02

Fractured


Cadence barely caught the door from loudly smacking into the wall, bouncing back toward her hand when she forcibly entered her apartment. She glanced to the couch, seeing it empty and the television off, realizing Conner had probably already gone to Brady's room for the night. Cisco winced, his shoulders moving towards his ears as he waited for the explosive sound. She walked to the kitchen, her boots making angry stomping sounds as she went, stopping only when she arrived at the island, tossing her purse to the counter.

"You should've told me," she said, once finally finding her voice. It was low, almost a growl. She clenched her teeth, doing her best to keep from snapping at Cisco, if not losing her cool completely. It'd been a long time since she'd get everything bowled over like a volcano.

Cisco, on the other hand, practically folded in on himself when he noticed the look on her face. He cleared his throat then responded meekly. His voice was so soft that it took a few words before he was able to speak confidently. "I know," Cisco held up his hands, ready to ward off any attack from her. "I know. I…I wanted to, but…I didn't know if it was ever a good time."

He didn't know if it was ever a good time? Cadence lifted an eyebrow, unsure of what would've changed had he had mentioned it before. A tiny part of her, the tiniest part of her that she locked away in a cage with as many metal chains to hold it shut, soared with hope at the mere idea that they could figure out how to get Barry back.

She'd thought of it before but knew it wouldn't work; she'd been in the Speed Force once before, had been used as his 'lightning rod' to bring him back from it. But that was when he'd been blown apart by the Speed Force to be taken in. This time he went voluntarily and…they'd tried to bring him back, had the same idea, and it hadn't worked. Nothing happened.

What was the point of being a 'lightning rod' if you couldn't attract that lightning to bring it back at a moment's notice? Especially when their past trip to the Fire Fall and their powers worked together to take down Breathtaker should've made it easier to do.

"You should've told me about both of them!" Cadence whirled around to face him, folding her arms.

Cisco blinked at her in surprise. He dropped his hands. "Hold up, are you mad about the Caitlin thing or about the Barry thing?" Cadence lifted her eyebrows, angling her head. Indicating she meant both. "Oh come…" Cisco's words died on his lips. He lightly rolled his eyes and took a deep breath, running his hands through his hair. "Yes, I should've told you about Barry. That's something that would've affected the whole team…the whole city. But…" He blew a raspberry. "I couldn't tell you about Caitlin."

Cadence's eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch. "Why?" She pressed.

"Because I know you wouldn't have gone if I had told you." Cisco stepped forward, pressing his palms against the island, leaning toward her. He looked at her so seriously, a major difference from the fun-loving Cisco she always knew. "There's something different about her, Cade. She's not Killer Frost anymore."

Cadence eyed him carefully. She sucked her lips into her mouth, listening to him. Wondered if he really knew the truth about how she wasn't Killer Frost anymore. Wondered, equally, if it made her a hypocrite to be angry about him keeping his true intentions of their meeting night from her as she kept what'd happened to Caitlin from him.

She still remembered the feeling of Killer Frost's cool skin trembling beneath her hands as she jammed the needle of the cure into her throat, shoving her thumb against the plunger to make sure everything was emptied into her body. Cadence didn't know how quickly the cure took hold of Caitlin's—Killer Frost's—meta powers and dampened them out. But there hadn't been any sign of her cold signatures anywhere for her to think she had returned.

She'd looked.

"What do you mean?" She finally asked. How do you know that?"

"I mean…" Cisco turned away, running a hand through his hair. He let out a long sigh, rounding out his shoulders, then turned back to her. "I mean, she's not Killer Frost anymore. I know she's not Killer Ffrost. You heard her tonight, Frost isn't there. And…I looked."

"You looked?"

Cadence tipped her head aside. Wondered what it was that he'd done. What more he had been keeping a secret as they worked long hours in STAR Labs to keep the city safe. One person gone, and it was like they were suddenly falling apart. Though, Cadence conceded, We did lose a big part of the team.

