"You got anything Bear?" Joe asked as he walked around the room, scanning for any evidence any of the workers might've missed.

Aside from two other CCPD personnel and body, Barry and Joe were alone in the room.

"Uh all I know is that there are similar records to this person. All suffered from blunt force trauma to the head, and several lacerations to the chest. What I did notice though is that these patterns aren't random. These are symbols, I'm just not sure what they mean. But I think that they were made by the same perpetrator." Barry looked up at Joe before he continued, "But the funny thing is that none of them are dead except for one, the rest are in comas. And the one who died wasn't killed by this. It's because their family members pulled the plug on him, other than that he would still be alive."

"So what do you think it is? Another powered?"

"Maybe. But it could also be some sort of drug or the trauma caused by whatever hit them on the head."

"How can it be drugs? No one's acquired any narcotics. And Julian hasn't found any of them in his analyses."

"I don't know, but there've been drugs detected in the other victims' bodies. And the same conclusion was formed in their scene investigations. No narcotic's found either. I don't know, maybe I can have Caitlin help us on this too," Barry suggested.

"Yeah okay. But I want these in the evidence locker by the time you're done with them. You understand?"

"Yes. Joe. I will put these in the evidence locker after we're finished analyzing them."

"Good, now I gotta go. The newscast will be here soon and I don't wanna be seen on tv. On your way home get me a pack of beers will ya?" Joe left before Barry could answer him.

Since Barry had waken up from his coma, he found out that his adoptive father, Joe, had taken to drinking to cope with the loses of his daughter and adoptive son. He'd tried to stop his drinking, but Joe wouldn't budge. He wouldn't go to the AA meetings that Barry would sign him into, or listen to his reasonings. And he couldn't just make him quit cold turkey. Joe had to do this by his own accord. And he still didn't know what caused Iris to leave her own father during his time in the coma.

Nevertheless Barry would never intend to abandon his father. Especially after losing both his biological parents. He wasn't certain about the predicament of his mother. He'd only been able to piece together some parts of what had happened to his mother thanks to the board of evidence in his lab at CCPD. Barely enough to know how she was murdered and a vague explanation as to who he thought murdered her. He did know what happened to his father unfortunately.

It had been a gruesome scene. His body was discovered in the prison bathroom, gutted and mutilated. Multiple stab wounds covered his torso. He apparently was drugged and lead into the place by one of the Iron heights gang leaders. It was reported that they wanted Henry Allen to join their gang, but he had denied them time and time again, even defying them several times in the process. He slowly even started gaining a following in there. People who believed that he was indeed innocent of the crime that was used to incarcerate him. The gang leader threatened by the power that Henry was gathering, decided to both put an end to him and use him to teach the others a lesson. This was all what inspired Barry to become a Crime Scene investigator. He originally wanted to become a cop, but Joe wouldn't let him. So he ended up going with the next best thing.

Barry looked at the body again. He was disturbed how the first victim was killed because of the mistaken attributions that lead them to believe that he had been killed. The victims at first glance looked dead. Pale skin, blue lips, glossed eyes, even rigor mortis symptoms. But at a closer examination you'd be able to notice the barely noticeable rising and falling of the chest as they struggled to breath. Slow dilations in the eye that made it impossible to detect, unless you had the patience to wait long enough.

-=-=-==FB==-=-=-

"Hi Caitlin!"

She yelped as Barry whooshed in causing all the papers on her desk to fly around. They floated around them, dancing their way to the ground.

"Barry!" she rebuked. Her eyes lit up in panic as she noticed that Barry's sweater had tiny flames wanting to grow, "Barry your sweater!"

"Oh shit," Barry took it off and started to stomp on it trying to put it out. "Sorry," the papers suddenly appeared in front of Caitlin all stacked neatly on her desk.

"Don't worry, I'm working on papers that won't fly away with the wind. It'll be a scientific breakthrough," she said sarcastically.

Barry laughed, "You mad?"

"No. I'm just really happy to be working so hard in my father's company, filling out paperwork, just so you can barge in and cause the revenge of the paperstorm," she glared at him. "And almost burn down my office," she added after a while.

