Friction

by DarkElements10

SEQUEL TO FUEL TO THE FIRE. Barry thought saving his mom would fix his life; but Flashpoint made things worse. His best friend is doomed to die. Cadence thought she could handle the Assassination Bureau's plan. But what's harder; your rival being your best friend or knowing the impending destruction of the world is your fault? -S3- Barry/OC

17. Wally's Fast But Jesse's Quick

17

Wally's Fast But Jesse's Quick

---

EARTH-2

"I already told you, I'm not expecting a package!"

"And I've told you, sir, that this is a package I'm sure you'd want to receive." Burnout clicked her tongue in frustration when the door was slammed shut in her face. A steely expression of annoyance graced her features, hardened after years of the dark side of life pushing her down. She had no patience for pushbacks. Things needed to be done and she wasn't going to go off schedule. "Well, I did try to warn you," She said before teleporting into the man's house.

Her sudden appearance in front of him, which was only seconds after closing the front door, made the man jump. His eyes widened in surprise as he pointed at her. "You're one of them," he stammered. "You're a meta."

"That's right." Burnout stretched out her arms and watched the man with a wary glance. A slow, evil smile came across her face. "And you're just the man I was looking for. You see, I have some business to take care of and you're just standing in my way."

"What do you want from me?" The man demanded. He backed away, moving towards the door. He reached out to grasp the doorknob when he was close enough. Burnout moved faster, she teleported next to him and lazily folded her arms and crossed her legs, leaning against the door, holding it shut. With a repeat performance of her teleportation and the increase in temperature around them, the man backed away. He rapidly shot backwards, feet hardly touching the floor as he moved to get away from her. In his haste, his feet became entangled with the carpet that covered his living room and pitched to the ground.

Burnout grinned and walked over to the man. Her footsteps were slow and calculated, her grin growing wider as each second passed. An excited flicker of flame shot through her eyes. She could torture this man, using every means of her powers to do so. But this was more fun. Watching him squirm in fear. Watching him on the edge of pissing himself knowing what was potentially to come.

"You…you work for Zoom?" He asked.

Burnout tilted her head back and let out a harsh bark of laughter. When her laughter subsided, she wiped at her eyes, where tears had formed. "Zoom. That's funny." Her smile immediately faded, and the look of stony amusement replaced it. "No. Zoom is nothing but a suit compared to what we're capable of." She extended her hand, starting to examine her fingernails. "And with Zoom now gone…well, let's just say we're now back to our old tricks. He did ruin things for us for a short time. Couldn't go out and do our thing for a while because of what he was doing. How he was getting people to work for him…" She frowned, noticing a crusting of dried blood attached to her fingers, sticking beneath her nails.

She must've stabbed the target before her harder than she thought. Who knew blazing nails would've worked? Well, it was more like a blow torch but that was beside the point. One quick stab to kill and simultaneously cauterize the wound and she was on to her next target. This one was starting to become a bit more bothersome, however. At least the last one had been asleep. In and out with a teleport and no one was the wiser.

This one was making it harder for her to keep going. But then again, she always did find it entertaining to watch them beg for their lives once they realized what was about to happen. This time, however, he wasn't begging. Interesting, Burnout thought. This one seems to know what's going to happen.

"Why are you doing this?" The man asked, watching as Burnout stepped closer to him. She swung her leg wide and lowered herself down to a crouch, straddling the man's body. Burnout's eyes shifted over his face, over his body, watching as he trembled, shaking violently.

That was more like it. Finally, Burnout ran a hand through her hair and looked around the living room. In a sweeping glance, everything was confirmed for her. No family. No one to care about him. No one to question where he went. A simple in and out. Just how she liked it.

"Well." Burnout shrugged. She lifted her hand, the orange glow radiating from her eyes to encompass her hand in a brilliant bursting blaze. In a matter of seconds, Anthony Bellows was covered in fire, reduced to a grinning skeleton before he could even scream. Burnout glanced around at the singed pieces of clothing that ruffled through the air, burning out into ash that sprinkled to the carpet. Then she grinned back down at the skeleton and winked. "Gotta pay that child support."

---

EARTH-1

"And what, may I ask, would I have of yours?" Amunet asked. Whether or not she was surprised to see Harrison with Cadence, it didn't show on her face. No, she was intrigued. The rising of her eyebrows giving her away. Her lips pulled back into a wide smile, showing off her teeth. Laughter escaped her lips and she pointed back and forth between Cadence and Harrison. "Wait, is this some sort of a clever father-daughter thing? Like you're saying that because she's here I'm in possession of her and you want her back? That's clever."

Cadence and Harrison exchanges glances but didn't respond. Amunet's wide eyes continued to shoot back and forth between the two as the silence stretched between them. Harrison's fingertips drummed against the trigger of the gun. Itching for the trigger to be pulled while simultaneously waiting for some answers before a quick reaction could be made.

"That's sweet," Amunet said. "Very lovely. And it's a pleasure to meet you Dr. Harrison Wells. Charmed, I'm sure." She backed away from the two and went to sit behind her desk once more. "To what do I owe this pleasure? Oh, yes, you've already said that there was something of yours that you wanted back. I'm quite unsure of what this bit of stuff is that you'd need."

"There has been some information stolen from my lab that I want back," Harrison explained. "Of which I'm sure that Mick Rory or Leonard Snart has been helping you with. Or the information they've received had helped you in some way."

"Oh, right, that encyclopedia thing." Amunet slowly twisted back and forth in her seat. She let out a huge sigh and rolled her eyes. "That sigh was one of annoyance. You should know there are differences between them, Cadey-Cat." Cadence grimaced, immediately turning hostile at the nickname. "Right, right, that's specifically held in high regard for your parents. I remember." She started to drum her fingertips on the desk top. "I assure you, the information I received from Leonard Snart and Mick Rory is nothing that I couldn't have found on my own. They're not quite the brightest bulbs in the lamp. At least Mr. Rory was not. How many times could I explain to him that there was more to life than trying to steal paintings and jewelry? The oaf would simply look at me with that dumb billy goat expression and mutter something about the bloody beer I'd serve." With a shake of her head and click of her tongue, Amunet added, "There are much finer things in life."

"Amunet," Cadence said firmly. Amunet's eyebrows rose in surprise. The fire metahumans seemed to have more spark in her as of late. Then again, the last time Amunet Black had seen her had been when she was only a few months short of leaving the Assassination Bureau. "I need some information."

"And what do I get in return?"

Now Harrison lifted his eyebrows. "What makes you feel that you should get anything in return? You're the one who has stolen property in their possession—"

"—Of which has the utmost technology that could change the world, that could be trouble if it's put in the wrong hands. Blah blah blah. I must say, Dr. Wells, for someone who is supposed to be so smart, you do come across as very well to-do." Amunet laughed when Harrison, in response to her taunt, lifted his rifle and pointed it directly at her. "I do hope you know what to do with that. There aren't too many people who have a good idea of what to do once they have that sort of power. The same can be said of a lot of things."

Cadence quickly lost her patience. She brought up a hand and rubbed at her forehead. "Amunet, this isn't what I came here for. I'm sure I'll need to sell my soul to you for some sort of repayment."

"It appears to me you've already done that, my dear. Has that empty shell you've become since coming across Breathtaker really taken so much of a toll on you? And to think I remember a time when you were so happy. With nothing but the world as your oyster, or however that ridiculous saying goes. Now it appears the world has managed to tear you down like the rest of us."

Sucking in a deep breath, Cadence did her best to keep from losing her temper before she said eerily calm, "Amunet. There are some questions I need answered and you're the only one who can do it. You're the one who is connected to everyone here in Central City."

Amunet gave a small trill of laughter and said, "Guilty and charged." She reached up and started to twirl some hair around her finger. "Now, what is it I can do for you, dear? What answers do you need? It does all come at a price but considering the name of 'Nash', I'm sure there's plenty of things that you can do with that money you've got floating around."

Cadence pressed her lips together. She took a deep breath and said, "Is Breathtaker working with Savitar and Dr. Alchemy? There's a lot of things they've done or are doing that makes sense to them working together. What is it that they want and how can we stop them?"

"Stop them?"

Harrison continued to hold the gaze of the rifle pointed at Amunet. He waited for Amunet to finally stop her large peal of laughter. His eyes shifted around the room, taking in every sight and sound, waiting for the exact moment things got to be too dangerous. When metas were involved, everything that used to be mundane about anyone's life became dangerous. Even something as simple as going to the bar.

