If you're of drinking age, I've found that this episode uses the phrase "cryo-kinetic signature" a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if people made a drinking game for it.

Chapter 5

The next day, the team meets up at the Central City Citizen (instead of S.T.A.R Labs, the West House, or even Barry and Iris' loft for some reason). He tells them that Iris is suffering from some sort of time sickness. Given Peter's past with Iris, he didn't care, but still tried to seem supportive for Barry.

"Is Iris okay?" Cecile asked with concern.

"Yeah. I mean, you know, as well as she can be." Barry replied.

Peter was starting to wonder if this was the reason he brought here. If Iris dies and he has to help Barry grieve, prevent him from becoming the version Barry met in the alternate 2024. Maybe set him up with Caitlin or Frost, maybe even reunite him with Patty.

"Well, Barry, are you sure you don't wanna-I mean, Team Flash can hold down the fort, especially with Spider-Man, if you need to be with her." Allegra asked, trying to sound supportive.

"No, thanks. Iris is right. I mean, as long as she's stable, keeping everyone safe in Central City is the priority." He replied with politeness. "Joe, Cecile, have you guys found anything?"

"Uh, well, besides all suffering from recent personal losses, no. None of our victims had anything in common." Cecile informed Barry.

"You're sure?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, Peter. We triple checked the victims files. Stan Mullen, Donna Winters, that yoga instructor, Parker DeStefano."

"I don't know, I feel like something's nagging at me that there's another pattern that we're missing. Like maybe they had customers in common. DeStefano was a yoga teacher, maybe one of his students was a regular at O'Shaughnessy's?"

"Even if that's the case, what about me? How do I fit into the pattern?" Chester asked him.

"You got me there. But God, I feel like the answer is just staring me in the face."

"At first we thought they were going after people mourning recently lost loved ones-" Joe continued to explain.

"But my dad died back when I was a kid." Chester pointed out.

"Which doesn't follow that pattern."

"Maybe it's looking for people who are still grieving." Chester said, hoping that was a pattern to the murders.

"No, I don't think so. DeStefano had completed grief counseling after her fiancé died, and she was already seeing somebody new." Barry pointed out.

"Well, I've assigned Vanya and Aariz to dig into the backgrounds of our victims for secondary similarities." Allegra told them.

"You sound just like Iris. No wonder she put you in charge." Joe said with pride.

Peter used all his might to not eye roll at Joe's complement. He guessed that Joe meant that Allegra was being a good reporter and Joe being biased due to his daughter. But Peter didn't really see Iris as a good reporter. When he thought of people he knew that he considered to be good reporters, he thought of Robbie Robertson, Lois, Clark, and Kara. He also noticed that the Central City Citizen was another change in this universe. Sure, he remembered it being the newspaper they originally found in the Time Vault, warning them about the Crisis and Flash vanishing (and P.A.R.K.E.R. Industries' merger with Wayne Enterprises). But the newspaper company never came to be post-crisis. In his universe, she was just a regular reporter for a local paper in Hub City after she and Eddie Thawne moved there.

"Speaking of similarities," Joe continued, "Kramer pulled files for every suspicious fire-related crime since the Particle Accelerator exploded, so me and Cecile have to go through all of it."

"And there's a ton." Cecile said, annoyed by this task. "So, you ready, babe?" She asked Joe.

"Mm, later." Joe tells them before he and Cecile leave.

Shortly after, the four remaining members of Team Flash get an alert from their phones, which they check to find a text message from S.T.A.R. Labs, saying "SR37 ALERT- ENTRY OPENED."

"What's an SR37 Alert?" Allegra asked.

"Someone just entered the Med Lab." Chester explained.

"Well, is Caitlin back from her wine country tour with Marcus?"

""Wine country tour?"" Peter repeated with surprise, especially because vacations like this felt a bit soon for a new couple. But Peter felt that perhaps Caitlin had another reason for being on vacation.

"Yes, she is, Peter. No, not yet, Allegra. You two stay here. Peter, come with me." Barry told them.

He took Peter with him to the Med Lab, where they found Frost looking around, with a burn mark on her arm.

