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.

6. Chapter 6: Monsters!

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

I'm really, really, REALLY sorry for taking so long guys. I've started my internship and it's been demanding, pulling my weight is hard with these people sometimes…

Plus, I've rekindled my love for Pokemon Insurgence and Pokemon Rejuvenation, so they took a while to complete as well. Might write a story with either of those two.

But don't worry, I'm not gonna stop anytime soon, maybe not stop ever. I like writing and I do it because it's something I love. And the fact that you guys enjoy the story too, fuels me. So again, thanks a bunch for it. Means more than you guys think.

Now this chapter follows the plot of Flash S03E05, with some changes I hope you guys will love.

Thanks again for the reviews and messages you've sent me. Means the world to me.

Now to answer some reviews:

Panther-10: I haven't thought of who would portray their future kids in adult age, but I've already started working on ideas for both… Yeah, I get an idea, I can't stop.

Starpottergeek: Whether the heroes will remain here, I can't say, but it won't be their last appearances. Trust me.

Guest: I haven't actually thought of involving Toxin, I've mostly thought of villains appearing for now.

Hunter41963801: Happy to hear, my friend. I love those ideas. Thanks for sharing your ideas.

So, without further ado…

ENJOY!

Chapter 6: Monsters!

Sunlight shined through the windows, hitting Seth's sleeping face and illuminating his facial features. Caitlin looked down on his face, taking in his illuminated look. She watched him turn his head in his sleep, and she couldn't help but smile.

She woke up half an hour earlier, letting her take in the view of the man she loves as he sleeps peacefully. Though she was afraid of using her powers to hurt him last night, Seth didn't show an ounce of fear. When she woke up, her head on the side of his chest, she literally jumped up to a sitting and examined his… uncovered form.

She looked everywhere, anywhere on his body where she might have caused frost to form on him. But she was relieved to see that he was unharmed. Last thing she wanted was to hurt the man she loves. Caitlin raised a hand to his face, gently pushing away his hair from his eyes. Seth seemed to revel in her touch, nudging towards her side.

Caitlin smiled widely, thinking back to last night. It is amazing to be intimate with him again, like they did. It was the first time since Seth rejoined her life. She was worried her cryogenic powers, like Seth's elements, would start roaring and erupting out from her body like magma bursting out of a volcano while she was sharing a night of passion with the man of her life. She feared her body would unleash a blizzard of cryogenic ice, freezing her mate to an icicle last night…

But they didn't….

…

At least not in the way she feared…

"Hey…" Caitlin looked down, seeing Seth look up at her with open eyes. He sat up, leaning up against the headboard. "Good morning, gorgeous."

"Good morning, handsome." Caitlin leant up to his face, kissing him. Seth tilted his head, deepening the kiss and stroked the side of her face caringly.

Seth pulled back, giving her a tender look. "You get a good night's sleep?"

"Yeah, I did." Caitlin leant against the headboard. "You?"

He nodded but then gestured to a broken thermometer on the wall. "Something weird is ggoing on… And…" Seth pulled on his comforter, which instantly shattered into a million pieces due to its frozen state. He reached behind him, showing his frozen pillow to her. As Caitlin's face turned thousands shades of red, he cheekily said. "You froze our bed, babe. Too cool to sleep."

"Sorry." Caitlin apologized. She saw that their entire bed is frozen solid. "My powers must have gone haywire, more than we thought."

"So, I make you lose control, huh?" Seth teased and Caitlin slapped his arm. "That's good for me." He said.

"Maybe." Caitlin surprised him with that single sentence. "Seth, this state, our bed, the shower last night, my hair… It only proves one thing: My powers are getting out of control. I need to get a handle on them, understand them."

"You wanna train with me and the girls?" He wondered. Training with her powers would help her slowly get a handle on her newly awakened cryogenic element.

Caitlin shook her head. "No. I have to understand them first. But I can't do this at S.T.A.R. Labs, not without the others finding out about this. I'm not ready for that." She revealed.

"So where do you want to study your powers? Mercury Labs?" Seth asked her only because she did work for Christina McGee last year after the Singularity that tore through the city.

"No… Somewhere with the one person I least want to involve." Caitlin said like the words were venom she had to spit out.

"Who?" Seth asked curiously. Caitlin turned her head to face him.

"Wanna meet my mother?"

"What?" Seth asked, this time utterly confused.

KNOCK KNOCK

The two turned their heads to the door when they heard someone knocking from the other side. "You two done in there?!" They heard Jessica Drew call out to them.

"Dear Lord, forgot all about Jessica." Seth got out of the bed, his entire form slithering with symbiotic mass that took the form of clothes. "I'll see what she's doing and our daughters, and then we can continue this."

"Good idea." Caitlin said, using a blanket to cover her body before moving to the wardrobe. "I'll change, check with her and the girls and Miles."

Seth nodded and got out of their bedroom. Closing the door behind him, the elemental looked around in search till he found Jessica leaning against the back of the couch, eating a bowl of cereal. The spider-hero kept a teasing smile on her face while swallowing her mouthful of cereal. "Don't." He told her.

Wiping milk off from her mouth, she said with a knowing smile. "So, who played doctor with the other doctor? Or do you guys switch roles in between, like foreplay?"

"Stop yourself." Seth groaned. He looked around, making sure his daughters or Miles weren't here before asking. "That obvious?"

"Kinda." Jessica raised her spoon, pointing it at the doorframe of the bedroom where there was frost and brittle. "Never told me Caitlin has powers. Ice powers for that matter. Stronger than yours." She was shocked that the metahuman's ice powers were able to spread out of the confines of her bedroom, generating frost and brittle around the door.

"Yeah, they are." Seth didn't deny that, glancing at the damage himself. He walked closer to her. "The others on the team don't know about this, and Cait would like to keep it that way until she changes her mind."

"My mouth is sealed, don't worry. You two are really similar." Jessica chuckled and Seth tilted his head in confusion. "I mean, you both keep secrets from the team. Well, you've kept secrets."

"You told them about my life on Earth-616? Hated and all that?" He crossed his arms over his chest.

Jessica nodded, adding. "And you never giving a crap about being hated and whatnot, yeah."

The mutant asked her. "Where are my daughters and Miles? They better not have been out all night."

"They're out getting breakfast burritos at a cheap place. I gave them some money before." Jessica answered. "Shit's pretty cheap here. I'll hound Matt to get me a dimensional travelling device so I can go on a shopping streak here."

"Yeah, another person to annoy him on a daily basis." Seth chuckled.

Jessica nodded to the bedroom again. "Think Caitlin will get a handle on those powers?"

"Of course, she will, she's one of S.T.A.R. Labs' best and brightest minds. She'll have those powers down pat in no time." Seth told her. "Hate how she's afraid of them."

"That's natural, but that's from lack of control, Seth." Jessica told him.

"Not just that…" Seth said. "She's scared because she saw what these exact powers can do in the hands of someone with the same face as her, but fought for evil… In the past, but she's turning over a new leaf." He vaguely answered.

"Sounds like she met her evil doppelganger." Jessica deduced.

"Correct." Seth nodded. "I'll help her, no matter what. After sending you and Miles off, I'll go with Caitlin to help her understand her powers."

"What about your girls? You okay with leaving them alone?" Jessica inquired. "Ruby's arms aren't in the best of states."

"That's true…" Caitlin answered, walking into the living room in a flower-patterned green shirt with a black cardigan over it and black pants over her legs. "But Ruby's got casts, and even without powers, she's a force to be reckoned with. And our girls have been training like crazy, the three of them will be able to protect our city while we're gone. Speaking of "gone", where have our daughters gone to?"

"Breakfast burritos." Seth answered for Jessica. "They'll be back in a bit."

"Good." Caitlin said.

Jessica walked over to the table. "Caitlin, got something for you." She took hold of a stack of papers and walked it over to Caitlin, handing it to her. "Here you go."

As his mate accepted those papers, Seth asked. "What are those?"

"Descriptions of HYDRA projects I remember from my time as their assassin." Jessica answered.

Caitlin said. "While helping me with dishes yesterday, I asked if she could give me some insights to the projects that this HYDRA worked on, like if there were more than just Project: Destroyer of Worlds." She looked through the papers, telling her mate. "Might give me some understanding of your world's enemies."

"I seriously hope we don't have to face off against HYDRA bastards. That'll be hell on this Earth." Seth replied.

"We bought enough burritos for everyone!" Frankie declared as she, her sisters and Miles were shadowported back home. Evelyn held a bag with burritos. Miles and Ruby held hands, which didn't go unnoticed by the parents.

Ruby looked between everyone. "We miss anything?"

X

"Wait, so after sending me and Jessica off, you're going where again?" Miles inquired after Seth and Caitlin explained their plan for today once they moved to take a seat on the couches.

Caitlin explained again. "To my mother's research company, it's much, much bigger than S.T.A.R. Labs."

"Your Mom?" Ruby asked. "So why do you think Gran- What is she to us, exactly? A grandmother or what?" She asked quickly, thinking of the relationship between her mother and her own mother, Carla.

"That… I'll figure that out when I actually tell her of you three." Caitlin confessed.

"Right, you said you and your Mom aren't close." Frankie remembered.

"That is true. Pretty sure she's gonna hate me for not even mentioning my daughters to her." Caitlin scoffed. "Yet another reason to distance herself from me."

"Wow." Evelyn chuckled. "Thought Dad had a cryptic personality. Mom's got a dark side too."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Sis, you're, like, the last person to say anything about darkness, you have it in your veins." Evelyn gave a mock hurt look.

"But why go to your mother's lab?" Frankie asked.

Caitlin replied. "Even if she doesn't want anything to do with me, even if she…" Seth, Miles, Jessica and the girls saw her struggling with that. Sighing heavily, she finally managed to continue her sentence. "My mother's a renowned biomedical researcher. She's bound to help me understand my powers."

"So, your mother and I are gonna go to Tannhauser Industries, a bit far from the city, and you girls are gonna stay at S.T.A.R. Labs and take care of any problems that might show up." Seth said.

Miles turned concerned at those words, his eyes going to Ruby's casts discreetly. "Maybe we should stay a day or two then." Seth and Caitlin narrowed their eyes. "I mean, if other problems might show themselves."

Jessica smirked. "Translation: He's worried what might happen if Ruby might have to use her powers in a fight in her arms' current state."

Ruby looked at Miles. "Really?"

"I mean- Maybe I am a bit worried about you." Miles sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"Aww." Ruby cooed with red cheeks.

"In that scenario, it's Ruby's choice." Seth made eye contact with his daughter. "But everyone here knows she's an expert martial artist. Even without powers, she's unstoppable. She can use her own combative skills to fight."

"Which I'll rely on for the next fights." Ruby held up her arms. "Until these get better. I promise."

"Good." Caitlin nodded.

"So…" Ruby faced Miles. "Don't worry, Miles. I'll be okay. You just go off, spidering in your world alright?"

"Okay." Miles nodded after a few moments of letting it sink in.

"I'll call Cisco, have him ready the device to send these two home." Seth said, pulling out his phone. "Then it's a road trip for you and me, babe." He told Caitlin with a wink.

"Not exactly a good trip, we're going to see my mother after all." Caitlin groaned.

At that moment, realization dawned on Seth… He's gonna meet the woman who's gonna be his mother-in-law in the future…

Oh boy…

X

(Mercury Labs)

Morning light shone through the windows, shining through the bulletproof glass and shining over the empty mugs, dried coffee stains inside of it. The light also shined over the half-eaten breakfast burrito on her plate. She was too focused to bother eating and finishing her breakfast.

She was gonna continue working on her project… The one that will revolutionize the entire world.

Eliza's eyes shifted between her computer and the machinery she made. It's a ring with five empty glass spheres around it. In the middle of the ring is one large glass sphere, containing the mixing and moving symbiote mass. It was a machine designed to separate toxic components from polluted water, a contraption made by all the best and brightest minds of Mercury Labs.

Though it was a team effort that birthed this instrument, she modified it so that instead of just separating polluted water into two results, poison and water, this was configured to separate anything into multiple components.

Eliza Harmon worked on the computer, programming the machine to separate the large symbiote mass into five separate masses. She knew she could do this, following her modifications that further enhanced the capabilities of this machine.

"Soon… Venom isn't the only one to have the strength he possesses." She said, smirking evilly at the thoughts of warriors bestowed with the powers of elemental Klyntars. "I can't wait for this."

"Wait a bit longer." Eliza snapped around, coming face to face with Taskmaster who casually walked to her. Behind him the doors closed. "I brough-"

"What are you doing?!" She whispered loudly, jumping off her chair. The Mercury Labs scientist rushed to the doors, using her ID card to clock the doors. Checking around to see if anyone showed up, she faced the mercenary with a stern look. "You can't just waltz in here like you own the place."

"That's what I did last time." He quipped bluntly.

"What are you doing here? Where were you?" She demanded to know.

"Brought someone to help you." Taskmaster nodded back to her workstation.

"Fascinating." Eliza turned around at the unfamiliar voice… and widened her eyes at the sight. She was staring at a chubby balding man with dark hair man in a green bodysuit. He has green eyes, a pair of round welding goggles placed on his forehead. Standing on the ground, he used… strange long, black mechanical arms to examine the machines Eliza made.

Eliza saw him examine the machine and the multicolored symbiote mass with the arms, using the bigger claw set of his two claw sets. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

Menacingly slow Otto Octavius turned his head, facing the younger native scientist. "I take it you are the one who modified this machine?"

"I am." Eliza blinked in surprise. "You knew it was modified?"

"Someone of my genius can easily spot the additional parts that's been added to this contraption, young lady." Otto stated bluntly. Eliza thought it sounded like a brag. "What is your name?" He asked, turning back to reexamine the device and the Klyntar mass.

"Eliza Harmon, biochemist here at Mercury Labs. I'm also the one who hired him." She pointed a finger at Taskmaster.

"Dr. Otto Octavius. You may call me Dr. Octavius." He introduced himself. "Taskmaster told me of your job, the one you assigned him with. Along with your idea of payment and your… plan for these symbiotes." He gestured to the symbiote mass.

"You know how to activate the elements encoded in their DNA?" Eliza asked almost excitedly.

"I believe it is possible, under my guidance, of course." Otto stated.

Now Eliza was sure he's bragging.

X

"Deathlok?" Caitlin asked with a raised eye, turning it to her mate in confusion. While driving the car, Seth nodded to his mate who's in the passenger seat. "Guess weird names are a commonality in the entire multiverse." She quipped, flipping through the pages.

After bidding the two spider-heroes farewell through a portal, Caitlin and Seth took their car and drove to Tannhauser Industries. While driving Caitlin inquired the mutant about the HYDRA projects that she's starting to learn about thanks to Jessica's papers.

"I'm not completely familiar with all of HYDRA's super soldier projects, but according to what Jessica briefly told me, that was HYDRA's way to cybernetically enhance a person, turning them into a cyborg essentially." Seth answered, keeping his eyes on the road ahead.

"Cyborgs… Dear god, hope that never comes to this world." Caitlin said, looking through the papers again. "Why was HYDRA so adamant on creating these super soldiers?"

"Cause on Earth-616, the good side has one of their own in Captain America." Seth answered with a smile.

"Captain America?" Caitlin looked intrigued. "Who's he?"

Seth smiled widely. "Steve Rogers, Earth-616's first hero and Avenger. Unlike all of HYDRA's attempts to create a super soldier, Steve was chosen for that experiment because of his heart. He was that good, always first on the frontline, always ready with his shield. Didn't hurt that he was one of the many teachers I had to teach me hand-to-hand combat."

"Rogers?" Caitlin muttered, turning in her seat to face her mate. "That's where you got your name from before? Seth Rogers?"

"No, I had that name ever since I was a kid. Changed it to Fury when my Dad adopted me and my sister." Seth stated. "Speaking of parents… You okay with meeting your mother? Like, really, okay? You said you two weren't close." He asked, recalling her mother wasn't happy with her daughter working at S.T.A.R. Labs instead of at Tannhauser Industries.

Caitlin saw them getting closer to the research company. "Guess we're gonna find out." Seth parked the car close to the entrance. "Ready to meet the dragon that is my mother?" She asked, getting out of the car first with her purse.

"Ready yourself for battle." Venom told his host.

"Not gonna fight her mother." Seth replied to his "other" before getting out of the car next. "Maybe…" He added sheepishly. He followed his mate to the doors. "You…" He wanted to change the subject, just to ease her before meeting her mother. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I am. Why not?" Caitlin asked as they opened the doors. Seeing the lobby room of Tannhauser Industries, a huge building with dozens of floors, white staircases leading up to them all.

"Just… curious after… last night." Seth smirked, scratching the side of his forehead.

Caitlin smirked herself, turning around to meet his eyes. "You… Seth, was that your first time with a powered person?"

"…." Seth bit his lower lip, not saying anything though it was pretty obvious if his expression was any indication.

Nudging him with her hip, she jokingly said. "Happy to be your first." Seth kissed her lips before they moved to the receptionist who noticed them coming.

"Can I help you?" She offered the couple.

"We're here to see Dr. Tannhauser." Seth answered

"Do you have an appointment?" The receptionist asked.

"No, but I'm pretty sure she'll see me." Caitlin said. "You can just tell her Caitlin Snow is here."

The receptionist wouldn't budge. "Dr. Tannhauser is a very busy woman. I'm sure you can understand."

"Seriously?" Seth felt like slapping himself.

"I appreciate the diligence, Jackie," Both Caitlin and Seth looked up from the receptionist, facing the direction of the familiar and unfamiliar voice. The mutant saw a woman in a grey suit. Her medium brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She has blue eyes. "but Caitlin's always welcome here." She continued. Crossing her arms, she added. "Even if I wish she'd call first, inform me she's bringing a friend along." She glanced at Seth.

Caitlin scoffed. "Nice to see you, too, Mom."

Carla Tannhauser chuckled. "Come up to my office, bring your friend." She walked towards her office on this floor, awaiting her daughter and her "friend".

"Wow." Seth said, glancing at his mate.

"Yeah, let's go." Caitlin sighed, walking towards the nearest staircase with her mate. The two of them quickly made their way up the stairs and up to Carla's office.

When getting into the office and standing before Carla's desk, Caitlin noticed the framed photo of her, her mother and her father. Carla asked. "So, what brings you and your friend here?" Before her daughter could say anything, she added. "Well, I didn't forget your birthday, did I? I'm pretty sure I sent a card."

"You did. In April." Caitlin noted.

"Cait's birthday is in February." Seth thought with a raised eyebrow.

Caitlin continued, gesturing to her mate. "And this is Seth Fury, my boyfriend and a fellow bioengineer and doctor." Seth gave a wave, but it went unnoticed by the CEO who's typing away on her keyboard. Carla's receptionist Jackie walked into the room, holding a tray with tea and carrying it to the CEO's side of the table.

"Thank you." Carla thanked her assistant. She glanced at the "Boyfriend, huh? What's this then? Meeting your parents? Big step, Caitlin, and again, I'd like a warning if that's the case."

Seth definitely thought "warning" might be too extreme of a word to use.

"That's not why, Mom. He's with me." Caitlin told her. "Look, I read your new paper on applications in cryo-medicine, and I think you might be able to help."

Carla kept her eyes on the computer screen. "I had no idea you kept up on the literature over at S.T.A.R. Labs. That's still what it's called, right? That's where you met this man?" Without even looking, she pointed to Seth.

"Yes, and kinda, and I have a patient who could use your help." Caitlin said vaguely, keeping her own name out of the mix.

Seth could see that even though it's to her own mother, Caitlin was adamant on being secretive about the origins of her request…. Of her patient.

"Well, if you want to send over the file," Carla finally made eye contact with her daughter. "I'll be happy to take a look when I have a chance. But right now, I have a shareholder meeting to prepare for-"

The mutant pitched in. "Uh, Dr. Tannhauser, I'm sorry, but-"

"Mom!" Caitlin slammed her hand on the desk, her cryogenic powers running amok and spreading frost and ice over the table. Her powers froze the framed photo, the tray with tea, the phone and even the keyboard, making Carla instinctively pull her hands away. "I'm the patient."

