Flashpoint Mayhem

by TrueHorror88

Another victory for the team, yet someone was unable to celebrate that and chose to make a world-shaking decision. Barry saved his mother from death, changing his past and his present, but it also affected others without him knowing. Seth and his family are just as affected, maybe more. The team faces newer threats, but they're not new to the Lethal Protector. They're threats.

4. Chapter 4: New Rogues, Old Villains

And now another bedtime story for you wonderful readers out there in the big wide world…

I'm really, really, sorry for the long wait… again. Had exams I had to pass, which I did, thankfully. Life's good now, done with exams.

Once again, I hope you're all safe and sound and healthy wherever you might be.

Now this chapter is gonna be based off of Season 3 E04, with the new Rogues. It's the same… with some changes, spoiler ;)

Thanks for all THE reviews and messages you've sent me. It means the world to me.

Now to answer some reviews:

Guest: Glad you liked it, really love Supernatural myself. One of CW's best shows without a doubt. Hope you or anyone else is upset about them dying.

Guest: Might use some of those villains, yeah, but no promises.

Omegahatchiyaki12: Glad to hear. Love your profile pic. Quagmire, the king!

Guest4587: Glad to hear that, my friend. They're a family, they'll get through it, that's for sure.

guest: Can't say for certain, my friend.

hunter41963801: Yeah, without a doubt. Thought it'd make a better storyline if 616 villains joined the fray, showing either superior knowledge, villainy and skills in comparison to Earth-1 villains.

Starpottergeek: Thanks for it, my friend. Though, Connors left this Earth with Matt's help in the last chapter, unfortunately.

So, without further ado…

ENJOY!

Chapter 4: New Rogues, Old Villains

Seth opened his mouth widely, letting out a yawn as he got out of his bedroom. It was the middle of the night, and he just woke up because he was feeling thirsty. He had to do it stealthy as Caitlin was still sleeping soundly in the bed.

He let out a small groan as his "other" was snoring loudly in his head. It was like having a monster slumbering in his mind. After walking to the kitchen, taking a glass of water and sipping on it, he slowly turned around.

Tilting his head in surprise, he found Ruby still awake and sitting on the couch. She didn't seem to have noticed so he walked closer to the couch from behind. Upon getting closer to her, he could see that she's got earphones plugged in, listening to loud music that even he could hear.

And upon closer inspection, he saw that she was writing on a list.

Intrigued, he chose to ask her himself. "Ruby?" He didn't get a response from her, she continued writing down another series of names. "Ruby~?" He sang her name, but he still didn't get it. Chucklingly, he reached out and pulled off her left earphone. "Rubs."

"What?" Ruby snapped around with a stern look. She calmed down when she saw it was her father giving her a narrowed look of interest. "Oh Dad, hey."

"Hey yourself." Seth said, taking a seat beside his daughter on the couch. "What are you still doing up? Homework?"

"No." Ruby shook her head. Seth didn't know if that was good or bad right now. "Finished those hours ago, I'm working on something else now."

Interested by her work, Seth took one of the papers and inspected it, his eyes running through it. It was a list of names. "Doctor Doom… Magneto… Modok… Abomination… Green Goblin." He finally recognized the names. "These are 616 villains. And not just run of the mill types, these are seriously the worst of the worst."

"I have more names." Ruby gestured to the four other pages on the table, showing four more lists of Earth-616 villains.

The elemental took one of the pages. He looked at the first name. "Juggernaut. Dear Lord, that guy was annoying."

Ruby smiled. "Yeah, I remember reading a newspaper once where you had to fight that bastard. You really had to actually trip him to defeat him?" She asked skeptically.

Seth nodded. "I had to. Trust me, it's wacko, no doubt, but I really had to trip him like that. Flames in his face didn't faze him, neither did lightning strikes to his joints. Eating him was off the table with that ugly helmet on."

"He's stronger than you, right?" Ruby wondered.

"Yeah, but when the opponent's stronger, you gotta outsmart them." Seth turned his attention back to the lists. "You've been writing down all of these all night…. Not bad."

"Figured since I'm the only one on the team who really knows your adventures, I might be able to offer up some insight this way. I know most of the villains there like you, so figured these lists would be helpful." Ruby gestured to them.

"Great initiative, Rubs." Seth ruffled her hair, and she slapped his hand away. "It's really great, but you have school tomorrow, and this is late. So tomorrow, we make this together, and bring in the others on the team. This way, we can all prepare for the worst villains that we might meet."

"Yeah… Don't you also have to go with Uncle Joe tomorrow?" Ruby asked.

"Only if there's a case." Seth reminded her. As a civilian consultant he is only to accompany Detective Joe West when there is a case. Though it was awkward to walk back into the police department and write his signature on the contract right in front of the department captain that declared him as a villain on live TV.

But worse things could have happened…

Or they might be waiting to happen…

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Standing in the Cortex everyone on the team watched the monitor, which was displaying Edward Clariss, aka The Rival, being thrown around like a ragdoll, mercilessly slammed into every surface of his cell in Iron Heights.

Seth narrowed his eyes at that, thinking it was weird. "You remember any villains with invisibility?"

"Not at the moment." The Klyntar answered while watching the video. The security footage made him hungry.

Those feelings and thoughts worried Seth greatly.

Pointing to the monitor and the footage, Joe explains. "This is from a security camera inside Iron Heights."

As it showed the invisible force disappearing with Edward, Barry added. "Forensic analysis indicates that the footage is genuine, no evidence of tampering."

Leaning back in his chair, Cisco asked. "We're pretty sure this is Doctor Alchemy that did this? Not one from Seth's hood?" He pointed a finger to the mutant beside Caitlin.

"Doubtful, not a lot of villains on my Earth who can turn invisible." Seth stated.

"And Alchemy's the last thing Clariss said before he was beaten around and disappeared." Joe chimed in.

"Unless someone else whopped him and dragged him away." Iris added.

Harrison removed his cup from his mouth. "Like a meta with telekinesis or cloaking abilities. We've got both on our Earth. That or maybe mutants from Fury's world."

Hearing that, Seth defensively countered. "Not all villains on 616 are mutants. Most of the villains are humans or enhanced people."

"He's not wrong." Ruby said. "And most of those guys are crazy powerful, and they're more bloodthirsty, they don't seem like the types to capture alive."

"Ruby's right on that, yeah." Seth nodded his agreement.

"Yeah, but they still might be out there." Jesse said.

"So, what do we do now?" Wally stated.

"Our metahuman specialist at C.C.P.D., Julian Albert, he prefers to work alone." The detective said. "But I got feelers out on his investigation."

Evelyn gestured to her father. "Wait, can't Dad join his investigation? He vouched for him after all."

"Maybe, but Seth's still a rookie and doubt Julian's gonna let him on the case yet." Joe said.

"Wow, I'm hurt." Seth feigned pain, placing a hand over his chest.

Joe pointed to the exit. "I'm gonna go there now and see if he dug up anything." He rounded the console. "I'll call you if a case comes up, partner."

"Thanks partner." Seth gave him a thumbs up. Facing his daughters, he said. "Girls, go and get ready in the Cave. I'll be there in a sec."

Frankie narrowed her eyes skeptically. "Sorry, Dad, but I doubt those power measurers will be able to help out against us. They might just break if we hit them."

"Which is why you're not gonna be fighting those…" Seth turned around, facing his daughters with a smirk. "You're gonna be fighting me."

"Yes!" Worriedly enough, all three exclaimed happily and their excitement. Ruby and Evelyn rushed towards the exit. Frankie literally jumped over the console and followed her sisters.

Caitlin nudged her mate's shoulder, getting his attention. "Are they excited about getting to train against you in a fight, or at the chance of them punching you?" She asked.

"That is… to be decided." Seth shrugged his shoulders. "Wanna come?"

"In a minute." Caitlin said. She kissed him. Separating her lips from him, she said. "Don't hurt them too much. Or get hurt."

"Will try!" He called out while leaving the Cortex.

"What're they doing?" Harry asked from behind his mug.

Caitlin turned to him. "Seth's gonna be training them himself, he's got a better chance than the machines training them."

Iris asked. "Why not have them train with Jesse and Barry?"

"None of my daughters can control their powers, they're too strong. They might just cause too much damage." Caitlin answered sheepishly. Iris understood, seeing as the three of their powers have been amplified greatly.

"Speaking of…" Jesse smiled. "You guys want to train?"

"Well, no. We have to think about getting back to our Earth. We've been here long enough." Harry argued.

"I've still got a lot to learn." Jesse said. "I mean, your words, not mine." She countered before he could say anything.

His defenses lowered. "Fine."

"Well, if you want to train…" Cisco turned in his chair, facing the men from Earth-2. "let's train. Speedster style."

X

After a while, the team watched on the console monitors as Jesse and Barry had put on their suits and ran around within the accelerator ring. As they watched them run in the 3D ring, they saw the scanners increasing rapidly.

Wally smiled. "Damn. Jesse's almost as fast as Barry."

Caitlin examined the female speedster's speed. "Velocity's just under Mach tree. Heartrate: 100 BPM's. Her vitals are normal."

Everyone standing in the Cortex had to brace themselves, holding onto anything they could reach when they felt a sudden shaking. Stammering his words, Harry faced the doctor. "Y-Y-Yeah, no. We already know all that. Cisco, we need to test her reflexes. Can we test her reflexes?"

"Patience, Harry. Patience. If anyone's gonna teach Jesse the ways of the Speed Force-"

"It's Barry." Iris finished off the viber's sentence.

"Thank-" Cisco's own words were cut off when another strange tremor-like shaking ran through the building. "Okay, Caitlin, I think the Cave needs your attention, like yesterday." He urged.

When the shaking stopped, Caitlin chucklingly nodded her head in agreement. "I'm going." She leaped out of her chair and rushed out of the Cortex.

X

(Pipeline)

WHOOSH

Jesse Quick sped back into the Pipeline, speeding after the Scarlet Speedster. Inside of the accelerator ring, she ran after him, but she ended up tripping when coming close to the bridge. She tripped and fell, rolling on the ground with incredible speed.

It was a miracle she survived and also managed to right herself, running after Barry once again.

She panted heavily as she pulled off her red domino mask. "Okay. Well, that wasn't very heroic."

"Nope, uh," Barry closed down the gate into the Pipeline. "but there is a lesson in there, somewhere."

"What's that?" Jesse followed him.

Pulling his gloves off, Barry said. "The difference between having powers and having precision."

They walked down the small slide. Jesse asked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, it's gonna take more than speed to take down some of these metas. You gotta think. Anticipate. When you enter a new environment, you gotta case every inch of it. You never run in blind." Barry stated. He lifted his head in realization. "Oh, my God. I've become Oliver."

The two speedsters gasped when they felt a tremor run through the facility. They pushed themselves up against the walls, holding them up. Jesse, with wide eyes, turned her eyes to the other speedster. "What was that?"

Before he could answer her, Cisco rushed through the hallways. "Epic training match in the Cave!" He passed a corner, quickly followed Iris, Wally and Harrison. The two speedsters shared a look before running after them, intent on seeing this "epic training match."

X

(Klyntar Cave)

"ARGH! / ARGH!" Destroyer and Magenta respectively released screams of pain when they were hurled into the wall behind them. They slid down the metallic surface of the Klyntar Cave which lit up as the kinetic energy was turned into fuel.

Seth smirked, cracking his fists and taunted his daughters. "Come on, girls, I'm barely breaking a sweat here."

Magenta's head snapped up, facing her father with brightly shining eyes. "I'm gonna make you do more than sweat, Daddy!" Swinging both of her arms upwards, like claws, she forced multiple energy absorbers out of the ground.

Each one of them felt the magnekinetic force she's projecting, shining up with immense light as a result of the energy converting into more energy. The transferred energy was so bright and much that Caitlin felt like she had to watch through sunglasses from the platform. She kept levelling their vitals and their energy output.

Just to taunt his daughters, Seth jumped out of the way before any of the absorbers under his feet ejected. Tendrils sprouted from his back, pulling him to the ceiling where he snapped around and looked down on his children with another confident smirk.

"Damn you!" Destroyer gathered up gravitational energy, wrapping it around her like an armor before catapulting off the ground, the force of which cracked the ground. Though it cracked, the energy of her jump was converted to even more energy, transferring into the rest of the lab.

With the force of her attack sending her flying like a spear, the former HYDRA assassin took out her chakram blade and lashed it outwards. As though she was a weapon herself, she aimed for her father on the ceiling. Seth smiled at her technique and slid around, dodging the attack.

Ruby's attack continued, her blade embedding into the ceiling. Even though she's in a strange position, she made sure of it. Grabbing the handle with both hands, she swung her feet to strike her father. But he blocked them with one hand, twisting it and grabbed her by one foot.

Pulling on her foot, Seth forced Destroyer to let go of her blade. She exclaimed as she was hanging upside down. "Not a bad idea, honey." He clicked his tongue approvingly before throwing her away.

Evelyn appeared out of her shadows, grabbing hold of her sister in the air and shadowported again. Frankie saw her sister reappear on the ground. The metahuman of light and darkness raised her bow, pulling back two arrows.

A black tendril spouted from the mutant's back, slithering around the handle of Ruby's weapon. Plucking it out of the surface he reeled it back and threw it just in time as Evelyn released her arrows, both of them imbued with light.

Upon collision, the chakram blade and arrows released a powerful soundwave with a blinding light. Everyone in the Klyntar Cave shielded their eyes. When the shining light finally stopped, Seth shook his head and looked down to his daughters who reacted similarly to him. "Sorry for that, girls. Forgot about the adamantium and vibranium in your weapons, sorry."

"No kidding, Dad." Ruby said, reaching under her mask and rubbing her eyes.

Seth narrowed his eyes, noticing that he only found Ruby and Evelyn down on the ground. "Where is-"

"Duck!" Venom shouted, taking control of his host's body and making him crouch, dodging the incoming sword swing from Magenta that attacked from behind. Before he could react, pink tendrils wrapped around Seth's body.

"What the…?" Seth looked back to his daughter smirking with her symbiotic face.

"Sorry Dad!" Frankie smiled.

"Down we go!" Her "other" exclaimed as both host and symbiote brought Seth down to the ground.

Caitlin frowned with a sharp intake of air, actually covering her eyes. Like a cartoon character, she spread her fingers and looked through the gap, seeing the scene unfold.

Seth had somehow returned to his full height, standing in the middle of the Klyntar Cave. He was surrounded by his daughters. Eclipse held a light broadsword close to his throat. Magenta held an axe to his stomach. Ruby had her own blade up close to his back.

Turning his eyes left and right, turning his head back, he took in his children's positions. Each one blocking him off, preventing him from escaping. "Not bad…" Seth purposely trailed off, hoping one of them would pick up his meaning.

Evelyn turned confused. "What? What's wrong, Dad?"

Slightly turning his head, Seth had a single eye meeting Frankie's pair of eyes. "Frankie, honey, what was the first thing I taught you after you started training with Magenta?"

"What?" Frankie's mind worked overtime, trying to figure out what he's referring to. Her eyes widened in realization. "Oh crap."

"Yup." Seth casually said while three tendrils spouted from different areas of his body, lashing out and pushing his daughters away from him. Two of them pushed both Frankie and Ruby up against a wall, pinning them to it. The third tendril wrapped around Evelyn, ensnaring her in a cocoon while holding her upside down.

"One of the first things I ever taught Frankie when she started training with me," Seth faced Frankie. "symbiote-users don't have blind spots."

Rolling her eyes, Frankie continued. "What the host can't see, your symbiote can. You look ahead, your symbiote can look everywhere else, eliminating your blind spots."

"Precisely." Seth nodded. "Unlike me, you haven't told your partner to watch your blind spots, something I've noticed multiple times when you're fighting. You gotta fix that, kiddo."

"Will do." Frankie nodded.

Ruby turned to her. "Think, as the symbiote-user of the three of us, you should have figured that out before any of us."

Ticked off by her words, Frankie faced her. "You're the girl who's been nerding on Dad since day one. You should have known about that."

Those words set off a huge bickering fight between the two. Caitlin and Seth turned to each other confused looks. "Should we be glad that they're acting like normal sisters and bickering, or worried that they're bickering in training?"

"Bit of both, maybe." Caitlin answered with a shrug.

"Uh, D-Dad?" The mutant turned around, facing Evelyn. He widened his eyes worriedly when he saw her face turning blue like she's being choked. "M-Mind letting me down, please? I'm not totally comfortable with hanging like this."

"Oh God, sorry honey." Seth released the hold on her, turning her around so she wasn't hanging upside down. He didn't see it, but Evelyn smirked mischievously when she used her darkness once more, disappearing out of his hold. "Serious-"

"Got you!" Evelyn shouted from behind her, throwing her entire weight on his back and making him fall to the ground. The attack to him caused Seth to release his tendrils' hold on Frankie and Ruby. Pinning him to the floor, she held a light broadsword close to his face again. "I win."

"Damn it!" He complained.

Evelyn smiled victoriously, facing her sisters. "Found Dad's weakness: He's a dad." She faced her father under her. "How was that Dad?"

"Nice job on the sneak attack." Seth held up a thumbs up, showing his approval.

Caitlin chimed in. "Not happy about you using your father's parental weakness."

"Sorry." Evelyn removed herself from her father's back. Seth got back up and showed a smile of impressiveness.

"What's the score then?" Frankie directed to her mother while getting out of her symbiotic suit.

"All four of you have one win each." Caitlin announced. Before they could jump up and down in excitement, she reminded them. "But remember this wasn't a match, this was training."

"When did we get an audience?" Ruby asked when she saw the others had gathered by the entrance, watching them intently.

Cisco had even brought his own box of warm popcorn.

"He better not have stolen that from our stash!" Frankie heard her "other" complain.

X

After the training ended, everyone moved to The Cortex to review the results of both training sessions. Caitlin was in the process of bringing up her daughters' results on the monitors. Harrison examined his daughter's results of her training. "Maybe we should stay a little bit longer." He announced.

"Yeah, I guess so." Jesse nodded agreeingly.

"It's gonna take some time to master your powers, Jesse." Barry told the Earth-2 speedster. "You'll get the hang of it."

"Yeah. I know. Thanks." Jesse told the native speedster.

Cisco turned to Caitlin. "What about your kids? How'd Mortal Kombat with their father go?"

"See for yourself." Caitlin brought up three 3D figures on the wall monitors, showing virtual forms of her children. "These are their current levels from their training session with Seth. And these…" She brought up three other measurements, placing them underneath the recent ones. "…are their previous levels."

"Holy crap." Seth muttered in shock after inspecting their levels. "The current level of their power output is doubled if not more than their previous levels. Their powers are incredibly higher than before."

"Which explains their abilities before in both training and in the field." Caitlin said. "Confused as to how this affected Ruby though. I can understand with Frankie and Evelyn seeing as they're already metas, but not with Ruby." She rubbed her chin in thought.

"Pretty simple, Snow." Harrison started. "When Ruby was inside of the Speed Force, she subconsciously took in some of the purest dark matter to exist in the multiverse. Stronger than what Seth's friend Connors took before he became Dragon."

"That explains it." Caitlin understood. "Then the same must have happened to Frankie, Evelyn and Seth too."

"Exactly, Frankie and Evelyn are stronger as metahumans now, whilst your boyfriend and Ruby must have had their powers enhanced when they took in dark matter." Harrison added, gesturing to the 616ers with a wave of his hand. "Suppose you could call them further enhanced."

"Yeah…" Seth looked at Frankie. "Then with a third dose of dark matter… Maybe Frankie's no longer magnekinetic but a ferrokinetic. Or maybe both…?"

"Can't believe that… So, Frankie might have powers to not only control metal of any size and also over magnetism?" Caitlin said.

At those words, Harry asked. "Perhaps… So, they need more training."

"Not just them…" Caitlin pressed a few keys on the computer, bringing up Seth's levels, both previous ones and current ones from his fight with their daughters. "I also took the opportunity to measure Seth's powers, to see if there were any differences in his powers after staying in the Speed Force. Looks like not much has changed, strangely enough."

Ruby crossed her arms with a scowl. "Those numbers can't be trusted, Mom. You know that, right? Dad didn't use any of his elements in our fight. He only used Venom's powers."

"I had to, I didn't want to seriously hurt my own daughters, crazy." Seth reminded her.

"While I do agree with you Seth, I do have to agree with Ruby too. If you used your mutant powers, we could see if they had been affected by dark matter." Caitlin stated. "Maybe they've gotten another powerup."

"Yeah, Seth would have turned into Mega Venom or King Venom." Cisco joked, throwing in his own suggestions for new names for the mutant to use.

"For the last time, stop giving me new names to use." Seth told the viber. "Also, I doubt my powers could have been enhanced too much…" He lit up a black flame on the tip of his index finger. "This one looks the same, and so have my other elements when I fought against Connors. Only thing that's different is I lost my discharge power completely but with good reason." He nodded to his daughters who smiled.

"And we love you for that, Dad." Evelyn hugged her father around his waist. The hug he reciprocated, wrapping his arms around her and pulled her closer to him.

At the sight of it, Caitlin smiled widely. But behind her smile… she felt a strange emptiness come over her. Absentmindedly, her hand moved slowly to her stomach, stroking it caringly… She didn't even register her own actions.

"Well…" Jesse faced Wally; her words got the attention of everyone else around them. "…since I will be here for a while, do you wanna get out of here?" Harry snapped his eyes in their direction.

"Where to?" Wally asked.