And it was that reason, knowing that the Flash's presence was so sorely missed in the city, so much so that there were countless items in the newspaper and tv news about where The Flash could've gone, why he abandoned the city, and what was going to happen in his absence with the MRA. So much so that she couldn't take it. Too many memories, so Cade decided to have some time away, too. To go back to Metropolis to spend some time there, maybe field some of the questions her mom had about the upcoming wedding—mainly if there was going to be one.

It was premature to send out the save the dates, Cadence realized standing in the kitchen of her childhood home, holding the flimsy piece of cardboard with one of their engagement photos on one side and the information on the other.

Bartholomew Henry Allen and Cadence Michelle Nash request the presence of your company at their wedding celebration…

The fanciest of card stock, the biggest words picked to say, "Hey, we're getting married, come if you want. Open bar."

Cadence was partially surprised her mom didn't have her own name plastered all over the save the dates, but knew her mother was getting better about her exuberance of things. Maya had said so herself, that she was waiting to see what Cadence had to say when all her friends and their family were asking for more details of the big day, details that'd been put on hold since his disappearance into the Speed Force.

But, even then, the whispers around her home and the questions from family friends, people she'd grown up around for years eventually took its toll. Took down the 'cheerleader smile' that she'd perfectly crafted over the years to handle any situation for the first time she could remember. Made it so that she had to run again, took a little trip, a jaunt really, to Earth-38 to visit Kara and Deity. To get some time away from everything. And that came along with its own problems.

"I looked for her cold signatures, Cade," Cisco said. "I looked for them for months. I've looked for them since the day we offered her the cure. Since Barry said she had the choice." Cadence winced. "And her cold signatures haven't come up once since then. But I still managed to track her down." He started to pace, chuckling under his breath. "It was hard, if she doesn't want to be found, she doesn't want to be found. But I found her, and we talked and…"

"And you decided it was a good idea to try and force us back together?" Cadence's voice turned humorless once more. She ran a hand over her face while Cisco nodded earnestly. "Look, Cisco, I get it—"

"—We already lost so much, Cade! if we had a chance to have her back…" He shook his head feebly. "I couldn't pass that up. She wouldn't want me to do that, and I couldn't I…" he raised his hands, slapping them to his sides once more.

Cadence twisted her mouth and mentally put herself in his shoes. What would she have done if it were her? If, in some way, it had been Barry or Brady or even Cisco that had become so desperate to relieve themselves of their powers after having become taken in by a doppelganger—and evil one at that—of someone she trusted. Having been stuck in an icy world with a part of them that was trying to take them over, make them evil. What would she have done if it seemed that they were back to normal?

It didn't help that Cadence knew how much Cisco truly felt for Caitlin. How devastating it must've been for him to, not only lose his friend, but someone who loved so dearly. He'd only said to her once, that he loved her, on one of their nights out after Barry had disappeared. He'd been drunk enough to fall into some of his more depressing emotions, having to let it out.

Cadence walked forward and wrapped her arms around her friend, relieved when he immediately hugged her back. She didn't realize how much she needed that hug until that moment, feeling all the tension that shot into her muscles, holding her stiffly since seeing Caitlin and having to remain calm for the night, waiting to blow up later. But the bomb had been diffused and they were in the safe zone.

"It's okay, Cisco," Cadence murmured, rubbing his back. She took a step back. "I get it."

"Good," Cisco said. He breathed a huge sigh of relief, that nearly bowled him over. "I'm glad." He laughed a nervous laugh, scratching at his eyebrow. "You, uh, you were really starting to look like you were about to kill me."

Cadence chuckled, running a hand through her hair. "Would I ever do that?" Cisco gave her a look, making Cadence gently roll her eyes. The irony wasn't lost on her, how recently it was that she'd finally managed to make her way out of the Assassination Bureau's clutches. She hadn't heard from Stratos or White Hot, had only just recently been able to go to the small mound of dirt that served as Mindboggler's grave. In a way, her new lease on life made her more sympathetic to them.

They didn't deserve it, after what they'd done to her but…

Cadence shook her head. "And the thing about Barry?" She asked, abruptly changing the subject. Cisco's eyebrows came together. Cadence waved her hand impatiently, wondering if she were ready to hear the news. Good or bad, she needed to know. "You were saying you had an idea of how to bring Barry back."

