05

Return of The Flash


The news was already buzzing around Central City. Everywhere Clifford DeVoe looked, there was a student with their head buried in their phone, whispering something about 'The Flash' and the lightning cloud that had opened above the city bus.

Had they known it was carefully orchestrated, they probably would've started asking questions. If they were smart, they would've asked questions. Would've wondered. Wondered how it was possible that something so perfectly crafted could have gone so well. And, as it was, they didn't know for sure it was The Flash that was back. But that there was something resembling a lightning strike that shot out from the opening and shot across the streets and disappeared. It came up on that silly blog, anyway. Comments pouring in about what they may or may not have seen.

Not that the Flash blog was any sort of hard-hitting news. But it was the best way to know there was something that they may have missed. That he may not have thought about. Not that it was possible. I think of everything, DeVoe thought.

"Well, it looks like they've figured things out sooner than we thought they would. They were smart…using that quark sphere to bring Mr. Allen out of the Speed Force." Marlize DeVoe smoothed her hair back over her face and grasped the handles of her husband's wheelchair, carefully navigating them through the crowded hallways of Central City University. She smiled and waved to the students that recognized her, quickly shouting their greetings before they hurried off to their next class, to the dining hall, their dorms, or whatever it was that had them racing around mindlessly. "I didn't think that was the way they were going to go."

"That's because you don't know every little facet, every little detail of their lives," Clifford DeVoe replied. He tilted his head back, looking at his wife with a loving smile of which she easily returned. He brought up a withered, shaky hand, to place on her own. "Leave all the thinking to me, my dear. I just need to ensure there aren't any other anomalies that may form."

"I thought you said you've thought of everything?" Marlize teased.

DeVoe tightened his grasp against hers. The corner of his mouth turned up, the other side staying still. Almost as if his mouth were paralyzed, much like the lower half of his body seemed to be. Even on his good days, the atrophying of his muscles was a constant reminder of what he'd had…and what he could have. So long as everything worked out to plan, it was something he didn't have to worry about much longer. Soon he'd be able to stand and walk and…maybe even run. He'd be able to use what others took for granted and showed them how life could be better.

They didn't know what they were missing, and he'd make sure they knew it.

"I have," DeVoe replied. "I'm simply assimilating the thought that they may be able to come up with something I've never thought of."

Marlize chuckled to herself. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to the side of DeVoe's head. "I don't think that's possible, my dear," she said. "You think of everything." She stood up, lowering her voice as they continued with the flow of students towards the dining hall. "What are we going to do next? I don't think they're going to be able to defeat that Samuroid."

"No, they will," DeVoe said. He removed his hand from Marlize's grasp and dropped it to the arms of his wheelchair. Started to tap his fingers up and down in a staccato rhythm that morphed into what sounded like a marching rhythm. His fingers repeatedly twitched, he couldn't control it. He hadn't bene able to control anything in a while. But now I have all the power, they'll figure out who's the one they should be looking to. "That's all part of the plan. They have to defeat the Samuroid. They just need to figure out how they're going to do it. But it's only a matter of time."

Marlize let out a short breath, pressing her lips together. She steered her husband into the dining hall and the two went through the line to get their food. DeVoe carefully balanced his growing tray on his lap, willing his knees not to start bouncing to knock everything over. Finally, Marlize turned them around and headed into the sitting area to find someplace to bask in the silence of their victory. That is, until DeVoe spotted Harrison Wells and Tess Morgan sitting at a table by themselves.

DeVoe reached down a hand, grasping the wheels and keeping them from moving. "Clifford?" Marlize moved to his line of vision. She bent, looking him in the eye, her own filled with concern. "Is everything alright? Do you need to rest?"

"No," DeVoe replied slowly, voice gravelly with his South African accent. "I'm fine." He pointed towards their colleagues and looked meaningfully at Marlize. She looked at them, back to him, and parted her lips, about to say something. DeVoe tilted his head and cocked an eyebrow upwards. Marlize smiled back and moved behind him once more, pushing him towards their colleagues.

Harrison looked up and gave a short wave as they approached, setting his newspaper aside. DeVoe noticed and smiled at the two as they came closer. "You'd think with the way today's youth are going about that the primitive form of newspaper reading would've gone by the wayside."

"It depends on what you're looking for," Harrison replied.

Marlize parked DeVoe at an empty spot at the table and gracefully lowered herself beside Tess. She looked Harrison in the eye as she asked, "And did you find anything interesting?"

Harrison regarded her out the corner of his eye. A mischievous look if anyone was paying as close attention as DeVoe was. "Not yet. But I'm sure I'll know it when I find it."