"Hey! Any idea where Caity keeps the bandages?" She asked, trying to seem like nothing was wrong. "It seems sorta like a top shelf kind of thing, if you ask me."

"She has them in a drawer near her desk. But that's besides the point, what happened to your arm?!" Peter asked.

"Oh, a freaking fire attacked me at the apartment. And before you ask, no, I don't know why it didn't kill me."

"Were you-" Barry started to ask.

""Grieving?" Nope. I was perfectly happy working on a new piece. Could be the best thing I've ever done." She explained and bragged.

Peter was glad to hear that part. His Frost also loved painting, especially recently during her pregnancy. With hearing Caitlin and Frost going on dates and vacations that he never got to give his wives, he was glad to hear that there was something that gave his wife joy that her doppelgänger had in common with her.

"But, that does not explain why our sentient Smokey Joe would attack me and only leave this." Frost continued, while showing them the burn mark.

"Come here, I'll put on the bandage." Peter told her.

"My my, you make a good Caity substitute." she said as Peter started to apply the burn ointment and bandage.

"Well, after I had to do surgery on her that led us to you, Caity and Aunt May gave me some lessons about the Med lab, just in case."

"Interesting, it was Julian who did the surgery here."

"Maybe it's like you and Joe said, there's got to be something more. It's after something we're missing." Barry said, wondering the motive of the fire.

"Something I have?" Frost asked, a little skeptical.

"I don't know. But, I mean, this fire attacked you, me, and Peter here at S.T.A.R. Labs and then follows you home less than 24 hours later? That-you know, it can't be a coincidence."

"Good point. So, why did it change its mind?" Peter said.

"Don't know. But if we can figure out why the flames think I'd be a tasty snack-" Frost asked.

"Maybe that could tell us how to stop it." Barry says, which Frost nods in agreement. "Frost, if it's okay, I'd like Peter and I to search your apartment top to bottom, see if there's any clues to why the fire's targeting you."

She shrugs in agreement. "Go for it."

He then speeds himself and Peter away.

While they were searching, Frost goes to Carla Tannhauser to come up with a plan. She and Carla went back to S.T.A.R. Labs to meet the Team (Barry, Chester, Allegra, and Peter) in the Speed lab to tell them their plan. Peter was a little uncomfortable with seeing the doppelgänger of his mother-in-law.

"Why is your teammate looking at me like the situation is awkward?" Carla whispered to Frost.

"For him, it is." She replied, before turning to Peter. "You want to tell her or should I?"

Peter then let out a big exhale. "Ok. Well, to put it bluntly, my name is Peter Parker aka Spider-Man and I'm your interdimensional son-in-law!" He said a little jokingly.

Carla just looked at him for a few seconds. "What?" She asked with no hint she was shocked by this.

"Yeah, I'm from another universe or timeline according to this team and there, I was Ronnie's highschool BFF, we went to the same college and met Caitlin there, then Ronnie died and Caitlin and I consoled each other and then fell in love, then Flashpoint happened and Frost came into the picture. She fell in love with me too and then they decided to share me since it wasn't technically cheating. We were married with kids by the time Frost and Caitlin were separated into 2. Less than a month ago, I was brought to another universe and then this one due to magic both times."

Carla's eyes were wide. "I'm a grandmother?!"

"Not you-you, his-you." Frost tried to explain. "Perhaps we should talk about this later, we came here to tell them my plan."

"She's right. What do you have in mind, Frost?" Barry asked.

"Basically, I want to make a trap for the black fire and use me as bait."

The team looked at Frost and Carla with wide eyes, surprised by that sentence.

"You want to use yourself as bait to capture the black fire?" Barry asked for clarification.

"I know how it sounds, but hear us out. If this homicidal stuff is after me now, why not use it to our advantage?" She explained.

"Carla, you can't actually be considering this?" Barry asked her.

"I wasn't at first. And then Frost laid out the facts in the case. How it's killing innocent people, and now it's coming after her too, with flames that generate a cold so intense, it burns? That last item is almost an exact description of how cold fusion works." Carla told them, clearly on board to stop the black fire with Frost's plan.

