I forgot to add Felicia and Reed to people he knew. I mostly had him look for his family, friends, and fellow superheroes. He has also read the history of the heroes of this earth and when he told Barry about his history, so he knows that there are some he doesn't need to bother to look up or are not a priority. Felicia being a sorta ex-girlfriend, she wasn't much of a priority and considering he only counts Caitlin and Frost as successful relationships, I could see him trying to forget about past relationships or trying to ignore the pain from them (So he doesn't bother to look up Laurel, Kitty Pride, or Harley Quinn either).
As for Miles being in Coast City. Originally I was also planning to adapt Iris' subplot during this arc, where she investigates something with Sue Dearbon there and have Miles make a cameo. But it meant watching the Iris subplot and I decided not to.
Spoiler Warning for "Friends" and "Fuller House."
Also, here's a "Speedster and The Spider" version of the intro.
Chapter 4
My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive. To the outside world, I am an ordinary forensic scientist. But secretly, with the help of my friends at S.T.A.R. Labs I fight crime and find other meta-humans like me. Recently, we met another hero from an alternate timeline and he's helping our team. He is Spider-Man and I am the Flash!
It had been nearly thirty seconds of Peter staring at Frankie and her pregnant stomach.
"Peter!" Frost said, snapping her fingers to get him out of his trance…it does.
"What!" He exclaimed. "Oh, sorry about that."
"You okay, dude?" Frankie asked.
"Sorry, it's just…about five years ago, I adopted a girl and you look a lot like her. She died last year and with your pregnancy I was just shocked." Peter partially lied.
"Okay, well I remember my parents before they died, so I don't have an identical twin sister. Unless my parents pulled a "Parent Trap" on me, which is a dick move. I mean, I don't care what the situation is to lie about it, what parent or guardian would hide that they had a sibling or something like that all along." Frankie ranted. "Sorry about my rambling and swearing."
"No, I agree about that. It always bothered me when I watched that movie. And the parents' reasons for the deception is bullshit. Sure, it makes it easier to avoid your ex, but what parent would really be that heartless to have custody of one child and no desire to at least visit the other."
"Exactly!" She exclaimed before she and Peter laughed. Frost smiled that making this sorta reunion has brought the two joy.
"Sorry, are you guys here for donuts?" She asked. They then made their order and she started to fulfill it. "I hope you don't mind if I…well-"
"He already knows that you're a meta and isn't a hater, Frankie." Frost informed her.
"Okay then."
She then used her magnetic powers to move the metal baskets for the donuts on the shelves to be moved to the counter.
"You have to use your powers a lot for this job?" Peter asked.
"Yeah." she replied as she started to box the donuts.
"And the overuse doesn't hurt you or the baby?"
"No, I've checked with my doctor."
"Ok, sorry. Dad brain kicking in."
"It's okay. Probably a good thing to be kind to strangers as long as you don't have any ulterior motives."
"Just being nice."
"Well then, here are your donuts." She says as she had finished boxing them. Frost then pays for them. "What, you're not going to be a gentleman and pay for them?"
"No, I'm honoring a bet we made yesterday." Frost explained.
"Ok. Well, it was good to see you again, Frost. Pleasure to meet you Peter."
"You too." Peter replied as he and Frost left the shop and walked around the corner while Frost ordered an Uber. "Was she what you meant yesterday when you said "You know?"" He asked Frost.
"Yeah." She replied.
"How long have you known?"
"About a week. After I had to bail on the rave Mark and I were going to when you showed up, we went to a different one as a bit of a makeup date."
A Week ago
Frost and Mark had left the rave and were driving in his car as they passed MM Good Donut Shop.
"Ooh, stop here!" She asked.
"Seriously?" Mark asked.
"Yeah, I have a major craving for donuts and this one is open 24 hours."
"Ok then." He relented.
They then parked nearby and went inside the shop.
"Caitlin?" Frankie asked as she saw Frost enter.
"No, that's my sister." She replied.
"Huh, interesting."
"How do you know Caitlin?"
"She and Barry helped me after Alchemy gave me my powers. My name is Frankie Kane."
Frost eyes became wide. She started to recognize her from Cisco's binder of metas. She also realized this would be the doppelgänger of Peter's foster daughter. But the cherry on top of her shock, Frankie is pregnant.