"Ignore him." Tess turned a sarcastic smile toward her husband, making Harrison's eyebrows twitch upwards in amusement. "There's more than enough that'll hold his attention but it's always the newspaper he can't seem to take his attention off of."

"The newspaper is never going to go out of print, I promise you that." Harrison leaned back, folded his arms over his chest. He crossed his legs, bouncing his foot. "Even if it all turns digital, the newspaper is going to be something that will always be around to give us all the information we need to know."

"He does have a point," DeVoe spoke up. He watched Harrison as closely as Harrison watched him, he thought. There was always something in the man's blue eyes that seemed like he was laughing at everyone else. Or at least that he knew something no one else did. DeVoe understood that intimately. With his own profession and studies, he'd liked to pursue and how he'd share those pursuits with the rest of the world. "There are such things that may seem archaic to those with…little minds, but it doesn't mean they'll always go out of style."

"Clifford here seems to like that the fact that he can, sometimes, live in the dark ages," Marlize said. She reached across the table and lovingly patted DeVoe's hand. "There's something to be said about how I had to practically force him to get a cell phone."

"Ah!" DeVoe shook his head. "It makes people become attached to those silly little devices that seem to zap all intelligence from their minds." He brushed his fingers across his forehead, flipping his hair back from his face as he did so. A move to imitate the younger students he'd had in his class lately. Tess and Harrison chuckled quietly. "I concur that in a state of emergency it shall come in handy, but the means of having all that information at their fingertips and they use it to post…silly pictures." He shook his head "Can make one want to lose their mind."

"As if you even had one," Marlize teased.

Once more, Harrison and Tess laughed quietly. The conversation then switched to one about their students that seemed to have their noses in their laptops more than their books. DeVoe listened to the quick back and forth of the conversation, wondering what it was they had to say. They all seemed to be on the same page about their ideas of technology in the classroom, however, DeVoe was more interested in what Harrison had to say. A man who worked in technology and science on supercomputers and the next piece of technology that'd advance the world.

And with a mind that intelligent he just uses it to make the world even more disproportionate as it is. The lazy become lazier and the smart become…He hadn't quite figured that out yet. They may be as dumb as those that were lazy, if they continued to invent such things to make it so that the natural human life relied so much on technology and computers. They couldn't fend for themselves if they were ever faced with it, their wits…His hands clenched into fists in his lap.

DeVoe was broken out of his thoughts when he heard a low peal of a cell phone. A frown immediately graced his lips, irritation seizing his muscles, making them tense as much as it would if a student had interrupted his lecture. His irritation melted away, when he saw Tess shift to the side to go through her purse for her phone. DeVove lifted his gaze and exchanged a look with Martlize, who hid her smile with a pass of her hand through her hair—despite how every strand of her hair was perfectly in place.

He waited, watching the expression on Tess's face change to one of surprise, her phone pressed firmly to her ear. "Mm!" Tess's eyebrows rose. She nearly choked on her mouthful of food, quickly putting her fork down as she looked at the face of her screen. She motioned to Harrison, who slowly lowered his plastic cup from his mouth. His eyebrows rose, blue eyes shining as if she already knew what he was going to say. "I'm sorry," She quickly apologized to DeVoe and Marlize. She pushed her tray aside, tucking a loose chunk of hair behind her ear. "But we have to go."

"Is anything wrong?" Marlize asked with just the right amount of concern in her voice.

If they were smart, DeVoe thought, the side of his mouth turning up once more. They'd realize that we already know. That we're waiting. He felt his cheeks start to twitch with the force of his smile. But they weren't smart. No one was smarter than him, and never would be.

"No, everything's fine," Tess reassured her. She got to her feet and discreetly showed the screen to Harrison, making him get up as well, but at a much more leisurely place. "There's just something we have to take care of."

"Yes, we're sorry to have to cut things short," Harrison agreed. "But it seems that we have some business to attend to." He turned back to Marlize and DeVoe, his pale pink lips twitching back into a smile.

A knowing smile, DeVoe thought, slightly inching his chin upwards. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

"Not right now. But we'll let you know," Tess said. "Thank you for the offer. We'll see you later."

Marlize smiled and nodded, trailing the two with her eyes as they left the dining hall. She waited until they were gone before looking to her husband once more, who looked back at her with the same smile he couldn't seem to shake.

No, he was happy with the way things were going.

It was only a matter of time until they could move onto the next part of their plan. As it was, there was something to celebrate.

Barry Allen had finally returned to Central City.


