08

Next To Normal


"Do we still have that training session tonight?"

Brady barely heard Leah's question over the din of his classmates moving through the hallways, hurrying in the five minutes they had to get to their next class. He scrambled through the textbooks, notebooks, and loose pieces of paper inside, flinging them aside as he didn't find what he wanted.

"I think so," he said. "Dad's gonna drop me off at STAR Labs after we work on site a little bit." He frowned, folding his arms as he leaned back. His eyes bounced from his friends to the crowds of students that passed by them, noticing a few looked him funny as they went. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to his friends. "Do you have the history homework?" Leah lifted an eyebrow, mimicking him as she folded her arms. "What?"

"I'm not going to let you copy my homework."

"I didn't say anything about copying it. I just wanted to make sure I knew what it was in case Mr. Hawthorne asks about it."

"Mr. Hawthorne always asks about it."

"That's exactly why I'm asking you about the homework! Duh!" Brady's face screwed up into a comical expression that made Leah giggle quietly. Conner stood aside, smiling to himself. He looked over his shoulder as the hallways started to clear out, catching the eye of a few girls that quickly covered their mouths and scurried away, giggling. He tilted his head, eyebrows furrowing. "Do you have yours?"

"Didn't you just do it last night?" Conner asked. He pressed a finger to his temple. "Actually, I know you did. You were huffing over it all night."

Brady rolled his eyes. "You mean when Barry kept hovering around us asking if he could help with anything?" He turned back to his locker, seeing Conner and Leah exchange a glance out the corner of his eye. "I saw that."

"It's just…we thought you'd be happy Barry's back," Leah said quietly. She ran a hand through her hair, scratched the back of her neck. "The city is…" she shrugged, sighed. She didn't have to say it. Brady knew exactly what 'the city was'. It was falling apart. The low murmurs of anti-meta measures were continuing to increase in volume and with Lex Luthor's presence, stirring up those that agreed with his ideals, it was only a matter of time until things blew up. "He's been gone a long time."

"I know he's been gone a long time, Leah, I was there." Brady slapped his palm against his locker door and slammed it shut, making Conner and Leah jump. "I get reminded of it nearly every second of every day!" He gestured around the hallway where multiple lockers had the Flash's lightning bolt symbol that festooned the insides of lockers and the covers of notebooks and binders. (Though he couldn't help then note of pride that swelled within him when he saw nearly as many symbols that represented Flare on the same school supplies). "I don't need it from you, too." He frowned, noticing even more staring. "And why is everyone staring at me?!"

"Whoa!" Conner frowned, stepping in front of Leah. "She hasn't done anything. You don't need to be mad at her!"

"I'm not mad at her!"

"I know, you're mad at Barry. So be mad at Barry, don't take it out on us when we're trying to be there for you." Conner reached out and shoved Brady on the shoulder, making him take a step back. "Don't be such a jerk."

"'I'm not…being a jerk." Brady gazed over his friend's faces and sighed, his shoulders slumping. Yeah, he was being a jerk. They didn't deserve anything he was giving them, but it was easier than pretending everything at home was okay. Like nothing happened. Like…absolutely nothing happened. Brady rubbed his neck. "I'm being…" he trailed off and shrugged. Couldn't get the words out. "I'm sorry, okay?"

He didn't need to go further than that, could see in the way Conner and Leah nodded that they already accepted his apology before he spoke "And to answer your other question," Conner added. A light of amusement made his eyes sparkle, a light Brady hadn't seen in so long. The muscles around Conner's mouth twitched. "Why those girls keep staring at you? They think you're cute."

Brady stared blankly back at him. He sucked in a breath through his nose, blinked once, and said, "Speaking of Flash—"

"—I'm already ahead of you," Conner broke in. He motioned for them to move closer and they huddled around his phone as he pulled it out, blocking out any prying eyes that may have wanted to come closer. And if what Conner said was true—Brady felt his face turn red as an image of Deity suddenly appeared in his mind—he didn't need anyone to come closer. Conner pulled up a list of names, most of those they recognized, others were one-off villains they'd stopped over the past six months. "I looked over the information you gave me from Barry's return. And Wally wasn't kidding; he really is a lot faster now than he was before. I'm not a scientist, but I think he may have taken in some of the power from the Speed Force."

