Out of Time Part 1

I don't own The Flash!

Barry and Linda were at the bowling alley, walking and talking when they saw Iris, Eddie, and Bella. This was the first time Bella had left the house in a week and they decided to have some fun. Barry and Linda passed by the trio not noticing them yet.

Of course, Iris has to ruin it by saying "Hi, guys."

"Iris, Eddie, Bella, hey." Barry looked at his sister surprised for a moment before pretending to be happy to see her.

"What are you guys doing here?" Linda asked as they walked up to the small group.

"We thought it would be fun." Bella smiled then moved to grab her ball and take her turn.

"Barry, Bella, and I have been bowling here since we were kids. Why don't you guys join us?" Iris invited the couple and Bella gave Eddie a pleading look.

Seeing the hesitation on the two's faces and Bella's puppy dog eyes, Eddie stepped forward "We don't want to interrupt your date." He smiled.

"No, it's- it's okay." Linda said.

"Are you sure?" Barry checked.

"Of course. It'll be fun." Linda nodded.

Bella sighed loudly and when everyone looked at her she smiled "Relax! I just got a gutter ball. Linda, Barry we'd love for you to join us."

They had been bowling for about ten minutes when Iris got yet another spare "Ha-ha!" She laughed "You smell that, Barry? That's defeat."

"You never told me you were such a big fan of bowling." Eddie told his girlfriend as she came up to him.

"Sure I have." Iris insisted "This is one of our favorite places in the world. Right Bella?"

"Uh-huh." Bella nodded distractedly as Iris directed her first comment to Linda. Barry then rolled a Strike and did a silly little dance.

"I am impressed, Allen number two." Iris laughed.

"I heard the owner was thinking of selling." Barry said "Maybe you could write a piece on the place? Wait 'Number two?'"

"Yes, number two. And I'm still iffy on whether bowling is an actual sport." Iris smiled.

"I've wondered the same." Eddie interjected.

"Well, sport or hobby, I am still better than you." Iris said as she walked up to Barry yo wipe away a bit of ketchup from their fries that was on his cheek.

Linda looked jealous and sat down next to Bella "So what going on with you and your brother?" She asked.

"I don't know what you mean." Bella said, feigning happiness.

"Come on! It doesn't take a reporter's intuition to know there's a problem between you two. Is it me?" She asked.

"No! No, Linda, you're lovely and I know Barry really likes you. We just had a disagreement about a week ago and he hasn't apologized yet. No, I'm not going to apologize. He did something stupid, as usual, and I had to fix it. But I got hurt when I did. I'm fine now but I'm still mad at him." Bella tried to explain.

"That's awful!" Linda gasped "What exactly happened?"

"It's a long story. Maybe I'll tell you someday." And Bella stood up to grab her bowling ball. She walked forward and rolled the ball down the alley, knocking down all the pins on her first try. "Ha! I always was better than you two!" She laughed at Barry and Iris's faces.

"Oh, Eddie, you're up, man." Barry noticed the score board.

"Oh, right." Eddie stood up.

"Whoo!" Iris cheered for her boyfriend "Go get 'em, babe."

Eddie was returning his and Bella's shoes when he got an alert on his phone.

"I got to go." He turned back to the group "Emergency at the morgue."

Iris came up and gave him a kiss "Bye."

"See you at home. Later Bella, Barry, Linda." Eddie called as he hurried out.

"Hey, Linda, sorry, I should go too." Barry tried to explain "They're gonna need someone from the crime lab." He gave her a quick kiss "I'll see you."

Bella rolled her eyes "Well the boys are out. Guess that means the night is over. I'll see you tomorrow Iris. Linda, it was great hanging out with you." And she walked out leisurely.

"Well, um...that was fun." Linda said as Iris walked over to her.

"Yeah." Iris quickly agreed. After a moment of awkward silence the two walked away from each other.

Barry reached the morgue seconds before Bella.

"What do you see? What's going on?" Cisco asked.

"A dead body." Barry answered.

"Barry, you're in a morgue." Cisco reminded his friend "You're gonna have to be a little more specific than that."

"He means the coroner." Phoenix flew in the door and sighed "He's dead."

"Bel-" Barry began.

"Phoenix." And suddenly police sirens were blaring "Get out of here. I'm on better terms with the police than you are. You don't want to be caught here with a dead body. Eddie might think you killed him."

"STAR Labs. Tonight. Meet me there, please. We need to talk." Barry grabbed her foot as she started to fly away.

After a moment of consideration Phoenix groaned "Fine. But lock me in your pipeline prison again and there's gonna be hell to pay." She shook her foot and he let go. Phoenix rocketed out and away.

Barry ran back to STAR Labs to change then immediately back to the crime scene.

The Captain walked into the morgue "The mayor's made this high priority." He told Joe.

