The Nuclear Man

I don't own the Flash!

Bella was helping Barry get ready for his date. And by helping she was giving opinions on his various outfits. Since he told her he was The Flash, he was able to super-speed in front of her. Joe was getting annoyed with all the outfit changes.

Barry came downstairs and Joe shot him a thumbs up, Barry shook his head and ran upstairs to change again.

"Add a jacket!" Bella called after him. Barry came back down, this time wearing a jacket "Aww you do listen to me." She teased.

"If you change one more time, I'm gonna shoot you." Joe threatened.

Barry left on his date with Linda Park and Bella went home to change into her Phoenix getup. When she was changed she headed to STAR Labs.

"Hey Cisco, Caitlin, Dr. Wells." She greeted.

"What's up Phoenix?" Cisco gave her a high five then went back to talking on the phone.

"How's Ronnie?" Caitlin asked.

"He's doing great." Phoenix reassured her "I think he and Professor Stein have a good handle on their powers now. Maybe you can see him soon. I'll broach the subject next time I see him."

"Please, it's always a little old lady." Cisco said.

"Barry?" Phoenix asked.

"Yep." Cisco popped the p.

"Leave him alone, he's on a date!" Phoenix scolded.

"Thanks Phoenix, but it's already taken care of." Barry's voice came from the phone.

Martin Stein messed up big time. Phoenix was scolding him gently enough but it was obvious she was disappointed in him.

"Look Professor," she sighed "I don't have a lot of options here. You nearly killed a man. Burned him alive. What would you do?"

"I understand if you no longer wish to train me, Miss Allen."

"No!" Phoenix said sharply "No. I like training you. You're a great student and a good person. You lost control last night. But I get the feeling there's more to it than that. Wanna talk about it?"

Stein sighed "I'm afraid I'm beginning to lose hope that I will ever return to a normal life. That I will ever see my Clarissa again. Ronald wants to see Dr. Snow very badly."

Phoenix pulled the man into a hug. "Oh Professor, I'm sorry you felt this way. But I have an idea. Let's get you to STAR Labs. They can help."

"Not yet. Please, Miss Allen."

"All right, but soon." Phoenix hugged the man again and then flew off.

Caitlin and Dr. Wells were on a stakeout in front of the Stein's house.

"Want some of my fries?" Dr. Wells asked Caitlin.

"No, thanks." Caitlin replied "Why would he come back here?"

"Because this is his home." Dr. Wells explained "I don't mean the actual house. I mean Clarissa. She's his home. We all want to go home again. You know, where we feel safe. Where we feel loved. Ronnie's your home."

"Not anymore." Caitlin shook her head.

Dr. Wells sighed "Remember what I told you on your first day at STAR Labs?" He asked.

"'A scientist's work is never finished.'" Caitlin quoted

"A scientist's work is never finished." Dr. Wells repeated "Well my work did this to Ronnie and did this to Martin Stein. But it's not finished, and it won't be until we bring them both home."

Suddenly a fiery figure flew over the house, landing in the backyard.

"So I'm assuming you have Barry on speed dial?" Dr. Wells asked.

The Flash arrived on the scene. "Professor Stein." He called "Hey, I'm not here to hurt you, and I know you don't want to hurt anyone else, so if you could just not-" Stein ignited his head and hands "flame on." Barry trailed off.

Stein blasted fire towards the hero but Barry dodged and the fireball hit a nearby car, making it explode. Barry rushes forward and slammed Stein into a brick column Stein freed one arm and sent a blast of fire racing through the sky. Then he grabbed The Flash's arms and flew up. As they soared through the sky the STAR Labs van followed closely behind. Unaware that another hero was on their way.

Phoenix flew up and up. She caught Barry as he fell and placed him safely on the ground. Then she rocketed back up. Knocking Stein out of the air. They landed in an old lot and Phoenix hit her head hard on the ground. She moved her head slightly, to extreme pain.

Stein ignited his hands and head again and was about to burn Barry when Caitlin jumped out of the car and called "No!" Stein saw her and for a moment he felt Ronald wrestling for control so he flew away into the night.

"Well, that was terrifying." Barry groaned.