"Does it matter?" Jesse smirked, holding his hand. Together, hand in hand, the two rushed out of the Cortex.

"N- No touching!" Harrison called out, but Jesse had already sped them away. "Not what I meant by staying longer!" He sighed in concession before facing the other parents in the Cortex. "Daughters, right?"

"Don't know what you're talking about. Our daughters are angels." Seth proudly said, her arms still locked around Evelyn.

"Sure about that?" Harrison raised an eyebrow. He asked mainly because one of them tried to repeatedly attack or threaten his daughter.

"Careful." Caitlin sent him an ice-cold stern look, pointing a finger at him sternly.

Iris wrapped her arms around Barry. "I should probably get to CCPN."

"Okay." Barry accepted.

"I'll see you tonight?" Iris asked.

"Can't wait." Barry smiled.

"Okay." The reporter kissed him and walked out of the room.

"Hey, Harry." Caitlin got the scientist's attention.

"Yeah?" He faced her.

"Are you really sure you have to leave?" She asked.

"Yeah, we can't imagine our team without our resident grumpy scientist." Ruby joked.

Harry glanced at the elemental. "Thought that was your father's job." The mutant gave him the bird, sticking up his middle finger. Caitlin gave him a tilted look, getting up from her chair and walking around the console and hugged him, also lowering his hand. "Besides, I still have a lot to fix on my Earth."

"Yeah." Cisco smiled. "But you know it's more fun when you're here helping us fix stuff on our Earth."

Barry agreed. "He is right. Hasn't been the same without you."

"Got that right. Team's not the same without Harrison Wells." Cisco clapped the Earth-2 scientist's shoulder.

"Then change that." Harrison suggested, getting confused glances from everyone. "There's a whole multiverse of Harrison Wells out there at your fingertips. You want one? Let's go get one."

"So, we're gonna catch a Harrison Wells?" Seth chuckled. "Let's make a Pokeball then." Though he had every intention of working with them, he felt his phone vibrating and pulled it out of his pocket. He saw the caller id.

Caitlin saw the name as well. "Joe's calling."

"Let's see what it's about." Seth accepted the call, placing the cellular device to his ear. "Joe, what is it?"

"Seth. We got a case. I'll send you the address, meet me there. It's your first case, so be good and be there in good time." Joe instructed.

"I'll be there." Seth said before he bid his farewells to his partner. As soon as he received a message with the address, the mutant looked to his mate. "Got a call about a case, I'll have to go."

"Alright. First day at work," Caitlin dusted off his shoulders and straightened his collar. "be good and be nice."

"When am I not?" Seth inquired and he received a dry look in response. "Alright. I will." He conceded with a roll of his eyes and kissed her. "Love you."

"Love you too." Caitlin replied.

Stepping backwards, Seth looked to his daughters. "Girls, I'll have to go to work, so listen to your Mom, alright?" They nodded.

"Shouldn't I come too?" Barry asked.

"Did you get a call? No, then I think not." Seth bluntly answered before jumping out of the skylight. Barry lowered his head in sadness.

Cisco cheered him up. "Dude, don't look so down, probably not gonna need CSI on a small case which this probably is."

"Sure…" Ruby said with a hollow chuckle. She faced her mother who walked to her chair and took a seat. "Mom, mind if we go to the Cave and train some more?"

Caitlin crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back in her chair "Really? Why?"

Frankie rolled her eyes at the stern look on her mother's face. "Come on, Mom, you know we need to train more so we're prepared to be out there in the field. Otherwise, we might end up causing more structural damage. I can't let what happened last time happen again."

"No one blames you for that, honey." Caitlin told her daughter.

"Mom, please." Evelyn chimed in. "We need to become better otherwise we won't ever be good in the field again."

Sighing deeply, Caitlin nodded. "Alright, you can train. Just don't accidently kill each other, hurt too much or break a bone or something, alright?"

"What other parental instructions do you have?" Ruby joked.

Giving a mock stern look, her hands placed on her hips, Caitlin stated as an authoritarian mother.

"Do your homework first."

X

(Mercury Labs)

"Yeah, I'm here, Captain." Joe told his captain over the phone while standing in front of the newly reconstructed research company and waited for the mutant to come and meet him. "I'll keep an eye on our consultant, who's on his way now."

"Good Joe. Hope you guys can handle yourselves without CSIs on this case." David said.

Shrugging his shoulders, the detective told him. "Seth's got the mindset of a doctor with field experience, might be able to compensate for a CSI. Albert and Barry's working on the case with Clariss' disappearance."

"One of them is, yeah." David told him. "Keep me updated, detective." The captain hung up.

Joe closed his phone and placed it back in his inner pocket of his jacket. What he told his captain was a lie, about having Seth work on the case without the CSIs. The elemental still hates the speedster and isn't afraid to show his hate.

He had to keep them separate… till they're okay and on good terms again.

"Hey." Joe turned his head, seeing the elemental rush towards him. "Sorry for taking too long."

"It's alright, partner." Joe tapped his shoulder. "Ready, rookie?"

"Put me in, Coach." Seth joked and Joe chortled. They walked towards the entrance. "What's the case?"

Pulling out his notepad, flipping through the pages he stated. "Apparently Dr. McGee called CCPD earlier, wondering if she could speak to me. She wanted my help with this case." Gesturing to the newly reconstructed Mercury Labs. "According to a few scientists, they've had a break-in within the last few nights, but it was weird."

"Weird how?" The mutant asked as they passed through the slide doors.

"That's what we're here to figure out." Joe told them as they reached the receptionist's desk. Showing his badge to the receptionist. "Detective Joe West and my associate, Dr. Seth Fury with CCPD, we're here because Dr. McGee called us."

"Ah, Detective West." Both Seth and Joe turned their heads, seeing Christina McGee in a white suit walking towards them. "It's a pleasure to see you again, wish it was under better circumstances though." She shook hands with the detective.

"Likewise, Dr. McGee." Joe agreed. Waving to Seth, he said. "You remember Seth, right? He's now an associate of CCPD, as a civilian consultant."

"I do remember him, yes. Pleasure to meet you again, Dr. Fury." Christina shook hands with him.

"You too, Dr. McGee." Seth nodded, happy that someone like this could still remember him. "It's my first case as part of CCPD, but I hope I can be of use."

"With your mindset and skills, along with Detective West's skills, I'm sure you'll be able to help us." Christina waved them over, having them follow her deeper into the company. "I truly wish we could have met under better circumstances, seeing as the last time we met was when Henry was killed." She turned her head to face them as they all entered the elevator. "Please extend my condolences to Barry Allen."

The elevator rode up and Joe nodded. "Thank you and will do. On the phone you specifically asked for me. Why is that, Dr. McGee?"

Christina waited for the elevator to reach the floor. When the doors slid open, she answered. "It's a peculiar matter to say. I think my scientists would be better equipped to explain the case to the both of you." They walked forward and came to stop in front of a room with a glass door.

Seth noticed an ID card scanner on the wall beside the door. Christina reached into her pocket, pulling out her ID card, sliding it over the scanner. The device emitted a blue light, acknowledging the ID and the doors slid open.

"This is where the case took place." They walked into a lab area, split in two. One side showing a chemical lab with multiple chemicals and other equipment. The other side displays everything necessary to be a technological lab. "I believe my employees will be able to help you out. Where is that girl?" She scanned the area.

"Can't believe she's losing track of her employees." Venom mused.

The three heard a heavy bumping sound that seemed to shake a table. "Ow!" Seth raised his eyebrows in shock as he heard what sounded like a familiar feminine voice. "I'm here, I'm here." The scientist in question showed their head from under a table, showing the face of….

Eliza Harmon!

"What the hell is she doing here? Alive and not an ice popsicle!" Venom shouted.

"Sorry, sorry, Dr. McGee." Eliza came out from under the table, rubbing the top of her head. "I was looking around, checking to see if we had missed anything. I ended up looking under the table for a while."

Christina chuckled. "I do appreciate your helpfulness and your thoroughness, Dr. Harmon. I truly do. But I do believe I instructed you to leave this to CCPD officers." She made a gesture to Joe and Seth.

She finally noticed the officers and gasped. "Oh, I'm so sorry, officers." Eliza walked around the table, holding out her hand to them.

"Nice to see you, Dr. Harmon. I'm Detective West." Joe greeted her, shaking her hand.

"Oh, um… I'm Seth Fury, civilian consultant to the CCPD." Seth greeted her after stammering in confusion. He was confused and shocked to actually see her like this. Last time he saw her was when she was frozen in a miniature iceberg and inside of a containment cell in the Pipeline. Now she's thawed out and in good and healthy condition. "Nice to meet you."

"You too. Means a lot to have you guys here, helping us with this case." Eliza admitted.

Ready to take notes now, Joe asked. "What exactly happened, Dr. Harmon? We haven't received any indications as to what kind of case this is."

"Other than that, it's a peculiar case." Seth used Christina's own words while walking around the lab area, examining everything around him.

"Thought it'd be best if they hear it differently from you, Dr. Harmon." Christina nodded to her employee.

Nodding her thanks, Eliza took over. "We think there was a break-in, and that we lost some valuable tech."

"A break-in?" Seth asked, having a serious look as he looked around. He had to brush aside his confusion about Eliza's sudden appearance for the sake of the case. While examining the lab, he asked. "Are you sure about that, Dr. Harmon?"

"We are sure of that, officer." This time another familiar voice drew Seth's attention, making him snap at the speed of light and come face to face with another familiar face. Standing there is a golden-haired young woman with red highlights and brown eyes, her body clad in a white lab coat. Even though she's wearing glasses with blue rims and her hair is pulled into a ponytail, the mutant could recognize her anywhere.

The scientist faced the officers. "Apologies for coming sooner, I had to take a bathroom break. My name's Joan Celia-"

"JC?" Seth asked absentmindedly, garnering the new scientist's attention.

Joan turned shocked. "JC? Only my Dad ever called me by name. How'd you know?"

Quickly donning his agent-like expression, Seth stated. "Sorry, you looked like a friend of mine who I used to call JC. You reminded me of her."

"Oh…" Joan nodded. "Okay. Understandable. But please call me Joan, if possible." Seth nodded his confirmation, assuring her she wouldn't hear him utter her nickname again. She returned to the matter. "But as mentioned, we are adamant that something was stolen from the lab."

The detective turned to the three scientists. "Can you tell us what was stolen?" He asked while Seth continued examining the two sides of the lab area.

"Better we show you." Joan took a tablet, tapping the blank screen and turning it on. She handed it to Joe who accepted it. "We worked on this and it's missing."

"Um…" Joe looked over the 3D blueprints, but it ended up hurting his eyes. Science went so far over his head it might as well break a hole in the stratosphere. "Seth." Thankfully, his partner's a scientist. "Mind checking this out?"

Accepting the tablet with a humored chuckle, Seth looked over the schematics. Joan faced the detective. "Your fellow officer can understand the science?" She asked Joe curiously while watching the consultant examine the 3D blueprints.

"He's not an officer, he's our newly-appointed civilian consultant, Dr. Seth Fury, with a background in advanced medicine and biochemistry. This is our first case together, his first case too." Pointing a pencil at his partner, he added. "Unlike me, he'll be able to understand the science."

"Hopefully." Joan acted skeptically. Both Christina and Eliza looked at her confusedly, not liking her current attitude.

Her skepticism didn't go unnoticed by the mutant who finished his inspection. "You constructed some kind of portal extractor." He stated, his declaration shocking Joan into widening her eyes. "Not just that, it's made to also have some kind of special container. Two in one, if I'm right."

"Not bad. Impressive." Joan said with a thumbs up.

"He passed your test now?" Eliza asked her colleague who nodded. Turning her head, she faced Seth. "Sorry for my colleague's little test, she's always like this from working on machines and technology, not really open to people." JC rolled her eyes at her colleague's usual comments.

"You're the tech wiz here?" Seth wondered.

Christina proudly answered, gesturing to both of her employees. "Eliza works with biochemistry, much like your Dr. Snow, whilst together with Joan works with technology. One's an outstanding bioengineer, the other's a brilliant mechanical engineer. They're the pride and joy of Mercury Labs."

Seth heard a chuckle in the back of his mind. "They even got their own Cisco and Caitlin here after the destruction of the company."

"Funny." The host quipped.

Joe looked at the device on the tablet. "What could this device be used for? By knowing that, we might be able to narrow down a list of who might steal it."

Joan answered after nodding her acceptance. "The device we constructed together is made, as Dr. Fury noted, to be a portal extractor. It ejects a tube that sucks up contaminated liquid or a unique plant that's to be examined from dangerous environments."

"And the device itself is constructed to measure the natural environment, then it'd mimic those conditions and be able to hold the liquid viable and alive for transport." Eliza continued.

"Hence the container part." Joe deduced, the two Mercury scientists nodding their confirmation. "Why would anyone want this device?" Once again, he looked over the blueprint of the device in question. Once again, the science went over his head.

A theory formed in his head and Seth let it out. "Could the device be used to retrieve something from deep under water?"

"We did have scuba divers experiment with the device underwater, where it actually retrieved pearls from oysters along with seawater." Joan replied.

"So, it can be used to retrieve more than plants and water." Seth noted. He took in the surroundings again. "But…" He stroked his chin in thought.

"What is it?" Joe asked him, curious as to what Seth's thinking.

Gesturing to his surroundings, both sides of the lab area he answered. "Dr. McGee, is it correct to assume that the entire company has been reinforced after what happened last year?"

"That'd be correct, yes." She answered.

"And also, that every door like that has a card scanner like the one in this room? Plus, windows are reinforced." He tapped the windows, barely hearing the sound. Intrigued by where this might be going, Christina nodded her confirmation once more. "Well, I'm guessing someone walked in here."

"Walked in here? In a high tech facility like this?" Joan showed her skepticism once more.

"What do you mean?" Eliza asked.

"What makes you say that, Seth?" Joe asked.

Walking closer to the window closest to him, Seth elaborated. "Look at the windows. Not a single one of them is touched, like they're okay. If someone broke in, they'd be broken right now and there'd be shards all over the floor." He pointed to the squeaky clean floor. "Not a single shard here… Means we're not dealing with either a metahuman or someone who crawled in from the inside."

He continued, pointing to either side of the lab. "And both sides here are completely untouched, it doesn't look like anything's broken. That's unusual for a B&E."

"He's right about that." Joe agreed.

"And this door…" He pointed to the entrance to the lab. "It's untouched too, and like Dr. McGee explained, only ones with ID cards can walk through them. This means we could be dealing with an employee who took the device, if they have an ID card."

"Seems likely yeah…" Joe inspected the lab as well. "There's no security cameras in here."

"We deal with sensitive matters of various kinds here, Detective West. Security cameras could be used against us in the event the tapes are stolen by rival companies." Christina stated.

"What about those cards and scanners? Wouldn't there be a list or record of whoever enters the specific rooms?" Seth asked.

Mulling it over, Christina nodded. "Administration should have one, yes. I'll go ask them."

"I'll come with you. Seth, keep looking." Joe instructed his partner while walking after the CEO. The mutant nodded and continued his inspection.

Seth crouched down, looking around the floor with interest. "Wonder who could have stolen your tech?" He asked himself.

"Hopefully, the records would be able to clear some things up." Eliza stated. "We spent so long and so many hours on that device."

"We'll get it back for you, Dr. Harmon. We promise you that." Seth promised her. Though inwardly he did find it weird that she was acting so casually around him despite knowing he's Venom and is a hero in secret…

Or a villain in secret as the city calls him.

Returning to his feet, he faced Joan. "JC- I mean, Joan!" He corrected himself. Joan looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry, but… I remember what happened to your father's bar. Sorry for it."

"You know of my Dad's business?" Joan asked. "How? I barely went there myself."

"She never worked there." Seth thought. "Since I came to Central City three years ago, your Dad's bar is the first place I knew of and visited most. Me and Joe went there a few times actually together." He smiled at the fond memories. "Think I actually met your Dad a few times. He's pretty cool."

"He never mentioned anyone like you." Joan said. "But then you know very well that my Dad had to leave Central City when his bar got wrecked by the Singularity. I hated that that happened."

"He left?" Seth asked in shock.

"Went to Bludhaven, yeah." She answered. "Think he's working together with a friend of his, Rooster, in another bar."

"Might have to visit the place in the near future." Seth said.

"Give him my regards." Joan said.

Eliza walked closer to the consultant. "You seem a bit… overqualified to be a civilian consultant, Dr. Fury."

"Maybe, but I'm not complaining. It's a paying job, I can support my family, work together with my best friend and help protect my city." Seth honestly said. He saw both Christina and Joe return slowly. "Though I am disappointed to not get free doughnuts!" He spoke loud enough for his partner to hear him.

"Work a few more cases, then you'll be swimming in them, brother." Joe quipped. "But we got bad news now."

"What is it?" Seth asked.

Christina stepped forward, showing them a printed schedule. "This is a schedule that shows who's entered this lab, registered via their ID cards. It also shows when they're each leaving."

Running his eyes over the schedule, Seth noted. "Wait, it says that someone else registered themselves after Eliza and Joan, but there's no name. It just says "blank.""

"That's actually on purpose." Joe announced. "In the event an employee loses their ID card, or something else, Mercury Labs' administration division provides them with a spare card that acts as a key card to any room in the building."

"A skeleton key. Lovely." Seth joked.

"What?" Joe asked in confusion, having never heard that name before.

"A master key that can open any room." Eliza explained.

"Oh." Joe understood. "Means anyone with such a card could have entered this room. Dr. McGee," he faced her. "you keep a record of these cards?"

"Unfortunately, we do not." She regretfully announced. "Most employees lose their IDs maybe twice a week, so we make sure to keep a number of spare cards in lock in administration."

"Means we have no way to determine or find out who could have walked in here and stole your device." Joe surmised.

"Yeah…" Seth understood his feelings. But when he glanced out a window, he had a flash of inspiration. "Wait a second. Dr. McGee, is it not true you have security cameras outside the building?" She nodded. "Means if we got the tape records from last night and yesterday, we might be able to find out who broke in here."

"Seth's right." Joe nodded his agreement. "Could we get access to your security tapes, Dr. McGee?"

"Yes, of course anything to help retrieve our devices." Christina nodded.

"Devices?" Joe asked. "As in plural, as in more than just one?"

"Yes, we made two devices and both were stolen, unfortunately." Christina answered.

Both Joe and Seth had to withhold their groans of dismay at the sound of that.

X

(CCPD)

Returning to CCPD, both Joe and Seth went to work, looking over the security tapes that Christina sent them immediately upon their departure from Mercury Labs. They've spent the better half of the hour going through them… and they've only gotten one thing.

"Bupkis!" Seth groaned, leaning back in his chair while seated at Joe's desk.

Joe ran his hand down his face. "So, no one entered the building during the night." It was the obvious conclusion to reach after looking through security footage and didn't find a single suspicious person entering during the night.

"Which means someone could have hidden in Mercury Labs while everyone else left." Seth suggested.

"And they could have lied their way into getting a spare card." The detective added, following his partner's train of thought. Once again, he glanced at his watch. "Hope she's coming soon."

His words made the mutant perk his head up. "Who? You expecting someone?"

"With that name Alchemy popping up all of a sudden, I asked D.A. Cecile Horton for a favor, hoping she could see if that name popped out somewhere else." Joe explained.

Seth formed a cheeky smile. "Is this the same Cecile Horton you have the hots on?"

"I do not." Joe answered very quickly.

"Detective West?" Seth got his attention. He pointed a finger to his face. "Living lie detector here, can't lie to me."

"Shut up." Joe got up. "Got to hand this off to the receptionist."

"Yeah, I can go now? I have to buy groceries before going home. And I need some blanks to be filled which I think Caitlin can help me with." Seth stated.

"Yeah sure. Go ahead." Seth nodded his thanks and fist-bumped with the detective before walking off toward the elevator. Joe walked to the receptionist, handing him a file folder. "Forgot to hand you this one, Officer."

"Thank you, Detective. This the case you worked with the rookie consultant?" He asked.

"Yeah. He didn't give me too much hassle, though. So, a bonus there." Joe quipped with a smile.

"Uh only the first case, West. Wait till the third case, then they'll drive you crazy." The officer admitted with a chuckle.

"Hey."

Joe turned his head, coming face to face with Cecile Horton who walked to him with a folder and a smile. "Oh, hey." He greeted her with a smile of his own.

The district attorney held out the folder. "So sorry. I got held up at the courthouse."

Accepting the folder, Joe assured her. "No problem. You're the one doing me the favor." He opened the folder.

Cecile hesitatingly stated. "Yeah, I wouldn't thank me just yet."

Joe found the reason for her statement, reading through the findings she found, or lack thereof. "Oh, you couldn't find anything."

"Nope." Cecile confirmed as they moved to the desks area again. "No one at the DA's office knows anything about anybody named Alchemy."

"Oh, damn." Joe let out in disappointment.

Cecile looked around, making sure no one was within hearing distance before asking the detective in a whisper. "This is, um… metahuman-related, I assume?"

"It appears to be." He answered in a whisper.

"Yikes." Cecile muttered in shock.

"I know." The detective nodded his agreement.

"Well at least it's nothing about that maniac, Venom, right?" Cecile chuckled. Joe didn't answer, conflicted about what to say. "Okay, you let me know if there's anything I can do for you, yeah?"

"Yeah… Thanks for bringing it yourself, Cecile." Joe smiled his appreciation.

She chuckled with a wide smile herself. "It's my pleasure." She walked away.

