Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash, the comic character or the CW television show. *cries for days*

Ch. 5

I ran as fast as my new found speed would carry me over to STAR Labs. Running into the main operations room, Cisco practically leaped out of his chair at my arrival.

"Quick! Barry's gone to face the meta-human that's attacking Stagg at his factory." Cisco shrugged his shoulders at me, as if asking what the big deal was.

I rolled my eyes, "Alone. He needs backup! Do you have anything I can wear that won't burn up?" Cisco suddenly sprinted into action, smiling as he opened a drawer and pulled out a suit. It was a full black body suit, with accents of blue on the sleeves and legs. The torso looked to be sturdy, but after putting my hands on it and pulling and bending, I discovered the material was somewhat flexible, which I liked. He threw me a blue mask and I put it on immediately, tying my fiery hair up in a ponytail in the process.

"It's a work in progress, but it's made of the same material that makes up Barry's suits. Like you said, you might not have Barry's speed forever, so I'm going to try to find a material that will adjust like your body does." He tossed the suit to me. "It also has a comm built in so that I can talk to you and Barry." I smiled at the intricate design of the suit and quickly zoomed out and changed.

"Thanks Cisco! I'll be in touch." I yelled as I ran out of the room at normal speed. Once I left the doors of STAR Labs, I was off to Stagg Industries. Speeding around to the back entrance, I saw Joe standing outside the door.

"Where is he?" I questioned, Joe quickly turned around, gun poised to shoot. I put my hands up quickly in surrender, showing that I wasn't a threat. "Woah, woah, Joe! Gun down, please." I started to whisper. "It's me, Kate." I pulled my mask up a little to reveal my entire face.

Joe's eyes widened, "Girl, what are you doing here?"

"No time to explain now, Joe. Now, where is Barry?" I persisted. After a moment of contemplation, Joe finally gave up, pointing his thumb behind him at the door.

"He's inside, messing with the gunmen. Be careful, okay? I nodded at Joe's concern for me, then sped inside to find Barry being kicked at by a team of men.

It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I yelled out at them. "Hey!" Four faces looked at me, and one set of eyes widened, recognizing me.

"What are you doing here? Get out of here!" Barry yelled from the floor. Ignoring the scarlet speedster, I decided to antagonize the men even more, hoping to distract them; therefore giving Barry an open window to take them down.

"Come on, let's see if the big bad men can get beat up by a girl." Two of the men sprang at me, and my body instantly reacted, remembering the martial arts videos I had watched the night before. I jumped up, grabbing one of the men by the neck, twisting my body around him to hook my feet together around the other guy's neck. I shifted my body to the side, flipping them both over and body slamming them into the ground. Taking them down easily, I got up and stood in a ready stance for any of the others to attack.

Seeing one of the men start to vibrate and separate, my eyes widened as I saw two more of him come out of the man in the middle. "Wow, it's like a real life funhouse mirror." I quipped, ignoring the by now familiar tingling behind my eyes.

All of the men but two pulled out their guns, half aiming at me and the other half aiming at Barry. Barry zoomed off just as the guns started to fire off. Fearing for my friend more than for myself, I ran after Barry.

Running to a building by the train station, I saw Barry stagger forward and lean back against a fence. He glared at the direction that he came from, still angry about losing to the metahuman criminal.

"Barry! Are you okay?" I ran to his side, fingers hovering over the cuts on his face. He pushed my hands away, taking a frustrated breath.

"I'm fine, just a little beat up." He answered eventually. The adrenaline was still running through me, so I jumped on my toes a little, hoping it would wear off soon.

"Okay, let's get you back to STAR Labs can get you cleaned up, okay?" He nodded. His eyes suddenly darted to my side and widened.

"Kate, wai—" but before he could get another syllable out, I was off.

As I ran into the main room of STAR Labs, Barry sped to my side, holding my shoulders. He cried out, "Cisco! Caitlin! We need some help in here!" I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"I thought you said you were okay?" I asked Barry, but he shook his head.

"It's not me who needs help." Cocking my head to the side, I looked down to where Barry's stare was boring a hole into. As the adrenaline in my body started to wear off, that was when I felt it. My eyes widened as I saw the fabric of my black suit soaked with blood, a hole the size of a bullet in the torso near my hip. Putting my fingers near the site of the wound, I winced as I felt the bullet in my flesh. My hand came back shaking and covered in thick blood, and Barry's eyes widened even more.