"Tell me about it." Phoenix muttered.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Phoenix was raging from the bed. Caitlin had threatened to tie her to it if she didn't stay there for at least an hour. "What the hell were you thinking? You didn't even think to tell me? I could have helped. Or, at the very least, warned Professor Stein so that he wouldn't freak out on you."

"I'm sorry." Barry hung his head.

"Look, clearly you aren't going to stop hunting for Professor Stein," Phoenix started.

"Um, says who?" Cisco asked.

"Are you?"

"...No." Cisco looked down.

"I thought so. Now as I was saying, clearly you all aren't going to stop hunting Professor Stein, so I'm going to, against my better judgement, help you." Phoenix shuddered "But we're doing this my way. We're calling in the big guns."

"What?" Barry asked.

"Not what. Who." Phoenix grinned.

Getting Clarissa Stein involved was the best idea that week. After one meeting, Phoenix telling them where to find the Professor, the scientist's wife had gotten him back to STAR Labs. Professor Stein was certain he could separate himself from Ronnie using Nuclear Fission. He wanted Phoenix to help.

Ronnie/Stein had just gotten a haircut. He and Phoenix walked into the cortex.

"I don't suppose it's necessary to point out you're all staring?" Stein asked and Phoenix elbowed him hard in the ribs.

Everyone looked down and Dr. Wells said "Out apologies."

"It is remarkable, I feel clearer than I have since the accident." Stein observed "What did you give me?"

"It was a cocktail of anti-psychotics, depressants, and mood stabilizers." Phoenix explained calmly.

"The same formula used to treat dissociative identity disorder." Stein nodded "I assume this was your idea?" He asked Caitlin who nodded "Very clever, Cait."

"Don't call me that. Please." She asked. Phoenix came over and hugged her gently.

"I apologize." Professor Stein said.

"We'd like to run some tests on you, if you don't mind." Caitlin said, business-like.

"Of course Dr. Snow." Stein nodded.

Barry's phone buzzed and he picked it up, walking out of the room, he said "Hey, I'm so sorry I had to run out like that again. Uh, police business."

Phoenix rolled her eyes at the obvious lie. She knew it was Linda Park on the other end. Suddenly Barry ran out the door.

"Well goodbye to you too!" Phoenix said, frowning.

Caitlin was running the tests on Ronnie/Stein. "Are you comfortable?" She asked.

"A little warm." Stein replied.

"Ronnie used to always run warm." Caitlin remembered and checked the screen "Not that warm." She turned back towards him "Can I talk to him?"

"I'm sorry, my dear." Stein told her "I'm not sure it works like that. I can feel him though. I have these memories. Memories that I know aren't my own. One is particularly strong. Piedmont State Park? It's famous for the Hudson Falls. I know that I've never been, but I can remember those waterfalls perfectly."

Caitlin looked up, tears in her eyes "That's where Ronnie proposed to me."

"He loves you very much." Stein assured the doctor "That I can feel."

Then Wells radioed in, ruining the moment "Dr. Snow, can we see you for a minute?"

"Excuse me." And Caitlin walked out.

As she entered the cortex she saw Barry, Phoenix, and Dr. Wells waiting for her.

"You okay?" Phoenix and Barry asked her.

"Yeah, it's just confusing."

"What isn't confusing is what's happening to him now." Dr. Wells told the group "Ronnie's body is rejecting Stein's atoms like a host rejecting a parasite. The resulting instability is causing an exothermic reaction. I worry if his temperature continues to rise, it'll set off a chain reaction."

"And then what happens?" Barry asked worriedly.

"He could go nuclear." Phoenix gasped.

Suddenly Cisco walked into the room Ronnie/Stein was sitting in.

"Ronnie." His mouth fell open as Stein looked at him. "Not Ronnie." He realized.

"Martin Stein." And they shook hands.

"Cisco Ramon."

"Your colleagues are in the next room, not so subtly discussing my condition." Stein told Cisco.

Cisco came through the door shaking his head in confusion. "That's not freaky at all."

"It seems Ronnie's fight with The Flash has exacerbated the Firestorm Matrix." Dr. Wells observed "Its unstable. Exponential increasing the rate of fission inside his body."