"That's what Aunt Caitlin was saying," Brady agreed.

"But Wally's gotten faster, too," Leah pointed out. She motioned to Brady then herself. "And we've gotten stronger with our training." Brady nodded. "Did the Speed Force really put his power levels up that high?"

Conner nodded. "The numbers don't lie." He swiped over on the page and opened a new app that Brady had never seen before. His eyes widened in surprise and he lifted an eyebrow as he looked toward his best friend. Conner shrugged modestly. "I had a lot of time to myself since Oliver…" he gestured with his hand. "Anyway, I had a lot of time to myself and I got to thinking of how to hold a more secure version of the Instagram account we'd made."

"And?" Brady prompted.

"And, once I got the old information from the Encyclopedia Caitlin had, it became a lot easier to figure out how to keep track of the power levels of the metas." He pressed his fingers to the screen and pinched them, making the screen zoom out to who a list of names and power levels next to them.

Cool. Brady leaned closer as he looked over the screen, finding his own name. Brady/Shadowhunter. He tapped his name and the entry opened to reveal a list of his general powers and abilities, the date he received his powers, and his classification of meta. "What's this?" He pointed to the number next to him name.

"Oh! Remember when I assigned different power levels to different metas? With Zoom and everything?"

"Oh." Brady's face screwed up. "Wait, why am I a two and a half and Leah's a three?" Brady rolled his eyes when Leah beamed with appreciation, gently nudging Conner with her shoulder. "If this is some kind of a boyfriend-girlfriend thing—"

"It's not!" Conner's face enflamed in seconds, making Brady grin in response. "It's just…her powers, sometimes, seem to be a little more useful in a fight." His eyes shifted. "Sometimes." Brady frowned. "But, of course, it's better to not be seen than to slam someone's face in the ground with a flick of your wrist. And you only just learned of your new ability, you still have to see if you really can do it or if it was a one-time thing."

"Okay, so what's Barry now? Last time you said he was a four bar."

Conner licked his lips. Paused. "He's a five bar." Brady's eyelashes fluttered in surprise. Part of him was knew it was going to be a big leap after seeing what he saw when he came from the Speed Force. But a leap that big? "Probably on the same level that Zoom was, but, you know, without the murderous rampage part. Savitar was at the same level, but from what you told me, from what I saw, he was completely crazy anyway."

"What about Miss. Cadence?" Leah tried. "And Cisco?"

"Cisco's a three bar. He hasn't been out in the field so much. Doesn't really use his powers for anything more than to open breaches. But Miss. Cadence…" Conner tapped on her name, then drummed his fingers on the back of his cell phone. "She's a five bar, too. Moved up to that list since she killed Breathtaker and came back from the Fire Fall. All her training sessions over the last six months have helped, too." He paused. "Or, maybe her mind-meld with Burnout? Sorry. I know you don't like to talk about…" He quickly trailed off when Brady lifted his chin and glared at him.

"Hey." Leah squeezed Brady's shoulder. "Let's just get to class, okay? Bell's going to ring any minute."

Brady groaned softly, immediately remember his dilemma from only a few minutes before. It was funny how quickly his life had become split in two. What was fun for him in the beginning; dreaming about his own set of powers and watching in awe as his mother became a hero to the city, had become something he stressed over and worried about others finding out, while also trying to help those that needed a support group.

Eleven years old and he was starting to understand why adults were so cranky all the time. At least they don't have to go to school, Brady thought. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and looked around at the emptying hallways. He grabbed Conner's and Leah's shoulders, backed up a step, and phased them through the wall and into the classroom behind them.