"Yeah… Cait made my point." Seth clicked his tongue sheepishly.

Carla pressed her phone, connecting a line to her assistant. "Cancel my appointments. And have Nigel meet me in the biolab." She looked between Caitlin and Seth. "We have work to do."

"And you need a new table." Seth quipped. Both Carla and Caitlin gave him death stares.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Somehow, H.R. had brought everyone available from the team to the Cortex. Even the Snow-Fury daughters had been called to join them. And dramatically so, H.R. Wells pulled off sheets from both trays, revealing one plate with dip and snacks and another tray with doughnuts of various kinds.

"Sumptuous day!" He called out.

"Come again?" Evelyn asked.

"Oh no." H.R. realized his mistake. "On this Earth, I believe you say…"

"Good morning." Cisco helped him, already helping himself to a pizza-pocket.

"Good morning. And it is. Isn't it? I mean…" H.R. smilingly tapped away on the board with drumsticks, listening to the music coming from the speakers. "The music on your Earth, well, it strikes a chord, no pun intended. Please, help yourselves." He gestured to the food he'd brought. "I find a crew works best when it's well-fed and well-rested."

Frankie lashed out her hand, morphing it into a large tendril and extended itself. When coming close to the tray with doughnuts, it split into three and grabbed a chocolate-covered, sprinkle-topped and cereal-covered doughnut for her and her sisters. "Here you go." She handed them out to her sisters.

"Thanks." Evelyn thanked her for the sprinkle-topped doughnut.

"Nice." Ruby took the one with cereal bits.

Iris noticed a bunch of plastic coffee cups on a cart. "Are those coffees for us, too?"

"Yes indeed, Miss West." H.R. chuckled, rolling the cart around the console. "I took the liberty of reading through your ledgers last night. A lot of information to absorb, but let's see how I did." He took one, handing it to Iris. "Skim milk chai latte." He gave a strange bow.

"Okay!" Iris appreciatively exclaimed.

"Okay!" H.R. returned to the cart, taking a cup and walking over to Wally. "And an iced Americano with two- No, three shots of espresso." He giddily handed the cup to him, who nodded.

"Boom!" Wally exclaimed.

"That happened, Walter." H.R. smiled, returning to the cart.

"It's Wally." Wally corrected him.

"Wally!" The Earth-19 native said, taking another cup and walked over to Barry. "Now, for my fleet of foot friend… You'd best stick to decaf."

Barry chuckle, accepting the drink. "Probably for the best, yeah."

H.R. turned to face Cisco. "San Francisco." He greeted him with a French accent. Taking his cup, he said. "I have prepared a French roast with a touch of creamer." He handed him the cup.

"Thank you very much." Cisco expressed his gratitude with a smile.

"You're welcome." Harrison said, returning to his normal accent. He then faced the three Snow-Fury girls. "Young ladies."

"Careful." Ruby threatened him.

"I have… For young Frankie Fury," He took a cup. "one iced chocolate mocha with extra drizzle."

"Thank you." Frankie took the drink with a smile.

"Of course. And for Evelyn Fury," H.R. took her cup off the cart. "freshly brewed cappuccino with vanilla and hazelnut."

"Wow, thanks." Evelyn accepted the drink with surprise, surprised that this man actually knew her favorite drink.

"And finally… For Ruby Fury," H.R. put on a show, acting as though her cup was scorching hot. "unique coffee with the name of Red Eye, or to be exact, Triple Red Eye."

"Thanks… Creep." Ruby's fan of the drink, not so much about the guy digging into her files to get information about her.

"That doesn't sound safe, Ruby." Iris stated her concern.

"Works for me." The gravity manipulator sipped on her drink.

As everyone sipped on their respective drinks, H.R. Wells smiled and told them. "Did you know on my Earth coffee crop was wiped out by blight?" That shocked them all. "I mean, that's one more reason to stay on this Earth, for the coffee alone."

Cisco removed his cup from his mouth. "Yeah, well, that's if you stay."

"If I stay, time is of the essence." H.R. pointed a finger at the viber. "Here's what I propose. A series of team-building exercises. Now, I've hidden a series of clues all around the facility. What I propose is, we break into two groups, all right? And you can pick a partner. You know what-"

"Okay. I have to stop you, H.R. I am not feeling this." Cisco cut him off.

"It's the roast, isn't it?" H.R. mistook his words. "I should have gone with a dark-"

"No, it's not the roast, the roast is fine." Cisco stated, placing the coffee drink on a nearby table and retrieving his pizza pocket. "Our trust isn't something that you can just build with games. Okay?"

"No." H.R. said.

"This is something that goes back three years." Cisco walked to the console. "It's something that's been forged in fire. Sometimes literally."

Evelyn raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Didn't Dad just waltz into S.T.A.R. Labs, and you let him join the team?"

"Well, he did save a bunch of people from Captain Cold's attack, and saved Barry from death multiple times." Cisco reminded her.

"Sure, that was intentional?" Ruby wondered, speaking blunt as ever.

"I am positive it was." Cisco stated, but Ruby didn't look convinced. The viber turned his eyes to H.R. again. "So, maybe you should just step back and observe. See what we do here, how we operate. Did you get that?"

"Excellent note. I'm gonna run with that." He accepted.

Barry looked around. "Where's Seth and Caitlin, by the way?"

"You've seen them, H.R?" Iris asked the Earth-19 native.

H.R. nodded. "Yeah, they were here."

"They were?" Wally asked.

"All right, yeah, you know, we talked…" He moved to the console.

"What? You talked with my Dad?" Frankie asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I did… kinda… before Caitlin knocked back a triple shot latte, her boy gulping fresh black coffee… and she left you a message." Harrison looked over at the keyboard. "So, I'm gonna…" He went to press a key on the keyboard, but hesitated. "Um… Yeah, let me just play it for you. This is not the same as my Earth's." Cisco glared at him, reaching out a finger and pressed the key. "This is a different- There it is."

Caitlin's voice spoke through the intercoms. "Hey, it's me. I've got some things I need to take care of. Seth's coming with me. We shouldn't be gone more than a few days. See if you can get along without us. Make sure Cisco doesn't touch my pizza pockets."

"Wasn't labeled." Cisco lowered the pocket before eating more of it.

Suddenly another ringing tone came through the speakers. "Incoming call from the boss."

"Who…" H.R. strangely enough turned around, searching for the voice that made that announcement. "Who is that pretty voice?" He spiraled around, looking for whoever spoke.

"Friday, an AI from Seth's universe, brought here to help us fight against villains from his universe." Cisco rapidly answered. "Friday, patch us through."

"Guys, you there?" Seth's voice came through.

"What's up Seth?" Cisco asked.

"Just a quick message, forgot to make one like Cait did. Girls, know you there, but the three of you are to stay with Uncle Joe. He already said it was okay." The mutant answered. "Don't do anything stupid, or steal his stuff, or eat another one of Grandma Esther's recipes, okay?"

"Thank goodness for that." Ruby sighed in relief. "That woman's got issues, and is definitely not suited for a kitchen."

"Amen to that." Frankie nodded.

Evelyn shivered and trembled at the latest memory of eating that woman's food. "Think I had nightmares from that spaghetti dish."

"Okay, calm down drama queens. It was just spaghetti." Seth reminded them. "Also, I'm gonna be with your Mom for a while, but call me if anything urgent shows up. Iris, you there?"

Iris turned shocked at the mention of her name. "Yeah, I'm here. What's up?"

"I have a job for you. Think you could handle it?"

"What's the assignment?" Iris asked, already accepting the job.

"Taskmaster and Rhino are still out there, somewhere. I need someone to dig around, try and find their locations. Digging around sounds like something up your alleyway. You in?"

"I'm in, alright." Iris answered.

"Wouldn't Barry be an easier choice than that?" Wally asked, out of concern for his big sister.

"Need stealth, not an idiot in a tacky suit and lightning. Your big sis is the best choice. Thanks, Iris. Girls don't do anything stupid. And Cisco, seriously… Put down Caitlin's pizza-pockets." The viber looked around, worried the mutant was watching him right now. "I'm waiting, Cisco." Cisco lowered the pizza pocket from his hands, practically dropping it to the table like it was fresh out of the oven. As soon as an evil chuckle came through from his end, Seth added. "Got you." With that, he hung up.

"Wow…" H.R. looked around. "Fury's interesting."

"That's one… way to put it." The speedster jokes. "You know what, guys? I gotta go to work. I'm…" He checked his watch.

"Ooh. Yeah, I gotta do that, too." Iris said, her own job is waiting and also the job she got from Seth.

"Yeah, let's go." Barry said, walking to the exit. Iris followed him.

"I gotta bail." Wally followed them.

Harrison-19 looked at them. "You know, we'll do the team building exercises another- I'll leave the clues hidden in the facility."

"Cool." Barry stopped him, cutting him off. "How do you guys say, "see you later" over there?"

Once again H.R. did another strange bow, and a pose. "Until next communion."

"All right, see you later." Barry walked out.

"See you later." Harrison replied back.

"So weird." Iris followed him as did Wally.

"For real?" Ruby gulped. Facing her sisters, she asked. "Wanna go train for a while?"

"You can't train with your arms like that." The ferrokinetic gestured to the casts on her arms.

"I can still kick and punch things." Ruby reminded them, cracking her fists.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go." Evelyn led them to the Klyntar Cave.

H.R. smiled.

X

(CCPD)

Standing in front of his captain's office, Barry tapped on the door. "Come!" Captain Singh called out from the other side of the door.

The CSI scientist opened the door, walking into the office to see his captain. "Hey! Sorry I'm late. I had to meet somebody and…" He closed the door… and finally saw Julian Albert sitting on the couch.

The metahuman expert turned his eyes to his captain. "We can add tardiness to the list, Captain." Barry looked confused.

"Allen," David got Barry's attention. "it's been brought to my attention that you've been giving yourself unauthorized access to your colleague's case files."

"Excuse me?" Barry asked.

"Along with multiple infractions." Julian started. "Repeated absences, disappearing throughout the day, phone call interruptions, sudden guests in the lab." David rubbed his forehead. "The list is pretty extensive, Captain."

Barry defensively said. "I'm sorry. With all due respect, I do my job here."

David agreed with a nod of his head. "You do good work here, Allen." Julian looked shocked and baffled. "Don't put that in jeopardy by thinking the rules don't apply to you. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." Barry nodded.

Julian scoffed, getting back on his feet. "Sorry, Captain, that's it?" He asked in disbelief. "Sir, I document eight different-"

"Nine." David corrected him.

"Nine different violations of regulations and he gets a 15-sceond talking to?" Julian stated. David didn't say anything, facing his desk. "Must be nice." He sniped at Barry

"We are done here." David told them. "You can go. And Albert," The Captain got his attention. "work on that case I told you about." Julian nodded.

Barry and Julian walked out of the office, where the secret speedster complained. "Were you really just being a tattletale? That's bush league, man."

Julian turned around, meeting his eyes. "You know what? You're right. It's silly of me to think the rules actually apply to the golden boy of CCPD's crime lab." He turned around, walked down the hall and passed Joe. "Detective."

Joe faced Barry who gestured to his CSI co-worker. "He's unbelievable."

"You know what?" Joe started. "I wish you two could be a little less oil and water and a little bit more oil and vinegar. You guys have been at each other's throats for a year now."

"That's just it." Barry countered. "From my perspective, it's been two weeks."

"So, you're saying that before two weeks ago, you weren't Julian's enemy?" Joe chuckled his disbelief.

"I'm saying before two weeks ago, Julian didn't even exist." Barry confessed just as his phone began vibrating.

"Because of your Flashpoint." The detective reminded him.

"I know it's because of Flashpoint." Barry groaned, pulling out his phone. "Wait, what was this case that Singh told Julian of? Something I missed?"

"Last night, someone bypassed all of CCPD's alarms, and broke into the storage lockup, by breaking down the wall… from the outside." Joe answered, shocking the speedster.

"Really?" Barry asked.

"Yup. Julian's working the case." The detective replied.

"He never told me that…" Barry scoffed. He checked the caller ID on his phone that continued vibrating. "It's Cisco, hold on." He accepted the call. "Hey, is this important?"

"I don't know," Cisco began. "does 30 hits downtown on the metahuman app count?"

"What are we looking at?" Barry asked.

"Well, nothing really." Cisco said. "Every traffic camera in a 10-block radius suddenly went down, so we're flying blind. And the hits were all over the map. We have Eclipse and Magenta out there too, trying to get a visual."

"All right, well, there's one way to see what's going on. I gotta go." Barry finished off, speeding off in a hurry.

X

As The Flash ran through the city, Cisco replied over the comms. "Most of the chatter is coming from the harbor district."

WHOOSH

He came to a stop, looking at the scene in front of him. "All right, I'm here. It's a bad scene, man." He told the viber as he saw people screaming and running away in fear. He saw the two younger metahumans on top of a rooftop, facing off in the distance with a wide-eyed look.

Facing off in the same direction… He gave off the same look of shock.

"You should be right on top of it, Barry. What is it?" Cisco asked the speedster through the comms.

"It's a monster…?" Barry managed to reply, humongous footsteps echoing through the entire area.

The monster showed itself… Resembling Godzilla… A four-armed huge monster that didn't seem to have eyes. It faced off in the direction of the heroes and roared. The roar caused the dozens of civilians to scream and run away.

Magenta looked at her sister. "You feel like Dad leaving us this day of all days is absolutely the worst day of all?"

"Universally worse, yeah." Eclipse agreed. "None of our attacks will make a dent on that thing. In the meantime…" She looked down at the ground, facing the screaming civilians.

Frankie nodded her agreement, looking down at the screaming civilians. "They need help." The two sisters jumped off the rooftop edge, landing on the ground and started evacuating civilians.

"Guys, did you hear me?" Barry asked, wondering if his team heard him. "There is a monster in Central City."

"What are we talking? Yao Ming size? Or Andre the Giant?" Cisco inquired.

"No, it's like an actual monster." Barry answered, he can't even believe his own words.

Dropping off kids and the elderly, Frankie jumped in on their conversation. "It's like Godzilla dumped its spawn on the city."

"What even makes that?" The viber asked.

"I don't even know that." H.R. pitched in.

Evelyn shadowported to the ground, dropping off people quickly. "What about satellite image? Give us something, Cisco!"

"S.T.A.R. Labs satellite, show me something." Cisco worked with the computers back at the facility. The three heroes heard a gasp coming from the other end of the comms. "Whoa. Ever see anything like that on Earth-19?" He and Harrison-19 are most likely having a satellite image of the monster.

"You want me to observe. I'll just observe." H.R. answered.

As the monster moved around, various vehicles came to a stop, driving off and breaking down. Their hoods blew off, smoke bursting out of them. Lamps fell, smashing down onto various vehicles. One broke down, falling into a fully-packed bus.

Barry sped to it, surprised to see Iris already there and trying to pry the doors open. "Iris, what are you doing here?"

"Working on a story, and on Venom's job." Iris said, using all of her might to open the door. "And last time I checked, you don't need powers and suits to help people."

Barry and Iris managed to pry open the doors, freeing the dozens of people from the car. "All right, get out of here."

"Move!" Magenta shouted, thrusting out her arms and splitting them off into tendrils. Her tendrils wrapped around car doors from nearby vehicles and pulled them off. Once throwing them away, they returned and pulled people and families out of them.

Eruptions of shadows appeared all over the ground as Eclipse used her powers to get people out of the way, away from the monster's feet that might flatten them like ants under a boot.

Barry saw them helping people out of the way. "I'm gonna try to stop that thing." He told Iris, running away to meet the monster. But he quickly came to a stop when he saw that the monster was nowhere to be found. "Cisco, where'd it go?"

"Can't track it if I can't see it." Cisco told him.

"You know what you could do?" H.R. said. giving a suggestion. "You could use your ears."

"My ears?" Cisco asked.

Barry didn't know if it was necessary for him to hear their conversation right now.

"What's that sound?" H.R. knowingly asked.

"It's a car alarm." Cisco realized what he was getting at. "I could use the car alarms to track the direction the monster's heading in." The computer beeped, emitting to Barry's comms. "We got him. Head north three blocks."

Barry ran in that direction, following the viber's instructions. Eclipse followed, using her powers.

But then Cisco shocked them with his words. "I lost him."

Evelyn came to a stop, looking around in shock and confusion. "Yeah, he- or whatever that thing is gone."

"That's embarrassing." Magenta said, baffled.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"You two okay?" Ruby asked her sisters when they returned to the Cortex from rescuing innocents.

"We're fine, but somehow we lost sight of Godzilla Junior." Frankie joked.

Evelyn removed her eye mask, pulling it down to her throat. "Yeah, that part, like Frankie said, is pretty embarrassing."

"Evelyn's the queen of understatement." The Klyntar inside of Frankie quipped.

"And how exactly did you two lose something so big and ugly?" Ruby awaited an answer from her sisters, yet neither had one for her. "Great, the one time I'm not in the field, you fight Godzilla Jr. and I missed it. These suck." She waved her casts around.

"I don't get it." Cisco started from his seat by the console.

"I don't get it." Harrison-19 repeated his words.

"Every metahuman we've encountered has been exactly that, metahuman." The viber declared. "So, where did this thing come from?"

"I don't know where it came from, man. It just vanished." Barry informed Cisco with a snap of his fingers. "That's all I know. It was gone."

Cisco turned in his chair to face Ruby. "This another one from your hood of the world, Rubs? Another 616 crazy pants?"

"Wouldn't even know that, if it was." Ruby answered. "I've never seen this thing before, at least not on Earth-616. Maybe Dad has an idea, but me… I have no idea."

"Yeah, but in my experience, things are always different." Harrison said, trailing off unexpectedly.

Everyone waited for him to continue, and Ruby said. "What?"

"Then they appear." H.R. answered, speaking as though he was confused himself. "There must be a reason the darn thing can just disappear like that. Maybe the darn thing's got some kind of cloaking mechanism."

"Uh, that's a good idea, but right now I would settle for, "How can we stop it?"" She responded.

"Yes, obviously." H.R. agreed.

"How?" Cisco asked.

"I don't know." Harrison said.

"Doubt it's an Invisibility thing, like mine." Frankie stated her thoughts, Cisco and Barry looking at her in confusion. "Invisibility still means you have mass, density. Invisible or not, we'd be able to hear that thing move around with those huge-ass feet it has."

"She's right." H.R. said, pointing a drumstick at her.

"So, we need weapons to take this thing down." Evelyn declared.

"Like what? A spear?" Frankie wondered.

"To pierce its skin." Harrison said in agreement.

"Or not, thing's skin might be too strong, or scales if this thing is like Godzilla. Not like we have a magic monster lasso." The viber stated.

Harrison-19 had a flash of inspiration. "But you know what we could… Oh, sorry, I forgot. I'm just observing." He recalled.

"No, H.R., please, we're open to any idea right now." Barry told the Earth-19 native.

He told them of his plan. "On my Earth, we have ropes made out of carbon fiber." He rolled his hands around his drumstick as though he was spinning a rope. "They are ultralight, but strong enough to pull a battleship. We could restrain it with that. Right? What do you think?"

"Okay, I think it's…" Cisco mulled the idea over. "I think it's worth a shot. We can spin it down in my workshop."

"Yes! Good!" H.R. exclaimed, tapping away on the desk with his drumsticks.

"Yeah, there was something else that was weird, though." Barry said. "I saw a transformer explode as this thing passed by it."

"Same happened to the other vehicles." Frankie noted.

"That is weird." H.R. said.

"What's weird about that?" Cisco asked, directing them to the Earth-19 native.

"That thing," Evelyn started. "didn't lay a finger on it, wasn't even close to it, but it exploded anyway. Maybe it emitted a pulse or something."