"Right, now I remember you."
"Do you two want to catch up?" Mark asked.
"Yeah, I'd like that."
"Ok, I'll wait in the car." He said before taking some cash out of his wallet. "Here's fifty dollars. Get a box of a dozen, anything you want, just save me a strawberry jelly filled one." He told Frost before turning to Frankie. "The rest of the change is your tip. I'm Mark, by the way."
"Nice to meet you." Frankie greeted.
"Don't worry, we shouldn't be too long." Frost replied before giving him a peck on the lips. He then exited the shop. The two women then sat at one of the few tables in the shop.
"Was that your boyfriend?" Frankie asked.
"Yeah." Frost replied with pride. "What about your boy?"
"Not dating right now."
"So, the father bailed or was this a one night stand?"
"Huh?" Frankie wonders, confused before realizing. "Oh, the belly! Oh, no, I'm a surrogate. I'm getting paid to have a baby for another couple. Like Phoebe did for her brother on "Friends" or Kimmy Gibbler did for her brother, Jimmy, and Stephanie Tanner on "Fuller House.""
"Oh, ok. How far along are you?
"About five months."
"Well, aside from the things that a pregnancy entails, how have you been?"
"Well, after I left S.T.A.R. Labs that day, I was back in the foster system. I was adopted by this one couple, Chris and Kate (not like your Cait which was short for Caitlin, her's was short for Katherine). But after the bigotry for metas with the Cicada murders, they dumped me back into the system until I aged out. Been on my own ever since. I did well in school, unfortunately not enough to earn a scholarship anywhere. Took this job, became a surrogate, even took pictures of my feet online for money." Frost looked at her a little shocked and grossed out. "I know, but it's better than taking pictures of other parts of me."
"Not judging."
"Sorry that I thought you were Caitlin. I just always thought that you were her superhero secret identity."
"Well, you were half right. I used to be a second personality that she had until a duplication gun made us two people."
"Fucking Central City." Frankie jested.
"Tell me about it." Frost replied. The two laughed at that. "Speaking of second personalities, you still have Magenta in your noggin?"
"No, after I nearly killed my foster dad, John James, I took therapy and anger management, even learned some meditation techniques. She's gone." Frankie said, before starting to notice that Frost started to look a little disappointed. "Oh, I didn't mean to insult you."
"It's okay, not all second personalities end up like me. Anyway, I noticed it's just you here late at night, don't you ever get robbed?"
"That's where my powers come in handy."
Three months ago
A robber rushes into the shop with a gun.
"GIVE ME ALL THE MONEY IN THE REGISTER AND THE SAFE!" He yelled.
Frankie was unphased. "No, thank you."
"I'LL SHOOT!"
"Do it."
"I'M NOT BLUFFING!"
"Ok, shoot."
The robber was getting confused.
"You have a death wish?" He asked.
"Nope."
"What about your kid?"
"Guess that will eat up at your conscience."
The robber makes a decision. "You know what, screw you! I'm killing you and taking the money!"
He then fires at Frankie, but she makes the bullet stop an inch from her forehead and hover in the air.
"You're a meta?!" He exclaims with shock.
"Yep, so I'd leave if I were you, otherwise, I'll send this bullet to one of your kneecaps (I'm not picky which one) and then call the police as you writhe on the ground." She then waves at him. "Bye bye."
The robber then runs out of the shop in horror. Frankie uses her powers to gently put the bullet in the trash behind the counter.
"A flashback within a flashback? Really?" Deadpool asked.
Deadpool, you're early. You're not supposed to show up for another few chapters.
"I couldn't resist. Don't worry, I won't spoil where I am on this version of Earth-1. But I will have things to say when we get there. Bye for now!"
Anyway, back to Frost and Frankie…
Frost laughs at Frankie's story.
"Didn't anyone ever use a wooden baseball bat to rob you?" Frost asked.
"The same guy did, realized that I can control metal, but he didn't know about this." She replied, as she caused a knife from behind the counter to float where Frost could notice it. They laugh again.
"This was nice." Frost replied. But then notices the time on her phone. "Oh crap, Mark has been in the car for about ten minutes."
