.:17:.

Barry stretched his arms over his head, watching his breath fog in front of his face. It certainly was not the best time to have a soccer game, nor did he ever believe there were actually youth soccer teams that worked year round, but Brady had asked him to show and he wasn't about to let him down. Not especially now that the boy was learning how to defend himself. He needed to be there just in case something went wrong on the field and Brady accidentally revealed his powers or something. It wasn't like Cadence could teleport in front of a bunch of people, the smell of smoke would give her away quicker than anyone potentially seeing it.

Barry shook his head. First he had to deal with the Assassination Bureau and the Suicide Squad, then there was the Black Flash or whatever the thing breathing down his neck nearly every time he ran somewhere. (Thankfully it hadn't showed up anywhere of late other than his dreams). Then there was the Reverse Flash; he had come face to face with the man that caused his life such pain and misery and…he wasn't fast enough to beat him. Oh but all of that was trumped by an eight year old boy that seemed to have recently discovered his ability of phasing.

It had taken multiple tests from Harrison and Cisco—of which nearly he got Caitlin's wrath to be bestowed upon him due to her determining that Cisco's tests were too dangerous for Brady to try. A few tests on the cosmic treadmill that nearly flung the young boy off his feet, slightly burning his fingertips on a flame—as well as ice—and running his DNA through multiple tests and experiments showed that he didn't have any ability that was close to his mother's, crossing off their theory that his powers would be genetic from Cadence. It wasn't until Harrison, who worked on a whim from his and Cadence's explanation of the night they rushed him to STAR Labs, came up behind the boy when he wasn't paying attention and prodded his leg with a fork that they realized what it was.

Caitlin reacted with a surprised cry of shock before scolding Harrison with as much intensity she had Cisco and Cadence frantically searched her son's thigh for any bleeding that may have incurred. And they were all surprised to find that the fork, and part of Harrison's hand, completely sank into Brady's thigh as if the skin wasn't there. Then the rest of the tests were made were the young boy was told to hold onto a ball and concentrate on some sort of power within him, that caused the ball to phase through Brady's hands and bounce on the floor. Then they had him do the same, while standing on the concrete ground and watched as he managed to sink up to his knees before stopping. Harrison quickly told Brady to do it again, but think of reversing the process so that he could lift himself out of the ground. It was then Barry noticed the tension in Harrison's face.

"What's wrong?" He asked the doctor, turning the man's attention his way. "You told him to come back out of the ground like it was about to swallow him whole or something."

"Because it can," Harrison said simply. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "I don't mean to scare you," he said as a warning to Brady, who shrugged and nodded. "I don't mean to scare anyone, but with Brady's means of being able to phase, we do have to be careful. There is the possibility of him becoming…stuck inside whatever matter he has managed to pass through." He thought for a moment. "Say going through that wall over there, if you lose concentration while going through the wall you become solid again and…"

"The question is whether or not it would be harmful," Caitlin pointed out once he noticed Brady starting to chew his lower lip in worry. "If he stops phasing through a solid object would it hurt him or if he brought someone else into it would it hurt them because they're not a meta?" She tilted her head to the side, eyes narrowing in thought. "This may not be that he's phasing in general, but that he's morphing his atoms in a way that—"

"—passing his atomic particles through the spaces between the atoms of the object through of what he's moving through," Harrison interrupted. He snapped fingers as he grinned. "Again, I am astounded at your cleverness, Dr. Snow."

"Thank you, Dr. Wells," Caitlin replied with a proud smile.

"In English, people, in English," Cadence said with a hint of frustration in her voice.

"It means that we have to teach Brady how to fight as soon as possible," Cisco declared with a bright grin on his face. Cadence made a noncommittal noise, tightening her grip on Brady's shoulders.

"You know he's in just as much danger as the rest of us are in, being associated with The Flash," Barry said to her, whispering the last part. She gave him a funny look out of the corner of her eye.