Cisco smiled. "Kind of reminds me of that Hitchcock movie where the extra covers his ears before the gun goes off." Barry nodded, remembering that movie.

"You have Hitchcock on this Earth? Oh, brilliant." H.R. let out. "Murder on the Titanic! "Who did it?" "Who cares?" "We're drowning."" Those quotes confused the others. "The beast must emit some kind of electrical pulse." Frankie wondered if he even heard her sister's words about the pulse. "Is there a way I could get a look at that transformer?" He asked the speedster.

"No. The whole place is a crime scene now, with Julian in charge of it." Barry answered with disdain.

"Ah, Julian. Who's that?" Harrison asked. "That's the CSI guy you don't like, right? I mean…"

Barry knew he had to deal with that now. "Yeah, all right." He walked around the console and walked over to the exit.

Evelyn noticed Frankie's eyes narrowing on Harrison's form. Grabbing hold of her arm and Ruby's, she pulled them into the side lab to speak in private. "Frankie, what's wrong?"

"Spoke with Magenta, something's weird with H.R." Frankie revealed, glancing at the Earth-19 scientist from the corner of her eye. "He's been acting… Evasive and secretive."

"He's keeping a secret?" Ruby asked.

"Maybe… We're not sure." Frankie answered.

X

(Tannhauser Industries)

The Tannhauser Industries scientist, Nigel, removed the needle after taking a blood sample from Caitlin Snow's arm. "Sorry. Cold hands." He said, looking over his shoulder where he saw Seth looking worriedly at his mate.

Though to Nigel it looked like he was glaring daggers at him, which didn't stop his hands from shaking when taking Caitlin's blood.

Caitlin's mother had moved away some time ago, leaving her daughter and her boyfriend alone in a waiting room. Then Nigel joined them shortly, arriving with a tablet and blood sample kit before starting to take blood from the cryogenic metahuman.

Caitlin saw Nigel getting nervous. "Don't worry, I didn't even notice and Seth's a teddy bear. No need to be scared of him."

"I'm a teddy bear?" Seth asked her mate who smirked with a wink.

"I'm Nigel, by the way." Nigel introduced himself to the couple.

"Nice to meet you." Caitlin said.

"Pleasure." Seth greeted back, taking a seat beside Caitlin.

Nigel smiled at them both, though remained wary by Seth's gaze. "We're gonna help you figure this out, Caitlin. Let's get you to the lab."

"Hey." Seth tapped her arm. "You okay?"

"Nervous, I guess." Caitlin said as Nigel held the doors open for them. "Plus, my Mom's been gone a while now."

"Cait, you know we can leave this place right now and just figure this out ourselves." The mutant suggested to her. "We're pretty smart, you and I together."

"I know that." Caitlin shared a kiss with him. "But this way… We're sure." She said and they walked over the doors.

Nigel escorted them down some stairs and into the basement of the facility. They walked into a hallway, at the end of it is another set of doors that Nigel opened up for them. In there they find Carla by a computer, pressing a key on it.

In response, a cylinder machine began turning, opening itself up and showed a shaft of glowing red triangular prism metal. "What's this?" Caitlin asked, directing her question to her mother.

Carla answered. "It's to test how your ability affects molecular motion. That shaft is solid tungsten, and it's heated to over 2,000 degrees centigrade. I want you to cool it down." Seth turned worried. "And when we determine how you can do that, we can figure out the best way to help you. Best we could do in such little time."

"So, this is where you've been for the last hour." Caitlin realized.

"I had to reschedule my day for this, Caitlin." Carla bluntly countered to her own daughter. "A lot of things around here require my attention."

"Oh, I remember." Caitlin said like it wasn't anything new.

"And appreciate that, Dr. Tannhauser," Seth jumped in, getting an eye roll from Carla. "but you wanna have Caitlin try and cool down the one element known for its robustness, with the highest melting point of all known and discovered elements, after it's heated?"

"You don't like my methods?" Carla answered.

"It's not that, Mom." Caitlin pitched in. "Seth's just worried about me… I don't have the best of control on my powers."

"Which is why we experiment like this, Caitlin… Always a risk with experimentation." Carla gestured to the glowing tungsten. "Whenever you're ready." Caitlin lifted her hands, pointing them at the shaft of tungsten. "Don't hold back."

That last instruction made Caitlin hesitant to use her powers, worried out of her mind that her powers might go berserk…. This time she might actually just freeze her mother and the man she loves.

Seeing the worry on her face, Seth stepped closer to her, not fazed by the heat from the glowing tungsten shaft. That didn't go unnoticed by Carla. "Hey." Caitlin looked at him. "If you're sure about this, I'll support you and help you through the storm. You won't face it alone, Cait. I promise."

"You'll stay there?" Caitlin asked.

"They don't have enough people to move me. Not even an ounce." Seth told her with the confidence that outweighs the confidence of an army.

His confidence gave birth to her own confidence, making it pick up and burst into a blizzard inside of her. And Caitlin inhaled deeply, focusing all of her strength into her hands, projecting two streams of cryogenic mist.

The icy element she shot out completely covered the entire tungsten shaft in an instant. The result of her attack shocked them all, even Seth who knew her powers better than her own mother. Caitlin lowered her hands and stepped away from the shaft, worriedly taking its now frozen form.

"Cait…" Seth took her hands, rubbing them slowly and gently. Carla and Nigel walked over to a computer taking some of the results. With their backs turned to them, the mutant used his fire element and gently heated up her hands. "This okay?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Caitlin said. "And thanks for not holding back on me, even with my mother here." She said, referring to his words of encouragement he gave her.

"Always, never gonna back down." He assured her, hugging her. "You really okay?"

"I am… More so with you here." Caitlin nuzzled her head into the side of his neck.

"Caitlin." Carla got her daughter's attention, making her unwrap her arms from her mate. "Come here." Caitlin shared a kiss with Seth before walking over to join her mother. "How long have you had these abilities?"

Caitlin answered. "They started manifesting a few months ago, but I'm assuming I got them when the particle accelerator exploded, just like all the other metas."

"And you haven't told anyone?" Carla asked.

"Just Seth, and a select few, and you." Caitlin answered vaguely, keeping her daughters out of her answer.

"And you trust this… "Seth" character?" Carla asked, glancing at Seth who examined the frozen metal shaft.

"Yeah, I do. Of course, I do. Why? You don't like Seth?" Caitlin asked, unknowingly acting as though she wanted her mother's approval of her boyfriend.

"Jury's out." Carla bluntly said. With a sigh she added. "I told you, you never should have taken that job at S.T.A.R. Labs." Carla said, taking off her glasses. Caitlin turned baffled. "You could've stayed here, had access to world-class facilities."

Caitlin scoffed. "And have all of my work be in the shadow of your reputation."

Her mother countered. "Of course, the only time you need your mother is when you're in trouble." She moved to a table.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Caitlin asked.

Carla faced her. "Oh, come on, darling. You ran off to Central City to play scientist with that disgraced quack."

"I was trying to make a name for myself." Caitlin countered.

Carla kept her eyes on her computer. "For three years, barely a word, until trouble hits, and then you come here, walking through the door and expecting Mommy to drop everything in her life to try to fix it."

"You have no idea what I've been through." Caitlin exclaimed, her voice seething with frustration. Seth glanced at her with concern.

"Dr. Tannhauser, look at this." Nigel turned his head, getting his boss' attention. Seth narrowed his eyes as Carla walked over to her employee. The two watched a screen, displaying something for their eyes.

The CEO of the research company narrowed her eyes on the energy absorption charts on the screen, baffled and shocked by what her daughter did. "She's absorbed all that energy? How?"

Nigel gently shook her head. "I'm not sure yet, but if we can figure that out, this could change everything we're doing here." Carla and her employee glanced over their shoulders, pointing their eyes at Caitlin who looked uncomfortable and worried when hearing their words.

Seeing their eyes glance at Caitlin, and mostly hearing their words about their research, Seth walked over to them. "Excuse me?" He got their attention. "You got the results of the experiment? I'd like to see them."

Closing down the files and charts, Nigel turned in his chair to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry. Dr. Fury, but we deal with sensitive matters here at Tannhauser Industries. We can't just divulge them to whomever we want."

"To be candid, Nigel, I'm not interested in Tannhauser matters or projects whatsoever, I'm here for Caitlin. I'm here for her sake, nothing else. So, frankly speaking, your projects matter very little to me if anything at all. Caitlin, on the other hand, means everything to me." He stated bluntly. "So again, can I have a look at those results?"

"You seem invested in my daughter's abilities." Carla noted.

"No, I'm not." Seth clarified. "I care and love your daughter, Dr. Tannhauser. I have experience and expertise in experimentation with powered people. That's why I'm here."

"You're not afraid to be blunt, are you, Dr. Fury?" Carla asked, somewhat intrigued by the man's candid personality and attitude. Most times, she'd instill fear in those standing before her.

Seth replied instantly. "A trait I'd like to think I have from my father-WOW!" He released when suddenly the basement level, maybe the entire building shook as though it's ground zero for an earthquake.

"What was that? An earthquake?!" Caitlin asked, holding herself up by pushing up against a wall.

"No… You okay?" Seth rushed to his mate's side. "You hurt?"

"No, I'm fine." She assured him. "Mom?" She expressed concern for her mother.

"I'm fine, Caitlin." Carla assured her.

Caitlin leant closer to Seth's ear. "What was that?"

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and checked Friday's notifications on his screen. "Attacks going on nearby, no idea as to who."

Caitlin saw her mate's expression. "Go." Seth bit his lip. "Go. I'll be fine."

Nodding his head, the mutant kissed her cheek before saying. "I'll be back in a bit, I promise." As Caitlin gave her mother a lie so he'd be able to leave, Seth quickly asked if the exit's the same way, and when he got his confirmation, he rushed out of the basement lab. He found the staircase and ran up the stairs, finding his way into the lobby and ran out of the exit.

Once exiting the research company, the elemental peered his eyes into the sky, searching for anything that'd give him the indication of something happening nearby. He found his answer in the form of rising smoke not far from his current position.

"City that never sleeps, yeah." Seth muttered before running around the corner, rushing into an alleyway. As soon as he was sure he was alone, his clothes began shifting and morphing into black symbiotic mass with an oil-like form that quickly enveloped his entire form. Once completely covered, the mass expanded, and his height increased. Flexing his back, bulging muscles popped out along with white spine-like spikes spiraled around his arms, digging into the backs of his clawed hands. With each flex of his body, white veins spread over his entire form, some of the veins popped out with bones. The symbiote mass engulfed his head like a serpent's mouth. Sparks of lightning caused his white eyes to turn completely red. His face boiled and sizzled before his white skull extension popped out, covering his entire face.

Jumping onto the wall, he ran up the hard brick surface. Reaching the rooftop of the building, Venom leaped off of it and shot out a tendril. It stuck to the side of a building, swinging him towards the rising smoke, the scene of the chaos. He switched between left and right hand, shooting out tendrils to make his way to the area.

Retracting a tendril, he launched himself into the air and spun around in a flip. Stretching out a clawed hand, he anchored it to the nearest building and pulled himself to it. From his vantage point, he looked down and assessed the scene…

And his eyes snapped wide open in disbelief…

One was a fully armored man, wearing green-yellow armor, with strange gauntlets on his arms. His helmet has a strange appearance, giving off lime-green light where his eyes are. The man clenched his fists, giving off a strange energy around them before thrusting them out. In response to his action, he unleashed two high-pressure air blasts that caused not only cars to fly off the ground, but also cracked the very ground itself.

"Shocker…" Seth noted in disbelief. The sound of glass shattering around him, made him snap his attention in that direction.

Once again, his eyes expanded in pure shock…

The man who… flew around in the air, was a man in their advanced years, having a bald head and wrinkled skin. His entire body is clad in a black and light-green winged suit with a silver trim. His mouth and lower part of his mouth is covered by a black beak-like mask. His wings are high-tech as well, showing a mix between green metal and black metal, revealing black feather-like blades. A greenish thruster on his back, shooting out energy that made the man fly at high speed. Lashing out his wings, he shot out his feather-like blades, energizing them, like daggers, causing them to cut into bricks.

"Vulture, too…" Seth dug his fingers into the wall he's latched onto. "Those two… Here? Why?"

"Save the questions for after we've beaten these two." Venom told his host.

"Right." Seth agreed. The mutant jumped off the wall and into the air. He ignited flames around his left arm and swung it down for Shocker.

Herman Schultz felt heat on the outside of his helmet, turning his head in the direction and saw Venom coming down for him. "You?!" Shocker shouted in shock, gathering up vibro-shockwaves in his arms and punching them against each other, unleashing a combined air-pressure blast that pushed the mutant away from him.

Venom spun around in the air, landing on the ground. "Schultz, you here too?"

"Seriously? You're here too?" Herman shouted in shock. "This world really does suck!"

"Language, Mr. Schultz." Adrian Toomes said, flying down to them and circled the two 616ers. "Remember this man is a valuable comrade."

"Toomes." Seth sneered at Vulture.

"Hello, Venom. Pleasure to see you again." Vulture spoke in a mock sincere voice. "It has been too long, my friend."

"Time to send you back!" He formed ice spikes on the knuckles of his right fist, thrusting it out after the winged villain. Vulture flew back, getting out of Venom's reach before flapping both wings, launching energized feather-like blades after the mutant's hand. Upon collision, they exploded, causing him pain and made him retract his arm.

Shocker used that chance, thrusting his hands and shooting out another air-pressure blast. Seeing the blast coming the mutant quickly withdrew his sword and used it to block the incoming blast. But despite using his sword to shield himself, it forced him back a few feet.

Vulture swung both of his wings, launching an array of energized feather blades for the mutant. He narrowed his eyes on the elemental's actions as he jumped backwards, dodging the blades that pierced into the ground. Latching onto a wall, he looked down at the blades.

Much to Seth's annoyance, he saw the blades explode on the ground, causing asphalt pieces to scatter. Worried about civilian lives, the mutant lashed his arms and wrapped tendrils around any civilians close to him. With a swing of both arms, he pulled them out of the way.

But Herman used that opportunity to his advantage, clenching his fist and charging shockwaves around his gauntlet before thrusting it, launching him into the wall he stuck himself to. Shocker continued his attacks, unleashing a series of high-pressure air blasts in rapid succession.

Snapping his eyes open, the mutant managed to spin out of the way, avoiding more air blasts. Shooting out tendrils he swung out of the way. Swinging through the air, he dodges another array of blasts from the villain. His focus was diverted elsewhere when he saw various energized blades coming at him.

Venom pulled back, landing on the nearest rooftop. Placing his sword into the ground, he then lashed out both arms and split them both into tendrils. As soon as they came close to him, he snatched the feather blades out of the air and hurled them back at Vulture.

Adrian flew away, avoiding his own energized knife-like blades. But he came to a stop when suddenly tendrils wrapped around one of his legs. Vulture screamed in shock when he was suddenly pulled back to the ground.

Seth jumped off the rooftop and swung him around like a hammer before slamming him down on a car, causing the roof to cave in. Landing before the car, he snarled at the villain. "Stay down! Now!"

"Cannot do that, old friend." Adrian said, brushing off shards of glass and small pieces of metal. "Not part of the plan."

Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, he said when realizing what happened. "You're working for someone? Taskmaster?"

Herman heard his words. "That masked chameleon bastard's here too? You're kidding me, right?" Venom looked for him but to no success. Shocker hid himself from his eyes.

Adrian chortled in his mask. "We all wear masks, you imbecile."

"You're done for." Seth grabbed him by the front of his harness, pulling him up till he was staring into his face. "We're gonna get answers from you."

"Not today!" This time Shocker showed himself, appearing from beside the mutant's side and thrust out both arms. He shot two vibrational shockwaves point-blank at Seth's side and launched him off the ground, his grip on Adrian loosening.

Venom snarled, rushing back to meet the villains again. Flames ignited around his hands before swinging it for them. Shocker used his arm to block the flame-cloaked claws, using his vibro-shock unit to counter the flames. Using his free hand, the elemental increased the flames on his left hand with wind before thrusting his fist into Herman's stomach.

"AAARRRGGH!" Herman screamed, launched off the ground and into a car.

"We said stay down!" Venom roared.

"My apologies my friend." Adrian shot himself back into the air, spiraling around with outstretched wings. "But we can't do that. Like I said: "Not part of the plan.""

"We… Are… Not… Your friend!" The mutant roared at the winged villain.

"Perhaps not… Not yet, that is." Vulture flew down, spinning around and snatched up Shocker and ascended to the skies. "Until next time, old friend!"

For the first time in a while, Seth hated that he no longer had his ability to discharge elements for long-distance attacks. Cause if he was still in possession of that ability, he'd be able to take down Vulture and Shocker with a combination of both fire and wind… A flamethrower attack, easily able to turn most enemies to cinders.

X

(Mercury Labs)

"Great, first a rampaging maniac in a rhinoceros suit, and now we have a Kaiju walking around in the city." Joan quipped when watching the news footage of the four-armed monster roaring its way through the city. She joined her colleague Eliza, an hour ago. She was left gob-smacked when seeing the news on her screen.

Eliza turned away from her work, tasked with trying to salvage her and Joan's damaged work with the retrievers. "You're actually shocked?"

Joan chuckled. "Guess I shouldn't be." Gesturing to their surroundings, she added. "Not long ago, this building itself was totaled by screamer."

"I would have gone with "banshee", but if the shoe fits…" Eliza chuckled.

Pointing to their damaged and wrecked retrievers, Joan asked. "Those salvageable?"

"Maybe. But it might be better if we just remade them from scratch." Eliza admitted, dropping her screwdriver and tweezers. "Whoever did the damage to our retrievers, they sure didn't hold back." Inwardly she regretted ordering Taskmaster to break the retrievers to this level. But it was all to maintain her cover, so she had no regrets…

Though still surprised by how quick he and Dr. Octavius hid themselves before Joan joined her in the lab.

"Hey." Eliza was brought out of her trance when hearing Joan's question. "You got plans tonight? Wanna go for a drink maybe?" She asked, walking closer to her colleague and friend.

Eliza chuckled. "You sure about going out with a Kaiju out there? Maybe if we're lucky King Kong might show up and have a slugfest with the one we have already." She got up from her chair.

"Sounds like you're scared." Joan teased her colleague who chuckled. "So, what do you say? In or out?"

"… I'd like that…" Joan smiled widely. "But… Got some side projects I wanna finish first, if okay." Eliza saw her friend lower her eyes. "Raincheck? Maybe dinner next time instead?" She offered.

"You sure about that?" Joan asked in a mock stern look. "I'm not cheap, I'm expecting all the stops on this one. I'm talking, five-star restaurant, rooftop view and food so fancy it'll confuse me big time by the end of the night."

"That night better include dozens of wine bottles?" Eliza chuckled. Both she and her colleague shared a laugh between themselves. "Deal. Dinner, rooftop, five-stars, the whole shebang." She promised her wholeheartedly.

"I'm gonna hold you to that." Joan smiled. She checked her watch. "Gotta go, Dr. McGee wants me to help some of the rookie scientists on the lower levels. You gonna be okay here?" She pointed a finger at the retrievers.

"Course I am." Eliza assured her.

"Okay. Call me if you're in a pinch." Joan joked, walking to the exit.

"Good luck." Eliza stated as she walked out of the exit. "Dinner… Gonna be nice." She smiled.

"Might wanna postpone that date."

Eliza gasped in shock, snapping around when hearing the sudden voice. Placing a hand over her racing heart, she calmed down when seeing both Taskmaster and Dr. Octavius back in the lab. "How the heck did you two get back in so quickly? Where'd you hide?"

"Not important." The mercenary replied.

Otto lowered himself to the ground, standing in front of the table. "The process, Dr. Harmon?"

The Mercury Labs scientist walked over to the desk. She pressed the small button under the table, making it split open and revealed the machine she modified. The big spherical flask in the middle of the ring shaking the multicolored symbiote mass tremoring in response. "It's going slowly, but it'll be able to split the symbiote into five soon enough." She revealed with a smile.

