25

Mistakes

"Master, is it time?"

Breathtaker turned to Incognito, who stood behind him, hands clasped behind his back. Standing in his true form. Breathtaker hadn't seen it in years. He'd been smart to conceal his identity. As far as anyone knew, there was no trace left of Incognito's true form. Dead and gone after years of stolen identities and hiding in the darkness.

Breathtaker nodded, the hood covering his head gently fluttering in the breeze that blew through their base. A lair, as he was sure others would call it. Those who were naïve and believed everything in the world was made to be good and pure. Those who felt there was good in all life, in all people. Breathtaker's lips pulled back in a snarl, a sorrowful expression, not to be confused with aggression. Sorrow for mankind, that they wouldn't understand him or his goals.

He felt bad for them, honestly. They were all so blind. So blind to see hard work, some destruction…some loss was imperative for a better life. There was always casualty in war and war was imperative if there were those that wanted to oppose you. Breathtaker had been ready and waiting for it. Knew the Flash would do his best to stop him. But the Flash didn't have one simple trait that would allow him to win.

He wouldn't kill. It was a mistake on The Flash's part, really. A mistake that'd cost him his life when the time came. But it wasn't time for that, yet. No, not yet.

"Yes, my child," Breathtaker replied. He reached out a hand, placed it on Incognito's bent head. Lovingly ran his fingers over the man's head, noting the sorrow that exuded from him in waves. "It is time. I thank you for the work you've given me, for the times you've followed me without question."

"I'll follow you anywhere," Incognito murmured. "I've lived long enough to know. To see. History repeats itself. And when those aren't aware of their history, of the things that's worked and hasn't worked, there will inevitably be someone who takes the reigns. To make them see the light. I'll do whatever it is you need to reach that point."

"Thank you." Breathtaker turned his head to the rest of their base; a dilapidated wooden structure that, to those uninclined to see it, would appear to be nothing more than the mountainside. He nodded to White Hot, Mindboggler, and Stratos as they stood behind him as well. "Thank you all."

"So, when are we going to do this?" Mindboggler asked, folding her arms. "Savitar is—"

"—Savitar is not who we need to think about," Stratos interrupted. "He'll hold up his end." His eyes flashed towards Savitar. "When are you going to hold up yours? When am I going to see my daughter?"

"Patience, Stratos. You know as well as I do this environment isn't good for her. But she will be saved when the time comes. She has started to show her metahuman abilities, correct?" Stratos pressed his lips together. "If so, she will be saved."

Mindboggler stepped forward. "And Savitar will be saved as well?" She asked. "Our plan will fall apart if he's not."

"Savitar is none of my concern. Today's task is. Incognito has already pledged his loyalty to me, White Hot, are you able to do the same?"

White Hot's eyes flashed. Her body slowly became encompassed in flames, her hair starting to float, wiggling in the updraft. Her smile was wide, showing off both rows of her teeth. "Try and stop me," she growled.

"Hey Cadence. I just wanted to let you know that everything's going okay over here. Um. It's kind of weird, seeing how nice everyone is. I'm guess I'm not really used to it. From anyone but you, anyway. My foster mom, we don't really talk but she's tried to get in contact with me. I don't know if I really want to talk to her. She was hurt just as badly, but…she still let it happen to me. Um, I heard this is going to go to trial soon and I may have to speak. But…I'm not sure with my powers and everything. Can you call me back when you get the chance? I'm not sure what your schedule is with everything. Thanks. Bye."

Cadence erased the message and quickly wrote a note to herself to call Frankie back as soon as she could. She stuck the sticky-note to the bottom of her computer. There wasn't much space left. There were so many things she had to remember to do;

1. Call Oliver.

2. Call Clark.

3. Call Bruce.

4. Sign Brady up for Lacrosse.

5. Call Ryder, remind him of our next appointment with the custody officers.

6. Call mom.

7. Remind Barry…

And on and on. Most of them having to do with work; case files she needed to look over, to read up on so she could testify when the time came. But, most importantly, she needed to talk to Barry.

Chief Paulson had given the news almost immediately after Barry left his office, head hanging low. She hadn't been able to get in contact with him since. She wasn't surprised he'd turned his phone off, didn't want to get into contact with anyone. As far as she knew, he was probably running somewhere to clear his head. As a matter of fact, she had a pretty good idea of where to find him and wanted to do so.

It was a mistake to let him go before she talked to him. She saw the pain on his face when he briefly glanced at her. The pain she'd seen only recently, making her heart ache for him. She wanted to say something to him, to understand, to help him.