"Go on, we can catch up more later."
"Okay."
The two then shared numbers and emails before hugging goodbye.
"Okay, bye Frankie."
"See you around, Frost."
Frost then exited the shop and went back to Mark's car.
"Sorry that I took so long in there." Frost apologized.
"It's ok. You have fun catching up with your friend?" Mark asked.
"Yeah."
As Mark started the car, Frost wondered if she should tell anyone about her reunion with Frankie. More importantly, she wondered if she should tell Peter.
Present
Peter and Frost were riding in the back of an Uber.
"So, you've been sitting on this for a few days?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, I wasn't sure if I should tell you. But I trust you now." She replied.
The Uber then stops in front of the West house.
"Well, thanks for the donuts and reuniting me with Frankie, even if it's her doppelgänger."
"It's no problem. And Peter?"
"Yeah?"
She then leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks for showing me how fun swinging can be." She said, trying not to give his identity away to the Uber driver.
Peter then exited the car and waved goodbye before entering the West house.
A week later, S.T.A.R. Labs Cortex.
Team Flash still hadn't found any new leads for Stan Mullen and Donna Winters' killer, nor any other bodies killed the same way.
"This case gives dead ends a bad name." Frost commented.
"At least no one else has been hurt." Cecile points out.
"Yet." Barry also points out.
Joe notices that something is bothering Barry. "Barr, what's wrong?" He asked.
"I just can't shake the feeling that there's something we missed."
"I hear you. I feel like we've already covered it, but I don't know what. Like the answer is just out of reach, yet hidden." Peter said, still baffled by this case, like the rest of the team.
"Well, look, I'm gonna dig into the evidence you gave me from last week's crime scene." Joe told him
"All right, thanks." Barry replied as Joe leaves. He then turns to Frost with a question. "Hey, where's Caitlin? We need all the help we can get."
"Ever since she decided to go all in with Marcus, it's open season on spontaneous getaways. So one minute, they're listening to showtunes, getting all weepy on the couch, and then next, they get last minute tickets to "Dear Evan Hansen" on Broadway." Frost explained.
Is it me? Is the reason that Caitlin and Frost go on dates to places like that with Mark and Marcus because I was too busy as Spider-Man? Peter wondered, still having doubts if he was a good husband. Peter had another theory as to why Caitlin was absent.
"Well, good for her, but where does that leave us?" Cecile asked.
"One step closer to the truth, y'all." Chester told them as we entered the cortex with a device. "Okay, so I stayed up all night building this cold fusion module for our satellites." She says with a happy attitude, before seeing the pictures from the crime scenes start to bother him again.
"Chester?" Peter asks, concerned.
"I…"
"Are you okay, buddy?"
After a few seconds, he gets his head back together. "Yeah. Sorry, sorry. This all-nighter's got me zoning out." He apologizes before connecting the device to the console. "Here's the deal. So, we know that this meta's fire powers are cryo-kenetic, meaning that their power output would read as extreme cold pockets. This alarm I just finished building, it's gonna alert us as soon as there's any rapid drops in barometric anomalies anywhere in the city. Only downside is, we won't know what's are bad guy actually is until "flame's on.""
Why does that sound familiar? Peter wondered.
"Or someone else gets burned up." Frost points out.
"Hey, it may not be a step across the finish line, but at least it's a step forward. Good job, Chester." Peter told him.
"Peter's right. Besides, the moment we get a hit, I'll be fast enough to get there in time, and we can end this before anyone else gets hurt." Barry reassures them. Chester still stares at the crime scene photos, still bothered by them.
Later that day, the alarm goes off.
"Is that a cold spot?" Barry asked as he sped into the cortex.
"Our fire meta just turned up at 138 South Devon Road." Chester tells Barry, who then immediately speeds out, not even bothering to bring Peter or Frost.
"What the hell?" They hear Barry mutter over the coms.
"Flash, did you find them?"
"Barry, what's happening?" Frost asks.
"I'm too late." He somberly replied.
A few minutes later, Peter and Chester join Barry (now in his civies) at the crime scene (a yoga studio) of another charred body, along with the CCPD.
""Black fire?"" Chester repeated what Barry told Chester what he saw when he came here earlier as The Flash.