Everyone converged on the CCPD at once. Anyone who knew of Barry's being on sabbatical would've been surprised to see how Team Flash appeared to be on edge as soon as they arrived. But they were those that knew Barry was on sabbatical and there were those that knew the truth, that he'd been in the Speed Force and suddenly appeared once more. However, that was on a need to know basis and when DA Cecile Horton had received the news that Barry had suddenly shown up in a nearby city she had to keep it to herself and Team Flash.

She nervously waited for them to arrive, pacing back and forth in the foyer of the precinct, waving off every one of Jordan's attempts to get her coffee or anything that would keep her busy. "No, Jordan, I'm fine. I'm just waiting for…" she trailed off when she spotted Joe coming through the front door with Iris, Cisco, Caitlin, Cadence, Wally, Tess, Harrison, and Brady. "Thanks! Just…go back to your work, please." Jordan nodded and scurried back behind the receptionist desk, flipping papers back and forth. Her eyes lifted curiously to watch the group as they approached Cecile.

"Is he…?" Joe asked.

Cecile motioned for him to be quiet as she led the group past the receptionist's desk and back to an empty room. As they went, Iris couldn't help but mutter, "I can't believe you went ahead and did this."

"You weren't listening either way," Cisco replied, voice filled with exasperation. Clearly, he was tired of having to defend himself. Or else, Cecile thought, it was bitterness she heard in his voice. Bitterness of something she couldn't quite place. "You were going to stop it."

"You could've killed us all," Iris hissed back.

"I don't know, Iris," Caitlin started slowly, voice soft. She looked at Iris over her shoulder as she strolled along with Cisco. Cecile turned to look at her, surprised to hear her voice. It surprised her even more to have seen Caitlin when the group arrived. Last she'd heard about her, she had been Killer Frost and tried to kill them all. But Killer Frost didn't seem to be there, Cecile reasoned. She could sense it, there wasn't anything sinister coming from her, nothing cold radiating off her. Actually, she seemed to hide behind Cisco as the two walked together, her shoulder brushing just behind his as they moved. "It seemed like we were close," Caitlin said.

"We?" Iris demanded. She turned toward Caitlin, eyes narrowed. She came to a stop, making the group halt as well. Now that there were away from the rest of the precinct, there was no point in hiding their conversation, or pent up contempt for each other. Cecile glanced at her watch impatiently. "And where have you been for the past six months?"

"Iris," Joe warned. "She was just trying to help. She was the one who came up with the idea to have…Cisco use the Speed Force Bazooka to…" he trailed off, looking to Cisco as fir for clarification. "Use some sort of a quark sphere to shoot into the Speed Force and bring him back."

"Yeah, sis, if it wasn't for Caitlin, we wouldn't have been able to even come up with a plan to even entertain the idea," Wally agreed.

Iris raised her gaze to the ceiling, shaking her head. She brought up her hands, pressing her fingertips to her temples. "Guys, we need to concentrate on stopping the Samurai who is trying to destroy the city, not on Barry."

"What is your deal?" Brady finally snapped. Iris whirled to face him, a little startled to find she didn't have to look as far down as she used to, to look him in the eye. "It's like you don't even want him back! Look, we get it, okay, Barry's been a part of your life forever, but you don't get to decide what we do about him. He's not your family anymore! Not just yours!" He glanced at his mom then back to Iris, who did the same. "And that's what this is about, isn't it? That you're, I don't know, in love with him or something and it hurts to know that you lost him twice."

"Hey!" Joe snapped, waving an arm down between them. "That's enough! We don't need to turn on each other like this. Not when…" he took in a deep breath, eyes turning to Cecile. "Not when…we've got some more important things to handle." He stepped closer to her. "Are you sure it's him?"

Cecile shrugged, letting out a sigh that was a mixture of insecurity and impatience. "State Police picked him up on the 112. Somewhere outside of Beale City. If it's not him, it's someone who looks exactly like him. But because of the reports of that electrical cloud…I…it'd be a coincidence if it wasn't."

Cadence's eyebrows rose before falling into an expression of concern. "Beale City?" she repeated. "That's over 300 miles from here."

"Yeah, one of the cops is a Keystone Vet," Cecile explained. "He says he recognized Barry. So, I'm pretty sure it's him." She led the team toward the last room at the end of the hall. "But…I want you all to prepare yourselves."

"For what?" Caitlin asked.

Cecile took in a deep breath. For anything. For everything. She wasn't sure the best words to explain it. She was new to the metahuman game, new to Team Flash, and yet even she knew from looking at him that there was something wrong with Barry. If it were in fact Barry. She hoped it was, for all their sakes. The Samuroid was doing nothing to keep the nerves of the city at bay.