Unfortunately, work had other plans for her or else she would've come up with a good excuse to teleport to him. Her phone had been ringing off the hook, she had a pile of cases to look over that Chief Paulson was breathing down her neck for, and Julian seemed that he was itching to talk to her. To apologize. That had surprised her. She'd heard a knock at the door to her office and immediately called 'come in' tearing her attention away from a case file.

Cadence watched Julian closely as he closed the door to her office and tuned to face her. "What can I help you with, Julian?"

"I believe you've heard the news about Allen," Julian said, a light almost innocent lift to his voice. Cadence scowled, watching him closely. He could see the muscle in his cheeks twitch, coming close to a smile. "It's a shame." Yeah, right. Cadence could tell he was enjoying it more than he was letting on. He had something to do with it. She knew it. "He was a good CSI."

"Did you come in here to tell me what I already knew?" Cadence asked. She leaned back in her seat, gently rocking against the springs of the chair. "You were the only one who didn't see it when he was still working here."

Julian's smile widened. He dropped his gaze to his feet, trying and failing to appear sorrowful. "Yes, well, Allen and I had our fair share of differences." He took a step towards her. "Just like you and me." Cadence's eyelids twitched close together. "I do need to apologize to you for what happened with Frankie."

"Really?"

"Yes, I stepped in on a case you were working hard on, just to make sure I was able to keep my track record with metas." Julian tilted his head, looking Cadence in the eye. "I know it's not your place of expertise, you only work in Child Protective Services—"

"—it doesn't matter to me whether or not they're metas," Cadence interrupted. She folded her arms tighter, continued to watch him. She hated how he'd said that. She only worked in Child Protective Services. "So long as they're all safe." Finally, she concluded what she knew since he'd knocked on her door. His body temperature gave him away, along with the knowing smirk he was trying and failing to hide. The confident and relaxed way his shoulders slumped, his hands in his slacks. He was up to something. "Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?"

"I simply wanted to apologize for any misunderstanding that may have come across with my relationship with Allen. We simply couldn't work together, the stress of our personalities clashed."

Lie. Cadence thought. He's lying through his teeth. And yet, he was doing a good job at lying. It was no wonder everyone around him respected him so much. Her fingers curled into her arms, nails stabbing into her skin. "What does that have to do with me?"

"Again, I wanted to apologize for stepping on your toes with Frankie. I also wanted to say, as you're very close to Allen, that I hope you pass on my message to him." He paused. "And, as I tried to do before, extend my congratulations."

"Huh." Cadence let out a low, humorless laugh. She started to respond but was immediately distracted. Her eyes shifted to the side, her heart immediately dropping to her stomach in confusion and fear. No. No.

Ignoring Julian, Cadence leaned towards her computer screen, watching the bulleting that scrolled across the bottom—Flare Flames Out. Watched the live news coverage of a large apartment building on fire.

Flames leapt into the air, shimmering fingers flicking the sky. Windows blew out, smoke billowed toward the street as the residents streamed out the front door, grasping each other and choking on the acrid air. Firefighters lined the streets, water pumping out of their hoses towards the building. Even Cadence could see the outcomes of the fire; the building would collapse, or it'd jump to the buildings on either side. Either outcome seemed to be inevitable…as she watched herself on screen add fuel to the fire, a large, excited grin on her face as she did so.

Grabbing her mouse, Cadence turned up the volume on the computer. "—But what stuns the public more than the severity of this fire is it's start. A case of arson by the hero, and Flash's partner, Flare. Witnesses claim she appeared at the front of the building and started to throw fire bombs inside. The fire spread quickly. If you're on Ivy street, steer clear as the CCFD and CCPD move in to contain the fire…and the city's former hero."

"I have to go," Cadence murmured, still staring at the screen.

Julian pulled his stare away from his cell phone, where the same message and footage played across his own phone. He looked at Cadence while sliding his phone into his pocket. "Yes, I believe I have to go as well. Cheers." He backed out of Cadence's office just as her phone started to blare with messages from the metahuman app and texts from her friends. Cadence answered the ringing phone and with a quick bark of, "I'm on my way."

She paused. If she went to STAR Labs first, got debriefed, it meant there were more people at the risk of being injured or killed. If she went straight there, there was a better chance of her identity being revealed. But with all the chaos, all the people running around…Cadence made her decision. It wasn't too far away. She teleported down to the corner of Ivy and Mellmount and ran down the street towards the fiery blaze.

As she got closer, she could hear the sirens screaming, mixing in with the screaming of those affected by the fire. Cadence pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed STAR Lab's number, immediately linking into their communication systems after inputting the secret code. "Guys," she started.

"Oh good, it's you," Cisco said as soon as he heard her voice.