"Yeah. It was like nothing I've ever encountered." He told them.
"Though I doubt it's the Sanderson sisters." Peter muttered, which Barry noticed. "And it put itself out?" He reiterated what Barry told them in the form of a question.
"How is that even possible?" Chester asked.
"It can if it doesn't get enough oxygen, and yet we're both breathing fine."
"I just don't know how. I'm telling you, man, I mean, it was there one second, the next…nothing." Barry tells them.
"So, what else do we know?" Chester asked.
"The Vic's name is Parker DeStefano. She teaches class here at the studio." Barry tells him before uncovering the sheet to reveal the body. Peter notices that the sight of it bothers Chester. "Hey, are you seing this? Look." Barry asks Chester and Peter, who now see that a small flame of the black fire is still burning.
"Holy "Fahrenheit 451."" Chester exclaims.
"Okay, we need a way to preserve it."
"Maybe we could try using the micro-catalyzed containment unit?" Chester suggests.
"The what?" Peter asked in confusion.
"Ray Palmer and I designed it together in collaboration with the foundation that he named after my dad."
"That was nice of Ray." Peter says.
"Well, the MCCU preserves the vaporized integrity of gasses, but it's back at my workshop."
"Easy, Barry can speed retrieve it and back."
"Just what I was thinking. What's it look like?" Barry asked.
"It's like an 8-inch vacuum-sealed borosilicate canister with an ionic-fused base and cap." Chester explained.
"I'll be right back." Barry tells him after looking around to see if anyone notices him. He then vibrates until he disappears, surprising Chester, who waves his hand where Barry was, in case he feels something.
"Yeah, yeah, okay. That's gonna take some getting used to."
"Never seen my Barry do that, so we're in the same boat." Peter tells him.
Barry then vibrates back into the room, holding a canister. "Is this it?" He asked.
"Yeah, yeah, that's-yeah." Chester replied. He then chuckles at how amazing and absurd those last ten seconds were. He then puts the MCCU over the flame and indeed contains it.
"Okay, you two try to determine its molecular properties then reprogram our satellite module-" Barry tells them.
"-to detect whatever meta-data we find. Gotcha." Peter agrees.
"Yeah, then match it to a city-wide search." Chester also agreed. "That way, if we're lucky-"
"-We can catch this murderer before they kill again." Barry tells them.
A while later, they regroup back at S.T.A.R. Labs in Chester's Lab.
"I've triple checked the "Who's who" binder. Nothing on a "Tales From the Crypt" meta who can conjure up black fire." Chester told Barry and Peter.
"Unless it's a meta neither of us have ever encountered before. Another option, it's a demon or a creature that wants us to think it's a meta." Peter wondered.
"I doubt it. But if it is, we should add it to the questions we need to ask Constantine when he finally gets back to us." Barry said
"Hopefully soon, it's been nearly a month already."
"We'll get you home I promise." Barry reassured him. "But back to the case, with no chemical signatures from the flame to program into our satellites, we're still flying pretty blind." He then said a little discouraged, but not ready to give up yet. "All right, while you two keep working the science, I'm gonna pay Kramer a visit. Now that she's part of the team, she needs to know what we're really dealing with. Plus, maybe she can help us find a connection between all three victims. Just call me if you find anything." Barry told them before speeding out of the lab.
"Yeah-" Chester starts to say, but then says to Peter and himself, "No problem-o. Just me, Peter, and the scary black flame. Nothing weird about that."
Peter noticed that Kristen Cramer as police captain of Barry's precinct was another change in this world/timeline. By this time on Peter's world/timeline, Joe retired after Dawn was born to spend more time as a grandfather and help Barry and Patty while they worked as both CSI and detective for the CCPD and as members of Team SpiderFlash. For his replacement as captain he chose a detective named Yuri Watanabe. She was a good ally to the team (even though they hadn't told her their identities yet). Though coincidentally, she was originally from Queens, NY, and was even Uncle Ben's partner in the NYPD until his death.
"Don't worry. We got this, man." Peter reassures him. Chester starts to look intensely at the flame. "You okay, Chester?" Chester then immediately looks behind him. "What?"
"Didn't you hear that?" Chester.
"No. Wait, is it the flame? Is it making noise?"