"You are The Flash, Barry, you don't have to whisper," She reminded him, causing the two to exchange a laugh. She then let out a resigned sigh.

Seeing this, Cisco clapped his hands together and turned towards Brady, holding out his hands and twisting them back and forth as if he was examining the level of a hung photograph. "And I have to come up with a nickname."

"Really?" Brady's eyes lit up and he tilted his head back to look at Cadence. "Did you hear that, Mom? I get my own metahuman nickname!"

"Mmm, as long as it doesn't have anything to do with The Flash, I think you'll be good," Cadence remarked, looking at Barry out of the corner of her eye.

Barry rolled his eyes. "Thanks."

"You could've done any of the other nicknames I gave you," Cisco pointed out.

"Glow Stick? Really?"

"I think we're done for today," Harrison interrupted with a half smile lest his co-workers get stuck within an argument about nicknames and secret identities. It wasn't a conversation he necessarily needed to be a part of. "However it does bring to mind the serious thought I'm sure none of us have entertained; the Particle Accelerator explosion has stretched further than we could have anticipated. There may be other metas out there we hadn't thought to have been affected, Brady being an example of that. However there may be those that are much younger than those we have become accustomed to or much younger. We have to be prepared in case something happens."

"What are you trying to say?" Caitlin asked.

"That sooner or later we may have to come with the tough decision of what to do with a four year old kid that doesn't know how to control their powers," Cadence said. Her voice was so matter-of-fact that it made Barry's stomach churn. "Fight them, throw them into the Pipeline, or let them continue to wreak havoc." She scratched the back of her head. "It's sort of like how in my residency there's a kid that isn't being treated well and you have to decide whether or not to call CPS or give them back to the parents, knowing there's a great chance it would happen all over again.

Barry cringed.

He remembered being asked multiple questions the night his mother died. Did his father have any angry tendencies? Did he remember any times the two of them argued? Did he notice any tension between the two of them? Was he being fed? Did he have enough clothes? Was the house clean? Did he have anyone that he particularly wanted to live with? That was the one that had scared him the most. He didn't understand it; why couldn't he keep living with his father? He was told that his father was going to be gone for a while but he didn't think he would actually be thrown in jail…he didn't see him taken out of the house in handcuffs, Joe had already whisked him away to his house to go to sleep (he and Iris watched what was going on through an upstairs window). It all happened so fast and it still haunted him, Reverse Flash aside.

"Careful, Barry," Caitlin's voice suddenly came at his side, her hand slipping into his elbow. Startled, he looked over at her and she smiled at him. "You almost walked out onto the field. You don't want anyone to mistake you for a giant kid do you?"

"I can see it now," Cisco added with a laugh. "He'll probably be outrun by them all."

"What good is having the ability to run fast when you can't do it to beat a bunch of little kids?" Barry said, taking a step back away from the sidelines of the soccer field.

"Are some elementary school flashbacks coming to you?" Cadence teased as she walked over, trying a jacket around her waist. "You look like you all want to turn ail and run. But thanks for coming; I know Brady's going to be really excited to see you all here." She looked up and noticed her friends all smiling at her. "What? What's so funny?"

"Nothing." Barry exchanged a glance with Cisco and Caitlin and they all smile a little. Barry brought a hand up to his mouth to keep himself from laughing even harder. "It's just…I now realized that you are the actual personification of a Soccer Mom. Except without the minivan filled with crumbs of crushed snacks."

The fire metahuman rolled her eyes. "And that I don't get into car accidents, I don't yell at anyone, and I don't think the internet is sin." Cadence laughed lightly. "Thanks for pointing that out, it refreshes my fear that most people don't realize I have a life outside of being a mother."

"Like your residency?" Caitlin asked. She tilted her head to the side. "How's that going anyway?"

"It's going," Cadence said simply. "It's not easy, but it's rewarding." She scratched the back of her neck. "It's more than I can say for a lot of things." She turned towards the soccer field and watched as the two teams got set up to start playing their game.