"Of course, it's me." Cadence shot back, slowing herself to a speed walk. A crowd surged toward her, running from the blaze but she kept inching forward. "I don't think whoever this is has any ideas about STAR Labs or me or else they'd attack you first."

"Any ideas why they're targeting that apartment building?" HR asked.

"Not unless they're saying something about the construction work we have going on in this city," Cisco murmured.

"Don't let Ryder hear you say that," Cadence remarked. She stopped a good distance from the blaze, ducking around the corner of a building. She could see CCFD and CCPD members scurrying around as they tried to contain the fire and aid those who were injured. Ambulances continued to pull up and race away from the scene.

Despite her invulnerability to heat and flames, she could feel it warmth from where she stood. Sweat rolled down her hairline, pooled her armpit, slid down her back. Making sure to keep her phone pressed against her ear, she shrugged out of her blazer. "No, they're just trying to ruin my reputation, whoever this is, or else they would've done something else."

"But why?" Caitlin asked.

"That's the million-dollar question," HR piped up. "You know, we need to think of this from a PR point of view. Everyone here knows that the Flash and Flare are protecting our city. They've had a day of celebration named after them, they've got action figures, hats, t-shirts, any sort of merchandise you can think of in their likeness. Because the city loves them. Whomever is behind this is trying to besmirch their reputation because—"

"—They want to turn the city against us," Caitlin realized. Cadence could hear HR triumphantly state, 'bingo' in the background of the call. "Against them. Just like Savitar and Zoom had done."

"Geez, first Chief Paulson, then Zoom, then Savitar," Cisco remarked. "You think at some point we'll get a criminal mastermind who wants nothing more than all the riches in the world? If it were me, I'd just want the money."

"Well, we'll figure out what's going on once we capture them," Cadence said. "I'm going in."

"I'll get Barry," Cisco said.

"His phone's off," Cadence said. She waved off their concerns with a simple statement of 'I'll explain later'. "Even then, I can handle this." Determined filled her voice as she added, "You know what they say, the best person to fight against you is yourself. You know your strengths and weaknesses…and in my experience, no one can beat themselves up more than themselves."

She hung up her phone and shoved it into the pocket of her jeans. Cadence pushed herself around the corner of the building and took stock of the chaotic scene before her. People running, screaming, pushing, shoving, crying, wailing. Every sound a body could make as they hurried to safety. And yet, she was the only one running towards danger.

Cadence glanced upwards, zeroing in on a fire escape. The better way to get in without anyone noticing her sudden disappearance. Cadence jogged into the alley before racing forward to pick up speed. When she went fast enough, she leapt upwards and grabbed onto the middle rung of the ladder on the fire escape. She pulled herself up and onto the bottom balcony of the fire escape, climbing up to the middle portion as fast as she could. She scanned the building in front of her, shifting to her thermal vision.

She could see some people inside. The thought alone made her forget about keeping her cover. Whomever was inside would surely die if she didn't get them out soon. Cadence leapt onto the railing of the balcony and perched there, like a falcon. She waited for the wind to blow, for the thick black smoke and flames to arch away from the window before leaping across the gap. In mid-air, she tucked her arms to her chest and crashed through the melting window pane.

She landed in a low crouch, sending shards of glass to the ground. When Cadence stood up, she found herself in hell. Fire raged around her, dancing up the ceiling in graceful twists and turns. She clenched her fist, the flames around her slowly lowering as she walked through the room.

"Where are you?" She shouted. "Please, call out!"

"Help!"

She heard the voice from nearby, turned in the direction of it. The bright glare from the flames made her squint, made her turn her head away from the shimmering air. With squinted eyes, she brought up her hand to block the glare. Blocked off the light so that she could use her thermal vision once more. There were a few people still inside, frantically writhing around. By her guess, a few rooms over.

"Help me! Please!"

Cadence turned in the direction of the screams and ran towards the wall, teleporting the second before she'd run flat against it. Twice. Three times. Until she found a room that filled with smoke. There weren't any flames, but from the anguished screams coming from a nearby room alerted her the fire was coming quickly. The orange glow from beneath the front door said as much.

She could feel warmth beneath her feet. It wouldn't take much more for the entire building to go up. Or collapse. Cadence raced to the bedroom and swung the door open. She gasped in pain, the doorknob melted over her hand the movement she touched it. Cadence cursed loudly and shook out her hand, skin blistering, before running in to follow the screams. Thick smoke rolled around her. She coughed hard, shifting to thermal vision once more. She found a body lying on the floor and knelt to grab it. Even through her jeans, she could feel the warmth below the floor.