Finally, Amunet stopped laughing and wiped tears away from her eyes. "There's not much you can do to stop them, I'm afraid. These are people even I wouldn't want to mess with and you know me. I'm always up for a challenge." With that, she stood up from her seat and walked to the door they passed through to get to her office. She hummed, walking to a boxing ring that had been set up where two people were fighting each other.

Cadence's eyebrows rose as he watched them punch each other hard, each blow making a sickening 'squish' sound when the blow landed on the soft flesh of the opponent. Blood splattered along the ground, groans coming from their mouths with each hit. She jumped when an excessively hard hit spent a spray of blood and a tooth out of the mouth of one of them. Nausea rolled through her stomach and she closed her eyes, turning her head away.

How many times had she seen that herself? From what Stratos, Mindboggler, Incognito and herself had done. Memory flashes zapped through her mind, replaying over and over at rapid speed and in high definition of the intense fear and confusion of those that had fallen victim to what the Assassination Bureau's needs and wants were. Over and over. A growl escaped her lips and she took a step back.

Harrison pressed his hand against Cadence's shoulder, holding it tightly. He kept his hand on her, hoping he'd be able to comfort her. He felt her relax after a minute but continued to stay tense. Being around Amunet had drastically changed her demeanor. So much so he was surprised the entire bar hadn't burst into flames. She had to be holding a lot of control over her powers, he realized. "You know about Savitar?" Harrison asked, to be sure.

"Savitar sought me out as soon as he was aware I existed," Amunet said. She looked at her fingernails which were painted a shiny gray, resembling the bucket of metal that was never too far from her. "It was an interesting conversation. Almost as interesting as the one I had with Breathtaker once upon a time. Of course, neither of them would've batted an eye towards me before I became a meta."

"Did you receive your powers the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion?"

Amunet slid her gaze to Harrison while tilting her head towards Cadence. "Excuse me, Poindexter. But I believe the young lady was speaking to me in this whole conversation." She reached out and used her index finger to push the muzzle of Harrison's rifle away from her. "Please point that extension of your dick somewhere else, thank you."

Cadence didn't take the comment lightly, her eyes flashing. "Answer his question."

"Well, well, seems I struck a nerve. I'm sorry, Cadey, but you never know with these hot-head types. Well, I guess you do. I can understand why White Hot is doing her best to take your place." Amunet then let out a deep sigh as if the conversation was beneath her. Bored her. "Yes, yes, I was here when the Particle Accelerator blew. I was a stewardess, our plane was knocked out of the sky and when I woke up, I could control metal. And how fortunate I was to determine how I could use it for my own personal gain."

"Did Breathtaker seek you out then?"

"Not right then, no. But not too long afterward. There was a lot that he wanted to do, and I had the technology he needed to do it. It especially helped that I had that computer from the STAR Labs. You'd be surprised how much information that you lot had lazily stored on there. I mean, honestly, what is your security like? You'd think for so many smart people working in one place you'd be smarter." Amunet reached out and lovingly caressed the hair of one of the fighters. "It's okay, sweetie, just take a break." The moment she said that, the fighter collapsed to the ground, eyes rolling up as he gasped for breath. "Or die if you'd rather." She leveled her gaze at Cadence and Harrison. "Breathtaker simply wanted information for information. Information I got, I will not share with you, I must have my own secrets, you know. But as for Savitar, yes, he sought me out. Wanted information and some of the things that I have in my possession."

"Do you know who Savitar is?" Harrison asked.

"No, I'm afraid he kept that quiet." The three watched as two of her bodyguards walked over to the man that collapsed on the ground and grabbed him by the wrists. His body fell limp, head swinging like a rag doll as he was dragged away. "Oh, poo." Amunet pouted. "Lost my bet on that one." She dismissively glanced at the one man whose lifeless body was dragged away then looked Cadence up and down. "You wouldn't care to take a stab in the ring, would you, Cadey? I'm sure you'd be able to make a lot of money through this."

"No thanks," Cadence said easily. "I enjoy my current career. What can you tell us about Savitar?"

"Like I said, you can't beat him. He's too powerful. I don't know who he is or where he came from, but you can't beat him. But he does have Alchemy working with him, and you should investigate this thing called the Philosopher's Stone. I believe it's a bunch of bollocks, but you never know."

Cadence felt her blood pressure rise in excitement. Finally. They were getting some answers. Answers that they could use to get things figured out. To know what they'd be up against. To get a chance to stop a villain before they got to be too in control. Just like she did with her position in Child Protective Services. Beat them at their own game before they could beat anyone else down. A grin started to come to Cadence's face.

Cadence could be really convincing when she needed to be. Yes, there was something she'd have to do for Amunet in return, but she'd do anything to keep Central City safe, to keep her friends, her family safe. And this was a big step towards that. And this time, she didn't have to threaten anyone to get her point across. It was progress.

"As for Breathtaker and Savitar…well…" Amunet shrugged. "I guess we'll never know." Amunet looked Harrison up and down. "Now, to deal with you. I don't have your computer anymore. That has been sold for parts. The technology was unusable for the one who bought it. And while I can't, with good conscious, let you know who it was that got the computer, I can let you know that the information on it will never go out."

"And how can I trust you?" Harrison asked. Though his voice was calm, his words were clipped, holding a sense of quiet urgency in it. All the while, he held the tiniest of smiles on his face. Almost as if he found everything to be amusing. "Knowing what you do around here."

"You should know, Dr. Wells, that everything I do is for profit. And I'm currently trying to figure out the best way to maximize my use for the information on your silly little computer. I suppose you could buy it back from me, but I don't believe you'd be able to handle my price."

Harrison's eyes shifted for a moment. Then he stood up straight and lowered his rifle back to his side. He folded his arms and said with an icy cool, "Then I expect to be in contact with you in the future, for my own purposes."

"I graciously await that day." Amunet opened her mouth and made a show of yawning hard and loud. "Well, I must say this conversation has been very interesting, but I've grown weary and tired. Let's please see each other again soon." With that, she waved her hand towards Cadence and Harrison, signaling for her body guards to lead them away. "Please show them out, and you can use the front entrance. There's nothing to be afraid of. And, please, mop up that blood before it soaks into the floor."

Cadence and Harrison were led back out of the bar and back onto the streets of Central City. Cadence placed her hands on her hips and took in a deep breath, steadying her electrified nerves. Harrison leaned towards her. "Did you get everything you needed?" He asked.

With a nod, Cadence agreed that she had. "And more," she agreed. Amunet had no way of knowing that Cadence had been reading her like a book throughout their conversation. Had no idea that Cadence knew there were things she was lying about and had an idea of what the truth was. That Amunet had no idea they now had an idea to not only take down Savitar, Alchemy, and Breathtaker, but also how to keep her at bay as well. "We need to tell the others."

Harrison started to agree but stopped when both of their phones went off with the metahuman app's familiar bleat that Cisco had programmed it to do. His eyebrows furrowed when he saw what was behind the alert. "That may have to wait," he said. "You need to get going."

Cadence looked over her own phone screen and nodded. Her heart immediately plummeted when she saw Frankie—or was it Magenta—smirking on the news feed on screen. Alchemy stood quietly behind her. And if Alchemy was at work, and if that were the case, it was giving Savitar more time to do what it was he was doing. Cadence bit her lower lip, closing her eyes as she pushed away the sense of frustration that flowed through her.

Of course, they couldn't get information and just deal with it, something else had to come up to keep them from doing so.

Welcome to Central City, she thought to herself before putting her phone away. She grasped her father's shoulder and teleported him into the Cortex before going to get into her suit. Her priorities had shifted. The most important thing they had to deal with what helping Frankie. Her life was hard enough as it is, they didn't need it getting any worse.

---

Amunet wasn't alone when Cadence and Harrison left her headquarters. She went back to her office and sank down in her seat, looking off into space for a few moments to collect her thoughts. Then she twisted and rested her chin on her shoulder.

"I'm sure it won't take much longer," Amunet said to the space behind her. She twisted the earring that hung off her ear lobe before pulling her hand away to examine her fingernails. Of which her painted in a slate gray color, resembling that of a glow covering metal. "But I do intend to be repaid for my services."

Breathtaker's voice wafted round her, though his body didn't manifest. "Yes, of course."

