Barry watched in shock as Astrid's head lolled about. The monster pulled the blade away from her stomach and turned to face him. Barry couldn't speak. He couldn't blink. He could barely breathe.

He tried to tell himself that she was just faking being dead. Just like that time in Gotham City. He was lying to himself because it felt better than knowing the truth. That his best friend had once again risked her life for him. She had stopped this monster in the act by distracting him from Barry and angering him so much.

"Astrid…" Barry murmured.

Lex, or whoever it was, brought his finger to her pulse at her neck and sighed. "She's gone. I'm sorry… Actually, no, I'm not sorry… Because maybe now you will tell me who the Kryptonian is."

Barry scoffed. Astrid had been willing to die to protect that secret. From out of nowhere Barry mustered up the courage to speak to his foe. "No, I will not tell you. You will have to kill me first… Because what she said was right! You will not succeed in bringing us down. We have friends. We have a team… and we will continue to recruit more. It will be a league of heroes. Men and women with powers, skills and the technology that will make you wish that you never messed with us. Because what you have done here… You have started a war… Your actions will anger so many… you will be exposed… You will be hunted… and you will beg us to grant you with mercy."

There was a moment where Barry saw it. It was brief, but it was there. A moment where the being inside of Lex feared Barry.

The man brought up the blade, the same one in which he had used on Astrid and he charged for Barry. But Barry did not look away. Before the blade could connect with him there was a loud crash and the loud rumble of an engine which crippled down the wall from the other side.

This distraction was enough of a chance to distract Lex to turn away. As he did, something flew past Barry and uncuffed him from the post. He fell to the ground and watched as a blast sent Lex flying backward. Cisco had been the one responsible for the projectile blast. "Was that a bird? No? Was it a plane? No! It was alien pod coming crashing through the walls of this cave!" he exclaimed delightedly as he continued to fight the daemonite.

By his sheer humor alone, Barry knew that he had not yet seen Astrid's body. Barry also knew that Clark was tending to her, which would give Barry enough time to take out his vengeance on the alien.

His powers had returned so he ran to the other side of the cave where Cisco was in combat with the being. Cisco was simultaneously breaching and blasting, but he still wasn't breaching fast enough to match the alien.

Barry considered the state that Astrid was currently in. He let that fuel him as he stampeded for daemonite. He was fast enough, and he caught him. Barry's rage sent him into a punching frenzy. It reminded him of the time that he had been affected by the rainbow raider's rage.

But this rage was purely him. Barry remembered the first moment that he had met Astrid back in that elevator in CCPD. Then he remembered when they had been in that same elevator and had been affected by the meteor together. He remembered her convincing them to work together to save Central City. He remembered that moment that she had saved him in the alternate world when Clark Kent had been willing to kill him. He remembered saving her from the car crash when she was a child.

Every memory that he had of his best friend continued to fuel his anger. "You killed her! You killed her!" he spat bitterly through each punch.

"Barry… Barry… Calm down… I think he's had enough. Let's just cuff him. Barry!" he could hear Cisco's voice and he realized that Cisco still had no clue that Astrid was dead.

Barry looked down at his opponent and then up at Cisco in realization at what he had been willing to do. "Cisco…" Barry murmured. "Astrid is… She's…"

Cisco's expression went from confusion to entirely absent of emotion. He looked over at Clark who was holding Astrid. They both seemed very weak at that point.

"Barry…" he said softly. "we need to get them both out of here… The kryptonite… it's… it's…" but he couldn't finish his sentence.

This pause in action gave Barry enough time to gather his composure. He needed to take charge of the situation. It was what Astrid would expect of him. He dragged the daemonite as fast as he could to STAR Labs and locked him in the pipeline until he could determine what to do later.

Then he returned. Next, he took Clark out of the cave and then returned for both Cisco and Astrid.

The longer Clark was out of the cave, the quicker he healed. But Astrid continued to lay lifeless on the floor. Cisco sat beside her moving her hair from her face.

"Where's Caitlin?" Barry asked.

Before Clark or Cisco could respond, Caitlin cried "I'm here!" she was accompanied by another woman. Noticing Astrid's unconscious and bloodstained body, she instantly attempted to her wellbeing. Caitlin's friend collected some nearby leaves and poured a small vial of something over them. "Here use this for her wounds." She told Caitlin.

Caitlin furiously did her best to bandage Astrid's wounds and delivered CPR.

Both Barry and Cisco could barely hear what was going on.

"Is there anything I can do?" Clark asked.

"Call an ambulance!" Caitlin cried. So Clark did as she instructed.

"You guys… she's just faking." Cisco said. "She's doing that jedi thing. She wants us to think she's dead." Barry knew that his friend was just trying to emotionally protect himself from the truth. He had tried to do the same thing.

"You guys…" Caitlin said. Her face was teary and exhausted.

"No! I'm getting her to a hospital!" Barry acted on impulse, taking Astrid to the medical bar in STAR Labs where the staff instantly rushed to her aid. Upon discovering the state of her body, they gave him a look. One that he knew all too well.

By the time he returned, Cisco was doing his best to remain calm. "Take me to her, Barry… You guys, I'm not fretting… she's going to be fine… We already met our son, remember? So, let's all stay calm and not freak out…"

"Er… Cisco?" Barry said.

"I'm fine!" he said begrudgingly. "hey, Clark… what happened there? You look a little weary."

Clark looked over at Barry and Caitlin and then back at Cisco. "I think that the blade that he used was lined with some of that stone. That kryptonite. I accidently got some of her blood on my hands… I still feel a little…" Before he could finish his sentence, he collapsed to his feet.

"Let's get him to STAR Labs now!" Barry declared. He retrieved Clark and ran back to Central City, while Cisco breached Caitlin, her friend and him back to meet him there.