Taskmaster walked closer to the table. "It's shaking so much, why?"

"It's fighting." Otto realized with a smile.

"It's a living thing, after all. Every living thing hates captivity, they want to be free after all. Fighting back is in its nature." Eliza grazed the flask, rubbing it gently, akin to a mother stroking her child's cheek.

Strangely enough, the 616ers are the only ones to see the symbiotic mass calm down. It stopped shaking at her touch.

"It'll split soon enough…." Eliza smiled. "But it'll take a while, still."

"I can help with that." Otto revealed, getting Eliza's attention. "I'll give you all the time you need, Dr. Harmon. As long as it gets done."

"Soon enough, Venom and Magenta won't be the only symbiotes in Central City." Eliza announced confidently.

She knew it'd happen… By tonight… They'd be more symbiotes… More Klyntars in need of hosts…

X

(CCPD, CSI Lab)

Barry focused on his work but really hated what he had to do to get on Julian's good side. If there was such a thing.

After literally tattling on him to their captain, Barry spoke with Julian, trying to get on his good side. Earlier today, they were in the lab together and the metahuman CSI expert saw the news of the monster terrorizing Central City. Julian couldn't believe that the city's dealing with metahumans destroying the city and Venom running around on a rampage, but now they also have a raging monster out in the city.

The speedster tried to play on Julian's sizable ego, which could give Texas a run for its money. They've gotten off on the wrong foot according to Barry. Julian didn't believe that, seeing as Barry's someone who has very little regard for the rules. It was like working with a walking contaminant.

Barry used that to his advantage, saying that wants to learn from Julian. He stoked his ego like a flame, saying that it's clear that his evidence collection techniques are far superior to his own. He suggested shadowing the metahuman expert for a day, asking a few questions so he could help increase his own skill level.

When Julian appeared apprehensive to his colleague's suggestion, Barry offered to give up the lab. He'd move down to a storeroom downstairs if he'd be allowed to follow him in this case. At that offer, Julian immediately agreed and informed he'd give the man a call.

After that, Barry returned to work. But noticing movement in the corner of his eye, he turned around and smiled when seeing Iris walk towards him with a bag from Big Belly Burger. "Hey."

"I had to give a witness report on the attack," She held up the bag. "and I thought I would make it a lunch date."

"Yeah, cool. I'll clear a spot." Barry moved his equipment away, making room for them both. "Let's do this." Iris took a seat opposite from him with a smile.

"Yeah." Iris opened the bag. She glanced at the other side of the lab. "Are things better with Julian?"

"Oh, my God, it's like every time I try to get to know the guy, he does something that makes it really hard to." He answered through gritted teeth. "All I know now is that he dislikes metahumans about as much as he dislikes me."

Taking a pack of fries out of the bag Iris suggested. "Maybe you should try and see things from his perspective. He might have a reason to dislike both of you that you don't know anything about."

Barry narrowed his eyes. "Did you just hit me with a Joe-ism?"

Iris smirked. "Well, sometimes he's right. Sometimes he's not." She pulled out boxes of burgers from the bag.

"Yeah." Barry nodded, taking a French fry and beating into it.

"Speaking of which," Iris perked her head up. "I just saw him downstairs, and he was talking to the DA. He blew off a date with her."

"I saw him do the same thing last week." Barry noted. "I don't know. Maybe he's not that into her."

"No, he's into her." Iris countered. "I mean, when I asked him about her, he basically told me to buzz off."

"You're not too good at buzzing off, are you?" Barry asked with a smirk.

"Nope. When it comes to my dad, no." She said with a wider smirk.

Barry's phone buzzed. Picking it up, he saw it was a text message from Julian.

"Allen – Meet me at 2nd & Fulton ASAP! Albert." The message read.

"Well, look who it is." Barry sarcastically said, showing his girlfriend the message. "Looks like I have an opportunity to see things from Julian's perspective right now." He closed his phone. "Sorry about lunch. I gotta go." He shared a kiss with Iris. "See you later. I need that." He snatched his phone again before walking away.

X

(Tannhauser Industries)

"If you don't stop squirming, I'll never find a vein." Carla told her squirming daughter, making it very hard for her to find a vein to draw a blood sample from. "You didn't squirm like this with your boyfriend around. Where is he now? He ran away when that earthquake happened."

"Seth is out, helping people. His father is a military man, and taught Seth everything he needs to do in a crisis. How to remain calm in a situation like this." Caitlin stopped, calming herself down enough to let her mother pierce her skin to find a vein. She groaned through a close mouth when the needle pierced her skin. "What exactly are you testing for now?" She asked her mother.

As the blood filled the vial, Carla explained. "Any polymorphism that could help us understand how you're able to absorb that much energy from molecules to create gelid surroundings." She removed the needle and put a bandage over the area of penetration.

While the tourniquet is being unstrapped, Caitlin reminds her. "You realize I've run all of these tests already?"

Carla widened her eyes. "Then, what was the point of coming here?" She placed the blood into the blood kit.

"Seriously, Mom?" Caitlin scoffed her disbelief. "I'm terrified of what I'm becoming." Carla looked at her daughter. "You realized you haven't asked me once how I'm feeling?"

"I'm trying to keep emotion out of this. Believe me, it's for your benefit as much as it is mine." Carla replied.

"Right, because that's your specialty, isn't it? Being cold, just like after…" Caitlin looked away, checking the puncture area.

"After what?" Carla demanded.

Caitlin faced her mother. "After Dad died."

"I did everything I could to save your father." Carla declared.

"Well, you lost your daughter at the same time." Caitlin countered.

Carla countered. "You're the one who went away, Caitlin."

"Because I had to." Caitlin said back. Carla faced her child with disbelief. "You realize you never acted like my mother again after Dad got sick? You barely even look at me."

"I couldn't handle the pain." Carla turned away from her daughter, taking off her glasses. "My work got me through it. Losing someone like that. You have no idea what that feels like."

"Actually, I do." Caitlin shocked her mother. "Over a year ago… Something happened to Seth. I thought he died. I thought I'd never see him again… That was painful."

"I'm sorry." Carla said, surprised and confused at the same time. Seth Fury wasn't there when this incident happened but he's back, healthy as ever.

"Honestly if I didn't have my…" Caitlin bit her tongue, stopping herself.

"Your what?" Carla asked.

Before either of them could say anything, the doors opened, and a voice spoke. "Yeah, I'm sorry, Joe." They saw Seth walking into the room, holding a few items in one hand and a phone in his other hand, pressed to his ear. "I know, I'll talk to them." He listened to what the detective said. "Okay, that's kinda… diabolical. First round of drinks is on me, Joe. Okay second and third too. Okay, bye." He hung up.

Caitlin raised an eyebrow, chuckling to herself as she asked. "What'd our daughters do this time?"

"Daughters?" Carla muttered in confusion.

Seth put his phone back in his pocket and answered vaguely, in regard to Carla's presence. "Well, Frankie may have done some reconstruction of Joe's metalwork. Evelyn stole Joe's badge… again. And Ruby's done some… creative drawings on pictures of Barry. Joe thinks he has to take new ones just to forget the damage."

"And you called our girls drama queens?" Caitlin chuckled.

"Yeah, Joe takes the cake for drama." Seth agreed. Walking over to his mate, he asked her. "How're you feeling?"

"Excuse me?" Carla got their attention. "You have… children?" She shifted a finger between them.

"Three daughters, Frankie, Evelyn and Ruby." Caitlin answered.

Carla walked away from her table, standing in front of her daughter with shock. "You never even mentioned once that I have granddaughters, Caitlin."

"… Didn't sound like you wanted to be part of my life, Mom." Caitlin responded. "My daughters are part of my life, now and always."

"That's not… I never…" Carla trailed off, unable to find the right words. Instead, she settled for questions, turning to face Seth. "How old are they? Your daughters, that is?"

"Sixteen to seventeen, bunch of troublemakers, those three." Seth said with a proud smile.

"They got that from their father's side." Caitlin jokes, her mate sticking out her tongue in playful retaliation.

"Adopted?" Carla asked. Both Seth and Caitlin nodded their confirmation. "Three daughters… Three granddaughters…" She muttered in shock again, which the couple noticed. Clearing her throat, she walked over to the blood kit and packed it up before walking towards the exit and out of the room without saying a single word to the couple.

"Guess me having children threw her for a loop." Caitlin scoffed.

"Maybe having children she didn't know she ever had, threw her for a loop. Definitely threw her a curveball, babe." He walked over to his mate, grabbing a chair for himself and took a seat beside Caitlin. "Now again…" He took her legs, placing them in his lap and pulled her closer. Caitlin laughed as he gave her a sincere look. "How're you feeling?"

"Fine, I guess." Caitlin saw him holding items in his hand. "What's that in your hand?"

Holding them up, he said. "String cheese and a juice box." Caitlin chuckled, bursting into laughter and she had to cover her mouth. "Only edible things in their vending machines. Gonna have to give Tannhauser Industries a "F" for failing to provide better snacks."

"Really?" Caitlin crossed her arms, giving him a mock narrowed look.

"Yeah." Seth nodded, faking a serious look as he took the bendable straw and pierced it into the covered hole. "I only had enough money for one of each, so…" He held it out for her. "We have to share."

"Well, if we must." Caitlin faked reluctance, leaning her head down and captured the straw between her lips. She drank from it, savoring the taste of oranges that's washing over her taste buds. "Thanks." She said when removing her lips from it.

"Don't thank me just yet." Seth tore open the package, taking out one string cheese and handing her one. Caitlin accepted it with one smile. "So, honestly…" He ate a string cheese himself, using his free hand to rub her legs soothingly. "You okay?"

Caitlin sighed, leaning closer to Seth's shoulder. "You heard what Nigel told my Mom downstairs right? They seemed more interested in their research goals than me and my problems. And my Mom, she's barely showing any concern for her only daughter's well-being, both now and before when my Dad died."

"Good for you, I have enough worry and care for you, big enough to count for two people." Seth interlocked his fingers with hers. Caitlin smiled when feeling his fingers interlace with hers, a gesture of love and care. "I won't let anything happen to you. Even if your Mom's the one on the other side, I won't back down."

"I know that." Caitlin admitted, never having a single doubt in her mind. "Thanks for it." They shared a smile. "But aside from our daughters decorating the Wests' house, what happened to you? You were gone for a while."

Smacking his lips, Seth answered. "Central City got a surprise visit from two 616 villains, Vulture and Shocker."

"Cisco's not gonna be happy with these villains already having names of their own." Caitlin snickered.

"Oh yeah, we're gonna be drowning in complaints from that guy." Seth quipped.

Caitlin handed him the juice box which he took and sipped on. "Think I wanna leave, actually." Seth looked shocked, tilting his head and listened as she continued. "I came, not only for her help and research, but also because I thought I could get something from my mother… But it honestly looks like I can't get it, I won't get it. I don't need help with the science, I can do that on my own." She showed another wide smile. "But I won't, I have you, after all."

"I'd never leave you, babe. Heaven or hell can try, but I won't budge. I'm beside you now and always, support you through thick and thin." Seth wholeheartedly said. "But seriously, I don't think your Mom has the best first-hand expression of me."

"Yeah, you're bad at meeting parents." Caitlin laughed.

"Unlike you, my Dad loves you." Seth chortled, Caitlin joining him before leaning over and sharing a kiss with the man of her world.

X

Coming to 2nd & Fulton, passing by a police vehicle, Barry finds Julian standing before damaged objects. "What do you got?"

Julian snapped around in shock. "I said get here quick, but that was…" He looked around, glancing at the direction of where the criminologist came from. "…Quicker than I expected."

"No, yeah, it was a crazy Uber driver." Barry lied, waving his hand around in the direction of where the imaginary Uber came from.

Humming his acceptance, Julian crouched down before the damaged and scorched objects. He stated his examination. "Well, the blast pattern and the scoring on the insulation suggests that it was a power surge that blew it."

"So, it's a coincidence?" Barry suggested.

"I highly doubt it. But I'll figure it out." Julian started. "Someone in this city has to do something about these metas." He got back to his full height.

"What do you mean?" Barry crouched down, placing his case on the ground. "We have a whole police force working to stop these metas."

"No, you have the Flash." Julian countered.

Barry noted his words. "So, it's not just bad metas you don't like. It's all the metas."

"I'm just saying that because of him, the police department has got lethargic." Julian admitted. "I mean, why do anything at all if the Flash is gonna save the day every time? It's a bit like you with the rule breaking." Barry sarcastically grinned. "A momentary fix, and now you're lazy, sloppy."

"Cool, thanks. Uh, I think the Flash is actually a source of inspiration for the city. I think he kind of provides hope." Barry admitted sheepishly, trying to keep his composure and his secret identity secret.

"Yes, that's one of many things that we'll have to disagree on, Allen." Julian countered.

"What about Venom? You like him instead?" Barry asked curiously.

Giving a hollow laugh, Julian asked. "You asking if I actually like Central City's glorified serial killer? Are you mental, Allen?"

"Not a fan of his either, I take it?" Barry deduced from the ground.

Julian shook his head. "The man's a bloody menace, Allen. He's repeatedly killed people, eaten them like they were the only source of food available. Honestly, I'm actually shocked that the captain took this long to actually put a bounty on that menace's head. And the fact that some of the citizens still revere him as a savior is baffling."

"I mean… He did save a dozen or so innocent children from the Skulls two years ago." Barry stated, reminding him of one of Venom's heroic acts. "Venom isn't all that bad. Dozens of parents have their children back again because of him."

"Possibly the one good thing he's done in his life, that Venom." Julian said with a hollow chuckle. "Honestly, I can't wait to see who's behind that mask and see them behind bars."

"Really?" Barry asked in shock.

"Yes, really." Julian saw the look of disbelief on his co-worker's face. "Just another thing we'll have to disagree on, Allen. Just another thing…" He trailed off abruptly, his eyes traveling around the area behind Barry.

Seeing his wandering eyes, Barry asked. "What? Do you see something?" He followed the direction of his eyes, seeing the skyscraper behind him.

Julian looked behind his back, seeing the tall buildings behind him. "A pattern. The creature's movements, they seemed random at first, but they were contained to a prescribed area. You know, like the creature was stuck in an invisible fence."

Following his train of thought, Barry pointed to nearby cameras within his field of vision. "Traffic cameras were down, right? Maybe it was being watched or controlled by somebody that needed to keep it in visual range the entire time?"

Nodding his agreement, Julian continued. "Constricting the creature's movements to the line of sight." Barry nodded his confirmation. "That actually makes sense. Maybe there is a brain in there after all, Allen."

Suddenly electricity started crackling immensely, sirens and alarms began blaring loudly. Both Barry and Julian turned their heads around… Only to see the large four-armed monster walking out from the side. More electricity began sparking, bursting out like geysers.

When the monster turned in their direction, Julian quickly dialed in a number and put it to his ear. "Dispatch, this is CSI. I'm requesting immediate backup." They rushed to the side, hiding behind a trash container. "The monster has been sighted by the harbor."

Barry knew he could handle this, but not with Julian nearby. "Hey, maybe we should split up."

"No, that's a terrible idea." Julian countered, reaching into his jacket.

"Yeah, but we gotta do something, right?" Barry told him. "Wow." He gasped when Julian pulled out a firearm.

Cocking his gun, Julian assured his colleague. "Don't worry, I have four years training in the military."

"Even still, since when does a CSI carry a gun?" Barry asked.

Like it was a maddened question to ask, Julian countered. "Since there were monsters in our city."

"All right-" Barry's words barely reached Julian's ears when he immediately jumped out, taking a stance and aiming his gun at the monster far from them. The monster roared, and more electrical devices around them burst, causing electricity to geyser out of them.

Barry saw the electricity burst over their heads, causing a billboard to shake and fall off. Time slowed to a crawl, and he used his superspeed to get them both out of the way, faking the appearance of them jumping out of the way and landing on the ground.

The billboard slammed into a wall. Both CSI workers glanced in the direction of the monster, seeing that it had disappeared.

"Cheers." Julian thanked his co-worker.

But more confusion drenched over them both at the monster's latest appearance.

X

(Tannhauser Industries)

Caitlin put on her blue blazer, and took her purse. Readied herself to get back home. Seth went out, checking on their car in case it was attacked or damaged from Shocker and Vulture's mayhem. "You're leaving us?" Nigel asked when entering the lab, seeing her ready herself for departure.

"Yeah," Caitlin nodded. "things between my mother and me are… Complicated." She walked to him.

"We can help you." Nigel told her.

"I don't need your help with the science. I can do that on my own. Or with my family, for that matter." Caitlin stated. Sighing, she revealed. "I came here to get something from my mother that I realize now I'll never get." While speaking Nigel closed the doors with a push of a button on a remote. Hearing the locks whir and lock, she asked. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry, Frosty, but you're not going anywhere." Nigel stated.

Caitlin rushed to the doors. "Let me out of here. Open these doors." She tried to open them up with brute strength.

"I said no!" Nigel shouted, getting her attention. "I am sick of working day after day, night after night, only to have my work benefit your mother." Caitlin continued to pry the doors open, but to no avail. "With the information I can get from you, I can finally get out of this place. So, you're gonna stay here until I get everything that I need."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing from her mother's employee. He wanted to trap her in this facility so he could exploit her powers for himself, to get himself out from her mother's thumb. Walking to him, she countered. "You are not going to test me."

"Yes, I am." Nigel grabbed her by her shoulder.

"No, Nigel." Caitlin countered, grabbing his arm. Whether she realized it or not, her inner Killer Frost persona was realized in a fit of pure rage and icy mist emitted from her hand. "You are not going to test me, now or ever." Her voice distorted as the ice spread over his forearm, freezing it.

"Wait, let go! Let go!" Nigel screamed.

She released him, but continued to have her hand outstretched at the man who tried to trap her.

The doors were opened up, both Seth and Carla standing there. "Cait!" He screamed, rushing to her side.

"Stay out of this, Seth!" Caitlin shouted, shocking him with her distorted voice.

"Caitlin! Don't do this!" Carla rushed to stand in front of her daughter. "This isn't you!"

"You don't know anything about me, Mother." Caitlin said back coldly.

"Cait…" Seth took her icy hand, lowering it gently.

Carla noted that, keeping a note of it, before facing her daughter again. "I know I wasn't much of a mother, and I know I have a lot to make up for, but I know I didn't raise a killer." Caitlin raised her eyes, pointing them to look into her mother's eyes. "For whatever it's worth, I am so sorry."

Hearing her mother's sincere words, Caitlin's eyes returned to their normal color. "It's worth a lot." Seth withdrew his hand as mother and daughter hugged.

Carla pulled out of the hug. "Now go, both of you."

"What about him?" Seth asked with a glare gesturing to Nigel.

"I-I'll take care of him. No one will ever know about this. I promise." Carla assured them both.

"Thank you." Caitlin told her mother.

"Just go, both of you now." Carla told them both and they ran out.

X

(CCPD, CSI Lab)

Back in the department's CSI lab, Barry and Julian watched a virtual map of the city with a red marker around an area of it. The criminologist said. "Every time there's been a sighting of the monster, multiple transformers have blown."

Humming to himself, Julian said. "So, it's definitely feeding off electricity."

"And see," Barry pointed to the screen. "I mapped out all the streets that it's been spotted around. Never leaves a 10-block radius."

"Yeah, this is exactly what I was talking about." Julian said, pointing at the screen. "Some meta's been gifted this incredible power, and this is the very best thing they can do with it, terrorize a city. It's pathetic."

Barry asked. "But why exactly do you hate metas so much?"

Julian turned to meet his eyes. "If you think I'm going to break down now and tell you that one killed my parents and that's why I have to do this job, I'm not, okay? I don't need a deep, personal reason to hate metas, Allen. I just need to see person after person transformed, given these extraordinary abilities, and watch them be squandered. Robbing banks, hurting people, spreading fear. It's just… Well, it's not just a crime. It's an absolute waste. Can you imagine what it would be like to have those powers?" Barry listened closely to his words. "I mean, I'd be helping people. I would be improving the world." He got up from his chair. "I guess I wasn't one of the chosen few, was I?"