There were too many things that metas had done over the past years that kept everyone jumpy. But the appearance of the Samuroid seemed to send everyone into a tailspin, especially considering the destruction the Samuroid managed to create with only the tip of a sword touching the ground.

Cecile brushed her hair behind her shoulders before pushing open the door to the room. She stood aside, letting Team Flash move in beside her. She sighed quietly though her nose, watching their faces as they passed by her and laid their eyes on Barry. Barry, who sat with his back to them, cross-legged on the floor. His arm shifted back and forth as he twirled the marker he gripped firmly between his fingers. Every time he moved, he made a new marking on the wall. All the walls were festooned with the markings he made, nameless shapes and figures that didn't have a rhyme or reason to them, but seemed to make sense to Barry, who hadn't stopped scribbling despite the others staring at him.

And yet, she wasn't quite sure it was Barry, and could understand why they'd be skeptical. His time in the Speed Force had aged him in some way, the unruly mustache and beard that grew in patches was certainly new, but it was the look in his eye that made her worry. A…haunted look. As if there was nothing there, but simultaneously as if he'd seen everything life had to offer and would never forget.

Who knew what had happened to him in the Speed Force. Who knew how much time had passed for him, if any had passed at all. Who knew if he'd remember what it was that he'd seen that prompted him to fulfill the need to draw around. She'd seen things like that before, those that had lost their minds and were compelled to do something out of the ordinary, to get a message across. But what the message was…it didn't even look like the brightest minds in Central City didn't seem to know.

She watched as their faces reacted in surprise to seeing Barry in front of them, waited for them to make the first move. She clasped her hands together in front of her, smoothing down the front of her skirt as she waited for someone to make the first move. Or, rather, it was fear that kept her from coming close to a metahuman who could move faster than she could think. She came across criminals with guns and some of the worst weapons she'd ever come across, but metas were something she hadn't come across personally.

She worked on the cases with them, represented them in court and sometimes had to be the one that worked to put them in jail. But she'd never come upon it face to face, it'd been a long time since she was out in the field. But to know the man she'd bene dating was the pseudo-father of the fastest man alive and the superhero that saved the city on a numerous basis? That wasn't quite easy for her to wrap her head around.

Joe was the first one to break the silence in the room. He moved close behind Barry, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Barry?" He asked.

Immediately, Barry turned at the sound of his name. He leveled his eyes on Joe, a smile making its way to his face. He looked to the group, his eyes taking in all of them, a friendly glimmer in his eyes. But nothing that appeared to be recognition. He slowly smiled, stood, and moved toward the

Barry stood. He continued to look over everyone, his smile widening. He ran a hand through his hair, then fixed his gaze on his team. No, Cecile realized. He's looking right through them.

Barry's lips twitched. He ran a hand over his mouth, then back through his hair. Shook his head. "Nora shouldn't be here," he murmured, voice gravelly and low, as if he'd just woken up from a deep sleep.

"Your mom isn't here, Barry," Iris said. Her voice was soft, eyes wide with disbelief and…shame. Shame for not believing in everything that was being told to her. Shame for not believing Barry could actually be back, that there was a way he could be saved. "It's us…your friends." Barry looked at her, eyes continuing to bore through her. "You're home."

Barry shook his head and kept speaking, as if no one was talking to him. "Your honor, I'm innocent. I didn't do this, I didn't kill anyone." His voice was low, taking on as much emotion that Cecile had ever heard come from him. And she'd watched the deposition tapes from his case when his father had been arrested and Barry had been questioned. "Can you hear the stars?" His tone shifted so quickly that it made Cecile jump. "Singing? Rhyming? Chiming? Timing?" He squeezed his hands to his hair, grasping at the fringe that fell over his face, threatened to pull out each and every strand in the pain of what was swirling through his head. "Every hour, every minute." He then whirled to Joe, pointing directly at him. "You said the city was safe! That there was no residual danger. But that's not true!"

"Barry—" Joe said.

"What really happened that night?" Barry asked.

"The city is safe," Cadence insisted. She stepped toward Barry then stopped, looking the most uncertain Cecile had seen her in her short time of knowing the fire metahuman. "You saved us, you saved us all." She shook her head, taking a step back when Barry continued to spout off his nonsense, speaking faster and faster, rhyming almost all his words and continuing to pace back and forth. Every now and then, his outbursts would be loud, other times soft.

But he continued to repeat himself.

"I'm guessing this just isn't shock," Wally murmured to Caitlin.

