Back again for another chapter. I know last week wasn't that exciting, and this one isn't all too different, but we get to see some speculation and some more of Barry's investigation skills. I always thought it was a shame we never saw more of that like in the first episode, where Barry can see a crime scene and make deductions that others take as fact. That could've been cool.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash.

"I hope last night was okay for you. We understand that this all must be so strange for you," Barry said as Ace came down for breakfast

"This is still the same house I grew up in. It just needs a little redecorating," Ace shrugged it off. "And you're still my parents. And my being here came as a shock to you. I get it."

"Well, eat up. Today is a new day and we need to prepare for everything." Caitlin said.

Barry's phone began to ring, showing Joe to be the one calling him. "Speaking of which," Barry answered the phone. "Hello? What? Where? I'll be right down." Barry hung up with a spooked face. "You guys go, I'll meet you at STAR right after."

"Was it something serious?" Caitlin asked.

"I can't be sure until I get there, but from what Joe told me, it's weird."

"Meta weird?"

"Not sure," Barry shrugged. "I'll tell you when I find out more."

Barry ran off to the crime scene that Joe told him about. What he saw was a massacre. Blood and bodies everywhere. Barry had seen much, had done things he regretted, but this made him sick to his stomach. Barry caught sight of Joe. "What happened here?"

"A bloodbath. Over ten bodies were found. Seems like they were all killed last night. Stabbed to death." Joe informed him.

"These scum had it coming. Frankly, no idea why we were even called out here," a police officer commented, smirking at the sight.

"Stay at your post Lawrence," Joe said exasperatedly. Lawrence just gave another smirk and shrugged 'What are you going to do?' and walked off.

"What was he talking about?" Barry asked.

"So far, all these people have been confirmed members of a local gang. Several of them actually have arrest warrants out. Mostly assault and robbery though." Joe informed him.

"So you think this could be gang related?" Barry asked. "One gang taking out another for territory or something?"

"That's the popular theory," Joe nodded.

"But not your theory," Barry noticed.

"Let me show you something," Joe led him into the middle of the area where a man sporting a gold chain was lying in a puddle of blood. There was so much of it though that not all of it could be his. What was different about him though was the extensive amount of stab wounds when compared to the others who'd only received two or three. Barry quickly counted this man to have 43.

"His name is Keith, last name currently unknown. Around these parts, his street name is Goldface. Now what's strange to me is that Keith is actually a known metahuman, able to use that gold chain around his neck and move it around like a whip unnaturally. And I'm sure you've noticed the difference between him and his men."

"That's a lot of overkill. Goldface was the target. The others were probably just in the way, collateral damage." Barry noted.

"Exactly, but what else?" Joe asked.

Barry took another look at the body. From the clothing to the chain on his neck. Wait, "The chain is still on his neck. He didn't use his powers."

"That's what stumped me too. The guy was under attack, but for some reason decided not to use his most valuable weapon, and there's no other gold around here for him to use." Joe said.

"Well let's think this through." Barry said, taking a look around to get a sense of what happened last night. "Based on where we are, it wouldn't have taken long for the gang to realize they were under fire, and based on the blood splatter, we know the gang members were killed around Keith. Like a shield. They knew they were under attack. Keith had plenty of time to activate his powers, but didn't. Maybe he just didn't think whoever it was, they weren't worth it. Paid the price for his arrogance." Barry suggested.

"Maybe, but that doesn't sound like Goldface from the rumors. He'd use his powers to keep everyone in line. Waving his powers around to make sure everybody knew who was in charge. There wasn't anybody he wasn't willing to use his powers on." Joe said.

"Okay, if he would have used his powers but didn't, that can only mean for some reason he couldn't use them."

"If he couldn't use his powers, are we dealing with another Devoe? Someone stole his powers?" Joe asked.

"Maybe, but I'll know more once I examine the body."

"Anything else you can tell me?"

"We're probably looking for a group of people," Barry mentioned.

"How can you tell that?"