"Oh!" Cisco nodded. "Yeah. You see—"

His words were drowned out by the sound of an explosion that rocked the floor of the building. Cadence and Cisco exchanged a glance that read, "Of course," before they hurried to the windows to see what was going on. They made it to the window just in time to see, what looked like, some sort of a humanoid figure flying through the air.

Cadence then turned to Cisco, who nodded back to her. He turned aside, punching a breach open before the two leapt through it. They landed in the street, right in the middle of the commotion. The residents of Central City were so enamored by the action going on that they didn't notice the arrival of Vibe and Flare, not even Kid Flash's quick appearance drew attention from the figure continuing to streak across the sky.

Cadence tried to track it with her heat vision, realizing quickly that it wasn't a human she was looking at. Had it been a human, she would've bene able to track it's form within seconds, using its heat signature. But she wasn't getting anything from it this time around, maybe the heat from the thrusters propelling it back and forth across the night sky.

"So, what are we looking at, exactly?" Joe asked. His lips parted, taking in the figure that zoomed around them. The lights of the police car bathed him in a hellish red and icy cool blue as the seconds passed. Two warring sides that flickered as the seconds passed.

Cadence looked over her shoulder, not having noticed his squad car arrive at the scene. She did, however, notice Chief Paulson pull up behind him. He glared at her as he pulled himself from the car, as if single-handedly blaming her for the existence of whatever it was streaking through the sky. She understood, he hated metahumans in general, and if metahumans didn't exist, none of the weird things would've shown up in the city.

Though, Cadence thought dryly, he should've gotten over it by now. It'd been four years since Barry first arrived as the Flash and everyone else followed suit. Her attention was torn back to the figure that flew by so close it whipped her hair around her face. Finally, the figure dropped to the ground and with a loud clank, its knees bending to absorb the shock.

Then it slowly stood, lifting a sword over its shoulder.

"Holy Ronin," Cisco murmured, as they took in the look of the samurai that stood before them.

"A samurai?" Joe murmured with a tone that proved while he'd seen everything Central City had to offer, it was still throwing him off guard. He quickly brought up a large, industrial sized gun. A gun, of which, was for metas that Cisco produced and distributed through the CCPD, just as he did the shields that were resistant to Mick's and Snart's heat and cold guns respectively.

A blast from the new weapon would take down any meta; a ten-fold taser as it were.

"Anyone speak Japanese?" Cisco asked, watching as the robot Samurai swung his long sword over head in a series of flashy moves. He looked over as Wally took a few, tentative steps forward. "Man, what do you think you're doing?"

Wally continued to step forward, making the tiniest of movements and asked, "What do you want?" in fluent Japanese. Cadence's eyes popped open in surprise. She exchanged a glance with Cisco, who was equally as surprised.

"Tell me he didn't speak Japanese," Cisco murmured, shame in his voice. Cadence chuckled to herself, seeing, shaking her head. It was like HR said, there were things within Wally that others didn't get to see. She hated to admit it, Barry held him back a little, and there was a lot Wally could do had he had the chance. It was why she pushed him so hard with his trainings, to go faster and faster, to learn how to use his abilities and control over lightning in other new ways.

"I can do things," Wally defended himself. He held a hand up, silently letting the rest of the team know he had the situation handled. Nevertheless, Cadence clenched her hands into fists, her fingerless gloves straining against the tightening of her skin. She was ready for whatever was coming. And something was coming. "We don't have to hurt you."

"The Flash," The samurai continued. His sightless eyes, so tiny and black, shifted over Team Flash as its head turned to take in the metas and police presence standing in front of him. "You're not the Flash," it finally said, dismissing Wally. "You're not the best. Bring me the Flash."

"I'm sensing an or else," Cisco said sarcastically. Cadence shot him a look, silently warning him to keep his mouth shut. The last thing they needed was any sort of provocation that would have them defeated before they knew what they were up against. He knew that, they trained for scenarios like that.

"Or else the city falls," the samurai continued.