She shook her head, sadness filling her eyes. "Shock is from a drop in blood pressure that affects your entire body," she explained. "This is neurological. Something's happened to him while he was gone." She shook her head. "I'm not sure what, but something."

"Could even simply be the presence of the Speed Force," Harrison explained. "It exists beyond space and time. To us, he's been in there for six months but for him it could be 10,000 years. All the time in isolation could've caused dementia."

Tess shook her head. "Dementia doesn't cause someone to continuously repeat the same words and phrases, just to question their surroundings and lapses in time. This is something different."

"So how do we find out?" Brady asked.

"We need to get him back to STAR Labs as soon as we can," Cisco declared.

Cadence nodded and stepped forward to grasp Barry's shoulder. The moment she touched him, it was like a bomb went off. Electrical current surged through the room, knocking Team Flash off their feet and into the walls behind them. Cecile crumpled to the ground, flinging her arm above her head as the glass in the door behind them shot out.

She could feel the surging wind pull at her clothes as she lay on the floor, slowly being pulled in by Barry's path around the room as he continued to run and run. "Cecile!" She looked up, seeing Joe crouch over her. He hovered over her, pulling her firmly into his chest to protect her from the wind. "Aare you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Cecile called back. "What's going on?"

"I don't know. But we've got to get out of here!" Joe grasped her elbow and heaved her to her feet. Hair whipping around her face, Cecile stood and pressed her back against the wall, watching as Barry continued to speed around the room, doing large laps.

Cisco threw his arms forward, punching breaches into the air in front of Barry's path. Every time a breach opened, Barry would swerve around it before continuing his path. As he ran, he continued to draw more of the symbols on the wall, arching up the wall, even managing to plaster one of them on Cisco's cheek as he ran past.

"It's not working," Cisco said through gritted teeth. "No matter how many breaches I open, he keeps swerving around it. He's moving too fast."

"Then I guess we'll have to move even faster," Wally declared. Lightning flashed through his eyes before he raced after Barry, his yellow lightning mixing in with Barry's golden-orange lightning trail.

"Cisco, get these guys to STAR Labs," Cadence declared, the tone in her voice immediately shifting to an authoritative one. "We'll meet up there!" Cisco nodded and threw open a breach. He grabbed Iris, Caitlin, Brady, Tess, and Harrison and led them through the breach.

Cecile looked toward Joe for any instruction but was cut off by one last blast of lightning that shot through the room before it disappeared; Barry and Wally had left the CCPD and were headed who knows where.

"Make sure the CCPD gets the word out," Cadence said to Joe and Cecile. "Last thing we need is for the news to try and twist this around to another Savitar situation."

"What are you going to do?" Cecile asked, blinking hard. She hadn't realized how much power one could take in if they were in the way of The Flash, Kid Flash, or any other speedster that came around. Being moved around was one thing but being hit by the shockwave of an attack was much different. Her legs quivered, working hard to keep herself upright, but finding them collapse beneath her.

Joe looped his arm around her and held her to his side. Keeping her upright as the lighting in the room dimmed then came back full force.

"Help Wally stop him," Cadence explained before turning to the side. As she turned, flames flickered at her hands and feet, moving up her body until she melted away into wisps of smoke that vanished as she teleported.


Cadence teleported to a nearby rooftop, switching to thermal vision as she looked for Barry's and Wally's lightning streaks navigating the city. She found them after a few seconds, watching them continue to shoot back and forth. Every now and then, Barry would give Wally the slip, making Wally suddenly take a sharp corner and shoot back in the direction that Barry suddenly went.

She held up her wrist and looked at the bracelet that sat around her wrist. She looked down at it and took in a deep breath. "I hope this still works," she murmured. Who knew what an accidental trip between Earths could do to technology made for Earth-1. Cadence hesitated for a moment then gave a quick flick of her wrist, turning it as if she were turning a key in the ignition. There was a brief spark of fire and within seconds, her suit shot out and covered her body. She raised her goggles from around her neck to cover her eyes, shifting her gaze aside so a map of the city became projected on he lenses inches from her eyes. "I'm tracking them around the waterfront. Wally's chasing after him but…Barry's just too fast."

"All that time in the Speed Force must've given him an extra boost of power," Caitlin remarked. "Seeing his vitals through here, they're through the roof. Scary good even. I've never seen him move this fast before."