"But, why is the fire attracted to Frost?" Allegra asked.

"No quips about my looks, Parker." Frost said to Peter.

"I wasn't going to say anything." He told her jokingly.

Carla looked at the two of them, noting their chemistry before replying to Allegra's question.

"I believe it's because her meta-abilities are cryo-kinetic, just like our child fusion fire." Carla theorized.

"So you think it's hunting her for fuel to recharge itself?" Chester asked if that was what she meant.

"Correct. So the key to catching it is to wait until it comes after her again and then trap it."

"Frost, we're not using you as bait." Barry told her, adamant that his team stayed safe.

Carla sighed at Barry's unwillingness.

"Look, this is a perfectly good plan that could save lives. Why won't you at least let us try?" Frost asked, frustrated that Barry wasn't listening to her.

""Do or do not, there is no try."" Peter quoted.

"Are you telling me to give up?!" She asked angrily.

"What? No. Why would you think that?"

"J'onn Jonzz told us that Yoda was wrong and that we shouldn't give up when something is hard."

Peter then put his index finger and thumb on the bridge of his nose to stop a headache from that. "Oh goddamn it, J'onn." Peter whispered, before looking back at Frost. "That's not what the quote means! Trying indicates half-assing what you do. The quote means that if you don't go into a task wholeheartedly, then you'll fail and it'll be just as similar as if you didn't do it at all."

"Oh, then in that case. Yeah, I want a chance to succeed in capturing the fire."

"No you shouldn't. This feels like a last resort." Barry tells her.

"No, killing it would be the last resort." Peter points out.

"Even so, there's so much we don't know about this fire. I mean, even if we tried this, we still have no way to capture it." Barry pointed out.

"Exactly. I'd do the same in your shoes, but you didn't tell us a plan, you told us part of a plan. A concept at best. Please tell me you at least know how to trap this thing?"

"Yes, Peter. Cold fusion is still a fusion reaction, one that occurs at a low molecular temperature. If we could build some kind of fusion containment housing-" Carla explained.

"-Then all we'd need to do is recalibrate the unit to absorb-" Chester realized what Carla was planning.

"-and amplify Frost's cryo-kinetic signature." Peter also realized.

"Yes. Then as long as Frost is in proximity, the unit can amplify her cryo-kinetic signature and attract the fire, allowing us to capture and imprison it." Carla continued. Throughout her explanation, Barry shook his head in disapproval. "Of course, building a unit like that could take weeks or longer, but-"

"Well, not that I'm saying we should do this at all, but we already have what you're describing." Chester tells them.

"We do?" Allegra asked, confused.

"The Fusion Sphere from the A.S.F."

"The what?" Peter asked, also confused.

"The Artificial Speedforce. Remember when I told you that Oliver caused the Speedforce to die and I had to bring it back?" Barry asked Peter.

"Yeah."

"Well, we built a machine to create an artificial one, but we turned it off when we realized it was similar to the negative Speedforce. We then used the machine to save the Speedforce. It led to the creation of other forces and their avatars, like Deon and the Still Force."

"And the fusion sphere is a component of this machine?"

"Yeah, Pete, it can already handle the entire output of the Artificial Speedforce. If Dr. Tannhauser, Peter, and I recalibrate it for a cryo-kinetic signature, we'd be in business." Chester explained.

"Great! Then it's settled." Frost stated, hoping that with more of a plan laid out, Barry would be onboard. "Chester, Peter, you two and Mom work on the nerd stuff. Allegra, you and I will-"

"Wait around for you to get killed?" Barry said, still angry that his friend wants to sacrifice herself.

"Barry, whatever this thing is, it's coming after me, no matter what, so I'm not gonna sit around and do nothing when we have a plan to fight back." Frost stated.

Allegra wants to say something, but knows who has the final say. "Barry, it's your call."

Chester nods in agreement. "Ditto that."

Peter then looks to Barry. "What's the play, coach?"

