawna left behind. Watch what happens when we remove light." The particles suddenly stopped moving, much to Barry's, Caitlin's, Cisco's and Patty's surprise. "Shawna can only become entangled with something she can see. Take away her ability to do that..."
"…she can't teleport." Cisco finished.
"Exactly." Wells said.
"So we just need to get her into a dark space. How do we do that?" Caitlin asked.
"It's a valid question." Wells said before both Barry's and Patty's phones went off as they read the text and paled.
"Oh, my God…" Patty whispered.
"What's wrong?" Wells asked as he, Cisco and Caitlin gave Barry and Patty confused looks.
"My dad. He's been stabbed." Barry said.
Later, Iron Heights
Barry, Patty and Joe were in the prison infirmary as Henry was on stretcher after being treated as he had a bruised eye.
"Dad, what happened?" Barry asked.
"A rather stern reminder, I'd say, not to poke around Marcus Stockheimer's business." Henry said.
"Dad, I told you to stop." Barry reminded.
"Your dad called me with more intel." Joe said.
"And…?" Patty asked.
"It helped us track down Clay and Shawna and arrest Stockheimer." Joe said.
"I managed to screw up Marcus' big heist too so..." Henry chuckled.
"You two kept working together and didn't tell me?" Barry demanded as he turned to them both.
"It isn't his fault. I did it to help you." Henry said.
"How is you getting stabbed and beaten going to help Barry?" Patty argued.
"Look, I… I don't get to feel useful very much in here." Henry smiled as he turned to Barry. "So if I can help you for a change, I'm gonna want to be there for you. Just like you've been there for me all these years."
"Yeah." Barry nodded as Patty sighed. They could understand that.
"You said Marcus had a big heist coming up?" Joe asked as Henry nodded. "Do you know anything else about it?"
"Dad. Tell me who did this to you." Barry asked.
"It doesn't matter, slugger." Henry assured him.
"You said you wanted to help me, so help me." Barry insisted.
"One of Marcus' boys." Henry said after a moment of consideration. "Julius."
"OK." Barry nodded.
The Flash sped Julius out of his cell as they suddenly appeared outside Iron Heights, much to Julius's confusion. "What the hell?"
"Evening, Julius." The Flash quipped.
"How'd I get out here?" Julius demanded.
"You escaped." The Flash shrugged.
"When they catch me trying to escape, they're gonna add five years to my sentence." Julius said, paling.
"Ten, actually. Unless you tell me where Marcus Stockheimer's next job is gonna be." The Flash said before the prison alarms went off. "Whoa. Guards will be here any second. I'd start blabbing."
"OK! OK." Julius gave in. "It's a TDK money transfer truck coming from the federal reserve bank in St. Louis. Supposed to be millions. Delivery's around 8. That's all I know. I swear."
"That's right now." The Flash realized as he heard guard dogs barking before he sped off, leaving Julius alone as the guards were nearing him.
"Hey! Hey, what about me?" Julius called out.
Later, Central City
Shawna and Clay were in a car following the truck with the money as Shawna teleported herself into the truck and back with the cash she had collected. As the car was driving down the road into the tunnel, suddenly, they had to face the Flash.
Shawna teleported herself out of the car as she was facing the speedster. "Why the hell do you care what we do? Are you a cop or something?"
"Something." The Flash nodded.
Shawna pulled out a telescopic stick and teleported herself, hitting the Flash in the back from behind before she teleported herself again and hit him in the leg as he fell on his knees. The Flash got up but she hit him in the back again, before he dodged and grabbed her.
Shawna teleported them both onto a construction worker lift as she kicked off a worker. The Flash was forced to catch the worker and stop his fall. The Flash then chased Shawna as they struggled, with the Flash dodging as she attacked with her stick again.
The Flash heard the engine rev as he turned around and saw Clay about to drive off, with Shawna teleporting herself onto the passenger seat. The Flash dodged as Clay was about to run him down.
"Barry, remember. She cannot teleport if she cannot see. Limit her field of vision." Wells advised.
The Flash picked a wrench and ran on the wall, breaking the lights, leaving the tunnel in the dark before he smashed the lights on Clay's car. The Flash opened the car to see Shawna in tears, with the driver's seat empty.
"He left me." Shawna said, clearly heartbroken as the Flash felt sad for her.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
Shawna was later locked in the Pipeline cell as she was looking around, confused, trying to teleport out.
"There any way she can teleport out of this?" Barry asked.
"It's impossible. It's one-way glass. It's mirrored on the inside. No one dangerous is ever gonna get out of this thing again." Cisco said, clearly still bitter about letting Hartley escape.
"Shawna." Barry called out as Shawna looked sad. "Clay left you. He's out there and you're in here."
"You know what the crazy thing is?" Shawna said. "I still love him."
They felt bad for her as Cisco closed the door.
"'Crazy' is right." Caitlin quipped
"Some people are worth being crazy for." Barry said as they were walking off with Caitlin.
"Look, guys, I'm sorry about freaking out the other night." Patty sighed.
"No, we get it, really. It's OK." Caitlin assured her. "But, Patty, if you need anything, we're here for you."
"Thanks." Patty smiled as Barry and Caitlin hugged her.
"And we're going to find a way to help you with Stein and Ronnie. And that's a promise." Barry said.
Later, Iron Heights
Barry again came to visit Henry in the prison infirmary.
"Hey, did you see this?" Henry showed Barry the news article about the Flash facing off Snart and Mick.
"No. I haven't." Barry said.
"The Flash." Henry said, looking at the paper. "I saw him once in here. Watched him save Joe's life."
"Joe told me about that. I guess he was lucky." Barry said.
"Hmm. Lucky Joe." Henry mused as he stared at the article. "Strangest thing. I get roughed by up Julius, end up in here. Next thing I know, Julius is caught trying to escape. Claims the Flash broke him out. Won't be seeing Julius for a long time now." He shot Barry a look as they both chuckled. "Guess I'm lucky too, huh?"
"Dad." Barry chuckled. "If I was the Flash, don't you think that you'd be the first to know about it?"
"Yeah." Henry smiled. "Well, if the Flash were my son, I'd tell him a few things. First off, I'd tell him it's a dangerous world, so be careful." Barry looked at his father, considering. "Then I'd tell him he's a hero. And he's saving a lot of lives." Henry smiled at him proudly. "But the most important thing for him to know, I feel is that his father's proud of him."
Barry nodded, his eyes getting wet as Henry held his hand.
Just, if you want to know out of curiosity, the film Barry and Patty were watching at the beginning was "Prometheus" (2012 film), a prequel to "Alien". I myself found "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant" like "Meh" and trying to leave a bad taste for a good franchise. Not bad as films but as linked to Alien series it could've been handled better, just my opinion.
Not sure if I did fine with the change of Caitlin's drunken karaoke performance and later Barry accompanying her home, since that's one of the few moments I would've wanted SnowBarry in The Flash as I tried to go more with Barry/Patty, or as some people call it, SpAllen and I didn't do Barry again talking with Iris as The Flash, since that would be too annoying and on verge of stalking, IMO and as for Iris getting Barry's photo, let's just say she got a picture of him, when he fought Snart and Mick in 1x10, OK?
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.