---

Wally and Jesse had been enjoying each other's company when everything with Frankie started to go down in Central City. Wally waited for his class to end, of which seemed like an eternity, and was the first out the door after slamming his notebook shut and shoving it into his backpack.

He waited for his, frustratingly slow classmates to get out of the way before hoisting his backpack up over his shoulder. He practically skipped out of the classroom, a smile coming to his face as he went. Finally. The weekend. The days where he could procrastinate on his homework—it was never hard nor very difficult to do when he got going so procrastinating wasn't a problem. (Though he had to be careful not to let Joe or Iris know, the more time he spent with them, the more they really treated him like family). Finally, he could do anything but worry about his classwork, and group projects, and grades.

He could…hang out with a pretty cool girl, apparently. A smile came to Wally's face as he left the engineering building and looked over to see Jesse casually sitting on a bench, sipping a cup of coffee from Jitters. As she tilted her head back to take a long sip, her eyes locked with Wally's and she grinned.

"Hey," she said, lowering the mug to her lap.

"Hey," Wally agreed. He slid his backpack down his arm and to the ground, sitting next to her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm waiting for you," Jesse replied. She motioned around the campus. "It's a beautiful day and I thought I'd see what CCU is like over on this Earth." Her nose wrinkled as she shook her head. "Not so different. Though everyone here kind of dresses a little weird. So…loose and casual."

"I thought you would've gotten used to that by now," Wally reminded her, silently referencing the cold shoulder blouses and ripped jeans she'd taken to wear since starting to live on Earth-1.

"Yeah, you can thank Cade for that," Jesse said with a wide grin. "She's been taking me shopping. Let me tell you, it's so much more fun to go shopping with her than with dad. He thinks I should be covered from my neck to my toes and even then, his clothing choices are atrocious." She laughed, waving her hand back and forth.

Wally laughed along with her. "I never expected Harry Wells to be so good with clothes," he admitted slowly, making Jesse laugh again. "I mean, he wears the same thing nearly every day. Does he think he's Albert Einstein or something?"

"He wishes."

The two laughed again. Jesse leaned over and threw her cup of coffee away. With her hands free, she turned to face Wally completely, crossing her legs at the knee and holding her hands flat against the bench. Close enough that Wally felt the body heat from her hands close to his. Suddenly nervous, he licked his lips, chewed them, wondering if it was the right time to hold her hand. Or…something. He really wanted to hold her hand. What was it that he was able to do practically everything else with no thought to the danger in it—it'd been an absolute rush when he helped fight off the Metapocalypse—but he couldn't do so much as hold a girl's hand?

Jesse clearly didn't have that problem, he realized. Every time she would start running somewhere she wanted to show him, she'd grab onto his hand and start running. And as he went along with her, reveling in how fast he was able to move as well—he felt nothing but sparks. Amazing sparks that were…amazing. He couldn't describe it. It was like he could do everything she could, that he was a hero in his own right.

It was the best feeling that he wished he could do himself. No matter how much he liked Jesse and how he felt when he was around her, he sometimes wanted that feeling for himself. Jesse, however, didn't seem to notice his plight, for she immediately sat up straight and, with shining eyes asked, "So, what do you want to do?"

"Don't you have some more training to do or something?" Wally asked.

Jesse snorted and shook her head. "No, I've done some much training I could have raining come out of my ears. I need something to do out in the field and that's not going to happen until something happens so…" She shook her head. "Hanging around STAR Labs that long, living in the basement, it's not so much a fun place to be sometimes."

"Yeah, I think I get that," Wally agreed. He nodded slowly. "It's like…first meeting Joe and Iris it was like I was a secret they wanted to keep. A red-headed step-child that everyone wanted to push away so that things weren't weird." He reached up and scratched the back of his neck. "Now my mom's gone, I'm living with them, Barry's come back from an alternate dimension, all of my friends are being targeted every day and…that's just another day living in Central City."

"It's like…our lives were much more normal before meeting all of them."

"But not as much fun."

"You're right." Jesse leaned closer to him, eyeing him almost shyly. "And…since meeting me?" She prompted. "How've things been since meeting me?"

"Oh. Uh…" Wally felt his cheeks enflame and hoped his darker skin wouldn't give away that he was blushing. Yeah, his life had certainly gotten better since meeting her. More fun. More lighthearted. More…Jesse grinned and closed the distance between them, pressing her lips against his. Wally made a sound of surprise, he truly hadn't expected it. He recovered quickly and brought up a hand to rest on her cheek, kissing her back. Feeling the sparks again.

Complete.

He was falling, flying, everything that came with feeling you were doing the exact right thing at the exact right time. And he didn't want it to end. It was a drug, an adrenaline rush. The same feeling he raced after when experimenting in engineering and the drag races he used to do for money. It was a high he was addicted to and would continue to chase when he'd have to.

Finally, the kiss ended, and Wally leaned back, slowly opening his eyes. He chuckled to himself when Jesse brought up a hand to cover her mouth and turned away, her cheeks turning red. "Definitely more interesting," he murmured, making her blush harder and jostle him with an open palmed shove to the shoulder. "Are you blushing?"

'No," Jesse said quickly.

"Yes, you are," Wally insisted. "Jesse Wells is blushing. Never thought I'd see the day."

"Hang around with my dad often enough and you will."

Wally frowned, noticing the sudden sadness that came to her voice. No, it wasn't sudden. It was the same sadness that tinged her comments about him before. How he would buy clothes for her and dress her very conservatively. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that one. "You really miss him, don't you?"

Jesse continued to face away from him, the blushing subsiding from her cheeks. Instead, she started to gently chew on her fingernails. "Don't you miss your mom?" She asked.

"All the time," Wally said honestly. It was the first time he'd said it out loud in a long while. "But, at the same time, I don't. I had a lot of time to figure out how to deal with her dying. I knew it was going to happen and I got to say goodbye when it did. That was the best I could do." He paused, waiting for Jesse's response, but she didn't give one. "I know you didn't get to say goodbye—"

"—Are you getting hungry?" Jesse broke in. "Because I'm starving."

Wally couldn't help but grin. "You're always starving, Jess," he pointed out.

"Right. And so are you. But you're lucky, you don't have the speedster genes to blame it on." Jesse stood up and made a show of stretching her arms over her head. "I could go for a run. What do you say? You want any Big Belly Burger?"

"I can never turn it down," Wally replied. "Let me just stop by my house so I can—" Wally was cut off by a flurry of motion. One moment he was standing in front of the engineering building, the next he was at a patio table in front of Big Belly Burger with a burger in one hand and a cup of soda in the other with a mischievous speedster smirking at him from across the table. "Okay, you don't have to be so smug about it."

"I know," Jesse said quickly, taking in her milkshake. "But it's so much fun."

Wally couldn't help but smile as well. Her smile and enthusiasm were contagious. In that moment, Wally forgot everything. Forgot he wasn't a meta, wasn't a speedster, didn't have his mother, didn't have who he thought was his father. Forgot everything that'd get him down. Was able to just hang out with the cool, smart, and funny girl who clearly like him as much as he liked her…all until he heard screaming.

As soon as the first scream shot out, Wally whipped around to see what was going on. He whipped around to see someone had fallen in the middle of the street as they scrambled to get out of the way of danger. Danger he hadn't seen coming nor expected to ever see in person. A car hovered in the air, no, not hovered. Flew towards the crowd that ran out of the way in such a spectacular fashion that it was like a movie. Until it wasn't. Pieces of glass and metal shattered and fell towards the street, striking some people down, droplets of blood staining the concrete.

And then Wally was moving. He hadn't realized he'd gotten up and ran towards the person that had fallen, moving to push them out of the way, until he was halfway there. Then he was at the person, grabbing onto their arm. He looked up, twisting around to watch the car continue to careen towards him. Then he was gone, away from the scene in a split second, and with two speedsters yelling at him. Why was it when he needed a speedster, it was at the worst time?

"What the hell were you thinking?" Barry demanded.

"You could've gotten yourself killed!" Jesse added.

"I needed to save that person," Wally protested but was cut off again.

"You can't just go running out there like that! You have to use your head."

"Will you chill?" Wally demanded. "Nothing happened."

"Nothing happened yet. You could've gotten yourself, killed."

"So is that the problem you have? Or is it that you can't handle any possible competition?" Wally spat back. Barry's eyes narrowed in confusion, a quiet "What?" escaping his lips. It was obvious he was confused. "Maybe there's not enough room in this family for two speedsters. Or maybe it's that, like every other time, you can't handle the thought of someone else coming in to try and take your place because you don't belong?"