I vaguely heard Cisco and Caitlin come running up behind me, then gasping at the sight of me. My vision started to glaze over, and I started swaying from the shock.

"I got shot?" The question gurgled out of my mouth. Black spots danced around the room as I looked from person to person for an answer.

"Yeah." Barry answered me quietly.

"Oh. Cool." Lifting my thumb and smiling drunkenly, I felt a pair of arms catch my falling body before everything went dark.

For a while, there was nothing. My body just seemed to be in a state of limbo, I felt nothing. But eventually, my body started to register outside activity one sense at a time. First, my nose breathed in a lungful of sanitized air. Then my hands squeezed at a familiar pair of sheets, rubbing it's contents between my fingers and thumb. Voices soon came up from the darkness, loud voices. Arguing voices. Mixed with the sound of an EKG, it wasn't the most pleasant of greetings from the outside world.

Finally my eyes opened, staring at the stark white ceiling above me. My mind recognized the voices to be Cisco and Caitlin's, but the words were practically indistinguishable.

"—how are we gonna—-"

"—don't know what we're—"

"—kinda really freaky to—"

"—no, we're not asking her—"

Finally I spoke up, voice a hoarse whisper from lack of use. "Asking who to what?" The voices stopped. I heard a pair of footsteps rush towards my bed, Caitlin's head leaning over my laying body.

"Oh good, you're awake." She gave me a tight smile before pressing a button, my bed moving mechanically so that I could sit up properly. I winced at a sore pain in my side, but didn't move to touch it as I felt bandages wrapped around my torso. "Yeah, I wouldn't move too much, you're still healing."

"What happened? Where's Barry, is he okay? How long have I been out?" I put my hands to my face, pressing them against my cheeks, cold against warmth.

Cisco walked over with a touch pad in his hands, "Captain Clone—that's what we're calling him now— shot you." A goofy smile came over Cisco's face at the new nickname he came up with for our new meta-villain, but it faded quickly at Caitlin's stern glance. "You've only been out for about 6 hours. Barry left as soon as he got patched up, just a little bit before your surgery." Hurt must've filled my features at the answer to where my best friend went, because Cisco quickly shut up.

"Luckily, the bullet missed any vital organs that were near your lower hip area. If the bullet had landed more than a fraction of an inch lower, it would have shattered your hip bone. You need to be more careful." Caitlin lectured as she tested my basic motor functions, tapping random points on my body, pointing a light in my eyes to see how my pupils react, rotating my leg back and forth to see how it moved in relativity to my hips, etc.

"But it's not a big deal, right? I can heal because I have Barry's speed." But at the look that passed between the two scientists in front of me, I became skeptical. "What? What's going on?"

Caitlin distracted herself with the machinery around me for another minute, obviously stalling for time before I gently but firmly grabbed her wrist, demanding that she tell me what was happening immediately. "Well, after we removed the bullet, you seemed to be healing like Barry would and everything was fine. But, after a couple of hours, you sort of…" The doctor winced and looked to Cisco to try and explain her thoughts.

…stopped." Cisco finished her sentence. My eyes widened as my head turned back and forth between the two.

"What do you mean, 'stopped'? As in 'stopped healing'? Altogether?" My voice grew more frantic as I was contemplating why I wasn't healing anymore.

"Not exactly. I took a look at a sample of some dead tissue around the bullet that we removed, and comparing it to Barry's, it doesn't have the same structure it once did to replicate his speed." Caitlin explained, taking the pad from Cisco and showing it to me. One side of the screen showed cells that had a sort of lightning pass between them, while the other side showed just normal cells floating in their matter.

"So, you're saying that I don't have Barry's powers anymore?" Cisco shook his head at my blunt question. "Well, what's the catch? Don't think I missed the little bits of the arguments you had earlier while I was waking up."

"It seems that you lost Barry's speed… because you picked up someone else's ability." I rose an eyebrow at Caitlin's vague words, then as the memory started coming back in my mind, my mouth dropped open.

"You mean… I can copy that guy's powers? From back at Stagg Industries? I can make copies of myself? Wait, how do you know this?" Questions fired out of my mouth, as I sat up even more, ignoring the pull at my bandages. I pulled the IV from out of my arm, taking a cotton ball from my bedside table and pressing it on the point of entry. Sliding my legs off of the bed, I put one foot on the floor, then the other. As my body got used to standing, I felt a sharp sting in my side. Cisco's hands hovered around my body awkwardly as I took one shaky step after another.