"You tired of carpooling field trips already?" Cisco asked with a massive grin.

Cadence's resolve immediately broke and she practically scrubbed at her face with her fingertips. "And if I have to listen to a bunch of tone deaf little kids scream stupid kid songs at the top of their lungs one more time I'm going to scream!"

"Well let's hope it doesn't come to that." Caitlin put her arm around Cadence's shoulder and hugged her to her side. She then frowned and looked down at the fire metahuman's attire of a crop top and jean shorts. "Aren't you cold?"

"No, thankfully my elevated body temperature keeps that from happening too often," Cadence said. She then gave Caitlin a once over noticing her dress beneath her open jacket as a wind blew causing Barry and Cisco to hunker down under their own jackets. "Aren't you cold?"

"Oh, uh, not really. I didn't even notice...the cold…"

"Oh yeah?" Cisco gazed at her. "Who's the guy?"

Caitlin's cheeks, which were already pink from the cold, turned even pinker. "There's no guy," She protested in a tone that was very unconvincing. "I just…I just thought it looked good."

"Right. So is the guy here?"

"Yeah, I don't see anyone," Cadence jumped in on the teasing.

"There is no guy, alright?"

"Then why are you blushing?"

"It's cold!"

Cisco wagged his finger. "You just said you weren't cold."

Barry made a humming sound, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket and looked around. He could see other parents settling down on the bleachers and standing around, little kids running back and forth, and he sighed, remembering the days when it was him on the soccer field and his parents standing on the sidelines cheering him on. It was probably one of the few memories he had of running where he didn't worry about being beat up at the end of it.

"Well, I see you all managed to make it okay," Harrison said as he very slowly managed to traverse his motorized wheelchair over the terrain of the soccer field. "For a, what I believe, shall be an eventful day of a children's soccer game." He adjusted the blanket across his lap that reached down to his feet. "Suffice to say, I haven't been to one of these in a long time."

"Join the club," Barry agreed. His eyes shifted behind his mentor to find Ryder walking their way. At first he took long, confident strides, but as he spotted the group together they slowed to short, uncertain ones. Barry waved his hand and Ryder nodded back, approaching the group.

"Hey," he said once he arrived. "It's good to see all of you."

"Hey," Cadence replied. "Glad you could make it." She pointed to each of her friends. "You remember Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin." They all nodded and smiled when their names were called. Cadence hesitated for a second before turning to Harrison. "And this is Dr. Harrison Wells, he, uh…"

Barry made a face, suddenly realizing that Ryder may not have known about Cadence's true parentage. As far as he could tell there weren't many secrets that were kept amongst the rich so he was probably aware of her being adopted.

"Yeah, I remember," Ryder interrupted. "He's been to a bunch of our sporting events and stuff." He reached out a hand towards the scientist. "It's good to see you again, Dr. Wells." Harrison regarded him with a raised eyebrow then reached out his own hand and shook it firmly."

"It's good to see you, too," Harrison finally said. He dropped his hands to his lap once more. "I'm sorry; I don't think I remember what I've been told. What is it that you do again? Why are you out here in Central City?"

"I'm an architect," Ryder replied, nodding like a bobble head. Barry could see that he was intimidated by the man and he certainly understood that. When he first woke up in STAR Labs with Caitlin and Cisco both shining flashlights in his faces, he was excited to meet his idol. But at the same time he was intimidated by him and his success. How many people were able to say they were finally able to be in the same room, let alone have their lives saved by the same person they had looked up to for the past few years? In many ways, Barry based off his form of scientific studies on Harrison's practices. "I'm working on the new office building that is being built downtown. Not to mention fixing up the one that was bombed. At the moment we're speaking of the sorts of interior structures for the walls to be sure it can withstand intense heat in case something with those…uh, what do they call them?"

"Metahumans," Cisco interrupted. "They're called metahumans."

