.:41:.

Tethered

"We need to get out of here now," Tess repeated.

"No, we have to get the metas first," Cisco replied. He ran his hands through his hair. "If the metas get out into the city they'll create more havoc than we've ever seen. Not to mention these guys have to be a wee bit angry we put them in here like this. They'll probably create even more havoc."

"Well, do you have anything that'll get them back in there?" Ryder asked.

"Not especially, there are some things I've been working on, but nothing so good. Getting them into the pipeline is easy when they're knocked out and that's typically how Barry got them here. But we don't have the time to worry about that." Cisco moved back and forth from one monitor to another, watching to see how many of the metahumans had been let go.

Deadshot, Rainbow Raider, Weather Wizard, Peek-a-Boo…

He turned around once more and snapped his fingers. "Actually, I do have something." He went to his desk and opened the bottom drawer. He dug through a few things inside and emerged with a slingshot and a few pellets, shifting his attention to Brady. "You left your slingshot here last time and I took the liberty of tinkering it a little bit. Considering your metahuman name I call this the 'Shadow Shot'. Not only is it set to make sure that you never miss your target but with these pellets you can do a bunch of different things." Cisco held one up between his fingers, twisting it back and forth. "Depending on the ones you use, when they connect with the ground—or the person or thing you're aiming for—they do different things like shoot out jets of water and bursts of flame."

"Cool," Brady said, taking the slingshot and weapons. "Thanks, Cisco."

"If there's going to be a time to try out some other things we put in STAR Labs as a failsafe, we should test it out now," Caitlin remarked.

"Someone will have to do something fast, these metas are taking as much advantage of their early release as possible," Tess said, standing at Harrison's computer. Her fingers flew over the keys and on the monitor across the Cortex a map of the lower levels of STAR Labs popped up. "They're making their way to the lower level exits but are moving in random directions, much like caged animals would behave when set free."

"Do you have a lot of experience in that area?" Ryder asked.

"Behavioral sciences. As well as communication studies in terms of body language and non-verbal communications," Tess explained. "I'd love to have this conversation with you but we have a more pressing matter to get through." She shook her head. "Harrison, you're not as smart as you pride yourself to be," she muttered under her breath.

Caitlin and Cisco nodded before taking off into the deeper part of the Cortex. As Cisco ran down a path that branched off to the right, Caitlin came to the left. Ahead of her she could hear rapid footsteps clacking against the marble of the floors. Caitlin ran along after them as fast as she could, cursing the fact that she insisted on wearing high heels every day to work. Especially when most of their days, as of late, were spent running around after some sort of a catastrophe or another.

Caitlin skidded around a corner and came face to face with Peek-a-Boo aka Shawna Baez. That was a metahuman that had been taken down fairly easily, especially after the others found that the weakness in her teleporting abilities. The way she glared at Caitlin when she came around the corner let the Bio-engineer know she was still angry over her capture and imprisonment. Caitlin always thought the way they put the metas in the Pipeline wasn't a great idea, but there hadn't really been a choice.

Those thoughts barely managed to cross Caitlin's mind before she was struck across the face with a hard punch. Caitlin fell to the ground and looked up just in time to find Shawna bring back her foot to kick her in the ribs. A cry of pain escaped Caitlin's lips as she was flung onto her back. Shawna didn't waste any time. She teleported next to Caitlin and grabbed her by the front of her shirt, lifting her off the ground and slamming her against the wall behind her. Then she bent back and pressed her boot covered foot against Caitlin's throat.

Caitlin squeezed her eyes shut and brought her hands up to the boot, hoping to push it away, but found that while flexible enough to stay in a standing split; Shawna was as strong as ever. A grotesque glare twisted Shawna's features, giving her an almost darkly comical expression. She was certainly reveling in Caitlin's pain.

"Do you know what it's like to be stuck in that box? Do you know what it's like to be stuck in a prison?" Spittle bubbled up at Shawna's lips as he hissed at Caitlin. A droplet landed on Caitlin's cheek and she resisted the urge to wipe it away. "All because you're different all because you have powers that other people don't? Do you know how…sick that is?"

Caitlin struggled to bring in a breath, finding that she was pressing her foot against her neck harder and harder as the seconds passed. Shawna reached out and grabbed onto Caitlin's hair, pulling her head forward. This time Caitlin's strangled cry was weaker. The edges of her vision began to darken.