The detective… he couldn't tear his eyes away from her.

X

(Snow-Fury Residence)

"Honey, I'm home!" Seth jokingly called out as he entered his home. His hands tightened around the straps to shopping bags.

"Welcome home, babe." Caitlin called out from the kitchen. Turning away from the cutting board, she saw him walk towards her with shopping bags. "You went grocery shopping?"

"As promised." He smirked, pulling out a pack of powdered doughnuts. "Even bought doughnuts."

Caitlin chuckled. "Really settling into the cop life, huh?" She joked. Giving a mock bow, Seth began putting the groceries into the fridge and cabinets. "How was your first day at work?"

Seth answered. "Not much different than when working with him at S.T.A.R. Labs. Though it was nice not to rely on my powers like always." He tilted his head. "Did meet someone I didn't expect to see here on a case, to be honest."

"Someone interesting?" Caitlin cheekily asked in a mock interrogating voice.

"Someone I thought was an iceberg." Seth clarified and she looked confused with her eyes narrowed to slits. "Eliza Harmon." He informed her. The confusion was still on her face. "Eliza Harmon? Trajectory? The lady who kept injecting herself with V9? Turning her into an artificial speedster? Stopped her with Blizzard Bombs? Any of this ringing a bell?"

"Seth, you know-" Caitlin stopped herself, gaping her mouth in realization. "Right, Flashpoint changes and all." She lowered her knife, walking over to her mate and explained. "In this new timeline, you and I managed to help Eliza. We took her out of the iceberg we used on her, and treated her. V9 was completely out of her system, thankfully. More importantly, her time in the iceberg caused her some level of amnesia, and she didn't remember anything about S.T.A.R. Labs, the team, about our family and the secret identities there."

"That's good." Seth said. "Explains why I met her today at Mercury Labs and she didn't seem to recognize me."

"Mercury Labs?" Caitlin asked. Understanding her confusion, Seth spent the next few minutes explaining his first case. She listened closely, hearing all of his words and taking them in. When he was finished, she stated. "Mercury Labs was robbed by someone, and they stole a device that Eliza and JC made."

"And JC never worked at Stan's bar in this new timeline." Seth added, taking a small slice of chives and bit into it. "So many things are messed up because of Flashpoint."

"Yeah." Caitlin leant over the counter. "But at least we're together again, you, me and our daughters."

"Best silver lining of all times." Seth leant forward, his lips meeting hers in a lip lock. Closing their eyes, their heads tilting clockwise, their kiss deepening and the sensations that followed expanded to new limits. Caitlin raised her hand, stroking and caressing the side of her mate's cheek.

Unknowingly to her… white cryogenic mist emanated from her stroking hand.

Her eyes opened and she noticed what's happening. Her lips immediately left Seth's and she withdrew her hand immediately. Her action momentarily confused the elemental, but it faded when he saw her hand expel cold mist.

Curious of her expression he saw her cheeks completely crimson red from her blush. Smiling at that, he teased. "Now we know what happens to you when you get interested, huh?" He winked.

"Shut up." Caitlin said, not in a tease but in a serious voice and shook her hand to try and rid herself of the mist. She finally got rid of it and sighed in relief. "Finally."

"You okay, Cait?" He asked in concern, her face plastered with fear and worry.

Caitlin turned back to him. "I'm sorry, it's just… My powers might be acting up now, and it scares me. I just don't want to leave."

"Hey." Seth cupped her hand, the one that expelled icy mist. "You're not gonna leave, Cait. I promise you that's never gonna happen." His hand travelled up her arm, reaching her face and stroking her cheek gently. "There's nothing to be afraid of. Powers are the new normal."

"I know… You told me that before… But I'm just afraid." Caitlin said, leaning over to hug him. "Thanks for being here for me."

"Always." He kissed her nose. "You've got me and our beautiful and amazing daughters…. Who isn't here for some reason?" He noted when he didn't feel metal shaking, an intense gravity or even shadows erupting.

"They're at S.T.A.R. Labs, still training in the Cave." She returned to cooking, preparing bread. Seth joined her, cutting chicken breasts and paprika into stripes and Caitlin continued. "They're adamant on improving themselves, getting their increased powers under control. Especially Frankie, she's still blaming herself for what happened back in the sewers. She's pushing herself too much. The three of them were exhausted today, and Frankie kept going. I was afraid she was gonna pass out soon enough."

"We should talk with her." Seth suggested. Caitlin nodded and the two resumed cooking. More pieces were still missing in Seth's puzzle, and he had to find the missing pieces soon.

A strange poof sound emitted behind them, and they turned around to find their daughters in the middle of the living room. All three of them are exhausted, panting and have mild bruises on their bodies as well as their suits are tattered.

"Hey." Frankie greeted them with a wave of her hand.

"Sorry we're late, Mom." Evelyn told her mother.

"It's fine." Caitlin assured her.

"Now before the three of you eat…" Seth sniffed the air, covering his nose immediately when he smelt burnt clothes coming from his daughters' clothes. "Take a bath, you stink."

"Blame Evie, she shoots lights." Ruby directed the blame to her sister.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, Breach Room)

The next day, standing in the Breach Room are Caitlin, Cisco and Harry Wells. Those three have been working on the formula and machine to contact a Wells from another universe, asking them for their aid so they could take Harry's place as the Harrison Wells on Team Flash.

Seth is with them, but his eyes are glued to a tablet in his hands, displaying live footage from within the Klyntar Cave. Through this footage, he could see his daughters fighting and training with each other.

He knew they knew he's watching them and they're okay with it, but parts of him, as a father, hated he had to spy on his children like this. But after seeing them so exhausted and their suits damaged yesterday, he felt it was necessary for him to watch over his daughters this way.

"Friday, keep monitoring them and their power levels. If any erratic or sudden spikes in their power outputs, notify me immediately." He instructed the female AI.

"Sure thing, Boss. Want me to notify Boss Lady, too?" Friday inquired.

Seth looked confused. "Boss Lady?"

"Caitlin Snow." She explained.

Caitlin herself turned to face her mate with her hands on her hips. "You programmed her to call me "Boss Lady"?"

"I didn't do any programming to her since Matty handed her off to us." Seth assured his mate.

"Boss is right, Iron Boss programmed me with those names."

"Iron Boss?" Seth shared a look with Caitlin who giggled sheepishly. "Dear God, Matt is ridiculous." He rubbed his head.

"What are you talking about? It's a great name." Cisco argued, facing the formula on the glass whiteboard.

"One of these days, we're gonna give the goofy man a children's book with names. He might get a better naming sense with that." Venom said.

Seth chuckled. "Yeah, nothing more villainous than Baby Johnny."

"Better than those awful Teletubbies." Seth was confident he could feel his "other" shiver at the name.

After examining the formula and equation on the board, Cisco asked the Earth-2 scientist. "How sure are you that this will work?"

"Pretty sure." Harrison said while adjusting the satellite-like machine he's working on.

After being here for a very long time, Caitlin gestured to the machine and the transparent board. "Okay, but how's this going to help us find another Harrison Wells?"

Harry glanced at her. "You ever go fishing, Snow?"

"No." She shook her head.

"Fury, you?" Harrison asked the mutant.

"Back on 616, yeah." Seth nodded.

"Right. Well, then you know when you go fishing you use lures." Harrison started. "Lures attract fish. Fish end up on your fishing pole. This satellite is our fishing pole through which we're gonna cast our very tempting bait out into the world's largest ocean."

"Okay. How?" Caitlin inquired, still confused about his plan.

"How?" Harry nodded to the viber. "Cisco will open a breach and this satellite will shoot a message embedded with a tachyon-enhanced laser out into the multiverse and any Earth that is technologically advanced enough should be able to receive it."

Caitlin understood his idea, and Seth looked uninterested, focusing on the tablet and live footage from the Cave.

"Okay." Cisco understood. "Let's say this somehow works. Just because they can solve a riddle," He tapped the board. "doesn't mean they're a right fit for the team."

"A riddle? Did you say riddle?" Harrison looked hurt, stepping closer to the railing. Cisco nodded. "How dare you, sir? This is not a riddle. This is a complex algorithmic cryptogram designed to test deductive reasoning, IQ, problem solving skills, anything that our team will need to combat threats, metahuman or otherwise." He handed the viber his Vibe Goggles.

"Okay." Caitlin nodded, summing up his plan. "So, you're just sending out an intergalactic test to all of your doppelgangers in the multiverse."

"And a Buzzfeed Quiz was unavailable? They're more fun." Seth joked.

"Not just a test, Snow, and this isn't anything as simple as a Buzzfeed Quiz, Fury." Harry defensively said. "Think of it as an invitation, think of it as an elaborate help wanted ad."

Caitlin and Seth shared a look of intrigue.

"Will it test their attitudes too?" Cisco asked, checking his goggles. "I'm not sure I can stomach another Wells with your bedside manner."

"I care for you too, you jack wagon." Harrison said back while initiating the satellite. "System is calibrated. What are you waiting for?"

Cisco put on his goggles that emitted a beeping sound. He raised his hand, projecting a vibe blast from it to the breach platform. He opened a breach. "And…" Harry trailed off, pressing a key on his monitor. The satellite lit with red light before shooting a red beam into the breach. The breach closed and Harrison announced. "That's it."

"That's it?" Caitlin asked.

"Yeah. That's it." Harrison confirmed.

"So, now what?" Cisco asked.

"Now?" Harrison said. "We go get a Big Belly Burger." He suggested. Seth didn't disagree but then the Earth-2 scientist faced him. "But first, Fury… about these 616 villains that might show up here? Are they really stronger than the villains we've faced? Compared to the metahumans we've faced."

"With the exception of Zoom, Reverse-Flash, yeah." Seth nodded. "The metas we've faced lately have their powers for one or two years at best, but the ones on 616 either don't have powers or have superpowers, but they've got more experience than any of the villains we've seen."

"And Dragon wasn't so easy either." Cisco chuckled.

"I'll take care of them if they show up." Seth stated adamantly. "I have the best chance of fighting them and winning." He informed them confidently. "Don't worry, I'm stronger than I was on 616, I can win."

Caitlin didn't like how he seemed assured he wanted to fight this war alone. As though he didn't have a doubt about standing as the vanguard against 616 villains.

X

Everyone met up in the Cortex, talking about what happened last night. Apparently, a criminal from the past returned, throwing an old associate of Leonard Snart's into… a mirror, causing him to fall out of a second story window.

The criminal in question is Sam Scudder who's going after everyone in Snart's old crew to track him down. Problem with his little vengeance plan is that Sam's not gonna be able to find him. Seeing as Leonard left with some friends of theirs on a trip.

Joe tackled this problem from another end, speaking to one of Leonard's old crew at Iron Heights.

Everyone watched the criminal's profile on the monitor. Caitlin narrowed her eyes. "Good looking guy." Seth turned his head to her, narrowing them suspiciously. "For a criminal." Her mate acted hurt, mockingly placing a hand over his chest. "Babe, I only got eyes for you."

"I don't believe you." He pouted in mock hurt.

Caitlin chuckled, stepping closer to him and kissed him. Before anyone could see it, she quickly and cheekily bit his lower lip. Seth literally feared he would smoke like a chimney from being near Caitlin. She pulled away. "Believe me now?" He rapidly nodded his head.

"Well, he's more than just a criminal now." Barry said. He shivered when he saw Seth give him a glare. "Apparently he's a meta who can travel through mirrors."

Cisco peaked up. "Oh, oh, I got this one. He's a-"

"Mirror Master." Harry causally jumped in.

"What the-"

"Boom." Harrison boasted.

"That's good." Barry praised him.

"Thank you." Harry thanked the speedster. "We had a Mirror Master on our Earth. Evan McCulloch. He wasn't a meta, though. He had some kind of Mirror Gun that he used."

"Sounds familiar." Seth muttered.

"He should, Dad." Evelyn her parents' attention. "He was on Earth-2, a metahuman that worked for Blackfire."

"And I killed him." Seth remembered the scumbag that stood guard at the Viking Motel. "Yeah, remember he did have a gun that he used. But I broke it to pieces before he could use it."

"How'd it work?" Barry asked.

"What part of "I broke it before he could use it" did you not understand?" Seth sniped. "I didn't see it in use."

Harrison quickly pitched in. "Must've had dimensional warping tech that changed everything into two-dimensions. Wanted to test the gun myself and see how it worked, but Fury prevented that from happening."

"No regrets." Seth stated with crossed arms. "World's better without scum like him and Blackfire." He clenched his hands, his joints igniting small black sparks from his flames.

"Well, Scudder is hell-bent on finding Snart and he's going after anybody that worked with him in the past." Barry said.

"Joe's at Iron Heights, interviewing one of them right now." Seth informed them. The speedster turned shocked. Seeing it, he reminded him candidly. "He's my partner, we work together."

"You said Iron Heights?" Cisco asked the elemental who nodded before returning to the computer. "Well, all of Snart's known associates are either presumed dead or have gone AWOL except for one." He brought up the profile of the person in question, showing it on the monitors.

Once again Seth felt a sense of familiarity come over him at the sight of the woman with golden blonde hair with green eyes. "I've seen her before."

"You have?" Caitlin looked at him suspiciously, crossing her arms. "You know a good looking criminal, huh?"

"Don't know her, but I've seen her before." Seth clarified. Snapping his fingers in realization, he revealed. "Right, I met her Earth-2 doppelganger, she fought with us against Zoom's army. She's dating Earth-2 Prism."

"Weird match." Ruby chuckled.

"Rosalind Dillion." Harrison read her name.

Frankie stepped closer to the monitors. "Says she has the ability to induce crippling vertigo."

Suddenly both Cisco and Harry stammered, competing against one another to find a nickname for this villain.

"She had a nickname on Earth-2." Seth thought hard about the name, knowing Felicity told her of her friends. "It was t-"

"TOP!" Cisco cut him off. "Like a top. She's a top. That's her name. Top. Amazing." He boasted, facing Harrison. "What? You wanna go?"

"Calm your horses." Frankie told them.

"These two are horrible." Magenta sighed.

"Okaaaay…" Caitlin stated in a long sentence. "Do we think that she can lead us to Scudder?" She directed to her mate.

"Leave it to Joe. Dillon's got no idea what she's about to face." Seth stated confidently.

"Means we got time to kill." Frankie cracked her fists; both her parents knew what their daughter's thinking of. She turned to her sisters. "Wanna train?"

"Sure." Ruby accepted and walked with Evelyn to the Cave.

"Evie, Rubs, go ahead, your Mom and I need to talk with your sister." They nodded to Seth's instructions and walked into the corridors.

"What's wrong?" Frankie asked her parents who walked closer to her.

Barry saw a chance to help. "Anything I can help you with?"

"You're not her parent, so no you can't." Caitlin stated bluntly. Harry and Cisco pulled the speedster away. Calming down, the secret icy metahuman looked to her child. "We wanna talk about your training, honey."

"What is it?" Frankie asked worriedly.

Seeing her worry, Seth directed to take a seat as he said. "Frankie, honey, it's nothing to worry about. It's just we're worried about you and your training."

Frankie nodded her acceptance and Caitlin started. "We've seen you working hard and it's good, but… It's worrying us." She took a seat herself. "Last night you came home bruised and hurt from overtraining. I had to check your condition after dinner."

"Mom, I have Magenta, I heal quickly." Frankie argued.

"You may heal, honey, but it doesn't mean you can't get tired or hurt." Seth crouched down before her. "We know you're still blaming yourself for what happened back at the sewers." Frankie's head lowered. Sighing she gently pushed her head back up, making her wet eyes look into his eyes. "Oh baby, don't cry."

"Sorry." She wiped the tears away. "It's just…. It was my fault."

"She gets that from you." Caitlin nudged Seth's arm. Frankie chuckled with her mother who turned back to her. "Honey, you and your sisters are dealing with new powers again, it's natural that you'd be struggling to control them like this, it's still so new to you and your sisters. What happened back there is unfortunate, but it's not on you. No one got hurt, and that's what is most important." She cupped her daughter's hands. "It also helped, making you aware of what you need to do, Frankie. You're working hard to try and control your new powers, which means you're not doing nothing, you're moving forward."

Raising one hand, she stroked her cheek. "That's all you need to do, honey. Just continue like that and you'll be the strongest, and easily get those powers under control, Frankie." She assured her daughter. Frankie smiled. "There it is… Now you can train all you want, but please, please…." She pleaded. "Be careful, don't overestimate yourself, your powers and… have fun."

"Thanks, Mom." Frankie smiled widely. "Means a lot."

"Don't mention it." Caitlin took her mate's hand. "It's what we're here for, Frankie. We're family, after all." She kissed her forehead.

"Mom, Dad… I'm gonna be a really good hero, like Venom, like Dad." Frankie declared, which shocked the mutant till his eyes wettened.

Caitlin smiled widely. "That's the spirit, honey." She smiled. "Go on, your sisters are waiting for you." Frankie nodded and ran towards the Klyntar Cave. Turning back to her mate, she showed a motherly concerned expression. "They grow up so fast."

"Yeah… It's hard." Seth honestly said.

The native doctor saw his expression. "What is it, Seth? You look worried and shocked."

"Our daughter says she wants to be a hero like me… even though I'm considered a villa-"

Caitlin cut him off, slapping her hand over his mouth. "Sorry." She apologized when seeing him winch from her action. "Stop thinking like that. You're not a villain in their eyes, you're their father, whom they love and admire and look up to… You're their hero who got Frankie out of foster care, the hero who saved Ruby and Evelyn from Earth-2 madness… You're the hero, Venom, who protects this family." She kissed him.

Pulling away from him, she placed her forehead against his. "Stop talking like you're a villain, okay? Promise me that?"

"Yeah, I will." Seth nodded, assuring her he'd no longer be talking like that.

X

(Iron Heights Penitentiary)

At Iron Heights Prison, both Joe and Cecile are standing in front of Rosalind Dillon's cell. They have to get answers out of the metahuman who's capable of inducing vertigos, as she is the last one to know anything about Mirror Master.

"Heard your ex is back in town." The detective slammed Sam Scudder's mugshot against the cell door so she could see the photo of her old boyfriend. "You know anything about that? He pay you a visit, Miss Dillon?"

Rosa Dillion sighed, giving both the district attorney and detective a tired look before walking over to her bed again. Taking a seat, she informed. "They don't let people like me have visitors here, Detective. All day, little night, in my boring little cell." She leant back, lying down on her bed. "Makes a girl go crazy."

Placing the mugshot photo back in his folder, Joe told her. "Scudder tried to kill one of your old crewmates last night. Leon Williams."

"Tried?" The metahuman criminal noted, laughing mockingly. "Too bad he failed."

"He's gonna try to kill more. Any idea who?" Joe inquired. Rosa didn't do anything, not even making eye contact with him, just rolling her eyes around.

"Give us a name," Cecile spoke. "I'll see what we can do about your current situation."

Top made it clear she wasn't gonna cooperate as she played with her hair strands.

"Okay." Joe said. "Let us know if you change your mind." The criminal gave him a glance before he walked away with Cecile.

"Sorry, Joe." The DA expressed.

"It's all right. I appreciate you setting up the interview, though." Joe told her gratefully. They gave the criminal in her cell a glance. "Looks like I owe you another one." He said when facing her again.

Crossing her arms, she smiled widely. "You know, these IOU's are starting to pile up."

Joe had a flash of inspiration. "I have an idea about that."

"Do you?" She became intrigued.

Before he could say anything, Joe looked to the cell in the corner of his eye and saw… Sam Scudder with Rosalind Dillon in the power-dampening cell. "Scudder?"

Mirror Master smirked. "You want me, come and get me." He punched the glass cell and suddenly… Both Rosa and him entered the reflective surface. Together, they rushed through it, getting away from the detective and the DA, both turning shocked.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Joe returned to the facility, explaining everything to the team about what he and Cecile saw back there. Iris joined the team a while back and the detective's news shocked the team greatly.

After hearing it, Caitlin asked to be sure she heard right. "So, you saw Sam Scudder and Rosa Dillion escape through a glass window?"

"For real?" Seth asked.

While pacing around, Joe nodded. "Like I said, he grabbed her hand. They walked to the window and poof. They were gone."

"What does this mean then?" Evelyn asked, her and her sisters having returned from training at the Cave a few moments ago.

Facing his child, Seth said. "It means, Scudder can probably travel through anything that has a reflective surface, like mirrors and windows."

Turning to meet the scientists' faces, Iris asked. "How exactly does he do that?"

Harry suggested. "He must be able to link Einstein-Rosen bridges to anything with high solar reflectance, right?"

Caitlin deduced the powers. "So, he creates wormholes through reflections. That's a new one."

"Means we gotta be careful with this one, both of them." Seth announced. "One can travel through anything with reflective surface, which is practically everything in this city. The other can easily disorient others just with a single glance." He knew that's how Rosa-2 used her powers back when fighting against Zoom's army. "These two might turn into dangerous combo, for sure."

"Look," Joe rubbed his forehead. "I can't pretend to understand or care about the science about it all, but we need to find Dillon and Scudder before something really bad happens. So, I'm gonna go old-school at the precinct. Seth, I'll call you if I need you." The detective told his partner before walking out of the cortex.

"Call me, and I'll be there." He assured his partner.

Suddenly Cisco's phone began pinging and Frankie took the phone. Looking at the screen, she noted. "Cisco, I think you got a Tinder match or something." It pinged even more. "Looks like you got a bunch of them."