"Look I need your help. I've been assigned a case with victims that all display the same symptoms. The thing is that they don't appear normal. Now it might be ano…"

"Barry, I'm busy. Can't this wait till later? I have lot's of interviews to do, and I also need to fire a group of people who aren't contributing to anything in the Star Labs tech department. My father pulled another disappearing act and it's impossible to know when he'll be coming back. So I'm the acting CEO for now," Barry saw that she was irritable right now, even more than usual, so he decided to stop pushing.

Instead he pulled over a chair and sat in front of her. He grabbed a few of the papers and started reading through them fast. Caitlin just stared at him questioningly. A few minutes afterward Barry had begun making stacks.

"What are you doing?" Caitlin finally cut the silence.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm helping you," Barry smiled at her before continuing on.

She just thought of what he was doing trying to process why he hadn't cracked any jokes yet. Or why he hadn't continued annoying her with favors.

"You're helping me. Without joking?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Why not?" Barry finally finished what he was doing.

"Because you're you. Barry. Even when you help people, you're, you're not ever so serious. You haven't even cracked a joke."

"Yeah but, I can tell that you're on the verge of snapping. I understand the stress of overworking. Look, before I got my powers, I was just a regular intern at the CCPD CSI department. And it sucked. I, along with a friend, were the only ones in our shifts assigned with so many

"How convenient that you'd remember that," Caitlin cracked a smile.

"What can I say. Someone up there loves me," Barry mirrored her.

"You're stressed. Why don't you let me take you out for some coffee or something? Just to relax," he offered.

Caitlin looked uncertain. She still thought that it would be best for Barry to be with someone other than her, and worried that any sort of emotional attachment to her would awaken anything Barry would remember about their time together. Yet, she wanted to spend some time with him. She missed their time together. It was her bittersweet memory.

"Sure. Let's go."

-=-==-FB-==-=-

"So all the victims have the same symptoms?" Caitlin was looking into a microscope at some of the evidence Barry had brought.

They were in the main room of STAR LABS working on the assignment. Barry felt that this didn't need to be kept a secret from Dr. Wells, for now. And they had to spend at least some time out in the open instead of in Caitlin's vault in order to drive suspicion away from them, from as to where they both always disappear to.

Each had a jitters coffee. Caitlin had nearly finished her's, but kept away from her food. Barry on the other hand had dozens of empty bags littered around the floor near him. Yet he was still working on eating his last burger and fries.

"Being a hero… is expensive," he said between mouthfuls.

"It's a good thing then that you're friends with a rich brat."

"You're not a brat Caitlin. You're the nicest person I that I can remember, which obviously isn't much, but still," he assured her.

"Thanks Barry," she smiled her gratitude.

Barry reached out to touch Caitlin's hand in assurance. But he jerked his hand back in surprise as he felt her hand ice cold against his. He had a dazed look of confusion as he didn't know what to think.

"You're hands. They're so cold."

"I've been in the morgue lately. Studying Parcia's abilities."

"But, they aren't naturally cold. It was as if I touched liquid nitrogen," Barry looked at his hand, the red color left behind from the contact was quickly returning back to normal.

"Just drop it Barry alright?"

Before Barry could reply, Harrison Wells came into the room. He had some paperwork on his lap as he maneuvered his wheelchair over to the pair. His appearance was that of a tired old man, it was apparent that he had spent many nights awake late, through the bags under his eyes. His hair was unruly and ragged, half combed.

"Hey dad, can you take a look at this?" Barry threw a disapproving look at Caitlin.

Wells came to the microscope and leaned in to take a look in the lens without a question.

"This is strange," he said as he adjusted the settings.

"We think that there's another powered out there. Barry's working a case on victims who've fallen into comas after an assault. This compound was the one of the big common similarities among the victims. They're all okay, for now, but we need to catch the culprit to prevent more of these incidents from happening," Caitlin explained the situation to her father.

Barry was spinning around in his chair in frustration. He didn't want to receive any type of help from Dr. Wells. He didn't trust him. And although the accident had given him these special gifts, they also took away most of his memories. Memories that he struggled to remember. As long as he didn't have them, he would always be missing a part of himself. And he blamed Harrison for it.