"Sorta, sounded like whispering. It might not be the flame. Could just be the all-nighter finally getting to me. I just need to relax."
"If that's so, maybe you should head home and get some sleep. Hell, you can crash on one of the couches in the lounge for a bit, at least."
"No, I'm ok, I've got this. Just gonna drink some coffee. Tell you what, can you get me a Vibe-achino from Jitters?"
"I don't know about that, I think you should at least take a nap."
"No, no, I'm fine. Trust me Peter. Just need a Vibe-achino and I'll be right as rain. Here," Chester then reaches into his wallet for a couple twenties. "The coffee and anything else you want are on me."
Peter isn't convinced, but relents. "Fine, but promise me you'll take a nap later."
"I promise."
"And you'll ask out Allegra."
"I pr-wait, what?!" Chester realized what Peter just asked of him.
"Just joking. See ya." He tells him as he starts to leave the lab.
"Wait, what did you mean by that?!"
"Good bye, Chester." Peter said, in a jovial manner as he exited the room.
"No, Peter, what did you mean by-and he's gone." Chester soon realizes. Now alone and starting to regret it.
About twenty minutes later, Peter returns from his Jitters run to discover Chester, napping in his swivel chair, with his head on his computer desk, shouting in his sleep. The shouting gets the attention of Frost, Cecile, and Allegra.
"What happened?" Allegra asks.
"I just found him asleep."
"Okay, I'll wake him up." She tells Peter before going to Chester. "Chuck. Chuck." She says as she tries to wake Chester up, who finally does so, standing up, looking scared. "It's okay, it's okay. It's just us." She reassured
"You were shouting in your sleep. Is everything okay?" Frost asks.
"Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I just-just had a bad dream." He tells them.
"Must have been a doozy."
"Are you sure that's it?" Cecile asked. "I can feel how frightened you still are."
Cecile wasn't as much of a member in Peter's world/timeline. Though, had to hold back his laughter at how much what Cecile said reminded him of Deanna Troi from "Star Trek: The Next Generation." He also hopes Cecile is too busy with Chester and didn't hear what Peter just thought.
"Yeah, no, no, no, I'm…I'm good, I'm good. Really, I've just been working way too much lately. Just need a Vibe-achino to power up the old mental hard drive." He tells Cecile with a chuckle before turning to Peter. "Did you get it?"
"Yeah, man, also got you a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich in case you were hungry." Peter says as he hands him the coffee and sandwich.
"Thanks." He starts to drink his coffee before grabbing it, the bag with sandwich, and the canister with the black flame and exits the lab.
"Okay, when we left his lab, I would feel him struggling. Anybody else notice that he's been having a hard time lately." Cecile asked.
"I've only just known him, but he did seem frazzled by this case, especially whenever we had to look at the bodies, even the photos in the cortex." Peter pointed out.
"If something's bothering him, why wouldn't he say so? I mean, he's the most touchy-feely person I know." Frost points out.
"It could be a personal trauma."
"But why keep us out?"
"Maybe he's scared of how we'll react."
"He'll talk to me." Allegra said with confidence.
Peter didn't disagree. He noticed in the past few weeks how close Chester and Allegra were with each other. It kind of reminded him of his friendship with his Caitlin after he returned from Starling City. If not soon, he bet that those two would be dating by this time next year.
That night, Peter was looking at the clue board in the Cortex, trying to find a pattern they'd missed. He's about to call it a night when he gets a help alert from Allegra's phone, coming from the lounge. Knowing he doesn't have time to change into his suit (but is glad that he's wearing his web shooters), he runs to the lounge, getting lapped by Barry. He finds the three of them by the window, looking at the black flame, which was now big and enveloping part of the lounge, heading towards them. He then shoots ice webbing at it, to no avail.
"Shit. My ice webbing did nothing to it!" Peter tells them.
But soon it disappeared. Everyone looked unnerved by that whole event. A few minutes later, the four of them look at the now empty canister on the lounge bar, joined by Frost and Cecile.
"I don't get it. First, Chuck has a dream about the weird fire, and then the meta who created it attacks us?" Allegra asked.
Predicting things before they happen. Is this guy Cisco or not? Peter thought.
