A bolt of lightning zipped past Frost, the name that Caitlin adopted for when she was in the field. Quickly she dodged and sent a flurry of angry ice shards in the direction of the lightning before spraying the entire field that she stood in. Wind whipped past her as a hand pushed her sideways, making Frost stumble. Letting out a frustrated growl, she balled up her fists and pulled her elbows in, shooting a concentrated blast of organic liquid nitrogen out from her entire body. There was an anguished gurgle and the lightning stopped. Off to her right stood Barry in his flash suit, frozen solid from head to toe. As Frost approached she saw him trying to vibrate himself free. Opening her hand she poured even more power over him, refreezing anything that he managed to melt away. She had to be careful though and not freeze him through and through.
"Not bad." Cisco stepped through the portal beside her, having been sitting at the other end of the tarmac, watching their vitals. "Your endurance is getting better. In the past you would have tapped out after that shard blast."
"You can thaw Barry out any time now." Iris said over the com, demanding that she come and watch the training session.
"He's fine Iris." Frost growled smooth as silk. "He needs to figure out how to escape on his own."
"I'm the leader here, and I say thaw him out."
Frost was about to open her mouth and chew Iris out when Nora asked,
"Isn't it a good idea for Dad to figure out how to break free on his own? In case we run into another ice meta."
"Nora's right Iris." Cisco added. "Just hang tight, he's beginning to break though."
Hairline cracks were appearing in the ice covering Barry. Caitlin could hear him vibrating, and she could see steam rising from him. Faster and faster he vibrated until suddenly the ice shell shattered, Frost throwing up a shield to protect her and Vibe from the ice. Chest heaving Barry told Iris,
"Iris, I'm okay. You need to trust Caitlin and Cisco. We know what we are doing; this isn't the first time that we've trained like this."
The three of them stepped through the portal Cisco opened, taking them back to the other end of the pavement, joining Iris and Nora. Caitlin saw that XS was in her uniform and she wondered what that was about.
"Do you want to train too Nora?" Iris asked her daughter, tone suggesting that she thinks Nora shouldn't be doing anything at all.
"Yeah, come on and let your old man teach you some new tricks." Barry bounced from foot to foot, but Nora shook her head.
"No, I want to go up against Aunt Caitlin." Everyone stared at Nora like she had lost her mind, and Caitlin felt the need to speak up.
"Nora, are you sure? I mean, Barry had a hard time up against me, and he's got a lot more experience than you do sweetie."
"I'm sure." She was so earnest that Caitlin merely shrugged and waved her hand.
"Head down to the other end and wait for me. Defend your position and try to defeat me." Caitlin barely got the words out before purple lightning streaked past. Caitlin laughed at her enthusiasm, but Iris looked irritated. It actually made Frost grin with mirth that Iris was having a bad time of it. Their personalities were becoming interchangeable now, slowly merging into one.
"Go easy on her, Nora's never been up against anyone like you before." Barry grabbed her wrist, eyes dark. A quick moment passed between the two of them, but there was something significant to it. Frost didn't have time to analyze though, and decided to dwell on it later.
"Don't worry dad, we'll go easy on your baby girl." Frost jetted away, ice billowing in front of and behind her. She raced to the end of the tarmac and was met with a barrage of lightning, all of it coming fast and wild.
Frost had to drop down low to avoid a few of the blasts before roaring high into the sky, using the bright sunlight to her advantage. Ice was highly reflective, and Nora had her back to the sun. Light bounced off the ice in a kaleidoscope before the ice was shattered by lightning. Frost tumbled to the ground, just barely catching herself in time to land in a crouch. Nora clapped her hands and sent a sonic wave at Frost, but she managed to shield herself from the worst of the blast. The speedster then came in close, going for hand to hand, trying to trap Frost's hands and keep her from using her powers. The struggle was real, but in the end it was Frost who got the upper hand. She managed to encase the younger woman's hands in ice.
"Dude, you've got some mad skills." Cisco breached to them as Barry ran up.
"Which one of us were you referring to?" Caitlin asked as Nora worked her way out of the ice cuffs.
"Both of you." Cisco was going full on geek out, making them all smile.
"You did good Nora." Barry praised. "You were a tougher fight for Frost that I was."
"It's because she knows you better, and can figure out your fighting style." Nora replied, ice breaking away. Caitlin actually felt a glimmer of pride that Nora had put up such a good fight.
"I have a feeling you're gonna be a great speedster once you figure everything out." Caitlin said proudly, feeling her stomach rumble. "But can we get back to the lab? I'm starving."
"Your wish is my command." Cisco opened a breach and they all stepped through as a separate breach opened for Iris, taking them all to the same destination.
Caitlin was running a test in her lab when the meta alert alarm went off. Quickly she joined the others as Iris rattled information off.
"CCPD just got a call of a drowning at Central City Mall. Looks like someone collapsed and had water mixed with blood gurgling up out of their mouth."
"That doesn't sound like a regular drowning." Barry muttered.
"Sounds hinky to me." Cisco added with a shake of his head.
"It sounds like an extreme case of dry drowning." Caitlin said as she joined the group. "It happens when water gets into a person's lungs. The lungs can't process oxygen properly, causing the person to literally drown even though they are on dry land."
"Would that cause water to pour out of somebody?" Iris asked.
"Unlikely." Sherloque interjected.
"Not usually." Caitlin shook her head, brain running fast to try and figure out what the cause could be. "For there to be water being expelled from the body there had to be one of two reasons. One is that the lungs were filled to capacity, but that would happen mere minutes after being submerged in water."