Surreptitiously, they went to their empty seats, Brady smiling to himself when he noticed Conner walk Leah over to hers, holding her hand as they went. At least something good was coming out of Conner's stay in Central City. Brady felt for him when he showed up on their doorstep with barely concealed tears rolling down his cheeks. It'd taken weeks for him not wake up the whole loft in the middle of the night with his screams and cries.

Plus, it was more fun when he had his best friend around. Not that he didn't like hanging out with Leah, she was cool. And it was fun to have someone who knew about his abilities and he didn't need to hide himself around her. It was just different. And, Conner had been there for Brady before, through everything without a thought or a question to the contrary. The least Brady could do was be there for him, too.

"What, did you, like, sneak in here?" Brady looked up as he sat down, and saw Rose sitting in front of him nose buried in a book. "I know people can walk quietly, but it's like you just appeared out of nowhere."

Brady snorted. "At least my parents don't name me after a bat," he remarked.

At that, Rose sat up straight and turned to him with a smile. "You figured that one out pretty quickly."

"Yeah, well." Brady shrugged. "I'm smarter than I look."

"Not by much. You look very smart." Rose continued to smile, her eyes flickering over his face. "Sort of like you have a secret or something. Though, if you did, I'm sure the entire class would know about it by now. Not many people here can keep a secret for more than five minutes." She nodded across the room to where Alicia and Rachel sat leaning toward each other and whispering quietly, pointedly looking at others around the room. "Not with the Gossip twins over there. Let's see what I heard this morning…" she sucked in a deep breath, squinting as she pretended to think. "One of eight grade teachers is pregnant, we're going camping for the class trip, and, apparently, Rachel hooked up with some guy over the summer but I can't say whether or not the last part is true."

"Because no one can stand her?"

"Because I don't care. Believe me when I say you're lucky you don't have lockers near those two. They talk about some of the most stupid things I've ever heard. There's people being unfairly incarcerated in Iron Heights every day and they care more about what's the popular shade of eyeshadow they should be wearing." Rose's eyebrows shot upwards. "And Alicia keeps going on about that Shadowhunter guy. He saves her life once and it's like he's the only person she cares about."

Brady sucked in a breath so sharp that he started to cough. Rose eyed him warily, half her face screwing up. He held up a hand, turning away to thump himself hard on the chest. Conner dropped into the seat next to him and made a similar face. "What's the matter with you, dude?"

"Nothing." Brady managed to get out. He smacked himself on the chest once last time, stopping his coughing fit. "I'm fine. Just choked on my spit."

"Geez, maybe you're Shadowhunter's number one fan," Rose teased. "I mean, we don't know how he swings either you or Alicia could get his attention." She giggled to herself, facing the front as the bell rang and the door to the classroom was closed.

"I always thought you had a bit of an ego," Conner joked.

"Shut up," Brady hissed back.

"Alright, let's pick up where we left off," Mr. Hawthorne said, moving to the front of the classroom, his booming voice immediately commanding attention of the middle school students. "Now, if you've done your homework, then you'll be fully prepared for this pop quiz I've got going."

Brady groaned along with the rest of the class as they moved to clear their things off their desk. He folded his arms and leaned against the table, hoping to make himself appear smaller. Going invisible would be perfect right about now, he thought. But knew it was useless. If he suddenly went invisible, he'd have all eyes on him when he was picked up by psychologists and government officials to poke and prod at him until he revealed everything about STAR Labs and the Flash and his identity as Shadow Hunter and…

"So…" Conner started. "How long do you think your mom will ground you if you take home another failed quiz?"

"Not long. She still doesn't know about the last one." Brady watched as Mr. Hawthorne walked around the room, passing out quizzes to hand to each other. He brought his hand to his mouth, biting his thumbnail, frowned in frustration. Of course, one of the few times he doesn't get his homework finished there'd be a pop quiz.

Brady let out a low breath, running a hand over his forehead, suddenly feeling sweat dot at his hairline. He wiped at it, let out another breath, and rubbed his hands together, palms suddenly filled with as much sweat as flooded with his pits. He was suddenly really glad his father suggested he wear deodorant that day, sure that he would've given off an even worse stench than he had to have been before.