"So let's see what sort of a box your family decides to put you in," Shawna whispered. She tightened her grip into Caitlin's hair and Caitlin could feel some of the strands start to pull out. "For your funeral." From where she stood, Caitlin could see the muscles in Shawna's arm steel as she moved to slam Caitlin's head back against the wall.

Then there was the sound of a low, metallic thunk and Shawna's eyes rolled up before she slumped to the ground. Caitlin gasped loudly as soon as Shawna's foot was released from her neck. She stared, eyes widening, at Iris, who dropped a metal pipe to the ground, chest heaving with the effort of her swing and adrenaline.

Caitlin opened and closed her mouth to say something, anything, to thank Iris for saving her. To wonder how she knew to go to STAR Labs. She knew not to ask. Judging by the expression on Iris's face, one of understanding and hurt let Caitlin know she knew everything. That she knew Barry was the Flash and there was no way to hide anything from her anymore. Caitlin felt a sense of guilt, despite being the one that insisted Barry tell her shortly after he had received his powers.

Iris took a step forward then stopped, her eyes shifted to the side. Caitlin turned and followed her gaze and found Rainbow Raider standing at the entrance where she had just come from. He smirked, tilting his head to the side, eyes slowly starting to turn red. Caitlin continued to stand rooted in place, staring at him. Her eyes slowly started to turn a red color. Then there was a sudden explosion in front of Rainbow Raider, setting off a shower of sparks that caused Rainbow Raider to shield his face and back away.

Then there was another explosion and smoke appeared, wafting around Rainbow Raider's feet. As the smoke continued to climb higher, Rainbow Raider suddenly twisted back and forth before he was forcibly knocked into the wall beside him at such speeds that it knocked him out. Then there was a clanging sound as the metal pipe hit the ground and rolled away before Brady hurried over to the two.

Caitlin glanced at Iris out of the corner of her eye, whose eyebrows now rose in surprise. Brady, on the other hand, stopped in his tracks and looked back at Iris. Then he turned to Caitlin, his eyebrows lowering and lips coming up into a pout as if he had just been accused of doing something he hadn't done.

"Are you okay?" He finally asked.

"Yes, thanks to Iris," Caitlin said. She turned to her and gave her a smile. "Thank you so much."

"How did she…? What did she…?" Iris closed her eyes for a moment then shook her head. "Are there any others out here?"

"Cisco and Ryder are working on capturing them," Brady reported.

"Ryder?" Iris repeated.

"My dad."

"Oh."

Caitlin chewed her lower lip as Iris tried to process everything that was being said to her. Or tried to process what she had already figured out. There was a steely air of determination around her. With a low rumbling that managed to shake the passage way, they turned their attention back to the Cortex to check on the status of the metahumans. As they went Caitlin had to consistently shake her head, as if trying to get a fog out of her brain. Her head was even more clouded than usual.

"Caitlin!" All of a sudden Cisco was in front of her, holding tightly onto her shoulders. He peered into her face. "Caitlin, are you okay?"

She blinked and shook her head. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." She looked over and saw Eddie and Joe behind him. "Eddie, Detective West, what are you…?"

"You have metahumans and a large gorilla running over the city and you don't expect it to be checked out?" Joe asked. Then his gaze landed on Iris and he took a step back. "Iris—"

"Hi Dad," Iris said coolly. "Eddie."

Eddie swallowed hard but didn't respond.

"Did you get all the metas?" Brady asked. Almost as if he didn't notice the tension mounting around them. Caitlin would've laughed if the situation wasn't so bad.

"Not all of them," Tess explained. "Some of them managed to escape STAR Labs and now they're heading around the city. But that's not the part that's worrying me. This is." She pressed a few buttons on the keyboard and the view on the large screen changed to video footage of the nearby streets with Harrison and the superheroes standing off with one another.

"Is that Harrison Wells?" Iris asked. "He's the Reverse-Flash and…and killed Barry's mother?"

"It's taken us a long time to prove it but yes," Joe said.

"How is that possible? Why would he want to do that? What did Mrs. Allen do that he would want to kill her for it?"

"It's a long story, baby. But right now we have to figure out a way to capture Wells and get him back here so we can get those answers."