"According to the report the person was on the second level of the mall and nowhere near any of the fountains." Barry read over the initial police report.
"In that case, we are most likely dealing with a meta. Someone who can control water." Ralph shrugged. "But you've handled a meta like that in the past. Mardon, right?"
"He could control the weather." Cisco shook his head. "No, this person can only control the element of water, making them more specialized in their attack."
"Any thoughts Caitlin?" Barry asked, making the ice meta look up in surprise. Everyone in the room was staring at her as Nora come racing in.
"I just saw something at the mall that I think you need to check out."
"Let me guess, the extreme drowning on the second level?" Iris asked drily, tone and demeanor somewhat lackadaisical for the situation. Caitlin sighed, wishing the other woman would take their job seriously.
"Shway. How'd you know?"
"Police scanner." Barry replied, grabbing his extra CSI kit. "Now that we've got a crime scene, you and I are up."
The two of them blasted away as Caitlin joined Cisco at his console. She needed to see what happened in order to determine what kind of meta they were up against. Cisco already had the feed from the security cameras up and was playing them back. Sudden;y Caitlin saw something.
"Stop it and go back a few frames."
Cisco did so and switched the feed over to the plasma screen, Caitlin moving closer to it in order to see better. Feeling dread in her stomach she asked,
"Can you run it forward slowly? I think I see something."
In the middle of the frame a man stood in line, waiting to order at the food court. He was a basic man, nothing extraordinary about him. He wore jeans and a polo shirt. As they watch a younger man moves through the line, crossing from the opposite side of the man to the side facing the camera. His hand comes up and touches the victim on the arm as he passes. Usually no one would find that suspicious, that move generally being one of apology or thank you for being let through. This time though, a shadow passed over the two men, covering the victim before being sucked into the meta. The younger man disappeared into the crowd as the other man started choking and collapsed, water and blood coming out of his mouth.
"What the hell was that?" Ralph asked, voice troubled.
"I'm not sure, but those signs look like someone aspirating." Caitlin mused. "Choking on something. What troubles me is the amount of fluid that came up. Normally it isn't enough to soak the victim and pool on the ground."
"Hey guys, we've got another problem." Barry's voice sounded grim and confused over the comm. "Nora's sending a picture now, but the vic doesn't look like he should."
The image that came though was one of a dehydrated and mummified body. It looked almost like something out of the movies that Cisco loved to watch. Caitlin felt Killer Frost rise in the back of her mind.
"That's not good." Her other personality said in her mind.
"Why?"
"Savitar told me about this meta. Tell the others I'll explain when they get back."
Caitlin nodded before speaking up.
"When the two of you get done with the crime scene, come back to S.T.A.R; Killer Frost has some information on this meta."
"So what kind of meta are we dealing with here?" Iris asked, leaning back in her chair, arms crossed. Caitlin rolled her eyes and let Killer Frost take over. Barry and Nora had returned several hours later from the crime scene with barely any more answers than when they left.
"He's called the Duster." Killer Frost began, pacing back and forth in front of everyone. "Savitar had come across him once and barely survived the encounter."
"You're taking all this info from Savitar?" Iris scoffed. "Why should we believe anything he was to have supposed to have said?"
"Because he took me to Earth-7 to show me." Killer Frost growled. "Cisco can show you."
Cisco opened a viewing portal to the earth specified. They looked smoother than the regular portals he would make. They were a one way window to the world they were interested in. Before them they saw a planet that was barren and dry, similar to Mars except with one huge difference. Bones were piled everywhere and the skeletons of once great cities scraped the sky. There was nothing living.
"What happened?" Barry asked moving to stand next to Killer Frost in front of the portal, trying to get a better look.
Warmth radiated off of the speedster and the cold woman opened her senses up to it, soaking it in. True the solar lamps charged her fast, but there was something different about Barry's heat that made Caitlin and Killer Frost want more. She took a half step closer to him, missing the closeness that they once had.
"Duster did this." Frost said quietly. "Savitar said that he craves water, and that he can never be satisfied. His powers make things look contradictory, and it had something to do with the way he draws moisture out of his victims. Initially it looks like a drowning, but that's only the start. Once all the fluids are out of the body he somehow absorbs it into himself. My guess is that it's easier for him to soak up the fluids if they are outside of the body than sucking it through the victims skin. I'm not sure if he can travel the multiverse like a speedster and breacher can, but I do know that when he runs out of water, he either moves on or perishes along with everyone else."
"So how are we supposed to stop this meta?" Cisco asked. "Water is everywhere, even in the driest deserts we have."
"Savitar told me that he thought I had the powers needed to stop Duster." Frost mused aloud. "He theorized that if I could freeze the meta to absolute zero, I would be able to eliminate any moisture around him. Basically I would starve him to death."
"That could work." Cisco mused. "But how would we draw him out?"
A chime rang through the Cortex and Iris read,
"Facial recognition got a match." She swiped the information up onto the plasma.
"Meet Alexander Ford. Petty criminal and foster child. Parents are listed as deceased since he was 5. According to this, he aged out of the foster system three weeks ago."
"So just like every earth there are doppelgangers. Earth-7's version may be dead, but ours isn't." Barry crossed his arms, studying the CCPD mugshot of their meta. "At least we know a name, now we can go about figuring out how to draw him out and stop him."
Caitlin turned and began walking away, calling over her shoulder,
"If I'm going to take him down, I'm going to need to power up. I have a feeling Duster is going to be tough to beat."