Cisco snatched his phone back. "Not Tinder matches." Caitlin and Seth sighed in relief. "Oh my god. Pings. We got pings." He got Harry's attention. "Looks like some of your doppelgangers out there actually cracked your code, Harry." He showed his screen to Caitlin.

"That was fast." Caitlin admitted with shock. She turned to her mate. "Mind if we work on this?"

"Not at all, knock yourself out. I'll help the girls with their training if they're okay with that?" He turned to his daughters.

"You're gonna hold back again?" Ruby asked. Her father gave her a look like it was weird to even ask him that. "Fine, come with." Her sisters followed her to the Klyntar Cave.

"Let's go take a look." Harry stated, both Cisco and Caitlin following him through the corridors.

Seth went to follow his daughters, but Iris stopped him. "Seth, wait!" He stopped, turning to the reporter. "How'd the first day at work with my Dad go yesterday?"

"Went pretty well, still missing a badge, and I was left with a hunger for doughnuts." He joked. "Why? What did Joe say?"

"Nothing, just happy that you accepted the consultant position." Iris said.

Narrowing his eyes, he asked. "You wanna know about the case we worked on yesterday, right?" He saw right through her.

Iris lowered her walls. "Yeah." She smiled. "Not every day Mercury Labs gets robbed, right?"

"It was robbed?" Barry asked.

Instead of answering him, Seth asked her. "How'd you know about that? You bribe an officer or something?"

"I got my own friends, Dr. Fury." Iris boasted, flickering her hair proudly. "But I wondered if you had anything about the case you could give me."

"I have… when the case's finished." Seth finalized before turning on his feet, walking out of the Cortex and towards the Klyntar Cave. "Sorry, West. Got to up your game then."

Iris chuckled, she had to fight harder to get the scoop from him.

X

In the Klyntar Cave, Seth watched his daughters hard at work. He watched from the platform, watching them use their powers differently. This time they shouldn't fight or practice in sparring matches. Instead, he chose a method that's more… focus-related for each of them. Uniquely entailed to each of them.

Which he's sure they hate him for…

Frankie's practice involved she had to play with a metallic box, with her ferrokinetic powers. Each wall is detachable and able to easily be attached to again, reforming the metal box. Her job is to slide the walls off one by one slowly before attaching them again. She only used her powers as instructed and she was struggling with the assignment.

She's been doing this for twenty-four minutes and has broken four boxes already. But her fifth time was going better. Slow but better than before. It bothered her that she had to sit on the ground in a meditating position.

Her assignment was to assemble and disassemble the box as many times as possible without it breaking or smashing into pieces.

Ruby had to do something similar. While sitting in a meditating position, there's a package of eggs and a bowl in front of her. It was open and the inside of the lid was filled with eggshells. The bowl was filled with three egg yolks and whites, and four eggs outside of it. But within the bowl, there was also mixed in eggshells.

Her job is to break the eggs in the middle with her powers, levitate the shells out of the way and into the package, and make sure the yolk and whites land in the bowl. It hasn't gone so well for her unfortunately.

Her father was sure a vein was about to pop and burst on her forehead.

Evelyn's was a job of control as well. She's the only one to stand up. She's facing a target circle, which is emitting smoke from her previous attempts to shoot it. The target's hooked onto an energy absorber, so the power of her light beams won't destroy it completely. Her assignment was to hit the middle of the target with a concentrated light beam that won't burn it.

Her job was to focus her light so it'd only bruise and not harm the target.

Another crack could be heard. Seth saw Ruby huffing her frustration after another egg broke into pieces, the yolk and white splattering around the bowl and the shells falling into the bowl. Walking down the platform, he walked closer to her bowl. "Four eggs in the bowl, four outside of it."

"Not now, Dad!" Ruby growled through her teeth. "Really hate this exercise, what is the point?"

"Control." Seth demonstrated, using tendrils of adamantium to slither out of him. Two of them wrapped around an egg. He held it over the bowl. "Right now, you can't control the powers when you use them on yourself, causing you to lose control." Applying pressure on both sides of the egg and cracked it open. The contents fell into the bowl. "You learn to use your powers to crack an egg, without spilling, you can use it on yourself and on other things."

Ruby groaned. "Fine. I get the logic, but it's damn hard." She let out. "Stupid Flashpoint."

"No arguments, honey. But what shitty thing happened, happened. We just have to deal with it right now, unfortunately." Seth said, tapping her shoulder affectionately. "Keep going." She nodded and continued, making another egg fly out of the package.

He turned to Frankie, who exhaled slowly and slid out another side of the box. She only has three sides remaining. With another exhale, she pulled off another wall. Watching around her, he saw her levitate the four other walls over her head. Seth smirked in impressiveness.

Turning his head, he aimed her attention to Evelyn who cupped her hands together again, forming a light orb. In her expression, she showed levels of worry at the size of her orb. She'd get the same results again, and she'd end up causing too much damage. The metahuman looked at her hands questioningly.

Seth walked closer to her side. "Honey." He got her attention. "Going well?"

"What do you think, Dad?" Evelyn countered. "Sorry but all of this training isn't going well for me. It's better for Frankie and Rubs." She nodded to her sisters.

"Go at your own pace, Evie." He told her encouragingly. Checking her target, he had to scoff lightly. "You girls are going at a much better pace than I was."

Her focus was broken by her father's words, causing an egg to break and Ruby's attention snapped to her in shock. "You did this exercise, too?"

"The eggs, the box and the target?" Frankie asked, dropping the metal box to the floor.

"Everything here?" Evelyn asked.

"Course I did, yeah. It was damn hard." Seth nodded. "I had to do even more because of my different elements and my symbiote powers. Trust me, it's not easy and the more you grow, the more your power capabilities will grow." He faces the three of them. "I know you three are dealing with power struggles right now, but you're mine and your mother's daughters, so I wholeheartedly know you three can get through this and master your powers. You're gonna be the ultimate heroes when that happens."

"That's for sure… Thanks, Dad." Evelyn smiled.

"Get to training, I'll go get you guys some drinks." He walked towards the exit. But then alarms blared over his head making him stop in his tracks. "Oh, what now? Friday!"

"Robbery at First National bank, Boss. Bonnie and Clyde's at it again." The AI informed.

"Ready for action, girls?" He didn't have to ask as his daughters already rushed off to find their suits and weapons. "Love those girls. Friday, call Caitlin and tell her what's happening here, and they have to cut the Wells interviews short while I get out with the girls!"

"Keep your messages short, Boss. Ladies like that." The female AI stated.

"Don't need relationship advice, Friday!" Seth complained, running towards the nearest exit.

X

(First National Bank)

Bank alarms kept blaring loudly, ringing immensely and crazily as the result of both Mirror Master and Top robbing the place. While zipping up a duffel bag of money, Sam faced his beautiful companion who skipped happily to him in a green dress and a yellow jacket. "We keep this up, baby, we'll be set for life."

Rosa got up close to him, placing a hand on his chest. "Then what are you waiting for?" The two shared a passionate kiss, the first one they've shared after three years apart. Separating from one another, she said. "Let's do it again."

The two walked forward, skipping over the three security guards who're still dealing with the vertigo she induced them. "Anything for you, baby." Sam spun her around, her green and yellow skirt spinning around like a top.

"Yeah, so, uh, we're not gonna let you leave here with that." The Flash announced, garnering their attention and made them stop in their celebration. Beside him was Jesse Wells, donning her new speedster superhero suit.

The native speedster waved at them. Mirror Master looked unimpressed. "Hey, Flash. heard a lot about you."

"That's great." Barry quipped.

"Can't say the same for you, though." Sam pointed at Jesse.

"The name's Jesse Quick." Jesse Quick proudly announced.

Giving a mock exhale of relief, Mirror Master said. "Gotta admit, I was worried about this for a second. Thought I'd have to deal with the big man on campus, not his… sidekicks." He mockingly gestured to the two heroes.

"Big man, huh?" Barry asked.

Top gave him an incredulous look. "You know him. Big guy, mountain-sized muscles, stands like a king and eats the heads of the worst guys? You know, the big guy on campus." She added with a flirty smile.

"Venom." Jesse Quick pieced it together.

"Ding, ding, guess girl with a sleep mask's got a brain after all." Rosa gave Jesse a thumbs up. "Congrats, darling."

"And we're not sidekicks." Barry crossed his arms over his chest.

"Keep telling yourself that, little boy." With Rosa in hand, Sam slowly led them to a reflective wall.

"Believe what you want, but I'm sorry, Scudder." Barry said. "But your little crime spree, it's gonna have to end here."

"Oh, I don't think you have much of a say in it." Sam argued, completely unfazed by the speedster's threat. "I'm gonna take whatever I want."

The Flash narrowed his eyes. "I thought you were looking for Leonard Snart."

"Why bother?" Sam smirked. "His reign is over. There's a new king in town."

"And I'm the queen." Rosa added.

"Until I take care of Venom, of course. Then we'll really rule as king and queen." Sam stroked his beloved partner's cheek.

"You're that worried about Venom?" Jesse scoffed.

Giving her another ridiculous look, Sam reminded her of an ancient tactic. "To rule the playground, you gotta find the biggest guy and take care of him first. Then the spot's vacant and… Well, you get it." He mocked her, explaining everything to her as though she's a toddler.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be too sure about that." Jesse countered.

"Oh, I would, little girl." Mirror Master argued. The metahuman criminal slammed his hand against the reflective wall, bringing him and his partner in crime inside the reflective surface. They traveled away from the speedsters who sped after them.

They came to a stop, stopping to look around for the criminals.

"Where are they?" Jesse asked Barry.

Barry looked up, facing a glass building. "There." He saw the vibrational form moving through the side of a glass wall. "Stay here. I'm not kidding." He instructed Jesse before running after them, running up the wall.

Not heeding his instructions, Jesse followed him. The two speedsters followed Mirror Master who jumped out of the building he's in, catapulting himself through the air and into another glass building. Flash and Jesse Quick followed him.

The Earth-2 speedster came to a stop when reaching the top of the building, standing on the roof with Rosalind Dillon while Barry chased Sam Scudder. Jesse made eye contact with the evil criminal. "Nice skirt, Top."

"Top?" She thought about the name. "I like it. Because they spin… spin… spin." She slowly said, twirling her finger around and her eyes shone with an emerald shine. The same shine appeared over Jesse's eyes.

Suddenly Jesse's entire world shook, vibrating and turned into a blur. The vertigo hit her like a bulldozer, shaking her vision and everything she was real. "What is this?" Even her voice blurred. She staggered backwards. "What is happening?"

She couldn't utter another word when she reached the edge, falling off the roof. The Earth-2 screamed as she descended through the air.

Her screeching voice reached Barry's ears and ran towards her. He grabbed her before she could ever connect with the ground, before running down to the asphalt. Reaching the ground, he lowered Jesse to the ground.

Jesse shook like a leaf in the wind. "I can't get my balance."

Barry could see the vertigo still hitting her hard. "I know. It's okay. You're gonna be okay." He returned to his full height.

"But you won't!" Mirror Master declared as he pushed Barry back, using his powers to push him into a mirror. The Flash hit the mirror from within it, causing the glass to thud. "Beats an action figure in a box." He smirked, giving the speedster a mocking wave. "Now you, little girl…" He turned to Jesse Quick who struggled to get up again.

"It's your tu-"

Sam Scudder was cut off when five black tendrils lashed out, whipping him away from the female speedster and sending him away. The metahuman criminal was rolling on the ground. Pressing his hands to the asphalt, he stopped himself, forcing his eyes up and saw the big guy on campus standing in front of Jesse Quick.

Venom stepped forward, standing a few steps in front of Jesse. Glancing over his shoulder, he looked at the speedster. "You okay?"

"I- I- I can't stand, Seth. I can't…" She gulped. "Everything's spinning and shaking, I can't stand." She repeated. She started hyperventilating.

Tendrils came out of Seth's back, gently wrapping around her arm. With his symbiotic partner's help, he sends out waves of soothing feelings to counteract the crippling vertigo that's destroying everything she's seeing. "You're gonna be alright." Venom assured her when he saw her breathing calm down, breathing normally. "We'll take care of this."

"Is that so?" Sam got his attention, straightening his suit jacket. "Wanted to meet you for a while now, Venom. Fitting for two kings to compete for the throne, after all."

"Like you're worthy of being a king." Venom let out a deep scoff. Giving a look at the imprisoned speedster who tried to punch his way out of the mirror but to no avail, he returned to the metahuman criminal with a plan. "Want a shot? Come and get it!" He banged on his chest, provoking Sam.

"Oh, I will!" He jumped into the nearest mirror.

"Venom, be careful. He's gonna capture you in a mirror." Jesse exclaimed.

"Trust us…" Smoke emanated from the mutant's entire body, but only for a moment before black flames burst over his titanic form. "He won't touch us." Venom snarled. His had already been lowered, embedded into the ground and he purposely walked closer to a mirror.

As he expected, Mirror Master's arms stuck out of the mirror and tried to grab him. But Sam's hands were hurt, burnt from the intense heat from the flames, causing him to jump out of the mirror with a scream of pain. His pain was intensified when Venom kicked him, thrusting his foot into his stomach and hurled him into the air. The blow to his torso caused the duffel bag with money to release by the strap.

"ARGH!" Sam grunted, landing on the ground with a heavy thudding. He got up into a crouch, looking down at his burnt hands. "Not bad!" He grunted, trying to keep up a strong appearance in the face of the elemental demon that's standing before her.

Flexing his claws on his hands, Venom turned them into adamantium. "Tough talk… Back them up…" He sneered like a snake.

A door was kicked open from inside and Rosa Dillion rushed out of the building, having run all the way from the rooftop. She saw her boyfriend staggering back to his feet, holding his hands in pain. Her eyes widened when she saw the metal claws on the demon's hands.

"Hey!" She got his attention. "How about you go… Round… round… and round…?" She suggested, her eyes shining with an emerald shine. She couldn't see that the same came over his blue eyes that's covered by his symbiotic skin, but she could see him twist his head around as though the vertigo was still affecting him.

It annoyed Top that it was only affecting him to a smaller degree than when she used her powers on Jesse Quick. Despite his flames still dancing over his entire form, the mutant held his head with both hands and groaned through gritted teeth.

"Hey!"

Top jumped backwards, dodging an arrow that came flying for her. Shadows burst in front of her, Eclipse appearing before her. An arrow pulled back on his bowstring, which she pointed at the criminal metahuman. "You're done, Top."

"Really, honey?" She skeptically said, forming a mock pout at her threat. "How are you so sure of that, huh?"

"She's got us!" Magenta shouted as her and Destroyer arrived, both aiming their weapons at the criminal.

"Three little ducklings… in a row…" Rosa clicked her tongue, her eyes shifting over the three young girls. Her eyes shining another bright emerald color, the same appeared over the three young heroes. Their worlds began shaking and blurring.

"Wha…" Ruby trailed off, staggering as though she's on a ship sailing through stormy seas.

Magenta couldn't speak her words properly, her voice turning strange and blurry like she's slurring her words.

Evelyn's vision wasn't any better, her vision slurring and shaking. The vertigo is so extreme it's causing her to let go of her arrow, sending them flying through the air.

Top didn't even have to dodge as the arrow flew past her. She chuckled with a giggle. "Honeys, how about the three of you just leave?" She suggested in a mocking tone, waving her hand to the side as though she's brushing them aside.

Destroyer groaned with anger. "Like hell!" She gathered gravitational energy around her before thrusting them both into the ground. The gravity she had around her fell over her and her sisters, which accidently caused them to fall.

Rosa turned shocked and stepped back. Ruby raised her head, craning her head and cracked it. "Try and get me, you old hag!" She took out her blade.

Looking past the demon, Sam Scudder saw the gravity manipulator near his girlfriend. Turning to meet Venom's red eyes, he said. "Gonna have to cut this short, Venom. Till next time."

"No!" He thrusted out his arm, splitting it into tendrils after him. But Mirror Master ran into a mirror, dodging the attack and traveled through it. Even as Seth's tendrils continued to strike after him, he avoided them.

Mirror Master jumped out of the reflective surface, quickly snatching his girlfriend. Ruby hurled her blade after them, but the two criminals jumped into the mirror again, getting away from the heroes.

"Damn it!" Ruby groaned, her blade smashing through the glass.

X

"Not bad…" A distortive muffled voice said impressively at Destroyer's techniques. Through their yellow lenses, they turned their eyes to the two speedsters. "Not impressed…"

He turned his eyes to the large elemental…. On his prize. "Not a bad look… Seth…"

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, Speed Lab)

"What happened?" Harry asked the heroes when entering the Speed Lab where the Wests are standing with Cisco and Caitlin. When reaching them, he saw Barry Allen in a mirror captured. Strangely enough, he saw Frankie hitting the side of her head with her palm, trying to get rid of the vertigo. Evelyn was shaking her head to rid herself of it. Ruby wasn't acting abnormally, unlike her sisters.

"I don't know." Jesse shook her head, now devoid of her mask. "I don't know, okay? I looked at Dillion and I lost my balance."

"That makes four of us." Ruby cracked her neck.

"She's a metahuman who induces vertigo. She just whammied the four of you." Joe noted.

"Dad too." Frankie clarified, pointing a finger at him while still hitting the side of her head. "But he's fine."

"Honey." Caitlin grabbed her daughter's hand, gently pushing it down. "Stop hitting yourself." With her free hand, she grabbed Evelyn's head, keeping her from shaking it again. "You too, Evie, stop shaking your head like this."

"Venom took control of my body, keeping me from going crazy from vertigo." Seth answered.

"Ruby, how'd you handle it?" Evelyn looked at her sister.

"Shook myself with gravity." Ruby casually said.

The news of how they handled the vertigo made Jesse scoff at herself, mentally berating herself. "It doesn't really matter, does it?" She got everyone's attention with her words of defeat. "Because now Barry's trapped in there and it's because of me." She stomped away, hurt and defeated.

"Well, you know, I-" Harry stopped when she was getting out of hearing distance.

"I'll go talk to her." Wally assured him, rushing after her.

"Great, Jesse's down in the dump, and we got Flash in a box." Ruby bluntly said, groaning at the sight of the speedster in the glass. "Not the most popular toy." She saw Wally walk out of the lab and she followed him. "Gotta hate the lack of tough love around here." She muttered.

Barry began speaking, but his words came out incoherent and sounded like gibberish. Seth faced him. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, speak normal, not abnormal. If not, can it!" He shouted at him.

The speedster continued speaking gibberish; Iris stepped closer to the mirror. "Wait, what is he saying?"

"Is that some sort of mirror language?" Joe wondered, directing his question to the scientists.

"Nah it's not…" Seth trailed off, turning his eyes to a sample glass. He saw his own reflection in it. "It's a mirror." He realized. "It shows objects, people, whatever's in front of it, it's always shown in reverse."

Harry snapped his fingers. "Maybe that's what we're hearing here."

"Only one way to find out." Cisco rushed to a cabinet.

"What are you looking for, Cisco?" Evelyn asked, her hands still holding onto her head.

"You guys ever seen "Twin Peaks"?" Cisco searched through the drawers.

Caitlin chuckled. "You already know the answer to that."

"Course I do. Why do I ask?" Cisco admitted. He found the device he was looking for, holding it up and showing that it's a small hand-sized device. "This is an old back-masking trick they used for The Man from Another Place, where they record his audio backwards and then play it forwards." He walked over to the mirror, attaching the device to the mirror.

Joe perked up. "Like those Ozzy Osbourne records."

"What?" Seth raised an eyebrow.

Frankie giggled. "Wow, Uncle Joe you're old."

"Hey, I'm not that old, kid." Joe countered.

Cisco glanced at him. "Sure, let's go with that."

"Okay, Barry. Say something." Iris instructed him.

But Barry spoke in gibberish again. Seth groaned. "Great, still talking like a lunatic on crack."

"Fear not, Seth." Cisco sheepishly said, though a look from the mutant told him that he wasn't afraid of whatsoever. The viber pressed the device, turning it on.

"Say it again." Harrison told the imprisoned speedster.

"Um, get me out of here!" Barry tiredly called out.

The detective looked slightly relieved. "Now, we can understand you. How do we get him out of there?"

"Barry, have you tried to phase out yet?" Iris asked.

"Yes, it's not working." Barry answered.

The reporter turned to the elemental. "Seth, didn't you prevent this from happening to you? Can't you do the same to Barry?" She asked, gesturing to her boyfriend.

"Can't, Scudder tried to get me like he did with Barry here, but I had flames covering my body. He got burned if he got close enough to try and touch me." Seth answered. Tapping Barry's mirror prison with his foot, he stated. "Nothing I can do about Speed-Freaks situation."

Harry had a theory. "If Scudder's used this mirror as a wormhole, then these molecules are in a hyper state of flux. So all-"

"We need is something really cold to slow them down." Caitlin said nonchalantly, her focus devoted to her children.

"I can help with that. Let's go." Cisco admitted, snapping his fingers to get Caitlin and Harry to follow him to his workshop. He noticed Caitlin still checking over her daughters. "Caitlin?"

"Cisco, my daughters?" She whined, pointing to her children.

"But Barry?" Cisco counters back with his own whining, gesturing to the imprisoned speedster. His counter didn't affect Caitlin whatsoever. "Please, come now. We need your mind."

Sighing her reluctance, Caitlin faced her mate. "Check the girls and Ruby too, okay? I'm worried if the vertigo's still affecting them."