If it bothered her, it was much too hot. As it was, when she lifted the person up into a sitting position, his body wracking with coughs and chokes over lungful's of smoke, she saw his body blistered and bruised body, tiny patches of skin stuck to the floor with each move he made. Stretching and blistering the more she pulled. He screamed in pain with every slight movement.

"You're going to be okay." Cadence pressed her hands to his skin, healing him as he helped him up. "We have to get out of here." She started to drag him towards the door, moving slowly as she healed him along the way. She heard him mumble something and stopped, turning her back towards the growing flames to shield him from the intense heat. "What? What'd you say?"

"My son," the man rasped. "My son's in here."

Fuck. Cadence thought for a moment, her mind whirring.

Trying to figure out what to do. She made her decision in a second. She teleported out to the alleyway and placed the man on the ground. She looked him over before leaving. He was going to need tons of skin grafts, his skin cracked open and bled in the worst places, blistered in some of the lighter ones. The rest of his life would be in the hospital.

Cadence turned and teleported back into the apartment, scrambling around while shouting for the son. Finally, she found him huddled under his bed, coughing while he squeezed a teddy bear in his arms. "Hey." Cadence reached for him.

He screamed and pulled away. "It's okay, sweetie, I promise," Cadence continued to soothe. His screams continued. He frantically rolled back and forth. The floor was burning him. "Hey, hey, listen to me, okay?" The boy's eyes shifted to her. "I'm going to help you. You can trust me. I just need you to take my hand."

His screams turned to whimpers, eyes drooping. Shrank back from her. Cadence pushed herself further under the bed. "Hey, hey," she said. "You can trust me. See?" She snapped her fingers, a fireball appeared above her finger. "I'm Flare. I'm here to help you. I just need you to be brave, alright? Can you do that for me?"

The boy's hand slowly inched forward. Cadence grabbed him and yanked him up into her arms. He practically climbed her like a tree, scrambling to wrap his legs around her waist, pressing his tear-soaked cheeks to her neck. A cool, light touch to the otherwise intense heat that surrounded them. Cadence hugged him to her side, scanning him for any injuries. His clothes smoldered, some patches on his arm were a bright pink. First degree burns, but he'd be okay.

Cadence hugged him to her side, placed a kiss on his tear-stained cheek. She teleported from the building and back to the alley, depositing him with his father. Cadence turned and went back into the building, saving out as many people as she could find. It was on her final sweep of the building when it happened. A low groaning sound filled the apartment she stood in the middle of.

The roof was going to collapse. Cadence turned, shifted her weight, ready to teleport. Through the fire she saw something appear in front of the wall and flip towards her, kicking her in the chest. Cadence fell to the ground, a foot slammed onto her neck.

She gasped in pain.

"Wow, Flare, you think by now you'd know how to defend yourself."

Cadence flinched, hearing the masculine voice coming from her—Flare's—mouth. Recognized it immediately. Incognito. She should've known. They'd never come across another meta who had the shapeshifting ability. No one other than Hannibal Bates. But she'd worked with Incognito, he had more powers than Hannibal Bates could imagine. Not only could he transform himself into any person he'd ever seen, Incognito got their mannerisms down pat, he could also transform into any other shape he wanted, animals and inanimate objects alike.

She remembered a time of training with the Assassination Bureau and he'd managed to turn himself into waves of mud, concrete, ivy, and more animals than she could remember as he fought. If he'd managed to be a complete version of Joe that had tricked them with their first encounter with the Assassination Bureau, she could only imagine how Breathtaker had encouraged his powers now.

"Breathtaker would be disappointed in you," Incognito continued.

Cadence clenched her hands into fists. Her eyes blazed along with the raging inferno around them. "I see you're here to take me back to him." He was the retriever of the group. She was the one who found the address, the location. Stratos and Mindboggler were the muscle. Incognito was the one who aided in taking them to Breathtaker, taking on the form of a loved one to aid in their last moments before death.

"No." Incognito shook his—her—head. Her lips pulled back into a snarling smile. "To distract you." He removed is foot from her neck, stepped back.

At that moment, Cadence felt something behind her change. Whether it was a gust of wind, a change in temperature, or just sensing an addition of body heat, Cadence's body stiffened as she went on edge. Incognito's smile widened. He morphed into Stratos and shot out his hand. The fire in the room roared to life with the accompanying wind Incognito controlled.

Once the flames shot higher, smoke filling the room, Incognito sent a burst of air into Cadence's stomach. The jet propulsion knocked her off her feet. She flew across the apartment and hit something solid before falling flat on her face. A hand grasped her hair and ripped her head back. Just as she thought. Someone else was with them.