"I never said that," Barry defended himself at the same time Jesse said, "He didn't say that!"

Wally gritted his teeth. "You didn't have to. You don't ever have to say it because you do it. All the time. I can't even belong with my own family because there you always are and always will be."

Barry gritted his teeth as well. "You're not a speedster, Wally! Okay? I know how much you want to be one, but you're not! You have to stop throwing yourself around just because you have the need to do something. You really helped with the Metapoclypse, but this isn't that, okay? This is…this is more dangerous. I can't keep watching you to make sure nothing happens to you."

"Well you don't have to anymore," Wally snapped. He clenched his hands into fists and took a step back from Barry and Jesse. His eyes shifted. "I'm sorry I managed to mess up your perfect life, Barry. But don't make me apologize when I feel, in my gut, that there's more that I could be doing than just taking a back seat to things. I figured out of anyone, you'd be the one who'd understand." He raised his hands as he started to back away. "Is there anything else you want, or can I get to safety now?"

He knew he was being snotty and downright rude, but he hadn't felt so betrayed and downright frustrated in his life. Alone. There were things he wanted to talk to Barry about but now he wouldn't give him the satisfaction. He didn't deserve to know. Wally only made it a few steps, hearing the telltale whoosh sounds behind him that let him know Barry and Jesse ran off to face the threat, before stopping short. As if something had him.

A chill ran down Wally's spine. His breaths came shorter and shorter until he gasped for air. He tried to bring a hand to his chest but found he couldn't.

Wallace.

Wallace West.

He could hear a voice calling for him, could hear it swirling in his head and around him. Saw flashes of…something in his head. Saw himself. Saw himself with powers, running back and forth and taking on the Rival. Saw himself, felt himself continuously getting beaten. Felt a hand shove through his back. His mouth dropped open in a silent scream. No sound could come from his mouth, but he still felt the pain. More than pain, the most horrific feeling he'd ever felt in his life. More painful than his mother's death could ever do to him.

Wallace West. The time has come to restore what was hidden from you. The time has come to set you free. Find me and I will release you from all of this. I can make you whole again.

Find me.

Finally, Wally was able to move. He stumbled forward, gasping for air as he frantically patted down his body. Nothing. No stab wounds. No hands shoved through him. No lightning encircling his body. Nothing. And yet all of it felt real.

Especially that voice.

It was the voice that had been haunting his dreams ever since Barry returned from Flashpoint. Then a second thought struck him that slowly made him start to smile, he had to have been moving very fast to get to the person like he had done. As fast as, say, a speedster.

---

Cadence reached up as a street lamp flew towards her. She back-peddled a few paces and caught it against her stomach. Gritting her teeth, she spun in a circle and threw it as hard as she could, flinging it back towards Frankie.

Frankie merely lifted her hand and sent it flying through a nearby office building, causing Cadence to curse under her breath. Who knew how many people had just been hurt by the street light let alone the shrapnel coming from the broken glass and portions of the building. She moved to run but saw two streaks of lightning shoot across her path before she could do so. They twisted back and forth with people appearing on the street far away from danger as the seconds passed. Frankie seemed not to notice, for she merely lifted her hands and caused a vortex of shrapnel to surround her.

Hair blowing out of her face, Barry and Jesse came to a stop beside her. Cadence silently asked a question with her eyes. "That's everyone in the building," Jesse said, bending down to rest her hands on her knees. There was a difference between running at top speed for any of the training they did, and another to use it to grab people and getting them away from danger over and over.

"Any casualties?" Cadence asked. She let out an audible sigh of relief when Barry shook his head. "Can only ask for small favors."

"I can't say the same for later," Barry replied, mentioning the harsh reality they went through every day. They couldn't save everyone. "Got them to the hospital as fast as we could but…" he shook his head. Instead, he turned his gaze to Frankie as she slowly continued to gather shrapnel around her in a continuously rotating shield, visibly like bugs crawling along a dropped piece of food. Alchemy continued to stand behind her, watching the free for all behind his beak-like mask. "Alchemy's got her."

"I figured," Cadence replied. "Frankie wouldn't do something like this on her own." Frankie would hardly lift her voice against anyone that bumped against her on the street let alone try to take down as many people as possible. It was obvious Alchemy had some sort of hold over her. Her powers hadn't been that strong the last time they'd seen her alter-ego come about.

Frankie smirked. Her eyes glowed a bright purple as she looked down at the group. "There's nothing you can do now, Flash," she called. "I'm going to get my revenge and you can't stop me."

At the same time, the three started towards Frankie. Just as they leapt up to charge at her, the shrapnel formed a large shield they crashed into before falling back to the ground. Cadence immediately got to her feet and teleported off to the side to before projecting herself forward with a burst of flame from her feet. She made it closer but received bullet-like pieces of shrapnel to her shoulders and legs, forcing her back towards the ground. As she fell, Cadence pulled a gun from its holster and aimed it towards Frankie, just off to the side and fired. One shot to scare her.

A curse escaped her lips when the bullet was then sucked up into her vortex and shot back to Cadence, catching her in the knee. She screamed with pain as she hit the ground, feeling her knee-cap and the surrounding tissue blown apart from the single bullet. Barry and Jesse crashed next to her seconds later, also sporting wounds from their attempts to get through her protective barrier.

"Have to be better than that," Frankie murmured, her smirk widening.

"Is everyone okay?" Harrison's voice came through Barry's and Cadence's communication devices. His concern was palpable, and Cadence could only think the others were nothing short of worried over what was going on with Frankie and Alchemy.

Barry shook his head, pushing aside the dull ringing that wound through his ears. He opened his jaw wide and wiggled it back and forth before closing it once more. It subsided but didn't completely lessen. "Yeah, I'm okay," Barry replied. He grunted, pulling himself into a seated position before rolling over to a kneel. He grabbed onto Jesse and pulled her up as well before looking at Cadence.

She grimaced, watching as her knee very quickly healed back to normal. Boy, that was going to be some horrible scar tissue to deal with later. Reaching up, Cadence pressed her finger to her Comm. Link and reported, "Healing just fine."

"Good, good," HR then broke in, his jolly voice sounding a bit distracted. "We've got someone on the line for you. You can go ahead and start now, Bradley."

Barry and Cadence could hear Brady's scoff—of which Cadence was sure made him roll his eyes as well-before he said, "Hey, I heard what's going on. Do you guys need my help, do you need me out there?"

"No," Cadence said quickly. If it was just Frankie it would've been fine, more people around to draw her attention when she was about to attack. But with Alchemy there, it was too dangerous. Much more dangerous than it previously had been. "No, stay where you are. I don't think your abilities would help much with this one. Just stay in the apartment and keep Deity company."

Barry expected him to protest, to insist that his training had progressed him enough to let him help, or that even facing aliens should've let him go. Instead, Brady just hummed and said, "Yeah, okay," before wishing them luck and hanging up. Barry lifted an eyebrow and glanced at Cadence, who raised her hand and shook her head. She'd known him for years, but he still managed to surprise her.

"Guys." Jesse zipped back and forth across the street a few times. "We need to find a way to get through that barrier."

"You never will," Alchemy said. He never raised his voice, but it echoed around the streets, over the sound of the blaring car horns and warnings of nearby security systems as if he were shouting. "Her power is far too great for you to defeat."

"The power you gave her with the Philosopher's Stone," Barry called back.

Alchemy's head slowly tilted to the side. Frankie's did the same. As if she were a puppet on marionette strings. "I see you've been doing some research," Alchemy continued to drawl. "There's so much more that you don't know, Flash. Things that you'll find out when the time is right."

"What about now?" Barry called. He spread his arms wide. "Right here and now? We're not going anywhere."

"Funny," Alchemy said, voice still as dry as dead leaves. "I was going to say the same to you. Savitar and I, we're not going anywhere. There is a race that must be upheld, and I intend to be there when you fall to the strongest God that history has ever known."

Cadence clenched her hand into fists. "What do you want with Frankie?" She demanded. "She's done nothing to you or for you. What do you need her for?"

"I returned to her the power she had to inflict pain upon others. She came to me to stop her father from hurting her, now she's in control."

Frankie curled her fingers into her palms. Squeezed so tightly she drew blood that dripped down between her knuckles and to the ground. There was a low, ominous groaning sound that filled the air. The ground shook beneath their feet.