He started to breathe in again, feeling it come in a sharp breath, releasing it as quickly. Tried to draw in another one and it was just the same. The room around him started to hum. Brady looked up as Rose passed him a quiz, muttering a low thanks, then dropped it to his desk.

"Dude, are you okay?" Conner asked. Brady shook his head. His knees started to bounce up and down. He rubbed at his arms and cracked at his neck. The hum grew louder and louder. "You really don't look so good."

"What do you mean?"

Conner motioned towards his eyes, immediately making Brady's heart sink. He'd felt that way only once before, but that time it was accompanied by the feeling of intense anger and hurt he'd never felt before. The realization of what he thought, at the time, was a life he'd have to grow up in without his mother in it.

That wasn't good.

"I'll give you twenty minutes, and then we'll—"

"Mr. Hawthorne?" Brady shot his hand into the air so fast his shoulder popped, releasing pain into his arm. It was nothing compared to the pain of his heart thrumming against his ribcage. "Can I go to the nurse?" His eyes shifted aside. "I don't feel so good."

"Brady, may I remind you that not having your homework isn't a good reason to try and go to the nurse," Mr. Hawthorne explained with a disapproving frown. "If you're unprepared for this pop quiz, then we can talk about it after."

"Mr. Hawthorne, he really doesn't look good," Rose said. "And, I don't know about you, but I don't think you want some sort of lawsuit on your hands about taking away common rights." She blinked and smiled tightly. "Like the land taken away from my ancestors."

Rachel groaned loudly, tilting her head back as she rolled her eyes. "That was hundreds of years ago, get over it already!"

"I will when you get over yourself."

"That's enough!" Mr. Hawthorne closed his eyes, sighing heavily. He pointed toward the door. "Brady, if you really feel that badly, please go to the nurse. But try to hurry back, we have a lot to go over today."

Brady nodded and got to his feet. He grabbed his backpack and hurried from the room, glancing at Conner and Leah before he left the room. He made it halfway to the nurse's office before slowing to a stop. He swallowed hard, mind whirring at a mile a minute.

The last time he went to the nurse's office, he ended up with an order to go get some shots from the doctor's office. Shots that only he and Leah had received. Shots that had, suddenly, made his father fly into a rage that he'd never seen before. All because he was afraid of the fingerprints he had to put in the system for…for something?

Almost as if he were being tracked…

Brady lifted his gaze and scanned the hallway, looked at the cameras that had been set up. Thought of all the extra measures that had been put in place since Leah first went out of control and attacked the school, since Grodd had attacked, since they'd cracked down on anyone they'd find with metahuman abilities…

Brady ducked into the bathroom, placing his hands on the counter and tried to even his breathing. Frantically searched his reflection for any changes, for his eyes to darken to an inky black or lighten to a bright yellow. Was relieved when he saw nothing. He got it, then. Got why Ryder reacted so badly about the shots, why his mom was always so worried when he went to school even when she didn't say it, the hushed whispers about certain news reports, the worries about what Lex Luthor was up to and what Chief Paulson was going to do next.

He got it.

And, in that moment, wanted, more than anything, to be a normal kid again.


Barry strolled into STAR Labs with an especially large spring to his step. Everything about the laboratories was just as he had left it. Nothing there had changed. And he was going to test out a new suit, just as he always did when Cisco added something new to the design. Finally, something that was the same. He could sit back and patrol the city as he always did, be a hero in his own right and have some intelligent conversation about…whatever it was that popped up. Not to mention being able to talk to someone about all the shows he missed, Cisco would definitely be up to that.

It was hard not to leap back into going to work, but Barry's first interaction with Cadence reminded him the best course of action of his return. If he arrived back to work the same day the Flash returned to the city, he'd have too many people looking at him funny. Wondering if there was any sort of connection there. Cadence was the first one to realize it. Then again, she'd been tasked to kill me, Barry reminded himself.