"Well, how long does he have?" Caitlin asked.

"If his temperature keeps rising at the current pace, no more than a couple of hours." Phoenix said.

"But you can fix it, right?" Barry asked "I mean you- you can separate them before it's too late."

"Any attempt we make to separate the two of them could be catastrophic-" Dr. Wells began.

"A nuclear explosion." Phoenix finished.

"Right." Dr. Wells was getting annoyed "And a nuclear explosion of this magnitude would level this entire city. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Barry was practically begging for a solution.

"Unless the host body were no longer functional."

Caitlin raised her eyebrows "You wanna kill Ronnie?" She asked.

"No, I don't want to kill Ronnie. But in this scenario, Ronnie is the host body." Dr. Wells argued.

"If you kill Ronnie, you kill Stein. That's two people." Cisco responded.

"I don't know how else to stop it. And my guess is that if Ronnie and Professor Stein knew the consequences that we were all facing, they would make the same decision. It's two lives for millions."

"Enough! No one is killing anyone!" Phoenix shouted "This is ridiculous and downright stupid. I can't believe you would even suggest it, let alone consider it."

"Can you give us a minute?" Caitlin asked Cisco. He nodded and left.

"Caitlin, Phoenix..." Dr. Wells began.

"I've already lost Ronnie once." Caitlin stated "I'm not gonna do it again. You said we have a couple of hours. Use them." And she stalked out of the cortex leaving Phoenix and Dr. Wells alone.

Phoenix snarled softly as Dr. wells rolled out of the room.

Barry was talking to Stein and Phoenix decided she had better become Bella for a while to keep up her cover story. She flew home and changed a dress with a peachy skirt, whit top, and tan heels. She grabbed her matching purse and quickly headed back to STAR Labs.

Just as she walked in he heard Professor Stein ask Barry "Like a living nuclear bomb?"

"You know?" Barry asked.

"What?!" Bella pretended to be shocked "Bartholomew Henry Allen!"

"Bartholomew?" Stein asked hiding a snigger.

"Bella!" Barry jumped "How-How much did you hear?"

"Just something about a living nuclear bomb."

"Unstable nuclear fission was always a danger in the transmutation process." Stein tried to reassure the girl "Plus, you all argue very loudly." And he walked out.

"Go." Bella waved her brother after the Professor.

"I'm sorry." Barry hurried after him "But my friends are gonna figure out how to fix this, I promise."

Bella sighed and left, knowing she had played her part to the tee and Stein would keep her secret. She headed down to see Iris and relax for a while.

Barry could be such an idiot. A cute, a lovable idiot but an idiot nonetheless. He ate a ghost pepper to prove to Linda Park that he liked her and no one else. Bella watched the whole thing peaking from behind her fingers. When the whole deal was over she decided to mess with her brother a little bit. It was payback time.

"Hey Barr!" She called walking up to him "Fancy seeing you here!"

"Barry, who's this?" Linda asked.

"Dang, you really don't like telling people about me? Do you?" Bella teased "I'd be mad if I didn't know how much you loved me."

Linda raised an eyebrow.

Bella stuck out a hand "Bella Allen, nice to meet you."

Linda's expression immediately softened "Nice to meet you too."

Bella playfully pushed Barry aside and threw an arm around Linda's shoulders "Something tells me we're gonna be good friends." And they all laughed together.

"My sister is getting along with my girlfriend?" Barry joked "Now that's a first."

"Shut up Spice Champion." Linda teased.

"Spice champion? Ha! I'm already making tee-shirts for that." Bella giggled. Then she noticed Iris on a platform above them, looking sad she turned around and walked away. "Excuse me for just a minute. I came here to see Iris, we're going out for lunch. I'll see you two later." She followed her friend.

"Hey Iris, you okay?" Bella asked her.

"Yeah- yeah, I'm fine." Iris muttered.

"You don't seem fine. You seem upset." Bella said "Look, you don't have to tell me why, but I do think we should get out of here for a while. Let's go grab a bit to eat. Okay?"

Iris smiled slightly "Yeah, okay." The two linked arms and walked out the door.

After lunch Bella headed back to the lab in her Phoenix gear.