"Oh, that doesn't sound good," Cisco said, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"She's trying to tear the street apart," Jesse cried. She wind-milled her arms, trying to keep herself upright. Cadence bent her knees, trying to keep herself steady as well, but found the shaking to increase by the second. Then it was gone, and a new groaning sound filled the air.

Barry was the first to see it, a shadow that loomed over the city so ominous that he almost started to laugh incredulously. There were many things in his life he'd seen before joining the CCPD and after that would've made him think things were strange. That would've made him shake his head and say things were crazy had anyone repeated it to him. He'd seen speedsters, metas that could create pits of molten tar, metas that could set themselves on fire, take on spirits of animals, and even watched little kids take on a meta that could've easily killed them.

But this took the cake. He took a step back as he watched a tanker slowly out of the water of the marina and hover over Central City, dropping rivulets of water that cracked glass and bent street sings as if it was made of putty. Barry's jaw dropped at the spectacularly horrifying sight. "For real?" Barry asked. "A tanker."

"If that thing comes down it'll obliterate half the city," Cisco pointed out. "Not just from the force of impact and the resulting shockwave, but I'm sure there's a bunch of gasoline in there somewhere just waiting to be ignited."

"You have to do something to stop it," Caitlin added.

Jesse tossed her gaze to Cadence for a split second, narrowing her eyes against the sunlight the poured over them, watching the tanker move closer and closer. She widened her eyes once the tanker was finally overhead, allowing them to see more clearly. "You think you can catch it?" She asked. "If Frankie throws it?"

Cadence snorted. Sure, she could catch it. She was strong enough. But lifting it directly after? That was a different story. She probably could, but the resulting effort had the potential to rip all the muscles off her bones. Tear them into shreds. It'd be a surgeon's dream of the money he'd get for it, but a logistical nightmare for how she'd be able to explain completely healing from it. Let alone the act of catching it in the first place. Judging from how big it was…she'd be as squished a bug on a windshield if she tried.

Her snort was all the answer Barry needed. He lifted a hand and pressed his finger to the Comm. Link in his ear. "What if I created some sort of updraft?" He asked his friends in STAR Labs, mind moving a mile a minute. "A wind funnel."

"Brilliant idea, BA!" HR cried, jumping to his appraisal as soon as the words left the speedster's mouth.

Caitlin quickly shot the idea down. "You'll never be able to do one that big."

"Not such a good idea, BA," HR immediately corrected his statement form before, making Barry roll his eyes and quickly explain, "No, what if I ran it." If a lightbulb was to go off at that moment, it would've lit up the Cortex in its entirety.

"Run it in a figure eight, make a propeller, make an updraft," Harrison commanded.

Barry nodded, lowering his finger from his ear. He nodded over to his partner and the other speedster. "I'll do the running; you guys handle Frankie."

"Are you sure?" Cadence asked him. She didn't have to ask to know if he was sure about his decision. She was asking if he could run that long, that fast. If they hadn't been able to get through Frankie's shied, they had to get through to her another way. Knowing what I know about brainwashing, that's easier said than done, Cadence thought.

But Barry, as unflappable as ever, nodded. "I can handle this. You can handle her. Go." And leaving a streak of yellow lightning behind, Barry ran. He streaked out of the street and towards the side of the There was a second that Cadence and Jesse couldn't see anything happening, Barry was moving so fast. Then they could see a figure eight slowly being imprinted on the ground, asphalt melting as he did so.

Cadence nodded and turned back to Jesse, mind moving as fast as Barry was running. "We have to get as close to her as possible," she figured. "No matter what. The closer we can get, the better off we'll be in terms of being able to reach her."

"I guess this is as good time as any to appreciate the enhanced healing speedsters have," Jesse remarked. She cracked her fingers in front of her and started to stretch her legs. "Because I have a feeling this is going to hurt." With that, Jesse took off and started running towards Frankie. Frankie's glowing eyes followed her movements, shooting to follow the speedster's movements. Every time Frankie would lock eyes on her, she would send a wave of shrapnel after Jesse.

That gave Cadence a clear chance to follow up on her other side. Rather than trying to divert Frankie's attention, Cadence threw balls of flame towards Frankie, melting as many pieces of shrapnel that she could that'd come close to protecting her. The shrapnel melted and dripped to the ground seconds before it was replaced by more shrapnel. Cadence frowned. Okay, that wasn't going to work, she needed to try something else.

Cadence quickly worked out her smokescreen wouldn't work. She'd have to try something different. Cadence centered her gaze on her goggles, watched as it booted up to show different parts of the area around her. The buildings were structurally sound, she could see the temperatures Barry and Jesse were giving off as they ran around, could see the rise in body temperature in Frankie. But…could also see where Frankie was at her weakest as her shields shifted around. Perfect. With a smirk, Cadence held out her hand, allowing flames to appear around it. With a little concentration it turned into a bow and arrow. Pulling it tight, Cadence turned the arrow towards the sky and let go.

Pssht-boom.

The flame arrow streaked upwards and, once reaching a certain height, it exploded in a barrage of fireworks and sent smaller arrows raining down towards Frankie.

Frankie growled and raised her hands to cover herself from the burning debris. Cadence used the opportunity to put her next plan in motion. Jesse continued to run around Frankie, trying to put herself as close to the evil meta as she could, but was unable to get around the barrage of metal that followed her. Jesse cried out as a heaving sheet of metal struck her in the back, knocking her to the ground.

"Take this!" Frankie moved quickly to continue covering Jesse in as many levels of metal as she could. Cadence ran forward and ducked behind a van. She thrust out her hand to melt the metal that went shooting towards Jesse. It dripped harmlessly to the ground, giving Jesse the chance to run into the hole that was created in the shield and get up close to Frankie.

Using her blinding speed, Jesse rained blows upon her chest and arms, causing Frankie to stumble backwards. But Jesse kept coming. In her slowed down speed, she darted back and forth from foot to foot, punching Frankie whenever she got a clear shot. With a sweep of her feet, she knocked Frankie to the ground.

Cadence was then at her side. Frankie screamed with effort, throwing her hand up. Metal wrapped around her hand like a gauntlet and she swung it hard towards Cadence. Cadence used her heat vision to melt the metal off her arm, ignoring Frankie's frustrated scream turning to one of pain, and kicked her straight in the stomach. Frankie grabbed her leg and created a shiv of metal and jabbed it towards Cadence's thigh. Twisting painfully around, Cadence kicked the shiv out of Frankie's hand, where it got sucked up in the vortex of swirling metal. Then she rolled along the ground and threw Frankie as hard as she could. She crashed into the side of her shield, pieces of metal striking her, before she fell to the ground.

Jesse went in for the kill, but found a whistling sound stopping her. A very loud, very…scary whistling sound.

"Move!"

Cadence ran forward and teleported. Using her momentum, she grabbed Jesse around the waist and twisted them out of the way as she teleported once more. BOOM! A large sheet of metal crashed to the ground where the two had been. Had Jesse still been standing there…Cadence wasn't sure she'd be fast enough to move out of the way or heal herself without an increasing amount of pain.

"Wow," Jesse gaped. Her face was ashen as she looked to see where she'd just been standing. "Thanks."

"That's what we mean when we say not to get too cocky," Cadence returned Jesse's 'thanks' with a nod, letting god of her alternate-Earth sister. "Barry could use that lesson a few more times but…" She took in a deep breath and ran her hands through her hair. "This is tougher than I thought."

"She can control metal," Jesse said, now struggling to catch her breath. She could run fast, but she hadn't trained as long as Barry. Her powers were still new, she got tired a lot faster. "There's too much stuff around here that's metal. And, you know." She feebly gestured upwards to the tanker that Barry was still holding aloft. "That thing." She sucked in a deep breath and placed her hands on her hips, trying to work out a cramp.

"Come out, come out, wherever you arrrre," Frankie taunted. It sounded as she was coming closer. Cadence turned around and used her heat vision to see Frankie slowly walking towards them. Alchemy's given her a lot of power if she can hold up the tanker and hold us off this time.

"You got any ideas?" Jesse asked.

Cadence shook her head. If it came down to it, she'd take Frankie down as quickly as she would anyone else but…what sort of a friend would she be if she didn't at least try to get through to her first? "Well, considering I have no idea how to get through her shield over than a direct charge—" Cadence immediately cut herself off as an idea struck her. One so obvious she didn't know how she didn't think of it before despite it sitting right in front of her. "Jesse, keep running and wait for me to give you a signal."