But if he put his guard down…

Barry shook his head, leaning against the back wall of the elevator, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He looked down at the fresh pair of Converse shoes he wore, a pair that would be scuffed down on the right side the more he ran and stopped on them. Nothing was better than starting up a day of training with a new pair of shoes.

Excitement that seemed to be rivaled by Cisco's own giddiness. Even Barry could hear it in Cisco's voice on the message left on his cell phone. A regular "Get to STAR Labs as soon as you can," message. But one that wasn't life or death sort of situation. There weren't many times that came across in Central City and Barry wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The bell to the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Barry strolled through the doors and to the short walk to the Cortex, barely able to conceal the grinning smile that came to his face when he saw the hub for their Team Flash activities. The "command center" of sorts seemed a little different, Barry realized as he walked toward the desk. But, otherwise, it looked the same.

"So," Barry said as he waltzed into the Cortex. "What was it you wanted to show me?" He nodded to Wally, who distractedly greeted Barry when he came in. Cisco let out a low mumble, waving his hand behind him as he leaned into his computer screen, fingers flying over his keyboard. Barry tilted his head, watching the characters fly back and forth across the screen. "What is that?"

"Fortnite," Wally replied, eyes glued to the screen. He chuckled, shaking his head. "Where've you been?"

Barry's mouth dropped then closed, as he tried to figure out the best response. Wally looked at Barry from the corner of his eye, grimacing. He let out a sigh, running a hand over his hair. "Um. Yeah, I'm, sorry Barry, I forgot…"

"It's alright," Barry replied. "I wasn't really into video games before, anyway. But…this seems really cool." He leaned closer to the computer screen. "Man, look at those graphics. And the—"he reached out to touch the computer screen, jumping when Cisco made a loud sound of protest.

"Don't touch the screen!" He cried. "Don't even breathe! I need to concentrate so I can!" He let out a yelp then shook his fists at the sky! "Curse you Chad!"

"Who's Chad?"

"The little sycophant pee-on that's going to get his ass kicked the next time we meet on this game!" Cisco flipped up the microphone that sat by his lips, the ear-piece wedged into his ear. "Oh-ho are we going to meet again! And this time, I'm going to win!" He looked to the side, as if noticing Barry for the first time and leaned back, a grin spreading across his face. "Well, hello my speedster friend. What brings you to the Cortex on this lovely day?"

Barry shot him and amused smile. "Well, it seems that I got a message on my phone saying I needed to come in this morning." He then noticed Cisco's eyebrow twitching upwards and rolled his eyes, taking a step back, allowing Cisco to stand. "Haha."

Cisco grinned, chuckling to himself, then reached out, enveloping Barry in a tight hug. Barry slapped Cisco on the back, hugging him as tightly. Relaxed, knowing that, finally, it seemed like someone missed him. He didn't realize how much he missed having Cisco around until he was stuck in the Speed Force with no one to help him get back. Had Cisco been there, too, not only would he have been entertained, but they would've thought of all the best ways to even try to get out of the prison.

"It's good to have you back, man." Cisco leaned back, gently slapping his palm against Barry's cheek. "We really missed having you around here."

"Yeah, I hate to admit it," Wally said, reaching over to give Barry a hug as well. "I missed seeing you out in the field. You know…" he slowly smiled. "Beating you in a foot race."

"Yeah, you wish."

"I think you mean Kid Flash."

"Yeah, that argument doesn't really help you, Wally." Cisco rolled his eyes and turned on his heel. He walked across the Cortex floor towards the mannequins that were set up to house their suits. Barry noticed that Cadence's and Brady's were set up and looked them over. They looked the same as he remembered. And yet, looking closer, he could see the wear and tear on the suits, months of taking down whatever it was that came up. "Come, come! I've got a surprise! A welcome back gift from your boy!" Cisco went to the sheet that covered Barry's suit and whisked it off with an excited cry of, "Kablam!"