"Time's running out, Cadey," White Hot sing-songed into Cadence's ears. Her grasp tightened along Cadence's hair. She could feel some strands ripping out. "We need your answer." Cadence reached up, grabbed onto White Hot's wrist and pulled hard, flipping the other fire meta-human over her shoulder and onto the ground.

Cadence surged to her feet and stood across from her Assassination Bureau counterpart. Her white-blonde hair gently blew with the roar of the flames, icy blue eyes boring right into Cadence's. Her white and blue suit standing firm against the flames that licked around them. The fire behind her slowly changed in color, shifting from red-orange, to a dark blue, while the flames behind Cadence stayed red.

In a flurry of purple flames—red and blue mixing together—Cadence and White Hot shot towards each other. White Hot projected herself towards Cadence with a burst of blue fire from her feet. Cadence reacted quickly. She stomped on the end of the coffee table that sat in front of her, flipping it upwards, so that she had a shield in front of her. White Hot crashed into it, bouncing backwards from the blow. The desk propelled further forward from the blow and crashed into Cadence, sending her backwards to the wall behind her. She teleported just before reaching the wall behind her, falling through it. The table crashed into the wall and splintered into tiny pieces.

Seconds later, Cadence teleported back though it with her own jet propulsion and struck White Hot in the face with a hard punch. White Hot twisted to the ground, blonde hair flying. She fell in a heap, arms outstretched. White Hot lifted her legs as Cadence came close and wrapped her legs around her neck. Bending her body, White Hot placed her hands on the ground and pushed hard, sending fire from her hands. That time, the jet propulsion sent the two into the wall.

Cadence cried out, her back crashing into the corner of the wall. She fell to the ground, pain swelling through each of her vertebrae, rolling through her. Her body spasmed, making her eyes squeeze shut. The light of the flames danced in the darkness of her closed eyes.

"What's the matter?" White Hot taunted. "The cat can't land on her feet?"

Without opening her eyes, Cadence focused on the fire around her. Separated what covered the building from the heat source White Hot was emitting. She waited for her to get closer, then swung herself forward, sticking out her legs to sweep White Hot's from beneath her. White Hot slammed to the ground. Cadence opened her eyes and leapt over the other fire meta. All thought of Incognito leaving her until an air whip grabbed her wrist and whipped her to the ground.

Cadence fell. Tried to bring up her hands but found her other hand slung down from another air whip. Gritting her teeth, Cadence rolled back to her shoulders and did a kip-up back to her feet. With the forward momentum, she pulled her arms forward. Incognito stumbled and Cadence used that momentum to twist to her feet. She pulled harder, flinging Stratos aside, using a fire bolt to his chest to knock him into White Hot.

"At least I can do more than one thing on my knees," Cadence replied. She blowing her hair back from her face and grinned at White Hot. Blood dripped down her chin.

White Hot screeched in fury. She swung wide in an arc, aiming a fist towards Cadence's face. Cadence bent backwards, allowing White Hot to punch the air and brought up her own fist to strike White Hot in the armpit. It was a solid strike into a fleshy portion of skin, no muscle to protect. The pain shot through White Hot, sending her to her knees. Cadence lifted her knee and struck White Hot in the face then whipped around extending her back leg as far as it could go to kick Incognito in the teeth.

Even with two metas fighting her, Cadence continued to stand her ground. White Hot came back towards Cadence with blazing fists. Cadence pressed her back against the wall behind her lifted her feet. When White Hot came close enough, she pressed off the wall and shot forward, striking her feet. The momentum propelled White Hot backwards. As she shot forward, Cadence reached up and grabbed the sprinkler system above her, the pipes holding under her weight, and rotated around it in a full arc.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

She crouched atop it, watching Incognito and White Hot as they grew closer. Neither were backing down. Looks like Breathtaker picked some good ones, Cadence thought, watching the two. Incognito lifted his hands. The wind picked up. The flames grew higher. White Hot closed her eyes as the blue flames behind her increased in strength.

Okay. If that's how they wanted it.

"It's about to get really hot in here," Cadence murmured.

Grasping the bar below her, she dropped her weight until only her hands held her up. Her shoulders ached in protest of the movement. She swung forward and let go, flipping through the air. Splaying her legs in a butterfly twist, Cadence knocked White Hot and Stratos in the face before landing on the ground in a crouch. Once in that vantage point, she reached over and grabbed the couch. Hefting it into her arms with ease, she swung it as hard as she could, punching her fist forward. Immediately catching into flames, the couch hurled towards Incognito and White Hot.