Barry is silent for a moment, but then shakes his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't support this. I know we don't have another plan right now, but putting you in harm's way? I-Look, there's got to be another option." He tells them, much to Frost and Carla's disappointment, before leaving the room.

"I still think this could work." Carla tells the rest of the team.

"Get started. I'll be right back." Frost tells her before leaving the room to try and convince Barry one more time.

Frost succeeds in winning her argument and Carla and the team start working on the trap.

"Ok, what'd you say?" Peter asked Frost.

"What?" Frost replied in confusion.

"What'd you say to Barry to relent to this plan?"

"I pointed out that with Iris' time sickness, Barry told her to stay put and safe, but of course she won't. She'll help a new friend, because that's what this team does: we help people."

"As annoying as it is to hear that it's f-ing Iris that motivates him. It's nice to hear that she's helping someone. Most of my experience with her doppelgänger was that she was pretty selfish. Maybe this version is better." He hoped…partially.

He then went to another part of the Speed Lab to check the computer, as Carla walked over to Frost.

"So, what's the deal with you and Peter?" Carla asked her daughter, curious about what she may have just witnessed.

"He's just a friend. We've been trying to contact the Legends and a wizard we know to help us send him home." She replied.

"You sure you're not hoping for something more?"

"What?! No way. Peter's married to my and Caity's doppelgängers and I'm dating Mark." She said, trying to convince Carla…and herself.

"I know, I've seen the Instagram photos of your extreme dates. I'm not too pleased with Mark and the way he treated you last year."

"How did-did Caity tell you?"

"Was she lying?"

"Well…no." She replied, but then sighs and now tries to convince her mother. "He did do shitty things to me, but he has apologized."

"If he makes you happy, then okay. But please, stay vigilant just in case." Carla tells her daughter, not convinced Frost still likes Mark and is starting to like Peter. They continue to work more until she turns to Peter. "I've finished fine-tuning the sphere to amplify Frost's cryo-kinetic signature. Make sure to calibrate the containment housing-"

"-To compensate for the possibility of a reconfiguration flip at the subatomic level. Already done." Peter tells her.

"Really?" She replies, impressed. "Do you and my doppelgänger get along?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Well, I'm not her, so quit brown nosing."

I can see why his Caitlin and Frost love him. Shame there isn't a version him for either of them. Carla thought.

"We're ready. Frost?" Carla asked as she turned to her.

Frost goes to lay on an upright gurney (reminding Peter of "Frankenstein") connected to the equipment and sphere.

"Okay, what next?" Frost asked.

Carla then turns to the rest of Team Flash at the monitors. "Chester, activate the Cold Fusion Sphere." Chester complied. The Sphere lights up and begins to whir. Carla turned back to Frost. "Now remember, the sphere will amplify your cryo-kinetic signature, drawing the fire near. But you need to stay in the gurney until the fire is pulled into that sphere and we've tapped it."

"Okay, so now we just wait around for some sentient fire to come get its dinner?" Allegra asked. "That could take forever."

"Not if Carla's right." Barry told her. "The Sphere will amplify Frost's cryo-kinetic signature exponentially, like an animal's scent getting broadcast to a larger area to entice a predator and draw them in."

"Making Frost honey on a flytrap." Chester simplies.

"Once it senses her, it'll pounce and then we got it." Peter continued their explanation. "If this spooky thing is looking for fuel instead of just grief, we've now made it the place to find it."

"Frost,…about what you're doing, I-I don't know if I'd have the strength to do the same." Carla tells her. "I mean, I'm-I'm just saying: you're very brave."

"Thanks." Frost replies, still trying to seem cool. "Although right now, kinda feel like the person in the horror movie who runs into the house instead of running away from it."

"Well, usually it's the dumb, hot blonde that gets killed first. But in "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer," that type of character becomes a fighter and kills the monsters, instead of getting killed by them." Peter tells her.

"Huh, thanks for boosting my confidence just now."

"Any time." He replies before muttering. "Fucking Joss Whedon."

"He was abussive to a lot of the actors he worked with and is a sexist pig in your universe too?" Chester asked.

"Yep."