"Maybe the killer believes team Flash is the only obstacle in their goal of killing more people. As for the dream, maybe the flame telepathically gave Chester that dream." Peter said.
"Why would fire want to do that?" Frost asked skeptically.
"To be a dick and scare him. Maybe it gets joy out of scaring people before killing them."
"You think the fire is sentient."
"Why not. Another theory is that the meta can send telepathic signals through his/her/their fire."
"But why would anyone want to hurt Chuck?" Allegra asked.
"Maybe the meta knows he works for us and wants to hurt the team that way."
"Maybe. But either way, we're going to keep you safe, Chester, I promise." Barry tells him.
"Thanks." He replies, still shaken from the fire.
"Chester, what about your barometric detection thingy? Why didn't it go off?" Frost asked.
"When I programmed the search parameters I used the default settings that establishes a tracking grid outside of S.T.A.R. Labs."
"Right. Maybe you should fix that." She replied in a sarcastic tone.
"Yeah, I just did. I also double checked to make S.T.A.R. Labs was clear too."
"It's okay, Chester. Hell, back in year one when Eobard kidnapped Eddie, none of us thought they were here in the pipeline." Peter reassured him.
"But that's just it, I should have. You read the history of the team over the past month to spot the differences. I should have done the same." Chester says, a little depressed at his nearly deathly mistake.
"Hey, don't beat yourself up, Chuck. At least you're alive." Allegra said, putting a hand on her shoulder, which already makes Chester feel a little better and a little less guilty. "This black fire meta is definitely strange, it can appear and disappear at random."
"Plus, their fire leaves no trace." Barry pointed out.
"Like a ghost." Cecile stated.
"Maybe we do need Constantine's help." Peter stated.
As Peter said that, Cecilie notices something about Chester with her telepathy and empathy, how her sentence about ghosts bothered Chester.
"Gotta get some air." Chester says before leaving the room.
"He's hurting really bad inside." Cecile tells them what her telepathy and empathy detected.
"Can you blame him?" Allegra pointed out. "First two bodies show up at O'Shaughnessy's-"
"-Then the yoga instructor, DeStefano, this morning." Peter continued.
"Yeah, and now the same person is hunting Chuck, a guy who would never hurt anyone. It doesn't make sense."
"Not all killers do, be glad you've never had to deal with The Joker."
"If this meta can get inside S.T.A.R. Labs undetected,...they could be anywhere." Cecile realizes.
Barry then realizes. "Peter, you could be right about what you said a minute ago, at least about what you said about how that this meta could control the flames remotely. I mean, the shape that we saw in the fire, it had no face, no identifying marks. Maybe it was some kind of projection?"
"I mean, it could explain why you haven't been able to catch them. The killer's never actually been at any of the crime scenes."
"Just like Johnny 13 from "Danny Phantom!"" Peter states. Everyone looks at him, like he's crazy. "Basically, a character who sends his own shadow to do his dirty work."
"Kinda like Peter Pan on "Once Upon A Time?" Allegra asked.
"Exactly."
"Ok, nerds-" Frost stated, sarcastically.
"And proud of it."
Frost continues, now dumbfounded at how confident in his nerdiness Peter is. "Whatever."
"Put S.T.A.R. Labs on lockdown. Nobody except for me gets in or out until we figure out what's going on." Barry ordered. "I'm going to search the city until I find the fire meta. So, I need you to look out and look out for each other. Stay on coms." He says before speeding away.
"On it." Allegra confirms…to open air. The rest of the team were not looking so confident about being stuck in S.T.A.R. Labs
Sometime later. Peter changed into his Spider-Man suit, to be prepared for another attack. While this suit has protected him from fires in the past, this past day has shown Peter that all bets are off with the black fire. After he gets changed, the alarm rings again and Peter is then met with Barry, Frost, and Cecile. A few seconds before Chester and Allegra arrive, the lights went out.
"What's going on?" Allegra asked.
"We're not sure yet. We've got cold fires on multiple levels, and it's spreading." Peter explained.
"And they're all headed our way." Barry tells them.
"If it's cold fire, how come it's getting hotter in here?" Cecile asked, noting the temperature.
"These flames form in a subzero state, but they still give off high levels of kinetic energy." Barry explained.