"You got it," Jesse agreed and took off running once more.

Cadence, on the other hand, moved as close as Frankie would let her. The last thing she needed was to freak out Frankie even more than she already was. There was no telling what she'd do to everyone around them if she could handle protecting herself so long so easily. "Frankie," Cadence called. Frankie's head whipped towards her like a rattler. "Let me help you."

"I'm not Frankie," Frankie growled. The shrapnel around her continued to swarm faster and faster, like frenzied bees swarming over the honey in its hive. Cadence had to swallow down the wave of nausea that overwhelmed her from the thought.

Cadence continued, undeterred. "You don't want to do this," She said. "You don't want to kill all these innocent people just to hurt John. I know you want to get back at him, I know you want him out of your life, but once you hurt someone innocent, you can't come back from that." Frankie continued to glare at her but didn't respond. "Magenta may want to, but Frankie doesn't. I know Frankie is still in there. I know the things he's said to you. I know you're hurt and scared. But I also know how nice and warm and smart you are when you're around the right people."

Frankie slowly, very slowly lowered her hands. They stayed by her side, not lowering completely. Nevertheless, Cadence could see the faltering in her eyes. Could see them slowly losing their purple color. "He said I was weak," Frankie growled, lips violently trembling.

"You're not," Cadence said. She took a step forward, holding her outstretched hand. Frankie watched her come closer but didn't take a step back. She eyed Cadence up and down, but still didn't step back away from her. She spoke to the fire metahuman from the distance that stretched between them. As wide as a canyon.

"He was I was pathetic. That I'm worthless, a waste of space."

"If I believed that, I wouldn't have tried to help you so much. I wouldn't have willingly come to pick you up, to talk to you, to treat you the way you deserve to be treated. With love and caring. Your foster father…he's not any of those things. He's not fostering the love and care a parent should have for their child and he's certainly not a father to you. None of what happened is your fault."

"I just want him to stop hurting me."

"This isn't the way to do it. He takes his mistakes out on you. He wants that power, but he doesn't have it. You have the power to stop everything. He knows that, and he's been afraid of that. Afraid of you. You're not a scary person, Frankie. You don't deserve the terrible things that have been said about you. There's no truth in it. You may have hurt someone today, but you didn't have a choice. You have the power to stop this. Right here, right now. But if I have to make you, I'll do that, too."

Frankie stared at Cadence. She dropped her arms to her sides. Cadence took the opportunity as fast as she could. "Now, Jesse!"

Jesse nodded and ran faster, conjuring lighting as she went. Finally, she ran fast enough that the lightning completely covered her body, settling around her hands. She came to a sudden stop and spun once to keep her momentum going to her arms—much like an Olympic shot-putter—and threw her arm forward as hard as she could. The lightning streaked directly through the protective shied she created. At the same time, Cadence ripped a car door off a nearby van, making the mental note to find the owner of the car and replace it later, and threw it like a frisbee.

Frankie glared at shot her hand out towards her. Cadence smirked. Frankie did exactly what Cadence hoped she'd do. Pulling the van door to a halt brought it to the right alignment for Jesse's lightning bolt. The lightning struck the door and ricocheted, striking Frankie directly in the chest. She grunted in pain as her feet were blown out from beneath her and she went flying, crashing to the ground. She rolled along the ground, clothes smoldering as she went. Frankie growled, flipping her hair out of her face. She squeezed her hands and glared up at an advancing Cadence.

Cadence gasped as her legs suddenly felt heavily, dropping her to the ground, arms outstretched in front of her. She felt an incredible amount of pressure on her thighs and it took a second for her to realize what was happening. Frankie was using her powers to pin her to the ground via the pistols attached to her thigh holsters. If she teleported, she'd continue to faceplant no matter where she moved. Reaching out, Cadence dug her hands into the ground to give herself enough traction to pull herself forward.

Slowly but surely, Cadence started to move, coming closer and closer to Frankie. Frankie lifted her head, her entire body now shaking with effort to keep the fire metahuman down. "I don't think so," She growled, eyes glowing as bright as ever.

If I don't do something soon, Magenta will completely take her over, Cadence thought. She pushed herself up on her palms, extending her arms, then pushed herself backwards, aiding in Frankie's efforts. "Sorry, Franks, but this is going to hurt," Cadence warned. Frankie's eyebrows furrowed. With her enemy distracted, Cadence pulled herself forward and swung her body around at the same time.

It was a direct hit. Her movement threw Frankie off, so much so that she didn't see Cadence's legs snap towards her until her foot connected hard with the side of her face. Frankie fell aside, releasing her hold on Cadence, giving her the chance to teleport. In one quick move, she continued her forward momentum against the ground and grabbed Frankie around the throat, holding the crook of her arm around the young meta's neck and held her close to her body.

Frankie screeched and thrashed back and forth, trying to get away, but Cadence slowly applied the pressure of her super strength against Frankie's neck, quickly making her gasp and choke. It wouldn't take more than a second to snap her neck if needed, but Cadence wouldn't go so far so fast. No, not when she knew she could reach Frankie.

"Everything's okay, Frankie," Cadence said, continuing to hold onto her. "I've got you. I've got you."

Screeches came from Frankie's lips as she whipped back and forth, trying to break free. As the seconds passed, the shrieking lessened and turned to quiet cries that tried to be masked. Much like a little boy or girl who, tired of the pain the world inflicted on them, would cry quietly while curled in bed, not wanting to attract any attention to themselves less they brought on more pain. Frankie gradually stopped struggling, allowing the updraft Barry was creating to do most of the work to keep the tanker up, allowing him to slowly move his running path to the side, to return the tanker back to the ocean liner. Once Jesse saw what he was doing, she joined him in his run, moving the tanker across the city street.

Finally, the light faded from Frankie's eyes and her arms fell to her sides. A whimper came to her lips, big fat tears rolling down her cheeks before she broke down into hysterical sobs. Cadence dropped her arms from around Frankie's neck with a gasp and Frankie turned. She threw her arms around Cadence's waist and pressed her face against her neck. "I'm sorry," Frankie whimpered. "I'm so sorry."

"Hey, it's okay," Cadence said, gently rubbing her back. "Everything's going to be okay. You're safe now." She looked over as Barry and Jesse came to a stop beside them and gave them small smiles and nods. She exchanged a long glance with Barry then looked to Jesse, the corners of her lips turning up. "Great job."

Jesse beamed back.

---

"What are you doing?"

Deity turned, ready to reply with a smart comment about how she was clearly watching TV—though she wasn't quite sure what the point was of a show about people trying to survive on an island—then gaped in surprise when she saw Brady hovering above her. He looked back at her with nothing short of innocence on his face, waiting for a response.

"What?" He asked when he saw the look she was giving him. One of complete and utter bewilderment crossed with amazement.

"You can fly?" Deity asked as she continued to stare.

Brady made a face. "So can you."

"Yeah, but all Kryptonians can fly and I've always been able to fly." Deity stood up and waved a hand beneath him, her fingers passing through the air. She repeated the movement a few times, as if trying to find the "You weren't flying last time I saw you."

"I'm not really flying anyway." Brady shrugged. "Technically, I'm phasing."

"Oh." Deity continued to wave her hand back and forth beneath him. Phasing, huh? She didn't want to try to have it explained to her. It was hard enough listening to Barry tech-speak when he was explaining something about his work day. Every now and then she'd look over to Cadence or Brady for clarification, but they'd look at stumped as she did. "So, what's up? You know besides you?"

"I was going to start dinner, I came to see if you wanted to help."

Deity's eyebrows rose. "You want me to help after last time?"

"Yeah." Brady lowered to a level where he could unfold his legs and stretch them to the floor. "It's not hard," he said, now standing, only slightly shorter than Deity. "And I don't think you're going to blow up anything like you did with the eggs."

"You can use an oven by yourself?" Deity asked, a little surprised. She had a rough idea of how to use her own but if she ever needed to cook a meal for herself, which wasn't very often, then she'd stuck to the microwave.

Now Brady looked offended. "I'm ten, not four." He turned and walked back through the door to her room and out to the kitchen. Deity turned off the TV in her room and followed him—being careful to open the door he had just phased through. She pulled herself up onto a stool by the island and watched as he pulled pots and pans out of the cabinets before producing the food that was to go with them.

"You really know how to cook?" Deity asked with intrigue.

"You don't."