"Knife wounds. Look at the angle of penetration. It's all over the place. We've got wounds coming from the left and right, downward and straight speaking towards left and right handed users of various heights." Barry pointed out the wounds on the various dead bodies. It all pointed towards the work of different people. "The biggest giveaway is the sheer number of wounds. 43 on Goldface that I can see. Add with all the others, and we're talking maybe 70 stab wounds. Stabbing someone isn't as easy as one might believe. It takes a considerable amount of strength. The average person would tire after about 10. We should be looking for, at minimum, a group of three or four."

"What about the footprints? There's lots of them in the blood,"

"I'll have to check, but there's a good chance that I won't be able to pull anything. There are just so many of them here, and who knows how many of these were from these guys or members who managed to escape."

A person was currently squirreled away in a small apartment, fervently trying to scrub the blood off of their hands in both senses of the phrase. They were crying at the thought of what they had done.

A knock came at the door. "Hey, you alright in there? Is everything okay?"

"Go away! I don't want to talk right now,"

"You're going to have to talk sometime. We need to start planning for our next target,"

"How can you be so casual about this? We killed so many people last night. Maybe Goldface deserved it, but the others-"

"The others were all gang members. Wanted criminals. Assault, robbery. That's just what we know. If they weren't killing people already, they would eventually." the person on the other side of the door said. "You're doing a good thing kid. Cleaning up the streets. Getting rid of the trash on the Earth. No mercy,"

"But-"

"No buts. I want to hear you say it. Who are we taking care of?"

"Animals that need to be put down,"

"And who's going to take care of it if not you?"

"Nobody, because nobody else is going to look after the little guy,"

"So you know what we need to do,"

"Take them out before they do,"

"Exactly. Now open this door. We've got to talk to the others."

"I'm not clean yet, I've got to get this blood out."

"Well hurry up then. We've all got a lot to talk about tonight,"

"Hey Fleet Feet. What happened today?" Caitlin asked as soon as Barry entered the Cortex.

"A massacre, Mrs. Frosty. A gang got taken out in probably the most brutal manner possible. Stab wounds everywhere. The part that really gets your attention is the boss. A meta who for some reason didn't bother to use his powers."

"Really? Is there anything we can help with?" Caitlin asked.

"Not sure yet." Barry shook his head. "If it weren't for the meta, I would have just chalked this up to gang activity. But then what gang uses knives instead of guns?"

"Who was the meta?"

"Some street guy who called himself 'Goldface'." Barry told her.

"Keith is dead? That's too bad. He was a bit rough around the edges, but he was a good enough person given the circumstances."

"How do you know him?"

"I didn't know him. I knew of him. As we were looking into Amunet while you were… indisposed, we came across Goldface. They apparently had a history with each other."

"Well, get this. He was killed because he couldn't use his powers, which makes me think he was specifically targeted, but as both a gang leader and metahuman, there are probably a lot of people who would want him to die,"

Caitlin nodded in thought. "Yeah, so was his ability dampened because he was a metahuman or was it so it would be easier to kill him? That is the question,"

"The rest of CCPD is working on it. They're not too concerned, but at best we've got another gang that was just looking to take out another. Or at worst, we've got a vigilante that's looking to clean up the streets in the most brutal, and in their mind efficient, way."

"What do you think?"

Barry shrugged. There wasn't much to go on at this time. "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst,"

"Maybe we could ask Ace about this. He's from the future. Might have some insight as to how we should proceed from here." Caitlin suggested.

Barry thought it over before agreeing. This seemed to be such a minor case, it wouldn't hurt to at least ask about it. Ace probably didn't even know anything about this case, being so insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

When they told Ace and questioned him if he had any idea about how to proceed, his eyes widened and he let out a gasp of disbelief. "That's it. That's what's happening," he mumbled.

"What? What was that? What's happening?" They both asked their son.

"Cicada. Cicada's here," Ace whispered.

"Who's Cicada? Should we be worried?" Caitlin asked.

"They always said Cicada was the one that got away, but if I'm here…"

"What are you talking about? This Cicada person, is that the reason why you're here?" Barry questioned.

"I can't be too sure, but maybe." Ace said. "Cicada was one of your big bads. Reverse Flash, Zoom, Savitar, but different. Obviously this was before my time, but the story was Cicada is a metahuman who had the ability to neutralize meta powers, rendering the metahuman defenceless, easily killed. Some people thought 'Cicada' was more than one person because of how efficient they were. But here's the kicker. You never find out who he was. It all happened so suddenly, but Cicada just disappeared, never to be seen again."