"That's it?" Barry asked. "You're mad at them because you weren't chosen?" Julian faced him. "Sorry, I mean, I'm just saying, it can't be easy being a metahuman, having your life, their lives change in ways that, you know, neither one of us could possibly imagine. It's got to take some adjusting."

"Right." Julian stated. "So, now you're defending them?"

Defensively, he said. "Well, no, I mean, I'm- I don't think that-"

"This internship thing we're doing is completely over." Julian said, closing the folder in front of him.

"Whatever." Barry scoffed, walking out of the CSI lab.

X

"So that was… something." This time Seth really struggled to find the right words to explain what happened back at Tannhauser Industries. He and Caitlin drove away from the research company ten minutes ago, and neither of them had said anything.

Therefore, Seth chose to be the one to break the ice. "Understatement of the year, moron." Venom told his partner.

"Not now, Venom." Seth countered. From his driver's seat, he glanced at Caitlin who looked ahead, her eyes focused on the road ahead. "You okay, Cait? You've barely said a word."

"Guess I'm shocked by what Nigel tried to do." Caitlin said with a hollow chuckle. "Last time I step into that place, unless I wanna be their cryogenic guinea pig that they wanna cut into."

"Never gonna happen, not on my watch." Seth quickly added. "Not to mention, our daughters would definitely wanna pitch in." He could imagine that the news of Tannhauser Industries trying to experiment on their mother would make their daughters immediately stand in front of the company, holding arms and weapons and tear down the building to the bedrock in a moment's notice.

"Sure, they'd have more than words for Tannhauser." Caitlin ran a hand down her face, thinking the same thoughts as her mate. "For some reason, I hope the girls never meet my mother."

"We'll leave that decision to them." Caitlin faced him with a shocked look. "Look, they know about your Mom, my Dad, and our families… It's their choice if they wanna learn, or meet the rest of the clan. We should give them that choice in the near future."

"Good point." Caitlin narrowed her eyes on Seth's arms. She recalled what he said about his mutation fighting against him in the past, causing hairline fractures in his arms. "Something I realized, actually."

"What?" Seth inquired.

Caitlin nodded to his arms. "You have more elements now than you've had since you were a teenager, but you don't have any more scars on your arms now… Why is that, when you said you had hairline fractures in your arms as a kid from using the fire element? Like Ruby has."

"Guess you've never asked this, when I think about it, but Caitlin, do you think I have a healing factor?" Seth asked.

"You don't…" Realization dawned on her. "But Venom does."

Seth nodded. "Yeah. He was the missing piece of the puzzle from back when Stryker kidnapped me and experimented on me. While I do have, to some degree, elemental residence in my blood, problem was that whenever I used my powers, I'd end up hurting myself. Probably end up with more damage than a car wreck. But Klyntars who heals the hosts they're bonded to, keeps that from happening to me anymore."

"That explains a lot." Caitlin understood. "Never realized that until now."

"I have a lot to thank Venom for." Seth chuckled. "Except for his hangry fits and cannibalistic tendencies."

Venom growled his anger. "You're a damn bastard, Seth!" He screeched so loud; he almost caused his host to swerve and drive off the road.

X

(CCPD)

Joe scanned through the files that he was to hand off to the receptionist. But he stopped when hearing his daughter's voice. "Hey-oh."

The detective looked back, facing his daughter. "Hey, baby girl."

"Hey." Iris wrapped an arm around her father's waist.

Joe kissed the top of her head. "You've been hanging out here a lot lately." He noted as they walked into the room.

"Yeah, well, there's a lot of scared people with this monster running around the city." Iris stated.

"Oh, we'll get him. We always do." Joe assured his child.

Iris smirked. "Oh yeah? Is that a quote I can use for my article?"

"No." Joe replied instantaneously.

"All right. It was worth a try." Iris told herself and her father smiled before going through the files. "Dad, you know Wally and I are all right, right?"

Joe turned around, facing his daughter with a confused look. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Iris elaborated. "We just don't want you to not do things because of us. You know, we just want you to find someone."

Connecting the dots immediately, Joe countered. "I'm not having this conversation with you."

"Dad," Iris got closer to her father. "that DA is totally into you. You should go out with her."

"Iris, I don't need you to be Cupid. I got my job. I got you, Barry, Wally. I'm good." Joe told her.

Iris nodded. "I know, Dad, and that, that's great. I just…" She told him. "Now that I'm falling in love with someone, I just want you to have the same thing."

"Joe?" The detective turned around, coming face to face with his captain and Julian Albert.

"Captain, if this is about that case about the break-in here, it's slow-going." He confessed to his captain.

"It's not, Joe." David told him. "Alert every task force and sniper unit. Tell 'em to load up."

"I should get to S.T.A.R. Labs." Iris said, walking backwards before turning around and making her way to the exit.

Joe nodded and walked over to his captain. "What's up?"

Gesturing to the metahuman expert, David said. "Albert thinks he's figured out the creature's next target."

Julian added. "If there's ever an opportunity for a 40-foot monster to wreak havoc, it's gonna be where people like to gather. 2nd Street Promenade."

Joe nodded. "Well, let's end this."

"That's what I intend to do, Detective." Julian followed the detective.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Walking into the workshop, Barry and Cisco looked around in search for H.R. Wells, but they couldn't find him anywhere. The three of them had a strange and suspicious talk in the Cortex earlier, discussing the importance of transformers as they explode whenever the monster appears.

In that discussion, the viber noted that car alarms keep malfunctioning at the same time. H.R. tried to help, but merely gave them words of encouragement instead, stating they'll get there. Sneakily Cisco suggested someone's pulling power out of the transformers and using it to power the 40-foot monster. Harrison-19 agreed wholeheartedly, but Cisco reminded him that they had detected a surge in the power grid.

Barry suggested the monster could possibly have the ability to broadcast powers, similar to a portable Tesla tower. After that H.R. walked away, agreeing with the speedster's suggestion. But Cisco saw through him, realizing that the Earth-19 native resaid everything they were saying in a different way.

The speedster didn't want the team to be caught off guard again, not by another Wells. He told the viber he should vibe H.R.

They looked for him, ending up in the workshop. "Where'd he go?" Barry looked around.

"Doesn't matter." Cisco slid past him, walking over to the Earth-19 native's bag. "I don't need him."

"What do you mean? What are you- Hey, dude? Come on." Barry complained when Cisco began looking through his bag. "You can't just go through his stuff, that's not…"

Cisco scoffed his disbelief. "I'm not going through his stuff." He said while going through his stuff.

"You doubt this weirdo, too?" Cisco and Barry looked up, seeing Frankie stuck on the ceiling. "Thought you two would believe every word coming out of his mouth."

"You don't believe him?" Cisco asked.

"When something's too good to be true, it probably isn't." Frankie shrugged.

Shadows erupted on the floor as Evelyn shadowported her and Ruby into the workshop. "You find something, Sis?" Evelyn asked.

Ruby groaned at the sight of Barry. "What are you two doing here?"

"Snooping." Frankie answered for them. "They don't trust Wells either."

"Explains that thing." Ruby nodded as Cisco pulled out a strange device that appeared akin to a pen.

"See, this is what I'm talking about. What even is this?" Cisco pulled on both ends of it, making split up and emit a whirring sound.

Then… H.R.'s voice came out.

"Now I seem to have won most of the team's trust, except Francisco's. And Fury seems skeptical as well." H.R.'s voice came from the pen.

"Those are my things." H.R. himself stated when walking into the workshop, only to find Cisco holding his device. "What are you doing?" The viber closed the device.

"What are you doing?" Cisco asked.

"What?" H.R. inquired.

"Who are you really? We know you're hiding something." Cisco demanded to know.

H.R. took out his tooth stick, breaking it in half. "You've been burned, twice, by a man with the same face as me. I imagine it's hard to trust after something like that."

"You think?" Frankie asked.

"I do think." H.R. nodded, glancing at Cisco. "So, play the rest of it."

"For real?" Evelyn asked, worried he wasn't thinking clearly.

"For real. Play it, Francisco." H.R. told the viber.

Both confused and determined, Cisco pulled the device apart again, the recording continuing. "I've read his journals. I've found nothing that can tell me why Francisco feels the way he does, but I do hope I can change his opinion of Harrison Wells, and the two of us can rebuild that friendship. What a fantastic C Story to weave within the narrative."

"What?" Barry asked.

"What C story?" Frankie asked, still on the ceiling.

"What narrative?" Cisco asked.

Gleefully H.R. replied. "Narrative." He snatched the recording device back from Cisco's hands. "I'm writing a novel. The Tales of H.R. Wells." He revealed the title of his novel. "Catchy, I know."

"So, you're a scientist… and a novelist?" Evelyn asked slowly, still letting that revelation sink.

"Yes." H.R. answered the young metahuman.

"Wow, that's perfect." Barry chuckle.

"Thank you." Harrison said with a smile. "That's exactly right. I'm a scientist and a novelist. I run S.T.A.R. Labs and also, I'm an author of a science romance. That's my niche. Write what you know. And I thought, "Well… What better opportunity than to come another Earth and pen yet another best seller about my adventures here?""

"Why didn't you just tell us this in the first place?" Cisco asked him.

H.R. answered. "I guess it didn't seem relevant, and also, I didn't think you guys were gonna rifle through my belongings." Barry and Cisco looked like a pair of deer caught in headlights. The three Snow-Fury sisters didn't appear at all fazed. "That's all it is. I'm a scientist and a novelist. Do you think you can trust me now, or is that not something that you have on this Earth? Trust?"

"Trust?" Caitlin's voice shocked Harrison away from entrance, revealing both her and Seth.

H.R. laughed at the sight of them. "You scared the dickens out of me."

"What's going on?" Seth asked.

"Trust who?" Caitlin asked next.

"Wells here got a secret going on." Ruby chuckled. "He's a scientist and a novelist."

""What? /What?"" The couple said in shock at the same time.

Their confusion was put on hold when suddenly alarms blared over their heads. Evelyn looked up. "Friday?"

"Metahuman app." The AI answered. "It's the monster. It's back."

""Monster? /Monster?"" The couple said in even more shock at the same time.

"Yeah, Central City's got their own Kaiju now." Frankie giggled from the ceiling.

"A fight with Godzilla?" Seth cracked his hands enticingly. "I can finally cross that one off the bucket list." He smiled.

"Girls, what's happened?" Caitlin asked, turning to meet her daughter's eyes.

"You've missed a lot, Mom. We'll explain upstairs." Evelyn gestured to the exit.

Caitlin chuckled. "Sounds like an all hands-on situation, so Rubs, you're in too."

"Put me in, coach." Ruby smirked, knowing her mother and father wanted her to not use her powers.

"Let's rock." Seth and his family walked out of the workshop. Barry sheepishly followed them.

"Well, I'll just stay here, then." H.R. said, twirling his drumsticks around.

Cisco looked over his shoulder. "Come on. We need you." He told him and Harrison followed him.

X

Chaos spread over 2nd Street Promenade. People from the attractions, booths and carts ran away in a hurry, running like their lives depended on it. Everything they had on them, or in their hands were thrown away when they started running.

It was chaos…

Shadows burst in the middle of the road, Venom appearing out of them with Eclipse, Destroyer and Magenta jumping off his back. "Where's that idiot?" The mutant looked around for the speedster who has the cables that H.R. shared with them.

"Probably stopped to take a selfie." Magenta quipped.

"Dad?" Destroyer asked her father when she saw people notice his presence and ran away. "You okay?"

"Not important right now." Seth said, thinking like an agent and focusing on the mission. "We deal with Godzilla, that's the mission."

"Question:" Eclipse started. "What happens if those cables from Earth-19 don't work on this beast?"

"Plan B." Seth reached behind his back, sticking his hand into his upper back and pulled out his crystal sword. "We burn that thing to ashes." Black sparks went off his blade, igniting black flames that instantly enveloped it.

WHOOSH

"All right, guys. I'm here." Barry announced when arriving at the scene, the ultralight cables wrapped around his arm.

"Tell us everything that you guys see right now." Harrison asked of the five heroes.

The Flash looked ahead, seeing the dozens of humans crazily running away to safety. "Mayhem."

Venom looked ahead, focusing his eyes on the four-armed monster. "And the monster." He licked his teeth, hungry for a fight. "Can't wait for this."

Frankie saw her father's elements erupting over his symbiotic skin. "What's going on with Dad?"

"He's itching for a fight." Her "other" told her. "He hasn't been in a fight this whole day. Probably needs his fix."

"Did you just call my Dad a fight-aholic?" Frankie asked her Klyntar roommate.

"Yup." Magenta replied.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Standing in the Cortex with a confused look, Iris turned to face the scientists. "Okay, so what's the plan?" She asked them, her voice traveling to the heroes on the battlefield via the comms from S.T.A.R. Labs.

Pointing a drumstick at her from the main console, Harrison said. "Great question, Miss West. So, we've fashioned just a carbon fiber rope, but correct me if I'm wrong, we never actually discussed how he was gonna use that rope, did we?" He aimed his question at the viber who's beside him.

"If the rope doesn't work, Seth can use his black flames and his sword. His flames can burn through anything, even a breach." Caitlin said, trusting her mate. Her words already relayed to him through Friday's functionalities.

"Let's hope so." H.R. casually said, not registering what she just said about Seth being able to turn a breach into ash.

"Guys." Barry impatiently asked his team from the battlefield.

An idea sparked in Cisco's head. "Barry, we're gonna do Empire."

"Empire of the Sun, Barry." Harrison said, twirling his drumstick around.

"What? Empire Strikes Back." Cisco corrected the Earth-19 native.

"Empire Strikes Back, Barry." Harrison recited his sentence with the right corrections.

"Just take it down like an AT-AT." Cisco instructed the speedster.

"Just like an AT-AT." H.R. resaid Cisco's words in another way.

Caitlin remembered that movie. "Bigger they are, the harder they fall." Cisco and Harrison turned shocked at her words. "Even I've seen Empire. My girls have seen it too."

X

Destroyer nudged the back of her father's leg. "Bet you really love Mom now, huh, Dad?"

"Always did that." Venom said. Turning his head to the speedster, he said. "Try and trip that thing, we'll try another approach." He spun his sword around, his black flames whirling around his crystal blade. "Girls, take a position, ready yourselves. Only long-range attacks." He instructed them.

They nodded and jumped into action. Eclipse shadowported, putting distance between her and the monster before pulling back an arrow. Destroyer ran to the side, pulling back her Chakram blade. Magenta raised her arms, causing metal of various objects to shake around her.

Roaring at the monster that roared back, Venom pulled back his flame-cloaked sword and pointed it at the monster. The abyssal flames around his sword intensified. For something the size of this monster, he'd need powerful flames that'd make an inferno look like a barrel fire.

"Burn that thing to a crisp."

Barry saw the mutant mentally ready for a fight. "All right, here we go." He took a stance. "I've always wanted to be a Jedi." He sped to a nearby street lamp, tying one end of the cable to before running around the monster and tying it around other lamps.

The monster tried to slash the speedster, swinging his hands down for The Flash. Trying to smash him, but without luck. As the Godzilla-like monstrosity busied itself with trying to attack the Scarlet Speedster, Venom roared and thrust his sword, projecting his flames in a column of pitch-black fire. The monster faced the flames, opening its mouth as though it was about to consume them.

But it didn't happen… The flames… Passed through the monster's head, coming out the back of it… Causing the entire being to statically fizzle….

"What the hell?" Magenta said, lowering her hands.

"What is that shit?" Evelyn asked, lowering her bow and arrow.

Curiously narrowing her eyes, Destroyer threw her circular blade. It connected with the monster's foot, passing through it and making it fizzle again. As her blade returned to her hand, she asked. "Is that…"

"A hologram." Venom revealed in both anger and disappointment. Both emotions associated with the fact that he didn't get to fight a Godzilla-sized monster.

"What?" Barry got his answer when the monster statically fizzled again when it passed through the rope. "Rope went right through it. It's a hologram."

Destroyer faced her father with a look of disbelief. "Does he ever listen?"

"Idiot doesn't use his brain much." Venom scoffed.

The heroes watched the monster fizzle out, disappearing from their eyes.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"Well, that explains everything." Cisco understood everything now. He checked the power grid on the screen and also saw the radius. "The 10-block radius, the transformers. It takes that much power to render."

Iris remembered what she heard back at the precinct. "Wait, CCPD sent snipers there."

Caitlin paled in fear. "If it's not real-"

The reporter gulped, following the same train of thought as the doctor. "Then the bullets will pass right through it."

"And people will get hurt." Venom told them over the comms. "It's gone. Cisco, give us a hand."

"Hold on. Give me a sec, Big V." Cisco quipped, already working on the solution.

"Don't ever call us that." Seth ordered him; he didn't like that name.

"Sorry." The viber apologized.

"No offense, Cisco, but we don't got a second!" Ruby called out to him. "Next moment that thing pops its ugly face out-"

"Bullets will fly." Evelyn added.

"And people will die." Frankie said.

"Caitlin, your daughters are really big cynics." The viber glanced at him.

Caitlin gave him an ice-cold glare that'd break a glacier. "Hey!"

"Sorry. H.R. triangulate the signal being sent to the monster." Cisco instructed him. "We have to disrupt it before anyone gets hurt."

"Okay, let's do that now." Harrison rushed to the other side of the console, stepping in front of a computer and began typing. "Let's… Let's just…Triangulate." For some reason he formed a triangle with his hands, though one of them held a drumstick. Cisco narrowed his eyes on him. "The computer doesn't triangulate the signal the way- Not the way I'm used to. This is a different size computer for triang-"

"Oh my God. I knew it." Cisco slowly said, all pieces of the puzzle finally gathered.

"What?" Harrison asked.

"You're a fake." Cisco accused him, making Harrison snap his eyes to him.

"What?" Iris asked.

"What?" Caitlin followed up.

"What?" H.R. finished off.

"This whole time, he's been acting like he can help us, but he can't, because he doesn't know how! Does he?" Cisco asked demandingly.

"How? Triangulate!" He formed another triangle with his hands.

"Someone give us directions!" Venom demanded with a roar.

"Get the-" Cisco pushed him out of the way, working on the computers.

"All right, you take over." Harrison said.

Caitlin walked to the other side of the console, checking a map of the city and… got strange readings.

"Found it." Cisco got the location of the signal. "It's at Second and Fulton."

"What's this?" Caitlin muttered.

Iris faced her, having heard her mutter. "What's wrong, Caitlin?"

"Something's weird at that location, it's saying that something else is there… Moving close to the skyscraper." Caitlin noted. Connecting herself to her mate's comms, she asked him. "Seth, you get that?"

"Loud and clear." He assured his mate.

X

Using Eclipse's shadowporting, the four heroes without superspeed landed on top of a tall building. Looking down at the streets, they saw a barricade of police cars. Each one of them had opened doors and officers pointing their firearms at the humongous monster.

Venom looked up, seeing a line of snipers on the building on the opposite side, thinking they had their weapons trained on the monster hologram. "Their bullets will go through if they pull the triggers."

Magenta saw multiple red lasers from the sniper rifles hitting the hologram. "What's the plan? Most of those guys have a lock on that thing by now."

"Standard procedure means they're gonna fire when ready." Destroyer noted.

"What's the plan?" Eclipse asked.

But as they spoke, Venom noticed a commanding officer on the ground gave a hand sign, signaling the snipers to fire… When ready…

As soon as he saw that, he leaped off the building. As he neared the ground, his form began quivering and shaking before tendrils sprouted out from all around his entire body. When landing on the ground, the gunshots immediately filled the air when the snipers pulled their triggers, unleashing a storm of bullets. Each of the bullets passed through the hologram.