"Sure, you have, flying off the back of the Cosmic Treadmill. But it looks like my man isn't putting up much of a fight to get Wally off his tail," Cisco agreed. "His speed levels are maxing out. Whatever you did to him, Cade, it's like he's got an extra boost." He paused. "Or maybe it's something from the Fire Fall and that epic final attack you guys did together."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence, Cisco," Cadence said. "But keep an eye on it, if he suddenly maxes out, we need to know before someone gets to him and gets a good look at his face." She shifted her gaze once more, continuing to track Wally and Barry as they took another lap around the city. "What's he doing?" She murmured.

"It's like he's looking for something," Brady's voice piped up over the communication link. "The way he's running around is like there's something he's trying to follow after…" his voice trailed off after a moment. "Do you think it might be something only he can see? Something that's only fast enough for him?"

"Then wouldn't Wally be able to see it?" Iris' voice then came on.

Cadence's heart sank into her stomach. She swallowed hard, shook her head. "Not unless it's another speedster…" she commented. She could still feel the dampness of the area Savitar had been holding her when he kidnapped her. Could still feel the wave of dread that washed over her when he revealed himself to her, having taken the place of Barry for who knows how long. "Like Savitar," she finally managed to say. "Barry was the only one who was able to see him before Savitar slowed himself down enough for the rest of us to see him." She blinked, leaning her head back as her comm-link blared in her ear. "What was that?"

"Uh…" Cisco stammered. She heard frantic typing, as if Cisco were trying to search throughout the city's security cameras. "Uh, hold on. Got it! Samurai is back."

"It hasn't been a full day yet," Brady protested. "He said he'd level the city if we didn't give him the Flash."

"So, let's give him what he wants," Wally said.

"No!" Cadence barked, watching as Wally's lightning streak started to break away from Barry's. It veered back in seconds. "I said I'd handle the Samuroid and I will. You need to keep on Barry. You're a speedster, you can handle it. Keep following him until he slows down, he'll have to do it eventually."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Just do it."

"Maybe Leah can help," Brady suggested. "Using her gravity powers to keep the Samurai from flying off?"

"No, I can't put her in that sort of danger," Cadence said. "Not yet. She hasn't trained as long as you have."

Brady sounded partially amused, partially frustrated. "But you can put me in that much danger?"

Cadence shrugged. "All I have to do is have another kid. I can't replace her for her family." She laughed, already imagining Brady back in STAR Labs, pouting and turning away. "But you have an idea with using her gravity powers. It might be something we can look into."

"I can help."

"Stay there, until I say otherwise!"

Cadence teleported down from the rooftop and landed on the city street in front of the Samuroid. "I don't see the Flash," he murmured.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to make do with me," Cadence replied. She watched as he took out his swords and in a flare of flashy movement, twisted them in his hands before striking a menacing pose. Cadence watched him for a moment before holding out her hand. Fire conjured around her hands before solidifying into swords of her own. "I just hope you can handle it."

"We'll see about it." The Samuroid replied.

The two leapt toward each other and became engulfed in a flurry of slinging swords. They crashed against each other, sending sparks out into a flurry as they did so. Cadence gritted her teeth as she worked to keep up with the slashes of the sword the Samuroied threw toward her. Her arms twisted this way and that, muscles screaming as she worked to take on each powerful blow the Samuroid sent.

Come on, she thought. You can do this. You're not this weak, you've done this before. You've stopped guys bigger than this. Stronger. She looked into the Samuroid's face as they moved back and forth across the street, working to overpower each other. Its eyes burned back into hers, gleaming red coals that only spurned her even further.

"I think you're not ready for this," The Samuroid said.

Cadence felt her temper spike. "We'll see about that," she murmured.

"Yes." The Samuroid brought back his arm, cocking his sword high above his head. "We will." He brought his sword down and as it connected with hers, it pulsed out a bright blue surge of energy, the same sort of energy that had knocked Team Flash off their feet during their encounter with the feudal monster.

Cadence felt herself flung through the air with the surge of energy crashing into her. She landed hard on the ground, rolling head over heels before finally coming to a stop. She whipped her sword up blocked herself form a slashing motion the Samuroid carved toward her, and knocked his sword aside.

But it only opened her up for him to take his other sword and ram it into her chest.

She gasped as the sword plunged into her chest then immediately brought back out. The Samuroid looked at her, retrieved his sword, and slung it into his sheath at his hip. "I'd hoped you'd put up a bigger fight, Firestarter," he remarked. "I guess I was wrong." Metallic wings slid out from his back and he took off into the air.

Frowning, Cadence pressed a hand to her chest and brought it away. Her eyebrows came together. No blood. I'm not an expert, but everything tells me I should be bleeding right now. It was then she noticed a smaller hand pressed to her back, the other on her elbow. She whipped her head around and gaped at Brady, who stood behind her in his suit, looking as shaken as she felt.