White Hot started to step forward, but Incognito moved first. Lifting his arms, a hurricane like gust of wind shot through the room, immediately sucking the flames from the room. Cadence frowned, watching the flames wick away from her hands, seconds before her hands clutched at her throat. Incognito smirked as Cadence fell to her knees, continuing to clutch at her throat, guttural groans escaping her.

She gagged, tears coming to her eyes. No. She wasn't going to be beaten so easily.

Taking the opportunity, White Hot stepped towards Cadence, lifting her hand. Cadence's eyes shot over to the fire metahuman, subtly widening when she saw the line of fire that stretched from her fingertip. She knew exactly what was going to happen.

"This is going to hurt you so much more than it'll hurt me," White Hot said. She leaned down, bringing the tip of the flame closer and closer to Cadence's hand. Cadence struggled to twist away, but found her energy fading the longer Incognito took the air from her lugs. He shot out his other hand, bringing an air whip around her neck, holding her down.

Still, Cadence struggled, kicking out her legs as hard as she could. Didn't have enough energy to teleport. White Hot stepped on Cadence's chest, standing overtop Cadence. Her eyes flashing with dastardly mirth. Then the flame touched Cadence's hand. She couldn't block her mind from it completely, from the pain, from the smell of burning flesh that grazed through the room amongst the wind Incognito created.

At that moment, Cadence's mind went blank. Blank of everything. No preemptive thought other than how much pain she felt. Inside and out. How much hurt. How much anger. And how desperately she wanted to feel normal again. It came out in a wave.

Cadence's eyes snapped open. Roared with fire. A rush of thermal energy, fire energy escaped her body. A rush of energy so big that the apartment immediately imploded. A fire bomb. Cadence screamed with effort as the fire escaped her, as energy flowed through her, blaring in all directions, knocking out windows, incinerating any kindling the second the flames touched it. The shockwave knocked White Hot and Incognito backwards.

Cadence flipped to her feet and was on them in seconds. She grabbed the two by the sides of the head, smashed them together, then flung White Hot aside. She wasn't her target. Not now. Incognito sensed this and morphed his hands into vines, further encasing them in concrete. With Cadence's hands out of commission, Incognito rained her face and chest with strong punches, holding her close with control of the ivy.

Cadence fell to her knees, giving Incognito the perfect opportunity to knee her in the face over and over. Each time the punch would send her back, he'd pull her closer with the vines. Cadence's head swam, all noise around her muffled, eye swollen shut. It'd take time for her healing to kick in once more, nevertheless, she didn't feel any pain. All she felt was power.

Incognito pulled her close once more, pressing his nose flat against hers. "You can't escape this," he hissed.

Cadence took in a deep, shuddering breath, put her face close to Incognito's. "I'll die trying," she replied. She sent a blast of heat vision from her eyes, cracking the concrete that covered her hands in two. She continued with the blast, through the concrete until it reached Incognito's throat. He screamed, voice gurgling with the blood that filled his mouth, dripped down his chin. Cadence lifted her concrete encased hands, punched him twice—once with each hand—then headbutted him as hard as she could.

Incognito fell to the ground. Cadence imploded the concrete around her hands. A dust cloud filled the air. She shot out her left hand, creating a fire whip that wrapped around White Hot's neck and dragged her to the ground. Then she turned with her other hand and grasped Incognito around the throat, lowering him to the floor.

Incognito didn't defend himself, didn't fight back as she choked him. Squeezed her hand around his neck.

"Ah!" White Hot frantically pulled against the whip around her neck. She jerked back and forth, like a dog on a chain, struggling to break free.

"I'm not letting you to," Cadence growled.

"You can't take both of us," White Hot growled back. She pulled harder than started a jet propulsion from her feet, setting the room ablaze once more. Cadence groaned, feeling her shoulder yank upwards. Blazed with pain. Cadence looked at White Hot. Looked at Incognito. Looked at White Hot again.

She let go of her left hand. The fire whip fell from White Hot's neck, dripped to the floor like wax, setting small spot fires in the carpet. White Hot teleported. Or maybe blended in with the flames, the air shimmering around her. Once the meta was gone, she turned her attention back to Incognito, tightening her grasp around his neck.

Her entire body shook with the effort, her super strength kicking in.

Incognito—morphed back into Cadence, dressed as Flare—smirked at Cadence. His eyes were dull. Lifeless. He was already dead. "You wouldn't do it," he rasped around the rapidly closing walls of his airways. "You don't have the balls. You're the hero." Cadence continued to hold onto him, slowly yet surely curling her fingers toward her palm. "No matter what you do, Breathtaker is going to succeed. He'll do whatever it takes to have things move forward. Even if one of us fails to bring out the mission."

"I don't care," Cadence snarled. "I'd rather die than let him continue to rule my life."

