Author's Note: So, I got this chapter done and up way sooner than I thought I would! I can't promise this quick of an update for all chapters, but I got lucky this time! Which is great, because now I can start working on the more action/drama-filled chapters. Good for you guys. Not so good for Team Flash. Oh well. Read on! Leave a review if you can! And look out for my important note at the end!

Also, to the guest Emberlynne: No problem girl! It was a great, hilarious idea! I was very excited to use it, so thanks for the suggestion! I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and I hope you have an amazing week as well!

Upon Caitlin's insistence, Barry did not go home that night. He stayed at STAR Labs, where she could keep an eye on him and his power outbursts. She also wanted to monitor the fractured wrist he had received from phasing himself through the floor of the med bay to see how it would heal; his healing abilities were a little on the fritz what with everything that was happening. It was just her and the speedster in the complex. Cisco had gone home around ten, claiming exhaustion; Caitlin swore that he never got enough sleep, always up late tinkering with some new device or doohickey. Joe and Iris had wanted to stay, but Caitlin had managed to convince them to go home and get some rest, assuring them that Barry was in good hands with her and that she would not let anything happen to him.

Presently it was 1:00 in the morning, and the doctor let out a yawn as she watched Barry sleeping peacefully from the chair she had set up next to his bed. It had taken a while for him to fall asleep, what with the pain in his injured wrist and the symptoms of his illness still regularly plaguing him. He had sneezed himself into the medical cart two separate times before Caitlin had had to move it away from the bed, and had nearly electrocuted her once after breaking into a coughing fit. The speedster had profusely apologized at least a dozen times, but Caitlin knew he couldn't help himself; it wasn't his fault that any of this was happening. It was good to finally see him at ease after a long, worrisome day, getting the rest he desperately needed and deserved.

At least asleep, his power outbursts seemed to be contained; though she hadn't said anything yet, she was starting to slightly worry that they might be a hinderance to his body fighting off the illness. After all, it worsened when he used his powers, and he was inadvertently using them a lot. The doctor sighed, running a hand through her hair. Don't get ahead of yourself, she thought. You don't have any evidence yet. It didn't do much to quell her worries. She played with the hem of her shirt.

Around 1:30, she was beginning to doze off, despite her best efforts to stay awake to keep an eye on her ill friend. She was so tired, and for now Barry was safe and stable...her eyes had just drifted closed when an alarm ringing out from one of the monitors in the Cortex snapped her back into full consciousness, her heart pounding in her startled state. Her eyes immediately trailed over to Barry, sure that the sound must have woken him as well. In his sleep, the speedster's face scrunched up at the disturbance, and he let out a small noise, but other than that did not stir. Caitlin let out a breath of relief she hadn't known she was holding, belatedly realizing that she had been worried her friend would rush out to save the day as he had before, leaving himself even more worse off. His need for rest had apparently won out over his usually light sleeping habits, however, keeping him unaware as Caitlin made her way out of the med bay to silence the noise, checking the screen to see what had set off the alarm.

Her eyebrows furrowed, the corners of her mouth tugging down into a frown as she saw what had happened; apparently metas had been broken out of the metahuman wing at Iron Heights. Metas, plural. A total of three of them, Caitlin read, and she bit at her lip. The alert didn't specify which three had managed to escape the prison, but no matter who they were, it couldn't be good. The metas locked in that wing were dangerous, and in Barry's current state, there was no way he would be able to handle them. What worried her most, however, was that she knew he would want to go after them as soon as he found out, which would not be good for his health. And it begged the question: should she tell him at all? Sure, he would find out eventually; the freed metas would definitely not stay quiet and hidden for long. But in the meantime, perhaps it was best not to clue the superhero in. Caitlin glanced down the hallway to the room where Barry slept with another sigh, running a hand through her hair. She would have to discuss this with the others when they arrived later. For now, she would keep an eye on both Barry and the monitors. She would not be getting any sleep.

When Barry woke up several hours later, it was, surprisingly, to find no one in the med bay with him. The speedster's eyebrows furrowed a bit as he slowly sat up, blinking hard to clear the sleep from his eyes. The chair where Caitlin had been sitting during the night was definitely empty, but he could hear the echo of voices murmuring from down the hall. After getting out of bed and throwing on his STAR Labs sweatshirt and his shoes, he slowly made his way out of bed and towards the noise, curiosity written on his face. When he made it to the Cortex, it was to see Caitlin, Cisco, Iris and Joe all together, talking in hushed voices; none of them had heard him approach.

"I don't know, it seems kind of wrong not to tell him," Cisco was saying.

"I know it does, but it would be for his own good," Caitlin countered. "Barry is far from out of the clear after yesterday, and if he couldn't even handle Shawna…" she trailed off.

Iris, her expression troubled, opened her mouth to get out a reply, but Barry interrupted before he could.

"What is it that you don't want to tell me?" he asked, arms crossed over his chest. His voice was rough and scratchy, a mix of tiredness and sick, but the hint of annoyance behind it was still evident. He didn't know what it was they were debating hiding from him, but either way, it felt like a small stab of betrayal. Even if they were just concerned about him.

"Barry!" Caitlin said in surprise, her voice an octave higher than usual and sounding decidedly guilty. "We were just -"

"What is it that you don't want to tell me?" he repeated, walking farther into the room and meeting each set of eyes with purpose, insistent. For a moment, no one said anything, all of them shifting uncomfortably where they sat or stood as they cast unsure glances at one another.