She didn't really like the smug edge to his voice. Then again, she didn't particularly like being shown up by a teen-year-old either. But Cadence had said they do their fair share of chores. She had thought all that meant was Brady tidied up after himself like she did with Kara. Turns out he did a bit more than that, including doing his own laundry when the time came.

"No, not really," she agreed.

"Well, it's not hard. It's just a means of following a recipe and then waiting for things to get hot." Brady said. He flipped on the radio by the sink, allowing a peal of a big brass band to start playing, then grabbed a bag of potatoes and heaved them up onto the counter. "Do you want to help?" Deity shrugged and nodded. "Okay, well, we need mashed potatoes. So take these." He pushed the bag to her and went to the sink to drain the water around the chicken left there.

Deity pulled a potato from the bag and looked it over. Okay, how hard would it be for someone to mash a potato? For a normal person it probably took some time, but for her, how hard could it be? Placing the potato down on the island surface, Deity held her hand flat above it before slamming it down with enough force to mash the potato without destroying the island. Having not thought it through, Deity squeaked slightly when bit of potato flew out from beneath her hand. Some splashed onto her shirt while some hit Brady's face and the rest were scattered throughout the kitchen. Lifting her gaze from the remains beneath her hand, Deity's eyes met Brady's almost horrified one.

"What?" She asked defensively.

"I said to mash then, not destroy them," he exclaimed with wide eyes. To him it was obvious. Then again, he was dealing with an alien hybrid from an alternative Earth.

Deity showed him her hand. "This looks pretty mashed to me."

Brady's eyelids lowered in a 'duh' look, and he pulled off a piece of potato skin that had some potato stuck to it. It swung back and forth between his fingers. "Do you want to eat this?" He tossed it aside and pulled out a potato peeler. "You skin the potato first, heat it up until they're soft, and then…" he turned to another drawer and produced a spoon. "Mash them with this."

"Okay, okay, geez." Deity frowned as she took the spoon. She examined it for a second then put it down to take the potato peeler and figure out what to do. Seven knicks on her fingers—which thankfully didn't break the peeler—a few exploded potatoes—which came from how tedious having to peel each one was—and a boiling pot of water later, dinner was almost ready. Or at least the potatoes, she had no idea what Brady was doing on the other side of the kitchen by himself.

That is, until Deity became impatient with how long it was taking for the water to boil and the potatoes to grow soft and decided to use her energy vision to speed up the process. Merely seconds after she did so, a plume of smoke erupted from the pot that had recently been filled with boiling water, and the smoke alarm went off.

Brady immediately ran over and grabbed a handle with an oven mitt and chucked it in the sink before turning on the faucet. He coughed and backed away, flapping a dish towel next to it. Deity twisted her mouth to the side, looking at the blackened lumps stuck inside. Then she noticed Brady's gaze on her and she looked at him as he continued to wave a dishtowel.

"What?" She snapped.

Brady smirked and shook his head.

"Oh, like you've never messed up when cooking?" Deity said as she placed her hands on her hips and leaned over towards him.

Barry, who stood at the door to his and Cadence's bedroom, chuckled. He turned from the open door and turned to the smoke alarm that bleated in the corner of the room. He rapidly swung his arms in a circle to suck out the smoke that slowly started to rise towards the ceiling. He turned to Cadence, who sat calmly in the middle of their bed, flipping through a newspaper.

"You don't think we need to go down and help?" He asked. He coughed lightly once the smoke cleared and folded his arms. "Last time Iris and I tried to make dinner for Joe when we were his age, we had to stay in a hotel for a few days from the smoke damage."

"Well, that's what Flash and Flare are for," Cadence said, continuing to turn pages. He smiled, noticing the little grin on her face. "We can put out a fire faster than we'd need to worry." Then she lifted her head and flashed her smile at him. "Besides, how many times have you been grateful that Brady made dinner, so you didn't have to? And it only takes you a minute at the most to have it all done."

"It looks like a minute to you, but it's hours for me."

"Boo hoo." Barry smiled as he made his way back over to the bed. He stretched out next to her. "Besides. One's a metahuman and the other's a Hybrid. I'm sure they can handle cooking." Barry tilted his head as he watched Cadence, her eyes shifted over the newspaper folded in front of her, but it didn't appear she was focusing.

"Are you alright?" He asked. Cadence let out a low humming sound in response before lifting her head to look straight across the room. "Is it Frankie? She seemed okay when we left her at STAR Labs. Caitlin said she'd keep an eye on her."

Straight after the fight with Frankie, after she managed to calm down. Barry, Cadence, and Jesse went right back to STAR Labs to have her checked for any after-effects of the power Alchemy had over her. Caitlin did as many tests as they could think of and they all came back clean. She was fine. But with the news breaks that had gone out and Julian's insistence she was a meta—which kickstarted everything—as well as her admission to want to hurt her father once more, there was a lot that needed to be cleaned up and swept under the rug. Just like what had to happen with most of the alien invasion. John James was resting peacefully in the hospital, but Cadence made a vow that CPS and the CCPD would be checking further in him sooner than he expected. If anything came up—and it appeared it would—he'd be going away for a long time.

"What about me?" Frankie asked quietly.

"Well, we probably could use someone with your skills around here," Cisco said, before Caitlin glared at him and he added begrudgingly, "But, you know, you probably wouldn't be too happy here."

"Yeah, it's not like we want her to be sleeping on a cot in the basement," Jesse couldn't help but add a little bitterly.

Cisco threw his hands into the air. "I can't help you people! I said you could stay anywhere more comfortable but no, Harry had to go insist that you two were perfectly fine down there. That it was the last line of defense if anything ever happened with 'that shotty system you call security'." He used air quotes around the words. "Yeah, he said it just like that."

Jesse chuckled, shaking her head. "That's dad," she murmured.

"And we're going to find a good foster family for you, Frankie" Caitlin said, ignoring the other two. She pressed her hand to Frankie's shoulder in reassurance. "A really good one. I promise." Frankie smiled and nodded. Shortly after, exhaustion overwhelmed her, and she slept off the excitement of the day in the medical bay while Barry, Cadence, and Harrison explained to the others everything they found out about Savitar and Alchemy.

"So we still don't know if there's an actual link between them and Breathtaker," Harrison said, twisting his mouth to the side. "But now we have some more information on all of them. And information is the strongest weapon you have."

"I think the Philosopher's Stone would beg to differ," Barry pointed out, rubbing the back of his neck. "If that thing can give powers, maybe even have the ability to take them away…then we're in trouble. Not just because of what can be done, but because of how many people he can turn into metas. How many people I don't even know had powers over there."

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Joe demanded. "Run around like chickens with our heads cut off to see who's going to be the next meta?"

"What else can we do, Joe?" Cadence pointed out. "We have no ways of tracking him since he and Savitar move faster than anything we've seen." She motioned to herself. "I can't even track them. As far as we know, they don't even belong to this Earth."

"We've never heard of Savitar on our Earth," Jesse pointed out.

"Yeah, but you'd never heard of coins, either," Cisco added.

Jesse nodded in agreement. "I think my dad mentioned something about them once but…" she trailed off, rubbing at her eyes. "Nothing about a Savitar or Alchemy."

"So, again, it winds back to be my fault," Barry said. He lifted a hand when protests started to go out through the room, mostly from HR who had, moments before, nodded along with everyone else that had been speaking. "Guys, you don't have to talk me out of what I know. This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gone running like that and I'm just going to have to fix it." He ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know how to do it yet, but I'll figure something out."

Barry shifted his gaze back to Cadence as she turned another page of the newspaper. "And Jesse," Cadence admitted. "and Deity. It's everything." She ran her hands over her face then smiled at him over her shoulder. "It's funny, when I first met you guys I had one kid." She lifted a finger. "Then I met you and Cisco and it's like I got two more." She ignored the wounded puppy expression Barry made in response to her statement. "And with my job—CCPD and as Flare—and figuring out things with the Philosopher's Stone and Alchemy and Savitar and—"

"—It feels like you've got the entire weight of the world on your shoulders and it's slowly crushing you down?" Barry asked.

"Mhm."

"Yeah, join the club. The only difference being you've got the super strength to handle it and I don't," Barry joked. He reached out and rubbed her knee when he noticed the unamused expression that came to her face. "I'm just kidding, Cay. But it's the life of a hero, you want to save everyone, but you can't." He pretended to think. "Those words sound familiar. Who was the one who told me that before? That it was one of my flaws?"