"Promise. Go, be a hero." He nodded in the direction of Cisco and Harry. Caitlin smiled at his words and walked after them. "We're actually saving this moron. Can't believe it." He scoffed in disbelief.

Looking between his two nieces and their father, Joe asked Seth. "How come you guys aren't so affected by the vertigo?"

"Like I said, I used Venom, had him take control of my body like I did when Rainbow Raider tried to whammy me." Seth started. "In Evelyn's case… Vertigo's small stuff when you already have light and darkness coursing through your body. Frankie… Well, she's a meta with a symbiote stronger than Venom, so she's tougher than me, I guess."

"Cool and Ruby just shook herself." Joe said. "Is that safe?"

"Good question." Seth admitted, turning on his feet to walk towards his daughter.

"I'm coming with." Joe admitted, following his partner. "Keep him company." He told his daughter who nodded.

"We're thirsty." Evelyn waved her sister after her, walking out of the Speed Lab.

X

(Breach Room)

Looking at her mask, Jesse was feeling down. She's full of regret and defeat. She didn't feel right about wearing this mask, about being Jesse Quick anymore. She threw the mask away and slumped down with a heavy sigh.

Wally West walked into the breach room, just in time to see her throw her mask away. "Aren't you gonna need that?"

Facing him, the speedster said. "What's the point? I mean, I thought I was ready but clearly, I'm not." She turned her back to him, walking away.

As he picked up her domino mask, Wally said. "Jesse, you can't blame yourself for this. What happened to Barry-"

"Was totally my fault." Jesse interrupted him. Wally walked down the stairs. "I mean, he told me to stay back, but I didn't listen. I just ran blind and now he's stuck. So…" She sighed heavily, once again defeat coming over her.

"Look, you made a mistake. So what?" Wally started. "I mean, I'm sure Barry made a lot of mistakes too."

"Yeah." Jesse softly said, unconvinced.

Stepping closer to her, he said. "Don't let this destroy your confidence. You're meant to do this, Jesse. You're meant to be a speedster. That's why you have these powers and I don't."

She faced him. "You're just trying to cheer me up. I know you said you don't want to hang, so…"

"You know, I said I didn't want to hang out because I was scared." Wally stated. "Because you live on another Earth." She chuckled. "But I realized I don't want to be scared of that anymore." He stepped closer to her, pressing his lips to hers and shared a kiss.

Once separating, they shared a chuckle. Wally dramatically handed her the mask she threw away.

"Wow, that's cheesy." Both Jesse and Wally snap their attention back to the platform where they find Ruby looking at them with a tired look. "Is this…" She twirled a pointing finger at them. "A thing now?"

"May-" Jesse shook her head. "What are you doing here, Ruby?"

"Came to talk to you, Whiney." Ruby said. "You're seriously breaking down because of one mistake? That's pretty weak. Not like anyone got hurt except for that idiot in the red suit."

"Hey!" Wally said.

Ruby showed a determinant look at the former street racer, not flinching by his words. Turning to face Jesse again, she said. "Get over yourself. If this is how you're acting because of Barry's getting into a mirror, then what are you gonna do if someone dies?" Jesse lowered her face. "You make mistakes when you're in the field, Jesse. Be sad for a moment, walk it off and get back on the horse."

"You don't know what I talked about." Jesse countered.

Giving her a scoff of disbelief, Ruby reminded her. "Evelyn was hurt and hunted because of her powers on Earth-2. After being released from the Speed Force, Frankie used her powers for the first time and accidentally opened a hole in the ground." Gesturing to herself, she added. "After I got mine… I accidently killed my boyfriend because I couldn't control them."

Both Jesse and Wally gaped their mouths in shock.

"No one becomes an instant professional when they get their powers. My family, my sisters and I, we're prime examples of that." Ruby pointed a finger upwards. "The reason Barry was thrown into a mirror is because of his carelessness. Fastest man alive can't even dodge a normal human, pathetic." She scoffed.

"Okay you don't need to insult him every time you speak his name." Wally defensively said.

"Fanboy, did you really forget that moron altered the timeline, and could have erased me, my sisters and my Dad, who he's known longer." She said, her words making Wally step back. "Pretty sure I'm entitled to insulting that prick." She turned back to Jesse. "Mistakes like this are good for you, Jesse. They make you aware of how important this job is…. They make you realize what's at stake. Accept the mistakes, the risks and get back on the horse… If not, hang up the suit."

Having finalized her words, she turned around and walked out of the Breach Room. When stepping out of the threshold, she came to an abrupt stop as she saw her father leaning against the wall. "You heard everything?" She knowingly asked, and Seth nodded.

Leaning off the wall, Seth turned to meet her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" She turned confused.

He looked deeply into his daughter's eyes. "I'm sorry for completely forgetting about what happened on Earth-616 in the future, when… What happened with Werner happened." He placed a hand on her shoulder when she lowered her head. "I did something similar actually, once."

"What do you mean?" She asked in confusion.

Seth inhaled deeply, readying himself for this conversation. "Life's never easy or far, powered person or not. Especially with everything you've been through, Rubs." He continued. "My powers… When they first manifested, I was beyond, beyond horrified." Smoke emitted from his palm, igniting a flame. "All of a sudden, as a ten-year old, I was able to generate a fire and manipulate it as such. It was fun, playing with fire and all. But I knew this flame, in the beginning, wanted me… It wanted to take control of me."

Ruby watched the flames completely envelope his hand. Seth continued. "Like a wildfire, it became uncontrollable. One day, I didn't even realize it… The flames completely took over my body, spread around violently. I knew what it wanted. It wanted to burn everything in its path and everyone around me to ashes, till not even their bones remained. Worst of all, your aunt… I accidentally burned her." He shocked her when hearing it. "I saw the look on her face, the first time I actually was afraid of something more than just my own powers, I saw that she… was scared of me. At that point, I wanted nothing more in life than to get rid of this awful power, this curse."

Having read about his life before on Earth-616, about the experiments that would have made him into the deity of destructive elements Weapon X Hades, Ruby could understand her father's fears. A predatory animal that bears a fur of dancing flames, fangs of thunder-cloaked metal fangs, claws of sharp ice blades, eyes so red that it appeared to be fresh blood of those the beast have slain. A beast so deadly it could attack omni-directionally. No one is safe from the elemental predatorial mutant…

Weapon X Hades… Venom…

"But after that, after training… I had to accept one thing." Seth clenched his hand, the flames dissipating instantly with his action. "Just like with my flames, all of my elements, I'm the one who commands them. Me alone. I can use them to either destroy, shatter, obliterate everything in their path, or I can use them to protect those who are important to me."

"Dad… Yeah, I'm sad I hurt someone I cared about, but I'm over it and I've forgotten about it." Ruby assured her father.

"Maybe." He said skeptically. Not because he thought she wasn't over it, but that she's forgotten about it. "But that pain… That mistake… It keeps you on your toes and makes you remember how difficult it is with powers like ours." Ruby chuckled, he was using her own words against her. "You're way, way stronger than anyone thinks, honey. I'm sorry I didn't realize you still carried those thoughts around."

"Dad." Ruby stopped him, worried she might have to hear him prattle on. "Calm down, you don't have to go all teary father on me, okay? Day's crazy enough as it is now." She nudged her father's stomach.

Pointing to his wettened eyes, he inquired. "Oh, you this is teary? Wait till the day you have to leave the nest, I'm gonna be bawling like crazy, it's gonna look like fountains in my eyes." He quipped.

"Now that scares me." Ruby feigned a shiver.

X

Standing in the workshop, Caitlin, Cisco and Harrison are working heavily on a solution to get Barry Allen out of the mirror.

Harry attached the ammunition to the Cold Gun in his hands, the elemental gun powering up in response. "I don't think it's gonna work."

"What do you mean you don't think it's gonna work?" Cisco asked, hurt by his words. As his screwdriver was handed to the Earth-2 scientist he reminded him. "I built this to go to absolute zero."

"I realize that." Harry said while using the tool on the elemental gun. "But we need the mirror to maintain zero point energy long enough for Barry's molecules to pass through it." He explained to them.

"Absolute zero's more than cold enough to do that." Caitlin argued whether Barry could actually do it or not is her problem.

"Normally," Harry agreed with her. "but we have to account for internal energy of the mirror's molecules as well. So absolute cold might be the lowest possible temperature-"

"It's not the lowest enthalpy state possible." Cisco continued.

Harrison nodded. "Exactly right."

Caitlin faced him for answers. "So, what are we gonna do?" Though she asked him, she was worried about her daughters in the back of her mind.

"I don't know… yet." Harry confidently stated.

A flash of inspiration came over the viber. "Okay. Go with me here. What if we send this to the other Wells and see if he can figure something out?"

Caitlin understood his intentions. He was referring to the Harrison Wells they've been interviewing after getting responses from the riddle they sent out to the multiverse. She recalled the last Harrison Wells they interviewed, thankfully the one after the mime, the one hailing from Earth-19. This Wells said he enjoyed cracking the cryptogram they broadcasted. "Yeah." She agreed.

"What? No. What?" Harry quickly asked them. "Everybody's replaceable now? Is that right? Is that what this is?"

"What? What are you talking about?" Cisco asked.

"What does that mean?" Caitlin asked.

"What are you talking about? It's what you said." Harrison frantically stated.

Cisco countered. "That's not what I said."

"It's exactly what you said." He countered.

Cisco shook his head. "I'm saying we need to find a solution to this problem, and time's not on our side right now."

"Yeah, that's not gonna help." Harry grumbled. "You're not contributing to the problem. You're making things worse."

Accusatorily pointing a finger at him, Cisco said. "You know what I think?"

"What do you think?" Harry briefly pointed his eyes at him.

"I think you don't like the idea of someone taking your place." Cisco answered. "This is why you don't like the other Wells." He deduced.

"What are you talking about?" He asked in disbelief, not believing what he heard. "It was my idea."

Caitlin softly countered. "But that doesn't mean you have to like it, Harry."

"It's got nothing to do with liking it." Harry countered. "You know what it has to do with?"

Realization hit both Harry and Cisco, both speaking at the same time. "A Molecular decelerator/ Molecular decelerator." They announced.

Harrison faced Caitlin who looked confused. "If we augment a molecular decelerator on the cryogenic generator, the cold gun-"

"The cold gun." Cisco accepted the cold gun. "I can build that. I can build that." He rushed to work.

Caitlin threw her hands up. "Great." Now she hopes his daughters and her mate are okay now.

X

(Speed Lab)

While he's stuck inside of the mirror, Barry exhaled sharply, hating his make-shift cage. Iris could see his distress, stepping closer to the mirror he's trapped in. She formed a pout on her face, one that made the trapped speedster chuckle.

Noting he's in a mirror, Iris turned to the side. To Barry it looked like she was posing which made him question her. "What are you doing?" Whether it was on purpose or not, he could see that she's pointing her rear right at the mirror.

"Do these pants make my butt look big?" Iris tried with all of her might not to burst into laughter.

"I'm, literally, stuck in a mirror." Barry chucklingly countered.

"Sorry. Yeah." Iris turned to face him, giving him an apologetic look that he accepted. Leaning against the mirror, the reporter asked. "What's it like in there?"

She watched Barry look around his limited surroundings. "Dark." Iris gave him a saddened look. The speedster spoke. "Look, Iris. I'm sorry that I'm stuck right now."

"Oh, honey. I know that you're stuck. It's okay. We're gonna get you out of there." Iris assured him.

"No…" Barry chuckle. "No. That was misleading. Not the mirror, I mean with us." Iris knew she was talking about him not willing to show intimacy in front of Joe. He had promised her that they've talked about it, and that Joe was okay with it. But earlier at their household, during a movie night, the reporter saw that the problem wasn't with Joe, but with Barry.

"This thing with Joe… And you were right. It's not Joe, it's me. It's my problem. I've just been feeling nervous about this new dynamic between the three of us. I don't know. I have everything that I've ever wanted right now. and I've never had that in my life and in a lot of ways it's scarier than having nothing because… it's easier to fail than succeed. And I really want to succeed."

This time Iris really did burst into laughter. Barry narrowed his eyes confusedly at her abrupt and confusing action. He watched as she covered her laughing mouth with her hands. "What could you possibly be laughing about right now?"

Iris, removing her hands from her mouth, confessed. "I am so sorry, Barry. You are really sweet, but it is weird talking to you through a mirror and a speaker… and I really want to kiss you right now." That feeling was mutual for Barry. He crouched down in the mirror he's stuck in. "But can we please talk about this later?"

"Okay." He nodded.

The reporter looked at him, seeing his strange and saddened expression. "What's wrong?"

Inhaling deeply, he answered. "It's about Seth. No matter what I do… They're not… They're not letting me try and make things up." He's heard their snipes and their not-at-all subtle comments about him. "I deserve everything they throw at me… I do… I just don't know how I can get in their good graces again."

"Give them time, Barr." Iris stroked the mirror gently, worried about his expression. "It's gonna be good again, and they'll be your friends again."

"I hope so, yeah." Barry looked around at the darkness around him. "Guess it is pretty weird. It's like I'm here but I'm not." He had a flash of inspiration hitting him.

Iris saw the look of enlightenment on his face. "What?"

"I just thought of a way to stop Scudder." Barry revealed.

Iris was about to question his idea, but her attention was diverted to the scientists who returned. "What is that?" She referred to the devices the mutant and his magnekinetic daughter's carrying with tendrils.

"This is how we get him out of there." Harry pointed to the carried items in the Snow-Fury's tendrils. They were lowered to the floor, placed close to Cisco and Harry's side.

"Let's do it." Barry smiled.

"Let's get this shit over with, alright?" Seth tiredly said while moving to Caitlin's place on the platform.

After a while after preparing everything, Cisco attached the pipes to the mirror with Harry checking the cold generator. The viber rubbed his hands. "Okay." He gave the go-ahead to Harrison, who pressed the keys and let the ice come over it.

They watched the glass surface brittle with ice and frost. "Try phasing now, Barry." Iris told her boyfriend who nodded.

Barry took a stance, phasing his entire body. He tried to phase out of the glass, but he stopped shortly after beginning.

"What's going on?" Iris asked in worry, her eyes facing the scientists.

Seth glanced at the monitor. "It's only negative 280 degrees Fahrenheit."

"We got to get it colder somehow." Harry muttered in realization. Caitlin, Seth and their daughters shared a look.

"What? Why?" Iris asked them in concern.

The detective agreed, pointing at the mirror. "Thought you guys said this thing could get him out of there."

"Apparently not." Seth noted, his eyes looking at Caitlin alone, sharing a wordless conversation with her.

Cisco, with a look of concern on his face, explained. "Okay. "This thing", is a highly advanced molecular decelerator that's being powered by a cryo-engine. We just kind of improvised it in the last 30 minutes so let's just- just cut us some slack, please."

"Just keep trying, Barry." Harrison told the speedster.

He took a stance. But then the alarms blared over their heads. "Friday?" Seth asked the AI for instructions.

"Metahuman alert, boss." Came the response.

"Oh, for God's sake." Cisco groaned.

"Dad, you're right. Never a dull moment in this city." Ruby admitted to her father.

"Central City: The City that Never Sleeps." Seth let out a groan.

"If it's not one thing-" Harry stated.

"It's the other." Cisco continued.

"Hold on, Barr." Barry told him and walked away with Harry and Cisco. Iris followed them.

Caitlin, her daughters and her mate walked off the platform. The three younger girls walked ahead, but their parents stood behind the mirror that's keeping the speedster entrapped.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Caitlin leant closer to him. "What do you think?"

"He's not a friend, not now, possibly not ever…." Seth sighed heavily. "But he's an ally. Only damn use we have for him…" Icy mist erupted from her hands. Slamming his hands onto the mirror, he called upon the ice element inside of his environmental body and projected ice.

Caitlin watched his ice come out of his hands, but it was barely covering their side of the mirror. "It's not going well, is it?"

"Not really, no." He frustratingly said, his hands jumping off the mirror. Looking at his hands, he said. "Without my ability to discharge, it's impossible to reach the level I could before."

"Thankfully…" Caitlin pushed his hands away. "It's not the only option we have…" Cryogenic mist emanated from her hands, shooting ice blasts at their side of the mirror.

"Cait-"

"Like you said," Caitlin whispered, facing him. "ally not a friend. And if we see more 616ers, we're gonna need all the help we can get." She narrowed her eyes to slits at the mirror. "Even if it's this guy."

Understanding her logic and reasoning, Seth watched as her powers easily and quickly cover the entire mirror with ice and frost. He turned to the monitor on the platform, seeing the mirror's temperature get even colder, go lower than negative 280 Fahrenheit.

"It's working." Seth whispered to her. Caitlin nodded, assured that the entire mirror was covered with ice and she stopped.

"Let's go." Caitlin took his hand, and they walked out of the Speed Lab.

X

(The Cortex)

Everyone returned to the Cortex. Frankie jumped onto the console railing, looking upside-down at the monitor. "Central City Municipal Bank just got robbed."

"Let me guess by who." Wally sarcastically said.

"Bonnie and Clyde." Seth joked as he and Caitlin walked into the Cortex.

Suddenly the lamps over their heads began flickering uncontrollably.

WHOOSH

A familiar gust of air hit their backs. "Guys?" The speedster got their attention.

"Barry!" Iris jumped into his arms.

"Hey." Barry wrapped his arms around her.

"How?" Harry asked the speedster.

The three young heroes faced their parents in concern, worried their mother's secret would be figured out.

"I say…" Barry sighed his relief. "let's figure it out later. Right now, we need to stop Scudder and Dillon."

"Okay, so what do we do?" Jesse asked.

"We're gonna use mirrors. An old trick and an old friend." Barry revealed his plan.

"Go alone…" Seth got his attention. "Better experience for you and Jesse."

The Scarlet Speedster nodded.

Unbeknownst to him, he just accepted a fate against more than he could bargain for.

X

"Snart?" Sam Scudded called out, both he and Rosa walking into an old theme park where Leonard Snart told them to come to. Their night of celebration for two successful heists at Broome Industries were cut short by his phone call.

Leonard Snart, also known as Captain Cold, faced the criminal metahuman pair. "Scudder. Rosa. Long time." He greeted them.

"Not long enough." Rosa sneered.

"Rosa, sharp personality like thorns on a rose as always." Leonard joked, turning around to walk away.

"Hang back. This guy owes me." Sam stepped in front of his girlfriend, walking after the Cold Gun wielder. "So, you called us. The hell you want?"

"Same thing. You two. Gone." Leonard reminded him without facing Mirror Master.

"Things have changed." Sam said, continuing to follow the man. "This is our town now."

"Is that right?" Leonard unholstered his Cold Gun, holding it in his left hand.

"Yeah, it is." Sam stated. They walked into a tent full of mirrors. Mirror Master pointed a finger at the elemental gun user who stood in the middle of the huge tent. "And that little cold gun of yours isn't going to save you from me."

Sam walked closer to the other criminal who stood ready with his elemental gun. "We'll see about that now, won't we?" Leonard said.

Mirror Master jumped into action, leaping into a mirror. Travelling through it and the others, he appeared behind Leonard and swung his fist. But for some strange reason, his fist went right through his face without meeting any resistance whatsoever, neither flesh nor bones met his fist.

Turning completely confused, Sam took a step back. Leonard snapped around, pointing his gun at him. "Bang!" He announced before the hologram was turned off, Captain Cold flickering out of existence. The metahuman criminal looked around in search.

"Funny thing about holograms." Barry got his attention, showing that he was freed from Mirror Master's trap. "They're just pale reflections of the real deal."

"So, what… Venom's sidekick fights his battles now?" Sam provoked him.

"See for yourself." The Flash countered, speeding away and speeding around the tent.

X

Rosa was outside of the tent, waiting for her boyfriend to finish off Leonard Snart once and for all. She busied herself by playing with the wheel of fortune. She wanted to see if she could get her lucky number.

WHOOSH

"Hello, again." Jesse Quick greeted the metahuman criminal.

Top turned her attention to the female speedster. "Jesse Quick. Quick to run…" Her smirk fell. "Quick to fall." Her eyes shone an emerald shine again.

Once again Jesse's entire world blurred and shifted uncontrollably because of the crippling vertigo. She could feel her balance slowly fading away. But unlike last time, she wasn't gonna let it beat her. Closing her eyes, she sped around the amusement park, disappearing out of Rosa's field of vision.

Jesse sped around the metahuman criminal like a tornado, gathering enough wind to push Rosa up from the ground. The speedster sped away, causing Top to fall to the ground with a grunt of pain.

Rosa returned to her feet, but she let out a grunt when Jesse Quick appeared in front of her, punching her. The blow to her face rendered her unconscious. "Quick to learn." Jesse boasted.

"Jesse, what is it?" Harry asked his daughter over the comms.

Pressing her earpiece, she assured her father. "I'm fine, Dad. I'm good. It's done." She removed her hand from the earpiece.

"And quick to fail."

Jesse grunted when she felt a sharp pain in her neck. Once again, her world turned blurry, but much quicker than before. Like she did with her opponent, she was rendered unconscious and fell to the ground.

The thud of her fall made Top look up. But she fell back to the ground when she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. Both criminal and hero are down for the count… A dart embedded in their bodies.

A form slowly walked out of the shadows. Placing another dart in his dart gun, he announced through his mask. "Two down, two to go, one prize in the end."

X

Barry sped around in the tent of mirrors, trying to confuse the metahuman criminal who struggled to keep up with him. The Flash came to a stop, giving Sam Scudder a cocky, superior look that greatly offended Mirror Master.