"That sucks. God damnit." Chester also muttered. Just then, the monitor gives them a notification regarding the trap. "Uh, folks, our intelligent ignition source just popped back up on the grid and it's heading here, fast."

Crackle of electricity is soon heard.

"Somebody turned up the heat." Allegra quipped, which Peter found cringe.

"It's here." Barry stated.

The monitor starts to become unreadable. Frost looks up at the ceiling to discover where the Black Fire is entering the room.

"It's working." Carla states.

The sight of the fire causes several members of Team Flash look up at the flame with some fear due to their last encounter. Frost looks at the fire with confidence that the trap will finally work. It grows from the ceiling, to the floor, until…

"Why'd it stop?" Carla asks.

Barry looks up at the flame, realizing it stopped for a reason. "Something's not right." He states.

Frost tried to raise her hands to the fire, almost surrendering…almost.

"What are you waiting for? Come and get me!" She orders the fire, trying to antagonize it to get trapped.

"It knows what we're planning." Barry realized.

Frost tries to send an ice blast to it, trying to provoke it in order to trap it. It retaliates and blasts her to the other end of the Speed Lab, though Barry runs there and catches her before she hits the ground. The black fire then disappears.

"Frost!" Carla exclaimed with fear for her daughter as she rushed to her side. The blast knocked her unconscious.

Sometime later, she reawakens in the Med Bay to find Caitlin is back to treat her. Carla and Barry were also there, wanting to see if Frost was okay. Peter decided to wait in the hallway, giving Caitlin some space. A few minutes later, Barry exited

"How is she?" Peter asked.

"She's awake and wants to try using the trap again. Caitlin is trying to talk her out of it." Barry tells him.

"Not sure yet how we can trick it twice to come back here."

"Wait, you're still on board with the plan?"

"Look, if I were in her shoes. I'd want to do it to save you all."

"Peter, it's dangerous!"

"So were all the times that you've fought Eobard. So was the other day when we could have been killed by the black fire. Every time we put on our uniforms and go out to fight bad guys, we run the risk of it being our last."

Barry knew he had a point, but after what nearly happened to Frost, he was in denial.

"I...I just can't approve of this. There has to be a better way." Barry tells him before heading down one end of the hallway.

A few minutes later, Frost exited Med Bay.

"You good?" Peter asked her.

"Little rough around the edges but still good." Frost tells him.

"Barry says you still want to do the plan. I'll still help unless the plan has changed."

"It hasn't, go help Chester with the trap."

"Okay. Maybe after this, we should grab some MM Good Donuts to celebrate, on me."

"Little premature to plan that, isn't it?"

"Well, at least you should get some for taking that blast like a champ."

Frost giggled at that.

"Ahem!" Said a voice behind Frost. They look over to see Caitlin by the Med Bay door frame, arms crossed and not happy with them.

"Anyway, get to it." Frost tells Peter, before heading down one end of the hallway.

"Can we talk in private? Carla is still in the med bay." Caitlin asked.

"Sure." He replies as they head to the pipeline entrance.

"I should have known." She said, angry at Peter.

"What?"

"I should have known something like this would happen if I left her alone with you! I should have invited her and Mark to come with us!"

"I KNEW IT!" Peter exclaimed with a pumped fist.

"Knew what?!" Caitlin asked, now confused.

"You didn't go on vacation with your boyfriend (who you've only known for about two months), you were avoiding me!"

"I-" She starts to say, but it's clear she can't bullshit him. So, she relents. "Okay, fine. I was avoiding you. I had just started to finally date someone after I lost Ronnie. And then, out of nowhere, my doppelgänger's husband shows up out of the blue! It's frickin' awkward."

"It's awkward for me too. I see you and Frost, I want to hold you and kiss you…but I can't, cause you're not her. I'm sorry that Frost nearly died, but the plan was her idea-"

"And I just saw you agree to still do it. You're enabling her!" She replied, angry again.