Incognito's grin widened, showing off his—her—blood stained teeth. He spat. Blood dribbling down his chin. "Then your wish has been granted. Breathtaker doesn't take kindly to those that betray him."

"It's not betrayal when you're being forced to do it."

"You weren't always forced, were you?"

Cadence's eyes twitched. Her whole body twitched. In that movement, surrounded by flames, Cadence brought up her other hand to Incognito's neck and squeezed as hard as she could. Incognito struggled for only a few seconds—his body working hard to fight her off, while he otherwise didn't move. His body fell limp and transformed before her eyes, turning from her own self reflection to a tall, graying, inconspicuous looking man.

The fire died down around them, slowly becoming as hell of a building. Soot and ash stained every surface, broken and burnt beams of wood were left in the shell of the former apartment building. A haze of smoke filled the air. Cadence could hear the squawking and crackling of police radios and knew it was only a matter of time until they or the CCFD were able to get inside to inspect the building.

She couldn't stay.

Cadence grabbed the man's shirt and hefted him with ease. She leaned him heavily over her shoulder, took one last look around the room, and teleported. She appeared in STAR Labs, chest heaving. She dropped Incognito's burnt body to the ground and lifted her gaze to the rest of her team, who stared at her in stunned silence, eyes flickering to the lifeless body on the ground.

"I didn't get to him in time," she said by way of explanation. She stepped over his body and left the Cortex without a backwards glance.

The soft sounds of Central City rolled through Cadence's open window. Sirens wailed in the distance. She turned her head, looking at the city's skyline. It wasn't anything that needed Flash and Flare's presence. Her phone stayed silent.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Cadence quickly turned her attention back to the sweatshirt in her hands. She placed it on the growing pile next to her. Cadence flipped her hair back from her face and answered Barry question. "I'm fine."

Barry watched her for a long moment. Turned his head to look at her out the corner of his eye. As if it'd make him see her clearer. Cadence tried not to make a smart remark. He could never see her any clearer than he already could. Or did. "I meant with Incognito," he confessed. "Are you okay, with that? With what you did?"

"I knew what you meant, Barry." Cadence moved the stack of clean laundry to the box beside her. She dropped her hands to her waist, then used her right hand to scratch at her neck. "Honestly? I'm fine with it."

"We didn't get any information from him," Barry said. He wasn't scolding her, but it felt like it. They'd gone over this conversation more than once when being debriefed at the Cortex. She should've tried to get information out of him first. She was too impulsive. She reacted too quickly.

She'd make a mistake.

And she'd agreed with all of them. However, that didn't make her regret it, either. That was the part Barry didn't understand. "There's always a better way," he insisted. "They can be rehabilitated. There's a human part to them. Heroes don't kill."

She'd lifted an eyebrow in response and asked, "Are you saying I'm not a hero?"

Barry didn't respond. Didn't get the chance. Caitlin—and HR, who was, apparently sensitive to negative energy—told them to cool down before anything worse was what. What was important was that Breathtaker was done one soldier in his army.

"One less person to deal with in the grand scheme of things," Cadence pointed out. Barry nodded in response. They both knew their stance on it. Knew the friction that was being created between them. "I'm just trying to figure out how to keep Central City from losing all faith in the Flash and Flare. First Savitar and now this."

Barry gave a humorless smile. "Can't say it's been a good week for either of us," he admitted. "But we'll bounce back." Cadence gave him a pointed look and he turned away. He knew what she wanted to say. Wanted to ask. He wouldn't let her ask it. Instead, he nodded to the box beside her. "Is that the last of it?" Barry asked, scratching the back of his head. Stretched his arms, rested his hands atop his head.

The bottom of his shirt rose to reveal a sliver of his stomach. The muscles around his scar twitched. It had to be hurting him, she knew. It only happened when his muscles became too tight, when the phantom pain came through. When it felt like he was being stuck by lightning all over again.

Instead of laying a comforting hand on him, to bring him some relief, she answered his question. "Yep." Cadence stuck out her foot and pushed the box over to him. Barry muttered a quick 'thanks' and picked it up, juggling it in his hands to examine everything inside. "Your favorite shirt's in there. I washed it for you."

"You mean you're finally giving it back?"

"I never planned on it," Cadence admitted.

"I thought I'd have to pry it out of your hands."

"I was hoping to keep it. I never thought you'd take it back."

Cadence watched Barry as he studied the shirt. It wasn't a remarkable shirt by any means. Just a long-sleeved shirt from STAR Labs. The one he'd gotten when he first woke up in the Cortex. It'd gone missing shortly after they started dating, though she continued to say she had no idea where it went—despite him catching her wearing it a few times.