"If he's managed to keep out of our grasp that long, he can move pretty fast," Tess commented. "Obviously a lot faster than Barry can or else he wouldn't struggle so much when racing him. There must be something he's up to if he's entertaining a fight between all of these guys."

Caitlin bit her lower lip as she watched the video feed. The two sides seemed to be conversing about something. It couldn't have been much longer until they started fighting. Anxiety rolled through her stomach. She hoped they could get him in this time…hopefully with minimal damage.

There were some things she wanted to ask Harrison, herself.

Beside her, she noticed Ryder lean over to whisper to Brady. "Do you still have that ATV I got you for your birthday?" Ryder asked.

Brady nodded. "We didn't have any place for it at home so we had to bring it here."

"Good. Come on."

"So was it part of your plan to set those metahumans free?" Barry demanded. He tightened his hands into fists.

Harrison's eyebrows rose. "Actually, that was the last shred of humanity that the other guy managed to show. I have no idea how he does it but Harrison always seems to come forward at the worst times for me. I guess he couldn't stand the thought of those guys dying."

"You've hurt enough people as it is," Barry said.

"I know. You see me as the villain. But Barry if you were to look back, carefully, everything I've done….you'd realize I've only done what I've had to do. Nothing more. Nothing less."

"And the Particle Accelerator?" Cadence asked. She tilted her head to the side, eyeing him carefully. "What do you need that for?"

Harrison shifted his eyes over to her. He looked at her for a long moment, long enough that Barry held his arm out in front of her in case he started to attack. "This must be especially hard for you," he commented. "I wonder how much of your self-restraint you're using just to keep calm. We all know what happens when you use your powers too much. I guess you won't thank me for saving you the last time."

"Answer the question!" Oliver growled.

"Why don't you let me show you?" Harrison asked. He held up his left hand, where a yellow ring started to glow. All at once the ring opened up and the Reverse-Flash suit popped out. With his speed, Harrison ran into the suit and continued his forward momentum towards Barry.

Barry, eyes flashing with lightning, raced towards him as well.

He and Harrison became locked in battle, spinning in quickly circles as red and yellow lightning turned a warm orange color in their tornado. Superman flew high into the air, Ronnie/Professor Stein summoned fire around their hands, and Oliver drew back his bow and Cadence teleported to the far side of the street in case Harrison tried to get away.

Oliver growled in frustration. He turned his arrow tip this way and that, trying to find a clear shot t take down Harrison. Barry continuously moved into his line of sight. "Move, Barry!" He snapped. But the orange tornado continued to swirl around. "Barry, move!"

Finally, Harrison grabbed Barry by the throat and shoved him against a nearby wall. His head smacked against the brick and stars exploded in front of Barry's eyes. Then Harrison threw him across the street, where he crashed into a light pole so hard it bent in half. With Barry out of the way, Oliver took the opportunity to shoot and arrow into Harrison's calf, causing him to cry out in pain, twisting around.

Cadence and Ronnie/Professor Stein sent attacks of fire towards him from the ground and from the air. The fire attacks combined into a large scale fire bomb that careened towards Harrison. He turned and started to whip his arms around, sending a blast of air back towards them, immediately snuffing their flames. Cadence gasped, choking for air as he continued to send heavy winds towards them. The force of the back drafts sent Ronnie/Professor Stein flying backwards, out of his sight.

Superman followed it with a blast of heat vision that struck Harrison in the arm. He cried out in pain and twisted around, grasping the arm of his suit as it smoked. Then he turned to run away but found that he couldn't take more than a few steps. Growling, Harrison ripped the arrow out of his leg and crushed it in his grasp.

"Nanites courtesy of Ray Palmer before he returned to Starling City. Sending out a high frequency pulse that's disabling your speed. You're not going to be running around for a while," Oliver said.

Harrison let out a short chuckle, eyes slowly returning from its angry red to a clear blue. "You don't need speed to be a formidable fighter," he said. "I'm sure you know all about that." With that he raced forward and struck Oliver hard in the chest. Oliver crashed into the brick wall behind him and lay on the ground, groaning in pain.