"Right, in case there are other metahumans that have some sort of an agenda around here," Ryder continued. "It really does seem like it. But The Flash or The Streak or whatever they're calling him is doing a great job of making sure the city is safe."

"That's what we're hoping," Harrison agreed. He caught Barry's eye and winked towards him, causing Barry to smile back. "The Flash has been doing a great job of keeping this city safe and we're all very proud of him."

Barry could feel his cheeks flush, the attention really starting to embarrass him. There was a sharp blast of a whistle and he turned around to watch the two teams play the game. Barry tried to concentrate as much as he could, cheering at the right spots and clapping when it was necessary. But he couldn't keep his mind off his mother. He became so distracted that his eyes shifted back and forth from the field to the crowd every now and then, expecting to see her or Henry standing there and clapping as well. But then he'd remember that his mother was gone and his father was in jail. And he'd mentally scold himself before turning back to the field to do it all over again.

On his fifth or sixth glance around the field, he stopped and stared as hard as he could. Was that the Black Flash? Blinking hard, Barry rubbed at his eyes and looked off in the direction once more. He could see the tall figure in a black suit staring at him not moving, fingers twitching at his sides. Barry's mouth slowly dropped open as he stared at the Black Flash, head slowly tilting. The Black Flash mimicked him, head tilting to the side. Barry straightened his head and the Black Flash did the same. He curled his hands into fist as did the Black Flash.

Barry gritted his teeth, feeling the familiar surge of power that washed over him seconds before he was about to exhibit his powers to the best of his abilities. Then he felt a hand on his arm and looked over to find Cisco watching him.

"Are you okay?" He looked around then leaned towards him. "Your eyes were starting to flash, dude. And I mean that really creepy, kinda cool lightning flash going through it."

"I saw him," Barry whispered back. "The Black Flash. He was over there." He nodded in the direction he had seen the Black Flash last then frowned when there was nothing there. "I swear I saw him there, I'm not going crazy." Or maybe he was. Maybe he was becoming so stressed with everything, with the Reverse Flash being back around hat he couldn't keep his head on straight. Or there was one other option. "You don't see Mindboggler anywhere around here, do you? Maybe she's doing something to me again. Like how she made me see my Mom."

"I think we would know if someone from the Suicide Squad was back," Cisco said. His eyes shifted and Barry looked at him for a long moment. "I mean, how weird would that be, right? That they suddenly popped up out of nowhere again? It's weird, right?" He turned back to the soccer game and nodded appreciatively. "Wow, that guy did a…cool thing, that sliding kick thing…"

Barry continued to stare at the side of Cisco's face. He looked over at their friends before grasping his arm and pulling him a few feet away. "What's going on, Cisco? You're acting even weirder than usual."

"Okay. Okay." Cisco ran a hand through his hair. "Bette came to visit me at STAR Labs." Barry's eyes widened and he crossed his arms over his chest, mouth dropping.

"W-what? I-I, what did she want? Did anything happen? Are you okay?" Barry couldn't stop himself before the words came tumbling out of his mouth faster and faster. Judging by the way Cisco's eyes narrowed and his cheeks twitched Barry could tell he was using his increased speed to speak rapidly. But he couldn't help it, every worry he had about the Assassination Bureau and the Suicide Squad came flooding back.

Breathtaker may have erased the minds of nearly everyone in the city but those that had seen what he had done first hand was another story. Telling Breathtaker that he had to leave Central City…he thought it was too easy. There was nothing that was keeping him, Stratos, Mindboggler, or Incognito from coming back other than lulling himself and his friends into a false sense of security.

"Whoa, slam on the breaks there, speedy," Cisco said. He held up his hands and looked Barry up and down. "Though there are a bunch of advantages to your powers for sure. Public speaking must be a breeze."

"Not until you're trying to sleep and your mind won't shut up or when you're trying to do things normally and have to act like you can't just do it in a matter of seconds, or when you're—"

"Okay, I think I get the point." Cisco sighed heavily. "Bette came to see me just to talk. But we didn't talk about the Suicide Squad or the Assassination Bureau. We talked about her."