"Which means they can still burn the hell out of us." Frost translated.
They then hear the crack of electricity.
"That was a router junction. They're in the walls too." Peter realized.
"He's after me. This is all my fault." Chester said with fear.
"No, it's not." Allegra reassured him, much to the confusion of the rest of the team. "Chuck, you need to concentrate. Okay, we're gonna need your help to survive this."
"Oh, no, no, I can't! I can't! The fire's already burning through our structural supports. Once they're done-"
"-every volatile resource in S.T.A.R. Labs will meltdown and contaminate Central City." Barry realizes what Chester was going to say.
"So, what do we do?" Cecile asks.
"Chester, look, I know this is hard right now, but we need your help to stop this." Barry asks him. "That means we need you to initiate a search protocol. Look for anything that could create cold catalyzed reactions. We'll buy you as much time as we can."
"Okay. Okay, I'm on it." Chester said, with more confidence from what Barry said. He then goes over to the console. "Tracking muon-catalyzed heat signatures." He then sees some urgent info. "Barry, the flames are converging on the speed lab. I don't know why, but maybe there's some sort of epicenter forming there or something?"
Barry then looks over at Frost and Peter.
"Well, it's a good thing I'm already suited up." Peter says, as he dawns his mask.
"Let's do this." Frost confirmed before Barry sped the three to the Speed Lab. The three watch with horror as they see the chaos and destruction of the black fire surrounding them.
"Frost." Barry asked.
"I'm on it." She said just before she sends a cold blast to the fire to no avail. When that doesn't work, sends out more of her powers, still nothing.
"All right, listen to me. You guys need to evacuate while you still can." Barry orders
"If you guys ever do find my home, tell my family I'm sorry." Peter tells them, fearing for his survival.
"No, we're not leaving you behind." Allegra ordered. They then hear yelping and crackles of electricity from the other end.
As for our three heroes, the fire surrounds them on all sides.
"Take my right hand with your left hand." Barry asks Frost, before asking Peter, "Peter, grab mine and Frost's hands."
They comply, Barry then uses his speed to phase them from the harm of the fire. But a few minutes later, the fire disappears and the lights come back on. Barry stops phasing them now that it's safe.
"Chester, the cold flames are gone. What happened?" Barry asked over the coms.
"I sent them packing. With a little help from my friends." He replied.
Soon after they all (including Joe) reunite in the lounge. Apparently, Chester thought that the Black Fire was the ghost of his father (who died in a burning car wreck) and was attacking his son as karma for hating his father most of his life. But, Allegra and Cecile helped convince him that it wasn't his father's ghost. Chester accepting the truth and not joining his fake father in death is what got rid of the black fire from S.T.A.R. Labs…for now.
"Chester, seems like you had a pretty close call, huh? You too, Barr." Joe stated.
"Yeah, well thankfully, I was able to phase myself, Peter, and Frost, long enough for Chester to do the rest." Barry explained.
"Oh, it wasn't all me. If it wasn't for Allegra and Cecile, I'd be just another burnt corpse right about now." Chester said, humbly thanking his friend and crush.
"Hey, what about the other three victims?" Cecile asked. "Joe, did you find anything?"
"I did some digging, and I called in a few favors." Joe revealed. "Turns out our first victim, Stan Mullen, recently lost all his belongings to foreclosure. Then Donna Winters, her sister died last week."
"Let me guess, our yoga vic was suffering some loss too?" Frost assumed.
"Fiancé and childhood sweetheart to cancer."
The last one reminded Peter of the Earth-199999 Barry he looked up, who lost his childhood sweetheart, Caitlin's doppelgänger, to ALS.
"That's a grief pattern." Barry realizes.
"Which fits with where I've been at lately." Chester confirms.
"So, this new meta, whoever he is, eats grief and sorrow to survive. Yeah, that's not terrifying." Allegra stated.
"It gets scarier. We thought we were looking for a meta serial killer, someone that was controlling the black flames like the figure I saw in the fire. But the fire created that. And when I spoke to it, it heard me. Like it could understand or something."
"Chester's right." Cecile told them. "With all of that sorrow that I felt coming out of that thing, I also felt other emotions: determination, passion, desire. It's almost like whatever that thing is, it's got a mind of its own."