Cadence looked around as she heard the familiar warping sound of Brady phasing and found him rise out of the grand, standing beside her, dressed in his suit. "What'd I miss?" He asked.

"Nothing yet," Cadence replied. She cast him a glance out the corner of her eye. "Where's Leah?"

"Her parents came home," he explained quickly. A one-off comment to the parents that didn't know their daughter was a metahuman and couldn't even fathom it. "I didn't miss anything?" Brady smiled a little. "Cool," he said. "I always miss the fun stuff."

Cadence's eyes made a revolution towards the sky. She didn't think much of what they were going up against to be 'fun'. More like a 'curious'. 'Worrying'. They'd had six months without having to deal with these things and now this? Then again, it was October in Central City, she could've set her clock by it.

"The Flash ain't coming," Wally continued.

"Furthermore, Mifune," Cisco said, showing off a false bravado. False for the moment, but Cadence could hear in his voice he truly believed what he was saying. "We need you sheath that sword before someone gets hurt. Someone like you. Because you're up against some bad hombres. Now what do you think you're going to do against us," he gestured towards Team Flash. "With a sword?"

Cadence noticed the change in demeanor of the samurai seconds before he moved. If it truly were a human, she saw what was equivalent to the muscles tensing before a sort of 'final attack' was to come. She conjured flames up around her hands, ready to launch it forward. But the samurai, with a fancy twist of his sword overhead, slamming the tip of the sword into the ground, releasing a shockwave so hard that it immediately sent Team Flash flying.

Cadence felt the punch of energy to her chest, saw her flames immediately snuff out, before her feet were lifted from the ground and she fell back amongst the others. She crashed hard to the ground, turning in time to see one of the police cruisers that had been caught in the blast flying toward her. Brady reached over to his mother, grasping her arm, phasing the two of them just as the car crashed into them and harmlessly skidded away.

Joe groaned, pulling himself up among the glass that littered the ground. First, he checked on Chief Paulson, who waved Joe off, before turning to the rest of the team. "You guys okay?" His worry was palpable.

Cadence nodded to him before turning another glare to Cisco, who could only feebly ask, "The hell kind of sword is that?" in the most dumbfounded tone he could muster.

"You have one day," the samurai declared, voice coming out deeper and more guttural than before. It waved over the team like tar, holding them in place. "If the Flash does not face me…Central City dies." Then he turned, wings protruding from its back like plane's wings, then took off into the sky once more.

Cadence shook her head. She took a few steps forward and stared to run, before teleporting. She barely heard Brady shout after her before her teleportation took her just above the robot samurai. She landed atop of him, the sudden weight landing on it knocking it of course. Reaching back a hand, Cadence punched one of the wings and cracked it. She could hear electricity crackling and circuits breaking before she leapt off its back, teleporting back to the ground.

The robot samurai circled above her, smoke trailing from the broken wing. Cadence frowned, shaking out her hand, looking at the skin that'd split open and was healing back together. Whatever metal the robot samurai was made of, but it was obviously much stronger than any of the thought it'd be.

The samurai landed back on the ground, unsheathing its sword once more. "I never thought you'd be the one to take me on this early," he remarked. He spun the sword on his hand. "'If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you've got. But you're not going to win."

Cadence's eyebrow lifted. "We'll see about that," she replied and rocketed herself forward with a blast of fire from her feet. She spun herself aside of the sword that was surged toward her and threw out her arm, creating a fire whip that wrapped itself around the arm of the sword.

She landed on the ground behind the robot samurai, her arms flinging above her head and straining tight against the pull of the sword the samurai pulled back in the opposite direction. Gears started to strain, smoke pouring from the joints of the robot's shoulders against Cadence's strength.

She pulled hard, bringing the samurai robot toward her, a loud screeching sound filling the air as its feet scratched across the ground. Her eyes narrowed when she continued to pull it toward her. Something was wrong. It was too easy for her to bring the samurai toward her. Her point was proven when the samurai robot turned and put his face close to hers.