Flipping her hair once more—Cadence was starting to realize it was a nervous habit—she sighed heavily. Sighed out all the pain and emotion that didn't come out when fighting Incognito and White Hot. She took a breath, licked her lips. Needed to breach the conversation carefully. "You know, I never said anything about you moving out."

Barry lifted his chin and looked her in the eye. It was the first time he'd done it all day. "You didn't say much of anything, Cade."

Cadence let out a huff so large it blew her fringe out of her eyes. The ones she rolled in exasperation. "You didn't give me the chance to say much of anything," she said. And he certainly hadn't. He'd shut down as soon as she answered his question.

Bristling, Barry turned and put his box on the ground, stooping low to do so. When he straightened, his eyes flashed with lightning. Not the sort of lightning that'd warned of an incoming attack. But the sort of lightning that signaled the inner rage he was doing his best not to release. "You said 'no'," he said in a low voice, short of a whisper, above a murmur. "I asked you to marry me and you said 'no'. That's all I needed to hear."

Cadence stepped forward. Took a step towards the edge of the chasm that seemed to further crack apart the closer she moved. "I said 'no' because—"

Barry shook his head. "Don't, Cade."

Cadence continued. "Barry, if you'd just listen—"

"I don't want to hear it." Barry's voice made her stop in her tracks. "Because it doesn't matter what you say now. You said 'no' then. You don't want to marry me. I got the message loud and clear." He picked up the box once more. "Where's Brady?"

"He's doing his chores," Cadence said. She'd sent him away from his homework the moment Barry arrived at her window to get his things.

Barry nodded. "Don't let him hate me."

"He could never hate you, Barry," Cadence reassured him. "He's disappointed, maybe. But he doesn't hate you." She paused. "Do you hate me?"

"It'd take a lot for me to hate you, Cade," Barry said. "Even after today…" He thought for a moment. "My mom and dad always said their love could get them through anything. I believe that. It got my dad through being in prison for so long, how much he loved my mom and me."

"What about us?" Cadence asked.

"I love you, Cade. But it's hard for me to look at you. To be around you."

"I understand." Tears came to Cadence's eyes. "Please don't hate me, Barry. Please. There's a lot you don't understand. I want to explain it to you when I get the chance. When…when things calm down a little." She reached toward her hand, where her father's ring sat on her pinkie finger and her—what was to be—engagement ring sat on her ring finger. She started to take it off.

"Don't," Barry said, voice quivering. "I don't want it back."

"People are going to ask," Cadence pointed out.

"I'm going to stay with Cisco, I think people already figured it out."

"Okay." Nevertheless, Cadence pulled off the ring and dropped it to her pocket. Then she pulled off the ring that sat on her pinkie and tossed it to Barry. Instinctively, he caught it. "I want that back," she explained to his confused glance. "When I can put yours on. And not one moment before."

Barry nodded. "I'll see you at work." Without a backwards glance, Barry shot out of the apartment in a yellow lightning trail.

Cadence went and closed the door behind him. Leaning forward, she pressed her forehead against the cool wood and let out a long breath. Her heart swelled with pain, of which she tried to block out by squeezing her eyes shut. She wanted to slam her fists against the door. Wanted to scream. Wanted him to know she was hurting as much as he was, but for an entirely different reason. For a reason he wouldn't allow her to explain. That she loved him more than anything.

That she made a mistake.

"Cadey?"

"I don't want to hear it, mom," Cadence said. She refused to move, knowing the second she did, she'd crumble to the ground. Cadence sensed her mother stopping halfway across the living room. Good, she didn't need her to be too close, just in case she burst into flames. Just in case, the worst of the worst happened.

The worst were the times she couldn't heal someone despite every effort she'd made. The worst of the worst was having the power to heal other people and herself…but she couldn't heal her own broken heart.

A/N: Well, I hope I didn't hurt you guys too much with the revelation.

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. I update my story every Wednesday, if there's a time that I won't it will be posted on our twitter: DarkElements10.

Cheers,

-Riley

Review Replies

DarkHelm145: Don't worry, there's not going to be a crossover with Ben10 or anything, but it's funny you brought it up as I had an idea from the show that could be utilized here. I don't know if I'll go with it, though.

Ethan: Leah and Lucas are part of the Assassination Bureau; who are in the comics. I didn't make them up for the story. I just took the characters to use for my own idea after researching them and other villains from DC comics. There are other points of Breathtaker's plan that haven't been revealed, going all the way back to Flash Fire that are going to be tied together/completed in this story.

Yummers: You're probably going to be saying 'poor barry' even more now.