Harrison then turned around in time for Superman to race up to him with almost the same amount of speed Harrison could show. Superman grabbed Harrison and threw him up into the air, following behind with a sudden burst of flight. Harrison flailed through the air and Superman sucked in a deep breath, blowing out ice breath that froze his lower half. Then Superman grasped Harrison and held him tightly in his hands. Harrison squirmed, grunting in pain as Superman increased the pressure on his body.

"Give up now and things won't get harder for you," Superman declared. "All we want is for you to stand down."

"I don't believe making it easy for you will be as fun," Harrison said. They glided to a stop, hovering in the air by Superman's own abilities. "Don't you think?" He vibrated rapidly and the ice started to break apart, falling down towards the ground.

"Wha…?" Superman struggled to keep his grasp on Harrison as he continued to phase.

Harrison reached up and solidified his hand, punching Superman in the face, causing him to lose his grip. Harrison fell back towards the ground, spinning a few times before he regained his balance and ran down the face of a building. Superman landed on the ground with enough force it created a crater. He slowly stood up from his kneeling position and turned his attention on the car next t him. Then he glanced at the dire hydrant nearby.

Lips pulling back, Superman used his heat vision to blast the fire hydrant out of the ground. It twisted and turned in the air, heading towards Harrison. Harrison moved out of the way of the projectile object just as a shower of water rained over him. Superman then used his freeze breath to solidify him once more. Then he turned and picked up the car next to him, as easily as a pack of gum, and threw it towards Harrison.

Cadence teleported to Superman's side and thrust her fist forward, encompassing the car with flames. The gas tank exploded as it fell forward, sending a blast of heat throughout the street. It crashed into the block of ice that encompassed Harrison and sent a shower of metal pieces flying across the street. Superman kneeled next to Cadence, throwing up his arm. Pulling his cape with him he blocked the two from the pieces that flew their way.

Once the coast was clear they turned back to find Harrison wasn't in the place he had just been. Then there was a flash of red and Cadence found herself run backwards into a car behind her. The shock of pain paralyzed her for a second and she looked up to find Harrison holding onto her throat, eyes glowing angrily. Grass crunched into her back and shoulders, making her wince with every breath she took, shifting the glass further and further into her body against the pressure Harrison exuded on her.

"I may have been taken over by Harrison before, but it's not going to happen again," he hissed. He tightened his hand around her neck. "Though it's interesting to see how much his will power has kept me from being able to take you down." He tilted his head o the side. "Such a shame that your son won't be able to say goodbye. But they're always very hard."

Cadence's eyes shifted towards him before she teleported out of his grasp. Harrison stumbled forward against the car and turned around, crouching. Cadence fought hard against Harrison, fists and feet flaming. Harrison blocked each one of her punches and kicks with ease, dodged out of the way of her heat vision, and blew away the smokescreen she turned his way. Cadence backed up a few paces and held her hands out towards him.

Harrison started towards her once more then stopped, screaming in pain. He fell to his knees and grabbed onto his arms and legs as Cadence burned his blood. His body jerked around, skin turning a bright pink as he continued to burn from the inside.

With a strangled cry, Cadence lowered her hand, halting her attacking. She looked down at Harrison, watching as his skin color slowly returned normal. Harrison looked up at her, eyebrows lowering, features twisting into an expression of sorrow.

"You're not going to hurt your poor father like this," Harrison wheezed. "After sticking by your side, helping you progress with your powers, making sure you understood how wanted you were." He reached his hand out towards her. "You can't turn your back on family."

Cadence took in a deep breath. The she held out her right hand and erupted a flame from it. The flame elongated into a sword. Cadence held it high over her head, locking her gaze onto Harrison's, her cheek twitching. "I know he's in there somewhere, but right now…I can't let Eobard Thawne hurt this city…my home, my friends, anymore."

She swung the fire sword down towards Harrison, following it up with a burst of fire that projected her towards him. Harrison blocked her fire sword but didn't move fast enough to keep from the second attack. He grabbed onto Cadence and the force of her attack threw the two onto the ground where he flung her aside with ease.

Harrison then got back to his feet in time to deal with Ronnie/Professor Stein. This was a harder attack for Harrison to avoid as Ronnie/Professor Stein had the ability of flight and could arch back and forth, twisting and turning through the air to send blasts of fire that Harrison struggled to avoid. After one particularly close call he started to windmill his arms once more. The blowback of wind combined with Ronnie/Professor Stein's jet propulsion froze the superhero in mid-air.