"Three metas were broken out of Iron Heights yesterday," Cisco finally blurted, not liking the uncomfortable silence and the look Barry was giving all of them. "We don't know which ones or by who."

Barry took only a moment to process the information he had just been given before his annoyed expression turned angry and accusing.

"And you had to question whether or not you would tell me!?" he asked, his voice raising in volume. The sudden change sent him coughing briefly, lightning crackling around his body. He stumbled a bit at the action.

"Barry -" Iris started, taking a step towards him in concern.

"Don't," Barry said as he recovered, straightening and taking a step backwards as she moved forwards; she frowned.

"Barry, you're in no shape to try and deal with them," Caitlin tried, keeping her voice calm and reasonable despite the fact that she felt neither of those things. "You need to be rational -"

"I am rational!" the speedster protested.

"You weren't yesterday," Joe interjected, more forcefully than he had initially intended. "We don't want you to do anything stupid. We're just trying to help you, Barry."

"You can help me by being honest," he said, voice still accusing. In the back of his mind, he knew he was probably being a little harsh. But he didn't at all like the fact that the people he trusted had even considered going behind his back with something as important as this.

When he made his way swiftly out of the room and down the stairwell, he at least had enough sense not to use his speed, even though he wanted to get out fast. He didn't even know where he was going. To the precinct, to figure out which metas had escaped? To hunt them down? Both ideas were stupid, and he knew it, but he didn't just want to do nothing, either; not like everyone back in the lab apparently wanted him to do. He was almost homefree, out of the building when he heard rapid footsteps descending down the stairs behind him, someone having shaken of their stupor to follow him. He didn't turn around to see who it was, one hand on the door, ready to leave.

"Barry, come on, don't do this." It was Iris's voice, firm but pleading. "Where are you even going?"

"Somewhere not here," he replied vaguely, his head craning a bit to watch her but a hand still poised at the door.

"Can you really blame us for thinking about keeping it from you?" she asked him, lips pursed. "After what you did yesterday? With the way things have been going for you?" she asked.

Barry didn't answer, so she pushed on.

"You're not doing well, Bar. Your powers aren't stable. You look even sicker than you did yesterday. If you keep on a path like this and don't stay out of trouble, you're only going to get worse."

Barry only turned his head away. "I appreciate your concern, Iris," he said. "I really do. But I can make decisions for myself." He pushed the door open, walking out of the building. Iris, persistent as always, followed him out.

"Barry, you do not want to leave this lab," she said, her voice warning. "Don't be stupid. What if you have another outburst?"

The speedster stopped in his tracks at the words, not yet turning around. He bit at his lip. He hadn't even thought about that, but of course she was right. When was Iris not right? It would be stupid to walk away, despite wanting to get out, to disappear into the throng of the city and clear his head. To do something other than hole up in STAR and be useless. His incident with Shawna had left him quite aware that he wasn't really in any state to be the Flash, but it also had left him wanting to somehow redeem himself. The confliction was quite annoying. He was still standing there frozen when Iris closed the gap between them and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Come back inside," she said gently. "Get back in bed. We'll work this out, okay? But you don't need to put yourself in danger to do it."

Barry took a deep breath, turning around to face her. And he almost listened to her, almost decided to get back into bed and rest, to hear what his friends and family had to say. He really did.

But then he heard the screaming.

30 minutes prior

"You're clear on the plan?"

It was 8:30 in the morning, and Shawna Baez was pacing back and forth as she spoke to the rag-tag group of metas standing before her; her boyfriend stood off in a corner, smug as he watched what had started as his small suggestion all coming into light. Bivolo was at her side, having been the first recruit to the little gang.

"I'm not sure. You've only gone over it about a dozen times," Mark Mardon said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

The other two men in the group snickered; Shawna shot an irritated look at the lot of them.

"Let's not forget who broke your sorry asses out of prison," she shot back, and the snickering slowly died down. "I have given you a golden chance, and it damn well better work out exactly like I just told you. So, I'll ask again: are you clear on the plan?"

"We're all clear, princess," Jeremey Tell spoke up, rolling his eyes a bit.

"Crystal," Nathan Bliss chimed in, one hand reaching up to adjust the top hat on his head.

"Great," Shawna replied, pleased enough at the response. She turned her eyes to her boyfriend, offering him an almost giddy smile. "It's go-time, baby."

Clay moved from the wall to stand at Shawna's side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Then let's make it count."

Important Note: So, now that Shawna's line-up has been revealed, I'm guessing that there are questions. Like, for example, who they hell are they? Besides Mark Mardon and Bivolo of course. I actually didn't know of the metas myself before doing some research for this portion of the fic. So for anyone who doesn't know, Jeremy Tell is a meta who was introduced on the Arrow. I don't know much of his story, because I don't watch the show, but his meta name is Double Down (courtesy of Cisco) and his power is being able to create playing cards from tattoos on his body that can cut through human flesh easily, and apparently steel. Pretty epic. Nathan Bliss, AKA Mr. Bliss, is from the Flash season 0 comics and has the power to manipulate emotions like joy and pain, and can also cause powerful hallucinations. I thought they both sounded pretty damn awesome, so here they are. Feel free to ask me more or look them up if you need to! I could link you to the pages I got my information from :) Until next time!