As she flew in she heard Cisco say "Looking for the Professor? Yeah, he's gone."

"What?" Phoenix followed the long haired engineer into the cortex.

"You guys almost done?" Barry asked Cisco and Dr. Wells.

"Hang on. Hang on." Cisco muttered.

"We found Stein." Bella and Caitlin walked in.

"He's in the Badlands." Caitlin announced.

"Middle of nowhere, 30 miles outside of Central City." Bella finished.

"Minimum safe distance." Cisco gasped.

"He's sacrificing himself." Wells realized.

"How much time does he have left?" Barry asked.

"Twelve minutes." Phoenix groaned.

"And... we're done." Dr. Wells concluded, finishing the Quantum Splicer.

"What is it?" Barry questioned.

"That is a Quantum Splicer." Phoenix explained.

"Will it work to separate them?" Caitlin asked.

"We'll know in twelve minutes." Wells sighed "Now Barry, Phoenix, even you two can't outrun a nuclear blast, so you get this device to Professor Stein, and you get out of there as fast as you can."

Caitlin reached over and grabbed the device.

"What are you doing?" Phoenix asked.

"I'm going with you." Caitlin was decided.

"No, you're not." Barry called.

"It's to dangerous!" Wells exclaimed.

"Barry and Phoenix don't know how to operate the Splicer."

"Cisco's gonna talk us through it." Barry told her.

"There's not enough time." Caitlin insisted "Let's go."

"Go!" Wells waved the heroes and the doctor away. Barry picked Caitlin up bridal style and ran out the door, following Phoenix who was still faster than him.

Stein loaded the gun in his hands, shaking slightly. Barry flashed onto the scene and set Caitlin down as Phoenix floated down from the sky.

As Stein/Robbie held the gun to his head Barry called "Professor Stein!"

"What are you doing here? You can't be here!" Stein shouted "Get her out of here now!"

"Please, look," Caitlin begged, running forward "Ronnie's still in there somewhere."

"All those people- Clarissa- I won't let them die!" Stein was trembling but defiant "It's better I end this now." And he lifted the gun back to his head.

"We can separate you!" Barry shouted.

"We can stop the explosion." Phoenix continued as she stepped towards Stein.

"How?" Stein asked.

"A Quantum Splicer." Caitlin took it out of her pocket.

"It's a fission device designed to bombard your atoms with as much energy as they experienced in the particle accelerator explosion. It should be enough to separate you." Phoenix explained.

"Please Professor, you have nothing left to lose." Caitlin pleaded. She hesitated then "Ronnie, if you're in there, I love you."

For a moment Ronnie gained control over his body, reached forward and kissed Caitlin gently with all the love he could muster. Then he pulled back and gave the reins back to the Professor.

"That was from him." Martin Stein told the teary eyed doctor.

"I look forward to meeting you in person, Professor." Caitlin said.

"Me too." Phoenix added "You've been a wonderful student and friend Professor Stein."

"Please Miss Alle- um Miss Phoenix, call me Martin."

Caitlin attached the Quantum Splicer to Ronnie's chest, as she backed away it engaged. The man's hands and head burst into flames almost immediately quickly followed by the rest of his body.

"It's not working!" Caitlin cried.

Barry grabbed Caitlin and tried to pull the frantic doctor away from the burning man.

"No! No!" She cried.

"Caitlin, Phoenix, we have to go." Barry tried to reason with them.

"No. Get Caitlin out of here. I can survive the blast. I'm staying." Phoenix said stubbornly.

"Fine!" Barry grabbed Caitlin and ran away.

Phoenix pulled off her mask and grabbed the Professor in a tight hug. She whispered softly to him "Shh, everything's gonna be okay. It'll be okay."

Then the fire receded into his body. For a moment Bella thought the whole thing was over. But then a massive explosion rocked the ground beneath her feet. She was blown backwards into a tree, with such force that it was knocked clean over. Bella fell unconscious still without her mask.

Word count: 2951 words!

Oh my god, you guys! I've written nearly 3000 words! This is the longest chapter I've ever written so I really hope you liked it. Please comment, vote, and add to your reading lists!

Love,

The Author