"In my defense, I was mad at you at the time."

"In my defense, I got used to doing it that way since I was the only one out in the field at the time." Hearing screams, Barry got up from the bed once more and zipped to the bedroom door. He leaned against the railing of he balcony just outside their room and leaned to the side to watch the terror unfold. His lower jaw shifted to the side when he saw Brady frantically puffing the fire extinguisher close to the oven while Deity blew into it, causing a black cloud of smoke to shoot back in her face.

Deity reached into the oven without a mitt and pulled out the tray with the chicken holding it up as the flames burnt their dinner. She was about to use her super breath to put the fire out when white foam hit her in the face, soaking before her and the chicken.

After feeling the foam slid down from her eyes, Deity blinked and opened her eyes to see Brady watching her with the fire extinguisher in his hands. "Did you really need to do that?" Deity asked slowly, holding back the annoyed tone her voice would have used to reflex her emotional state.

"There was a fire," Brady said as if it were obvious.

"Yes. And I was about to put it out," Deity said calmly.

"Sorry."

Barry smiled and shook his head, watching as Deity chased Brady around the kitchen, trying to grab the fire extinguisher form his hand. "There was a fire but it's out now," he said. "And I think Deity's getting some training in with Brady's phasing powers. She's trying to kill him."

"Great," Cadence replied.

"And the kitchen's covered in foam," Barry said, suddenly feeling very tired as he watched the fire extinguisher empty out into the kitchen.

"Well they can both clean it up."

"Dinner's burnt."

"So order some take out," Cadence said casually, as if the whole thing didn't even bother her or if it even warranted a blip on her danger radar.

Barry looked over to his shoulder at her with a bemused smile. "What's it gonna take for you to get up?"

"Something life threatening." The sound of something expensive smashing filled the air and Barry rushed out the room at super speed coming to a stop as he, Brady and Deity staring in horror at the smashed window overlooking the living room, next to the kitchen.

"What was that?" Cadence shouted from her room.

"Smashed window," Barry shouted back.

"That's not life threatening."

Yeah, right. Barry could hear a frustrated tinge come to her voice. It glommed onto him when he heard a knock at the door to the apartment. "What now?" He murmured under his breath, going to answer it. As he walked over to answer it, Barry noticed Brady and Deity close behind him. Whether it was due to being curious as to who was at the door—they rarely got visitors—or because they wanted to be as far away from the window they'd broken, he wasn't sure.

Nevertheless, Barry answered the door with a nervous smile while Brady and Deity leaned around him to see who it was. For a moment Barry was surprised, but then he was knocked back with a hug so tight he was surprised his back hadn't broken.

"Barry, it's so good to see you," Maya Nash declared once she untangled herself from his hug. "With some clothes on especially." If she noticed Barry's flaming blush, she didn't notice. Instead, she clucked her tongue and shook her head in disapproval. "Gosh, you're so thin. Do you ever eat? Well, I guess as a speedster that'd be a little difficult. Are you going to let me in?"

Barry stepped back and closed the door behind her. "Cade!" Barry cased with a smirk in his voice. "It's your mom!" He blinked and then Cadence was beside him with a wary expression as she asked, "Mom, what are you doing here?"

Brady threw his hands in the air with obvious excitement. "Mamaw!" He cried. He reached his arms out towards his grandmother. "Aack!" Cadence grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, dragging it into his throat while holding him still.

"Not so fast, buster," Cadence ordered, her eyes still on her mother, who pouted at not being able to hug her grandson. "There's a broken window that needs attending to."

A pout graced Brady's lips. "There's a lot of things I can do, mom, but I don't think I can fix a window." Cadence turned a sharp glare at him and he quickly backed away, holding up his hands. "I can order a pizza, though."

"Yeah, you do that."

"Oh, don't bother." Maya waved her hand. "I'll just have whatever you've whipped up for dinner." She held her purse tightly to her chest when she noticed the haze of smoke and fire extinguisher fluid that hung in the air. "Oh dear, I hope I wasn't interrupting something. Well, something that wasn't fun anyway."

Barry felt his blush deepen, despite knowing she wasn't necessarily talking about him. Cadence, as usual, took it in stride and said, "God, mom, you really know how to make things awkward." She folded her arms. "So what are you doing here anyway? How'd you know where we were?"

Maya flashed a warm smile to her daughter. "You should know by now there's nothing that'd keep me from knowing where my daughter and grandson are." Her smile faded at Cadence's sharp look. "I'm kidding, Cadey-Cat. I talked to Ryder and he told me that you moved and that you haven't had anyone over yet."

"We're still unpacking and decorating," Barry explained, finally finding his voice. "Haven't had a housewarming or anything yet."

"Oh! So, I'm the first guest?" Maya then pointed towards the kitchen where Brady had his cell phone pressed to his ear and was dodging foam Deity was flinging towards him with the other. "Or is that Brady's girlfriend?"

"No, that's our friend's daughter. She's staying with us for a while," Barry explained.

Cadence cut to the chase. "Mom, why are you here?"

"I told you, sweetie, I wanted to come see you," Maya replied. Cadence watched her for a long moment, as if trying to decide whether her mother was lying. Rather than being offended, Maya added with a soft smile, "I've missed you two and I wanted to see how you were doing face to face. Is that a crime?" Cadence shook her head. Then Maya placed her hand to Barry's shoulder. "And Barry, I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your father. For the very short time I knew him, I could tell he was a good man."

Barry smiled his thanks, watching as Maya walked further into the apartment and perched herself onto a stool and carefully pushed foam from the fire extinguisher away before reaching into her purse for a wet nap to clean herself. Cadence let out a frustrated sigh and rested her hand atop her head.

Barry gently placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. "What's wrong? I thought you and your mom were getting along now."

"We are," Cadence said. "But…I know she's lying. About being here. She's not this impulsive to drop everything and show up unannounced. For holidays? Yes, that makes sense. But for things like this? No. She's only that spontaneous about buying furniture. I just can't figure out why and it's driving me crazy. Even more so than everything else at the moment." She gazed at him. "Do you ever wish you had the ability to stop time and just…live in the moment? I could really use that right now."

Barry smiled. "Well, I can't do that," he said slowly. "But I think I know what could cheer you up."

Cadence gave him a wry smile. "You're not going to sing to me, are you?"

Barry's smile widened. "No, I'm saving that for Valentine's Day." Cadence laughed quietly. "How about a date? Fancy dinner, quiet restaurant, where it's just the two of us. And we talk about everything…anything…but this."

Cadence leaned back against the wall behind her, letting out a breath so heavily that it moved her bangs off her forehead. Suddenly, she felt very tired. "I could really use that." Then her eyes flickered towards the broken window. "But not tonight."

"No, definitely not."

---

A/N: I think I'm most proud of coming up with the chapter title. Haha. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it and thank you for checking it out. I know FFN is still being a bit buggy with alerts and everything so there's that in terms of my not wanting to update. But I've also been working hard so there's that. For those that read stories in the other fandoms I write in, sorry I haven't updated anything in a long while.

But I hope this chapter with a little bit of everyone makes up for it. We've got some development with Wally and Jesse, together and by themselves. And now we have more information with Breathtaker and Savitar. Wonder what'll happen with that. ;) lol.

Please remember to review; any feedback helps me become a better writer and motivates me to write more. I respond to every review, even anonymous ones.

Cheers,

-Riley

PS - Whomever is reviewer 125 will get a sneak peek into the numerical next chapter. (So I don't know if that'd be the next one (18) or the one after (19) etc.).

Review Replies

Ethan: Barry and Caitlin always have a great friendship and I needed to show it more as the stories went on. I've shown a lot of Cisco's and Caitlin's and Cadence's and Caitlin's, but not Barry's and Caitlin's. So, it needed to come up again.

DarkHelm145: Yeah, I really felt that the rooftop was a better one for the conversation. It just felt cooler to me. Just like how this confrontation with Frankie happened during the day. It felt better to me.

Yummers: Hope you liked it.

PowerHero142: Yeah, Barry was sidelined a bit for this one. I did that on purpose as I felt it makes more sense for him for what's coming up next. (Can't say too much but you'll see it and I think you'll agree it makes sense then). Julian is fun to write as an antagonist. Working on his and Barry's relationship as things go on will be fun. Plenty to explore for it as well as with Cadence and Jesse. I've hinted towards things with their relationship in this one.