Standing before both officers and civilians the mutant stretched out his arms and spread his tendrils like a big net. The bullets never met either officers or civilians as Venom's tendrils took all of the lead projectiles, causing them to lose their velocity and fall to the ground with a clatter.

Joe frowned as he watched bullets actually connect with Seth's symbiote-covered face, all of them falling to the ground after losing their speed. He knew he could take it, sure, but that didn't make it any less pleasant for him to see.

His daughters on top of the building didn't fare any better than their uncle, all of them grimacing at the sight.

WHOOSH

The Flash came to a stop beside the elemental. "Stop! Stop firing! It's a hologram!" He screamed at the officers on both sides of the lane.

An officer heard what the speedster said and ordered his fellow officers. "Hold your fire! Hold your fire!" Thankfully, the officers stopped their gunfire, but they still had their weapons trained on the mutant still.

Pulling his tendrils back, Seth turned to the speedster. "Find the mastermind."

"What about you?" The Flash asked.

"Got other business." He already started searching for whatever strange movement that worried his mate back at S.T.A.R. Labs.

The Flash nodded his understanding, turning to Joe. "Detective West, where's Julian?"

"He was here!" Joe exclaimed.

"Cisco," Barry pressed his earpiece. "I need that location."

"Hamilton Building, 25th floor. There's more power going there than anywhere else in the building combined." Cisco informed all heroes.

"Seth, there's still that strange movement there. Be careful." Caitlin told her mate.

"Will try." Seth said, though to avoid any more gunfire and possible death, he decided to wait until the Scarlet Speedster found the mastermind behind the monster that terrified the entire city.

Barry looked at up the nearby buildings, locking onto the 25th floor of the Hamilton Building. "Line of sight to all the attacks. That's where he is."

As the speedster sped away to find the mastermind, Venom searched the outside surfaces of the Hamilton Building for any strange or peculiar movement. But strangely enough, he didn't find any source of it. "Think Caitlin's scans were wrong?"

"She's never been wrong." Seth countered.

Something… or someone was definitely here…

X

"I said put your hands up!" Julian Albert demanded of the criminal mastermind behind the monster hologram. He couldn't see it, but the mastermind was in the process of taking off his specialized gloves and also taking off his VR-like headset. "I said put your hands up! This is CCPD! Freeze!"

While keeping his gun trained on the criminal, Julian's patience was growing thin. He felt his finger struggling not to pull the trigger. "Stop what you're doing! I said put your hands up!" He repeated, moving closer to the short mastermind.

The mastermind behind the monster… threw an object over his shoulder, trying to make an exit, running away. At that moment, Julian pulled the trigger and fired off a bullet.

Time slowed to a crawl…. The bullet flying in slow motion… The Flash sped past it, running to the mastermind…

Time returned to normal, the speedster pulling the criminal to the side and the bullet missed. At the same time, the shocked… young criminal's head was no longer hooded, showing that he's merely a young high school boy.

As the boy was shocked by the appearance of a superhero and also by the fact that a police officer almost shot him, Julian stepped closer. "You're just a kid."

"Yeah, a kid you almost killed!" The young man said, trying to get out of Flash's grip. "You're gonna pay for that one, buddy. You're gonna-"

With his face vibrating to keep his identity secret, Barry yanked the boy back. "Yeah, I don't think so, man. I think you're the one that's gonna be paying for all the damage you did to this city. For a very long time."

But just as the hero was about to hand the boy off to the metahuman expert, a voice spoke.

"I'm afraid that this boy has another role to fulfill, Flash."

Before Barry could counter or dodge, he was suddenly slammed into a metal beam behind him when a strange black mechanical arm with two sets of claws slammed into his chest. The strike caused him to release his grip on the boy. The speedster groaned in pain upon collision with the steel bar.

"What-" The boy didn't get a chance to speak when the metal arm wrapped around his body, lifting him off the ground. "What's this?!"

"As I've said, young man." Otto Octavius started, revealing himself from the shadows. "You have another role to fulfill."

"What role?" He said shakingly, looking down on the man who used a mechanical arm to hold him up.

With a smirk on his face, Otto revealed three more mechanical arms that he uses to lift him up. Bringing the boy closer to him, he bluntly revealed to his hostage. "Bait." That word alone caused a hailstorm of shivers to run down the boy's spine.

Through his goggles, Dr. Octopus noticed the gear the young boy used. One of his arms snatched up the headset whilst another picked up his gloves. "Using such simple toys to conjure up a monster that brought mayhem to the entire city… A young man of such talent…" He turned to the boy with an impressive smile. "You show great potential, young man. Never doubt that." He threw his objects away with mere flicks of his mechanical appendages.

"Release him at once!" Julian demanded, pointing his gun at the villain with mechanical arms. Otto didn't appear the least bit fazed by the firearm aimed at his head. "Who are you? Release him now! That boy has been apprehended by CCPD; you are to release him now, unharmed!"

"You aim a gun and pull the trigger at a child without a care, yet you expect me to care for the safety of the boy, which you didn't?" Otto laughed and Julian couldn't help but be pained at the words. "Unfortunately, that is not possible either, Mr. Albert."

Instantaneously Julian's firearm was snatched out of his hand and crushed by a mechanical arm. The claws grabbed him by latching onto his chest, lifting him up into the air like Otto is doing with the boy. "Unhand me at once!"

With a villainous smile on his face, Dr. Octavius agreed. "With pleasure."

X

"It's too quiet." David Singh stated to Joe West as they and the other officers stayed in wait for any news regarding the monster hologram. His detective nodded his agreement. "Think he has something to do with it?" The captain gestured to Venom who remained steadfast, standing in front of the officers.

"Doubtful." Joe stepped forward, walking in the direction of the elemental.

"Where're you going, Detective?" David inquired urgently.

Joe nodded to Venom. "To ask the big guy." His quip got the mutant's attention. "You know what's going on?"

"Should you be talking with me? You'd lose your job." Seth asked with a gesture to his captain, worried about his partner's job and livelihood.

"Not the priority, man." Joe countered. "The city's priority and we need your help. What's the story?"

Venom glanced at him. "The others found strange movement along the Hamilton Building. Flash might be dealing with whatever's responsible for those movements right now."

The detective narrowed his eyes. "What strange move-"

SHATTER

SCREAM

Everyone's attention was snapped in the direction of the two sounds that overlapped. One was of shattering glass… The other of Julian's scream as he's falling down from the 25th floor of the Hamilton Building. Shards of glass descending along with him, but not as fast.

"Julian!" Joe screamed.

Venom gathered both wind and lightning around his form, embedding his feet into the ground before he catapulted himself off the ground with tremendous might, strong enough to crack the asphalt under his feet. When coming close to the building, he latched onto the side of it and ran like an animal. The moment Julian came within range, he shot tendrils, wrapping them around the metahuman expert's body and pulled him into his open hand.

"Venom?!" Julian asked in shock, his heart beating and racing from almost falling to his immediate death. His shock intensified when finding within the demon's hand and when he realized he was still very far from the ground.

"What happened up there? What of the hologram?" Venom asked the frightened expert.

"It was a kid behind that hologram. A high schooler." Julian answered shakily.

"A child…" Venom paled. "Where?!"

"Someone took him. Someone with-"

"Hello, old friend." Otto's voice brought Seth's attention to him, seeing him hold himself up with three mechanical arms holding onto the side of the building. His remaining one wrapped around the young man that was behind the monster hologram.

Seth narrowed his eyes on the boy… He seemed familiar for some reason. Has he seen this boy before?

"Octavius…" Seth snarled in anger at the sight of the sinister man.

"You know him?!" Julian exclaimed. ""Old friend?!" He's a friend of yours?!"

The expert's words went unnoticed as the two 616ers murderously gazed into each other's eyes.

Otto examined his old adversary. "You look well, my friend. A new world, a new home, and a new look as well." He looked around. "Interesting world. Not so much in heroes, unfortunately…. For them, of course." He admitted with a smile.

"Let the child go, Octavius!" Venom demanded of the villain.

"Come with me… We'll settle this alone and elsewhere." Otto said, using his mechanical arms to scale the side of the building, crawling up the tall building and reaching the top of it in a matter of moments.

"Damn him." The mutant snarled in anger. Glancing at the metahuman expert in his hand, he looked behind him and shouted to get his daughter's attention. "Eclipse!"

"Wai-" Julian was cut off when he suddenly thrown like a ball towards the police barricade. "AAAARRRGHHH!" He screamed as he flew through the air. Thankfully, his fall was short-lived when Eclipse grabbed hold of him, using her powers to get to him before using them again to get them to the ground. When reaching the ground, he touched his body to check for damage. "Thank you." He told the young metahuman.

"Don't mention it." Evelyn told him. She turned her head, looking upwards to see her father running up the side of the building, making a beeline to the rooftop.

Magenta brought both herself and Ruby down to the ground with her tendrils. "Who is that guy?"

"Is that…" Ruby gasped.

Julian got up to his feet, dusting off his clothes. "Your friend called him Octavius."

"Oh crap." Ruby let out.

"What's wrong?" Magenta turned her head to her sister.

"That guy Rhino we fought the other day? Otto Octavius is his boss, and might be much more dangerous than him." Ruby announced fearfully.

"For real?" Evelyn asked.

"Yeah." Ruby nodded.

Evelyn pulled out her bow and arrow from her quiver. "Means we gotta help Ve-ARRGGHH!" She screamed mid-sentence when she was suddenly pulled away from the ground. "What's this?!" She screamed when realizing she was being flown into the sky, pulled up by her shoulders.

"Pardon the intrusion, young lady," An unfamiliar voice spoke to her, making Eclipse look over her shoulders. Her gaze was met with a wrinkled old man with the lower half of his mouth covered by a beak-like mask. "you're dealing with me."

"Say what?!" Evelyn was really creeped out from this old man who kidnapped her and took her to the sky. It was at this point she saw that he's wearing a strange wingsuit with a thruster on the back.

"Eclipse?!" Magenta shouted for her kidnapped sister.

Ruby widened her eyes. "Vulture too?" She stopped speaking when she felt a weird and strange vibration coming through the ground, causing the ground to shake and crack. "What now?"

"Take this!" Shocker shouted at them before throwing a fist, projecting a powerful air blast at the two heroes. The attack sent them flying, paving through the asphalt with ease, and sending them rolling on the ground. The villain continued his attack, sending an air blast at the barricade of police vehicles. Not only did his attack send the cars spiraling into the air but also made the officers fall to the ground.

"Herman Schultz is here?" Ruby got up, sitting on the ground with a shocked face on her face. "What's going on here?"

Is the entire Sinister Six gang gonna show up?

"That can't seriously be his name, right?" Frankie asked.

Destroyer picked up her Chakram blade, holding it high. "His name is Shocker, a real bastard who can fire off high-pressure air blasts with those gauntlets." She nodded to the ground. "As you can see, they can easily destroy the ground."

Shocker smirked behind his mask, dusting off his shoulders. "Always a pleasure to meet a fan."

"Another crazy person from your neighborhood?" Frankie deduced. "Figures." She morphed her arms into spiked maces.

"Want an autograph, little girls?" Herman said, clenching his fists and emanating vibrational shockwaves from his gauntlets.

"Sure…" Destroyer narrowed her eyes behind her lenses, pulling back her blade and holding it tightly. "Mind giving us one written in your blood? Red's such a nice color."

X

Coming to a stop, Venom looked down from his spot on the side of the skyscraper. His fingers dug into the surface in anger when he saw Evelyn being taken by Vulture and when Shocker attacked Ruby and Frankie.

"He brought those two here?" Seth stated.

"Thought it'd be a perfect way to get an estimation of their powers." Otto informed the mutant, still higher up than him and still holding the boy as a hostage. "And it'd allow the two of us to… Rekindle the friendship I hope we can have." He traveled up the surface, reaching the roof.

"All of these years… And he actually wants to be a friend. Smart guy, but still delusional."

"Less talking and thinking! Just knock those ridiculous goggles off his bald head!" Venom shouted in his head.

Seth clearly understood why his partner's urgency and impatience. His and his host's daughters are down there on the ground or in the sky fighting against maniacs from their old world. And these villains aren't like those of this world or Earth-2. These are villains with years of experience of ruining the lives of innocent people, of fighting against numerous heroes.

Meaning… They had to finish off Dr. Octopus quickly so they could rescue their children.

"Time to work." With that, he rushed up to the edge and spiraled into the air, landing on the rooftop. When standing at his full height, he saw the villain wrap antennas around the boy, using them as makeshift constraints.

"Stay there." Otto chuckled, causing the young boy to shiver in fear. The villain turned around to face the mutant who held a unique sword. "It's been a long time, Venom. Given any thought to my previous offer, perhaps?"

He scoffed demonically at his words. "Never even gave you a single thought."

Placing a fist over his chest, Otto sarcastically said. "You wound me with those words of yours, old friend."

WHOOSH

The Flash appeared, coming to a stop and blew a gust of air at them. "Sorry I'm late." He told the mutant.

Dr. Octopus didn't pay the speedster any mind, instead he gestured to his quivering hostage with one of his mechanical arms. "Venom… I'm shocked you'd actually protect that man from the police. The man pulled his trigger on a boy, a child, and you saved him still." The boy winced when the villain flexed his mechanical claws.

"We'll deal with him later, but you… Release the boy now!" He roared.

"Words like that don't work on someone like me, Venom. You know that very well." Otto hollowly chuckled.

"Good thing I know something better than words." Barry quipped with a smirk, his body emitting bright yellow lightning. "Speed."

Turning his head to face the speedster, Otto not showing even an ounce of interest admitted. "I'm afraid this does not concern you, Flash." He pulled out a remote from his pocket. "So, you stay put and out of the way." He pressed a button on it.

In response, a wooden box burst into pieces, revealing a large, strange weaponized shooter-like gun. It took aim at Barry before firing off its ammunition. It flew through the air at high speed, opening up and took on the form of a weaponized collar. The collar connected with the speedster's throat. At the same time, it shot out anchors that connected with the ground, pulling him down to it.

"What-" Barry stopped talking and instead screamed in pain when he felt a thunderous amount of electricity coursing through him.

"Barry?!" Venom heard Iris scream through the comms.

"Seth, what's going on?" Cisco asked. "Barry's vitals are spiking."

"He's being electrocuted." Venom answered, his shock drowned by the shocked gasps coming from Iris and Cisco. The elemental narrowed his eyes on the device on Barry's throat, remembering it as one of the vibers inventions from last year. Turning his attention back to the villain he deduced. "You broke into the local police department and stole the Boot."

"Boot?" Otto laughed at the name. "What a ridiculous name. It showed potential, but not truly perfected and was immaturely left unfinished… Until I found it, of course."

"Did that guy just diss my tech?" Cisco asked in hurt.

Otto elaborated. "I found the device and modified it, changing it so it will unleash a deadly amount of electricity which intensifies the more the target moves." He glanced at the screaming, struggling speedster. "Soon enough, the city's weakest protector will die at the hands of a true genius. That is…" He turned his attention back to Seth. "If you either accept my offer, Venom or-"

Venom twirled his sword. "Or we defeat you!" Lightning and wind erupted around his entire body before he moved, running towards the evil genius of Earth-616.

Dr. Octopus smiled, raising himself up with his two lower mechanical arms on the ground and flexing his upper arms. He thrust out his upper right arm, trying to strike the elemental.

But Seth saw it coming, spiraling his sword over his head before bringing it down to attack the outstretched arm. The shining yellow-tipped claws clashed with the crystal sword, giving off a curtain of sparks. Because the sparks blinded the mutant's field of vision, he failed to avoid the other upper arm from attacking him from the side.

The strike pushed the mutant to the edge. Venom released his sword, embedding it into the ground and used his free hands and grabbed the claws on his arms. "Why are you here, Octavius?"

"Change of scenery." He answered, pulling the mutant to him. He released one of his arms, using it to wrap around the elemental's head and pulled him into the air. Using the superior strength of his mechanical achievements, he smashed him into the ground and caused it to crack.

Placing a hand on the ground, Venom shook his other hand out of the hold of Otto's other mechanical arm and used it to force the other arm off his neck. Splitting his arm into tendrils, he grabbed the two arms. Flinging his arm upwards, he increased the strength of his legs with his earth element before leaping off the ground.

Clenching his fist, adamantium taking the place of his symbiotic skin, he punched the evil villain's face and pushed him down on his back. Otto groaned in pain when he collided with the surface. Venom grabbed two of his upper arms again, lightning sparking over his hands. "Time to tear these off."

His lightning traveled across the arms, but instead of his lightning causing them to malfunction they remained untouched and functional.

"Unfortunately for you, Venom," Otto cackled. "I've long since insulated my arms with additional protection, they'll be able to withstand your lightning." Using his lower arms, he thrusted them into Seth's stomach and pushed him off of him.

Venom slid to his sword, looking up to see the villain raise himself up again with his tentacles. "Good…" He picked up his sword, pointing it at Otto. "Then we gotta hack and slash instead."

In the back of his head, he's terrified of what might happen to his daughters.

X

Ruby jumped into the air, spinning around before throwing her Chakram Blade at Shocker.

Herman countered, reeling back his hand and gathered vibrational shockwaves before thrusting his fist out and unleashing the shockwaves into another air blast. The blade met the Vibranium blade, causing it to fly back.

Destroyer landed on the ground just in time to see her blade ricochet off the ground. Unflinchingly she grabbed her blade before it could meet her face. "Guy's just as strong as I expected." She smiled.

"Not the time for that, Destroyer!" Magenta chastised her sister before swinging towards the villain. With tendrils attached to a lamppost, she swung her feet at him. But Herman blocked her swing kick with his arms crossed over his chest, each of his limbs brimming with vibrational shockwaves. The stored shockwaves burst out of the gauntlets when her attack met his arms, pushing the symbiote-bearer back.

"You okay?" Ruby asked her sister when landing on the ground again.

"I'm fine…" She gritted her teeth, showing her shark-like teeth. "But I'm seriously pissed off. Guy needs his ass whooped or I'll eat it."

At those words, Ruby faced her sister with a blank look. "Don't do that. I'll bleach your mouth."

"Girls, you okay?" Caitlin asked her daughters urgently.

Pressing her earpiece, Ruby informed her mother. "We're fine. Though Eclipse's out for a ride with an old man." She joked, looking into the sky where she could see her sister still struggling in Vulture's hands. "He's not her type."

"We're gonna have a serious talk about your jokes one of these days, young lady." Caitlin sternly told her daughter.

"Someone's in trouble~" Magenta sang in a demonic voice.

"What's wrong?" Herman got the sisters' attention. He cracked his fists as they faced him. "Thought you two wanted my autograph in my name, written in blood. Change your minds or something?"

"Can it, ugly! We just can't take someone like you seriously." Destroyer faked a laugh. "I mean, seriously, you have a bedpan on your face, and you act like a villain? Try out for the circus instead, might be your true calling. Or at least learn how to design your shit, dumbass."

Those words made Herman's veins pop all over his face, threatening to burst through his helmet. "You wanna mess with me, little girl?"

"Thought that was the entire point of this fight, I mean your suit clearly paints that image." Destroyer mocked him.

"Oh yeah?!" He lost his temper. One after another, he thrust out his fists and hurled high-pressure air blasts at the two heroes. Ruby dodged them, running at full speed. Frankie avoided them too, leaping into the air and spinning rapidly.

Landing on the ground, Magenta lashed out her arms, using her ferrokinetic powers to project trashcans and mail boxes at the 616 villain. The makeshift projectiles forced Shocker to use his arms to block them, crushing them with another shield of vibrational shockwaves.

"Now!" Ruby shouted, both her and her sister charged the villain who reeled back his right fist, charging it with shockwaves again. "Not this time!" The gravity manipulator threw her Chakram blade, it flew to Shocker and hit his right arm, causing it to prematurely fire off his gathered shockwaves.