"But if you're here now…" Caitlin trailed off.

"That story was probably a coverup. You guys probably did stop Cicada with my help, but couldn't reveal my involvement, so to the public, Cicada just vanished." Ace realized.

"So, what do you know about Cicada? Every little bit helps," Barry said.

"Cicada emits an aura that's basically like a dead zone to all meta powers except their own. Nothing fancy on that front though. Just regular super strength. But more than enough for against a regular person. What made Cicada even more dangerous was their knife. A weapon infused with his own dark matter. Even the barest trace of it could cancel out the most powerful metahumans."

"But not all heroes have powers, or rely on dark matter for their powers. What about…?" Caitlin tried to say.

"Team Arrow couldn't match up. With his enhanced strength and speed, they couldn't touch him. The Legends tried, but they could never pin him down long enough and not without suffering heavy damage and injuries. Aunt Kara did her best but apparently that knife is actually able to penetrate Kryptonian skin. It emits such a high level of radiation that it made it so Aunt Kara's cells became inert to the sun and she lost her invulnerability."

"Oh god. So that means we shouldn't get them involved. We'll have to take care of this ourselves," Caitlin said.

"We know it's possible. We have, or will have, done it before… eventually?" Barry said, determined but got confused on which tense he should be using.

"Well, possibly. Like I said, the theory that the story you told me was a coverup is just that. A theory. I don't know if you actually do. Nobody besides my parents in the future knows. This was exactly why they were sending me off blind. So I couldn't influence the past with too much information from the future. That is the extent of my knowledge on the problem. And that's even if this is Cicada. Who knows?"

"So what can we do?" Barry asked.

"The only thing we can do. Wait and see if another body drops." Ace said.

"This is the worst part of the job," Caitlin groaned.

"It always is." Ace agreed.

"I call hacks. There's no denying it anymore. God has forsaken us." Cisco called out.

"Stop being overdramatic Cisco. This is just another metahuman we'll just have to deal with," Caitlin tried to calm her best friend down.

"But we're not talking about another run of the mill meta. We're talking about one that's able to abolish all meta powers aside from themselves. Cicada is a literal metahuman obliterator. And where did they even get that name? Cicada? I would have gone with Overrule, since they're able to overcome or mask another meta's powers with their own,"

"They were named Cicada because it's the sound you hear when they come for you. Think Darth Vadar. They wear a mask to hide themselves that emphasizes their breathing. So much it vibrates in the air, giving off a sound similar to cicadas." Ace explained.

"Was there ever anything significant about Cicada that you can remember? How they picked their victims. Or maybe even where they got the knife." Caitlin asked.

"I don't know. Like I said, the official story is that Cicada vanished into thin air. Never to be seen again. A lot of Cicada's history is shrouded in mystery. Cicada is best known as The One Who Got Away because of the high death count and there was no official arrest or death."

"Alright then, let's take a step back. Ignore the warnings from the future. How would we go about catching Cicada?" Barry asked. "We draw conclusions for ourselves based on the crime scene we have. Where's Ralph? We could use his help in this,"

"He's actually on the job. A couple came to him to hire him in order to track down their wayward daughter. Said he would be gone for some time. Didn't know when he would be coming back," Julian said.

"Okay then. I'll try to check in on him every now and then, but let's focus on our primary problem. Based on the rage displayed on Goldface, but the bare minimum on the others, Goldface was their target from the beginning. We're working on the hypothesis that we're dealing with a vigilante who wants to clean up the streets of metas who abuse their powers. This is the beginning of a spree.

"Their signature is the knife. A very distinctive shape. Jagged. But not how you would typically imagine it. Thinking it's more like a metal lightning bolt. It was probably handcrafted. Easy enough to do if you have a large piece of metal with super strength."

"How would we find them? You said this was probably the work of multiple people. Where would we even start?" Joe asked.