"I've spent a lot of time with that Tachyon device," Harrison commented. He continued to windmill his arms with ease. "And I know there are some drawbacks to it. I'm sure it's only a matter of time until your power starts to run out. Let's see how strong you are then.

Ronnie/Professor Stein continued to push back against the wind barrier, but as the seconds passed they started to falter. The fire behind them, what was pushing them forward, started to putter like an airplane straining to take off the runway. Finally, their arms slumped and they fell to the ground.

"Firestorm!" Cadence called.

Oliver raced forward to attack Harrison. He sent strong punches and strikes with his bow. While some missed, accompanied with loud whistling sounds, with Harrison proving he still had some sort of speed, others connected right into Harrison's face and stomach. However, with his healing powers, Harrison wasn't fazed by any of the hits and struck back against Oliver. Oliver finally managed to knock Harrison on his back and pointed an arrow directly at his throat.

But Harrison grabbed a metal pole beside him and swiftly brought it up. He smashed Oliver in the knee, halving him and then struck him across the face. Then he vibrated rapidly, eyes glowing red once more. With a burst of speed he shot up and grabbed onto Oliver, forcing him to the ground at a painful angle.

"The history books say you live to be 86 years old Mr. Queen. Well, I guess the history books are wrong." He brought a vibrating hand down towards Oliver's chest seconds before he was knocked aside by Barry.

Yellow and red streaks shot back and forth across the city streets as Barry and Harrison swirled around each other once more. Punches and kicks rained down against each other as they ran onto a rooftop of a nearby building. Each punch was quickly counter-struck, each kick doing the same. And yet they continued to land hard enough that it would send the other staggering about. Barry then raced forward and sent a barrage of punches quick as lightning into Harrison. Harrison sent a strong punch to Barry's stomach, halving him, and then punched him in the jaw. Barry flew off his feet and landed on the ground, the force of his momentum causing him to roll. He came to a stop at the edge of the roof and looked up in time to find Harrison leaping towards him once more.

Thinking quickly, Barry lifted his feet and struck Harrison in the stomach and lifted his feet up over his head. Harrison fell over the side of the roof and crashed onto the roof of the car parked on the street below. For a moment all was still before he slowly made it to his feet.

The sound of an engine revving filled the air, bouncing off the buildings around them. Ryder and Brady blasted through the street on an ATV with Ryder driving. Brady sat in front of him, holding out his slingshot, one eye closed as he aimed towards Harrison. As he let go, three pellets went flying through the air. One landed by the car and erupted in a smoke screen, another landed by his feet, sending out a shower of sparks, the last one struck Harrison in the chest and flames immediately surrounded his body.

Harrison jerked back and forth, trying to dampen the flames. But then there came a whistling sound accompanied by an arrow pierced the air. An arrow imbedded itself in Harrison's shoulder, another one to dampen his powers. That, combined with his weakened state from his free fall and hard landing exhausted Harrison. He pitched over onto the ground as the flames slowly died away.

Barry rolled onto his stomach, and, breathing heavily raced down to the street to look him over himself. Harrison's eyes stayed closed. Barry lifted a hand up to the Comm Link in his ear. "Cisco, Caitlin, we got him," he said.

"Then get back to STAR Labs as soon as you can, there's a lot going on here," Caitlin replied.

"You got it."

Barry lowered his hand from his Comm Link at the same time that Cadence raised her hand to hers. He watched in confusion, then his eyes widened and his stomach dropped as she said, "He's done, come get him."

Cadence lowered her hand from her ear just as the wind suddenly picked up. A tornado suddenly blew through the streets and when it dissipated Stratos stood in the middle of the street with Mindboggler and Incognito at his sides. She tilted her head towards Harrison. "Over there."

Barry's lower jaw dropped a little as Cadence me his gaze. Instead of guilt, even a tiny bit of anxiety in her eyes Barry saw nothing. His eyebrows came together in confusion and Cadence turned away. Barry then looked over at Superman, Oliver, and Ronnie/Firestorm; they appeared just as confused as Barry but didn't make a move either. The closer they got to Harrison; Oliver pulled back his bow, ready to shoot out an arrow.