"Stay away!" Shocker readied his left arm for an attack-

But a lead bullet that came flying from the side, colliding with his left gauntlet, prevented him from gathering shockwaves and caused it to spark and smoke. With a glance Herman saw Joe lower his smoking gun. "Fuck-" His sentence was cut off when a fist met the side of his face.

Destroyer, without using her powers, unleashed a hailstorm of fists at his face. It was as though Herman's helmet had become a bongo drum for her to senselessly beat into submission. She punched his stomach with a fist, causing him to hold it and bent down. Performing a flip, she kicked his head up and forced him up.

Magenta used that chance, appearing and slammed a mace into his stomach. The blow to his stomach sent him to the ground, completely knocked out.

"And he ain't gonna need this anymore." Frankie quipped, pressing her foot down on his remaining gauntlet and rendered it unusable. "One down…"

Ruby looked up, seeing sparks going off the rooftop of the Hamilton Building. The battle between Dr. Octopus and Venom is still going on. She then looked over at Evelyn still fighting in Vulture's grip. "Two to go."

"Let's help Eclipse!"

X

"Okay, you're definitely not getting a five star rating after this!" Evelyn couldn't stop herself from quipping to the wrinkled villain in the wingsuit. Ever since she was picked up, she's been trying to pry herself free from the villain's hold on her, but with little success.

Adrian scoffed at her words, flying up the side of a building as he said. "Youth these days… All bark and no bite."

Evelyn removed her hands from his hands and cupped her hands together. "Keep it small… Not a beam… Not a beam… But something smaller…" She muttered to herself, mentally ordering herself to change the outcome of the light energy she's converging into the palms of her cupped hands. In between them, she gathers a light sphere, but smaller than usual and with a weaker shine.

Vulture didn't see it, allowing the metahuman to thrust out her light sphere in the form of a light bullet that hit the back of his leg. The attack made him lose his grip on her, the pain overwhelming him.

Eclipse was released from his hold, her eyes scanning the nearby rooftops. Finding a suitable position for her to use, she shadowported to it. Her shadows dissipated and she took out her bow and an arrow. "Come and get me you old fuck!"

The winged villain flew around her in a circle, akin to a real predator circling its prey. "I would like to avoid any bloodshed if possible…." Vulture cackled. "But have it your way then, little girl."

"Name's Eclipse." She reminded him, pulling back an arrow. Her light and darkness enveloped her arrow. Without making a sound, she released her arrow and let it fly.

However, it was met with resistance when Vulture swung his right wing and fired off an energized blade-like feather. The two projectiles connected, blasting one another into pieces.

Narrowing his eyes in surprise, Adrian stated. "Our attacks are evenly matched? Interesting, indeed."

"Don't be so shocked after this!" Evelyn quickly pulled out two arrows, each one imbued with greater light before releasing them. Each of them flew at greater speed.

But Vulture avoided them, increasing his thruster's output to fly away and to avoid the projectiles. As soon as he got the chance, he lashed out both of his wings, shooting out an array of energized knives after the metahuman.

Evelyn performed a series of backflips, dodging the storm of knives coming for her. Coming to a stop, she aimed her arrow at the villain. But unfortunately…. Three energized blades came her way, cutting her bow and arrow to pieces.

She grunted when she was forced to release her damaged weaponry. "Damn it!"

"Give up." She turned back to Vulture who's flying over her head. "I'm not in the habit of vanquishing small brats." His wings outstretched, each of his metal feathers shining with energy, ready to be launched.

"Small… Huh…" Evelyn began thinking, working overtime on his words. She remembered the way those small energized blades managed to destroy her weaponry with ease. The metahuman knew it was more than just the weapons that destroyed her bow, it was the user's skills and use of them that rendered it completely unusable.

"He's a perfect opponent then…" She smiled to herself, figuring he was the best opponent for her to try out her new technique she's prepared in secret. Light emitted around her hands, forming into spheres.

Seeing the light in her palms, Vulture asked. "You wanna shoot fireworks again? Pretty but that's all to them."

"Guess again." She curled her fingers, grabbing the spheres in her hands, compressing the light into something smaller and with a sharper edge… In an instant, in her hands she held daggers made of pure, brilliant light.

She threw them after Vulture, forcing him to dodge with widened eyes from shock. "Copying my tricks? Not bad." His blade-like feathers shine with energy. "Let's see whose blades are best!" He challenged her, throwing his own blades to start off.

"Bring it!" Eclipse shouted, throwing her light daggers.

Upon collision, one would have expected Vulture's blades to cleave through the opposing ones. But in this instance, light proved superior to metal and cut right through them, before continuing onwards and hitting the side of Vulture's mask, leaving a mark on it.

Adrian gasped in shock, covering the area. "How?"

"Don't know what Dr. Octavius told you about me or my friends…" Eclipse formed more light daggers. "But with each fight we've fought we evolve. Thought villains with more experience like you would have gotten that by now." She threw three daggers after him.

"Missed me!" Vulture flew down, avoiding the attack and flew down closer to the streets. With a look downwards, he saw dozens of civilians under him. "Now you can't attack free-" He stopped when he saw that she had disappeared. "What?!"

Evelyn reappeared, this time over his back. "That might be true, but I can do this instead!" She lashed out her right hand, gathering light in it before forming a broadsword of light. Turning it around in her palm, she used it to drive it into his left wing. Her light blade completely pierced through the metallic wing, sticking out the other end.

"No, you foolish girl!" Adrian shouted, already struggling to fly and getting closer to the ground. "You want us to crash into the ground?! Have you lost your mind?!" He tried to fly with one wing, but it was impossible for him to do so. "You wanna die?!"

"Quit yammering!" Eclipse shouted, enveloping herself and the villain with her shadows. Shadowporting out of the air. Using her darkness' powers she slammed Vulture into the ground repeatedly, like they were a skipping stone hitting the surface of water.

"ARGH!" Adrian Toomes shouted in pain before losing consciousness when being slammed into the ground one last time.

Pantingly heavily from exhaustion, Evelyn got off his back and placed her hands on her knees. "Damn… For a fossil, he sure can fight."

"And Mom and Dad call me a "swampmouth"?" Ruby asked, walking closer to their sister along with Frankie. "Nice job, plucking his feathers."

"Looks like she did more than just plucking his feathers." Frankie chuckled with a gesture to his damaged wing.

Evelyn composed herself and asked her sisters. "Dad… Is he okay?"

"Still fighting." Ruby answered.

X

"Stay still already!" Otto shouted in frustration, trying to strike down the elemental for the hundredth time but without success. But his struggles continued, and his frustration increased when Seth kept dodging the series of attacks by his opponent's tentacles.

Clenching his fist Seth turned it into adamantium and enveloped it with lightning. He thrust his fist at the villain who countered and blocked with one of his tentacles "Got you." Otto smirked victoriously.

"Sure about that?" Venom countered, twisting his hand around and grabbed the claw set. Otto was too shocked and confused to realize he was pulled within the elemental's arm length. And was then met with a fist punching his stomach, pushing him back. "You helped Rhino set that bomb at Mercury Labs' secret lab."

"Of course, I did." Otto answered, not shocked by how Venom knew about the assistance he provided to Aleksei. "That gargantuan imbecile doesn't have an ounce of intelligence enough to come up with a plan." He insulted his employee, using his upper mechanical arms to try and attack him. "Alas, even with my assistance, he couldn't even do anything right."

Venom jumped backwards, performing a flip high up in the air to avoid another series of tentacle attacks. While in the air, he thrusted out his left arm and split into tendrils. Otto watches as they travel through the air, but each one of them is enveloped by different elements, except for his abyssal pitch-black flames. "I knew it…" He muttered in confirmation while using two of his arms to deflect the elemental tendrils.

Seth narrowed his eyes at those words. "What's wrong? Cold feet?" Using his partner's extra senses, he saw Barry still getting the electrocution of his life behind him.

"You're no longer able to discharge elements as you've done so many times in the past." Otto cackled mockingly, the mutant narrowing his eyes while sprouting a tendril from his back, hiding it behind his leg before it dug through the ground. "That makes me happy, Venom."

Using one of his organic hands to gesture to the elemental he said. "You've fallen very far, even to the place where you'd work together with a novice like him." He pointed at the screaming speedster. "Where you'd actually save a man who almost took the life of an innocent child." He spoke of Julian, pointing a claw at the restraint boy behind his back. "Where you'd defend a city that hates you like this one!" He shouted, gesturing to the city they're standing in. "You've fallen, my old friend. But answer me this:"

"How'd you lose such a glorious ability?"

Seth knew he was referring to his lost ability to discharging elements. When that question reached his ears, the mutant answered honestly. "We didn't lose it, we let go of it." His response made Otto's eyes expand. "So, we could get home… and we did!"

As soon as his exclamation escaped his mouth, a black tendril sprouted from the ground like a flower, shooting up to the back of the villain's neck. With the tendril he found the special chip on the back of Otto's neck and quickly applied pressure to the one and only button on it.

Otto widened his eyes. "NNNNOOOO!" He screamed when feeling his mechanical arms no longer working, causing him to fall to the ground. The evil genius saw the mutant's tendril reveal itself from the ground, returning to its host. Gritting his teeth, he reached behind his head and placed a hand on the back of his head but felt a strange, sudden coldness.

"Froze your chip." Venom revealed. "You won't be using those arms where you're going next." He walked past the villain, making his way to the hostage. Raising his arms, he tore off his confines and threw them to the ground. He quickly caught the young boy before he fell to the ground. When meeting the boy's eyes, he asked in concern. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, thank you." He expressed his gratitude to the hero. "Better than him though." He nodded to Barry who's still being electrocuted.

Nodding his agreement, Seth lowered the boy to the ground. "Wait here." He inched his way to the speedster. "Stay still." He grabbed the collar round his neck before unleashing lightning from his hands, using it to counteract the electricity from the collar. The two lightning sources cancelled one another out, allowing him to remove it completely from Barry's neck.

Barry fell to the ground, panting heavily and coughed rapidly. "T-Thanks." He managed to say.

"Surprised you're still kicking, actually. Thought you'd be pushing up daisies by now." Seth admitted.

"Give me some credit, would you? I can keep myself from moving." Venom scoffed his disbelief at Barry's words, making the speedster confess. "Tried phasing but that only made it worse, so I stayed put and waited for you."

"Sounds about right." Seth chuckled and grabbed hold of Otto, placing him over his shoulder. "Take the boy and get down, we'll follow."

Barry accepted his instructions with a nod, speeding to the boy and picked him up before speeding down the building. Seth picked up his sword before walking to the edge himself. He looked down and saw the speedster standing with the boy, both standing in front of Joe and his captain, the other officers waiting with guns out.

He smiled when seeing his daughters standing behind the restraint forms of both Shocker and Vulture. With a small jump, he hopped off the building and landed on the ground with a heavy thud, his feet digging into the asphalt. Returning to his full height, he walked towards the barricade of officers with the evil genius on his shoulder.

"It's Venom!" An officer noticed his presence, snapping his gun at him. Other officers followed suit, pointing their firearms at the elemental.

"Take aim!" David ordered.

"What? Captain?" Joe said in disbelief.

"Stop it!" Barry shouted.

"Are you serious?" In anger, Destroyer reached behind her back and went to grab her blade.

But as he passed by her, Venom stopped her hand. His daughter looked at him in confusion and he shook his head. Letting go of her hand, he resumed his walk and lowered Otto Octavius down in front of Vulture and Shocker. "Your boss, right?"

"To think we got taken down by a few brats." Herman gritted his teeth, struggling in his restraints.

Magenta stuck out her tongue. "Guess you're not that tough, after all."

"Did my daughters get a worse attitude after spending time in the Speed Force?" Seth thought awkwardly.

"No, they were always like this. You´re just a doting parent, you don't see this kind of thing." Venom bluntly countered.

Scoffing humorously the elemental looked to the boy in Flash's hand. "Is the boy okay?"

"He's fine." Barry answered, inwardly impressed that even now Seth is showing concern for the young boy rather than be enraged at the guns pointed at him. The boy himself was shocked into widening his eyes at the elemental's concern.

"Captain?" Joe got his attention. "Venom helped us this time, he doesn't-"

"Detective, you know what he's done." David countered, raising his gun and had the mutant's head in his sights.

As the number of firearms pointed at his head remained the same, suddenly someone laughed, or rather… Cackled at the situation before his eyes. Everyone close to the sound turned their eyes to Otto Octavius who cackles maniacally and loudly.

"It's useless, Detective." Otto said, continuing to laugh at the situation. "They've already made up their mind on their protector, seeing him as nothing more than a villain." He faced the elemental in question. "You see it, don't you, Venom? The officers' fearful eyes, their etching trigger fingers… The worried eyes of the civilians… City's already turned on you, Venom. They've put a bounty on your head because they see you as a villain." He glanced into Otto's eyes. "You'll always be a villain to this city, nothing more. These imbeciles will never see you as a hero, they only see the blood of the guilty on your hands."

Everyone listened closely as Otto stated. "Instead of defending this pathetic and useless city, join us and-"

"How many times…." Seth cut him off, showing a look with a mix of frustration, anger and rage. "Do we have to tell you; we're not interested in your offer." The officers and civilians alike turned shocked. "Bring harm to our home, we'll defend it no matter what."

"Why?" This time it was the young boy behind the hologram that inquired the mutant. While still in the speedster's hand, he asked. "Why would you go out of your way to protect a city that hates you?"

Julian faced the boy. "Okay. That's-"

He stopped when Venom gave him a glare. "You already pointed a gun at the boy, raise your tone, we'll never forgive you." Julian backed down as the elemental faced the boy. Lowering his sword, placing it into the ground Seth asked him while crouching down before the boy. "Why do you care about our decisions, son?" The boy didn't answer, so he asked another question. "Do you realize how many innocent people could have been hurt? Or worse. Why'd you wanna do something like this?"

Shakily the boy answered. "I just wanted to feel powerful for a change."

Joe jumped in, holstering his firearm and asked. "And that did it? Scaring people?"

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it did." The boy confessed. "You know, the kids at my school, they tease me every day. I'm the weirdo there. And I'm just sick of feeling scared all the time. I just wanted someone else to feel that way for a change."

"A weirdo, you say…" Venom chuckled at those words. The boy faced him. "Everyone's a weirdo in their own way, kid. You're at an age where sometimes things are hard. Believe it or not, we're a weirdo ourselves."

"Yeah, cause you get teased every day, too." The boy scoffed at the mutant's words.

"No, not really… But we do get their attention." He quipped, pointing backwards to the officers with their guns trained on him. The boy understood. Venom added. "You asked why we still protect this city, though they bare their fangs at us."

"Yeah, why is that?" He asked the elemental.

"Cause we're the kind of weirdo that will always want to protect their home even if our home hates them. We don't do this for the glory, popularity or admiration, we do so the innocent are saved and with our powers…" He clenched a hand in front of the young boy. "We protect those without any, no matter what the cost. Be it the entire city damming us a villain… Or villains themselves think they seduce us into their rank with empty promises…" He gestured to Otto. "We'll continue, no matter what."

"I've… I've always wanted to meet you." Seth narrowed his eyes at the boy's words. "You saved my baby sister two years from the Skulls."

Chuckling his realization, Seth stated. "You remind us of her. Hope she's safe and well." The boy nodded his confirmation, assuring the elemental that his little sister is doing well.

Looking between the detective and the elemental and the others around him, the boy asked. "What's gonna happen to me next?"

Joe answered. "Well, there are severe consequences for what you did, and you're just gonna have to accept that. But you're still young. You can turn all of this around."

"Detective West?" Seth got his attention. "Can we leave the boy in your care?"

"You got it. Thanks for your help, Venom." Despite how his captain and his officers might disagree with his words of gratitude to the elemental, Joe still did it.

"And be wary of these three." Seth gestured to the three villains.

Venom turned around, walking towards his daughters. "Wait!" He came to a stop when hearing the familiar voice of David Singh call out to him. Turning back around, he saw the captain walk to him with his gun holstered. Standing in front of Venom, he held out his hand. "On behalf of the city, thank you."

Without showing a single emotion on his face, completely emotionless at the captain's outstretched hand, he raised his hand. Others thought that he was really gonna shake hands with the man who publicly put a bounty on his head. But those thoughts were squashed when Seth raised his hand over the captain's head and then lashed out his hand, extending it to his sword. Everyone watched his hand wrap around the handle before pulling it back. Placing it on his back, he lowered his head to the captain's eye level.

"We meant what we said before…" He turned around, turning his back to the captain and the others. "We don't do this for thanks." Venom walked to his daughters. "Let's go home."

They nodded and Evelyn grabbed their hands before shadowporting them all away.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Standing in the Cortex, everyone was left in disbelief when they heard that H.R. Wells was not a genius as he proclaimed in the beginning but is a fake.

Cisco started. "You were named "Entrepreneur of the Decade" by Tech Magazine?" He read the magazine from Earth-19 which wrote about the proclaimed genius on the monitor.

"That's right." Harrison nodded, pointing a drumstick at the monitor.

Gesturing to the monitor and the article, Ruby asked. "Any of that true or another plate of bull?"

"All of it is true." Harrison said.

"How?" Evelyn asked. "From what Mom told us you can barely turn on a computer."

"And we have aliens inside of us that can actually do that." Frankie gestured to her and her father, the hosts to said aliens.

"So how are you exactly a genius, H.R.?" Seth inquired of the Earth-19 native.

Harrison sighed briefly. He then explained. "There are two parts to every idea. There is the inception and the execution. I provide the former."

From her seat in front of Barry, Iris asked. "So, you come up with the ideas?"

"Yeah, I don't know how to implement them." Harrison confessed. "I'm the idea man."

Caitlin realized, asking him. "So, you didn't actually solve the cryptogram that we sent you?"

"No, that was my partner at S.T.A.R. Labs on my Earth." H.R. revealed. "I'm the face of the company. I'm more of the inspiration behind the company." He gestured to his own face.

"Feel like there's more to this story." Seth pitched in with narrowed eyes.

"Every good story always does, Dr. Fury." Harrison told him, holding the drumstick in both hands. "I was exposed. Well, people thought that I was something that I guess I wasn't. Anyway, it…" Sheepishly he scratched the back of his head with his stick. "It kind of all fell apart for me. But then I got your message. My partner brought me your message. I realized he's bringing me an opportunity to come to this Earth to write this book."

The viber, with crossed arms, scoffed. "So many planets in the multiverse, and we happen to pick the one Wells who's not a scientist."

"You're right." Harrison admitted, walking to a nearby chair and taking a seat. "I wasn't completely honest with you, with all of you." He gestured to them all. "I feel badly about that. I regret that. But let me ask you a question. Has there been none amongst you that has ever shaded the truth for what you believe to be the greater good?"

Carefully, Caitlin made eye contact with Seth who wordlessly nodded. The two of them have kept secrets for the team. She's keeping her cryogenic metahuman powers under wraps until it's time to tell the team. In the past, he kept the secret of his incurable and terminal condition secret from the team, the one that Carnage left him when he penetrated his side with his claws, directly injecting poison into his body.

They're the last people to say anything about secrets right now.

Wally pitched in. "It sounds to me like you're a con man."

Barry and Iris hummed their agreements. The Snow-Fury didn't appear interested in the least. Cisco voiced his thoughts. "Yeah."

Pointing to himself and Cisco, Harrison said. "Was I a con man when I showed San Francisco here how to track the beast using car alarms? Was I a con man when I showed him how to fashion a rope using carbon fiber?"

"I came up with those ideas!" Cisco exclaimed his counter.

"You were prompted by my suggestions." He corrected the viber. "That is how ideas work! People, you need a muse!" H.R. pointed to himself. "I can be your muse."

"You wanna be our idea man then?" Ruby asked. She received a nodding of confirmation from him.

"What about the metas on your Earth? Didn't you stop them?" Evelyn asked skeptically.