"What about her? Is everything okay?" Before he had managed to turn Cadence around from her life of crime—and not knowing that he had been her current target for capture amongst the Assassination Bureau—Barry thought he could've found a great friend and confidant within Bette. She was very wary around those in STAR Labs considering how much she was being chased around by General Eiling, who wanted her abilities of turning anything into explosives to be tested upon for the creation of super soldiers within his army. Despite knowing she was working with the team of rag-tag villains under the work of ARGUS he did still worry.

"Everything's fine as far as I can tell," Cisco said honestly. "Just that for the moment she was working alone and trying to figure out a place to keep herself preoccupied instead of worrying about Eiling breathing down her neck. She didn't tell me where she was staying or anything but that she wanted to apologize for what happened, especially since you did your best to save her."

"Yeah, well, I didn't quite save her from being brought back from the dead," Barry reminded her. "Which I didn't think was even possible, but then again I'm the fastest man alive."

Cisco smiled.

"Just…keep me posted. If she comes by again, or if anything else comes up…it's not a good idea to keep it all bottled inside. I think you know as well as I do."

"Yeah…" Cisco lowered his gaze to his feet.

"Is there something else?"

"Pssht. Whaaaat? No. Everything's fine."

Barry nodded and focused on the game playing out in front of him once more, suddenly realizing that he had managed to miss a lot of it. The score shot up to 5-3, with Brady's team winning quicker than he had thought was possible. But the kids playing were really good, as Cadence explained between her loud shouts of encouragement and direction, he had been playing since he was four and had been part of the team that played year round for the past two years. The rest of the team appeared to be just as good.

Finally the last whistle was called and the game ended with the score of 5-4. After speaking to the rest of his team, Brady hurried to his friends with a soccer ball in his hands. "Hi!" He greeted everyone as they cheered for him. "Did you see my goal? Did you see my slide tackle?" He didn't give anyone a chance to respond before holding up his soccer ball. "Look, I got the game winning ball!"

"We saw," Cadence agreed. "And we're very excited for you, bud. Awesome job." She held up her hands and he dropped the ball to give her a double high-five. "How about we go out for dinner tonight to celebrate?"

Brady twisted his mouth to the side. "Can you show me how to do that flippy throw instead?"

"Flippy throw?" Caitlin repeated.

"A flip throw in," Ryder explained. "It's used to throw the ball in play and helps you throw the ball further than a standard throw in."

"You played soccer, too?" Barry asked.

"I did, actually," Ryder replied with a nod.

Barry rolled his eyes. Of course you did.

"And I played basketball too." Ryder crouched down in front of Brady and motioned towards the soccer ball. Brady handed it over to him and Ryder flipped it up into his hand before spinning it on his index finger for a few seconds. "It's easier with an actual basket ball but you get the point." He stopped the ball between his hands and held it out towards Brady.

The eight year old's eyes were wide. "Wow, how'd you do that?"

"A lot of practice." Ryder reached out and ruffled his hair. "You did good today, Little Man. Thanks for inviting me."

With the word 'invite' Brady seemed to remember something for he turned to his mother and motioned for her to bend down. He whispered something into her ear and she nodded before standing up straight. Then Brady turned back to the others, smiling even wider than before. "Will you guys come to my birthday party? It's this weekend."

"And where do you intend to have this birthday party?" Harrison asked.

"The circus," Cadence replied as her lips pulled into a tight smile. "The Central City Circus."

"The Central City Circus?" Barry repeated before he could stop himself. "They come to town every year! It's one of the best shows the city puts on. Did you know that the elephants they have in the shows are some of the longest living elephants in the world? And they're the biggest circus running with more than a thousand workers?" All eyes turned to him and he shrugged. "My Mom and Dad used to take me to the circus every year. Joe and Iris, too." He cleared his throat. "A party at a circus sounds cool."

