"So, let me get this straight… with these headphones in, that ape can't read or control our minds?" Leonard asked.
"That's correct." Cisco replied, as he loaded up his oversized tranquilizer gun.
"Do they work on the princess here?" Mick asked.
"Don't call me princess!" Astrid growled, "but yes they do. That's why I can't wear them as they dampen my powers so I can't use them on Grodd."

Snart nodded. He was pleased with that answer, "So we found where everyone is, we have the guns… and a mighty tranquilizer there and we have a speedster to distract the ape. But what do we do about the entire city, that he has turned into his own private army?"

"Easy… You don't hurt them. They are innocents." Barry replied.

"Pfft! You spoil all the fun. But if they hurt us…" Leonard argued.
"You leave them alone…" Astrid snarled. "Remember, your sister is amongst them, you don't want to risk her getting hurt too. Now, I will go down first… I will need to distract him, to give Barry enough time to swoop in. Cisco… you keep an eye on these two and come down when its safe… Give us ten-minutes tops!"

"No! Are you crazy? You betrayed him last time. You know he will be angry with you…" Cisco argued.
"Yeah, and I know what I'm doing. Remember, I can hold my own when it comes to him. Plus, Barry will be able to distract him as I remove the mind control from the town and get them to safety and then you guys come in… guns a blazing… Make sure these two don't kill anyone!"

"You are talking about using mind control over an entire town… didn't you just say you couldn't even help Firestorm?" Cisco asked her, he was not too thrilled by the thought of her throwing her life away, especially after the vision that he had just recently experienced.
"Do you have a better plan?" she asked him.

He was going to argue but Barry cut in, "Come on… we need to get a move on before someone hears us!" he and Astrid departed down the drain pipe at breakneck speed.

"Create the plan…" Leonard said, to Cisco as they watched Barry and Astrid disappear down in to the drains. "What's that supposed to mean?" Cisco snapped at him.
Leonard had picked up on the anger that Cisco was feeling at the girl risking her life for her friends.
"Execute the plan…" Leonard said, this time making Mick laugh to himself.
"Of course you would agree to her plan… You're not throwing your life away like she is… she wants us out of the way!" Cisco said angrily.

"…Throw the plan away!" Leonard said, and with that he and Mick immediately jumped into the drain rushing ahead exactly seven minutes before they were supposed to.

Cisco groaned and followed after them. He knew that Astrid would be mad that they were trying to play the hero, but it was better than her doing it and throwing her life away.

Astrid entered the crowds calling out to Grodd in her mind. She knew that he could hear her thoughts and that was what she wanted. At that point she could not see the beast, but she knew that he was aware of her presence.

"Astrid Sutherland!" She found herself two feet away, though face to face with Firestorm. Grodd was using him as his messenger.

"I need to see Gorilla Grodd!" she called out.
Miraculously, the crowds parted, and just like a king, Grodd approached her through the middle.
"Astrid betray Grodd!" he told her, still using Firestorm as his messenger.
"That's because you wanted to hurt my friend. He is good. We never wanted to hurt you. We never wanted to enslave you, as you have done here with all these people!"

She was speaking out loud as she knew that she needed to give Barry a sign.
"Humans are weak! Astrid is strong! Humans need to be led!" Grodd bellowed through firestorm.

"You're alone. Aren't you?" Astrid asked him. She wanted to keep him talking, but he was distracted by something. "Astrid betray Grodd again. Grodd kill Astrid!"

Before she could react, Firestorm begun flinging fireballs in her direction. Fortunately, they just missed her as Barry took her to safety.

"Light'em up, Mick!" They heard Leonard call out as they were protected by a wall of fire and ice from the crowds.

"Where's Cisco?" Astrid called out.
Leonard and Mick shuffled on their feet. Astrid swore under her breath as Barry went to go find their friend. Astrid went to go after them, but Snart and Rory stopped her.
"Sorry, Princess. But the nerd asked for us to keep you out of the way. Besides we might need you for leverage, later!" Mick told her. Leonard sealed her into an ice wall away from the chaos and the two of them left her there. She tried kicking down the ice wall… but she was ultimately stuck.