Walking into the main meeting room, my suspicions were confirmed as I looked at the back of another body. Wavy red hair tumbled down a familiar black suit with blue accents. A natural instinct in my mind told me to think of turning around. Feeling a connection wave out of me and to the body, it turned around to reveal my face. Same brown eyes, same sloped nose and pink mouth.

It was a clone.

The moment it took a step towards Cisco and I, the former let out an uncharacteristically high pitched squeal and jumped behind me, as if I were a human shield. I chuckled at Cisco's actions and patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. "It's okay Cisco, she's not gonna hurt you. I feel this sort of… connection to her… it's so weird." I smiled as Cisco came back up to stand next to me.

As we both observed the details of my clone, Caitlin walked up to the two of us, stack of clothes in her hands. "Here's some extra clothes for you to change into." Just noticing that I was in only a hospital gown and underwear, I jumped and gratefully took the clothes from Caitlin's waiting hands, walking back into the hospital room to change.

Pulling on the jeans were easy enough, they were low-rise, so they didn't touch the bandage on my hips and torso. But the loose shirt that Caitlin had given me was a bit of a challenge. After struggling to raise my right arm completely and put the blouse on without tearing it, I huffed with the blouse covering half of my face, bra and stomach exposed and called out. "Can I get a little help please?"

I heard sneakers squeak excitedly against the floor before they stopped abruptly. I heard Caitlin's voice drawl out, "Not you." and then heels clacked into the room. She politely pulled my at my limbs, eventually getting the blouse over my head and down to cover my torso.

"Phew. Thanks, Caitlin." She nodded at me as I fixed the mess of waves on my head. "So, where's Barry?" Cisco peeked into the room, entering fully once he saw that I was dressed. Sitting down on the bed, Cisco answered the question.

"He quit."

Jerking my head in Cisco's direction, my mouth almost dropped open again in surprise and shock. "He what?"

"He quit. Said that he got his ass handed to him and that it was his fault that you to shot, so he quit." I shook my head, not accepting these words.

"No, no. There has to be another reason that he did that. Barry doesn't just quit like that. I'm sorry guys, but I'm gonna go." Bending as far as I could, I slid on my boots one at a time, quickly walking out of the doors of STAR Labs.

As the cab I took drove along the streets of Central City, my mind started to contemplate the reasons why Barry would quit. The hurt at knowing that Barry didn't even stay at STAR Labs to check if I was okay came rushing back.

Once the vehicle had reached a certain corner, I paid the cab fare and walked out, rushing down to Jitters. The cafe was empty, save for two figures inside sitting at a table.

Opening the door, two heads jerked over to look my way as I stepped inside. Green eyes widened as Barry stood up and rushed over to me, hands held out as if waiting for me to fall over.

"Kate, what are you doing here?" He asked briskly, then forcing his tone into a whisper. "You just got shot a couple of hours ago, you shouldn't even be out of bed. Even with the super healing, that's gotta take some time." He looked back to see Iris walking up to us, confusion covering her face.

My face drew blank, voice in a monotone state, conveying that I had nothing to hide. "I'm fine."

Iris quickly stopped at my words, "O-kay. I'm just gonna go clean up a little in the back. You two talk." She scurried back behind the counter and through the doors to the kitchen, leaving Barry and I alone in the main part of the cafe.

"What's up?" Barry asked, voice back at a normal volume. I pulled my shirt up, revealing the bandage covering my hip that now had dots of blood on it. Barry's eyes widened in horror. "Is it not healed all the way? I thought that with the speed comes the—"

"It stopped healing. Halfway through." A beat of silence. "I picked up Black's power and it stunted the healing process, so I have a half-healed bullet wound right now." My lower lip started to tremble as I asked the question that I've been wanting to ask since I woke up. "Why did you leave?"

Barry started to stutter, as he couldn't come up with a suitable answer. I shook my head, lowering the blouse.

"Why did you quit, Barry? And tell me truth, don't give me that 'I got beat up' crap because it hasn't stopped you before so—"

"It's my fault, okay!" Barry yelled at me. I flinched at the sudden outburst, and he seemed to notice because his tone of voice dialed down immediately. "It's my fault you got shot."

I scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous…" But Barry seemed dead set on convincing me of his faults.