"Saved your life," Brady taunted. Though his voice was lighthearted, his pale face betrayed his worry for his mother.

Cadence's eyes widened behind her goggles as she looked at her son, then at the spot on the front of her suit that was undamaged. Then back at her son. She looked to the sky, where the Samuroid arched above the city, leaving a white trail behind as it went. Finally, Cadence turned back to Brady with a frown.

"I told you to stay back!" Cadence declared.

"But you need my help," Brady protested. "You can't do this on your own." He gestured behind him as Barry and Wally flashed right by, behind him. "And Wally's going to get tired at some point." He barely flinched when they shot back in the opposite direction.

"I heard that," Wally declared, voice almost inaudible as he ran by. He came back, coming to a stop as he pressed his hands to his knees. He gasped for air, pressing a hand to his stomach. "Man, I don't know what sort of juice this guy is on, but he's moving incredibly fast. Hate to say it, but I don't know if I can keep up."

"Do you have any idea of what he's doing?" Brady asked.

Wally shook his head. "Not for sure. But I think you're right, that he's following something we can't see. He keeps turning off down strange streets and he's going in a large circle around the city. But I can't see what he's after. And…it doesn't seem like he's going to stop anytime soon."

"He's going to keep running?" Brady asked, eyebrows rising.

"Not unless we find a way to stop him," Cadence said. She chewed her lower lip, turning her attention to her son. She eyed him for a few moments, mentally torn between treating him like her son or treating him like another member of Team Flash. She decided after a few seconds. "Help Wally, see if there's anything you can do to get him to stop running."

Brady snorted. "I'm good, but I'm not that good."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Your powers make you phase through things, right?" Brady nodded. "Just the same as Barry can." Again, Brady nodded. "But I bet there's something else you can do he can't." At that, Brady's expression changed to one of confusion, almost invisible beneath the shadow his hood cast along his face. "Can you reverse it? Turn yourself solid instead of phasing?"

He frowned. "I don't know, I've never tried."

"Well, try. I've got a Samurai to deal with." With that, Cadence teleported, throwing herself onto the Samurai's back. Its wings titled, metal sliding against metal as its blades switched, causing it to arch through the air. After a few moments, the two disappeared.

Brady turned back to Wally, who eyed him skeptically. Brady flexed his fingers, his gloves straining against his palms as he did so. "Can you really do that?" Wally asked. "Can you turn more solid than you can phase?"

"I don't know," Brady admitted. "But it's better than standing here and doing nothing." He held out his hand, Wally grabbed it and pulled Brady onto his back, wrapping his arms around Wally's neck, holding on tight as the speedster took off and raced after Barry.

I'm so glad they gave me these goggles, Brady thought, feeling the windburn against his cheeks as Wally raced him around. Not to mention the suit that Cisco had made for Wally's Kid Flash persona, the frictionless suit made it easier for him to keep his clothes from bursting into flame, let alone keeping the tag-along from bursting into flame as well.

Finally, Wally stopped running and deposited Brady on the ground. "I'll try to steer him your way, whatever it is he's chasing, maybe he'll chase after me when he sees how fast I'm going," he said and took off. But not before the parting words of, "Try to anti-phase," or whatever it is you'll do."

Brady nodded and watched as Barry and Wally arched around the city. Each pass they made blew out the windows of nearby cars and businesses as they moved faster and faster. All the while, Brady waited for the right time for them to come near him so that he could use his powers…well, in a way he'd never tried before. In a way he wasn't sure was possible.

How was he supposed to work out reverse-phasing when he didn't even have a real idea of how to phase in the first place? He'd been asleep and started floating the first time he'd used his powers and after that had managed to give his downstairs neighbors a fright with his legs frantically thrashing about as he tried not to fall completely through the floor.

"Come on, Brady, you don't have much time," he murmured, watching as Wally and Barry continued to move closer and closer. Passing by with increasing speed of each pass.

Finally, Wally slowed down enough so that Brady could see him, saw Wally nod and then speed up once more, with Barry chasing after him. A signal if there ever were one. He needed to do something fast.

Brady took in a deep breath.

He focused hard, focused on the parts of his body, the part of his powers he tapped into that made it so that he was able to phase. Worked on stopping what was coming straight for him. Barry continued to run right for him, eyes distant. Unseeing. Brady squeezed his eyes shut. Focus, think of what it's like to be solid, rather than phasing. You can do this.

The temperature around him changed.

A gust of wind.

A hand reached out to press against his chest. Wanted to move through him.

Stopped.