"Wait..." Cisco pointed over to Cadence who tried her best to keep her smile up. "Why aren't you excited for the Circus?"

"She doesn't like clowns," Brady, Ryder, and Harrison all explained in unison, causing Caitlin to laugh and nudge her best friend on the arm and say, "I thought you weren't afraid of anything?"

"Clearly you haven't seen her around a spider," Ryder commented.

"No, just in a metal tube," Cisco remarked, causing Caitlin and Cadence to both whack him on the arm. Barry laughed quietly while Harrison smiled. Ryder smiled politely despite clearly not knowing they were referring to how they found out about her claustrophobia. "I mean…what?"

"We'd love to go," Caitlin agreed. "Thanks for inviting us."

"Your Mom's birthday, Christmas, your birthday, and New Year's all within a few weeks," Barry commented, taking Brady's attention away from Ryder. "This must be your favorite time of year."

"Yeah! I get a lot of days off of school and no homework."

Barry started to say something else but was cut off by his phone blaring. He looked at the caller ID and immediately answered when he saw it was Joe. "Hey Joe, what's up?"

"You're not going to believe me when I say this," Joe said slowly. "Or you will and that's a bigger problem."

"Joe, what's wrong?"

"It's Snart. He's back." As soon as the words came from Joe's mouth, Barry's blood ran cold as if Leonard Snart had blasted him with the freeze gun. He remembered just how much it burned, how slowly he had moved when he was hit the first time. It had made him too slow to keep from saving the life of an innocent bystander and that guilt followed him nearly every day. Knowing he was back… "But he's not alone this time. There's someone else with him; an accomplice. We haven't gotten an ID on his accomplice yet but they've already knocked over a jewelry store and we don't know where they're headed now."

"Okay, okay, I'll be there as soon as I can." Barry hung up the phone and turned back to his friends, who were staring at him curiously. "That was Joe," he explained. "I have to get into work. There's a, uh, situation that I have to deal with. You know a guy that we've been chasing for a while." He looked back and forth from Harrison, to Caitlin to Cisco hoping they would get what he was trying to say. "A bit of a cold case."

A light bulb seemed to illuminate over Caitlin's head and she sprang into action. "Oh, well, that does seem really important. Why don't you go ahead, Barry? We'll see you later." She reached out and grabbed onto the handles of Harrison's wheelchair. "We have to get going too; I forgot there was some stuff we had to have done today. C'mon, Cisco."

"Right, right." Cisco reached out and grabbed Ryder's hand, shaking it firmly. "Well it was good to see you again, Ryder. I hope you stick around. Oh!" He brought a fist up to cover his mouth. "Wow. I didn't…I mean…that was such a…a bad choice of words. Terrible, really."

"Don't worry, Cisco, I know what you meant," Ryder reassured him with an easygoing smile though embarrassment tinged his cheeks red. "I guess I'll just see you guys later."

Barry exchanged a glance with Cadence and widened his eyes, hoping that he would get his telepathic signal that there was something the two of them needed to handle of the metahuman persuasion. Sort of. Cadence understood and she chewed her lower lip before sighing heavily, turning towards Ryder.

"Could you do be a huge favor and watch Brady for a while?" She asked. Ryder's eyebrows rose in stunned surprise. "Look, I know this is last minute but there's something I really have to do."

"That doesn't have to do with what I need to do," Barry nervously broke in. "Or Caitlin, Cisco, or Harrison. It's all just a—a coincidence. A freak coincidence."

"Right," Cadence said. "Anyway if you're going to be in Central City for a while then you should get the opportunity to get to know him and for him to get to know you."

"O-okay, that's fine," Ryder said. He cocked his head to the side in confusion as everyone started to walk off in different directions leaving him and Brady behind. "Is there anything I should know?"