"There's more in you than I thought," he said. "Still…I want the Flash. Bring him to me. I only entertain this plan once." With that, the samurai robot showed an incredibly amount of power, swinging its arms down to rip through the fire whip. Cadence cried out in pain, feeling her shoulders pop at the sudden force of her arms yanked in the opposite direction before she was flipped over, heels over head. She landed on her back, curling away seconds before the samurai sword crashed to the ground, releasing another wave of energy that shot her back into a nearby building.

They lost again.

That was really starting to bug her.


"The Flash hasn't been seen in almost six months, leaving us to speculate what can save us from this threat. Not to mention, it brings up the question of the Metahuman Registration Act and what may be pushed forward from the likes of Lex Luthor. Luthor, from Metropolis, has been a very firm in his ideas of metahumand presence since-"

Brady muted the TV in the Cortex and let out a sigh, resting his chin against his folded arms. "I don't know about you guys, but this is really starting to get depressing," he mumbled. He rolled his eyes, when Wally said, "Starting?" before adding under his breath, "there are other superheroes in this town. Why do you think he only wanted the Flash?"

"The same reason all these other guys wanted The Flash," Brady mumbled. He rubbed the back of his neck, sinking low in one of the office chairs set up around the Cortex. He and Wally were the only ones who could sit, the rest were pacing. Brady rolled his eyes once more adding, "'Cause he's so goddamn popular," under his breath.

"Hey." Cadence lightly rapped her son on the back of his head as she passed, taking another lap around the Cortex, deep in thought. If the Samurai wasn't a human, didn't have any sort of heat signatures from it, then it was entirely man made. The question was, was it being piloted remotely or was it something that came to life on its own. With as many technology and science companies around the city, it wouldn't surprise her if robots in Central City suddenly became sentient.

"What?" Brady asked innocently. Though Cadence still shot him a withering look.

"He said he wanted to fight the best," Cisco reminded them all, speaking to himself more than he was speaking to anyone else. He looked at cadence and added a quick, "No offense."

"None taken," Cadence replied readily. What offense could be taken? It was obvious she hadn't bene up to her game in the field. She still had the confidence and playful attitude that made run-ins with petty criminals that much more entertaining. It was the big things that was the problem. Where it seemed that, no matter what she did, things weren't lining up for her.

Her trip into the Fire Fall six months before had given her more power than she could ever imagine. She still had that potential but hadn't brought herself to tap into that power for a while. Almost as if there was a mental block, keeping her back.

"He said he's going to destroy the city," Iris said, rubbing her forehead. She looked at her father who shrugged, pressing a hand to her shoulder. Iris lowered her hand from her face and asked quietly, "Do you think he can do it?"

"I say 'yes'," Joe cried, looking at his daughter as if she were crazy. He gestured widely with his arm, dropping his hand from her shoulder. "Did you not see what he did to us just by tapping his sword against the ground?" He shook his head. "I'd hate to imagine what'd happen if he used it like a walking stick."

"Then he has to fight the Flash," Cisco declared. He raised and lowered his hands, slapping them to his sides. "We have no other choice. Cade alright tried to stop him and she nearly got her arms ripped off like a little girl playing with her Barbie doll."

"But Barry's not here," Brady reminded everyone.

Cisco paused. Even from across the room, Cadence could see the hesitation in his movements from behind his computer desk. What he was doing, she wasn't sure. Probably looking through the encyclopedia they had compiled for years—having to add to it further after it had been stolen and—potentially—brought into The Network. If he was smart, Cisco would've been adding the samurai into their database. His fingers hovered over his keyboard, twitching as he looked to Cadence.

Cadence took in a deep breath before saying, "Tell them," quietly. Brady sat up in his seat, looking at his mother then to Cisco, silently waiting for them to continue.

"What if he was? Here, I mean. What if he was here?" Cisco asked. He licked his lips, parting them to take a deep breath before saying, "We know how this is going. Just us keeping the city safe, we're barely getting it done." He shot another glance to Cadence, silently saying 'no offense' again. Cadence held up a hand. They hadn't had to worry about flying samurais before. Before that, they were handling things just fine, though it was hard to balance Brady's and Leah's training with, not only her own—and Cisco's and Wally's—but also with their school schedule, homework, and still having to come up with excuses if anyone were to ask where they went. "If we don't offer up the Flash, people are going to die. And that's going to be on us. We need to bring Barry back."