"We start with the meta. That'd be the easiest to track down. In order for these people to work so efficiently against other metas, they need to have one of their own with them at all times. Enhanced strength would be pretty common. That's not going to narrow it down. What will, is the second meta they bring." Barry explained.

"The hacks," Cisco muttered.

Barry sighed when he heard what Cisco said. "Sure. 'The hacks'. Disabling meta powers isn't going to be that common. At least three people in this group. Even if we assume all of them are metas, the chances that all of them will have that exact power is nigh impossible. If we can track down this meta, we've got them."

"Couldn't they be using a meta dampener like Argus uses? It would have achieved the same result." Cisco commented.

"True, but if you add in the fact that there were guns that had been loaded, but not fired, that means the people handling them abandoned them," Julian added. "Gang members don't do that. They go down shooting. If there were a dampener, it would have disabled their abilities too, and there's no way gang members would leave behind their arms if there were normal people."

"Okay, so whoever these people are, they obviously were enough to intimidate these gang members. So how exactly are we going to track down this meta?" Cisco asked.

"The same as we always do. We'll need to wait for another body," Barry said dejectedly.

"Oh Fleet Feet. It's not like you're telling Cicada to go out to kill these people," Caitlin said, rubbing his shoulder.

"But in a sick way, it's like I'm asking him to do it Mrs. Frosty." Barry retorted. "Because if I want to find this guy, I need him to kill someone else. I know it's going to happen regardless, but it's like I'm not good enough to stop Cicada at this one crime we already have."

"That is not your fault." Caitlin pulled him down and kissed his lips. "Do you want to just go home and lie down?"

"Will you be with me?" Barry asked with a small smile.

"Always,"

Together, they sped off to spend some alone time together. To escape from the horrors that their job brought for the moment.

The couple ran out of there so fast they never saw the look they received from the son. He thought back to something his parents told him and his siblings.

"The year we had you, it was a difficult time for all of us. We needed to get away, spend some time together with just the two of us," Caitlin explained to her children, but expressly stating to her eldest child.

"You were one of the greatest beacons of hope for us, that there was still good in the world and we were going to bring some of that goodness back into the world." Barry added. "Not that we don't treasure all of you. Each of you is special in your own ways. Never think otherwise."

"So when did you have me?" Ramona asked.

"To be honest sweetie, we're not entirely sure. It wasn't even a year after our wedding and we were still in that honeymoon phase where we wanted to… file our taxes a lot of the time. We got distracted a number of times… filing our taxes." Caitlin tried to explain to her 10 year-old daughter without sullying the minds of her 3 year-old twins.

"Filing our taxes?" Barry snorted. "Yeah, we were filing our taxes all night, every night. And not just at night. We filed those taxes whenever we could." Barry added cheekily.

"Barry! Not in front of the kids." Caitlin shouted, her face turning red.

"What's the problem Mrs. Frosty? It's just filing taxes. The kids have seen us file our taxes lots of times."

"Not like that! Don't say it like that ever again Fleet Feet."

"I think Daddy's in trouble, kids. Stop Mommy for me,"

"Well Daddy should know better than to rile Mommy up like that."

"I just asked a simple question! I don't need to know this! Stop that, or you're going to scar me and Ace for life."

It was only a matter of time now. It was all happening just like they said.

She was coming.

A person was shaken awake from their sleep. They groaned at the suddenness of being awoken. "What's going on? Who…?"

"Forget about all that. None of that is important. You need to get out of here. Put this on," the other person said, tossing a cloak onto the bed.

"What? I just want to sleep. Please go away,"

"This is no time to rest. You need to get out there and find this guy." The person held up a mugshot of a man with no hair on his head. A glare directed at the camera.

"Who is that?"

"Doesn't matter. All that does matter is that he's guilty. He's killed tons of people and he's roaming around free as a bird. So you need to get out there and stop him," The person forcefully shoved the twin blades into their hands, pulling them out of bed.

"Don't you want to make him pay for what he's done?"

"I do. I have to," they grumbled, still half asleep but with firm resolve.

"Then go. I'll show you where to find him," The person led the other away.

Barry and Caitlin were currently lying in bed, having a full on makeout session. Both of them were partially in the nude having their shirts laying on the floor. Caitlin was sitting in Barry's lap, her fingers moving up and down Barry's torso. Barry's hands were caressing Caitlin's backside.