"She's a superhero! We run the risk of dying every time we go out to fight crime. Several of us have even died over the years. Barry and I died in the Crisis (he even went into the Speedforce to save everyone after Savitar died), Oliver died resurrecting us, Snart died saving time and the world from Vandal Savage, Stein died so we could escape Earth-X and save Kara, even R-" Peter then stopped himself, before he went too far.

"What?" She asked.

"Nevermind."

"It's Ronnie isn't it? You were going to bring up Ronnie."

"I miss him all the time, but I damn well respect him for saving everybody. Look, I get not wanting your family in danger. I freaked out when Frankie told me she wanted to be a hero, but you and Frost of my world told me that with me as a teacher, she'd be alright. Like Frost, I didn't ask for these powers, but I chose to be Spider-Man." Peter explains sympathetically and sees her looking surprised. "That's why I dawned the mask, why Spider-Man exists. Why heroes exist. We hate to stand by and watch people get hurt and can't get up, when we can take the hit and keep going. I know you want her to be safe. But you should be proud of her for wanting to help others." He says before leaving the pipeline entrance, not realizing his speech may have affected her. On his way to the Speed lab, he runs into Carla. "Hey, any idea how to improve the trap?"

"Not right now. Why don't you take a break. Get something to eat or some rest." Carla tells him.

"You don't want to do the trap anymore, do you?" He realized.

"Go take a break. We'll talk later." she insisted before heading towards the Speed lab.

Later that night, Carla decided she still wants to do the trap (with some argument from Frost) and thanks to her and Peter's convincing, Caitlin has agreed to help too. Only this time, both Frost and Carla would be bait. They recently received an alert that the black fire is back, somewhere in the city, so they must do the trap now.

"How long have you known?" Barry asked in the Speed lab, having examined a file that Carla produced with info about herself.

"That I had my own cryo-kinetic signature? For a while now. Turns out it runs in the family." She replied. Apparently, this happened due to Icicle's experiment on her back in year five. However unlike Frost, she doesn't have any ice powers, but she has the potential and could have them someday.

"Note to self: double check if my Carla also has a cryo-kinetic signature, just in case." Peter muttered to himself.

"Can't believe you didn't tell us there's two ice queens in the Snow Family." Frost commented, happy for her mother.

"And if you ever need to learn more about how to control your powers, we're here for you." Barry informed her.

"Thanks, it means a lot. Now, let's get to work." Carla replied.

"Okay, we're ready." Caitlin informed them from the cortex (with Chester and Allegra), over the coms. "And mom, just so you know, the tests I ran confirm your findings. Your latent genome plus Frost's meta-signature should amplify the sphere's cryo-kinetic output exponentially."

"Giving our bonfire from hell an offer it can't refuse." Allegra stated..

"And then some." Chester commented.

"Listen Barry, I know you've never been onboard with this plan. So if anything goes wrong-" Frost tells him, as he and Peter does some last minute checks on the Cold Fusion Sphere.

"I know, you'll pull the plug. I trust you. Don't worry. If it comes to that, I'll still be ready to get us all out of here in a second." Barry replied.

"Hey, when this over, dozen MM Donuts on me." Peter told her.

"But what if-" Frost asks him, a little concerned.

"Frost, it'll work." He said, in an almost impression of Chris Pine's Captain Kirk. He then turns to Carla. "The offer applies to you too, Carla."

"A little too much sweets for me, but thanks." She replied.

"Oh, you can always have some of mine. Plus, it's his treat." Frost points out to her.

"Very well, it's a deal, Mr. Parker." Carla replied, shaking Peter's hand.

The two women then lay on the gurneys, as Barry and Peter attached cables to the gurneys and other preparations for the trap throughout the room.

"Do you do this kind of thing all the time?" Carla asked Frost.

"Do what?" She replied.

"Be a hero."

"What can I say? It's a living." She shrugged off.

"Yeah, they just don't tell you how intense it can be." Carla tells her, a little nervous.

"You're going to do great." Frost reassures her. "And remember, what you're doing will save lives."

"I know."

"And after this, donuts!"

"Mmm."

The mother and daughter hold each other's hand between the gurneys.

"Okay, your vitals look good." Caitlin tells them.