"It is! If I hadn't been so cocky and stupid and selfish, if I hadn't just left Stagg Industries without even taking you with me, if I hadn't left you there… You'd be fine. You'd be safe." Barry sat down in a booth and plopped his head in his hands exhaustedly. "I can't keep anyone safe." My best friend's shoulders sagged with such defeat it broke my heart. I couldn't stand to see him like this, so I was gonna do something about it.

"Bartholomew Allen, don't you dare tell me that you can't keep anyone safe because if what you've been doing for the past few weeks isn't keeping people safe, then what is?" Barry knows that I only use his full name when I'm at my most serious, so he lifted his head to look me in the eye. Green met brown. I gathered my thoughts as I sat across from him before continuing to speak. "You. Are. The Flash. That name will mean something to a lot of people someday, I can feel it. You've saved countless lives since you've discovered your speed. And I know that if you stay with STAR Labs," I grabbed his hand with both of my own, offering my support. "The Flash can save many more. I'll be right here the entire way. Joe, Cisco, Caitlin, Dr. Wells… we're all here for you Bear."

Barry took a second to process my words, eyes darting between my face, my hip, and our connected hands. Looking into my eyes once more, I found a spark of…something… in them. It wasn't lightning, like I've seen in his eyes before he runs, no. No, it was something else, something foreign. But I couldn't tell you what it was.

Just as he opened his mouth, his phone buzzed from within his pocket. Our hands disconnected as he went to answer it. "What, Caitlin?" I heard a faint voice through the receiver and Barry's eyes widened, looking to me.

Hanging up, Barry rushed out of the booth. "Come on, we gotta go."

"What's going on?" I cried out as I walked in front of him, stopping the speedster temporarily.

"No time to explain. Iris! Kate and I are heading out!" After he yelled at our friend over his shoulder, Barry quickly picked me up bridal style and whooshed us out of Jitters and over to STAR Labs. I buried my head into Barry's chest so that I wouldn't get whiplash or bugs in my face. As soon as Barry set me down in STAR Labs, two problems came to light.

One.

"Ah, my shirt's on fire!"

And two.

"Danton Black!"

The first problem was quickly eliminated as Caitlin rushed over with a fire extinguisher and put out the flaming blouse. Singed pieces of the top started to fall off until I eventually just brushed them away. I stood in what was now a crop top and positioned myself to fight Black, but he was unmoving. He didn't even seem to have an expression on his face.

"Barry it's okay." Caitlin told Barry as the attention went from me to the still Black.

But Barry still didn't seem to have caught on yet, "It is not okay. Black is here and he's… Just standing there." Barry soon relaxed and moved closer to him. "That's not him, is it?"

Dr. Wells rolled up and confirmed Barry's inquiry. "It's one of his replicates."

Barry looked the clone up and down, confused "How did you get it?"

"I grew him." Caitlin answered, bright smile on her face.

"Okay, you sound way too happy about that." I muttered, but was ignored as Caitlin explained to Barry how she cloned Black using DNA from Barry's suit.

"…look for the one showing signs of weakness or fatigue. He's the prime." I tuned back in just as Caitlin was giving Barry's direction on how to stop Black.

"Just a theory, but one you might want to put to the test, Mr. Allen." Dr. Wells advised.

Cisco walked up, small package in hand, "Plus, I whipped up these high calorie protein bars for you to keep your metabolism up." As he handed barry the bar, the Black clone grunted and moved towards a screaming Caitlin.

Joe soon ran in, gun pointed straight at the clone, and fired off three shots, taking it down. "Any more of them?" He scanned the room.

"No." Caitlin answered crisply, shaking her head.

Joe soon looked to me and blinked, asking "Where's your shirt?"

"On the floor. Burnt." I pointed to the charred remains of my blouse that laid at my feet. Joe nodded in understanding, but added a grimace into his expression.

"Come on, we gotta change your bandages." Caitlin called me over with a wave of her hand, leading me into an open infirmary room.

I sat down on the bed, watching as Caitlin unraveled the bandages and wincing when I saw the stitches holding my still healing flesh together.

After a moment of silence, Caitlin spoke up. "I know you wanna go out there and protect Barry, or at least help him, but please be more careful next time. Okay? No matter what power you contract next."