Barry tried not to make a face. Tried not to let the first thing that came to mind take on an expression that would take down Cisco's excitement. Instead, he brought up a hand to cover his mouth. He cleared his throat and said slowly, "I mean, that was a pretty good reveal and everything." Cisco nodded. Barry rushed to continue. "But I've seen that suit, I've already used it."

"Yeah." Wally folded his arms, unable to keep the envy out of his voice. "We know you gave Barry's suit a nice, fancy makeover."

"Yeah, yeah, green eyes." Cisco held his hand out toward Wally, dismissing him. Wally chuckledin amusement. "But what you don't know, you don't know. And what I've built under all this red, beautiful leather, is stuff you can only imagine." Cisco spun in a quick circle, unable to keep a giddy giggle from escaping. Barry and Wally exchanged amused smiles. "Liiike, self-repairing armor, nano-liquid circuitry, full spectrum scanning and other things such as…" He picked up a tablet and tapped his fingers into the screen. Barry jumped as there was a low sliding sound and the eye holes of his suit suddenly turned yellow with a visor-like material that slid down. "Your very own custom made HUD."

"HUD?" Wally repeated, nose wrinkling.

"Head's up display," Barry explained. "It's a transparent display that shows data without requiring the person to look away from their usual viewpoints."

"Oh." Wally nodded. "So, like that Google Glass thing."

Cisco snorted loudly, an expression of pure disbelief written on his face. He waved a hand. "Google wishes!" He turned back to Barry and started to count off on his fingers. "I'm talking maps, schematics, delivery menus; like that Thai place you love so much."

"So everything you put into Cade's suit."

Barry's mouth dropped open in shocked surprise. He covered his mouth with his hand then slapped his palm into Cisco's hand. "Dude, this is awesome!" His heart swelled with as much pride that Cisco exuded as he worked over his good work. Barry stepped forward, looking closer at the new suit in front of him. It looked to be just the same as the suit he wore before, but something about it was…just newer. Better.

A start to a new life.

"What else does it do?"

Cisco beamed. He wiggled a finger in the air and turned to retrieve something from his desk. "Well, lucky for you, I've got an instruction manual for you." He picked up what looked to be the size of a brick and heaved it at Barry, who caught it against his chest and stumbled, working to keep himself upright. Eyes widening, Barry turned the binder in his arms and saw the multiple tabs for each new component of his suit.

TEMPERATURE CONTROL

FIRE SUPPRESSION

BABEL PROTOCOL

PULSE CANNON

COMMS

DEADLOCK

R-SK8S

FLOTATION

And little tabs that broke each tab down to an even smaller section. So much information to go through that it'd take multiple shots of sending it to his short term memory for him to remember everything he needed to learn for the long run. Barry turned a disbelieving gaze to Wally, who held up his hands and took a step back.

"You know what?" He said. "I'm good with my suit. I'm good where I'm at right now." He patted Barry on the shoulder. "Nice to have you back, Barry."

"Yeah, thanks, Wally." Barry shook his head, continuing to flip through pages. He cleared his throat, setting the instructions aside. "Yeah, uh, you know, I thought, maybe we'd, you know, have a bit of a training session today. To, uh, get back up to speed." He rolled his neck and shoulders, noticing Wally perk up from the corner of his eye. "See where my top speed's at." He extended his arms, interlocking his fingers to frack them. "Wally, did you want to help me?"

Wally shrugged nonchalantly. "'Oh, you know. Only if you needed some help. Set some time. Work out a time trial. See how fast you really are."

Lightning flashed through both of their eyes.

Cisco practically squealed in excitement, clasping his hands together. "Oh! I feel a race coming on!" He clapped his hands twice. "Come, come!" He took long strides out of the Cortex, hand still high in the air. "To the speed lab!" He stopped short, hair blowing back from his face when the speedsters raced by him. "Ok! Now you're just showing off!"