So while he couldn't stop Caitlin from being with her father, he didn't have to agree with him helping them, or even sharing his secret with a scientist intent on making breakthroughs in science at any cost. It was common knowledge that he had fired one of his assistants for trying to change the schematics of the PA in order to fix a minor error that the scientist had made. But his ego refused to be corrected. Now Dr. Wells spent his days trying to fix his mistakes by funding hospitals and construction repairs in Central City.

"It's not one of those Powered humans. I recognize this compound. It's called Soul. I worked on it back when STAR LABS was being funded by the military. It's supposed to link the user and the victim's minds together, sharing information or memories, by putting the victim in a coma. The user can still go by his normal everyday life, the only difference is that he can access memories of another person at will."

"Why would he attack random pe…" Barry was interrupted by his phone suddenly ringing. "Uh, sorry. I need to take this. Work."

Once outside in the hallway he answered.

"Hello?"

-Barry. I figured out what the symbols mean. It's actually Telugu, a written language from India. And it means Stag. I'm pretty sure that this person is targeting the founder of Stagg Industries. Hope this helps with the investigation.-

"Thanks Julian."

-Yeah No problem-

-=-==-FB-==-=-

"Here shake this," Caitlin handed Barry a vial.

He took it and started shaking it back and forth giving his hand the appearance of melting. Then he stops and tries to give the vial back to Caitlin.

"No not like that, Shake it until your lightning thing starts going through it."

He tries again. This time he shakes it faster. The liquid inside starts to bubble as electricity shoots around inside.

"Why am I doing this," he questions her.

"You're ionizing the antidote. The serum that my dad tested is a bit different than the original. Ionizing the old ingredients with the new ones should do the trick."

"So what do I do with this? And how does this help me track down Felix?"

"Now that we know that all the victims are employees from Stagg Industries. We can assume that the next victim will be one of the people he worked alongside with. Which would be Nathan Kurtzberg. You can take the vials to CCPD so they can use them with the victims before you confront Felix."

"Well the other vials should be ionized in my run over there." Barry gathered up all the antidotes and was about to leave before Caitlin stopped him.

"I've got something for you," Caitlin motioned for him to follow her. "I know it isn't very good but at least you won't be burning through clothes faster than you can afford."

She typed in a passcode into the keypad in the wall beside her desk. The wall parted to reveal a glass case with some clothes inside. They were a dull red, almost burgundy. But there was a bright red, cherry-like, scarf that was draped around the shoulders. A visor was set on the face of the mannequin, black tinted glass hid anything behind it and had a red rim.

"Whoa cool. But what's with all the red?" he questioned.

"I thought it looked neat with your yellow lightning. Anyway, this will reduce most of the friction between you and the air around you. So no more roasting Barry. And the scarf and visor combination will also have your identity secured. This is as much as I could come up with on my own."

"It's awesome. But I'm going to make some changes to the trench coat," he disappeared in a flash.

The display was empty, costume whisked along with barry. All that was left was a strip of fabric and some scissors.

"Hmm. He didn't like the trenchcoat then. This is a different Barry than I remember."

-What happened Caitlin?- Barry's voice came out of the communications computer.

"Nothing."

-=-==Later==-=-

"Caitlin, he's not here right now," Barry was hiding behind a house observing Nathan in his home working.

-I just picked up an alarm at Stagg industries. I think he's over there right now Barry-

"On my way."

Barry appeared at Stagg Industries in a few seconds. His costume was holding up well. It hadn't gone up in flames like his normal clothes, but they did get warmer every time he ran somewhere. It was dark inside, but his visor helped with that. Caitlin had made them with a few features, and one of them was nightvision.

"Cait, where is Stagg's office?" he asked carefully, as not to let his voice echo in the empty building.

-4th floor. Room 452-

He rushed up there but hesitated getting in when he heard talking inside.

"You don't have to do this Felix," Barry recognized the older man's voice as Professor Simon Stagg.

"And you didn't have to do it to her! But now she's gone! And you have your hands clean. If any of this gets out to the public my team and I will get blamed for it all. Kurtz and I were the only ones who were doing this against our will. You threatened to ruin us unless we went ahead with your testings. And if the police ever learn about this you'll use us as the scapegoat while you come out unscathed. But I'll fix that. Not only will this never get out, but you'll pay for what you've done to Sarah."