"We can't," Joe declared, before reminding him of what everyone knew. "If he comes out, and that's a big if, the Speed Force prison goes unstable and could destroy the whole world."

"Which is what we're trying to avoid," Wally added. "If you haven't noticed."

"What if I can solve that?"

Iris lifted a skeptical eyebrow. "In the next 24 hours?"

"Yes!" Cisco then started to rapidly type on the keyboard, of which Cadence was sure was nothing but gibberish with how quickly he was typing and how little he was looking at the screen. "I've been working on this."

Silence stretched through the room at the realization. It continued to stretch even with Iris's demand to know how long. At that, Cadence watched Cisco closely. Watched as he pressed his lips together. Watched as, looking closer, she saw the pupils in his eyes contract. Saw him run an arm across his forehead despite not sweating.

She realized the answer before he'd said it. "Since he left," Cadence remarked. She sucked in a deep breath, scratching at her eyebrows, trying to take in the admission. Trying to figure out whether it was betrayal she was feeling, that kicked her in the gut, a more painful hit than anything she'd ever felt. It even wasn't as painful as having her fingers lopped off when she found out about her healing abilities.

"Harry's been helping me. And so has Harrison and so has Tess," Cisco said quickly. "And Tina and Tracy and Felicity and Curtis." He licked his lips once more, shocked eyes turning his way. "And I'm pretty sure I've figured out how to stabilize the prison and free Barry without unleashing another lighting storm on the city. I just need a couple more things."

Silence stretched around the Cortex. Silence that lasted long enough for the reality of the situation to fall upon them. Finally, it struck with a shattering thud, minds moving a mile a minute. Joe was the first one to speak.

"Maybe we should," Joe said. His voice was slow, eyes shifting back and forth over everyone who turned to him. He practically flinched under the gaze of the strong eyes and opinions that silently barraged him. "I mean, I'm just saying…it could be something we could look into."

"Wait. Wait a minute." Iris held up a hand, blinking rapidly as she tried to take in everything. She pressed her fingertips to her temples then released it. Her eyes flashed when she dropped her hands from her head. "You've been working on this? You've been working on this since he left, and you haven't told us?" She demanded.

Cisco swallowed hard and nodded. Iris let out a sound of disbelief, slapping her hands to her sides before folding her arms. "I haven't said anything because I wanted to be certain."

"And are you certain that it won't take Wally in its place?" Iris asked, gesturing toward her brother. "That it won't reach out to another Earth and steal Jesse? That you can close it before it rips the city in two?" She took in a deep breath, trying to steady her tone to deliver the most important question. "Are you certain that he's still alive?"

"He's got to be!" Cisco cried. He stood up from behind his computer, eyes wild with desperation. "Iris, you of all people have to know that he is. He's your best friend. You've known him forever. How can you not be in on this?"

"Because Barry is gone," Iris snapped. Cadence closed her eyes at the fury of Iris's voice, clenched her hand into a fist. "That is the only thing any of us can be certain about!" She looked around the Cortex, looking for eyes of anyone that agreed with her. "Now let's do what we have to do to take down the Samuroid, okay? Let's just focus on that."

"Sorry." Cisco shrugged then nodded to Cadence. "But I only take orders from her." Iris glared at him. "Barry put her in charge and so far, she's been doing a better job of holding us together than the rest of us have been on our own. I don't know what's going on with you, but at least she hasn't given up on Barry." He leveled his gaze to Cadence. "Right?" He asked.

Cadence thought for a moment. Sorted through the mixed swirl of emotions that threatened to drown her. Then she looked at Cisco closely, at the one she'd grown closer to over the past six months. They had no reason not to, if she were being honest. They both lost a lot, and misery loved company. "What's your idea?" she finally asked.

"You can't be serious," Iris said.

"I'm very serious!" Cadence snapped back, whirling to face her. "If there's a way that we can get Barry back, we need to take every chance we have to do it."

"Barry is gone!"

"No, he's not!"