Holographic screens hung around DeVoe as he watched the news being played out in front of him. News reports on the return of the Flash. The Scarlett Speedster's arrival had excited most of the city, and yet, there were still those that felt the presence of metahumans was a recipe for danger and nothing more.

Intuitively, DeVoe could understand both sides. There was something special about the fastest man alive who could save you from potential death in the blink of an eye. An angel watching over the city with his team of heroes by his side. All the same, there were worries.

"When the Flash was gone, Flare took up a lot of what needed to be done around the city," Marlize said, drawing DeVoe's eye away form a holographic screen to look at his wife. He smiled, the corner of his mouth turning up when he saw her in her long white coat, inky black hair pulled behind her hears, slicked back to keep from her face. Alert. "And yet, the residents still fear her. Thanks to Incognito taking the first step of ruining the citizen's views of her and then the nuclear crisis that was the gorilla attack, there is disbelief in what The Flash can do upon his return."

"I'm sure we've got Lex Luthor to thank for that," DeVoe drawled.

Marlize turned to her husband, a smile in her eyes. "You don't think he's going to ruin our plans?"

"Ruin them?" He waved a hand. "Absolutely not. I've planned too long for something like that to ruin what we have. I'm always one step ahead, remember." He tapped his fingers against his temples. "And besides, I want to make sure they have some time to themselves. Think they're safe…get them when their guard is down and see how they come back from it."

Marlize shook her head. The top of her hair didn't move, the silky strands at the bottom swished with each gentle movement of her head. "Wanting to see how their minds work—"

"—Testing them—"

"—Admit it, Clifford, that's for your own amusement."

"Well…"

Marlize walked to her husband, her footsteps low, almost silent across the floor of their hideout. She ran her hand lovingly down her husband's arm before passing him by to approach the stand behind his chair. DeVoe directed his chair around, the holographic screens blinking out, and watched as his wife picked up a screwdriver and the faceplate of a Samuroid.

"As for this test," Marlize mused. She held the face in her hand, running her thumb over the smooth, metallic curves of the samurai's cheeks. "What is it going to prove?" She lifted her hand, being careful with the screwdriver that lay nestled in her fingers, and drew her fingers across the air, opening up another holographic screen. She folded her arms, tilting her head. "What do we need with him?"

DeVoe pressed his lips together, watching an image of a man standing in the middle of the forest, slowly moving through katas with a sword in hand. Black Blade. "This is a contingency plan of sorts," he murmured.

"But Clifford. You know everything that's to happen. You say there's a 90% chance that—"

"—And yet, there's that 10% chance of failure. I intend to drop that percentage even lower than that." DeVoe tightened his grasp on the arm of his wheelchair—manufactured into a hover chair. "Let me know when you're finished with that Samuroid. Something tells me we'll need more than where that one came from."

"Yes, Clifford. It shouldn't take more than a few more minutes, my love."

DeVoe smiled without smiling. "Excellent."


A/N: I'm so excited for you guys to see what's next! With a lot of different storylines. As you know I do things differently than the show, so you're gonna see what's different with Killer Frost. Not to mention what's going on with the Samuroid, that bounty list, and many others. Like I said before, I'm working to keep my pacing up so we'll see how it all goes!

I'm open to any and all predictions! :)

Cheers,

-Riles

Review Replies

DarkHelm145: Oh yeah, there's a lot of things going on early that affect this story and the next one for things that I've got planned. I really can't wait for everyone to see the whole pay off. Bbut, we've all got to wait. Lol. I hope you're excited for the next chapter!

yummers: Yeah, things with Barry aren't going to be as easy as he'd like.

Jason Hunter: You're absolutely right! Though, I realized I could have Grace come in early and then have it work through this story and through the next one with season 5.

Ethan: He's a speedster, what do you expect. Buuuut Cade can eat as much as he can and burn-literally-all the calories. And then Brady and Conner are teen boys who are very active so they're bound to eat a lot as well even though Barry could've done it all himself. Lol. Yep, that's what I'm working to portray, that it won't be easy for Barry to get back to the way things were.