Surprised at her concern, I nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I know I'm not invincible. I have my limits. No more hesitation in front of guns." I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. Caitlin cracked a smile as she finished changing the bandage, giving me a STAR Labs sweat shirt to put on over it, since my current shirt was in a pile of ash on the floor.

We both walked out to find Cisco, Dr. Wells, and Joe standing in the middle of the room. But no Barry.

"Where'd Barry go?" I asked, looking around the room for an answer.

"Off to fight for this city." Joe answered, proud smile on his face. My heart warmed as I realized that Joe had given Barry the final push he needed to become The Flash again.

"Thanks Joe. He really needed that boost from you." I smiled sincerely. Thoughts of mischief quickly ran across my mind as I called my clone out from it's hiding spot in one of the back rooms.

Making it sneak up behind Cisco, I mimicked tapping him on the shoulder. He turned around and made another high-pitched squeal when my twin yelled "BOO!" in his face. Joe's head whipped between my laughing clone and I, eyes wide as can be.

"Oh, that was priceless."

"I think I just had a minor heart attack." Cisco breathed out harshly, hand to his chest to help slow his heart rate down. My peals of laughter turned into near silent giggles, my clone following my movements to a T.

"I'm going in." Barry informed us over his comm. The mood of the room soon turned serious as I looked to his vitals chart. After a moment of just a racing heart, Barry's pain levels went up and he started spasming.

"What are they doing to him?" I whispered in distress. Soon, we all heard a grunt and heavy breathing as I assume Barry recovered from whatever happened.

Caitlin leaned towards the microphone. "Remember Barry, find the prime."

"There's too many of them to fight." Barry wheezed out. Dr. Wells rolled forward.

"Barry, you need to isolate the prime." He explained calmly.

Barry breathed harshly again, "I can't. It's impossible."

"It's not. Nothing is impossible, Barry. You taught me that. You can do this." Joe had stepped forward and spoke into the microphone with a warm, encouraging voice.

I decided to finish the encouraging by saying only three words. "Do it, Barry." My words were said softly and with a half smile, filled with belief in the speedster's ability to take down this guy.

We heard a yell and multiple grunts before Barry finally chuckled over his comm. Joe called out in concern, but Barry quickly confirmed that he was alright.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." We all smiled at each other at Barry's victory. "It's done." But suddenly we heard a crashing sound and a yell from Barry.

"Hang on! No, don't!" Then silence.

"Barry?" I questioned. "What happened."

For a moment, silence. Then he finally answered, tone solemn. "I'm coming back to the lab."

We all stood and watched as the Central City News reported Danton Black's death. I could see Barry's shoulders tense up as he tried to blame himself again for someone else's doing.

"I tried to save him."

Dr. Wells cut in. "Doesn't sound like he wanted to be saved. Some people, when they break…" He shook his head slightly. "…They can't be put back together again."

"Some people heal even stronger." Barry retaliated, looking back at me with a small smile, which I reciprocated.

"I hope so." Dr. Wells answered.

"Well, at least Multiplex wont be able to hurt anyone anymore." I raised my eyebrows in approval at the new name. Cisco smirked, "Told you I'd come up with a cool name."

"Oh, it's leagues better than Captain Clone." I chuckled after saying Cisco's trial nickname for our latest villain. "I mean, Black wasn't even Captain material." I jested.

"I may be the one in the suit, doing all the running…" Barry sighed. "But when I'm out there, helping people, making a difference… you're all out there with me." We all sat or stood up straighter at Barry's kind words to us.

"I realized something." We all waited for his answer, which he immediately gave. "We were all struck by that lightning." A quick moment of silence, then I quipped.

"Eh, it's a bit corny, but I'll take it." I smiled a bright smile and Barry smiled back at me before leaving.

Cisco soon turned to me and inquired, "Was Captain Clone really that bad?"

"Eh, wasn't your best. But it wasn't your worst." I stood out of my chair and winced at the soreness of my still healing bullet wound. "Well, since I'm still a wounded little chihuahua, I'm gonna go home and rest. See you guys later!" The three scientist all waved as I exited the room and eventually the building.

Sorry if the ending is a bit wack, I was in a bit of a stupor as to how to end the chapter. I also apologize for the long wait for this update, I've been so focused on school I haven't been able to pay much attention to this story lately. But I will be updating more in the future! I have a lot planned for Kate in this story, especially when we get to season 2, so get ready.

I appreciate reviews of any and all kinds. Thank you. See you next update.