"I was never planning on tell…"

Barry focused on everything to start get slower before anything else could happen. Lightning sprung to life as he came into the room. Stagg was slowly starting to say a word with Felix standing in place. Barry grabbed Felix and sped out of there into the park, yellow lightning trailing them.

"Whoa. What just happened?' Felix looked around in surprise.

Both were now in Central City park. It was cold at night and cast an eerie feeling. The trees rubbing against each other in the cold night breeze.

He eyed Barry carefully, "You're one of those powered freaks aren't you?"

"Yeah, and I'm here to stop you from doing something that you'll regret. You don't have to do this, my associate and I can help you create a new identity and live somewhere else peacefully."

-Barry I can't do that. I don't know how to create identities-

"Oh okay then. Let me just go along with you to live a new life that I don't want," Felix shot Barry with a gun that he'd hidden in his jacket.

Barry was surprised by this and barely managed to dodge the bullet.

"Yeah, shoot the man who's faster than the blink of an eye. Now you're going to jail. Sorry pal."

Felix appeared in the CCPD office in handcuffs and a note taped to his forehead with officers around him. The officers just gawked in surprise at what had been dropped in front of them.

-==-==Joe's Apartment==-==-

"Hey Joe, I'm back!" Barry called as he entered the apartment.

He waited for his adoptive father to come scolding him for being out so late at night without calling him. Instead there was only silence accompanied by the soft sounds of a conversation from the television. Barry walked into the living room where he found Joe on the sofa, passed out.

The television cast a low glow onto him. The channel was set on the news.

Barry just looked at him. Sometimes he felt that pity for him. Joe lost everything all at once. Iris moving out after discovering that she had a brother somewhere out there. And both of his adoptive children, Barry and Jace, to a coma. He spent a year all alone. Guilt eating away at him. His own blood hating him. Two children in his care, in intensive care.

Alcohol was his only escape, in his own logic.

-=-=-Epilogue-=-=-

"So we have a metahuman superhero now, huh? This should be interesting," Stagg watched a paused image from his security feed.

It was of Barry, a bit blurred but it was obvious that in the lightning there was a man.

===-=Caitlin=-===

"Hey there pretty girl. Wanna play?" a disgusting tatted man came up to me.

His face was twisted into a crude, rustic, terrifying smile. Ignoring him, I picked up speed trying to get away as fast as possible. This was one of the most dangerous neighborhood in Central City, but right now my car was in a workshop and I had to get to Mercury Labs as fast as I could. I looked behind me to see that the guy was tailing me. A glimmer of silver shined with the light of a lamp post. A knife. He was carrying a knife.

"Come on Baby! I just want to get to know you," he croaked sexually.

I was suddenly thrown onto the wall and before I knew it he was ontop of me. He ground himself against me as he pressed his knife against the skin of my throat. He sniffed me up. His smell nauseated me. I tried to go into my purse to take out something to defend myself, but he snatched it away from me.

"Get off of me." I tried to push him away.

"Oh you're so cold. Let me warm you up," he gave me a yellowish smile as he grabbed my wrist.

Even though he started to press the knife even closer to my neck, causing some blood to start seeping out, I continued to resist.

"Oh, stop. I know you're kind. You girls always end up enjoying this. Come on I'll prove it to y'ah with a kiss."

I found myself being forced into a kiss. The man began to struggle as Ice began to cover both our lips. He finally freed himself, but his lips were cracking, blood staining his now icy lips. He staggered back, looking at the blood dripping to the floor in fear. He looked at me terrified.

New energy revitalized me and the fear drained away from me. I felt myself grow colder than I usually felt, and it felt good.

"Oh stop exaggerating. I know you're kind. You guys enjoy this. Come on I'll prove it to y'ah with a kiss."

A/N:

Hi guys I'm not sure how long it's been but with everything that school dumps on me I feel like it's about time to upload another chapter. If any of you care to help me, I'm looking for some mistakes in grammar and spelling and sciency stuff. I haven't been able to proof this, not that I've ever proofread anything at all, or research any of the science stuff I've involved in here. You can help me by Messaging Me directly. And as always, if you like this and haven't already done so, you can follow and favorite this story. You guys can also review if you liked this or if you guys have any ideas for future chapters/characters. Till next time. BYEEEE!