"He's allergic to strawberries, he can be very picky with his food, and don't listen to him when he says he doesn't have any homework, he usually does," Cadence said as she backed away from him. "Otherwise it's like taking care of a pet."

"Hey!" Brady cried.

"I'll see you later, bud." Cadence whirled around and practically jogged at Barry's side to keep up with his long stride. "You're a terrible liar, Tholly, you know that?"

"Yeah, well, it's hard to come up with something when you're trying to think of a way to finally take down Snart," Barry replied, keeping his eyes forward as they walked off the field and into the parking lot.

"Snart?" Cadence repeated. "What's a Snart?"

"I'll explain it on the way," Barry said. He reached out his arm and Cadence grabbed it before Barry bent down and swung her legs up into his arms, cradling her against him as they raced to STAR Labs.

"Be careful, Barry, we don't know what this other guy that's working with Snart is capable of," Caitlin's voice came through Barr's ear piece.

"Captain Cold, remember," Cisco then said. "We call him Captain Cold."

"Arguing over the name we give him is not pertinent to us at the moment," Harrison scolded them. "At the moment, figuring out what Snart wants and the identity of his accomplice is."

Barry nodded and continued running to the coordinates that Harrison had relayed to him and Cadence. The fire metahuman ran along beside him, matching his pace the best she could as she teleported to keep up every now and then. They turned a corner and came face to face with Leonard Snart standing in the middle of the street amongst shards of glass from a nearby car that looked to be completely encased in a block of ice. As he caught site of The Flash, he lowered the hood of his parka.

"Ah, well if it isn't the Flash," Snart called in a mocking tone. His eyes shifted over to Cadence. "Looks like you've brought reinforcements." His pale pink lips pulled back into a sinister smile as he gestured towards his accomplice with a massive, scientific looking gun. "I've brought some reinforcements as well; why don't we take the second to all get acquainted? Mick, Flash, Flash, Mick."

Mick let out a low growl, drumming his fingertips along the side of his gun. Barry and Cadence exchanged a glance as they studied him. Not only was his size imposing, about forty pounds or so heavier than Snart but packed into a taller build. He also had the muscles to spare but there were third degree buns all over his shoulders and the sides of his arms as they poked out from his tank top. Judging by the snarl on Mick's face, the burns didn't seem to bother him at all.

"Now that we have that out of the way, why don't we cut to the chase…"

"What do you want?" Barry shot back.

"Other than killing you?" Snart pretended to think about it, his eyes shooting skyward. He then leveled his gaze and shook his head back and forth. "No. Nothing more than that. You see, I want you out of the way. I don't care if it's that you're dead and buried or if you're completely crippled, but I want you gone."

"That's not gonna happen," Barry shot back. "I can't have you destroy the rest of the city and steal whatever you want. I won't let you. You're not welcome here."

"Well, now that's just cold," Snart replied. With that, he pumped the action on his cold gun and shot a stream of ice towards Barry. Barry immediately zipped out of the way just as Cadence reacted and counteracted the icy blast with a fiery one of her own. Snart let out a snarl and pulled his gun back, pulling his finger off the action. "Well, well, well, look who's got some tricks up their sleeve."

"Beautiful," Mick rumbled, eyes trained to the flames that dissipated in front of him. As if dazed, he took a step forward. "Simply beautiful." He picked up his gun and pumped the action. A high pitched whirring sound filled the air as the sides of his gun stared to glow red. He pressed his button to the trigger and fire shot out of the tip towards Cadence.

"Flash Fire! Watch out!" Barry called towards her.

Cadence held up her hands and retaliated with her own fiery blast. The two collided and created a mini implosion, the shockwave forced out in all directions. Barry was about to call out once more but stopped as an arctic wind blew by his face. Feeling a tightening on his skin, he reached up and came across a light sheen of ice on his sky, frozen droplets stuck to his eye lashes. Snart's attack had come very close to him that time.

Too close.