Sam grunted, hopping into a mirror again. Barry ran away, just in time to dodge the incoming attack from a mirror that's behind him. The speedster ran through a column of mirrors, dodging all of Mirror Master's attacks.

Returning to the start of the column, Barry initiated his master plan, shattering every mirror in the column with fist strikes or elbow blows to their fragile surfaces. He shattered the three mirrors that Sam travelled through.

Mirror Master jumped out a mirror, standing in a half circle of mirrors. He then saw the speedster close the circle of mirrors with additional three mirrors. "Uh-oh." Barry jokingly said, getting his attention.

"Well played, Flash." Sam smirked, traveling into another mirror. But as soon as he entered it, he jumped out of the mirror on the opposite side of it.

"Oh." Barry raised his hands, faking surprise.

"What?" Sam looked confused.

"I know, right?" The Flash smirked victoriously. "This is the, uh, Droste effect. I'm sure you've heard of it, right?" He pointed to the circle of mirrors around them. "It's an infinite reflective loop that even you can't escape." He sped to the criminal, quickly cuffing power-dampening cuffs on his wrists. "Good luck getting out."

Before Sam could retort, both he and Barry turned their attention to the ground where they found two black sticks rolling towards them. "Wha-"

EXPLOSION

Barry was cut off when both pipe bombs exploded.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"What was that sound?" Iris asked.

Joe paled. "Are Barry and Jesse okay?"

"Jesse's not responding." Harry said in worry.

"What about Barry?" Cisco asked.

Iris turned to the monitors, showing their vital signs. "Barry! Barry! Barry!" She called out to him.

"What was that?" Caitlin asked her mate.

"No idea." Seth answered, but he felt an eerie feeling in the pit of his stomach.

X

A hole had been blown open in the tent. Frames of the standing mirrors were spread and scattered all around the ground. Sharp mirror shards were scattered around, some of them charred and burnt, even a few of them pierced and embedded into the asphalt. Pieces of tent fabrics were floating around in the air before descending.

"Argh…" Barry groaned in pain. Parts of his suit had been damaged from the explosion. His chin strap had been completely burned off, blood running down the corner of his mouth. "Ow!" He forced himself back to his feet.

"Smart move." Facing the direction of the pained voice, Barry found Sam Scudder lying on the ground. A shard in the back of his arm. Much like with the speedster himself, Mirror Master had blood trailing down his jawline. "Using pipe bombs like that? Bold and risky? Didn't think that was your style, Flash."

"Downside…" Sam showed both of his hands, both uncuffed and no longer restrained by power-dampening cuffs. "I'm fre-" His words were cut short when he felt another strange sharp pain in his arm.

Barry saw a dart pierced into his arm. He saw Sam lower his head again, completely unconscious. "What is that?"

"Unimpressed is what it is."

The Scarlet Speedster snapped his attention around, coming face to face with a strange man standing at 6'2, having a stranger appearance than any of the suits compared to the villains he's seen so far. The man walked out of the shadows, slowly revealing his dark blue and white militarized bodysuit with several belts and a shoulder pad on his left shoulder. It seemed to be clad over his muscular build. In his right hand, he twirled what looked like a sword handle around, which he holstered on his back. Barry saw light reflecting off the large metal weapon on his back. Barry was baffled by the number of weapons strapped to his body. He saw gauntlets on his arms, each equipped with some kind of grappling hook.

But what stood out the most was the stylized skull helmet that's covered by a gray hood. His menacing lime green eyes pointing at the speedster.

"Who are you?" Barry asked. He didn't get a response from the man who walked around him in a half-circular motion, similar to a predator stalking its prey. "I asked you a question."

"Heard it." The man stated. "I'm unimpressed." He came to a stop. "Of you."

"Of me?" Barry asked.

"This…" He pointed a finger at the Scarlet Speedster. "This is the city's greatest protector?"

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"This is the city's greatest protector?"

Everyone in the Cortex heard the menacing and unfamiliar voice speak to the speedster. Everyone looked confused, sharing looks of confusion at the voice. Harry was frantic, hacking into every security camera he could find. Anything with a lens near that abandoned theme park he hacked into, anything that'll give him eyes on the situation.

Eyes on his daughter who didn't respond to a single one of his calls. He had practically screamed himself hoarse by now, and it would have been worse if Caitlin hadn't given him a glass of water.

Joe and Iris were in similar states. One worried about his son and couldn't think about anything else. The other one biting her nails in anticipation and fear. Following the explosion that they heard booming through the comms system, Iris couldn't help but fear the worst for her boyfriend.

"What is going on?" Caitlin asked. She glanced to the side, but stopped when seeing Seth with widened eyes of shock…

And realization?

"Seth, what's wrong?" Caitlin asked.

"Fuck… It's him." He muttered; his words got the attention of his entire family. In an instant, he jumped to the console, pushing both Harry and Cisco to the side. "Friday, patch me to Barry! Now!"

"Already did, Boss." The AI declared.

"What's going on, Seth?" Cisco asked.

"Barry, get out of there right now!" Seth bellowed into the comms like a beast. "That guy's too much for you to handle! Find Jesse and get out of there now!"

"Dad, who is that?" Frankie asked.

"What's wrong?" Evelyn showed her concern.

"That guy is too much for Barry…" Without even looking at them, Seth could feel the eyes of the team on him. "…He's from 616."

"You sure?" Ruby asked, pushing Harrison aside. "Who?"

"A master combatant… One that Barry can't even hope to surpass." Seth said.

He doubted anyone on this Earth could possibly hope to defeat the man who's considered a combat chameleon for a reason.

X

Barry scoffed at the words aimed at him. "You're that disappointed?" He flexed his arms and legs, most of the pain already dissipated by now and his body felt better now. He was ready for a fight now.

"I am." The man from Earth-616 confirmed. He reached for his belts, taking out some items.

WHOOSH

The Flash sped to him, instantly placing his spare power-dampening cuffs on him. The man from Earth-616 didn't even glance at them. The speedster smirked and chuckled. "Can't believe Venom said you're too much for me. You're not that impressive."

"Funny… I was thinking the same about you." The man opened his hands, small black pellets rolling out of his hands. The Scarlet Speedster barely managed to see them connect with the ground before they exploded, releasing massive clouds of reddish gas upon impact.

By accident Barry inhaled the smoke and coughed heavily, he staggered back and covered his mouth. But through the gaps between his fingers, more smoke entered his mouth and caused him to cough more violently.

"W- cough- what – cough- is that?" Barry forced his question out in between coughs.

He didn't get an answer to his question. Instead, he heard the power-dampening cuffs falling to the ground and letting out a clanging sound due to the collision between metal and asphalt. The man from Earth-616 stated bluntly. "That was easy. Let's see what you got now."

"Wh…" Barry struggled to move, see and speak. "Who are you?" He had to force his question out once again.

"Better than you." He reached behind his back, unequipping his large metal weapon. Barry, by blinking rapidly, saw him wield a large circular black shield with a unique red marking in his right hand. "Come for it, then."

Barry charged him with lightning speed, charging to tackle him. But suddenly his opponent turned blurry, looking to be multiple people, and the speedster struggled to choose and ended up, running into an amusement booth,

As the speedster groaned, forcing himself back to his feet, the man said. "Not so easy, huh? I don't blame you." Without giving Barry a chance to respond, the man threw his black shield. It collided with his chest, bouncing off it and back towards its wielder.

The wielder himself jumped into the air, performed a spin with ease, kicking the shield back into The Flash's chest with greater speed and strength. Barry was pushed up against a pillar, the blow to his chest made him cough violently again as though he was trying to cough up his lungs. The shield slid across the ground, coming towards the man who kicked it up and back into his hand.

Suddenly a hook attached itself to his suit and Barry was yanked towards the 616 villain who thrust his shield into his stomach. Displaying superior strength, the speedster was pushed off the ground and laid on top of his shield.

The metahuman didn't even see the villain move before he was hurled into the ground. Throwing his shield into the air, the 616 combatant jumped, performing another spin and thrusting his foot down, aiming for the speedster's head.

Lightning crackles in his eyes and Barry sped back up to his feet, avoiding the attack to his head. When seeing the combatant's foot connect with the ground, the asphalt itself cracked from the strength he was pouring into the attack.

"Not gonna be a punching bag the entire time!" Barry countered.

Removing his foot from the ground, he stared. "Surprise me…" The combatant holstered his shield on his back, taking a fighting stance. "If you can."

Looking to the side, Barry found a metal pipe and quickly snatched it. Running towards his foe, he swung the pipe. But he was instantly met with more black pellets thrown into his face, instantly exploding and releasing more gas that he inhaled. Another coughing fit came over the speedster, which his opponent took advantage of.

His grappling hook shot out again, wrapping around the pipe and pulling it out of his hand. When he pulled on the speedster's makeshift weapon, it also pulled him closer to him. Using another of his own, the combatant swung his foot, kicking Barry's foot and made him lose his balance. Following his attack, he jumped into another spin.

Though he was still affected by the strange reddish gas, Barry moved away in time before his opponent could grab his head. But he managed, through blurry eyes, to see the combatant place his hand to the ground. "What are you- cough-?"

"Better than you." He removed his hand from the ground. "You're definitely not like him."

"Not like who?" Barry said, still struggling to stand.

"Like Venom." He clarified, suddenly revealing a bow in one hand and arrows in the other one. "He stands and fights, not like you… He's a worthy adversary." In an instant, he pulled back his arrows and fired them off at the metahuman.

He's been through a similar fight with Oliver Queen, prepared for it and he easily grabbed both arrows before ever reaching him. "Not the first one to try that on me." The Flash smirked.

"I'm not nice like the first one." The combatant clarified before pushing a button on his bow. Barry saw the arrowheads beeping with a red color before they exploded, pushing him back on the ground.

Watching Barry groan and grunt on the ground, the combatant scoffed and walked slowly towards him. "Disappointing. I expected better from you. But you're all speed and no skills. Run, run and never stand to fight back." He reached behind, pulling out a metallic device with a square and cube-like form.

"And Venom's not?" Barry groaned, fighting back both pain and the effects of the gas he inhaled.

"You know Seth, don't you?" His words shocked the speedster and made him gape his mouth. Pressing the button on top of it, he threw it into the air. Barry watched it go into the air and then it exploded with a bright flash of light.

In its place, a hailstorm of needles came flying down. Their pointed ends twirled around in the air before aiming at the speedster and shooting down for him.

Just like in the past, Barry was brought down to the ground as he felt the sharp needles pierce through his suit and into his skin. The collision with the ground and the needles digging into his body forced him to release a loud scream of pain.

"You're familiar with this one." The combatant stated knowingly, holstering his bow again. He walked closer to the pained speedster. "Micro fragments attracted to kinetic energy. Stings, doesn't it?" Barry screamed in response.

"What do you want?!" Barry screamed, his words fueled by both rage and pain.

Crouching down, the combatant stated. "…To fight someone worthy…" He abruptly pulled off the speedster's cowl, displaying Barry's shocked face. "Not you… Barry Allen." Barry was rendered unconscious when he was punched.

Now that he was unconscious, the combatant from 616 pulled off the earpiece from the speedster's cowl. Raising back to his full height, he put the comms device to his masked mouth. "I know you're listening on the other end of this…"

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, The Cortex)

"…Venom."

The team heard the entire fight and also heard the results of it, ending with Barry Allen unmasked and defeated by this Earth-616 villain that Seth described as a combat chameleon.

"He- He said your name, Seth." Joe faced the mutant. "Who is this guy?"

"…" The elemental didn't answer.

"He's got Jesse, too." Harry covered his mouth, regretting his decision to let her out in the field as a hero now.

Seth pressed the key on the keyboard, starting the comms system so he could talk to him. "Long time no see, Taskmaster." That name made Ruby's eyes expand to the size of planets. So great was her shock. "What do you want? Flash and Jesse Quick aren't your usual take, are they?"

"They're not." The Earth-616 villain known as Taskmaster agreed with him.

"Earth-1 not to your liking? You're welcome to leave." The elemental said.

Taskmaster chuckled. "Maybe when I'm done with this city's so-called protector."

"What do you want then?" Seth demanded to know, smoke coming out of his body.

"You know me, Seth… I want to fight a worthy opponent… Only one on this Earth can amount to that." Taskmaster said, knowing the mutant understood his words.

"Time and place?" Seth demanded, already knowing this would only end one way.

"Tomorrow morning, Pasko and Fourth, top of the construction site. You and me alone. Bring those girls of yours too, might learn a thing or two." Taskmaster stated his conditions. "I got four hostages here. For every minute you're late, I throw one of them off the building. They'll have power-dampening cuffs on them, so they'll go splat when reaching ground level. Be there or there's gonna be a lot of deaths."

"No, leave them alone!" Harry jumped in, fearing for his daughter's safety and life.

"Venom comes and fights me, or all dies." Came the blunt response from Taskmaster.

Everyone in the Cortex covered their ears when suddenly static came through the comms. Cisco and Harry pieced together that the earpiece was being crushed. The connection went offline when it's completely crushed into pieces.

"Fury!" Harrison snapped his eyes towards the mutant who clenched his fists. "Who was that guy?! He has my daughter!"

"And Barry!" Iris pitched in.

Inhaling deeply, and exhaling to calm himself down. Along with his symbiotic partner's help, he finally calmed down enough to speak. "His name is Taskmaster."

"Taskmaster?" Cisco asked. "Could be improved."

"Cause that's what's important right now." Joe exclaimed.

"He took care of all those four so easily…" Frankie was baffled by this guy's fighting capabilities.

"Who is he?" Evelyn asked, directing her question to Ruby and their father.

Ruby answered. "His name is Taskmaster, a villain from Earth-616. He's a mercenary."

"A hired hand? Someone hired them to fight Barry and Jesse?" Iris asked.

"But he defeated four people singlehandedly, how?" Caitlin asked.

"Cause he's a combat chameleon." Seth repeated. He felt the eyes of confusion on him again and he elaborated. "Unlike Barry, he's a tactician who watches from afar. He's probably been watching and studying everyone somehow." He started. "It works to his advantage; he's got photographic reflexes."

"Photograph reflexes?" Joe asked, thinking that's what he heard.

"Photographic reflexes." Seth corrected him. "It means he can mimic the physical movements of others just by watching them. Any close-range combat training you've had, he can mimic."

Caitlin widened her eyes. "That'd mean any training one's had in years; he can learn in seconds."

"Precisely." Seth nodded.

"Not just that." Ruby added. "By now he's already mastered the fighting styles of Earth-616's mightiest heroes." Only Seth knew she was referring to the Avengers.

Taskmaster has had superior training, greater than either Jesse or Barry's ever had. This master combatant, acrobat and marksman, is a highly skilled mercenary with incredible reflexes. Just by observing, assessing his opponents he can instantly replicate his targets' combat maneuvers. Along with that, he can also develop countermeasures against his target. In battle, he's an extremely lethal opponent. almost any oncoming attacks he can block or counter with ease.

Not to mention, along with his countermeasures, he's a well-funded mercenary, granting him access to a vast array of advanced weapons and equipment. And it appears his funds are spread so far, it's even available on another Earth.

"Reminds you of the past, doesn't it?" Venom mused to his host.

"Not gonna be like the past." Seth could feel his "other" slither and shift the crystal sword inside of his body. "We're better than last time." He cracked his neck. "I'll take care of this." He noted the clock and current time. "I'll get them back."

"No, we'll come with." Harry said, looking around for his energy rifle.

Seth put a hand on his shoulder, getting the Earth-2 scientist's attention. "Harry… If you, Joe or anyone other than me and my girls come, it's gonna end up with Jesse dead."

"And Barry!" Cisco reminded him.

"No skin of my teeth." Seth countered, both Joe and Iris giving him dry looks. He made eye contact with both Joe and Harry. "I'll get them back. It's almost morning anyway. We have to get going."

"Wait, how'd Barry actually get captured like that?" Iris asked. Recalling his coughing fit, she asked. "He coughed in the fight, like he was inhaling something. What was that?"

"It's some kind of a neurotoxic gas that causes whoever inhales it to get dizzy and lose balance, similar to vertigo but it also gives you coughing fits and limits your vision, hearing and speech." Seth started. "Normally, it wouldn't work on a speedster, on Barry because of his hyper metabolism. But in large quantities not even a metabolism like that will be able to keep up with it. This gas was made to counteract the enhanced biological countermeasures powered people have. Taskmaster used this gas against me before, which is why I know it."

"Seth?" Caitlin took his hand. "How does this guy know who you really are? Nothing about your other identity points to your real identity, yet this guy knows who you really are. Why and how?"

"Taskmaster fought me twice." Seth started. "He fought me as Venom once and the other time as myself."

"What's that got to do with it?" The viber asked him in confusion.

Seth replied. "Because I wasn't used to fighting him or as Venom, so I accidently used the same powers and same fighting style. He pieced it together and figured out I'm Venom. He's been fighting me a few times because of that."

"So, he knows your moves?" Harry said, not feeling confident this man could actually save his daughter now.

"Not all of them." Seth clenched his fists. "I'm stronger than last time… But that's not what I'm concerned about now."

"What is it, Dad?" Evelyn asked her father.

Frankie realized what's going through his head. "A mercenary is a hired hand; means he's paid to do this." She announced.

"Yeah… The question isn't why he's doing this… but who paid him to do this?" Seth admitted.

X

"…ash…!"

"…Fl…!"

"FLASH!"

"Argh!" Barry was startled awake by the female voice that called out to him loudly. The speedster finally regained his consciousness, and the first thing he felt was a cold breeze coming over his lower half of his face. He struggled to breathe, and his ears stung from the annoying sharpening sound that reached them.

He looked around, taking in his surroundings. With morning light shining over the entire city, he could clearly see he's on top of a building that was still under construction. Red support beams all around him, tools scattered all over the place and he also saw his foe from last night sitting on a beam. He was busying himself by sharpening his weaponized arrowheads.

"Flash!"

The speedster snapped his head to the side and saw Jesse Quick right beside him. She looked to be unharmed as he is. His cowl is pulled over his head again. "Jes- OW!" Barry groaned. Looking down at his body, he saw that the needles from last night's bombs had been removed from his torso except for his legs. He also noted his hands are cuffed with power-dampening cuffs, preventing him from using his speed.

While the pain is still fresh, he turns his head to face Jesse, who's sitting beside both Sam Scudder and Rosa Dillion, both are awake. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She assured him, but he could clearly see her frustration on her face. "What about you?"

"Been better." He nodded to his lower body that's still riddled with needles.

"Speak for yourself, Flash." Top countered.

Mirror Master groaned, turning to face the man in the armor. "Hey, you!" He didn't get Taskmaster's attention. "Hey, we can help you take Venom out. Let us help you."

"You couldn't even take those speedsters out," Taskmaster raised his arrow, examining the arrowhead he sharpened. "and you think you can take down Venom. Idiots are a common factor in any universe."

"You're not from here, are you?" Barry said, getting Taskmaster to finally turn to him. "I knew it. You're from Venom's world. That's why he said I shouldn't fight you."

"Try listening to good advice once in a while, kid." The mercenary advised, getting up from the beam and holstering the arrow. "The four of you are bait right now. Only bait." He said, turning his back to them.

"Why?" Rosa said.

Looking over his shoulder, meeting the four pairs of eyes, he said. "To fight a worthy opponent." He raised his hand, revealing a controller. Pressing the button, he watched as an electroshock emitted from the handcuffs on the criminals' wrists, shocking them till they passed out. "Without a peanut gallery."

"Why didn't you shock us too?" Jesse asked.

Taskmaster turned to her. "Think the two of you could learn something from Venom and my fight."

"You think you can defeat him?" Barry scoffed. "Good luck with that."

"Now you're learning…." Taskmaster faked impressiveness.

"I'm here!"

"Finally." The mercenary turned around. He saw shadows slowly dissipate, revealing Seth standing with his daughters in their suits. Unlike the younger girls, the mutant himself is not wearing his suit. "Surprised to see me here?"

"That'd be an understatement." Seth said. Stepping forward, he glanced at his daughters. "Girls, get out of the way." They nodded and stepped out of the way. "You've been watching us this entire time, haven't you?"

"You already know the answer to that, Seth." Taskmaster unequipped his sword handle, beginning to walk around.

Walking around himself, Seth had his crystal sword slither out of his hand till he wrapped his hand around the handle. "Guess I do, yeah."

"New world, new sword, new look." Taskmaster scoffed. "New skills, hopefully."

"Only one way to find out, right?" Seth twirled his sword around, the tip of his blade connected with the metal floor, emanating sparks from the friction. "Before that, let me ask you something."

"What?" Taskmaster said, but he had a feeling he already knew the question.

"The Lizard was here…" Seth narrowed his eyes, a darkened look coming over him. "Did you do something to his chip?"

"… Yeah. Switched it out with another one." He spun his handle around, pressing the button and a reddish photogenic blade ejected from the hilt. Taskmaster took a stance, reeling his sword back. "Let's see if you're better than last time, Fury."

"Let's go then, Tasky." Seth swung his sword backwards, once again his blade glided across the floor and released sparks from friction.

In an instant, the two charged one another. Both 616ers swung their swords, crystal blade meeting energy blade in a clash. Though one's an energy form and the other's a mysterious crystal blade, somehow their clash released more sparks.

"Not gonna fight seriously, huh?! Holding back?" Taskmaster asked.