"How can you be so sure?"

"The same way you're he is!" Cadence held Iris's gaze. "Barry wanted us to keep running, but he hasn't said anything about giving up hope on him. Running forward doesn't mean that, sometimes, you don't turn back. You have to keep looking behind you to see what's catching up. And pretending like nothing has happened and that you're okay with everything and taking it out on everyone else is the worst way to go."

Iris shook her head. "We need to focus on stopping the Samuroid."

"And I'm going to do that," Cadence declared, jabbing herself in the chest with her index finger. "Okay? It'll buy us some time while Cisco figures everything out."

"Okay," Iris said, though she didn't sound happy about it.

"Can we go home now?" Brady's voice broke in, quiet and dull. He stared—almost glared—at the wall in front of him, not focusing on anything else. Cadence sighed through her nose. It didn't seem like anything else was going to get done that night.

"Yeah, bud," she said, reaching out and running her fingers through his hair. "Let's go home." Brady immediately popped up from his chair and went to his mother's side, allowing her to grasp his shoulder to hold him firmly to her side. "Don't wait up on this, Cisco. Get a good night's sleep then tackle it again. I don't want something to go wrong and someone else gets sucked inside that prison."

Cisco nodded.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Everyone go home."

Cadence nodded back and—bamf—teleported herself and Brady back to their quiet apartment. As soon as they arrived, Brady yanked his shoulder from beneath her hand and headed toward his room. He stopped just before disappearing around the corner.

"Do you really think we'll get Barry back?" He asked.

Cadence wasn't about to lie to him. She hadn't before. "We're going to try," she said.

Her son took in a deep breath through his nose. "I…don't…" He briefly, painfully closed his eyes. "I don't want what happened to Conner to happen to me."

"It won't."

He looked at her. "It almost did."

Cadence nodded in acknowledgement. It was true. It had almost happened before. Because it had been her idea. A version of her's idea. Burnout's idea. And she'd gone along with it, without having the means to Brady know what was truly going on. She wasn't sure how many times she could apologize for it, or if an apology was enough to remove the haunted look from his eyes. "Goodnight, bud."

"Night, mom," Brady replied before disappearing into his room.

Cadence sighed heavily, running her hands over her face. She then dropped it then clenched her hand into fists. They shook rapidly as the seconds passed, the anger quelling up through her like a volcano ready to explode.

And God help whomever got in the way of that explosion.


A/N: Alright, we're back to Barry in the Speed Force in the next chapter. I know a lot of this one was the same as to what happened in the episode, but it did give some insight to the relationships of the team now that Barry had been gone. Everything will come to a head with the next one.

I'm sorry I had a lack of communication with my lack of update last week, but I hope you all enjoy this one and I'll update again soon! I have next Friday off so it should be a good one. Fun fact, I've had most of the beginning of this story written up for months and at this point it's making sure it still falls in line with what I've got planned now, edits, and working on potential scene changes that determines my updates.

So, any question or anything you'd like to see as the story goes on? Oh! Harrison, Tess, DeVoe, and DMarlize make their first appearance in the next chapter as well.

Cheers,

-Riles

Review Replies

Ethan: Everything that you mentioned in your last review are tiny bits of plot points that are coming up all throughout the story. Hope you're ready for it!

DarkHelm142: Barry's time in the Speed Force is a big part of this story. Even when he comes back, it'll be seen in flashbacks, memories, and dreams since it's such a big point of what brings his story forward. And I'm really excited for you all to see what I've got planned with it.

littlesimmer2: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you loved it.

yummers: Hope you enjoy it!

spinquin142: Great to see you back! And that you've continued to read! I'm glad you've enjoyed everything so much as the series has gone on! I'm glad you're able to see changes within Cade as well as see the things that are the same. Cade's not going to be so mopey all the time, actually, in the next chapter, you'll see how it's more being unable to process the idea of Barry finally coming back that's the issue. She doesn't know what to feel and doesn't know if she should expect the other shoe to drop, so it makes things a bit difficult. However, I'm excited for what'll happen with DeVoe as well, I've got a few cool ideas coming.