Both of their phones started ringing on the table.

"Just ignore it. They'll go away," Barry said breathlessly before resuming the kiss.

"No, wait. I think that's the meta alert. Should we get it?" Caitlin asked but was interrupted with a gasp when Barry's kisses trailed down to her neck.

"Cisco can handle it," Barry whispered into her ear. "And we've got a metahuman task force. Let them do their job once in a while. Let me focus on you,"

"Mmm, I like the sound of that," Caitlin giggled.

The notifications soon ended and they started going even further when both their phones started ringing. Someone was calling them.

They both groaned in frustration and looked to see who was interrupting them. "Cisco's calling me," Barry said.

"Same here." Caitlin grabbed her own phone.

Barry answered his phone. They only needed one. "Hello?" they both said.

"Where are you guys? Did you not get the notification?"

"We were kinda in the middle of something Cisco," Barry said.

"What could be so important? You know what? Don't answer that. Just get your clothes on and get out here,"

"Can't you handle the situation?" Caitlin asked. "Or what about CCPD?"

"We're both here, and neither one of us is doing any good. My powers are gone and CCPD is trying to hold back Cicada,"

"Cicada? Who are they?" They both scrambled to put their clothes back on.

"Only saw one of them so far. But they've killed someone already. And you are not going to believe who it is,"

Caitlin and Barry abandoned their actions and put their super suits on and Barry rushed them out the door to the location on their phones.

As they were approaching Barry's speed cut out and they both fell and skidded to a halt at the speeds they were moving at.

"Ughh, what just happened?" Barry groaned, picking himself up.

"Cicada," Caitlin commented, her eyes locked on the dark figure who was waving two knives around to intercept multiple bullets coming at him. "Our powers are gone."

The white glow in her eyes had disappeared, but her hair was still a stark white, which was a relief for Barry so her identity wouldn't be known.

"Let's try to find Cisco. Maybe he can tell us what's going on," Barry said.

They both scrambled to find Cisco, who was leaning over a body. Blood was flowing out of the corpse. Too much to be able to save him. As they got closer though, they recognized him. Kyle Nimbus. One of their escaped metahumans from their first year. The very first meta they ever captured. "Is that who I think it is?"

"The Mist. Somehow Cicada found him in a homeless shelter down the block. Guy must have been trying to lay low for the past few years to get away from us and the mob." Cisco confirmed.

"We've got to talk to Cicada." Barry said. "Stop firing! Stop firing!" Barry shouted to the officers. The hail of bullets were paused as The Flash stepped forward to address the meta.

"Hey Cicada. I need to talk to you,"

There was no reply. Only the sound of heavy breathing that, as Ace had told them, vibrated through the air. But Cicada wasn't attacking or making any actions to indicate an attack, so Barry took that as a sign to keep talking.

"Are you working with others? Where are they?"

Cicada just tilted their head from side to side slowly as if they were looking for something, or pointing out something obvious. But there was nothing there.

"Why did you kill that man? Why are you doing this?"

Cicada didn't even seem to be listening to what Barry was saying anymore. Like Cicada was hearing something from elsewhere. Then all of a sudden Cicada's demeanour changed. Cicada's body tensed and raised the two knives and jumped forward, lunging at Barry.

So here we see how I'm going to be doing Cicada. Their meta power is a constant aura that neutralizes any metahuman ability within its field, but not their own so they have a natural advantage. I never understood in the show why Cicada would allow any meta to use their powers when in their vicinity. That would be like going to a fist fight without hands. And in case anyone didn't remember, my Caitlin's powers were a result of the particle accelerator so she is affected by Cicada. Her father didn't make a cure and he is dead. That was a useless plot that didn't go anywhere in my opinion. We never even got to see if her mother got powers.

And just as a side note, Ralph is gone. Sent off in search of Sue Dearbon and won't be returning. Maybe for crossovers, but he's gone. I said I'd only keep him for the one season and I did.

Let me know what you think. And let me know your thoughts on Cicada. I'm curious to see if anyone has an idea of what else I've done with them.