"So, we're not looking for a separate fire meta?" Frost asked.
"No." Barry told them. "The will to seek out victims to kill, need to satisfy its hunger at all costs-"
"-The flames have a survival instinct." Joe continued.
"Which means the flames aren't being used by the killer. They are the killer."
"Because they're alive." Chester stated.
"So, you were right about the fire being sentient." Frost relented as she said that to Peter.
"Thanks. And I agree about that grief pattern, but I feel like there's another pattern to the vics that we're missing." Peter stated.
Later that night, Chester goes to contemplate the day's events in his lab, when Allegra, Cecile, and even Peter enter the lab to check on him.
"We're not interrupting, are we? Allegra asked.
"Hope you don't mind me here. I know it was just you three that saved the day. But I wanted to check on you too. You're my friend, Chester. You were one of the first people to accept me on the team." Peter told him.
"Well, anyone who likes Star Trek and D&D can't be all bad. Unless you're a really good actor." Chester stated.
""ACTING!"" Peter says in exaggeration as he does an impression of Jon Lovits' Master Thespian character from SNL. The other three laugh at that. "See, if I was a double agent, why would I put in more effort than necessary? But seriously, how are you?"
"No, no, no, it's good." Chester tells them. "Just trying to wrap my head around all this."
"You know, every member of this team has dealt with grief." Cecile tells him in trying to comfort him. "Me, with my mom back in Houston."
"Nash and Esperanza." Allegra.
"And Barry, all that he's dealt with, and with both of his parents."
"My parents, my uncle, my doppelgängers of Ronnie, Stein, and Oliver." Peter tells him
"It's weird, but I guess dealing with loss is just another thing that makes us human." Chester realizes.
"Well, same for other species. God knows my Kara and Clark have felt loss for their family on Krypton."
"Right. But when we help each other deal with it…"
"It's what makes us family." Cecile tells him.
"Yeah."
Allegra goes over to Chester and puts her hand on his shoulder to comfort. Cecile notices something with her telepathy about the two of them. Peter does too, but not from telepathy.
"So, I have some filing I need to do back at the office." She tells the two "love birds."
"Yeah, I think I'll do a quick patrol through the city before heading back to their house to sleep after this long day. Don't think I can do D&D with you guys tonight." Peter also tells them as he and Cecile both start to back out of the room.
"Really? Right now?" Allegra asked.
"Yup. You guys stay. We'll see you tomorrow." Cecile tells them as they leave the room.
A few seconds later down the hallway. Peter asked, "Your telepathy or empathy tell you they need some alone time?"
"Yeah, how did you-"
"Oh, I don't need it to tell that those two like each other." Peter tells her before asking, "Want to bet when they'll realize that they do?"
"No, one bet about one person's love life is enough for me." A few seconds later. "Ten bucks says it'll be this time next year."
"No bet, I agree on that assumption."
A/N: This was Chester's episode in the show and I felt he should still be the focus of this story. I actually like Chester and Allegra and I felt that they would be good friends with Peter. Not a big fan of Cecile at times, hence my comparison to Deanna Troi.
Speaking of "Danny Phantom," RIP Martin Mull, aka Vlad Plasmius, Colonel Mustard in "Clue: The Movie," and Vice Principal Willar Kraft on "Sabrina: The Teenage Witch." Also, RIP to Donald Sutherland, best known for "The Dirty Dozen," original Hawkeye in the "M.A.S.H.: the Movie," President Snow in "The Hunger Games" films, "Animal House," and Buffy's original Watcher, Merrick, in the 1992 movie, "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer."
I'm assuming the real reason for Caitlin's absence from this and the previous episode, was to save money on makeup and wardrobe, that way they could just do Frost. It could have also been a factor in what they do a few episodes later.
Since Reed Richards does exist in What If Universe's Earth-1 and Sue Storm was mentioned as a college ex- girlfriend if Peter's, though in book 4. I thought that since the show references the Fantastic Four, it'd be a fun Easter Egg to seem familiar to him, plus as a bit of a reference to WIU's "Future Foundation" story. Not to mention Johnny Storm is also referenced in chapter 12 of "Flash and Spider-Man" with the Firestorm story.