"Copy that, Captain." Joe nodded and the Captain walked away only to slam into Barry, and spill his hot foamy coffee all over himself

"Allen," he growled "my fiancé just bought me this!"

"Yeah," Barry apologized "I'm so sorry, captain."

"Eh!" The captain cut him off "Just help Joe find out who did this."

"Mm-hmm" Barry wiped his face as Joe came up to him.

""What's with all the water?" Joe asked "did the sprinkler system go off or something?"

Barry sighed "No, I checked all the sprinklers. They're all intact. But look at this." He led his foster father over to the dead body of the coroner.

"What is that, ice?" Joe wondered.

"Mm-hmm." Barry hummed "The coroner has multiple impact bruises on his torso," he lifted the coroners shirt "All the size of a tennis ball. Judging by the amount of ice and water on the ground, I'm guessing he was killed by hail."

"Hail? In here?" Joe asked and Barry nodded.

"Yeah."

"Do you think this was Snart?" Joe asked.

"No, his cold gun couldn't have done this." Barry told him.

Eddie came up to the pair "Joe, we got something. The coroner's office just installed an automated dictation system. Listen to this." He played the tape.

"Please, no more." Begged the voice of the dead man beside them.

"I'll stop when you tell me..." came a familiar voice.

"Stop." Pleaded the coroner.

"Who killed him?" Demanded Mark Mardon.

"I know that voice. That's Mardon." Joe told the other two.

"I want a name." Commanded Mardon.

"Clyde Mardon's dead." Eddie argued but Joe shook his head.

"It's not Clyde Mardon. It's his brother, Mark."

On the tape the coroner finally gave up "It was Detective West. He shot him. Detective Joe West killed your brother."

Mardon growled "He will pay for what he did." And the coroner started screaming.

Back at STAR Labs the Mardon brother's mugshots were on the screen.

"So Clyde Mardon has a brother?" Caitlin asked.

"And both brothers survived the plane crash," Dr. Wells rolled towards the screen "and then the dark matter released from the particle accelerator explosion affects them both in virtually the same way."

"Yeah," Barry said "Only Mark's powers seem to be a lot more precise. To be able to control the weather like that, indoors?"

"You'd have to be a Weather Wizard." Cisco excitedly named the villain of the week "Ooh, been waiting since week one to use that one." He slurped his soda "Mm!"

"Trigeminal headache?" Caitlin asked him sympathetically.

"What?"

"Trigeminal headache. Brain freeze." Caitlin clarified.

"Then why don't you just call it a brain freeze?" Cisco asked.

"So I'm guessing you running around a twister in the opposite direction isn't gonna do the trick this time." Joe walked over and Barry shook his head.

"I just remembered." Cisco realized "During our run-in with Mardon, Clyde Mardon, I was tinkering with something to help attract unbound atmospheric electrons."

"Like a grounding mechanism?" Bella asked, walking into the cortex, everyone stared at her "What? You asked me to come. Now I'm here. But with precautions taken."

"Bella?" Joe asked "Where have you been? We haven't seen you in quite a while."

Bella looked from her foster father to her brother then back at Joe then Barry again "You didn't tell him did you?" She asked and Barry blushed.

"No." He mumbled.

"I thought not. Well, Joe, my darling brother locked me in the pipeline when he found out who I really am."

"And who are you really?" Joe asked worriedly.

"Phoenix." Bella held up her hand and made flames dance across her palm.

Joe stepped back and stared at Barry "After all the times she's saved your ass, you locked her in the pipeline?"

"Um..." Barry rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly "Yeah?"

Joe rolled his eyes and sighed "Where did I go wrong with you?"

"Nah, he's just an idiot." Bella smirked.

"Look Bella, I'm sorry. That's why I asked you to come here. So I could apologize. I was a jerk." Bella cleared her throat "Okay! I AM a jerk! I shouldn't have locked you up. I'm very very sorry."

"I forgive you Barry. But this is the last time before I set The Batman on you. Ya hear?" Bella threatened.

"You know Batman?!" Cisco shouted.

"Story for another time." (A/n and another chapter!) Bella waved him off "Go on, how do we stop Mardon 2.0?"

"Right, so the only way that Mardon can control the weather..." Joe's phone rang but Cisco kept talking "is if he can tap into the atmosphere's natural electrical circuit, and if we take away that circuit..."

"Clear skies." Bella finished and everyone looked at her "What? I know stuff!"

"Singh's checking in." Joe held up his phone "I gotta go."

"Yeah, I'll meet you at the station." Barry said.

"Joe," Dr. Wells rolled forward "We'll find Mardon. Don't worry."

"I'm not worried at all." And an obviously worried Joe left the Cortex.

Word count: 1756 words

I'm back baby! I'm not gonna be able to do a complete episode for this so I'll try to do the rest as soon as I can. For now don't forget to comment, vote, and add to your reading lists!

Love,

The Author