He ran out of the way and stared to run back and forth across the street with Snart shooting off blasts of his gun after him, each one missing him by seconds. Captain Cold has been practicing hard, he realized, noticing how quickly he adjusted his aim to fire after Barry once more, one right after another.

"You're gonna have to slow down sometime, Flash!" Snart called as he continued to shoot at him. His voice continued to become increasingly vicious in his frustration. "And I'll see to it that it's because of me!"

Barry leapt towards a light pole and grabbed onto it. With his momentum he flung himself around and launched back towards the man. He timed it just right so that it came in between Snart's blasts. Snaer was turning back to take another shot at Barry when he came back. Barry watched Snart's expression turn to one of surprise seconds before his foot connected with Snart's chest, knocking him off his feet.

Barry landed on the ground in a crouch turning around when he felt searing heat on his back. He whipped around, glancing behind him as he did so, relieved to find that Cisco's suit—originally intended for firefighters—held up well and he hadn't been burnt. It was the close proximity of the incredible amount of heat from Mick's gun that had caught him off guard. He found Mick charging up a large blast from his gun. He shot it out towards Cadence and she held her hands out in front of her, catching it.

Surpried, Barry watched as she moved her hands in a windmill, bringing Mick's stream of fire towards her and compressing it into a ball. The ball continued to grow in size by the second and Cadence threw it back to Mick with a hard burst of energy. Mick barely got out of the way, the side of his body burned by the counter attack. His clothes and skin smoldered, otherwise he was unharmed. Instead of screaming in pain as others would, Mick pried his shirt away from his body taking a layer of skin with it.

"Ahh, isn't that scent just intoxicating?" Mick asked as the smell of burning flesh hit the air. He picked up his heat gun and started to charge it once more. Snart got to his feet and walked up to Mick's side, pointing his gun towards them as well.

A siren suddenly hit the air, capturing the four's attention.

Snart immediately lowered his gun and shook his head. "Well, it looks like I'll be catching you later, Flash," he said. "I could do a monologue about how this isn't over but you know that I don't work that way. Mick! Let's roll!" The two climbed into a nearby car and peeled away from the scene.

"Barry, Cadence, come back to the lab," Harrison said through their communication devices. "There's something we should discuss."

"What about those guys?"

"The CCPD can handle it for now."

Cadence hesitated before teleporting with Barry arriving back at STAR Labs seconds behind her.

"So there was a slight setback to my plan." Snart crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall behind him his eyes trained on the cold gun as it sat on the table in front of him. "We've been running surveillance on him this long; I didn't expect her to be that strong. This may be a bit harder than I thought. But we're not down for the count, yet."

Mick sat in a nearby chair running a flame from a lighter back and forth along the edge of a wooden table. He watched as the flame continued to bend back and forth, above and below the barrier cutting off its dance with every slight movement of his hand. The wood turned a nightmarish black covered in soot and ash increasing the length and number of scorch marks that lined the table. He then leaned back in his seat bringing the lighter up and running his free hand over it, singing his skin. But the pain was just oh so delicious, his euphoric smile from the burn on his side continued to grow as he moved and let the burn sting.

Just another third degree burn to add to his collection.

But this time brought on by one of the most mesmerizing of sources.

"Does this mean you're going to give up the chase?" Mick's voice was low and rumbling, much deeper than it would have been if he hadn't inhaled a lot of smoke from his previous fires. Still it matched the intensity blazing through his eyes.

"Not quite." Snart reached up his hand and started to rub his chin. "I have a few more ideas. Of which should really set a fire underneath the Flash's. Quick. Feet."

"Sounds good to me." Mick flicked the lid to his lighter shut and turned to face Snart with a malicious smile. "You know how much I love fire."

A/N: So with the action of the Reverse Flash within the last couple of chapters there's gonna be more lighthearted goodness to go around with these before going back into the action with the Rogues. Woohoo, finally got to that part! I'm so incredibly excited for it it's a bit embarrassing.

So let me know what you guys think.

Cheers,

-Riles