"Good job Brigade," Stratos commented as Mindboggler and Incognito moved to take their prisoner. "I didn't think you'd actually do it this time. He must've put up a pretty strong fight if it took you this long."

Cadence didn't reply, she looked away from him, glaring at the ground.

Stratos' smug smile finally faded. "Incognito, you get the Reverse-Flash, Mindboggler; make sure these guys don't do anything stupid."

Barry started to move forward but found himself stopping in his tracks as his mother appeared in front of her. Not a normal projection of her, but a horribly blood and scarred version. The one he had seen lying on the floor of his house the night she had been murdered. Nora took a step towards her son, he hand outstretched, shaking, silently pleading for his help.

"Mom…" Barry whispered.

He closed his eyes, blinking hard. When he opened them again she was still there. Barry looked over at the rest of his friends and found they were rooted in place as well. Finally, Incognito reached Harrison and Barry snapped his eyes back over to Cadence, forcing himself to ignore his mother as she continued to walk towards him.

"Now!" He called.

Cadence closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again they started to turn a maroon color, shifting towards black. The air around her began to increase in temperature and there was a low rumbling sound from deep beneath the Earth. The ground started to rumble and roll, much like waves cresting towards the beach. Then it opened in front of her with an orange glow that illuminated the area and there was an explosion of hot air and molten rocks.

Ronnie/Professor Stein flew up into the air with Superman following them. Oliver turned and shot his arrow into a nearby building and used the retractable cord to get out of the way. Barry then took the opportunity amongst the confusion to start running in fast circles. Around and around and around he went, absorbing the heat from the flames as he whipped around and focusing it into his body.

Finally, he came to a stop and flung his arms forward. A large thunderbolt arched through the air and struck Incognito, Stratos, and Mindboggler all at once. As there lightning conducted through their bodies the powerful force of the attack combined with the heat in the air to create a brilliant lightning bolt that simultaneously struck them from the sky.

The smoke cleared and the four bodies lay strewn across the street.

Barry fell to his knees, trying to suck in as much air as he could. His chest constricted against his suit and he ripped off his mask to give himself a little more air. He struggled to get up but fell once more. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over to find Cadence bending her head underneath his arm to keep him upright.

"It worked," Barry said.

Cadence nodded. "It did," She agreed.

"Thanks," Barry managed to say before pitching over out of sheer exhaustion.

A low humming sound filled Barry's ears as he slowly came to. Almost as if a loud sound had erupted around him or he had been at a concert too close to the monitors. Then when Barry opened his eyes he found he was partially blind. White light strobed around him as the seconds passed. He closed his eyes once more and when he opened them things slowly shifted into focus. He could hear the sound of a monitor beeping beside him and tried to turn his head to the side, then stopped, wincing.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Barry blinked, eyelashes fluttering, and then realized hands were resting on the sides of his face, holding him still. He lifted his chin to find Cadence sitting behind his bed, holding his head still. She gave a small smile when he looked at her. "If you move too fast I might jerk your head the wrong way and I don't know how well our powers will work to heal a broken neck."

A light chuckle escaped Barry's lips and he smiled. "It worked," he repeated, remembering it as one of the last things he said before passing out.

"Of course it did," Cadence said. "Because you have a lot of faith and that keeps you going." She took a deep breath and gently shook her head so her bangs moved from her face. "When I told you that the Assassination Bureau talked to me about wanting to get to the Reverse-Flash I thought you would've accused me of trying to betray you guys again."

Barry was silent. To be honest he did think it, right at the very beginning. How many times could someone meet up with a group that did everything in their power to get what they wanted, even sacrifice themselves for it? Then she explained how she had a long plan to put them into the Pipeline once and for all, but had to pretend she would willingly go along with whatever the Assassination Bureau wanted. Thus they could never talk about it openly and she had to pretend there was nothing she was keeping a secret.

It was a long shot that their plan would even work in the slightest; Breathtaker, Stratos, Mindboggler, and Incognito had worked hard to take over Central City before and had nearly succeeded. They were the same people that had made Cadence do a lot of their dirty work under Mindboggler's powers that made her think she was doing something else. How would they convince them that Cadence would help them again this time? It wasn't hard once they found Mindboggler could still control her, as well as knowing Cadence retained the memories over what she had done before making blackmail an easy opportunity.

"I trust you," Barry replied.