Seth glared at him. "Don't need to fight seriously, not against you!" He growled. The mutant swung his right foot, kicking the mercenary and caused him to lose his balance.

But Taskmaster used that to his advantage. Deactivating his energy sword, he placed both hands on the ground and pushed his legs up, swinging them into the elemental's face and pushed him back. Performing a spin, he returned to his feet and ejected his energy blade once again. "Gotten slow!"

The mercenary jumped forward, swinging his sword for the mutant who dodged it in a spin. His right arm turned into adamantium before thrusting forward, intent on smashing it into his foe's stomach. But it ended up clashing with Taskmaster's obsidian-black shield, resulting in a booming sound due to the clash.

Releasing his hold on his shield, Taskmaster raised his arm and shot out a grappling hook, latching onto his shield. Jumping backwards, he pulled his shield away from the mutant and swung it around before swinging for the elemental once more.

The elemental jumped out of the way, landing on the side of a support beam before leaping off it. He swung his sword from above, aiming for his head. The mercenary lowered himself, sliding away from the attack. Spinning back to his full height, he launched his arm and shot out a grappling hook again. This time it wrapped around his sword.

Once again, the Earth-616 enemy was able to display superior strength and managed to pull the sword out of Seth's hands and threw it away. The crystal sword pierced into the ground. Taskmaster pulled out his high-tech firearm and pulled the trigger, shooting the mutant's chest and causing him to fall down to the ground.

Holstering both his gun and his sword, the mercenary shot out his grappling hook. It attached itself to the wall behind the elemental. Pulling on the hook, he pulled himself closer to Seth, thrusting his left fist into his face. Another hook came out of his gauntlet, attaching another wall, allowing him to pull himself to the mutant and strike him this time with his right fist.

Taskmaster jumped into another spin, kicking the back of the mutant's head and sending him into the ground. "Take this seriously, or you die!" He told the elemental before retrieving his shield once more, lashing it out to attack him.

Placing his hands on the ground, Seth spun himself around like a top, lashing out his adamantium legs and blocked the shield from attacking him. "Who says I'm not?"

"Me, I know you that well." The mercenary used his shield like a weapon, attacking and swinging with his shield but all of his attacks were dodged and avoided.

"He's right. Start fighting back, Seth." His "other" ordered his host.

"…" Seth didn't respond, busying himself with the series of strikes he's avoiding right now.

His daughters watched from afar. Ruby watched him attack and dodge through her lenses. "What's going on, Dad?"

"What do you mean?" Frankie asked her sister. "You look worried."

"You've seen firsthand how Dad fights 616 villains before, Frankie. But now…." Ruby nodded to her father who avoided another shield uppercut. "It's like Dad's not fighting back seriously."

"She's right." Evelyn raised her eye mask so it's on her forehead. "Why's Dad's acting like this…. That's why." She muttered her realization after taking in their surroundings, her sisters turning to her confusion. "Look." She pointed to the barrels with warning symbols around the platform. "Dad's not using his real strength because of those barrels around them in fear of explosions."

"Dad already cased the area… He's sticking to a close range fight because he knows Taskmaster's also a marksman." Frankie added.

"This place is a construction site…" Destroyer looked over the edge, seeing more than a bunch of people down on the streets and walking around the skyscraper. "And dozens of people are roaming the streets…"

"Your Dad is choosing the option to block and fight close range without his combustive elements to assure no civilian gets involved or harmed." They heard their mother tell them over their comms. "He's choosing the safer option that's gonna prevent civilian casualties."

"Sounds like Dad." Ruby smirked behind her mask.

Taskmaster thrusts his fist out. Seth countered with his own fist flying and met the mercenary's fist. The sound of their fists colliding echoed. "Hate it when you hold back!" He reeled back his shield again, slamming it into the mutant's face.

Then the mercenary slammed his shield into the mutant's stomach, pushing him up and into the air. Jumping into the air after him, Taskmaster wrapped his legs and his head and threw Seth down to the ground. From the air, he slammed his knee down on his back, causing Seth to grunt in pain.

"What a disappointment." He activated his sword again, embedding the blade into the floor close to Seth's face. "This is pathetic…. Gave you too much credit." Taskmaster glanced at the three younger heroes on top of a beam on the opposite side. "Tell you what, Seth… If you're not that much now, how about I take a chance on those girls of yours then?"

In an instant, Seth's eyes snapped open, and he saw blazing red… That mixed with slithering black mass. "Stay…" Black smoke emitted from his gritted teeth, one red eye pointing upwards at the mercenary on his back. "Away… from my daughters!"

Turning his hand around, his palm facing upwards, and tendrils shot out of his hand. Before he could react, the slithering tendrils wrapped around the mercenary's head and yanked him closer to the hand. Seth flexed his arm, igniting flames on his elbow and slamming into the side of Taskmaster's mask, causing it to crack when he grunted.

Finding an opportunity to strike back, he spun around and kicked the mercenary away from him. Seth flipped back onto his feet, clenching both of his hands and turned them into adamantium. Lightning clad his entire body like armor, increasing his speed and the mutant attack with a series of swift metal strikes to his body.

Both restrained speedsters and his three daughters saw Seth reel his right fist back, all of the lightning around his form transferred to his fist before he punched the mercenary, hurling him into a series of craters.

"You wanted serious… Biggest mistake of your life." Seth took a boxing stance, flames cloaking his right hand and lightning sparking around his left hand. Tendrils sprouted out of his back, each of them tipped with sharp icicles. His feet, now reinforced with adamantium, cracked the ground. "Get up!" He demanded, as symbiotic mass covered his hands and feet.

Pieces of the craters were shot into the air, pushed off his form and Taskmaster chuckled hollowly. "Finally…" He readied his shield and his energy sword once again. "A worthy foe."

"And your last!" Seth used wind to catapult himself off the ground. Taskmaster swung his sword, but the mutant avoided it, leaping over his opponent. Reeling his clawed and blazing hand back, he swung it downwards and attacked. The blow pushed him down to the ground.

Not giving the 616 mercenary a chance to attack back, the mutant swung his leg and hit his chest. But the attack to his torso was blocked off by his black shield. Taskmaster lashed out his sword and swung it, trying to slash the elemental.

However, tendrils wrapped around his wrist and Seth slammed his hand down, causing the mercenary to lose his grip on his sword. The mutant slammed his foot down on his shield, his ability to stick to any surface showing itself with his next action. "You're good, but you're not Captain America." Performing a backflip, he took the shield away and threw it away.

Taskmaster returned to his full height. "True, but I can do all their tricks." He pulled out his firearm again, pointing it at the mutant.

But suddenly a familiar white web-line attached to the firearm. "Haven't you heard it's not nice to point at people?" A quippy voice said before yanking it out of his hands. A figure swung over their heads, garnering their attention.

It was a man… a man clad in a suit with a blue and red color scheme. The colors are in a bright tone around the red coloring. The eye lenses are black on the outline and white in the middle. Seth saw that unlike in the past, where it was traditionally black, his current suit features a large white spider on the chest. It's long legs end at the thin blue piping of the suit. His shoes are different too, displayed with a sneaker-style design. His suit has white bits which are positioned on his gauntlets, feet and chest. His suit also features a black web-like outlining all around the suit.

"Wait, that's…" Ruby chuckled in shock, the inner girl in her that admires Seth and Venom was threatening to burst out of her. Her inner fangirl basically.

The figure in question, another hero from Earth-616, landed on the platform. With a yank of his hand, he pulled the firearm into his hand. "Come on, Tasky, these things are dangerous." Spider-Man jokes.

"You too!" The mercenary groaned his annoyance.

Seth snapped around and couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of… Spider-Man from Earth-616. "Spider-Man?"

Peter Parker turned to meet his friend's eyes. "Yo, Seth! Long time no see. WOW!" He exclaimed when he was about to be cut into ribbons by Taskmaster's sword that he quickly retrieved. "What's wrong with you, Tasky? I'm trying to talk to a friend here."

"Talk when you're dead." The mercenary tried to stab him.

"That sounds rather one-sided!" The spider-hero joked, continuing to avoid the many incoming slashes.

Before Taskmaster could strike again, black tendrils wrapped around his form from behind him and pulled him away from Peter, throwing him away. Seth slid closer to his friend. "What's wrong with you?"

"Not much." He chuckled, though they're in a battle with a deadly opponent. "You?"

Seth smirked. "Not much either." He replied. "Nice suit…" His form became completely enveloped in symbiotic mass, enlarging his form and his skeletal extensions jumped out of his body. "But ours is better."

"Not bad, yeah." Peter agreed with a smirk behind his mask.

While a tendril pulled his sword back into his hand, Venom turned to the mercenary who now stood with both his sword and his shield again. "Give us a hand." He braced his sword against his shoulder.

Spider-Man took a stance. "With pleasure."

"Two bugs…" He muttered, but this could very well work in his favor. Taskmaster swung his sword. "Let's go!" He charged them.

With his free hand, Seth slammed his hand through the platform and spread out his tendrils under their feet. Peter used his much larger friend's form as a springboard, jumping into the air and shooting out a web-line, swinging over their heads. The mercenary looked around, and much to his fear, adamantium tendrils shot up like trap spikes.

Zigzagging backwards, Taskmaster avoided the tendrils that tried to attack him. But he covered his back with his shield when web shots came flying from behind him. "What's wrong, Taskmaster? Give us a smile. Don't be like that." He joked while swinging over his head.

"You're an annoying bug." He threw his shield after him.

But Spider-Man had faced worse off than this and he shot out a web-line. It attached to the shield and he spun around in the air. "I think this is yours!" Getting enough momentum, he hurled the black and red shield after the mercenary.

The force of the shield throw pushed Taskmaster back, making him groan in pain and frustration. He stopped going backwards when the tendrils wrapped around his feet and stopped him from moving. Twirling his sword around, he held it so his sword was pointing downwards before stabbing at the tendrils, cutting them off his feet.

The distraction worked and Venom swung his sword like a sledgehammer. Taskmaster only managed to block the sword with his own photogenic energy sword. Violently sparks went off from the clash. Flames ignited around his right foot before he swung it into the mercenary's stomach, kicking him up in the air.

"My turn! My turn!" Spider-Man childishly called out, while swinging into the villain with both feet lashed out.

Taskmaster groaned in pain when landing on the ground, ricocheting like a skipping stone on water.

"Wow! That was good!" Spider-Man declared while landing on the ground. He was so happy and ecstatic he threatened to break into song and dance in the middle of the fight. Both restrained speedsters saw that as did Seth.

"This moron never changes." The mutant heard his partner say.

"Better than the moron in handcuffs." Seth mentally pointed his eye to the Scarlet Speedster.

While the spider-hero and the mutant were busying themselves, Taskmaster attached unique devices to his wrists.

Venom looked at the mercenary. "What are you doing?" Taskmaster didn't respond and resumed his fighting position. "Red, get ready."

Spider-Man pointed a finger between himself and the speedsters. "You talking about me? Or the guy in red? Or the girl in red?" He gave both speedsters thumbs up. "Speaking of nice loOK-!" Suddenly the spider-hero was wrapped inside of Seth's humongous clawed fist.

"You talk too much!" Venom shouted in his face.

Though he was literally in the hand of an elemental, Peter mulled over his words for a moment. "Well, that's a matter of opinion. I mean, are there any standard metrics for much talking one should do? And who determines the ideal ratio of talking versus not-talking?" He continued much to the surprise of the natives and the annoyance of Seth. "Also, how would you measure it? Words per minute? Syllables per second? Or is it more about how many words one uses to express a single thought? It's all so subjective. If you ask me, some people don't talk enough. Like who is the maniac who hired them is…" He nodded to the mercenary before turning back to the mutant. "… or about their current and new life on another universe, that kind of thing. Ok-"

Seth stopped him, covering his mouth with his clawed thumb. "You're annoying." He growled in his face. His head perked up in an inspiration.

He turned his head to Taskmaster…

Then to Peter in his hand…

Then to Taskmaster…

Then back to Spider-Man… with a wide and mischievous grin.

"Fastball."

Even though he's wearing his mask, Peter was sure everyone could see him pale in horror and terror as though he's facing a zombie. "No, no, no!" He chanted.

But Venom didn't listen and reeled his hand back before, like a softball, threw the spider-hero after the mercenary. "AARGH!" Spider-Man screamed as he flew through the air. While shocked by the elemental's makeshift attack, Taskmaster lowered himself.

For a moment Peter flew over him and the mercenary lightly stabbed him with his energy blade. While the hero groaned in pain, Taskmaster thrusts his right hand up and activates his device. A tube shot out, digging into the hero's body and drawing blood.

When Peter flew past him, the tube retracted and pulled back to the device on Taskmaster's hand. Spider-Man swung over the construction site, jumping into the air and spinning up there. The mercenary turned around, rushing to meet the mutant in a fight.

Venom swung his sword for him, but the mercenary spun around and thrust his left hand into his stomach. At the same time, he stabbed him with his energy sword in the stomach. When his blade pierced his symbiotic water-like skin, he clenched his left hand and a similar tube ejected, piercing both symbiote mass and mutant skin, taking in both blood and something else.

The mutant groaned and raised his hands, cupping them together and raised them over his head, cloaking them with lightning and flames. Roaring a war cry, Venom swung his hands downwards like a mallet.

But the mercenary jumped backwards, avoiding the attack that punched through the ground. Taskmaster reeled back both his sword and his shield, but then a round red sphere with a black web-like pattern rolled between his legs.

"Bomb's away!" Spider-Man announced jokingly.

EXPLOSION

"ARGH" The bomb under the mercenary exploded, blasting him with web. The web completely ensnared him and his arms, causing both his shield and his sword to fall down with a clatter.

"And one for the camera." Spider-Man shot a web shot at his feet, binding them together and Taskmaster fell to his knees. "Now that was good."

Jesse gasped. "That was incredible!" She exclaimed.

"How'd you guys fight him like that?" Barry asked.

Before any of them could respond, Eclipse appeared beside the speedsters with her sisters. "Pretty sure they're just more experienced and better than us." The metahuman of light and darkness gestured to themselves.

"Much better." Ruby admitted while walking to the criminal metahuman pair.

Morphing her hands into blades as Frankie faced the speedsters. "Careful." She cut their power-dampening cuffs off with a swing of her blades. "There."

"Thanks." Jesse rubbed her wrists.

"Thank you." Barry groaned but still in excruciating pain from the needles embedded on his lower half. His words fell on deaf ears when the ferrokinetic walked away.

Ruby crouched by the pair. She pressed two fingers to Sam's pulse. She then placed them on Rosa's pulse. "They're alive." She announced.

"Cool… Who are they?" Peter directed to the mutant.

"Our daughters." Seth answered.

Looking at Magenta, the spider-hero cooed. "Aww, she's got your eyes." The daughters laughed at his words. Spider-Man sighed and then turned to meet Seth's eyes. "Now…" He opened up his arms. "How about a hug for old time's sake?"

"Sure…" Venom grinned evilly, opening up his own arms. Before Peter walked into the hug, he watched ice spikes grow on Seth's chest and his inner arms. "Come and get a hug, Spidey!"

"No! No! No! No!" The spider-hero jumped out of the way, landing on all four on a wall. "A hug doesn't mean an iron maiden hug!" He accusatorily pointed a finger at him. "Also, you've permanently scarred me. I'm terrified of sports now!"

"Not much changed then." Venom chuckled his response.

"Well, this got boring." Taskmaster stated while listening to the heroes chatting so happily.

"What's this guy's deal anyway?" Jesse asked while Barry used her as a crutch.

"He's a mercenary." Evelyn asked.

"Just a hired hand." Seth held his sword, pointing it at the mercenary's chin. "Why'd you want to fight us?"

"He said it "to fight someone worthy."" Barry declared.

"Wrong!" Seth countered; his words made Spider-Man narrow his eyes. "He's a hired hand, someone paid him to fight us. Why?"

"And who?" Peter demanded. "Who's calling the shots, Tasky?"

"I'm a professional, I do my job, I do it right, and I always complete it." Taskmaster swung his webbed arms downwards, throwing more pellets to the ground. Everyone covered their eyes and mouth when a smokescreen came over them.

With his thoughts turning to the criminal, Seth slammed his hands together and released a gust of air, blowing the smoke away. Unfortunately, with the smoke gone, they now saw that Taskmaster had disappeared.

"Great…Forgot he's a magician." The spider-hero said with a sigh while rubbing the open wound on his stomach.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"This place is cool!" The spider-hero exclaimed while crawling on the ceiling. For the last few minutes, he's been crawling on the ceiling and taking in everything in the Cortex. "You guys work here? For real?" He asked Seth and the other heroes under him.

"Yes, we do, Spidey. Calm down." Seth told him.

The natives were in awe of this hero's spider-like powers. Through firsthand experience and cameras, the entire team saw him shoot web out of his wrists and they saw him stick to walls. They were in awe.

After both Barry and Jesse were treated, they walked into the Cortex to see the others. Both speedsters were embraced by their loved ones. Jesse was embraced by her father who squeezed the life out of her, Barry was hugged by both Joe and Iris who almost hurt him with a hug.

But both of them were hurt and saddened from the easy defeat they suffered last night at the hands of the mercenary. And though they had the numbers, they were useless against a villain like that. Seth and his friend from 616, Spider-Man, were able to defeat him.

They have superspeed, but they have skills and experience.

The detective pulled out of the hug and turned to Seth. "Thanks." The mutant gave a thumbs up. Joe looked up at the spider-hero. "Can we get to know the man under the mask, perhaps?"

Peter gave the mutant a questioning look, who gave back an assuring look and a nod. Nodding back, the spider-hero released his hold on the ceiling and landed on his feet. Taking off his mask, he showed that he's a young man with brown hair and hazel eyes. "Name's Peter Parker. Nice to meet you all."

"Pleasure, Mr. Parker." Harrison walked over to him. "Thank you for saving my daughter."

"Of course." Peter nodded.

Joe walked over to him as well. "And for saving my son, too. Thank you." They shook hands too.

"Don't mention it you guys. There were some benefits to this fight." Peter shared a look with Seth. "Met up with an old friend again. And…" He looked past him and saw Caitlin with her daughters. "Your daughters are amazing and have cool powers."

"Thanks." Caitlin expressed. "And thanks for helping my boyfriend back there, means a lot."

"Boyfriend?" He snapped his head to Seth who nodded. "Oh… Nice."

"For the record, you're not babysitting our daughters." The elemental said immediately, crossing his arms over his chest. "Made that mistake once, not letting it happen again."

"Seriously?" Peter put his hand on his chest in fake pain. "I'm hurt."

"Want me to throw you again?" Seth watched fear strike him. Laughing at his reaction, the mutant then asked. "Pete, what are you doing here? How'd you get here?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Peter answered. "Don't know man, I was swinging through the air in New York and then a blue flash, I was freefalling in a new city, on another Earth. I was swinging through the city for a couple of hours and then I saw you fighting Taskmaster of all baddies." Seth understood that. "Mind answering what's going on here?"

Together with the rest of the team, Seth explained what happened here. He kept out the part about Flashpoint, same as his team, and only explained that the previously closed portals from two years ago had reopened and brought villains from Earth-616 to this Earth. Villains from both Ryker's Island and its special branch, The Raft, might appear here and spread their havoc to this universe.

"Wow…" Peter ran a hand through his hair. "Can't believe that happened here. Looks like more problems from our Earth aren't done with this one." He scoffed.

"No kidding." Seth agreed.

"And this was one villain." Jesse sighed. "One villain took care of me and Barry without problems."

"It was pathetic." Barry hung his head low with a groan.

"Don't be like that, guys." Wally said politely.

"So what? This guy you couldn't beat, you beat Top and Mirror Master." Cisco reminded them.

Seth then added. "And unlike those two, Taskmaster's more calculating, he's an expert tactician. He must have observed your fighting styles and skills before. By the time he showed his ugly mug, he must have had countermeasures ready."

Peter swayed his head. "Well… You don't actually know if it's ugly or not, he has a mask the entire time."

"Then his mask's ugly!" Seth frustratingly said. "Serious, Pete, this side of you is annoying. And you still talk too much. How MJ can handle you is a miracle."

"Aw, don't worry about that, she complains more than you. Even more than your Dad, actually." Peter chuckled. His chuckle turned into a shiver when he saw Seth crack his fists.

"Seth?" Jesse got his attention. "Mind training me?"

"What was that?" Harry asked in a baffle.

"Dad, come on. I didn't stand a chance against that guy out there." Jesse countered. "Seth did, with his friend." She gestured to Peter. "I need to get better… please. You can go home and I can stay here for a while."

"No." Harry shook his head. "You stay, I stay. And we will." He inhaled deeply. He looked at Caitlin and Cisco. "We'll have to tell Harry-19, we'll have to breach him over later than scheduled."

"It's fine, we haven't really given him a call or response yet." Cisco admitted.

"Seth…" Barry met his eyes. "Me too, I need the training too."

"… Maybe." Seth said, not hiding the coldness in his voice. His tone didn't go unnoticed by the spider-hero. "But I'm not promising anything."

"Hey." Peter got his attention with a nudge of his shoulder. "Wanna go for a swing? Wanna see this city from a better perspective for a bit and catch up with an old friend."

Before he answered, Seth turned his eyes to Caitlin. She smiled, assuring him with her words. "Go. I'll take care of the girls. Go and catch up with your friend."

Smiling widely and mouthing his thanks, he turned to his old friend. "Let's go, Spider-Boy." He challenged him, jumping out of the skylight.