"More of an advisory role for me, but I was there. I remembered how we-" H.R. looked between the members of the team, seeing them shake their heads in disbelief. "You don't think that's something? Let me present you with a scenario. You're confronted with something, a threat that you've never seen before. You don't know how to stop it. Who does? That's my value to you. Let me prove my worth to you. If I fail, I will…" He made a strange whooshing sound along with a swing of his drumstick. "Right back to my Earth, but if I succeed, I will have succeeded not just in redeeming myself, but also… I will have done some good with my life."

"No biggie." Frankie surprised him with her words.

Barry continued. "You know, you're lucky we're pretty big on redemption and doing good here, so I think you can, I don't know, stay for a few weeks, try to prove yourself, but if not…" He copied H.R.'s whooshing sound. "Back to your Earth."

"Thank you." Harrison bowed his gratitude. Caitlin looked at Seth confusedly and worriedly.

"Hey, no more repackaging." Cisco told him sternly.

"Word is bond." Harrison said.

Cisco pointed a finger at him. "That, just no more that."

"Seth." Caitlin got his attention. "What was that thing that man said? About an offer that you've refused repeatedly. You've never said anything like that before."

"Oh right." Seth said in realization. "Back on Earth-616, around the time I started out as Venom, the city hated me big time. And a lot of villains like Dr. Octopus tried to use that to their advantage, trying to get me on their side."

"Wait, really?" Ruby's eyes almost popped out of her eyes from surprise. "You were scouted by evil groups, Dad?"

"Is she happy about that?" Magenta asked her host.

"Only Ruby knows what's going on in Ruby's head." The ferrokinetic responded.

"Yeah, I was. One really persistent one was the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. They tried to recruit me and my sister back then, but with little success." He revealed, shocking them instantaneously.

"Brotherhood?" Iris asked, intrigued by the name of the organization that tried to recruit Seth on his native Earth.

Nodding his head, he explained briefly. "It was a terrorist organization consisting of only mutants, they fought for mutant supremacy over humans."

"They're not exactly the nicest bunch." Ruby nodded, having only read about the mutant terrorists before.

"They tried to recruit you?" Wally asked.

"Somehow they found out about the experiments that Stryker and the army had done on us and wanted to recruit me and my sister, thinking we'd harbor enough hate towards the humans to actually fight them." Seth shrugged. "But we didn't, we knew all humans weren't like that."

"We could have told you that." Caitlin quipped, playfully elbowing his side. Seth nodded his agreement and kissed her.

Once dislodging, she walked towards the exit of the Cortex. Curiously, Cisco followed her. The elemental followed suit along with his daughters.

X

In the Klyntar Cave, Caitlin was seated by the small staircase and looked around, taking in the training room that she helped design for her mate and her daughters. It's still a marvel to look at whenever she's inside of it.

"Where you and Seth been?" Cisco asked when walking over to her. "You two left us all alone."

Chuckling with a smile she answered. "We actually went to visit my mother."

"Your mother?" Cisco asked in shock, taking a seat beside his colleague and friend. "Oh, boy. Why? Time for Seth to meet your parent? That's big. What's next wedding bells?"

"No." Caitlin chuckled. "That was a bonus, of sorts." She sheepishly added. "It was to see if we would work through some of our issues. And I think we might actually be on the road to recovery."

Cisco smiled happily, happy that she and her mother are on the right path to recovery. "When it comes to family, you gotta do whatever it takes, cause one day, you might not be able to do that anymore." He rubbed her back, making her smile. "Glad you both are back."

"This is home. Our home." She empathized, locking eyes with the elemental who entered the training room.

"Got that right, Cait." Seth agreed. He turned to Cisco. "Hope you guys didn't miss us too much, Vibe."

"Can't argue with the fact it's not the same without you guys." The viber high-fived the mutant. "Heard you had a meeting with Caitlin's mother, how'd that go?"

With an embarrassed chuckle, Seth declared. "Let's just say, my reunion with Dr. Octopus went better than meeting with Carla Tannhauser."

"Dr. Octopus?" Cisco asked, already loving the name.

"Guy with four extra arms is Otto Octavius from 616, aka Dr. Octopus. He's nothing short of a genius. Maybe the smartest mind since Eobard." Seth said.

"Wow." Cisco said. "What about the Steel Wings and Pressure?"

Those names confused Seth for a moment, but he then connected the dots. "You mean Vulture and Shocker?" Cisco cussed, falling back on his back. Caitlin laughed at his reaction. "They're Adrian Toomes and Herman Schultz. Both massive villains."

"And Vulture broke my bow." Evelyn jumped in, holding out the remains of her bow.

Caitlin stated wholeheartedly. "Honey, we'd be more worried if you had been hurt."

"She's right." Seth turned around, facing all three of his daughters with a proud smile. "The three of you handled yourself out there incredibly well. More than just incredibly, actually. Proud of you three, hope you know that."

"We know." Ruby smiled. "Hated how I couldn't use my powers, but it was nice to use my fists alone."

"But we can still get better." Frankie nudged Evelyn's side. "I mean, Evie did, and she actually made daggers."

"Daggers, huh?" Seth smiled. "Not bad, honey." He smiled.

"Yeah." Evelyn said with a smile. Inwardly, she wanted to ask about her parents to Tannhauser Industries, but with Cisco here, it'd be impossible without revealing her mother's powers.

X

(CSI Lab)

Barry walked into the CSI lab of the police department, holding a moving box. He was gonna keep up his end of the deal with Julian and move downstairs. Glancing to the side, he found Julian standing by his desk with a look of defeat and regret, before moving to his desk.

As he put his files into the box, Julian stated. "I nearly killed a kid tonight." Barry faced him, seeing him turn around. "The monster we were chasing, it turns out it was just a hologram operated by a 15-year-old boy. Flash and Venom came to save the day, when three new villains showed up and attacked us. Even took me hostage before throwing me out of a window. Venom saved me from death, and Flash even saved me from doing something…"

"I heard." Barry said.

"And Venom helped me, the boy and the entire city, even though officers of this building pointed their guns at him. He didn't even flinch, he only cared about the boy and his safety, and ours for that matter." Julian said. Barry nodded. "You know what's sad? That kid, he's just acting cause he's scared, you know? He wants everyone to be terrified and to run away from the monster so he could feel powerful. I know what that's like."

"How do you mean?" The secret speedster inquired.

"I come from a pretty wealthy family back in England." Julian started. "It's a long line of generations of old money, tradition, nonsense, really, and I was the heir. I was their firstborn son. I was supposed to inherit the lot. But I was the odd duck who would rather go in the garden and collect samples of insects…" He hollowly chuckled. "Rather than learn how to tie a Windsor knot." He pulled off his tie to empathize with his point. "Or which fork to use first at dinner. Yeah. No, I wanted more. You know?"

Barry nodded his understanding.

Julian continued, speaking honestly. "I came here to do the one thing that they couldn't stop me from doing: becoming a scientist, becoming a great scientist. Then just as I got to the top of my field, poof!" He snapped his fingers. "The world changes overnight. Metahumans. I don't know a single thing about metahumans. I don't know how they talk. I don't know how they walk. I certainly don't know the first thing about stopping them, so… rendered useless." He walked around his desk, taking a seat in his chair. "I suppose that's the monster that I'm running from now. Just feeling… powerless."

"Yeah, I feel the same way some days, Julian." Barry answered. "I lost my mom when I was a kid. Lost my dad recently. It's a scary world. People die. Trusts are betrayed. Things change. Change can be a good thing, you know? It can bring new experiences, new opportunities, people. You can treat 'em like a potential enemy, solely an ally or like a new friend. Just trust that everything's gonna be okay." He continued boxing up his contents.

"Yeah, maybe you're right." Julian said. Getting up from his chair, he walked to the exit. Coming to a stop, he told the secret speedster. "You can stop." Barry obliged, stopping his clean-up. "You can stay. I was really wrong about the Flash, Venom, so I could be wrong about you, too." He sighed deeply. "Good night, mate." He took his jacket, continuing on his way to the exit.

"Julian?" Barry stopped him. "You want to get a drink?"

Briefly mulling it over, Julian faced him. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."

"All right. Let's do it." Barry picked up his jacket and followed his colleague out the door.

X

The barricade of police vehicles that were placed on Second and Fulton to counter the Godzilla-like monster all quickly turned their agenda, now they're serving as prisoner transportation for Dr. Octopus, Shocker and Vulture.

After having called a transport van to their position, the four cars traveled with the van to Iron Heights in a line. Two cars drove in front of the van while two drove in the back of it. Each vehicle is filled with armed officers, each wielding shotguns and full-body armor. They're holding villains in the van, all of whom are dependent on their equipment, but they are still considered high-risk.

In the back of the transport van where Otto chuckled to himself, getting the attention of both Adrian and Herman. The two armored guards faced him as well, tightly holding their loaded weapons to their chests.

"What's so funny, Doc?" Herman demanded to know. Along with the others, he was stripped off of their weaponry. "They took our gear."

"We've been stripped bare, Octavius." Adrian told him. "And on our way to prison."

"Alas, this was the expected outcome, Mr. Toomes." Otto surprised them and the guards with his words. "The agenda was not to win against Venom or the Flash or the younger heroes."

"Then what was it for?" Adrian asked with a cough.

"It was to assess their current strength." Otto stated. "As always, Venom never fails to impress. But also to get time."

Herman scoffed, holding up his handcuffed hands to empathize. "This part of the plan too, Doc?"

"As mentioned, Mr. Schultz, this was the expected outcome. And while I'm there…" He lowered his back as he made eye contact with the guards. "I do hope your families will receive your pensions after this, officers."

Their confusion… was short-lived.

SMASH

Suddenly the entire police van was flipped over, landing upside-down. The doors flew off the hinges and landed on the ground.

X

"AHAHAHAHHA!" Aleksei's loud cackles filled the air as he took in the sight of his handiwork, the entire police transport van completely flipped over and the back opened, an easy way for his companions to escape through.

Per his instructions from Dr. Octopus, he was to find his way into the tunnel where the police transport line took place. He found his way… by ramparting his way through the wall and smashed his horn into the front of the car.

The two cars at the front of the line came to a stop, the doors opened up and the officers jumped out. "Stand down, Rhino!" One of them ordered, taking aim with his shotgun. The other three officers pointed their shotguns at them.

"HAHAHA!" Aleksei laughed mockingly at their orders. "You tell me to stand down?! You not use brain very well!" He shouted, lashing out his foot and kicking the nearest officer into a car. He barely got the time to scream when he was thrown into the car, causing the side of it to cave in upon his collision.

As the other three officers opened fire, he reached for one of the nearby police cars and threw it after those three. Somehow, by either skill or a miracle, two of them dodged and fell to the ground and avoided the car.

But one officer didn't get that chance, he was hit by the car and flipped into the air before landing on the ground with a heavy thud.

Rhino laughed and laughed as the two officers continued shooting him, trying to riddle him with bullets. But their bullets only bounced off his metal. Lashing out his hands, he slapped the shotguns out of their hands and grabbed them by the front of their suits. "Now you fly!" He hurled the two officers into the wall, embedding them into it.

"Weak!" He spit at the ground, utterly unimpressed by their performance.

"Hold it!" Aleksei turned his head around, facing eight new officers walking out of the last four vehicles. All of them holding their shotguns up high. They shivered at the sight of the carnage and damage he's done to the other officers.

"No… You do… For him." Aleksei gestured behind them.

Like the ones in the van, their confusion was short-lived as well… as was their lives.

WHOOSH

None of the officers noticed or even got the chance to react when a red flash of lightning sped between them all, snapping their necks at the speed of sound. Time had slowed down so much that not even Rhino could do anything… When time returned to normal… Each and everyone of the officers fell to the ground, guns, helmets, and bodies falling to the ground with a thudding sound.

The red lightning came to a stop, revealing a familiar speedster. His form was clad in a leather-like material, a mixed use of both orange and obsidian-like black. A very prominent lightning bolt symbol on his chest is riddled with crimson lightning. He cackles at his damage, through his mask which resembles a horned demon-like figure's head, that also exposes his mouth.

"Fuck, I haven't done this in a long time." Edward Clariss announced, clapping his hands.

"Newbie, always cheerful." Aleksei groaned as he walked to the back of the van and looked inside of it. He found two dead officers and his companions. "Hello, Doctor."

"Right on time as always, Aleksei." Otto smirked. "How's the new recruit?" He asked while the former mob enforcer tore off a wall, reaching inside to pull the villains out of it.

"Cheery." Rhino scoffed, pointing to the black speedster. "Too cherry." He placed them all three on the ground.

Using his superspeed again, Edward Clariss retrieved Shocker and Vulture's suits and put them on before coming to a stop, standing in front of Otto. "Need some help with that, Doc?" He raised a hand to the ice over his chip.

"Why thank you, Mr. Clariss." Otto smiled, lowering his head to allow the black speedster to place a hand on the back of his neck. He felt his hands vibrate over the ice, its heat and speed causing the ice coating to shatter. As soon as the ice pieces fell, allowing Edward free access to the chip, he pressed the button on it.

When the button was pushed, Otto sighed in relief when he felt his control of his mechanical arms return. Pushing his arms out, he pushed himself up from the ground and used them to hold him up, allowing him to look down on his companions. "Thank you, Mr. Clariss. You've proven yourself to be a valuable companion indeed."

"Not bad, newbie." Shocker agreed, thrusting his right hand and launched an air blast that flipped a nearby police car over.

"He hasn't proven himself useless as of yet, yes." Vulture admitted, jumping into the air and flying around.

"What can I say?" Edward spoke with a vibrating voice, cracking his hands. "I aim to please, after all."

"Yes, that is true. While I do appreciate your assistance, Mr. Clariss, but…" Otto Octavius turns around, looking over the fallen van and unsurprisingly finds Taskmaster leaning against the wall nearby. "Why did you not come to our aid, Taskmaster?"

"Three seems excessive." Taskmaster uncaringly said. Leaning off the wall, he faced the five members. "Missing one, aren't we?"

"Yes, we are. But do not worry, I've already handed him his assignment." Otto assured the mercenary. "Your ally, did she have enough time for her project?"

"Let's hope so." Taskmaster said through his mask.

Otto looked over his gathering of members… Soon their current number of six would increase with the seventh and final member's addition.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Inside of the Klyntar Cave, seated by one of the platform computers, Seth opens up his private project file. "Friday, open project SS." He demanded the AI.

"Sorry, boss, but you gotta say the magic words first." Friday replied.

Chuckling to himself, he made sure no one was around before saying the password. "Alpha Level, Sierra Tango Delta 084 Maestus."

"Password confirmed." The AI informed, revealing a blue screen on the monitor. The screen showed six slots, five of which are empty aside from one slot that has a photo of Rhino in it.

"There it is." Seth looked to the top of the screen with a blue headline called "Maestus 6." More than anything right now, he hoped he was wrong. If not, it could spell disaster for Central City.

"Would you like to add new names to the file, Boss?" The Ai inquired.

"You already know the answer to that, Friday." Seth sighed before leaning forward, slouching in front of the computer screen. "Friday, add these three names: Adrian Toomes." He started.

As a photo of him was added to one of the slots, Friday added. "Also known as The Vulture."

Seth already knew Friday was going through the data from her database, everything related to Vulture, she was putting into the slot which he occupies. But that didn't mean she couldn't multitask, which is why he continued. "Herman Schultz."

"Goes by Shocker." She added his name and photo to the slot beside Vulture.

"Yeah." Seth nodded. His fists clenched against the desk as he adds the last name… Or at least, he hopes it's the last name he has to add to this file. "Dr. Otto Octavius."

"Dr. Octopus." Friday said. "Boss, ever think of letting Boss Lady into the fold?"

"The robot's got a point. Of all the people on the team, excluding our daughters, she is the one you trust the most."

"With all of my heart, yeah." He spoke out loud as he's answering both his "other" and Friday. "I'll bring Caitlin into the fold, soon enough. But I wanna hope, just hope that not all six members are gonna show themselves on this Earth. Until then, I'm keeping this under wraps."

"Your call, boss." The AI told him.

"Thanks, Friday. Close the project and make sure it's still hidden from the others." Seth instructed the AI.

"Done John, Boss." She quipped, closing the blue screen.

"Now… Let's-"

"Seth?" Hearing Caitlin's voice, Seth turned his head and saw her walking towards the platform. "What are you doing here?"

"Not much, just checking if Iris had sent me anything that might lead to Taskmaster and Rhino's location. But I haven't gotten anything, unfortunately." Seth lied, something he hated doing to Caitlin. It was worse than a gut shot. He got up from his chair as she stepped onto the platform.

"Okay, but it's actually perfect you're here." Caitlin took his seat on the computer, typing away and opened a window. Looking over her shoulder, Seth saw that she pulled a folder with only one video file in it. "My Mom sent me a video file."

"Something to do with your test results from back at Tannhauser?" Seth wondered.

"Most likely." Caitlin nodded and pressed the video file.

A trilling sound emitted from the computer before the video file was opened, revealing Caitlin's mother Carla on the screen.

"Caitlin, I've been going over the data we collected, and I've found some disconcerting results." That piece of information worried both Seth and Caitlin. They listened as Carla continued her findings. "Your body's chemistry is changing in ways that I don't fully understand, but one thing is clear. These powers you have, the more you use them, the more difficult they're going to be to reverse."

Like her daughter, Carla was adamant on trying to reverse Caitlin's condition, so she'd no longer have powers, as she was prior to coming to S.T.A.R. Labs.

"I'm sorry, honey, but listen to me." Carla continued. "You must not use these powers under any circumstances."

However, as soon as that mere sentence ended… Perhaps hearing that her condition might be irreversible if she keeps utilizing her powers… Caitlin's… Killer Frost's anger spiked, emerging and cryogenic ice emitted from her hands, quickly and instantly freezing the computer.

Caitlin jumped out of her seat, horrified to see that she's losing control over not just her emotions but also her powers. She looked at her hands with fear.

The horror on her face made Seth pale and he jumped to her. "Hey, hey." He pulled her into a hug. "Don't worry. You're gonna be okay." He rubbed her back soothingly, using his partner's help to soothe and calm down his mate's distraught state of mind. "I'm here." He chanted into her ear.

"What's happening to me, Seth?" Caitlin buried her face into his neck. She wanted to cry her eyes out, out of fear, but she feared her tears themselves would freeze into icicles due to her uncontrollable powers. "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing's wrong with you." He showered her head and face with soothing kisses. "You're just more interesting now." He tried to assure her. But he could practically feel the horror and fear coming out of her, almost akin to a discharge. His words didn't seem to affect her that much, unfortunately.

Though her powers are ice-based, her feelings came through to him like a lightning strike that could clearly cleave through the skies and even burn through the Earth itself.

That level of horror… Scared Seth to his core.

To be continued…

And that's a chapter, peeps!

Central City might be in danger as Seth fears something worse than a Godzilla-like monster might take roots on Earth-1… Sinister Six. Only time will tell if they are gonna appear in Central City and spread terror like the plague that they are.

Julian and Barry may soon now have a friendship after the two of them bonded while dealing how to deal with a Kaiju.

Seth and Caitlin went to Tannhauser Industries, trying to get Caitlin's mother's help with her powers that seem to be growing out of control. But that is not all, Caitlin also wanted to get something else from her mother but that was a dead end. Which is why they return to S.T.A.R. Labs, where they later get a message from Carla, warning her daughter to not use her powers too much or she might change forever….

Turning into Killer Frost permanently.

As this was happening, Taskmaster brought someone into the fold, Otto Octavius, Dr. Octopus that could help Eliza with her Klyntar samples, trying to awaken the elements that are part of their DNA. But they couldn't do so with their current amount of time, which is why Octavius has Vulture and Shocker and himself fight the heroes of this city and cause havoc to get more time.

Their capture was part of Otto's plan, only buying them enough time so Eliza could continue her work…

Her work might be nearing its end soon enough… And what would her work mean for the rest of the world… For the future….

Now as I mentioned in the last chapter, I'm gonna have Ruby get a new name for her alter-ego. If you guys have ideas, then feel free to post them or send them to mee.

Stay tuned and until next time, peeps!