Cisco used his new-found power of breaching to find the perfect place to shoot Grodd with his tranquilizer gun. He managed to teleport himself to a hidden corner and aim before anyone could see him, when Barry appeared from behind him.

"What are you doing, Cisco?" Barry asked, "You're putting your life in jeopardy. This wasn't the plan."
"I know it wasn't. But you saw how her plan was going. It wasn't going to work. I can't get a good shot from here. Can you get him to move to the right for me?"

Barry looked over to where he had left Astrid, Snart and Rory. There was a large ice wall, but he figured that they would have gotten out of there by now. He noticed the two men fighting off a group of mind-controlled police officers and figured that Astrid would be in there somewhere.

"Ok Cisco, let me know when I got him into position," Barry replied.
"I will need him a little closer to the right." Cisco said softly, getting his gun at the ready.

Barry sped out and stood behind Grodd. "Looking for me?" he teased the ape.
"The Flash!" Grodd bellowed.
"Ok, Barry. I need him to come a few steps forward. Can you get him to do that?" Cisco asked through his earpiece communicator.

Barry didn't respond, instead he took a few steps backwards and glanced over the ape's broad shoulder where he could see his friend standing in the darkness. The ape also stepped forward.
"That's perfect! Hasta la vista…" Cisco said, but before he could finish his sentence he took his shot. But then, so did the police officer that was standing behind him, Detective Joe West.

Barry was not fast enough this time. As he ran passed the large ape that fell to the ground with a large crash, he reached his friend Cisco. Cisco had shot the ape… but Joe, under the mind manipulation of Grodd, had shot Cisco in the back.

Barry's heart sunk. Joe's mind control wore off, as he realized just what he had done. Cisco lay on the floor gasping for air. Barry knew that he needed to get Astrid.

He ran as fast as he could, Mick and Snart who had seen the whole thing had begun burning down the ice wall with Rory's gun. As soon as there was the slightest gap to slip through, Barry retrieved Astrid and brought her to Cisco.

She ran to his side and lifted his head onto her lap. "Cisco, don't worry. It's just a scratch. You will be fine." She told him as she tried to keep a straight face.
"You know that you're not great at lying." He coughed as she removed her light jacket and held it over his wound to stop the bleeding.

The town had regained their minds, at that point, along with Joe. "We need a doctor!" Astrid called out, through tears "…Please!"

A doctor that she knew personally who worked at STAR Labs rushed over to them and tried to help her friend. "I need a little space." He told her. Barry and Joe pulled her away but she crumbled to her feet, keeping watch over her friend. Her whole world was spinning.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" Joe said softly. But she couldn't hear him.
"Miss Sutherland." The doctor turned from Cisco, to her and said. "He isn't going to make it. The bullet… it…"

Astrid didn't need him to finish his sentence. She raced back over to Cisco, rested his head back onto her knees and held his hand. Cisco was dying and she knew it. In fact, they all knew it.

Captain Singh who had also seen all of this had begun leading the city out of the sewers in an orderly fashion, along with his officers. He eyed Snart and Rory suspiciously, but then let them be.

"Astrid…" Cisco said, "Did I get him?"
As she rolled her eyes, at his witty remark, tears trickled down her cheeks.
"You got him. You shouldn't have. But you did."
"Good." Cisco said, "Is Barry here?" he asked.
Barry approached them. "Yeah, I'm here."

"Look after her for me. And please help Caitlin." Cisco told him.
"I will." Barry promised. He wiped a few tears of his own away.
"Cisco… you shouldn't have done that. You should have just stayed out of the way." Astrid told him.

"Yeah… but I had a vision. I didn't want you to die… I wanted to be the hero this time." Cisco replied.
Astrid felt a fury of emotions. He had saved her life and had risked his own in the process.

"Why? Why would you do that?" she pleaded, as she stroked his hair behind his ear.
"Because I love you. And I always have…" he told her. He closed his eyes and they watched as the life drained from his face.

Astrid knelt down and kissed him, sending happy thoughts in to his mind. She hoped that wherever he would go next, that he would be happy, as he had made her since the day she had first met him