"It's Spider-Man! Oh, come on! Get back here, Slither!" Peter pulled his mask on again, leaping out of the skylight and chasing the mutant.

Caitlin smiled as they left the facility. She was happy to see Seth smile happily like that again.

X

"Woohoo!" Spider-Man shouted as he swung above skyscrapers. He spun around in the air, performing acrobatic features like a professional. "Hello, Central City!" He falls down, diving down with arms on his sides.

But before the spider-hero could even connect with the asphalts, black tendrils wrapped around his form and threw him into the air again. Peter used the momentum of the throw, shooting out a web-line, attaching it to the side of a building, swinging onto the side of it.

He ran on it with ease. People on the streets turned their eyes and phones upwards, pointing them both at the spider-hero who ran on the glass wall. He was then joined by a humongous demon that swung past him.

Tendrils shot out of the back of Seth's hands, attaching themselves to the building on the opposite side. Yanking on them, he appeared in front of Spider-Man with a smirk. "Come on, Spidey! You've gotten slow!" He jumped off the building, shooting out a tendril from his back and attached it to the top of a building.

Showing a grin, Venom had the tendril pull on his body and shot him through the air and onto the other building.

"No way!" Spider-Man shouted, shooting out two web-lines and pulled on them, catapulting himself after the mutant.

Though the two continued their race over the city for a few more moments, they never reached a winning result. They swung over to a larger construction site than the one they were at before.

Once getting closer, they both saw a large and tall crane. Both heroes wrapped a web-line and a tendril around the jib, pulling themselves closer to the crane itself. The spider-hero swung onto the jib, crouching on the underside of it. Swinging over the jib, the elemental landed on the top of it.

Peter took off his mask…. Seth retracted his entire symbiotic suit. The mutant's trenchcoat flapped in the open air that blew over them. The spider-powered man's hair hung and shook with the air blowing over his form.

"What do you think of Central City so far, Pete?" Seth asked his friend from his origin Earth.

"Can't complain, honestly." Peter crawled around the jib, all the way around so he could sit on the jib. "What do you think about it?"

"It's my home, Peter." Seth smiled. "The home to my family and loved ones."

"Guessing that doesn't include… "The Flash"?" Peter asked knowingly. Seth gave him a dry look with tones of shock. "I saw and heard how you talked to him back at S.T.A.R. Labs. What's the deal with that?" He reached into his pocket, pulling out a folded out newspaper of when the police captain declared an enemy of the city. "And this?"

Knowing how Barry understood this situation better than anyone on this Earth, Seth explained everything again. Every piece of information he withheld before he explained now and filled the blanks from the previous explanation.

Peter was shocked. One thing was dealing and understanding the multiverse. But now… Now temporal manipulation was a thing. A speedster, with the powers to run beyond the speed of light, can now run with such incredible velocity that they can actually break the space-time continuum and actually run back in time to a time and place of their choosing. Via entering that time and place, they can manipulate it, change it and therefore change everything that's already happened…

"Are you kidding me?" Peter muttered in shock, still dealing with the shock of hearing that the mutant and his three daughters could have been killed by this temporal change that someone he called a friend could have done. "Can't believe this happened, man. I'm sorry."

"Not your fault, don't be sorry, Pete." Seth took a seat on the jib as well. "This is because of Barry and his poor choices. But hopefully you understand why I'm not exactly keen on being friendly with that moron."

"Guess I can. It's heavy stuff." Peter admitted. "With great powers comes great responsibility." He stated.

"A creed that Barry will never understand." Seth said, placing his elbows on his knees. He intertwined his fingers. "Parts of me think that this world could have used someone like you, instead of someone like me and Barry, Pete."

"Really?" Peter knew why he was thinking that. "Cause I've never made mistakes before? We both know better. I've always made mistakes, Seth… Like when I met you." He tapped the mutant's right kneecap.

Seth chuckled at that. "Remember when we met for the first time?"

"I do, yeah." Peter said.

X

(Flashback)

"You got the wrong guy, Spider!"

"Yeah, right, Brock!" Spider-Man declared, punching the side of the huge villain's face with his fist. The spider-hero met the villain again after months without seeing him. It was strange to find the villain lurking and looking down on the city from on top of a building. Even more so when he didn't don his usual white spider symbol that stretched far and wide over his colossal form. But that did not stop the hero from jumping into action and striking him with a flurry of attacks. "Then who are you? Tony Stark? Steve Rogers? Maybe even Black Widow?"

Venom growled, not at all convincing the spider-hero of who he thought he was. "None of the abo-" His words were cut short when a web shot webbed his mouth shut.

Unlike in the present, the hero dons a suit with a red and blue color scheme with black outlining, similar to a web-like pattern. "No offense, but you're really much better without that mouth of yours." Spider-Man quipped before charging him. When coming within arm's reach, he jumped up and kicked his face. He delivered another quick kick to his face again.

Growling in anger, the symbiote-bearer tore off the webbing and snarled at the hero. Thrusting his arm forward, his appendage split into tendrils and stroke like ravenous serpents.

"That's more like you, Brock." Peter admitted and shot web shots. Each shot was rounded. Upon impact with opposing attacks, the web shots deflected the tendrils, sending them away.

Another web-line shot out from his web-shooter, connecting with the villain's face and pulled him closer to him. With swift moves, he struck his head with rapid attacks with clenched fists. Venom roared, swinging his claws for him.

But Spider-Man crouched down, dodging the attack and jumped upwards with both outstretched feet that connected with the villain's jawline, causing him to stagger backwards. The symbiote-bearer raised his arm and stretched his claws.

Peter used the momentum of his jump, using the villain's face as a springboard. He jumped off it, shooting out web-lines, attaching them to the outstretched clawed hand. He swung the hand downwards, and once again, swing kicked the side of Venom's jaw.

"What's wrong, Brock?!" Spider-Man landed in front of the villain. "You're not your usual Venomy today. Get the wrong leg out of bed this morning or something?" He narrowed his eyes, his lenses responding in kind and narrowed as well. "Don't tell you have something else in store for the city?"

"…" Venom didn't say anything, not even showing a smirk or a grin which is his usual style.

"Do you?!" He shouted his question.

Both of them turned their heads to the side, smoke rising up from the streets and into the skies.

"What?" The spider-hero jumped onto the ledge. He looked down and saw that a truck had tipped over, the result of colliding with two cars. The truck's water tank was broken wide open, spilling out water all over the streets. Spider-Man, with the high-tech lenses in his eyepieces, zoomed in on the truck cabin and saw someone struggling to get out.

Moreover, he saw five masked and armed men appearing on the other side, closing in on the fallen water truck with raised firearms. "Crap, they're gonna try and explode the entire street if they blow up the truck." Turning his head back, he faced Venom. "To be continued, Venom."

It's risky to leave the villain alone like this, but civilians' lives were at risk.

Spider-Man jumped off the ledge. He shot out a web-line, swinging down to the chaos on the streets. The armed men saw the hero swinging in the air, aiming their firearms at him and pulled on the triggers. As bullets tried to hit him without success, Peter joked. "Oh, come on, guys! There's gotta be a better way to greet your friendly neighborhood hero than lead!"

He let go of his web-line and spun down to the nearest armed man. Spider-Man spun around, kicking his weapon out of his arms and shot a web shot at his masked face, blocking off his field of vision. Pressing down a small panel on his web-shooter, making it spark with electricity. Shooting off another web-shot, one that is electrified, which connects with the masked man and causes him to groan in pain before falling down when passing out.

"Die, bug!" One armed man raised his firearm, pointing at the back of the spider-hero. Another man joined him, aiming his weapon at him.

"Spiders aren't bugs." Spider-Man casually countered, jumping into the air. He crossed his arms and shot out a web-line from both shooters, each one connecting with a weapon. They were pulled out of their arms and slammed their faces, making them fall to the ground. Landing on the ground again, he webbed them to the ground with a series of web shots. "They're arthropods, that means their skeletal system-"

"Quit with the biography lesson!" A fourth masked man tried to attack him, swinging his rifle like a mallet. The fifth and final man appeared from the side.

"It's biology." Peter corrected him, kicking the rifle out of his hands and covering his face with a web shot. Shooting a web-line in the air, he grabbed the rifle again. "Hey, batter, batter! Swing, batter, batter!" He childishly sang, swinging the rifle into the faces of the remaining armed men. The blow to their faces knocked them out.

Spider-Man looked around at the defeated enemies. "School's out, boys."

"HELP ME! PLEASE! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

Snapping his eyes back, to the truck cabin where he could see the truck driver try and stick his hand out. "I'm coming!" Spider-Man shouted, rushing towards the cabin. His feet kicking up water when stepping into an expanding puddle of water. He jumped up and onto the cabin. "I'll get you out; I promise." He assured the driver to calm him down.

"No chance, Spider!"

Peter turned his head back and saw ten more masked and armed men appearing out of cars. From the side, police sirens could be heard, police officers rapidly approaching the crime scene. "You're dead!" The ringleader declared, cocking his rifle just like his henchmen.

"No!" Peter shouted, hoping he'd be able to respond to their human side for just a second, but that did nothing to stop them aiming their firearms at him.

But they never got the chance to open fire when a flamethrower-like attack came flying from the air, connecting with all of the weapons and they melted into pieces. The criminals let go of their weapons due to fear of getting burnt.

Confusion met them all when suddenly Venom appeared, standing protectively in front of the fallen water truck. Standing behind the villain, Peter could see smoke coming out the sides of his mouth. "What?"

"What's the deal, Venom?" The ringleader exclaimed.

Tendrils sprouted from around his right arm before thrusting them out. They wrapped around five of the criminals. They screamed when their feet left the ground before being pinned to a wall. Their screams turned into shivering chills when suddenly ice began to cover their bodies, freezing them to the hard brick surface.

Venom swung his white eyes to the last remaining criminals as his tendrils retracted. He noted that all of them stood within the big puddle of water.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong with you? We're on the same side, you idiot!" One of the grunts said.

"We're never gonna be on your side." Venom slammed his left foot down into the puddle. Lightning sparked around his entire body, sending it down to his foot. Peter watched the lightning travel across the water and shocked the five last grunts. The short electrocution caused them to fall down, now completely knocked out.

"How the heck…?" Peter trailed off, utterly baffled and shocked by what he just witnessed.

"Freeze, Venom!"

Spider-Man saw police officers stepping out of their cars, pointing their police-issued firearms at the villain who merely gave them an unsurprised glance. Venom turned around, walking towards the truck cabin.

The officer's hands shook. "I said Freeze!" His words didn't face the symbiote-bearer, he continued to walk towards the hero and the truck cabin as though nothing's out of the ordinary. "Screw it. Open fire!"

"No wait!" Peter shouted, but it fell on deaf ears when suddenly gunfire filled the air.

Though every single one of the bullets came flying at the villain, they all bounced off upon impact with his symbiotic skin. Venom jumped onto the cabin, still the target of police gunfire. "What are you doing?" Peter asked over the gunfire.

Venom didn't answer, he faced the cabin, looking through the window to meet the eyes of the stuck driver. Reaching down with his arm, his muscles expanding, he tore off the cabin door and threw it off.

Until now, Peter didn't see it but the police officers stopped firing at him.

The truck driver shivered in terror as the villain reached through the open door with his claws. He felt as though the end was closing in on him. But it was only his fears playing tricks on his mind as he saw Venom reach past him and tear off the belt buckle.

Then, with greater strength, Venom pulled the truck driver out of the cabin, while still in his seat. The villain placed him on the ground. The driver turned with eyes of shock to him. "T-Thank yo… u?" He expressed confusion as the villain walked away, jumping into the air and swung away.

"That's… That's not Venom?" Spider-Man said, still baffled.

X

"Another day and another day of being police target practice." The Klyntar told his mutant host who walked across the rooftop.

"You expected anything different?" Seth replied to his "other" with a chuckle. "This is the life we chose to live when becoming Venom." He clenched his clawed hands at his own thoughts.

"Hey!" Venom drifted his eyes to the side, seeing Spider-Man swung onto a wall beside him. "You left without saying goodbye. Pretty rude."

Turning to face him completely, Venom stated. "You wanna fight again, we'll do it elsewhere."

"No, that's not it." The spider-hero assured him, jumping off the wall and landed before the symbiote-user. "I wanna… You're not Eddie Brock, are you?"

"Told you already. We're not repeating ourselves." He told the hero and walked past him.

Peter jumped in front of him, holding out his hands. "Wait, please!" He gave a sigh. "I know for sure, you're not Eddie Brock."

"How?"

"Because I know Brock, he'd never save anyone." Spider-Man said. "I know you're not, but I am curious who's the person under the mask, though." He gave a chuckle.

"Think we're stupid enough to trust the first person we meet and just give out our identity so easily?" Venom scoffed. "You're more ridiculous than your costume."

"Hey! I made this suit." Peter said in his defense, pulling on his suit. "And you're right… I know you're not Eddie, you're another Venom…" He surprised the elemental when pulling down his mask, and showed his face. "I wanna trust you."

He held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Peter Parker."

"He's sincere." Seth heard his partner tell him, speaking of the hero's feelings that he could feel. "What do you want to do?"

Seth already knew what to do. The symbiotic mass around his body that formed his suit slithered back into his body, showing his entire real body. Holding out his own hand, he shook hands with him. "Name's Seth Rogers."

The story of how two heroes met… Of how two friends met… started with a mistake.

(Flashback end)

X

"Can't believe it all started with me mistaking you for Brock." Peter shared a look with the mutant again. "I'm sorry for it again."

"Pete, you've already apologized dozens of times." Seth reminded him. "You don't need to say it again. It's okay." He stood up, getting up to his full height. "I'm good now Peter. Really good."

"Glad to hear… So, tell me more about this family of yours…" Peter pulled his mask over again, raising up to stand on the jib. "Over dinner, please. I'm starving, to be honest."

"Cait told me there's dinner at the house, if you're up for a home-cooked meal?" Seth said.

Peter nodded his acceptance, as this would give him a free meal and also give him a chance to meet the rest of Seth's new family.

But a question still remained in the mutant's mind… Who paid Taskmaster?

X

(CCPD)

"Joe!"

Joe lifted his head up from his paperwork at his desk, looking up to meet his captain's eyes pointing at him. He also saw D.A. Cecile Horton walking towards the desk. "Captain, what can I help with?" He got up from his chair. "D.A. Cecile Horton?" He tried to suppress a smirk when seeing her.

"Heard about this case with Scudder and Dillon." Cecile asked, trying to hold back a smirk of her own.

"If you're worried about Scudder Mirror Master-ing his way out, it won't happen. Barry said every inch of his cell has been modified with some kind of anti-reflective material." Joe slowly answered, his mind hurting from recalling his son's words.

"That's reassuring." Cecile admitted with a smile. "But that's not why we're here though."

"What is it then?" Joe asked.

David started. "It's about these reports we've been getting this morning. That Scudder, Dillon, Flash and another speedster were captured and held at the construction site on Pasko and Fourth by a mysterious man."

"He goes by Taskmaster apparently, a mercenary." Joe had to lie on his next part. "He's a hired hand who was paid to do something and he used those four as bait."

"Taskmaster? A mercenary? Like that nutjob Deathstroke from Star City?" The Captain suggested.

"Paid to do what?" Cecile asked.

"It was to fight Venom." The detective shocked them with his answer. "Looks like this guy wanted to fight him and it happened at Pasko and Fourth. Another hero showed up and helped Venom fight him. But it ended up with Taskmaster disappearing and getting away."

"Sounds like a setup by Venom." David declared and Joe didn't like that. "Whatever the case, we did get two criminals behind bars. We'll find Taskmaster and get Venom another day."

"Right, Captain." The detective agreed reluctantly. "Anything else?" He didn't feel chatty when he had to hear his best friend be badmouthed.

"Actually, there is." David said. "How'd it go with the consultant on the Mercury Labs break-in?"

"It went well." Joe skimmed through the folders on his desk. "Here." He handed the correct folder to his captain. "Report and everything's made for its current situation, but the case's still open because we haven't found out who broke in."

"Alright." David took the folder. "Sounds like the consultant's a good fit for the department. Keep at it." He turned around, walking towards his office again.

"Well, I should go too." Cecile turned around, walking towards the exit.

"Hey." Joe caught up to her. "So, thank you for everything."

"Oh, no." Cecile assured him. "Thank you. We got another bad meta right where he belongs."

"Yep. All right." Joe agreed with a smirk.

"Hey, Joe." Cecile smirked. "We have an awful lot of IOUs. Do you maybe want to grab some dinner tonight?"

"Dinner?" He asked, hoping he heard correctly.

"Yeah." She confirmed.

"Yeah, I-" He stammered. "Well, I got movie night with my kids tonight. Rain check?"

The district attorney nodded. "Yeah. Of course. Another time then." She walked away.

Joe returned to his desk. His mind and thoughts return to the case, swirling around the case again.

He has one question in mind…

Who paid Taskmaster?

X

(Mercury Labs)

Nighttime quickly came over Central City, darkening the entire city. Thankfully, the lights and lamps in the lab were turned on, allowing Eliza Harmon to continue her tasks for the upcoming projects Dr. McGee's already handed off to her.

The bioengineer was still typing away on her computer when Joan Celia reentered the room, her jacket hanging around her forearm. "Still burning the midnight oil? People are gonna think you're a machine, Harmon."

Eliza smirked. "People are waiting for me to malfunction if they think that."

"They'll have me fixing you up if that happens." Joan walked closer to her colleague. "You up for a drink?"

"I kinda wanna get into these projects." Eliza stated, looking over her shoulder.

Seeing the look on her face, Joan walked closer to her and told Eliza. "You can't blame yourself for what happened with those projects. Not your or my fault that they were stolen."

"I know…" She sighed. "But we worked so hard for them, and I feel like we need to make up for them now." Eliza turned back in her chair. "I want to work on the projects for now… so raincheck on the drink?"

"Fine. But I'm holding you to it." Joan put on her jacket. "Don't work too much."

"No promises." Eliza quipped before bidding farewells with her colleague. As soon as Joan left the lab, she sighed in relief and returned to her work.

But her work was cut short when she heard a clattering sound behind her. Eliza froze, her eyes shifting to the corners of her eyes. Her hand snaked over the desk, slithering under an open folder and grabbed hold of her stun gun. Wrapping her hand around the handle she snapped around, jumping out of her chair to attack whoever entered her lab.

"Cute."

Eliza came face to face with the glowing lime-green eye-lenses of Taskmaster's mask. The wielder of the mask itself grabbed the scientist's wrist. The mercenary turned to the stun gun that was sparking with electricity as its trigger was pulled. "Couldn't even roast a chicken."

"Wh…" Suddenly Eliza's demeanor changed, her expression darkening. "What are you doing here?!" She whispered loudly, shaking her hand out of his hand.

"Came to give a report of the job." Taskmaster said, reaching into his pockets.

"I saw it on the news." She growled. "Thought I said you had to-"

"Get this." He held out one hand, holding up a small canister vial with two fingers. Eliza saw the vial contents, seeing that it's blood… but it's mixed with black mass. "Venom's blood and his DNA." With his free hand, he threw the portable extractors to the desk.

"What makes Venom Venom." She snatched the vial. "Or should I say what makes Seth Fury Venom?" Eliza smiled widely, almost crazily and villainously. "Nice job. This should work… This should do nicely."

"Why settle with nice…" Taskmaster unclenched his remaining fingers, holding out another vial. This one holding pure red blood. "When you can be better?"

"What is this?" Eliza asked, taking the vial out of his hand."

"Blood of Spider-Man." Taskmaster declared. "Someone… just as troublesome as Venom."

"Blood of two heroes from Earth-616." She smiled, her tongue licking her lips in intrigue and hunger. A hunger for knowledge… and power… one that these blood samples and Klyntar samples will help satisfy her hunger. "Thanks…"

She turned her eyes to meet her contracted mercenary's eyes. "Time to work."

Though it was impossible to see and be sure of, Eliza knew Taskmaster is just as intrigued as her.

To be continued…

And that's a chapter, peeps!

Central City had to deal with pair of shocking visits today. One was dealing with the new Rogues, Mirror Master and Top, former companions of Leonard Snart. The other was from Earth-616's very own mercenary in white, Taskmaster.

Amongst those visits, unwelcome as they are, Seth and Joe have a job and visits Mercury Labs after they had a peculiar break-in. As they checked out that case, the mutant got the shock of his life when he saw Eliza Harmon again, no longer frozen inside of an iceberg, and is no longer an artificial speedster.

The shock continued to rain over Seth when he also saw JC, now calling herself Joan, as a Mercury Labs scientist and not a bartender at her father's bar. From his mate's explanation, he learnt that he and her saved Eliza last year, getting her out of the ice and no longer a speedster and with a generous case of amnesia.

After defeating both Top and Mirror Master, Jesse Quick gets tranqed by Taskmaster, who then challenges The Flash to a fight. In the fight, Taskmaster defeats him and has a counter against all of his moves.

Taskmaster demands a fight with Venom, alone, with the speedsters' and criminals' lives on the line. Seth accepts, fighting the evil mercenary the next day. They fight, but joining the fight is Peter Parker, Spider-Man from Earth-616.

They fight one another, but close the end of it, Taskmaster completes his job and steals something from Venom and, additionally, from Spider-Man… Before handing it to his employer, Eliza Harmon.

Next chapter is not the next episode, guys… That's gonna come later, promise.

Hope you like that…

Stay tuned and until next time, peeps!