"Activating the Sphere." Peter tells them as he and Barry are now at the monitors.

The Sphere starts to light up and thrum.

"Okay, focus on your powers. Like this." Frost tells Carla as her eyes light up, like they usually do when she uses her powers. Carla complies and her eyes light up too.

"Oh, I feel strange." Carla tells her.

"That means you're doing it right."

"Okay."

The Sphere starts to glow brighter and the air around it starts to cool like mist.

"Caitlin, how are they doing?" Barry asked over the coms.

"Their bio signatures are in sync." Caitlin replies over the coms.

"Just hope they don't end up saying "Bye bye bye" real soon." Peter says, much to Barry's annoyance. "Sorry." He apologizes. "Fortunately, the containment system's active."

"Chester?" Barry asked over the coms again.

"Oh, great Otis Boykin. It just changed direction." Chester says, as he was monitoring where the Black Fire was in the city.

"And heading straight for us." Caitlin stated.

"Contact in 5…4…3…2…1!" Allegra counted down.

The lights in the Speed lab start to dim, before the black fire reappears on the ceiling. It lowers down like before, but this time it gets closer to Frost and Carla and therefore, is in range of the sphere and starts to get sucked inside it.

"It's working." Peter noted based on what the monitors told him.

But soon, sparks start to flare up around the lab. Part of the fire starts to go back to Carla. Peter and Barry soon saw a silhouette of a skull-like face in the fire, screaming as if it were in pain. The monitor starts to sound an alarm, as it gives the message: "SPHERE INTEGRITY ALERT." The two heroes look at the monitor with shock.

"The Sphere's losing its integrity." Peter tells them.

"It's trying to break free. We have to abort!" Barry orders.

"No, no, I can do this." Carla demands. The skull in the fire snarls, causing Carla to gasp in fear.

"Barry, we can't do this. She's going into cardiac arrest." Caitlin tells them.

"I hate to agree with you two, since you were both originally against this plan and I argued for. But we need to pull a Starscream and tactically retreat."

"Carla, we have to let it go!" Barry tells her.

"No, it's worth it to sacrifice me." Carla tells them, adamant to finish and succeed what they started. Frost looks at her with worry.

"The trap won't hold it. Your sacrifice would be in vain." Peter tells her.

"He's right." Frost says, as she gets out of her gurney and grabs Carla away from the fire to the floor. The fire and the skull inside it go back through the ceiling and leaves.

"What happened?" Allegra asked.

"It's gone again." Chester tells her.

"And we still have no idea why." Caitlin points out.

"Did we get it?" Carla asked after she and Frost stood up from being on the floor.

"No. And that's okay." Frost tells her before giving her a hug.

"We'll get them next time." Peter reassures Carla.

Barry looks back up at the ceiling, worried that the fire is still out there, killing more innocents.

"So you just let the hellfire go?" Joe asked, as he and Cecile met up with the rest of the team (minus Iris, who was still in Coast City) in the Cortex.

"It's on me. I made the call." Frost admitted.

"And it was the right thing to do. You put Carla and your own safety first." Barry told her.

"And you saved Mom's life." Caitlin also told her.

"But Joe's right. We had a chance to stop it, and we didn't." Frost told them, regretting her actions.

"No it wasn't." Peter told her. "It was one thing to do the trap twice when it didn't take the bait at first. This time it did with double the bait and the trap didn't work. You made a good judgment call."

"But-"

"Look, I choose people's safety over my own and it's gotten me in trouble with others. It's not a bad thing to want to save people. But to quote another hero, "there's a thin line between being a hero, and being a memory.""

"That's quite profound. Who said that? Oliver? Clark?" Barry asked.

"Optimus Prime. And before you all roll your eyes at me for referencing a cartoon. Just because it's from a cartoon, doesn't mean it's not true."

Joe shrugs. "Yeah, it's not a bad quote." He then turns to Frost. "Don't worry, we will stop that thing and that's what we do."

"Yeah. Your mom sounds like she's a fighter." Cecile told Frost to cheer her up.