Wham!

Brady opened his eyes, feeling something smack into him. It was a strange feeling, suddenly being so solid compared to being able to phase through anything that came toward him. In front of him, Barry stumbled backwards, bringing a hand up to his forehead. Brady's eyes widened behind his goggles as he watched the speedster stumble about. "Cool," he whispered. Barry scowled at Brady before taking off once more, Wally chasing after him.

"You think that's cool," Cisco's voice came over the communication system, the pride in his voice evident through Brady's ears. "You should see what I've done to your gadgets. Check out the Shadow Spiral for example."

"The what?" Brady's nose wrinkled.

"The yo-yo," Caitlin explained. Brady could practically see her roll her eyes from her tone of voice. "'You really need to stop making the names for these things so complicated."

"Hey! I'm an inventor, we need to name our gadgets!"

"Hello!" Brady demanded. He slipped his hand down to his yo-yo and held it out in his hand. It looked as normal as it always had. "You want me to check this out?"

"Yeah, press your thumb into it and stand back!"

Brady did as he was told. He gasped in surprise when there was a sudden jolt in his palm. His yo-yo suddenly slid apart, as if twisted open like a top of a jar and suddenly became heavier. Brady held onto the handle that slid out with both hands, nearly tipping over as the head of what was now a megaton hammer nearly crashed to the ground.

"Awesome!" Brady declared.

He hefted it, weighing it in his hand. It appeared that it'd be heavy, but found himself easily able to carry it. His eyes slid over the hammer, each side holding the spiral design that the sides of the yo-yo held, but the internal parts that held it together, the line that contributed to being the tether of the yo-yo, entangled together to create a tough piece of metal that seemed impenetrable. Along the handle of the hammer held imprints of his symbol.

"Head's up, Brady, they're coming your way again," Iris warned him.

Brady looked up when he heard the familiar thwoom of a speedster coming closer. Pressing his lips together, Brady tightened his grasp on the handle of the hammer and hefted it up behind him. He watched as the lightning trails came closer and closer to him. Wally suddenly shot aside, taking a side street while Barry continued forward. Wally raced around the block, then came back around from behind Brady, heading straight toward Barry.

The speedsters careened toward each other, coming closer as the seconds passed. Wally then sped out of the way, just in time for Barry to keep going forward, turning his head to follow Wally's movements. Brady saw Barry turn his head aside to follow Wally's path, giving Brady the perfect opportunity to cock his arm back and swing it forward.

Thwack!

There was a sickening crunch as Brady's hammer struck Barry across the head. He stopped on a dime and crashed to the ground. Blood poured from Barry's nose and mouth, healing within seconds. A low groan escaped his lips as he pressed his hands flat to the pavement and pushed himself up. He lifted his head, shook it once, blinked twice, and glanced at Brady, eyes widening in surprise.

"Barry?" Brady ventured, twisting his hands against the handle of his new weapon. His stomach twisted into knots; stuck between being excited at seeing Barry finally back to being himself, but another, bigger part of him was unsure of how to respond, stuck between a surge of resentment and frustration at how much they had to rely on him to get anything done but also knowing he was probably the only one who could help them at the moment.

"Brady?"

Barry mimicked Brady's tone. Cautious. Worried. Curious. Confused. All at once. He sat up, bringing a hand up to his nose. He looked at the blood that stained his fingertips then back to Brady. His expression changed to one of intense confusion. "Oh, my head." He pushed himself back. "What happened?"

"We don't have time for that now," Brady interrupted. "Mom needs your help."

Barry immediately clocked onto the seriousness of Brady's tone and pushed himself to his feet. He disappeared in a flash, then returned, dressed in the new suit that Cisco had made and put the finishing touches on over the past six months. He looked over himself before nodding up at Brady.

Brady smiled back.


A/N: Hm, the chapters spanning over the first episode of the show took a lot longer than I anticipated it would. But, I hope you all enjoy the ending of it within the next chapter. And what do you think about Brady's new weapon?

Fun Fact, all of Brady's gadgets/weapons are inspired by other superheroes; his yo-yo is off of Spider-Man's webs, the megaton hammer (no name yet) is off Thor's hammer, his frisbee is off Captain America's shield, and his slingshot is off Black Widow's means to be able to use anything around her to her advantage. Kinda surprised other people hadn't figured that out yet, lol.

Anyway, the end of the first episode is in the next chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this one as well as the new POVs with DeVoe and Cecile. Thanks for the consistent support you guys, no matter if I have to push things back, mostly because of work, but thank you all for continuing to be so patient with me.

Cheers,

-Riles