He moved to sit up in bed but Cadence firmly set him down once more. "You used up a lot of energy, Tholly. Your powers can only do so much to get you back in top shape."

For a moment Barry was confused and then he understood. The revelation their powers could work together had been a god-send. Not only were they able to come up with different means of attack that could work but it helped Cadence's healing powers, able to recharge him in a way. But it came at a price; even though she tried to hide it Barry could hear her breathing start to become ragged as she worked to heal him.

"Either that or I'm trying to keep my dream of being a doctor as alive as possible," Cadence added. "Not that I don't like working at the CCPD but it can be a little more rewarding to work with people who are actually alive."

Barry laughed and fell silent once more. He hadn't realized how much energy he used when fighting Harrison and the Assassination Bureau. Now he could rest easy for a little while, knowing they were all in the custody of STAR Labs. Especially thanks to Superman, Ronnie, Professor Stein, and Oliver. Without them Barry wasn't sure if he and Cadence could've handled everything. Even Ryder's and Brady's showing up on the ATV had helped them out. If it wasn't for all of them…

Barry gently shook his head.

No.

He couldn't think like that.

"You had the chance to take down the Reverse-Flash," he finally started to speak again. "The Assassination Bureau wanted the Reverse-Flash so they could get him out of Central City, to kill him, to do whatever they wanted. Even before we knew it was Harrison…" He opened his eyes once more and looked Cadence in the eye. "Why didn't you do it?'

Cadence looked back at him, her eyes boring into his. Barry felt comforted. There certainly was truth in people saying there were those that had a hospitable nature. Add in the fact she had a great motherly instinct as well as a warm personality—no pun intended—and he couldn't help but feel relaxed when he was around her. As Barry looked up into her face he took in the soot that settled on her cheeks—in a strange imprint after her goggles were taken off—and the slight weariness in her eyes. And yet she managed to still have a smile on his face.

She looked beautiful.

"Because, Barry, I was doing it for you," she said. "You were the one who had a good reason to take him down. To avenge your mother. They wanted me to do it for power. I partially agreed to do it so we could take down the Assassination Bureau but my job was to kill him." Her smile faded. "Now that we know that he's Harrison or that…that Harrison doesn't exist…it became harder to do what they wanted but easier to do what you wanted. To get him in custody, to get some answers. I couldn't take that away from you."

Cadence brushed her hair back from her face and looked down at Barry as he nodded. Despite how tired his body had to have been—she could feel his body temperature slowly regulating as both of their powers worked to heal him—she could see determination in his eyes as well as pride. Pride that he managed to finally taken down the one thing that had haunted him for years and he was one step closer to being able to release his father from jail. No matter how many times people had told him he wouldn't be able to do it, no matter how many metahumans came his way, no matter what became an obstacle he still went after his ultimate dream.

Even as he was weakened Cadence knew he was still very strong.

He looked handsome.

"I wonder how things will change now," Barry murmured. He felt stronger now and gently pulled Cadence's hands off his cheeks. She shifted to his bedside and he looked behind her, noticing the second medical bed had been used, the sheets ruffled.

She had to have been in that bed before helping him.

"It sort of makes me afraid, I guess," He continued. "To know things are almost over."

"Life is about change, Barry. Sometimes it's painful, sometimes it's beautiful…sometimes it's both." She moved her hand down to Barry's and grabbed onto it. A few sparks shot out then calmed down as she laced her fingers between his. "But you should know I'm always going to have your back."

"And I'm always going to have yours," Barry replied. He shook his head. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"Promise?" Cadence's voice was quiet when she asked. Barry knew what she was thinking; what if something like the Assassination Bureau comes up again. What if there was something in their lives that would pit them against each other. What if they ended up on two sides of a conflict? What if, what if, what it?

Barry squeezed her hand.

"Promise."

A/N: I meant to have this up yesterday but there was a lot to do and I didn't get much chance to write. But I'm glad to have finally finished it. I hope you guys liked it. There's more to come.

Anyone recognize that Lana quote? I really liked it and thought it would be a good thing to have here as a sort of joke in reference to Smallville. Plus it worked well here. So, please let me know what you think. It's no the last of Superman or Oliver's appearance in case anyone was wondering. Plus a few other characters I haven't showed in a bit.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers,

-Riles