"She is." Frost agreed

"She's gonna make a great meta." Joe said.

"Just once things, though. We're back to square one." Chester pointed out in depression.

"Joe, Cecile, have you found anything that can help us in Captain Kramer's files?" Allegra asked.

"I wish. We're almost through them all, and still nothing." Joe replied, bummed that he couldn't be of more help.

"So we failed?"

"Not really and we're not back to square one. The trap may have been a failure and the black fire is still loose, but we now have some new info. Thanks to Frost, now we know the Cold Fusion Sphere can contain that thing, we just got to work on that. We know how to do better for next time." Peter reassured them.

"And that's a win." Caitlin said. Looks over at Peter and gives him a small smirk.

"Peter's right. We can try again to capture it." Cecile states.

""Do or do not, there is no try." Frost said in her best Yoda impression, which Peter, Barry, Chester, and Allegra all chuckled at, much to the confusion of Caitlin, Joe, and Cecile. "Inside joke, you had to be there." She explained. "But you're all right. We know more than before. Next time the Cold Fusion Sphere will trap it."

"Yeah, if we could create a strong enough signal, the sphere could work without someone's cryo-kinetic RNA in close proximity. Take the fight to it next time."

Peter then facepalms. "Why didn't we think of that earlier!" He says a little jokingly.

"Because sometimes we need to fail before we succeed." Frost said smugly as she patted Peter on the shoulder, causing them both to laugh. Caitlin was a little surprised by that. It almost looked like she had better chemistry with Peter than Mark.

"Now Barry, I'm in favor of not risking Frost and Carla's lives by using them as bait, but using the sphere in the field could run the risk of endangering the lives of civilians. There's a reason for the term "home court advantage."" Peter told him.

"I won't let civilians get hurt by this thing, I promise." Barry replied.

That night, the Black Fire returned to Caitlin's apartment, only it came for Caitlin and it didn't come to harm…because it was really Ronnie Raymond, back from the dead…again!

A/N: Like I pointed out at the beginning. Why was team Flash meeting at the Central City Citizen in the episode? Sure, the start was about Iris, but aside from her, Allegra is the only one who works there. I get that they needed the team away from S.T.A.R. Labs so Barry could discover Frost in the med bay with just the two of them. But again why couldn't they meet at the West house at least?

Yeah, part of me still likes the Buffyverse, Toy Story, X-Men (2000), Firefly and Serenity, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible, Cabin in the Woods, and the first two Avengers films. It is really terrible how Whedon abused actors and he is so sexist, he doesn't believe any of the morals of Buffy.

I always thought it was odd that Caitlin left the show for over two episodes so that Danielle Panabaker could only be Frost for those episodes. I get that they wanted to save money, but story wise, it's still a little weird for Caitlin to go on several vacations with a boyfriend she basically knew for two months at least. I feel like that's the sort of thing a couple would do if they knew they were serious and that usually doesn't happen that far. It'd be one thing if it was Barry and Iris, they've known each other since childhood, but Marcus is still relatively a stranger. I also get that Frost is trying to give her all into the relationship, but it's clear by the next episode, she doesn't love him.

I used part of Peter's monologue from chapter 2 of What If Universe's "Flash and Spider-Man." It was just a good line about convincing Caitlin that it's a good thing to be a hero. This episode and most of the show (especially Joe and Iris in early seasons) have an air of selfishness about not wanting the people they love safe and not be heroes. It's admirable to want the people we love safe, but we should also be proud of them for wanting to be heroes. I do agree with them at the end of the episode. It's one thing to sacrifice yourself when it seems like it will pay off, but Carla ignored what Barry told her about the sphere failing. I also used a line from chapter 6 of "Flash and Spider-Man" for when he reassures Frost about saving Carla.

At the time I'm writing this, my friend and I recently went to see the Fathom Events screening of the first 4 episodes of the G1 Transformers for the 40th anniversary and Optimus' quote stuck out to me in relation to this chapter and the episode.

J'onn's dialogue about the Yoda quote in the Supergirl episode, "Of Two Minds," always pissed me off how wrong he was about that quote.